I haven’t been blogging much these last few months. That’s because three months ago my wife and I moved into an apartment that has no land line and only a satellite cable TV connection. (We didn’t think to ask about the former before moving in here because, really, when was the last time you heard of a house that didn’t have a land line connection?) What this means is that, till just recently, we didn’t have Internet access at home; certainly not cable and ADSL, but not even dialup!
It took Telstra (the only phone company that services this area) about six weeks (yes, six weeks) to give us a connection from the telephone exchange to our apartment building. However, we don’t have an outlet in the wall for a phone jack so we can’t actually use that line. Even worse, the electrician who came in to install that outlet couldn’t find where in the wall our telephone wire was so he wasn’t able to connect us. That was about a month ago and, since then, we’ve been waiting for our real estate agent to do something about this – specifically, getting the building plans from the owners and giving them to the electrician – but nothing’s happened yet.
I finally got sick of the situation so, a couple of weeks ago, I went and got us a mobile broadband connection from 3 (specifically, a USB wireless modem) and that’s what’s letting me access the Internet now. We then went a step further and bought a wireless router for the modem so now both my wife and I can access the Internet at the same time. It’s slow, but at least it works.
What about blogging from work, you ask? Unfortunately, work has been really busy (though incredibly enjoyable) so I haven’t had the mental energy to do any writing in the evenings (whether at work or offline from home). The only blog posts I have managed to finish are the ones I wrote on a weekend and published from the office the following work week.
What all this is leading up to is the fact that I have lots of catching up to do. The way I’m going to do that is by giving you a bulleted list of all the stories I’ve wanted to talk about these last few months but haven’t been able to discuss. The stories range from basic, on-the-ground advice (and lists) to more high level discussions on a particular topic. They’re all good to read, though.
What Happened Then?
It took Telstra (the only phone company that services this area) about six weeks (yes, six weeks) to give us a connection from the telephone exchange to our apartment building. However, we don’t have an outlet in the wall for a phone jack so we can’t actually use that line. Even worse, the electrician who came in to install that outlet couldn’t find where in the wall our telephone wire was so he wasn’t able to connect us. That was about a month ago and, since then, we’ve been waiting for our real estate agent to do something about this – specifically, getting the building plans from the owners and giving them to the electrician – but nothing’s happened yet.
I finally got sick of the situation so, a couple of weeks ago, I went and got us a mobile broadband connection from 3 (specifically, a USB wireless modem) and that’s what’s letting me access the Internet now. We then went a step further and bought a wireless router for the modem so now both my wife and I can access the Internet at the same time. It’s slow, but at least it works.
What about blogging from work, you ask? Unfortunately, work has been really busy (though incredibly enjoyable) so I haven’t had the mental energy to do any writing in the evenings (whether at work or offline from home). The only blog posts I have managed to finish are the ones I wrote on a weekend and published from the office the following work week.
So, Catching Up…
What all this is leading up to is the fact that I have lots of catching up to do. The way I’m going to do that is by giving you a bulleted list of all the stories I’ve wanted to talk about these last few months but haven’t been able to discuss. The stories range from basic, on-the-ground advice (and lists) to more high level discussions on a particular topic. They’re all good to read, though.
Jobs, Careers, & MBA
- You Suck, Interviewer [Ask a Manager]
- It's here: the You-Suck-As-An-Interviewer Automatic Letter Generator [Ask a Manager]
- Interview Questions to Ask When Hiring a Manager [Ask a Manager]
- 4 Dumb Job Interview Questions (and 3 Possible Answers) [Clue Wagon]
- How to Make Sure You Don’t Take a Job That Sucks [Clue Wagon]
- Schmoozing 101: Tips for Shy Techies [Computerworld]
- How Newcomers Can Influence Established Groups [PsyBlog]
- Latest research reveals the business schools employers prefer to recruit from regionally strong business schools [AME Info]
- 100+ Career Blogs ALL Professionals MUST Read [Career Rocketeer]
- State of Australian Corporate Career Websites [Michael Specht]
Social Media
- The Manager’s Guide to Social Media [SmartCompany]
- Facebook privacy: a guide [Ars Technica]
- 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging [Smashing Magazine]
- The Big List of Big Brand Corporate Blogs [Debbie Weil]
- 73 Ways to Become a Better Writer [Copyblogger]
- 9 Ways People Respond to Your Content Online [Lateral Action]
- Writing a Social Media Comment [PR Communications]
- Twitter 101: A Special Guide [Twitter]
- 62 Ways to Use Twitter for Business [Web Worker Daily]
- Twitter Postings: Iterative Design [useit.com]
- The Importance of Social Media Audits [Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang]
- The Five Biggest Mistakes in Measuring Social Media [ClickZ]
- 360i Publishes Social Marketing Playbook [360i]
- 2 Million More Australians Go Social in 2009 [comScore]
- A new connection for Australians [Sensis]
Online Design, UI
- 8 Dimensions of Excellent Landing Pages [Search Engine Land]
- Building Respect for Usability Expertise [useit.com]
Online Marketing
- Do You Know Where Your Audience Is? [Search Engine Watch]
- A Checklist to Choose Which Internet Marketing Channel is Right for Your Business [seomoz.org]
General Life Advice
- How to Make Your Packed Lunch More Appealing [Lifehacker]