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One thing about working for a magazine that reviews new technology is that you need to make sure that whatever tests you run they are relevant, and they really do push products to the limit, which is why I spent this morning building new ones for my next group test.

That’s one of the more fun aspects of my job, as it gives you a chance to be a bit more creative than simply typing out your findings.

I was half way through when L called to talk about arrangements for the new Sunday programme. It has a name, now - ‘London this week with Nik Rawlinson’. It’s very exciting, starting work on a new show. Moreso when you have your own name in the title.

We had a chat about how we each like to work and agreed to talk properly tomorrow evening when I’m in to present The Lab.

Spent the afternoon putting my new tests to the test, so to speak. Overall I’m happy, but I’m going to do a little tweak tomorrow morning, which will make things clearer, before running them for real.

Was packing up to go home when a new name popped up in my messenger. We’d never spoken before so it brought up the ‘do you want to talk to this person’ warning. I clicked yes.

Normally I regret doing that. This time, though, it turned out to be a friend of a friend, messaging to say he read the mag.

We chatted for some time about blogging, and why I do it. I’ve never thought about it much before. It started as an experiment. I intended to do it for a couple of months, write a column about what happened, and then stop. But here I am, 16 months later, still writing.

I don’t know why I do it any longer, but it’s become quite compulsive. I think it’s another book-avoiding tactic. When I write on the site I get an immediate fix - it is published immediately. The book, though, is taking a long, long time. If it even gets published, it will be months until I get to hold a copy in my hands, and with the enormous number of written books sitting in slush piles, or sent back to their authors unpublished, even the chances are very slim.

********: Does it worry you the stuff you put on the net in public?
Essex guy: Do you think it should?
********: In a way yes…
********: To start with I feel weird knowing you live in essex… the faces of your friends… etc… and if it were me I kind of feel weird putting things on my boss, colleagues, friends and mum can see!!!
Essex guy: Hmmm… well, I guess I don’t really have that much to hide. Everyone at work knows about my social and private life. It’s a fairly open office. Same goes for my parents.
Essex guy: As for putting my friends’ images up there, if they object I’d remove them.
Essex guy: …but so far they haven’t.
********: True… Maybe it’s because I’m more of a closed person, or at least like different people not knowing EVERYTHING. It’s like I talk differently to my mum than I would to by boss… and you don’t have that freedom on the net!
Essex guy: That is a valid point.
********: I had a weird case where i went to and interview and the guy in the interview had looked me up on friendsreunited.co.uk! Boy did that freak me out!
Essex guy: Wow - that is weird.
********: He knew loads of stuff and I couldn’t think where he got it from
********: Weirder still… I got the job!!!
Essex guy: Why weird? Is your friendsreunited profile a bit dodgy?
********: Not really only it mentions my 5 figure student debt!
********: And I’m a financial advisor!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 4th, 2002 at 9:04 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.