Well I thought it was about time for a new image and my very own domain — www.colindaniels.co.za. As you can see, I didn’t spend all my vacation time relaxing on the beach. I’d be very interested to hear what all of you think about my new “Metrosexual-Web 2.0” design so please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below (as long as you don’t say anything about the pink!!!).
Basically, my new blog runs the latest version of Word Press (2.1) and I built this template and styled it mostly from scratch. In the process I learnt a lot about the underbelly of WP, which should come in very handy for my new job at the Sunday Times which I start next week. Oh — and did I mention I had lots of fun doing it?
The new youngBLOOD sports a few bells ‘n whistles and I’m hoping to add more social networking features and improve the style sheet in the coming weeks. Right now it’s a work in progress and I hope to find the time to work on it some more, but I’m not too sure that my new boss Ray Hartley will oblige.
This will be my last day at the New Media Lab and I’ve spent most of my time ensuring that all my critical data is backed-up off the J-Schools server and laptop before it gets nuked.
I look forward to starting my new life in Jo’burg and entering the arms race that Vincent Maher has proclaimed!
Whilst I finish up my penultimate day at the New Media Lab and get ready to say goodbye to Grahamstown forever *sob* I decided to follow in the tradition started by the young Vincent Maher – who left the NML last year — and compiled a list of ‘Best & Worst’ experiences in my several years here.
So, in no specific order, here goes:
BEST
- Working with Vincent ‘Mad’ Maher
- Travelling to the Netherlands (2X), France, Tunisia, Brazil, USA, Austria
- Playing soccer with Heineken beer cans in our hotel room at The Don during Commons Sense (Creative Commons SA)
- Being able to actually drive around (Grahams)town with your car windows down
- Receiving the Colin “Perfect Teeth” Daniels award from the class of 2005
- Designing & developing Highway Africa’s first database-driven site and registration system
- Meeting a lifetime’s worth of friends and industry contacts
- Beating Vincent at Quake 3 and The Battle for Middle Earth 2 multi-player (although he will be sure to deny it!)
WORST
- Living with one of the crappest climates in the country
- Hearing about the debauchery that our students engaged in on the weekends every Monday morning (you know who you are!!!)
- Waking up with nasty hangovers and very little sleep during consecutive Highway Africa Conferences
- Having to light candles and take cold showers because the only place you can buy pre-paid electricity in Grahamstown is from the Municipality!!!
- The extra 5 hours transit time and R2500 additional airfare cost travelling abroad from Grahamstown
- Being forced to shop at Checkers because of all the people you have to avoid at Pick ‘n Pay where the whole town converges
- Losing a year’s worth of blog entries and NML projects when our web server was stolen (beginning of 2006)
Well, as the nostalgia starts to turn into emotional despair, I eagerly await the new year in jo’burg and venture into the unknown at the Sunday Times.
Oh well. All good things must come to an end and even better things must start!
Well it’s been a long time and it’s officially my first blog post of 2007. While the break hasn’t been good for my web stats or PageRank, it’s been fantastic for my mind, body and soul (and some of my fingers which used to hurt when I typed).
Anyway, a lot has happened this year already, so here’s a brief summary to fill everyone in:
- Enjoyed an extended holiday, thanks largely to the fading benefits of working at a university, where I parked off on a beach for most of the time
- Asked my long-term varsity sweetheart Lauren to marry me. She was so bedazzled by that many diamonds that she actually said “yes!”
- Bought our first launching pad in Melville, Johannesburg which is everything and more. Look out for pictures on Flickr coming soon
- Met with my new boss, Ray Hartley, and Carly Ritz at the Sunday Times who muttered on about some “Black Rayne” nonsense. We also spoke about potential projects and how we plan on taking over the world. I am looking forward to starting there as New Media Strategy Manager in February.
Right now I’m back in Grahamstown for a one week stint to tie up loose ends before moving back to Jo’burg for good. I’m currently finishing the much anticipated redesign of YoungBLOOD and setting up a new domain, which will be the home of YoungBLOOD by the end of the week. Look out for the announcement!!!
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