Here’s the finished Photoshop version of my elf Christmas card design. I’m toying with trying another version in Illustrator as I think it might be better…we’ll see if I get the time.
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Irish Women And Blogging
There has been a fair bit of debate going on in the Irish blog scene that started with Sinéad at Sigla asking the question “Why so few women bloggers?” Now this has sparked something of a heated discussion on feminism in quite a few blogs that is now dying down and I will leave that one be if you don’t mind. However I was reading Carrie’s post on her blog and in writing my comment realised I did have something I wanted to say about the original question…
So where are all those Irish women and why aren’t they blogging?
I think one big reason there aren’t too many women in Ireland that are taking to the web is because there aren’t that many people in Ireland full stop who even know what a blog is. As well as that it has to be said that the men of Ireland are generally spending more time on the computer than the women so would have opportunity to discover this mode of communication and would be the first to leap on it. (I say that as a sweeping generalisation…in my household it’s 50/50 so there are certainly exceptions.) Simply the tech jobs in this country are still, by and large, held by more men and that is where most of the internet usage is concentrated.
Women bloggers are certainly not lacking in the States where the internet is as integral to people’s lifestyles as television. Over there the internet is something people are involved with in their homes, not just something people only have access to if they have a tech job. It’s used by women (and men) to run their businesses, to talk about their interests, to discuss their children, to comment on politics, to get support for their problems and their illnesses, it’s a place where they can meet people with similar interests and chat over the garden fence about subjects serious and banal, it’s where they go to decide which camera to buy and where they post the pictures they take with it. In short it’s in their lives so it’s no wonder they also use it to express themselves.
Ireland is so behind in it’s involvement with the internet as to be laughable. With Eircom’s disgusting monopoly and the way they are sitting on the phone lines and stalling the unbundling of them so they can avoid competition is criminal. At present, here in South County Dublin, within mere spitting distance of our country’s capital city, my broadband choices are ridiculously slim (basically Eircom or some variant thereof). I can’t have wireless broadband so that rules out the packages offered by Magnet.ie and Irish Broadband. As for when they might be available to me…hopefully sometime soon but they really don’t know since it’s all down to Eircom. But at least I do have broadband…my sister lives in County Wicklow, just half an hour’s drive south of me, and Eircom has made vague promises about broadband becoming available to them but not until next year sometime. She would make a great blogger but it’s a moot point when she has to ring me to get me to check her email for her. It’s no surprise most people don’t bother with it when it costs so much for such a bad service.
I would hazard a guess that the majority of those blogging in Ireland are connected in some way to the internet and to technical spheres in general through their jobs. I’m a computer animator who relies on the internet for my work and I spend most of my day sat in front of a monitor. I lived in the UK for five years and that is where I discovered blogging (Heather Armstrong was the first blog I read). Had I stayed in Ireland working as a shop assistant in an art shop I might still be ignorant of it all.
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Elf Sketch
This is the sketch for my Christmas card design this year.
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X Box 360 Blues
My husband is distraught this morning. He ordered an X Box 360 back in August from Play.com and has been dreaming and fantasizing about its arrival ever since. The European release date for this wonderful machine was today, and in giddy expectation he rang Play yesterday to confirm he would be receiving one. He was told…
“Sorry Mr. Wilson, it seems Microsoft have not made enough to meet the number they committed to us and so you will not be receiving one tomorrow. We have sent on your Quake 4 game (only playable on the 360) and you will receive a console when the next batch is ready (most likely mid 2006).”
“But I ordered all the way back in August!”
“Yes, but those who ordered back in May will be receiving the consoles we have.”
Then because they obviously could hear the trembling of his bottom lip over the phone…
“Perhaps if you call back tomorrow morning we will have some more information for you.”
Now that he knew there was little chance he would be receiving his console from Play he proceeded to ring around various shops in Ireland. Xtravision, Game, Gamestop…all sold out. This served to fan the flames of his anger towards Play since he had decided not to put his name down in any of these other places thinking he had it in the bag. Finally at about 5:30pm he got onto Tesco Ireland and was told their store in Dundrum was expecting a delivery at midnight. With ideas of camping out at the store he jumped in the car and battled the rush hour traffic to get to Dundrum. Instead of a long line of waiting customers all was normal in Tescos with no mention of X Boxes anywhere. He inquired of two young male shop assistants whether they were getting any in and was told yes but he could come back tomorrow and needn’t wait.
This morning at 8:30am he rang Tescos and was told two had come in at midnight but they were already gone. Hmmm, I wonder who might have bought those?
When he rang Play he was given a slightly different excuse than yesterday: it seems the consoles didn’t go out on a first-come-first-served basis. Presumably they’ve been distributed on some kind of customer loyalty basis.
So, he’s walking around like a child with nothing but a stub of coal in his stocking on Christmas morning, cursing Play, Tesco shop assistants and Microsoft. In his words he’s “Gutted.”
“Get Ats” is the phrase coined by my mother to describe those little actions we have to do in order to stop something bad from happening. You know, like not stepping on the cracks in the pavement so as to avoid breaking the back of someone you love. Now, don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. My husband tries to be all cool and deny that this is a very normal fixation but I’m positive everyone’s got something they do that makes no logical sense but is a compulsion. Now there are different levels, I will admit this, and I’m not talking about the psychological illness “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder”, although I’m sure that has to start somewhere.
At the risk of having the men come to take me away, here are a few of my “Get Ats” in the hopes that some of you lurking readers might leave a comment and prove to my doubting husband that this is something that goes beyond my crazy family.
1. Shoes, when taken off, must be left in a position that would be comfortable if someone was wearing them. This also applies to trousers and shirts.
2. Toothbrushes can’t be left in their holders with their faces mashed up against other toothbrushes just in case they don’t get along. I mean how horrible would it be if you were left with your face smushed up against the wet face of someone you don’t like for hours on end. Have a heart.
3. All food, shampoo, drink containers with a twist top must not be closed while their bottoms are touching a surface like a countertop or table. If you do their air supply is cut off…they can’t breathe! Lift the container, twist shut then place on the surface/countertop.
4. When you buy a new bottle of shampoo or shower gel, don’t put them next to the nearly empty bottles they will soon replace. It’s not fair to highlight their shortcomings.
5. If a spider or other insect survives your first attempt to wash them down the plughole in the bathtub you have to help them out and set them free into the wild. They deserve it and obviously have something to live for like a family back at the web.
OK, I’m stopping now because I’m worried I’m scaring away what few readers I have!