Latest update

Big week this week... the company I work for moved premises which was really hard work and quite traumatic - It has taken about a week to get the bare bones of a working environment going - the 'phones and the computer network are still not exactly sorted, but most of what we need to carry on working is in place...
Also... I ordered my new quad core phone from McBub, but hit a few teething problems already... I found that their ordering system wasn't totally compatible with the Chrome browser, so when I clicked on 'other delivery options' I found that the total cost would not update when I tried to click back to the 'free delivery option' - so against my intentions, I ended up with the expedited delivery and an extra £11 on my bill. I immediately emailed McBub but got no reply - A day later I received acknowledgment of my order but no response to my message about the delivery costs. I then thought 'well OK, it's supposed to be a 3-5 day delivery so maybe the extra money will be worth it' - nope not really... Turns out there is a 'processing time' of 1-3 days on average. Well how can an average be 1-3 I wonder??? surely an average of 1-3 is 2!
So I checked the processing time and here is the timeline:

Ordered (ie. money removed from my PayPal account) 16th October
Order Acknowledged: 18th October
Order Despatched (According to DHL): 25th October

Already it has taken 7-9 days of 'processing time' as compared to the average '1-3 days' so much for the 3-5 days delivery, although I have a feeling that DHL will probably be able to make the delivery a lot quicker than McBub have taken to process my order.
Not only that, but I have been hit with an import tax bill - OK I hold my hands up to hoping to circumvent customs charges, but I think because the 'expedited' option was chosen for me rather than the free delivery, this probably attracted unwanted attention from customs. In itself, I am not too bothered about the tax, the phone is cheap enough for it not to be a concern, BUT when you consider that I was hoping to get a phone for £96, my bill is already at £120, and I haven't got the phone yet!
I have a feeling that once the 'phone arrives, all the hassle will melt into the background, but I won't be letting McBub get away with this completely, they will get an email from me, and if I get no response I will be leaving feedback for the phone which will highlight issues to future customers.
I intend to buy another 'phone from them as a gift too, so I should be able to use that as a lever to get good customer support, although I have a feeling that they may not value my custom very highly judging on the correspondence received so far...
Watch this space...

a Michael Kors watch - gift ideas

I must confess that I have a real love for both watches and pens, I don't know what it is but I love the feel and look of a nice watch, or a posh pen.
Now I bought myself a relatively inexpensive watch about 18 months ago, but it is already damaged from using it in the workplace.

So I am hoping that I may get a gift at Christmas which would be something like a Michael Kors watch (see the picture) that I can use for leisure 'time' whilst keeping my older watch to use at work.

louisville real estate

The city of Louisville is a historical area, owing it's name to Louis XVI of France and was founded in 1778 and is strategically located as a major shipping port due to it's central location in terms of the continental United States.

It's shipping business still thrives today ensuring that it remains a thriving business area. In fact louisville real estate is of high quality and the crime rates are very low, maybe the perfect place for relocation?

Tablet or 'Phone

I have been considering getting an Android tablet to replace the laptop(s) in the house as it would be ideal for the type of things that we use the laptop for - ie. emails and browsing the web. A laptop is really over-engineered for the sort of tasks they are generally used for in the home environment, a tablet is nice to use, cheap and a very effective tool.
Now I had been looking at various options for quite a while and was set on maybe buying something previously enjoyed from eBay - however, with these type of devices, you can get products direct from China that are not much more than second-hand prices, yet they are brand new and with the latest spec.
Further thinking persuaded my that actually I could get a replacement for my 2-year old smartphone that was as powerful as a tablet, yet not much more money. I was directed to the McBub website where they have a massive array of tablet and phone technology for rock-bottom prices.
I mused about whether to get a low-cost dual core model, but ended up maximising my budget by going for a top-of-the-shop quad core model instead. So far I can report that the value for money aspect of McBub seems almost too good to be true - whether the goods live up to expectations, or whether the customer service is any good at all remains to be seen...

Looks like we are going to have a change in phones for everyone in the house this Christmas, possibly with our young daughter inheriting my 'old' smart-phone, and maybe a second purchase (a little more modest than my quad-core model) for a Christmas present for my wife. I should be able to get two spare contract SIMs to add to my contract for £5 a month each, and we should all be able to keep in touch for free on the same network (well it won't be free for me, but I guess £10 a month for two extra phone contracts is not too bad).

Trailers

The company I work is preparing to move premises, and the main question we are facing is how to get everything from here to there - ie. the new offices. We are fortunate in that we have a variety of small and large vans at our disposal as well as a trailer.

Were we a bigger company, we would certainly be looking at hiring in a professional outfit to carry out our move, and maybe hire in some really heavy duty trailers.

Hummingbird

Hummingbird is the latest change to the search algorithm from Google search, but it's not a change to the ongoing algorithm like the Penguin Update and others, this is a NEW algorithm in it's entirety - starting from scratch.
You will read much speculation about how the new algorithm works, and if you are overly-concerned about this, really you have to ask yourself why. Ultimately Google search wants to be the best it can be at delivering accurate 'answers' to search queries. If your website serves it's niche well, and is full of relevant information, then whatever Google algorithm is used, it should rank your site in it's proper position. If however you are trying to somehow 'fool' or 'game' the algorithm, you are part of the web that Google is determined to weed out, and you may well find that you are edged out of search results.
I have no insight as to how the new algorithm prioritizes sites, but then I am no different to anyone else in the respect, these things are kept under wraps for a very good reason, they are Google's main asset of immense value to the company - they are not about to share the goods. However I do know that Google will want to prioritize 'good' websites that provide good information in a structured way, therefore if webmasters provide good content in a well-structured way, then they stand a chance of getting a good ranking.
Carry on doing what you are doing, provide good content and keep it up to date, add good content as regularly as you can - steer clear of anything that promises fast result in terms of Search Engine Result Position, and you won't go too far wrong.

pillows and cushions

I have a slight confession to make, we bought a baby support pillow when our little one was born, and nine years later, we still use it every day as a support pillow on our sofa. I was reminded of it when I saw the pillows and cushions from foambymail.
The pillow we had is basically a nursing pillow, but we love it so much it has become a permanent part of our life. It's great for giving that extra bit of support when you want to relax watching TV with your feet up.

Working for Hunny..

Well, I set this blog up as an experiment to see if it was possible to make online earnings from a blog. My intention was always to use the income to buy things that I could otherwise not afford, hence the 'Hunny' part of the name is supposed to represent 'treats' of whatever kind. I am now all set to buy a new Android phone as a 'reward' for all my hard (!) work. I just had a job in from another online income source that will pay me around £100, just enough for me to get that new phone I have been looking at.

I think I can also justify offsetting the costs of the phone against income for tax purposes as I do use that phone line for the business. I don't put the phone charges through the business although I probably could do that too.

I also hope to find loads of new Android Apps that I can blog about too!

Disposable coveralls

The major project of decorating the hall stairs and landing is finally coming to a close. Although to be fair, the stairs will remain untouched for a while until I can summon up the energy to scour the remaining paint from the ancient timber. The major task has been to cover every inch of wall and woodwork with fresh paint, and the results are a huge improvement. In the background of course, there has been a steady use of paint brushes, disposable coveralls and rags - the hidden costs of decorating, but the costs have been well worth it. I must try and find some pictures of the hallway and stairway for a 'before and after' comparison - We moved in 18 years ago, and I took some photo's on the day we arrived, In all that time, this is the first time we have decorated the hallway, even though we stripped all the paper off years ago!