Life got busy, really busy. I had next to no time to write, anything, so when I finally tried I found myself calling things 'good' or 'great'. Nothing really more expressive than that.
17 March 2014
I'm Re-Learning to Write!
Rambled About by Oli at 6:44 pm 0 Layabouts
11 March 2012
SXSW and The Joys of Non-Office Working
Life may be stressful sometimes when you are self employed, but the pure flexibility of non-office life is amazing, especially when you reach events like SXSW, where there are hundreds of fantastic events scattered over a two week period.
Rambled About by Oli at 10:46 pm 0 Layabouts
14 May 2011
Freelance Fun
So I have been a freelance SEO consultant for quite some time now, and I have to admit that one thing that really struck me is, that i do not think I could ever go back to an office environment. The whole 9-5 grind, shitty wage for a mind numbing job. Sure, I have been writing about iPhone space games now for a month, but I can do it wherever I want, whenever I want.
Rambled About by Oli at 9:35 pm 0 Layabouts
13 April 2011
In an effort to stay on top of this!
In an effort to stay on top of this I have decided to post yet another blog post. This is twice in a month, unheard of since my hectic move to America, but I really do think I should pay a little more attention to this long neglected labor of love which I created.
Rambled About by Oli at 8:01 pm 0 Layabouts
11 April 2011
Life Continues!
Life is going past pretty smoothly in the United States right now, so I thought I would give you a quick update, not on my life - per say, but more on my time at SXSWi, a huge festival in Austin which covers films, games and music over an entire month.
Rambled About by Oli at 3:16 pm 0 Layabouts
03 February 2011
The Joys of Article Writing
I am doing pretty well nowadays as a freelance SEO consultant, but I have to admit, a lot of my job is tedious. Since SEO is in the most part about getting high quality backlinks I spend a huge amount of my time article writing.
Rambled About by Oli at 3:24 pm 0 Layabouts
22 January 2011
An Exclusive Article Directory
Over the last few months I have been working incredibly hard on getting people up and running on my latest site, This is Freelance. This site is an exclusive article directory with a stringent application process. This allows us to weed out the spam artists and make This is Freelance a safe haven for high quality writers across the Internet.
Rambled About by Oli at 8:14 pm 0 Layabouts
26 July 2010
A Quick Run Down of My Life Right Now
It seems sad that I don't really keep this site up to date anymore. Every time I come back to it I feel sad, like seeing a photo reminding you of a lost childhood.
Rambled About by Oli at 3:00 pm 0 Layabouts
21 May 2010
Google PacMan Game!
Check out Google today, for the 30th anniversary of pacman they have changed their logo to a fully functioning Pacman game in the shape of, you guessed it, the google logo!
Rambled About by Oli at 7:58 pm 0 Layabouts
Labels: Google
20 May 2010
The Best Criminals Ever.
When it comes to criminal activity the master criminals who became the most famous where not the ones who stole the most, but the ones who carried it off with the most style and self acknowledgement.
Rambled About by Oli at 3:51 pm 0 Layabouts
Labels: Crime
30 March 2010
On the Road Again
Looks like it's that time again, in just over 24 hours I will be landing in Austin, Texas, where I will start a life as a true American, and will be starting by getting married to one!
Rambled About by Oli at 10:24 pm 0 Layabouts
02 March 2010
Yet Again I Apologise....
It seems I have lost track of this blog yet again, this is not anything intentional, I have just been incredibly busy trying to make money online, and fortunately I have been succeeding!
Rambled About by Oli at 1:16 pm 4 Layabouts
Labels: Life
02 December 2009
Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody
This made me laugh oh so hard, the Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody!
I also apologise for my lack of communication recently, immigration is a nightmare, but I am slowly getting through it, also my workload has increased tremendously, while on the plus side this means more money, on the downside it also means more work.
Amsterdam was an amazing vacation, i have returned to a factory job to keep some kind of a cash flow coming in. To be honest I am enjoying factory work a hell of a lot more than my old office job, my value was instantly recognised, and I was offered a full time position with a view to training for further career opportunities. It is therefore unfortunate that I had to decline, since I hope to be leaving the country within the next 2-3 months.
In the meantime however enjoy the hilarious Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody!
Rambled About by Oli at 11:50 am 3 Layabouts
Labels: Muppets Bohemian Rhapsody
21 November 2009
Luck o' the Irish
I had to feel for the Irish as I got back from work and saw the numerous replays on TV. Their chance to enter in to the world cup dashed by the cheating French in extra time.
The Irish, ever the good sports, took this reasonably well, I would have been livid. they looked at it philosophically, I on the other hand wondered how the hell the referee and his attending staff failed to notice Henry pick the ball out of the air as it sailed wide of the goal, drop it to his feet and then kick it across for the goal.
How can we expect players to play fairly and honestly when there are no repercussions for vile cheating acts such as this.
Rambled About by Oli at 12:36 pm 0 Layabouts
07 November 2009
Norton NIGHTMARE
My Norton 360 subscription ran out today, OK I though, I'll just renew it.
I clicked renew now, expecting to be done in five minutes, until I was given the bill.
£59.99
£59.99?
SIXTY FUCKING POUNDS and thats just for ONE YEAR!
If I pay £110 I get two years, nice enough to save me a tenner I suppose. But come on, this is not even for updates here, my software has stopped working!
Now I know businesses get shafted by these yearly renewal costs every year, and have done for a long time. But Norton has brought these yearly renewals to the public domain, and in doing so have just lost me, my family and as many friends as possible as customers.
If I buy software as a home user I expect to be left with that software, with security updates. If I want more features, a new PC tune up tool, or similar, then I will buy a new version.
For now however, Symantec can suck my rather large cock. I will be going to the numerous, less resource intensive, free antivirus and firewall options out there.
I do not know how Symantec can even try and sell their product for £60, especially when you consider the American version is, wait for it, $60, with a regular 50% discount, meaning overseas they are expected to pay around £15.
On top of these blatent rip off prices they do not even give you the latest version of the software, my renewal only giving me security updates, not product updates. For an extra £5 however they will allow me to use their latest software, as long as I keep paying them that additional £60.
So on top of us having to pay a value which takes the UK and US exchange rate as 1:1, we also fail to benefit from their discounts.
Goodbye Norton, Goodbye Symantec, Price gouging has pissed me off royally, so I am bidding thee farewell.
I hope your company burns to the ground.
Bring on the free software!
Rambled About by Oli at 2:44 pm 0 Layabouts
24 October 2009
Currently in Amsterdam
Amsterdam, the city of red lights, green lights, and waggamamma. Yes, I am there!
My fiancee and I have toured a fair amount of the city, from the small markets, to the red light district. The red light district is not as seedy as I expected, the window girls have their underwear on, I have not been mugged yet, but the smoking is FANTASTIC!
Anyhow, I will be returning shortly with a more indepth story of my times here!
Rambled About by Oli at 10:34 am 1 Layabouts
10 October 2009
08 October 2009
It's been a while!
My posts seem to have slipped from the daily, to the weekly and finally to the monthly. This is not intentional, but my life has slipped in to a slight ditch of monotony, with factory work, sleeping, and eating comprising the majority of my time. While I do try to stay on top of things it is not always easy, especially when I am trying to foster a writing career.
So I guess I should fill my few remaining readers in!
I have been accepted for the process on my new American visa, now I just have to prove that my relationship with Jade is real. Her website (http://www.myveganplanet.com) is doing really well right now, and she seems to be getting some good freelance catering work sorted.
Apart from the boredom, and spending 3 months away from the woman I love, things are pretty much ok, while my life may not directly be progressing anywhere, things are moving forward for my future life in America onwards.
Oh, and Manic, give me access to your blog!
If you want to see something pretty funny, check out http://thejagster.blogspot.com/ for the latest post, which shows a chav getting knocked to the floor by a man who he had been verbaly abusing and pushing for nearly three minutes. The chav who acted so hard gets knocked to the ground in one punch, and then crawls away, not quite so up for the fight as he had been moments before.
Rambled About by Oli at 11:42 am 1 Layabouts
01 July 2009
So the Post Office Won't be Sold.
"Jesus Christ" I thought to myself this morning, when for the first time I found out that they were going to sell the post office. I mean if the government has not learnt from the mistakes of the Thatcher era sell offs, how it bankrupt our country and skyrocketted our taxes (Despite being meant to reduce them) then I really should despair.
Rambled About by Oli at 8:06 pm 1 Layabouts
Labels: Government
19 June 2009
Concertanation
While the American thing may not have gone to plan right off the bat things are still progressing and I will be heading out over that way soon enough.
Rambled About by Oli at 2:28 pm 0 Layabouts
31 May 2009
Made me chuckle
Things have been pretty busy over here, I have been working hard to get a lot of sites back in to some semblance of order, with a little success on some fronts.
Rambled About by Oli at 5:49 pm 0 Layabouts
26 May 2009
Pink
So after the drab nine months of British summer I was pleased to look outside and find a beautiful sunny day presiding over the city of York. This prompted me to put on my summer attire (Something similair to my winter attire but without a t-shirt) and sit outside.
Rambled About by Oli at 4:39 pm 0 Layabouts
06 May 2009
American Customs
Had a nightmare with American customs, will fill in the details shortly, for now however I am back in the UK, and will soon be looking in to getting my freelance writing on full time, wish me luck!
Rambled About by Oli at 4:01 pm 0 Layabouts
18 March 2009
Texas Sunshine
After 8 months of miserable weather it finally seems that Britain has once more reached that sunny plateau that is the British summer. The sun I shining, the air is warm and the landscape is beautiful. This two week period that is British Summer time is the rare period of time within which you can enjoy the United Kingdom amidst the ravages of the average British weather. It's this time of the year that heralds the start of the after work pint, sitting outside and absorbing the rays while they last. Of course in less than 2 months I will be in Texas, where the sun is infinitely more prevalent. However in Texas it lacks the soft cool breeze which keeps the body temperature down under the sunlight. That does not exist over there, I will burn, horribly. Of course what I really am looking forward to in Texas is the evenings, when the sun is close to setting, the air is warm and you can drink the night away till the early hours. This, to me at any rate, seems like heaven, I love that kind of atmosphere and really hope it is how I imagine over there. In more serious news, the government has responded to their lack of money by printing off £70 billion. This has pretty much completely f'ed over the UK economy even more with some completely idiotic short sightedness. I hate to say it but I am glad to be leaving this country while we have such a collection of incompetents in charge of our country!
Rambled About by Oli at 7:45 pm 0 Layabouts
08 March 2009
The Weekend
I spent this entire weekend, up until now chilling. This has been just what I needed, relaxing with my girlfriend, sleeping the day away and eating to excess. The last couple of months have left me feeling a little stressed, my trip to America coupled with handing in my notice during a recession are just some of the things playing on my mind. I know it is gonna be a great thing bit the build up to it requires a lot of work!
The life I lead is about to come to an end, leading me to warmer climates, big city life and a girlfriend who is one of the sweetest things to happen to me.
Rambled About by Oli at 12:36 pm 0 Layabouts
18 February 2009
Going in to Freelancing Full Time!
Well, pretty soon it may be the final encore of this blog that has seen me through my years as an office worker, I am moving with my girlfriend to texas and will be persuing my career as a (Skint) freelance writer. This will involve me grovelling around the internet for freelance work while championing my own websites such as My Vegan Planet, Geekywood, Freelance Writing and I'm a Pundit.
These websites bring me in a little easch month, and by working harder on these and other websites I think I can make a passable income on my own, in a warmer climate, because lets face it everyone, England is going to shit.
With our incompetant government, increasingly grey weather and so many pussy ass whiney bitches complainging about their own self absorbed worries without seeing teh bigger picture (Animal rights etc - get a life)
So with that in mind I am going travelling, working for myself and will be waving goodbye to my job and country.
I will miss the security of the day job, but to be honest I want to do something where I don't wake up every morning to teh same old routine.
On that note, I will be shortly setting up a donate button, because lets face it, i'm gonna fucking need it!
Rambled About by Oli at 11:17 pm 5 Layabouts
Labels: Quit My Job
21 January 2009
A Quick Though
The TV licence pays for a lot of the BT entertainment services, including BBC Radio, so could someone please tell me why the fuck 90% of the time the music played for anyone under the age of 6 is also played soley for people under the age of 16, who coincidentally pay sweet fuck all.
Rambled About by Oli at 11:10 pm 4 Layabouts
Hilarious Blog
A quick shout out, blog out or write out, of one of the funniest blogs I have read in a fair long time.
Check out http://of-course.co.uk/blog/serendipity.php
Particularly This Post
I have some big news coming up soon, have to keep it under wraps for now though, you will however be seeing more regular updates and a big change in tone!
Rambled About by Oli at 10:50 pm 3 Layabouts
04 January 2009
Update
I apologise for the scarcity of posts on my blog in recent months, things have been a little busy with a new girlfriend and plenty of new projects to keep me busy, I promise to try and update more regularly in the coming year but untill then I hope you had a happy Christmas and a booze filled New Year!
Rambled About by Oli at 3:56 pm 3 Layabouts
19 November 2008
Since I am so good at shamelessly plugging websites I though I would mention a new website I have set up called My Vegan Planet.
This site is as the name suggests a vegan website that provides an ever increasing number of healthy vegan recipes from different locations around the world.
Now I know I have slated vegetarians and vegans in the past, but now I am going out with one so if I did not agree with them I would get a slap so I am now more understanding to their reasoning. Besides, my girlfriend isn’t one of those namby pamby idiotic vegans, but rather one who does it for dietary reasons.
As it so happens my girlfriend is infact the author of this site, since she is a professional chef and has spent a lot of time working in raw food and vegan kitchens, giving her a great insight into vegan recipes and some fantastic tips for people new to the vegan world.
So take a look at My Vegan Planet now and Digg, Stumble, add to Technorati faves and advertise on your blogs please so I can become a successful millionaire off the backs of the greenies to help me start promoting the worthy vegan dietary cause!
Rambled About by Oli at 3:30 pm 1 Layabouts
Labels: Websites