VYou: An introduction

March 24, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Do you ever stumble upon a new website, and you just end up spending all your time on it?

*puts hand up*

I have. I have came across VYou this week, and I have been playing around on the site all week. The concept of the site, is that it’s a little like FormSpring, where you answer questions that other people ask you. The difference is that on VYou, the answers you give are short videos. It is a new site, and from what I understand it is still in Beta format, so there are still improvements to go. It is one thing to bare in mind when you use any new sites, go in there with the knowlege that there may still be some niggles around.

But to be honest, after playing around on the site solidly for the last few days, I can say that it seems pretty flawless for me. But saying that I have only answered a few questions, myself. It seems a lot of people have been introduced to the site by watching various Youtubers, I for instance, heard of it mentioned by Alex Day (Nerimon) and then saw other people who I follow on YouTube (Hank and John Green & Wheezy Waiter) so I watched a few of their responses, and decided to start my own account.

The ideas is that people ask a question in the comment box below the video, and if the user has already recorded the answer, you get played that video. If there isn’t an answer, the question gets sent to the user, so they can film a response.

Its pretty simple, and should stop the same answers coming up again and again (something formspring doesn’t have). When you start watching other peoples replies and start filming your own, it is easy to start using the site a lot. There is no nastiness, and it seems to be bring about the community feeling that has been lacking in a lot of social networking sites recently.

So check it out, you don’t even need to have an account to view answers or start asking questions, but it’s a lot more fun when you do sign up. Head over to VYou now, and check it out.

Posi-Day 5: It’s Monday, Not Moanday

March 21, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So still going strong. I am feeling a bit low today, but I am focusing on topics that make me happy. I am aware that over the next month or so, as I do this project thing, I know there is maybe a lack of substance of my input. This isn’t something I feel I should have to apologise for, as this is something important to me and my development.

The main reason I decided to do this, is because I have recently been talking about how a person can’t complain about their situation, if they don’t try anything to try and fix it. So, in keeping with that thought, I decided to try and kick my negative attitude to the curb. Depression is something that I have struggled with for most of my adult life, albeit in varying levels. I started thinking that part of the issue was that my brain was trained to think bad of life. I mean everywhere you go, someone is moaning about something, and that has to have an effect on you.

So the PMA thing is really about retraining yourself, in how you think. It is harder than what you may think. It’s like, if you are faced with a negative situation, you have to try and look at a positive about that situation. I’ll be honest, it isn’t something that comes easy to me, as over the years I find that I have become a cynic about everything. So, I am really having to work hard on this.

I really do think, that even after just 5 days, I am getting a little bit more optimistic. I am finding it easier to get up and do things, rather than lying in bed thinking ‘what’s the point’. And that is a huge improvement for me. I know I am gonna have days where I may find it impossible to be positive, but I just need to keep faith, that it will pick up again, and keep my head up.

Posi-day 4: I Have A Creep

March 20, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

There is a girl, who has sent me 8 stalker-style emails in the last few days. And for some odd reason, instead of panicking, I kinda just thought ‘why’.

Isn’t having a creep something that happens to famous people? Or at least someone who has at least some kind of following through the interwebs. I, obviously, have none of that, so I just became very confused. As much as I would like to be able to convince myself that I do have some kind of infamy, but I don’t think it would be in the kind of area that would warrant creep followship. In fact, does anything warrant creep followship. Probably not, it is rather unnerving.

I don’t want to think that people are looking at my internet output, and trying to read some deep meaning into it. Which is happening, by The Creep. I mean, I may occasionally talk in depth about something that means a lot to me, but most of the time I ramble about stuff even my own mother doesn’t care about. Which is a lot. There is a HUGE interest gap between me and my mother.

This girl is from Osaka, Japan. She does write pretty good English, and I don’t really thing she means to bewilder me so much. I think I am also iffy about the whole situation, because I am on EVERY social network going, so I don’t understand why someone would send emails instead. *shrugs* The whole ‘wish I could be your IRL BFF’, did freak me out, but I’m trying to be flattered by it instead. Like, think of the positive aspects, and not automatically jump to the negative.

In all seriousness, Kaimi is a lovely girl, and she is so so nice. I feel privileged to have you as my ‘creeper’. ❤

Posi-Day 3: Gladerday

March 19, 2011March 19, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

The last 24 hours have seen me have to actually try with the positivity levels. And, for it being only a few days into this PMA thing, I feel like I coped quite well.

Last night I saw people being nasty about other people, and doing things they consider to be a waste of time. And it seemed like everyone I came into contact with was hell bent on moaning about something. Now, I am not against free-speech, and people should be able to express what they are feeling, so that their angst doesn’t built into something unhealthy. But, it seems people look on things in ways so they are focusing on the failures, rather than the whole ‘silver lining’ aspect.

When you are trying to force yourself away from such thinking, it is a moment when you want to bash your head with a wall, or something equally hard. It is frustrating. And I never realised how negative people were until I started trying to think another way, and I think people would be surprised.

Anyways, I tried to put out reasons why peoples gripes were good, and not as bad as they thought, but I don’t think I was listened to. But, along with PMA, I am trying to not become overly involved with things I can directly do anything about. So I have been saying my part, and then backing away without getting to involved.

So far its working ok, but I have to keep on catching myself before I do say anything bad. It’s a lot of effort, which is why I don’t think most people just don’t bother changing their attitude at all.

Posi-Day 2: Friday Feeling

March 18, 2011March 18, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

Still working on this positivity thing.
So I have been up, and trying to keep myself motivated, with this tidying malarkey. It is something that I find farely hard to keep motivated and positive about. I hate housework with a passion, and just end up losing my temper with the whole thing.

But, doing the ol’ ‘take a deep breath’ routine, and trying to keep on going.
It is working.
But it is a very slow process.

But anyway, it is certainly more fun when you do look on the positive. 🙂 I am in a better mood with everything, even going to work, I am not to bothered about going in. I am going in with the idea that I am there to help people, and that is what I’ll do, rather than thinking about being in a stuffy call centre on a Friday night. So, although it doesn’t sound like much, it does make a HUGE difference.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

Winston Churchill

Posi-Day 1–Caffine Overload

March 17, 2011March 17, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

So.
New thing, inspired by the wonderful people I spend my life talking to, and to my work who is ‘pushing the positive’ at the moment. I am giving it a solid attempt to wipe the negativity out of my life. I am aware it may sound a little lame, but it is proven that if you look on the positive side of life, then you will find more positive things will happen to you.

So, I am trying to see if that works.
Now, right now, due to a severe lack of sleep and too much coffee, it is very easy to be positive. In fact, I am bouncing of the walls with hyperness. Whilst I know I am not the best at achieving things, I am trying to set myself small tasks, which will ultimately lead up to a bigger goal. So that will also see more positives, as I am more likely to achieve these small tasks, and that makes me happier.

And also, I am trying to focus on what is in front of me, and not what I know is happening elsewhere. Whilst I know this seems selfish, but I have always spent way too much of my time worrying about things I can do nothing about. So by worrying about things I can change, I am hoping that I will be moved to change things.

An example about small change, is my weight. I usually get depressed, because I have always had the physique of a sack of potatoes. But, what I am trying to do, is rather than focus on that, do little things, such as walking to work everyday, and focus on how good that makes me feel, rather the fact that I can’t drop a few pounds. The hope is, that if I can get myself feeling positive about exercise, I will actually have an urge to go out for a run or something. Again, it’s going to take time to see if that works.

Best Performing Browsers on My PC

March 16, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

1) Firefox RC 4

2) Google Chrome

3) Opera 11

4) Apple Safari 5

5) Microsoft Internet Explorer 8

I am slightly biased when it comes to Firefox, as have been an avid user for years. This latest release, has the browser going into Chrome territory, with a very minimalist look. But where Mozilla has it right, is where within 30 seconds, a user can locate how to add that menu bar to the top of their page. Also, Firefox is known for the thousands of add-ons that can be used on the browser. Everything from news-tickers to colour-pickers. Also Firefox is still customisable, with the user being able to select a skin for their browser, again with thousands to choose from. This new version is taking Firefox back into the forefront of the browser-battles. It runs a lot smoother and faster than previous versions.

Chrome, like Firefox, is very fast. But it loses out when it struggles on sites which contain video, it becomes very glitchy, and this can happen when the browser deals with anything Flash. I feel that Chrome is over-simple, where there are no options to add a basic menu bar, which is handy when you have to appeal to people like my parents. Maybe there are options, but after half an hour of playing around, I can’t get the standard menu bar. It seems like Chrome is shunning the older web community, who may look for the familiarity of that File, Options, etc all at the top. Even IE has that. You can be as fast as you want, but usability should always be number 1 priority.

Opera, used to be on my Nokia mobile, which I think is where it is strongest, on mobile platforms. It brings everything up ok, but lags slightly behind Chrome and Firefox in regards of speed. The layout of Opera 11, is very similar to that of the new Firefox. It is clean, but not too basic, and you can easily add more options to the menu if needed.

Safari is different from the other browsers, in that the standard browser comes with a toolbar up and ready to go, with the user being able to easily further streamline the browser, or add basics, like the menu bar. The one thing I do want to mention about Safari is that when you open up a new tab in the browser, a selection of most popular sites visited pops up. It makes it easy to find certain websites, which I feel is a nice touch. It runs slightly slower than Opera, but people familiar with Apple software, will find comfort in the stylings of the browser.

And IE. Poor IE. I am running IE 8, because I don’t have the newest version of Vista or Windows 7, so I can’t download the RC for IE9. I don’t know if having the newer version would make any difference, but I hope it would. IE took several minutes to load, before it shut down. On second attempt it did start up ok, but was very slow compared to the other browsers. As basic as IE comes, it is very easy to add, or take away toolbars and menus as you require them.

But one thing to be said, is that all browsers are beginning to look the same. This is mostly due to the high success of Chrome and it’s simplistic layout. I know that I seem to have focused on finding the menu bar a lot, the reason is because I know older people (like my parents) who rely on that toolbar, because it is there in whatever software they are using. So when it is taken away (Chrome) they do get a little lost. And I know that is why they stick to IE, because they know their way around it.

What up?

March 15, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

This is a quick check in, as I do housework.
I have discovered that I have become the kind of person who likes to push the blame on other things, when I can’t get anything done.

It’s like when I don’t get something done, or I do it badly, I come up with a plethora of excuses about why I have not achieved. This is a habit that I think that most people fall into at some point. But, I need to start taking responsibility.
I can only change things, if I actually do something about it.

So, in a bid for that, in continuance for the job application spree from yesterday, I am tidying up. Yes, I am aware that sounds like nothing, but I need to organise things a little bit, so I can actually focus on work.
Yes, it WILL happen.

The Monotony of Self-Improvement

March 14, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

It’s official, searching for employment sucks.
(She says as if she is the only person in the world doing so.)

I have decided that working a meagre 25 hours a week is slowly turning me into the laziest person known to man. So, in a bid to kick me out of said rut, I have been applying for more work. I’ve decided that, even if it is another part-time job, but during the day, I’ll get more money. Ideally, I would be able to get a full time hours at my existing workplace, but that isn’t very likely at occurring. In fact, there is probably more chance of me getting a number 1 single, than getting more hours at work. -.-

And people say that finding a job is the hard bit. I have been working in the same call centre for about 4 and a half years, which now makes it my longest job. But other than attempting to get some overtime, nothing is happening. I decided that this year is the year for change, so because nothing is happening at my existing work, I am applying for other jobs. A full-time one would be nice, but I know there isn’t very many of those around at the moment. So, I have decided that I am OK with working two jobs, if that’s what is required.

See this whole making an effort to try and do things in life? It’s hard. :S

Abesence Makes Heart Grow Fonder

March 13, 2011March 13, 2011 ~ Sue ~ Leave a comment

I appologise for the lack of activity of late this week. I’d like to say it was because I have been so busy, but I hate lying, so I won’t.

The truth is that I have simply not a- felt the need to blog, and b- been near a computer long enough to type anything. So, this guilt-ridden post is coming from my phone, as I walk to a friends house, where I am going to watch Scotland beat England in the rugby. *cough* Sssshhh, I am a dreamer, let me dream.

But this is proof, that dispite what I am normally like, I can, in fact, multi-task. So bang goes that excuse for the future. :S Anyway, hope everyone is having a nice weekend that is more productive than mine.