I gone done and did it. Again. (and yes, I am quite aware of how many grammar rules the first sentence breaks. I also know this footnote should not have started with “and”).
Henceforth, my personal blog exists at the following location;
This will be the last time such a move takes place. After something like 8 years of writing a blog of various sorts online, this is the first time I have purchased a domain name specifically for a personal blog. I am also moving my technical blog to it’s own home online, although that’s another subject for another time.
The reasons for this final move are many. When I began picking up freelance work some months ago, I had reduced my online “footprint” significantly – giving some projects away (PluggedOut comes to mind), putting some projects on life support (ThoughtCafe), and closing accounts all over the place (Posterous, Tumblr, MySpace).
I had not considered that the traces I leave on the internet – my words, photos, thoughts, views, and crackpot opinions – would be read by those who might one day hire my services. It therefore became obvious that if I choose to participate in the blogosphere, I need to do it on my own terms. I need to have my own websites which extend the little brand and influence I have beyond the bounds of the work that I do.
If you start to see me taking more care with the words and photographs I am sharing, it’s entirely intentional.
In blogging terms, after eight years I guess I’m finally growing up.
It’s not actually a “theme” as such yet – just an HTML and CSS file sat on my hard drive that I came up with over lunch. You can click on the image to see the full size one in Flickr…
I will neither confirm or deny that this will take over from my personal blog at some point over the next couple of weeks 
Over the last eight or nine years I have “existed” in many forms on the internet – a member of Compuserve, a contributor to bulletin boards, a sometime usenet evangelist, a personal blogger, a professional blogger, and a member of countless social networks and instant messaging systems.
Throughout my online journey, I never considered the vehicle carrying my thoughts, words and photographs as important.
Perhaps I got it all wrong. Perhaps I should have a domain of my own – a place that becomes known as “the site where that guy writes who knows all that stuff, and somehow finds time for a family too“.
Discovering that people actively follow the thoughts I record and share should perhaps have been a clue. The pure fact that people followed me through changes of web address – from one blog platform to another – should have been an even bigger clue.
I don’t know what to do.
If I invest time and effort into growing my own brand – as well as helping others do the same (through my freelance activities), is it not just shouting “ME TOO!” ?
Footnote – I will neither confirm or deny that I may have purchased the domain and hosting for “www.cheeseandbeans.com” while having a coffee earlier…
I couldn’t figure out how to attach the digital camera to myself in order to shoot video on the way to work (I’ll probably have to buy a bracket for the bike or something), so I did the next best thing – and got the iPhone out of my pocket every 1/4 mile or so. Enjoy…
Here’s Wendy telling me that our clever new car is telling her there may be ice on the ground…
Leaving with the kids for the school run (I ride a mountain bike to work)…
Off through the suburban streets of small town England…
Past big houses where important people used to live – now filled with new media companies…
Some random road junction along the way…
And suddenly we are out in the fields – away from the town…
Into the estate where the office hides in a quiet corner…
Past the trees I have photographed so many times before…
Past the big house where somebody very important probably lived a long time ago…
And finally stood on the steps of the office, looking back down the estate…
In summary, isn’t the iPhone camera rubbish!?
If you have ever wondered just how much crap I spew out onto the internet, wonder no more.
Here’s the link to the “Jonathan Beckett” firehose…
Enjoy.
If you have no idea about the above service, Friendfeed allows you to aggregate anything you do that has a feed into one big super-stream of your junk. It’s fun! Try it!
