Hiccup

His name’s Hiccup.

He was named by my eight year old son. It stuck because it was the fastest decision he has ever made. Like me, he is foxed by too much choice but this came so quick that the name stuck.

Hiccup also answers to Hicks, Hicksville, Pickup, Pickle, Picallilly, Picadilly Circus, Pixels, Pixelchicks and Pick and Mix.

But officially he’s Hiccup.

Going away with him over the last week was the first time I’d spent a whole week with him. And he’s awesome because:

1. He eats grapes. God he loves grapes. Also cheese.

2. He can go and get a toy if I ask him to. And he knows the difference between bone and toy, which may be useful. Not in my line of work, but I imagine.

3. He is sitting in between my feet right now. I think I should have always had a dog. They let you know when you’re doing the right thing, which if you’re as self-critical as me, is reassuring.

Happy New Year, anyway. It’s nice to be back. The point of this website is to put forth the best of things as and when, which is a loose brief but I’d less than honest if I didn’t tell you I’ve had a torrid time, health-wise. I’m still not feeling great, but I’m getting there. I’ve been off work for nearly three weeks when you count holidays and I normally write this stuff on the train, so there hasn’t been much posting or much to post about.

But I’m back with more middlebrow ruminations, observations, goings on, etc. So resolutions. I love to resolve. I do it every year. You can go back and look at other Januaries on this site and you’ll see I make them every year. I’m not sure it helps me much. I set these things and I’m no wiser. I’m no wiser even now, but here we go.

Exercise

I’m not running so much now – that started up because the dog – sorry, Hiccup – was hyperactive and I’ve learned a lot of that wasn’t because he was lacking exercise, but discipline and affection. He’s doing a lot better but walking on the leash is a big part of discipline, so I’m not running so much now. But I’m still exercising and working from home and I want to keep doing that. I turned thirty seven a couple of weeks ago and I want to stay healthy.

Reading

I set this one last year and I read some great books, including The Pleasure Of My Company, If Nobody Speaks Of Remarkable Things, Mark Twain’s Joan Of Arc and The Killer Angels. (Those are two separate books, by the way, indivisible by the British lack of a serial comma, although Joan Of Arc And The Killer Angels is a book I’d definitely pick up.)

TV

Most of what I watch is stuff I have recorded, and I rarely watch live TV anymore. It’s an on demand world, my friends, you know it and I know it. I get into a series or two (currently Rules Of Engagement) and I’ll watch a bit of everything else, although mostly documentaries. But TV is there when I need it, not there if I want it.

Web

This is a biggie because I can get overwhelmed at the amount of content out there. I love the internet and I use it pretty efficiently.

I had a conversation with someone a generation above me last week when I expressed an interest at a place we’d been visiting. “I’ve got a book about that somewhere. I’ll let you have it.” I was already making a mental note to look it up on line while she was raking her brains wondering where the book was. “It’s OK,” I said, “I’ll look it up.”

Really it was only a passing interest and a book wold have been too much. Then there’s how to get the book to me and when I would find time to read it and how I would return it. I’m online all the time. I can flick my phone one and in five minutes my curiosity will be sated. I get information in different ways.

I still read books, but if I want to find something out, the web’s the first port of call before I borrow books off people. And even then, I realise a lot of what I consume online is just noise. I have to keep up with industry stuff yes, but am I really going to read through my subscription to the New York Times humour feed? No. No I am not.

So goodbye. Bye to Reuters Technews, so long feed of feeds of blogs run by people who work at the BBC. I can’t even remember why I signed up for that one – it’s ridiculous. Later to my feed of Facebook notifications. Explain that one to me. A feed of updates which I get emailed and appear on my Facebook profile? What was I thinking?

Two things though, and I know I rarely do this, but of those I’m going to keep reading (and there are many more worth keeping than I actually am going to hold on to) are Steakhouse Blues and A Little Bit Of Wisdom in Every Box. SB is brilliantly written by a manager of a steakhouse. I don’t know him, and have never been in touch, and while the vegetarian in me dislikes him intensely, the writer in me – no, that dislikes him to. But only partly, because he writes so well. This one about Christmas is just one of many I’d recommend.

ALBOWIEB is another top read which survives the cull. It’s written by Sam, who I’m on email terms with and readers will know from the forums. And he’s young. I’ve known the internet only my adult life, and when he says “we’ve been emailing each other since we were kids, ten years now” he actually means it. So when he writes an open letter to 2009, it’s funny, thoughtful, original – seriously, watch this guy.

So a blog cull none the less. It’s hard enough producing this stuff and I really need the continuity of a series or a book. I’m going to try the symphony, not the riffs, for a while. I don’t think I’ll really miss anything.

Nice to have you back here, though, obviously.