It’s been a month, that’s for sure. I thought I would post some figures and the end of the month, So I could have a record of what I’ve done, and you if you wanted could get an insight into some of the things I do in a typical 30 day period.

• This is the 52nd Post to the blog this month

• According to Google Reader I look at 180 web feeds, and over the last 30 days I have read 6,911 items, starred 101 items, shared 10 items, and emailed 0 items.

That means on average i read around 230 items on the Internet a day just through google, the reality is it’s more like 300 a day during the week, and a lot less at the weekends. I don’t read them all, that would take up all my time, I scan headlines, read snippets and if i think it’s interesting star it for later. so i suppose I’ve read 101 interesting things

• Along side that I’ve read 46 weekend newspaper articles (well the weekends are slow!), manly since i’ve stopped buying newspapers and reading it all on the Internet.

• Google Web History, which is much more inaccurate, because it’s not setup on all browsers I use, says I’ve searched for 627 things, the top site I then go too being wikipedia. and apparently I search the Internet most at 9am.

• My Home email, is something I hardly use, I have 180 messages this month, I suspect most of them are junk or from facebook that i haven’t deleted yet. I dare not think what my work email is like.

• the digital camera has counted up 480 pictures this month: personally this one is my favourite

• I’ve read four books this month:
  • The Book of General Ignorance
  • The Tipping Point
  • A Complaint Free World
  • Blink
• I’ve been to 5 cultural things. (and yes I do count the 08 opening even though we left before it started)

• My facebook status has changed 32 times.

• I think I’ve had 19 days in work, which probably means around 100 cups of tea (in work) this month. and as anyone I work with will tell you I’ve made about 5 of them

I don’t think this an overly exceptional month for me. the blogging and the book reading are a bit abnormal, but the rest of it is just what I do on a day to day basis really.

Just finished Blink by Malcom Gladwell. This is his next book after The Tipping point which I read about three weeks ago. Unsurprisingly it’s very similar in style, and has the same type of quite interesting insights with Rambly bits in it. On the whole Malcom Gladwell books don’t give you amazing insight into how we think or what makes us tick, but they do lift the lid a little bit on the whole mysterious world of just how it all works.

The most interesting part of this book, was the references to the Harvard Implicit Association tests, that you can take on line. They show you just how scarily your brain is wired up in so for example how you associate careerer with male and how you probably have a preference for white faces over black no matter how much you think you don’t.

oh and apparently, when they changed the green on the 7-up can so it was a bit more yellow, people started to say it tasted nicer.

Next: I am re-reading Simplicity by Edward De Bono

I took some time at lunch time today, to absorb some more of the city’s culture. Me and a few others from the web team went to see and Hear Ben Johnston work on and talk about his latest painting. the “Liverpool City Scape”, I’ve blogged about this picture before, but today was the first day I’ve seen it. all be it from a distance of about 10 feet, because you can’t get close. it’s still not finished.

I’ll probably sound all pompous now, but listening to Ben talk about how he came to paint these types of painting and how he came to be painting in Liverpool was really interesting. I’m thinking I should start sending the designers (and even the developers) in the web team to art galleries. Not so they can start making websites that look like a cityscape, but it’s more of an indirect thing, when you see a group of people being so overtly creative, it rubs off and you leave feeling all creative. pity i then had back to back meetings for the rest of the day.

You can see the progress of the painting with this photo set, and they even have a webcam.

Some things I wondered on my way to work.

1. Why is there a kissing gate on Lime Street?
2. Is the new penny farthing the seediest pub in Liverpool?
3. what benefit is there in getting to town at 8:30 and then spending 30 minutes in a coffee bar?