My Google Plus review

I guess most of you have heard of Google+ by now.  Apparently it is the next big thing, facebook killer, or whatever...

Well, here's my two cents:

I love the graphics.  I don't know why, but I love crisp, clean graphics with bouncing icons.  It must be because I'm an Apple fanboy.  But as every Apple fanboy knows, it's not just about looks, but about functionality.  The functionality of Google+ is nice, but not great.  If I had never heard of facebook or twitter then I'd be over the moon, but I'm not.

From my (albeit limited) experience it seems to do what it promised to do.  But the question is whether or not I care?
Let's have a look at it feature by feature:
Circles: This is my favourite part of G+ it is nice to know that only the people that I select get to view my random status updates.  Yay.  But then facebook has had this ability for ages, it has just been too much hassle to use it.  Personally I use Better facebook which has given me the ability to do the same thing on facebook (just without the cool graphics)
Sparks: I don't care about this.  Sorry.
Chat: Opt-in chat is useless.  People are too lazy to opt-in.  If I want to chat to someone I have Skype, email, facebook and a telephone.
Hangouts: Group video chat sounds cool, but I'd be too worried about my hair and what is happening behind me to want to use this.  And when I do have my hair just right, the probability that someone else would have their hair just right at the same time is very remote.  So no, I wouldn't use this either.

But probably the most annoying thing for me is that there is zero integration with my Google mail account.  What's going on there?

So in conclusion:
Will Google+ replace Twitter?  Unlikely
Will Google+ replace Skype?  Unlikely
Will Google+ replace facebook?  Very unlikely, at least until G+ gets "Farm Town" or equivalent
Will I keep using Google+ beyond a month?  Honestly I don't know, only time will tell.

Thank you for tagging me

I’ve been Tagged! This get-to-know-you meme is going around the blogosphere, and now it is my turn. I was tagged by Katherine of A Beautiful Ramble.

Do you think you’re hot?
 - Yes, the last few weeks of May have been ridiculously hot.

Upload a picture or wallpaper that you’re using at the moment.

This was taken yesterday at Ela's (my daughter) Mother and Father's Day show.  It's a bit blurry around the edges, but that's fine.

When was the last time you ate chicken meat?
- I honestly don't know.  I prefer duck.

The song(s) you listened to recently.
- As I am writing this blog I am listening to 'Hearts on Fire' by Martine Locke.  The joys of iPod shuffling.

What were you thinking as you were doing this? I need to go to the toilet.
- Today my students filled in teacher review questionnaires.  I'm glad they think that I was always well prepared for the lesson :)

Do you have nicknames? What are they?
- It's possible.

Tag 8 blogging friends…
Fabryka Uśmiechów
Letters from the front
Freedom Colours
The Big Mock

Oops, something just hapened.  Maybe I will finish this post later...

My predictions for 2011

   It’s that time of year again.  The time of year that all sort of pundits come out and make predictions for the coming twelve months.  Some of these predictions are based on reality and some are not.  I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to jump in and join the fray.  The difference is that I at least have a little bit of control over my predictions…


   Sometime before the end of January we are all going to be happy and healthy.  The kids have been getting sick regularly since the beginning of pre-school, same with Jola.  Of course this was expected and thankfully we didn’t catch any of the bad bugs that have been floating around.  My son, Chris has recovered from his bout with bronchitis and that should be the end of all illnesses in our house for this year.
   By the end of February I intend to have finished the first edit of the book that I wrote for NanoWrimo last November.  I might even try to talk to a publisher.  Who knows?
   Sometime before March I will be accepted as a Polish citizen.  We sent in all of the application forms in the break between Christmas and New Years.  I don’t envisage any problems with this process, but the Polish bureaucratic process is often unfathomable.
   In April we will get a tax refund.  This money will go into our bank account as we continue to save up for a rainy day.  Also in April I need to apply for another Australian passport for Ela seeing as hers will expire then.
   In May and June we will have two birthday parties.  Ela will be six and Chris will be four.  Mostly I’m looking forward to not hearing Ela say “When I’m six I will be able to…”  I’m also looking forward to eating two cakes.
   At the end of June (or maybe the beginning of July) the regular school year will finish and I will be on holiday.  In fact I might even quit my job.  After having been a teacher for three years I will be looking forward to doing something different, maybe.  It’s just a prediction after all.
   In July and August I envision long summer days and maybe spending a few days in another country.  Jola will still be working (her contract finishes at the end of August) and we don’t yet know how much time (if any) she will get off over summer.


   Sometime around September we will return to Australia.


   The outlook for October, November and December is still not clear.  I have a few ideas regarding work, travel etc, but I honestly don’t know what we will be doing once we arrive in Australia.

Quest for the meaning of 'Lo'

This morning as I prepared to go to work I thought it would be best to check the thermometer.  As you can see the outside temperature was 'Lo.'  But, what does that mean?  I had no choice, I had to go outside and find out for myself!

So, the first thing I did was collect my defensive gear.  Today was a day for gloves and a beanie.  Lo, here I come!

At first I thought I would ride my trusty stallion, but on entering the carpark it could not be seen.  Wait, there it is in the middle hiding under the snow.  My stallion is cunning!

I turned to begin my quest for the meaning of 'Lo,' and Lo, there in front of me was my children's preschool.  I can only hope that my kids were sitting down to a warm breakfast.  But not me, I was on a quest!

 The early signs were not promising.  Perhaps I should have heeded this sign?  But my students were waiting for me, and so I had to press on.

Soon I came to a fork in the road.  Should I take the narrow road or the broad road?

I took the wide road and soon discovered that there was nowhere to rest in this quest for 'Lo.'

Unfortunately some other travellers were not as fortunate as I were...

When crossing the bridge that spanned the mighty river I could not help but notice another traveller distributing food to the birds that lay below the bridge.

Here is the sun rising as I cross the bridge.

 From below the bridge smoke could be seen rising from the murky waters below.

I pressed on...

 At this point I lost feeling in my legs.  It was if the little red man was controlling me!

 Here are some icicles.  In the background you can see the smoke stack for the communal heater.

 At this point I lost feeling in my cheeks.

 At last I see that I am nearing my destination

Only one more corner!

 When I look at this shopfront, I feel very sorry for the mannequins wearing nothing much...

At last I arrive at school.  Now I truly understand the meaning of 'Lo.'

I apologise for the low quality of the photo's.  I took all the pictures with my phone camera because that is the only camera I can operate whilst wearing my thick gloves.  You can click on the photo's for bigger, clearer images.
It was actually minus 22 degrees Celsius when I left home and my thermometer only reads down to minus 20.
Apparently the night before it was minus 27.  Cold eh?