www.curve.org.uk/blog

I've been delving into the complexities of trying to improve Google page rankings on a few of the websites I look after today, including my own.  It's amazing how much things can improve with just a few tweaks and changes.

So hopefully in the next week, Property Facets, Patricia Lovett and my own Ashtonstables Web Solutions websites will be right up there in the heady heights of Google page rankings!

If you watched the first Short, I hope you enjoyed my dance moves - and if you didn't I bet you're intrigued now  ;-)

This second short contains slightly less messing around, and a lot more of the wonderful love of Jesus being lived out in the most challenging of places.

From a bunch of fools in London, to the amazing Kelly Greene, in Boystown Mexico:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!  And thanks to all those who posted messages on Facebook  ;-)

I've been fortunate enough to have three rather nice early birthday presents this year.  First off was seeing Bloc Party at HMV Oxford Circus.  I initially thought entrance to the gig was for a lucky few who had queued for hours in the early morning, but found that I could just pitch up!  So at six on Monday evening I was enjoying a half hour set from one of my favourite bands for free!

My brother Phil then popped over during the week to deliver a bike I'm buying off him, plus some very nice lights and locks to complete the set.  Hooray for good presents!

And finally, to finish off the early treats, I popped to a whisky bar in London, recommended by Phil, at the five star Athenaeum Hotel just near Green Park.  After investing in a wonderful glass of Port Ellen 25yr old Islay whisky I felt considerably poorer financially, but all the richer for the experience.  Carla and Charlotte lapped up the ambiance - and and extremley nice cocktail - with me.

So, more on Norway soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd drive some more traffic to a project I've been working on for 24-7 over the last few months, called '24-7 Shorts'.

This amazing set of mini documentaries tell the story of some of the things God is doing through the movement at the moment, and have been produced to a really high standard by a friend of 24-7 in the States.  So, check out the first instalment here, or head on over to www.24-7shorts.com at your leisure!

Enjoy...

With Shirls and my imminent trip to Tromso in Norway, we've been looking at the predictions for aurora activity.  It's looking like we could have a particularly good night on October 1st!

All we have to do now is pray for no clouds  ;-)

REALLY looking forward to a break!

I recently joined the prayer ministry leadership in Greyfriars, and one of my first tasks was to lead a session on the power and authority of God in healing ministry.  Hopefully I wasn't too heretical  ;-)

I personally found it really helpful to dwell on the topic for a couple of weeks - and yet again was challenged about my prayer life.  How much we need to see what the Father is doing!

If you'd like to read some of my thoughts, you can follow this link to a pdf of my powerpoint slides and notes.

== Please note that these are personal reflections, not necessarily the views of my church! ==

To support myself in this little charity worker lark I'm involved in, I set aside a day (in hours, at least) to work on websites for small to mid-sized businesses, under the company name 'Ashtonstables'.

I finally manged to set aside some time to work on my own website over the last couple of weeks.  I'd had an idea floating around my brain for some time, to base the site around a laid paper background.  I wanted to reflect the fact that I deliver high quality websites, using a graphical metaphor to enhance the website text.  The starting point of the paper lead to some photography of a very nice ink pen my father gave me, and some menu headings written with the same pen.  Hopefully the result conveys what I was trying to acheive!

You can see the new website here - and of course please do get in touch if you need any work doing.

Hmm, like Carla, it seems that the word 'time' is too much of a highlight on my blog.  And of course this post is emphasising that!  Check out Wordle though, its a great web app...

So, there I am, sitting on the sofa catching up on a few emails, when Shirls calls and says "can you see the sun?"

It turns out this isn't a trick question, and minutes later I'm dashing around the house trying to find something I can look through to look at our latest partial eclipse.  It turns out that my viewing glasses from the last total eclipse have disappeared into piles of stuff so deep that it'll take me until the next millennium to find them, so I end up improvising with several layers of film negatives (kids, don't try this at home!).

I even managed to get a (very amateur) shot with the camera...

...perhaps I should be better prepared next time  ;)

I'm sat in the 24-7 office in London listening to one of my favourite bands, Idaho.  How's this for great lyrics:
"When you get in your car, you always seem to drive some place."
From there I got thinking about The Cure:
"Let me take your hands I'm shaking like milk".
Hooray for wonderful music.  Brightens up my life on an otherwise dreary day  :-)