Norman Ralph

I am writing this from the WordPress app for my recently acquired iPhone.

I have been a Blackberry user for almost three years now (I still am) and have long been a fan of the full qwerty keyboard they offer, the enterprise trade security and the rioters’ tool of choice, Blackberry Messenger (BBM).

However, since I got an iPhone as a replacement for my iPod, I have been quite impressed. It feels fast and agile yet manages to accomplish most tasks I throw at it. I still feel that the touchscreen keyboard is less reliable and slower to use than the full tactile keyboard offered by the RIM rivals.having said that the corrective text algorithms on the Apple device are pretty good even when typing gibberish. The lack of flexibility in terms of apps and personalisation is something that Android users take issue with and rightly so, however with me coming from Blackberry there was less of an impact there. In my opinion the lack of freedom is probably almost balanced by security and peace of mind, although as a fan of freedom, the balance is on the right track but is definitely not there yet!

I currently am using a Blackberry Bold as my day to day communications device and primary hand held email platform and the iPhone 4 as my social media and media (including games) device. My Blackberry contract is up in March and I am torn as to whether to replace it with another one or contemplate a standard back up phone.

The site is now 4 years old! Well officially the anniversary of my first post is on the 26th March but today is the 4th anniversary of the launch of all the back end gubbins.

There have been plenty of ups and downs over the years but my relationship with you, the readers of this site, is now longer than any real life relationship I’ve had so far. Many would say that was a little sad, but I am quite proud. When I kicked off in 2007 I never envisaged I would still be writing stuff on here.

Here is to another 4 years of happy posting. One day I will work out exactly what sort of content fits the site best.

This post is just a quick update to tease visitors to my site with a glimpse at a project I am currently working on. I will be releasing more information over the next couple of weeks, but it is big news and represents quite a shift for me.

At the moment, all I can say is that The No Man will be making a comeback, but not in the guise many will expect!

For those that don’t know what I’m talking about all will become clear soon enough. The No Man is a moniker that was given to me when I decided that there wasn’t enough democracy at the student union at the University of Leeds as every referendum motion and other political action was left unopposed.

Keep your eyes on the site as I will be posting updates on this until we go for the big announcement!

I will dispense with the normal “sorry I haven’t posted in ages, I was busy” excuses because even though I have been busy, I have had free time enough to blog but I just have not done so. The main reason has been due to the fact that thinking up articles and getting them posted has not been top of my priority list for the last couple of months and with my Twitter feed syndicating up here every week, it hardly felt worth it to re-hash the mundane activities I partake in on a day to day basis.

Having said all that, I do have a couple of articles I want to put up as soon as I have finished them inspired by the Harvard University humanist chaplain, Greg Epstein (author of Good Without God) whom I got to go and see courtesy of the BHA last month. The focus of these articles are similar to a couple of articles I have published in the past on marketing the humanist brand and developing the non-religious “product”.

I also have the article series I promised back in January to post which was delayed for a number of reasons, not least some issues over the leaking of my blog’s existence to the powers that be as well as the break-up of my relationship.

Normanralph.com is now three years old. It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride, both for the site and me personally.

We have been through three site redesigns, several changes of direction and a lot of stuff has been written about a lot of subjects.

I hope you have enjoyed the last three years’ worth of content and I am confident that we will see another three years of content to come!

I have had a quotes widget in my sidebar for a few weeks now with around 30 quotes randomly displaying once every 25 seconds or so. At the moment the quotes are mainly on atheist and humanist topics or from some of my favourite speakers/writers but I am looking to build up the collection to around 100.

If you have any ideas or favourite quotes you would liek to see on the site then you can comment at the bottom of this post or send them via email on my contacts page.

Thanks!

I am using this site less and less to update the blogosphere of my daily activities, so I think a change of direction is necessary to make sure that this site doesn’t become a ghost town.

I haven’t blogged in a while so i will just bring everyone up to date:

1) I have had to take some time out from my studies to address a few situations, namely my finances. This credit crunch is a real bitch. Sidetracking slightly, why is it a credit crunch exactly? What’s crunching?

2) As a result of my sabbatical from university, I have had to step down from my roles within both the AHS and Leeds Atheist Society. This was a massive disappointment for me as long term readers will be aware I have been involved with both organisation since their inception. I hope to contine playing a role in some sort of capacity, even if just as a regular old member. The main issue being my need to give the leadership room to develop their own style and direction.

3) I have gone full time with my job at O2. I am now a performance adviser and basically I do the same job, with more responsibility for no extra reward. Well I technically get increased job satisfaction and a job i enjoy most of the time, but not exactly going to make a dent in the old finances!

4) I have moved in with Liz, just the two of us, into a nice little cottage in the Seacroft area of Leeds. It is one of the original village buildings from before they added all the council estates that now mean that Seacroft is a suburb of Leeds rather than its own little village.

5) As a result of the above, I have less than I used to to write about on here, hence the need for a wholsesale change in direction.

I would like to start concentrating on developing a few ideas I have for essays and the like on my particular subjects of choice, i.e. management, secularism, atheism and humanism. Some of this blog is going to get dedicated to that and related stuff, like pics, tweets etc. I also think I am going to put some more syndications on here, sharing posts and ideas by other atheist writers, bloggers and speakers.

I have also started thinking recently about whether there is scope to get more involved in actually devleoping the atheist movement into one that makes a real difference. Chris has focussed in on Humanist Action Group and is working towards turning that into a real charity. Whilst I could piggy back on to that, I wonder whether I could ever really make a difference. My areas of interest is with young people, I think it with this group that real difference can be made. I used to do a lot of work with Lancashire County Council and their youth and community section. I was involved in a number of youth participation programmes too. I also wonder whether I could use some of my contacts in parliament to do soemthing with lobbying and maje a difference that way.

Well as you can see, there are a number of directions this blog could take. I don’t know yet which one I fancy, or which one will come to fruition. Maybe inspiration will hit me, or maybe I will try all of them until I get one that works!

That’s right folks, normanralph.com is two years old today!

I am actually a little shocked about that fact to be honest. I really didn’t think when I posted that very first time that I would still be blogging two years later!

A lot has happened in thos two years, although not as much as maybe I had hoped for really. I am still studying, working for not a huge amount of money, living like a student, still rather hefty in shape but then I have developed a long term relationship, learned so much about so many things through uni and work, formed and run a national representational organisation, set the ground work for a charitable venture (more on that in the future, it’s all a bit hush hush at the moment) and made some great new friends.

Anyway, it’s cake time now!

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that your usual array of witty (ish), topical banter was unavailable for the last few days and was replaced by some rather unimaginative “filler” page.

It was all due to a ridiculous error made by a generally good company which has all now been resolved, although not without a significant tearing of hair and bashing of keyboard.

As you will no doubt have realised whilst reading this new post, that the issue is fully sorted and the wonders of normanralph.com are back!