Michele Neylon :: Pensieri

I love seeing businesses embracing the web. When an offline service goes online it can make things much easier for its users.

This morning I was playing catch up on the various utility statements that had arrived over the last couple of weeks and happily dumping the useless junk that had been packed into the envelopes. I’m glad I did, as I found a rather nice letter from the company that collects my rubbish, AES. They’ve finally gone online!

Registration took a couple of minutes and now I have access to a lot of useful information that will save me time and headaches.

Once you’ve signed up for an online account you can access the online portal:

AES Online Account Summary

What it’s particularly handy is that you can easily download copies of invoices and also see when your bins were last collected.

Bin Collection Summary

This may not be as “exciting” as some online services, but prior to this getting copies of invoices etc., for the accountant was painful.

Of course since January 2012 the tax relief on bin charges has been cut by the government, but if you’re keeping an eye on your household running costs then the online portal is still useful.

Maybe now they’ll stop sending me so much dead tree!

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I’ve always been quite cynical about making New Year’s resolutions, as I know all too well that most of us break them pretty quickly.

This year, however, I’ve made a personal commitment to improving some aspects of my personal life. The most obvious one is my health. When I lived in Milan I walked a lot and I probably ate a lot better. Sure, I wasn’t exactly watching every calorie, but when it’s so easy to get your hands on good quality fresh fruit and vegetables etc., it’s hard not to eat reasonably well without even trying.

These days I live in a country that has embraced the concept of the breakfast roll!

I don’t walk much and spend most of my day in front of a computer screen.

End result is that I’ve been putting on weight for the last few years and it’s simply got to stop.

I’ll never be one of those rakishly thin or superfit people. I should, however, be a lot slimmer than I currently am and let’s face it – the choice of tshirts in XXXL isn’t exactly stellar!

So this week I started a new diet and general regime. Since I’m a bit of a geek I’ll be blogging about my experiences and my progress (or complete lack of it), though I won’t be doing it here. If you’re bored you can read about my efforts to switch to a better diet and drop a few kilos over here.

So far I’ve chosen a diet from Tesco’s online dieting service and my kitchen is currently packed full of fresh vegetables and fruit. (On a sidenote, this means that I’ll really have to spend a couple of hours later today re-organising the fridge and cupboards, as the current chaos is too much even for me).

One of the biggest challenges will be maintaining a good diet when I’m travelling. I honestly can’t see how I’ll be able to stick religiously to the Tesco diet when I’m “on the road”. Breakfasts in most of the hotels I stay in won’t be a problem, as they all offer good healthy options that slobs like me usually avoid.

But what about lunch and dinner? This is going to be an interesting challenge.

So farewell breakfast rolls!

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There’s been quite a lot of talk in recent weeks about how the Euro might collapse and whether or not Ireland would be better outside the Euro, back with its own currency or maybe even using Sterling.

One of the things I miss about not having our own currency is the design of the notes and coins. Ireland’s Euro coins aren’t exactly distinctive, unlike a lot of the other countries who were able to maintain a very strong identity.. all we got was a harp!

So this “punt nua” idea is almost appealing, though I’m not sure I’d want to see Bertie Ahern that often:

Bertie Ahern punt nua

More on the story here

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Image via CrunchBase

Later this year my secondary school class will be meeting up for a 20 year reunion.

20 years seem to have flown by so quickly..

Next year will be the 20th anniversary of the opening of EuroDisney as well and previous employees are organising to meetup there. I’ve still got my Disney “opening crew” mug somewhere in the house. I did have a t-shirt, but I’ve no idea where that ended up (the bin possibly?)

I probably won’t be able to attend either event, due to previous commitments, but 20 years is a long time.

I haven’t been back to EuroDisney since I left there in 1995. I’m not sure how I’d feel about seeing it now.

I’m still in touch with some people from both my secondary school and my time at Eurodisney, but I regret not keeping in touch with more of them.

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A lot is being written today by people looking back on 9/11 10 years on.

The frontpage of Bing (if you switch to the US version) has this image

Seemingly the US version of Google also has something, but I can’t see it from Ireland. (See this post for details)

I’m not going to add much to the discussion except to say that violence begets violence.

9/11 for people of my generation is probably one of the dates that we’ll always remember.

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Ok this might seem like an odd request, but “odd” and me tend to follow each other around at the best of times ..

I’ll be speaking at several events over the next few months and most event organisers ask for a “bio” – however I’m not exactly sure if the one I have is ideal..

So, working on the basis that you have a $clue who I am and what I do ..

Here’s the current version – polite constructive input welcome via the comments:

Michele Neylon is the founder and managing director of the Irish based registrar and hosting provider Blacknight.
Neylon is an active member of the Internet industry, an award winning social media expert/evangelist and blogger. Neylon has spoken at numerous Internet Industry events covering a range of topics including policy, security, ICANN, Nominet, the IGF and Investment/First Tuesday.
A graduate of European Studies from the University of Limerick, Ireland, Neylon focuses primarily on European Internet issues and policy as well as serving on the Eurid registrar advisory board and the ENUM 353 policy advisory board. A film buff who speaks four languages, Neylon prides himself on being an early adopter of new technologies.

There’s an “about” me page here as well and my LinkedIn profile is here

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Image by blacknight via Flickr

On Friday afternoon I found out that Oscar, my cat, was dead.

I’ve never been overly sentimental about pets.

Oscar lived outside and treated me as a source of food. He pretty much treated the entire neighbourhood as a cafe and used to get fed by a lot of different people.

I guess what upset me was that he was probably poisoned – whether accidentally or intentionally I’ll probably never know.

So now I am catless. Max, the other cat, has presumably met with a similar fate and there’s no sign of any cats around the neighbourhood.

I can’t see myself getting a replacement cat as I spend far too much time travelling to be able to look after a kitten long enough for it to be self-sufficient and if someone has put poison down outside it would be too dangerous.

Maybe I’ll get a goldfish ..

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Earlier today I finally bit the bullet and “adopted” an elephant via the WWF‘s website.

And here’s the cert:

Fortunately they don’t actually send you the elephant as I wouldn’t know where to put it .. Queue a bunch of silly elephant jokes ..

Of course I could have adopted a different type of animal, but I went for the elephant, as it seemed appropriate

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In 2011 you cannot control the conversation or dialogue with your customers. All you can hope to do is to be responsive.
Forget about control.
Learn to listen.
Learn to respond.
Control is an artifact of a bygone era
You lost it years ago.
Trying to control a conversation simply will not work and will make you look like a dinosaur.

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I’ll be spending the New Year in Paris this year.

After it taking me two days to get out of Dublin (or the chaotic mess that was Dublin airport more precisely) I ended up rebooking my flights with a return in the New Year.

I have spent the last few days wandering around Paris. I’ve also met up with a couple of friends and, of course, have spent time with various relatives.

The centre of Paris has been packed. Thronged. Jammed. Choose your own adjective.

Yesterday afternoon I ended up walking from near Printemps to Opera and the journey took me about 3 times as long as it should have done due to the sheer mass of humanity crowding the footpaths.

I assume that at least some of these people are spending money in the shops around the city .. …

In the evenings the areas such as Les Halles and Montparnasse are as busy as I remember them back in the mid-90s – possibly even busier.

And, of course, the Champs Elysses look very picturesque with the trees covered in lights…

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