One of my biggest passions is WordPress, and the development thereof. I love it, and every week I turn to my colleagues and say “wow, didn’t know WordPress could do THAT!”. I’ve been fortunate enough to turn this passion partly into a career, and partly into profitable side projects that I run. I’m also fortunate to be based in Manchester, home of MWUG, which is run by Mike Little, help write the damn thing.
MWUG will be celebrating the 10th Anniversary of WordPress with a party (with cake!) in Odder Bar, Manchester (you can RSVP here). I will aim to get there (I’m winging it back from a BWP show the night before in Prestatyn), so it’d be good to see fellow Manchester WordPressy folk.
But that isn’t the point of this post. I read with interest Dougal Campbell’s 10th Anniversary WordPress Blogging Project, where you are supposed to share what happened to you at core stages in WordPress’ development. This is my post contributing to the Blogging Project.
When WordPress was released in May 2003:-
I was 19 years old.
I was just finishing my first year of a Computer & Multimedia Systems course at The University of Liverpool.
I was a bit of a loner at the time, for the first 6 months of University I hated the halls, and I was plonked on a corridor full of some right pillocks. I did eventually move into a floor with nice people, many of which I still keep in touch with, but by the time I moved in they had already organised a house share, so I went into Second Year Halls.
I was also beginning my first full time summer job, working in the restaurant at The Welsh Mountain Zoo.
When I First Started Using WordPress in May 2006:-
I was 22 years old.
WordPress 2.0.2 was the current version (actually quite gutted by this, sure I’ve scribbled somewhere that I remember WordPress 1.5, but alas no).
I had just started working for Livetech in Colwyn Bay.
WordPress didn’t have pages for the home page, which frustrated me no end!
I was still living with Mum & Dad.
I had recently come out of hospital following a bout of Atrial Fibrillation, which screwed me up mentally more than anything else.
As it was brought on by a combination of stress, no sleep and a huge amount of alcohol consumption, I was off the booze.
And as such, I could still comfortably fit into a Medium. HA! No chance of that now!
Since I started using WordPress…
I have found a love for traveling, going abroad for the first time, and since then going to 17 countries.
I have changed jobs twice, and now rather happily working for 3 Door Digital.
As such I’ve left Colwyn Bay and moved to Manchester.
I have two super-secret (well not quite super-secret now!) projects that I cannot wait to get finished and out there later this year.
And – most surprisingly of all – I’ve become a dog lover!
So yes, a bit of an introspective, but felt it was necessarily, most of all though I’m proud to be a part of an amazing community. Between the WordPress & the SEO community, both have been great helps to me as a person and career wise.
April was probably the busiest month for me this year, in fact not since the last month or so with WP Email Capture last July has there been a month I have been so full on. As such did my April Challenge – my secret – a success?
April Challenge: Success!
Yes it was! It was a rush towards the end, and it had a few tear out hair moments, but overall it was a success. I achieved what I wanted. And as it was a success, I have a reward.
The reward will be a party. It will be held somewhere in Chorlton. I will let you know when I plan this.
May Challenge: Another Secret!
Again, May Challenge is unfortunately another secret, for completely different reasons to the above. Hopefully when
I’m a bastard, I know. Thankfully June’s challenge, which I’ve already come up with, is due to go out in the open.
Even more impressive, as I was in North Wales at the time.
Here is a picture of what I was actually doing on Sunday – enjoying the garden with my family. In North Wales.
Still don’t believe me? Here’s a picture I tweeted at the time. It was just as delicious as some of the burgers available at the Northern Quarter at the time.
It appears as though there has been a bit of flak for the pictures, but rather than admit a mistake, the Manchester Evening News are digging themselves a little bit of a hole.
@SoLiTaNq Hi, I can assure you EVERY picture in the NQ Takeover gallery is from this year & were taken by Joel Goodman. I did the gallery
Frank Sinclair said it best with these words – “We have achieved the unachievable”.
I rarely talk about Colwyn Bay FC, the claret and blue coloured love of my life, on this here blog. Usually when I show my passions with it then I rant on here (it’s a personal blog, I’m allowed). The last rant was back in January, whereby I bemoaned the “Crisis” at the club. In short, I wrongly stated a few things, which were:-
Nobody gave Lee Williams the chance.
The players weren’t taking responsibility.
Frank Sinclair would never become manager of Colwyn Bay Football Club.
Fast forward a week after that post and:-
Lee Williams was rightly sacked, he had too long in the job anyway.
The players were taking responsibility.
And Frank Sinclair was the new manager of Colwyn Bay Football Club.
At first, it was roses and petals and everything was lovely. Two great draws away at promotion chasing Guiseley and Altrincham, followed by a wins against Corby Town and Harrogate Town saw Colwyn Bay edge closer and closer to safety, but a defeat at Histon (that still annoys me to this day, hence why I struggle to write about it on You’re Supposed To Be At Home saw the season unravel. Chance after chance was spurned, and then following a defeat to already relegated Droylsden, many fans saw that as the end, as with six games to go – it looked bleak, as although we had 3 games in hand over third from bottom Corby Town, a dramatic upturn in form was needed to escape.
And, lo and behold, a lifeline was thrown.
Colwyn Bay scraped a win against Gainsborough Trinity. I remember following the game on the Bay forum like a ridiculously hungover stalker on the train home from BrightonSEO, shaking in a combination of nerves and acute alcohol poisoning, and it sounded like we weren’t going to win. Gainsborough were all over us, and we were defending too deep, and they were certain to score. Not so, albeit it took a 95th minute wonder save from Chris Sanna to claim all 3 points. People said our season turned on that save. I’m inclined to agree. 3 points in the bag and 6 points with three games in hand due to Corby’s loss with Workington meant that the table all of a sudden didn’t look too bad.
Fast forward to a Tuesday night, and a cobbled together night out at #Mancdigibowl. I still wasn’t convinced that we’d get out of it, so for the first time in a while I had my phone switched off as Colwyn Bay made the long away trip to Brackley Town, a promotion chasing side that if they won would guarantee a spot in the playoffs with games to spare. Take a draw and the dream is still on.
Half time, we were 3-0 up. Brackley pulled one back but all of a sudden we were now 3 points behind Corby with two games in hand. Oxford City at home was next up, two days after and this game I was locked in my room – refreshing the forum and checking Twitter like a madman, as a win would put us ahead of Corby on goal difference. After we were drawing at half time, it was looking unlikely, before two quick goals early in the second half saw us win 3-1, and a gap that 8 days before had seemed substansial was now gone:-
Corby taking the place in the relegation zone, and displayed a class that you don’t see higher up the league system:-
https://twitter.com/steelmendotcom/status/324986939814051841
Credit to @ColwynBayFC though. It goes to show that points on the board mean bugger all #steelmen
The work, and the games didn’t stop though. Workington away on the Saturday was next up, and we were afforded the luxury of BBC Radio Cumbria who were covering the game. Another 1-1 at half time was converted into a 2-1 after 90 minutes, and could’ve been more when Workington inexplicably brought their keeper up for the final corner of the game to try and salvage a draw. Following a clearance, Shelton Payne was unlucky to score right at the death. A small niggle in a fantastic performance (especially as Shelton’s performance towards the end of the season has been phenomenal). Due to Corby’s win at Gloucester and Histon’s draw to Boston United meant a trip two days after that to Bradford Park Avenue would see a win take us nearly safe, and definitely safe should results go our way on the Tuesday. This happened:-
Another 2-1 win, the fifth win in nine days, saw us nearly safe. Histon grabbed a draw against Solihull Moors the day after, which meant that a win or a draw against Gloucester City on the final day would see us definitely safe.
Gloucester City were spirited, with a team struggling for players, and the City faithful were a good laugh, but Colwyn Bay completed their amazing turnaround in form by winning 1-0, to finish 5 points clear of the drop. For once the result didn’t matter, but not that you’d notice with the pitch invasion right at the end. With all due respects to the achievements of last season, this season felt something a little more special.
I cannot describe how dejected I was with my football club in mid April, with trips to Skelmersdale United, rather than Stockport County on the cards. In short I wanted the season to end. Now, I can’t wait for the new one to start. Hopefully this has been the shot in the arm the Bay needs, and the town begin to get behind their team more.
And to all my friends, I apologise profusely, to Cass, Shane and Alex, as well as my housemates, who have seen the brunt of my “OMFGWTFHAVEWEDONE!” in the last 2 weeks. Not one of them cares a single bit about football (well, Shane did quite enjoy his trip to Vauxhall Motors on Boxing Day). Think of this blog post as my final say on the matter, as now I’ll bloody shut up about it.
In short, we achieved something as a football club incredible.
You see, very few teams in a season go on a six-game winning streak. Very few teams begin that winning streak from 20th in the table. To win six games from 20th in the league in 15 days is unheard of*. Players showed a monumental effort to play these games, with cases of players having to stop on the drive home to vomit out of the window as they were so banged up, it is unheard of. This isn’t the Premier League, where players can be rested, it was largely the same 11 players throughout the run (with possibly one or two changes, due to suspensions). Furthermore, the players are all part time, meaning that many after arriving home at 2am, would be up the next day to earn a living.
Just incredible really. I’m so proud of what they have achieved, and am proud to say that my post in January was wrong, dead wrong. Bring on next season, as I would say we completed The Great Escape, but even then, Steve McQueen didn’t quite jump over the fence.
I was featured as the WP Daily‘s “Word-Person of Interest” series. The interview, published on February 6th, featured me talking primarily about the premium plugin scene.
A big thank you to John Saddington for asking the questions (even if I was so exhausted I was falling asleep by the end of them, sorry!) and Cam Brennan for putting the post together.
