twenty four hours previous i had just finished presenting my new presentation about social media to a small room of around ten people - we had three speakers and i felt the day went extremely well.

it's been quite the blur this week with two presentations, very different back to back with the NTU 3rd year students first and the nottingham business owners after.

the new users going out into the workplace and others looking at ways to communicate their existing businesses in a very managed social media way.

i put a lot of work into these two new presentations and they drained me a lot - the pay off thou is that i can start february with two presentations to do a voiceover with and stick up on the new website when i do the switch over.

this is a good thing. i'm also very keen to get the sponsoring project up, trying to raise an initial £400 to mobilise the .tv domains on the apple platform as a series of different word press applications that allows me the luxury of pushing updates across the whole network.

mildly frustrated that i have hit feb without transport and the ark but these things are sent to test me. at some point i have to sell a certain amount of my soul to the devil to get the funds or find the right people to invest in me to make it happen.

i've even decided about going to southby because of my passion to make this happen and that's well not like me. it would have been my fifth year in southby and it is always fantastic in some trippy way. not this year.

i'd have loved to have gone and taken a lovely micro thirds with a lovely low light lens and just wandered around bar to bar documenting but i have to keep my eyes on the prize.

my daughter turns five in may. five years, i cannot continue to be flippant about her unknown future if i was not here. i'm always aware of my mortality after visiting the town of phil campbell.

which reminds me, i should be working on that website. crap, i'm gonna be busy next week..

i had to mention this story about the milkshakes because it proves the story about customer feedback and social media usage.

while wandering around the isle of dogs we decided on getting a coffee and headed into a local mall to see what food stores were at the top (i had been before when it had other brands there) after visiting reuters once.

we ended up going into byron for coffee (no snack/food as were still full from breakfast) so we were not model customers seeking awesome burgers.

we were shown to our table and we mentioned that we would only be staying for coffee. the place was not full but was buzzing and food was coming out at a fast rate.

we were seated near the food serving hatch and plates of awesome burgers and food kept coming to the side of us. we had a very attentive table server and he took our order of three vanilla milkshakes.

we were relaxed, chilled and nobody was concerned about the speed of anything - we had been walking so to be able to relax was nice, nobody was clock watching as we had not ordered any food.

what seemed like only a few minutes the server returned with some starters. some fantastic fresh salsa, chips and fresh guacamole (like perfect, as i like - tableside made styli) - dan looked at me wondering if it was ours.

as is normally the case when anyone puts food on a table i was straight into it. it was divine and not expected but a nice touch -- after all we were only there for the milkshakes.

shortly after the starter the milkshakes came and boy were they awesome. super cooled metal containers with a US style milkshake. it was quite special (i'll be back there for sure) and a total surprise.

at to this that i had tweeted a picture with my foursquare checkin and within less than 10 minutes i had a tweet back from @byronhamburgers asking me what choice of milkshake i went with and a follow up tweet about how much time he had spent 'getting it right' - the speed of engagement, the service and the quality of the product instantly made me invested in that company. right there.

people often ask about loyalty and return on investment with social media, for me it's right there - it's how i felt, it was about when i was engaged and it was about the heavy lifting the brand did to please me.

from seating, to friendly manner to order speed and the starters to offset any waiting time to the actual product we were served -- every part is now lodged in my emotional centre for further investment in more experience with that brand.

. .. and the burgers looked amazing too. well done @byronhamburgers i had a fantastic experience and your speed of social media interaction sealed the deal.

• "Waste" More Time on Social Media (lowhangingfruit.us)
• "Often, the actual plot isn't what engages users in the online discussion" (twingly.com)
• 8 Ways to Leverage Social Media Beyond Social Networks (hubspot.com)
• Is It Possible For A Business To Survive Without Using Social Media? (superdoodadsblog.wordpress.com)
• Jump into Social Media for Online Brand Presence (lookuppage.com)

i looked up into the mirror and saw me. but that extra year rolling over did so in a very retro old alarm clock feel. it felt clunky, slower and with a light dusting across the typeface of the digits.

one year closer to the big forty. i'm quite aware of the things that need to be in place and where i need to be and i'm still caught in the trap of waiting. but i can't wait. i feel my daughter can't wait either.

so what do i do to push things through faster, to get transport and get the ark, what do i need to do, how do i pass sponsors and hit go. how do i just pull this together. keep going? - head down, driving forward. yes, of course.

living outside, off the grid between the lines is tough, very tough. everything is a balancing act based on a system that does not support a lifestyle that is digital. you still need paper, addresses and verification.

i've made progress. but i need to go faster, quicker and harder. i need to get to my first destination. and i need to put everything into it. i miss ella when i'm away but i also need that space to reflect.

i wondered how excited ella would be spending a weekend in london with me looking at all the wonderful sights and sounds that our capital can contain.

sharing those moments with friends this past weekend woke me up to make sure i get on with the archiving of the moments i have had for the last five years online.

oh and i have to make that will, everything that i do have i must leave to my poppet. she's the best thing i think i've ever done in my life.

she started swimming lessons this week, i bet she enjoyed it. she's a real poppet. i miss my baby, i don't miss not have the opportunities and do hope that sam has everything she needs in her life now.

for the first time in a very long time i feel that i have found a happy medium that allows me to now build on the foundations that i have been laying.

now it's time to build the house.

• Vibrating Morning Alerts - The Chirp Alarm Clock Ensures Your Roommate Stays Asleep (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
• this is enough for one person, in one day; now it's time to sleep (subjunctivecollapse.com)
• First Day on the Job. (teampretentious.wordpress.com)

sorry i've not been blogging as much this first part of january but i have been quite busy with behind the scenes planning and work on a number of projects like i mentioned in my last video.

this past weekend we were in london for three days and we all had a wonderful time in greenwich, london. we were literally over the other side of the river near the isle of dogs where i used to host gameservers with clanlife. it was a bit of a flashback.

it was great to hang out for the weekend with dan and cj and we had a weekend of food, walks and films with a healthy dose of photo walking in between. we even managed to get sherlock holmes in at the pictures.

normally my start of the year involves me working through the christmas period and hitting the ground running but the new year and relaxing christmas made the first week hard to get into especially due to most people not going straight back in around the 5/6th like normal.

i'm back into things full steam (stream?) now however and lots of dates and events in the diary for the next few months. next up is transport and ark progress are really on my mind.

• Boris Johnson Approves a Huge Housing Boost for London (train4tradeskills.wordpress.com)
• A trip to Little Venice, some photos and a drink + recipe: a honey rum stinger (thebigfatnoodle.com)

sitting in section 16, seat 88 being shot at velocity back to my own country, through a tunnel under a channel of water - we do build some splendid things between all the failures i guess.

when things run properly if fills me with a renewed adventure spirit to explore the locality and engage in a less 'frustrated with the way' i encounter the world normally -- stupid, slight things that nibble away at your focus and lay a foundation of frustration.

as we near the end of 2011 and i find myself in a different place in my life where i was over a year ago, in fact i was travelling back from boston after a previous year of pain, self inflicted in some ways of 2010, that was a hard year.

it's important to position yourself away from the things that drag you down and don't allow you to be the best version of you that you can be -- not only do you miss out those that you encounter never get to see your true value, passion and skills.

throwing myself into a different way of living has been a blessing and a different change in mindset. i met many people over the last few days that thought i was mad not to think about how i would be when i would 'retire' - how would i live, what would i do.

but you have to understand, it's not about me. i'm done, i've been to and seen some amazing places and i'm sure i have a few more to come yet but it's about ella now -- making foundations for her life when i'm not here.

and i'm not talking money -- who knows what money, status and success looks like in a digital always on demand world that we are living in, what's her digital frontier look like in the next ten years based on our last five? - intense right?

giving her some foundations and knowledge to get the most of her life on this planet. making preparations for an unknown and unpredictable future maybe the difference between being agile and smart enough to shift to the places she will be needed and what she intends to do to fulfil her wants for her life.

sigh. much progress this year, lots more to go, it's all in place, a need of finances to cerment things down but i intend to work my ass off and build the things i think those new brand advocates are going to need as the social media arena explodes in business over the coming year.

so, one more week to go really. ..

christmas parties next week and more trains, i'm hoping they are on time and efficient as this one, the eurostar has been a pleasure to ride on and gave me time to take time out and reflect on my ever changing life direction that i have seemingly allowed my sub conscious to take the lead on!

next week, transportation finally and back over to the site of the ark project, exeter and antenna christmas party mashed together in seven days.

after that gym all week as i crash into shopping and christmas day itself with poppet -- really looking forward to that, my little girl is going to be five next year. wow, that blasted by.

this time last year for christmas day i was sitting in the studio with the electric fire with humous and pitta bread for lunch (cj and dan had gone to see family) at least this year i'll be able to upgrade the lunch!

now time to let this train take the strain of the kilometres between lille and london, quick lunch turnaround and back to nottingham. let's hope our trains are on time so i can go and get my princess.

wish she was with me in ghent this week, she will love the place - all cakes and waffles, i'll be taking her back there next year for a week i hope (getting an airbnb) so she can see for herself!

have a great weekend! :)

• Good news for the travel industry (staveleyhead.co.uk)
• Strike Action Hits Eurostar Service (confused.com)
• Brussels hotels near Eurostar (ebookers.com)
• Europe by Eurostar (ebookers.com)
• Green Holiday Travel (leggotunglei808.wordpress.com)
• Illegals can exploit loophole to get in to UK on Eurostar (telegraph.co.uk)