Archive for September, 2007
TempErory
I would have thought that these signs would be standard enough and easily ordered from the likes of Rennicks, though I didn’t see this type there, and I’m not sure I’d fully trust Rennicks would spot the typo either. It all reminds me of the Irish Pride bread ad where they joke that the road works guy has no pride in his work.
A few weeks ago I was nearly taken out by a motorist entering a roundabout that somehow failed to see hi-viz me on my bike. Scared the hell out of me. I reported it in Cabra Garda station a few minutes later.
A week later I dropped into the station to see how the ‘investigation’ was progressing. En route there I passed by a car parked on a nearby cycle track (solid white line, during operating hours) and took a photo on my phone. I asked the Garda to have a word with the driver, maybe even give penalty points (it’s 1 point for Driving on a cycle track). The Garda said that it wasn’t a penalty point offence. I said it was (I remember when it came into effect – it was mentioned in the Irish Times at the time). He repeated that it wasn’t and said, “I know my job.” I cut my losses and lied that maybe I was mistaken. Inspires confidence doesn’t it.
Where is the E?
After finally tracking the micro hi-fi down I was looking at the back of the receipt. It talks about delivery times. And then they go any have a nice typo. They even put the text in italics to highlight it. People may not have realised it at the time but The Shamen were quite wise when they told us that Es are good.
Rob Cummins, owner of Wheelworx Bike and Tri store
"After a bad first experience setting up a website I asked Damien for something I could update easily, quickly and without being particularly computer literate. What he has come up with has been far in excess of my expectations, his backup, support and patience have been fantastic."
"The website has increased business not only delivering online sales but by driving people to us, I have lost count of the amount of e-mails we get praising the website, its ease of use, layout and design."
Rob had a basic brochure website that listed the shop location and the brands stocked.
The site didn’t reflect Rob’s work with the triathlon community and did not mention the high end bikes he stocked.
Rob wanted to move his site to the next level – an online shop.
I delivered the shop and showed Rob how to add products to it. Rob was full of ideas and I added extensive enhancements to the basic shop.
We addressed customer queries quickly. The online shop also brought out the scammers and their fake orders but we took care of them.
The shop allowed new customers browse the products and some people drove long distances to the shop for face-to-face advice from Rob, an experienced triathlete himself (he’s even completed an Ironman Triathlon).
Update December 2009 – Wheelworx Bikes has a new logo and the site header has been revamped to coincide with this.
Update July 2010 – Rob has hired a web site developer, Liam, to work in the shop. Liam is moving the shop to Joomla/VirtueMart and he will maintain it.
Technical Details
- osCommerce open source e-commerce software
- PHP
- MySQL
- CSS
- Javascript
- Lightbox for image display
- Multi-sized product images
- PayPal
- StatCounter statistics
- Google AdWords
The sign says that they aren't there.
This laziness is all over the place – in Swords Fingal County Council built a roundabout and were too lazy to remove the Stop sign (there is a Yield sign somewhere behind the Stop sign).
In a recent thread on boards.ie someone asked how to get to Stadium Business Park. The 40D and 220 routes were quickly suggested. I checked the Dublin Bus A-Z Finder to see if it had other suggestions. The 220 route was the only one listed as serving the Stadium Industrial Estate.
I emailed Dublin Bus to mention the omission and incorrect name. I pointed out that Fingal County Council’s web site called the place Stadium Business Park as did the host of a useful area map.
Much to my surprise they replied saying that the Ordnance Survey maps, on which the A-Z list is based, use Industrial Estate, but they added a Stadium Business Park entry and added 40D to the list of routes serving the location!
After reading the reply and verifying what it said, I stood up and was knocked over by a gentle breeze that came in the window (I was working from home). I’m not used to emails to Dublin Bus (or anyone in the CIE Group) replying to my emails and certainly not used to anything being changed as a result of my requests. Thanks Ruth!