Author: Gerard

Gerard works in IT for a major NI utility firm. Previously co-founded the entertainment startup Unreality TV and is now involved in workforce mobilisation. He lives in Belfast.

So long, Rugby Road

On By GerardIn LifeLeave a comment

Hey there, reader. Let me tell you a story about a leafy, bumpy road in South Belfast that I’ve come to call home.

When I moved to Rugby Road in June 2016, it was just two months shy of my 40th birthday. A milestone birthday, and yet it was eclipsed by possibly the most turbulent period of my life. A 20-year relationship had ended and I had chosen to return to the Queens area where I’d first landed in the 90s.

It’s absolutely staggering to think I moved here less than two years ago. Memory won’t do justice to the chaos that was brewing at the time – moving out of the family home, striking out on a new career, fending for myself but needing to maintain a relationship with my children and trying to navigate tempestuous new relationships.

Continue reading “So long, Rugby Road” →

The RIGHT way to record extension numbers in iPhone contacts

On By GerardIn AppleLeave a comment

Apple LogoDo you use your iPhone to make business calls? Sooner or later, you’re going to need to store a telephone number that includes an extension number for your contact.

Rather than fumble around adding spaces and even brackets around the extension (which we tried initially!), we thought we’d show you the correct way to add extension numbers to your iOS contacts.

Continue reading “The RIGHT way to record extension numbers in iPhone contacts” →

Why I'm Openly Secular

On By GerardIn LifeLeave a comment

Openly Secular logo

Atheists. We get a bad rap. People assume we’re angry all the time. That we’re immoral. That we…um…worship Satan*. And we crash kids birthday parties and burst all the balloons. Just because we can.

The reality is, atheists are regular people. We go to work. We raise families. We listen to music. We participate in society. We just don’t believe in gods.

Why I became an atheist

I don’t remember the exact day that God stopped existing for me.

What I do know is that I was raised as Catholic in the height of Northern Ireland’s ‘troubles’. Growing up in the Glens Of Antrim, we didn’t just have religion. We had some world-class folklore and superstition too. Giants and leprechauns and banshees and Jesus. And I loved it all.

Continue reading “Why I'm Openly Secular” →

Exclude directories from Spotlight

Exclude directories and file types from Spotlight search

On By GerardIn AppleLeave a comment

Your Mac’s Spotlight application might be one of the most underrated part of the OS X ecosystem. Spotlight indexes all the content on your Mac, making it simple to find documents and data that might be buried deep within your file system.

It’s so fast, I’ve started using it to quickly pull up contact cards. It’s so much more efficient than starting up the Contacts app and digging through people’s names.

Continue reading “Exclude directories and file types from Spotlight search” →

Airmail 2.0 screenshot

Change the default email application on OS X (to Airmail 2 in this example)

On By GerardIn Apple, TipsLeave a comment

The latest version of the  versatile email client, Airmail 2.0, was released recently. I’ve been considering switching from Apple’s default mail app for some time now, and with this new version of Airmail I decided to jump ship.

The problem is, every time you click on a web link in your browser, Mail.app automatically fires itself up. Very irritating! So how do you set up Airmail (or an alternative email client) as your default in Mac OS X? Continue reading “Change the default email application on OS X (to Airmail 2 in this example)” →