I'll have a 'P' please Bob

Oohh a meme not taken directly from Niles!

This task was set for me by neil h.

Leave me a comment and ask for a letter, then think up 10 things beginning with that letter than mean something to you or you life.

Here goes...

• Pikmin - Little flower plant people you run around and do your bidding in the sublime video games Pikmin & Pikmin 2.
• Pizza - Ever since we discovered Domino's deliver pizzas to us in about 5 minutes flat we've found it hard to resist their normal crust Texas BBQ pizza. A pizza with bbq sauce instead of tomato sauce is a thing of wonder.
• Piano - I have a lovely mahogany with mother of pearl inlay piano that I don't know how to play. It's about to be sold because it has nowhere to live.
• HMS Pinafore - The first (and only) show I directed at University. Freakishly bizarre story where the heroine ends up with a man old enough to be her father (and that's because said man and father were swapped a birth). Great music though and I loved the whole semaphore bit I had going in the middle of Act One. And I put it on in little over 8 weeks! With a female chorus of 5!
• PC World - Employer when at University. Made me cut my long hair to get a job. I worked in Customer Care. We'll not dwell on this.
  
• Terry Pratchett - As much as he re-uses plots and tends to use the Guards far too much some of his books have been great. Particular favourites include Small Gods, The Truth & the one set in the Opera house with the witch with great hair.
• Pokemon - Couldn't resist putting this in here. Very childish looking but deceptively deep and fun and massively profitable for Nintendo so they can make other great games for me to enjoy.
• Jean-Luc Picard - Superb. The Next Generation along with Deep Space Nine are 2 of my favourite shows ever.
  
• My Parents - Bit of an easy one for me to put in this....I couldn't ask for better parents really. I never really understand why people don't get on with theirs.
• Plants - As I grow older I find that I appreciate my garden more and more. There's something really satisfying about planting something 3 months ago and then seeing it slowly transform into something else and change the mood of my 'outdoor space' entirely. Brilliant!
  

Anyone else want a go?

Check these out.....

Nicked from a post by K....easy peasy....managed to get 116.5, get you get a lower score?

Who has this much time? I can't think what it must have taken toput it together though...pretty awesome!

Those Japanese...crazy! I wonder if that's actaully possible to do?

Yay the tulips are up!

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Pretty happy about my tulips...just planted them a few days ago (already sprouting) and now they've gone and sprouted some more...hooray!

Looking forward to the long weekend and have got the tough stuff for this week out of the way (my conference call performance being one of them). Am going to have a go at some pickling...which should be fun.

On a completely different topic Nintendo have finally revealed the name of their next generation console. For ages its been codenamed Revolution as its supposed to hark a revolution in gaming...but the new name is Wii (pronounced We). Hmm...I can almost hear the Sony/Microsoft fanboys pissing (or should that be wee-ing) themselves as I type. Brave move Nintendo...very brave...although I am quite enamoured by the little i characters in this promo vid.

My wife the addict

Ever had one of those days where you are rushing from job to job to fit in all in and then feel like you've achieved very little? Me too!

Memo to self: Never go on holiday and expect the first week back at work to be anything other than a complete ball-ache!

Am doing a talk tomorrow on a professional community conference call and it was suggested that I might want to do it with the other presnter in a room in London! 2 hours on the train for an 8 minute talk that I can give from my office! Seems like I've spent most of the day talking and staring at my computer screen and I'm bush-whacked.

On the plus side the things I planted at the weekend are coming along nicely...the tulips are popping up already! As soon as there's a bit of sunshine I'll take some pics and post them...lovely.

K's had a hectic week as well, what with seminars and meetings all over the place and its only Wednesday, we've got 2 different things to do tomorrow night as well...arggghghg!

On the plus side my campiagn to get K hooked on video games is coming along nicely. Quite unprompted she initiated a conversation about AC:WW and how she wanted to know which furniture counts as 'red' so she can send some to Puddles. Geek!

Not too shabby

My first day back was OK in the end, helped splendidly along with an award for being an Agent of Change (don't ask)...thats £100 to spent on crap then!

In fact I do have my eye on a couple of things....firstly is a new BBQ and not just a flimsy B&Q job. Hardcore BBQing methinks! But since I don't have room for an outdoor kitchen or fancy lugging bottles of gas anywhere my current ideal choice is this one, which has the advantage of being compact enough to get in teh car and my tiny back yard.

I'm also intrigued by this Nintendo DS game, lostmagic being released on Friday. Unusually there have been very few reviews prior to its release (which can either mean its something really special or ropey as hell!) but the one review there has been gave it 84 out of 100. It does seem like my type of game and I can't decide if I shoudl buy it anyway or wait to see it get reviewed. I should wait but....

First day back

I'm back to work tomorrow after my week off so expect the updates to become much less frequent. All in all its been a good break and hopefully there won't be too much to do in the morning. I do have a 2 hour meeting about international resource measures though, oh the joy!

Finally finished all my Zul Farrak quests today on WoW so I can focus on the joys of the Un' Goro crater this week. Also just finished a session with my Dalelands group (hence the late posting), enjoyed it lots and we got mashed real good, the pay off was ace though...not sure I've ever seen that much treasure in the Dalelands before!

Damn you Samson!

His sea bass was 46 inches and mine's only 44! He's currently top of the table in the fishing tourney and I've given up for a bit. Nook's is closed (for refurbishment) so I've got a load of insects, fish and other stuff and no-one to sell it to! Did manage to get a picture of Vesta though (they only give them if they really like you) and pay some more money off the mortgage!

In the real world its raining so I can't finish the gardening...oh well...just have to play more video games then!

Can't...stop...taking....online...quizzes

What a let down

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

I've been waiting to try out a recipe I saw in the April issue of Good Food magazine since I saw it. But now that I've finally made it, what a disappointment! It may be my inept skills, but I'm hoping that someone else willtry it and let me know how they got on.

Its for a Dark Chocolate Sorbet (odd I know) and its supposed to be smooth and velvety but mine just tasts grainy. I suspect it has something to do with the temperatures when the chocolate and syrup were blended but I did follow the recipe properly.

If anyone wants to use the recipe its basically just syrup (225g white caster sugar dissolved in 500ml water) and melted chocolate (200g good quality dark chocolate). Both cooled then mixed, chilled then put in the ice cream maker. I suppose it could be the chocolate I used (Tesco Finest 72%). I don't understand why I couldn't have just heated the whole thing up to ensure the chocolate and syrup were properly blended but the recipe was very clear about this...they should both be cool when blended. Anyone got any ideas why this turned out wrong?

Note this blog entry can also be seen over on Nibblous, a cooking/recipe forum I'm part of.

The witching hour

It's odd for me to be posting at this late hour but our wine drinkig shenanigans have thrown off my body clock slightly so I'm only just starting to feel tired...I think the gallons of tea consumed today have also had an effect!

Spent an enjoyable 45 mins in the Roivas mansion investigating the paranormal and then played Resident Evil 4 for 20 minutes...god that game scares me! I don't know how I managed to finish it...I keep shouting at the TV!

My house has got fruit all over the floor too as Nookway was shut and I'd been shaking trees with wild abandon! And I think Vesta is starting to stalk me...2 visits in as many days and about 4 letters...all with gifts. I think I need to keep this sheep at arm's length for a while.

Although I am strating an active campaign to get some of my villagers to move out...I want to see new faces but my town is at top capacity...perhaps if I ignore Rocco the rhino he'll just move?

Connected

Apparently I'm connected to my World of Warcraft server but can't do anything! Oh well...I may have to forfeit my gardening tomorrow for a spell in Azeroth...*fingers crossed for rain*.

Since the Missus is out I'm now at a loose end...looking at random gamer blogs reminded me of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, one of my all time favourite games.

Now there are only certain games that I have played through multiple times...I seem to recall that Shadowrun on the SNES was one along with Legend of Zelda: A link to the Past, System Shock 2 on the PC was another. When it comes to the Cube there are only 2 that I have played through and finished more than once. One is Beyond Good & Evil, man that game was fun and rumours abound of a sequel in the works. I played that through twice. Another is Eternal Darkness which I played through a staggering 4 times! And given that I'm at a loose end I think I'm going to fire it up again! I shouldn't, I should finish Metroid Prime 2, Pikmin 2, Baten Kaitos (all started, yet to be completed) or on my DS, Kirby's Power Paintbrush, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Sonic Rush, Osa! Tatake! Ouenden! or tinker in my town in AC:WW but the lure is just too much....wait for me Alex Riovas I'm coming to get ya!

Come with us on a journey through time and space....

Yay, discovered Emma & Paul love The Mighty Boosh too! And they were lucky enough to see them live! The Boosh is one of those shows that is brilliant but it appears my friends haven't yet caught on...usually I pick up new shows from them but they are missing out on some real gems. The Boosh is one, My Name is Earl is another and Arrested Development is just fab. Smart, witty and very very funny! My campaign to get everyone to watch it has to step up a gear!

Just spent a day with Emma & Paul and had a great time. We went over to see Emma in Jesus Christ Superstar and stayed with them drinking wine until the early hours of this morning. JCS was good but does suffer from being a Tim Rice/ALW collaboration...and by that I mean bizarrely short, poor lyrics and the same tune recycled endlessly! but there were some memorable numbers from a very enthusiastic cast and a good time as had by all.

Spent the morning in bed and then went for a walk into Melbourne and found a nice tea shop with a very new waitress, forgot the cutlery, teabags in the tea pot and the bill! Despite this it was nice to spend time with Emma & Paul.

Have come home to disappointment however...Gameplay haven't delivered my copy of Tetris DS! I know technically it isn't released until tomorrow but Gameplay are usually good at early delivery. A quick check on the website reveals that they haven't even shipped it yet! I may have to pop into town tomorrow (seeing as we're still on holiday) and pick it up.

Also I managed to find a coconut washed up on the shore of my town...lovely! Palm trees here we come!

Ooops.....this isn't right...

It's not that I'm a proper fanboy...I just made the decision that I only have time for a single system...I chose Nintendo is all.



This is better...although I did have a worringly long conversation with my wife about Animal Crossing: Wild World when we were out to lunch yesterday. Is that a bad thing?

How will I fit it all in?

Alex has pointed me to this blog/forum which looks really interesting...also by following blog links of his blog I've discovered some gaming people that he knows....yay...tentative links to other gamers!

Easter Weekend

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Finally getting around to updating my blog after an exciting weekend away.

Spent a few days camping in Norfolk with friends (that's us at Hunstanton seafront, although Emma didn't want anyone to see her raincoat and I suspect K is taking the picture) and it turned out pretty well.

The weather held for us and was bright and sunny most days. Although it was freezing at night! Thankfully a few adjustments made us toasty warm for the rest of the stay. Had some nice meals out, saw the Queen's car and bought an inordinate amount of sweets!

Getting there was another problem entirely however! Never put oil in your car mere seconds before you were expecting to depart. Butter-fingers here slipped and dropped the oil filler cap and it went scuttling into the engine block. Fine I thought...it'll be under the car, but no, it was somewhere in the engine compartment hidden from sight. A few forward and reverse manouevers in the car failed to shift it and so we had to come up with a plan.

Plan A was to drive to Halfords in K's car and pick up a new cap, they didn't have one. Plan B involved phoning Vauxhall dealerships to get a new part, all closed on Good Friday. Plan K was to phone garages and see if they could route it out for us. Hallelujah! Kwikfit said they'd have a look for us. A slow drive with eyes on the back of the car (in case it fell out) and we made it. Part identified, removed, replaced (along with a full quantity of oil) and a mini lecture on the dangers of vauxhall filler caps and we were off again. And all with no charge too! Thank You Kwik Fit!

Coppers? I think not

Now I knew that 1 and 2 pence coins weren't actually made from copper (more like a mixture of copper and zinc) but I was gobsmacked to learn that since 1992 that hasn't been the case either.

Since then our 1 and 2 pence coins are actually made of steel with a copper plate over the top! This doesn't seem right to me, but does explain why some coins will stick to a magnet and some won't. I can't believe we didn't know this. Its also possible that they may change it so that they are copper plated aluminium. Aluminium coins? we must be in the future!

An interesting article here details it all and is of interest because in the US their 1 cent coins are made of nickel/zinc and they are facing a crisis because of the rising zinc prices. Soon the metal will be worth more as scrap than its face value! (ie more than a cent) This causes all sorts of economic problems and it may casue them to either phase out or replace the 1 cent coin with something cheaper to manufacture.

Anyway...I thought that was quite interesting...

StumbleStep

The dancing exam on Sunday was...interesting.

Nerves seemed to make K and I forget how to Quickstep and we had to stop on numerous occasions to right ourselves. On the plus side our Rumba was pretty good and we'll be marked separately for both dances.

Weather

It's raining, the five day forecast looks poo and already we're disagreeing on food arrangements...this should be a holiday to remember!

On the plus side, I won't be at work, we'll be near the seaside and I'll be able to eat as many Cadbury Creme eggs as I like on account of it being Easter!

Besides compared with being trapped in a house with no kitchen, visiting B&Q 8 times and having my parents in close proximity for 4 day,s camping at Sandringham should be a breeze!

Mario Mario

I didn't realise that there was so much information on Wikipedia about Mario of Super Mario Bros. fame....wikipedia is great!

Birthday meme

Ok...so this is Alex's fault...and Kath's for following suit. If you don't know what a meme is Wikipedia tells you. Speaking of Wikipedia here is a meme that Alex picked up from another blog based on my birthday....If you want the full details see here and here

Anyway...back to me...

Birthday 23rd July

Events (nothing too earth shaking for me here)

• 1829 - In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the first typewriter.
• 1962 - Telstar relays the first live trans-Atlantic television signal.
• 1973 - Robert Anton Wilson, the occultist/philosopher, either achieved contact with extraterrestrials from Sirius or started a long-term period of having wild hallucinations, depending on which way you want to look at it.

Birthdays (not that exciting either)

• 1888 - Raymond Chandler, American-born author (d. 1959)
• 1973 - Monica Lewinsky, White House intern

Deaths (almost the only name I recognised)

• 1885 - Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822)

Little and often

That must be the trick to updating my blog more often! I should add it onto the list of things I have to do every day.

Currently that list includes

• Clean teeth. As I get older I can't believe how I used to not clean my teeth every day *shudders*
• Wash. Another one that I used to do less frequently as a child...
• Visit Waterloo, my Animal Crossing:Wild World town. The inhabitants get surly and move away, weeds sprout and insects infest my home. Must make regular visits.

Also another thing...should I consolidate ramblings into one large post or many smaller ones?

Grass Green

You Are Grass Green

Down to earth and a bit of a hippie, you are very into nature and the outdoors. You accept the world and people as they are. You don't try to change things. You are also very comfortable with yourself, flaws and all. Optimistic about the future, you feel like life is always getting better.

What Color Green Are You?