Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Why?!?!?!
Does my brain work in such an odd way?!? IT's Christmas morning and by rights I should be asleep enjoying the fact I don't have to get up early, yet here I am awake, typing my blog for something to do.
I could not get my brain to switch off last night and it ended with some very odd dreams that for most of the night felt real and needed sorting out in my brain so I could go to sleep. I put most of the blame on The End of Mr. Y, a very good, if slightly strange book I'm reading at the moment!
I could not get my brain to switch off last night and it ended with some very odd dreams that for most of the night felt real and needed sorting out in my brain so I could go to sleep. I put most of the blame on The End of Mr. Y, a very good, if slightly strange book I'm reading at the moment!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Roll on the end of the day!
As that will be when my Christmas holidays start!
To be honest I don't intend on doing much work today but I need to keep my phone and laptop on in case of anything coming through (and the fact I'm someone else's contact on their out of office for today). And since I've got my office set up a little better now I can be doing my blog on a completely separate computer without leaving my desk where my laptop and docking station is set up! The problem is I have done everything I needed to do already!
I've been using the last couple of days to practice homeworking and its been quite enjoyable actually...although I need to make sure I leave the house at some point...I've not crossed the threshold for 3 days at least...
To be honest I don't intend on doing much work today but I need to keep my phone and laptop on in case of anything coming through (and the fact I'm someone else's contact on their out of office for today). And since I've got my office set up a little better now I can be doing my blog on a completely separate computer without leaving my desk where my laptop and docking station is set up! The problem is I have done everything I needed to do already!
I've been using the last couple of days to practice homeworking and its been quite enjoyable actually...although I need to make sure I leave the house at some point...I've not crossed the threshold for 3 days at least...
Saturday, December 08, 2007
He's behind you!
Just got back from the Wolsey panto and had a great time! No celebs just fantastic fun and all the performers played their own instruments on stage! Brilliant!
Not bad
All in all not too bad a day so far. Just got up from a nap (to recover from my very early morning) and after a few minutes in the kitchen there's now a quite brown looking chilli bubbling away for a little later.
Had pancakes and crispy bacon for breakfast before popping out to the tip (successful), but failing to find a printer (I only want wireless, I don't need a scanner/copier built in!). Finally managed to get a Christmas tree and back home tidied decorated and hoovered in record time.
Christmas cards all written and we've now watched number 2 of our bumper Hitchcock boxset (we've seen Topaz & Shadow of a Doubt so far)
I can hear K watching Ghostbusters in the other room and once we've eaten we'll be off to see the panto!
Had pancakes and crispy bacon for breakfast before popping out to the tip (successful), but failing to find a printer (I only want wireless, I don't need a scanner/copier built in!). Finally managed to get a Christmas tree and back home tidied decorated and hoovered in record time.
Christmas cards all written and we've now watched number 2 of our bumper Hitchcock boxset (we've seen Topaz & Shadow of a Doubt so far)
I can hear K watching Ghostbusters in the other room and once we've eaten we'll be off to see the panto!
Gaming Update
Xbox just had its autumn update and with it came Xbox Originals, stuff that you can download that you might have missed the first time around.
Downloaded Fahrenheit and Pyschonauts and enjoying them both so far. F is a moody mystery thriller so far that starts off with your character clearly under some kind of other control killing a man in a diner bathroom. From there you need to decide whether to mop up the blood, hide the body, escape the diner etc. The action has just shifted to the lead cop and I have been questioning witnesses. Great stuff!
Pyschonauts is a game that I've heard about but not really known what it was about. Simply it is a platformer/collectathon but it seems like there's real effort been put into the story and characters. Its set in a kind of American summer camp setting and so far quite enjoyable...but after playing Super Mario Galaxy (105 stars) the controls don't feel nearly as tight or responsive! Although I suspect that's pretty much going to be the case for everything other than SMG now!
Looking forward to what Christmas has in store gaming wise! I suspect I have Orange Box & Mass Effect coming. I think I may also be getting Link's Crossbow training as well as Pit & Rummikub! Gamerariffic!
Downloaded Fahrenheit and Pyschonauts and enjoying them both so far. F is a moody mystery thriller so far that starts off with your character clearly under some kind of other control killing a man in a diner bathroom. From there you need to decide whether to mop up the blood, hide the body, escape the diner etc. The action has just shifted to the lead cop and I have been questioning witnesses. Great stuff!
Pyschonauts is a game that I've heard about but not really known what it was about. Simply it is a platformer/collectathon but it seems like there's real effort been put into the story and characters. Its set in a kind of American summer camp setting and so far quite enjoyable...but after playing Super Mario Galaxy (105 stars) the controls don't feel nearly as tight or responsive! Although I suspect that's pretty much going to be the case for everything other than SMG now!
Looking forward to what Christmas has in store gaming wise! I suspect I have Orange Box & Mass Effect coming. I think I may also be getting Link's Crossbow training as well as Pit & Rummikub! Gamerariffic!
So near yet so far
I sit here at 6.50am on a saturday morning wondering what on earth I'm doing out of bed at this hour, let alone updating my blog!
Not sure if its a coincidence but its exactly 6 months gone and 3 months to go. Now we're at this mark I'm allowing myself to get more excited about the whole thing but its still a bt of a rollercoaster to be honest. I imagine having conversations with this new person (sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl) and then I have to remind myself that there is still 3 months to go and they aren't here yet. I don't want to be pessimistic but I know if something goes wrong I will be crushed. A bond has already formed to this person who seems to enjoy annoying K as much as I do! Its hard to put these feelings into words but to be honest March 8th can not come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
We do still have Christmas to get out of the way first. Due to significant website ordering of presents and the fact that our recycling is collected fortnightly the house is more or less full of cardboard! A trip to the tip is in order today, if only to make room for the tree which we need to put up. Fortunately we have the first of our (very) staggered Christmas's tomorrow (K's dad) so we should be able to start to divest ourselves of presents and make room for the packing that I need to do. In prep for the baby I'll be starting to work from home and currently the conditions for that are less than ideal. The camping equipment, spare bed, and exercise bike are being shipped off to mum's for storage until we move (sometime next year in all likelihood). I still ned to order a van for that...must remember to do that this week!
Luckily work is a little quiet at the moment. A 5 week period means the next set of reporting isn't due until Christmas week and we'll all be off anyway. It does mean January is shaping up to be a nightmare though with back to back reporting for 4 weeks. It should be just the thing to distract though, the baby will be so close and January is very long in money terms as BT are good and pay us early for Christmas. Great in theory but forces you to scrimp throughout January. Speaking of pay it has finally all come together...I've been promoted, got my pay rise as well as my new benefits (health cover, free line rental etc). To be honest I was hoping that it would reinvigorate me and increase my enthusiasm for work but it hasn't really! I think I need to focus on home though so I shouldn't be too worried about work.
In other news I'm typing this blog entry on our new iMac! We needed to replace the old PC before the baby came along and after playing with a mac at the Apple store in Florida I couldn't resist! I personally don't know how they fit it all into the monitor but I know that I absolutely love this keyboard! The only problem is I know need to get a new printer (usb) to connect to this beast. To be honest I quite fancy the look of a wifi one so I can be a bit inventive with the layout of the office. Its going to be weird with my work PC and home PC (oops Mac) next to each other but I can pretend I'm an evil genius with multiple computer screens!
Not sure if its a coincidence but its exactly 6 months gone and 3 months to go. Now we're at this mark I'm allowing myself to get more excited about the whole thing but its still a bt of a rollercoaster to be honest. I imagine having conversations with this new person (sometimes a boy, sometimes a girl) and then I have to remind myself that there is still 3 months to go and they aren't here yet. I don't want to be pessimistic but I know if something goes wrong I will be crushed. A bond has already formed to this person who seems to enjoy annoying K as much as I do! Its hard to put these feelings into words but to be honest March 8th can not come soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
We do still have Christmas to get out of the way first. Due to significant website ordering of presents and the fact that our recycling is collected fortnightly the house is more or less full of cardboard! A trip to the tip is in order today, if only to make room for the tree which we need to put up. Fortunately we have the first of our (very) staggered Christmas's tomorrow (K's dad) so we should be able to start to divest ourselves of presents and make room for the packing that I need to do. In prep for the baby I'll be starting to work from home and currently the conditions for that are less than ideal. The camping equipment, spare bed, and exercise bike are being shipped off to mum's for storage until we move (sometime next year in all likelihood). I still ned to order a van for that...must remember to do that this week!
Luckily work is a little quiet at the moment. A 5 week period means the next set of reporting isn't due until Christmas week and we'll all be off anyway. It does mean January is shaping up to be a nightmare though with back to back reporting for 4 weeks. It should be just the thing to distract though, the baby will be so close and January is very long in money terms as BT are good and pay us early for Christmas. Great in theory but forces you to scrimp throughout January. Speaking of pay it has finally all come together...I've been promoted, got my pay rise as well as my new benefits (health cover, free line rental etc). To be honest I was hoping that it would reinvigorate me and increase my enthusiasm for work but it hasn't really! I think I need to focus on home though so I shouldn't be too worried about work.
In other news I'm typing this blog entry on our new iMac! We needed to replace the old PC before the baby came along and after playing with a mac at the Apple store in Florida I couldn't resist! I personally don't know how they fit it all into the monitor but I know that I absolutely love this keyboard! The only problem is I know need to get a new printer (usb) to connect to this beast. To be honest I quite fancy the look of a wifi one so I can be a bit inventive with the layout of the office. Its going to be weird with my work PC and home PC (oops Mac) next to each other but I can pretend I'm an evil genius with multiple computer screens!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
62 stars and counting!
The music for Super Mario Galaxy is awesome! (The game is pretty decent too!)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Too much goodness
Its a good thing I've got a decent stock of games in otherwise this wouldn't make it under the christmas tree!
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Massive Update pt. 2
Ok so you know about the holiday...I better talk about videogames. For those of you that don't realise this time of the year is a nightmare for videogamers, not because there aren't any new games out but because there are too bloody many to choose from! Pre-holiday releases designed to soak up Christmas present money is all well and good but for those of us lucky enough to have multiple platforms to play on its a pain!
I finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption at the weekend and my golly was it an enjoyable romp! A fitting end to the trilogy but perhaps a little too easy? I may have to play through it again on a harder setting! I just need to find someone else with it so I can share my friend vouchers!
After MP3 I back engrossed in Oblivion which seems never ending (although I have now started the main quest)
I feel I may have to pause briefly in that to appreciate Endless Ocean this week and Super Mario Galaxy next week. I guess its lucky that Zack & Wiki has been pushed back to next year and that Mass Effect is on my Christmas list or I may have found myself too tempted to buy them all!
I finished Metroid Prime 3: Corruption at the weekend and my golly was it an enjoyable romp! A fitting end to the trilogy but perhaps a little too easy? I may have to play through it again on a harder setting! I just need to find someone else with it so I can share my friend vouchers!
After MP3 I back engrossed in Oblivion which seems never ending (although I have now started the main quest)
I feel I may have to pause briefly in that to appreciate Endless Ocean this week and Super Mario Galaxy next week. I guess its lucky that Zack & Wiki has been pushed back to next year and that Mass Effect is on my Christmas list or I may have found myself too tempted to buy them all!
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Massive Update pt.1
While the dogs away the cat will play...well in my case while K is away L will eat bacon sandwiches, play video games and update his blog! I didn't quite realise how long it had been so hopefully my 3 readers haven't given up all hope of updates never to return and will find this update informative and entertaining (or a complete waste of time, I'm happy with that too!)
I have a big list of things that I need to cover but I'll start chronologically for pt 1 at least and then go from there...
So, Florida! We had a superb time on holiday and could have done with a little more time to be honest, although my confusion with the dates didn't help! Not sure how I expected a Thursday flight in the US to return to the UK before it had taken off. Needless to say this caused all sorts of shenanigans with visitors back home and my car being nowhere to be seen at the airport.
Aside from that debacle the trip itself was brill! The automatic car took a little getting used to but it has convinced me that a Prius wouldn't be an altogether awful idea for my next car at home (it too has an automatic gearbox).
I picked the least obvious 'tourist' car to make us less of a target!
Highlights of the trip for me were Magic Kingdom and Key West but most of it was great. Miami was a little disappointing but I think that was mainly because it just wasn't as friendly as the other places we stayed and the less said about the frankly bizarre hotel the better!
The weather was good too and the exchange rate meant that we were able to spend and not worry too much...although it did mean I came home with 4 DS games that I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to playing, but I'll talk about rampant video game playing in another update!
All in all I can heartily recommend Florida! And now to find that bacon sandwich!
I have a big list of things that I need to cover but I'll start chronologically for pt 1 at least and then go from there...
So, Florida! We had a superb time on holiday and could have done with a little more time to be honest, although my confusion with the dates didn't help! Not sure how I expected a Thursday flight in the US to return to the UK before it had taken off. Needless to say this caused all sorts of shenanigans with visitors back home and my car being nowhere to be seen at the airport.
Aside from that debacle the trip itself was brill! The automatic car took a little getting used to but it has convinced me that a Prius wouldn't be an altogether awful idea for my next car at home (it too has an automatic gearbox).
I picked the least obvious 'tourist' car to make us less of a target!
Highlights of the trip for me were Magic Kingdom and Key West but most of it was great. Miami was a little disappointing but I think that was mainly because it just wasn't as friendly as the other places we stayed and the less said about the frankly bizarre hotel the better!
The weather was good too and the exchange rate meant that we were able to spend and not worry too much...although it did mean I came home with 4 DS games that I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to playing, but I'll talk about rampant video game playing in another update!
All in all I can heartily recommend Florida! And now to find that bacon sandwich!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Friday Night Lights
I've left Pregatron downstairs watching X-Weighted that she recorded off Sky 3 yesterday. From what I saw its your usual massive heffer goes through emotional journey and comes out thinner and happier(?) the other side. I decided to use this opportunity to update my woefully neglected blog. Neglected for a few reasons.....
* Too knackered to blog. A really poor excuse but work has been such a drain recently. The good news is I finally found out officially today that I will be recommended for promotion! This is good as it means that finally the people that need to believe this do and that there's now nothing more I can do to influence it. However the Career Council now has to decide if they can afford to give me the pay rise and uplift of benefits (including a car they can never take away from me) and whether the skill I'll be promoting into has a sustained need within the business unit. Yes it is a bit bollocks but I enjoy my job and team and wouldn't be able to get the promotion except by leaving the division otherwise. The presentation I had to give was on Wednesday in Fleet and left me completely drained, then I had to go to London yesterday for a workshop and then present on an All Hands Community Knowledge call this afternoon (and obviously fit my day job around all of this as well!)
* Facebook. Joined that and spend a lot of time fiddled when I would have been updating my blog. Also I want to state at this point that Emma Watson & Paul Booth must play a lot of Scrabble to be so good at it!
* Bioshock. Almost the sole reason for buying my Xbox Elite and its really good! Not sure how far through it I am but I can't stop thinking about "Would you kindly....". Can't wait to see what else it holds!
* Too knackered to blog. A really poor excuse but work has been such a drain recently. The good news is I finally found out officially today that I will be recommended for promotion! This is good as it means that finally the people that need to believe this do and that there's now nothing more I can do to influence it. However the Career Council now has to decide if they can afford to give me the pay rise and uplift of benefits (including a car they can never take away from me) and whether the skill I'll be promoting into has a sustained need within the business unit. Yes it is a bit bollocks but I enjoy my job and team and wouldn't be able to get the promotion except by leaving the division otherwise. The presentation I had to give was on Wednesday in Fleet and left me completely drained, then I had to go to London yesterday for a workshop and then present on an All Hands Community Knowledge call this afternoon (and obviously fit my day job around all of this as well!)
* Facebook. Joined that and spend a lot of time fiddled when I would have been updating my blog. Also I want to state at this point that Emma Watson & Paul Booth must play a lot of Scrabble to be so good at it!
* Bioshock. Almost the sole reason for buying my Xbox Elite and its really good! Not sure how far through it I am but I can't stop thinking about "Would you kindly....". Can't wait to see what else it holds!
Monday, September 03, 2007
The name change explained
Hopefully it's obvious and hopefully anyone I should have told already will have received an email or a phone call but we are expecting a baby! Went for the first scan today and confirmed that the baby (or is it still a fetus at this stage?) is 13 weeks and 3 days old!
That and the fact that I seem to be reading a lot of comic books at the moment inspired me to change the name of my blog! I've been wanting to post for a while but obviously needed to wait until we'd had the first scan. I'll hopefully be a bit better in updating posts and filling in other news (like the fact I bought an Xbox 360 Elite!)
That and the fact that I seem to be reading a lot of comic books at the moment inspired me to change the name of my blog! I've been wanting to post for a while but obviously needed to wait until we'd had the first scan. I'll hopefully be a bit better in updating posts and filling in other news (like the fact I bought an Xbox 360 Elite!)
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The sun is shining....
And I can smell chicken cooking for lunch. Just got back from town where I managed to give myself 3 ice-cream headaches in a row with one of Starbucks Pomegranate & Peach frappe things...tasty but painful!
The week has flown by thsi week helped along by the fact that work wasn't too dreadful...despite being no further along with my role review...have the exciting task of doing 2 jobs week after next wehn T is on leave but with things so quiet (holidays) at the moment it shouldn't be too bad.
The wedding was great and all the pictures can be found here.
The friday was pretty relaxed actually...met up with some of R soon to be in-laws as well as the best man and his family (although the best man had had an accident the night before and was sporting a sling!)
Had a good get together meal at the Castle in Caistor on the Friday night...met more of Ralph's family and cuaght up with K's aunts.
The day itself was very sunny and pictures by the Waterways were great...
We the danced th night away and rose fairly early to a terrific breakfast at the Imperial. The rest of the morning was spent on the beach!
The week has flown by thsi week helped along by the fact that work wasn't too dreadful...despite being no further along with my role review...have the exciting task of doing 2 jobs week after next wehn T is on leave but with things so quiet (holidays) at the moment it shouldn't be too bad.
The wedding was great and all the pictures can be found here.
The friday was pretty relaxed actually...met up with some of R soon to be in-laws as well as the best man and his family (although the best man had had an accident the night before and was sporting a sling!)
Had a good get together meal at the Castle in Caistor on the Friday night...met more of Ralph's family and cuaght up with K's aunts.
The day itself was very sunny and pictures by the Waterways were great...
We the danced th night away and rose fairly early to a terrific breakfast at the Imperial. The rest of the morning was spent on the beach!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Calm before the storm!
It's Thursday night and I have a little free time before the whirlwind that is to be the Sangster Brown nuptials on Saturday. K is already over there attending the rehearsal and stuff (she is the MATRON of honour after all) but I'm here relaxing at home before I join them tomorrow. The weather seems to be promising good things and hopefully it'll all go off very well. Looking forward to seeing K in her dress and hoping to take some good pics.
In this bit of time I have I thought I'd share some of the top photos from the birthday bash...
The Food!
The Glasses
Hitting the punch early...
Me and the happy couple to be!
The cake
Dad and his "smokeless" fuel
The cleanup crew
In this bit of time I have I thought I'd share some of the top photos from the birthday bash...
The Food!
The Glasses
Hitting the punch early...
Me and the happy couple to be!
The cake
Dad and his "smokeless" fuel
The cleanup crew
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Time to grow up?
Ok so I'm 30 now...isn't this when I'm supposed to shape up and grow up? I don't feel like I want to if thats ok with everyone.
The party went very well...photos will be on Flickr once I manage to upload them all (300 meg!). Highlights included the indestructible Pinata, the cake and food, the fantastic party glasses my dad had arranged, the presents, the fact we were all dry while it tipped it down and of course the people!
K did me proud and I couldn't have had a better day! The only problem now is that the house is full of sweets and leftover cake, champagne and too many books to even think about reading!
I'll post some more about it with pictures later.
The party went very well...photos will be on Flickr once I manage to upload them all (300 meg!). Highlights included the indestructible Pinata, the cake and food, the fantastic party glasses my dad had arranged, the presents, the fact we were all dry while it tipped it down and of course the people!
K did me proud and I couldn't have had a better day! The only problem now is that the house is full of sweets and leftover cake, champagne and too many books to even think about reading!
I'll post some more about it with pictures later.
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