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?

The Games

No, not the awful celebrity TV show where has-beens try and kick start their careers by doing pointless things on TV but my obsession with these kind of pastimes. I just love games! The most obvious manifestation of this (as in evidenced by my multiple posts on the subject) is video games. Sometimes I just can’t get enough of them. My passion for WoW has been re-ignited when I finally finished of a string of Mage quests which resulted in me getting a swanky new wand, but that’s not what I want to type about today.

I’m talking classic games, board games if you will. Now I have a friend who proclaims to absolutely hate them (although I’m sure it’s all a front) to the extent that whenever he gives one to me as a present it’s on the condition that he never has to play it! But I just love ‘em! I currently have in my house 4 versions of Monopoly (I think, it might be 3 actually) including Nottingham and Justice League of America. The problem with these games is that they have pretty complex rules and no-one (except me) wants to play them as they can take ages. Although the only time I am able to convince my mother to play, she beats me every time!

Current game favourites at the moment are Perudo , no complicated rules, no boards, just some dice. This was a present from R&R and everyone we’ve had play it, really enjoys it. It’s about bluffing, lying and odds.

Milles Bourne is another favourite. Originally we were introduced to this by the chap above (which seems odd given his aversion to games, it’s all a front, I tell you) who would only let us play with his ancient set if we washed our hands first. It’s essentially a team game about traffic and its all in French! Pretty good though one you get the hang on it!

Another one I want to get (as soon as I'm paid) is called Fluxx. Its a card game where the cards that are played chane the rules of the game! Sounds like there only one rule to learn at the start and then new rules are introduced by playing certain cards...sounds like fun! This same company makes one called Chrononauts as well, which looks pretty good.

A bit bored

Feeling a little bit bored this evening...I had assumed with the concert out of the way, Kath would be in of an evening and we could perhaps what a film or something. Turns out the rehearsals just carry on ready for the next one!

Tiring of World of Warcraft...getting to a high level and running out of stuff I want to do. There are some other games to catch up on, on the DS or the Cube but I can't really be bothered tbh.

Found these on the web today, pretty cool attempts to recreate the public information films. The pantomime dame one is great!

This is great as well for any Simpsons fans.

Another day

Another day of writing lots of reports and manipulating data…am I starting to get jaded? I don’t know but my upper arms ache, that I do know!

Spent some of today looking at frying pans on the ‘net, god, isn’t my life just chock full of thrills? Anyway I do want to get a new one as the non-stick is starting to go a bit funny on mine. In hindsight we should have put more expensive pans on the wedding list, but we didn’t think anyone would want to buy them. As it was the whole list went and we ended up with loads of vouchers as well, maybe next time….

I can’t decide between the Circulon 2 or the Anolon Professional. What I did find surprising is that almost all the different pans I looked at are made by the same company! Meyer UK. The ones we have at home and both of the ones mentioned here are all made by the same firm. I wonder if its like washing machines where they are all the same inside and just look fancier on the outside to capture a different market? I’m not sure that applies to frying pans though. It’s a shame there’s no way to try them out before hand. Anyway not sure why I’m looking as because of my furious spending I’ve got no money left until pay day.

BT shares seem to be doing bizarrely well at the moment. Usually whenever we announce results they take a nosedive but they’re hovering around £2.30 at the moment. This is good as I own a few shares outright and significantly more as Options at £1.99. Hopefully they’ll keep on rising!

Mondays

Work was deathly dull today, I hadn’t realised quite how much time I spent on the phone to my colleague. She’s off and now I’m languishing a bit. You can tell we’ve managed to get more organised as this week is supposed to be the busiest of the month but I spent a lot of it doing admin-y things like responding to very old email and checking out links I should have looked at ages ago.

It’s frustrating because it’s clear that I thrive on the havoc of setting something up from scratch and find it hard to get motivated about the documentation and stuff. I want problems to fix! The big problem is that the problems I want to fix are most definitely the responsibility of another team and I have to keep my nose out!

Had a great if very tiring weekend. Three birthdays in March (Emma, Paul & Rachel) and we hadn’t bought a single thing. Up early on Saturday and trawling the shops, we had to buy something today as the main reason I’m so tired is that we went to Nottingham to see the aforementioned birthday people. The presents were all bought and Kath had managed to find a top to buy to wear and I was mooching around trying to get enthused. The shirt I wanted to wear is bizarre and just won’t get clean! Each time it goes through the machine it comes out dirtier!

In an effort to get excited about it picked up 5 things I kinda liked and went to try them on. 10 minutes later and I’d spent £220 on a jacket, 2 shirts, a jumper and some jeans! Eeek! My little early month spending spree (the clothes were just part of it…got a little carried way online) has wiped me out and so I’ll be buying very little at the supermarket this week. Kath seems a bit put out that my spending extravagance means we’ll be eating ‘Value’ food this week but my view is that it’s a good opportunity to use up some of the stuff that is bulging from my store-cupboard and freezer.

Went and had cocktails at Santa Fe at the Corner House in Nottingham. Mohita, Chocolate covered strawberry and Carrot Cake for me and lots of other lovely things for the others. Then had a great meal at a place called Punchinello’s (apparently the oldest restaurant in Nottingham). Made the mistake I always do of ordering too much wine and was very hungover. This in itself wouldn’t usually be a problem but we had to be up at 6.30am the next morning to drive back to Ipswich to get Kath to a concert rehearsal for 10am. Fortunately the roads were clear and we managed to squeeze in tea, toast and an episode of Arrested Development season 2 before I had to take Kath to the rehearsal.

Attended said concert in the afternoon with Becks & Ralph and spent most of the time trying to persuade Rebecca to go to the doctors/dentist to get her swollen cheek looked at (apparently calling her ‘Becky Big Mouth’ didn’t help). The concert was good and then it was home for a chance to sit on my backside and snooze. ‘Watched’ (tried to stay awake and missed 5 minutes of the finale) Elektra on Sunday evening and was a bit disappointed to be honest. Jennifer Garner was good (although can’t shake the feeling that she was just Sydney Bristow on a slightly longer mission) but the story was a bit weak and having Goran Visnjic playing an all American dad with his own eastern European accent was just odd. Can’t he do any other accents?

Went to bed and read The Ultimates vol 2: Gods and Monsters and was left with a massive cliffhanger, hope I won’t have to wait too long for some sort of resolution. Felt knackered this morning and going to a step class at lunchtime didn’t help!

Leigh’s Offline Blog

I’m writing this on what I’m going to start calling “The Dark Ages Day 5”. You see we are sans phoneline at the moment and that also means sans internet. I didn’t realise quite how much I relied on the internet for entertainment at home! From checking my email, to playing games, getting train times, checking an address and location and posting my blog. Well that last one isn’t really true as I’ve been remiss lately. In fact if I had the internet now I wouldn’t be blogging I’d be playing on World of Warcraft. That game has been described as World of Warcrack and I know what they mean! I was cross when I couldn’t get my fix on Wednesday and slowly coming to terms with the fact that I still can’t play it! Perhaps this is actually a good thing though…when I return to it my contempories may have levelled to such a degree that I have no-one to play with. After all that’s what happened to City of Heroes….

The reason we have no phone is that someone in the street decided it would be a brilliant idea to pull down a load of phone lines and not bother to report it. An engineer came on Thursday to make the street ‘safe’, but since all the cabnle was either looped around the lamppost or coiled in people’s front garden I’m not sure what he did exactly. Apparently a pole team are coming on Monday to have a look. They probably won’t fix it but BT are “very sorry”. Hmmmm!

Now this internet drought wouldn’t be so bad if not for the fact I am desperate to plan my spending as I am about to get paid and for the first time in ages have no outstanding debt to put my wages onto. Also Kath has been little Miss Social and has been out almost all the time I’ve been here. To fill the time I’ve undertaken a number of other activities. I did some washing up, watched some TV, baked a cake, cleaned up a PC so we could take it around to a smelly woman, read a book and played on my DS.

Got the whole afternoon stretching out ahead of me and I don’t know what to do with it. Kath is off to a music group thing so I can’t spend it in her company. Already today I’ve finished a DS game (Mario & Luigi Partners in Time…not as good as the first one but a fine romp nevertheless) and thought about making a cake. The cake might not be such a good idea as we’ve still got half the orange marmalade loaf left from earlier in the week. I suppose I could try and mend my grapefruit marmalade. Its too runny at the moment and I can’t see any reason why I can’t just shove it all back in the pan and try to get a better setting point.

I was going to go and do the weekly food shopping but we did that yesterday. I could go and visit the garden centre for spring garden ideas but with no money I don’t really like browsing. I could go and check out sofas as we might be getting a new one (the springs on my side of the current sofa has finally started to give way). Anyway better go as I hear the front door going and no doubt the lunch needs making….

Spend spend spend!

I'm currently fighting an urge to spend some money. An overspend in January (the excess christmas credit cards and the wife's birthday) have left me with little disposable income for February (two weeks to go and only £150 in my account).

The problem is the rather sizable chunk of cash in my savings that seems to alternate between willing me to spend it and saying "Save me, save me!". I'm not really sure how it has happened but I seem to be saving a frankly large amount of money each month. It might be that the house is so full of crap that I can't buy big items (nowhere to put them) or that once I have started to save I never want to be in debt again. Either way I'm finding hard to justify buying something unless I really want it.

I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of it is due to boredom...hopefully spending will give me a thrill....but if I can just make it 2 more weeks then I will have been paid and I can spend my usual disposable income instead of my savings...I wonder if I'll make it.

Just in case you're wondering I'm only likely to spend it on DVDs, books, video games and comics. Perhaps I should focus my efforts on the games unfinished, the pile of books not started and the DVDs yet to be watced since Christmas. That might be a better use of my time instead of thinking of new shiny things. Although an iPod Nano is looking quite attractive at the moment.....

Much shorter hair

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

And my hair afterwards!

Longish hair

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

This is my hair before my exciting visit to the hairdressers....

Buttery Boxers

Ok so I’m finally putting in a blog entry that is meaningful and longer than a couple of sentences!

Kath has spurred me into action with her flurry of activity, which I think in turn was spurred on by Alex’s classic offerings. The Laundrette entry was pretty special! It reminded me of my laundrette experiences at Uni as well. Firstly the laundrette was a last resort, jeans are great for wearing to death! I even remember buying an extra large pack of butter from the supermarket to get the free boxer shorts. I had Golden Churn on my boxers and they were blue and yellow striped. It didn’t seem odd at the time but thinking about it now…free boxer shorts with a tub of imitation butter?!?! What were they thinking?!?!

Anyway Chris and I used to load everything into machines at Broadgate flats, late of an evening, secure any necessary change from Eula and Mula (Mother of Eula) from the Broadgate Flats shop and then drive my car in a random direction for an hour. I remember getting fairly near to Loughborough one time before turning back to collect our washing…ahh, those were the days!

Sharing

I'm off work today with a persistant headache that won't go away...my neck and shoulders hurt as well...god I feel old.

Just thought you'd like to know....

Nothing to say really

I wish I could be more motivated to fill in my blog! My wife has all but given up on her's which is a shame as she does come up with some gems. Think kind thoughts so she'll tell us all about 'Textures of Pears'. I would but I think I got a little hysterical about it and I don't trust myself not to go off on one!

You have the pleasure of my blog as I'm waiting for the weekend to start...my boss IMed me (I know IMisn't a verb but I can't be arsed to type the whole thing) and said he would call me at 16:50 just before I shut my PC down. I'm at home now and its 17:15 and still no call...the weekend can't start until I can relax!

Although I do need to leap into action and make dinner as soon as I'm finished. We wasted our one takeway a week on pizza last night as I didn't get home from work 'til 7 and nothing was gonna make me cook after the shitty day I'd had. Especially as the journey home from Leavseden gave me ample oppurtunity to fester on it and then Kath's Textures of Pears debacle topped it all off.

On the bright side barring 3 gifts Christmas shopping all done and we're really swinging into the Christmas season. We have the KCJ works Christams do tomorrow and in a break from tradition is actually near to Christmas. Not sure what I'm going to wear but I'll have to have a look!

Better go and find out if the boss still wants to talk to me!

Another Blog Filler

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you're rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

How Is Your Inner Child?

Update pt 3

Oops...been a bit lax with updates...I could say its because of the heady euphoria we're feeling because the show has been doing so well (and it has) but the real reason is because I'm lazy! And exhausted...doing the show really takes it out of me. Coupled with the last few months of work I have spent most of the time lolling around the house!

The reviews from the press have been fantastic and we're looking forward to another 2 good shows...although today is quite tough with a matinee and a regular performance.

The central heating has been a godsend! I don't know how we managed without it before.

Also we had an exciting trip to a violin shop to get Kath a new bow and case for her viola. Lovely shop and a lovely man who, when we realised we didn't have a cheque book with us, waved us out of the shop with over £200 of goods saying "Not to worry, juss pop me a cheque in the post"! Now that's good service!

Diary of a Show pt 2

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

The first theatre rehearsal is either great or terrible depending on whether the good outweighs the bad.

Fortunately in this case the good DID outweigh the bad!

Yes, it took some getting used to with the sloped stage, the setting is different than in the village hall, not being able to see the conductor is a pain but on the other hand, the entrances are easier, there's more room and you get to see everyone's costumes! The attached photo is me as a runner in the Overture...not sure how much you'll be able to see as I'm behin a screen but it should be OK.

Its 1pm and I've done nothing but play half-life 2 so far today! I need to go out to the supermarket so I'd better dash. I'll post another update tomorrow but between you and me I'm expecting it to be awful!

Diary of the Show pt 1

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

I'm off work for a week! Hooray! Had a truly terrible day at work on friday so am very glad to be off for the next 7 days. The reason? It's show week!

We're performing in The Mikado at the Ipswich Corn Exchange and I thought I would keep a track of the week using my blog and so provide blog updates at the same time...something which I've neglected over the past weeks.

First things first...show week starts the friday before with the lovely costume pickup...my wife is modelling her wig so beautifully in the photo you see here. For the full set of Mikado photos, including my wig and costume click here.

This week will also give me a good opportunity to relax and put in some serious videogame time. My plan is to try and finish as many as I can so that the inevitable onslaught of new christmas titles can be bought and enjoyed!

I'm currently enjoying Half-life 2, Nintendogs, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, X-Men 2: Rise of Apocolypse, Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, James Bond: Everything or Nothing plus I've still got to finish Baten Kaitos. If I'm very good I might even play Resident Evil 4 again!

Other things that need doing include my time recording and expenses for work (forgot to do them on Friday) and a lot of origami for the show.

We have the first rehearsal in the Corn Exchnage tonight so I'll post my impressions later.

This is me, apparently....

Ahh, the ever-cynical and sarcastic speechwriter. Gutsy and not afraid to speak up or clash with authority, his dry wit is amusing. But under it all he's just a big teddy bear... and the world's biggest Yankees fan.


:: Which West Wing character are you? ::

What famous leader am I?

Not so pleased with this result! Eeek!

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

What movie am I?

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

A bit of time

It seems that I've actually got home at a decent time for once and have the energy to update my blog! Woo hoo!

My brother has finally taken the plunge and is joining the 21st Century! By this I mean he has finally bought himself a computer and I got him hooked up to Broadband last week! No doubt this will be an avenue for him to spend more money on video games and potentially get hooked on computer gambling! The upside is I'll be in more regular contact with him and he can find information about stuff more easily! It's odd that its taken him so long to be honest...it was him that led technology when we were living with my parents. he convinced them to get satellite TV (for the wrestling) and then get a computer...funny how things turn out.

Got stuck looking at origami paper websites today! www.origamipapers.co.uk looks quite good but I need to do a bit more browsing! The reason is I want to make some fancy models as cast gifts for the show we're doing next month.

I also ended up buying sushi rice from a web site yesterday too. I can't believe that I can't buy it at a supermarket! I personally blame Tesco as it seems the other supermarkets copy what Tesco sell. And if Tesco decide they can't sell it then its tough! Bastards! I eventually found a site called Japanese Kitchen which is sending me a parcel load of interesting Japanese foodstuffs! thats hould make my Sushi meal for frieds at the weekend much easier to make.

Gone video game crazy this month! I bought kath her own DS and we've both got copies on Nintendogs! I also got another couple of games as well. What with the central heating as well my accounts have taken a battering! Once all the cheques clear we'll have a clearer view of whats what!

Right better go and make the dinner before K gets home and the plumbers comes round to fix the leaky radiator!

Bye!

I'll show you mine

I'll show you mine
Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Alex threw down the gauntlet so here is my response.....using the lovely Flickr to provide the commentary.

Lax

I have been so very lax wth my blog of recent months! My only explanation is an upsurge of decent video games to fill me timy and the fact that I rarely get home before 5:30 any more so the only thing I have time to do is check my mail and make dinner!

Its 10:15 on a saturday night and if I were a hip young thing I'd probably just be getting ready to go out and dance the night away. However I'm not hip or young so I am at my computer typing this. Just had half a bottle of red wine and the hangover is starting already! Not sure whats up with me at the moment but wine really doesn't agree with me!

I'm sat in a lovely warm house as we had the men in today to fit central heating! We had anticipated them for 3 days but in the end it took 1 and a half! Fantastic! No doubt I'll be complaining that its too hot and "think of the bills!" within a week, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts.

Ever since going credit positive I've turned into a skin flint! I think I'm a bit compulsive sometimes...get me on a bandwagon and boy am I on it! So money is going good and I seem to b losing weight! The best part is I'm not really doing anything other than not snacking and cutting out masses of chocolate.

Better go as I should go to bed so I can get up early and do house things (collect furniture from in storage and dispose of all the cardboard in the front garden). Ah mine is a full life!

Bath Abbey

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Thought I'd just upload this picture as I'm feeling sorry for myself! Work has been a bugger this week and its like my holiday never happened!

Sometimes I just feel stuck in the middle of warring parents (old boss, new boss) trying to please everyone! And for some reason I feel the need to do extra time and not cme home til late...what's wrong with me?

Anyway another long day behind me and now Kath has deserted me and gone to orchestra...sigh!

What I'd like to be doing is vegging in front of the TV and watching Arrested Development DVDs but because Kath wants to watch them too I have to wait...

Also gone back to aerobics twice this week and boy do I ache....it must be doing me some good though!

Adventure Golf

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

A holiday for me and Kath is never quite complete without some sort of 'Crazy Golf'. This was taken at Adventure Golf in the lovely city of Bath where we have just spent part of our first camping trip! Check out the photos on Flikr and look for the further blog entries about it!

By some freak of nature (and the fact that I should be better at golf related escapades, what with being a golf-orphan and such) we scored the same! I suppose Kath's holiday resort childhood (raised in Gt. Yarmouth) would mean there was crazy golf on tap so to spak...perhaps we are an even match after all?!?

Is anyone out there?

Just checking as you'd probably given up on this blog by now...I know I had! Well its time to ring those changes and get back in the routine! A number of things have dragged my attention away form this blog and so I haven't updated for a while....I can only apologise and reassure you that there will be more regular updates forthcoming!

Tired...

...and stressed out but fortunately Kath has put on How Clean is your House? and forced me to leave the room!

This means I get to update my blog and moan about stuff at the same time. My meeting at BT Centre in London is off! Quite glad to be honest as it is 2 weeks since the last bomb attacks and 4 weeks since they all started.

Unfortunately it means my meeting is in Fleet instead....yay 3 hour journey in the morning and 3 hour journey home. Depending on whether I finish early or not will determine if I can make it to dancing which is a shame as its the first we'd have had since Bruce was injured in said 4 week ago bomb attacks....

In other news (and probably very boring for the readers of this blog) I feel like I should hurry up and change blog sites as there are pictures and videos I want be able to show on my blog without the rigamorole (spelling?) and having to find someone else to host them. The offers here sound fairly good and Alex is especially keen as he'll get a £35 referral payment!

I wish I had more time as I feel I'm getting drawn into the world of ARGs. We've just signed up to Perplex City by buying some puzzle cards and there seems to be a whole world out there about these ARGs. The only thing is when will I have the time to participate!

And best of all I've got a headache!

Still mulling it over.....

I think I probably will move my blog to Wordpress but first I've got to find somewhere to host it. Got a couple of leads but until I've got a bit of time on my hands I'm gonna wait.

Life is very busy at the moment, what with dancing, G&S and work in general. Plus the Summer months mean very little free time at the weekends. The weekend just gone was spent decorating sister in laws house and this upcoming weekend will be spent entertaining guests.

Oh the reason i posted was to show you this...brilliant!

Green eyed Monster

Ok I'm jealous! Alex's new blog looks fab and it has the features I want! I don't want 2 separate blogs I want a blog that allows me to categorise my posts so that someone can read only the bits interesting to them!

I've also decided to stop updating my food blog so I can merge it with this one. Then I need to talk to Alex and find out how I can host WordPress and what I need to do. Writing this blog started out as somethign it was hard to do but now I want it to look the best it can and meet my needs...Blogger is getting too difficult (changing the template is a pain in the arse!) I hope Alex doesn't mind but it seems like he leads and I follow at the moment! No doubt if I move blogs Kath will move as well...the question is dos Blogger annoy me enough to go through the hassle of changing it all? Hmmmm....

Using the Le Creuset for the first time, cooking a lovely soup. Fingers crossed it all works out OK!

Hmmmm......

Had one of those days...managed to get nothing done at work that I wanted to do and the whole re-org mess is starting to get me down! I need a pep talk from someone that's for certain! Also slightly annoyed that I seem to be 3 birthday cards short (mentioning no names) this year.

Getting a bit fed up with my blog too. Have 2 of the damn things (the other is here) is startig to be a trial as there are streams of consciousness that I'm not sure where they should sit and really I don't write enough to justify two I don't think. So now my next challenge is to try and merge the buggers so I don't lose all my posts.

Also I'm getting annoyed by the darkness of my template! It just seems gloomy but try as I might I can't seem to change the buggering colour! I may have to save the bits of my template that I like (the links etc) and copy them into a new template. I'm thinking something light and airy like over at www.101cookbooks.com. I'll have to ponder.

Also I managed to cook something form one of my birthday books but I can't be bothered to upload the pictures...suffice it to say it was yummy and should probably be mentioned in my other blog (bugger!)

Smokin'

Just had a moderately successful first fire in the new Chiminea, although I do smell of smoke now. I think the next one needs smaller twigs (the log I used was a little ambitious) and better kindling (Scrunched up Whats On TV clearly didn't fit the bill). It's only saving grace (and the reason it stay lit at all) was the Ocote Mayan Firesticks I used. These are basically twigs with a high oil contan so they light easily and stay lit for longer.

Still my chim does need easing in so its probably best that my fire wasn't a roaring success! (sigh)

I'm not sure what possessed me to sor that out tonight...I've just got back form shopping and it was shit. Asda had barely anything in so I ended up going to Tesco as well. I hate it when that happens! I suppose I could have tucked into my new Gamecube game, Killer 7 (birthday presnt from my brother, thank you Jamie!) but the video was about to kick in to record Silent Witness and a complex arrangement of wires, boxes and scart connections means I can't play games and record at the same time! Silent Witness is getting the vide treatment as Kath is at a women only rehearsal for the show.

Chim-chiminy, chim-chiminy, chim-chim chiminea

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

This was one of the many presnts I was lucky enought o receive on my birthday this year. Mum was a little concerned at how big it is (it barely fit in her car for the journey from Derby) and truth be told it is a little big for the garden. No matter, we'll all get very hot when I light it...hooray! Can't wait to give it a go nut unfortunately its pissing it down at the moment...89% humidity outside according to my new weather station (I was certainly spoilt this year!!)

Mad

Its been a hectic couple of days so I don't really know where to start....

My mum and nan finally arrived around 1pm on Friday so the birthday weekend could start proper. Prior to that Kath had been galivanting around getting stuff ready and even finding time to go to Debenhams and sort out our duvet problem. I think I mentioned it a few posts ago that we'd decided to order a goose feather duvet. I ordered the thing from Debenhams Direct and it had failed to materialise. The pillows arrived Ok (well as OK as they could be after being thrown over the back fence) but of the duvet there was no sign. I got a letter saying it was on its way but still no duvet. Eventually I got fed up and sent them an email, the next day I got the lovely "Thank you for your email" email and a message saying someone would deal with it in the next 5 days. Finally I get an email saying...

"Due to high demand, we are now out of stock of the following items. Please accept our apologies. Unfortunately we do not expect to be able to obtain any more stock. We hope this isn't too inconvenient for you."

This was after they had accepted my order and after they had sent me a confirmation letter advising me it was on its way!! I was annoyed but not as annoyed as Kath who was ready to complain to the chairman of Debenhams himself!

Fortunately the shop had them in stock and apologised for the rubbishness of Debenhams Direct so now we have a feather duvet, much thinner than I expected but very warm!! Which is just as well as the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse!

Camp

I've gone camping mad! I can't stop thinking about tents and campsites and equipment and all the rest of it!

Hopefully today (birthday -1) we'll go and buy the tent of our dreams. All the stuff I've read has instructed me not to buy a tent until I've sat in it and seen it erected. So once my Mum and Nan arrive we'll be off tent shopping!

Picking one has been tough but I think I've identified the one we want. As far as i can tell its about middle price point for a 4 man tent. there are some very exclusive looking ones here. The point is with these is that they almost put themselves up! At £300 though I think we'll give that a miss. Fingers crossed the one I think I want will be nice in reality and not just look good in pictures....

Anyone for a punt?

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Lovely day in Cambridge yesterday that had unexpected consequences!

We met up with Chris and Emma in Cambridge as they were on a weekend away in their new caravan. Not really my cup of tea, but sitting outside in the lovely campsite in the sun and Kath and I have sorted out our September holiday!

We've joined the Caravanning and camping Club, and we're off to buy a tent! We've been threatening going camping for years now but never got a round to it...now we have some spare cash and a week off so it'll be cheaper to go camping! Just got to get all the kit for it now....and go on practice stay at a local campsite.

Lovely!

Book Crossing

I'd heard of this a while back but actually got introduced to it by a friend last night. The idea is simple, mark books you have read and realease them into the wild. Then track their journey across the globe and see where they end up!

Fantastic idea as we have a load of books that we're proably never going to read again that someone else might like the chance too!

So....

Commit random acts of literacy! Read & Release at
http://www.bookcrossing.com/friend/Leighbob

Also a quote worth knowing....

A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.

Henry Miller
The Books In My Life (1969)

Lots of stuff

I can't believe its been a week since I last blogged! Been very busy at work and its been too hot to do naything too tasing in the evenings. I have been keeping my eye out for things to blog so I suppose I better get down to it!

The first thing I should mention is ICE. This is a scheme set up by some chaps from the East Anglian Ambulance Trust which has come to mass media attention due to the bombings in London last week. Essentially its all about the fact that people don't carry next of kin details but do carry mobiles. And often the emergency services need to contact someone in an emergency to get medical history, and other details. So what you do is you prefix the name of someone in your phone book with the initials ICE (In Case of Emergency) and the emergency servcies will have a much easier job of things...their website is here for more details.

Despite the fact that Johnny Depp looks a little strange as Willy Wonka the new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film looks pretty good. Tim Burton has apparently ignored the previous film and actually based this one on the book! This means we get to see the full darkness of it and its more about Charlie than Willy Wonka (the previous film was renamed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and gave more emphasis to Gene Wilder who I don't really like as he only seems to be able to play himself, and by that I mean he plays the same way in everything I've seen him in!!)

Apparently Roald Dahl was not best pleased with the original film....

My birthday rapidly approaches and I've been surprised by the number of parcels that Kath has had delivered...slightly unfortunate that I've been the one to open the door and be handed a parcel from the postman with a really obviously named company stamped on the box! Oh well I'm sure I'll still be surprised! My mum and ana are coming to stay over so Kathryn is desparately cleaning the house...I need to do some gaden stuff otherwise my nan will be out with the secateurs! I should be getting a Chiminea from my parents but mum is concerned that its a little large...I must say that is a worry as my garden is tiny and it might be a case of we won't be able to sit in it when the Chiminea is lit as the heat is too much! We'll have to wait and see! Apparently though I'm going to have to cure it by building little fires in it for a while...full instructions here, thankfully!

Check out my new blog

I've started a new blog which covers all aspects of my interest in food and cooking. It can be found here and hopefully I'll be able to keep a log of what I've been cooking, and what exciting food I've been buying as well!

Enjoy!

Green Fingers

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Kath mentioned on her blog that I had got my enthusiasm back for gardening and she's right! A poorly time piece of weather that caused my Acer to sprout and then get killed by frost had dampened my spirits but a bit of spare cash and a visit to the garden centre has got me excited again!

Spent a few hours sorting stuff out and its looking pretty top notch again. A nice new parsol means that I can spend time in it without frying in the sun (my garden is very sheltered and gets very hot). I'm even trying to grow tomatoes!

The Acer has been moved to the back door but I get the impression we're going to have to wait til next spring to see if it comes back to life again...I hope so I really like that plant. A buddlieh (spelling?) has taken its place (as seen in the photo next to the bench) so hopefully we'll be getting butterflies as well!

Lovely and Talented

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

A picture of my lovely and talented wife....

Not so Fantastic

It seems that Fantastic Four has had a bit of a mauling by the critics in America. Its a shame as the trailer had managed to turn it around for me...I wasn't impressed but the trailer makes it look really good. Thats the skill of trailer makers I guess!

London

I had decided to forego writing a blog entry about London and what has happened there over the past few days but watching TV last night has changed my mind.

We had just finiched watching yet more Family Guy when we switched onto the Channel 4 news. There in a bed in a London hospital talking to the Queen about his ordeal was someone who looked and sounded like our dance teacher! Thanks to the marvel of the internet (how did we manage before?) we discovered (via the local newspaper website) that 2 Ipswich dancers had been on one of the trains with one of the bombs but had miraculously escaped serious injury. It just brought it all very close to home....

I'm not sure what the bombers hope to achieve as it seems that terrorist activity just strengthens resolve and bands together groups of people through adversity. It still isn't clear however who did all this so we'll have to wait and see how it all unfolds.

Time to get tictactical

If you would appear my constant badgering has failed as a tactic to get Kath to update her blog. I need to think up another tactic....

Perhaps if I say I really, really enjoy reading them as I think anything my wife writes is hilarious will do the trick? It also happens to be true but perhaps I just haven't said it enough? I'll have to wait and see if it has the desired effect.

Only me....

Just a couple of things today as I need to be quick...the missus and I are going to a play tonight so we need to leave sharpish when she gets home from work if we're to fit in a bit of dinner first.

I noticed this site that has you try and guess the next words in news stories, pretty interesting but I was crap at the hard setting...must try easy setting at some point.

Also the BBC website has its own magazine/blog type thing and the editors column is usually very interesting...it can be found here.

Also I want to do another plug for Google Earth. It is amazing! I discovered today that I can see my sister in laws house in its glory and that in selected US cities you can make all the buildings 3D and fly around! Although I notice that the White House is jarringly low resolution when compared with the rest of Washington DC. Perhaps there's a law against photographing the White House from space with spy satellites...dunno...

Alex texted me today as he was watching an old episode of House of Elliott on the telly. My abiding memory of that show was the cheesy, jolly theme tune and how inappropriately it was used! Usually each episode would end with something very dramatic and then the 20s styled brassy tune would kick in...so you end up with something like..."Its worse than that Miss Evie...I'm pregnant" ya ta ta ta ta ta ta-dah, ya ta da ta da ta dah. Brilliant!

Peel me like an orange!

The aftermath of the sunburn a few weekends ago is finally coming home to roost! My entire leg seems to be peeling off and I seem to leave a trail of flaky skin wherever I go! I can't resist a good scratch and that usually means a nice sprinkling of skin is left in my wake!

In other news Alex has posted his pictures of the wedding and you can check them out here. It really was a fab day and I hope R&R are having a great honeymoon as I type this. the wedding ended up costing me more than expected however as the hotel's luxurious feather duvet and pillows meant that I spent the remainder of my bonus money on a new feather duvet and pillows for home. Bye bye artificial filling, hello goose down!

In other news I finally managed to download Google Earth and its amazing! If you've got broadband I would heartily reccomend you download it and see for yourself. Kath reckons its like being on CSI, you can zoom in to virtually anywhere on the planet and see cars and buildings. Admittedly the US coverage is better but even so its an eye opener. Check it out!

We've just discovered Family Guy and its great! They've even got a blog! Although annoyingly their website won't open in Firefox!! Why don't people test it in something other than IE! Damn you Microsoft!

Finally (as I want to have a quick session on Puzzle Pirates) go check out the wife's blog! Its here. Post comments to encourage her to write more...I think its hilarious, she's not so sure!

I am not a number

Nuptials

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

Well it was the wedding of the year and a great time was had by all!

It was a roaring success from start to finish despite running a bit late. There's probably loads I could write about it but I think I'll wait a bit. I'm in a rush to go and make dinner but I did want to upload my photos...go to Flckr to see them in all their glory!

Weird Weather

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

It seems I forgot to mention the bizarre hail storm that pelted the car on Wednesday! Felt like the car was being shot at (although I can only assume this as I've never been shot at, in a car or otherwise) and the accompanying rain flooded the bottom of my road.

Bizarrely the hail managed to last for 2 hours despite the temperature being around 18 degrees.

The other thing that happened that night was running over a dog on the way to Asda. Well I exaggerate, a dog ran into the side of the car when we were doing 30 mph up Norwich Road. I assume it was OK, Kath said it was just after she told me to put my foot down and not look back!

Data Overload!

For once I've got loads I want to put in my blog but I've just had no time! And even as I write this I am acutely aware of the time as I've got loads to do today. The thing is if I don't blog now I won't for a few days. The Pinhorn-Sunley nuptials are tomorrow and thats why I'm busy. In about 3 hours the first house guests will arrive and the house is a mess and I haven't done any baking!

Kath's at work and she's usually really good at getting me to stop flapping (this usually involves her telling me to sit down while she sorts stuff out but it gets the job done). Anyway deep breaths, get this blog done and we'll be fine!

Something that looks really interesting but I am having problems accessing is Google Earth. Its basically a collection of all the Earth satellite photos joined together in one big map! I need to keep visting the site to see when the beta re-opens.

City of Heroes has kind of petered out. The game shines when you can team up with people online and fight the forces of evil but my infrequent playing schedule has meant potential team mates have levelled way past me and I need to keep finding new ones...which has proved difficult. I think unless it improves soon I'll cancel my subscription and move onto something else. Speaking of which I've spotted a new MMORPG which looks promising...with a name like Yohoho! PuzzlePirates you can't go wrong! You're supposed to subscribe to it and pay a monthly fee but so far I can't see what extra I will get. It's this type of game that would be dangerous to let Kath near as its made up of all the types on online puzzles she likes...if you do go online for a trial and spot a pirate called Bobbyblade on the Cobalt ocean say hello! I chose that name after the Pirate name generator (unrelated to puzzlepirates I might add) came up with Barney the Pink! I think not.

The last thing I wanted to touch on (the wedding singing rehearsal woes can wait until after the wedding methinks) was this site and some amazing 3d drawings drawn on pavements around the world. Truly astonishing! Although he does seem to have a penchant for Diana...strange man!

Grrr

Another tuesday and another day waking up with a headache that I can't shift! Fortunately work is suspiciously quiet so I was able to make a quiet exit and log on and deal with important stuff at home. My first thought is stress but then I've got nothing to stress about at the moment...

Have now received final instructions for the wedding of the year (tm) and everything looks ready. A load of friends from Uni are piling down to chez Caple on the friday to rehearse some singing that we're doing but hopefully it'll turn into a party!

Spotted this today which is a follow up to a news story I read a while back. It seems pretty incredible that we're going to be able to build a thermonuclear fusion reactor on Earth! The official site is here and it won't be built until 2015 but it still seems pretty amazing. Its very easy to say thts 10 years away but it seems that my life is speeding up! Who knows what will happen by then and where I will be? It seemed unlikely that I would move away from Nottingham but here I am in Ipswich coming up for nearly 5 years! 5 years!

Mondays

Another strange day at work...we have a big re-org coming up and its almost as if everyone knows the end game but no-one has really thought about how we're going to get there. It does make it tough to get things done!

I notice that Monopoly are celebrating 70 years with a brand new London Here & Now edition. The idea is to build the board based on now. The London Eye makes it in as does the BT telecom tower (good things) but so does The Sun newspaper and skateboard and rollerblade playing pieces (bad things). There's also chance to play in a live version based around London. They give you money and you buy your properties. You pick a london cabbie and then 5 otehrs are sleected at random. Whenever one of the other real life cabbies lands (ie visits with a fare in their GPS tracked taxis) on your properties you get the rent. This is played over 24 hours and then you get entered into a draw to win prizes...I currently have £55 million in my balance but the best players have hundreds of millions. Check it out here.

While browsing the net I noticedsome blogs for food...in this case bread. I was wondering if I should start a new blog and detail recipes I cook...I wonder if anyone would be interested and whetehr it might end up too time consuming...although it would make a handy reference.

In unrelated news Richard Whitely died last night. I find this really hard to believe, he was only 61 and such a nice man to boot! He always had a pun ready (never a bad thing) and Countdown is a national institution! Oh well...

Also I've managed to get Kath addicted to my Nintendo DS! Brilliant!

Woo-hoo!

After months of badgering our dance teacher finally managed to drag us to one of their medal presentation dos and I must say we had a great time! We arrived a little after it had started because we'd been watching the tennis (Andy Murray lost but it was a great match!). That tuned out to be a mistake as the place was packed. We perched ourselves in the bar area but soon were spotted by Pat who match-maked with some other young couples and were squeezed onto their table. God bless her for interfering as we met some nice folks who liked dancing too (obvious really as they were at this event)

I managed to dodge entering the Adult/Juvenile mixed competition as there were too many adults but Kath got a bit confused with the taps on the shoulder. A tap was a good thing! The upshot was the Kath danced in one of the finals when she'd already been knocked out of the heat! Brilliant!

We got awarded our Bronze medal for the exam we took and as is usual in any of these situations the presenter couldn't get the name right! "Caple rhymes with Staple". I suppose its difficult for people in Suffolk as a lot of little villages around here are called Capel St. Something and its pronounced the same way. One of the other couples were collecting their third pre-bronze medal and they suggested that if we wanted to enter competitions that we should delay completing our pre-bronze for as long as possible so we could compete in the easier competitions. Sounds like good advice if entering comps was what we wanted to do..which I'm not sure it is...anyway...

The other couple we were sat with were collecting their Silver medal for Salsa. They did a demo for everyone at the end and they were fantastic! She was only 15 and Kath and I couldn't believe it! We were trying to work out his age but I guess he could be anywhere between 20-30.

Jenny roped us into entering the competitions on the night and we ended up dancing in the Waltz and Cha-Cha. Amazingly we passed both heats and got into the Grand Finals for both! Gareth was telling us that we were in the finals over and above another couple he kew that dance in open competitions! Anyway we got awarded sixth place for Waltz and fourth place for Cha-Cha...not bad for our first foray! Gareth and Claire came forst in both so our table was doing very well that night! The table also won 3 of the raffle prizes, talk about lucky!

The presentation did go on a while though as the competitions were all split into a million age groups (slight exaggeration). We finally got home at about 11 and decided it would be a good time to watch CSI:NY, which I must say has really grown on me, although Danny is really annoying and it was good to see him come a cropper last night!

Ooops better go...off to see batman Begins this morning!

3 years in and still going strong...

I can barely believe that Kath and I will be celebrating our third wedding anniversary in a couple of months time...where has the time gone? As is traditional I wanted to try and get a nice gift that fits the proper conventions. Helpfully there seems to be a traditional list and a modern list. Year One was Paper (trad) and Clocks (mod), that was easy I got her a watch and made some origami flowers. Year 2 was cotton (T) and china (m) so I think I bought her a porcelain figure to match the one I bought for the wedding.

Year three is Leather (t) and Glass/Crystal (m) and I was just doing a serach for leather and I found this site with a reasonable sounding name and some hilarious pictures within...quite alarmingly you can buy leather duvets!

I guess I'll just have to keep looking...

Blueberry Tar

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Originally uploaded by Leighbob.

It's supposed to be jam but is it? No it's buggering not! It's bluberry tar!

I'm going to have to throw the jar away! How upsetting!

I was reading a fantastic preserving book today in the bookshop and I can't wait to actually make some jam that works! If you're feeling generous you could buy the book in question for me from here. Thanks!

Still really really hot!

But at least my sunburn is subsiding! Just got back from dancing and realised the onion in dinner was a mistake, its all I can taste. I'll need to hunt out a mint at some point!

Time is flying by in a haze and I feel like my blog entries are becoming a little pointless! Not really got anything to link to or wisdom to share. Ho-hum!

Sunburn

Thankfully the pain is staring to go and my leg doesn't feel quite so itchy any more. What this probably means is that next time I go out into the sun I'll forget the pain and forget to put sun cream on again and then whinge about it on my blog! The cirle of life!!

The good weather has continued and the garden is looking deader every day...if only I could be arsed to water the garden!

The hot weather has also had a strange effect on our dancing teachers...we more or less did latin dancing back to back and there was some very sultry dancing from Pat...managed to learn the meringue (spelling) and did some more Salsa too but boy was it hot! Added to that floor was very slippy and we ended up sweating like bastards!

Just trying to look at the Roald Dahl website at the moment, they had good things to say about it on Radio 2. I remember being told off in a school library once for singing and dancing the intro to Tales of the Unexpected too loudly! Oh happy days!

The sign of true Britishness

Forgetting the sun cream and thinking "we'll be fine without it"! My wife has very pink knees and a weird pattern on her feet from her sandals and I have pink forearms and a very sore left leg (my right one is fine though!).

Spent the entire day sitting in the sun and eating...firstly at Kath's mums and then at Kath's dads. Strawberry overload but its difficultto say no. Kath's mum must have thought she was feeding the five thousand as there was far too much food! I did manage to acquire a copy of 'Mrs Beeton's Cookery and Household Management' though. Its really good especially when you realise she wrote it in 1859.

One phrase she used in the preface to the first edition always makes me laugh, in her words "I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife's badly cooked dinners anduntidy ways" Not entirely politically correct but very much of her time. The book literally covers everything about running a house from buying or building one to decorating, childrens illnesses, recipes, etiquette and much more...truly amazing!

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

Certainly not me after watching the final episode of Dr Who this evening. I thought it was referring to the God of the Daleks but when he proclaimed half way through that he wasn't Bad Wolf it got me really excited!

The Doctor shoving Rose back into the past to save her was great as well...it prevented the whole episode being guns and shouting, although Rose did her fair share of shouting back in London. All in all I can't wait for me, Kath's face when David Tenant popped up as the new Doctor at the end was priceless! And as for the resolution to Bad Wolf and the Dalek invasion...brilliant!

Right need to go and make some daiqiris, the heat is high and we need some cooling off....

Gah...

...my get and go and got up and gone! I feel so bloody apathetic at the moment...nothing can keep my interest....

Another week gone by.....

Where do the weeks go? Its friday afternoon again and here I am on a conference call for work...16:30-17:30. What a great way to end the week! Because Kath gets up at a ridiculous hour to trek halfway across East Anglia to go to work, I get up to. This means I'm usually in work by about 8am and can leave fairly early most days, until my boss's boss asks me to attend a conference call that is! I was almost tempted to stay in the lovely air condidtioned office (its 28 degrees outside at the moment) but the traffic off the park and the fact that the Orwell bridge is down to one lane means it can take an hour to get home....

It could be worse I suppose...I'm sat in my shorts, typing this and waiting for the call to begin...again I'm on mute so no-one knows I'm here but at least i don't have to say anything...I can slurp my can of Sprite in peace...oooh its started!

Another reason for having to leave early is that I wanted to get something for Kathryn...as she passed her exam!! Not that I didn't think she would! She often worries but I have supreme confidence in her...well done Kathryn!

Looking forward to the nice weather at the weekend as the garden is looking a little neglected and we've got a BBQ in lovely Great Yarmouth.

The call is really dragging on.....better go as I should be listening....bye bye!

Are my spending days over?

I have a surplus of cash and no desite to spend it...Am I ill? Or have I finally realised the rewards of seeing empty credit cards and money in the savings account? Living in a small house certainly helps. The things I would want to buy we can't put anywhere, my garden is full of plants and needs no more and my wardrobe is bursting at the seams!

The problem is I can't stop thinking about it! Part of me keeps saying "you have money, what are you going to spend it on?" while the other half can't think of anything to buy.

On other news really looking foward to the last episode of Doctor Who this week...should be great!

Thats it, nothing else to say.

A good day had by all...

....at least that was the impression I got when I left the event I was attending this afternoon. This mood was probaly helped by the fact we had watched Eddie Izzard teach us about body language and its use in presentations, seen one of our colleagues walk on broken glass, been given exciting light up pens, heard how our company will do great things, been served champagne as the afternoon refreshment and had a sumptious buffet lunch in a swanky Park Lane hotel. Oh and the £100 we all got as recognition for doing a good job as Agents of Change went down well to! Why can't all events be this good?

Not sure what I'm going to spend the money on but I do have a couple of ideas....

Sci-fi Crazy!

Ok...I've spoken about Dr Who before, about how I hated it and now I'm really loving it...I still am! I'm a bit confused about bad Wolf...not really sure if it wasanythign portentious but the episode last night was great! All those daleks...whats going to happen? And will we see the new Doctor next week....too exciting!

We went to see Star Wars 3 this morning and thepower and the brain strikes again! I had convinced myself it was going to be awful but it turned out much better than I expected! I didn't realise Anakin was going to get all his limbs hacked off and then set on fire so that was a surprise! George Lucas managed to excel himself with poor dialogue again but at least it wasn't as bad as Star Wars 2!

The trailers included items for Batman Begins and Fantastic 4 and they both looked great! Its really good to see Hollywood appreciating a good superhero story at last!

In a bit of a jam

It's generally accepted that I'm a good cook. I can whip up something tasty quick and I have a good knowledge on what goes well with what. Leave me in a book shop and I'll generally gravitate to the cookery section. I don't know whether this due to talent or the fact that I've had a lot of practice I don't know. Fortunately in this house doing all the cooking means that I more or less avoid any other housework...ok, I'll do a spot of ironing from time to time but generally I miss out.

Kath decided that she would cook for me yesterday and I must say it was delicious! Strange smells wafted form the kitchen and she looked very red faced when I poked my head around the door but all in all a success. The extremely strong margheritas helped as well.

Having missed out on the cooking yesterday I thought I would do extra duty today and really I'm not too pleased with the results....the problem is this...I can't do jam! Its either runny and water or like tar! Take the blueberry jam I made this afternoon...it won't come out the jar! I keep trying to preserve things but it ends up a disaster. I'm either too cautious and whip it off the heat before its reached the setting point or I take my eye off the ball and BAM! it take a pneumatic drill to get it off the pan. If anyone is reading this is stuck for birthday present ideas head over to my wish list and get me a jam book!

Shhhhh!

I'm currently on a conference call with a load of senior managers with instructions to stay on mute and not say anything...nice! I guess I'm being a bit naughty by updating my blog but hey ho!

We watched Kath & Kim last night and its really funny! New Aussie comedy and I can't really think of anything else to say about it...being distracted by conference call.

Looking forward to a relaxed weekend with no real plans except getting my hair cut. Kath is cooking for me on Saturday which is a real treat as my share of the household jobs includes doing all of the cooking. Apparently I'm being treated to a 2 course meal with surprise ingredients! Although I do know that it'll include pork chops as I was told I need to find something else to cook for sunday tea!

Hmmm

Nothing really to Blog about today, although not really sure that's a verb! It might have been added to the dictionary though. I spotted a news article today that was detailing new words added to the dictionary. Chavtastic is one of them! I'm all for new language and modifications of uasage but...chavtastic!

Another item that cuaght my interest was this....seems like Dr Who related shenanigans are back with a vengence!

Anyway better go...I've got 2 pork chops marinating and I need to cook 'em before Kath gets home!

Tuesdays

Some days you just wake up feeling crap…welcome to my Tuesday! There’s no real reason for it that I can tell. I don’t know whether it was because my incredibly deep sleep was rudely interrupted by my waking up I don’t know, but I have a headache and nausea! Nice!

Kath and I managed to confuse ourselves by watching dinnerladies last night. We watched what we thought was the last episode and were perplexed when a load of stuff that should have happened didn’t! Turns out that there is a second DVD on its way to us (courtesy of LoveFilm) that has 4 more episodes of the series! A quick search of Amazon shows that I can get the Series 1 & 2 DVD boxset for £7.97! I may have to order that and my ‘Spend No Money’ scheme be blowed!

A weekend away

The power of the mind is a great thing. Having convinced myself that having to spend the entire weekend (Friday night to Sunday evening) engaged in stag festivities would end up being less positive than negative, I am pleased to report we had a great time!

Highlights include: chatting to Chris and Emma in their new house until the early hours of Saturday morning, not spending any money on awful horror DVDs, drinking all afternoon and having a meal at the end for only £30, really getting along with people I previously wouldn’t have wanted to be stuck in a lift with, discovering new depths to Dr Who (and the fact that everyone seems to be loving the new series), the appearance of 2 drunk fairies halfway through a viewing of The Beast Must Die , the smugness felt when Dracula vs. Frankenstein turned out to be rubbish (I wanted to watch the original House of Wax), no hangover at all, a nice quick lunch in Burton Joyce with the Sunley-Pinhorns (of Burton Joyce) and discovering that we can get home from Burton Joyce in just over 2 hours!

We shall be seeing the same crowd again at the Sunley-Pinhorn nuptials at the start of July…where is the year going?

I am so mean!

I've guilted her into doing it and the fruits of her efforts are here....

I am so mean!

I'm rubbish at art!

But it is a good demonstration of a funky little art thing I found on the internet!

Go here and marvel at my crap drawing and painting and see my frustration boil over into an attack on my picture with a large tin of black paint!

Enjoy!

Commercial Break

Now usually these are a big turn off for me (and are a big part of the reason why I don't watch ITV) but every now and then comes along an advert that is really good. And if you like the product then all the better. An example of this is the recent Muller adverts that all share the slogan "Lead a Muller life". They show normal looking people dancing in strange places. There's something about the combination of images and the choice of music that means once I listen to it its stuck for the rest of the day. And so as not to be selfish you can check it out here. Hopefully it'll get stuck in your head too!

And thank god Michael Winner is off the TV with those stupid eSure adverts coming to an end. Michael Winner in drag is not something I want to see thanks very much!