Definite social smiling...hooray!
Now if only we could get a buyer for our house.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Zzzzzzzzzzzz
I knew housemoving was going to be stressful but I hadn't counted on the insomnia setting in this early!
From K's blog you may see that we've put an offer in on our Midlands house (which has been accepted) but because we haven't sold ours yet they are still taking viewings. I'm now paranoid someone else is going to view it and fall it love with it like we have!
We've had one viewing so far and still not heard any feedback. At this point I'm thinking about raiding the piggy bank to see what we can do to speed it along. I think ultimately its going to come down to price but a tiny part of me worries that no-one will want to buy our house at any price!
Anyone out there want to buy a lovely 3 bed mid terrace conveniently located to the centre of Ipswich?
P.S. Z has been asleep for nearly 4 hours now! (And yes he is still breathing!)
From K's blog you may see that we've put an offer in on our Midlands house (which has been accepted) but because we haven't sold ours yet they are still taking viewings. I'm now paranoid someone else is going to view it and fall it love with it like we have!
We've had one viewing so far and still not heard any feedback. At this point I'm thinking about raiding the piggy bank to see what we can do to speed it along. I think ultimately its going to come down to price but a tiny part of me worries that no-one will want to buy our house at any price!
Anyone out there want to buy a lovely 3 bed mid terrace conveniently located to the centre of Ipswich?
P.S. Z has been asleep for nearly 4 hours now! (And yes he is still breathing!)
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Z's big Midlands Adventure!
If its not been clear so far with my posts having a baby is a life changing experience! I spent some time away this week (as detailed in K's blog but I'm not sure I like being referred to as a cat or my family as mice!) and it was strange. On the one hand I missed them both a lot but also I liked not having to think about anyone but myself (how selfish!) and then the guilt at liking not having to think about anyone else!
I practically flew home from Fleet after my meeting...it only took 2 hours 10 minutes!!! It must be a record! (Well for me anyway!)
The last couple of days can only be considered a success. Z was a bit of a pain trying to go to sleep last night at Mum's (we reckon unfamiliar surroundings and a very hot living room) but managed to sleep for 4 and a half hours straight (another new record!) and then slept for 5 hours in the day! (Will wonders never cease!?!?)
We did manage to see a number of houses...
Great garden, noisy road, smelly and a potential road widening of the M1 that might cause future prices to plummet.
Tiny kitchen, 1 room pretending to be 2 on the particulars, lovely upstairs decor, throat closing combination of cat hair and air freshener.
Nice village, on A6, no parking at all, wet dog, no bathroom, dirty, smelly, under East Midlands flight path, rooms much smaller in the flesh.
Very helpful agent, last minute viewing, lovely interior, noisy road, second viewing with mum in tow, smallish kitchen, flexible options for living, would make an offer if not for...
Nice family, kitchen to die for, smallish outdoor space, no off road parking, big rooms, 2 toilets, good location, underfloor heating in bathroom, offer being made by us on Monday!
I practically flew home from Fleet after my meeting...it only took 2 hours 10 minutes!!! It must be a record! (Well for me anyway!)
The last couple of days can only be considered a success. Z was a bit of a pain trying to go to sleep last night at Mum's (we reckon unfamiliar surroundings and a very hot living room) but managed to sleep for 4 and a half hours straight (another new record!) and then slept for 5 hours in the day! (Will wonders never cease!?!?)
We did manage to see a number of houses...
Great garden, noisy road, smelly and a potential road widening of the M1 that might cause future prices to plummet.
Tiny kitchen, 1 room pretending to be 2 on the particulars, lovely upstairs decor, throat closing combination of cat hair and air freshener.
Nice village, on A6, no parking at all, wet dog, no bathroom, dirty, smelly, under East Midlands flight path, rooms much smaller in the flesh.
Very helpful agent, last minute viewing, lovely interior, noisy road, second viewing with mum in tow, smallish kitchen, flexible options for living, would make an offer if not for...
Nice family, kitchen to die for, smallish outdoor space, no off road parking, big rooms, 2 toilets, good location, underfloor heating in bathroom, offer being made by us on Monday!
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Under duress
I'm updating my blog because K wants to read it. Not sure I've got much tp blog about but there you go.
Been an interesting couple of weeks and the weekend promises to be a challenge too. We're going to look at houses in Long Eaton & Kegworth tomorrow and we have to get up, dressed and out by 9 and then hope Z doesn't cause a super fuss on the way there. He was as good as gold this morning but has done nothing but cry and eat this afternoon/evening. He's finally asleep and we even managed to wash his hair without any complaints.
There's been plenty of gaming undertaken too. Shadows Over Camelot saw some action (and we actually managed to win!) Hopefully adding the possibility of a traitor in the midst will spice things up even more! Hive and Mr. Jack are two good 2 player games as well. K has been playing a lot of Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I've restarted Pokemon Diamond and I'm determined to finish it this time. We've also been playing a lot of Mario Kart Wii (although K does get a little frustrated)
Also this is far too addictive/cute...
Been an interesting couple of weeks and the weekend promises to be a challenge too. We're going to look at houses in Long Eaton & Kegworth tomorrow and we have to get up, dressed and out by 9 and then hope Z doesn't cause a super fuss on the way there. He was as good as gold this morning but has done nothing but cry and eat this afternoon/evening. He's finally asleep and we even managed to wash his hair without any complaints.
There's been plenty of gaming undertaken too. Shadows Over Camelot saw some action (and we actually managed to win!) Hopefully adding the possibility of a traitor in the midst will spice things up even more! Hive and Mr. Jack are two good 2 player games as well. K has been playing a lot of Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I've restarted Pokemon Diamond and I'm determined to finish it this time. We've also been playing a lot of Mario Kart Wii (although K does get a little frustrated)
Also this is far too addictive/cute...
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Double Dactyl overload
After reading Alex's efforts here and here, K became obsessed and made up her own (later fixed here).
Well blow me if I didn't wake up thinking about them too! I was forced to get up to find a pencil and write it down...not sure if its entirely correct but I like it anyway..
Goo-gily, gar-gily
Kathy the Beagle Brown
At feeeding and changing
She's not a twit
With much admiration
Her husband declareth
Congratulatory
"You are a hit!"
If you were down with the 'yoof' you could swap the 4th line for 'She is "The Shit"' and it would still make sense.
Now...what else could I write a double dactyl about....
Well blow me if I didn't wake up thinking about them too! I was forced to get up to find a pencil and write it down...not sure if its entirely correct but I like it anyway..
Goo-gily, gar-gily
Kathy the Beagle Brown
At feeeding and changing
She's not a twit
With much admiration
Her husband declareth
Congratulatory
"You are a hit!"
If you were down with the 'yoof' you could swap the 4th line for 'She is "The Shit"' and it would still make sense.
Now...what else could I write a double dactyl about....
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Baby Elephant!
K is taking every opportunity to use the very local children's centres to get the little super star weighed!
He's now 5.16 kg (which in baby weight is 11.4 pounds!) That means he's put on 3 pounds in 4 weeks! He's huge....and consequently has outgrown his size 1 nappies and some sleepsuits/vests have already been consigned to the 'too small/save for next baby(!)' box.
Still getting through the tiredness at the moment and wasn't sure how good a host I was when Paul & Alex visited yesterday. We had a great catch up and Zachary was relatively well behaved, although he did get a bit hot and fidgety!
We also took the 'don't change him unless he's distressed about it' thing too far yesterday and ended up with a-poo-coming-out-the-back-of-his-nappy-while-K-was-feeding-him-in-our-bed-at-2am-this
morning incident. Deep joy!
He's now 5.16 kg (which in baby weight is 11.4 pounds!) That means he's put on 3 pounds in 4 weeks! He's huge....and consequently has outgrown his size 1 nappies and some sleepsuits/vests have already been consigned to the 'too small/save for next baby(!)' box.
Still getting through the tiredness at the moment and wasn't sure how good a host I was when Paul & Alex visited yesterday. We had a great catch up and Zachary was relatively well behaved, although he did get a bit hot and fidgety!
We also took the 'don't change him unless he's distressed about it' thing too far yesterday and ended up with a-poo-coming-out-the-back-of-his-nappy-while-K-was-feeding-him-in-our-bed-at-2am-this
morning incident. Deep joy!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tips
A quick tip for all you people who like to sleep...don't ever sign up to play online Werewolf. Especially with a baby in the house where the importance of sleep only goes up!
Essentially a group of people with some as werewolves and some as villagers. The wolves know who each other is but everyone else is clueless. Each play cycle sees the villagers voting on who they think is a wolf (who then gets lynched) and then the wolves vote on who to eat. The dead players are revealed including what roles they were so everyone always knows the ration of villagers to wolves. The villagers win when the wolves are all killed and the wolves win when thy reach parity (same number) as the villagers.
So far in the game I'm playing in we've managed to lynch 2 villagers in a row! And we're down to 3 villagers and 2 wolves! In the mix is a potential sorcerer who will vote with wolves! Nightmare!
Thanks to BoardGameGeek for making this possible!
Essentially a group of people with some as werewolves and some as villagers. The wolves know who each other is but everyone else is clueless. Each play cycle sees the villagers voting on who they think is a wolf (who then gets lynched) and then the wolves vote on who to eat. The dead players are revealed including what roles they were so everyone always knows the ration of villagers to wolves. The villagers win when the wolves are all killed and the wolves win when thy reach parity (same number) as the villagers.
So far in the game I'm playing in we've managed to lynch 2 villagers in a row! And we're down to 3 villagers and 2 wolves! In the mix is a potential sorcerer who will vote with wolves! Nightmare!
Thanks to BoardGameGeek for making this possible!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Marzipan - Raw Eggs? Who knew?!?
Just had my third (and last) slice of a very delicious simnell cake that the mother-in-law sent over for Easter. I have discovered that marzipan is another in a long line of things I've discovered I quite like that I previously thought I didn't! (these include brie and fried mushrooms).
Anyway, looked up some recipes so I could make my own marzipan (as this cake seemed to have a much grainier, less artificial marzipan taste) and discovered that it has raw eggs in it! Or am I just looking up the wrong recipes?!?!
Anyway, looked up some recipes so I could make my own marzipan (as this cake seemed to have a much grainier, less artificial marzipan taste) and discovered that it has raw eggs in it! Or am I just looking up the wrong recipes?!?!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Addicted to Baby
I literally cannot stop taking pictures of Zachary!
Current favourites...
In the hospital before he got ill
Meeting Auntie Becky
Coming home from hospital
Cuddles with Daddy
And my current top favourite...pensive, thoughtful baby!
Current favourites...
In the hospital before he got ill
Meeting Auntie Becky
Coming home from hospital
Cuddles with Daddy
And my current top favourite...pensive, thoughtful baby!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Up my sleeve!
Whilst flailing about for a towel to wipe Zachary's bottom (cotton wool just gets stuck) I failed to notice the stream of wee...which managed to go up the sleeve of my jumper!! At least there was no continuous flow of poo this time! And it doesn't seem to wash out! Its alien freaky poo!
It didn't help that all the towels seem to be in the wash cycle at the moment and he's running out of clothes! (Despite my addition to buying them whenever I can).
He had 5 changes the other day, 3 from weeing on himself whilst being changed, once while pooing on himself whilst being changed (happened in the middle of the night so was interesting to try to work out what was different about him when I picked him up in the morning) and the final most embarrassing reason for a change? Mummy dropping chocolate on him!
It didn't help that all the towels seem to be in the wash cycle at the moment and he's running out of clothes! (Despite my addition to buying them whenever I can).
He had 5 changes the other day, 3 from weeing on himself whilst being changed, once while pooing on himself whilst being changed (happened in the middle of the night so was interesting to try to work out what was different about him when I picked him up in the morning) and the final most embarrassing reason for a change? Mummy dropping chocolate on him!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Dirty Boy!
The silence is shattered by a rumbling noise...
The force of nature is still in slumber...
A squelch follows, laughter erupts...
Zachary's nappy is full!
The force of nature is still in slumber...
A squelch follows, laughter erupts...
Zachary's nappy is full!
Stamina pt 1
I'm sure most parents out there already know this but Stamina is a trait well needed when starting the journey into parenthood.
Since we're now all safe and well I thought I'd just share with you the first few days of Zachary's life and the stamina I needed. I suppose I should be napping (like K & Z are at the moment) but now seems like a good opportunity to do this blog entry.
Wednesday 12.30am - K wakes up to go to the loo and then says..."Leigh, my waters have broken!" We were both remarkably calm thinking about it. Often waters don't break until contractions has started so this was kind of a surprise. We mopped up (helpfully K was perched on the edge of the bed when this happened so managed to miss the mattress protector entirely. We called the hospital and they advised us to go back to bed and come in again at 9am in the morning. Since K has me so well trained I was concerned about the kitchen being a mess so I spent 30 minutes doing the washing up before going back to bed.
Wednesday 2.30am - We both realise that we're just lying in bed awake too excited to sleep! I put on a CD of G&S overtures that allows us to think about something else and time passes.
Wednesday 4.00-5.00am - The CD has finished and I think I must have got some sleep in this hour as it passed by too quickly.
Wednesday 7.00am - Since I'm just lying there awake I get up. K tells me she's started to have contractions so we get ready to go to the hospital.
So far I've been awake since 7.00am Tuesday morning (24 hours) and got about 3 hours sleep.
Since we're now all safe and well I thought I'd just share with you the first few days of Zachary's life and the stamina I needed. I suppose I should be napping (like K & Z are at the moment) but now seems like a good opportunity to do this blog entry.
Wednesday 12.30am - K wakes up to go to the loo and then says..."Leigh, my waters have broken!" We were both remarkably calm thinking about it. Often waters don't break until contractions has started so this was kind of a surprise. We mopped up (helpfully K was perched on the edge of the bed when this happened so managed to miss the mattress protector entirely. We called the hospital and they advised us to go back to bed and come in again at 9am in the morning. Since K has me so well trained I was concerned about the kitchen being a mess so I spent 30 minutes doing the washing up before going back to bed.
Wednesday 2.30am - We both realise that we're just lying in bed awake too excited to sleep! I put on a CD of G&S overtures that allows us to think about something else and time passes.
Wednesday 4.00-5.00am - The CD has finished and I think I must have got some sleep in this hour as it passed by too quickly.
Wednesday 7.00am - Since I'm just lying there awake I get up. K tells me she's started to have contractions so we get ready to go to the hospital.
So far I've been awake since 7.00am Tuesday morning (24 hours) and got about 3 hours sleep.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Middle Name Meme
Spotted this over on Dogwood tales and thought I'd start off a new round of blogging with it.
Take your middle name and then reveal 5 facts based on the letters of it. Since my middle name is Bobby I've got a lot of B's to deal with! Here goes...
B - Boy/Bundle of Joy. We just brought home Zachary from the hospital and he really is the most gorgeous thing I have EVER seen in my life. He's 8 days old today.
O - Opera. Specifically the Light Operatic works of Gilbert & Sullivan. I have performed in a lot of them, met lifelong friends through a University G&S society and met K, the light of my life. Have started singing them to Zachary to help settle him down.
B - Boardgames. Always an eager boardgame fan as a youngster but my passion has been reignited via the new wave of modern boardgames. My obssession is helpfully fed via BoardGameGeek.
B - Batman (and superhero comics in general). Favourite Batman comics include The Long Halloween and Hush. I do like Superhero team up books so most of my collection is JLA, Avengers, The Authority but I am partial to a bit of Ms Marvel.
Y - Yogurt. Y is such a difficult letter to find something from so I plumped for Yogurt. We make our own and I love the fcat that it always comes out different!
Take your middle name and then reveal 5 facts based on the letters of it. Since my middle name is Bobby I've got a lot of B's to deal with! Here goes...
B - Boy/Bundle of Joy. We just brought home Zachary from the hospital and he really is the most gorgeous thing I have EVER seen in my life. He's 8 days old today.
O - Opera. Specifically the Light Operatic works of Gilbert & Sullivan. I have performed in a lot of them, met lifelong friends through a University G&S society and met K, the light of my life. Have started singing them to Zachary to help settle him down.
B - Boardgames. Always an eager boardgame fan as a youngster but my passion has been reignited via the new wave of modern boardgames. My obssession is helpfully fed via BoardGameGeek.
B - Batman (and superhero comics in general). Favourite Batman comics include The Long Halloween and Hush. I do like Superhero team up books so most of my collection is JLA, Avengers, The Authority but I am partial to a bit of Ms Marvel.
Y - Yogurt. Y is such a difficult letter to find something from so I plumped for Yogurt. We make our own and I love the fcat that it always comes out different!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Still no sign!
After a great weekend away we're now back to a holding pattern of waiting for baby to arrive!
The final bits of clothes have now been washed (including a "I love my Daddy" jumpsuit for when baby comes home). I'm really looking forward to it but there's nothing to be done but wait.
I must admit its going to be a little odd though as all the important people to tell about the birth have all said that they only want to know when it's all done with (i.e. when the baby has arrived). Hopefully the labour won't be too long otherwise I'm going to have no-one to tell other than K (who presumably will be aware what's going on!)
Managed to resist the urge to spend more money on board games today...it helps that we've already instigated the "Leigh pays for everything policy" and I can see what's left in my account to spend on frivolities. Its really good actually as some of the games I've bought over the last 2 months I have probably only played once! I'm not even going to mention the video games I haven't even put in their prospective video game consoles!
The final bits of clothes have now been washed (including a "I love my Daddy" jumpsuit for when baby comes home). I'm really looking forward to it but there's nothing to be done but wait.
I must admit its going to be a little odd though as all the important people to tell about the birth have all said that they only want to know when it's all done with (i.e. when the baby has arrived). Hopefully the labour won't be too long otherwise I'm going to have no-one to tell other than K (who presumably will be aware what's going on!)
Managed to resist the urge to spend more money on board games today...it helps that we've already instigated the "Leigh pays for everything policy" and I can see what's left in my account to spend on frivolities. Its really good actually as some of the games I've bought over the last 2 months I have probably only played once! I'm not even going to mention the video games I haven't even put in their prospective video game consoles!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Men watch out!
As is tradition every four years, today sees an opportunity for unmarried women to take the bull by the horns and propose to their men (or women, um does this mean lesbians can only propose once every four years!!). I caught a snippet of the BBC Breakfast news and there was a emailer who was planning to propose to her boyfriend and was so confident that she had also planned a wedding and a reception for the same day! Just imagine if he says no...awkward! I remember when I proposed to K, that was scary enough without the worry that I'd organised a party that might need to be cancelled!
It's also the day where K has to try her hardest not to go into labour. While it might sound cool to have a birthday once every 4 years I don't think I'd like it so I'm hoping that we go another week yet. Especially as we have defied convention and are away visiting family in Norwich Saturday/Sunday...its that or another weekend in the house going slowly crazy.
Just one week to go and its occurred to me that a number of my reports exist solely in my head and I better get them down on paper if the team has any chance of uninterrupted service when I go on paternity leave!
It's also the day where K has to try her hardest not to go into labour. While it might sound cool to have a birthday once every 4 years I don't think I'd like it so I'm hoping that we go another week yet. Especially as we have defied convention and are away visiting family in Norwich Saturday/Sunday...its that or another weekend in the house going slowly crazy.
Just one week to go and its occurred to me that a number of my reports exist solely in my head and I better get them down on paper if the team has any chance of uninterrupted service when I go on paternity leave!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
High Adventures in a World of Magic
BGG reminded me of an old game I used to play when I was much younger HeroQuest. Thanks to the joys of ebay and everyone's desire to sell off stuff to buy videogames I was able to pick up a cheap second hand copy!
Since there was only 2 of us K had to play as all the 4 heroes while I took on the role of the Evil Wizard! K picked some inspiring names for her characters (Dwarf - Niles, Elf - Bob, Wizard - Leigh, Barbarian - Brutus) and barely made it out of the practice dungeon (The Maze) alive. The next dungeon (The Rescue of Sir Ragnor) went a little better and next time we'll swap roles and K can be the evil one (a part she was born for).
I was ready to go back to reading or lolling on the sofa but K wanted to play some more games. And not being one to miss an opportunity I picked up Alhambra and San Juan. Alhambra is always good value and we had a good game (this time remembering all the Dirk rules) but much to K's shame she lost out to Dirk!
I managed to win at San Juan today, thanks to my Palace and I do like a game with an enforced time limit (in San Juan's case when 12 buildings have been built).
Also managed to get some gardening done (the front) and will try to do the back garden tomorrow (assuming the baby isn't here, K seems to be having Braxton Hicks quite regularly at the moment!)
Since there was only 2 of us K had to play as all the 4 heroes while I took on the role of the Evil Wizard! K picked some inspiring names for her characters (Dwarf - Niles, Elf - Bob, Wizard - Leigh, Barbarian - Brutus) and barely made it out of the practice dungeon (The Maze) alive. The next dungeon (The Rescue of Sir Ragnor) went a little better and next time we'll swap roles and K can be the evil one (a part she was born for).
I was ready to go back to reading or lolling on the sofa but K wanted to play some more games. And not being one to miss an opportunity I picked up Alhambra and San Juan. Alhambra is always good value and we had a good game (this time remembering all the Dirk rules) but much to K's shame she lost out to Dirk!
I managed to win at San Juan today, thanks to my Palace and I do like a game with an enforced time limit (in San Juan's case when 12 buildings have been built).
Also managed to get some gardening done (the front) and will try to do the back garden tomorrow (assuming the baby isn't here, K seems to be having Braxton Hicks quite regularly at the moment!)
Still no sign
With no sign of baby yet I feel like I'm starting to go a little stir crazy! Perhaps working from home has its downsides as I barely left the house this week. I think I need to start getting out more but with K struggling to walk anywhere if I go out it'll have to be on my own. I may start to walk in the mornings again I think. A brisk twenty minutes around the block before I start work will probably do me the world of good.
Fortunately I have managed to avoid succumbing to the f-EVE-r. I played it a few days in a row but my starting character was clearly not designed with what I like to do in mind and so I have no desire to continue without re-rolling my startup and the thought of doing that puts me off. In another place/time I sense that this game would have really appealed to me but with a baby on the way and my new work pattern I'm conscious of doing any activity that isolates me from other people.
Fortunately I have managed to avoid succumbing to the f-EVE-r. I played it a few days in a row but my starting character was clearly not designed with what I like to do in mind and so I have no desire to continue without re-rolling my startup and the thought of doing that puts me off. In another place/time I sense that this game would have really appealed to me but with a baby on the way and my new work pattern I'm conscious of doing any activity that isolates me from other people.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Damn you Foster!
Its a quarter to midnight and instead of being tucked up in bed I'm updating my blog while I wait for a computer game to manufacture a perpetual motion device so that I can finish my quest early and get the bonus mining lasers!
Its all Alex's fault! An offhand comment on K's blog now means not only have I checked out, downloaded and created a trial account for Eve Online, I'm sat here thinking about how much quicker I'll be able to mine stuff with my new lasers! And even when I go to bed, I suspect that I won't sleep for thinking about it!
I suppose I have to do these things now as anytime soon sleep will be the only thing I want to do at night.
Its all Alex's fault! An offhand comment on K's blog now means not only have I checked out, downloaded and created a trial account for Eve Online, I'm sat here thinking about how much quicker I'll be able to mine stuff with my new lasers! And even when I go to bed, I suspect that I won't sleep for thinking about it!
I suppose I have to do these things now as anytime soon sleep will be the only thing I want to do at night.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Speedy Limbo
Its 11.30am on saturday and the weekend is stretching ahead with nothing more pressing to do that decide what to eat and put some stuff in the loft. The bed has been changed and I've been out and had my haircut (although not very well and I'm too British to say so to the hairdresser). K is sat by my side reading her book and I'm just frittering my time away on the interwebs.
My boardgame obsession is still going strong with new games arriving almost daily. My only justification is that once the baby is here I'll have a much reduced disposable income so I won't be able to spend it so I may as well do it now. My fixation has had an odd effect on K though as she now seems to be dreaming about games! It seems like my plan to corrupt her is working!
We are now 3 weeks away and time seems to be moving both very quickly and very slowly at the same time! I can scarcely believe its the weekend again but the baby seems to be taking forever to come out. I think we're both ready now....come on baby! we want to say hello!
My boardgame obsession is still going strong with new games arriving almost daily. My only justification is that once the baby is here I'll have a much reduced disposable income so I won't be able to spend it so I may as well do it now. My fixation has had an odd effect on K though as she now seems to be dreaming about games! It seems like my plan to corrupt her is working!
We are now 3 weeks away and time seems to be moving both very quickly and very slowly at the same time! I can scarcely believe its the weekend again but the baby seems to be taking forever to come out. I think we're both ready now....come on baby! we want to say hello!
Monday, February 11, 2008
June-bug
Went to see Juno at the cinema yesterday and it has made me more excited for the baby coming along! It was very funny and a touching story to boot! It has had an unfortunate side effect that I've started to make up little songs and nicknames based on our potential name choices!
Even before the film started K got very excited with the Doctor Who cinema trailer (I must admit it was pretty good!) preparing us for the new series in the next few months (Spring apparently but who knows when that is?). Even Donna looked quite good as she chatted to Bernard Cribbins (wasn't he in the Christmas episode?) about wanting to find the Doctor.
Even before the film started K got very excited with the Doctor Who cinema trailer (I must admit it was pretty good!) preparing us for the new series in the next few months (Spring apparently but who knows when that is?). Even Donna looked quite good as she chatted to Bernard Cribbins (wasn't he in the Christmas episode?) about wanting to find the Doctor.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
CAPLE GAME-A-THON
The dining room cleared, the floors vacuumed, the washing-up done and the cardboard taken to the tip and everything was ready for the first CAPLE GAME-A-THON!
We decided on 8 games (perhaps we should have picked an odd number) with 2 of them card games (taken from my new book Blazing Aces) and the rest an agreed mix. We settled on Alhambra, Boggle, Carcassonne, Dungeon Twister, Lost Cities and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Space was made on the table and we were ready for the off!
1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON, 03/02/08, L & K
Each game was written on a piece of paper and put in the exciting ‘Chalice of Destiny’ (green cereal bowl).
Round One – Card Game 1
We plumped for a new game from our book and settled on ‘Sitting Bull’. A poker based game where 2 players try to form poker hand combinations from a reduced 32 card deck with 7 cards removed. Players alternately play cards to form a 5 x 5 grid with one player scoring horizontal rows the other vertical columns.
Result – With 8 points (to K’s 6) I emerge victorious and take an early lead.
L: 1 K: 0
Round 2 – Boggle
After drawing another card game from the Chalice we agreed to put it back and pick another game. This time out came Boggle. Good for me as I’m quite good at it!
After 3 very close rounds including words such as Streets, Tenets & Tresses we had a winner!
We managed to get 35 words (between us) from this selection in 2 minutes. Can you do better?
Result – With 61 points after 3 rounds, K is the winner (to my measly 51 points). So much for my gaming prowess at Boggle.
L: 1 K: 1
Round 3 – Alhambra
Hooray! We both really enjoy this game and it's usually quite close so we got ready for a nail-biting one. It's a combination of getting sets and laying tiles in a pattern to build up your palace. It's great because you have to ensure that you get first place in some sets but try to get second place in others. Winning by coming first in a set is not enough if you've focussed on that exclusively.
After getting to almost the last tile in the bag with no second scoring card in sight we realised that we’d forgotten to remove a quarter of the currency cards! K was gutted as her Alhambra wall was big and it looked like a victory was guaranteed. We agreed to abandon the game and have a rematch.
Interlude
But first we popped out for lunch! Off to Nando’s, chicken wings for me, and halloumi/portabello mushroom pitta for K. Yummy!
Round 3 – Alhambra – Take two!
Determined not to make the same mistake again, we double-checked that the extra currency cards had been removed. They had and so we were good to go! The game proceeded much better this time and we got to the second scoring card with many more tiles still left in the bag! It was at this stage however that we realised we had forgotten to give Dirk his second set of tiles at the previous scoring round! D’oh! With so much at stake neither of us was prepared to leave the game as it was so we were forced to abandon the game for a second time!
Round 3 - Alhambra - Take Three!
To be honest I was crushed! After the first round I was beaten into 3rd place by Dirk (the shame!) (K11, D9, L4). The second scoring round saw me claw back some dignity and draw level with him (K43, L32, D32) and finally I edged ahead and beat him by 1 after the final scoring round (K132, L114, D113). Bear in mind that Dirk doesn't score for the length of his Alhambra wall (worth around 15-20 points) and you'll see how badly I was doing.
Result: K 132, L 114, Dirk 113
K started to take an early lead! L: 1 K: 2
Round 4 - Ticket to Ride: Europe
Another really enjoyable game but it can sometimes feel a bit like multiplayer solitaire with only 2 players (not a great deal of interaction, just focussing on your own routes). But a nice steal of Riga to Petrograd thwarted K's ambitions of having the longest route (and resulted in a station being played for the first time).
Despite this, a canny choice of destinations at the start of the game meant that K scored more bonus points and took the victory.
Result: K scored 108 (and getting Lisboa to Danzig really helped) and I only got 103 (my tactic of discarding my long route didn't help!)
It was starting to look like a whitewash!
Round 5 - Dungeon Twister
I was relieved when this one came round. We've only played this once before and I won so I was confident going into it. It's a fantasy based dungeon crawl but does not have any luck elements to it. Strategy and a clever guessing of what your opponent might do will win the game.
I secured an early lead with my wallwalker and goblin by getting them out of the dungeon with some treasure. I then cemented this by polishing off K's goblin for the final point and the win!
Result: My 5 points saw off K's 2 (but she was just glad to have scored some points!)
Finally regaining some dignity I started to draw level. L: 2 K: 3
Round 6 - Another card game
This time we played a game called 'Portland' where each player has a 52 card deck and has to win successive rounds with the highest poker hand. The twist being that each new card must be played on top of one of your existing 5 until you are happy with your hand. The winner of the round scores a point and all the cards are discarded and the next round begins. It becomes a question of whether to lose early rounds (worth less points) to preserve the cards in your deck for later rounds that are worth more points as the cards discarded i each round are removed from play in subsequent rounds!
After losing the first 3 rounds I managed to win the last 3 and take the victory!
L: 3 K: 3
Round 7 - Lost Cities (3 rounds)
Another fun one that has the benefit of being addictive and very quick! The trick here is to play enough of each set of cards to score points before the draw deck runs out. The tricky part being once you've played a number card you can only play higher ones afterwards and that you must play a card each turn. Added in is the ability to draw from either the deck or the 5 shared discard piles mean it's quite tense towards the end!
Not enough cards on the Stonehenge pile means I scored -4 points for this set!
Another trouncing by K with a combined score of 124 vs 36 for me after 3 rounds!
L: 3 K: 4
Round 8 - Carcassonne
After deciding to remove the River expansion we settled down to this great game that we haven't played as a 2 player in a while. Remembered how much fun it is (especially without the river) I didn't want it to end! And I had to win to force a draw otherwise the first GAME-A-THON would end in embarrassment for me!
Fortunately a clever placement of my farmers meant that come game end I had sufficient extra points to secure the win...phew!!
Final tally, me on 138 (those extra 32 farmer points really helped) and K on 116.
*drum roll* The final verdict of the 1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON....
A great result all round and a great way to spend a few hours!
We decided on 8 games (perhaps we should have picked an odd number) with 2 of them card games (taken from my new book Blazing Aces) and the rest an agreed mix. We settled on Alhambra, Boggle, Carcassonne, Dungeon Twister, Lost Cities and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Space was made on the table and we were ready for the off!
1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON, 03/02/08, L & K
Each game was written on a piece of paper and put in the exciting ‘Chalice of Destiny’ (green cereal bowl).
Round One – Card Game 1
We plumped for a new game from our book and settled on ‘Sitting Bull’. A poker based game where 2 players try to form poker hand combinations from a reduced 32 card deck with 7 cards removed. Players alternately play cards to form a 5 x 5 grid with one player scoring horizontal rows the other vertical columns.
Result – With 8 points (to K’s 6) I emerge victorious and take an early lead.
L: 1 K: 0
Round 2 – Boggle
After drawing another card game from the Chalice we agreed to put it back and pick another game. This time out came Boggle. Good for me as I’m quite good at it!
After 3 very close rounds including words such as Streets, Tenets & Tresses we had a winner!
We managed to get 35 words (between us) from this selection in 2 minutes. Can you do better?
Result – With 61 points after 3 rounds, K is the winner (to my measly 51 points). So much for my gaming prowess at Boggle.
L: 1 K: 1
Round 3 – Alhambra
Hooray! We both really enjoy this game and it's usually quite close so we got ready for a nail-biting one. It's a combination of getting sets and laying tiles in a pattern to build up your palace. It's great because you have to ensure that you get first place in some sets but try to get second place in others. Winning by coming first in a set is not enough if you've focussed on that exclusively.
After getting to almost the last tile in the bag with no second scoring card in sight we realised that we’d forgotten to remove a quarter of the currency cards! K was gutted as her Alhambra wall was big and it looked like a victory was guaranteed. We agreed to abandon the game and have a rematch.
Interlude
But first we popped out for lunch! Off to Nando’s, chicken wings for me, and halloumi/portabello mushroom pitta for K. Yummy!
Round 3 – Alhambra – Take two!
Determined not to make the same mistake again, we double-checked that the extra currency cards had been removed. They had and so we were good to go! The game proceeded much better this time and we got to the second scoring card with many more tiles still left in the bag! It was at this stage however that we realised we had forgotten to give Dirk his second set of tiles at the previous scoring round! D’oh! With so much at stake neither of us was prepared to leave the game as it was so we were forced to abandon the game for a second time!
Round 3 - Alhambra - Take Three!
To be honest I was crushed! After the first round I was beaten into 3rd place by Dirk (the shame!) (K11, D9, L4). The second scoring round saw me claw back some dignity and draw level with him (K43, L32, D32) and finally I edged ahead and beat him by 1 after the final scoring round (K132, L114, D113). Bear in mind that Dirk doesn't score for the length of his Alhambra wall (worth around 15-20 points) and you'll see how badly I was doing.
Result: K 132, L 114, Dirk 113
K started to take an early lead! L: 1 K: 2
Round 4 - Ticket to Ride: Europe
Another really enjoyable game but it can sometimes feel a bit like multiplayer solitaire with only 2 players (not a great deal of interaction, just focussing on your own routes). But a nice steal of Riga to Petrograd thwarted K's ambitions of having the longest route (and resulted in a station being played for the first time).
Despite this, a canny choice of destinations at the start of the game meant that K scored more bonus points and took the victory.
Result: K scored 108 (and getting Lisboa to Danzig really helped) and I only got 103 (my tactic of discarding my long route didn't help!)
It was starting to look like a whitewash!
Round 5 - Dungeon Twister
I was relieved when this one came round. We've only played this once before and I won so I was confident going into it. It's a fantasy based dungeon crawl but does not have any luck elements to it. Strategy and a clever guessing of what your opponent might do will win the game.
I secured an early lead with my wallwalker and goblin by getting them out of the dungeon with some treasure. I then cemented this by polishing off K's goblin for the final point and the win!
Result: My 5 points saw off K's 2 (but she was just glad to have scored some points!)
Finally regaining some dignity I started to draw level. L: 2 K: 3
Round 6 - Another card game
This time we played a game called 'Portland' where each player has a 52 card deck and has to win successive rounds with the highest poker hand. The twist being that each new card must be played on top of one of your existing 5 until you are happy with your hand. The winner of the round scores a point and all the cards are discarded and the next round begins. It becomes a question of whether to lose early rounds (worth less points) to preserve the cards in your deck for later rounds that are worth more points as the cards discarded i each round are removed from play in subsequent rounds!
After losing the first 3 rounds I managed to win the last 3 and take the victory!
L: 3 K: 3
Round 7 - Lost Cities (3 rounds)
Another fun one that has the benefit of being addictive and very quick! The trick here is to play enough of each set of cards to score points before the draw deck runs out. The tricky part being once you've played a number card you can only play higher ones afterwards and that you must play a card each turn. Added in is the ability to draw from either the deck or the 5 shared discard piles mean it's quite tense towards the end!
Not enough cards on the Stonehenge pile means I scored -4 points for this set!
Another trouncing by K with a combined score of 124 vs 36 for me after 3 rounds!
L: 3 K: 4
Round 8 - Carcassonne
After deciding to remove the River expansion we settled down to this great game that we haven't played as a 2 player in a while. Remembered how much fun it is (especially without the river) I didn't want it to end! And I had to win to force a draw otherwise the first GAME-A-THON would end in embarrassment for me!
Fortunately a clever placement of my farmers meant that come game end I had sufficient extra points to secure the win...phew!!
Final tally, me on 138 (those extra 32 farmer points really helped) and K on 116.
*drum roll* The final verdict of the 1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON....
A great result all round and a great way to spend a few hours!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Calm before the Storm
With nothing on at the cinema and nothing else taking our fancy and with no prior commitments the scene is set for the first (in hopefully a long line)....
CAPLE GAME-A-THON!!!
And who will emerge victorious? Only time (and this blog a bit later) will tell!
CAPLE GAME-A-THON!!!
And who will emerge victorious? Only time (and this blog a bit later) will tell!
Snothing Here
While everyone else I know (OK only three people) is revelling in a winter wonderland at the moment I'm looking out at quite a bright morning with nary a snowflake in sight. Which is slightly depressing because it means we may not get snow until much later this year....and I don't want snow when the baby is due.
Before I go any further I'm hoping a reader will be able to help with some grammar. In my first sentence I'm not sure whether that should have been 'is' or 'are'. If the bracketed bit wasn't there the 'is' is perfectly OK (I think) but the words in the brackets seem to invalidate it and would suggest that I should have used 'are' instead (because of the three people). Perhaps I should have changed those brackets to commas and had it as a clause? But even so the sentence should read correctly if the portion enclosed in commas wasn't there and so 'are' doesn't seem right either!
Perhaps if my school had split English into two subjects (Lang & Lit) instead of cramming it into one, I'd know the answer already? Hopefully one of you people can point me right!
Before I go any further I'm hoping a reader will be able to help with some grammar. In my first sentence I'm not sure whether that should have been 'is' or 'are'. If the bracketed bit wasn't there the 'is' is perfectly OK (I think) but the words in the brackets seem to invalidate it and would suggest that I should have used 'are' instead (because of the three people). Perhaps I should have changed those brackets to commas and had it as a clause? But even so the sentence should read correctly if the portion enclosed in commas wasn't there and so 'are' doesn't seem right either!
Perhaps if my school had split English into two subjects (Lang & Lit) instead of cramming it into one, I'd know the answer already? Hopefully one of you people can point me right!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Cooking the Books
Watching Five at the moment and Sherrie Hewson is ruining the programme at the moment...funny faces and 'accidentally' getting chocolate pudding on her nose! Just fuck off. Jeremy Edwards is trying to keep control of the whole affair but just seems to rush from workstation to workstation looking panicked! I don't know if its a repeat but they're making Christmas Puddings...
Stuck for something to do at the moment...K is at a work's do (last day before maternity leave tomorrow) and TV's a bit shit. Although Whose Line is it Anyway? is on back to back on Dave so I'll probably watch a bit of that.
Stuck for something to do at the moment...K is at a work's do (last day before maternity leave tomorrow) and TV's a bit shit. Although Whose Line is it Anyway? is on back to back on Dave so I'll probably watch a bit of that.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Old skool gaming
You may have noticed the new widgety thing at the left side of my blog...this is a helpful tool from BoardGameGeek showing a random selection from my game collection. Not video games but BOARD games...I've gone all old school!
Spurred on by a marathon (well 4 in a row) games session with Em & Paul at Christmas (the excellent and very reasonable Carcassonne if you were wondering) my interest in board games has been reunited.
Despite toy shops (I'm looking at you Toys R Us) now focusing on electronic gadgets it would appear that the board game world is still going strong and I've been immersing myself in it once more (and rapidly filling up that space saved by shipping out all my old board games to my parents).
Current games on the bought and enjoying very much list are (in no particluar order)...Zooloretto, Lost Cities, Alhambra, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride Europe and others. Most of these work quite well as 2 player games (especially Lost Cities & Alhambra with the mysterious 'Dirk' sticking an oar in) but I'm itching to teach others and play totheir full potential...consider yourselves all warned! But bearig in mind that these games are all designed to be learnt in about 5 minutes (it took less time than that to teach my sister -in-law how to play TtR:E, so it must be easy!)
I may add a few to the collection in Feb but then its a case of no spending for the foreseeable future! With K having only maternity pay I'm going to have to stop buying crap! Ohh the responsibility!
Spurred on by a marathon (well 4 in a row) games session with Em & Paul at Christmas (the excellent and very reasonable Carcassonne if you were wondering) my interest in board games has been reunited.
Despite toy shops (I'm looking at you Toys R Us) now focusing on electronic gadgets it would appear that the board game world is still going strong and I've been immersing myself in it once more (and rapidly filling up that space saved by shipping out all my old board games to my parents).
Current games on the bought and enjoying very much list are (in no particluar order)...Zooloretto, Lost Cities, Alhambra, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride Europe and others. Most of these work quite well as 2 player games (especially Lost Cities & Alhambra with the mysterious 'Dirk' sticking an oar in) but I'm itching to teach others and play totheir full potential...consider yourselves all warned! But bearig in mind that these games are all designed to be learnt in about 5 minutes (it took less time than that to teach my sister -in-law how to play TtR:E, so it must be easy!)
I may add a few to the collection in Feb but then its a case of no spending for the foreseeable future! With K having only maternity pay I'm going to have to stop buying crap! Ohh the responsibility!
Imminent Arrival
OK so we're 44 days to go and the house is being prepared in earnest. When I say earnest that it what I really mean! It has kinda stopped being a joyful occasion in my mind to an almost feeling of dread of the responsibility and how we'll cope with it all!
Last night's trip to Mothercare World was as eventful as previous trips. This time the pram car seat (for our bizarrely discontinued, then not discontinued 'travel system') wasn't working properly. We can tighten for a smaller baby but not loosen...this leaves a small problem in that our baby is probably going to be bigger than a barbie doll! (which is the only thing that will now fit in it as I played with the tighten function before realising the untighten function didn't work!) Fingers crossed we don't have the baby prior to 4th Feb when they come back into stock! We seemed to pick up a large selection of nappies and a huge playmat that caught our eye (stuff buying clothes and cotton wool, let's get the toys in!)
There's still a list of things to get and we seem to be relying on a vast truck of baby clothes as gifts as we are kind of short in that area...I suppose when we know what sex it is will help in that area. Other than that everything seems to be taken care of. K finishes work in a few days and I think it can't come soon enough to be honest. The tiredness has started to hit her a bit and most days she comes home looking a bit wan!
Work have also been great for me as well. My home working is all approved and I'm just waiting for for them to install my business line on Friday and for my new office chair and IT equipment to arrive. I've also been very prepared and put together a Paternity Leave plan making sure that the 'very important work that I does' will get done (they'll probably only need a chimp and a spreadsheet and they'll be sorted). I also get a quite generous 2 weeks paid leave to cover it off...I might be screaming to get back to work after a couple of days!
I suppose its all got a bit more 'real' as we visited the Pen's at the weekend to meet their new arrival (4 months old now). They seemed to know exactly what to do at all times and seemed very much more organised and grown up than I remember them being prior to A's arrival. They seemed unfazed by crying, poo and the fact he was on J's breast more than he was off it! (maybe that's just my hazy recollection!) I imagine that after a few months we'll probably look competent as well.
I was looking through some old pics and realised that I haven't been tracking teh bump very well. Here's a couple of pics to show the current progress.
This one was taken 7 weeks ago...
And this one 4 weeks ago (Christmas Day! And aren't I mean forcing my pregnant wife to do the washing up on Christmas Day?!?! To be fair I did remove the customary chains for the photo!)
Rest assured she is even bigger now and is set to enlarge before the month is out!
Last night's trip to Mothercare World was as eventful as previous trips. This time the pram car seat (for our bizarrely discontinued, then not discontinued 'travel system') wasn't working properly. We can tighten for a smaller baby but not loosen...this leaves a small problem in that our baby is probably going to be bigger than a barbie doll! (which is the only thing that will now fit in it as I played with the tighten function before realising the untighten function didn't work!) Fingers crossed we don't have the baby prior to 4th Feb when they come back into stock! We seemed to pick up a large selection of nappies and a huge playmat that caught our eye (stuff buying clothes and cotton wool, let's get the toys in!)
There's still a list of things to get and we seem to be relying on a vast truck of baby clothes as gifts as we are kind of short in that area...I suppose when we know what sex it is will help in that area. Other than that everything seems to be taken care of. K finishes work in a few days and I think it can't come soon enough to be honest. The tiredness has started to hit her a bit and most days she comes home looking a bit wan!
Work have also been great for me as well. My home working is all approved and I'm just waiting for for them to install my business line on Friday and for my new office chair and IT equipment to arrive. I've also been very prepared and put together a Paternity Leave plan making sure that the 'very important work that I does' will get done (they'll probably only need a chimp and a spreadsheet and they'll be sorted). I also get a quite generous 2 weeks paid leave to cover it off...I might be screaming to get back to work after a couple of days!
I suppose its all got a bit more 'real' as we visited the Pen's at the weekend to meet their new arrival (4 months old now). They seemed to know exactly what to do at all times and seemed very much more organised and grown up than I remember them being prior to A's arrival. They seemed unfazed by crying, poo and the fact he was on J's breast more than he was off it! (maybe that's just my hazy recollection!) I imagine that after a few months we'll probably look competent as well.
I was looking through some old pics and realised that I haven't been tracking teh bump very well. Here's a couple of pics to show the current progress.
This one was taken 7 weeks ago...
And this one 4 weeks ago (Christmas Day! And aren't I mean forcing my pregnant wife to do the washing up on Christmas Day?!?! To be fair I did remove the customary chains for the photo!)
Rest assured she is even bigger now and is set to enlarge before the month is out!
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
The Final Countdown
Its early on a sunday morning so what am I doing? Yes thats right I'm on the computer! K is staying in bed for a bit I think...which is good news as I think she's really starting to feel the whole 'exhaustion of pregnancy' thing. She did go a bit of a funny colour in Morrison's yesterday so I've got to take extra special care of her at the moment.
We're now into the final 8 weeks of the pregnancy and things are moving on apace. Antenatal stuff starts happening soon and K gives up work in 3 weeks time. The pram arrives shortly as does the cot, but we have managed to get a moses basket and a small selection of clothes (we don't yet know the sex of the baby). We're hovering around a very small selection of names but I think it'll be a case of waiting to see what the baby looks like before we make any final decisions.
K's brain is definitely on the fritz too....a side effect of pregnancy I hope and not of things to come generally. A highlight example is when she was on the phone to a preacher and in a panicked voice said "I'll just go and find out what the readings are". She then put down the cordless phone and ran upstairs. A few minutes later (the cordless phone still sat downstairs with a patient preacher at the other end) I went upstairs to see what she was doing to find her desperately trying to get the printer to work to print something out. It was at this juncture that I gently pointed out that she could either pick up the phone sat next to the screen she was looking at, use the cordless that was in my hand and just read out the information from screen to printer without the pesky time consuming printing!
We're now into the final 8 weeks of the pregnancy and things are moving on apace. Antenatal stuff starts happening soon and K gives up work in 3 weeks time. The pram arrives shortly as does the cot, but we have managed to get a moses basket and a small selection of clothes (we don't yet know the sex of the baby). We're hovering around a very small selection of names but I think it'll be a case of waiting to see what the baby looks like before we make any final decisions.
K's brain is definitely on the fritz too....a side effect of pregnancy I hope and not of things to come generally. A highlight example is when she was on the phone to a preacher and in a panicked voice said "I'll just go and find out what the readings are". She then put down the cordless phone and ran upstairs. A few minutes later (the cordless phone still sat downstairs with a patient preacher at the other end) I went upstairs to see what she was doing to find her desperately trying to get the printer to work to print something out. It was at this juncture that I gently pointed out that she could either pick up the phone sat next to the screen she was looking at, use the cordless that was in my hand and just read out the information from screen to printer without the pesky time consuming printing!
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.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Ooops!
I appear to have been very lax on the blogging front recently...almost a month since I last blogged!
I can only say that I've had a lot going on and video games have kept me occupied in the 'Leigh Time' that would usually be used for blogging.
Those games being Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition & Paper Mario on the VC.
Also work has been a bit of a drain recently and I didn't want to vocalise it all on my blog...it would have been a bunch of whining basically. Hopefully there'll be some developments in the next couple of weeks that'll help things become clearer.
K and I have also been talking seriously about our future plans and the upshot is we've started to think about moving house (groan!).
To stave off all the heavy stuff, preparations have been in full swing for my 30th Birthday party on Saturday! (Hmmm...I'll have to think of a new blog name!) We travel to Derby tomorrow to help with the set up, but I need to put the finishing touches to my iPod playlist for the party! Richard sent through a load of tunes to K so I've just got to sort those out and start to gather all the things we'll need for the next few days at my mum's.
I know there is going to be cake, I know there is going to be a whole lamb roasting on a spit and I know about the bubble machine. What I don't know is what K has been cackling about every time she receives mail or a letter from one of our friends/family...hmm I have my suspicions!
In other news we're going to Florida for 11 days in October! A jaunt around Disney, then a couple days in Miami & Key West...hopefully every tourist isn't murdered in some bizarre and scientifically interesting way as depicted on CSI: Miami. I don't so much mind being found dead in a pool of blood but I do worry about K having to put up with some ginger haired, sunglasses wearing Lt. spouting comforting one-liners before gazing off into the sunset.
We've also finished all the flowers for my sister-in-laws wedding! 85 hand folded lilies, nestling in 85 hand-folded day lilies along with 15 orange shrimp. They better like them!
I can only say that I've had a lot going on and video games have kept me occupied in the 'Leigh Time' that would usually be used for blogging.
Those games being Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition & Paper Mario on the VC.
Also work has been a bit of a drain recently and I didn't want to vocalise it all on my blog...it would have been a bunch of whining basically. Hopefully there'll be some developments in the next couple of weeks that'll help things become clearer.
K and I have also been talking seriously about our future plans and the upshot is we've started to think about moving house (groan!).
To stave off all the heavy stuff, preparations have been in full swing for my 30th Birthday party on Saturday! (Hmmm...I'll have to think of a new blog name!) We travel to Derby tomorrow to help with the set up, but I need to put the finishing touches to my iPod playlist for the party! Richard sent through a load of tunes to K so I've just got to sort those out and start to gather all the things we'll need for the next few days at my mum's.
I know there is going to be cake, I know there is going to be a whole lamb roasting on a spit and I know about the bubble machine. What I don't know is what K has been cackling about every time she receives mail or a letter from one of our friends/family...hmm I have my suspicions!
In other news we're going to Florida for 11 days in October! A jaunt around Disney, then a couple days in Miami & Key West...hopefully every tourist isn't murdered in some bizarre and scientifically interesting way as depicted on CSI: Miami. I don't so much mind being found dead in a pool of blood but I do worry about K having to put up with some ginger haired, sunglasses wearing Lt. spouting comforting one-liners before gazing off into the sunset.
We've also finished all the flowers for my sister-in-laws wedding! 85 hand folded lilies, nestling in 85 hand-folded day lilies along with 15 orange shrimp. They better like them!
Monday, June 25, 2007
Reverse Blog
Ok the...just finished doing the washing up after enjoying a lovely dinner of pasta with chorizo, onions, peppers & marsala. K away living the high life (shooting things and attending posh meals) so I was forced to do the washing up!
Tai Chi was fun before that although I tend to ache afterwards. We learned how to do 3 'splits' in a row which forms the next part of the form. Very relaxing!
Spent most of today at work marvelling at my new 17in flat screen monitor. The site where I work is suffering a power crisis so they were forced to replace all the CRT monitors with LCD. Amazed at how much easily it is to manipulate bugger large spreadsheets when I can see much more of them at once!
Also had a chat with the person who is going to help me sort out my business case for my role review.
Had quite a good Neverwinter Nights game last night despite dying 3 times! Also caught the last minute of Saturday's Doctor Who. Contemplated buying an Xbox 360 with my bonus (despite already having bought a digital camera) but decided that there simply wasn't enough software I want at this point to warrant a purchase...maybe after Christmas.
Watched Saturday's Doctor Who while stuffing pretzels that K bought me from Norwich...a fleeting chance to chat before she went off to Manchester for the High Life. Told her that I had decided not to enroll on my Open University Digital Photography course as I realised that for a 10 week 10 credit module I would be expected to do 6-8 hours a week work on it! Stuff that....I'm gonna get a book!
Played a lot of Okami while K was in Norwich getting her bridesmaid dress fitted.
We watched Hot Fuzz Saturday night with Becks & Ralph after a day of shopping, eating very large ice-creams and playing card & board games. I must have been feeling off as I failed to win a single thing! Also got my hair cut.
Got up very early Saturday morning to contemplate my role review and write some thoughts into my working record so that I could enjoy the weekend without thinking about it too much.
Watched Hot Fuzz (*raspberry noise and the V sign* "Jog On!") on Friday night with K after realising that Earl doesn't start for a few weeks.
Friday afternoon got a late call from my manager telling me that my role review had been unsuccessful at this time and needs more detailed evidence. Feel surprising fine about it.
Tai Chi was fun before that although I tend to ache afterwards. We learned how to do 3 'splits' in a row which forms the next part of the form. Very relaxing!
Spent most of today at work marvelling at my new 17in flat screen monitor. The site where I work is suffering a power crisis so they were forced to replace all the CRT monitors with LCD. Amazed at how much easily it is to manipulate bugger large spreadsheets when I can see much more of them at once!
Also had a chat with the person who is going to help me sort out my business case for my role review.
Had quite a good Neverwinter Nights game last night despite dying 3 times! Also caught the last minute of Saturday's Doctor Who. Contemplated buying an Xbox 360 with my bonus (despite already having bought a digital camera) but decided that there simply wasn't enough software I want at this point to warrant a purchase...maybe after Christmas.
Watched Saturday's Doctor Who while stuffing pretzels that K bought me from Norwich...a fleeting chance to chat before she went off to Manchester for the High Life. Told her that I had decided not to enroll on my Open University Digital Photography course as I realised that for a 10 week 10 credit module I would be expected to do 6-8 hours a week work on it! Stuff that....I'm gonna get a book!
Played a lot of Okami while K was in Norwich getting her bridesmaid dress fitted.
We watched Hot Fuzz Saturday night with Becks & Ralph after a day of shopping, eating very large ice-creams and playing card & board games. I must have been feeling off as I failed to win a single thing! Also got my hair cut.
Got up very early Saturday morning to contemplate my role review and write some thoughts into my working record so that I could enjoy the weekend without thinking about it too much.
Watched Hot Fuzz (*raspberry noise and the V sign* "Jog On!") on Friday night with K after realising that Earl doesn't start for a few weeks.
Friday afternoon got a late call from my manager telling me that my role review had been unsuccessful at this time and needs more detailed evidence. Feel surprising fine about it.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Waiting for the phone to ring....
...it doesn't ring!
I want to know about my role review...when will it ring!
I want to know about my role review...when will it ring!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Yum
No its not a bottle of piss but my elderflower cordial...and very tasty it is too!
Made after I was inspired by Alex and is just delicious! I only wish that I could have made it a few hours sooner so I could send a bottle off with my mum to reach my dad for Father's day! Especially after she brought me one of his cabbages!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Diane's Dead!
Another Thursday, another night in avoiding things I'd planned to do! Tonight was set aside to make a tart and do some tidying up. My mum is visiting us for the weekend and the house is a bit of a tip! I can't even be bothered to do the washing up!
Watched the end of Masterchef which means I can have a lie in tomorrow if I fancy it (while BB is on K and I have been recording and then watching Masterchef over breakfast), especially as I'm working from home.
Then got sucked into EastEnders which is very easy to lose 30 minutes watching. Then Holby City came on! I'd forgotten it's on on Thursdays at the moment (until pointless police show spin off, HolbyBlue ends its run) so I was forced to watch that for an hour. Not that it takes much forcing to be honest! Yes its very soapy but I really enjoy it. I don't know if its the overacting or the comedy moments or the good story lines at the moment but it is currently unmissable! I'll probably watch it again with K when she catches up with it. It was Diane's swan song tonight and was only slightly disappointing when she died off camera. To be honest though Paul Bradley doesn't have much luck with news over the phone. I remember in years ago in EastEnders, when his wife Debbie went the same way!
Had quite a good day at work although the spectre of my role review is still hanging over me. Apparently there should be some feedback in the offing next week but whether that will be good or bad who knows? I am stuck in a dilemma and I really shouldn't write about it as it will start me thinking about it agian. If it comes back and is a 'no' should I take on even more work/responsibility to try again in six months? Or should I just say "Fuck it" and reduce my workload to the level I'm paid for and then start looking for another job?
In other news I was all ready to make Elderflower cordial but a confluence of circumstances has meant I either had the flowers and no citric acid or the acid and dried husks of slowly rotted flowers. Must try to track some down tomorrow so I can make some for Dad for Mum to take back with her on Sunday. I keep seeing trees by the side of the road but I'm not sure I'm fantastically keen on exhaust fumey blossoms for my drinks.
Watched the end of Masterchef which means I can have a lie in tomorrow if I fancy it (while BB is on K and I have been recording and then watching Masterchef over breakfast), especially as I'm working from home.
Then got sucked into EastEnders which is very easy to lose 30 minutes watching. Then Holby City came on! I'd forgotten it's on on Thursdays at the moment (until pointless police show spin off, HolbyBlue ends its run) so I was forced to watch that for an hour. Not that it takes much forcing to be honest! Yes its very soapy but I really enjoy it. I don't know if its the overacting or the comedy moments or the good story lines at the moment but it is currently unmissable! I'll probably watch it again with K when she catches up with it. It was Diane's swan song tonight and was only slightly disappointing when she died off camera. To be honest though Paul Bradley doesn't have much luck with news over the phone. I remember in years ago in EastEnders, when his wife Debbie went the same way!
Had quite a good day at work although the spectre of my role review is still hanging over me. Apparently there should be some feedback in the offing next week but whether that will be good or bad who knows? I am stuck in a dilemma and I really shouldn't write about it as it will start me thinking about it agian. If it comes back and is a 'no' should I take on even more work/responsibility to try again in six months? Or should I just say "Fuck it" and reduce my workload to the level I'm paid for and then start looking for another job?
In other news I was all ready to make Elderflower cordial but a confluence of circumstances has meant I either had the flowers and no citric acid or the acid and dried husks of slowly rotted flowers. Must try to track some down tomorrow so I can make some for Dad for Mum to take back with her on Sunday. I keep seeing trees by the side of the road but I'm not sure I'm fantastically keen on exhaust fumey blossoms for my drinks.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Going to seed.....
I need to pull up my remaining radishes, quick smart! All that lovely juicy goodness in the root is busy turning itself into flowers! Stop it!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Meanie
Testing out the new camera's continuous shooting mode I managed to catch K just as she was about to give me a couple of 2 fingered salutes! The cheek of it!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Feel the quality!
Well more like see the quality!
My last post had a nice picture on it...taken with my new camera! Early Happy Birthday to me!
Finally plumped for the Nikon in the end. Was supposed to be paying for it with my bonus (which comes in end of month's pay package) but when I've made my decision there's usually no point waiting! Fortunately my savings are fairly healthy at the mo so used some of those.
Really pleased with and managed to get quite a few shots in teh last couple of days. Mixture of quiet good and just plain average. My next step is to actually learn when all the settings mean! I don't really understand ISO, Shutter speed and aperture! But it does make a fantastic noise when you take a picture! Especially on continuous!
My last post had a nice picture on it...taken with my new camera! Early Happy Birthday to me!
Finally plumped for the Nikon in the end. Was supposed to be paying for it with my bonus (which comes in end of month's pay package) but when I've made my decision there's usually no point waiting! Fortunately my savings are fairly healthy at the mo so used some of those.
Really pleased with and managed to get quite a few shots in teh last couple of days. Mixture of quiet good and just plain average. My next step is to actually learn when all the settings mean! I don't really understand ISO, Shutter speed and aperture! But it does make a fantastic noise when you take a picture! Especially on continuous!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Who wins?...You Decide!
K and I were having a competition to see who could grow the largest sunflower. I think we'll call it a tie!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Grrrr
I'm supposed to be watching the Apprentice right now but K is on the phone to her mother! Thank goodness for pausing live TV!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Loose End
K is at some some of training conference and I'm at a loose end! I've even spent the last 30 minutes watching old title credits for Home & Away and Neighbours on TouTube...that's 30 minutes I'll never get back.
There's lots of things I should be doing but for some reason I can't settle on one...
* Cook something with apples. We have a glut of too soft to enjoy eating apples and I need a recipe to use them up but it can't be a cake! I might just turn them into apple sauce and freeze for another day. Apple Jam apparently is not good and we don't have the space to strain and make apple jelly.
* Tidy up. There's the last remnants of camping stuff ready to be sorted and put away. K is much better at this sort of thing than I am.
* Think of things to cook avocados in. The new veg box arrived today and contained avocados (as well as cabbage, squash and bean sprouts...at least there were no potatoes!)
* Practice first 2 stages of the Tai Chi form we learned yesterday. It was our first class and despite wearing inappropriate clothing (ideally arms and legs should be covered and loose enough to really move) it went really well. The 90 minutes literally flew by! Not too achey today and looking forward to next week's class. Hopefully this'll help with work stress and get us a bit fitter. I have to watch out for my bunchy shoulders and big toe and K has to watch her turned out feet.
* Decide on an Xbox 360 or Digital SLR camera as a 30th birthday present to myself. Its not for another month but a quick decision will mean that family and friends have something that they can contribute towards in the way of accessories! An Xbox would be great but I can barely play everything I have now, although Mass Effect & Bioshock may be too great a temptation. They are being made by the people who made my all time favourite games of Baldur's Gate & System Shock 2. On the other hand with the camera I can develop a new hobby, learn a new skill and maybe do the OU course I was looking at. Should I decide on a camera I then have the task of deciding between the Canon 400D (more AF points, wider selection of lenses) or the Nikon D40x (better kit lenses, uses SD cards instead of CF, better grip, I used to have a Nikon). Or I could just save my money!
Right I think I'm going to go and play some video games!
There's lots of things I should be doing but for some reason I can't settle on one...
* Cook something with apples. We have a glut of too soft to enjoy eating apples and I need a recipe to use them up but it can't be a cake! I might just turn them into apple sauce and freeze for another day. Apple Jam apparently is not good and we don't have the space to strain and make apple jelly.
* Tidy up. There's the last remnants of camping stuff ready to be sorted and put away. K is much better at this sort of thing than I am.
* Think of things to cook avocados in. The new veg box arrived today and contained avocados (as well as cabbage, squash and bean sprouts...at least there were no potatoes!)
* Practice first 2 stages of the Tai Chi form we learned yesterday. It was our first class and despite wearing inappropriate clothing (ideally arms and legs should be covered and loose enough to really move) it went really well. The 90 minutes literally flew by! Not too achey today and looking forward to next week's class. Hopefully this'll help with work stress and get us a bit fitter. I have to watch out for my bunchy shoulders and big toe and K has to watch her turned out feet.
* Decide on an Xbox 360 or Digital SLR camera as a 30th birthday present to myself. Its not for another month but a quick decision will mean that family and friends have something that they can contribute towards in the way of accessories! An Xbox would be great but I can barely play everything I have now, although Mass Effect & Bioshock may be too great a temptation. They are being made by the people who made my all time favourite games of Baldur's Gate & System Shock 2. On the other hand with the camera I can develop a new hobby, learn a new skill and maybe do the OU course I was looking at. Should I decide on a camera I then have the task of deciding between the Canon 400D (more AF points, wider selection of lenses) or the Nikon D40x (better kit lenses, uses SD cards instead of CF, better grip, I used to have a Nikon). Or I could just save my money!
Right I think I'm going to go and play some video games!
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Back & Brown!
Just got back from camping and was really glad we took a risk and went despite the weather forecasts.
The first evening was great and we managed to get set up in record time and had a great barbeque and fire....
The following day was spent eating a lot (I think I put on about 4 pounds in 3 days!) and drifting down river getting tanned for 3 hours...fantastic!
Then the mist descended and we had a quiet night (especially after my disaster with the charcoal)
The next morning a mercy dash to Morrisons ended in disaster with a splashing incident of some cyclists and an argument with a log by the side of the road...
Luckily the weather really cheered up and we managed to get lost in a fantastic maze at Priory Maze at Beeston Regis.
A quick trip over to Blakeney Point....
And a giant penis at Sheringham!
Finally back to the site (which was very basic, toilets you really don't want to use and the pervading smell of chicken shit, it was a working chicken farm after all!) to pack up and head off for a quick pub meal and then home!
The first evening was great and we managed to get set up in record time and had a great barbeque and fire....
The following day was spent eating a lot (I think I put on about 4 pounds in 3 days!) and drifting down river getting tanned for 3 hours...fantastic!
Then the mist descended and we had a quiet night (especially after my disaster with the charcoal)
The next morning a mercy dash to Morrisons ended in disaster with a splashing incident of some cyclists and an argument with a log by the side of the road...
Luckily the weather really cheered up and we managed to get lost in a fantastic maze at Priory Maze at Beeston Regis.
A quick trip over to Blakeney Point....
And a giant penis at Sheringham!
Finally back to the site (which was very basic, toilets you really don't want to use and the pervading smell of chicken shit, it was a working chicken farm after all!) to pack up and head off for a quick pub meal and then home!
Catch Up
Finally finished Hotel Dusk!
More of a interactive novel than a game and fortunately the story is really, really good. Some twists that you could see coming but some that were genuine surprises. Highly recommended!
At last I'll have time to focus on Pokemon!
More of a interactive novel than a game and fortunately the story is really, really good. Some twists that you could see coming but some that were genuine surprises. Highly recommended!
At last I'll have time to focus on Pokemon!
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