Tempus Fugit!

Has it really been almost 3 weeks since the last entry?  Ok time for a catch up (in brief)

Bad:
ManU lost the Champions League final to Barcelona, comprehensively outplayed even…

Bad:
Bike failed MOT, needed front tyre and complete new exhaust, coupled with the annual service - £815

Good:
Amy went to her “Supercar Driving Experience” where she actually drove a Focus ST and a Ferrari (Allegedly a certain David Beckham was the previous owner), and I got a good chance to play with the Nikon SLR.

Routine:
Work is much the same as ever, but with even tighter budgetary constraints, and more people (that you know) than ever leaving the company.

Bad:
New computer failed to wake-up this morning – it had been up and running / sleeping for almost 10 days prior to that.  Spoke to Tech Support at PCSpecialist.co.uk and after disconnecting all peripherals and resetting the BIOS (By removing the battery) it came back up.  Broke again latter once everything was plugged back in, but seems to be related to the Printer.  Bit more digging required there :-(

Mediocre:
Played 18 holes round Halesowen on Monday, in 27 degrees!!  It was one of those round where I actually played quite well, but my score was cr@p! You know, chip shots that almost land on the green and roll towards the hole, but land 1” short and roll back into the bunker!!

Misc:
Finished “Sword of the Shanara” on audio book, just started “King of Torts”

17 Years and counting…

Yesterday was our 17th Wedding anniversary, and a full day packed with activity it was…

Out early to Merry Hill for Breakfast and Coffee and Amanda brought a new dress, then shopping at Tesco’s – Well I never claimed to be romantic!

Alex had a Golf lesson early afternoon, and then Amanda and I left Amy in charge, and went to the cinema. 

Which Rom-Com or chick flick did I take my wife to see? ….  Star Trek!  It was really good, and we both enjoyed it.  It was then a meal out, followed by attending a 40th Birthday party for one of Amanda’s mates from school.

Finally back home at 23:00.

Well Done Alex

Last night was the AGM and Presentation evening for Alex’s Scout group.  The amount of work being done by the Howley Grange leaders with regard to re-building the scout hut with limited funds is quite extraordinary!

Alex gained 7 new badges last night, including the Chief Scout's Silver Award which is the highest available award in Cubs!  Well done Alex.

I managed to find that I had agreed to help out with the committee, still not quite sure how that happened!

later on that night, I spent about an hour and a half sewing badges onto Alex’s sweatshirt, all according to the strict positioning guide.

Damn!

Out this afternoon, parked up, locked the car – rear window opened!!

Seems the rear nearside electric window has decided it wants to stay down in the door all the time.  Unable to leave the car, I had to drive around to try and find a mechanic – at 16:00 on a Saturday??  The man at Halfords did have a look, but was not able to do anything in the available time (they close at 16:30).

So tonight, the car has a black bin liner taped over the opening, and the car is parked on next doors drive, really close to their wall. Good job they are away tonight!

Worst part of it is, that we are going to the NEC tomorrow afternoon (Strictly Come dancing – live), and won’t be able to take the car, as I am not happy about parking it up with an open window, so we have to go out even earlier and try to catch the train from New Street to Birmingham International, and then walk.  At least I can drive into Birmingham and park in the secure underground car park at work – otherwise we would have had to caught the bus into town and back!!

New mattress

After *waaay* too many years on the current mattress, we have taken the plunge today and ordered a replacement.  it is a “Reactaform Deluxe”.

Sales Blurb: A luxury combination of foams, with an EXTRA deep top layer of the finest Reactaform, exclusive to Bensons. This model features air-zone Reactaform to aid air-flow for cool comfort throughout the night. Reactaform Memory Foam responds to heat and weight to conform perfectly to your body contours for optimum levels of comfort and support.

£499.99 Ordered from “Bensons beds” with delivery of next Saturday.  At the same time I finally found a pillow that is *exactly* the right height for me – Typically it’s not cheap!  £40!!!

Sales Blurb: “The Serenity Pillow”, A luxury latex pillow providing shallow gentle support. It always keeps its shape, stays cool and fresh and is beneficial to allergy sufferers. Complete with a zipped, removable washable cover.

Ah well, doing my bit to boost the economy, and hopefully get rid of the back/neck/shoulder pain that I have suffered every morning for the last 6 months!

Panto

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon we went to the Hippodrome in Birmingham to see Robin Hood starring John Barrowman (Capt Jack from Torchwood / Dr Who)…

Verdict – Excellent.  Apart from JB, the only other well known (to me at least) face was Don Maclean (Friar Tuck), but everyone was pretty darn good, and Titan the Amazing Giant Robot was fantastic!

It seems that the exact same show will be running in Cardiff this Christmas, so if you are in the are, check it out ;-)

2009 already!

Well the year has started off rather chilly, and I have not done much today, apart from top up the bird feeder in the garden, I hope it is a little warmer in the morning, negative temperatures on the bike are not fun, even with heated grips!

After a rather late night out at Jackie & Pete’s, I had a rare ‘lie in’ this morning – 10:30!! and even so, am still rather tired, so it will be an early(ish) night tonight… back at work in the morning.  Meals have been a bit random again today – a combined lunch and breakfast at 11:30, a piece of cake at 13:00 and finally tea at 19:00…  Not much chance of things improving tomorrow either – We have a 40th birthday party at 19:30!

On Saturday, we have a couple of missions to accomplish in the morning – Latin dance shoes and a bus pass for Amy – before heading off to the Hippodrome in Birmingham for the Panto.

I am almost looking forwards to next Monday, with normal traffic, a reasonable workload to pass the time, and proper meals at my normal times!  And yes, you did read that right, I am at work on a Monday!!!  I have gone more for the Friday to Monday 4 day weekends every other week for the start of the year.

The next thing I have to get sorted out is the mobile phones, Amy has been nagging me for a while to replace the Samsung D600 with a Samsung U900 ‘Soul’ in pink, and as my BT Mobile contract has now expired, I can do something about it. Looks like we will be going to Orange, where I can get a Soul in pink for free on sub £20 per month contract (200 minutes, unlimited texts) and two PAYG SIM’s with a bonus 300 text messages for free.  Even if I take out the ‘insurance’ on the phone (£6 per month – covering damage, loss, theft etc) it is still a saving of £20 to £25 per month on what I am paying now!

Still been sorting out little bits of PC config etc., and have made sure that I have backed up again after every single change!!  Nothing like bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted eh?

Typical…

Coldest morning of the winter so far – frost on the ground, changing to sleet, and the central heating boiler decides to have a lie in!

The nice man from British Gas came at about 10:00 and found that a fan assembly was seized.  he lubricated it with WD40 and managed to get it running again – sort of, but it’s a bit noisy and needs changing.

He will be back on Tuesday at about 09:00 to replace the faulty part, just hope it keeps running till then.

In the meantime the advice is to leave the heating on as much as possible, because if it stops, it may seize up again!

Skittles Evening

Last night was the annual skittles evening at Howley Grange Scout hut.  There were 36 people in attendance, split into 9 teams of 4. Amy & Beth managed to get onto the same team as each other, Alex & Josh also managed to get into the same team (I suspect some cheating!), But Amanda, Jess and yours truly were all in teams with three strangers.

It was a good night, very entertaining, and plenty of food and drink available, and to top things off: My team came first (Bottle of Wine each) and Jess’s team picked up the wooden spoon (Packet of Shortcake Biscuits each).

A good evenings entertainment to £3, we will definitely consider going again next year.

New Toy…

Well, a new toy for Amanda!

The door of the oven recently broke, and it could not be opened more than 45 degrees, so a trip to Comet was in order yesterday, and this afternoon I should be taking delivery of a new Indesit FI31K cooker – a snip at £199 delivered.

Finally...

After years of trying to get Alex to ride a bike, he finally decided that it was time... I suspect a not inconsiderable amount of "peer pressure" was responsible.

It only took about 1 hour, and he was peddling away quite happily. Cornering, starting off, and stopping safely still need some practice though'.

To celebrate, Alex is now the proud owner of a nice chrome plated BMX bike - £80 from Hawk Cycles

Pictures from Holiday

Can be found on my website

The first lot are from Alex’s SCUBA diving lesson, the few remaining ones are all I managed to take before the camera died!

Back after a small break

In more ways than one!

1) Yes it’s been almost three weeks –again- since my last entry.

2) Just back from a weeks break at CenterParcs in Penrith.

3) Managed to break my digital camera (The compact not the SLR!)

4) Managed to break my toe!

 

For #1, I have no excuse except that I am lazy, totally pre-occupied with watching seasons 1 to 6 of Highlander on the PC, and am generally a boring person with not much to say, but #2 meant I had no PC/Internet access for 7 days, so a valid reason there for at least a portion of that time.

WRT #3 Whilst away, my Nikon compact digital camera ‘just stopped working’…  It’s a little over two years old, and after taking three pictures, the forth attempt sounded the shutter release noise and then just suffered an apparent total failure!  The lens stayed out, but no amount of poking, forcing, disconnecting and replacing the battery had any effect on it!  Looks like it’s time to replace it, and the current favourite is a Canon IXUS 85 – (Anything between £160 and £200) it’s a 10 MegaPixel camera with Optical Image Stabilisation and Face Recognition. (See Steve’s Digicam Review – lt is known as the SD770 in the US). Originally I was looking at a IXUS 82, Similar but 8Meg and £30 cheaper, but this seems to be some sort of ‘Jessops exclusive’ so I may well go up a model and be able to shop around.

Finally #4, working my last shift before breaking up for a two week break from work, I managed to kick (very Hard!)the corner of a metal filing cabinet with the little toe on my Right foot.  A trip to the hospital was inconclusive, it was definitely not dislocated, may be just badly bruised, and was possibly broken.
If bruised, would be better in approximately seven days, if broken about three weeks.  No treatment, just pain killers.
That was on the 9th, it’s now the 19th, and I still have a slight limp, and cannot wear trainers for more than an hour or two!

So, a week at home, and I can’t even swing a golf club – Oh Bugger!

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

“Tickets for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's testimonial match against Espanyol on Saturday 2 August are now on sale to the general public.

The Old Trafford friendly will bring Ole's epic career to a close, with the man himself set to play one last game in the famous red shirt.
The occasion gives fans a chance to give the popular striker the send off he deserves after 326 appearances, 126 goals and countless happy memories.”

From ManUtd.com

I have tickets for Myself and Alex, also Neil, Ryan & Nial Sankey. Our seats are on the 2nd row, block 2404, North stand - This is the view from there -

It took 45 minutes of getting busy tone before I was even queued, and then another 50 minutes to get answered! I am not sure I want to ever listen to ‘Take me Home (United Road)’ again!!!  When I did finally get answered, I spoke to ‘Gary’, and he could not have been more helpful.

Grand day out

Well yesterday morning we set off for Blackpool at 08:45, picking Amy's friend, Beth, up on the way.

We parked the car up by the "Sandcastle" at just after 11:00, paying £7 for up to 24 hours... After walking over the road to the "Pleasure Beach" we were duly fitted with Wristbands, and waved Amanda off in the direction of "Fleetwood Freeport". We split into two parties (the boys and the girls!) and headed for the rides. The weather was fantastic, dry warm and sunny - to the point where I had to spend £6 just to by a baseball cap to protect my rapidy reddening head!

By the end of the day, Alex had been on 'Infusion', 'The Big One' (twice), 'The Ice Blast' (twice), 'Valhalla', 'The Grand National', 'The Wild Mouse', 'Avalanche' and 'Bling'. The last one was with Amy & Beth - It's the one ride in the park that I just don't like!

We met up with Amanda at about 4 O'Clock and after a couple of large pizza's taken Al-Fresco on the front, we mad our way back into the park for the 'Hot Ice' show, which to be honest, was enjoyed by the girls more than me and Alex, but it was still pretty impressive.

We left the car park at about 9:30, and got back home (after a couple of quick coffee/toilet breaks) at 11:30.

Off to Blackpool

Hope the weather improves for Saturday, we are all off to the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool...
Alex is now tall enough to ride the 'Big One' and is REALLY excited.

Double Figures

Happy Birthday to ALEXANDER STEVEN BRIGHT - 10 years old today...

Delayed Wedding Anniversary

We had to cancel our meal on the 9th May, due to me feeling more that a little rough, but last night we did have a great day out to belatedly celebrate out 16th Wedding Anniversary.

Amanda's mom has the kids for the weekend, so we set off on our own yesterday lunchtime, into Birmingham.  First stop was the Cinema for the latest Indiana Jones film - "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" Verdict: Taken on it's own a damn fine adventure romp, but when viewed in relation to previous IJ's - Not so good...  The characters are looking a little too old for all that 'swashbuckling action' type of thing.  My opinion is that the same screenplay as a third instalment of the "National Treasure" franchise would have worked much better.

After the film, a pleasant stroll into town, a cup of coffee and a slice of cake in Costa, a walk around the Bullring, before settling down in a bar near St Pauls Square for a nice quiet (but rather expensive) drink.

At 7:15 we took the short walk to 'The Bucklemaker' where we had more drinks and ordered our food.  I couldn't help but smile - top quality restaurant and I have Tomato Soup, and "Steak and Chips"...  Admittedly the soup was Red pepper and Tomato with chili infused something or other and  Caramelised Yellow Cherry Tomatoes, and the steak was an 8oz Aberdeen Angus steak with a coarse grain mustard jus, and the Bucklemaker chips are legendary!  I almost cried when I tasted the steak, I could never of imagined that food could taste that good!  Amanda was equally pleased with her 'Braised Pork Cheeks".

The staff were excellent, helpful and attentive without ever 'being in your face'.

OK, it cast £80 (with tip) for the two of us, but I will definitely go again...

GCSEs - Are they actually any good?

As a parent of a child who is about to start her GSCE studies in the next few months I found this series of articles on the PCPro site rather enlightening, and not a little worrying...

Top of the Class

Back to School With A Bump

Ridiculous Exam Questions

A Little Learning...

Strange Weekend

Well... !

Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary, and I had a table booked at 'The Bucklemaker' in town for 19:30, planning for Carole to look after the kids for us.  Then on Saturday we would be going to Blackpool with Alex and Josh as (an early) 10th birthday treat - He is now tall enough to ride 'The Big One'.

Friday morning started off quite dull, and even rained for a short while, but once it stopped - I nipped off to the golf course (My Monday rota day had been moved to Friday due to the Bank Holiday).

Unfortunately, whilst out on the course the weather really turned, and it was baking hot and sunny - and me without a cap (or any hair!) to protect the top of my head...  Result: By 17:00 I felt really lousy! Spent most of the next two days lying down or sitting on the toilet.

Not all bad tho'

The meal has been re-scheduled to the 23rd (Kids are away that weekend anyway), and Blackpool to the 30th.  Turns out Josh didn't really want to go - he does not like the 'big rides'.

Finally - Man United beat Wigan 2-0 to retain the Premier league title by two points over Chelsea - YES! 

By this morning I was feeling quite a lot better, and yes I was off work again!! So I didn't need to cancel my on the course lesson with Jon. I played four holes under his watchfull eye, and the good this is that I now have a degree of consistency with my wayward shots!  This at least makes it easier to correct them.

In the process I did manage to hit my best ever driver shot - some 200 yards absolutely up the middle of the 2nd fairway.

It was very warm out there again today, but at least this time I took a bottle of water with me, and purchased a new cap to protect my head.  I was wringing wet by the time I got back to the clubhouse, but felt better after a shower and change of clothes.

As I sit here, I am starting to feel a little delicate again, so may go and have a lie down as soon as I have finished.