Hey peeps, it's Saturday and it's MSM's 9th birthday!! god 9 years ago I was with 'J' in hospital doing the husband bit, which if you are a dad you know that's taking verbal abuse having your hand crushed and at the end of it all she tells you how much she loves you, yeah right i think the gas and air is a truth drug really. Anyway happy birthday princess.
But alas MSM is not here and has been away all night at her best Friends house a few miles away as it was her birthday yesterday confusing or what. Well to cut a long story short MSM and Jade did not want a joint party no no they opted for a weekend of sleepovers, yes that's right a night at Jade's and tonight they are here. So you can imagine what's going to happen when they are old enough to drink, not one night out but a full 2 day drinking session, how kwl is that!!
A little history here, MSM and Jade were born 24hrs apart, 'J' and her mum were two beds apart in hospital, we didn't see them again until first day at School (4 Years later) and they instantly got together and became very good Friends, Jade moved away before the summer holidays and due to MSM travel plans this summer they could not get together until yesterday and it brought a tear to the eye watching the both of them hug and talk and talk, those two will be Friends for life you can just tell the way they interact with each other.
So I'm here in the house peace and quite waiting for them to arrive knowing that she will quickly open her presents and disappear with Jade until her other Friends arrive when we will head for the bowling alley and then the pizza hut for grub later, I'm taking my camera this year as my blog is looking rather bare these days and a few pics are long over due.
Toby had his final jabs last night and has only got 6 days to go before he can venture outside to the big wide world. Poor thing has been itching to get outside. Personally I can't wait I've had enough cleaning up after he has wee'd and pooped, being able to open the back door and let him out will be such a relief.
Anyway time to go 'J' has just arrived back from the shops with goodies for MSM and need to assist only as a dad can do.
See ya ;0)
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Woz uppppp
Crap title I know but couldn't think of a catchy one. Well I survived another seminar and my 15min presentation has now gone to 30 mins with the same amount of power point slides, must be me getting more confident. Had great response from all attendees and staff who came along, thanks guys much appreciated.
Well that's it for a week and my next one is in Cardiff so no early starts or stop overs in hotels. Although with the amount of red wine I drank last night I will need a taxi, paid for of course.
So what's been going on since my last blog, well travelling along the M4 and M25 there is not a lot to do but switch one of the laptops on and stick in a DVD and yes it was my favourite box set Bourne Supremacy & Identity although on both time the battery ran out 10 mins before the end, I must look into getting an adaptor of some sort for the cigar lighter. We did get strange looks from passers by as the first movie was playing in the early morning dusk and the glare in the MPV was quite bright, but hey if you have the hardware then use it that's what I say.
Oh the boiler problem, well lets just say it gave up and would not give us our normal piping hot water on Wednesday although I managed to take a shower at 4am and all was fine, my mobile goes off at 7.45 with 'J' going mad as there is no hot water and the boiler has packed in. I told her to phone the Gas and arrange another visit, well the appointment was made but they had to wait 24hrs until today, 'J' was told that she would be the first call at 8am cool she thinks I have not got to be in the office till 10am so no probs, 9.15 she calls me again this time from the car.
'J': The gas man has not turned up"
me:No problem just sit back and enjoy the rest
'J' what do you mean I'm on my way to work
me: But the gas man is coming to sort out the boiler
'J': well I have to go to work
My boss (Sat next to me): what is she doing if the boiler has broken and the engineer is due stay there until it's fixed
'J' to late I'm just pulling into the office car park. Mark you'll be home in a bit won't you
me: Umm I'm still in the hotel having breakfast
'J': yeah but it's only an hours drive from Dartford
me: Umm yeah right but it took us just over 3 hrs to get down here and that was early in the morning
'J': Oh, can you ring them back and have a word?
me: I don't have their number
'J': I'll text it to you
Okay I would say you are now getting the idea, basically she has lost her bottle and refused to deal with the problem (Head in the sand routine).
Rang the gas people tried to explain that they had not arrived as promised, again customer service was excellent and arranged a new appointment for 2.30 ish! got back home at 2.30pm but had to drop off a colleague, gas man rang my mobile "I'm outside the house" okay I'm five mins away can you wait? "Yes no problems" great I rush through Barry and arrive home let him in and 15mins later HOT WATER!! lots of hot water. Sorted...
phew! that was a bit long winded, anyway got to check my email and get to bed. Dan love the fan it's soothing watching it go back and forth, you'll have hypnotised all us bloggers soon.
See ya soon bye ;0)
Well that's it for a week and my next one is in Cardiff so no early starts or stop overs in hotels. Although with the amount of red wine I drank last night I will need a taxi, paid for of course.
So what's been going on since my last blog, well travelling along the M4 and M25 there is not a lot to do but switch one of the laptops on and stick in a DVD and yes it was my favourite box set Bourne Supremacy & Identity although on both time the battery ran out 10 mins before the end, I must look into getting an adaptor of some sort for the cigar lighter. We did get strange looks from passers by as the first movie was playing in the early morning dusk and the glare in the MPV was quite bright, but hey if you have the hardware then use it that's what I say.
Oh the boiler problem, well lets just say it gave up and would not give us our normal piping hot water on Wednesday although I managed to take a shower at 4am and all was fine, my mobile goes off at 7.45 with 'J' going mad as there is no hot water and the boiler has packed in. I told her to phone the Gas and arrange another visit, well the appointment was made but they had to wait 24hrs until today, 'J' was told that she would be the first call at 8am cool she thinks I have not got to be in the office till 10am so no probs, 9.15 she calls me again this time from the car.
'J': The gas man has not turned up"
me:No problem just sit back and enjoy the rest
'J' what do you mean I'm on my way to work
me: But the gas man is coming to sort out the boiler
'J': well I have to go to work
My boss (Sat next to me): what is she doing if the boiler has broken and the engineer is due stay there until it's fixed
'J' to late I'm just pulling into the office car park. Mark you'll be home in a bit won't you
me: Umm I'm still in the hotel having breakfast
'J': yeah but it's only an hours drive from Dartford
me: Umm yeah right but it took us just over 3 hrs to get down here and that was early in the morning
'J': Oh, can you ring them back and have a word?
me: I don't have their number
'J': I'll text it to you
Okay I would say you are now getting the idea, basically she has lost her bottle and refused to deal with the problem (Head in the sand routine).
Rang the gas people tried to explain that they had not arrived as promised, again customer service was excellent and arranged a new appointment for 2.30 ish! got back home at 2.30pm but had to drop off a colleague, gas man rang my mobile "I'm outside the house" okay I'm five mins away can you wait? "Yes no problems" great I rush through Barry and arrive home let him in and 15mins later HOT WATER!! lots of hot water. Sorted...
phew! that was a bit long winded, anyway got to check my email and get to bed. Dan love the fan it's soothing watching it go back and forth, you'll have hypnotised all us bloggers soon.
See ya soon bye ;0)
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
The Gas Man cont.....
Okay I worked it out, I rang British gas yesterday to arrange the appointment and as you know the time frame was AM or PM, well I rang them back today at 12.30pm and told them that I would not be home until 3.30pm, no problem the customer service rep says, he has not called you yet, what I can do is try his mobile now which he did with no luck he then suggested that he takes my mobile number and he will get the engineer to call 15mins before he calls, great I say that's fine.
Picked up the kids and headed home drove around the corner and there he was parked outside the house, I asked him how long he had been there and he had only just arrived! whilst he was checking over the boiler I asked him what he would have done if I was not there his reply was "I would call your land line (Not sure why when know one answered the door), then I would ring your mobile.
Well there we have it if you need a gas engineer make the appointment and on the day call them and arrange a time or give them your mobile and they will sort it from there. Great customer service.
Anyway the boiler, well as what normally happens with any appliance when an engineer calls it worked fine, he could not track down any problems and proceeded to check the radiators and the boiler. All done in 45mins and I totally forgot to offer the chap (Darren) a cup of tea, but did find out that Llantwit Major which is where I was looking to buy a house was a nice area although I had been told that the area was becoming a no go area.
I'm out on the road again tomorrow starting at 5.30am till Thursday evening, a whole two days in Dartford, the problem is that the hotel I'm staying at is right on the M25 so you have no chance of walking to the pub later ah well it's all good.
Reading Chris's blog tonight and noticed that he used the 'Hate' word and explained that he avoids people who use the word, well I'm not sure how often I have said that to someone and reading his blog opened my eyes to that fact that telling someone who is in mid flow of a conversation that you hate the topic being discussed is a no no. So I promise that I will refrain from using the word 'hate' in my conversations.
Okay there's more, I have read in many places how people relax, now as you may or may not know I really struggle to relax my mind is always racing and I just can't switch off. This is the reason why I fell ill in the first place. So any ideas on things I can look into to help me chill out. And what's with feeling guilty when I do nothing? I was in Spain a few weeks ago and really did very little and by mid-day I felt really guilty for not doing anything. What's that all about?
Anyway it's past 10PM and I really have to get to bed as early rise in the morning. Good night and see you in a few days.
Picked up the kids and headed home drove around the corner and there he was parked outside the house, I asked him how long he had been there and he had only just arrived! whilst he was checking over the boiler I asked him what he would have done if I was not there his reply was "I would call your land line (Not sure why when know one answered the door), then I would ring your mobile.
Well there we have it if you need a gas engineer make the appointment and on the day call them and arrange a time or give them your mobile and they will sort it from there. Great customer service.
Anyway the boiler, well as what normally happens with any appliance when an engineer calls it worked fine, he could not track down any problems and proceeded to check the radiators and the boiler. All done in 45mins and I totally forgot to offer the chap (Darren) a cup of tea, but did find out that Llantwit Major which is where I was looking to buy a house was a nice area although I had been told that the area was becoming a no go area.
I'm out on the road again tomorrow starting at 5.30am till Thursday evening, a whole two days in Dartford, the problem is that the hotel I'm staying at is right on the M25 so you have no chance of walking to the pub later ah well it's all good.
Reading Chris's blog tonight and noticed that he used the 'Hate' word and explained that he avoids people who use the word, well I'm not sure how often I have said that to someone and reading his blog opened my eyes to that fact that telling someone who is in mid flow of a conversation that you hate the topic being discussed is a no no. So I promise that I will refrain from using the word 'hate' in my conversations.
Okay there's more, I have read in many places how people relax, now as you may or may not know I really struggle to relax my mind is always racing and I just can't switch off. This is the reason why I fell ill in the first place. So any ideas on things I can look into to help me chill out. And what's with feeling guilty when I do nothing? I was in Spain a few weeks ago and really did very little and by mid-day I felt really guilty for not doing anything. What's that all about?
Anyway it's past 10PM and I really have to get to bed as early rise in the morning. Good night and see you in a few days.
Tagged
Four Jobs I Have Had In My Life:
-Shop Assistant
-Store Manager
-Investment Consultant
-Project Manger
Four Movies I Would Watch Over And Over
-The Bourne Supremacy
-The Bourne Identity
-The Italian Job (New version)
-Seven
Four Places I Have Lived
-Ely, Cardiff
-St. Mellons, Cardiff
-Cyncoed, Cardiff
-Cadoxton, Barry
Four TV Shows I Love To Watch
-The Apprentice (UK & USA)
-Lost
-CSI
-Dragons Den
Four Places I Have Been On Vacation
-Holland (Camping & Cycling across)
-Spain (where the other house is)
-Greece (Normal holiday)
-France (Driving around)
Four Websites I Visit Daily
-Blogger.com (and around 3 blogs)
-Librautomotive (My business so must check it's still live)
-StatCounter (Don't know why as there is usually only one person who looks at this)
-YouTube (Cos my colleague is in Thailand and is sending stuff to this site)
Four Of My Favourite Foods:
-Fish 'n' Chips
-Chinese fried rice
-Lasagne
-Full English Breakfast
Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
-In the other house, chilling
-Living out in the country
-On holiday in a hot country (Australia)
-In a car show room buying a sports car
Four People Who Are Most Likely To Respond?
Probably no one (boo hoo)
I would have said Dan but I've already been tagged!!
(Being tagged - you copy this list and change the answers to your own, then tag four OTHER people. You can still do it if you like though!)
-Shop Assistant
-Store Manager
-Investment Consultant
-Project Manger
Four Movies I Would Watch Over And Over
-The Bourne Supremacy
-The Bourne Identity
-The Italian Job (New version)
-Seven
Four Places I Have Lived
-Ely, Cardiff
-St. Mellons, Cardiff
-Cyncoed, Cardiff
-Cadoxton, Barry
Four TV Shows I Love To Watch
-The Apprentice (UK & USA)
-Lost
-CSI
-Dragons Den
Four Places I Have Been On Vacation
-Holland (Camping & Cycling across)
-Spain (where the other house is)
-Greece (Normal holiday)
-France (Driving around)
Four Websites I Visit Daily
-Blogger.com (and around 3 blogs)
-Librautomotive (My business so must check it's still live)
-StatCounter (Don't know why as there is usually only one person who looks at this)
-YouTube (Cos my colleague is in Thailand and is sending stuff to this site)
Four Of My Favourite Foods:
-Fish 'n' Chips
-Chinese fried rice
-Lasagne
-Full English Breakfast
Four Places I'd Rather Be Right Now:
-In the other house, chilling
-Living out in the country
-On holiday in a hot country (Australia)
-In a car show room buying a sports car
Four People Who Are Most Likely To Respond?
Probably no one (boo hoo)
I would have said Dan but I've already been tagged!!
(Being tagged - you copy this list and change the answers to your own, then tag four OTHER people. You can still do it if you like though!)
Monday, September 25, 2006
Monday, Monday so good to me!!
Yeah right! what is it about Monday's they are the worst! got up on time and sorted MSM and sent her to school, went to run the hot water and there was a funny noise coming from the boiler, and the hot water was coming out as a trickle! oh great a busted boiler how to start a week on the right note.
Left it went to the office done a little work, well a lot of work for the fours hours they are paying me, collected MSM from school headed home and grabbed the screw driver and went to the boiler, checked the pump and could not unscrew the cap off the front. Then decided to run the cold water full blast and then put the hot water back on, whoopee the water flowed as normal and the hot is still hot! so there it is I should be a plumber (NOT!). In the mean time though I still called out the boiler man to which they said "They will be with you anytime after 12pm" I replied well no one is here until 3.30pm as we work, they replied "No problem someone will be with you after 12pm but before 6pm" now what bloody use is that I'm not here until 3.30pm!
What ever happened to the days when you could book a time slot! even an hour window would be good I thought companies were striving for good customer service? PM appointment is not good customer service. So I have decided to ring them tomorrow at 12pm and tell them that I will not be there until 3.30pm let's see what happens. To be cont........
I was walking back to my car through the City and noticed an old couple sat on a bench propping each other up fast asleep both holding hands I wish I had a camera as it would have made a lovely picture they must have both been in their eighties both exhausted from their days activities aah bliss. I hope I'm like that at their age.
I'm now back in my office trying to get this now well overdue project over to my clients but alas I still cannot get it to work and I don't know why. I have left it for over a week thinking that when I return a bright light will shine and I will have the problem sorted but NO it's still bloody broke. I can see a full refund heading their way which will wipe out my savings but I'm beat I just cannot be bothered with working with PCs anymore the fun has finally gone and it's now a chore.
Roll on tomorrow lets see what that day brings..... probably the same as today, god I need to get a life.
Left it went to the office done a little work, well a lot of work for the fours hours they are paying me, collected MSM from school headed home and grabbed the screw driver and went to the boiler, checked the pump and could not unscrew the cap off the front. Then decided to run the cold water full blast and then put the hot water back on, whoopee the water flowed as normal and the hot is still hot! so there it is I should be a plumber (NOT!). In the mean time though I still called out the boiler man to which they said "They will be with you anytime after 12pm" I replied well no one is here until 3.30pm as we work, they replied "No problem someone will be with you after 12pm but before 6pm" now what bloody use is that I'm not here until 3.30pm!
What ever happened to the days when you could book a time slot! even an hour window would be good I thought companies were striving for good customer service? PM appointment is not good customer service. So I have decided to ring them tomorrow at 12pm and tell them that I will not be there until 3.30pm let's see what happens. To be cont........
I was walking back to my car through the City and noticed an old couple sat on a bench propping each other up fast asleep both holding hands I wish I had a camera as it would have made a lovely picture they must have both been in their eighties both exhausted from their days activities aah bliss. I hope I'm like that at their age.
I'm now back in my office trying to get this now well overdue project over to my clients but alas I still cannot get it to work and I don't know why. I have left it for over a week thinking that when I return a bright light will shine and I will have the problem sorted but NO it's still bloody broke. I can see a full refund heading their way which will wipe out my savings but I'm beat I just cannot be bothered with working with PCs anymore the fun has finally gone and it's now a chore.
Roll on tomorrow lets see what that day brings..... probably the same as today, god I need to get a life.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Bad golf day
Although Europe won the Ryder cup my game was less than impressive, I have only been playing a few months and I'm not completely hooked, but watching the likes of Woods and Montgomery I'm way off the mark. Wayne and I went to the club this morning and opted to play a 9 hole, well us thinking that as the Ryder game was on it would be nice and quite fat chance we waited half an hour to get on the green and then followed by three young men with a buggy!! this did not help my game as I felt under pressure all the way around. We gave up on scoring after the third hole as our shots were way off the mark. A two and a half hour game turned out to be four hours and yes I was in the dog house when I got home.
I'm now shattered, scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom and had numerous telephone calls, which in it's self is unheard of.
I'm now chilling in front of the TV trying to put this blog together, question: why when you clean up or tidy up either MSM or Toby follow right behind and mess is all up which then makes me feel like shit as I have not got the energy to go back and do it all again.
Example: As I mentioned earlier I scrubbed the bathroom and MSM has just taken a shower and there are now black finger marks all over the place, also we have white bath mats, clean and fresh now they have black foot prints all over them.
Example 2: Scrubbed the kitchen floor only to find that Toby has weed on the clean floor. What is the point. I feel like walking out and getting my own place where I know the place will remain nice and clean and relaxing not running around after everyone.
Anyway I'm sure tomorrow I will have a better day...... at least I hope I will.
I'm now shattered, scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom and had numerous telephone calls, which in it's self is unheard of.
I'm now chilling in front of the TV trying to put this blog together, question: why when you clean up or tidy up either MSM or Toby follow right behind and mess is all up which then makes me feel like shit as I have not got the energy to go back and do it all again.
Example: As I mentioned earlier I scrubbed the bathroom and MSM has just taken a shower and there are now black finger marks all over the place, also we have white bath mats, clean and fresh now they have black foot prints all over them.
Example 2: Scrubbed the kitchen floor only to find that Toby has weed on the clean floor. What is the point. I feel like walking out and getting my own place where I know the place will remain nice and clean and relaxing not running around after everyone.
Anyway I'm sure tomorrow I will have a better day...... at least I hope I will.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
A week on....
Well I must get better at this blog thing, I'm missing far to many days here. So here's the week that was.
Monday: Worked full time at the office as I had to get the presentations ready for the seminars in Bradford, worked until 9pm and was brain dead there after although did make time to read a few blogs. MSM started Brownies for the first time and although I'm from the Scouting side what being an Ex leader and all she really enjoyed it and that's good enough for me, also took Toby out for the ride so he can get used to riding in the car. All good.
Tuesday: Now this was a really stressful day as all the managers wanted to add/delete stuff from their presentations and also they wanted statistics so that they could do some home work on the way up to Bradford which I emailed over to them at 9.30pm and then went to bed to try and get an early night as Wednesday is going to be a long day, 11.30pm I managed to put my book down and get to sleep.
Wednesday: Okay here goes got up at 4.30am yes that's right you did read it right 4.30am and went to a colleagues house to drop my car off, left the office at 6am and had a chauffeur driven MPV to Bradford from here that's just over 4hrs. Arrived at 10.15am only to find that some of the delegates had arrived 2hrs early and were sat in the room waiting, not good as we wanted to set up and have a run through. Hilton hotels what can I say!!!
The day was stressful as we had CEO's from some large companies here in the UK and also from Canada, my talk was all of 20 mins, with me grabbing the edge of the desk for morale support. The day went on and on and on finally got to my room at 1.30am totally and utterly knackered.
Thursday: Travel back from Bradford got back to the office at 3pm and left at 5pm, got home and had to give 'J' a run down on what went on as she works at the same firm and wanted the goss. Bed by 10am.
Friday: Back to part time 10-2pm which was really nice but still knackered and had a few things to do which came out of the seminars, finally got my haircut at 3pm then went home chilled and watched recorded editions of USA Apprentice all two episodes, don't know why but I love these types of programmes, just to see them get stressed over some easy tasks and seeing their project managers skills or lack of them.
Saturday: I promised MSM that we would take the bikes out so off we went to cosmeston Lakes and cycles down the tracks for two hours, then we went to the local park with 'J' and Toby in arms trying to find conkers, managed to find one, yes ONE single conker. most of the trees had no fruit at all I reckon that's due to the chemical plant not too far away.
Then had late lunch and watched a film with MSM on Disney channel, can't remember the name of the film except that it was a musical! great film and a refreshing change to see a children's musical. currently sat here on my laptop watching Ant & Dec waiting for X Factor!!
Sunday: well that's to come but so far I have a golf game at 11am and the weather looks good.
Monday: Worked full time at the office as I had to get the presentations ready for the seminars in Bradford, worked until 9pm and was brain dead there after although did make time to read a few blogs. MSM started Brownies for the first time and although I'm from the Scouting side what being an Ex leader and all she really enjoyed it and that's good enough for me, also took Toby out for the ride so he can get used to riding in the car. All good.
Tuesday: Now this was a really stressful day as all the managers wanted to add/delete stuff from their presentations and also they wanted statistics so that they could do some home work on the way up to Bradford which I emailed over to them at 9.30pm and then went to bed to try and get an early night as Wednesday is going to be a long day, 11.30pm I managed to put my book down and get to sleep.
Wednesday: Okay here goes got up at 4.30am yes that's right you did read it right 4.30am and went to a colleagues house to drop my car off, left the office at 6am and had a chauffeur driven MPV to Bradford from here that's just over 4hrs. Arrived at 10.15am only to find that some of the delegates had arrived 2hrs early and were sat in the room waiting, not good as we wanted to set up and have a run through. Hilton hotels what can I say!!!
The day was stressful as we had CEO's from some large companies here in the UK and also from Canada, my talk was all of 20 mins, with me grabbing the edge of the desk for morale support. The day went on and on and on finally got to my room at 1.30am totally and utterly knackered.
Thursday: Travel back from Bradford got back to the office at 3pm and left at 5pm, got home and had to give 'J' a run down on what went on as she works at the same firm and wanted the goss. Bed by 10am.
Friday: Back to part time 10-2pm which was really nice but still knackered and had a few things to do which came out of the seminars, finally got my haircut at 3pm then went home chilled and watched recorded editions of USA Apprentice all two episodes, don't know why but I love these types of programmes, just to see them get stressed over some easy tasks and seeing their project managers skills or lack of them.
Saturday: I promised MSM that we would take the bikes out so off we went to cosmeston Lakes and cycles down the tracks for two hours, then we went to the local park with 'J' and Toby in arms trying to find conkers, managed to find one, yes ONE single conker. most of the trees had no fruit at all I reckon that's due to the chemical plant not too far away.
Then had late lunch and watched a film with MSM on Disney channel, can't remember the name of the film except that it was a musical! great film and a refreshing change to see a children's musical. currently sat here on my laptop watching Ant & Dec waiting for X Factor!!
Sunday: well that's to come but so far I have a golf game at 11am and the weather looks good.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Weekend at an end
Well I must say that I have had a productive weekend what with shopping yesterday and doing the weekly shop on my own today in Tesco, also I managed to do the garden ready for the autumn, that's me beat. I'm now trying to blog and watch Spooks at the same time which is proving hard.
Nothing much to talk about today as you really don't want to hear about all the things I got up to. So I'll keep it short. Happy Birthday Dan wish I was local I'd pop over for a quick pint.
Nothing much to talk about today as you really don't want to hear about all the things I got up to. So I'll keep it short. Happy Birthday Dan wish I was local I'd pop over for a quick pint.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
This 'n' that
Well I have tried to tidy my blog a little although still having problems with the archives which I'm trying to fix.
Had a good day today went to Bridgend and the out of town shopping centre you know the type Factory outlet stuff, anyway bought a self teach piano book as MSM is having lessons in school so thought I'd better get my arse in gear and start to learn to play the keyboard as well, so spent an hour learning and can now play nick nack paddy whack not bad, sounds good when you add the rhythm to it.
The shopping centre was quite empty so the plans of a quick pop in and grab MSM's new school shoes ended up with a four hour walk around oh and lunch in McDonalds, I even spoilt myself by buying ground coffee which I have not had in ages. I'm not a big coffee drinker especially since being not myself I went of the stuff and will only drink a cup maybe once a week but fresh coffee well I'm on my second cup in two hours ZINGGG!!
On the way back I decided to drive the scenic way and went through a village called Cowbridge, why because I would love to live there and I wanted to get the reaction of 'J' and guess what, she turned to me and said "I'd love to live here" ye ha now I can start looking around although I think it's going to be way out of our price bracket but hey it's worth dreaming and possibly saving for.
Reading Chris Evans blog last night and realised what a great outlook on life he has, if you have not read it yet then check it out it's really good, well I think so. Wonder whether he will get sacked from the BBC again this time because of the blog!
Anyway my day's been good, life is becoming good again and I'm loving it. To Joansy if you still read this blog, Today will become something to smile about in the future and life goes on, bad days are here to show that we are still alive and tomorrow is a new fresh day full of GOOD things.
And Dan the Essex man, your right I have invoiced myself for two hours work on this blog and the tax man will love my excuses!
Oh and how good am I, I washed the two cars this morning!!
Had a good day today went to Bridgend and the out of town shopping centre you know the type Factory outlet stuff, anyway bought a self teach piano book as MSM is having lessons in school so thought I'd better get my arse in gear and start to learn to play the keyboard as well, so spent an hour learning and can now play nick nack paddy whack not bad, sounds good when you add the rhythm to it.
The shopping centre was quite empty so the plans of a quick pop in and grab MSM's new school shoes ended up with a four hour walk around oh and lunch in McDonalds, I even spoilt myself by buying ground coffee which I have not had in ages. I'm not a big coffee drinker especially since being not myself I went of the stuff and will only drink a cup maybe once a week but fresh coffee well I'm on my second cup in two hours ZINGGG!!
On the way back I decided to drive the scenic way and went through a village called Cowbridge, why because I would love to live there and I wanted to get the reaction of 'J' and guess what, she turned to me and said "I'd love to live here" ye ha now I can start looking around although I think it's going to be way out of our price bracket but hey it's worth dreaming and possibly saving for.
Reading Chris Evans blog last night and realised what a great outlook on life he has, if you have not read it yet then check it out it's really good, well I think so. Wonder whether he will get sacked from the BBC again this time because of the blog!
Anyway my day's been good, life is becoming good again and I'm loving it. To Joansy if you still read this blog, Today will become something to smile about in the future and life goes on, bad days are here to show that we are still alive and tomorrow is a new fresh day full of GOOD things.
And Dan the Essex man, your right I have invoiced myself for two hours work on this blog and the tax man will love my excuses!
Oh and how good am I, I washed the two cars this morning!!
Friday, September 15, 2006
Yar Har fiddle-de-dee
Like the new look, not had time to add my extra bits but over the next few days I will attempt to put everything back as it was fingers crossed.
Anyway it's 9.15 and I need a strong cup of coffee now that error got me stress levels too high so need a caffeine injection, talking of which have you tried that new ZERO Coke although I don't appreciate the 9/11 design on the bottle if you aint seen it yet take a look, anyway I tasted some yesterday and I commented to 'J' that it has sweeteners in it as it leaves an after taste and low and behold reading the very small print there it is SWEETENERS!! so much for ZERO being what they are trying to have us believe oh and there is caffeine in it to. Sounds to me that it's DIET coke re branded to attract us MEN to drink the stuff as Dan the man would say BLAH!!!
Anyway it's 9.15 and I need a strong cup of coffee now that error got me stress levels too high so need a caffeine injection, talking of which have you tried that new ZERO Coke although I don't appreciate the 9/11 design on the bottle if you aint seen it yet take a look, anyway I tasted some yesterday and I commented to 'J' that it has sweeteners in it as it leaves an after taste and low and behold reading the very small print there it is SWEETENERS!! so much for ZERO being what they are trying to have us believe oh and there is caffeine in it to. Sounds to me that it's DIET coke re branded to attract us MEN to drink the stuff as Dan the man would say BLAH!!!
umm hello umm have I made it to the dark side?
Helooooooooo! the change over has happend I'm now on the dark side, no shocks yet although I did notice an error
Not Found
Error 404
Umm back to the setup screen and see what storm troopers are lurking, wish me luck and may the force be with me........................Thursday, September 14, 2006
The strangest thing
Hi all, reading Dan's blog I must admit that I have not looked into the BETA version of Blogger although I suppose being into IT and all that I should make time to read up on it. Time well that's a good one!! is it me or is 2006 speeding past? I find it hard to find time just to read a book and chill out with the family, I try as much as possible but just can't manage it.
I'm typing this instead of working on my projects, I'm really finding it hard, my brain has forgotten the basics in programming and I just can't get the application to work properly and I'm soooo close to deleting the thing. I guess it was a bad move accepting a paying contract as I feel under pressure to now produce the ultimate application for my client and it's just not happening.
My best work I did was when I worked on the never never which was exactly that but I had fun and enjoyed what I was doing, now it's becoming a chore.
Anyway back to some general stuff, driving to work yesterday and passed a police officer parked in a quite country lane with guess what? a speed camera yes that's right folks this chap was in a lay-by with his camera trying to catch the villagers speeding. My thanks to the young lady who flashed me to warn me that there was a problem ahead. Luckily on this occasion I was not in a rush and I was driving at the Sunday drivers pace 30mph in a 40mph zone. The look on the officers face as I drove past was one of total shock as I was smiling and I waved as I passed him. Any slower I could have had a chat with him or even offered him a cup of tea.
The office is well the office, working really hard on the seminar stuff and getting a little nervous as I have now been asked to do a 30min talk on a few projects I'm working on, normally I'm there to do hospitality and IT stuff but oh no this time it's that and a talk. More money then I hear you say but alas no I'm doing it for the love of the company I work for.
One day I'll win the lottery I will I will I will!! I have it all planned honest the house the two cars the travel everything but for some reason my numbers never come up.... although I have the houses, two cars and a holidays. strange how we grow up, I had dreams of getting all those things and now they are not enough I want bigger and better what's wrong with me I should be satisfied with what I have achieved but I'm not.
One day I'll list what I want even with pictures just so you get an idea where I'm coming from.
What else, ah Dan sorry for not leaving any messages on your new site but I really have not had time and when I do think about it it's late and I'm beat, sorry mate hope you'll forgive me.
Ah well I have used enough of my precious no existent time and I must get back to this project even though I fancy doing jack tonight but they are paying me so I must get on. I'll try and get back to daily blogs soon honest!! see ya ;o)
I'm typing this instead of working on my projects, I'm really finding it hard, my brain has forgotten the basics in programming and I just can't get the application to work properly and I'm soooo close to deleting the thing. I guess it was a bad move accepting a paying contract as I feel under pressure to now produce the ultimate application for my client and it's just not happening.
My best work I did was when I worked on the never never which was exactly that but I had fun and enjoyed what I was doing, now it's becoming a chore.
Anyway back to some general stuff, driving to work yesterday and passed a police officer parked in a quite country lane with guess what? a speed camera yes that's right folks this chap was in a lay-by with his camera trying to catch the villagers speeding. My thanks to the young lady who flashed me to warn me that there was a problem ahead. Luckily on this occasion I was not in a rush and I was driving at the Sunday drivers pace 30mph in a 40mph zone. The look on the officers face as I drove past was one of total shock as I was smiling and I waved as I passed him. Any slower I could have had a chat with him or even offered him a cup of tea.
The office is well the office, working really hard on the seminar stuff and getting a little nervous as I have now been asked to do a 30min talk on a few projects I'm working on, normally I'm there to do hospitality and IT stuff but oh no this time it's that and a talk. More money then I hear you say but alas no I'm doing it for the love of the company I work for.
One day I'll win the lottery I will I will I will!! I have it all planned honest the house the two cars the travel everything but for some reason my numbers never come up.... although I have the houses, two cars and a holidays. strange how we grow up, I had dreams of getting all those things and now they are not enough I want bigger and better what's wrong with me I should be satisfied with what I have achieved but I'm not.
One day I'll list what I want even with pictures just so you get an idea where I'm coming from.
What else, ah Dan sorry for not leaving any messages on your new site but I really have not had time and when I do think about it it's late and I'm beat, sorry mate hope you'll forgive me.
Ah well I have used enough of my precious no existent time and I must get back to this project even though I fancy doing jack tonight but they are paying me so I must get on. I'll try and get back to daily blogs soon honest!! see ya ;o)
Sunday, September 10, 2006
A week late but hey I'm here
Okay I'm a little late, sorry Dan! but I have had one of those hectic weeks, everyone wanted a chunk of me and it's been hard to juggle everything. So what’s going on well I'm taking MD's and senior staff on the road late September through to November stopping off at Bradford, Dartford, Glasgow, Cardiff and London West these seminars are very important for the company and for some unknown reason they have asked me to deal with it, so as you can imagine I have been rushed off my feet sorting it all out, so much for working part time.
Also I have been trying to solve problems with the applications I am building which is now 2 months overdue and is stressing me out which does not help with home life, 'J' has been busy with a gala presentation she had to attend last Thursday which she suffered for on Friday, talk about hangover from hell!! She would not talk to me all day managed to get a few words out of her yesterday but not much.
'MSM' is back in school and likes her new teacher which happens to be her first male teacher, although this term she has lost her 2 best friends both moving over the summer holidays she seems to have made a great start.
Toby well he is settling in well and is now a full part of the family and boy does he know it. I'll try and get back to daily blogs we'll see how the week progresses.
See ya!
Sunday, September 03, 2006
And there's more
Well, spent the day shopping and converting a spanish washing machine instruction manual to English for the outlaws to take to the house with them, this as you can imagine took a fair few hours as the English translation not always makes sense.
MSM and Toby had a great day gatting to know each other he is currently ling along side me fast asleep the only chance the poor chap has had all day, but lets just say he does not like me, he follows MSM and 'J' everywhere they go but not me he just stares at me and when I approach he tries to get away. The first pet I have had that does this they normally attach themselves to me and no one else. Ah well he'll get used to me sooner or later.
MSM and Toby had a great day gatting to know each other he is currently ling along side me fast asleep the only chance the poor chap has had all day, but lets just say he does not like me, he follows MSM and 'J' everywhere they go but not me he just stares at me and when I approach he tries to get away. The first pet I have had that does this they normally attach themselves to me and no one else. Ah well he'll get used to me sooner or later.
Early rise
Umm not sure Toby was a good idea, it looks like 'J' is alergic to the fur although he was playing close to her face last night, so we'll see how things go, Toby cried most of the night and I was woken up at 5.45am so had to get up and see what the damage was, this thank god was not bad, food bowl moved across the kitchen and his toys which he has played with all over the kitchen floor but the important bit wee, wee well he did do all of it on his paper & special mat so that's a good start.
Early start on a Sunday is not good I'm knackered already. Time to put the weekly shopping list together.
Early start on a Sunday is not good I'm knackered already. Time to put the weekly shopping list together.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Toby day
Drove 120 miles round trip this morning and picked up Toby our newest member of the family, he is currently fast asleep on his new bed. To say it's strange to have a dog in the house is an understatement, the last pet we had was a cat which until knocked down by 'J' had been with us for over 10 years but as we all know cats are independent and don't really need a lot of attention all they want is food, cat flap to go out when ever they want and a lap to sleep on when required.
So far Toby has peed and pooped in the wrong place but as he's only 8 weeks old i'll forgive him, for today anyway. He really like MSM and follows her everywhere and as soon as she went for her shower this evening he curled up on the sofa and fell asleep. 'J' has just put him to bed.
Talking to the breeder today she wanted us to have in in the bedroom until he was used to his new surroundings, yer right no chance we are starting the way we mean to go on, he lives under the breakfast bar and the kitchen door is closed until he is trained then I may let him have access to the lounge & hall way when we are not around, when we are here he gets ful run except the bedrooms, am I being harsh?
The weather is bad, rain and heavy cloud well am I glad to be back in Wales NOT!! the outlaws go over to the house on Monday for a few weeks and boy am I tempted to get a late flight to join them. Anyway glad to see Dan is back with a huge post, god he's away for weeks and comes back with a bang, good on yer Dan!!
I may take photos tomorrow for you all to see Toby the Llahsa Apso aged 8 weeks and 3/4.
So far Toby has peed and pooped in the wrong place but as he's only 8 weeks old i'll forgive him, for today anyway. He really like MSM and follows her everywhere and as soon as she went for her shower this evening he curled up on the sofa and fell asleep. 'J' has just put him to bed.
Talking to the breeder today she wanted us to have in in the bedroom until he was used to his new surroundings, yer right no chance we are starting the way we mean to go on, he lives under the breakfast bar and the kitchen door is closed until he is trained then I may let him have access to the lounge & hall way when we are not around, when we are here he gets ful run except the bedrooms, am I being harsh?
The weather is bad, rain and heavy cloud well am I glad to be back in Wales NOT!! the outlaws go over to the house on Monday for a few weeks and boy am I tempted to get a late flight to join them. Anyway glad to see Dan is back with a huge post, god he's away for weeks and comes back with a bang, good on yer Dan!!
I may take photos tomorrow for you all to see Toby the Llahsa Apso aged 8 weeks and 3/4.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Hola soy detrás de mis hols
For those not a Spanish freak " Hello I'm back from my hols" well does three weeks go quick or what! I'm sitting here thinking back to three weeks ago when I was just getting on the plane ready for the 8pm take off. Slight delay due to the security issues in the UK but 45mins is nothing compared to friends who were going to Florida 13hrs!!
I'm not going to go through the whole three weeks tonight suffice to say I was not coming back, 'J' had to physically drag me back into the airport as I was set to live the rest of my life in Spain.
Why? well lets say 31o wall to wall sunshine, really great people life is soooo laid back. Evening meals start at 8pm and still going at 1am plenty of food drink and entertainment.
We hired a car and spent three wonderful weeks driving around the real Spain stopping in villages, driving over mountains with the most beautiful scenery you've ever seen, I took Zip photos don't ask why the camera was with us but did not think about it once so none on this visit but never mind will probably be back over there in December for Christmas.
My pet hate whilst I was in Spain was 'THE BRITS' what an arrogant bunch of twats we are, it hit me early on when people were winging about this that and the other, I did not find any brits who had a positive word to say about anything, one couple were even complaining that it was too sunny.... Now you can see why I wanted to stay, the Spanish are great people and if you learn the language a little they really go out of their way to help you.
Our next door neighbours (in Spain) are what I call old school Spanish they are late 50's and from Madrid this house is their holiday home we had many meals with them and I tried to learn how to speak real Spanish which was fun, hours of laughter and plenty of read wine.
MSM has made friends in Spain over the years and luckily for us they were out at the same time so she was well happy out and about with them, surfing, snorkelling and of course the swimming pool.
This is a typical day out in Spain for us:
10am - Rise and shower.
11am - Late breakfast on the roof terrace
12pm - Jump in car and get on to the open road
12.05pm pull map out and let 'J' navigate
Normally we would just take turnings when we felt like it and see where we end up I would put a max time of 2hrs driving so no one gets board being stuck in a car. Doing it this way was a real adventure not knowing where we were going and what we would see, all I can say is that we saw the real Spain no holiday makers where we were.
6pm (Approx) Arrive back home & shower and start evening meal.
9.30pm try and finish evening meal so we could pop down the pub for a drink
1am arrive home and settle down with the neighbours for more drinks and talking
3am Time for bed well maybe another hour!!
Talking to the Spanish they say that their typical day starts at 6am when they go to work finish at 2pm sleep until around 5pm then prepare meal and socialise there after until 1am and that's it. There is no rush in Spain nothing is done urgently regardless what it is, it's always tomorrow. I can confirm that as the build of the house was over a year behind schedule but that's how they work. I love it.
Anyway I'm back safe and well it's sunny here although getting dark at 8.15pm and we are going to pick up our new dog tomorrow 'Toby' another member of the family to discuss on my blog. I'm catching up on my favourite blogs although I'm sure Dan was not with me on holiday but by the looks of it he was on strike or missing me ;o)
Joansy how's the celebdaq doing?
I'm not going to go through the whole three weeks tonight suffice to say I was not coming back, 'J' had to physically drag me back into the airport as I was set to live the rest of my life in Spain.
Why? well lets say 31o wall to wall sunshine, really great people life is soooo laid back. Evening meals start at 8pm and still going at 1am plenty of food drink and entertainment.
We hired a car and spent three wonderful weeks driving around the real Spain stopping in villages, driving over mountains with the most beautiful scenery you've ever seen, I took Zip photos don't ask why the camera was with us but did not think about it once so none on this visit but never mind will probably be back over there in December for Christmas.
My pet hate whilst I was in Spain was 'THE BRITS' what an arrogant bunch of twats we are, it hit me early on when people were winging about this that and the other, I did not find any brits who had a positive word to say about anything, one couple were even complaining that it was too sunny.... Now you can see why I wanted to stay, the Spanish are great people and if you learn the language a little they really go out of their way to help you.
Our next door neighbours (in Spain) are what I call old school Spanish they are late 50's and from Madrid this house is their holiday home we had many meals with them and I tried to learn how to speak real Spanish which was fun, hours of laughter and plenty of read wine.
MSM has made friends in Spain over the years and luckily for us they were out at the same time so she was well happy out and about with them, surfing, snorkelling and of course the swimming pool.
This is a typical day out in Spain for us:
10am - Rise and shower.
11am - Late breakfast on the roof terrace
12pm - Jump in car and get on to the open road
12.05pm pull map out and let 'J' navigate
Normally we would just take turnings when we felt like it and see where we end up I would put a max time of 2hrs driving so no one gets board being stuck in a car. Doing it this way was a real adventure not knowing where we were going and what we would see, all I can say is that we saw the real Spain no holiday makers where we were.
6pm (Approx) Arrive back home & shower and start evening meal.
9.30pm try and finish evening meal so we could pop down the pub for a drink
1am arrive home and settle down with the neighbours for more drinks and talking
3am Time for bed well maybe another hour!!
Talking to the Spanish they say that their typical day starts at 6am when they go to work finish at 2pm sleep until around 5pm then prepare meal and socialise there after until 1am and that's it. There is no rush in Spain nothing is done urgently regardless what it is, it's always tomorrow. I can confirm that as the build of the house was over a year behind schedule but that's how they work. I love it.
Anyway I'm back safe and well it's sunny here although getting dark at 8.15pm and we are going to pick up our new dog tomorrow 'Toby' another member of the family to discuss on my blog. I'm catching up on my favourite blogs although I'm sure Dan was not with me on holiday but by the looks of it he was on strike or missing me ;o)
Joansy how's the celebdaq doing?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
