Holidays nearly over so is 2006!!

Spose this is the time to look back on 2006 and look forward to 2007.... hmmm!! well reading some of my early posts for the year it looks like not a lot has changed, my life is still in a rut and just moving day to day, I really need to move on and get some new interests to focus on. Maybe 2007 will be different we'll see.

TV what do we pay our licence fee for? this Christmas was shocking no good programmes, the same old rubbish and far to many reality programmes. The X Factor well that was pretty well sewn up half way through. Sat here tonight to watch some good TV and there is nothing on total rubbish, time to down a glass of red wine and read Dan Brown 'Angels & Demons' what a great book and although near the end I would deffinately re read this one as the story is soooo good. I can't wait to start one of his next books probably 'Digital Fortress' and yes 'J' bought me the whole lot for Christmas so first half of 2007 will be a Dan Brown session.

I watched the Crocodile Hunter tonight or should I say the tribute programme to Steve Irwin and what a great show clearly the best TV this Christmas. Respect to his wife & two Children the guy was a legend and really knew how to talk about animals and really get the children captivated, MSM loved his programmes and cried her eyes out when she heard the news.

In classical mythology. Psyche is the personification of what? 'SOUL' sorry but I was listening to Celebrity Who Wants to be a Millionaire and that the question they are struggling with. Oh and they just quit!!

Anyway what's going to happen in 2007..... well we are talking about selling up and moving on had a quick look online for a new pad but neither of us liked any of the ones currently on offer which means that this could well go in to 2008 as I want a house we fall in love with not just a house that we like. You know what I mean.

A new car yes 2007 will be the year that I buy a new car not sure when though but probably first half of the year I'm sure I will keep you informed on the progress.

There's more but it can wait till next year..... Happy new year to all my readers.

It's Christmas time and.......

It's bloody freezing outside, all of us headed down the beach for an hour with Toby and although the fog has lifted it was very very cold, but the fresh air was invigorating.

All our Christmas shopping was completed yesterday, shops packed to bursting everyone on a mission and bargains to be had, well lets jusy say I found items £20 more expensive in shops, here is an example my brother wants WWF for his Xbox 360 so I start in Virgin price £34.99 okay maybe I'll get it cheaper in HMV £39.99 umm nope, then Game, wow £44.99 are they serious!! so back to Virgin for £34.99. Okay now the worst bit went to Tesco last night to avoid the rush this weekend and there it was sat on a shelf price £24.99 yes people same game for the same system and I thought I got a good deal obviously not. So there it is shop around and you will get the bargains although I missed out this time round.

This weekend is set aside for relaxing and wrapping presents, nothing is a rush but can't wait for the big day, just to see MSM face, kids are made for Christmas aren't they!

Dashing through the crowds in a one horse.......

Planet earth, well I love David attenborough's Planet Earth whilst doing today's blog I watching a pre recorded episode on the Tiger forest in the Antarctic, this forest houses 1/3rd of the total tree population so much trees that it replenishes the worlds oxygen. Well there we have it today's natural world lesson.

Had a cappuccino bought for me today by my big boss, but as with anything it was not a free coffee but a bribe to produce a written report on an event that took place in the office regarding a colleague, although I don't work directly with this person it still felt awful writing this report as I know it's for a disciplinary, I just hope the bosses have some Christmas spirit in them as it knocked a fair bit out of me and if I go in tomorrow to see an empty chair I will not be happy.

I'm officially now on holiday but have contracts to do so will have to pop in tomorrow after my Christmas shopping, not looking forward to going in though for the above reasons although the team involved have asked me to join them for a pint later on, I'll probably pop in for one.

Had bad news tonight, my brother will be working boxing day which is when we are going down for the day, my older sister and her boyfriend are coming up from London, lets just say I tolerate them and the thought of sitting with them all day boxing day does not fill me with joy, now I wish I got tickets to go to Spain as requested by the in laws.

I know this post is all over the place today but I need to get things off my chest, like the visa statement I had this month, I pay over the minimum amount and don't have a huge debt with them but reading it tonight I have realised that I'm a bloody mug, the interest they are charging is obscene and I have rung them every month for the past 6 moths to get the bloody payment protection removed which again appears on my statement.

Lets just say that after paying about £50 over the minimum with the Interest and payment protection taken out I'm actually paying off no more than £50 off the balance, yes that's right folks they calculate it now so that if you pay the minimum amount which most of us do then only a £ or two is actually taken off the balance which means it takes centuries to pay the bloody thing off. So 2008 is going to be Money management year, I am going to shop around for the best credit card and take it out to transfer the balance over giving me 6 mths interest free or at least a reduced rate so that I can be rid of the dreaded thing, a few years back we survived on the bloody things and it came to a head when we were paying one with another but all that is for another time possibly next year when I start the financial onslaught and my free financial advice service he, he.

That's enough off my chest tonight I'm sure more news on some of the above will be forth coming tomorrow.

Rat pack Christmas

Yup secret Santa day today and I got 'It's a RAT PACK Christmas' packed with over 70 tracks from some of the best singers ever Frank, Nat, Dean, Mario and Bing currently blasting out of my laptop speakers. Violins, Piano classic, makes you want to put your feet up close your eyes and be transported back to my childhood.

Christmas has never been my favourite time of year I suppose it brings back so many memories of who I lost, but this year I'm getting in to the spirit of it carols, decorations, mince pies (two this morning). I'm looking forward to putting my feet up and not doing much at all, a bit of this and surfing, catching up on Friends blogs.

Now Frank is singing 'over the rainbow' oh now I want to watch Wizard of OZ no it can wait for Christmas proper. My passion for cooking is growing I felt guilty tonight as I cooked pasta just plain ordinary pasta and used a ready made tomato sauce this is not me, only because I didn't have enough time to do what I had planned which was Pork casserole which would have taken over an hour to cook and with MSM starving I could not let her wait that long so pasta it was. 'J' is talking about doing the Christmas dinner which I have hinted that we all muck in I do the veg, MSM lays the table and 'J' taking care of the rest. Umm we'll see will all this end in disaster well watch this space after Christmas for the gossip.

Weather here is thick fog and living on the coast we get freezing fog which is not nice, you can see the little droplets in front of your face it's that thick, street lamps are nothing but a dim orange glow so it's darker than normal and you cannot see anything past my neighbours house apart from a bank of BLACKNESS and it's bloody freezing bone crunching freezing it cuts through you like a knife.

It looks like no white Christmas this year although there have only been 4 since 1901 so all the wishing for a blanket of snow at Christmas is a little wishful thinking. Not sure I agree how this white Christmas thing is measured, the records state that if one flake of snow is seen on Christmas Day then they record it as a white Christmas, my way of thinking is if there is a dusting of the white stuff then that's a white Christmas not one single snow flake, just hope the person looking out for that single elusive flake has not got dandruff.

Family tree

I love history and family stuff is even better, today I had an email, yes I take all that back what I was saying yesterday well some of it anyway. A lady asked if certain names were on my tree which cross checking they were, although I cannot confirm 100% at this stage that we are related it certainly looks that way, I had another earlier in the month as well so my family history is growing by the hundreds, last count it was exceeding 1,300.

What I would really like is to see some pictures of them alas this is in short supply but one day I may get a glimpse of some of my distant relatives.

Local history is just as good, I have a picture of my street in 1895 little children playing in a dirt covered street, two playing with a metal hoop. I find this stuff fascinating and it really hits home that you are only on this earth for a short space of time and then you disappear without trace.

Thinking back to my childhood, what ever happened to the freedom that we had, going out on bikes all day with not a care in the world, big adventures, exploring finding new things to do building dens in the local woods. I can remember when I was MSM's age doing comic sales out in the street on a Sunday afternoon.

Talking about Sunday afternoons, last Sunday I watched Waterloo road (1940 BW) with Vivien Leigh what a great film very moving and such a sad end. But that's what Sundays are for Roast dinner and chilling on the sofa watching an old movie but it has to be Black & White, I remember I hated BW films when I was a child now as I get older I appreciate BW even more, probably because it is no longer used.

In contrast

Well back to the rush, noise, stress and work, yup it's Monday again, no rest for the wicked as they say, Mark can you do this, Mark can you look at that, Mark don't forget the meeting, Mark can you show me this!! arggghhhh.

First thing I did this morning was... I'm pulling out of a meeting as I have nothing to say and it's really not related to anything I'm currently doing. Response fine no problem, woohoo!!

Next change voice mail: " I am currently away from my desk I'll be back at 2pm" guess what no voicemails woohoo!!

I think after 13 years working there I am getting the hang of either saying NO or turning things off when I need to get stuff done.

MSM has her Brownie party tonight and she has to take sandwiches with her, although we went shopping yesterday I forgot, and so will be packing her with plenty of Jam sandwiches I'm sure the Brownies will enjoy them better than Ham or cheese, if not well who cares it's the thought that counts.

I finally set rules in my outlook to stop the crap emails coming through and also stop a forward email which has been hacked so from tonight I hope to reduce the crap I get, which should mean ZERO emails as I'm billy no mates and it's either work related or junk, I seldom get an email just to say hi, it's suprising how quickly email turns in to snail mail isn't it years ago people wrote letters asking how you are , giving family updates etc. then junk took over and now email is the same I remember years back when people emailed to say Hi and general chit chat well no more all I seem to get is CRAP well no more CRAP for me.

That's my rant over with today, oh yeah my Archives are working again go BET BLOG it's working!! I may take a little time over the Christmas break to re-read this year to see how I've changed (Grown up)!! he he ;o)

Pause for thought

Out alone today with Toby walking through the country, MSM was playing SIMS and 'J' was cleaning her bedroom so I was delegated to take Toby out for his weekend adventure walks. It was late this afternoon started around 3pm strolled along the bridal path thinking about nothing just taking in the cold air and watching people walking by, couples young and old smiling, children wandering and talking to Toby and giving him a hug. It's the first time in nearly three years I didn't have any anxiety no feelings of panic didn't even cross my mind.

The paths were wet with mud puddles and rotting leaves you could smell the decay of the foliage lying on the ground what a wonderful smell, walking along the path through the rushes and all I could here was the rustling of the dry stalks and the swans flapping their wings on the lake, nothing else pure nature.

The mind is clear the soul is cleansed just for a few minutes of my life I was walking with nature nothing on my mind no thinking, no tasks to do, just walking with a young dog who loves to be with us no questions asked, silence pure silence. What Sundays are made for.

MSM puts up a good front

Well MSM woke up this morning early, running around getting ready for school, quite a contrast from yesterday morning, I had suspisions that this was a front as her class was going to the theatre today to watch Hands Christian Anderson and she really wants to go, I ask her if she is up to the daily grind of school? "Yes dad I feel great" (Sniff) okay princess you can go to school but you must take some medicine first "okay dad" now I smell a rat MSM never agrees to take that stuff it's a running battle normally but not this morning, well I wrap her up and pack her off to school thinking she will be fine and I'll pick her up at 5.15pm

Get in the office early and complete yesterday's project reports only one to do as I spent hours yesterday doing the others, passed it to my boss for her meeting with the directors, she came back beaming and looked at me and thanked me for the reports they were great and the directors loved them and will be moving ahead with all of them! Wow I just spent millions in a few reports.

I then had a meeting with auditors to run through some projects and expalining the processes involved to enable the firm to place audit trails in place but my desk phone started ringing being polite I ignored it, well this went on for about ten minutes I just thought I was popular for the day but then my mobile rings, this I always answer and it was the sister inlaw telling me tha MSM's school are trying to get hold of me as MSM is not very well at all, so I look at the auditors and say "Meeting over I have to leave" I get up and head out the door. On the way I ring 'J's extension and inform her I'm outa there and will see her later.

I arrive at the school to find MSM sat on the sofa outside the office, I have words with the office staff asking why they did not ring my mobile, they inform me that they did and left a message, I proceeded to show her my phone and telling her no message here!! I ask to see the contact details they hold for us and low and behold they have an extra digit arrrgghhhh!! this time I stood there and watched her change the numbers so from now on I should be the first they ring when there are problems.

Anyway..... MSM sat in the car and appologised for getting me out of work, well what could you say to a nine year old apart from a HUGE HUG and a whisper in the ear your far more important than work. ah bless.

So back home and true to form MSM has a hot bath, sits with me on the sofa chilling reading watching tv and not complaining at all. What a rock she follows her DAD!!

Only for a laugh!

Well I did it another thing in my life done, Check! last night was my departments office Christmas party, and we went to jongleurs comedy night, well lets just say the food was bad, really bad and the prices for the drinks was as bad, however the 3 comedy acts we saw were great. although the first act died towards the end the other two were really good.

Today I was house doctor for MSM as she has come down with a bad cold, bless her she didn't complain at all just chilled out fell asleep for a hour and played bamzookie on the laptop whilst I worked from home for 8 hours instead of my usual 4

'J' is going through hell at the moment as her parents leave for Spain in the morning for ever well until February anyway so she is not much fun at the moment and is taking it out on yours truly basically I cannot do anything right at the moment but hey ho been there so many times it's water of a ducks back. I'll go on strike and see who does the cooking, cleaning, washing etc.etc.etc.

Lifes to bloody short for that shit, just get on with it girl !

Is it safe to come out now?

Well not if you live in Ipswich but that's another awful story if you want to know more then go here. The weather had improved over the weekend allowing us a nice walk on the beach last Saturday before we had to rush around buying birthday presents and a HUGE 6'5" Christmas tree, well I thought our old one was looking a little sad do left it in the loft this year.

Most of Saturday was then allotted to the dressing of the said tree, and low and behold all the lights worked well up until today that is when the main set decided ah that's enough Christmas spirit for this year and went POP!

So now I have to find replacement bulbs or do a dodgy DIY by putting tin foil around the Fuse light, remember those days when dodgy electrics was fixed by grandparents adding a little tin foil to the fuse to get stuff going how dangerous is that!!

So talking about what we did in the past, I always thought that our sending clock back and forth was to do with the farmers but during a conversation today it transpires that I was indeed WRONG and it was introduced in 1906 due to how we worked in those days, now MP's are looking to change over so that summer time goes back 2hrs and then Winter 1hr forward bringing it in line with our current summer time. What are you views on this is it a good idea to keep the traditional summer time all year round or stay as we are, what will it be like having daylight at 11pm in the height of summer. Umm interesting thought.

I am having problems with Toby of late where he is going in the plant pots to bite off branches to chew on, came home this evening to find bits of plant over the floor and a tasty reminder that dogs should not eat plants as it makes them icky, he's fine though running around wanting to play but unfortunately I had to tell him off, not that he cares!

Anyway I'll see if I can post more later if I get the time.

Warnings of tornadoes on the way

That's the local headlines here in Wales, yesterday I held a seminar in our office and lets just say we were shouting out the presentation due to the wind and rain lashing the building. Winds recorded from the roof of our building was 100mph. Unfortunatley I work in the tallest building in Wales although a midget at only 23 floors to some in Cardiff it stands out a mile.

The design of the building means that if you stand in the centre of the office on the top floor you can feel the building swaying, that's because it's built on huge rubber bungs (Earthquake proof) not that we have ever had or will have an earth quake, there again after yesterday I'm not to sure.

This was Cardiff yesterday around midday.

The weather today in contrast was calmn & sunny but they are warning that it's all going to return through the month and it will get worse. Yesterday we were talking about it being the end of the world, that's how bad it was, trees ripped up, walls fallen down. Oh what a crazy time we live in. (Picture taken by richie123098)

Tonight I'm not doing much apart from reading blogs and chilling out on the sofa, nothing major planned for the weekend apart from putting the Christmas decorations up as I'm getting nagged by both girls to put them up as they love this time of year.

Still not finished christmas shopping so I may venture out, oh I'm out tomorrow night for 'J' parents suprise emigration party, they leave this horid weather for Spain in a weeks time where they are sunning it up at 21o lucky gits.

Can I have a moca please

With yet another seminar looming the past few days I have spent getting stressed over nearly everything, and I mean everything. Last night the application I have spent months building was sent via the web to my client, this started at 5pm (Close of business) it went well all working although it did take a few minor changes, then as I had control of his network did a few tweeking to the server and email system which had huge effect on the speed of his network, I must say that working using the anywhere software is fantastic, it's like working on your own PC it's that quick and the view is identical, you would never know you were working on a PC in Scotland.

Tonight I did minor work on V1.2 which went well but not putting a huge amount of effort in as last night was a long 10.30pm session which hit me this morning.

The Christmas season is upon us and now starts the fun party season although I think this year I have only two parties one tomorrow which is a meal in Lagunas the resaraunt attached to Park Plaza hotel, so we will see how that goes, next week it's a comedy night at a club which sounds like fun, I'll let you know how they go.

Anyway time to catch up on all the other blogs I read.

Wind rain and sunshine

Well what a wild night the wind started around 11pm and the rain came at 4am and did it rain the noise on the window was crazy. Got up early this morning well 8.30am but early for a Sunday with glorious sunshine this lasted for about two hours then thick clouds heavy rain and gales, hour later glorious sunshine which stayed with us the rest of the day. Only done the usual Tesco run today and more cleaning so the house now it's all nice and tidy again.

It's late but what the hell

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
Oh shit

2. How much cash do you have on you?
£22.68

3. What's a word that rhymes with "DOOR?"
Poor

4. Favorite planet?
Go to be Mars, actually saw it a while back life changing!

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list?
Don't know don't have any calls me billy no mates

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
French classic phone ring

7. What shirt are you wearing?
Head polo shirt

8. Do you "label" yourself?
No not really

9. Name the brand of the shoes you're currently wearing?
Gola,

10. Bright or dark room?
Dark as it's 11pm small lamp on.

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
Good guy, else I would not read his blog

12. What does your watch look like?
Classic roman numerals Rotary.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?
Reading Angels & Demons, Dan Brown.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
"Ring me when you get two mins"

15. Where is your nearest 7-11?
God knows never bothered looking, oh there's a garage about two miles away open 24hrs does that qualify.

16. What's a word that you say a lot?
"No worries"

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?
'J' last night before she went to sleep.

18. Last furry thing you touched?
Toby's head.

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?
Zero, don't do pills, god knows why.

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed?
God about 5 but they are so old they are now probably dud.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?
got to be early twenties when I first met 'J'

22. Your worst enemy?
Don't have any, life's to short.

23. What is your current desktop picture?
MSM & Toby beach silhouette.

24. What was the last thing you said to someone?
"How do you spell Silhouette"

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be?
A million bucks so I can then learn to fly killing two birds with one stone. (excuse the pun)

26. Do you like someone?
Yes, that's all I have to say about that.

27. The last song you listened to?
It only takes a minute girl Take That (Don't ask)

28. What time of day were you born?
Sorry wasn't born with a watch on and I forgot to ask the time. Too busy trying to tell someone it was cols and I wanted to go back in.

29. What's your favorite number?
Eight

30. Where did you live in 1987?
Well I was sharing a house in a posh part of Cardiff.

31. Are you jealous of anyone?
No, what's there to be jealous over

32. Is anyone jealous of you?
God knows no one has ever mentioned it, oh hang on my best mate is but we won't go there.

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?
I was on the phone in the office when it broke on the internet, lets say the floor went silent and not much work was done that day.

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money?
Kick the shit out of it then demand a refund.

35. Do you consider yourself kind?
Yes, I was a scout and follow the scout law even today. "Be kind and considerate"

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be?
Too much pain to even think about it.

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be?
Latin, actually. Would love to learn it.

38. Would you move for the person you loved?
Yes without a doubt.

39. Are you touchy feely?
Oh yes best way to be.

40. What's your life motto?
Lifes to short live it to the max.

41. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
Mobile Phone, Car Keys, wallett

42. What's your favorite town/city?
Mahon, Minorca

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?
Chips and hot dogs down the beach today, it was cold and needed the warmth tasted good though!!

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
Friday, work related though does that count?

45. Can you change the oil on a car?
Yup, as long as I can use a pit don't like doing it lying under the car got a mouth full once as the plug came out to easily and caught me out.

46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
She was married with two kids

47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?
In the process of doing it and so far 1795

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy?
Week last Friday for the ball.

49. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
Not really just sore fingers from filling this in.

50. Have you been burned by love?
Yeah, cooking tea tonight, grabbed the saucpan handle and it was very hot, I love cooking.

I Tag:
Anyone who has about an hour to waste and wants sore fingers.

Oo edits we love em!

Well after making a mistake on my blog last night I had to make a quick edit, umm thanks Dan for pointing this fact out. Boy will I be in the dog house, anyway been to the beach today, Bloody freezing but it was sunny and apart from MSM throwing a wobbler over Toby not doing what she wanted him to do but hey we all have our off days and today was MSM's.

Rest of the day I tried my hand at ironing, this I have not done in years, I'll do the cleaning, washing and cooking but not that, but the pile was growing due to us doing more fun stuff, so I helped out well I tried any way.

Not sure what we will be up to tomorrow seems the UK is about to be hit by BIG storms so it may be staying in relaxing on the sofa watching an old black and white movie.... now that sounds a good idea.

And another week gone

Apart from being lost for words this week it's been pretty ordinary week really, nothing to out there, Christmas is well under way in Town and the weather is really freaky being so warm, dull and overcast but warm.

Tried to do a little Christmas shopping tonight whilst MSM was at the theatre watching Hans Christian Anderson play, I managed to get umm three presents, New Take that CD for 'J' don't know why, got Tracy Beaker book for MSM as she really enjoys watching the T.V programme.

Gave up at 7.45pm and headed to the pub that 'J' was at celebrating a Friends 30th had a quick pint and went back to pick MSM up and headed home, now sat here watching some crap on T.V Sky three all about Chavs, what the hell is that all about.

Anyway nothing special planned this weekend so I'm looking to chill and walk in the country and the beach.

Time to check out a few blogs back soon ;o)