Shop till you drop!

Before I start I'm on my laptop and only have 30% battery power so if my blog is slit then you know the battery went and I had to change to main PC. Saturday, well I had a dentist appointment at 9.50am so up and around early, nice drive in to Cardiff not much traffic and the country lanes were really quiet.

Well Hygienist told me off I have 30% plaque which is not good so she gave me a demo on how to use my tooth brush, I know I do it wrong but I hate staring at myself in the mirror late at night, even though I'm really good looking (Yea right). Anyway I now have shiny white teeth for a week or two, oh and a £100 dent in my wallet, going private is not cheap but well worth it for the service, and I do have insurance which will pay back 80% of the charge.

Met up with my little Brother to buy his 18th Birthday present he wanted a watch and I thought cool nice cheap present then he dropped the bomb she I want a fossil watch. it's called a Gothic Tic and here it is but looking at the American site I was connedin the UK it was £75 but in America it's $75 bastards!! but H Samuel where I bought the watch had an offer buy one watch get one half price and I knew 'J' needed a new watch so I got her one as well but I can't find the picture.

MSM spent some of her birthday money although I still managed to blow a fair few pounds as well not sure how she got that out of me. Got back in the house around 3.30pm and time to take Toby out, so we piled in my car and headed for cosmeston lake for a stroll, Toby loved it and it was nice to get some real fresh air.

Now being put through X Factor part 2 the waiting, how cruel is this programme keeping these poor people hanging on like this and crushing their dreams just like that. So cruel or is it!! well it's now down to us to spend £££'s on phone calls, MSM has already asked to phone and we instantly told her you needed to be 18 she's not happy, I am, no nagging to use the phone to dial the numbers.

Anyway times up must watch the remainder of X Factor. oops one of MSM's groups just got sent home she is not happy throwing cushions at the screen and crying her eyes out great here we go. X Factor you got a lot to answer for and I may be switching this off as I cannot have MSM upset over a TV programme.

Road rage

Well I like Dan missed Thursday, although I was in a foul mood after a jerk decided to cut me up on the way to work, what was more frustrating was that he had his mobile glued to his ear. Here's the scene. Driving in left hand lane as right hand lane has chevrons at the end of the chevrons you can go in the right hand lane to turn right. This chap decided that the chevrons mean jack shit and decided to continue anyway, I started to turn in to the right hand lane only to have this idiot nearly take out my wing mirror.

After all this he sat in front of me still with his mobile glued to his ear I drove behind him all the way to my office and as I pulled along side I noticed that he had a baby carrier in the front seat, now that tipped me over the edge, not only would he risk his life by speeding, driving where he should not, driving one handed as his mobile was so important but the baby in the front seat.

That people made my day hell, I was so frustrated that I just got my head down and worked my bollocks off and did not look back. If I saw that chap again I swear I would knock his block off, well take away his car keys and throw them away at least.

Today in contrast has been mellow, got soaking wet walking 20yds to the office this morning and I had jeans on so as you know they take hours to dry and sitting down does not help, had a coffee meeting with a supplier in Madison's which I paid for god knows why I must have been in a generous mood to say the least, done a little work not much by my standards but enough.

At home well Toby had his first taste of the outside world although it took 10 mins to get him to the car so I could collect MSM after that there was no stopping him even though it was wet and windy he loved it. So did I if truth be known.

Anyway watching Star Wars return of the Sith (I think that's the title) oh and now Toby is going mental to get on my lap so it's time I went. Bye for now.

Wow what a day I'm in demand!

Okay I walk in the office at 9.45am, walk through the door and...... 'Mark' can you look at this, still with jacket on and pack pack in hand, then as I leave that person another come running, well lets just say I took my jacket off at 10.35am and as with most people I don't operate until I have my first cup of tea for the day, well that didn't happen until 11.30am

Strewth, that was a day at the office, it was nice being in demand but a little stressful. But boy did those four hours go bloody quick, but by the end I had unwound and was ready for the drive to the school. This today was pretty uneventful apart from being able to park right outside the gates that was cool.

Oh happy 18th bro.

This evening I think I managed to crack the normalisation of the database I'm working on, if I have then the rest of the build should be pretty easy. Here's hoping anyway.

Still not going well

I have the books open and trying to get the grey matter working but still nothing. What's worse I have built loads of applications over the years but moved over to Internet development about 18mths ago, I can't believe how much you can forget so quickly if you don't keep up the practice.

I have decided to pack in the business I am doing, it's not enjoyable anymore and so I must call it a day, I'll attempt to finish what I have at the mo but I will not be taking on any more. Once the contracts are up I'll have to go back to full time work again although I have been doing that for a while albeit partly from home.

The pictures are a small collection as the others are with friends and I have not asked permission for them to be on the web so I can only show ones with MSM in the main.

Anyway 'J' is going mad at the mo as the dog has had an accident because we have all been up stairs for the past hour or so and he is not a happy bunny.

Here's Toby a few weeks ago. Ewok I think this chap is an Ewok!!

Pictures

Well lets try and upload some birthday snaps of MSM and friends.

Not a good Monday

Sorry readers but not a good one today really struggling with my project and it looks like I have to scrap this version and start again so no blog tonight. Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow.

All is quiet

Hey yall, I'm sat in my lounge in total peace and quiet, everyone is either asleep or else where in the house, the T.V is off and I can here only the lapping sounds of Toby drinking water and the creaking of floor boards where 'J' is walking around. This is really nice I feel like I have finally got in to the zone, really chilled and relaxed.

Not seen any news today so not sure what is going on in the world which I think is a good thing, all this doom and gloom it's nice some times just to switch it all off, shut the curtains and block out the outside world, hmmm so quiet.

Well today was a normal catch up on some house work day, Tesco for weekly shop with 'J' and MSM in tow, with the odd "Mark can we have chicken this week?", "Mark are you able to cook this one night?", as you can tell I do all the cooking apart from Sundays I try to give myself at least one day off, but why do I get so possessive over the kitchen. Example 'J' cooks a lovely Lamb dinner with fresh Veg but she is rather messy and I enter kitchen to tidy up only to see dishes everywhere, all work tops full of empty pots and pans, cooker looking rather green with the over spill of cabbage, I can't work like that every surface has to be cleaned as I cook, by the time I'm serving up there are no dishes around apart from the loaded up plates, everything else is in the dish washer ready for the on button. Umm I daren't start discussing kitchen hygiene as my Sunday off may be a thing of the past.

MSM's birthday went without a hitch, great afternoon doing ten pin bowling then walking over for a Pizza at the Hut. All the children enjoyed themselves and we were honored to be joined by my parents, why I say this is because they never come out with us and if they do it's only to moan about everything especially my mother, although don't get me wrong I Love her to bits but she can only pick holes in things or moan about money or lack of it. Mum there is only so much your son can take, your 63 now and it's time to let go and enjoy the rest of your life. In plain English GET OVER IT!!

Oo that was harsh I know but I needed to get that of my chest. Thanks for the birthday wishes you all, I passed them on to MSM, although she did look at me daft and I had to explain what this blog is and why people leave messages, Joansy, MSM is well impressed that you live in America and that you are a lawyer, I hope she follows in your footsteps and not go down Dans suggested route.

Well the weather is certainly changing with thunder storms this morning and loads of heavy rain, it was rather depressing sitting here at 10am with all the house lights on as it was so dark, I would do a Dan special and get my camera to point out the window but alas I live in a cul de sac with only 8 houses and as you can imagine there is not much activity outside, although if you all tuned in around 7.30am Monday to Friday for about 6 mins it's rush hour with all three cars leaving at once for the city! oh and catching me and MSM at 3.30pm walking past the window after school. Now there's something to wait for all of 3 sec for ummm.

I may switch it on in the office while I work, or as it's been recently sat staring at a screen and not really doing much, we'll see.

So that's my Sunday not very eventful but relaxing all the same and I did take some pictures yesterday so I will try and remember to download them tomorrow and put them up for you all to see.

toodle pip and all that ;0)

Oops missed a day!

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)

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)

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.

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!)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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!!!

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........................

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)

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!

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.

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.

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.

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?

A littel worried

Well this is my last post for a while as I'm off to Spain tomorrow, due to the goings on with the airports I'm a little worried to say the least but as the in laws said today if it's your time to go then so be it!! arghhh I hate flying at the best of times but now it's 10 times worse, I'm convincing myself that the security is so tight now it should be the safest trip I'll ever have and I'm going to Spain not America.

It's not working though. I won't let the bastards get to me I won't I won't I won't, bring it on!!

Anyway here's to a good flight.

If you don't see a post by September then you know what's happened.

Tuesday hummmm........

Yes, Yes, Yes, those idiots backed down and the case that I was working on is now finished and not before time. I WIN (Again).

It's been a lovely day down here today blue sky's warm breeze almost a shame I'll be leaving these shores in a few days. Yeah right! as if.

Why do people talk behind peoples backs? I had a conversation with someone today and they made some snide comments (in jest) but unfortunately it got to me not that I let that person know this but it hurt and got me thinking, I'm a straight talking kind of guy and I'm up front so you either like me or not, better to be honest. But I don't like people who on the face of it like you but really all they are trying to do is gather enough info to go and have a bitch session behind your back. What a shame.

Okay I listen to BBC Radio 2 and I get to hear Mr Wogan on the way to the office with a little bit of Ken Bruce but my fav has to be Chris Evans and he has started a new blog, go check it out, not bad for first attempt not sure if he'll keep it so personal though.

Day from HELLLLLLLLL!!!!

What a stressful day today, dealing with receivers for a supplier today and lets just say they were a bunch of pricks. One minute they agree to what I propose the next they change their minds, I lost it on the phone and told them if it's not sorted by tomorrow then the police will be informed and I'll let them deal with it. 10 Days trying to sort this out and still getting no where.

Usually these events are all in the bag after two days but I'm sure this firm has never handled a receivership case in their life before as they have not got a clue what they are doing.

Missing Dan's blogs so come on Dan get well NOW so I can follow on from your posts as I'm running out of things to say.

MSM back down her Grampy's today playing spy kids, she watched the movie for the hundredth time and we bought her a spy kit from Tesco yesterday and she thinks she's the B's n E's.

Getting a little worried about my old business partner for www.librautomotive.co.uk as I have not heard from him in a month, last I heard his grand daughter wash taken to hospital with breathing problems. I hope she's OK. I think I drop him an email to check all is well.

That's it for today I'm still to stressed to type much more, I hope tomorrow is better.

Here's Toby

After weeks of thinking of dogs names on the way to visiting the puppy and his brothers and Mum & Dad MSM blurted out "what about Toby" well I like the name but 'J' was not as convinced, although when we finally got to the house it was agreed that Toby will be our new dogs name.

So here are some pictures of Toby with MSM. Toby is now 4 weeks old and we will be bringing him home on the weekend September 2/3rd when he will be just 8 weeks old.

















I am a little concerned that his is the smallest of the three and that he is being both Hand fed as well as with mum due to his size, the breeder says that all three have had first vet checks and have been given the all clear, Toby will have another vet check before they let us take him home, so we'll see how much he grows over the next few weeks.


















We met both his Mum & Dad and they were both really well behaved, and enjoyed a good fuss. They were quiet and relaxed around us although Mum was being very careful watching what we were doing with the baby and coming up now and again to check on him which was great to see.
















Toby's Mum is called Sox and she is 6 years old and this litter was her final one this is her fourth and was an accident. She will now spend her time with her grandchildren.

So now we have to start to prepare for Toby, we have bought small things like dishes and some soft toys, but with MSM around I think those two will be having lots of fun together, and when Toby gets to meet Bailey who is a relative who lives across the street then he will be really happy.

What a night

Well the meal was fantastic, service was excellent, first time I have been to a restaurant and they approached us within 2mins, order taken and drinks at the table within 5mins starters 5mins later and main course moments after the starter. The place was quite busy as well, but we stayed for nearly two hours as it was so relaxing and the food was great.

We then headed to the movies where I had pre booked Premier seats, these are the larger seats with high backs and wide arms all for an extra £1 it was great, and guess what..... we say a Pirate film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl well it was brilliant, the special effects were great and the make up was fantastic, can't wait for number 3, oh for those who have not seen the film there will be a 3rd this one ends on a cliff hanger.

Got back home at 12.45AM yes it's a long film 2.5hrs today I suffered too much red wine and long movie make Mark very tired, couldn't really get much work done although I did try honest.

MSM is back with us and as brown as ever, seems she had a great time in Lanzerote. Only 7 days to go and this time next week I'll be on the plane. Grreeaatt (I hate flying so any tips on how to enjoy 2hrs of this I'm all ears).

News on the Murder case I posted earlier in the week, they have arrested her husband and another woman and they appeared in court this morning. News story. Not much I can say about this apart from disbelief and horror that a person so close to her would be the prime suspect.

Day late oops!

Ah sorry, went and played Golf last night to try and clear my head, it's good to take some time out and relax, although only a few days now and I'm in Spain probably on the sun terrace with my feet up. Yeah right with MSM to contend with we'll spend most of the time either round the local so she can play with her Spanish friends, or in the swimming pool. At a stretch it could be the beach.

Anyway a week has flown past again MSM due back from Lanzerote early hours of tomorrow morning so have decided to take yet another evening off from work and take 'J' for a Italian and a movie. Not sure what to watch but not worried gets me out the house that's the main thing.

I will however have to complete the now way overdue project by early next week so they can start testing whilst I'm away.

I promise that I will not touch politics ever again it's not me, I'm pretty crap at writing and will never make a novelist. I'm pretty good at project notes, reports etc. but that's only cos it's work and I have to do them, sitting at home in the office just does not have the same ring to it and my written skills for some unknown reason leaves me the minute I walk out of the office.

Anyway I'm off to do a little work before 'J' gets home. Oh it's Sunny and warm again which is really good but I noticed on the golf course last night that the evenings are drawing in already. God it was only yesterday that the clocks went back please let us have light evenings ALL the time I get sooo depressed when it's dark at 5pm.

All good! ;o)

Following on fro Dan's Blog

Well I have decided to take a break from work as it was not going to plan, rather than mess it up I've learnt over the years to switch off the PC and walk away, so now I'm sat in the lounge on my trusty laptop putting fingers to keys.

Following on from Dan's blog and the way 'PC' (Political Correctness) has gone wrong in the UK, like Dan I don't like discussing politics or religion as I don't think these topics should be aired on such a place however Dan did hit a topic which does hit the right nerve for me to air my views. That is Children and how they behave and why do they get away with it time and time again.

I reflect back to my school days when we respected our teachers and adults. The threat of the cane was there if you misbehaved badly enough then you were hauled in to the headmaster’s office for a stern telling off and possibly the cane. I admit I never had the cane but I have been in the head masters office on a few occasions and I have seen the cane on his desk. The threat was enough for me to behave for a while there after.

Today however children have no idea of what the cane is and even scoff at the idea, their attitude being that you can't touch me or what are you going to do about it? We hear this so often these days’ teachers can do NOTHING. Question who was the idiot who decided to pull teachers rights to punish children? Did they not realise that children are here to stretch boundaries that's how we learnt right from wrong. If there is no real punishment in our schools how are children going to learn. Did my generation turn out that bad that we had to change the way teachers discipline their pupils?

I admit that the majority of children are well behaved and learn from their parents but we are now seeing the young adults who went through school not having real discipline having children and listening to them in the school play ground really opens my eyes to their attitude to life and other people, lets just say I'm worried, I have seen them with my own eyes telling their kids "Don't worry love the teacher can't do anything to you". WHAT!! is this the way we really want to teach our children do what you like because no one will do anything until it's too late and the police are involved.

Now just to clarify I'm not saying to cane every child for doing wrong but the thought of the cane is enough for 99% of children and I'm not condoning smacking however I bet we have all had a smack when we were younger I know I did and it hasn't damaged me.

We need to step back and re evaluate what politicians have done over the past 15 years and look at how young people are behaving these days thanks to their eagerness to have their names put to new acts of parliament.

Anyway this topic can go on and on but someone somewhere must re look at how we are dealing with unruly children and to get the respect to adults back to where it should be. Watching a local programme about Cardiff Prison over 70% of inmates were under 25 years old does that suggest something?

Not going to plan

Things in the home office just not going to plan a deadline is now here and the application has just fallen apart due to PDF system I needed, hopefully I will be back tomorrow......

On a lighter note

Madonna was in the Millennium stadium last night for the first leg of her European confessions tour, alas I did not spend £80+ for a ticket although a load went from the office, the reports are not that good, seems that it was more a theatre show than a rock concert and that there was an hour and a half wait between support band (only the One, and he was a DJ friend of you know who).

The gig was marred by lots of breaks for costume changes and basically was not worth £80, but they did say her singing was great if you like her new album as she only sang three old songs. There I got the low down, I have her new Live album and free DVD so I'm sorted oh and I saved £80 (The CD was bought with left over xmas vouchers for Virgin sorry Ms Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone or Mrs Ritchie.

Just had a look for Wembley and they are looking for £110 - £160 NO WAY!!

Stick with a new up and coming group 'chip shop boys' AKA the Minge & XWiz go get em boys you never know Madonna may support you one day!! ;)

Dan I think this may knock you off the number one spot with your "Yar Har fiddle-de-dee"
Shiver me timbers!

Very sad day

A young woman who I am aware of was Murdered over the weekend, it is very sad and makes me very angry that you cannot live happily and safely anywhere these days, the area she lived in is a new private estate in a quite suburb of Swansea. What has gone wrong with the world we live in, why is it that crime and war is on the increase? and to what end?

My sympathies to her Husband and her family.

Wozzz upppppp True True

Why do we spend less money on weekly shop when kids are not here, I saved £30 today!!

Hope you like my new clock thought it would go well with yesterdays time issues I was having, finally got to bed at 1.45am but back to normal today up at 8.30am and done all the usual house work. One day I'll do something less boring instead (Name that children’s TV show from the 80's).

Nothing much happened today so a small blog.

What time is it?

OK now I'm getting back to normal had evening meal at 9pm and just finished watching another DVD 'Last holiday' with Queen Latifa, what a good film just what I needed on a wet Saturday night, Dan the rain will be with you soon, and it's great walking outside with no coat on and still warm great!!

Now watching Bone Collector on TV seen it loads of times but still a good movie to watch. 'J' sat next to me eating a pasta snack wondering what I'm doing on the laptop as she knows nothing about my blog, trying to explain it to her but the blank look on her face says it all, stick with the pasta baby..

Hopefully I will be back to normal tomorrow, up early ready for shopping at Tesco and cleaning the office as it really needs doing, also I need to finish my way overdue project as I did not do much last week due to my brain freeze, which alas I still have but reading everyones blogs is no excuse for slacking, so next week less blogging and more work...... Yeah Right.

Won't be doing that again

It's now 6.30pm and my body is telling me it's lunch time... oh I'm so out of sync. So if any of you fancy having a long lay in or watch a movie in bed be warned it messes up your body clock, I think I may still be blogging well into the early hours.

Just finished scrubbing the kitchen from top to bottom, cupboards, floor, everywhere now taking a break and will start on the lounge, 'J' is ironing which is one department I will not do, If I have to do ironing it gets thrown in a bag and taken to the ironing lady for £10 best £10 ever spent.

It's still pouring down outside and a bloke just walked past singing 'Singing in the rain' great to see a little water and if it gives people the idea to sing bring it on! (He had a good voice).

Was going out for a meal tonight and a movie but with both of us working so hard in the house and it being 6.30pm in the evening and pouring down, I feel that we won't get out today.

Oi what time is it?

Okay it's 2.45pm and just showered and dressed, it's raining quite hard and I've basically had the most laziest day so far in all my life.

Last night we got two DVD's from blockbuster I let 'J' choose this time round 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and 'Mr & Mrs Smith.' On the way back home we stopped off for a Chinese take away, A meal for two special deal.

We started watching 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and to be honest I was not looking forward to it, but eating a Chinese and watching an oriental themed film sounded good, and it had won all those Oscars so it must be worth the effort.

'Memoirs of a Geisha' Brilliant that's all I have to say about that... (In Forest Gump talk) but unfortunately the Chinese did not sit right with me, woke up at 4am on the dot feeling icky so went to the bathroom just in case. Got back to bed just as the sun was rising, brought on anxiety attack and stress as I hate being ill so was kicking myself a bit for that, next I knew it was 10am wow where did those 6 hours go.

'J' had woken up a few moments before and brought up a cup of tea she then proceeded to put 'Mr & Mrs Smith' on so we laid back sipping morning tea and watching an action movie. Well the film was a good laugh predictable but for early morning viewing was good. But I loved the kick back, no work, no Child to deal with and no schedule to follow, I have not had a day like this since I was a student, I think you all know what I talking about there.

I have decided if I become a millionaire or when I retire there will be NO clocks in the house, my life will not run to schedules.

So that's my excuse for being a lazy git and doing very little this Saturday although I do feel a little guilty for doing it not sure why.

It's that FRIDAY feeling

Yee Ha Friday, well almost anyway, 'J' had no luck with a B&B so looks like we are stuck at home for the weekend, I fancy a meal and movie but physically I'm knackered and just can't get motivated to do anything at the moment.

Pretty quite day today, no goss except that email has been referred to the BIG boss to deal with.

I may post later depends what mood I'm in certainly not a great one at the mo.

Woof Woof

Okay, here they are pictures of the little fella also pictures of what he will look like when he's older. Now before you say he's a small dog I wanted a Labrador but unfortunately our house and garden are just not big enough but this little fella will fit perfectly.

Now I have loads of names on a list that 'J' and MSM have put together but I'm open to suggestions so let me have them you never know you could pick THE name for our newest member of the family. How do you spell the breed again a Lasa Apso... no Lahsa Apso... No Lhasa Apso ..... yes a Tibetan Monk watch dog.


Here he is at 3 weeks old:

Now this is what he will look like at 12mths




















And as a full grown adult can't belive that a pup with such dark colours end up being a 'Brindle' which I am told by the breeder is White and Grey like this chap.

Life is a box of.....

Anything you like really.

MSM is now at the airport waiting to fly out, oh ang on..... nope she just took off so MSM is now in the air, how I know this I live only a mile or so from the Airport and can see the planes take off and her's is bang on time. I sit here smiling to myself as we have this habit that when we take off we wave out of the window when we see the house.

So I'm alone all quite 'J' is not due home till 7 ish as she is going with work mates for a birthday drink.

I'm very laid back any more so and I would be horizontal and I like the idea of a good group of friends of both sexes and at the moment I have a female friend who is going through the mill a bit and I offered a sympathetic ear and sent over my MSN user so she can add me and we could talk, well last night she did just that added me to her MSN. Alas 'J' does not think the same way as me and she was sat here looking at the puppy pictures when low and behold my friends name appears oh and picture.

Well lets just say it went very quiet and if looks could kill I'd be dead in a split second. What makes matters worse is that 'J' works for the same company as me and sits 4 desks over from my friend. It took me about three hours of talking to get her to calm down and accept that men can have female friends as well as male and not have to take the female kind to bed.

So an interesting evening but still I'm a little confused after over 14 Years together 12 of them married should she not be past this stage?

Anyway enough for the moment there was other stuff but brain freeze so back to work and I may post another later.

Yar Har fiddle-de-dee NOOOOOOO!

That's bloody addictive, for those not in the know Dan has put up the full version of the pirate song that's all I'm going to say about that.....

Right no more pirate stuff here, officially PIRATE FREE.

Right lets get down to it, got an email today in office from big boss company gone bust I look after all problems and issues but boss decided to help me out. "I have requested a data report for the past 30 days transactions to help you sort out the issue" (Edited version of course).

Reply from stats bloke: here is the report you wanted.

My Reply: The data is showing far to many transactions for 30 days?

Stats bloke: Oh it's over the past 5 years.

My reply: OK but we really need it over 30 Days

Stats bloke: Get over it

Now is it me or his is last comment out of line?

I sat there for 10 mins mulling the response in my mind, have I said something wrong here? anyway over to you guys let me know what you think. (Due to the nature of the post it may be removed very soon so quick answers...

Do what you want cos a pirate is free

Gee thanks Dan this tune is so addictive, well pretty ordinary day today apart from trying to advise someone on the best course of action and the prat insisting that his way was better. How so I asked when all the data you have produced is incorrect? "Oh well that's because the users are typing in the address wrong" me "Why would they do that when it's automatically inserted when the selection is made" ah well..... he goes on and on in a complete circle but still as far as he's concerned he's still right.

That's why folks I now only work 4hrs to get away from idiots like that.

Now sat in my home office drinking tea and catching up on my friends blog although I am getting rather worried that a certain person has far too much time on his hands and finding stuff on the net that I could not find in a million years keep em coming though they are great!

MSM (Need to scroll to the bottom of the page) is going to Lanzerote tomorrow for a week with her Auntie so not sure how I will cope with out her giving me hugs and more hugs and wanting a bedtime story, I've told her that I will look after her army of teddies and that I'll take a few to work with me strictly on a rota basis of course can't be doing with favouritism.

Well I have finally circum to pressure I can officially announce that we are going to have a new member to the family after months of nagging from both J and MSM we are getting a puppy. I have been told that images of this said creature will be in my inbox later today, he's only 3 weeks old at the mo but as we are away for most of August he will be ready by the time we get back.

Oh joy another mouth to feed and my life as I know it is about to come to an end. More when I get the pictures.

36 Degrees and with open Windows

Well it is 36 degrees in the garden, no breeze just wall to wall sunshine although I'm hearing rumours that the rain is coming, I do like this weather I think I'm made for it, can't wait to go over to the other house in Spain in a few weeks to chill on the roof terrace and do some light work on the laptop.

Like my title 36 degrees is the weather link and open Windows is well..... the big meeting with Microsoft today, although we didn't get off to a good start as I entrusted a colleague to sort out the meeting room and refreshments etc. which he didn't do either so 10 mins before we were due to kick off no meeting room, no equipment, stress levels HIGH. It's the old saying if your going to do something make sure you do it yourself, delegation doesn't work.

Well it kicked off 45mins late but by the end everyone was hooked, ha another success!! I should do IT project management freelance I could have charged £300 per hour that would have been around £1,200 for this! not that I'm bitter about my sisters boyfriend honest!

The problem now is switching off, this is where I went wrong last time, I have this horrible habit of continuous thinking, you know the type the what if scenarios, how will it work, where do I start, my previous life I would have five or six projects running simultaneously so you can imagine how fast my brain was working, I'd be in a Restaurant having a meal and something would pop right in there and I'd have to send myself an email, or voicemail to remind myself to look into something, A note pad by the bed in case I woke up and had to write the issue down I can't, I won't go down that road again.

So all in all (is that good welengilsh?) a good day. Stress well I aint got any, anxiety very little. Need a strong drink YES PLEASE.

Celebdaq well I know a few friends Dan 'THE woMAN' and Joansy are keen players and I have been trying to get in on the action (Please let me join your league!!) I have just taken a look at mine note I have not been taking the game that serious so being number 21668 in the chart isn't that bad, although I have spread the risk a little thin buying blocks of 1000 across about 20 Caleb's anyone with insider dealings let me know!!

Thank god I'm not that bad with real shares ;)

P.S I hope Dan knows I'm joking. LOL

Computers who's idea

I'm stuck! I have been building an application using Access 2003 and it's just about ready to go to a client but I have hit a snag, the PDF programme I have running in the background does not like to select one report per record, I have found code that will I think solve the problem but my mind is currently dead and for the life of me I don't know where to begin inputting the code. Complete and utter brain freeze. (Over five days now).

Did not have a good nights sleep last night not sure if it's the weather or just me, I woke up about 10 times sometimes due to weird dreams, I've been having a few of those of late, not out there ones but people who I know and are either friends who I have not seen in a while (some over three years) and some work colleagues who I recently started working with again. Umm any dream bods out there who can give me a reading I'm up for finding out why the past is featuring so prominently in my sleep these days.

Reading Dans blog today and looks like he didn't get much sleep either but at least he's got his cats to blame for that.

So I'm sat in my home office trying to solve the computer programme issue but I don't think I'm going to crack this on my own so if any of you are good with MS Access and V.B then give me a shout I really need a hand.


Dan to answer your question about what I do, due to the problems petiteanglaise is having with her employers I can't say too much as I know they have looked in the past (web stats) I work as a project manager for a large Insurance company was full time but now only 4hrs a day plus I have access from home so I do work from here as well, I'm also a freelance IT & Web developer and have 3 long term contracts at the moment one which as you read earlier is causing me a bit of grief.

My sister rang me last night, note my family are not the best at keeping in touch, asked her when the last time she rang me her reply was "March 10th my birthday, and you rang me" oh so only four months or so later, and guess what she only rang to gloat that she is going to Cyprus in September and her boyfriend has a three month contract earning £300 per day doing internet marketing. £300 per day what!! this idiot has no idea how the internet works let alone do any sort of marketing for them, I gather it's for one of the large online gambling sites. How the hell did this Muppet blag his way into a job like that, he is normally a van driver for a delivery firm.

I remember him coming to me a few years back asking me to show him what the internet was and how you use it, they have no PC and my sister has just completed the basic PC user course in evening class. Just a gripe on how people blag and get away with it and get paid for their trouble £300 a day what tosh....

Hurting feet

Went to Tesco fun day today in Coopers field which is just behind Cardiff Castle, it was hot with a nice breeze blowing. MSM decided to climb the wall which is about 30ft tall, MSM opted for the hard side which unfortunately was a little too hard for her, but she had a really good attempt and managed to get half way up, but she kept trying without throwing a tantrum, I can visualize her free climbing around the world, she obviously follows me as I love climbing especially free climbing alas I have not climbed for over two years as J gets really worried when I Go off on my own to climb so I agreed to take a break.

MSM was into all the sports section of the fun day, hockey, golf, Basket ball and even trying the rowing machine on more than one occasion, for MSM if she ever reads these when she's older Dad's really proud of you, trying your best is all anyone can ask.

Just watched Tiger win the open, I'm not normally into watching golf on T.V but unfortunately I have started to play recently and I've got the bug, not that I would play in all weathers it would have to be dry for me to go out and have a round.

Well Sunday has been a busy day and great to spend time with both my girls.

My life now is finally returning to normal with a smile I can now be normal, not snapping at stupid things, being so tired that I just can't be bothered leaving the house I feel good and positive long may this last, if you are going through anything similar leave a note and I'm happy to talk to you and let you know how I'm beating Stress, anxiety, Depression and Panic attacks. I remember days when my bosses were saying that I thrived on stress, my work was very stressful working with MD's of a large PLC, meetings, projects, and 80hr weeks were the norm.

How I know I'm returning back to normal, I have a large project running at the moment with Microsoft and I have a large meeting next week with them which I'm feeling really good about three months ago I could not sit in a meeting with our people without having anxiety attacks and the feeling that I need to get out of here, last week I held two prelim meetings both went without any problems and I felt good at the end of them.

But I have learnt a big lesson, life is not all about work, life is for living not worrying about stuff especially what your boss thinks of you.

Anyway that's my sermon for the week, chilling is good panic and stressing is BAD!

Numbing experience

Just got back from the dentist, I now feel like shit, my mouth is numb, my tongue is numb and one side of my throat is numb. Whilst in the waiting room it dawned on me what sad git books a dentist appointment for 8.30am!! I'm now starving so much so I,m light headed, I want a cup of tea NOW! but as we all know it's not a good idea unless you wear a bib.

It was nice to be in the city at 8am though really quiet, nice time to window shop and see people sat out drinking their morning coffee before they started work. NEXT store had a one day sale so that store was pretty busy they opend at 5am, I'm not a big shopper and the thought of standing ouitside at 5am waiting for the doors to open does not do anything for me, I feel sorry for the staff, who wants to be in work at 5am especially on a Saturday.

MSM and J have just left to join the crowds at NEXT good luck to them, I am now going to start work, I have a project which is due to be passed to my client at the end of the month and it's 99% ready just stuck on one part so as it's quiet here in my home office I'll try and complete it today.

I've got my life back

So much time has passed since my last blog, well my mid-life crisis has come to an end, my anxiety & stress levels have now returned to normal but what a ride I would not wish it on anyone. Funny how it just creeps on you and bang your screwed for months in my case 18mths and then it just disappears well almost as quick as it arrives. But I did not take any meds just carried on as best I could. If your new to my blog please read earlier posts with an open mind as you will see some of my more darker days as I journey through a life changing experience.

Reading petiteanglaise blog over the past two days really opened my eyes to the possibilities of my works seeing my blog although I don't believe I have mentioned them and I don't blog from the office it still becomes scary especially if they are on a witch hunt. My best regards to petiteanglaise in her plight and hope her and Tadpole move on to bigger and better things which I'm sure they will.

So what's the latest in sunny, hot Barry, well we have builders at the end of our street at the moment and boy are they making a racket and the mess even with it being so dry the dust is getting everywhere. Work well that is surprisingly good at the moment, lots on as ever but finishing at 2.30 everyday in this weather is fantastic.

I have to go to the dentist tomorrow 8.30AM for a filling so wish me luck.

Part of my life changing experience is that I don't read newspapers or watch the news on TV anymore, during my dark days they were very unhelpful all negative stuff like war, disasters and the like, when is a newspaper or news channel going to focus on positive stuff instead, we all need a jolt of PMA (positive mental attitude) once in a while.

My little MSM (Daughter who I will now call MSM on this blog as she thinks is sooo cool) she has just started her summer holidays, so no more school runs for a few weeks yippee for me, she is spending some of the days down her GP's (Grand Parents) who live in a caravan about 10 feet from the sea, well until later this year when they relocate permanently in Alicante Spain. MSM is growing up fast and to be honest whilst I was in my dark stage did not devote much time to her, one day I'll explain but for now I have 18mths catching up to do.

Back soon

I'm back but for how long?

Well it's been a while and not sure where I will take this blog. Is it time to move on and away from this form of correspondence? I'm sitting in the lounge with my new laptop watching some dance programme on T.V not sure why I'm not a big fan of dancing competitions.

Actually done to DIY today the first since the bathroom, nothing major only a new coat of paint on the front door and did the garden, weather is fantastic, hot and sunny.

So here I am sitting here contemplating my next move do I close this chapter in my life or continue on this road talking to myself.

time will tell....... just remembered last time I did this it was over two years till I returned.