Lost for words

And that's exactly what's wrong I just can't think of anything to put down here. Work is the same as ever and well not much has happend since Friday. Oh what a thrilling life I lead.

Another thing I've now done in my life

Last night was my departments awards ceremony, the theme was a mascaraed ball, here is the mask that I wore.
It was a good night and I accomplished another thing in my life, that was to be hypnotised, although I did not volunteer to do this. The start of the act focused on the audience and me being naive did exactly what the hypnotist ask and lets just say two of us in the audience had to go on stage as our fingers were locked together and as hard as I tried to separate them it just didn't happen.

What's really weird is that I can remember everything which I thought being hypnotised you wake up remembering nothing, talking to a colleague he said the same, we could here understand yet had no control over how we behaved. So what did we get up to well first we were a boy band and we were on stage and had to kiss women in the front row on the cheek of course well luckily 'J' was in the front row and I headed to her first but managed to get all the others as well.

Now comes the 7 year old playing with his toys and being asked questions and replying in the tone and language of a seven year old. Weird! Then I was told to be Robbie Williams 'Live' on stage well seems that went down a storm and the crowd went wild, bare in mind I have two left feet and can't dance to save my life the comments after and looking at a video mobile I danced like I have never seen before and it did look pretty impressive even 'J' commented to her Friends that I had no chance if they asked me to dance then told me how gob smacked she was. God help me on Monday!! there were lots more like winning the lottery only for the hypnotist to burn the winning ticket and watching a few of us going from jubilation to dispare and threats to kill the hypnotist. Our goodbye stunt was to be the teletubbies, umm. At the end he asked us what would we like help with? I opted for giving up smoking it worked great until today where I have had three which for me is the norm so that didn't work. Never mind.

So here is the List of achievements so far:

Appear in a newspaper.
Appear on T.V
Rock climb
Abseil down a cliff face
Camp under the stars
Race go karts in a pro race and beat the pro's.
Ride a motor bike
Paint ball
Drive a car on a race track at over 140mph
Pot holing
Go down a coal mine
Canoe race
Sail a yacht
Be hypnotised

What I would love to do before my times up:
Ride my mountain bike in Australia
Travel around America
Fly a plane/Helicopter
Go up in a hot air balloon.
Be a radio DJ for a day
Do charity work in a third world country
get a tattoo

I'll probably add to both lists as I have never listed them and I know I have/want to do more. So there we are the night I got hypnotised.

Grey ol day

Well I sit in my little home office completing file transfers to a client, and ponder what I have achieved today. Well got stressed at the office even though the person who stresses me is out is not there, the email he sends me get me going just by the tone, I'm really at my end and I think I have to make a move before I crack up. I love my job and most of the people I work with but there are elements creeping in which are telling me that I am well under appreciated and people really do not know what I do until I'm on holiday and shit hits the fan. Recognition goes along way not being used and abused because they can.

Anyway, I sit here listening to my old faithful PC chug away while I try a piece of software out on it this machine is now over 10 years old and is still going strong even though I have not switched it on since June. Poor thing must be really sad as I used to be on it 12hrs a day 7 days a week for many years, now like me it's semi retired. Yeah right still got bills to pay.

As you can tell today's post is a real mix of feelings but that's the way I feel today a bit mixed should I stay or should I go. Now that's the big question.

Second Life cont.

Okay now I'm not amused, took a tour of the place tonight and landed in a well lets just say porn has hit that site as well. Seems people can now establish business's and I had to land in the wrong sort, I was chatted up offered things well lets just say I left it there.

This site is a defo 18+ DO NOT LET the kids play it.

And you pay using their currency. Enough said.

Second Life

Well with the BBC news last night talking about the hit website 'Second Life' I decided to investigate. so here's me in my second life although only 24hrs old. Bit of a hunk aren't I he he.

Well this is supposed to be a 2nd life so a little 6 pack and pecks won't go amiss. The game it's self is not great and it don't half suck the juice out of the PC this is the first site that has caused my new PC to struggle and slow right down.

Met new people mainly the U.S as that's where the site originates, you can talk to people in public or IM them which is good, although I'm always a little scared when talking to strangers what with all the news these days about chat rooms etc.

But hey that's me in my next life the name is 'Justa Cleanslate' so if you join this place look me up and say hi!! oh and you will get lots of people asking you how you make money on it, I just reply I don't need money I won the lottery. he he well it is a 2nd life and who knows!!

Am I having a life changing experience

Not sure what's going on here, am I a new man? I sat yesterday morning watching BBC 1's cookery programmes and admired one of their kitchens, also the children's snack foods they were cooking, so much so that whilst shopping today I picked up some of the ingredients.

Whilst back home I sprayed the oven with new CIF oven cleaner, note I have never found an oven cleaner that removed dirt without a good SCRUB, anyway whilst it done what it said on the container we decided to take Toby for a walk in the country, alas the rain is here and the tracks were very muddy which MSM loved splashing around in her welly boots, yes she is nine but it was great seeing a young lady just making a mess of herself. Toby however was dripping wet and full of mud and he seemed to love it also.

Well got back about an hour later and stripped off, well took my top off anyway, 'J' got excited but I had to let her down gently that I did not want to mess up my top when cleaning out the oven, so picture this. Me topless with yellow rubber gloves on and I shout out "Who's next" he he.

So started to wipe out the oven and WOW no scrubbing needed this CIF is fantastic and well worth £5. In no time at all the oven was sparkling clean and ready for COOKING. Then whilst in the cleaning mood I moved the kitchen around to allow more room for preparation again this went well and I have now got a fab area of worktop to prepare and serve food.

For the evening meal tonight I decided to do a little American food, at least I think it's an American sort of meal I'm sure Joansy will put me straight if it's not. Very large set of BBQ ribs freshly cooked from Tesco's served with sweet potatoes and corn on the cob, and it tasted FAB!!

But that's not all whilst the dinner was cooking MSM and I made Brownies so she can take them to wait for it Brownies tomorrow night, so they we are I'm off cooking and I did enjoy it. Oh and I cleaned up after myself so the kitchen is nice and clean again.

Hmm what's next I wonder........ 'Life is getting better' ;0)

ORANGE.CO.UK

Well spent two hours last night down a work colleagues house setting up their email system, they took advantage of the FREE broadband from Orange, which on the face of it sounds really cool 8MB of free Internet access.

Well lets just say to date I have not failed an IT task especially one as easy as configure Microsoft Outlook to collect email from a POP & SMTP servers, well Orange beat me! two hours later and you guessed it NO EMAIL to their outlook.

Configured the settings as per orange instructions, no rocket science here but it just would not connect to the server saying it does not exist, rang their helpline and as ever I pretended not to know anything about IT so 'Dave' talked me through the process I just double checked what I had done thinking I must be having an off day, well he told me nothing I had not already done.

'Dave' then decided that he had had enough and cut us off. umm so sorry M&R but I failed or should I say Orange failed as they have complicated the whole email thing.

For the record fsmail cannot link to Microsoft Outlook nor can orange.net email system but the rekon that .orange.co.uk can, well let me tell you Orange it can't and for god sake stick with ONE email system not three it's not big and not clever it's bloody confusing.

Oh and your instructions are showing how to connect to fsmail which YOU CANNOT connect to via a third party service. NOB ENDS.

So if you are tempted to jump to orange to take advantage of the free offer DON'T it is rubbish. It got so bad last night that I offered to host their email on one of the servers I rent at no cost to them, they were really nice about it and would not here of it, but if they cannot get it sorted by Wednesday next week then I'll set them up.

Today I think I have had a knock on effect from the episode as I have been in a foul mood not talking to anyone and feeling really depressed and I think it's to do with last nights episode, I think I just can't take failure or I put myself in such a position that I beat myself up mentally if I fail a task, it's wrong I know but since being ill I find it hard to just say oh well never mind I can't do it ask someone else.

If anyone has any ideas on how I can change from where I am I'm all ears, I just want to get back to the 'Fuck that' attitude again or not beating myself up when things are not going as they should. argggghhhhhhhh!

Sitting here with the Jungle celeb thing on, why am I watching this crap it's not good to waste our lives watching this shite!! now Dan this is being in a foul mood. LOL ;o)

Taking praise

Okay I now know that I am not very good at accepting praise, that long arduous project has been sent to the client using MSM and Microsoft remote assistance, well that's a weird experience in it's self, working on a computer network in Scotland from my home office here in Barry. Wow technology today eh! anyway, it all went well .dll files placed in the right place and launch the application. It worked first time, placed an icon on the desktop pc's and tested each machine (10) all using the remote assistance.

Then I left them get on with testing and me poised to step in and correct any faults, I get a call on my mobile at 7pm it's the client in Scotland, oh no I thought what's wrong is this going to be a long night? well the answer was NO they rang to sing my praises and that the application is far and beyond what they originally asked for, he was singing my praises for over 20 mins in the end I had to excuse myself as I just could not take anymore.

So after all this time fretting about the project it was all unfounded and they love it, oh and they wants me to sign a three year support contract at £45 per hour with two hours a week guaranteed pay regardless if I actually do any work hmm £90 per week and no work can I refuse that?

So at the moment I'm feeling good.

Whilst on about my own business I had an email a few days ago asking if I would take over a website contract starting January 07, this is good news as I love doing web work especially ad campaigns and graphic design for me it's stress free work so of course I'm seriously looking at this project. Oh boy my other job are not going to be happy as they want me back full time next year and as my projects were coming to an end next year (or at least one) I told them I would consider their offer.

Anyway lots to think about and some large decisions to make but it can wait I'm going to soak up the praise from today's launch as tomorrow it may all crumble. (hope not) ;0)

Any blog experts out there......

I still cannot get my archives to work on this BETA version.

Chilling!!

Hey it's Sunday and I'm chilling, no not cold but just 'Hey man' chilling. Anyway reading a book at the moment called 'Billy' which is Billy Connolly's official autobiography written by his wife Pamela Stephenson. It's a great read and really covers his childhood in great detail and you wonder how this guy ever survived the life in a tenement in Glasgow, well worth a read.

Walking on the beach today with the wind in my face it really is getting colder, I was all wrapped up and dressed for the winter with my winter coat and scarf on, Toby didn't care he was in his element running around the sand and rolling all over the place.

Weather today overcast with a little sun, windy and cold. No rain though Ye Ha!

Good to see Dan coming out of the woods finally and starting to blog again. I'm now ready for the next working week what ever that brings.

Have a good evening everyone and catch you next week ;0)

Winter is here urghhhhhh!!

I hate winter especially when it's raining, see here in Wales we tend to have much more rain fall than other parts of the UK, today it's been dull, grey, cold and windy. We managed to go for a walk in the country and avoided the rain fall by just a few minutes. By 5.30pm it was pitch black outside so not much to do after 5pm.

Wanted a simple meal tonight so decided to have a hotdog, onions and sweetcorn (don't ask). Now I'm here sat watching UK X Factor which is okay trying to think of things to put here.

Oh work stuff, I have officially been asked to return full time, that all happened Thursday morning whilst having breakfast with the department manager, I managed to change the subject as at 8.30am I was in no fit state to give an answer, although at the moment I'm not ready to go back full time I want to give MSM a little more dad time before I get caught in the 12 hour day routine.

My other business, the software application is now ready for launch and I'm currently typing up the release notes and instructions for the staff who will be lucky enough to use it. And if you know anyone who wants a purpose built computer application then give me a shout I'm ready for the next contract.

Anyway, time to read other peoples blogs so tara for now ;0)

Thursday where's Mon, Tues, Wed gone?

Oh my I have lost a week, back in work, Monday was an okay day easing back in to the routine, Tuesday was a day from hell STRESS!! that's all I have to say about Tuesday. Wednesday well early start as I had my last seminar until December, had the company car (Vectra 2.0i) picked up colleagues and drove to hammersmith in London where we stayed over for the night.

Met my sister at the hotel last night as she lives in the big smoke had a few drinks well more than a few and went to bed at 2am. Left London late this morning and drove home where I crashed put on the sofa.

Now well not going to do much just read my emails and do this blog and that's it just chilling on the sofa watching some crap on the T.V

All good, apart from my head ooooo ;o)

Half term nearly over

Well what a great week, the weather has been great, crisp, cold and sunny!! and I have had the best time with MSM, she has kept me away from the computer so only been working evenings which is great and the dreaded project is now nearly complete with the file transfer test Wednesday which worked 100%

I have a selection of images over the past few days, lets just say I have had plenty of fresh air and walking for miles. I'd forgotten what is right on my doorstep.

Tonight is Barry's round table firework extravagance which is huge and is by far the biggest firework display around, the local chemical factories like DOW Corning donate £1,000's of pounds for this event, last year the total spend was around £50,000 and boy for over an hour the display goes off all to music. And it's down on the beach so the reflections on the water is fantastic. Although due to it being by the sea it's always bloody freezing!!



The medeavil village about a mile down the road, in the summer there are people who live there on weekends and dress and work in costume.















MSM and Toby, just don't ask as the dog hates MSM riding ahead and I had to sprint to keep up with her, no more bike when I'm walking she nearly killed me!!











think this speaks for it's self.















And this is what half term has been all about relaxing, walking and taking in these views. Well I must take everything back about Barry, there are some great spots and it's a 10 min walk away and before we had the dog we hardly ever went. Now we are there every week!! how kwl is that. Time to get another dog!!









Today we also gave Toby a bath as we went down the beach again today and the tide was way out so he got soaked on the wet beach here are some pics of 'J' and MSM oh and the star Toby..








And Toby all dried and looking GREAT!! and before you say he looks like an old man he's 4 months old!!

Before I get in to work

I better update my blog, the half term is going great, Monday MSM and I went to my mums to see how they are, I have not been there in months, as you can tell we're not a close family, well it was interesting me being brought in to family arguments and trying to talk sense to my step father now that was an experience not to be repeated.

We enjoyed the day and I can make a mental note that I have visited and not to be done until Christmas, oh and then I have my sister to contend with. (We fell out many years ago) that one for another day maybe Christmas!! oh I wish I bought tickets to go to Spain.

Tuesday, Wayne (work colleague & friend) rang to see if MSM and I wanted to join him and his 9yr old Son Joel on a walk around the lakes, great idea it was overcast but nice so piled in the car took Toby as well and MSM's bike.

We walked for over two hours through woods and moors it was fab, have not done a walk like that for years. Poor Toby was knackered and I ended up carrying him for the last hour poor mutt. Work rang in the afternoon for some help so I had to log in from home for a few hours doing some normal stuff. But so far all good.

Today well I had nothing much planned except popping to B&Q for some bathroom ceiling paint as I have got mold starting to appear over the shower area already (12mths since I finished the bathroom). So after MSM cooked dinner with me just supervising (Scrabbled egg, Croquettes and spaghetti hoops). I started painting the ceiling, only got half way when the sister in law pop's in for a cup of tea and a chat then another knock on the door and it was my brother and his new girlfriend. So a house full this afternoon but we all had a good laugh and I do like my brothers choice in women! even though she was only sixteen but there again my brother is only eighteen oh those were the days!!

Anyway MSM's half term is going well both of us are having a great time and bonding again I think we are now joined at the hip!! all good ;o)

Oh and Dan the Essex man, where are you mate not heard from you in a while are you okay? I think you got all your fans worried.

What a weekend

Well it's been a few days but I have been really busy, and getting over the trip to Scotland, oh how I love that place. Anyway Friday was good especially as I found out that I had 9 days holiday to take, I thought that I only had 3 days so to get an extra week is well lets just say brilliant. Also I managed to book this week off as it's MSM's half term, last week for those in England!!

So I'm officially on holiday, nothing planed just going to do what ever we fancy, 'J' has to work so it's father and daughter team.

Saturday was wet and miserable so I popped over to my friends house to sort out his laptop and connect him up to BT wireless broadband, well lets just say that his new laptop is not very good so I had to bring it home so that I could up date the drivers etc. Went back later in the day and finished the job also gave each family member their own log in area and email systems so they were chuffed.

Today was in contrast a very nice and sunny day so we had to take a walk with the dog, and yes we hit the beach again and this time I took some pics so here they are MSM, 'J' and Toby down the beach this morning. At last you get to see places that are just a 10 min walk from the house!!



MSM and Toby getting their feet wet.















And the action shot!













Due to the nature of these images please note that it's a crime to steal images and these are under copyright. Thanks.


This one is my favourite, the sun was just in the right position. I think I should do photography more often. I have a B/W version now on my PC's and MSM has a printed version on her wall she liked it so much.









And here's the view of Barry Island from Nells point.















Not sure what I'll be doing tomorrow but I will take the camera out again, so where ever we go I'll have a pic for you. As they say a picture paints a thousand words, hopefully we'll be blessed with more sunshine like today. Here's hoping anyway ;0)

I'm still here ....

I could have sworn I put a blog here oer the weekend, or maybe not! anyway The weekend was really good, Saturday we took 'J' car for an MOT and popped in to Ikea for breakfast and it was really nice at only 95p each a real bargain, then dropped MSM off at the baths as Brownies were doing their swimming badge, 'J' and I took the dog down down the beach and had an hour just walking in the warm sunshine hand in hand which was really good best day I have had in a long time.

Sunday well it was raining really hard so not much in the way of outdoor activities today so apart from usual Tesco shopping. But before I put the items in the fridge I decided to clean and defrost, well after 10 mins and not much ice melting I decided to try and knock more off by using a hammer, oops big mistake next thing I Know a lot of hissing and the cloud of gas, yup I had made a hole in the fridge element, next thing I new we were in Currys spending over £200 on a new one.

Let me point out though that the fridge was over 13 years old and we have been talking about replacing it for ages so in a way I did it a favour. New one arrived Tuesday but it's going back as it's damaged.

So it's Wednesday now and I have just come back from a seminar in Scotland what a blast left sunny Wales on Monday morning arrived in Glasgow 30 mins later pouring with rain no bother, headed over to Glasgow Hilton and settled in, went to see a good fFriendof mine in the evening they live on the other side of Glasgow so the taxi fare was well over £50 round trip but well worth it, it's always a pleasure meeting up with them and the hospitality is always top notch.

There were comments made by my colleagues that I had left behind but hey if I'm in a place where frFriendsive I will ALWAYS make time to visit stuff what people think. Anyway I love Scotland and the people I find really frfriendlylways up for a drink or two or three, well lets just say we started drinking Tuesday night after the seminar at 4.30pm and finished at 3am this morning. My alarm went off at 5am as we have to be at the airport 2hrs before the flight, well as you can imagine 2 hours sleep was not a wise move, I felt like shit and I thought I was going to be ill in the airport and on the plane, but I arrived home at 10am no work so basically chilled out for the day, it's now 10pm and I think it's time for bed as it's back to the office tomorrow.

Thanks guys for a fantastic few days in lovely Glasgow can't wait to get back in a few months.

It's crunchie Friday!!

Well Friday already, what ever happened to this week, saying that this year? is it me or as you get older the days go quicker? umm food for thought.

Okay been thinking more about replacing my car but not sure what to get, I quite fancy the Seat range either a Ibiza or Leon but I would have to have a 1.9 TDI version I feel a quick visit to the Seat garage sometime this weekend just to get an idea on the costs and range, I promise that I will not buy one honest!!

Hey guess what, I have finally got that bloody application to work, yes your reading this correct the bloody thing is working. I need to fine tune stuff but it's working and does what it suppose to do, yea me.

Anyway I have to follow 'J' to the garage tomorrow as her car is having the first MOT test, booked in for 8.30am that means breakfast at Ikea, I have been told that their breakfasts are really tasty.

MSM is then going swimming with Brownies to do her first badge so tomorrow looks like a busy day, also MSM has a birthday party my god I will have to get her a diary for Christmas and show her how to use outlook!

All good. ;o) oh and is only 11 weeks to Christmas???

So what happend to Mon-Weds

Okay so this week has been a bit of a blur, loosing my temper in a meeting, not clever but hey ho! car going on the blink well it stalled at the car park barrier and it took 10mins to get it running again, although over the past few months it's been happening a lot and I think it's time to trade in.

I'm still trying to get the application working and it's not well it is but not as I would want it but to be honest I have had enough of this stuff and it's time to let go and move on, I fancy picking up on the family tree I started earlier in the year, I managed to go back to the 1700's on my Grand mothers side. I want to travel to Devon where they lived and find out more about them. I know they lived in a small village which is still there and the location means that there is no development.

I watched Jeremy Irons last night and seeing what he uncovered I think I can do the same and like him I may find out why I love Devon so much and the country, I have found out the my family were all farmers and also servants to a large house in the village. As I type this I can just see myself travelling there on weekends and staying in the local B&B. Oh how cool would that be. But I must get rid of these contracts first, then work out how to subsidise my income when I walk away from the contracts as I don't want to go back full time .

Anyway, it's wet and windy outside and I'm struggling to put stuff down at the mo as Toby is biting my hands as I type so it's getting more painful by the minute. get off dog,

Quiet day

Well it's Sunday evening and after the past two days adventures today was relatively quiet and without Major events, MSM had a lay in and didn't get up until 10.30am and we had to get out and do shopping so she was under pressure to get washed & dressed, the usual Sunday trip to Tesco and weekly shopping complete without much fuss.

Late this afternoon we decided to take Toby down the lakes and also let him meet his cousin Bailey, well as with all Lhasa's they have a great temperament and no issues they were best of Friends from the start walking together and enjoying each other company, although Toby does like children and will stop if a small child walks past and he'll wait for a fuss from them so a 15-20 min walk took well over an hour.

So that's it for now see ya ;o)