Fighting the flab

Music Monday

2011-11-21T14:35:00.000Z

I went to Erotica at Olympia this weekend with Kerry, Kellie and Dan (0ddness). We all had a great time and started talking (as we 4 do at times) about films. It turned out that Kerry had not seen Moulin Rouge. Well last night we sat down and watched the film. So today's Music Monday is inspired by it....

'

'Your Song' it just happens to be the song that reminds me of Albert as well... 22 weeks today!!

Rememberance Day Poetry

2011-11-11T09:01:00.003Z

IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

In Flanders field the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

By Major John McCrae, May 1915.

Colonel McCrae died while on active duty in May 1918. On the eve of his death he allegedly said to his doctor, "Tell them this. If ye break the faith with us who die we shall not sleep."

His volume of poetry, In Flanders’ Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.

An American, Miss Moina Belle Michael, (founder of the Rememberance Poppy) read In Flanders’ Fields and wrote a reply entitled -

WE SHALL KEEP THE FAITH.

Oh! You who sleep in Flanders’ fields,
Sleep sweet - to rise anew,
We caught the torch you threw,
And holding high we kept
The faith with those who died.
We cherish too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valour led.

It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies,
But lends a lustre to the red
Of the flower that blooms above the dead
In Flanders’ fields.

And now the torch and poppy red
Wear in honour of our dead.
Fear not that ye have died for naught
We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught
In Flanders’ fields.

Another reply to

"IN FLANDERS FIELDS".

Oh! sleep in peace where poppies grow;
The torch your falling hands let go
Was caught by us, again held high,
A beacon light in Flanders sky
That dims the stars to those below.

You are our dead, you held the foe,
And ere the poppies cease to blow,
We'll prove our faith in you who lie
In Flanders Fields.

Oh! rest in peace, we quickly go
To you who bravely died, and know
In other fields was heard the cry,
For freedom's cause, of you who lie,
So still asleep where poppies grow,
In Flanders Fields.

As in rumbling sound, to and fro,
The lightning flashes, sky aglow,
The mighty hosts appear, and high
Above the din of battle cry,

Scarces heard amidst the guns below,
Are fearless hearts who fight the foe,
And guard the place where poppies grow.
Oh! sleep in peace, all you who lie
In Flanders Fields.

And still the poppies gently blow,
Between the crosses, row by row.
The larks, still bravely soaring high,
Are singing now their lullaby
To you who sleep where poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

By John Mitchell.

Yet another reply to

"IN FLANDERS FIELDS".

In Flanders Fields the cannons boom,
And fitful flashes light the gloom;
While up above, like eagles, fly
The fierce destroyers of the sky;
With stains the earth wherein you lie
Is redder than the poppy bloom,
In Flanders Fields.

Sleep on, ye brave! The shrieking shell,
The quaking trench, the startling yell,
The fury of the battle hell
Shall wake you not, for all is well;
Sleep peacefully, for all is well.
Your flaming torch aloft we bear,
With burning heart and oath we swear
To keep the faith, to fight it through,
To crush the foe, or sleep with you,
In Flanders Fields.

By J.A. Armstrong.

AMERICA

'S ANSWER.

Rest ye in peace, ye Flanders’ dead.
The fight that ye so bravely led
We’ve taken up. And we will keep
True faith with you who lie asleep
In Flanders’ fields.

Fear not that ye have died for naught.

The torch ye threw to us we caught.

Ten million hands will hold it high,

And Freedom’s light shall never die!

We’ve learned the lesson that ye taught

In Flanders’ fields.

By R.W. Lilliard.

PLEASE WEAR A POPPY.

"Please wear a poppy," the lady said
And held one forth, but I shook my head.
Then I stopped and watched as she offered them there,
And her face was old and lined with care;
But beneath the scars the years had made
There remained a smile that refused to fade.

A boy came whistling down the street,
Bouncing along on care-free feet.
His smile was full of joy and fun,
"Lady," said he, "may I have one?"
When she's pinned in on he turned to say,
"Why do we wear a poppy today?"

The lady smiled in her wistful way
And answered, "This is Remembrance Day,
And the poppy there is the symbol for
The gallant men who died in war.
And because they did, you and I are free -
That's why we wear a poppy, you see.

"I had a boy about your size,
With golden hair and big blue eyes.
He loved to play and jump and shout,
Free as a bird he would race about.
As the years went by he learned and grew
and became a man - as you will, too.

"He was fine and strong, with a boyish smile,
But he'd seemed with us such a little while
When war broke out and he went away.
I still remember his face that day
When he smiled at me and said, Goodbye,
I'll be back soon, Mom, so please don't cry.

"But the war went on and he had to stay,
And all I could do was wait and pray.
His letters told of the awful fight,
(I can see it still in my dreams at night),
With the tanks and guns and cruel barbed wire,
And the mines and bullets, the bombs and fire.

"Till at last, at last, the war was won -
And that's why we wear a poppy son."
The small boy turned as if to go,
Then said, "Thanks, lady, I'm glad to know.
That sure did sound like an awful fight,
But your son - did he come back all right?"

A tear rolled down each faded check;
She shook her head, but didn't speak.
I slunk away in a sort of shame,
And if you were me you'd have done the same;
For our thanks, in giving, if oft delayed,
Thought our freedom was bought - and thousands paid!

And so when we see a poppy worn,
Let us reflect on the burden borne,
By those who gave their very all
When asked to answer their country's call
That we at home in peace might live.
Then wear a poppy! Remember - and give

By Don Crawford.

REMEMBRANCE DAY.

Remembrance Day is here again,
On this day we remember all those who were slain.
The ones they left behind have endured much sorrow and pain.
But rest assured,
the whole world knows those brave ones didn't die in vain.

The poppies that you see people wear,
Are there to show you they still care.
We open our hearts so that we can share,
A moment of silence, and offer a prayer.
To all the soldiers who died saving our country.

By Patti Joyce.

Remembrance day

2011-11-10T12:18:00.001Z

November is the month in which Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day or Veterans Day) falls. It is on the 11^th day of the 11^th month, this date marked the official end of the 1^st World War with the Germans signing the Armistice at the 11^th hour (or 11am). It is at this time that commonwealth (and many non-commonwealth countries) recognise a 1 or 2 minute silence to remember all of the people who have fought and died for there country from the 1^st world war onwards.

The Service of Remembrance in many Commonwealth countries generally includes the sounding of the "Last Post", followed by the period of silence, followed by the sounding of "The Rouse" (often mistakenly referred to as "Reveille"), and finished by a recitation of the "Ode of Remembrance.

The central ritual at cenotaphs throughout the Commonwealth is a stylized night vigil. The Last Post was the common bugle call at the close of the military day, and the Rouse was the first call of the morning. For military purposes, the traditional night vigil over the slain was not just to ensure they were indeed dead and not unconscious or in a coma, but also to guard them from being mutilated or despoiled by the enemy, or dragged off by scavengers. This makes the ritual more than just an act of remembrance but also a pledge to guard the honour of war dead. The act is enhanced by the use of dedicated cenotaphs (literally Greek for "empty tomb" and the laying of wreaths -- the traditional means of signalling high honours in ancient Greece and Rome. For more information on Remembrance Day services and how other nations honour there falling then click here.

The Poppy

The use of the poppy was inspired by the World War I poem "In Flanders Fields". Its opening lines refer to the many poppies that were the first flowers to grow in the churned-up earth of soldiers' graves in Flanders, a region of Europe that overlies parts of Belgium and France. Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae is popularly believed to have written it on 3 May 1915 after witnessing the death of his friend (a fellow soldier) the day before. The poem was first published on 8 December 1915 in the London-based magazine Punch.

In 1918, American YWCA worker Moina Michael, inspired by the poem, published a poem of her own called "We Shall Keep the Faith". In tribute to McCrae's poem, she vowed to always wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembrance for those who served in the war. At a November 1918 YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference, she appeared with a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed 25 more to those attending. She then campaigned to have the poppy adopted as a national symbol of remembrance. At a conference in 1920, the National American Legion adopted it as their official symbol of remembrance. At this conference, Frenchwoman Anna E. Guérin was inspired to introduce the artificial poppies commonly used today. In 1921 she sent her poppy sellers to London, where they were adopted by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, a founder of the Royal British Legion. It was also adopted by veterans' groups in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In the

United Kingdom

, paper poppies are sold by The Royal British Legion (RBL) and Haig Fund. These are charities providing financial, social and emotional support to those who have served or who are currently serving in the British Armed Forces, and their dependants. They are sold on the streets by volunteers in the weeks before Remembrance Day.

In England, the poppies have two red petals, a green paper leaf and are mounted on a green plastic stem. The yearly selling of poppies is a major source of income for the RBL in the UK. The poppy has no fixed price; it is sold for a donation or the price may be suggested by the seller. The black plastic center of the poppy was marked "Haig Fund" until 1994 but are now marked "Poppy Appeal".

What most people don’t know is that a team of about 50 people—most of them disabled former British military personnel—work all year round to make millions of poppies at the Poppy Factory in Richmond.

Advertising Whores....

2011-11-08T09:17:00.000Z

Coca Cola

Now, these days I am into Christmas, not massively over the top into Christmas like some of my friends but I actually have begun to enjoy the holiday season again, I think it is now due to the fact that I have kids. Or maybe not, but for whatever the reason it is a time when I am happier.
Now don't get me wrong, this post is not about Coca Cola, although to be fair it could be. The Holidays Are Coming, is now so iconic that when the advert finally hits our TVs Christmas has officially arrived! It is a stunning advertising campaign, and one (although sometimes I want to rant about commercial companies telling us about a religious holiday) that even I have begun to enjoy. I find myself humming or singing it under my breath as the big day approaches. In short, I have accepted it as part of what now has become a tradition. So well done Coca-Cola.
(I know I am a year late on this post by the way... just thought I would point it out before Dan does)

I was walking past Starbucks the other day when I spotted this poster outside

I stopped and starred, and at once my mind went to the Coca-Cola advert. Its big red and shiny and now is trying to tell us Christmas is here, much in the same way Coca-Cola does but without the flashing lights, feel good father Christmas and catchy jingle. For a brief second (well OK for about 2 hours) I was filled with rage. I went around turning it over in my head, muttering under my breath about it, calling the advertising people at ~~Shitbucks~~ Starbucks all kinds of names. I was incandescent with rage. I wanted to tell Coca-Cola that the coffee house had stolen there advertising campaign. I wanted to smash the shop up, how dare they. Whats more, this is not at the end of November, oh no, its not even in December, but rather its the 4th of November they have come out with them. They now all have big posters saying our red cups are here.
After thinking about it for a bit and calming down, I suddenly realised that although it outraged me I have now spent a day thinking about them, and what is more have now blogged about it too upping there public profile even more. Drawing yet more attention to there product. Whats more, there advertising company probably got paid a packet for that campaign, and guess what all they did was copy someone elses! Good lads, that is the way to work, do absolutely nothing and charge a multimillion pound company bundles for it! I want a job with them.

When all is said and done I reckon there is probably more companies out there copying Coca-Colas fabled advertising campaign, just I have not spotted them. If they do good luck to them, but I doubt any of them will become as big as Coca-Cola. They are the giants of the advertising campaigns. Stunning, simple and effective.

As for Starbucks, if they just made there coffee taste better I might even buy something off of them...

A new respect for girls who wear tights...

2011-11-07T11:09:00.000Z

Tights

OK OK... let me start this off by saying no I have not lost the plot and yes I am still male. I am not saying I prefer women in tights, for that would just be wrong, I am saying however, after getting ready for a fancy dress party I have a new respect for women who wear tights.

Being male obviously in the tights vs stockings battle there is one clear and undisputed winner. Stockings. Sorry girls, but it is true. I don't mind if they are hold ups, but much prefer the full works including suspender belts etc. However, Kerry and Myself, accompanied by the Usual Suspects of Dan English (of 0ddness ~~madness~~ fame) and his better half Kellie (of Kellie's Kards) had planned to go out on Halloween to a fancy dress party (incidentally this didn't happen, see blog post defence against Dan's slander for that story). As happens in all these cases Dan and I were told we were going and that the girls were going to sort our costumes out. Excellent, mainly because I never have 5 minutes to myself and mainly because nothing bores me as much as trying to work out what to go as.
Dan and I were told we were going as Witches and Wizards, then the girls pointed out that Dan and I were going as Witches and the girls as Wizards. OK, I can live with that, not the first time I have dressed up and probably not the last.
As the day approaches Kerry makes me try on the costume, not too bad, black velvet torn hemline dress, fishnet gloves, wig, false eyelashes, false nose etc.. All of this was fine. Then came the point when she handed me some fishnet tights and told me to put them on.
I looked at them, and thought no way, they will never fit, but what the heck in for a penny. I took them out of the packet and looked at them, having seen people put tights on I did not think it would be a problem, I rolled the tights up (as I have seen girls do) and put my foot in them. Standing on one foot I promptly fell over whilst trying to pull the tights up my leg.
I finally regained my balance and a little bit of my dignity, when I had got one leg in the tights. Then I realised I couldn't get the second foot into the tights without having the first pulled down round my ankles.
I pulled the tights back down again and got the second foot in the tights, then promptly fell over again as I basically had tights tying my ankles together. After regaining my feet, I finally got the tights on. They felt a bit weird, but they were on. Well kind of, there was more holes in them than there was supposed to be as I had put my fingers and thumbs through them in about a dozen places during this exercise. So, there I stood, 6'4", skin head in ripped tights and a dress. Not the prettiest sight, although, bless Kerry she did not laugh too much.
I then had to take it all off again, which I managed to do without falling over, but not without ripping the tights and putting yet more holes in them. By the time I was changed back into my usual attire of jeans and a tee shirt, the tights looked like a piece of ripped cloth, and certainly nothing like tights.
So, in the space of getting the tights on and off, they were in bits.
So, yes I now have a new found respect for girls who wear tights. They manage to get them on and off, and pull them up and down at least 2 dozen times on a night out to go to the loo (well Kerry does anyway as she has a bladder the size of a pea) without putting one hole in them! Now that is a skill.

Of course, there is always an easier option... just wear stockings :o) It will keep your man happy and no need to keep removing them!

Music Monday

2011-11-07T10:37:00.000Z

Well, what to pick for todays Music Monday post? We went out on Saturday (The Usual Suspects) and had a laugh, some fine food and a lot of alcohol... The ~~excuse~~ reason for going out was to see FTL a local band which just happens to have family in it playing... so In honour of them, here is FTL... (It couldnt be anything else really?)

2011-11-04T10:10:00.000Z

I saw this on a facebook status today.

"In May 2010 Tohseef Shah spray painted a British War Memorial with "islam will dominate osama is coming" he was fined £75 & walked free from court. In November 2010, Emdadur Choudhury burned a Poppy during the 2mins silence. He too was given a £50 fine and walked free from court. Today, 2 men have been sentenced to 12 months in prison for spray painting a Poppy on a mosque. Welcome to the Great British justice system. F***ing Disgusting"

Now, despite what I say and what some people may think of me, I'm merely slightly right wing. I have no interest in reading right wing publications and I have no allegiance to BNP or EDL, I instantly presume that "storys" as above, are almost always fiction. Certain papers do indeed "spin" stories, or tell half truths, just to get a reaction.

So, I started looking into the story, the intention being that I would answer the post with some choice information and point out that, although on initial examination this story was truly outrageous, it was only half of the story.

So off I went, searching the news sites and Google and scanning the internet. Now to be fair this story is quite old, and it took a little while, but I did find some news sites that still had the story published.

Sadly however, after some reading it must be said.. I found this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15156946

Hartlepool mosque graffiti trio sentenced
EDL trio on mosque attack charges

Two men who carried out a graffiti attack on a Teesside mosque have each been sentenced a year in prison.

Anthony Smith, 24, and Steven Vasey, 32, of County Durham, had previously admitted conspiracy to commit racially-aggravated criminal damage.

Charlotte Davies, 19, of Buckinghamshire, who also pleaded guilty to the same charge, was given a 12-week suspended sentence.

They attacked the Nasir Mosque, Hartlepool, in November last year.

Smith, of Neptune Way, Easington Colliery, and Vasey, of Prior's Grange, High Pittington, pleaded guilty during a hearing at Durham Crown Court in August.
And this

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2955095/Islamic-graffiti-charge-dropped.html

Now apparently the Graffiti attack by the Muslim was apparently "nothing at all" to do with his Religious beliefs.

Seriously. Read that again slowly.

He sprayed "ISLAM WILL DOMINATE THE WORLD, OSAMA IS COMING" and it was "nothing at all to do with his Religious beliefs"

Which begs the question, if Islam is a Religion and not a race, (there are white Muslims) how can the 3 people be charged with racially aggravated charges, but Shah was not?

If a graffiti attack on a war memorial by an Asian is merely "graffiti" (the overwhelming majority of British veterans are white, although there were also Muslims that fought in wars for Britain) and warrants a £75 fine, how can a graffiti attack on a mosque (where the majority of "users" are Asian) be worth 12 months in prison?

It is alarming these double standards. That these two idiots are given jail sentences for 12 months (which incidentally is no bad thing in itself) and yet people like Shah are given two figure fines, baffles me completely. Lets not also forget that in November 2010 Muslims from Muslims Against Crusades burnt poppies during the 2 minutes silence in an anti armistice day. I believe that they received a £50 fine as well. They were charged with public disorder charges.

This makes me furious; I can not explain how mad it makes me. On top of all of this there are plans being made for this years Armistice day celebrations as well.
Muslims Against Crusades have applied for permission to hold a rally;

"Firebrand cleric Anjem Choudary, who has links to the Muslims Against Crusades group, said: 'It's going to be called Hell for Heroes and it will be around the Royal Albert Hall."

I honestly ask you if we can allow a rally like this to go ahead. I would hope common sense will prevail and it would be stopped, it is just going to cause more problems for the police.

I don’t know what the answer is, but I know that at times like these I wish that maybe we were not so liberal towards people that obviously do not want to be part of our society.

I don’t know if I am angry, hurt or just sad.

Defence against Dan's slander... Kind of..

2011-10-31T14:27:00.000Z

Firstly I will defend myself here, not on Dan's comments as he predicted, mainly because I can lol.. Secondly because I want to, and thirdly because this will count as another post and He may stop moaning about me not posting. Right, with me so far? Firstly, this post is in response to one on 0ddness blog, where I get told I am not having any further choices in films.

I feel this is unfair... Dan's account of the evening is quite accurate, although I feel he stops short of telling the truth about the film 'We need totalk about Kevin', basically it is arty crap and to be fair if you have money to spend on going to watch it then you have too much money and second you should be helping the country out of recession by spending it elsewhere. Also, the two hours spent watching the film could be better spent by doing quite literally, anything else on the planet. I myself, found it a great time to catch up on 40 winks here and there...

So, OK, the film choice was mine... and yes I made a mistake, however, I have chosen many other films to watch that have been brilliant and inspired choices. My main defence for choosing this film is the tubes fault :o)

You see, I have been working in London and have been travelling on the tube every day and every evening, mainly in a dream like comatose state due to the times of my travel and the amount of time I spend at work, and a new born child and teething and and and etc... You get the picture, I am tired and half awake. Well, the tube is littered with literally several posters, all moody and red of this film "we need to talk about Kevin" with lots of stars and quotes from critics. I became mesmerised by the poster, I even saw it whilst asleep... it’s a good poster.

When our night got ruined by castaways (EXPLITIVE DELEATED) and the girls started talking about scary films, I was all up for paranormal activity 3, but apparently it’s too scary... so my mind wandered to this poster... I suggested the film and the girls went and researched it, (I did as well) and all the reviews were amazing! One even said it was the scariest film of the year. Now OK, to be fair this should have sent alarm bells ringing, especially the awards from film festivals, one review even mentioned the amount of red in the film and the way it was used... again alarm bells should be ringing... and normally they would... but this time nothing. Maybe it was because I was tired, maybe it was because I was angry and hurt because I couldn’t dress up as a witch and was bitterly disappointed for the girls who had put in a lot of work for the costumes... whichever it was I am not sure, but the alarms did not trigger.

When the opening credits rolled and I saw it was a BBC film, British film council, national lottery awarded funds, Cannes palm winner etc... I looked at Dan and even said out loud a nasty word... I knew... and I think Dan did too... we had come to watch the antichrist of films... the arty blurry focussed acclaimed gold polished turd of a film. To be fair, we were right...

The only thing I have to say about Dan's comments was this, he does not go far enough, he states;

"I'm not telling anyone to not go see it. I'm sure some of you will prolly like it, or even love it. But we unanimously did not like it nor love it."

I'm telling you he is wrong.... and again if you have the time and money to go see this film DONT. Find something else to do, anything.. Paint the house, write the blog you have been putting off, do the ironing, volunteer at a soup kitchen, give your brain over to medical science, do anything but see this film. I promise you, you will thank me afterwards.

As for not choosing any more films, I am still many many films up on the girls, who have a knack of picking poor films, however, if I choose another film as bad as this, then fair enough have me hung drawn and quartered. It won’t happen again..

Music Monday

2011-10-31T12:23:00.000Z

OK, pure indulgence today... I love this track from Reservoir of Dogs... No apologies.... just don't ask the mind set that took me from "we need to talk about Kevin" to pulp fiction to reservoir of dogs... but I am sure Dan of 0ddness will explain...
Oh and by the way, save your money and don't go watch "We need to talk about Kevin" its crap.

Its been a while....

2011-10-25T14:39:00.000+01:00

Yes, yes, I know it has been a while, some of us are not as prolific at posting as, lets say Dan of 0ddness. Who hasn't given me a hard time over not posting at all (well OK so maybe he has). Anyhow, I have a few minutes today to sit down and compose a short post, so here it is.
In the last few weeks (as I may have mentioned previously) I have been on a job in London. The job like most do have over run and this means I will be here another 2-3 weeks. Not a problem, you see I have enjoyed this job. The one part I have not enjoyed and certainly wont miss is the commute on the trains.
For those that do it for years, day in and day out, well done. You have my respect. I certainly will not be doing it for any longer than is necessary. I have been pushed, prodded, stepped on, coughed over and generally had to pack my not to small frame into a space most family pets would consider small. They have laws about the amount of sheep/cows you can fit into a lorry, but none about how many people you can physically squeeze into a metal cylinder under the streets of London. Somehow that still seems wrong to me.
So I have been using the train, not just the tube but the C2C to Fenchurch street as well. Which is a nicer experience and every now and then you get a seat as well. It was on this train that I noticed people sit in the same seats on the same trains every day. For some reason I found this quite comical, even though I now have 'my' seat on the train, at first I started taking other peoples. I would deliberately sit in a seat I knew a 'regular' would normally sit in. This, although I found it funny, caused distress to more than 1 person. You would get sarky comments, huffs and puffs, eye rolling at other passengers, and on more than one occasion a "that's my seat" thrown in your direction. All of which I managed to ignore and pretend not to notice. The thing that I find interesting about it, and no doubt some university at some point will run a study costing a trillion pounds to discover exactly what it is I am about to tell you, is that the Women are more territorial than the blokes! Now don't get me wrong people blokes can be just as bad, but, nearly all the sarky comments and that's my seat comments have come from Females. The blokes tend to huff and walk off, now maybe that is because of my size and blokes do not want to 'start' and the women feel safer, or maybe its because the women feel protected by everyone else on the train, who no doubt will jump up to save them when this huge skin head, hoody wearing, red eyed monster (that's me...) attacks. I don't know. But, definitely on the train, the females have less fear and are more aggressive over their seats than the blokes!
Hmmmm, food for thought...

Music Monday

2011-10-25T13:42:00.000+01:00

OK OK OK So I am a day late... sue me lol...

Anyhow, this song I heard last night whilst being cuddled up on the sofa eating fish and chips with Kerry. It is a song I love. So, for no other reason, other than a complete personal indulgence..

I give you Prince and Purple Rain.

Music Monday

2011-10-17T08:34:00.001+01:00

Love this tune, was talking about it last night with Kerry, she loves it too... so this one is for you my darling :o)

Music Monday

2011-10-11T09:13:00.000+01:00

Ok so it is Tuesday, however I did do it yesterday just forgot to post it...

This is one of my all time favourite pieces, the1st Movement of Elgar's Cello Concerto as performed by cellist Jacqueline Du Pre with Daniel Barenboim conducting the London Philharmonic in 1967.

An amazing evening...

2011-10-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

I am the luckiest man alive. During he past couple of weeks life has been pretty gruelling for Kerry and I. Albert, who is amazing, is also not sleeping very much and on top of it all is teething. Kerry is a super star by tking care of him most of the night (if not all the night) when I am working. Now dont get me wrong, Kerry is working full time as well, but her day starts a lot later than mine at the moment.
The job I am currently on sees me out of the house for 15 hours a day and is a long commute and very tiring. The days are not only long but quite stressful as well with deadlines and organising 1 if not 2 other analysts on site, as well as trying to keep an eye on the asbestos strippers as well.
So as I was saying I am the luckiest person alive, along with everything else Kerry had going on she managed to clear an evening for the pair of us. Last Saturday, we headed off to stay at Maison Talbooth, a hotel belonging to Pride of Britains Hotels and was Hotel of the year 2010. It is very luxurious and is gob smackingly mazingly beautiful. We picked there to stay as it offers free car service to Le Talbooth, our favourite restaurant where we headed to eat on the Saturday night. Champagne flowed and fine food as well... It was amazing. We spent the Saturday afternoon sat around the pool at the hotel and enjoying the pool bar. I can not reccomend this hotel and restaurant enough.
I just wanted to take this oppertunity to say a big thank you to Kerry for everything she has done and does do for me, it is totally appreciated, more than she will ever realise. I love you.

Maison Talbooth

Music Monday....

2011-10-03T09:00:00.001+01:00

Saw a guy on the tube who reminded me of Keith from the Prodigy, this tune has some happy memories for me... So why not relive my youth? lol

Gizmodo UK Launches....

2011-09-30T09:01:00.000+01:00

STOLEN ARICLE...

Gizmodo UK has launched, bringing one of the biggest names in technology media to our emerald shores.
Already resisting TechRadar's attempts to call it Gizmuk, Gizmodo UK will join T3 magazine, T3 online and, of course, techradar in online publlishing.
Gizmodo needs little introduction, with the global gadgets blog renowned for breaking some of technology's biggest stories, including the controversial iPhone 4 prototype.

Kat's whiskers

The UK version will be headed up by editor Kat Hannaford with Sam Gibbs taking on the news editor role.
"There's an obvious need for Gizmodo's existence on home soil," said Hannaford.
"Taking the US site's approach, we plan to get under the skin of UK companies, and really look at the hows and whys of a product's existence.
"It's this interest in the human relationship with technology and design which really separates Gizmodo, and its new UK arm, from the pack."
You can check out Gizmodo UK at http://www.gizmodo.co.uk right now.

This brought a tear to my eye...

2011-09-28T11:54:00.000+01:00

This was stolen from Sean Keeling's facebook page which in itself is a repost of an article. I dont mind admitting I stole it, it's heart renching and in todays society something that should be shouted about. Look closely at the picture...

"Hand of Hope"

A picture began circulating in November. It should be "The Picture of the Year," or perhaps, "Picture of the Decade." It won't be. In fact, unless you obtained a copy of the U.S. paper which published it, you probably would never have seen it.

The picture is that of a 21-week-old unborn baby named Samuel Alexander Armas, who is being operated on by surgeon named Joseph Bruner. The baby was diagnosed with spina bifida and would not survive if removed from his mother's womb. Little Samuel's mother, Julie Armas, is an obstetrics nurse in Atlanta. She knew of Dr. Bruner's remarkable surgical procedure. Practicing at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, he performs these special operations while the baby is still in the womb.

During the procedure, the doctor removes the uterus via C-section and makes a small incision to operate on the baby. As Dr. Bruner completed the surgery on Samuel, the little guy reached his tiny, but fully developed hand through the incision and firmly grasped the surgeon's finger. Dr. Bruner was reported as saying that when his finger was grasped, it was the most emotional moment of his life, and that for an instant during the procedure he was just frozen, totally immobile.

The photograph captures this amazing event with perfect clarity. The editors titled the picture, "Hand of Hope." The text explaining the picture begins, "The tiny hand of 21-week-old fetus Samuel Alexander Armas emerges from the mother's uterus to grasp the finger of Dr. Joseph Bruner as if thanking the doctor for the gift of life."

Little Samuel's mother said they "wept for days" when they saw the picture. She said, "The photo reminds us pregnancy isn't about disability or an illness, it's about a little person" Samuel was born in perfect health, the operation 100 percent successful. Now see the actual picture, and it is awesome...incredible....and hey, pass it on! The world needs to see this one!

— with Brittany Ogilvie.

Come to London the streets are paved with….

2011-09-20T09:03:00.000+01:00

Grrrrrrrrr

Most of us are familiar with the Dick Whittington story, where he comes to London because he hears the streets are paved with Gold. Obviously he hasn’t met the people who build streets, if they were made of gold, not one street would ever be finished, however I digress.
So, London’s streets so famously paved with Gold. I have been travelling a lot around London with work recently (more recently on the tube) and I have to say, that London’s streets are definitely not paved with Gold, paved with litter, rubbish, cigarette butts, people trying to give you free magazines and news papers, and people with collection tins.

Now don’t get me wrong, (SARCASM ALERT) I love having people who speak very broken English trying to give me a free newspaper and magazine every time I get off the tube. No, really I do. (SARCASM OVER) But I can live with that, a polite no thanks and walk by. I do still find it horrifying that so many people are rude to them, I was always taught manners cost nothing. A lot of people treat them horrendously, but they are only trying to earn a living.

I can also live with the rubbish and litter, yes it’s an eye sore, yes it’s annoying as hell, but it does get cleaned eventually, and it is almost impossible to keep on top of with the amount of human traffic shedding rubbish wherever they feel fit.

What I can not stand (Dan of 0ddness fame will back me up, I am sure) is the people who rattle cans in my face. Today, outside of Tower Hill tube station, there was one such collector. I got off at Fenchurch street, drudged round the corner to Tower Hill with the rest of the masses to be confronted (at 7am) by a well dressed, very well spoken, plumb in the mouth accented middle aged women with said collecting tin rattling in her hands. Proper ID, supplied and hanging around her neck, badge proudly on view.

Now, don’t get me wrong, this is a change from the norm, mainly because of the age of the collector (in my experience they tend to be 12), the nice presentation and accent. I may even have dropped a coin in the tin…. Until she rattled it in my path and said "Disabled Children" now, don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against disabled children; far from it I have a couple in my family and love them with all my heart. I have nothing against making donations to charity. However, I could not help myself, having been ambushed and caught of guard; the first response out of my mouth was “no thanks, I have enough”

Now that may sound harsh, and in fact looking back on it, it probably was. However, had she asked for a donation FOR disabled children, or even a donation for the charity she was representing, rather than “Disabled Children” I may have been a little bit more generous. When will people learn?

Maybe, it is just me, maybe I am just getting old, maybe I am just grumpy, but then again, maybe a lot of people feel the same way, and maybe, just maybe I am right.

Anyhow, out of guilt for this post, first person to leave a comment gets to choose a charity and I will make a £5 donation.

Stay safe.

Train journeys....

2011-09-14T08:39:00.000+01:00

Those of you that follow me on Face Book will know that this week I have been 'training' it into London for work. My journey starts pre 6am at Benfleet station, to Fenchurch, walk to Tower Hill, then change at Embankment to Goodge Street. All in all approximately hour and a half. You will also know that I have been whinging about it a lot. Trains have been running well and on time, however, it is slightly busy (especially 18:00 on way home). I have also had to wonder about peoples behaviour. now I know I am old fashioned, but surely it is still polite to offer your seat to a woman? Especially elderly or people who appear to be struggling? Well apparently not.
I was also amazed at the lack of communication between people especially with so many people in the train. No eye contact, not a shared smile, not a hello, nothing.
So this morning I decided I was going to smile at everybody I made eye contact with. I started on Benfleet platform and got a couple of small smiles in return. I also got ignored a lot and a few people turned away pretending they had not noticed. So not too bad. On the train the same thing, most people trying hard to ignore the grinning nutter in the corner. On the tube it was slightly different, firstly it was quite packed this morning. The first person I smiled at muttered under there breath "F***ing weirdo". That threw me for a minute as I considered stopping it. Kinda Ironic though that the bloke calling me a weirdo was dressed, how shall we put it, hmmm, well kinda strange, topped off with died purple and red hair.
I decided to carry on and continued smiling at people. Just like before some smiled back, one person winked at me which made me smile even more. Unfortunately most ignored me. No matter how hard I tried the normal response was a look away or even moving away from me.
I think it is sad that most people wont engage in an form of communication, however, I am going to try it tonight on the journey home. So, if you see some nutter sat or more than likely stood on the train and smiling at you don't panic, it is probably me, just smile back.

Music Monday

2011-09-12T15:10:00.000+01:00

Well, its monday again! Today my office is on the Lower Ground floor and most of my work is on the 6th floor, this includes 4 mezzanine floors (which are really other floors). So, every hour or so I am up and down 18 flights of stairs. Shhhhhhhhhesh. So, I was remembering my times training and thought some music might help me to keep going. This is the stand out tune which made me haul my bum...

Cameras in court rooms.

2011-09-06T09:17:00.000+01:00

The one court in the land to already allow TV cameras in to cover proceedings is the Supreme Court, where for the last 2 years cameras have been allowed to film proceedings. However, today they are discussing the possibility of broadcasting courtroom footage. They are talking about allowing the TV to cover sentencing and Judges Remarks and convictions, but not witnesses who might be put off of testifying if they thought they would end up on TV. Is this a good thing?

Firstly I guess it will show the British legal system as it truly is. Maybe, just maybe it will put some people off of offending if they see it is not like the TV dramas. Maybe we will end up with more judges standing for election for parliament and other such offices off of the back of it, as there public profile will be raised within the public domain. Maybe it will give the public a better understanding of sentences, and why they are handed out and why one person got a huge sentence and another got a light one. All of these are good points I guess.

So what about the negatives? OK, now bear with me on this. Firstly I feel that the only cases to get decent coverage would be salacious cases, the ones the public would find juicy and interesting, murders etc. Secondly, what happens if this system takes off and we end up with reality TV style court rooms, where people would actually carry out more serious crimes, or carry out a crime at all for the chance to be on TV? Dumb as this sounds, it is a real possibility with today’s society I fear. Thirdly, what happens when we end up with a charismatic criminal, one the cameras like and he goes on to become a ‘cult’ icon, or worse still to form a career off of the back of the TV coverage? Sad as these sounds, I fear that all these points are not only possible, but likely in today’s media driven society. Criminals will have their profiles raised by this, and for that one reason alone, I fear this new change to law (as the law currently bans TV cameras in court rooms) is a very dangerous one. If it is properly controlled as to safe guard against the rise of notoriety for criminals, then all well and good, but I think we all know that ratings drive TV, and TV bosses are not exactly known for the moral scruples.

Simply put I fear that this will have an adverse affect on our society.

Now discuss….

Music Monday

2011-09-05T13:05:00.001+01:00

Well, its been a while since I have done a music Monday. Several tunes went through my head, especially as it would have been Freddy Mercury's 65th birthday today...

Then I heard this on the CD, I like the tune. The reason it made me smile was because my 13 year old son was raving about it. He still has not heard the original, so today for Music Monday, 2 tunes... The Eminem version and the original the sample is taken from... I know I spoil you!

Here is to the Granddads

2011-08-31T13:20:00.000+01:00

I am very lucky, I have my Grandfather alive, and who is now in his 80’s. As with all people age and time take there toll. Granddad the other day gave me some brylcream, which came in a snazzy looking ‘cricket ball’ type container. He was quite excited as he pointed out that when I had finished using the product (which incidentally I don’t use) the kids could use the ball to play cricket. I thought about pointing out that it was plastic and that using it to play cricket would be unwise, but I held back.

You see over the last few years everyone has pointed out every little mistake Granddad makes and mentions age and forgetfulness etc. and to be honest so have I. Why didn’t I point this out? Well you see I started thinking. The letter opener in his hand he had made, not bought, but made, out of some spare airplane parts that was laying around, the handle is made from spark plug caps from a spitfire, the blade from part of a propeller and the guard from yet another part of the plane (oops I am getting forgetful!). His sheds (for he has two) would rival even the best laid out engineering workshops, with lathes and precision drills etc. OK he doesn’t use any of it anymore, but it is all there in its place and greased in case he does feel the need to make, oh I don’t know, pretty much anything.

In his youth he was playing with a couple of lads when they decided to put a sail on there canoe, finding it wasn’t stable, he added a second canoe to it, forming what was probably the first catamaran ever seen. The lads he was playing with were called Prout, you may have heard of Prouts catamarans, or you may have not, but they are one of the best cats in the world. He didn’t sue them or ask for money, for he was there friend and enjoyed many years with them, not working for them or with them, but as a friend watching them grow there business.

He went to war and fought for his country, when war was proper, not some video game. He evaded capture at Hong Kong. He has seen governments come and go, and has now buried most of his friends. He still remains calm in the face of pretty much anything and can still make grown men shudder when he disagrees them, just by quietly speaking to them. He is moral and proper and acts like a gentleman should and still picks me up on things I say and do.

So why did I not point out his mistake? Because to be honest he is an amazing man and I wish I was half the man or had half the skills he does even now, and he is 50 years my senior. So don’t put old people down or take the mickey, for if it was not for them we wouldn’t be here. On top of that they can do things that we can not even imagine these days.

So I say again, here is to the Granddads.

BINGO!!

2011-08-29T16:12:00.002+01:00

Well Sunday night was Bingo night... Yes you heard me Bingo. Kerry and I and Dan and Kellie headed off to Southend to partake in Bingo. A fun social, night out. Well, so we were all told. To be fair we were quite excited (when I say we, I mean the girls) about going to Bingo. They had been online, and picked which Bingo hall we were going to and what night etc. We decided (by we, I mean the girls!) that we were going by train to Southend Mecca (other Bingo Halls are available).
As we walked out the door this was the conversation:

Kerry: Do you know where the hall is?
James: Yes
Kerry: How far is it from the station?
James: About a mile and a half.
Kerry: I have heels on.
James: I noticed :o)

So we get to Southend after bumping into two other reprobates on the train (Dan and Kellie) and we start walking to the Hall. This bought about several moans and complaints and "I told you I did not want to walk" I went over the conversation above and decided that Kerry hadn't said she did not want to walk. Dan and I did not seem to have a problem.

We got into the hall and whilst we (the girls) were signing us all up to a lifetime of junk mail and god knows else what Dan and I went to the bar. We started on large shorts with sambucca chasers and ended on jugs of WooWoo.Dan claims he wasn't drinking but this picture of him with a jug of WooWoo should put an end to that rumour!

Dan and WooWoo.... What a girl lol

Also, the people at Bingo gave us some Green pens (Dabbers, I am reliable informed by the Bingo Massive) which was fine to start with. However, as the alcohol intake increased the amount of green pen on ever one also increased by a proportional amount, so by the time we was on the train home we looked a lot like the incredible hulk with measels....

The Girls!

Dan's impression of Pontius Pilate

We are planing another night out again soon, apparently they do glow in the dark nights! Watch out!

Obesity back in the news again.

2011-08-27T15:00:00.002+01:00

Well it is called fight against the flab...

So, obesity is back in the news again with the latest statistics showing that 40% of Britain's adults will be obese by the year 2030. This has sparked several reactions ranging from a 'fat' tax to obese people paying for NHS treatments. But what is the right reaction?

My view is this, the fat tax is maybe a good thing, it possibly could reduce the amount of people eating high sugar foods. People argue that the cheapest foods are the unhealthiest, a view I don't agree with, but if this is the case then making the cheapest foods the healthiest would appear to be the right reaction (although lowering the price of healthier foods would probably be the better way of going about it).
Clinically obese people paying for there own treatments, or being refused treatments? This is already happening, I know of several NHS trusts that refuse certain operations to people with a high BMI, in fact I was working with a lady 2 years ago who was refused a hip replacement until she reduced her BMI to below 31! So, it may not be wide spread or well known about but PCT's are already playing god with who can and cant be treated.

If Britain does continue to increase in size the projected figures for the NHS are not good. In fact if it continues with the added strain of Diabetes and Diabetes related diseases, heart conditions, and other weight related issues then the NHS will simply go bankrupt in a very short space of time.

So what can we do about it? This really is simple, a multi faceted approach needs to be taken. Start with the basics, bring cooking back into schools with teaching children to cook healthy basic foods, along side this you teach nutrition, not complicated, but basic nutrition, what food groups do to your body, how eating high salt high sugar and high starch foods makes your body react. Along side this, maybe we do introduce a 'fat tax' on unhealthy foods (I am not convinced) but we also encourage people to be more active. Make PE compulsory in schools and allow our children to go out and play. I was horrified 2 years ago when at several industry shows the main sellers was Wii fit and dance mat type games to schools for PE as we had sold off the school fields to developers! I remember running cross country and playing rugby in the rain and snow, why should this be stopped? There is no need to spend money on exercise 'games' for the children so they can take part in PE.
The easiest thing in the world to do is to reduce our portion sizes. These have grown massively over the years with our perceived idea of what good value for money is. Bigger portions, BOGOF, super size meals etc. Bring it back to basics. Teach and show people what a portion of food should be, I used portion control when I lost weight and I actively encourage people to do the same. Eat what you want, but in the right portions.
So basically what I am saying is this, empower people to make the right choices, and yes help them along the way. I spoke to Julia Hartley-Brewer of LBC about this on Friday. What we can not afford to keep on doing is stigmatising fat people. At the moment it is aginst the law to be racist, ageist, sexist etc, but it is fine to be sizest, and what worries me is that the way this is being portraid and spoken about, then sizest is exactly what the government and the media are encouraging.

I will carry on talking about this at a later time, right now I am off to the gym with Kerry so we are not ostracized by society...

Wahoo for the weekend....

2011-08-27T11:13:00.000+01:00

Its Saturday! :o) not that it makes a lot of difference in my life as I am still heading out to work at 7am, although should be back by 11, well that is unless the M25 does the same thing it did yesterday. Yesterday I was quite local with my jobs, the furthest away being Guilford. I traveled in all about 150 miles, which should not have taken me long. However, it took me over 6 hours to do that distance! The M25 for whatever reason, was being a pain. Flooded here and there, accidents and break downs all over the place. 3 hours plus to go junction 4 to the Dartford tunnel! Grrrrr.
So today and I am working in London, just around the corner from the Gherkin building, which close up looks impressive.

Anyway, Albert had his 8 week check on Thursday and a couple of injections. His check showed him to be fine and a very strong (Dr's words not mine) baby!! Go Albert :o) Then he had his injections... which kinda upset him for the rest of the day, he screamed the Dr's surgery down, then the house and just wouldn't settle at all :o( still a day later and he was fine again. apparently he doesn't like being jabbed by sharp bits of metal.... go figure...

Callum is off training this morning with a new football team in the Southend A division, so I hope he does well there, he really is a talented goal keeper, just hope the nerves dont get the better of him.

Stay safe :o)

More Albert...

2011-08-24T14:08:00.001+01:00

Well it has been a pretty uneventful couple of days in the Dennis household. I have been working and Kerry has had her hands full with the kids! Amazingly she has not killed any of them yet, and still finds time to run the house and fit in some Zumba! She is totally amazing :o). Albert is getting big, he is now in size 3 nappies (not sure how the sizes work, but they are the ones I have to buy now) and his cold seems to have abated some what. This has had a knock on effect where he is eating properly (well technically I think its drinking) and now has started sleeping for longer as well. The last 2 nights he has managed to do 7 hours straight both nights :o) I thought I would use this as an excuse to post some more pictures of him, heehee.

Minutes Old

2 Month Old

2 Weeks Old

Month Old

So there you go a few pics from his short life so far. Yes I know he is gorgeous :o) But then he has his mum to thank for that!

On a slightly different note I have noticed Dan has been writing comments, which is all good. His blog is well worth a read if you haven't come across it before. I loved his baby checklist which he rewrote as a basic program for me to understand, which has proved so helpful recently I decided to steal it and post it here.

10 RUN "FOOD"
20 IF NOT "FOOD" GOTO 30
30 RUN "BUM"
40 IF NOT "BUM" GOTO 50
50 RUN "WIND"
60 IF NOT "WIND" GOTO 70
70 RUN "CUDDLE"
80 IF NOT "CUDDLE" GOTO 90
90 RUN "BUILD A BRIDGE"
100 END

The only problem I find is that I now have several bridges with no where to put them, so I think I will drop them off in Dans front garden :o) lol.

Screaming babies

2011-08-23T10:00:00.001+01:00

So, Sunday went by, after the naked Zumba incident we started into the Garden (I was still wearing my dressing gown whilst we did this). Cut the grass, moved the trampoline and table around and generally tidied up a bit. It now vaguely resembles a garden again :o) After this we chilled, watched a film, Just Go With It, which was OK. I like Sandlers work, but this one took me a while to get into it. Not sure why, just didn't seem to sparkle from the off, and it has to be said was a very predictable story line, but it was OK to kill a couple of hours.

Monday was an office day at work, with most of the analysts going through the really exciting audit bits and pieces and making sure all the new publications and regs are being met by us. We have to do it now and then and it is as bad as it sounds, but in the industry we work in, it is a necessary evil, I mean anyone would think this asbestos stuff could kill you...

Kerry went off to Zumba tonight, and that is when Albert started screaming. I don't mean crying, which I tune out quite well, I know I am a terrible father, but I mean screaming. Changed his bum, he screamed, fed him, he screamed, winded him, he screamed, cooled him down, he screamed, warmed him up (No Dan, not in a microwave) he screamed. To the point where after an hour I was considering phoning, my mum, my father in law, even thought about calling Dan (D'oh).
After some thought, which very much went along the line of:
don't panic,
your new at this,
babies cry,
its natural,
he might be hurt,
perhaps he got stung by a wasp (no wasps around),
check him anyway,
good plan.
So an in depth examination of Albert, after 15 minutes of this and Albert still screaming I decided that the wasp sting/ insect bite was out, and all his major limbs were still attached. Yet he was still screaming.... changed his bum again (Albert doesn't like dirty nappies) still screaming, tried to feed him again, he took about 3 ounces and promptly passed out 21:45. He slept then till 05:20, no night feeds nothing. Straight through. EXCELLENT! Although he still doesn't seem right... Oh well, I do try not to panic, but I think its natural, still at least I didn't start calling everyone and causing a major scene... Only I know how close I came to that. ;o) Shh don't tell anyone..

A lazy Zumba moring.....

2011-08-21T13:16:00.000+01:00

It started at 5am when Albert woke up this morning, thanks Albert... anyhow, I got up, fed him, changed him, settled him down again (or not as the little git wouldn't go back to sleep) got up went downstairs and put Deep Space nine on, we sat watching that whilst the house slowly woke up. By 9am everyone was up.

Yummy!!

I love Sunday mornings, especially as I rarely have to work on a Sunday. I made a breakfast of boiled eggs and soldiers...

After tidying up and feeding Albert again, Kerry and I decided we would break out the new Zumba game she bought yesterday whilst at Lakeside.
Now let me explain what Zumba is for the uninitiated, Zumba is a workout, lets not get this wrong, yes it uses Latin and calypso beats, but it is high energy bouncing about.. something I relished with open arms...

Let me explain, that Kerry has being going to Zumba classes for about a month now, I have not. Kerry has rhythm and style and I do not. Kerry knows some of the moves and, yep, you guessed it I do not. Kerry also has leggings and a top on... I however, am in a dressing gown.

So we started... Fired up the X Box and the Kinect and we were off! Bouncing about, following the on screen person... It was brilliant. Then the scores came up at the end... Kerry Zumba Pro, Myself Zumba Jamming... So with new vigour and determination I watched the tutorials, I studied and gave it another go... Zumba Jamming. Kerry, without breaking a sweat, Zumba Pro. More training, more tutorials, more goes... I score Zumba Jamming and a lot of laughter from the settee... Kerry thinks naked Zumba is the new thing... I think I should pay more attention to my dress and less to the competition I am hopelessly taking part in... Oh well, at least the kids were out...

Seriously... Zumba... Love it... give it a go!!! I am going to classes... so watch out for the big bloke with no rhythm jumping up and down like a loon for a while! That will be me! :o)

Weight...... Weight and weight.... Did I mention weight?

2011-08-20T11:00:00.000+01:00

OK, so many of you following this will be aware that it started as a blog to discuss weight loss and how I was doing and how the world was doing (kinda). Well lets start with the world.... Its gone nuts... Totally, stark raving bonkers. I am all for healthy eating for children, in fact, I have been an advocate for it for years with my work with the magic plate. However, the news that I have heard over the past couple of days has made me shiver. There is now a diet book out there for children, and by this, I mean for children! The book is aimed at 6- 12 year olds! Especially girls! Now forgive me if I am wrong,but this kind of book should be banned, I have to say I have not read the book yet, but have read several synopsis. Apparently it is about a 'pudgy' girl who loses weight and becomes the schools soccer star, becoming more self confident etc. Surely what girls don't need at age 6 is a publication telling them that fat will fail and thin will succeed? Also studies have shown that this is the age when most girls develop eating disorders? Is it just me or is it totally nuts? I deliberately have not named the book as I do not want to encourage sales of it....

OK lets move on to the slightly more awkward subject of myself. OK. So as you are all aware my life has changed. I went from training 24 hours a week and eating sensibly to moving, changing jobs, injuring my back and eating everything that I came across, just like the hungry caterpillar for the past year.. Well this has resulted in a slight yo yo, and by slight I mean like Pompeii had a slight disaster when the volcano erupted. So actually I mean quite huge! At my heaviest I was 36 stone, this was well published (even by national papers) and then I dropped down to 19 stone (also published by papers) well, now I have had a year of complete and utter breakdown (well diet at least, I am quite happy with the rest of my life) I have now soared to 28 stone again! This I am not happy about. I thought at 26 stone I wasn't happy and that would trigger me to lose weight again, and for a brief time I started training again, however, a lack of funds stopped my gym membership and I fell of the wagon again and again. So here I am.... at 28 stone and very unhappy with that, so will I change it? can I do it again? I really don't know, but something has to change and change massively and soon, I am not going back to 36 stone mark, I don't think my body could manage it now either as it is already hurting when I move, and my back is worse than it was when I hurt it 2 years ago... so change is a coming, and nothing is as uncomfortable as change.

Albert James Mervyn Dennis

2011-08-20T02:00:00.000+01:00

Awww the little one.... he is now 53 days old and is doing really well. At the moment he has a cold of sorts and as such is being a royal pain in the **** as he cant breath properly, so isn't eating properly, as such he is now sleeping less than a couple of hours at a time. Other than that, he is perfect.
Weighed in at 12lb 9oz last week and was 58cms long which puts him between the 75th and 90th percentile, or as the lady at the clinic said, a big boy!

This is him earlier today! I know cute isn't he? lol.

Kerry is totally amazing as well at the moment, balancing everything going on within our lives and looking after Albert. It is impossible to say how I would cope without her running around, especially at night, Kerry does the majority if not all of the night feeds at the moment as I have to get up for work.
Did I mention Kerry is amazing? Well she is.

A strange week....

2011-08-19T15:32:00.000+01:00

OK, well maybe a strange month or more since my last blog at least... So I am going to break this one down a bit, I have kept quiet about riots and such, however, I have had enough.

We had riots, by all accounts quite small disorganised riots, which was just as well, since then most (apparently) have been rounded up and sentenced etc. I have no problem with large sentences, none what so ever, in fact I quite encourage it. What I want to know though, where is the prison sentences for the equally immoral behaviour of our politicians? Yes I know 5 have been sentenced but I am sure there was more than that. However, I understand that the rioters were handed higher sentences because there offences were committed with force and caused fear at the same time.
The most asked question, why were there riots? Well if you look back through history, people riot when they are unhappy with society, normally following economic uncertainty etc. Well we are in the middle of that are we not? Also society as a whole have eroded male role figures and emasculated men since the 60's as such we now have a generation of young people with no Male role models (except footballers? really? role models?) no respect (or fear, and yes fear works) for people in authority and who have no boundaries or restrictions on there behaviour. This is mainly due to the fact that parents can not discipline there children, teachers can not discipline there students and police men can not discipline anybody apparently, for fear of being sued etc.
Well I for one have had enough, I know most will look at it and call me a right wing idiot, but please people, please let a modicum of common sense step in, children need to be punished when doing wrong, parents need to restrict what there children are doing, teachers need to be able to discipline pupils and police need to become a force again instead of a social service....

The First Feed...

2011-07-08T17:45:00.000+01:00

OK, so technically it is not the babies first feed, as Kerry has been dealing with that since the birth (well, she is breast feeding and apparently I can not do that! Who knew?) but we have started expressing milk as there are a couple of events Kerry wants to go too, and will be away from the baby for longer than normal, so I will have to feed Albert.

So, as I said we have been playing with the milk pumps (and no, that’s not as dirty as it sounds) we did some research online and bought the Mothercare Electric Pump mainly because of the price and we decided we wouldn’t need to express too often. So after a few days Kerry had a go with it. On her first attempt she expressed nothing, but pointed out it hurt bit, on her second attempt we achieved 2 oz which doesn’t sound a lot but is almost enough for one feed. (I noticed that this pump makes a very distinctive noise when switched on and using the pressure relief valve, rather reminiscent of a cow mooing, which of course I pointed out) Fortunately Kerry saw the funny side of it and we had a good laugh whilst she expressed the next time. On the third attempt Kerry expressed 3 oz, so we are getting better at it. :o)

Anyhow, Kerry wasn’t feeling great the other day so I suggested that I used one of the bottles as it wouldn’t keep much longer, and she agreed. So, there I was, bottle in one hand, baby in other, ready for the first time I would feed Albert. I have read about it, watched it and to be honest was looking forward to it. What I did not realise was quite how difficult it could be lol... it is quite a balancing act. One that I hope becomes easier with practice! We managed it and moved on to the winding (which I have a lot more practice with).

It was an amazing thing and I look forward to the next time I can feed him which hopefully wont be too long. I think we are going to try and get the moo pump out tonight so hopefully we will have some more milk for next week.

The first few days

2011-07-04T16:43:00.001+01:00

So Albert James Mervyn Dennis arrived on the 27th June at 01:33 weighing in at 8lbs 2.5oz (3.7KG) he is now 1 week old!! Well done young man... (yes I am new at this, so will no doubt waffle on about how cute he is for ages... If you don't like this sort of thing check out Dan's blog, who waffles about everything, and moans a bit as well...)
The birth went well, with Kerry doing an amazing job, labour started at about 7:30 and was quite slow up till about 11, when it suddenly went into warp drive! An ambulance was called and we were deposited at Southend Hospital, the paramedics were good (even if the woman did threaten to hit me for asking Kerry if she was OK...) but the midwives were amazing! So calm, so matter of fact. Albert flew out into the world, and I think even caught the midwife out a little bit.I did get to cut the cord, which was very cool, if a little bit weird, cutting the 2 most precious things in your life with a pair of scissors. Anyhow, here he is at about 4 Min's old!

After the birth and the cuddles and congratulations and phone calls and texts and picture messages, to what was beginning to feel like the population of the UK, we all settled down. The midwives bought me in a mattress and a pillow, and I left Kerry and her mum to bond with little one as I quietly slept on the floor (Well, apparently I passed out almost straight away and snored so loudly that my future mother in law had to boot me as they couldn't hear what the midwife was saying!)

We came home via Grandads taxi service (Thanks Les) at about 6:30am and the first day passed in a bit of a daze, people filled through and said hello and congratulations, and day became night.. Then Albert woke up, he pretty much cried and fed between 10pm and 6am, all night...
In the morning he fed and then slept most of the day apart from when the midwifes came visiting and woke him up. That night pretty much more of the same with Albert feeding every hour and crying all night... I slept from about 3 till 7 but Kerry went straight through. Once he had breakfast, he slept once more and Kerry went to bed. This pattern has pretty much gone on all week with one or two exceptions, he sleeps all day and feeds all night... People ask how much sleep we are getting... I just laugh and say sleep? I remember that...
Well Albert weighed in at 8lbs 4oz on day 5, and the midwives are amazed that he is being breast fed and has gained weight... I don't think it is amazing, they obviously haven't met Kerry, she is my super woman.
I am going to leave it here for now, Albert is one week old today and I am hoping for some sleep right now...

Stay safe.

A year in the making....

2011-06-28T10:06:00.000+01:00

OK OK OK I hear you all lol....

So this post has been (nearly) a year in the making... (I have to point our nearly or certain friends, who also write blogs, will point out that I cant use a calendar, How are you Dan? lol) So it should be huge and full? Yes you are right it should be, but it isn't... Instead it is a short summary of the year...

OK, so moved to Canvey Island, moved in with Kerry, got engaged to Kerry, had a baby with Kerry (ok so that was only 32 hours ago and the trigger to blogging again) erm, went out a lot with Kerry, and generally my life evolves around the one called Kerry... oh and the now 4 children we have!

Changed jobs, became an asbestos analyst for the same firm as, yep you guessed it, Kerry works for :o) gave up dieting and kick boxing as far too much hassle... and promptly gained an amazing amount of weight...

Started Muay Thai only 2 weeks ago, and started watching what I eat.... I said watching, not dieting... That's it for now... I will update later about the new addition, once I have had a chance to sleep....

Stay safe all :o)

Music Monday - The Book of Love

2010-08-09T08:30:00.005+01:00

I'm not a great Peter Gabriel fan, in fact I kind of avoid his music. That being said, this song really resonated with me, it made me realise a lot of things, and made me think of someone very special. Kerry, I love you, thank you for a wonderful weekend. :o) xxx

Music Monday - Spinning Around

2010-08-02T20:31:00.000+01:00

I thought of this tune after spinning my car on the way home... amazing where inspiration comes from...

Hope you enjoy it.

Not Smoking and other randomness...

2010-07-30T09:05:00.000+01:00

Kerry and I @ Ascot

Hello, seems a while since I posted any real content on here, and that has to change. I am going to try and get back into it a bit more now. So what has been going on?

Well lets see... April 23rd I started a new relationship with Kerry (yes I am sure your aware of this, especially if you follow me on facebook) and started the weekly drives from Mancsville to The Rock and back.

I changed jobs (kind of and will explain that in a bit)

I sold my house (and then didnt sell my house)

oh and yes I stopped smoking 10 days ago... :o) and I am not iritable at all... I am not, look I said I AM NOT OK?

Smiles....

OK, so Kerry, what can I say? I call her super woman because she is. She has recently started a full time job, and still manages to run the busy household of 3 children, with a little help from me of course (for help, see interfering, demanding, mess making). We see each other every week for anything from a quick weekend to 3 or 4 days depending on what work I have on. Its not enough and hopefully soon we will rectify this situation. :o)

This brings me on to selling the house, and then not selling the house... I sold my house :o) Yay... solicitors, draft contracts, the whole 9 yards. Just needed some information from the ex wife and job sorted. (I wasnt really counting the days down to moving, I wasnt... ok so I was). Information came through from ex, and all of a sudden could not clear a charge against the property which put us in an negative equity situation and now we cant sell it. The only other option at this point is to hand it back to the mortgage company and let the chips fall where they may... (Not stressful at all)

During all this time I changed jobs, well kind of. I left working for The Diet Plate full time and went back to running my own company. I still do IT related stuff (as well as business consultancy etc) and have a few clients now. Including The Diet Plate, The Charity Service and MyGift to name the biggest ones. I still do hardware support as well as marketing in a digital age, (marketing plans, ppc campaigns, marketing stratergies and social media marketing to name but a few). I love my job, although this in itself was stressful as well. :o)

Then... just as you thought it couldnt get any worse... I decided (with a little persuassion) to stop smoking :o) 10 days in and I still havent smoked a single cigarette :o) although I am thinking people may be wishing I had.
I am not sleeping, I was eating far too much, I may be slightly short tempered and iritable :o) but aparently I smell nicer :o) lol...

so thats it in a nutshell, although there is still loads I have to catch you up on, so watch out over the next couple of days lol...

I want More....

2010-07-27T13:26:00.000+01:00

Live more

Inspire more

Appreciate more

Want more

Play more

Gain more

Reach more

Say more

Create more

Understand more

Experience more

Receive more

Move more

Hear more

Change more

Travel more

Market more

Expect more

Network more

Plan more

Be more

Excite more

Develop more

Benefit more

Find more

Realise more

Explore more

Accomplish more

Get more

Achieve more

Learn more

Generate more

Connect more

See more

Grow more

Encourage more

Demand more

Enjoy more

Discover more

Think more

Music monday

2010-07-26T22:58:00.000+01:00

I love this tune... infact I love the album...

Found this quite funny... sad but very true.

2010-07-23T09:47:00.000+01:00

An Obituary printed in the London Times - Interesting and sadly rather true.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend,Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;

- Why the early bird gets the worm;

- Life isn't always fair;

- and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realise that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;

I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realised he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Full Contact Kick Boxing

2010-07-19T17:10:00.002+01:00

This video is of my first full contact Kick Boxing fight back in October 2009. It was held at Kelham Hall in Newark (an amazing venue by the way) and was put on by Dean Sugden Promotions.

I enjoyed the fight (although very tiring!) and I think Kurt Paul (Cobra Gym) did too. Many thanks to all who came and supported us for this. Especially to Steve Primrose of Lions Pride who trained me and got me ready for this fight.

Music Monday - Inna, Hot

2010-07-19T07:51:00.000+01:00

Love this tune, its quite old now, about 2 years I think, still love it when it comes on.

I miss you

2010-07-18T14:59:00.000+01:00

It has only been an hour since you left, and already I am missing you. Not just the feel of you sat next to me, not just the burning sensation where our skin touches. Not just the tingling sensation where you caress me, but I miss the very essence of you. Knowing you are around, hearing your voice muffled as you talk to the children in the next room. I miss the feel of your presence in the house.

The house is still and quiet and empty, no children’s voices as they play or argue over what film to watch. No noises as people run, walk, shout, laugh or cry. The house is once more just a house, not a home like it was for a brief period of time. It feels lonelier now than ever before, a brief glimpse of how it should be, all too soon taken away and only the memories remain. You laughed as you left and commented on turning up trashing the house and leaving, I sigh as I realise yet again I will be sat here alone, thinking of you and the fun times we have had this weekend.

I look at the clock and work out how long it is till I see you again, not long, only 77 hours. We have done longer apart. This time though the emptiness of the house weighs upon me, like an oppressive force pushing down, making it hard to breath. It is lonely and empty and reflects how I feel right now. I walk into the kitchen and see the cup you drank from, I walk into the bathroom and see the bubbles slowly dissolving from the bath the children had. I sit and watch them for a bit, thinking over the weekend, the sounds, the smells, you watching me cook, organising the children to clean up and the time we spent together alone.

I walk into the bedroom and lay on your side of the bed I can still smell you here, your presence lingering. I close my eyes and imagine you laying here, your dark hair spread out against the white sheets, the smile playing at your lips, how your eyes transfix mine. I smile deeply, for as painful as this is, I know in just a few hours I will get to see those eyes again, to smell you again, to hold you again and to kiss your lips once more. I realise that my life will only ever be complete with you in it and I miss you with an intensity I have never experienced before.

I love you Kerry.

x

Music monday

2010-07-12T11:23:00.000+01:00

Love this tune, not my normal style, but definately a feel good vibe and very happy jolly...

Give it a whirl...

The Surprise

2010-07-02T09:21:00.000+01:00

Earlier in the week Kerry surprised me by telling me we had an evening to ourselves, it was a great surprise. Now don't get me wrong, I love having the children around, life certainly isn't dull with them and all the clubs and bits they do. In fact I think its great. Its also amazing how Kerry managed to do it all on her own for so long, I know I wouldn't have been able to! Kerry being Kerry, not happy with the manic 1000mph life she lives at the moment took another step forward by taking on a 401 qualification at work (course, exam, more work etc) and going full time, which also started yesterday. So, we had some stuff to celebrate (I am amazingly proud of her) and an evening with no children.

I asked Kerry what she would like to do, and she started talking about going to the cinema etc and the normal stuff we would have done, however I didn't feel this was enough to mark this occasion, so started plotting and planning. My first port of call was The Boatyard in Leigh-on-sea, which is Kerry's favourite restaurant, but they were closed for a wedding, how inconsiderate! So I had some work to do.

I rummaged through some of her clothes working out the brands she wears and her size and went out and bought her some new underwear outfits. Got them boxed and presented nicely, grabbed some more bits and pieces, made a few frantic calls to some foodie friends of mine and started a red hot debate on the 'best' places to eat in Essex, food vs location vs service etc...

Finally we had a short list of 2 Le Talbooth in Dedham (The heart of Constable Country) and Carriages at Theydon Bois. Both highly recommended and both award winning restaurants. There are three reasons I chose Le Talbooth, firstly I preferred there website, secondly they answered the phone when I rang and third having used Google street view, I preferred the surroundings. So, everything was set, new outfits, check, restaurant booked, check, shopping done, check, tell Kerry we are going out and needs to get ready for 18:45 or we would be late, check. :o)

I got showered and shaved and liberally dousing myself in Kerry's favourite aftershave just as she walks through the door asking for the umpteenth time, where are we going? I smile and say out :o) Yes a dress is compulsory. She notices the new hair cut, the shave, the smell of the aftershave and smiles back. So far, so good :o)

I have to confess to being ~~very scared~~ a little nervous, firstly, I have never bought her underwear and secondly I have never been to this restaurant before. So, we go upstairs and on the bed is the gift box, I give it to her and hold my breath whilst she opens it. All is good as Kerry smiles. I head of downstairs to keep the children occupied whilst she gets showered and changed. The underwear fits well :o) so all is great and I finally ~~stop having a heart attack~~ start breathing again (well kinda, having swallowed a packet of decongestants, cold and flu pills and hay fever pills, I'm not sure if I have a cold or hay fever, but its not stopping me tonight!).

Kerry comes down after getting dressed and looks absolutely stunning! I run upstairs and get suited and booted and we are finally off. We drop the children at her parents (BIG THANK YOU LES AND ED) and we head out to Le Talbooth, its about an hours drive away and as we get closer the scenery changes, we drive past some big houses and some beautiful country (who would believe we are only a few minutes off the A12?)

We arrive and as we pull in are greeted by a gentlemen organising the car parking and as we wander round to the restaurant we are met by the manager, who advises us we are eating outside tonight as the weather is so nice.

I can not say enough about the restaurant, how nice the staff were, how good the service was, as for the food? It was absolutely stunning. Even the setting is stunning. The evening was perfect. I can not recommend this restaurant highly enough (and being the critical moaning person that I am, that's impressive).

Kerry ordered the Locally sourced asparagus and then had the Noisette of lamb with creamed basil polenta, lamb and vegetable tian, tarragon jus. Which was Divine. I started with the millionaire salad (seared duck liver, soft boiled egg, asparagus, truffle and langoustine) and followed with Pan fried loin of veal with cherry tomatoes, broad beans, peas, button onions and tarragon. Before our starter arrived the chef sent out two Waldorf salads topped with a Blue Cheese foam, with his compliments. All of the food was sublime, in fact perfect. We finished the meal with a selection of deserts, which included Strawberry shortbread, chilled rhubarb soup, Baileys souffle ~~more addictive than cocaine! Be warned~~, Tirramusu and an egg tart to share.
We washed all this down with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé

There are some pictures at the end of this post, which are well worth looking at, sorry they don't really do the scenery justice.

The evening was perfect, the scenery stunning, the food to die for, the restaurant staff amazing, but the best thing of all, was the company and the smile plastered on her face. I'm glad you enjoyed the evening Kerry, I love you and I am so proud of you. xxx

Le Talbooth

Kerry @ Le Talbooth

The river and bridge

Me!!

Picture taken by Kerry

The apple of My Eye

Music Monday

2010-06-28T08:48:00.000+01:00

This is a top tune by Cheryl Cole, and at the moment is quite relevant in my life as well :o) Some things you have to fight for.

Music Monday.....

2010-06-07T17:36:00.000+01:00

OK, this song has been going around and around since a certain someone mentioned it lol... Its a top tune and very catchy... cant wait to be dancing around to this tune at the weekend...

It has nothing to do with the person who mentioned it.... honest.... lol

Music Monday

2010-05-25T07:25:00.003+01:00

Ok, so this was meant to go out yesterday, but somehow I managed to put the wrong date on it.... after thinking, why didn't that post publish, it finally dawned on me.

So as no doubt this will cause great humour among our fellow bloggers (one in particular springs to mind) I thought I would return the favour by dedicating this Music Monday to none other than 0ddness himself.

If you read his blog you will have no doubt read how he ~~hysterically run around like a girl because of a slow worm~~ heroically saved everyone from a massive snake invasion! Go Dan...

So, as tribute to the brave soul, today's tune is Cobra Starship singing Bring It (the tune from snakes on a plane)

Stolen Blog!!!!

2010-05-21T11:57:00.000+01:00

I have stolen a blog post from 0ddness as I thought it worth sharing to a few more people!! It is about the privacy settings on Facebook and how to alter them... well worth the read people.

Privacy Woes

It's not been much of a secret that Facebook has been in the press a lot lately. And the more worrying thing about it is, it's been in the press a lot for the same reasons.

Privacy, Lack Thereof, and Your Information.

Now, if you've not seen any of it, it's probably a good idea to pay attention here, because your personal info could well be smeared across any number of websites you've visited, your data could be being used to target you with spam, and you could be getting signed up for random shit.

Right now.

A while back, Facebook changed it's privacy settings. You may have seen the big box that read something like "We've made it easier to adjust your privacy!" which was very nice. I bet most of you went "Ooooh *yawn* *close box*" Fact is, that those settings were changed to various default states that lets facebook do what it likes with your info. Even slightly more worrying was the fact that your FRIENDS could also use your data too.

Not good.

The geeks of the world pointed this out to the non-geeks of the world, and suddenly there was a rather large hoo-har over it all.

What people don't realise is that the guy that runs it has a pretty shady past according to the media. Even the idea and internal gubbins of Facebook were written by a friend. A former friend of his. After he nicked it. Hence him having to make a multi-million dollar out of court settlement...

Advertising is king on the Internet - it's how Google make their money and can afford to give all their stuff away for free. Microsoft is realising this, and that's why they've teamed up with Google to try get a slice of that rather nice advertising pie. So Facebook - who also makes it's money through adverts - has decided that YOUR personal info is now THEIR personal info. And when you're not on Facebook, you actually are, and the sites you visit that happen to have signed an agreement with them are quite happy to see who you are, where you're from, what you do, what other sites you visit...

The worst part - much like Yahoo doing something similar 8-10 years ago - is that you have to opt OUT. That's right, the default setting is "Why yes of course you can look at my personal info!" which means you have to go in an change it. The worst thing, is it's buried. If you're not sure of your way around settings and options, you've got a mission on your hands. Especially when you consider that the "new easy use" privacy settings have 170 options.

170.

So, what do you do? Well, you could go in, and fiddle with all the settings and piss around with what-not and hope for the best. You could get your Not-Dan-Computer-Geek to help sort it out for you. Or, you could try this tool over at ReclaimedPrivacy.org

THANKFULLY it's as easy as clicking, dragging, pressing some buttons, and job done. The instructions are all very clear and easy to use, and bare in mind that I thought I'd managed to set my Facebook page to nice and private. Turns out, I'd missed a couple of settings. Oops.

Honestly, follow the instructions, get yourself secured. It'll only be a matter of time before someone manages to get your info and do something with it... Except, me not being a nefarious hacker, I'm not sure what they would do, but I'm betting something. People are quitting Facebook in droves (I'm not saying it's dying mind you, but they ARE leaving) for various alternatives that are cropping up, and even various media outlets are suggesting "Maybe it's time to try something else"

Good luck out there ;)

Sources:

Facebooks new privacy changes:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/12/facebooks-new-privacy-changes-good-bad-and-ugly

Facebook reduces control over personal information:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-further-reduces-control-over-personal-information

Things to stop doing on Facebook:
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109538/7-things-to-stop-doing-now-on-facebook

Facebook's gone rouge:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/facebook-rogue/

Essential privacy tips:
http://mashable.com/2010/05/18/facebook-privacy-tips/

What happens in Facebook stays in Facebook:
http://www.albumoftheday.com/facebook/

Music Monday

2010-05-17T20:09:00.000+01:00

Made a mad dash up the country early this morning.... Was listening to some top tunes... Mainly R+B and dance (OK so they helped keep me awake!)

This tune had me jumping in my seat.... Loved it!!!

N900!!!! Again....

2010-05-14T10:04:00.001+01:00

Ok I can not express my displeasure strong enough... this is becoming a farce...

I picked the N900 up, was glad to have the smart phone back it makes life for me a lot easier, went through set everything up again... battery was dieing so I charged it over night, took it off in morning, full battery, received 2 text messages over the space of about 3 hours... battery dead. (that's with nothing on, no wifi, no blutooth, no Internet, no vibrate... absolutely nothing)

Ok, so I took a deep breath and emailed mobiles co uk, and explained my displeasure again, especially as Nokia has had this phone more than me over the last 4 months. Got a prompt reply saying, tough basically. They sold me the contract but it is nothing to do with them speak to CPW (sound familiar?) Spoke to CPW who said all we will do is send it back to nokia for repair. Its down to mobiles co uk if they will replace it.

So guess what? Monday morning when I am back around, the phone is heading off to Nokia once again...

I'm actually to annoyed to write this, so will replace it with an update later... GRRRRRR

DO NOT BUY N900 or ANYTHING from mobiles.co.uk

Samsung Tocco Ultra Black Edition

2010-05-12T16:48:00.002+01:00

Firstly I would like to welcome Alex to the team... He will be starting to blog with us soon. I hope you like his first ~~rant~~ objective review of his new phone...

Samsung Tocco Ultra Black Addition on Orange Network

OK so I got this phone on contract about 2 months ago, at first it everything seem quite neat, it’s a very suave looking phone, and it comes with some interesting little apps, which become an annoyance later on.

So let’s start with the positives:

It has a very good camera, 8.0 mega pixels. The only true redeemable feature on this phone, although the camera on the front of the phone can ONLY be used for video calls.

Its looks, this phone is no doubt stylish, the design and paint finish is very nice, but this has now become so standard with most phones recently that it becomes just that, standard.

And the screen is quite durable (There’s a reason for this).

Now on to the negatives:

The battery life first. It is pitiful; if you make a lot of calls during the day, say more then 10. Then this phone isn’t for you. The battery life is drained enormously by every application and feature this phone has to offer. Internet browsing will have drained the battery completely within an hour easily for example. Calls and texting alone will have you charging it at least twice a day.

The touch screen (i.e. half the phone) is sloppy and dull to respond, which is made worse by the fact that the setup for each menu and text/messaging application is compacted so much, you will often find yourself screaming at the screen as you have to press back up constantly. When you compare it to ... almost any other touch screen on the market you soon realise how bad it actually is.

The widgets
These are supposed to be useful for quick access to your favorite applications correct? Well not on this phone, all because of, once again, the touch technology. You can place these widgets on your screen for easy access and will soon find that this is just another annoyance as the phone constantly misreads your selection, quite often dragging the widgets instead of selecting them, oh, and these widgets can also be accidentally dragged off the screen never to be returned, seriously. To get these back you have to do a complete system restore. These are also set widgets; there is no way of adding new ones.

The Internet
This was supposed to be quite good according to the reviews, I’m not sure how they came to that conclusion, it may be fast but that’s only when it actually responds! Often the Internet will cut completely and the whole application has to be reset and restarted. The "squeeze everything into one screen" approach is applied here as well, add the god awful touch technology and you're in for a world of anger and annoyance. The browser will fail to acknowledge 70% of selections and as the unresponsive nature of the phone continues you will find yourself mashing at the screen. Then you will come to entering text, for some reason it believes it can fit this on the screen as well (note: If you struggle with reading small text this phone will not be forgiving).

The Applications

Now I can only speak for the orange customers out there. First…

- Orange Messenger , what a crock, they expect you to pay for a messaging service that’s slower in service and usage , more awkward and free with any other phone capable of downloading apps of the Internet.

- Orange Maps, once again you are charged for this, this is exceptionally basic, to the point of it being completely useless. Any other map app would be preferable. But because of the operating system on the phone you are incapable of adding anything that may be of use.

-Games, these are not free, none of them. They give you several demos, one of which, when downloaded will not even work because the phone isn’t capable of running the full program! When you finally download the ones you want you will hit the brick wall that is the touch technology, it will make the games near impossible to use properly and you find yourself often returning to the keypad which because of its size can make things very difficult.

-Music Player , you would assume that something as basic as this couldn’t go wrong, and for the most part it doesn’t, there’s one little flaw that soon becomes much more noticeable through use, it will double up any track played…. That’s right every time you play a track it will double it and add it to your play list , so even with 15 songs on your phone you can end up with it saying you have 30 tracks, then it will double them again giving you 45 and so on.

The Setting and Menu system
Samsungs poor quality shines through here, the simple features of the phone are still simple but as you find yourself wanting to change more you will spend days searching for the menu’s to get to these settings. Many things cannot be changed or altered, often coming up with a “More” or “Settings” option this will give you minimal to no control. This is made all the more difficult by once again the touch screen.

There are many more issues with this phone but I have left the main offender for last just to give you an idea of the terrible programming.

The Fake Call
This seems at first a nifty little app, you hit the volume button on the side while the phone is locked and it will set your ring tone off, you can also add a voice message to be played so it appears that you are actually speaking to someone. I loved this at first, then I got tired of it and decided to switch it off. Went into the settings for it and found an “Off” setting … but this isn’t for the app, no this is for the voice that comes through. Perhaps I overlooked it? So I went through again, before finally reaching for the manual, no help there either. At last I finally caved and rang Samsung, and apparently there is absolutely no way of turning this feature off, your phone will continue to ring if the volume button is hit. Those that keep their phone in their pocket will have this happen to them numerous times during the day. It becomes annoying very quickly and like Samsung have said it CAN NOT be switched off. For those that keep their phone in handbags/cases etc I can’t say what this will be like, but if there is any pressure placed on the volume button it will ring. This may seem quite trivial but it isn’t, this will cause great amounts of annoyance and for people like me who are on contract and have to put up with this phone for at least 12 months will soon discover what a moronic design it is.

N900.... The next (mini rant) installation

2010-05-11T08:25:00.001+01:00

Once again I find myself in the possession of the Nokia N900 after several more weeks at Nokia courtesy of Car Phone Warehouse and mobiles.co.uk. I can not stress enough how terrible both these companies are and would avoid them like the plague.

Mobiles.co.uk are the Internet branch of CPW, even tho they are wholly owned subsidiary of them all both these companies do is pass the blame from one person to another. Even after numerous emails and phone calls I am no further forward. There insurance scheme (mobiles co uk) sucks and does not cover you for anything!! It is not worth the paper it is written on unless you destroy your phone, and lets be honest that doesn't happen often these days.

OK mini Rant over... lets look at the phone. I have had the phone now since January 6th (well apart from the 7 weeks it has been in for repair and the fact that it has been replaced once already as it was unrepairable) and in all honesty I am still finding it very hard to cope with day to day issues. Again as an Internet tablet it is good/average, as a phone it is not so good. No picture messaging, no video calling functions, the camera and flash arrangement is no where near as good as any other N series. Even as an Internet tablet I am no finding it slow and laggy and the wifi kills the battery in minutes. I can not wait for my contract to end, in fact for the first time ever I am looking at selling it and actually buying a Sim free phone to replace it with.

In short if you want a smart phone forget it. Look at iPhone and HTC series which are now running much better, having played with a Desire I would recommend it :o) If you want a new contract go directly to Orange mobile, either online (better deals) or phone them. There customer service is brilliant unlike CPW or mobiles co uk who seem to think customer service is secondary too stitching you up.

OK OK I promise, rant over...

Music Monday

2010-05-10T21:44:00.004+01:00

I love this tune, have been listening to it a lot recently.

Means a lot to me.

The Night Out

2010-05-10T17:18:00.007+01:00

I keep promising to blog more, and never these days seem to have the chance as real life keeps me bobbing and weaving around certain delicate issues. Soon, I will be able to share a lot more information here about what is going on and how I am doing.

Firstly, I have started seeing a wonderful girl, and things are going amazingly. She certainly dominates my thoughts whilst awake and my dreams whilst asleep. Her name is Kerry. FB followers will know much more than they wish to about how the relationship is going by the amount of posts and ~~soppy~~ love songs posted there.

I met Kerry some time ago at a friends New Years Eve party, you see Kerry’s best friend is Kelly, the better half of 0ddness blog ~~fame~~ infamy Dan English, and an old school friend of mine. So, I have seen a lot of both Dan and Kelly recently. Now, this is normally a great pleasure, and it has been. I love the pair of them and it is great spending time with them, however, I have noticed my name creeping more and more into 0ddness blog and Dan’s Face Book status. Not one to be shy, this is normally a reason for smiling; Dan has a great wit and writes amazingly well in his blog. It always gives me a reason to smile or groan out loud as I read his satirical take on life’s events, normally at the expense of himself or Kelly. Normally I am cheering him on and sending texts like, “great post keep up the good work". However, now I have noticed him turning that rapier like wit on me, I am not so encouraging ;o)

This weekend we went out on Saturday to celebrate a friends 30th birthday. We went to Chicago Rock Cafe in BasVegas(Basildon, Essex). Dan and Kelly turned up on our doorstep at 5pm. At this time both Dan and myself were ready to go, dressed to impress (Dan with new shoes after a day shopping with me and Kelly… yes Dan I know I shop like a girl, get over it) the girls however, were not. Now Dan is used to these two, I however am not. The girls, greet, and run off. I look at Dan and raise my eyebrows, Dan smiles and says, don’t worry you will get used to it, don’t expect to see them for an hour or so. However, he was wrong… 15 minutes later they are back, still not ready, but with a myriad of tubes, lotions, hair ‘tools’ and a mirror and busily start doing hair, make up and altering each others dress. I had already started drinking Scotch, and the girls quickly followed suit with Vodka. Dan was on the beer… we obviously had to help all this down with some Tequila. (At this point all DIETS were well and truly off). I updated FB to say I was off out clubbing and immediately got a barrage of texts telling me to behave myself. I mean really? As if I would do anything but?

I have to admit to a little in trepidation at this evening out for several reasons. 1) I don’t dance 2) I don’t really do clubs 3) it was the first time Kerry and I would have been out as a couple 4) There was a lot of friends and family of Kerry’s going who I hadn’t met 5) I stopped smoking 3 days before hand and was noticing I was getting slightly short tempered. All this said I was also quite excited at heading out to an old stomping ground of mine and with such a gorgeous girl on my arm. Mix this short temper/nervous/drinking all up in a pot and you have one very over excited James.

We arrive and immediately we realise ~~Kerry~~ we have forgotten the balloons… so I track back home and get them (major brownie points!) and finally get settled into the club. Dan was very quick to point out that a) I shop like a girl b) I drink girls’ drinks and c) I moan like a girl as well. In fact for a kick boxer, I was decidedly feminine. I ~~threatened to kill him~~ explained that I didn’t care (although this could now be the mix of Scotch, Tequila, VK Blue and shots of something dispensed by some girls walking around the club with bottles in there hands) and then went on to correct Dan that Whitney was indeed Rock music, which quite plainly she isn’t. (Blame the Alcohol) All this Dan found hilarious, especially as for each outrageous comment I made he posted it on his FB…

So, the evening was going swimmingly (we had to swim, too much alcohol for walking) although I was ribbing Dan a tiny bit for not dancing, ok so maybe a lot for not dancing, ok so maybe every 30 seconds. Apparently I sung at him (he says too him, but I deny that) the girls were back and forth to the dance floor in between drinks. Finally I had ~~drank enough~~ built up the courage and grabbed Kerry by the hand and marched off to the dance floor, took a deep breath, grabbed her and spun her into my arms and then started moving. Staring deep into her eyes and not looking anywhere else so I obviously could not see everyone in the club falling over themselves laughing at my attempt to hold a gorgeous girl tight, and trying to move my feet in some semblance of time. After the first few minutes I think I had finally got into some type of rhythm and had summoned up enough courage to look around. To my amazement no one was falling over themselves laughing or pointing and shouting or even noticing us (although a lot of people seemed to notice the gorgeous girl in my arms). On top of that Dan and Kelly were there. Dan says on his blog that he resembled a sloth doing the Heimlich maneuver, however, that’s not right; he actually looked like he was dancing and smiling as well. See told you it wasn’t that bad!!

After the first few songs we went for a ~~refill of Dutch courage~~ rest but before long we were all back on the floor again. The night was over all too soon. I really enjoyed it, especially the dancing. I have even suggested we go out and do it again soon and I can’t wait to spend yet more time dancing with my girl in my arms. I have formed a new theory on dancing, its actually great as long as the person you are dancing with is good enough to make you look like you can dance, instead of looking like a fish flopping around gasping for oxygen.

Kerry and Me

Dan (0ddness) and Kellie

Need to try and concentrate on work this week, lots afoot, and trying to balance it all is a pain, however, where there is a will there is a way. :o)

Music Tuesday???

2010-05-04T17:56:00.003+01:00

OK OK I am working on some posts, but finding it hard at the moment...

So I thought I would throw another random music post in, but before I do, a HUGE shout out to Dan of 0ddness infamy.... thanks for all the help and the listening over the last couple of weeks :o) See you at the weekend...

So.... Music.... Throwing this one up as it is quite relevant to me right now, have been listening to it a lot.... Loving it...

Hope you enjoy it....

Music monday

2010-04-27T02:17:00.004+01:00

Ok one a bit out of left field (especially as technically it Tuesday...) but have had the iPod on random and this came on.... I have listened to it a few times... Thought I would share it with you all...

Top 10 Diet Tips!!!!

2010-04-26T13:17:00.004+01:00

These are my best top 10 tips for anyone trying to lose weight.... please feel free to read them and pass them on... of course a link back is always helpful :o)

Tried and tested out on ourselves and people we have helped. I hope they can help you on your journey to being fitter, healthier and indeed slimmer, if that is what you desire.

1: Drink plenty of water.
This is by far the most important tip on any diet plan, and it is good for you as well. Nearly everyone I know (who is dieting) who has upped their water intake, has decreased there calorie intake! Simple. It has become quite common knowledge now that people can confuse hunger with thirst; the knock on effect from this is that you can end up eating calories you really don’t need.
"If you don't like plain water, try adding citrus or a splash of juice, or brew infused teas like mango or peach, which have lots of flavor but no calories," says Cynthia Sass, R.D. a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association.

CAUTIONARY NOTE! Check the labels as many of these have calories in them!

2: Enjoy your treats away from home.
This was one of my favourite tips, and I use it. I do not keep ‘treat’ food in my house because if I do, I know temptation will win through eventually.
Ellie Krieger R.D. hosts Food Networks, Healthy Appetite. One of her tips was this; when you need a treat take a trip to your local ice cream parlor or plan a family outing.
"By making it into an adventure, you don't have to worry about the temptation of having treats in the house, and it is a fun and pleasurable way to make it work when you are trying to lose weight," says Krieger.
SO TRUE! When I get into the mindset that I want a treat I can have one, I just walk to my favourite take away and have one (although I order children’s portions). I do not deny myself anything, I just use portion control.

3: Eat protein at every meal.
It has recently been proven that protein is far more satisfying than carbohydrates or fats, it keeps you feeling fuller for longer and passes through the body easier than carbs..
"Diets higher in protein [and] moderate in carbs, along with a lifestyle of regular exercise, have an excellent potential to help weight loss," says University of Illinois protein researcher Donald Layman, PhD.
Protein helps preserve muscle mass when dieting and also encourages fat burning and keeps you feeling full for longer! Now that’s a triple winner! Get healthy protein sources in your diet, like yogurt, lean meat, nuts, or beans, at meals and snacks.

4: Use non-food alternatives to cope with stress.
At some point in life you are going to come across a stressful situation. I hear a lot of people moan about this and say this is where it all goes wrong, so, as the Boy Scout movement says, “Be Prepared.”
Instead of turning to food, have some other tactics up your sleeve. I personally find that a soak in the bath listening to music helps, or I go physical and turn to exercise. I know others that would read a chapter of a book and some practice meditation techniques. Find what helps you relax and then when you get stressed reach for that instead of the cheese!

5: Be physically active.
I have heard many people over the years say several things about exercise especially combined with a diet. The two most common I hear are; “I exercise so I can have more to eat” and “I was bad at the weekend so need to do extra in the gym”
These are not good things to hear. They are both negative and put you in a negative mind frame, also if you fail at getting to the gym you are more likely to comfort eat due to the stress put on yourself.
Exercise is always a good thing, even if you are not trying to lose weight. Instead of making it a punishment, start slowly and build it up, concentrating on how much better you feel, how you sleep better and how much more energy you have in day to day life. Keep it positive and try and build it into a routine.

6: Eat a diet full of colour
Fruits and vegetables are packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants and are very low in calories. They help keep you satisfied longer, and are a great snack and can be eaten with every meal. Try replacing just some of your carbohydrate with vegetables and you will notice a huge difference over time in both how you feel and how you look. If you can’t be bothered measuring it all, use one of the portion control solutions out there to show you.

7: Beware of liquid calories
Nearly all drinks contain calories, even a lot of ‘diet’ brands contain some calories and are full of artificial sweeteners which can cause a ‘spike’ in your blood sugar levels, leaving you feeling hungry after the spike has passed. Be careful of ‘healthy’ alternatives as well, fruit juice and especially smoothies are designed to be drunk in very small amounts. Although undoubtedly good for you nutritionally, they can also be very high in calories. These types of calories will not fill you up, but they will most certainly add weight.

8: Eat whole fresh foods
Modern day foods are pumped full of preservatives. This is done for ease of storage and to make the food last longer, however, this also reduces the nutritional content of the food. Where possible choose a fresh food option and avoid pre-packed are processed foods as these are typically higher in calories, fat and salt!

9: Weight loss support: join a weight management group
A huge factor in long term weight control comes from motivation and understanding, as well as receiving advice, encouragement and support. There are now many online forums that allow this to happen with ease. Why not check out groups such as Club Diet Plate. You may also wish to check with your local hospital to see if their registered dietitian conducts group weight loss programs.

10: Weight loss and portion control
As the world has taken the restaurant businesses to task over cost, what we actually deem as value for money now could well be killing us. “Super-size” meals and “all you can eat” buffets, far from giving us value for money have warped our concept of a ‘normal’ portion of food. Be mindful of the amount of food you eat, use portion control systems and if eating out, don’t be afraid to ask for a doggy bag!

OOOOoooops knew I forgot something....

2010-04-07T13:30:00.002+01:00

Sorry people have had yet another manic month.... back in the office a bit more now so will spend some time composing some new posts...

After the Sky saga we had the car phone warehouse saga.... and thats still going on so will post about that shortly...

I have some serious issues with the following companies strangely enough they are all owned by.... Yip Car Phone Warehouse....

Issues with: Talk Talk, Talk Talk enterprises, Opal, mobiles.co.uk... strange huh? Just as a matter of interest, CPW also owns AOL online, Tiscalli, Tandy and Best Buy to name a few... now if you do any research then you will see that Talk Talk and CPW are supposedly split, however, having spoken to talk talk, someone should tell them as they still are claiming to be owned by CPW and thats in April this year!

So more to follow on that one, also I have just purchased Opalsucks.co.uk, and will be setting up a forum site on there is due course. It will be looking at BroadBand and telecoms providers and sugesting who we think is best... as well as a public forum for discussing bad service from any of the providers, and GOOD Service as well, dont forget, when someone goes the extra mile its always worth mentioning it...

On that point, can I just say, if you want a mobile phone and no nonsense customer service, buy direct from orange and take there insurance, 12 years I was with them, I even had a new phone courriered to me on Christmas day as mine was broken, now thats how it should be :o)unlike CPW or mobiles.co.uk....

ORANGE RAWK!!

The Sky Saga.....

2010-03-08T12:26:00.004Z

This all started a few weeks ago....

Basically, I moved house. I was just within the Sky contract by 3 months so had to move it with me.

Phoned and explained the situation and was told yes not a problem... it will take 3-10 working days.

10 Days later, the situation had not been resolved. So I phoned back, at this point it was explained that there was an outstanding balance (quite a sizeable one) on the account and it couldn't be moved/rectified until it had been settled.

So I sort out the funds and settle the account. I am told because they have already applied for the funds to be taken from my bank I have to cancel the direct debit. So this I cancel as well. I was then told that the lines are on the Sky network, not the BT network so I will get a phone call back within 72 hours. At this point I had been on the phone (yes my mobile as Sky hadn't got my phone line sorted out) for 97 minutes.

72 hours was up on Saturday... Still no call back. So Monday I phone Sky (from work this time!) I was told there is a sizeable balance outstanding on the account and they can not change it over till it is settled. This balance isn't due till the 6th March but they had blocked my account anyway and as it was blocked they couldn't change the systems over. They refused to let me talk to a manager or supervisor, and the words used were, "They are refusing to speak to you as you have an outstanding balance on the account, once it is cleared they will" even though it was about the outstanding balance that I wished to speak.

Eventually after much arguing and taking of names and extension numbers for every member of staff I had spoken to (which is now quite a long list, if you need to speak to a manager at Sky I have there extension numbers ;o)I got through to a customer resolution advisor or something like that. I went through the whole situation with her again, she looked at the system and behold could not do anything. She promised me she would phone back the following morning before 9am with an answer.

Amazingly (sorry I don't mean to doubt you) she did call back. We went through the call and all the issues and problems, not only can they not supply BB through my phone line as I live to far from the exchange, the line is so noisy they don't think they can supply a phone line that works either...

So, the resolution we came up with is this....

1) They will cancel BB and phone (waiving the fees as they can not supply a service)
2) They have deducted the money again owing on the account (I thought that was especially nice as I hadn't used the service in over 2 months)
3) They will refund the money for the phone calls (once I have produced the phone bills)
4) They have given me 3 months worth of free TV packages.

So for 3 months of free TV I have had to endure 2 months of no service (which I still got charged for). It has taken them nearly 3 months to decide they can not supply a phone line or BB to my house. It has cost me somewhere in the region of £80 on phone calls (which will get refunded)apparently. That is without the 4-6 hours of lost time spent on the phone which I will never get back.

All in all... a very unhappy and disappointing experience.

So, if you are looking for Broadband and Internet packages... STAY AWAY FROM SKY...

If you have cable in your area, get fibre optics ;o) All good and I never had any problems with virgin or NTL as they were... if you have to use phone lines, get BT. Not the cheapest but in the 5 years of working with them they have always responded quite quickly, unlike Sky.

So there you have it, the Sky Saga... I shall let you know what happens about phone bills being refunded etc.

Also if you do have a problem and need someone to speak to at Sky... use this extension number CSRLLA77 be nice though, the young lady in question was the only person at Sky that took ownership of the probelm and resolved it for me, she also called back when she said she would... so a big Cheer for you :o) Now go tell your bosses you need a raise. :o)

Stay safe and well.

Touching base....

2010-03-01T15:28:00.003Z

Hello folks, once again apologies for the break in communications... I am doing my best but real life has other plans for me at the moment...

A brief recap of where I have been and what I have been up to.

After the day trip to London, I was back home for a couple of days before rushing off back to London for the exciting 2 days of TMF&A (Technology for Marketing and Advertising). Doesnt sound exciting but it was vibrant and alive, with Google experts and internet "Guru's" giving there advice. Normally free of charge. I loved my time there although it left me even more drained and tired. I forgot what commuting across our lovely capital was like.

The tubes were jammed packed on the trip, it still amazes me that this is how people travel. I am sure animal rights people would be up in arms if we jammed animals in that close... However that being said, it did give me a chance to people watch. Most turn inwards on the train, reading, listening to music, maybe drafting some emails or other on there smart phones or PDA's. Some look around, few make eye contact, even fewer smile. I try and smile at people who make eye contact some look shocked, others smile back but most just look away, they probably think I am some kind of simple person...

Oh well...

This week coming I am off on my travels again, Tomorrow Nottingham, Wednesday and Thursday in the office. Friday I should be back in London again.

I sometimes feel like I will meet myself coming back on the M1 at some points...

OK, that being said I am going to post again in a few minutes after getting off the phone from SKY... be warned this one is going to be a rant.

Be Well and Safe

A day trip to London....

2010-02-18T10:39:00.003Z

Hello folks, sorry about the absence.... I am sat at my desk feeling bone tired after an exhausting long couple of days. I left the office on Tuesday afternoon and drove down to Essex, the drive was long but ok and got to my old house around 9ish. Called in to see Dan and Kellie (Oddness blog) on the way. After a few hours of sleep and getting ready it was off to London. Left home at 6am....

The day was hosted by GovToday and was held at Church House in Westminster. The building was superb and the staff were so helpful. I listened to a presentation on the NCS and NHS and how everything was changing. How the country is struggling to provide after retirement care and what they intend to do about it.

The reason for retirement issues is this, when the state pension was introduced, retirement age was 65 and the average life expectancy was 66. Now the children being born are expected to live to around 120. which means the pensions far from having to see someone through for 1 year we can expect it to have to support someone for 60 years plus. This also alters the ratio of working people to retired people. Again when it started the ratio was 5 or 6 working people to every one retired person, now it is at 4 working to 1 person retired, and by 2026 they expect it to fall to 2 to 1. All in all the government solution is this, make the NHS or NCS as I understand it will become... more efficient, and reduce staff levels. Centralise controls and try to support more people at home rather than hospitals. Oh, and more preventative measures. Stop people getting ill and hurting themselves, relieve the burden on the NHS... It will be interesting to see how all this is planned to go ahead.

Anyhow after a day of drinking superb coffee, and strolling around talking to people it was time to head home. Left Westminster about 16:30 and walked through my front door at about 23:45 after driving through snow, sleet, fog, rain... what a lovely day....

So today I am sat here, my bones ache with the standing, driving and tiredness... I cant wait to get home and have a soak in the bath.

Be Well....

Here is to the Ian's

2010-02-12T13:12:00.004Z

Hello folks :o)

I trust you are all well....

Firstly I would like to wish Ian Pluck a very happy 33rd Birthday, and to remind him that for the next 25 days he is officially old, after 25 days I catch him up, and obviously at that point 33 stops being old :o)

Ian is one of my best friends, we have been through a lot together, both good and bad, he has taken me to hospital and sat by my side more times than anyone (including my own family!!) although to be fair I think it was because he wanted to chat the nurses up, and nothing to do with wanting to hold my hand. Well I hope. I remember one particular bad time I had to have intravenous therapy. The Dr trying desperately to get the needle in was a very attractive young student Dr with an infectious smile. After the first attempt I grabbed Ians hand, after the 6th attempt Ian was turning a funny colour due to the amount of force I was crushing his hand with. All the time I was smiling and talking to the Dr, she said you are amazingly calm, I know this hurts. Its ok I reply, have another go. Ian wasnt as keen lol.

Everyone needs someone like Ian in there life, he can be unreliable all the time, doesnt return calls or visit when he says he will, however, when I do get hold of him and say the words "I need you" everything gets dropped and heaven and earth get moved and the problem, whatever it is gets two heads too look at it instead of one.

So this is a shout out to all the best friends and people that will stand by you when it really matters, may you all have a wonderful life, and may you all have an Ian....

Here are a couple of pics of Ian...

Thank You never seems to say enough.....

Be Well

Random musings... and other stuff...

2010-02-03T12:06:00.008Z

So hello.... :o) Haven't blogged in just over a week, and feel I have to before I lose some of the ideas I wanted to blog about lol...

Firstly the geek stuff....

The new tablet PCs/macs OK, so we have ipad from apple... looks good :-) Although if I hear, theres an app for that I think I would throw it across the room... and the courier from Microsoft... to be fair I haven't been hands on with either of them, and I am not overly sure of the release dates either, except they will be some time this year... in fact I haven't even done my normal geek research into the specs... in fact I just looked at the pictures, read through a few articles and then looked at them again... The design on the apple is almost futuristic and it is amazingly light and thin... it reminded me of a film I had seen recently, think it was 2012 where the crew members are walking around with these tablets reading instructions off of them... Nice touch... However the iPad is terrible. No multitasking, no camera, no expandable memory, no USB port, no Flash, no stylus. If I wanted an iPod Touch, I would have bought one by now. Apple had the opportunity to really corner a market in its infancy but they failed.

The courier... (which if you follow me on Face Book I have mentioned once or twice before) I mean come on 2 screens? in a neat folder type case, looks very professional, and knowing how delicate touch screens can be, probably a very beneficial thing to have. I am concerned that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said the company is not interested in producing an e-reader, surely the courier will have an edge on all e-readers and tablets if it did include this function?

No doubt both Apple and Microsoft will sell you all kinds of covers/cases as extras, add on keyboards, docking stations etc... Have no idea on price, but I know I just have to have the courier, it just looks so much more than the ipad... Well in my opinion. The courier is supposedly running windows 7 when it comes to the market, but no announcement on which version it will be running... ipad runs OSX.

Nokia N900..... three words.... Why me Lord? OK, so maybe a bit dramatic... I stand by my first review, of the phone earlier in this blog... Internet tablet = Great, super, smashing even bordering on amazing. Well done... Phone = Pathetic, useless, in fact close to scrap lol. OK so maybe a tad harsh, you can indeed place and receive calls (most of the time) and send and receive text messages (again, most of the time) however you can not send or receives MMS or make video calls... All in all not great... Also I say most of the time, as I have a much higher incidence of missed calls (which the phone does not tell me) I just get 8 voicemail messages when i phone in to check, no missed call or text warning about it, so I have to call it everyday to check... and all this is of course dependant on you carrying a charger everywhere you go, just in case you access a WLAN for about 45 seconds, which kills your battery... Keep trying Nokia...

Non geeky stuff
Well, lets see... emotionally I am still struggling at the moment... trying to find the right direction in life. This is a an improvement on where I have been which is looking for a way of opting out of life... I have actively started watching what I eat again, and have dropped nearly 10 lbs in 2 weeks (which is about time, and only another 24lbs to go to get to where I was...) this has made me feel better in myself, however, it has also demonstrated how any emotional upset can also destroy my good work physically... need to keep an eye on this...

Training sporadically, but not anywhere near what I can do or should be doing.. this has left me feeling a bit flat and getting frustrated with myself, just cant seem to get everything in that i need to fit in, but again I am still working on it and not giving up... I think the key word lacking here is MOTIVATION!

I am going to add my 5 words here today... a friend of mine (Pip Wilson) asks people who read his blog for 5 words to describe where they are at the moment...

5 From me would be

Tired
Frayed
Frightened
Distracted
Uncomfortable

5 From Pip

Focused
Stretched
Family
Baby David
Little Sheila

Please feel free to add your 5 in the comments :o)

Its cold today, very cold and whilst out on Sunday I took a couple of snaps, one from Monk Road without the snow, and one of a fence on a main road near where I live... Both are great :o)

This is the first time I have ever seen anything like this in real life... it is still really cold up here with sub zero temperatures again for the past week.

Monks road minus the snow, still impressive even without being covered in snow.

These pics were taken on a Nokia N900 (the fence one was taken at about 10mph lol) and neither or framed particularly well or thought out, just snaps.

Stay safe and well

Music Monday...

2010-01-25T11:29:00.002Z

Following the trend of posting links to songs on Mondays, I was wondering what I should post... having given it some thought and coming across this old school dance track whilst training the other day, I thought Hell Yeah!

A great tune to make you get up and wiggle or to make you work harder during a work out.

Team England

2010-01-20T16:04:00.002Z

November 2009 WKC World Championship England Team Picture... lol, its a bit late but better than never! Some amazing peeps in this team, I wish them all well in the future. Looking forward to seeing some of them at the upcoming competitions. :o)

Updates....

2010-01-20T13:19:00.005Z

Hello, once again I have left a gap in my blogging life... apologies...

Work is beginning to look up with a couple of new contracts and new customers coming in and making enquiries, so look out for more info on our up and coming new builds and projects, its quite an exciting time.

The latest project I have been involved in, MyGift, is now live although we are still tinkering with it a little bit so please feel free to go and have a look and let us know (constructively) your points of view and criticisms.

We got involved with MyGift because we believed in there product, MyGift is unlike any other online fundraising and donation services with commercial interests or links, such as Just Giving, Be My Charity and Virgin Money Giving. MyGift offers free on site advertising to charities and there will be no set up or admin charges; meaning millions of pounds worth of charges to charities could be avoided.

Here are the facts:

1 The Charity Service is a registered charity. All My Gift transactions are regulated by Charity regulations. UK law forbids distributions anyone except bona fide charities; thus all funds raised are to be retained in the charity sector

2 We are a true not-for-profit charitable operation, as such our policy states that we shall not use charities to promote a commercial brand or business

3 Our management and control are completely within the UK

4 We reclaim tax in the same way as others and pass it on to our beneficiary charities within the first 10 working days of every month

5 We provide the beneficiary charities with a report of donors except where anonymity is requested

6 Remittances advices to charities are free and sent electronically, before the time of remittance

7 We offer free site advertising to all UK registered charities

8 We are transparent - our only charge is 5% to donors to cover running costs - no charges are made to charities

9 We are not new to charitable distribution; we have been distributing funds to charities for nearly 43 years in this and our previous existence and for more than a decade, those distributions have exceeded £1m per year

It is a really worthwhile project to be involved with and I hope everyone goes and checks it out!

On a personal note, life is OK. Started exercising and dieting again this week after a long lay off. I have put some weight back on since November and I really do not like my body at the moment, but rather than do something about it I sat around feeling down and eating more because of my mood... fortunately a well timed intervention by a mate, has helped me see the errors of this... I am looking into my new training regime properly this weekend and will publish my new program next week. A few early starts are going to be in there I feel so that I can get around the amount of hours I have to do.
Since stopping training and putting weight back on I have noticed several things;
Firstly, I am not sleeping properly again, now this could be stress but I don't feel overly stressed, so I am putting it down to the change in exercise routine. Secondly, Putting weight back on is amazingly easy, OK so everyone knows that, however, the weight goes back on your body in a different way, which is interesting as my body shape has changed. :o(
Thirdly, after going for a run on Monday, my body has still not recovered with an amazing amount of lactic acid building up in the leg muscles, in November I could run (a lot further) and recover a lot quicker, with next to no lactic acid build up.

So yes there is a fair way to go on this journey, and it is going to be painful to start with (again) and I am not looking forward to the pain, although I am looking forward to being able to fit back into my clothes properly again and being fit enough to fight.

So, diet and nutrition is being taken care of by The Diet Plate again, one day I will learn to stop putting it away, D'oh. and as always will let you know how it is going.

Stay safe and Be Well...

N900... The next generation..

2010-01-12T15:07:00.005Z

My new phone arrived last week, it couldnt have arrived soon enough. I have been excited about getting my hands on a N900 for some time.

So it arrived, amongst much fanfair and signed for packages etc (I hated the snow so much as this made it a day late). I ripped all the packages open (the nice mobile company had given me a free Jawbone Prime blutooth headset)and started digging around for new sim card, chargers etc. After setting the phone up and plugging it in, I was away..

I have always loved Nokia's even from the days when I actually worked in telecommunications. I found them easy to use, easy to navigate and had one of the best receptions around. I followed them through the S60 operating system and after a bit got used to that as well. So now this phone, the N900 the first truly PC capable mobile has arrived on a new platform (maemo5) made by my favourite phone company and I had one! I ditched the instructions (after reading them to figure out how to get the back off) and started playing. I should point out here that I have had many 'new' phones with new operating platforms and I accept all of them are going to have bugs and glitches as well as a host of problems, most of which can be fixed with updates.

I enjoyed the feel of it, the way the keyboard worked (although there are better keyboards, the N97 having one!) and the touch screen seemed to work flawlessly (as long as your not wearing gloves in the cold weather). The operating system seemed to flow quite well and be quite intuative and was faster than I thought. It certainly beats the response speed of the iphone I had (not the 3gs model) and the HTC Hero. I want to keep comparing it to the N95 and N97, it is as fast and hasnt crashed on me yet unlike my N95.

Camera wise, the N95 takes brighter pictures, but other than that the N900 seems to perform as well as any phone camera I have ever had, and infact better than most. Nokia certainly would appear to have the edge on clarity and size of picture as well, certainly on the 'smart phone' side of things.

The internet is faster than any other phone I have had, and pages seem to laod a lot quicker. Its easy6 to navigate around as you have both the touch screen and keypad, and I now use my phone for loads more internet than ever before.

The Bad points.

There was always going to be a few wasnt there?

Firstly, and most significantly, battery life, lets not beat around the bush it is terrible! Now I read a lot of reports on this phone so was expecting it to be bad, but a mobile phone? bad would have to be, what 9 hours? Nope, its terrible, shortest I have killed the battery from fully charged is 2 and a bit hours, average messing around on it this week is about 5 hours before having to be plugged in (thats a mixture of calls and internet and texting) and the longest, by leaving it alone and not having anything switched on (internet, blutooth etc) was just over 9 hours (this was in offline mode so I didnt get any calls either). Nokia sort it out!

The phone can not do some simple 'phone' tasks like MMS and video calling. There is alot of forums and debates raging about this. None of which seem to have a clear answer. Some say it will be an update others say it cant be, so to get to an answer I have now emailed Nokia directly, and will publish the response as soon as it arrives.

WPA keys, another issue I am having with the phone is this, connecting to wireless networks with WPA is fine and easy and works. If the network has an older WEP key, you have to set it up as a WPA then go back in and edit it to change it to a WEP key. Even doing this, I have not yet succesfully been able to connect to a WEP network. Again this matter has been forwarded to Nokia.

The kick stand, one question, why? If it was to support the phone having it made out of plastuc and as small as it is, is stupid. Why does the phone not tilt like the N97? I expect better Nokia.

The OVI suite does not support N900 and the Nokia PC suite only supports certain applications of it. You can no longer send messages via your PC when connected to the N900 which I personally liked a lot, also you can not back up your messages or a lot of data really, it appears like it only backs up your Contacts, phone specific data and memory card. I am a little dissapointed in that if I am honest.

So as an all singing all dancing internet tablet and PC the N900 doesnt quite deliver. As a phone, the N900 doesnt quite deliver. As an internet tablet the N900 delivers wonderfully.

For a phone which has a brand new OS, and is doing things never before seen by phones or internet tablets, it is amazing. Its not 100% obviously, but it is a good 92% of the way there and with the updates etc coming out it should eventually get close. I still miss my N95 and N97, however that is a personal thing. It certainly beats HTC Hero, Iphone (not the 3Gs model as I havent tested that one yet) as an internet tablet it beats the N95 and the N97 (although the N97 keyboard 'feels' better).

I will update you more as I find out more....

more snow pics...

2010-01-07T21:18:00.003Z

Snow Pics...

2010-01-06T15:44:00.009Z

So, a new year...

2010-01-06T15:00:00.003Z

Welcome everyone to 2010...

The start of a new year, with it came new and old challenges... firstly the old challenge, the snow. I love it, some hate it. What I think is really annoying is this.. where I live (Up North) we have a good 8" with some wind blown drifts of about 3 foot... nothing too new there, the first day no one goes anywhere as the roads get sorted (and salted) and then the next day life carries on as normal, although there does seem to be less traffic and more 4x4's than normal. I have spoken to my friend Dan (Oddness Blog) who lives in Essex, and is part of the Basildon Massive (shout out). He has put his cam on live stream so we can see the resulting chaos due to somewhere in the region of 12mm of snow (yes folks, about half an inch). Roads are closed, Schools are closed, old people are already quivering in fear due to the extra heating expense.. is it really that hard to drive over 12mm of snow? Peoples of Essex (and most of the southern areas) snow does not mean a Holiday... its just white cold stuff which kids throw at you. Get a backbone, (and some warm clothes, no not short skirts and boob tubes, but real warm clothes) put a shovel in your car (for when your electric cars get stuck in the white stuff) and go out and explore the amazingly stunning views.

Smiles, only kidding, the snow brings chaos with it every time it arrives, I still don't understand why we don't have more resources dedicated to this type of weather, but there you go.

As for the new challenges, trying to survive in a world where everyone wants money off you is a little bit difficult at the moment, but I am surviving. Wish work would pick up a bit more and then I can ask for a pay rise as I have not had one in 2 years, in fact I am on less money now than I was when I started, hmmm.

I was supposed to start training again this week, but as my dojo (Lions Pride) is nearly 15 miles away over country roads I have skipped it so far, maybe tomorrow, hopefully!

Weight is up and down, as always, at the moment UP.. but again addressing that issue now. (again this is Dans fault for force feeding me Quality Streets all over the Christmas period... bugger)

Was great to see Pip Wilson over the Holiday season, and again I promise not to leave it 16 years, in fact I am going to try and make it less than 16 months hopefully bumping into him at Greenbelt this year and who knows, may even make another meet up before that if we ever have the same spare day in our diaries.

This post is quite light hearted, so please people don't take offence, I will post another more in depth blog shortly...

Stay safe and well and may 2010 bring you all enough...

love ya...

Coming Home

2009-12-31T01:48:00.002Z

I have arrived home back in Romiley. I hated the drive, but I am safe and sound. It has been an emotional rollercoaster these last few days, most of which I can not share here :-( However, I will share what I can in a day or so. Just wanted to let you all know I was back and safe and incase I dont get to post before tomorrow evening, I hope you all have a great New Year.

Stay safe and well. I love you all. x

Boxing day....

2009-12-26T11:18:00.003Z

So Christmas day... went to Church at St Nicholas which is my old Church. I saw lots of family faces even after 14 years, and lots of new faces. One of the people I saw was an old teacher of mine a guy called Aubry, this man was amazingly influential in my life and after the service (led by Rev David Tudor) I went and spoke to him for 5 minutes. The man is still amazing!! After Church I spent some time with My God Mother and we drank and remembered old friends and family members now gone. Quite emotional, but very needed. Had lunch with the family, my mums cousin Phil and myself swapping stories over the table, strangely enough, more alcohol was drank. Helped clear the table, walked my dog for a bit, then headed out to see some friends later on.
Spent the evening with Oddness Blog (can be found under my blog lists on the right) and his lady, the discussion did ebb and flow most of the evening helped along with absinthe and port, I had an amazing time. We watched Dr who then argued about how the hell the time lords could come back. Very Geeky... drank some more port... ate cheese and crackers... then argued some more about Dr Who... all in all, it was as close to a perfect evening as I can remember. So this is a big shout out to Dan and Kelly... THANK YOU!! Thank you for understanding what is going on in my life, thank you for listening and talking... thank you for not judging, but most of all thank you for being my mates... The world would be better with more people like you two in it.

Last night I slept properly for the first time in ages, not sure if it was the fact I relaxed, or the alcohol, but whatever it was, I feel much better today.

I agreed to fix my granddad's bathroom today, so I got up early and started looking around and making lists of what I would need and started getting down to stripping some tiles. I had to take an old studded wall out and replace it with a new one and re-tile it. I figured 2 days and it would be an easyish job for me. As I edged around the bath to get access to the wall, the floor gave way beneath my weight. After closer inspection, I discovered the whole of the floor has been eaten away by woodworm... so I phoned an old friend who had done some work for me 10 years before on another property. True to his form and even after not hearing from me for 10 years he is dropping everything to come over... now that is service and friendship!! So if you need anyone for damp or rot or wood worm then give Sterling Timber and damp specialists a try. Jim is a top bloke!!

Other than that... life on the Rock seems to carry on pretty much as it always has, I do miss this place, no matter where I have lived or what I have done this will always be my home. It just took me 33 years to realise it.

Be Well

Another month has passed.... oops

2009-12-25T08:17:00.002Z

Hello one and all..... sorry I am so rubbish at posting these days, life does just get in the way...

Anyhow, I am down south in the mighty county of Essex, enjoying spending time with old friends and family. This year more than ever I need it, I am not going to go into details here just yet, maybe never, but this month has been one trial after another.

Normally I would be going insane and running around trying to put all the pieces back together, but not this time. I just relax and let it wash over me, knowing, deep inside somewhere, the world will continue on no matter what I do or don't do, and there is someone around who if I leave it up to them they will make sure everything turns out alright, even if I disagree with it at the time.

I went to church yesterday, to a christingle service. An old church of mine, West Leigh Baptist Church, it was totally awesome, it hadn't changed much and there were some people there that I knew very well 14 years ago who i hadn't seen since. People I loved, no do still love, for the time hadn't changed my feelings towards them. 14 years is almost half my life, and theirs as well, however, we recognised each other, spoke, hugged and I have to admit to crying a bit as well. I am going to meet up with him and his family sometime soon. It will be awesome and emotional.

Whilst down here I met up with another old friend, a guy called Pip Wilson, check his blog out!! I knew this man 16 years ago, and we have spoke via email for the last 5 years after I got back in touch as I needed him... and he answered and was there for me. I am working on my emotional literacy, and he has provided some tools to help, and an amazing amount of support. I have to ask you, how would you react if after 11 years, some strange guy who you worked alongside for a couple of years suddenly gets in touch and says HELP!! Would you help? Or would you turn away? I would like to think I would help, but I am not sure... Pip didn't even hesitate... and for that Pip, I love you.

All in all this year has been VERY up and down... but I am still here.

To those that I know, I love you. To those I don't, I love you too....

I hope everyone has a great time this Christmas. Share the love between you all.

I wish you all enough....

Natal

2009-11-24T15:15:00.002Z

For those of you that are into geeky things... take a look at project Natal by Xbox 360.. I heard about it a couple of months ago during E3 and forgot to post about it, it was recently bought back to my attention again.

So here is a link to the site http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/

and for those of you that really dont know what I am talking about, watch this trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2qlHoxPioM

It makes wii look slow, cumberson and a little outdated... however, they have not said how much this little box of magic will cost...

A long time (again)

2009-11-24T15:00:00.004Z

Hello people, sorry once again for the delay in my postings... I know I am terrible...

Anyhow, a brief overview of what has happened...

After the fight in October I trained immensley hard for the world championships in Ireland.. I enjoyed the trip, I lost in the quater finals by 1 point, which is not so bad for my first year competing. I made a lot of friends on the trip and would like to shout out to all of the peeps on the England team, with a special thanks to Kenn Forrest (now WKC world Champion) who is just the nicest bloke alive! I hope you are well.

On top of that work has been keeping me busy, along with an injured muscle in my back which keeps going into spasm and causing immense discomfort. It has kept me out of the gym and the dojo, I am hoping to return to it this week. With all this my weight has crept up to 21 stone 12 lbs, the heaviest I have been for a while, I know I will drop it again, and I will have to start soon, I want to compete in the WAKO and WKC opens in February I think. So weight has to go again and the exercise has to start again lol.

The Diet Plate now has a new site, which is up and running and now allows affiliate sign ups!! Come and earn money for nothing by becoming an affiliate!! Club Diet Plate forums are also up and running people, so please register and come and talk to us about your weight loss journeys and experiances, good or bad.

Say hi folks and let me know your alive...

22 October 2009

2009-10-22T11:10:00.002+01:00

So here we are again, I keep looking back at this blog and thinking I should update it, but I always seem to forget, or something more important gets in the way.

So anyhow, the fight, I was really nervous and yet excited, I warmed up with my coach Steve Primrose and I had caught sight of my opponent earlier in the day whilst we were being checked out by the Dr. He was a big lad, taller than me and as broad as I am, but I wasn't worried. I smiled at him, he didn't return the smile.

I went and had a walk round Kelham Hall, its a gorgeous place to hold anything, weddings, business meetings, or as it turns out, Kick Boxing fights.

The fight was approaching close, warming up, I was moving OK, felt good, was really looking forward to the event. I walked through to the ring, loads of people was smiling and saying good luck. I pause outside of sight from the crowd, and wait there for the music to enter the ring, my choice had got lost somewhere so the DJ played Hammer Time. After about 40 seconds I walk over the ramp and around the ring, I can see some people I know, and a lot of people I don't know. I pause by the ring and Steve steps past me and opens the ropes. I climb through and acknowledge the crowd, bow, then the ref is checking out my feet, gloves, box etc. Then we are called into the middle and for the first time Kirk (Paull) and myself come face to face, we stare each other down, I cant really hear what the referee is saying.

Then we go back to our corners and the bell goes. I came out slow in the first round and paid for it. I lead with my chin on one shot and Kirk repays me with the hardest punch I have ever felt!! I did well to stay on my feet and get my guard back up, but I took a standing 8 count for it. That woke me up and I realised I needed to do something, so I started fighting back, Kirk won the first round and I won the next 2 rounds. The kicks and punches were finding there mark, all I can really remember about it was the look on Kirks face, and the blood.

It was a really great fight and my heartfelt thanks goes out to everyone that supported me, especially Evade and Lions Pride Gyms for all the training and support, but especially to Kirk Paull as well, he was a great opponent, and I loved our time in the ring together, he even bought me a drink afterwards!!

Kirk I wish you all the best for the future, and who knows, we may well get to meet again!!

Other than the fight, I have been working and dieting, I am looking good as yet again my body begins to alter shape!! All this training and dieting is really beginning to pay off, my body is becoming less wobbly and everything is firming up nicely! I even have a rib cage and hips!!

17th October

2009-10-06T12:27:00.003+01:00

Ok, so it isnt yet, but it is a red letter day of sorts, this is my debut full contact kickboxing ring fight, which is being held in Newark!!!

I am so looking forward to it, with a little bit of nerves. Whichever way it goes, it will be an experiance, and then off to Dublin on 30th to compete in the WKC World Championships, I am looking forward to it so much!!!

I will be back over the next few days updating info...

Hope everybody is well and let me know if you want tickets (its about a 2hour drive from Essex and about the same from manchester)

So no excuses people!!!

MAI Open Championships

2009-09-22T11:03:00.003+01:00

Hello folks, sorry I have not been around much recently I will trya nd rectify that. I am still training hard with Stephen Primrose of Lions Pride and also doing some Cardio work out at Evade. Many thanks too everybody at both dojo's that have helped me get ready building up to the world championships next month.

This weekend I took part in the MAI open and got a bronze model

The fight was ok, I did ok and enjoyed myself. My coach was happy as well (which is the main thing as I dont get beasted)

Once again thanks to al the help preparing... Dublin on the 30th October to take part in the 1st WKC World Championships.

FRONT PAGE!!!!!

2009-08-21T15:56:00.007+01:00

Scans of The Glossop Chronicle, I made the front page this week and page 4!!!!

Many thanks to everyone that has helped me on this journey, especially Stephen Primrose of Lions Pride, Dave Breed of Evade, The Diet Plate, FieryPhoenix , Life PR, and of course my family for all the support and understanding about fussy eating and training...

Slim at Home Magazine

2009-08-18T10:36:00.004+01:00

HTC Hero - More Zero than Hero

2009-08-05T11:18:00.001+01:00

I have had my HTC Hero since July 28th, at first I was happy and giddy about it, spent a while playing with it and learning how the phone works. I have always been a Nokia brat for the last 10 years, so it was very different. The OS is simple enough and navigation is ok, I love most of the features.

I do have a few problems with the phone tho, these are:

Camera is terrible, being 5mp I expectead a lot better, no flash, no backlight, unless its very light, your not getting a picture!! (Nokia beats this hands down)

Battery Life is terrible, especially if you use wifi, I have killed my battery in less than 90 minutes uploading pics to Fbook using the orange internet connection. Even on standbye I have yet had it last over 24 hours with minor useage. HTC Claim 750 hours???? I think not.

Signal strength seems to be another issue with a much lower signal than any Nokia I have had, even no service yet put my sim card into the N95 or 96 I have and it shows nearly 4 bars...

Ringer volume is terrible as well, and it keeps turning itself off and getting louder and quieter because of the position of the volume control button o the phone. Music player is rubbish if you want to use the phones speaker, although not too bad if you use headphones, again every Nokia I have ever had is better, and my mates iPhone kicks the Hero here.

I have spent some time searching apps etc on the internet for this phone, and there is a few, however, most of the stuff I would like for social media and multimedia is not available, I would have expectead a lot more of the social and multimedia items to be part of the OS and tied into the phone much tighter, at the moment the only IM tied into the phone is google talk.

In Short, if you want a different looking stylish very clean touch screen smart phone for business then the HTC hero is fine (as long as you carry your charger with you) If you want a decent camera multi media phone, then leave this phone well alone, you will be very dissapointed.

Just for the record I am sending this one back to Orange as I am within the 14 days!!!

Update....

2009-07-23T12:35:00.002+01:00

Hi folks, sorry I have been so remiss at posting... lots going on. Mainly, the internet and phone system at work has been down for nearly 3 weeks with next to no support from the company that supplies them. In the end I had to fix the issue myself. Not really what I am trained to do but luckily, not to different from the systems I know. Anyhow, long story short, we are back in business!!! Everything seems to be working. No thanks to talk talk enterprises.... I really would not recommend them as a supplier to any business. they mmay be cheap but having failed to return over 8 phone calls when directors have promised to call back always makes me wonder.

Anyhow... what have I been up to? Well I did the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride for a charity called EETEP. It was a great day and I enjoyed most of the ride (the last few miles into a headwind wasnt so much fun) but we did complete it. Here is a picture of Phil Booth (EETEP Chairman) and myself at the finish.

Other than that I have had the dreaded Flu... and survived... but it left me out of shape physically and drained. Just getting back into the training and diet now, weight has crept up to 301lbs (21St 7lb or 136.8Kg's) this is too high as I need to get down to 120kilos to compete properly. So a few changes to the lifestyle has to be made. I will get there, I always do. Just need to stay focussed.

On top of that the funds and sponsorship for the WKC World Championships has not come through as easily as I thought, so I have paid for a lot of the stuff I need personally. I still need to raise about a £1000 to get there and get the equipment I need and as such the TCS has set up a donations page for me to use. So if you would like to help me get to the World Championships and represent my country, please feel free to follow this link and donate anything to help the cause. There is more information here on LionsPride website.

Training tonight, which I am looking forward to and an interclub competition with Evade on Sunday. I have done some photo shoots for magazines and newspapers this last month for The Diet Plate the system I used to drop my weight from 36 stone!!! Like any diet, it only works if you stick to it, but I find this diet easier to stick to than any other diets I have tried and will forever be grateful to them.

Erm thats about it in a nutshell... I will be back more now I hope!!!

Pics from photo shoot

2009-07-11T22:46:00.002+01:00

New Pics,

2009-07-08T11:31:00.004+01:00

Hi folks I promise I will post and catch up, had to do some photos for a magazine article, and thought I would throw a couple up lol.

Fit?

2009-06-15T10:42:00.001+01:00

You're Very Fit

Congratulations, you're totally fit and doing everything right. Keep it up.

You have a high fitness level. It's likely that keeping active keeps you healthy and happy.

You're doing great things for yourself and inspiring others.

Be sure to keep challenging yourself so you don't get in a fitness rut!

Are You Fit?

Still going strong

2009-06-10T12:15:00.003+01:00

Hello one and all. Sorry for the break, life got a bit hectic!! As is the way of life, I guess.

Anyhow, as the title says, Im still going strong and training hard. Work is going well and everything is falling into place, slowly but surely.

I have no idea what my weight is, but people have started commenting on the fact that I am losing weight again, so I guess I am. :o)

As mentioned previously I am training hard, very hard. Stephen Primrose is pushing me hard and we had a great training session on Sunday with Tawatchai Budsadee. A great time spent with an amazingly experianced fighter. Many thanks for your time and comments!!!

The Diet Plate is working for me again, and I am begining to get used to using it all the time once more.

I think I will weigh myself next Monday, just to see how I am going, I want to get to 115 kilos or 18 stone 1 lb or 253 lbs, although not near this yet, I dont imagine it will take me too long with the Diet and the training. I am looking forward to yet again buying a new wardrobe!!

Man its warm...

2009-06-02T09:59:00.003+01:00

This morning was warm, actually no, it was damn hot. Woke up hot and bothered, had a shower, still hot and bothered, wearing shorts again today (once again, apologies for the legs, but they really are not my fault) and a t-shirt. Just glad we have no official visitors in the office today and I dont have to wear a suit.

Took the car today as I have to drive to Macclesfield tonight to train after work. Im looking forward to it, I know its going to hurt and burn, but that does not worry me half as much as not being ready for November. Stephen will make sure I am ready for whatever comes. Im glad I took the car, I just remembered why I insisted on buying a car with air conditioning (sorry planet).

Food wise, Im having some up and down days, I need to get a handle on that. I will, just takes a bit of will power and refocusing, but I will get there. It doesnt help that the rest of the house is full of chocoholics so there is always plenty of the stuff laying around tempting me, and yet again last night I failed :o( I dont know why I did this time, I just fancied it. Normally its for comfort, but this time I was calm and resonable and not angry, yet I still reached for it. I guess you cant be perfect all the time huh? My main meals are still under control by using The Diet Plate. Last night I had a jacket potatoe, with cheese (low fat) and some tuna. It was yummy :o)

I have started reading again, sounds like a strange statement, but I used to devour books, hungry for the escapism or the knowledge they contained, but over the past couple of years I have just not been able to sit down with a good book and get into it. I decided last night I was going to re-read one of my favourite books. Dan Millman's "Way of the Peaceful Warrior" which is a book which has helped me massively in my past. I was surprised at how easy I found picking it up and getting into it. I enjoyed it very much.

So today, no cycling (my bottom will be happy about that) but a serious training session tonight at Lions Pride (my legs wont be happy about that!) All in all, not a bad day.

I hope you are all well and life is giving you enough.

Stay safe.

June 1st...

2009-06-01T10:07:00.001+01:00

Wahooo June and it feels like summer is here, (must be summer as I have shorts on. Let me apologise for the legs, its not my fault, God gave them too me!) still cycling, and training hard. Weekend was great fun, weather was good, fixed some PCs and xbox 360's, enjoyed a BBQ, did some more cycling. Oh, was messing about in a pond as well, trying to get a pump and filter working properly. All in all, very good.

At the BBQ, I had one drink (cider) and a burger in a bun and a sausage. It was enough and enjoyed the time with good company and friends. Fell off it a bit last night as I had some chocolate covered raisins, and a toffee crisp. Dam, still with the exercise and the amount I have eaten this week I don't think it will bother me overly. :o)

So back on the bike this morning and back into work, and back to not eating chocolate.

Catch you soon...

Thank God Its Friday!!!!

2009-05-29T10:14:00.003+01:00

Hello one and all... I hope you are well.

Today is Friday, which is no bad thing, I can do with a break of the weekend, although I get this strange feeling I am not going to get one...

I trained last night at Lions Pride with Stephen Primrose . It was a hard session for me, with 9 mins running for warm up and then 10 rounds of skipping!! Stephen gave me encouragement (erm, Im not sure thats the right word for it however, but it got me through to the 10th round) from the sides and I worked through the time trying to listen to everything that Stephen was telling em to do. I think I did ok, I couldnt have trained much harder or pushed any further as when finishing I was light headed and nauseus and fighting not to pass out. Which I guess is when you know you pushed hard. Shower and home. Sleep, shower, cycle to work. I enjoyed the cycle, the weather today is great and I am hoping I will get a chance to cycle tonight after training, well if it stays nice anyway.

As far as food goes, I am eating little and burning weight off. The Diet Plate makes my portion control so easy!! Loving the burn, loving the feeling, loving the result!!!

Oh what a lovely day...

2009-05-27T11:44:00.003+01:00

Hello, back again sooner than I thought... :o) So, yesterday, left work, cycled home (up a very steep hill, which left me gasping and my legs burning) jumped into my car and headed off to Lions Pride for what turned out to be a very intense training session.

Shadow Boxing warm up (3 rounds)
Core exercises, using Medicine Ball (3 rounds)
Basics and combination drills (12 rounds)

Stretching (yes lots of these... and man did I need it)

Shower, home....

Worked hard and enjoyed the session, got a bit frustrated with myself on a few occasions as I could not seem to get certain moves right, I guess they will come with more training :o)

Anyhow... awoke this morning, bit stiff, hot bath, and back on the bike... another couple of miles before work, its not far, but it is a start. This evening from work I am meeting Phil Booth (Chairman of EETEP) and we are heading out to clock some miles up. I forgot how painfull cycling can be on the rump when you are not used to it...

Food wise, obviously the trusted Diet Plate is getting another bashing, and I havent weighed myself this week deliberately as I want to use my size and feeling more than my weight as a judgement. I will however weigh myself every couple of weeks to keep some form of record.

Hope it stops raining before tonight...

Be Well

Day 7... or is it?

2009-05-26T13:19:00.003+01:00

Hello once again people... today is Day 7 of the diet and fitness regime, or is it? OK, so it was a bank holiday over here in the UK (which means a long weekend) and the weather was nice for a change, which never happens, so the weekend was spent eating the wrong foods and drinking far too much, not overly bad, but more than I normally would.

I trained Thursday night at Lions Pride but didn't make Friday due to some timing issues. Saturday I didn't do a lot, although I seemed to be running around all over the place. Sunday I packed and emptied my flat (several hours of running up and down 3 flights of stairs with heavy boxes!!!) and then Monday I cleaned my flat (several hours of rubbing, dusting, polishing and hoovering!! How are housewives over weight?)

So I didn't train much over the weekend, apart from the packing and cleaning. I also snacked a fair amount as I didn't have time to cook (the oldest excuse in the book!!!). I spent some time Saturday evening with Stephen Primrose, my coach and friend and looked at the training that I am doing and the amount of time till the World Championships and I had to agree to step it up again, and be more commited and focused on what it is I wish to attain.

So Tuesday, Day 7 (or is it day 1) This morning I rode my bike for the first time in ages, I did a few miles around the town before heading into work, I now have a sore bum!

This evening I am cycling home, jumping into my car then heading over to Lions Pride to get beasted by Stephen. Tomorrow morning I will ride to work, then tomorrow evening I am out riding with a friend Phil, the guy who runs EETEP as we are trying to get used to riding before July 12Th and Manchester to Blackpool bike ride. Thursday will see me riding, swimming and training again.

I hope to update you some more before Friday anyway, so I hope this finds you all well and smiling.

Stay safe and well.

Hmmm... day two.

2009-05-21T10:18:00.003+01:00

Well today is day two, day one went ok, except for a couple of biscuits that snuck there way in during a meeting :o( Oh well, at least that was all...

I had fruit for breakfast, apple, grapes, orange, melon. It was lovely, clean and refreshing. For lunch I had a healthy chicken and bacon sandwich on wholemeal bread. In the afternoon I had 4 biscuits :o(. For tea I had a jacket potato with some beans on them.

I did very little exercise yesterday, except playing with a Funkey Hula available now from The Diet Plate. It was great, and very funny, slightly painful as well, mind you it does say wear a heavy top to stop the wheels bruising you to start with, being one for instructions, of course I ignored that and was wearing a light weight thin summer shirt.. yip it definitely bruises!! Other than that it was a good work out.

Today I have skipped breakfast, grabbing an apple from the shops on the way into work as I was running late, there is nothing to eat in the office, which is just as well as I am quite hungry right now. I will nip out for lunch and grab something fairly healthy. Tea will be a couple of pieces of fruit on the way to the Dojo and I will probably end up grabbing a cereal/nut bar as well for energy, as well as some water. Water is great, it helps with hunger and stops you from getting headaches and dehydrated... My biggest 2 pieces of diet advice for people on the go, 1) The Diet plate for easy portion control. 2) Drink at least 1.5 litres of water a day whilst dieting. Its really that simple.

Lets get it started....

2009-05-18T11:00:00.004+01:00

Those that have followed this blog, know that I go on and off, hot and cold, especially where diet is concerned. I spent a long time loseing weight (seems like my whole life) and I lost a significant amount over the last 3 years (more than most of you weigh I bet!!!).

So where are we at? I started this 'new life' back at the start of 2007. Then I weighed a massive 36 and a half stone (511 lbs). Using several different diet techniques over relatively short periods of time untill I found The Diet Plate, which I then stuck to rigidly, I dropped weight down to 19 stone 9 lbs (275 lbs) a loss of 16 stone 12 lbs (236 lbs)!!!! I hit that weight and decided I had reached a place where I was comfortable so would lay of the diet for a while. I have put weight back on over the period of a year, and at times have started dieting again for a few weeks here and there. I went back up to 23 stone (322 lbs) about 5 weeks ago and decided enough was enough, putting aside excuses like lifestyle, being busy, not enough time to shop properly and prepare food (yes I am as guilty as anyone for those) I decided to dust the plate off and start again. Today I weighed in at 21 stone 10 lbs (304 lbs) a loss of 18 lbs in 5 weeks, so thats ok. :o)

I am also involved with a charity called EETEP and have agreed to do the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride with them on July 12th (watch this space for sponsorship details!!!) which is a 60 mile ride through what I can only imagine to be quite hilly country... so I guess it is time to get the bike out and put the car away for a while. :o) (That will help with the environment as well :o) and the savings on fuel too...).

On top of that most of you will be aware that I qualified for the England Kick Boxing Team this year and on October the 30th the team and I are off to Ireland to take part in the World Championships!!! I have neglected my training recently due to several personal issues which have needed addressing, now things are addressed (not sure if that is gramatically correct) it is time to train hard. I have to step my training up from twice a week to at least 4 days in the dojo with Stephen Primrose and hopefully 2 days spent riding a few miles. This will up my calorie burn as well as using The Diet Plate to bring my calorie intake down, and yet keep the correct balance of food groups so I dont starve my muscles of much needed vitamins and minerals to help them recover.

Starting Wednesday 20th May, I will try and blog at least every other day. This helps me stay focussed more than anything else, as well as giving me a place to vent frustrations!!

I hope you are all well...

The Diet Plate, final cut.

2009-05-07T13:25:00.001+01:00

The same video, but the final edit...

Again many thanks to developmedia for there help.

Is it just me or do I sound distinctly London????

Me at The Vitality Show 2009

2009-04-21T14:18:00.006+01:00

The Video below is a first attempt. It was recorded at The Vitality Show 2009 in Earls Court Hall 2. Its one of the first pieces I have ever had to do and was nerve racking!!! However, it could be worse. In it I discuss how The Diet Plate works and my weight loss.

Many thanks to Developmedia (Ian and Kevin) for there very valuable time and assistance in shooting this film and putting it together.

The Vitality Show

2009-04-02T16:07:00.004+01:00

Hello, I am back :o)

The Vitality Show was a great success, and a wonderful time as well. I got to meet lots of new and exciting people (and some not so new, but equally as exciting). I enjoyed the time I had there and I loved talking to people about thepsychology of eating and over eating, the diet plate and my success with the system. It was great. I am looking forward to the next exhibition, whenenver that will be.

Here are a couple of pics of the stand from vitality, it looked really good and I was pleased with the response.

The Vitality Show

2009-03-25T08:48:00.003Z

Hello people.... I hope all of you are well.

The Diet Plate will be exhibiting at The Vitality Show in Earls court Hall 2. I am running the exhibition for them, so if you want to pop in and see us or come down to the exhibition for a massive saving on buying the system then please do.

Stay safe and I will post again once I am back.

Spring is here!!!

2009-03-20T10:07:00.004Z

Yay... well it feels like it over the last 2 days... lets hope it lasts.

Have paid my deposit for the World Championships now, I am excited about it, we leave on the 30th October... I am a bit annoyed about the fact we have to pay (and its not cheap) to represent our own country in an international competition. We also have to pay for our training (even with the England coach's) our board, our equipment, even our countries uniform (tracksuit etc). All in all a poor show really...

Still... Im still going :o)

Anyone with any ideas for raising funds or sponsorship please get in touch!!!

Hope your all well.