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TEG: 2
(www.t-e-g.co.uk)
Teg version 2, is The Return.
Monday 18th August 2008
It is 13:20 as I begin writing this post and I am officially on holiday. Not any old holiday but the first ever consecutive two week holiday in my working life. Yes, I am sure most of you will be shocked to discover that I have never had two weeks off work back to back. My last time work work to this extent was back at the end of 2007 and early 2008. I was able to book off a full calendar month, with my last day on 14th December and my first day back 14th January. Something tells me I will not be so fortunate in my new position. However, the reality is none of this should come as a surprise (particularly to my work colleagues) as I still hold an unbreakable record. Taking only three days off (two one and a half days) over two years (2005 & 2006).
People will find it even stranger that I have taken off nine days (we all get next Monday off) to attend a three day music festival. My only response to that (when Pav put the question to me on MSN a few weeks back) was to get some pre and post blogging done. Although this is all on the basis that I actually get hold of a ticket (one day, weekend or otherwise) on Wednesday evening. If not, I will have to find something else to do over the Bank Holiday Weekend.
Perhaps a month ago (or a bit longer) I was on the weights machine in the gym
and heard a new song start on the internal radio system.
I half recognised the lyrics but the actual song was one
of those dance numbers. (You know the formula by now, you
take an old classic hit from the 1970s or 80s and then hook
it up to a fast electro beat. Then give it plenty of airplay
and sure enough the kids will buy it. In fact, I remember
talking about this very subject over five years ago, and
even gave it the title of dance
floor covering. It was just before the chorus kicked
in that I realised that the song was a cover of Big Area
by Then Jerico. A little searching on the net, put me in
the direction of the band's my space page.
To go and watch the original go over to YouTube.
After I got up, I decided that I must get to the gym if it is the only thing I achieve today. I got there around 10.30am and found the car park packed. I had to park over a ten minute walk away in the over flow car park. I had never seen the gym this busy. I was hoping most people were either on the golf course or in the pool. I was right, to a degree but the gym was still relatively busy. I suppose most people on holiday or with some time off had decided much like me to come in for a morning work out. The session was hard work, I had fifteen minutes on the gym at level seven. It was tempting to switch it down to six (or lower) but I fought the urge and battled on through the pain. Minutes later on the treadmill, I found myself hitting 10km/s for a total of three minutes and not feeling too bad. The rowing machine, although now reduced to five minutes from ten has increased in intensity. I really have to push myself the whole time to break the 1000 meters barrier. I am not looking forward to my next session on Thursday. Although one lesson has been learnt, I need to get to the gym earlier.
Sunday 17th August 2008
Turned out to be quite a busy weekend in the end, even when I only had a few things planned. Caught the bus into town just before 9am, got my haircut, picked up a few things from the 99p store, then headed back home. Around 11am, I had to collect my sister from the train station. When we got back home, we did the Raksha Bandhan ceremony before having some settling down to the football. It was great to have the Premiership back and even better to have Arsenal's first match, the early kick off against West Brom. Read the match report from ArseBlog.
As the football came to an end, we had decided to go and get a pizza takeaway from Pizza Hut. My sister, Samantha placed the order from town and we were stuffing ourselves with pizza just minutes before the 100 meters final. How ironic, eating fast food, while watching athletics at the peak of physical perfection set a new Olympic World Record. My only question is, if Bolt had kept pushing himself right to the end, he would have smashed the record even further but who can blame him for celebrating as soon as he could see his competitors were out of sight!
At 3.30pm, I called Ryan and made arrangements for the
barbeque at his place. He was going to pick up Trev from
Marlow and meet me in ASDA. They had to get food and drink
before heading back to his. I agreed to meet at 16.35 and
got their early. As I waited by the entrance, I realised
that the store was a black spot for phone reception, so
if Ryan or Trev were to call me it would go direct to voicemail.
As it happened, they tried to call and had to leave a message.
I had seen them and their friend James and Matt waiting
outside with a trolley by then. We met up and headed to
get some food and drink and then Ryan offered to pay for
everything as he could use his generous (ten percent) ASDA
discount. We then all squeezed into the Punto and headed
back to Ryan's. Before the barbeque, we were treated to
some special videos. One which Ryan had spent, six hours
editing the previous night. I was in stitches. However,
I was actually looking forward to my own appearance from
one of the first videos. I was informed by Mr. Buckle that
the date of the trip to
Chessington was 28th April 2000.
I featured, with a very bad haircut, in the early segment
filmed at my workplace (Shell Cressex) and then in Crennell's
red Ford Orion Panache. We had decided to head back to the
car early and wait for the rest of the gang. Minute later
you see a frustrated Daniel return and rip it out of everyone.
My final act is to close the manual drivers side window
and say to Ryan, "Your going to have a great journey home(!)".
So strange to see a movie that was over eight years old
and from a time before I started working and before I had
made a decision on which university to go to. After the
film show by our resident Barry Norman, we headed out for
the barbeque. Ryan tried but failed with the lighting the
charcoal, so I offered to help. Although let Mr. B. take
over the cooking duties. It was great to just chill out
and catch up with my mates, particularly their friends James
and Matt, whom were very entertaining. I could tell that
James was butt of many of the jokes, but things had not
changed. It did not take long for attacks to switch back
to Trev. For a while it was just like being back at school
or college. Around 9pm, I text my sister to come pick me
up and left, I was tired and watched to catch Match Of The
Day back at home. It was good evening and I would see Ryan
and Trev again in a few weeks time when we head down to Bournemouth.
Got to the gym at 7:41 this morning and checked out exactly an hour later. It was very quiet and it was good to get the session out of the way early in the day. By the time I got home, I sorted out all my paperwork and did some shredding. Then after lunch, watched the start of The X Factor before switching over to Sky Sports 1 to watch the football. Then my sisters wanted to watch the Olympics, so I had to give in. At some point in the afternoon, I feel asleep and when I woke up, Chelsea were winning 3-0 against Portsmouth. After watching the 100 metres women's final, I thought it would be good to put Batman Begins DVD on. I had been lent the disc by Clive and since watching The Dark Knight at the end of last night, had an urge to catch the first of the reboot series. My sister Samantha had not seen it and Natalie and I tried not to spoil it for her. It was good fun, I had forgotten how dark it was and how much of a great story there was. After the movie finished around 7.30pm, Natalie cooked up some nice fajitas and we watched an episode of The A-Team on Bravo(+1). Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening. Then, a few minutes later my parents and youngest sister arrived from their weekend away in Blackpool.
As I got out of the car on Friday night, I noticed a piece of paper in the cubby hole under the dash, where you would keep change. It was a receipt, but not one I recognised, not one of mine. It was three years old, from a time before I owned the car. I was really amazed it had survived that long, considering the amount of work I have had done to the car and garages it has been into. I know a little about my car history, it was registered initially in North West London but had a service in Preston and this receipt from an Esso filling station proves it spent some time up in the North West. I am the third owner and I know the last owner lives in Beaconsfield. Funny how a little old piece of paper can bring so much intrigue relating to a piece of metal.
I am really into the song by the imaginatively titled, The
Saturdays, "If This Is Love" which I have been playing
almost non-stop in the car all week and watching the music
video. Putting aside the crush on 19 year old Rochelle
Wiseman. I really like the sound and the girls harmonies
really do work together, I just would like to hear a range
of music. Plus it is a shame they have not had much media
exposure, apart from supporting Girls Aloud on tour. I will
keep an eye out for them regularly. They have been mentioned
on PopJustice
a few times but as usual, I just skipped past the text onto
the photos. Overall a great weekend without ever switching out of 2nd gear. Good times can be had without making too much of an effort and having to trek around the country or have mega plans for clubbing. In any case, the next two weekends are potentially very busy, so perhaps just what I needed, something low key.
Friday 15th August 2008
Friday at last and a special Friday but more on that later. This is first time
all week that I have been able to come onto the computer
in a relaxed frame of mind and actually dedicate a few hours
to this blog. There is plenty of news and although an official
announcement is not to be made until after the weekend,
I feel I should let my dedicated and loyal blog readership
know. I have been offered a new job. The details will come
later but I can confirm my final day for my current employer
will be Friday 5th September. (Three weeks today). A full
explanation will appear in due course over on my work
log but the for the time being, all I can say is I'm
very excited and also just a little apprehensive. At times, I feel I am dreaming and it is not really happening.
The news was confirmed in a phone call around 7.20pm on Tuesday 5th August (I had taken the day off to go to North London). However, I did not tell my family until Saturday (hoping that by then I would have the contract in my hand). Sure, it does sound rather silly for me to be telling my closest friends and select few work colleagues and even my personal trainer in the gym. That is how it panned out, never mind. The main thing is I am off to a new job, a fresh start, a clean slate and new challenge.
An extremely busy week in the office and quite a lot of things going on outside of work. I had my third fitness test this evening at the gym. However, instead of on the treadmill as my previous tests, I used the bike. As expected this adversely affected my result and I have gone from a Superb fitness rating back down to Good. (Exactly the same score when I had my first test back in April). However, my personal trainer, Matt, explained that changing machine would affect my score because you have to keep a steady speed of around 70-75 rpm, which is difficult. I was slightly disappointed but it has given me the big motivation to push myself harder on the cardio programme, in fact, I have improved my cardio programme now. From ten minutes to fifteen minutes on the bike and pushed up the speed on my run by one kilometre on each of the steps. The cost in time, goes to the rowing machine which is reduced down to five minutes with a target of one thousand metres.
What are my weekend plans? Not a lot really, until I got a text as I left work this evening and got a text from Ryan asking me to give him a call. I had completely forgotten that Ryan and invited me over to his house for a small barbeque with friends tomorrow night. I explained that I was off to the gym and would call him later to confirm the plans, he could pick me up at ten past four (yes I know very precise) and that I could crash over at his place. We also needed to confirm plans for the Bournemouth weekend. I thought I was going to have a quiet weekend at home, watching football, the Olympics and generally lounging about. That would soon change.
Of course there is the Sunday morning trip to the gym but I always want to get a few items in the garage onto eBay and also do some sorting out of junk I have gathered over the past few months. The best part is I have longer than everyone things to get these things sorted. More to be revealed before the weekend is out.
Sunday 10th August 2008
A nice relaxing Sunday evening and although it is raining
outside, I feel good. I am watched highlights from the Community
Shield on ITV1 (even though I know the final outcome). In
years gone by I would have watched it live on Sky but as
Setanta have got the rights, I had to settle with FiveLive
commentary and the text on the BBC sport web site. If you
had paid for the privilege you would have felt very short
changed. Talking of football, I finally watched The
Cesc Fabregas Show on my XBox yesterday lunchtime. It
was Terry mentioning that he had been to Nike Town last
weekend to pick up his free away shirt courtesy of the show
and main sponsors Nike that prompted me to download the
programme. Only three months late, never mind. It was okay
I suppose, but we hardly learnt anything new. It was a mini
This Is Your Life (up to now) with his parents coming on
and team mates. There was of course a little bit of comedy
thrown in by Matt Lucas and Paul Kaye. Personally I thought
it was not like Cesc to fall for this 'self-adulation'.
There is no need to have a forty-nine minute television
show to showcase your talent and outstanding ability. We
can see for ourselves week in week out. Arsene Wenger's
appearance was also a little strange as he is not one to
shine in the spot light. Thankfully it was a one off and
we will not see anything like it again. Until perhaps the
end of Fabregas' career but then a This Is Your Life episode
will be well worth watching.
Last night I watched Wall-E.
It was very good, entertaining and funny. However the lack
of dialogue in the first half makes it difficult for you
to enjoy as much as other Pixar productions. Personally,
Toy Story 2 (well until Toy Story 3 comes out) is my favourite
animated movie of all time! Well worth going to see, and
like Pav said to me last Saturday, it does give you a gooey
warm glow inside. What if Earth became a big rubbish dump
and the population were evacuated into big spaceships.
Even though I feel asleep rather early for a Saturday night, I got up at 7.50am. Usually by this time on a Sunday morning I would be in the gym. I rushed out of bed, had some breakfast and then got ready and headed out the door. I got to the gym around 8.40am and left an hour later. Then after a shower, I was off again to Thame for my next piano lesson. It went very well. I can now play the melody to Energy by Keri Hilson. I have also learnt the basic tune for both God Save The Queen and The Stars Spangled Banner, for the first ever, I feel I am really making great progress with the instrument and dare I say it, enjoying myself.
Talking of national anthems, I am just watching Nicole Cooke on the podium as the anthem of Great Britain plays. How must she feel? An Olympic Gold medal, something that no one can ever take away from her. In terms of achievements this must be the pinnacle for any athlete.
Saturday 9th August 2008
A complete change of plan from the Friday I had planned.
Had to drag myself out of bed at at 4am today. I lie. My
alarm was set for 4am, I got up at 4.22am and rushed around
to get ready. I had a really strange dream last night I
think that was playing on my mind, hence the delay to get
up. In any case, I was ready by 4.50am and waiting for my
taxi to arrive. It was a brisk twenty minute ride down the
motorway to Terminal One and I was dropped outside in the
light rain. I walked through to the Air Lingus desk, inserted
a credit card, tapped in my booking reference and my boarding
passes were printed. Both, for my outward and return journey.
I then headed to the security area. It was before 5.30am
but there was already a big long queue of holiday makers
and fellow business travelers. This was a new area, with
eight points and new fancy cameras (one at adult eye level
and another and kiddy eye level). It was a little like a
post office or bank but you did not have the fancy female
voice over, "Next customer please" or "Please go to point
eight". Instead the members of staff had to shout and wave
their arms to get your attention. When my boarding pass
and passport was checked I had to stand on a marked square
tile and look directly into the Creative web cam device.
Then I was cleared to go through to the actual security
check. Ahead of me was a Brummie who started to have a casual
chat about the slow process. He then went onto to mention
semtex and the IRA, in fact using the immortal line, "It
never stopped the IRA" and I wanted the earth to open up
and swallow me whole! One of the lines was closed but opened
for us and we went through. Once I had cleared security
I walked through to the airside (is that the technical term).
There was a long queue for the Cafe Nero coffee shop, so
I opted to forfeit my morning cup of tea. I noticed a stand
by the duty free shop on the corner and had to take a photograph
for Pav. I am not sure if this is something that has featured
on Top Gear but it would be nice to say, "Yeah, I've got
a Porsche... travel bag!".
I had a little sit down for ten minutes or so before heading
up to my departure gate. It was 84 and a bit of a walk across
to the other older part of the building. I had another security
check before getting up to the gate. Here there was about
a ten to fifteen minute wait before we finally boarded.
I had changed my seat from the isle to the window and had
the whole row to myself. The flight must have been half
full, being so early in the morning. The flight itself was
very pleasant and I feel asleep as I usually do. I gave
up on the thought of a cup of tea on the flight and promised
myself a cup once I got to the hotel before the training
starts.
We landed promptly on time and by 8am, I was sitting on the AirCoach bound for the city centre. Thankfully it stops right out the Gresham Hotel, where I would be conducting training. Once I got there, I went up to to the first floor to find the meeting room empty. I then had a little mad panic, did I have the correct local time? I went back down to the lobby and actually went online to check and updated a tweet (is that the correct phrase?) to broadcast to the online world my stupidity. Then, after a few minutes checking my Yahoo! Mail and updated my Facebook status, I headed back up to the meeting.
It was about 2.30pm by the time I was back at Dublin Airport. Plenty of time before my flight home to Heathrow. So, first stop was the bar, Baileys Bar in fact. I wondered why the television was on so loud and why everyone seem ed to be peeled to the screens. It was the opening of the Olympics in China and the teams of participating countries were on parade. I got a drink and then sat down to write some blog notes and watch the rest of the ceremony. Well as much as I could before I had to go and call a colleague and then catch my flight.
It was about 3.15pm that the Great British team appeared.
I was wondering how ironic it was I. I should have been
in the office watching this but instead I was across the
water. Not something I had planned but never mind, after
watching a few more countries I opted that it was best to
make a move. Or at least check the departure gate for my
flight. It was B24, just around the corner. I bought some
chocolates for my family and then headed back down the departure
gate to wait. There was a big crowd, so I had to stand up.
The flight departure time was 5pm and it clearly stated
on my boarding pass that the gate would close at 16:35.
It was gone that time before anyone from Air Lingus appeared.
We were eventually allowed on around ten to the hour but
someone over the tannoy had said that this would not affect
the departure time, I was a bit more skeptical. When I got
to my seat, I found someone already sitting it in, so had
to explain I was in seat 10C, show my pass before he moved
into 10D. My row on the left of the plane had a chap in
his suit sitting by the window and looking outside at the
ground crew but the seat next to me was empty and I hoped
it would stay like that as more and more people walked passed
me to their seat. I was lucky, the seat was going to be
free for the journey. I had heard various stories from colleagues
that Dublin airport was notorious on a Friday afternoon
with so many people going away for the weekend, plus being
the summer season many actually flying off on holiday. I should therefore consider myself lucky, the flight was only delayed by about five to ten minutes for take off and then had to be stacked in a queue in approach to Heathrow (which is to be expected) and I think I landed around 6.20pm and headed straight for arrivals, to see ABC taxi driver holding up my name on a board. I was nearly home and got there just after 7pm. My long long day had finally come to an end.
My weekend began around twenty past nine that evening. I was waiting for Ryan
to pick me up and put on the TV for a bit to kill some time.
I switched over to The Hits (yes I was browsing the music
channels, they have switched from 340 to 350 but I will
forever remember 440!). It was Pat
Sharp's - House of Fun 100. We had got to number 35
on the countdown and it was a-ha, Take On Me. My weekend
could finally begin. Ryan picked me up a few minute later
and I walked up to the top of my road to meet him. I noticed
the headlights, he was driving a Punto. We headed down to
Marlow and parked up in the Dean Street car park and walked
down to The Slug & Lettuce. While I queued at the bar,
Ryan tried to find Trevor but he was not here. He was in
fact in the The Ship up the road because he and his friends
were wearing trainers and would not be let in. He called
me a little later and I explained we would come over in
about twenty minutes once we had finished our drinks. It
was good to catch up with Ryan, he had been several years,
perhaps as much as seven since I had last had a proper chat
with him. It was great to reminisce about the old days and
some of the crazy things we used to get up to. I was glad
to hear that he was still videoing most of the antis. I
remember during the later days at college that he had got
a video camera and had been recording loads of rubbish but
did not think it would carry on for long but it did. He
also still uses cassette tapes. I noticed a big stack of
cassettes under the ashtray. I explained to him that it
was 2008, time had long gone for the analogue audio medium.
He begged to disagree.
We headed over to The Ship around half eleven and had to wait outside in a small queue before we could be let in. Ryan got the drinks in and then we went to find Trevor. He was at the back of the pub with his friends. He looked pretty much the same from when I had last seen him (September 2003) the day before I went back to Leicester to start my final year. He had a more facial hair and a "little less on top" (a quote from Mr. Buckle) I would like to add. It was great to just sit back and talk about school as well as college and the things we got up to. I wish I had been blogging then so I could now go back and read those posts but it was not to be like that. The memories are to be in the few photographs we took but mainly in our memories. Not exactly a bad thing. Ryan and I left around twenty to one. I got Steve's number from Trev and arranged to have a mini reunion with Steve, Tim down in Bournemouth at the end of August. Steve got in touch via MSN today to confirm it all. Looks like I need to find a B&B or hotel in the seaside town for the 29th August.
Tuesday 5th August 2008
Went to North London today, to attend my second ever Members Day (first at
the Emirates). I got up quite early (considering it was
a day off work) and caught the 7.41am 32 bus into town.
The driver nearly ran out of bus stop when he pulled over
into the lay by on John Hall Way. I decided to take this
earlier bus rather than wait for the 100 to ensure I got
into town and to the train station early. With hindsight
I think I made the right decision, even if we were delayed
entering the bus station by a National Express which blocked
the entrance. The Polish bus driver would not let me out
early, so I had to wait until we parked up in a bay. Even
though he did not speak any English and just communicated
to me with hand signals. I then rushed across to the train
station and took the 8.25am train from platform one into
Marylebone. I sat back relaxed and put the volume up on
my Zen. I noted it was 8.31am, as I we drove through Beaconsfield
and that I hoped to be outside the stadium within an hour.
A tall task but manageable. I rushed off the train and down
onto the tube and went to Oxford Circus changed onto the
Victoria Line to Finsbury Park. (For a split second, I thought
I was on the wrong train but was stupidly looking at the
opposite end of the line!). I was surprised that there were
no other Gooners in the carriage. I then made my way up
to the ground, walking past the new refurbished Arsenal
store right next to the underground station.
It was lightly raining as I walked to the stadium. The Highbury complex, now
luxury apartments nearly looked complete. After all, it
has been nearly a year since I was last making this journey
for the Man City game (my one and only attendance last season,
if you exclude The Emirates Cup 2007). There were a big
group of fellow fans making their way down to the stadium.
I got to the right turnstile (M) eventually and went through.
I was handed a leaflet by a cute girl, a big improvement
from the completely lack of information at my last Member's
Day in 2005. However, due
to technical problems with my host at the time, I did not
get a chance to mention the day or upload the photographs.
I have corrected the photo issue by uploading a new set
to FlickR.
I made my way directly to the lower tier and found a spot and sat down, there
was a light drizzle. It was just gone 9.40am, not too bad
for timing. There was quite a big crowd gathered, and more
flooding in as I settled into my seat and got my camera
out. Plenty of children and families, after all it was the
summer holidays. Wet, dull, grey, overcast and cold. A typical
British summer. From my leaflet I could see the training
session was not due to start until 10.30am, so I had just
under an hour to kill. However before long there was already
some action. Eduardo appeared to a rapturous applause from
the fans and did some light running around the pitch. It
was great to see him back and after the incidents from February
at St. Andrew's against Birmingham City. I still have the
picture in my head of fans holding up Eduardo's shirt in
respect for the injured striker whose season was written
off in a moment of stupidity. Here he was running around
the pitch and a few months away from first team action.
It was half an hour later before the first team finally did come up the tunnel and out onto the pitch. There was quite a subdued applause as the master of ceremonies read out the names of the players. There was a big roar when Arsene Wenger finally appeared and started directing the training session via Pat Rice and his other members of staff. The players first did a few laps of the pitch before splitting into groups for light jogging around small patches of the pitch, designated by cones. After this there was a practice match between the squad, red and white bibs. I lost track of the score, just like last year but Van Persie, Adebayor and the third choice keeper (who he is, I do not know) also got onto the score sheet with a cracking long range effort. It was 11.30am, I decided it was time to leave and head to the Armoury before the rush, buy the new away kit and then head over to Denham. All the photographs have been uploaded to a new set.
I was the first person to leave and had to ask for a steward
to buzz me out, to my surprise there were still a few people
coming in through the turnstiles. I made my way in the light
rain over to the Armory and went to see if the old away
shirt from last season was available. I thought I would
buy this, as it would be much cheaper. However, it was a
case of one extreme to another. They had baby sizes, practically
newborn and then nothing but XXL. I asked the sales assistant
if they would have any for sale on the club web site but
his reply was a distinctly unconfident, "Maybe". I opted
to buy then, the new away shirt, long sleeve and get a name
and number printed on the back. At first I considered Nasri
with eight but soon came around to one of my favourite players.
The Spanish wonder kid, so got his name instead. I would
rather not say how much everything cost, including two Premier
League badges but all I can say, is that it is a good thing
I only purchase a shirt once every two years. In fact, two
of my Arsenal shirts (from 1999 and 2002 respectively) were
actually gifts. So I have only purchased three myself, not
that it makes it any easier to justify to anyone but myself.
After making my purchase and avoiding any of the other wonderful things on display, I headed back to Finsbury Park and my journey home began. Well not quite home, I went to Denham to meet an ex-colleague and friend for lunch. Although he had already had lunch with clients, so I ended up getting a sandwich at The Bellhouse Hotel. Kindly I was given a lift back home which was a bonus but it meant I could not do a few odd jobs in town but as they were not urgent it does not really matter. So much more to blog about but all that will just have to wait.
Sunday 3rd August 2008
Yesterday was a rather lazy day, I did not do much really. Even though it started with so much promise. I got up very early and went to the Esso garage to check the pressure on my tires and then went over to ASDA to buy some toasties. I bumped into my old school friend Ryan on the George stand, putting out new stock of jeans. I had bumped into him a year ago and we had arranged to meet up but never got around to it. So I promised to text him when I got home and arrange something for the end of the week. When I got home, I watched TV for a while (Sonia Deol on BBC News) before jumping on my computer at around 10am. By midday I was tired and decided to have a little afternoon nap. I did not get up until 2.30pm and then in a mad panic, decided I had to get ready and actually make up for doing nothing for most of the day. I watched episode four of John Adams and then afterwards remembered that it was the weekend of the second ever Emirates Cup. I switched on the television to see Van Nistelrooy score the opening goal for Real Madrid but decided to come back later for he Arsenal match. The last match I had seen on the television of my beloved team was against Everton (the final home game) on the penultimate weekend of the season. It had been a long wait. You can read the match reports over on ArseBlog or Arsenal.con.
Before the game finished, I had to get ready and head out the door. I wanted to leave by 6pm and I was a few minutes past this deadline. I drove across to Reading and parked in The Oracle. I then walked across to the Hope Tap (when I eventually worked out where it was but was surprised to find no one in there). So I text Pav and decided to wait for him to arrive before headed up the road to Xen. He text me that their ETA was three minutes and twelve seconds, how more precise can you get than that? Everyone else was already there and had even ordered their meals and had been served their starter. We had the long table to the side of the restaurant and the only seat left for me was at the end. Next to Nicola's twin brother, Dan and opposite Toni. My first time in this triple header restaurant (they do Indian, Thai and Japanese food) and it was a very good experience. Prompt, attentive but discreet service, that is how a restaurant should be run. I hate to be over pestered. After the wonderful meal we headed downstairs to the bar. We had a few drinks here before headed over to Bar Mango. As we walked past Bar Risa, they tried to get us in with the temptation of free entry. Andy (quite drunk already at this point) said, "Sorry, on the guest list at Mango" and we all burst out laughing! There was a bit of confusion in the queue when we did get over there, we left Eddie to deal with the bouncer. We were on the guest list and pay only a fiver to get in. They could hardly turn us away, the place was dead. Eventually after a phone call, mobile phone with text message confirmation and explaining that we our birthday boy with us. Once this became clear, that we were a birthday party, we were allowed in. At the bar, Eddie was very generous, he bought two bottles of champagne and we headed to the side of the dancefloor. We were here for awhile before venturing outside onto the terrace bar area. I had never been here during the summer months and the area is quite restricted in window as the smoking area. However, now there was a bar and small dance area, with tables and chairs. Plus an area on the side for a barbeque. It was like I had come into a new club with a new room. It was here we spent the rest of the night. If I am honest, I was not hoping to make it too much of a late night, but the tunes just kept getting played. Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics was a particular highlight. Every moment I thought I would leave, another cracking tune was dropped by the DJ and I had to stick around for a little dance. I eventually left at around 1.30am and got home at 2.15am. Great night out, just a shame I had to rush off but I knew I had so much to do on Sunday.
Somehow I dragged myself out of bed and got to the gym around 7.40am, I was the third person through the doors and spoke to Matt briefly before starting my progtam. The issue with the dedicated news channel has changed once again back to Sky News. Not sure why they have done that but never mind, perhaps they just fancied a change for a week. My weight programme is hard but I am slowly getting used to it, particularly the new machines and the new routine in terms of the order, to make sure I do not work all my upper body muscles too quickly. My next review will be in about a month but I think I will just increase my cardio programme but leave my weights as they are and perhaps add in a free weight programme.
Have you seen the Sky Sports trail for the new football season featuring Britain's Got Talent semi-finalists eScalla? My friend Terry has a big crush on one of the blondes. Must say it is one of the better adverts in recent years, just consider the recent cast. Rachel Stevens, with "More More More", Elton John with "Are You Ready For Love" are the only two that come to mind instantly. Can you remember any others recently?
I watched Vantage Point tonight (I was not in the mood for Wall-E but perhaps made the wrong decision). It was a good movie but I expected more. It was similar to the movie Go, which I saw during my first year at Uni. Interesting and a good way to burn away my Sunday evening. The plot was clever to begin with but then eventually you realise what is going to happen and then you do not really care for the ending. In fact you do not really care about the characters that much either. Plus, it was annoying to have scenes in Spanish with no subtitles. Come on people, sort it out! I remember seeing the trailer at the cinema, earlier this year and although the action scenes looked impress the story was pretty pathetic. (They should not have revealed the main twist in the trailer, big no no Mr. Director and Mr. Producer!)
I got a lift back home with one of my colleagues in his
black 55 plate, Mazda
RX8. It was my first time in this type of vehicle with
the unique rotary
engine. I was extremely disappointed, yes it was quick
but when my colleague put his foot down, it sound tinny
electronic and fake (even worse than the V-Tec you find
on Honda Civic Type-R. In fact, I was more impressed with
the digital dashboard display, the LEDs shown the speed.
I have something similar, but far less elegant with my Micro
RoadPilot.
Development continues to bring streaming option to the iPlayer script on XBMC. RMTP support is available on XBMC on Linux and Windows but not yet the device the media centre was designed for. I keep a regular, almost daily check on this thread to find out the latest news. While I wait for that to be released, I found a Windows based application that enables you to download iPlayer video DRM free to watch at your leisure (beyond the thirty day limit). It can be found over on the fantastic blog Po-Ru. I have tested the software and it is quite reliable, you get the Programme ID from the iPlayer website, enter it into the dialog box and hit download, set the file location and job done. The files are saved as mov (QuickTime) and the quality is acceptable, after all the files are designed to be viewed on an iPod or iPhone. I think this will do nicely while the geeks and nerds sort out the script or plugin for the XBox.
Friday 1st August 2008
As I left the gym and walked to the changing room, I heard
a fresh song play on the gym sound system. It was Everywhere
by Fleetwood Mac. As I got changed I wondered if I had the
song in my car, as I suddenly had the urge to listen to
it on the drive home. I knew it was on my Drive Time album
but it was a case of making sure I chose the correct disc
(one of two). When I got back into the car I grabbed my
CD case (always and only Case Logic) from the back seat
and found I did have both discs. I chose disc two and it
was pot luck. The Fleetwood Mac was track seven. There is
something special about hearing one of your all time favourite
songs which you have not heard in ages. I am sure I have
mentioned this before but my drive time compilation album
is my most complete. There were two concepts behind the
burning of the two discs (although I could have gone onto
a third). Songs ideal for listening to in the car but also,
three tracks, (80s or earlier, 90s and 00s). The decade
pattern was how the tracks were burnt, I am sure you are
aware of how difficult it can be to justify a track order.
I then stumbled upon Everybody Wants To The Rule The World
by Tears For Fears, a quintessential driving song. Then
the final track was Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind,
which I timed perfectly to finish, just as I parked outside
on my drive. Sometimes everything in life just clicks.
Pav was bugging me to come and catch The Dark Knight with him on Wednesday night, with the Poole, Sazzle and big Phil. I declined the invitation, even though I was keen to watch the movie again. On Tuesday, it came to close to begging but I still would not budge. I was surprised to see him online on Wednesday evening, the showing was for 8pm (meaning if I had wanted to go it would have been a rush from the gym over to the Oracle). The screening had been sold out and therefore there was no trip to Vue. Now this is why I always book online in advance, people laugh at me doing so but it is worth the booking fee to confirm your seats and not be left, like Pav and co in this situation with an evening with nothing to do. Or rather have to make alternative plans, like polish the M3 again!
Gym has been going well and I have started to get used to my new weight programme. However on Sunday they switched their dedicated news channel from Sky News to BBC News. Not sure why (perhaps people were complaining about the constant stream of adverts) but I found it a little strange to see Huw Edwards rather than Jeremy Thompson. A change but in any case, as much as I enjoy the quality of Sky News, over recent years I have grown a great fondness for BBC News and their team.
On the television horizon, I have plenty to watch. There is Wall-E (a telesync that a friend provided the other day), episodes four to seven of John Adams, plus another movie, Vantage Point. I hope to watch at least two out of the three but it more likely feels it will just be the one.
My blog was listed by Diamond Geezer on his blog yesterday. It was a great achievement although I have been featured in previous years. It is a blog I read every day and seven times out of ten, it always worth reading. So in a way to return the favour, please go and check out his blog, bookmark it and keep coming back for me, like I do!
My weekend plans are quite lame, if I am honest. Not a lot going on. Going to get onto the family computer tomorrow morning and see if I can sort a few bits out (even if it is just updated AVG) I know the TomTom needs to be updated and then I can attack my friend's computer and hopefully get that working. A motherboard transplant (if I can get the donor machine working). I am also hoping to catch the Emirates Cup on Sky Sports although it might be a tight window before I head out. Tomorrow night I am in Reading to go out for a meal for Andy's 30th birthday (all arranged by his devoted girlfriend Nicola). Not sure if I have been to the Xen before but should be a great evening but after the food, not sure what the plans are, the birthday boy is in charge! Sunday morning will be spent in the gym and then perhaps a visit to relatives in Bedford but not sure whether that has been confirmed or not yet. Whatever you get up to this weekend, enjoy! Can you believe that August is here already?
Counting down to Heroes Season 3: 2008-9-15 08:40:00 GMT+00:00!
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