Surpassing 2005 was going to be a difficult task but somehow I did! First came the FlickR account bought in late January, which resulted in a whole host of new images being linked directly from the blog and hosted externally. Then over the course of the summer, came the YouTube invasion and the multimedia experience began to include videos (some which I uploaded myself). Blogging at the next level and add in some of the amazing things I did, it will astound you!
Sunday 31st December 2006
I was going to write a entry about what I have been up to over the past few days but am just too lazy to now. It is 5.41pm on the last Sunday of 2006 and I need to go and get ready.
How will I top 2006? I do not know the answer to the question. However you perhaps, the reader of this blog will be the best judge. Same place, this time next year?
All the best for the New Year. May the year to come bring you both success and happiness.
Saturday 30th December 2006
It is a minute past midnight as I start this blog posting
and for the first time in months I feel I can blog "live".
Live for the moment, without the need for major notes (paper
or electronic). It may lack some coherence, so just please
bear with me. I want to cover so many topics and try and
put into perspective the year that was 2006. Less than forty
eight hours of it left and fittingly it ends with a weekend.
Christmas is a time for movies. Television movies in fact,
even with Sky Movies, there must be hundreds if not thousands
of movies that are shown annually at this time of year.
In addition to the big blockbuster that usually the Beeb
buys at some expense to us, taxpayers.
Nice for us to actually tune in our millions to watch Bloom,
Depp and Knightly this year. So ITV instead concentrated
on their fresh dramas and some reality television kickbacks.
They did however, come up with a real treat. In the summer,
the broadcaster screened the trilogy on consecutive Saturday
evenings, (29th July, 5th August and 12th August). Here
it was again but screened on consecutive days but along
side the Jurassic Park trilogy. Could this have been better
planning for a Spielberg fan? Having seen both trilogies
more than double figures. Including parts both two and three
respectively which I saw for the first time at the cinema
(if my memory serves me correctly). In any case, forget
Jurassic Park (which nevertheless is a fantastic movie experience
in it's own right). Back To The Future perhaps is one of
the movies I could watch over and over again. I have the
DVD box set and Mighty Mouse and myself watched the first
chapter back in early June
but aptly at a DeLorean weekend in Norfolk. However, as
they were screening the episodes on television I decided
to watch them again for the hell of it. I only really watched
the first one completely, the second part (which is my personal
favourite, most sequels of a three are usually the best,
regardless of what others will tell you) I only caught briefly.
My sleeping and eating pattern has gone haywire ever since
I came off on holiday. I decided to "tape" the hover board
sequence, even though perhaps I could have ripped them from
the DVD several years ago. What would have been the fun
in that? Plus I do not really know how to and have not got
the patience at this current time frame to learn. However
the television version was heavily edited and missed out
key moments of the action. I have kept the mpeg file in
any case but unfortunately it will not be uploaded to You
Tube. Plus, I am sure there are plenty on there already.
Talking of You Tube, someone else has already uploaded the
interview with Richard Hammond and I am tempted to remove
my clip(s). There is no need for duplication clogging up
servers and leaving myself open for legal proceedings.
Talking of movie trilogies I got the Fast & Furious
box set for Christmas. In this case I had only seen the
original movie back in the PB days (no, not Personal Best
but pre-blogging days, e.g. before 2002) at the cinema.
I think it was the Odeon in Leicester, a stones throw away
from my University campus. However, it had been that long
since I saw the movie that I thought I had to do this professionally.
So I would watch each movie on consecutive nights, (to coincide
with the BTTF trilogy) however on, forgotten the day. Let
me think for second. Wednesday, that is it. The day after
Boxing Day I watched both the first movie and then after
a ten minute interval, the second movie. I have still yet
to watch the final movie based in the mean streets of Tokyo.
However, I thought I would just say a few things about the
movies series so far, if I may. The Fast & The Furious
was just as good as I remember it, all those five years
ago. The sequel
is better than the first, and I know I am being highly controversial
by making such a statement but I have my reasons. Plus it
does keep my statement above that middle of any trilogy
is always the best. Of course this is slightly unqualified
as I have yet to see the final installment. Nevertheless,
let me continue with my short review. Paul Walker returns
which is great, continuity is an important aspect. Plus
the prelude sequence does help put things in place (for
those watching the movie standalone). The main draw for
this movie is Tyrese.
He steals the show playing the bitter black ex-con Roman
against the backdrop of O' Conner, the white cop gone
bad whom fancies the pants Monica Fuentes
(and who can blame him?). I really enjoyed the movie and
was a bit disappointed when it headed. I wanted the action,
the pickering between the two characters to carry on. If
you have not seen this movie, you should. I am sure I have
mentioned this before but perhaps for as much as the past
year, I have seen the introduction segment (of ten minutes
or so) on Sky Movies but never had the chance to actually
sit down and watch the movie. If anything that was missing,
it was the full home cinema surround sound and the comfy
sofa. My PC is no true substitute but it does an adequate job. I will try and catch the final episode sometime before the end of 2006 or more likely on 1st January.
I could not sleep last night. Yeah I do tend to have my
bouts of insomnia from time to time, usually when some stupid
pointless worry is weighing down on my mind. In any case,
apart from putting on old CDs on my stereo, I decided to
go and clear up some of the old text messages on my 6230.
I think it can only store around 150 SMS messages in the
Inbox and I had been getting the warning that my "Message
memory nearly full" for the past few weeks but never got
around to housekeeping. It was breathtaking to go back and
read text messages from Pav
during the HiFi South music festival and other messages
from our fantastic weekend at the Ring. I sat in bed, fully
awake thinking of all the wonderful things I had done over
the past 12 months. Just the thought of just a handful that
came to mind, made me smile. Then I thought of the World
Cup, yeah it was a World Cup as well. Although of course
from a nationalist point of few, the less said about that
the better. Other people will have photographs for sure
and perhaps presents or mementos from the nights out, souvenirs
if you will. I, however can take it to another level but
just spending a few minutes (or hours) scrolling the archives.
Even my magical FlickR account has albums
every month from April until the end of the year. This perhaps would be the moment I quote some outrageous statistic like number of photographs uploaded, or number of individual posts onto this blog over the course of the year but there is no need. I can summarize the year, 2006 in a music video.
Highlights, well there are plenty but I still think seeing Michael at the World Music Awards has to be my moment of the year. Being in the same room as a musical legend is an experience I perhaps never will truly be able to describe. Being at Dennis's final swan song game at Ashburton Grove perhaps is second on the list. Hold on, actually being at the last ever game at Highbury? See, you think when Channel 4 (and other broadcasters) do their list shows it would be really easy but it is not. Even for someone like me trying to find a top five list of events of the year is difficult. Perhaps what will kill you the most will be the shocking fact that I did it all with a measley 1.5 days off work (the exact same number as last year, taking my full take up to 3 days over two years service). You must be thinking, are you MAD? No, my name is Teg but I am seriously considering rebranding to T In a similar vain to Pav's friend Thomas, who was formerly known as Foxy and now wants to be refered to as T-Dogg. (I thought that was far too street for me, so opted for the singular letter.) You might notice it as my favourite icon (if you have saved this as one of your regular blogs).
Monday 25th December 2006
Last year I broke with tradition. Strange concept for me, tradition. However, this blog has been running for over four years, so there is a small footprint in the form of a legacy. From 2002 until 2004, I have posted an entry on Christmas Day. This has varied from a few lines with seasons greetings to all, to in more recent years a full blown account of the build up to the big day and a few lines about what I got up to. I thought about foregoing an entry this year, to make a change. However looking back on the day, I thought it only fair to cover some of the magical moments.
I got up late, or rather my whole family got up late for Christmas morning. Usually we would be up and opening presents around 9am but it was well after 11am for us to get around to it this year. The most heart warming scene was my second cousin, celebrating his 3rd Christmas (but first one with us) opening his presents and being a complete bundle of joy (well most of the time).
I got him the Disney Pixar DVD Box set featuring all the
animated movies. I had seen some but not all and decided
to watch Cars.
I had not seen the movie in the summer, even though I had
wanted to go to a screening. In the end I am glad I decided
against the big screen and opted for the small screen and
my cosy sofa. It was not very funny to me, but having spent
a bit of time reading up about the movie (as I always do)
it would have meant more to an American audience aware of
NASCAR. Nevertheless it was extremely entertaining and did
have a few moments. Well worth watching. While I prefer
Luke Wilson, rather than his brother Owen, he does pull
off the voice to Lightning McQueen with the large ego and
style you would come to expect. There are nice touches too,
a minor love story (of parts) and some cameos from famous
people from within the motor sport world. Good clean family
fun is my verdict. Now, what else is left off the Disney/Pixar
list?
In th evening I retired to my room and made an impulse
buy. I suppose I better start from the beginning. My sister
asked for an mp3 player for Christmas. Originally I was
going to be a scrooge and not get it for her, but being
the lovely big brother I am, I decided to get her one. Now,
as you know I purchased a pink iPod Mini for my other sisters,
back in September last year.
This time around I wanted to go for something better, but
more suitable for a 13 year old girl. I chose the Creative
Zen Plus ahead of the iPod Shuffle for various reasons,
the main being the screen which enabled both photographs
and video to be watched. Plus there was double the flash
memory and the incredibly small size.
It was not just the size that impressed me, but installing all the software
on the family computer (I am the only user with full admin
rights) I was impressed by the software. Right click and
send to the player. Amazing, just as simple as sending photos
to FlickR (well exactly the same method). I just had to
get myself one. Hussein was online and we were had discussed
the present earlier. He too, gave the full thumbs up to
firstly my purchase of the gift and then when I started
I was going to buy one, it was toss between iPod Video or
the Creative Zen Vision M. Having just spend most of the
afternoon playing around with one of the entry level devices
in the family I chose the latter. I needed little convincing.
However, just in case, Hussein threw at me over MSN, not
one, not two, but three
reviews plus a blog entry from someone on installing Linux
on the player! It was just a case of tracking down the device
and making the purchase. For many years people have asked
me, "Teg do you have an iPod?" A few years ago my Dad was
going to buy me a Nano but could not get to the Regent Street
store in time. It has taken me several years to finally
get around to buying on. I feel if I had continued to work
in London, in 2004, I would have eventually bought something
but my day to day existence does not require mobile music
on the go. So, why the hell have I spent all this money?
Well I want to have something that can keep me company on
match days. Not just the trips across to Noth London, but
potential days on the road now I have joined the travel
club (no official confirmation yet). Plus, as a diehard
fan of music television I will be able to travel across
my entire mp3 singles collection, video collection and album
collection and still have some space left on the side for
more. Quite crazy when you think of the numbers. Particularly
when I have spent over 7 years amassing this world famous
audio collection. The purchase alone would have been criminal,
I had to get some accessories. So I have ordered alternative
ear phones, a docking station and of course the leather
case.
Having been so selfish I decided to turn
my attention to someone else and become a giver of gifts.
There are many millions blogs out there and perhaps just
a few hundred that focus on my football team. Of course
I have only been reading the Arse Blog on a daily basis
but have discovered another blog. The
Cannon. What stroke me about this blog was the fantastic
photographs from matches throughout the last season to date.
The author, who also had a FlickR account, under the fantastic
name of lasagnechef.
I thought as a kind gesture I would purchase him a pro account.
A token gift none the less but an opportunity to push the
user into uploading more great photos of the Red Army. Not
sure if he will get around to writing anything about this
on his blog, but you never know.
Sunday 24th December 2006
So the Christmas season is in full swing. I am off from
work and trying to wonder how to fill my time. Well Christmas
came early, in the form of a present from the BBC on Friday
night.
Of course I was unable to watch the interview then (see
previous post) so had to wait until the small hours of this
morning to see Richard Hammond's first interview since his
horrific crash.
Everyone knows I'm a big fan of cars and motor sport in
general and a regular viewer of Top Gear, so was devastated
when I heard the news. You can imagine what it was like
to see him back on television again, all "fixed". I searched
You Tube on Saturday morning, thinking someone would have
uploaded the interview, but no one had. There is no-one
as super efficient as Teg, which is why I have superhero
status (but we will get that point a bit later). So I have
done the public service of uploading the interview in two
parts to the video sharing web site. Is this proof that
a man can become indestructible?
Seen a couple of movies I have been waiting to see for
a long time. (Let me qualify long time into a couple of
years, for one I saw on terrestrial television on Friday
night and the other on Sky Movies this afternoon). Let me
start with the movie I saw on Friday night. The movie stars
one of the leading actresses from the hit television series
24. This however is completely wasted on me, as I am still
to see a single second of the award winning action packed
show starting one of my 1980s heroes, Kiefer
Sutherland (wow, Wikipedia is amazing, I never knew
the Canadian actor was born in London, England). The movie
has been screened on Sky several times and although I have
been able to catch the opening few moments, never have I
been able to sit down and watch the film completely to the
end credits. Friday night was my chase, even though the
man upstairs did intervene and try to stop me from getting
home in the first place. In any case, I had heard so many
things about this movie that I thought I should finally
sit down, forget about the problems of the day and relax.
Perhaps the most annoying think about the movie
for me, was the male lead, Matt (played admirably cool by
Emile Davenport Hirsch,
well with a name like that, he was made for Hollywood) closely
resembles (not just in looks but mannerisms too) one of
my old friends I used to work with over two years ago in
the City. It was difficult to get over this throughout but
perhaps it helped. Typical teen comedy with bucket loads
of titillation but good fun nevertheless. Although I am
scared I am getting too old to be watching these tired genre.
It was great fun, even if completely unbelievable on all
levels. Some of the characters were absolutely ace and the
ending was much better than I expected. You know the movie
has made it to the mainstream when Paris Hilton (of all
people) parodies the whole plot in her music video
for her song Nothing
In This World. Completely outrageous, rude and in places
complete distasteful, it was everything I expected and much
much more. In particular the amazing "what if" scenarios
that played out on the screen (like flashbacks) which had
our main player wondering what may or may not happen. Well
you know me by now, I love happy endings, I love the hero
getting the girl and turning the disastrous situation around.
Even for a teen comedy, it did pull on the heartstrings
(just a little) towards the end.
I am a big big fan of super heroes. I even consider myself a superhero to a
certain extent, with a league of my own (Breezy
and Mighty
Mouse) but mere mortals have to cope with movies from
Hollywood and reading up about my adventures on here this
blog. I saw the trailer for Sky High when I was at the cinema
sometime last year. I cannot recall exactly when, but it
may been when I went to see Fantastic Four back in July.
It was one of those movies that I would rather rent out
on DVD, watch once and then never really come back to. Well
that is what I thought from the initial trailer. The idea
was great and the idea to send up the whole comic book genre
was clever. Perhaps we have had to one to many of these
movies for our appetites in the recent years? I would say
you can never have enough super heroes! The whole premise
of Sky
High is the idea that there is a school that kids of
super heroes go to for "guidance" and training in order
to fore fill their adult roles. However there is a catch.
Depending on your power you get categories as Hero or Sidekick.
Quite an ingenious notion, don't you think? Rather than
spoil the whole movie for you, I will just say there are
some major twist and turns and for a Disney children's movie
was very entertaining. Plus there are some cameos and other
interesting more subtle send ups which only the most die
hard fans of super heroes will appreciate. It was good heart
warming fun and just what the Doctor ordered to set me up
for the next few days.
There is nothing more left to say about from to wish all the readers of this blog, new and old, a very Merry Christmas and all the success in 2007.
Friday 22nd December 2006
The Nightmare Before Christmas
There was a different ending, in my mind at least for today.
Even though I am watching The Girl Next Door on BBC One
at this precise moment, I had more, much more planned for
my evening. I suppose, I should start, as all my stories
do, at the beginning. I got up, early for change and headed
over to the office. The deserted car park spoke volumes,
I was early but also one of the handful of people actually
making that final trek into the workplace for 2006. There
was a fun atmosphere, perhaps because were only in until
12pm and perhaps because we did not have any real work to
do. To my surprise, I actually took five calls, a couple
expected, others not so welcome. In any case I dealt with
all the issues, to the best of my ability, finishing building
two laptops and then decided to get into the party mood.
We were in the Christmas mood the moment I had walked in,
humming along to Jingle
Bell Rock. I recall the song mainly from the High School
Talent Show segment in Mean Girls (which I saw in 2005,
when it screened on Sky) and we headed over to YouTube to
watch the video
in full. It had me in stitches again, just like when I had
seen the movie at home, in my living room. This started
a domino affect with both members of IT, logging onto the
web site and watching clips. I would like to say I did the
same, but I preferred to use my time more wisely and make
final preparations for this afternoon shopping trip to North
Buckinghamshire. You can perhaps imagine how I felt. I was
excited and happy but at the same time a little apprehensive.
I had to keep my emotions in check, for the next hour at
least. My sisters sent me their lists on e-mail and I printed
them off. I was set. Or so I thought.
There were only two key holders left, and thankfully one
of them decided to stay a little longer, which enabled me
to walk out the door promptly just before 12pm. The roads
were foggy and this makes perhaps the most considerate of
motorists, transform into apprehensive wrecks. I had no
time for them. I hit the bypass and overtook most of these
cars, driving at 40 while I prefer to be driving at 70.
I mean, sure it is foggy but you can still see ahead of
you. You just need to drive with care. Just as I was coming
up to the Handycross Roundabout, there were drivers cruising
in the fast lane, so I had to take some illegal undertaking
maneuvered, just to get onto the M40. As I pulled up to
the development site, I was behind three lorries, and decided
to over take them and cut in and join the slip road heading
northbound. I was on the motorway and heading to Thame.
Fantastic. I had my Santa on, and was singing along to Hillary
Duff (featuring the delicious Christina Milian) with "I
Heard Santa On The Radio" (from her 2002 album, Santa
Claus Lane) Any other time of year, this combination
would have been executed by a combination of the fashion
and style police. Thankfully, it was Christmas and I could
get away with listening to what would be deemed by others
as "tacky" Christmas tunes. More on that news story later.
On the motorway, the fog was thick, so I transferred onto
the fast lane, behind a black X5 and for the next 8 miles,
it cleared a route for me, quite literally through the icy
mist up ahead. I pulled off at junction six
for the more hair raising part of the journey. Thick fog,
country lanes and slow Renault Clio's do not mix. However,
I was not really that bothered, I had made excellent time,
considering I had arranged to meet my friend at 1pm. It
was looking more and more likely that I was going to be
half an hour early.
It was when I pulled up onto my friend's drive way I
discovered I had left the lists I had printed on my desk
back in the office. No bother, I could borrow my friends
internet and print them off. Fantastic. Thanks to a unsecure
wireless network I was up and running without any problems.
Just after 1pm, we headed from Oxfordshire over to Milton
Keynes, in cross country fashion. The fog was even thicker
than on the motorway earlier in the afternoon and the roads
were slightly busier. However we made good time, getting
into MK just after 2pm. We were wondering where to go for
lunch and I recommended the restaurant in XScape.
I could not recall the name, but had been there with an
old work colleague, two years ago.
Tootsies
may sound like the name of a seedy lap dancing joint, but
it is in fact a cozy restaurant in the leisure complex.
We had a nice lunch, while the hoards of shoppers past us
by. If I was ever to write a book on how to shop at Christmas,
one of the first would be directions would be to never shop
on an empty stomach. A nice light lunch and then we headed
back out to the car and drove the .3 miles to the Centre
MK and eventually found parking there. It was not easy in
the dense fog. We then headed over to the shopping centre,
coming in from the street to find the The
Entertainer toy shop to our right. We then decided to
head up to the right, walk our way back down and end by
going to John Lewis for some more bulky final purchases.
I saw Clarks and headed into there but we did not make our
first purchases until nearly 4pm. This may sound insignificant
to you but buy our standard for our annual Christmas shop,
this was pathetic. In some days we would have normally have
been through both of our lists. I got a call from my sister
and explained that it was quite busy and I had only made
one purchases. My friend made the snide comment, "Are you
going to ring them after you buy your next gift?". We were
doing badly but we picked up the pace for the rest of the
afternoon and actually started making plans for our escape
back home. Around 6pm we though, to fit in all the other
retail outlets we needed to visit. Next stop was House of
Fraser, then M&S followed by The Disney Store and then
HMV. It was here that we end up almost every year and we
know we are coming to the end of our trip. It was packed
out but the customer service has improved dramatically over
the past four years (my first trip with my friend was in
December 2002). Sales assistants
would drop everything and actually help you find the DVD,
games or CD you were looking for. The only downside was
waiting in queue for a good ten minutes waiting to be served.
Then adding insult to injury, overhearing someone say that
upstairs the tills were dead. After the music store, we
headed over to Woollies, then finally John Lewis. We were
ahead of schedule and got into my friend's car. The time
was 17:42. Dark and foggy, time to go home. Ignoring the
satellite navigation we headed back across the country lanes
to Oxfordshire. After a brief rest bite, when I wrapped
up a present and got all my things together, I looked ahead
at the journey ahead. Yes, that is right, I was not heading
straight home, I had one last trip before Christmas could
truly begin.
I had to collect my cousin from Heathrow. Well technically
Sipson
before I could turn around and hit the great drive which
is has to be accompanied by Chris Rea's
"Driving Home for Christmas". However, by the end of the
night, it would not be a song I would want to listen to.
The drive back to the Handycross Roundabout was uneventful,
the dark foggy conditions had meant most people had made
their journey during the daylight hours or left it until
Saturday. I cruised off at junction four and swung across
to the by-pass. I was following a Volvo estate, which like
the X5 earlier in the afternoon was on some crazy mission
and cleared the road ahead for me. I had been worried that
by the time I hit the M4 the traffic would be crazy and
I would not be heading back home until past 10pm. I was
write but for the wrong reasons. The M4 was relatively quiet.
Quieter than your average Friday evening. I made excellent
time and was at the hotel, waiting, a few minutes after
8pm. Fantastic. I could get home and still make something
of my evening. Things never work out the way you plan, as
I was about to find out. As the nightmare begins to surface.
We were on the M4, heading back and I noticed that the
temperature gauge and it was on red. However as I drove,
the temperature gauge returned to the middle and I thought
nothing more of it. I would check the car over, on Sunday
(as usual). However, as we came off the motorway and onto
the by-pass the red led came on again. I had to stop. I
had to let the car cool down. Perhaps here I made the stupid
mistake. I called the RAC and explained I would wait for
the car to cool down for a few minutes before heading for
home. I was perhaps six miles away from home and it was
desperately annoying. Thankfully the car had failed on me
here, rather than on a foggy busy motorway. After twenty
minutes, the car cooled down, I pulled off again but the
engine was giving out a tremendous roar, even for a diesel
but once I was above 2nd gear, it returned to normal. This
was the main issue weighing on my mind, the temperature
gauge started creeping up again and it was no way I was
going to make it home. The warning light came on again and
I lost power, crawling up hill at 40 miles an hour. Switching
on the hazards, I tried to warn other vehicles that I was
about to stop. Eventually a mile up the road the parking
pay appeared. My car came to a stop. It is here it would
stay for the next couple of hours as we waited for RAC breakdown
patrol to come and get us running. The car refused to start
about forty minutes in and things did not look good. This
was not the start to the holiday season I had hoped for.
Sunday 17th December 2006
Sunday evening, and I have only an hour before Torchwood
starts over on BBC Three. Rare for me to have a relatively
quiet weekend planned, only to find myself having not spent
any time on the computer until late into Sunday evening.
Surprisingly a few stories to fill you in on with the antics
from my weekend. Let me begin with Saturday evening in Brixton.
For the record, I was not feeling great, having even decided
to rest for about an hour in the afternoon to build up some
energy for the night. In any case, I headed out around 6.40pm
and caught the 7.17pm train, having just missed out on the
earlier train by a few minutes. This was actually a blessing
in disguise as it was semi-fast, only stopping at Beaconsfield
and Gerrards Cross. It meant I would get into Marylebone
around 8pm and gave myself around 30 minutes to get over
to Brixton. I was far too conservative with my estimated
time of arrival, it took me less than half that time. As
I came back above ground, I called home, it was 8:13pm.
Then I had to find Brixton Hill and the venue. I headed
in the wrong direction at first but eventually found my
bearings only to discover it was quite a trek. Perhaps half
a mile or so? The worse thing was I was heading in direction
I thought was correct but with no real idea if the bar would
be around the next corner. I tried calling Pav several times
but it kept going over to answer phone. Eventually I came
up and saw the sign and knew I was in the right place. There
was a small side road, with parking spaces but still no
sign of Pav and he was not answering his phone. I waited
outside for a good fifteen minutes, waiting for him to arrive
but in the end opted to go inside and get a drink. The bouncer,
who had been standing outside for a while was a character.
He was obviously foreign, perhaps even from Eastern Europe
(he had been on the telephone when I had arrived) gave me
a stern look as I walked up to the door. How are you, was
the question. I looked at all the bruises on his face and
responded quickly, "Fine, how are you?" He gave no response
(perhaps doormen are not allowed to show true emotion) and
just opened the door to let me in. Waiting for Pav, I took
in the venue. He had told me on MSN earlier in the week
that it had been fully refurbished. This was not an accurate
description, far from it. The place was in a major transition.
Going from the Queen Vic to a trendy dance bar, but it was
stuck, somewhere in between. Do not get me wrong, it was
a dance venue, with a big dance floor in the back complete
with projected screen. However, there are certain signs
(in this case quite literally) that indicate that this place
is still coming together. Signs (of various descriptions)
printed off on landscape A4. Including one behind the bar,
"CASH ONLY, SORRY". A bit of a joke if you ask me.
Pav did eventually arrive with entourage around 10.30pm,
and after a drink got himself ready for his set, which was
from 11pm until around 12.30pm. Some good tunes, but unfortunately
it was dead. Not surprising really, when you consider we
are a week away from Christmas Eve. Nevertheless, it was
great to spend a Saturday night out and about, rather than
being at home on the computer. Pav did the place jumping,
but it was his first time there and difficult to really
get a feel for the place and the crowd. Although I was told,
he had become the first resident DJ to play at Southside
Bar (set list.
Around 1am, we left to go to the Ice
Bar. However, I now know that the bar in exclusive Mayfair
closes at 1am, the same time we were leaving. Never mind,
it was great driving around central London at nearly 2am,
holding Pav's N73 which was our navigation device. However
the Bluetooth kept cutting out, losing connection with the
Nokia GPS unit. Pav had to keep rebooting the device and
re-enabling the Bluetooth and we eventually found our way
around. Although, I was just shocked how busy the roads
were at this time in the morning. I expected the streets
to be packed with late night revelers but not this number
of cars (including a silver Ferrari). In the end, we drove
around Piccadilly Circus and out towards the A4 and home. I got home around 2.50am and went to sleep, I was shattered. It had been a long day and I had another busy day ahead, I just did not know it yet.
My sister is studying her Masters at the University of Sheffield and we went to pick her up. My Dad drove on the way up, and I thought he or my Mum would drive back but in the end it was me, but we will get to that later. The drive up was quite good actually, the sun was shining and I had grabbed the camera to take some pictures. Plus, we had the TomTom onboard, giving us accurate ETA for the 160 mile trip. Midday was the time on the screen and as usually it was perfect. We hit a bit of traffic on the M1, just before Leicester. There had been an accident with two lanes closed. A Nissan Primera had hit the central reservation and then spun through the gravel and landed on the hard shoulder, facing the direction of on coming traffic. So strange that on a weekday, this would have been blasted across the radio stations, but on a quiet Sunday morning, it just did not register, even though the traffic was at a standstill for a good twenty minutes. Thankful no one was hurt and the traffic was moving quite quickly afterwards. We were listening to Radio 2 to begin with, Steve Wright and Love Songs, but we quickly turned it over to Radio One, as things started to get a bit too mushy for my likely. Chappers & Dave were presenting the Sunday Lie in, covering for Vernon Kay. Listeners were allowed to choose the music and then after some stupid decisions, such as Flashdance, someone with a brain cell text in with a request. The moment I heard the opening bars, I put the volume up. It was Beat It, by Michael Jackson.
We pulled up outside my sister's apartment just after 12pm.
It was good to see her again and this was the first time
I had come up to see her flat. Impressive, even if it was
a strange maze of rooms, with various shapes. We then almost
straight away headed over into the city centre. It felt
like a long distance but the downhill cobble streets made
the journey quick. I stopped every few minutes to take some
photos. (Some of the best which I have uploaded to a FlickR
set).
This was my first time in this part of the world, but it
was perhaps the worse weekend to be there. Seven days until
Christmas Eve and busy was not the word, even for a rather
lazy Sunday afternoon. Food was on the agenda and we looked
around for somewhere to go. Somewhere different from the
usual visit to Pizza Hut. We walked around for perhaps an
hour, to eventually settle upon LasIguanas.
It was the other side of the city, built underneath a new
luxury flat complex. It was absolutely dead and the restaurant
just had two other customers, a middle aged couple. The food was
very good and filled me up before we headed back into the
city centre for some shopping. I was not really in the mood
to be honest, but it was nice just to walk around and relax
for a bit, before taking on the two hour drive home. There
was of course the opportunity to take some more pictures,
including the big ferris wheel, erected in the main square.
We headed further into the city centre and to some old market
stalls. My Dad walked into one selling football memorabilia
and asked if they had any Arsenal paraphilnalia . "Yes, Emirates,
I have my last one here, £15!". Of course my Dad could
not resist bargaining him to bring the price down but in
the end he didn't budge but I am very happy with the gift.
No where on display on the Arsenal web site or Armoury
shop have I seen theses two images of the stadia together.
There tends to be the image of seeing Ashburton Grove in
the distance from Highbury but never a picture from 1949,
together with the image of the new home, still under construction.
My plan is to get an autograph on the photograph before
I finally frame it for display. The frame colour? There
could only be one - redcurrant.
Friday 15th December 2006
My manager is currently monitoring network traffic at our
office. Although I think he did not really want to let slip
he was acting as Big Brother on our internet usage, it would
be clear to see from the stats that the holidays are soon
upon us. Guilty as charged officer. I will freely admit
that I have been spending more time online on 'personal'
business than work related items, but not without good reason.
Chasing orders for items is not great. Particularly as the
call centre is constantly engaged from 9am until 5pm. I
sent an e-mail but they have not responded. I am not really
that bothered to be honest. Although 99% of my online shopping
experiences over the past seven years have been exemplary,
I feel let down by the system on this particular web site.
Never mind, this time next Friday I will have completely
all my Christmas shopping in the good old fashioned way.
The venue this year is Milton Keynes. One of my favourite
destinations in the country (strange considering I have
only been there a handful of occasions, 3 excluding two
Christmas shopping trips in 2002 and 2004 respectively).
Enough talk about Christmas shopping, there are more pressing
things closer on the radar that I should be focusing on.
The weekend is here again and most people will be taking it easy and getting
the last bits of their shopping done. Then there is me,
with a packed Saturday and busy Sunday with housekeeping.
Pav
is playing in a club over in Brixton and as I did not support
his local gig in Maidenhead last weekend, I thought it only
fair for me to make the trek into Central London and see
him. I am looking forward to it. Not been out in London
for a long long time, plus it makes a change from traveling
in the opposite direction to Islington. My Oyster
Card is topped up (well that is technically not true,
I have loaded credit which will be collected at Marylebone
tube station, as I touch in) and I am all set.
When I was at the Hamburg game,
just under a month ago, I was asked if I went to any away
games. Of course I replied, no, but made clear my intentions
to start making an effort, 'next year'. I was of course
actually referring to next season, not the next calendar
year. This week, I decided that it was time I took my support
for my beloved onto the road. Perhaps what triggered this
decision was the Wigan game on Wednesday evening. As the
first half was such a non-event, I noticed the great number
of empty seats in the stadium. Could this really be a Premier
League fixture against the team that (disputably) play the
best free flowing football in the league? I was shocked
at the lack of support for the home team, even if this was
a mid week fixture that had been rescheduled from late August.
I printed off the membership form, which this evening I
have filled in. I thought I did not have a recent passport
photograph and was heading out the door to ASDA to get some
more taken, when I discovered I had two spare. These were
from the time I had to apply for a photo card with Chiltern
Railways for my Monthly Season Ticket, over two years in
late June.
To be honest, I doubt my application will be processed for this season but
no matter, it gives me a foot through the door. Slowly but
surely I can build up my away credits, particularly with
clubs in the local vicinity. The experience of a day on
the road with the Red army, in itself would be different
from my staple diet of trips (once a month) on the Piccadilly
Line heading north. There is so much I want to do and see
as an Arsenal supporter and I know that I am lucky already,
so early to have been there to witness so many memories.
The thought that there are, many years and many more moments
of success and failure to come, gives me hope that football
is indeed, the beautiful game.
Saturday 9th December 2006
Podcasting is something I feel I will need to (at some
point) get myself involved in. The most minor of sips from
the cup of audio blogging took place back in mid April
and I have not rushed back to try again. However, I have
started downloading regular pod casts from my favourite
blogs. First up is the ArseCast from ArseBlog
whom uploaded his seventh episode to download yesterday
morning. Fantastic to hear the voice of the man behind a
blog I have read religiously everyday for nearly two and
a half years. The pod cast adds a new dimension to an already
amazing blog and I love the wonderful balance between serious
discussion on our football team, to the comical aspects
including Arsene Wenger Hawkins (which needs no explanation).
Then we move over to Geoff across the pond on Geoff
Tech and his iBlog, which I have only been reading for
just around a year (I discovered just a few days before
my 24th birthday last year). Since his move over to Charleston,
I have been following his adventures, semi-regularly on
his blog but am sure to listen to each podcast (which is
called iBlog USA, and sounds fantastic when spoken by the
sexy voice of Leah, Geoff's girlfriend) On his most recent
audio diary
entry which is in fact a bumper edition, condensing
a full three months into a single thirty minute mp3 audio
file. Perhaps the most important aspect was the closing
song. Geoff tends to fill in the links between his various
segments with music. The closing song was Mon Amour Tokyo
by Japanese pop group Pizzicato
Five. A song which is very catchy and has an amazing
1950s come 1960s feel. Amazing, even if I have no idea what
the lyrics mean. What is more amazing, is considering that
this is all a long chain of coincidence. Someone chose a
number at random. Seventy seven to be precise and somehow
this linked to this obscure (but never the less compelling)
song from P5.
My dream is for one day, my blog, this blog to achieve the dizzy heights of fame (but never fortune) of the above blogs I have mentioned. Something inside wants people to read my blog on a regular basis and enjoy my contribution to the blogspohere. I know the reality is far from this but with every word, every entry I continue to strive for that amber nectar. I think I should just focus on the present, rather than the future and let my blog be organic. Let it grow and become whatever it becomes, rather than force it to become similar to another blog that already exists. We shall see, although I think in blog years, having been around since 2002, this site is a granddad of the blogging movement. Strange to thing what else will happen in another four years.
When I came home yesterday evening, I had to get ready as I was going out for a meal with a friend. However, my Dad came into my room and showed me ticket. I looked closely and only saw the Alan Shearer OBE. Then I noticed the scribble above the former Blackburn, Newcastle and Southampton legend's name. My Dad then explained he had got the autograph of former England manager Terry Venables.
An annual flagship event organised by the Institute of Directors and sponsored by a mobile phone operator, it was held at the prestigious Royal Lancaster Hotel in Central London. Tickets were not cheap but my Dad was with colleagues so was able to get this autograph for me. I therefore should have the set now. Both Shearer and Venables, but I offered this to my colleague Chris back in February (photograph evidence also available) only for him to give it away to another friend. For the record, I will be keeping this autograph for my collection, even though he was manager of Spurs for four years.
Bought my Christmas cards this morning from Clinton Cards as I do every year. Also have my Disney & Pixar Advent Calender, which my Dad bought me a few weeks ago. As usually I have been really slow to have the chocolates, unlike my sisters whom will have got to about 20 already. I have seen three out of the five animated movies featured and still hope to see Cars at some point over the festive period. Got another dinner party to go to over Christmas and New Years Eve will be spent at Havana, Windsor. Pav will once again but on the decks, so I am looking forward to a good night.
Christmas has officially arrived, although we are yet to
put up the decorations in our house. How do I know it has
arrived? What is the sign? Seeing the Christmas television
commercial from the Coca Cola drinks company. This year,
they have gone for a more traditional approach, but with
a time traveling twist. It will make more sense when you
head over to YouTube.
Call me a purist, but what was wrong with the classic version
we have loved for years.
The song is by the artist Melanie
Thornton. She tragically passed away five years ago
but was born in Charleston, South Carolina. (In a strange
coincidence where Geoff finds himself this Christmas.) She
may have gone but she has given the world a magic Christmas
gift, which will live long in our hearts. Okay, I know it
will forever be associated with a soft drink but if you
listen to the song in full and not in isolation, you will
perhaps begin to understand the power of the "Wonderful
Dream".
Sunday 3rd December 2006
December already? The year is almost out but my weekends keep coming thick and fast. A great weekend, a wonderful weekend from all angles. I will begin with Saturday morning. I was being far to optimistic when I thought I could get up and be ready to catch the 8.20am train from the station. I just enjoyed my sleep far too much, even though I am used to getting up relatively early on weekend mornings. After quickly having some breakfast while watching music television, I got ready. Thankfully late on Friday night I had got everything ready on my desk, so after a shower I was ready to go. I decided to wear my redcurrant shirt instead of my red home jersey, just to make a change. I was out of the door quarter to 9am, which was not too bad. Drove to the station, with very little traffic on the roads on this wet dull winter morning. I parked up and was able to catch the 9.02 service from platform one which would arrive at Marylebone within fifty minutes. I took a seat and plugged myself into my portable radio. I was tempted to tune into Radio Five Live but opted for the Weekend Wakeup breakfast show with Fearne & Reggie. Particularly as Mr. Yates is a diehard Arsenal fan and mentioned he would be off to the game straight after the show. It was great to have the company of some music to settle the nerves. I felt different feeling going to the match today. Not only because it was my first North London Derby but because of the strange position Arsenal find themselves in the Premiership table and so many points off the pace. Call it a cloud of doubt but I was not sure if Arsenal would get a result. Defeat was unthinkable, third in a row as Martin Jol said during a quick news bite on Newsbeat. So much hung in the balance, but I decided not to think about if for now. I let the music take over and drifted into a slight daydream.
Having arranged with Terry to meet up at Finsbury Park tube staiton at 11am, I was nearly an hour early, so I got off at one stop early at Arsenal tube station and headed to the Armoury. I wanted to buy some Arsenal gloves. The store was packed with early comers wishing to pick up some merchandise. There were only dark blue gloves with a gold cannon emblem on them, but I wanted either red or black with a red Arsenal crest of some description. I went to ask one of the sales assistances. There seemed to be plenty of them just standing around doing nothing. He did not seem that bothered and just gave the standard explanation that if there were none out there, there were none in stock. Great. I was tempted to look around and buy a top. A top that I could wear casually when going out, that was not 'in your face' Arsenal FC. Something with the club slogan, Victory Through Harmony, but to my disappointment, there was nothing there that I liked and nothing with those arrousing words. I headed out and walked the full way around the stadium, knowing I would have to meet up with Terry soon. I took some photographs before headed back across the south bridge, down St. Thomas Road to the tube station. This was not an easy jounery as I was travelling against the flow of all the fans. As I waited outside the Arsenal World of Sport shop, I text Terry to let him know I was there and waiting. I waited. Then I waited some more. I tried to call him but it went straight to voicemail. I was going to give him until 11.30am, then make a move. I decided to give him a few more minutes and then he appeared. Finally, we then had to wait a few more minutes for his friend who was on his way. Now this is going to sound as if I am making it all up but it is true. Terry's friend is called Henry. So here I was going to an Arsenal match with Terry (and) Henry. Their combined namesake was injured so would not be making an appearance this lunchtime.
We headed down to the ground, to get a drink and some food before the game. As we were at different ends of the stadium, we met up by block 110, which is about half way around for both us and an ideal meeting point. Terry got the drinks in and I bought a vegetable pie, I was hungry. We enjoyed some good banter before saying out goodbyes and headed out to our seats. I usually get to my seat as quickly as I can but I was cutting it quite fine before the kickoff. As I headed back around to block 124, I went out to see most of the south bank full. I headed up to the row 22 and found my seat 910, which was directly in the middle, perfectly behind the goal. The atmosphere was being cranked up, then the over the PA they announced the teams were in the tunnel ready to come out.
Great game, great atmosphere and perhaps the most priceless moment was texting a Tottenham fan from work who was watching the game live on television. I will not bother with a match report, as there are others you can read. The penalties may have been debateable but they will not overshadow a great team performance of character and grit. Spurs just did not turn up in the first half and were only slightly better in the second. As I left Ashburton Grove for the long journey home, I took a final few photos for the scrapbook. The sun was shining in the distance and shone brightly on the glass walls of the stadium. I captured the moment on camera. The first North London derby at our new home, a majorly significant landmark in the history of this beloved football club. Right down to the personal note of this being the first time I had the priveledge to see us lock horns with our bitter arch rivals.
My rock and roll weekend continued as I dashed home. I had to drive home, get changed and head out of the door almost straight away. Thankfully I had my sisters TomTom to guide guide me to Eastleigh. I was going to a dinner party with some friends and thankfully the satelite navigation got me there within a few minutes of 7.30pm. The time I had programmed in as my desired arrival time. Fantastic product, even though it wanted to originally guide me through the M40, M25 and M3 route but soon recalculated the moment I hit the A404 by-pass. I listened to Trevor Nelson on BBC Radio One and they played some cracking tunes, as requested by the public. Including Boogie 2Nite by Booty Luv, which has become a personal favourite of mine.
Cover songs, as you know are a little bugbear of mine. I have no issue if the artist covering the original goes for an unique interpretation of the song. However, I read this article over on Guardian Unlimited online and agreed with it wholeheartedly. A generation will grow up thinking songs such as Tragedy were by Steps and not the Bee Gees and the same with many songs from Westlife (who have now done countless covers). Thankfully there will be those of us willing to underline the fact that the song is indeed actually a cover and the original artist are so and so. Websites such as The Covers Project will keep the flame of truth burning bright.
Thursday 30th November 2006
There are many people whom I wish actually had a blog. Then there are other people whom I wish had never stopped blogging. Hussein, or rather Mighty Mouse is in the later category, I wish he still kept an online journal today. He headed over to Edinburgh last weekend with some friends and was uploading the photographs to FlickR when I spoke to him late on Tuesday night It was the first time he had mentioned it, so it had been a bit of a last minute dash than a planned long weekend away. While it is great to have a collection of photos and strange captions to describe the wonderful antics it is not substitution for a full story in words. Never mind, I am glad Hussein and his friends had such a great time. Having only touched down in the city briefly back in early June, I planned to return one year for the Hogmany celebrations.
While I am often harassed, or rather ridiculed (particularly at work) for watching the BBC soap from Albert Square, this evening came some redemption. One of the first questions people ask is, simply why? Well it is not the hard hitting gritty storylines, or the scandalous gossip of who did what, with who and when. It is in fact the comic moments from some of the losers in E20. Here was yet another prime example.
The song the guys are singing along to on the radio is Old Time Rock & Roll by the legendary Bob Seger. Classic. You could not make it up. This is the pure ingredient that makes Eastenders so great to watch. It is just a perfect mirror on real life. In how many garages across the country would you find middle aged men dancing along to rock songs? Quite a few I would imagine, and many more that would not admit to the offence.
To my surprise this afternoon I received an e-mail from Arsenal football club PLC. Nothing strange in that sure. However the message had a banner for Platinum Club Membership, which I am many years (and many more salary increases) from achieving. It explained that the game against Manchester United had been moved to a Sunday (due to live television coverage) and my reservation to dine would need to be reconfirmed. My colleague Chris was adamant that I should contact the office and confirm my booking. Being more of a realistic, I knew the moment I called up the mistake would become clear and cause a large amount of embarrassment. I decided to just file the e-mail away and forget about it. Sure enough by the time I got home, a recall e-mail had gone out fully explaining the mistake.
While I consider myself an organised individual, I am untidy. At times extremely so. I decided to do something about it last weekend. I bid for a CD case on eBay. While this may seem like a small step. It was actually a major step in changing a habit of a lifetime. Although I have had minor clear outs of redundant CD-roms over the past few years I have never completely moved away from stacking CDs on shelves and in cupboards. Stupid really looking back. When it comes to CD/DVD storage there is only one name. Accept no cheap imitations, there is only brand you can bank one. I bought one of their 64 capacity cases for the car, over three years ago.
On eBay I found a great case with a capacity more than double of the case that sits on my dash. 128 in the main slips, but an additional 'currently playing' slot in the inside cover for a further sixteen. Which meant I spent most of this evening sorting out all my CDs and making a big pile of categories: Drivers, Operating Systems, Applications and finally the most important, my Data. It is interesting how much you can uncover when you go to task to sort things out. I threw away over 25 CD cases, many of which I may donate to work as we always find a use for a case. However this does beg the question, why did I not do this years ago? Why wait until now, when I am on my fourth PC with CD drive to clear up all the clutter. I am not too sure, all I can say is I am glad I have finally got there.
Really looking forward to the weekend for a couple of reasons. Usually the first weekend of December would be generally quiet but not this year. (I decided to just look back at what I was doing this time last year and two things hit me. Firstly I opened my final entry for November 2005 with a paragraph about Eastenders. The second, the fact that I went to my first concert with my sister for a-ha's opening night of their UK Analogue tour. Back to the present, with an early start on Saturday morning as I head over to N5 to watch Arsenal take on arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur in the first North London derby at our new home. Then I return home, clean the car (it is in a bad state, believe me) before heading over towards the south coast (guided by the TomTom) for a dinner party with some friends. Sunday, well I have not really thought that far year, but I am sure when I do I will let you all know.
Sunday 26th November 2006
It is Sunday afternoon and for the first time all week I have the time to dedicate to my web site. Believe me, it has been a roller coaster week, not just with work but in my own strange world. Here I am, with so many things to write about and with little idea of where to begin. To make life easier I will go back as far I can and work my way back to the present. I think it will make sense, just bare with me.
I am not the biggest James Bond fan in the world. My Dad is, but even he has not seen any of the films after A View To Kill (which was the last outing for his favourite 007). I am sure I have mentioned before, but until very recently the last Bond I had seen was A Licence To Kill. Nowadays I have to catch the movie at the big screen, fully appreciating why my Dad went to see Live & Let Die in the cinema (in India all those years ago). This would only be my second trip to see James at the cinema, but I can confirmed that I have seen every single official Bond film to date. I drove from my mate's house to the Vue cinema in Oxford. Regular readers will know that I tend as a rule go to the cinema on a Friday night, the weekend a movie opens. As my friend was busy we opted to go to the Saturday afternoon screening at 2pm. We would have gone in the evening but he was busy and I was going out in Reading, so the time slot was a happy compromise. However, rather than being a master stroke of decisions, it turned out to be a mistake. We arrived a good half an hour before the screen would open, to find firstly a massive queue at the food counter. I counted four, yes, four tills out of use and only three members of staff serving. What a joke! There were two big queues forming, the busiest day of the weekend and yet half the staff are off on lunch. In any case, after getting our popcorn, we were shocked to discover the queue for the screen one, trailing all the way down the corridor. The majority of those in the queue were families and young children mainly boys the age of eight to ten. The film was a 12A certificate. We had learnt our lesson before even the Pearl and Dean trail played. I blamed my friend, it was his decision really and he had booked the tickets. In any case, we got in side and luckily got some good seats in the middle tier. After a little wait, the commercials and trailers, the 21st Bond adventure began.
Daniel Craig was never in my eyes a good choice for Bond. I am not doubting his acting ability, particular Munich which I saw earlier in the February. He is not in the mould James Bond. Personally I wish they had taken a risk and played by Colin Salmon. It would have been refreshing to see a black but nevertheless accomplished actor take the role. Perhaps the fact he was in the background in three Bond movies previously they did not want to use him in a title role. However, in the movie Craig proves he has the ability to take on such a difficult role, showing both the grit and in places the dry comic humour that are synonymous with double 0 seven. Does he look the part though? No, on screen he never truly comes across as James Bond and that is a shame. The film firstly is too long, which is a big negative in my opinion from the producers. Never do you want your audience looking at their watches, wondering when the movie will come to a conclusion. Although there is a struggle between James and his nemesis, Le Chiffre, the Secret Service Agent does not get the chance to turn the tables on him and instead the result, is rather pathetic to say the least. There is also a love story of sorts, which just does not have a place in a Bond film. Well not to the extent here, but there is method in the madness. You have to consider this not as Bond 21, but Bond 0.5 prior to Dr. No but this will only make sense just before the title roll. Another bug to bare is the soundtrack and opening titles. The theme, is not like any other Bond theme before and I just do not like it. You can view the music video on You Tube and just for yourself. You Know My Name does link in with the final line of the movie but still does not create the same feelings as Bond songs previously. The open titles to, go away from the silhouette of dancing girls, to a more colour, animated story relating to gambling which links into the title.
Bond fans go and watch this movie and let me know what you think. For the average cinema goer, I am not sure if it will really hit the nail on the head. The action and set pieces are amazing and once again, James Bond dares to do the unthinkable for Queen and Country. However, the plot is over complex, particularly for our audience of young children. I can fully appreciate the need for the filmmakers to establish this new Bond and give a back story but I think at times, too much time is spent on this than other aspects of the story. The gadgets are stripped down to a bare minimum, which is a good thing and the DB5 looks awesome and very much a Bond car. I think we will be better able to tell how good Craig was as a choice for Bond after the next movie. We should consider this just an introduction and the second chapter will be decisive. Roll on Bond 22.
I had an ultimate objective. To have Windows reinstalled on my machine, fully working, with internet access (MSN etc) and be in a position to watch Torchwood. I started much later than I had anticipated on Sunday afternoon last weekend, using nLite to create a deployed Windows XP SP2 installation CD. I had searched around online and found a web site that had all the Windows updates since SP2 was released in a single download ready for integrating into my deployed CD. Magic. I missed a few steps in the configuration for nLite which meant my install was only partially unattended. However, I must say that whole process worked like a dream. The longest process was formatting my C drive with a full format. I used this time wisely by going for a quick power nap. Having the ability to tune and fully customise my installation of Windows XP, I was able to remove 100mb worth of needles drivers and programs. Fantastic. By 7.30pm I had Windows back up and running and then by 9pm, everything was running and the majority of my software had been installed. The main thing was my digital television card was up and running so I could tune into BBC3 for my weekly dose of Captain Jack and the rest of the gang. I was even able to fit in burning a auto play CD for work, so was glad to accomplish everything I needed to on my machine within the space of a few hours. It was also refreshing to know that in less than a week I had got my machine back to normal, having spent four to five days working on a test account. I have learnt my lesson do not worry. Do not let anyone tell you that no good comes out of bad.
A quick round up on other issues (a bit like the section on the news bulletin when they say, "in other news..."). Although it has not been great being an Arsenal fan over the past few weekends and particularly last night, I received my official membership pack for the season on Monday evening. Good timing, I went to the Hamburg game on Tuesday night. In yet another one of my firsts for 2006, this was my first official Champions League game and I had a great time. I could go into the major details but just do not have the time. You will by now, now the score and how le Boss praised the boys for a great comeback. When the visitors scored I thought, here we go again. The feeling was further cemented when Hleb hit the bar and Van Persie hit the post. Was it going to be yet another one of those European nights of missed opportunity? It was for part of the first half but in the second half Arsenal turned around the game. Walcott's introduction was the catalyst for both the winning goals to put the tie beyond the Germans. The best atmosphere at the new stadium surpassing my four previous visits, particularly in the second half when the crowd got behind the Gooners.
In the post last week, I finally received the invoice for my archive supplies which had been delivered to work on Tuesday 7th, earlier this month. To my surprise the name on the invoice was incorrect, well technically no. It was just the Spanish version of my first name. Proof as if it was ever needed that my surname does give the impression of Hispanic ancestry. My cousin, Susan, many years ago researched the surname and discovered it originated from Portugal. Maybe on day, I will try and dig that bit deeper.
Friday 17th November 2006
I was a man on a mission. That was the description from one of my colleagues on the helpdesk, quite early on Wednesday morning. It was true and I knew there was so much to be done before 12 o'clock bell would ring. I could not sleep, I was just far too excited. On the day, my feelings were mixed. Yet I had little time to focus on the events of the evening. I had to concentrate on work and all the tasks that needed to be done before I was allowed to leave. It was not exactly a race against time, but I was under a little pressure to get laptops loaded for testing and SD cards loaded with software. I got there in the end, squeezing in a database backup for a contract developer two minutes before midday. One of my colleagues had given me a CD he had burnt, to listen in the car. However I cannot explain this story without giving the full back story. Sorry but it will be worth going off on this tangent.
Back in April I was at a client site, spending three nights and four days rolling out the latest version of our bespoke software. I mentioned briefly then my colleague coming to pick me up in his 51 plate, blue BMW 3 series. Well, he was listening to an oldies album he had burnt full of classics. There were some great smooth chilled out songs from the 1980s and early 1990s and I sat back while he hummed along to the songs. It took me nearly half the year to finally be given a CD to listen to. The 'oldies' as he referred to it was a separate album to his contemporarily entitled, 'Nice Jamz'. As I rushed to my car, parked outside the main gate, the buzz was starting to catch up with me. I was tempted to listen to one of my own albums. There was only one artistic I was going to listen to. However, I put on my colleagues CD-R instead, going for pot luck. I was not to know what the first track would be. I half expected the CD to be another Mp3 album, but it had only be burnt as compact disc audio. As I pulled off at quite a speed from the main drive. The first track came on. I could not believe it. Was this just a matter of sheer coincidence? Only a handful of people in the company knew I had the afternoon off and fewer knew where I was going and I assume even less knew which living legend would be making an appearance. I was amazed, surprised by this moment. Here I was driving home and although I could have listened to any of my own albums (with countless MJ tracks dotted around), I had opted to listen to my colleagues own compilation and the first track was, 'Don't Stop Until You Get Enough'. I smiled as I sped off onto the bypass home.
It was 12:20pm as I pulled onto my drive, with Beat It blaring at high volume. The adrenalin rush had begun and I did not expect to come down from this high for at least another twelve hours. Rushing inside I started to get ready. Being a perfectionist on this day, I already had all my clothes ready, Oyster card, Extra Mints and other essentials. I also had a pre-written note. A few lines I had written on Tuesday night, explaining to my family where I had gone. No one in my family knew I was going to the awards ceremony, even though a few of them are regularly readers of this blog. After getting changed, grabbing my things, I headed out of the door, rushing to make sure I caught my train on time. Originally I thought I would catch the 1.20pm train, giving me enough time to get back home, get ready and then drive into town. Being ahead of schedule, gave me time to take some deep breathes. The traffic going into Wycombe was slow. The inside lane on Marlow Hill was closed as they undertook some repairs, but all I saw was one pick up truck and no actual workmen, but then that is hardly a surprise. I pulled up at High Wycombe station and was able to quickly find a spot, even though there was a sign that the car park was full and cone stopping cars from entering. It was just a few minutes before 1pm as I bought my tickets and boarded the train waiting on platform one. The ticket master said I had less than a minute before the train would leave, so I ran and jumped on board, taking a seat on the left hand side. I was bored and decided to text a few people to pass the time. I text Pinky from the forum and was surprised that she had been queuing since 6.30am at Earls Court and was about to be let in. Almost five hours before the show begins. Crazy. I was concerned that I would ha
