Damian Byrne

2011-04-22T22:30:00.008+01:00

Happy Birthday to lots of people, Merry Christmas and Happy Easter.

'The following takes place between 2 August 2010 and 22 April 2011....'

So what's new I don't hear anyone ask or care.
I've been on holiday - and managed to avoid injury.No bumps no scratches, no hospital visit and more inportant no stiches. Even manages to do some 3 mile runs.

I have a new Bike Thanks you to Evans Cycles for making the price affordable meaning I was allowed to buy it. I've been out lota of times to Cannock Chase (fell off 3 times), the Chevin at Duffield (fell off once) and general riding anywhere off-road (no really fell off).

One fall at Cannock bent the front wheel which also changed to an oval shape, therefore new wheel was required.

I have a new Camera
I seem to have a run of bad look with cameras, my first Sony was a cheapy that I decided to sell and upgrade, my second Second was left in a pub, my third Sony went pop, I gave up on Sony. My first Panasonic Lumix went pop-whizz-bang, I gave up on Panasonic. I know have a Canon...... Surely not a bad choice.
I have a new phone It's an iPhone 4 - no Pictures necessary I guess

I have a new Bike
Not content with falling off my mountain bike, I thought I would try and fall off onto tarmac, so bought a road bike, at first I thought of a Hybrid but decided they were a 'neither-here-nor-there' bike and went all out. It's a 2010 model but £300 quid off so can't know it, especially when the 2011 model probably has a different coloured stripe (and nothing else).

I rode to work for charity
There I was, watching Chris Moyles do his bit for Comic Relief and made me feel guilty about how lucky I am to have my life, then I thought, 'I need to do something.... fun for charity' I then decided I would ride to work, and back again to try and raise some money. The problem is, this was decided on Wednesday, Comic Relief was Friday.....

I did it 18.5 miles each way and £280 raised from family and friends, you are all great people. Thank you x

I rode to Matlock to see if I could
.... The long way round, 44.5 miles on a Saturday morning with no stop for Fish & Chips... Not good.

I had a Christmas Card from my eldest children
This has got to be the highlight of last year, a Christmas card from Lauren and Ryan. This might not seem important to some, but is very important to me.

Lauren, Ryan - if you read this. Love ya lots and see you soon xxx

There, 8 and a half months summed up in 1 post written in around an hour, I really should update more.

2010-08-02T19:37:00.006+01:00

4 Months Later

There I was sitting in my 'Advanced Sharepoint' training session, where we were being taught the blogging part of the software. The trainer said, well who reads blogs anyway? to which the wonderful Mrs Parker turned and said 'I read Damians'. - Cue an embarrassed Me.

Thanks Laura, and as promised, here is a blog dedicated to just you.
----------------Photo coming soon -----------------------
What is on my Blog? - 'gadgets and technology' she said

What's new in gadget land

As you may already know I ended up getting an iPhone despite being anti-apple and not wanting to jump on the apple bandwagon.

6 months on and am I happy with it?

I now have a HTC Desire....
Sitting in my windowsill at home, unused... and why?

Because it's not an iPhone, I agree it's improved loads since my HTC Magic (still the 2nd best phone I have ever owned), with its multi-touch screen and fantastic camera (with flash), but it's still not there. So yes I am still using my iPhone, I did have a while where I couldn't use it however due to an issue around it crashing

Which meant a restore
... Which meant an upgrade to the firmware (3.1.3)
..... Which meant I couldn't Jailbreak
......... Which meant I couldn't unlock
............Which meant I couldn't use it on Orange
................Which meant it was quite useless really.

Luckily those geeky people in unlock land came to my rescue in the form of the Spirit Jailbreak, and a bit of effort meant I was able to unlock it again, so my iPhone is back up and working again.

What Next

The iPhone 4

Although you can now Jailbreak the iPhone 4. It's apparently the easiest Jailbreak yet (you can do if from the iPhones web browser - www.jailbreakme.com), but you can keep your iPhone 4.

I can't believe apple could release a device that doesn't work properly (you have to hold it a certain way). How do they fix this - they telll you to hold it a certain way and give everyone a 'free' case.

Come on Jobsy - You're not Microsoft. Absorb the cost and recall them - ALL, fix them and send out working ones.

As it shows I'm in no hurry to get the iPhone 4. In fact after that shambolic release, I don't think I'd touch another apple device, certainly not something that's only just been released. I'm not the sort of person to jump-on-the-bandwag......

Oh wait - I have an iPad

Damn, I've done it again, 64Gb Wi-Fi,3G pleasure.
Jailbroken !!!!

There you go Laura !!!! an gadgety, techy, update.

2010-03-01T21:14:00.010Z

...OK I'll go First then Shall I ?

My fellow bloggers out in blogworld appear to be as lazy as me and haven't bothered posting for a while so I'll get the ball (re) rolling.. (Cue Cookie, Tao et al)

Previously in Blog World

Remembering I was in love

... The Android / Magic / Google Phone.

What an amazing phone this was/is, take all previous smartphones, thrown them in a bag, add all the things missing from them, add a slighlty I-phoney marketplace interface and you have an Android phone.

Since my last post way back in June of last year, it seems the world has gone Android mad and a hell of a lot of phones have been release using this operating system, although I love mine loads, I am envious of the Nexus One, although wouldn't fork out silly (ANY) money for one.

One of the best applications to be released was Google Map Navigation, a FREE Sat Nav application/plugin to google map giving 3d, navigation using google streetmaps.

Perfect ...
So perfect it was only released in the USA, after a little bit of looking around, I managed to get mine working in good old blighty..... Until I updated google maps where they realised it was being used outside the US and plugged the hole (not much you can do when you need to connect to Google to get the map view).

More recently, an Archos (remember them) tablet has just been released, running Android too.

Go Google, take on the world

So after 6 months of having my Android, what do I think....

Brilliant, best phone I've ever had, get a 32Gb Micro SD Card for it and you almost have an iPhone...

ALMOST....

Sorry Androiders, I've turned to the dark side, iPoddy as ever, I now have an iPhone 32Gb 3GS.

The iPhone Well It had to happen didn't it, Over-Hyped, over subscribed, over here and over my dead body.

I now have an iPhone, I hate myself, I really do I said I would never jump on the bandwagon and get one and I've gone and got one. ( I also said I wouldn't get an iPod and it appears I have about 7).

Thoughts

Abso'kin'lutely brilliant.

CONS

It doesn't have the 'cool factor' of the Android phones everyone and their children have an iPhone.
It doesn't have the widget style interface that the Android phones have
You need iTunes.... before you can even use the iPhone you have to connect it to a PC running iTunes. - who doesn't hate iTunes
Apple own you - You are given the 'chance' to register your phone with Apple.
Apple own you (2) - Apple decide what goes in their store and have just removed a lot of adult content from their store.
Apple own you (3) - iTunes checks the software version of your iPhone and encourages you to download the lateste version (every flipping time you connect), the latest update (3.1.3) ruins the party for a lot of people as it prevents -Jailbreaking and unlocking (More on this later).
The camera doesn't have a flash
Battery life isn't brilliant
The price or the tariff - £455 to buy outright or a daft tarriff if you go down that route

PROS

Its an iPhone, a phone and an iPod in one
The apps store is huge
32 GIGABYTES MAN, that's more than ANYONE will EVER need......isn't it? (No)
Email - Yahoo mail, Gmail, Exchange mail - set up in less than 30 seconds and nothing to pay
Safari - half decent web browser
The first keyboardless device with an onscreen keyboard I can actually use.

PRO PROs

Jailbreaking - Jailbreaking allows you to

a) Use 2rd party apps that you wouldn't in the iTunes store
b) use not so legal applications that you WOULD find in the iTunes store, however without the associated cost !!!!
c) unlock your phone to other networks

The above all depend on the firmware and baseband of your device - Don't upgrade to firmware 3.1.3 if you intend on doing any of the PRO PROs.

There you go, a 5 minute review of my iPhone....

Lucky Apple aren't thinking of bringing a new device out in the near future...

(What do you mean iPad, iPhone 4 - I'm not listening..... Bother !!)

My Car :-(

As most people know, I loved my car, obviously I wasn't the only person who loved my car.....
Someone must have loved it a whole lot more as they decided they wanted it (a lot) and so, had it. Taken from outside my house overnight, and doesn't look like it will be seen again, the really helpful policeman who came to take the details said cars are now being stolen to order and has been heppening a lot during the snowy weather. He was very honest and said I will probably never see it again (Cheers PC Man)

Needless to say, after several grillings from my insurance company, they have paid out - looks like that is confirmation I 'will' never see it again.

It appears there is also a lot of fraud going on, what was wierd though, is the police were really really helpful keeping me updated as often as possible whereas the insurance company started by treating me like a criminal before being helpful.

The Seat Leon Cupra R - A gas guzzling Monster (This is not mine)

Now my car is 'elsewhere' I have to replace it, with what though, a Golf GTi/R32, a Civic Type R, a Porsche, the newer Seat Leon.....

Nope. I have gone and bought...

A FORD....

MONDEO...............

DIESEL.

A 'Sensible, boring, family car', Old age is hitting me hard,

(Why don't Nissan do a GTR that has 4 doors, big boot space, and does 50MPG for £6k, they're really missing a huge market there).

My last topic of discussion for now, My last holiday...

I managed to break my head on holiday in Tenerife (September).

While bouncing along in the sea (Only up to my chest mind), the waves became choppy, very quickly, I noticed a couple of slightly larger waves comin towards me and decided it was time to get back to beach, unfortunately, water travels faster than Damo and before I knew it, one wave had lifted my up and turned me upside-down while the second wave had threw me to the bottom of the sea (only a metre of so).

I picked my location with pinpoint accuracy and smacked my head on a rock which kinda hurt, someone up there was clearly looking out for me as I managed to get out f the sea and collapse on the beach. The Baywatch people came along and did a fantastic job of helping, and scaring the bejesus out of me before I was carted off in an ambulance to hospital.

A few hours, a few stitches, a number of taxi rides (for my good lady) and a bill of £250 later, I was back in the hotel.... the best thing about it all, realising SWMBO does 'really' love me, despite what she sometimes says, the worse thing, I couldn't drink for 2 days afterwards.

I love you ~~Stella~~ SWMBO.

2009-06-03T23:02:00.002+01:00

I'm in Love (again)

My Touch Diamond died a while ago when once again, I left it in my back pocket and broke the screen, I reverted to my trusted HTC S710 while I waited for something great to come along.

I waited and waited until last week I was shown the "Google Phone", before this time I wasn't really fussed about this as I have been a lover and owner of smart phones since they came along in 2003 (I think), however I am a changed man. The Google Phone (running Googles' "Android" OS), is absolutely amazing. I have had this phone less than 12 hours and already think I'd be lost without it.

Unboxing

The Phone comes with charger (not shown), sync cable, pouch and some books (that I never read) and headphones (not shown).

The main home screen (Left) and the application screen (Right) which you drag from the bottom in a similar fasihion to te Touch-Flo system on HTCs. (I have installed "A LOT" of applications already).

My Bedside clock which is looking favourite to replace my iHome bedside clock due to it's "Stupidly bright display"

First impression

This is the future, there is a "Market Place" for apps which are either free or very cheap, every app you can think of is available, I have downloaded for example.

The Clock seen above, Sky Planner (with remote record facility for Sky+/HD), compare everywhere (barcode scanner that compares prices), facebook (of course) various GPS trackers for biking & running, fitness apps for gym work, Roadsync (Exchange synchronisation) media players to stream music and videos from the net or my own shared music at home).

There is no keyboard, input is via the onscreen keyboard which I admit, altough I like 'real' keyboards, the onscreen one is very good and others are available via the marketplace. There is also no stylus meaning your finger is good enough.

A 2Gb Micro SD card is included with it and 16Gb cards are readily available from eBay for around £30

Does this mean there is finally something to beat the iPod touch / iPhone - in my opinion, Absolutely, I will need to test the media playing capabilities, so will reserve complete judgement, but if you can get your hands on one of these beauties, hurry up.

They are currently only available via T-Mobile or Vodafone (or eBay) but there's rumours of an Orange version later in the year.

9.5/10

Quick Update : 9.5/10 - Have just remebered "Beebplayer" which is a version of iPlayer and lets you watch BBC programmes, tested withh Episode 11 of the Apprentice - works perfectly !!!

2009-04-25T10:50:00.009+01:00

The Garden Project

I have ~~been made~~ decided to do the back garden to;

Make it look bigger
Make it private
Give Leah somewhere to play
Give me somewhere to relax in the sun

This involves digging (deep), pulling (plants and trees) and fencing (fence panels not swordy type things !!!)

So far so good, I have managed to put fence posts in straight, which makes attaching fence panels a lot easier. Plants (weeds) have been removed in preparation for the decking (Uncle Steve) and what SWMBO describes as "Readymade grass" (turf to you and me, all that remains is to dig the already made grass up.

Before

During

So Far

The Boss helping (Giving her Orders)

2009-04-12T22:10:00.002+01:00

Britains Got Talent 2009

Ladies and Gentleman, the winner of Britains' Got Talent 2009 is

Flawless

... and a massive "Big Up" to Steady, from Derby.

2009-01-29T20:29:00.004Z

(New Years) Resolutions

At a time when most people have fallen of the new years resolution bandwagon, I am about to start mine, albeit the same as it is every year (get fit, lose weight, save money - It actually gets quite boring).

The best thing about starting this in February is...

I can finish all the rubbish left over from Christmas (Chocolates, Beers, Cheese etc)
I can still have a good January without feeling guilty
Everyone else will have given up now so there will be none of the "you can't eat that - how many calories"

Today I managed to get a heart health check at work. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. If you know me, you'll know that I eat quite a lot of junk food. in the last 7 days alone I have had 2 Dominos pizzas, been to a party, out for a curry, and out on a beer session (Derby v Forest forced that one).

I was expecting to get my results and be scared into a dramatic change of lifetsyle, I am, however happy to report the following results.

Height :- 6' 2.25" (I seem to have grown a quarter of an inch)
Weight :- 14st 10lb
BMI :- 26
Waist :- 35"
Blood Pressure :- 140/106 (I demanded a recount which was 137/94)
Cholesterol (Total) :- 4.35
Cholesterol (HDL) :- 1.40
Cholesterol (Ratio) :- 3:1
Blood Glucose :- 5.55
Risk of Heart Disease in the next 10 years :- 1.8%

Although some of these are bad (especially the Blood pressure), I am 3 days away from changing this, My goals are:

Lose 2 stone of bodyfat while maintaining a weight of 14 stone (if that makes sense), thus lowering my BMI
Target BMI 20-22)
My bloodpressure was high because I have had a stressful week, going to the gym will help this.
Cholesterol is ok however with my change in diet, this is also likely to drop.
Waist :- 34"

My office is full of unhealthy males (one healthy female) who also have similar goals, this should make it easy during the day, SWMBO eats 99% healthy (at home anyway) so I have no temptations at home... in theory, this should be easy.

Harrison, Dhadli, hLacey, Johnson, Hallam, Lort, Earp....Bring on the weight loss challenge.

2009-01-19T22:19:00.007Z

Happy(ish) New Year

Long time no post and what a crazy time it has been in the world of... everything
Companies are disappearing from our high streets and the internet (Zavvi, Woolworths, Empire Direct, Adams etc).
Car firms are stopping production for the time being and some car dealers are doing BOGOF on Vauxhalls. Whereas Land Rover, Jaguar, Honda and others are worringly shedding jobs.

The interest rate has dropped so low that people are actually glad to be on a variable rate although first time buyers still can't get houses as there's about 3 mortgages available to everyone.
My Xbox had the dreaded red ring on Christmas Eve, meaning a whole two weeks of no Xbox playing. I had to resort to spending time with the 'real' family rather than the online one, I don't even have a Wii as a backup.

I guess I should count myself lucky, I have no plans to move house, no need to buy or sell my car, I don't work in retail. Although you can't predict the future and I wouldn't try to.

New years resolutions started on 1st January and were quickly postponed to 1st February due to the insane amount of chocolate and beers that were left over after Christmas.

My Little Darling can count to 13 and loves her kicthen (like father like daughter) and her bouncy zebra thing.
My older darling loves her Girls Aloud concert tickets although doesnt want anyone to know (oops!!!)

My mother darling loves her new iPod although wants a manual type thing so she can learn how to use it.I only have 1 new gadget to report on - the new Palm Treo Pro (running Windows 6.1) is very nice. I have been using it for a month now so it must be good.

In other News... it's business as usual as The Rams (Derby County) continue to play as dreadful as ever, although we now have a "Clough" in charge to get it sorted (we hope).

2008-12-03T21:19:00.003Z

EPMD - The Return

I have loved Hip Hop/Rap Music for years, my first rap album (and by album I mean record/LP) was NWA - Straight outta Compton purchased in 1988 from BPM Records in Derby. (you may not have heard of N.W.A. but moreso 4 of the founding members, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy E - RIP.

An album I bought soon after this however was EPMD, which I loved, EPMD (Erick Parrish Making Dollars), were fantastic, where NWA was hardcore, hated everyone from women to the police and censorship, EPMD were softer albeit slightly.

It's great then, to hear that EPMD are back and about to release a new album "We Mean Business"(15/12/08) - I have pre-ordered mine from Play.com I'll let you know what I think when it arrives.

Other albums from the the last 80's early 90's I bought include;

Digital Underground - Sex Packets (2Pac was a memer of this group before he was famous in his own right). - Check out tracks ""Freaks of the Industry" "Humpty Dance" and "Sex Packets"
Nice 'n' Smooth - Nice 'n' Smooth- "Funky for you" and "Perfect Harmony"
Public Enemy - Apocalypse '91 - "Shut em Down", "Can't Truss it", "By the Time I Get to Arizona" and "Get the F*** Outta Dodge"

Don't you just love those classics

2008-11-18T22:05:00.006Z

It's too late for Blame

This is a photograph of a beautiful little boy who, until a few days ago no-one would have taken a second look at.

That was until this photograph was put to the name of "Baby P" or Baby Peter.

This poor defenceless little boy was subjected to months of torture and abuse, so much so that I cannot even write them on my blog as, firstly I have been unable to bring myself to read the things that were done, and secondly I wouldn't want to upset anyone else, I don't mind admitting that reading it myself brought tears to my eyes.

But what makes this even worse, is the people that did the things to him, was his own mother, along with her boyfriend and the lodger

Re-read that "His own Mother"

There are no words I can think of that will describe these "people",

From the small amount I have actually read, the police, social workers, health visitors and doctors visited this baby more than 60 times and still he wasn't removed for his own care (and safety.

I imagine those responsible for the failings which cost Baby Peter his life will never be brought to account, I hope justice will prevail - I am guessing the murderers will be locked away away from other prisoners (unless the wardens accidently leave the doors unlocked).

The news today reports a Child Trust Board will be set up in every area of England, do you really think this will help?

What we need is every adult, parent, child, teacher or friend to not be afraid to raise concerns for someone they are worried about.

while I am sure there are no plans to release photos and names of the people for killing this baby, Freedom of Speech on the internet will ensue and someone will release such information on a blog somewhere in the interweb *<- LINK.

It would seem however that this kind of cruelty is a one-off, another case making the headlines today in New Zealand of yet another Mother being charged for manslaughter, or failing to protect their child.

I quote from the BBC News article

...Neighbours who saw some of the abuse have told reporters they will live with the guilt of not having informed the authorities sooner. "

You may have to live with the guilt, but at least you are given the option to live.

Let's protect the worlds' children, they are our future.

*Thanks to Cookie for the 1st Link

2008-11-01T15:50:00.002Z

This is it...
The time has come, After Derby Countys' less than brilliant performance in the Premiership last year and F*rests' "lucky streak", the 2 teams are set to meet tomorrow.

Come on you RAMS !!!!!

2008-10-30T19:16:00.001Z

Oh Per-Lease...

The whole Russell Brand and Jonathon Ross issue has got slightly out of hand.

It has made front page news for the past 3 days and over what...

A "Jibe" over an actors grand daughter, the same actor that offended a generation of Spanish citizens, and his grand daughter who, until last week, no-one had heard of.

Now we see there have been nearlty 30,000 complaints regarding the comments made by Mr Brand and Mr Ross.

Brand has since quit the BBC, and Ross has been suspended for 3 months...

...suspended, ... 3 months, does Mr Ross not earn £16 grand a day for the BBC, does that not cost us, the tax paying, licence paying public.

Ok they cocked up and upset said person/s, but am I not alone in thinking something is not right, Gordon Brown and possibly other politicians putting their oar in and "expressing the views of the general public" speaking for the people, Mr Brown, when have you ever spoke for the people, if you did that, then you'd step down or call an election to see what people really think of you !!! (I DARE YOU).

So now we are left paying our licence fee to not watch the Jonathon Ross show on FRidays, which, to be honest, is the best chat show on TV, I dont really listen to Radio 2 as I'm not old enough just yet.

Ok they went a bit too far, but how many people who complained actually heard the show (I think 3) and how many people complained for something to do.

Don't worry, you'll feel a lot better come Sunday, because you'll be able to watch Top Gear that you hata agnd complain about that come Monday.

Still, takes the focus off the fact we're in a recession, can't afford food, petrol and our mortgage.

Does anyone else think this has gone too far.

Whatever next, people complaining about a Black US President !!!!

Note: Apparently Jonathon Ross has been suspended without pay - NOTE TO Mr Ross - QUIT THE BBC AND GO TO CHANNEL 4 .... We'll watch you there...

2008-10-18T21:20:00.005+01:00

More Gadgets

I have had my HTC Diamond for a couple of months now, at first I didn't like the lack of keyboard and almost went back to my old trusted s710, I continued and now quite like it.
I have now been given a shiny new device however, The HTC Touch Pro - Which is the same as the Diamond, but with a keyboard.
This must be perfection I thought... Nope, now it has the keyboard which I wanted, the device is too big, its double the depth of the Diamond. - It also doesn't have 4Gb internal storage like the Diamond has, it does allow for MicroSD however.

I will continue to play, I have already begun by wiping the Vodafone software by flashing the ROM to a more Damo friendly OS.

More soon

2008-10-18T20:25:00.002+01:00

5K - Bring it On

Fresh from my 5K run last Saturday, I have come to the conclusion that I actually enjoyed it and not only will I be doing it again next year, but will be "Raising my game" and running the "Derby 10K" in April (Sunday 19 April).

This time I plan on doing more training, I say "More" I should actually mean "Some", rather than the 1 5k run in Tenerife and a pathetic 3K attempt the sunday before my run, I'll plan properly and aim for a time of less than 60 minutes.

I have ages - 7 months to ready myself for this one, how hard can it be.

Tao - Are you joining me?

2008-10-18T20:08:00.003+01:00

The Holiday

I'd get round to it in the end and yesterdays' news prompted me.

After 3 weeks of worrying wether or not our flight company would still be around to get us to Tenerife, we managed to get there, the weather was great, the restaurants were nice as usual and the nightlife was...

...Dead.

Tenerife must be going through the credit crisis along with the rest of the world. the usually busy Veronicas strip was empty, the pubs were pumping out music but had no-one in them, the people that usually hassle you to death until you go into their pub for a "buy one - get one free" were standing around talking to each other, occasionally asking "where you were going later".

I'm not sure whether this was down to the recent problems with holiday companies and airlines going bust, prices in most of the restaurants increased, the Euro dropped from 1.6 to 1.2 meant this is not the cheap as chips holiday it once was.

Thanks to the in-laws though who take us with us at extra expense to their timeshare, this means we managed to get a rest when they took Leah on their daily walks, as well as an on-call babysitter.

... 2 weeks after returning to the UK, our flight company (LTE) went bust....

2008-10-11T15:33:00.009+01:00

It was Big and was not Fun !!!I DID IT !!!!

My first ever Fun Run.

Went to the gym (to leave my clothes in the locker),

got to the start/finish line at 10.30 for the the big warm up which consisted of doing excercises that made us all look like fools !!! (but had a laugh doing so).

at 11.00 the air gassy soundy thing went off and we were off.

I know I wouldn't be able to run the whole course, I had a but of a run, then walked for 3 minutes, before I knew it I was at the 2 Km marker, before I knew it someone was saying "come on, you can do it", decided then and there he was to be my pacemaker and wasn't going to get away from me, 30 seconds later he had got away from me...

I managed to catch him up again eventually and before I knew it I had reached 4Km, turned a corner and could see the finish line. I managed to almost run the last bit and crossed the finish line, panting, sweating and needing a ~~beer~~ healthy bottle of water.

I set my target at 45 minutes, hoping to do it in around 40 but amazing myself that I did it in 28 minutes.

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me, both online and on paper, my chosen charity was SADS UK, I have so far managed to raise about £200 which is fantastic, I really only thought it would be £50 but the generousity of people is overwhelming.

Also thanks to SWMBO for coming out to support me, less than24 hours after having an op to remove the device monitoring her heartbeat intervals. (Reveal Implantable Loop Recorder (ILR)).

Now then - I really need that beer.

2008-10-07T21:32:00.004+01:00

I'm Back
I am back from my Tenerife retreat and ready for my big run.

I have trained, (2 short jogs), have my sponsors, (me) have my water bottle, (JD) and am ready for the Big Fun Run.....

Please sponsor me at my Justgiving site, its for a very worthy cause if you read my blog you will know all about it.

Thanks all

2008-09-12T22:05:00.006+01:00

Holiday

I am due to go on holiday soon, this is just the break I/we needed, a couple of weeks in Tenerife with the "missus" the "little-un" and the "in-laws".

At first, I though the main issue would be the credit crunch causing the exchange rate dropped from an average €1.5/£1 to €1.2/£1. It has just got a whole lot worse.

A Serious XL Crash

XL Leisure Group, the 3rd largest tour operator in the UK has effectively gone bust, all flights and package holidays are now non-existent, although we have not booked with this company, following the recent collapse of Zoom, Silverjet and only yesterday Futura International.

Even football is now affected

It is very worrying hoping company we are flying with will still be operating when we do go (and come back), we are not on a package holiday as the in-laws have timeshare, we are still relying on the flight company to get us there.

There is no alternative, alternative flights are 4 times the price we paid (and ours weren't cheap!!!).

This was the week that the rain came down, holiday companies went bust, the world ended and the channel tunnel closed, on a positive note, petrol came done 1 pence....

Question: What is worse, getting to Tenerife and getting stuck, or not going on holiday

2008-09-09T20:09:00.007+01:00

The End of the World is nigh (tomorrow)...

(... but if it doesn't end, there are new gadgets on the way).

News is the world will end tomorrow, although I would have guessed at a repeat of the Bibles "40 days of rain" apparently the "Large Hadron Collider" is a 27-kilometre underground tunnel that thousands of science geeks have built along the France-Switzerland border in an attempt to "maybe" discover the "Theory of Everything"

It's not pocket-sized and doesn't have a touchscreen

This Gadget is being switched on tomorrow when it has been said one of 3 three can happen

1. The secret to theory of everything being revealed

2. Nothing

3. The creation of a black hole that will devour the Earth.

Obviously I'm going with option 1 or 2. If it does turn out to be option 3, my holiday plans are scuppered and I haven't written down my logon passwords in case anyone does survive and needs to log onto my computer.

If, however the world doesn't end, there's 3 new gadgets coming very soon...

1. The next generation iPod Nano

Photo courtesy of Engadget

2. The HTC s740

3. The HTC Touch Pro

Hurrah...!!!

Edit:

The next generation iPod Touch also announced

2008-09-03T20:29:00.003+01:00

I am a Prince....
... 2 Foundation qualified chap.

I have just completed (and passed) my PRINCE2 foundation course

The reason for doing this course is not to become a Project Manager, but to understand the methodology of Project Management in my day to day life - especially when being "updated" by PRINCE 2 Project Managers, I should now be able to relate to PRINCE 2 management practices when dealing with projects.

I was advised to go further and do the Practitioner but I am not really wanting to go that far (I might be forced into Project Management).

For now I am happy with PRINCE 2 and ITIL v3 qualifications

.... Now where do I use them?

2008-08-27T14:18:00.004+01:00

Update...

Dear Damian Byrne

Thank you for signing up to run in the Big Fun Run event. Your application for
a place in the Derby Big Fun Run 2008 on Saturday 11th October has been
accepted. We look forward to seeing you on the day.

Tis done, I have signed up, chosen SADS as my charity and paid my £7.50 entrance fee, this is it, I have to do it now. 5k here we go.

I understand the treadmill/cross trainer is a completely different experience to road running, I did however manage 5k on the cross trainer (5.01Km/20 min 20 sec/ 302 calories), then straight to the treadmill for 2.5k (2.51Km/15 min 7 sec/ 261 calories).

I am going to set a pace of 30 minutes to do the 5k, this is at a steady 10Km/hour, not sure how realistic this is, only time will tell.

2008-08-27T09:37:00.003+01:00

Am I going Mad.

I had a thought while waiting to go to the gym. - (May have been a momentary lapse of sanity)

Why don't follow the Tao route and do a real out-of-the-gym run.

Googling for "Derby 5k" brought a link to the same event Tao is running, the Big Fun Fun, and it's in Derby too.

There is no "fun" in a "run"

The only problem, it's 11 October. This gives me less than 6 weeks to prepare, not only this but I'm on holiday for 2 of those.

Can I compare running on the treadmill with running on the ground ?
Will my knee hold up for 5k ?
Will I wake up from this nightmare ?
How long are you supposed to prepare for a 5k run ?

I shall go to the gym and try a 5k treadmill run - Paramedics on standby

2008-08-26T20:47:00.003+01:00

The Fatloss Fitness Continues

That's me that is (almost)

I have hit the gym 4 times in the last 5 days (I went for a walk on the other day !!!!)

As Tao will agree, the Podrunner Podcasts are not only good at listening to whilst doing your cardio, they also make it easier.

I managed 40 minutes on the cross trainer yesterday, burning 6oo calories and running 10k. YES Damian Byrne did a 10k run. - This was while listening to the latest podcast "167 BPM - “Waiting for the Sun”

OK I know its nowhere near a real 10k run, but made me think, could I do a real 5k run, Tao has gone a stage further and entered himself in the MK 10K.

I am off work this week and made a vow to go every day.

Todays workout consisted of;

15 minutes treadmill - 200 calories - 3Km
15 minutes x-trainer - 225 calories - 4.7Km
Weights
15 minutes treadmill - 200 calories - 3Km

2 hours in the gym and still home by 9.30

By the end of this I aim to cycle to the gym, do my workout and cycle back again (7 miles on cycle), If that doesn't help me lose weight, I give up...

.... To think I'm calling this holiday from work !!!

2008-08-26T20:33:00.003+01:00

Well... Would you ?

This report shows some companies are starting to allow employees to work 4 days instead of 5.

Great news I hear you shout, it does mean working 4 long days rather than 5, (for some this would mean us working 4 long days rather 5 long days, weekends and evenings).

This saves both the company money in operating costs, while saving the employee in travel costs and time, nursey fees etc and more importantly, gives them a 3 day weekend.

I'd be in, would you?

2008-08-23T19:16:00.003+01:00

Still getting fit

An amazing coincidence occured, my fellow blogger, Xbox Owner, Ipod lover and former work colleague Tao has just started getting fit and has also blogged about it here and here.

We are both doing identical workout regimes using the exact same running podcast (Podrunner Intervals).

These Podcasts are brilliant, I am now listening to Level 1 - Week 4 which consists of;

BPM CHART:
5-minute warmup @ 129 bpm
3 minutes @ 140 bpm
90 seconds @ 130 bpm
5 minutes @ 140 bpm
2 minutes 30 seconds @ 130 bpm
3 minutes @ 140 bpm
90 seconds @ 130 bpm
5 minutes @ 140 bpm
Two minute cooldown @ 130 bpm

I ran this earlier this morning and managed a distance of 7.25k, burned 470calories in the 30 minutes the podcast ran for.

Geek Alert - Tao is now ready to run in the real world and splash out on pimping his iPod with the Nike Plus sports kit or a GPS watch and Google Mapping his route.

I have done similar althoug spent less (nothing). Firstly I don't go out running, however when I go out on my bike, I have a GPS enabled PDA and use GPS Tuner to map the route (30 day trial) which allows you to upload the data.

That's all I need (for now) although am looking to get a heart rate monitor to ensure I keep my heart at 150BPM (optimal for fat burning/cardio).

2008-08-17T21:35:00.008+01:00

Get Fit (again)

It's that part of the year where I decide to get fit (again) 5 weeks to my holiday where I start to think, "Sh!t, I need to lose weight, I'm going on holiday soon".

I am quite lucky as the excess weight just drops off me as long I eat sensibly and exercise, I attempted the "AH nearly dying diet"* last year, although it worked and I lost almost 1 and a half stone, it's not recommended for 2 reasons;

You might die
You will probabyly put weight back on.

I have resorted to normal methods, cycling (Kind of) and going to the gym - this is what this post is about.

If you like listening to your iPod while running, and like fast music to help with the cardio, have a look at the Podrunner podcasts.

The Podrunner podcasts have a fixed BPM for use when cardio training
There are also Podrunner Intervals which have a varied BPM which I use for High Intensity workouts, I am currently doing the "First Day to 5K".

Try it.. (Or Don't)

The AH diet so called after "me mate" at work, who decided to go one better than me last year and have a brain tumor. - It's all about one-upmanship on our office...

EDIT: Apparently it wasn't a brain tumour - it was a "giant pituitary macroadenoma", (Isn't there a dance to that song). - I SAY : SAME THING

2008-08-16T15:38:00.003+01:00

HTF

This is an addition to "WTF" in relation to what I have just watched...

How the hell did Usain Bolt manage to run 100m in 9.69 AND leave the rest of the field standing, it seemed he didn't even try.

Wow - I hope this is pure natural ability. Well done that man (He shouldn't have slowed down though).

Watch it here on the BBC site

2008-08-11T16:46:00.004+01:00

Another One

Bernie Mac - a great actor and even greater comedian also passed this weekend, his stand up shows (not suitable for children) always featured is trademark "I ain' scared of y'all Mother Hubbards" - It wasn't actually hubbards but you get the drift. He died on Saturday of complications from pneumonia at just 50 years old - Wow !!!

RIP Bernie Mac

2008-08-10T22:35:00.005+01:00

London to Brighton Bike ride
(Read: Little Eaton to Makeney Bike Ride)

They say things happen in 3s' My 3rd blog in a day.

First blog was the motivational video from a man who was dying, then a blog about a legend who has passed, this one is the very opposite (no not more babies - but staying alive).

This is going to be a shock to some, but I am back on my bike - the shock may be the sight of me in cycling shorts hence the conveniently placed newspaper showing the date.

I managed a 6 mile bike ride on Thursday, not far I admit and I had to stop twice, but it's most definetaly a start - less than a year ago I couldn't even pedal full circle so this is quite good going.

I'm all geeked up too - I have installed GPS Tuner on my PDA which gives tracks the whole route including distance, speed, altitutude, rate of climb etc, so will be able to monitor ~~exactly where I have my heart attack~~. how well I am doing - I am hoping I can do a 10 mile ride in the next couple of weeks.

.... remember kids, wear your cycle helmet at all times. you may look a div - but when you smack your head on the ground - you just need to buy a new helmet rather than a coffin.

Bring on the bike ride Cookie - Lets have ya !!!

2008-08-10T22:09:00.005+01:00

Isaac Hayes - RIP

Isaac Hayes - 20/08/1942 - 10/08/2008)

I was raised listening to Isaac Hayes, In fact Black Moses was one of the records I used to use to skid around the carpet on when I was a wee boy (Sorry Mum). Sad to hear that he passed away today.

He was the voice of the 70's for the single reason that is the movie "Shaft", and was the voice of the Chef in Southpark (until he fell out with the creators over a scientology episode).

Chocolate Salty Balls anyone?

Altogether now

"Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother-man? Shaft"

2008-08-10T12:13:00.003+01:00

Life... and all that is associated with it.

We all bitch and moan about our lives, our jobs, our family and friends and the world in which we live in, most of us should be thankful we are alive, fit and well, I for one shouldn't complain after coming through a year of "a dodgy knee" as I can walk, ride and do everything else again that at one point thought I'd never do.

For those who still do have things to moan about, spend 11 minutes and 32 seconds watching the video below. This is a lecture given by Randy Pausch, a University professor in the US who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. This is actually a reprise of his last lecture given to his students and rather than be morose and sad.... well just watch.

Inspiration or what ?

2008-07-26T14:09:00.004+01:00

New Gadget...

... and about time too, it's been months since I have had chance to get a new gadget, this is due to the ever increaseing price of Oil - It's not, but hey, let's jump on the bandwagon and lay blame.

Any-hoo

I have managed to acquire the new HTC Diamond.
First impressions.

When I eventually managed to get the box open, I switched the diamond on where I was greeted with the standard Vodafone version of the software, this of course will be changed to the standard HTC ROM as soon as I have a spare 10 minutes. All in all a slim device, similar in size to many of the Samsung phones around at the moment.

I like - the size, interface, the built in GPS, the 3.2Mp camera, the built in 4Gb drive

I don't like - the interface, lack of keyboard, no buit in GPS software, the built in storage (no capabililty to extend with MicroSD Cards etc.)

I recently gave up using the HTC Touch Dual as it became very slow and I am gradually going off full touch screens (yes I know the Dual had a slide out keypad), I reverted back to the trusted HTC S710.

I have been playing with the Diamond for 2 days, but again have reverted back to the S710 while I transfer contacts etc. Check back soon to see if I actually use the Diamond...

2008-07-06T12:56:00.006+01:00

Go Go Go !!!!

Fantastic news (for us local people anyway)

It was announce on Friday that the British Grand Prix will move from Silverstone to Donington in 2010, this is due to problems between the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC) and Bernie Ecclestone.
Whatever the issues are, I don't care, being an F1 fan for 2o years, (yes even before I was born), I have been wanting to go to a race for about 6 years although never actually bothered to, I had a ticket for last year but had to give it away so I have my knee op, and this years lot of "4 freebies" fell through..

Donington is in Leicester/Nottingham/Derby depending on your choice and is less than 45 minutes from my house, so come race weekend, I'll be able to get there in 2ish hours.

Can't wait - and Leah enjoy it even more then (She is also a fan of F1 - has been since 20 days old).
BTW:- Lewis Hamilton - well done

2008-06-21T09:22:00.003+01:00

"...and the Creed and the Colour and the name don't matter..."

I remember the above line from a hymn we used to sing at school.... all those years ago.

As SWMBO is working (again), I have the pleasure of enjoying looking after my little girl, hence the 6.30 morning wake, I have been forced into watching the Baby TV channel, during Leah's sleepy time however, I watched BBC news who report on the adoption crisis facing black and ethnic minority children, this is plain damn crazy, councils and social workers are trying to "match" children and parents based on their ethnic origin etc, this is leading to these children being left in care longer than average, and people who want to adopt, not being able to, this made me think.

What does it matter.

The Flag of Damian Byrne

I am Half Caste (you may want to be PC and call it mixed parentag/mixed race/dual heritage whatever - I don't - I am a full, pure, 100% person), My mum is White (half British/half Irish), my Dad is Jamaican, this means that I am 1/4 Irish, 1/4 British and 1/2 Jamaican. I don't 'fully' match my parents, either in race, background etc, so what the hell would have happened if I had been put up for adoption.

I feel sorry for the poor children that cannot be adopted for the simple reason that they are the wrong colour, and this is the plain and simple fact - it is solely down to colour. I feel sorry for the people who can't have children and can't adopt, I think the majority of people would adopt a child be it black, white, yellow or pink with green stripes. I feel sorry for the perfect people runnig these councils who assume colour matters. (The same people that tell me I can't call myself Half-Caste, we can't say blackboard, blackmail, manhole cover, whitewash etc).

You should concentrate yourself on something that matters more in the world - FFS

2008-06-11T21:58:00.006+01:00

"You're Hired"

Congratulations to Lee, Winner of the Apprentice 2008
And to Tao for his prediction...

2008-06-11T21:19:00.003+01:00

The Apprentice - The Final

Yay - The final is upon us and the final 4 have been split into 2 teams,

Alex & Helene and Lee & Claire

The winning team of the last challenge have a 50/50 chance of being "Hired", Alex & Helene would be my favourite for Alex to get hired but you never know, if, on the other hand Lee and Claire win, I am edging towards Lee, however his presentation skills are not up to it (I know exactly how he feels when having to stand up in front of people - I hate it).

Here we go...

2008-06-08T18:32:00.000+01:00

Tut Tut

Lewis Hamilton - You Tit !!!!

2008-06-07T16:11:00.003+01:00

Euro 2008

Euro 2008 is less than an hour away, as there are no home teams there was no-one for me to support, however as I have paid 5 quid to enter the work sweepstake and have drawn France, this is now my adopted team, I am, for the next few weeks going to adopt the french way of life. As far as I know, this will involve the following

Drinking wine with every meal.
Riding a bike with a striped top and onions around my neck
Shout alor and shrug my shoulders
Drive like a madman

Please note: These "Stereotypes" are taked from the Harraps website and not my perception of French people at all, in fact I only know 2 French people, Bonjou Bonnie from the Royal Mail Days. and Jerome, the chain smoking, drinker Director of an IT company we worked with.

Vive La France

2008-06-06T21:27:00.003+01:00

Gadgets

Back to gadgets.

It's been a while since I have looked at replacing my mobile phone for the simple fact that

1. There's nothing out there better than my HTC Touch Dual
2. The iPhone isn't available on anything other than O2.

Now there's a new toy coming very soon, and on Orange. The HTC Touch Diamond.
Orange - despite sending me a text stating you have reviewed my talkplan and I'm already on the best plan, I beg to differ, I want more minutes, more texts, unlimited data and one of these phones FREE.

Now then, isn't there a few football matches coming up..

2008-06-05T22:40:00.008+01:00

The Apprentice - Part II

I may have failed in placing my hopes on Signature to win Britains Got Talent. (They came second), but so far so good on The Apprentice, Alex is still in contention as he faces the final week and the final 4.

I never quite got Lucinda, why would someone give up their "in excess of" £100k contract role for a £100k role working for Mr Amstrad. Me thinks maybe this is a self promotion. She stated she didn't "need" the job but "wanted" it. Stupid woman, the rest of these people actually need the job and the money that comes with it.

I am quite happy so far with the "firings"... Here's the Damo B rundown of the final 4

Lee McQueen - lied on his CV (but everyone does) - nice guy "last chance" - if he doesn't get the job, it's because of the CV issue - BIG MISTAKE, but will find work - nice guy.

Helene Speight - tough childhood (but who hasn't) - hard worker, will definately find work if she doesn't get hired by SrrrrrAlan

A lex Wotherspoon - described as a "looker" and "charmer" (what salesman can't charm) - was my favourite and is a nice bloke loves telling people he's " only 24" - I'm now thinking top 2 with...

C la ire Young - I'nm not sure about her - she appears to be very good talks too much and get's herself into trouble for doing so, but "Sir Alan" likes her...

2008-05-26T22:37:00.003+01:00

They say never talk about politics or religion, but they haven't been in our office....

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Mr Brown

You know something, you have a bloody hard job running this country and what thanks do you get, - absolutely none....

and why should you, you are ruining this green and pleasant land and (a la Uncle Bryn - "I'll tell you for why"

1. 10p tax
You have cut the lowest band tax meaning we all pay more tax, with the lowest earners suffering the most, not a good move.

2. Knife Crime
When are you finally going to change the law and make it more than "a slap on the wrist offence" to carry a knife, how many more people need to die before you make it illegal to carry a knife, I know of 2 people that have been murdered in the last 2 years, the last one to die was not fighting, not caught it in a drugs war, not at a football match, but while he was cashing up a days takings at the Matalan stored he worked as store manager.

3. Immigration
While I don't share the same views as a fellow blogger who shall remain nameless, I still think we have a problem here, we allow almost anyone into our beloved country with no requirement to work although every right (under the EU) to claim benefits, rumours are that this money is then sent back to their country of origin where the rest of their family live (and spend).

I welcome all people who are prepared to work for a living. The USA don't (or didn't) have a welfare system or an NHS, you don't work, you don;t have any money, you get ill, you pay for your treatment. I'm not saying we need to be this ruthless, but something needs doing. This Mr Brown, is why the "right wing parties" are winning seats left, right and centre

4. Credit Crunch
People being given 10 times their salary for a mortgage to get them on the property ladder, then losing their house when their "fixed rate" deal ends, credit card companies giving people £200k limits when the earn £10k a year, Northern Rock giving loans to anyone to realise these people can't afford it and then requiring the tax paying public to bail out the forementioned bank.

5.Petrol Prices
Don't even go there - £1.15 a litre, how much do you (read - government) make from the taxes from petrol, oil has reached a record high price per barrel, but the oil companies make billions, the government probably make the same, and we - the consumer, suffer as a result, and what can we do about it, use our bikes, public transport etc, if that's possible I'm sure we would (cookie), the other option, join a sodding facebook group or strike, none of which have much effect.

You know, I sit here probably like millions of others and say "I could do a better job of running this country", but I guess you said that years ago when interest rates were 15%......

But I wouldn't vote for you.. EVER

Yours sincerely

Damo

Anyone else have anything to add?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a good note and completely unrelated however.....

I told you so......

Britains Got Talent - Signature

Sha'Mon

2008-05-03T20:32:00.001+01:00

And the Winner of Britain's got talent (2008) is....

We'll See...

2008-04-30T20:58:00.011+01:00

A Perfect Day

Yesterday can only be described as a perfect day...

The release of GTA IV on the was only the start of it.
I managed to "land" a freebie day for myself and Bossman Gunn, never mind Golf, Cricket or Footy, this was the dogs danglies.

A day at Palmer Sports Racing at Bedford Autodrome.

That's me that is !!!

The day basically consisted of ragging cars you (I) could never afford around tracks at speeds that would probably kill you.

After dragging myself out of bed at 5.30am and driving to the Gunns's house, we set off for Bedford arriving at 8.00ish.

We were greeted by some lovely ladies who took our details and directed us to our table where we were given a full cooked english Breakfast.

30 minutes later we were given the safety briefings and watched the welcome video, then were let loose on the track.

Bring on the Vroom Vroom !!!!

First up was the Caterham 7

Secondly the Jaguar XKRs (My least favourite as the onboard computers took the fun away from spinning the car out of control - Safety dictates apparently)

Third was the single seater Formula Jaguar

Forth - Palmer Jaguar JP1 - Which I managed to spin (twice)

Fifth - Fun in the karts, (no photo)

We then broke for Lunch... then more fun

The afternoon started by off-roading in the Land Rover then back to the car

Porsche 911 JP3

The final session was in the Renault Clio Cup Racer

We then headed back for the trophies of which I won bugger all - I did manage to come 4th overall (out of 66) which has made me all nice and fuzzy inside - Read "SMUG".

...Now then, Does anyone have Ron Dennis' number.

All in all an absolutely brilliant day and I can highly recommend it for everyone (except SWMBO cos it costs too much).

The guys at Palmer Sports are brilliant, everything is planned with what seems like military precision the food the driving, everything...

Thank you lots Mr Palmer, (and an even bigger thanks to our host)

2008-04-18T15:13:00.005+01:00

Birthdays and the Beeb

Firstly a very happy birthday to my (oldest) little princess Lauren, who was 12 on Tuesday.

Secondly - I have become addicted to 2 BBC TV shows.

TV SHOW #1 - The Apprentice

16 "real" people each with an equal chance of getting a job working for Sir Alan Sugar with a "six figure salary"

This programme makes me laugh, cringe and almost swear at the TV, when I say these people are real, they are normal members of the public who have applied to be humiliated on national TV in front of millions of viewers, and boy do they get humiliated, by each other and even more-so by the cockney former barrow boy Mr Amstrad.

Personally, I can't understand how some of the contestants have managed to get to the positions they claim to be in (Barrister, International Car trader, Bank Manager... )

It's a shame to see the talkative Simon get fired. He's a genuine bloke and has/had a genuine job works as a Senior Satellite Television Engineer" and was the project manager. He liked to be in charge and make sure everyone knew it. His team then lost and he took the hit for it.

Next weeks "firee" - Lucinda.

The winner of the show, my money is on Alex

TV SHOW #1 - Gavin & Stacey

Centres around Gavin, his mate Smithy, Stacey and her mate Nessa.

Gavin meets Stacey on a night out, they fall for each other, fall in love and so it begins.
This show is so funny and so real it hurts, I absolutely love Rob Brydon who plays Staceys' uncle.

The show has just finished the 2nd series, I have no idea if there will be a third, but it's definitely a must buy DVD for both series, half an hour an episode, 6 episodes a season, would make a good couple of nights viewing.

Note to Colin: There I have updated my blog to make you happy.....

2008-04-01T21:42:00.004+01:00

THIS...... I LIKE

We all know Music/Video/Software theft is a crime. Only today Virgin Media made it into the news by announcing it will be working with the "British Phonographic Industry" (BPI) to stamp out illegal downloaders.

Its refreshing to see then, that the very same level of corporates who are doing their very best to stamp out this kind of illegal activity. Have been busted for running pirated software on four of their servers.

How were they found out you wonder?

"An IT department employee requested assistance for the use of a product called Ideal Migration. When technical support looked into the case, they discovered that the key used to activate the software was a pirated version".

From Zeropaid

I wonder what illegal software Mr Branson has on his virgin network.

2008-02-27T22:42:00.003Z

Earthquake

I'm not going into it too much as there's no point. as my fellow bloggers Cookie and Tao give it their techy slant

There was an Earthquake, it woke me (and SWMBO) up.

We went back to sleep

The End.

(Global Warming, the demise of the HD-DVD, Apple - who know why it happened)

2008-02-25T21:43:00.003Z

That Fat Lady isn't Singing Yet.

It was announced last week the High Definition DVD war was over with the HD-DVD camp giving up and going home, (with the ball).

Good news for all you XBOX 360 owners, Microsoft have just slashed the price of their HD-DVD drive to $49.99 (£25),

I know it'll a matter of time before HD-DVDs are as easy to get hold of as Betamax videos are right now.... But

Could this actually be a turn around
Could this be a clever marketing trick by the HD-DVD people in their quest to dominate.

Current (but for how long?) HD-DVD Partners

Put it this way, I'm still not going to rush out and get that shiny new Blu-Ray player just yet.
Then again, Im not going to rush out and buy the Xbox HD-DVD Player either.

We'll see.... again

2008-02-17T20:13:00.005Z

The War is (almost) Over

*** GEEK ALERT***

So glad I didn't go all iPoddy on this oneIt seems like the next generation format war is almost over

I have always taken a (slight) interest in the gadget/computer wars.

First the Spectrum vs Commodore 64 (I had the Spectrum(s) 16k, 48k and the +2A)
Then Atari ST vs Amiga A500 (I had the Atari STe)

Thankfully I missed the VHS/Betamax war so only the VHS was available.

The PS2 vs Xbox was a dead cert (if you dont coount the Xbox Media Centre) (PS2 here)
The PS3 vs Xbox 360 have both seemingly lost to the Wii (How ???) (Xbox 360)
The DVD +/- was settled by combining the 2 (Yippee - I have have a dual burner)

The latest war that is close to ending is the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD. If I had an interest in moving to HD, I would have gone for HD-DVD, I've no idea why, but wouldn;t have gone with BluRay as its backed by the wonderful Sony who have brought such delights as Betamax, Minidisc memory Stick etc.

It has however, all but won this time. Whether or not this is due to the PS3 with its built in player I don't know, but the HD-DVD manufacturers have thrown in the towel and the film companies either backed Blu-Ray from the start or have switched 75% of the new releases on High def will be Blu-Ray.
How do I get my hands on a free PS3?.

*** GEEK ALERT OVER ****

2008-02-16T13:50:00.003Z

Another Ipod

Far from being iPoddy, I was fairly happy with my Pink, 4Gb, original style iPod, especially since the battery upgrade, however my I was forced... Forced I tell you, into having a new 160Gb Black iPod Classic.

Mine

I say forced, it was actually given to me, brand new, gratis, free, no exchange of money, and definately not stolen etc, by someone who is almost my new best friend.

I have managed to "legally backup" and transfer some of my movies, music, TV shows and podcasts over to it, and still have 125Gb free.

...Wow

I didn't realise the iPod only plays .mp4 movie format, stupidly, I presumed I could just transfer my avi files (legal DVD rips of course) straight to the iPod without too much hassle.
Oh No - I have to convert them first.

I used "A-One Ipod Video Convertor" to do the conversions, can anyone suggest something better, my favourite price is free, but cheaper is not always better.

I need a holiday so I can sit in the sun all day while SWMBO reads her Sophie Kinsella books and I watch Simpsons, American Gangster, Family Guy, Transformers, Debbie Does.. (not that one).

I need a use for my original "Pinky", and the 3 broken grey ones I bought off eBay for £25 will repaired... and sold back on eBay.

2008-02-16T13:28:00.003Z

ITIL v3
In my quest to further my career, I have spent the last 3 days doing the ITIL v3 foundation course, ITIL (IT Infrastructure Library) is the standard IT in all organisations are keen to adhere to.
This is all good learning procedures in a classroom, but trying to put it into practice is another thing.

I also took the exam which requires 26/40 to pass. I took 2 mocks and got 28 on both (dangerously close).

We were told by the lecturer, passing the foundation course means an extra £2k on your salary (£15-£20k if you get the diploma). Who in their company would get an extra £2k as simple as that.

As my role as Service Desk Manager (along with a ton of other stuff "The Goona" and "The Conster" give me, I'll if I can put (some of) ITIL into practice

By doing the course, I have learned I am also the following,

Service Level Manager
Problem Manager
Operations Manager

I'd say that's a £100k salary easily, but I wouldn't take the drop...

I'll find out if I passed in a few weeks time.

2008-02-08T17:01:00.000Z

Nag Nag Nag

That's all people seem to do to me,

They say if it's not one thing it's your Mother/Mother-in-Law

Firstly
Massive congratulations to my Work Wife (Laura) and her bloke (Gaz) on the birth of their first baby (of many I hear !!!!).
'Erin Sophie' arrived a little early on 24 January weighing just 1lb 15oz.

I haven't blogged about it as I wanted to get her permission fist (Lauras' that is not Erins'), the Nag on my last blog has given me that authorisation.

Our only problem now is getting Laura to do her own collection.

Well done darling, now hurry up back to work as we have no I.T. Chick.

Secondly

My Mother-in-Laws' friend asked about getting free music for her children, as this is not something I do, I have had to ask a few friends who do this kind of thing.

The best bet for this is to use something called Bit Torrents, all you need for this is the "client" and the websites that list the .torrent files. I can't go into too much detail here as the legality of it all is still in question although there are stories of the BBC using the torrent technology to allow people to download content, we'll just have to wait and see. in the meantime, google for bittorrents for more info.

That's it, "Is there anything I can do for anyone?"

2008-02-04T21:37:00.000Z

I have an Xbox Baby,
(but first...)

......I had a brililant comment today from someone in relation to my "Boycott Asda" post.

Blogging is a funny old thing, done by people wanting to have a rant at someone or something, want to tell the world about their lives or just have a little corner of t'interweb, I like to do a bit of everything, nothing too full on, just a place to have a laugh and not get too serious.

...Back to the post in question,

Long story short, Back in March 2007, our Xbox circle of mates all wanted to get a new game on release date, we went to Asda who refused to sell us 8 copies...... I blogged about it telling readers to boycott Asda as they have "ruined our lives....".

Heres the comment, (it's an exact quote so dont slag of the improper use of grammar or spelling).

soryy but i think ur so childish, why would you want to buy 8 copies anyway, your obviously some weird computer geek, get a life, how the hell did asda ruin your life by not sellin them to you. grow up you sad little person

Wierd computer geek
You got me there, I'm a geek, as are the IT people I work with, of which 13 of the 15 also have Xboxes, as are most of my geeky friends, in fact a lot of people I know. I love gadgets/computers and technology (embrace it baby).

Get a life
I've got one of those, - I go out (in the real world) I drink Stella/Jack Daniels/Magners, eat curry, pizza and all other forms of crap, go out drinking in the real world, have a job I love, a woman (I love), 3 children (I love) family and friends. (I love/tolerate).

I have a life and it's f*cking brilliant

Grow up
Who defines what is "grown up", childish I may be sometimes (as my real life fiancee will confirm), but grown up I definately am, I have responsibilities in life which determine that I am grown up as do most adults, I just also have fun.

Anyone else care to confess to being a a wierd, childish computer geek. (Tao, Lee, Cookie, Gaz)

Sad Little Person
I couldn't be any happier, 6 foot 2 and 15 stone

Rant Over - meet Miss Geeky Junior(ess)

Hello Is that Xbox Support, My Daddy won't let me play

By the way comment poster, AOL isn't the best ISP, Windows Media Center isn't brilliant, you should use Firefox as your browser rather than IE 7 and you didn't have to click on my blog when searching for an "Asda" image in Google - Now thats Geeky, and I also have your ip address 172.202....... but instead of all this, chill out enjoy or don't read my blog, it's a bit of fun.

2008-01-23T21:47:00.000Z

The start of a new year ....

Its been a mad few weeks here in Damo World, New Job (at the same place), spanking Taos' arse online (so to speak), Leah being "wired up", family crappy internet connection problems, I don't know where to begin.....

So I'll begin with Leah

Leah has been to the Glenfield hostpital this afternoon for some tests on her heart, nothing major, just ECGs and scans.

Long story short, but SWMBO (Mummy) suffers from a heart condition known as Long QT, long story short, each heartbeat consitsts of P, Q, R, S and T intervals, (the beep you hear on heart monitoring machine). SWMBOs the time between her Q and T is longer than normal. Long QT Syndrome. The problem with this condition is that it's hard to detect but can kill people instantly, as well as being trigger by sound, sleep or noise, once it is detected however, it can be "treated" with Beta Blocker tablets or by fitting a implantable defibrilator.

Although quite rare, Long QT is gainng a lot of news recently. Marc-Vivien Foe who collapsed while playing football was said to have died from Long QT, and more recently Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell, another footballer has been rumoured to have had the same condition, which tragically, he also died while playing football.
I digress

As this condition is hereditary, SWMBOs mother, grandmother, 2 great-aunts, cousin and uncle have all been diagnosed with it and sadly her sister died 10 years ago from what was later attribued to Long QT. All those diagnosed are now under consultant care and genetic testing at the Glenfield hospital. We took Leah to have some tests today, this consisted of having an ultrasound type test to look at he heart chambers followed by an ECG. The ECG showed a Q-T interva of 405 which they stated is very low and not even borderline, although this sounds like good news, Long QT doesn't really show up until a child reaches 10ish years old.

The final test heas Leah wearing a 24 hour ECG, 3 pads are taped to her body and a reader is hid.... in her nappy, this will take her heart readings over a 24 hour period which will then be analysed further.Let's just hope she has my genes...

2008-01-23T20:40:00.000Z

Called to Duty
Once again my sleep, my free time and my social time has been ruined, once again the Xbox is to blame, For the last few months I have been playing Call of Duty 4. For the last 4 weeks, I have been playing this very same game online and can admit, I am addicted.

Tao seems to think he kicked my arse, however as he has a "red ring" (try the cream Tao), I'm going to practice while he is Xboxless.

Now "Everybodys Uncle" Steve is Internetless thanks to SKy Broadband, it gives us all a chance to catch him up too.

Gone have the days where we compare acheivements and game points, its all about your Ranking in COD4. (I'm ranked 29 - which is frankly 'Shite')

2008-01-23T20:33:00.001Z

New Job

With the departure of "Lord Orange" from our workplace (Leaaving do photos coming soon)- it was time for people to raise their game and step up a peg or 2.

"Goona" and "Scouser" have filled his bright Orange shoes, I have managed to secure me a new (additional) job, I am now.....a Service Desk Manager (Incorporating my old job as Solution Delivery erm "Manager").

That's it enough said, it's work and that's all there is to it, I enjoy it, it's great etc etc, and 13 of the people in the office have Xboxes.

We have plenty to talk about.

2007-12-30T20:22:00.000Z

That Was The Year That Was

Another year has passed us by in the blink of an eye, for me it's been a year of change with the arrival of Leah, the 2 weeks in Hospital and 7 months (up to now) of physio. Looking back on last years resolutions I acheived 1, a couple of nice tries and a couple of not a chance.

Save for the future - I stopped using my credit card(s)
Learn something new - Nope
Get fit - I managed to lose 20lbs after my "knee issue"
Give up smoking* - OK this was a cheat
Re-gain contact with family members - Haven't managed to do this due to my ever growing family.

New Years Resolutions for 2007

Get Fitter - not only do I need to work on my previously infected knee to get match fit again, I aim to lose a further 20lbs fat and gain 10lbs muscle
Sort the house, garage and garden - SWMBO wants the house decorating, the fence fixing, the decking done in the garden and the garage sorting.
Lose Mr Angry - I admit I get a little angry and agressive some of the time (driving, queueing, walking, talking, watching Derby County lose etc), I call these my "Daphne" moments and plan to "Chill" in 2008. In fact the only time I am competely at ease is at work. Where I should be the most stressed.
Spend time with my family

Spending 7 months at home did my head in, I think I can also admit it also did SWMBOs head in.
it was great being at home with Leah (for me) but frustrating that I lost my independance (Driving, walking etc).

Anyway, Happy New Year to one and all and here's to a great 2008.

Damo

2007-12-30T20:00:00.000Z

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Santa Baby on her trustee sleigh

The 2 SWMBOs

It only took 3 hours to open Leahs presents

Where's Leah?

2007-12-20T22:23:00.000Z

Fuddle
Is this even a word? I hear it every day at Christmas, and today, was our fuddle at work.

Every christmas time, our token IT Bird Laura arranges a "fuddle" and secret santa. Today must have been one of the best feasts of all time, we admit we're goot at I.T., but we're bloody brilliant when it comes to making food, we are bloody great

Food from all over the world (and Burton) were brought in, we started at 12.00 this afternoon and almost all felt like sleeping by 2.00 as at 10.30 tonigh,I stillhaveno desire to eat, we didn't manage to finish all of the food which means we can carry on tomorrow (Damo eating Veggie Samosa at 8.30am for the second day running).

One must do these things and I got a lovely bottle wine of from my secret santa too...... Thanks Steve !!!!.

Present today were;
Damo 'Fajitas' Byrne, Luke 'the Cake' Johnson, Laura 'Cheesecake' Smith, Ash 'Banoffee Sister' Earp, Dave 'Ninja Dip' McD, Ade 'Chilli' Hyomes, 'Fiji' Keith, Kosher'ief 'Ainsley' May, Colin 'Welshy' Ward, George 'The Greek' Makasis, Anthony 'Red Bull' Lort, Rob '' Gamble, Andy 'Ramsay' Rooms and Amerjit 'Desert Storm' Singh.

2007-12-18T22:57:00.000Z

Im Not Pi$$ed

Cookie recently had his works Christmas Do AND a reunion with the Royal Mail Old school.

Let's just hope he didnt get as pished as the following clip shows, taken back in April when I managed to make a little drinky sesh.

Cookie.... Comments please !!!

Needless to say he was still trying to act sober when Mrs Bigfootcookie called...

2007-12-14T19:48:00.000Z

My Water Babies

I finally had the chance to see Leah doing her water babies session this week, Waterbabies teach babies to swim in a fun way, and boy Leah had fun, she even swam underwater.

I swear I'm having the maternity leave next time and SWMBO can go back to work after 2 weeks off.

My 2 SWMBOs

Mothers group (+1 father)

Happy swimmer

Leah has learned to close her eyes when mummy says"Ready, 1,2,3, Go"

2007-12-14T19:06:00.000Z

Sh!t Happens

Wish I had this one !!!

Cookie recently posted about everything going wrong in his house - his boiler, bike and shower. Well Mr Cook, this is nothihg, in the past few weeks I have had the following

Car Aircon has decided it no longer wants to work, I have been driving around looking out of the sode window so I don't crash as I can't see through the ice on the windscreen. luckily the garage said I can use the aircon as long as it doesn't fire up the 2nd fan (how the hell I can tell I don't know)

Fridge Freezer We have a integrated fridge freezer that decided to stop freezing, or fridging for that matter, luckily we have a fridge/freezer (from my old house)...

.. Fridge Freezer from my old house Has now decided it doesn't want to freeze either...

Finally
We have a lovely en-suite (shower, toilet and sink).. well we did have, today after a stressed call from SWMBO while I was at work. I can't write how she described the problem, but on googling, I found Saniflow systems are a bitch when they go wrong,
As most people (don't) know, saniflo systems take the "waste" through a "macerator" which grinds it down, that was until today where it decided to "give me a refund", it came up the toilet, in the shower tray and up through the sink.

I spent 3 hours cleaning the "stuff", removing tiles and fumigating the ensuite/bedroom we now have to wait till Tuesday where a nice man will come round charging £62 PER HALF HOUR to do whatever he needs to do. All I'm saying is he better get it done in half an hour, no cupp'o'tea, no chit-chat and no time wasting rubbing his chin.

2007-12-13T15:38:00.001Z

Stttttt-rrrrrikeThe Writers Guild of America strike in the US is about to head over to the UK

I am about to watch episode 11 of Heroes season 2 thanks to newsgroups and my movie streaming Xbox. It eppears however that this may just be the last episode for a while as the strike has affected future episodes, not only a delay, but a possible end to season 2 with a re-write of the final epiode. This also affects the spin-off show Heroes: Origins which is now likely to be canned.

Let's just hope they can reach an agreement soon (pay the writers what they're asking for) so I can get back to watching a fantastic show.

Also affected are;

Bionic Woman - up to episode 7,
24 Season 7 - Postponed indefinately in the US and UK as there are only 9 episodes ready
Prison Break - 12 episodes completed
Nip/Tuck - 14 (of 22) ready

2007-12-11T19:34:00.000Z

iOrange

After my falling out with Thomo over his recent purchase, I have decided to allow him to buy me lots of beers in return for forgiveness.

What I am not happy about though is the fact that I don't want the iPod Touch, I don't want an iPhone,

I Need one

The HTC Touch Dual is a fantastic phone with most of the functions I want in in a phone, but its missing... that something,When Orange bring out the iPhone v2 (which they will) put me down for one, with a decent data plan . (v2 will have 3G)

I love the iTouch (Now), combining this with a phone I use and carry around every day will be perfect.

Santa Baby, Slip an iPhone under the tree, for me.

2007-12-11T19:32:00.000Z

Office Party - Follow Up

The Office Party went very well, no fights, no falling out, no drunken behavoiur, Not that I saw anyway, Even managed to get a Most of I.T. Group shot. (which I'll update when I find it).

2007-12-03T20:45:00.000Z

The Office Christmas Party

Do you know how much radiation a photocopier gives off ?

Tomorrow is our Office Christmas party and I most certainly am going, although only the "first drink is free" I am sure we of the I.T. department can manage a couple of drinks (Read Rounds) out of the Directors and Senior Managers.

I have read up the "Office Party Do's and Dont's" which are listed below

Don't Drink Too Much
Don't Treat the Office Party Like a Singles Bar
Don't Flirt or Act in a Sexually Provactive Manner
Don't Wear Suggestive Clothing
Don't Let Your Guard Down
Don't Tell Dirty or Off-Color Jokes
Don't Use Foul Language
Don't Talk About People Behind Their Backs
Don't Bring Uninvited Guests
Don't Underestimate the Importance of Your Guest's Behavior

Looks like I'm not going after all, Rules (1) and (5) rule me out.

EDIT :- Recently added by the Cookster, of which I can only account for... erm, all of them

Don't add extra peppers to a colleagues Subway*
Don't fall down the stairs going to the bathroom.
Don't poor Jack Daniels down a colleagues face when he refuses to drink it.
Don't suggest that five pint pitchers of Stella are a good idea.
Don't drink your colleague under the table so that they get off their train to Coventry too soon, end up trying to walk home and fall into a ditch in a park. Then have to call their Father-in-Law to try and find them and get their sorry ass home.

Although Cookster, you forgot.

Don't buy the Director a Cement Mixer and take photos while he drinks it.

Cement Mixer - He no like it

And I forgot...

Don't challenge the Vodka drinking head of the I.T. Department to a Vodka drinking competition, YOU WILL LOSE (If you're lucky, if you're not, see below).

Altogether now.

1
2
3

2007-12-03T20:31:00.000Z

Hate !!!!

I have known my (ex) good friend Thomo for 10 years, 8 months and 23 days in which time we have worked together at 3 places, employed each other, loaned each other tonnes of money, been through births, deaths, marriages, new girlfriends and splits from girlfriends, you could say he was "A MATE"2 days ago however this all came to an end.

3 cases of Stella was purchased, we arranged for a "serious" session with Stella, Dominos Pizza, Xbox and TV round at my house.

when Thomo turned up however, he instantly did something to make me hate him...

He pulled out his BRAND NEW 16Gb IPOD TOUCH...

I WANT ONE !!!

2007-11-30T20:23:00.000Z

XBox Fall Update (Part 2)

Further to my blog about the Xbox Fall Update it appears the details have been confirmed by the MS people

Downloadable Games
A perfect way for Microsoft to make sure everyone buys a bigger hard by allowing downloads of classic Xbox games and having loads of games everyone wants, the first games to appear are Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Halo, Fable, Fuzion Frenzy, and Psychonauts. prices start at $5 (£2.50) up to $15 (£7.50) per game.

View Your Friends' Friends
Similar to Facebook, look at who your friends are friends with, not sure this is really needed on the Xbox though.

Inside Xbox Feed
News on whats happening on the Xbox scene (Yawn)

Parental Timer
Stop your kids ruining your life by keeping you off your (their) Xbox.

....and finally and most importantly

DivX/Xvid playback
Stream your DVD rips and legally downloaded content direct from your PC (or USB Hard drvie/memory stick) to your XBox without need for additional software (or crappy Vista with MCE). Now I can watch my US TV programs on a proper telly.

Coming next Tuesday 4 December (or 5th for us lot who are on a works Christmas party - photocopies of arses will be scanned and posted here*)

2007-11-28T23:27:00.000Z

To Mr BigfootCookie

Back in the good old days when we worked together in Birmingham, you were kind enough to teach me a little German,

I tried to use this German with Mr Trez's new bird (who is actually a little German), she was appalled at what I told her......

Apparently my pronunciation was all wrong, the correct pronunciation is as follows....

"Owa, Dass ist Miein arschloch"
(Pronounced - au-uh, Das ist mine arr-sh-lo-ch)

Mr Cook, would you make sure you use it this way in future, so as not to upset or offend people.

to anyone wlse reading this, please don't use, ever, EVER. as you can probably imagine, this phrase will often not be heard in everyday conversation (hopefully) although Mr Cook would say this 10 - 20 times a day.

Many thanks.
DB
-----------------------------------
bigfootcookie said...

Thank you for the correction. It appears the videos I learnt it from had badly written scripts.......

-----------------------------------

2007-11-28T22:39:00.000Z

It's Chriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiistmas (in the style of Slade)

a Noddy Holder

It's that time of year where the world goes mad, spends a fortune, gets drunk, gets pregnant, gets fat, has a lot of time off work. In other words, the festive Christmas period, it's also a time that SWMBO hates as she has to think of things to buy me that I actually want, normally I am forced into doing a list, but this year we are having a year off from buying each other as we are

a - skint
and
b - are concentrating of buying baby SWMBO presents instead.

This means I can now put a guide to my perfect Christmas present list without fear that it's too expensive or impossible to get.

For Him (ahem Me!!!)

Digital Photo Frame - (£30 - £200) The basic ones aren't too bad , they do exactly what they should do, show photos stored on a memory card, the advanced ones, also play movies, play music and stream photos wirelessly, I have a Samsung SPF-72V and love it

Digital SLR Camera - (£300 - silly money)
The next step up from the "point and shoot" digital camera, add lenses, flashes, tripods and you'll look like a Pro, you wont be able to take photos like a pro but you'll look like one, I want a Canon EOS 400D but can wait until I know what I'm doing.

Nintendo Wii (£280) Perfect gaming for all the family, just avoid the injuries, even SWMBO is interested in one of these and she hated it when I got my Xbox

Xbox 360 (£200+)
Get the Elite if you can afford it, you'll soon be playing movies on your XBox 360, if you can't afford an Elite at least get the Premium, and be online with your mates till the early hours, making your days drag as you'll get no sleep and anno your work colleagues who haven't got an Xbox as you'll spend all day talking about them.
Games to buy - Assassins Creed, PGR4, COD4, Halo 3

Playstation 3 (£300+)
Im yet to be convinced as they have yet to bring out Grand Turismo, I'd be tempted by Singstar but can play it on my PS2 at a lot cheaper.

T-Shirt (£10 ish)
You just have to have a T-Shirt from T-Shirt Hell, virtually every shirt is offensive in one way or another, my favourites are this one and this one, oh and this one for the kids.

NAS (£180)
If you don't know what a NAS is, (and I don't mean the rapper who married Kelis), skip this bit. Freecom FSG-3 is great, 500Gb of storage, email server, web server, media server, torrent client all built into a little box the size of a book. A bit noisy for the bedroom though.

For Her

Erm - I'm not so good at that, so I'll be very very brief

Underwear from M&S Not the cheesy stuff that us men really like from Ann Summers, but the "nice" stuff that they'll actually wear. (See what I did there with the "bried leading to underwear - Genius)
Gift Vouchers River Island, Oasis etc,

Ipod Fill it with music and they'll ignore you all day, the bigger the drive the more they'll ignore you.

Beauty makeover Better still a Colour Me Beautiful session. This may backfire however with you being accused of thinking they need it...

Book
Buy them one of the Sophie Kinsella books, they'll love it (SWMBO did)

To be honest I don't actually think females (apart from my mum and mother-in-law) read my blog anyway (correct me if I'm wrong).

For t'baby

Babys Laptop

Thats enough of that, I know for a fact babies don't read this blog (correct me if I'm wrong)

2007-11-22T20:17:00.000Z

Black Friday

It's Black Friday tomorrow in the states, a day where all hell breaks loose in shopping land, traditionally it's the day after thanksgiving and the start of the Christmas shopping season, (unlike the UK that starts in September), the good thing about it for shoppers is the mega crazy deals retailers have, the even better thing for us UK'ers is we can share in the joys.

Amazon.com have some good offers on items including DVDs, check this link on the day only, I'm not sure if they'll deliver ll items to the UK as they sometimes redirect you to the UK store.

The best we seem to get in the UK this Friday is a 20% off day at Debenhams, tempted SWMBO and her mother though, left me all alone at home feelin terrible, almost to ill too blog (is there such a thing).

I wonder if there's a "Bring Black Friday to the UK" petition/group on Facebook yet.

2007-11-21T21:16:00.000Z

So... We're out of Euro 2008,

Time to reflect and think what if....

Out with the old...

Is it B*ll*cks, it's time to sack McClaren and bring in someone who will actually get us somewhere, he kicked Beckham out of the squad then realised he was being a tit so brought him back, apart from that, nothing much to write home about. I thought we could have done it but I guess it was not to be (again).

...In with the new?

My highlights of the second half (I'm a real life vide printer dont ya know)

56 Mins: The penalty that never was that brought us back to 2-1 but I'm not complaining

59 Mins: Still Croatia attack and still England makes mistakes, it's Carson who is saving our asses (glad James didn't come on, it could have been 4-1 now)

60 Mins: Cracking my2nd can of Stella cos we can do this

65 Mins: A Beckham cross to CROUCH THE HERO bringing us back to 2-2 (Give that man an OBE)

65 Mins: Texts from Ade and Tommo "Telling me so"

75 Mins: Seems as though we have relaxed a bit but we still need to win this game, or failing that not to lose it.

76 Mins: Could I have not just kept my stupid mouth shut, 3-2 Croatia

77 Mins: Text from Ade "Come on!"

78 Mins: Text from Tommo "We're not going to do it"

79 Mins: Darren Bent on for Joe Cole

83 Mins: Text to Tommo "At least we'll save a fortune by not going to the pub for the games next year"

83.5 Mins: Text from Tommo, apparently we'll still be going to the pub for the games.

85 Mins: Darren Bents' first touch of the ball and just skims over the net

85 Mins: Text from Ade "Hmmmm"

93 Mins: Game over and we are out...

94 Mins: Life goes on, Back to I'm a celebrity watching the freakshow that is Janice Dickinson.

2007-11-21T20:50:00.000Z

Eur-over and Out...

... By the looks of things.
We're half-way through a football match that can only be described as "shit". I have just watched 46 minutes of what is abysmal, watching Croatia attack at every opportunity which has led to 2 goals for them and England seemingly letting them is beyond belief as the 2-0 scorelinw shows. Yes the goalie (Carson) was unfortunate in the first goal by not being behind the shot this was then followed by an "easy" 2nd goal.

We have 45 minutes to work our asses off and score at least 2 goals to keep us from going out of Euro 2008, I would like to see 3 maybe 4.

Let's not sit back and hope yet again that another teams results let us go through (Andorra v Russia).

So Come on McClaren, make your money in the next 45 minutes or you'll be looking for another job come tomorrow morning in the papers, and we'll all be hoping that Jose Mourinho is still available,

Oh and Mr McClare, bring would you Beckham, James and Defoe on and change the formation.

End of half-time result, back to the game and over to you Motty.

2007-11-18T11:56:00.000Z

Playstation 3 - Singstar
The reason I was holding out for the Playstation 3 was because of Gran Turismo HD, which is still yet to surface and the reason I got my Xbox 360,
It seems that Singstar has a release date of 7 December released with nan iTunes style download function for songs costing 99p.

If you've never played singstar you are missing out, think of a game that you can only really play when as pissed as a fart and there's a group of you, like the Nintendo wii games but without the injuries. Initially there are 44 songs available with more planned from 17 December.

It's still not justification for me spending £300 on a PS3 to then buy the games when I have my trustee sidekick PS2 (which is not chipped and the games aren't free*)

2007-11-18T11:53:00.000Z

iPod Update

Well I am pleased to annouce that the battery replacement seems to have resolved my iPod problem and it now plays for hours. I charged it overnight and left it playing to test, it played music all day.

This also means I don't need a iPod 160Gb or Microsoft Zune (I Still WANT one though).

2007-11-16T21:23:00.000Z

My (pink) iPod - I think she's alive

Following on from my dead iPod post, I received my replacement battery from t'bay today. I paid £4.99 for the battery, there were some cheaper, but this one appears to have more power therefore is supposed to last longer. Great seller though, the battery even comes with the tools needed (2 screwdrivers) and full instructions on how to do it.
I was a little nervous about taking my ipod apart at first, but managed it, I'll need to charge it before I say if it has solved my issue, I'll let you know as soon as it's charged,

Here's How I did it.

1. Using the Flat screwdriver, prise the white plastic top and bottom from the iPod (tricky due to the glue)
2. Remove the metal "retaining" clip from the bottom of the iPod, there are also some screws at the top (I forgot to photo those though). unscrew these screws.
3. Unclip the connector at the bottom of the iPod
4. Push the "motherboard" from the bottom of the outer casing.
5. Unclip the battery power cable from the motherboard, remove and replace with the new battery
6. slide the motherboard back into the outer casing.

7. Replace the connector, retaining clip, screws and white plastic top and bottom.

8. As Gordon Ramsay would say.... DONE
The instructions recommend a minimum charge of 3 hours before first use, I'll be charging mine overnight.

Now then... I wonder if I could get a larger Microdrive in the same place (Answer is maybe, but they only go to 6Gb so not really worth the effort of trying).

2007-11-14T20:42:00.000Z

The Microsoft Zune

Unlike Taoski, I am not dedicated to Apple and becoming an even less loyal fan of the iPod, especially now my iPod is having problems, I love what the iPod does, not what it is, the ability to play a shed load of music is the reason I have one (and the fact I got it Mega cheap).

I have been reading up on Microsofts' music player the Zune which, although has been out quietly for a while, has had some improvement.

All the Ipod fanboys seem to do (obviously) is constantly slag off the Zune as they do with everything non-apple, I, like a lot of others am not too fused, the comment from a reader at Engadget which sums it up perfectly.

I am constantly baffled by people who care what a device that is going to be in your pocket 90% of the time looks like. Function over form for me any day of the week.

I totally agree, who cares what device you listen to your music on, I prefer to have as many functions built into a device as possible (although it means more things to go wrong), but a music player with as large a capacity as possible, ability to play all music formats, video, show photos, FM radio would be perfect.

When you compare an iPod to the Zune, there are advantages and disadvantages with both of them and.... get me... I've done a comparison

	Ipod Classic	Microsoft Zune

Capacity	160Gb	80Gb
Size	61.8 mm x 103.5 mm x 13.5 mm	61.1 mm x 108.2 mm x 12.9 mm
Weight	162g	128g
Screen Size	2.5"	3.2" scratch resistant glass
Controller	Jog wheel	Zune pad
Music Format	aac, mp3, vbr, aiff, wav,	wma, mp4, m4a, m4b, mov, mp3, aac, vbr
Video Format	H.264, mov AAC-LC mpeg-4 (m4v, .mp4)	wmv, HD wmv, mpeg-4 (mp4/m4v) H.264
Video Output	None	Yes - Through headphone jack
FM Radio	No	Advanced FM Tuning (see the name of the current track ).
Connection	Ipod connector	Wireless or cable
Music Downloads	iTunes	Zune Marketplace
Photos	jpeg, bmp, gif, tiff, psd (Mac only), png	jpeg
Wireless	NO	Yes - 802.11b/g wireless (30ft range)
Sych	iTunes	Zune software, sync wirelessly
Other Info		Import recorded TV from Windows Vista Media Centre and playback

To Sum up
If there was a 160Gb Zune with the aftermarket accessories of the iPod, I'd have one in a flash, as I have a iHome (clock radio), an iStation (speakers) and a iPod connector fitted to my car stereo.

2007-11-14T18:45:00.000Z

A Question
In this world of identity theft and companies doing their best to protect their customer base, Here's one for you.....

You have an email account which gets hacked, the "hacker" then changes your password meaning you are unable to access your own account.

By the way, this is not a small-fry email provider, this is Hotmail, owned by Microsoft, with 380 million users.

What would you do?

I would contact Microsoft and advise them my account has been hacked, they would then ask security questions known only to you which you would obviously pass and ensure you got your account back.....

In an ideal world anway....
More tomorrow

2007-11-13T00:26:00.001Z

My Ipod Battery is ...

"Fuct" in IT support terms means Failed Under Contnous Testing, and my iPod Mini is completely Fuct.

and yes mine is pink , that was
all that was available at the time ...

I though maybe it was my Ipod connector in my car that may have been draining the battery, however after a full charge last night, it managed to play for a total of 13 seconds while I was being punished at the physio today, and I really need my iPod in physio to help me forget that the physiotherapist is hurting me, (and he does hurt me).

I have now decided that if I am not going to get a free iPod, I don't want to fork out on an iPhone, an iTouch doesn't have enough capacity so I'll go down the next cheapest route and purchase a replacement battery for my iPod.
They are around £8 on eBay including shipping for the 850mah battery which will actually give approximately 60% more battery life than the original "working" battery did, although the battery life wasn't actually that bad before, it's always better to have more for yer money.

I'll report back when I have ~~broken~~ replaced the battery and ~~have to buy an iPod anyway~~ have it working again

-----

Finally, Sir Danny of the "aitch arr", if you're reading this and still want your iPhone, read the reviews and buyers guide over at ilounge. I know you're going to buy one anyway
I haven't read the reviews and won't as I refuse to be persuaded into wanting one, let me know if they say they are not worth it and I don't want you to show me your ... ever.... yet.

2007-11-12T22:25:00.000Z

Xbox Fall Update

Luke the Giant

Luke "Not of this Planet" Johnson mentioned this morning on my return to work that the delayed Xbox fall (Thats Autumn to us lot) update is likely to support DivX coding, this means we will all be able to hopefully watch our downloaded ~~p*rn~~ "Stuff" on our big TVs in the living room.

Apparenly it was revealed by mistake in a Q&A session with JP Morgan analyst Paul Coster and Kevin Hell (CEO at divx.com) that the DivX functionality is coming.

Coster - “Just a minor point here, but there was a recent Microsoft (MSFT) conference where I believe their media extender now incorporates the DivX codec on it, is that correct? Can you confirm that and does that mean we’re soon going to see Xboxes with DivX on them?
Hell - “Yes! that, uh, we’re in discussions with Microsoft on that at this point in time, so I can’t go into any great detail on that. Um that is not a certified, that is not a certified or licensed product at this time.”

So what else is rumoured in the update?

Family Timer
Monitor your kids (boyfriends) usage and allow "admins" to set a limit for playing.

Video Marketplace
iTunes like for the Xbox allowing content uch as TV shows etc to be downloaded to the Xbox.

IPTV
TV via the internet on the Xbox

The update is due around 23-26 November
Thanks Luke (Even though you have a wii too).

2007-11-11T21:25:00.000Z

iPhone

So the iPhone has been released and all the daft punters are happily enjoying their expensive gadget. I still didn't want one.

It appears however, my iPod mini was set to self destruct at the mere mention of not wanting a newer iPod, and has now decided to run out of battery 5 minutes after each charge. Even google can't seem to give me a straight answer. So far I have restored the iPod to it's factory state, left it on charge for a couple of days, I'm now at the point where I may replace the battery if I dare.

So a week of freebies has led to a weekend of sh*t.

My iPod playing up
Watching 60 minutes of abysmal Derby County getting thrashed by the Hammers

The only real thing to look forward to is going back to work tomorrow after 5 months working at home with a dodgy knee, which I'm happy to say is at 90% better. (Thanks to a Forest supporting physiotherapist - boo!!!)

2007-11-09T10:00:00.000Z

A Week of Freebies

I have had a great week of free stuff, however a week of problems

I went to the Aston Villa v Derby Football match on Saturday, and watched Derby get stuffed 2-0, blagged a lift home from one of the guests then managed to lose my wallet.

On Wednesday I went to the Man Utd v Dynamo Kiev game, drank and ate for free and got a "lovely" red and white scarf.

altogether now "The Championsssssss"

Yesterday I managed to blag a free SkyPe/Home Phone , although I don't know that many people with Skype accounts and the people I know that do have them, i normall talk to on Xbox Live anyway, I'm going to try getting my family with internet connections to get Skype accounts.

I'm just holding out for an iPhone now, (that I don't really want - and definately won't get).

2007-11-05T21:59:00.000Z

US TV

I dont know why they dont just have US TV Channels such as Fox (Owned by Mr Rupert "SKY" Murdoch) and NBC, that way I don't have to resort to watching some fantastic TV that I've had to download from t'internet.

I am watching the second season of Heroes, without giving too much away it is just as good, if not better that season one. I am only on episode 4 but it follows on nicely Potential Spoiler follows in white text "and introduces a few characters, as well as getting rid of a few".

Also from across the pond is the remake of Bionic Woman, starring none other than "that bird from Eastenders" - Michelle Ryan, another British actor, shippped over to the states, made to speak with an American accent and play a leading role (Hugh Laurie in House for example).

Ryan plays the Bionic woman herself and I must say plays the part quite well, her accent is passable and there are lot of "shots for the boys" where she is either wet, in tight lycra, running or all 3 (check the one handed pull-ups as shown below).

I am currently up to episode 6 so if it all goes crap, I'll let you know, at the moment it appears no-one has picked it up in the UK so unfortunately no date for airing over here, but ou can pick it up at all good ~~bookshops~~, newsgroups and torrent sites.

Does anyone else know of any good US shows ?

2007-11-01T18:37:00.000Z

Some people just don't listen

Dear Time Magazine - do you not read my blog... tut tut

What next indeed

Time magazine have only gone and named the iPhone the "Invention Of the Year"
Obviously this paper is either an Apple fanboy, have no idea what they are talking about or don't actually own things such as this. I guess as an invention it's but not as revolutionary as the iPod itself. Although it does appear that they actually don't really like it either - worth a read.

Just look at the size of it, "life in your pocket", yeah right

The iPhone is just an iPod touch with a built in mobile phone. The things I like over a traditional ipod are the Touchscreen and Widescreen functions, but it's still missing (for me at least), 100Gb in storage, Built in GPS for Sat Nav, 3G and the ability to synchronise with MS Exchange - oh - and the pricing, available tariffs and limited choice of network providers.

I know there are ways around these issues (apart from the storage), but I, like many others want things to work straight out of the box.

I have the HTC TYTN II which has built in GPS, 3.5G connectivity and syncs with Exchange, ok the memory is stored on a Micro SD Card, which at the moment are only up to 6Gb in size (for £30 though), so a slight drawback, but I still prefer it to an iPhone.

I do however still want the iPod "classic"... Please..... someone... anyone.

2007-10-31T19:09:00.000Z

Proper Photos

SWMBO and Monster took Leah to have her first "proper" photos on Saturday, Pixie Photos had an offer where you got a free 12" * 10" photo. They obviously know what they're doing as the "free photo" turned into £110 worth of more photos, worth every penny I'd say, Wwe had them taken of her in her christening gown - Bless. Service is excellent, we recieved the photos today and here they are not copied, scanned in or anything that may seem illegal.

2007-10-31T18:31:00.000Z

Happy Halloween

I even got to carve my very first pumpkin, what do you think, now it's time to scare some children...

2007-10-29T11:23:00.000Z

iPhone UK
The iPhone is coming to the UK on November 9th.

Do I want one yet? - nope, I'm still managing to resist temptation especially as the pricing and tariffs have been announced.

Firstly, you can only supposedly get the phone on the O2 network (I'm on Orange), you have to pay £269 for the phone itself (8Gb) model, and then you're robbed every month with the tariff.

£35 per month gets you 200 minutes and 200 texts
£45 per month gets you 600 minutes and 500 texts
£55 per months gets you 1200 minutes and 500 texts

I currently pay £25 per month and get 500 minutes and 500 texts. and SWMBO pays £35 for 500 minutes and unlimited texts.

So not only are you having to pay over the odds for the privilege of owning an iPhone, there's a premium each month for using it. The tariff does come with an unlimited data allowance although the iPhone isn't a 3G device.

I'd rather go for the 160Gb Video iPod (now known as the "Classic") for £229.00 and get a Smartphone on a free upgrade. The iTouch is only let down by the hard drive size (8 or 16Gb).

2007-10-26T17:19:00.000+01:00

Wow - Ben ze Kneezeez

My 33rd Birthday came and went without too much trauma, we went to Matlock for the day (well a couple of hours), and SWMBO cooked tea, she does the meanest fry-ups known to man. I'm sure she is destined to work in a greasy spoon cafe one day.

To round off this week, I had my manipulation yesterday and to be honest, I was more nervous about this than anything else I have been through with my knee. I guess this was because this basically HAS TO WORK...

I was advised to be at the hospital for 7.00am as my manipulation was scheduled for 7.45am.

I got there dead on 7.00, and was led straight to my room, gowned up etc. The anaesthetist came to see me to ask about my choice of anaesthetic (Spinal or General) - I chose to be asleep, although I thought the noise of the cracking may be very therapeutic, it would probably make
me pass out.

The surgeon then came to see me to explain the procedure. I was in theatre by 8.00am and awake by 9.00am.

Result.
The surgeon came back to advise the manipulation was a success and they managed to break all of the scar tissue, they broke scarring in both flexion (bending) and extension (straightening), there was a hell of lot or scarring therefore a lot of cracking - I am kind of gutted I didn't get to hear it, but glad too. My heel managed to touch my arse which means a bend of 140 degrees as opposed to 90 before.

I was then put on a CPM machine and had physio, although I was told I would be able to come home , I decided it would be best alround if I stayed in, as NO-ONE, especially SWMBO would be able to move my knee as much as the physio could. I stayed on the CPM machine overnight, the strange thing was, although I couldn't feel my leg due to anaesthics and the nerve block in my leg, I could still feel the pain in my knee and it hurt like hell.

I had a fantastic breakfast this morning followed by more physio and came home at 11.00am.

I now have a lot of exercises to do over the weekend before another visit to the physio on Monday, but already feel a lot better and can bend my knee more than I have been able to do for almost 5 months, therefore the start of my recovery and no more limping,

I can't wait to get this thing over and done with. to say it's dragged on a bit is an understatement

Links
-1- -2- -3-

2007-10-22T06:42:00.000+01:00

Well that was a weekend (or should that be "What a bag of sh*te")

If Wednedsdays diabolical effort of a football match between England and Russia wasn't bad enough, we also managed to fail at even more sport over the weekend,
firstly England were seemingly robbed at the Rugby World Cup Final over a was it/wasn't it try, and today Lewis Hamilton failed to end the weekend on a high by winning the F1 World championship*.

Still my baby had a wonderful Christening and had lots of photos taken thanks to Uncle Stuart "Trez".

Cheers for taking the video and the photos Stu, I have told everyone they can purchase copies for £4.95 each...

All in all a rubbish week for English sport, but fantastic weekend for me and SWMBO

* it appears that Lewis Hamilton might actually win the championship as BMW Sauber and Williams are being investigates for irregularities ... We'll see but I'm not holding out much hope.

2007-10-19T16:11:00.000+01:00

Come on England, Come on Lewis, Come on Vicar & Minister

What a weekend it's set to be, England v South Africa in the world cup Rugby final on Saturday.
Lewis Hamilton going for world championship status in the Formula 1 on Sunday.
Me... I have a wedding to go to on Saturday which will hopefully have a TV somewehere. (Although I'm feeling a bit ill at the moment and may not be able to attend :-) )
On Sunday we are baptising Leah so I can't really cry off from that, although I might try and rush the mininster through the service, starts at 2.30 and we really should be done by 4.00 (race starts at 5.00).

I could record them but doubt I'd be able to stay away from TVs, radios and people for long enough to avoid finding out the results.

Come on...

2007-10-12T23:51:00.000+01:00

The Return of the Knee

Today was my appointment with the consultant to check on the progress of my physiotherapy to get my knee back to its full ROM.

Although I already knew this, I am going to have to go into hospital again to have my knee Manipulated, this is called MUA (Manipulation under Anaesthetic).

The process is quite straight forward, either a spinal or general anaesthetic the surgeon then manipulates your knee by bending and moving it around, that's it, nothing more, nothing less.

A couple of days in hospital is then followed by intense physiotherapy in order to ensure the knee remains fully mobile.

Although this is something I was completely against at first, I realise I need to give in and have it done, at the moment I can only move my knee between 5 and 100 degrees, my other knee moves between -5 to 140 degress, this means I am unable to walk properly, run, kneel down etc, as you can imagine, these things affect me every day.

The longer I leave the operation, the more chance it wont be successful, by manuipulating my knee, the scar tissue simply breaks and allows for the movement to return, over time this tissue begins to get harder and has been described to get as hard as concrete.

I just can't wait for this to all be over... I have never been so desparate to get to the gym or get on my bike, now it's in my interest that I do in order to build muscles back up in my legs and therefore avoid any further problems with my knees.

2007-10-05T22:58:00.000+01:00

Sonys' New Bravia Advert

This time feature "ickle" bunnies made from every kids dream toy and every parents nightmare.... PLAY-DOH (have you ever tried getting it out of the carpet).

Doesn't make me want a new TV, but good advert anyway.

2007-10-05T21:48:00.000+01:00

Back in Blighty
.
Arrived back yesterday to not so hot weather, a wait for a bus to take us to the airpark followed by a 45 minute drive and we were home (2.30am).

What a fantastic holiday, it was completely different to the usual holidays previously with both the lads and SWMBO, although it wasn't that much of a holiday for SWMBO as she stayed in the shade for a lot of the time feeding Leah, more of a change of scenery.

The In-Laws were great though, taking Leah for walks when she needed to sleep, babysitting while we got ready and generally giving us some together time so thanks for that.

I did manage 1 lads night though on Sunday, and boy did I regret it the day after, out drinking till 5.30am, unable to finish my breakfast the next day and generally feeling shit for the whole of the day. Great night though.....
My knee managed to behave, I managed to walk 2-3 miles a day without too much pain, although stupidly wore a pair of flip-flops for a couple of days, this was stupid as my knee gave way due to the extra work it was having to do to keep the flip-flops on.

The flight home played hell with my knee, as it was only 4 hours I decided I'd be ok.

So back to reality and Physio told me that the usual holiday time has taken me a step back, not only do I need to do extra work, but its's highly likely I'm going for manipulation sometime soon.

I can go back to work on Monday and have a rest....

2007-09-24T17:08:00.000+01:00

Ola Mi Amigos

Bloody hell it's hot....

We managed the luggage, packed the travel cot with a ton of stuff so to keep our normal allowance downthe travel cot ended up weighing 22Kg, as well as each of our luggage also being over the allowance of 20Kg, luckily we managed to get away with it. Who'd have thought you'd need so much suff for a baby, and we're using it all.

Middle of September and it's around 34 degrees in the daytime and 24ish at night. I called home and my mum told me it's wet and cold.... YES.

Leah covered in suncream, with a hat on, in a baby tent, under a tree,
in the shade, in the sun.... Protected and happy(ish)

Leah didn't like the heat on day 1, but is now used to it, Father-in-Law still doesnt like the heat but unfortunately won't fit in the baby tent. Although he seems to have re-found his youth here, listening to Hed Kandi on ~~his~~ my iPod and reading Harry Potter.

Listening to Fat Choonz on MY ipod

I can see the sea

The Apartment is great, 2 big bedrooms and 2 big bathrooms with living space and a sea-view balcony, what more coul you ask for.... well for the next resort to turn the bloody music down that's what. Apparently the music goes on till 3.00am, I don't know cos I'm fast asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.

The Vodafone coverage is great here too. super fast 3G (7.2Mbs) from my 3G card, not to mention the daft spanish that all seem to have unsecured wireless networks. No need to be without my internet....

That's enough for now, I'm off to tend to my sunburnt shoulders..... and have another €2 pint, (where the hell is the euro sign on the keboard).

2007-09-21T00:13:00.000+01:00

Tenerife -

As Peter Kay said, we've booked it, packed it and now we're 'Kin Off

Yes, the day is finally here, we are going on our "summer" holiday, 12 days in wonderful Tenerife for I think what is my 5th time and SWMBOs 12th.

This time will be slightly different however, as we are taking our little Leah I'm going to do some proper sightseeing, so rather than Tramps, Linekers, Valentinos, Yates, Harleys etc, it would be nice to see some proper Tenerife stuff. for this I have found a nice site - Secret Tenerife which is aimed at "discovering the real nature of this beautiful, sub-tropical Canary Island".

Don't get me wrong, as soon as we've put Leah to bed with the babysitters grandparents, we'll be hitting Tramps, Linekers, Valentinos, Yates, Harleys etc just found a pub called "Bikini-G's" so will have to try that out, (don't worry, I'll get photos).

In the meantime I have my ipod, book and PDA so I won't bwhile topping up my tan, I just hope the weather stays good for us.

See y'all soon.....

Web Links
tenerife-uncovered - secret-tenerife - tenerifeonline

2007-09-18T20:46:00.000+01:00

Knee Update

I thought everything was going fine, my physio was helping improve my flexion (bending) up to 120 degrees and my extension (straightening) was at 0.

Today was my consultant appointment and have shown a different story. He says my flexion is 95 and my extension is only 0.
This has crushed me...

2 days before I go on holiday and I haven't been doing as well as I thought, it seems the Range of Movement (ROM) is based on the amount you can actually move of you own free well rather than being "forced" by someone.

I have been ~~advised~~ told I will need even more physio (I am currently having 2-3 days a week) and if things don't improve within the next 4 weeks, then I have to seriously consider MUA Manipulation under anesthesia before my knee stays like it is... Permanently.
Most people requiring this kind of procedure do so as they have had a total knee replacement (TKR), I can't seem to find anyone that needs a MUA for a "Normal" problem such as mine.

Found a great site about a woman who had MUA, in particular, this post. She couldn't bend her knee past 90 degrees (110 at a push) it seemed to work for her. At least it's given me some hope, if only as a last resort.

I will definately be doing as much as I can over the next 4 weeks, even if 2 of them are while sunning it in Tenerife, who knows, maybe the sun will help too. (I know the large measures of JD & Coke certainly will)

2007-09-18T07:02:00.000+01:00

Derby 1-0 Newcastle
About bleeding time. Well done and thank you "Super" Kenny Miller

2007-09-16T12:31:00.000+01:00

A Bargain Expensive Holiday

The countdown is almost over, we are a few days away from our long awaited holiday. Fortunately SWMBOs' mother (affectionately known as Monster-in-Law) has timeshares meaning we can use these whenever they are free... So we're off to Tenerife for sun, sand, sangria and more sun

Unfortunately - the In-Laws are coming with us
Fortunately - We now have babysitters.
Normally we save hundreds of pounds using Monsters' timeshare, however with Leah now here, this saving has disapperaed and instead, replaced with "Expense"

As we all know, baggage handlers enjoy throwing luggage as far as possible, so to save our £400 "travel system" that Monster bought for us, we have bought a "cheap" buggy at just £70.

Babies cots in apartments are less than appealing so we have bought one to take with us.
The sun in Tenerife is bloody hot se we have bought a "shade a babe" and a beach tent.
For playing around the pool, we have bought a play nest

There, I think thats it...

Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get away and am really excited at taking our baby on her first holiday, it also helps "limit" our luggage, as babies don't get extra allowance for luggage we need to travel lighter. Normally I take a few pairs of shoes, shorts, etc. as well as my gadgets (camera, camcorder, laptop, ipod etc), and SWMBO - hairdryer (it has a cold setting apparently), straighteners, crimpers, curling tongs, shower, bath, sink, spare sink - in one case, and clothes in the other, we are both normally at the 20Kg limit EACH ... there and a bit more back (with the alcohol).

Our only real worry is what type of water to use when making up Leahs' milk, Leah is still being breastfed but sometimes has a top-up when necessary, as you can't use the water in Tenerife, and most people advise if you must use mineral water, then only use Evian. The best option is to use spring water, so we'll spend some time looking for spring water (as soon as know how to say it in Spanish). DJs Dylan and Darren, if you're reading this, let me know as you might still be over there .

* I do really love my Mother-in-Law - couldn't eat a whole one though

2007-09-16T08:38:00.000+01:00

Another Legend Leaves us.

In the space of less than a month, we have lost great people Jane Tomlinson and Anita Roddick to ill health.
Unconfirmed reports it state Rally ace Colin Mcrae has been killed in a helicopter crash that may have also killed his 5 year old son in Scotland.

Biography taken from McRaes' wikipedia entry

McRae began his rally career in 1986, piloting a Talbot Sunbeam. A regular competitor on Scottish Rally Championship events, he was soon making a name for himself with his speed and exciting style of driving. His driving style drew many comparisons to Ari Vatanen, the famous Finnish rally driver who McRae had always idolised. He soon progressed to a Vauxhall Nova, and then onto a Ford Sierra XR 4x4. His first WRC exposure was in the 1987 Swedish Rally behind the wheel of his Nova, and again in 1989, driving the Sierra and finishing 15th overall. Later in '89, he finished 5th overall at Rally New Zealand in a rear wheel drive Sierra Cosworth. 1991 saw McRae join Prodrive Subaru for the British Rally Championship. He was twice the British champion in 1991 and 1992, soon graduating to 'works' status for the factory team.

2007-09-13T21:03:00.000+01:00

Pulling my Finger Out

I have 3 things I really need to do*

1. Re-do my website
2. Sort out Photos of Leah
3. Create a Leah DVD from my Camcorder

1. Redo my Site
I stupidly decided to re-design my website, I say stupidly as rather than do the redesign then upload and replace the current version, I took the site down with a "Coming Soon" message. After a few months, the site is still coming soon, I am intending on using a template site to base it on, with tabbed tops that link to photos, family, gadgets and other stuff. I have yet to find the template to use but will ned to get it done very soon.

2. Sort out Photos of Leah
I have thousands of photos of Leah, I want to pick the best 100 and create a photo album from birth.

3. Create a DVDI now have lots of footage which I intend on creating a DVD from, the trouble with home movies however is the 100 hours of footage you start with ends up being 5 minutes of decent film. I have a HD (Hard Drive) Camera so the transfer to my PC will be easy, I intend on using Sony Vegas to capture the footage, something like Adobe Premier for editing and maybe After Effects for any special effects, titles etc.

I guess it all boils down to a: being arsed and b: having the inspiration/creative flair to do so, Unlike Taoski, I'm far from creative, getting my ideas from t'internet bores the hell out of me.

Therefore

My website is will be a very basic, quick loading site
Leahs Photo Album is fairly straightforward, I have messed around ith Photoshop and created some half-decent photos
The DVD will be a "pre-release" therefore not have any special effects

Any ideas greatly welcomed.

* I actually have about 33 things to do but SWMBO doesn't read my blog so the other 30 "house things" can go on hold.

2007-09-10T21:48:00.000+01:00

Anita Roddick - RIPAnita Roddick has died suddenly this evening from a brain haemorrhage, I remember when the Body shop came to Derby, there was a lot of these shops, the anti-animal testing demonstrations etc. This allowed people to choose beauty products that had not been tested on animals, and no doubt changed a lot of things we now take for granted.

The words, inspirational, incredible, dedicated, energetic from the BBC News article only go some way in describing how this woman changed peoples' views of animal testing.

She'll be sadly missed.

www.anitaroddick.com