nicholas paul endean

2010-11-01T06:26:00.000Z

2009-12-21T20:32:00.001Z

I don't remember feeling so fed up before.....

Dear diary

2009-09-18T10:26:00.003Z

I can't believe how much effort its taking these days to either update my blog, or log into facebook. I've changed so much these past few months. So much has changed and happened that I have to stop and take a breath at just how fast life is going. I would give my right arm to actually find the motivation to use the (never even tried!) home studio I saved up for and put into storage. I used to love writing music and singing. I always wanted to be appreciated for my music talents more than anything in the world. I did go places, and have been lucky enough in my past to have met some semi famous people, gone to some great places and almosted touched the hand of fame. I at least know what it must be like to be famous even though I never quite reached it.

At the moment I am desperate to loose some weight. I have tried hard to already, but alas, I still struggle to switch off the inner me that comfort eats from morning to night. That is my worst trait these days. I dont drink, well occationally. I do however smoke. I stopped for over a month with the help of the Stop Smoking Clinic who are great. But I foolishly had a stray cigarette and as most people will tell you, one leads to another and so on.

Having felt so bad the other day, the kind doctor has given me 2 weeks worth of patches. I will be stopping on Monday coming. I have learned that simply saying you are going to stop is NOT enough, and that one must MUST wait until your soul is ready. For instance, the last two success stories, have been like this. I have completely had enough of smoking and knew it was all or nothing and thus I stopped. But right at this moment in time I am not 100% commited. So I will give myself a couple of days.
As far as eating is concerned, I intend to plan this properly and find a fill in that will take the place of the food I crave from in truth, feeling low and lacking in self esteme. Its like a vicious circle.

At the moment my little one is at school and spends this weekend with her mum. So I am going to do a bit of painting around the house. A bit of spring cleaning and take the dog for a few long walks.

I'll leave it there as its enough to have actually written something for once. I have just noticed that I can now more or less touch type. I didn't even realise that I wasn't looking at the keyboard. Cool!!

X

At last

2009-06-16T11:04:00.001Z

Today I recieved via a call, confirmation that I will obtain my degree come October. Must find me a cap n gown now. yeeeeear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I FINALLY DID IT.....

2009-02-09T17:40:00.003Z

I finally got my Degree in Digital Media. Now its on to.....?

So now I am in Print

2009-01-17T03:17:00.004Z

Woke up this morning and found that my story had been put into print. The local paper have been really nice after I explained about my problem with the local council. I don't like my photo much but you can't have brains AND looks....can you?

New Start

2009-01-03T07:02:00.004Z

Its been quite a while since I wrote anything on my blog. In all honesty, life being life has simply not provided me the motivation required for this simplist task of typing a few words. But being a new year I am going to try and put a bit more effort and catch up on things.
Its about 7am right now and I've been up for a good hour or so.

I recently took a long hard look at my life. I'm overweight to the point now that it is causing part of my unhappiness with myself. I mean afterall, its not something anyone really wants to go through.I for one have certainly had enough of feeling fat, aching too quickly on long walks and waking up "still fat each day"
So, what have I done to sort this out. Well, I have been promicing myself that I would sort my bedroom out and put the treadmill down and start using it. But alas although my heart is in the right place, for so long this has been left to the realms of good intensions left on the back burner.
So I decided to investigate the concept of natural (because they are not harmful) diet pills and supliments.

So before Christmas having first bought, tried and been dissapointed with my first researched purchase, I changed and went further a field as in the more expensive and HIGHLY recommended ones.
Opera Winfry had a guest on her show a while back. He basically, came on to show the research etc that he had done on diet and research.
His resulting papers were amazing from all accounts. He found out the natural suppliments we need to sustain our fitness levels where food intake is concerns. I will edit this blog a little later as my little one has just woken up so I need to finish.

Anyway. As a quick end note. I started taking the world wide popular diet pills about a week ago. My initial weight was 19 stones and 11 pounds. Well, when I weighed myself yesterday, I now weigh 19 stones and 3 pounds.
The pills are called: LIPOVOX-TRI ACTIVE

The first ones I tried didn't work for me. They were called:metabolo Extreme

The Lipovox Tri Active really work!

Read the story here http://www.lipovox.com/?gclid=CJfl25ru8ZcCFUob3godRnJCCg

Not only do they work but they ARE safe (research is my forte and something I pride myself as being very thorough in doing before undertaking anything in life)

Better go now. Am going to post my weekly results too, just to see how much I can loose in the hope to get back in shape and at the weight I know I should actually be.

Girls...watch out in the summer for the new look Nick!! he he

Summer time, a crazy car driver and too much rain

2008-08-21T06:12:00.004Z

What a naff summer (weather-wise) it's been. Spent a lot of time at the beach when the suns been out. The newly nearly finished breakwater/tidal defance building work has made a big difference in the overal fun factor. It is supposed to stop flooding, but from what I've seen it's just a pile of specifically placed rocks imported (apparently) from France, and placed in long lenghts along spaced out sections of the beach. It looks strange as its changing the appearance of the whole horizon of the beach, when seen from beach long view. The only concerning factor is that there now seems to be a permenant foot or so cliff which has formed at the edge of the pebble section. So now, when you want to "hit" the beach and go paddling or building castles, you have to remembed to bring you hiking gear so you are able to get "down" to the beach itself. Hopfully this has been calculated and is simply part of the finished outcome. But I have my doubts. Its come about from all accounts, because the newly placed sand (dredged from the seabed?) has been quickly pushed by the moving tide, to a point where the waves stop, and hence a wall of sand is now created.

That aside, the new sand is wonderful for making castles and digging with.

So many lovely shells that my daughter now loves collecting them. I am also a bit sad about the colour of the sea itself. It's now got a strange yellow muddy look to it.

The froth from the breaking waves, which is left after each wave craching against the shore, is not something I would want to walk on, touch or for that matter choose to see. But I hope it's just the new work that now has to settle down which has caused it.

That aside....
Today, our new trailer arrives. I dont have a car just yet, and so decided that because we need transport, and I need to loose a few pounds, I would get us a bike trailer. I've only seen one in use, and that was a friend at my daughters old school who used one to take her little one to and from school. They (trailer) looks odd at first glance, but the appearance is outweighed by its usefullness. My daughter as I am myself, is looking forward to trying it out. There's room for luggage along with being able to transport (in safelt via two seatbelts) two children. So Sophie and a friend can sit in there whilst dad peddles like the wind to the destination....ha ha

We've been doing a bit of gardening too. I moved a tree from the back garden and planted it in the front.....and its now nearly dead. Oops! Still it was a valuable lesson learnt about now moving certain buds etc.

We now have a kitten called Max. He is great. Together with our dog Harry, they have quickly become inseperable. If Harry gets stuck and can't find Max he will look everywhere until he finds him, and then usually curl up beside him. Max (Kitten) has become a permenant squater in the no-longer-used-very-much large dolls house my daughter has in the front room. Whats funny is that Sophie my little one (not so little anymore as she is nearlt 6) has sorted out all the furniture and fitting, and along with removing the movable iserts has created a luxury detached house just for Max. He can curl up anywhere now apart from the loft. The stairs are far too small. Althought Sophie asked if we could make a lift for Max. But logistics and materiels and obvious difficulties aside, I have had to explain why this wouldn't either be a good idea or possible. Cats don't know how to press buttons (or could they be taught?) to take themselves up and down to the different floors.

Yesterday, we both went crabbing down on the jetty at Felixstowe ferry. Great fun! We caught in total 11 crabs, various sea weed and an old crabs claw. We hoever lost two fishing weights and nearly lost the fishing net. I managed to rescue it after it slips out of Sophies hands, via the throw ing the fishing line and old cod head bait at it until I caught it and managed to pull it in.
Things have certainly changed down there. I don't recal ever having to wait for a space on the jetty previuously. But yesterday we had to go and use the other side of the water way until someone moved. Its amazing how many people got down there these days from what we were told.

A few days ago, we called on a friend and family from across the way. I had been meaning to visit for a while. Great people and great kids. Sophie had lovely afternoon and it was great to catch up on old times with my friend. What ever nicer is all the children go to her school. So it will mean even more friends for my daughter. She loves the new school and so do I. Everyone so far has been great. I have even bumped into a few old faces from my own school days. It only seem like yesterday when I was at school. And its funny how faces stay pretty much the same. In my case I guess it's just the weights around my middle that gives the game away...he he he he

Recently.. I got hit by a car whilst about to go around a corner on my mountain bike. The old guy was certainly in now fit stage judging from how he looked and sounded when he eventually pulled over to explain. I have a nerve in my right arm at the moment that is causing a bit of a problem. As the car nudged my handle bars, I put my arm out to steddy myself, and the car pushed up again me forcing my arm up. This is what caused the nerve to become damaged.
I called the police straight away having got over the road, and .........

Well. I have a few things to do today, so had better stop writing now and make some breakfast.

Nick

Sophie at the wheel

2008-07-07T08:12:00.001Z

Sophie at the wheel
Originally uploaded by non_com

We were waiting for an Ipswich bus on Saturday. One came along quite quickly so it was great start to a lovely sunny day.We were off to the swimming pool. Trouble was though that the bus on turning up, brought with it a smoking brake disc on its left front side. Bit of a shame we thought as we were told another bus would be 20 more minutes. But the hand of thanks must be passed in the direction of the kindly bus driver, who obviously is one of the most decent people we've met in a while. He simply told us to not only wit in the bus out of the hot sun and slight wind, but told my little one that should she want to, she could sit in the drivers seat and look around. Wow....it made Sophies day, and to be honest I couldn't wait to see her face light up when she got in the cabin. We eventuallygot to the pool that day and had great fun. Then to the park, where we collected sticks to and had a stick sword fight before constructing a wigwam for "tiny people" that was actually supposed to be a pretend fire...then we did a bit of shopping and having woken Sophie up on the bus when we got to our stop we were back just in time for tea.

A neat day....

life update...and rather a lot of my waffling

2008-05-14T06:38:00.006Z

Hello out there...

Firstly, I am sitting in the front room at the moment using the old laptop. So I don't have access to any pics to upload of the new house or garden etc. So I will have to do that later. Still, its just cool to get a moment this morning to write at least something in my blog.

Its certainly been a while since I last wrote on here, so I thought I would add a few lines regarding what is happening in our life. First off we (my daughter and myself) have recently back in April moved into a new house. Its great and has changed our lives so much. Coming from a large no garden two bedroomed appartment as you can imagine makes it fantastic, as we now have two even bigger bedrooms (Sophie my daughter got to choose which one she wanted and guess what, she chose the biggest room and at the front of the house) I got the back room and am happy too. Two outhouses in the large garden means (although Sophie chose the first one which incidently is once again the biggest and best, but she DOES have a lot of stuff to tidy away..ha ha)

I can put my recording studio dream into action once I get into teaching and life gets to a point where everything slots into place, I bring home a nice wage, I manage to find a writing partner who can also play an instrument such as a guitar: accoustic? and...blah blah blah Can't wait for that.

We now have a happy little jack russel called Harry who I'm sure I've written about previously.Anyway along with the fact that her adores the garden too, we have a park not far away and we have both made a ton of friends. So I walk him when I can which is most mornings after my daughter has gone to school and I have an hour before I have to further my studies on the computer. Sophie also uses the garden daily and we've at last been able to use the rather large Swimming pool I saved up and bought over two years ago (never thought I would ever get to inflate it let alone fill it and put a slide at one end).
Just got buy some chlorine later today so the water can stay fresh and usable, oh and a filter at some point. It really IS a fairytale come true.

I have also gotten into gardening somewhat, and with help from family, managed to transform the previous incarnation into a more personal and relavent piece of estate especially with my daughters needs in mind. Just have one more thing to do with the back garden in particualar and that it to extend back about just over a meter. There was a rockery and build up of soil when we moved in. So I have been saving up for a skip rental to remove it and plant some grass. After that its going to have add lenght to the already long garden. I have already moved the group of garden slabs and extended te patio (it wasn't really a patio previously BUT is now) I've gotten both Picnic table and bench too which are great. Oh, and an old American type rocking chair which I fixed up, sewed up the seat fabric and use on hot days. At the moment the pool is in use daily as my little one has chicken pox and it keeps her from scratching when she is in there. I checked up and just like the benefits of a cool bath the pool helps her skin. Luckily Sophie has not really scratched as once I told her the problems with chicken pox she understood. Thanks be for a great daughter. Shes actually missing school too. She has to be off until the crusts appear on her chicken pox spots which hasn't happened yet. But already she misses her friends. Bless her. We've been doing lots of painting, drawing and reading. I bought her a complete pottery kit recently from my favorite charity shop called the PDSA (animals can't speak for themselves I always say so hence they need our help right?) We got three full bags of clay which is specially made for auto hardening without the need for a kiln along with a powered potters wheel.

Neither of us managed to finish off whate were making, as Harry ended up jumping on the table and killing our work whilst they were drying.

Oh well. I've also started writing music and songs again although my lyrics are somewhat in need of fine tuning and NOT like they were.
Words dont come easy these days but I'm sure they will. Before I forget, we have great neighbours. One of the main points that can make or break a move into a new place is obviously getting on with those next door. I couldn't believe how nice the people are on either side. Infact I would go as far as to say that the whole street is a very nice place to live. People are so friendly where we are. Its certainly a breath of fresh air to say goodmoring or have goodmorning said to you when you walk down the street to get a newspaper or are taking the dog for a walk. I'll be off now and will upload some shot of the new life very soon. So just incase someone out there is tuning in now and again these are for you.
Finally, its great to say that we are now in a position to be able to recycle at least 50%. All cardboard and paper is sorted into a bin, and the next step is to get a can crusher and seperate metal bin.

OK, I'm being called so had better go. Cu/
Nick

Harry

2008-02-12T04:48:00.001Z

I took this picture on the spur and really like the way the sunlight shines from behind.

I took Harry for a walk yesterday evening across the fields behind where we live. Harry had never seen horses before.

Puddles, Parties and technology

2008-02-03T05:44:00.000Z

Party

What a really great party yesterday. Took my little one to a party for one of her friends at a place called Jans Madehouse. Wonderful time had by all judging from the cool and relaxed atmosphere throughout the morning/afternoon.
I ended up playing soccer with my daughter and some new friends who joined in. I was in goal. I ALWAYS hated being in goal at school, but now as an adult I seem to be able to stretch my arms left to right enough to cover the net (evil laugh, ha ha ha) so that made a difference and gave me somewhat of an advantage..... I did let them all get a few shots in. (truth is, that i am RUBBISH at football and let them all in because of it.)

My daughter also managed to get me to go down a slide that I hasten to thought I would get stuck down, but that didn't matter one iota.
It was quite funny at the time as just as I sat staring into the abis bellow wondering if the slide would hold all 18 stone of me, I heard a child say "hey, there are steps for big people over there if you're scared" Bless!
I didn't get stuck and successfully got out at the bottom and found myself laughing my head off.

It really was a great time and we all enjoyed the day.

Puddle Jumping

My daughter and I oh and the dog, all went puddle jumping yesterday. The last time we did that was months ago after the big rain fall. Yesterday was funnier though as we went and found that all the puddles were frozen over. It was good fun watching her break the ice and make a mess everywhere. Harry has a short learning curve with anything new and so picked up quickly what puddles were for.

Technology.....

At the moment, I'm listening to some early 70's ear candy in the form of some Peter Gabriel tracks. Heaven knows it took long enough to get the BlueTooth 'widcom'stack to work (part of the software drivers) and load correctly.
Got it going in the end and it was worth the wait. Nothing better than pure stereo pumping out out of these minute futuristic buds AND from up to 100 feet away from the laptop! Love technology...love life.

My daughter has her own birthday party later today and I can't wait. I know she's going to have a ball. Lots to do later so I thought I would keep my blog up to date whilst it's early which I am going to try and do on a regular basis now.
Its quite therapeutic especially when I look back and read what I've written a few months or so down the line. But I guess thats the same with everyone who keeps a blog or diary.

Proof positive, that Harry is finally getting used to public transport! :-)

BeetleDrive

2008-02-02T06:13:00.000Z

In all I had a lovely week this week all round. I managed to get all my future goals aligned in one fell swoop. I will be going into the teaching profession at some point in the future and have had several things to do what with one thing and another. Anyway.

Once I have my degree mapped out and finish my dissertation (I have completed 99pc of it now) I will only need to obtain my GCSE in Science and English. Once I have those which I am told won't take long to achieve, I will fully qualified to look at teacher training.

Life doesn't get better than that!!

I haven't had so much fun in years. It's true! My daughter and I went to her schools Beetle drive yesterday evening. If you haven't played then you are missing out!!
At first, I have to be honest and admit that beforehand I had no idea what to expect.
I thought a Beetle-Drive was something to do with prizes, hidden treasure, following trails and using clues on paper locating around a place.

Little did I know that it involved ones heart racing ten-to-the-dozen as we all raced each opposing table as we tried to be the first "team" to construct a drawn beetle by throwing the right numbers from a dice.
I did take take a few minutes (thanks to one and all) to get the hang of putting my beetle together in the right places, but once I managed to get it together I loved every minute of it. What hit home the most, was that the parents, teachers and various other contenders? who played were the nicest people you could wish to meet. I really enjoyed the evening. Our highest score was 58 I think, so that was pretty good. Or so I thought until a young chap with a fizzy drink in his hand came over asking what score we got. He beat us by one or two points. I still wonder who won the whole evening on points. Be funny i f it was Team-Endean...lol

On the way out my daughter proudly showed me her Skeleton design which her class each put together as part of the reading module/lessons. She's getting really good at reading and writing and its wonderful to watch her progress so well.
I was spending an hour a day after school and some mornings after breakfast reading, writing and then as off recently using the new sentences packs and envelope. It was only after one of my favorite staff who my daughter thinks the world of, that I realized only ten minute each learning session is enough. Oh well, no one can say we don't put the effort in.

I realize its just a game, but truly, when you have alternating tables of players who are all trying to get hold of the dice and shaker as quickly as possible, AND shake the right number (need a one to start= beetle body) then you can understand although it may sound crazy, why you sit there mesmerized waiting for a go with your heart going faster and faster. I so wanted to win and get a finished beetle, but alas next time. Oh Yes!!! next time I WILL get to shoot a winning beetle.

Incidentally, the more I think about it, the more I am both proud of what my daughter has achieved and how lucky I am to know that she is able to attend such a wonderful school. A really great bunch of people all round.

Thanks School, and I look forward to the next evening.

what a crazy week

2008-01-27T06:55:00.000Z

Just another bit of slightly strung together words with a few sentences thrown in for good measure....you have been warned......blah blah blah

So many things have happened lately that its been mind blowing. There's one thing for sure to be said and that is simply that there is never a dull moment.
In no particular order but as I remember them, here's my week or so just gone. Just for the record, at the moment I have been tidying up my Dissertation website and signing back up to Microsoft Live as family and friends are keeping in touch I thought it was about time. I forgot my details so have to go through all that hastle again of signing up. It will be worth it though as I have Live already installed on my PDA and have often felt it would be good to try it out (along with VOIP which is also on the new ROM by "Dutty" from xda dev..thanks Dutty the ROM is great!)

Sorry for waffling...blah blah blah.

Anyway. I had probably the worst driving lesson to date last week but incredibly one of THE best also a day earlier, so explain that!@?
I know it won't take long now before I am scaring all the other road users and pedestrians when I get behind the wheel of my own car shortly...(evil laugh)
I think out of all the acheivments I have made in my life, driving is going to be hard to top although getting my degree and obtaining a teacher training placement which sounds like will be shortly in the pipeline will be a close second.
I met someone recently who has made a big impact on my life and the way I think about myself. They will remain nameless and I look at them as a friend. But I'm actually glad that this person has become known to me. Every now and again in our lives (at least thats my take on things) Specific people come along and leave their mark with specific words, phraces , comments etc that you know seconds later will stay with you for life. Well, this person has already said a couple of things that have left a very positive mark on me. To the point I might add, that I intend to follow one area up and do something I wasn't going to do for a while. I can't go into it as it personal, but rest assured it will make me a more confident person for sure.

I have better shut up now as I really need to play catch up and finish my dissertation off before I get much older.

Cu

Red Sky

2007-12-09T05:20:00.000Z

Beautiful Morning

Woke up on Friday morning to THE most beautiful morning sky views I have ever seen since living in this apartment.

The making of a Blockbuster

On a lighter note, my video production group and I went out looking for a location to film some more of the video film we are doing. It was the best fun I have had in years.

Thought for the day....oh.....to win the lottery!

Voxpops!

2007-11-10T17:24:00.000Z

I spent a good part of today (Saturday 10th-Nov 2007) in Ipswich. I was trying to get as many people as possible to voice their opinions on the subject of Street Art (aka: Graffiti or Urban Art)
It is probably an easy thing to do for most, but seeing as I am definitely NOT the most self assured or confident person in the world, for me this was a mission in itself. So far I have around 10 individual voices recorded (with permission) for use on my website as the background to one of the Street Art videos I put together.

I will never understand why I don't have much confidence as I know I am not a horrible monster or even a miserable old git. But when it comes to talking to people I find it so damn hard. I never used to be like that. In the past I have been heavily into writing music and getting involved with bands as I have always played the piano and keyboards and always enjoyed being the semi centre of attention. But I guess as I got older I hid myself away somewhere.

Anyway. Enought of the sad self indulgent "please feel sorry for me" talk. Things can always be a lot worse. I think the worst thing of all is the fact that....actually I am going to shut up and leave it there as there are people far worse off than I feel I am.

Bye bye for now Blog.

Oh and for the record, I met someone today who seems to have stayed in my mind all day. I am not going to divulge any details as theres no point. But rest assured if I would have had the will power and had had a drink I would have bought this person the biggest bunch of flowers and had them delivered to where she was at the time. Thanks to this person for helping me out and giving me a metaphorical kick up the bum which allowed me to start the ball rolling with getting more people to answer my questions. xx

Dentist

2007-10-22T06:48:00.000Z

GOODBYE TOOTH [AT LAST]
======================

About to go in...

Going going gone.....

Last Thursday after months of waiting I actually had a tooth out that has been bugging me painfully for sooo long. I had some bad experiences a while back when 4 teeth were removed at the back for the sake of possible future problem solving and in an attempt to stop some pain I was having. After all that and too much pain, I was left gutted to find the same problem was still there. Rest assured it left it's mark and I have taken ages plucking up the courage to have this tooth out. I do not hate going to the dentist and am regular in my attendances, however whenever injections and that "if you feel any discomfort please raise you hand" line comes out, I get a little scared. But this time after filling the tooth in a few times over the past few months it was time to get it fixed for good.
I had put the appointment out of my mind for a long time. Luckily I was reminded recently and all is now done thanks so much to my dentist Dr.Browne. I've been seen by many dentists in my life, but this chap has the magic touch so to speak. I even kept the tooth as to me this has been a turning point.
I was well aware I'd feel crap for a while after having the tooth out as it always takes a few more than normal (injections) to shut me up. But I felt sort of a mixture of shakiness and overwhelming shock at actually going for it and getting this done, so I ended up taking things easy for the rest of the afternoon. Only thing that bothered me a little was that it wouldn't stop bleeding for at least 2-3 hours. Not unheard of apparently..but still worrying. Anyway, a momentous and cool day to remember. To others it is a normal day at the dentist, but if you bear in mind the hassles my history book shows from a previous dentist in nr Colchester you'd understand why this is a day to remember.

Next on my to do list is to get a lifetime of electronic repair scares removed from my two front bottom teeth. (using my front teeth to strip the plastic from wire before soldering.)

Purple Shop: Recommend
==================

I also recently had my lip pierced.
A warning to anyone considering this is although its not painful and is quick, EATING IS A BITCH! Maybe I am just stupid or perhaps naive to not have considered this, and being a born worrier, but trying to eat is hard at least for a week or so. The bar used has to be long to start with (about 12mm in long) to accommodate the original lip swelling. Once it settles a smaller bar can be used which obviously sits in the lip flush.
You have to be careful when eating as its very easy to bite your swollen inner lip or worse as I found out, is getting into a nice chocolate biscuit and biting down on the inside inner half of the new additive (bar).

Looks great though and am more than happy. I am very much looking forward to having a small normal size bar put in.

The day the Urban Art simply vanished

2007-09-30T13:36:00.000Z

Really peed off today. I had everything planned, and arrived in Ipswich to begin getting some video shots and photos for use in my video short for use in my dissitation.
Every week whenever I am in town I find new and not so new and some really dated works of art (along with some default black pen work..not my favorite but interesting all the same)

Anyway, with video camera in hand and bag of vid supplies along with new blank tapes and the last of the Sony "normal-life"[2 1/2 hrs recording time]
I must have walked for miles this morning. I got the 9.19am bus from near where I live and headed into Ipswich with a really good feeling in my gut. Trouble is, wherever I went, the Urban Art had been disintegrated by those above (council treated with default yucky pink or worse colour they can usually find).

So I ended up going back to where I remembered there was some artwork scattered around an old building site, an old church yard and behind a Supermarket in the car park area.
To be honest, I at least got some footage for use in the work I am doing, but all the really great art has been vandalized and has been painted over. I understand that to some (and I DO agree that certain work is not that cool) but to remove the works that I remember being up on specific places is a travesty. When you stop and consider what the council or whoever has done this has put in place of the work it is laughable. I have a few shots that I will try to unload of before and after shots.
Just glad I live in Suffolk as some of the artists are more talented that mere words can describe. Some work I have seen in particular, the stencil work and a small percentage of past ups and stickers have been really nice to bump into whilst walking the streets heading to the shops or wherever I have been going.
Anyway. I guess I will have to leave it a while and try and hunt down some new places where artwork has been "hung" upon the concrete gallery of Urban Life and start from there.

One Last Time

2007-09-26T02:19:00.000Z

I've never seen the corridors so chockablock before!
So many new faces!

I came home feeling both elated for various reasons and somewhat strange having taken nearly ten minutes to get my head around a room number (ok so even after all this time I forget where certain rooms are) which turned out to be ten feet away from the sign I was reading. Stupid was the operative word at 1:30pm yesterday.

PASSED!!

2007-09-20T03:12:00.000Z

One step at a time and all will be reachable

All good things come to those who wait

2007-09-17T10:07:00.000Z

Chess and Chips

2007-09-15T19:39:00.000Z

"Apparently..I was taking too long to take my turn"

2007-09-15T19:20:00.000Z

A video from my own"WONDER YEARS" which I found on line recently.
I used to love Roller Skating to this song at the then "rink" at Langer Park in Felixstowe. They ripped the place up and now its a parking spot for council vehicles and various bits and bobs. Life can be so sad. But thats pen pushing progress for you...!

Classic Car Rally

2007-09-08T09:58:00.000Z

I stopped along the road the other week to watch the classic cars driving past. Every year they come from miles around and head along the High Street to the seafront, where they all park up in a line from one end of the beach prom to the other. Great to watch. My favorite has got to be the ZZ-Top Eliminator look a like.

Ride like the wind

2007-09-08T09:31:00.000Z

Bought my little angel a second user battery operated motorbike she'd been after. I had to replace the old battery with a new one and now it is as good as new.
The crash helmet I bought her she hatted so we swapped it the day after this photo was taken and now she uses the new helmet for riding this and her push bike.

_Day trip to Norwich__

2007-09-02T05:42:00.000Z

Spent the day in Norwich of all places thanks in part to a spur of the moment thought and the fact that I couldn't remember the last time I was there.
It was quite a memorably day in all. We did a spot of shopping (for therapeutic reasons you understand) a spot of lunch, a good look round.

I took several photos. The first, below is one I took of a Brain sculpture which became on reflection the high-light of my day. I'd never seen anything like this before and I doubt I ever wil again. There are actually numerous sculptures in and around the City Center of Norwich, and this (the Brain) was the most bizarre and mind blowing.
My second thought after being quite literally shocked was thinking that where I come from in Suffolk: that no council around here would ever dream of being so cool and so original as to allow or commition an artwork like this.

The Brain Sculpture in Norwich City Center

I have to mention the House Of Frazer Center. By car we entered an underground car park which without exaggerating was THE cleanest, sweetest smelling and most well looked after car park I have ever seen. It would have been almost perfect had it actually had a litter bin somewhere and fresh pumped in air. The air was sweet but still too hot.

Underground Car Park

Coming out the car park, the lift or escalator takes you right into the House of Frazier. Even the floors are much the same as the actual car park, in that the impression is that one could almost eat you dinner of it. Entrance

The next photo shows what I felt was the most abstract......no, make that "bizarre" way of utilizing mannequin's I have ever seen. To take the heads of them after setting them in place and removing their heads was something I had never seen before. My immediate thought and one that I do not use in a derogatory way, is that it came across as thought removing the heads and getting the dolls to rest the odd arm or two on the balcony / rail came from either a student who had only just started work at the house of Frazier, or from the mind of someone who had lost a love that same morning and was having difficulties removing their negative thoughts towards their now "ex" partner and was instead finding Solis in removing the heads that way.

...and those Mannequin's

We had a good look around and it was extremely difficult to move away from the chocolate shop. I almost bought my daughter a rather nice sweet dispenser but realized that it would probably end up with me using it more than her. (Truth being that it was a subconscious thought really that I was wanting it for myself and just trying to excuse the fact that it would add even more pounds of weight onto my already fat body)

Cafe Zest

We stopped off to have a relaxing coffee after a long drive. I found a beautiful cafe called "ZEST" It is situated on one of the highest levels of the shopping mall which gave for great views of the shopping strip and walkways. The coffee was £2.50 each which was in my book more expensive than any local Felixstowe or Ipswich Cafe would dare charge (correct me if I an wrong) But in all it was worth it.

That View!

The Norwich city center was jam packed and we both agreed that Norwich people in general lack manners. If theres one thing I like about where I live and Suffolk on the whole, its that when people accidentally knock into you or over shoot their personal space, they react to it and will either give a polite gesture or an apologize. Unfortunately in Norwich manners are definitely a no no. The best way to describe Norwich is to describe it as a wanna-be London. It's certainly busy and people are certainly in a hurry to get to where they are going. But it doesn't seem quite real. Its as if people have read a book that teaches those with inadequate lives "how to look like you have somewhere to go"

Apart from that, the artwork in the city centre was certainly a welcome surprise

Phoneography

2007-08-25T08:18:00.000Z

Technology.......

I was looking back at some of the many cellular / mobile phones I have owned. Heres the last few. Its interesting to note that although the size of the phones across the board, has not been a factor that can be used to accurately show the technology advancement, it is only the amount of memory, the look (ergonomic and form factor) and the functions that show how we have advanced to the present day. My point is best proved by the picture of the Motorola M66. This still is one of my all time favorite phones. Not because it had a ton of features, but because it was and is so damn small. Its footprint is still unmatched even today. I have not seen many other phones that are as attractive and as small. If I remember the ring tones that were available, I was more than happy with it. Its only the phone I now own called a Hermes, which is released under the Orange network as an M3100, that has since become my favorite phone. This is simply because of the amount of expandable memory, the video and photo software and many other functions and applications that have made it something more than just a phone. The Hermes is with me so much as it is as handy to have to hand as a laptop would be.

Below is a pictorial time line showing the phones in order of there place in my phone-history.

Look who I found on YouTube

2007-08-12T07:53:00.000Z

The next big thing?

I found the following music Video on YouTube this morning. The musicians name is Calvin Harris and the track is called "The Girls"
I hadn't heard of him previously but from a little bit of Googling I found out he is more than just a rising star.

http://www.calvinharris.tv/

Anyway...Theres several tracks that he has uploaded in video form, but the one above is by far the most commercial due its catchy baseline, funky rhythm and repetitive chorus.
One things for sure, this track has definitely got a summer groove right the way through it. You've just got to hear it once to pick up the summer feeling that literally "drips" from the sexy synthesized upper base line which I might add has the added bonus of sounding remarkably like a late 1980's electro / pulse bass sound. This can only be a 100% good thing ("THANG") as it will rake in those like me who were and still are 80's lovers.
I digress: now go on and press the play button and see what YOU think....am I right or am I right....
...oh: and he's based in the United Kingdom too

Good luck Calvin on the Channel 4 recordings and future touring. You deserve all the fame you get as you work kicks!!

Ripped Off & Angry

2007-08-11T05:10:00.001Z

I bought this battery 2weeks ago from a USA Company on the grounds that it had been linked to from another site I go on dealing with PDA type issues. I waited and waited and when it finally arrived I was really a happy chappy. Its supposed to be as it advertised: a longer lasting battery than the one that comes with the type of PDA Phone I have called a Hermes (Orange SPV M3100)
BUT...on tests and trying out its capacity over the space of a week, it has proven to be totally useless and unreliable. It is supposed to be a 1500mAh battery which is slightly more than the default battery that comes with this phones which is 1350mAh, and is advertised to be up to 40% better up time.

Heres a quote from the site:

Replace your Cingular 8525 Battery or Keep an Extra Battery on hand as a backup. This is a Super High Capacity 1500 mAh, Lithium-Polymer Battery that offers up to 40% more up time than your original. Works in your Cingular 8525 unit. Simple, Easy and Inexpensive! You get a New Battery AND You also get a full ONE YEAR Money Back Guarantee exclusively when you purchase from us.

http://www.ipods99.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=CING8525SL

Never again!

Fresh Bread and Coffee

2007-08-08T07:51:00.000Z

Good morning world.
Well, at this moment I am sitting with a coffee and relaxed mood waiting for my driving instructor to turn up. I have half an hour yet so thought I would add a small post as I don't haven't had the time recently to write.

Things have been a little difficult on the weight loss front. Why? Because there have been so many other outside influences that seem to have taken presedence over everything else. Rest assured thought, I have still managed to put my half an hour down on the treadmill. Usually at night I'll put the headphones half on my head and chill out to some 80s music or some acoustic material from unsigned artists of the net.

Anyway, the ironic part to the "loosing weight" bit, is that I have managed to to get down to 18st 7. Yesterday it was 18st 4! It fluctuates for sure. But its a start. I have weighed a little over 19st and a bit for over a year. And to have your doctor tell you that according to medical terms and charts I am medically obese was the turning point. That happened several months ago. Since then I have got so fed up being out of breath and feeling off in the morning that enough was enough.
I certainly feel better already. Its a mix between seeing the weight gradually come off and the feeling that it has at last sunk in that I am in complete control and it IS my lifestyle and comfort eating that has done this and NOT because I am an old fart! This is actually what I was putting it down to for so long. That I was simply past it. Ahhhhh Don't ever want to feel like that again. Its crazy what our mind tell us.
I must watch too much Hollywood based media material because only last week I found myself in deep conversation for the second time with another friend about plastic surgery, and in particular: liposuction!!!

I never use to believe in it, and thought like so many others, that even with the funding in place and money was no object: that I would NEVER have surgery for vanity only reasons.
Guess as we get older and are forced to go through life changing situations to do with our own self esteem and bodies, that some of us change out outlook and attitude.
I certainly understand how short the ticket lasts for this "One way Earth existence trip"

Life catches up with all so damn quickly. Having a child full time (except for the weekends, when my little one has to go stay with her mother "for the moment anyway"), makes one realize damn quickly how short life is and how precious each day is. I need to get fit and healthy not just for myself but for my daughter too.
After all, you can only sit on the rug with you child and play floor games like "Garage and Cars, Dominoes, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, My-Mini-Laptop, Drawing etc" for so long. Going to the park is getting more fun now as its becoming ME...yes ME that stops last when we run down the hill at the park. Not so long ago it was me who came out with it first "Daddy has got to stop for a few moments."
The best thing I ever did was completely stop smoking over six months ago. It's hard to put into words how much better the quality of life is. I never realized how stinky my clothes were and the apartment was before. Now it smells clean and fresh!!

Sophie my daughter and I have started baking out own bread recently which as you can imagine fills the place with the most wonderful baking smell. I also love filter coffee. So you can imagine how nice the whole place really smells now. I appreciate coming back to a nice smelling home now as does my daughter.
I've also been using a Glade PlugIns Scented Oil Light Show.

I bought it several months ago. It plugs into the outlet with the included adapter and lights up all different colours which show it is on and reflect on to the wall behind. Some are better than others.

But these are great to. The best one I think is called Vanilla & Cream something like that. I find that it aids restful sleep and it really does make you fell good when you wake up.
Also I recommend Raspberry Rain & Watermelon Rush. Both are worth trying.

Anyway. That's enough scent talk for today.

Life IS what you make it

2007-07-30T13:06:00.001Z

Thought for the day: life is what you make it. Wish I'd have realized the truth of this many years ago. But it's never too late I guess.

BREAKFAST TODAY

2007-07-29T08:43:00.000Z

[the following to be edited]
Breakfast today:

4 x Malted Milk buscuits.

2 x cups of coffee (2 sweeteners, full cream milk)

2 x slices of toast with just Marmite on top.

Still a way to go but...

2007-07-29T08:08:00.000Z

I have now finished rebuilding the guts of a "heart-light" which I bought at a car boot sale recently. Knew my little one would love it and she does. But I had to wait to obtain the correct bits which I did and have and as you can see, in the photo I was testing it out. I have to now finish a couple of bits off, and find a safe place in which to put it up, but I think it's great as I hadn't seen one like this before.

Couldn't resist sharing this photos. Freddie called from below wanting to come in this morning. I'd only just woken up at about 5:30am. She must have superb hearing.

Took my mountain bike into the shop yesterday.It needed a little sorting out where I'd not been to kind to it. Got it done and dusted and went off on a bike ride along the seafront. I actually ended up going from one end of the seafront to the other. Had my headphones on a very large bottle of mineral water so the trip ended up lasting a lot longer than I had planned. It's pretty good though as my body sure need the work out.

Wish I had had the presence of mind to bring some bread for the ducks, as I ended up so far out that I found myself stopping of at the duck pond on the other side of town. It's great the locals got together with the local farmer and rebuilt the pond several years ago, as it was crying out to be cleaned up. Now it is one of the quietest and nicest spots to go when one is in need of a chill out pill so to speak.

I think the only thing that annoyed me yesterday was that having a new armband to carry my media storage buddy (PDA/PHONE) was supposed to make it easy to have constant wireless music. Didn't turn out that way. Everytime I changed any tracks I didn't like, the damn PDA switched itself back on from where I'd left it on standby. Point is, that I am now putting a new selection of mp3 music on it as I was making do with tons of MTV music videos. This way the new software player that works just like an iPod, allows changing without switching the screen on. I am rubbish at explaining myself but I hope that that made some sense.

My daughter comes back home today (5pm) so I am just finishing off this blog, finishing off loading the PDA and am off out for a bike ride for a few hours.
Incidently, I did ok with the new diet yesterday. I had decided to sort out my food intake. So yesterday I ate wholegrain bread, fresh meat, coleslaw, 1 pack quavers, lettuce, beetroot, several cups of coffee. Oh, and I lost count of the amount of water I bought from the shop every now and again and downed during my out and about.
Am not a great fan of water but know I have to get used to drinking a whole lot more if I am to get myself back into shape.
It was only recently that I realized just how fat I was getting. I comfort eat and comfort eat too much. But its now stopping. If I do need a snack I'll start having fruit or carrot sticks.

Biggest lesson learnt of late is simply this: if you feel hungry, stop, drink pleanty of water. If you are still hungry after the water then you are legitimately hungry. Paul Mc'enna said this recently as did a friend as well as a paragraph in the Atkins diet book. It makes sense anyway.

Byebye for now.

Slowly but surely

2007-07-27T13:14:00.000Z

Got really carried away today. Watching music television videos on my PDA with my bluetooth stereo headphones. Beautiful...
Using this type of setup which is called "A2DP" can be a pain as many people complain of poor quality sound or problems with the music skipping as the phone or pda and HPhones loose the signal and have to reconnect.
Me, I have managed to sort it out and its perfect. It helps forget clock watching whilst on the treadmill anyway.

Little Steps

2007-07-22T08:37:00.001Z

Absolutely fed up to the back teeth with being fat. So am now on a daily workout schedule. More determined than ever now to shed at least 4 Stone in Weight before I get much older. Just need to define a specific diet plan for using along side the fitness plan.
So far so good. Each day a little more time spent on the treadmill. I'll get there.

7:00pm Saturday 21st July 2007

8:00pm Friday 20th July 2007

I LOVE A2DP

2007-07-21T20:44:00.001Z

No more wires, just beautiful stereo seperated bluetooth super charged music,

"True Ear Candy"

Hail+Rain+Lightening=ahhhhh

2007-07-09T09:22:00.000Z

Just a quick blog before I go out.
Been a crazy and a half week what with one thing and another.

Went shopping at Tesco's and was confronted by the above weather conditions outside. Freaky or what. Then the other day I was out in Ipswich solo when all of a sudden... "wow!"...a hail storm mixed with more rainfall than I have ever seen.

Catch you later.

Waiting....

2007-06-06T14:24:00.000Z

Well, Right now I am waiting for my driving instructor to turn up as I have promised myself I will be driving my own car come September. God helps those who help themselves. And if I ever get the chance to publish my life story then it'll be great. Proof positive that god DOES listen to our troubles and DOES help us when we ask. Anyway. I have just been waiting outside for ten minutes not realizing the appointment is at 4:30pm NOT 3:30pm. All I can say is, that there is a serious family of butterflies that have nested in my stomach. I forgot what being nervous was all about. When I stop to think of all the things I have to be grateful for its cool. I've gone through a lot this past few years. This year alone its been hard work with one thing and another, but not only have I dealt with everything put in my way, I have also stopped smoking and become a lot healthier. Now I just need to put a sign up in the hall so when I get up all I see is "TEN MINUTES ON THE TREADMILL...NOW" Reason being, that I am forgetting to do a workout every single day and instead workout every two. I'll get there. Wish me luck. Hope I don't hit anyones car as its been years since I drove. oh, before I forget....

www.myspace.com/robbiebuk

Sophie my daughter and I were in Ipswich yesterday and bumped into an old musical chum of mine who used to write music together. Must be five years or there abouts since we've seen each other.I couldn't believe it when I heard "Hello Nick" and didn't even recognize him at first with his Aviator shades on. But there you go. Rob is now doing gigs under his name 'Robbie B' and has a big big fan base and even bigger web based fan base and following. Apart from that, he's got a nice girlfriend who supports his career path (lucky so and so, my turn will come...boo hoo, Gosh I hate being on my own and all that stuff blah blah blah) and a massive following on myspace.com too. Anyway.

Best of luck Robbie. And if you read this keep in touch and let me know if I can help the career in anyway. I would love to write a couple of tracks on the piano or guitar for you. That would be great.

www.myspace.com/robbiebuk

The 1980s

2007-06-04T03:23:00.000Z

Reminiscent of the words from one of the Pet-Shop-Boys songs, which go: "....and left to my own devices, I probably would" I managed to sort out my online Flickr photo account all by myself. Without being boring, I basically locked myself out and although it was for a mere 2 days or so, it began to drive me crazy. I'm afraid the photo blogging and online storage craze got the better of me a while back and now I use it constantly. I adore taking snaps of anything from signs, graffiti, out of the ordinary to basically anything that is worthy of a push button moment.

Its 430am on a Monday morning. I've been on YouTube looking at Adam Ant and various 1980s videos from MTV as well as British TV reminding myself of the best era theres been. I am so grateful to have been fortunate enough to have lived through the 80s era. The best music ever came out of it. Bands such as Visage, Culture Club, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Yazoo etc all played a seminal part in the mapping out of modern music and the backbone principles that have gone in to modern music genres. So many progressive new wave bands of the time such as Modern Romance, Spandau Ballet and other "funny-to-look-at-but-cool-back-then" New Wave & New Romantic bands really did help form and nurture the magic, ideas and freedom principles that a lot of music has become today. The word 'transmuted' comes to mind for some reason.

I must add that my favorite 1980s bands that left there marks were:
~ The Human League [Dare: album]
~ Yazoo [Upstairs at Erics:album]
~ Depeche Mode [Speak and Spell:album]

How would I sum these particular 80s bands up if i had to? Well, In 3 simple words: "synth-ballad-emotionalists"
Felt I had to include a photo of TOTP.After all Top Of The Pops (c) BBC, helped so many bands along the way.
Long live memories.

Puddle Jumping

2007-05-28T06:34:00.001Z

One of the horses we bumped into later......

My daughter insisted we went puddle jumping in the rain on the way home from the shops...um, so we did. Not one to be left out I tested a few puddles out too. But unlike Sophie I was wearing my trainers so I ended cold and wet tootsies. No wonder she (Sophie) insisted on swapping her shoes for boots before we left...Clever!!
It was quite funny though as I got soaked, after Sophie decided it was more fun to soak dad.

On the way home which was luckily just down the road, we stumbled into some horses minding their own business. So Sophie decided to take daddy for a wander over to say hello to them I couldn't believe just how cool they were. Friendly is an understatement, but judging from the daddy horse who came over after watching his foal go to Sophie, the daddy horse had other things on his mind......"OUT SHOPPING BAG"

One day at a time

2007-05-27T13:39:00.000Z

Well, its raining hard, and for once I really don't care. Firstly, I'm not stuck outside somewhere getting wet and secondly the front garden badly needs the a soaking. Unlike Freddie, who cried her little heart out to be let in and is now soaking wet staring at me wondering why I wont let her sit on my lap. Be right back blog, as I cant leave her like this as she is drenched. Its.......towel-dry-the-moggie-time....and she loves it...NOT !!Right thats that sorted. One dry cat, a coffee (cold now) and todays exercise out the way.
Recently having had a long hard look at the state of my ever growing tummy, I decided enough was enough. So off I went and got me a Treadmill, a pocket pull of good intension's and a friend in the know to start me on my way. It came within a matter of days and upon delivery and taking it out the box, it took me a good half an hour to put it together. It was semi built when it arrived from the factory and came in the biggest box I've ever seen. Heck it took two guys to bring it here too!
Three large black bin liners of cardboard later (that also took well over half an hour to rip up small enough to disguard) and I'd more or less got the idea of how it was supposed to look once it was put together.
As you can see by the photos, it works fine and is now part of the furniture in my bedroom. It will NOT end up static gathering dust either !

On the day I started I managed just over 5 minutes. That was nearly a week ago, and now, today, I'm already doing a 10 minute workout at just over 5klm a hour (I think I have that right) It certainly feels like its burning something of this overweight frame. With headphones pumping ear candy its becoming enjoyable as at first as I was warned, it takes some getting used to, that and changing my diet, but at least its a start. Be nice to go swimming and not get over conscious about my weight.
WHY CAN'T THEY BAN CHOCOLATE FROM THE UK!!!!

Its difficult to tell from the photos of the treader, but trust me, it gave me a run for my money.
The only gripe I have, is the graphic display. Why? Because it doesn't light up for one, and secondly, as was shown to me the other day, the calorie counter and heart monitor are not accurate at all. They only give a rough estimate. I have learnt now how to do the heart rate myself manually. Count the pulses for 15 seconds and times by 4. If thats wrong then its nearly right I think.
Now, wheres my coffee...

Day out

2007-05-26T09:36:00.000Z

It was a hot hot day, so we decided to go see the animals at the farm park. Got there and it was like the park had opened just for us as there were only a handful of other people there. Within half an hour we were the only ones I could see left. It was strange not having to wait your turn to see the various animals or wait to go on the go-carts (my favorite) but it was nice all the same.
The first picture is a bit iffy as I got in the way of the camera trying to avoid a rather large billy goat who was attempting to steal ALL the food before I'd gotten a chance to get over the stile. In the end he (goat) refused to let go of my trouser pocket when it was time to go, and as soon as he did he then tried to eat the bottom of my t-shirt.

inspiring is an understatement...

2007-05-19T07:06:00.000Z

I guess it was down to boredom the other day why I found myself poking around on the YouTube website. I'd almost had enough after following this thread and that, when I happened by chance to find a lady who posts by the name ysabellabravetalk. Shes listed as a director and her output is well produced and well edited,
Anyway. Seeing all the feedback comments and sheer volume of subscribers who watch her channel output made me realize that she must have something very very special to say. The comments left underneith her posts go along the lines of "I was having such a bad day and you changed that" or "my friend sent me a link to your video and you've changed the way I look at life and myself"
So, I am now a devotee too of sorts. Ysabella certainly makes you think and has some great quotes. Like this..

...people will always talk. but its not what you are called, its what you answer to. Great minds discuss ideas, small minds discuss people.

Links 1
Link 2

peace

The thing about memories...

2007-05-18T20:03:00.000Z

Why is it always so difficult to write about ones self when it comes down to the crunch? I joined a site of local interest called FelixstoweTV which has gone straight up on my Firefox favorites tab. It's dedicated to the town I live and all things to do with it. I was just watching the local news via the on site video feed. Really cool!!
Anyway having followed the prompts on the forum which suggested introducing yourself with an intro I ended up not only writing a little more than I first intended to but realizing at the same time how much of a perfectionist I am at heart. I think I edited and corrected my text about ten time...but it was fun. I guess this comes down to having a lack of confidence but I've lived with it for this long.Whilst I was writing I began to remember my own childhood details. It was quite an emotional situation in all honesty.
It was really interesting to see how many people use the site and how many people are pop in and stop by from abroad who once lived here (Felixstowe) and have emigrated or simply moved on to another country.
I must admit that I found myself reminiscing whilst reading other peoples posts about how much they remember about this place and how its changed the next time they came back to visit the town.
The earliest childhood memory I have is mum giving away my three wheeler tricycle to the playgroup I went to. I was about 4 years old and I remember watching her hand it over. I was gutted...LOL. Although I also remember receiving a bigger bike to replace it soon after which was obviously their (parents) plan.
Below is a mock up picture of me on my trike. It was supposed to be funny. (Yes Nick, hilarious)

Am I alone in remembering those mini milk bottles we'd all get at break time as kids .
We'd all sit in a circle and have to go up in turn to get our drinks and then go out for playtime. Makes me smile looking back. Seems like yesterday in some ways and longer in others.
Its the idea and mechanics behind being able to have, store and select memories that makes me believe undoubtedly that we ARE here on this earth for a reason and not just to be born, live a while, have a laugh and leave. There is definitely more to it than that. Even taking into account the fact that we are all pre-built with that wakeup call at birth of being both self aware and then have the enhanced upgraded sense of being well aware of good and bad (well, some of us get that bit others perhaps...well..you know."don't?"). Someone (it was my brother Tony) once told me a long time ago that being self aware was what removed us originally from the animal kingdom and differentiates us from primates and other life forms in general.
My daughter found a frog in the park the other day. It couldn't move it's back legs and looked like it had been injured. Took a little explaining to put her mind at rest as she thought he (she?) was no longer with us. I picked the poor thing up and cupped my hands trying my best to warm the poor thing up. It didn't take long to feel it moving. It seemed to have hurt it leg of that I'm sure but we went off to find some water for it so it could recoup and regain its strength.
(It could have actually been a toad..but not knowing the difference I couldn't say?)
I took a look the next day and 'it' had gone. So I'm hoping it managed to get itself together and trundle of to it's kin folk and live happily.

peace

WANTED?

2007-05-17T05:11:00.000Z

I am in need of a work placement over this coming summer can you help...

I am in need of a work placement over this coming summer, and the placement is part of my Digital Media BA course at college.
I can offer my skills freely for 2 days a week Wednesdays and Fridays.
At the moment, I have one final semester to go before graduating.

I have experience with Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Photoshop and Some Paint shop Pro. I also have experience in Adobe Premier and Adobe Premier Pro Video production and Editing applications.

I have to date a GNVQ in Media Studies and will have gained my BA in Digital Media once my present course ends.

About me...
I enjoy writing and have written some free articles for various local publications.I also play the piano and create music in a small home studio in my spare time.

Perhaps you are a school, a charity Organization, a production company, a local newspaper, a freelance professional, a design or web design company, or anything along these lines or similar then do get in touch.

I live in the felixstowe and am more than happy to travel further afield if needed.
For the record: This website was put together as part of my Digital Media course using Macromedia Dreamweaver.

If anyone out there can help or can offer any advice or support please email me (details on the about page of my site www.nicholasendean.com) or leave some details via the guest book on my site.

Many many thanks

Nicholas Endean

Artists

2007-05-13T15:32:00.000Z

Artist: Banksy
Title: Maid in London

Flickr notes

2007-05-13T01:54:00.000Z

http://www.flickr.com/photos/booboobdoop/422508370/in/set-72157594383908211/

This has got to be the most interesting use of a photo post I've seen in a long time. I use Flickr nearly every day and often stop off to window shop what others from around the world have posted. This caught my eye so I'm putting a link on here for reference. I'm wondering if the photo notes are from page visitors or from the photographer herself. Either way an interesting shot.

Open in notepad [context menu addin]

2007-05-11T03:45:00.000Z

Copy & past into notepad and save as a .reg file

BEGIN BELOW

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell]

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\opennotepad]
@="Open with Notepad"

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\opennotepad\command]
@="C:\\WINDOWS\\system32\\NOTEPAD.EXE %1"

Flickr

2007-05-10T21:38:00.001Z

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Just...

2007-05-05T05:51:00.000Z

"Smile"

I LOVE BEING A DAD :-)

2007-05-04T06:26:00.000Z

"Friends"

We were walking along the high street and Sophie stopped to point out to me that she'd spotted a beautiful white pony. She only had to call it once and it came straight to her. I couldn't resist photographing the moment :-)

I took Sophie on a Roller Coaster emu (Emulator) the other day. She loved it which surprised me a great deal as I thought she would hate it what with the actual seat moving in time to the screen film. She never stops suprising me

Time goes by so very fast.........

My brothers and I taken a few years back.
Time really does go fast as this seems like it was taken the other day.

Ear Candy at it's finest....
My daughters cat Freddie has recently taken to playing with my pc headphones when she knows that no one is watching.
(I have even taken to hiding them but she STILL finds them)
I love them as they're so comfortable on the ears, ut they are now starting to fall to pieces as shes started to chew the wires on them. Luckily I have been able to repair up till now with a ton of Duck-Tape, but how much longer they'll last I have no idea.

Listening to... Ben Lee - "we're all in this together"

busy busy busy

2007-05-03T05:40:00.000Z

Can't believe how busy things have been. Wanted to add some writing to my blog before but had no time.
I just watched a video showing the metamorphosis of Michael Jackson as he has changed his appearance through the years. really crazy
Take a look here

Got lots of college work to get through but I have more faith and inner strenght than ever thanks to recent events. Got followed by a lady half way down Ipswich High Street as I was coming out of a shop. She'd been watching me and throwing the odd 'hello sexy' look for a while whilst I was shopping for size 'no fat just big boned' jeans and she was on the other side. Wish I'd had the guts now to have turned round and given her my number like I used to. Its amazing how I've changed. Same type of thing happened at a friends house the other week. I guess I am a little low on the confidence side at the moment. Hope it changes soon though.

Summer

Am half dreading the full on summer this year. Mostly because I AM getting fat. And it really kicks ones self belief etc when you know that your not in good shape any longer. Even my daughter is telling daddy to go to the gym. Thanks Sophie. Bless her she really wants me to as well.
Oh well. I don't have sugar I don't smoke or drink. I don't swear apart from when I bash a finger on a door or similar, I pray regularly for world events to change, I give via the bank to my fav childrens charity, I never walk past anyone in trouble....SO PLEASE GOD HELP ME LOOSE MY WEIGHT. ahhhhhh

Banksy. Not everyone agrees with this

2007-04-25T05:17:00.000Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6575345.stm

I was sent the above link thanks to a good friend in class. I am still shocked by what the article is about. Take away a work of art or at least an interesting piece of painted work and in its place put up nothing...just black paint....all over. Then wait and see what happens.

nearly done....yippeeeeeee

2007-04-22T15:57:00.000Z

Been hard at work since first thing this morning working on my assignments. In particular my dissertation and weaving webs assignment 2.
Glad to say that as I await my daughters 5pm return home, the Weaving webs assignment 2 is 80% complete.

Its here

at the Zoo...

2007-04-20T05:16:00.000Z

Ever since I was little I've loved going to the zoo.
Yesterday we went for a day out...great fun...and the craziest part of the day....well, I knocked over a large drink completely and across the floor. It WAS funny though and I had to fight to keep a straight face in the cafeteria. Hardly blame me when you're given a drink like that and no lid given!!!!!
I could hardly pick it up without it wanting to spill.

Another blog

2007-04-19T04:39:00.000Z

I don't remember being content like this for a long time. I'll explain more later but basically I've realized the truth or meaning of life is actually as simple a thing as just helping others and doing whatever we can to leave my mark.To be able to one day turn around and say I did many positive things that were never going to benefit myself. You see, It's only recently that I've discovered how much of a precious gift it is when one is hit by the realization that those handed down genetic bits and bobs that make us who we are (from generation to generation and so on) are more relevant that I ever imagined. Point being: that I've started seeing myself in a different light. And I like what I see. I guess it's my recent age change and birthday that have changed my thinking and perspective on life in so many ways. I'm certainly realizing now that this world needs everyone who is able to, to help get it spinning faster again. As far as I can tell our planet seems to be getting all wonky and is perhaps in danger of coming off it's axes (metaphorically speaking of course). So many terrible things are happening. I've been noticing a lot more recently that even the good ole BBC are lacking in the default "always give the audience a happy ending short new clip" after the main news bulletins and headlines. How things have changed since I was a teenager.
(alert alert alert....panic driven self doubting auto thought coming up....!!!!!)

I hope this blog is not too scattered and all over the place as it IS early and boy are my eyes a little tired. But I AM trying....
My Inbox.... I got an email reply back yesterday from my favorite charity. I don't want to go into it too much as I've learned that its tempting fate to talk prior to going on a mission.... You see, I've had this plan for a little while whereby I not only help myself by partaking in some much needed weight loss regime but get to do something good for the benefit of others too. I have a feeling that I may just gain some fresh prospective on life at the same time too. I'll go into a lot more details as and when I have worked them out. Over recent days I've been forced yes forced to make notes on paper as appose to simply jotting them all down via digital pen and paper on my little pda gadget. I've learned the hard way recently that it really is true what they say about not putting all your eggs in one basket. heck, even my two journal is backed up in print AND on a backup drive. I had a Trojan a few weeks ago and along with that my phone was replaced so all in all I am NOT taking any chanced with loosing anything. Especially when my diary as far as the amount of content goes, is fast looking more like the acknowledgments supplemental of a Maria Carry or Madonna DVD. I'm not kidding. I'm thinking of hiring a secretary!!! lol Right now, it's a quarter to six in the morning or at least it was a little while ago. I got up ages ago. Isn't it amazing how a very small ball of fluff with a very loud meow can penetrate through thick walls even when the windows are closed. So I end up letting the cat in now just after i get up or there abouts and once Freddie gets her milk, water, dry food and whiskas I am allowed to sit down in front of the computer with my coffee for an hour. Freddie will always come into my room and jump onto my lap and plonk herself in between the keyboard and monitor and simply fall asleep..that is, after I get my obligatory nose lick of gratitude for feeding her and letting her in. lol

Oh well, I think it's about time to end this blog. I've got one heck of a busy weekend coming up that for sure. I have got to put a website together for my daughters favorite cousin, I have 6 books or there abouts to read through and make notes. And to be honest I am not the worlds fastest reader but there you go, catch up on phone calls (forgot to return two)

Will be visiting a friend on Sunday.We caught up during the week having lost touch for a while. We had lunch and Sophie thinks she's the bees knees which was great. Together playing that game whereby you show your friend a few items on a table and they have to shut their eyes whilst you remove something. They then have to guess what's been removed. Sophie is excellent at it. My grandparents used to play it when all the family came at Christmas years ago. I think its called Kim's Game.

Now thats timing...I am now being summoned by number 1 special daughter as she does when she awakes..DADDY.....CUDDLE...NOW!!...bless her....if I take more than a moment she'll shout even louder ...LOL

cu

Happy Birthday to me !!

2007-04-14T22:20:00.000Z

Not every takeaway is as nice as the last

2007-04-14T09:37:00.000Z

Yesterday could have been a little better.

I awoke yesterday with an awful tummy bug. It was only when others telephoned me who had also eaten from the same local takeaway that we all realized that something wasn't quite cooked correctly. It's not the next day at 10:41am and I am still in half sleep mode owing to still feeling a little off colour.
I ended up having dropped my daughter off to her mothers for the weekend staying in bed for most of the day. Would've been great had I been able to get some sleep. Unfortunately others like to party on a Friday but even with headphones on (which I end up doing a lot living here otherwise you are forced to either hear sounds of making out which I mistook for a dog in pain the other week and I kid you not!!) I still can't shut out enough.

However that aside and going back to early yesterday morning..... having taken my daughter to her mothers (she hates mummy days but that's another story) I went back to bed with a bad tummy and put my laptop beside the bed. First things first, I check my email as I guess most people do. I received a confirmation auto email from the Housing Exchange site I am registered at which is run and owned by Heritage Housing the people who took over maintaining and running the once owned council housing department. The email that had the usual link for me to follow explaining that the automated DB had found a match. Someone was looking for a place like mine. I was intrigued and in a great hurry to go find out more details. The person ended up being a woman who I rang at 9am first thing in case I missed out. She sounded pleasant enough and after telling her that I was calling because of the email and that she had failed to add details as to what she was looking for, she said she would call yesterday evening as she was then off to work. I waited for at least two hours past the usual end of work hours, and having phoned her twice, got to thinking she wasn't really interested. It was mainly down to the having the phone answered and being instantly put down again that gave me that notion. So once again as I have been waiting for a while, I simply put it down to bad luck and perhaps it wasn't the right time or place for us. Would have been nice if she'd had the decency to have returned my call even if it WAS a no go show. I guess we can't all be nice all the time. Maybe she had a bad day at work...who knows.

I'll leave this blog for now and put a photo up which has more meaning to anyone whom knows me that can be imagined. it's part of the reason why I want to move and part of the reason I am soon going to be able to dare I say put some icing on the cake of GYOB.

enJOY...

101 things to do with an unwanted burger.

2007-04-13T22:03:00.000Z

.....say hello to the Burger-Crab

What a week!!!

2007-04-13T08:54:00.000Z

My replacement phone came the other day, and I don't mind admitting to being so overjoyed that I could have cried. You see, I had more of less resigned myself to the fact that I was never going to get anywhere with Orange even though it was bought and paid for from an official Orange UK shop in Ipswich. Several Orange reps when I did phone up simply repeated the same points to me: You'll have to go back to shop you bought it from who are likely to send the faulty phone back to the company who made it. The company are called HTC and make all kinds of PDA Phones that have become so popular recently in Japan, USA and the UK. AND USUALLY HAVE A REPAIRS TURN AROUND WITHIN 4 TO 8 WEEKS !!!!!

Anyway.... as you can imagine I was furious and on my last call to Orange and out of sheer desperation I pleaded with them by case. The person on the other end was completely different that the others I'd been forced to deal with. This rep sorted out everything and arranged for a brand new replacement delivery the very next day. WOW

I guess part of my problem as to why I was so upset was because my phone is not just any old phone. You see I use my phone to keep my entire life together, such as ALL my assignment work for college, and am also able to keep my daughter occupied if we go out for the day; by storing her Tom and Jerry, Pink Panther or and full feature films on it.I usually make a copy of the best dvd I buy for her and store them on the phones memory card. So you can see that life without sound and the prospect of having no replacement was very upsetting.
So thank God for not so small mercies, and in this particular instance / case 'Small Miracles in the shape of a little black and silver box of tricks!!'

I am going to keep this log short as I have a really upset tum and need to go lie down. We all ate a take away meal from the local Fish and Chip shop near the traffic lights and we ALL have the same upset tum problem. Strange that isn't it.

Bye for now.

Another Day....

2007-04-09T06:30:00.000Z

I am listening to: 'true Colours' by Cindy Lauper

I am thinking about: "How I wish I could motivate myself to loose some weight" (still!!!)

I am wishing for: "A good day,as we're all off to Eastern Farm Park for the day"

I am drinking : "Coffee coffee coffee and even more coffee" (as per usual)

I am proud of: "Quiting smoking. It's been four / five months now". (still)

I am waiting for: "My Student Loan, a new laptop as this ones seriously ill" (will have to wait I guess as more important things to buy these days)

My phone needs replacing.....

2007-04-08T09:22:00.000Z

Hello world.

I am listening to: 'Colour Blind' by Counting Crows

I am thinking about: "How I wish I could motivate myself to loose some weight"

I am wishing for: "my New Phone and I want it NOW!!!"

I am drinking : "Coffee coffee coffee and even more coffee"

I am proud of: "Quiting smoking. It's been four / five months now".

I am waiting for: "The return of my daughter who comes back home on a Sunday at 5pm"

I most love in my life: "The moment my daughter gets out her mums car and runs back into my arms telling me how much she has missed me"

Right now I am trying to console myself as I am sad at the fact that my three month old phone went wrong yesterday. The speaker which incidentally is built into the back (stupid really) has stopped working. I have phoned Orange today knowing they'd not see me suffer for too long. I've been a good customer for years, so I expected more from them.
But I was told I have to wait till Wednesday WEDNESDAY!!! for anything to be done as a flag has come up against my name and the guy explained that the insurance dept have to be notified and need to be the ones to look into the problem.
I'm a very honest person so I don't mind the world knowing that a flag against a name means that for some reason the company need to do further checks before dealing with a replacement or repair. I wouldn't mind this fact but the flag was originally placed against me because several years ago I used to send phones back to Orange for the smallest scratch and they would replace them. It doesn't take a genius to know that quite a few other people did just the same. After all who wants a scratched phone when you know it can be sorted out under the insurance that is paid for as an extra by the customer which at the time was £5 on top of the monthly bill. Orange have made a lot of money out of me I don't mind telling. I've also made sure that whenever anyone asks for advice I recommend Orange as the tops as that usually IS how I feel.

Anyway. Going back to the insurance situation: All has changed these days as not only has the Orange policy changed regarding claims, but they are stricter and charge differently. In other words one is expected to pay the first 25 pounds or there abouts on a claim if my memory serves me correctly.Anyway, the days of simply sending a phone back for a cosmetic reasons have long gone. Most of the time phones are as I'm sure is the norm these days with most peoples experience reliable and last a good few years. my last phone called an SPV M2000 lived with me for well over 2and a bit years !

Going back to the present phone it is really bugging me as I have a legitimate phone fault that one can tell a mile off is down to a component failure, so I thought I would have a look around the internet and find out if others have had similar or the same problems with their Orange M600 phone.
I enjoy researching anything that steps in my way that I want to know more about, so I spent about ten minutes thats all and found literally scores of sites with complaints as to why this model has such a lousy speaker that seems to go wrong so much.

By the way, the Orange rep I spoke to this morning actually made a point of telling me from the off that this model phone is well known for suffering with speaker failure or as he called it "a broken ringer" fault.
On the research side, many people I came across just sent theres back for a replacement which is how it should be. After all speaking for myself I had to pay cash to get my phone as I wanted it so badly and my previous phone was becoming more and more ill. So, it was NOT a free phone or anything like it and is legally covered by the 12 month guarantee that I guess most products like this carry.

Anyway Dear Blog/Diary, this morning as I write this I am really upset as not only do I rely on my phone so much and keep everything on it, but my daughter loves playing one of the games that is built in as standard called Bubbles. She's really good at it too. I think her top score is 698 or 658 one or the other. Put it this way, she is much better than me at it. I guess luckily shes several Thomas the Tank engine dvd games that we play together on the dvd player. So at least she won't dwell on daddies phone being soundless...LOL

On a much lighter note....
At the moment we are waiting to hear from the Ipswich council who have agreed in principle to find us a house with a garden. So I'm now waiting to hear about a property when it becomes available. I just hope it doesn't take too long as I hate waiting and under the circumstances it can't come quick enough.
(thank you K for kicking me up the (metaphorically speaking) bottom and getting this matter taken care of)

I really hope that at some point in the future, I am in a position to turn my notes, scribbles and daily rambling (journal entries) into a book. Now that would be interesting reading. So much has happened and so much IS happening. It's certainly a crazy world we all live in. Since moving to where we live now, my mind has become waterlogged with various thoughts as to why people are the way they are and why they do what they do. I have no desire to elaborate on this but luckily in the future I know all will be made clear and I can show the world what and why specific events happened. I know that sounds a little cryptic to say the least, but rest assured it won't later on down the line. I guess out of all the things I have learned about myself recently is that when I need to I can be VERY patient indeed. I am one of life's original moaners when it comes to playing the waiting game. But I have now realized that to get certain things done and loose ends tied up once and for all, one much wait until the time is right. Yes...more cryptic sentences.

Tell you what, I've been getting into taking snaps recently off Street Art, not graffiti! no no no. I am not into staring at someones quickly sprayed name, tag or logo on some wall somewhere. The Artwork I have been watching out for is all around Ipswich. And what nice about it is the fact that it is created without ruining any of the structure or paintwork it sits on. The best is paper art or art that is pasted up via the use of the artwork first painted on a strip of paper or similar. (think its called pasting or something) I've posted tons of photos that I've taken in and around Ipswich. The club which is hosted on the flickr site can be found here
I've also made a fool of myself and joined YouTube and have uploaded a quick video of me playing the piano....it not too good but heres that too. here (you have been warned)

Oh well, I think that's about it for now.

Question

2007-04-03T20:07:00.000Z

Who really reads this stuff anyway.........?

Family x

2007-03-30T06:22:00.000Z

I wanted to write this blog yesterday, but because the day was to be honest so excellent, I thought I would wait till today and gather my thoughts properly.

Yesterday, without wishing to sound cryptic, I had my eyes opened (metaphorically speaking) for the first time in a long while.
To cut a long story short....."THANK YOU" Ali, Steph, J, Gary, Jason, Little Nan and my thoughts are with Sophie and my new friend who we met yesterday. My thoughts are truly with you and your family. I hope all goes well today.

CU all on Thursday (the Dell will be shivering in it's boots when it sees me walk in the door....he he he he) everyone and thanks for an excellent day.

By the way Jason thanks for introducing me to Metalica in 5.1...I have to say they rock!!!!
Have just been listening to some of their live work via YouTube that is available to listen to.
Try before you buy and all that. I want to get a hold of a UK concert at some point. Be neat o to listen to through my 5.1 upgrade (once I iron out the crackling....boo hoo)
By the way.....S has not stopped talking about the day. I think her new favorite word is "Steph" :-)

YouTube

2007-03-24T16:15:00.000Z

Never thought I would actually do it what with everything else going on in the world to get side tracked with. But I did it. I sat down, set the cam up and recorded as best I could, me playing the keyboard. Ok so its a bit naff as first times go, but at least I did it.

http://www.youtube.com/LeYarDi

Life

2007-03-23T09:07:00.000Z

My spirit began to shake and stayed shivering for quite some time....

Perhaps like a feather in the wind...Perhaps not

My soul was feeling lost in a plastic world for some time. A plastic world I'm told most don't even bother to acknowledge or even realize they exist in...or perhaps if the truth were known 'Don't want to think about'
Reminiscent of a Matrix trilogy but without the spider robots? LOL

I guess its certainly not a prerequisite to exist in the plastic world that's for sure. No one person is forced to. NO! We can all live as we want. But there ARE rules. But no one person ever said to us to become plastic..........."we just do!"
The plastic life is a life that is nothing more than a man made matrix. A world full of daily routines which each of us follow like the three wise men following the star of David. Except...except unlike them we are on no real religious mission, and we are on no mercy dash to glance upon a tiny child in a manger. No, we are just here and thats all there is to it. We get up, get washed and dressed, leave for work, get to work and work the day out. Drive or walk home, sit down to eat, switch on the tv...watch a soap, listen to music (listening to music is better) get changed, go to bed...and become a slave to the metaphorical alarm clock that is life 'all over again'
I am writing this as a note to myself for future reference for when my mind wanders to the clouds in a dreamlike way and ponders who God actually is and what everyone (not just me) is destined to do.
You see, I have reached the age of thought change, when I guess from what others have said allow deeper thoughts to become clearer. Allowing us to become more individual, to be more in tune with our inner selves.
The thoughts I have are not awful or magical or anything really crazy. No, my thoughts these days are simple towards one area.... You know what I mean, "are our lives predestined to the point that we have no direct control over what each day will bring, is it just a matter of God giving us a few various daily choices in the hope we won't feel we are playing a reality game and are forced to do what we do"
I believe that when we are born there are only psychological shackles that bind us to a specific predestined future or route through life. The only thing I do whole heartedly believe where birth and life connect is that we are only predsstined through the preprogramming of the handed down genes that our given to us via our parents and their parents. Indeed it IS like a tree. SO when we say 'family tree' it is more real than a metaphor or set of words.

Genetically when we look around we are in deed alike. On the surface anyway. But deeper....much deeper we certainly aren't.
As a person I know that I would help even an enemy if they were in trouble. I know I believe in God, I know I am an extremely good parent....I know I love life...I know and feel the faith in my soul that tells me that with the strength and focus I can do anything I want and go anywhere I want. I know I have a destiny mapped out at least it feels that way. I want to become a writer and work to help other learn by my writings. I want to do good on this earth and be a good human being. I want to raise my child to be as good as she can in what she chooses to do. I want to raise her with the same understanding and tolerance that I was taught... I want her to grow up and be as good a person as I feel I am.

I have no idea where all this has come from..but it's just a blog that no one really reads and it's just my thoughts.

Make of it what you will.

GenX

2007-03-22T05:45:00.000Z

Update

2007-03-21T21:18:00.000Z

I wont be using the blogging interface to Firefox (performancing) till a newer update comes out. It seriously has flaws. Image uploading doesn't work properly. Oh well....back to Dashboard.

Untitled by B (2007)

2007-03-21T17:33:00.000Z

Some days are better than others

2007-03-21T17:26:00.001Z

I guess some days really 'are' better than others. I caught the wrong bus this morning as I ended up standing at the front due to it being a little over crowded. Thank goodness for mobile phone technology, as I was able to watch some youtube clips I'd converted yesterday and dumpted for a rainy day when I was bored. Anyway I watched them en route which made it a little better.

Right now I am listening to 'Michele Branch - Leap of Faith' on web radio. Nice song when you're feeling a little bit down.

Got home this afternoon and cleaned up the garden before picking my little one up from pre school. Found her favorite hat this morning still hanging on her coat peg. Now she says she wants to keep mine. Guess I'm stuck with hers. Basically I picked up a New York baseball hat (blue with white lettering) and Sophie my daughter insisted she wanted one too. So she picked a completely different one. You get the point.

Been looking high and low for that hat for ages. nice to find it whatever the outcome.

Right now I am writing this blog with one of the many add ons that the new version of Firefox web browser can use. It's called 'PERFORMANCING' I' happened to find it by accident earlier. Its version 1.3.2 I think. It works via a point and click button at the bottom of the browser. When you want to blog you click it and hey presto you get a complete (dare I say better) blogging interface. Bit tricky uploading images but I found that copying the file from file explorer and pasting it allowed resizing. So that turned out ok.

Ok, better go and see to dinner I guess.

By for now.

Sumatra Earthquake

2007-03-19T09:41:00.001Z

Sumatra Earthquake photos after the devastation caused.
A friend sent them to me from where she is based in Singapore.
It's hard to believe that something like this can happen via the hand of nature.

If I was a cat

2007-03-09T22:54:00.000Z

Freddie

She'll just sit there. When I'm trying to work, up she'll jump and attack the keyboard or scratch at the screen, if you've got a cat then you'll know what I mean.

TrojanRnotUS

2007-03-08T04:38:00.000Z

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones, you see for some reason unknown to me, I'd picked up a virus the other day. Well, it was actually a Trojan with little way of removal but to reformat. Luckily god built me with a few good brain cells and although Id lost some of my bits and bobs I was able t use a backup drive which is completely separate from the main PC. So I was able to save all my work but was GUTTED (who wouldn't be?)to have to do a fresh reinstall. Anyway, its good to have vista running speedily along once again. Oh, and I've installed even more backup software now onto the 350gb drive. My C drive is much like everyone else's in that in its backed up version it takes up around 2.5 to 4gb compressed.
Its safe to say I'm safely protected now....I hope.AVG anti virus which I swapped over to last year having been a long time user of Panda Anti virus (until I got no replies back from their customer help dept OR various other comms over a major problem I was having)
AVG is a good anti virus software as I didn't want to have to use one that had a build in firewall, preferring to use another source for this.
Anyway....I just hope this all works. Oh and I think the source for the problems was some demo software I downloaded of the net. It came up as a beta demo and was scanned by both an onliner at PC Tools and AND avg, neither picked up a virus or trojan etc. But I dont blame the Antivirus software as even after the download was unpackaged out of it compressed .rar state the single .exe came through clean as a whistle. I was amazed when the explorer suddenly popped up taking me to casino advert after casino advert. I'm just glad its over and rid of.

Anyway....its early and I have to do some work. So bye for now. xx

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER BUT FACT IS PARAMOUNT!!!!

2007-02-22T06:12:00.000Z

"KNOWLEDGE IS POWER BUT FACT IS PARAMOUNT"

"ALWAYS do your research THOROUGHLY BEFORE reaching a conclusion.

"....the realization of a mistake being made may not always be as simple to fix as a simple "sorry, I made a mistake".
"For example: when a drawn conclusion has been reached about one whom is not only well respected, honest and innocent but also trusted within specific professional circles, then a situation may arise whereby the persecuted (accused) may deem it necessary to bring into the arena factual proof and collected evidence via a specific time frame which would not only create a climate of complete vindication for them, but also bring into question the sanity, trustworthiness, background and lifestyle of the accuser.

Dynamite surfing

2007-02-09T19:38:00.000Z

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=786ca16b66

Found the following video clip online. Thought I would share it. Its a new viral ad (?)
reported to have been put together by Saachi and Saachi.

Angels look better in blue

2007-01-17T21:50:00.000Z

(thought for the day)
I really must stop re-rom'ing my Blue Angel. Its changed so much these days. What started off as a Windows 2003 SE pda with basic B.A default(PDA2K) options and progies has become VERY different. I'm getting really hooked on updating it.

At this moment I am just backing up the present rom image including the patches and am about to go for a Helmi Blueangel (XDAIIs, PH20B) AKU3.5 vanilla ver. Wish me luck world......"I'm going in"

BaUpgradeUt...................

Anyone got a patch for the wifi problem...dream on.
(listen to myself, I have been spending tooooo long on the patching forums me thinks....he he)

:-)

2007-01-17T21:43:00.000Z

BRAND NEW LYRICS

"Mix Tape"

I got a twenty-dollar bill that says no one's ever seen you without makeup.
You're always made up.
And I'm sick of your tattoos,
and the way you always criticize the Smiths... and Morrissey.
And I know that you're a sucker for anything acoustic.
But when I say let's keep in touch,
I really mean I wish that you'd grow up.
This is the first song for your mixtape.
It's short just like your temper,
but somewhat golden like the afternoons we used to spend before you got to cool...

I got a twenty-dollar bill that says no one's ever seen you without makeup.
You're always made up.
And I'm sick of your tattoos, and the way you don't appreciate Brand New or me
And I know that you're a sucker for anything acoustic.
But when I say let's keep in touch,
I hope you know I mean I wish that you'd grow up.
This is the first song for your mixtape.
It's short just like your temper,
but somewhat golden like the afternoons we used to spend before you got to cool...

(yeah, but I wish you were my shadow.) [repeat]

New Year...New Beginings....New world Order

2007-01-16T03:47:00.000Z

Captains log....stardate...blah blah blah

Its now 346am on a Monday Morning.
Im sitting here having woken up suddenly (thanks cat for jumping on the bed whilst I was happily sleeping)

I've just realised that its been quite a while since I last wrote something on here...Sept last year in fact. The cat was so much younger then and Very ill. When we got her, Freddie was close to the edge and the vet told us straight that we'd bought home once heck of a poorly cat.
But she pulled through and we love her to bits. Shes a wonderful cat.

If theres a few spelling mistaminas (obviously spelt wrong for the irony...or not?) then pleez forgive as it IS early in the morning.

Well, whats been happening around here......??

I've signed up to the Friends Reunited website. I think it should be law that everyone in UK signs up....LOL
Its really "cool" (dare I use that word) reading what some of those at school the same time as I was as up to these days. God knows life has gone by so quickly in my life. Am I the only one who feels really old?

I start my last and final year of the degree course at the begining of next month. It only seems like yesterday that I began.
Just wish I could have the previous ten years back of my life and do them over but a little different. Not because of regrets of whats been, but because I forgot to live enough.
I am off now. Tooooo tired. At least I have written some words on the blog at last. I was going to upload some pics from my old but well loved xda (awful camera rez but I still run my life off of it) but its got an attitude problem and wont turn on. Think it needs a sleep too.

Good nite world/

Oh....I have stopped smoking at last.....but exactly WHEN after these three and a bit non smoking months do I start to feel better???? I still feel grumpy in the morning......lol

END of TRANS....

Hi!! :-)

2006-11-10T13:48:00.000Z

Hello Sarah...

Sleeping

2006-09-12T04:38:00.000Z

Say that again

2006-09-07T07:23:00.000Z

parrot or kitten....?

I wonder where I'll be in..... :-)

2006-08-26T09:26:00.000Z

Well. It's a little over two weeks now until the enrollment process begins for the final time (for me anyway)
This will be my final year, and by the end of the second semester I'll be weighed down a little more with some added pride, self satisfaction, cockiness (but not too much), job prospects...
But then again , if all goes the way in which I think it might, I may well be taking another route. I have a yearning to get into teaching. Never really thought I'd be able to realise such an opportunity, but seeing as how far I have come these past two years or so, it's made me see that we are quite literally our own fate makers whichever way we choose to look at it.
So, perhaps at some point I will end up teaching. Who knows.

Goodnight world

2006-08-15T22:02:00.000Z

Todays 'thought for the day' (was).....

Sometimes a little effort in the right direction goes a long long way.

(thanks for the pic Beatrice hope you didn't mind me copying it)

One step closer....

2006-08-15T21:49:00.000Z

At long last...I managed to sucessfully create an autorun projector file using Macromedia Director MX. I dare not shout about the amount of wasted discs I went through, before I found out that the speed of my USB2 CDR burner drive which I was using for playback, was unable to cache the temp files quickly enough. (Crazy but true) It wasn't until I eventually tried one of the finalised CD-Rs in the desktop CD drive that I realised the problem...and hey presto.Good old HP's website. There was a forum post which had nothing whatsoever to do with this problem but for some reason triggered the idea of cache speed etc.
Alas....we live and learn. I AM 1 STEP CLOSER TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN....YIPPEE :-)

Ramblings of a would be garden....

2006-08-13T17:18:00.000Z

Well, it's taken me a few days hard work, but the new garden is well and trully underway. I planted the second set of borderline bushes this afternoon, and I am whacked out. One bottle of Pepsi Max and a few good tunes pumping through my earphones saw me through an otherwise difficult time digging.

Never thought I would get to see the first part done (bordered off) but what with the new mini fence etc I am pretty chuffed with myself.
My daughter loves playing in the garden too which makes it all the more worthwhile.

Anyway....(changing the subject for a moment).
... I've always loved Aerosmiths music such as thier 1980's Love In An Elevator, and the collaboration with RUN DMC with WALK THIS WAY, and especially DREAM ON (from the film staring Bruce Willis and Aerosmiths lead singer Steves Tylers own daughter Liv Tyler **Armageddon 1998) but I happened on a track the other day by accident called DREAM ON, and after hearing it I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It's the original music track that EMINEM sampled for his SING FOR THE MOMENT released in 2003. Credit where credit is due...BOTH rock big time.

Final Year

2006-08-13T12:59:00.000Z

One more year to go and I'll have my degree. It seems like yesterday when I started my college course.
I've been thinking long and hard about exactly what I want to do when I'm qualified. Its going to be freelance for certain.
I had planned (and hope ) to work for a local or national newspaper and who knows perhaps aim for my own column. But now I've had another offer of work next year from someone who happened upon my website and somehow (must be fate) remembered me from when I was a great deal younger. The offer is for my working from home still, but along different lines. I won't go into it as I don't want to screw up fate.
Who knows.....
Anyway. The point being, there is always something good out there for those who try and do the best they can, no matter what crops up along the way.
I also intend to take up another offer of my writing my memoirs next year as two different people with clout have asked me if I would be willing to write about my experiences from the past three years. So that will no doubt be something I will be looking forward to.
I digress.
My thoughts at the moment are constantly on the subject of the latest taped interview thatAljezeera has released. It was on the news this morning dubbed into English. It shows an interview between one of the Hezbollah fighters who was captured recently by Israel troops.
In the interview he explains about various points he's asks in particular on the fact that he admits to being trained by Iran in one of their camps along with others.
I don't want to get political but I am not happy with the way U.S aircraft carrying ammunition for the Israeli forces are landing half in England to refuel. It is wrong.
How can the the US government along with certain other countries scream how wrong it is that Iran may (MAY) be helping Hezbollah when the States themselves are helping Isreal..something doesn't add up here DOES IT !!!!

ONE BIG BRIGHT FLUFFY & HAPPY DAY

2006-06-12T20:56:00.000Z

What a fantastic day.....

I big wet passionate kiss goes out to the lady at Orange who worked so hard and dealt with my problem so fast.
I would be so lost without my PDA phone as I live with it side by side for mail, web, study, detailed journal..you name it. Heck, even
my little one would have been none too pleased either if I would have had to go down the ladder and buy some default normal camera phone. You see She loves playing a specific game called Mr.Boo which is a re-hash of the old arcade classic "MR.DOO"

Anyway...I phoned Orange, explained what had happened (dropped the phone whilst getting out of the car) and as promiced I recieved a call this morning telling me a replacement is on its way.

THANKS YOU ORANGE YOU HAVE ONCE AGAIN BEEN WONDERFUL.

Changing the subject for a mo....I have to admit that I am starting to miss those ugly faces (mine included of course tee hee LOL) from my class of 2006.

So hello to one and all....even the ones who think I am from another planet...

Bought a wisked t-shirt yesterday online which I have been after for eons and eons. It's a black dyed cotton with a wonderful and bright pacman logo on it running across the front. My daughter loves it and thought it was for her so I now have to track down a company who'll print up one in her size.....(what a lovely parent I AM.. :-)

She may only be 3 and a little bit, but every day she astounds me with her interlectual abilities. It's not just me either, so many of my friends and family are amazed at how much she can pick up and at the speed in which she learns. She knows most of the garden birds by breed. She can follow a pattern on the piano up to about 6 notes a time which is pretty damn good considering her age.
Oh, and she can type her name on her pre school laptop too. Wonderful. It's only when you have a child or children of your own that you really begin to understand what life is really about..."THEM!!!"

Oh, well. That's my lot for today. Got to be up early as lots happening tomorrow.

Goodnite blog

BLISS STATION (america is blind to real talent)

2006-06-06T06:08:00.000Z

7:04am Tuesday 6th June 2006

(just putting a specific album on that I have gotto into recently)

Got an email back yesterday from Gary at Bliss Station. Tells me he's moved from the usa to Israel. I hope Isreal appreciates his fantastic talent.

IMO the Bliss Station should have been signed up whilst in America. All tracks from their album are completely and in full available to hear at http://www.bliss-station.com/mp3s.htm
Just make sure you select and listen to "FLOWERS" a couple of times as the middle 8th is brilliant and very VERY Depeche Mode oriented.

Changing the subject somewhat....I went to bed last night really bugged about one or two aspects of the website. Something tells me I need some flash involvement or interaction in my menu on the right hand side. The sketch and quick designs I did before I redit the site the other week look only 50% the same. Point is that I didnt manage to accomplish all the updates and extras that were on the images. I guess I will have to look at my flash again and work something out. If I can get right what I intend to then the site will rock.

Subject change again...

Woke up and at 6am..And got right too it. I was rebuilding my xda (PDA-PHONE updated) with a new PCB and keypad layout which I bought from ebay some time ago. I accidently broke the internal sprung volume switch last night as I was in too much of a hurry.
I'd been talking on the phone to a "friend" :-) about how hooking up the pc interface box I lent her so she could make music with Sony AP directly.Anyway..I broke the phones volume whilst not giving 100% to the project so it was my own fault. Lucky for me that when patience and a moderate amount or solder are needed...I can usually get myself out of an electronics tight spot/jam.
So now I have once again a rebuilt and pwo XDA once again but better as I have at last got the phone to except the new rom upgrade I was sent last week which boasts a much better audio pickup when recording either video or audio direct to SD card.
I tested it out a few days ago. I managed to enhance via PC software (obviously) a 2mb wav file of a conversation I had with some friends. It is crystal clear even though we were at least 4 or more feet away from the unit. Incidently, my pals on the whole swear by their nasty yucky 02 or TMob phones which happened to be Sony audio mp3 versions. And I hate them as they look like something that was designed way back when....you get the point.

Well I'm off as I have a three items waiting to be shipped out today and its important they go otherwhise no ones going to hear the music i've finished are they.

bye bye for now

Time goes by so quickly when you are having fun.

2006-05-30T21:10:00.000Z

Good luck Pete....!!! :-)
[ the only one in the Big Brother House that's worth watching]

Flipping heck...I hadn't realised how long it's been since I last wrote something down on here...
"OOPS"

I'm going to try and start keeping up to date from now on or else I'll forget when it comes time to reflect just how wonderful and exciting my super duper life really is...(yeah..whatever..LOL)

Ok...here's a good place to start. Question????...."which absolute plonker but DIESEL in someones PETROL tank at the garage today and had to call out the troops to come get the car and drain it"
I'll leave that one hanging in the air as it's better left that way. And no! I havent said it was me...

What else have I been up to...(mmm thinks)
Well, I have been working on some bits for college earlier and actually managed to find the time to redisign and upload the new template for my portfolio website for college. I hope it looks as good as I feel it does in comparison to how it DID before.
I've changed the graphics and logo and changed the colour template. I really enjoy using Dreamweaver. I certainly wouldn't be lost if I had to write the site with HTML but it wouldnt be as straight forward or as well designed.

Been fidling around with the video camera today too. I sent off for the correct lens hood (square version) as the new Sony one was really naff and didnt work well at all. This one really makes for a better captured image especially when its outside and shooting direct stills. I didnt thing I would notice much difference in light capture but you really can see a difference between the old round rubber cheapy and this new one.
So many people have said how good it is. The write up I read went on about how the clearence between lens and hood kept the odd small shower of rain off of the lens too. Should be interesting if it does.

Excuse pleeeez the photie quality...took them on an XDA....say no more.

Changing the subject matter somewhat for a mo.....
Nice to see that spculation is hotting up in the press and on tv regarding Mr.Wayne Roony.
My sympathies are with him big time. I have no interest in football usually, but seeing his face on the news at the time he had the "incident" one couldnt help but feel sorry for him having his prospect of playing in the world cup instantly shattered. He's been working so hard apparently that it just isn't fair. I hope by some miracle he is able to play at some point during the WCup even if he which is likely misses the Vers Germany game.

I'm off as I've had my fill of Tuesday 30th May 2006.

HAPPINESS, CHOCOLATE (TOO MUCH), MOUNTAIN BIKE...SUMMMERTIME

2006-04-17T09:38:00.000Z

Ok...
Woke up this morning with the same thought as I crashed out with...."I need to loose some weight"
In all honesty, I've been thinking about it alot lately...although I've never actually stopped by the roadside of introspection and pondered to the point of actually doing something about it. Change (wanting too anyway) has got to be the keyword now, and not just wishing.
I like my food tooooo much and although I have more or less cut out smoking...(I have a secret cigarette some nights when I'm watching the box) theres a great deal of other things I will have to start concentrating on. I bought rather a neat mountain bike that cost (no comment).£*** early this year and since I last used it its been gathering cobwebs and the odd bit of rust ever since. So todays mission (not) impossible is to WALK to ones mothers and go get me my bike.
Got a million and one mtv vids and tracks on PDA file so I can listen and start peddling...LOL and start the health ball rolling.
Right now I am sitting infront of the keyboard having been jamming some melody I heard on internet radio last last. Look out side....WOWZERS... THE sky is blue this morning and bright sun light is hitting every corner of my room. It can only mean one thing..........aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
ITS SUMMER TIME....YIPPEEEEEE.
:-)

cu

DAY 7

2006-04-05T08:07:00.000Z

DAY 7 (WEEK ONE)

I never thought that quiting smoking and actually being consciously SERIOUS about giving up for good, would be so damn hard.

Ok so its only been one week. But I still crave a cigarette like you wouldnt believe. Not all the time I grant you, but when the boredom bug kicks in that's when it gets difficult to switch off.

I have given up smoking so I can restart my like and loose the cought, go back to kick boxing (and stay there this time...LOL), carry my daughter who loves daddy to chauffer her around like a human taxi, start running, go fo long cycle rides on the expensive mountain bike thats been in limbo for a long time now.

Most importantly...I want to live as long as possible so I can meet my grandchildren should my daughter grow up and have kids of her own.

At the moment, the mornings are noticably easier, I do however get the odd headache first thing before I have the first nescafe goldblend of the day, but the cough has gone and I can breath freely without any wheezing that most get after a while from smoking.

I know I wont go back to it, but its just finding something to occupy the moments of bordom when that craving kicks in like a long lost friend knocking on the door.

I digress.

bye bye

DAY 6

2006-04-03T04:40:00.000Z

DAY 6

Left headphones on last night as I woke up from a really vivid dream. Space ships in the shape of blue crystalline stars with tiny revolving windows came down in multitudes and picked up everyone living in the street I lived in in the dream and took us all on a journey.

We were all ported to a destination of a simple cinema in some far off small town. We all sat unable to move watching in shock as the film began to roll. On the screen came up a title which I remember was far too tiny to read. When the film started, several silver non human like robots were seen zooming around, some flying, some walking and some upside down just staring at the camera. What happened next was weird. As one by one each row of us were released from whatever force was holding us from moving, a large group of terrorist like robots dressed strangely in USA military special forces garb came running down the ails.

We were forced to defend ourselves as they fired a lazier like weapon at us. No one was hurt by it but we attacked them with serious force and deemed them motionless and unable to compute like a bunch of spent batteries.

Soon after that, the main exit doors opened up at the front of the cinema and we all ran out to the what we thought was the bright light of the sunshine. As soon as the last few of us steps out, the doors slammed shut and the light was instantly switched off to reveal another space craft...Doors wide open...Two large human beings in appearance beckoning us all to enter the ship.

We saw on walking into the ship as we passed the two that they had no faces, just a tiny plastic mesh that lit up when they spoke. One kept calling the other mr.president, which seemed odd to us. Several of our group were growing increasingly angry at what was happening and wanted to go back home.

shortly after this we all found ourselves materialized in a car park somewhere in America. But unlike the America of reality, this america was full of arabian dressed people, all covered up from head to toe in black material. No one was distinguishable from the other. As several of us watched this bizzare vision from the overhang of the carpark wall, we heard a rush of air growing louder and louder accompanied by a flash of fire that went up and up into the air. The space craft had left us here and was gone as quick as it had first turned up in out street.

We waited chatting about, and I remember one lady who came over to me and sharing a pack of Marks and Spencer prawn cocktail sandwhitches with brown bread and asked me where I wished I was right now.

I looked at her and was captivated by her calmness and truthful glint eminating from her deep blue eyes. I answered home. She asked me if I was sure. So I said I wasnt sure.

At that moment another space craft appeared out of nowhere and planted inself literally inches away from the two of us.

The rest is lost as I woke up/

Anyway.....its day six of my non smoking new life. Its hard as hell even with patches to help but I am pretty confident that I will be able to move to the next stage in a week or two. Diet and nutrition complete change BIG TIME CHANGE and the kickboxing again where I left off, together with mountain biking once again. Or at least an early morning and early evening lost distance ride to both build up my out of sync body and build my fitness level again.

I digress' although the thought for the day is....I hope that smoking appearing in films and television programs will soon be a thing of the past. The reason being that watching a dvd yesterday brought strong feeling back of wanting a cigarette just from seeing a ficticious charactor smoking on screen

I digress.

DAY 5

2006-04-02T06:43:00.000Z

Day five

Well, its now the start of day five. I woke up for the first time today not even feeling remotely like I need a cigarette which is a relief. Yesterday was a whole different ball games. I took my daughter for a day out and we both had a great time.

I cant remember a moment when she wasn't smiling or haoiily pointing things out like children do. It was only on the crazy golf course at a local seaside resort that I began to want a cigarette.

Luckily I managed to scoff down some sweets that we BOTH finished off....LOL and the craving had gone.

Night times seem to be the worst time of all and that I guess is down to boredom and getting accustomed to no longer having a little stick of tobacco rolled up in a piece of paper that I now have to deal with at times.

This is the first time I have done this without a sense of realizing that I might go back to smoking.

Health is the highest on the list to why this is now a committed decision for me to see it through.

I realize that there IS no turning back now and that is that.

I'm getting my mountain bike from out of storage later today. I intend to start phase two of my "5 point Personal health project". The next stage is diet, exercise and mentail wellbeing.

Oh well, I'm now being summoned by ones beautiful and wonderful daughter whose just awoken up so its off from the laptop and in to the kitchen for breakfast time.

Wish me luck. (don't actually need it as I have willpower enough to reach where I need to get too)

cue

DAY 1 to 4

2006-03-31T17:52:00.000Z

Days one through four

....have just recieved my first metaphorical post card from my body having sent it on a first class non stop one a way tick to that place I've been wanting to send it to for so long

"EndOfsmokin City"

I've got to say that on this side of the fence the sun seems to shine a whole lot more, the air smells sweeert, mornings are brighter, AND WAKING UP WITH A YEARNING FOR NICOTINE is now fast becoming a distant tasteless memory.

I've got to say, the feeling of being able to run and not walk places with a cigarette hanging out my mouth is simply wonderful. I still want one now and again and I guess I will for a few more days. But...I actually suprised myself today beyond words. I had a problem that really annoyed me, I wont go into the details but rest assured I sorted it out with a little relaxed reading of "The Flash MX Bibile"and took care of it before I allowed that little craving feeling which still echoes in my mind to become something harder to handle.
I am pretty happy right now. Several people lately have begun to take notice of what I have been through and achieved this past few year and have even called me to say so which pushes my self esteem well over the 10 out of 10 barrier that only usually hits when one gets a nice smile from a beautiful lady, or on a day when the scales are being kind...he he he

I'm off now to steal (borrow!!) one of my little ones easter egg stay that has been hidden away for easter.

cu

THESE ARE CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY...."CRAZY NIGHTS"

2006-03-07T09:35:00.000Z

Having got home yesterday and fallen asleep for quite a while I awoke to get on with the task in hand that I had sticky noted in BIG LETTERS by my bed.
I have not even finished the task and it is now 9:37am the next day.

The task in question without wishing to go into to much detail involves my (legally) reincoding an episode of the comedy South Park.
It is for use with Adobe Premier at college and because of which and the silly way in which Premier (maybe not silly) exepts only avi raw. Now this is fine until you find that you video tape is no good and you have to reincode direct with out any encoders. This too is fine until you find that the finished file (by which time it is 1:34am in the morning) is over 3gb in total.
Now I gave this some thought and being tired I decided a quick burn to cd would do the trick. Well.....WRONG...as I dropped the external DVD/CD writer on the kitchen floor. Long story short and after much tired deliberation....I decided I needed to fix it AT GONE 1AM IN THE MORNING.
I did fix it having replaced a tiny transit motor from my old internal one from way back (thanks be to god for giving me the foresight to save it in the bottom draw.)

Now heres the even crazier part. I managed to sort it to disc in five disc or so I had thought. But 3 hours later and much coffee later at 3am or there abouts.....two of the discs had not worked. So running out of discs I decided to burn what I had and take it from there.

Next....computer crashes and had to do a restart into safe mode as something which I still dont know what stopped the whole thing from working.
In the end....I got four of the five discs recorded (just for one episode of South Park that would have otherwise been under 40mb!!!! AHHHHHHH)

And placed the last 600mb to a SD media card.

So right now I am about to get ready to go to the early editing session with my other two chums in our group....my bestest friend has lost her phone so I can not find anyway to let her know that I may be late burning this other emergency fall back DVD disc of the said episode.
The other never bothered to give me her number. Just an email address.

I just hope and pray that god has been watching me and the gates of heaven with be accompanied with lots of hugs and cuddles and my favorite chocolate bar when I go there at the end of this sometimes hard life as I feel undoubtably that I am a HELL OF A GOOD CHAP AND DO MORE THAN MY FAIR SHARE OF GOOD TURNS FOR PEOPLE EVEN THOUGH I ASK NOTHING IN RETURN.

Later on today I will re edit this blog with the photos I had the brains to record onto my phone as I kept thinking this morning in the early hours that NO ONE WILL EVER BELIEVE THE HASTLE AND BRAINACHE THIS MISSION HAS CAUSED ME AND HOW I HAVE STOOD BY AND DONE THE BEST I COULD WITH THE BEST OPTIONS AVAILBLE.....I DIGRESS.

Poor old Mr.Grass Head

2006-02-21T08:30:00.000Z

Crikey. It's been a few days since I last blogged. Not like me. I guess being busy Is a real reason for once and not an excuse. Theres certainly a lot going on these days. My life is most definately NOT dull.
I've just got up a bit later than usual. My pda alarm wakes me with the most annoying alarm wav I could find. And at six oclock every morning I'm up and about. Today I missed it but only god knows how. I woke at 8am. I've got to do some work before classes this afternoon on Semiotics. (the study of signs)
I got a few books out yesterday having spent the better part of an 30 minutes searching for the book numbers. One of the books has a price tag of 48 pounds...I nearly fell off the chair.

Had the best lesson ever yesterday that is definately on par with last weeks V.Prod lesson where myself and my main chum sat and used Adobe Premier. Now that WAS good fun.
Yesterdays animation lesson was really good too. I even wanted to stay and learn more. Now that IS a first. Am looking forward to creating a mirror site encoded purely in flash. So many ideas poured through my mind yesterday and we worked through chapter 20 of the Flash MX Bible. So many design ideas to enhance my website. Well...heck...maybe there is a future for me in graphics.
Thats enough rambling.

Just notices this morning that my daughter Mr.Grass Head doesn't need a hair cut and hasnt for some time. This was a mystery to us until this morning I found out why. Her cat "Blue" was hiding in the bathroom sitting in the sink chewing the grass off of the poor defenseless critter.
So I am going to be finding a better place for Mr.GH to sit and grow.
Watched Quincy this morning too. Well the last few minutes. Got to say its still a great program. Then Chicargo Hope popped up. Never really watched that before. But I recognised the face of one of the lead characters and watched a bit of it. Pretty good although a wee bit dated in its theme.

Have now more or less got most of my website working bar the music uploads. This is really and truthfully simply a matter of finding the time to finish off what I started before this 2nd semester started. I wrote about ten new songs but am still learning the ropes of the keyboard as its onboard sequencer is a nasty nasty learning curve that at times I find myself almost giving up on. I had the keyboard to bits last year whilst my little one watched me and helped me take out near on 30 screws from the underneith where the screen needed replacing.
It works perfectly now albeit with two slight missing pixels.

I will shut up now as my heart is not in this right now as there are those who are relying on me to do my bit today for the assignment. And I DON'T LET PEOPLE DOWN.

goodbye for now

THE FUTURE LOOKS VERY BRIGHT

2006-02-06T11:45:00.000Z

Just finished microwave bangers and mash as no time to cook something right now. Got to catch a bus to college shortly as its back to studying as from 2pm today. I am looking forward to it to be honest as I can see the light at the end of my own personal tunnel and boy is it bright. I have no doubts in my mind as to where I will be once I leave college and finish my digital media degree course.
I have two articles to write now. One as I mentioned on my previous post and another more personal one that I have to get in by Friday. I am looking forward to both immensely.
I intend to fill up my C.V. etc with as much work as possible in and around the assignments that will need to be done for my coursework.

I can almost feel the journalism awards around me and the status I will achieve through my work in the future.

All I want out of life as has always been the case, is to be able to give my little one a good life, one where she won't have to struggle through so much as I have done these past few years.
I was called a success story the other day by someone whom I hold in quite high esteem. I don't think I showed it at the time, but rest assured, I was touched by her sentiment.

I am about to go in a mo, as my bus awaits, but I just wanted to add a few lines to the blog so I have something to look back on in the future. Isn't THAT what lifes about after all.

bye bye

My thoughts are with.....

2006-02-04T05:16:00.000Z

This morning my heart goes out to the friends, families and loved ones of those that are still missing from the Egyptian ferry that sank in the Red Sea yesterday.

BIG SMILES

2006-02-03T08:07:00.000Z

I had a great day yesterday.(thanks Yv. :-)
I went to a meeting at ip1 magazine based in Ipswich and have come away with a deadline on my first article that I am going to be writing for them.I don't have time right now to write much as I am in the middle of making breakfast for my daughter. But rest assured I intend to write a seriously "kicking piece"
Nicest group of people I've met. So thanks guys. Roll on submission date.

POST OFFICE ROBBERY

2006-01-31T11:34:00.000Z

Today my thoughts go very much out to the staff and owners of our very own local post office near where we live.They're the nicest bunch of people I've met since I moved here just a few months ago.

But last night having popped my head out of the window having heard a helicopter circling very close by with its search lights on and seeing the many police officers walking around outside, it turned out that the post office had just been robbed and the perpetrators were on the run.
I have to say that the police do a great job in times like this and I hope their hard work pays off.
There isn't much else to say as the details are not altogether very detailed but I hope all are ok at the Post Office and knowing them it'll be work as usual today.

nicholas paul endean

Dear diary

At last

I FINALLY DID IT.....

So now I am in Print

New Start

Summer time, a crazy car driver and too much rain

Sophie at the wheel

life update...and rather a lot of my waffling

Harry

Puddles, Parties and technology

BeetleDrive

what a crazy week

Red Sky

Voxpops!

Dentist

The day the Urban Art simply vanished

One Last Time

PASSED!!

All good things come to those who wait

Chess and Chips

Classic Car Rally

Ride like the wind

_______Day trip to Norwich________

Phoneography

Look who I found on YouTube

Ripped Off & Angry

Fresh Bread and Coffee

Life IS what you make it

BREAKFAST TODAY

Still a way to go but...

Slowly but surely

Little Steps

I LOVE A2DP

Hail+Rain+Lightening=ahhhhh

Waiting....

The 1980s

Puddle Jumping

One day at a time

Day out

inspiring is an understatement...

The thing about memories...

WANTED?

Artists

Flickr notes

Open in notepad [context menu addin]

Flickr

Just...

I LOVE BEING A DAD :-)

busy busy busy

Banksy. Not everyone agrees with this

nearly done....yippeeeeeee

at the Zoo...

Another blog

Happy Birthday to me !!

Not every takeaway is as nice as the last

101 things to do with an unwanted burger.

What a week!!!

Another Day....

My phone needs replacing.....

Question

Family x

YouTube

Life

GenX

Update

Untitled by B (2007)

Some days are better than others

Sumatra Earthquake

If I was a cat

TrojanRnotUS

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER BUT FACT IS PARAMOUNT!!!!

Dynamite surfing

Angels look better in blue

:-)

New Year...New Beginings....New world Order

Hi!! :-)

Sleeping

Say that again

I wonder where I'll be in..... :-)

_Day trip to Norwich__