dregs of dietbru

That'll be the fat lady singing then...

2008-05-22T23:45:00.005+01:00

Well then. Miracles do happen. The sweetest one yet, perhaps? So many highlights tonight, hard to pick one out, perhaps seeing Gordon walking about the pitch afterwards with a cup of tea in his hand. Roll on season 2008/09 and more opportunities to show Re-Arrangers how football should be played.

Big Jock Knew alright...

"There is not a prouder man on God's Earth than me at this moment. Winning was important, aye, but it was the way that we have won that has filled me with satisfaction. We did it by playing football. Pure, beautiful, inventive football. There was not a negative thought in our heads. Inter played right into our hands; it's so sad to see such gifted players shackled by a system that restricts their freedom to think and to act. Our fans would never accept that sort of sterile approach. Our objective is always to try to win with style." (Jock Stein, 1967)

So that's it completed then

2008-04-10T00:17:00.011+01:00

So. Almost, but not quite a year since my last post I got round to completing Halo 3 on Legendary. Its not taken all that time, as I sat on the Halo 3 disc until the OCD in me finished with Halo 2. It just seemed proper. Anyhoo, not sure if the 'real' reviews concur but to my mind, it felt shorter than the two previous single player experiences. A good bit shorter. Its not taken huge chunks of gaming time really, maybe a dozen sittings, if that. Felt sad it was over, ok the story was a load of old toot - and most of the time I couldn't grasp the foggiest of who was doing what to whom or why, but it passed the time. I very much enjoyed shooting things, throwing grenades at things, flying and then falling out of flying things. Oh, and jumping off stuff. Highly recommended. Fingers crossed Bungie do another FPS next, if not necessary another Halo title. In the meantime, I suppose there's time for some new online maps until GTA4 comes out...

Halo shambles

2007-05-16T22:25:00.000+01:00

Talk about a complete cock-up. So way back when I heard about the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta invites in Crackdown I went out and bought a 360. Then I heard about the actual launch date of the Beta I went out with Graham and damn near bought a 40" HD telly. I provisionally took the day off too. Ok, so its been delayed, maybe by a day or so - but talk about a PR disaster. Its bad enough some of the websites are already dropping big hints that it won't live up to expectations and now this. Oh yeah, don't forget the beta is only up for three weeks too. Shaby. I get the distinct impression our chains are being tugged here. Poor.

Both sides of a C90

2007-05-08T11:25:00.000+01:00

So apparently the cassette tape is dead (good old Currys, whenever you need a bit of press rather than do something with your prices, just kill something off - bards). Back when I was doing my O'Levels, like most kids I used to tape tunes off John Peel and worked to a 6:1 ratio. That is, he played one decent chill-out Orb or hardcore techno tune for every six African guitar, thrash Extreme Noise Terror or unlistenable The Fall track. Anyhoo, I used to "mix" these compilation cassettes with Dads two tape decks through an old Radio Shack mixer (incidentally, whatever happened to Tandy?) and back onto my old Sony ghetto blaster (with very cool 'detachable' speakers). Ok, there was no speed altering beat mixing as such, but it was good fun at the time. One night when my Nanna was over staying (Christmas I think), I was up in my room playing with tapes and she came in, and proceeded to grab an old second-hand Shure mic I had. She then sang some first world war ballad old school pub singer stylee over the top of the mix I was making. I was killing myself laughing at the time, but the mash-up actually worked well, her singing this old Irish lament over the top of my ambient techno instrumental nonsense. Years later when she died, I remembered about the tape and went through the box in my dads garage which had all my old stuff. Couldn't find it. Went up the loft and went through boxes of my old 2000 AD comics, Shoot and Zzap64, but no tape of my Nanna singing over the top of The Orb. I broke my heart up there, and to this day I would give away my whole music collection just to hear it one more time.

One tenth of UK consumers...

2007-04-12T10:04:00.000+01:00

become victim of Internet fraud. According to recent news reports anyway. Well, in four years I've bought a pair of Nikes from Singapore - which unsurprisingly disappeared en route - a bit like the seller once he had my money. This morning, my old P900 was hijacked on Ebay by three fake bidders - pushing the price up to a grand at one point. First I knew was when Ebay emailed me about 20 minutes before the end of the auction a "Notice: Administrative Bid Cancellation". Now if that message told me I could block bids, I might have stood a chance of averting disaster. Unsurprisingly, Ebay still bill you the Final Value Fee - and you have to put in a claim which takes at least seven days etc etc. So with the clock ticking down in 24 stylee as quickly as I could block their fakey bids - new id's appeared (with zero rating) putting in more scam bids. It was quite thrilling at the time, and seems to be all the rage according to some of the Ebay forums. Something about this should be done. [shakes fist angrily]

£6m is a lot of money

2007-03-22T16:14:00.000Z

A couple of months ago I wrote about how I eventually managed to get my incorrect parking ticket overturned. Turns out this enterprise is indeed a nice little earner for Glasgow City Council. An article in todays Evening Times confirms that last year wardens issued 193,850 fixed penalty notices in the City, generating six million pounds. There's plenty of meat in this subject, not least because as I accepted a 'Conditional Fixed Penalty Notice' from two of Strathclydes finest a fortnight ago. I wanted to fight it but going to Court against the Procurator Fiscals Office is an entirely different kettle of fish. Sadly, you can expect another blog post about FPN's in due course.

This stopped me in my tracks

2007-03-20T08:53:00.000Z

I don't usually blog about internet stuff, but I came across a link to this video yesterday and it completely shook me. Its not telling you anything you don't already know, but it puts its point about perception and reality across really well. The cynical spoiled dark side of my heart thinks that its a neat marketing angle. Dove going after the ugly dollar (to paraphrase Bill Hicks). Maybe they are being genuine - but I doubt it. Just like Innocent, the squishy drinks company, its name sounds like some really careful consideration went into it... which makes me suspicious when I probably shouldn't be.

PG aaargh 3!!!

2007-03-14T14:17:00.000Z

Given the sheer explosion-tastic-ness of Crackdown and GOW's addictive strong bloody violence my third game has been put on the back burner quite a bit. Spent a few hours switching between in-car and bumper but its making no difference, I'm still really struggling to climb the learning curve. What frustrates me is the unforgiving nature of this game - any deviation from the best line and its nigh-on-impossible to make up the ground, and don't even think about clipping the barriers. Maybe this is one of those posts that in six months I'll look back on and say, I was just struggling with its 'newness' and look at me now. Or will I just be playing Forza 2 instead?

Filling the hours

2007-03-07T13:54:00.000Z

I'm absolutely hopeless at doing nothing. At home today, spending time euphemistically 'resting'. Jules got me Gears of War when she was down the shops, but I just can't play shooters when the suns out. Daft I know. I'm more cautious than sore. Just sitting here, expecting it to get worse - like do bruises take time to show? Never try to write anything when Air is playing, they are too melancholy for words. This new album is really lovely though.

Rather them than me

2007-03-05T12:29:00.000Z

Been playing a lot of Crackdown and Ian has written a nice review, so I shan't repeat him. I will say one thing. The thrill of jumping is not to be underestimated - its just fantastic. I am little scared of heights though I did manage to make it to the top of the Eiffel Tower once. Churn. Using the stick to peer over the edge of some buildings has been making my stomach roll in a similar fashion. Saw these guys cleaning the windows next to us, and it made me think of the game. Strange that.

The thrill of the new

2007-03-01T14:30:00.000Z

I recently bit the bullet and finally bought an Xbox 360, but a post on that will follow shortly. What caught my eye today was a sign outside GAME in Sauchiehall Street. Get one of the last guaranteed PS3 pre-orders, they're going fast!!! At least that's what they'd like you to believe. It’s all about marketing, and given that stratospheric cost of the machine here in the

UK I wonder how likely Wii-style price markups are for early adopters? The machine looks prohibitively expensive

before you buy all the related paraphernalia, wireless this, advanced cable that, memory card and a multi-tap (I jest, but you how mean Sony can be). Oh aye, stick a couple of games in there and thats another ton on the price. Expensive. However, a bit of history is required - I'm sure similarly insane prices were around when the PS2 was launched. Popular bundle prices were in the four hundreds, and I'm sure I remember seeing an original import Playstation in a game store in London for £650. Factor in ten years of inflation and the current prices look good value. Go figure.

Broadband... its the future. Not.

2007-02-14T11:39:00.000Z

So the transition to SKY went seemlessly and I can't fault the gear they sent, or the install instructions. It worked perfectly (1Mb is better than I had by a whole 100%) for the first five days, then died on its arse. Its now been out for past 36 hours so far. I've got it escalated to their Tier 3 Technical Team, but the turnaround for a response is five working days. Groan. All of our neighbours have been doing the same thing - when one is out, we're all out. Jules has been on to her employers technical support and they've just requested a BT Wholesale engineers visit - in the next week we hope. The broadband coming into our street has been rock solid (albeit slow) for the past two years but things went wrong on Sunday 7th Jan. Connections dropped for hours, then days at a time. One of the neighbours was told by the engineer that came to her that he suspected a neighbour with a faulty router further up the street which (when switched on) is causing feedback back in the local telephone network. Sounds a bit implausable to me, but it would go someway to explaining the inconsistency of the fault. What strikes me most is the sheer difficulty in making progress with any fault like this which affects a whole neighbourhood. Calls to BT are as pointless as screaming at the cat. BT Wholesale will not (normally) take incoming calls from the great unwashed, so you are forced to plough your way through your ISP's call centre in Manchester, Wigan, Dublin, Bangalore etc repeating your query over and over again. All of us doing this. The WHOLE street racking up premium call after premium call so that hopefully someone in BT Wholesale will get their backside kicked. *** Quick update - been offline now for 2.5 days. Utter sh*te. ***

Run... its the Polis!

2007-02-07T11:17:00.000Z

"Externally, it must have looked fantastic one hundred years ago but not unlike every lane in Terry Pratchetts novels, its not the kind of place you want to wander about late at night."

Only a month ago I mentioned that Renfield Lane was its own little crime hotspot and sure enough at the moment there's Police at either end of the (cordoned off) lane and a few cars dotted about. The concierge at our old office up the hill reliably informs me that a body has been found, and two fancily-embroidered-cap-wearing High Heid Yins (as my dear old Nanna would have called them) have just went into the office next to ours. Expect more news as soon as someone from the Evening Times starts rooting through the bins. Are we the crime capital of Europe or does it just feel like that sometimes?

Our new shiny old office

2007-01-25T08:15:00.000Z

Almost a year ago I changed jobs and joined the smallest company I've worked for. Five of us in an office tinier than my kitchen. We moved to a larger rented suite a few months later and three more joined us. Today we take possession of the keys to our new 2000 sq ft office in one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's lesser know buildings. The former Daily Record Building in Renfield Lane was completed in 1904, occupied by the publishers for twenty five years and then one of Glasgows 'premier outfitters' (Primark, in modern parlance) and laterly a mutual insurer. Its been derelict for the past ten years and is currently undergoing conversion into modern offices with a cafe/bar on the ground floor. Our suite has been a work in progress for the past few months, no big LCD tellys or projectors just yet but we should have a very fat broadband connection. All very exciting. Externally, it must have looked fantastic one hundred years ago but not unlike every lane in Terry Pratchetts novels, its not the kind of place you want to wander about late at night.

More money for Murdoch

2007-01-22T14:49:00.000Z

So for the past three weeks or so we've been having all manner of problems with our broadband connection. Although we've only had a half-meg connection, for the past twenty one months its been (until recently) absolutely rock solid. Connections held for months at a time. Ok, it took three months and four engineers to get it up and running - but since then its been fine. Then it started dropping connections for hours, then days at a time. Twenty calls to Tesco later I eventually gave up with their Customer Services and got put through to the optimistically titled 'Retentions Department' to process my cancellation. It was busy and they promised to call me back when someone was free. How bad a sign is that? Anyhoo, as good as their word someone called Oliver called five minutes later and I explained the issues. He sounded resigned to the cancellation and made polite noises about the lack of progress on my problem. My MAC address takes two working days to generate and then we'll be on the phone to SKY. Jules got sent details of their new Surf, Speak and See package. Free calls evenings and weekends, hundreds of telly channels and (up to) eight meg downloads (we shall see, anything above half meg would be a bonus for me) and a 40Gb download limit (looks like I'll become a regular of the xvid movie bins going forward) . Fingers crossed their wireless router and LLU service has had any problems ironed out since it was launched last autumn. I said I'd never go back to SKY but sure enough their guy is coming with the new dish'n'box on Saturday. On the plus side it leaves the door open to adding HD/SKY+ when money permits..

Victory for the little guy

2007-01-15T11:22:00.000Z

A couple of days after Julie had baby Charlotte I went into town to visit her at the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital. En route I swung past the deli in Candleriggs to get her some nice sandwiches. Parked outside the home of Stussy t-shirts in Glasgow, Dr Jives, I came back to the car ten minutes later to find a £30 penalty charge notice, placed neatly next to my pay-and-display ticket. Drove round (in retrospect quite unwisely) looking for the warden to lamp. Called Glasgow City Council on my mobile and thus began a five month battle with the head of the Parking Department, one Mr David Parkin (no pun intended). I had parked in a marked bay, bought and displayed a valid ticket, but still some target-monkey thought it was worth a punt putting a ticket on my car. Throughout this fiasco I've often wondered how many people would just put up and pay the fine to end the agro? Anyway, I wrote to the Council and they rejected my appeal, in effect calling me a liar. You can park in the marked bays on Candleriggs, but not in the loading bay marked areas. Makes no odds to me, as I was in the third bay out of five, so I had nothing to apologise for. The matters closed, pay up or we're taking you to Court was the tone of the increasingly threatening letters from the Council. The matters closed. Turns out you do have the right to independent adjudication - via the Scottish Parking Appeals Service. The Council didn't mention this, but I found it by myself and a few letters later the SPAS said they'd consider my appeal and any judgement would be final. So after five months of wrangling I finally got a letter from SPAS saying that the Council had (surprise surprise) decided not to contest my appeal and the matter was now closed. The Government was talking recently about compensation for successfully appealed fines - I'd be happy with an apology from the jobs-for-life-gravy-train-unaccountable-jobsworths at Glasgow City Council. Not that I'm still bitter.

Storm Damage - Welcome to 2007!

2007-01-02T15:47:00.000Z

For the third time in nine years our back garden fence took a pounding during the stormiest night of the year. From our kitchen window the wind howls along the back of the three houses in our little row from right to left. Our fence is a big easy target - so much so that we've put three props running at forty five degree angles supporting some of most exposed panels. Those withstood the storm on Hogmanay, however the two panels further along took it on the chin. Overgrown bushes added a bit of further pressure, combine that with the very heavy rain and soft soil = heartache for me today. Big thanks to the King of Scotland (Big Vic) for providing a four foot iron crowbar which helped lever both concrete post bases out of their respective holes. With no shops open it'll need to wait until the weekend before I can get six bags of postmix and volunteer my old man to assist in the easy end of the job. Looking forward to it already!

Oops!... I did it again!

2006-11-21T22:43:00.000Z

Crap Britney song reference I know but Man U can't say they weren't warned. He pinged one in down there, and ten minutes to go at Paradise he did it again. Shunsuke Nakamura stand up and take a bow (no pun intended). You'll be the toast of Youtube tommorrow. Celtic qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League at their fourth attempt tonight with a gritty (and at times lucky) performance. So often the recipients of the smelly end of the lucky stick, tonight that mythical 12th man, the crowd, without any shadow of a doubt lifted the team over the line. Even a very suspect 89th minute penalty couldn't save the fabled Red Devils. Ok so it wasn't the barnstorming 'you score two, we'll score three' affair that Old Trafford game was. I can live with that. We're through. On a night when confusion reined supreme; the pretty bird off the 10 o'clock BBC news (incorrectly) confirmed that Celtic were the first Scottish team to go past the group stages, the voice of a football (Gerry Mcnee) on STV said we'd find out in a fortnight whether Celtic could though (pundits!) and even Wee Gordon Strachan admitted in the press conference that he was still asking if it was true 40 minutes after the end of the game. 'Isn't there a rule that says we can't go through?' he joked. For all their strutting, posturing and turning-up-to-work-in-a-Ferrari arrogance I have just one thing to say. Get it right up you!

A false economy

2006-10-22T22:22:00.000+01:00

I've always been interested in diesels, performance diesels, economical diesels and just the black stuff in general. Car journos are forever going on about the fact that used, pound for pound, petrol is better value. This runs counter to the prevailing thinking, and especially car marketing. Plenty of recent VW adverts promoted the fact that you'll fuel up once in a blue moon running on derv. Sales of motors powered by the clackety stuff are rocketing correspondingly. So a prestige used advert in todays InGear supplement of the Sunday Times caught my eye. Arnold Clark had two '03 plate Mercedes ML's side by side (not a car I particularly rate - but bear with me). Both metallic and both full leather. No mileage or condition was mentioned, so for the sake of argument we'll assume it's much of a muchness. The 270CDI diesel was £21k and the 500 V8 petrol £16k. Torque is about the same, however the diesel is just 200bhp whilst the V8 is 300bhp. Driving conservatively you'll be doing well to get 30 mpg from the diesel and 20 mpg from the petrol. Put a decent stainless steel exhaust on the V8 and it'll sound like a muscle car. The diesel on the other hand will always have more in common with one of Kelvin Kabs finest. If you do 10k per annum, then it's going to take you nigh on 7 years before the diesel starts saving you money over the petrol (assuming a couple of pence price differential per litre). I'll do a wee comparison on 3 litre Beemers tomorrow if I get a chance, and I suspect the same to be repeated. I know what I'll be getting next...

Learning new stuff

2006-10-20T23:11:00.001+01:00

It seems like the rate of change is accelerating every week. Is that a natural consequence of old age? Anyhoo, the guys seem to come up with a new 'thing' to try almost every week. Each new thing is more dependent upon stuff you did before (and more importantly - still remember), and all syncs up seemlessly. This week I have mostly been using Flock yet its not been anywhere near as easy to pick up for a newbie as that monumental shift from IE to Firefox was. First I couldn't integrate this blog. Then right click 'search for' seemed determined to use shitty Yahoo, and I had to dabble in the black arts of "about:config" to get it right. Like I know what the hell that does. Anyhoo, it works and I've now added a further tiny length of IT footering string to my bow. Is this making my life easier?

PS."It seems there was an error with your blog..." - so I had to re-post this on Blogger, the old fashioned way. What was I saying about it working again? Focking flock.

Still worth the subscription?

2006-10-19T08:42:00.000+01:00

So, CAR Magazine recently changed format (which its periodically done over its 40 odd year history). The most recent regeneration has been into an uber-stylish Euro version of 'Car and Driver'. Loads of extremely arty photo's, deep and meaningful articles about the evolution of the cup-holder, that sort of thing. So whilst it's taken a slight detour up its own arse - they've relaunched their website, to make up some of the factual content shortfall. Loads of spy shots, launches and first drives are to be found - mostly quite funny and insightful. Such as this critique of the above fud-hatch.

Nothing beats a lads night

2006-10-17T10:10:00.000+01:00

Up at Ians last night for one of our irregular technology fests. Quality evening of iMac footering, Xbox 360 with a bit of Sky HD thrown in for good measure. Patter was up to the usual high standard, and Grahams farts were kept to a bearable minimum. Surprise of the evening was realising that a medium Domino's really was adequate after all. Roll on the launch of PES6 so we can do it all over again, in super duper definition.

I love Stussy

2006-10-13T08:23:00.000+01:00

I've been wearing Stussy since I was 19 when my Aunt Julie brought me an iconic Gucci logo'd oatmeal tee from Australia. Its funny to think that when I first wore it out (clubbing in The Tunnel of all places - don't laugh) folk used to come up and ask where I'd got it and was it real? Over the years I reckon I've had about 50 tee's and whilst I've not been to their New York store, I know a man who has (Mr D!) - and he took some photos for me. Simply, I love their designs and the build quality backs up the hype - nothing comes close in terms of retaining their look and shape. Recently I've been looking at my collection and wondering (do I still fit into a Large?) when it would be time to hang them up for good. At what age do you become too old for tee's on 'dress down Friday'? For the meantime, todays item is this and I'm still loving them.

New car news...

2006-10-12T13:23:00.000+01:00

So last night Lex phoned the Mrs to say that her new car isn't coming in Nighthawk Black after all... Turns out the FR-V gets a mid-life makeover next year, and they aren't making any more in black until the new model comes out in April. Dilemma. She can't wait until then, because the car scheme insists the switch is in February or not at all. After reading this I am not as concerned about missing out on its new bits and bobs. Hold on to your hats; new door handles, revised rear armrests and darker 'chrome' grill and details... This must be one of the lamest model revisions for a long long time. Lex did manage to find a 'classic' in Satin Silver with the right spec, so she's bagged that instead. It was either that or reconsider one of the many poverty class S-Max variants again... I just had a thought, what other 'new car news' could there be... ;-)

Decisions

2006-10-09T15:50:00.000+01:00

So what do I do about my car? It really is a curse liking motors as I do because it makes me so miserable and disatisfied a lot of the time. I went to a very local dealers to look at the above WRX at the weekend; its five years old, done only 45k and had two (older geezer) owners. No mods, and it didn't feel as if it had been spanked when I took it for a ten minute test drive. What I did notice was a shocking amount of shake through the wheel which when combined with the offside-front alloying kerbing - meant the tracking and balancing was probably guffed. Not a major issue, but a black mark. Next thing that I didn't like was the tiny little flat spots I sensed as I booted it past some trucks on the dual carriageway. What I mean was that the power did not come across like a massive tidal wave of oomph, it came in but I could feel there was little miniscule spots of *no power* in among the rev band. I'm not explaining this too well, and it wasn't like catastrophic and I'm maybe being a little unfair to compare a five year old with the one year old I sold in Jan. There could be a stack of reasonable explanations for that, coked-up tubes, it was 9am and the engine hadn't really warmed up, and the garage hadn't serviced it since receiving it on Monday as part of a trade-in (I noticed it on Auto-Trader on Tuesday). With a very thorough service and properly warmed through I'm sure it would have felt like more of the 215bhp were on tap. When I was out it felt like only 75% of that, which was disappointing. The brakes felt as wooden and unresponsive as I remembered but that's maybe nit-picking. Back in the showroom we talked money, and his trade-in offer for the Micra was reasonable, so far so good. He wasn't prepared to budge on the £8k asking price (I wasn't expecting a massive saving, maybe £500, but nothing doing) however he would do the full service including a costly, but extremely important, cambelt change. There were a few WR Sport back boxes on Ebay too, which kind of got me all excited (I had one on my previous and it sounded lovely) but when he mentioned a three month parts and labour warranty I stood up and walked. Main dealers offer 12 months, so the least I was expecting was six months. If he was as confident of the car as he professed then six months should have not have been a deal breaker. So as things stand I've left it with them. I dealt with the owner on Friday, but he wasn't available over the weekend. Maybe he'll call once he's back in the garage and been made aware of the situation from Bob the Salesman... Maybe.

A day of monkeying about

2006-10-04T16:32:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I'm up to my eyes in it but I've spent a whole 'luncho' fudding about with my blog, getting it to look a little smarter and do fancy things with images (click the above) for a demonstration of lightbox in action. I like it! Mr Dorrian, please stand up and take a bow.

Think positive thoughts...

2006-10-02T15:53:00.000+01:00

So, not wanting this to become a diet-blog I decided since last post to actually do something about the predicament I find myself in. The positive element of posting about it being its function as written record of the event, for posterity (or posterior really). So what have I done in the past three weeks or so? I've quit sugar in all things like tea, coffee, cereal etc. I've binned any cakes or sweets completely and any between meals snacking is limited to fruit (note to self, visit that hippie shop that sells grains and things for a bag of Dr Gillian McKeith approved budgie cage droppings). I reckon that in the past 7 months here in the new job I've put on half a stone. That explains a quarter of my two stone overweight bulk, and its not as if I drink to any extent - so the rest must be cakes and lack of hard exercise. One thing at a time though, manage my food intake better and maybe look at the exercise thing in the new year - join the Crutherland again perhaps?

BMI Oh Baby...

2006-09-29T09:39:00.000+01:00

According to some online Body Mass Index websites, it would appear that what my Doctor recently confirmed would indeed appear true. I'm technically obese and could well do with losing 2 stone. Not exactly a shock to me, but the first step with any problem is confronting it. What next though?

I've just not got over it, have I?

2006-09-21T08:36:00.000+01:00

Back in January we discovered that (joy of joys) Jules was expecting again, and we took the (fairly easy at the time) decision to punt my Impreza. This fiscal tightening of belts was clearly the sensible thing to do, but I so love my cars. Whilst I would do anything for my family getting over the loss has been somewhat problematic. I can't knock the Micra, it's a great city car and whilst it gets twice the mpg as the WRX I can't help feeling its only half the car. However, in terms of financial outcomes, its been entirely worthwhile. We've got enough reserves for a decent length of maternity leave, Jules loves the time she's spending with Charlotte and has recently ordered a Honda FRV to replace her current company car. Not coming until next year, it'll have six seats, leather and sat-nav. Plenty of toys and just as importantly, we'll all fit in it. So why am I still looking at Auto Trader every morning? The worst thing is the constant agonising about what if, what can I afford and the regular analysing of the best available used cars on the market. For what it's worth, you're looking at £11k for a three year old WRX from a main dealer - add another £1k if you want PPP on it. The more pumped STI version starts at about £15k, again around three years old - although occasionally the likes of Arnold Clarks gets them in about £2k cheaper... Insurance for me is about £500 a year regardless of model. I can't help myself can I?

Noémie Lenoir

2006-09-20T08:45:00.000+01:00

She's just gorgeous - no other reason for the post than that.

'Creepy' Boots Advert Banned

2006-09-20T08:26:00.000+01:00

I read with interest that this summers Boots Soltan 'children sunbathing' advert was banned by the Advertising Standards Agency after nine viewers complained. The gist of the complaint was that kids shouldn't be left out sunbathing like adults, and common sense dictated that they should be covered up, wearing hats and playing in the shade and not lying out like a footballers wife... Jules and I talked about this advert during the summer and we both found it fairly uncomfortable viewing. I don't think that was grounds for banning it though, as it was trying to get across a strong message about protecting children from the harmful effects of the sun. However, this isn't the first time Boots have came a cropper when it comes to suncare adverts. In 2004 their 'Mother' advert received two complaints (not a typo, just two) about their "five star UVA protection" resulting in it getting pulled. You may also recall their Calvin Klein spoofing 'Medicated Skincare Range' adverts of last year (I think), where a load of fashion types get progressively more sunburned and freckly. Also quite creepy. I have some sympathy with Boots - and I don't know if this is just a nostalgic hangover from my childhood. It was a store my mum would recommend WITHOUT QUESTION with the same tone of certainty she used when urging me to eat Markies ready meals when I first moved away from home (what with not being able to cook uppermost in her mind). You stick by Boots and Markies and they'll see you right seemed to be the core of her maternal advice. Bless.

Is it sad to want this watch?

2006-09-13T15:57:00.000+01:00

I really do love streetgadgets website. It so appeals to my unhealthy interest in pseudo military items for civilian (i.e. survivalist) use! Mock all you like, but when Cyberdyne Systems take over the world and we're all running about getting chased by Terminators at least I'll be able to see what time it is. In the dark.

Family Mobile Vers 1.0

2006-09-12T16:14:00.000+01:00

I need to remember and come back here and see if there is a Zafira VXR review.

Grand Theft Carriage

2006-08-28T14:56:00.000+01:00

This made me laugh out loud. Might need to order myself this in t-shirt form from married to the sea.

I don't often talk about football

2006-08-28T08:52:00.000+01:00

... but when Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (altogether now "there's only one..." ) scores 15 minutes into his debut I felt I had to mention it. The wife had 2-1 down on her Predictor score and over-confident me had 3-1. Doh! Amidst all the hoo hah I felt sorry for wee Kenny Miller. The bloke has knocked his pan in since coming to us, but its not happening for him in front of goal (football parlance used to sustain the illusion I know what I'm on about). He gets subbed early in the second half and sure enough his replacement tucks one away before he's slipped on his tracky bottoms. Heartbreaker. Anyhoo, looks like the SPL will be chock-full of inconsistent Old Firm performances if the first few weeks are anything to go by. 'mon the hoops', as its appropriate to say at these moments.

About 3 years behind everyone else...

2006-08-25T11:10:00.000+01:00

I have now got a (second-hand) P900 and have discovered how to fire across mp3's and things to allocate as user-specific ringtones. The smile of joy across my face as the title theme from 'Super MarioWorld' rang out when Jules called was priceless. How great is it having admin rights on your office pc? ;-)

Dopiaza.org

2006-08-24T16:06:00.000+01:00

I found this website which adds yet more Flickr functionality - better get that pro membership paid for now. As someone who loves good photo's, I absolutely adore Flickr.

What is it with horror movies?

2006-08-24T12:09:00.000+01:00

Almost all of my mates refuse point blank to watch horror films and I think they're missing out on something really special. My Gramps once lent me a video he'd taped off Channel 4, 'you'll love this one - it's a cracker' and he said no more about it. Audition begins like a sweet love story, then maybe sixty minutes in it descends into complete and utter madness. I like a shock as much as the next Carstairs patient, but I watched most of the end through my fingers. Amazing. Ok these aren't going to win any Oscars, but for adrenalin rushes they are hard to beat. Recent favourites include Cabin Fever, Wrong Turn, Jeepers Creepers, The Hills Have Eyes, Hostel, Wolf Creek, Hard Candy, Texas Chainsaw and Saw. See for yourself, there is a load of trailers here.

Cheapskates paradise!

2006-08-22T14:42:00.000+01:00

I was rummaging in the Pound Shop today looking for crappy folders for putting dvdr's into, and saw one of these. Something you have hanging on your keys to stick in the trolley at ASDA's (in lets be honest, the rougher areas of town) saving yourself the somewhat dubious inconvenience of reaching for a pound coin (thats sitting in your pocket). Not sure I'd want my house keys hanging off the trolley though, particularly in the supermarkets where they INSIST you pay for one before coming in... rough.

Todays wee thing of beauty!

2006-08-18T10:06:00.000+01:00

I could see me buying one for these nite glow rings to go into the back-up collection of emergency chrimbo gifts (for blokes, obviously!). Its smaller than a AA battery and lasts for 10 years! I love wee gadgies like this so much. I used to have one of those credit card thin black flashcard torches back in the day, and remember how cool it looked (albeit for a very short while before the battery faded and it got tossed).

Ok, the proof of the pudding...

2006-08-17T10:47:00.000+01:00

... is in the posting. Today's thing of moderate interestingness is instructables, and this is chock full of quirky novelties. Like those age-faded Blue Peter 'projects' involving kitchen rolls and lots of tin foil. Recently I bought some mints from M&S and according to instructables there should be something Ipod-related I can convert this covetable little green metal tin into: usb mobile phone charger, wireless router run on pound shop bulk-pack watch batteries, that sort of thing. But will I? I can see a post coming on about vicariously enjoying 'activites'. We all watch Ainsley cook, Sarah redevelop houses and Monty garden but do we actually do anything?

At long last I've decided that there may be a point to all this....

2006-08-16T13:48:00.000+01:00

Following on from my unsuccessful first attempt at this kind of thing, four posts or two years or so ago, I decided to give it another go. Mainly just as a home for interesting links - and these seem to be getting more frequent, and just asking iand to link to them isn't really the solution - he's got enough of his own crap going on!

"Live Alive Oh"

2005-06-03T16:00:00.000+01:00

Xbox LIVE. What could I possibly add to this subject that hasn't been written a million times before? Well my first impressions, like many users I guess, was Halo2. It really is the benchmark by which all Xbox Live games are measured. Quick and seamless are the watchwords. Inviting your friends for a game, choosing an opti-match'ed game or just getting stuck in - it's all nice and simple. Ok, once you actually get on, game experience may indeed differ online. That reminds me of the end of the Coco Pops advert, y'know '... as PART of your nutritious breakfast'. I'm telling you, the folk that come up with this crap deserve a right good shoe'ing and no mistake. WITH YOUR WEASEL WORDS YOU ARE RUINING OUR WORLD! Anyhoo, whilst I'm rambling about LIVE experiences, what is it about all American kids that make it compulsory for them to sound like Joe Pasquale with his nuts in a vice? It also gives such a bad impression when they forever seek out cheats (sorry 'tricks' according to High Impact Halo) to ensure their continued global domination. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those oh-so-fashionable American haters that are everywhere nowadays. I'm all for them bombing this and invading that, but only if they play the game within the spirit of the rules. Sitting there in their Condominium's with one finger over the reset router button in case they are about to die/lose flag/bomb planted etc just really isn't cricket. What I like about LIVE most though is that it's a broadband app for the masses. No techy know-how required. What next? Telly programs on demand? Free phone calls? A Star Trek inspired end of materialism? Maybe not, but anythings possible!

"If a picture paints a thousand words"

2005-03-03T08:09:00.000Z

"So why can't I paint you" - once sang David Gates of 70's beardo's Bread. That'll do for me - so I thought I'd dabble at posting a my first picture on here. Make a nice change from my usual ramblings.

"Nappy days are here again"

2005-03-02T12:19:00.000Z

Parents mention this topic when they discover that your Mrs is pregnant, and it slides past almost unnoticed. Nappies? Piece of piss. For the most part it is, however, during those first ‘blissfull’ months when you're both new to things it can be murder. How frightnening is it when mid nappy-change a wee fountain shoots up in front like a baby sized firework? Two days into the world our youngest son decides to projectile poo mid-change and yours truly was caught in the firing line. Time slowed in true Matrix fashion as I arced backwards, arms flailing. Looks like chicken korma, stains like chicken korma, smells like chicken faeces. Those ‘ready meal’ jars are chemical weapons; the odour goes completely off the scale. Actual mother’s milk poo (and I use that word quite literally in it's loosest sense) isn’t that horrendous. Yeasty would be the best word to describe it. You also have to remember and actually toss them – surprisingly not always uppermost in your mind. One left in a room for an hour makes a very unappealing pot pourii I can tell you. At one point I seriously thought about running a length of string from the bedroom window to the wheelie bin lid outside. Enabling me to dispose of them in one fluid motion (so to speak). Let’s not even mention when nappies (very occasionally) leak or the dreaded 'rash'. Not forgetting Meconium too or infant constipation, a babies poo is a rich and varied tapestry of experiences - mostly smelly. The Holy Grail though is when your child gets a bit older and more predictable. You can almost set your watch by them. Even better is when they come out in little vacuum-sealed self-contained lumps. Not plastered on like badly done Artex (I cannot stress this enough - ALWAYS use a barrier cream). There may be light at the end of the tunnel for us. Our eldest came up yesterday and said ‘Poo Mummy’ pointing at his rear. Potty training time maybe? Stat of the Day: Newborn Size Asda Nappies cost 6.9p each

"Knob twiddling heaven"

2005-02-25T23:25:00.000Z

It was my birthday last week and with the funds unleashed I trotted into town and went looking for a DAB portable radio. This has been high on my wishlist for some time, although Footlocker did distract me somewhat. It's not easy being such a sneakerhead. After much to'ing and fro'ing I decided to go for a lovely (kitchen co-ordinating, of course) Pure Evoke 1XT. A quick browse through What Hifi mag helped shrink the choices; and in the end I went for the recently improved UK's best seller. £90 from John Lewis seemed a good deal and the sound quality impressed everyone who heard it over the weekend. A bit of careful tweaking found that the burglars-favourite (window ledge) provided the best overall reception without the need for the (utter shame of) full telescopic aerial extension. Over 95% signal strength on about 40 stations - job done methought. However, even listening to the trannie these days becomes an exercise in statistical fine-tunery. I can sleep easily now that I've the ability to read bitesize news streams and broadcast bitrates during The Archers. Anyhoo, my own current fave station plays reasonably 'new' new country; but the other half prefers to slum it on Radio Poor, sorry I meant Radio 3.

"Everyone’s got to start somewhere"

2005-02-25T13:36:00.000Z

Only five years after it became boring, I thought I better get my creative brain in gear and start this online diary nonsense. Although if I had anything worthwhile to say, I'd have called you about it. Maybe this is a good thing - but instinctively I wonder whether we should be meeting in the real world more. There seems to me many more oportunities for misunderstanding with e-mail/txt/blogs etc. How many times have you read someone's e-mail and thought 'you complete twonk', when in all possibility what they really meant was no way near as offensive/insensitive/rude etc. How much communication is non verbal again? Way of the world I suppose. In a few years time will I have to teach my boys as much about netiquette as real world manners? Quite depressing really.