Terrible

At 4.40 a guy I work with, have worked with for several years collapsed in front of my eyes. It was so sudden, he made a noise dropped to the floor and started to turn blue. I called an ambulance while some people from the office attempted to put him into the recovery position but his breathing was erratic and his skin was swollen the wrong colour. The paramedics arrive within 5 minutes and they asked us to leave while they attempted to revive him.
I felt shocked, my hands were shacking, I made a phone call to head office to get details of his next of kin for the paramedics.
Twenty minutes later they cleared out, one of the team told us it looked bad essentially he was dead, they hadn't been unable to revive him, efforts would continue at the hospital. I hold out the hope that they will be able to help him, but I the picture of how terrible he looked out of my mind.
I got a lift home, now I feel terrible I've never witnessed anything like it, was so shocking. He had been fine all day we even went together to get a sandwich, I still cannot believe it.

Don't leave me

I have been amusing myself tonight coding and listening to songs from my youth thanks to Spotify. Just in case it has passed you by Spotify is a 100% legal way to listen to music on demand. It is advertising supported but at the moment sends out less than commercial Radio like say Key 103, and you get to be the DJ. Basically you search choose and album and listen, every couple of songs there is an advert its easy to use, and has pretty much every album I can thing of to search for including the Rex the Dog remix of The Knifes Heartbeats.

This evening I caught up with the Green Day early albums, then tuned into the Smashing Pumpkins. I forgot how angst ridden the early Green Day was, and its certainly been way too long since i heard Today, and Bullet with Butterfly Wings.

Free Coldplay

You can download a free live Coldplay album "Left Right Left" here

Tracklisting

1. Glass of water


2. 42


3. Clocks


4. Strawberry Swing


5. The Hardest Part / Postcards From Far Away


6. Viva La Vida


7. Death Will Never Conquer


8. Fix You


9. Death And All His Friends

Viva La Gloria

Friday night I went out for a few drinks with Gilly and Nick. Nick wasnt staying out to late as he and Charlotte were going on a holiday to London the next day.

Phil and Bruce came and join us and I managed to convince them to join me on Saturday doing some stripping. Fortunately the only things that were bare at the end were the walls. We managed to get the whole master bedroom freed from the wallpaper which was great going. I hope to move in sometime next month, a few more days like this, I wonder what Jo and Holly are upto next week...

I dont really see much of Martin these days like me he is busy with his house and work. It was his birthday earlier this month to to celebrate we took a visit to the Chinese buffet in Stockport. I ate a lot of Chinese food, for a buffet it was actually very tasty. I especially liked the Peppered Steak. Phil ate his own body weight in duck, and everyone else seem to enjoy themselves.

After the meal we went to Cobdens, which was awful, blasting out tinny loud music. Adam Steph and Young Martin beat a hasty retreat. I chatted to Martin about his wedding apparently I am invited hurrah, Char told me she read this blog which is scary in itself. Nina suggested we moved to thier house.
Martin had never been to the Tonge residence before, he was fasinated with the Echoing bridge nearby. We all chatted and discussed the various thing we were upto on our houses, well until my eyes and belly felt so heavy I needed to sleep.

Before leaving Nina and Bruce gave Phil and I a picture from their wedding of us with Bruce which was really nice :)

Skype Numerology: Squirrel

Skype Numerology: Squirrel

Last Night On Earth

Another weekend, another birthday party; This time is was Nina playing host to celebrate her 26th.

I had spent the day at my house filling cracks cleaning and removing wall paper. My Dad gave me a crash course in the art of filling holes. I was pretty tired by the time I got to Bruce house.

Holly and Joe were there, we had a catch up about Danny's party last week. Bruce was attempting to make Pizza bases in the kitchen, something in the oven smelt very nice. Nina had made two lasagne's one vegetarian and one with meat. They were both very tasty. To go with that was pizza and salad, I enjoyed it very much.

Bruce, Holly and I compared work we had been doing on our houses and the allotment. It was interesting to be stood in the kitchen and see the work that had gone into making it good.

It was the first time I saw Jane and Lindsey the bridesmaids from Nina&39;s wedding I had seen them. Phil didn't seem too impressed that Jane brought her boyfriend along.


It was my turn to drink, and so I did. Too much in fact I had a stinking hangover all day. I felt incredibly depressed it was all couples (except Phil and I) and I thought to myself that I am missing out. Kasia doesn&39;t want to meet my friends which is upsetting to me as they are important to me. I am sure she would have enjoyed it too.

21st Century Breakdown

Friday night, Danny has planned a theme Party to celebrate his 28th Birthday. The evenings theme was to be a Chav. I improvised a little, but most people made a really big effort, I was most impressed with Woller and Danny.

I elected to drive and managed to arrive at the same time as Ian. We were stood outside listening to the neighbours while Ian unloaded his wine and ice. I had a big fall out with Kasia so I didn't feel like drinking in case I got too depressed.

Jen had made a load of food, which sat on the table looking tasty. We weren't allowed to eat just yet. Instead Danny give me a tour of the house, which is quite a nice terraced affair.

I caught up with Paul, Saskia, Joe Holly and Woller, the atmosphere was really good everyone having a great laugh. The food was served and I must say Jen had done a great job, it was all very tasty. I especially enjoyed the spicy chips and curry :)

We talked we drank (I stuck to soft drinks) I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and outside. At one point a slightly drunk Jo managed to knock a shelf down. The offending shelf was pretty poorly constructed only really for decoration I think not to hold any weight. Despite his intoxication level Danny ran off grabbed a tool-case and his drill and set about fixing the shelf. Judging by the shine it seemed like it was a little used tool, I didn't mention that while using the bigger screws he omitted to counter sink the holes. It was a funny scene dressed in Chav wielding a drill.

Paul was excited about his new album and video he filmed. He also was making me incredibility jealous with picture from Abbey Road studio where his CD was being mastered.

By midnight pretty much everyone was drunken except me Michelle and Holly. Ian was especially drunken at one point falling over and held up by Holly. The party split between people playing singstar in the living room and people drinking and chatting in the kitchen. I offered an opening service for bottles of Lambrini, and chatted to people until my eyes started to feel heavy.

Red Tulip

Red Tulip
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

The only red tulip in my mums bag of 'mixed' bulbs, it bloomed for one day before storm crushed it flopping down after chasing a ball

Sleepwalking

All writers have different style of writing some have bursts of energy some discipline themselves, Hemingway was said to write 500 words a day. Not that I would put myself in the same sort of bracket, indeed blogging is all about indisapline and autobiography. However it has been an age since I made a post, I keep thinking of things I want to write about but always at the wrong time, life somehow takes over and drains my energy away. This evening though I was talking to Martin, its been ages since I saw him in the flesh, but we had a really good catch up. I told him about Storm and he told me how he nearly had John Terrys boxer puppy. After our conversatoin I thought I should make the effort and write something, because its something I enjoy, a release.

Looks like the neighbours dog has moved in here. I went for a few drinks with Bruce on Saturday night, I awoke at about 4am needing a glass of water and nearly tripped over Storm who was fast asleep outside my room. Talking to my dad on Sunday it turned out my dad was woken up about 2 by Storm trying to get in he was cold and tired having been left out, he has been at our house since. I really enjoy this time of year, the flowers blooming Cherry blossom everywhere, it really great walking around with Storm taking it all in.

I spent Saturday mostly working, I had to try and get something done over the weekend, it ended up being a bit of a disaster, but the bad stuff didn't materialise until people started to use the site today [Monday].

Sunday, I spent most of the day migrating servers for work. Punctuated by Bruce and Nina coming over. They had been shopping at Woodford Garden centre. We took storm for a walk around the Community centre then as Nina had never been to my house we popped in to take a look. She even started to peel off some of the wallpaper, I handed her a scraper and got some mileage out of the situation. Nick turned up while we chatting to do some more work on the skirting boards.

After chatting for a while I extricated myself Nina and Bruce so that Nick could get on with the job. I hope my neighbours weren't too annoyed by the noise. It looks a lot more house like now the kitchen is in (minus a splashbacks and some other snagging) not so much more to do now. My main stumbling block at the moment it trying to get everything paid for, my savings are going and the work situation means I am somewhat struggling at the moment.

House aside, I walked Storm again then headed to the pub with Phil for a quiet drink. Julie was chatting to us for a while about a fancy dress party she had been too, Phil and I were checking out the pictures on Facebook while we supped our drinks.

Everyone's at It

Tuesday I went to see Kasia, we had a wonderful evening together and it made me wish we could spend more time together.
Today was another bad day, a microcosm of my life. My car went for a service, it need new brakes, a new timing belt sigh more expense. The gas guy came to plumb in the gas to my hobs, he took hours to connect, complained there was no room even though he moved the pipe himself and charged my £l65. That is additional to the £35 he charged me to move 3 centimetres last week. All in all £110's to extend one pipe less than 20centimetres, sigh.
In the afternoon I got a really fun phone call form the people I bought the kitchen off. Apparently they messed up and I owe them another £200. I took real issue with this as I paid them in good faith. They rung me before sending the kitchen out and asked me for payment, I gave the girl my credit card details and as far as I was concerned made a full and final payment. I thought they were basically trying it on to ask for any more money after the fact. Nick similarly knocked them back and I think they will basically give up. I felt bad to start with, then I realised how much they messed me about delivering the wrong things, and that I am small bean compared to the mega kitchen Phil's Parents bought.
I managed to cheer myself up after work walking storm, he is never upset. A little dog attacked him while we were playing catch but he hardly seemed to notice, just wanting me to throw the ball so he could run round some more. Such boundless optimism despite all the troubles in his life.
This evening I got two phone calls from friend who wanted advise, I just about managed to give it to them without going crazy, it was a close run thing though.

Glass

I had to take my parents and gran to John Lewis. My grans microwave had blown up (she has a knack of destroying them somehow), this is a problem as she uses it to do most of her cooking. So off to John Lewis where she bought a new Panasonic. Its a pretty nifty one as microwaves go, it can actually sense the gasses coming off the food and adjust the output accordingly. I used some vouchers to buy a kettle a pan and a frying pan for the house, was kind of strange to be buying my own appliances, I have always shared.

It was a glorious day today, I took the dog for a long walk in the sunshine playing catch at Woodford Rec for ages, until he got tired and decided a better game was tug of war with the rope pull, he virtually destroyed it!

My mums friend came over to see her and somehow convinced me to show her my house. Nick was there finishing some boxing in on the kitchen, she seemed to like it. I feel like its getting close, but at the same time there is a huge list of jobs left to do, and I am feeling pretty skint right now. I am sure Ill manage to find a way to get there though, I feel optimistic today.

I'm off to Bramhall to meet Gilly Nick and Phil.

Moon and moon

I had quite a nice week, though busy. My company has moved to a new office which means I now have to travel all the way to Macclesfield.

Tuesday Night I went to see Bat for Lashes at the Ritz. Martina had asked me to buy the tickets while she was away in Birmingham, it was to be the start of her new tour to promote her new album so we were treated to the new songs. It was a really nice concert despite some technical problems with the piano.

Wednesday I went to Halifax for a business meeting, there has certainly been a lot of work to come of way because of it, which should in time help with the cashflow crises.

Everyone seems to be switching to Twitter at the moment, but I am far too verbose to be able to fit anything reasonable into 140 characters, so when I have the time I am going to keep it real with blogger :)

A Different Way

Its Sunday already another week and more importantly weekend has thundered by. I spent Saturday putting back the floor boards, all but 3 are back down. I have used over three hundred screws over the last couple of weekends putting them down. Just like everything with the house it wasn't just a simple proposition of laying them back down. Im many cases I had to build noggins to hold up the boards. I felt like I was back at technology class at Bramhall High chiselling out bits of wood sawing and plaining. It was hard work but very satisfying to see it laid back down.

Saturday evening Phil and I went round to Bruce and Nina's, to watch a movie. He had a copy of the new X-Men film. It was an unfinished version the effects and some camera shots were not finished, but that paled into insignificance compared to the thinness of the plot.

Today I spent most of the day outside. It was a great day, the sun was out so I agreed to do some things at my parents house for a change. I mowed the lawn, then refelted some of the shed roof where the wind had blown off the felt. My neighbours dog was happy to see us vaulting over the hedge and watching me work. I took him for a walk after lunch to Woodford recreation gronud. He is so happy and easily pleased its impossible to be unhappy spending time with him. I think he has basically adopted us as we pay him attention. He often sits outside our front door waiting for me or my mum.

Non-Entity

Well the good news at this point is part of my kitchen is installed, and because of Howdens screw up I managed to get a draw unit for the price of a cabinet. Unfortunately there have been a number of setbacks, the most painful is that a gas pipe is right in the middle of where two units meet. This means Ill have to get a gas engineer out to move it then get the kitchen fitting finished then get the gas engineer back to connect the gas hob. Also due to another minor screw up the sockets on one side of the kitchen were a few cm to the wrong side ;( Not much I can do about it unfortunately just got to get the people back rejig things and hope it all looks nice in the end.

You Know What You Are?

For some time Faye has been organising a surprise party for Ian. So Saturday morning at twenty to nine he was greeted by Nick, Phil, Bruce, Dave, Sambo and myself. He seemed somewhat dumbfounded when Faye told him we were all there to take him paintballing.

Faye production lined Bacon butties and cups of tea for us all, while Ian sort of stood still trying to piece together what just happened. After the tasty bacon barm, we hit the road to Elland near Huddersfield for the paintball session.

We went in two cars, Phils sat nav took us to the wrong place, so we were a little late. Arriving at the venue I was shicked to see so many people. Teams were chosen on the basis of the arrival number, I was 65! That put me on the same team as Ian, Nick, and Sam. Were donned our boiler suits and loaded up on paint, there were also all sorts of armaments. Paint grenades, smoke bomb and flashbangs were on sale. I just stuck to pain, wish I had bought a pair of gloves like Bruce and Phil though.

The first game was attack defend, it was pretty hectic with so many people. The place was not organised the same way as the one I had been to for Bruces stag do. In fact they just seemed to want us to run off as many paintballs as possible, and no wonder at £ 30 for 500 balls.

Bruce must have been glad that we werent like the stag party there, on the VIP game were the object is to protect the VIP, the Stags friends (and team mates) unloaded 100 paintballs a piece from close range. He was writhing on the floor in agony, and nearly throwing up with the pain.

I got shot a lot, like to run in death or glory style but at one point during the second attack defend (waste as much paint as possible session) I got trapped and shot a lot, my back and shoulders are covered in bruises.

I did have one inspirational moment, when during the second VIP game I used a kid as a human shield I managed to tag a couple of players. While the kid got shot to pieces I was safe, bad John.

There was a second surprise for Ian, a Party at Fayes house. He knew nothing after the paintball other than he Faye Nick and Charlotte were having a meal. We all went home to change, and met back at Fayes before 8.30, cars hidden around the corner so Ian wouldn't suspect. We were all waiting in the kitchen when they arrived, Ian forgot his keys, so Faye answered the door and led him into the kitchen, he was surprised by everyone. Opening the door to be confronted by the Rocky sound track and his friend all screaming "Surprise!"

Danny had prepared a really good music selection for the evening, which served as a soundtrack to the party. I mingled, chatted to Bruce, Nina, Holly, Paul, Righni, Faye, Michelle, Ian, Holly, Jo and Gilly amongst others. I drank and dances and generally everyone seemed to have a great time.

Nick and Charlotte were looking very couple like, Nick seems happier than I have seen in a while, though I hope he maintains some sort of balance and doesnt try and rush things too much.

Holly was in a great mood too we were discussing ways to keep optimistic about long term projects where it can be hard to see the work done compared with the tasks ahead. Paul was on usual form drawing everyone attention, though he wasn't most popular with Ian and Faye when he decided to bed down in their room :D

Fayes parents are an inspiration, they have such a good sense of fun and ha obviously helped Faye a lot with the food. The food was really tasty, a choice of curry or lasagne, I had the curry and found it very enjoyable. I was actually bowled over by the effort that Faye had put into the whole party especially keeping totally on the QT from Ian, very impressive work. It made me wonder if Ian ever popped the question how well organised their wedding would be.

As always however the better the evening the more painful the next day. I felt like I was hit by a freight train, my body ached from all the painball hits and alcohol consumption. The morning was a a right off, this afternoon I just about made it to the house to put a couple of floor board back and do some preparation for the kitchen installation.

I stand corrected

It was Alison Brook's birthday yesterday, so myself Ian and Nick headed round to her house for a bit of a party. Strolling through the front door we were confronted by a load of twenty something lads who were all high, drunk or both (it was around 8.45pm when we arrived). No I realise I was a bit crazy when I was younger but a couple of them seems very scary. There was one tall bloke absolutely off his face walking round his nose covered in white power, which I assume wasn't icing sugar from the cake. We stood and talked in the lounge Al was buzzing around Finlay had snaffled some boze and was drunkenly lolling about the room. I felt really uncomfortable and chatting to Nick and Ian they felt the same. Chantell was there she looked out of place afraid of the hoodies in the kitchen. We got chatting to one of Alison's ex work colleagues Louise and he friend Ruth, who also felt a bit intimidated by the guys in the kitchen.

Apart from the bad vibes in the kitchen Nick was keen to get away and see Charlotte his new beau. We headed out to Wilmslow, Ruth and Louise joined us. Grabing some cash we made our way past the bouncers, one of whom appeared to be starting an altercation with a reveler. Eventually we made it into revolution, Faye Charlotte and Matt were having a good time. Nick headed straight for Charlotte, that was pretty much the last I spoke to him except for a brief visit to the bar, he couldn't wait to get back to her, she must be pretty nice. Hopefully one day Ill get to find out for myself what she is like. Ironically later in the week Nick asked me what I thought of her, I replied the truth I have never had a chance to speak to her!

I spent most of the evening drinking and chatting to Louise and Ruth who were really good company. I did talk to Faye a little and Ian but mostly I would have felt like a complete third wheel if it hadn't been for them. I enjoyed Revolution, though it was a little pricey and the bar staff were pretty clueless, there was a generally good vibe.

Sometimes playing catch with a doggy can be dangerous! Yesterday I was playing catch with my neighbours dog storm. I wasn't really paying attention and I managed to rebound a solid rubber ball straight into my face with enough force to mark my face and the sharp edge of my glasses cut into my eyebrow.

I was very tired at the point having been working at the house. It has been going pretty well recently, I have made really good progress finishing the wiring. Nearly all the sockets have cable to them and I made the bathroom an equipotential zone. This sounds really complicated, but actually its pretty simple. Electricity always flows between areas of different potential, e.g. a mains socket is 220v ground is effectively zero so grab hold of a live cable and while standing in a pool of water and that 220volt flows through you to ground. However by wiring everything metallic together and earthing it all the metal has the same potential so even if something became energised all the other bits of metal would have the same potential thus the electricity shouldn't flow; in fact at this point the circuit protection should kick in.

One side effect of all the wiring is reaching under, floors in the loft and round walls is that I am covered in little cuts and scraps, in fact after reaching under to thread a cable I look like I have been self harming!

While I was doing the afternoon session Paul and his new girlfriend Saskia popped round to visit the house. On balance it might not have made the best first impression, with all the dust mess and my dad and I in our scruffiest clothes. She seemed a nice girl and it was great to see Paul, an unfortunately brief time though before they had to get off to meet someone else on there grand tour. Hopefully I can pop to London to see them soon.

In the evening I was really tired, Phil suggested a film and as its relatively cheap and there are a few things I want to see we ran down to Didsbury to catch watchmen. Unfortunately it seemed like everyone wanted to go to the movies! Didsbury was full and so was the Trafford Centre we ended up getting a few cans and watching "How to lose friends and alienate people" instead.

Plastic Meadows

Two weird things, first thing Phil sent me a link to Horizon (2008-2009 - 6. What's the Problem with Nudity?). Nothing weird about that, until of course a few minutes in I realise why he sent it, not so I can see naked bodies but because someone we both know is in the program. It was very, very surreal and voyeuristic to watch.

Second weird, well not really weird by certainly sad.
on a different note I installed the new Skype (Version 4.0). I found the interface horrible! Fortunately Phil told me that you can us the 4th button on the top to separates them. Overall though I found the The interfaces just so different and less intuitive. I just wonder why on earth they would change a decent format to a convoluted one? I thought at first the I was just too familiar with the current interface, but Kasia and Phil both said similar things. Kasia called it Chaotic, and Phil confusing.

This evening I put the finishing touches to a website hopefully it will go live later this week. I am pleased that I am reaching the end.

Hacked

In my professional career I have had systems I worked with compromised several times. Unfortunately its much harder to defend than attack. Today I uncovered a rouge program on one of the work servers. Tomorrow I will be doing some analysis of when where and how it happened.

One Day Like This

I haven't posted for a while, I would like to say these is an earth shatteringly important or interesting reason for my blogs stagnation. The real reason is lack of interesting diversions. There was Fayes birthday last Wednesday, which was a nice evening.
Yesterday was the most interesting day in a long time though. It was the first time in a little while that I have felt really alive. Kasia came up from York, I picked her up from Stockport Station and we headed into Manchester. Our firs destination was the Chinese Arts centre. Kaisa had seen it on a website and was exited to see it. As it turned out it is quiet a small gallery only one exhibition was open. A display of people and their drugs. It was interesting but only too a short time to peruse.

The shop seemed bigger than the actual gallery, but the teas were great and the nik naks lovely. As it only took 30 minutes to go round I suggested we visited Urbis, I had never been there before so it was a new experience for us both. We looked at the Emory Douglas and the art of revolutions. As minister for culture in the Black Panther Party he was involved in the chain reaction the empowered Africa Americans to the point where American now has a black president. It was chilling to see how only just over a generation ago blacks were lynched with impunity.

The other exhibition at Urbis was titled Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester. It was a series of photographs by experimental photographer, Andrew Paul Brooks. He has managed to capture scenes from Urban explorers, and from alternative rooftop views. My favourites were of the eerie underground shelters and the picture from the town composing the Angels with the modern cityscape.

After our art tours we went to see my house. I think she appreciated the progress but was a little shocked at how much there was left to do. We ate fish and chips and cuddled on the sofas. After which then headed out to the Trafford centre.

I wanted to get some new jeans but after trying on a few pairs I realised that I have put on quiet a lot of weight in the last 6 months. Working on the house has meant I haven't been working out at the gym. I am going to have to do a lot of running and exercise once the house is finished. I bought the Elbow album "The Seldom Seen Kid" to listen to on the drive to York. I am really enjoying it, I must admit its a grower the first time Martina played it to me I really did not think it was my kind of thing.

We visited the new bit of the Trafford centre which has home furnishings, but didn't end up buying anything.

I spent the night in York, we were both really tired after the driving and visiting but it was a really great day. I was very glad to do something none work and one house, they are really pretty much dominating my life at the moment.

State of the house

Things moved on pretty well this weekend. Bruce helped me tidy up the network cables and I managed to lay the remaining part of the upstairs ring mains. The face plates arn't on but they can wait until the rooms are decorated.
The kitchen is painted, and the lights gone back up.

Martina came round to help on Friday, she put another coat of paint on the kitchen and utility cupboard while I carried on with the wiring. In the evening we went out for a curry and to watch the wrestler. I enjoyed the wrestler though it is a fairly depressing film and it dragged a little at the start.

The upstairs wiring is nearly done, the wiring for the ring, TV, and network are all in place. I still have to do the lights upstairs, replacing the old stranded core with twin and earth. The stranded cables don't currently have an earth.
The lounge is prepared and my dad is soon going to start wallpapering.

Eleanor Rigby

I went for lunch at the Cheadle Royal, it was ok but the service was appalling, took forever to get served and when the food arrived they guy asked if we wanted any sauces we did but he disappeared never to return. Walking back there was a single solitary Swam preening herself on an embankment in the middle of the road. It seemed slightly surreal somehow to have this bird there not caring about the traffic or us walking back to the office. Sometimes I wish I had no cares or worries.

We play endlessly

I bearly made it to work this morning, though not for the normal reason of hangover of lakc of sleep. I had to brave the worst snow in 18 years on the way in to work. Normally this would not be a problem, as my daily commute is only a few miles. Yesterday I travelled to York to visit Kasia so this meant I had to scrape 4 inches of snow off the car. Then drive down a rather snowy M1, across the blizzards over the Pennines on the M62, finally braving the M60. I left at 6.30 and arrived at 9.15, it usually takes one and a half hours!
It had been a very nice evening with Kasia. We went for a walk round York, which was very pretty in the winter air and moonlight. Then we eat pizza listening to music, my free Independent Sigur Ros CD and her 80's French pop, it was very relaxing.

Relaxation was something I badly needed having spent the last few days decorating. Specifically repainting my kitchen. It turned out that the stains on the ceilings cannot be stopped! The marks have come through a layer of plaster, a coat of PVA glue, and two coats of kitchen paint! I found a stain blocking paint at B&Q which I applied to the ceiling. Being oil based and full of VOC's it stunk like heck. The stain blocker was also white so in between coats I had to squint to see where I had painted breathing in these fumes I felt pretty high by the time I was finished.

Warwick Avenue

Painting lots of painting, my hands are covered with the damn stuff despite baths and frequent hand washes. The scary thing is the amount left to do, the kitchen is half finished that leaves, living room, hall stairs and landing, the bedrooms not to mention the bathroom.
Quite apart from the painting I still have wiring to finish, wall paper to hang and all the floor boards lifted for the wiring need to go back; which going to be like a giant jigsaw as I forgot to mark where they came from.
I do start to feel like its coming together though, I shouldn't have to rip anything else major out and things are going back in, perhaps only a few more months and I will be living there.
Last night I met up with Martina, she had a problem with her laptop which I fixed then we started watching the first series of Mad Men. It is a really cool show about 1950s American Advertising men, when men were men and women did what they were told. She made cheese biscuits as compensation for my laptop fixing though actually there wasn't much to fix not like my colleague who had over 28 viruses! I am not normally a fan of cheese biscuits but these were rather tasty.

Anysound

I was painting today, my fingers are still partly white in spite of several washings and a bath. I made some quiet good progress today, with help from my Dad and Martina we painted a lot of the kitchen, an alcove where some wiring is going and filled a load of holes.

I started with a trip to Stax. It is trade only but fortunately Nick has an account. They are really cheap for paint and decorating supplies, and other bits.
On the way home I picked up Martina from Bramhall, she had gone into her previous employer B2B to invoice them for some work.

Starting upstairs we used sugar soap to clean out an alcove I need to be painted before installing my comms cabinet. It was filthy I don't think the previous owner knew about cleaning. The doors upstairs have little windows, I thought it was frosted glass but it turned out to be nicotine stain, yuk!

Martina worked really hard painting the kitchen ceiling and helping out, it felt really good to finally see something getting back in.

Enable user ftp uploads SELinux

I just had some issues getting vsftpd setup on Centos 5.2 I kept getting 500 OOPS: cannot change directory. Searchign around on the net I finally found
this post which included the command to allow ftp for users through SELinux.

/usr/sbin/setsebool -P ftp_home_dir=1

The New Pollution

I started the day by putting in part of the ring mains upstairs, it was a major mission routing a cable from the start of the ring to where the immersion heater used to be. I am going to use the space where the tank used to live to put in a comms cabinet for the wired cabling and the TV points.

Around lunch time I headed out with Nick to pick up a sofa. Martina's housemate Neal had put me in touch with his workmate Paul who had a sofa to dispose of. The only problem was that I had to arrange a lift to near Clitheroe in Lancashire to pick it up. Following the sat nav it took us just under an hour to find it, traveling perilously close to my old stomping ground. It was a pretty nice day sunny and clear as we drove there, changing to a rather overcast one on the drive home. So now I have a sofa, a table and a floor, just need a kitchen and to finished the decoration and I can finally move in.

The only certainty in life is that things will change. When I was younger I loved going to bars, I would get dressed up on a weekend drink and dance listen to loud music.
Tonight Ian Nick and I went to the Unicorn, I wanted to show Ian how far its fallen. We all agreed it needs a refit, badly. Paint is coming off the walls the décor is haphazard and the whole place needs a common theme. Also the previous owners stripped a heck of a lot of bits out of the place leaving very unsightly gaps.
After we got tired of the sad decor we made a move to the Rectory, unfortunately they played very loudly the greatest hits of the 80's which did very little for conversation. That was a shame given Ian was telling me some of his plans for a possible bar venture and it was really interesting to hear his plans. Nick was being sent especially west by the music, and Ian had to pick up Faye so we had an early night.

Funny Load

Funny Load
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

Nick and I were behing this, ahem, gym on the way to pick up a sofa near Clitheroe

Two Seat Sofa

Two Seat Sofa
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

This is my new sofa, well new to me anyway. Should do for the moment though its in pretty good condition. Thanks to Martina, Neil and Neil's friend Paul

Lacrymosa

Today was a good day, I had a day off to work on the house and managed to get a lot done. Primarily I had to take a day to wait in for the heating repair man. Homeserve rang in the morning to say they would turn up between one and four in the afternoon. So in the morning the plan was to seal the concrete floor. Basically until it is sealed conrete gives off dust and tomorrow I was picking up someone old sofa. I didn't think it was a good idea to put the sofa in this dusty environment.

The floor sealant is a solvent which seals in the floor chemically binding the top layer. It stunk like very strongly of chemicals and I was high as a kite after we finished. It only took a few hours to prepare and paint onto the living room and hall floor.

The heating repair man was early, and quickly fixed the leaking heating. He did however spot a few faults with the installation.

Earlier in the week I had a telephone call from the blood service asking me to go and donate on Friday. After the engineer had departed I traipsed into Wilmslow and made a donation at the Parish Hall. I had never been during the day before, they had milky ways along with the other biscuits I guess they are normally all gone by the time I arrive!

After donating blood it was still early enough to continue a little on the house. I wired in a cable to upstairs and got my first upstairs socket working.

So I have my first working socket upstairs, working heating, a locking garage, and a sealed floor and I gave away a pint of blood, a pretty good day I think.

I went out with Phil for last orders at the reopened unicorn. The place looked rather bedraggled the previous people had taken a lot of things including the nozzle for the Guinness tap so Phil couldn't have a pint of Guinness.

Fat government

Looks like Digby Jones share my views on fat government, it is too big employs too many people and could use half as many.

Free antivirus

I just started using the free Windows Antivirus program Clamav. It has no pesky restrictions on using if you are a company either making it totally free unlike Avira or AVG which are free for personal use.

Seeing Ghosts?

An artical on the BBC, please note the line which read academics say the findings do not prove a "causal link". Basically this appears to be a quasy science study which the BBC has picked as News. To me this is a great example of the junk science as highlighted on the excellent Number Watch

Up and Down and Back Again

its been a busy week, adjusting to being back at work was tough. There has been a lot to get on top of, plus I have been helping Nick with a few things trying to get a new website up and running. That included meeting a contact of his to discuss some details. We met in a bar in the centre of Altringham on a Thursday night. The whole place was empty apart from ourselves and another couple of guys who came in afterwards. Afterwards as we walked to the car I noted that the restaurants were empty, is it a sign people are cutting back or just an ordinary January slowdown? On another note the giving up beer for January has been going well so far. I managed not to drink that night so it makes three visits to the pub and the strongest thing I have drunken is spicy tomato juice.

Wednesday Night Bruce and myself went to the Legion to book a lan party for the 24th of January. Its been a long while since the last one, with Bruce getting ready for his wedding and me spending time on the house I haven't been able to organise anything. However we decided it was time so we are going to do our best to put something on.

I had the day off on Friday so I went to visit Kasia, we spent the afternoon together in York. I was really nice just being together enjoying each others company, walking along the river. I was cold but felt very alive and happy. She was working Saturday so I drove home early morning and started on the house.

As usual for this time on a Sunday I am tired, covered in dust and my hands are scratched. Once again I have spent the majority of the weekend at my house. As usual it started off as a simple, oh such a simple job. Simply run a length of telephone cable from the Cable box to the living room where the master phone socket will live.
I started on by running the cable into the garage then I had to run it around the the room all the way to the other side. Unfortunately in order to do so I had to dismantle the first bit of wiring I put in as part of the process, then next problem was that the weather sensor wiring was in the way and had to be disconnected and reroute. This meant on a day where the temperature was -1C at 10am I was sat outside asking the sensor apart. I couldn't feel my fingers by the end.
So I spent Saturday taking things apart, and Sunday putting it back together again.

Lightbulbs

Being an ecologically minded fellow I bought some energy saving lightbulbs. This time the 20 watts variety, the normal ones seem to be about 11watts and just arn't bright enough. The 20's are better but they still take 2-3 minutes to warm up to full brightness, and 20 watts is only one fifth of a standard 100 watt bulb so it costs the same to run for 5 hours that a standard bulb does for one hour. They should therefore save me some electricity and reduce the old carbon footprint.

Flume

Time for blogging has been pretty thin on the ground recently I had a pretty awesome Christmas in the Alps then a wonderful New Years with Andy and Emily in Manchester. I thought I would summarise what I have been up to in the last couple of weeks.

I went skiing to Val D'Isere in France. It was really beautiful there, the snow was near perfect, the week before we arrived nearly 2 meters of fresh power arrived. We arrived and enjoyed had 4 days of glorious sunshine, the pistes were near perfect. I skiied a lot, drank a lot and enjoyed myself for a week.

I had met up with Kasia before Christmas and we have decided to have another try as we still like each other. I went to visit her in York last Monday we had an outing to Ikea I have never seen a place so so busy queues to get in and out so bad the Police were drafted in to direct traffic. We managed to finally get in and wondered around Ikea, then Habitat. I saw a few nice things but nothing that really screamed out. I still have quiet a bit to do too before I get any furniture. It was really enjoyable spending time with her again I hope that we can do so more often.

On Wednesday I took my Mum to B&Q to take advantage of the 10% overs 60s discount and use some vouchers I had received as presents. I bought some wallpaper and decorating sundries to make a start on the lounge. Now Nick has put in the woodwork and boxes in the pipes it looks a lot more houselike. I think I will feel a lot happier when I start to see rooms taking shape.

For New year Phil, Andy, Emily and her friend Laura went to watch the fireworks in Exchange Square. We played Wii for a bit then went to Polar bar. It was a sort of tent set up near to Urbis, they did a really nice range of hot drinks. I had a whisky toddy, the others had hot chocolate with vodka or Cointreau. It was -2 at least outside, I had my ski jacket to keep me warm but amazingly some of the women were walking around without even a coat, and bear legs, crazy!

The fireworks were a little disappointing, Andy was telling me that the council refused to put up any money so they were paid for by the owners of the big wheel.

I looked at myself in the mirror today, I have put on weight, quiet a bit in fact, I have a streaming cold and I felt horrible. I have decided to try and leave off beer for a while I'll try for the whole of January, in fact I might do a Bridget Jones style counter. I also want to get a move on trying to get the house in order so I can move in.

Still going

Still going
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

Val D'isere Arrival

Saturday morning I arrived at the Airport in Phil's Mondeo, my dad drove us borrowing as my Focus is too small for the task. We had to get there early, about 5am. We anticipated that the queues would be as bad as last year with queues round the block.

Despite the spare queues the flight was delayed on the tarmack for an hour as our slot was missed. I barley noticed falling rapidly asleep, waking up somewhere over France to a rather disgusting breakfast I was very glad I ate at the airport, in spite of the ruinous prices. I forgot about the food soon enough though, I had a window seat from which I was able to see the winter wonderland exposed below. I could see the snow was awesome. Not so awesome though was the layer of fog covering the valley in which apparently Chambery airport lived. As the aeroplane dropped into the fog on the landing approach I honestly struggled to see the tip of the wing, no idea what the Pilot could see! The landing was aborted but instead of diverting to another airport the pilot (who sounded quiet pleased to have some diversion to his routine) said we would follow a holding pattern burn off some fuel and therefore weight meaning we could go in lower before needing to about. After another 45-50 minutes circling the fog had lifted a little and we were lighter so in we went. Once we got below a certain level the fog was clear and we were able to land. As the runway approached people started to clap, they stopped pretty quickly as the plane hit the deck and started to slide. We were the only aircraft to land that day so the runway was a little icy and the plain skidded a little. My philosophy is "any one you can walk away from" is a good landing. The airport itself was pretty small and chocking with people trying to get home. Fortunately that didn't bother us :)

It took a couple of hours on a coach some of which we travelled alone in our own private coach, because of the delays. We were the first people in the Chalet Joined later by a many others, in total 14 though not everyone made it on the first day. The evening conversation hardly boded well for the week. Phil and I made friend with a nice couple from Essex though and found that the nearest bar was also one of the cheapest :)

Skiing is fun :)

 

Lithium

I spent most of the weekend suffering from a bad cold (yes the dreaded man flu), I even missed Sandbox's Christmas gig. I was really gutted not to miss it but I felt terrible basically laid in be d with a fever.

A light in the darkness was that Phil invited me on another skiing trip this time to Val V'Isere. Which is completely awesome after a bit of scrabbling around to get the holiday I agreed and next Saturday I'll be skiing in one of the best resorts in the world, I cant wait. So great of them to invite me, not sure what I have done to deserve it.

Sunday I was finally feeling a bit better I spent the day surfing the net and catching up with Lost.

In the evening I met up with Nick, we rented a film from Blockbuster. There wasn't a lot of choice so we renter a film called Donkey Punch. It was an awful slasher film, Nick had to leave the room due to the gore. The only good point was there early sounds track especially the remix of The Knife Heartbeat which was simply awesome.

Nick gave me a lift home and just as I got out of the car I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket. It was work, they had a major disaster as somehow all of the system had been lost. Que a frantic night of myself and two of the support guys sat in an empty office trying our best to get something working before everyone turned into work the next day.

Somehow we managed to lash a system together, it worked, despite a few little teething problems. I was surprised what we achieved. By lunch time I had worked for so long and had so little sleep I was making more mistakes than good work so I left.

I went home ate and had a powersnooze. I couldn't sleep for long after which I went for a jog. I called into y house to check out Nicks work, I was quiet impressed a lot of the skirting boards are on and the architraves it starting to look like a house. I got a call from Danny while I was driving. It was a bit of a blast from the past I haven't spoken to the guy in months, he is plotting a night out on the 23rd. It sounded really good unfortunately I'll be in France by then so I had to give it s miss which is a shame as its sure to be a fun evening.

Migrating user Linux accounts

I just had to move some user accounts from server to server. I found this good guide on how to do so.

Lost+

Sunday I woke up late, feeling awful. A mixture of depression and hangover. I headed round to Nicks to discuss a website he would like some help with. He is working with Gilly, they have some really good ideas. We got a lot of ideas down on paper now I just have to turn them into a site.

After that we went round for a buffet at Bruces house, we watched Nina and him open their wedding gifts and saw the main protagonists from the wedding.

I had Monday as holiday so I went to do a little work on my house. It was a frustrating day I only managed to get a couple of sockets in. I have started on the upstairs ring, like downstairs it needs mostly complete replacement.

Back to work today, getting things ready for an early morning upgrade tomorrow. I met Sarah for lunch today, its the first time I have seen her since I found out she was pregnant. She is getting big now but looking radiant, I can't imagine having kids. Buying a house was a huge step for me, one that has become a dominant force in my life, basically starting to change everything about the way I live.. It was a very pleasant lunch time excursion, I had missed our little tête-à-têtes.

I missed Japanese class thanks to a last minute crisis. Now I have a major sore throat, don't really feel up to a 5.30 am start tomorrow. I don't know whether I should continue Japan was such a great country but I find it hard to make time to study and I haven't progressed very far, I am not sure if it is worth continuing, a choice for tomorrow.

If the world

Friday was Martina's birthday. She had arranged a party at her house. Despite it being the day before the big wedding it was a special birthday for her so Phil and I went to see what was going on. I had the day off so I stopped into John Lewis to get a gift and a couple of other bits. I got Martina a mickey mouse mp3 player, in Pink. She had seen it the other day and commented on how cute she thought it was so I decided it would make a nice present. I think that she liked it judging by the reaction when I handed it over.

There was loads of food at the party Neil and his friend were there as was Damian and Etienne and a few others. Phil and I promised to meet Bruce for a drink so we couldn't stay for too long. We went for a drink at the March Hair, it was a relaxed affair just a couple of drinks and a bit of banter.

Yesterday was Bruce's wedding it was a great day. Phil picked me up early before 10, the internet guide on cravat tying didn&39;t really show me what I needed fortunately Philip's mum helped me out. Bruce looked pretty tired when we picked him up. We arrived at the Church before 10.30 in time to meet the florist.

The rest of the guests started rolling after 11.20 and by 12 we were sat waiting for Nina. Bruce was tense starting straight ahead the service was nice the priest ran through the ceremony. You could tell Nina side of the family were the more avid church goers. During the ceremony there was a moment I thought that Bruce was not going to say the all important "I will". He was so nervous the pause was just a little pregnant, fortunately with a little prompting from the priest he continued. The rest of the ceremony went well except for Bruce stepping on Nina dress, nearly sending her for a tumble, and Nina losing her garter, though not many people noticed that.

After the ceremony there were many many photos to be taken. Phils parents hopped it to the bar and left Phil and I to make our own way to the dinner venue. We hitched a ride in the minibus and arrived in time for warm Pimms, certainly helped ot take the edge off cold.

The venues was awesome, between Bruces mum the organisers and Benjamin the place looked awesome. The cake was great, there were photo montages of the bride and groom. Benjamin Bruces cousin had made not only the cakes but also chocolates for everyone.

We did a range of photos outside in the cold before heading in to sit down for lunch. I was pretty strange being sat on the top table everyone watching us eat. At the end it was time for the speeches. Nina's mum gave a really heartfelt piece. Bruce surprised me by giving a really good one he also dropped Phil and I in it by proclaiming our speech would be the best. Actually Phil and I only just about managed to get through it, we only had one copy to share and passing it back and forward just killed the comedy timing. Fortunately it was over quickly and we got a few laughs so it worked out in the end.

The evening do started around 7.30, Martin & Charlotte, Joe & Holly and Nick all turned up. Bruce's massive friend big Matt. Despite all the full he kicked up I was surprised to find that Jono didn't not turn up. There was an evening buffet comprised of hotpot, curry or lasagna.

Phil spent most of the evening do trying to woo the chief bridesmaid Jane. She was enjoying his company but didn't seem to want to take it any further. That did not deter Phil though, nor did the fact that she had a boyfriend whom she kept texting. I must admit that I tried to chat her up a little too though hopefully I've learned where to quit.

Had a catch up with Martin and Charlotte its been ages since I last saw them, I also had a good chat with Jo Holly. In fact it was a nice evening of talking drinking and even a bit of dancing. There was a really cheesy DJ which is exactly what was needed at a wedding. Martin conspired to get a Commodore 64 remix of pumpkin man played. I don't know what the families made of it, certainly cleared out the dance floor.

When I got home I was a little drunk and had many mixed emotions. I was so happy for Bruce and Nina it had been such a wonderful day. Part of me felt so empty though. I read my email before going to bed and wished I hadn't there was a mail from someone who told me they no longer wanted me to talk to them. I know I am an obsessive when it comes to internet relationships I thought this was a good one, I was wrong.

Losing Touch

I had a frustrating day at work seemingly I could do nothing right, perhaps I am distracted. Seems like there is never enough time to act. I feel worn out, tonight I sat and watched iron man which I quiet enjoyed. More than I expected I would.
Phil came around to work on the speech, we have something now though it needs a bit more yet hopefully we can bash something together before the big day not long now.

Prospekt's March

The only really constant thing in life is that things change. It really dosn't matter how hard we try the world is constantly changing even though sometimes sat in the same office day after day it can feel like everything is static. I was reminded how much life changes this evening. It was Bruce's wedding rehearsal. It was very strange to stand in Church listening to the Vicar details the day and vows for Bruce and Nina, surreal even. It was one of those time when I realised I am not so young anymore the world is moving on, time for me to do so too.

Afterwards we were treated to a nice Italian meal at Nina's ex place of work. It was a lovely evening of nice food excitement about the upcoming wedding. One of the bridesmaid Lindsey warned Phil and I not to get Bruce drunk Friday night. Actually they have no need to worry Bruce is just about the straightest guy I know.

I was cold and tired by the time we got home I had a rather disjointed and drunken chat to Martina, its her birthday on Friday, Phil and I are going to her party. Have to take it easy though be ready for Saturday, still have a speech to write...

Punchdrunk Lovesick Singalong

I got home from the gym after work today to find my birthday present from Lulu had arrived. She sent me a Beijing Olympics panda, and goat shaped "chop stamp". Goat because I was born in the year of the goat, its in English and Mandarin, the Chinese sounds a little like Cookie, but apparently means. It is a really nice gift and I was really touched by it.
Something else which arrived was my suit for Bruce's wedding. Unexpectedly it came with a cravat, I had to look up on-line how to tie the damn thing. Had a chat to Phil about the best man speech, we came up with a few ideas hopefully it provide a little light relief to the day.

Poor wire

Poor wire
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

I found this in the ceiling, someone had properly bodged up the other end was connected to the switch so it was live when the light was on. I don't really think elastoplast is a substitute for electrical tape though.

It was another cold day, the fog hadn't lifted as I drove to Neston Way. I planned to have a fairly relaxed morning finishing stripping the living room with the archers for company. Afterwards I paid a long overdue visit to the tip then tried to find a farm which both sold wood and had some in for my parents fire. In the end I only managed to obtain overpriced bags from a local nursery the farms I visited were bare.

I managed to get to the gym, first time in a week, I have been so busy with the house I am so behind, I wanted a big push before Christmas. The only think I have managed to push on with is the house, thought its unlickely that will be finished in terms of moving in by Christmas.

This evening Nina and Bruce invited me round for dinner. Nina made a rather nice Jalfresi curry. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the meal tasted, for my tastes it could have been a little more spicy but I still very much enjoyed it. After the meal we chatted and watched TV. First top gear (Bruce's choice) then strictly come dancing (Nina's choice) then CSI which noone really chose but there wasn't much on. Less than a week until they are married, I still have a speech, or at least 50% of a speech to write.

See Your Sunshine

I got a couple of bits at the house done today. I finally got my outside light working thanks to Jono's drill. I still haven't established why on earth he had a 1meter long drill bit, and I must have looked quiet stupid on a ladder with such a huge drill. Needless to say it made a hole through the external wall. I got called away to help out at the Berger's shop; they had been having an issue sending out emails. It seems BT Connect have introduced limits on the number of emails which can be relayed at once down to 50 recipients.

This evening I went to see Martina, she gave me a spicy food cookery book for my birthday. Should come in very handy when the house is done. We took a drive through the fog to see what the world looked like from the top of Werneth Low. Just before reaching the top of the hill we broke through the fog cover which offered some eerie views of Manchester. Normally most of the city is visible the lights of civilisation shining out. Not tonight, only the Beetham Tower and a few other tall structures were visible rising from the fog sea.

We had a few drinks on the hair and hounds before heading back to Stockport, we sat and watched tv while Neil played with the ferrets. We started to John Carpenters Vampires, which was a really awful film. It was actually so bad I found it hard to follow.

Big Drill

Big Drill
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

Jono had this 1000mm drill bit, I have no idea what he needed it for but it was more than long enough to go through my wall.

Come Alive

The house really started to "Come Alive" today. Nick has finished putting up the plaster board and even started to plaster once of the walls in the kitchen. Most of the channels in the living room have been filled and I have removed the last remnants of the old wallpaper. It started to feel like it could be a house rather than a building site. Thoughts which were only of how to wire and what to rip out next are starting to turn to thoughts around decoration and look and feel of the final design.

To add to the good feelings a man arrived this morning to do a quote for the kitchen. Amusingly given there are bare floors and so forth he arrived in a full suit and tie.
It transpired he was an older chap ex of the air-force. He seemed like a really nice chap, hopefully he will give me a good (read affordable) quote.
This evening I went for a curry at the Sangam III with Bruce and Phil. Only one week to go until Bruce's wedding he seemed surprisingly calm about it all. Have to see what the rehearsal on Wednesday brings.

We had a relativly early one, and I was pottering round my room when Jono arrived about 1pm. Elgan his cat was missing, when he told me it had only been a few hours, I decide it wasn't worth going out looking, I think he just wanted an excuse to go rooting around and get out. He offered to lend me his drill, apparently screw fix gave him a long one, long enough to fix get the wiring to my outside light done with.

Sit and Wonder

This week has flown by, I barely know where the time has gone. Yesterday I was 29, only 365 days before I reach the big three zero, an age I can barely comprehend, yet I seemed to get there at Mach 9.
It was a good birthday, I spent the morning working on the house. Then in the afternoon I got my haircut then went to see my great aunt.
In the evening I arranged to go for a meal. In the end Phil, Bruce, Andy, Emily, and Nick attended. Originally it was going to be a boys night out but so I kind of put Martina off which turned out to be a bit of a stupid move when Andy and Emily responded (albiet at the 11th hour). The venue was Pesto, the Italian Tapas restaurant on Deansgate. Bruce picked Nick and myself up, Phil had offered to but having been delayed in Liverpool decided to meet us down there. We aimed to park and meet up and Andy and Emily's flat at about 8.30pm, we arrived at the car park to find a couple of PSCO's two students and a lot of coloured lights. The PCSO asked us nicely to go and park on the road because there was an art project in process, the lights spelled "sorry" in 1 meter high letters.
It had been since I last saw Andy and Emily so it was nice to catch up. Emily explained about her current project. Apparently on the back of coming top of her class she has been invited to lecture in Portland Oregon in the states, what an honour.
Walking down the cold street of Manchester we headed to Pesto. Some time ago I came with Nick, Emily and Andy; actually originally with a very different group of people before Foo Fighters but that is a very different story. Since which it has become one of the venues of choice for a meal out. The food is Italian style tapas, which actually is extremely varied and tasty. I ate, calamaris, skewered chozio sausage and chicken pieces, spicy tomato and potatoes along with a mixed salad.
After the meal we retire back to Abito for more chat and a few drinks, I had the last (and only beer) everyone else drank tea. Pretty much what I should expect on a school night, still a grat evening. It was a really great evening I appreciated everyone coming out and the many messages I got on Facebook all contributed to making it a really wonderful birthday.

School

Today was a long day, in the morning I braved the rain and cold to go help Jo and Holly in the allotment. I missed the last few sessions and I noticed a real difference since the last time I ventured over, thought like my house what is left seems to dwarf what has been done. I always think there allotment is a weird oasis in shut off from the rest of the neighbourhood. I would never even imagine is was there a few minutes away from Broom Lane. I spent my time digging over one bed 2 hours later I managed to dig over 1/4 of a bed. It was really hard labour after the first hour I was already tiring, I guess I am not used to manual labour. The biggest problem isn't digging through the dirt though, its all the rubbish and crap in the dirt, which makes the digging more difficult. It was rainy and cold a few hours was the most we could stand. After a cup of tea I went back home for lunch they to my house to do some more wiring. I half expected to find Nick there, he told me he would be, I guess his other jobs ran over again. I really need to choose a kitchen this week, difficult though as my budget was consumed having to change cars. I managed with my dads help to get another socket wired in and a few bits done before fatigue took over. I had been planning to go visit Martina afterwards but I felt too tired.
I feel very tired and low tonight, there seems to be an insurmountable oath ahead of me, and I feel very alone to face what is ahead. I guess my birthday and the goings on t the work are all piling up on me. I find it hard to let go, but I need to more, find peace.

The Present

I went out to see body of lies with Nick and Bruce this evening. I spent most of the day at my house wiring wiring, there is so much to do. I have pretty much abandoned plans to move in by Christmas. What with fund dwindling thanks to everything costing more than I budgeted for (with Nicks Help) and having to get a new car. I feel pretty much defeated right now. The film was pretty good, focusing on the destructive nature of lies, and the corruption of belief. Its a scary world we live in. The film was directed by Ridly Scot, and as I arrived home I caught the end of his brother Tony Scots 2001 Spy Game. An interesting contrast from different eras. Personally I preferred the Nihilism of Body of Lies, no body walked away clean.

Being Boring

I had the day off but that failed to stop the phone calls and email, I wish they would leave me alone. Today I worked on an affordability calculator, that is a system that works out how much you can afford to pay. I tried my best however increasingly I feel that is not good enough. Which is of course untrue I try as hard, and I am at least as smart as any of the people I work with, the truth is of course I have failed to find a way to market myself.

A long time ago when I was younger and more impressionable it would be almost unthinkable to be home on a Friday night. When did I make the transition from youthful exuberance to conservative (little c). Phil and I went to the unicorn and I couldn't help thinking how many time have I been here, yet I don't fit in, but what else should I do, go out somewhere? I feel a tired and bored right now, I logged into gmail (sorry google mail) and found that they have introduced backdrops to the email system, I choose a beautiful beach scene to remind me there is more to life than rainy Manchester, middling income and mediocrity.

There are only 368 days left until I am thirty, a very scary age, when you can no longer consider yourself youthful. Yet I still find it strange when people call me a man, because I still think I am young.

Thou Shalt Always Kill

As I came home I heard the De La Soul remix version of Scroobius Pip's Thou Shalt Always Kill, the original is good (see below) but the new version is awesome.

Twisted genius

I saw this on thedailywtf.com it literally made my jaw drop, that someone would actually write such a thing for fun amazed and fascinated me greatly, Kudos!

Seven Nation Army

I've been making a lot of mistakes recently, both in my personal and professional life. A lot of thing have got on top of me to the point where I am a lonely irritable person nobody wants to be around, not even me.
I went to Yoga tonight and for the first time in ages I just tuned out, no house, no worrying about money or stressing about work, it was relaxing but most of all afterwards I had a chance to just thing about everything, dispassionately

Next Tuesday is my birthday, its actually been getting me down, I have this strong urge that I should be successful by now. I realise though I have been putting too much stress on myself and its hampering things, and worse holding me back.

I am going to try and let go some more, allow myself to be happier and start to mend some of the bridges I have been breaking. I am still young enough to recover from mistakes now isn't the time to give up.

New Kitchen light

New Kitchen light
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke

12:44 16 November 2008 16112008266 It is super low energy only 22 watts

In The Dark

Last night went for a few drinks with Nick at the John Millington. It was a nice night, we had a good chat. I felt ropey today thought, it was hard to get a move on I didn't make it to my house until after 11. When I finally arrived despite best efforts I achieved very little really. I got a new kitchen light in place along with replacement wiring. I also drained refilled and added inhibitor to the heating system, the light failed arund4.30 so by 5.30I was packed up and away.
I did try and wire up the outside light only to find my drill bit want long enough, that wast after lifting a very tricky floorboard which ran under the partition wall so I wasn't in the bet of moods.
I had a serious lack of fund this evening so I elected Obama to stay in and watch a film, Phil brought round some and after buying beer I ended up watching Dark Night. Despite best efforts (I went to the cinema twice and failed to see it) I was never saw it at the cinema, much to the chagrin of Paul. I really enjoyed it, much more than I imagined. It seemed to be a clever analyse that people frequently choose the path of least resistance rather than stand up for their beliefs. Its very difficult in such a self obsessed world to do anything for the greater good, perhaps it was ever thus.

Back on track

My monitor finally got repaired; well actually Dell sent a refurbished unit which they swapped for my broken one. Great to have the net at home again.

Today was another bad bad day at work, the customer I work at made another tranche of people redundant, about 1/3 of the workforce so a lot of unhappy people. I cant help feeling slightly responsible as every time I work on a big project the end result seem to be more automation so less people.

This evening I went to a BCS meeting with Bruce. The topic of tonight's meeting was security, organised by the a quango the Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network. I was quiet reviling to hear the governments take on security, there must be a dozen different agencies that before you get to the NGO level. Its no wonder they lose so much god knows how is in charge. Someone form the data protection agency explained the data protection act and then informed us that they basically don't have enough staff (only 3 enforcement officers). At the end of the meeting I felt like I had learned a bit but mostly hat everything is a bit fat mess too many agencies helping not enough people. Bruce got the idea that the remit was too wide.

After the meeting there was a free buffet, and free beer! We chatted to a few people, if I were better a networking I think this was the sort of place to make some contacts. Unfortunately for me I wasn't able to consume all of the free beer as Bruce had been to Gloucester so was tired and as he was giving me a lift back it was time to go. I did manage to get a free 1gb USB memory stick so that was an extra bonus.

I Stand Corrected

I woke up this morning and attempted to grab my email, unfortunately my monitor decided to throw a spanner in the works. Pushing the power button did not in fact lead to the normal illumination and display, it did absolutely nothing. After several frustrating minutes I gave up and tried looking on the Dell website to find out if it were under warranty. Everywhere on the site you are asked for a service tag yet none of the numbers on the monitor fitted the bill. My frustration level now boiling over to anger I gave up and asked my dad to ring Dell and see what they would do while I went out to work. He found out two things firstly Dell monitors do not in fact have service tags a fact which annoys both users and the support people alike. The second thing he found fortunately the warranty is four year so a replacement will be sent out in the next few days. i guess I will be using my old laptop until then. This i great news as I really don not have the money to get a replacement right now.

I had a second good piece of news the missing piece for my boiler control arrived, it cost a fortune for a connector but it I fitted it and the weather compensator does in fact work, reading the external temperature which as I left my house at 9 was 5c, pretty cool.

I met up with Phil for a quick fix of Congleton Aikido's website after which we headed to the unicorn for a pint. It was really dead I think there may have been more staff than customers, November is always a quiet time as people save for Christmas even so it looks like the credit crunch is in effect.

How Soon Is Now?

I have been working hard on my house. Well I say hard by my level of work not so hard as Nick. I find it difficult to understand where he gets his energy from. I think that it is taking its toll though, he looked very tired on Saturday night.

Saturday, Bruce helped me put in my speaker cable I am inserting it into the walls I an effort to hide cables. Before heading to the house however I went to pick up a car. I am know the registered keeper of a T reg Ford Focus 1.8 LX. It might be 9 years old but its only done 55,000 miles and drives really well, and I can just about afford it! I am galled by the fact that I spent more trying and failing to keep the Saab on the road than it cost I wish I had stuck to my guns and scrapped it the day it first went wrong. Hindsight is 20/20 though and I wasn't to know that a team of mechanics couldn't repair a car, two lessons learned; Find out the value of the object to be fixed before repairing perhaps a replacement is cheaper, make sure the people effecting the repair have some experience and aren't simply going to waste time and money trying their best.

Ian came to visit while Bruce and I were at it, the last time he had seen the place there were a gang of Poles smashing the floor so I think he was impressed at the work. He was telling me about Dans' new place in Altrincham, apparently he is doing a bit of DIY too, I think we all must be getting old!

We arranged to head to the comedy night at the legion after finishing up, Nick and Phil would also be coming. It was pretty much the worst comedy I have ever been to, only one of the three comedians were funny. I felt most sorry for Ian it was the first time he had been, and after all the funny people I have seen there such a shame it was bad. We made the best of a bad job with a few more drinks on Bramhall. Jono and his girlfriend Nona turned up too, he was on good form.

I got really depressed today, first I had to do a pile of paperwork which has a lot of depressing red ink. Next I headed to the house to do some more wiring. I was chiselling out some brickwork because the plaster wasn't deep enough to flush fit a back box, I turned round and looked at my living room. It looks like it has been through a battle missing plaster, channels chiselled out and wires poking out from the new runs, there is still so much to do. On the plus side I dropped the last cable which when its all connected together will form the closing loop of the downstairs ring main, that along with the kitchen is now wired it just needs finishing after the plaster work is finished.

I Never Came

Last night was Guy Fawkes night, and in the glorious tradition of celebrating failure Nick and I went to the legion so we could watch the fireworks at Woodford bonfire for free. I usually pay the entrance fee but at the moment I am seriously poor. The display was really fun, I love fireworks they remind me of being a kid and let me turn turn off and watch the pretty colours for a while.

Nick looked tired he has been ill with the flu recently, so he went home early and I met Phil for a couple of drinks in the Rectory after he finished Aikido. We tried to start working out what to sat at Bruce's wedding but have thus far only come up with vague ideas. As he came directly from Aikido class Phil was hungry at closing time he grabbed some take away from the Jamin. There was a really odd guy in there trying to muscle in on our conversation very strange. He caught one offhand comment and I felt like it was easier just to nod and smile than provoke him.

I have a couple of days off to work on my house so today I set about the wiring. Before I headed to my house though I went to Jacksons to look at a car they got in as a part ex. Its a 1999 T reg Focus 1.8 LX, not exactly inspiring but it drives and finances are tight so I have to go for cheap and cherful rather than fun right now. Having to get lifts really does suck, especially in a public transport deprived area like Woodford. In order to finance it I have applied to borrow some money via Zopa
Once I got to my place my dada and I set to work finishing cabling the kitchen. The wiring has proved to be a much bigger job than I expected. Everything just takes so long the hours just seem to melt away. We did quiet a god job today though almost putting all of the cabling in place tomorrow I should be able to let Nick start plastering it up.

This evening I met up with Martina, she was really upset by her uni course, I got the gist that her independent spirit was having difficulty accepting learning handed down by wrote. I know how she feels sometimes it hard to swallow what people are saying however not every battle is worth fighting.

Geraldine

With no car I am at the mercy of parents, friends and public transport, not a good place to find oneself. Fortunately Phil offered to help me out

Spending 3 hours waiting in Screwfix is somewhat a frustrating way to waste away a Saturday. Phil offered to help me with the house, I was short some supplies so we took a ride to there. I picked up some smoke alarms, cable back boxes and speaker wire.

By the time we ended up managing to put only one cable in, it took well over an hour and required channelling out part of the wall, and running across the width of the house.

In the evening Phil Nick and I watched 21, a film about playing blackjack in Vegas and beating the system. I quiet enjoyed it, though I felt really weary and was glad to get home.

I have spent over £200 this weekend alone I still can't live in the place yet I still need to sort my kitchen out along with the rest of the electrics flooring and décor still a way to go yet. I am sure I will be happier when its a home not just a place to work on.

Live The Dream

I met Paul for lunch, he was up for a long weekend to visit all his northern friends. We had a reasonable lunch at the Swan talking about life the universe and eveyrthing else. It was a good diversion from work for me. Paul seemed in a good mood excited about his new pad and upcoming trip to Australia, I wish I were going.

I left work Friday night with the plan of going to the cinema to see the Freshly released James Bond a Quantum of Solace. I am carless again due to mine once again failing so my dad was supposed to pick me up after work. I say supposed because he didn't in actuality arrive, nor was he answering his phone. I ended up walking home carrying my laptop in the cold, I was in a pretty damn freezing by the time I got home, it took an hour an ten minutes.

I had no idea where my parents were and as I had planned to use their car to get to and from the cinema I was a little stressed out. I think that the trick or treater's were more scared of the angry man at the door who didn't have any sweets.

Against the advice of GMPTE journey planner I decided that the best way to Stockport was to get the 157 bust to Cheadle Hulme then take the train to Stockport. Waiting at the station I was surrounded by people in Halloween costumes. It was quiet surreal to be stood between a witch and thre guys dressed as Droogs.

I got to Stockport early, and was so hungry I broke a 5 year long drought and ate at McDonalds. I really wished at that point I had joined Martina and Annika in Rusholme for curry, but I wouldn't have made it in time to eat. As it was they were on the last minute arriving just before 10 when the film started at 9.40 (officially anyway we missed the trailers big wow).

During the wait for Martina and Annika I sat in the cafe bar of the cinema surrounded by school age children feeling very lonely and slightly out of place.

I was glad to get in the cinema, Bond didn't disappoint, action action action. What a joy it was like being 7 years old again. Directly following on from Casino Royal Bond follows Vespa's killers like a vengeful hound dog killing pretty much everyone in his path. Got to be one of the fewest women bedded, but some of the darkest and most action packed scenes; though nothing to rival the opening Parkour of Casino Royal.

I finally got hold of my parnets after the film, they had taken my grandma out for a trip which they thought was for a few hours and turned out to be a day night affair. I think my dad felt sorry for making me walk home so saved me a taxi fare and collected me from Stockport.

Satellites Lost

Today was not a good day, I pulled out of my drive only for my car to cut out 5 meters down the road, it is still sat there now. Work was really difficult, every day I see a little bit more of my hard work go to waste as we are edged out by the competition. I really wish there was something I could do about it, unfortunately no amount of my hard work helps. I feel pretty sad about it all tonight really, like my hard work is unappreciated and I don't have very much to show for my efforts. I know that isn't strictly true, I have a nice house it just needs some work, and I still have a job at a time when lot of people have lost theirs, so I should be thankful, when lots of things go wrong it isn't always easy to see that though.

Bruces stag do

Yesterday was Bruces' stag do, in two months he will be married. In the morning we went to Upper Tean for paint balling action. There was myself, Bruce, Phil, Steven, Jo Berger, and Bruces' cousins Benjamin and Nicholas.

The painball was a fun outdoor thing, getting shot hurt a bit, though not too badly unless you get hit in softer areas, like my neck and thighs. There were a number of games, attack and defend, team deathmatch, capture the flag. A bit like quake really only with less gore and more pain. The worse game for Bruce Phil and I was hunt the stag which involved the three of us running and being shot at but everyone, while we were unarmed.

After paintball we went for a meal at the March Hair, I had the swordfish steak it was very tasty. Then caught a taxi into Manchester to the Frog and Bucket for some more drinks and comedy. They levied a £10 behaviour bond on us as we were a groud opf guys. Phil did his best to lose it for us by talking during the act. We managed to collect it at the end though. Really enjoyed the comedy some good acts and a much friendlier place than the comedy store. Nick joined us for the comedy and drinks afterwards.

Benjamin turned out to be somewhat the wheeler dealer, he got on very well with Nick. Apparently he is not only buying a bakery but has managed to secure grants to renovate and offer subsidised Welsh produce (he lives in Anglesey).

After the comedy we went for drinks, for some reason opting to walk across Manchester to Deansgate Locks. It was raining and I was soaked and lost my contacts on the way so once their proceeded to drink myself into a stupor while Bruce was force fed cocktails. Everything was a blur, not just because of the alcohol minus contacts I could barely see more then a few feet in clarity.

The only weird thing I remember was on leaving some unknown girl got into one of the Taxies, apparently Phil was trying to chat her up, he didn't get very far though according to Benj.

I really felt in pain the next day. Waking up to a very terrible hangover, I spent the morning in pain. Even more pain when I found out one of my servers had failed. It took me hours to rectify the problem that should have taken minutes had I been a little more compus mentus.

In the evening Phil and I watched Adulthood, which proved to be a pretty good English film about a guy getting out of Jail of 6 years and finding himself dragged directly back into the shadowy world he had vowed to get away from.

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Yikes!

Phil just sent me a very scary link I remember seeing lots of these spiders all over Northern Eastern Australia, in Noosa and on Fraser Island. I did also read recently that the UK is being invaded by foreign spiders, due to the milder winters. I am a terrible arachnophobe so this is al bad news for me.

I just got back from the pub too, after pulling a late one trying to get something's set up for a demo I thought I deserved a drink, so I was glad when Bruce called and we headed to the unicorn. It was amazingly quiet considering it was a quizz night in there. We chatted, bitched about work then came home. I got a reply in my continuing boiler saga, which actually made me laugh out loud. The guy in question sent me some photos to highlight where he thinks I should connect to and I can actually see the part I need in the corner of the photograph :D

Hoppípolla

It is Sunday evening, tomorrow I am back at work. The weekend has disappeared in a flash, it started straight after work on Friday. Some people from work and I went to try out the new bar in Wilmslow. Revolution have opened up where the old Samuel Finny was. The new bar is ultra modern, mirrors everywhere. It looks great, though it seems very high maintenance not sure how long they will keep it looking good, they will need to work to keep it looking tiptop. Given the prices though I think can do it.

I left for home after a drink, caught up with Phil and Nick headed to the John Millington. It wasn't the right vibe though so we moved to the Governors house. It was more our age though still he wrong side on the male to female ratio.

Saturday, I met Nick to go on a shopping spree of bits for the house. We went to three places to buy cable, plaster board a door frame. Nick was brilliant, one place we went to asked for £26 for a door carcass, he questioned it straight away, they guy swore blind that was the normal price. After a bit of back and forth it transpired that his normal branch sold the same item cheaper, sigh Cheshire taxes I suppose.

While we were out shopping Martina texted me that she fancied coming over. By the time we finished for lunch she waiting at my parents. My dad made use all sandwiches after which we headed to my house. She was really great and stripped upstairs while Nick and I worked, thought I did have to do the clear up afterwards.

I fitted a new timer I bought from ebay to my boiler, it has an external sensor which measures the external temperature and it suppose to moderate the boiler thus making it more energy efficient. I have spent a lot of time making the place energy efficient both in an attempt to save money in the long run and to help reduce the dreaded carbon footprint. Unfortunately it all went a bit pear shaped as there was a connector missing so I put everything in place but I couldn't actually connect it to the boiler, slightly useless.

Saturday evening Nick, Phil Gilly and I went for a few drinks in Bramhall. Starting in what used to be Gray's. It seems very much more an eatery than a place to drink these days. Next we thought we would try out the New Bubble Room. We were all dressed reasonably smartly, shoes not trainers, shirts not T-Shirts, so were slightly surprised to be told we needed a reservation to use the Bar. The place did not exactly look full, so we were incensed at their attitude. We went to Beluga, which has a strikingly better male female ratio. A few gin and tonics and some good conversation later, Nick invited over some girls and the night ebbed out into a drunken but pleasant haze.

I felt rather less than pleasant this morning though, I did managed to get back to the house for yet more rewiring. I have now lifted floorboards in all the bedrooms, I had to demolish the old airing cupboard to get under the floor as helpfully someone in the pas put a floor on top of the floor. Fortunately I still had Bruce's circular saw and Nick lent me his wreaking bar, it is my new favourite toy :)

We finished late and I felt so tired this evening I read a chapter of two of my book and now its time for bed.

It's My Own Cheating Heart That Makes Me Cry

I spent last weekend lagging my pipes and doing more wiring. I think I have reached the point where I am a little overwhelmed with the task I just have to battle on to try and get it finished.
I also caused a gas leak, at least both I and Bruce thought I had, however when the plumber arrived on Thursday he proved everything was ok by first doing a leak test then using a blow torch to heat up the joints and ignite any leaking gas, there wasn't anything to ignite though. I felt rather stupid indeed, in my defence Bruce and I were both convinced we could smell something.
I have had some pretty dark moments this week in many ways I feel that I am stagnating despite the positive step of finally getting onto the property ladder, the amount of work I worry that my career isn't going anywhere. I suppose in the current climate I should be grateful that I have a career at all.
It has been a strange week for old contacts, firstly there was the incredibly sad news from M&Al. There text messages have left me scarily numb and unable even to form a reply, I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like for them. I also got a message from an old school mate and a text phone call from Paul's ex Lisa. Lisa made me jealous talking abut Melbourne, I wondered out loud what I am doing sill in the UK?

Not much to believe in

It seems like weeks whiz past in the blink of an eye. This week certainly disappeared quickly before I realised Friday was upon me.
I was invited to an team meal with the customer which was nice. We ate at a restaurant in Manchester called Bacchanalia. I had at calamaris starter followed by Chicken wrapped in parma ham. It was really enjoyable food, thought watching Gordon tuck into his stake must say I felt a bit envious.
After the meal we went to Norwegian Blue, and underground bar. I drank a couple of beers and started to feel quiet tipsy. Next stop was the Bar and grill, then onto Mojo. A few more drinks and I was feeling very drunk. They went off to the casino, I didn't fancy it so I caught the bus to Parrs Wood and in an effort to save some money decided to walk from there. An hour later I sobered up, my feet hurt and I had only reached Cheadle Hulme, all in it took the best part of two hours to get home.

I cant believe I started writing this post so long ago, I really finding it hard to balance my life at the moment.

Nerver miss a beat

I just have to say I really like the Kaiser Chiefs song, the title of which I've lifted for today's blog. It reminds me so much of high school, the apathy trying to fit in and thinking people were really cool, to cool for school even.
Today was a bit of a blur at work, I felt tired to start with and after being harassed I felt rather frazzled. My mood wasn't improved when I got to the gym to find I left my shorts at home, oops.
I went home had dinner and headed to my house, spent an while stripping some wall paper. I find stripping so dull and frustrating I can only managed to do small chunks at a time. To be honest I felt pretty frustrated the last few times I have gone to do work, everything take so long and there is still so much to do. I have to keep reminding myself of all the work that has been done on the floor, the heating and wiring. Eventually it will be a home rather than just a drain on my time/money/sanity.