Turn It Up

I went to the gym for a swim this evening. I had a secondary motive, while there yesterday I managed to leave my ipod. The battery died while I was working out and not having any pockets I put it into the drinks holder. Unfortunately I forgot it, and in all honesty didn't expect to see it again. I was pleasantly surprised when the girl on reception handed it to me; I guess I should have some faith in human nature afterall.

I saw Martin and Martin at the gym yesterday working out. Its kind of the only place I see them these days, there and the lan. Strange really I used to see a lot of Martin but these days I hardly know him at all. Weird how people move in and out of your life, not so long ago I thought that Kasia was my future, then that fell apart, then I met Kath and she changed everything. For the first time there was someone who supported me, and somehow we seem better together than apart, and even though the distance between  us is great we couldn't be closer in spirit.

Obstacle 1

Three not worthy events already today, firstly last night I helped Paul put the new wordpress based version of his website live. I set him up with wordpress so he could have more control over publishing the website content and so far he seems very happy. I have helped out with a few tweaks to get him up and running. I really like what he has done, feels a lot more like a his own site now.

Secondly the new iphone has finally been officially announced, should arrive here June 24th. Apple have simultaneously been able to made it thinner, faster, improve the screen and battery life and keep it looking fresh. The new screen look incredible giving over 300dpi it will be difficult to see the pixels! Awesome, I must have one!

Finally and not important for the same reasons, I got a phone call from MBNA to ask if I had made a credit card application. I haven't, so that means some fraudster decided to use my details. Not very nice to be used in that way.

Radar detector

The heat meant it was hard to sleep, then the cat decided to join us. So after the lack of sleep we decided to have a lazy morning.

We made a lovely breakfast of croissants and strawberry's with yoghurt; it looked so tasty spread out on the table that Kath took a photography and posted it to her Facebook. It was very tasty :)

After relaxing and playing with Cocoa we went out to Wilmslow garden centre and bought my mum a hanging basket. Unfortunately she was out when we popped into my parents, so I hung it out the back ready for her return. My dad was working on my old room, he is going to turn it into a home office.

Bruce was hosting a BBQ in the evening, picking up Phil on route we headed round. It had been a glorious day, but the evening started to cloud over. Mercifully the rain held off until after we had finished. As usual with a Bruce bbq there was plenty of food, Nina had made a salad and a birthday cake for Bruce. Stephen was in attendance too, Lindsey and Trevor didn't make it as she had bad hay fever.

Bruce lit up, the coals he bought from Costco burned incredibly powerfully, so powerfully in fact that the wooden side table on the BBQ split! I burned the first wave of food to a crisp not able to find a cooler place on the grill. I was more successful with the other meat, the lamb kebabs, chicken and second round of sausages turning out really well.

After the burgers assorted meats it was time for the cake. Nina had made a lovely coffee cake, it was really tasty. Then the rain started to come down so we hot footed it inside to shelter and have a coffee before heading home.

Kath and I had a sit on the sofa to aid digestion and spend the final few hours together before I had to drive her to the airport and back to Poland again. It has been an amazing weekend as awesome the time we spend together is so special.

Atlas

I managed to persuade Kath to come  and help me do some shopping. I needed to get some summer clothes and I am no good at shopping. We went to John Lewis as I had a voucher to use up. I ended up getting some light trousers, some casual shorts and a nice new shirt. Shopping is much more palatable when done with Kath.

After our adventures shopping we got back to our house and eat a chicken salad. Kath had prepared, it was really tasty with mushrooms, pepper, and rocket.

The plan for the evening was to go to the Stockport beer festival as part of Phil and Bruces' 30th birthday celebations. Kath and I took the train to Stockport narrowly avoiding a downpour as we walked into Edgely park the heavens opened. Phil and Caroline arrived a few minutes afterwards their brolly dripping.  We met up by the entrance grabbed a couple of beers then went out to the stand. Sitting chatting and drinking. I bought myself and Kath half pint glasses so we could enjoy as many different beers.

Phil was sporting a very nice new jacket his mum and sister got for him. I had got him a case of Hahn premium an Australian beer we loved while out in Australia.  According to Beers of Europe they no longer export it and I bought one of the last batch they have. Caroline had also bought Phil an Australian themed basket of goods (including Bundaberg ginger beer, and Timtams) so he can have a real Australian themed evening.

I tried a variety of different beers from the oddly tasty espresso beer to Ginger Tom, some were good some were bad not many were memorable. It was a really enjoyable evening though sat outside drinking and chatting. Joe and Holly turned up as did a few of their friends who I know from the lan bash.

Toward the end of the evening while I was buying a drink Kath got caught by a group of guys. There was a Polish labourer and an English guy who by all accounts was married to a Pole. He wanted to practise his Polish the Polish guy couldn't believe Kath had come to the UK for me.

The beer festival wound up at 11, good think really most of the kegs were running dry. To finish the evening we headed to the Kantipur for a curry. I had the spicy ginger, it was as usual very good. The garlic narn was a little too garlic for my liking though being covered with shards of garlic.

Crazy People

It seems that the idiom that the average Englishman is one rant away from rage. I got back to my car after doing some shopping at Sainsburys Cheadle Hulme.

I was inside the lines of the parking box, it was actually the other car who was right upto the edge. I had no issue getting out of the car;but given the high fat content of the shopping. Which included burgers, rolls ice cream I am guessing that the author was pretty fat.

Common People

I picked Kath up from Doncaster airport at 7.45 yesterday. I took me nearly two hours to get there as I got stuck behind a truck, I kinda wish that the M67 went where it was suppose to go.
We were hungry and as Doncaster is essentially an industrial park with some houses attached; we decided to take an impromptu trip to Sheffield.
I stopped at one of the many park and ride places Nunnery Square and paid £4 to park and for the tram ticket. Once on the tram I found that the ticket didn't cover Kath so it was another £1.40 each way for her. Next time I would recommend parking in one of the many city centre car parks because to me the park and ride represented very poor value for a day trip.
Once in Sheffield centre though the picture started to get more rosy. They have extensively gentrified the centre. We had a wonder round, enjoyed a coffee at Cafe Nero. There was an food festival on but it was a little too hot for watching. Instead we walked to the Cathedral had another coffee outside a little cafe, was a beautiful scene under the blue ski next to the Cathedral.
Walking back into the centre went through the winter gardens, have a browse round the galleries inside. I really enjoyed the digital art exhibition, Kath liked the collection of knifes and implements made in Sheffield over time.
We had lunch al fresco in the centre at Ha Ha bar and grill. I have a fish, Kath had a chicken burger, at £6 it was very good value.
 We drove home over the snake pass, on such a summer day the views were stunning.
My parents treated us to dinner, there was a early diner promotion on at the La Quila. It has been a few years since we have been there, it used to be a popular vibrant place, but this evening there were hardly anybody in. The offer were poppadoms, a choice of starters, and a choice of any standard curry for £8.99. the starters were a choice of either sheek kebab, samosa, onion bargy or shami kebab. I tried the shami kebab is was very tasty. For the main curry Kath and I had a lamb madrass, my parents both had chicken jalfresi.
The madrass sauce was tasty and hot, but the lamb was rather fatty and chewy. I would have been upset to pay full price, certainly I feel the place has gone downhill a lot.
After the meal my parents went home and Kath and I sat outside in the garden enjoying the warm evening, drink a beer, was a great day together.

Homeopathy; what's the harm?

Quite a lot by the looks of it. I intensely stand pseudo science "alternative solutions". Generally I find them an alternative to commend sense and logic.

Wish I stayed

Dropped off Kath at the airport this morning. It is always so difficult to say goodbye.

She arrived on Friday, I picked her up at 7.30am from the airport. We headed straight for my house so Kath could meet Cocoa. Fortunately they got on really well together. Kath was enchanted with Cocoa, describing the was she walked around the house as enchanting and elegant.

We went to Waitrose to get in some shopping, I was planning to make a nice meal for us. Initially I found a recipe for Spaghetti with hot-smoked salmon, rocket & capers. However while shopping we decided to make a few changes, adding bacon and prawn and substituting the spaghetti for linguine. I served it with garlic bread and an Italian style tomato, mozzarella salad drizzled with Olive oil. We also had a bottle of Boschendal Shiraz, it was very tasty.

After the meal we relaxed on the sofa and watched An Education. It was an reasonable film, about a young girl in the 1960 who ambitions to goto Oxford are nearly dashed. It was well acted and written upto the ending seemed a little hurried and open.

Kath and I went for a wonder around Wilmslow in the afternoon. Popping into a few shops enjoying the sunshine. We had a coffee and a sandwich in Cafe Nero, was very tasty. We also took a stop into Wilmslow garden centre to get a present for Nina. We decide to buy her a Bonsai plant as they looked very pretty. I got myself another Catius to the one Holy bought me company.

Last night we headed out for a meal with Nina, Bruce, Phil and Caroline; To celebrate Nina&39;s upcoming birthday on Monday. Nina chose Bellinis in Cheadle. We started off with an a mix of garlic bread, Calamaris rings, ribs, mushrooms. For my main meal I had a steak stuffed with mozzarella and Parma ham with a creamy sauce. It was very taste, and filling. I would recommend the restaurant for the food, the actual place is a bit cramped and noisy, not somewhere for an intimate dinner but great for a party with friends like this was excellent.

Worlds apart

Compare the devastation that Nazi Germany caused to the UK and Europe compared to what the Japanese managed against mainland America.

How many hungry weasels could your body feed?

Created by Oatmeal

Pretty little ditty

I am sat watching the leaders debate with my new pet. On Friday I got a call from my mum, it went along the lines of, "you want a cat to keep you company don't you". Just under a week later and I now live with Coco, a long haired Persian cat. She is actually a really nice kitty, she follows me around the house sitting next to me while I watch TV. Sometimes she even sits on my lap while I use my computer. He previous owners had several cats and they didn't get along with Coco. She prefers to be the only cat, so now she lives here with me. I think I have seen more of my mum in the last few days than since I moved out, she likes to come round to pet the kitty.

Not only do I have a new cat but I also started restocking my fish tank. I got a shoal of Zebra Danio a small hardy fish that should help get the tank started off. I am planning to have quite a lot of small colourful fish. I wanted to get some Neons and Tetras but they prefer a mature tank, so I need to build up to them slowly.

Tomorrow I am off to Poland to see Kath I cant wait to see her again.

I hate Steam :@

It was the lan yesterday, and I had decided that it would be nice to play Modern Warfare 2. As I am pretty cheap I saw a copy on Amazon marketplace £15 cheaper than brand new so I thought why not. I have bought games in the past once they are installed who cares if it was new or not.

However once again steam ruined things for me. Steam is an on-line game delivery service and it seems the distributors Activision choose Steam as the security mechanism. Steam requires the internet to work correctly, which causes problem at the lans were we don't have an internet connection. It used to be insurmountable but as internet dongles become more prevalent there are ways around it.

On installing the game I was asked to enter the code I did so, it was rejected as a duplicate. OK I thought well there must be a reset process, so I looked it up. I had to send the invoice and a scan of the code (printed on the manual) with my Steam ID written above. I did all this only to be told by steam they did not support used games suppliers. So in a stroke steam have killed the used game market, at least for steam game, nice.

Fortunately after contacting the Amazon seller I managed to get a refund.

Dinner WIth Becky

Wednesday night Becky invited my round to her completed house to have a peek and eat some dinner.

I walked round, as my dad has borrowed my car due to having managed to get a contracting job.

I walked the quickest route which took me from the suburbia of Handforth through the rather incongruous for Wilmslow council estate. Emerging back to suburbia with the gated community of the Villas.

Her house is a small mews set on The Villas estate, I never realised how far back the state went and I was ready for something to eat by the time I made it there. I had a good luck round, she had decorated it in her own style, extravagant. I was most taken by the bedroom with its mirrored furniture. Overall a nice tidy place, I think it suits her well

She made a dinner of Thai curry and fragrant rice, it was very tasty. We had a long chat afterwards it was all very sociable and relaxing.

I walked home this time around the main road avoiding the Colshaw estate.

Caller ID

I just got a call on my mobile phone, I looked at the caller, and hit the ring silently option so it would go to voicemail. Reminded me how much we take changes in technology for granted. I was already thinking about this as last night I watched Electric dreams. Basically a family lived a decade in a week having to live as people would in the 80s. They were given similar technology. Was funny to see the son playing with a BBC Mirco typing in code, reminded me of my youth.

Ten years ago I didn't have a mobile phone, ten years before that my parents had an old rotary dial phone funny how things change, would never have imagined being able to see who was calling me.

Also curious is the fact its a glorious day outside but all flights in the UK are grounded because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

8-Bit Trip

Swedish band, Rymdreglage, spent more than 1,500 hours moving Lego bricks for its third music video, 8-Bit Trip. This hypnotic video is a beautiful homage to old-school C64 games and 8-bit music.

The Bucket

I spoke to Kath on the phone last night, I was nearly falling asleep but it was great to hear her voice. I really miss her already, its going to be a long few weeks before I visit her in Poland.
Apparently we will meet up with her friends and either go looking at the sights of Warsaw or head off on her friends Mike's sail boat, either sounds nice I can hardly wait.

After I hung up I went to finish the washing up and I saw a fox idly walking through my neighbours garden, basking in the star light. I stepped outside to take a peek. It didn't run away at first but lingered on the driveway. Pretty surreal moment.

StarCraft 2 Beta Breakup

StarCraft 2 Beta Breakup

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Just arrived home after dropping Kath off at the airport, the house already seems empty. I sat down to write this blog only to be interrupted by a spider which decided to climb on me. It startled me so much that I dropped my powerbook on the floor, its got a little dent in now, sad times.

Kath arrived on Saturday, I got up at 5.30am so I could meet her at Robin Hood airport in Doncaster.

We took a lazy drive back through the Woodhead pass, even in the weak dawn light it was a beautiful scene. Stopping off to buy a few provisions we headed back to my house, ate breakfast of croissants and coffee.

After such a long absence it was great to be together again, nothing feels better than when I hold her in my arms.

We went shopping in the afternoon, Kath wanted to get something for my mum, so we went to the garden centre.

In the evening I prepared a stir fry which we enjoyed with a bottle of wine. It was a really wonderful evening together.

Greg Rutter's Second Definitive List of The 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced

A wonderful lost of some of the most populat memes and viral content. http://www.youshouldhavealsoseenthis.com/

From Kath

Input Out

I stopped subscribing to the Economist a year ago, a lack of time (and money), meant I wasnt really getting any value out the subscription. Since then every so often they send me a copy of intelligent life, which is a nice magazine, though I would not buy it (unless someone hands me a big pay rise).

There were afew stories which caught my eye, first was the history of news. The permese is we live in a post news age where news escencially propogates across television and the internet, repackages by various sites. Where PR agents and publisists essencially procuce the news news. An example of this is Newsbeat on Radio one which is so short it escencially a few sounsd bites, or single view of news.

I find it all very depressing that we seem to have shrugged off journalism in favor of sensationalism and populism. Everytime I log into my hotmail account I get to see the joys of MSN, view the awful slide shows of the X best / worsed cars / dressed / some other fad.