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.