big things are afoot...

It has been quite a while since I have written of what we have been up to. We have been busy but much of it has been in the planning stages.

Sue
Sue has finally decided that the company she works for are not going to get their act together any time soon so, after many weeks of soul searching, she has handed her notice in. Anyone who knows Sue we understand that she doesn’t like being a quitter. The job has become too much of a burden and it was actually making her sick. Anyway, with the other things that are happening she will find plenty to keep her busy.

Jamie
It was Jamie’s 18th birthday last week, a big deal here in the UK, as important if not more so than a persons 21st. Jamie is not one for big parties or being the centre of attention so he opted for a family dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, and a family barbeque at home on the evening of his actual birthday. He has had his first ‘A’ level exam on Friday and so he has been studying quite hard in the hope he make up his grades to get into the University he wants. This didn’t stop him from accepting an invitation from his cousin to go out for a few drinks on Friday night.

Mark
Things are pretty much the same for me. Work is still just work, though I do have an opportunity to go to one of our companies head offices in California at the end of next month. They are in the process of designing a new software tool to help in the pricing of quotations for one of our product ranges, and as I put together most of these quotes in the UK I have been asked to join the development team for a week. On the creative side I have still been writing my children stories each month for the discussion group I belong to and I have also submitted an end-of-story for the BBC 3 competition. I chose Sue Townsends story to complete…

end-of-story

Holiday, My Folks and Joyce & Terry
Another big thing in the planning has been a family holiday to Italy. As many of you know my Aunt Joyce has been dealing with cancer for some time now. Well, she has had to go back onto chemo and radio therapy treatment as it has returned, so plans for a holiday to their favourite destination of Italy were scheduled around the treatment. We have been on several holidays with them abroad including Italy and we have found that we have very compatible interests – a little bit of culture and a large helping of good food and wine. We had also talked with my folks who were interested in a holiday abroad and wanted to get together with us so we put it all together and we are off to a lovely farm stay in Italy for a week…

Montebello

My folks are also going to see other family and friends while they are over here in the UK.

The House
We have finally had the decorators in to fix the water damaged dinning room ceiling, but the carpet is waiting until we have done some more work on the rest of the house (well, by ‘we’ I mean mostly Sue – she has volunteered to decorate after she leaves work). In fact as I write she is in the bathroom cleaning down the paintwork with sugar soap. We have managed to do some work on the garden at home though again it has mostly been Sue as I spend a great deal of my time down at the allotment.

The Allotment
It is all go at the allotment at the moment, the sunshine and intermittent wet weather are making everything grow, mostly the weeds which take a great deal of time to keep down. We only have a few spaces empty on the plot and for these the small plants are either growing in the greenhouse or on a seed bed.

Music
I haven’t bought any new music for some time now, though I do have quite a few on my Amazon Wish List. I did get the D12 CD for Jamie’s birthday which is a collaboration by Eminem and friends. Sue did find a new group called Keane, they are very much from the same mould as Coldplay – very good background music…

Keane

Just For Fun
I know this is quite old but I don’t know how many of you have seen Bush and Blair sing Gay Bar…

Bush & Blair sing Gay Bar

If you are interested in the Games Workshop table top game called BloodBowl, a friend of mine has found this on-line version…

BloodBowl on-line

Ok. Now I think you are all up to speed with what we have been doing.

the worm within...

Here is a great 'story-blog' site I have just found where people put their own literary creations...

{fray}

The lead story I found and read is the 'Worm Within'. Beware do not read this if you are a of a nervous disposition - it is enough to put you off meat. Make mine Well-Done!

worm within

Whew!!

well, I'll be blogged!

Blogger has been given a face-lift.

I have taken advantage of this to alter the appearance of Virtually Nothing...

What do you think of it so far?

It doesn't change the content though...
...sorry.

The best radio station in the world…

I found KEXP while I was surfing the net looking for something to listen to at work. What attracted me to this station was the variety of music with minimum of interference by the DJ’s and no commercials. As an avid buyer of non-mainstream music I also found the on-line real-time play-list a boon. I can look back and find the name of the track, artist and label of any song I have heard.

Some information about KEXP from their web-site;

Beginning as a tiny 10-watt station back in 1972, KEXP has grown over the years into an innovative, influential cultural force in the Seattle community and beyond

KEXP Public Radio is not an ordinary community-supported station. Offering a rare, unrivalled mix of music that can’t be found anyplace else, KEXP serves listeners in Seattle and around the globe through its online streaming services.

KEXP, a non-profit organization with its broadcast license held by the University of Washington, relies on a growing level of support from individuals, businesses and foundations.

In addition to community contributions, KEXP has also received three years of investment from the Experience Music Project. This partnership will allow KEXP to build and expand its broadcast services, and by the end of 2005, KEXP will be self-sufficient.

All gifts to KEXP are helping to build a strong foundation as an independent public radio station. Contributions are tax-deductible, and are a wise investment in ensuring this creative force in radio thrives for years to come.

KEXP, where the music matters

Six Million Dollar gag…

I have been watching the latest series of 24 which is playing on Sky over here. Before it there is a show called Jake 2.0 (I’ve not seen it before). It is not the greatest of shows but this week it had a guest appearance by Lee Majors as a retired spy brought back for one more assignment.

The very last scene has the show’s star talking to Major’s character about the merits of high performance cars. Major’s is putting down each car in turn and says in response to a comment about the speed of one car, ‘I can run faster than that!’ He walks toward camera, smirks and as the credits role you hear the theme to the Six Million Dollar Man play in the background. Classic!

Minis, Minis everywhere…

While we were renting the first Kill Bill we also picked up the new Italian Job movie…

the italian job

…which to our surprise was quite watchable. It wasn’t the original (after all it didn’t have Michael Cane saying ‘I only told you to blow the bloody doors off’). They did make some cute references to the old film, which was fun.

More blood and guts…

The new Kill Bill is out and so we thought we better get the first one out to see what all the fuss was about.

Wow! There was much spurting of comedy blood and flying of dismembered limbs. I did love the artwork in the cartoon scenes. Plenty of references to other movies – old Tarantino must have an enormous video collection.

Another interesting couple of sites…

Kill Bill, vol 1

Kill Bill, vol 2

The best Romantic Zombie Comedy, ever…

We went to the movies on Saturday and saw Shaun of the Dead...

Shaun of the Dead (a great fun web-site)

...we thought it was a superb film - very over the top with cartoon blood and gore. My arm is still bruised where Sue kept hitting me when she jumped, and I think my hearing is only just returning in my right ear.

and Mary came to town…

Mary managed to ‘pop’ over to the UK this weekend to catch up with friends and family. She has been over in France on a buying trip for her shop back in NZ. We managed to convince her to stay a couple of nights with us.

On Sunday Marc and Heather came over and joined us for dinner where we all caught up and ate and drink too much, as is our want. Heather was in top form considering she had just spent some time in the hospital with a grumbling appendix. They were going to come over on Friday but Marc’s knee had been playing up. None of us are as young as we used to be.

Everyone is very busy but it sounds like there are plenty of exciting things on the horizon for them all.

Unusually for a bank holiday the weather held out for most of the weekend (for Mary at least – she had sun all day Saturday when she visited her sister - we had rain). Monday though was atrocious and we went into London with Mary with the intention of site-seeing and ended up ensconced in an Italian restaurant (so that was a nice).

StarWars day...

May the 4th be with you!

I would usually be playing my StarWars RPG tonight, but James is on holiday, so Kevin and I are going to see the Johnny Depp film Secret Window.

Secret Window

The daily merry-go-round...

I can’t think what we have been up to this week but it seems like we have not stopped. Let’s see…

…we had Sue’s sister and bother-in-law, Deb and Fog, over for dinner on the weekend.

…I received a ladybird house as a belated birthday present from Sue’s brother and girlfriend, Chris and Lynne. A ladybird house is like a birdhouse but for ladybirds – of course, what else would it be? It is useful to encourage these little wee beasties at the allotment as they eat the other bugs that can damage the crops.

…had lunch with our neighbours and their son (our godson), Deb, Dave and Tom. Dave wanted to come over and watch his beloved rugby team the Wasps on satellite. They stuffed Munster and are now in the final. He was well chuffed.

…spent more time on the allotment weeding, preparing the ground, sowing seeds etc. Having the greenhouse this year has helped us with starting the seeds off. There are now many green shoots heading for the light. The wet and warm weather has helped things grow out in the ground too. So we have potatoes, onions, garlic… …and other herbs (sorry did you nod off? Never mind I am sure I will mention the garden again some other time).

…the decorator come around to give us an estimate. We are having some work done on the insurance after a pipe leaked, so we thought we might see how much it would cost to do the rest of the house. We are looking at doing something similar with the carpets.

…still trying my hand at short stories. I write a short piece each month for my study group’s bulletin board competition. No success yet – but the trying is a useful exercise. It is giving me confidence to try something a bit more adventurous (I’ll let you know what later).

… another entertaining StarWars role-play session. The guys are really jelling together. Kevin showed us a new game he bought where you play superheroes – we are going to give it a go after StarWars. James also is keen to have us play Badlands that he picked up cheap.

…my folks have just had there latest olive harvest and they are busy with that and with the new shop outlet. It is all looking very professional – I could become an heir to an olive-oil multinational. They have sent over some more photo’s and are looking at providing more info that our friend Chris and I can get put up on there web site. Have a look and let us know what you think could be added, you’ll find it at:

fylde fields

St George’s Day

Happy St George’s Day to all Anglocentrics out there. This year the English patron’s day is being promoted more than usual, possibly due to the recent success of various English sports teams. There are always calls at this time of year to make St. George’s Day a national holiday by patriotic souls and people wanting to cash in on the St. Patrick’s Day phenomena.

There is a web ring dedicated to all things English (including English Martial Arts?) which can be found at…

The Cross of St George

Dr. Who?

I heard a radio doctor talking about the names of doctors and how many of them appeared to have professions that were strangely appropriate. He noted there were several people called Blood, Bone, Cream (a dermatologist) and Love. There are even two doctors registered called De’ath. No kidding I looked at the General Medical Council web site and its true, see for your self at…

General Medical Council - Registered Doctors

A taste of Lambchop...

We went out to see Lambchop perform at the Swan in High Wycombe this last Saturday.

We have friends out that way and so we organised to see them in the afternoon where we caught up, played with the baby and the dog, and ate a good meal, and drank a few cold ones. They are off soon back to South Africa, where they come from, for a holiday. Yendall had told us of the Swan as a good venue before, and he came with us to the gig. He is a bit of music enthusiast too, preferring the old school rock and blues, but like me he will give most things a spin.

The venue was great, very intimate but without feeling claustrophobic.

We liked the support band, The Clientele. Although some of the audience were a bit rude, disappearing back to the bar to wait for Lambchop. Lambchop were very good, as expected.

The piano player had a habit cracked terrible jokes as the band tuned up, like this;
Two guys were discussing the President and one described him as a post-turtle.
The other guy asked what he meant.
"Well" he says, "Its kinda like when you drive down a road and you see a turtle on a post and you think to yourself...
how did he get up there...
he has no right being there in the first place...
you just know he is not gonna get a damn thing done while he is up there...
and you just want to pull over and help the poor fella down"

Needless to say I bought a couple of CDs. One of the support band and one of Lambchop's tour disc.

Lambchop home page
Clientele home page
The Swan at High Wycombe

insurance claims... why is such a hassle?

We found a pipe was leaking on the radiator in Jamie's room, soaking the carpet and staining the ceiling and walls in the dining room below.

We have a service contract for the central heating and so we organised for someone to come out. Of course they can't tell you what part of the day they will be around so you have take the day off work to hang around and wait for them. They turn up and have a quick look a tell you they will be back tomorrow cause they don't have the tools. Another day of work and you kind of hope it's fixed.

After our holiday we arrange for the insurance assessors to come out. Again the builders won't come out on the weekends so another day off work. Another quick look, a photo, a few measurements and there off. Now we wait and see when someone can actually come over to fix things.

The carpet people were better. They came out on the weekend and they have authority to proceed. Also they have a show room just down the road so we could choose the replacement carpet. Unfortunately we need to have the walls and ceiling done before we can have the carpet fitters in.

Oh what a palaver.

laugh your head off...

There is a website called Classic Comedy that was created by Michael Bentine's son as a place where enthusiasts can watch free clips of classic comedy moments.

Artists include; Michael Bentine, Charlie Chaplin, Tommy Cooper, Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd, Laurel and Hardy, and Monty Python.

Classic Comedy

MonkeyLord online...

I friend of mine has also joined the online blog community. James's Blog can be found at...

The Ramblings of an Inattentive Mind

the 'father of the web' awarded...

(from the BBC)

The inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, has won a prestigious award which comes with a prize bag of one million euros (£671,000). The "Father of the Web" was named as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation. In 1991, he come up with a system to organise, link and browse net pages which revolutionised the internet. The British scientist was knighted for his pioneering work in 2003.

Tim Berners-Lee

the sky is falling...

Ever wondered what would happen if an asteroid hit the planet. How far away would you need to be to survive? Well the BBC report that scientists in the US have created a website to help us assess the risks.

Researchers at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory say their web tool will predict the effects different types of impactors would have if they hit different places on the planet.

A relatively modest sized asteroid of 45m (150ft) in diameter is said to strike the Earth approximately every 1,000 years.

So if the next one did come down, just how far would the devastation spread and how much time would those living and working in the city have to grab their bags and run?

http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/

A little gem…

I like my music and this week I had a nightmare when my CD player stopped working (to be fair it is nearly 15 years old). Sue was very supportive and even suggested if I bought a new one I should get a multi-disc player. Anyway, I took the top off it and ‘titted’ about for a while and it appears now to be working again… phew!

I bought a new album while I was in the states (only the one?). I bought Finally Woken by Jem (a Welsh artist)…

Jem, Finally Woken

… who the young people would probably class as a dance act (in the slow, swaying sort of way). She has a lovely voice.

Sue also chose an album while we were away, ‘the very best of Africa vol-2’. A compilation of current African music including artist such as Youssou N’Dour, Hugh Masekela and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It is a very good collection.

The very best of Africa, vol.2

play it again…