Thursday 28 December 2006

Jimmy Chung's Doesn't Serve Seagulls!

Jimmy Chung's Does NOT Serve Seagulls!

When I came back up to Dundee I heard the bizare rumour that the Scottish Chinese buffet chain, Jimmy Chung's, had been closed down in Dundee for serving seagull instead of chicken.

At first I believed it and talked about it to other people, some of whom hadn't heard the rumour before. I nearly texted Wendy as soon as I heard to tell her about it.

However, a few more level headed people pointed out it was probably a load of rubbish. Would seem they are correct - it's just an Internet gossip fueled load of nonsense. Sounds like they just closed for a week and someone has taken it upon themselves to start this rumour. Sadly, it seems to have badly affected their takings. Seems really wrong that their business can be ruined by numpties like me believing ridiculous rumours.

I hope that the power of this blog puts it at the top of an Google search for "Jimmy Chung's Seagull" and I can help put the rumour down. I walked past last night and it was deserted. Maybe if you see any of this seagull nonsense posted elsewhere you could put a link to this post (use the permalink) or to the Daily Record story. Maybe leave a comment (below) to acknowledge your support for the restaurant.

However, I did eat next door in Papa Joes, which was fine, then went drinking in several West end pubs, then off dancing in Fat Sams. While I was in the queue for Fatties, blethering to anyone who would listen, some girls told me that my clothing "style" (in particular the scarf, leather gloves and sexy, sexy shoes) made me look like a "pretentious, English metrosexual". I think saying I look English was a bit of a cheap shot, and has left me feeling quite low. However, they also gave me two compliments so that's nice! ;)

Wednesday 27 December 2006

which shoes?


which shoes?
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Hmmm


UPDATE: Some time later... So the problem here was that I was in the shoe shop and I couldn't decide between these two pairs of boots. Being the techno-geek that I am, I thought I would send a picture to my blog, then get someone to look online and help me decide. Well the first bit worked - I just couldn't find anyone to look at the picture.... except Dad who thought the ones on the left were best. Phone calls to Wendy, Da Jingster and Julie were of no help. I actually had to get Andy and Phil to come to the shop to help me choose. Anyway, I went for the ones on the right. I think I preferred the other ones but they didn't fit quite as well.

Genius Irn Bru Snowman Advert

What Christmas is complete without watching the Snowman? Or at least briefly hearing it and remembering the time you did bother watching it years ago.

Well, good old Irn Bru have taken it and "adapted" the classic "Walking through the Air" song from the animation and turned it into an advert. Genius! Unfortunately Irn Bru adverts are rarely shown in England so here it is for your viewing pleasure on YouTube:



There's loads of funny Scottish adverts that you don't get to see in England, such as the Tennants ones. I'll maybe post them up some time.

Tuesday 26 December 2006

A Gentleman's Wardrode Expanded

Got up early today and to hit the sales shopping and got in to town for 9.30am. It was pretty quiet at first but we didn't realise that the Next sale had already started so by the time we got there, there was only dust and empty sweetie wrappers left.

Still, I managed to spend a whole whack of money and got 3 pairs of work trousers, two shirts for work and a tie, a whole bunch of Carhartt stuff (cords, jumper, t-shirt; look at their website - I had no idea they made protective gear - must be like CAT starting to make shoes, then making plant machinery!), a Bench jumper a casual shirt a t-shirt and a few bits and bobs.

Andrew managed to spend much more money than he intended but got a pretty nice YSL suit and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Need to go back in tomorrow to buy some boots. Go cowboy!

Now I'm about to go oot with Andy and his friends. Tomorrow heading out with Kev et al.

Monday 25 December 2006

Merry Christmas!

Being the sad little Blogger that I am, I thought I should pop onto the computer to blog a very Merry Christmas to everyone.

I've just had my Christmas dinner so am feeling very full. Went to church last night with the family where my singing of the hymns was very impressive as usual.

Time for the Boxing Day sales chaos tomorrow!

Saturday 23 December 2006

Flying home for Christmas

Yesterday's journey home from Oxford to Dundee was remarkably straightforward.

Left the flat at about 4pm, got a bus and caught the 4.36pm train to Birmingham International. The train was packed but I managed to get a seat and the train was only about 15min late. I was sitting next to a bunch of soldiers who couldn't appreciate the problem that some paying customers might have with standing, when their kits bags are taking up two seats.

Got to the airport and had a BK for dinner. The queue to get through security was huge - took about 1h to get through. Loads of flights were being canceled, including some from Birmingham to Edinburgh. I don't see why British Midland couldn't fly to Edinburgh but their cheapo version, BMI Baby could!

Anyway, got onto the flight only a few minutes late. Easy flight up to Scotland, where Dad, for various reasons, had been waiting at the airport for about...3-4 hours. Nice drive home and I got in at about 11pm.

Total journey time, approximately 7h. Yes it still takes ages, but it was fairly straightforward. I feel sorry for all the people who have had their flights cancelled and miss family gatherings etc.

Fingers crossed for Miguel flying from Heathrow to Schiphol today!

Wednesday 20 December 2006

What a bore!


Sorry, I mean - What a boar!

Went into the Covered Market today and saw this fine beast hanging from a hook outside the butcher's.

This butcher's is fantastic. Real old style. None of the sanitised "pretend your meat wasn't once alive" crap. The meat there looks like it could almost get up and walk away. If it wasn't hanging from a hook. Or headless and legless like lots of them are.

I'd like to see what the Animal Activist tubes would make of it. There's a lot of kids these days that don't really appreciate that meat comes from animals. The same kids that don't realise milk comes from cows. Would probably be good to show them a butcher's like this.

That said, I really wouldn't know how to prepare meat like that. I'll just stick to the rubbish from the supermarkets for now.

Misty me

Last night's ride home from work was one of the scariest ever.

Set off at about 8.30pm. Took the turning onto the A4074 and quickly found that because of the thick mist I could see about 10 yards ahead of me. I decided just to stay behind the one car in front and follow its rear lights seing as I couldn't really tell where the road was.

Then I got onto the A40 after the Headington Roundabout and it was all the same. I couldn't see a thing! I was bricking it that someone would just drive straight into the back of me. Before I set off I actually decided to put my rucksack under the bungee on my back seat, just so that the reflective strips on my Derrick day-glo vest would be seen from behind. Made me feel slightly safer.

Added to that, the mist was misting up the outside of my visor every few second further reducing visibility. I was wondering why my hands seemed so slippy, then I realised it was freezing fog. Hurrah! I was covered in a layer of frost!

I see it is just as misty this morning. Let's see how I get on...

UPDATE 0928h: Well that went even worse than expected. Tried to turn the key in the ignition: frozen solid. Spend ages spraying WD40 which does nothing. Eventually go for the old "heat up the keys with a match" trick, which actually eventually works! So then I try to start the bike, but no luck. Pretty quickly the battery runs down. So I think I will just bump start it again. Oops - the clutch cable is frozen solid. Dumbass here tries to just keep pulling it in figuring the ice will give up its hold soon. Maybe it would have, but not before the clutch cable gave up and snapped!

So now I have a day off...

UPDATE 2: Well, special thanks to Kate for going to pick up my replacement cable for me and braving the treacherous driving conditions out there. The price for my day off (and a new clutch cable) was £18.70! Grrrr!

Sunday 17 December 2006

A Gentleman's Wardrobe

Tonight I did an audit of my wardrobe to try and get rid of some of the old clothes I had been hoarding. It's difficult to know what to get rid of. I have clothes that I don't wear, but figure might be useful at some time. I've also got clothes that I wear regularly that I don't really like. What I don't have is lots of money to buy new clothes, but at least there is now room for them in the cupboard.

Here are the clothes I am left with. I probably have about three times as many clothes as Wendy but I still feel like my cupboard is a bit bare:

Jeans - 5 pairs
Cords - 1 Pair
FC linen trousers - 1 Pair
Work trousers - 4 pairs. 2 pairs are looking pretty tatty and need replaced.
Tracksuit trousers - 1 pair
Jumpers - 3? The big black one that makes me look like I have breasts, the golden one that I like and the one Fraser got me for Xmas last year. Big cream jumper was ditched because Alex told me I looked ill when I wore it.
Thinnish jumpers - 3 - mostly for wearing when riding the motorbike to work.
Work shirts - 6 I think, although all but 1 are a bit crappy now and need replaced.
1 SRU Training top
1 SRU Rugby Top
1 Hong Kong 7s Rugby Top
1 Hope & Glory Suit Jacket type thing.
2 Black zip up jumpers (...alright - cardigans!)
Casual shirts - 3
Suit - 1
T-shirts - 15 ( I ditched 9)
Gym grade t-shirts (who doesn't grade, then occasionally demote, their t-shirts?) - 8
Shorts - 5
Climbing top - 1
Leather Jacket
Big Black Jacket
North Face water proof jacket
M/C Jacket and trousers
Kilt plus Bonnie Prince Charlie gear
Old Ski Fleece
Old Ski Jacket
Old Ski Trousers
Fleece Jacket
Very Old Tracksuit style jacket that I love.

So the key questions are - are 5 pairs of jeans enough? 15 T-shirts - could do with more new ones? 3 casual shirts - deffo need new ones!

I will be hitting the Boxing Day sales with Andrew at about 10am! Mwahahaha!

I threw out loads of clothes tonight. Wendy insisted on opening the Champagne. I am feeling it now....

Friday 15 December 2006

Hot stuff

It's wrong to laugh at people for being odd.

However, in this case I'll make an exception:

Tuesday 12 December 2006

How do fruit flies process lipids?




As a young child, I used to wonder to myself whether the humble fruit fly had a liver.

Unfortunately nobody could answer my childish question.

That was until I met Keno, who embarked upon a mission to find out.

One PhD later, and Keno has published his finding in Nature! Congratulations Keno!

Now I know that the fruit fly does indeed have lipid processing cells. I thought as much!

Monday 11 December 2006

Birthday fun! Club Escape - Oxford

Birthday fun this weekend:

Best part was the meal at Zizzi, where the highlight was the impressive 'wall of sound' rendition of "Happy Birthday". The food was great - one of the best meals out I've had for a while.

Before and after the meal we went for drinks at Copa. It's a decent bar considering it's in the city centre and it serves some nice (but pricey) beers. They could do with cleaning some of the seats upstairs though.

For dancing we went to Escape. I like this venue and the music is good. The place was absolutely packed. What was a bit distracting was the simmering undercurrent of violence. Yes, that always reduces the fun somewhat: Bouncers full of arsey attitude, obnoxious girl with reserved section for her birthday, Kazakhstani gangsters and drunk howling banshee women on the dance floor.

Still the shisha was good and we all had fun.

Sunday 10 December 2006

shisha


shisha
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.
Oh yeah!

Saturday 9 December 2006

Work Xmas do!

Last night's work Xmas dinner is best summarised by saying that wearking a kilt totally rocks! I love being Scottish!

Woot!

I also got to sing the proper karaoke version of the Elephant Love Song medley, which earned me a bottle of bubbly!

However, I did feel slightly ill for most of the night (starting before drinks were served!) which did somewhat detract from the fun.

Never mind, tonight we are going oot for my birthday so we can make up for it big style.

I await a photo from someone to attach to this post...

Wednesday 6 December 2006

Rookie mistake

Okay, this video isn't actually very funny, but it's exactly the same rookie mistake that I made when I first tried to pole dance. I can't believe I'm even saying that...




Re: The comments problems: I still don't know what's wrong! I received one comment tonight (Miguel) but it's not displaying yet!

Saturday 2 December 2006

Karaoke practice

I found a really cool online karaoke machine where you can practice your songs before the big night. The choice of songs there is not huge, but, yes, there are some Sinatra songs!

Here's another one, where you can sing one of the best songs around - the theme tune to CBeebies Balamory! (What's the Story) In Balamory?

I'm also pleased to announce that, thanks to theShaggyDA, I have 'acquired' a mp3 file of the karaoke version of the Elephant Love Song Medley! Yah! My audience will not be disappointed! I've tried to practice it, but I'm just going to hope the karaoke machine on Friday has a good key changer because it's a couple of octaves too high for me.