What hairstyle?

I really hate getting my hair cut. With the world's worst "cow's lick", there's not too many options on the hairstyle front here.

I don't want to go to a barber where they treat you like a sheep to be sheared, and I don't want to pay loads of money. It's difficult to find somewhere suitable. I miss good old Clinton Dailly's in the Ferry.

Last time I got my haircut, when the guy said "how do you want your hair cut", I told him he could do what he thought best. Unfortunately he wasn't bursting with ideas, so it was same old, same old. He said next time I should come back with an idea of what style I want.

So... like a girl, I will look for a picture of someone with a hairstyle I want and show it to the haidresser.

Any ideas?

Preston on Never Mind the Buzzcocks

On the one hand, the man's wife was getting insulted. On the other hand it was hilarious. Watch Preston from the Ordinary Boys have a hissy fit when Simon Amstell takes the pi$$ out of his wife's autobiography.

Part 1:



Part 2:



It seems that most of Never Mind the Buzzcocks is on YouTube now. Which is great because it means I just watched the episode I missed with Donny "Oooh look at me I'm a rufty tufty punk" Tourette from the Towers of London. It's in theree parts and all worth watching:







Interstingly, after linking to all these videos, the BBC's money programme had a story on the TV tonight about the YouTube phenomena and was talking about how many people watch more internet content than they do watch TV anymore and asking why people bother posting content at all. Here's the Money Programme's profile and some videos on, you've guessed it, YouTube. I probably do watch more internet content (oo-err) these days than regular TV.

I have posted some videos on YouTube but not in a "look at me way". Apparently my videos have had 1976 views to date. They's actually decent videos (imho) although one of them is just of a snotty friend walking in a train station (evidence to appeal against my fine).

triple complaint

In the past few days I've made two complaints

1) To the Royal Mail - Why does our postie leave the mail for our block at the bottom of the stairs? I think he is paid to deliver it to the flat, not just dump it. I don't like having to rifle through other people's mail to find mine.

2) To Oxford Council - Why has our recycling not been collected for three weeks? Why do they take the glass and paper but not the tins?

I have to get around to making my complaint to BA for the rubbish flight to Geneva and it will be a triple complaint week.

Complaining rules!

Refuge de Solalex

Refuge de Solalex
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

I had "all you can eat" raclette at the restaurant. I think they underestimated how much cheese one person could eat. Unfortunately i overestimated and felt slightly ill. Not sure if the kirsch that Stefan insisted i drink actually helped but it probably helped me sleep. The skidoo ride was great fun but a tad cold. The view of the night sky on the way back was amazing. I have never seen so many stars. I would have loved to have more time to do some star gazing. It was a great way to wrap up a fantastic holiday.

last day

last day
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Very tired. It is snowing lots. I just ate some cake. My skiing is waning. Tonight we go to a restaurant by skidoo!

edge of the world

edge of the world
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Went to the glacier again today. Loads of fresh snow yesterday made conditions pretty good. It was very quiet too. Picture is taken at this tiny shack/restaurant at the top of a mountain. The terrace is literally hanging off the edge of the mountain with incredible views as you can see.

snow snow

snow snow
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

It was raining down at the chalet this morning but up on the slopes it was snowing lots. Less people on the slopes today. Had to keep covered from snow hence photo. Last runs were great i was only person on my favourite black run. I am still rubbish in deep powder snow. I just fall over!

skiing Villars

skiing Villars
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Conditions much improved today. Snowed quite a bit. Gryon was a bit rubbish but Villars was pretty good. Wendy did pretty well today too. Hopefully more snow overnight. Leg work at the gym was a good idea. Thighs feel fine but should have done calves too as they kill a bit.

spa day

spa day
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Today we went to the spa for a few hours. Very relaxing. Nice and warm in the thermal spring waters while we are outside getting rained on. Noone was brave enough to go naked in the saunas! It did snow higher up today and more is forecast so the slopes will be better. Back to the skiing tomorrow! (yeah i know it's the same pic)

glacier

glacier
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Yesterday snow conditions quite bad. Today went to glacier. Much better. My skiing is okay. Swissland is very expensive. Chalet is very cool. We ate fondue tonight. Tomorrow we maybe go to the spa instead of skiing.

grounded

grounded
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

That metal box is the reason we have been sitting on a grounded plane for about two hours!

fast bag drop

fast bag drop
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Big bag or small man? You decide.

Funny wind up call

This is one of the funniest wind-up calls I've heard!

Builders

It's quite freaky when, at 8 o'clock in the morning, when you're wandering around your second floor flat, half dressed, getting ready for work, and then you see some builders outside your windows. :S

We're getting the roof done at the moment so there is scaffolding up around the flat.

Burn's night

Had a great Burn's night last night with Miguel, Jing, Alex, Keno and Elle-Marie (Wendy was back in London picking up stuff for ski-ing).

Last year I bought a "British" haggis, but this year I made sure I got some proper McSween haggis. I even got a wee veggie version for one who shall remain unnamed (...Jing). It was fantastic - the best I have had for years! Everybody seemed to love it and went back for more. I think it might even have been Alex's first time.

I wore the kilt and addressed the haggis. I really need to work out what I'm saying one day. We didn't bother with the Selkirk grace or the toasts to the lads and the lassies, but it was all fun. We did have the old bagpie music going though! If there had been a bigger group of us I might have stuck to tradition. I maybe need more Scots to help me (Greg?).

One of our group, who shall remain nameless (Miguel) drank too much and went home early. lol!

I tried to round off the Scottish evening by watching the original version of "The Wickerman". We did all fall asleep so I finished watching it today. I love this movie. It is great to hear a movie that is full of Scottish accents but doesn't involve needles in arms. Brit Ekland is okay on the eyes too. There is no way I can bring myself to watch the American remake. Heresy I tell thee! Heathens!

Today I went for Sunday lunch with Keno and Elle-Marie to the Turf then had some pretty sweet hot chocolate in the Old Tom.

I don't have any photos of last night (other than one Miguel sent me which I can't get off my phone) so the pic is of the nice hot chocolate!

Valencia here we come!

Flights to Valencia for Matt's stag do have been booked! I'm booked with Ryanair. I'm not a fan of them as an airline - their CEO, Michael O'Leary, gives me the creeps. He's like an evil Louis Walsh. Maybe he could be a judge on Airsteward Idol? I can't help feeling they will find some way to squeeze some more money out of me...

Ah sorry sir, there' a new charge on anybody wearing shoes upon European flights with Ryanair. Well the reason we've imposed this charge is actually to be fairer to the passengers who do not wear shoes on our flights. Really, why should shoeless customers pay extra to cover those who insist on wearing shoes? You want to fly shoeless now? Ah, well then you have to pay the "change my ticket to a shoeless ticket" charge.

To be sure...

This will be the first stag do I have been on. 22 June to the 24th. Should be fun. Can't wait!

Reclaiming back charges

That's the way to do it - send in the bailiffs!

fined

fined
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Was down in London for Rina's birthday this weekend and we went to the Spaniard's Inn for drinks and food last night. Today we went for food to Wagamama's in Camden. Ticket office at New Southgate was closed so we got on the train and were (honestly) going to buy the ticket at King's Cross as we needed to travel further anyway. There were ticket guards at the gate but i genuinely thought we would be okay. Not so and they decided to fine me and Louise. None of my foreign guy act or Rina's pleading would work so i had to pay £20! Amusingly they forgot to fine Louise. Then dumbass here buys more travel card than i needed! All very amusing for Rina and Louise. The girls did them pay for my food though. Expensive weekend all in all. £150 i reckon. Too many pricey cocktails last night. All fun and games!

Praying for snow

It's just over two weeks till we go to Switzerland for ski-ing. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst seasons on record for snow cover. I knew it was bad around Xmas, but I thought things had been getting better. Aparently not.

There's no snow at Villars-Gryon where we're going yet although the forecast says there is snow on the way.

Still two weeks to go and it just takes one decent snow dump to sort it out. We just have to get praying for snow (and world peace and all that other important stuff...)

Villars Webcam.

Scawny legs

Not long to go to the ski holiday. Can't wait!

I've been trying to do some leg work in the gym to avoid the initial "argh my thighs feel like they're about to explode" feeling you get when ski-ing for the first time in ages.

Normally I don't bother doing any leg work (or sit-ups for that matter), which isn't a great idea because, if I ever actually ever develop any upper body muscle mass, I would still have ridiculously scrawny legs (and a belly by that time most likely!). Anyhoo, I only have about 40min 3 times a week so I just do what I can.

Dundee's misery

One of Dundee's last big manufacturing employers has announced that it is to cut 650 jobs in Dundee and move production to a plant in Hungary.

How depressing. Dundee has lost a lot of manufacturing jobs over the years, but this one, with the knock-on job losses to suppliers etc., really is sad. I can imagine there must be a real black cloud hanging over the city at the moment. It's just a sad consequence of globalisation. There's no way manufacturing in the UK can compete with cheaper workforces in Eastern Europe and beyond.

I was watching a BBC2 programme the other day with Jon Snow explaining that the UK was moving away from manufacturing to become a "knowledge economy". Fair enough. Dundee has a very good biotechnology sector, which now employs around 3,800 people and accounts for 15% of the local economy.

Somehow though, I doubt these 650 NCR workers will be donning lab coats and taking up molecular biology. With no offence meant to people who work in supermarkets and the like, I always think it's a real shame when these skilled workers are told that they could get a job stacking shelves or working a checkout till. That must be so demoralising.

I sometimes wish I was a rich Richard Branson-type, and could invest all my money in Dundee. Trying to help set up companies and stuff like that. I think I've played too much Sim City. Hey, you never know - maybe one day I'll be a Venture Capitalist and set up a fund for biotech start-ups in Dundee!

Next Phone - Nokia N95

Getting a new phone on contract is great. It's like getting a shiny new toy for nothing! It's time to stop taking the freebies though! Nokia's newest phone will have GPS [STOP!]... no need to say anything else - I must have it!

Due March 2006. Watch the ad to see what else it has:

Oxford Puddle

Wendy and I tried to go ice-skating last night to the temporary open-air ice rink at Oxford Castle, but when we got there it was mostly just a puddle, with some guy practicing his ice hockey. So we probably would have just got soaked, and got some teeth smashed from the hockey puck. I didn't realise it before, but there is actually a proper ice-skating rink in Oxford, so we will probably just go there instead.

Just call me Torvill...


(Cute picture credit)

new goggles

new goggles
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

My new Spy Optics rule. Can't wait to get on the slopes. There's been a big dump of snow recently so hopefully that will continue and the conditions will be great by the time we get there. Off to London now to meet the Swiss miss et al.

Celebrities are mostly thickos

In today's celebrity-saturated world it seems the great unwashed would rather get their information from overpaid and overexposed "celebrities" than actual reliable sources of information... such as people who have a clue what they are talking about.

Celebrities like to talk about science too.

To try and counter some on the nonsense they spout, science information charity Sense About Science has launched a leaflet to point out some of the worst celebrities' "science" quotes and a helpline so that they can phone to check their facts before they open their cake holes.

One of my favourite comments comes from lifestyle "guru" Carol Caplin (favourite of Cherie Blair) who says:

women should be informed about avoiding breast cancer and that they should be "keeping the lymph system clear and unclogged".

to which Michael Baum, emeritus professor of surgery at University College London replies:

"Carol's idea ... has no meaning whatsoever. It is not based on knowledge of anatomy or physiology of the human body, let alone of breast cancer."

BBC story.

Genius.

Hello 2007!

We had a quiet civilised New Year's Eve affair at Keno's last night. Keno, ably assisted by Elle-Marie, cooked some amazing food, the highlight of which was the oxtail-stuffed peppers.

Managed to get back from London to Oxford without any bother today. However, I did feel really sorry for the people that didn't manage to get onto our bus. They must have put extra buses on though, as when we pulled into Oxford, there was another one close behind.

So, to anyone that I didn't send the "send to many" text message last night: Happy New Year! I hope to see many of my friends very soon in 2007!

Next climbing trip?

Maybe not!

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! ;)

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.

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.

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!

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!

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!

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....

Hot stuff

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

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

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!

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.

shisha

shisha
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Oh yeah!

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...

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!

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.

Prague Photos

Prague Castle
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

I've put all of Wendy's and my photos onto Flickr, which you can view here.

Highlights include:

• the view from the terrace of U Prince Hotel.
  
• changing of the guard at Prague castle.
• my fav pic: marionettes!
• some of the most gruesome pics you'll ever see
• hanging around
• Wendy's stylish plane pic

Lastly here is the panoramic picture I made of Prague Old Square (note: the file is 2.5MB, so I hosted it at yourfilehost.com, which does also host some "adult" material, so it might be blocked if you try to look at work. The actual link to my pic is fairly clean so don't worry about clicking on the link).

Birthday weekend fun to come

It's my birthday on the 9th of December so I will attempt to have some kind of going out for food then drinks-type thing.

Open invite to people I know. Lisa and Foxy still not welcome.

Email me if you fancy it...

I apologise in advance to all the people I will offend when I have had one or two too many drinks... Ahem, me looks guiltily around...

blogger comments problems

Since I updated the blog to Blogger beta I have had a few problems with comments. Before, comments would appear more or less instantly. Now they take ages to appear and apparently people sometimes get error messages. Sometimes I will get the email telling me a comment has been posted and I can see there is a comment in my Dashboard but when I go to the post there is nothing there.

For example on this post I know that someone left a comment but it won't appear.

Is this something to do with me having an FTP blog and not hosting on blogger.com? The reason I host my own site is that I want to keep using my own domain name. I suppose the alternative is to make my domain name point at my blogger site but have the actual site hosted by blogger.

I believe there are a number of other new features of blogger I am missing by hosting my own site.

Can anyone confirm this or offer any advice. If so, please, ummmm, leave a comment.

Big Brother is listening to you now

I've just finished reading the George Orwell book 1984. I decided I need to start reading some "must-read" novels, so have started with this one. Harry Potter is entertaining, but it doesn't really broaden the mind.

I don't think I read it before but I do have a memory of an English class at school where we watched the version of the movie, which was made in 1984. I'm not sure why we would watch the movie but not read the book. It must have been one of those 'last day of term' things. I remember there was nudity in it which wasn't the sort of thing you expected to see in a film your teacher has put on. I also remembered something about rats...

Orwell is very prophetic in some ways. Particularly in the way that CCTV surrounds us all the time now, forever 'observing' our actions. If you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to fear, right? Hmmm...

Amusingly, seeing as I have just finished reading the book, I noticed this story on the BBC. The police intend to use 'eavesdropping' microphones to pick up crowd conversations at the London Olympics. I actually don't mind the use of CCTV, but this is going too far! Sounds like an idea straight from the Thought Police!

I actually slept quite badly in Prague. Every night my dreams were full of "thoughtcrimes" and "newspeak"! Creepy!

I wonder how many people in the UK actually realise that "Big Brother" comes from this book, and was not dreamed up just by some Dutch TV producers to satisfy the TV habits of simpletons worldwide? Would be interesting to actually survey that

Sushi and poles

Wendy and I went round to Miguel's last night where Jing surpassed herself and made some stunning Sushi. I've never tried sushi before (other than nicking some of Wendy's when she buys it from M&S) but I'm glad to say I really liked it. Thanks Jing! :) I also liked the "Wasabi" experience.

I brought some Czech absinthe along and 'encouraged' everyone to try some. It's 72% proof apparently! I'm not sure you'd be able to buy it that strong in the UK, which is just as well as it tasted foul. I've had one of the worst hangovers in a long time today and got out of bed at about 5.30pm today!

We also returned to Bar Baby, where I tried to make amends for my earlier pole dancing mistakes. This time Wendy and Jing got in on the act. Interesting you you kind of assume that the girls will be great at pole dancing... just because they're girls. In reality, unless they are professional pole dancers (Wendy is not, Jing I didn't ask) they won't really have seen it performed at, ummm, close range, so won't really know how they do it. Therefore you can tell who has been to the most pole dancing shows by how good their own attempts are:

I wasn't too bad, Miguel was not too shabby either, however, without a doubt the "star of the pole" was Richard. Amazing poise! Where did he learn those moves? A sign of a mis-spent youth methinks. He should get a regular slot there.

Fortunately, neither of the stalkers, Lisa and Foxy, were anywhere to be seen last night. If they do ever have the nerve to show up, I know one little person that will kung-fu their asses for sure!

gloves

gloves
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Behold the gloves of good!

ski stuff

ski stuff
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

We're sitting in Prague airport right now waiting for the flight home. Today i bought salomon ski boots, ski pants and TWO pairs of ski gloves. One pair is a really cool pair of sheepskin lined leather mitts which reminded me of a pair dad has/had that he lent me when i did my paper round in a snow storm. Now that i an leaving Prague i must make a point of finding out who this Franz Kafka dude was. Picture is of a strange sight we say when leaving the hotel this morning.

Kutná Hora

Kutná Hora
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Today we took a train trip to Kutná Hora. First, we took a really dodgy route to the train station via a junkie. The guide book says the town could once have rivaled Prague. What it doesn't mention is that it is now a bit rubbish. The is a very impressive cathedral, and a few things to see, but in general the town is quite depressing. I suppose it is more real Czech than disney world Prague. Had a nice neck in Pivnice Dacický, a bohemian adds hall in the town. The best thing to see was the Sedlec Ossuray, which is the church with the bone sculptures. See the photo on previous post. Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman went there at the start of The Long Way Round so we had to visit it. Tonight we went for an Italian meal. We have had enough dumplings for one holiday! Also discovered that astronomical clock doesn't do the fancy show at night! Tomorrow we reluctantly fly home but all is not lost as we are going to Miguel's where Jing will be making sushi.

bones

bones
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

I see dead people. About 40,000 of them!

Prague castle, U Prince & Vivaldi

Prague castle, U Prince & Vivaldi
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Today we visited Prague castle. Apparently the largest castle complex in the world. Very impressive but not very castle-like. Big cathedral and palace. Saw changing of guard twice. Wendy and i shot crossbows. I was the best! Wendy was merely okay. Tonight we ate at the U Prince Hotel. On 6th floor terrace had they of old square and castle. Was amazing and food was great too. Thanks Louise and JJ for recommendation. Then we got all cultured and went to see the Vivaldi Orchestra Praga at the Municipal House. They played some Händel and Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Very impressive. Then we went to a bar and loads of beer for about GBP2.

Mucho mucha

Mucho mucha
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Walked round prague today. It is really small. Saw old square. Very nice. Saw astronomical clock. Very astronomical. Went to lots of shops. Hmm great. Went to Mucha museum. Was very good actually. Nice posters. Tonight we went to Klub Architejtu for dinner. Very nice caverns. Good food. Need to book though. Then went to bar. Wendy is insane. Must add - duvet on beds is odd.

arrived in prague

arrived in prague
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Arrived in prague okay. Hotel is nice and well situated for old town. Weather is rain but i forgot to take umbrella out tonight. It is so cheap here! Public transport 75p from airport to town. Three course meal for two GBP14. Half litre beer and got chocolate GBP1.50. Had dinner in Kavárna Slavia, famous prague cafe. Goulash was good. Then went to U Zlatého Tygra bar. Bit too real czech for us. Not one girl there! Went to other small bar it was nicer.

Prague here we come

Wendy and I are off to Prague tomorrow. I was expecting it to be really cold, but looking at the Prague weather forecast, it isn't really much colder than Oxford. In fact Dundee is much colder!

Now that I've got this mobile blogging thing sorted, I'll try and take some pics on my camera and post them straight to here from Prague. I'll try and send one pic each day as long as it isn't too expensive (must phone O2 to check that now...).

So far we have had two recommendations to eat at U Prince hotel, so that is definitely on the cards.

Well, as they say in the Czech Republic: "Měla babka v kapse brabce, brabec babce v kapse píp. Zmáčkla babka brabce v kapse, brabec babce v kapse chcíp!" Lol! That one always cracks me up. Those crazy Czechs!

Zodiac and cinema

Jo was back in town this weekend so we went oot down the Cowley Road.

First stop - Kas Bar - too busy so we're straight out of there and into the Jamiacan place, Hi-Lo. It's less "Tropical Lilt Advert-style Jamaican Love" and more "I will tolerate your presence here because you pay us money".

Next stop was Bar Baby. This place has a pole for pole dancing. I had a go, and learnt why women have evolved to have their reproductive organs inside their body - it's so they can pole dance without sustaining the sort of injury I got why I jumped at the thing with my legs open, thinking I would spin round looking all erotic-like. Women have evolved to pole dance! God works in mysterious ways. I wonder if I can get this theory published in JMCP (The Journal of Male Chauvanist Pigs)? Do firemen have reduced fertility rates?

Then, like all good nights, it was off to The Zodiac. Incidentally, the Zodiac has recently been sold to the Academy Music Group. I hope this is a positive thing. The comments on that link seem quite unhappy with it.

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We went to see two movies at the cinema this weekend. First, in the comically small screen at Magdalen Street Odeon (honestly - I think my TV at home might be bigger than that screen) we saw, Starter for Ten which was a pretty good story. Ooh, who will he choose? The gorgeous, but slightly shallow blond, or the down to earth and I suppose attractive in her own way, brunnette?

Then today in the George Street Odeon (still quite small) we saw The Prestige, which was a really good movie. Loads of great twists, some seem a bit obvious, but they all deceive you from the last one (kind of). Definitely recommended!

I may go to see Casino Royale some time soon.

Karaoke Inspiration

My work Xmas do is in a few weeks and part of the entertainment is Karaoke.

I did a karaoke chinese meal night for my London leaving do and it was great fun.

I now just need some inspiration for what songs to sing at the work do. I know there are song songs I like singing but I can never remember what they are. I don't think I'm a great singer but it sounds okay in my head. I have a bit of a limited key range too. No high bits please! I was a bit of a singer when I was a youngster and used to always go in for the Dundee Leng Medal. I never actually won, but in P7 I was sooo close to winning that the judges made a point of letting me know I was second (usually they just announce the winner). Gutted! I'll never forgive you Heather! (just joking!!) My song was called "The Work o' the Weavers".

So far I will have to do the "Elephant Love Song Medley" from Moulin Rouge - both Ewan McGregor's and Nicole Kidman's parts. I might also try "Mr Boombastic" (Even though I only know the chorus). Maybe "Easy like Sunday Morning". What else should I try? Leave a comment to inspire me!

We also need a suitable group song for our department so any suggestions would be very welcome. I was thinking "Hey Hey We're the Monkees". Jo?

Steve vs lovefilm.co.uk

Result: Score draw!

I thought I would win this one, but lovefilm (formerly screenselect) offered me a fair compromise so I accepted it.

The end result is that I pay for 1 month's subscription - the October WOAH *realisation* I was about to mention how I was going to get 3 months subscription free but I just realised they have tricked me again and all I get is 1.5 month free subscription.

They really are a bunch of shysters! These "free subscriptions" are really just a way for them to get hold of your credit card, so that when you forget to cancel it, they can charge you the full subscription. In this case I didn't forget to cancel it - I cancelled it and they decided to keep sending me DVDs anyway and charge me for the privilege.

To put it simply, my free sub was due to expire on 4th October, so on 2nd October I cancelled it and sent my last DVD back. Despite cancelling the account on the 2nd, when they received my returned DVD on the 3rd they sent me another DVD. Apparently they had already processed my account so they couldn't prevent the next DVD being sent. As I was sent another DVD, there was no way I could return it before the 4th, so I got charged for a full subscription. Does that stink of a con to anyone else?

So I took this as an opportunity to complain. However, these guys weren't budging. Even when I worked out the reason they were charging me was because I had sent back the "extra" DVD after the account had been cancelled. Seriously, trying to get these guys to admit they are in the wrong and credit me my money is like trying to get blood out of a stone.

After lots of complaint emails, the eventually offered me 3months free for paying for the unintentional 1 month. What I've just realised as I typed this is that they count from when I paid that amount till now as included in the "free" extra sub time. All that time I was in dispute with them so wasn't using it! Cheeky ba$tards!

So now I have "accepted" their offer I probably can't get back to complaining, so I will just have to watch some DVDs for a month and a half.

Well here is my final "complaint" email for posterity. Feel my wrath!

Hi,

I have worked out exactly what your mistake is now.

I cancelled the account on the 2nd and sent the DVD (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) back that day which was received on the 3rd. As the billing date was the 4th that should have been enough to close the account. As I had cancelled the account I should not have been sent any more DVDs. Please note I received the "cancellation pending email" on the 2nd stating I just had to return this DVD for the account to be closed (this email was forwarded to you recently).

Despite cancelling the account and sending back "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" I was still sent another DVD on the 3rd which I received on the 4th (I think it was "Ray"). You state that I have been charged because I sent my final DVD back which was received on the 11th, which was after the billing date of the 4th. However you are charging me in relation to a DVD that was sent AFTER I had cancelled the account. I should NOT have been sent this DVD so I should NOT be charged on the basis of its late return. As I was not expecting to receive this last DVD (having cancelled the account) I was not available to return it immediately, hence you have only received it back on the 11th.

I trust the situation has been fully explained to you now. You cannot charge me a subscription on the basis of a DVD that was sent to me in error AFTER I had cancelled the free trial.

Please credit me as soon as possible.

Thanks

-Steven

Blogger Beta archives don't work

I recently switched to Blogger Beta and now none of my archives work anymore. The help for Blogger says to republish the blog. As it is nearly impossible to republish in Beta, I went to "Archives" saved my changes without making any changes, and was then given the option to republish. However, the archives still don't work.

Anyone got a fix?

Boxing and Bears

Awww look at the cute Panda Bears!



I tried going to boxing training at Oxford Uni for a few weeks. One of the things I was particuarly useless at was Skipping. This guy is a tad bit better than I was:

Mitchell and Webb in Oxford

We went to see Mitchell and Webb, stars of "Peep Show", at the New Theatre in Oxford tonight.

Was it good? Yeah it was quite good. "Yeah" said in that kind of high pitched yeah way. I wasn't ROFLMAO but I did occasionally LOL.

I was kind of expecting stand-up, but it was all scripted sketches.

My favourite sketch was the Nazis sketch. "Do you think we're baddies? We've got skulls on our hats.."

The Mime was funny, as was "Big Talk". Some bits were less so. As I overheard some amateur pundit mention as he walked past the bus stop, "The fat one (Mitchell or Webb) is funnier, he's got..." then he walked out of earshot.

The picture is of the stage curtain which had a big picture of Mitchell and Webb. I would have taken a picture of them on stage, but apparently that would have been a 'sad' thing to do. But then who am I to say what 'sad' is? I've come home from a comedy gig and come straight onto the computer to blog about it. Wendy is in bed, and here I am on the computer. I rock.

To be fair I wanted to take a picture of them and actually blog it from my mobile phone in the theatre. This is comparatively quite cool.

mobile blogging

mobile blogging
Originally uploaded by major_grooves.

Testing to see if i can blog photos from my phone

Partying Summertown Styleee

Jing, Miguel and a couple of Wendy's friend's came round last night for dinner and drinks.

I made Hunter's Chicken with Kailkenny (mash with cabbage and cream), both from my 'Scottish' cook book. I'm not really sure what is particularly Scottish about Hunter's chicken but it tasted pretty good!

We then went along to the Summertown Wine Cafe, which to Miguel's disappointment didn't serve any Bacardi. Nor did they serve cheese after 10pm. What they were happy to serve was fairly expensive wine. Still it was nice wine and I felt a bit so-fish-tika-ed.

Apparently the ladies toilets at the Wine Cafe are highly thought of. I can't comment on the gents because I was slightly drunk and my memory is a bit hazy. Maybe I didn't go...

After we'd rocked Summertown big-style, we headed into town (minus Wendy and her friends) to go to 'Maxwell's' nightclub. Hmmm, this place was a bit dodgy. Definitely near the bottom of my Oxford recommendations. Kind of like an American diner as a nightclub.

However, despite the dodgy club, my dancing was still spot-on. I drew a few admiring glances with my 'skipping dance' but decided to stop when I realised I looked like a complete moron skipping round a nightclub. Actually I have no idea when or why I stopped...

I got the nightbus home but, ummm, forgot to get off at my stop so had to walk back a bit. Reminded me of the days of the nightbus to Wembley when I'd wake up in Stanmore.

Today - hangover. After a while Wendy and I went into Oxford to meet Jing and Miguel for lunch at the Old Tom.

World Wide Webcams

It's a fairly old trick now, but if you use some particular Google queries you can get access to hundreds of unsecured webcams that are used as security cameras.

The query is: inurl:"ViewerFrame?Mode="

There are a few other queries you can use to find the webcams. One of the first places to mention this 'hack' was graffe.com, but it is also mentioned on theregister.co.uk and boingboing.net. Apparently you can also control people's printers with the correct queries. Dodgy stuff indeed!

Here is a site that has collected a whole bunch of these webcams in one place.


Here is a webcam (intentionally public) from the city centre in my home town, Dundee.

Finally here is a pretty good one of an African waterhole, where you can see antelopes, zebra etc.

BlockBuster and Screenselect (now LoveFilm)

I thought I would be clever and take the free trials to both these websites and get two months worth of DVDs.

Unfortunately both of them have decided to charge me for a months subscription even though I cancelled my free trial in time. Ba$tards!

However every cloud has a silver lining. This gives me a chance to test my complaining skills! I have exchanged many emails with both of them so far and I think I will win one fight and lose the other.

Other things to complain about are trains. I got on the train at Oxford to travel to London on Sunday. Then I sat on the train for half an hour in the station. The train was packed but I got a seat at least. Then they said they didn't know when the train would be able to leave. So after half an hour waiting I went to catch the Oxford Express to London. I should have just trusted the bus in the first place. How crap can the British trains be to just cancel and entire train after leaving you on it for 30min. Idiots!

Let the train tale the strain. Let the train take my arse, the bunch of useless morons. Wouldn't happen in Switzerland.

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SKI HOLIDAY!

We've booked our ski holiday for Feb next year. We will be staying in Chalet Martin near Gryon. Can't wait. I know nothing about the ski area or anything like that yet. It's been two or three years since I last went ski-ing so I am really mising it. Hopefully I am not too rubbish now. Wendy will be ski-ing for the first time so hopefully she enjoys it.

Pumpkin time

Tonight we went on the scary ghost walk which started and ended with a few drinks at the famous White Horse pub in Broad Street.

I carved a pumpkin which seemed to be very popular with the German tour guide who wanted many photos taken of it. I'm glad everyone seemed to like it.

I can't take full artistic credit for the design as I got it from Pumpkin Masters, although I took their smiley ghost and made him slightly less jolly. I might seriously consider getting one of their pumpkin template books next year and attempting something grand. Alternatively, I could go extreme! I need some artistic outlet and I think it is pumpkin carving!

I think my last attempt was a little more sinister looking.

Photo of pumpkin taken by Jing. That's JING! Jing took the photo!



Photo courtesy of Jing ©2006

Dodgy knees

I got a guy at work who is a former consultant orthapaedic surgeon to have a look at my knee, which I hurt while climbing earlier this year.

He gave my knee a pretty good exam, then told me he thinks the reason I have grown an "extra knee" is due to scar tissue. When I fell I must have had a slight haemorage in the soft tissue below the patella tendon, and after the swelling some scar tissue has formed. Because my tendon is now pushed in a funny position by the scar tissue, I now get pain in my knee when I walk. Apparently the scar tissue will go eventually, but until then there's nothing I can really do about it. It's not really serious and mean smy knee isn't really that buggered up so I can still ski next year. Yah!

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Went to an Oxjam gig tonight at the Zodiac. Was all in aid of Oxfam. The acts were quite decent but it probably could have done with more people in the crowd. Still, well done to Clare for organising it!

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The pumpkin crop is quite bad this year, but I will still endeavor to carve a nice pumpkin for tuesday's ghost walk. Pic is of my attempt two years ago.

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Lastly, we have a new shower! After a year of using one of those useless "stick it on the taps" things, we have had a proper shower fitted. Water pressure very high hmmmmmm.

Webcam

I've been using the webcam via MSN Messenger recently to keep in touch with my family. The picture is of a typical conversation I had with Andrew, Fraser and Julie. When the photo was take, Andrew was just in the middle of making a very interesting point about the Bank of England and its control over the UK interest rates.

What do you call a pelican with a pigeon in its mouth?

Hungry!

Yes! I German talk!

I admit to using a combination of my Oxford German dictionary and Babelfish to help me with my German writing. This is how Babelfish translates my previous post in German:

I learn German! I began my German lessons. They are simple a little, but forget I have many vocabulary and grammar. Once per week, I want to write a little German here. Please my German improves into the remark part!

I sound like Borat. Yessssss!

Ich lerne Deutsch!

Ich habe meine deutschen Lektionen mit Oxford University angefangen.

Sie sind ein bisschen einfach, aber ich have viele Wortschatz und Grammatik vergessen. Einmal pro Woche, ich will hier ein bisschen Deutsch schreiben.

Bitte verbessern meine Deutsche in die Bemerkungteil!

Go to Dundee, Do not pass Go, Do not collect £200.

The idiots at Hasbro though it would be fun to replace "Go to Jail" on the Aberdeen version of the game, with "Go To Dundee". Unsurprisingly, it caused an uproar in Dundee and they have dropped the plan. Maybe they're not so stupid though. Everybody in Aberdeen and Dundee must now now that an Aberdeen version of the game is coming out. That's the sort of advertising you can't pay for. Cynical marketing ploy perhaps?

Apparently the Dundee version is planned for 2009. Just enough time for everyone to forget about this story, then Hasbro can get similar exposure when they reveal the Dundee version will tell us to "Go to Fife"...

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Swedish versus British nightclubs. Can you tell the difference?

Warning! Link safe for work unless you are offended by ugly girls. Also do not open if you are offended by beautiful girls.


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Lastly, here's a song:

The Feeling - Never Be Lonely

3D Photos

How cool is this?! They take 2D photos and the computer can turn it into a 3D image!

Feed the sloth

Good vs Evil

David vs Goliath

Transformers vs Decepticons

Allies vs Axis

Ninjas vs Pirates

Tonight I fought a battle of my own: my hunger vs my laziness. Would I be so lazy that I would not cook anything to eat or would my hunger force me to eat something?

To give me a hint to the battle ahead I did a Googlefight for hungry vs lazy. It was an impressively close fight, with hungry just winning 64,100,000 to lazy's 63,500,000.

What the website couldn't take into account was the fact that I had quite a big lunch. So laziness won the real fight.

In the end I had to eat something though. So, tonight's tea was: two slices of cheese, three slices of bread with honey and one slice of bread with raspberry jam.

Unfortunately, I dropped the jam sandwich on my jumper and I have no jam or honey left for breakfast. Hmmm...


The Swiss Miss is here this weekend so I will be heading down to London tomorrow to see her and Rina and Keno et al.

Gym attendance

I've not been very good with the gym attendance over the past few weeks.

First I was ill for about a week, then I only managed to make it once last week. I was away with work Monday and Tuesday this week, then I slept in on Wednesday so didn't have time to pack my gym kit (I go during my lunch break). I didn't go today because I thought I would go tomorrow (I usually go Mon, Wed, Fri), but I am now going out for lunch tomorrow.

Next week I shall start afresh! I have been making decent progress with the weights so it would be a shame to waste it.

Now to help matters I am about to go to Freuds in Jericho, then Ocean & Collins. With Ocean & Collins I have to decide whether I am in the "love it" camp (Miguel & Jing) or the "hate it" camp (Just about everyone else I know including Wendy & Jo).

Happy Birthday Wendy!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful girlfriend!

Paulo Nutini Gig @ Zodiac, Oxford

Went to see Paulo Nutini at the Zodiac, Oxford tonight. Was a bit of a rush to get there and in the end I had to go by motorbike and meet Wendy there. I was worried I might be late for him, but no worries - I arrived after the second support band and Paulo took ages to get on the stage - people were starting to boo!

If you don't know his name, you might have heard the song "Jenny don't be hasty". Oh Jenny don't be hasty. That pie you made was rather tasty..." You can listen to his songs on his MySpace page. "Jenny..." has had nearly 200,000 listens!

The lad's nineteen and is from Paisley. He really needs to work on his stage presence. First off he's humfy backet. He should straigten up or he'll be stooped over the rest of his life. Then he sings most of his songs facing sideways to the crowd.

Worst though is his voice. I don't know many people from Paisely but they can't all sound that bad. I don't think it's his accent, it's just the way he speaks. I've never heard someone mumble so badly.

So, Paulo mate, if you read this - no one in the crowd has a clue what you are saying when you "attempt" to speak to the crowd. They're not talking back to you - they're saying things like "Eh? What? Pardon? Wtf?"

He looked a bit glaikit to be honest. Maybe he was wasted.

Anyway, he was pretty good. Has a "distinctive" voice. Kinda croakey. I only really knew the "Jenny" song, but there some other decent ones in there. Actually 2 of the songs have more listens than "Jenny" so maybe they are famous too.

Ok, I did have a couple of rubbish pics from my phone but for some reason they won't upload. Damn Blogger, grrrr...

I want a free plasma TV!

Okay so these things always seem like a scam at first, but I signed up with one of those "sign up for these offers and you get a free **insert fancy electrical goods item**"

From what I've read, if you actually sign up for the offers, which are usually free or no more than £10, you do actually get something. Not always what you thought you were getting, but usually something similar or a cash equivalent.

I guess the real thing that prevents most people completing it is that you have to sign one other person up who also completes all the offers.

The offers I have taken are:

I took out a free DVD trial at blockbusters.co.uk (I could have taken one out at ilovefilm.co.uk too (formerly screenselect) but I've already "done" them). So if you were to do it you could take the free trials with both the DVD companies.

The I took a £10 membership with Jackpotjoy. They claim to add £10 to your account once you make a deposit, but it is a bit of a con, as you can only use it for wagers, and can only withdraw any money, once you have bet 4xs your deposit (i.e. £80). Well I managed to wager £80 (winning and losing fairly evenly) and at one point I was up quite a bit. In the end I lost it all though. Ahhh, the perils of gambling. Steve loses £10! If I were to do it again, I would deposit £10 without accepting the "bonus" £10 and then withdraw my money straight away. Man, blackjack gets addictive!

So I have also signed up to a couple of hotel sites and have to sign up to 2 more services. Not decided which ones yet. The less I have to spend the better. I think there are still some free ones left to choose.

There are a few companies doing these referral programmes. I suppose with the high drop-out rate and the potential for securing longterm customers, they must make enough money to cover the costs of sending out a few TVs and laptops.

You do have to give them your email address, so to avoid opening the spam floodgates, I would advise you use a free online service, such as Yahoo mail

I reckon if three people got together and did "round-robin" referrals with these services, they could get some decent stuff!

Here is my link to sign-up and get a free plasma TV. Help me out and sign up!

Razorlight - America

Razorlight - America

A British band that have written a song that must surely become one of those classic songs that go on about "America". What is it with our love/hate relationship with the USA? If this was a song about Scotland it wouldn't be cool - it would be a Proclaimers song!

Listen and love, it makes me feel happy and sad at the same time:

(With the dubious legality of having this song on YouTube don't be suprised if the video disappears!)

Cock up!

Tonight I have mostly been drinking wine at the Summertown Wine Cafe with Kate.

Picture is of Josef being himself...

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A conversation at work led to a discussion of the origin of the phrase "cock-up" as in to "mess-up" or make a mistake. The initial assumption was that it was kind of rude!

However some Googling led to this explanation which suggests that it is militaristic, from the meaning of the work "cock" to "tip/angle" as in to "cock a gun or hat".

This lead me to, somehow, find this Burn's poem which I thought was quite funny and apt:

Johnie Lad, Cock Up Your Beaver

When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,
He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;
But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush,
We'll over the border, and gie them a brush;
There's somebody there we'll teach better behaviour,
Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!

A beaver is (apparently) a type of Scottish hat.


Singger snigger, guffaw guffaw!

Get your priorities straight!

I've just cancelled my free trial to Screen Select.

I was going to complain that they obviously treat the free trial people worse than actual subscribers as they had only sent my lowest priority movies (Alien Autopsy, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Jar Heads). However, I've just realised that priority level "1" is the one you most want to see and "3" is the lowest. It only explains that very clearly at the top of the page.

I guess I will have to wait to see The Libertine, Munich and Hostel. :S

What an idiot!

On the other hand it is a bit sneaky that they give you 21 days for this 5/6 free disc trial, when it is virtually impossible to rent all 5 or 6 DVDs, 1 at a time, in that time period. Also I reckon the gits are going to charge me GBP9.99 for one month's subscription as the DVD has to be back tomorrow by the latest and I only sent it today.
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In other breaking news, tonight I was grating parmesan cheese onto Wendy's pasta dish, when the cheese slipped out of my hand so I grated my fingers. Ouch!

I carried my old fridge down three flights of stairs only slightly damaging the concrete steps and worrying Wendy that I was going to kill myself. Probably should have got help.

Finally my nose is sore, swollen, red and looks stupid. Meh.

Top 100 Cartoons - Nonsense!

Channel 4 did another one of those "Top 100" programmes last night - the Top 100 Cartoons. I only watched the first 20 or so, but the listing was dominated by American cartoons, lots of which began in the 1950s.

Looking at the results list, there were very few of the classics that I mentioned in my last post - the 1980s treasures such as Ulysses 31!

So to address this oversight here are a couple more of my favourites:

Pole Position!


Mysterious Cities of Gold!

No Embrace

Was meant to be going to see Embrace play at Oxford Brookes with Kate tonight, but the gig has been cancelled because one of the band members is ill. Now I assumed that would mean it was the lead singer that was ill. I mean if the drummer or bassist is ill, you just replace him with some session musician who know the songs right? I mean no-one recognises drummers and bassists anyway.

Well that's completely wrong, because it's Embrace's bassist that is ill!

Haven't done much this weekend except work on the new version of the t-shirt website (link to current version), which to be honest is boring me to tears. I can't wait to finish it and get on with selling some more of them.

Did have a pretty good night out on Friday night at the Zodiac with friends from work. Hoorah for pay day!


Were the 1980s the peak of televisual excellence? Reminisce at Retro Junk. How many times have you had the Do you remember this cartoon? conversation. Possibly one of the best conversation topics around - never gets boring!

I can't embed the videos from there, so here is one from YouTube...

Ulysees 31. I loved this cartoon so much!



I'm going to post up the intros to my favourite cartoons over the next few weeks.

Nostalgia rocks! :D