Jugs

One of the Leam Fans contacted me during the week and asked for my email address, has he had something for me (he promised it wasnt a virus). He then uploaded it to youtube and shared it around the messageboard for all to see. Canny likeness really...

Wot No Blog..!?

Whoops, I kinda got busy, but didnt if you see what I mean. Its nearly been a month of no blogging, so to summarise, heres whats happened;

• I had 7 days off work (to return today, and finding out I have another 7 left to take before end of March)
• Andy Gregory came to sort my front door out
• Leamington FC lost TWICE.
• I celebrated my 32nd Birthday, receiving many fantastic gifts.
• NUFC beat Liverpool FC, but lost to Fulham.
• Beat Rich in RailRoads three times
• Helped produce a Fanzine for Leamington FC in less than 3 weeks (40 pages too)
• Flirted with someone
• Found a virus on my PC
• Lost Series 3 has started again
• As has Heroes

Wii Multimedia Station

I spent some time over lunch time working out how to stream video and audio over the network onto my Wii. Although I bought a HDD recorder over the festive period, it doesnt have a network link, which is a bit pants, but thats technology. Speaking to Rich, we knew there were ways of doing it, just needed a chance to think about it.

Anyhoo, after checking a couple of forums, the easiest way I could find was to use Orb, download the software, create an account and set the location on your PC where your music and video sits, let Orb go off and do its searching. By default, Orb sets up the Windows usual locations for these media types, including the default iTunes library location.

From the Wii side of things, you need to then go to the Internet Channel, use the Wii Browser, point it to mycast.orb.com - login with your user ID / Password, and select the file(s) from the different subsections.

The only annoying thing is the Wii Browser bar at the bottom of the screen - of which, I dont know if you can get rid of it, or at least hide it.

Wii're sorted

Saturday's training session got cancelled, so I used the morning to catch up with some well deserved sleep. Meanwhile, Rich decided to use his time more effectively and decided to take a trip to Birmingham on a Wii search. Annoyingly, he got lucky, and tried to contact me to see if I could get up there as the sales assistant said she could put one behind the counter, but couldnt sell a second one to Rich - incase he flogged it on ebay.

Since then, I've had a full weekend of him going on about how fantastic this Wii is, how great the games are, and how his Wii fitness is 83 years old. I admit, I was jealous, and a little miffed, but kept the mission in mind. I phoned up Game in Leamington yesterday, rather than walking up and wasting time, and they said they had nothing come in. Sadly then, I had to go into the office - the first time for 2 months, which is pretty good going.

I had a walk into town today, after rescheduling a meeting, and got to Game. I spoke to the sales assistant, which now had a restraining order on me for hassling him for Wii's, but rather than the traditional "no, and get out" I had "Yes, only got one in today, want to buy it?". So, 3 nanoseconds later, I was leaving the shop, protecting my carrier bag with my life, lightly jogging home to get it setup.

Have to say, its fantastic, and I've only played Wii Sports today, consisting of Wii Bowling, Wii Tennis and Wii Baseball - and currently a little knackered. Oh the fun!

CSI #2

Just by chance, I checked my bank statement this morning, and yes, I know I should do it a little more regularly, but I dont. Turns out my out goings over the Christmas period are larger than my incomings, so I've now declared a CSI (cost saving initiative) for the next couple of months.

As most people do, they join a gym, use the gym for about 3 days and then bomb it off, and fair play, so I took the decision to cancel my membership today. I wandered up, and expected that scene from Friends, where they bring out the pretty assistant and presses cleavage together, making you upgrade to gold level, however, disappointed tho I was, they pushed a form in my face, told me to sign it and oh, I can still use the gym til the end of the month, even tho they'll cancel the direct debit for the 15th - ace!

No more impulse buys from my current account will happen, I've decided, shopping, football and the odd Happy Friday will happen. Luckily, I now have enough TV and movies to watch for the next month or so, and with Heroes and Lost starting up against shortly, I'll have enough on my hands. On top of that, I intend on still eating more healthy and stepping up my "canal fitness" sessions.

The one thing that could be taken as none CSI, but in a way, will help, is this Wii sham that appears to be happening. I was going to add it to my credit card anyhow, but thought, bit of fitness, bit of fun, not really harming anyone, is it - just got to get my damn hands on one first. The tip off I was given kinda ended in a dark tunnel, and after two days, they've not had anymore in, which in my situation, is probably a good thing.

Wii're on a mission

Rather jealous of the new Wii, I have to say. I wasnt too impressed when the reports came out in mags and technical forums etc, so I'm the first to admit, I was wrong, and I should have put my name on the waiting list. Needless to say, Captain Headworth done exactly the same, thinking that come 2nd / 3rd week into January, they should be more available and maybe pick one up for even cheaper - ha! fools that we are.

Having had a sneak play at Wii Sports on New Years Eve, it gets better, and with Rich getting back from Tunisia, we're on the look out for a couple of consoles. We both refuse to pay inflated ebay prices of 350 quid for the console alone and we've spent the majority of the weekend researching areas where we can obtain.

Tomorrow is looking hopeful, and with a bit of luck, the wind blowing in the right direction, we might be able to pick a couple up, being in the right place, right time, and using our mason handshakes.

Of course, the only reason I'm after one is to increase my health ... guv

New Year, New Rules

We have MC joining a gym, John going off jogging & Debbie being generally healthy, so I thought I'd get on this bandwagon and sort myself out. Slowly at first of course, after all, I did get back from Newcastle full of cold thanks to my mum's storage heaters, that appear to have sucked every ounce of water out of me. First of all, I started shopping at Sainsbury's, to reduce my weekly shopping (see, bit of CIS too), and also get a wider range of healthier stuff. Yes, I bought some Haribo too, but you have to treat yourself once in a while. I dont know what it is, but of late, I've really got myself into peppers, so appear to be having them with anything that doesn't move. The Haribo thing is Philippa's fault - after the last visit, she had this massive tub of starmix, of which I had to eat the majority, still not making a dint in the mass pile - magic you see. Luckily, I cant find the tubs down here, but prefer SuperMix, less problems with my fillings - anyhow I digress, once again.

So yes, I've been eating a little more healthier, with salad, fruit and veg, and less ready meals and deep fried mars bars (that bit isnt true, snickers maybe). On top of that, having forked out for a nice fancy dan running jacket, I decided to take it for an airing on Monday. It was a little damp, a little rainy and windy, and was worried incase I fell into the canal, but you know, if you dont go out, you wont do it - so I did. The jacket is fantastic, and houses my nice nano pretty well, and to top that, I managed to do from our bridge to the goose bridge without stopping. Being full of cold that I am, I was gasping for air at the other end, with bits coming out of my mouth, which wasnt very nice (sorry if you're eating and reading this).

I'd already signed up to 5aside football on Thursday (which has now been cancelled) and the usual slot on Wednesday night and came back with a tight hamstring - so going to take it easy til Friday and hope I can stretch it out. I havent played football for around a month or so now, so was nice getting a couple of goals, even though I could have easily had a hatrick, if I wasnt looking at the ground while running at the same time - oh well.

Oh me too my monkey chum

Fantastic - Al and Monkey are back - funniest set of adverts from the now dead ITV digital, brought back to you by a different company. Even better, advert for Tea.

"What on Earth!"

Leo Sayer ...

.... in a room full of freaks, oddballs and a scary bird. No, not big brother.

New Year Party 2006/2007

Once again, a massive thanks to John and Debbie for a fantastic New Years Party, with loads of entertainment. This year's party was based around the theme of 2006, basic, but also hard to think of things, and I decided to go as a Cyberman from Doctor Who. Debbie went as the scary student nurse I had a fling with, so had to tell everyone the full story of being acused of many things. John went as Steve Irwin, Troy turned up as the Christmas Tree from the Doctor Who special (which linked in pretty well with mine), then there was Laura, MC and Super Gary who turned up as Come Dancing contenstants.

Some of the usual suspects werent there for different reasons, so was a little more calm than normal. After music, snacks and socialising, John got his Wii out and I was introduced to Wii Sports, which I laughed at, but after playing 6 rounds of Wii Boxing with Tom, I woke up on the 3rd with my arms completely strained.

Singstar came out, and I was talked into singing with one of the guests. I really do hate that SingStar game, not because its a crap game - its actually pretty good, its because I just cant sing, that being the object of the game, kinda ruins it for me.

As I was pretty lazy, and didnt take my camera, here is a link to John's Photos.

Nada Nada Nada Sleep

I thought I'd caught up with my sleep over the Xmas / New Year period and felt pretty healthy and after what was a fantastic new years party at John and Debbies - what could go wrong. Well, on the 2nd, around 10:30pm, I was about to head to bed, catch up on some sleep from the night before when the buzzer went, I decided to ignore it, thinking if it was important enough, and its someone I know, they'd call me - right ?

I went to go brush my teeth, get ready for bed etc etc, when I noticed someones feet on my side pavement. Knowing I'd been to Sainsbury's to do some shopping earlier and knowing I closed the door correctly, I paniced, opened the window as the fella was about to walk backout the door, and asked what he was up too. To be fair, I'm no policeman, but I dont think he was really dressed for breaking and entry - wearing a long scarf, with them tassles at the end, and he came up with an excuse he was trying to get into the Lock and Dock. I told him I was calling the police, he said there was no reason to and disappeared.

I did in fact call the police, which gave me fantastic advice such as, "make sure you're door is locked" and "if anything happens, call us back, use the 999 number". Meanwhile my heart was pumping so loudly and any noise was waking me up straight away, thus vr little sleep, putting me back to square one - dammit.

Historical Football

No real reason to this post, just found it and laughed. Even tho we gave the title to Man U, it certainly spelt out an interesting season for me.

One and only chances

I returned from Newcastle this afternoon, after a pretty much good Christmas - My mother tried to feed me up as much as she could, however, I held strong. Mainly because most of my friends have moved away from Newcastle, and those who still live in the area were working, it was nice to chill out. However, this wasnt enough for my mother, suggesting I just went up to the old town ( the night before, there was a death, of which I knew the lad - er nar [ old skool NR here ]). It was suggested I went in search of Doctor Peter Williams as per the Trauma Series on BBC1, an old best mate. We grew up together, from primary school, junior school into comp, and yes, we had fall outs, one of which will remain infamous, however I made the effort to get in touch and try to remain friends - which didnt happen. This could be because of his strange scouse/geordie accent that he appears to have adopts. I think the coming year will have alot of "one fault and out" rules - maybe I am becoming more machine than man, maybe I just cant be arsed.

Qualified.

Lastnight, was the final night of the FA Coaching Badge - level 1, where we had to present a drill to an assessor, get our folders marked and put on massive smiles. I was 2nd in the list, which was a little nerve wrecking, but I suppose it was best to get it out the way and done with. I'd pulled my hamstring a couple of weeks ago, which meant taking part was going to be hard, but felt that I needed to support the rest of the chaps, as rather than getting kids to do the session, it was up to the group to represent the kids.

You're given 10 minutes to introduce yourself, do health and safety checks, explain the drill, do the drill and do a debrief. I managed to get a good report back on my drill session, even tho it was a pretty simple one, stating I described the game well, gave good demo and approached the whole thing very well. From then on, 14 other people had to do their drill, where one of which (my practice drill from 3 weeks ago, dups) I got blasted in the bollocks - so not only a tight and straining hamstring, but had stinging balls - not good for a Monday night really.

Anyhoo, just before 9pm, we were all given the good news that we'd all passed and we are Qualified FA Coaches at Level 1. Was sad to see some of the people go, but more importantly, I have my Monday nights back to myself - yay!

Day out in the village

After a quiet night out with the Happy Friday gang, it was an early start on Saturday, for this was Leamington FC's visit to Croydon in the FA Vase. A decision was made to take an early train, and make a day of it, rather than watching a game, coming back - just a waste of a day. So, up at 7 it is then, and a knock on the door at 7.15 by Pete (not following instructions of leaving his gaff at 7:30) and me still in towel and with my KISS lookalike makeup on, then down to the train station for 7:50 - ready for depart at 07:58 - eek. We discussed this time the night before and came to the conclusion that there isnt such a time before 09:00 on a weekend. It was so early, it was dark, so early, my eye sockets were hurting. Meanwhile, John and Debbie were grinning at their decision to leave at 11am or something.

We got to Reading and then swapped onto a train into London - getting there for around 10am - we got the tube to Covent Garden, and in our early morning state, decided to walk up the stairs, rather than get the lift - 10 minutes later and out of breath, we decided Oxford street would be a great idea. We popped into the Apple Store, Nike Town and most importantly Hamleys - giving me a crackig idea for New Years party.

We ended up towards Victoria after a wander round, had a quick pint and caught the train over to Croydon. We met fellow Brake fans in the George Pub on the high street, then arranged to meet John and Debbie there after they got off the train. We then piled onto the Tram to the Stadium, which took around 20 mins, after finding its a one way system, and we double backed on ourselves - and this is from instructions by someone who lives in Croydon - dur.

The stadium was exactly that, a running track, a pitch in the middle and stands at either side - meaning you're not very close to the pitch - a little like Tipton Town. We dominated the first half, lucky in the 2nd, and grabbed a last minute goal, taking us through to the last 32. The match report can be found at http://www.leamingtonfc.co.uk/history/2006-07/s-m025.php

We left the majority at the Stadium, got a train into London, left John and Debbie to get some food, just after Pete wandered into a Cheese shop, asking if they sold Cheese. We used the Tube, because we could, and at one point loosing each other after us running towards a train, me getting on, Pete not, and us making everyone laugh on the train by shouting "NOOOOOOOOO" then people asking where we're heading towards, and me not knowing because Pete is directing. Luckily, I got off at the next station, waited 15 minutes and him turning up like nothing had happened. We then window shopped, grabbed a sandwich, and headed to a train, which was there ready to depart. Getting back into Leam around 9.30, I watched Match of the Day - went to bed and had the best night sleep I've had for years. A fantastic day, both for football, getting out the goldfish bowl of Leamington and laughing at random things.

In Love...

I've thought long and hard about this over the last week and a bit, but I am in love. Its not one of these fads, not one of these impossible "I love a model" style comments, I'm in love. She might not know, but she has everything, class, looks, talent and sexy smile. Unfortunately, she's Angela from the Magic numbers. Fortunately (for me - due to the lack of interest on the internet) I managed to get the "best" photo I could find on the internet (due to lack of interest) - which basically means no ones stalking the poor lass. She's in the right, looking vr foxy and a little kinda pixel-ated, like the rest of her band member chums.

Meh, a little interwebd up, and I wouldnt even mind if she had to go on tour for 6 months a year - phwar!

oh oh oh new job

OK, so I wasnt doing very well this morning, when I accidently slept in for the first day of my new job, but you know, thats what first days are for. Its not like I had to be in the office (I hope I didnt anyhow) and I am still doing quite alot of my old job, so, I think I owed it to myself. I'm not kidding myself that the new job is going to be vr easy, I know its going to be hard, and I know for a fact its going to be stressful, but a different kind of stress. I've been flogging myself for the last 2 years, with not very many people to support me, nor even talk too. I think you could quite safetly say, that if you know me pretty well, my mood and persona over the last couple of years has changed for the worst.

I'm hoping this new job is going to be a different kind of stress, and actually allow me to learn things, unlike the previous job where I was fire fighting all the time and looking after the team, rather than my own needs.

Some photos from the magic numbers...

Good Books - Crazy Man shaking lemon and orange in the name of music.

Magic Numbers sign on the way out of Academy

Magic Numbers

I've been waiting a while for this gig to turn up, and I have to say, I wasnt disappointed at all. I'd asked Nomes, Palin, Bellis and Headworth if they fancied coming up with me, the latter deciding it wasnt his scene, so at 18 quid a ticket, you cant grumble much. We'd arranged to gather in Brum before the doors opened (7pm) to grab some grub and we done just that, where we ordered the smallest pizzas in pizza hut. When someone says individual, it really suggests that and after sniffing mine, it was gone - oh well.

We got to the Carling Acadamy where Nomes was checked for her tissues, looking rather suspect, we gathered around the bar ordered pints (at £3.30 each) and looked at the official tshirts and thingymebobs. I bought a nice navy blue tshirt with Magic Numbers written over it. I also purchased a set of "action" figures - because I could - and technically they do look vr funky.

Soon after, the first support act came on, they looked rather young and the lead singer looked like Max from Hollyoaks - although we all denied knowing what Max from Hollyoaks looks like - being pretty old and not wishing to embarress ourselves. They were called the Good Books, they were young, funky tho, myself and Bellis decided they were a little like The Cure / Paul Weller. Thanks to the magic of MySpace, you can actually listen to a couple of their tracks - they only had a 30 minute track, but you get the feeling they actually enjoyed it, rather than a band being asked to tour and being in the background - if you see what I mean ..? At one point, the drummer was shaking a Lemon and an Orange - all very strange.

The last support act was Dave Kitt, he started the set off good, and sounded a little like old REM with a mixture of the Cranberries (you must not let it linger). Again, magic of MySpace, you can click on there and listen to a couple of his tracks.

After the 4th pint and a visit to the loo, The Magic Numbers came on, with a nice funky track to open with and get the crowd going. As mentioned earlier, they looked like they enjoyed doing the gig, rather than being forced to do it by fat cats with cigars. One of the songs, merged into "rulling up the hill" by kate bush, which kind of blew my mind but made me chuckle at the same time. At the end, it was announced that this was the Good Books lastnight with the Magic Numbers, and had some kind of on stage party with all support acts and the magic numbers doing some kinda barn dance fest.

Has to be THE best gig I've ever been too, dont know if its because of the mix of music & song, or the fact it wasnt that packed and you could actually breathe (and maybe its because we werent the oldest people there for a change). All that was left now was the last train back to Leam, via all the stations in the world. Still smiling - will update with photos once I get my sham together.

Magic Mr Ben

Football is a strange thing, it brings people together in different ways, it gives you confidence being around people you like (John, Debbie, Pete, Vince etc) and its like being part of a massive family which you never knew you had.

Lets all sing together, "Ben Mackey is Magic, he wears a magic hat, he used to play for racing, he left them coz they're crap"