Just signed up to Lloyd's 7s

Looks like i'm getting a day off in May to play in Lloyd's 7s.  I managed to get in the semi final last time I was in it.  Should be good fun.  Unlimited booze and the day off work.  Nice.  Unfortunately they want us to go to training next Tuesday...

Broken wrist?

I hurt my wrist playing rugby a couple of months back and it's still not much better.  It's generally fine in most everyday use but certain things cause a fair amount of pain.  April's fed up with me complaining about it so I went to the doctor last Friday to get it checked out.

He couldn't see anything immediately wrong with it but told me to get it x-rayed just in case.  I had my x-rays on Wednesday morning but they were inconclusive so were getting referred to a doctor.

The hospital I went to was amazing though, brand spanking new, Pembury.  I turned up at 8:30 and was out of there by 9:05, just missed out on free parking.

One thing that did annoy me though was the route from the car park to the hospital.  I had to go through a winding path all the way down turning at least 5 times till I got to the bottom.  I think it's fair enough to improve access of the disabled but to make everyone else walk 5 times that distance is ridiculous.  What about a set of stairs?

I know a song that'll get on your nerves...

We've been watching Harry Hill's TV burp on TV recently and I can't get one of his songs out of my head.  And after telling April that fact she too has the same problem.  If you watch the show maybe you'll start humming it in your head too.

The song in question goes like this

Amanda Lamb
Amanda Lamb
Everybody Loves Amanda Lamb

No need to thank me

Amanda Lamb
Amanda Lamb
Everybody Loves Amanda Lamb

Amanda Lamb
Amanda Lamb
Everybody Loves Amanda Lamb

Amanda Lamb
Amanda Lamb
Everybody Loves Amanda Lamb

Amanda Lamb
Amanda Lamb
Everybody Loves Amanda Lamb

X-ray

I'm going to get my right wrist (no jokes please) x-rayed on Wednesday morning.  I went to see my doctor because my wrist still hurts two months after hurting it playing rugby.  Not because of it hurting too much, but because April forced me due to the fact that I keep winging about it.

Anyway, the doctor has told me to get it x-rayed at our local hospital, I was busy today and have head office in tomorrow so will get it checked out early on Wednesday morning before work.

Interesting the area needing to be x-rayed is my anatomical snuff box area.

Well, that was better than a kick in the teeth

Just had a salary review and bonus meeting with my boss and it was better than I expected.  Prior to the meeting I had a figure in my mind as to what i'd be 'happy' with and the bonus was bigger.  And that's pretty good as I wasn't actually expecting much at all, especially as our CEO described our bonus pool as a bonus puddle due to the fact we made a loss last year.

Again my salary hasn't gone up much which is disappointing due to inflation but i've got an internal interview over the next couple of weeks for a new manager level role.  I'm certainly not favourite to get it but it should open up a few opportunities for me to progress afterwards.  If not there are always other places to work.

Good music

I went to our local pub (Punch and Judy) last night with April after work and not one but 2 people told me that my musical choices on the juke box were most excellent, the later even shook my hand as we left.

Perhaps i'm waisted in insurance, maybe there's time for me to retrain as a radio DJ.  Not sure if there's much of a market for 1990's indie / rock DJs with all the current drivel out there.

Not much of a bonus this year

My company didn't do too well in 2011 so we've been warned that we're not due much of a bonus this year.  Boo!  I can't really complain as when we do well the company really does reward us but it would be nice to get something.  We should get the letters today / tomorrow.  Whatever it is we get it paid into our accounts a week today. 

Luckily our household will be getting a stonking bonus this year however as April has performed very well in her new role. I am so jealous!


I can only hope she remembers me... I seem to remember giving her a few hundred pounds last year (or year before)  to buy a pen when I got my bonus.  What a lovely husband I am.

Finished!

I've just finished a major bit of work for our head office.  Pheew!  I've had loads of help from a team mate who volunteered to help (sucker) but we've managed to get it done with 2 days spare.  Now for the fun part.  2 guys from Japan are coming over next week for an informal audit.  Yeah!  I've now got a day and a half fully booked in with them.  Doesn't sound that informal to me.  I can't wait. 

Why haven't I been consulted?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17432194

Researchers have updated HadCRUT - one of the main global temperate records, which dates back to 1850.

My spreadsheet now has new conditional formatting based on what the average temperature is for that month so you can easily see if it should be this warm / cold for the time of year.  "Oooh fancy" I hear you all cry.

I'm not racist BUT...

The idiot that wrote racist comments about Fabrice Muamba has been found.  What a twat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-17434587

"I'm not racist and some of my friends are from different cultural backgrounds."

First game at no.10

I played my first game at number 10 on Saturday and we won 12-10, I've played the off minute here and there due to injuries but never before a full match. 

I think we made it hard for ourselves and probably should have scored one or two more but we got the win after travelling for 1h45 each way to deepest darkest Thanet (East Kent). Good job we had the 'party bus' where we all pay £10 each to hire one of Tonbridge Grammar School for Girls' mini buses and to get a shed load of cans of beers for the way back.  Bargain.

Nelly the Elephant has never been sung finer.

How odd

Just watched Equilibrium again and spotted Brian Conley.  How odd, how did he ever get cast in that?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/fullcredits#cast

It was only a matter of time before...

...the lasers were attached.

"You mean that I actually have frickin' sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their frickin' heads?"

The dictator's dream: Gaddafi's son ordered cruise ship complete with shark tank
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/9147528/The-dictators-dream-Gaddafis-son-ordered-cruise-ship-complete-with-shark-tank.html

Ha, ha! £50 is mine

YouGov finally paid out!  Suckers!

SC Million Pound Idea no.1

Mobile phone augmented reality electronic pub quiz answer generator. (I need to work on the name and the acronym MPAREPQAG)
Here are some examples of augmented app technology that are currently available
http://www.iphoneness.com/iphone-apps/best-augmented-reality-iphone-applications/
They basically interpret information based on what the mobile phones camera sees, it then adds to the image shown on the screen.

An example of this is translating text. You point your phone at a menu written in a foreign language it the reads the text, translates the words then replaces the words on the screen with the English ones. Brilliant.

My idea is more or less the same but you point your camera at the pub quiz machine, it reads the question, finds the answer either by having a database of pub quiz questions or by googling, then tells you which answer to pick.

I’ve had a quick google for it and I think I’ve came up with it first. It may be a little illegal and you’d have to go to lots of pubs but I think it’d work.

You Gov' to be kidding

A month since I redeemed my 5,000 You Gov points I am still waiting for my £50!  I sent them an e-mail yesterday to see what was going on.  Here is their response.

We aim to make payment within four weeks of redmeption. Unfortunately we have experienced some technical problems with the bank transfers and payment may take an additional 7 days. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.



Hmm...  cheeky so and sos.

Robot Chicken Star Wars

Robot Chicken Star Wars on Sci-Fi tomorrow from 10:30.  I've not seen it before but the clip looked pretty funny.  It'll never be as good as family guy but i'm sure i'll like it.

I've missed a fair few games this season

But this one is one i'd really like to have played in.  My team win 133-5 on Saturday before April's party, unfortunately I was helping April.  I may even have scored.

http://www.tjrfc.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1656%3A4s-thanet-home-league&catid=45%3Aseniors-match-reports&Itemid=123

Todd and the Book of Pure Evil

Any one watched Todd and the Book of Pure Evil yet?  Sci-fi channel.

Just watched the first episode and it's reasonably funny.  Kind of like The Pick of Destiny crossed with Glee in a series.

2nd time in a week!

Just ordered a twirl from the vending machine at work and this time got two.  He he.  Don't worry, I didn't eat two, I passed the second on to my team who shared it.

Looking for new music?

You can't do much wrong with getting the Black Keys latest effort. I saw them live 4 years or so ago. Brilliant then, brilliant now. Awesome album.

Good timing from the boys

Good timing from SI, Sports Interactive that is.  As soon as i'd made my target (get my new stadium with West Ham) I was going to start a new football manager game.

They have now (finally) updated their database to include the January transfer updates so I can play a more up to date game.  Unfortunately Liverpool didn't really buy any one so it's going to be tough.  Can't do much worse than the current real life Liverpool team.  7th?  And behind Newcastle!!!???

Jackpot! I feel like i've won the double

After years of practise, I finally managed to get two bars of chocolate out of the vending machine with one operation.  My choice of a twix hit a precariously placed kit-kat on the way down.

And to top it off someone had left 10p in the machine too.

They say good things happen in 3s what else will happen today?

Qualifications needed

Being able to spell statistics would do for a start.  I spotted this at a recruitment agency near work.  Idiots.

I ran this post through word before posting it, you know what i'm like.  I know very well that my spelling, grammar and all the rest is terrible.

Lightspeed

I thought we were over winter.  Driving back from Bristol on Sunday this weekend I was caught in a snow storm.  It was following the same path as me so I was stuck in it for over an hour.  I probably shouldn't have taken a photo whilst in it but hey, I did.  I'm a rebel.

Bristol was fun though, although I did have to sleep on an air matress that decided to deflate during the night (not because of my weight..., it must have had a slow puncture)

Friday night

We went to a book launch on Friday night.

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2012/01/01/the-book-of-spitalfields-life/

April's ukulele group were asked to perform a couple of songs. They did very well but in the crowded church it was difficult to hear. Here are some photos of some of the eclectic mix of people from around the area.

Who lives in a house like this?

Conscious that Lloyd Grossman would not be able to describe to c-list celebrities the fact that I live in my house.

I currently have one corner of the house that's mine where I have my National Lampoon moose mug, Metallica water bottle and American Football beer container. But that's it.  April has now agreed to let me have my Police Academy photo up on the wall of our en-suite. Yeah!

Foiled

It turns out that because i'd been to Thailand in the last 6 months I can't give blood.  Boo!

As chance would have it they will be getting some superior premium Clark blood anyway.  My brother was due for his appointment 5 minutes later.  What are the chances of that?

We both work in the city.
We both give blood.
But the blood guys come round every month or so and they have appointments booked all day.  I'd like to see the nurse's face when he turns up.

Surely all prisons are "anti-jail break"

BBC News story about a new anti-jail break prison in Mexico.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17221944

29 pints

I'm off to give blood for the 29th time this afternoon.  Ouch, that's a lot of blood.  I even think i've done it a few more times than that.

http://www.blood.co.uk/

I really think everyone should do it.  Just given them a call and arrange an appointment at your nearest venue.  There isn't really an excuse.  Unless of course you don't have blood or have acid for blood like an alien.

Interesting purchase

I transferred over some money into Shaz’s bank account the other day as payment for his stag do in May. I typed in his name and account details and it gave me an option to add a reference.

An opportunity I couldn’t resist. But what should I write? I didn’t want to be too rude. Guess which one was mine.

With the joke being so good, I did the same with my brother when paying for a holiday we're taking in a couple of months.

Off to Bristol

I'm off to Bristol on Saturday.  I haven't been back (not properly) for a couple of years.  I'm meeting up with a four old friends, the majority of those i'm still in touch with.  It's a shame that i've lost touch with so many of the others but I guess we've all drifted apart.

As usual it's forecast to rain with sunny spells.  I remember when I first went to Bristol for threshers week back in 1999, it rained every day for the best part of a month.  Great.  Saying that, when the sun does come out it's a great city.  Many an afternoon was spent on the waterfront with a pint of cider in had.  Perhaps that's why I only got a Desmond.