Random notes on a Saturday night

Just a few notes for the time being.

• As we speak it is the Pop Idol final. I like Mark, Lorraine likes Michelle - at least one of us wins!
• Both Lorraine and I had our Christmas work "do" yesterday. Lorraine got in from her night out just before 1am, I got back from my lunch at 8.30pm (yes, it was a lunch). Nothing too dramatic or funny happened this year, just one instance of someone referring to their George Foreman grill as a "George Formby".
• Palace's game with Reading has just finished, with Palace winning 3-0. The game was live on Sky, and when Andy Johnson scored Palace's first goal I let out an enormous shout of "Yes!" Unfortunately Cookie was alongside me on the sofa at the time, and he got a bit frightened. I gave him enough of a fuss to earn forgiveness, but when I slid onto the floor to celebrate Wayne Routledge scoring the second Cookie also went onto the floor, not to return! Oops...

My Best Friend's, Er... Visit

Yep, Neil was up this weekend. Managed to really enjoy ourselves, even though we didn't get in the usual mad games of NHL 2003 on the PC.

(We've already said we're making up for that next time - we're going to have an epic play-off battle!)

Had a big Sunday lunch today, for which we invited our friends Lucy and Douglas round for. Lorraine was up at 9am this morning to put the Roast Beef on, so I'm glad to say her hard work paid off. Lunch was lovely.

Got the week off. Should be a nice relaxing time.

A late addition to the Christmas list

This week I've been starting work at 9.30am. The problem has been that Lorraine has been starting at 7.30am, and as a result I've been getting into Glasgow at about 8.15am (there's nowt to do in Motherwell before 9am, so you're best off commuting on one of the really early, quiet trains).

Reverting to old habits I've been in Borders for opening time, and have taken myself up to the second floor. On Monday I found out that their sports department has multiple copies of "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis in stock. I picked up a copy and started flicking through it. It was hard to put it down!

It looks at the Oakland Athletics and how they go about their Baseball business. It reads very easily and if you like Baseball (like moi) it is absolutely compelling.

Hinting over!

Not the best weekend

Well, on a sporting front anyway. Palace lost 4-1 at Preston on Saturday, and then the Dolphins lost in New England last night (a result which locked up the AFC East for the Patriots). I have to say that at about 11pm last night I was kicking an empty bottle of Diet Coke around the kitchen. I wasn't happy.

Why do all my teams have to become utterly useless? In two games last week the Ducks (yes, the Stanley Cup Finalists of six months ago) conceded thirteen goals in two games. Just when I didn't think it could get any worse I read that the Braves will be cutting their payroll for the upcoming season. Great.

It didn't even feel that I had an especially productive weekend doing anything. At least Lorraine enjoyed herself - she visited Ibrox last night for the first time, and Rangers beat Dundee United 2-1.

On the bright side Neil is coming up for the weekend on Friday. And I heard the Lightning Seeds' song "Marvellous" on the radio for the first time in years last night. I'm tempted to make it my theme song for next year:

"Things could be marvellous,
Things could be fabulous... soon."

Good song on a bad day.

JFK - 40 years on

Well it is now over 40 years on and still the debate rages. Sunday night saw another programme on the topic ("The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy" on BBC2), and it seems that most people who saw it have now accepted that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone assassin as freely as they previously accepted that there was a conspiracy behind Kennedy's murder.

Even my best friend Neil and I were talking about this on the phone last night. We took opposite views on the subject, during which time I suggested the following (points which I had made elsewhere on Monday):

A few things that have come to mind upon what I've seen of last night's programme so far (not seen it all, but taped it).

1) Why did it take 40 years for it to come out that Connelly was sitting below and just inside of JFK? Why the need for the whole "Magic Bullet Theory" as reported by the Warren Commission?

2) In like manner, why is it only now that Oswald's record as a "sharpshooter" has come to light? Again, why shoot him from behind when the easier shot for a lone gunman is when the motorcade approaches the School Book Depository from Houston Street?

3) If Oswald was the assassin how on earth could the authorities let someone into the building holding him with a gun? Think about it, when we go to a football game involving a "notorious" opponent we all get searched. Yet in a far more serious situation (security-wise) and with far fewer people one person gets through and manages to get off a fatal shot at the alleged assassin. Bit convenient, no?

4) If there was no other shooter why have so many people who have testified otherwise gone missing or died in suspicious circumstances?

What worries me more than anything else is the way a lot of people stop thinking logically about things. The facts behind the assassination will not result in JFK regaining his life, or anyone being convicted of the crime. However if people stop thinking logically about things like this, what else might they stop thinking logically about?

It is time to look beyond what we are told, apply our minds to the information we have, step back and make logical, informed decisions over the things which matter most.

Being busy!

Why no update for so long? Well, there are a number of reasons. The main ones are:

1. I keep forgetting to put relevant events here!
2. I've actually been very busy lately.

Also at the moment I'm not feeling particularly well. Just run-down, pretty tired, slightly feverish. Lorraine's been pretty much the same. I've had to succumb to it and take some days off work, which I really didn't want to do.

I'll make a point to put more updates in here from now on, I promise!

A fun few hours

As it has been a while it is probably about time that I update you on the latest goings on in my life.

First things first, we've had an extension to the family. No, not the pitter-patter of tiny feet, but the pitter-patter of tiny paws. Yes, we have a dog. His name is Cookie, he is a cross-Collie and we were given him by our friends Stuart and Gillian. They loved him to bits, but unfortunately their infant daughter Abigail was allergic to him so Cookie needed to find a new home. As we've looked after him before we were given first refusal, and he's pretty hard to turn down.

Unfortunately it isn't the best time of year to get him. Fireworks are going off just about every night, and like most dogs he isn't too keen on them. Last Saturday night was spent at home, trying to keep him calm. It wasn't easy, but at least the weather was rotten, which meant that the fireworks didn't go on for as long as most years, so that was a small mercy.

There were a few more fireworks last night, which made Cookie a bit scared again. So much for the fun night I was looking forward to having - instead I was looking after a frightened dog and wasting my time in a fruitless search for an MOT certificate (we're trading in our old car this Wednesday).

Also last night Lorraine was out with her friend Lucy. They went to Wetherspoon's in Motherwell, and in the course of their time there had some Nachos with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. I'm not sure which part of that made Lorraine unwell, but she was sick numerous times before her stomach calmed down and allowed her back to sleep at about 2am. Not good times. So much for my fun night in!

Mind you, my own sleep has hardly been peaceful of late. I've had a few nightmares lately, and while I don't really wish to retell the tales they were pretty vivid and wholly believable incidents. Not funny at all.

On the whole though life hasn't been too bad lately. Lorraine and I have stayed largely healthy, we're picking up a second hand car with not too many miles on it for a good price, and Christmas isn't too far away, so there's plenty to look forward to. And if we can't raise a smile between us at least we've got Cookie to amuse us.

Jumping the Shark

Thank goodness! Five months into the year, and my first prolonged break is just a matter of days away.

Don't get me wrong, life isn't all bad. I've got a fantastic wife and a home which is slowly turning into a wonderful house (my wife has higher standards than I do!), but work has been a drag lately. In fact, to use a Bill Simmons' term, I think my current workplace has "jumped the shark".

Admittedly I'm not entirely sure what the term means, or how it came about, but it is a bit different, and certainly descriptive. From what I can tell it means something is stale, past its sell-by-date, and it is time to move on.

Work has been a chore lately. I've redeveloped bad habits, such as counting the number of hours until the end of the day, and sometimes the week. Counting the days until I next have an extended break. I can't see the light quickly enough. I'm hoping my week off will help me feel differently about things.

Recently I haven't even felt human. I've felt patronised and belittled. I would love to get a job which I enjoy, only a short drive away from home, and which pays better. Only in a perfect world I guess.

Anyway, I'm trying not to dwell on negatives. My holiday is only three days away, and if I'm not so professionally, apart from that I couldn't be happier. Saying that marriage suits me is an understatement, I love being married, and I love my wife. Lorraine makes my life a million times better - I'm truly blessed to have her in my life.

?Todav?a faltan 360 d?as!

For those of you who don't speak Spanish*, the title of this entry means "Still 360 days to go!", an altogether appropriate message from my page-a-day calendar on my desk at work from Saturday the 5th of January. What a start to the year it has been. A matter of days into it and I wish it was 2003 already, I really think it is going to be a bad year.

To start with just after the New Year was born Lorraine's brother Greame gave her a call, firstly to wish her a "Happy New Year" and secondly to say that he and girlfriend Sandra were now engaged.

This would normally be cause for a celebration, except that some other people had already told Lorraine this was happening. Lorraine and I felt quite hurt, and had to bring the matter up with them when we went around to Lorraine's parents for a New Year dinner on the 2nd. Greame and Sandra explained why that had happened, we accepted the explanation and said they were sorry we heard about it the way we did, and then (thankfully) we moved on from it.

Moving onto the 4th... well, I should have just stayed in bed. Having parked the car ready for work I proceeded to slip on some ice, falling backwards and somehow hurting my knee and my upper right-arm. Once I got into work I proceeded to have a nightmare of a day (including hearing that we're not supposed to use the internet anymore!). At one point I looked at my watch and couldn't believe it wasn't even 10am yet! Really not funny, and with a few personal insults thrown in for good measure work was the last place I wanted to be. Not a good professional start to the year, and it meant a second call of the year for my Weird Al Yankovic DVD, rarely a good sign.

And for the fifth? Well Lorraine didn't just have one but two hypos. Then we went for dinner with Lorraine's parents and Greame and Sandra to celebrate their engagement. On Lorraine's first day with new, fast-acting insulin she knew she had to eat within fifteen minutes of taking it, and the hotel we were eating at proceeded to make us wait a heart-stopping fifteen minutes. Indeed everything about the dinner that could have gone wrong did, which was a pity for such a special occasion.

On the sixth Lorraine was back into work, and starting at 7.30am. By this point I was knackered and I had another week of work facing me, filling me with dread. To top things off I called my best friend Neil and it turns out his nasty neighbour is trying to create trouble for him, so he isn't having the best of times either.

And just to make things even better this morning I caught my foot in an uneven Glasgow pavement and made a very good attempt at twisting my ankle. Thankfully I was able to walk it off, and it feels fine now.

To finish off this entry let me give you a little history lesson in regards to some years in my own personal life, and how the following year went. See if you can spot the developing trend:

1987 = Good year
1988 = Bad year

1990 = Good year
1991 = Terrible year

1994 = Good year
1995 = Bad year

2001 = Good year
2002 = ?

Let's hope it doesn't turn out the way I'm expecting it to.

*One of my goals for the year is to learn Spanish, and a page-a-day calendar with tips is very useful for this.

Stag Weekend - Saturday night review & return home

Well what a night that was! Absolutely superb fun all the night through.

After we finished dinner we said our goodbyes to Mark and Martin and headed back to Neil's flat to begin getting ready. There was a small problem in this, that being that Neil had forgotten to turn his hot water on and we would all have to try and get ready with only cold water available (Neil thinks he can live without central heating - I differ in my opinion on the matter).

All of our clothes had been hanging up all day, so ironing was kept to a minimum. I can't remember who was ready earliest, but I was ready pretty early and took the opportunity to call Lorraine. She informed me that my neighbours had taken the opportunity to slag me off to her Dad, which I really didn't appreciate. We had a nice enough conversation but I was agitated. I was worried that it was showing, and that it might ruin the night altogether. I don?t know if it was the best thing to do or not, but I kept the problem to myself.

We were nearly all ready. As per usual for the weekend the video camera was running, and as Neil and Nick had noticed Pat would come out of the bathroom unaware of this fact. Needless to say we got a perfect comedy moment from him, as he reiterated that the camera wouldn?t see any more of him that they had already.

Eventually we left, got into the car, and ventured towards Croydon. Neil provided more CDs and contrary to my worst fears we had a superb singalong in the car on the way up the M23. We arrived in Croydon just after 10pm, parking in a residential area and began our walk towards our destination - McCluskeys. The wonderful weather was continuing and we were all able to leave our jackets in the boot of the hire car and walk up in shirt sleeves.

After a pretty long walk (which passed pretty quickly given some amusing conversation) we were at the club. At this point we followed Neil's plan and split into pairs, given his presumption that a group of four guys wouldn?t get in all at once. Nick and Pat went in first, and after a short wait Neil and I joined the queue a few people behind them. We were all in pretty quickly and the night could really begin.

We went up to the bar and I took the decision to buy first. Right at that moment the classic call, "Who let the dogs out?" came booming out and Pat and I were barking at the bar! I got the drinks in, and given that it was a while since I had bought a serious amount of alcohol I was surprised that three pints and a coke left me with thirty pence in change from a tenner! Never mind, I was prepared to "go large" that night and I wasn't going to let cost be an issue.

Before long we were up and dancing, singing along to songs and having a great time. Some of the music was a bit iffy (IMHO you simply cannot dance to anything by Destiny's Child), but it got better as the night progressed. We were back and forth to the bar, and one occasion the results of one of Neil?s walkabouts was revealed when the DJ spoke the words, "Congratulations to Tony on his big night". The guys cheered and for about the umpteenth time that weekend I felt lost for words. I soon regained them though once Neil started moaning about the DJ playing S Club 7 right after the announcement. "I asked for Spiller!" he moaned, although his manner of doing so was difficult to take seriously.

The night moved on, and despite the prolonged absence of Pat (throwing up in the loos - what he called a "January Sale") we were having a great time, especially once we were dancing in an area away from an obnoxious fat bloke who wouldn't give us any space. Neil disappeared when they started playing "Stuck in the Middle With You", but both he and Pat reappeared just in time for a stirring rendition of "Daydream Believer".

Oddly for a group of guys in their mid-20s we were quite into the 60s stuff that they were playing. A 60s medley went down really well, and the guys even joined in with the "Glad All Over" section. Then some familiar tones started...

"Isn't that..."
"No, it can't be..."
"It is!!!"

Before we knew it the famous tones of Tony Hadley were clearly evident - "Gold!" It had been a joke between the four of us that it should be Neil's themesong, and although I can't remember fully how that all started it was here that it would be written in folklore. While the rest of the club danced like it was just another song there we were, four guys huddling together, jumping around and having the best time imaginable. We hadn?t even asked for the song, it really couldn?t have been more perfect.

As it was it was the last decent song played that night. After a couple of really bad slow songs were played we took our leave, walked back to the car (deciding against the kebab shop on the way) and headed home. As the guys had been on soft drinks for about an hour and a half I wondered if they had something planned for the way back. Evidently they didn't, and even if they had I wondered if they could have done anything given that Pat had fallen asleep on the back seat.

We got back and digested what a great night it had been. We eventually got to bed around 4.30am.

The next day I woke up at around 11.30am, slightly tired but not feeling too bad all things considered. Everyone else was up, and again we spent time discussing the night before. However the weekend was winding down, and we all needed to pack prior to leaving Neil's flat. Time seemed to rush by before it was time for Nick and Pat to head to their respective homes, and at the same time I returned the hire car to Gatwick.

Following Gatwick I returned with Neil to his flat, but with time against us he decided on an early return to Stansted. It was a good call, as the traffic on the M25 was manic. I had a good amount of time to kill at Stansted, but it wasn't long enough to be bored. Instead I had the time to get something to eat, get Lorraine some nice perfume (the requested present!).

The flight back seemed to go really slowly. Again I was sad to be returning home, back to the pressure cooker of preparations, two-faced neighbours and work. It had been a fabulous weekend with great weather and better friends. Thank goodness at least I had Lorraine to come back to.