bookmark_borderXmas is here

This weekend we have mostly been finishing off our Xmas shopping (almost done, almost), carting boxes of stuff into and out of the loft, and converting our living room into Santa’s Grotto. Sort of.

I even postponed my Sunday morning run so we could hit B&Q early.

Well, that’s not true. I HAD planned to go for a run but, halfway down the road, I realised I’d left my running shoes in the house. I normally wear them to drive down to the park, taking a spare pair with me but, as I’d been for a run on Saturday (can anyone say 5.4k!!) they were a bit muddy, so I thought I’d wear my spare pair and change when I got there. I’m a diddy.

Still, it did mean that we got round B&Q and Au Naturale and were home again by 1.30pm. That gave me time to cut four pieces of wood (batons for shelves in the kitchen), cut a piece of hardboard to go down the back of the TV to hide the cables, paint two shelves, four batons, one piece of hardboard, hang up three set of lights, and generally return the house to some sort of order.

The main reason we were in B&Q was to buy a set of outdoor Xmas lights. Louise would LOVE to do the house up like something out of an American movie (think Home Alone), but thankfully common sense prevails… or at least I roll my eyes and refuse to buy 100m of rope light. However we did both spot, separately, a set we liked. If you’ve seen the B&Q advert on telly you’ll know what ones – a small set of Xmas pressies that would sit nicely under the tree in the front garden. Not flashy, TOO tacky or ‘gaudy’. Ideal.

Except B&Q don’t sell them. What the feck is the point of that!! So far my google-fu is failing me but I’ll find ’em!

Plenty to do though… I’ve still to move the elliptical trainer into the garage, move the reindeer into the front garden, install an outside power junction and get the Xmas decorations up in the hall. However that’ll all have to wait as, and I’d kinda forgot about this, tomorrow we get a new front and back door!

Currently, and it’s especially telling on days like today where it’s blowing a gale, we get a bad draft coming from the hall. This is likely because you can see daylight between the door and the frame. Not good. So we’ve splashed out some savings to get a new front door and, while we were at it, we’ll get a new back door too. Why not.

So, that was pretty much my weekend. We’re ALMOST all Christmas’d up, and I’m ALMOST able to forget about it until after the 5K fun run next week. Almost.

How was yours?

bookmark_borderQuestions Answered #9

In a desperate effort to gain some weird form of validation, I stole an idea for a blog post and begged my readers to ask me a question. And they did. The buggers. Now I have to answer them.

Lesley asks “Why I will never be cool enough to own a Mac”. To which I can only answer, how the hell should I know? How cool ARE you Lesley? Ahh, but then I realised she trying to imply that *I* wasn’t cool enough to own a Mac… as if..

Why I will never be cool enough to own a Mac
I’m a liberal. I’m a free spirit. I believe in an open mind. I wear t-shirts, a lot. I don’t wear a suit. In my head I am still a carefree young man, who knows that cutting edge cool isn’t *cool*. I’m laidback, I care about design, I care about quality. I like the best of things.

But I’m most definitely NOT cool.

Cool is a state of mind (man), and I’m just a little TOO conservative, a little TOO “middle-class” (ohh you know what I mean), a little TOO snooty to be cool. I mean, yeah, I’m a great guy. I’m pretty sure if you met me you’d think “yeah, he’s alright”.

But you wouldn’t think “whoa, he’s cool” (possibly because you are NOT in a Bill and Ted movie and no-one really talks like that, um, do they?).

Of course owning a Mac, and let me just clarify at this point that we are discussing the ownership of an Apple Macintosh home computer, not a plastic garment that is usually yellow and comes with a matching hat… did anyone have one of these as a kid? Yeah, I’ve got the embarassing photos too.. that and sandals. SANDALS! Honestly mother, what WERE you thinking?

Where was I?

Apple have a series of adverts which pitch a ‘Mac’ against a ‘PC’. The Mac is represented by a young, trendy guy, the PC by the staid ‘office worker’ in a suit. The adverts are clever, witty, but are starting to grate. You see, I get the whole “iLife your life” pitch but I think these adverts are over playing things. Quite considerably. This is one of the reasons I don’t think I’m cool enough to own a Mac.

You see I ‘get’ that owning a Mac is largely down to the experience, ease of use, etc etc. That’s all good as far as I’m concerned, and without getting into ANOTHER Mac vs PC debate, let’s just leave it at that. Mac owners, I get it. I really really do.

But I can’t own a Mac because I’m not cool enough. I AM that PC guy, as much as I want to be that Mac guy. Well, I’m kinda halfway in-between, and that’s the problem. It’s not so much that I don’t think I’m cool ENOUGH to own a Mac, it’s more like I don’t think OTHER PEOPLE will think I’m cool enough, they’ll snigger under their breath, talk about me behind my back and it’ll be like that time in the sauna, all over again.

In a way I blame Apple for this, and I wonder if they’ll lose the sales of other ‘on the cusp of cool’ people through the message they use to promote their wares. Owning a Mac means joining a club, a clique, a culture. Not everyone wants that, nor would feel comfortable with that, but hey what do Apple care? iPod sales continue to be strong (owning an iPod is NOT cool) so they can afford to be picky, they can afford to be the COOL guy, but maybe they should worry a little about that guy near the end of the line, the one that is always picked second last. He knows he’s not cool, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t be…

bookmark_borderOut of whack

Ouchy
My back isn’t mega-sore if I keep it moving. That makes sitting down at a computer to do work a little annoying… hence the reason I’m still awake at 1am doing some work. Thankfully it’s improving every day.

Happy Birthday!
Visited my Gran tonight on the occasion of her 87th birthday. She’s finally out of hospital and in a local sheltered housing unit. She has a room to herself, and seems to be adapting well to all the changes. She’s still sharp as a tack, just slowly going deaf, blind and is unable to walk without her zimmer. But hey, she’s 87.

Ohh and she’s now got a mobile phone. Today she sent a text message. My Gran. 87. My head is still spinning.

THANKS
A quick thank you to everyone who has sponsored me for the upcoming 5k, I’m pretty sure my back will be better by then (week on Sunday). Our numbers came in the other day. I’ll be wearing number 13. Seriously.

And finally…

Two questions

1. Why does my screensaver (Flurry) seem to log me out of Yahoo and MSN Messenger? Is it killing the internet connection? The screensaver doesn’t connect to the internet but I don’t know how to run any tests because doing so will stop the screensaver!

2. Know anyone that wants a website designed? I’ve just finished my last ‘job’ for the year and whilst I’ll be taking December off, I will be free in January. My rates are very reasonable you know…

Update: I’ve left a few comments on various sites this morning. None of which, I think, have come out right. Just can’t get the words to flow properly and end up fudging things and … meh. Please do not take a fence.

bookmark_borderVido

Preface: Nothing personal is meant in this, it’s purely and solely my issue. Please do not take a fence.

There seems to be a growing trend amongst some of the better known bloggers, better known than I that is, to feature video clips of themselves in lieu of text.

I can’t say I’m in favour of it.

Problem is, I’m finding it hard to pinpoint WHY they irk me so.

It’s not the people that are doing them (4 of which you’ll all probably know), nor the fact that they are doing something that I’m not as, frankly, I just can’t be arsed with that amount of effort at the moment. It’s not the content, it’s not the way they work, in fact the only reason I can offer isn’t even a reason.

It’s just because they seem ‘wrong’.

Now I’ll happily admit, and at this point I’ll reserve the right to change my mind at a later date, that it may be more to do with my dislike of band-wagons (unless I’M on them of course) and I do think that video-blogging (vlogging? ugh) is a perfectly valid use of the medium.

But.. ach, I dunno, is it just me? They just feel ‘not right’.

(this post was brought to you by one heatpad, and a handful of voltarol as my back is playing up again)

bookmark_borderSponsor me

I have no idea how this will work but as I’ve just dumped the form in the office kitchen, and sent round an “encouraging” email at work, I figured I’d give you beautiful, generous people a shot too.

And don’t say I didn’t warn you.

On Sunday the 10th December I’m running a 5k (5 kilometres). It’s easily the furthest I’ve ever run (did 4K yesterday) and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ll be running to raise funds for the Parkinson’s Appeal, which will further the research into finding a cure for this horrible, debilitating disease.

A close friend of my parents was diagnosed with Parkinson’s a few years back, he’s been through all the possible treatments, including some trial drugs, and is approaching the point where the drugs will no longer be able to help him. If you met him today, you might not know he suffers, you might not know that his body will spasm, painfully and uncontrollably, at night. He laughs about his illness, jokes about it in an attempt to meet it head-on.

So, if you want to sponsor me you can either:

1. Paypal me some money (see below).
2. Send me a cheque (or cash), email me for details – gordon @ [domain name].
3. Donate yourself.





I’m sure most of you can spare £5 or so? £1 per km? Or maybe you want to pledge money on condition that I finish it? (ye of little faith!)

And don’t worry, I won’t be asking again*, it’s only because it’s my first time!

* I reserve the right to change my mind and try and fleece you again in the future, but hey, it’s for chariddee mate!

bookmark_borderQuestions Answered #8

In a desperate effort to gain some weird form of validation, I stole an idea for a blog post and begged my readers to ask me a question. And they did. The buggers. Now I have to answer them.

Question 8: Jane asks, quite simply, for “The ideal jogging route”.

The ideal jogging route
This is pretty straightforward really. The ideal jogging route:

  1. is flat.
  2. is somewhere of temperate climate, not too hot, not too cold, a little drizzle on an early autumn day for example.
  3. has a gaggle of gorgeous cheerleaders lining the route.

There you go. Simple.

But. Well… The thing is…

  1. If it’s flat you don’t get the sense of achievement that comes when you reach the top of a big steep hill. Yes your legs burn, yes it’s bloody hard, but yes, you DO feel like Rocky and have to stop yourself from shadow boxing when you reach the top (ok, that might just be me).
  2. A nice day is all well and good but it’s the days when the wind is smashing the rain into your face, you’re soaked to the bone, and yet you still turn up to go for a run. THOSE are the days that really count. Honest.
  3. Ummm yeah that whole sexist.. degrading wummin… adolescent fantasies are sick.. thing… so ummm… yeah, cheerleaders would be ba… well.. ok, let’s just say they’d put me off my stride.

I guess the ideal jogging route would be somewhere that’s busy enough for things to be happening, but not too busy that you are running into people. Our club meets at Strathclyde Park, which has a large watersports centre at one end. The park is well used but big enough that you aren’t constantly avoiding people, or dogs or geese, but busy enough that there is always something going on, be it boats sailing on the water, people canoeing or fishing, or just other joggers or walkers zipping past.

Although I have to admit that some grand scenery would be nice, something like the scene in Forrest Gump where he jogs across the USA. In the middle of that montage there is a crystal clear lake, reflecting the snow-tipped mountains that lie beyond. That looks like a pretty damn nice place to run to me, and I’m sure Scotland can offer the same, I just need to find it.