Rip's Ramble
Life In The Eyes Of...
Feel Free To Add A Comment.
Saturday, November 30, 2002
Grrrrrrrr @ the rain this morning, the garden will have to wait another week or more for the stone.
I'm actually starting to feel Christmasy. I've downloaded a couple of Christmas songs from WinMX and am thinking about where to put the tree when it goes up next weekend. A few years ago I had an interest in electronics and built a simple "sound to light" circuit. I'm not sure yet whether the tree's fairy lights will be wired into it. I've done it before and it can be funny (only briefly) to see expressions when visitors realise that the tree lights are reacting to their voice and music/noises in the room.
I thought about making an online Advent Calendar where readers can click an icon and it will link to something Christmas related. Seeing as I am failing miserabley at finding enough to add to this Blog on a daily basis, I'll add links as I find them. I have one ready for tomorrow and icons that will hopefully show up on the page and link okay.
I can honestly say that the days are passing quicker in my current job than in previous ones. In a way it is good as it means that I am rushing around to do a days work rather than standing around waiting for things to happen. On the other hand it means that life seems to be passing quicker.
Every evening this week I have been tired out, mentally and physically yet I am still struggling to sleep at night. At least 3 times I have still been laid in bed well after 2am wondering if I am going to wake on time in the morning :/ Wednesday night I was asleep by 11:30 but then slept through the alarm(s) on Thursday morning.
I am hoping for a dry day and not too cold in the morning. I found a source of free stone to finish off a wall in my back garden a while ago. All I have to do is turn up and stack it on a pallet ready for transporting home but either time or the weather has thwarted my previous attempts. Junior has been staying with Mummy on Friday nights recently. A last minute change of plans means that he is here tonight, so I am also hoping Mummy can get here at a reasonable time in the morning for me to dash off in my scruffs to get my hands dirty (Ahhhhh, happy memories).
My PC at work continues to lock up at the most inconvieient times. It really is beginning to annoy me. Not only does it wipe the data that I have entered, but then it locks me out so I have to run around getting someone else to reopen the pages for me so I can start again. I hate my time being wasted GRRRRRRR...
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Good news:
When I bought my car (well, tiled a friends kitchen) it needed a headlight and a couple of bits and pieces fiddling with. I was quoted £70 plus VAT for the lamp fitting :o
One day, as I was leaving DMS with Spark plugs in hand I was approached by a guy who had seen me get out of the car. He had an identical car which was sat outside his house surplus to requirement and was I interested for the princely sum of £50... £20 less than the lamp I wanted. Too right I was interested. The clutch on his car was on the way out (he said) other than that it ran and he was happy for me to go round to his have a look at it and to drive the car round to mine. Mine was a dull white (now with a hint of soot) his was metalic green and looked nicer than mine. I swapped the light and a few other parts over and was going to scrap the leftovers, shame I am such a slack git ;)
I spent 3 hours on Saturday remembering which bit's I had pulled off the green one and how they fitted back (I'm great at a lot of things, but I'm no mechanic ;) ) and turned the key. It fired up first time :) The clutch is slipping a bit, but I should be able to pull the good one from my pile of ashes and swap it. So I am mobile again and luckily at no extra (depleated pockets) cost :)
Had a great session at the pool on Sunday. Junior donned his armbands to go into the main pool and managed to swim a full length. He did touch the side briefly when about 2/3rds of the way along, so I moved him 5 or 6 foot back in the water for cheating ;)
Saturday afternoon had it's crazy moments when Junior's 5 year old auntie came visiting. We had a Ripsaw version of "Simon says", a Ripsaw version of "What time is it Mr Wolf?" and a Ripsaw version of "Lets copy the video of Lord of the Dance" for 20 minutes. I was bladdy knackered... Junior does a great Michael Flattley impression though LOL :)
His Playgroup photos came back this week too. I make no apologies for grinning as I type this, that boy is sooo gorgeous. I'd love to know where he gets his looks from ;)
It's the 25th of November today. That means there is ONE CALENDAR MONTH to Christmas. I apologise to the other parents, aunts and uncles out there, but we have to face facts. 30 days of Hmmming and Arrrring and hoping that our thoughts about what makes a good Christmas pressie are agreed with by our respective little ones.
I have of course been brainwashing Junior for 11 months as to how silly a lot of toys appearing on TV are, and how much better others are. I think it has worked. I was in the kitchen the other day and a shout came from infront of the telly "Daddyyyyyyyyyy, come here... I don't want one of those, do I?" Hee Hee.
Before anyone rings up the Manx NSPCC with a child cruelty tip off, Junior and I spend a lot of time playing together. He loves jigsaws and his bricks. I spend more time helping him build new Thomas train Set layouts than he spends running the engines. I am a great believer in interactive play between him and myself. When we "read" the Early Learning Centre catalogue it is scarey how many times one of us can say "I/you have one of those" but I can smile because the vast majority of his toys have some educational or eye hand co-ordination value.
Tonight Junior and Mummy pulled out an old shoe box and his paints to make an engine shed. Mummy did the cutting, he did the sellotaping and painting. (and with very little mess) . Pleased as punch he was when after prodding it at 5 minute intervals to check it was drying, he was able to carry it upstairs to add to his latest (soon to be rearranged) layout :)
One of his Christmas gifts are a Hornby train set. It is intended for us to spend time building plaster of Paris and papier mashé hills and tunnels and paining them to add to the layout. Although this train set won't be a pull apart and push together one like his Thomas set, I intend him gain some creative development from it.
He is at the "why" stage of his development at the moment, I expected it sooner in his life, but I think he deliberatly held back until he was slightly older (ie NOW) and more able to keep the "Why" questions going for 30 minute conversations. I'm sure he walks off after such chats and splits his sides laughing at my straining to maintain a relaxed and patient appearence.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
It never rains, but it pours...
Saturday: Junior was a bit "runny" so I thought it best to give Sunday's swim a miss. He was fine in the end.
Sunday: Watching Football on Telly, I stood up to make a half time cuppa and felt a sharp pain in my back coupled with a tightness right around my chest and difficulty breathing. Heart rate jumped and difficulting standing. Chest pains eased on Monday.
Monday: Computer at work crashed 3 times deleting 30 to 50 minutes work with each blue screen.
Tuesday: See long Tuesday blog.
Wednesday: Waiting for my hastley arranged lift to turn up, Childminders daughter rings to say she is feeling ill, So I am at home today. I phoned work to apologise for my impending absence and remembered that I was also supposed to be meeting Ariel and Stavros at lunchtime for a drink. Cancelled.
Thursday: ???
Tuesday, November 19, 2002
Did I say that life was boring on occasions? darn me for speaking too soon :)
Funniest thing to happen today?
I left work, drove home, picked up the Family Allowance envelope and went to my local Post Office. Junior was being picked up from the childminders, so I left the front door unlocked in case they got back before me. As I was returning home from the Post Office I thought I could smell petrol. I dismissed it because my car still isn't running right, and I have to keep the manuel choke 1/4 on.
I pulled up onto the hardstanding outside the house, turned off the engine and I heard a "pufft" With that, flames started appearing from under the bonnet !!!
"Oh dear" I thought to myself, "that doesn't look good". I had a split second of thinking "What the hell do I do?" before I came up with the sensible idea to roll the car backwards away from the house, and pull the bonnet release.
I ran into the kitchen to fill the washing up bowl with water, and told the water to run faster from the tap. By the time I got back outside the paint on the bonnet was peeling away from the metal and flames were coming from the radiator grill and the air vent.
I poured some of the water through the vent and then tried to ease the bonnet up a bit to enable me to try and throw a bit into the engine bay. At this point I was wondering if calling the Fire Brigade might just be a good idea. But to stand yapping on the phone for 30 seconds or so didn't seem like a good idea at that exact moment in time, so I ran back for more water. Another bowl full thrown through the radiator grill seemed to calm the visible flames a bit, but I could hear crackling noises from inside.
I needed more water, so I grabbed the swing bin in the kitchen, tipped the contents onto the floor (luckily it only had a couple of bits in) and was furiously throwing bowlfulls of water into it. Lifting the bonnet can be dangerous as it gives more air to the flames, but I had no choice. The metal wasn't too hot to lift, so I raised it slowly as I poured more water in. I was able to extinguish the rest of the fire, then throw a bit more around to cool it down. I walked slowly to my front door to sit down for a second, thinking about what had and could have happened just as the car carrying Junior home pulled up.
I was so glad that he hadn't been with me, not only because of the danger that he could have been in, but that I was able to concentrate on dealing with the fire without panicing that he was under my feet. The car engine is gutted, all the wiring and pipes are melted away and there is no chance of repair. The battery is intact so no acid leekage, it is just blackened from smoke. Infact when I was happy that it wasn't going to flare up again, I pushed the car back onto the drive and realised the radio was still playing away.
Transport to the childminders and work is sorted for the week, but come Saturday I'm going to have to try and sort out alternative means. Just what I needed with Juniors Birthday and Christmas coming up.
Good job I'm an optimist ;) LOL :)
Saturday, November 16, 2002
Good day today :) After (only) 4 weeks of promising to go swap an outdoor light for a friend, the weather and my busy schedule allowed me to do it today. For my work I was presented with a box full of books for Junior, loads of them. Tonight had the potential to be a long bedtime, but I managed to pursuade him that we should spread them out over a number of nights rather than reading them all in one hit :)
With the books was an electronic word game. The type with pictures and letters that fit into the correctly shapes holes. He was well away with it firstly placing all the letters into their respective holes on the board and then onto the picture cards. It needs new batteries to "speak" but he didn't mind, he really was confident matching the letter shapes.
Link: (for those without Sky Premiership Plus)
Liverpool Vs Sunderland. Sunday 17th November 2:00pm Kick Off (GMT) Live Match Commentry (Realplayer)
Friday, November 15, 2002
The Blogger homepage says I need to upgrade to the "paid for" hosting if I want to add images to my blog...
So what the heck is THAT then ?? Not only an image, but a "linked image" at that. Darn, I'm getting good at this webby page lark. :)
I've added a couple more photos to my Yahoo page Including Junior in Halloween mood :)
I've also had a play about with this page template. I've added a couple more links and for some reason I had no archives prior to the 1st of October. I found a page which enabled me to republish them and so all my ramblings from the start back in August are now listed as they should be.
A couple of quick links...
When Peter Reid was relinquished of his duties at Sunderland FC, the club was inundated with letters from hopeful replacements. An edited selection of them are here.
A big wave to Monkey_Magic. He has recently started a blog about his life. Looks like it will be worth keeping an eye on. You can read his messages, so far, here.
Thursday, November 14, 2002
Just before anyone reads an inuendo in that last line... sorry to dissapoint, but it really is a carrot ;) *blushes :o
This week (as most seem to) has flown past. I have stacks of emails to catch up with and reply to. I'm going to try and sort them all tonight inbetween peeling potatoes and grilling meat etc. Apparently, back in the days when I was regularly in online chat, people used to take some convincing that I used to prepare the next days vegetables as I was typing. Well it true, even now I have a plastic bag on my lap with a semi peeled carrot laid on it :)
Sunday, November 10, 2002
A mixed weekend...
There are times when I dispair. Times when I want to say simple things, but I cannot because sometimes even the simplist thing offends. I don't want hassle in my life, I don't look for it, I don't ask for it. but it often seem as if I face it, no matter what I do.
I have a reasonble ammount of control over my life on a day to day basis. When I am forced into making a decision about a particular moment in my life, I always, always base my descisions on what is best for those affected by my descision. Sometimes my thoughts hurt others, but is it really up to me to fight to explain myself when faced with a brick wall, deaf ears? Why do I feel guilty for stating what (to me) is the obvious? For the sake of stopping and listening for a few moments in time and actually thinking about long term effects, instead of going off on one, I think that life would be so easy, but life isn't like that, is it?
There are 101 thoughts running through my mind at times. I have commented a number of times about my inability to settle and sleep at night. I am the sort of person who cam imagine a scenario and work out numerous, if not every permutation of the possible outcomes. On many occassions I should be sleeping, but my head is overactive, what if (a). what if (b) etc...
It would be easy for me to say that I am depressed with life. Despite my attempts to always convey an appearence of settled and straight forward happy life, I have to admit that it isn't true.
If I make a descision, I live with it. If I make a mistake and realise it, I am big enough to admit it without looking for others to find ways out of it for me. I am very insular and single minded. I would even say that I am secretive... Not because I want to keep secrets, but because I don't want... correction, I hate to feel as if I burden others, or feel within that I am seeking pity.
There was a moment this weekend which lasted for less than 5 minutes, but I have been antisipating for over a year, and it tears me apart, but I had to say what I said, and I have to do what I will do. I hate the thought of having a negative effect on another persons life, but I cannot let them have the same on mine.
I am not going into detail. Despite the fact that I know I will be discussed elsewhere for my comments, I am not going to use that as justifacation for me spreading ill will against another person. It is enough for me to say that I am pissed off with listening to stories of hardship from those who have no respect for the mess they left behind without a thought. In many ways, I am blessed, I don't deny it, but only because I had the sense to predict situations before they arose, and I aint gonna feel guilty for it. In my mind, I have biten my tongue beyond what is reasonable and will continue to do so for the long term benefit, But I aint going to be dictated to.
On a lighter note...
I love singing. At home to VH1, to my collection of MP3's, To the radio... I'm not great, but I don't care, even when down I sing out of happiness. If I am down I can put on music and sing myself into a good mood again. Today in the car on the way to the Swiming Pool I was singing away at the top of my voice to the radio. As the chorus began I turned to Junior with a smile on my face... He was sitting there with his fingers in his ears.... I closed my mouth :(
Ha'way the Lads...
I settled down to watch Sunderland Vs Spurs wondering what sort of game I was going to experience today. I will admit that I was gutted when Peter Reid was released from his duties as Sunderland manager, I was gobsmacked when Howard Wilkinson was appointed as his successor. If fact the the thought WTF? crossed my mind.
I have noticed a change in tactics and attitude though, and changes for the better. On Wednesday I witnessed the lads come back from 2-0 down against Arsenal. I genuinley edged forward on my seat when a goal was scored to give Sunderland a chance. I could have burst out of skin when actually scored a second to equalise, but there was still that feeling that they would get to the last 10 minutes and collapse to defeat. When they went 3-2 up, I still felt uneasy as Arsenal turned on the pressure, but they held on for a hard fought and deserved victory. Arsenal fans will say "It was the Worthington cup, no major deal and we played with a weakened team" but Sunderland fielded a team that was reminisent of a reserves match. only 2 regular first team players, half a dozen of them were on the transfer list. I was so close to sending another email to "you're on Sky Sports" saying "HA HA HA HA HA from a Sunderland fan" but I resisted the urge. Anyway, back to todays match... Spurs didn't play that badly, just that Sunderland played well. They fought, they scrapped, for crying out loud they "defended" :o
The goosepimpley moment was seeing Kevin Phillips... Not the goal, but his reaction to it. If you read this then see highlights of the game, look into his eyes as he reacts to his goal. Then look at Flo's face as he sprints onto the ball forward before he scores the games second goal.... and his reactioary celebration.
2 or 3 weeks ago too many passes went astray, they was no effort to chase the ball. Today there was and if there is a neutral who didn't enjot that game then I would question their neutrality.
Next week it is Liverpool at Anfield. This isn't some throwaway comment -> IF and this is a BIG "if"... If Sunderland can approach that game with the same spirit that they played today, then I see no reason why they cannot cause an upset. Watching recent Liverpool games and bearing in mind that they have a Champions League game away mid week, then I really do believe that next weekend I can send out a couple of SMS messages with a bladdy big grin on my face :p
Bedtime :)
Friday, November 08, 2002
A BIG wave tonight to Declan. I was reading through his message board/Forum and found this link. Man Vs Woman within the same house. Now women reading it will say the guy has a problem, the men reading it will agree and say "Too right, It's HER!!!" I stiffled a laugh at the definition under the opening photo of the subject in question ;)
Quote from the site :
... the thing is, if you're an English male, what you do when you leave home is go to the shop nearest to your new place, buy a Pot Noodle (Chicken and Mushroom), feast on its delights slumped on the sofa in front of the TV, swill out the plastic carton it came in, then use this carton for all your subsequent meals until you get married. There's a beauty of economy to it. Thus, when I cook a meal for four, the aftermath left in the sink as I carry the gently steaming plates to the table is a single saucepan and, if I've pulled out the all stops to dazzle visiting Royalty, perhaps a spoon. Margret cannot make cheese on toast without using every single saucepan, wok, tureen and colander in the house...
Ring any bells, people?
Wednesday, November 06, 2002
I feel strange, it's an unusual feeling.
I have backed Sunderland 3 times to win to no avail. Tonight they have returned to the English capital play against Arsenal a month after getting their arses whooped. I didn't have a bet tonight and was sort of resigned to the usual story when they went 2-0 down. Then they scored, then again and again a third time :o Sunderland are winning 3-2 with 10 minutes to go\o/ \o/
Saturday, November 02, 2002
I cannot publish pics and photos on this page, thus my signing up for a Yahoo page. I was doing a bit of surfing earlier and found a pic which tickled me, If you are into online gaming click here.
