Tuesday, December 31, 2002

 

The Rose - Bette Midler

Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower, and you it's only seed.
It's the heart, afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance.
It's the dream, afraid of waking, that never takes a chance.
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give.
And the soul, afraid of dyin', that never learns to live.
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.

Download available here (3.4Mb)



posted by Mark 01:07

 
New Year Resolutions..??

I don't make them, never have, never will. I believe that we should assess ourselves everyday, with every decision that we make and every action that we take.

You can tell when it is nearing the end of November because the number of adverts on the telly for toys and gifts litterally double. You can tell when Christmas is with us because the holiday adverts appear appealing to our subconsious because we seek an escape, a chance to get away from the stresses that many suffer over the Christmas period.

I'm not a big watcher of TV (apart from when football matches are on) but I notice that we must be near New Year because of the large number of Nicotine patch and gum adverts appearing. I guess there will be plenty seeing Jan 1st as a good time to quit the evil weed and so we are again the recipients of the marketing agents "targeting their audiences"

posted by Mark 01:01

Monday, December 30, 2002

 
Afternoon visit.

A few weeks ago, Junior and I had the pleasure of meeting Ariel and her daughter when they came to visit us one afternoon just before Juniors birthday. Today it was our turn to be looked after for a few hours and a chance for the little ones to swap Christmas presents.

Junior being the honest little man that he is, handed over W's pressie and promptly told her what it was with barely one foot in through the door. Ariel is a self confessed lover of sparkley things and it showed as the house was awash with fairy lights all around the house, it really did look beautiful.

Once the presents were opened it didn't take long for the playing to begin. In the 4 hours we were there it was easy to believe that the kids were the best of friends even though this was only the second time in each others company (apart from playgroup some time ago). W has a little wooden sleigh with 2 reindeer with a jovial Father Christmas. At one point Junior was holding the reindeer as W held the sleigh and they were walking in tandem as it "flew" around the room to deliver presents to the occupants of W's dolls house. W also has a train set, so basically Junior was in his element as the two of them fed off each other and played as good children do :)

All in all, the afternoon went well and time for us to head home came way too soon. The kids were happy and relaxed in each other's company which meant that Ariel and I were able to chat to each other about loads of stuff. I often find conversation difficult especially in new company but there are also times when I cannot shut up. I hope I didn't bore the poor girl by going on too much. Hugs to you both for a great afternoon xx

posted by Mark 23:52

Saturday, December 28, 2002

 
WOW!!!! I think I can honestly say that the build up to Christmas and the day itself have been the best ever. No stress, no worries. As far as I can recall, this has been the first time in my working life that I haven't been working Christmas Eve. (Sunday Christmases don't count). To have a full weekend AND two weekdays to prepare have felt sooo wierd and definately a wierd I could get used to :)

Mummy came here Christmas Eve so she could be involved with bedtime and be here when he woke up. (Or rather wake him up...) Junior is usually easy to put to bed and he needed no encouragement to snuggle up in bed. He was reminded to check his Christmas stocking when he woke, then kissed night night.

I was awoken from my slumber (on the sofa) at about 9am by Junior (mummy in tow) bursting through the room door waving his stocking and shouting "Father Christmas has been" In his stocking were some picture cards for playing "Snap" a set of chalks, a soft ball and an apple which required little prompting to be eaten.

While he unwrapped those little things and munched away he was directed towards a sack beside the tree. One by one he opened the brightly coloured wrapping paper on each present. The first one, some railway track was greeted with a big "WOW" and an "Oooooo". Some colouring books, some more track, some cars, some railway buildings, a game, a book...

Just before he opened the last present in the bag he was asked if he had found an engine yet... He looked around at this big pile of toys beside him and replied "not yet" He peeled open the paper and found a Jigsaw.
"Is that everything?" he was asked, "Yes, thankyou Mummy, thankyou Daddy" and he started to look through the pile to decide which toy to play with first. "I think there is one more present under the tree" he was informed...

Time for a quick game?

Name the song...

I've liked this song for a while. Hearing it again over the Christmas Period prompted me to download it. I wasn't 100% certain of the lyrics, so I looked them up here and it's strange the words you find when you look...

Can you guess the song and film?

Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you
To a kitchen chair
She broke your throne, and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the xxxxxxxxx

* ANSWER *
(Hover for answer, Click to Download - 3.8Mb)



posted by Mark 22:55

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

 
Wayheyyyyyyyyyyy, it's 12:15am on Christmas Eve :) Christmas Day is less than 24 hours away



Advent Calendar - Christmas Eve (2.6 Mb)


9:20pm on Christmas Eve

Just before I unplug the PC and carry it upstairs (*Groans) just time for me to say

Merry Christmas to One and All

Whether single, married, in a relationship, with kids, religious or not, remember that Christmas celebrates the creation of a life, a hope for the future, a new start. We swap presents and gifts not because the advertisers tell us to, but because we want to share a moment of happiness with those who are close and mean something in our lives. A way of showing that we value their impact on our futures.

I am only one person in a world of billions, but for those who can smile at the words that I have just typed, my love and best wishes, to the rest, there is still hope.

May your Gods bless you, your families and friends near and far.

Merry Christmas to one and all....

Monday, December 23, 2002

Advent Calendar - Day 23 (3Mb)


Skimming through the Forums this weekend I came across a thread about things from childhood. The topic started with a question about sweets then one of the members known as "Fella" posted something that I have seen before although it was a while ago and was kind of "warm inside reministance". Fella's post is 9th down the list here.

It set me off thinking about some of the TV programmes back in my dim distant past... Rainbow, Playschool, Fingerbobs, Bagpuss etc. One programme I remember well but cannot recall the name was on at lunchtimes and consisted of a bloke and a woman playing guitar and singing songs as requested by the children viewers with a dackdrop of artwork connected with the songs. My favourite song at that time was one which received quite a bit of airtime and I used to love singing along. Needless to say, I have sourced a copy and it is now uploaded... Puff, The Magic Dragon

All together now, Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh :)

Sunday, December 22, 2002

Had a great session (as per usual) in the pool this morning. No sign of the parent and child who I thought owned the green hoop so we played with it again with similar success. I did hand it in though before we left.

I've missed a couple of Advent Calendar dates, so will cheat and insert them as soon as I can (hopefully before midnight Christmas Eve). I Thought I would try a little test on just what I can do with this page and it has worked :) You cannot see it, but you may already have noticed it ;)

posted by Mark 00:16

Saturday, December 21, 2002

 
Remember these litttle characters?

Garghhhhh @ Yahoo Pages. My problem with uploading the BJH songs was that despite Yahoo having 30Mb of space, each upload has a 5Mb maximum size limit. The 2 songs (Sleepy Sunday, I Have A Feeling) are 8Mb and 6Mb. Still may be worth looking for with your favoured P2P software.

Time for West Bromich Albion Vs Sunderland



Advent Calendar – Day 21

Friday, December 20, 2002

Advent Calendar – Day 20


posted by Mark 14:43

Thursday, December 19, 2002

 
Football bit

I felt so sorry for Aston Villa last night. I watched their game against Liverpool and from 3-1 down pulling it back to 3-3 with minutes to go and looking as if they were either going to score the winner and go into the semi-finals of The Worthington Cup or at least play extra time. Both teams were winners, despite obvious heartache for Villa and their fans. For a neutral, it was a great game.

12 O'clock onwards...

Today was our works Christmas Lunch, held at the Highlander on the Peel Road (That's the A1 to all you Pedants :Þ) I had a quick trip to the toy shop first to pick up the last few pieces of track for Junior's Train Set then a short walk to the car and on to filling my tummy with loads of scrummy food :)

I bumped into Ariel on the way to the car, grabbed a few quick words and even got a Christmas kiss (*blushes while making note to buy some mistletoe).

I was the last but one into the Highlander and the place was buzzing. Just had time to grab a shandy and we were all ushered into the resturant part. This was my first time in there and it seemed a little bit of a tight squeze but we all managed to fit in.

I have an appauling memory and was racking my brains as to what I had ordered when the menus went round the office a few weeks ago. Luckily, someone had the good sense to have kept note of everyones orders (Phewww). The food, I am happy to report, was "luvly" :)

I had my first taste of Manx Queenies (sautéd with bacon in Garlic and Lemon butter) followed by a Loin of Pork filled with apricot and ginger, a mustard sauce and a veg side plate. My pudding was a toffee and apple marangue

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I could have eaten it all twice :)

And Home...

Fired up Winamp on the PC for some tunez and made sure that the train track fit into the spaces in the layout. Then packed everything away into the boxes (Boohooo) ready for wrapping and storing under the tree.

I have added another link to my "Blogs I read" list - An Ounce of Hope. I found this page from Listener's site and like the simple way in which it is written yet still comes across in an interesting and informative manner. I was reading it and thinking "That is the way I would like to write".

Music

As some are aware, I like a group called Barclay James Harvest. They have a massive catalogue of songs and I am still hearing odd ones for the first time. Two that were hard (for me) to locate on WinMX were "Sleepy Sunday" and "I've got a feeling". If you like chilling tunes, may I recommend giving them an audition? I have tried uploading them both to Yahoo Pages but there seems to be a minor hiccup in the transfer. If I succede as the night goes on, I'll post links on here.




Advent Calendar – Day 19 (Download)




posted by Mark 19:06

 
Junior's Chritmas Pressie

I mentioned previously that this years biggie for Junior is a Hornby Train Set. He is with Mummy tonight and tomorrow night, so guess what Daddy has been playing with sorting out all night? hee hee.

Mummy and I went halves on the Harry Potter Train Set, not cos it is trendy (anyone who knows me also knows that "Mark" and "trendy" don't usually share the same sentence) but because Hornby stuff aint cheap, and in comparrison it was a reasonable price. The set consists of a red steam engine and 2 carridges (Hogwart Express), basic oval of track with a siding and a little station. I've sorted a 6'x4' plywood board to lay it on and bought extra track to make a second 'outer' oval and extra sidings, an engine shed and signal box. There is a bigger station and a couple of goods wagons etc. coming as pressies from friends and family.

The purpose of tonight was to set up the track so far and see which odd bits I need to complete the layout. Six more pieces of track will do it. I am fairly happy that he'll be more than pleased when he opens his gifts and sees the layout grow before his eyes.

Tomorrow I'll be heading up to B&Q with a handful of vouchers from last year to buy green paint for the grass, black paint for the road and grey paint for the track bed. The paint will be stored away until after Christmas so that Junior can get over the initial shock then we can begin the task of painting the board and creating a landscape with hills, hedges, trees, etc. It is my intention (touch wood) that the Train Set won't just be a stop go stop go... bored... It will be an ongoing project that we can do together. Unless the house suddenly increases in size, the track shape will stay as it is but I hope to take his already developing artistic interests and nurture them along a little bit.

Junior loves trains, he loves modeling and painting. This is my way of bringing these interests together and without even the slightest of hint of a Daddy who is an overgrown kid at heart wanting to play train drivers... Honest ;)


posted by Mark 00:59

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

 


Advent Calendar – Day 18 (Link)



posted by Mark 23:56

Tuesday, December 17, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 17 (Link)

Monday, December 16, 2002

Advent Calendar - Day 16 (Link)




posted by Mark 00:16

Sunday, December 15, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 15 (Link)


Proud Daddy Moments :)
Junior was with Mummy last night and came home just after lunchtime so our weekly trip to the swimming pool was planned to be from 1:30 to 3:00. On arrival I was amazed at how quiet the place was. I'd guess at there being about a dozen people in already, if that. For most of the first 20 minutes the attendants appeared to be taking turns to watch over us in the water. A couple of good things happened today and both were as a result of other people.

Firstly, Junior found a green plastic hoop of about 12" in diameter. Usually in the morning swim session there are a few regular faces that we have come to recognise over time. One, a man has two children and I have often watched him tossing one of these hoops for his daughter who I would guess to be 14 to 18 months old for her to swim after and smiled at her total ease in the water as she dunks herself to pick the hoop from the pool bottom. I assume that this hoop was his and he had forgotten it.

Seeing as the pool was so quiet, Junior and I took it in turns to throw the hoop for each other to retrieve. Arm bands are an occasional option for Junior, at this time he was wearing them to swim/splash/walk to the hoop, picking it up from the bottom was easier with his feet due to the bouyancy aids.

Next thing I knew, there was a girl of about 6 infront of me smiling then she turned to Junior and said Hiyaaaaa to him with a big cuddle. It then clicked that Grandad was there too with his daughter. We chatted away as the kids played happily in the water and chased as they darted from pool to pool.

I have to admit that Junior is a genuine copier of other children. Sometimes this is a good thing, othertimes not so. 6 year Auntie had goggles and when Junior saw her wearing them I reminded him of his goggles that I bought for him a month or so before, tried on him for all of 10 seconds then were never used again. All of a sudden he wanted to wear them. So I went to fetch them from the locker. Gentley I placed them onto him half expecting a him to pull them off again. Not this time (me slapped own head growning) I told him (as on previous occasion) that he'd be able to see in the water and he believed me... He dunked himself into the water for a good five seconds looking around, came up and started laughing before looking again at this new view of the swimming pool.

All of a sudden he realised that the hoop was going to be much easier to find in the water and he was happily dunk to grab it (armbands discarded at this point) Then I realised something...(you know when you are watching something then all of a sudden the magnitude hits you?) Whereas before he had been heading for the hoop then reaching down for it, now with goggles he was putting his head into the water straight away then swimming to the hoop and scooping it up...

My boy was swimming unaided...

I thought to myself "Did he just do that?" "Did I really see that?" He was tossing the hoop forward a couple of feet then collecting it, so I threw it for him, about 10 foot away to where the water was a bit deeper.

He started to paddle forward so I said "head down Junior" and he did... Head into the water, bum up and his hands and feet propelling himself forward. No armbands, no helping hand, he was swimming *Insert big grinning face here.

We were due to leave the pool at about 3 o'clock as Sunderland were playing Liverpool on Sky Sports at 4 o'clock. Fully aware of the time, there was no way we were leaving. At 3:30 Junior was looking tired (even though he'd have stayed until closing time) so reluctantly we headed for the showers :)

Proud Sunderland AFC Follower Moment

Sunderland 2 Liverpool 1

And it wasn't a lucky win, it was absolutely deserved. Me grins again :)



posted by Mark 13:12

Saturday, December 14, 2002

 
Mummy found a site today with literally hundreds of online and downloadable games for kids of all ages. Junior gives it a big thumbs up. Kid's Domain




Advent Calendar - Day 14 (Link)

Friday, December 13, 2002

Advent Calendar - Day 13 (Link)


posted by Mark 18:13

Thursday, December 12, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 12 (Link)


posted by Mark 08:14

Wednesday, December 11, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 11 (Link)


posted by Mark 00:30

 
Just checked My Stats page...

I'm sure that a search for "naughty elves pic" (Google) is related to my links to Elf Bowling, but how come that at a similar time to to me noticing a view from
United States House of Representatives, Washington, D.C., United States (10 December 21:50)
I also found search.yahoo.com/search?p=hot sex line nos in chilie ?

Worse still is the fact that when I clicked the link, This page was the only result

*shocked expression

posted by Mark 00:03

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 10 (2.3Mb - contains bad language)


posted by Mark 23:14

Monday, December 09, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 9 (Link)




posted by Mark 00:24

Sunday, December 08, 2002

 


Happy Birthday Junior :)


4 years ago on this date at 2:10pm I became "Daddy" and my life changed for ever.
My life has gone through so many changes since that day, some for worse some for better, but one thing that remains now just as it was then... I look into the eyes of my son and give thanks for a child so beautiful and perfect in every way.






posted by Mark 19:58

 


Advent Calendar - Day 8 (3.6Mb)




posted by Mark 12:05

Saturday, December 07, 2002

 
Busy, hectic and fun day today. I spent part of the day helping Mummy move from Ramsey to Douglas with a willing Junior helper doing his bit by carrying whatever he could manage :)

A mad dash to Shoprite followed because I was due to be visited by the wonderful Ariel and her gorgeous little Princess for a light tea and a kids playing session. I've been reading Ariel's blog for months and she helped me (via email) with parts of this page. With less than an hour to ETA the fridge was empty and I was still stinking from the earlier house moving. Junior and Princess knew each other from playgroup and even had the same childminder (but at different times) yet Ariel and my paths hadn't crossed properly despite a number of previous attempts.

Despite there being a gap since they last played at playgroup, Junior was excited about meeting Princess again and the antisipation was reciprocated. Junior saw them approaching through the window and as soon as I opened the door he ran out to meet them and welcome them both into our humble abode.

The afternoon appeared to be a great success, the kids played together like old buddies. Ariel and I were able to chat and we both beamed like proud parents at they way they got on. By 7pm both kids were looking worn out and ready to give us parents a quiet night ahead. (I had one more little job to do afterwards then bedtime was simple here) The time flew by way too quickly and we here are looking forward to doing it all again some time soon :)



posted by Mark 23:08

 


Advent Calendar - Day 7 (Link)



posted by Mark 21:45

Friday, December 06, 2002

 


Advent Calendar - Day 6 (400kb)



posted by Mark 09:32

Thursday, December 05, 2002

 
For the benefit of "He who shall remain nameless and "others"... Yes, the icons are pretty, but you are supposed to click them.... *sound of me slapping my forehead



posted by Mark 17:11

 


Advent Calendar - Day 5 (400kb)





posted by Mark 13:34

Wednesday, December 04, 2002

 

Advent Calendar - Day 4 (Link)



posted by Mark 12:33

Tuesday, December 03, 2002

 

Advent Calendar - Day 3 (Link)


posted by Mark 01:24

Monday, December 02, 2002

 

Advent Calender - Day 2 (2Mb)


(*Note to 56k Modem users. Right click the picture, "save target as..." and save to desktop)

posted by Mark 00:19

Sunday, December 01, 2002

 
Friday evening is usually when I have a mass cleaning and general house tidying session but it was postponed due to Junior being at home. He spent most of Saturday, overnight and the best part of today with Mummy so this morning I set about pulling out the fridge to wash the floor under it and all those other jobs that you suddenly remember.

As I finished my chores I was faced with 3 options... a) Fix the clutch on my car... b) Tidy the back jungle... c) Watch the Newcastle v Everton game... It was a tough descision, but worth making when Shearer's volley hit the back of the net :)
I felt sorry for Everton. Having a few Liverpool fans as friends and family I would have loved to have seen Everton move above them in the League, but sadly it wasn't to be (maybe next week). I cannot wait to see the next Merseyside derby :)

Junior went to see Father Christmas at the Strand Shopping Centre yesterday :) He will also be visiting IOM Railways AND Groudle Glen Railways Father Christmas's. Last year, due to the IRIS Scheme, the Steam trains only ran as far as Snotty Bridge and back with Santa on board. This year it's the usual trip to Santon and a decorated Grotto in the Station building. Junior can remember seeing Santa on the train last year, but I don't think he recalls the grotto so it will be like a new experience for him again :)

We played a couple of games of picture dominoes tonight before he went for his bath. He picked the game up really quickly but tries to cheat on the odd occasion. He knows that he has to match the pictures at either end, but will place an odd tile along the length of the chain. He grins as he does it and grumbles when caught out :)

When he was younger and learning his colours and animals/shapes etc. Mummy and I used to say things like "it's a green triangle" while pointing to a red circle or "it's an elephant" when pointing to a duck to encourage him to correct us. It worked, it was a glowy moment when he'd look at us as if we were daft and say "noooo, it isn't, it's a ....." I'm a great believer in filling his head and trying to think of ways to help his development. From about 6 months when dressing we'd specify left and right hands, left and right feet as they were pushed into clothing. When he was learning to talk, a picture of a dog didn't produce "DOG", it was a "brown dog, sitting down"... Always trying to get as much information into his poor little head as possible whilst respecting that he would only learn and remember the things he wanted to learn. (ie. without being pushy, that is as bad as being slack)

I was reminded tonight in the bath when he was rummaging under the bubbles for one of his boats. While he was searching I asked what he was looking for. "My small boat" he replied. He found it. "Ahhh, your red and green boat?" NO!! Red, Green and YELLOW boat Daddy, look... it's got yellow on the chimney" he replied in a 'I'm going to put you in your place' kind of voice.

I have found another "object" for my "Online Advent Calendar" but it isn't midnight yet, so you'll all have to be good and wait until tomorrow ;) To those who have opened todays, please keep in mind that I offer no guarentee or refunds if the quality is below expected standards. I only said they will be Christmas related ;)



posted by Mark 23:14

 

Advent Calender - Day 1 (3.2Mb)


posted by Mark 00:39