Rip's Ramble
Life In The Eyes Of...
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Friday, February 28, 2003
That's enough for today
I had 2 choices at 4:30 this evening, go home to an empty house or stay a bit longer and clear part of my work backlog. The guy to whom I am "assistant" said why not leave it until Monday, but I know what Mondays are like. My intention was to do about an hour then call it a night. Sooooo, by 9pm I thought that'll do for today. It is a strange feeling being in the office by myself, but it meant I could fire up an online radio station on my PC and work undisturbed. I got all the backlog cleared and even made a start on some bits and pieces that I promised myself I would a few weeks ago. Mummy called me to have a quick chat and when she heard I was at work offered to give me a lift home. Junior was still awake, so he came along for the ride and I got to see his freshly cropped barnet :)
I have a few more bits to do and have brought home a few papers and stuff, gonna pass the quiet time doing a bit more then surprise my boss on Monday morning. I'm not a slave to my work, (I really do like doing what I do) this is me wanting to do something rather than do nothing and it will ease my workload in the months to come, so what the heck.
Thursday, February 27, 2003
Cat
Goddam stupid animals at the best of times. They don't fetch slippers, they don't scare away Door to door Salesmen or Jehovah's Witnesses. They're no good for exercise, Why do they exist? I'll tell you why... To complain about being hungry for days on end, then when you get round to remembering to buy a tin of food, they eat half then bugger off for an hour in which time another cat from wherever wanders in through the door and eats the rest.
This morning at 4:15am "Cat" decided to argue with some other feline and woke me up with all the spitting and (cat) growling. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but did they stop? "FFS", I thought as I trampled down the stairs to kick something. When I reached the kitchen, bleary eyed and shivering, Cat was sat there staring at the cat flap through which his adversery had just escaped. He realised I was there. Did he cower in the corner to escape my naked wrath? Did he heck, he walked calmly to his dinner bowl looked at me and started purring...
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
Not a lot to say tonight.
I'm not 100% sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. In a good way it means that I am not feeling harrased or annoyed at anything, in a bad way it may be the result of a dull life in which not much happens to write about. Oddly enough, I rarely feel that life is dull. Yeah, sure enough there are times when time seems to drag, but that is relative to the situation.. Lost? Hee hee
When Junior is here my actions obviously revolve around him. One thing we haven't been able to do too often due to the time of year is to be able to detour en route from his childminders to home. He loves the outdoors, he loves running around, playing, being happy. We are regular attendees of the playgrounds at Governor's Hill and Onchan Park. I'll often drive to pick him up and stop off for a piece of fruit as a snack so he can eat that as I drive and we can go play out rather than rush straight home for tea. On week nights it is prefered for him to be in bed and ready for his light off by 8pm. So that usually means him having his PJs on then milk and biscuits for 7:15. As he grows he is obviously aware of the ticky tocky thing on the wall. Here I have been cunning...
My first lesson in "Telling the time for boys called Junior" was to ensure Clock was in his "first 50 words". Communication with children is a wonderous thing. Once he was aware of the clock (and the fact that it had two hands and they both went round and round. Sometimes at the top, sometimes at the bottom and sometimes inbetween) it was a simple case of saying "Look at the clock, it is bedtime". This may sound pretty basic stuff, but ask any parent who tries to say bedtime to a child the day after the clocks go back an hour... (But it's not dark yet...) One other trick was to teach him where the on/off button on the telly is, then to ask him to turn the telly off because the clock says bedtime. He thought he was being a good boy and grown up because he he could check that it was infact 7:30 (ie the big hand is pointing down, sod the little hand at this stage ;)) he'd turn off the telly and say "come on daddy". and head for the stairs. Over the (so called) winter months, he'd go up first, throw down his hot water bottle and in the time it took me to fill it up, he had "paid a visit" washed his hands and would be marticulously brushing his teeth. Then into his bed with a book. From saying "Bedtime" to lights out is usually half an hour. That is usually enough time for part of a big book or a couple of small ones. He is told "last page" and as my finger follows the words he'll snuggle into his duvet ready for the last few words then a night night kiss and biiiiig cuddles. Then it is a strict light off, one more kiss and a see you in the morning. (I wonder if it will be so simple when he is a teenager? LOL) Down I go to prepare his food for the next day and if football isn't on the telly, I'll have a browse and a read online while the food cooks and then later to bed myself.
Anyway......... back to the bit about when he isn't here. I come home from work and....... Hmmmmmm, check emails, coffee, Manxnet Forum, another coffee.... wash any cups or pots, another coffee... Things just aint the same when he's away. This is one of the reasons for me saying a few weeks ago I need to start socialising and getting out more. My life is full and busy when Junior is here, It is the times when I am by myself that I need work on.
I had a lovely chat with Roo last night. One day Junior will soooo popular (Rip 'n' Roo secret) ;)
Monday, February 24, 2003
I should be writing about what a wonderful day I have had today, except it is now yesterday (or is that tomorrow?)
Junior and I have had a great weekend. We made dough shapes from a flour and water mix, we cooked them a little to dry them out, then painted them.
Today we drove into an empty car park at the NSC and I thought for a minute that the place was closed. Thankfully, it wasn't. Ariel and W joined us again for a swim and a play. There weren't many toys out but Junior soon made ammends for that going off the the basket and returning with armfulls. After the swim and the now customary snack and ice creams up in the cafe, We all headed back to my house where Junior and W found a bucket, a watering can and a copius supply of water to play with and proceded to carry on with water (and mud) fun from where they had earlier left off, much to the bemusement of two onlooking parents.
I had to return Mummy's car so after the kids were cleaned up, dried off and we all said our goodbyes, Junior and I headed across Douglas. We had a luvely Spagetti Bolagnaise cooked for our tea, and played a board game called "Shhhh, Don't wake Daddy". The game pieces are hungry children and with the roll of a dice they have to sneak around the house to get to the fridge without waking their sleeping father. Why they didn't care about waking Mummy, goodness knows, but I didn't invent the game ;)
Once droped back here, we had a good playing session with his toy cars (Vrooooom Vrooooom) then a lovely snuggle on the sofa while watching a Winnie the Pooh video as he consumed the evening's milk and biscuits. Up to bed without any hassle whatsoever, an in depth read of Spot the Dog then a certain little man was yawning his head off ready for a biiiiiig cuddle and then to sleep.
I've had a couple of emails which I've replied to tonight and despite the time, I feel wide awake and full of the joys of life.
Have a Happy Monday everybody, it'll soon be Friday :)
Saturday, February 22, 2003
Don't ask how I found this ...
Traffic Light Wars
Friday, February 21, 2003
I've had a pretty stress free day today despite the fax machine deciding to come to life more and more as the afternoon wore on. Junior is away tonight so the evening had been relaxed bordering on dull. TV failed to inspire and the online community is pretty quiet, so I think sleep is in order.
Take care Y'all. Get well soon to those who have spent the day sneezing and sniffling. Big hugs to those feeling down for various reasons.
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Quick One before I slumber
Listener, top poet and all round nice guy. My best wishes for the immediate and long term future.
Bambi, Still on for a shandy as planned
Blakey, I'll sharpen the bottle opener and let you know soon.
Stavros, Your emails crease me up at work, Hamlet Ferarri had me blowing coffee out through my nostrils. You fancy egg and chips some time?
Floyd, Manx rock god, and i've never heard you play. I intend to change that fact as soon as I am able to.
Declan. You had me in stitches tonight. Shame about your music tastes :Þ
Steve Zodiac. This guy looks twice the size of me, yet I still worry for him at times. Definatley got head screwed on the right way, always a delight :)
Nikki is suffering with the flu- the kids have it.Poor Nikki ;)
Roo !! Princesses are allowed to do it when it is new, it's in the rules ;)
and Ariel... Puts smiles on faces without trying, TY honey :)
And to others I know and haven't mentioned, TRY WRITING THE ODD EMAIL :Þ
Time I was Zzzzz'ing nite nite :)
Monday, February 17, 2003
Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch him sleeping
He's lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would he ever doubt the way I feel
About him in my heart
If tomorrow never comes
Will he know how much I loved him
Did I try in every way to show him every day
That he's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And he must face the world without me
Is the love I gave him in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Westlife
Love them or hate them... They sang one song that I liked, "Queen of my heart"
So, here we stand, In our secret place
With the sound of the crowd so far away,
You take my hand, It feels like home
We both understand, It’s where we belong
So how do I say, Do I say goodbye
We both have our dream, we both want to fly
So let’s take tonight, to carry us through the lonely times
I’ll always look back, as I walk away
This memory will last, for eternity
And all of our tears, will be lost in the rain
When I’ve found my way back, to your arms again.
But until that day, You know you are the Queen of my Heart
So let’s take tonight and never let go
While dancing, we’ll kiss, like there’s no tomorrow
As the stars sparkle down, like a diamond ring
I’ll treasure this moment, ‘til we meet again
But no matter how far, and where you may be
I just close my eyes, and you’re in my dreams
There you will be, until we meet
I’ll always look back, as I walk away
This memory will last, for eternity
And all of our tears, will be lost in the rain
When I’ve found my way back, to your arms again.
But until that day, You know you are the Queen of my Heart
One day I might share the reason that the song came to mean so much to me, but I doubt it :(
Friday, February 14, 2003
I actually got round to downloading MusicMatch Jukebox as part of my reinstall and setup. Although I prefer WinAmp for listening to music, MusicMatch is also pretty good and it has a few extras that WinAmp doesn't have. It rips CDs to MP3, Wav and MPA files and enables you to convert between formats. It accepts input from other sources which plug into your PC through the soundcard such as microphone, tape and vinyl. It has a minibrowser that automatically finds lyrics, biographies and other detail relating to the song you are playing and it lets you print your inlay covers for home compilation discs with a few clicks of your mouse.
I mention this because a few weeks ago I tried to upload the 7 minute plus "Sleepy Sunday" by Barclay James Harvest to my Yahoo page but at just short of 8Mb it was alas too big. I have used MusicMatch to compress it to just under the 5Mb limit and is now available on the offchance anyone trusts my tastes in music.
Quote: A very slow ballad depicting a Sunday afternoon where you have nothing to do and can just laze around...altogether a haunting song with an amazing guitar solo...
Sleepy Sunday
Turn your back
You just can't hide away.
When your eyes have seen
Her face against the morning light.
Just a smile
Could make the day,
And the images you picture in your mind.
Walking in the sun,
Never mind the rain.
Nothing much to do,
Sleepy Sunday.
Turn your back,
Often wonder why
The horizons seem to grow
With every light of day,
And promises that you made
Just fly away
Lost within
Just another day.
Walking in the sun,
Laughing in the rain.
Nothing seems to matter
This sleepy afternoon.
Walking in the sun,
Never mind the rain.
Let the day just roll by,
Sleepy Sunday.
How long can we go on?
Without love.
Hurry back.
Catch the days
Before they are gone.
Turn your back,
You just can't hide away.
Your eyes have seen
The face that's in the morning light,
And promises that you made
Just fly away.
Lost within
Just another day.
Walking in the sun,
Laughing in the rain.
Nothing seems to matter
Sleepy afternoon.
Walking in the sun,
Never mind the rain.
Let the day just roll by,
Sleepy Sunday.
Download the song here (5Mb)
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Brilliant quote on Rattie's page:
Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.
Nothing much to report this past couple of days.
Junior is with Mummy tonight so I am sitting staring at my PC screen hoping for inspiration.
I have a few ideas floating around my head. One is work related and how with some serious mental graft now could save myself and others I work with a lot of time and energy in the long term. The other is in relation to a 3 month public consultation which has just started here on the Island. The consultants are giving out questionaires to be filled in and returned, I hope to put together a little ditty of my own for submission to push some of my thoughts on the subject. I dont expect much in the way of recognition for either subject, but I see these as methods to keep my brain active while I wait for summer ;)
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
We have Blakey to blame for these...
ROMANCE MATHEMATICS:
Smart man + smart woman = romance
Smart man + dumb woman = affair
Dumb man + smart woman = marriage
Dumb man + dumb woman = pregnancy
OFFICE ARITHMETIC:
Smart boss + smart employee = profit
Smart boss + dumb employee = production
Dumb boss + smart employee = promotion
Dumb boss + dumb employee = overtime
SHOPPING MATHS:
A man will pay £2 for a £1 item he needs.
A woman will pay £1 for a £2 item that she doesn't need.
GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS:
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
HAPPINESS:
To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little.
To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand
her at all.
LONGEVITY:
Married men live longer than single men,
but married men are a lot more willing to die.
PROPENSITY TO CHANGE:
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, and she does.
DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE:
A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument
Just after midnight, but editted in to keep tonights blogs in one day frame
Sea Monkeys
Just been chatting on MSN with Nikki and she mentioned her pet Sea Monkeys. I have of course heard of them before, but I have to admit to being clueless as to what the heck they are. I did a "Google" and found this site. They sound like real odd little dudes and I am curious. If anyone who lives here on the Island knows where I can buy some locally, can they let me know? I fancy giving them a go. I think Junior would like them. They are apparently related to shrimps so if it doesn't work out, we can maybe have them on toast (That was a joke by the way)
And now it is way past my bedtime and I need all the beauty sleep I can get, so time to give that boy upstairs one more cuddle and call it a night.
Bedtime
No, not mine... Not yet, anyway :)
There is something satisifying about laying on a bed, your child tucked up snug under the duvet with his head resting on your chest as you share a book during the last few minutes before the last kiss and cuddle of the day. Except for me that isn't the last one, in a while I'll go check him, make sure he hasn't pushed his cover off then when it is time for me to retire for the night another look in. Each time I go in I will stroke his cheek and smile to myself as I bend down, wisper "I love you" and peck him on his forehead. Sometimes he is oblivious to my presence, sometimes he turns his head a little in his sleep and smiles before burying his face back into his pillow.
After four and a bit years of looking at him as he sleeps the same feelings of Love, protection, wanting the world for my child are as strong as they were the first time I held him in my arms. I watched him as he brushed his teeth. This was the fragile, delicate baby rapidly becoming a little man. So strong and decisive in so many ways, so weak and dependant in many others.
Monday, February 10, 2003
Tired, happy, indebted
nite nite :)
Sunday, February 09, 2003
Saturday
Pc still working :) Sat down to listen to the Sunderland game and panic... I hadn't loaded Real Player. Got it set up registered and working just in time for the teams to emerge from the tunnel. Why do I punish my ears so ? :(
Junior was with Mummy on Friday night and came home at teatime in a great mood, really loving and chatty. We played with his train set for a while (still taking up 20% of the living room) and then went up for his bath. Loads of cuddles when we went back downstairs and a couple of stories until it was time for him to sleep.
Sunday
Woke at 8:30 and rushed breakfast so that we could be at the pool for 9. Ariel and W were there again and we all had a spashing good time in the water. W and Junior are getting on so well and it's great for him to have some quality time with another little one. W is growing in confidence in the water and is quite comfortable giving Junior and I a good soaking :) We all went up to the cafe for a bite to eat again and the children had ice creams once they had eaten all they could of the dinner.
We went outside to sit in the sunshine for 10 minutes and Junior told us all his version of the 3 little pigs. In his version one of the pigs falls of a bridge into a river and a crocodile rescues him by carrying him to the river bank. I don't have a clue where he got that bit from, I assume he is just padding out the story a bit.
After our hugs bye bye Junior and I went to Onchan Park for a play in the childrens playground for an hour. I cannot wait for more sunny days like this.
I'm still without transport so I had borrowed his Mummy's car to get to the pool and park. He's staying there again tonight so he can get to his childminder in the morning. The sooner I am mobile again the better. Between Mummy and a couple of friends we are doing ok, but I need to be up and mobile again
Bedtime.
Friday, February 07, 2003
PC up working again :) although there were a few nervous moments such as the PC refusing to run Setup then failing to recognise the Window's disk. Once that was overcome most of my previously downloaded software was easily transfered across between drives. The modem tried to hide from "add hardware" then refuse to find drivers Grrrrrrrrrrrr, after 4 or 5 attempts it decided that the driver *did exist and loaded it without further problem. So touch wood, the machine is running happily and will continue to do so for a while to come.
Thursday, February 06, 2003
Oooooooo, BTW, Sunderland scored some goals last night in their game against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup and they were at the right end. Shame to once again let in an equaliser in the 90th minute to take the game to Extra Time and then penalties. But good old Gavin McCann who scored one of the goals of the season during the match held his nerve and added to Phillips and Kilbanes penalties. Sorrensson in goal saved against Cole and Thompson in heroic fashion :) Next FA Cup match? Watford (Who??) at The Stadium of Light.
PC at home is being naughty. For some reason, when switching on or leaving unattended, I am faced with blue screens telling me that the PC "is about to self distruct, Press any key to continue". I spent over 45 minutes last night trying to get past boot up hangs and self restarting before I could even check for any emails.
It looks like I am going to be gratefull for having a Master drive (Windows) and Slave drive (data) as I should be able to format and reinstal Windows without loosing any of my saved files. Hopefully that should sort the problem and I can have a tidy up at the same time.
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
Well yesterdays "whiteout" lasted until about 9:20 and then it was gone. Good news is that we had a bit more this evening at about 7pm and it is still there. You ever seen a 12" snowman? I have one outside on the path. When I saw it was snowing again and Junior was about ready to put his pyjamas on I thought "What the heck, I cannot deny him as it may be gone again tomorrow" So we wrapped up warm (his coat was on the radiator, luvly :)) and went out to play for 10 minutes, he's a mean shot with snowballs and we made the foot tall snowman :) then back in for warm milk a jaffa bun and PJ's.
Bedtime book was called "The Selfish Giant". It's about a giant who has a beautiful garden and all the local children play in it while he is away visiting a relative. When he comes back, he shooos all of them away and builds a big wall to keep them out. Winter arrives and covers the land in snow but as winter gives way to sping, the giants garden remain in it's frozen state... Will the giant's garden grow flowers again? Will the children ever play in the garden and climb the trees again? Ha ha ha, I aint telling :Þ
Monday, February 03, 2003
We on the Isle of Man awoke (in places) to nearly a quarter inch of snow this morning. Laugh as you may, I'll wager that by tonight IOM Online and Manx Radio are carrying stories of people trapped indoors and traffic chaos.
Now it's time to see if the buses are still running ;)
Sunday, February 02, 2003
Jump back a couple of days first
Met Bambi for a lunchtime drink a few days back and Blakey on Friday. Great to catch up on events and for me to waffle on in real time instead of "virtually" about life in general. Poor Blakey once made the mistake of listening to me ranting about Manx politics, heritage and many other topics that would usually send a normal person into a coma and so I apologise for spending part of the lunchtime discussing Douglas parking problems ;)
Did I ever mention how much I like Sundays? :)
It was the first day of the week that Junior learnt the name of, thanks to our love of all things watery. Today was almost like other swimming days exept that we were joined by Ariel and her little princess :) On the 15th of Sepember 2001 (was it really that long ago??) I wrote in the Forums a thread titled Want to see me in swimming trunks? I still feel the same way now about the fun, bonding and exercise value of a dip down the local pool. Junior and I have of course got to know plenty of the regular fellow swimmers and their kids and most of the attendants are used to seeing the two of us, but It was nice to arrange and meet up with someone we know. We were going to meet one evening (cancelled) then Saturday afternoon (cancelled) when we came to the agreement to go for Sunday morning. I've read Ariels blog in which she says she had a great time and how proud she was of her little Princess :) I echo those thoughts. The little ones wanted to move around between the pools, unfortunatley it was often at the same time in opposite directions, so it was a case of who was closest to which child determined who went after them to make sure they were ok. Both children were comfortable with the "other" parent, so that made life easier.
The only downside was that at 10:30 it was announced that those in before 10 had to exit the pool. This is the first time I have known this to happen and although I respect that timed sessions existed previously during buisier sessions, they haven't been adhered to for a long time and a bit better forewarning wouldn't have gone amiss.
We headed to the café after dressing and had some lunch and a drink. I insisted on ice creams afterwards (who says popularity cannot be bought ;)) then it was all to soon time for us all to part company until the next time.
Saturday, February 01, 2003
Three goals in seven minutes...
You'd think that in a football season where Sunderland have struggled to score twice in a match that scoring 4 would have me dancing a jig, wouldn't you...? Unfortunatly, the fact that 3 goals scored in a 7 minte period by Sunderland were into their own net sort of took the shine off the news of the teams new Premiership record. Kevin Phillips scoring a second half penalty was little consolation. At least he scored at the right end.
OOOOOOOOOOO.... The premiership is about to start on ITV, In a sado-masacitic kind of mental self torture, I'm going to watch it.
