Checking In

Well it’s been a while since I’ve written on ye old blog, actually looking around it’s been a while since any of us have written a post. Not sure why I haven’t blogged recently, just been pretty busy I guess and haven’t really had anything i’ve felt the need to discuss in any great detail. So here is a little summary of things I’ve done or am looking forward to doing:

• Spent a week in Milton Keynes on a training course and noticed that the entire place is just an accumulation of roundabouts and Dual carriageways. Bit dull but at least the traffic flows nicely.


• Got quite into Twitter (yes Lloydy I know you were right all along and have enjoyed following you around Europe). You may have noted that I’ve also added a Twitter feed to this blog.


• Fitted a Bluetooth kit to my car and gave my alloys a thorough clean.


• Very much looking forward to the upcoming release of the new line of Blackberries, its been very frustrating being eligible for a free upgrade but there being nothing currently on the market that I want. I suppose I could just get an iPhone and run over it.


• Have done an awful lot of gardening and planted a lot of flowers which look quite nice.


• Have booked a holiday to Lanzarote and am very much looking forward to the break.


• Enjoyed catching up with everyone at Derv & Vics party.


• Been enjoying watching Button do so well and Ferrari do so badly in the Formula 1.


• Quite a few big projects on at work at I’m going to be running an awful lot of training sessions to bring our IT illiterate sales team up to speed.


• Have realised that sitting at a desk with 4 young girls can be mentally very draining!


• Loving Blackberry App World, have downloaded some very useful applications. My favourite probably being Viigo, which is essentially just a very well put together RSS reader. Free as well.
  
  I think that’s about all I can think of for now, this very much was just a ‘show my face’ post just to demonstrate that I hadn’t completely forgotten about this blog. Here’s hoping for some much more exciting news to report in the coming weeks.
  
  Over and out.

Red Ring Of Death

There are two things that reside at my home that are very important to me, one being my lovely fiancé (whom has told me that I never mention her in this blog) and two being my Microsoft Xbox 360. Haven’t quite decided which of these warrants the title of favourite yet.

Well anyway, one of these things is well and truly f***ed. Yes boys and girls, after 18 months of trouble free gaming I’ve suffered the red ring of death. The Xbox 360 video game console is subject to over 100 technical problems that can render it unusable. Many of the issues can be identified by a series of red lights flashing on the face of the console; the three flashing red lights ("Red Ring of Death") being the most infamous.

So my beloved console is currently sitting under my desk awaiting collection and repair, I hope it doesn’t take too long!

Track & Trace

So every now and again Chris Glover, our IT manager, wonders over to my desk to show me the latest gadget, application or car he’s acquired and mostly I’m left rather tepid and uninspired by the offerings. Nothing particularly wrong with anything he shows me, I just consider myself a hard person to impress these days.
However this all changed when he sauntered smugly over to ask me if I’d installed Google’s latest little app called Latitude.

Google Latitude is a mobile based location service that allows you to see where your contacts, friends, colleagues are at any given point in time by displaying their image as a thumbnail on Google Maps. Latitude figures out where your contacts are based on the closest cell phone tower or by utilising GPS if present. You can specify at any time who you want to disclose your location too and whom you wish to hide it from. You can also tell Google maps to give you directions to a particular individual’s location.

I found that the application worked extremely well on my Blackberry. The locations loaded quickly and refreshed at acceptable intervals and the GPS kicked in quickly when I moved outdoors.

Now I am going to be completely honest. In the real world this application is about as useful to me as a chocolate teapot, but I love it because it’s so damn COOL!!!

Now I know there are going to be certain people that point out that the system is open to abuse and that I can have my privacy invaded blah de blah blah, but generally these people with such worries sit at home eating lard and wetting the bed, and I can assure those concerned that should I ever consider robbing a bank, murdering someone or sleeping with someone’s wife I’ll be sure to remember to disable my location first. Other than that, I’m not really fussed at all if any of the people on my contact list know where I am.

Unfortunately quite a few of my friends won’t be able to try out this cool little application, as like most other things, it doesn’t work on the iPhone yet.

Baaaaaaa

When it comes to sexual preferences and kinky bedroom activities, “each to their own” and “whatever floats your boat” is what I say. Personally I like a bit of light bondage. Chips, whips chains & dips. Some people however have slightly different preferences...

Topping Tastic

Its become a bit of a tradition on a Friday night to have a couple of mates round (or just Macey) and order a shit load of pizza from Dominos while playing xbox/wii.
Anyway after printing out all of my emailed Dominos receipts I discovered that in the last six months we have spent a total of £494.17 on Pizza (sometimes we also have chicken strippers).

This means that at the back end of last year I’ve actually spent more on Pizza than Petrol.
So perhaps we should all stop bitching about the rising price of oil and focus our attention on cheese...

Quest For The Perfect Doughnut

There are many myths floating around the net on whom actually invented the doughnut but the truth is that nobody really knows. Many historians credit the invention of the modern doughnut to a sailor, a Dutchman named Hanson Gregory. His mother, Elizabeth, was known to make a good olykoek, or "oily cake.
Unfortunately it isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. As while the concept of a deep fried piece of batter with a generous jammy filling sounds quite simple I have found much variety in both taste and texture off doughnuts I have tasted from various outlets and below is my thoughts on some of them.

Morrison’s
A poor attempt at a doughnut. Far to stodgy and too heavy on the icing sugar dusting.
4/10

Sainsbury’s
With Sainsbury’s being a premium supermarket I was expecting great things from this doughnut but unfortunately was left a little disappointed. I again found the coating to be a little on the over stodgy side and the jam filling was way too sparse. Could do better!
6/10

The Bakers Oven
For a long time now the Bakers Oven has offered my preferred Doughnut of choice. With a generous jam filling and a nice sugary outer layer it almost achieves complete doughnut perfection.
9/10

Tesco’s
I really wasn’t expecting much from this Doughnut as my previous experience with Supermarket Doughnuts had been very disappointing. I was however pleasantly surprised when I ordered one to come along with my home delivery shopping only to be greated with a large, generously filled, moist and tasty cake. Damn good effort!
8/10

So... can anybody recommend any other outlets offering a Doughnut worth sampling?

Super Lewis

Its not since 2003 standing in a crowded bar in Darling Harbour and watching Jonny Wilkinson punt in a perfect drop goal have I felt this tense in the dying seconds of any sporting event, but Sundays Grand Prix was an absolute nail biter until the death. I want to say a huge well done to Lewis Hamilton whom has single handily completely reignited my interest in the sport to the point where I refuse to do anything at all on Grand Prix weekend that could interfere with my viewing pleasure.

I do feel a little bit sorry for Massa. He’s a genuinely sporting fellow who is both gracious in victory and dignified in defeat, but to be fair, the right man has claimed the title, that only even went to the last race due to some very suspicious stewards decisions earlier in the season.

Some thoughts on some other selected drivers from this year:

Kimi Raikkonen {A little off form this year} – He just couldn’t seem to get in the zone towards the second half of the season and was completely out shone by his team mate but in that Ferrari still represents one of the serious threats in 2009.

Heiki Kovalainen {Must do better} – I like Kovi, he’s a genuinely nice bloke and a dedicated team player, but in a McLaren he should really be competing for a podium at every Grand Prix, something that he has only managed 3 times this season. To be fair he has had more than his fair share of bad luck but I sincerely hope that he can me much more competitive in 2009.

Robert Kubica {Understandably annoyed} – BMW pretty much established themselves as the third fastest team in the early part of the season only for them to completely give up on the 2008 car and concentrate all of their effort in development for 2009. Although never particularly spectacular Robert had been consistent all season gaining a total of seven podium finishes and with still a mathematical possibility of winning the championship with 3 races left he must have been asking himself why he hadn’t received more support from his team.

Fernando Alonso {Arrogant smarmy git} – But undoubtedly a world class great driving talent. Fernado completely blew away Piquet in the same car and remains a genuine contender for 2009 assuming that Renault have developed the car sufficiently.

Sebastian Vettel {A rising star} – Vettel is another driver that has completely outperformed his car this season. If someone had told you that a Toro Rosso would take the chequered flag at Monza this season you’d have been forgiven for laughing in their face. As one of the youngest drivers in the sport he’s sure to have a huge career ahead of him.

The FIA {Corrupt? or just a bit dodgy} – Some of the decisions made and the penalties distributed this year have been an absolute disgrace. I really hope that 2009 is not surrounded with the same controversy.

Some major changes are taking place next year which should seriously shake up the pack, I already cant wait!

Once again, well done Lewis!!! you deserve it chap!!!