- Chrissy has finally gotten the divorce petition to me, I've replied, and next it get's filed with the court.
- I've moved house again, and am now in a 3-bedroom terrace on Orgill
- The kids are still with me 6 nights a week
- Work is going OK, although thanks to the last pay negotiation, I'm now working 2 hours a week more.
Sunday, 6 May 2012
So what's happened recently?
Saturday, 18 February 2012
It's been a while...
...but I've had even more on my plate than usual, in many ways. Chrissy has asked for a divorce, I've got the kids full time in a rather small flat, pay negotiations at work are dragging on, although the job itself is OK, I'm looking for a larger place to rent - 3 bedrooms minimum. I lost my meds for 3 days. Much to do, much to do.
Took the kids for a walk around Longlands lake today, that was fun.
Took the kids for a walk around Longlands lake today, that was fun.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
New (to me) Car!
I've got my own car now! It's a purple VW Polo, 1.9 diesel. Much more economical than the Zafira. And it's got cool purple & red lighting on the dash too!
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Tuesday
Went to the tip today, to get rid of the stuff Ben helped me clear out last night.
Swimming again. 21 lengths, with a short break after 10.
The pool was rather crowded, so the lengths felt longer with all the weaving in & out of small children!
Swimming again. 21 lengths, with a short break after 10.
The pool was rather crowded, so the lengths felt longer with all the weaving in & out of small children!
Monday
Ben came over Monday night for curry & cleaning. After a very nice chicken biryani, we set to work on the long room upstairs, moving a lot of boxes up to the attic, and hauling down a boot-full of old computer bits for recyling/disposal.
Thanks for the help Ben!
Thanks for the help Ben!
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Fish!
Discovered Fish was playing Carlisle tonight at about 15:00. Called the venue (The Brickyard), got a ticket, and off I went.
Had a great time. It was an acoustic set, just guitar and piano for accompanyment. Fish opened with an acapella version of Chocolate frogs, then they did State of Mind, dedicating it to David Cameron....
There were a few tracks I wasn't familiar with, but a lot of material from the Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors album, my favourite. Even with the stripped-back arrangements, they were very powerful. Vigil was especially awesome.
The show was about 2 hours long (after 2 support acts) with a lot of banter and stories between the songs. The last songs of the main set, I missed the title of, but it was very dark and powerful. Fortunately, for an encore they played Kayleigh and Lavender, a lovely pair of songs from the old Marillion days, and sent me home on a nice happy note.
Had a great time. It was an acoustic set, just guitar and piano for accompanyment. Fish opened with an acapella version of Chocolate frogs, then they did State of Mind, dedicating it to David Cameron....
There were a few tracks I wasn't familiar with, but a lot of material from the Vigil In A Wilderness of Mirrors album, my favourite. Even with the stripped-back arrangements, they were very powerful. Vigil was especially awesome.
The show was about 2 hours long (after 2 support acts) with a lot of banter and stories between the songs. The last songs of the main set, I missed the title of, but it was very dark and powerful. Fortunately, for an encore they played Kayleigh and Lavender, a lovely pair of songs from the old Marillion days, and sent me home on a nice happy note.
Thursday
Swimming again. Managed 20 lengths with short rests after 8 and 16. No asthma spray needed.
Tuesday
Went swimming. Managed 6 lengths, then a short rest. After 9 lenghts, needed a longer rest. After 11 lengths, needed my asthma spray....
Managed 20 lengths in all.
Managed 20 lengths in all.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
I'm having Geek-Thrills!
Because I got a new (2nd-hand) CPU & mobo for my PC. It's an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, designed to run at 2.40GHz (266x9).
And the reason I'm so thrilled? I've got it running at 3.20Ghz (400x8) and it's perfectly stable, even after a 48-hour stress-test of converting over 50Gb of music videos from MPEG-2 to x264!
Under full load it's only reaching ~44'C, as cool as my old system managed at rest!
And the reason I'm so thrilled? I've got it running at 3.20Ghz (400x8) and it's perfectly stable, even after a 48-hour stress-test of converting over 50Gb of music videos from MPEG-2 to x264!
Under full load it's only reaching ~44'C, as cool as my old system managed at rest!
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Monday, 16 November 2009
Wow - I got a Medal!
Just got back from Club. Tonight was the used-to-be-annual Awards, the last of which was at least three years ago now. Much to my surprise I won one. I got the "Best GM Flange" award for getting the whole party home alive in Celtic Double-cross!
Sunday, 30 August 2009
Home again.
But I don't dare go to sleep just yet. I'm gonna try and stay up 'til ~21:00 tonight and get back onto UK time quickly.
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Letters from America
Well, I made it to the US OK, and survived the jet-lag. For a day with that nmuch travel in, it went well. I got to the airport at 06:15 for a 06:55 departure, changed at Heathrow without problem (Terminal 5 is good!), and the trans-atlantic flight was, well, if not fine, as good as 8 hours on a plane gets to be.
Today we did laundry, lunch and doctors before heading off to Germantown Splash Park to meet Matt, Erin and Henry. Unfortunately, there was a little thunder and they closed the splash park, so we went to the playground acorss the road for a while. I'll try & post some pictures on the family blog soon.
Today we did laundry, lunch and doctors before heading off to Germantown Splash Park to meet Matt, Erin and Henry. Unfortunately, there was a little thunder and they closed the splash park, so we went to the playground acorss the road for a while. I'll try & post some pictures on the family blog soon.
Sunday, 16 August 2009
Last day
Ok, today is going well so far. I was up on time, got the last wash into the dryer, then set off for Seascale for dinner at Mum & Dad's. The Potters and the Watsons were there as well, so it was a nice big dinner - roast pork, stuffing, roast potatoes and lots of veg, including a few of our courgettes and Dad's runner beans.
Dad loaned me his angle-grinder and we cut out the seized bolt on the spare tyre cage. I needed to get this done before I fly because while I can manage with the spare tyre in the boot when I'm on my own, once we have the whole family and all a bags in the car, there'll be no space for it.
Since Dobies hasn't managed to get us a replacement part yet, even though it's been over two weeks, I ended up pushing the tyre cage into place with Dad's little hydraulic jack, then wiring it into place with a coat hanger. It sounds very Heath-Robinson, but it is secure, and I can still get the tyre out if I need it.
After dinner, I picked Ben up and we did a couple of little odd jobs around the house for travelling, then went o to the big one in Ruth's room. I had wanted to put Ruth's curtains back up while she was away. The old rail had fallen down a while back. The bad news was that the old rail was to damaged to go back up - the good news was that we had a spare rail, only a little shorter, in the flat.
It took a while, but Ben and I got it up in the end. Proably the worst bit was when we thought we had everything sorted, but one of the hanging loops fell off and bounced out of the open window onto the kitchen roof. Fortunately we were able to recover it by taping Ruth's fishing net onto the end of a 7-foot pole and scooping it up. Here's a picture of the finished job, with fishing net...
Dad loaned me his angle-grinder and we cut out the seized bolt on the spare tyre cage. I needed to get this done before I fly because while I can manage with the spare tyre in the boot when I'm on my own, once we have the whole family and all a bags in the car, there'll be no space for it.
Since Dobies hasn't managed to get us a replacement part yet, even though it's been over two weeks, I ended up pushing the tyre cage into place with Dad's little hydraulic jack, then wiring it into place with a coat hanger. It sounds very Heath-Robinson, but it is secure, and I can still get the tyre out if I need it.
After dinner, I picked Ben up and we did a couple of little odd jobs around the house for travelling, then went o to the big one in Ruth's room. I had wanted to put Ruth's curtains back up while she was away. The old rail had fallen down a while back. The bad news was that the old rail was to damaged to go back up - the good news was that we had a spare rail, only a little shorter, in the flat.
It took a while, but Ben and I got it up in the end. Proably the worst bit was when we thought we had everything sorted, but one of the hanging loops fell off and bounced out of the open window onto the kitchen roof. Fortunately we were able to recover it by taping Ruth's fishing net onto the end of a 7-foot pole and scooping it up. Here's a picture of the finished job, with fishing net...
And the packing is... (Saturday)
Almost done. I'm waiting for one last wash to run for a couple of shirts that needed stain-treating.
Apart from that, Ben's been over most of the day, and he's been a great help.
We've harvested loads of courgettes and a couple of dozen cherry tomatoes, planted out the sweet potatoes and salad-thingies, watered everyhting in the greenhouse, and done a bit of tidying.
After that, we emptied out the car, washed the rear seat-cover, vacuumed everything, and put the car seats etc back in again.
Then, we folded loads of laundry and put a lot of it away, and made chicken tikka masala for tea.
For a rest in the evening, I did the next couple of stages of putting WindowsXP on Mel's new laptop for her. It came with Vista, but Vista won't support her scanner or any of her printers.
Apart from that, Ben's been over most of the day, and he's been a great help.
We've harvested loads of courgettes and a couple of dozen cherry tomatoes, planted out the sweet potatoes and salad-thingies, watered everyhting in the greenhouse, and done a bit of tidying.
After that, we emptied out the car, washed the rear seat-cover, vacuumed everything, and put the car seats etc back in again.
Then, we folded loads of laundry and put a lot of it away, and made chicken tikka masala for tea.
For a rest in the evening, I did the next couple of stages of putting WindowsXP on Mel's new laptop for her. It came with Vista, but Vista won't support her scanner or any of her printers.
Friday the 14th part 2...
Well, I got the light switch done, then made cheese omlette & garden veg for tea.
Unfortunatey, it's Sunday now, and I can't remember what else I did!
Unfortunatey, it's Sunday now, and I can't remember what else I did!
Friday, 14 August 2009
Friday the 14th part 1...
OK, got a severe lack of motivation going here, so to remove myself from distraction. I'm going to turn the electricity off. This way, I can't be tempted to compute, game, read* or watch movies.
I'm justifying such a drastci step by reming myself that I need to replace the failing bathroom light switch before it gets too dark.
After that, I'm going to see how many other jobs I can do before I have to put the power back on.
I'm justifying such a drastci step by reming myself that I need to replace the failing bathroom light switch before it gets too dark.
After that, I'm going to see how many other jobs I can do before I have to put the power back on.
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Lads' Night In
Wednesday was Lads' Night In.
Bowch picked up Chinese take-out, and he, Gary & I sat down for an eveing of cheesy movies. First up was a true straight-to-video classic, Megashark vs Giant Octopus. It was as bad as the title sounds, a horribly low-budget monster movie. The only member of the cast I'd ever heard of was 80's pop singer Debbie Gibson, who had the female lead role. She should really stick to singing. We enjoyed it immensely though, this was definately a case of "So bad it's good."
After that, Gary had to head out, and Bowch and I put in Homeworld, a sci-fi we knew nothing about. It turned out to be very good. A tale of a small group of space marines on a last-ditch mission to save mankind from shape-changing, mind-controlling aliens. Not much in the way of effects, but it didn't need them, as the plot focused more on the suspense and psychological drama.
Bowch picked up Chinese take-out, and he, Gary & I sat down for an eveing of cheesy movies. First up was a true straight-to-video classic, Megashark vs Giant Octopus. It was as bad as the title sounds, a horribly low-budget monster movie. The only member of the cast I'd ever heard of was 80's pop singer Debbie Gibson, who had the female lead role. She should really stick to singing. We enjoyed it immensely though, this was definately a case of "So bad it's good."
After that, Gary had to head out, and Bowch and I put in Homeworld, a sci-fi we knew nothing about. It turned out to be very good. A tale of a small group of space marines on a last-ditch mission to save mankind from shape-changing, mind-controlling aliens. Not much in the way of effects, but it didn't need them, as the plot focused more on the suspense and psychological drama.
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