Wow - Races: Undead and Tauren

Now back to the Wow theme after that minor break....
The undead having broken free from the tyrannical rule of the Lich King, a renegade group of sought to retain their own free will while destroying all those who oppose them. Known as the Forsaken, your group is dedicated to serving your leader, the delectable banshee queen Sylvanas Windrunner. You have established a secret stronghold beneath the ruins of Lordaeron's former capital city. Situated deep beneath the cursed Tirisfal Glades, the labyrinthine that is Undercity. Within its shadowy confines, the royal apothecaries scramble to develop a devastating new plague - one which will not only eradicate their most hated Scourge rivals and anyone else who gets in the way. To further your dark aims, the Forsaken have entered into an alliance of convenience with the orcs, trolls & tauren . You don't really hold any loyalty to your newfound comrades, have duped them into fighting against their common enemy - the Lich King. Only time will tell how you will fare in your mission of vengeance.
The undead like all the races have specific racial traits.
Will of the Forsaken - active, use it to become immune to Fear, Sleep, and Charm effects it can also be used while already afflicted by Fear or Sleep - lasts 5 sec - 2 min cooldown - useful against many classes this.
Cannibalize - active, use to regenerate 7% of total health every 2 sec. by consuming humanoid or undead corpses within 5 yds - lasts 10 sec - 2 min cooldown, how to annoy your enemy, eat them... no chianti in sight either.
Underwater Breathing - passive - lets your breath lasts 3 times longer than everyone else.
Shadow Resistance - passive - you get +10 Shadow Resistance, which is useful against warlocks and priests as these both can cast shadow damage spells.
Your start location is a small village in the heart of the tirisfal glades.
As already stated you city is the ruins of Lordaeron, better known as undercity.
Your racial mount is unique to say the least, it's an undead or skeletal horse.
If you choose to become one of the undead you can be one of the following
A mage, a priest, a rogue, a warlock or a warrior.


The Tauren are huge, bestial creatures who live in the grassy, open barrens of central Kalimdor, think huge cow and you got it in one. You live to serve nature and maintain the balance between the wild things of the land and the restless spirit of the elements. Despite your enormous size and brute strength, you are remarkably peaceful and have cultivated a quiet, tribal society. However, when roused by conflict, you are implacable enemy who will use every ounce of their strength to smash your enemies under hoof. Under the leadership of your ancient chief, Cairne Bloodhoof, you allied yourself with the Orcs during the invasion of the Burning Legion. The two races have remained steadfast allies ever since. Like the Orcs, you too struggle to retain their sense of tradition and noble identity.
The Tauren like all the races have specific racial traits.
War Stomp - active - a useful talent to have, activate this to stun up to 5 opponents within 8 yards - lasts 2 sec - 2 min cooldown.
Endurance - passive Max Health increased by 5%, a bonus gives you that little bit more hit points.
Cultivation - passive - 15 skill bonus to Herbalism trade skill, well you are close to nature after all.
Nature Resistance - passive - speaking of nature, you get +10 Nature Resistance
As for your mount it is unique an well needs to match your size it is a gaint kodo.
All I will say is how anyone can miss a giant tauren sitting on a kodo I'll never know.
You start of in a village on the edge of Mulgore, as previously stated you capital city is the 3 tiered Thunder Bluff.
If you choose to become a tauren, you can be one of the following:
a druid, a hunter, a shaman or a warrior.
More Tomorrow...............

Wow - Not on a Sunday

Ha got ya, you really think I was going to talk "non-stop" about World of Warcraft even I'm not that insane, although I play it a lot, I do take breaks from it, it's called work, when I was on holiday I couldn't play it all the time as it just got boring doing the same things over and over as I hit a point where that was kinda needed, there are times this happens yes..
Now on to the true subject of the day..... It's an old favourite revived with the kind permission of Moogie, it's question time once more.

If you could live in the world of any particular book (or series) what would it be and why? Thank you loremistriss for this one

This one I'm leaving up to you, meanwhile I'm going to find some new batteries for this keyboard as it appears it wants not work too faaassst.

Wow - Races: Dwarfs and Gnomes

Following on from yesterdays post:
Gnomes are definitely eccentric, often brilliant and definitely one of the most peculiar races in the whole game. They are obsessed with developing radical new technologies and construction marvels of mind-bending engineering, it's amazing they are still around really the are that focused.
They thrive within the wondrous techno-city of Gnomeregan, the gnomes share their resources of the forested areas of Dun Morogh with their slightly taller Dwarfen cousins. Though their cousins in Ironforge have the propensity of technology and engineering, it's the gnomes that provide the vision and drive for most of the weapons and vehicles.

Although the did help during the various wars, the most recent war against the burning legion they refused to send help to the frustration of their cousins and humans alike. When the war was over the dwarfs demanded an answer and went to gnomeregan only to discover the reason was that the city had been lost to some barbaric menace that had risen from the bowels of the earth and invaded, the gnomes knowing this and that their allies couldn't send much help. The fought valiantly but alone and their beloved city was lost probably forever. Half the gnomish race was lost either killed outright or taken over during the fall of the city, those who survived fled to the safety of their cousins stronghold in Ironforge. They are once again committed to the Alliance's cause. They are still trying to take back their ravaged city and spend time devising strategies and weapons that will help them do this.
The gnomes like all the races have specific racial traits.
Escape Artist - active - Very useful talent, can escape the effects of any trap, immobilization or movement speed reduction effect, their is a 1 min cooldown on this effect.
Expansive Mind - passive - Increase Intelligence by 5%, useful for mana users as gives them a slightly bigger mana pool.
Arcane Resistance - passive - The race get +10 resistance to all Arcane spells and effect.
Technologist - passive - 15 skill bonus to Engineering, well they are brilliant engineer so this was an obvious.
If you choose to be a gnome, you can be one of the following classes:
A mage, a rogue, a warlock or a warrior.
You will start of in an area near to Dun Morogh, your home city is Ironforge which is shared with your Dwarfen cousins.
As always you can get a race specific mount, which because your race are engineers is a mechanostrider, one small thing to note you cannot get a mount of the other faction even if you wanted to so, you'll never see a troll or a orc riding around on one of these, unless it's stolen :P.

Unlike their gnomish cousins, the stoic dwarves who live beneath the snow-capped mountains of Khaz Modan have always been fast allies with the Humans. They revel in the prospects of battle and telling tall tales about it afterwards. In the past, the Dwarves rarely left their mountain fortresses, whenever the call to battle sounded they would rise up to defend their friends and allies with unmatched courage and valor. Recent discoveries that uncovered fragments of their ancient origin caused the Dwarves to undergo a remarkable transformation. The discoveries convinced the Dwarves that the mighty Titans created them from stone when the world was young. You feel that your destiny is now to search the world over for more signs and proof of your enchanted heritage and to rediscover the Titans' hidden legacies. To this end, you have sent out prospectors to all ends of the world in the hopes of discovering new insight into their shrouded past. These journeys led to excavation sites all over the known world, some of which serve as outposts and some of which serve as potential hunting grounds for your enemies.

Like the gnomes you have specific racial traits.
Stoneform - active - While active, grants immunity to an effect that would cause you to bleed, become poisoned or diseased. In addition, your overall armor increases by 10%, this effect lasts 8 sec and has a 3 min cooldown before it can be used again.
Gun Specialization - passive -you get +5 to Gun Skill - rather obvious for a fighting race.
Frost Resistance - passive - you get +10 Frost Resistance, like your cousins arcane resistance due to the machines they make your long nights spend next to the fires of Ironforge have given you inbuild resistance to the cold.
Treasure Finding - passive - this is like the mining trade skill in that you have to activate it for it to work, when you do any treasure chests nearby will show up on minimap, lasts until canceled - but can be used again right away as there is no cooldown.
Like your cousins you start in near Dun Morogh, your capital is Ironforge.
Your mount this time is a mountain ram, or simply a ram, a very hardy animal indeed.
You might see other races running around on special rams - that your brethren gave away as prizes at various times.
If you choose to be a decide to be a dwarf you can become one of the following,
A hunter, a paladin, a priest, a rogue or a warrior.

More Tomorrow - The Undead and Tauren races.

WoW - Races: Orcs and Trolls

Now that I've gotten your attention (maybe :P @ Jen).
The orcs are well thought of as the mindless green vandals of Azeroth. In a way they are, some of the in game jokes go thus "It's not easy being green" and "Orc smash.." you can see why. They are not native to Azeroth having been brought through the dark portal to wage war on the humans, they are a proud race and rebelled against their masters led my the might warchief Thrall. It is said they have no empathy for other races now this isn't true, hey if they attack us we'll stomp them into the ground and then lay siege to their town.. They fight not for the sake of conquest, but the right to survive on their new adopted homeworld. Alas orcs aren't the most skilled builders so orc encampments tend to look like a battle has just occurred which is kind of handy sometimes as it means if they are attack they don't really need to re-build that much..
The orcs have a few special traits specific to themselves,these are as follows:
Blood Fury - Increases your attack power by a small amount, but in doing so reduces and healing done by spell, bandage or potion on you by 50%, this effect lasts 15 seconds and the attack power increases as you gain levels. You have to activate this trait as it's not an automatic or passive ability, most people I know have it dragged onto a toolbar on the screen so for ease of access.
Hardiness - passive or automatic, this ability means you have a 25% change to resist a stun and knockout effects, be it from a warrior's charge or a creature hitting you.
Command - another passive ability, this one is useful really only for hunters - Your pet close range attack or melee damage is increased by 5%, which is a fair amount really.
Weapon specialization - axes, again a passive skill, you gain +5 points to your skill will axes. You can't wield every weapon in the game, for most of the classes available to the orc race this is useful specialization. Every time you use a weapon against a creature in the game you have a chance, this is dependant on a number of things, not limited to your level and the creature your trying to kills level, to gain 1 additional skill point for that weapon upto 5x your current level i.e. for every level you gain, you can get 5 more skill point on that weapon. I can see you thinking but WHY is important, the more skill you have with a weapon, the more chance you have of doing more damage to the creature your killing, it affects also the chance you have of scoring what is known as a critical hit where you can do upto twice your normal damage which with some weapons is a lot.

If you decide to choose the orc race, you can choose to be either of the following:
A hunter, a rogue, a Shaman - the truest an orc and be to their origins, a warlock or a warrior.

You will always start off in the area called Durotar, well actually you'll start in the valley of trails which is hidden away in the middle of Durotar . Your home city is orgrimmar where you'll find your mighty and proud warchief Thrall sitting on his throne. You have to walk everywhere to start with but there are rewards for getting to level 40, the ability to get and ride a mount, no not a horse, an orc on a horse looks silly, no you get a nice riding wolf available in a lovely choice of colours.

Now on to the other race, the trolls. They populate various places such as the islands of the south seas, they are renowned for their barbarous and superstitious nature, that and their pretty much total hatred of all other races.
Of course one tribe is different, they overcame this when they encountered Thrall and his orcish army, they had been exiled for their ancestral lands in stranglethorn vale, nearly destroyed by an nasty band of murlocs - vile creatures, the saying is the only good murloc is a dead one, Thrall saved them and in return they swore an oath of eternal allegiance to Thrall and his orcish horde army.
They are led by a cunning shadow hunter named Vol'jin. They made their home in southern durotar, in a village named after their fallen tribal elder Sen'jin.

The darkspear trolls have a few special traits specific to themselves,these are as follows:

Berserking - active - Increases your attack speed by 10% to 30% depending on your overall health, the more badly hurt when you activate Berserking the bigger the attack speed boost, this effect lasts 10 sec.
Regeneration - passive - A 10% health regeneration bonus, 10% active in combat, your health regenerates faster than other races, help you recover quicker from battles.
Beast Slaying - passive - A nice 5% damage bonus when you kill animals or beasts.
Throwing Weapon Specialization - passive - +5 to Throwing Weapon skill - what can I say gives you a boost to thrown weapons, helps rogues and maybe hunters.
Bow Specialization - passive - +5 to Bow Weapon Skills, a definite bonus if your a hunter, or anything apart from a priest who can't wield a bow at all.
You start in the same place as the orcs and share many of the start quests of the orcs too. Although you home city is Sen'jin village your made welcome in Orgrimmar.
You don't share everything with the orcs however you get to ride around on what looks like Barney the Dinosour, better known as a raptor, I want one but can't have one as I'm not a troll but you can get one if you have the required reputation more on that later..
Like the orcs before hand you get to choose to be one of the following classes:
A hunter, a mage, a priest, a rogue, a shaman or a warrior.

WoW - an Intro...............

Okay as many know it's "National Blog Posting Month" so here's my "unofficial" attempt at it. I say unofficial as I didn't register on the website but here goes anyway.

I'm going to give you a little intro today of a game I play online called "World of Warcraft" or WoW for short.
It's set in the mystical land of Azeroth, after a titanical battle between good and evil where all the races realised that they needed to bind together to defeat a common enemy once this was done however, the old hatreds started to show and the bonds of friendship broken. Thus came on the one side, the horde, orcs, trolls, tauren & the undead they who once were living but turned undead by the war. On the other side, the alliance were the humans, the night elves or Kaldorei, the dwarves and gnomes. Each race is imbued with special skills that are only available to that race, giving specialisation with specific weapons, herb gathering, mining to name a few.
In the current version the game was expanded to add new content and 2 new races - both lost the gifted Draenei or "exiled ones", live in peace near the Night Elves as they had to escape their homeworld before they were transformed into pure evil by one once sent to protect the universe from evil, the Blood Elves, they are a reclusive race who only wanted to be left alone, alas it wasn't to be so as the source from which they drew their magic and energies from was destroyed in a recent war that saw the return of the scourge who had been driving out and all thought destroyed alas it was not to be. It also changes the maximum obtainable level of your character from 60 to 70, what that all means will be revealed in another post, another thing it gives you access to is another world away from Azeroth, simply known as "Outland" more on this later.
I have left many things out as you will really want to get the game otherwise and I can't have that it's just too addictive sometimes.
The game does require an internet connection and a monthly subscription in order to play it, you will see why in but a moment.
When you buy the game you get the 1st month free after that you pay a fixed sum ever month or every 3/6 months depending on how you've set it up, what your paying for is the 24/7 support needed to keep all the various realms up and running, and the in game technical support that is available.
When you start off, you first choose where you want to play, on what realm and not all realms are equal. The realms are divided up into firstly primary language those being English, French, German and Spanish, although you don't need to choose one in your own native language. This gives you a list of realms to choose from and these again are divided into different types: Normal or PvE (Player versus Environment), RP or Role Playing, PvP or Player versus player and finally the craziest of them all PvPRP - that's right Player versus Player with Role playing!
Now you've gotten that out the way, me you can find me on the European realm of "Boulderfist" which is an english speaking PvP realm, where I have 2 characters, both Horde of course.
When you choosen your realm, now it's time to choose your race, you can only play the 2 new races (and get to level 70) if you have the "Burning Crusade" expansion. If I didn't have the games already I would serious invest in the "World of Warcraft War chest" which contains the primary game, the Burning Crusade Expansion and 2 very good guide books.
Each race has limits on to what "classes" of player are available. These classes are Hunter - the might bowman, Warrior - fearless in battle, Rogue - the deadly assassin,
Mage - ice cold or on fire you chose, Warlock - bringing death by shadow and fire, Priest - The might healer, Shaman - Fighting the Battle the shamanistic way, Druid - Shapeshifter , Paladin - part warrior,part priest. That's a very brief descriptive of the various classes, I'll tell you more about each of them in later posts.
Male or female, the choice is yours, then you can decide exactly how they look. On each realm you can have up to 8 characters, the only restriction being if your on a PvP / PvPRP realm you can only be either Horde or Alliance not both.
Now for a name, think of something good and original here then create them.
What now, sit back and enjoy the intro movie, it will show you places you can visit and gives you a little background on your chosen race.
Tomorrow - I be introducing you to each of the various races.

And so it Begins......

Begins what though?
Well I'm going to try and keep up with Moogie in her attempt to take part in NaBloPoMo that's National Blog Posting Month.
I've no idea what I'm going to post about in all reality but I'm sure by the middle of next week you'll have heard all I have to say although I may just surprise myself and you dear reader...

Ratatouille - Finally Saw it

I finally managed to get to see Ratatouille at the weekend. I came out on October 12th over here but I took me to last Saturday to actually get time to see it. I was meant to be going to see that and Stardust with my friend but she couldn't make it saying can't afford it got the road tax to buy and my car is due a service and I don't know how much that will cost....
So I went got one of the good seats again, sat down with my sweet popcorn n soda and watched it.
It was really good. I loved the old woman at the start of the film she was funny...
Remy, he maybe a rat but at least you can say he had impeccable manners and real good taste.
I loved the little head chef with the big maniacal egotistical chip on his shoulder the size of mount St. Helens.
I mean using your departed dead bosses image to sell all sorts of crap is going to come back and bite you in the ass.
It is a funny movie throughout.
If you've not seen it go see it just to see what happens to said little chef and the health inspector who calls at the wrong moment, as well as the food critic who doesn't really like anyone very much..

New Template

Well here we go new template - I know the colours maybe a little off just now but hey I'll get them fixed soon but for now I think they'll work
So what you think of the new look?

Shameless Borrowed

Read my VisualDNA™     Get your own VisualDNA™

Time to spring clean the template again

Well this template has gotten old, it was probably "old" when I first put it up..
Now just to think of some theme and make it work, oh that and a layout and no I'm not going to use the layout tool thingy blogger now has - to limiting / boring although I may borrow some of the "coding" see what I can put in...

What a week / Raid on Karazhan

I get back to work on Monday all is good and well I think...
We are losing more than half the space we have due to our customer and landlord (glorious!) needs to rent the space out to make money - surprise and instead of having loads of space we have 3 rooms and they ain't that big basically 1 quarter of the space we had so I've been getting bitched at by the bitch I mean the bosses wife :| to get shit done you know the kinda thing 6 things at once, and well need to smart up - well if some people had led by example many moons ago we wouldn't need this crap! To say I had a SHIT f*cking week would be an understatement, I am serious considering another job I've been there 5 yrs and my sanity is going totally and utterly.

Now on to the other part of the title - My guild in World of Warcraft on the Europeon Realm "Boulderfist" finally got around to doing one of the fairly new instances "Karazhan" as a guild rather than as some had before either joined another guild totally or went along with another guild in order to do the damage..
Okay the armor I have on isn't the total best i.e it's not all "Purple" otherwise known as "epic" armor it's mainly "blue" which is pretty good / rare armor. I did all the pre-quests you need to do in order to get the key that actually lets you in the place , yeah that's right you can't just walk in the place you need a key well I suppose you wouldn't want just any stupid idiot walking in :P..
Got in killed all the mobs around the entrance, after that we went on to kill 2 of the main dungeon or instance bosses - Attumen the Huntsman, we did this with 9 people I was running on mana fumes for most of it - I drank to mana potions to recharge my mana these have a 1-2 minute period of time between them as it triggers a cooldown of that length of time and you can't drink it again within the period, I also needed one of the druids we had to throw me an "innovate" to regenerate my mana as fast as possible, by the end of it I even threw my "pet" - a shadowfiend who gives me mana back for every damage attack he manages to do on the selected target - no-one died which was good.
We then thought okay we killed him easy, lets go do another boss, we realised we needed a different set up for this so a few changes of character were made and in we went cleared the room before him of the required number of mobs, then cleared the room he was in. At this point we all stopped, sat down and drank / ate to get mana / health back up and maybe get any specials ready.. We then went on to tackle Moroes, I had a mob to keep at bay as I have 1 unique talent as a priest if it's classed as "undead" i get to "shackle" it this is required as these guys tend to hurt a little bit, it kept breaking and trying to heal and keep shackling drains mana bad, hmm let me see the shackle broke, one of the guys doing mass damage got killed and erm well it all went "pete tong" after that.... not once but erm twice or was it 3-4 times can't remember all I remember is that my repair bill for my armor is around 10g which is thankful not a problem. We did eventually kill him at this point we stopped and called it a night as it's a really hard instance to do we are allowed to "save" our position thankfully!
1st time in the place, 10gold repairs, no loot for me as the rogue got the dagger he was after from moroes:), one of the paladins got the boots from moroes, 1 of the hunters got the crossbow from the huntsman as the hunter had the way better bow from a previous run with another guild..
Me I got nothing - well maybe next time, oh and not bad for my first true "raid" as there was 10 people in the party not the normal 5..
Time to go lie down and go ouch at the repair bill once more...

A none to subtle Hint at someone...

Hey anyone read this still? I know I said I'd given up and stuff and argh well you know me by know - must be the librian in me - must seek balance in all.. yeah RIGHT!

Anyway enough about that - this is aimed at one person and one person only, Moogie someone needs to go and remind her of Blog Fodder it's erm kinda went a bit fallow of late and it might be useful to some of us for a topic to appear ya know! So if someone please ask her real nice - I have hinted before but alas hmm nada.. :P so could some kind soul please go give her a prod please that would be so nice..

Sidenote: I go back to work tomorrow :( argh 2 week holiday gone already!

Happy Birthday to Me..

Well I had a good one :P *hic*

Pop Quiz...........

This has been shamelessly stolen from Heather

You Scored an A

You got 9/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

Decided on this one instead of the "How feminine are you" I mean there are limits!

You Are 20% Extrovert, 80% Introvert

You are quite reserved You aren't afraid of social situations... But you very much prefer to go it alone And why not? You're your own best friend!

Are You An Extrovert or An Introvert?

You Are a Good Friend Because You're Honest

Like it or not, your friends are going to hear the truth from you. You know that the truth hurts, but living a life of lies is much worse. So while you're definitely kind and supportive, you don't pull any punches with your friends. Everyone knows where they stand with you. And what you like and dislike about them. While some may be initially turned off by your honesty, your friends have come to consider it a virtue. After all, in world of white lies and deceptive politeness, you can be counted on for honesty and integrity. Your friends need you most when: They need good advice or an intelligent opinion You really can't be friends with: Needy, emotional people Your friendship quote: "True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance."

What Makes You a Good Friend?

Your Vocabulary Score: A-

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

How's Your Vocabulary?

It's someone's birthday today

Well just a little reminder from her young scottish plaything to his Wahwer,
Happy Birthday. Go over wish her a happy birthday I can't possibly reveal anymore than that it's her birthday today.

Life - Update!

Well the past 2 weeks have gone where I don't know but gone some place and now I'm finally on holiday hurrah!
To update those of you who are interested.......
My dad had more tests and another x-ray taken the other day and is scheduled to have another scan done in a few weeks then he goes to see the specialist to see what he can sort out. He's been feeling crap up to this point but seems to have brightened up now he knows what's going to happen. No car which means muggins here is having to go shopping on a Saturday, oh the joys!
There have been days when I've just felt like beating my pretty (well some call it that) head against the proverbial brick wall as sometimes I think I'm in a no-win situation over something or other. Having to appear strong and silent and not show anything just well argh I don't know anymore! That was the whole reason for the last few posts - totally left field and ***beats head off wall again*** you know where I'm coming from don't ya...
Oh and I'm beyond help!

That is all...

Okay I've decided this blog is no longer relevant as well I think you know all you need to know about me, my life is non-existent etc so thus no point in having this here now is there....

That is all, move along now nothing to see.

Time for a change?

Okay, I don't know about you but I'm bored with the current colour schemes, the layout's fine maybe just needs a few things moved / changed or actually do I really need a blog at all or just a total 100% makeover of this one, I sometimes truly wonder...
Hint: Blog Fodder!!

How do you top off a shitty week? (Additional)

Well I was told they can't operate but now I'm led to believe they might be able, he just needs to boost his weight a little, hmm he's less than 7 stone (98lb) so hmm we'll see, the specialist he's to see is one of the best so I'm guessing we'll just have to wait and see.
The day after he went in to hospital for something totally different - fluid on the lungs, I went to see a film rather than take mother into see him, well I'm sorry it had been a LONG week, I just needed to go out to totally switch off which around here is kinda hard :|, just been told off about that by the last person I'd have expected but then again my sister is full of surprises.

How do you top off a shitty week?

Hmm well how do you top of a really crappy, shitty fucking week at work?
Well I'll tell you, when you get told something that causes you to kinda lose all sense of reality..

$cmd>Ping reality
Pinging reality with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for reality:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

I'm trying to think how to word this and I can't as I'm still trying to get to grips with it myself. I got home yesterday from work, dad was sitting in his car he must have seen me arrive and waited before getting out. He had been feeling great of late was even in hospital last weekend for a few tests to see what was wrong, they thought fluid on the lungs as he was having trouble breathing, no doubt down to his years of smoking but that was apprently the least of the problems. They did an scan on tuesday morning to see if all the fluid had gone and were concerned at something else so more tests were required he got the results of those yesterday, he has cancer no easy way of saying it so I've just said it. He said they can't operate on it so he's just going to live day to day, it's kinda shit but I'll get through it, I think maybe I don't know.
I think that's about it the rest of the day kinda went by a little hazy due to that and oh the quarter bottle of Southern Comfort I drank with coke and ice, well coke anyway ice required me to go downstairs not always easy...

....And I thought mp3 was a simple music format

I was of course wrong, it was a relatively simple format when all you had was fixed bitrates and a simple 128 byte v1 tag that was always at the end of the file, then came Variable bitrate formats and version 2 tags with expand on the version 1 tags and then more so, even that's had revisions ever wondered how when you tune into an internet radio station and it will sometimes show you how much of the song / show has been done well that's V2 tags at work right there. I'm saying all this because finally I've just about cracked a fully working ID3 Version 1 / Version 2 tag reader and also a mpeg frame decoder, a bit like animation frames but with audio, that works with a few common mp3 encoders and detects and works out the correct length of time for the audio without having to analyse all of the mp3 file like I thought I was going to have to :-S takes less time. Im going to see if once I've got it all completed I can't do a slight tweak to it and have it as a stand-alone mp3 database tool, it currently needs a webserver to run off as it's written in PHP using a MySQL Database all run on an Apache Webserver although it's possible to download all these and play around and get them working I prefer not to so I found the following solution Xampp it works, great for it you wanna dabble a little, wanna try a templete out on your wordpress but don't want to throw it up online - test it offline, you can pretty much run wordpress straight away although Moveable Type requires the addition of perl (just grab the install from the xampp page and your done). It's how I was able to play around so much with my templete when I was playing around and test it as much as possible but sometimes you just need to throw it online and see.
Oh and on a side note, I didn't get drunk on Saturday night even although I did plan on it, I got "merry" enough to have little voice on sunday due to the amount of singing I did, it was a good band they had doing a medley of current hits with a few from ages past..

Okay where was I?

Oh yeah, I am alive people honestly. Hmm I wonder how many times I've said that at the start of a post since I started all of this?
Well Stana, went home last Saturday so it's been kinda quiet around here so it has.
Last Saturday was a kinda busy day for me as well as I sent Stana home, got a gift for my colleague at work as he's getting married today (in about 2 hours at the time of writing this). I also had the entire afternoon planned out, me and my friend susan went to firstly to see Hairspray, this was her choice and I must admit it was a good choice, I was toe tapping along to most of the film and John Travolta as a woman as well as Queen Latifa it was well worth the ticket price, even if we did have to "slum it" in the standard seats as there were no "premier" seats in that cinema - pity. It was then off to the bowling alley to play 3 ended up as 5 games of bowling which basically ended up as close to a draw as you could make it, we then went to "Frank & Benny's", people please remind me - DO NOT have any Starter, the main course is a big enough portion of food, We both had the mushroom alfrado, I had the Spaghetti bolognaise with meatballs and I wish I hadn't ordered it with them as they were big, ended up half eaten but I was Stuffed. We then went to see Transformers kinda my choice and I had actually already seen it due to the fact the lil monkey I mean my nephew wanted to go see it and I took him the day before. I was basically out all day, spent loads of money and as it was the end of the month, my poor bank card was kinda of going into meltdown not a good thing but it was a very enjoyable day out and yes we do plan on doing that again ;).
Speaking of my nephew he's going on holiday for 2 weeks somewhere nice and warm, I think Tenerife not sure though, I got told but erm sorry what was I saying *grins*.
As for work do not even go there..
Why I hear you ask... All the work me, my boss, his son who's the one getting married and even my other colleague aka "the tool" well hmm we don't think he's really all there have spent time getting a new customer's site up and running all the camera / dvr both hardware and software issues resolved only for some people to ignore very specific instructions on what gets done :| as the money involved ain't something to be sniffed at.
Right Im going to go and play World of Warcraft now as I have this urge to KILL things!

Harry Potter

Hmm what can I say about the latest Harry Potter book apart from it's probably the best one. Well that and you seem to find Heroes and Heroines in the strangest of places. I'm not going to say anymore as I do not wish to spoil it for those of you who haven't finished reading it yet. WHY NOT it came out Last Saturday, any fan will have lost last weekend and maybe a portion of this week to reading it.

DND

Okay well I don't think you'll be hearing much from me, nor seeing much of me for erm the next few days :D since I'll be getting a hold of my copy of the Last Harry Potter book today and thus won't really be around much to read / comment on your blogs for at least the next 2-3 days..

Blog Fodder - "What fashion trend you followed was very cool then, but now looks ridiculous?"

This weeks topic from me is a little late, we can thank the lovely Karen over at Karen Writes for this topic..

What fashion trend you followed was very cool then, but now looks ridiculous?

I must confess I am not a dedicated, even remotely dedicated follower of fashion trends. I wore what I wanted to wear and if it was "cool" then it was "cool" if it wasn't so be it..
I don't think I've ever worn anything that I'd now consider "ridiculous", although saying that how would I know.. See nice short reply from me as always.

I just have One Thing to say......

Well 2 actually.....
I'm going to see Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix and
I am awaiting my copy of the latest Harry Potter Book...

Blog Fodder - "You get to “restart” your life at any age. When, and why?"

This week’s topic is a good one. It really makes you think about your life, and everything that has happened. You can thank Toy Reviews for this topic.

You get to "restart" your life at any age. When, and why?

I don't think I could "restart" my life at any point as I'd then do something different and take a different path and I wouldn't have "met" any of you guys.
I probably do a "hard restart" on my life and go back to being well 0. As to why well hmm seems like the logical place to start at the beginning once again, simplifies the whole deal does it not? It would possibly mean a few other things turn out differently as well - then again maybe not, maybe if I was to somehow do this I'd end up exactly where I am now who knows. Well I think that just about in a round about way answers this question :P.

Borrowed this from Heather's Site

I swung by Blog, Blah, Blah written by the wonderful heather and I saw Rate Your Blog and well here is mine:

Hmm G rating, which is exactly what I aim for maybe some posts do require a little Guidance and maybe should be avoided by kids.
I then tried the Spelling test and hmm I hate those darn things I swear I do..

I Scored a 60%!

Go figure it's not as easy as it looks you know.

A Day at Deep Sea World......

Me and the Starfish

Dear Stanley,
I know I've not really written for a while but well someone's been busy you know. Anyway we went to "Deep Sea World" and saw loads of different fish, they even had sharks (they looked scary), it's one of the longest underwater tunnels in the world, it's was like a huge doughnut ring as it went around in a circle, it was really cool though. I mean there wasn't just the tunnel which was in what was basically a someone's fish tank there was other more normal sized tanks which had fish from all over the world, I saw piranha's from the Amazon, Clown fish from the coral reefs, Yellow Tang and other fish from the deathly depth of Krakatoa , various cichlids from Lake Malawi, I even managed to get up close with starfish not really a fish at all,the dogfish - it's actually related to the shark, crabs and the other creatures around the local shores it was really cool. I managed to miss them feeding the sharks though, so many wanted to see it we didn't get close enough to get any decent photos. Speaking of photos we took loads of them and I don't think we got everything, I did ask if there was any shark teeth as they drop out the sharks every so often but there wasn't any as I thought that would have been pretty cool to send you back.
Love

Stana

A random one

I was checking a few blogs as I do, let me check what I got with my face / name on it.
Website - check
Blog - check
Facebook - nope
Faceparty - nope
Classmates /Friends Reunited - had for a short while - id got nuked.
MySpace - nope
Yahoo 360 - check (not really got anything there)
Bebo - nope
Google / yahoo groups - nope
Other Social networking places - nope
Neopets - I got one for something to do..
All in all I don't see the actual point of "Social Networking" I really don't I mean if you have 1 point of contact say this blog maybe a website with attached e-mail addresses should be enough yes / no ? Hmm or is it so you can have two separate groups of friends that might not talk to each other but you share interests with both groups just not at the same time...
Discuss

Blog Fodder - "What was the catalyst for the time when you REALLY went over the edge temper-wise?"

Okay Moogie I'll bite so to speak. Last weeks topic was interesting but hmm I just couldn't write about it, darn mental block someplace.
Now on to the topic this week brought to us by margalitc, owner of What was I Thinking?....

What was the catalyst for the time when you REALLY went over the edge temper-wise?

Now this is a rather interesting one as well let's just say you used to be able to have me got 0 to real nasty in the time it took to say "0 to real nasty" this was all because I was always being picked on at primary school for being smart at maths.
17x14 I can still do in my head it's 238 if your interested and no I didn't use windows calculator to do it or even check, that and I was small. Stood up for myself - no-one else would didn't get me into that much trouble. I grew out of it thankfully. Calmed down a lot, there isn't really a specific catalyst that sets me off so I can say what it was when I did go Over the edge temper-wise, just that I'm now a lot nicer but can still let rip when needed, generally I give fair warning that I'm going to go "BOOM!" enough that any sensible person should either a) clear out or b) stick around for the fireworks.. normally it's a) especially if it's them that's the problem. Fair warning being "I'm getting annoyed stop doing that.." etc, 3rd times the charm so to speak.
It's best to say you can tell when I'm going Postal and that's generally enough. Oh and you can pretty much insult me all ya like with in reason that sort of crap bounces right off but insult my friends or family (well most of the family) and you get the idea!

Blog Fodder - "Define your musical tastes in 10 songs." Additional

I know it's over a week since I posted the original post but don't mind me :P.
I haven't really included any classical pieces although I do listen to them sometimes although my favourites have to be Pachebel's Canon in D and Baber's Adagio for Strings just for the sheer emotion that is in them.
I mean just looking at my CD collection as it is:
Dizzie Rascal - Showtime, Damien Rice - O, Lost Prophets - Start something, Travis - 12 Memories, Various Artists - Born to be wild 1, Morcheeba - Parts of the process, The Streets - A grand don't come for free, Keane - Hopes and fears, Faithless - No roots, Outkast - Speakerboxx / The love below, Franz Ferdinand - Franz ferdinand, Scissor Sisters - Scissor sisters, Embrace - This new day, Katie Melua - Call off the search & Piece by Piece, Joss Stone - Mind, body & soul, Michelle McManus - The meaning of love, Norah Jones - Come away with me, Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten and that's only 1 like column of 'em.
Just thought I'd add that given a few of the comments made :P nice wide enough selection with a few weird ones included.
This is also to show I am still alive and with it *laughs*

Blog Fodder - "Define your musical tastes in 10 songs."

Okay it's back with a bang, okay maybe not a bang but hey it's my topics turn on Blog Fodder this week.

Define your musical tastes in 10 songs.

Okay this is actually quite a tricky one as I have well quite a varied taste in music, but I'll try and see if I can't summarise it.
Let's start with an anthem shall we..
1) Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody - Why it's a good song and a good start point I feel.
2) Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell - This song would never make it in "modern charts" where they insist a chart song is around 4 minutes - this 9 minutes of magic, guitar solos, drums it's all here and the video is well just go you tube it :D.
3) Alanis Morisette: Hand in my pocket - It could actually one of a few of her songs I don't know why it just works for me.
4) Mylo: Drop the Pressure - A little bit of Electro to liven things up.
5) Muse: Invincible - Great song, air guitar riff totally.
6) James Blunt: Your Beautiful - It's a good ballad and I just love it.
7) Prodigy: Smack my bitch up - Good solid meaty track with plenty of bass :D.
8) Snow Patrol: Chocolate or Chasing Cars - Both are so good I can't pick between them, I have a live version of Chocolate and am I glad a friend of mine pointed this wonderful band out - they are irish but they are a scottish band :) go figure.
9) Delta Goodrem: Not me, not I or The Analyst - Again both good track from 2 good albums as you can see I have trouble picking favourite songs.
10) K T Tunstall: Suddenly I see - It's a good track of a great album and well what can I see she's all from my part of the world.
I could have easily gone on, I mean there isn't a entry in there for Coldplay although I have the CD's right in front of me now, I do have many quirky albums in no particular order:
Kate Bush - Aerial, Antony and the Johnsons - I am a bird now, Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks, Jamie Cullum - Pointless nostalgic, Eminem - Curtain call, Pink - Missundastood, Ash - Interlactic Sonic 7"s, B*Witched - B*witched and to round off Richard Clayderman - Souvenirs amongst many others.
So you can see I listen to a wide range of music, different genres and so forth and don't go dissing anything until you've listen to it with an open mind.

Someone's DVD Collection

Dear Stanley,
Well I'm pretty impressed by this guys collection. It's got everything from "Lilo & Stitch" to The Matrix Trilogy, funny stuff to more funny stuff.
I've watched all the Harry Potter ones (erm a few times).... I watched Pirates of the Caribbean, he's not got the 2nd one, just have to erm twist his arm to get it for me :). I even watched the Original Italian Job - I didn't get it I like the new one better more understandable, I've even watch that one called "Nanny McPhee" pretty good, I loved the 5 rules part - I'd certainly start to behave better (not that I don't of course). A lot of it I wasn't meant to be able to watch due to the certificate that was with it but erm I snuck a look at most of them anyway (Authors side note: That would explain why a few were out of place). Well I'll sign off for now as it's late and this poor guy has to work early tomorrow.
Love

Stana

Can someone get a Doctor Please!

I need some air, anyone got any spare air? I'm feeling weirdly light headed - I was fine until I read here, now I feel weird and in need of some form of medical assistance...
*faints*

A little trip to the cinema

Captain Jack

Dear Stanley,
Well I managed to get to see Pirates of the Caribbean III - At Worlds End last night. It was really good, I had to hide behind someone a few times as it got a little bit scary in parts I was getting a little bored as it was a really long film but then they had a little break and was really good and well I was kept guessing as to the exact ending right to the end. So all in all it was a good film. Oh and sorry for the poor picture I had some really good ones to take as well but the camera decided to have a flat battery at that time, I wasn't happy to say the least but I'll forgive him as the few sweets I had were really good, different I don't think I've seen any of these at home but maybe I have..
Love

Stana

It wednesday already!

Hey guys, is it really Wednesday already I seem to be missing a day or something like that. Yes it's been that kinda week so far at work all good of course :). Fully tested a load of new kit that came in last week, well we did ONCE we got all the parts. I'm saying no more than that.. The weather has been pretty good over the last few weeks as you've no doubt seen from the pictures of my guest postee. I'm gonna fess now, I didn't actually go anywhere at the weekend I just stayed in and sipped on some beer, I still ran a few errands on Saturday, saw the nephew on Sunday (he wore me out playing football and stuff). Thus sorry Stanley, Stana was let loose on my DVD collection so she might just come back a little less flat, oh that and she likes my leather jacket I think...

World Record Attempt - Failed

I should really have written about this on MONDAY but I totally forgot...
Now your wondering what world record could I possibly be doing - well none.
It's a radio presenter who's doing the record and he just so happens to work for my Local Radio Station: Kingdom FM.
He was trying to beat the current world record of 125hrs set by an Italian radio DJ but his voice finally gave out it was flagging toward the end. He did last 108 hours though and raised a load of cash for the radio's charity "Kingdom Kids". I just rechecked the site as found out this, I had to reboot my PC to install something and forgot to switch the stream back on, just checked it as I was writing this and heard music thought okay then heard someone else I was like "Damn!".
Never mind Mickey is okay but just can't talk he did want to go on but was told "no!".
Well Done Man :)

We Went Bowling....

Bowlplex Anyone?

Dear Stanley,
The weather here isn't always nice and sunny, sometimes it does rain just like it did today which spoiled plans we'd had. However since it was raining and I figured I needed sometime to relax we went bowling. I only have one photo as it was kind of hard trying to take photos of him bowling, I must say he wasn't as good as you are.
So I'm afraid you'll just have to do with a single picture of us outside.
I know you think I'm not having a good time but I am, he's got all the harry potter novels but they have funny titles so I'm keeping myself amused with them as well.

Love

Stana

Here, There and many points inbetween

It's been a busy week here at Chez Gopher.
Sunday - It all kicked off again with my WoW Guild - when my So CALLED friend decided to Boot n Ban me off the TeamSpeak server they used, why because he was being an ASSHAT and using a stupid voice (think those voice boxes for people that can't speak right) it was getting annoy I did say it was getting annoying on TS and then switched channels so I can at least THINK. I say in Guild Chat that I had and next think I hear is "You have been Kicked from the Server" to which I replied in Guild chat something like fine be like that then "bye" followed by 3 things: 1 x hearthstone back to a city then /gquit followed by /quit to quit both the guild and the game, I didn't go near the game again until Thursday.
Monday - Bank Holiday here but as normal I worked it, I do get this Monday off so it's okay :P.
Tuesday - I finally get around to helping Stana post the pictures we took on Saturday, I know my bad. Well that and work was kinda interesting running around the place.
Wednesday - Erm Let's not talk about then shall we, All day to replace a simple alarm panel - no comment!
Thursday - I go out to trouble shoot the system - find problem (could have solved in 5 minutes but I have someone rewire just to make sure.
Friday - hmm middle of nowhere is just about right for where I was, nice day out.
That is all.

Some Photos as promised

My Arrival

Dear Stanley,
Well as I promised some photos for you to look at while I travel to a few places, don't know where I'll be going yet not quite decided but there are a few places I could go all with in easy reach (so someone says). I just had to show you my arrival photo as I thought it was quite funny.
I went out at the weekend as you can see. It was a great day out although as you can see from some of the later photos it wasn't a crystal clear day there was a little bit of mist (they call it mist don't know why yet).
It was some climb it don't look too bad from the bottom but the steps we went up were pretty steep. I saw some pretty flowers and had to stop for a rest, when I asked what they were I was told they are "bluebells" and they are pretty don't you think.
Once I got to the top I was pretty tired, I needed another rest but wow the view was worth the climb :) and I wasn't even at the very top but pretty close.

Me Preparing for the trek

I Climbed This

I needed a Rest

I Got there

The View - Finally

I then felt I had enough energy to go up to the top even if it mean a lot more walking than at first appeared. I would have taken one from the top but it was way too windy and I was getting blown about as it was. I manage to find a spot so I could look at the other side of the "hill"..
The view to the other side is just as spectacular as you can see if you look at the pictures I'd sent you as well. I've been assured the the "loch", these people have strange names for things I'm beginning to realise, it looks like a lake to me, is pretty famous as some queen or other was famously imprisoned in a castle on the island in the picture with the smaller island on it, people pay money to go over in a boat and look at what's left of the castle. The other island has the ruins of a monastery on it, just so you know if you upset me too much I'll try sending you to a place like this. The other picture is just a random one to show you that "mist" again.

Love

Stana

The Other Side

View from someplace

View from the Other Side 2

View from the Other Side 1

Friday Night

Well I know this is Sunday so why am I writing about Friday night well I've been busy and forgot to post even although I was posting for someone else that night.
I was out with a friend again, we went for a meal then to the cinema to see Spiderman 3. I adds a new twist to a few things and well it was a good all round film where friendships old are remembered for what they were and not what they were perceived to be, broken although I don't know if it was an entirely happy ending, well maybe it was.
You'll just have to watch it and see..

I've Arrived....

Dear Stanley,
I arrived a few days ago, but I've only just got around to writing to you.
It is a little hard being flat and trying to write so I asked someone to kindly give me a hand to do that.
The weather here is lovely right now, not a cloud in the sky. I'll write to you again soon with tales of my adventures here is somewhere in Scotland. I might even be able to tell you where, even if just roughly. I'm having a little difficulty in making him understand exactly what I'm saying and vice versa but I think I'll get him talking like we do soon enough..

Love

Stana

Voting!

I don't know what it's like in your part of the world when it comes to voting for people in an election but well today took the "biscuit" so to speak. Why you ask, I'll tell you....
Now I was voting not just for my Local Councillor, but also my Local MP in Westminster and my Local MSP in Edinburgh... Confused yet...
To say we have a slightly funky way of doing things here is an understatement.
Now in Britain - we have the Houses of Parliament in Westminster that looks after the WHOLE of the UK, we have local councillor's which look after a local view and in Scotland and Wales we have the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly that are partly devolved and are allowed to make modifications, adjust and refine the laws of Scotland and Wales respectively. Now they normally just take what the MP's at Westminster say and pass it as law, or adjust it so it's more locally suited.
As a result of this of course I got 3 ballot papers to fill in, well 2 as 1 was a dual paper. Now the dual paper had one side for the Scottish Parliament and one for Westminster - the Scottish one simply mentioned the Party I'd like simple enough. The other part was The MP I'd like to vote in, again simple enough, put a cross on the one I wanted to vote for. Now the LOCAL council election that was the complex part I had to vote which candidate(s) in order of Preference I'd like to represent me at a local level - writing 1,2 and so forth in the order of who I'd like voted in. Now you could put "1" in one box and be done or vote for as many as you like. They even had someone there who's job it was to explain all this. I mean okay it's complex but it's not "Rocket Science" is it or is it..
Comments please and is there any where it's more quirky or "interesting".

Bloody Banks

Well today was an absolutely glorious day not too warm, blue sky, just perfect weather for sitting out catching some rays (if only!).
Me I was stuck in one of the works vans most of the day driving around Glasgow, if you don't live there never try and navigate without the aid of a High Grade SAT NAV System, even then I think it might still be possible to miss turnings. It was fun anyway got the jobs done that needed doing..
I leave work at 4, drive to bank, hand over bank card, take out from the nice brown envelope it was in my wage cheque which is machine printed. The teller says that will be ready next Wednesday........ Of course I meant to remember that I need to say the one small detail that it's a Salary / Wage Cheque not just a cheque but PLEASE! how erm much clearer do they need it - it's on a Company Cheque - PRINTED, It came out of a pretty unopened brown envelope it's the beginning of the month and well it what always happens at the beginning of the month or the last day of the month (depending on when I get the thing / when I can get it in....) So I have hmm about £50 to keep me going till it clears... I had PLANS this weekend that are now screwed.. I AM going to see Spiderman 3 - I'll just have to erm wing it for that one. I was going to take newphew and his dad to the local bowling alley as it's my brother-in-law's birthday soon so it would have been nice but now I can't at all.
Oh well another day over, just have to get on with it..

2 Randomly Picked E-mails I received today....

Subject: *** SPAM *** =?ISO-2022-JP?B?km6Ms4LMg0mDb4NUg5OC8JX4gquCvYKigsWCt4KpgUiDjIN4g4uCzZLhgqKCxYK3gqqKbY7AgsmV+IKvgtyCt4LmISE==?=
From:
Resent-Sender: yasuko4589@sina.com
Message-ID: <20070424201838.50075@sina.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-2022-JP"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Resent-Message-Id: <20070424164111.77BF64D560F@mail>
Resent-Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:18:38 +0900 (KST)
Resent-From: yasuko4589@sina.com (Apache)
X-me-spamlevel: med
X-me-spamrating: 100.000000

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^^^^ please not that this appears as japanese on my preview of it..
----------------------------------
From: "Lemony Snicket"
To: me
Subject: *** SPAM *** Your application has been accepted
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2007 22:03:42 -0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/related;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0001_01C786BC.6B9837E0"
X-Mailer: Microsoft Office Outlook, Build 11.0.5510
Thread-Index: AceGvGuY5LPaLir5S8qMYK6uB8MrRg==
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869
Message-Id: <0C506E0DB2855A7.5D53D8381E@t-com.sk>
X-me-spamlevel: med
X-me-spamrating: 92.804371

Thank you for your loan request, which we recieved yesterday, your refinance application has been accepted

Good Credit or Not, We are ready to give you a $318,000 loan, after further review, our lenders have established the lowest monthly payments.

Approval process will take only 1 minute.

Please visit the confirmation link below and fill-out our short 30 second Secure Web-Form.

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-----------------------
(sent as HTML encapsulated so the link would have worked - I do not suggest you GO near this site - got it 3 times exactly same e-mail different e-mail addresses ).
This is just a snippet of what I receive on a daily basis on my ISP based Inbox..

Blog Fodder - "Did you have a teacher that left a deep impression on you (good or bad)?"

Thanks to Kim over at kimbofo for this weeks topic which is....

Did you have a teacher that left a deep impression on you (good or bad)?

This is a difficult one as often at the time you don't realise the impression they are leaving it's years later that you realise it. The ones that left a good lasting impression are for the better part dead unfortunately so I've never been able to go find them and say "thanks". I was never in trouble at school well once maybe twice but that was sufficient suffice to say.
I had primary school teacher that left an impression on me that I had a brain use it but learn to write properly so everyone can read it (Side note: I can if I really want to). Few teachers at high school left an impression on me, one or two bad impressions well not so much bad as "in bad taste" - I mean was highlighting my spelling mistake in an essay from my Biology class REALLY required to be brought up in my Sixth Year Studies (SYS) Physics class, the teachers were friends and the look they got said it all.
I person at school who left what is probably the most lasting impression wasn't even a teacher, he the school headmaster, a great guy who shared the same first name as me, he brought back the yearly prize giving ceremony which hmm I won a prize a year for a few years. He brought changed the way the school thought of itself gave it purpose we did win a few inter-school sports prizes and other things besides. He was deeply religious but didn't try and force it on anyone something I do to this day, If you had an idea for the school, he'd listen as well, I do that. Okay I don't have his fine baritone vocals which were just great to hear.

That is all I think.

Funk it all to HELL!

This post has been removed by the author.

Day off

Well it's a rare day off for me, well I was MEANT to get LAST Monday off but as we are a 24/7 company and am the only day shift person on, it fell to me to cover last week but I get a day off for it to take when I like generally I'll be taking the Monday after off makes sense after all. So let me see how I've spent my day off so far....
I got up, I've polished the car and oh yeah I'm going to be acting as "Chauffeur" to my dear father as he has a hospital appointment and MOTHER decided that since today she'd have been going shopping anyway but my sister would have gotten her and the shopping home, it's now MY job - I don't mind I would just like to have been ASKED first!!!

That is all.

Update: well it was a fun day oh and now it looks like WE ARE ALL STUCK with the new version of blogger if wanted it or not!
Do I need "labels" not really, and what is added to this "new" blogger - it's attatched to a google account - sorry Im VERY suspect about all of this!
Ignore me.

Blog Fodder - "What are some of the more bizarre bits of spam you have received, whether through emails or comments?"

Thanks to Raj over at Radioactive Jam for this weeks topic

What are some of the more bizarre bits of spam you have received, whether through emails or comments?

Well let me see I use Mailwasher Pro to clean my ISP based inbox out, my gmail, hotmail, yahoo all take care of themselves and I got checkers for them all so I know if I get new e-mail anyway.

Let me just grab some stats of the e-mail from the last 4 weeks...
Spam : 1416
Legitimate E-mail: 136
Spam e-mail is on processing bounced, deleted from my isp inbox, the e-mail address or domain (if I choose to add that) is added to my ever growing blacklist of junk e-mail.
Now since I got the Pro version I can report all of them but when I do I get a 2nd e-mail back telling me to click-a-link to finish reporting and it gives me an idea where the spam came from as well, I ONLY now do this for spam that "appears" to be from my subdomain i.e from me.
I've reported 29 pieces of e-mail this way I used to report them all but that gave me loads of work even using the tabbular functionality of Firefox it was a bind doing the find the report button using the text on the line below, clicking it, ctrl + tab to move tab, f3, repeat ad-nauseum.
Now as to what the spam contained..
If I replied to 1/10 I'd have a few million $$$'s in loans, enough "drugs" to keep me going for oh 10 years "solid" if you'll pardon the pun..
Software coming out of my ears, pump n dump stocks galore etc, etc...
I do have a personal website using my ISP provided webspace and I have a Guestbook there, which for some reason stopped e-mailing me when a new comment was added so I didn't know when comments were added I checked it one day and well hmmm 30 comments for "crap" were there all very similar as well, deleted and moderation turned ON.
when I had a Tag-board a while back I got SPAMMED on that as well :| so took it down got money back etc..
okay Im done I think..

Blog Fodder - "What are your top 10 reasons to blog?"

Thanks to Chrysalis! for this weeks blog fodder topic which is:

What are your top 10 reasons to blog?

Tricky one but I'll give it a go..
1) It's easy to post things up, random musing etc.
2) I've made a few friends on here and like to touch base with them all without having to e-mail them (I know such a lame excuse eh!)
3) I like the feedback I get (or not as the case maybe)
4) It's like a modern day diary but you can change it and no-one need know as there is no crossed out bits or bits that have been over written.
5) It's a way of meeting new and interesting people, found a few I even call friends.
6) Moogie made me (no just kidding but moogie's blog was the 1st blog I ever read).
7) With a little effort I can change things around, add / remove entries, change the template to suit - reminds me need to change the look a little maybe.

I can't think of any more right now but I might do later on..

8) Comments can trigger off new ideas for posts
9) Meme's are fun to share.
10) Expression is the key, oh and did I meanion it's all moogie's fault oh wait I did already...

Okay that should keep "someone" happy (for now).

Reality.check

Scanning please wait..............................




Reality: Found - just about
I am alive honestly and feeling 100% if you ignore the FREAKING GOD damn head cold I seem to have that likes me so much it doesn't wanna go away, right now it feels like someone is using my head as a set of drums.
I'll post on the Blog Fodder Topic / other crap later on maybe I don't know, this is just a check-in.
On a Side note...
I wonder why I bother - no comments are made, need to check my stats pages to see if Im only being visited by Robots.
Ignore please *slaps self about head and then doses back up on nurofen*

Blog Fodder - "What is the best and/or worse advice you have ever gotten from your mother?"

what a great Blog Fodder Topic this week...
What is the best and/or worse advice you have ever gotten from your mother?

Can I answer this one with a simple enough answer - I can't think of ANY advice I've been give by my esteemed mother.
I'd have to think REAL hard to think of any advice mother's given me, sister's probably given me more, friends, other family but mother hmm......................
Sorry button got held down while I tried to not laugh.

I blinked and missed something..

I think I blinked and missed this week or maybe I didn't just seemed to have been working hard all week but all rewarding :).
Let me see if I can get my head around this week...
Monday was the quietish day.
Tuesday - was on a site till 4pm (when I finish) so overtime :)
Wednesday - moving the office around as we needed to vacate one of the rooms we used as an office as they were rearranging the place..
Thursday - Oh yeah up at 5am to get into work for 6am so I can take a trip down to a customers site in blackpool, all on someone else's expense account :D
Today - Quiet day in the office I was looking for, what I got was a trip to customer in Livingston to do a repair, got back had lunch thinking quiet afternoon, no to another customer who's alarm my colleague was replacing but he'd gotten held up so me and a colleague helped out by ripping the old panel, keypads and bell out ready for the new panel and stuff he had to go up :)..
Now time to relax, have some food and a beer or 2..
Oh yeah and tomorrow is mother's birthday.

Friday Night and it's Alright...

Well I took my beloved friend & work mate Susan out on Friday night, stop right there I know what some of you people are thinking :P..
It was her birthday tuesday and well we went for a chinese then went bowling me paying for both naturally..
What can I say about the chinese apart from it was great, prawn toast or as they called it sesemed prawns on toast - little bit of lemon on it, heaven :D. I followed this with Kong Po Chicken which is looked nice, I knew it would have a little kick but after a while the sauce got to me not because of the kick but the sweetness of it, I believe it tried to be sweet n sour with a twist but hmm didn't work out. Susan well she had king prawn with cashew nuts - perfect it was as well, muched a prawn - well she tried the Kong Po, we shared a dish of fried rice which was enough... I had had a long week and after the meal just felt like 40 winks but I thought that impolite, and besides the bowling was booked :D
So we went bowling, good enough place and busy to boot but hmm they could do with a little tech update, Im kinda spoiled as I got a very good bowling place with full touch screen technology and per player bumper settings (well I play against nephew) so having to go back to what looked to me arcanic was interesting. I will say is the Screens could do with being replace and the consoles as well to make it easier.
Oh and a few newer bowling balls as well they looked a little war worn - damn im spoiled ain't I. It was a good night and well much fun was had and overall and I've no Idea why or how I lost 2-1 and lost overall by something like 2 points, too many gutterballs I guess - I saw a few adults "cheating" as in they had the bumpers up (they are up or down for all)..
We did consider winding her parents up but thought better of it :P

Blog Fodder - "Give an example of a meal that makes you happy."

Hmm an interesting topic this week for Mar at Maremagnum. Well here goes it's a tricky one - well not really..

I think it's not the actual food that's there it's the company too.
So I mean I could say my own recipe pasta carbonara makes me happy and it does, reminds me of good times at uni (although I don't wanna remember some of the crap there), reminds me of a certain valentine's day with my now ex...
I like a good meal out, had a nice chinese last friday but I think I'll make a proper post about that now that I think about it. I had the sesemed prawns on toast as they called it followed by Kong Po Chicken with a side oreder of fried rice :D delicious.
Another one is well indian in origin, onion bajhi to start with and a nice chicken tikka masala or something not to firey anyways..

I think Im done now, see give me good food and your pretty well garenteed to have a happy Gopher :D

On a sidenote no idea how but well sometimes mother who is a good cook honest, serves me something and I wonder do I eat this or resole my shoes with it...

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sorry Come back later im sleeping...
Alive yes, awake no..

Blog Fodder - "Where do you go to be alone?"

This weeks topic brought to you by Carmi.

An interesting one for sure, posted by Moogie a little later than schedule but I think we can let her off, maybe......

I sit by my PC, put some music on or a DVD and just switch off totaly either that or I go out on a long walk if I don't think that's gonna work..

I think that's about all I can say really.

How to Piss me Off!

Well it's kinda easy if you know how but I digress a little perhaps.
As you all know I play "World of Warcraft". Now if you don't play it don't think about taking this game up it's subscription only and can be addictive.
In saying that I normally enjoy it, with the occational "OMFG" (Oh My Freaking God) why did someone just do that etc..
Now all was fine and well with my 2nd char on this realm (Europe - Boulderfist) in with a load of mates (2nd char in the Guild and 2nd time around).
My first char on there was kicked out the guild cos one night I went what can only be described as "Totally EMO!" that's like going POstal but with an Emotional core and i was booted out of guild and the GM Ignored me to boot :| well someone MOFO was pissing me off - member from an Old Guild I was in on another realm they became GM of the guild and well they freaking RUINED the guild, forced everyone into a merge I went I'd rather slit my wrists or similar (yeah I was that passionate about The Guild). That char is long gone - everything sold off and all the gold I made sent to a fellow player and the player deleted - was lvl 59 I think (on the grind to last level at the time 60).
I hopped realms moved a char from one to another and started afresh on Boulerfist with my primary passion an Orc Rogue which was what my 1st ever char was. I then got the expasion and created my 1st new Race char and 1st Priest (Blood Elf Priest) and was happily leveling with a few mates who'd gotten the expansion as well and were bored with their current characters in the guild, they then join up as mate was sick of getting whispers to get on his then main or an alt in the guild to talk about something I rejoined the guild and well all was fine until about oh 2pm (GMT) today when I was kicked from the guild - no warning, no friendly "hey mate - problem here" type whisper just BOOTED :|.. Some people weren't happy with my "attitude" in guild chat - no names mentioned and I don't really care either. What really PISSED me ROYALY off was the fact the faceless fecks didn't have the BALLS to say it to my face either in a party or in guild chat or even as a whisper. So Im all guildless again, just gave all my gems that I had to my mate (the GM who kicked me) Im gonna have to keep playing as well it's still fun (only just).
Oh and well hmm I won't be joining any guild for well lets see till thursday afternoon at the earlist (around about 4 days) which is the same cool down as making Mooncloth as a tailor..

Amandil, Blood Elf Priest Lvl 41 - Boulderfist

one word

I've blatently stolen this from Heather's Blog.
Use ony one word…..Not as easy as you might think.
1. Where is your cell phone?
jacket.

2. Your Vehicle?
outside

3. Your hair?
brown

4. Your father?:
downstairs

5. Your favorite thing?:
sleep

6. Your dream last night?:
weird

7. Your favorite drink?:
Irn-Bru

8. The room you’re in?:
bedroom

9. Your ex?
interesting

10. You are?
chilled

11. What do you want to be in 10 years?
elsewhere

12. Who did you hang out with today?
Friends

13. What you’re not?
quantifiable

14. Muffins?
cinnamon

15. One of your wish list items?
unknown

16. Where is the ______ ?:
glass

17. The last thing you did?
drove

18. What are you wearing?:
jeans

19. Your favorite TV show?:
sci-fi

20. Your pet(s)?:
non-existant

21. Your computer?:
critical

22. Your life?:
Unknown!

23. Your mood?:
morphable

24. Missing?
her

25. What are you thinking about right now?
dinner

26. Your Shoes?
trainers

27. Your work?
different

28. Your summer?
mediocore

29. Your favorite color?
blue

Wow is it almost March Already!

Has anyone seen the last two monthes or know where the HECK they went?
I sure as heck don't on saturday it's the 1st birthday of the year (well for me) - my "dearest" nephew connor will be 9, how he got this far I wouldn't even ask for I don't know the answer to that one, Im only the little monkey's uncle.
March is a mad month for me why I hear you ask, I sure I posted something like this last year but that would mean actually looking through the archieves and this poor lil bunny is tired. Like I was saying before i rambled off in another direction, oh yeah, march and birthdays I have 4 members of my immediate family (including the nephew there) and 3 friends, 2 of which are on the same day, and one of them you all know and love dear reader, she knows who I mean, Im not saying who either :D
My nephew got a brand-new Nintendo DS + 10 games (a few are full DS games) for a very nice price from e-bay so he's asked a for a few Games for it.
I mean it's not like he doesn't have enough to do with Cubs, Karate, Football, Homework, etc and his PS 2, Gameboy Advanced & the PC he got for christmas.
Spoilt never he's earned EVERY item :)

Oh and don't you just HATE it when you manage to bite you tounge and not realise it till a while after and of course it's rather difficult to put anything on it isn't it.

That is All.

Blog Fodder - "What do you see when you look out of your living room / kitchen / bedroom window?....."

I know go on tell me I need to post more, don't ask why I don't just be thankful I post, unlike some people I can think of, but I do know they lead lives far more hectic than mine so I can let them off just this once. Now on to the topic for this week from what looks like a fellow brit (cheers) Le Laquet.

What do you see when you look out of your living room / kitchen / bedroom window? You can do this with photos if you would like.

What do I see when I look out the window nearest me well the back garden and the lane behind my house and open fields and trees, there are some winter pics on here some place which right now I can't be bothered to go find the post in question to link to so Im afraid it's a hunt of the archieves - Feb / March 06 I think..
From my front of my house I see the local hill and it's a nice hill takes a little bit to climb up it but the view from the near enough the top is worth it trust me.
I think that will do.

Blog Fodder - "Which is worse? Poor manners or poor grammar? Why?"

This weeks topic brought to you by "Suzanne", it is an interesting topic I must say.

Which is worse? Poor manners or poor grammar? Why?

I'd have to say poor manners as normally this is vocal or visual and is instant for example someone bumping into you and not saying sorry and the like, not on at all in my book. In saying that I was brought up to be polite, trust me I had no option, I do love my dear darling sister as she did drag me up by the shoelaces although not literally.
Poor grammar well it all really depends on how bad it is and in what context the piece of writing is for.
I know I probably sometimes don't make gramattical sense sometimes but I do try and contruct sentence correctly, spell things correctly and so forth. I do probably over use certain punctuation marks, well I mean sometimes you just have to!!!!!!!!!!!!
See what I mean but if it's any type of formal letter IF it were to land on my desk at work,rare as I really don't get mail at work, or I'm shown a letter addressed to say the boss and read it and If they were looking for a job I don't know if I'd hire 'em or not, mind you I've seen some very professional looking CV's but "fresh coat of paint to hide the cracks" anyone.
I'd say both are equally worse but Poor manners just tips it as I do HATE people with bad / poor manners after all it takes nothing to be polite does it now.

That is all..

Blog Fodder - "If you could go back in time and choose your career, what would it be?"

Well quite an interesting question this week from Heather. Mind you heather sometimes does write thought provoking entries, now on to the question.

If you could go back in time and choose your career, what would it be?

This be a tough one for me as well I honestly don't know what it would be. I'd probably go back and smack myself around the head a few times but then again IF I did that I probably wouldn't be "here" and thus would probably not have the wonderous array of "friends" I have now. I use the quotes as most if not all who have read this blog I've never met in person and well e-mail ain't the same, okay phone calls are different I will give you that it does allow you to connect on a more personal level, as it adds a depth and colour (color) that are kinda hard to convey in a e-mail even if you use italics or bold text and colored text or all 3 however this doesn't answer the initial question does it.
What would I choose to be....
I am the geek type - I love computers have done for many years so I'd probably have taken that career path, maybe gotten my head around programming or something. I do love problem solving so may have ended up in some R&D department or as Tech support (the real kind not the "Tech Support" some provide can we say "script driven","in the box" and "blinkered" yes we can).

I probably be boring as well, well maybe. Who knows? Where I am I'm happy enough honest. I think it's due to the fact I've sat on my rear end and did just enough that's why Im the way I am, path of least resistance..

So to sign this post off, Career change probably software design or something like that but in truth not really how else would I have met.
Moogie then Sharon, Melonie, Wahwer...., Heather and the myriad of other people I know through blogger and "Computers Lobby:1" from the Chat at "Yahoo.com" and my friends who have actually met me in real life (poor them).

That is All...
More Next Time, Same Place, Same Nutcase.

Dating Anyone?

Okay that's a pretty what's the word, I had in my head but a moment ago, got it, what a fairly unambiguous post title / question.
Now for those well versed in the blog that is this one you will know or perhaps not that well Im just not that lucky, for those that are new to here, have a quick dive through the archives - here is the most current ref there are other earlier ones..
I just don't have the luck when it comes to asking girls out, I ask I get blown off.
The ONE and ONLY girlfriend in the proper sense of the word ask me out - well not so much asked as confessed in a letter that she loved me.. after telling her "good" friend and her good friend blabbing to her boyfriend in a call I was able to overhear the friend saying that she was stupid.. Long story - 3yrs some good times and then 1 big screw up on my part that I never fixed.. End of.
I think I'll just stick to be a "male friend" to any girl I get to know / know currently safer on all counts.
My good friend and colleague has joined her local dating agency - a brave move one which of course has seen her riddiculed by the boss, me I just said good luck :), I am going to tell her soon she's brave, braver than me. I tried that but hmm as normal it came out wrong but I was able to make a good enough recovery.
Now to the whole point of this post well it's mentioned above and in all honesty who the hell would wanna go out with a pain in the neck guy, who all he does is gets up for work, comes home and sits on his pc and sleeps, rarely goes anywhere, rarely phones what little friends he has and generally can't be BOTHERED with anything and takes the easy way out if at all possible or the path of least resistance.
Hmm yup sums me up real nice that does.
And NO this isn't a Dating AD / post / whatever it's the truth.

Filed Under: honesty, self.

Blog Fodder - "Name a sensory input(s) which trigger a mood change..."

Hmm I said I would post on this topic, tricky one but a good one from
Rob, over at My Bloddy Great Nutshell.
So he poses the question.

"Name a sensory input(s) which trigger a mood change be it uplifting, depressing, poignancy or remind you of a past event or period in time. Examples - the smell of an aftershave or perfume, a song, a baby crying, the sound of a vegas slot machine, the feel of clean sheets, the taste of a childhood drink."

A good question, a tricky one I've been thinking on and off about this one all week I mean what music Im listening to does tend to modify slightly the kinda mood im in.
Silence is great as well, just listening to nature brings back walks I had many years ago that hmm I don't do now, im still me just a little bit quieter, a little more hidden, although people that know me will claim that's not true, personal armor sorts that out.
There are a few songs and the smell of one particular brand of aftershave that invoke memories of happier times with my now ex-girlfriend. I wear my heart on my sleeve or so someone told me that and I was once told I should be a care worker or something - IM not that hard..
Time to go find Pachabel's Canon in D and relax it's been an interesting week.
Question answered hmm maybe but it's random just like me.