Holding it together even if a bit shaky

Well it's getting towards that time of year again, Christmas :)....
Well I thought today I'll go and get all the Christmas cards and start and get them ready to post out to my far away friends and their families. Yes I mean You dear reader, well many of you, some of you may read this and be disappointed that no card appears, I can hardly send a proper card to an e-mail address so some of you may end up with e-cards.
I was in my usual card shop getting cards, the boxes of card for friends, and the special ones for family. Well there I got smacked with it right in the kisser, "To Mum and Dad at Christmas" or similar and well it got me for a moment, I had a little cry to myself which thankfully no-one saw and composed myself once again when Slade - Christmas Time came on, that helped :) a lot.

So dear friends, when your sending out your cards this year, remember those who've lost someone this year.

So across the miles, virtual or otherwise here a great big hug from me to you guys out there, keep on smiling.

G

Update: One Brave Teenager

Well someone has stepped forward and come up with the required money for the health insurance so Hannah can visit Disneyland and not have to worry about any medical bills
If I read the article correctly it up to 3 million pounds of insurance cover or maybe it was higher still..

In other news -
Apparently someone leaked the BNP members list - Ophs, I mean I can't see why no-one would want people to know they are "members" of a party that well is Neo-Nazi in nature, hates non-whites, but is unfortunately a "legal" political party here but well shall we say certain professions ban you from being a member of it as it could possibly "color" your judgment, get it...

The Scandal of "Baby P" who was basically tortured to death by his evil twisted stepfather, his mother and a lodger they had staying with them it was "missed" by the local Social Services and it had been noted that social services did have chances to save the baby but no they sent it back for more torture as well "that's the right thing to do" - Political correctness / EU Human right bollox are to blame and they are wondering why the "Public at large" are baying for their blood in this, even if they didn't actually kill the baby, they should still hang their collective heads in SHAME, I mean a doctor examined him 2 days before he died and missed a broken spine..
The 4 or 5 involved in this are basically being very kindly asked to Resign..
There have been a few cases like this over the years so it proves that lessons learned from previous cases haven't been learned at all..

Another "Scandal" is the government allowing the merger of HBOS with Lloyds TSB I mean with a little more cash injection from the government HBOS could have been kept independent but NO screw over the customers... If this all goes up "shit creek without the proverbial paddle" Mr Brown - my vote will go else where...
A little note here - I do have the power to vote him out of his parliamentary seat..

Whatever next...

One Brave Teenager

I normally don't write 2 posts in a day but this story touched me..
A 13 year old girl who had a rare form of leukemia diagnose when she was 5 and the resulting treatment left her with heart problems has won the right to die even although she could get a donor heart which would prolong her life.
She did so because she'd be on drugs the rest of her life to keep the immune system from rejecting the new heart and since she's had to stop taking the other medication the leukemia could return, she stopped it as it would interfere with the pacemaker she has fitted.
The High Court ruled she was old enough to make her own mind up as she didn't want have to beware the rest of her life that the leukemia could return and she's sick of being in and out of hospital as well and has already defied the doctor's by living longer than they said she would. She wants to stay at home and die quietly not tubed up in some hospital far away from home.
She has been offered a trip to Disneyland Florida IF she can find someone willing to cover the special travel insurance she'd need to fly with.
Hannah Jones your are brave beyond measure.
BBC News Link to the story.

Remberance Day / Veteran's Day

90 Years seems a long time yet it's 90 years to the day that World War I - The War to end all wars ended..
All the dead and those who fought in that war and the wars since ask for is once a year to fall silent for 2 minutes..
I again link in this beautiful and powerful song by Terry Kelly who actually saw someone totally ignore the kind call for 2 minutes to remember the dead..


2 minutes of silence is all they request,
2 minutes from your day once a year,
It's a simple request, not a big ask is it?
For those who have fought and died,
For those who have fought and survived.
So that you and I can have the freedoms we have,
So that we have the rights to do what we wish.
They've fought and they've died so that we might be free,
They've fought and they've died so others might taste freedom.
2 minutes of time, is all that they ask.
2 minute is nothing, it's a pittance of time.

To all the brave men and woman who've fought and died in all the wars and who are out fighting right now for other peoples freedom I salute you.
I was reading a story today about a solider who was hit by a rocket and as he was being treated ripped off the mask and demanded to go back out even although he was gravely injured, he didn't make it and was posthumously awarded a medal for his selfless actions.
That's just one of many stories I've read of bravery, often carried out without even thinking just done, they can say at least I tried to save the lads around me.

Lest we forget, some never stop fighting the war just remember that next time you see and old guy he might have fought in the war somewhere.
Just thank them for doing the job they signed up for, protecting the country they live in.

Film Review : James Bond - Quantum of Solace

Hmmm what can I say about this film, opening titles so typical Bond, let's just say I wouldn't like to see the repair bill on the car, IF it was actually repairable - bullet holes, cracked windscreen, missing door, scraped paintwork oh but don't worry Bond got the guys chasing him by shooting them and taking them out in style..
Now I had heard the title track music on the Radio many times and well it sounded okay if not a little quirky, Most if not all of the Bond Title music can be played and it sounds normal this just didn't however it fits in perfectly with the titles.
Now on to the movie which basically follows right on from where Casino Royale left us.. With a dead MI6 agent, a "shadowy" organization who we know little about and have no idea how wide spread they are..
Bond gets to the bottom of it by pretty much kicking the info out of them, which of course doesn't impress "M" very much although at times everyone is looking over their shoulder as it seems even MI6 isn't immune to have this shadowy group in it's midst - I mean they all come up clean on the security reports and yearly tests, so who's not to trust them.
Of course it all unravels once Bond gets on the Inside track and well has a word with them that maybe just maybe they should pick some place a little less public - and well gets a few nice snaps as people leave.
High speed car chases, guns, girls it's all in there, he calls in a few favours, goes semi-rogue although "M" always trusts him to know what he's doing, even after having her collar felt by the Foreign Office...
All in All a good film - go see it, can't wait to see what they have Bond doing next.

Networking....

I got my network fixed eventually, it's been a busy week so forgot to post it was fixed..
Stranded Cat5 cable has a slight advantage over the solid core stuff in that it can still work (even if only just) with a few strands broken where as solid core either works or doesn't and is much less fun to work with...
I also went to see the new James Bond yesterday and will post later about that..

I got a networking issue..

Hmm my normal connection to the net is being temperamental, no not the actually connection from my modem to the net but the connection from this computer to said modem / router as it's well dropping data packets which is normally not noticed but it does tend to slow things down a little or a lot depending on what I'm doing, most times i don't notice it but been getting "this path is too deep" errors when transferring files across between pc's or really slow transfers if using other tools. The one major thing where it's extremely noticeable is when I go to talk to my guild mates on "ventrilo" as well my "ping" time goes from a nice 31ms, to well 15-16s i.e 15-16,000 ms and keeps going till all it says is "ping:" nothing else..
I've tried new network card - still the same.
I've tried different operating system to make sure it's not the driver / OS that's the issue - still the same..
I've tried another PC and put ventrilo on that - worked fine, proved connection was okay..
So I'm thinking it's either the 10-15m cable I have installed or one or other of the ends which are machined on and I don't got no ends so can't easily replace them, also replacing them is a freaking royal pain in the ass.

So at some point soon I'm going to either have to replace the cable - easy enough just about as it runs the full width of the house, i.e full length of my room, into the cupboard up the wall into the attic and then along to the other end of the house to my modem/router, or do I get a wireless card and swap routers to a wireless one which I have got!

can we say ouch! update

Okay I tried the dentures in for 4-5 days but nope they ain't working to smart, taking them out causes great pain as the right hand one of the 2 metal clips that are on it, that clip over existing teeth, digs into my gum pretty much right about where the tooth they put on that side is so thus chewing on that side isn't much fun as the tooth jabs right into the jaw and well it's freaking painful. I can't really chew on the left either or rather I can it's just a bind and well after a few moments of chewing using my tounge to move the food around as well It don't wanna move too much it gets sore too..
Well soup, noodles, bananas and the occasional bites of actual real food meant it was a real bind...
So I've taken them out let them know it hurts like hell and I'll try them again in a day or so i.e the weekend when i'm not eating so much got an adjustment appointment next week so we'll see what that brings. Oh and the clip in the gum I think it's scratched the gum..

can we all say ouch!

I was at the dentist today, to get 1 tooth out and my lovely new denture fitted.
Hmm right now the meds have worn off and i can feel the tooth that was yanked out if ya know what I mean.. The denture fits well enough I suppose, I had better as it darn well felt like it was cutting into one side before the final adjustments were made.
I've to keep it in place for 12hrs and i've got the numbers to phone if I have any problems which I truly hope I don't. I thought about it and I've got some ice cold cider which I may/ may not drink. I'm currently eating chicken soup as it's about all I think I can handle right now..
Oh and wait for it this my 3rd post in as many days, whatever next.

Happy birthday Jen

Happy Birthday to my unoffically adopted lil sis Jen.
I know this year hasn't been a good one for either of us but you can make it.
Sure there will be a fair share of crap days, just hope today isn't one of them..
You know i'm just a call away..

Hugs to you and your mum.

With just a little bit of love, no a whole heap of it..

G

Happy Birthday Chickie

I hope I've gotten the right day else Moogie will tell me off, or worse chickie will tell me off..

Happy Birthday young lady, a pretty young lady at that.


Hugs from Uncle G...
There I think that should do it...

How Kind....

Someone did a good piece on the death of Paul Newman, he could fit into any role and make it his own, yet his first oscar was for the "Color of Money"...
Now I was reading the newspaper today and came across an article that made me smile.

"It's rare to come across a completely selfless act - just a random act of kindness.
So when the late actor Paul Newman's daughter Lissy said the best way to keep her father's memory alive was to go out and do just that."

The article then went on to test that theory by testing it in various cities around scotland some places were more perceptive than others of course.

So go on make "someone's day", buy a coffee for someone, pay for someone's parking, just give someone some flowers and the like.

Speaking of birthdays

Well moving swiftly on from my last post to this one, yes folks it's that time of year again, it's my BIRTHDAY...
I'm alive which is about all I can really ask for :D..

It's someone's birthday tomorrow

I know I've used the title before or something similar but well it is...
Head over to here and wish the prettiest girl I know a happy birthday..

Speaking of which I'm still on holiday and I got mine soon, it doesn't hurt :P

GO give someone a BIG hand

Go over to my friend Barb's blog and congratulate her won't you she did the 3-day cancer walk at the weekend.

Oh yeah and I'm on holiday (well from work)....

Okay some photos as promised

Well I know I did promise you some photos so here they are I hope...
It's a mixed bag of before and after shots, I just set up a flickr slideshow it seemed the easiest way.

Now it's totally finished...

Well this is really just a short, short update to say yeah the house is now totally and utterly finished everything is in it's place and as soon as I can I'll try and put some photos up, pre / post.
I'll warn ya now the pre ones are a bit scary and not for the faint hearted lol... It's like if this was your house would you really wanna be here...

In other news, well work is work got everything in place for as much automation as possible I do hope..
I got most of it written down some place too incase I'm off.. I really should re-write it in a neater multipage format so anyone can take over if needed without having to call anyone, i.e me or the accounts manager as well she's a pain in the ass and I'd get it in the neck for not explaining / leaving notes, probably will anyway but I'm not giving her a fucking excuse to be rude as fuck to me, only person who can get away with that is the boss, he never would be rude, not intentionally.
Oh yeah it's someone's birthday tomorrow as well..
So you may wish to slip over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday, I won't say how old she is as well I'm too much of a gentleman for that.

So Peace out for now dear readers (oh and if ya do read me sometimes it's nice to drop me a comment or an e-mail)

Finished!!!!

Yeah, that's right our poor surely demented by now decorator has finished the house, all that needs doing now is the new carpet laid in the spare room, the new shower screen to go up, a items to swapped over in the bathroom which can wait till the screen goes up.. I would recommend this guy to anyone but hmm I think he's booked till this time next year or there abouts, yeah he's that popular and he's good..
So I can at least now relax a bit more... yeah maybe just maybe...

News....

Yes well I am alive, functioning as a human no idea!
Work right now is crap someone doing my head in, it's causing me grief and argh I just wanna forget work so I've been playing lots of WoW and CoH etc and throwing myself into doing other stuff.

The house is coming along nicely, apart from my mother and my sisters doing each others heads in they are so alike it's unreal.

I had to go and get another keyboard and mouse as well I think I wore the mouse out or I didn't charge the batteries enough so it kept screwing up..

My Six degrees of seperation from

Once more with feeling.
Yes Folks I finally did it I think.
I went to visit Moogie then I hopped over to On the Go Mom then to Miss Zoot then onward to Below the Eight and ended up at the charming blog that is Once more with feeling.
I choose a link from my blogroll and then went randomly about I could have ended up anywhere with in the blogsphere on any blogspot, typepad or Movable Type Blog.
Moogie because she's a cool lady :), On the Go Mom because well sounds so much like Moogie, Miss Zoot what can I say semi-random there as she transends being a cool mommy how she manages to fit it all in and how as she said did they reach the ages they have it's like where's the time gone. Miss Zoot, Moogie & "Mom" yeah time just vanishes when your having FUN, Below the Eight well what can I say Interesting Magazine article there for sure.
Finally on to Once More with Feeling, I remember an episode of Buffy called just that made me curious to see what it really was yeah life can seem like that you just wish sometimes you could do the same thing again with just a touch more feeling.

That is all, so pardon the "random" comments I may have left.