New Ways To Blog

Today, I found out I can blog using my mobile and audio messages. Really clever but not sure how it works and not sure I can be bothered. A bit like posting every day, they seem to be getting shorter and shorter and less interesting. I mean what's the point in posting when there's nothing to post about so I feel this may be the end of a long run of posts unless I do something interesting tomorrow. Unlikely though as I'm back studying in the evenings after a couple of nights off. Ooh Henry scored tonight pushing me closer to the big money again...

Official PES

Today was the first ever official online Pro Evolution Soccer 5 Tournament on proevorankings.com. I was unfortunate to lose out in the first knockout stage losing 1-0 to a deflected goal. I'm only just in the top 40 in the country now ue to my inactivity over the past few weeks. Still a top game though.

2 or 3 am

Last night was quite good. I did feel drunk quite early though at about 12:30 and danced a lot. I saw a couple of friendly faces from school who i've not seen for a while but the atmosphere wasn't right for conversation. They seemed happy anyway. I was tired so we left just before 2 o'clock but due to the time thief this was 3 o'clock. I then watched us win a gold medal in the badminton mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games before going to sleep about 4:00. Yawn.

Why Having A Man Sent Off Is Good!

Steven Gerrard got sent off in todays Merseyside derby. It didn't make much difference as they won 3-1. However he will be banned for one match and get a few minus points in Dream Team (which I have slipped to 5th (£5000) in). Although he is in my team, this should give Thierry Henry a chance to catch him for top points scorer and a crucial bonus 20 points at the end of the season. All the top teams have Gerrard while I am the top team with Henry and if he gets the bonus points they could be the difference between £125,000 and £5,000.

It could happen but probably won't though it would be nice to win something. It's a night out with Rob in Halifax tonight.

Back From The Dead!

It is unlikely that anyone will remember that in December 2004 my Playstation 2 broke. Well anyway, I did without one for a couple of weeks or so and eventually got my hands on one on limited availability just before Christmas.

After trawling through many websites and a few very delicate operations, my brother has now fixed the broken machine. I use the term "fixed" loosely as it works fine as long as it is not tilted and it certainly no longer able to stand on it's side without breaking again. It's nice to have a backup I guess just in case the tiny new PS2 (now 16 months old!) breaks before the PS3 comes out, which, given recent reports, is not imminent.

Snooker Tickets In High Demand

I have just been reminded of when I bought this years tickets for the 888.com World Snooker Championships 2006. The ticket hotline opened at 9:30am about 4 Saturdays ago. I tried to get through and eventually succeeded at about midday - only to be told that tickets for all the quarter finals onwards were sold out as were all possible sessions for Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan. This annoyed me and the match I will be seeing is a 2nd round match (possibly Matthew Stevens v Ken Doherty) which I could only get on row 13 for. There are only 15 rows at The Crucible Theatre so that's not good. My recommendations are:-

1. Build a snookerdome - more seats
2. Raise prices and give less free tickets away
3. Open more than one line when ticket lines open
4. Don't advertise online booking when the server clearly can't handle it
5. Give less tickets to sponsors and people who don't really care what happens and more to real fans who will now have to buy their tickets for important matches on eBay.

Hopefully if these recommendations are implemented, I will get some decent seats next year.

You Can't Beat A Bit Of Bully

Cult TV gameshow Bullseye is shown regularly on Challenge (Sky 121) and now you can play along at home with Bullseye Broadband. A great idea and quite funny too. The novelty wore off for me after my 4 free goes though and I was most disappointed to win 2 mountain bikes on Bully's Prize Board. I did gamble everything in the end and win a (virtual) caravan though which was my greatest achievement on the game. A new series of Bullseye begins on Challenge next month hosted by ex Phoenix Nights comic and stand-up funnyman Dave Spikey.

How Unfit Am I? Day 7

The final day was the 2nd steppiest (like that's a word) day of the feature with 3503 steps being taken.

In response to Bill's comment, I'm quite sure it is set on the correct sensitivity. Remember, when you are baking, you are standing and stepping a few times whereas my Sunday consisted of sitting of the sofa watching sport or being in bed or on the computer. It therefore took me 805 steps to just walk round the house all day.

I'd say this was an above average lazy week for me and that I would do more than 25,000 steps in an average week and probably up to 50,000 in a week where I was working every day, going into town at lunchtime every day, going out three nights of the week, going to a football match etc. However it has brought to my attention that maybe I should exercise more after completing under a quarter of the recommended steps in a week. Whilst it has brought it to my attention, I'm unlikely to change my ways in the near future.

Wasn't there a school of thought a while back that just by thinking about exercise you were burning off nearly as many calories as doing it. Surely watching all that football must help. I've decided to wear the pedometer in the future only when I have a chance of reaching the magic 10,000 mark and can assure readers they will be informed if and when it is reached.

So that is the end of the pedometer feature sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland (it's an RBS pedometer). The conclusion - very unfit.

How Unfit Am I? Day 6

I didn't leave the house yesterday as I finally recovered from my cold. I only took 805 steps although I was told by my nanna that my face looked thin. I'm not sure this has to do with my vast amounts of recent exercise though. Final day of the pedometer test tomorrow. Maybe i'll loan it out and see how other people perform although I am getting quite bored by it now as the novelty wears off.

How Unfit Am I? Day 5

As I predicted, a new record was set yesterday. Just 1249 steps were taken and this included a trip to the opticians. I feel it may be broken again unless I walk around the house a lot.

I got told at the opticians I should wear glasses for driving which i've believed for a while now. I can see ok during the day but tend to struggle in the dark, especially on unfamiliar roads.

This weekend was not good for my Dream Team and I predict I am now down to 4th. Still quite a way to go though so lots could change.

How Unfit Am I? Day 4

I did a record 4351 yesterday. However, this was, in part at least, achieved y going out for a bacon and cheese burger for David L's leaving meal. I also had bacon as part of my evening meal as we had people round to watch my parents' holiday video of Antarctica. Now the weekend is upon us, I feel another record coming - lowest steps in a day!

How Unfit Am I? Day 3

Again, it was another very poor day on the pedometer. The client had a car park but I did have to go downstairs to ask queries which resulted in a total of 1589 steps being taken.

Apologies to those people who were disappointed at finding they did not have access to my blog earlier. I have no idea why this happened but it seems ok now.

How Unfit Am I? Day 2

Yesterday I walked only 1349 steps - just under a seventh of the recommended walking distance. I didn't have as far to walk to my car yesterday as the client had a car park!

I've just remembered I've been out for four meals in the last couple of weeks or so. I went to Temujin as a reward for passing my exam (hmmm must get studying again soon), the it was the student dinner. The week after, I went out for lunch with audit people after an audit manual update course to Verve and on Saturday I met up with Lucy and Dave in Barracuda. That's 2 chickens and 2 fry-ups and that can't be healthy!

How Fit Am I? Day 1

Yesterday I did 3591 steps. This I feel was quite high even though I spent all afternoon resting as I was up and down a lot at work in the morning - including going to the kitchen for a chocolate eclair. I'm not sure this will entirely help my calorie count but it made me feel better!

I've been reading that 10,000 steps a day is reasonable in order to burn the right amount of calories. This is about 5 miles per day. I've concluded this isn't going to happen. Maybe I'll have to change the title tomorrow...

How Fit Am I?, Ill

Today was the first time in over three years (as far as i recall) i've had to miss work through illness. I managed to get a full morning in, but couldn't concentrate, or produce decent, quick work as I was blowing my nose at least every five minutes. I got told I didn't look very well and I certainly didn't feel it so I spent the afternoon resting at home. My nose is slightly less runny now but i can feel my throat tightening up. Hopefully it's only a bout of man flu and i'll be fit for work (if not 100% tomorrow).

It's just a coincidence I should be ill when testing how fit I am. Not fit as in "phwooaar he's fit" (cos I know no-one would ever say that) but fit as in number of calories burned etc. To do this I am wearing a pedometer for the week (as spotted by eagle-eyed Adeel today). The results should be posted here daily for a week or so and analysed accordingly if I can be bothered. However, whatever the results are, I have no plans to join a Gym or eat less chocolate :-)

The Feeling

On Friday night Eppy and I went to see The Feeling who are currently in the top ten with their debut hit Sewn. Sewn went in the charts last week and dropped only 2 places to 9 this week but this gig was booked long before they had dreamed of top ten stardom as they played at the tiny venue of Bar One Twenty (Bar 120) in Huddersfield.

We went to the wrong place to begin with due to a mix up on some website but wisely deduced that Bar One Twenty was the place to be. The longish queue outside gave it away. It was cold but not wet however the queue was heaving with teenagers aged 13 -17 mainly I would estimate. It was then announced that anyone without ID proving they were over 16 (have licensing laws changed recently? to be fair there was a sign at the bar saying no ID no alcohol) would not get in. The couple in front of us got stopped and the boy showed his ID and left his girlfriend with no ID outside! Eppy (22) then got asked for ID. We still aren't sure if he was joking though.

The Feeling were preceded by Norweigan support band "Lorraine" who were very good and a bit like a cross between The Kaizer Chiefs and A-Ha (might be a little difficult to imagine). The bar then got a little busier and we felt our ages again rather than feeling about 45 in the queue!

Then came the main act, a big cheer as they appeared from backstage (the kitchen) and they played about eight songs over 45 minutes including top ten hit Sewn and slow song Rose (with an accent pronounced Ro-zay). They finished on an upbeat number which is certain to be huge in the future.

We stopped for a few more Smirnoff Ices (beer in Eppy's case) and then went to stand by the door (odd, i thought). Then the band were packing their instruments away and Eppy stopped the lead singer and introduced us and had a nice little chat with them. 3 other members of the band followed(!) and they were all very polite and nice guys even though they must have been really tired and just wanting to leave.

I am a fan and it was a top gig and I predict that the band, The Feeling, will be nominated for many BRIT Awards in 2007. It is also unlikely they will play in such a small venue for the foreseeable future. A great night.

New blog feature begins tomorrow (all being well)!!!

CASSH Dinner 2006

The dinner, held on 3rd March was at Huddersfield Rugby Club and, with just a couple of hours to go until the start, the weather was somewhat snowy. Sam, Cheryl and I delivered balloons to the venue which proved far less eventful thn I thought it would with them all being nicely packed in black bin liners for us. Due to the weather though, I didn't get home until 6 o'clock. Fortuneately the snow eased off in the next hour or so and I made it back at 7:20ish to find most people already there.

We soon got sat down at tables and ours was quite cramped to say the least but we all squeezed up and it was fine. The food was leek and potato soup, chicken, and apple crumble which all tasted ok but there did seem to be a mix-up over the main course numbers which held things up a little. Cheryl nd I went round selling raffle tickets raising a good amount for charity. We then played some games, had the quiz answers, and drew the raffle, which I won again. A box of chocolates this time was the prize which seem to be slowly improving as my winning streak continues.

After the disco, Kevin H gave us a lift into town and we went to the members lounge in The Cotton Factory. It got to about 12:30 and I'd been quite shy most of the evening but then I suddenly found a new lease of life and joined in with the group that remained. Patrick and I followed a few people from the dinner to Tokyo where we stayed until 3am to complete the night. There were still around 10 people from the dinner (the tux (which tends to attract attention from many people in town) gave me away I think) left at the end which was a good achievement. Well done and big thanks to all of the committee who were involved with the dinner without whom it could not have taken place.

Catch Up Continued

I went to watch Huddersfield Town play Doncaster Rovers on the Saturday after the dinner. We didn't really deserve to win but after leading twice, a 2-2 draw was quite a disappointing result. I also watched Town on Sky against Swansea which was another 2-2 where we did deserve to lose. Last night we did lose to Hartlepool who are near the bottom. It looks like the play-offs are the best we can hope for now.

I went to the 4th Annual Bradford Park Avenue Quiz Night on Monday 27th February which was good fun. It was a quiz out of 100 totally on football. Our team (David, Leigh, James and I) won, with me being very much the 4th member of the team. Some of the questions were very obscure and yet one of us generally knew the answer, getting over 80 correct. That won us 6 cans of Tetley's each. We got our picture taken with the trophy but I'm not sure where that will be displayed.

There's nothing much else that i've done in the past couple of the weeks that is worthy of blogging now except for in the next couple of posts which deserve their own posts.

A Quickie

I just got home from work and i'm off out again soon to see some band at some place in Huddersfield with Eppy. I had to keep up in my posting routine though!

BADCASS (Bradford) Dinner 2006

Friday 17th February was the BADCASS dinner and a chance to meet up with old colleagues from MGIWB. It was also nice to see they had some new staff who were friendly and I kind of knew (by sight at least) from FT. I had been quiet and subdued at FT for the previous two days but being there was like being a different person. Maybe I just like being in familiar surroundings with familiar people. At least I'll know someone next time I go.

The melon, beef and chocolate thingy were all nice as far as I can recall although the melon was served as a melon rather than sliced which proved tricky to eat. Then came the speeches, and I got a mention as "Members of the society have moved to work in other places such as Huddersfield..." Then came the ever lengthy raffle. I had 9 strips of tickets obtained through purchasing as I came in (1), David's generosity (2), and good selling techniques to which Eppy also fell foul of (6). All the decent prizes disappeared and the final ticket drawn was mine so I was left with bath salts donated by the sponsors, Royal Bank Of Scotland.

Then it was time to mingle and chat where I did quite well. I thanked the "good seller" and then I spoke to someone I recognised from RBOS,
Me - "Are you Nicola?"
Blonde - "Am I who?"
Me - "Nicola"
Blonde - "No"
Me - (Harold Bishop-like) "Ah" and I hastily retreated.

Then came the Cha Cha slide. It's good because it tells you what to do :-) It got late and people left. I decided I didn't really want bath salts so gave them to Gillian and then I left too. Or that was the plan but Jason collared me and we spent another hour and a half or so talking about the future in the lobby. I left at 3:30ish with the final leaver going to his room at 6:30 I have recently discovered! Another good dinner evening.

Some Serious Catching Up To Be Done

Sorry for the lack of recent action folks, it's been a busy period and i've been spending a bit of time away from the computer. Our time apart has done me good and my most recent elf imposed poker ban is over tomorrow however there's more important things to do like write about the last three weeks so I'm challenging myself to post at least once every day for a while. It's a bit late to start going on about stuff now but the most exciting news is that i'm now 2nd in Dream Team which, in 69 days, if i'm still there, would land me over £50,000. Anyway 69 days to go so i'm not spending anything yet. I mean anything can happen, I have just been knocked out of the MGIWB cup by Glenis. Very embarrasing!

"An Henry goal is a great goal" is my slogan for the rest of the season.