Byebye 2008! Hello 2009!!!

It has been a good year... Running the London marathon and getting into Buckingham Palace legally probably being the highlight of the year.

Resolutions
1. Work/Financial Consolidation
This one is not really a resolution at all as I work hard anyways. With the job market being exceedingly dodgy and I am predicting that this downturn will last until the end of next year. It's as you were really. Amazingly, I am getting training and studying for a professional qualification. So everything is in good terms at this stage. On the money side, I just need to make sure I've paid most of mortgage off so I am not in debt and if heaven forbide I lost my job, I wouldn't be in a total disastrous state.
So I guess the resolution is not to lose my job.

2. Physical/Personal Consolidation
I've started to put on a little weight now and I have started to go to the gym. I intend to do this at least twice a week. Also looking to get into martial again. Here's a good place to start. Also another possibility is to get into dancing. Some people have seen my dancing. It needs to be harnessed and maybe I can be like the legendary James Brown.Friends have also suggested Jazzercise and yoga too.
The main point is to be bigger stronger but also more flexible faster and also able to still run, which next year will probably be taking a backseat. I will probably look to run a couple of 10k runs in 2009. Also being stronger should in theory increase my stamina as well and also looking to play a bit of golf as well.
The resolution is to reach 80kg by the end of 2009, six-pack optional! And also take up at least one of the above activities and know the ins and outs of it.

3. Food Stuff
I am sure I have not done any favours to my cholestrol level over the last few months. So fast and greasy food should be out of the equation. In saying that in recent weeks, I get painful wind. So may need to eat more fibre and find out what is causing that. Also making packed lunch will help save some money too.
Not eat take-aways, i.e. no McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and stored like that. Though not included here, avoid greasy cafes.
Eat 4 times a day. This relates to putting on weight. Must have nuts available at all times in case I need to have a nibble!

4. Driving. Get a full drivers licence.
5. Grow some balls. Be brave and try not shy away from sticky situations.
6. Use a diary!

Olympics Wrap-up

The last couple of days were been very eventful. Particularly in the Taekwondo competition.
First of all, there was the quarter-final between Britain's Sarah Stevenson and Chen Zhong who was a former 2-time Olympic champion. The Chinese appeared to have nicked the match 1-0. However, there was an incident where Sarah clearly kicked the Chen in the face and it wasn't picked up by all the judges. In fact, at the end of the bout, there was a little meeting of 4 the corner judges, there was a little conversation and the initial result stood. 3 of the 4 judges have to have seen the kick. To be fair, the position of the women at the time, made it difficult for 2 of the judges to pick it up. The British protested and for the first time in the sport, the initial decision was reversed. A very brave but correct decision because there were jeers from the partisan crowd. Sarah Stevenson went on to win bronze. Here's how the Chinese viewed it

Talking of shots to head, have a look at the controversial finish to the men's 80kg bronze medal match between Cuba's Angel Valodia Matos and Kazakhstan's Arman Chilmanov, which ended up the Cuban being disqualified and giving kick to the referee's head. Absolutely shocking behaviour and surprising considering the Cuban was a former Olympic champion!
The reason for his disqualification was a bit harsh. He picked up a knock on his foot and required some medical attention, which to me appears to slow in arrival. He was given a 10 second warning and he was counted out. It seems a bit harsh if you compare to other sports like football where you would get a yellow card/warning for time wasting. However, reading the WTF rules, it does state in article 19, "The contestant who does not demonstrate the will to continue the contest after one minute, even in the case of a slight injury, shall be declared loser by the referee." By the letter of the law, it would appear the ref was right to award the match to his opponent. However, "the will" makes this rule not a hard and fast rule. Considering the Cuban was 3-2 up at the time and the medical assistance didn't come until late in the minute period, it does seem a little unfair. That said, he should have the experience to realise to get up before the minute expired and also not to lose his cool. This quote sums it up really... "You are allowed to kick your opponent in the head, that's part of the game... You're not allowed to kick the referee in the head"

I have to say all respect to the newest sport in the Olympics, BMX racing. There were thrills and spills in all the races! It looks very dangerous if you come off your bike. Great Britain's own Shanaze Reade found this out twice during the Olympics. Crucially the second time was unfortunately in the final where she clipped the wheel of Gold medalist Anne-Caroline Chausson. The contrast of glory and failure could be seen in the video with Chausson crossing the winning line arms aloft and poor Shanaze sprawled out on ground defeated. At the two-time world champion has youth on her side and She will probably have a crack at London 2012 Olympics

Blah... Try September...

I couldn't do the whole month... Busy and probably too lazy... And mostly because I shelled out 420 quid for two pair of glasses, which would have skewed the results...
It's already the 9th...

Now last week, most of my spending came from working onsite. Fortunately, most of it went on expenses so that makes things very easy to remember.

September 1-5
Work Expenses - £135
Shopping (2nd) - £20.30 (Asda)
Dinner (4th) - £13

September 6-7
Oystercard - £10
Shopping - £12.90 (Asda); £2.29 (Wilkinsons); £3.09 (Aldi); £2.35 (M&S);

September 8-12
Lunch (for two) - £13
Shopping Morrisons (8th) - £20.90
Lunch Chinese Buffet (10th) - £6.50
Lunch Cafe (11th) - £3.50
Lunch Pizza hut (12th) = £10.00
Train (x5) - £34

September 13-14
Train - £3.80
Breakfast - £3.50
Shopping - £10.90

Aug 11: Summary

Train into work costs my £6.80 as per usual. I spent a further £4.29 on this chicken/bacon salad @ McDonalds. Not healthy, eh?

Aug 10: Summary

Grocery shopping only and that came out to £19.92. Threw away the bill already though. Also KFC at £4.29. Those are essentials, really.

Aug 9

I think I am going to drop the food thing now...
I only spent £13.00 playing pool and £14.99 on a new scratching post for the cat. Both luxuries!

Aug 8: Summary

Food/Drink
Food/Drink
Scrambled egg
Roast chicken and chips
Chicken fillets, rice, corn and salad

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Train ticket	Ess	6.80
Roast chicken and chips and j20	Ess	7.45
Oyster card top-up	Ess	10.00

Summary
08/08 Essentials	£24.25
08/08 Luxuries	£0.00
Total Essentials	£125.00
Total Luxuries	£105.86

Aug 7: Summary

Food/Drink
Food/Drink	Cost (£)
Oats so simple	0.20
Beef in black sauce with tea	5.10
Crayfish and mango salad	4.60
Onion rings	0.99
Water & fruit	0.00

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Train ticket	Ess	6.80
Train ticket	Lux	7.00
Beef in black bean sauce and tea	Ess	5.10
Crayfish and mango salad	Ess	4.60
Onion rings	Lux	0.99
drinks (whisky/coke)	Lux	7.42

Summary
07/08 Essentials	£15.50
07/08 Luxuries	£15.41
Total Essentials	£100.75
Total Luxuries	£105.86

Aug 6: Summary

Food/Drink
Food/Drink	Cost (£)
Lucozade alert	0.75
Red bull	0.75
Water	0.00
Oats so simple	0.00
Cottage pie & chips	3.50
Cherries, Grapes, 2 plums	2.00~
Fish & chips	4.90

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Train ticket	Ess	6.80
Lockets	Ess	0.65
Cottage pie & chips	Ess	3.50
Fish & chips	Ess	4.90
Golf driving range	Lux	3.50
2 shots of jamieson whiskey	Lux	3.90

Summary
05/08 Essentials	£15.85
05/08 Luxuries	£7.40
Total Essentials	£85.25
Total Luxuries	£90.45

Aug 5: Summary

Food/Drink
Food/Drink	Cost (£)
Lucozade alert	0.75
Red bull	0.75
Water	0.00
Maize	0.00
Chicken salad (leftovers)	0.00
Blackberries, Banana, 2 plums	2.00~
Chicken fried rice	0.00

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Golf Club shopping	Lux	28.24
Train ticket	Ess	6.80

Summary
05/08 Essentials	£6.80
05/08 Luxuries	£28.24
Total Essentials	£69.40
Total Luxuries	£83.05

Aug 4: Summary

Food/Drink
Food/Drink	Cost (£)
Lucozade alert	0.75
Water	0.00
Oats so simple	0.00
Egg salad	0.39
Chicken Salad Deli Meal	3.29
Blueberries, Banana, 3 plums	2.00~
Chicken fillets, Brown Rice, Salad	3.25

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Grocery shopping	Ess	13.14
Lockets/Fishermen's friend	Ess	1.31
Train ticket	Ess	6.80

Summary
04/08 Essentials	£21.25
04/08 Luxuries	£0.00
Total Essentials	£62.60
Total Luxuries	£54.81

Aug 4: Tesco's Shopping

I went to the Tescos near to work and picked up some more groceries. Hmm it appears that shopping at Tescos is a little bit cheaper. For example, that two pack of romaine lettuce is only 75p versus Morrisons at £1.19.

Shopping list (Total = £13.14):

• Asparagus tips (£1.39)


• 2 boxes of fresh mini breast fillets (£5.00)


• Romaine hearts (£0.75)


• 4 Sweetcorn cobs (£1.99)


• Blackberries (£1.49)


• Blueberries (£1.00)


• Clementines (£0.85)


• Cucumber whole (£0.68)

Aug 3: Morrison's shopping

Today I finally did some grocery shopping and went to Morrison's. I was in a hurry and realise that I'll probably have to go back and get some meat and some salad items. But ah well. I did notice that I got a two pack of romaine lettuce for 99p a week or two and it's now gone up to £1.19. Not good.

Shopping list (Total - £16.93):

• 4x Kitchen Roll (£1.19)


• Go Cat Food (£1.70)


• Salad (£0.39)


• 2 litre milk (£0.80)


• Water (£0.28)


• Sausages (£0.84)


• Almonds (£1.69)


• Blueberries (£1.48)


• Plums (£1.00)


• Cherries (£1.48)


• Lucozade alert (£2.99)


• Braeburn apples (£1.29)


• 3 bananas (£0.41)


• Sandwich (£0.39)


• Red/green grapes (£1.00)

Aug 3: Summary

Note: Today visited my folks, some would say, free food, tsk!
(tables in www.blogger.com still suck...)

Food/Drink
Food/Drink	Cost (£)
Gammon & egg Sandwich	0.39
Lucozade alert	0.75
Water	0.00

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Grocery shopping	Ess	16.83

Summary
03/08 Essentials	£16.83
03/08 Luxuries	£0.00
Total Essentials	£41.35
Total Luxuries	£54.81

Aug 2: Summary

(tables in www.blogger.com suck)

Food/Drink
Food/Drink	Cost (£)
Bottled water (2 litre)	0.00*
Oats so simple	0.00*
Apple/Bananas	0.00*
Turkey Salad Roll	1.85
Orange chocolate slice bar	0.35
Mixed Grill/Diet Coke	9.28
Wispa Mcflurry/French fries	2.18
Apple Mango J20	2.00

Expenditure
Item	Ess/Lux	Cost (£)
Turkey Salad Roll	Ess	1.85
Orange chocolate slice bar	Ess	0.35
Mixed Grill/Diet Coke	Ess	9.28
Wispa Mcflurry/French fries	Ess	2.18
Apple Mango J20	Lux	2.00
Euromillions Lotto	Lux	-7.90
Travelcard	Lux	4.80
Games Machine	Lux	5.00?
Clothes	Lux	27.00
Club Ticket	Lux	15.00
Club Locker room	Lux	1.00

Summary
02/08 Essentials	£14.18
02/08 Luxuries	£44.90
Total Essentials	£24.52
Total Luxuries	£54.81

August - Watch myself on a credit crunch

Greetings... I've decided to make this month, the "let's count the cost" as I try to make note of what I eat and spend on everything (aside from bills).

August 1
I had:
1 sausage roll (0.59)
1 turkey salad roll (1.85)
1 orange lucozade (1.00)
1 orange/mango juice (1.00)
1/2 Milkshake*
2 litre bottled water*
Tinned Salmon*, Tinned Tomatoes*, Brown Rice*
2 Apples*
2 Bananas*

I spent:
The above food items = 4.44
Train ticket into work = 5.90
50 blank cd's = 5.41
euromillions lottery tickets = 4.50
--
Essentials Total = 10.34
Non-Essentials Total = 9.91

Computer Tidbits

Wifi on the track
Wifi is being implemented all over York Station. So whilst you can wait, you surf! You probably want to go with National Express East Coast as they have introduced free wifi to ALL passengers not just first class passengers like other rail companies.

Pocket Laptops
They are small! They are light! They are already here! Check out five of the best mini laptops

1. Asus EEE PC 900
2. HP 2133 Mini-Note PC
3. MSI Wind
4. Acer Aspire One
5. Apple MacBook Air

QXL closed for good
Arguably the original online auction site, which captured the imagine during the tech boom in the late 90s and barely survived the dotcom bubble burst finally closed for good.

IT graduates on the wane
A slightly worrying trend in the UK is the reduction of students taking up computing No reasons are given. But it could partly due to the fact that companies can and will outsource a lot of their IT to places like India and China because it's cheaper. Also note the UK government have been cutting funding.

The government's decision not to mark IT as a subject important to the public interest means that as of this September, anyone with a degree-level qualification in another subject will find funding to study a computing degree or equivalent course dramatically curtailed. Science, technology, engineering and mathematical subjects (so called Stem subjects) are exempt from the funding changes, yet IT/computing is not - despite its vital role in keeping the UK competitive.

The BCS are trying desperately to encourage the government to reconsider!

Cats and Eurovision

I've had my cat now for about 9 months and he's been a good pet for the most part until he decides to do his own thing. I can now read how feels but one of the things of confusion is a cat's wagging tail. A lot of resources tell you that the cat is either angry or indecisive, which to me is not a good thing but it can also mean showing affection and contentedness if the tail is wagging by the tip for instance.

A lot has been said about the Eurovision song contest. The UK have done so badly in recent years and this year's entry from x-factor hopeful Andy Abraham was fairly decent and yet it came joint last. Basically, each country seem to be voting for neighbouring countries and hence Russia came out on top. It could be argued that neighbouring countries would be familiar with the country's artists. However if someone big represent UK came to sing in the competition would they win? The only other way I can see the UK doing well is get a famous Russian to perform the song. For example, we could have Boris Yeltzin. (Note, my good friend says it always comes up as Boris Yeltzin instead of Boris Gardner on his media player)

The bloc voting is a joke and Sir Terry Wogan who commentates on the the event for the BBC is threatening to quit over it in disgust. Mind you, I thought the reason why he's commentating and why we love it so much, is that he takes the mickey out of the show.

Also it looks like the UK could lose their bye into the final. That would be interesting, it's unclear if the UK will cut their funding as a result as the main reason why they don't have to qualify is that they are part of the big four (with France, Germany and Spain) that do the bulk of the funding for the event.

The other thing that could improve the situation is have regional qualification and have one song represent say Scandinavia, the Baltics, the Med, etc...

Lucky Buck Futter that Daniel Bedingfield is...

You know just looking at some old music videos floating about. One is of Daniel Bedingfield's "Gotta get thru this", which was a UK #1 hit in both 2001 and 2002. There are two versions of the video. The UK version that is set all over London but primarily in the Docklands and the Millennium Bridge. The US version was in a studio but I am pretty sure some of the scenes were from Toronto, there's one scene where he passes a bus stop which distinctly says "Ontario". I know a Toronto bus stop when I see one. Anyways the director is Canadian!

Anyhow old Daniel was such a lucky duck to work with two very cute girls. The UK version, the girl looked a like much cuter version of Sophie Ellis Bextor. Whilst the girl in the US version looks a little like Jessica Alba.

Buck Futter was coined in a skit from Saturday Night Live...

Ubuntu and Caviar don't mix

I finally got round to looking at a PC that I bought way back in December. I wanted to use a different hard drive to the one that came with the PC (which has Windows XP installed). I stripped another computer down and tried to use the hard drive from it. The drive in question was an old Western Digital Caviar, model WD450AA. This is 45GB hard drive running at 5400rpm. But it has been around seen 2000. Very old. Anyways I tried to install ubuntu (server) on it. Ubuntu did not recognise the hard drive and complained that "No hard drive was detected". Windows 98 fdisk did find the drive and anyways that hard drive had been running Windows 2000. I replaced that drive with the hard disk that came with the PC (a seagate 40GB drive) and that was recognised by the ubuntu installation. Of course, I terminated the installation at the point.

I was seriously trying to bash my head and get it to work. But sanity or more to point sleep got the better of me and I gave up.

I could ghost the seagate and then ghost the image on to the caviar. But it is an old device. I am trying to save money at the moment but I've decided to bit the bullet on this one and ordered a seagate 80gb drive for 25 quid.

Weekly Wrap (25/4/2008)

Yeah i know, it's not been a weekly wrap lately but hey

Snooker Dept
Well it's the first time I've ever been to the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield. Of course, the real exercise is to see if you can get spotted. My dad and my friend's workmates apparently spotted us in the back though I didn't see me in this frame (excuse the german;)

Mayor of London Dept
Well the fight is on and on May 1st, the people of London will decide who will be the new mayor. But have a look at this question time session. Weirder still, Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman had her blog hacked/defaced to say she was resigning from the Labour party and backing Boris for Mayor. As the old song goes "Popularity breeds contempt!"

Great balls of fire Dept
Only in Canada, would someone get tasered by the police and have pants ignite and catch fire!

Weekly Wrap (29/3/2008)

Eurovision Song Dept
Been having a look some of entries for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 that takes place on May 24th. Over in the UK, there has been a lot of interest in Dustin the Turkey which is amazing because it is Irish entry. The song is quite a riot and for some reason comparisons with Zig and Zag. Not surprisingly, people have been betting on it (probably the Irish and their punts). I saw the video for the Bosnia entry and that features a chicken? I checked out Armenia's entry "qele qele". Not too bad of song and I can see why it is one of the favourites. Forget the Romanian entry, it nearly put me to sleep. Latvia might do well what with tactical voting and all. Their performance could be interesting as they dress up pirates as in the group's name. But of the ones, I've had so far my personal fav is the entry from Bulgaria from Deep Zone and Balthazar with the song "DJ, Take me away" that wouldn't look uncool in a club. So I will probably go for Bulgaria and Bosnia for me.

Music Dept
Congratulations to Leona Lewis for being the first brit female to hit the number 1 spot in the states since Kim Wilde

Diving Dept
Yes diving is in the news as Tom Daley became the new European highboard diving champion. What's perhaps is more amazing is the fact he is only 13.

Tigerwatch
Tiger Woods remarkable winning streak came to an end when he lost by a couple of shots to former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy.

Boxing vs Wrestling Dept
Well it's Wrestlemania and Floyd Mayweather is taking his credentials into the wrestling ring. He must be paid a heck of a lot of money to fight someone twice the size of him. C'mon if it were real, the Big Show would have beat up Mayweather. As much as we'd love to see that over here, I think his insurance and contract probably stops this from happening

Weekly Wrap (21/3/2008)

Football Dept
England's big four play each other over the Easter period, Liverpool take on Manchester United, whilst Chelsea and Arsenal duel. This should really open the title race, particularly if Man Utd and Arsenal both lose. The fairytale is really almost over for Gretna who managed to gain 3 consecutive promotions from division 3 to the Scottish Premiership but due to Brookes Mileson's illness and no more cash injection, they really have fallen on hard times. Players considered striking for not being paid accordingly and of course points deducted for falling into administration
On a lighter note, East Fife won the division 3 title only to find when they wanted to celebrate after their 3-0 win at East Stirling, they had their champagne taken away by police because they were in glass bottles!!!

Tigerwatch
Tiger is in Florida for the World Golf Championship where he is looking to win his 8th straight tournament. He is only two shots off the lead after the first round. He's almost unstoppable. He was 50/1 to win all 4 majors, now he is only a stingy 8/1 and even less according to the golf channel.

F1 Dept
Well done to BBC for regaining the tv rights to the F1 Grand Prix for. But the big question will they use synonymous theme tune, the chain by Fleetwood Mac.

Racing Dept
Who says there's no manners in sport. In a 4-runner race at Kempton Park, there were 3 male and 1 female jockeys. After a slow start, the guys with a ladies first attitude let Josephine Bruning to pass and poach a huge lead. The guys were playing cat and mouse, figured Bruning and her horse, Sol Rijo (the rank outsider of the four) would come back. But round the home turn, Bruning was in splendid isolation and went past the post to register her first win. She was so stunned that she thought she had to do another circuit and completed her winning lap!

Weekly Wrap (15/03/2008)

Music Dept
Duffy is still #1 with "Mercy" (4 weeks) and now she has the #1 album with "Rock ferry".

Football Dept
Unbelievably, the big 4 are all in the quarter finals with a possibility of an all English final. Mind you Manchester United may have to face Barcelona to get to the final. Rafa Benitez says that shows the quality of premiership. Well Rafa look at the FA Cup and you see the quality of the Premiership. Portsmouth v West Brom and Barnsley v Cardiff. The same Barnsley that have beaten Chelski and Liverpool! They should be playing in Europe on that alone. Whilst in UEFA cup, Spurs, Everton and Bolton all went out. So the quality of premiership is definitely top notch. ;)

Racing Dept
So the new kid on the block Denman won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in what was built as the clash of the stablemates (him and Kauto Star). Kauto jumped badly and gave the race away pretty much. Today is the Winter Derby. It's Derby except it's on the sand. Sand? Winter? Isn't that ironic? Not if you've gone to Caribbean! Because I'm a fruit, I'll go with Grand Passion and Orchard Supreme as each way shots. Seriously though they have good form on the sand with Grand Passion being 2nd in the last two derbies.

Running Dept
So Paula Radcliffe pulled out of the London Marathon because of a toe problem. Some people have criticised her for that. But I think it's the right move, she's got bigger fish to fry at the Olympics, which arguably is her last chance to win gold. She needs to 100% for it.

Weekly Wrap (29/2/2008)

Lovers Leap indeed and am knackered.

Tigerwatch Dept
Stewart Cink reckons Tiger Woods is a robot after the tiger won the accenture matchplay title.

Music Dept
Duffy held on to #1 for a second week

Running Dept
I've been spending mostly of time preparing for London Marathon which is coming up in a few weeks time. You can read all on the sister blog.

Weekly Wrap (22/2/2008)

Music Dept
Duffy debuts at #1 with "Mercy" knocking off Basshunter who drop to #3 with Nickelback back at #2.

Facebook Dept
It looks like that Facebook is now past it as there's a decline in users.

Tigerwatch
Tiger Woods is on the prowl and currently is in action in the WGC match play where 64 top-ranked players in the world square off against each other. Tiger has made it into the quarter finals.

Mental Dept
Poor Gazza has been sent to the loony bin for his antics in a local hotel. This reminds me whatever happened to Frank Bruno. Former stars do find it hard after being in the limelight for so long.

Weekly Wrap (15/2/2008)

Music Dept.
Well congrats to Amy Winehouse who won 5 grammys this week. At the last minute she got clearance to go to the states but it was too late, she did a session from good old London town. She was well happy (well relatively speaking anyways). Talking of 5, Basshunter make 5 weeks at #1 with "Now you're gone". Nickelback edge up to #2. "Rockstar" has been out since at least September of last year. The video is pretty good. I like Nelly Furtado's cameo performance in it. At least I think it's her. Wet Wet Wet make a comeback at #10 with "Weightless" and there were new entries in the top 20 for The feeling, Morrissey and Goldfrapp.

Football Dept
So Real Madrid are richest team in Europe for the second year in row. But now England has 3 of the top 5, as Chelsea and Arsenal make the top 5 joining Man Utd who are at #2. Big game this weekend is Man Utd against Arsenal in the FA Cup. Tough one to call.

Athletics Dept
There's been a bit of hoo-ha over Dwain Chambers winning the 60m UK trial for the World Indoor Championships. He automatically qualifies. However there has been lots of words on whether he should participate. He still banned for the Olympics in Beijing but for other events he is ok as his drug ban of 2 years has expired. So he is free to compete. I don't condone what he has done but the ban has been served and he should be at least be given a chance to prove himself. By all means drug-test him to the hilt if need be but barring him from events

Handshake Dept
An Essex restaurant owner was introduced by a friend to his dining partner. His dining partner remarked after giving a handshake, you have a spongy hand and are very sick. It turns he was justified in that remark. I probably does help that the dining partner was a doctor.
In related news, I returned to work on Monday and greeted our new administrator. After that handshake, she quit and left the building in about half an hour. I was looking at my hands and sniffing myself, I don't know what happened!

All-nighter

As soon as I landed, I was invited/dragged off to all-night-morning open-air party called "Island Style Insomnia" party. That's right we saw in the dusk, which is quite peaceful even amongst the loud soca / steel band music. Later on they got the water hoses out and soaked everyone including me.

Weekly Wrap (1/2/2008)

NFL Superbowl Dept.
Well it's the Superbowl XLII on Sunday and features the undefeated New England Patriots against New York Giants. The Patriots are going for the 4th Superbowl win in just 5 years. Whilst the Giants are looking for their 2nd win since 1991 when they gave the Buffalo Bills the first of 4 consecutive Superbowl defeats. I think it would be perfect if New England can make the perfect season. Anyhow it's always the half-time show that causes the most interest. Remember the Janet's 'wardrobe malfunction' in 2004?

Rugby Dept.
This weekend is also the start of the six nations championship. Rugby is simply American Football without the padding and helmets. Rugby players make the Patriots and Giants look like nancy boys! The six nations features, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Wales. England will probably go into the Championship as favourites on the back of reaching the final of the World Cup. But I sense France could be out for revenge
Culture Dept.
As I mentioned last week, the Trinidad Carnival takes place next week but it also coincides with another celebration, Chinese New Year on February 7th. The new year will the year of the rat. wikipedia seems to have covered the subject in depth.

Football Dept.
All is not well at Liverpool. They are now well off the pace in the Premiership succumbing to ex-Charlton united 1-0, following their tough tussle against Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup.

Tiger-watch Dept.
Tiger Woods went on to win the Buick Invitational by 8 shots and this weekend, he is in action in the Dubai classic and he is in front after two rounds on -8. He should win this as he so rarely loses when he hits the lead in tournaments.

Music Dept.
No change at the top with Bass Hunters once again on top for a third week. Adele stays at #2. Kelly Rowland has been working it with "work" up from #31 to #7 and deservedly so as she's been doing promotional shows in such places like Faces in Essex. Also Jay Sean had the highest new entry with "ride it". It's what happening outside the charts that's really interesting. Amy Winehouse and Britney Spears are in hospital. Two of Girls aloud are having trouble / split up from their high profile partners. All is not well with Coles at the moment with Chelsea footballer, Ashley having an affair with a hairdresser. Meanwhile Nadine Coyle split up with Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives fame. He was due to show up at the forementioned Faces.

Beadle's not about Dept.
And finally, Jeremy Beadle is no more and it was sad day when that was announced. Everyone in the UK remembers him for being on Game for a laugh, Beadle's about and You've been framed. I think he did get a bit too popular as the media really tried to cut him down and hence why he faded away in the 90s. He's done a lot of good work, particularly for charity raising 100 million pounds. One thing I heard on the radio, he used to do was a present a radio show on London's circle line.

Weekly Wrap (25/1/2008)

Tennis Dept
Well the form of Andy Murray going out in the first round of the Australian Open doesn't look so bad as his conqueror, the unseeded, Jo Wilfired Tsonga has made it all the way to the final. He will take on third seed, Novak Dovovic. Tsonga should actually be familiar to us Brits as he retired Tim Henman from singles competition when he beat him in the second round of the US Open in 2007. It says his nickname is the 'Muhammad Ali of Tennis' because he looks like him. I beg to differ, I saw a pic of him celebrating his win of Rafa Nadal and he looks more like smegging Craig Charles to me.
Meanwhile in women's draw, definitely a battle of the beauties as Maria Sharapova takes on Ana Ivanovic. They both have their quirks, Sharapova is known for grunting as bad as Monica Seles whilst Ana Ivanovic was accused of gamesmanship after showing a squeaky pair of heels against Daniela Hantuchova.

Football Dept
Well it's the big one, the mighty Liverpool take on minnows Havant & Waterlooville. Liverpool have their own problems with their US owners trying to cutback. The distraction may give Havant a chance. Havant a chance? 100/1 to win the game. It's like what New England Patroits taking on some high school football team in Toronto. That's the scale of Havant's task. Another interesting game is probably is perhaps Arsenal (who got beat 5-1 to Spurs this week) against Newcastle under the new manager Kevin Keegan (a.k.a. the messiah).
Meanwhile going for away wins for Hamilton, Airdrie, Ross County, Stranraer, East Fife, Montrose.

Golf Dept
Looks like we can start up Tigerwatch once again as he is in action in the Buick Invitational in the states. He's already odds-on to win as he is 2 shots off the lead after first round.

Travel Dept
Well at the start of February, a couple of big celebrations. It's Chinese New Year, so they will be lots of celebrations around the world. I don't know if there will too much celebrations in Trinidad because they are celebrating something completely different and that is the Trinidad carnival. If you are happened to be lucky enough to be going, there are so many parties, sorry I mean things to do whilst you are there. A useful blog I've seen is from saucytrini and there are other useful guides at izatrini and toronto-lime (why Toronto, i don't know?)

Music Dept
Basshunters hold on to the UK topspot but a good new entry at #2 for the highly touted Adele. Meanwhile Kanye West's "homecoming" and Robyn's "be mine" make useful gains to hit the top 10. Yes, Robyn has really invented herself as 90s fans will remember such hits as "show me love" and "do you know what it takes". The wombats should make the top 10 next week after moving up from #37 to #13.

Weekly Wrap (18/1/2008)

Music Dept.
Leon Jackson has been dethroned finally and slumps to #5. The new number one is a dance song in the form of Swedish outfit, Basshunters and the song called "Now you're gone". The UK Charts still in a crazy mood as the woman of the moment, Britney Spears rebounds from #19 to #2 with "Pieces of me". Not only that she re-emerges with "Gimme more" back in at #34. Both Nickelback and Rihanna ("Don't stop the music") vault back up the charts too. Lupe Fiasco debuts a #7 with "Superstar". UK charts can be seen here. New singles coming out include Radiohead's "Jigsaw falling into place". Radiohead should do well despite having recently had to relocate an 'intimate secret gig' and move it into a club in London. Also the highly touted Adele releases her first single "Chasing Pavements". Adele recently came top of the BBC's sound of 2008 poll, which is a poll of the most promising new music talent. Last year, Mika came out on top and went on to score a #1 hit with "Grace Kelly". Also look out for Little Ones' "Ordinary Song".
Poor Lily Allen lost her baby. I wonder if she'll write a song about that.

Football Dept.
Would you believe it, it is the mighty Liverpool against the minnows Havant & Waterlooville in the FA Cup! I heard Havant are 100/1 to win the game against Liverpool. People are that confident an upset won't happen. Everyone in Geordieland seem happy that Kevin Keegan is back as the gaffer at Newcastle. Things should be interesting. The funny thing is at the moment Newcastle lie in 11th position. I bet you that's where they will finish and the Newcastle fans/board will still be happy with Keegan. That would be ironic.
Having a look at football games this weekend, a few key derbies. There is the Sheffield derby. Sheffield Wednesday take on Sheffield United. United have just enough class to pick up the win. There is also the Edinburgh derby between Hearts and Hiberian. Hearts have been struggling this season and probably be happy to take a draw. London derbies happen every week, so they aren't that important unless it's something like Arsenal vs Spurs or West Ham vs Charlton. Fulham take on Arsenal and if you can call this a derby, Watford take on Charlton in what is a six-pointer at the top of the Championship.
Selections to win Arbroath, Montrose (away), Raith (away), Dundee (away), Hamilton (away) and Livingston (away).
Derby look down and out. Let's move on.

Travel Dept.
Talking of Derby. I've been to Derbyshire for a day (work). I ended up staying in Matlock right in the Peak District. When I got there it was dark and wet but it was so beautiful to see the hills and even a cable car system in the distance in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get time to enjoy it. But I would love to go again. There are other places to visit including Crich Tramway and the Peak Rail.

Tennis Dept.
Andy Murray out of the Australian Open on the first day. Enough said really.
Well actually, there's been a lot said about Venus Williams' bottom when the Aussie commentator made a remark about a slow motion replay of Venus' rear end. Even sister Serena weighed in with her thoughts on the matter.

mac lite

The thinnest laptop has been unveiled at macworld. It has a thickness of 1.93cm. I tried to guess how thick it was with my fingers and thumb and failed. To be honest, I didn't think it was that much thinner than the Acer Travelmate that I have. Well just as long as it's as light as thin it is, then I think it'll do well. Unfortunately, the case that the smaller it is, the cheaper it is doesn't apply here as it will set people back at least 1500 pounds.

The special one...

Evidently, we seemingly still miss Jose Mourinho and his wit that Setanta have brought him for "I'm on Setanta Sports". It's funny as hell. The following video is the special one's debut...



More can videos can be seen from this youtube profile

Weekly Wrap (11/1/2008)

Music Dept.
So the X-Factor winner, Leon Jackson's version of 'When you believe' holds on to the UK topspot. It really does pale in comparison with the version that Whitney and Mariah did originally. Soulja Boy Tellem moves up to #2 whilst the best selling single of 2007 and ex X-Factor winner Leona Lewis is #3 with 'bleeding love'. The chart has a christmas hangover feel about it with a number of songs re-entrying the top 40. It's funny that a number of artists have more than one song in the top 40. Amy Winehouse has 2 (valerie, back to black). Kate Nash has 2 (pumpkin song, foundations). Mika has 2 (relax take it easy, grace kelly). Scouting for girls have 2 (elvis ain't dead, she's so lovely). Sugababes have 2 (about you now, change). Take That have 2 (rule the world, shine). Timbaland has 2 (apologize, the way i are). Whilst Rihanna is the greediest of them all with 3 (shut up and drive, umbrella, hate that i love you). Come on guys, give us struggling acts a chance to chart in the UK. ;)
New songs that could be in the charts real soon include: Ringo Starr's song, 'Liverpool 8' that commerates Liverpool as the european city of culture for 2008. Also Bodyrox and Luciana are back again with "What planet you on" and Queen's "Say its not true".

Football Dept.
Big Sam Allardyce has been axed from the toon and the favourite to take over is Harry Redknapp. Really desperate times up in Newcastle. Well, it kind of serves them right for going through managers like Elizabeth Taylor went through husbands. Big Sam should have never left Bolton in the first place. He was building a useful outfit there. Bolton haven't been the same neither and now Nicolas Anelka has joined Chelsea. The first thing I thought of was the next Arsenal/Chelsea is going to be even more spicy, remember the acrimonious way he left the Arse? Meanwhile at 'ex-charlton united', more injuries to worry about Scott Parker is out until February with a knee injury. Interestingly, I read that Alan Curbishley describes him as a trojan. What is Curbs trying to say? When used, he unloads a number of commands without the manager's consent? Or even worse, Parker is not getting enough action at home... yes m'lady!
Got to love the cup competitions. In the FA Cup, Havant & Waterlooville are the only non-league side still in it and could face Liverpool in the 4th round of the cup. It's probably unlikely though as Havant have to get pass Swansea, whilst the mighty Liverpool have to negogiate Luton. Mind you, both Liverpool and Havant are at home for their 3rd round replays. This weekend sees the Scottish version. Good luck to the non-league sides, Cove Rangers, Huntly and Linlithgow. Cove Rangers probably have the best chance. The big two, Celtic and Rangers play the two Stirling sides. Celtic take on bottom of Scottish first division, Stirling Albion whilst Rangers take on perennial Scottish third division strugglers, East Stirling. They always used to finish at the bottom of the lowest division in the Scottish leagues.
Not much worth betting on here. Liverpool really need to start winning badly and should get the win (8/11) at Middlesborough. Charlton have got to start winning at home soon if they want automatic promotion and against Blackpool that's not going to be easy. The last time they played each other it was in the cup and Charlton were lucky to win 2-1 that day. But odds of 5/6 for the home win does look generous. Arbroath (11/10) should get the better of bottom of Scottish third division side Forfar.

Racing Dept.
The weather has been bad in the UK. It's been raining and windy too. Saturday's main race is the Lanzarote handicap hurdle at Kempton. You probably want to be lower in the handicap (i.e. carrying little weight here) and Panjo Bere ought to win, considering the horses it beat in the last outing have gone on to win subsequently. One horse that could be interesting for a place (about 22/1) is La Dame Brune who won a couple of hurdle races last year but has really not had the opportunity to shine so far this year (fell early in one race). A plus is she is carrying little weight in this race.

NFL Dept.
Getting close to the superbowl. Down to 8 teams in what the Americans call the AFC/NFC divisional play-offs (why not call it quarter-finals like normal people;) Statistically, New England Patriots should win it easily, after all they did go the entire season undefeated. Mind you, you have to remember that each team do not play every other team in the NFL. So New England may play a team that have not played before in the play-offs and could be vulnerable. New England and Indianapolis should get through to the AFC final and the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers should get through to the NFC final.

Tennis Dept
With the Australian Open not far away, there's a warning of a russian mafia threat trying to bribe tennis players into dropping matches. But the ATP are taking steps to try stop corruption. This was highlighted when Nikolay Davydenko lost controversially to Martin Vassallo Arguello. There are clues as to when a match maybe fixed. Irregular betting patterns is usual way of noting something might be up. In that event, the market and all bets concerned are voided. Sometimes, this may not happen in it. I am waiting for the day, that a game is called off/delayed due to irregular betting patterns. Any sport can be affected. Horse racing and football to be a name couple.
Meanwhile, Andy Murray looks in good nick for the Austrlian Open after winning the Qatar Open last week. Will he win a grand slam this year?

UK Top 40 Singles of 2007

pos artist - title [copies sold]
1 Leona Lewis - Bleeding love [787652]
2 Rihanna feat Jay Z - Umbrella [512730]
3 Mika - Grace Kelly [492500]
4 Leon Jackson - When you believe [395669]
5 Take That - Rule the world [357325]
6 Sugababes - About you now [346420]
7 Timbaland feat D.O.E. and Keri Hilson - The way I are [336740]
8 Proclaimers ft Brian Potter and Andy Pipkin - (I'm gonna be) 500 miles [333750]
9 Mark Ronson feat Amy Winehouse - Valerie [329490]
10 Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby [313765]

11 The Fray - How to save a life [313700]
12 Beyonce & Shakira - Beautiful liar [296900]
13 Gwen Stefani/Akon - Sweet escape [285500]
14 Plain White T's - Hey there Delilah [281820]
15 Sean Kingston - Beautiful girls [277000]
16 Timbaland feat One Republic - Apologize [275290]
17 Kate Nash - Foundations [272805]
18 Take That - Shine [272745]
19 Kanye West - Stronger [266280]
20 Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend [248900]

21 Fergie - Big girls don't cry [240490]
22 Timbaland ft Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake - Give it to me [238240]
23 Just Jack - Starz in their eyez [220000]
24 Robyn with Kleerup - With every heartbeat [213025]
25 50 Cent ft Justin Timberlake & Timbaland - Ayo technology [212070]
26 Enrique Iglesias - Do you know (The ping pong song) [200840]
27 Gym Class Heroes - Cupid's chokehold [191250]
28 Justin Timberlake - What goes around, comes around [187650]
29 Nelly Furtado - Say it right [183850]
30 Take That - Patience [179500]

31 Hoosiers - Worried about Ray [178250]
32 Rihanna - Shut up and drive [165000]
33 Fergie - Glamorous [163250]
34 Snow Patrol - Chasing cars [163000]
35 Fall Out Boy - This aint a scene, it's an arms race [162750]
36 Akon ft Snoop Dogg - I wanna love you [162500]
37 T2 feat Jodie Aysha - Heartbroken [151145]
38 Mark Ronson feat Daniel Merriweather - Stop me [149000]
39 Alex Gaudino ft Crystal Waters - Destination Calabria [145000]
40 Akon - Don't matter [144350]

Every day is fry day for chips addict

I have always loved chips but I am trying to eliminate it as it's not healthy. This only serves to highlight why you should step away from the fryer! (taken from a local newspaper).

"A teenager has eaten almost nothing but chips for the past ten years because she fears other foods will make her ill. Faye Campbell has refused anything else since she was five. Her parents, Mark and Carolyn Campbell, say they have been driven mad by the 15 year old's one-in-a-million diet.
Mrs Campbell, 37, said: 'Faye just drank milk until she was four or five. For some reason, at that age she tried a chip and after that she did not eat anything else.'
Mr and Mrs Campbell tried all sorts of things to make Faye eat other foods and took her to the doctor repeatedly - all without success. But two years ago she was diagnosed with gastro-oesophageal reflux, in which stomach acids travel up into the gullet. In Faye's case, they even enter her mouth. The diagnosis came from Dr Nigel Meadows, of Bart's and the London NHS Trust in the capital.
After specialist medicine and work with a child psychologist, Faye is now trying plain burgers plain noodles from a Chinese takeaway and potato waffles. But her diet still consists almost totally of chips from a local chippie.
The family, of Stowmarket, Suffolk, say the diagnosis has given them hope as they now have a reason for her crazy diet. They hope that by the age of 20 she will be able to go to a restaurant and eat anything on the menu."

Encapsulating javascript objects (xmlhttprequest)

As much as I loathe Javascript objects, using them gives the developer control and limit the opportunity of overriding existing Javascript. What I really wanted to do is encapsulate the xmlhttprequest into a nice class. Unfortunately, xmlhttprequest itself uses a caller function, onreadystatechange. This proves a huge challenge. Essentially, you want to include a function/method to handle the call. But believe me, this is a headscratcher. One interesting technique is to take a copy of the class instance before running the onreadystatechange function. You then have scope to the global instance and as well as the current instance as demonstrated at mike chambers. Unfortunately, it looks like firefox and ie handle things a little different. I tried to set a text attribute for my class within the caller function, to my surprise, Internet Explorer sets it but for some reason Firefox has it undefined and only used my text attribute in a local scope. Another solution is provided hunlock. This looks to be a useful module indeed, exactly what I am looking for. But once again, firefox doesn't appear to like it.

Javascript Objects

I remember a long time ago in a job interview, saying that there was no such thing as javascript objects. This was when the notion of javascript objects was introduced on very hoky browsers like Netscape and IE. It certainly wasn't cross-browser friendly then and it looks like not a lot has changed there. I still think Javascript objects and classes are immature. Looking at articles on Javascript objects, there are number of different notations that could give average developer a nightmare. For instance this oop javascript guide gives a thorough overview how to construct a javascript class properly. However, I do not like the idea of having to explicitly utilise such functions as makeConstructor, defineMethod, defineType, instantialize, getClassName. That said, the article is spot on its assessment of Javascript OOP...

"What you may say is 'Hey, the syntax is too complicated! Writing those syntaxes will frustrate me ...'
Actually, JavaScript is not an Object Oriented Programming language. But we create context so we can do OOP. And once the syntax is too complicated, we can simplify them. But I consider borrowing the existed mature Java language would be a better choice. That is, we can write in the style of Java, which is sure an OOP style language, and then we converts the Java codes into JavaScript codes, which is somewhat syntactic complicated. And then we have a great thing."

Fortunately, there are more simpler articles that demonstrates ways of creating Javascript objects, howtocreate, mozilla and mckoss still use the newly created class' prototype object. The only benefit I see, it gives you a chance to define functions and attributes for later and also can separate functions and attributes leaving the main class constructor. However, if you are comparing against natural OOP language like Java, C++ and C#, you usually do not have to define these functions and objects explicitly and you can incorporate methods and attributes into your classes (that you would normally see in naural OOP languages) as demonstrated in these even simpler articles from daaq and asp-ajax.

Also stumbled some interesting article on using JSON objects from hunlock and some useful javascript inheritance techniques in prototypejs.