Kindle update

I got my replacement Kindle yesterday, and OMG what a cool piece of kit.  Never again will I have to have a book clearout as I don't have shelf space.

I don't think it's going to stop me ever buying another dead tree book, but the vast majority of my purchase will now be ebooks.

Corporate buzz words

Is it just me?  Am I weird?  I HATE corporate buzz words.  You know the kind of thing, "are we all up to speed?" or "think outside the box", phrases that actually mean nothing, and are usually said by people trying to sound important.

Well, I just heard one that nearly gave me the boak.  "touch bases".  Seriously, wtf!  It's crap.  Say what you mean.  Say "get together and discuss this" not "We should touch bases".  Do you have any idea just how wanky that sounds?

Aaaaargh!

Dead kindle

Yesterday, the Kindle K bought me for my birthday arrived, and it's dead.  It charges, the laptop can see the contents, but the screen is not working.  3 calls to Amazon's Kindle support (which is on an 0800 number, so well done Amazon), and various attempts at kickstarting the bugger, all with no success.  They're sending out a replacement today, and the gubbed one is going back by courier tomorrow.

I'm pretty impressed with the tech support, and the speed of the replacement process (it should arrive within 2 days), but K is a bit peeved that her pressie didn't work.  It's electronics, it can't be helped.

Cycling rant (pt2)

A while back I did a wee rant about the state of the roads in Glasgow being a danger to cyclists, and that the money the council spends promoting cycling was basically being pissed up against the wall, as people would be reluctant to take up cycling considering the state of the roads. Well, here's part 2, which justifies my initial rant.

Someone I know in work who also cycles in daily, and is in fact cycling daft (his idea if a relaxing weekend usually involves about 60 miles on the bike).  On Sunday he was out on a bike run with another work mate, and on the way back into Glasgow, coming down the Switchback, his front wheel hit a pothole.  He went over the bars, hitting the other cyclist, who somehow managed to stay on his bike.  Being clipped in, when he went over the bars, the bike came with him.  He's now in the hospital with a double skull fracture.

The guy who was with him thought he was a gonner, as he was making a "death rattle" sound in his throat.  Fortunately, he's still alive.

After accompanying him to the hospital, his mate headed back up to the site of the accident to take a photo of the pothole, but guess what, it had been filled in.  Funny that.  The police apparently have photos though, as if he had died they would have been needed for a fatal accident inquiry.

Just shows, someone is almost killed and the pothole gets filled just like that.  Would it have been filled if he hadn't crashed on Sunday?  Call me cynical, but I doubt it.

Weekend stuff

Well, on Friday after work me, Fi & Pete, headed for a pint after work for a couple of drinks.
On Saturday, me and K headed over to Silverburn for a bit, then pretty much spent the rest of the day vegging in the garden and getting slightly sunburnt.

Today, we went to Saltcoats, which I've not been to since I was a kid.  The town was pretty much closed, with only a couple of shops open (hey, it was Sunday), and the odd pub (we hit Weatherspoons, as they were having a cider festival).  We also took in a walk along the beach and grabbed an ice cream.  The beach and the seafront are really nice, but it's not got as much to do as Troon, and there's the feeling that it's been allowed to run down a bit.

 Sunny Saltcoats

 Karen on the beach

 Arty shot of shadow and toe

 On the beach

 Obligatory self portrait

 Wish you were here

 Man and double nougat in perfect harmony

Screeeeaam for me Glasgow

And lo, Glasgow DID scream for him.  Yes, Bruce, Janick, Adrian, Dave, Nico and (last but not least) Steve totally blew the roof off the SECC last night.  There was a decent mix of the new album and some total classics, so that should have kept everyone happy.  The new stuff actually works really well live.

Yeah, that was an awesome gig.

Update thingy

So, after a hectic weekend involving a ceilidh, my wedding anniversary, and a friends daughters' wedding, followed by a bank holiday to recover, only we spent it gutting the house, I finally got to veg last night.  The only problem being, that vegging meant missing the Queensryche/Judas Priest gig at the SEC.  Ah well.....

Anyway, tonight it's the Maiden gig at the SEC, and it'll be Karen's first time seeing them.  Should be a good one, Airbourne are supporting.

Wedding bells.

Just back from the wedding, and what a do it was.  The food was good the drink was good, the venue was excellent.  Oh sod it, here's some pics.

The happy couple

Man with a pint

Me and Karen

Yeah, great night, and all the best to Tegan and James.

The weekend so far

Ok, the ceilidh has been ticked off, and yesterday we went through to Stirling and had a really nice meal and spent the night in a hotel in Stirling for our anniversary.  This morning we had breakfast, checked out, and we're now at home, feeding the cats before we get changed and head out to a wedding this afternoon.

Phew!

And the winner is......

....me.  Not the lottery you understand, that would be asking too much, but I have won tickets to a ceilidh this coming Friday.  Now, I've got a wedding to go to on Sunday, and I'll be wearing my kilt.  The question is this.  Do I wear it to the ceilidh, and hope there's no spillage, or do I just wear jeans?

Dear reader(s) I await your answers.

Weird dreams

Last night I had a really weird dream.  Even weirder for me in that no zombies were involved.  Anyway, me, Karen and K's pal Liz were driving round Scotland visiting wee touristy villages that reeked of Wicker Man type in-breeding.  Anyway, they were populated by serious oddballs, and even though it was summer, there was serious snow on parts of the roads, and some of the roads were at 45 degree angles, so the car risked rolling over as you drove along.

We were just about to buy more tartan tat, when I woke up !  That's what you call a close call.  Give me the dreams where I'm armed to the teeth fighting off hordes of zombies.  That's much less scary.

Braiiiiiiiinssssss

World War Z is going to start filming in Glasgow next month.  It's based on the Max Brooks book of the same name, and is starring Brad Pitt.  Today there was a casting for extras, in Glasgow, and I took myself along.  Hey, it's a zombie movie and it pays £130 a day!

Anyway, I should find out in a couple of weeks if I'm getting a part.  That would be so cool :-)

Venue reunion

On Friday night I headed over to Ivory Blacks for the Venue Reunion.  The Venue was a rock club up Suchiehall St in what is now called G2, behind the Garage.  Robert Fields who was the dj at The Venue, organised the reunion, and what a night it was.  There was people I haven't seen in about 20 years. The night was a complete blast form the past, with no post 1992 songs getting played.  This resulted in a load of classics getting an airing.

In the tradition of the old club, there was a band on as well, who were pretty decent.  The only thing missing was the old sticky carpet that was in the old club.

some of the old gang back together

me and Karen at the reunion

Cliff, Scott and me

There's going to be another in December.  If it's half as good as Friday was, it's going to be a belter.

Run away and join the circus

Or, what I did at the weekend.

On Saturday, we just went for a bit of a wander round Silverburn.  I had to go into an opticians, as I'd managed to sit on the glasses I use to see (as opposed to the ones I use to read), and bent the shit out of one of the legs.  A big thank you to Vision Express, who fixed them, even though I'd not got the glasses there, and didn't charge me, but instead said that a donation to their charity jar would be payment enough.
Excellent service, that would actually make me consider using them the next time I need glasses.  Well done.

On Saturday evening, we headed over to Paisley to see the Moscow State Circus.  It's the third time we've seen them, and they always put on an excellent show.

Sunday saw me back at the climbing wall, where despite saying I'd not been in three weeks, and was going to take it easy, Al had me climbing routes that were almost at the limit of my ability.  I was helped in my endeavours by some encouragement from Jen, which went along the lines of "Climb bitch!".  Hey, it worked.

Sunday afternoon saw me and Karen taking a wee run down to Port Glasgow to visit Newark Castle, which would be in a really picturesque setting by the Clyde, if it wasn't for the shipyard right next to it.  Nevermind, it's a great wee castle, which is actually two castles built at two different times, one an extension the other.  This can be seen clearly in the different architectural styles.

Back home, and the weekend was brought to a close with a beer and a viewing of the totally awesome Paul.  If you haven't seen it, see it.  Embrace your inner geek.

Bike week and rain

Well, this is bike week in Glasgow, with the council hosting various events to try and get the average weegie off their arse and on a bike.  To be honest, the converted already have, and I wonder just how many people actually take up cycling after this annual bike-a-thon.  Those that do, probably give up after they realise just how potholed the city's streets are.

Anyway, true to form, it's bucketing down this week.  There's a gazebo being set up (tomorrow I think) to give out a free breakie to passing cyclists.  If the weather is anything like last year, I won't be stopping, as I'll be trying to get get to work asap to get a shower and dry off.

Anyway, that's the cynical rant over.  Anything that raises awareness of cycling is good in my book, but for once, could the rain just kindly f*** off?  Pretty please?

Back from Rennes

Last week I spent four days in Rennes for work.  Ok, it was one day travelling either end, and two days of meetings, but it was a good trip.

Day one saw an early start as the plane to Paris left at 0845.  Once at Charles de Gaul, it was down to the station to collect out tickets, the just barely time to grab a snack before jumping on the train for the three hour journey to Rennes.  Once there, a 5 minute metro ride and a 10 minute walk saw us in the hotel, where we dumped the bags and headed into town for a snack and a beer.

some French sausage with a sneaky beer peeking in at the top.

The next two days were full of meetings, but the company hosting them did take us out for dinner both nights. The first was to a creperie where the main courses where all made using black wheat (buckwheat) and the local speciality drink was Breton Cidre.  Very nice.

The second day, after all the meetings, dinner was at a seafood place, which fortunately for me, had steak as well.  Really nice dinner, then some of us headed into the wee square for a couple of drinks.  In reality, this resulted in leaving the pub at 1.00am, and not getting to bed till about 2.00am, the intenvening time being taken up with finishing our drinks in the square (the bars gave out plastic tumblers for people who hadn't finished) and taking about 80's thrash bands with one of the Irish contingent.  Bizzare but fun.

the wee square with the eateries and bars

Curry cravings

Lunchtime today I could have absolutely murdered for a curry, so off I trotted to the refectory, which I have to say, does actually do a good curry for a little over £2.  When I got there, horror of horrors.  There was no curry on today.  So, I've eaten, but am still craving that spicy goodness.

There's only one thing for it.  Curry for dinner.  Then I have to pack for France.  Can't leave it any later, I fly out tomorrow morning.

Must be a blue moon, here's an update

Yes, I've been a bit lax in the update department of late, but here we go.

Last weekend we were planning on visiting a Historic Scotland site, but that was knocked on the head when I couldn't find my membership card.  One phonecall and one day later, and I had my replacement.  Hat's off to Historic Scotland's customer service, it was outstanding.

This weekend, we took a wander to the Glasgow Panopticon where they were having a craft fair.  Chocolate fudge and home made soaps were bought.  The fudge was excellent.  The patchulli (sp) soap smells incredible.  We also discovered that the people who made and sold the soaps, were rat parents.  Until my dad died, we had kept rats for about 8 years. (We had to stop after he died, as he was out rat sitter when we went on holiday).

Sunday, I went for a wee bouldering session at the climbing wall, but it was short and sweet, as I was knackered after about 6 problems, and half an hour.  The rest of the day was a lazy veg out affair, with The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Loved Ones (an Aussie horror) being the movies of the day.

Not enough time in the day

Seriously, there isn't.
I've got an idea for a short story that I want to write and send in to the BFS, who will (of course) fall over themselves to print it, seeing as it's wonderful and all, but I can't find the time to sit down and put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard).  I know, I could be typing it up instead of typing this, but then my non-existant followers would have no idea that I was actually a writer. (ok, not having put pen to paper, technically I'm not, but you get my drift).

There's also a pile of the last five issues of New Scientist sitting in front of me that I promise, I WILL get round to reading - preferably before the next issue comes out!

Then there's all the other stuff, and I still have to find time to eat and sleep.

Oh well there's always the next life......

Saxon

Went to see Saxon at the ABC last night, and what a gig.  A great mix of old and new songs, and when you've been on the go as long as they have, that's a hell of a lot of songs to choose from.

Met some old friends that I haven't seen in years, which was pretty cool.

Here's a wee pic of Biff in action.