Christmas Hollie !!

As you might expect I took a few photographs on Christmas Day including this one:

A bit sombre perhaps ...

... morbid even, but what is it about this time of year. I have a perception that a lot of famous people choose this holiday time of year to shuffle off the mortal coil.

This year - on Christmas Eve Charlie Drake, slapstick british comedian died. On Christmas Day James Brown, music legend and Godfather of Soul died. And on Boxing Day, Dennis Linde died, he wrote Elvis' Burning Love, the Dixie Chicks' Goodbye Earl and Garth Brooks' Callin' Baton Rouge.

Now my 3 at Christmas theory was feeling a bit tenuous with the inclusion of Dennis (sorry Dennis, but frankly, I had never heard of you despite those 3 songs being very well known). But then this morning I fire up the bbc news website and see that Gerald Ford, America's 38th President has died too. I don't have particularly strong feelings about American Presidents - either positive or negative, but I always quite liked Gerald Ford, he seemed OK to me and his wife has a fantastic legacy with her work against drug and alcohol addiction.

So interestingly I found a pub quiz help website which supports my theory a little bit, Dean Martin and Charlie Chaplin both having popped their clogs on Christmas Days. And at the same time informs me that I share birthdays with people such as Sir Issac Newton, Humphrey Bogart, Annie Lennox, Helena Christensen and Dido !!

Oh yeah check this out:

Christmas Eves
Christmas Days
Boxing Days

Don't you just love the internet?

Titles !!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Most Noble Lord Simon the Mad of Kesslington under Ox Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Thanks for this Bin, I like it. To be honest it took me a while to get that one.

But this was the first hit for Marie ... LOL.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Royal Highness Marie the Ineffable of Throcking in the Hole Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

and ...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Her Eminence the Very Viscountess Kimberly the Assiduous of Witchampton Under Buzzard Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Venerable Lord Andrew the Perplexed of Heffton St Mallet Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Eminence the Very Lord Daniel the Blue of Fishbourne Sneething Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess-Palatine Margaret the Charming of Menzies on the Minges Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Grace Lord Harold the Weary of Giggleswick on the Naze Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Imperial Majesty James the Antique of Throcking by Hampton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

To duplicate or not?

I am not sure yet how this is going to work - but for now:

Frustrated

Never could just have one ...

... of anything. And as of today I have a Live Journal account - I'll probably be just as bad blogging there as I am here. I got it so that I can post comments on my friends LJ blogs.

Simes2112

So there !

Another Month Rolls By !!

I used to be really quite good at blogging - probably for about 2 years or so I was blogging at least daily and often more frequently than that. Now though, weeks go by before I make another entry.

Perhaps this is because there is simply nothing in my life worth writing about - but frankly this is not true. Loads of stuff happens but somehow most of it I am reluctant to post in a public blog.

This I have concluded is a combination of ego and paranoia. Ego, because I am assuming that people actually read this. Paranoia, because I assume that people that can do nasty things to my life read it.

The chances are that hardly anyone reads it - the evidence would suggest this, practically no comments are ever made on my blog. Whereas some of my friends that blog get lots of comments on their blogs. On that score, though I am not paranoid - because they're friends that comment are for the most part fellow bloggers.

And I *know* that some of my friends that blog are even worse at blogging regularly than I am. And I have a lot of friends, colleagues and family who simply don't blog - or at least as far as I am aware they don't. I could be in for a surprise.

Anyway, this blog entry has now become what my friend Benji would probably describe as "vacuous". It is almost certainly too long (for something that actually says nothing) and besides I am thirsty and I can feel a Coke Zero coming on.

Today is a good day.

After last week - full of cold I feel particularly good today. First, I have lost a stone now in 7 weeks which I am really pleased about. Second, actually getting a cold and getting over it inside a week is a real achievement for me - they used to really lay me low for much longer - I hope that this is a reflection of my efforts to lead a healthier lifestyle. Third, I had a pretty good weekend - including a favourite activity - i.e. going to see some live music, Marie and I went out to see The Illegal Eagles with Robin and Jean - great fun. And finally, today, after a week at home I am in London for a couple of days on business and having a very useful and productive time.

Hollie - 'nuff said

For more click here

Better show ...

... this week than last week I thought on the old X-factor. I am now convinced that the MacDonald Brothers are surviving due to the Scottish vote - which is as fair as anything in this kind of show. I think on the night 4sure going was probably reasonable - they really didn't do the song very well at all. Robert certainly would have been more of a loss to the show had he gone.

Anyway - I've launched the 2006 X-factor Prediction Grand Championship this morning to those UK based people that I know do watch the show. If anyone I have missed wants to know more about that leave me a comment here or drop me an email and I'll let you know what that is all about.

Better late than never

X-factor last week - absolutely spot on that The Unconventionals bit the dust - that really was a dire performance, big mistake. I was re-assured to see Dionne in the bottom 2 as well - since I just don't like her much and I guess I am not alone. The order that the rest are read out is pretty well irrelevant. So enough about that.

I thought that all of Simon's crew did OK - Ray does need some serious vocal coaching though and quickly otherwise he'll bite the dust. Nikita remains my favourite of the 16-24s though.

Louis - poor Louis - the man is deluded, he made some comment about the McDonald Brothers being better than Journey South. He must be raving!! They were dire in my view and I am surprised that they were not also in the bottom 2 with The Unconventionals - I guess that they're going to pick up the Scottish vote though along with Nikita. The 2 male vocal groups were OK but neither have me going "wow".

Sharon's 4 all looked strong to me - whilst I don't like Dionne, for reasons I cannot yet articulate, I cannot deny she has a strong voice. Kerry did OK too - but that was a safe song for her - let's see what next week brings. Robert - man what an amazing voice he has, I just hope they manage to calm him down a bit before next week. And Ben - well it is time for me to eat my hat - I thought he was outstanding.

My top 3 so far then are:

1) Ben
2) Robert
3) Nikita

And so it begins ...

The X Factor finalists are -

16-24s (mentor - Simon Cowell)

Ashley - he does appear to have a remarkable voice, also seems to be a bit of a character.
Leonna - not sure, she is certainly striking to look at but if she goes all warbly Whitney then she'll drive me mad.
Nikitta - I love this girl, it didn't hurt that she did the Sarah McLachlan song Angel in Miami - yeah I like her a lot.
Ray - what's not to like? He has a lot of potential I think.

Overall, I think Simon got it right - I am glad we don't have to listen to cry-boy for the next however long.

The Groups (mentor - Louis Walsh)

4Sure - they seem very slick and could get to be very good.
Eton Road - high risk but they do have that really quirky looking guy.
The MacDonald Brothers - well Journey South they ain't - can't see them getting too far.
The Unconventionals - they'll have strong appeal across a large age range - I hope they do well because they'll be good at the X-factor gig next Feb.

I don't have any major issues over Louis choices - although I would have picked Eton Road over Avenue in the first place - they were JABB.

Over 25s (mentor - Sharon Osbourne)

Ben - totally unsure about this guy - he seems really nice, but he needs to get a bloody hair cut and I might be able to focus on his singing if he stopped that right hand shaking over his groin thing.
Dionne - big mistake in my view, I don't like her at all. She'll probably go and win the bloody thing now I have said that.
Kerry - I think she has a reasonable voice - but if they keep playing on her disability I think it will backfire and turn people off her - which will be a shame because she is probably top 6 material.
Robert - I think this guy has an incredible voice, could be the dark horse of the competition.

Too early to say who's gonna win clearly - but Simon looks to have 4 solid singers, Louis looking OK too - Sharon is gonna struggle to win it this year with a rather motley crew. I can't believe she sent home the young chap that cares for his Mum - I liked him a lot.

Silence is Golden II

A lot of my friends read for pleasure, my wife reads for pleasure - for some peculiar reason I struggle to read for pleasure. I know that this means I miss out on a lot of good stories and so recently I asked 6 or 7 of my friends to recomment one must read book that I should get and promptly ordered them all from Amazon. Anyway, so I have this huge pile of books to read now and it will probably take me about a year to get through them all.

I've started with David Gemmell's "Legend" - for a two reasons - firstly, one of my closest friends is a huge fan of his books (see the Gemmell Mania website for just how big a fan!!) and so I have been meaning to try at least one of this books for ages and secondly, it might sound a bit morbid, but the fact that David Gemmell died recently was the kick in the backside that made me think that I should read more. That might sound a bit odd and even a little morbid, but there you go.

So, I am progressing slowly through the book. Slowly, because I am trying to make sure that I read it properly - I have a tendency to "speed read" because of all the reading I do at work and that is probably why I don't read for pleasure much. I don't find it very relaxing - whereas just reading a chapter or two before going to sleep in the evening is very relaxing, but it takes a positive effort on my part to pace my reading for enjoyment rather than for overall understanding and rapid completion.

Anyway - last night I got to a passage in the book which really rang true and made me smile. I don't have the book to hand otherwise I might quote the passage. So you'll have to make do with my recollection instead. Two of the key characters are chatting in front of a roaring fire - Serbitar is trying, not very well, to make light conversation with Rek and bemoaning his lack of skill in this area. Rek makes an observation about friendship and that true friends are happy to be silent together.

This is so true - I have an old and close friend, Dave, who I don't see as often as I would like these days. But we used to spend many a long hour at my house pottering about on the computers, listening to music with very little conversation going on. And I remember Dave commenting once about being such good friends that being together with nothing being said was just fine.

Similarly, a friend that I have not known quite as long, said something similar. We were online using Skype (internet telephony) chatting, or rather not chatting recently - once just the two of us, but another time with 3 or 4 other people. We were both / all quite happy in what Stuart described as "companionable silence" (see previous blog entry).

And finally, the weekend before last, Marie and I drove to Surrey and back - and spent about 7 hours in total in the car. Most of that time spent not saying anything. It was just nice to be with her.

So the next time you are with a friend or a loved one and you are stuck for words, don't worry too much just enjoy that companionable silence.

Tired and Hungry, but mostly Tired.

I am enjoying my break from work but I am feeling a bit tired today. The past 5 days have been pretty hectic and so tomorrow I am just going to try and have a relaxing day at home. Which might be something of a challenge with a heap of IKEA furniture to assemble for Dan's bedroom, a new video card supposedly arriving for my computer and no doubt a number of other surprises along the way.

I am agonising at the moment about having a mobile phone with GPRS capability. But I just realised that I have a phone that has that capability already - just that the account that my employer provides doesn't allow us to use GPRS. Hmm, what to do, what to do?

Sleep sounds good. See ya tomorrow.

Jasper

Marie and I got home yesterday evening from a flying visit to Surrey. On Sunday afternoon we drove down to Farnham to see my brother Dave and his wife Sarah. We went out for a nice meal and a fun evening chattering about all manner of things and in true Simes style out in the middle of nowhere I bumped into someone I knew. We stayed over night with Dave and Sarah and after a leisurely morning we drove the short distance to Farnborough to meet some friends for lunch - John, Linda and Ben. We went to a pub called the Monkey Puzzle which stands next to a rather spectacular Monkey Puzzle tree. Ben managed with a bit of help from his dad John to eat a rather spectacular huge desert.

So, then why is this post called Jasper? Well, because Dave and Sarah have a rather gorgeous cat by that name. I'll let the picture speak for itself.

Ready ...

... am I ever? Ready. Yes I am. For what you ask? For a break from work. I have 3 more days at work this week (like most people I suppose) and then I have 2 whole weeks of not being at work. I am really looking forward to it. I plan to turn relaxation into an artform. I have no clue how yet - but, hey, a plan is a start.

As previously blogged, I also want to get some stuff done this holiday too. Not so much that I need a holiday when I get back to work - but enough so that I don't just think "So What!?" at the end of it. Things that are on my mind include CD collection sort out, tidy up the computer room (including throwing out some more stuff), teaching Marie all about ebay muhahahaha, doing some photography, doing some cooking (again), reading some books, drinking some wine, etc.

Am I really?

Which Programming Language are You?

This surprised me even more than being told I was an introvert !!

The Colour Red

So the UK postal service is known as Royal Mail - why I am not quite sure, the Queen's family don't deliver it. It used to be a state owned organisation and then it was privatised.

My guess it is pretty much like any other postal service - it has post offices where you can buy stamps and stick them on things and post them and with a bit of luck they get delivered.

For as long as I can remember (at least) the basis of the UK postal system has been weight. Something that weighs an ounce (that's about 28 grams to you metric-heads) costs about 30 UK pence to post - about the price of a bar of chocolate. Doesn't seem extreme to me - but I would rather have the chocolate.

So, anyhow, that means that I send an empty cardboard box that is big enough to put a TV in, say, for the same price as a greetings card 6 inches long by 4 inches wide - all assuming I am not being totally silly and they weigh the same.

But no more, oh no, not from August 21st, the Royal Mail has decreed that anything larger than 240 mm X 165 mm X 5mm weighing less than 100 g is a "letter" and will cost 32 pence to post. Anything larger, up to 353 mm x 250 mm x 25mm and weighing between 0g and 750g will be known as a "large letter" and will cost anything from 44p to 131p to post. Anything larger than that regardless of weight will be a "packet" and will cost 100p to post.

These prices are first class post and we won't even debate the relative merits of first versus second class post. Because the chocolate differential just is not worth it.

It all seems reasonable to me - I can understand that is is more awkward to handle larger sized items of post. It won't impact me that much - since I hardly ever post anything. I buy chocolate instead.

So why am I posting this blog entry. Because, the Royal Mail has sent out an A4 sized trifold brochure to every postal address in the land - probably something in the region of 30 some million addresses would be my guess. The brochure says that for 80% of posted items will cost the same or less to send. I reckon that each of these brochures cost at least 10p to print and distribute - so that's 3 million pounds, which however you look at this is a lot to recoup on such small chocolate differentials.

But there's more - I also realised by reading this lovely A4 trifold brochure that I can no longer use the colour red - because, and I quote:

"Royal Mail, the Cruciform and the colour red are registered trademarks of Royal Mail Group plc"

Check that out - it is not even capitalised, so it is not a specific "Colour Red" just the generic colour red. How can that be? Someone explain that to me. If I don't find out, I could be in deep trouble if I bleed.

Getting stuff done.

Weekends are too short - I guess they always have been. They feel a lot shorter to me though when I know that I am going to be away from home for 5 days. There are so many things I would like to get done at home - leisure things, fix the house up things, clear out junk things, etc., etc. But there are just so many of them that I just know that some of them will never get done - and that irks me somewhat.

So, I've got two weeks off work coming up at the end of August and that means I will have more time to "get stuff done". And so, I will try to get some of my non-work things done. The challenge is to come up with a prioritised, realistic list that doesn't end up with me needing another holiday after my, erm, holiday.

More on this as my thoughts develop - or alternatively a post in early September simply saying "Doh!".

In other news - considering today was Monday, it was not a bad day at all.

Silence is golden

I've just spent about 5 minutes on the internet in a 5 way voice conference on Skype and none us said a word. We just let silence consume all that bandwidth.

Afterwards, I moaned that my internet connection was running like a dog. To which, G. replied "What? Running around in circles, smelling its own arse!" Which actually is a good analogy for a poorly performing internet connection in my view.

Having said that - don't mention the word "performance" to me at the moment. I hate it - that's all you need to know, trust me - unless you want to read a 10,000 word blog entry and I don't think that you do.

Still tomorrow is another day eh?

Just about sums it up ...

... I just watched a new (to me anyway) TV sitcom called "The IT crowd". It is based around a company that operates out of a 34 story tower office block (presumably in London). On the 34th floor it is all a bit Ally McBeal. In the basement there exists the 2 man IT department - I don't know their real names but they are essentially "Slob Nerd" and "Totally Anal Nerd" amidst a morass of obsolete computers - most of which have never been used in a corporate environment (as far as I am aware). They occasionally answer the phone and Slob shouts "Are you sure you have switched it on?" or "Have you tried switching if off and on again" whereas Totally prefers to baffle his customers (sic) with mind blowing, white noise jargon. They get a new manager, a woman (which is fine by me - but to Slob and Totally is not) who knows nothing about computers at all (which is even less acceptable to Slob and Totally). OK, so it is not quite an accurate parody of my current work environment - but it does remind me of the earlier stages of my career in some ways.

Except that in those days we were the heroes and now we're in the shitty basement of a 34 floor office block with managers who know nothing about computers.

Hotter Than July !!

Stevie Wonder from September 1980, Marie bought it for me. But anyway, looks like the UK is going to at least start July with some really hot weather. Good for Wimbledon I suppose - not so good for, erm, well insulated chaps like myself.

Of course, like a lot of other English people, I am still rather disappointed by the defeat at the hands of Portugal on Saturday afternoon. It might sound bitter but I honestly believe that Portugal's approach has been despicable both in the game against the Netherlands and against England - win at any (cheating) costs.

I would love to be a fly on the wall of the Manchester United changing rooms when Christian Ronaldo returns for pre-season training and Wayne "splits him in two" (front page of the Sun newspaper 3rd July 2006).

Ah well - there is always 2010.

Absence makes the blog go longer ...

... between updates. Been kinda pre-occupied lately, works been hectic, "Zoom"-ing along so to speak - key project just gone live, teething troubles, paranoia, tetchiness, etc. etc.

Home front. All good, but similarly hectic. World cup - high expectations, high emotion etc.

Health front. Not feeling so good lately. Not sure why - feeling physically drained and very tired. Worried about my BP medication - been having headaches again recently. Lots of back pain and breathlessness.

And today it works for me too ...

... what you ask?  Blogging from firefox with a nifty little plug in.

The drive home

So we checked out of the hotel after breakfast and then drove back to the top of Kirkstone Pass - about 1500 feet above the lake and since it was sunny were able to take some photos down into the valley below. Actually at the pass, you can't see back to Lake Ullswater, but you can see down the other side to Lake Windermere.

We drove about halfway down to Windermere when Marie said we've not really taken many pictures of the sheep (And the bleat goes on!) ... so we stopped and took some pictures of the sheep and the lambs.

And then we drove down and into Kendal. Which reminds me of something I meant to mention yesterday - driving back to the hotel along some very windy roads, so narrow at some points that there really was only one cars width available. We were going through small villages and hamlets that probably didn't even have the horse to allow them to be called "one horse towns". Anyway, I had my PDA running Tom Tom satelite navigation software so that we would eventually get back to the hotel. But I had forgotten to turn off the wireless network adaptor on the PDA and as we drove along through these no horse towns I was picking up loads and loads of wireless networks. It made me chuckle in a nerdy kind of way.

And today was the same, but different. After driving through Kendal we hit the M6 just north of Lancaster and all the way down to Stoke where we headed east towards Nottingham. All the way down the M6 - I had 3 wireless networks available - one was called Testbed, another was called T-mobile and I forget the other now. The possibilities are interesting though - again in a nerdy kind of way.

Anyway, we're home now. I'd like to back again soon - but for a little longer than just 3 days - we did pack rather a lot into yesterday in particular. It would be nice to be up there when it is a bit warmer, a bit sunnier and just be a bit lazier.

Sometimes you do get ...

... what you wish for! We woke up this morning to bright sunshine and after a hearty cumbrian breakfast we ventured out to the edge of the lake to take some photographs. Artistically, I am really please with the first shot but the second shot is even better memento of the trip. Since the sun was shining we decided to go and for a trip on one of the steamers on the lake - the round trip from Glenridding to Pooley Bridge and back takes about 2 hours. The scenery was breathtaking and lots of new pictures are in Simes' Gallery as a result.

After the boat trip we took a long drive out to the coast and down to a small village called Ravenglass, so small in fact that my satelite navigation gizmo didn't know where it was. So, instead I set course for Egremont, since I knew Egremont was close to Ravenglass. Egremont puts me in mind of Mike Harding's double live album "Captain Paralytic and the Brown Ale Cowboy" which I really must try to get hold of.

The target at Ravenglass was a narrow guage railway trip. Which after two hour drive was the third trip of the day for the sake of it - since we arrived when the only option left was to travel from one end of the line to the other and straight back again. This followed by another two hour drive back to the hotel via some very narrow roads - but we did get to see Coniston Water and Lake Windermere en route home.

As yesterday, Marie spent most of the day making an "awww" sound, except the sound that Marie made was more like "mu-awwww". Why, you ask? Sheep, lambs I say. It is lambing season a-go-go here, Marie even spotted one being born yesterday. She's totally sheep obsessed. Tonight, in the restaurant while I was eating the best duck I have ever had - we were being serenaded by Georgi Zamphir again and his pan-pipe rendition of songs such as Careless Whisper and Abba's Knowing Me, Knowing You .... Ahhhhh haaaaa.

This led to the two of us spending the rest of the evening mentally designing a website. Marie's Panpipe Midi Resource combined with being the ultimate web sheep resource - with song titles such as "Do Ewe Really Want To Herd Me". I could go on at length - but the sexual connotations don't bear (!!) thinking about.

Lake District Day 2

So, after breakfast this morning we just chilled out for a while in the hotel lounge. The weather was pretty mediocre and so we decided to head off to Carlisle to go to the cinema to see The Da Vinci Code. Ron Howard's done a good job of transferring the book to the screen in my view - we both enjoyed it. Afterwards, we did a little essential shopping - which included a compact flash memory card. I'd tried to take some pictures outside the hotel earlier in the day only to find that my camera's memory card was AWOL - I suspect it is at home in the card reader of the computer.

Anyway, on the drive back from Carlisle we stopped and took a few pictures. The first one is Lake Ullswater, you can see it is overcast and misty, but even so a very nice view. The lake is some 12 miles long and the hotel we're staying at is right at the south-western end of the lake. I'd love to see it on a bright, sunny summer day - it must be even more spectacular then.

The second shot is the hotel we are staying at showing the fell in the background. It is such a peaceful and relaxing setting - in a small village called Glenridding. Anyway having braved the elements for a few minutes to take some pictures we decided that it looked much cosier back inside the hotel with a cup of tea by the fireplace.

Mellow ...

So anyway, here we are, in the Lake District, Marie and I. We left Nottingham shortly after noon today and arrived at our hotel, Inn on the Lake (Ullswater), shortly before 4pm. That was pretty good time since we stopped for a sandwich en route.

The hotel is smashing, sort of old fashioned and right on the edge of Lake Ullswater and mossy fells towering all around the place. Even with fairly heavy rain and low cloud and mist it is a tremendous location. I keep waiting for Connor MacLeod to come striding towards the hotel.

We settled into our room and then came down to the bar for a drink before a splendid dinner in the hotel restaurant. We both opted for the same fishy starter followed by Aspargus soup. Marie opted for pork and I had some lamb, nicely washed down with a bottle of French Merlot. Dessert and coffee to follow.

The hotel really is quite quaint - has a 1950s feel about it and the music, or should that be muzak, is very amusing. During dinner we had some guy on pan pipes doing Robbie Williams "Angels" and later Clannads "Harry's Game" and then in the bar "Time to say Goodbye" as done by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Boceli.

And that's all for now folks ... because after some beer and a bottle of wine I am feeling distinctly mellow.

This weekend ...

... has been quite interesting. Firstly, I made contact with an old college friend who I have not seen for the better part of 28 years. I had a good rest - in as far as the weekend was more restful than most tend to be. I listened to some music again which is something that I have not been doing enough of lately (lately being a long time). And I've finished it off with my latest de-stressing technique - that being travelling to Leeds on a Sunday evening, rather than having a mega hectic Monday compounded by 2-3 hours in the car.

And on that note I shall bid you all goodnight. Oh and yes, I am still not happy about Chris Daughtry's premature departure from American Idol and no I don't expect to get over it anytime soon.

I slept on it ...

... and I am still pissed off that Chris got the boot from American Idol.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR !!!

American Idol gets it wrong again.

Jeez I really wonder why I watch these programs when I should have the basic intelligence to understand that the mainstream TV voting demographic will never pick out someone with an edge as the winner.

This combined with more rumours of a telephone number screw-up. Claims from Chris Daughtry's fans that they voted on his number and got the voice of another contestant thanking them for the vote.

As much as I like Chris - I don't think he was that good with the Elvis songs. Elliot was outstanding and Taylor did good too - but come on Catherine was diabolical on her first song and through no fault of her own, the arrangement screwed her second performance too.

But there is no way Chris should have gone. I am really disappointed - more disappointed than I was then Bo lost the final last year.

Apparently though there is talk of Chris perhaps becoming the lead singer for the band Fuel - read more about that here >> http://www.fuelweb.com/.

Whatever happens I really do hope that we get to hear more of Chris Daughtry.

Maximum Cuteness

Need I say more? More pictures here

American Idol - 2 for the price of 1

OK so I slacked and didn't post anything from last week when Kellie Pickler bit the dust and now this week Paris Bennett has gone. I was not surprised to see Kellie go last week nor Paris this. Kellie had really been struggling for a couple of weeks and her time was up. As for Paris, I think that a couple of factors led to her departure - one Simon Cowell decided she was not for him and has been making it very clear for a number of weeks now. But most of all - it kinda struck me that do the American public really want to idolise a 16 year old kid that talks like Minnie Mouse? Clearly not.

So we've got Catherine left - she's got the look but half the time she ain't got the voice. As my friend Stuart said "Everytime she tries to raise her game it all goes wrong" - she did the Phil Collin's song no favours at all last week. Next week I think that Elliot could well go, but Catherine has to be at risk as well. They're doing Elvis songs - which to me would seem to be an advantage to the guys. I am sorta hoping that Catherine does go - because despite the comments earlier, if she gets a couple of songs that suit her then she can appear to be outstanding.

My favoured outcome at the moment is for Catherine to go next week - and then Chris will win - because neither Elliot or Taylor are going to get more votes than him in a straight sing-off. The risk is that Catherine doesn't go and she gets the mainstream , conformist vote and wins. I hope not!

Bill Bryson cracks me up !!

Over the past 3-4 years I have done more reading for pleasure than I had probably done in the previous 40 some years combined. When it comes to reading I am a lightweight and enjoy the simple things in life like Harry Potter, Dan Brown's books, etc. It has to be fast paced and quickly gripping or else I lose interest quickly. Anyhow, having read all of Ms. Rowling's and Mr. Brown's output I decided to pick on some other unsuspecting writer - Bill Bryson. I read his book about his final trip around the UK before taking his family back to the USA and then moved onto "The Lost Continent - Travels in Small Town America".

This was back in January - and I am still hovering somewhere around chapter 8 or 9 - not because I don't like it, but because I do like it and I keep re-reading bits over and over because they make me laugh so much. This is a new pleasure for me.

My favourite bit so far is this:

I drove out to the Little White House, about two miles outside town. The parking lot was empty, except for an old bus from which a load of senior citizens were disembarking. The bus was fromthe Calvary Baptist Church in some place like Firecracker, Georgia or Bareassed, Alabama. The old people were noisy and excited, like schoolchildren, and pushed in front of me at the ticket booth, little realizing that I wouldn't hesitate to give an old person a shove, especially a Baptist. But I just smiled benignly and stood back, comforted by the thought that soon they would be dead.

Sheer genius, makes me laugh out loud everytime I read it. It is harsh and dark but we all know in our innermost thoughts that we have probably pondered much worse at some time or another.

Photo's from Christmas and 2006 so far.

Being away so much I don't seem to take as many photos as I did. And even when I do it seems that I am not very good at getting them on the website in a timely fashion. Ah well better late than never - I have just posted a new set of about 14 photos of Hollie from Christmas 2005 and this year so far.

I particularly like this one of her with Peter:

American Idol ... they lied ...

or did they? The show this week was just a'ight for me - not really my kind of music. But I thought that Paris did an outstanding version of her song. Chris excelled. Catherine McPhee is starting to make me wanna puke - OK, sure, she is very good, but I just want to punch her sugary smiley face in. Taylor, was well, Taylor did a good job. I enjoyed Elliot's performance too. Kellie sure did "burrcher", that'll be butcher her song, but in my view all credit to her for saying so before the judges did. And Ace, well frankly, thank heavens he's gone, what a frigging cheeseball !!

BUT ... no way ... I do not believe for one minute that Paris and Chris received fewer votes from the 'merkin public than Elliot or Taylor ... unless 'merica is doing the normal stupid thing and voting for things other than who can sing the best.

OK I am biased and don't really like Catherine that much - but Cowell was blown away by her and if he was then she's probably excellent. Kellie might have pulled a sympathy vote. But come on - please - don't tell me that more people actually voted for Elliot and Taylor than voted for Chris and Paris.

There's a paragraph of small print that pops up at the end of the results show - and last night I used the "freeze" option on my TV to hold that. The first sentence says - Portions of this show which do not effect the outcome have been edited at the producers discretion - or words to that effect.

I honestly wonder if they lie about the actual bottom three to make the TV more sensational. As in:

Producer 1: "OK guys, Ace is gone, let's stick Chris and Paris in the bottom three with him as we'll get more oooooohs and aaaaaahs that way"

Producer 2: "Great idea Producer1. And guess what even more people will hit the website to express their disbelief on the forums thereby increasing our revenue stream from advertising on there"

Producer 3: "Yeah Producer2. And don't forget they'll tell all the friends how unbelievable it was and that'll put 5% on the viewing figures for next week"

Producer 4: "Yeah!"

Producer 4 is really just the tea boy - but he likes to feel involved.

Of course, I could just be an untrusting bugger and the american viewers and voters could just be totally barking mad.

Queen of Wishful Thinking !!

So last night, American Idol, the contestants were doing Queen songs this week. I thought that it was going to be a really good week. But they picked some really weird songs and it was all a bit lack lustre. Chris picked Innuendo - and he did it well enough - but he could have had a really storming performance if he had picked one of Queen's more popular rock classics such as One Vision, Another One Bites The Dust. Kellie did an OK job with Bohemian Rhapsody. Paris did great with The Show Must Go On. Catherine absolutely destroyed Who Wants To Live Forever but Simon seemed to think it was great, ah well. Taylor did a reasonable job of Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Elliot sang Somebody To Love really well, but it is not really his style. Ace destroyed We Will Rock You and managed to piss off Brian May by suggesting that he should rearrange it in a particular way. Bucky, I can't even remember which song he did badly - but it doesn't matter because he's gone now anyhow. Ace must go next week - please God !!

Cowell says ...

Simon Cowell Says Taylor Hicks, Chris Daughtry, and Kellie Pickler Are Three Favorites To Win American Idol

You know I think he could be right !!

What a complete bag of crap !!

American Idol this week - 'nuff said !!

Yeah so, down to the final 10 ...

... on American Idol. The final 12 worked out slightly different from my prediction - but I feel gratified that the 2 I didn't expect to get in are now gone - Melissa and Kevin. Melissa just left me stone cold and well Kevin, little Kevin, was never going to win - but I have a lot of respect for how he handled himself on the show for a 16 year old.

At moment, my favourite is Chris - I have enjoyed everyone of his performances so far without exception. Taylor and Bucky were below par for me last week. Elliot did another strong performance in my view - but not really my kind of music. And Ace, well enough said - I don't like him at all - he has to be the next guy to go. He might not go next - but he's the worst of the guys for me.

As for the Girls - Mandisa was excellent, Catherine was great too, Kellie was very good too, Paris was OK and Lisa was just "a'ight for me dog". Which is a quick way of saying I expect Lisa to go next in the girls.

Having said that - if Bucky screws up again this week, then he could be out.

So - I want Chris to win. But expect that he will not - I imagine that one of the more "mainstream" contestants will appeal to the American voting public more and will win out over Chris once the votes start to consolidate as the also-rans run !!

Bling Bling !!

Kim got her new car today - a nice shiny silver bling bling Peugeot 206 - I'd better still get bagels for breakfast when I get home lady !!

American Idol 2006

OK, a lot of people I know are well aware that I am
sort of addicted to shows like American Idol. This year's American
Idol has just reached the last 24 stage, well actually it is 2 weeks
in and so we're at the last 16 in fact. 8 guys and 8 gals.

Guys
====

1) Ace Young - got that smouldering thing going on.
2) Bucky Covington - country boy, did Garth Brooks this week.
3) Chris Daughtry - rocker, was singled out by the judges this week in
a good way
4) Elliot Yamin - excellent voice, looks a bit Amish mind you.
5) Gedeon McKinney - soul singer, hugest smile I have ever seen.
6) Kevin Covais - good singer, this years token geek.
7) Taylor Hicks - superb singer, reminds me of Michael McDonald
8) Will Makar - good singer, awful hair

Gals
====

1) Ayla Brown - serial overachiever, annoys the heck out of me, sings OK.
2) Katharine McPhee - good singer, has a slight attitude problem in my view.
3) Kellie Pickler - good singer, heavy play on bad family background
is getting a bit tiresome now.
4) Kinnik Sky - reasonable singer, nothing special though.
5) Lisa Tucker - excellent singer, could go far.
6) Mandisa - excellent singer and a strong, confident personality.
7) Melissa McGhee - good singer, but forgettable.
8) Paris Bennett - outstanding singer, could win this.

So it's probably pretty obvious from my notes above. But I think that
the guys have an advantage this year. Having said that - one more
week, 4 more go and there will be 6 guys and 6 gals left for the final
stages. Very hard to say who will get booted next week - but from the
girls I think it could well be Melissa and Ayla because the other 6
have a bit more about them in my view. For the guys, I hope that Will
and Kevin go next - not because they're horrible singers, but because
I think the other 6 are better.

My personal favourite is Taylor. But Chris was outstanding this week.
I didn't see the girls this week - but I am told that they were pretty
poor with even Paris doing a sub-standard performance.

What do you think ???

Mamma Mia

Well after a slight luggage hiccough Marie and I were on the 13:07 train heading for London. First class mind you since it was a special occasion. The peace and quiet engendered by not many other people being insane enough to pay First Class ticket prices was pleasant. For a few minutes anyway, until a couple of businessmen got on who were of the genus Mobiletelephonus Permantus and one of them managed to incense Marie by opening his first call to Andrew with "Sorry about that Andrew, I am in the wilds of Nottingham". Well, that's the sort of statement you only really allowed to say about a place when you're a native isn't it? Anyway, whoever the heck Andrew was managed to get off the phone after about 20 minutes and relative peace was restored.

The steward came around and poured the complimentary tea and coffee. We ordered some non-complimentary sandwiches and drinks - which were extremely nice, and nicely served too. And all was well with the world - Marie read her book and I read my gadget magazine and mentally spent about £40,000. We arrived in London bang on schedule and strolled out into the bright winter sunshine and got a cab to the hotel.

The cab driver was the complete antithesis of the stereotypical London cab driver. He had long hair and was playing some rather interesting (i.e. quite good) music as he drove us to the hotel. I suppose he was typical in as much as we had a long discussion about the 2 hotels that were both called the Thistle and were both near Trafalgar Square. By process of elimination - explaining that our Hotel was not the one next door to the Prince of Wales Theatre he knew which one we did need.

We checked in to our "Deluxe Room" and made our way to the fifth floor. Not quite sure what the criteria is for "Deluxe", but like many central London hotels that I have stayed in over the years it was most certainly "Bijou". Anyway, we settled in and had a rest before heading off to the Theatre.

We got settled into our seats about 15 minutes before curtain up - and then proceeded to do the "up and down thing" ... no not that "up and down thing", the other one, where after you sit down, everyone else in that row arrives about a minute apart to you have to stand and sit about 10 times in succession.

The show started bang on time and I shall not relay the entire story here or everything that happened etc. Suffice to say, that it is a great show with good humour and a bit tongue in cheek, so if you have any sense of humour at all you'll enjoy it. If you even vaguely appreciate classic pop music then you'll enjoy it even more. It made me feel good to see it - quite uplifting, which for those of you who know what a miserable git I am will understand the achievement of lifting me up!!

The show finished about 7:35pm - about two and half hours long. We collected our coats and headed off with dinner in mind. Original safe bet, but boring plan had been to return to the hotel. However, Planet Hollywood was just across the road from the theatre so we went there - had a few drinks in the bar and had something to eat there. Quite a fun place to be - lots of party groups there for birthdays and suchlike. A DJ playing music and showing videos on a huge video wall. Typical american diner style food. Strawberry and Banana Daiquiries. What more could you need?

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. Next morning, breakfasted at the hotel after what can only be described as a cool night's sleep. The room might have been "deluxe" but it was also "cool" - the bloody heating didn't work. Ah well - when we checked out, they asked me if everything was alright with the room and of course I just muttered "Yes".

And since being a bit chilly all night was really not a problem - we decided that the best way to consolidate on our coolness was to embark upon a two hour tour of London on an open top bus. Ha ha ... mad dogs and englishmen eh? However, I have to say that it was very interesting and gave me a better feel for the geography of London. What I mean is, I have been to London lots of times and this has almost always entailed - train arrives - taxi to office - taxi to hotel - taxi to office - taxi to station - train departs. Well something like that anyhow. Now though I have a better idea of where things actually are and I get the impression that London is a lot more compact than I previously thought it was. Of course - this could be another complete misconception.

After the bus tour we were quite keen on being somewhere not cold. So we headed into HMV to get a DVD for Marie and then to Starbucks for a hot cup of coffee.

After that we decided it was time to head back to the wilds of Nottingham and jumped in a cab with a much more stereotypical London cabbie. Who upon discovering our ultimate destination gave me the two one-liners that must be in "The Knowledge" for London cabbies under the heading of "Appendix A: The Provinces".

Number 1 being "Nottingham eh? Ain't there 3 women to every man there?"

and

Number 2 being "Nottingham eh? Didn't they used to have a decent football team".

Being with my wife I decide to discuss football. Why I have no idea since I have had little interest in football since the mid-80s? However, I do have marginally more knowledge of football than I do the gender demographics of Nottingham.

We get to the station and we're comfortably in time for the next train back to Nottingham - hard to not be since they run every 30 minutes.

Two hours later we're back in Nottingham and Kim picks us up from the station and shortly afterwards we're back home after a really nice, fun trip to London.

Two things learnt at least on this trip. First class rail travel is expensive but it does mean you get somewhere more comfortable to sit and not quite as packed out with people. The second thing learnt is that at a weekend - you can probably get away with buying a standard class rail ticket. And when your ticket is checked you can upgrade to first class by paying an extra 6 pounds. Which is somewhat cheaper than the premium you pay when buying the tickets before the trip ... by about 60 pounds, yes that's right. I have decided though to merely learn this and not get upset about it - since it was worth every last penny to have a comfortable and spacious journey in both directions. But more, to see Marie chuckle and smile and really enjoy the pampering of having lunch served to us on the way down to London.

More happiness ...

Another thing that made me happy this week was the outcome of the Grammys - the following introductory paragraph put a great big smile on my face:

U2 have won five prizes at the most prestigious US music awards, the Grammys, eclipsing the pre-ceremony favourites Mariah Carey and Kanye West.

Now I am not suggesting that I am a mad U2 fan but nothing could please me more to see almost anyone edging Mariah Carey out of an award. When she first came out I thought she had a pleasant enough voice and I dare say that she still does. However, what I cannot abide about her is her Prima Donna attitude - they call it being a Diva - I call it being a spoiled brat.

I saw her on a TV show a few months ago and oh dear the poor love - my heart bled for her when she realised that her microphone was too heavy for her poor little delicate arms to hold and she needed a microphone stand after all. And then there was her water - now most musicians that I have seen live like to have a drink on stage to keep the vocal chords lubricated. So did our little Mariah have a bottle of water on stage near her non-existant microphone stand? Did she have one behind her on the drum kit riser? Or even on top of Randy Jackson's bass amp? Oh no, she had her own little peon that dashed on stage with her bottle of Evian in between each song so she could take a drink.

What a bloody farce. So anyway, the grammy results made me smile - not so much because U2 won, but because Mariah Carey didn't. I am not saying that her music is not good - but I just can't support the success of someone that far up their own ass.

Other grammy news - Paul McCartney came away empty handed - this added to my pleasure since I honestly do feel that he is grossly over-rated.

On a more supportive note - I was absolutely delighted to see Kelly Clarkson pick up two grammys. I didn't really get into American Idol until the second season - so I can't say that I have been a Kelly fan since she won that. However, over the past year in my view she has gone to the next level and has become a true superstar in my view.

What of course I do not know is ... she might be just as much of a pretentious diva as Mariah appears to be. And in fact Mariah might be much less of a pretentious diva than I think she is.

But for now I shall continue to chuckle at Mariah only getting 1 grammy out of 5 nominations and U2 getting 5 grammys out of 5 nominations. Oh yes and Kelly getting 2 out of 2 !!

And finally, 19437 BBC website readers were asked "Did U2 deserve to eclipse Mariah Carey and Kanye West at the Grammys?" and 87% answered yes ... so I am clearly not alone in my happiness

More infrequent Simes ramblings

I've been blogging on and off for years in some form or another. Way before the days of the internet really - I suppose it really goes back to my BBS days in the late 80s. IND3X was really a platform for me to pontificate I suppose. Thinking about it now it amazes me that IND3X lived from 1987 until 1996 - I put a lot of me into it one way and another and it was all virtual and now it is gone.

Of course, that is a really superficial view. The reality is that I made a lot of friends during that time and a few of the closer ones are closer still now and that's what it was really about.

And of course us geeks moved on from the BBS world to the internet - and back then in the mid-late 90s it was the stuff of geeks. There was no broadband - if you had cash to burn you might have considered getting a leased line to your internet service provider but we're talking thousands of pounds. So it was all dial-up and we're talking pre-Windows 95 and so you needed all kinds of plug-in software to put a TCP-IP stack onto your computer.

Of course, it is much easier now and even the most casual of computer users have wireless networks in their homes, never mind broadband connections.

Somewhere in the middle of all of this internet stuff I spent a lot of time chatting to people on IRC (before it got pretty well killed off by the myriad of instant messenging products). Some of these people I knew from the BBS world and some were new. Some of them even got married to one another. And some of them are no longer together.

I've combined the internet with my other passion, music and spent a lot of time making friends around the world who share my enthusiasm for Roxette and Marie Fredriksson. I've travelled overseas as a result to meet people and to go to concerts with them. The internet has shrunk my world.

I've discovered the obsession known as Everquest. Which still for me is IRC with something to do. I look forward to meeting my friends in that game and killing nasty monsters with them. I've travelled the world meeting some of these people too.

I keep in touch with old friends and make new. Just a few weeks ago I spent a very pleasant evening with a couple that I barely knew - they invited me to stay in their home. All based on a virtual embryonic friendship.

I've been working away from home several days a week for the past year or so. I have a flat that I stay in when I am up there and I now know I am going to be there for another year at least. So I have bitten the bullet and have got a broadband connection there too.

Oddly, this connection was activated today, Friday - the day I come home for the weekend of course. And guess what, my broadband connection here at home is broken and they can't fix it until Monday. I am typing this on a dial-up connection - which is OK for this kind of thing - but not a lot of use for much else that I want to do.

Amazing thing this internet eh?

And finally ... I've realised that I often blog when I am pissed off and want to whinge and whine. I'm going to make a concerted effort to be more positive in my blogging by introducing a new feature:

Things that made me happy since I last blogged:

Well OK it has been over a month since I last blogged, so this time it will be a selection of more recent things that have brightened my life:

1) Got a new job role at work, I am now a Delivery Project Executive - which sounds a lot fancier than it really is - but I am enjoying the new challenge.
2) Jody and Mark greeted their new baby Chase into the world this week - a little brother for Connor.
3) One of my team got some unsolicited positive feedback from the customer this week which was really pleasing.
4) I went out for a drink and a nice meal with Stephen, Kathy, Vicky, Scott and Shawn last night - this was a farewell for Stephen who is off to do a new role. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening.
5) I watched Hollie watching Cinderella when I got home this evening - it is so much fun to watch her singing along with the songs in the film.

and on that note I am going to get some sleep.

So long since I blogged ...

... and a whole lot has happened. Most of my recent blog entries have been reports on the X-factor - which is now of course all ancient history. Last time I wrote:

...I expect the result to come out like this:

1) Shayne
2) Andy
3) Journey South

The only possible upset I foresee is Andy pipping Shayne due to Sharon's popularity. Of course, my heart wants my brain to be completely wrong and I want Carl and Andy, Journey South, to win.

Well that's exactly how it went. There were a couple of TV shows after the final show where they reported on Shayne's first few days as the X-factor 2005 winner. Apparently, Journey South were ranked highest in terms of viewer votes on several shows prior to the final and were out in front at the end of the main final show. However, in the two hours that elapsed before the results show the tables had been turned and Andy had his nose out in front.

Journey South got booted and first Andy and then Shayne got to perform the winner's song. Andy did a good performance - but Shayne really went for it, particularly in the second half of the song. It was an outstanding performance and evidence of a sheer will to come out on top.

He's a worthy winner and he's got all the right components to become the next big thing. What remains to be seen is whether or not the record company can turn reality TV into real life.

And then it was Christmas - well almost ...

But not before the traditional pre-Christmas "major incident" at work which had me running conference calls on Christmas Eve and sitting on tenterhooks waiting for the phone to ring on Boxing Day morning. Fortunately, the steps taken prior to Christmas seem to have paid off and aside from a brief telephone call on Wednesday 28th December I have now been off work for almost 2 weeks.

Christmas was fun and everyone got lots of nice presents. I got one of the new iPods and so I have been having lots of fun getting music and videos onto that. There's a whole lot more I could write about my fun with video capture over the past few days but I think I will save that for a separate entry when I feel more like a good rant.