This evening it is a blog posted on a Monday before half seven - a surprise, considering usually at this time I am still making my way back from football. Today is different, however. Football wasn't on today due to a large number of people being unable to play - likely something to do with it being Valentine's Day.
Now, as you can expect I have strong opinions on Valentine's Day and am not a fan. It does seem to be a remarkably hollow sentiment, that what you do for an entire year does not matter as long as you tick all the boxes on this one day. I am all for good and loving relationships the entire year round and not letting one day be held up as the only time that the other is thought of.
This is before we even get onto the commercialisation of the day. Having read supplements in the papers this week advising on perfect cards, gifts, trips, roses, chocolates, perfumes, colognes, underwear, makeup, etc, etc, without any of which it can't be that same special day, it becomes extremely tedious.
Really, you don't need any of that for a day about the person you love, and nor does it need to be restricted to one day of the year. Personally, I'm looking twelve days forward to when Chrissi arrives here, when I'm sure we'll do just fine without all of the above and on a different day of the year.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Yesterday Was The Day
Having read the news this morning and also last night, it seems amazingly trite that my blog yesterday evening was on anything other than one subject.
Egypt.
After 18 days of protests, Mubarak has resigned. The focus today has rightly not been on the political ramifications, but instead on the achievement, its significance, and the hope and joy on the street. Watching the pictures and reading the stories of those involved, in all that the one moment represented, it was hard not to be moved to tears. The perseverence and resistance of all the Egyptian people involved was simply that strong.
This is a fitting reminder of what people's resolve and unyielding humanity can be.
Egypt.
After 18 days of protests, Mubarak has resigned. The focus today has rightly not been on the political ramifications, but instead on the achievement, its significance, and the hope and joy on the street. Watching the pictures and reading the stories of those involved, in all that the one moment represented, it was hard not to be moved to tears. The perseverence and resistance of all the Egyptian people involved was simply that strong.
This is a fitting reminder of what people's resolve and unyielding humanity can be.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Return of the Familiar
It's been a while since I've done a post-midnight blog, and this evening as I have just returned from a trip to the pub after work seems like a good point to restart the trend. The main prompt for this being that it is considerably after midnight - in fact, it is just approaching 1am.
While today was a moderately entertaining day and also a decent evening, I don't have an overwhelming amount of information to report. Instead I'll dwell more on Chrissi's exciting news - today is her last day at her work, and it's now only slightly over two weeks until she is here. Just a little packing on her side and a little clearing of the decks on my side - good luck there - and we should be all ready just in time!
While today was a moderately entertaining day and also a decent evening, I don't have an overwhelming amount of information to report. Instead I'll dwell more on Chrissi's exciting news - today is her last day at her work, and it's now only slightly over two weeks until she is here. Just a little packing on her side and a little clearing of the decks on my side - good luck there - and we should be all ready just in time!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Poker Thursday
As this was the second Thursday of the month, this meant that it was poker night! After last month - when this fell during my study leave - I had some ground to make up on the leaderboard. This truly happened in impressive fashion as I managed to build a significant chip lead before having this all evaporated in a final four-way all-in.
The hands ended up being K4, AQ, QQ (me) and KK. The all-in to match for me was only about half of my chipstack, and with pocket pair, increasingly shortstacked opponents and a chance to win it in one fell swoop, I naturally went for it. Unsurprisingly nothing much came up to match considering the cards we all had, and it was the pocket kings that took it - leaving me on the wrong side of a 20k/10k chip disadvantage in the heads-up.
However, some decent heads-up play twinned with some nice running cards meant I managed to claim the victory in the end and in doing so catapult myself up the leaderboard.
The hands ended up being K4, AQ, QQ (me) and KK. The all-in to match for me was only about half of my chipstack, and with pocket pair, increasingly shortstacked opponents and a chance to win it in one fell swoop, I naturally went for it. Unsurprisingly nothing much came up to match considering the cards we all had, and it was the pocket kings that took it - leaving me on the wrong side of a 20k/10k chip disadvantage in the heads-up.
However, some decent heads-up play twinned with some nice running cards meant I managed to claim the victory in the end and in doing so catapult myself up the leaderboard.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Spanish Trip
One thing I've been remiss about informing my handful of readers about is my forthcoming trip to Barcelona. One of my friends at work is getting married in May, and is having a stag do in April to which some of his colleagues are invited, myself included.
This event is taking place in Barcelona, which means that I get to sample the sunny delights of Spain for a weekend. Tragically, one of the most exciting things for me is the short haul flight! A flight time of only two hours and ten minutes representing my entire journey is revolutionary. It's also the first non-American holiday I've been on in over five years - surprising.
I need to brush up on my Spanish, I think, as it's not so hot.
This event is taking place in Barcelona, which means that I get to sample the sunny delights of Spain for a weekend. Tragically, one of the most exciting things for me is the short haul flight! A flight time of only two hours and ten minutes representing my entire journey is revolutionary. It's also the first non-American holiday I've been on in over five years - surprising.
I need to brush up on my Spanish, I think, as it's not so hot.
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Technical Expertise
This evening my great technical expertise was called on, as I came home to find my sister, her friend and her friend's husband struggling to connect to our wifi. As I spend a lot of time on my computer, this was assumed I would know how to resolve this.
Being the only person who knew our wifi password, I was able to move us along. However, then we had the slight dilemma of the router playing up. While I could connect on my computer, I was unable to connect from my phone and Memet was also unable to connect from his laptop. After deciding it was the router to blame, I decided to use the highly technical approach of resetting this by turning it off and on again. Annoyingly and excitedly, this worked.
In noteworthy numbers, this also marks the 550th blog posted on this website.
Being the only person who knew our wifi password, I was able to move us along. However, then we had the slight dilemma of the router playing up. While I could connect on my computer, I was unable to connect from my phone and Memet was also unable to connect from his laptop. After deciding it was the router to blame, I decided to use the highly technical approach of resetting this by turning it off and on again. Annoyingly and excitedly, this worked.
In noteworthy numbers, this also marks the 550th blog posted on this website.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Obligatory Post-Football Blog
So as is customary and so much so that I feel it is now almost compulsory, I return from football and post-shower I come to blog. Today I have a nagging pain in my ankle following a particularly unballetic turn in the opening minute of today's game. I sat out for a little while and then ran it off, but it's still nagging at me and I suspect it will be more painful tomorrow.
Besides that today was mostly uneventful - besides the mockery of the Chelsea fans in the office for their naive optimism following last week's transfers. As a result, I will instead tell a bewildering anecdote from yesterday, when I was in the Co-op in the village in the evening and was suddenly jumped on from behind by Mike which prompted confusion and then recognition.
It is a tribute to my vague attachment to reality that instead of generally greeting and conversing, my reaction was 'what are you doing here?' - in a shop, why I suspect they may be shopping. To clarify the they, Mike was also with Laura and Kat. I let them get on with their purchases and continued on in my own world, but this is an immense illustration of my loose relationship with reality.
Besides that today was mostly uneventful - besides the mockery of the Chelsea fans in the office for their naive optimism following last week's transfers. As a result, I will instead tell a bewildering anecdote from yesterday, when I was in the Co-op in the village in the evening and was suddenly jumped on from behind by Mike which prompted confusion and then recognition.
It is a tribute to my vague attachment to reality that instead of generally greeting and conversing, my reaction was 'what are you doing here?' - in a shop, why I suspect they may be shopping. To clarify the they, Mike was also with Laura and Kat. I let them get on with their purchases and continued on in my own world, but this is an immense illustration of my loose relationship with reality.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Follow Up - Reporting Success
After yesterday's comments on my essential shopping trip today I felt the need to provide a follow up and update on my progress.
After a delayed start - I had planned to go into town before lunch, but in the end that changed to after lunch - I set off with a sense of urgency. If I hadn't left at that point, I would have not made it in time. This is the proof of how much I enjoy my shopping trips, particularly for clothes shopping.
Having walked in at a reasonable pace, I set off in pursuit of my targets. I required a pair of jeans, preferably two. A new jumper wouldn't be a bad addition, and ensuring I have sufficient underwear is always a key aim in life. After metaphorically gasping in horror at the price of designer jeans I eventually went for some cut price variants after a little shopping around. The total shopping trip landed me with all of the required items, at a net cost of £17 (although there were gift cards contributing towards this).
All in all, success. Hopefully I won't have to go shopping again in the near future, it isn't my favourite activity.
After a delayed start - I had planned to go into town before lunch, but in the end that changed to after lunch - I set off with a sense of urgency. If I hadn't left at that point, I would have not made it in time. This is the proof of how much I enjoy my shopping trips, particularly for clothes shopping.
Having walked in at a reasonable pace, I set off in pursuit of my targets. I required a pair of jeans, preferably two. A new jumper wouldn't be a bad addition, and ensuring I have sufficient underwear is always a key aim in life. After metaphorically gasping in horror at the price of designer jeans I eventually went for some cut price variants after a little shopping around. The total shopping trip landed me with all of the required items, at a net cost of £17 (although there were gift cards contributing towards this).
All in all, success. Hopefully I won't have to go shopping again in the near future, it isn't my favourite activity.
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