Spring Cleaning

It’s the time of year when the sun shines longer and days are warmer etc, and my laptop has finally started burning holes in my lap and on any surface I put it on. It’s an HP nx9420 with 3gb of memory, but it still runs hotter than I reckon it should.

I had a look around the internet the other day for a cooling tray for it. For those of you that haven’t seen cooling trays, they’re basically surfaces that you sit the laptop on which has a built in fan to try and cool the laptop down. They tend to need their own power supply, and they reduce the portability of the laptop.

I was pointed in the direction of checking the vents on the laptop, as dust can sometimes clog it up. There wasn’t any I could see, but I figured there was no harm in trying to do something about it anyway! So out came the vacuum cleaner, and I ran the nozzle over the inlet and outlet vent for the van, and removed some dust that became visible while doing this.

2 days later, and the laptop is very much usable now. According to a temperature monitor (the accuracy of which I’m unsure of) the laptop is running about 5-10 degrees cooler than previously measured. All in all it’s well worth doing. The usual disclaimers apply about being careful, watching out for static etc.

Fluff be gone!

The iPhone is by far the best mobile phone I have ever owned. It’s responsive, it’s reliable, the user interface is easy to use, it talks to Exchange and (most significantly I think) it acts as an MP3 player. As someone who tries to keep up with technology and all things that happen with it, I’ve got a smattering of podcasts on there which I listen to on my commute to work. It makes the journey go quicker, and I get to learn about what’s happening in the world at the same time!

A few months ago, it all went horribly wrong. At some point I’d managed to get a bit of fluff stuck in the headphone socket of my lovely shiny phone, and as I hadn’t realised it, ramming the headphones into the socket didn’t really help matters and I managed to compact the fluff. Not one to want to give up one of the most useful features of the phone, I tried picking at it with various tools obtained from my trusty pen knife, but to no avail. I mentioned this in passing to Rachel, and she took out what can only be referred to as “the magical multi-tool”* and managed to extract quite a large clump of fluff from the headphone socket and now it works perfectly! I can go back to not having a tedious commute full of listening to other people’s music from the wrong side of their headphones!

*It just goes to show that in this day and age, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated the technology is, there’s no substitute for common sense and paper clips. Until I manage to find a photo of this said multi-tool, you’ll just have to imagine a large paper clip forged into a shape that is useful for pretty much everything… aside from holding paper together!

Driving

As part of her birthday present last July, I bought Rachel an “experience day” voucher to drive an Aston Martin (as it’s one of her favourite cars). After staring at the voucher for the best part of 8 months, I actually got my arse into gear and booked it for last weekend (which was quite fortunate, because if I hadn’t have booked it, the voucher was actually going to expire! :S). So we trekked all the way down to Loughborough, and I decided (after everything that’s been going on recently) that we’d make a romantic weekend of it and have a well deserved getaway.

The drive down was a bit of a mess with the weather, and it wasn’t looking promising to be good driving conditions. To top that off though, while trying to read the map to get us there I took my eyes off the road for too long and ended up mounting the kerb. Needless to say that did not go down well, and it’s a mistake I definitely won’t be making again (mainly because it scared the hell out of me)!

When we finally got to the driving centre, Rachel was whisked away into the briefing room to have the track basics and safety stuff explained to her. Then it was out on to the track for a tour in a more regular car. I think the only way to describe her at this point was excited (I was quite excited too I must confess, think I was more excited by proxy though, and only a teensy bit jealous)!

After the guided tour of the track, we were both guided along the protective security railings to the parking space of her (well, hers for 3 laps) Aston Martin DB9. All I really know about it is that it’s maroon and fast! She sped off into the distance, and I attempted to take some photos but unfortunately she was way too quick for me.

As if that wasn’t enough for one day, the race wasn’t over yet! As a “sorry for pranging your car” I asked the staff there about some “top up laps”. The theory here being that you’ve already done the safety briefing, you don’t need showing round the track, you can just jump into a car and off you go! The staff also happened to have taken a shine to her, so she ended up getting some bonus laps at a discount!

So Pictured above is Rachel in a Lamborghini LP560 zooming past the pit lane! Again, all I know about this car is it’s White and fast (although apparently the 560 refers to roughly the number of horses they’ve managed to fit under the bonnet). As she was the last person on the track you could hear the engine as she floored it pretty much all the way around the track. I think she enjoyed herself driving round the track, and it made going back to the Kia quite a culture shock (Luckily she didn’t try overtaking too many cars on the way home)!

All in all I’d definitely recommend one of these days, and I was only watching!

Stupidity

I've just caused the most amazing person I've ever met to tell me that she doesn't want to be with or see me anymore. The reason? Stupidity. There was something that I promised her which I'd let her down with on many occasions before, but I did the same again. She's given me chance after chance and I've continued to let her down and betray her trust and now, quite understandably, she hates me for it.

Rachel, I'm sorry for all the hurt I've caused you, and all the pain I've put you through. You've always been so good to me, and it seems that I've never returned that. You did so much for me last year, and you've always taken good care of me. The past 2 years have been an incredible experience, and you've given me so many happy memories. You have been worth fighting for every step of the way.

We've done some amazing things together, and had lots of things lined up. You've just bought me a digger racing day which sounds like one of the most amazing things ever!

I'm missing you an unbelievable amount right now, sat here with the box of memories and momentos with my eyes stinging and my cheeks red, and I don't think my mind has any comprehension of what's happening. I guess part of me is hoping that I'm going to wake up in your arms any second now and this will all turn out to be a bad dream.

You've always deserved so much better than how I treated you, both you and your amazing daughter did. I've never met anyone so clever, bright and bubbly as her. She's going to make everyone that knows her proud one day.

I know I don't deserve to, but I really hope to speak to you again really soon. I'll be on my knees pleading for another chance to show you, the love of my life, how much you mean to me. I'd like to say I won't screw it up, but that appears to be who I am. I'm hoping that things will go like they've gone in the past and I'll be able to melt your heart, but something tells me that I'm out of chances.

I'll always love you, no matter what you do, what I do, or what happens. You are the love of my life and there isn't (nor has there ever been) anyone that comes anywhere near to that.

I miss you

All Change Please

Just over 3 months since my last post, and things have changed so much since then! It’s all changed in a good way though. Two major events have happened recently (and by recently I mean in the past 10 days!).

1) I’m back on the property ladder! After toying with the idea of buying a place together with Rachel (as renting feels like throwing money away) we started having a look around some local properties. We toured around the new builds mostly, looking for houses and apartments that didn’t make our bank accounts run away. Turns out this recession may work out ok for first time buyers, as 5 weeks ago we put our names down to buy a 2 bed first floor apartment, and I’m sat here now writing this post from within said apartment having finished moving all of our stuff across! We (well, I say “we” like I did some of the work) sorted out a cracking deal on a mortgage and chased everyone at every step of the way so we’d complete before Christmas. It’s a fantastic place, slightly bigger than the previous one, and feels a lot better to live in. There’s a view out the window, French windows and open plan kitchen/living area. It’s perfect! We've also got some really friendly neighbours. The move itself went really well, and I'd definitely not have done well as the brains of the outfit (although there's possible dispute as to whether I can be classified as the brawn or not)!

2) I asked Rachel to marry me, and she said yes! :D Just to save anyone asking, I was all traditional and went down on one knee to ask. Figured I'd do it properly! It's been quite exciting referring to her as my fiancée! We're probably looking at no earlier than Spring 2010 for the big day itself. Gives us time to save up after buying a house! ;) Things have really been working out great between the two of us, and I'm amazed with how well things are going. The past 22 months hasn't always been an easy ride - It's had its fair share of troubles, and more than its fair share of troublemakers - but we've ended up stronger because of it. We've got our own routines (something I've never been fond of in the past, but settling down doesn't seem so scary anymore!) and every day brings something new. I’d always seen routines as repetitive, but with a 4 year old running around things are never dull. We’ve had some amazing holidays, both as a couple and taking Beth with us, been to festivals, and we’ve got some amazing "Experience days" lined up. Even without the 4 year old running around life’s never dull.

Christmas is nearly upon us as well! (Yes, moving wouldn't have been enough by itself, we had to do it in December. We like to keep life busy and interesting!) The three of us decorated the tree in our new place the other night, and it was so much fun! (You can tell which part Beth could reach! :P) She made quite an impressive attempt to put the star on top (with some assistance). Christmas Day is going to be great both opening presents and watching Beth and Rachel open theirs!

Think it's time for bed now. This will probably be the last post I make this year, so I'd like to wish both of my readers a Merry Christmas, and see you in 2009!

Best Festival Ever - Part 3 (and final part, if you’re lucky)

So … Muse … WOW!

These were the only shots worth posting with Muse. When we entered the arena on Sunday morning, there were numerous satellite dishes surrounding the stage which had no apparent explanation. It didn’t take us long to work out that it was to do with “Black Holes and Revelations” (well, the Black Holes part at least!).

So we’re stood 8 rows from the front as Muse take to the stage, and it felt like we were quite literally being blown away by the speakers. It was an awesome set, starting off with Map of the Problematique and continued to play an awesome mix of old and new songs, including Starlight which has to be one of their best, with it being our song! The crowd loved it and we loved it too. 8 rows is definitely a sweet spot to stand as you’re not being crushed by everyone behind you trying to clamour forwards, while at the same time being close enough to see on stage.

Making our way back to the tent was quite an experience afterwards. The weather had not been doing the ground any favours throughout the day (and our freebie ponchos were covered in mud), so I applaud Rachel’s forward thinking making sure we were both kitted out with wellies. I think we’d have actually sunk without them. The walk back up the slope to our tent was a bit of a slide, which isn’t surprising really considering how many hundreds (thousands?) of people had walked across it during the day. It was quite impressive to watch masses of drunk people try to walk up the middle of these slopes. Much as I was tempted to give it a try, I decided that I’d rather sleep in the tent than outside so walked up the edge where there was less chance of falling over.

The following morning was the ultimate in relaxation. Our coach wasn’t leaving until around lunchtime, so we sat and watched most of the world go by, chatting more to our neighbours, and eyeing up other people’s tents. Yes, the time of looting was upon us. V Festival have quite a clever idea (I think anyway) to collect the tents that people leave behind and donate them to charity. The reasons for this appear to be a) for a good cause b) to stop people burning their own and other people’s tents on the last night or the last day. It seems to work quite well, and also has the advantage that if you see a tent worth having, you can loiter around and voila! It’s yours! (Disclaimer: we didn’t actually steal anyone’s tent, we just had a look)

We seriously thought our neighbours were going to take one though! Before our other set of neighbours were out of sight they were in their tent, rooting around. One of them came out with a pair of sunglasses. This led them to the idea after that of wandering around and seeing how much stuff people had left around campsites. After about 30 minutes, one of them came back with over 30 cans of Strongbow! “One man's junk is another man's treasure” as they say (whoever “they” may be). Our neighbours were definitely a highlight of the festival, and they were the closest thing we could ever need to a protection racket! ;)

It was finally time to lug our stuff all the way down to the bus stop. We decided due to it’s waterproofness (or considerable lack of) that someone else would be able to make better use of our tent, and so it was left abandoned (in amongst a sea of better tents). Due to the mud, carrying the suitcase back was quite an interesting experience, and one that has left my right arm a lot stronger than my left (although I think that effect might have worn off now). The bus journey back wasn’t as interesting as the one on the way down, as we were separated and couldn’t sit next to each other. I sat in the aisle for a bit (but gave up when it felt like I was going through the windscreen), and we managed a few texts backwards and forwards.

All in all, was definitely the Best Festival Ever!

Best Festival Ever – Part 2

Saturday night had quite an impressive line up (as did most of the festival) with Kings of Leon and The Verve headlining the evening. With the wet weather and neither of us having a particularly strong interest in the aforementioned bands, there isn’t an awful lot to say about those acts! It does, however, have to be said that the renditions of The Killers’ latest hits by our neighbours were quite impressive. On to Sunday!

Sunday morning started off by opening our eyes to the consequences of buying a tent for less than a meal for two at McDonalds. Our tent had demonstrated that it was about as waterproof as a tea bag in one corner, and Rachel started bailing us out with a plastic cup while I went off in search of another impressive breakfast. We also finally got to know the people in the tents next to us. They were what you’d describe as an interesting bunch, who were offering us all kinds of exotic … substances in exchange for some of our remaining Stella cans. We politely turned them down on their offer … although did swap them a couple of cans for some life saving duck tape to make our tent impervious to the weather. Next time we’ll know to take our own! We discovered a new pastime for the weekend of watching the world go by, and marvelled at how prepared some people seemed to be (as well as marvelling at how unprepared people seemed to be!).

It was finally time to head towards the music, and we started off with some unknowns (as far as I was concerned) but I eventually recognised some of their work! We managed to be right at the front (if not off to the left a bit) for Shed Seven, and sat on the grass for The Hold Steady (who it appears not many people had heard of). Then on came Amy MacDonald. She doesn’t seem too sure of herself on stage, but was very impressive. We made our way relatively close to the front for this one, and even managed to get some videos (although there isn’t much point posting them as the sound quality of an outdoor concert recorded on a mobile phone is pretty pants). We even danced to the music!

We had a bit of a gap after that, with Sugababes being next on our list. We caught the end of Estelle from the outskirts of the tent (as this one was ‘indoors’), and when the Sugababes came on we didn’t really stay long. The backing singers were laid out in what looked like a mirror image of the singers themselves, and the acoustics didn’t do them any favours. We had a bit more free time after this, so wandered round the various stalls and shops that were in the arena. Below is Rachel pictured in the mudbath that was the general arena. This is before the weather got bad! :P

After our walk round, we decided it was time for dinner, so I was sent off on a quest for Chips and Gravy (yes, they’re proper nouns). I eventually found a place that were selling our desired combination, just as they ran out of chips!

The countdown to the climax of the festival was on. Muse were headlining Sunday evening, and our challenge was to get as close to the front as possible, and still live to tell the tale the following day. Armed with our complimentary ponchos from National Express, and a couple of drinks, we started wading through the crowds (and the mud) in preparation. Listening to the Stereophonics as we went along, we weren’t going to let anything get in our way. We settled for 8 rows from the front as our compromise between enjoyment and sheer weight of the crowds behind us, and waited patiently for Muse to come on stage.

I’ll leave it there for now, but rest assured part 3 is to follow! :)

Best Festival Ever!

Few weekends ago I went to V Festival with my gorgeous girlfriend, pictured here along side our 7* accommodation that looked after us for the weekend.

(note, by 7* I actually mean £7...yes, we bought a tent for less than a tenner!)

The weekend actually began on Friday with a short (4hr) coach journey from Leeds to Stafford, kindly provided by National Express. Aside from a few smokers on the bus (tut tut tut) the journey was pretty good, although there's only so many games of I Spy and imaginary Blackjack you can play.

Friday afternoon we got to the site, queued for our wristbands and went to find somewhere to pitch our tent. we found a space not too far a walk from the main arena, while at the same time being far enough off the beaten track as far as drunken wanderers go. We found some friendly (albeit kooky) neighbours and then Rachel started demonstrating just how much better than me she was outdoors. The tent was up within minutes, with only a little help from the instructions, and we were settled in what was going to be our new home for the weekend.

We explored the site a bit, had a look at what was on offer to eat and drink, and then decided to have an early night, give us a headstart on the weekend. It was quite cosy in the tent with all our luggage but it didn't feel cramped! we both slept quite well, and even managed a bit of a lie in.

Saturday morning started off with some form of bacon sandwich and a cup of tea, alongside a chat with our neighbours (who I’m sure you’ll hear more about later) before listening to some classic 80's by The Stranglers! I was quite surprised how many of theirs I recognised. My education was slightly furthered after that by a group called Squeeze, which I thought I hadn't heard of but again recognised some of their songs. Then the choice of music started getting difficult... Girls Aloud were scheduled to play next so went to find something to eat instead. After having to queue for ages for crepes when we went to see Eric Clapton, we decided to try our luck here, and it was quite an impressive judgement call! They were the biggest crepes I have ever seen! we listened to GA play whilst eating these, waiting for The Feeling to come on. They were worth the wait. As well as their own lineup they did 2 quite impressive covers; 1 being aha's Take On Me, and the other one being Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles. They were both performed amazingly well, with the band giving them both a bit of their own character. After they'd finished we headed back to the tent for a bit to have a break from the music and to swap our shoes out for wellies. It looked like it was going to rain. On wandering back into the arena we happened to pass a tent that was giving out freebies, so we ended up with a lilo covered in mobile phone markings. We plonked this on the floor and eagerly awaited the infamous Amy Winehouse... and waited... and waited a bit more... before she turned up a mere 25 minutes late! We weren’t really fussed though, we were living the life of luxury in shorts, wellies, and sat on a giant inflatable mobile phone!

We gave up about half way through Amy Winehouse’s set, and went for another wander round to soak in the festival atmosphere.

Part 2 to follow… Stay tuned for Saturday night, Sunday’s lineup, wet weather, and festival looting!

Life in West Yorkshire

Well, after selling the house, I've found a lovely place to stay with a lovely girlfriend (with a room at my Aunt's house to store stuff in and stay at occasionally).

It's fantastic! She makes me cups of tea to take to work, sends me to work with shortbread, cheesecake, pasta bake, and lots of other lovely things, and this week has been an absolute star by lending me her car so that I can get into work on time. She even dropped me off yesterday (via McBreakfast of course!)

So this is a thank you to Rachel! I love you very much (and I'm nearly on my way home! Promise!)

PS: Still up for dinner tonight? I hear there's a very nice restaurant in Leeds that we've been to before, but could go a bit more smartly dressed to this evening! :)

Love you!

Sold!

Says the estate agents! An offer has been accepted on the house in Hull, so I will soon be homeless. I've continued sneakily moving in to Rachel's though, to the extent that I have pretty much all of my clothes there, and more than enough of my possessions. Think she's going to notice the bookshelf moving in though... I'll work my way round that one somehow! :) My parents are going to assist with some of the heavy lifting furniture weekend after next and take a lot of it down south until someone needs it. There are also a few very ... comfy sofas looking for a good home if anyone's interested. They're ... brown (but did I say very very comfy?)

Coming up shortly after that there's a wonderful holiday in the sun planned. I'm off to sunny Salou with Rachel and Beth, where the temperature will be warm, the sea will be blue, and the alcohol will be relaxing. If Rachel's really lucky, the kids club will realise that I'm just a big kid really and babysit me for the day as well! My Dad's in Barcelona during our holiday as well, which is quite a strange coincidence (although he's there for business rather than pleasure).

Work life carries on as well. The project didn't quite go live, so is going live next month instead! :P These things happen though, and it just means I get to work in Huddersfield for a little longer. I quite enjoy it there though so I'm happy for it to carry on for as long as it takes :) Currently sat watching Rachel slave away at her moderating job, so I'm making the most of my (non-work) internet time and catching up on some blogging :)