Atrocious day saved by a key, Big Bang, Clone Wars and crash out

Today was a fucking atrocious day. Following on from our meeting yesterday I had to schedule another one for this morning for up to two hours. All started well and everything seemed to be proceeding as planned. After an hour one person just decided they had had enough and left the room. Twenty minutes later and another one went. To say I was seriously unimpressed would be an understatement. When the meeting did finish I just wanted to pack up and go home. I was fluctuating between anger and despair. I can't think of a time that I have every felt so low while in the office. I did stick it out and things improved a little as the day went on. My day was saved near the very end though when Leah contacted me to say that she had a spare key for me to have to get access to the unisex toilets. RESULT!

I have to say it was a great relief when the day ended and it was time to go home.

Chinese food, Big Bang Theory and a little more Clone Wars followed until I just started to crash out. I was exhausted from the stressful day and just got more tired as the day went on. I was dead on my feet by 10pm.

Doughnut day, The Clone Wars & Rangers beat Blackhawks

It was Krispy Kreme doughnut day at work as I bought two boxes for my colleagues to celebrate my birthday. OK it was a little late but I didn't want to be a Scrooge and not bring anything in. That move got everyone in a good move which I then ruined by arranging a set of ticket grooming meetings for our development team. Perish the thought we should have meetings to do things that might make their lives easier LOL

The evening was all about Star Wars: The Clone Wars as we broke out my birthday box set.

Really impressed with The Clone Wars. The animation is great and the story all ties in very nicely with the Star Wars universe. I am so glad I finally have this in my possession so I  have a chance to catch up on something that I had been missing out on!

We finished things off with New York Rangers v Chicago Blackhawks. This was a welcome return to NHL hockey after the two week Olympic break. It was a good game, very close with real twitchy bum time in the final 30 seconds but it was all good and the Rangers continued their winning ways with a 2 - 1 victory.

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Star Wars news, Dredd sequel, Rishta & WWE RAW

It's been a good seven days for Star Wars news.

Last week we saw more characters revealed for Star Wars Rebels. It's all starting to come together very nicely.

Meet Sabine, the Mandalorian weapons expert… and graffiti artist

..and this is Hera, pilot of the Ghost

Kanan the cowboy Jedi

On top of all that we also had the delights of two teaser trailers as well.......

Spark:


Ignite:



It has now been confirmed that the sixth and final season of The Clone Wars (The Lost Missions) will be broadcast on Netflix starting on 7th March! We got a trailer for that too!


Looks like they'll be tying up all the prequel stuff into a nice little package too.

In move sequel news Karl Urban has apparently been putting it about that there are talks ongoing about a Dredd sequel We thought it's disaster at the box office meant a sequel was impossible to hope for but apparently the DVD/Blu-Ray sales have been strong so Lionsgate are now looking at options. This is nowhere near a green light but talks are a start and a glimmer of hope that wasn't there before!

Cooking dinner was suspended in favour of taking Pam up on her offer of going out for something to eat. Rishta was the choice for convenience and much lovely Indian food was consumed.

The day finished with a reasonable WWE RAW. First up was the return of Hulk Hogan. Whilst I cannot claim to be any sort of fan I do have respect for what he has achieved and he still has great mic skills. He's been brought back to host Wrestlemania 30 which is on bad thing as it certainly needs a shot in the arm. We had a much needed win from Daniel Bryan over Kane and a very quick match where The Usos defeated the New Age Outlaws. The only need for fast forward was the Batista v Alberto Del Rio match. The best bit for me though was the return of The Undertaker. Not only that he came out to accept Brock Lesnar's open challenge for a match at Wrestlemania 30 but he then choke slammed Lesnar through a table. RESULT! Best WWE RAW in weeks.

Flat day, Elimination Chamber & WWE Network

Today was a flat day. Work was really slow. Work was so slow that it almost went backwards LOL. I'm really hoping that it picks up again tomorrow otherwise it is going to be a LONG week!

Spent the evening watching WWE Elimination Chamber. This wasn't the worst PPV in the world ever but it was somewhat lacking. The Wyatt's put in a rare excellent performance against The Shield. Definitely match of the night. The Usos were screwed in their match against the New Age Outlaws. Hopefully they'll take the tag team belts from them soon. Batista v Alberto Del Rio was a waste of a match. The main event was fairly predictable fare with Randy Orton once again retaining. Not the nest of matches. The sad thing is that Wrestlemania 30 looks like it might be struggling for decent matches. This will be a problem for the WWE as they really need their flagship event to be a barnstormer.

Thanks to the use of Unblock-US and my Apple TV being set to US regional settings I was able to sign up to the newly launched WWE Network

I can now get all the monthly PPVs for a fraction of the Sky price as well as access to hours and hours of WWE/WWF, ECW and WCW programming. Sad it might be but I am actually really looking forward to it. The whole thing goes live tonight. Not only will I have access through Apple TV but I'll also be able to get it via PC, PS3, iPhone and iPad. WWE wherever I go, nice!

Birthday fun and Dolmen Grove Essex Moot

My birthday today started very well with us not getting up until 11:30. Now that's the way to do it! Cards and presents are always a bonus when it comes to this time of year. I had a pretty cool haul of booty today!

Sophie and the kids gave me this cool waterproof candle set and a Jim Beam t-shirt:


Dad and Stephanie gave me this lovely necklace:


Mum gave me some money that will be put to very good use!

Last but certainly not least I was given these beauties by Toni and the gang. Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Blu-Ray! RESULT


After some breakfast Toni and I headed out to Stanford-no-Hope for our monthly Dolmen Grove Essex Moot. It was another good one. Plenty of energy was raised through drumming to kick things off and then Oaken gave a fantastic talk on meditation with a practical session at the end. I had a totally different experience to ones I have had in the past although my friend the crow did put in another appearance! I was doubly blessed on the present front as well as I was present with a couple of gifts at the moot.

Wolfen gave me this lovely Native American style wristband:

Wendy then gave me a carrier bag full of bracelets to rummage through to choose something. I found this little beauty.

When we got home Toni, Sam, Aaron and I popped round the corner to Rishta for a birthday meal. A great way to end the day!

Sam signed off, to London to see Sophie and the kids & ice hockey bronze medal game

Sam made an appointment to see a doctor about his toe this morning. He came home clutching a Medical Certificate signing him off of work for another two weeks. This was a bit unexpected but I am glad it has happened as it will give him a chance to heal properly.

Toni and I headed into London to go and meet Sophie with Scarlett and Kenzie. The kids had just spent the week with Shane and so we had arranged to meet up on the return leg.

When travelling these days you often hear announcements to stand behind the yellow line in the interest of passenger safety. I've always argued that it depends which you are facing as to what constitutes "behind the line". This got taken to a new level today though as we heard the same announcement on the Underground only they have upped the ante with the following paint job
Now where is "behind" in this situation?

St. Pancras station has changed quite a lot since I was last there Looks nice though.

Once we'd met up we headed down to Pizza Express on Euston Road for lunch. This decision was made based on the large range of gluten free offerings that they now do.

Toni had a beer which was a real novelty:

The kids went a bit camera shy today but I did manage to grab a couple of shots of each of them:

After some lovely food and time spent together it was sadly time to walk them back to St Pancras.

From our view up by the platforms we saw an old guy having a wail of a time tinkling the old ivories. There are a number of upright pianos conveniently placed throughout the shop section for people to have a go on.

It was lovely to see Sophie, Scarlett and Kenzie again but sadly boarding time came along too quickly and they were on their merry way back to Nottingham.

Once home we settled down to watch the Finland v USA Olympic bronze medal ice hockey game.This one was a bit of a surprise. It was 0 - 0 at the end of the first period and it looked like this was going to be a low scoring affair. Finland changed all that though and led the second period  2 - 0 . I could never have predicted what came next though as Finland went on a scoring spree scoring another 3 and winning the game 5 - 0. I was happy as I had wanted Finland to win but I couldn't believe that the USA had crashed out so badly. 

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Day off, Ziyafet, Olympic hockey and Inside No. 9

I am pleased to report that today was a much better day. No MEHness in sight at all! Even better, I had the day off. Didn't do very much but that was the plan. Toni, Pam, Gemima, Sam and I went to Ziyafet for lunch. Much deliciousness was had.

I watched Sweden beat Finland 2 - 1 and Canada beat USA 1 - 0 in the two Olympic ice hockey semi final games that were being shown on the BBC. The Sweden-Finland game was pretty good, quite exciting and tense. The Canada-USA game was actually a real disappointment. It just lacked any real spark and the way they were playing it just felt like Canada were always going to emerge victorious. So now I'll be routing for Sweden to beat Canada in the gold medal match and Finland to beat USA in the bronze.

I got my gaming groove back on again too today with a few good sessions playing Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Cracked a couple of bits that I had been stuck on too which I was most happy about.

Having good things about it from the chaps at work we watched the first three episodes of Inside No. 9. This is a British dark comedy anthology series written by The League of Gentlemen members Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, following on from their work together on Psychovill. Each episode is standalone, featuring separate characters and situations, all linked by their events happening behind very different doors marked 'number 9'. We were treated to some excellent entertainment, great writing, comic timing and some unexpected twists. Definitely one to watch!

Meh day

Today was a pretty MEH day. Can't really put my finger on it but it felt like the whole universe was out of alignment. Nothing seemed to feel right. Work was OK but again there was this meh feeling.

Thing weren't much better when I got home either. Emma had come to visit after taking Gemima out for the day. My spirits did lift slightly with the addition of a Chinese and Knights Of Badassdom but it was short lived. I actually went to bed early as I had started to feel hot and little bit sick.

So there you go, flat and meh blog posted, here's hoping that tomorrow brings better things!

While we were away.... Sam's toe (WARNING: graphic images)

WARNING: THere are graphic images of a surgical later coming up so don't proceed and then complain at what you see. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!

While Toni and I were away having fun in Weymouth Sam stayed behind to mind the house. He also had an outpatient appointment at a local Medical Centre. He had been having a problem with his toe. He thought he was going to have it examined and a surgery decision made. Turned out they had him under the knife straight away.


FINAL WARNING OF PHOTOS!!!!!

This is what things looked like after he had managed to get home:
He had an appointment with the GP on Monday to get it examined and was then told to take the rest of the week off.
Four days later and much rest and elevation and it looks a bit like this:
There is an interesting side story that accompanies all of this but I am not going to post anything about it at the moment while things are sorting themselves out. I do hope that I will get to share it very soon though in one form or another. Please now excuse me while I go and have a rest to recover from posting these vile images LOL.




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Last.FM listening post

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Post Crabchurch comedown

Today was horrible as I suffered a post Crabchurch comedown. The mundane real world kicked in and I just felt really flat. Although I managed to drag my butt into work it was a struggle and I wasn't very productive. Such is the downside of spending so much time with great people who generate so much energy! On the plus side we do at least have a meeting of the Dolmen Grove Essex Moot next weekend so it won't take me long to bounce back.

A few pubs and goodbye Weymouth

It was another group breakfast today. This time it was all the gang from The Sailors Return accompanied by the re-enactors again.

After the noms we headed off to the Old Town Hall for the final part of the Crabchurch weekend. I wouldn't be the master of smut limbo if I had passed this little gem by and not snapped it.

Unfortunately due to an overly keen Mayor we ended up missing this part of the proceedings as they'd all left earlier. Instead we regrouped in The Boot and settled down in for drinking.

Duncan Wilde is notorious for taking pics all the time. He is known as The Sniper. He got sniped while sniping me!

There was much merriment and laughter to be had and a general feeling of completeness spending time with wonderful friends.

It was with a heavy heart that Toni and I had to up and leave to get ready to head home. We decided to grab food before we got the train so popped back into The Ship Inn. One yummy lunch later and it was time to go. We slowly start walking back towards The Sailors Return when I spotted Sharon and Mandy outside another pub. This was the perfect excuse not to leave straight away and hang out a bit longer so we did.

Time is a demon though and eventually we did have to go back to The Sailors Return to collect our luggage and then head back to the train station. While the journey down was really easy it was a bit of a mare getting home. We started off having to get a bus to Bournemouth to catch a train to London. This train ran really slowly and then the trains the other end were all over the place so we had to go to Cannon Street to get a train back home again.  Yes it was a pain but it was totally worth it.

We popped into Rishta when we got home for some food and then it was time for bed and much needed rest. It was an amazing weekend. Totally brilliant. I can't really put into words who great it is to spend time with Dolmen links.