Cafe, Scorpions, Star Wars Imperial Assault and a hockey bonanza

There was good sleep had last night. I managed to actually have 8+ hours sleep which was a real luxury. It was back to the cafe for breakfast with Pam again today which is always a good way to start the day (although it was more lunch than breakfast).

A nice package arrived today containing an assortment of Scorpions Blu-rays and a DVD:

We then spent a lovely afternoon watching both the Moment Of Glory and MTV Unplugged shows. It's great to hear so many classic songs presented in a different way. The orchestral arrangements in Moment Of Glory always bring me to tears. Yes I am very passionate and emotional about music :)

Toni, Sam and I then had a game of Star Wars Imperial Assault (the game I got for my birthday). It's a pretty good game. I played the Imperials and Toni and Sam were Rebel scum (or Heroes as they are described in the rules). It was a close game and I only won due to Sam not paying attention at the very end. Can't wait to play it again.

The rest of the day was a hockey bonanza with lots of key games that we were keeping an eye on. First up was Florida Panthers v Buffalo Sabres with the Panthers desperately trying to overtake Boston Bruins to get a wild card play off spot. A 5 - 3 win took the Panthers 2 points nearer to the Bruins. Next up was the New York Islanders v Carolina Hurricanes. Islanders were 2 points ahead of the Rangers so this was a game we wanted them to lose. At the same time the Bruins were facing the Arizona Coyotes which we kept a cursory eye on to the gap between them and the Panthers. Thankfully the Islanders choked 5 - 3 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Bruins won their game 4 - 1 so there is once again a 4 point gap between them and the Panthers.

New York Rangers v Philadelphia Flyers finished things off. Sadly it was an NBC broadcast and their commentators are irritating twats! They didn't improve as the game went on and their pro-Flyers bias didn't help.As for the game itself..... sadly it wasn't a great game and the Rangers lost 2 - 4. On the plus side they still have three games in hand over the Islanders so there is still time to regain the #1 spot again. 

 

Day off, Rangers and Scorpions

Second day off today. Bliss! Woke up to this wonderful picture of the state of the NHL! Let's Go Rangers!

We managed to get Pam out of the house today and took her round the corner to the cafe for a nice fry up! The rest of the day was spent being a bit of a couch potato and doing bugger all apart from listening to some mighty fine rock music in the form of Scorpions and Hayseed Dixie.

Talking of Scorpions (and Hayseed Dixie for that matter), I have just bought tickets for the Ramblin' Man Fair in July. It's their only UK date and I have to say that I am pretty damn excited about it! We are only going on the Saturday but that will be plenty to enjoy!

Day off, Battlestar Galactica, The Order: 1886, comedy and Columbine

I had a day off today which was nice. It was Toni's last day of work and she needed to go to the office so rather than work from home I decided to have a break instead. Alongside doing things for Pam I spent the day watching Battlestar Galactica (the mini-series that kicked off the epic remake) and also playing my latest game: The Order: 1886

Sam went to see the podiatrist after work and I am pleased to report that his toe is healing very well and the podiatrist was very impressed with Toni's cleaning and dressing :)

The evening  kicked off  watching a Rob Schneider live show which was very funny. We then tried to watch the 2012 Secret Policeman's Ball which bizarrely was less funny. I've seen a few of these that have been very good but apart from Eddie Izzard kicking things off well it went downhill rapidly. Disappointing!

We ended up watching Bowling For Columbine which is a fascinating documentary on guns in America. Can't believe I hadn't watched this before as I am a big fan of Michael Moore's documentaries. Recommended!

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

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Overall top tracks:


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Monitor down and getaway parking

It was a bit of a chuckle on the way home tonight. It all started with one of the monitors at Cannon Street station have a very interesting display.

Ah, good old Microsoft and their wonderful Windows operating systems LOL! Of course this was just a photo opportunity waiting to happen *grin*

Our day was brightened even more as we got to the corner of the road at home and a guy pulled up and parked to nip to the local shop. I think he might have been a getaway driver from the way that he parked!

Birthday fun

It was my birthday today! Once work was out of the way I came home to have a lovely steak dinner cooked for me by Sam accompanied with home made chips.

Oh wow, that was superb! It was even better as Zoe hardly touched hers so I had double helpings!

The good think about birthdays is that you get nice birthday things. Here are some cool cards:

As is customary at these events there were also some gifts.The collective members of Glitzville got me the Star Wars Imperial Assault game. I was very excited about this and we have set aside time on Saturday to play it!

Mum got me a Fitbit Flex to help with my walking regime. It also helps to monitor sleep so it will be interesting to see what it reports back about me :)

My day at work was made complete with the arrival of Return To Forever, the latest album by German rock legends Scorpions.  I have been listening to it all day and it is such a great album. A real return to form for them with some great songs!

New hair and Ziyafet

Sara and Elmo came over today for a catch up and to do fabulous things with hair. It was great to see them again as it has been a fair while.

Here are the results of Sara's hard work:

We had a lovely afternoon and then in the evening it was off to Ziyafet for a nommy meal. As is the norm with all good things it had to come to an end and we went in our separate directions. We've promised not to leave it so long next time!

Mummified pig leg

I am pleased to say that my stomach had recovered by today. I had a great sleep and woke up feeling all refreshed.

Ham was on offer today. Not just any old ham. We are talking cured ham. What we have here is a mummified pig leg which provided lovely thin slices of meat....

Sick

I was off sick today. Something I had eaten had a really sever reaction with my stomach. I suspect it was an extreme reaction to something containing gluten. It was most unreasonable and really uncomfortable too!

So that was Friday, fun huh?

Sam's cone of shame and my Dark Empire badge

I am pleased to report that Sam is healing well after his operation on Tuesday and made a return to work today. There were no issues at all and he didn't even have to change his dressings while in the office which was great news. He has been given a wonderful device to allow him to shower and avoid getting his tow wet. Introducing the foot equivalent of the cone of shame:

Sadly there has been a lack of creativity on the tiddly wink front so I have no fun images to share. Things are going well at work, more things slowly starting to fit into place. Some of it feels like baby steps but every small improvement is an improvement nonetheless. 

Freshly delivered from the USA today was my membership badge from The Dark Empire. It's very cool!

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists:

Long walk and Sam's toe operation (GRAPHIC PICS)

Today was a productive day. I managed to get out for a 45 minute walk at lunchtime which allowed me to push my step count up above 10K. It felt good too! I will be trying to repeat this on a regular basis.

After the working stuff was over I took Sam to the podiatrist to have an operation on his toe. There are some pictures below so please look away if you are a bit squeamish as they are a bit grim. 

Here are the before pics:

...and here are the post op pics:

This now means that Sam is the proud owner of a comedy bandage!

Much to out delight it also means that we get to mock the comedy bandage beautifully framed by a sandal!

Of course it would be mean to make Sam's unfortunate position something to poke fun at so just to prove we aren't always mean we are proud to introduce to you the ocTOEpus, also known as chTOElhu

Interesting day, working late and walking

Well it was an interesting day today. Things started off one team member announcing that he had resigned and was leaving at the end of the month. This explained another personnel move that was shared on Friday that was being kept under wraps until today. All fun and games! Tiddlywink pictures continued once again:

Due to a problem discovered during the day I ended up working late when I got home.This was actually reverting to my previous QA role rather than in a Scrum Master capacity. Old habits die hard and sometimes you just have to get the job done!

Although not a massive health kick I have decided to do a little more walking during the day. Here's my achievement for today:

My target is going to be 10K steps plus per day so I have to up the ante starting tomorrow :)

Feelings....

....nothing more than feelings! Today was a very emotional day. It was like Wednesday only much more intense and long lasting. I'll spare you the details but I have some research and thinking to start doing going forward.

Sorry folks, that's all that I am saying for now LOL

Unorthodox Valentine's Day

It has been an unorthodox but very fun Valentine's Day. First up Sam had very kindly arranged for him and Aaron to be out of the house all day and night (Zoe was at her dad's). We had also arranged for Pam to go to Leanne's for a few hours so we got up, rushed to get ready and took her over around twelve.

The romantic stuff started with a good old fashioned fry up in the cafe round the corner! Some time was taken to enjoy an empty house and then we had a nice cup of tea before heading back to Leanne's to get Pam! We decided to take Pam out for a meal at Rishta as she hasn't been out to a restaurant since before Xmas. Suitably stuffed and a nice bottle of wine downed between us we headed back home again.

Toni and I then had Mars bars and custard and watched Groundhog Day and then Mrs Doubtfire. This was all rounded off with a little ice hockey!

What a brilliant way to spend the day with the love of my life.

We didn't actually do this, but the sentiment was there....

More tiddlywink art!

Here is today's piece of tiddlywink artistry! I think they might be on to something here!

Fun scrum, Sam's toe and Zoe's school play

I didn't mention this before but I had to buy a large collection of tiddlywinks last week as the boss thought it would be a great way for the scrum teams to record time. They'll each get eight tiddlywinks (one for each hout in the working day) and have to deposit them in appropriately labelled pots for the number of hours worked. Yes it's silly and I do have the hassle of having to count them and then record the data in a spreadsheet but the teams seem to have taken. I was most amused when one of my scrum team members created this in our daily stand up this morning.

After work I took Sam to the podiatrist to have his toe checked out. Sadly the prognosis was that there was little point in just hacking things about like last time to see what happens. The podiatrist immediately recommended a minor operation to take place ASAP. Sam was a bit worried about how work would react so he phoned his boss to let him know what was happening. To minimise his time off Sam has arranged for his operation to be done at 18:20 on Tuesday night. He will then have Wednesday off for a checkup and a chance to rest. This should mean that he can return to work on Thursday (complete with sandals and a comedy bandage) but at least Sam's management can't complain too much as he has tried to make it so he only has one day off when it could have been many more.

Final stop for me was meeting Toni at Eltham Hill School to go and see Zoe in her school play. Unfortunately we were banned from taking pics or videos so sadly there will be nothing posted here for you to share. It was a really good show, everyone was a star and Zoe was also great (as we'd expect).

Emotional IPL

I was back for another IPL session tonight. It went well but I was REALLY emotional during and afterwards. It's really odd the effect that all this had on me. There was lots of talk about where I am on my journey and where it might take me. There are some things that are 100% clear that aren't happening but other things are now more blurred whereas before they were in the not happening category.

It looks like my next phase is to do a whole load of research into the effects and side effects of hormones. Whether or not I'll ever go as far as getting/using some who knows, that bit is unclear but it could be that I might as on the face of it I can see some of the benefits. Research is the key though before any rash decisions get made.

I still have no idea where all this is going but it's an exciting journey nonetheless and I am so honoured to have Toni by my side and supporting through every step..

Last.FM listening post

Here's last week's top picks music lovers!

Top weekly tracks:


Top weekly artists:


Overall top tracks:


Overall top artists: