Well, what an exciting weekend we have in prospect.

Tomorrow, I am working over in Blyth… in the place I worked 3 years ago. It’s going to be nice to see some of the old faces again.

Friday night, I’m expecting 5 Scotsmen to arrive at 7.40pm… possibly invading Whitley Bay after they’ve arrived. Saturday, I’m working and after 4 more arrive, I will be testing Robert’s eyes. Then it’s Scotland vs. Italy.

Although I’m holding the greatest of hope for the Scots there’s nothing worse than an Italian team set out for a draw. In all honesty, I think we’re going to be glorious failures once again. If we aren’t then I’ll be in the best place to witness one of Scotland’s greatest sporting achievements. To defeat the world champions and qualify from a group containing France and Italy would be a heart-bursting, momentous feat. Braveheart everywhere, bagpipes and CU Jimmy hats in abundance.

…and then I think ‘Gary Caldwell’.

There’s always World Cup 2010.

The drinking afterwards should be disastrous. I’ll take the boys down the quayside and see where we end up.

The photos should be interesting. I’m in two minds as to whether to warn my neighbours.

‘Til next time, Keep It Big

I’ve been up to a few things. Sold a few more bits of crap on eBay, bought a Sat Nav system cheaper than advertised (and it seems to work, which is a bonus). I’m already happier with it than I was my N95.

I spent most of Sunday deep cleaning my house, I had Stuart from work over to watch the Newcastle/Spurs game on Sultana Sports on Monday. My hot water decided it would stop running so I’m currently waiting on someone from British Gas Homecare coming to have a look at it. I’m expecting a plumber much like Uno on the forums.

Tuesday and Wednesday were just spent working and trying not to mess up my clean house.

Today I plan to have my hot water fixed, get a haircut from a (possibly racist) woman with questionable eyesight in one eye, watch a DVD and write 3 letters I’ve been putting off.

I bought The Dykeenies album about a week ago. It hardly pushes the boundaries musically but it’s serving it’s purpose at the minute. I like anything with loud guitars, semi-intelligent lyrics and a decent melody. Bob Zeus would crucify me for liking this band. The fact that they’re Scottish is a bonus.
Standout tracks are ‘Stitches’ and ‘Clean up your Eyes’. Listen to it loud while driving fast.

I may just have to download the Radiohead album at some point, too. Seems to have created a bit of a stir.

I’ve been informed I may have some Northern Invaders on the 17th November which is conveniently the date for the Scotland vs. Italy Euro 2008 crunch game. If we win, Newcastle City Centre is in for it.

‘Til next time, Keep it Big.

Well, it’s tomorrow. Starting in the heart of Geordieland, starting on the central motorway in Newcastle Upon Tyne; 50,000 people will run 13 miles from the City centre to South Shields.

Famous for being the most ‘fun’ of the Great Run series, the familiar sight of the red arrows over the Tyne Bridge will be shown by the BBC as always.

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For me, this is where the training starts for the 2008 half marathon. I made the goal at the start of the year that I will complete the GNR 2008 and I’ve already enlisted a few of my work colleagues to join me.

If the sound of it tickles your fancy then by all means let me know about it by clicking here and registering your interest at the forums.

I suppose it’s best to be in it from the start, then you’ll have some input into which charity we’ll support and have all the encouragement and support you’ll need to complete the pre-race conditioning.

The only plan I have at the minute for the training is to complete the 10K Great Edinburgh Run in May 2008. I’ve just registered for it while writing this post! (I will now officially be getting drunk in Edinburgh afterwards)

Get planning to do something worthwhile next year! You won’t regret it!

Crime: Soggy Workout Sheets, 23/9/2007 19:00
Evidence: Pictured

On arrival into my ‘gym’ tonight I was confronted by some slimy workout sheets. Some might think that this gives them character, I’m of the opinion that this was a wanton act of destruction of my property.
The appearance is similar to that which would be exhibited by a moth having munched it’s way through it. The eventual culprits would have a few questions to answer about their curious choice of nutrition.

Caught red handed, clinging to a 20kg weight were 3 snails.

What they’re doing in there I don’t know. Half of me wishes that they’re trying to bulk up a bit, attempting to create a super-muscled race of snails in order to attempt to overthrow some evil presence. The other half of me knows that they just like dark, sheltered places.

Now, I have nothing against snails. I think they’re far more attractive and intelligent than slugs. They’re definitely a couple of rungs ahead on the evolutionary ladder. I’d just prefer that they didn’t squat amongst my workout equipment and deface my workout sheets.

So, I took it upon myself to become Judge, Jury and Executioner. First of all, I removed the culprits from their positions and only one of the three put up any sort of resistance. The smallest one thought he was a hardman akin to the scenario you would usually encounter in Scotland.

I didn’t want to squash them and I wanted to offer them an (unlikely) escape route. My train of thought went along the lines of ‘salt is to gastropods as Kryptonite is to Superman’. I confined them to a cell constructed entirely with Sodium and Chlorine. I also protected the entrances to my sacred place with the exact same substance. Any repeat behaviour will be dealt with severely.

Thou shalt not sleep amongst my stash of Volvic Revive.

Footballs are useful for Upper Body Russian Twists

Before Zeus Forte were Zeus Forte, they were As it Gets Dark:

This is Google’s interpretation:

Anyway, not much has been going on in my life besides work, gym and sleep. The Forums have been quite quiet recently despite some efforts from myself. I understand the some of the West Lothian based members have been in a different country, so they are excused for the time being but I’m after some stories when they come back. I’ve changed my display pictures on MSN and Myspace so I hope I’ll get a little bit more traffic than of late.

I’m glad of a day off, I’ve been magnificently tired recently. My routine has been disturbed a little with changed days off but things should be normal again this week.

I’ve got a week off at the start of October, when the current 52 day challenge finishes, I still don’t have any plans at all so it’ll probably just be spent gearing up for the winter in North Shields.

The recent Northern Rock Crisis has me thinking that it might be worth buying some Northern Rock shares. The queue outside the branch near work was crazy on Saturday morning. Are all these people really that ill-informed?

Also, my mobile phone contract has run out, so if anyone spots any good deals please let me know.

Tonight, I’m off to St James’ Park for some friendly football. It’ll be the first time I’ve seen Celtic for more than 2 years. In all probability we’ll get pumped but I’m hopeful that it’ll be a good game with a bit of a singsong along the way.

My new phone came and it’s exactly what I expected. It’s going to be weird getting used to predictive text again after having the luxury of predictive text for a few years. It’s a Nokia E65 for those who’re interested. My contract is due for renewal in less than a month, I’m looking at the N95 with intent. [monthen]
I’ll try and take a few pictures tonight but I’m reluctant to remove the pplastic protector from the front of the lens in case I decide to sell it.

In health and fitness, the next 52 day challenge starts on the 8th of August and I’ve already signed up for it. I’ll start ‘Afterburn’ in a weeks time and after looking at the ‘A’ workout today, it looks brutal. I’m kind of masochistically looking forward to it.

One of the books I alluded to in a previous post is The Metabolism Advantage by John Berardi. If you’re at all interested in eating well, you’d do worse than having a look at Precision Nutrition. The information provided in the book is generally nothing that I haven’t heard before apart from some of the stuff about Fish Oil, some of the findings from that are incredible.
In short it reduces the risk of heart problems resulting from inflammation, regulates cholesterol and can improve body composition by ramping up the metabolism by 400 calories/day! There are also studies that suggest that homicidal tendencies can be curbed by using Fish Oil. It also has a beneficial effect on depression.
Have you ever seen an angry/sad Eskimo? Exactly.

On Saturday night, my mobile phone self destructed. I went to bed and it was fine. I woke up and the navigation key was completely and utterly ‘banjaxed’. I thought the world was coming to an end.

After a bit of digging, it seems I’ve been paying £5 a month mobile phone insurance against loss, theft or accidental damage. There may not have been an incident but whatever happened to it, it certainly was an accident.

So I phoned O2 in the hope of making a claim against my insurance. I had a funny feeling it was all going to go wrong, I purchased the phone through a 3rd party operator as part of the upgrade package and thought this would’ve been their get out clause.

It was not.

They were remarkably efficient in the way they dealt with it. I was pleasantly surprised.
My Nokia E70 has been discontinued so I was offered an alternative… 3 options, none of which were acceptable. I decided to inform the gentleman of the fact that I’d been digging through the website and saw one I liked that wouldn’t be considered an upgrade.

So, I have a Nokia E65 winging it’s way through the post via Citylink couriers and it shall be in my possession by 1800 tomorrow.

All this, and my contract is due an upgrade come the 15th of August.

As far as customer service in 2007 goes: O2 good, Dell Good, Ebuyer horrendous

Big Al did create alconway.com… and it was good.