blogmash

I’m extremely bored at work at the moment. It’s almost time to update my CV and head for a new challenge. What am I talking about, that time came round years ago!

Me and HP have been on Atkins since Sunday. We have lost a few pounds already. The first two weeks are quite hard because you basically can’t eat any carbohydrates. We have also joined a gym and went along for our induction yesterday. We’ve been swimming every week for a month or so now plus fitting in the odd bike ride and walk. At my weekly game of football on Wednesdays I feel a lot fitter than when I returned from Italy.

Alfie the kitten has settled in very well and eased the pain of losing Miles. We are getting a small, stone memorial for Miles to put in the garden. It’s not like a headstone or anything: it’s very tasteful. It will just look like a rock in the flower bed.

Rush’s UK tour is approaching fast. Now less than 3 weeks away and myself and everyone on the TNMS is beginning to get pretty excited. I’m making my own t-shirts to wear for the shows I am attending. Crikey, you’d think I was a teenager or something!

Alfie

I don’t want no bird’s respect – I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

suddenly you were gone

We are both very sad after losing Miles yesterday. It was such a shock with him being so young. All evening we’d be reminded of him or think of things he did and things he’s not going to do. Silly things like calling Jack “litttle Jack” while Miles was “big cat”. This morning there was a big empty space at the top of the stairs where he would wait for someone (usually HP) to go downstairs and feed him (even though he’d invariably have some dry food in his dish). And Jack doesn’t really miaow yet so the house is quiet without Miles talking. It was hard to tell whether Jack was missing his “big brother”… the catflap was locked so he was in all afternoon and evening, plus there was torrential rain which meant he appeared to be wandering around the house at a loss. He’d sit on the window sills looking out. Is he looking for him or is he just watching the rain?

In the afernoon we called the Cat Protection League and they had a black boy waiting for a home. We knew we wanted to get another cat, preferably a black one, so seeing as it could be weeks or months before they got any more we decided to go for it. It might seem a little callous to replace Miles so quickly, well, on the same day he died, but we won’t forget him easily: he was such a character and so very, very handsome. HP would call him a little gentleman cat because he was so nice natured with other cats. Also, Jack is not used to being an only cat; he needs a playmate.

So tonight, Little Jack will become Big Jack when we welcome Alfie to our home.

goodbye big cat

Miles 2003-2004.

We love you.

strings of life

I broke my top E string on my guitar yesterday. This meant I had to replace all the strings as they’d been on since I bought the guitar over two years ago! It was the first time I’ve ever changed a guitar string but it went very smoothly. The new strings (Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys) feel a lot nicer. Shame on me for not changing them sooner.

I also tried out the demo of NI’s Guitar Rig software. Even without it’s controller hardware, its seriously good. Makes my V-Amp2 sound a bit pish but a least with that I can get decent sounds without having my computer on. Plus it has a very cool startup light sequence!

I also watched the demo videos of Roger Linn’s AdrenaLinn II. I was so impressed I almost bought one that was on Ebay. However, I realised that I should learn to actually play the guitar first. To that end, I’m considering a Line6 Guitar Port.

boris and his pals

We are plagued by spiders at the moment. Not in the house, but outside. They’re spinning webs all around the windows and inevitably some of them make it inside if we live the windows open. so we’ve been keeping them closed. However, the recent humid weather has made this very uncomfortable at night. A fan has provided little relief but if anything, makes it worse because of the noise. We solved this problem yesterday by making our own insect screens from net curtain material and velcro. They worked a treat and last night we slept very well. So well, in fact, that I could hardly get up this morning. No change there then!

superfantastisch

I’m a bit late to the party but Franz Ferdinand’s album is cracking. Initially put off by their indie-darling status with the likes of the NME, I saw them on Jonathan Ross’ TV show a while back and bought the album a few days later. But it’s only in the past couple of days when I’ve got around to listening to it properly in the car to and from work and I’m enthralled with it.

almost a triathlon

A 10 mile bike ride on Monday evening.
A swimming session last night.
My usual game of football tonight.

My drive towards fitness has begun in earnest.

I’m going for a curry after footy, is that bad?

nosmo king

I gave up tabs on Sunday.

skye high

We were on holiday last week on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. We stayed in a lovely pub in Stein, a tiny place in the north west of the island. We didn’t do very much – that’s the point of a holiday, right? – so it was very relaxing and enjoyable. As you’d expect from its location there was plenty of seafood available so we had some great meals. And the twisty, hilly roads provided an enjoyable driving experience: Maude coped admirably with it all.