Good morning bloggers and bloggerettes!

I am now in the last full on week of work before the summer holidays officially start and I get a slightly easier time of it at work! It can't come soon enough as these last few weeks have been incredibly busy, and along with the heat at the moment I really am feeling completely worn down!  Though I did say full week, I can't really count Friday as that does include a half day staff end of term party!

So holidays? I am having a couple of nights in Chester in a few weeks, which should be a really interesting short break, so if anyone knows of anything brilliant to do in Chester then please do let me know.  I am thinking a trip to the zoo might be in order amongst other things! Following on from that I've a week in Centre Parcs to look forward to, which I will be taking some time to relax as much as possible.

Unfortunately I am going to be stuck with college right up until 4th August, which is really late, and unfortunately the current module or professionalism isn't really my sort of thing!

Thanks for reading kids!

Howdy blog readers!

Yes, it is time for that amazing event which only happens once every four years... England have cocked up at the world cup!  Well maybe not every four years, as we did miss out back in '94 all together.  Perhaps a 1-1 draw in the opener against what should have been a push over USA side, largely (but not entirely) down to a terrible mistake by the otherwise normally solid Robert Green.  The blame can't stand all on Green's shoulders, as the team should have been able to put more than one goal past the rather vocal Tim Howard, and easily cancelled out the rather fortunate Clint Dempsey goal.

I am being a little unfair really, because this was a slight blip on what I hope is going to be an amazing tournament for England, but even more hopefully an amazing tournament overall!  Despite the fact that as I am writing this as New Zealand are set to take on Slovakia - clearly one of the top billed games of the tournament!

I do honestly believe that this is going to be an absolute cracker of a world cup though, largely due to the fact that no one team stands out as clear favourites in my mind.  To be honest, it could go any way, dare I say it - even England stand a chance!

Thanks for reading blog fans, and non-football fans: I am not going to apologise as I can't see how anyone cannot be a football fan during the World Cup!

Well hello blog fans!

I hate saying this, but it's been a while!  I suppose life has been pretty busy these last few weeks, with one thing and another!

So onto the main topic of this blog, I posted up last time that I was about to do the first test in my Foundation Degree course, it was on binary (and associated) number systems, and I am pleased to report that I only managed to get 100%, or should I say 1100100!  Since then I have done anther test and 2 assignments, so you can see why I have been busy...  In my first assignment I scored 18 out of 20, so that is going well too.  I am still waiting on the results of the others.  So enough of my shameless bragging!

Last week Paul and I went to London, to the O2 Arena, to see Muse!  And they were F$%&#! awesome!  Absolutely one of the best concerts I have been to, though I suppose I am quite biased towards Muse in that respect.  Though Me and Paul are now booked up to see muse next summer in Manchester, so I can see them for a fourth time!

Before I go... Here's the only video I took on the night... I give you Cave (played on piano)

Thanks for now kiddies!

Hello there blogger and bloggerettes!

Today there is some good new for the few of you who are fans of reading my blog and looking at my photos... I am about to launch another one!  This new one will be called 3 Sixty Five, and has certain conditions attached to it.  Each day I will take a picture, and I will post that picture on the 3 Sixty Five blog with a little comment about what I have done that day.  Initially I want to do this for a year, hence the name! One photo a day, for one year equals three hundred and sixty five photos.Will it stop there? I don't know that yet, I don't even know if I will make it all the way up to a year, but I'm going to give it a bloody good go! I will put up a link to the new blog nearer the time, as I plan to start the project on 1st December, AKA my birthday.  I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am?

In other news, I am now four weeks into my Foundation Degree in Computing, and so far so good, well very good infact. I am really enjoying it! That may suddernly change though as next week I have my first test, and I have just been given my first assignment, so now is where the hard work really begins I suppose!

I was going to mention Darlo around now, but I think I'll leave that at a minimum. We are not having a good time at the moment and I'd rather not look back on this when I read old blog posts in the future!  Though I will say that Steve Staunton has taken over after the sacking of Colin Todd, is it a good move or not? I don't know, only time will tell!

Thanks for now blog fans!

Hola blog readers!

Last week Muse released their fifth studio album - The Resistance.  Since then I have pretty much had it playing constantly! I have to say I am pretty fond of it already.  Though seemingly it is getting very mixed reviews.  The main issue people are having with the album seems to be the move away from the expected Muse sound, and the decision to progress into a different style.

My opinion though is that the progression of the sound has been there through all of their albums, and this is just the next step.  If they had decided not to make a new sounding album they would still have been critisized for that reason.  It seems it was a lose lose situation for the band in terms of keeping people happy.  However as far as I am concerned, they have made a fantastic album and all the fans should be happy with it.  One thing is for sure, I can't wait until I go and see them in November!

In other news, my course starts tomorrow - Foundation Degree in Computing.  I was phoned tonight at about 8pm - yes, that's 8pm on a Sunday evening - by the course leader to tell me that it was still starting tomorrow night. Despite the disorganisation of the college I am going to this is another thing I am really looking forward to!

Ciao for now kids!

Howdy blog watchers!

As a Darlo fan, I can't say it's been a good month just gone. Apart from the opening day 3-1 defeat at Aldershot we have lost each and every game by the one goal, each one ending 1-0.  So I am yet to see my side score a goal (I wasn't at Aldershot), but to make matters worse in the last two games we have missed a penalty!  That could have been two points up on the board for the season, but as of yet we are the only side in the English Football League without a single point! Something tells me it is going to be a long hard winter to be a Darlington fan, right after a long hard spring!

On a much much lighter note, I am tomorrow going to ask work if they will help me do a Foundation Degree in Computing this year, only problem being I would need to leave work a little early a couple of nights a week. Fingers crossed though!

Thanks kiddies!

Howdy blog-boys and girls!

Prepare yourselves for a unashamedly football based blog entry, as yes, we are now less than a week from the start of the football season!  This Saturday Darlington kick off the season away to Aldershot, and this season is definitely going to be an interesting one.  Over the summer break it has been a case of all change for Darlo, having been in administration and subsequently sold on to a new owner.  We have only kept on two players from the previous season, most leaving to ensure they have a club next season when it was looking touch and go.  Somehow we have managed to keep hold of Steve Foster and Ian Miller, which is an excellent pairing to build from.

Colin Todd has taken control of the team along with Dean Windass as his assistant, which should be an interesting pairing.  They don't come more experienced in football than Mr Todd, who played under the great Brian Clough during his playing days and has managed the likes of Bolton and Bradford.  Windass however is in his first management position, and hasn't yet hung up his boots as a player, so should still be able to bag us a few goals.

My first game of the season should be the Leeds United game on Monday, which is our League Cup first round fixture, and is going to be live on Sky for any of you who fancy watching it (those of you local should get yourself to the What-ever-it's-going-to-be-called-this-season Stadium to watch mind!).  Really looking forward to this as they always turn up in numbers and generate an excellent atmosphere.

Thanks kiddies - Roll on Saturday!

Howdy blog fans!

Yes, I have some rather big news, and most of you reading probably know what it is but I am going to tell you anyway.  On Monday I gave Julia this:

Although at the time she had already said yes!  The picture at the top of the post is Post Isaac, and at the top of the cliff to the left of the picture is where I asked Julia to marry me!  For those who don't know Port Isaac, it is the pretty little fishing village in Cornwall where Doc Martin is filmed.

Other that rather big event the holiday was pretty awesome, despite the weather, there was pretty much constant rain once we reached Cornwall.  I would very much reccomend Looe and Polperro in Cornwall, and Plymouth is a very nice place and a good day out.  Watch out on the photography section for pictures of them all.

Unfortunately it has been back to reality for the last couple of days, back to work!  It's the holidays, but it is still work!  At least there is the Atrium International Open Championships to keep me occupied!

Thanks for reading kiddies!

Hi there bloggers and bloggerettes!

The last couple of weeks have been the sort where you seem to be continually busy, but for no particular reason!  I think more so for Julia than me! Poor thing didn't have a night to herself at all last week!  Therefore, my mission this week for both of us is to try and do nothing at all at least a couple of nights this week!

So what is the best way to get over thiese busy weeks?  Why a holiday of course, and that is what I am going to do!  Starting with a trip to Alton Towers, and then on to Cornwall.  I can't wait to get to Alton Towers, it's been a couple of years now since I last went there, and I am a big fan of the place!  It's even longer since I've been to Cornwall, and I can't really remember it at all, so I think I'll have to get on with a little bit of planning!

At work at the moment I am busy spending money and getting lots of nice new toys!  There are quite litterally piles of boxes for me to sort through over the next week all containing nice boxes of this and that!

I realise this was probably a little incoherant, but I haven't been feeling the best the last few days, so that is my excuse!

Ciao for now kids!

How do blog readers everywhere!

It's been a busy week for me really, at work and home! Last weekend I drove a van of bits and bobs down to Bedford for my mam, so that's pretty much everything at their new house now!  It's been a fair while since I drove a van now, and I had forgotten how uncomfortable they can be!  It works out at roughly 10 hours I spend driving the thing over 2 days as well!  The house is really nice though, and there's plenty of visiting space, so all is good.

At work I've been fairly busy, but relative to the last few weeks that is very busy indeed.  It's been Year 10 Week/HE Week, which basically means I have to set up four rooms twice a day for talks, amongst other things.  I also have a huge queue of materials to record, due to my DVD recorder packing in!  I did order one but as of yet it's not turned up!

Yesterday I had my end of cycle/start of new cycle appraisal, so my future objectives have been set, and I am very happy with them.  Included in the training needs I requested are a formal IT Qualification, and some Web Training, which will allow me to code backends of sites (whereas at the moment I can only really do the front end - the bit you see!).  Really pleased with how my review went also, the last (almost) 2 years have gone well at work and it's looking good for the future!

Thanks kids!