We’re getting caught with our pants down around our ankles…
C’mon lads - show your support online at RedTigerSparkle and lets boost the figures!
After all, you ‘need’ the squeezeable sauce holders for BBQ seasons that’s just around the corner.
I’m on a quest to find a good cup of coffee in New York
I’ve heard great things about Intelligentsia and Stumptown coffees and am keen to see what the hype is about, and have been pointed in the direction of several cafes to try out, thankfully all in accessible areas where we are going to be over the weekend.
We have a huge weekend planned, taking in a Basketball game, Comedy evening and a visit to the 70th floor of the Rockerfeller Centre, all on the back of £10 tickets thanks to The Independent and American Airlines.
Lets hope we’re not snowed in at Heathrow! as a healthy dumping has been predeicted.
I’ve spent the majority of this afternoon practicing hovering on my RC Helicopter Simulator.
I’m using CSM v.10 to get my flying skills to such a level I can confidently get my own helicopter off the ground (without the associated ‘pucker factor’)
As you will have read I am steadily progressing and about ready to go, I just need a few more hours on the sim before I let myself loose with a (potentially) lethal weapon.
I’ll be getting my heli checked over by a respected trainer before venturing towards ‘The Downs’ to get airborne.
There’s too much interference here in SW London and I’m sure I’d be breaking at least half-a-dozen local bylaws if I took off in my own backyard.
A little over 2 weeks until I have been blogging for a year. With an average of nearly a post a day I will maintain (if not increase this) in the coming 12 months.
A year rolls by fairly quickly (it seems to get quicker and quicker the older I get) and so much has happened. There have been births, deaths, marriages, divorces, changes of employment, numerous overseas holidays, much happiness and the odd day of rain too.
2005 was a good year and I hope 2006 is better (except I don’t know what could possibly top our wedding last year - what a fantastic celebration we had)
I’m still yet to get my helicopter airborne but I will get this up and running in the next couple of months. No time for excuses, only time for action!
Apologies for the outage lastnight. My hosts server went down for a few hours, and I was unable to blog (*&%£$&^*£”!)
Oh well, we’re up and running again with no loss of data, and last nights intended blog will be added tonight.
I’ve just got in from the +venture bar (pronounced adventure) where their 2for1 offers extend to everything on a Thursday night.
This was my first time there and won’t be the last. Within stumbling distance of home this classy little bar will be a great stop-off place in the summer.
The occasion tonight was a farewell party for one of my wife’s colleagues, off to work for another company. I’m always made to feel part of her team, even though technically I work for the opposition.
This weekend I aim to update my blog and the Inzvestor.com site (not all of which will be immediately apparant)
I had 35p in my pocket today, just jingling about not getting up to much at all, so I thought I’d set it free. I couldn’t spend it on chocolate (minimum 40p), I couldn’t buy a paper (minimum 40p), I couldn’t buy a drink (minimum 40p) and I couldn’t even buy a Big Issue (they wouldn’t even let me read it whilst standing there for 35p - they still wanted a Pound!)
You cannot get anything for 35p in the UK (can you?)
Answers on a postcard please …
(answers own question - could have bought a stamp (30p 1st / 28p 2nd))
I’ve had oodles of time to sit and plan this blog post, after going through numerous (warranted) security checks, forking out £500, sitting on hard-plastic bench seats and facing the ulitmate challenge - several hours without cellphone coverage!
Today I applied for, and received, Indefinite Leave To Remain. In laymans terms, this means that I am 1 step closer to getting a British Passport, and can stay on after March 11 2006 (when my 4 year Ancestry Visa was due to expire). I’ll be able to kindly point out my new visa to the surly immigration officials who used to question as to how long I was intending staying in the UK for, and being asked to answer a barrage of questions to prove that I actually work, pay taxes and support the economy (that said, if I said I was claiming every benefit known to man I probably would have been waved through, and if I had replied in an unintelligble language I would have received an even warmer greeting).
The actual interview was over in minutes. Passport please, evidence of funds (3 months payslips) and a letter from my employer, then the instruction to either wait several hours (without cellphone coverage) or go and grab some lunch and come back in 2 hours time.
The option was taken to escape the madness and do some window-shopping in Croydon’s Whitgift Centre, ogling at the new technical gadgetry on the market at Micro Anvika and browsing the magazine selection at WH Smiths, before shuffling back to collect my passport (not before going through the airport style scanners again, and nodding at the ushers - hoping they would recognise me from earlier in the morning and let me proceed on my way without hindrance. All obliged and I once again took my seat in the sterile waiting room. Sterile is a little too harsh, basic and functional is a better description. There were plasma screens with useful info on them but after you’ve seen the sequence once then it’s a tad boring next time around. I should have taken a book along with me. I dared not use my iPod as I doubt many other people in the building (staff excepted) would have the means to buy one.
After several hours my number was called and my passport was ready for collection, complete with the Residence Permit and embossed UK logo.
I really needn’t have put myself under so much stress over the past few weeks, but as this was important step I just had to ensure there was no way I could be declined.
Well, not really, but we might as well! We hardly ever watch tv (it’s too small anyway) and should be exempt from paying a TV licence. But…. as we have broadband or can access live content on our mobile phones we are obliged to stump up £130-something a year for the privilege.
What does our £130-something get us? More Dramas fromt he BBC - that’s what! It pays for men to run around mock battlefields in tights, shouting at each other in foreign languages (we don’t need to pay for that - just head to Kilburn on any given day and the scenario is played out before your very eyes for free)
Fixed costs are increasing (CT up above inflation, gas/power increasing above inflation, rent’s sure to increase at some point (and guaranteed to be above inflation)) - yet wages are not increasing above inflation… oh noooooooooooo, they will only ever rise ‘with’ inflation.
Offers invited for our TV, a 14″ version complete with remote control…
I’ll crawl back into my cave now…
then I would look to support sites like Jobs In Swindon, niche sites making all the difference (and keeping the larger recruitment firms honest)
Jobs In Swindon launched today, raising the bar in online-recruitment, with a fresh approach and aiming to provide targetted positions (by sector) and measurable results.
What can an independent site offer you that the Big Four companies cannot?
Impartiality / Cost effectiveness (low overheads mean the savings can be passed on to the employer, helping keep the salaries at a higher level) / Interaction from the prospective employer without the middleman / Non-biased advice
In time this will become ‘the’ place to visit when looking for jobs in Swindon.
What does Swindon have to offer the prospective employee? The benefits are too numerous to list online, so I’ll take this opportunity to recommend a visit to see for yourself.
Pop over to Jobs In Swindon and see what all the fuss is about. Have you thought about a career change recently? No time like the present!
http://jobsinswindon.com