Dell's Bond Themed Party

I am behind with the blogging again. Things have been so hectic recently that updating my blog has had to slip down my list of priorities. I am back at work now and Christmas is over, so I have spare time again.

Dell through a Bond themed party the weekend before Christmas. It was pretty cool. It was in a giant marquee outside the People's Palace in Glasgow. Everyone had to come dressed with a Bond theme (dinner suits all round for the men although I swear I saw an Austin Powers), there were Bond lookalikes (see the picture with Jaws and Oddjob - awesome), a Shirley Bassey tribute providing the entertainment, an Aston Martin to look at, casino tables (with pretend money), a Dell ice sculpture, and a shooting gallery. Oh, and a free bar! It was pretty good. A free bar does help the night! We never spent any money. Not a penny. Get it? "Money" "Penny". Get it? Like "Miss Moneypenny" from the bond films? See what I did there? It's a pun.
I had a shot of the shooting gallery and I was pretty good if I do say so myself. A natural! There was a pistol and a rifle gallery, I really wanted a shot of the pistol as it's more James Bond like but I accidentally joined the wrong Q. "Q" Get it? Like "Q" from the bond films? And standing in a queue? See what I did there? It's a pun.All the rest of the pictures are at the usual location.

My New MX5

So my Peugeot 206 was never quite the same after I took that detour through the woods on the way to work one day. I decided to cut my losses and sell it before it cost me any more money than it was already. Pity really - it was a nice car (a great car before the incident), with a turbo diesel engine, climate control, rain sensitive windscreen wipers, heated mirrors, CD multichanger. My new car has none of that. Something else that my 206 had that my new car doesn't is seats in the back!

This is my MX5...
It is awesome. I absolutely love it. There are no gadgets, there is little comfort, it is just all about the car and it is so much fun to drive. It corners like it is on rails and if you drop into fourth gear it flies! It has 130bhp (and it weighs nothing), 0-60 in 8.5 seconds, 1800cc. It is a special edition Mazda Berkeley, one of 400. The Berkeleys were the last 400 Mk1s made. The maximum amount of other people on the planet who have a car like mine is 399 - I labour the point but I think that is cool.


I have had it a week now and I love the adrenalin rush from driving to work in the morning. It might wear off in time but I doubt it. Look at the shape - how beautiful is that? I considered an MGF but I am glad I went for the MX5 now.



It has a hard top, a soft top, and no top. I am looking forward to the spring so that I can get the top down. The way the weather is at the moment I could use the hard top as a boat.

Here's a photo of the inside. The trim is pretty worn so I am replacing that. Every morning I sit behind the door waiting for the postman to see if he is going to deliver my new trim today. It is coming from America and it is taking ages.


Loving my car. It is the first time I have had a car that was a toy as well as a way of getting around. In hind sight I should have done it sooner.

P.S. Big shout out to Derek and Stuart whom I discovered recently actually read this blog! That makes 3 of us guys!

P.P.S. Another shout out to Stuart whom I met at the Mazda garage when coincidentally Gillian was out shopping for an MX5 too!

My Favourite Records

As a music fan - I like lists. Pick up any magazine and you will find it full of the "Best 50 x", or "Worst 100 y". This is becasue fans of music like to make lists of music. They also like to make mix tapes. I think it's the same part of the brain that is responsible for compiling music onto either tape or paper. It's fun! Anyway - I often mentally try to compile alist of my favourite CDs. This is impossible. Favourites change on a weekly basis and it always gets really hard at the end when you have toleave something great out. This is demonstrated in my list of all time favourite eleven CDs. It's 11 becasue I couldn't get my shortlist down to 10. I really couldn't decide which CD had to make way to make the list neat. Similarly the CDs are in alphabetical order of title of artist becsue sorting them into a top 5 and then top 3 and top 1 is just not going to happen. So here, mostly for my benefit, is Steve's (current) top 11 CDs of all time ever. They are not (by any stretch of the imagination) what I think are the BEST CDs of all time, in some cases not even the artists best CDs, they are just my favourites - that makes sense to me and if it makes sense to you too then I think we would get on great!

1. Air - Moon Safari
2. Alabama 3 - Exile on Coldharbour Lane
3. The Beautiful South - Blue Is The Colour
4. Eels - Beautiful Freak
5. James - Millionaires
6. Massive Attack - Mezzanine
7. Moby - Play
8. Ocean Colour Scene - Moseley Shoals
9. Primal Scream - Screamadelica
10. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses
11. The Supernaturals - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
    

Dell

I don't really talk about work in my blog because

• I don't think it's prudent
• It's mostly boring to everyone except me
  

but I think it's worth mentioning that the company for which I work, ACS, has been bought by Dell. I work for Dell now. ACS will cease to exist in February 1997, nearly 17 years after the founder, Eddie Young, started the company. It is a sad time but also one that I hope will give me greater opportunities for progression in my career. It is uncertain times but as I say, the bigger company has more room for career progression and faster.

Dell hardly ever acquire any companies. They have obviously seen something in ACS that will help them move into services, and it is great to be there in the beginning. I am hopeful and optimistic!

I am now really looking forward to the ACS Christmas party!

If you are interested then just search Google News for "ACS Dell". Here's the report in The Herald...

http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/74473.html

Guy Fawkes

So last Saturday we went to the fireworks display at Broadwood. It was Alisdair's idea and a damn fine idea it was too. We watched fireworks then went to the pub. Cool.

See all the photos on my new Photos link on the right hand side.

Tracy's Wedding

This blog died a few weeks ago. It wouldn't update with new posts until I deleted the original Tracy's Wedding post. I have no idea why. Anyway - I can't really be bothered typing out the whole thing again, so in summary...

• My cousin tracy got married
• It was in Wales
• Hotel was great
• Wedding was great
• Everybody looked great
• Reception was great
• Great to see all the family again
• Generally a great weekend
• Thanks to Mr and Mrs Matthew Ryder and congratulations!

Here are some photos...

Halloween 2006

This blog started off with a post of my Halloween party in 2005. I have come full circle.Kenny had a Halloween party this year in his flat in Kildrum. Of the usual crowd there were Pamela and myself, Colin, Alex, and Fiona. There were also about 500 other people there. It was a great party (much respect to the hosts Kenny and his flatmate John) of the type that you see in American Teen Movies™. I would never dare hrow a party like it myself but it was good fun to be a guest. I pity the fool that cleaned up in the morning!Pamela and I were pirate and pirate wench. Just so there is no confusion it was pamela that was the wench. I didn't have a parrot but my impromptu chicken holding a flower that I sewed onto my waistcoat at the last minute was a great hit.Alex was a fantastic zombie. If there was a prize I would have given it to him, although special mention goes to Steve Irwin with his inflatable crocodile and John who was the Dodgeball dude.
Excellent party. The pressure is on for next year! All the photos can be seen at my new online photo album. I have also added a link to it under my blog favourites.

Cornwall

Well I am a bit behind with my blogging. This is due to a combination of both my laziness and being so busy. You would imagine that being busy would give me lots to blog but you would be mistaken. Regrettably it is work that takes up all my time. Ah well. Still in Halifax by the way!

So anyway, I took my holdays in Cornwall this year. Pam and I based ourselves in Newquay and drove around Cornwall. For the most part we visited quaint, picturesque fishing villages like St Ives and Padstow. Padstow was probably the best day of the week - it was just....nice. It is famous for crab fishing and the TV chef Rick Stein has a restaurant there.

Unfortunately Newquay is not how I remember it. Either my memories are viewed through rose tinted spectacles or Newquay has chosen the Blackpool path of tourism. I fear that the latter is the case judging by the amount of Hen and Stag parties in evidence. I would definately go back to Cornwall but perhaps not Newquay. There is nothing there. If you don't want a curry or fish and chips to for your dinner then you have to book one of the remaining two restaurants in advance. This is not what you need on holiday. However, if you ever do find yourself in Newquay and hungry, I would highly recommend Lewinnick Lodge. The food was excellent and the views over the beach from the cliff top are spectacular.

Our hotel was a glorified B&B and grossly overpriced. They had a nice, modern bar but could have done with upgrading the rooms which appear to have been last refurbished in 1975. Nice view though!

I've Just Gone Back To The Isle of Skye (or Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner)

Water, water everywhere; but not a drop to drink.

Colin, Al, and I were back in Skye at the weekend. We had such a good time the last time that we decided to go back. We were well rewarded. To call the weekend an ordeal would be to suggest that we never had fun. We certainly had a great time but I challenged my endurance somewhat.

On Saturday we hiked to Loch Coruisk, pitched our tent in a nearby bog and "cooked" chicken and bacon by the river. Colin and I also demolished a bottle of magic whisky that's mystic power enables one to drink half a bottle of whisky without either getting drunk or suffering the hangover. It did give us a nice warm feeling that kept out the wind so it wasn't a total waste of time!

Next day we took an alternative route home along the coast, (see the attached map). The views were spectacular and the water was crystal clear. The walk was predominantly along a sheer cliff and it got a bit hairy\dangerous at times. I had trouble with heights at the Eiffel tower that has a 12 foot fence so I did struggle at times with the 100 foot drop to the sea shielded only by small bushes. Some of the walk involved a bit of scrambling up and down rocks in muddy boots with a ruck sack on your back, bringing the 100 foot drop into sharp focus. To compound matters, we (me really) hadn't brought enough water so we were mad with the thirst my the end. We rationed what we had left to wet our lips!

Just before the end and the final kick in the teeth. A steep grassy hill. I just about dragged myself up that and then it was tarmac for the final couple of miles back to the car.

It was brilliant! We hope to go back soon (and bring water).

The photgraphs can be found here

Springboks, Sun, and Sausages

The weekend before last, Pamela and I went down to London at the invitation of my colleague, Warren. Warren (Wazza to his friends - nothing to do with Budweiser as far as I am aware) is South African and so is obviously a big rugby fan. I and some of my Halifax HBOS colleagues were invited down along with friends and partners to watch the Wallabies v Springboks (Australia v S Africa) tri-nations game. The tri-nations is like our six nations only it's for the southern hemisphere and there are only three of them. There are no prizes for correctly guessing the third team involved! Anyway - the game ended in abject and complete humiliation for the South Africans as they were murdered 49-0. Being Scottish we found that the rest of the day spent drowning our sorrows as the result of a humbling sporting defeat came quite naturally!

We had a brilliant day. It was great to meet up with Richard and Claire who both live in London having escaped from Cumbernauld and Paisley respectively. Being in Australia, the game had kicked off at 10:30 AM GMT so we had the whole day left to drink, drink, drink. And how! We drank O'Neills at Putney Bridge out of Magners and then moved on to sit beside the river where we drank the nearest pub out of Magners before starting on the Pimms and Lemonade. Pimms and lemonade is good for you - it has fruit in it! We sat in the sun until we could endure the glorious weather and refreshing beverages no longer. We went clubbing! There was abarbeque in the club! Well....outside the club. And they had volley ball too. The club was called Zulus (South African theme) and everything starts to become a little hazy at this point. I think there was Bryan Adams and dancing. Oh dear.


The next day we went to another barbequeue at the home of a very friendly Australian girl named Alison. We sat in the garden in the sun, drank Diet Coke and ate sausages. A nice end to a great weekend. Thanks Alison. Thanks Wazza! And a special thanks to Richard for blowing off his house mates as long as he could to spend more time with us sitting beside the Thames in the sun.

P.S. I just remembered about the giant cheese burgers on Saturday beside the river. Dear God!

I've Just Come Down From The Isle Of Skye...

Last bank holiday weekend Colin and I decided to go camping. We didn't really know where we were going until we got there but eventually we decided upon Skye. A good time was had. We had with us a barbeque, bacon, whisky and beer. Anything else in terms of outdoor equipment was a bonus. Fortunately the Island Gods smiled upon us and we were blessed with fantastic weather. On the first day we had little time to do anything but set up camp - which we did with a fair level of success all things considered. As you can see from the photographs, we even managed to get a camp fire going! How earthy and rugged are we?! On day 2 we took the advice of a fellow outdoor enthusist and went for a walk through the foothills of the Cuillin range to find a loch surrounded on all sides by mountains. It was well worth the 5 hour round trip. The loch was like glass and crystal clear. There was a pebbled beach on which we sat for a fair length of time, soaking up the sun (seriously) and admiring the vista. It was amazing. The walk there and back was fantastic as well. There were several beautiful waterfalls and also the ruged Skye coastline to admire.
It was a great weekend. My legs paid the price the follwing day but it was worth it.

Halifax

Yeah. I live in Halifax now! My pay masters have moved me to the closest thing that the UK has to the Arctic tundra, Halifax. Halifax is in West Yorkshire and it is FREEZING! It is in a valley (I would say "hole" but if it's to be "valley" then fair enough) and apparently in the middle of winter the sun doesn't cme up from behind the hills. God willing, my stay in Halifax should be over by the end of June at the latest so I wont get to witness this meterioligical phenomenon myself.
I have just moved into a flat down there. Here are some pictures. The flats are very new. The building work is still going on round about me and they haven't finished painting the outside of the building yet. The decor is very Habitat and it smells of glue.