Filed under: Family, Life, Stress, Thoughts, Work Life Balance | Tags: Family, Life, Stress, Thoughts, Work Life Balance
Yeah, it didn’t work! Still 276lbs… At one point during September was 272, but also at one point was 280!
On a positive note though, found more time to read, definitely felt a lot less frazzled and more relaxed and had more time to spend with Sophie (8), who is my personal de-stresser. (previous post)
What else happened in September?
Got an exercise bike, a rowing machine and dusted off my mountain bike. I was off for a week and had a great time traveling down to Mayo and Galway, took oodles of photographs and had my quarterly review which went very well, thank you! So not all bad news. Also, decided on a new blog format which you can find at This Sedentary Life. Not a terribly optimistic title, but we’ll see what happens on the exercise front over the coming months. 
Filed under: Family, Life, Stress, Technology, Thoughts, Work Life Balance | Tags: Blogging, Facebook, Flickr, Life, Technology, Thoughts, Tumblr, Twitter
I’m taking the month of September off. Not off work, but off Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, WordPress, Flickr and the many other distractions that have kept me from proper family/personal time over the last few months. I’ll still be checking my email and perhaps be online for five minutes at a time checking bank balances and cinema times, etc, but that’s it.
It’s an experiment of sorts. I tend to be easily distracted and lose myself for hours on teh internets which has created not a little tension at home, but I also feel that my thought processes are actually being affected by the flittering about that this fine Apple iMac allows me by having so many programs running at once!
So, from tonight at midnight, I intend to use the time saved to do the jobs that have been left undone, to spend more time with my wife and kids (!) and to fix various broken things, and cut the grass rather than pay somebody to do it twice a month, and get moving on a number of things that the “internet inertia” has stopped me from doing.
Now, I could be smart and say that the graphic above represents me “hitting the road” from the internet, but I’ll be honest instead and admit that I weigh 276lbs. My intention in being that honest is to force myself to be looking for a sign for Interstate 256 to post on 1 October – in other words, get off my arse and get some exercise. I intend to take seriously the idea of eating properly (not just my Branflakes) and losing some weight and keeping it off.
I have various other similar intentions for the month of September, regarding work, finance, leisure time, etc.
Wish me luck!
Filed under: America, Entertainment, Movies, Society, Taboos, Thoughts | Tags: America, Cinema, Entertainment, Film, Movies, Rant, Society, Thoughts, US
I am disgusted by the recent sale of a burial plot directly above that of the actress, Marilyn Monroe. The original owner gave instructions before he died that he wanted to be buried face down “facing” the interred remains of Marilyn Monroe – what sort of sick bastard thinks this way? He and his wife were cut from the same cloth obviously. She moved her husband’s remains to make money and has used the actor’s allure to feather her own nest in a mercenary and disgusting fashion.
What will happen in twenty or thirty years? Will another widow decide to sell the new buyer’s plot and make a few more dollars? Will the remains of Marilyn Monroe become a macabre attraction for perverts beyond the grave? From what I’ve read, Marilyn was vulnerable in life and now she’s vulnerable in death. If I had enough money, I’d buy the plot myself so that it would remain undisturbed in perpetuity, rather than become a revolving door of disrespect.
The burial vault above the remains of Hollywood film star Marilyn Monroe has been sold for more than $4.6m (£2.8m).
More than 20 offers, starting at $500,000, were received for the space, located in the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
The vault had been advertised on the auction website eBay by the widow of the current occupier.
The name of the buyer has not been revealed – except for the initials OS, used to take part in the auction.
The space was auctioned by the widow of the man buried – face down – above Monroe, to raise enough cash to pay off the mortgage on her Beverly Hills home, the Los Angeles Times reported earlier this month.
His remains would be moved sideways to a neighbouring plot to make room for the new occupant, said widow Elsie Poncher.
Her eBay advert was entitled “Spend eternity directly above Marilyn Monroe”.
Richard Poncher died 23 years ago at the age of 81.
The Westwood Village Memorial Park is the final resting place for many celebrities, including Dean Martin, Natalie Wood, Truman Capote and Farrah Fawcett.
The space next to Monroe’s vault was sold in 1992 to the publisher of Playboy magazine, Hugh Hefner, for $75,000.
BBC News
Filed under: Blogging, Podcasts, Stress, Technology, Thoughts | Tags: Blogging, Life, Podcasts, Stress, Technology, Thoughts
Recent frustrations with my wireless connection at home resulted in me getting not a little miffed and, after trying everything else, resetting my router. This had the effect of wiping out the settings for my connection and I have been unable to reset the wifi for the last two days.
This has had a number of impacts on my life:
- I find myself with “time” on my hands. No constant browsing, Twittering, or gazing at a screen has resulted in a startling realisation that I need to find something else to do, like read, or watch TV, or God forbid, exercise.
- I spent yesterday evening in the front (TV) room of the house from 1915 until 2230. This is unheard of. I was receiving strange looks from my wife and son who were unsettled, to say the least.
- Yesterday, I bought a Belkin router. Sadly, the CD within was only for Windows XP and older (!) Windows systems – thwarted! This evening, I’m typing this into Word to copy and paste onto WordPress when I finally get my wifi restored. So this is like a computer fix….
- I also bought a T-Mobile laptop dongle thingy which cost £29 plus change – and it’s really crap and intermittent. I also unfortunately spent £30 on airtime, which I’ll use up before I bring the dongle back for a refund. Fucking useless piece of shit.
- I’m starting to run out of podcasts! I’m finally catching up with Fresh Air podcasts that I downloaded as far back as last year. This is good news but they’re a little out of sync when I’m listening to pundits etc talking about how they think Obama will fare when he’s finally inaugurated!
- Yesterday, I drove a 38 mile round trip to pick up my Macbook so I could use it in an internet café at lunch time to send an email and follow up on some tweets on Tweetdeck and get an internet fix – how sad am I?
So, tomorrow, on my day off, I’ll be visiting Carphone Warehouse to see what they can do to restore my sanity. If their broadband was all it is cracked up to be, I wouldn’t have had to reset the router etc, bastards! I think I’ll go a little postal on their asses!!!
Filed under: Entertainment, Family, Foreign Travel, History, Thoughts | Tags: Entertainment, Family, Foreign Travel, History, Holiday, Thoughts, Vacation
Starting to tidy up around the apartment. I’m hoping to drive as far as Nerja today as the caves there can be a great subject for some photography. I really enjoyed my trip to Tarifa yesterday. Over three hundred photos and two short video clips taken! Tarifa is the closest point of Europe to African and also has a constant strong wind – something to do with the confluence of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. This means it is a great spot for windsurfing, so it attracts young fit people in droves. It’s also full of history. I spent an hour and a half shooting pictures around the port area and after lunch, another hour in the old walled segment of the town. Lots to see!
My connection here is very dodgy so I cannot upload any photos yet, but I think I got some nice ones. I’ll update this posting with some pictures when I get home.
Immediate jobs for this morning include finishing tidying up here, as I head off to the airport tomorrow morning and won’t have time otherwise, and sourcing six packs of Chesterfield cigarettes for my brother who was kind enough to email his requirements yesterday evening. I’m also still looking for a gift for my middle daughter – she’s notoriously difficult to buy for.
Back to work!
Filed under: Foreign Travel, History, Nostalgia, Technology, Thoughts | Tags: Foreign Travel, Spain, Technology, Thoughts
I arrived yesterday morning around 1110 and once I got my Fix It Again Tony rental Punto sorted, I stopped off at the Spanish National Aeronautical Museum. This is just outside Malaga Airport, and I had often seen the DC3 static display (C47 to us military modeling folk!) parked near the airport but could never find out how to get there. Thank you Google Earth!
A very friendly Spanish chap called Joachim allowed me to see the external exhibits even though the museum was closed (every Monday).
Photos to follow.
Off to Puerto Banus itself, then, with a 50km drive down the motorway. Lunch at Marrush, the Lebanese restaurant, and then grocery shopping. 
Off now to take some pictures along the beach and into the port. I may try to post a video later, but I’m leeching off someone’s wifi connection and it’s very slow.
Filed under: Belfast, Cinema, Entertainment, Fun, Movies, Thoughts, Weird & Wonderful | Tags: Belfast, Cinema, Entertainment, Film, Fun, Humor, Humour, Movies, Thoughts, Weird & Wonderful
I was driving through the centre of Belfast yesterday after a great Flickr Meetup walk along the Lagan as far as Stranmillis, when I came round the corner from Victoria Street and drove straight into a Hollywood film set – Transformers! Or so I thought… It took me over ten minutes to find somewhere to park the car (legally). Thankfully, the “transformer” hadn’t stomped off in the direction of Cave Hill. Only one or two other people I’ve shown the photograph to actually “get it”. Am I watching too many movies?
Filed under: Belfast, Books, Entertainment, Life, Society, Thoughts | Tags: Belfast, Books, Entertainment, Life, Society, Thoughts
Along with a few hundred other Wire, Corner and Generation Kill fans, last Sunday evening, I attended an interview with David Simon, at the Ulster Hall which was a Guardian Hay Festival event.
While waiting for the event to start, Glenn Patterson, local author, came on stage to introduce the interviewer and interviewee. During this intro, Glenn mentioned that David Torrans, owner of local independent bookshop, No Alibis, had his day’s takings of £640 stolen from him by some “toe-rags” in the Ulster Hall that evening. I have known David for many years as a customer and he is a decent chap and has been responsible for bringing some “big names” to Belfast for literary events and social evenings at his bookshop. After a chat on Twitter, some of us thought it would be right to have a twhip-round to try to offset at least some of David’s loss. If you’re interested in throwing in a few pounds, and have a Paypal account, please send your contribution to colinparte@mac.com as soon as possible. As I type, the fund is sitting at £30. Not sure yet how to collect any cash offerings, but I’m confident that some arrangement can be made.
Running any business in the current economic climate is fraught with difficulty, without opportunist thieving. No business can afford such losses, especially those independent traders whose perseverance allows us some variety of choice in the marketplace – let’s support them and in this particular case, let’s support David!
Thanks to @blackconfetti, @keithbelfast and @szlwzl for the initial contributions!
Filed under: Belfast, Corporate Greed, Economy, Entertainment, Hidden Belfast, History, Memories, Nostalgia, Thoughts, UK | Tags: Belfast, Hidden Belfast, History, Nostalgia, Thoughts, Titanic, UK
We took advantage this week of a free tour around the “Titanic Quarter”, which is the brand name, so to speak, of that area of Belfast which is home to the derelict shipyards, the Odyssey Arena and a number of industrial complexes directly across the Lagan from the Belfast Harbour Commissioner and the Customs House.
As part of the current Made In Belfast Festival, the guided bus tour is a great starting point for the novice historian. The experienced guide, Stephen Cameron, has researched his subject in great detail for many years and is affable and knowledgeable company for the two hours of the tour. I have actually met Stephen before, in a previous life, and it was a pleasure to see him again after a gap of ten or so years.
On what was a rather changeable day, we set off from Belfast’s City Hall having seen both the Titanic Memorial statue and the statue of Sir Edward Harland within it’s grounds. First stop was at the original offices of Harland & Wolff. Access was gained and we started off in the drawing offices where many years before, the original plans for the Titanic and her sister ships, Olympic and Brittanic were made. This remarkable building was specially designed to allow as much natural light as possible to reach the draughtsmen, and later the ladies, who made copies of the thousands of individual plans for the teams of workmen who built the ships.
The next attraction was a viewing of the boardroom, sadly without any original furniture. The building has suffered over the years since it was last used as an office but has now been listed and is in the initial stage of refurbishment. In it’s derelict state it has been of value to the film industry lately, featuring in films such as Closing the Ring, City of Embers and Breakfast on Pluto.
Next stop was a short distance away by coach as it had started to rain. We drove about 100m to two large ramped areas close to the bank. The guide showed us the same ramps in a large black and white picture taken in 1911. These were the very ramps on which Titanic and Olympic were built.
From there we made our way to the Thompson Dry Dock, built to allow completion of the three sister ships’ fit-out. A very impressive structure which looks to be twice the length of the Clarendon Dry Docks, the pump equipment was designed to be capable of pumping out all of the water in the dock inside 100 minutes.
The picture below gives an idea of the size of the structure with HMS Caroline in a nearby dock for scale. In the pictures we were shown of Titanic in the dock being fitted with her engines and propellers, the stern of the ship stuck out over the gate at the back of the dry dock – an immense ship that would have stretched from the front door of Belfast City Hall right down Donegall Place, past M&S, past McDonalds, the Tesco Metro and as far as the H&M shop.
At this point, the tour ended. Very satisfied with our new-found knowledge, we climbed back aboard the coach and headed back to the City Hall.
A very enjoyable morning. I have been inspired by this tour to look for more opportunities to learn more about local history and perhaps consider doing a similar job on retirement, to that of our eminent guide.
Filed under: Environment, Memories, Nostalgia, Politics & Current Affairs, Technology, Thoughts, UK | Tags: Bangor, Energy, Environment, Green, Memories, Nostalgia, Photography, Technology, Thoughts, UK
I didn’t realise I could get this close to the local wind turbine (North Down Borough Council’s lip service to the Green agenda). I really expected it to be protected from potential “terrorist/freedom fighter” action.
I really love the shape of the cowling of the propeller. It has a taste of nostalgia to me as it reminds me of many of the engine cowlings on Airfix aircraft models I assembled over the years. Cracking day today too!
My Flikr Photostream (for more pictures)
