Thursday, December 30, 2004

It is rapidly approaching that time of year when we are all meant to make our resolutions for the new year; a tradition that usually ends in failure within the first week. For the last couple of years I've not bothered with making a resolution, however I'm going to give it a go for 2005.

It's always tricky trying to come up with a resolution or two which I have any real chance of sticking to. I guess I could resolve not to kill small children or something; however as I've not done this up until now it is missing the point a bit. I've been giving resolutions some serious thought over the last month or so and have come up with the following for 2005:

Smoking
Attempting to stop smoking is one of the most common resolutions made and also one of the most common ones to fail with. Because of this I'm going to resolve to work my way through Alan Carr's How to Quit book and see what happens at the end of it. If it makes me want to quit then I will, if not I won't.

Giving to charity
In 2005 I'm going to use a little more of my hard-earned cash to do some good in the world. I already donate on an occasional basis to charity but in 2005 I'm going to regularly contribute to a few charities. I haven't made up my mind exactly which charities these will be yet.

Seeing my family more
I see my family about once a year (during the festive period) and I've decided that really isn't enough. I'm going to make the effort to spent more time with them next year. They are, after all, not getting any younger. Plus my brother has recently got married and so a new part of the White family is starting to develop.

Exercise More
Once upon a time I was a gym-bunny, but then I lost interest in spending three evenings a week at the gym and I started to gain the weight I'd managed to lose. It's probably time I started to do a bit more exercise as I do spend too much time sitting down and not enough time up and about.

I think four resolutions is enough for anyone. We'll see how I get on with achieving all or some of them.

Posted by Antz at 10:38 AM | Permalink | | |

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

"It was an obstacle course of uprooted trees, boats that had been washed ashore, concrete from buildings, glass from smashed windows, and bodies," Mr Hegel said.

"I cannot remember how many bodies I passed. There must have been well over 100. There were tourists and locals. They were slammed against trees, wrapped around each other as if hugging and buried under blocks of concrete.

"There were also lots of injured people, crying for help. I just kept on walking. I was in a daze. I wanted to find out what had happened to my friends, to my clothes.

"The part of the hotel where my room had been was destroyed, flattened. I couldn't even have begun to look for my clothes. As for my friends, they've gone. All six of them. I can't believe it. They were great guys."

French tourist's eye witness account of the damage caused by the recent tsunami at Khao Lak Beach in Thailand (as reported by The Guardian)

Posted by Antz at 8:33 AM | Permalink | | |

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

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Sunday, December 26, 2004

The arrival of Christmas always is a bit of a let down these days. The run up to the festive period is so drawn out and the workload prior to the holidays is so incredibly heavy that by the time 25 December arrives it never meets my (probably too high) expectations. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy it, however I always think it should be more magical than actually turns out to be.

Obviously, as you grow up, many of the special features of Christmas disappear; the excitement of Father Christmas leaving a large stocking full of gifts at the foot of your bed; Christmas morning spent opening what appears to be an endless pile of presents from your family; and of course the white Christmases that seemed to fill my childhood.

The other thing about Christmases as a child was not knowing what presents you were going to get. These days I'm usually asked for present ideas from my friends and family as I'm "hard to buy for" and even David's lovely surprise of a diamond ear stud wasn't a real surprise as I guessed what it was weeks ago.

But I suppose the reason that Christmas seemed so much more special as a child is that Christmas is really a festival for children. Children who believe that a red-clad old man climbs down your chimney to deliver you presents and who can listen in wonder to the story of the Nativity.

Posted by Antz at 11:59 PM | Permalink | | |

Schizophrenia: Do You Hear What I Hear?
Paranoid: Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me.
Manic: Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and ...
Multiple Personality Disorder: We Three Queens Disoriented Are.
Narcissistic: Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me.
Borderline Personality Disorder: Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire.
Social Anxiety Disorder: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells.
Agoraphobia: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't Leave My House. Oppositional Defiant Disorder: I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House

Originally posted on Jockohomo.com

Posted by Antz at 10:26 AM | Permalink | | |

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Merry Christmas to you all.

Posted by Antz at 1:04 PM | Permalink | | |

Thursday, December 23, 2004

This morning a small box arrived from Google Inc which contained a Christmas gift from the gods of all things search. The gift was this rather cool ipod-esque light radio which gradually changes colour. You turn on or off the radio, the light or both by changing which side it's standing on.

Posted by Antz at 6:22 PM | Permalink | | |

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

This morning I found houseblinger.com. Houseblinger is a very new site (slightly lacking in pics so far) dedicated to photos of some of the 'finest' artisticly lit houses in the UK. You can submit photos of similar classy properties in your area if the mood takes you.

Posted by Antz at 7:49 AM | Permalink | | |

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

I came across a really cool blog/archive of some of the coolest things to spend your hard earned cash on today. Josh Rubin: Cool Hunting features the very best new techology, art, design and clothing and is well worth a few minutes of your online time.

He also features the uber cool Adidas Hemp sneakers. Want want want.

Posted by Antz at 10:21 PM | Permalink | | |

Monday, December 20, 2004

We headed down to the relative calm of Sussex this weekend to spend a bit of quality time with my parents in the heart of the Sussex countryside. David and the 'rents have met quite a few times now and get on like a house on fire; pretty much like he's one of the family.

We'd arranged to meet my parents in The Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells so that we could have a bit to eat and David could explore what is a lovely part of the town. Sadly a bit of a miss-up meant that while we stood for an hour in the freezing cold waiting for mum and dad to arrive they were sitting in the relative warmth of their car waiting for us. Despite loads of attempted calls to their mobiles it took ages to eventually meet up; by which time it was nearly too late to do anything other than make our way to my folk's home.

We spent a great evening at dinner with my parents and my brother and his wife, Liz, at a local Chinese restaurant. It was the first time my parents had gone out for a Chinese meal at a restaurant and they loved the whole experience. It was great to spend some time with my family. I really don't spend enough time seeing them; after all they are getting older and won't be around for ever.

Posted by Antz at 11:11 PM | Permalink | | |

Saturday, December 18, 2004

It should have been simple. All I had to do was to drive from Leicester to Birmingham, pick up David from his Christmas party and then drive back home. It should have taken about an hour and a half ... Instead it took nearer four hours. Getting as far as the Aston Expressway in Birmingham was easy; it's a journey I've done possibly hundreds of times before.

The problem seemed to be finding David's offices once I'd made it into the city centre. The cause (it later turned out) was that Multimap disagrees with the real world when it comes to the location of the street I was looking for. Birmingham isn't one of the easiest places to drive around unless you know where you're trying to get and when the street isn't where you think it should be it's almost impossible. It turned out I'd been within 50 metres of the street several times while I was hurtling around the city.

It should have been easy to make our way back to the M6 and then home. What I hadn't counted on was the cunningness of the workmen carrying out what seem to be some of the longest running roadworks in history. To get back onto the motorway we had to do nearly 15 miles of detour to travel two miles. A few more detour signs wouldn't have gone a miss.

Posted by Antz at 10:01 AM | Permalink | | |

Friday, December 17, 2004

As I work for what is technically a 'start-up' which sells lots of lovely Christmas pressies it's hardly surprising that over the last month we've been incredibly busy. I just want it to all be over now (even though the big day isn't for another week) and if I hear the question 'Will I be receiving my order before Christmas?' again I'll be found on top of a tall building randomly shooting at passers-by (with a water pistol, obviously).

The bigger question that the customers should be asking is 'Next year will I be more organised and order by presents in November?'. Who in their right mind buys Christmas presents online in the third week of December?

Posted by Antz at 8:37 AM | Permalink | | |

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

It isn't that many years ago when the only festive lights that got switched at Christmas time were either on a 6 foot fir tree in your living room or in the high street of your local town; Not any more though. Over the last couple of years more and more houses have started to stick all manner of lighting onto the front of their homes during the holiday period, and sadly in most cases it simply looks sh1t.

You can kind of understand why, according to the BBC website, someone using the name 'The House Doctor' has been leaving notes for people with yuletide lighting pointing out that their efforts look cheap and tacky. In one case s/he described one such house as "a cross between a bingo house and a brothel at Christmas".

I'm sure it's possible with a bit of ability and a budget to create wonderful exterior lighting at Christmas but buying a few lights in the shape of a reindeer and sticking an inflatable Santa on your roof just doesn't cut it.

Posted by Antz at 1:16 PM | Permalink | | |

The BBC website has gathered together some of the more interesting ASBOs (Anti-social Behavior Orders) issued during the last year.

These include the couple who were banned from seeing each other. It was the endless blazing rows that led to society's scorn. Indeed, the 47-year-old man was told not to go within 50m of the home of his 48-year-old fiancée.

Posted by Antz at 8:10 AM | Permalink | | |

Monday, December 13, 2004

For years I've had a soft spot for an older woman; and when I say I'm talking about a woman well into her seventies. Have I gone mad? No, I'm referring to one of the world's most famous detectives: Miss Jane Marple. I've always been a fan of the dithering old maid with the "uncanny knack of being always right." both through Agatha Christie's books and through the wonderful portrayal of Miss Marple by Joan Hickson in the BBC's dramatisation.

So yesterday was a very sad day for me and probably for millions of other Miss Marple fans. The reason is yesterday was the first screening of ITV's Marple; the first recreation of Christie's spinster detective in nearly twenty years.

Now I knew that this new version of Miss Marple's mysteries would be different than the BBC ones. Obviously Joan Hickson wouldn't be playing the lead role (due to her death several years ago) and was expecting to have a few problems adjusting to Geraldine McEwan in the lead role.

What I wasn't expecting was for the makers to change the identity of the murderer; to show whodunit before the climatic reveal; and most importantly to include lesbian relationships and dramatic bomb explosions that Ms Christie didn't. What's the point of dramatising someone's work if you're going to change the whole story? It's a bit like remaking the story of the Bible and not having Jesus surviving being on the cross.

Hopefully, in the next dramatisation, ITV will change the victim in Murder at the Vicarage so that Miss Marple herself is found facedown in the Vicar's study dead.

Posted by Antz at 8:29 PM | Permalink | | |

Thursday, December 09, 2004

As a general left-handed person I was very pleased to hear, according to TheRegister, that French researchers have suggested that left-handed people are better at surviving fights to the death. It's always reassuring to know that should I find myself in some real life Mortal Combat situation my natural lefthandedness may lead to my victory in the face of certain death.

Posted by Antz at 11:56 PM | Permalink | | |

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

It seems that Christmas is rapidly approaching and I'm completely unprepared for it. It's only two weeks to go and I've done no festive shopping, done nothing to get the house ready for the holidays and haven't even got close to get ready for the trip back to Sussex in little over a week for our pre-Yule family get together.

It's very unlike me to me so unprepared for the festive season. By now I would normally have done my Christmas shopping and planned the various yuletide get togethers that David and I host over Christmas. This year, in fact, we're not even holding the annual get together of some of my old college friends. We basically haven't had the time or energy to sort everything out this year.

Work had been totally mad over the past few weeks... Insanely busy... And I think the shear amount of work flooding into my world at the moment is clouding the view towards Christmas. Then again this Friday is the works festive bash so maybe that'll help get me into the spirit of Christmas.

Posted by Antz at 11:48 PM | Permalink | | |

Saturday, December 04, 2004

One of the things you want to do when you have a new car is drive it along the roads that Her Majesty's Government has so kindly taxed you for. It's bad enough that the afore mentioned roads (in my case) have been largely out of action for several weeks due to the creation of a new set of junctions which appear to have the sole purpose of making it being harder to get from my house to, well, just about anywhere else, however this evening I came across a new obstacle: shopping trolleys.

There I was casually driving along the road that leads from the supermarket to my house when I had to slam on the brakes because a group of kids had put a row of shopping trolleys across both lanes of the road; making it impossible to get through. If it hadn't been for the fact I saw the kids running away in the distance I possibly wouldn't have noticed the trolleys before hitting one of them (being bits of wire they don't stand out in the dark very well).

How can people be so f***ing stupid? Do they really not give a s**t about the likely accident they're going to cause when someone hits their blockade? Obviously not.

Having moved the trolleys out the way I passed the kids as I drove away. I wanted to stop and say something to them but the little voice in my head told me that they'd possibly do something to the MINI if they saw it parked up on the street later, so I just kept on going.

Posted by Antz at 9:26 PM | Permalink | | |

Friday, December 03, 2004

It's now official... Christmas is pretty much here. How do i know? Is it the brightly coloured lights decorating the streets? Is it the massive increase of orders at work? No, it is that today for the first time i've heard the tune that signifies the true start of Christmas. (Needs Real Player)

Now I just have to buy the presents, sort out the food shopping, etc etc etc.

Posted by Antz at 7:30 PM | Permalink | | |

Thursday, December 02, 2004

I've been waiting for over three months for a watch i ordered to arrive through one of our suppliers at work and finally it has. This rather fine beastie is called "Tiny" though, as you can see from the picture, it is anything but!

Posted by Antz at 6:30 PM | Permalink | | |

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Today is World AIDS Day so I thought it was worth pointing everyone to some relevant places on the net so you can discover more about one of the most serious health issues currently affecting the world. Click here for details about the issue of HIV and AIDS in the UK and click here for some facts about HIV, including how you can and can't become infected.

Posted by Antz at 8:00 AM | Permalink | | |

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