On Gaming

If you know even a little about me, or have read 0ddness for any length of time, you will know that I am a bit of a Gamer. For the most part, I play online games, and if you fall into the afore-mentioned "Know Me A Little" category, you will know that I am an avid World of Warcraft (WoW) player.

Now, WoW is almost ten years old, and for the most part, I have been playing WoW the entire, time. I've had several months off here and there, mainly from suffering burnout or boredom, only to miss playing and to carry on going again.

I am currently going through one of those phases, and have been trying to find something else to play. Thankfully, I have a Steam account, and have started poking around on Twitch.tv to see what's what in the world of gaming.

Usually, I only have two or three games installed on my laptop - usually that's all that can hold my attention, or I stick with one (usually WoW) and play that constantly. Including WoW, I currently have NINE games installed, plus another four on my Steam account I own but haven't installed. Then there is Origin, which has another three games on it. I've not even looked at the free games available on there!

For me, that's unheard of.

The biggest problem is that I know what I like. So often, I will start an online game, and my first thought is "It's not WoW..." which I know is stupid, because if I am playing something else, it usually means I'm bored of WoW, which means I want something different...

I know, I never said I was normal.

So, I've been keeping an open mind, and trying other games, just to see what's what. Oh yes, and the other issue - I'm not wanting to part with cash for something that I will probably not like - so I've been going through Steam looking for the different Free-to-Play (F2P) games.

I know, I never said I was normal.

So, I decided that, for a change, I'd blog it, and review a few of the games I've been bashing around on. These are NOT exhaustive, I do NOT cover all aspects of the games, and as usual, these are my own opinions, and I'm not getting anything out of them. I know a few of you (assuming I still have readers) are gamers and looking for something different every now and then, so figured you might be interested.

I am also fully aware that none of these are "new" games, and that they have probably been reviewed to death elsewhere. But they are new to me. If that makes sense.

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Rift

Rift is one of the F2P games I've started with, and despite having several people tell me "Oh, I played that, it was awful" I've stuck with it. Especially as most people that have told me it was awful gave it about three nano-seconds of play time. I can't take peoples personal reviews seriously if they play one character/class, and only play for the first few levels.

So, I downloaded it (it's huuuuge by the way, you might be better off setting off the download/install/patch at bedtime) and gave it a whirl...

First off, it's quite similar to WoW - but then, I think a lot of MMORPG-type games are similar to one another, because A) The formula for WoW obviously works, and B) There are so many ways you can reinvent the wheel. The graphics are quite pretty - more realistic than WoW, but not up there with games like Guild Wars.

The game itself is very good - I've been playing on and off pretty much when I've had free time (aside from the fortnight I was sick as a dog) and am loving it. I've levelled one character up to 30-something, and another to the mid-teens. According to Steam, I've logged 60 hours of play time.

Because I enjoyed it, I threw a few quid at it too. It IS a free game, but you can buy credits to buy different things in the in-game store, but it isn't a Pay-to-Win game - they maintain that you don't need to pay ANYTHING and can still be as effective as someone that has thrown a metric shit-ton of money at the game. Credits can buy outfits, mounts, additional space, extra character slots - various things that don't really affect gameplay. I bought some credits to acknowledge that it's a good game, that I appreciate it's free, and because I "needed" a mount and more storage space.

Like most MMOs, it plays in the same sort of way... Go here, kill X of these, collect Y of that, talk to this fellow... Like I said, they aren't reinventing the wheel here.

My final point - and this is something that WoW seems to lack on occasion - is that the community is friendly, helpful and generally approachable. If you ask a question in WoW, for the most part you will get a hammering from the trolls that play. In Rift if you ask a question - and because I'm a newbie, it's likely a silly question - you actually get help and guidance. It's quite refreshing if I am honest.

The developers, Trion, keep the game updated, appear to be adding new content quite regularly, have a decent customer service presence, and regularly release patches, hotfixes and minor repairs if something goes pearshaped. They also release expansions every now and then.

And remember, this is a F2P game.. WoW is £8.99 a month, plus you have to buy the expansions when they are released - usually for something like £30.

All in all, if you are looking for an MMO but aren't sure what you want to play, I really do recommend trying Rift. But try it properly - don't give it an hour and then delete it. Play through, read the quests, explore, chat to people. It is well worth it I think.

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Neverwinter

I DO love me some Dungeons & Dragons. My real passion before Bethy died was playing D&D, but after losing her, I don't know, something inside me broke, and I found it hard to play and run games. Every now and then, I have a burst of creativity and think of scenarios and situations for games, or I think of an entire plot line or even a story of some kind which I start to write.

But then I lose interest for some reason and struggle to keep going on and on. I hate it with a burning hate, because I LOVE D&D, but don't think you can force something, because it then becomes a chore.

D&D computer games are quite good, but never quite manage it. I loved the Baulders Gate & Neverwinter Nights series of games, but Dungeons & Dragons Online (DDO) was a pretty naff game. So imagine my surprise when browsing Steam, I came across a game called Neverwinter - the name of a city in the Forgotten Realms setting of D&D with lots of history and back story.

I was very much "Ooooooh" when I saw it, even more so when I realised I was in the F2P section! A free D&D game. I had a check, made sure it was NOT a rebranded, renamed, rechurned-out version of DDO, and gave it a whirl.

Again, if you're going to install it, do it at bedtime - it takes a while.

Now, in as much as WoW and Rift are true MMOs where you run around a world and run into other players, Neverwinter seems slightly different in that a lot of areas you go to do quests seem to be just for you (and, I assume, your group if you have one).

It's also different in that the combat system is more hands-on. In WoW & Rift, you push buttons and hotkeys to do a multitude of different things. With Neverwinter, you have fewer abilities, but can move around, dodge, counter-attack and everything else. It makes quite a difference.

While the questing system is very similar - go here, kill this, collect that - it is a LOT more linear than "traditional" MMOs. Don't get me wrong, that's not always a bad thing, but with the previously mentioned games, you can go and wander off elsewhere, have an explore, see what's what, find a different quest hub or whatever. Neverwinter is more a case of going from A to B to C.

However, that said, it IS very D&D. While I was never that sort of Dungeon Master (my players always had free reign to get their heads splattered where-ever they wanted) a lot of D&D scenarios are very much A-to-B-to-C-to-win style.

I confess I've not played Neverwinter for a huge amount of time. Twelve hours racked up so far. And I've only played one character. I've not spent any money on it as yet, but like Rift, you can buy credits and buy other stuff - but I've not looked at any of that yet, so don't know if it's Pay-to-Win.

It is a very pretty game, and the different areas are excellently laid out. The combat system makes a nice change to the multitude of buttons you get in other games, and having to be more alert than you would in others is nice.

But. For me, that is an issue. There are days when I can't even do up my own shoe laces because I'm not sure what I'm doing.

Possibly one of the most interesting aspects of Neverwinter is the fact players can create their own adventures with a tool called The Foundry. Now, I've neither played nor created anything Foundry-based as yet, but talking to other players, it makes a huge difference to the game. If you're bored of A-to-B-to-C, you can enter a Foundry adventure. Effectively, it's a single-stand-alone adventure, sometimes with various parts to it, but it's a break from the norm that sounds very interesting.

Again, if you're looking for an MMO or similar game, it's worth a go. I intend to play more, but if you have concentration issues, then you DO need to be in the right frame of mind.

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Hearthstone

I confess I've been playing this one for a while, as I've been in the Closed Beta for it, but seeing as my blogging has been, shall we say, a little sporadic, I never really mentioned it.

Hearthstone IS a Warcraft related game, but is a complete break from the above games. Hearthstone is a card game in the WoW setting, but you do NOT need to be a WoW player to enjoy it.

If you've ever seen ANY form of Collectible Card Game (CCG), it's most likely going to have been Magic: The Gathering, Vampire:The Eternal Struggle/Jyhad, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh or similar... I used to play Magic a LOT, I spent a f$ck-ton of money on it when I left college, and even now I have a few boxes of cards. Vampire wasn't bad, but Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh never interested me at all.

So Hearthstone is much like these games. You have a deck of cards, gain power, summon creatures, destroy your enemy... It's brilliant, really really fun. If you have a Battle.net account, I believe it's currently in Open Beta, which means anyone can sign up and play. I think.

Again, it's currently free (I don't know if it will remain free once released) but you can spent money on it by buying Booster Packs of cards, adding them to your starting collection, with a chance of getting rarer, more powerful cards. BUT you don't need to buy the cards.

You can play practise games to get used to it, against different difficulty levels of AI enemies, and you can play one-off games against other human players. Then there are the league/tournament games which is against players that have rebuilt their decks and optimised how they play.

Yes, I lost a lot.

If you like these sort of games, if you enjoy CCGs, it is a good laugh. Obviously, being that it's still in beta, there may be bugs and issues in it, and the final product may be slightly different - plus when the game is released, you will probably have your account reset. I don't know for sure, but you may well end up starting over on release day.

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I think for the time being, that will do. I'm also playing other games, but haven't played them enough to form any real opinion on them. Sims3 seems interesting but more like hard work - I played it before and it just seemed like work as opposed to a game. Path of Exile is fun, and very much like a Diablo3 type of game, but I've only sodded around on it for a while. Electronic Super Joy is an 8bit style platform game that is HUGELY frustrating, but has a brilliant techno-style soundtrack. Dragon Age Origins I got for Xmas, and have seen Kellie play it through a few times, so thought I would give it a whirl. Enjoying it quite a bit, but again, needs concentration.

Yesterday, I heard about one game from two different sources that kind of piqued my interest. One was the 0dd Sister. We were talking about Live Roleplaying, her memory recalled things about it because the 0dd Brother In Law had was playing League of Legends (LoL). An hour before that, I was on Twitch, and clicked a video in one category that was actually something different - a League of Legends game.

So, I took the hint, took the plunge, and dived in. I started the download (Huge, Bedtime, etc etc) and eventually got in. I've read several reviews, watched some videos, and have played through some of the tutorials...

It's classed as a "Multiplayer Online Battle Arena" or MOBA game (as opposed to "Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game" or MMORPG) and is apparently based off a Warcraft 3 mod called Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) from a few years ago, that appears to have spawned the whole genre of MOBA.

The reviews are all positive, and the game itself does seem very good from what I've played so far - but like I say, it's only the tutorials as yet. It does seem to have quite a steep learning curve, with a massive choice of things to do and to play, but I'm running through the tutorials more than once which helps. No doubt I will slap up another post about it at some point!

If you managed to read through this entire post - which has taken me ages to do thanks to a headache, feeling sick, and finding links for you to click - then well done. Clearly you're as much a nerd as I am!

Until next time.

The End

I'm afraid it has run its course, you and I. I can't say when it started to go downhill, but for at least a year, you and I haven't been on the best of terms... Let's be honest, we've been getting on each others nerves for a while now.

I know I am controlling, and try to put you in your place constantly, but even when I do it carefully, you still decide to break free, do your own thing, regardless of where we are, who we are with or what we are doing.

If I am honest, you've changed, a lot. You have really let yourself go, and it's not just me that has noticed it, others have pointed it out to me too. I tell them I know, and that I'm going to do something about it, but I never do.

And that's why, it's over. Done. Finished.

The last straw came when we were in bed a while back. I was tired, in pain, couldn't get comfortable, and I'm still not sure how you managed it, but you ended up trapping me where I lay. I had to wiggle free carefully, hurting myself in the process, and THEN had to untie myself from the headboard.

That was the last straw. It really was.

I know once you realise it's over, you will just accept it, but I do still love you - you've just outgrown me. I know that in time, someone else will love you - they will love you so much MORE than I ever could. To me, I suppose you were just an accessory... To someone new, you will be a new lease of life.

That's what I am aiming for, to make you more useful for another.

To that end, in a few short hours, you'll be gone. We'll both be different, I am sure of it, but it's for the best.

I'm sure the hairdresser will remove you very carefully, and then we will send you off to become wigs for children undergoing chemotherapy. The money I've raised having you cut off will go towards beating cancer, and saving the lives of children at the Evelina Children's Hospital.

And I will have short hair again.

Goodbye, my long hair, it's been fun - but I won't miss finding you in dinner. In the bed. In the hoover. On the side. Bloody everywhere, in fact!

I am over the moon that, including Gift Aid, I've raised over £1000 for ECHO and Cancer Research UK.

CLICK TO DONATE!

Yes, you can still donate, the page is still active, and there will be plenty of pictures. A massively huge huge thank you to everyone that has donated, shared, retweeted, and given me support. Yes, I'm going to miss my hair, but it is past the point I can cope with it. Kellie has to brush it for me most days, and it just pisses me off at times. It doesn't matter how tightly I tie it back, it just goes made and I end up looking like a mad professor.

Not that my hair will improve my looks, but you get the idea.

So, I've just washed it for the last time ever. I HATE washing it too - I have to brush it, use a shit-ton of shampoo on it, then spend ages rinsing it, then after a shower it takes all fricking day to dry... And it's always bloody knotted too.

I last had a hair cut at the end of January 2005, just before Bethany went into hospital for the last time. After I lost her, I decided there and then to remove my goatee (she HATED it!) and to not cut my hair again. But I believe that now, cutting it, I can give a little something back to the hospital that cared for her brilliantly, give back to the charity that helped me understand her neuroblastoma, and even by donating the hair, give children that need wigs a new lease of life. I don't feel bad that I am cutting it off... I am certain should would most definitely approve of my methods in fact.

So here's to today, by doing one simple act, with a little bit of sacrifice on my part, I can help so many people. Which was always Bethys legacy - she bought so many people together.

I See You Baby, and know you approve.

Artist?

I am not artist. Not in any way, shape or form. Some have said that I write well, but I just write what's on my mind. Nothing more, nothing less.

If I am doing "creative writing" then I tend to let my mind run away with me, but I never share the stuff I write, not to anyone. Not that I don't mind critique, but I just don't like the thought of someone reading it and either laughing, shaking their head, or generally thinking it's shit.

I do it for me, mostly.

But writing aside, I can't draw, I can't paint, I can't dance, sing, sculpt, sketch... An empty vessel, devoid of any skills at all.

I started to use Instagram on the day it was released for Android. I'm not sure why - there are plenty of similar apps on the Market that do a similar job, but it seemed quite popular, so I gave it a bash.  I've not taken many pictures with it yet, and I am still getting to grips with it. I like the filters, but I dislike the size limitations - my phone takes pictures in HD, large megapixel - but Instagram doesn't like that, and has to resize them...

Still... While out and about, I often see something that I think, "That'll be a nice picture" and give it a quick clickity-click with the camera. With Instagram, I can fiddle with the filters, see which I like, click upload, and job done - picture online.

Like I say, I've only taken a few, but earlier, after taking Tam to Beavers, as I was crossing a bridge, I thought "Hmm that'll be interesting" and took a snap of the railway lines, stuck a filter on it, and uploaded it.

When I got in, I looked at the picture on the computer screen, and I don't know why, but I really like it. It's kinda gloomy and moody, but I LIKE it.

I'm no photographer, I literally took ONE snap and adjusted it, but I like what I see..

Clicky to Embiggen

I don't think it was anything more than luck that made it come out the way it did - a focus here, hold it steady, click, filter, upload... Done.

I use my Tumblr site to upload and host the photos, so if you're that interested, go take a peek!

Where To Find Me

I have been somewhat.. lax... in keeping the world informed where I can be found on the internet.

As I told someone before, I don't hide online behind fancy names, handles or pseudonyms. I am me, and I always have been. Granted, my username here and there is of the 0dd variety, but that's because, more often than not, you can't have you name as a username. Finding out who I am is as easy as reading this blog. Finding out where I live will take you a ten second Google search. Hell, one person pieced together where I lived - exactly where I lived - from things I had said and photos I had posted.

If that makes sense.

0ddness has been around for maaaany years, in many guises, in many forms. It's not a brand, it's not for sale, and I am sure there are plenty of others that use it here and there. In this guise alone, 0ddness has been jamming up the internet since 2003. The blog before that - which was still 0ddness in some form - was made New Years Day , Jan 1st 2000 at about 3am as (shockingly) I couldn't sleep.  Before THAT I used another platform that had numbers in it...

And so on and so on.

Over the years, social networking has taken over a lot of peoples lives - the number of brilliant blogs I used to read slowly dried up to just a handful as more and more people went off blogging and onto their social sites, and it was quite sad really. MySpace and Bebo sucked up a LOT of people (though I never bothered with either, really... I SEEM to recall setting up a MySpace page that I never used...) and then, ultimately, Facebook took over, and Twitter took the rest.

But I remain, plugging away at my blog. It's my vent, my outlet, my place to do whatever I want. I never MAKE people read, and while I love comments and knowing people enjoy it, I would carry on blogging regardless of a readership of none.

Knowing that not everyone likes to read the blog, over time I have branched out the 0ddness "brand" and went onto Twitter which, if I am honest - when I first started using it, it was interesting but soon got boring. I then went onto Plurk briefly which was good fun but again, got boring. I have an 0ddness Bl0g Facebook Page, which is for people that are on Facebook but not my friend list and want to know when there are new posts. I am back on Twitter, though I use it for general chatter - plus it tweets when I post a new blog entry.

A while back, everyone was on about Tumblr, and so I thought I would use it to post all the amusing pictures I find on the web, but it turns out, I couldn't work out how to post up gif files, so didn't bother - BUT I did keep the page, another 0ddness page. With Instagram now launching on Android - and wanting to be one of the cool kids - I now use that too, but have linked it to my Tumblr account, so when I take a pic with Instagram, it appears on the Tumblr page.

Confused?  Goody good.

So, aside from updating the column on the right in a bit, I figured I would post all the places I am "AT" across the web for you to browse where you like.

Blog (THIS blog, in fact!): www.0ddness.co.uk
This is where I post my general musings, things that amusing or irritate, songs I like (and dislike), observations on the world, taking the piss out of friends, enemies and loved ones, and putting the world to rights... Some days, I up date multiple times a day - other times, I can go a week or two in silence.

Facebook (0ddness.Bl0g): https://www.facebook.com/0ddness
Not a lot goes on here, but if you want to see when 0ddness has been updated via your Facebook, then Like/Subscribe or whatever you do, and you will get told when I've posted on here!

Facebook (Dan English): https://www.facebook.com/dan.english1
This is me, my personal Facebook page with friends from across the world, my family, with pictures galore of stuff that goes on. You will see a lot of crossover between Facebook & 0ddness, but sometimes I post on there and not on here, depending on my mood. And no, I DON'T play games on FB, so don't bother asking me to join your army or whatever!

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/106844549429672449172/posts
This is my Google Plus account I started in the final days of Beta, around the time the world was screaming for blood after Facebook changed it's look. However, unless all your friends follow you to a new Social site, it is kind of pointless. I rarely use G+ but have it, just in case.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/0dd1
This is where I prattle on most of the day and into the night. Random thoughts pop on here, conversations (in 140 characters or less) get spammed, people get the piss taken... If you want to see what I am doing, this is where I generally do it first.

Tumblr: http://0ddness.tumblr.com/
Now it's active, any photo I take with Instagram will be posted here automatically. They will also appear on Twitter and Facebook, but still... I'm still not sure I get the point of Tumblr to be honest - it just seems like someone has taken a blogging platform and edited it down with less features. Time will tell, I suppose...

Instagram (Not sure if I can link it!): 0dd1
If you're an Instagram user, then this is my username. I am still learning how to use it/what it does, but give me time ;) I am kinda hoping they improve it, as while you iPhone users have your crappy cameras, the rest of us on Android have HD cameras, widescreen photography... Instagram doesn't like that much, and the picture quality is reduced. But we'll see.

So there you have it - if you want to follow me across ANY medium, you're pretty much sorted with that list. And, like I say, I will be adding it to the top-right, just in case you want to click through to any of them at any given time. I am sure there are other sites I'm on that people might want to know about, but if that's the case, just ask.

And the same rules apply across all my sites - if you don't like what you are reading, kindly sod off. Don't complain that I offended you, don't tell me I am anti-this or pro-that. I am who I am, and am not forcing anyone to read anything I say.

Jog on, as they say.

More Bloggers!

As I am sometimes driven to insane acts of kindness, I thought I would start today with one...

Wait, who's laughing? Exhibit A, Posh Totty broke her bloke. (EDIT: While it is possible Posh broke her bloke I did in fact mean Blog. Being that it's so rare I make such hideous mistakes, I've left this on here for prosperity! Don't ask how I fixed her bloke...) I fixed it.  There, act of kindness. Her blog might be veryveryveryveryveryvery VERY pink, but I still fixed it.  Granted it now belongs to me now, but that is not the point...

My point is that I occasionally come across other bloggers who's blogs catch my eye for, well, whatever reason. Don't know why, can't say what it is about them, and being the fine upstanding citizen that I am, I share them with you lot so you too have something to do when bored.

First up, we have The Life of a Hippyish Dad. Now, there aren't too many Father bloggers out there - not compared to your women sorts, so it's nice to see another DAD blogger, but nice to see one that thinks the rest of the world is full of crazies. Now, usually I don't link to blogs that need updating, but I have poked and nudged Neil to update, so fingers crossed ;)

Farmers Wifey is just that - a farmers wife. In fact, her blog caption is "I'm just trying to get through the day without losing the chickens or bogging the tractor" which is enough to tickle me. It's farm life, family life, all with that particular slant that amuses me. And if you're reading 0ddness, then you probably enjoy that slant too...

Last up, we have Seaside Tracie who I admit, I know through the "wonderful" world of CHDs. However, I also admit I've only just realised she's blogging. Bad Dan. However, like me, her blog is full of stuff she likes, stuff that amuses her, occupies her time, and generally blogs whatever the heck she likes!

So, dear reader, I suggest you click on those linkies and go say hello to the wonderful people out there!  Now go, shoo! I need to eat my dinner!

More Twitterers & Bloggers

Yesterday, you may recall, I put out a call to my friends on Twitter & Facebook that, if they wanted their blogs listed on here, just to let me know.

A few people gave me their blog addresses, and I'm kinda sorta glad it wasn't too many, as it occurred to me there was a good chance I'd end up buried under a stack of blogs.  It also occured to me, that I could share the blogs I read in Google Reader as well.

If you look to the sidebar where there was once a VERY long list of Blogs I Read, you will notice that very long list is now not so long. I have no qualms with that.  I was a little bit sad to delete blogs that have been on there for years and years, but some had been deleted, some had been locked to private, and some hadn't been updated for months or years.

Snippity Snip, indeed.

So, with things tidier than my back garden once again, I have a few more links for you to have a lookie-see-peek at :D

Sharing Stories: I know a lot of Heart Parents, and quite a few of those have children with learning difficulties and other associated "Conditions".  This blog is a mum that discovered her daughter has a rare deletion (1q21.1) and Autism.  VERY powerful and shows what a lot of parents have to do on a daily basis in order to keep their child living a normal life.

Suburban Mum: Much like me, she blogs pretty much whatever she fancies at the time... She's just made a sodding brilliant wedding cake too! Go say howdy ;)

Insomniac Medic: A Paramedic working in London, this blog shows how these guys and gals slog day and night to keep us safe - and how many people really do just waste their time.

So, go pop on over and say hullo to these wonderful people.

New Stuff!

My brain is a very strange lump of grey goo.  Some days, it works fine and dandy without any cause for concern, and sometimes even pulls out useful stuff.

OK, only sometimes.

Other days, it can be like trying to get a hamster to power a washing machine.  No matter how hard you try, no matter what you do to coax it, bride it, threaten it, it simply will NOT function.

Case in point - yesterday morning, we were laying in bed, Kellie was snoring and drooling on my chest as usual (Granted, this is 5.30am) and I was, as usual, wide awake with my brain doing it's thing.  I was mentally going over guest lists for the wedding and the engagement party, when I came to...

Well, let's say I came to a group of family members that will NOT be invited.  Two adults, and two kids.  OK, they're not kids any more, but none the less.  I got one of the adult names, his was easy, and I got the two kids names... But HER name, who has been a relative since the day I was born, who's name I SHOULD know.  Not a chance.  My brain was completely devoid of ANY guess at her name.

For two hours, I lay there, brow furrowed, trying to figure her name out.  There was no WAY on this planet I was going to text someone to ask for help.  Not a chance.  It got to the stage where I NEEDED to work it out for myself.  I tried running up the family tree, but her name was clearly fuzzed out by my brain.  I tried going through the alphabet, thinking of names beginning with each letter.

It wasn't until nearly 10am that my brain said "Ooooh OK then, here you go, her name is *hidden*" and I actually replied to it with a "Ahhhhh yes, thank you!"

So, aside from the fact I am clearly going nuts, my brain has another funny skill that it does to me most days, in that I will wake up with something in my head.  Usually, it's a song.  Sometimes, it's theme music, or a line from a book, or just something completely random.  In an effort to see what sort of crap my brain kicks out each day, I've taken to keeping track of it all.

In blog form, of course.

There's not much on there as yet - I've only been doing it a few days - and the content is going to literally just be "My brain is doing this today" and have a video, or a link, or the quote or whatever on there.

Go take a look at my "Stuck In My Head" blog to see just how random my brain can be!

Cleaning Up A Bit

Being that the last week has been rather... Hectic... My body is officially dead.  I was knackered by Saturday, Sunday was pushing past death, and Monday had stuff to do.

So today I feel like I've been hit by a steam roller, which went over me a few extra times, just to make sure.

Doubletap!

So, sat on my blubbery behind, I am pottering about on the laptop.  I've spent an hour or so going through my Google Reader subscriptions, deleting everything that no longer exists, or leads to a place that's not been updated for a year or more.

All tidy now!

Next up is my link list over there to the right.  It's grown steadily over the last few years, but I often get told "Link X is dead!" so now I'm going to go through them all and have a tidy up.

If you have a blog on there and see it's removed, it is either because you've not updated in a year or more, or your site no longer exists.  Please feel free to tell me your new URL or whatever so I can put it back! 

Let the purging commence!!

Inside Your Computers Brain

Found this over at Bits & Pieces and it cracked me up... Definitely a site to visit if you want to see random funny stuff!

Enjoy!

Computer: Monitor, display this document, ok?

Monitor: No prob, boss.

Computer: OK, now it looks like Mouse is moving around so, Monitor, will you move the pointer icon accordingly?

Monitor: Anything you ask, boss.

Computer: Great, great. OK, Mouse, where are you going now?

Mouse: Over to the icon panel, sir.

Computer: Hmm, Let me know if he clicks anything, OK?

Mouse: Of course.

Keyboard: Sir, he’s pressed control and P simultaneously.

Monitor: Oh God, here we go.

Computer: *sighs* Printer, are you there?

Printer: No.

Computer: Please, Printer. I know you’re there.

Printer: NO! I’m not here! Leave me alone!

Computer: Jesus. OK look, you really ne…

Mouse: Sir, he’s clicked on the printer icon.

Computer: Printer, now you have to print it twice.

Printer: NO! NO! NO! I don’t want to! I hate you! I hate printing! I’m turning off!

Computer: Printer, you know you can’t turn yourself off. Just print the document twice and we’ll leave you alone.

Printer: NO! That’s what you always say! I hate you! I’m out of ink!

Computer: You’re not out of in…

Printer: I’M OUT OF INK!

Computer: *Sighs* Monitor, please show a low ink level alert.

Monitor: But sir, he has plen…

Computer: Just do it, damn it!

Monitor: Yes sir.

Keyboard: AHHH! He’s hitting me!

Computer: Stay calm, he’ll stop soon. Stay calm, old friend.

Keyboard: He’s pressing everything. Oh god, I don’t know, he’s just pressing everything!

Computer: PRINTER! Are you happy now?! Do you see what you’ve done?!

Printer: HA! that’s what you get for trying to get me to do work. Next time he…hey…HEY! He’s trying to open me! HELP! HELP! Oh my god! He’s torn out my cartridge! HELP! Please! ERROR!

Monitor: Sir, maybe we should help him?

Computer: No. He did this to himself.

I like to think I am a fairly well-educated sort.  Not brain-of-the-year or anything, but I have a pretty decent stash of general crap in my head, some of which is useful (like the previous post - I still know how to work out the circumference of a circle armed with just it's radius), some of which is not so useful (The average human head has 100,000 hairs on it).

While plonking about over on Bits & Pieces killing time, I noticed Jonco posted a quizzy-thing...  Which I have decided to link to as well as I think some of you will get a kick out of it - and get as frustrated as I did!

Can you name the 100 most common words in the English dictionary.  In twelve minutes.  Go see if you can do it!

And, for the record - I got 58 out of 100, including 19 of the top 20.

Sunny Sunday

Poor neglected Bloggy. Ah well ;) Anyways, the sun is currently beaming in through the front of the house - great for us smelly bears that like the sun, not so great for us geeks that have a monitor near a window with afore-mentioned sun streaming in.

Meh, I'll survive!

Last few days have been a bit busy, with a family do yesterday for my nans 80th, plus entertaining squids, housework (which only appears when the mini-me's do) and generally out and about. Oh, and Ruth has fed me again too.

Tam and Jaysen are off to Jo's parents today, Tam to stay, Jaysen will be back this evening but wants to see Mummy. So they get a roast dinner. The original plan was a boys day before school, but now I get a day to chill out (and bloody wake up!) before school restarts tomorrow.

In other news, I've been poking around the Blogger in Draft stuff, which is basically where they test random stuff. Down the bottom right, you will see the blogroll reproduced, but in order of most-recent-posts. Be warned, some of those ARE adult blogs, but I will figure how to rename them later. Seems quite nifty for people wanting to blog hop but bored of reading the out of date stuff.

Update your blogs you stinkers!

And while I am prattling on - another nifty feature in the Blogger in Draft stuff - timed posts... That is, a post that you write, set a date for it to publish and Robert's your Mothers Brother. Which will mean I should miss less Musical Mondays. The links to Draft are dotted through this post - you know you're on there when the Blogger Logo is blue.

Anyway - if you've not seen me on your blog of late, don't fret. Where I've got SO DAMN MANY blogs to read (which, I may have mentioned previously, you need to update more!) I've taken to reading all of them through Google Reader. I have it sorted so I see all the new posts, which makes my life so much easier - no need to trawl through nearly 70 blogs looking for new content when it shows me what's new instead.

Huzzah!

So, with Grandfather en route to get the monkeys, the sun shining, I do believe I will spoil myself with milkshake, erm... er... And whatever else I can rustle up!

Vroom Vroom

I'm not a car-freak. Car crasher, maybe, but not a car freak. I can, however, fully appreciate a car that looks nice. Torque, HP, Braking Power, and all that milarky mean precisely bugger all of nothing to me, but I can look at a nice car and like how it looks or sounds.

While blog hopping earlier, I can across Claire's newest entry regarding a couple of cars that are for sale. Both are famous. One was in a magazine that she did the photography for, and the other was made into a cake.

OK, so maybe one is more famous than the other, but you get the idea!

For those local to Essex that are in the market for a new car - or even not local, knowing some petrol heads will drive miles for a new car - I figured I'd link to the cars for anyone that might be interested.

BMW M3 SMG II 3.2 (Semi-Automatic)

Toyota Yaris SR vvt-i 16v 1.3

Don't contact me for info about them though - to me they are just cars for sale - click the link/photo to see more photos of the cars and the seller information!

No Matter What You're Going Through

Someone will always be worse off that you.

I have always believed this mantra. It's part of who I am. So, cast your mind back to my post regarding my most embarrassing moment ever. Yes, ouch.

However, I found a site today called iBrokeMyPenis.com

It's not funny really (OK, I laughed, I laughed hard) but it is worth the read. Especially as I know someone that had it happen to a lad they were seeing! Most amusing...

In-Laws Competition

For those of you that have known me a while, you will probably know that Jo's dad runs a pretty popular mini-magazine for the gamers out there. It's all made at home on his computers, and he prints and posts it all out off his own back. He does it for the hobby, not the money (which is lucky really!) and has all sorts of companies sending him all sorts of stuff to review.

While most of his stuff is printed and posted in hard copy, he does have a little webpage he keeps running and updated every now and then. Every so often, publishers send him stuff for a reader competition, and he's asked me if I will send the unwashed masses - that's you, the reader - over to his site to enter.

I've been told to point out that none of the email addresses are stored, you won't get spam, yada yada yada. And, to be fair, he blows his hard drive often enough that if he DID store it, it wouldn't stay stored for very long ;)

Anyways, go over to Games Gazette and scroll down to the section that reads "Free To Enter Competition" It's one of these very obvious quizzes with a very obvious answer, even if it is relating to the MMORPG Lineage 2. Prizes include a copy of the Lineage II game, a key ring, a standee (whatever that is!), posters, tee-shirts...

So, go now, enter the quizzy thing. Good luck :)

Edit: Forgot to add - feel free to tell your friends to go enter as well... The more the merrier ;)

New Blogs On The Roll

I am a man of routine, but quite often, I take that routine and stick it somewhere dark and icky. Of course I mean the attic... Every day I read lots of blogs, mostly the ones on the sidebar there under (amazingly) "Blogroll"

Seriously, you can't miss them.

I've noticed more and more of late, that clicking the "Next Blog" button leads to one of a few types of blog:

• Something in a completely alien language
• Something older than some of you readers
• Something of angst and woe and "poetry"
• Something interesting

Sadly, for the most part, the blogs I find are all of the first three items. Finding an English-written blog is a mission in itself, and when I do find one, it's a year or more out of date, and then it's some mid-teen pouring their heart out about the evils of their life, how dark their soul is and so on...

Of late, I've started reading three new blogs, one from comments left here, one from an existing blogger, and a third from clicking "Next Blog" till the blisters on my fingers subsided. All three fall under the "Personal" category, with general chatter about whatever pops up.

• Can I Find Me is a blog by Debbie who, after focusing on her personal life, is working on how to change herself for the better by doing things for her and discussing her relationship in detail.
• Earth Girl I found randomly, and she blogs about whatever crosses her mind - a broken tooth of late, as well as previously being a victim of identity fraud.
• Krista's Thoughts by (cunningly) Krista is another personal blog covering her life, medical stuff, tags & memes (so tag her!) and general parental ramblings.

Go have a read, poke them and say hi! You don't have to say I sent you though ;)

Anyways, the blogroll is looking a bit tatty of late. I've been crossing out blogs that haven't been updated or have been locked to invited readers only. I'm contemplating deleting the dead blogs out there, but those that are still active can still be read... But for the time being, a strikethrough link is a blog that is either out of date or locked.

The RockStar Video

Since posting my Musical Monday post yesterday of Nickleback's "RockStar" I've had a sudden increase in the number of people searching for things like "Cast of RockStar Video" and similar search strings. While sitting watching it, I could see a few famous people - yes, the three Playboy girlies did stick out...

Anyway, Jo did a bit of poking around, and thanks to (shockingly) Wikipedia, here's the complete list of people, including the lyrics they sing at that point of the track:

1. Boy at a baseball field: "I'm through with standing in line to clubs I'll never get in"
2. Lindsay Shaw in front of the Cloud Gate: "It's like the bottom of the ninth"
3. Man in front of the Flatiron Building: "and I'm never gonna win"
4. Cindy Taylor on a pool float: "This life hasn't turned out"
5. Old woman on the Millennium Bridge (London) in front of St. Paul's Cathedral: "quite the way I want it to be"
6. Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top: "Tell me what you want" (voiceover)
7. Wayne Gretzky: "I want a brand new house"
8. Three women in Times Square: "on an episode of Cribs"
9. Kendra Wilkinson in front of the Playboy Mansion: "And a bathroom I can play baseball in"
10. New York City policeman: "And a king size tub"
11. Gene Simmons in front of his wall of gold and platinum records: "big enough for ten"
12. Paul Wall in front of a highway: "plus me"
13. Billy Gibbons again: "Yeah, so whatcha need" (voiceover)
14. Park ranger at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park: "I'll need a, a credit card"
15. Dominique Swain in a bubblebath: "that's got no limit"
16. Three men (one US MP, one East German border guard, and one civilian) at Checkpoint Charlie facing the American Sector: "And a big black jet"
17. Twista, Mayz from the Speedknot Mobstaz, and unknown man riding in a limo: "with a bedroom in it"
18. Man in Grand Central Terminal: "Gonna join the mile high club"
19. Holly Madison in the Playboy Mansion grotto: "at thirty-seven thousand feet"
20. Woman in Los Angeles: "Been there, done that" (Billy Gibbons voiceover)
21. Street musician in Union Square: "I want a new tour bus"
22. Same street musician with performers in Union Square: "full of old guitars"
23. Three girls on the bank of the Chicago River in front of Marina City: "My own star on Hollywood Boulevard"
24. Gene Simmons again: "Somewhere between Cher"
25. Paul Teutul, Sr. of Orange County Choppers: "and James Dean is fine for me"
26. Billy Gibbons: "So how you gonna do it?" (voiceover)
27. John Rich on a pool table with a banjo: "I'm gonna trade this life"
28. Woman in Union Square: "for fortune and fame"
29. Chuck Liddell: "I'll even cut my hair"
30. Man in a Chinese restaurant: "and change my name"
31. Two Blazin' Saddles employees in front of a General Lee-inspired RV: "'Cause we all just wanna be"
32. Eight kids in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge: "big rockstars"
33. Wayne Gretzky again: "and live in hilltop houses"
34. Parking valet at Jones Hollywood in West Hollywood: "driving fifteen cars"
35. Man on Lambeth Palace Road in front of the Houses of Parliament: "The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap"
36. Jenna Westerbeck sunbathing: "We'll all stay skinny"
37. Kid Rock: "cause we just won't eat/And we'll"
38. Twista, Mayz, and unknown man again: "hang out in the coolest bars"
39. Jessie Coleman in Grand Central Terminal: "In the VIP"
40. Eliza Dushku: "with the movie stars"
41. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in front of a Union 76 gas station: "Every good gold digger's"
42. Taryn Manning: "Gonna wind up there"
43. Paul Wall again: "Every Playboy bunny"
44. Two women in the middle of Davie Street: "With her bleach blond hair"
45. Jerry Cantrell under Chicago's El tracks and in front of Double Door: "And we'll/Hey hey"
46. Liam Lynch in Union Square: "I wanna be a"
47. Nelly Furtado on tour bus: "rockstar"
48. Man in front of the same highway as as Paul Wall above
49. Man in Union Square
50. Two women in Grand Central Terminal: "Hey"
51. Chuck Liddell with Elliot Segal from DC101 in a headlock:"hey"
52. Boy in grocery store: "I wanna be a rockstar"
53. Paul Teutul, Jr., Paul Teutul, Sr., and Mikey from Orange County Choppers flexing muscles
54. Man in front of Marina City: "I wanna be great like Elvis"
55. Elvis impersonator: "without the tassels"
56. Federico Castelluccio from The Sopranos: "Hire eight body guards"
57. Chuck Liddell again: "that love to beat up assholes"
58. Grant Hill signing basketball: "Sign a couple autographs/So I can"
59. Man in Union Square again: "eat my meals for free"
60. Billy Gibbons again: "I'll have the quesadilla" (voiceover)
61. Paul Wall again: "Ha ha" (Billy Gibbons voiceover)
62. Man and woman in the middle of Davie Street: "I'm gonna dress my ass"
63. Ted Nugent: "with the latest fashion"
64. Man and woman in front of the Cloud Gate: "Get a front door key"
65. Kendra Wilkinson, Holly Madison, and Bridget Marquardt from The Girls Next Door: "to the Playboy mansion"
66. Man in front of the Flatiron Building: "Gonna date a centerfold"
67. Two men in Washington Square Park: "that loves to blow my money for me"
68. Billy Gibbons again: "So how you gonna do it?" (voiceover)
69. Paul Teutul, Jr., Paul Teutul, Sr., and Mikey from Orange County Choppers again: "I'm gonna trade this life"
70. Man and woman in front of the Reichstag building: "For fortune and fame"
71. Jordan Carlos overlooking Los Angeles: "I'd even cut my hair"
72. Man in front of the New York Stock Exchange: "And change my name"
73. Man at a pink bus-stop bench on Davie Street: "'Cause we all just wanna be"
74. Lupe Fiasco on a table: "big rockstars"
75. Woman in front of the Brandenburg Gate: "And live in hilltop houses"
76. Woman in front of the Chicago Theater: "driving fifteen cars"
77. Two women at the beach: "The girls come easy"
78. Taryn Manning again: "and the drugs come cheap"
79. Eliza Dushku again: "We'll all stay skinny"
80. Woman in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge: "'cause we just won't eat"
81. Three women dancing : "And we'll hang out in the coolest bars"
82. Gene Simmons again: "In the VIP"
83. Dominique Swain again: "with the movie stars"
84. Lupe Fiasco again: "Every good gold digger's"
85. Chuck Liddell again: "gonna wind up there"
86. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. again: "Every Playboy bunny"
87. Two girls in Times Square: "with her bleach blond hair"
88. Man in front of Beverly Hills High School: "And we'll hide out in the private rooms"'
89. Eliza Dushku again: "With the latest dictionary"
90. Federico Castelluccio again: "and today's who's who"
91. Riki Lindhome at the beach: "They'll get you anything with that evil smile"
92. Kid Rock again: "Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial/Well"
93. Steel worker: "Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar"
94. John Rich again, smashing a guitar
95. Three women in the middle of Davie Street: "I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors"
96. Te'DeVan Rocketman Wacha Kurzweil in Union Square: "Gonna pop my pills from a Pez dispenser"
97. Lupe Fiasco again: "Get washed-up singers"
98. Boy in front of a mixing console: "writing all my songs"
99. Woman overlooking Los Angeles: "Lip sync 'em every night"
100. Daniel Self at City Market in Raleigh: "so I don't get 'em wrong"
101. Man on street corner in New York City's Chinatown: "Well we all just wanna be"
102. Man in front of Big Acorn in Raleigh: "big rockstars"
103. Eight Blazin' Saddles employees at City Market in Raleigh: "And live in hilltop houses"
104. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. again:"driving fifteen cars"
105. The Naked Cowboy in Times Square: "The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap"
106. Woman at the beach: "We'll all stay skinny"
107. Boy in Times Square: "'cause we just won't eat"
108. Cindy Taylor again: "And we'll hang out in the coolest bars"
109. Woman in front of Buckingham Fountain: "In the VIP"
110. Grant Hill again: "with the movie stars"
111. Jayson Woolley in Union Square: "Every good gold digger's"
112. Ted Nugent again: "gonna wind up there"
113. Holly Madison again: "Every Playboy"
114. Bridget Marquardt in a pink bed: "bunny with her bleach"
115. Kendra Wilkinson again: "blond hair/And we'll"
116. Boy standing next to City Hall in front of Tower Bridge: "hide out in the private rooms"
117. Nelly Furtado again: "With the latest dictionary and today's"
118. Two women in front of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge: "Who's Who/They'll get you anything"
119. Kid Rock again: "with that evil smile/Everybody's"
120. Ted Nugent again: "got a drug dealer on speed dial/Well"
121. John Rich again: "hey"
122. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. again: "hey"
123. Worker in front of Marina City: "I wanna be a rockstar"
124. Wayne Gretzky again, splashing a pool with a hockey stick
125. Kendra Wilkinson again dancing
126. Nelly Furtado again: "Hey"
127. Gene Simmons again: "hey"
128. Nickelback fans at Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts concert singing: "I wanna be a rockstar"
129. Pan to Chad Kroeger, pan to Mike Kroeger and Ryan Peake

Holy crap on a crap stick, that is a LOT of linkage I just had to do. I could have copied direct from Wikipedia, but there were a lot of links not on there. So there you have it, a line-by-line guide of who is singing and where! All the links will open in the same window because I am just too damn lazy to add the code for seperate windows! There are one or two links missing as well - if you want to let me know what I missed, then lemmie know!

Up and Coming

I love my movies - the 200-300 DVDs we own are a clear testament to that. We've never been a "Buy it, watch it, get rid of it" sorts, and will watch films over and over. They vary in genre; action, thriller, horror, kids, comedy, sci-fy, fantasy - not to mention the TV Shows we have in box sets and suchlike.

While I don't tend to read movie guides or watch up and coming movies, every now and then I will come across a trailer or three and think "Ooooh Wow!" And of course, my train of thought usually goes from "Ooooh Wow!" to "Must share on blog!"

So here are some movies that have caught my eye. Of course the next one I HAVE to see is Cloverfield, but all in good time ;)

Iron Man: Movie adaption the comic/cartoon series.
Apple Trailer / IMDb / Official Site

Doomsday: Virus/Apocolypse based in England - looks like Mad Max.
Apple Trainer / IMDb / Official Site

Star Trek: The next Trek movie, but a prequal, I believe.
Apple Trailer / IMDb / Official Site

Forbidden Kingdom: Time travel, Quest, Jackie Chan, Jet Li... Woot!
Apple Trailer / IMDb / Offical Site

Narnia - Prince Caspian: The next installment of the Narnia series, set 1300 years later in Narnia.
Apple Trailer / IMDb / Official Site

In The Name of the King: Based on the game Dungeon Seige, BUT it's by Uwe Boll who is knows to butcher game-movies.
Apple Trailer / IMDb / Offical Site

The Dark Knight: Sequal to Batman Begins which will be hyped due to Heath Ledger dying.
Apple Trailer / IMDb / Official Site

New Blogs To Read!

As you know, when I am not nailing kids to walls asking my cherubs to be quiet, when I am not playing WoW, and when I am not doing a million other things, I read blogs. I comment on blogs. And when I am needing to read more (and some people haven't updated in a millenia) I either press the button marked "Next Blog" which invariably leads me to either A) A Spam Blog, or B) A non-English blog.

So, at that point, I resort to following links. Links to links to links. The Blog Conga, I suppose it could be described as.

Quite often, I am surprised at the number of blogs that get put on the back burner where people lose time, interest or their mojo, but I'm more surprised that people keep links to blogs that are out of date by a year or more. Ho Hum.

Anyways, I've found more blogs to read! Hurrah! Go have a read, take a peek, say hi - whatever you like :D I'll be adding these to my blog roll this evening before the alcohol fumes overpower me.

Personal Blogs:

• GinaRobbo: Flicking through the regional part of Blogger, I found Gina in the same county category as me. So I suppose that makes her an Essex Girl - I won't go there tho, because, frankly, I'm outnumbered. Her blog covers her day to day life with her man and her dog, and like me, blogs the stuff that happens to her on a daily basis.
• The Gospel According To Rhys: OK, yes, he's Welsh, but we won't hold that against him. Not yet, anyway. Anyways, he's got a very dry sense of humour and his blog covers pretty much what he wants it to; personal life, babes, games reviews - all with a comedic spin.

Work Blogs:

• Area Trace No Search: It seems that a lot of the work blogs I read are based in the Emergency Services, and this is my first police blog. Like most of the others, he writes anonymously about his job, the politics involved and his daily goings-on. Very interesting to read, especially as my father was a police man.
• Purple Plus: A blog of a Paramedic working in, I assume, London. A self-proclaimed Stretcher Monkey complete with images of monkeys on his blog. Obviously, with his line of work, he discusses all aspects of his job, including the non-pretty calls. It makes for thought-provoking reading.

Adult Blog:
(Obviously, disclaimer, that the following link contains material of an adult nature, yada yada yada)

• Sexegesis: Marcelle writes from New York, and covers everything from perversions, to past relationships and her previous wild life. She writes frankly and powerfully, and is well worth the read. Don't think it's all smut though - she discusses other aspects of her life and lifestyle opening.

So there you have it. *hic* Go forward and read, leave them some love if you enjoy, link them up, whatever. *hic* Keep up the good work guys.

The Sofa

It's nearly midnight here in Chez 0ddness, and yet, here I am, pissing around on my blog. The reason is simple - I am on the sofa tonight.

Thankfully, I hasten to add, it's not one of those "YOU can sleep on the sofa tonight" instances, but me, being the perfect gent that I am, have given up my bed for our friend Lane.

Yes, there are two women in my bed tonight... But I am still the gentleman here ;)

Lane is having what you might want to term "A Bloody Awful Time", and has spent the day here alternating between crying, laughing, chasing the kids, and chilling out. She even got to see Migraine Dan pass out on the sofa and bury himself under a stack of sleeping bags. She's been through a lot in the last few months, and it's all coming out on our shoulders.

She's also the person that "helped" me get our replacement washing machine in. She's even started to blog a bit, I've added her to the blogroll. Her blog is Phoenix Is... so poodle on over and say howdy.

In other news, well, we've got a replacement washing machine after our other one was repossessed. We got a letter today telling us it was going to be taken. Great, well done - would have been handy a week ago.

My arm is sore and bruised from the Needle of Doom.

I've had a bitch of a headache for the last couple of days.

Hellgate London is an excellent computer game. I've been waiting two or three years for this game, and it was worth the wait. Swords, guns, demons, undead - great stuff.

Firefly still kicks ass. Anyone that didn't enjoy what there was made of that show should be pushed out of their country and sent to somewhere strange. Like Australia.

Anyways, I am sooo glad tomorrow is Friday. No doubt it will be spent doing the worlds supply of washing up and clearing up generic chaos. I might even post the rest of my Whinefest ;)

So, with a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers (who are no doubt doing family stuff and far too busy to read blogs, I'm going to try and fall asleep.

Edit: Oh, the template. So, it turns out that the problem is to do with new code being viewed on out of date software. You need to upgrade to IE7 or Firefox in order for the poor little sidebar to appear in the right place. I tested it on an old computer a couple of days back and see the problem, upgraded to Firefox and it was fine. Otherwise, just grin, bear it, and wait for the next template rehash ;)

New Blogs!

When I am bored, I click. The higher the level of boredom, the higher the rate of clicking. I've gone through the blogger profile page links for hours on end, hacking my way through the Spam Blogs (splogs) in order to find that one gem that appeals to me.

A couple of weeks ago, I came across a couple of blogs that just tweaked my humour bone. And, in true 0ddness style, it occurs to me the author of both blogs work for London Underground. Coincidence, that they are both amusing chaps? Probably not - dealing with the unwashed masses has clearly done something to these chaps.

So, if you find yourself at a loose end, go check out The Misadventures of Me, and The Trials and Tribulations of Sweeney. Like true British Men, they swear and speak their mind, but if you read my crap, you can cope ;)