Doughnuts not donuts

I'm disappointed to see that Mr Clark of Life, Explained has disparaged this fine blog, suggesting that it is only fit for use as fish and chip wrapping, whilst the shortcomings of his American blog are obvious.  Allow me to illuminate you.

For example, in his latest blog he uses the word "airplane", which as we all know should be "aeroplane".  Worst of course is the use of "donut" as opposed to "doughnut" - the item is made out of dough, hence doughnut. Donut sounds like an instruction to be violent.

Nevertheless, I'm sure that Tim's blog would be good enough - just about - to wrap a hot dog in, with sauce and onions of course.

I can only summarise that Tim is sadly suffering from the Dunning-Kruger effect.  Thoughts are with you, Tim.

Mike is on Holiday and Life Explained Takes The Reins

While I'm doing the holiday thing, my good friend Tim from Life, Explained has stepped up to write a guest post.  Take it away, Tim!

My friend Mike is on a holiday. I am not sure where he went, and since I am writing this now (not now, like at the present time, now like weeks ago, probably) I am not even sure when he went. Still, Mike is my friend, we have been blogging friends for quite a while.

Which makes me wonder why he didn’t tell me where he was going, was he worried I would show up at his hotel. “Hey, Mike, here I am with my family, and the people I work with. And the guy who runs the donut shop where I get my “coffee.* We just stopped by to see what you were doing.” Would that be so bad?

Of course he didn’t even tell me when he was leaving. Perhaps he thinks I will go to his house and drink all his beers, and tea, and eat all the pastries and cakes. Which might not be a bad idea considering how little Mike thinks of our “friendship.” If it weren’t for all the flying over all the ocean (two of my least favorite things) to get there.

Still, good friends are hard to find, particularly when they live in the UK and don’t want to be found. Then it approaches impossible. And Mike is one of my oldest blogging friends.

Mike, we are going to go to the Smoky Mountains in a southern state in the fall. Beautiful country, moonshine liquor, boiled peanuts,** a peaceful cabin nestled deep in the forest, Friendship Falls and their version of Loaded Fries, and the comfort of an evening rain shower every time we light the barbecue grill. It is almost heaven. Why don’t you stop by. It is just location redacted.

Your “friend”

Tim

*Secret wife fooling code for “Donuts”

**Whatever you do don’t eat the boiled peanuts, I am convinced it is a joke, and they just laugh at the Yankees as they take our money.

Note from Mike: For the record, I have little idea where we're going on holiday, it involves me driving and my wife giving directions.

Are you keeping an eye on Jeff?

Just a quick post to say that if you aren't already, you ought to be checking out the Saving Jeff series on Life, Explained - robots, war, and a guy from Packing.  What more do you need.

And Bob, the Custodian, of course.

Read Part 1 - Jeff and the Tiny Killer Robot here, and then...
Part 2 - Jeff's Body Fights Back
Part 3 - The Battle For Jeff
Part 4 - Saving Shipping Guy Jeff
Part 5 - Dawg Turns On The Charm
Part 6 - We take the offensive in the Battle for Jeff

Excited?  I know I am.  It's like the England vs Russia match all over again.

Computer Dreaming

I don't know if I've already posted about this, but I had a go with Dreamdeeply.com, a website that uses Google Deep Dream to generate dream images from pictures you provide.  For example, it changed this:

A picture of me somewhere up Mount Dalsnibba in Norway

Something with loads of birds and spidery things?!?

And in honour of the upcoming debate behind me and Tim about our respective political systems (get involved - Saturday 19th of September 2015! He's getting a lot of US supporters lined up, and I need more bloggers to put forward the case for the UK!) here is a UK flag all dreamed up.

Google likes eyes.

Have you had a go with any of the websites running Google Deep Dream?  Or have you tried running the Deep Dream software on your own PC?  I'd love to hear what you created!

In other news - my latest Random Wikipedia Article is up

And if you like it stay tuned to my channel - more rock-wallabies to be featured in the future!

PM vs President - the showdown is coming!

And so, the latest transatlantic debate is announced.  Earlier today the one and only Mr Tim Clark of Life, Explained, and a fellow blogger on The Whacko, declared war upon not just our political process, but ultimately our very way of life* from the land of America, upon the home of all that is true, good, and mighty, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

And so, in two weeks, we will be extolling the virtues of our political processes, and the way that our democracy is operated, in the UK by a Prime Minister, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords, and in the US by.... well, I've no idea, but from watching NCIS I think there's a chap that goes by the nickname of "POTUS" and a lot of hard faced people in dark suits with sunglasses listening to ear-pieces (the kind that I've seen used to protect sandwiches)

So, stay tuned to my blog, and Tim's blog, and The Whacko, not to mention my YouTube channel (but don't watch Tim's videos because it'll have some sort of dog giving instructions on it) as we work up to the big day.

In the mean time, your comments and letters of support are welcomed, if you have a view that you think helps my argument as to why the UK's system is the best, drop me a comment or tweet me or do something, it'll make you feel all warm inside, kind of like how my liqueur coffee is making me feel right now.

(And if you think you might need a liqueur coffee, check out the decision tree.)

If you're a blogger, maybe you could do a blog giving your point of view on Saturday the 19th of September 2015 too - we could link up and all that kind of awesomeness.

For Democracy!

*Tim didn't actually declare war on either our political process or our way of life. But let's not let the truth get in the way of a good statement.

Guest Post: Marriage

As I've got a bit of a busy summer (marriage and honeymoon awaits!) a few people have kindly volunteered to help me out with a few guest posts.  Today Tim Clark of Life, Explained, one of my favourite blogs of all time, has stepped up, and I felt it appropriate for Tim's blog to be posted as I'm getting married (unless something has hideously gone wrong!).  Thanks Tim!

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Photo:EscapesTD

Hello, Mike Raven, the owner of this blog is off on an extremely dangerous, potentially suicidal mission.  He is getting married.  Knowing the end is potentially closing in can be liberating, invigorating, and providing a sense of freedom, and fearlessness that is overwhelming.  Since Mike is feeling so cavalier about life, and living, he has agreed to let me write a blog post.  Hey, what does he have to lose?

It makes sense to write about marriage, since that is why I am writing this. Besides, I am kind of an expert, I am married after all, and have been for over twenty five years. To the same person, I can’t think of her name right now, it is right there, I can see it. Just kidding, I know her name.

Marriage is a sacred pact, a commitment, and it shouldn’t be joked about, too much, but a little sense of humor is a healthy addition to any sacred pact.  I am fairly certain the Egyptians would not have tried to conquer the world so many years ago if they had not taken everything so seriously.  A few jokes might have kept things civil enough to save a lot of lives.

Oh, sure they tried, a little.  Here is a typical joke from that time period.

“How do you stop a Nubian from charging?”

“Build a series of defensive fortress to the south, right along the border, and fill them with heavily armed soldiers.”

Obviously, the ancient Egyptians were expert builders, look at the Pyramids, and the Sphinx, but lacked the comedic timing and subtle word play to be truly successful. Marriage needs a little comedy to stay strong. A couple needs to negotiate, as well, give and take these are important skills.

Let’s look at the Star Wars trilogy, sextuplet, uncertain number of movies. If the Empire and the Rebel Alliance could have sat down over a nice breakfast, or lunch, and each side would have given just a little so much pretend tragedy could have been avoided.  Think of all the make believe lives that were lost as make believe cities, and fictional planets were destroyed across immeasurable fictional distances.  Think of all the money, trillions of whatever monetary units are used by the Empires and the Rebels, could have been used to make things better on Hoth, or Alderaan, or Kamino.  You see how important communication is to a marriage.

All kidding aside.  I raise my coffee cup and toast your successful life together.  I hope everything is sunny and wonderful for you and your family.

The kettle is going on - but what is everyone drinking?

We head unstoppably towards the battle royale, tea versus coffee, all lined up for Sunday the 2nd of November.  More broadsides have been issued from both sides as companies across the globe declare their loyalty to one side or another.

DAVIDsTEA of Montreal appears to be undecided, stating that they obviously love tea, but that they are partial to coffee - I must admit that their Jumpy Monkey blend did turn my head for a moment, but I shall be strong.

Kicking Horse Coffee of Invermere, BC unsurprisingly voted for COFFEE! #FueledbytheHorse

Ritual Coffee of San Francisco has risen above the arguments with a quote from Mark Twain - Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference. I say that they have risen above the argument, they may actually just be calling me thick, which is probably quite true.

And Coffee Planet NL of the Netherlands has unfortunately plumped for the dark side.

Today Mr Clark of Life, Explained warns of a tea drinking army preparing to mobilise. Well, let our army rise up - and make a cuppa.  I am typing this blog using my partners laptop as the power supply in my PC has died suspiciously just as we gear up for this epic battle.  I'm not saying that Tim did it, but...

Voting-wise tea has taken a comfortable lead over coffee, with hot chocolate rearing its head too.  Make sure that you vote for your favourite hot drink at http://vote.pollcode.com/16115227 and do promote the contest anyway you can, using the hashtag #HOTDRINKDAY

The Nursing Home

I'll start this post off by saying that I apologise if it is not up to my usual mediocre standards, however British Summer Time ended last night, which meant that a huge amount of people got an extra hour in bed today, whilst another grouping of people (which happens to include me) has a small child that has no concept of British Summer Time and woke up at ten past four expecting CBeebies, jam-covered toast and a glass of smoothie.

Long-term readers may remember these posts about taking my gran shopping and having lunch with her in Waitrose, however things have moved on.  Several months back she had a couple of falls and eventually it was agreed that the best thing for her was to go into a nursing home.

Ever a creature of habit, my gran has wasted no time in settling in a new routine, as follows:

1. In the morning she wakes up and gets a bowl of sweetened porridge for breakfast.  She doesn't like sweetened porridge but because she doesn't like to complain about it (and I suspect that she's the only person in the home that wants it unsweetened) she has it sweetened.
2. After that she'll be got out of bed, dressed, and sat in her chair.  Here she stays for the morning, talking to her room mate, until lunchtime.
3. Lunch typically consists of three courses - soup, of which she has one spoon full and then leaves it on the side, a main course which she devours, and a pudding, which she waits for her roommate to eat hers and then gets the roommate to swap the plates.
4. After lunch she'll be put into her nightgown and returned to bed, as her back is playing up.
5. And at teatime, again she will eat the main course and then swap the pudding plates with her roommate to allow her to again get two portions.

That's not to say that there isn't excitement.  There was the time when my gran slipped out of her chair, and ended up sitting on the floor.  When the staff came to see what had happened, and asked her "What are you doing?", she responded, not unreasonably with "Nothing - I'm just sitting on the floor!"

I generally visit her once a week, bringing a number of the following items:

• Walnut whips - she doesn't actually eat these, but when I visit we share them - that is, I eat the chocolate with the whip inside, and she has the walnut.  I recall the time that she asked me what nut was on top of a walnut whip.  I told her to think about what she'd asked me.
• Marshmallows - these are for her roommate.  When the coast is clear and no staff are around, my gran wraps up half a dozen marshmallows in a piece of tissue and beckons her roommate over to take them.
• Toffees and assorted bags of sweets - similarly to the marshmallows, these are actually for the roommate, and will be mixed with wild abandon to give the roommate a selection of treats.
• Cartons of apple juice - these aren't needed very often, as it's rare that my gran actually drinks one, but she does like to keep a supply of twenty or so handy in her wardrobe.

Today she was telling me that there is no difference between men and women, except that men have a thingy.  And, apparently, it's a good job that they have a thingy, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to wee.

I can't finish the post without reminding all about the run up to #HOTDRINKDAY on Sunday the 2nd of November.  If you're a tea fan, you're in the right place, because The Blog of Thog is the home of all tea drinkers - read my announcement here.  If, on the other hand, you're a coffee aficionado, well Mr Clark at Life, Explained is there for you, and you can read his announcement here.  We need all you social media folk to be prepared next Sunday to put forward your views - what drink do you prefer?

And don't forget to vote!

Tea versus Coffee - get involved!

In just over a week the latest in our series of transatlantic debates will be taking place as The Blog of Thog takes on Life, Explained in the war to end all wars.

Which is better: Tea or Coffee?

By Paul Downey from Berkhamsted, UK (Morning Tea  Uploaded by McGeddon) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Now, obviously the answer is tea, but a certain young whippersnapper from the US of A doesn't seem to agree.  So, we're going to be gearing up for a good old blog debate on Sunday the 2nd of November 2014, and I'm encouraging other Internet folk to get involved.

Do you blog?  Make videos?  Podcasts? Or other internetty content stuff?  Well, upload something on your own blog/YouTube channel/Podcast site/other place defending either tea or coffee (or even go a separate way, state a different preference - hot chocolate perhaps!) and make it live on Sunday 2nd November - make sure to let us know here and at Life, Explained so we can link to it!  If you promote it anywhere use the hashtag #HOTDRINKDAY and I'll be checking the tag during the day to see what's kicking off.  Our posts should be going live about 3pm UK time (10am Ohio time) so don't worry, you don't need to get up early to catch our posts (although obviously you're very welcome to!)

If you're not one of the above, don't worry, you can still get involved in lots of ways, including:

• Commenting on our blogs to tell us which one you prefer
• Sharing our posts on Twitter/Facebook/Reddit/Google+ etc to promote the debate!
• Voting in the poll below!

Yes, right below is a poll for what is the best hot drink!  Take part now!

Thanks for reading and get ready for the 2nd of November - HOT DRINK DAY!!!

What is the best hot drink?

Tea Coffee Hot Chocolate Warm Milk Malt drink e.g. Ovaltine / Horlicks Bovril Alcoholic e.g. Hot Toddy / Mulled Wine / Liqeur Coffee I hate all hot drinks!  

pollcode.com free polls

Football versus American Football - which is better?

For today's post I've linked up with Tim Clark over at Life, Explained, to compare the two sports, with each of us defending our chosen sport.  As a born and bred Englishman I am naturally defending football (aka soccer) whilst Tim champions the American spin-off of Rugby, American Football.

To my mind, it's pretty easy to defend.  Football is so much simpler to play, you don't need multiple layers of armour, or a "gridiron" (which I understand is actually two words, but for some reason the Americans have missed the space in the middle), and you don't even need an egg-shaped ball, the typical round sort (or a soda can at a pinch) will do fine.

And football can be tough, too.  This photo was taken after I took a knee to the face after one enthusiastic game.

Although I tell people that actually I got it by stopping a bus from rolling over a cliff by interjecting my face in the way.

And I think to be honest even the Americans secretly agree, if they don't then why did they manage to do better in World Cup 2014 than England?  Obviously it's because they have significantly increased the level of resources invested in the game, there can't be any other possible reason.

Honest.

I'd like to also signpost you towards my new video supporting football, which includes a number of example football plays, and I think clearly shows why football is the greatest game in the world.  It also involved me getting punched in the face which is well worth a look.

Do leave a comment to say if you agree or not (and why), and do check out Tim's blog on the subject to see which of us makes the better argument.

On me 'ed, son!

Coming up...

Enjoying the Blog of Thog?

Wondering what's coming up in future posts?

Well, we're planning a rather exciting transatlantic debate between myself and my arch-rival and nemesis Tim Clark at Life, Explained (actually he's very pleasant and an excellent blogger but telling you that isn't going to raise the tension) about football, and comparing american "football" to the real football, the beautiful game.  Jumpers for goalposts, afternoons in the park on a Sunday... all that sort of thing.  If you haven't already done so check out Tim's post about our plans.

But am I qualified to talk about football on behalf of the rest of the world?  Well, I strongly believe so, because:

a) I've played it
b) It was possibly invented in England (and I live in England)
c) It'll hopefully make for a half decent blog post

Stay tuned!

I'm writing a lot at the moment

I'm a geek.

To be precise, I'm a computer geek.

Not actually a very good one, I can fix computers but generally not very well, and I get stuck far too often to be a proper computer techie geek.  Nevertheless, I use computers a lot, and the vast majority of the time when I'm writing something, I'm typing it.  I'm one of those people that type up letters to friends and family and print it out rather than actually put pen to paper.  The rare time that I usually have to write a significant amount, for example in an exam, leaves my hand absolutely aching and begging to be put out of its misery,

Then I started the Travelling Book project.

And I now have a few books to write in.

This many.

And actually, slightly bizarrely, my hand seems to be holding up.  I'm preparing around 3 books a day - when I say preparing, I'm writing a page of guidelines inside the front cover, the title page, and the back page.  I still need to go back through the books and add in my piece about me, and then they will be ready to be distributed.  According to my spreadsheet, I have about 20 books confirmed to be sent out, hand delivered, or just left anonymously in odd places, so I hope to get these sent out by the end of August.  I am absolutely loving the project and am really looking forward to taking a huge pile of books to the Post Office for mailing around the world, as well as attempting to sneak into libraries and coffee shops and deposit a book, and get out again without being stopped.  I'm the kind of person that would never dare steal something simply because I would be so scared of being caught.  I managed to become scared just walking over one of these timber and rope bridges at the local park this morning because it rocks a bit when you walk over it.  So sneaking in and leaving a book will probably give me a similar level of excitement.

And I'll also say - Twelfth is a weird word!  Most of the numbers it makes sense, fourth, sixth, tenth, it's the word, plus "th" at the end.  Sometimes, where that doesn't quite work, a letter is taken out - nine become ninth, for example.

But twelfth?  Why isn't it twelvth?  I wrote "The Twelfth Travelling Book" in one of the books about half an hour ago (that gives you an idea how far I've got) and it really doesn't look right to me.

Now I've finished wittering about myself, go and take a look at Tim's blog, where he's talking about a psychological experiment with blocks and how people like to arrange them.  I appear to remember one at my work involving two teddy bears that kept being rearranged into questionable positions.  Tim's findings are much more wholesome, however.

I was going to write a blog post, but...

I made a website instead.

It's the new home of the Travelling Book Project, as the campaign for the project will end in 11 days (I can't believe how quickly time is going - almost halfway!) and I need somewhere to be the home of the project after the campaign ends.  www.travellingbook.eu will point to the new site in a few hours, but for now it still takes you to the Indiegogo campaign.

Actually, I do have something to blog about - I bought a rechargeable vacuum cleaner, as I need to go vacuum somewhere where there isn't electricity.  Had a look at the instructions when I got it back, and I'm very relieved that I learned from the instructions that you need to not only plug the vacuum into a power socket to charge it, but that the socket needs to be turned on as well.

Plug the adapter into a power socket AND turn the power on?!?  Easy tiger, almost lost me there.

I feel so relieved now that I know that.

Finally, Tim Clark over at Life, Explained has seen fit to challenge me to what he calls a "Death Match of Video Production".  I'm looking forward to it!

Facebook related multi media extraordinaire

I'M PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE... sorry, I left caps on.

I'm pleased to announce the launch of this social media explosion of posts and videos between myself and Tim Clark over at Life, Explained, about Facebook.  Yes, we've crossed the Atlantic Ocean (electronically) and social media channels to hit everyone everywhere about everything that we wanted to write about Facebook.

Facebook, in a world where every day a new app is announced or a new piece of hardware launched, is ten years old.  Ten years ago there wasn't iPhones, or any other smartphones (at least not in a format that we'd recognise), no app stores, again no real tablets...

And my hair was bigger

I apparently joined Facebook in October 2007, which roughly coincides with me getting together with my current partner, so I suspect that the relationship had something to do with me starting on Facebook.  And apparently my first status update was "pondering life" which is relatively deep for me as generally the only thing I ponder nowadays is if I can get a quick nap in before having to do something.  Or it was possibly me attempting to look deep and philosophical to a girl that at the time had recently completed a course on Philosophy.

Knowing me, that seems likely.

Facebook has changed a hell of a lot over time.  I remember when I first used it that the thing that stood out to me was how easy it was to use.  When setting your profile up, you could pretty much click on anything you wanted and type whatever you wanted and it'd accept it.

facebook.com is currently the second most visited website in the world (after Google), and shows little sign of losing its dominance on the Internet, with almost 1.3 billion active users, and that number continuing to grow.

Recently they've been hit by the news that they carried out psychological research on users without clearly telling them, and I wonder if I was one of the people selected.  I vaguely remember going on Facebook one day, and being asked me how happy I was on a scale of one to ten - I thought this was a slightly odd request, but I answered it and carried on reading my timeline.  I must admit that I can't say that I feel particularly upset or violated if Facebook did indeed involve me in their research (although if they do want to give me some compensation then of course it had a very real effect on me and I'd like payment via electronic bank transfer please), that said I am generally fairly oblivious to things that upset other people - I recall staying in a hotel room in Majorca one night, and seeing something scuttle over my suitcase.  It scared me for a moment, then I decided that I wouldn't be capable of doing anything about it anyway and so went to sleep.

I like sleep.

At any rate, this is indeed a multimedia explosion of Facebook-related social media stuff, so catch my video about the future of Facebook (which includes a genuine pretend video of what life will look like through Google Glass with a Facebook app) and get to Life, Explained for Tim's stuff there.

I also recommend the very straightforward way that Tim demonstrates, via the medium of animation, a comparison between Facebook and the world.  Thanks very much for stopping by if you've traveled over from Tim's excellent blog and I hope you've enjoyed today.  If you did, perhaps you may be interested in a warning about a vomit -repelling mattress.  Or, if you'd like to hear more about Facebook, here's some thoughts on its logical evolution.

Versatile Blogger Award nomination!

I am typing quite quickly at the moment, having dashed upstairs for a swift 15 minutes blogging during half-time of the France vs Honduras World Cup match - I didn't intend to watch it, but was quickly sucked in to the game and am waiting to see by just how many goals France will beat Honduras by, both teams are also quite... physical... shall we say, with some assertive tackling going on.

Anyway I digress!  I have been nominated by Tony Payson of The Writers' Bloc for a Versatile Blogger Award, which is very nice of him - thanks Tony!  Although I'm certainly not in the nature of blogging as a living or anything else (which is a good job as it does not form a large part of my income!) it is nice to know that people do look at my blog now and again, and more importantly think that it is of least vague interest.  I'd strongly recommend checking out Tony's blog.

Congratulations of course to Tony for his nomination, very well deserved.

In turn I would like to nominate the following blogs, which is nowhere near the 15 blogs I'm supposed to:

• Andy at BadDogGaming - Andy is an old friend of mine, participant in my World of Warcraft parody video, and a very funny and smart guy.  He tends to blog mainly about computer gaming, but also delves into other (often dog-related!) topics.
• Duncan at Nobodys Reading Me - Duncan is a brilliant writer, and very entertaining.  Someone I aspire to be in the fullness of time.
• Tim Clark of Life, Explained.  Tim in some ways I almost think of as a kindred spirit, as a producer of blog posts that I would like to, if only I had the talent Tim does!  Probably my most regular read.

And now I have to tell Tony 7 things about myself.  Well, I may as well say them here rather than just emailing him, or leaving a list on his doorstep (plus it's less effort to be frank), so here we go:

1. I was educated at home, with my first experience of formal education being 3 years full time at Hull College.
2. I can't swim.  I've never needed to swim, I do vaguely think that I ought to learn, in case I see a drowning toddler or something, but haven't got round to it.
3. I can't ride a bike.  This one I see less point for learning, yet I get more people telling me that I should ride a bike.  But I have legs, and if I need to travel further than is practical to walk, I also have a car.  I see little advantage for a different form of transport which seems more dangerous than a car, less comfortable and slower than a car, yet makes you sweatier than just walking.
4. I technically hold three degrees - a Foundation Degree in Information Communication Enabling Technologies (which is actually more like a HND) from the University of Lincoln, a Bachelors in Computing (Information Systems) also from Lincoln, and a Masters Degree in Construction Project Management from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh.  I remember thinking once "who would be a doctor, and have to spend seven years studying", and then realising that between 1998 and 2012, I spent 12 of the 14 years studying.  Damn, I could be a doctor by now.
5. I dislike moldy fruit intensely.  Honestly - I absolutely hate it.  My other half can threaten to throw a moldy apple at me and I will run out of the room screaming.
6. And I scream like a girl.
7. Seventh thing?  I don't multi-task at home particularly well.  It's strange, when I'm at work I believe that I can multi-task when necessary (although I certainly prefer to focus on a single job at a time), but at home, if I'm doing something like cleaning the kitchen, and then have to stop to put the dinner on, I get really stressed because the kitchen hasn't been finished.  Very odd.

Thanks again to Tony for the nomination and I hope the folk that I nominated are pleased for theirs :)

More Liebster Award answers

So, I was nominated again for a Liebster Award, this time by J R Palmer of Attempting to be a Domestic Goddess - thank you!  I'm not going to do my own nominations and questions as I've recently done this on a previous blog, but here's my answers to the questions set to me by the domestic goddess:

If you won £/$1000  what would you spend it on?

Hmm... I would like to spend it on some new video editing kit or maybe a new computer, but I'd probably just put it towards bills (boring eh!)

What is your favourite singer/group?

This changes regularly, Pink, Steps, Alanis Morrissette, Psy, Charlene Soraia... at various times in my life I've listened to all of these hugely.  Steps is the most recent one, but as I write this I'm thinking that I haven't sung along to Alanis for ages...

If you had one wish, what would it be?

Guns. Lot of guns.

(Only joking - it would be for my family to be happy. Dull but nice!)

If you could meet anyone famous, dead or alive, who would it be?

Stephen Fry.  I love his work and his intellect, I bet he'd be brilliant company.

Why do you blog?

It's an outlet for my creativity.  And I guess in a way I feel "needed" because I do have people visiting my blog, and I like to entertain them.  Needed is too strong a word because if I stopped blogging overnight I doubt anyone would be really bothered, but nevertheless I like to feel needed.

If you could give something up for 24 hours,what would it be?

Fat absorption.

If you had the chance to move to any country, what country would it be?

Difficult to say as I haven't experienced the place yet, but Canada would be high on the list, probably either Toronto or Vancouver.  I can say that I had the most wonderful time in Paris (and sod what people say about Parisians being rude, almost all of the locals that I interacted with were great!) so it'd be one to consider.  Dublin is brilliant too but I don't know if I'd want to live there - I think the pubs would be too much of a temptation for me!

First car?

A 1986 Nissan Micra Collette.  I loved it.

First favourite pop singer or band?

First favourite - I remember getting my mum to buy me a Madonna album when I was very small.  But that was basically just because I knew her name.  I'd probably have to say Shaggy or 2 Unlimited.

What pop song would you not admit you liked?

I don't really go in for not admitting this sort of thing, I know that I have a dreadful taste in music!  2 Unlimited, Steps, B*Witched.... they're all great :)

Thanks again to the domestic goddess for the nomination.  Also, thanks to Tim and Jay for their excellent guest posts this last week while I've been away in a caravan enjoying the sunshine!  Thanks guys and if I can return the favour in the future let me know.

This was the vegetarian breakfast I had one morning while on holiday.  With extra bacon.

I've recorded three new videos this evening and am in the process of editing them so hopefully my YouTube channel will show some more regular activity in the weeks ahead, I've got an idea for a new regular video that hopefully I can do several times a week too so fingers crossed for that.

Vacation

Hi - I'm not nearby a computer for a few days, so fellow blogger Tim from Life, Explained has kindly volunteered to do a piece.  Tim's great and a very funny blogger, he's well worth checking out.

Take it away, Tim!


Hello.  Mike Raven is on vacation this week, and will not be able to return your calls.   Actually, I don’t know how long he is on vacation for, and whether he has a phone or not.  He seems to have some technical prowess, and sounds very bright, so he probably has some sort of communication device, but that is not what I am here to talk about.  I am here to discuss vacations (like Mike’s) and the best ways to get through them undamaged, sort of.

First there is the matter of diet.  It is too easy to overindulge while traveling.  Since you don’t have to clean up afterwards, or do dishes it is tempting to have three or four things at once.  “Give me a burger, a hot dog, a bratwurst, and pancakes, with a milk shake.”  That does sound good, but it will lead to an expanding waist line, and clothing budget, and unbearable ridicule from co-workers, friends, loved ones, and the people at the clothing store, smug, arrogant, thin philistines that they are.

A good way to counter this is to order a salad.  Green, leafy vegetables help keep the weight off, lower serum cholesterol, and help control hypertension.   Your rule of thumb should be one meal every day consists of a salad.  Following the one salad a day rule leaves you free to be a little more liberal with your other meal choices, steak, baked potato with extra sour cream and real butter, fried shrimp, and hot rolls fresh from the oven, steaming piles of noodles with melted cheese, and garlic butter, what an appetizer, I can’t wait for dinner, and dessert, oh man, could I tell you about desserts.

If you are a vacation veteran it is ok to call anything with lettuce a salad, a bacon cheeseburger, a bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich (lettuce and tomato that almost counts for two salads) a club sandwich, all of these are similar to the fountain of youth on bread.   You are getting younger by the minute.

With a little discipline there is no reason a smart person can’t come back from vacation healthier than when it began.  It just takes a plan and some will power.

In a spontaneous act of kindness and sympathy Mike has agreed to let me write a guest post for his blog.  The readers of my blog are so very grateful.  A little vacation for them as well, I hope they are enjoying the time off and eating wisely.

I'd like to dedicate this award to...

I've been nominated for the Liebster Award!

If you're a blogger, you probably know what this is. Basically, it's a nomination given by someone who knows (and hopefully likes) your blog.

There are various rules that you have to follow, which are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.

Well, Thank you to Tim Clark of Life, Explained - Tim's a great blogger and one of the few that I read pretty much religiously (and my reading of other blogs is pretty haphazard!)

2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.

I will, keep reading!

3. Nominate at least 5 blogs with less than 200 followers (approximately).

Hmm - this one is tricky to be honest as I just can't think of that many blogs - and one of them would have been Tim's!

Here's all the ones that I would like to nominate:

• Andy at BadDogGaming - Andy is an old friend of mine, participant in my World of Warcraft parody video, and a very funny and smart guy.
• Duncan at Nobodys Reading Me - Duncan is a brilliant writer, and very very consistent too. I wish that I could turn out good quality blog posts as regularly as Duncan does.
• Tony from The Writers Bloc. I really enjoy reading Tony's work, plus he did post the best comment I've ever had to a blog post, I still smile when I think of McGee/DiNozzo suggesting asparagus rustlers in Norfolk and getting a Gibbslap in return.

4. Post 11 questions for your nominees to answer.

Ok - my questions for Andy, Duncan, and Tony to answer are:

1 - How long have you been blogging for?
2 - Why did you get into blogging?
3 - What blog post are you the most proud of?
4 - What do you do when not typing frantically at a computer?
5 - What's the weather like where you are right now?
6 - What environment do you find most conducive for writing?
7 - If travel was instant and money no object, what would be your perfect day?
8 - What's your pet peeve?
9 - What was the last book you read?
10 - What's your favourite drink?
11 - How do you see the world changing in the next fifty years?

5. Post a comment on your nominees' blogs to let them know that they've been nominated.

I will do.

Okay - time to answer my questions from Tim!

1. What was your main impetus to begin blogging?

To practice writing. I've always wanted to write, to create, but for a long time I've struggled with having enough time to do it on a regular basis - in the last fifteen years, I've spent thirteen of them studying (ten of them at the same time as working) which has been great but it's really nice to have some time to myself on an evening to write.

2. What was your favourite book?

The Man on Platform 5 by Robert Llewellyn. I've always said that if you want to understand me, read this book. The main character is basically my natural resting state, and I need motivation and external influence to conform to societies norms. Basically it's about a train spotter that is made into a cool dude for a bet. It's well written and very funny (not to mention fascinating to see how technology has moved on since it was written!) I generally read it perhaps once a year.

3. If you had a time machine where would you go first?

Difficult one. The birth of the universe? Myself when I was younger to give advice on what to do and what not to do (or even just give myself the winning lottery numbers)? A hundred years into the future to see what it looks like?

Actually - back to the day my son was born, to relive the joy of his birth.

And right after that, II'd go back about six years and tell myself to go to the doctors, get checked out, and make sure whenever I was suffering I'd go back too.

4. When you look at life what thing puzzles you most?

Pensions. Okay, maybe they don't puzzle me, but, while everyone says how important it is to save for your retirement (and it is), it is basically a gamble. You're gambling that you're going to live forever, and that the pension fund people will have to give you money to live for decades and decades. They, meanwhile, are gambling that you're going to die a couple of weeks into your retirement and be quids in.

5. Have you ever posted a Facebook update just to make someone jealous, or angry?

I hope not.

6. Would you explain?

I endeavour always to keep social media interactions positive. I might express my emotions, but I hope that I never do it to make someone angry or jealous.

7. What is your favourite vacation spot, someplace you have been and intend to return?

Paris wins - I had the best holiday there with my partner about five years ago, it was great and I'd love to return. But Dublin isn't far behind, it's probably the best place in the world to drink!

8. How many play lists are on your mp3 player?

One, full of dance music for the gym.

The gym that I should be in tonight, instead of writing!

The playlist is full of music of questionable taste. Favourites that spring to mind include "Thunderbirds Are Go" by Busted, and "C'est La Vie" by B*Witched.

9. Looking at your life now, and thinking about your school years, in what subject do you wish you would have payed more attention?

I don't really feel that there are any subjects that I should have paid more attention to.

10. Why?

I don't know. I should say that this question doesn't really apply to me because I was taught at home, my first experience of formal education was when I was sixteen and went to Hull College. And when I went to college I studied IT, because that's what I was interested in.

11. Do you believe there is life on other planets?

Absolutely. There's so many planets out in the universe, I can't believe that ours is the only one with intelligent life.

But that's scary. I think, certainly in western culture, we are so used to everything in life being "fair" that the reality that tomorrow an alien invasion fleet could show up, decide that they want the Earth's resources (or to make the Earth a colony of theirs) and promptly kill us all without effort (or enslave us if we're lucky) is a little unsettling.

Fingers crossed it doesn't happen in my lifetime!

Thanks again to Tim for the nomination and I look forward to reading the answers from my nominated blogs!

Music is rubbish nowadays

So, me and my other half had one of the music channels on TV the other night.  I can't remember why, as it's pretty rare that we have anything on the TV except for:
a) NCIS
b) NCIS: Los Angeles
c) Kids TV shows
d) Recordings of Kids TV shows

But, this time, we had a music channel on.  And the music channel was playing a number of hits from the 90s pop band, Steps.  I remember when they were first launched how uncool it was to like Steps (although I can't actually remember what was cool then - Eminem perhaps?)

Anyhow, we watched a few Steps songs, and sang along, and had a great time.

Then the music changed, to some hit of today, a pair of female rappers talking about selfies and fame or bling or some other nonsense.

Now, I've always believed that there is a time in each generations life when you decide, irrationally, that new music is all rubbish and the best music was out when you were young.

But it's different this time - because this new music IS rubbish!  All they do is jig around with jeans hanging around their ankles, gold braces on their teeth, bizarre waving of their hands which apparently is some kind of dance (maybe?!?) and they shout a lot about members of the opposite sex, illegal substances, gambling, and illicitness!

With nostalgia in mind, can I point you to this brilliant video remembering the 70s and 80s:

Now finally, but by no means least, an extremely talented blogger by the name of Tim Clark has let me loose on his blog - I took the opportunity to rant about technology.

Especially printers.

Why not head over and take a look?

Thanks Tim!