Mario Kart 64 rules

Downloaded Mario Kart 64 for the virtual console on Friday night like I said I was going to and you forget how much fun it is. We played it with the Gamecube controllers that night but Deb got the classic controllers when she was in town yesterday so we'll be playing later today in wireless comfort.

Also, I've just found out that Diddy Kong Racing has been released for the DS which is pretty cool.

Listening to: Linkin Park - Meteora
Back: Sore cos of poker night last night

Mario Kart 64 On Wii VC

Woo hoo! Mario Kart 64 is out for the virtual console on the Wii so I'll be buying a couple of classic controllers for it and buying the game cos the battle levels on it are much better than on Mario Kart Double Dash on the Gamecube and more importantly, Deb will play on the 64 version.

Listening to: Kasabian - Empire
Back: Not too bad

What a week

Since a last wrote a week ago quite a few things have happened!

We've decided to move so we've spent a lot of the week doing things round the house to get it ship shape and we had our first estate agent round to value it today. He valued it at 133k which is more than we were expecting but as we want a quick sale he said to put it on for just short of 130k. He said that the house should sell quite quickly cos its really well done up but some of that will just be sales crap. We've got 2 more estate agents coming round tomorrow so we'll decide who to go with on Sunday and probably tell them to get it on the market on Monday.

We've also found a house we want to buy which is literally about a 30 second walk from the house we're in now. Its a 3 bed detached house with a garage that's been converted into another room and it has an extended kitchen. Its already really well decorated and it would be fantastic if we got it. As soon as our house is on the market we're gonna put in an offer for it.

The new mattress overlay and pillows seem to be doing the trick and I've got a £500 super chair on trial which I've had for a few days now and can keep until mid next week. The chair is making a massive difference to my lower back pain but is making muscles up towards my shoulders really sore but that's probably just cos my body is adjusting to sitting so differently (i.e. properly).

Going to Chris's tomorrow to watch the United game against Pompey in the FA Cup and then we are having a poker night afterwards. Should be good fun. Deb is going to see the Rocky Horror show in Blackpool with Gen and Gill and a few others.

Listening to: Kasabian - Empire
Back: Not too bad

Frickin weather

The weather here yesterday was awful. It was so windy! The wheelie bin was emptied in the morning and I was having lunch and I saw the wheelie bin fly past the window. I went out to get it and found the outside of the house in a complete state. The gates on the drive had been blown open and one of them pretty much torn in half. A fence panel had snapped and the recycling bins were all over the place. I fixed the gate, couldn't do anything about the fence and I put everything that could possibly blow away in the shed. What a farce!

I bought a memory foam mattress overlay and memory foam pillows the other night and I'm really glad that I did. I know my physio recommended them but I didn't think they'd be as good as they are. When I'm lying on my back I can really tell that its being supported better and consequently I'm waking up less sore in the mornings.

Listening to: Puddle Of Mudd - Life On Display
Back: Not too bad

Need to ease my back problems

I saw my physio today and we took kind of a back to basics approach where I had a load of questions written down which she gave me answers to. The upshot is:

• I don't think I'm even gonna talk to the back surgeon cos I just don't want surgery.
• I don't have to wear my shoe insert things any more (unless my back gets really bad cos I stopped).
• I found out that my exercise ball thing is no where near pumped up enough and I just need a 65cm one. I also got a list of exercises to do on it.
• I'm gonna buy a TENS machine
• I was looking into buying some really special Tempur mattress or mattress cover but they cost £1600 or £800 respectively and my physio said that Dunelm Mill do a similar mattress cover thing for only £100 so I'm gonna go pick one of them up tonight
• I'm ok to let mom to give me a Swedish Massage once or twice a week cos it will be good for me
• I'm gonna be trying out the Alexandre Technique

I'm feeling a lot better about trying to sort my back out and hopefully it will all work.

Also, I lost 3 pounds last week on my weight watchers thing and I still haven't sorted out my pile of paperwork!

Listening to: Breeders - Last Splash
Back: Sore

New years resolutions etc

Well, we're 10 days into the new year and I've started the weight watchers points scheme in an effort to lose the stomach I've grwon over the past fews years since I've not been able to play sports anymore. Seems pretty sad saying I'm on weight watchers but I like the fact that I can eat whatever the hell I want as long as I stick within my points balance. I've been doing it since Sunday and its a real ballache at the moment having to calculate points for every meal but I figure it will be a breeze once I've got all my regular foods on there.

Another resolution is to sort out the office/playroom so that its not always such a mess. I'm gonna do this by using all the storage we have properly and try to keep on top of things like filing letters and paperwork when I get them. Unfortunatly I have about 3 months worth to sort out first :-(

Listening to: Q.O.T.S.A - Lullabies to Paralize
Back: Sore

Back at work (at home that is)

Well, I started back in work yesterday albeit from home and in some ways I'm doing better back wise than I thought I would be but in other ways its pretty shit. I'm ending up having 2 hour lunches at the moment so that I can have a bath to ease up my back a bit and combining that with walks on the travellator etc it makes for a bloody long day!

I've just finished setting up a base build of a new Linux box which is running Fedora Core 6 with Xen virtualization. On top of that its running to further Fedora Core instances as virtual machines. Performance seems pretty damn good and one virtual machine will be used as a web server and the other as a MySQL server.

Its taken me longer than I thought it would (I started well before Xmas) cos so much is different under Linux than it is under Windows but I godda learn it at some point.

Listening to: Foo Fighters - In Your Honour Disc 2
Back: Pretty sore

Happy New Year

Just a quick one to say that it was good fun last night at the Lovell party and we saw the New Year in well.

I feel a bit delicate today but so what. Last year is over and hopefully this one can only be better.

Come on United against Newcastle!

Also, this was posted from my PDA phone thing.

Listening to: The budgies
Back: Sore

End of a shit year

I've not written in a few weeks cos I slipped the disc in my back again a day or 2 after I last posted and this is the first time I've managed to stay on the computer for longer than 5 minutes since then. I was off work the whole of the week before Christmas and I already booked off the 3 days between Christmas and New Year so I'll have been off work for about 3 weeks by the time I start again on Tuesday. I'm really hoping that I can actually manage to do full days cos I can't afford any more time off!

I went to see my spinal consultant on the 22nd and I see her again on the 15th of Jan by which point she should have got me an appointment to see a spinal surgeon to discuss whether I should have surgery or not. I'm not sure that I want to have surgery but I want to find out all the info that I can before deciding.

Koops is getting better albeit very slowly. He'll probably have to have the bandages on for another few weeks but he only has to have them changed every 3 days now and he doesn't have to be sedated anymore which is good.

Mark Lovell is having a big New Year's party tonight but we aren't sure what we're goona do yet cos of the mutt. We're thinking of going to the party at about 11pm and leaving a couple of hours later so that we only have to leave Koopa locked in his cage with the cone on for as short a time as possible whilst still letting us get out to celebrate!

Well, I'm really hoping that 2007 is gonna be a much better year. We're going into it with my back being bad that the dog still injured but we're being positive and working on the principle that it can only get better.

It helps that United are 6 points clear of Chelsea!

Listening to: Kasabian - Empire
Back: Pretty sore

Koopa - Lost, Found & Injured

Not posted in a couple of weeks cos there has been a lot of shit going on and I just couldn't be arsed writing about it.

Last Friday (8th), Deb was out walking Koopa and she was on her way back from Haslam park walking down the path that takes you out to Tom Benson way so you can cross over to the canal. They were about half way down the path and Koopa was still off the lead and he spotted something in the bushes and went after it. Deb then heard a screech of brakes/tyres and a yelp. She got through the bushes as quick as she could on to Tom Benson way but there was no sign of Koopa and whoever may have hit him hadn't stopped.

Long story short, this happened about 3pm, we search for hours and hours and we didn't find him again until about 1pm the next day when someone rang us to say that he was in their porch round the corner from the park. You wouldn't believe how worried we were and then how relieved we were when we found him. He had been hit by a car (fucking twats for not stopping!) and his back left leg is in a bit of a state. He's broken a couple of toes and had most of the skin on top of his foot ripped off. We've had him at the vets Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and today. Each time he has to be sedated so that he can have his wounds cleaned and bandages changed.

Koop's is gonna have to have his foot bandaged up for at least another 2 to 3 weeks and he can't go out for walks that whole time. Its a bit of a nightmare having to constantly watch him to make sure he doesn't lick or rip his bandage off and he has to sleep in our room at night at the moment so we can hear him if he tries to take his cone off so he can get at his bandage.

All in all another shit thing has happened in what has been a pretty shitty year. Roll on 2007!

Listening to: Veruca Salt - American Thighs
Back: Sore as hell

Off work for a few days

I'm off work today and Monday and Tuesday of next week. Its my brithday on Monday so I figured I might as well use up the 3 days holiday I had left around it.

Its Doddy and his step Dad's (boyfriend Bill) joint 30th and 60th do tonight. Hopefully that should be good. Its Dave's girlfiend's daughter's 21st tomorrow night that we've all been invited to. Finally, about 20 of us are going out for a meal on Monday night for my birthday.

Its going to be a tiring few days me thinks!

Listening to: The budgies
Back: Ok

The office is so noisy

It's so hard concentrating when I'm in the office. I can't believe how noisy it can get in here. It's even worse now that Suf works here sitting opposite me doing all his phone support.

Also, Jan is still a wanker!

Listening to: The people in the bloody office
Back: Ok(ish)

Frickin Back

My back is killing me! It hasn't hurt like this in something like 3 or 4 months. I'm not sleeping well and just can't get comfortable. Its cos I went to a meeting in Banbury on Wednesday and it was already sore before that and its just got 10 times worse because of it. I pretty much spent 10 hours in a car.

Listening to: Temple Of The Dog - Temple Of The Dog
Back: Frickin sore

Ouch

Damn my back is sore today! I went out last night with the lads and it usually is sore after a night in the pubs not sitting properly and stuff but I didn't expect it to be this sore. It doesn't help that I've had to spend over 4 hours working today writing a demo dashboard for a customer visit on Wednesday. The customer is in Banbury so I'm not looking forward to that :-(

I got a new DVD player yesterday for using when I'm on the travellator. Its only a cheap thing but it does the job. The only feature I was concerned with was whether it resumed from its last play position after it had been turned off and it does so that's ok.

The budgies are loving their new branch and swings now. They take a while to get used to new things but once they are they can't get enough of them.

My broadband is still playing silly beggers. Since Thursday its disconnected 10 times that I've noticed. A few times were during games of online Fifa which really pisses me off. I've been play Gears of War online this afternoon with Ian and luckily it didn't disconnect once. That game is so good!

Right, time for some travellation before tea ;-)

Listening to: The Budgies
Back: Pretty sore

Gears Of War

I bought Gears Of War for the 360 this morning from PC World for only £35. I was gonna wait till after Xmas when I had completed a few more games but at that price I couldn't resist.

I've only gone through the first few check points so far but it's quality. Graphically it's amazing and the sound through my surround sound is pretty damn cool.

Listening to: Begger all
Back: Ok

Bloody BT Broadband

Over the past few months my broadband connection has developed a really annoying habit of disconnecting at least a few times a day if not more. When I working this isn't too much of a problem cos if it goes down then I just wait a minute for the router to reconnect. However, if I'm on Xbox Live it really pisses me off cos I don't care that I lose the game I'm on but it always goes against me as a "Did Not Finish" which is shit and means some people won't play against me!

Anyway, I report the problem to BT a few days ago and they called me this morning to say that they had done something at the exchange which should hopefully stabilise the connection. I have no faith in them whatsoever after all the shit when I first got upgraded to ADSL Max so I'll just have to wait and see. They are gonna call me again in a few days to see how its going.

The birdies still won't really go near the new branch very much or their new swings. We keep having to swap out the new swings for the old ones at night so that they will get in them to go to sleep!

England play Holland in a friendly game tonight. Hopefully they can't be as crap as they were in the last game against Croatia!

Listening to: Linkin Park - Meteora
Back: Okish

New toys for the budgies

We went to the pet centre at Adlington yesterday and bought some new toys for the the budgies and a stock pile of treats and chews for the mutt.

We got the budgies some new swings with bits of coloured wood on them cos Tweety seems obsessed with ragging the swings. We've only put one in so far cos we figure Yoshi might not go near the new one straight away and typically, Tweety hasn't been near it either. We also got them a Java branch with bits of rope and other things attached to it that they can chew. I pegged some millet spray to it and after a while Tweety went on it but Yoshi has only kinda gone near it but not really on it.

Tweety seems to be getting a bit better at going on our fingers but still seems wary of doing it unless you have food for him.

Listening to: The Budgies
Back: So, so

1st week of travellation

Everything was going great on the travellator (my name for the treadmill) until Wednesday lunch time when I tweaked my hamstring in my right leg. I think for someone who gets very little exercise I went a bit overboard. I was on it 3 times a day doing 5kph for 20 minutes a session. I've not been on it since but hopefully I'll be able to start again tomorrow and I can ease into it ;-)

I was hoping to be able to go out with the lads tonight but my back is so sore that I'll end up having a really shit weekend cos it will only get worse if I go out. I'll have to complete my first season on Fifa 07 and play on Need For Speed Underground instead.

Listening to: Alien Ant Farm - ANThology
Back: Bloody sore!

Started a new back rehab class

I went to a new back rehab class at the hospital today. It's supposed to be for an hour but I only lasted half an hour cos my back was really hurting. It's hurting like hell at the moment but hopefully I'll be fine by the morning.

The class just has you doing 1 minute stints on things like a treadmill, exercise bikes, stepper, gym ball, etc. It should be good exercise once my back has got used to it.

Also, the treadmill has been delivered and fitted today so I just need to sort out an LCD TV for the wall and a DVD player or something for it.

Listening to: Bugger all
Back: Sore as hell

Getting a treadmill

I have been thinking about getting a treadmill for ages and I've decided its time to get one. I've not been getting the exercise that I should be recently with the weather getting worse and me being a bit lazy so getting one will help. I should easy do the recommended 10,000 steps a day with what I'd do normally plus a couple of 20 minute sessions on the treadmill.

I went to a shop near us today and was shown one for about £400 which would suit me just fine. The guy in the shop said there's no need to spend silly money on one if I'm just walking on it.

I'm gonna get rid of the console area in the playroom (leather recliner and TV and consoles) and put it there cos my consoles are downstairs these days anyway.

Listening to: Nowt
Back: Bit Sore