Freedom-Fraternity-Brotherhood

wow, what a month part deux

2011-05-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

Happy Memorial Day,

another great month come and gone. The start of May began the the blowout ending of April, thanks to other planned events we had and other bank holiday's I still have not had much "full time" work so great.

We spent the several weeks after daughter's birthday party mostly recuperating from the vast amount of stuff we had been doing and preparing for our trip to Chessington World of Adventures. We were there for daughter to do the zookeeper for a day... thing. She had a blast, even cleaning up after them, so maybe she really will be the vet she has wanted to be since three. We stayed at the hotel on the park grounds which was very nice. We picked daughter up on Thursday right after school and went straight out. Arrived at the hotel which was quite nice and got bumped up to an executive suite!! Supposedly nicer and more luxurious but what it did have was a great view of part of the park with the ostrich and zebra, right outside the window!
I went downstairs and booked a table for dinner, we freshened up and had a fabulous though expensive dinner. The next morning we all woke up and had the breakfast included with the room (very nice brekkie, full english and more) and daughter was collected by the zookeeper and went to work. Partner and I were then free to wander around the park, arm in arm together, how romantic. Picked up daughter about 2ish and went for lunch then had a wander around the park. Did a few rides and went to have an amazing supper. Next morning was checkout but we left our bags with the front desk and had a real nose around the park after breakfast. Because we stayed at the hotel we were allowed to go to the theme park bit earlier than the "general public," so we got to enjoy even more rides and do a lot more stuff. We had lunch, had our caricatures done and came home.

Though I guess that was really only one thing it was so great that it seemed like we did more.

Today we went back to Windsor Great Park and had a picnic with some friends, which is always nice. It was quite nice and we left before it started raining. Unfortunately while walking back it decided to release the much needed rain on top of us. We all stopped off at the Savill Garden entrance nearby, partner and I decided we might go back after she drops off daughter with grandparents, to wait for the rain to move on but it started back up again after we started walking again. Though it never rained hard the walk was long enough that we were quite wet by the time we got home.

As for upcoming stuff, we are planning on going to Legoland this Friday after I have a dentist meeting (to discuss filling my remaining cavities) which should be quite fun. Partner wants to get the big passes then and possibly take daughter back every other weekend until she leaves, which would be super cool. I am thinking that then maybe we will take in the new X-men movie which looks quite good.

Love..

wow, what a month

2011-05-02T02:04:00.000-07:00

Talk about going out with a bang. The last month has seen us take heavy advantage of the great number of public and bank holiday's over here and do many of the things we had been so wanting to do.

Daughter left school for her end of term (in the UK there are generally three terms to the school year September to December, January to April and April to July) on 8th of April for two weeks off. My holiday from work started the 10th through the 17th, thanks to careful planning of days off. Our first trip was one by train through Great Britain, from London Kings Cross to Inverness (Highlands Capital) in Scotland. If you wanted to tour Great Britain and arrive (you most likely will fly) into any of the airports in London, I highly recommend traveling the country by train. The country is so beautiful and you can see incredible things from the train not least of all the changing landscape of the land.

Our purpose for going to Inverness was to visit Loch Ness which is a 20 minute cab ride from the city. We stayed at the Clansmen hotel, one of surprisingly few hotels to have their presence nearly on the water. With a room with a balcony t made for spectacular viewing, especially when the sun came up. Our obvious reason for going to Loch Ness was to search for the monster, Nessie, and so we obviously brought binoculars along. We spent the remaining daylight of the day interchanging between the windows and the balcony (it was very cold and windy) looking for the creature. Our only full day was spent touring the several museums dedicated to the big tourist draw as well as the town of Drumnadrochit the closest to the many sighting of Nessie. We had thought of doing a couple of the other things including touring the local castle ruins and the boat tour of the loch but the weather could not make up its mind. The hotel was average and the food at the hotel was hit and miss, the dinners were uneatable but the breakfast (I had haggis and black pudding) was good on both days.

The trip on the train again was amazing, we got to see highland cows, nuclear power plants, the coast of Scotland and England and massive fields of flowers. Truly Great Britain.

The rest of the week was spent recovering from the trip and relaxing at the house. Though I went back to work the following Monday, daughter still had time off and partner did some hanging out, including going to the local pleasure grounds. The next Friday (the 22nd) we took a trip, again another by train, to the town of Great Missenden, the birthplace of the beloved and renowned children's author Roald Dahl. The town is tiny but lovely and the museum is amazing. Roald Dahl led a very interesting life and the museum is well worth the visit. Did you know that on top of the vast amount of children'e literature that he wrote he also had a successful radio series in the US prior to that. He was a member of the RAF and wrote the screenplay for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You only live twice. The trip was fun and the food had at the museum was great.

A week later and I have a four day weekend thanks to the banks and of course the Royal Wedding. I have become a bit of a Royalist since being here, I like the thought of it and properly administered can be a great thing. So I had been quite excited about the wedding. I originally intended to see it in person but, when hearing the volume of people that planned to come out, I decided I could get a better view from my television. So I watched the entire thing from the first moment that Prince William rode out and down the mile to after the couple went back inside after a couple of sadly underwhelming kisses, he should have grabbed her and tipped her over and shared that fairy tale smooch. The whole event was lovely and as someone who is trying to re-ignite my own personal image it was great seeing all the well dressed people.

Afterwards, we went to a small "block party" that was really more of a large garden party and only really ok.

Saturday we decided to take in a Movie and saw the first showing of the day of Thor. Thor is an amazing and enjoyable telling of the God of Thunder's story and was well worth the trip.

The Royal Wedding was not the only celebration this weekend. My daughter also had her birthday on May 1st, yesterday. This was perhaps a far more important celebration and we decided to spend it taken in the views at Windsor Castle. Entry is not free but it is reasonable, even more-so when you consider the ticket lasts a year. The inside is amazing and you get to see a surprising amount of stuff. It is open the entire day even on a Sunday and luckily the only thing we did not get to see was the changing of the guard (wish we had). The Queen Mary doll house was amazing and the St. George's hall was really cool, as was the guard room. You get to see fantastic art and priceless artifacts. It is definitely worth the trip. Since the tickets last we will probably go back again, especially for changing of the guard and to see St. George's Chapel. The castle was so amazing that we walked through once, went and had tea (lunch) and went through again. The second time we noticed stuff we had not before.

About the tea, we decided that for Daughter's birthday we would go to the Crooked Tea House. The Crooked Tea House (the current building) was built in the 1600's and is crooked because when built they used unseasoned green oak, which warps over time. The tea sandwiches were ok but the coffee and tea were great. It was quite pricey but since it was someone's birthday it was worth it.

I mentioned that I could also thank the banks, well in the UK if the banks miss having a day off because the holiday fell on a weekend then they take the following or previous day off. Hence my posting this on Monday as May Day, is a bank holiday here. We originally had no intention of going out today but some friends invited us to the park. It is nice and sunny out but the wind is strong and chilly.

We have been amazingly lucky with the weather as well, the past few weeks or so has brought incredible weather.

So as you can see, a great month. Still have more to do though.

half term

2011-02-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

Well, both the half term and my co-inciding break are nearly finished, though daughter has another day with which to chill, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of it has been spent relaxing on the home front, building and re-building forts and playing games, reading and just chilling.

Me, partner and daughter plus some friends took a day trip to Covent garden, pent about half of the day in the amazing Transport museum. It is a wonderful blend of modern, classic and antique vehicles associated with London and particularly Transport for London. You get the history of the buses in the capital, the black cab and the tube and trains and so much more. There are character actors and volunteer's with immense knowledge topped off with one of the most fabulous gift shops. Luckily that was not the end of our day, though partner did have to break off to attend academic duties. The friends, daughter and I then had lunch and walked down to Trafalgar Square, which is huge. With two massive ponds with monuments of a ship in a bottle and several others as well as a large bronze statue of Admiral Nelson getting pride of place. After this a quick pop around the corner and you can have a relatively peaceful and relaxing stroll down The Mall, a road leading from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace. Dotted along the Mall, which is used for many royal processions like the funeral of Princess Diana and the upcoming wedding of Prince William, are many monuments and memorials. Finally we reached Buckingham, which pictures and movie/tv screens just do not do justice. While not particularly spectacular there is just a presence to it. A great experience and one we will repeat to allow for partner to enjoy.

The next couple days were spent relaxing at home to allow daughter to charge up for spending the day in Kingston upon Thames, a relatively close town known for a large shopping center. Though lacking the charm of Woking or the class of Reading, Kingston has a much larger shopping are than either and while the affordable Primark is a bit out of the way (like Reading but unlike Woking) many of the name brand and high end shops are there. Plus many old building and a decent sized outdoor market. Spent quite a few hours poking around but did not do any spending myself except for kunch and a few ties. Daughter spent a little of her own money. I saw a few nice cardigan's but lacked the money to buy, which is ok.

Saturday the girls had their belated manicure and pedicure appointment (originally it was supposed to be for Valentine's but daughter was invited to a party) and they were quite happy about that. I nosed around the charity shops in town and ended up finding another winter coat, a two piece suit and a blazer for 30 GBP which is not bad. I will definitely miss the charity shops here, the quality of products you can happen upon are just worlds beyond what you generally find in the states. Plus people here in general tend to dress quite nice (it is not uncommon to find people wearing suits, or suit pieces, in places other then just the office; like the shops, the movies and so on).

Spent most of today chilling as well, did some laundry and have some ironing to do after my shower later.

Partner has had a very busy week, starting off with spending three days at a Lodge in Windsor on a Learn to Lead seminar, which will look great on the resume at least. Tuesday after spending the first half of the day marveling at the Transport museum with us she had to abscond and attend her usual academic duties, small sessions and post-discussion. Wed and Thu was spent mostly relaxing at the house, though about the first half of Wed we went on a whirlwind adventure of Surrey county searching for the correct hospital to have daughters blood drawn, to test for anemia, and ended up on three separate buses to do it. Thursday afternoon partner met up with a friend who will be returning to the US shortly and picked up some stuff she wanted from his place. Friday partner again left the group of me, daughter and friends to attend a meeting with colleague's from another university to finish up a project with them and again with the friend leaving soon to finish a project with him. So despite having a hectic week she managed to get a good bit of stuff knocked out which she is happy about.

For me it is back to work tomorrow.

Peace,

Chris

Good Monday to all

2011-02-13T23:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines day!!

Not much going on here, daughter restarted her French lessons two weeks back and has been really enjoying it and choir also started back up too. She is doing well for the most part but is kind of waffling back and forth about how excited (or not) she is to go back. On one hand she can hardly wait to be nearer to family and loved ones but on the other she is really getting on with a number of kids at school. Only time will tell how she truly copes but what can be done to keep us here is being done, we just reiterate to her that it will be the next step in a new adventure. Daughter is also excited about having next week off.

Partner has been at usual hard at work, cracking on with her Ph.d thesis. She has just submitted several bits to her advisor/supervisor and is readying for an event this weekend that will put a few good notes on her CV. She recently received a copy of a publication she submitted to the Geographical Review. It reads really good and she was quite chuffed. Partner has also been partaking of Tai Chi classes weekly at my request. I always feel bad that she spends so much time at home (it is part of her job but still), she has had two now and is really enjoying them. She is also trying really hard (I guess she kind of has) to give up smoking and I of course hope for her success.

I have mostly just been working but have been working on some self improvement as well. I have been getting up a little earlier and not spending so much time on the computer for a start. I have tried to spend the time mostly either reading or learning to cook, which is going swimmingly. I have nearly finished an old copy of the Scarlet Letter that I got from a local charity shop. I am also reading an introduction to sociology and will soon be starting an intro to chemistry. I have also been improving my look so I have tidied up my beard and been buying nicer looking and better fitting clothes.

We are also planning a trip to Scotland in the near future, a stay at Loch Ness. Daughter has always been fascinated by Nessie and the like and it looks like a lovely time. Plus the area is gorgeous. I also told partner that I would like to go on a tour of Europe before we go but we have not decided if that would be done with or without daughter as it would be a long coach trip.

Peace...
Love

Happy Holiday's

2010-12-29T15:54:00.000-08:00

Well sadly the Christmas Holiday's are over and the New Year is fast approaching. Me and the family had a great time. Spent most of it in the house, had Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and greens and the rest. Christmas Day we got up at 5am to open gifts, Daughter was stoked. She got plenty of stuff, me and partner got some swank stuff too. Partner and I took a nap while Daughter hung out. Got back up around 10 and made the big English breakfast; bacon, sausage, tomato, mushroom, beans, eggs and toast. Then snacked the rest of the day. Got some Christmas money from my parents which provided the very nice home-made pre-Christmas dinner as well as a rib dinner the night before that.

Boxing Day we went to Staines to see Gulliver's Travels which was enjoyable and took the girls to breakfast and lunch. Got some Christmas money from the in-laws so got an awesome new Nintendo DS game. Also got some new outfit stuff, a handful of nice formal slacks and a few nice button ups. I also got a boss pair of new shoes, it all looks really nice together. The girls picked me out a new sweater vest. Daughter got herself some puzzle games.

The last two days of my holiday were just spent hanging out with the family and enjoying all our wonderful... everything.

Thanks to all my family.

Don't ask Don't tell

2010-12-19T00:02:00.001-08:00

Is getting repealed, this makes me happy.

Result, since 1993 when the law was put in to place, at least 13,500 American Citizens who wanted to serve their country were booted out of the military by the archaic law. The fact that anyone in the "Nation of the Free" had to sacrifice a part of themselves just to be treated as equals has always been appalling. While people like McCain the "rogue" have stuck close to party lines by trying to claim that the repeal is some kind of liberal agenda, others (Republican and Democrat) have taken just one more step to removing a barrier to all American's being treated as equals.

Others are calling into question how this might affect operations in Iraq or Afghanistan as well as the military in general. I do not see why it would, nor why it would cost anything or why it would take time. All that has to happen is for these countrymen not to be charged and/or booted out if they admitted they were gay, job done. Any of these servicemen/women would already know if the people in their respective units would be welcoming and would obviously act accordingly.

Bascially what I am saying is that this is a good thing. A Christmas gift for all to be sure.

Chris

Just trying

2010-12-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

to make sense of it.

Plenty to keep us busy lately. Daughter has been very poorly lately, this is following my being sick last week. Though she has been hit much harder. She started feeling it Friday night and has been quite rough ever since. She has hardly eaten since saturday and has been running fevers as high as 104 and coughing as well as more. Got her into the doctors but they said to just keep with the meds as it was not bacterial. She seems to be on the mend though. She is upset at being out so much.

Partner has not gotten much work done this month. Between being stuck handling most things last week because of my illness and since then because of daughter being sick. But regardless she was chosen for some pimp leadership class funded by the University of Westminster. While it is not a job, it will look good on a CV.

As I said earlier I spent a chunk of last week home sick and have one more day of anti-biotics to help finish it off. I have been trying to psych myself up for coming back to the states and think I have decided that I want to become a pharmacist.

Love...

All at once

2010-12-06T14:27:00.000-08:00

the world can overwhelm you.
To any who read my post yesterday, do not think that I have any misconceptions about the return being about me, it is not. At the very most I am a third in the pie but most probably less.

Partners parents miss their grand-daughter terribly and partner feels bad having them so far apart. While partner misses her parents as well. I would be plenty happy to see my parents too. At the end of the day I just want my family to be happy, healthy and cared for. I know it would make them immensely happy to be nearer to their family so that is what it will be.

Peace... One Love

times like these

2010-12-05T15:29:00.000-08:00

What will be will be. Not a heck of a lot lately. Pretty much finished with my dispensing course, just a couple more items and it needs to be signed off on. We finally got a new manager and hopefully as he gets settled in things will start to smooth out. Been a bit crazy lately so it needs to happen.

Daughter had her first private French lesson Thursday past, and loved it. She did brilliantly as well. If the French goes well we may start her on Spanish at the New Year. She has been doing well in school and choir especially is going well for her. She is doing a bit of caroling over the next few weeks, a couple care homes and the local Proctor and Gamble R/D office. And in January her group is doing some kind of performance at the O2 Arena. That is wicked!

Partner has been working her butt off. Rough finished a couple chapters, started some stuff and planned out a few conferences. She has also reworked her thesis to lessen the work load.

As well I have been practicing my cooking and have been following and even improvising a few recipies, though with my partner and daughters help.

On a more... somber (?) note, we have begun planning to return to the US. While nearly a year away, the likelihood of us being able to stay on is becoming slimmer and slimmer. Regardless of any inherent difficulty in being picked for the necessary grant thanks to usual academic competition, higher rates of joblessness has driven the difficulty up. Add to that the fact that the government here has recently issued massive cuts to higher education just worsens it. So while partner is trying her damnedest, in the end it may just not be meant to be. Staying on has been a major driving reason in me pursuing higher paying employment. While the three of us will be saddened, I will be extremely so... I really like it here. I miss my family and all but do not miss where I lived when in the US. I will deal with it as I have to and will strive to improve myself when I return to the States as I really feel that if I had educated myself years ago, like my partner strongly suggested, it would have increased the chances of us to stay.

I really doubt the fact has settled in for daughter. She has spent the last two years making friends and it will be hard for her. She is really starting to come in to her own and the school she goes to is really good if frustrating sometimes.

Peace... One Love

sooooooooo

2010-10-09T05:57:00.000-07:00

not much of a title I know but.... it is what it is

Went to the fair last weekend and spent more money than necessary but daughter and I had a good time, did some bumper cars and the other rides. She won tonnes of stuff and we had a blast. This weekend she decided to come down with the common cold so we are putting off our already rescheduled trip to the Sherlock Holmes museum. We are quite excited about it, however, and will get there sometime this month.

Partner has been hard at work, after an incredibly promising meeting with the professor of another university, and has submitted her part of the paper they are working together on. She has now also started to work on her grant proposal to extend our stay.

I have been working, not much else. Doing my dispenser course as well but with the evening pharmacist who is training me leaving on maternity at the end of the month I may have trouble finishing. The shop is not doing so great either since my manager resigned, she was not happy. We have not only been left managerless but we have been short staffed for awhile as well so....

I will have a few reviews up on my other site as well, a couple GI Joes, a Marvel Universe figure and one of the Transformers on my top five list but first there is going to be another one of my lovely rants.

Peace...

Chris

....

2010-09-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

not too much going on as usual, daughter started back at school two weeks ago, she was not pleased but such is the way of things. We have signed her up for two clubs, one of her choice and the other choir so she could actually practice her singing. We are also looking for an active sport, considering horse riding but we are going to check it out first as it is pricey but if she really likes it, could be good. If not it is back to judo. Daughter also had a play date today and quite enjoyed it.
Partner has been out of country/region twice in the last three weeks. Two weeks ago she wet to Glasgow to speak to a micronational leader and just today returned from the Shetland island off the northern coast of Scotland.
I have just been working but have finally started the dispenser course at work so that will be helpful. Been looking at little bits of jewellery for the partner for christmas as well and have my eyes on a couple things.
Peace...
Chris

Its been awhile

2010-08-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

since my last post and as usual not much to report, still heavily into looking for upward employment. partner helped me go over my CV, giving it a GOOD polish, now I just have to find the jobs I can do so I can send it to them.

Daughter, partner and I went with one of daughters friends family to the London Zoo this past Wednesday which was quite nice. It was daughters first time getting out since we went to the museum at the end of last month. Being in the middle of London, the London Zoo is quite large and we got to see tons of different types of critters. Daughter was most impressed by the cute and cuddly squirrel monkey while partner loved the nocturnal loris. I enjoyed quite a bit but I always love the small primates of any group as they have the cutest little hands. Daughter was also quite excited as her and partner went and did the grocery shopping on Thursday, rather than order it in.

I hope all are well!

Peace...

Please visit other sites I work on
The Nation of Heliotrope
Exploring London's Olympic Waterscape

....

2010-08-16T00:47:00.000-07:00

Not much to report on, daughter was a bit lazy the past week, having a proper bit of time off. Partner got an article sent off. Going to the zoo on Wednesday for daughters friends sisters birthday party. So I have Wednesday off... woo hoo. Then I have the weekend off, then at the end of the following week I am on holiday for daughters last week of summer holiday.

Peace...

so

2010-07-11T06:18:00.000-07:00

Not much to report this week, though we are definitely noticing the two extra weeks tacked onto out wait for a paycheck but no worries.

Daughter has about six and a half days left on her term before she is done with year 3!

see you later

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM

2010-07-04T03:49:00.001-07:00

Also Happy Anniversary MUM and DAD

on and on

2010-07-02T04:44:00.000-07:00

another few weeks and more things come and go.

I missed a day of work last week (21 June) feeling like utter crap and concerned I had caught a stomach bug going around. Luckily it wasn't a stomach bug but I did discover that the reason I had been feeling crummy over the several weeks prior was that I had developed a bit of a sinus infection that was steadily getting worse. This culminated in me making an appointment at the clinic and getting a course of antibiotics prescribed. That was just the start of one heck of a tough week at work.

One nice thing was my payslip, which was substantially higher than usual for some unknown reason, I plan on going over my diary to figure it out. This did however precipitate an unusual shopping splurge on our part, we went and got daughter some new knickers and shorts (not realising she did not have any shorts), and got me some more summer clothes to wear. We also took the opportunity to have lunch out, Nando's, which was nice; all stuff we do not get to do very often.

Wednesday night we got an even rarer experience in getting to go see Jack Johnson live in concert. For those who do not know who Jack Johnson is, he is only probably the greatest folk artist of my generation and maybe even bigger. Another great bit about it was that it was our daughters first concert experience and I can literally think of no one I would rather her see although I could think of more. Sadly, we did not know there was an opening act, Mojave 3, who to be honest was pretty not good; they really need to fire their sound person as well. This might not sound like a big deal but it meant that Jack Johnson did not get come out till nearly 9pm and with the last Train leaving London at a paltry 11.30, we needed to leave before the artist was finished. Oh well, it was still a wonderful time. We also each got a concert t-shirt.

Daughter is getting closer and closer to being done with year 3, only three weeks to go. She had quite a good day on wednesday at the concert and going out for dessert.

Partner has mostly just been working hard on her work, alternating between her micro-national website and her thesis. She got a new phone on our day out last Saturday, Orange our service provider has a service were when you top up your phone you build up money in your account, and it only cost her one buck! We are hoping on the next payday to be getting her a small, cheap printer for some of her work.

Peace...

Please visit other sites I work on
The Nation of Heliotrope
Exploring London's Olympic Waterscape

todays something...

2010-06-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Post removed for personal reasons

Peace...

Please visit other sites I work on
The Nation of Heliotrope
Exploring London's Olympic Waterscape

the WEEK in REVIEW

2010-06-12T04:31:00.000-07:00

so, the whole lot of us is sick to varying degrees right now, daughter feels the best while me and partner are neck and neck I think.

Partner's exhibition Sunday past went splendidly with her and her crews EASILY getting the most traffic and lots of kudo's from said spectators. I think they did an amazing job. Since then, partner has just been trying to get back into the groove on her main work. In a spoiler, partner got a small award to do some of her field work... 300GBP. This is great as she has been really concerned how she was going to do it with our general lack of funds, an issue we are trying to address.
Daughter is slowly recovering from yet another cold, man for such an overall tough kid she sure has a puny constitution, bless her little cotton socks. Took her to Royal Holloway's garden party, Sunday past as well, were she got to split some fish and chips with me, buy some cotton candy and play some games. It is not the greatest thing in the world but it is a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. The friend of hers, and the girls family, would like to do another joint trip like we did over the school break and visit another museum.

As for me, just been working and dealing with ridiculous schedule changings just to try and keep on top of my hours. My contract hours have been increased from 18hrs weekly to roughly 28 but my scheduled hours, what my manager puts me on the books for, has dropped from about 35hrs to said 28. Obviously even at 35 we are having trouble with money so 28 was quite untenable, we did lose the other evening person though so I took on 2 of her night shifts (I also have one every other week on my schedule) and those 12 hours put me up to 40. So I will not only be doing more hours that way but 2 hours out of each of those night shifts are "anit-social" hours and are paid at time and a half plus I am doing every other Sunday which essentially puts me at 43 hours every week. Partner does not like that I am working some evenings again and would like me home more but, we agree that we need the money also. I am however home every day for supper, Monday and Wednesday I work double shifts with a three hour split, and have every Saturday daytime off.

The next paycheck is going to have to be handled extremely delicately as it will have to last an extra week when my company switches from paying us on the 20th of the month to the 27th. I also need to keep on my manager about getting in contact with HR or whoever handles payslips as my last two were a little light and I want to go back and check from January, partner accidently left payslips in the US, to be sure I am getting what I am supposed to. I will likely call my debtor and ask for a reprieve just to be sure I have the money and then pay them a little extra from the next payday.

Once we are done paying back our utility company for the winter, I think one or two more and we are caught up, I want to call them about a better utility plan they offer and to ask them to take out a bit more than that so we are ready for the upcoming winter, I really would like to start getting ahead of the ball on some things. The company, who does have the best rates our rate now (not their best :( ) is still better than most other suppliers offer, got us into a low tariff but the monthly debit did not cover our usage and so we are hurting now for it.

That combined with credit card re-payments and recent dental work for myself have been eating up a vast amount of my very modest monthly income, leaving only just enough for groceries. The dental work is done for now, I have a practically new tooth, but it will be supplanted by payments to partners card. I believe some money can be saved through contacting my cable provider and getting a new plan and then more when the utilities are caught up. I am also going to plan out any collecting I do better as well as hold on to the money and buy at the end of the month so as to make sure I have the money if I need it.

Peace... Love
Prowl

Please visit other sites I work on
The Nation of Heliotrope
Exploring London's Olympic Waterscape

Holiday, in UK, it feels like the third of June

2010-06-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

So, third day of my holiday and I am finally taking some time to relax. My break started Tuesday; partner, daughter and I along with the mother and brood of one of daughters friends went to the British Museum, an all day trip. I took a brief side trip to my own personal candy shop Forbidden Planet, a comic shop that could get me in a lot of trouble. I was good though and only grabbed a couple of comics, but I did want to buy a few figures. The museum was decent but ridiculously packed, we were hoping it would be somewhat empty as another museum was having a re-opening. They had a lot of kid friendly activities but the backpack trek we wanted to do was nearly impossible with how packed it was. The kids all still had fun. The weather was crap.

Wednesday we were going to stay in and partner was going to go to a small conference but we decided we all needed a day and went to Staines and the cinema to watch Prince of Persia, an enjoyable experience. We also got some rubbish BBQ and chilled that evening. This weekend will be busy as well with the setup for and exhibition of partners Olympic work. We will probably be helping her with set-up.

Today I am just trying to get some reviews for my blog out of the way and create some other content.

Peace...

Please visit other sites I work on
The Nation of Heliotrope
Exploring London's Olympic Waterscape

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-30T23:05:00.001-07:00

Happy Memorial Day

...

2010-05-16T23:34:00.000-07:00

As always busy, I ended up working the weekend of Mothers Day, even though I had it off, last minute as the person scheduled to work called out last minute. I also had double shifts on Monday and Tuesday so long days there. Partner has also been in London every day this week so daughter had to be in her after school club every day, except my only day off for a week and a half on Wednesday past. My next day off will be at the weekend, where the family will probably go catch Iron Man 2.

As I said partner was in London all week past, doing filming and talking pictures for the Olympic thing she and some classmates are working on. She also attended some talks and such. Poor girl though is a bit sore from traipsing all over London so she took it easy over the weekend.

Daughter has been very good this past week, what with having long days herself all week, since partner was in London and I usually work 9.30 - 6, she had to attend an after school club which she luckily likes. She, much to her dismay, has testing this week so she is not happy as of writing this.

Peace...

2010-05-09T00:58:00.001-07:00

Happy Mothers Day

Peace...

....

2010-05-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

life goes on, well not much going on recently. Daughter has had a busy weekend with her own birthday party as well as two other birthday parties. Daughter has gotten buckets of stuff, mostly arts and crafts or things like puzzle books which is good, from all over. My parents stuff arrived without incident and I believe she still has stuff coming from other venue's.

mostly just working myself, same goes for the partner. I had some dental work done this past friday and it cost a good bit, dental work usually does. :,( I have a tooth that has been a bit wrong for a while so I had them remove the old filling and they have cleared away any bad tooth and I am waiting for payday to have the new filling put in. In all the tooth will cost just shy of 300GBP. Oh well.

Peace...

Please visit other sites I work on
The Nation of Heliotrope
Exploring London's Olympic Waterscape

....

2010-04-22T21:55:00.000-07:00

not much going on, leaving the house shortly to hopefully meet the girls at the airport.

Going to be starting the dispenser course soon, some staff changes at work mean that I am getting the opportunity at my store. After summer I will take the dispenser position for up to a few months, I may also be able to pick up some extra hours on top of that!! yay

peace

....

2010-04-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

Not much so far this week, kind of slow since my last update... all except THE VOLCANOOOOES. No airplanes and not quite any university students means QUIET around here. Went to a rugby game Saturday past, don't know much about the game (never been a big sports person) but it was fun nonetheless. First time at a sporting event since high school football games. Plus the game was at Wembley Arena which was HUGE, over 47,000 people were at the game. good times good times.

sooo

2010-04-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well not much going on this week, house work in the evenings after work. Tuesday I found twenty GBP on the ground which covered the trip I made to Staines to get a new coffee pot, new lunchbox for the daughter and I even found a G.I. Joe figure I was looking for. Tomorrow I am working from 8 am until midnight but I am off the weekend. AND this weekend I am going to see a rugby match.

todays something...

2010-04-08T05:00:00.001-07:00

In England Easter is a bit different from the US. For one they do not paint eggs nor do they have peeps. You get a big branded Easter Egg made of hollow chocolate, I got one from a co-worker by Cadbury, and they often include extras like candy bars, mine came with three Cadbury brand chocolate bars, or cheap toys or even alcohol. They also have hot cross buns which have crosses stamped on the top.

At the movies

2010-04-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 27th of March I took my partner and daughter to see a movie. Running up to the weekend, we had been planning to see Nanny McPhee: The Big Bang but seeing a trailer for How to train your dragon was good enough to convince us to see it. I must say we were not disappointed as How to train your dragon is an incredible movie.

Inspiration for the movie storyline came from a book How to train your dragon written by Cressida Cowell back in 2003. Cressida has written 7 other books in the dragoning realm. How to train your dragon in both the movie story and original book star Hiccup, a Viking and his dragon to be toothless.

In How to train your dragon, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) is the son of Viking Chieftain Stoic the Vast (Gerard Butler) a powerful man who has helmed his peoples fight against raiding dragons for years. Sadly for Hiccup though, he is not much like the other Vikings who are all rough and tumble while Hiccup is more the brainy sort inventing things and whatnot. The worst part of daily life however are the constant raids by local dragons, who would swoop in and carry off villagers and livestock. Hiccup's whole life changes when a chance encounter with a rare dragon makes him take a look at his life in a new way.

I do not want to give away too much of the movie but I will say it is an excellent movie that is actually worth the price of admission, considering you do not see it in lame 3D, I did not and it was beautiful.

My Friday

2010-04-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well, the girls are gone, left without trouble and arrived in the US the same way. It sure does get quiet around here with both the family gone and the university kids all out of town.

Not up to much really, this week I have gone into work at 8am everyday except Wednesday, took the girls to the airport, and today, being a bank holiday we are open shorter hours. So getting some extra duty in here and there try to beef up the next paycheck. My free time is going to be spent either spring cleaning the house or getting pre-emptive content up on my site.

Not sure what I will do for Easter at this point, it will be my first day off all week so I may just chill at home and rent a movie on demand or I might go down to the Easter Kitchen.

A co-worker got me a cool 'easter egg' with a few candy bars, thanks M

todays something...

2010-04-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

different in England

In England the bathroom is often called the bog, and toilet tissue rolls can be called bog rolls.

Something that has no frills or is base line can be called bog standard.

Shorts

2010-03-10T05:00:00.000-08:00

The one thing true witches need to maintain their powers are faith in themselves, and a little hot chocolate. The better the hot chocolate the more power it bestows, if you get the crummy stuff from a fast food chain then you get barely any power at all. These are things Willow knows, so she has her father make her a hot mug of cocoa every morning when she wakes up, so she can start her day with plenty of power. Her father, sometimes begrudgingly, complied knowing if nothing else it helped get her out of bed earlier. Willow would undoubt-ably spend the next thirty minutes attempting to cast spells to fix her hair, or do her tie. Willow often the meets up with her friend Allyson and walks casually to school, dad in tow though well behind, which the girls prefer. Allyson would listen intently as Willow described her world, the wizarding school she went to at night (which is of course what made her so hard to wake up in the mornings) and the assignments that were due. Wilma was often farther back, with her father, thinking to herself how silly Willow sounded with her dreamed up stories.

Today was a Friday like any other, Willow was at lunch and sitting beside her best friends Allyson and Violet. Violet was a newer girl to the school whom Willow had taken in when other children were giving her a hard time, with long curly red hair and green eyes. While Violet did not share the interest the other girls had in the realm of magic, she enjoyed the stories. Sitting in the lunch room, Willow was looking through the glass doors and saw what looked like one of the teachers from her 'school.' It appeared to be Mr. Faerrot, with his short stature and mostly bald head (other than the great tufts of hair peeking from behind his ears) and short stubby nose that looked so like a carrot.

Willow was sure it was Mr. Faerrot, hunched over into the window talking with the school receptionist. Suddenly Willow felt something wet dripping in her lap "Sorry, guys" Willow blurted out, having spilled her drink. Willow jumped up and began patting her lap with napkins only to discover, she wasn't wet. "But, I was sure I felt the juice dripping on me," Willow said. "Maybe it hit your knee or something, at least your not wet." replied Violet.

...

2010-03-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

Post removed for personal reasons

Peace...

My Friday

2010-03-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, as usual a relatively quiet week but that can be good. Partner has been feeling better and better though her sinus infection has left her sense of taste a bit off. According to her the only thing that has tasted good has been the chocolate chip cookies her and daughter baked. LOL.

Daughter has had a good bit of time, last week she went to see some secondary age students (middle to high school) play Badminton and she got to play as well, though she did not care for it. This past week she got to go to her Tuesday after school club called Koosa Kids, she gets to do activities and play games with other kids and such plus they have healthy snacks. It works because on Tuesday's partner often really needs to be out in London and I work until 6 (5.45 on Tues) so i can still work most of my shift AND pick her up. Thursday she got to go to the library in the morning then they had a dress up as your favorite book character. Daughter went as Matilda of Roald Dahl fame. Sunday she has a big play date with a couple friends at one of the friends houses.

As for myself, I have just been working. I did have to call 999 (911) for an elderly gentleman who tripped near the bus stop, he knocked his head pretty good and at 90 it could easily be serious. Darned old man was pretty insistent he was ok, despite hitting the ground pretty good and both a good sized cut on his forehead and a quickly swelling hematoma. When the paramedic arrived, he asked the OAP if he had any health issues and the man said well, my eyes and my hands but that was from back in the war. The paramedic asked what he did in the war and his response was "I got into some trouble in Greece." Poor guy though was still pretty insistent about being ok, even with the paramedic, did not have anyone local to call and lived alone so I definitely did the right thing by calling for the ambulance; if he had had a concussion or something...

Peace.

this weeks something

2010-03-04T21:48:00.000-08:00

between the UK and US

geezer does not mean an older person necessarily, but generally refers to a guy in a slightly negative way

git means idiot or in reference to a child, somewhat mischevious

....

2010-03-01T13:42:00.000-08:00

No article today as I need time to watch the President's Healthcare summit.

So

2010-02-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

Not much this week, partner has been sick, sinus infection, so she has had a rough time. Daughter has been trying to get back into going to school. I missed a few hours earlier this week to pick up daughter but will make it up this weekend, picked up a few extra hours. Partner has expressed desire in my not continuing looking If I am not picked up for the Sunday job though I really think I will need to, not sure.

How are all of you??

The Wednesday short story

2010-02-24T16:17:00.000-08:00

Willow was a witch, of this she was sure. Wilma, Willow's sister, just said she was crazy and needed to grow up. Regardless, Willow went about everything a witch would do including going to witch school and practicing spells. Her parents, who were most definitely NOT of the wiccan breed, supported her fully; buying her a beautiful hand crafted wand and spell book. Still, Willow was constantly vexed by her inability to cast even the most basic of spells and, not knowing any other witches, always felt she had nowhere to turn.

At school it was worse, not only did almost no one believe her but some thought she was silly for thinking so. This, however, never deterred Willow as she knew what she was, she just did not know how to get there. "One day" Willow thought "one day I will get it figured out." Willow would watch anything with witchcraft, Bewitched was her favorite, and read anything too.

There was one girl at school though, that believed Willow, or at least said she did. Allyson always said that not only did she believe Willow, but that she fancied the idea of being a witch as well. Willow would often spend her entire 4th year lunch break sitting with Allyson and dreaming of what it would be like; casting spells, riding brooms (though even Willow thought that was silly) and of course showing up all the other people who doubted her. If only Willow knew the truth about Allyson.

this weeks something

2010-02-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

thats different between the UK and the US

In the UK when I offer plastic carrier bags at work, I am often turned down with a grumbled "save the planet and all", Citizens in the UK might begrudge something but they do it from a position of compliance

In the US driving is a right, In the UK it is only slowly leaving the mentality of being a privilege.

....

2010-02-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

My Friday

2010-02-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

So been busy lately?? I have, though I did luck out and have some time off last week, originally taking time off to make sure I was around for Daughter if partner needed to be in London. Lucky for me I managed to time getting sick with my holiday and was with cold the entire time!! I am on the mend now so I am better thanks. Partner and I discussed my taking a second job, just 6 hours on a Sunday, 1 because I now have a fairly regular and steady schedule and 2 because the job is specifically a trainee position that would help me practice skills I need for moving up. Plus a side bonus would be that if the job paid what I make now, with four shifts a month I would make about an extra hundred GBP, coooooool. I am trying to get on top of my writing so I can get back to blogging properly but sometimes that might not bear fruit. Bear fruit??

Daughter is on half term this past week, lucky for her since, like me, she promptly got sick the Friday before half term and has been poorly since. She has been as tough as she could though and has been a star throughout. We have begun to slowly plan her birthday party since she wants to invite friends this time.

Partner got sick shortly after daughter did, so has missed out on a few school type functions of her own because. Still though she is pleased enough with the amount of work she is getting done.

With all the sickness going around; by far the biggest disappointment of the past week was that daughter and I missed Cirque Du Soleil for which we had purchased tickets back before Christmas. Since partner was the healthiest of the three of us at that point I told her to invite a couple of friends in our place and enjoy herself. Daughter was beside herself as we had all been looking forward.

How are all of you out there??

Peace...

OMG

2010-02-07T03:49:00.001-08:00

so I have not posted in a while, totally my fault. I have just been so busy these last few weeks. Well my schedule has changed and now except for two friday's a month I work days, with full time hours. I also ditched that on call job so hopefully the increased hours will make up the difference. I worked about two weeks straight in the lead up to last friday and did about 5 double shifts so I was quite tired for this weekend buuuuuuut I have some time off from today until the 15th. On the 15th, 16th and another day I will be doing double shifts again but all the hours from those (and the last series of double shifts) will be time and a half. On the 14th me and the girls will be going to see another Cirque Du Soleil so that will be fun. Once I get into another schedule I should start having more energy.

Daughter is doing her thing, nothing changing much for her, the week I am doing the double shifts. I am planning on taking her back to the British museum sometime soon, hopefully during that time.

Partner has still just been cramming but is about to be put back on not so cramming...er yeah.

Just doing our thing.

Peace...

todays something...

2010-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

the English are very progressive

at the same time England is quite traditional, makes no sense I know

todays something...

2010-01-18T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in the UK

All good programming comes on after 9pm

Good collectables are hard to come by

todays something...

2010-01-14T23:23:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

alternate names for the Great British Pound (GBP) can be, quid (the most common), wonga, dosh even bucks

In the United Kindom many local areas like Scotland, Isle of Man and so on can mint their own money

todays something...

2010-01-14T03:26:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

Pool is called snooker

for some reason some things like snooker and menopause get a the in front, i.e. the menopause or the snooker

to respond to yesterday's comment yes clotted cream is kind of like cream cheese but without the flavor, kind of like a batter flavor pre any other ingredients

todays something...

2010-01-12T13:21:00.001-08:00

I have learned while in England

The English like clotted cream with their desserts, I have no idea why

all shops close early

todays something...

2010-01-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

Despite how much the English love England, they think everyone has everything better; grass is always greener mentality

yielding for oncoming cars is pretty common

todays something...

2010-01-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

Despite everyone thinking Fish and Chips when they think England, The Brits probably eat at least as much Indian and Chinese takeaway as well as curries and kebabs.

Shovels are spades, no matter the size, a shovel is more associated with powered equipment.

today's something...

2010-01-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

You do not call people unless you are going to their house, you ring them up

You can not get proper mac and cheese, you know the stuff Kraft and Velveeta makes

todays something...

2010-01-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

The view out the back window in the morning is lovely after better than 6 inches of snow

No matter what closes the pub is open

it...

2010-01-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

snowed from about 8pm Tuesday until about 3pm Wednesday. I would say about 6 inches for the Egham area. We are supposed to get snow starting around 2am tonight where it may continue the rest of the week.

Daughter was quite happy about missing school today though it was a bit of a chore finding out for sure that the school was closed. She has not been happy about returning to school though a two week well pampered holiday will do that.

Peace

todays something...

2010-01-06T13:29:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

Drivers in my experience, tend to be more cautious in the UK than in the US

When there is inclement weather and things shut down, the English are not happy about it.

todays something...

2010-01-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

It is far harder and takes a lot longer to get your license than in the US

Housing is quite expensive in populated areas

todays something...

2010-01-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

The English have far more options for car purchasing than the Americans

The English have a complete lack of standardization. Possibly stemming from such a long history.

todays something...

2010-01-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

I learned while in England

They say Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas, except when they do.

Public transport is slightly more satisfying than driving, at least this close to London.

This chapter of

2010-01-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

the adventure is over. We six all had a pretty good time. We went to London a few times, went to a few museums and we shopped till we dropped. Partners parents have gone, left at noon, and left the three of us to fend for ourselves. We all had quite a bit of fun. Partners parents spoiled us all, even themselves. We went to the south bank near the London Eye, the British Museum, the Royal Air Force museum. We went shopping in Reading. We spent a few days at the homestead. It was a real nice time. Partner and I took the opportunity to see a few grown up movies while her parents were here. We saw both Sherlock Holmes and Avatar which were both good movies. Partner and I took daughter to see Alvin and the chipmunks 2 the squeakuel to help her cope with gram and gramp leaving. Sorry for the randomness of this post, I will sort out a better one soon.

Peace

today's something...

2009-12-28T14:14:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

If the taxi is turning, then by golly it is turning.

Where as in the United States things might be spelled with a z like immunize in the United Kingdom they spell most z words (z being called zed here) with an S like immunise.

well

2009-12-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

we had a great Christmas and Christmas weekend, apart from me working a VERY boring 6.5 hours Boxing Day night (the 26th to all you ferners). Christmas itself was spectacular with piles of gifts for everyone a nice relaxing day plus a large meal to cap it off with the whole fam, whats here anyway. Saturday we slept in a bit and the partner and I plus her brother went to Staines to catch the opening showing of the new, to the UK, Sherlock Holmes movie, it was great! We then looked around all the decent Boxing Day sales, bought a few things, you know. Then I had on of the most boring 6.5 hours of my life.

Sunday, today, was quite nice we just pretty much relaxed around the house, I got to watch my new GI Joe movie the partners parents got me, it was pretty decent. Now partner and I are just relaxing and taking some notes preparing for a big trip to London tomorrow.

Peace...

today's something...

2009-12-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

I have learned while in England

They do not have real macaroni and cheese, no kraft or velveeta

Air conditioning is not common

The conservative side wishes they were still in the days of the empire

today's something...

2009-12-25T01:13:00.000-08:00

I learned about England

Christmas Pudding is not pudding, it is fruit cake EDIT: forgot to say that it is soaked in liquor

Santa Claus is Father Christmas, except when he is Santa Claus

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

today's something...

2009-12-24T02:13:00.000-08:00

I learned about England

do not give the peace sign as it looks a lot like a very rude gesture

bacon is called rashers, except when it is called bacon

ham is gammon

Todays something

2009-12-23T02:00:00.000-08:00

I learned about England segment

the restroom is called the loo or simply the toilet.

cookies are called biscuits, except when they are like chocolate chip

sorry for...

2009-12-23T01:33:00.000-08:00

the lack of posts and info the last few days. Partner's family flew in on Monday and we have been well busy.

Monday their flight in got delayed about 4 hours so I was unable to go with to the airport to pick them up. After my main job I was summoned to my on call job but when I got there they had not yet received the shipment so I was sent home.

Once home I greeted the family then went off to deal with ASDA for repeatedly screwing up my grocery order and after three phone calls finally decided to tell them just to refund me for the stuff I never got.

Then back to on call job since they finally got stuff in. When I finished there I billed for 1.5 hours plus travel since I had to come back and the weather was rubbish. They did not feel like breaking a twenty so I got what I wanted plus a X-mas bonus!! So I went to the bus stop across the street, traffic was HORRENDOUS for some reason, and once the bus got to the round-a-bout the bus driver decided that he did not want to try and wait to get up the hill so he was going to go around, it seemed like a good idea. Little did the driver or anyone else know the traffic was bad everywhere and I ended up stuck on a non heated bus for 1.5 hours;( So a 20-30 minute walk became an hour and a half bus ride. I knew I should have walked but did not want to get in trouble with the partner.

By the time I got home at about 730-8 everyone else was so tired they just went to bed after I had supper, so no fun for me Monday. Tuesday I had to leave for work before guests were up but I lucked out when they decided they could not be bothered to go to Reading and went to Staines instead. My lovely boss let me off an hour early because the fam stopped by to say hi. We went to Staines and shopped til we dropped and then came home had desert and went to bed. Today we are hoping to get out to London to visit the Christmas market on the last day.

I am going to start a new segment on this blog that will highlight either differences between England and the US or something I have learned about said England since being here.

Peace. Merry Christmas

today was

2009-12-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

quite nice. It has been a while since I have had a weekend off and I am quite enjoying it. Got my pay in the account today so we went out to Staines. Got a maths book for the daughter unit, did a little shopping, I took advantage of some big sales on figures I collect, got a new pillow for partner and a new kettle since my herculean strength ripped the wall plug for the old one in half. After our shopping we decided it would be nice to see a movie. At the time the choices were Where the wild things are, Planet 51 and a movie called St. Trinians 2. Partner and I thought Where the wild things are might be a bit sad for her so it came down to P51 and St.T 2. Daughter chose St. Trinians as it was a girl centric movie about tough girls. It was actually pretty good, starring Rupert Everett as Headmistress Camila Fritton and Doctor Who's David Tennant as the wicked Piers Pomfrey.

Daughter finished school for the year this past Friday, she was quite happy about it. Something cool is the other year 3 teacher has asked if daughter wanted to step up to the next maths level, hence the new maths book, which daughter and us are excited about.

Spent part of the day cleaning, getting ready for the in-laws in Monday. We are all pretty excited, we will get to have a bit of fun. We have a large grocery order coming Sunday, just to be sure we have enough food.

Peace.

SNOWING

2009-12-17T16:59:00.000-08:00

it is doing it right now.

Pretty cool, it has been snowing off and on the last two days and today the ground got cold enough for it to stick. Since about 4pm it has snowed non-stop and we are supposed to get around 4 inches of the stuff. YAAAAAYYYYY!!!

busy busy...

2009-12-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

busy. Wild week with lots of hours and extra's last week so not much time to keep things up to date. I have finally finished in the other store, something I am quite happy about. It was getting kind of stressful at the end. I am currently working about 33.5 hours per week average at my standard store and after the new year I will pick up another roughly 3 hours per week.

Daughter has decided that she no longer wants to do any clubs other than guitar. That will see her drop 4 clubs and save us a good chunk of change. I am not so concerned about the money as long as she is doing clubs she likes, says she is tired with all the extra time at school which is understandable. It leaves her with the guitar since she now has decided to be a rockstar ala Hannah Montana.

Partner has been getting lots of work done lately so that she doesn't have to gets lots done while her family are here.

Partners family will be here in about a week and a half. For two weeks. We really are looking forward to it, it should be fun.

We finally finished shopping for and wrapping all of Christmas.

Peace

Sleeping on sunshine

2009-11-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

Well busy week for myself and everyone else this week. I myself put in better than 60 hours between my regular hours, covering the other night shifters holiday and putting in extra shifts at the other store. I am well tired but the check will look nice. 6 days in a row working 10 hour shifts until midnight and the 6th day from 830am until midnight so...

The girls were busy, daughter had her usual busy wednesday and had a play date on friday. It started with just one of her school mates but upon her friends mum coming to collect her, along with the friends siblings, and partner and the other mum talked while the four kids played. Then on Saturday daughter had a x-mas fair that she attended for a few hours.

Last Saturday we had our new mattresses delivered, the first night was a bit rough getting used to the far firmer mattress but since that first night we have been sleeping worlds better, it probably helped a lot during this past week. We also got a new, to us, sofa from one of the charity shops, it is quite nice too.

peace... one love

watch those pennies float on by

2009-11-20T17:08:00.000-08:00

Well got paid today, it was a nice payslip. Then the partner and I had to go blow half of it. 200GBP to pay the monthly bills, 250GBP to get new mattresses for the daughter and us and then 90 on a 3 seater sofa from the charity shop. Quite a bit of money, I am not enthused about the amount spent but obviously bills have to be paid and the mattresses will make the rest of our lives easier and we may even get a decent night sleep for once. The sofa was the only bit that was a bit of luxury but, lets be honest, the price includes delivery and it was from a charity shop so... We also got a bit more stuff we needed from the department store, finishing off most of the X-mas shopping and such, but that was put on the partners card for now.

This does mean however that the rest is going to have to be watched METICULOUSLY. I cannot stress that enough. While I still have about half the payslip left that half has to cover phones, travel and groceries.

Despite the vast amount of monies spent we are excited about having comfortable seating and nice mattresses for once.

Peace.

Up Up and Away

2009-11-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

So my birthday has come and gone, partner made a great supper and we had a really good but simple swirly cake. We all really found it tasty, the cake. On Sunday I got to use the birthday money my mom gave me to take my partner and daughter to the movies to see Up, which we have all been looking forward to.

Up is a really good movie, not as epically good as Wall-E was as far as Pixar movies go but really good and a captivating foray into the dramatic for Pixar. Pixar has always had drama in its movies but Up takes it to a whole new level. This is a much more grown up movie than I was expecting but, it was a much more grown up movie that kids could still enjoy. I recommend seeing this movie to anyone and I hope to have a review up soon.

Peace

clean break

2009-11-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

so... the clean break I thought I might get from my secondary store was shot down today... someone decided to break the news to the boss there before I had a chance. He was not happy. Not so sure what to do. I am getting more hours from my main job but he feels I promised to keep on with him until he found someone else. I did say i'd try but... he is also looking for someone. I am going to have to try and figure some way to work them both or something or work something out.

Peace... One Love

weekends over

2009-11-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

Well the weekends over and I worked the whole thing. Trying to build up money since the in-laws are coming. Yep from the 21st of December to the 3rd of January we will be hosting my partners parents. The good thing is that both partner and daughter are really excited. I am looking forward to it as well. I am going to try and get a few more days off for the time they are here just so I can do some hanging out to. Unfortunately company policy does not allow time off during December so it means I will have to lose pay :(.

well

2009-11-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

daughter made it through the day ok so I am happy about that.

partner got a small work desk for me to use when writing or daughter to use for homework.

I however had a wonderfully interesting day. Had coffee with the partner and went to work. It was a good bit chilly. Not interesting enough? well read on. I left my town and got to the connecting station in the next town.

I hopped on my second bus and waited for it to go. The driver arrived on time and left having had to stay on a bit to explain a change to the route to potential passengers. We started to move, about ten feet and while in motion a woman missed the bus. Well to leave the station there is a light and the bus got caught at the light. Next thing you know a young man is running up along side the bus and is informing the driver that he left a lady at the stop. The driver explained that once in motion law and regulation states that he is not allowed to stop and pick people up unless it is at a stop, makes sense that is the point to a bus stop. Well the young and well intentioned man said that if the driver did not allow the lady on the bus, he really could have if he wanted I suppose but I digress, he would stand in front of the bus until she got on. And he did. Well, well intentioned or not I cannot be late for work, so among clamorings of people to call the police and whatnot I informed the gentleman that it was kind of ironic that he was holding up a bus full of people, and potentially making them late for work, to help out someone else. He could see my point but "didn't care." Oh well. So in the end I told the driver to just let her on so we could go, she had already made it over and gotten on anyway, and in response to the passengers telling the driver to call the police said "well even if he was being an idiot, at least it was for a somewhat good reason," something you cannot say of a lot of idiots.

After leaving my first shift at one store and heading to the next store, about halfway there on the bus, which came just as I got to the stop, I realized I still had keys for the previous store!!! So I called the store and they of course said I would have to come back, called the next store and relayed that I might be late. I then hopped off the bus and heading for the nearest stop going in the opposite direction. The bus had allegedly just passed according to the time table, musta been one of those invisible Harry Potter jobs, so I had to wait another 20 minutes, that I really did not have. Well, not being one hundred percent sure where I was I decided to wait for the bus, did I mention how it was chilly in the morning? Well it was now late afternoon (about 5pm) and well into getting dark and I was quite cold. So I waited some more, the bus I was awaiting never showed, crap, next bus wasn't for another 15 minutes, well... waiting. I was then the almost victim of an egging by a pair of losers with bad aim. They missed me but hit the bus sign next to me so I did take some yolkey collateral. Finally a bus, not the one I was awaiting but it would work, plus it was warm. Got to the shop dropped the keys and returned to the outbound bustop I had been to nearly an hour before. According to the schedule the bus should be in about 5-7 minutes. So I wait... in the cold. The scheduled bus never arrives, another does though, 15 minutes later. It for whatever reason thought is stopping halfway to my next stop, we have to switch buses for a bus I have never ridden and I am already 20 minutes late for my second shift. Oh yeah the bus switch, went by the next intersection as we (the passengers) were getting off the bus. The next bus was not scheduled for guess... 20 minutes. Except halfway through another in the line of bus we were on comes around the corner (not the same bus) and picks us up and takes us to the next bus station. I catch a bus and make it to work 45 minutes late, it took me two and a quarter hours to make a journey that normally takes about 45 minutes. And it only cost me double my usual fare plus a nice chill to the bone. I bought a cup of noodles before going in to work and have never been so happy with one.

Wheee....

Peace... One Love

Happy Birthday Patrick

soooo..

2009-11-03T11:05:00.000-08:00

Well... I told my other boss that I could not continue with the hours. He is currently trying to hire a replacement. My main boss has confirmed that she will be able to supplement the hours, we just have not settled on the specifics.

Have spent a bit of the day looking at web hosting for the partner, man it is hard to sift through all that. I looked at dozens of sites and figured out nothing. uggghhh. She wants a small cheapish professional website for her 'model' nation she is setting up. Like I said though digging through the gosh knows how many different hosting sites/offers.

Daughter has been sick the last week or so... a bit of flu mixed with a throat infection, poor thing. We ended up skipping our plans for her half term and just stayed in. She has had her first and second violin lesson and starts guitar lessons on wednesday. She is a busy girl as that is on top of judo wednesday morning. So daughter has choir on mondays, violin on tues, judo, guitar and cookery on wed and art on thurs.

until the next time

peace... one love

Happy Birthday Patrick

the next episode

2009-10-15T05:19:00.000-07:00

Hello one and all... Much ado about nothing. Wait... what? Anyway Lot of contemplating going on lately, I think I am giving up my hours in the other store I work at, or my third job if you will. After talking with my manager, my partner and giving it some thought, I have decided that the slightly better than full time hours combined with the amount of walking and travelling that the strain is just too much. I can get more hours with less travel and less expenditures if I stay in my home store, and probably have more time to spend with the family.

Peace... One Love

ok, time to get this done

2009-10-06T02:30:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here, not much on my mind other than I would like to get the writing done. I have been ridiculously busy recently, haven't had time for much sleep or food. Hopefully the payoff comes on the 20th, payday. I have a few articles as well as figure reviews either written or typed up, I just haven't had the time to do them up and put them online. I have however been considering putting up my own for real website, would give me a chance to actually try my hand at programming a site.

Daughter is doing alright, having well since started school. She has taken on judo, choir, art and cookery clubs keeping herself quite busy. Like anyone she has her on and off days but she is getting on. She is letting her hair grow out again, "American style" whatever that means. She does look cute in her Judo outfit. Christmas is about wrapped up for her though; a few foreign language DVD's, a witches wand (her latest fad, she insists she is a real life witch), a couple World Wildlife Fund adoptions (her BIG gift so to speak) and maybe a few little bits and bobs here and there plus whatever the multitude of Grandparents provide.

Partner is doing alright as well, just having some trouble getting re-motivated after her review. It went well the way I understand it but, she needs to rework a lot of it as well. She just really has to get back into it. I think she is quite excited about the mattress shopping as I think both physically and mentally she is suffering for it. I found a place that does them for pretty cheap so... hopefully that both goes well and proves productive. Partner's Christmas is also almost wrapped up, cannot mention what I am getting her but some has already been ordered.

As for myself, who knows what the girls have cooked up. I may be getting a couple things for myself. I know Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Bludgeon is supposed to be coming out around Christmas, maybe. If he does that is my X-mas present to myself.

Peace...One Love

One friggin YEAR!!!!!!!

2009-09-16T03:38:00.001-07:00

So, here it is the one year anniversary of us moving to England.

What is the time??

2009-09-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

Man what a week. With daughter back at school and my three jobs all putting me to work I am knackered (tired). It's good though as eventually it will all pay off. My boss and I also finally got caught up on all my back hours of pay so that will be good. It is a good thing that picking up a third set of shifts through my store is a couple months off as that will give me time to adjust.

Daughter is enjoying her classes I think. I know she likes her teacher. She is going to be picking up lots of clubs. Art for sure and cookery, she also wants to do dance, french and choir. So... she will be busy.

Partner is finishing up getting ready for her annual review. It is on Wednesday so that will be a big weight off her shoulders, if she does well. Which she will. She and I are trying to plan on her possibly going to the states again next spring so she can attend AAG like she should. We just got to find the money.

For the upcoming week, I have a three day holiday. A leftover from when partner was originally going to Brighton to but, what with the review and all. It will give me a little break. We are also planning out activities to prepare for the possibility of partners parents coming out this winter. I am also planning out X-mas purchases both for my girls and the rest of the fam. Again like last year it will be a bit of a light Christmas.

We finally got our carpet installed!!! It looks great and makes the house look so much better. Partner was quite happy after having it installed.

Well... Not much else I can think of for now.

Peace... One Love

Jobs???? We gots to many stinkin jobs!!!

2009-08-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

I am off the next few days. Hanging out with the monster while partner is in Manchester at the RGS. Mustly just chilling the first two days. Friday I am taking her to see the Hannah Montana movie, just pray for me.

Daughter starts school back on the 3rd, which is next Thursday, she is kind of luke warm about it.

I picked up what amounts to another job, being that it is nearly the same number of hours I work now, just at another store. I will be working 6 days a week, having every Sunday and every other Friday off. Since it nearly doubles my hours, this will be a considerable amount more income every month. It will allow me to work towards getting a trainee dispenser job that will hopefully lead to a full time dispensing position. I will also try to maintain the warehouse job during the earlier part of the day. My new hours are 1-530 on Monday and Tuesday (except Tuesday's that partner goes to London) and depending on whether or not I work on Saturday for my regular post, either 830-430/530. Having good paychecks regularly will be quite nice. On the chance we do not get the option to stay, we would like to be able to do stuff while we are here.

Also, at the end of November another staff member, at my regular store, is going on maternity leave. My manager has requested that I fill that void, unfortunatly I do have the gaps in the other store to fill, so it is possible that I may get a pile of daytime hours also. Partner has cautioned me against trying such a schedule as it would undoubtably lead to fatigue, she is probably right.

I am working on planning out daughters next school holiday, maybe a trip to the aquarium, some other things close by. If we can do good money wise over the next couple months we may be able to do a bit more.

Peace... One Love

any questions? drop them in the comments

WALES???

2009-08-15T03:40:00.000-07:00

Well,

We got back from Wales yesterday. We had fun. When we got back into town we were stopped by the mother of one of daughters classmates to set up a playdate for Tuesday. I was then trapped by co-workers asking if I was supposed to work last (friday) night. I said no but, when looking in the diary the other girl had crossed her name out. So, with an hour until time, I was informed I needed to be in. We still needed to go to the grocery store to get some meals for the week. So we did the grocery shopping went home, got a bit unpacked, and was still only like five-ten minutes late.

Wales was beautiful, I have pictures that will be uploaded later. We enjoyed staying with the king of Hay, he was very fun and charismatic. Some time ago he had lost his hearing in one ear and as such mis-heard daughters name, kept calling her Becky. The town was tiny, 1500 residents, but was quite alive. King Richard had turned the town into a bit of a tourist spot when he declared himself king and Hay an independent country. His way of making the economy was by being a second hand book town, along with the tourism and it has worked. The king himself is hilarious. We had a bit of good food, breakfast with the king and daughter of course got some treats. I got lots of pictures.

I will be getting more hours, I do not know if I mentioned it, the manager of another store needs a trainee dispenser for at least Saturday all day and maybe Monday and Tuesday during the day also. I will see on my next paycheck on Thursday what my pay raise was from me getting Healthcare Assistant. The other manager said he could have me done with my dispenser training in nine months but, he finished another girl in about three months on just two days a week so I am sure I can get done just as quickly. Maybe by next year? That would be cool, two promotions by the time I have one year in.

Partner goes to Manchester in about two weeks. We are going to prepare better for her trip than we did for the one to Hay. I am now seriously thinking of getting my liscence switched over. It would probably be easier and cheaper to just rent a car next time, than taking a train and cab.

Peace... One Love

the more things change

2009-08-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well an interesting week since my last post. I started my new job, I got it on the day of the interview, but it will not be the hours I was hoping. In fact I only worked about six hours for the job this week and may not work any next week. It pays better and I like the place and the people all seem cool. I think I will still have to look for something more. The place sells parts for HIGH end sports cars, I will provide a link in the sidebar for people to check out the site.

I have worked every night this week, as the other night person is on holiday. I will be working tonight also and tomorrow, sunday. The sucky thing is that on Tuesday evening I started coming down with something, I was thinking Spanish Influenza or SARS, lol. Wednesday I had my first day at the shop and did not drink enough. By the time I got back up the hill, it was kind of warm that day too, and home I felt like Hell. I did not want to get out of bed but, as money goes, I was not sure if I was eligible for sick leave and could not afford to miss work so I went. I was hopped up on Excedrin and vitamins so I could function but was so beat from my walk up that I took the bus down. When supper time came at work I decided I was not going to be a wimp anymore and went to the kebab shop and got a burger with some of their very spicy chilli sauce, I was going to sweat it out. Within a couple hours of eating it, I felt better and by the next day was much improved. I still have a sore throat and am not 100% but, am a lot more comfortable.

I was however bummed that I decided to get sick right when starting a new job and having lots of extra hours at work, but that is how it goes.

Daughter is happier as my mother kindly sent us, ie her, some puzzles and coloring supplies. She finished the puzzle the first day, so we may get her some more over time. My mom also had some gardening soil sent to us so that daughter could do some potting and planting, which she was happy with.

peace... one love

big things, little things

2009-07-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

Partner and I have been talking a lot lately, mostly about money and it being so tight. I started looking for a second job a few days ago and found a good possibility in one which I applied for today. Within a couple of hours of emailing the given contact at the job website, I had an email response about when I could start and when I could come in for an interview! I responded about an ideal start-date but said it was possible to start sooner if really necessary. She responded with an interview time and said I might be able to start NEXT WEEK!! With my current job at the chemist having my hours cut back to my contracted 3 nights a week (just 18 paid hours) this was a very exciting thing for us and would help out greatly. It would mean roughly 48 hour weeks but you know how it is, do what it takes to pay the bills and all.

Daughter and I went to a place called Genievieves(sp?) to do some pottery work. We have been trying to do inexpensive stuff with her to help keep her occupied/spend time with her while she is on summer break. She painted a cat, no surprise there, I then suggested she do another one especially for her mothers birthday. Tomorrow we are going to see G-Force, which daughter has wanted to see for awhile. We will also hopefully be picking up some gardening supplies.

A busy month ahead, we are going to Wales from the 12th through the 14th so that partner can interview the leader of a micronation there. It will be interesting to do with the little money we have but we think we can pull it off. Next, later in the month partner is going to Manchester to participate in the Royal Geographer Society conference. I also work my last bank holiday of the year.

Peace... One Love

woohoo.

2009-07-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

So daughter and I went to see Ice Age 3:Dawn of the Dinosaurs on Wednesday, easily the best of the three. I laughed so hard at one scene I even snorted. I will put up a review on Associated Content soon hopefully. Walked around Staines abit, did some looking, I was good and did not buy a single thing (Transformers) as I am trying to save up and pick out stuff that I really want, there are just alot of figures I would really like, but even more coming next year that I want, so. Daughter and I also got to feed some ducks at the park in Staines, which she liked. We did not get to spend as much time hanging out as desired because I was able to get extra hours.

I worked two shifts Monday and Tuesday (the regular girl was having family issues) and picked up Wednesday night and 5 hours Thursday. I was recently informed that due to a person coming back to store that my gravy train hours would be getting curtailed by 2/5ths, not good. Luckily I am cramming in as many extra hours as I can get now. I got to talk to the area manager and expressed my desire to have more hours (full time), more pay and more reliability. I was looking at being a dispenser but he suggested team lead, I told hime I just wanted more. I really like my job now but, we just plain need more money around the house. He said he would keep me in mind. Manager said after her talk with him, he would start digging. Spoke with an area pharmacy manager that covered the store the other night, he said if I needed more hours to call him and I responded that since he knew my manager so well to just call her, hopefully more hours will come of that as that makes 4 different people (including 2 managers of stores I have subbed at, and two area managers) that know I can always use more hours. I felt with the two area managers that I might have been a little aggressive but, you do what you have to. And I really do not mind which track I take for career progression.

We have people from property maintainence coming Friday to look over issues that we have had with the property, most since we moved in. Partner had to email some big-wig to get things moving after going round in circles but, within a week of emailing this guy we have gotten more attention than all the previous months of living here. Like I said about the job/hours and going straight to the top, you do what you have to do. Partner is doing some hardcore work on preparing for the RGS (Royal Geographers Society) at the end of August. We are all pretty excited about going to Wales in early August but we will have to be careful as it will be right before I get paid so money will be tight.

Peace... One Love

what to do

2009-07-19T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well, daughter is now out of school for about 6 weeks. We got a trial version of the upgraded cable package so she can have a few more channels to watch while partner is busy. She is already dieing with boredom though. Wednesday we are going to go see G-Force, it looks cute enough. Partner may or may not come depending if she can spare the time.

I have made a few updates to the various pages we have, feel free to check them out and either comment there or here.

Peace... One Love

and on..

2009-07-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Picked up more hours today, my paycheck in August is going to be nice. I also got an award at work, apparently my area manager submitted my name for my customer care results and out of a region of like 18 stores I won so.. I got a certificate and two 25GBP gift vouchers. That was really cool and not something I was expecting. I spent most of it on toilettries and vitamins for the house. Thirdly I passed my final test for my Heathcare Advisor certificate. This means that once i get the actual promotion I will be able to do more as well as earn more money. Hopefully if I can swing it I will be able to move on to Dispenser training which will put me behind the actual pharmacy counter.

Daughter has 1.5 days left in school. She had a party today, but is still recovering from being sick. I think next wednesday, since I am off, our phone supplier offers 2-for-1 movie tickets and I get paid on Monday I will take her to see G-Force.

Partner and I on friday will participate in another study for money.

Peace... One Love

not by a long shot

2009-07-07T15:51:00.000-07:00

the title for this post makes no sense, and i do not know why.

Daughter stayed home today, she had a mild temperature and the sniffles so, thanks to swine flu we cannot just give her ibuprofen and send her on her way. partner wanted to keep her home either way and I agreed, the poor girl was miserable. One nice thing that came out of it was that because I did not have to pick up daughter from school, I was able to finish what I needed to finish at work and pick up an extra half hour. Every little helps after all. Daughter is a little scared of going into the next grade, year 3, but a meet and greet with some year three teachers and seeing her classroom on Monday has alayed some fears.

We also got a grocery order this afternoon. It was much needed and none to soon. We managed to get a good bit for less than usual thanks to bargain branding it where we could and the good stuff where needed.

I have a double shift coming up this Saturday, one shift at my store and another at a local store. The store is incredibly boring but I will be getting paid to be bored so... I will also have to take a cab back as it is the only way I can make it for my second shift, at my store. That is the only sucky part but, I can claim compensation from Boots, I can get the money back so.. it will work out. I am still trying my hand at these web design classes free online but, really they and the free webhosting they give links to are all rubbish.

Peace... One Love

Uuuuuh,

2009-07-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

Man my feet are killing me today. On top of both my regular and extra regular this week I have picked up a good bit of extra extra this week in hours. Lots more standing and a good few more times up and down the hill. It will be worth it come pay day though. I am also picking up a few extra hours next week at a store in one of ht enext towns over. So, I am putting nose to grindstone.

I just got home myself, partner was asleep but awoke when I came in the room. When I checked daughter to see if she was hot, she woke and asked for water. I went downstairs to get her some and came upon a huge spider probably 1.5 inches across. I am glad I went down and not her, the scream would have been.... not fun to say the least. I was able to catch him and toss him outside without killing him so... lucky him, if I could not have caught him I would have had to mush him.

I saw one of those new Nissan GT-R sports cars on wednesday for the first time, pictures do not do it justice, it is a big beautiful (big) car.

Peace... One Love

2009-06-30T23:10:00.001-07:00

56 Stars for Belgian Kimberly Vlaminck
Recently a teen made international news from and allegedly unwanted tattoo, here is what I think.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1889636/56_stars_for_belgian_kimberly_vlaminck.html

2009-06-30T23:07:00.001-07:00

Monsters V Aliens, an Intergalactic Smack DOWN!
I saw the movie Monsters vs. Aliens a little while back and am finally getting around to writing what I thought of it.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1889680/monsters_v_aliens_an_intergalactic.html

OH MY GOOOOD

2009-06-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Man was it hot yesterday, not Eastern Carolina in the middle of summer hot but, the hottest it has been so far this year. So hot in fact that we had to pull some savings so that after work I could buy a couple fans for upstairs. gaaawww

Uhm in other news I am picking up even more hours now, doing a double shift Saturday the 11th of July. A double shift, it will cost about five GBP for the trip but I will make about 25 GBP so... every little helps.

I am starting work on some stories plus I am planning on starting to teach myself how to draw, I would still like to try my hand at a webcomic. As well I am going to start a free online XHTML class so that maybe I can start working on a little webdesign. Who knows...

Peace... One Love

What a week

2009-06-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

Well not too much to report on as little happened this week. Transformers Revenge of the Fallen did premier in the States though, and is doing smashing business that I hope it keeps up. The more money it makes the more likely we get cool Transformers toys so...

I have been picking up a little extra in the way of hours and will do more so in the coming week, as for some reason money is still tight though, it will not be as bad as last month. We have also been participating in paid studies on campus when we have the time.

Daughter has had an eventful week, on Friday she performed in a play, had one of the last (and best) lines. She also had mufti day in which in exchange for bringing in one piece of chocolate, she either got to wear sneakers or a hat. On Saturday daughter had a fete or fayre as they are known here at her school. Partner and I also attended and helped a bit with set-up. It was quite the shin-dig. They had a charity there, a dj and alcohol (I really love this country) as well as plenty of activities. One aside I will mention is that the fair did help us spend some of that money that is un-accounted for so... But we were able to pick up a honest to goodness bicycle for daughter for a puny 10 GBP. Daughter had alot of fun and me and partner enjoyed ourselves enough. After I aired the tires up we were pleased to know that the bike functions quite well, not bad for a second hand bike. Today daughter got to go to the neighbours and play in her pool, she did not want to come home.

I have done a bit of writing both stuff that has been submitted and stuff I am working on. I really do want to start working on my drawing skills as a webcomic of sorts is still something I want to do. I also still would like to write.

That is all for now I do still intend to update regularly when possible.

Thanks

Peace... One Love

go see Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, twice, its awesome

Our time in review

2009-06-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well some time has come and gone, I have done a bit of writing and intend to do some more. What have we been doing since my last post?

Partner went on a Geographers retreat to Scotland, lucky girl, she said it was gorgeous and had both a good and productive time, as well as making valuable contacts. Daughter and I stayed back at the homestead and chilled out for a few days. We took the opporunity to go and see Night at the Museum 2 which was great, read my review about it athttp://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1853499/night_at_the_museum_2.html. I had daughter for another two days after partner returned as she then had to go to Brighton, for another day conference.

We spent the next two weeks extremely tight on money. Partner and I participated in a couple of studies to earn a little extra cash.

We unfortunately missed both the Magna Carta Day festival and the Englefield Green fair due to daughter being abit under the weather.

My big thing is that today for Fathers Day, I got a new Father's Day exclusive coffee mug from daughter plus 2 cards. I also got taken out for lunch and to go see the greatest movie of the year, Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, which was awesome in every way and for every minute in its runtime. Lunch was really good, it was at a mom and pop cafe near daughters dentist in Staines.

So there you go!!

Peace and One Love..

2009-06-19T02:41:00.001-07:00

Jetfire Says " I was Trapped in Ice for Millions of Years."
I ordered Jetfire a while back and finally got around to reviewing him.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1823793/jetfire_says_i_was_trapped_in_ice_for.html

2009-06-19T02:35:00.001-07:00

Sup Hep Cat%252C Let Jazz Lay it on the Line for Ya%2521
I picked up Transformers Animated Jazz%252C he was just too cool to pass up.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle%252F1823741%252Fsup_hep_cat_let_jazz_lay_it_on_the.html

2009-06-19T02:33:00.001-07:00

Ramjet Has No Problem Headbutting Knights
I ordered Transformers Universe Ramjet and would like to tell you what I think.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1823701/ramjet_has_no_problem_headbutting_knights.html

2009-06-19T02:29:00.001-07:00

Swindle Would Sell His Own Mother for 5 Energon Chips
I picked up Swindle on sight a while back, here is what I think.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1823627/swindle_would_sell_his_own_mother_for.html

2009-06-19T02:25:00.001-07:00

Me Grimlock No Bozo%2525252C ME KING%25252521
I recently picked up Transformers Animated Grimlock and decided to let all know what I thought.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle%2525252F1823557%2525252Fme_grimlock_no_bozo_me_king.html

2009-06-19T02:22:00.001-07:00

Cyclonus Says %2522All Hail Galvatron%2521%2522
I recently acquired Transformers Universe Cyclonus and here are my thoughts.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle%252F1823453%252Fcyclonus_says_all_hail_galvatron.html

2009-06-17T05:45:00.001-07:00

Night at the Museum 2
Me and the daughter saw this recently and I thought I would let you know how it went!
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1853499/night_at_the_museum_2.html

2009-06-11T23:40:00.001-07:00

Trailers for GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and Terminator Salvation, My Thoughts!
I give my opinions on the trailers I saw for GI Joe: Rise of Cobra and Terminator Salvation.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1801542/trailers_for_gi_joe_rise_of_cobra_and.html

Freedom-Fraternity-Brotherhood

wow, what a month part deux

wow, what a month

half term

Good Monday to all

Happy Holiday's

Don't ask Don't tell

Just trying

All at once

times like these

sooooooooo

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Its been awhile

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so

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM

on and on

todays something...

the WEEK in REVIEW

Holiday, in UK, it feels like the third of June

Happy Memorial Day

...

....

....

....

sooo

todays something...

At the movies

My Friday

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Shorts

...

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So

The Wednesday short story

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OMG

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

today's something...

todays something...

it...

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

todays something...

This chapter of

today's something...

well

today's something...

today's something...

today's something...

Todays something

sorry for...

today was

SNOWING

busy busy...

Sleeping on sunshine

watch those pennies float on by

Up Up and Away

clean break

weekends over

well

soooo..

the next episode

ok, time to get this done

One friggin YEAR!!!!!!!

What is the time??

Jobs???? We gots to many stinkin jobs!!!

WALES???