A Brief Year Review

So,

What has 2012 brought for me?

Honestly, when I look back its flown by...

But Christ has it been a good year. So what have been the highlights for me?

March 2012 - Bradford 10k

At the start of the year, I couldn't run 1 mile without stopping, and that wasn't at a particularly fast pace, but I motored on. 

I'd got myself to a standard where I could complete 10km, and that was fantastic so I entered to the race.

My finishing time was around the 54 Min mark, not the finest performance, but I now know about the pacing myself and how to come back stronger next year.

Juneish - The Wall

A lot of my friends my snigger slightly when they read this, however I have built a brick wall. It is still standing, and will not be coming down.

I built this wall with no prior skills and only a determination to get it done. I don't think it looks bad. Its not the best, however its not the worst i've seen - It just adds character.

August - Leeds Festival, Spartan Race

After the events of the Bradford 10k, I fancied something a bit different. Pounding tarmac for hours and hours is not particularly interesting, so what about Obstacle course racing? Its like being a big kid again.

I'd done a lot of strength training for this, and the day out was fantastic. Already signed up for next year.

Leeds Festival this year was amazing, not because of the weather but because of the person that I was with. Previous festivals there's usually a large group of us that go, so it's slightly manic. However I went with my (now) fiancee Amelia. 

We saw all the bands we wanted to, and there was no organizing of anyone else, no feeling guilty about anything, but it was really a fantastic time.

October 4th -

I got engaged.

I must admit this was the best day of my life to date, hearing Amelia say "Of course" after a wait that seemed an eternity was excruciating. However I couldn't be happier.

November - Tough Mudder

Arguably the best day of my non romantic life, 12miles of systematic hell, but my god it was worth it.

December - New Job

I've been offered a new job in the company I work for, technically it starts in January. 

Life is progressing well...

Life is good...

2011 - 2012

So, its Christmas Day, and I'm probably doing this Blogpost out of the state my mind is in right now, rather than a necessity (Could writing a blog ever be a necessity?

I think then, that now would be a good time to sum up 2011, and what to look forward to in 2012.

2011

March

Moved into my first house, 28th of March I believe, and its a rare occurance when I can remember a specific date!

Its something I've never experienced before, having my own complete freedom. It does come at a slight monetary cost, but not as bad as I expected. I still have a reasonable amount of disposable income.

However more than this, I'm enjoying living with Amelia. I think a couple that is working well together is often a beautiful thing to watch, and I'm fortunate enough that I've got a ring side seat each day. (No pun intended)

May

Its something I can't avoid, but I've turned 26, I'm into the second half of my twenties. This isn't a particularly ground breaking year, however its arrived and I might aswell embrace

June/July

I've been fortunate to see many of my favourite bands, so its worth mentioning Download and Sonisphere this year.

Sonisphere saw me see Metallica for the 4th time, and they were amazing as ever, top shows. How Hettfield and Hammet still play guitar that well and that quickly is still something that I consider a manipulation of the laws of physics. *Jealous*

Download festival gave me the chance to see System of a Down, they were amazing, a 26 song set, filled of short anthems. Brilliant.

December

Christmas, its been a great one. Simple as that.

Obvisouly these are not all the things that I've done this year, but certain highlights stand out... and now Amelia has a Digital Camera, I hope to have more photo's of things I expereicnce. As I intend on doing most of them with her.

2012

I have one single aim for 2012, not a new years resolution, to be the most physically fit I have ever been, in terms of cardio and raw strength, let the training begin...

A New Car..

I'm in a bit of a quandary, and its something that could potentially be an unmitigated disaster.

I'm loosely toying with the idea of getting a new car, trading in the trusty Skoda for something, and here comes the problem. I'm in a complete dis-array at what type of car to go after, there's a few things I have in my mind, however they are vastly different in both the practicallity, their affordability and there overall fun or "grin" factor.

I've always been a fan of cars, driving fast and even to the point of going Go-Karting every week.

However I genuinely now believe I'm going through a mid life crisis, and that's what's prompting the change in car.

So the categories for the car are (With a couple of examples) are.

2 Seater Sports car.

Nissan 350z, Audi TT

I've always wanted a 2 Seater Sports car, and I think it would be a good idea to get one whilst i'm young, rather than on the wrong side of 30 when my back might not be up to it any more.

Pros:

Look good, will hold value, great fun to drive

Cons:

Fuel Consumption, insurance costs, tax costs, no boot.

Very Cheap Small Hatch.

Ford Fiesta, New Corsa,

I've recently had the genuine pleasure of driving a Ford KA, its been an acutal pleasurable experience. Sure, its not going to break any land speed records but its good to go round roundabouts and will not guzzle fuel like my current car!

Pros:

Cheap, Cheap, Cheap, Could be fun.

Cons:

Would it be as fun as putting my foot down to the floor and actually feeling my stomach go into my back?

A Classic.

VW Golf Mk2 GTI,

I've owned 3 Golfs and loved all of them, I'd love to have a Mint Mk2 and really relive a brilliant car, the comforts may not be up to scratch, however I wouldn't have to deal with complex faults going wrong all the time.

Or, just stick with the Skoda, 180BHp, 1.8T, Changed lots of parts, Estate, Practical.

Meh.... Or Maybe a motorbike again....... ?

Sigh. I'm old.

Finished the Internet?

I write this now, completely bored out my tree.

If however I was to take a step a take out of myself, to view myself in a "Gears of War 3" Perspective I would probably find myself shouting at a the Iain in front of me "HOW CAN YOU BE BORED?! YOU ARE CONSTANTLY CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET?"

Let me explain, I'm at work right now on a dedicated break.

I've been to the White Rose centre to my lunch and bought a calorific sandwich. Eaten That.

My usual routine is as follows. (At home the routine includes other websites that would be deemed inappropriate)

- BBC News

- Facebook

- Hotukdeals

- Facebook

- Hotukdeals

- Facebook

And from that its pretty much rinse and repeat, there's a few useful things that I could be looking at, namely a Fireplace/Dual Fuel stove, however I just can't bring myself to it.

13 Years ago, in 1998, I'd owned my Pentium 100mhz PC for around 2 years, and finally got it connected to the internet via a 56k Modem.

I remember the happiness that viewing Web pages gave me, every time you loaded a page it was a host of new information that previously I'd have had to have to ask someone about, or worse. Read a book.

It was also like gambling. There was a strong chance the page you were visiting was so poor that the information wouldn't be useful, and still a very strong possibility it wouldn't load at all!

All the time it was costing 1p a Minute and tying up the phone line from incoming calls (A welcome feature I think)

Looking at the above websites that are rinse and repeat, they are heavily user generated content, if everyone starts to think like me, they may start to cease to exist, just becoming updates for the occasional facerape or silly misprice on the internet.

That would be a sad world.

Anyway, this has taken up 20 mins for my time, back to work, connecting people up to use the internet god knows if I stopped doing that I'd be making the problem worse....

Thanks for Reading

Obsession

Its been a long time since I've updated my Blog, although i'll be the first to admit that a lot has gone on recently.

However, the one thing that's actually prompting me to write this is a single thing. Weight. More specifically... My Weight.

Now before you comment on this, If you have known me over the last 26 years, you'll probably think of me as the Skinny Wretch, Racing Snake, Bean Pole etc etc.

However upon giving myself a "Naked Weight" reading this morning, I now weight 13 Stone 2 1/2lbs. Around 84kg in new money.

And do you know what? I'm not the least bit bothered about it! Its a good feeling to be honest, I've been hitting the gym 3/4 times a week and am lifting heavier weights, so maybe its this showing, I'm eating healthy. I do hold some slight reservation about my cardio capability.

If I could put this on a scale for you out of a 100, mine would be around -10. Its shot, nowhere near the level of fitness I want to be at, so I'm going to start hitting the treadmill and possibly the open road!

Its my new Obsession, and I apologise to Amelia now for harping on about it over the next 2 weeks, until Gears of War 3 comes out at least...

A house to a home...

First of all,

A public apology, (Not that many people will mind/nor care) but I haven't updated this in a long time. So, i've got a bit of free time for the next 20 mins so I thought i'd write at least something!

Well... Life has changed dramatically, particuarly over the last 4 months.

Since a fantastic holiday in the Dominican Republic, me and Amelia have put and offer, had it accepted and got the keys to our first house!
Oh, and i've also got a new job within O2 :)

The intention of giving this blog virtual CPR is to revitalise and give a documentation of the renovation, hopefully in the future it will include pictures etc.

So far jobs done -

Stripped walls of Wallpaper -
Taken Skirting boards in one room off the walls.

Jobs for this week.

Complete all flooring removal (The worst fitted laminate in the world),
Complete skirting board removal,
Take all radiators off the walls and label accordingly.
Move heating pipes from annoying box section and router under the floor upstairs to the bathroom.

Anyway.

More pictures to follow, and thank you for looking if you have!

Iain Out.

We didn't start the fire....

Billy Joel - We Didn't start the fire



Ist been quite a while since i posted my last blog, and the excuse for this is....



There's been a lot going on, but i've also not come up with a thought provoking blog until now, this isn't about my life, but how the world has changed over the past 20 years.


And this ties nicely into the song at the top of the page, if youv'e not familiar with the song - see here



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR-A4QFHZBA



The essense of the song is essentially world events from 1949 to 1989, 40 years of life changing figures, events and things that make up our history.



Its also got a very catchy tune with 114 events i total (I haven't counted)



So, in that essence, what if we took it over the last 20 years, 1989 - 2009.



If someone was to rewrite that song NOW, for those 20 years, what would be included ? Obvisouly my thoughts are going to be skewed towards the latter end of this period, my period of living memory, and no-way am i going to go for 100+, so lets see how i get on. (And these are in no particular order of significance)



1# Michael Jackson -



This man, as much as some people loath him for his personal live and general dilusional behaviour, was, a genius. His vocals, choreography and stage presence can be matched by very few. Unfortuantly, he has now passed on, through means fair or foul to being deceased.

#2 Barack Obama

I'll include Barak Obama (SP) Here because he's been so at the forefront of the media for the first "Black" President, prior US Presedential elections i have followed and stayed up for, but this one was something different, and although he hasn't done anything that i can see of great difference, he's none the less a personality and a statement of the modern times.

#3 Iraq

On this point i include 2 elements, both the reign of Saddam Hussain, and the invasion.
I remember vividly seeing the bombers taking off from RAF Cosford, and all over other parts of the country on BBC news to see planes taking off destined for their bombing run destinations.

#4 9/11

These posts arn't in any particular order of importance, but if it was, this would probably be in the top 5 significant events of the past 20 years quite easily. I remember exactly where i was when this happened, and all the commotion that it did cause. The images in my head are still engraved to this day of the Planes crashing into the towers.

Which brings me onto......

#5 Concorde

That plane ? My god it was beautiful, it was design at its paramount. It was the first plane to break the sound barrier followed by many...... Oh Wait... no other plane has smashed that barrier.. And the reason ? Well, its not technology or materials, because they've certainly advanced. The reason is costs, no longer are we willing to push the boundaries of science and transport, and instead focus on the boundaries of economy, thank you very much Ryan Air.

So thats 5, where now ?
I'm going to include a couple of sportsmen.

#6 Tiger Woods

What HASN'T this man for Golf ? Young, Good looking, Sponserable, Black, everything that was against the "mould" of a golfer, he practiced, brought in new training regimes, made golfers fitter and have diet plans. He CHANGED the sport, and dominated it for a long time before someone caught up.

#6 Michael Schumacher

Probably something thats going in here because of my love of F1, although the man is a genius, a competitor. But half of me thinks that its not all down to his training and drive, but actually down to his genetics. I read somewhere once that he only had a heart beat of 45bpm at rest and only 80 or so whilst racing, how can anyone compete with that ?

Where now....

#7 Bill Gates/Microsoft

I suppose i could put Sir Tim Berners-Lee here, but i feel this guy, the GOD of the geek has made a bigger difference to the way computers operate. Right now, i'm taking for granted really what he's developed, i know software, i know a bit of code. But how to intergrate that with a silicone chip. Well, its just mind boggling to me.

#8 Princess Diana

It pains me to put this on here, it really does, because I am nor a Royalist, nor do I follow any kind of religion, however i can't remember any death being as profound in my memory as this one. Even another death of a Royal (The Queen Mother) doesn't compare. It effected the country, even if it didn't effect me in any direct way.


#9 Eminem

Its only a fleeting thought that made me include Eminem, but i genuinley do think he has changed rap music, its crossed the Black/White race into far deeper territories than Raymond Van Winkle. And he seems a Humble guy too.

#10

It was acutally hard to get to 10, and the final one is something pretty significant. It may not have a dramtic effect on our lives now, but i can guarentee it will in the future.

And it is.

Dolly the Sheep

If this song was written by the great Billy Joel again, not all of these i'm sure would make the list. But its worth a think, what great things have happened in our lives, life changing events or great people, who knows. We could probably write another hit with all the ideas.

Anyone got any ?

Fin.