Ideas on Escape

Difference

2006-08-02T11:59:21Z

Why is Israel attacking civilians for political ends different from Hezbollah attacking civilians for political ends?

Violence begets violence

2006-07-24T06:31:22Z

I can't watch the events in the Middle East at the moment and think that the past evils done on the Jewish population in Europe, including "collective guilt for the murder of Jesus" as the Jewish community were charged with during the many pogroms against them, has some how proved the old saying 'Violence begets violence'.

Sadly it seems that human nature is not to learn from the past but to repeat it. The Jewish people were dehumanised and their lives' treated as worthless and now? They do the same to the people of the Lebanon, innocent as a collective group. Can this conflict be see as anything other than racist aggression? Forget all the talk of boarders and NATO forces, this can surely only end when all sides accept that a person is a person, an individual and no people are worth "more" than others.

Another week over.

2006-01-16T10:37:34Z

Busy week. Down in London again which was tiring, this week.
Didn't help that I was still recovering from my work Winter Ball, at which Bananarama performed no less!
Managed to use the treadmill in the gym Monday, Wednesday and Thursday which was hell as I hate running in the gym.
Will have to get a map of London so I can identify where to go outdoors in the big smoke.
Regards work, well for once it isn't too bad and the people are generally ok but the management is shocking.
Having been a project manager in similar situations just makes it more frustrating but most of us don't have a desk or computer yet which is bizarre if you ask me.
Why bring people on to a project if you haven't got enough desks for them?
Really anoying but today I have a meeting back home in Glasgow and will call into my office to discuss it with my manager.

Have finally managed to book flights to Sweden for the marathon too so that makes it more real I think. Really looking forward to it. Now just need to get accommodation sorted.
Also did my first longer run on Sunday and am feeling ok this morning which is good.

Sunday afternoon, I met up with smhwpf who I hadn't seen in ages.
Was as always, an interesting time and good craic.

Have my work meeting at 3 and then my Spanish Class starts again tonight which is always fun even if my Spanish doesn't seem to be improving too much!

And the week moves on...

2006-01-07T13:57:30Z

So the week has finished up. Even though I only had three days in work they seemed a life time.
The good new is that work seems to be getting organised and getting us flats in London which will be good so I don't have to cart stuff between Glasgow and London every week.

Anyway, had a bit of a cold. Not too bad but enough to be miserable stuck in a hotel at night and a lot of those in work aren't too much craic.
As regards the marathon training, had 2 goes on the tread mill Thursday and Friday. Hate indoor running and the tread mill. Sooooo boring and you can't of course control your own pace as naturally.
Also read that you need a 1.5 degree incline to match the effort of running outdoors and that is just no fun :(

Other big thing this week has been Sharon in Israel.
Have a deep interest in both Palestine and conflict resolution in general (just like most people from back home).
I know a lot of people are delighted (political) with the fall of Sharon and he was certainly a man of war but I fear for what could happen next. It takes a war of war to make peace, we knew what to expect from Sharon and in times of uncertainty voters tend to run for the extremes. I am just a bit worried that the next year could be bad for Palestine and for the world as a whole with all the other issues in that area.

A wandering

2006-01-03T21:10:21Z

Final day of the holidays and what a lovely one it has been!

Lovely lie in, off in to the office but only to do my expenses so that is money for me! Always good.
Wander round town and met up with an old friend which was fun.
Lazed this afternoon which also managing to tidy up and all those other minor things I never get round to doing. Also watch the Zeppo, Bad Girls and Consequences, three of my favourites.

Day two of the running also passed ok.
Actually feeling a touch flu-ey today (well ok, maybe not actually flu, just ot on top form) though so was very reluctant initially and it is freezing up here tonight but I got through it and rest day tomorrow. Just as well as I have an early start heading down to London.

Day one

2006-01-03T15:10:27Z

The first training run, 25 minutes finishing on Great George Street.

This morning, sore legs, excellent!

New Year...

2006-01-02T23:32:46Z

Well, that's another year over and the start of a new one.
How time flies these days. I remember when a single day seemed to last a lifetime!

So out with the old and on with the new.
Always hate New Year's Eve myself although this was a particularly good one last year (?)
Christmas break was good in general. Best of all, got to watch a few eps of Buffy on Sky. Hadn't seen Buffy in a while and truthfully I had forgotten how good that show was and how much I loved it.
Right, if a little arbitrary, NY is still a good chance to review and refresh.
So on to resolutions:

1> As always, to procrastinate less, will give me more time I suspect
2> To run the Stockholm marathon, more on that later.
3> To drink less. Definitely. Need to :-)
4> Write at least 30 minutes every day so I can finally finish that novel I have been trying to write for about 2 years.

The funniest resolution though is a friend of mine who has vowed to plan to be more spontaneous. She gets the contradiction in that :-)

Pick it out!

2005-11-17T19:04:06Z

Took this from a load of people and low and behold-

You scored as Serenity (from Firefly). You like to live your own way and do not enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you that you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

</td>

Serenity (from Firefly)

100%

SG-1 (from Stargate)

81%

Galactica (from Battlestar: Galactica)

75%

Moya (from Farscape)

69%

Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars)

63%

Nebuchadnezzar (from The Matrix)

63%

Bebop (from Cowboy Bebop)

56%

Enterprise D (from Star Trek)

50%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Seriously didn't try to fix this.
I am just like that naturally! :-)

Computer Help

2005-11-05T18:39:30Z

Anybody help? Please?

Getting this message when I try to open MS Internet Explorer I get this weird message: Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library Runtime Error! and then the address of iexplore.exe

No help on microsoft for the problem related to explorer.Internet connection is fine and works with other browsers?
Is my computer falling apart?
Anyone any ideas?

Edit: Ok got round the problem by downloading Netscape from Real Player. Stupid Microsoft anyway. Come the revolution we will all use Netscape anyway :-)

I'm a hero!

2005-11-03T10:26:30Z

Ok, fun quiz lifted from loads of people, thank you:

You scored as William Wallace. The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need.

</td>

William Wallace

88%

Captain Jack Sparrow

79%

Maximus

71%

Neo, the "One"

71%

Lara Croft

71%

The Amazing Spider-Man

67%

Batman, the Dark Knight

63%

James Bond, Agent 007

54%

El Zorro

50%

The Terminator

46%

Indiana Jones

46%

Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com

I'm happy with that and as I am down in London this week, all those English better watch out!

I swallowed a bug!

2005-11-02T15:03:34Z

I was walking to work this afternoon and I swallowed a bug.
No Reivers were involved.

I know I shouldn't but...

2005-10-28T10:00:16Z

Ok, I realise it is a serious issue and someone died but have you seen Phil Spector's hair?

More Dreams

2005-10-26T15:06:56Z

Well, after my train experience I spent an unsettled night in my hotel thinking there was, first, a mouse in my room and then the rest of the night worrying there was an intruder. Very strange behaviour for me!
Also managed to sleep in which I thought was pretty impressive going.

Nightmares

2005-10-25T12:03:16Z

The weirdest thing last night.
I was traveling down to London on the sleeper train and woke at about 4am screaming, cold sweats, the full shebang! A nightmare.

In the dream, my sister had decided to keep spiders as pets and she basically tortured me with them.
Bizarre... and embarrassing as I was on a train!

2 points

2005-04-30T12:38:57Z

Came across 2 different points I just want to talk about.
First a friend of mine actually bothered to read something from the BNP.
He was amused to find that while they want most British citizens who happen to be descended from immigrants (and how far back do they want to go?) to return "home" (and where would they define home exactly) they insist that me, a citizen of another country who freely admits they are in the UK as a purely economic migrant is really a deluded Britisher and should be force to take a British passport.
Bizzare!

The other thing concerns the news this week that women can pay in the British Open Golf tournament if they can qualify. Feminists claimed this as great victory which I an see, if a person is capable of competing at the highest level they should be allowed to do so regardless of sex etc.
However, this does leave a bit on an inequality. Men are banned from competing in the Womens British Open. It is just a thought...

The sadest thing I ever saw

2005-04-03T19:33:48Z

I help out at a local charity bookshop and today I was sorting through a bunch of books someone had donated when I came across the Hobbit. The book wasn't in good enough condition, well loved, well read but unfortunately too tatty to be resold. In our shop we rip off the front cover before throwing out in order to make sure no one sorts through books already sorted for dumping. When I went to rip this book I noticed the saddest thing, written in the inside page was the note: "This book is owned by xxxxxxxx, the most unpopular boy in school".

Really, the book was so well loved and the inscription so sad it brought a lump to my throat.

And the award goes to...

2005-03-19T22:36:13Z

Well, the six-nations rugby championship ended today.
Unfortunately Ireland sort of faded in these last two games and our grand slam dream vanished.
We were beaten today by Wales and I couldn't be happier (well I could be but you know what I mean!) .
I love the Welsh. When it comes to rugby they are just nuts. It is a religion down there yet they ever lose the humour and sense of community that seems to define rugby supporters and well, they are a joy to watch.
In an age when professional sport can be very cynical they play with a joy and freedom that is a throw back to yester year.

On another note, I didn't actually get to watch the Ireland Wales game as I was down at Old Trafford for the Manchester United - Fulham match.
The sun was scorching like the height of summer and the match was great. We dominated it and should have murdered Fulham but somehow contrived tohave a nail biting finish with Fulham hitting the post and accidentally clearing one of their own shots off the the line!
Great entertainment in the summer sun and I may be in the Guinness book of records!
We were part of a massive sing-a-long that may be the largest choir ever.
I hope so. I am sure that would look great on my CV :-)

Space

2005-03-14T21:37:47Z

I just hoovered here.
Suddenly my flat looks larger!

Marathon

2005-03-13T16:31:41Z

So I am planning on running the Paris Marathon on 10th April.
I have been hampered by a few injuries and illness but this week I finally caught up on my sleep (a constant battle) and felt good.
It is getting close to the marathon so now I am in the serious training and it is dominating my spare time, you should see the state of my flat, or maybe you shouldn't.
Today was a 20 mile run that had me run round the West End of Glasgow before following the River Kelvin out to the sticks.
It was hell. Really hard today as my legs were tired but I made it and roughly on target time, a little behind but good. Just about to soak in a bath and I feel I deserved that:-)

Success

2005-03-12T23:11:15Z

Well, I think that I managed to get the connection sorted at last.
Just closed down and restarted and it all connected up again successfully!
I must be a technical genius :-)

Gutted

2005-03-12T22:44:24Z

Gutted for so many reasons.
My missing credit cards still haven't turned up.
Then Ireland manage to lose in the 6 Nations and now it appears I have made a mess of connecting up my broadband last night it seems.
Has taken me 2 hours to get on line tonight.
Not good at all!

All done

2005-03-06T00:30:36Z

Well, that is it. I am fully moved over to Glasgow.
Spent my last night in my flat in Dublin yesterday after a bit of a shindig last night and flew over to Glasgow this evening.
My rent expired so that is it!
Not really that it makes much difference as I have been living here in Glasgow for most of the last 8 months or so but I suppose it is a big deal mentally.
I loved living in Dublin but I am over here now and have vowed to give this job a go for 2 years at least.

Of course things didn't quite go so smoothly for me today. Last night was great craic but I woke with a bit of a headache. Then Aer Lingus lost my box of dvds and videos I was bringing over and then I find out I left all my bank and credit cards in Dublin!
Ah well.
Thankfully my (now ex-)housemate will be able to get them to me so it is not the worse.
Well, here is to end of one chapter and the begining of another!

Now I have done it!

2005-02-02T17:11:43Z

Right well, as I said, I am moving permanently to Glasgow.
Well today I turned down two other jobs, one in London and one in Dublin to go to Glasgow and I fly over tonight.
And I am nervous!

I like Glasgow. I have been living there sort of, for 8 months or so but I always had the safety net of my place in Dublin to go back to at the weekends. Not any more!
Guess it is just normal to be a bit scared when you make big decisions!

M-A-N U-T-D

2005-02-02T00:32:41Z

What a fantastic game of football tonight.
Right, well the football was a bit lacking at times but finally after years of rubbish talked between the clubs Manchester United roved a)they were better at football, not just stronger physically and mentally and b) It is same old Arsenal, always cheating.

Just want to mention 2 things, John O'Shea's great winner and of course Roy Keane. What a guy!
Should Veira were to go :-)

Just waiting now for a new ep of the OC to round a great day.

Why? and Rewards

2005-01-30T21:22:27Z

Well, I went out last night. Although yesterday was a rest day on my marathon training I was still feeling the effect and despite my best intentions I ended up drinking way too much beer and having a kebab on the way home. I'd love to say the kebab was delicious but my mother told me not to lie.
Anyway, ended up waking at 7am. Got back to sleep eventually and woke up at 1.30pm. Disaster as, though I love sleeping in, I hate "wasting" a day. Anyway, one 12 mile run later and now I am wreaked again.
Why I wonder. I know it will pay off come April 10th but still it is hard.
Well, a relaxing night with the Sunday Times is ahead of me thankfully :-)