tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2009-11-21:/MokoFeed2009-11-21T09:09:53+01:00tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-10-06:/2008/10/07/wtf-of-the-day-4831537/Donny_ton2008-10-07T00:10:57+02:002008-10-07T00:10:57+02:00 <p>Hello all (or more likely hello to the one person who visits this nearly abandoned wasteland of a blog, not forgotten, just too lazy to type anything).</p> <p>Anyway, after a month or two of totally not bothering, I've put finger to keyboard to pass on a link or two that amused me. They are basically from <a href="http://www.i-am-bored.com,">http://www.i-am-bored.com,</a> a site filled with much goodness and even more WTF!!!!. but enough of filler, on with the links</p> <p>Pretty funny, the Tarzan doll especially. What were they thinking?<br> <a href="http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/10/the_7_unintentionally_perverted_toys_that_will_rui.php#">http://www.toplessrobot.com/2008/10/the_7_unintentionally_perverted_toys_that_will_rui.php#</a></p> <p>some good, some bad, some indifferent<br> <a href="http://www.cooldesignertshirts.com/2008/09/star-wars-t-shirts-designs.html">http://www.cooldesignertshirts.com/2008/09/star-wars-t-shirts-designs.html</a></p> <p>Despite looking like it's made from mechano, I want one<br> <a href="http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=34213">http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=34213</a></p> <p>and finally, old, but still funny<br> <a href="http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=33098">http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=33098</a></p> <p>There we go, nothing brilliant or unusual, but after a long blog break, I'm easing myself back in slowly, if you enjoyed, good, if not, there are loads of other blogs to look at. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/10/07/wtf-of-the-day-4831537/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-07-25:/2008/07/25/dental-care-4499413/Donny_ton2008-07-25T23:13:57+02:002008-07-25T23:13:57+02:00 <p>This aint a post about how I really should start (for the record, I manage to brush my teeth at least once a month, sometimes twice if I feel brave), it's more to do with the seemingly ever increasing list of things that you apparently MUST do if you don't want your teeth to turn black, fall out and end up like the lead singer of the Pogues.</p> <p>When I was young, the advice was, brush three times a day after every meal (not recommended now, as enamel is softer after a meal due to natural acid in your saliva). Then it was brush your teeth and floss, this was followed by brush your teeth, floss and use a mouthwash. I reckon that the real reason that all this tooth pampering works is that after brushing thoroughly, spending ages getting that floss into every crevice and swishing mouthwash around for ages, you don't have the courage to actually eat anything and ruin all that effort that you put into getting the bloomin things nice and shiny in the first place. </p> <p>I'm not sure what they will come up with next, but there aint a lot that they can add to the teeth cleaning routine that won't make most normal people give up on the whole idea. Personally, I reckon the next big thing that they will try and push on us, will be a back to basics toothpaste with added microfibres for that built in floss while brush affect that also acts as a mouthwash. you can imagine the adverts, take 3 bottles into the bathroom, not with NEW <strong>IMPROVED <em>SUPERPASTE</em><strong> (tm). </strong></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/07/25/dental-care-4499413/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-06-19:/2008/06/19/should-i-be-worried-4338404/Donny_ton2008-06-19T22:40:02+02:002008-06-19T22:40:02+02:00 <p>Opened a tin of tuna last night. Tuna as I'm sure we all know is fish and fish is well known for going off very quickly. So why are the tins labelled "best before 2010"? I am well aware of the benefits of canning, but what other things do you have to do to give a bit of tuna a lifespan measured in years? well, it tastes good, so there can't be to much of a problem with whatever they do to the poor fish so I'll just have to carry on enjoying it. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/06/19/should-i-be-worried-4338404/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-06-02:/2008/06/02/my-room-smells-of-yeast-4259449/Donny_ton2008-06-02T18:18:42+02:002008-06-02T18:18:42+02:00 <p>But in a good way. I may or may not have mentioned that I do home brewing (I'm feeling lazy and can't be bothered to read previous blogs to find out), but yesterday I started another couple gallons of wine, blackcherry and apple. At the moment the fermentation is just getting going, another day or two and the demijohns will be bubbling away merrily. I recently also got a still, it has three uses listed on the instructions, 1) purifying water, 2) making essential oils and 3) producing spirits, of course I will be doing 1) and 2) and NEVER doing 3) <img src="/img/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";)" class="middle" border="0">. I meant to get the first batch going yesterday, but spent too long doing wine, so will have to do it tonight. Quite looking forward to it as I've done lots of beer and wine, but never anything stronger. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/06/02/my-room-smells-of-yeast-4259449/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-04-21:/2008/04/21/party-4074994/Donny_ton2008-04-21T17:58:39+02:002008-04-21T17:58:39+02:00 <p>Last weekend, went to a mates 40th party. not going to bother describing what happened as a) you aint really interested and b) while it was great fun and I had a really great time, it probably is not to much different to any party you've gone to (lots of food, drink and friends). </p> <p>Anyway, since I'm not bothering to describe the party you might be wondering what this post is about, well, it's a quick description of getting to the party. So, get to the hotel where I'll be spending the night and order a taxi. Taxi turns up and I give the driver the address I want, at this point I start getting nervous as the driver doesn't seem to know the place. He looks at the address, recognises the town listed and gives me a funny look and off we go, and go, and go. </p> <p>For some strange reason known only to my mate, he's started the party in the middle of nowhere miles from his place. After (quite) a while we reach the correct town, and start driving round at random. I may be mistaken, but turning the wrong way up a one way road and doing a quick 180 to get facing the right way is not typical taxi behaviour. After a couple minutes of this he stops the meter as he aint got a clue, this is a first for me, as I've never seen a taxi driver who will admit he's lost ("relax, it's just round this corner" as we pass somewhere for the third time is more usual). Finally arrive though and it was well worth all the pissing about getting there. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/04/21/party-4074994/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-03-16:/2008/03/16/evil-3885026/Donny_ton2008-03-16T03:26:20+01:002008-03-16T03:26:20+01:00 <p>Damn all Irish drinking songs, while listening to them I've got though half a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of port, thank god I don't have that many of them (though the wild rover gets put on repeat enough to drive me to drink, appropriately enough) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/03/16/evil-3885026/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-03-16:/2008/03/16/how-f-g-stupid-are-we-3884960/Donny_ton2008-03-16T02:18:02+01:002008-03-16T02:18:02+01:00 <p>While watching tv there was an ad break (not really surprising). But then we had the nature of the adds. we had the perfect baby name (1.50 + network charges) and the get your perfect mates name (1.50 + network charge (in this case note the gender neutral term "mate")). Sorry, but how increadibly thick and moronic do you have to be. if you really want a random babies name, pop into your local bookshop, pick up a baby name book and open at a random page, there you are. if you want your mates name (note, gender neutral), then, please, get yourself sterilised as you are too stupid to breed anyway. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/03/16/how-f-g-stupid-are-we-3884960/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-03-07:/2008/03/08/title-3833946/Donny_ton2008-03-08T00:57:28+01:002008-03-08T00:57:47+01:00 <p>I suffer from nosebleeds, well, that's a lie, I've had the bloody (no pun intended) things for so many years that the suffering is well and truly over, now, I just endure them and put up with the bloody (still no pun intended) things. </p> <p>Over the years I've had all the normal advice, head back, head forward, pinch bridge of nose, stick toilet paper up nose and even cauterisation (which is a particularly vivid childhood memory, after all, it's not every day you get a cotton bud coated in a very caustic substance rammed up your nostril and wiped all over every sensitive mucus membrane you've got).</p> <p>As you have probably realised by now, I'm currently having nosebleeds, I normally get them once or twice a year for a week or two, this particular episode is being exceptionally trying. No point whining about it though, not like you lot can do much to help me (no posts offering advice please, like I said, had it all before, I know what works best for me by now which is head back, breath though nose and swallow any excess blood)</p> <p>Ah well, I'll survive, considering that my general state of health is bloody good, I reckon that the occasional (irritating) nosebleed is bearable but still, I could really do without them. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/03/08/title-3833946/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-02-26:/2008/02/26/seagulls-3784474/Donny_ton2008-02-26T19:36:01+01:002008-02-26T19:36:01+01:00 <p>As I was wandering around Oxford, I suddenly heard some seagulls. This was pretty unusual as Oxford is about as far from the coast as you can get in the UK. </p> <p>Now seagulls are just about the most raucous and unmusical birds in existence (not to mention greedy, messy and bloody aggressive if they think they can get away with it), but I heard them a lot when I was growing up in Devon and all of a sudden I felt very homesick. </p> <p>Strange really, I aint lived in Devon for about 10 years now, but all it takes is a few birds and I feel like I just left. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/02/26/seagulls-3784474/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-02-14:/2008/02/15/meme_1_me~3729404/Donny_ton2008-02-15T00:05:09+01:002008-02-15T00:05:09+01:00 <p>Well, A good friend named me (no guesses as to which friend it was, I've only one listed <img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0">) and while I'm waiting for something to finish copying, might as well have a go, apparently, the rules are this...</p> <p>a. list seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself<br> b. tag seven people to do the same<br> c. do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it"</p> <p>1: Favourite authors are David Weber, John Ringo, Harry Turtledove and Laurell K. Hamilton</p> <p>2: I enjoy home brewing and really enjoy drinking the results</p> <p>3: I live in a shared house and have a nasty habit of expanding to fill all available fridge space</p> <p>4: Favourite music, Kim Carnes, Crazy in the Night and the last two minutes of g'n'r November Rain</p> <p>5: Before I started this, I was headbanging to Saxon, in private thankfully as I don't have the hair to headbang in public anymore</p> <p>6: drivers who do not know the national speed limit drive me nuts. For the record, the possible speeds are 30, 60 or 70. 50 is NOT!!!</p> <p>7: I'm an Aquarius. Aquarius is the water carrier, why is it counted as an air sign instead of a water one? always wondered about that</p> <p>So that's part a: out of the way. As I dislike memes like this, I'm going to terminate this particular thread so no b: which is just as well, as my friends are scattered over god knows how many social networking sites. </p> <p>Final score meme 1, me 1. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/02/15/meme_1_me~3729404/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-01-31:/2008/01/31/a_bad_sign~3660744/Donny_ton2008-01-31T18:56:32+01:002008-01-31T18:56:32+01:00 <p>Was at work and my sister phoned up, her car had a problem, could she have my card details to help sort it out.<br> Me being a trusting (and gullible) person said sure and preceded to recite all my card details to her. It was only after I'd put the phone down that I realised that I hadn't dug my card out but had done the entire lot from memory.<br> I've never made any attempt to memorise it, but somehow, a 16 digit number, an expiry date and a security code had sunk in without me noticing. I didn't think I used my card that often, but the evidence is suggesting otherwise. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/01/31/a_bad_sign~3660744/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2008-01-31:/2008/01/31/how_upsetting~3660717/Donny_ton2008-01-31T18:49:40+01:002008-01-31T18:49:40+01:00 <p>Might have to find new "Favourite Pub in the World", the old "Favourite Pub in the World" is a lovely place, notable for the fact that it does not serve beer, you get farmhouse cider of various sorts, farmhouse wine of slightly drinkable sorts and mead. Normally I go for the mead, which is sweet, strong and gorgeous.<br> However, for some reason, they have changed mead suppliers and while they now have two brands of mead instead of one, they are both crap. So my friend and I, instead of enjoying an evening of mead, had to enjoy an evening of Cider instead, which was still good, but not as good. Since we have also enjoyed their cider in the past, we made a point of avoiding Thatchers Diesel, which while not a bad pint, has the bad luck to be a luminous almost glowing orange and strongly resembles radioactive sludge, if such sludge was orange and cider flavoured that is.<br> So, while it has not yet been deposed, my loyalty is wavering, I'll have to see if I come across any better pubs during my various wanderings. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2008/01/31/how_upsetting~3660717/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-12-11:/2007/12/11/a_good_morning~3429472/Donny_ton2007-12-11T20:27:28+01:002007-12-11T20:27:28+01:00 <p>Was driving to work this morning, not really paying attention to anything much when suddenly, Dawn happened. Admittedly, it had probably been happening for a while and I hadn't noticed, but now, I had cleared the buildings, past the trees and spread out in front of me in glorious technicolour was dawn. the clouds on the horizon were a blaze of red and orange, fading to pastels across half the sky. I just stared and admired the beauty of it, wishing I had a camera. I am not a big fan of mornings, but just occasionally, I can see why some (crazy) people enjoy them. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/12/11/a_good_morning~3429472/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-12-10:/2007/12/10/success_more_or_less~3423648/Donny_ton2007-12-10T18:46:58+01:002008-04-02T00:02:11+02:00 <p>After much ritual humiliation from a friend about my lack of cooking ability (I've mastered microwaveing, frying and roasting, but apparently that ain&rsquo;t cooking) I succumbed and bought (look, no 'r' (private joke)) a cookbook. Decided to start out simple, cause if it looked to difficult, I wouldn't bother and so got one on soup, as a) sticking stuff in a pot and slowly cooking is easy and b) I like soup.<br> After looking though and getting very hungry at all the lovely piccys it was decision time. Went for a nice sounding corn and potato chowder (apparently, a chowder involves milk as an ingredient and I've no idea of the difference between a soup and a stew), anyway, followed instructions, and ended up with a pot full of lovely smelling food, so grabbed a bowl, filled it up and went off to enjoy delicious home made soup.<br> Now for the result. First of all, soup fresh from the pot, is surprisingly hot, yes I knew it was hot, but I didn't expect it to be quite that hot so my next statement must be read, knowing that half my tastebuds had been burnt off and the rest were in shock. So secondly, a bit under seasoned, which while a problem, is a lot better than being overseasoned as I can (and did) add more salt and pepper, couldn't do much about the garlic, but I'll know better for next time.<br> So over all, a success, not a brilliant success, but anytime you produce food which is edible, you have to feel pleased as there are a lot more ways of ending up with foul tasting gunk than there are of ending up with food. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/12/10/success_more_or_less~3423648/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-10-11:/2007/10/11/where_do_they_come_from~3121333/Donny_ton2007-10-11T20:14:10+02:002007-10-11T20:14:10+02:00 <p>Arrive at work today and there, in my office are 5 wasps (yes, this is the 'they' I'm on about, bet you regret starting to read this now, never mind, always more blogs filled with 'interesting stuff' to read). </p> <p>Anyway, as I was saying, 5 wasps. Yesterday, there were none, nada, zip, a big, fat zero wasps, but today, wasp central, not only that, but one of the five is a dead one on my desk, how does that happen, not only do they turn up, out of nowhere, but one manages to turn up and die without actually being in my office (at this point in time, I could insert a nice long chat about Schrodingers wasp, but since the question isn't if the wasp is alive or not (current score, 4 alive, 1 dead), but more where the hell they came from). Anyway (2nd anyway, if I get to three anyways it means I've had to much to drink), what to do, the dead wasp is easy, pick it up and throw in bin, but the live ones are more irritating, don't want to kill them, don't want to leave them be and they show a decided lack of interest in the windows (which spent the evening shut, so they didn't get in that way), so, grab a plastic cup from downstairs and start wasp catching which is actually quite simple, wait for wasp to land, nudge it into cup and cover top, head over to window and release outside. </p> <p>After 5 minutes, no wasps in office, but still, that leaves the question, where did they come from. Victorians believed that flys were generated from dungheaps, perhaps wasps are generated by people who will be irritated by them. never mind, they are gone, and I will have to endure the excitement of wondering if there will be any tommorow. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/10/11/where_do_they_come_from~3121333/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-09-13:/2007/09/13/general_driving_rant~2975798/Donny_ton2007-09-13T21:26:18+02:002007-09-13T21:26:18+02:00 <p>The last couple off days there have been some right numptys on the road. I know that normal driving standards range from below average at best, to abysmal at worst, but some of the drivers over the last couple of days have reduced my expectations to a new low. It's not they are dangerous, some of them aint, it's the sheer lack of consideration and general stupidity that gets so annoying. Anyway, I suppose I have to give a few examples so, in at No. 1 is</p> <p>Morons who rush to overtake and then drive like snails.<br> There you are, happily driving along, you approach some lights and stop, in a lot of case the road splits into more than 1 lane, some idiot pulls up along side, and zooms off the second the lights change and as soon as they get to the front and the road narrows back to 1 lane, all of a sudden they are mister safe driver and sloooooly cruise along at about 10 mph under whatever the limit is.</p> <p>Sharp blind corners</p> <p>You're heading towards one, and all of a sudden a car appears coming the other way. This is perfectly normal and is nothing to worry about, however, in this case, they have decided that 1 lane is not good enough for them and they have to straddle the center lane. If you can see that the road is clear, not a problem, but as I noted, this is a BLIND corner, you can't see round it. All parties take desperate avoiding action and normally, everythings OK.</p> <p>Damn, sometimes I really wish that cars were equipped with weapons, it would increase the driver mortality rate, but care and consideration towards other road users would also increase and I really feel like that would be a fair exchange. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/general_driving_rant~2975798/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-09-12:/2007/09/12/are_they_morons~2969936/Donny_ton2007-09-12T20:38:38+02:002007-09-13T21:10:11+02:00 <p>"Battlestar Galactica returns in January for a run of 22 new episodes. Initially the series was only picked up for half a season, a mistake the SciFi channel quickly corrected when fans expressed some anxiety over the limitations of an 11 episode arc. (There were to be 13 episodes total with the Pegasus movie counting as the first 2 episodes, and the remaining episodes being focused on the original story arc.)"</p> <p>What are the directors of SciFi channel on? Damn, for a channel named after SciFi, they sure don't seem to have a clue, They are messing Battlestar Galactica about, they cancelled farscape after season 4 and as for firefly, didn't even make it to the end of season 1. </p> <p>The only reason I can think of is that they all suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder and they get bored very very easy, either that, or they really hate Sci-Fi and are trying to fool us all. Ahh well, let's hope for a season 5 to finish the story off, otherwise I'll have to make them run naked though thorn bushes before doing bungee jumps into a pirahna pool.</p> <p>Update to above, looks like the creators of BG have decided to stop after season 4 <img src="/img/smilies/icon_sad.gif" alt=":(" class="middle" border="0">, looks like SciFi aren't to blame this time, never mind, hate to waste a good rant so we'll blame them anyway <img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0"> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/09/12/are_they_morons~2969936/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-09-06:/2007/09/06/moving~2936661/Donny_ton2007-09-06T20:24:43+02:002007-09-06T20:24:43+02:00 <p>Damn, aint updated here in a while, luckily for me I have two very good reasons for this. </p> <p>Firstly, I'm bloody bad at blogging, of course, the best way to improve is practice so I should really try harder (which rather undermines my point, but so what, consistancy is the bugbear of small minds as someone whos name I can't recall said) so this is more of a excuse than a reason</p> <p>and </p> <p>Secondly, I've moved, now this might not seem important to you but it was a flamin' nightmare for me. The (endless) packing, the carrying of boxes, bags and containers that I could of sworn did not exist before the move. I live in a shared house and so all I had was one rooms worth of stuff, but it did not feel like it. I spent hours creating a massive pile of stuff and then saw how little I had actually cleared, I'm convinced that rooms are actually small TARDIS's* cause the ammount of stuff I moved could NOT have fitted into my old room and could NOT have fitted into my new one, but be some miracle and a lot off squeezing it did. I was thinking off buying my own place, but that idea has been shelved for a few months, I need to let the pain of this move fade a bit, on the bright side, I can save a bit more of a deposit up which is always good (having 4 take-aways within a couple minutes walk might be a handicap in this respect, but it's a good chance to exercise my will power, thats about the only thing that does get exercise, but that's a blog for a different day)</p> <p>* Time And Relative Dimensions In Space : The Time machine owned and operated by Dr. Who. It's (a lot) bigger on the inside than on the outside. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/09/06/moving~2936661/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-07-05:/2007/07/05/going_going_gone~2579934/Donny_ton2007-07-05T18:09:23+02:002007-07-05T18:09:23+02:00 <p>Well, the next 4 weeks will be just full of excitement and joy for me, I'm being evicted from the house I live in. While we're still near the front of this blog, I'd just like to state that it is NOT my fault <img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0"> and since it actually aint, I can say this with a straight face. </p> <p>I can also state that it aint that much of a surprise, I've been expecting it for a while now, once the landlady put the house on the market (that reminds me, better mention that we are all being kicked out, not me) I knew it was only a matter of time. </p> <p>Well, the time is here, and we are moving, it's a bit annoying as I had only recently started looking for my own place and haven't got anything sorted yet, but then, things very seldom work out that convienent. One of my friends recently brought his own place so I'll have to get some info off of him, like, "how long does it take to buy a place?" and other such questions.</p> <p>Bloody annoying (I hate moving, I own too much junk) but something you have to do every so often </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/07/05/going_going_gone~2579934/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-06-25:/2007/06/25/why~2517645/Donny_ton2007-06-25T18:09:32+02:002007-06-25T18:09:32+02:00 <p>As stated in my last post, my fitness was shown to be lacking in the endurance stakes, as I was a complete wimp when forced to do any speed walking for any length of time. Since my existing exercise regime (roughly 10 minutes on a rowing machine every day) had shown itself to be lacking I decided on a new plan. </p> <p>Twice a week I meet friends down a pub for various games, normally I drive but a quick bit of work on google earth showed me that it was only 2.5 miles away. So I thought, 2.5 miles there, a couple hours rest then 2.5 miles back, not a problem and in a general sense it aint. However, there is one thing about this that is puzzling me, home to pub is 2.5 miles, home to city centre is 2.2 miles, so why is it I can walk into Oxford without trouble (even on a blazing hot day), but the extra .3 of a mile to the pub causes me to sweat like a very sweaty thing (in the evening when it's nice and cool). Is there some physical difference to walking in the evening that you don't get during the day, is my mind subconciously saying this is exercise and therefore I should sweat or is there some other factor that I haven't thought of yet? </p> <p>Anyway, tonight, I am off again and this time I will be concentrating hard on the fact that it is a lovely evening for a brisk walk and I am NOT exercising. Hopefully, if it is all in my head, this will persuade me I'm not exercising even though I really am. Besides, it REALLY is a lovely evening for a walk and considering the massive downpours we've had lately, it would be a shame to waste it. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/06/25/why~2517645/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-05-21:/2007/05/21/holiday_fun~2309618/Donny_ton2007-05-21T18:08:41+02:002007-05-21T18:08:41+02:00 <p>Well, just back from a weeks holiday so might as well tell you all what happened (not that I think you’re interested, but it’s a convenient way to make a permanent note so I don’t forget myself). </p> <p>Anyway, headed up on 10/05/07, that’s a Thursday for anyone who doesn’t keep a permanent calendar in their heads and flew from Luton airport to Inverness, boring flight apart from the fact that it was delayed an hour as easyjet seemed to have lost the plane. Arrived and sat around for an hour until my friend (We’ll call her Z. all names have been changed to protect the guilty) turned up, we then headed into Inverness, went to a pub and had a bite to eat and played cards while we chatted and generally had a pleasant time before heading back to her place which is somewhere around Beauly.</p> <p>Friday, we headed into Inverness to drop off a bike with damaged brakes for repairs, we left the one I was riding at a friends house in Beauly (great fun, haven’t ridden in years, the gears were dodgy and Z is shorter than me, made the seating very awkward). I thought I did very well keeping up, until I was informed that she had taken it easy as stopping was a problem. Wandered around Inverness again, picked up loads of tourist stuff that we both knew we’d never get around to visiting, but spent a pleasant hour or so at a pub going though it and making plans.</p> <p>Saturday, peaceful day really, we didn’t do much until the afternoon, when we headed off to Dingwall for a look at the small market. Got dragged though loads of charity shops and brought a load of clothing as well as an award winning black pudding (the haggis wasn’t award winning so we ignored that, the black pudding was gorgeous btw). Went to a pub and got danced at by one of the locals, was fun in a weird sort of way.</p> <p>Sunday, we walked into Beauly to reclaim the bike we’d left there. Had a look around and brought a Frisbee, walked back and spent some time outside throwing it at each other (for a limited definition of the word “at”)</p> <p>Monday, very quiet day, Z spent most of it updating CV and writing letters, so I cycled into Beauly, seating was still bad, but I managed to master the arcane art of changing gears, picked up some stamps and a newspaper, headed back and basically did nothing</p> <p>Tuesday, a repeat of the above but without the heading into Beauly part</p> <p>Wednesday, since we had done nothing for the last couple of days, Z was feeling a bit guilty (I was on holiday and therefore Z felt that I was being ignored as she was sorting her life out) so we actually did something that we had planned on Friday. We were in Scotland, home of whisky and there was a distillery just a couple of miles down the road, so off we went to the glen ord distillery, had a great time, got shown around, saw whiskey from it’s start as grains all the way though to big vats of the stuff slowly maturing in barrels. Also got to try some of the end product after the tour. We then wandered about the Muir of Ord, looking for a particular pub, eventually found it, so had drinks and a game of pool. After quite a while I lost (neither of us were that good, but I was better at being not good) so a very good day.</p> <p>Thursday, kicked Z out of bed early so we could go Inverness and say bye, she was bloody grumpy for the next couple of hours, but I wasn’t worried, I’d expected that and knew that it would wear off quickly. Had strong coffee, which cheered her up said goodbyes, made me very unhappy, went to airport and flew down. Got back to Luton, connections worked out lovely for getting home, so not too much time spent waiting around.</p> <p>So that was basically it, not the most thrilling of breaks, but then, that’s not what I was after, saw a good friend I haven’t seen for a couple of years. Relaxed away from my normal haunts and generally had fun. Main problem is, since she doesn’t drive or use motorised transport, she walks and/or cycles everywhere, fast, and since I don’t, I soon found out that my legs, while I could keep up, were not happy about this as they kept on telling me. Still I survived, and although my ego is slightly bruised (being called a wimp all the time will do that <img src="/img/smilies/icon_razz.gif" alt=":p" class="middle" border="0">) I would definitely do it again. Special mention must be made of the food, it was all gorgeous, as well as the already mentioned black pud, we also did get an award winning haggis, and it was great, as well as giant garlic mushrooms, home made pizza and to many other mouth watering treats to mention. So will I go back, hell yes, as soon as possible really, it was FUN!!!</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/05/21/holiday_fun~2309618/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-05-01:/2007/05/01/mornings~2193534/Donny_ton2007-05-01T22:15:48+02:002007-05-01T22:15:48+02:00 <p>Woke up this morning to the sound of my alarm going off. Reached over, hit the snooze button when a thought lazily wandered though my mind "It's Saturday" it said, "why is the alarm going off on a Saturday". Since the rest of my brain was still not aware of anything I turned the alarm off and rolled over ready for another few hours kip. </p> <p>Suddenly another bit of brain started up. "yesterday was Monday" it said, "after monday you get Tuesday". This conflict caused the rest of my brain to pay attention and suddenly realise that, yes, it was tuesday. Yes, I would have to get up soon. And yes, since I had turned the alarm off, the snooze would no longer work and so instead of another 10-20 minutes of rest, I would have to get up now or I would drop back to sleep and that would not be good.</p> <p>So, to sum up, mornings bad, getting up bad, tuesdays bad, snooze buttons good, lie ins good and weekends good. today I had all the bad, none of the good. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/05/01/mornings~2193534/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-04-28:/2007/04/29/yay~2177888/Donny_ton2007-04-29T00:05:53+02:002007-04-29T15:49:31+02:00 <p>Well, today has seen at least one important event for me. I have finally opened my last bottle of xmas booze, 70cl of smirnoff vodka, this tells me one of two things, either I don't drink enough, or I get so much drink at xmas it takes about 4 months to get through. while I would like to believe the first, all the evidence points to the latter. ahh well, since I have cracked open the last bottle, means it's time to stock up again, so once tescos is open, another bottle of vanilla vodka and one of raspberry vodka will be mine. YUM </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/04/29/yay~2177888/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-04-24:/2007/04/24/beer~2154256/Donny_ton2007-04-24T18:52:54+02:002007-04-24T18:52:54+02:00 <p>Well, the last couple of weekends have been fun. Normally I just chill out and recover from the stress of work, but a fortnight ago, there was a beer fest in Newton Abbot, Devon. Since that’s my home town and I hadn’t seen my parents since Christmas, I thought I’d head down and cheer up their weekend and (coincidentally) go to the beer fest.</p> <p>Drove down Friday, nice easy trip really, m4, m5 and I’m home. Saturday morning, wander around Newton, just to see if anything has changed (it hadn’t). As usual, the co-ordination between me and my friends was lacking (as in totally absent), about 3, get a call asking where the hell I am, one mate has been exceptionally eager to have a drink and has been there since 2, that gets sorted, and I turn up about 3:30, and have several drinks with him while waiting for everyone else to arrive. They eventually turn up about 4:30. </p> <p>The weather was gorgeous, Tuckers Maltings look even better, the hall is very long and stacked 3 high with different beers. So much choice, so many beers!!!! While real ale is excellent, you do have to be careful, lurking amongst all the truly great beer are hidden horrors and you will sometimes end up with a pint that looks like beer, but is so bland it bears a stronger resemblance to water, or even worse, a pint so black that you know that the main ingredient must be tar (word of advice, if you ain’t into the darker beers which I am not, avoid any beer with the words “thick” or “black” in the name). </p> <p>Well, after that things go a bit blurry round the edges, but I can honestly say that there are few better ways of spending an afternoon, trying good (and occasionally, bad) beer, with friends, while lying in a park in great weather. Plenty of credit must also go to the real meat Sausage Company, for some of the best hot dogs it’s ever been my pleasure to have.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/04/24/beer~2154256/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-04-12:/2007/04/12/films~2081840/Donny_ton2007-04-12T23:53:54+02:002007-04-12T23:53:54+02:00 <p>As a member of blockbuster video rental, I get various films sent to me. This is good as it means that I don't have to bother heading out whenever I want to watch something, but is bad as they select the tiles I get from a nice long list I've created from the available titles. </p> <p>Now, you'd think that cause I picked the list that there would only be films there that I actually want to watch, and to be fair, there are a lot of films there that I want to watch, but since films will get sent to me no matter what, there is also a lot of chaff. Films that if I used my brain would get ignored as "obviously" crap but since there is no effort involved get added on the list on grounds that if I don't like them, they will get sent back (and besides, they have amusing titles). </p> <p>So, this week, as per normal, several blue envelopes arrived, and having watched a couple of them, I can now state that "contamination" is a pile of complete and utter rubbish (green eggs squirt acid and kill you, I gave up before I found out why) with a bad plot and worse dubbing and "chopper chicks in zombietown" while a B movie, is well worth watching, once (chopper chicks turn up in a town, zombies turn up in town, mass zombie slaughter happens and thats it really, but you get chicks, choppers and zombies, so can't complain <img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0"> ). </p> <p>Anyway, to take the foul taste of green egg out of my mouth (and not even a hint of dr seuss), I'll now be watching some Lum, which for those who have never heard of it, is anime and (for me at least) very enjoyable. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/04/12/films~2081840/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-03-30:/2007/03/30/whisky~2004665/Donny_ton2007-03-30T18:25:28+02:002007-03-30T18:25:28+02:00 <p>A few weeks ago I had a birthday, one of the things I got was a pamphlet about some whisky that a friend sent to me, since it was about double the price I normally pay for about 1/2 the ammount (normal whisky, 1ltr tescos own brand+lots of coke) I looked at it and decided against it. </p> <p>However, a fortnight ago, things got nasty at work (big job, everything going wrong and the firm facing a £15k penalty), which meant there was a lot of pressure on me. So to cheer myself up, I decided to order some of this whisky (as well as a 6ft two handed sword with a live blade, but thats a different matter and might have been a mistake while I was getting so annoyed with various people <img src="/img/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" class="middle" border="0"> ). Anyway, whisky turned up (as well as the sword, not used it on anyone yet), I had some and !!!!!!!! </p> <p>Yum, burned a trail of fire down my gullet and was really good, the cheap brands you have to mix, to take some of the roughness off them, this stuff can be drunk without mixing and has a gorgeous taste to it, it made all the shit I was putting up with seem not quite so bad and mass slaughter at work was averted, mainly due to the fact that a massive blade needs plenty of room to swing and modern architecture is sadly lacking in the large spaces you need.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/03/30/whisky~2004665/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-03-07:/2007/03/07/the_problem_with_buses~1864360/Donny_ton2007-03-07T19:09:12+01:002007-03-07T19:09:12+01:00 <p>Anyway, need to get into Oxford, going to catch a play. The play starts at 7:30, so I figure that 40 mins is more than enough time to get there, especially since the bus only takes 10 minutes to get from headington to the city centre. So, leave house at 6:50 and get to the bus stop, oxford bus company has recently moved into the 20th century (give them another couple of decades, they might make the 21st) and they have got nice little signs up that give you a rough time till the next bus, lucky for me, it says "due", so I sit and wait. </p> <p>About 5 minutes later without any warning (and no bus), it suddenly changed to 26 minutes, this was both irritating and worrying. Since I can't wait that amount of time, I quickly dash back home, grab car and drive into oxford. As they seem to be doing road works on the main roads, there is a large tailback on the way to the plain, seeing that getting any further would be a waste of time, quickly stop at the next car park. I've now got about 20 minutes to do about 2 miles, this is worrying, but I reckon I can do it and indeed, one very brisk walk later (I now know that my thighs are in great shape, but I need to work on the calf area a bit (lot!!) more) I arive at the Old Fire Station with about 2 minutes to spare. </p> <p>Meet friends, quick chat and play starts, it's a stage version of going postal, and it was fantastic, limited effects, limited props, but the acting was enthusiastic and the plot while heavily chopped from the book, was great. after a very enjoyable show, we all leave (obviously) and retire to the nearest pub. this is the Old Orleans, this is both good and bad, good as they do some great cocktails and bad in that I'm driving and can't have anything that's too strong, so beer for me and a good chat disecting the play. </p> <p>So, bad start to the night, but all worked out in the end. If anyone is an Oxford resident, enjoys Terry Pratchett and is reading this round about now, I would recomend that you go and see it. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/03/07/the_problem_with_buses~1864360/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-02-14:/2007/02/14/eyes~1740628/Donny_ton2007-02-14T17:22:24+01:002007-02-14T17:22:24+01:00 <p>Pretty basic title, Eyes, most people have them, most have 2 of em, some people for various reasons have less. I, fortunatly, am in the majority, and also, like most people, mine are crappy (due to the sheer ammount of opticians out there, it seems like most peoples eyes aint 100%).</p> <p>Anyway, went to the opticians today to have them tested, did the normal bit, read letters, get light shined in eyes while looking in various directions only to get a surprise at the end. "Congratulations" I'm told, "You're eyes are not as bad as last time". Frankly this is a bit of a shock, as I thought that eyes got worse as you get older. Turns out that is true and the way that they get worse is that the older you get the more long sighted you get, and since I am severly short sighted this is a plus. </p> <p>The bad news of my eyes getting better is that I did qualify for free eye tests, I still do, but now I am exactly on the cut off point. </p> <p>The good news, is that if I stay alive for another 50 or 60 years, I'll probably end up with 20/20 vision. </p> <p>So, at long last I've found a benefit of getting older, improving eyes, it isn't much, but it will certainly do until I find a more exciting one. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/02/14/eyes~1740628/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>tag:donnyton.blog.co.uk,2007-02-09:/2007/02/09/title~1712895/Donny_ton2007-02-09T23:49:26+01:002007-02-09T23:49:26+01:00 <p>First blog entry, so expect it to be total crap for a while as I settle down and try to figure out how to explain my life in ways that sound slightly intresting. current exciting (using a variable definition of exciting) events are me trying to get my computer sorted out under vista (do NOT buy the retail version, head over to overclockers.co.uk and buy the oem version, it's a hell of a lot cheaper) and trying to remember not to try and use my screen washers when it's below freezing, which tells you just how interesting I am :-) </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://donnyton.blog.co.uk/2007/02/09/title~1712895/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>