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Top 10 iTunes songs – September

Sep 3rd, 2010
by gib2504.
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So this is something I used to put up all the time, so got bored and thought I’d share with you again the most played songs on my iTunes.

Problem is it still looks a bit girly to me, but hey ho!

1. Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me – 24 plays
2. Lily Allen – Who’d Have Known – 20 plays
3. Taylor Swift – Teardrops on My Guitar – 18 plays
4. Taylor Swift – Our Song – 18 plays
5. Barenaked Ladies – Ordinary – 16 plays
6. Jay-Z – Empire State of Mind – 16 plays
7. Taylor Swift – Love Story – 14 plays
8. Taylor Swift – Picture to Burn – 14 plays
9. Miley Cyrus – 7 Things – 12 plays
10. Barenaked Ladies – Every Subway Car – 11 plays

Posted in: Music.

Ups, Downs, and Decisions

Aug 25th, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

Quite a weird month really, some really great things have happened, some really bad things, and some of these have left me with some big decisions to make regarding where I go from here, not only in my work life but in my personal life as well.

I will start with the good news first, as some of you will already know I also have my own football website, just a place where I can write about things that interest me in the football world, It’s more just for me than anyone else, recently with my team Celtic about to face Dutch side FC Utrecht I partook in what would be described as a scouting mission, I watched a couple of their games, researched some information on the team, and wrote a report on the team and some tactical analysis.

I posted this on my website on the Tuesday night, done my usual promotion of the site through Facebook and Twitter, then on Wednesday morning before I went to the gym I received a message on Twitter from someone called Grant from the Scottish TV website STV.tv, I gave him my email address and then he emailed me saying STV wanted to use my piece on their website, I was shocked, I’ve never been a great writer I just write what I like, never saw it being used for anything else, after a quick email conversation it was agreed I would tidy up the article add some extra information and the next day it would be up on the STV website, for all the English and Overseas readers, STV is like the Scottish ITV, so quite a big site.

All the reworks were done and the article was published – you can see it here, everyone kept asking if it was paid or whether I would be doing anything else for him, the answers were 1) No and 2) I don’t know. It never crossed my mind to ask for anything for the piece, I had already written it so they could have technically stolen it without me knowing, I had never visited the STV website before that day.

The privilege of having something I had written being shared on what seems to be a popular website was enough gratification for me, and I didn’t think anything more of it, after a few more emails after the document went out it seems it received around 2500 hits that day, “normal for a Celtic piece” I was told “but really good as it was a mainly tactical article” so I was really please, everyone that read it seemed to enjoy it, I received some messages from a few Utrecht fans saying it was correct, so that was reassuring. The last email sent to me by Grant from STV basically asked “If you’d be interested in doing anything similar in the future” HELL YEAH I WOULD…

I’m sure some part of me being asked back was that Celtic won 2-0 the second goal coming from the area of the pitch I had highlighted as a possible Utrecht weakness, so I must thank Georgios Samaras and Cha Du-Ri for all their help with that goal.

All the excitement and well wishing that greeted me on Wednesday/Thursday was all put into perspective on Wednesday night, I got a phone call from my mum telling me my Grandpa had died earlier that day, He had been ill for quite a while, got diagnosed with Cancel about 18 months ago and had survived longer than the doctors thought, the sadness didn’t hit me initially felt a bit weird that evening just confused in my thoughts, I think down to being really happy on one hand and sad on the other. The funeral was this Monday gone, the service was nice and everything went well, again it’s strange to go back home and see people you haven’t spoke to in years, nice to see them, you just wish it was for a better reason.

Now to the dilemma I have, for the last 4/5 weeks there has been no Basketball Coaching that I could go to, the evening sessions are stopped during the summer holidays, the gym has been opened on Monday’s and Thursday’s between 9 and 4 but do to work and family commitments I haven’t been able to go, so somewhat of a 6 week holiday if you will, now with this small opportunity opening up in some form of football writing, a field that I would love to get into, I spend much of my spare time watching football anyway so to do it for a purpose would be fantastic, I’m just not sure I could do it as well as commit to the team as much as I would need to, the added factor is that I will not be able to attend any of the games this season, I used up the majority of holidays on last year’s games and therefore have nothing left now to go to the games this season, then with the 2 and a half weeks off in March for my wedding I won’t be able to book any days off the for the games at the end of this season and the start of next season.

If I am to stop with the basketball coaching, now would probably be the most appropriate time, rather than go back for a few weeks and then leave it would make sense to stop now during the break, another reason would be that they are going to pay for me to go and complete my Level 2 coaching course which is around £160, I don’t want to go do the course then leave the club that wouldn’t be fair, I really enjoy doing it, being part of the team is a great feeling and it’s something that I love, I just feel it would be a mistake to let an opportunity like this pass.

I really don’t know what to do, I think my Grandpa passing away has given me that impetus to get on with my life and do something worthwhile, I would really regret not pursuing the writing work, however leaving the team doesn’t sound like a great prospect either.

Decision time is coming and I have no idea which way to go.

Posted in: General.
Tagged: · · · · · · · · ·

Catch Up – July 27th

Jul 27th, 2010
by gib2504.
2 comments

Welcome kind people need to write on here more, the football site is taking up most of my blogging time, oh and my fiancé…..so this is one of those what I’m up to kinda blogs, which is good cause I’ve actually got quite a few things on in the next two weeks.

During the great hoover scandal that was last week my Dad had also come down for a few days, stayed from Saturday to Tuesday and it was really nice to spend some time just chilling out, drank some beers, watched some movies, the kinda thing I miss doing, when I was a kid I used to stay with my Dad on a Friday night, we’d go get a couple of movies out of the video shop (God that sounds old) usually it’d be some kind of Martial Arts or Schwarzenegger movie, things like Blood Sport, Commando even female Martial Arts phenom Chyna O’Brien, crap movies but GOOD movies, I must say our choice of movies this week showed a vast improvement, Bourne Trilogy, Cliff-hanger, Last Samurai and Star Wars were all watched, only bad thing from the weekend was my Dad’s love of chocolate biscuits which led to a bad few days for the diet.

If that wasn’t bad enough Thursday was an extremely bad day for my waistline, after a absolute stinking day at work, I went to basketball training in a foul mood, little did I know it was going to get so much better, the last session before the summer holidays and I was invited out for some coaches drinks, here are the key words from the evening, 7 coaches, KFC, share platter, bucket, 8 pints, sambuca, gin bomb, kebab, taxi home, 4 hours sleep.

Let’s just say Friday was not a nice day at work, but for all self inflicting reasons.

Saturday and Sunday were good, Jono came over on Saturday after work and we went to The Manor Golf Club (where we’re having our reception) got a 80 ball bucket for the driving range, then play 12 holes of the Par 3 course (there’s 6 holes, went round twice) It was only Jon’s 3rd time playing golf and he did really well, not easy taking tips from someone who then himself shanks it to the right, really nice little course to practice irons off the tea 117 the longest hole, hit about 4 tee shots onto the green, so was happy with that, after that we went back to mine, drank some beer and watching the new Karate Kid movie (Rubbish!).

On Sunday we got up made some lovely bacon sarnies and settled down to watch Felipe Massa get screwed out of the German GP by Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, really nice spending some quality man-time with Jono, he even got me some Xbox achievement points play Gears of War, very nice!!

Now the weekend is over (Monday’s are my Sunday) 2 full days of sitting around playing Xbox and it’s back to lovely lovely work, but need to just soldier on and look forward to a few things.

FRIDAY: Got my gym induction, joined Morley Leisure Centre, £25 a month, gonna try and go 3 times a week, on a 6 week blitz on this diet, want to lose a stone before basketball starts back, and I need the gym to help me do that, quite looking forward to it, but ask me again after I’m pounding on a treadmill ha-ha.

SUNDAY: As a football enthusiast I love going to watch games and weird teams you don’t get to see every week, so when I found out Sheffield United were playing Argentine and South American giants Estudiantes, it was a no brainer, I had to be there, luckily Laura’s dad is a season ticket holder so he was able to get tickets, really can’t wait, hoping Juan Sebastien Veron will be there to add that touch of class, the manager Alejandro Sabella played for the Blades back in the 80’s so I’m sure they will get a huge reception, considering half of Sheffield still think it’s the 80’s.

MONDAY: To complete a really busy weekend, Monday is going to be a really good day, as a Wedding present Laura’s Dad is taking Simon (Laura’s sisters boyfriend due to be married in October), Mark (my friend), and Myself to Mid-Yorkshire Golf Club for two rounds of Golf and lunch, the course looks really good, lots of water, and interesting holes, got 2 buggies booked so hopefully weather permitting will be a really nice day out, I hope the golf on display will be as nice.

So that’s this week covered should be good, let’s see what else is going on, I decided last night that I wanted to start following a local football team, to give support and to watch LIVE football, I decided on Guiseley AFC who are in the Blue Square Conference North the 6th tier of English Football, only 30 mins away in the train, and could be quite fun, while looking round their site, there was an advert for season tickets, so in my curiosity I opened the file and saw the price they were asking….£230, Stunned would not do my feelings justice, for example this season Blackburn Rovers at the top division have tickets for £240 for the season, and even better Bayern Munich a team that reached the Champions League Final, have season tickets for €150 which is about £130, so I think my fandom of Guiseley may have ended before it started.

Basketball coaching is sort of off for 6 weeks, the sessions on a Monday and Thursday aren’t on in the evening but the club are doing an open gym type thing between 9 and 4 on those days, that means I can’t go on Thursday’s due to work, and most Monday’s Laura & I are usually doing something during the day, so not sure how often I’ll get down, but I could do with the break, a few weeks to catch up on other things on an evening.

One of those things as sad as it sounds will be my Xbox since I got robbed in January and had all my games replaced there are still games I haven’t played, Mass Effect 2, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2 haven’t been out the box, on PS3 MAG and on Wii Just Dance and Super Mario Bros. have still got the cellophane on them.

I plan to try and play my games a tad more, I used to love playing games, but finding the time is really really hard with so many other things taking precedent, need to refuel my addiction with Xbox achievement points, so the plan is; I’m playing WET, FIFA World Cup and Fuel, 2 chapters of WET a day, 5 matches of FIFA and 2 races of FUEL should get those 2 finished in no time, of course playing time can be extended.

The other thing I really need to get onto are plans for the wedding, since we’re going to Jamaica and that’s all booked it’s kind of took a huge backseat, but I need to get some things sorted out, “Save the Date” cards have been done, so we can send them out, but before we do we need to make a List of the people we want to come to the Celebration that’s book for when we get back.

Laura has already made about 20 lists, I haven’t made one, I will do that this week, I also came up with the idea of how to pick our wedding song, we both pick 10 songs, and if we each have a song on the list then that’s the song, easypeasy, just need to make the list now.

And finally…….Why am I finding it so hard to decide what I want to wear on my wedding day, Kilt was the first idea but that’s ruled out due to rental costs, other ideas are a combination of Bermuda Shorts and plain shirt or Bermuda shirt plain shorts, just can’t decide, any idea anyone has please let me know.

Posted in: General.

100 Ways not to send a Hoover!

Jul 21st, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

I felt this with worth sharing with everyone; get some joy out of my anguish. 

Every since we moved into our house in June 2009 we have had problems with the cream carpet, of course being cream everything shows on it, the slightest dirty mark to the tiniest crumb, the hoover we had was great at our old house but it just didn’t do the job on the beige beast, eventually it packed in, so we had to borrow the neighbours hoover, What a difference it made, it got right into the carpet getting all Frankie’s cat hairs up and it looked like a new carpet. 

With vouchers that Laura got from her work we went out to buy a new hoover, next door had a Vax Cadence, ours before had been a Argos brand one, so we assumed the VAX make would all be similar, so we used £75 in vouchers and got ourselves a VAX, went home, unpacked it put it together, and give it a spin run, looked pretty good, showed up those hoover lines you get when it’s cleaning it, so it seemed to do the job pretty well, until that was we got another cat, Poppy joined the family so now you had 2 sets of cats shedding hair into your carpet, after a few weeks it turned out the new hoover wasn’t actually that good, before Christmas I had resorted to getting on my hands and knees and scrubbing with the brush tool so to dislodge and suck up the hair, not the easiest thing to do with a warm hoover by your face. 

3 weeks ago we began a massive tidy of the house, and while I was scrubbing the stairs with my bare hands, Laura nipped next door, borrowed their hoover and looked in shock at the difference it made to our carpet, it looked brand new, I immediately rushed upstairs looking for the same hoover on the internet, found it on eBay £35….Bargain!!! looked at the eBay details, sold over 100, 000 items 99.7% feedback looks good, without hesitation we bought it, thinking job done, little did I know this was about to be dragged out for over a week leaving me with 3…yes 3 hoovers. 

We bought it on the Sunday, Hoover arrived on the Tuesday, I got home from work for Laura to tell me it was the wrong Hoover, not believing her I checked myself and indeed they had sent the wrong hoover, similar product code but not the hoover we ordered, I was straight on eBay, and over a few hours, a conversation took place between myself and the seller. 

Hi There
The Hoover arrived this morning, however it is not the hoover we bought, the invoice you have attached says it’s the Cadence 1500w, but you have sent a Hoover marked Lightweight 1600w. 

Can we please sort out the delivery of the correct Hoover please? 

Thanks. 

I have spoken to our sales director who asks me to ask you what cleaner is actually is as he states that Vax do a range in the Cadence cleaners (same design etc … just a different name)  

Thank you

Right I have inspected the hoover and I am very confused, the hoover you have sent looks nothing like the one in the picture that was put on eBay, which was the exact hoover we wanted (which is why we bought it). 

The picture of the hoover on the box matches the hoover that is in the box, and the box states
1600W
Bag less
Super Lightweight etc etc. 

We purchases the Cadence 1500w Hoover, now what is interesting is on the actual hoover itself there is a sticker that says 

serial no. GMV6015423
Model V-044/AA
230-240~50Hz
1500W 

I already have a VAX hoover from Argos which is rubbish, and wanted to one described on eBay as we have borrowed our neighbours and it is great. 

I am now confused as to what hoover it is meant to be you have sent us, is there no way we can have the one from the picture. 

Thanks 

He then arranged to have another hoover sent out on Friday, so I was not too unhappy, Hoover would be coming on Friday, surely should be the correct one after getting the order wrong, Friday came, the Hoover was delivered, but to my amazement not only had they sent the wrong Hoover, they had sent the exact same wrong hoover that they had just picked up, How hard can it be to look at the order, maybe even check what product they have sold and make sure it’s the same item they are putting in the van, I was straight on eBay again, but less understanding this time. 

Left - Hoover we got, Right - Hoover we bought!

 

No offence but I am starting to get very annoyed now, the delivery man has just been and you have sent the exact same hoover again, this is just not good enough. 

Why is this causing such an issue? 

Please can I have your name as my girlfriend is going to phone your company? 

Thanks 

According to our sales director this is all we have, there are no red ones, these are exactly the same model, same features, and the only difference is the wattage. I am very sorry I was unaware of this when the replacement was agreed; if you are not happy we can collect the other machine from you on Monday and provide a refund for you. 

Very sorry about the continued problems 

Thank you

I replied saying I didn’t care about the colour it was the make and model we wanted, as we have a Vax hoover that doesn’t do the job right now, we don’t need 2, to which he replied. 

We are currently looking into this and can assure you that the item will work in the same way, if however you choose not to accept the cleaner once you have tried it then by all means get back in touch with me and I will sort the return out. I do hope this is ok for you 

Thank you for your understanding and patience with us.

At this point I sent another message saying we would also except a different Hoover I sent them the link to it, basically another Pet specialist hoover at the same price, hoping to just maybe get anything now that would do the job, he replied saying yeah that’s fine he’d send that instead, due to the weekend the delivery would be done till Tuesday, which brought up another problem, Laura and I both work on the Tuesday so it looked like I would have to sort that with work (which is another story all together). 

Tuesday came and I sat in my house waiting for the 3rd hoover to arrive, had agreed with work that I could be off until 5pm surely enough time for it to all happen, the last two hoovers had been delivered by half 12 so shouldn’t be a problem. 

Half 4 came and it was time for me to leave for work, still no hoover, getting more and more pissed off, wasted a day in lieu waiting for a bloody hoover, Laura would be home no long after me, so we should be ok, She got home and there was a note saying it had been delivered next door, the neighbours were out so we’d have to wait till later to find out what we had been given, which also meant they hadn’t picked up the other wrong hoover since we weren’t in. 

I got home, went next door, picked up the hoover, got it in the house, and opened the box, what did I find. 

THE SAME FUCKING WRONG HOOVER!!!!!!!

  

I would say words escaped me, but they certainly didn’t on eBay. 

Dear gradedelectricalsdirect, 

Well I am lost for words, sending the wrong hoover once is acceptable, twice was pretty bad considering you sent the same wrong hoover, but to today AGAIN!!! receive the same WRONG F**KING HOOVER I just can’t believe it, I waited in using 5 hours holiday leave waiting for the hoover, left the house at 16:30 still no hoover get home to find it delivered to my neighbour so we now have in our possession 2..YES 2 Vax Cadence V044/AA that at no times have we ever asked for, you said in your last message you would send the V044/T, I really don’t get how you survive as a company, is it impossible to get the hoover we want.
Or do you only have that 1 hoover in your warehouse and no matter what you buy; you get a Vax 044/AA.
I don’t know what else to say, a reputable company would make sure we got the right hoover and refund our money also.
I will need to change the delivery address; I am not able to sit in all day waiting for the wrong hoover AGAIN!!!
I await your response 

Thanks 

Followed by his response: 

Dear gib2504,  I am very sorry I can only apologise for the mistakes that have happened I cannot explain them I am too lost for words, I really don’t know what is going on. 

I cannot despatch another cleaner for as there would be no point as it seems no matter what I request you will get the same cleaner, however I can refund the payment in full, which I will do for you now and you may keep the cleaner delivered and do with it what you wish. 

I am very sorry for all the mistakes we have made and hope that the refund helps as a way of an apology towards yourself. 

Thank you 

 

The refund was paid into my paypal account last night, right now in my house I have 3 hoovers, one bought from Argos that doesn’t lift the cat hair, and 2 from Grade Electrical Direct that we never asked for and nearly 10 days later I am still no closer to getting the hoover I want, hopefully selling one of the hoovers to a friend in work, which will go towards us buying an actual decent hoover, from a company that is able to put the correct hoovers in a van, so if you’re on eBay and buying electrical goods and you see the name Grade Electrical Direct, avoid them like the fucking plague.

Posted in: Rant.
Tagged: · · · · ·

Stop being a miserbale c**t

Jul 14th, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

First of all I want to thank everyone for their worlds of support, nice to know there are people that care, and that you read my blog haha.

I had hit a bad patch, and wasn’t very happy, happy to say things have cheered up and I’ve come to the conclusion that if I am going to be happier I need to make things happen myself, it’s not just going to fall into my lap.

I have a little checklist that I want to cross things off when I do them, think each thing will make me happier.

ANDREW’S TO DO LIST
  • Update my CV
  • Apply for Jobs – non call centre jobs only
  • Go for at least 2 Interviews
  • Get a new job
  • OR
  • Work better hours here at o2 (not 11:30 – 8:30)
  • Spend more time with my friends
  • Go on Level 2 Basketball Coaches Course
  • Spend at least 3 hours a week outside coaching becoming a better coach.
  • Decide what to wear on my Wedding Day
  • Get below 17 stone.

 

A few of them are fully up to me to sort, so with them I have no excuse, the others I need to do the ground work for things to happen, so it is in my hands, If I want to be happier this is what I need to do.

I am going to make a little to do list chart to put down the side of my site, so everytime I look at it, it’s starring me in the face.

Now less chatting and more action.

Posted in: General.
Tagged: · · · · · · · · ·

Beard Right Behind You!!!!

Apr 27th, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

I am known to on most occasions to have some sort of facial hair, but then it gets to an itchy stage and it’s time to shave it off, The start of the NBA playoffs has taken away that option completely, for one flick of a razor could end the Phoenix Suns chances of glory, I should probably explain.

Phoenix Suns

Last year the Phoenix Suns missed out on a playoff spot and had to watch the Post-Season at home, so this season’s #1 directive was to make sure the Suns weren’t on vacation come April, a great season finished with the Suns securing the #3 seed in the Western Conference and a first round match-up with the Portland Trail Blazers, now being a heavy Twitter user I read that Suns forward Lou Amundson was trying to think of a way to look more menacing during the playoffs so that the usually soft Phoenix defence could at least look a little tougher.

I think then it was the Suns Webmaster Jeremie McPeak that had the idea that to support the team through the playoffs, we too as fans could grow Playoff Beards; this started a huge Suns twitter appeal for all Suns fans to join the cause and grow a playoff beard.

Now I’m not one for following “trends” or “fashions” but this one I couldn’t resist, giving my team support from the UK is hard so this was a perfect opportunity to get behind them and raise awareness of the Suns over this side of the pond.

The playoffs started on the 18th of April, I think I last shaved around the 3rd or 4th, so my beard is now about 3 weeks old and has got to that itchy stage, however I have to power through, who knows if I trim or shave it could wreck any chance the Suns have of making it all the way to the NBA finals.

Beard after 1 week

 

After last night’s game the Suns lead Portland 3-2 in a best of 7 series, hopefully on Thursday they can win the series and await the winner of Dallas and San Antonio in the conference Semi-Finals which would also mean the beard would roll on till at least 2nd week in May, who knows, fingers crossed it will still be with me in June watching the Suns win the NBA Championship.

Beard on Week 3

One reservation I have, the rules are you can only shave once the Suns are eliminated, What if the Suns were to go on and win the whole thing, does that mean they’ve not been eliminated and then I would have to wait till next April at least before shaving again……………

The wife to be would not be happy.

Posted in: Sports.
Tagged: · · · · ·

The Hardest Question I’ve ever asked

Apr 21st, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

After being with Laura for 5 years, this Sunday I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me, thankfully she said yes, It’s something I have been thinking about doing for a while but a couple of issues had stopped me. Now that I have done it, I must say there were a few moments in the build up that have been the most daunting in my entire life.

The first one was picking the ring, it is very easy to look online look at brochures and have a look at shop windows, it’s the moment when you have to go into the shop to ask to see a ring, the woman looked at me and asked “Is it an engagement ring?” I think my face may have gone white at this point, because it kind of makes it real.

Once I had picked the ring, it wasn’t actually that scary going in to pay for it, probably because they had to order it, so I wouldn’t be leaving the shop with a ring just with a lot less money.

The next moment that got me was on Friday, I was at work, happily (bah!) doing work and my phone started to ring, I didn’t recognise the number but it was a Leeds number, I answered it, It was Beaverbrook’s, the ring had come into the store and was ready to be picked up.

“Oh No! It’s real now; I’m going to have to ask the question now!!!”

That’s what was going through my head, for me this is a big step, a huge commitment, the biggest one I’ve ever made, and it was me that had to make the jump.

Friday and Saturday passed and I was fine, knowing my plan was to ask on Sunday, people ask me now why I was so nervous, everyone who has met myself and Laura would know that it was obvious she would say yes, that wasn’t what the nerves were about, it was little things like, wanting to ask in a nice way so that when people ask her “So how did he ask?” she would have something nice to tell them, and also THE RING!!!

Laura is a girl who knows what she wants, and had always said two requirements for the ring were “Platinum Ring” “Emerald Cut Diamond” through a bit of research these rings were very expensive and well outside my budget, so some cuts would have to be made, I had discovered that a white gold ring would be fine and emerald or princess cut would be fine, so when I picked a ring that wasn’t one of the specified “cuts” the nerves of Would she like it? Entered my mind almost hourly, I had visions of opening the box and her face turning ugly as if to say “What the fuck is that?”

Luckily I asked, she said yes, and she loves the ring, so I choose well, we had a fantastic day on Sunday, Laura’s parents came round, our friends Jon and Jen, neighbours Catherine and Warren and next door neighbour Sarah, and all of us except Sarah (doesn’t drink) and Richard (driving) got pretty well drunk, Cath and Warren had to phone in sick from work, something like 3 bottles of Champagne 3 mini bottles, 4 bottles of wine, beer and a bottle of rum all were disposed off, couldn’t ask for a better way to celebrate our engagement.

Now the plans begin for the Wedding, hopefully March next year in the Caribbean, It’s proving quite difficult, but once the venue and holiday is booked I can’t see much else going wrong.

Famous last words……….

Posted in: General.
Tagged: · · · · · ·

The results are in…

Apr 2nd, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

Went to Boots today and weighed myself, 2nd time this year, I was 19 stone 4 the last time, I was kinda hoping to get below that as a few people had pointed out they thought I had lost weight. It could have been a disaster, but I’ve never been bothered by the actual number, more how I feel and look.

So on the scales I went, paid the money and get the verdict.

18 stone 13 pounds

Great I thought, under 19 stone for the first time in a long time, I need to step up now, and actually try, I haven’t been so bad this year, only like 2 proper nights out, and not as much junk as usual, I am going to see a Diabetes Dietician in 2 weeks to get some help with what to eat, hoping that helps, every morning this week I’ve been having a Banana Vanilla smoothie recommended by the Diabetes UK website, that’s been my breakfast all week and I’ve really enjoyed them, so looking at some more reciepes now.

Had a 10 minute run around with the kids tonight at practice aswell, so that will help, not gonna be a regular thing though, but walking to work helps alot, might start making myself walk back at least once a week for extra exercise.

I keep saying to myself that I need to step up and lose this weight, it’s very very hard though, I don’t like all the nice things your meant to eat, that hinders me alot I think.

But hey progress is progress, hopefully next time I’ll have lost some more again.

Hope everyone has a good easter, no eggs for me!!!!

Posted in: General.
Tagged: · · · · ·

Season 1 = Done!

Mar 30th, 2010
by gib2504.
No comments yet

The buzzer sounded bringing an end to my first season in kids basketball, the 114 – 48 defeat by the Cheshire Jets was not the best way to end our season however there have been a lot of positives to take and a lot of things to improve on, I hope to coach for a long time but I will always remember my first season.

The Ups:

  • Our first win against Newcastle by 1 point, the way my heart stopped when they put up the last shot.
  • Jack nailing a 3 point shot with seconds left to give us a 3 point lead over Doncaster.
  • The way the younger kids stepped up at the away game in Doncaster, Micah 10 years old, holding his own at U14 level.
  • Taking charge of a game on my own against Newcastle U15’s

The Downs:

  • Having to play many of the games with only 6-7 players, not good for anyone.
  • The refereeing against Gateshead away, I think it cost us the match.
  • Trey getting injured against Newcastle when he was playing his best basketball ever.
  • The behaviour of the Newcastle coach in the last few seconds of the match in which they had already won.

 

A massive learning curve for myself, I have realised I have loads still to learn, probably only scratched the surface, I want to learn a lot more, and work on my delivery and being able to see things happening on the court quicker be it in practice or in games.

I have really enjoyed the company as well be it from the coaches or the kids, it’s a hard balance between being seen as an adult and keeping the kids in-check, to having a laugh with them and being their friends as well, some coaches I know don’t feel the same way and like the Coach/Player relationship and don’t want it to mingle, I like having a laugh with them and think they trust you more if they feel they can laugh and joke, as long as they know where the line is, and that when it comes to Basketball they need to listen, and I think our team has that, the kids are very well behaved and do pay attention in practice.

Next season I think we’re going to play Under 16 conference, so the kids are still playing up, but the level is not as high as National League, so they should still be competitive and when they have their second year they will do very well, some of the kids have ambitions to play in the NBA, as a lot of kids do growing up, by 17/18 the move to America or Europe would be needed for this to happen, and that of course is our goal, winning U14/15/16 is not the aim, but developing players to go to a higher level and giving them the skills they need to get there.

It is hard to find the balance, Kids hate losing, and I don’t like it much either, but we could play at an easier level and we would win, however this will not make them better players, playing against quality opposition will do this, but getting whipped every week is not going to help that either as the enthusiasm will go and the enjoyment of the sport will go.

We had a bit of a chill out session last night letting the kids just play, and we have made it clear that the off-season training starts now, we need to work them hard, get them into great shape for next season, and hopefully get a couple of kids to grow and have the skill sets improve and we will have a very good team next year.

On a personal level, not a lot else has gone on lately, just been Basketball and work, a few people have commentated that I have lost weight so going to go weight myself this week, so where I stand, I have started looking on the Diabetes UK website for some meal ideas, made a really nice Banana Vanilla smoothie for Breakfast that was really nice, and I am going to a Diabetes Dietician this month for some help and what I can do to help myself, got a target of 16 stone by the first game of next season.

Having a party this weekend at mine, a Singstar party, a few friends coming rounds to sing dance and be merry, always a good laugh, so that is something to look forward to, off work from Friday to Tuesday, going to play some console games, as I’ve missed it.

Till next time.

Ciao

Posted in: Sports.
Tagged: · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·

Thought of the Day – 11th March

Mar 11th, 2010
by gib2504.
1 comment

If you take acan of Diet Coke and add 3 sweetners to it, would it taste alot more like normal coke, or just a horrible sweet drink.

I have a can of Diet Coke here, but I’m not willing to waste it on the experiment.

Would love someone to try it and report back.

Posted in: General.
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