Congratulations (x 3)

Congratulation by 3 indeed? Of Course!

First up, are Katharine and Simon Eves who celebrate 9 years of marriage today. Hopefully the sun is shining in San Fransisco, and they are having a night out (or a night in) with a wee glass of wine thinking about how much they have gone through as a couple and what’s still to come. Well done to you both and have a wee drinkie on me (if you’re doing something special tonight).

Second up is Mr Swan (aka El Gordo, The Big Chap and Swangor) in the office who is an amazing 39 years old today! I did mention to him this morning that it’s only another 365 days till he hits 40 and as life begins at 40 (apparently), he’d better start thinking about what he’s gonnae do as he’s done nothing much in the last 39 years! Congratulations Mr Swan – a bottle of finest Brown Ale is on it’s way to you!.

Then, of course, it’s congratulations to me! Yes, I’m so self centered that I’m congratulating myself on winning the tickets to the AC/DC album playback in the Hard Rock Café in Edinburgh tonight. My rockkin’ buddy for the evening is Mr Garry (although I appear to have annoyed several other folk by not choosing them!). Not sure what to expect tonight except a few beers, a listen to the new album “Black Ice” (available from all good record stores on Monday – order you’re copy now, right!) and an AC/DC goody bag which contains….. well, I don’t know yet! Looking forward to a good night so I’ll no doubt update you on what happens!

Happy Thursday! :)

Wedding Anniversary/Dragonforce Update.

Not a bad night on Friday. Garry's son Craig went to his first gig (Dragonforce supported by Turisas) at The Carling. Set lists below for those interested:

Turisas - Battle Metal, A Portage To The Unknown, Violin Solo, One More, In The Court Of Jarisleif, The Dnieper Rapids, Rasputin, To Holmgard And Beyond

DragonForce - Heroes Of Our Time, Operation Ground And Pound, Reasons To Live, Fury Of The Storm, Revolution Deathsquad ( w/ keyboard solo), Soldiers Of The Wasteland, The Last Journey Home, My Spirit Will Go On, Valley Of The Damned, Through The Fire And The Flames

Only a day late - but Happy 40th Birthday to Shirley Maxwell, and Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary to Simon and Shirley!

October Update.

Not posted since last week when I had quite a busy time. Karen enjoyed her stay over as well as getting on well with my work mates and friends. The Solid Rock's birthday weekend was chaos (in a good rock n’ roll way!) and a trip down to Newcastle to see mum and dad went without any problems. Don’t think she wanted to go home, really!

So, October has arrived and so has the cold weather whilst the rain continues to fall. The shops are gearing up for Christmas and I’ve so far, bought one Christmas present! Must really get a list together of what I actually need to get for everyone as I want to do this as soon as I can – that way I can get it all sorted before the Christmas rush in the shops starts.

I was gonna have a moan about the train strike as I thought it would be difficult getting to and from work, but it doesn’t actually seem to be that bad. Instead of four trains an hour, there is just one. Fair enough it might be a bit packed, but I didn’t think *any* trains would be running at all, and wasn’t looking forward to sitting on a bus at all!

You do get some strange things through your email in-box, as I found out yesterday. I received an email from an old friend of mine who has a colleague who is writing an official biography on one Blaze Bayley (ex-Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden lead singer currently fronting his own band called, Blaze). The quest was to find a Wolfsbane fan who *might* have some merchandise or memorabilia from the Wolfsbane days. Surprisingly, I was the first name that came to mind! I do, of course, have some stuff from Fan Club magazines, signed promotional photos, assorted merchandise and, of course, the complete back catalogue, so I’ve been asked to scan some of this for possible inclusion in the book. Not sure how much will actually get used, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see when it’s published.

Happy Tuesday!


PS: A huge thank you to Mr Nathaniel for my birthday present that arrived this week. He had gotten me a voucher for Amazon and I waited patiently for something *really* special - which turned out to a David Gilmour - Live at Gdansk DVD Boxset, which features some material recorded when I saw Gilmour playing in Glasgow in 2006. I haven't gone through it yet but will do this weekend. Thanks my wee friend! ;)

The Birthday Girl - albeit a day early!

Tomorrow (Friday 26th September) is Mrs Mairead's 37th Birthday. Above is a picture of me and the Birthday Girl (in a pub obviously!).

Happy Birthday Mairead!!

Solid Rock's Birthday Bash Looms.

So, with Thursday 25th September looming - I have two choices of whom I have my tea with. One the one hand, Karen Campbell arrives from Northern Ireland just in time for tea or I could spend the time in a restuarant with (the former) Sixth Doctor Who Colin Baker?

Of course, I'll be eating with Mrs Karen - first time she's been in Scotland since we met - but it does brighten up your day when you get a text inviting you to dine with a cast member from Doctor Who. How does this happen you may ask - well, I have friends in low places! :)

This weekend is noteable for two things - first Miss Mairead MacKenzie celebrates her 37th Birthday whilst the Solid Rock turns a commendable 21 Years Old. Quite a feat these days for a pub to still be open after 20 years, and what a jolly fine pub it is too!

Mrs Karen and I are taking Mrs Mairead out on Friday night for food (and no doubt Cocktails!) at TGI Friday's followed by light refreshments in the Solid - however, there will be no champagne being drunk in front of me - I don't care whose birthday it is!

Thursday night is the big night in the pub when the prices are rolled back to 1987 prices - that means a mere £1 will buy you a draught pint or a Jack Daniels (& Coke) amongst a multitude of other spirits. £1.50 will get you a large glass of wine (only £1.20 for a small one!) whilst the whole bottle is a mere £4.00! Bargains (and no doubt) hangovers galore!

Happy Weekend when it comes! :)

The 22nd September already?

That can mean only one thing - well two to be precise!

Today being the 22nd September means that today is, of course, the 26th birthday of one Billie Piper (ex-Pop Star, ex-Wife of Mr Christopher Evans and ex-Doctor Who Companion). Having said that, it's also the 5th Birthday of one Nathniel John Mario Eves so Happy Birthday Mr Nathaniel - hope you have a fab day!

(All together now!)
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Nathaniel,
Happy Birthday to you!

Hurrah! :)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Goodness me - it's Thursday all ready!

Busy couple of weeks for me so I've not been able to update this but here's a quick update:

"Death Magnetic" by Metallica is very heavy and very good - thank goodness the thrash is back and the pop songs have been binned. Saw a performance of "The Day That Never Comes" on Jools Holland the other night which sounded great live. Unfortunately I was unable to go to their O2 show in London on Monday and the BBC Radio Theatre gig they did on Tuesday. Let's hope that the BBC show this in it's entirety soon! Got the new Queen + Paul Rodgers album "The Cosmos Rocks" which is good - but not really as good as expected. Maybe it'sll grow on me.

Sad to hear that Richard Wright (keyboard player and founder member) from Pink Floyd died the other day. Saw him as part of David Gilmour's band in 2006 playing in the Armadillo in Glasgow, which was a really good night. Ironically, what turned out to be Wright's last live performance will be released on DVD next week as part of the "David Gilmour - Live at Gdansk", which Nathaniel pre-ordered for me for my birthday. ;)

Recently purchased tickets for The Unholy Alliance - Chapter III (featuring Slayer, Trivium and Mastodon) as well as Dragonforce tickets for thier gig at the Carling next month. Mr Garry was suppost to get tickets for the Slipknot/Machine Head/Children of Bodom gig but alas there was only seating tickets left, so I guess we ain't going to that! :(

On the work front, today is my third day of training on Dashboards. Quite an interesting way of reporting data - plus I get to use Flash to animate some of the information - if it's web based, of course! :) The unfortunate thing is that I have three days of normal work to catch up on tomorrow!

With a week till Karen comes over, everything seems to be okay. Mustn't forget a few birthday's that are on the horizon too!

Happy Thursday! :)

Camera Phone Photos.

Apologies for the dodgy quality of the picture on the top, but that's how the photo came out!

The photo above (Karen, Me and Rebecca) was taken by Rebecca - but strangely, my head looks like it's been photo-shopped into it! :)

Friday Update.

With everybody’s favourite San Fransisco metal band, Metallica, about to release their new album “Death Magnetic”, the band played Reading last Saturday and the BBC are showing 5 tracks today only via the digital interactive platform. Great versions of “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “Ride The Lightning” are available by “pressing the red button” on your digi-box, but you still have to trawl through the boredom of “Enter Sandman” – yawn!! The good news is that they’re touring the UK in February/March next year with both Newcastle and Glasgow on the list – Rockk On! They play Oakland on December 20th if Mr Simon wants another look at them!

With my case all packed, then unpacked, checked and repacked, it’s not long till I head over to Northern Ireland. The flight leaves at 8:00pm tonight so I should be at Belfast’s George Best City Airport by 8:50pm – providing everything’s running to time. Come back on the 6th September and should be back home by about 8:00pm. Hopefully everything will go okay – no jokes about passports at this point please! A few things are planned when I get over there so let’s hope the weather’s good. I’ll not be checking my e-mails bit I will have my mobie in case you need to get in touch with me.

Happy Friday and I’ll speak to yous all in a week or so!

Missed Opportunity.

At Glasgow over the weekend was Collectormania where you pay £5 entry fee to meet "famous" stars of sci-fi and then pay an extra £15 per autograph. Amongst those attending were Peter Davison, Louise Jameson, Garteh Thomas, Marina Sirtis (Star Trek) and Dave Prowse (Star Wars).

I didn't actually go to that as I thought it was too expensive (compared to the excellent Doctor Who events in Glasgow that I go to), but anyway, I was at The Hilton this morning for an SLC Meeting (presented by Miss Mairead McKenzie) where I joked, to my Information Office compariate Alan Dickie, that maybe Peter Davison was staying there over the weekend. He is my favourite Doctor after all, and I've never met him.

Fast forward to the break where I nipped out for an oily rag - and who should walk out of the Hotel and into a Taxi but none other than Gareth Thomas (who played Blake in Blake's 7)! Where was my bit of paper and a pen? That's right - not on me! D'Oh!! :(

Not been a good weekend overall for me - felt rotten on Saturday so didn't bother going out and spent Sunday watching another Ferrari engine blow up in the Grand Prix. Anymore of that and we won't be winning anything this year.

Did watch the Olympics closing ceremony *just* to see Jimmy Page playing "Whole Lotta Love" on geetar with some wifie singing (badly!) and then watched the mighty Metallica live at the Reading Festival. Very good they were to, and am looking forward to them playing in Glasgow (and Newcastle) next March! You heard it here first - right? Rockkkk On! :)

A trip down memory lane - for those old enough to remember!

It was, of course, Sister Agnes’ birthday on Saturday and she and Father P had decided sometime ago to stay at the Dunblane Hydro. As it’s only a short drive from me, so it made sense for me to see them over the weekend. They came down to Glasgow on Saturday morning and we headed into town. No sign of the torrential rain that was forecast and it did remain sunny and dry all day. Lunch was suppost to be with Mairead in Wetherspoon’s but having twisted her ankle the night before, Mai didn’t feel like venturing out so we ended up in Zizzi’s instead. As the parents left, I headed out to The Solid for a few drinks as usual.

Sunday was nice with me taking an early morning drive to Dunblane. Once in the car, we headed off to Newburgh – somewhere I haven’t been for 33 years! It was something I have meant to do, but somehow, I just didn’t ever get round to it. I didn’t remember anything, unsurprisingly, but we did see the old house (called "St Helens"), the hole in the hedge where Neil used to go through to visit Flora and, of course, the railway line. From there we headed to Perth Royal Infirmary to see where I was born all those years ago. Sister Agnes did note the lack of a Blue Plaque on the wall of the building but as I did point out: firstly you have to be dead, and secondly, I think Ewan McGregor will get the plaque at PRI before any of our family do!

There were some pictures taken over the weekend, so I’m sure I’ll post one or two on here when I get them from Father P or Sister A.

Happy Monday!!

Exciting Times in Glasgow.

Wednesday I met Doctor Who actor Colin Spaull (clickety click for his IMDB listing: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0817228/) as arranged for a few beers which was a good laugh.

Thursday (strangely) was in spent in the pub with Mai who was very upset cos her dog had died earlier in the day. Friday she’d got over this enough to go out with myself and Carol “Fingers” Gormley and Mr Hutcheson and we ended up at a Leaving Night for one of the guys from SLC’s IT Department. (A photo of Mrs Mairead from Friday night in the pub will be inserted here later on!)

Sunday afternoon’s activities have been planned for sometime, so I was in town as arranged at 2:30pm to meet Mrs Mairead in The Solid (clickety click for the new website: http://www.solidrockglasgow.com/) before heading to The Old Smiddy pub in Cathcart to meet Bridie for drinks. Joined by Mr Damien and mutual friend Carol for a catch up – many pints of Guinness were drunk before heading back to town and The Counting House substituting the Guinness for a bit of Mr Jack and Coke! (A photo of Mrs Bridie and me from Sunday night in the pub will be inserted here later on!)

Missed the second half of the Grand Prix on Sunday, of course, as I was in town but someone needs to give Ferrari a swift boot otherwise McLaren are gonnae steal the Championship! There’s only 7 races left with the next race the new street circuit of Valencia for the European Grand Prix.

Muddling Through Monday.

My goodness me – it’s a hot, hot day today, which is following on nicely from the hot weekend that we’ve just had. It seems like summer’s here although there are storms due here over the next few days so I guess we’ll have to enjoy it whilst we can!

Nothing exciting to report at the moment, I’m afraid, but here’s a update with my exciting life…

Had a nice quiet weekend in the house as opposed to going to the Solid. Managed to tidy up the garden on Saturday and then sat out in the garden for a bit - but didn't manage to get a suntan. I actually only cut the grass as it was just too nice to do the hedge, then I went for a drive in the car after deciding that the hedge can wait till next weekend. Saturday evening was mostly spent watching "The Girl Can't Help It" (a film starring Jayne Mansfield with Fats Domino, Little Richard, Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran) which I've always wanted to see but didn't ever manage to! Very enjoyable as it happens!

Watched the new Ringo Starr DVD (available from the link at the bottom of this entry – Buy your copy now, right?) which is just great!! I know it’s two years old, but it’s nice to have something new to add to the collection – plus there’s a few tracks on there that I haven’t seen him perform before. If you do watch it, look out for Ringo rockkkin in a cracking sparkly Def Leppard t-shirt. Also managed to squeeze in watching Sir Paul McCartney MBE palying Anfield stadium - excellent!!

I’m out on Wednesday night this week, as Colin Spaull (who appeared in the old and new series of Doctor Who) is up in Glasgow doing a voice over for a commercial. I met him in May at a Doctor Who thingy in the Central Hotel (the same weekend I met Karen) and he said he’d get in touch if he was ever back in Glasgow, which he is a fair bit. Nothing too exciting – just a couple of beers and a chat, but it should be fun. On the subject of Doctor Who, the Proms show is available on the BBC Website (for those in the UK only, I’m afraid) at the links below:

Part 1: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cq3vg/
Part 2: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00cq5lt/

Booked up to go back to see Karen, Matthew and Rebecca in early September. It’s Rebecca’s birthday on 31st August and she did ask me if I could come over for it. It’s suppost to be a secret – but we’ll see how long it actually stays a secret! I'm guessing - not very long! I head over there on the 29th August to Belfast City Airport (as opposed to the International) and head home on the 6th September. Hopefully the weather will be as nice then as it is now!

The new Ringo Starr DVD: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ringo-Starr-His-Band-Live-2006/dp/B0018ODY00/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1217255715&sr=8-1

Diary of a Northern Ireland Tourist.

So, like I said yesterday, I am back from my wee trip to Northern Ireland. I was actually staying in Newtonards (east of Belfast and about 20 minutes drive from Belfast City Centre).

Sunday 13th July:
Got to the Airport nice and early for my check-in but whilst in the check-in queue, realised that despite packing my case earlier in the week, I’d forgotten to pack one important item – my passport! The check-in staff were really helpful and changed my reservation to the next flight whilst I made a quick dash home to pick up my passport.

Whilst at the house, I met Simon and Shirley Maxwell who had just returned from Gran Canaria and had stopped off at my house to pick up some stuff that they had left there the previous week. After a quick chat to them, it was back off to the airport to make sure that I didn’t miss the next flight. I called Karen to tell her that there was a change of plan – which she was fine with, and she said that she would still meet me in Belfast city centre when I eventually got there.

The next flight was delayed by an hour but I eventually arrived at Belfast International Airport and jumped on a bus which took me straight to the Bus Station in the city centre in about 30 minutes, where Karen was waiting to meet me. We decided to go for a quick drink before heading over to Newtonards, where Karen had made a pot of Irish Stew for tea.


Monday 14th July:
Woke up on Monday with a swollen eye, which meant that I couldn’t see very much out of my left eye. I had previously warned Karen about this problem, but it was well hidden with the addition of my sunglasses! Karen had arranged to meet her friend Lillian (who I’d already spoken to on the phone a number of times) for lunch so we headed out to a Restaurant called Romas (http://www.romas.co.uk/AboutUs.htm) which was very nice. It was such a lovely sunny day that after lunch, we all went to Scrabo Tower (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabo_Tower) which has a great view from the very top.


Tuesday 15th July:
A quiet day was had, with a quick trip to Tesco’s in the morning, followed by a trip to Bangor which is situated north of Newtonards and then back home for Tea.


Wednesday 16th July:
With my eye back to normal, Karens’ children, Matthew and Rebecca, were dropped off at the house by their dad. I’d spoken to them over the phone lots of times, so it wasn’t too much of a worry for me to meet them. Matthew is 12 and likes Doctor Who, The Simpson’s and supports Liverpool FC. Rebecca is 11 and likes David Tennant and anything that’s pink! We decided to visit Karen’s mum, Joan, and take her out for lunch. I was slightly worried about this, but Joan is, like the rest of the family, very nice and friendly and we had a fun lunch in Donaghdee. It was a bit of a windy and rainy day, but we made the most of it walking around Donaghdee town centre stopping at a few pubs for refreshments.


Thursday 17th July:
Karen had to work in the morning but came back to the house at about 2:00pm. Nothing was really planned for the rest of the day, so I suggested that Matthew and Rebecca decide between them what we should do. After a lengthy discussion, it was decided that we go Ten Pin Bowling and then have a Games night in the house after tea. Matthew and I tied in the first game with Rebecca winning the second game. Quite a good bowling alley except for the fact that there was no bar there! J Back at the house after Tea, the board games came out - which was a lot of fun.


Friday 18th July:
Karen had to work again, so I was looking after Matthew and Rebecca. We watched Matthew’s Simpson’s DVD, and after Karen came back we again let the kids decide what to do. They chose a video night in the house so we rented a couple of movies and stocked up on some wine and had a quiet night in the house.


Saturday 19th July:
With Karen working again, so I looked after Matthew and Rebecca until she came back. We took a trip into Belfast in the afternoon before dropping Matthew and Rebecca off at Joan’s house whilst Karen and I went into Newtonards for the evening. We ended up back at Roma’s for a meal where I had Champ (mashed potatoes and onions) and Sausages before visiting a few pubs and having a thoroughly enjoyable evening.


Sunday, of course, I came home after saying goodbye to Joan, Lillian (and her husband John), Matthew and Rebecca. Everything went well, and I’m already thinking about going back over at the end of August.

Back from Ireland.

Well, that's me back from Northern Ireland and back to work as normal.

I had a good week, and will update the details of my trip over the next few days. :)

Thursday, and back To normal!

After the fun of Tuesday and the relaxing day off yesterday, it's back to work today! It's never nice to come back to work and find a PQ on your desk but at least it keeps me busy.

Tuesday night was fantastic, though. Missed Black Stone Cherry (well, except for the last few bars of their final number!), Whitesnake were okay but then they aren't the most exciting band ever and Def Leppard were just fantastic! Hopefully they won't leave it too long before they come back to Glasgow - but they did tape the show for a DVD so I'll be keeping an eye out for that.

Wednesday wasn't up to much! Paid my Road Tax, did some shopping and made a few phonecalls and that was it. Got the latest Doctor Who DVD through the post ("The Invisible Enemy" along with the bonus of "K-9 & Company"). Also got a copy of Joel McIver's new book, "The Bloody Reign of Slayer". It looks really good, so hopefully I'll get time soon to give it a read.

Whitesnake and Def Leppard's set Lists from Tuesday below:

Whitesnake:
Best Years, Fool For Your Loving, Can You Hear The Wind Blow, Love Ain't No Stranger, Lay Down Your Love, Is This Love, Snake Dance, A Fool In Love, Ain't Gonna Cry No More, Ain't No Love In The Heart of The City, Give Me All Your Love, Here I Go Again & Still of The Night

Def Leppard:
Rocket, C'Mon C'Mon, Make Love Like A Man, Armageddon It, When Love & Hate Collide, Nine Lives, Rock On, Two Steps Behind, Bringing On The Heartbreak, Hysteria, Animal, Photograph, Pour Some Sugar On Me, Rock of Ages, Bad Actress & Lets Get Rocked

Rock On A Tuesday?

Okay so here we are with my first blog! I have thought about doing this for a while, but didn’t have the inclination (or the time, to be honest) but here we are at Blog Number 1. I can’t say I’ll put an entry in everyday, or that it’ll be the most exciting blog ever, but we’ll see where it goes!

So – Tuesday 17th June, eh? I’ve been waiting with anticipation for today since 31st January when I booked the tickets for the Def Leppard/Whitesnake SECC gig on their joint headliner tour.

Went to see Queensryche on Friday where they played both “Operation: Mindcrime” albums in their entirety. Can’t believe it’s been 13 years since I last saw them, and they are still a great band. I was actually only going to see the first part of the show which was everything I thought it would be but the second half did drag on a bit! Maybe they should have just stuck with the first “Mindcrime” album, and then a greatest hits set as the second half of the show. Sadly, “Silent Lucidity” wasn’t played at all – maybe I’ll hear that in another 13 years time!

So what’s the plan, then? Well, it’ll be a few drinks at the pub across the road from work at 4:00pm, down to the Solid for a few then a wee jaunt over to the SECC. Once at the SECC, it looks like Black Stone Cherry (the opening act) will be missed, Whitesnake will play 4 songs off their new album and Coverdale will swear a lot, before the Lepps close the show with a whole bunch of classic tunes plus 2 songs from the new “Sparkle Lounge” album. Will this actually happen I’m not sure but it will be a great night!!

Rockk On! J