2005, Best ofs

I wanted to get a quickie in before the end of the year, what better way than to plop down a few best-of lists. The music one is legit, the others are more off-the-top-of-head.

Music. Yes, this is the playlist on the CD.

1. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers - say no more
   
2. Talk - coldplay - great buzz gig
   
3. Hard to Beat - Hard-Fi - seeing them at Horseshoe Tavern in January, album of the year
   
4. Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire - Montreal eclectic talent
   
5. Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand - cheeky lads
   
6. Tiny Little Fractures - Snow Patrol - a little older album that just snuck in
   
7. Oh My God - Kaiser Chiefs - great performance at Live8
   
8. LSF(Lost Souls Forever) - Kasabian - Midlands lads with Manchester sounds
   
9. All Because of You - U2 - biggest band in the world ?
   
10. Better Now - Collective Soul - solid rock, Bowie or Iggy soundalike ?
    
11. Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers - what's that damn sample ?
    
12. Guilt Is A Useless Emotion - New Order - old geezers that can still put a good dance track together
    
13. Dare - Gorillaz - groovy baby
    
14. Forbidden Love - Madonna - alt track to big hit, great dance album
    
15. 24 - Jem - a diamond in the rough
    
16. Don`t Lie - Black Eyed Peas - a good dose of hip hop
    
17. Gold Digger (Feat. Jamie Foxx) - Kanye West - great hip hop, great sample, dodgy explicit lyrics
    
18. Other Side Of The World K.T. Tunstall - lovely Scottish lass who took the time to sign a CD cover for me "To Phil, love K.T." - you betcha
    
19. Folsom Prison Blues Joaquin Phoenix - I became an instant Johnny Cash fan after seeing Walk the Line a few weeks ago and Joaquin does a stellar job

Movies. Big variety, probably missed a few, but hey, I didn't see that many this year !

1. Crash
2. Walk the line
3. Cinderella man
4. Batman begins
5. Layer cake
6. Sin city
7. The station agent

TV. Simple (I don't watch much)

1. Jon Stewart
2. House
3. Dead like me
   

2005, Best ofs

I wanted to get a quickie in before the end of the year, what better way than to plop down a few best-of lists. The music one is legit, the others are more off-the-top-of-head.

Music. Yes, this is the playlist on the CD.

1. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers - say no more
   
2. Talk - coldplay - great buzz gig
   
3. Hard to Beat - Hard-Fi - seeing them at Horseshoe Tavern in January, album of the year
   
4. Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire - Montreal eclectic talent
   
5. Do You Want To - Franz Ferdinand - cheeky lads
   
6. Tiny Little Fractures - Snow Patrol - a little older album that just snuck in
   
7. Oh My God - Kaiser Chiefs - great performance at Live8
   
8. LSF(Lost Souls Forever) - Kasabian - Midlands lads with Manchester sounds
   
9. All Because of You - U2 - biggest band in the world ?
   
10. Better Now - Collective Soul - solid rock, Bowie or Iggy soundalike ?
    
11. Galvanize - The Chemical Brothers - what's that damn sample ?
    
12. Guilt Is A Useless Emotion - New Order - old geezers that can still put a good dance track together
    
13. Dare - Gorillaz - groovy baby
    
14. Forbidden Love - Madonna - alt track to big hit, great dance album
    
15. 24 - Jem - a diamond in the rough
    
16. Don`t Lie - Black Eyed Peas - a good dose of hip hop
    
17. Gold Digger (Feat. Jamie Foxx) - Kanye West - great hip hop, great sample, dodgy explicit lyrics
    
18. Other Side Of The World K.T. Tunstall - lovely Scottish lass who took the time to sign a CD cover for me "To Phil, love K.T." - you betcha
    
19. Folsom Prison Blues Joaquin Phoenix - I became an instant Johnny Cash fan after seeing Walk the Line a few weeks ago and Joaquin does a stellar job

Movies. Big variety, probably missed a few, but hey, I didn't see that many this year !

1. Crash
2. Walk the line
3. Cinderella man
4. Batman begins
5. Layer cake
6. Sin city
7. The station agent

TV. Simple (I don't watch much)

1. Jon Stewart
2. House
3. Dead like me
   

How to proceed ?

I've been in a bit of a jam on this blog thing. I like the idea and the medium, but I'm having trouble keeping up a regular publishing routine. Any preference ? Short, casual posts or better prepared, deep content with lots of pics and links ?

I was thinking of adding a footer to my yahoo emails that would perhaps bring some new eyeballs here, but I am a little reluctant without increasing the frequency of new content. Anyone have any brainy ideas on how to monitor a web site (like my blog) for updates ? [Actually I just found a few - changenotes.com, changedetection.com and timelyweb.com] Or do I just send out a mass reminder to a reader list when I post something new - but doesn't that defeat the purpose a little ?

I've got quite a long list of topics that hopefully you'll find interesting, but my little perfectionist sidekick on my shoulder says I've got to keep the quality up - hence the spontaneity conflict of the posts.

I could always draw on my vast collection of inner thoughts (well a few anyway) or past stories (e.g. the Lads saga - I can hear the oh-nos already) !

Life with animals

In the inevitable journey toward adding a dog to the family, we made a small step toward owning a pet recently. We''re the proud owners of a fish, Johnny to be precise, an iridescent blue, Betta.

Here's an ironic note, we actually bought him from a seafood restaurant. We went to this new local chic placed called CFood last week, beautiful seafood, great service and fab decor, including - yep, a nice vase on each table with a Betta in it. They are being sold as part of a charity for North York children's hospital. A few glasses of wine later, and we thought it was just a great idea.

12/13/05 update - fish still alive, starting to recognize human faces ?

p.s. I was going to add a fishfoto, but still can't get the new digital camera to focus properly...

Poor ? Sony

Up to this point I don't think I've used this blog to relay any news stories or public current events, however this one keeps getting better. A good summary of the Sony CD copy protection debacle can be seen online on Business Week.

p.s. on a related topic, I'm now using iTunes as my primary music player at home, basically because of the support for my iPod Shuffle. I'm sure my adventures in automatic categorization from Musicmatch's, playlists, proprietary categories and MP3 tags will spawn its own blog entry soon.

I love technology, but...

Most of you know I love technology - especially the kind that results in creating a perfect audio / visual world of entertainment.

Last week I took another jump forward with the purchase of a DVD / Hard Disk recorder.

I think most people know what a DVD recorder is (although I was surprised to hear that a good friend of mine doesn't even own a DVD player), but if you're not familiar with the PVRs and Tivos of the tech world, a Hard Disk recorder is basically a way of recording TV or other video sources onto a computer-like hard disk. From there, you can watch the recording or copy to a DVD for backup or playing on a regular DVD player*.

Why would I subject myself to this, you ask ? Well, I love technology. The appeal - a nice solution for transferring 8mm home videos to DVD and also defeat the familiar tech snit...I'm tired, want to go to bed, but don't want to miss Letterman tonight, but F*** me - I can't find a VHS tape that "clearly" has space or unwanted material on it ! I even managed to sell my wife on the idea, so A/V component #19 is added to the home.

I did quite a lot of research and found a number of manuals online that provided some interesting reading - maaan- this stuff is almost as complicated as configuring Microsoft Smart Card Logon. I ended up choosing a combination DVD / Hard Disk (160GB - 70 hours worth) recorder - Pioneer DVR-633H-S. Other ones I shortlisted were the Panasonic DMR-E85H and the LG LRH-539.

But this thing has a mind of its own. You can imagine there's a certain about of complexity setting up a new fangled digital component that wants to show you a cool on screen TV Guide when you have a digital cable box - ugh. So, get this, it comes with a small IR transmitter that you place in front of your cable box so that it can change stations on the cable box like you would do with a remote. A little low tech, but it works. However, when it's off - it's not really off, because it goes hunting for program guides (or porno for all I know). The real mystery is what channel it will select when it turns on again ! The menu system is pretty wacky but recording success rates are now climbing above 50%.

So this got me thinking a little about all the gear I have around the home and making my life rather complex... *so if I pick up a disk at home, I can hopefully identify whether it's an audio CD, CDR, CDRW, CDR Music, video DVD, DVD-R, DVD-RW, Video CD, CD+G, CD ROM or Direct CD formatted CDR, all I have to do is then figure out which one of the 13 disk players I have around the house that will be able to play it.

Life wasn't this complicated with tape was it ? Oh, I forgot Betamax !

Now, if I could only find the right remote !

The instant impact of music...

Just listening to a few choice new tracks from Madonna's latest release (see Rolling Stone, Sun and Guardian reviews) - big dance record !

Instantly thought of my old friend JB as he was an early believer in Ms. Ciccone. The crew dismissed her as too poppy, but 20 years later, she's still making an impact !

Great track called "I love New York" instantly makes me think of my good friends J&A in NYC and the street vibe of the one of greatest cities in the world.

Gotta dance.

The instant impact of music...

Just listening to a few choice new tracks from Madonna's latest release (see Rolling Stone, Sun and Guardian reviews) - big dance record !

Instantly thought of my old friend JB as he was an early believer in Ms. Ciccone. The crew dismissed her as too poppy, but 20 years later, she's still making an impact !

Great track called "I love New York" instantly makes me think of my good friends J&A in NYC and the street vibe of the one of greatest cities in the world.

Gotta dance.

A proud hockey Dad

Just got back from this week's house league hockey game.

Pre-game analysis

Rio is coming down with a cold, energy level was really low...

Post-game analysis

Best game of his hockey career - 3 points (1 goal and 2 assists). The game was a high scoring affair ending 8-8 (with Rio scoring our last goal before they scored a few to tie it up).

The lad definitely isn't the fastest, nor the most skilled and definitely not the biggest...but he knows the game and knows how he can be most effective. A little fore-checking, a little digging, some nice passes, reading the play and being in front of the net to put it away.

That's my boy.

On a sidenote, he played goalie last week and did a great job. I'm not sure how many of you have suffered through 50 minutes of your boy/girl being the last line of defense, but it's rather nerve racking.

How do you go from Thirteen Days to Creative Memories ?

References: Thirteen Days
Creative Memories; and Memory Manager
Bush and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (incl. great video replays) plus this bonus I had only heard about previously.

27 years ago today

On October 25th, 1978, my family set foot on North American soil for the first time.

As a family we had not traveled too far from our English homeland except for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see my uncle in Singapore for Christmas 1975. I feel it was perhaps that visit which ultimately raised the family's desires to test the waters of a foreign land.

Landing late on a rainy October night (much like tonight) in Detroit, we were driven to our new home across the river in Windsor, Ontario. Unfortunately, the memories of a less-than-direct route through the seedier streets of downtown Detroit still stick in all our memories.

It took each of us a while to adjust, but it's hard to imagine now what our lives would have been like if we hadn't been tempted by green (or perhaps, Autumn orange) pastures.

• FA cup: Ipswich defeats Arsenal 1-0
• World Cup: Argentina defeats Holland 3-1
• Formula 1 world champion Mario Andretti
• Muhammed Ali beats Leon Spinks in New Orleans, to win the world heavyweight championship a record third time.
• Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, is born in Manchester, England, weighing five pounds-twelve ounces.
• Hits in the UK, incl. a song from Grease and Rasputin by Boney M.
• Billboard's hits in America incl. Andy Gibb - Shadow Dancing and lots of Bee Gees.
• Keith Richards is convicted in Canada of heroin possession. He receives a one-year suspended sentence and is ordered to play a charity concert for the blind.
• Nancy Spungen, American girlfriend of Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, is found dead from multiple stab wounds at New York's Chelsea Hotel. Sid Vicious is charged with murder but claims to remember nothing about the night.

• The Montreal Canadiens defeat the Boston Bruins in 6 games to win the Stanley Cup.
• The Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl 17-10 over the Denver Broncos.
• The NY Yankees win the World Series in 6 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Take a look at Nostalgia Central and answers.com for other great memories.

Mr. Loud Talker

Back at Salad King again for lunch today (Phud Thai) and there and behold a great topic for today - Mr. Loud Talker. You've seen people like this before, totally oblivious to their highly inappropriate vocal level. I kept looking over because I was wondering if knows he's Mr. Loud Talker or not, but apparently not, and he looked at me, like, what are you looking at dude ?

Unfortunately what he had to say was not very interesting, basically educating his colleague on the finer points of working with real estate listings - no offense Stevo.

And get this, this is one of the noisiest restaurants to start with, and you could still hear him over the white noise of decent people enjoying great Thai food and having interesting conversations - WITH THE PEOPLE ACROSS THE TABLE FROM THEM - NOT THE ENTIRE RESTAURANT.

Funny, reference here though - when I was thinking of the topic I couldn't help thinking about the great Alexander Keith's IPA TV commercials - especially, MR. Spilly Talker. But damn my googling skills, I couldn't find it. I did find this one though.

BTW - the link I was looking for yesterday was orangelinespy.blogspot.com.

Don't people check the weather in the morning ?

I saw some interesting sites today on the street, everything from the wannabe surf dude on his long board with the faded t-shirt, to the scarf huggin student, to the odd looking young studious type in the 'hood with the ski gloves on.

It seems at this time of the season, people get a little confused with the weather, their internal thermometers are out of whack or they're just mesmerized by the fall colours and thinking about sub-zero temps around the corner. Don't these people check the weather before they head out to face the big bad world ? For me, it's usually a local weather check on CP24, or the official story from Environment Canada.

The day ranged from: a brisk walk to the subway; a bright cheery view from inside my office; to the blustery walk at lunch (made a little more pleasant by a belly full of Salad King's thai curry and a decent espresso on the return leg); to a bloody cold night.

I also fell victim a few times to the confusing climate today, including trying on spring/fall jackets at a store during my lunch "hour" - I just couldn't decide - 3-in-1 jobbie with the removable lining, the micro fibre bulky number or a sporty model - I gave up !

Bro - what the link for the wonderfully funny, fashion related, Orange Line Spy ? Wanted to finish with a related link !

The Impact of Film

This could easily be a very lengthy post because movies* have been an efficient catalyst for many of the deeper thoughts and ideas resonating around my nogin for years.

*Actually - good movies. How do I define good movies ? Well that's quite easy really, I defer to IMDB and any movie with at least a 6.5 rating.

Oops - just got a flat tire on the cyber super blogger highway...I was going to talk about the movie I saw last night called Suspect Zero - but a quick check on IMDB shows a very average 5.8 rating.

Ok, let me re-position on the fly here...

Perhaps those deep thoughts and ideas don't necessary require a good or great movie, perhaps all it takes is: an interesting tale (The Usual Suspects); a new way of telling a story (Momento); a new perspective on life (Crash); or teaching us a little about our world (Whale Rider).

Ok, tire is patched....

Case in point - Suspect Zero. This movie was recommended to me quite a few months ago by one of those rare-breed indy movie store film aficionados. He managed not to give anything away except it had a interstice spin on the common serial killer motif.

[warning - slight spoiler follows]

This film is about an FBI trained "remote viewer". Ever heard of one ? Me neither. I thought the movie was pretty good (7), but the subject of remote viewing really intrigued me and actually kept me up past midnight watching all the DVD extras.

Material like this really tinkers with my inner stuff and makes me truly feel there's something else at work here, and the evidence is piling up !

Another effect good movies have, on me at least, is the immediate impetus for knowledge. Ever have the urge after seeing a movie that you want to know everything about that subject, you just want more ! For instance - remote viewing. It turns out there is a hell of a lot of information about this stuff (and some of it unsurprisingly wacky). You can do the google yourself but if you're a little lazy have a look at this one - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing. Another (far more harmless) example came up while I was running this my editor at dinner this evening. She reminded me of a evening when we were walking home after seeing Shakespeare in Love, I had the urge to read more Shakespeare ! I think I did actually buy a small book on Shakespeare sonnets and do actually pick it up on occasion.

Following on from this last example, I usually judge a good movie but the amount of conversation it generates afterward. This could be in the form of a thorough in-depth review over a multitude of pints at the pub or a quick entry on the your best-of list which you can't help telling other people about or going on for over 10 paragraphs on a blog !

oow oow oow

I just found a setting for "comments". You can now comment on a posted entry without having to register as a new blogger !

For those that have spent quality time registering for the sheer pleasure of commenting on my blog - I'm flattered and I can't wait to read you blog !

Updates

Yeah, I know there's two "Thanksgiving" posts - I had a problem posting and then it doubled up. I can't figure out how to delete one of them !

England won. They finished top of their group. Going to Germany 2006 in style. Condolences to the Scots and the unlucky Irish.

A few more blog comments from readers here and there and thanks for the other emails. Still unsure about blog frequency. I don't think I'll be posting on a daily basis, but I'm quite confident I'll be posting at least 1 article a week. Is that enough to stay sticky ?

Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada, second inning of turkey coming up !

A few (important) things I'm thankful for [warning - mush factor: high, but obviously can't skip these]:

• My two fantastic, smart and beautiful children - I enjoyed 18 holes of golf with my eldest earlier today and then just watched a Pooh move with my little girl - what a great day !
• My lovely wife, who understands me better than I do (there's a whole blog post waiting there some day).
• Family, from the new babies to the wise elders, near and far !

Lot of others for another day, let's just say it's been a good day.

Just saw a great story on the news of a 9 year boy who just finished a swim of San Francisco bay - he raised $30,000 for Red Cross Katrina Hurricane Victim's fund.

Some new music finds

I'm sure this will be a recurring theme on my blog, but I thought I'd do a simple post tonight...

New finds today:

1. Hard Fi (Hard-Fi in some listings) - Stars of CCTV album (yes the entire album, but standout is "Hard to Beat" - remembered by Suzanne, originally mentioned by cool music cuz Stu
2. Ladytron - Witching Hour, standout track is "Destroy Everything you Touch", donated by big Rob

As many of my friends know I'm big on music, especially new finds that criss cross genres and spark a new mood generator. Plus I love the challenge of making the mix for every occasion, it's probably an obsession - hence my handle - PJMixer.

A few hints on where I get my stuff and where I go to find new stuff and for reviews I can trust.

• Music purchases and samples - www.allofmp3.com (thanks Dan)
  
• Thorough and trustworthy music reviews, band history and samples - www.allmusic.com
• Charts, it's Top of the Pops of course (mainstream Brit mixed bag), incl. videos.
• North American centric charts - Billboard.
• Video samples and lots more at Yahoo Music (thanks Suzanne)
• On foot or reg price artist conscious downloads, incl. sampels - HMV.
• UK centric rag - Q (thanks Jen)
  
• My player choice - Musicmatch, great mixing choices, incl. free 1 hour per day of CD quality streaming radio with lots of stations and artist match.
• Fellow friends of new music finds, incl. 'Zan, Bro, Nikola, S&R, Brit Boyz
  

Well, I thought that was going to be fast, and an hour later I'm still here, see what I mean when I say I'm a little obsessed with music !


p.s. In case you've been on pins and needles regarding the fate of England in World Cup qualifying, you'll be happy to know we've qualified - see you in Germany. Note that I didn't actually spend time actually reviewing all the scores and doing the calculations myself...my wife, in her incredible efficient manner, came across the news in one of today's UK papers (not sure if this was just by chance, or a planned destination). This is completely off topic unless you think like me, and immediately associate all the great football inspired music, e.g. New Order's World in Motion.

Some new music finds

I'm sure this will be a recurring theme on my blog, but I thought I'd do a simple post tonight...

New finds today:

1. Hard Fi (Hard-Fi in some listings) - Stars of CCTV album (yes the entire album, but standout is "Hard to Beat" - remembered by Suzanne, originally mentioned by cool music cuz Stu
2. Ladytron - Witching Hour, standout track is "Destroy Everything you Touch", donated by big Rob

As many of my friends know I'm big on music, especially new finds that criss cross genres and spark a new mood generator. Plus I love the challenge of making the mix for every occasion, it's probably an obsession - hence my handle - PJMixer.

A few hints on where I get my stuff and where I go to find new stuff and for reviews I can trust.

• Music purchases and samples - www.allofmp3.com (thanks Dan)
  
• Thorough and trustworthy music reviews, band history and samples - www.allmusic.com
• Charts, it's Top of the Pops of course (mainstream Brit mixed bag), incl. videos.
• North American centric charts - Billboard.
• Video samples and lots more at Yahoo Music (thanks Suzanne)
• On foot or reg price artist conscious downloads, incl. sampels - HMV.
• UK centric rag - Q (thanks Jen)
  
• My player choice - Musicmatch, great mixing choices, incl. free 1 hour per day of CD quality streaming radio with lots of stations and artist match.
• Fellow friends of new music finds, incl. 'Zan, Bro, Nikola, S&R, Brit Boyz
  

Well, I thought that was going to be fast, and an hour later I'm still here, see what I mean when I say I'm a little obsessed with music !


p.s. In case you've been on pins and needles regarding the fate of England in World Cup qualifying, you'll be happy to know we've qualified - see you in Germany. Note that I didn't actually spend time actually reviewing all the scores and doing the calculations myself...my wife, in her incredible efficient manner, came across the news in one of today's UK papers (not sure if this was just by chance, or a planned destination). This is completely off topic unless you think like me, and immediately associate all the great football inspired music, e.g. New Order's World in Motion.

The trouble with blogs

I know this is only my 4th post, but already there are a few problems (in case you're thinking of doing this yourself)...

Problem #1. What happens when you don't have an opportunity to enter a post on a particular day (or two). Who said that blogs need to be daily ? For example, the blogs that the a couple of brainy people at my company, Entrust, put out, seem to have a pretty irregular schedule of postings. I imagine that whatever readers I had, have already given up !

One theory I have on this problem is that people are creatures of habit...ergo, if they get in the habit of doing something on a daily (or any regular) basis, then you're in, otherwise your blog is like an over-advertised tourist trap on the information highway. [I have some ideas on creatures of habit that will have to wait for another day].

I did try and see if there is a log of visitors to the blog (a blog log perhaps?) - but can't find it. Consequently I'm not sure who's actually reading this stuff - problem #2. Maybe I should just consider this an online personal journal, and on occasion direct a friend here for a relevant read.

Problem #3. Rich said that you have to go through quite an arduous process to enter a comment on this blog. And once you do enter a comment, you can only tell who wrote the comment by some contextual language mind meld extrapolation. Why do I and others feel uncomfortable revealing their true identity out here ?

All that said, drop me a line if you're visiting this blog regularly and what you expect to read.

Sidedish - an interesting alternative to a regular blog is a photoblog, my favourites are Spacing and topleftpixel. Some other TO photoblogs can be found at www.photopia.tyo.ca/applestore. The good news, you don't need to write much, the bad side, you've got to be a great digital photographer. I don't' feel right leaving this paragraph without mentioning the real photographer of the family and his great pics.

So to leave you with some actual content, here's a great pic a friend emailed me the other day.

FIFA world cup qualifying analysis

[warning - big bias here on England as opposed to any other world soccer power]

Timely ? Definitely. Bringing you up to date (in case you're not on-the-ball), all remaining 2006 World Cup qualifying games are wrapping up on October 12th with teams having 2 or 2 games remaining.

Of course, my attention is squarely on England who find themselves in familiar dodgey territory. The qualifying rules for the world cup are massively complex, but let me see if I can make this simple, in England's case...

Bloody win !

Ok, seriously...looking at European Group 6, England can still win the group and they are guaranteed at least a 2nd place spot. If we win our last 2 games - great, we're on our way to Germany. If we tie a game we need to grab a friendly Swede or Hungarian and hope they keep Croatia honest, otherwise we may be sweating it out in a playoff rather than an auto best-2nd-place spot in Germany. If we lose a game then we're not going to get much done next week because there will be a lot of other footy games that matter, incl. the blokes from France, Slovakia, Russia and Turkey who, I'm sure, will start to get really annoying ! It we only manage a couple of ties or ... (I can't even bring myself to write it)...then we're definitely looking at some pressure packed extra footy in months to come.

Got it ? I hope someone is double-checking my calculations here !

Eng-ger-land

See you at the pub.

My 15 (well 6) minutes of fame

For those of you who are fans of ultimate [Frisbee] you'll like this...

The Toronto Ultimate Club (www.tuc.org) managed to convince the Toronto Argos CFL organization to allow us to do a half time show last week. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time and was invited to participate. Rio joined us on the sidelines for half time and managed to get a lot of player autographs after the game.

The "show" only lasted about 6 minutes, but was quite the high. Unfortunately I mis-managed the pre-game line-up negotiations and found myself on a mostly defensive line, so I didn't get a chance to showcase by veteran handling skills. I did however do a great job of doing a "loose mark" on my opposition and letting them throw a good long bomb ;-).

See http://homepage.mac.com/craigstephen/TUT2005_Sunnybrook/PhotoAlbum10.html
for all the pictures from the TUC photographer.

Arrrrrgoooooos

First entry

Hello everyone (well just me right now).

I just created this blog to kick off what I hope will be a convenient place for me to post some ideas, some entertaining tid bits and some helpful things for friends and family.

I intend to post on a semi-regular basis with many different topics such as:

The best jokes of the day
Fab music finds
Film raves
Invites and reminders about events
Helpful hints for the internet, your computer, your Blackberry, your home stereo set up etc
Links to business related info
Links to interesting news items, relating to family, friends and things personal to us

As an exmple, let me say that I'm beginning to really get with the google thing these days, I'm even thinking of moving my primary email account to my gmail one. And some great web sites like maps.google.com are obvious great bets. This of course led me quickly to google for a blogger solution www.blogger.com. And a few minutes later, here I am. What can I say, I think the brains at google are doing a great job. Who's next ? Want to create your own blog ? Stevie - this could be the start of a whole political platform for you.