Alley Katt's Blog

Days out and stuff

2011-04-18T09:34:00.002+01:00

Last week I took my kids to Dover Castle which you can read about in my more public blog here. However, what I didn't say was that one of the reasons I wanted to go was to try and pull myself out of this rut that I find myself in and can't seem to find my way out of.

I have a friend who has been a friend of mine for a fair few years now. We both went through a split in our relationships at the same time and we would spend at least one day every week chatting about how we had felt in the last week and having coffee. When I moved away, I would make sure I called her regularly - which was about once a month, and I would be sitting in a cafe drinking coffee while chatting to her so it was almost like we were doing the same thing. Since I have moved back, however, things seem to have changed. I find her more unapproachable. She spends a hell of a lot of time with my ex-wife which makes me think that this is one of the reasons she no longer wants to talk to me. In January I decided that I would let her choose when she wanted to have a coffee so I didn't contact her. By March I figured that I would have to make the first move so I called her and arranged a coffee, but the morning of the coffee, I looked on facebook which is something I hadn't done for a while, and she had arranged to have coffee with someone else about midday which peeved me off a bit. When I was leaving I said that we should leave it less time until our next one. That was six weeks ago. I have sent her one text in that time which she has not replied to. So this leaves me with two people in Folkestone that I can talk to, and I don't want to put too much on them as they have enough problems of their own at the moment.

So for now, it is a case that I have to plod along in my own world pretending that everything is fine.

2011

2011-01-02T14:27:00.001Z

2011 is upon us now and by all accounts should be better than 2010. I said it should be better, but 2010 wasn't a completely bad year. I made some mistakes, but doesn't everybody?

January:

In January, I was packing up to move. I was looking forward to moving in with the person I had fallen for.

We were taking the kids and moving to a little village called Sapcote just outside of Leicester

February:

We moved to the village on Saturday 13th. I wanted to be moved in before Valentines Day, so Liz came

and collected us in the horrendous snow. Moving was difficult because of the weather, it was like nature was telling us not to go. But go we did. One of the neighbours works for a removals company, so he did us a cheap - back of the hand - deal. We tried to get the cats into the basket, but one burst his way out of the cage and sent me flying, and the other just did a runner. On this day came the first of the lies. Friday night, Liz had said that we were going to stop at a MacDonalds or something to get breakfast on the way. When I suggested stopping for breakfast, she denied ever saying anything about breakfast.

March:

By March, both of the kids were into their new schools, and they were enjoying the change. They had both made quite a few new friends and my daughter had gone to one of her new friends' house which made me happy to see her adjusting. It was in this month that I saw just how terrified Liz's daughter was of her. Her daughter had done something and she asked me not to tell her mother, although she found out anyway and laid into her daughter verbally so much that it reduced her to tears.

April:

Easter, and the kids had their first holiday from school. They were happy to be in the house with just me, and both of them said that Liz didn't like them. I told them it was teething problems and that everyone would get used to it. At the weekends, the kids were terrified about getting up because no matter how quietly they moved, Liz would still have a go at them for moving too noisily.

May:

I started to see that I had made a huge mistake. All Liz would do, would be to come in from work and slump on her bed, watching telly and being on her computer. She wouldn't move or do anything around the house. It was my son's and her daughter's birthday. Her daughter asked to have a sleepover which I agreed to, although I did tell her daughter to keep the noise down after her mum had gone to bed as she probably wouldn't want the embarrassment of her mum coming in blazing.

June:

My daughter's birthday, and Liz said that she regretted giving my son so much money for his birthday as it meant that she now had to give my daughter the same amount and she didn't want to do that. Had one of the best times of the year - went to a place called Stoney Cove with my kids, and two of my great friends with some of their kids. It was a beautiful day - absolutely perfect. Spending the day with these people was one of the highlights of moving up there. At another point in the month, Liz's other daughter phoned up in tears as she had been threatened with eviction, and Liz's response was "shut the f*** up crying, and call me back when you've stopped acting like a baby." Her daughter then phoned me, and I was calmly talking to her, when Liz snatched the phone, said "I told you to f*** off until you stopped whining" and cut her off.

July:

I started trying to find somewhere else to live, although I had very little money, I had to get my kids out of there as it was destroying them. I put my name down on the council housing list, and started looking through the local papers for properties, but there was nothing available. I didn't want to move the kids too far from their schools as I didn't want them to have another upheaval they didn't need.

August:

The kids went to their mum's for 3 weeks in the summer holidays, and Liz became the person I fell for again, which just proved to me that she hated my kids. I started asking my friends to keep an eye out for places in Kent so that I could move back, and I started trying to save the money I needed which was hard when I was buying most of the shopping and paying the majority of the bills. I worked out that it would take about 5 months to get the money together that I needed, so I had a chat with the kids' mother about them coming to her for Christmas day as I wanted the kids happy.

September:

My luck changed near the end of the month. We got a letter from the Inland Revenue stating that they had underpaid us and gave us a lump sum of £4,800 which meant that I could afford rent, deposit and removals. I started looking online everywhere for a place. I looked in Ashford, Canterbury, Dover, Margate, Chatham and Rochester. In the end, my sister found me a place in an area I hadn't really looked at much, and the type of property I hadn't even considered.

October:

I looked over the property and I liked it as soon as I saw it. The views were brilliant, to property was huge, and the rent was in my price range. The only problem was that I needed guarantors. My ex-wife said that she would be a guarantor for me as it meant that the kids would be nearer to her. So that meant credit checks - at a cost of £200. The checks came back just over a week later saying we had passed, so I brought the kids down on 16th to see the place and sign the forms. That cost £1300 for the property, then on 25th, we moved in. I left Liz a note stating that I couldn't handle her lies anymore and that the kids didn't like the way she treated them. It cost £700 to move the furniture and the animals. To say it was a relief to be away from there would be an understatement. The one thing that was really upsetting was that I had stayed with a couple of really good friends when I came down to view the property, and when it came time for me to leave, their dog got really, really ill. Unfortunately she only made it another couple of days before she had to pass over the rainbow bridge as they call it. This little dog came from a place called TLDR - The Little Dog rescue, and through Molly (the dog) TLDR became known worldwide and donations flooded in to help other dogs like her. Her death may well have saved so many other dogs.

November:

My kids both went back to school. My daughter started her third secondary school, and my son went back to the school he had left when we moved away. They were so pleased to have him back. We were all so pleased to be back in the area. We got to see our friends more regularly - although not as regularly as I wanted to. As with all things moving and such, there were some problems - like money being sorted out. My money was sorted barely before my rent was due. It got to the stage when I wondered if we were going to be able to have a Christmas due to lack of funds. It all got sorted by the end of the month though.

December:

The end of the year. Christmas in our new apartment. Watching the waves in a rough sea is incredible, as is watching evaporation. We won't be staying in this property too long, as it is an old victorian property so we can't even have a satellite dish :-( Kids were happy with Christmas, and so was I, even though half of the presents I got, I brought myself. LOL.

So, that was 2010. Like I said - not all bad, just a lot of the parts I was away. We can say good bye to the year that saw the deaths of Blake Edwards, Leslie Nielsen, Tom Bosley, Tony Curtis, Dennis Hopper, Gary Coleman, Ronnie James Dio, John Forsythe, Peter Graves, Corey Haim and Paul Gray.

Lets hope there are more good points than bad points in 2011. Happy new year to you all.

2009-10-15T17:29:00.002+01:00

http://mondrak.wordpress.com is my blog location.

This page is only active to allow me to comment on other blogger blogs

New blog

2006-08-30T16:44:00.000+01:00

I have moved my blog now:
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mondrak662207/mondrak/

OH MY GOD!

2006-07-23T12:05:00.000+01:00

I can't believe this! It has been so very long since I last did a post. However, this will be my last one here as I am now on AOL, so go to http://hometown.aol.co.uk/_ht_a/mondrak662207/ and my blog will be there.

2006 is here!

2006-01-06T19:09:00.000Z

Well, Christmas has gone and 2006 is well and truly upon us. We took down our decorations and dumped our Christmas tree. the damn thing was about 7 years old so we had a good run from it. We got our son a Darth Vader voice changer, some cars and "Rhythm Sticks". These are drumsticks that can be played on anything. Or anyone I suppose.

For our daughter, we got her a Karaoke machine, a cuddly unicorn and some make-up. the kids wrote letters to santa and asked for cars and a unicorn respectively, so we sent them from Santa. The kids were stoked, and the joy in their eyes was a real picture.

From my wife, I got the game F.E.A.R. and a joypad with a rumble pack on it.

I got her Nymphetamine by Cradle Of Filth and See You On The Other Side by Korn.

Well, we have changed the room around now so that the sun won't shine in our eyes in the morning and get in the way of the telly whilst we are trying to watch This Morning.

Well, I am off. The kids are about to go to bed which means that F.E.A.R. will be coming out of the box.

Mondrak

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com

webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: Autistic Spectrum Disorders are found throughout the world in families of all racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

HOW LONG????!!!!????

2005-12-16T12:47:00.000Z

Wow! It has been nearly 3 months since I did my last post. Oops. Well, it is nearly Christmas, so I thought I would put a few bits up. Our son has been statemented now and he starts his new school in January. It is a school for children with Special Needs. He is upset that he is leaving his friends behind, but we are hoping that the friends that he makes at the new one will help ease the moving process. He will be able to still see his friends though.

Anyway, have a very merry Christmas

Mondrak

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com

webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: He who changes one person, changes the world entirely

Improvements

2005-09-26T14:35:00.000+01:00

Our son done really well this month. When he went back to school, they did the votes for school councillor for each class, and our son was elected for his class. Fantastic! Then last week at basketball, he was man of the match. Terrific! The only problem is, how will he improve on that? Not that it matters whether he improves or not, he is excellent just the way he is, as is our daughter. But what makes it so special with our son, is the fact that he has Aspergers Syndrome, and to be given that kind of responsibility is out of this world.

He has been invited to a birthday party as well, which has not happened for over a year. You can't see it, but I am beaming with pride at the moment.

Mondrak

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com

webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

asd forum: http://www.ourlittleangels.uni.cc/

Quote of the day: I want to die peacefully, in my sleep, like my grandfather. Not screaming, terrified, like his passengers.

It's Been a While

2005-09-15T19:52:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since my last post, but that is due in part to the Summer Holidays, and some stuff that we have had to work through. During the holidays, we only really went on two outings. One was to Dover Castle and the other was to Walmer Castle. On the whole, the weather was lousy. Dover Castle was great, it has so much history, and there are so many parts of it. Walmer Castle was really BOOORRRIIIIINNG! There was hardly anything there! The grounds were pretty, the Duke Of Wellington's death mask was cool, but that was it! However, there was one really funny part. There was a thunderstorm whilst we were there, and while we were in the shop the power went out. Then we heard the screams from down in the dungeon. LOL. I know it is rotten, but it was also so funny.

The other thing that happened during the holidays, was that we had applied for an assessment to Statement for our son who has Aspergers Syndrome. The Local Education Authority (LEA) turned us down at first, then after his head mistress said that she was going to fight on our side and not the LEA's, and that we got the help of the Kent Autistic Trust, they changed their minds. Since then, he has had a paediatric assessment and had an educational psychologist see him. Both have said that he needs a statement. Woohoo!

Visitors

2005-08-02T20:16:00.000+01:00

Richard and Andrew were down for the weekend again this weekend. They come down once a year for a few days. Once again, it was an enjoyable time. Richard arrived on Friday at about 5ish, and Andrew arrived at about 8ish after a nightmare on the M25 (the worlds biggest car park). Babs had a party to do, so she didn't see Andrew until about 10-10.30ish.

Saturday saw our usual journey into Folkestone for Richard and Andrew to go to Savoir Fayre to buy a few gifts, also the must visit for them is Waterstones, Game and Play-Away. The weater wasn't too good, but the rain managed to hold off while we were in town.

After we got home, it was time for the usual Saturday Barbecue, which usually involves burnt food and lots of consumed alcohol. (Not by me, my tablets stop me drinking). We had a new BBQ this year, so we managed to hold off on the burnt stuff this year. Funny enough, not too much alcohol was consumed either. We had a good night and watched Assault On Precinct 13.

Sunday, Babs done a Roast, and she managed to surpass herself again. Richard left about 6ish, and unfortunately missed Matt who turned up at about 8 which was about the time that Richard got home, sending a text saying "I ain't dead, St. Peter told me"

Andrew then left Monday morning at about 9ish, and he got home at about 7-8ish, sending me a text saying "I ain't dead either"

Oh well, it will be another year before they come down again. A lot can happen in that time ......

Mondrak

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com

webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: Oh Lord give me patience... NOW!

Wedding Vows

2005-07-25T16:34:00.000+01:00

When Babs and I got married in 1995, we said that at our 10th anniversary that we would renew our wedding vows. Well, on August 18th 2005, we will have been married for ten years! The other day, Father Stewart Wardell, the vicar for our parish, told us that he was doing a special service on 24th July for married couples to renew their wedding vows.

We were late turning up courtesy of the taxis, and we found Father Stewart waiting outside for us. He would not start the service until we got there. We went to St Martin's Church in Acrise. It is a beautiful quaint little church.

The service was lovely, and we could not thank Father Stewart enough.

Oh, and we just had to consumate the renewal didn't we. ;o

Mondrak

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com
webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: Living on Earth is expensive, but it does include a free trip around the sun.

War Of The Worlds

2005-07-21T12:50:00.000+01:00

I saw War Of The Worlds last night. It was FANTASTIC! Tom Cruise once again was cracking. It was very much along the same lines as Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of H.G.Wells' War Of The Worlds. Definitely one of the best films I have seen this year so far. It rates at number 2 for this year behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. I have yet to see, and therefore comment on, The Fantastic Four, and Batman Begins.

From the trailers I have seen of the Fantastic Four, I am unhappy with the fact that Reed Richards' hair is completely dark rather than the grey. Still, put that aside, and it may be good. I have introduced my son to the Fantastic Four, and he now watches it every Sunday Morning (UK) on GMTV. I will let you know my thoughts on these films if and when I see them.

If you get the chance, watch War Of The Worlds, but it may be a little too intense for under 12's.

Have fun.

Alley Katt

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com
webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: Blair and Bush are on a sinking ship, who gets saved? The world.

Computer fully working

2005-07-18T12:54:00.000+01:00

I got the sound card for my wife's computer on Saturday (16th July), and fitted it. BINGO! A fully working PC again. She is well happy as she now has a computer that does not crash 90% of the time, and I am happy as it means that I have my computer back again. It's my precioussssss. Yuh, err, ahem. Sorry about that. ;o)

We should be sorting out our son's statement today. the Kent LEA has said that he is coping well enough in school at the moment. However, a 9 year old who has the learning curve of a 5-6 year old seems to me to be a problem. We are getting the help of a Family Officer from the Kent Autistic Trust helping us, and she should be able to change their minds. He goes to secondary school in two years, there is no way that he will coe with it. We need to get him out of a mainstream school and into a specialist school that can help him.

Well, I'm off to make a cup of coffee. Seeya!

Alley Katt

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com
webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: Love doesn't just make the world go 'round, it makes the ride worthwhile!

System running

2005-07-14T23:41:00.000+01:00

New memory arrived today, but I had to go to the dentist first. I have a wisdom tooth coming through, and it started to come through infected. Was that hell or what?

I started to get a bit worried as well, because I have a tooth that has just loosened itself. A 38 year old with a loose tooth just isn't right. It turns out though, that this loose tooth is a baby tooth! I have to go back on the 27th July to have it extracted. It is really starting to get on my nerves now! (He stops typing for a moment to wobble his tooth).

Anyway, I got sidetracked there. I fitted Babs' computer all together and it is all up and running. Only problem is that I can't seem to get the onboard sound to work. I'll have to get her a PCI sound card instead. They don't cost too much any more anyway. Can't get used to her BIOS yet though. Keep pressing escape to come out of that screen and it asks me if I want to quit without saving?!?

Never mind. It'll all work out right in the end though.

Take care

It's happened again!

2005-07-08T13:02:00.000+01:00

My wife's computer has decided to give up the ghost. Very much the same as mine did last year. It keeps crashing for no reason, blue screening and just refusing to work. Which leads me to beleive that it is either the mother board or the processor that have died.

So I had to buy a new motherboard, a new processor, and because of the change of board, new memory! All in a ll, it has cost me just under £100 which is not too bad really.

Her computer will be much better now, and will run at 1.53 ghz compared to my 1.72 ghz. Going to need to get her a bit more memory, and a 128mb graphics card to make it decent enough to last more than a year.

Andrew and Richard are due down in a couple of weeks too, so I am looking forward to that, and we have decided that we are going to have a family holiday next year and go to Download Festival. I think we should go onto Holiday Showdown. :D

Laters

Alley Katt

e-mail: mondrak@dsl.pipex.com
webby: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com

Quote of the day: Insanity doesn't run in my family. It practically gallops.

New DVD drive

2005-04-26T19:07:00.000+01:00

Well, I went out this morning to get myself a good deal, only to find it was too good to be true and I lost out. It was a digital video camera for under £80! Apparently they sold out within 10 minutes! So I decided to buy myself a DVD writer instead. A Samsung DVD+ R/RW

16x DVD+ - R

4x DVD+ - RW

48x CD R

32x CD RW

DVD+R Double Layer 4

Cool piece of kit. Dual layer disks are a bit pricey at the moment though at £20 for 5. It will be handy for putting Dr Who onto.

On the game side, I have recently got Star Wars Republic Commando. Excellent game!

April Showers??

2005-04-06T10:34:00.000+01:00

End of March saw some beautiful weather down here in the South East of the UK. We had quite a bit of sun and the temperature got up to about 20 degrees C. Now if I look out, it is grotty, rainy and cold.

I have been trying to get a dental appointment, but thanks to our crappy government, I have been unable to sign on with any dentist! Oh joy! Wouldn't be so bad, but I live in Michael Howard's constituancy.

Pope John Paul II died on Saturday night. Even though I don't believe in some almighty God, I feel the world has suffered a great loss with this man.

Speaking of Christianity, my good friend Father Stewart became a "father" again. His wife gave birth to a boy on Sunday night called Ezra. A fantastic name for the son of a vicar I think. Ezra being one of the books in the bible. Good luck to you both.

Until next time ....

Lovely Weather

2005-03-04T14:55:00.000Z

We have had about eight inches of snow here in the last week. The problem with living in a village is that when it snows bad, we get cut off from the outside world. Kids haven't been to school for a few days. Babs (my wife) refuses to step outside the house. Mind you after the trauma's she has suffered due to the snow, I'm not surprised.

It has given me time to try out my new game though. Doom 3. I had a go of it after the kids went to bed, and I decided that it is going to stay that way! It has an 18 certificate for a reason. My son is 8, and I will not let him even watch me playing it. I'll let him watch me play Half-Life 2, sure, but that is nowhere near as nasty as Doom 3.

Anyway, I'm off for a while. Take care.

Whoops I did it again!!

2005-02-16T20:28:00.000Z

Errrrm. What can I say. (sheepishly shrugs). It has been another two months since I have done a blog. the only reason is the games I have been playing. I mean, I got Half-Life 2 for Christmas off of my wife and I have completed that, then I went back to Neverwinter Nights and I have been playing that recently. I must try to do this more often though. However, there have been three major developments since my last blog.

Firstly, I am looking at going back to work. I have joined up with an organisation called RBLI. Those in the UK may have seen the adverts on the TV with people in an office wearing no clothes. Well, it is them that I have joined up with and I have my own Job Broker who searches out jobs for me and contacts potential employers and I can get a job easier on the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act). I am hoping to be back at work by Easter.

Secondly, both my wife and I have decided to give up smoking. I gave up a long time ago, but after Iwas nearly killed in a lorry crash, I started smoking again 19 years ago. We gave up on 31st January 2005, so at the time of writing this, we have been given up for a little over two weeks. I know it is early days yet, but the NRT is helping us and we are doing well. We have noticed a lot of changes and we can smell smokers from quite a distance now.

Before I give the "and finally", it is better if I explain why it is so special. Our family is mix of religious beliefs. My religion is that of, what can only be described as, "self". I don't believe in any almighty power or anything like that. I look at the fact that everyone has a destiny and you meander along this destiny road but you get where you are going in the end through your own choices. My wife is a Pagan. I can't explain that, I won't even try aside from it is mother earth and stuff like that. Our daughter is also a Pagan. Our son is Christian. Even when he broke both of his wrists a couple of weeks ago, the local vicar came up to see him, which brings me to the "and finally"

Our son has decided that he wants to be christened. Our vicar knows our beliefs and has agreed to talk to him to explain what it all means. He has chosen who he wants as God Parents. The choice is completely his, and I am proud that he has decided to take this "leap of faith".

Well, I hope it will not be another two months till my next post. Take care y'all.

End of the Year

2004-12-30T20:45:00.000Z

The year went well this year by and by, but unfortunately, the events of Boxing Day overshadowed everything that happened this year. At the time of writing this, the number dead in South East Asia was up to 125,000. I am proud to say though that my country (UK), the public have donated £21m, with the Government donating a further £50m.

I can't mope all the time though, even if I do feel for everyone involved. My Christmas was pretty good. We got our son a Gamecube with Rogue Squadron III and Sonic Heroes, for our daughter we got the Princess and The Pauper DVD and interactive Cat along with a few other bits. For my wife, I got her Marylin Manson - Lest We Forget with a bonus DVD, Korn - Greatest Hits with a bonus DVD and Korn Deuce DVD. For myself, my wife got me the Collector's Edition of Half-Life 2.

Well, I hope you all enjoy the New Year.

Oh Dear! It's been two months

2004-12-15T14:07:00.000Z

Whoops! It's been two months since I last posted a blog. That is bad for me. I have been playing Neverwinter Nights quite a bit lately. Well, a lot really. Also Star Wars Battlefront. I have been having fun with NWN. I am playing a Monk. I have completed the main game, Shadows of Undrentide, and I am quite a way through Hordes Of Underdark. My Monk is level 25 in Monk and level 2 in Shadowdancer, and he really kicks ass. Strength is 29 and Dexterity is 33, with an Armour Class of 41! Immune to nearly everything and being followed around by a love struck Drow.

Christmas is just ten days away, and I am so looking forward to it to see my kids' faces. We have got our son a Gamecube with Sonic Heroes and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III, and for our daughter, we have got her Serafina from the Princess and The Pauper Barbie film, as well as the DVD and a large cuddly Unicorn. Having my brother with us on Christmas Day as he has been on his own for the last three Christmases.

I have just managed to get my grubby little mits on a new toy. I have an ATI Radeon 9600 128mb graphics card, so the 64mb that I did have in this machine, has gone into my wife's machine, and the 32mb from that machine is going to my sister as she has a crap 32mb Hercules naff jobby that doesn't like anything.

My website has moved recently too, it is now at: http://www.mondrak.dsl.pipex.com/ as I have left BTBroadband and BTOpenworld and gone to PIPEX as it was a lot cheaper with frills.

Anyway, I hope to post again sooner next time. Take care.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

2004-10-08T13:56:00.000+01:00

I have been a bit lax lately with my posts, as I have not been online very much. I have been too busy playing games. I have been thoroughly enjoying it too. It has been a long time since I have been able to play so many good games. I also traded in some XBOX games for some PC games too.

I went and brought Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun addon - Firestorm as well, only to find that it was Tiberian Sun, so I now have two copies of the game. :( Never mind, I can have the game installed on both computers now, with two different serial codes, which makes it easier for online play.

My wife is happy that the XBOX is back upstairs again, as she gets the downstairs telly back to herself. She said the other day that I was married to my computer, so I told her that I was, but was having an affair with her. :) That made a difference. Gives me a bit more time on the computer without her nagging. :D

Right, I'm off again. Got to get some lunch before going to pick the kids up.

Take care you all.

Another Motherboard

2004-09-28T15:04:00.000+01:00

Well, joy of joys and absolute happiness! I have yet another new motherboard, but this one works! I have installed all peripherals and it runs like a dream. I have also installed some new games on there that I have not been able to play before. New games are Command And Conquer Generals, Command And Conquer Generals: Zero Hour, Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic.

We didn't all die in Warhammer as I thought we would, it was a tough battle though. But we managed to kick the Skaven Skum back to their little rat holes. If you want to know more about the game, go here.

Well, I am going to need to start reading up on the rules of Star Wars D20 role-playing as we will be playing that soon.

Bye for now.

New Motherboard

2004-09-19T14:17:00.000+01:00

Well, my new motherboard turned up. I plugged in my processor and .... WOOHOO! Power! My new processor worked a dream. I plugged in my sound card, and it didn't see it. I plugged in my LAN card. It crashed. Hmm, thinks me. Maybe my soundcard is knackered, so I went to see a mate who said he had a sound card I could have. Got there, and it was an ISA card. (Haven't seen one of them for years) I had an idea when I got home and plugged in my spare graphics card into the PCI slot .... error beeps. Just what I was afraid of. My PCI bus is shagged. I am not having a lot of luck with this computer at all. Anyway, I phoned the company I got the motherboard from, and they said they would replace it. I just hope it works this time. If not, the scream you hear will be me. :)

On the Warhammer front, we have just about finished the battle. A huge scrap that devastated a lot of our army, but we massacred them. Just about all of the command crew of the army have spent fate points, but at least we have nearly finished the battle. Whew!

I have just recently had a play with my Windows XP disk and Service Pack 2. I have done something called "slipstreaming" (no, not the film with Mark Hammill). It is integrating Service Pack 2 into Windows XP and then creating a disk out of it, so when you install XP, it automatically installs Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2.

Hopefully, the next blog I send will be from my other computer saying that I have my new motherboard saying that everything works.

Till Next Time .....

New Processor Arrives

2004-09-05T17:44:00.000+01:00

Well, my new processor finally arrived. It is an AMD Athlon XP 2000+. So I fitted it to my motherboard, powered up and .... nothing! No POST beeps, no error beeps, nothing! I managed to hold my temper and didn't kick the crap out of my machine. I tried a different PSU (Power Supply Unit) and that didn't make any difference. Took everything out, just left the processor, speaker wire and power switch on, and nothing again. So the only thing I can think of, when I got my new motherboard, the other processor fried the motherboard.

I have just ordered yet another motherboard. Hopefully within the week I will no longer get the problem and may well be back online with a decent computer again. I am not saying that this computer I am using at the moment is not decent, but when I have been using a processor speed of 1.53 Ghz, then go to a 910 Mhz, it certainly makes a difference. More so when trying to play games like Command and Conquer Generals where I only get a black background, and I have to turn graphics options right down. As a result, I have been playing on my XBOX a lot recently, or playing with my website. I have nearly completed HALO on normal at the moment. I just have the Pillar of Autumn drive to do now. Then it is on to play it on Heroic difficulty. If you have never played HALO, and you like First Person Shooters, you don't know what you are missing! It is a fantastic game.

Anyway, I've got Warhammer Roleplaying again tonight. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!! NOOOOOOOOO!

heh.

Lan Party

2004-09-03T10:44:00.000+01:00

Well, the lan party went down a treat. There was about twenty people turned up. We played Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2004, Battlefield Vietnam and finished the night off with Command and Conquer Generals. I didn't do very well on most of the games, but I play for fun not for winning. The problem I had though, was after the Lan Party, my network would not work properly, so I had to reinstall windows. Not something I like to do on a regular basis as I have so much stuff that I need to install again.

As I am writing this, the siege at the school in Russia is just finishing with a shootout. I hate this, why do humans have to do this to each other?? Especially kids! It always tears me apart when I think of people harming children.

My kids went back to school yesterday, which I found bliss. Six weeks of holidays was almost hell. The weather wasn't too good, so we couldn't go many places and the kids got bored because they couldn't go out so were getting narky. They were happy to go back as well.

Oh well, I suppose I had better reinstall some programs.

PEWARI'S PRATTLE

2004-08-25T11:56:00.000+01:00

Pewari asked a question:

if you were to meet yourself from a decade ago, would you recognise yourself? Would you have anything in common? Would you get on, or would you find yourself irritated with your naivety? Would you tell yourself to do anything differently or do you accept everything that has happened between then and now as necessary on the path to who you are now and who you are to become

Ten years ago I was only slightly different to the person I am today. I look back at myself in 1994, and what do I see? A lonely young man who's life was ruled by computers and quest. Some-one who had very few friends, no girlfriend, no job, no life. There was nothing to look forward to. If I was to meet him now, I would slap him around the back of the head and tell him to get a life. But saying that, four months from now ten years ago, I went to one of my few friend's house and met the woman who would later become my wife!

I look back at him, and I think: would I really have done anything differently? Well, if I look a further 10 years back, then yes I would. I was 17 then, a complete pacifist, and being bullied by my manager at work. If I had the guts and personality then that I have today, I would have told him where to get off. Then I had no friends at all. I was the person who scurried in corners and refused to come out. I had also just been introduced to computers by a neighbour. Ooh, the way that would influence my whole life is uncanny. Just someone saying do you want to buy this?

So, ten years ago, in some ways, I was not that much different than I am today. Apart from the fact that I am now married and have two children, no longer play quest and am disabled,

and have a lot more friends.

Hmm, ten years from now though, who can tell? Probably have white hair due to having two teenage children! :)

The way I always look at life, is that everyone has a destiny. There is nothing that can stop this. However, you can put off this destiny but only for a while. If you look at me and my wife, we met ten years ago, but we had seen each other several times in the years previously. So your destiny is a path cut before you, but you can meander across that path, occasionally coming away from that destiny. You will, in time, come back to that destiny. If you look back on your life, how many times have you seen some-one, but never got round to chatting to them? Maybe some-one you met yesterday will influence you later in life. Or maybe just reading this (I'm not saying it will, it is just an example) may cause you to change your whole outlook on life.

Computer still knackered

2004-08-25T11:05:00.000+01:00

Well, I still await my new processor, unfortunately funds are striving to put me down at the moment, but it will not work. I hope to get my new processor with in the month. A couple of friends have helped me out at the moment though. One is lending me a computer for a LAN party that I organised for this Saturday, and the other one has lent me an external Hard Drive casing that allows me to access the data from my old hard drive.

Quite odd though, looking at the stuff from one computer with the other one, without having to go through a network connection.

Well, I just got news from yet another friend who has said that he will buy my processor for me. Woohoo! Still won't be here in time for the LAN party though. Never mind. I'll have to take my own keyboard and mouse though, as they are what I am used to.

I am going for an AMD Athlon XP2000+ which runs at approx 1.7 ghz. If this does not sort the problem with the PC, I will scream and scream! I have brought a new motherboard, new memory, new PSU and soon a new processor!

Warhammer Role-playing

2004-08-23T00:23:00.000+01:00

Friday, Babs (my good wife), decided we needed a change around in the front room. She decided to go shopping, so I changed the room whilst she was out. I got rid of one of our sofas, moved the chairs around, and brought the kids desk downstairs so they could do their homework in the front room.

My back suffered for it though. Babs got back and had a go because I didn't for her. Oh well, it got the job done.

Saturday my parents came up to see the grand children.

Today (Sunday) we played Warhammer in the evening. We are in the middle of a huge battle at the moment, with Skaven coming at us. We decided to lay a trap for them, but it has backfired a bit! A lot actually. Thankfully, it is just me and my part of the army that has been rumbled so far. We are hoping that it stays that way until we take the enemy out.

Well, that's about it for now.

Wingham Wildlife Park

2004-08-19T20:36:00.000+01:00

Yesterday (18th) was my 9th wedding anniversary. We spent the day with the kids at Wingham Wildlife Park just outside of Canterbury in Kent. It rained a bit, and there was a bit of a thunderstorm when we got back, but the kids enjoyed it, and so did we. Well, most of it anyway. I got abit ratty when I saw a jerk antogonizing one of the peacocks there. I can't bear to see people being cruel to birds and animals. There was a vivariam there, and a guy came out with a python, which my kids stroked, then he came out with a lizard of some sort, once again my kids stroked that too. Then he came out with a tarantula. Now, I am arachnaphobic, but because my kids were there, I had to put on a brave front. I was fine until he turned around towards me and the spider's legs were twitching and it was moving. I think I lasted a maximum of about 4 and a half minutes before I couldn't bear it any more. My wife managed a little more, and kids stayed there with their aunt for a bit. I went outside the vivarium and had to have a cigarette as my hands were shaking like a leaf!

Other than that, it was a fairly good day. I won't go back though, as I don't think I could handle the way some people treat animals and birds. We finished the day by ordering a chinese and enjoying that.

Today we didn't do much, but a friend of ours (Matt and Chelle) came to visit to give us an anniversary card, and seeing that it was Chelle's birthday on 17th, we gave her a birthday card and congratulations for passing her driving test.

Oh well, I'm off to watch Bad Lads Army on ITV 1 now.

Tuesday

2004-08-17T10:51:00.000+01:00

Well, Andrew got home safe last night. Got a phone call this morning from another friend of ours, Michelle, saying that she had just passed her driving test, which was a good birthday present for her.

Went to the Fathers Club last night. Usual smattering of fathers talking about their children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

I revamped my front page of my website today. It had been the same for far too long, and it looked tacky, so I did a frames set for it. Much better, and you can't actually see where the frames are.

Well, depending on the weather, me, my wife and our kids may be going to Wingham Wildlife Park tomorrow. The weather forecast said it would rain, but we shall see in the morning.

My wedding anniversary too tomorrow. Me and my wifey will have been married for nine years tomorrow. Not bad seeing that some people said it wouldn't last (mind you sometimes it nearly didn't last). It has not all been plain sailing though.

Oh well, better go and help with the chores. Bye

First Blog

2004-08-16T19:13:00.000+01:00

Well, this is my first blog. I was introduced to this from Andrew. Andrew and Richard were down for this weekend as they normally do once a year. Andrew arrived at around 4:30 on Friday, and Richard arrived a couple of hours later. The weekend was the usual of shopping in Folkestone, watching films or something, talking about music, computer games and the like.

Sunday was when Richard went back, although we thought he was going to have a problem as his car wouldn't start at first. After a jump from Andrew though, he left at about 8:30 and arrived home about 9:45. Andrew left this morning (Monday), at about 10ish.

Well, that's it for my first blog. I have a meeting this evening for the Father's Club, which is a club for Fathers and Grandfathers only who have children or grandchildren with Autistic Spectrum Disorders.

Alley Katt