Clive's very own corner

New Year, New Diet, New Gym

Sun, 17 Feb 2013 17:43:00 +0000

In the last few months of last year I started thinking about going on a diet and joining a gym again and losing some of the extra pounds. I had already been playing with the idea of stopping drinking again for a a few months of the start of the new year. I started speaking to a couple of guys in the office about it to get some ideas in best way of approaching the diet and exercise, although we are an IT company it is not a stereotypical office when it comes down to he shape of the guys in the office.

The first think and the Hardest in my case was changing the diet, I love junk/surgery foods and am lazy when it comes to cooking dinner when I get home from work. Doing some research on the Internet and talking to the guys in the office the basic plan was to eat every 2 hours little snacks such as a hand full of nuts or some fruit with the 3 main meals a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. On a normal day I am eating either a Banana or porridge with some raisins or some honey. Around 10:30/11 I have a had full of mixed nuts. Lunch time I will have some tuna/chicken breast and some microwavable mixed vegetables, around 3:30/4 I have some fruit or again some mixed nuts and then for dinner 5:30/6 I will either do a chicken and vegetable stir fry or a Tuna and sweetcorn pasta. In regards to what I drink throughout the day I try to have a fair few glasses of water, I drink a lot of tea and that is not going to change. I may also have some fresh fruit juice at lunch time but not had to much. When I get t my goal weight I will start having some protein shakes aswell. I allow one cheat day a week which is currently a Saturday when I treat myself to one chocolate bar and 1 take-away. I think I will start to change up the cheat day to keep the body guessing.

I spoke to my boss a lot in regards to gym and workout session’s and after a few chats decided to join up to the same gym as him. Although the gym he goes to is not open on a Friday night or Saturday the idea for me to go with him is that he pretty much goes every day and will keep me motivated to go and when down there he is very good a pushing me. As I am playing football currently due to weather on average twice a week this should be three times, this cuts my gym nights to Tuesday and Thursday with the possibility of Sunday evening if I do not play Sunday morning. So the current workouts are on a Tuesday night we do some Cardio, started out with a 5K run which takes me about 30 minutes and we are going to up that to 7.5k in the next couple of weeks, we will then do a little bit of core training. On a Thursday night we do some weight session generally working on chest, Bi’s and Tri’s followed up with some core training. With the weights we try and do a couple of workouts on each muscle group. When I get to my target weight I we will properly cut the run to a couple of times a month and fit some more weight sessions in.

So far following this from new years day I have gone from 14 stone down to just under 13 stone. My main goal is to lose the belly. A lot of people ask if I feel better from this, to be honest I think not drinking is the main thing that has made me feel better, I would say that my performance on the football pitch has gone up as well.

Where things started to go wrong!

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 21:11:16 +0100

Well it looks more and more like Robin has gone to Hell and joint the Red Devils… Well this is what he has done in the eyes of every Arsenal fan. A lot of people will say that you should not be angry with Robin as he is getting on in his career and wants to win things, that we should be angry with the club for not being able to keep players such as Na$ri, Fabregas, RVP. For me I look at each player and the situation for them leaving. Fabregas well all Arsenal fans knew he wanted to play for his boyhood team we all hoped he would give us a couple more season but for us his feelings to play for Barca was too much. Na$ri stated wanting to win things I want to dismiss as we all know it was because Man City come in and offered him a deal of 180k a week +. A player at 24 years old who would have been one of the main players in the premier league last season and possible would have helped Arsenal go on to win a trophy went to play a bit part for a team that yes did go onto win the title but how big of a part did he really play very very little. Now we come to RVP, what Arsenal fans are most devastated about this is the lack loyalty that he has shown to both the club and the fans. He has been at the club for 8 years and last season was the first time we got a entire season out of him. What other manger, club or fans would have stuck by him for 7 season seeing very little turn over from him…. would Manchester United? If he had decided to stay at Arsenal and seen out his career with us he would have gone down as an Arsenal legend but now he will just go down as a player who score 30 goals in the one real season he played for us. Don’t get me wrong every goal was important in the league for us and I will not shy away from saying that he got the club to 3rd place. What do I want to see for him in the future… well I have my mind has not really cleared up on that just yet. do I want him to get injured all season and play 1 or 2 games for united.. Well I wont lie that would not make me sad but I would much prefer him to play 30 + games but struggling to adapt to playing with Rooney and struggling to score goals and having a miserable time of it. One of the things that really annoys me about all 3 of these players is how little faith they shown the Arsene Wenger who will no doubt take a lot of blame from both fans and media. With out Wenger these three players would be nothing! RVP was very close to signing for Rangers when we signed him from Feyenoord. Fabregas developed into the player he is due to being thrown into the Arsenal first team at 16 years old something that would not of happened to him at Barca with the players they had there at the time and players coming through at the time. Na$ri and his buck teeth would properly still be playing in France. The thing that gets me is Arsene Clearly did not want to sell any of the three players he had stated this to the press several times. Which means the board have not gave him the backing that he wanted. If the board had the shown an little bit of faith to Wenger and force the players to stay at the risk of losing Na$ri on a free we may have been able to mount a bigger challange for the premier league. If this had happened we would not have been in the position we are with RVP as he surely he then would have been happy to stay.

No one player is bigger than the club as a statement us Arsenal fans have been saying for the past 5 years. What happened 5 years ago to Arsenal football club, A man called David Dein departed. This has clearly played a massive part in the clubs ability to keep it’s biggest players and the ability to go out an get the players Wenger wanted. He was in charge of the player contracts and the wheeling and dealing. Since he left in 2007 here is a list of the players that have left the club. Now not all of them are world beaters but take a close look at that list and you could make a title contending team.

Freddie Ljunberg
Theirry Henry
Lauren
Gilberto Silva
Kolo Toure
Jens Lehmann
Cesc Fabregas
Gael Clichy
Philippe Senderos
Jose Antonio Reyes
Mathieu Flamini
Alexandre Helb
Emmanuel Adebayor
William Gallas

The reason David Dein left Arsenal was because wanted board memebers to sell the club to a Russian billionaire called Alisher Usmanov who is currently the second highest share holder at the club. At the time every Arsenal fan I knew didn’t want to sell out like Chelsea had and we wanted the club to stay running in the way it is but now I think majority of Arsenal fans would all welcome Alisher with opened arms as both Chelsea and Man City are proving it is the only way to compete. As the old saying goes if you can’t beat them join them.

There will properly be another blog in regards to RVP when I seeing him holding up the red shirt of Manchester Untied and being quoted saying something along the lines of “I have always dreamed about playing for United”.

TV Shows....

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 00:41:33 +0100

Not Really Blogged anything in a while..

I have had some ideas kicking about in my head in regards to a new blog, nice guys, olympics, hangovers, RVP the list does go on a little but push comes to shove I start writing it and it comes out to be a one paragraph of just ranting and not really thought about rants just stupid fucking things…. Although saying that Robin had best sign a new contract at Arsenal or there will be a nice long blog about him! So whilst I try a build notes on the above list and give them a little bit more content I thought I would do a little piece on the TV shows I am currently watching or the ones I am looking forward to coming back.

I guess we should start with Boardwalk Empire Season 3.

I think this starts again in September (not long).. What I now really want to see from the new season is the uprising of the likes of Lucy Luciano, Meyer Lanksy and Al Capone and moving the booze botlegging business into hard drugs. I love the brutality of the show and that it mixes fiction with fact. It touches on some of the most infamous gangsters in history with some create writing to make you believe the show to be very much factual. Before Season one of the show came out I had just finished reading a Biography of Lucky Luciano and started reading a history of the Italian mafia and when Luckly popped into Broadwalk I knew it was a show for me.

Dexter Season 7…

From what I have read this is going to be penultimate season of Dexter with season 8 being the last. Now I am not going to give away any of what has happened in the show in the last couple of season but I am very much looking forward to seeing what happens with Debra and Dexter now. This show for me has had the best end of season cliff hanger I have ever seen with Rita. That is something I can honestly say I did not see happening and it left me with my mouth wide open. If you have not watched any Dexter I would seriously tell anyone I knew that it is a show to 100% watch and fall in love with!

Arrested Development

That is right it is coming back and I believe full cast is going to be there. For anyone who does not know what this show is all I should need to do is list the cast for you to want to run and watch it. Jason Bateman, Portia De Rossi, Will Arnett, Michael Cera (where he developed is awarked teenager) , Tony Hale and David Cross (as one of the best characters ever). The show is just a 30 minute sitcom based on a very dysfunctional family. Yea it may sound just like any other American sitcom but I would say anyone that is thinking why watch it all I will say is you have to know what a never nude is! I can not wait for this to come back.

Californication

Now this show where to start, two of my friends Lee and Luke had both told me to start watching it an I wished I was onboard with this show from the start. I watched the first 3 season on theUKnetflix within days. I was hooked David Duchovny in this show is just amazing. The more and more I watched the show the more and more his agent Charlie Runkle played by an actor called Evan Handler is one of the best supporting roles ever… and makes the show funny. The one real bad thing about this show imo is the monotoned annoying character that is Hank Moody’s daughter… fucking drives me nuts. I have just today finished the 5th season and want to start on the 6th very soon. This show has actaully put the breaks on me rewatching my Seinfeld DVD collection with just a season and half left to watch aswell which is a very impressive feat.

O shit how did I forget Eastbound… is going to be back for season 4.. So Kenny fucking Powers will be back motherfuckers

Now I could go on all night about other shows I watch as there is a great many… but at the moment these are top of the pile. Suggestions on shows like the above are welcome.

A Kenny "Fucking" Powers beard-moustache + mullet combo.

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:21:12 +0100

not sure i have that kinda mullet in tge bag

Beard/Mustache

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 22:26:52 +0100

This is not really a blog about Beard or Mustache’s (Sorry Ben). More of a what people think on what I should do next with my face fuzz???

My display picture on here I did like and would consider doing it again. Basically looking for suggestions other than Hitler or a shitty douche gay chin strap! The reason this has come up is because I watched Goon tonight and loved Liev Schreiber. Which looks like this. (Dude grows a good beard).

Now I am open to suggestions, not sure if you can post on the blog if not hit me on twitter or facebook.

Drunken Messages

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 22:19:11 +0100

I am awful at sending drunk messages at the moment either by text or on facebook. Most of them are to girls and other than the amusement I get the next day reading through them they don’t really get me anywhere. Once this has happened I usually send a text the next day apologies and blaming Drunk Clive. The last two messages I have sent have been fairly recent and one was by text and one was on facebook.

Without going into to much details in regards to the messages as they are both personal and to be honest I am not the type of person to share that kind of shit well there are properly 3 people which know the details…and it would not be fair to the people I send these messages to. The first one was a couple of weeks ago and I sent it via facebook, I am not sure if I did this at the pub, on the way home from the pub or at home and to be honest I do not remember writing the message. After a night out I go through a post drinking check which is a little bit like this… Phone (check), Wallet (check), keys (check) fill my face for cuts or bruises (That was one new years eve with the Donnelly family and I guess that I walked into the wall). Then I check the phone to see if I have sent any text I then check facebook. So I did my checks and all looked good no text’s and no messages on facebook well so I thought. A couple of days later I got a message back pretty much saying I love reading your drunk messages. So I checked again but nope I did not miss anything there was no facebook message. So again I can only guess that drunken Clive must have deleted the messages after sending them. I still have no clue what I said and the person that I sent it has not yet told me what I put… So needless to say I look forward to the embarrassment moment when I find out what I said.

The next message was yesterday now and I sent it by text just a little before 1 I am pretty sure I fell asleep straight after I sent the text. This message I very much remember sending simply because what I wanted to say had been playing on my mind for a couple of weeks and I wanted to have a conversation with the person but it was just not happening for one reason or other. So drunk Clive thought fuck it, if I do not send the message sober Clive will just wait and wait and let things drag on. In the morning I checked the phone and I had a reply. So we messaged each other a couple of times before I dragged myself out of bed to get ready for work. I have still not worked out if I am happy or not about this drunken text. I said what I needed to say and what I wanted to say but I still really wish I could have done said what I said in person. Time will tell when it comes to the outcome of drunk text.

Today I was talking to my friend Laura, and she actually complained that I have not drunk text her for a while. One of my favourite drunk text victims is the Ozzie from work and it will be ripping into him for not being out or telling him that a certain attractive young lady that we always see out is out…. now nicked name Miss Billericay!

Side note whilst writing this I was eating ice cream and pineapple…. both are fucking awesome!

SAGE!!!!!!!

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 12:59:14 +0100

I fucking hate Sage! Don’t get me wrong their support team is very good…. but I deal with some clients that do not want to pay for support. Which leaves me having to dick around trying to solve the issues. The worse ones are when it is functionality issues, I have never used sage and never had any training in regards to using it so when asked why it does not do something or how to do something I really have no idea.

The problem I came across today and it won’t be the last one I come across is an old version of Sage 12 not loading on any of the machines on the network. The user would double click the icon and bring up the splash screen. It did not get any further. Normally you would next see a log in screen. I did a couple of basic in regards to checking to make sure the network drive was listed or the company file was pointing to the correct place on the server. Everything was in check so I thought I would have a little google to see if there was any suggestion ….. Not really any to be honest. So I got everyone to close the sage (splash screen) and stop work on the network then I check what files were open on the server and killed off any sage open files. This resolved the issues.

Whenever I have to deal with a Sage issue it has a put’s me into a bad mood!

Euro 2012

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 23:21:28 +0100

After England crashed out of the Euro’s pretty much every paper an radio show debates what is wromg with the England team an why we are not tuening up an performimg at the top level. Now lets put aside the fact that Kyle Walker, Jack Wilshere, fatty Frank Lampard and Darren Bent all missed the competition due to injuey (All of which I think would have made the squad). Also put aside the complete joke of the appointing of a new manager. Don’t get me wrong I think Roy did a very good job, my problem id the lack of time he had to prepare for the competition. I won’t lie Harry was my first pick but that’s another story.

Now all these debates normally come back to a point that the big english clubs do not produce quality players due to always buying the youth players from around the world an playing them over English players. This again I think is bullshit. If you look at the England Team over the last ten years you can easily argue we have had some of the best players in the world. Joe Hart is up their with the very best goal keepers in the world. John Terry an Rio have both been consideres two of the best centre backs in the world, Garry Nevile at right back an Ashely Cole at left back again both world class players. Centre Midfield players in Gerrard and Lampard both been nomintated for world players of the year multiple times. Wayne Rooney…. again regarded as one of the best strikers in the world. Then there is Beckham and Scholes. Tell me those players were not world class in their prime!

Going forward I think we have to looks at likes of Joe Hart, Phil Jones, Chris Smaling, Theo Wacott, The Ox, Wilshere, Young, Welbeck. What sounds out to me in is the pace we could have going forward. We will not be able to compete with team techincally as good as Spain, Germany and Brazil but the one thing we hsve over them is pace.We have players that can defend an the keeper we just nesd to look at breaking quick on the counter. Something we did not do at all during the Euro’s.

Sunday Sport

Sun, 10 Jun 2012 16:07:00 +0100

Sunday full of sport!

Today was is pretty much a perfect sunday in the summer, I am not one for the sun and hot weather so cloudy blue sky’s works for me. Now what makes today so good… Is sports action on TV. It starts with men’s french open tennis final with Nadal (the king of clay) facing world number one Djokovic. I am a big fan of Nadal and he has been very impressive once again at this years French open. Djokovic is world number one and if you want to know why watch his great come back in the quarter finals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and then is demolition of Roger Federer. I have only really become a fan of tennis in the last 5 years. So have seen the end of Federer’s dominance with the coming of Nadal and Djokovic, I would love to be able to chuckMurray’s name into the hat but he is a bit of a bottler truth be told. The match today is world no.1 v world no . 2 not much better.

After enjoying the tennis I will be looking forward to the formula 1. Fingers crossed we will see a 7th winner in the 7th race by the name of Lewis Hamilton. I think he has been so unluckly not to have a number 1 finish so far this season and believe he must feel like the team has let him down big time. I think Mclaren have a fairly good record at the Canadian Grand Prix in the last few years. The problem thatHamiltonhas goes by the name of Sebastian Vetel who has pole and when that young German starts on pole he usually ends the race in 1st. It has been a mad start to the season and I hope it continues. I think formula 1 loses something if there is an out and out winner every week.

Then there is the 5th and 6th match of the euros to watch. Spain V Italy is going to be a Chelsea V Barca match, we will see a lot of pushing and attacking from the Spanish and the Italians will look at staying very organised and hope for a goal from a set piece. I thinkSpainwill have to much in the locker and win maybe 2 -0, 3- 0. Also we see RepIrelandagainstCroatia. This match I really do not know what to think of I like a lot of the Rep Ireland’s players but previous competition have shown me that theCroatiacan bring it. I think Modric is in the shop windows and will want to impress as well. So far the Euros have been very entertaining with only one match having that 1st match feel about it and that was last night that saw Germany Beat Portugal 1- 0. All other matches have been very entertaining. Which will no doubt be ended whenEnglandstep on the pitch and bore every one. I am not very optimistic aboutEnglandand although I think we will get out of the group stages I think we will be runners up for the group. The great result of yesterday wasDenmarkbeatingHollandand if they can then get a point or more fromPortugalwe may see two of the “bigger” teams go out in the group stage.

In between all of thisEnglandare playing the West Indies in the final game of the 3 game test series of whichEnglandhave already won. I would be a little more exitied about this if the first two days had not been completely rained off and can only really seeing a draw come from this. I have enjoyed watching Onions and Finn come into the team and take some wickets. The English bowling attack at the moment is simply amazing. When you can take Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad out replace them with guys as good as Onions and Finn you know you have some team. England have the 20/20 world cup at the end of the summer and it is a shame the KP has decided to retire from that form of cricket at international level with such a big competition in which we will be looking at retaining our title.

An come 7 oclock I will have a nice sunday roast to top it all off. Anyone who does not like sundays because they are boring can do one! with that kind of line up how could it be any better….. (Could be at download festival I suppose). Chuck in a little football manager with my mate Luke and it makes for a very good day indeed. The worst thing is knowing I am back to work tomorrow.

Fear!!!!

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:06:40 +0100

Fear

I have been struggling to think of something to blog about last few days without coming across and always seeming to moan. I decided a nice little piece about fear would do the trick. This came into my head when I was speaking to my good friend Lee about giving blood. Giving blood is something I have wanted to do for a while and my laziness aside I think one of the things that has stopped me is my hatred of needles. For me the sight of a needle turns me a little pale, makes me go a little light headed and my knees go a little wobbly. Fear of Needles is called Trypanophobia (thanks google). I think this kicked in for me when I was about 13 maybe 14 and I had a nasty run in with a dog which ended up with me getting 38 stitches in my face and in my neck. Now before the doctor could start the stitching he needed to numb my face and to do this 6 big needles into my face in different places. Now a smart sensible 13 year old would have just closed his eyes but ooo no not me, I decided to lay there and watch big mistake! Before this I can remember having to get flu jabs due to being a young asmatic something I appear to have grown out of happily :) but I never seemed to have a problem back then getting a little prick from a needle. When people find out I have been bitten by a dog they always ask if I am alright around dogs now and I am perfectly fine which again I think is a little odd. Why would I not fear the thing that nearly ripped my face off but instead fear the thing that helped take the pain away. Something I will never know the answer to. (An before any of my friends say something I will beat them to the punch … I was an ugly fucker before I got bite) I only really became aware that I really didn’t like needles when I was at the hospital with my friend Laura as she was getting a blood test. She wanted to hold my hand whilst her blood was being taken but afterwards I think this is what she said if memory serves me right “Jeeeez man, crush my hand why don’t you”. I think I had squeezed her hand more than she had mine.. again I do not know why but I decided to watch the needle go in. This time I was like 20 so still had not learnt my lesson. Now it is very very unlikely that a needle is ever going to kill me so why do that get such a reaction from me? Logically I know it is going to be a little stinking prick that will last all of a second. I do not think I will ever understand it? I am however detrimind to give blood this year so I will update on the blog when this happens, my good friend Lee has already invited me next time he gives blood anyone else wants to send me information about giving blood in Essex that would be wonderful!

My other fear is jellyfish, those fucking things are freaky as shit. I think this is one is more to do with me not understanding them. Basically what the fuck, how the fuck and why the fuck! The things are so deadly with the little (is say little very loosely here) tentacles and they way the swim in a kind of pulsating motion. Jellyfish do not have a Brian or a Heart I mean what is with that how do they work? Box Jellyfish are the most deadly creature in the sea FACT! They can Reproduce both sexually and a sexually, have now been found in both salt water and fresh water. I only found this out the other day when watching a TV show called Attack of the giant Jellyfish. So all those years I thought I was safe in fresh water how wrong I was. I am not sure I will ever be able to go swimming in the sea not that I planned to go in any aroundEssexanyway but in general. I think I would need a full wet suit but then again I am not sure this would protect me enough from the fucking things. The TV show I watched also said something like the largest Jellyfishes tentacles that we know of was 2.5 metres or 8ft, this again scares the shit out of me. I think they have been around for millions of years as well they out date the dinosaurs. I have been a person that says I do not believe in Aliens I am starting to think I am wrong and that they are already here in the form of Jellyfish as crazy as it might sound but think about it! been year millions of years no brain or heart and can reproduce with itself. Alright I have no idea how they would have got here or shit but they are fucked up! I mean look at the picture can’t tell me that does not send shivers down your spine!

The Weekend Away

Sun, 20 May 2012 20:02:35 +0100

This weekend me and 3 friends (Alan, Alex and Will), went up to Scotlandfor our friend Scott’s Wedding. Going from Luton airport to Glasgowand then a Taxi into Ayrshire. To be honest the travelling was simple and flying there was 100% the best way. A flight that takes between 50 minutes to an hour, over a 6-8 hour drive. Being as I am half Scottish their was a fair bit of banter in regards to me going back home. In fact this was the firs ever time I had been toScotland.

When we got out of the airport we found ourselves a taxi, we was unsure what was going to be the best way to get to the hotel. A taxi from the air port to the train station and then another when we got toAyrto the hotel or take the first cab all the way to the hotel. After being in the cab for a few minutes the driver said he would take us all the way for £60. Working out at £15 each we thought this would be a little to good to refuse. The highlight of the trip was classic line from Alan Anderson when the taxi driver asked where the wedding venue was Alan came out with “Er I am not sure right I think”.

We got to the hotel pretty early and after having to be up at 4AM we all decided to go and have a couple of hours sleep and then have a couple of drinks at the hotel bar and find somewhere to eat. Plans changed a little at 12 we went an got a subway which was just across the road. The outrages thing about this was they do not have sweet corn as a salad option! Around 2ish we decided it was time to have a drink. Me and Alan went for a Belhaven Best Scottish Beer, Alex a Tenants and Will was on Cider. This was pretty much the afternoon sitting around the bar breaking the pub quick game they had watching TV and having a steady drink. Around 8ish we decided to venture out and text the best man to find a couple of places we could go. We settle for a place called Smiths or Smithies and found they did food as well which was a result. I order a beef roast which to be honest for £8.99 I could not have been happier with it. The meat was so nice. we continued drinking until about 11ish and called it a night. we wanted to be in a decent state for the wedding an all.

We met the guys we was jumping into a mini bus with to the wedding about 10 minutes before we was set to leave…. a quick whiskey to start us off for the day. The guys we got in the taxi with were fromNorthern Irelandand as you would expect they were so friendly and took to us straight away. The wedding was brilliant both Bride and Groom looking amazing, the speeches before the meal were fantastic with Scott’s dad being the pick out of the bunch. I do not know how many drinks we had before the meal and not sure how many after but it was Whiskey and Ice all day for me. We was able to watch the championship playoff and the champions league final whilst the party continued in the main hall. Obv we watched the first dance we are not that rude! We left the venue around 1 ish and got back to the hotel about 2 ish and on the way we were belting out the tunes including what I will say must have been the best cover of bohemian rhapsody ever sang. When we got back to the hotel instead of going to bed we got 4 bottles for red wine and 2 bottles of white and stayed up drinking with they Northern Irish guys. Now I am not a wine drinker at all but it was going down a treat. After getting through the wine and the night turning to day we had a spot of breakfast and then went to bed around 5.30 to be up at 9!

All in all it was a blinding weekend everyone was so nice and welcoming. We made some new friends and had a good old drink up over 2 days. The wallet is a little lighter but it was all well well worth it.

The bride and groom are very unlikely to read this but thanks for having us.

Football season is over

Sun, 13 May 2012 20:51:00 +0100

As an Arsenal fan our season is all over. Finishing 3rd was not something I could see happening at Christmas time. The start of the season was shocking an after 7 games we was 17th in the league and had lost 4 games. The Media and the fans were questioning Wenger. There was a lot of Arsenal fans that turned on Wenger and wanted to see him go. I can happily say I was not one of them. An keeping the faith in him was completely right. We have finished above spurs, in third which is better than last season when we finished fourth. Aside from losing three of our key players in Fabregas, Clichey and Nasri, Arsenal have had a season plagued with Injuries, if you look at the list of players that have been injured through out the season it is no suprise we have struggled some what this season.

Wilshere, Sanga, Vermaelen, Mertesacker, Walcott, Arteta, Gibbs, Santos, Jenkinson, Ramsay. I will not disagree when people say that not all of those players are massive misses but they certainly all add up and injuries overlayed each other it does not Help. I think the Arsenal have had something like 20 different back four combinations this season which would effect any teams preformances over the season.

I think the best way to describe the league this season is that it has been a season of bottle jobs. Man City, Spurs, Man United have all had big points leads and let them slip. Yes Man City ended up winning the league in the end but there was a point in the season they looked like they was going to run away with it and failed to do so. Then United somehow managed to get an 8 point lead over City and then even more amazingly they threw that away. Then there is Spurs they were 10 points clear of Arsenal and winning 2 - 0 away from home against us before there bottle went!

The drama of Todays match between Man City and QPR is the reason why we love football. 2 - 1 down with 5 minutes of added time to play it looked for sure that Man United was going to lift yet another Premier League title. City dug deep and kept at it got the goal to bring it to 2 - 2 with 3 minutes left on the clock. All the players then knew they need 1 goal and they have won the league. An it came in pretty much the last minute and fair play to City they have played well all season and done well to win the title. To me there are at least two players in that team which are not Premier League winner quality, Gareth Barry and Joleon Lescott I think they are both very much over rated and are very luckly to be in such a good team people do not notice how shit they are. If they are both in the England squad this summer it will show again. Like it did against Germany in the world cup when it comes to Barry.

For Chelsea and Spurs fans there is still one massive match that will determine which one of them will be in the Champions League next season. If Chelsea win the final it will mean spurs will have to settle for Europa League again next season and it does mean that Arsenal will have to do a qualifying round before we are “in” the champions league. Putting all of that aside everyone that knows me knows who I want to win the Champions League.

I will be doing a blog in regards to the Euro’s at some point but for now I this will do. It has been a very up and down season for all teams. I believe there is only a handful of clubs and their fans that can come away from this season and say they didnt doubt the manager or players.

Bring on the summer and a couple of new fresh faced players to Arsenal which we have already started with the capture of Lukas Podolski but this needs to continue and we need to keep out the main man and the player of the seaon… RVP!

Bank Holidays

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:06:37 +0100

It’s a Sunday and I don’t have work tomorrow! Bank Holidays are awesome. I tend to waste my bank holidays more often than not, looking at this weekend I had a couple of pints Friday after work and that was it, Saturday I spent the day watching football and catching up on some TV shows I had ermmm lets say “recorded”. Then in the evening I went out for another couple of pints with my old football team the majority of the guys I have been my friends for years. For once they decided to come down the highstreet in Billericay instead of staight to Basildon. Although they ended up there.Then Sunday morning, up at 8.30 to the tail end to some shitty movie on TV. Currently Man vs Food (which is fast becoming a favorite that I don’t have “recorded”). What has the rest of the day got in store for me? I am supposed to be going swimming with the big man and then likely to watch some footballl and maybe evening get a good session of football manager with a couple of friends. Monday I currently have no plans and don’t mind that at all. I may take a leaf out of our apprentice at works book and plan video games all day. (another blog will likely be written about this boy)

The question for me on these free mondays off Do you feel the need to go out on a Sunday as you have the monday off. I don’t and for once I don’t think my friends are going to want to… After yesterdays drinking for them anyway. I think most of my friends would now say that I am not a very good drinker any more and it is hard to motivate me to go out clubbing. So then comes a nice 4 day short week which is well needed if truth be told. This short week is the start of 3 short weeks on the trott for me and I have a feeling after that I am going to be very angry at 5 day weeks again. With another bank holiday coming up in June I do think to myself maybe I should make better use of them. The only bank holiday I ever have plans for is end of August and this of course is the reading festival bank holiday. Last year is the first time me and my friend Alex have not been to the festival in 4 years but I think a festival blog will be saved for another time. When I was younger I think there was always plans for a bank holiday and even if it was just going to southend for the day (Peter Pan’s) it was a big deal. I am not sure why but bank holidays did feel a bit more special back then. Maybe it is because I didnt just waste them getting drunk and trying to recover or I didnt look forward to them for the simple and very dull reason of it being a free day off of work. For the next bank Holiday I would like to think I will arrange some plans but the likely hood is unless someone else arranges it and tells me that is what we are doing. It will be another three days of Recovery.

Music

Wed, 02 May 2012 20:47:29 +0100

I am not a person that says I love or even like all kinds of music this is certainly not a fact. I can however put up with what I deem shit in the right company and with the right amount of drink in me. Music to me is massive I love it but I get left with a little sick taste in my mouth everytime I hear something from Xfactor and now guessing the Voice or what ever it is called is going to have the same affect.

I don’t think I could name 2 winners of the Xfactor. You may argue this is because I have not watched Xfactor. I would however argue that it is because all that show produces is singing monkeys with on ability to write there own music and have sold themselves for 15 minutes of fame. Another thing that makes me laugh about the whole thing is that you don’t even have to win to get a record deal. I am sure that pretty much anyone how makes gets anywhere in the competiton has a single out??? what is the point!

To be a great musician you need to be writing your own songs. That is were the real talent comes into it. I would like to know if any of the singers that have come from the Xfactor has written any of there songs and not just covered someone else’s or had a writing team sitting in a room somewhere getting no credit at all!

Console V PC Gaming......

Tue, 01 May 2012 00:12:16 +0100

This is a blog for the geeks… I am going to throw down my thoughts on Console Gaming Vs PC Gaming. I am not really going to talk about all game genres but I am going to try and talk about the big ones in terms of the different platforms. i think this will be a good point to start.

The biggest platforms now on PC I would say are FPS, MMORPG’s then properly RTS but think this is not what it was 10 years ago. On console imo (sorry lee) it would be FPS, Sports and racing simulators (Comment if you think otherwise). So lets talk FPS.

Two me this is were most debates start when talking which is the better platform to play on. I am very strongly under the opinion that PC FPS dicks console FPS. My reasons behind this is bigger server on 90% of games meaning you need more awareness more reactions more everything! I think the level of gamer on FPS is better than on console. This comes down to keyboard and mouse… you have faster reactions and more precision with a keyboard and mouse. Also you are able to customise your settings in regards to Graphics, Senitivity, button configuration. Now people may think that well by changing your settings you are gaining a advantage… if you think this you are a idiot as every PC gamer has this ability if he or she does not chose to use it then….idiot! Console FPS fans… comment here and let me know what you think… I have FPS gamed on console going back to Halo on Xbox or Socom on PS2… The most annoying thing for me in regards to Console FPS is the lack of loyalty shown to games. Every 6 months there is another FPS which every one goes to be it the next line in the call of duty’s or gears of war or Killzone, Halo the list really does go on. PC gamers… will stick try out other games but will more or less stick at a game for a couple of years be it COD, Battlefield, counter strike and even CSS. Once again you disagree with this please comment! I will say the loyalty shown by PC gamers is the shitty reason why WOW is still fucking going strong. Although the more Hardcore WOW players are slowly flitering away from it because it is becoming to easy to get end game rewards, this is going be what I am told… I luckly stopped playing the game when level cap was 70.

MMORPG… they are the devil of PC gaming… sole stealing games and console gamers are luckly they have not been poisoned by a massively succesful mmorpg! Don’t get me wrong I have spent alot of time on the games and believe that there will be more time in my life that will go to these games sadly. Due to the amount of time I have wasted playing these games I aint going to talk about them any longer.

Console for me come into their own for Sports Games… Being able to beat you best mate at fifa and ripping him for it for the next 3 days is always fun… take this online and play strangers…. well this is were I get super stressed. I could play my best mate in my house and lose 6 - 0 and not be to worried but put him in his house 5 mintues down the road and he beats me 6 - 0 i see red… and can not play my playstation until I get a new controller. Then add strangers to the mix… it only takes 2 goals! I have never even tried to play a sports game on my PC… I dont believe I ever will! Control Pad wins hands down on sport front.

RTS games are not my cuppa tea really. I will play them and get bored with in hours but they have there following. They have tried a couple of times to release RTS on consoles but it never really works again to lack of keyboard and mouse… trying to select 200 units with a anolge is just shit! Saying this some of my favorite gaming moments was playing command and conquer on playstataion one with a link cable agian my friend Rene… Good times… teaming up against computer components and then when they are down going against each other… the winnner would be the one who built more tesla coils or flame towers in the others base!

I would like to speak about driving simulators but for me I get very little joy from them. I think the most joy I have ever got was watching my mates play Gran Trismo 3 on my playstaion 2 whilst I rocked cod2 on PC… so sorry to people that like them they get as much time as mmorpg’s!

Basically I think if you find someone who is a good writter and has the time to really look into the pro’s an cons of console and PC gaming the conclusion would be what wins control pad or Keyboard and mouse and depending on game genre depends on the winner… but if we say that FPS is the biggest game type in the world… then sorry console fan boys…. Keyboard and Mouse wins everyday of the week!

Common Courtsey

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:45:00 +0100

England used to be known as a country that had great etiquette and was full of gentleman but that seems to have all gone. It appears that their is only a handful of people that are polite or have manners. It is not just men or boys that should have good manners it is woman and girls as well. I have had a couple of issues recently when I do something as simple as hold a door open for someone and don’t get so much as a smile let alone a thanks or thank you or walking down the highstreet if I give way and let someone past and they just give you a look as if to say you know your place. I don’t have to hold a door open for anyone or give way to anyone whilstwalking down the street but I do because it is the polite thing to do.

I was told by a colleague that he once held a door open for a woman and got an earful about being sexist. Now if that was me I may well have been a little rude and unpolite and told that woman to do one. To call me a sexist for holding the door open for her would be assuming that I only hold doors open for woman and making thatopinon is sexist itself.

One thing I will never understand is getting angry at someone that is trying to help you. Working on the phone in IT support there have been times when something goes wrong and a angry client will call and some even shout down the phone. In what world do they think for a second that is going to make me want to help them. I can deviantly say that every single time that has happened I have not tried my hardest to resolve the issue. On the other hand if someone calls up and ask me what is going on and ask me to have a look and see what is going on I will try my hardest to get the problem sorted for them as soon as possible.

Another thing that often plays on my mind is were does equal opportunity fall into feminism and how does this affect manners. An example of this is a packed train I sit in the last chair, the next stop a woman gets on the train. Normally at this point I would offer my chair but in this time and aged can is that seen as a sexist gesture and not good manners. In another example if we both got on the train at the same time but I sat down before I her do I then think that’s hard luck you had the same chance as me to sit here?

One thing my mum always used to say is Manners don’t cost anything.

What defines a geek?

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 20:29:00 +0100

I have worked in IT since I was 16 (now just about to turn 24) and you often get painted with the brush of being a geek. I personally think I was painted with this brush at school aswell. Instead going to play football every night or every Friday and Saturday getting drunk down the park I was more often than not sitting infront of my PC getting ready for Clan pratice or trying to arrange a Clan match on which ever FPS I was playing but now this seems to be a very normal thing for people to do! Anyone who is anyone plays the latest call of duty (Not got shit on Cod2) or some massively multiplayer Role playing Game….. for the less geeky world of warcraft. So it leaves me thinking what defines the modern geek!

Do you define a geek by how they look, what there hobbies are, what they do for a living, the people they solcialize or the inability to solcialize with, the ability to get music and movies for free, how good they are with technology or how intelligent they are.

I don’t believe you can define a person as a Geek becuase they are gamers. It is very hard to find any young person especially males that does not own a playstation or xbox and games online a few nights a week. A lot of this is due the ease of playing multiplayer Games now. No longer do you need a high spec’d PC with a expensive internet connection. Or somone who has not played wow for atleast a months subscription! Technology is a whole lot easier to use from PC’s and Laptops to Mobile phones and a lot less expensive. Fashion sense also changes every other month not that I know anything about fashion… more often than not a pair of jeans and plain T-Shirt does the trick for me! So what would be consider geeky is consider retro or indie. The ability to talk people I believe comes from your up bringing and exposure to strangers. I am not very good at talking to someone I do not know unless it is work related or blatantly obvious that we share a common interest (which does make me pretty rubish when approaching a girl I fancy). I do not believe this is makes me a geek but just not the most confident. I dont think the way you make a living defines what kind of person you are. I chose IT because I had a general interest and although the guys at work would disagree believe I have a little bit of a nack for it. I work with a developer that would swear blind the fact he could fix any database or website regardless of what language it is written but could not tell you how to log onto your hotmail account to check your emails confirms he is not a geek!

Do you now just define a geek by the level of intelligence if so this would rule me out of being a geek completely but how to you messure that and come to a conculsion. Information is so easily got now a days and what is the first thing you think of if you don’t know the answer to a question or want to find out a little bit more…. google it! I believe it is very hard to determine the intelligence of someone you have not know for a long period of time.

I could go on and on about it and discuss the idea of a trendy geek, which is a term that was used on a pub lunch the other day which ammused me but trying to keep things short and sweet at the moment.

Is it true that you love many dicks in and around the mouth?

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:25:24 +0100

No this is not true… I do have a friend called Ashley Hurrell that does and can give you his contact details if you would like to call him!

Small Talk.... Am I the only one that hates it? NO!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:42:00 +0100

Am I the only person that hates small talk? This is a question I have asked myself many times. Working in IT in a shop or call centre, small talk is something you natural pick up. Asking a customer/client how was your weekend. It gives them a sense that you care and opens them up abit. Truth be told I consider myself pretty skilled in small talk. An at work fine I am fine doing. I could argue that I am being paid to do it. The thing that grinds my gears (Nice Family Guy Ref). Is pumping into someone you have not seen in maybe a couple of years and feeling like you have to chat to them, or someone you know through another friend.

Everytime I see someone like the above There are two thoughts that go through my head. Please do not recognize me or please just a nod of achowledgement! Then you hear hey Clive or Alright mate… big depressed breath in and the small talk begins. I don’t really know what it is that bothers me the most about small talk.. I guess it is the feeling that it is a complete waste of time. I mean if i wanted to talk to you I would make an effort to meet up and have a beer or arrange a time to hang out… not just leave to to dumb luck or bad luck as I see it, at being in the same place at the same time.

What got me thinking about this was a converstation on fb chat with a friend Mike. Now he is someone I met through another mutual friend but we hit it off becuase we both share a common interest (Arsenal). Since then we have only bumped into each other maybe once or twice but we added each other on fb and just chat football be it real life or football manger! He had been left to speak to 2 or 3 people he had only met once or twice before and then the small talk had to come out. I then got speaking to another friend Luke who ran into someone down the town whilst he was helping his mum shopping that he had not seen for 3 years. I know the whole time Luke was speaking to him he was thinking please get me out of hear! I think we have all been in a situation when you have felt like shouting in the others persons face “Shut the Fuck up and fuck off”.

Some more face fuzz… I only had this for 1 night...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:51:24 +0100

Some more face fuzz… I only had this for 1 night only… I got some right wierd looks but that means nothing I was in Duke’s in Chelmsford!