Friday 28th October 2011

Business Studies is go!  My new Uni course officially starts today, but I am already a little way ahead with the reading.  Not too far, just about a week.  Not like some loser on the Café forum (a forum designed for all students on this presentation of the course, not just my tutor group), who has finished the first book, prepared a draft of the first assignment and is looking to start book 2!  All I can say is this person obviously has no life!  I could have spend the whole of October reading the first book, but I think it is important to take a break from these things, as there is only such much studying one brain can take.  The build up to the T175 EMA was really hard going and I had to really apply myself to get it all finished.  I think I earned some time off, and since we don’t get the regular holidays like those is full time education, I took the gap as a holiday.

I’m settling back into reading again quite nicely.  In the shake up and move around of our house, I have moved my desk from the ‘study’ upstairs to behind the living room door, next to our new furniture.  I think it will be easier to study here, but the TV does provide a large distraction.  Hopefully I will be able to coincide study time with my wife watching something from our Sky+ planner that I don’t really want to see.  If not, I will stick my earphones in and disappear into iTunes. 

I downloaded the new iOS last week for my iPod Touch.  There seem to be some good new features there, but I do find it quite strange that they add many of the new features of the iPhone to the Touch.  I know they are basically the same, just that the Touch can’t make calls.  Now however, it pretty much can!  You can send text messages and use Facetime (video calling) with other iPhone or iTouch owners.  The only drawback being that you must be connected to Wi-Fi in order to do it.  I guess this is great for those who have access to a wireless network for most of their day.  I don’t, so I can only use these features at home, which is totally pointless for me.  I think I’ll stick to my trusty Android for now.  Don’t get me wrong though, I love my iPod!  When my previous one broke I was devastated.  I use it multiple times a day to listen to music and podcasts.   My favourite casts at the moment are:

Answer Me This!

Radio 4 Friday Night News Quiz

Richard Herring’s Warming Up

Richard Herring’s As It Occurs To Me

Phil and Phill’s Perfect Ten

They’re all comedy based, but also topical too. 

We’re having a Halloween party for my daughter and some of her little friends tomorrow.  We did say on the invites that the little ones are to dress up and fancy dress for adults is optional.  My wife and daughter are both dressing as witches, and I am going for the firm favourite, Dracula.  Nothing too scary though, as the oldest child there will be 4. 

I feel there may be some Xbox time squeezed into the evening tomorrow too; namely when Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor are on.  Both shows are quite watchable, but I think it is best that I do something else when they are on, as I have a tendency to comment on how stupid the contestants and the like.

My Wife and I went to a wedding last weekend, which was cool.  I went to school with the bride, Vikki, and my Wife now works with her.  Small world, you might say!  I had to miss the service at the registry office because our daughter fell asleep in the car on the way over, so I sat with her and took her over to say hello to everyone once she woke up. 

My Wife and I then went to the reception in the evening, leaving our daughter with her grandparents.  We got a lift which was great, because it meant we could both have a few drinks for a change.  One of my Wife’s colleagues got really drunk and lost her balance on her enormous high-heeled shoes.  She fell flat on her backside in true Hollywood slow motion.  I bet she felt a little bruised the following day.  Both in pride and buttocks!

They served fish and chips as the buffet in the evening, along with sausages and bacon.  I had a cone of chips with some fish goujons.  Such a great idea for a wedding, I loved it!

It was our third wedding anniversary on Tuesday.  To celebrate, we went to The Fish Factory in Littlehampton for a meal, which was amazing!  No lift this time, so I drove and no alcoholic beverages were consumed.  That’s ok though, as I don’t like to drink that often for various reasons. 

All this blog writing has made me a bit hungry, so I’m off to grab a Ryvita.  Yes you read that correctly, a Ryvita.  I am dieting, and it’s takeaway night tonight, so I’ve got to be careful today.  It’ll be worth it in the end, you’ll see!      

Friday 14th October 2011

I am afraid that today’s TOWIB is going to be brief.  I feel rubbish today, and can’t really focus on what I want to write. Not sure what is wrong to be honest, but I think it is a mixture of being tired and feeling generally unwell.  I’m at work at the moment, but not sure how long I will last today.  I ate my breakfast a bit earlier, but I am getting the sneaking suspicion that it might not stay in for too long. 

Not a huge amount has happened this week.  My new Uni books have arrived, and although the Business studies course looks really interesting, it’s also a little daunting.  I’m not really sure what to expect, so it is just a natural fear of the unknown.  From reading the study companion, it looks to be lots of report writing, and considering I can waffle on pretty well once I get going, that shouldn’t be a problem. 

I still don’t have the results from my EMA (End of Module Assignment) for the Networked Living course that finished last month.  Apparently the assignment is sent to my tutor for her to read over, and then sent to an independent marker.  God knows how long they have to mark it, but I handed it in on the 22^nd of September, so they’ve surely had long enough!  No they haven’t, and don’t call me Shirley!  Sorry, little in joke there for good measure.  According to the assessment calculator on the Uni website, I should achieve something in the realms of 80 – 85% as an overall score for the course.  That’s pretty good, and I’d be more than happy with that!  I got 86% for the first course too, so that’ll be nice and consistent. 

I think I’ll end it there because staring at the screen for too long is making me feel sick.  Go away illness, you are not welcome here!

Thursday 06th October 2011

I am changing my name this week.  No longer will I be the boring Rick Keates; as of today I am Flat Pack Man! 

We bought some new furniture from Ikea at the weekend, and I have spent pretty much every evening since, putting it together.  A task I do not detest, as the end result will be amazing!  The object is to reduce the amount of clutter in our lounge.  Having a 2 year old = having lots of toys on the floor.  This is fine, but at the moment they are all next to our TV, and my wife and I are growing tired of looking at them all of the time.  We have bought a total entertainment unit.  The TV will move from the corner of the room to the middle of the outside wall and will be surrounded by two bookshelves, two CD/DVD racks and will have two shelf units above it.  It is going to look amazing when it is done, which is my motivation for not having a relaxing evening for a few days. 

In other news; I was given a Herman the German friendship cake on Monday by my good friend Ingrid at work.  It’s a sour dough mix that you mature in a bowl exposed to the open air for 10 days.  Herman has to be fed every few days with flour, sugar and milk, and stirred regularly.  Then on day 10 you get to add a whole heap of cake like ingredients and bake him.  I’ve never done anything like this before, so am pretty excited about it.  The sour dough mix does smell a bit, but it’s strangely pleasant.

October is upon us now, and we are looking forward to hosting our daughter’s first Halloween party at the end of the month.  She and my wife already have their costumes, and I am going to order mine this week.  There is a huge selection on the web site that my wife found, but I think I am decided on what I will go for.  I’m going to buy the Ghostbuster costume!  It comes with an inflatable proton pack and the overalls, it’s pretty awesome!

I’ve also got two days off later this month to have some Father – Daughter time with my little girl.  The first day will just be a chill out day.  I’m going to take her on a little walking adventure in the village where I grew up.  Lyminster in Littlehampton has a legendary pond known as the Knucker Hole.  There are several versions of the legend, but the main crux of it is that the Knucker Hole was inhabited by a dragon many, many years ago.  We used to have the dragon as our school logo when I was in infant school, and I remember visiting it when I was a child and being very excited about the prospect of seeing a real dragon!  I may also take her swimming, if the pool timetable allows.  If not, we will go over and visit my Grandparents for a few hours. 

I got some rubbish news last night that the bungalow that I grew up in has been demolished.  The Haskins group bought the land that the old Roundstone Nurseries used to be on a few years ago, and people had been renting the bungalow after we moved out.  To be honest, they never kept it looking as nice as Nan and Grandad did.  They didn’t put any effort into the garden at all.  It makes me sad to think that people would treat the place that way because Grandad spent every spare hour that he had in that garden, making sure it was always pristine.  Even in the winter months!  I remember helping to lay the patio when I was no more than 8 or 9 years old; then helping Grandad and my Uncle Alan build the summer house a few years later.  The biggest achievement though was helping Grandad destroy the old and rebuild a new pond in the back garden.  We spent days designing it, pulling up the old pond and laying down the bricks for the new one.  We rebuilt the rockery behind it to hold a new waterfall and then stocked it with new fish.  My absolute favourite being the diamond Sturgeon that my little sister, who was probably only 4 or 5 at the time named Sharky.  

I have so many fond memories of living at the bungalow, and in some ways I have to thank Haskins for demolishing it because it has bought them all back to me.  In other ways though I feel slightly cheated that I didn’t get to take one last walk around the house and grounds.  I’m sure whatever Haskins has planned for the site will be new and exciting, but for me that site will always be The Bungalow, Lower Trees Farm, Roundstone By-Pass, and I am sad to see her go.

Tuesday 27th September

I have not been able to post anything here for a couple of weeks; sorry about that.  It has been a manic period since I did the Hampshire HACK.  The HACK went well, with relatively few injuries, or so I thought.  Aside from a blister and aching muscles, I had a slight back ache.  This ache however, did not fade after a couple of days like the rest, and a week or so later I ended up at St Richards hospital A&E department.  Before you all berate me for wasting their time, I did try our surgery to get an out of hours appointment but they didn’t answer the phone, and by Tuesday night I’d had enough.  Anyway, I’ve torn a muscle in my lower back.  It hurts like hell, got to take lots of drugs, but trying to muddle through without too many. 

I sold an old guitar that I’ve had since I was about 17 on Friday.  Please standby for a gratuitous plug; here it comes ….. Mike’s Music,

47 Hawthorn Road, Bognor Regis, West Sussex

, PO21 2BW – very kindly took the guitar off of my hands in exchange for 90 of the finest English Pounds.  That was quite a bit more than I expected to be honest, and I think if there hadn’t been a few chips and dinks in the guitars finish, I may have got even more.  I am fully expecting to see the guitar advertised in their window for over £150 once their genius technician has worked his magic. 

He was working on a guitar when I went into the store.   The job in hand was to cut slots into a fretless fret board and add some in.  However, these were no ordinary frets, they were there to be looked at and not felt.  A pointless exercise you might say, but apparently the owner of the guitar likes the feel of the fretless board, but would like to be able to see where his fingers are. 

I put some of the proceeds, along with some exchanged Xbox games towards Gears of War 3.  I’ve played the first two and really enjoyed them.  Number 3 does not look like it will disappoint.  I played it for about an hour on Saturday, while my wife watched X Factor, and it was flipping amazing!  The controls have been tweaked ever so slightly which makes the game play even better.  The fact that you used to walk over a dropped enemy weapon and simply press a button for your character to pick up some ammo was crazy.  Now though, you have to hold the button for a second or two, meaning that for that period you are exposed to enemy fire.  Much more realistic!  I think a quick game might be in order tonight.

Ta ta!

The Day of the HACK Cometh!

Another week gone, and only two days to go until the HACK!

Firstly I need to wish my wonderful wife a very Happy Birthday!  I love you baby. Xxx

I have a few things planned for when she get’s home from work tonight.  Namely a little tea party with our daughter.  Why are you blogging this before it happens, I hear you shout?!  Because she is a teacher, and unless she leaves the classroom specifically to read my blog (doubtful), I think I am safe.  I finish work at 4pm on a Friday, so I can get home and set things up before they arrive home. 

Not a lot else to report this week really.  Work has been pretty busy, and most evenings have been spent preparing my end of module assignment.  I have a day off from work on Monday to recover from the HACK, so I will no doubt knuckle down and spend a good amount of time studying.  There will of course be allowances made for an Xbox break, or two!   

 If you would like to sponsor me for the HACK, please visit www.justgiving.com/rick-keates1

The Only Way Is Bognor, via Sharm El Sheikh

And life goes back to normal.  Or rather, the holiday is over and so work begins! 

Our third trip to Egypt did not disappoint as a family holiday.  A good time was had by all, and my daughter coped surprisingly well with the 40 degree heat.  She has the best tan ever!  We are all now what the masses describe as a ‘healthy’ colour.  My wife is much more tanned than I am, but I would say I am reasonably brown. 

We’ve done nearly all of the tourist things in Egypt; temples, pyramids, valley of the kings etc, and since our daughter is too young to appreciate them yet, we did not stray too far from our resort. 

The HACK is only 9 days away now, and training is going pretty well.  I am trying to watch what I eat closely and am feeling much better for it.  I have a 14-15 mile training walk on Sunday, which will stand me in good stead and test my stamina for the real thing.  It’ll be a full dress rehearsal, so my ruck will be packed tight with kit. 

The suggested kit list for your ruck on the day is:

Complete change of clothes,

Water,

Food – including energy sweets,

Waterproofs,

First Aid kit,

Whistle – in case you get lost, or to annoy other walkers!

Torch,

OS map,

Sun cream,

Mobile phone,

Hat – definitely need one this year, the penultimate mile or so was freezing last year!

I’m also taking trekking poles (to relieve the strain on my ankles, as they were shot by the end last year).  So all in all, I’ll be pretty weighed down!

 

Called into Cotswold Outdoor in Chichester today to stock up on Go bars and hydration powder for the training walk and the actual HACK.  I love all shops that sell hiking gear and the like, but I have to say that Cotswold is a little too expensive for me.  I saw a North Face soft shell jacket that looked and felt really comfortable.  Of course that little fantasy was squashed when I looked at the price tag; £150!!!  I am sorry, but places like Mountain Warehouse and Trespass sell the same type of jacket for anywhere between £30 and £50.  That, I can justify!  I’m sure North Face would argue that their product is of far superior quality, and perhaps it is.  But is it really superior enough to justify £150?

Still undecided on what food to take with me on the HACK.  Last year I made pasta with sweet corn, which was ok, but very cold and stodgy after being in my ruck for 5 hours.  This year I am thinking it might be rice with mixed veg and maybe some veg stock.  Perhaps even a little bit of chicken thrown in for good measure.

To be honest, there is little point taking too much, as the guys at the checkpoints are usually stocked up with chocolate bars and fruit.  Still, I can’t guarantee that will be the case, so better to be prepared. 

Not a lot else to write at the moment.

If you would like to sponsor me for the HACK, please visit www.justgiving.com/rick-keates1

Friday, wonderful Friday. - 12th August 2011

Week two of TOWIB.

Wow, what a busy and stressful week it has been!  I have a University assignment due in next week, but since I will be on holiday then, I’ve had to get it done a week early.  This has been no mean feat, with critical analysis reports to write, some complex mathematics, and a truck load of reading.  However, it is all done now.  I just need to work out how to save my Star Office 9 document into a .doc format that will be accepted by both the Uni system and my tutor.  I’ve got tonight and all weekend for that though so I won’t stress too much. 

It feels nice to have it all done.  Now I can concentrate on getting into holiday mode and getting everything ready.  I will admit that I am taking some materials to do a little bit of research for the final assignment of this course.  It is due about 3 weeks after we get back, and looks pretty intensive.  I’m sure I will be able to fit a bit of reading in between sessions in the pool with my family.

I’m intending to hit the gym a few times while we’re away.  Anything that’ll boost my fitness for the HACK is an advantage.  We are all inclusive on holiday, so I’ve got to be careful that I don’t pig out too much.  I’ve been pretty good over the last couple of weeks and have noticed a slight reduction in my weight. 

My daughter had her 2 year check this week, and was scored at either being right on track or achieving over where she should be.  I felt oh so proud when my wife called on Monday to let me know the results!  She and my wife have been taken for their 2^nd visit to Peppa Pig World today by my Wife’s parents.  We took our daughter there for her 2^nd birthday and she loved it.  To say she is a bit obsessed with Peppa would be the understatement of the century! 

I’m sure everyone has seen the televised footage of the atrocities that have taken place across our country this week, and I will get to that a little later.  First, I want to talk about the amazing documentary that we watched on Monday about the dissection of a Sperm Whale.  Inside Nature’s Giants is the programme’s name, and they have dissected some incredible creatures, from a giraffe to the dual dissection of a Lion and a Tiger.  Anyway, the Sperm Whale was spectacular!  The poor creature had starved and subsequently become dehydrated (whales only take on water from their food, they do not drink the sea) and ended up on the beach on Kent.  Not wanting to let a rare scientific opportunity escape, the ING team swooped in and spent just over 24 hours really getting to grips with the creature and showing us how it functions.  Did you know that the Sperm Whale got its name from the Spermaceti that is contained in its head?  No, neither did I.  It is a waxy material that solidifies when the whale wishes to dive and then melts again when it wishes to resurface.  This is the stuff that is found in cosmetics and lubricant, and it really does look like sperm.  When the scientist on the show cut the whale’s head open, I thought maybe she was operating at the wrong end!

Right, now back to London and the riots.  My cousin lives in Clapham Junction with his girlfriend and I was very relieved to get a reply text from him on Tuesday to say that they were fine; even though the rioting was right outside their door. 

This all seems to have come about after a man (with a gun), was shot by police in London on Thursday 04^th August.  There was a protest outside of the local police station on Saturday, and then somehow it turned into mindless rioting, looting and murder. 

My hearts goes out to all of the innocent victims of the riots and looting.  In particular to the families of those who have lost their lives.  Things appear to be improving now, so lets hope the recovery is fast and London can soon return the great capital that it was.

I am taking part in the Hampshire HACK (Hike Against Cruelty to Kids) on 11^th September 2011 for the NSPCC.  If you would like to sponsor me please visit www.justgiving.com/rick-keates1

Friday 05th August 2011

Hello World!!

This is my first blog entry so my apologies if she appears a little rough around the edges. 

Welcome to The Only Way Is Bognor!  Also known affectionately as TOWIB!  This blog is going to serve as a new technological avenue for me to explore, or a new bandwagon for me to jump on, if you will.   

I have been reading a lot of blogs recently as part of my Open University degree in Computing and IT.  Yes, I am that much of a geek!  Bear with me though, because none of these blogs have inspired me to do much more than switch off my laptop!  However, I discovered this week the blog of comedian/writer Richard Herring - ‘Warming Up’.  Richard has been writing a daily blog since November 2002, and with some 3000 odd entries under his belt, he is what I would describe as a bit of an expert.  A blog is designed to be something akin to a diary.  Somewhere where the author can voice their personal opinions on topical matters, or any particular random thought that may enter their head.    

Taking inspiration from Richard Herring I have decided to try and write a weekly blog of events and musings that take place in my little world.  I’m quite a busy chap, what with being a husband to my gorgeous Wife, Daddy to my equally gorgeous Daughter, a full time transport manager, a part time Uni student and I’m also training for this year’s Hampshire HACK (Hike Against Cruelty to Kids), so I should be able to find one or two things to talk about each week.    

The HACK is organised by the NSPCC and covers 21 miles of the

South Downs Way

.  I took part in the HACK last year and thoroughly enjoyed it.  My fitness levels were not brilliant, but I dragged myself (and my rucksack) around the 21 mile route in a very respectable time.  Just over 7 hours if memory serves!  I also raised a decent amount of cash for a great charity, which made all of the pain (and there was plenty) worth while.  I decided to take up the challenge again this year to help raise some more funds and awareness, but also because I loved the experience!  I love the outdoors, and get huge enjoyment from donning my walking boots and a rucksack and heading off for a long walk. 

If anyone reading this (if anyone does read this) would like to help my fundraising, I have a Just Giving page for the HACK, please visit it and donate whatever you can afford.  The NSPCC depends on charitable donations to keep them running, and the work they do to protect innocent children from abuse is invaluable.  www.justgiving.com/rick-keates1

That’s it for my inaugural blog.  I have plenty to waffle on about, so please come back and check for updates. 

You can find Richard Herring’s blog ‘Warming Up’ at http://www.richardherring.com/