Friday 22 August 2008

Not such a Good Boy

Weight Loss - Well I've got to be honest and admit I've not been too good with what I've eaten this week, don't know why but I've had a coulpe of crazy moments when I've stuffed all the wrong stuff down my throat. With my holiday starting this Sunday I think thats it for weight loss for three weeks but I've promised myself it'll be straight back on track on my return.

Olympics - I don't know if you've all been watching the Olympics but I have and have got to say I'm proud with what my country has achieved, currently we are third in the medals table with 18 golds. The two countries above us China and America have many more times the population so we can't expect to beat them. Ok another big country Russia may pass us (currently one behind) but its still a fantastic achievement, our best medals haul for 100 years.
And lets not forget we'll have home advantage next time.

Holiday - As I said earlier I'm away from Sunday so don't know when I'll be next online so don't think I'm ignoring any of you. I will try to post while away. The start of my trip is not quite going to plan, I went to get my train ticket and found out that Sunday they are working on the line to Leeds where I should change. I've now got to go via York which takes quite a bit longer, nothing major just a pain as I'm not flying while Monday just staying overnight in Manchester.

Saturday 16 August 2008

Will I Fly

1. Flight - Well I'm a bit worried after reading todays newspapers, apparently Baggage Handlers & Security staff at Gatwick & Stanstead Airport are staging a one day strike on August 25th over a long standing pay dispute. As it happens that is the day I fly to America for my holiday but I'm flying from Manchester not one of the airports involved. However I read on and apparently staff at Manchester are voting this week on whether they will join their colleagues. So I'll now be watching the news to see what happens.

Even if they do walk out my flight may possibly be ok as I'm flying with American Airlines and so far they are not effected at the other airports.

What narks me is they seem to do this each year at what is probably the buisiest weekend (its the bank holiday) ruining thousands of peoples holidays. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed.


2. Surprise Trophy - Went to a TT training day today and one of my team mates in the York Veterans Yorkshire League team was there. He'd been to the county presentation evening and apparently I'd won the divisional merit award, I didn't know at all. Its quite a nice trophy a clock set in a glass stand (see photo).

3. Killer Pool - On my last Post the lovely cactusfreek asked how do we play "Killer Pool", well here is an explanation :-

First you need a group of Pool players (the more the better), then everyone pays a pre-decided amount of money usually £1 each but can be more if you want to up the stakes.

Everyone is given a number say 1 to 10 if you have ten players. All the cards numbered from one to ten are taken from a pack of playing cards then shuffled at put on the side of the pool table upside down so nobody knows which card will be turned over.

Everyone is given 3 lives then the first card is turned over. Whoevers number is turned over breaks and has 2 shots (if needed) to pot a ball. The next card is then turned which decides who the next player is and he must pot any ball (other than white of course), you just carry on turning the cards to decide whoose go it is. Other than whoever breaks players only have one shot to pot, failure to pot you lose a life, once you have lost all 3 lives you drop out.

Once all 15 balls are potted the pack is re-racked and you continue until only one person is left with any lives and he takes the money in the pot. Obviously deciding the order with the cards means you don't know who will be next (its possible to go again yourself), this stops players cheating and leaving their mates on then sharing the money. If all the cards are turned and people are still in they are shuffled and replaced, you then continue.

Tuesday 12 August 2008

Win, Win, Win.

1. Winning - "Well its not the taking part its the winning that counts" Hell I'm on a good run Friday :- I played my mate Lofty at Golf, it was a tight match and he was one up with three to play but I managed to turn it on and win the last three.
Saturday :- Of course the mighty whites won theor opening game at Scunthorpe with goals from Jermaine Beckford & new signing Enoch Showumni, it was a good result as Scunny came down from the division above last season.
It was also the qualifying for the table tennis tournament I had a difficult group and was trying out a new bat and had to settle for finishing in band three.
Sunday :- Well I turned it on at the Table Tennis to reach the final of my section only dropping one set on route. In the final I trailed in the first set 8-4 but bounced back to win 11-8 then really turned on the style winning the next two 11-2, 11-1. Best I've played for a long time and won some prize money for my efforts.
Monday :- Didn't have a Pool league match but all our team turned up for practice. We ended the night playing "Killer" for money. We had two games and no prizes for guessing who took all the money in both (yes).
So long this winning streak continue cos the mighty Whites are in action again tonight at Chester in the League Cup and of course I've got my ticket for tomorrows National Lottery (now that would be nice).

2. Weight Loss - I was quite happy the other day when I tried on some casual trousers I bought awhile ago. They were previously too tight so I've never worn them. Well the result is I'm planning to take them on holiday. I have another pair of pin striped jeans, they look really smart but to be honest I couldn't previously fasten them but now I can. However they are still too tight to actually wear so I've still a target to make but I'm doing ok.

Friday 8 August 2008

Bad Blogger

1. Bad Blogger - Well its a week since my last post and by my own standards thats about as long as I normally get between posts so I suppose I've been a bad blogger. To be honest I've felt a bit of a writing block, I've come online intending to write only to not feel motivated.

2. Excitement - I'm quite excited at present as tomorrow is the start of the Footie season, Leeds are away at Scunthorpe and its a early kick off (before everyone else). So if we win we will be top albeit for a few hours.
Its also the Olympics so our TV's will be full of sport, Team GB are hoping to come 4th in the medal table which would be great for a country of our size, I'll be supporting them all the way. Of course we are robbed of a few medals as our top sports are not played, if Darts, Snooker & Dominoes were in it just think how many medals we would win. Hell they include synchronised swimming and rhythmic gymnastics so why not.
Another thing I'm excited about is its only just over two weeks to my next vacation, so Chicago, Houston & New Orleans here I come.

3. Tax man - My friend the Tax man has been chasing me, I got a form sent to fill in this week. I think they have just noticed I'm paying them next to nothing since getting made redundant and they don't like that after the thousands I've given them.
Well I've nothing to hide so had no problem filling it in until I noticed the envelope they provided to return it. Instead of it been postage paid it said "please affix stamp here", cheeky b*****s.

4. This Weekend - I'm playing in a veterans (over 40's) Table Tennis Tournament in Halifax its the first of the season and I'm looking forward to it. The standard will be high with players from all over the country but I'm hoping for a few good wins but we'll see. I've actually been moved down in the county teams to Yorkshire 4th team from the 2nd team. I'm not dissapointed because the standard was getting tough for me, a lot of new players are reaching the 40 age group. In fact nobody in the county teams ranked above me are older so I reckon I'm doing myself justice to get selected where I am.
Back to the tournament Saturday is qualifying where we play in a group of 8 players, the top 2 go into band one, 3rd & 4th into band 2, and so on. The banded competitions are then played on Sunday, it'll be a amazing performance to getr in band one but realisticly band two would be good for me, think I can be competitive at that level.

5. Weight Loss - Well I reckon I've stagnated a bit, I've a few clothes I'd like to take on holiday but are slightly tight. At present I wouldn't take any of them (I like comfort) butI'll be trying them again before I go then making the decision. With this in mind I've started another push and limiting my daily intake, the last few nights I've managed not to eat late at night (think I've mentioned this is a problem for me before). Must admit last night I was really hungry but didn't give in.
I've also changed a few foods in my diet to lower calorie so its just about seeing how I go. Two weeks isn't long but I'm determined to keep it up after my holiday, I'm using clothes as my motivation.

Friday 1 August 2008

Today is -

August 1st which is of course "YORKSHIRE DAY" so have a great one my friends even if you are not from Gods Own County.