I have an account on Care2.com where I found this item on a friend's page. I make no apologies for lifting this text in full. Besides, I asked first (thanks Michael), as the issue of the US religious right flaunting rules to suit their own political agenda - or in this case having a political agenda when they shouldn't, is getting to the point that it looks corrupt.
A Call for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to Investigate Activities by James Dobson and Focus on the Family
On November 28, 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) against James Dobson's Focus on the Family. Naomi Seligman, CREW's Deputy Director, was delighted when Soulforce offered to launch a national drive to support this complaint. By signing the petition addressed to the IRS, you will join thousands of Americans who are concerned about James Dobson's growing political influence in Washington, D.C. and across the nation.
Focus on the Family is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization whose stated purpose is "to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a practical outreach to homes." In past years, Dr. Dobson has become increasingly shrill about his political beliefs (especially against GLBT people) on his daily radio program and through his fundraising letters.
For example, on December 1, 2005, Focus on the Family announced that it would end its long time banking relationship with Wells Fargo because of the bank's "ongoing efforts to advance the radical homosexual agenda."
Earlier this year Dobson promised to dedicate his life to amending the U.S. Constitution with a Federal Marriage Amendment that would make second-class citizens of Lesbian and Gay Americans in committed relationships and deny them their basic civil rights and protections.
Although his non-profit status bars him from electioneering, Dr. Dobson continues to use his considerable political muscle to support anti-gay initiatives and to endorse candidates for political office. In early April, 2004, Dr. Dobson endorsed Republican Representative Patrick J. Toomey in his race for Senate in Pennsylvania. In addition, it was reported that Dr. Dobson actively campaigned during a rally for Rep. Toomey.
Other candidates that Dr. Dobson reportedly endorsed in 2004 include North Carolina Republican candidate Pat Ballentine for Governor and Oklahoma Republican candidate Tom Coburn for Senate.
You can read more details, including the full text of the complaint sent to the IRS, on the CREW website.
Please sign the petition below to add your name to thousands of Americans who want the IRS to investigate the political actions of James Dobson and his organization.
Remove IRS Tax Excempt Status Of Focus On The Family Petition:
http://www.soulforce.org/petition/1
"I ____________ support calling upon the IRS to thoroughly investigate Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family for continued violations of their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status; specifically that although they are barred from electioneering, Dr. Dobson has endorsed candidates for political office several times. Such abuse of their status as a tax-exempt, faith-based, nonprofit organization can no longer be tolerated."
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
We've done it!
Way back in June I gave the marathon post about looking for a new place. Well we've found a new flat and moved in yesterday. I didn't want to post anything before (I know all about counting chickens). Anyway the new flat is huge, or rather it seems huge. We did a quick measure up of both places and the whole of the old flat would fit into the living room and kitchen of the new place with room to spare. We bought a king size bed from Ikea and it looks lost in the vast space of the bedroom.
We decided that the delivery men should put everything into the living room. That might seem a bit silly when we have huge space in the bedroom as well as a second bedroom and walk in storage, but it's not really. If we had put everything into the spare bedroom or the box room we would never have got to a point were we were going to sort through the boxes. if there are stuck in the living room we have an incentive to get things unpacked and stored in their right places. So it's not as daft as it might seem as first glance. We already have four bookcases of books, as well as the DVD and video players, half our stash of DVDs and most of the stuff for the kitchen unpacked and put away, which is great when you consider that we only started unpacking at 5pm and we were both at work today.
Tonight I'm going to take some pictures of the chaos so that when then flat is organised there is a comparison.
Way back in June I gave the marathon post about looking for a new place. Well we've found a new flat and moved in yesterday. I didn't want to post anything before (I know all about counting chickens). Anyway the new flat is huge, or rather it seems huge. We did a quick measure up of both places and the whole of the old flat would fit into the living room and kitchen of the new place with room to spare. We bought a king size bed from Ikea and it looks lost in the vast space of the bedroom.
We decided that the delivery men should put everything into the living room. That might seem a bit silly when we have huge space in the bedroom as well as a second bedroom and walk in storage, but it's not really. If we had put everything into the spare bedroom or the box room we would never have got to a point were we were going to sort through the boxes. if there are stuck in the living room we have an incentive to get things unpacked and stored in their right places. So it's not as daft as it might seem as first glance. We already have four bookcases of books, as well as the DVD and video players, half our stash of DVDs and most of the stuff for the kitchen unpacked and put away, which is great when you consider that we only started unpacking at 5pm and we were both at work today.
Tonight I'm going to take some pictures of the chaos so that when then flat is organised there is a comparison.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
WooHoo
Subject to major disasters it looks as thought the boy wonder and I will be moving house sometime during the beginning of December. As a result we are having a massive clear out of stuff that we don't want to take with us to the new place. A bunch of this stuff, however, isn't ours and we don't want to schlep it to the new place if we don't have to.
A lot of this stuff was given as "long term loans" when I first moved up to Edinburgh and was part of helping me set up the flat here and includes things like:
eg our old microwave, a 17" monitor, that will go to the Bethany stores if nobody else wants them.
This list isn't complete and by the end of November we'll have a much better idea, but in the interim if we have anything of yours please get in touch to make arrangements for collection asap or we will assume that you don't any it anymore and make arrangements for disposal accordingly. Also because some of the items have value we can only give them back to the owners (if they want to give them to someone else afterward that's their business), so please don't send other people to us to collect your stuff for you.
A lot of this stuff was given as "long term loans" when I first moved up to Edinburgh and was part of helping me set up the flat here and includes things like:
- A cd player and amplifier
- A filter coffee machine
- Yamaha DX27 keyboard
- Computer monitor
- various other computer bits
- model airplanes
eg our old microwave, a 17" monitor, that will go to the Bethany stores if nobody else wants them.
This list isn't complete and by the end of November we'll have a much better idea, but in the interim if we have anything of yours please get in touch to make arrangements for collection asap or we will assume that you don't any it anymore and make arrangements for disposal accordingly. Also because some of the items have value we can only give them back to the owners (if they want to give them to someone else afterward that's their business), so please don't send other people to us to collect your stuff for you.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Tao - Beat of the World
In the end it was only half of Tao (the other half were back in Japan performing at the Tokyo International Forum) but that didn't really matter. A stunning performance of traditional Taiko drumming with some very modern visual touches. To be honest I am totally at a loss has to how best to describe the show, other than perhaps the best performance of drumming I have ever seen.
I would certainly recommend seeing this show if you get a chance and I believe that there are still some tickets available.
I would certainly recommend seeing this show if you get a chance and I believe that there are still some tickets available.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
I like Orange.
Now that Paul is up here we are learning the benefits of being Orange users - 2 for 1 tickets to the cimema on a Wednesday. Just been to see "King Arthur". Without giving too much away it is part of the mongol hoard doing Braveheart on Hadrian's Wall against an invading Saxon army (heading southwards?). Okay so it isn't Excalibur but it doesn't suck that much either plus it has Clive Owen looking moody, Keira Knightly looking elegantly manic in a costume that doesn't cover much, and Ioan Gruffudd smoldering as Lancelot. Oh and Ray Winston is in it too.
Put your brain into neutral and go see it.
Put your brain into neutral and go see it.
Frazer's Golden Bough
I just happen to have a copy of the full 12 volume version of Sir James Frazer's "Golden Bough" in pdf format. As far as I know this version is not available on the web (yet) and I'm currently trying to get Volume 1 converted to text for publishing. Anyone want to help?
To make it easier a certain Italian friend created a script that will automatically process all the pdfs into png format, and then set the OCR software onto the png to create a txt file. There are a few places where it doesn't work properly but these are usually due to the scanning process (I didn't always get the book square to the automatic process is confused). All that is needed is proof reading the txt file against the pdf.
Before anyone asks it appears that the 12 volume version is out of copyright, though in the worst case variation it is in copyright for another 3 years. However, I think that 12 volumes would probably take in the order of 3 years for me to complete. As not only is there proof reading the main text but there is cross referencing the not inconsiderable index making the links to the various pages in the text. Then I have to decide how to deal with the enourmous number of footnotes. As you can imagine it is going to be a mammoth task.
I get the feeling that I am going to be busy.
To make it easier a certain Italian friend created a script that will automatically process all the pdfs into png format, and then set the OCR software onto the png to create a txt file. There are a few places where it doesn't work properly but these are usually due to the scanning process (I didn't always get the book square to the automatic process is confused). All that is needed is proof reading the txt file against the pdf.
Before anyone asks it appears that the 12 volume version is out of copyright, though in the worst case variation it is in copyright for another 3 years. However, I think that 12 volumes would probably take in the order of 3 years for me to complete. As not only is there proof reading the main text but there is cross referencing the not inconsiderable index making the links to the various pages in the text. Then I have to decide how to deal with the enourmous number of footnotes. As you can imagine it is going to be a mammoth task.
I get the feeling that I am going to be busy.
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Times change
Scanning through the BBC news pages I find this little snippet:
Pink was a boy's colour while blue was thought better for girls - a "generally accepted rule" according to The Ladies Home Journal in 1918, which described pink as "more decided and stronger" while blue was "more delicate and dainty".
followed later on the same page by:
The colour pink gets its name from the jagged-edged dianthus flower, commonly known as a pink, which in turn got its nickname from pinking shears, those serrated scissors used by seamstresses.
Having just gone through months of telling people that white is not actually a "traditional" wedding colour and that Victorian brides would have just worn their Sunday best dress, usually in a serviceable colour, so no there is nothing wrong in having a black wedding dress, it was nice to see a reference to an accepted colour association being changed just to prove that it wasn't me making things up.
Pink was a boy's colour while blue was thought better for girls - a "generally accepted rule" according to The Ladies Home Journal in 1918, which described pink as "more decided and stronger" while blue was "more delicate and dainty".
followed later on the same page by:
The colour pink gets its name from the jagged-edged dianthus flower, commonly known as a pink, which in turn got its nickname from pinking shears, those serrated scissors used by seamstresses.
Having just gone through months of telling people that white is not actually a "traditional" wedding colour and that Victorian brides would have just worn their Sunday best dress, usually in a serviceable colour, so no there is nothing wrong in having a black wedding dress, it was nice to see a reference to an accepted colour association being changed just to prove that it wasn't me making things up.
Friday, August 12, 2005
I've been touched by His Noodly Appendage
I have been hoovering the cat at work for the past half an hour or so. I've just completed my end of year accounts returns so I feel I have earned the right to loaf for a bit. Anyway I used the time to look up an interesting concept that was mentioned in the New Scientist magazine recently.
In line with christian fundamentalists insisting that their faith be taught as science a young chap in Oregon has written to the Kansas School Board to have his ideology taught on equal terms with intelligent design and evolutionary science. However, his ideology is that the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster and also includes such 'beliefs' as global warming has a direct inverse relationship to the number of pirates in the world. I have to say that I really like this and I hope that the chaps campaign is successful.
Check the website http://www.venganza.org to get the full story
In line with christian fundamentalists insisting that their faith be taught as science a young chap in Oregon has written to the Kansas School Board to have his ideology taught on equal terms with intelligent design and evolutionary science. However, his ideology is that the world was created by the Flying Spaghetti Monster and also includes such 'beliefs' as global warming has a direct inverse relationship to the number of pirates in the world. I have to say that I really like this and I hope that the chaps campaign is successful.
Check the website http://www.venganza.org to get the full story
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Just back from WorldCon
I had a great time at Interaction, well for most of it anyway. Went to lots of panels, spent lots of cash in the dealer room, adopted a beeble-bear (picture here), got some great ideas for making cross stitch designs in the art show. I also met lots of great people who I hope that I can keep in touch with, as well as meeting up with people that we had lost touch with a number of years ago. There were a few problems in that so many of the panels were very popular and so you had to get to the room early to be sure to get in, but then the rooms would be overfilled and get very hot. There was also a lot of concurrent panels on similar topics so frequently you had to make a choice as to which you preferred, and then, of course, hope you could get in. I made it into most of the panels I was interested in. There was only one that I left through boredom. The evenings on the other hand were a non stop round of parties.
We didn't go to the first night parties, opting to be sensible and go to bed. This resulted in not being able to get any ribbons, but we made up for it on the the subsequent nights (first rule of fandom don't miss the scandinavian parties). The Hilton Hotel were initially charging over the odds for the specially imported real ale, but very quickly dropped the price when they realised just how much alcohol they were selling.
The main gripe we had was with our hotel, the Corus on Argyll Street. The double room was tiny, didn't have a proper wardrobe just a pole with four coat hangers that was awkward to access, and we were supplied with only one hand and one bath towel even though the room was booked for two people. I've stayed in hotels that were much better and cost half as much. Fortunately, it was just a place to rest our heads so it wasn't that bad, but under any other circumstances I would have made a complaint.
We didn't go to the first night parties, opting to be sensible and go to bed. This resulted in not being able to get any ribbons, but we made up for it on the the subsequent nights (first rule of fandom don't miss the scandinavian parties). The Hilton Hotel were initially charging over the odds for the specially imported real ale, but very quickly dropped the price when they realised just how much alcohol they were selling.
The main gripe we had was with our hotel, the Corus on Argyll Street. The double room was tiny, didn't have a proper wardrobe just a pole with four coat hangers that was awkward to access, and we were supplied with only one hand and one bath towel even though the room was booked for two people. I've stayed in hotels that were much better and cost half as much. Fortunately, it was just a place to rest our heads so it wasn't that bad, but under any other circumstances I would have made a complaint.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
We're Not Afraid
I rare that I've been involved with something big right at the start, but it seems I've managed it this time. In the wake of the London bombings some moblog friends and I have started a website We're Not Afraid. The discussion thread where this site originated is here and alfie's image that has been in all the press is here. At the moment the team are working our butts off processing the images. We have lots of really great images and they are coming in faster than we can add them the to the site. Unfortunately there are many that are not the inspiring images that we wanted but are too gung ho or inflamatory. It's amazing that by a little after 3 pm I'd indirectly made the suggestion, by 3:45 someone else had come up with a name, and by 5 pm alfie had registered the domain, organised the hosting and was getting volunteers on line to help with the organising. The press coverage has been fantastic and we have issued statements to media in several countries.
Now to get some sleep after the hard work.
Now to get some sleep after the hard work.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
London
It's taken me a while to get this done as I've been following the news of the London bombings on moblog.co.uk. One of the guys took a photo whilst he was trapped in the tube and SMSed it as soon as he got to the surface. The photo has now been picked up by a number of the news sites. I've done sod all work today just spending the time watching the news and following the news and blog sites. I just can't believe this is happening, it reminds me of the height of the IRA stuff when you never knew who was going to be next.
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
War of the Worlds
Just been to see War of the Worlds. It was absolutely brilliant. Okay, so Spielberg has played with H.G.Wells plot slightly, but it doesn't matter. What is important is that he has kept the main elements of the story, which after all is about a hundred years old. So what if he has taken english, middle-class victorians (from Woking, which apart from the McLaren Factory, would be vastly improved by an alien attack) and turned them into working class americans. The most important thing is that for just short of 2 hours it kept me in my seat, with my eyes glued to the screen - and it scared the crap out of me.
See it. On the big screen. If you don't you will regret it later.
See it. On the big screen. If you don't you will regret it later.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Look what we missed.
I completely missed the annual borefest that is the Eurovision Song Contest and from what I did hear about it I'm rather glad I did. However, it seems that one counties entry was disqualified. The competitor from Molvania was arrested on arrival "at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport and immediately deported".
Okay, okay. I know that Molvania doesn't exist and that the travel guide is merely a spoof. However, this joke is taking on a life of it's own, now taking the micky of trashy Europop. What's more the parody is superb. It has all the elements that we expect of a Eurovision entry - bad english, innuendo, cheesy outfits, etc. Check out the molvania eurovision site http://www.molvania.com/eurovision.html and if you are feeling brave look at the video. Just don't blame me if you hurt yourself falling off the chair.
Okay, okay. I know that Molvania doesn't exist and that the travel guide is merely a spoof. However, this joke is taking on a life of it's own, now taking the micky of trashy Europop. What's more the parody is superb. It has all the elements that we expect of a Eurovision entry - bad english, innuendo, cheesy outfits, etc. Check out the molvania eurovision site http://www.molvania.com/eurovision.html and if you are feeling brave look at the video. Just don't blame me if you hurt yourself falling off the chair.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Saturday
The boy wonder and the italian lunatic are in the tenement stair fixing a bicycle. I keep going and supervising once in a while but generally just laughing. If this had been someone fixing a car I would have known better than to laugh at the silly little things that happen, but cyclists do have a better perspective on things and do think that making something squirt/splash in your face accidentally is funny. Meanwhile, I've gone back to murder and mayhem by reloading Red Alert 2. I'd forgotten how tactical you have to be with this game so I'm relearning how to defend the battle lab in the Ural Mountains without losing my ore miner to some damn sneek attack. This may take some time.
The boy wonder and the italian lunatic are in the tenement stair fixing a bicycle. I keep going and supervising once in a while but generally just laughing. If this had been someone fixing a car I would have known better than to laugh at the silly little things that happen, but cyclists do have a better perspective on things and do think that making something squirt/splash in your face accidentally is funny. Meanwhile, I've gone back to murder and mayhem by reloading Red Alert 2. I'd forgotten how tactical you have to be with this game so I'm relearning how to defend the battle lab in the Ural Mountains without losing my ore miner to some damn sneek attack. This may take some time.
My office is being redecorated.
Yes indeedy. The powers that be have decided that I can get my office redecorated. I have to say that it's about time. There is paper peeling off the ceiling and the walls look filthy in places from years of people leaning against them. As I'm getting my office done, and the boy wonder and I are looking to move house. It seems that now is the time for upgrading, refurbishing and generally making things better. My web presence is no exception, so over the next few months I'm going to be looking at redesigning my web pages, trying to get everything, this blog, the livejournal, the moblog and various other things tied together in a unified fashion. I've asked the chap who worked with me on the Deadhead Comics project to help me out as he is a superb graphic artist and we do tend to bounce ideas off each other really well.
Progress reports will be forthcoming.
Yes indeedy. The powers that be have decided that I can get my office redecorated. I have to say that it's about time. There is paper peeling off the ceiling and the walls look filthy in places from years of people leaning against them. As I'm getting my office done, and the boy wonder and I are looking to move house. It seems that now is the time for upgrading, refurbishing and generally making things better. My web presence is no exception, so over the next few months I'm going to be looking at redesigning my web pages, trying to get everything, this blog, the livejournal, the moblog and various other things tied together in a unified fashion. I've asked the chap who worked with me on the Deadhead Comics project to help me out as he is a superb graphic artist and we do tend to bounce ideas off each other really well.
Progress reports will be forthcoming.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Moblog launched!
Moblog is up and running at http://moblog.co.uk/blog/rathgild. It isn't going to replace this blog but will be a suppliment until blogger decides to sent a code to my phone. First photos are just ones that were sitting on my phone that I've used to test things were working. I'm actually surprised that they have turned out as good as they have because I'm notoriously bad at taking photos. Anyway at the moment there is a photo of Edinburgh Castle and a couple of pictures of a friend's cats.
At least with this will give me something to do during the day whilst at the office. Now that the exams have finished and the students have gone home everything at work has slowed down to a crawl. I spent today going over the accounts for the main departmental budget so that I know how much we still have to spend over the next month or so. Tomorrow I will start doing the same with the research accounts. It doesn't fill my day though. I could have spent some of the time doing the reading for my course but the problem is the balance of doing what you have to do against doing what you want to do, which is also partly the reason that I've not done any of the web page updates that I promised. I will do it honest. In fact I've spoken with the friend who worked with me on the Deadhead Comics project at Net Resources and he's going to help me with the design. So there will be some improvements in the future. Just don't hold you breath.
Moblog is up and running at http://moblog.co.uk/blog/rathgild. It isn't going to replace this blog but will be a suppliment until blogger decides to sent a code to my phone. First photos are just ones that were sitting on my phone that I've used to test things were working. I'm actually surprised that they have turned out as good as they have because I'm notoriously bad at taking photos. Anyway at the moment there is a photo of Edinburgh Castle and a couple of pictures of a friend's cats.
At least with this will give me something to do during the day whilst at the office. Now that the exams have finished and the students have gone home everything at work has slowed down to a crawl. I spent today going over the accounts for the main departmental budget so that I know how much we still have to spend over the next month or so. Tomorrow I will start doing the same with the research accounts. It doesn't fill my day though. I could have spent some of the time doing the reading for my course but the problem is the balance of doing what you have to do against doing what you want to do, which is also partly the reason that I've not done any of the web page updates that I promised. I will do it honest. In fact I've spoken with the friend who worked with me on the Deadhead Comics project at Net Resources and he's going to help me with the design. So there will be some improvements in the future. Just don't hold you breath.
Monday, June 13, 2005
I know I'm not exactly built like Kate Moss, and I know I've got a fat arse so I dress accordingly. So here is the warning girls. If you are of a larger build do not under any circumstances wear hipster jeans. Especially do not wear hipster jeans with cropped tops. The sight of a wobbly, fat belly pouring over the top of the waistband is not pretty, in fact it looks disgusting. So stop it. NOW!
House hunting
When I moved to Edinburgh I got a furnished flat to live in. That basically means I've been living in a place where I worry about every spill on the rug and marks on the sofa. It's like being in a hotel room with no maid service. The main reason was that the boy wonder and I had a flat full of our own furniture in Manchester, the flat I was in was going to be temporary and as soon as I had a good job (TM) he would move north and we'd get a nice unfurnished place. That didn't go to plan. Firstly, Prudential Property Management, who had purchased the Manchester Arndale Centre from P&O Properties announced their plans for the redevelopment of the shopping centre about two weeks after I moved. Their plan involved knocking down one side of the Mall and rebuilding it in such a way that they could create a "high profile" store in that area. The plan also involved demolishing 60 apartments one of which I had a considerable stake in. It took three years to get a deal out of Prudential that didn't involve being screwed and believe me for a company who spend millions advertising themselves as a company who value communities they sure as hell tried to screw us and our neighbours.
< Biased opinion>Front page news - Prudential are just another bunch of lying, tight-arsed, money grabbing bastards. don't trust them to tell you the truth and don't trust them with with your hard earned cash< /Biased opinion>.
All the time this battle was going on the boy wonder was getting on well with his job so there was no immediate rush for him to move. He was looking for work here but not being in the area didn't help him.
Then we had all the upset of finding that my mother had lung cancer and the aggravation of my aunt hogging center stage as though she were the most important person in my mother's life and all the time trying to write me out of family history. Well given that her kids (my cousins) are a screwed up lazy jerk who spend more time with his mates than his wife and kid and a psychotic bitch who is only one step from the lunatic asylum, she's bound to have it in for anyone who is normal. She enlisted help from Ian the youngest of my uncles and they tried to take all sorts of moral high ground which I thought was prize especially as it was Ian's wife having an affair with my step-father that broke up my mother marriage.
After being taken completely out of the loop of the funeral arrangements, being told I couldn't speak with my step-father MKII and being physically threatened by Ian and getting verbal abuse from the psychotic bitch cousin, and seeing how boy wonder was standing by me I actually asked him to marry me. (It was more like "do you think we should get married?" I mean, hell, we'd been living together for 10 years at that point and separating would have been as painful as a divorce anyway).
Stay with me, this story does go somewhere. Eventually.
So moving on a year we got married. First day back at work after the honeymoon, he is taken to an office and told that he will resign, or else... The or else was a bit vague, in that it was we will put you through the disciplinary procedure and you don't have a chance, but no mention of what they would discipline him for and he couldn't think what in the hell he could possibly have done that would result in instant dismissal. On reflection we don't think there was anything that he had done but that the employers would have found something if he'd called their bluff. We decided not to do that as they were going to pay him his month's salary in lieu of notice (garden leave) and a nice hand out of three months salary tax free. So with no more ties to Manchester boy wonder moved up to Edinburgh. Into my furnished flat. With all our furniture from the place in Manchester!
To say that we are currently cramped is the understatement of the year. There is so much stuff in the flat that we have very little floor space to walk on and we have to negotiate passing places to move around the flat. It's like that game where you have to shift blocks around to make space to move other blocks. I'm not kidding.
So now that we are both working in nice well paid posts, we're looking for something else. Somewhere we don't have to worry if we get two visitors at the same time because we have space for the chairs. Somewhere we can actually have a dining table and not have to eat dinner from folding tv tables so that they can be stashed in a cupboard once we've finished using them.
We viewed a lovely flat on Friday and by the time I rang this morning to say we would take it we had beaten to the draw. Damn. There is another flat that we are interested in, but we aren't holding our breath, and we are going to look at some new build (yuck but needs must and all that) tomorrow.
Wish us luck
When I moved to Edinburgh I got a furnished flat to live in. That basically means I've been living in a place where I worry about every spill on the rug and marks on the sofa. It's like being in a hotel room with no maid service. The main reason was that the boy wonder and I had a flat full of our own furniture in Manchester, the flat I was in was going to be temporary and as soon as I had a good job (TM) he would move north and we'd get a nice unfurnished place. That didn't go to plan. Firstly, Prudential Property Management, who had purchased the Manchester Arndale Centre from P&O Properties announced their plans for the redevelopment of the shopping centre about two weeks after I moved. Their plan involved knocking down one side of the Mall and rebuilding it in such a way that they could create a "high profile" store in that area. The plan also involved demolishing 60 apartments one of which I had a considerable stake in. It took three years to get a deal out of Prudential that didn't involve being screwed and believe me for a company who spend millions advertising themselves as a company who value communities they sure as hell tried to screw us and our neighbours.
< Biased opinion>Front page news - Prudential are just another bunch of lying, tight-arsed, money grabbing bastards. don't trust them to tell you the truth and don't trust them with with your hard earned cash< /Biased opinion>.
All the time this battle was going on the boy wonder was getting on well with his job so there was no immediate rush for him to move. He was looking for work here but not being in the area didn't help him.
Then we had all the upset of finding that my mother had lung cancer and the aggravation of my aunt hogging center stage as though she were the most important person in my mother's life and all the time trying to write me out of family history. Well given that her kids (my cousins) are a screwed up lazy jerk who spend more time with his mates than his wife and kid and a psychotic bitch who is only one step from the lunatic asylum, she's bound to have it in for anyone who is normal. She enlisted help from Ian the youngest of my uncles and they tried to take all sorts of moral high ground which I thought was prize especially as it was Ian's wife having an affair with my step-father that broke up my mother marriage.
After being taken completely out of the loop of the funeral arrangements, being told I couldn't speak with my step-father MKII and being physically threatened by Ian and getting verbal abuse from the psychotic bitch cousin, and seeing how boy wonder was standing by me I actually asked him to marry me. (It was more like "do you think we should get married?" I mean, hell, we'd been living together for 10 years at that point and separating would have been as painful as a divorce anyway).
Stay with me, this story does go somewhere. Eventually.
So moving on a year we got married. First day back at work after the honeymoon, he is taken to an office and told that he will resign, or else... The or else was a bit vague, in that it was we will put you through the disciplinary procedure and you don't have a chance, but no mention of what they would discipline him for and he couldn't think what in the hell he could possibly have done that would result in instant dismissal. On reflection we don't think there was anything that he had done but that the employers would have found something if he'd called their bluff. We decided not to do that as they were going to pay him his month's salary in lieu of notice (garden leave) and a nice hand out of three months salary tax free. So with no more ties to Manchester boy wonder moved up to Edinburgh. Into my furnished flat. With all our furniture from the place in Manchester!
To say that we are currently cramped is the understatement of the year. There is so much stuff in the flat that we have very little floor space to walk on and we have to negotiate passing places to move around the flat. It's like that game where you have to shift blocks around to make space to move other blocks. I'm not kidding.
So now that we are both working in nice well paid posts, we're looking for something else. Somewhere we don't have to worry if we get two visitors at the same time because we have space for the chairs. Somewhere we can actually have a dining table and not have to eat dinner from folding tv tables so that they can be stashed in a cupboard once we've finished using them.
We viewed a lovely flat on Friday and by the time I rang this morning to say we would take it we had beaten to the draw. Damn. There is another flat that we are interested in, but we aren't holding our breath, and we are going to look at some new build (yuck but needs must and all that) tomorrow.
Wish us luck
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
A Very Late Update
The year has been a mad rush.
I got married (Yay)
Had honeymoon in Venice (Yay) (photos forthcoming... maybe... hopefully... one day)
I started a new job (Yay)
Hubby lost his job (Boo)
But he was then able to move from Manchester to Edinburgh (Yay)
I started evening classes ... (hmmm)
... and got a 71.75% pass on my first module (Yay)
Earning lots so just got new mobiles ... (Yay) (moblogging here I come... maybe)
... and a nice shiny Samsung Syncmaster 910N 19 inch TFT screen (Double yay with a back flip)
Plus I was made moderator on a big mailing list for a game (Yay)
which may lead to a place on the game's High Council (fingers crossed)
So as you can see I've been very very busy. Honest. :-)
The year has been a mad rush.
I got married (Yay)
Had honeymoon in Venice (Yay) (photos forthcoming... maybe... hopefully... one day)
I started a new job (Yay)
Hubby lost his job (Boo)
But he was then able to move from Manchester to Edinburgh (Yay)
I started evening classes ... (hmmm)
... and got a 71.75% pass on my first module (Yay)
Earning lots so just got new mobiles ... (Yay) (moblogging here I come... maybe)
... and a nice shiny Samsung Syncmaster 910N 19 inch TFT screen (Double yay with a back flip)
Plus I was made moderator on a big mailing list for a game (Yay)
which may lead to a place on the game's High Council (fingers crossed)
So as you can see I've been very very busy. Honest. :-)
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
No comment
Make up your own mind about this one.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/14/utah_grounds_santa/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/14/utah_grounds_santa/
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