So it's the time of year where everyone gets fit, loses weight, restarts blogs etc. etc. Well, I'm no different and am restarting my blog as well as popping algae capsules :-S and drinking beetroot and prune smoothies. Tasty and nutritious, so I'm told. Must confess to feeling and looking pretty much liek the Good Year Blimp after the excesses of the last few weeks. It's always hard to get back into any sort of routine after Christmas.

But a good time was had by all... The boys were royally spoiled by all and sundry and we now have more Halo stuff than you could possibly imagine. It was great having a bit of proper time off over Christmas, I was able to spend the day at home and head over to my mum's on Boxing Day without stressing about having to head in for a back shift. Also had a great day taking Connor and his pals through to Xscape for his birthday - dodgems, Frankie & Benny's and Laser Quest - best birthday ever and I think Connor enjoyed it.

Into the New Year and as with most folk I've got aims and objectives. One of them is to read more books. I love reading, but never seem to get the time. Aiming to average a book a week for the year and I've whacked through two already - Loss by Tony Black and Long Time Dead by the same author. Both were pretty good, the third and fourth in a series about washed up journalist/private investigator Gus Dury and his trials and tribulations with the Edinburgh underworld. Quite similar in style to Ian Rankin's Rebus books and I do love a book set in Edinburgh.

Next is the get fit nonsense. I've got three 'ambitions' for the year. The first is Oxfam's Trailtrekker Challenge, a 100km, 30 hr stroll through the Yorkshire Dales. Have to say that the support from family hasn't been overwhelming and it is looking unlikely due to a lack of volunteers - I need a team of 4 plus another volunteer as support - but I'm giving myself till mid Feb to get people involved. Next is the Glasgow to Edinburgh Cycle. With this, I'll be aiming for the 47 mile course. Hoping to get others involved in this too and finally I'll be doing hte BUPA Edinburgh 10k and hoping to beat my time from last year. Although Glasgow may make more sense, I enjoyed the course last year and it'll give me a better comparison doing the same course again. So I really need to start getting into training. Going to start off the year with mostly walking, a little bit of cycling and getting back into playing fives again next week. Once into about June I'll start to focus more on the cycling in the lead up to September and introduce more running from about July onwards. As is the January way, I'm full of vim and vigour at the minute and definitely feel that all 3 are very achievable. I just need to make sure that I focus on them properly and stick to my training regimes.

Well, that is about it just now. Blog again soon hopefully :-)

The lunatics have officially taken over

Not that long ago I blogged about my disappointment that the SNP and their leader, Alec Salmond had formed the majority government sitting in Holyrood. And with the new Anti-Sectarianism Bill being rushed through with such unseemly speed as to be a farce, it seems my worst fears are being realised almost immediately. A majority government to push through the most ill though out piece of legislation in years. A bill that is a knee-jerk reaction taken over a few weeks to a problem that has dogged Scottish football and, more importantly, Scottish society for decades. But one swish of Roseanna Cunningham's magic wand - under the watchful eye and smug grin of El Presidente of course - and it'll all go away. OK then.

It seems that we can now get arrested for singing our National Anthem, if the context suits, for expressing ourselves religiously in any way - again as long as the context is correct. Surely this is, in itself a form of discrimination? And surely this 'context' leaves itself open to abuse? Who is the one who can stand up and say 'That guy blessed himself aggressively in my direction!' And what judge can decide which of the 50,000 crowd at the Scotland England game were singing Flower of Scotland in a way to offend?

It is a ridiculous piece of paper that is being rushed through in time for the new football season next month without any thought or any proper debate.

And, on top of that, it's potentially a huge waste of police resources, which lets face it are stretched as it is. The SNP's promise in their 2007 manifesto to put more police on the streets really hasn't materialised - does anyone in Scotland feel their street is safer today than four years ago? Thought not.

Ladies and gents, it's time for the revolution!

Pootling Along

So, what's been happening?

Well, for a start, the Saab is officially gone. A man came with a big truck last week and hauled her up and took her away. At least he gave me £100 for the privilege. So, this means the BMW is now my wee runaround. Changed the battery yesterday - my first ever go at that - and, touch wood, that seems to have worked out well. Also had to replace the fuel filler cap, and OK, that ain't much, but it's a nice feeling getting wee bits and bobs like that for your new baby. She's all insured now as well which means I can actually go out and drive her, so we're heading through for a wee run to Edinburgh tonight to pick up Dave for 5-a-sides tomorrow.

Work is driving me slowly insane. Thankfully I have 3 days off, which is nice, but some of the stuff that's going on just beggars belief. I must've done something really bad in a previous life to have to put up with some of the numpties I work with.

SVQ is out of the way at the minute - Mein Commandant, I mean my assessor is off on holiday, so I've a few days of not having to think about it. Uni is still there though, I'm in the process of doing a 2000 word report on a couple of Self-Concept interviews looking at the Development of a Sense of Self in children and the differences in age with regard to that. Although I've not started writing, I've done a fair bit of reading and preparation so am feeling quite comfortable with it. Speak to me in 6 hours and I'll be sobbing in a corner, but I'm sure I'll get there.

Kirsty started her new placement today. Quite apart from the extra money, which is always nice, it means I shall occasionally get peace and quiet in the house to do my things without having to stay up till 3am. It does however mean I'll need to start doing more housework, so I'm considering hiring a maid, preferably someone blonde and Eastern European ;-)

Oh, and I've got an interview next week for a 6 month Team Leader secondment. To be honest, I've never felt more underwhelmed about getting an interview in my life, but I'll give it a go and may well surprise myself. We shall see.

Anyway, better get off and do this report - I've promised myself, an hour of work on that then I can have lunch with a half hour of Xbox.

This blog was composed to Suede by Suede.

Grrrr

Seriously frustrating day. Waiting and waiting and waiting. And then waiting some more. Had the day all planned, but due to circumstances outwith my control they were well and truly scuppered, leaving me all this stuff to fit around my shifts as this was my only day off this week.

One thing I did achieve was phoning the scrappy - the Saab goes tomorrow, which I am mighty sad about as I had a very enjoyable 6 months driving around in it and the only reason it is getting scrapped is because I never pulled my finger out. Silly boy, but lesson learned. Still haven't been able to get the Beemer insured, so haven't been out cruising yet, another frustration.

It's amazing the way things change, for the last week or so everything was coming up roses, but I knew it wouldn't last so made sure I enjoyed and appreciated it at the time.

On the plus side today, because I wasn't doing all my jobs I kept Ethan off nursery and spent some time with him, we went for a walk, did some jumping, explored the woods, met the world's soppiest Rottweiler and climbed daddy's rock. The sweetest thing was just before we left when he went rushing off to find his wee hat to pop on because daddy stuck his on.

And then this evening I got a wee game of Magic with Connor and whupped his ass good and proper :-) So it's not all been bad today.

Anyway, dishes, dishes and more dishes.

This was composed to How To Do Battle by Senser

There just aren't enough hours in the day

That's what I was thinking at 2.30 am, sitting struggling away with my next uni assignment, thinking I should really be in bed, but I should be doing the tax credit form, but I need to sort out the car file, but there's a mountain of dishes I've been promising to do for days etc. etc.

But such is life, just got to keep plodding along. It's actually been a pretty good week though. Kirsty has managed to procure herself a paid placement through the church in Stirling over the summer, which means that although she won't have the summer off with the boys, we will at least have a bit of cash to hopefully get our wee holiday in Comrie and pay a few things off (mainly my mother :-D) and it'll just take the stress off a bit. She also has an interview on Friday for a swanky new job - it looks a great opportunity for her, so I really hope she gets it. I sent off for a 6 month secondment, so fingers crossed for that - I think. There are definite pros and cons around it, but the experience will be fantastic. The money - and the workload with everything else that's going on, not so fantastic.

The training for the 10k hasn't quite kicked off yet, but I've got ages. I hope. It's just trying to fit it in can be a bit of a problem. But the Oxjam gig is looking promising, it looks like I've got a venue, but I'll get more details up as soon as possible.

Also looking forward to catching up with some friends over the next few weeks. Popping through to see Charlene tomorrow, which'll be nice. It'll hopefully give the Beemer a wee chance to stretch her legs as we haven't had a chance to get it insured yet, which has been ever so slightly frustrating. Which reminds me, I need to phone the scrappy about the Saab. See, it's neverending!

Well, I better go, working at one and these dishes won't do themselves.

This blog was composed to Powertrippin' by the Almighty.

Is sleep over-rated?

I'm starting to think that maybe it is. I can't remember the last time I had a couple of decent nights sleep in a row. Between uni and SVQ and stuff, it seems 2 am is an early night. But I'm actually handling it not too bad. The biggest problem is the lack of time with Kirsty and the boys. That last wee while I feel I've been drifting in from work, saying hi and getting right into the books until the 2am bedtime. I'm swithering between two clichés - it'll all be worth it in the end and make the most of it whilst they're young.

In other news, the Saab saga - it's been off the road a full year now, has run it's course. Tomorrow I'm phoning the scrappy. There's an opportunity arisen that pretty much necessitates a second car and quickly. And I've seen this which is very pretty and almost a sensible choice. Although my mum is currently trying to sell me my sisters butterfly-mobile :-S If anyone does hear of a decent wee runner going cheap as chips - must have a bit of tax and MOT, please give me a shout.

Not much else happening at the moment, so I shall toddle off.

Done it!

As the title says, I've done it. I've signed up for the BUPA Edinburgh 10k I think I have possibly lost the plot! I'm doing it on behalf of the ME Association and this is my JustGiving page.

And my darling wife, on seeing the course, announced that 'You're gonna DIE!' It's nice to have support.

So it's now down to me to get training and properly, none of this messing about. Signed up for a few Skyrides with Connor, so we'll be out on the bikes, I need to start the running and maybe even - whisper it - the gym.

In addition, I've bought myself a cheap wee pair of hiking boots to get in practice for the West Highland Way walk that I'm doing. Plus, I'm organising a team for a 5-a-side tournament to support Learning Disabilities week and I'm now involved in Oxjam, having signed myself up as promoter so now I need to put together some sort of fundraising musical extravaganza. Add in the uni work and the SVQ and I'm not entirely sure when I'm supposed to eat. But I'm looking forward to them all, I feel that for so many years I've just been dissolving into a big fat ball of telly-watching lard, it feels great to get involved with these things, especially as I seem to have some sort of career objective in mind at last and hopefully these things, in particular the Oxjam thing, will help towards that.

So, yeah, feeling pretty positive about these things and hopefully by the time of the Run, I'll be a lean, mean running machine. 3 hours is a good time for 10k, isn't it?

This blog was composed to the sounds of Damian Rice - nice and chilled :-)