Thursday 4 February 2010

The HURT Locker REMAKE - currently only story-boarding

HURT LOCKER  (the up north directors rip off)


Objective (i) To secure parents yard so the mutts can run around freely
Objective (ii) To reduce the required maintenance on the periphery of parents property

Which branch to cut ... trip branches and secondaries everywhere ...


Debate was on until last minute by purse string holder on wood or concrete finishing - once concrete was seen it was decided upon rapidly, due to its wonderful aesthetics.

Only issue with this is that it was about the same cost - overall, but the concrete was 3-4 times heavier than the wooden fixings - didn't really take this into account until it arrived on the truck !



Escape route hazard disarmed - careful or it might be a bit rubbish


Et Viola - privet privet every where - have you twigged on yet what it is ?...


And the privet came tumbling down - well currently sitting on the side garden out of sight !



Now to get the roots out - best action for these was the old crocodile movement - twist pull and turn - like a croc eating a wildebeest. Never ceases to amaze the size of the hole that is required to get under a tree root to make it give way !

Some tenacious roots just wanted to hang in there, but eventually they all gave way and couldn't hold out to the power of the Axe of pickies...



The idea was to lay a section down on the ground and use it as a template, well that was the plan, didn't quite work out that way !

Please note foreman BOB the DOG checking on things out - his motto - MEASURE ONCE CUT TWICE - he doesn't always get things right - at least he didn't mistake the fence posts for trees !



So we come to laying in the first panel, start digging hole and hey presto - here is the waste duct going from parents house to neighbours. So had to move hole down the garden by 4' 6" and fit 1/2 panel in the gap later - the 1/2 panel was a act of pure beauty - pure workshop engineering on the fly !

Post's 1 & 2 didn't lay in right - just getting used to what having to do :( 
Therefore fence not perfect on panel 1 - DOH !

Next few panels laid in beautifully.

21st century technology - is Postcrete better than Hard as Nails - gotta be a debate in there somewhere.



Length section run in - had to return to garden centre for materials to finnish off bottom section, couldn't run final panel in, due to it requiring the bottom section post to interlock with the length post to finnish it off nicely.



The corner interlocking posts fell together beautifully, bottom panel fitted in slot, but the post had to moved about 4" due to hitting heavy concretion from when neighbours had dropped in there original wooden posts. Once finished a single panel piece was doubled up with some 2x1 and dropped in to fill the final gap.

It's not absolutely perfect, some of the posts and panels are at slightly different heights to one another, but the PURSE STRING holder is very pleased and the original objectives were met or exceeded.

So finally compare and contrast :-


























Objective (i) To secure the yard so the mutts can run around freely
COMPLETE
Running so freely - it's now hard work to get them into the house - basically they love their new play area !

Objective (ii) To reduce the required maintenance on the periphery of the property
COMPLETE

The boss is already looking at the finishing touches - burnt oak colour for the panels and some nice topsoil for in front of the kennel


Objective (iii) To give freely to others whilst enjoying the journey
COMPLETE

Sometimes engineers needs to chip a finger nail or three...and think on there  feet in the field /     trenches .. to have fun

Text and photos protected by donttakewithoutasking.co.up.north.uk


Wednesday 21 October 2009

Fiter, Faster, Leaner, Slimmer

21/10/2009
Ok, so a friend said theyd dropped weight for the first time in a year - sounded good.

WII fit is now cranked daily and walking the dog, currently twice a day rain or shine - o it's not just a dog walk, its 2.5 miles at a consistent 4 mph.

The scales arnt going up, but like all good weight loss programs theyre not dropping very quickly for the effort expended either - cest la vie - and like most of us I do like the odd biscuit with a cuppa and Im not one for calorie counting - if I want to eat I want to eat !

Anyway one of those Bucket List items  is to perform a Marathon for a children's charity. So next years London Marathon is fully booked  and no where obvious to apply for the 2011 event - are we destined to some lesser event like a Sheffield Marathon ?

Trying to track and trend data is a nightmare, its not that easy, WII fit will track weight, but most of the other fitness software wont, and WII fit itself is a little limited functionality wise - hoping WII fit plus is going to improve on this situation.

The Nike+ sportband is looking like a cool option to support workouts and track and trend data and set goals and targets to strive for.

Using handheld GPS  to track distance over time, now if I could only turn that into calories burned ! Nike+ sportband does this effortlessly without having the rather large GPS swinging round my neck.

The other issue is punching through the majic week barrier, had EA Sports active for the WII with its many and various 30 day workouts and havent got to week two on any of them - week is always focused and then break at weekend and then dont seem to be able to get back on the horse in the second week - here's to next week.

Well - thats the diary entry for today - will update when progress is made, lets hope its not to long !#

24/10/2009

Ok - day six starting from last monday - just finnished this mornings session on WII Fit cardio workout and then let WII fit weigh me - 3lbs down in six days - this has been a hard slog - at least 1/2hr WII fit session each day and dog walking per notes above - have walked well in excess of 60K step this week and at least 75% of these have been at a decent walk rate circa 4 mph. Will be doing many steps today, but tonight is night off with a few beers and a giggle down the local.

Pushing onwards and upwards towards next week - this will be a particularly challenging, as its half term, which means there will be lots of stuff to distract from core fitness activities and its this distraction that has broken the cycle many times on the EA Sports Active 30 day challenge.

1/11/2009

Well, just about made it through week 2 - week 3 is gonna be a hard slog - tailing off towards the end of week 2 and losing motivation. Clocking LOTS of steps / miles per day and continuing with the WII fit cardio, although from thursday onwards dropped this off significantly due to having arthurgram and CT scan on shoulder.

Been eating very healthily, but the beers last night wacked couple of lbs back on in the short term - but managed to stay away from the chippy !

Also, been watching the calories in stuff at the supermarket - not counting calories per say - this is a step way to far for me - but looking at alternatives - the difference can be incredible - low fat salad dressing can be a 10th of the calories of a regular dressing - WOW !

Todays weigh in was 3lbs down on two weeks ago, but the day before was 2lbs lower than this - hoping this was alcoholic fluid and can kick back down this next week as I hit the burn again.

Dog's almost at the point of hiding his lead - but he's enjoying it !

Actually get the odd day where I actually feel hungry, which is a strange feeling and fighting really hard to not snack between meals.

Onwards and upwards - update to follow - next week(ish)

11/11/2009

OK so the boil has dropped off a bit now !

But still exercising regularly on Wii - EA Sport Active most days - today is a rest day in the 30 day program, just started this yet again, lets see if I can get through the 30 day challenge - getting out and walking the dog, actually trying to flip some of the walk into a JOG and its VERY satisfying and very hard - but damn if I cant JOG / RUN 3 miles, about the distance I regularly walk the dog, how the hell am I gonna do this 10 times and do a marathon.

So this is day 3 ish of week four and havent even dropped 1/2 stone yet - although according to the scales this morning VERY close to that, but have seen the scales jump up 2-3 lbs in one day over the last 3 weeks !

Maybe I just like my food to much ? Just have to keep watching what were buying and eating and those DAMN snacks between meals and more importantly eating after 9pm, which is SO HARD when chill axing !

Been very disappointed with the amount of effort put in and the lack of weight drop.

BUT lets push on and see what happens in the next week or so.

Lets make it happen.

Later

Sunday 18 October 2009

A close shave

So the fun us men have with our daily stubble.

Being a neanderthal alpha male - I have never really given shaving "THAT" much attention, but generally stuck to what works. Found out at an early age that regular shaving tended to rip me up - so put this down to sensitive skin and went down that route. Also getting going in the morning not wanting to spend ages getting sorted - simple, quick and on to the job in hand.

So for many, many, many - did I say many years ! I have been using the Phillips / Norelco Coolskin electric razor technology, found pure dry shaving would bring me out in a rash - probably due to the sensitivity issue. Ive actually been through at least three of the Phillips / Norelco units. One of the mega pluses of the units is that I can use it in the shower and hit two birds with one stone. The lubricating gel that the units use bring the whole experience VERY close to a wet shave with a lot of convenience.

But whats this - there's a raging battle on in the razor world - visiting my local super market - I spy the Wilkinson Sword Quattro Titanium with a spare blade for a few squid - Ill give wet shaving another go and see if it works for me these days. What a great experience - safety wires, 4 blades, contour blade. Time marches on and the blades need replacing - just under a fiver for four new blades - OUCH - but whats this another promotion - this time for King Of Shaves AZOR razor including 3 spare blades for less than the price of the replacement blades for the Quattro - gotta be worth a punt.

O dear - didn't enjoy the experience at all - wait there's details inside that say if I'm not happy to drop King Of Shaves a note - nothing to loose.

So the King of Shaves product line - I have always seen them as a little expensive with respect to the stores own brand for products and never seen any offers that would make me stray - aware that they drove the market with OIL based stubble lubricants - but due to cost I couldn't see how a tiny jar of oil could replace my cheap mega can of spray gel from my supermarket.

How wrong I could be !

Wait I'm getting e-mail's from King Of Shaves - a companies customer service is actually responding to me in a positive manner - if you saw the response I had from a high street retailer with respect to a letter I wrote to them about there 25 year anniversary campaign and how as regular customers we had lost out big time - you'd understand, please note I'm not a professional moaner, but feel that companies need to hear the voice of the customer and I am happy to stick my head above the fox hole where others dare not.

Back to this stories arc, King Of Shave agreed to provide a refund for the dissatisfaction I had encountered with their product - but I offered that rather than a refund they could take the opportunity to provide me with replacement product.

I received a replacement package from King Of Shave, as well as the offer to try the SENSITIVE version of the AZOR when it was in stock. In the package was the little jar of wondrous oil and it lasts an incredible 60 shaves and although Ive not got to 60 yet - its definitely working excellently and you use an incredibly small amount.

I read the literature that came with the products and there educating briefing on the importance of - PRIME - SHAVE - PROTECT - before for me it used to be a quick "scrape" and dash - after the experience with King of Shaves products, its a gentler PRIME - SHAVE - PROTECT - neanderthal man is evolving !

So the SENSITIVE AZOR with BENDOLOGY arrived - well it works - its a great shave - the moral to the story is that if I had picked this up off the shelves first - I would not have experienced stellar customer service from King of Shaves - a thing that some large organisations have lost and take there paying customers for granted - but as important - my daily shaving regime has progressed from a harsh scrape and dash to a facial workout and protection regime.

Thanks guys for a whole new experience - the activity did actually remind me of watching the new version of Reggie Perrin earlier in this year !

Thursday 15 October 2009

Top 10 Albums

An interesting activity, one that again may need honing over time, so for a quick starter for 10 here goes - five mins hacking through Itunes to see whats there, guess if its not there its not important, but this is not quite the case i.e. lots of vinyl at my pops that is brill, just not stuff Id listen to these days, so today's results in no particular order :-

- Dirty Vegas - Dirty Vegas
- Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace - Foo Fighters
- Confessions of a dance floor - Madonna
- Hotel - Moby
- MTV Unplugged - Nirvana
- Stadium Arcadium - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
- Robbie Williams Live at Knebworth
- How to dismantle an atomic bomb - U2
- Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts club band - Beatles

Note to self - must hack through this again sometime and think a little wider about stuff like Thriller etc.

Top Movies

15/10/2009
So what a cool place to put a list of top movies, thanks again http://twitter.com/reeley

Guess it will need updating and editing over time, specially when new stuff comes out...

For now it will be a list of decent stuff I can remember, later, time permitting, Ill hone it to a sharper subset of higher quality

16/10/2009 (again)
- Alphabetised

18/10/2009
- Update with more movies

12 Angry Men
2001 a space odyssey

A beautiful mind
A clockwork orange
A few good men
African Queen
A fistful of dollars
AI
Alien
Apocalypse now
Awakenings

Basic Instinct
Ben Hur
Blade Runner
Breakfast Club
Bullitt

Cape Fear (Both)
Cinderella Man
Collateral

Deer Hunter
Dirty Harry

Fight Club
For a few dollars more

Gladiator
Godfather - all of them
Gran Turino

Heat
Highlander

Indiana Jones ...
Italian Job

JFK

Kill Bill - 1 & 2

Last Samuri
Lucky number slevin

Magnum Force
Matrix trilogy
Men of Honor
Million Dollar Baby
Motorcycle diaries

Natural Born Killers

On Golden Pond
One flew over the cuckoo's nest

Papillon
Platoon
Prizzi Honor
Pulp fiction

Reservoir Dogs
Robocop

Schindlers list
Se7en
Silence of the Lambs
Silk
Sin city
Sixth Sense
Snatch
Sneakers
Star Wars

Taking of Pelham 123 - 2009
Taxi Driver
The Enforcer
The fifth element
The good, the bad and the ugly
The great escape
The green mile
The guardian
The prestige
The shinning
Top Gun
Troy
Twelve Monkeys

Unforgiven
Untouchables - don't bring a knife to a gun fight

Vanilla Sky

Wall E
War Games

Friday 9 October 2009

Im alive - again !

Quick post for now !

So I guess its a phoenix from the flames moment to keep idle hands busy !

to see earlier ramblings please visit :-

http://sheffield121505.spaces.live.com

Why abandon that one - cause its microsoft specific and they wouldnt let me migrate it to my new msn account - if they cant get something as simple of that sorted, how can expect them to be standards independent and let me integrate anyones technology without it first being converted to a bastardised microsoft version of what Im looking to achieve !

So, the horse is out of its stall, lets yell like crazy and see where its nose will take it !

Signing off for now - but more to follow - soon - o lets see how the Poltergeist chase goes ! over the next few days - hope I dont have to find me a holy man (or more correctly in the 21st centruy PC world - a holy person).

Fastest cake in the west - scone....