I begin as I must while I am officially in offline mode, with an update of my time in prison. The time clocked up so far, is 2 days, 22 hours, 11 minutes and 29 seconds. I am writing at around 9.43pm on Saturday evening but it will take a while to get everything written and I want to capture all the events of the weekend, so this post will not be uploaded until Monday.
Being offline does have it’s benefits. I can get on with tasks and complete a blog post in record time. There are no distractions on MSN, or the latest scores to check on BBC Football or just dive over to Radio Times to find out what is on television in the next hour or so. Of course, I wish I was online, I feel disconnected, off the grid but I will be able to check my e-mails on Monday at work and hopefully it will only be a few more days before I am up and running. I survived twenty-days last year (with the help of Pav, whom introduced me to a little known US TV show called Heroes), I am confident that I will not be breaking into double figures with my counter this year.
Had a good day today. Got up just before 9am, had a quick breakfast, watched some BBC News and then got ready. The rest of the morning was spent on the computer waiting for my parents and sister to arrive. With the morning to myself, the care package (volume 4) had arrived and I was spoilt for choice in terms of what to watch. So, I opted to watch Sarah Connor before then switching to Freeview. I watched Click and then was close to the end of Football Focus before they arrived. It was a good afternoon. My family had brought over quite a few bits and pieces I had needed and we had a big lunch of home cooked food, which was lovely. We then went into town to show them around Newbury and my new office before heading back to the flat. We then headed over to the retail park to go to Pound Stretcher and Comet. The TV booster we got from Comet didn’t work 🙁 so my Dad and I headed quickly to Robert Dyas to get another booster (which was much cheaper) and it did the job. Although I need to download the latest software for my TV card to get it working fully, some of the channels are a bit juddery.
My parents left at 6pm and I decided to go on the computer for a while before settling down in front of the box for a few hours. I watched the start of Strictly Come Dancing before switching over to the other side to watch Harry Hill’s TV Burp and then The X Factor. Swing is not my favourite style of music, it is okay but not my cup of tea. Having said that, the standard was extremely high and the right person went home, in my opinion. Just his body language as the results were read out, you could tell he knew he had not done enough. Then during the sing off he just went through the motions and the judges had no choice. Still JLS to win in my opinion. What is the theme for next week?
What did I watch on Friday night? Well there was Knight Rider, then Big Bang Theory and then Fringe but I’m missing episode three, so stuck at the moment, I have episodes four and five knocking around. Episode two was good but it is a typical JJ Abrams affair. Just like LOST (not that I ever seen an episode) there is a sinister big corporation behind or involved with this “Pattern”. Interesting stuff, but very much X Files meets another show, (perhaps CSI) but I will give it time, it deserves my patience. Plus, I have little else to do before my net is up!
Joined the library on Monday, then on Tuesday after work headed down to see if I could get a book I had been looking to read. They did not have in stock in the West Berkshire Network. It would be a £2 fee to see if they could source book from another library network but it is perhaps easier for me to buy the book from Amazon. I wanted to read a book of my own choosing but also have my friend’s twenty-five “Books to Read before you Depart” list. On Friday, as I was allowed out early, I headed to the library and opted to loan out The Hound Of The Baskervilles. I had enjoyed The Sign Of Four which I had read earlier in the year and there is just something appearing about the detective Holmes as seen through the eyes of Doctor Watson.
What did I do today? Well I got up before 8am (GMT) and after a quick breakfast was in the car around 8:14am and headed to the gym for a quick workout. When I got home, there was an answer phone message (my first!) from Chris. His football match had been cancelled and he was happy to pop over later on in the day. Great, so two gym sessions in one day! Not bad, plus I have to make use of the free guest passes I have, they expire tomorrow! Will be good to see Chris and catch up, plus we can hopefully grab some food and catch the early afternoon kick off down in town. It went slightly different from that plan. Chris wanted a lie in for a few hours and came over later in the afternoon. He got here around 1.30pm and after a quick tour of the flat headed over to Cannon’s Health Club. I had to sign Chris in with my guest pass but after filling in the paperwork we were free to get changed and head up. We went for a 15 minute run as a warm up, then got on with my weights programme. I could feel that I had already gone through this programme, only six hours previously. However it was well worth it, just to get the advice from Chris and a second opinion on my programme. After completing everything, Chris introduced me to two new machines which I will start phasing into my work outs. We then headed home and Chris decided it had to head back to Henley which was a shame. I was hoping we could have gone into town and at least caught the first half of the football (soccer or NFL) depending on which pub we decided to go to.
Instead, as soon as I was dropped off, I came in, made some food, watched some television and then jumped onto the computer. I wanted to tape, the national anthems from Wembley before the NFL International Series match between the San Diego Chargers and New Orlean Saints. The Star Spangled Banner was performed by NeYo (minus his trademark hat) and God Save The Queen by the shoeless Joss Stone. Quite clearly to see, just like on the end of May when the US football team came to play England, that the American National Anthem is just a class above that of my own country. It does pain me to say it but it is true. What do you think?
It is Sunday evening, eight minutes until 6pm and my count down timer has reached 3 days, 19 hours, 22 minutes and 5 seconds. I am listening to the closing minutes of the West Ham versus Arsenal match on Radio Five Live. The Gunners lead two goals to nil. Not sure how to spend the rest of my evening. I have already ticked off quite a few things off the list I made late last night for today. Burn all the best music videos onto four DVDs to take up to Wrexham with me on Friday. I still need to back my bags and print off my e-tickets. Plenty to keep me busy for the rest of this week then, on top of everything else.
A quick update, I tried to upload this blog post today (Monday 27th) at work but unfortunately I only have read only access to FTP sites. So therefore, I am going to e-mail the HTML files to Pav and get him to upload from his end. It is like having contraband, smuggling it across enemy lines and finally releasing to a public that are eager for news!