Chrsitmas Pics

Just a couple of pics from Christmas Day at Ron and Deb's, in case you couldn't be bothered to click through onto Flickr ;-)

Conflict of interest?

I looked, and couldn't find sexy time anywhere in the bible. Not specifically anyway

Christmas Eve

The Thompsons, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

Just trying to catch up after a few days of not touching the web, so lets start with Christmas Eve. We were heading over to Heidi's parents for Christmas Day, so we met up with The Thompsons for dinner, and then a tour around Lights at the Zoo. This was the first time I had been to this, and it was actually pretty cool - lots of pretty lights, a few animals, and the popcorn was warm and sweet - just the way I like it. It also happened to be bloody freezing, but i was lucky and found my snowboarding hat in the pocket of my jacket, which probably saved my life. Oh yeah, and the heated seats in the car on the way home.

Anyway, had a blast hanging out with Meaghan and Holly, who even managed to persuade me to jump on the merry-go-round for the first time in about 20 years. The monkey seat I sat on definitely helped!

Lie Detector for the iPhone

If you've just got a new iPhone for Christmas, and aren't quite sure what the most useful things to do with it are, try out this lie detector. Not guaranteed to be fool proof, but might be worth a go to make sure that sales guy in Best Buy isn't trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Audi A7 at Detroit?

Could it be that one of the automakers actually have something new and not previously "leaked" on the internet for the Detroit Motor Show? Autoblog is speculating it might be the gorgeous Audi A7.....

I really should post more

Given I've technically been on vacation since Monday night, that should mean I've had loads of time to post stuff. But of course, I never quite got around to it, so you'll have to make do with this ramble until I think of something fun to put up here.

So, it's Christmas Eve, and the plans are all in place, all the wife's presents arrived in time (apart from one little joke thing that I can survive without), and we're about to head out on part 1 of a two part Christmas, spending Christmas Eve with lots of smelly animals at the Denver Zoo with Meaghan and Holly.

I was thinking back to what my usual Christmas Eve used to be like in Newcastle. I guess I had two "normal" Christmas Eve's - one when my Dad still had the butchers shop, and the other when he didn't (before and after aged 20 I guess). The before part meant getting up (again) at the crack of dawn to work in the shop. It was normally the second busiest day of the year (the day before being busier and longer), but it was always a fun time - plenty of people excited about Christmas, selling them their turkeys and generally having a good bit of a chit chat while the Christmas songs played in the background on the radio. However, we used to try and close up early, maybe around 2 or 3, but there was always this one old bloke who ordered a fresh turkey, and liked to pick it up on Christmas Eve. He managed to spend a little too much time in the social club, having his Christmas pint(s), and conveniently forgot we were closing early, so we would always end up having the shop washed and closed up, but sitting their waiting until he arrived. If we were lucky, it was before 4, but there was one year where we did seriously consider leaving, as it was after 5 or so. Not sure his wife would have been too pleased if he had come home without the turkey, so we did the right thing and hung around until he staggered in.

The post shop Christmas Eve's meant emergency shopping in the morning (the older I get, the less organized I am), followed by lunch/afternoon on the beers in Newcastle, followed by night on the beers in Whitley. Normally the afternoon was just Rach and me, and sometimes a few others, with most of our friends joining for the frenzy in the night time. Pete Sausage (Rach's Dad) was always kind enough to run us around to wherever we needed to be, so it was like having your own personal limo service for the afternoon, and boy did we need it some years. Walking was never my strong point, especially after crashing a few of those PR Firm parties we managed to blag our way into. We somehow always pulled it together to make it through Whitley, but the memories are a little hazy on those nights some years.

Anyway, just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and hope all your wishes come true this holiday season (as long as they're nice wishes of course). Have a good one!

The Big Picture

Take a look here, here and here. Might take u 5 or 10 minutes to get through it all, but it's worth it.

Green Card Stuff

I really hope that this doesn't mean I have to stand in the non-US line when I get off the plane. Giving the fingerprints and picture isn't really an issue given it's already been done multiple times, and both are imprinted on your Green Card anyway....

DHS wants green card holders' fingerprints | Politics and Law - CNET News

My Favorite Wedding Pic

0174_IMG.jpg, originally uploaded by Aaron in Denver.

Of all the great pics we got in our album, this is probably my favorite (although this one runs it close). We managed to get a new photo printer the other day, and it has the ability to print out in 13x19, so this is going to be my first attempt (and got some hanging things as well, so I might actually finally, 12 months late, get some stuff on my walls in the office at work). The paper arrived today (that stuff isn't cheap), so it'll be on my project list for this weekend (along with the less fun task of working out why our washing machine has started to create huge puddles of water in the basement, urgh).

Hope this is a joke.....

Drinking the blood? Seriously?

Yahoo! Answers

source - topherchris - the guy with snowflakes on his website

Blyth Spartans Make it to 3rd Round of FA Cup

It's kinda weird how there always seems to be one tiny little part time team who somehow get into the FA Cup later stages on a regular basis.

When I was growing up, I was lucky enough for that team to be Blyth Spartans, which was just a few miles down the coast. And now it looks like they're up to their old tricks again. Their win last night guarantees them a game against Premier League (at least for now) team Blackburn, which means they've actually got a bit of a shot of going further. I'm sure they'll also get some decent coverage on the BBC for this game as well - everyone loves an underdog story in the FA Cup.

BBC SPORT | Football | FA Cup | Blyth Spartans 1-0 Bournemouth

Subaru Out of Rallying

In a move that confirms the end of the world is nigh, Subaru announced it was pulling out of the World Rally Championship. Having grown up on this stuff all my life (and lusted after a WRX since they first got to the UK, and then eventually bought one, only to have it stolen just a few years into it's young life), this kinda breaks my heart.

Sun Tattoos

Not really appropriate given the weather forecast for the next couple of weeks here in Denver, but if you're in the southern hemisphere, or like to plan a long way in advance, check out these sun tattoos. Not permanent, but will probably last longer than those Henna things you get in Tenerife. Of course, mine only come in bright red, and the peeling wouldn't make them very attractive.....

New Ford Focus RS

The new Ford Focus has been released in Europe (or the details have at least) and it's nice. 275 bhp and nearly 300 lb-ft of torque to keep you entertained. Now we just need 2 things - the review from Evo to see if handles, and an announcement that they're bringing it over to the US.

Dream Home Setup

And it's a bargain half price just in time for Christmas. Unfortunately, half price is still nearly 10 grand, so it won't be going on the list for me.

Smallest Mouse

allegedly anyway. However, it is guaranteed to give you cramp after 10 minutes of use. If you can't find enough room in your laptop bag for a decent sized mouse, you need another bag.

Go Karts are Great

I managed to get in a quick afternoon session of karting when I was back in England, but never quite made it to the Isle of Man to try out these ones.....

Christmas Drinking

Every now and again, I've been known to have the occasional tipple over the holidays. These days it kinda pales into insignificance compared to the 3 or 4 week benders during the 16 to 30 period of my life (the all day Christmas Eve Newcastle/Whitley combinations were always special), but a decent couple of sessions are still squeezed in there. Luckily for me, the BBC has put up this helpful site to work out how many pies/pastys/cakes you could have had for the calories instead of the drinks. Personally, it's never been an either/or thing for me - I think everyone should use this site to work out exactly how much they have to consume the morning after in order to alleviate the hangover. Now there's a challenge that's worth taking.

Audi R8 V10 (Officially now)

So I've been meaning to post this for ages, and finally got round to it when I got an email from R8 lover extraordinaire Lesley about sorting out the Lotus Driving School thing we're looking to do next year.

Audi finally announced the much rumored V10 version of it's flagship go-fast and gorgeous car, the R8, with the official figures coming out at 525 bhp and 390 lb-ft of torque. 0-60 is 3.9 seconds, and it'll (somewhere) go 196mph. That seems fast enough to me, and along with the subtle changes to the outside, it's right back up there on my list of cars to own when/if I win the lottery. Pricing in the US hasn't been announced (but in the UK it's about 30k pounds higher than the regular V8, so I'm guessing about $160k over here).....

And yes, it's officially pretty enough to get two pics on here - there's more here and here.

Bagpuss and Ivor creator dies

This was one of my favorite shows when I was growing up - the little mice running round singing "we will fix it" and then everyone falling asleep just in time, before Emily returned. It turns out I wasn't the only one either - apparently Bagpuss was voted TV's favorite animal in a poll earlier this year (in the UK of course - never seen it over here).

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Bagpuss and Ivor creator dies

UK Censorship Hits the Mainstream?

Wikipedia is on some watchlist in the UK now?

Nixta's Chops

Nixta's Chops, originally uploaded by nixta.

He scares me. Lots.

And just for the record, my mother was clearing out old photos when I was back home, so apart from the usual dodgy school stuff, there happened to be one of the famous purple suit. Scan and post will at some point follow.

IT vs Employees

Courtesy of Tonks, this made me laugh and cry way too hard for the office (it was lunchtime though).

S5 Convertible Announced

One of my favorite looking cars has just come out in a cabrio version, and it still looks very pretty. The usual engine options are available, including the new V6 supercharged engine going into the new S4. I haven't read through all the press release yet, but I'm hoping it's got the suspension and handling improvements I was reading so much about last week in the UK - apparently the new S4 is finally going to up the stakes in the handling department to compete better with BMW (think finally being able to get the back end out on an S4, like you can with your M3 or 335i).

Elf Yourself

It's back, once again, with a few different dances and as you can see, I take my dancing very seriously. Must be the season....

Send your own ElfYourself eCards