Spam, spam spam

For as long as we've had email (well almost) we've had spam - unsolicited emails, usually suggesting you part with wads of cash for some potion or pills that will perk up your libido so to speak. Generally, most people get onto spam lists quite unintentionally by responding to requests to provide their email address which is then sold on by a third party, or because they naively respond to a spam email itself which does little more than verify the email address is active, and therefore continues the cycle...

I've always been pretty responsible in the respect (I thought). Careful about who and under what circumstances I provide my email address to, and for several years actually didn't suffer from too much spam. In the last year though, I've noticed an exponential increase, and now I get shedloads on a daily basis.

I use a program called "Mailwasher" to filter my spam on my host ISP server before I download it, and this helps enormously, but it's still a right royal pain in the ****. I can't undestand why there isn't a more concerted effort to try and tackle the perpetrators of spam. Unless of course there's a financial incentive not to. But then maybe that's just a cynical viewpoint.

Premiership? Not yet

I loyally bought my Cardiff City season ticket way back in May, confident that we'd be able to push for promotion this year. With money in the bank from the sale of Michael Chopra to Sunderland for £5m, manager Dave Jones had money to spend.
8 new players in, included the ageing but Premiership experienced duo of Robbie Fowler and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - great coups.
Sadly our start to the season has been decidedly mediocre. 3 home losses. 2 away wins and a draw. JFH finally got off the mark with a stunner against Watford last night, but we still lost 2-1. We can't defend (although having Purse, Loovens and Scimeca all out doesn't help. Fowler looks off the pace, but you can see his (and JFH's) thought processes are a step up on everyone else.
There is a long way to go, but we need to start winning at home. Bring on Preston this Saturday!

Via Vox

Another shiny gadget

I'm just a sucker for shiny gadgets and 8 months after replacing my broken Treo 650 smartphone with it's 680 successor I've made the move from the Palm platform to Windows Mobile. I'm now using an HTC S710 or "Vox".

It's a Windows Mobile 6 smartphone, smaller than the Treo with a slide out QWERTY keyboard which when opened automatically switches the screen to landscape mode.

With WIFI, and GPRS it really only lacks 3G, but frankly I don't need that sort of performance.

Whilst I still can't bring myself to ditch the Palm platform entirely, I must admit I like the Vox. Cool.

Mobile email via Vox

Sunny Days

We've just returned from a fortnight in Puerto Pollensa in Majorca, and jolly nice it was too. Hot sunshine, cold beer and warm seas - just the thing to forget about the rat race. we've been before, in fact this is our 3rd trip to the same place. The kids loved it (it was a Thomson Superfamily hotel), the scenery is superb up in the mountains, and for me and the missus it was a nice relaxing holiday. We've only been back a day or two and have already got some brochures for next years outing. Time to start saving the pennies...
For anyone interested, our top highlights of the holiday were:

1. The Pirates Adventure show in Magaluf - stunning acrobatics
2. Evening horseriding at Rancho Grande in Son Serra de Marina, followed by a meal, shedloads of sangria and a chance to make a fool of yourself on the Bucking Bronco - I managed 34 secs and was only beaten into second spot by a 13 year old who managed 35 secs!
3. The drive down to Sa Colabra - must be one of the bendiest roads on the planet - tough in a car - we met about 30 coaches coming up!
4. The beach at Formentor - pictured - almost like being in the caribbean!

Look out Shane Warne

Proud moment today, as "Junior" aka "Mini-Stats" played cricket for the Sunday senior side - at 12 and a half the youngest player on the pitch by some distance and in his first senior competitive match . Not only did he field well, but given the chance with the ball bagged 4-13 with his leg breaks against a youthful, but talented Blaengarw side. 1 bowled, 1 catch and 2 stumpings is an impressive return. With his 1-0 in a senior warm up, he's now got 5-13 in his 2 senior matches to date. He genuinely turns the ball, and boasts a googly and flipper. Let's hope he can keep that going, for Dinas Powys CC and England's sake!

In 5 U13 matches this year he's averaging a tad over 37 with the bat as well, and if he keeps working hard, could turn out to be a fine young cricketer. I on the other hand, coming to the end of my career am struggling to hit the ball off the square, and can't bowl because of my dodgy knee. Time to move over I think...

Summer - What summer?

As usual I've been neglecting my blogging duties (how do people who run regularly updated blogs find time to do it?) Well, I suppose they may not play cricket (of which more later), coach junior cricket, run a taxi service for 2 children, play skittles, have a house to decorate/upkeep and full time job and try and keep 3 websites on the go.

So what have I been up to. Playing cricket certainly hasn't been on the agenda. The rain has been persistent and we haven't played a league match in 3 weeks. No bad thing I guess considering my form before the heavens opened! After such a glorious April, the rest of the summer so far has turned into a big damp squib.

One bright spot was that the U13 cricket team I coach won their first ever match last week. I was so chuffed for them all as we've taken a bit of a battering in our other matches, but the lads have progressed really well this season and definitely deserved the win.

Let's hope the weather changes for the better soon. Apart from anything else I need to top up my suntan!

Cricket lovely cricket!

So the cricket season is upon us once again. Two matches for Dinas Powys CC last weekend. On a glorious early May Saturday we chased down Lisvane Whiteheads 280 to win by 3 wickets. On a rather more blustery Sunday we were stuffed in the 1st round of the Welsh Cup by arch rivals Barry Wanderers. Oh well, at least we can concentrate on the league!

Sent by Treo 680

Mother's Day

Mother's Day tomorrow. Kids are excited about delivering presents and flowers and breakfast in bed to their Mum.

Time for me to pause and think about my Mum, Kit who passed away on 19th December 2002. She was a great Mum to all of us (Terry, me, Stephanie & Richard) and a wonderful wife to our Dad, George, who still misses her terribly. There's not many days go buy when I don't think about her, so Mum, if you're listening, Happy Mother's Day for tomorrow.

Spring is coming - is it?

My conservatory is starting to look like a greenhouse. It's full of seedlings and young plants. The raised bed of a couple of posts ago has been built (and already has mixed salad, parsnips, carrots and peas grwoing in it (albeit slowly) in this late winter weather.
I've also got 3 different types of tomatoes, onions, basil and coriander on the go, plus a variety of annual flower seedlings. Today I planted out some perennials received in the post. If it all comes off it should be great!

City Talk

Well, City are still in with a shout of he play-offs, but losing 3-1 to derby today didn't help. On the bright side, work has started on the long awaited replacement stadium for Ninian Park, but it won't be readyuntil at least Christmas 2008....
We've bought our season tickets for next year. We haven't even finished this season yet, but £370 for me and my son to watch a seaon just seemed like to good an opportunity to waste.
Hopefully next time I post, it'll be about a resurgent City.

Raised beds

No, nothing to do with sleeping on stilts. I like gardening (hey it's not a crime!), and I only have a small ish garden. It was in a mess when we moved in 2 years ago - nothing but weeds and mud. It's turning around and I've got some small borders now, but nowhere to grow my veg. So I've decided that a small portion of a straggly lawn (which the kids don't play on anyway) will be given over to a raised bed. All I have to do is build it, and then away we go......Ha ha - you obviously haven't heard about my DIY skills.........

City on the up

Well, no sooner said than done. A 1-2 win at Wolves, despite their ridiculous fan ban, and then City 3 - Leicester 2. We tried to give it away in the final few minutes, but held on for the win thanks to a stunning hat trick from Michael Chopra. That's 4 in 2 games for "Chops". Maybe it's turning round for us.

City woes

I can't understand what's happening at Cardiff City - almost 2 months at the top of the table earlier this season, and all the talk was of of Premiership action next season (I thought this might have been a tad premature I'll have you believe), and now we're 8th, although only 3 points of 4th spot. We can't win a game to save our life, and can't score to get the win. I missed our last home win against Burnley in November, which means I haven't see them win since October!

We need a bit of luck - performances have improved generally since Christmas, but currently everything's conspiring against us. I still think a play off spot is agood target. Come on you Blooobirds!

New Year in the Gower

You'll have seen in an earlier post about how I managed to "fry" my phone whilst away at New Year. Well, here's where we went. A small, incongruous hut right at the far end of the Gower penninsula in South West Wales, a few hundred yards from the beach. The weather was a lot worse than it looked here! The accomodation can best be described as "functional", but it served it's purpose. It' even got an outside fridge for keeping the beer cold. Oh well, okay, the outside IS the frdige!! Anyway, so long as you don't mind sleeping bags and bunks, it's fine, and all of our party who went enjoyed themselves. There's a big cooker, microwave, a log burning stove, showers, toilets (yes, all that in that little tin shed, so it can be a bit cramped), but if you don't might semi "roughing" it for a few days it's great! The hut's actually a National Trust property, known as "Gower Base Camp". It's used by the NT as a base for people who are working on NT matters in the area, but can also be hired out privately, as we did, for about a tenner a night per person. I think there were about 14 of us at the time.

It's close to Llanmadoc village, but a good 30 minute stomp from the Brittania Inn. Set amongst pine trees and sand dunes, on a huge windswept beach, it's a great place to get away from it all.

Digital Deliverance

Subsequent to my last post, I've come to understand the relief that is insurance. My very friendly and helpful insurance company, who shall remain nameless, but have the words "Liverpool" and "Victoria" in it's title, have dcereed that the damage was "accidental" and my smartphone is covered under a "new" for "old" replacement cover. This is particualrly joyous, in that my fried smartphone isn't available new any more, and so I can essentially upgrade to the latest model (in fact the new model is cheaper than the old one was anyway!). So, hopefully tomorrow, I'll be the owner of a shiny new Treo 680. Result!

Digital Disaster

Yesterday my smartphone was OK. Then I had a go on one of these games where you have to thread a loop around a twisted wire without touching the wire or BAM you get an electric shock. I got a shock. My smartphone, which was in my pocket, got fried - or at least the screen did. No I have a choice. Either try and replace the screen - minimum £50 and a bit of hope - if I can find one and if it works, or buy a new smartphone (a nice shiny new upgraded model). My heart says get a new phone, my head (or more explicitly my bank account) says go for the replacement screen.......

Happy New Year

Well it's 3.15pm on New Year's Eve and I'm with my wife and friends in a pub at the end of the Gower penninsula. Great! Happy New Year to you all!

Merry Christmas!

If anyone's reading this, have a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

How neat is this?

This posting has been written and submitted on my Palm Treo 650 smartphone. Now I can blog from anywhere!

[Posted with hblogger 2.0 http://www.normsoft.com/hblogger/]

Remember Christmas?

Well. Here we are again. Hardly a year gone, and it's time for tinsel once more. I was looking for a Christmas card for my wife the other day in one of those high street card shops. Unlike me, my wife has strong faith, and I was looing for a card that represented at least in passing, what Christmas is all about. Could I find one? Could I? No.

If wanted cuddly bears, hearts, flowers and so on I was fine. Even the odd snowman was around. Robins were in short supply, and I actually found one card that had a picture of a church on it. But Mary, Joseph, a star or even God forbid the baby Jesus. Nowwhere in sight.

Around me on the high street people were rushing around like idiots spending money on things that will be son forgotten or discarded, without even a thought as to why we exchange gifts on December 25th. The supermarkets are even worse, with people buying like there's a food shortage on the horizon - and they'll all be open again on Boxing Day or the day after at the latest...

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a religious zealot, and in fact find it terribly hard to have any faith at all, and have respect for those that do, but at least I understand and remember what Christmas is about. Shame the rest of the world is forgetting....