HD TV... :D

I am now the proud owner of my first good GADGET...

SAMSUNG HD-TV

I can't believe the difference from normal TELLY... I think i am just THICK!.

BUY ONE... and enjoy telly pleasure !!!

I can't believe I missed it

It has been so long (3 months) since my last post... and lots has happened.. here is my first ;)

I have always been a fan of John Simms (Human Traffic, The Lakes, Doctor Who, Cracker, Canterbury Tales). I trully believe he is one of the UK's finest acting talents.

His peformances are unique and compelling... and to be honest... just bloody great!!!

Julie and me often wondered about "LIFE ON MARS"... and thought ... "That Looks Good". We watched the final John Simms episode last year... and it was BLOOMIN great!!!!

To my surprise Julie and Luke bought me 2 seasons for my Birthday... and I have watched finished watching the first season. I am really pleased I recieved it for my birthday.

JOHN SIMMS is FANTASTIC... a British talent to be proud of ! .... F***ing good acting and very good viewing. And to add.... Philip Glenister (pure genius)... and Liz White fantastic.

To SUMMARISE.... Life on Mars... watch it and appreciate it... for all its GLORY


************************************
And the music on the show is .... FANTASTIC

Luke's Favourite Book

Two years ago, just after Luke was born my sister Tracey sent Luke one of his first books.

Last week Julie picked it off the shelf and read it to Luke for his night-time story and he is now hooked and has to read it every night.

NO DAVID !

It was a surprise to me to be honest when Luke came into my bedroom the other morning shouting "NO DAVID! NO". I woke up suddenly and wondered what the bloody hell was going on.

It was only after 5 minutes of shock that Julie laughed and admitted to me why he had been shouting it! LOL

Luke - Bambi Murderer

This weekend myself, Julie and Luke went to the Christening of my cousin's son, followed by a Bar-B-Q and BEER !!!!

Steve my cousin's husband is a garden enthusiast and their garden is littered with lots of plants, flowers and ornaments.

During the course of the day Luke took a particular "interest" in Bambi... a rather delicate and expesive ornament (I think you can see what I am about to reveal).

Luke being the mild mannered and pleasant child that he can be... strolled across calmly to Bambi and gave it a swift kick in the head... breaking it from its base and leaving it in pieces on the floor ! (I won't either mention all the flowers which Luke pulled the heads off)

Luckily we found a new one on eBay which has cost Luke £20 out of his money box.... and it only took 2 days to arrive nicely packaged in bubble wrap :)

LEGO Indiana Jones... CANT WAIT!!!!!

I was wrong about the next Lego game... but who cares, Lego Indiana Jones is going to be miles better than bloomin' Lego Batman.



Check out the trailer

Ready for the Sunshine

Luke has bought his first pair of sun glasses... and unlike his father he looks a cool dude in shades!





Lets hope the Sun comes out this summer ;)

Santa Cam

Luke before bed goes for a potty visit on the landing between all the bedrooms of the house. As with most children Luke is always more concerned with playing than potty time. Often he gets up to run off and find other things to do.

Julie in her wisdom has found another "method" of keeping him on his potty!

In the corner of the landing roof we have an Alarm Sensor which has a red light which flicks on and off as people are within its vicinity. Julie has convinced Luke that this is a "Santa Cam" and he is watching Luke to make sure he is a good boy for Christmas.

Luke being the gullible child that he is... BELIEVED THIS!

He got up briefly looked at the sensor, and declared....
1. OH!
2. Santa!
3. Camwa
4. Presents

And then sat back on his potty like a "good" boy :)

Some pictures of Luke

Been looking through my blog and realised that I have not posted many pictures of Luke :) So here are a few of Little Callaghan :D

Luke's First Ride on a Choo Choo (up a Welsh Mountain)

Nobody told me train rides would be scary! Not to worry I have the "Doctor" with me!

This isn't so bad :D

iPod Buddies

What's an iPod Daddy!

Dad your music collection "SUCKS".

When you gotta sleep

Katie and Mark's Wedding and the Page Boy

It has been a couple of weeks since this happened (slack father I am), but anyway...

A few weeks ago Luke was asked to a page boy and for the best part he was well behaved and looked the part :)

He looked very smart in his suit and he enjoyed running around the registry office and grounds of the reception.

The day was fantastic... started off with a short reception followed by a wonderful a meal at the Holiday Inn at Tong. The meal was my favourite combination: Homemade Tomato Soup, and a Roast Beef Dinner followed by a choux cream bun desert. It was gorgeous, and whilst we ate, the couple had hired a local singer: "XXXX - Will find her name and post :D" and she sang lovely mellow tunes whilst we all ate.

Oh and the night do... I made the mistake of staying on G and Ts all night long :)... Myself and Julie met with some old friends Clare and Neil (a friend of my dad's son). We spent the night chatting and ended the evening on lots and lots of double spirits :)

We all really enjoyed the day!

(Morning after I was that badly I couldn't manage my free breakfast ;))

A Mysterious New Film

Lots of hype on the net about this... but no one knows yet what its actually about.

Watch 1-18-08 here!

A True Yorkshire Man

Luke's vocabulary is coming along in leaps and bounds...

Today I have started him on the long and winding road to becoming a TRUE Yorkshire Man.

I have taught him to say "By Eck" and "By Gum", next I shall try "Fetch the fathers slippers" or "E by gum".

For those of you who are not versed in the Yorkshire Tongue... you might find the following useful.

Dr Who and the Daleks ... Naughty

I am very proud of my Son's early addiction to Science Fiction!

He is now an avid fan of Dr Who.

When ever it comes on the telly (or he sees anything related), he delights in telling us ...
"Dr OOO"
"Daliks"
"NAUGHTY"

Whenever I am using the lappy... he comes across and demands I find pictures of Daleks on Google: "Daddy... Daleks". He has even had us buying Dr Who stickers books for the pictures of Daleks.

We have Luke's cousin Daniel to thank for this, as he introduced him to the new Dr Who :D

You know your Fake Tan has not gone well when...

Julie is a Bridesmaid tomorrow and has been asked to wear a GOLD dress... To compensate for the Skin to Dress colour difference - she has had a fake tan done to even things out.

Anyway... Luke, Julie and Mum were sat down this evening watching Jackanory. On tonight's show the presenter was Floella Benjamin.

To everyones surprise... Luke looked at the T.V. and pointed at Floella and shouted "MUMMY".

Perhaps less Tan solution next time :)

Yuk

Luke has a new habit...

Every time someone gives him a kiss... he runs away shouting YUK. I think he gets this from his mum, because she always does that when I kiss her :D


ADDITIONAL:
**********
Now I think about it... he also now shouts out POO when anyone trumps! Good Lad

The Policeman is Knocking

Myself and Julie are cruel cruel parents :)

We have finally found a "method" of getting Luke to bed on time and without grumbling or tantrums.

In our wisdom, we have convinced Luke that if he doesn't go to bed on time, then the policeman will come knocking to tell mummy and daddy off.

He always replies (not always the same order):
- Knock Knock (as he thumps air)
- Pliceman (he misses the "O")
- Mummy and Daddy (dedicated and honest parents)
- Timeout (our punishment for not getting Luke to bed on time)
- Naughty (he has to tell us we are naughty for not getting him to bed on time)

The fun part is when me and Julie knock on something in the house and he looks around startled for the Policeman

LOL!!!!

I am sure it won't take him long to figure out our ploy

Taking my love of Chinese Food Too FAR!!!!

Oh dear!

Chinese takeaway two nights on the trot (yum yum)...

Last night: Beef in Chili Sauce (dedicated to my chili plant Monty), with Krispy Spring Rolls and Egg Fried rice.

Tonight: Chinese Beef Curry with Egg Fried Rice and Chips.

I don't care... Chinese is the best cuisine!

Wales and the Measels

Wales was an excellent trip away for us all, and we were visiting with some really good friends Phil and Nic (Norminton).

To summarise... as there is a lot to cover

Accommodation
We rented a house together for the week named "Min-y-lynn" and it was fantastic. A very clean and large house, with well maintained grounds.

A link to the house

Stella Consumption
Me and Phil managed to get through 6.5 boxes of Stella in 6 nights!!! ... That is not counting the beers we drank in the pub.

I am very proud of this achievement ! - *pickled liver me thinks*

A link to the brewery

Cardiff and the Castle - A place to visit
Fantastic!!! I would really recommend Cardiff as a city, nice for a wander around. Cardiff castle was also a very interesting place to visit. We spent the dosh and took the guide tour around, and I have to say it was one of the most interesting tours I have had (I do like the historical aspects of place... castles etc.)

Here is a link to the castle

Newport - A place NOT to visit
This had to be the low point of the holiday for me... Newport is a very dirty and grubby city. We parked at the back end of town and had to walk through the bus station to get into the city center to look around. In our opinions (all four of us), we had never seen as many unsavoury characters in any one place at once!!!

Measles
Luke managed to catch the measles whilst on holiday. This meant two trips to the hospital on the last day, and a quick retreat back to sunny Yorkshire.

We had to travel through the night because the measles made Luke irritable. This meant me driving from 9:15 at night through to 2:30 in the morning... and this was after a full days activities ... EEK!!

The measles also had a weird affect on Luke... it sent him a bit psycho. I have to admit I will never forget his tantrum in the ground of Caerphilly Castle, as a wedding was taking place and as lots of tourist wandered around the grounds.

All it well now, the spots have gone and he is back to his cheerful self!

Regardless of the negatives the holiday was FANTASTIC and a good weeks break.

The Cash Point Debacle

This one really, really had me and Jules worried!!! ...

On the Saturday before tripping off to Wales, I was "tasked" with taking Luke (to get him out of the way) to the local cash point to draw out the family holiday money.

I went to the local supermarket in Heckmondwike, and attempted to draw out 200 smackers. The cash point returned and error: "Unable to perform transaction". The cash drawer did not open!

I thought... "feck" better try another 50 just in case the cash is stuck in the drawer. Again no money was returned and the drawer did not open. I though to myself... "spot on" the cash point is buggered, and me and Luke trailed another mile to the next suitable cash point.

During the journey all I heard was "Tractor Tom... Broken", because I had promised Luke a go on the Tractor Tom ride thingy at the supermarket to keep him quiet. That soon went out the window when I realised I had to scarper to the next cash point! I did also lie to Luke and told him it was broken (what a good father am I) :)

Anyway at the next cash point I attempt to withdraw 250 squid out, and it wouldn't let us. It would let me draw 50 quid out which was up to the limit on the account. It is at this point I went white and thought sh*t they have taken the money out of our accounts!!!

Waffling now!

To cut a long story short... I had a one hour call on the day with Barclays call center and they didn't return our money or provide a suitable solution. This left us potentially *bleep*ed up for our holidays - given we were lodging in the middle of nowhere and without the promise of any money or knowledge of cash point locations :(

We had to rush to our building society with only minutes to spare and managed to withdraw some cash for the holidays ... phew!

Everything seemed fine :)

I then got a rather unpleasant call from BARCLAYS customer services whilst in Wales informing me that no errors were reported on the cash machine!!! Potentially we were 250 quid down. They asked me what I would like to do... I asked them to investigate further.

Anyway.. this week I got another call from BARCLAYS, finally admitting fault and saying they would return our money. And the *bleep* would not even refund the 250 quid instantly...we still had to wait another 4 days!!!!!

Finally to summarise ...
Banks have 1 interest and 1 interest alone (in my opinion), THEMSELVES. Regardless of the fact that myself and Julie have been loyal customers for 15 years. At the first sign of issue, they back themselves up and freeze funds in our accounts.

I think its time to switch banks ;)

* BLEEP - I have been warned by the powers that be (Julie) that swearing on my blog is strictly forbidden!!!

I have been lazy ...

I have been lazy... as usual or completely out of character... YOU DECIDE!!!

It has been 4 weeks since my last confession post... and I have lots of things to cover!

More posts to follow :)

Luke - Super boy

By Day... mild mannered child (yeah right)

By Night... SUPER BOY!!!

Julie's new friend Huey

Last night Julie and her friend Katie went out for a few sociable drinks.

Me being the "dedicated and good" husband that I am stayed up and picked them both up and drove them home :) When Julie got back she had a good night and wanted a nice cuppa... which I promptly made ;)

However... as we were both sat enjoying a nice cuppa char, Julie suddenly launched herself up from the couch and ran to the toilet.

I was then entertained :) with sounds of "HHHHHEEEEUUUUUUYYYY" for an hour. During each visit to "the bowl"... all I could hear was... "but I've only had five drinks".

Lets say a good night had by all (or some of us).


WII UPDATE
***********
I also tried to con Julie into letting me have a WII last night whilst drunk... and she still said NO!!!!

I was trying yesterday evening to be a goog husband, and encourage the purchase of the best console on the market: making tea, giving lifts, making supper...

And still she said NO!!! :(

Luke Using the Force

I don't think your going to fit in there Luke!



Use the FORCE son... use the FORCE

Robin Hood and Hartshead

Bleedin' eck! Whilst researching Patrick Stewart...

Apparently Robin Hood is/was burried somewhere in my local village: Hartshead on Wikipedia

Patrick Stewart and Mirfield

Recently I had a convesation about Patrick Stewart "Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek" coming from the village 2 minutes down 't road from me.



And I think I wasn't believed :D... and for the Doubting Thomas:

Patrick Stewart on WikiPedia

Something I didn't know was that he was a journalist for my local newspaper... The Dewsbury Reporter.

Keep on trekkin' :D

YouTube: Star Wars 30th Anniversary

Found this Star Wars classic fan video:




And this soon to be classix fan video:


And we all know that Star Wars and Lego go hand in hand:



Eek Star Wars and Monty Python


Lol Star Wars vs Star Trek


Lol... What happened after the death star blew up


Lol... Star Wars Help Desk


Star Wars Mistakes

OUCH!

My son to all outward appearances is quiet and loveable... however as most children he has his moments of "madness".

Anyway... I was peacefully lying in bed this morning (asleep) to be woken up by Luke grabbing me by the eyeball!!!

And I have photographic evidence of the injuries:

The Zutons - Excellent Cover Track

Since hearing this on Radio 1 sometime ago I have been trying to find it and et voila...

"Higher and Higher" - The Zutons cover on the Colin Murray show on Radio 1.

The Zutons are ace and this track is a bloody brilliant cover... search this page and click the play button :)

Tracks from TV and Movies on iTunes

I did post these last night between 11-12 in the evening whilst quite drunk on lots of lovely Stella Artois.

I woke up for a call of nature at 5 a.m. like you do after a night on the town... and realised I had made loads of "drunken" posts and immediately paniced and rushed to switch the PC on and disabled the posts (luckily I did :)).

Anyway... here is the condensed version without any drunken drivell.

Song from Lost
Watch Season 2 of Lost and the track which Desmond is playing in the bunker is quite catchy - "Dream a Little Dream Of Me" - Mama Cass:

Song from ER advert:
I keep seeing this advert for ER... I hate ER, but the backing track is quite catchy :)
Download and enjoy "Away from Here" by The Enemy, from iTunes:

Song from 50 First Dates
Think Wizard of Oz meets Hawaii and what do you get:

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". I first heard this on the Soundtrack for 50 First Dates and to be honest it is excellent.

Download it and listen, its one of my current favourites and def. worth a listen:

Nostalgia...

I was in the pub last night, supporting the darts team (actually getting drunk and pretending to know what I talk about... actually this is what i do most days at work, except sober :D).

Anyway... heard this classic track from An American Werewolf in London ... and to be honest its still ace after nearly 40 years.

Anyway... download and listen: "Bad Moon Rising" by John Fogerty. I challenge anyone to disagree ;) and its a 79p Bargain on iTunes.

Here is the link (if you have iTunes):

Luke's First (?)

Just one Cornetto,

Give it to me,

Delicious ice-cream from Italy,



Vanilla and strawberry dream,

Give me Cornetto,
From Walls' ice cream.

WWWWiiiiiiiiiii

It seems like the Nintendo revolution is underway... everyone I know (friends and work) have all been buying or ordering WII Consoles and Accessories.

To celebrate the revolution and because I have had nowt to do all night and DON'T want to watch "Grease is the Word!"... Here are some funny WII related videos care of YOU TUBE.

WII Hazards

WII Boy

WII Safety Video

PS3 vs WII Argument

Maybe Santa will bring me one :)

Dear Santa:

Luke's First Car

For the past few months Luke has been obsessed with "The Wiggles" an Australian Kids show... We made the unfortunate mistake of buying some Wiggles DVDs, to then have Luke repeatedly watch them (over and over and over again)!

It has been driving me and Julie slightly mad.

The Wiggles have a "Big Red Car":

Whenever Luke sees a Red Car he gets excited and... "Wiggles! Car!". The other week whilst visiting his friend Jack, he played on his "Little Tikes Cozy Coupe" and loved it. We kept showing him the car in the Argos catalog in the following weeks, and each time it was "Wiggles! Car!".

Being the big softy parents we are Julie and me rushed out and bought him his own Big Red Car (although we made him use his own pocket money ;) ).

He loves it... and every morning he wakes up "Wiggles! Car!" (no joke).

Beep beep... chugga chugga... Big Red Car... Happy driving Son :)

Lego Batman

Apparently the next Lego game will be... Lego Batman! and is being written by Travellers Tales the authors of the Star Wars Lego games.

Can't wait for this one to come out :)

Spider-man 3 - A huge disappointment

Oh dear!

I would only recommend seeing this film if:

a) You want to waste 2 hours and 40 minutes of your life
b) Want a cure for insomnia
c) Fancy Kirsten Dunst ;)

It is more interesting than this review though ;)

The film (as everyone says) is about an hour too long. And this is because it has too much padding and focuses on the alter ego-s of the super heroes, villains and friends. In most films a bit of this is acceptable but they have gone a little too far in this one.

All three villains are good, but the film doesnt focus on them enough and doesnt have enough fight sequences between them. To be honest... they should have had one or maybe two villains like the other films and given them proper screen time.

And the final nail in the coffin... The dance and the John Travolta strutting sequences in the middle of the film uuuggghhh.

Bruce Campbell saves the middle of the film with an outstanding cameo (as usual in Sam Raimi's films :)).

4/10 ... only watch this on DVD and only if someone lends you it or you find it lying abandoned in the street.

My new BLOG!!!

I finally got around to creating a blog site... but unusually for me I have absolutly nothing to say ;)