Wow what a day. Nine hours of fun in the sun at Chessington. There is so much to do and see here that we've had a great time. More details and pics to follow when we get home.
We're off to Legoland in Windsor tomorrow for the final leg of our mini-break. So until then nos da pobl 
—- ?Sent using a Sony Ericsson videophone
The house of DDWT kicked off its mini break at Chessington World of Adventure by stopping off en-route at Swindon.
I'm going to keep this brief as my txting speed of 5 seconds per letter is a killer 
We duly arrived at the Holiday Inn Chessington at 6 ish and promptly headed off to the swimming pool 
The only downside to a fun day was missing the Swans take on Premiership Reading in the league cup.
An action packed day lies ahead tomorrow @ Chessington so it's time to catch some zzz's now.
—- ?Sent using a Sony Ericsson videophone
I took great pleasure in strolling out from work at 3:30 today, happy in the knowledge that I’m now off for 2 whole weeks. How lush is that
If this current warm spell of weather keeps up I’ll be a very happy bunny indeed and it’ll be just what I need. For lots of different reasons (not just work) the last 3 or 4 months have been hard going - typified really by this week’s events - and I’ve felt a little jaded and off colour. Hopefully the next 2 weeks will give me the chance to recharge my batteries and spend some quality time with the family - or at least that’s what the plan is!
With my mam now back home (but being monitored) I returned to work in the hope of getting my head back on track and return to some sort of normality, after the rollercoaster events of the last couple of days. It’s hard to concentrate and think logically, which I’m sure is as much down to emotional strain as it is sleep deprivation.
Despite trying to bury my head in work most of the day, my colleague insisted I went out for a walk during the lunchtime to clear my head and get things off my chest (if I wanted to) - thanks DR.
It did help to be honest and the stunning calm sea and sun drenched views over Swansea bay had a calming effect.
Seeing the cranes towering over Swansea marina working on the Meridian Quay development also made me realise how much life changes day to day and year by year. Much of these changes for the better it must be said and this ideology gave me a positive lift in what had pre-lunchtime been a pretty downhearted outlook on life.
In the grand scheme of all things in life and the tribes and tribulations many people go through daily, perhaps what has happened during the last couple of days might seem insignificant to some - but for me it frightened the hell out of me and that is something I won’t ever forget.
I’m sure you’ll agree that most of us take this life of ours and all that it brings for granted sometimes. Perhaps it is even more true that we do this with those people that are close to us and it is only when something outside of the norm happens that we realise how precious this thing called life - and those that are within it - actually are.
Today my mam was rushed into hospital with a suspected blood clot on the lung. The emotions this evoked and feelings I am experiencing are hard to put into words. Fear, anger, guilt are just some of the words I could use. I fear the worst as my mam is in her late sixties - not old I know, but not young either. I feel anger and think why my mam and why now? I also feel guilt, why didn’t I say this to her or why didn’t I do that for her. It’s a rollercoaster and it really does make you think about your life and those around you whom you love so very much.
I have to be strong though, strong for my family and strong for my mam as I know she would be for me.
I was sent this by a female colleague today (thanks KS) and thought it was worth sharing because - (a) it’s funny and (b) it’s factually correct
The Man Rules
At last a guy has taken the time to write this all down. Finally , the guys’ side of the story. (I must admit, it’s pretty good.)
We always hear ” the rules” From the female side. Now here are the rules from the male side.
These are OUR rules!
Please note.. these are all numbered “1 ” ON PURPOSE !
1. Men are NOT mind readers.
1. Learn to work the toilet seat. You’re a big girl. If it’s up, put it down. We need it up, you need it down. You don’t hear us complaining about you leaving it down.
1. Sport… It’s like the full moon or the changing of the tides. Let it be.
1. Crying is blackmail.
1. Ask for what you want. Let us be clear on this one:
Subtle hints do not work!
Strong hints do not work!
Obvious hints do not work!
Just say it!1. Yes and No are perfectly acceptable answers to almost every question.
1. Come to us with a problem only if you want help solving it. That’s what we do. Sympathy is what your girlfriends are for.
1. Anything we said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all comments become Null and void after 7 Days.
1. If you think you’re fat, you probably are. Don’t ask us.
1. If something we said can be interpreted two ways and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, we meant the other one
1. You can either ask us to do something Or tell us how you want it done. Not both. If you already know best how to do it, just do it yourself.
1. Whenever possible, Please say whatever you have to say during commercials..
1. Christopher Columbus did NOT need directions and neither do we.
1. ALL men see in only 16 colors, like Windows default settings. Peach, for example, is a fruit, not A color. Pumpkin is also a fruit. We have no idea what mauve is.
1. If it itches, it will be scratched. We do that.
1. If we ask what is wrong and you say “nothing,” We will act like nothing’s wrong. We know you are lying, but it is just not worth the hassle.
1. If you ask a question you don’t want an answer to, Expect an answer you don’t want to hear.
1. When we have to go somewhere, absolutely anything you wear is fine… Really .
1. Don’t ask us what we’re thinking about unless you are prepared to discuss such topics as baseball or golf.
1. You have enough clothes.
1. You have too many shoes.
1. I am in shape. Round IS a shape!
1. Thank you for reading this. Yes, I know, I have to sleep on the couch tonight; But did you know men really don’t mind that? It’s like camping.
Pass this to as many men as you can - to give them a laugh.
Pass this to as many women as you can - to give them a bigger laugh.
So, what do you reckon fellas/ladies?
Got absolutely saturated during my cycle into work this morning, so much so that my cycling daps were full of water. On days like this I do wonder if commuting to work by bike is all it’s cracked up to be! I’m sure my colleagues in the office would agree, as there are now bits of my cycling kit (bar my undergarments of course!) hanging everywhere.
Just to compound matters further when I got to work, the darn showers were out of order so I had to make do with a quick swill with water from the sink! No prizes for guessing who’s room is damp, smelly and dirty today 
On the subject of cycling, here is a tip for anyone who like me has ever bought a new set of pedals for their bike, only to find that the left and right pedals aren’t easily identified. Before some smartarse points out what’s the bloody difference - believe me there is, like the threads on the spindle going in opposite directions for starters.
Anyway, back to my original point about the pedals and aided by the picture below, you can tell which is left and right by the ‘flick up’ tabs on the pedal (spike shaped tab near top of picture in black).
These should be at the back and bottom of the pedal as you would look down at the pedals from sitting on the bike.
Hope that helps someone? If it hasn’t then I hope at least you might have learnt something new today
After my day of relaxation and enjoyment yesterday, it was back to the graft today and time to catch up with some freelance web work I’ve been doing of late.
I’ve got a couple of projects on the go at the moment, one for Siop Ty Tawe and the other for the Pontarddulais Partnership. Both of them are nearing completion and then it’ll be time to do the work I’d scheduled for another client of mine.
All of the the freelance stuff I’ve done over the years has given me a great insight into the world of open source software and an opportunity to broaden my skills and knowledge in this field. I’ve also come to appreciate the hard work of others that have made open source what it is today.
In terms of the web, if anyone is looking for a Content Management System to run their site (whatever the subject - personal, business, community, promotional, etc), then you wouldn’t go far wrong by taking a closer look at Drupal and Joomla for a solution. Couple this with a quality but affordable hosting solution such as those offered by Lunarpages - which I’ve blogged about in the past - and whose packages have improved further since then.
Heck I even run Ubuntu 7.04 server at home as well as my Windows XP machine and despite the former being somewhat of a ‘new kid on the block’ it is certainly a slick and smooth OS. If you’ve ever fancied having a go at linux but are petrified of nobbling your windows machine, grab yourself a copy of Knoppix - the linux on a bootable CD solution. There’s no need to install anything, just put it in your CD drive and watch it booth up - hey presto you got yourself a linux OS to play with. Oww did I forget to say it’s all free as well
Have fun - I certainly have (especially being an anorak like!).
The excitement of the Swans first home league game of the season had been building all week and with a near full house to watch the game against FEC Forest it was sure to be a cracker.
After my usual pre-match ritual of getting the match programme around lunchtime and having a good read pre-match the excitement was growing as 3pm grew nearer. The only downside was that the weather was so lousy - the rain was pretty much incessant. Nevertheless, it was good to catch up with the Dieters Bar Jacks once again after a summer of discontent (due to the weather and a lack of football!).
I took up my new seat in the ASBO stand (AKA Asda stand) and watched the Swans pulverise Forest for the best part of the entire 90 minutes. The football was slick and attractive to watch, but unfortunately we just couldn’t find that final touch. With Paul Smith in the Forest goal having yet another blinder - a la last season at the same venue it simply wasn’t going to be our day.
My after match thought was that we’d dropped two points, but the performance augurs well for the rest of the season and with 44 games to go, I’m not bothered about our league position or points tally just yet.
A couple of other points about today, in no particular order:
Away from the footy, the Mrs and DDWT Junior spent their afternoon cooking up some scrumpious homemade cookies - which I had the pleasure of devouring (with several cups of filtered coffee) on my return from the game.
After a week in work which I’d officially call bonkers, I decided to work from home today in an attempt to free myself from office visitors and phonecalls. Having not worked from home for quite some time, I could immediately see why it is becoming increasingly more popular.
Not only did I get more done, but I had the freedom and peace to do it - so both my employer and I benefit. With the advent of high-speed broaband connections (8MB in my case) and VPN remote access, the need for me to be on-site is ever decreasing, in my line of work anyway (web development).
So after a hard day’s work at the home office (sounds posh that doesn’t it), we decided to get 2 large stuffed crust pizza’s (meat feast and hawaiian) from the Pizza Hut in Fforestfach. One thing that struck me though - being a pizza hut regular - is that the best Pizza Hut in these parts is the one on the Morfa retail park by the liberty stadium. There is a noticeable difference in the quality of the pizza’s there compared to Fforestfach. Me thinks the chef in Fforestfach likes lashings of tomato puree on the pizza!
Pizza time in the house of DDWT is also movie time, so we all (apart from DDWT Junior who was fast asleep in bed) settled down to watch ‘RV: Runaway Vacation‘ starring that loon Robin Williams. After a slow start it begins to pick up (a bit like the RV in the film actually) and at times had us laughing so much we had tears rolling down our eyes. Not one of Williams’ best movies, but a decent enough laugh.
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