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Showing posts from February, 2008

Underworld under-par

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After fighting off the diseased carrying party zombies of last weekend Kerry didn't quite make it germ free picking up some mutant T-virus (T for tummy). Meals for one, rich tea biscuits and sympathy were order of the day for the lady. Thursday came and Kerry only felt a bit better in time for Kev's birthday night out to see Underworld at the Roundhouse, Camden. Getting to the venue had the perfect timing dodging traffic jams and commuters. We only had time for a microwaved-to-death sausage roll before we entered the gig. Spotted the merchandise stall which now offers Underworld socks then on to the bar. If it hadn't been for the light-show and inflatables I would have been bored rigid as for around an hour the set was all warm-up and no techno-excitement. The band did start adding the bigger hitters but the neighbouring bag-ladies on Special K started to do our heads in with their elbow aggro and random falling over. I was sort of glad when it ended to be honest. The jour...

Happy Birthday Trev

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DSC_1027 Originally uploaded by Ginger DJ . After returning from shopping in London we were a bit drained of energy and expecting a short stay at Trev's. Bless him though, in response to the complaints from ladies, he built a toilet next door to the summer house so no one needed to walk down and up the hill. It had a heater and light with only the small inconvenience of using a big jug of water to flush the thing so only number 1's. A few new faces joined the celebration including a DJ who used to do Turnmills and some girl who drove down from Lincoln. Shame my laptop couldn't get sorted in time my slot due to some driver problem so was left to taking photos all night. It turned out to be a very good night with some good tunes all round and everyone dancing most of the time. I can't really remember that much but I'm sure the photos on Flickr will tell you a thing or two. Early casualities were Kev sleeping in the corner and being posed with the Lincoln ...

Operation Cat and midweek news

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Tuesday evening we picked up Sasha from the vets after his operation which was to clean and extract some teeth, and remove a lump from his back. I didn't realise he needed stitches to repair the hole where the lump was so it came as a surprise that the bill at around £270! Mark, my wedding's best man has offered me a business deal for my mum's house. He's promised to renovate the house, paying for his time and material costs for half the profit after current valuation. With the plans he has in mind we could get £165k in May/June. Otherwise we've been amusing ourselves with a couple of games lately. Unchartered: Drake's Fortune on the PS3 is impressing me with some of the best graphics and quite fun shooty bits. A cross between Resident Evil 4 and Tomb Raider. We also downloaded a network demo version of Lost Planet . It's not brilliant but I'm impressed by the speed of playing online.

Museum adventures

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Our post-Valentine's Day evening out went well on Friday. We booked a table at Shanghai Blues in Holborn just round the corner from The End. The food and service was really good but a bit pricey. The music was a little annoying with some jazz vocalist be-bopping and scatting. For some reason the toilets, looking like a posh opium den, had better music. Chinese gnomes The British Museum was also very local and we were lucky to get tickets to the First Emperor exhibition for the terracotta army. It was still busy even at the strange time of 10:30pm but a better set up than the Tutemkamon event. Going to museums isn't exactly the sort of thing to put on Facebook as a hobby but just seeing the roof was worthy of a mention. The Chinese over-sized gnomes were really impressive and beggars belief that the tomb had over 100,000 clay statues as an army, admin staff, entertainers and animals to accompany the emperor in his after-life. The curators had even mocked up what colours the st...

Cat update

Sasha, our adopted cat is doing well though has had quite an eventful month. After a week we discovered how bad his flea infestation was with Kerry suffering bites and leaving weird black dandruff (dried blood from fleas eating him) where he's slept. Vet bill = £36. We already knew he doesn't travel so well from bringing him down from Norfolk but just going a mile he'll crap himself. The vet also showed me how little teeth he has left advising an operation to clean them. The poor blighter has just two front fangs on his bottom jaw just like Sweetums from the Muppets (pictured left) plus one or two back ones covered in a hard sludge of brown. Vet bill = around £160 + £40 with drip. It certainly hasn't put him off his food. Everytime we go near his bowl he's expecting a feed. We've since discovered a Senior version of cat food = £4 a week. With our Venice trip booked for our anniversary, March 10 or Mario day (MAR10) , we needed a cattery to look after him a...

2 Many DJs, people and 2 little cloakroom staff

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Highlight of the week for us was going to Digital to see 2 Many DJs . Steve and Sam came down to Brighton earlier than expected to take advantage of the stunning blue skied weather. No real hassles getting in but forcing our way through the dancefloor area to the cloakroom took us by surprise as we walked on and on past the queue. After 15 minutes of waiting we gave up after shifting 2 metres and stuck in the corner. Soundsystem was awesome with some bass bits literally blowing us away. Music from the support DJs were worthy of the ticket price with Midfield General throwing in some quality funky electro house. I missed 2 Many DJs entrance but heard it from the upstairs bar which really stirred up the already manic crowd. I enjoyed half of their set but their quick cutting and stuffing in as many tunes stated to grate on me as well as the elbowing and standing on feet crowd. After a few too many old skool choices I was almost set on leaving. Thankfully and without any exit song to i...

This is a different Robin Coleman

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Okay, it's Friday and the boss is on holiday. Time for some randomness. I've been getting a lot of web traffic from the US of A and realised I have the same name as this person. Her official website . I don't think this is the start of some Dave Gorman quest but if anyone wants to contribute I can make a regular feature of heroes born with my fantastic name. Otherwise, I'm starting to pick myself up after the bad start this year. This week the Probate court has got back to me with an interview date so I can start sorting out my mum's estate. Sasha, the cat has been settling in too well and now expects to sleep with us, scratching the bedroom door at 4am. His evenings in are numbered. And this Saturday we're seeing 2 Many DJs at Digital in Brighton with Steve and Sam. Finally I've been turning my geeky attention to a new games themed social website called weplaythis . Not quite Facebook.

Run PHD

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Part of my job is sifting through the junk mail of the website I manage. Amongst the random conference invites and replica watches, this gem comes out shining. The professor above is becoming a legend around the lecture circuit in the US and Far East. Check him out on his own rapping website .

Underneath the Beech tree

The Saturday before was a packed day in Norfolk sorting out the funeral. A morning appointment with the funeral director, lunchtime at the Colney Woodland Burial Park deciding where my mum would rest (our old house had two huge Beech trees hence the title) and afternoon tea with the humanitarian minister to talk about the service. After a couple hours I had to get house keys cut, drop them around a mate's in Dereham then go choose some clothes for my mum. The last thing was to deliver them to my auntie's and then home. I guess I must have clocked up 500 miles at least that day. Midweek was more organising. I still had to choose some music for the day. Both I-tunes and my laptop's CD drive was playing up but finally settled with Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, House of the Rising Sun by The Animals and Billie Holiday's East to Remember. Another funeral detail was the newspaper notice which is provide by the funeral director. After speaking to my aunt, they got the maide...