Interest rates and Manchester City FC

One day last week I was driving to Swansea for my ACCA training and I
noticed that the roads were remarkably quiet. It got me thinking...
What would happen if we simply couldn't afford to buy diesel any more?
I don't just mean one or two of us struggling but everyone. At the
moment oil is at the lowest price it's been for ages-don't even get me
started on how they can simply lower the price the way they have-but
at the end of the day it's a non-renewable product so over time it
should gradually become more expensive. So what happens when there
isn't enough oil to meet everyones needs?! Assuming alternative fuels
aren't found/successful, do only the rich drive? Or do the suppliers
start looking out for themselves? What about food? Will we always have
enough food for everyone if the global population continues to grow?
What happens when the answer is no? What if there isn't enough land to
live on? Whilst we may be far away from that (or any of the above)
happening there could obviously be a time when it does. And would it
be an instant problem? Or would the first signs be things like people
not having enough money to buy houses, pay fuel bills, buy food etc. I
think they would-but this isn't the doomsday moment. The fact that oil
and food prices can come down so quickly simply shows that we've been
severely overcharged for things over the last few years, and hopefully
with all the attention and scrutiny companies are under at the moment
we will stop getting raped of our money. But cutting prices and
interest rates is only a short term solution! Eventually food, fuel
and shelter will be in far more demand... and prices will naturally
have to go up. The prices wont have been artificially inflated this
time... they will one day represent the high value of our necessities.
So what happens when most of us can't afford the basics of living?
Well one of my good friends gave me an adapted quote from the latest
Batman movie that's sticking in my mind. It went something like
"Everyone is friendly and kind to each other when it suits them... But
when the chips are down they'll kill their neighbours". We all live
behind this falseness... We live on a world where people don't have to
worry about the next man stealing their bread, their home, their
diesel even... But what if we can't afford essentials. Quite simply..
Money becomes worthless and it's every man for himself. We keep on
ignoring it-if you live in the city it's so easy to get caught up in
your own little world and forget what's going on outside. One day a
country is going to try taking another ones riches, there'll probably
be global condemnation and they'll be brought into line. Sound
familiar? Anyway. It will begin to happen more often. Rather than once
every 40 years maybe once every 10. Once every five. And then one day
one of the major powers will be struggling... And they might have to
do something drastic. If you can't live, but I can, what are you going
to do?! I'm kind of drifting away from the point but basically we all
happily get poorer and poorer while they're building 7 star hotels in
Dubai. What happens when we're starving?

Anyway thankfully the red light turned green by Tesco and I caught up
with a lot more traffic down by Trainer BMW so I got on with my day...
But watching Man City with their £550bn backers really p's me off.
That isn't rich... That's living outside the boundaries of money. Why?
Because that country has something we all need. And it turns out they
can just lower the price when they've raped us to the point of
recession. How much is oil really worth at the moment? And how patient
will the world be when we can't afford it?!

Yes I am in a bit of a bad mood today haha. I know... We can solve it
all by getting Chuck Norris. Or David Hasselhoff. Don't hassle The
Hoff. Oh and Robinho scored an aaabsolute craaacker tonight-said in my
best Swansea accent. Nice one son.

Sent from my iPhone

Ghosts, cricket and Xbox updates!

Hola people of the internet. Hope you all had a terrifying Halloween.
I tried my first ever pumpkin pie-a frightening thought but turned out
to be pretty nice! Anyway... I've decided to up my geekdom this
evening by checking out all sorts of nerdy things. Firstly I managed
to grab the latest dashboard update for my xbox-the new xbox
experience. Shame it flipping disabled my live for the next 3 weeks...
That is quite frankly pants microsoft! Anyway first impressions aren't
ruined.. I installed evo to the hard drive (that's pes 2009 for those
who don't.. have balls) and it significantly reduced the loading time.
The only thing that's really p'd me off is now my 360voice blog is
going to report me as offline for 3 weeks... Which is fine apart from
the fact that I've just added it to my soup.io page and don't want it
moaning about my lack of gaming every day!

I've checked out quite a few new iPhone apps and things-prob say the
one worth mentioning is Trace, a wicked little game which works a bit
like that crayon physics thing that was shown online last year. You
draw in platforms for your little guy to use as platforms to get to
the goal. It's definitely one of the best free games out there.

I saw the movie Keeping Mum last night-very funny and actually quite
good for a Brit Flick. Saw Son of Rambow the night before too... Ani's
LoveFilm subscription really is introducing me to new movies! Speaking
of the lady I think she's on her way back from Swansea right now so
best wrap it up. The Swans were away today so didn't go... Was 0-0 but
apparently the on loan keeper saved a penner in the last five which is
great! United just beat Hull... But it's good to see CR is back in the
goals. And it's the Cowboys Giants game tomorrow-BOOM! Tara nutters...
Check out my soup http://stephenamp.soup.io it's butter.

Sent from my iPhone

The weekend of a million miles...

Well maybe about 300 to be more precise. Been travelling quite a bit
this weekend-went up to Cardiff yesterday to see the uni boys, before
travelling back to Newcastle Emlyn to see my lovely girlfriend and her
mates. Then this morning I bombed it down to Pembre for Burns' dog day-
was marshalling for that though turns out they didn't really need
me... And then as soon as I'd finished there I went for Sunday lunch
with madame before a stroll around Trostre retail park to pick out the
smallest skirts we could find for her... It was very successful!

Last weekends camping was fantastic. I truly felt like I took on
nature, Gethin Jones style. We went down late on Friday night
expecting to stay at Newgale (like the rest of the surfers, right?!)
but it turns out nobody camps at this time of year haha and the girl
in Newgale pub just looked at me stupid when I even suggested such a
thing. So we ploughed on to Whitesands where Ani rightly remembered a
small privately owned campsite which is open all year round! Anyway it
was pitch black when we got there and putting up her big tent proved
completely impossible so we ended up in my Tesco value tent that I got
for £4 in Newquay this summer. I thought it was great considering we'd
have been sleeping in the car without it, but to quote another party
"Sure it was waterproof... It kept all the water on the inside!". :-)
Anyway it really added to the fun... And we did get the proper tent up
for Sat. So anyway the main event had to be our sea adventures-of
course I didn't have a girly wetsuit so after about an hour and a half
of waves my body was coming out in these blue patches... I still
wanted to keep going but considering the lengths we had to go to to
warm up (probably about an hour in the car at 27C, the highest it'll
go, followed by a cup if tea in an Italian restaurant) it was a good
idea to stop when we did! Anyway I think we definitely beat the sea...
Next step it's Snowdon.

Went to see the Swans on Tuesday night against QPR and it had to be
the worst game I'd ever seen! They came purely for the draw and barely
took any shots. The one highlight had to be Alan Tate going in goal
after half an hour though! Big Bird did a great job though.. If I was
Ian Dowie I'd have gone crazy over the lack of shots, and then maybe
I'd still have a job BOOM!

Anyway it's the UK NFL game right now and LT is having a stormer so
going to watch this. Don't know who to support as Rivers and Brees are
both just awesome. Next year in going!

Sent from my iPhone

To camp I shall go

Evening muckers. The weekend has landed... And with it I am going
camping!

It's been a while since I've written here really. Of course a
distracting woman is involved... I told you not to type my name into
Google! Anyway things are great at the moment-work has become slightly
less stressful and more rewarding, fitness had been catching the right
balance in my life, uni is extremely hard but incredibly interesting
(I can do your tax return... Tax doesn't have to be taxing!)... Isn't
it annoying when people have no complaints?!? Well I guess one things
that's kind of gay is the fact that they (I'm looking at you nerdy HMV
guy in Trostre) wouldn't sell me Evo 2009 early so seeing ad it's
being released today I don't get to play it until next week. But I
wanna play!

Ohhh that Friday feeling. Got to love it. Even ate a breakfast bap
today! I'm at home now with the car all packed-got the bed, my
sleeping bag, my toothbrush... Everything! Now all I need is the
weather.. Will Wales let me down? I shall tell me all on Monday if I
can put down the game!

Sent from my iPhone

Taking on the world...

Well it's been a pretty long time since I last wrote in my blog so
about time for an update. I'm still training hard-kickboxing is going
well and the last few times have shown real promise. I think all the
weights ate going to my head haha-completely lost it a few times
including one fairly notable incident where I mangled a controller in
my house and another where I lost it with a friend. It's all fun and
games though!

Today I decided that I'd like to conquer the sea, so Mathew and I
headed down to Langland Bay to take on nature. It wasn't particularly
cold and in fairness it was a lot easier than I expected. I think we
shall have to try again in the middle of winter for a truer test. My
next challenge will be a mountain anyway... Haha and though that does
make a funny joke if you know the ins and outs of my life I do not
mean it like that haha. I'm actually going to climb a mountain... Like
snowdon or something.

So anyway I bought a signal booster for my mobile last week. It's
incredible... I had to put it up like a tv aerial outside but now that
it's installed I get perfect signal throughout the house. Definitely
worth the money and long delivery process. Finally I can just sit in
the living room and not have to worry about balancing my phone on the
front window!

Got a pretty good day lined up tomorrow hopefully-we've started
running in the park on Sundays for the last few weeks and tomorrow
we're going for the old six miler! If it goes too well I'll be
questioning why I didn't do Swansea bay haha. Got some other things on
too but then I have to keep some things off the Internet right?! Haha.
Anyway it's getting late and u think my iTunes sync is almost done so
can finally throw a movie on. Wish me luck world... First day in uni
again Tuesday!

Sent from my iPhone

Update me!

What a busy and tiring week so far! Firstly... I'm now enrolled at
Swansea Metropolitan University haha. So every Tuesday from the 23rd
I'll be there 9-530 studying for my ACCA qualification. I really can't
wait to get the ball rolling... Been waiting to start some sort of
course for about a year!

I've had my 2nd kickboxing lesson back here and that went really well.
Been really pleased with my progress lately-thought everything was
going great but now looks like Rhodri is I'll and pulling out of what
would only be our third lesson... don't think I can face not showing
up so soon after starting so might have to go alone this time.

So I totally balded the tyres on my car :-( had them replaced today...
At least I won't get any points! Still it's a bit annoying how they go
down so quickly... Someone should invent a special tyre that doesn't
wear. Please.

Oh and I'm still amazed at the boxing result... It really seems like
everyone in Britain hated Amir. Tough break haha. And unlucky Murray
in the tennis-he did really well. gg.

Sent from my iPhone

The weekend has landed

It's the weekend woooooot wooot! Saturdays the only day I wake up
thinking bout, cuz any other day is just another day no doubt...
Something something something... But imma be okay-cuz it's a Saturday!
Haha good game UD Project.

Anyway! It's about half passed midnight and I'm still in agony from
kickboxing. Getting out of bed for work was almost impossible... and
by that I mean a little worse than usual! Annuhooot it's all good.
Still really confused about this whole man city thing... And trying to
decide if I should get up early to get Swansea/Cardiff tickets. I'm
not always this excited about soccer but the last week had been pretty
awesome. You like bananas? I got her number-how do you like them
bananas?! Ahhh Matt Damon you... Boston Rebel!

LOL that reminds me of that film The Game Plan with Dwayne The Rock
Johnson and that little girl. Joe Kingman-the man, the legend. If I
was a successul athlete I would be just like him... pre-nightmare
situation. I watched that film on a flight... Good times.

So I'm going to play some badminton this weekend. Having played it
once before in my life I can safely say I shall suck balls. From what
I remember though it's far more skill based than tennis or squash as
it's so much slower... so at least my appalling fitness shouldn't be a
huge factor! Robot house!!

Sent from my iPhone

Life Maintenance

Don't you just hate those days where you only seem to stop working
just before bed?! I think I got 4 hours sleep last night before
heading off to work this morning, blind to the troubles that lay
ahead. Without going into too much detail, it was a bit hellish today!
Anyway after getting home I immediately began tidying my bedroom-a
mission of epic proportions, the like of biblical tales. By the time I
finished and did a brief workout it was gone nine... So I grabbed a
protein shake and just crashed here on my sofa watching Sky Sports
News! Heaven.

So they just compared the finances of top Premier League clubs... Man
United were 2nd last week with a total of 1.4bn pounds behind them-not
bad. Now everyone knew Chelsea were by far the richest team-apparently
Abramhovic's fortune totals over '11bn! So Chelsea were over ten times
richer than their biggest rivals and managed to buy their way to a few
league titles and a CL final :D - so what on earth are Man City going
to do with their '550bn backing???!??! I thought the shock would end
with Robinho but SSN are seriously reporting that City will pay
whatever it takes to bring in ALL the best players in January-all of
them! So Ronaldo might go, Torres had been mentioned, Fabregas...
they're basically playing fantasy football over in Dubai. Now how on
earth do they have that much money?! Could it be the fact that we're
being raped with fuel prices?? It's no coincidence that the price of
fuel creeps up constantly UNTIL we put up slight resistance and
SOMEHOW they come down slightly. Now surely our complaints should have
nothing to do with it? The price should be the price... Related to the
effort involved in sourcing and transporting the fuel to us. But as it
stands we're being bled broke while there are people in Saudi with
'550bn fortunes playing Championship Manager in real life with the
money they've worked out of us. Surely when there is that much of a
spike in wealth there is obviously something out of place?! Maybe I'm
just bitter but sometimes the economic system this world adopts really
pisses me off! That and I don't like Man City.

Anyway rant over. Really looking forward to tomorrow now-it's the
first kickboxing lesson AND the start of the NFL regular season-boom!
I've been waiting so long for football to come back. We were just
getting into it last year and the playoffs were incredible-it just all
ended so quickly with Eli's incredible evasion and that wonder catch!
But the months of off season turned into weeks, days and now finally
hours!! And on Sunday T.O. and my awesome Dallas Cowboys will be back,
yeahhh!!! Haha just a little pleased. And after a few kickboxing
lessons I'll not only be much fitter like the good old days but I'll
also be able to wear my red belt arrogantly on my dressing gown
again... bonus!

Sent from my iPhone

Fighting for fitness!

So Rhods and I went to check out the local kickboxing club tonight. We
just caught a glimpse of the end but it looked fantastic... just like
the classes I had in Cardiff. I was actually telling Rhodri about
certain exercises we did and almost as if they could hear me (from
over 50 metres and behind glass) they were doing them within minutes.
We're having a free lesson Thursday night to see how we get on-can.
not. wait.

Anyway aside from kickboxing my day has been fairly quiet. Apart from
the car journeys which have been blasting! I have a tune to recommend
to anyone that might ever read this-"only in dreams" by Weezer. Make
sure you listen to the whole thing though so you get the gigantic
beauty of an ending. If I could play guitar this is what I'd play....
well with lots of Sum 41 and "Catch Hell Blues" by The White Stripes.
But anyway it's well known that I'm far from the rock type. Love my
bass music, love my black music. And have really fallen into the blog
trap of discussing bands!

So Mathew has decided we should go to Camden to see this random dance
act at the end of next month. Small venue, dodgy area, unheard of
electronics and over a months notice?haha like I need to think about
that! Should be fun. Now if only we could get Tiësto tickets!

So anyway I tried writing a tweet from the pub today but I don't think
it worked over the edge network... curse this area. Hopefully I just
messed up and it'll either show up later or even next time... But
having to have 3g or wifi would be just a little annoying. Just like
Robinho going to Manchester City! :O

Sent from my iPhone

Just another manic Monday!

So I've finally gotten to sit down... And looking at the clock it's a
respectable 20:30! Today was a fairly average day... My biggest
concerns being the total lack of o2 signal in my office (don't you
just hate those balancing acts just to get one bar) and the
ridiculously long registration time when joining ACCA! The signal
isn't the end of the world as I managed to send and receive a few
texts from my window... geography isn't stopping ME... but I'd really
like to be registered in time for enrolment next week! Fun, fun. Going
back to the phone thing you can buy cell signal repeaters on eBay that
pick up and boost low mobile signals... Think that might be my next
purchase.

So I've been fighting with some birds tonight. They decided to try
building a nest in a relative's porch so I had to make it birdproof by
removing all the ledges and wires they could pirch on-how's that for
an obscure evening?! Anyway job done. Those birds picked the wrong
Welshman!

Oh the biggest news today has to be the soccer developments. Firstly-
September 22nd, live on Sky Sports, it's Swansea vs Cardiff! It's only
the Carling Cup but... It's Cardiff! Secondly it's transfer deadline
day and Bernatov is making all the headlines. Apparently Man City are
in the running now haha! I believe Madrid a bit more but seriously
Spurs are just trying for a last minute price hike. He'll be a united
player within a few hours.

Anyway I'm going to have a bit of a weights workout now... Been a bit
lazy on the fitness front for a few days. Was going to cycle in to
work today but took one look at the weather and went straight back to
bed. Better luck tomorrow maybe!

Sent from my iPhone

Lessons in iLife

So what've I learned on my first day playing with my new toy?? Well.
Firstly there are tons of great apps out there to play with. My
favorite so far has to be the iBeer one haha. I know it's a simple
game but the rewarding pint is so lifelike and just... incredibly
impressive. I'm really impressed with anything that uses the
accelerometer too so this, just like Labyrinth and the free level
tools, goes down well.

Other apps def worth a mention are Twinkle, which finds twitter posts
by people in your area (great if you live in the technically lost back
of beyond) and send messages to them, last.fm the app which brings the
great web service to your mobile, and finally shazam which just like
the premium phone number finds out what that song you've been humming
all day actually is, given a few (in tune) notes.

Anyway I'm sure my obsession with finding these cool little gadgets
will quickly pass... I've already got two movies that I've been
desperate to check out on hold that surely can't wait too much longer.
Question is... Do I want to Believe orrr do I want to check out an
animated dystopian future with a cute robot?? Think I'll go with the x
files!

Sent from my iPhone

Getting to grips with the techno

Ello Ello!

So I think I'm finally getting the hang of all this new technology
haha - what better way to celebrate than starting my own mobile
blog?!? I have to say I'm completely buying into this whole iPhone
experience. Already set up a twitter account, converted a bunch of
movies, made some new ringtones, got all the apps and now hooked up
blogger! Yikes. Anyway I guess what most people use these things for
are ranting so here's my rant of the day... Curse you google for
making U.K. customers have googlemail.com addresses instead of gmail!
Now certain websites who take photo uploads via email don't know who I
am until I go back and change my email address... Argh! And I do
realize that's semi my fault but hey this is the Internet so o can say
what I like right?! Nazis. :-)

Sent from my iPhone