For Pete's Sake

Read this the other day and thought to myself ‘I totally relate to this!’ Possibly not so much addicted to the Internet but technology. I find it hard these days to not have technology around me but even more so we as a society are finding this harder. Ignoring the fact that to read this you’re using a computer of some description be it laptop or PC most people have a mobile phone. According to statistics 1.5 billion texts were sent each week in the UK last year which when divded by population (60,943,912) works out to 24 texts per person. I’d like to think I’m a light texter and generally call people if I want to say anything of length. My wife on the other hand texts quite a lot and considering she doesn’t use predictive text (as she finds it awkward) she’s pretty damn quick! How many times have you felt lost when your mobile is out of charge and you frantically try and find a way of charging and then receive a barrage of texts that you missed for the brief time you were incommunicado?

Some people would say the continued use of technology in our daily lives is a good thing. It makes life easier making what used to be tough tasks easier and less stressful. Communication like e-mail and SMS messaging has made the world a smaller place allowing for news and information to be spread around the world with alarming ease. On the flip side however you only need to google ‘texting thumb’ to read about peoples issues from excessive texting. Who can forget scare stories of mobile phones causing headaches and the paranoia surrounding long term damage caused by mobile phone use. There’s a post a made back in Feburary about a girl developing Playstation Palmer Hidradentis and I’m sure there’s a plethora of other technology based ailments to join the classic RSI injuries.

So is technology bad for  you? Like any addicition it only is if done to excess. I routinely have evenings away from my Mac and just chill with a good movie. When I’m holiday I like to be out and about and only use my laptop for blogging that days events, browse my pictures and maybe, depending on net access, send an e-mail. I can quite happily go incommunicado for a weekend and not come out the other side craving a text or sending an e-mail. I do know of people who panic if they have no access to e-mail and plan their holiday around the availability of mobile phone coverage. To those people I’d say slow down, un-plug and check out what you’re missing. The world won’t end if you don’t get your daily dose of spam e-mail.

So here were are, finally in 2008. I meant to get a review of the year up before we got here but alas I didn’t but there you go. Then again at least I can say this review is that off the full year I suppose. For me, it’s been a year of ups and downs just as any other year but in many ways the downs have been impacted more than usual.

I guess though the main thing of 2007 was the fact that I graduated from University which was officially certified in November. Catrin and I also celebrated our first full year of marriage with a fun party for all and chances are we’ll do the same next year. I saw my first NFL and NHL game at two great venues and less to say I hope I’m able to do something similar this year and Catrin turned 25.

As for the not so good points I don’t really want to go back over, they’ve happened and a partially document here but I can’t see much reason pointing them out. So what does 2008 hold? First and foremost it’s my 25th birthday this year (although it’s a while till that’ll happen) and Catrin and I will be heading to Iceland in the summer. Not to mention the fact that I have a half-marathon to run as well. Then there are those things that you don’t plan for and just happen. What those things will be, well that’s why life is so exciting I guess. As for resolutions, well I hope to lose weight as well as get fitter but that’s what most people list for resolutions.

So here’s to 2008 and a happy new year to you all!

So I’ve started running recently, in fact, today. I actually bought the running shoes a few weeks back but hadn’t really had the motivation to get out and start running. Anyway, I recently got a hold of the Nike+ stuff from Apple to go with my trainers and it really has got me out there. At the bottom of this post front page is a little widget showing my last few runs (2 at the moment), I may have put it on the front page for future comedic value. Still it’s all good (tiring) fun!

Edit: Decided the stick it on the front page for all to see!

Been a little busy of late for once. Went to Seend on Saturday for lunch with Cat’s mother who was on leave from the convent, her Grandfather, her sister and of course, Cat. Was lovely, we had a roast, which makes a change from what Cat & I usually have at home. On the same day I met up with a friend of mine, Carl, to see his local team Westbury play in a local league cup. They won 3-1 with all three of their goals coming in the second half. The ref on the day was as useful as a turnip but it made from an exciting game.

On to this week then and so far I have been to the Gym and played football today! I’m trying to get my weight and body fat down a little so hopefully the more I do the better, time will tell on that I guess. I’ll be in Uni and at the Gym again tomorrow. I have a Gym buddy in my friend Rich who I’ve known since I started Uni so there’s someone there to push me and keep me going which helps alot.

In other news, United had a great weekend but a horrible evening tonight. On the weekend we won and our rivals lost but tonight we lost to Southend. Credit to them though they were good for their win and in my opinion deserved it far more than United did. Pittsburgh have gone to 2-6 now having lost again on the weekend. Sky is showing another of their games this Sunday in their double header and though I love watching them play I don’t know if I could handle four bad defeats in a row. I probably will watch but I’ll at least panic about it for a little while.

Well today was a day of ups and downs and unfortunately, in a way, more down than up. Then again we all have days like these and it’s just one of things you have to deal with. The major downer of the day was that I had to make an emergency appointment with my dentist. Over the last week a small bump on my gum below a tooth became bigger and pus was coming out not only that it hurt!

So, a quick trip home, a quick google, I found that I most probably had an abscess which wasn’t good news as according to the site I read it could involve a root canal which didn’t sound great. So out I went to the dentist and managed to get myself squeezed in between two appointments. When he had a looked he confirmed it was indeed an abscess and that my tooth would need to be removed ASAP. I decided to go for it, I have a mental thing with teeth and dentists which I won’t go in to but you have to understand that for me it takes a lot to go to the dentist not to mention keeping them clean. Say what you will but you won’t understand unless you’re me.

Anyway, that was sorted and things are feeling better if a little weird with not having a tooth where there once was a tooth. Still there was good news today. I found out that the last of my Web Technologies projects will actually be an essay which will suit me more than a coding based project. So yes, it wasn’t all bad but I certainly didn’t see me having a tooth removed when I woke up this morning.