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!

Firstly if you’ve ever bothered to read the about me bit below you’ll notice that it says “finally graduated” so for a shiny gold star can you guess what that means? No!? Well it means I took my pass degree and done a runner. I now have a BSc in Computing for Real Time Systems and can finally look for work. So far I did 3 days with a company which didn’t work out as the role didn’t suit me and I narrowly missed out on a position at a school. I have an interview next Thursday in Bath so all is okay on the job front; as in, I’m at least getting interviews.

Other things sportside have happened too. United won the Premier League which is fantastic and I’m really chuffed in the way that we’ve won it. I got myself tickets to see the L.A. Kings play the Anaheim Ducks (NHL) at the O2 Arena later this year and tomorrow I’ll find out if I’ve got tickets to see the Miami Dolphins play the N.Y. Giants (NFL) at Wembley. I also have my driving theory test this Friday (eek!) and it’s not too long till Catrin and I’s first wedding anniversary!

So yes I’ve been quite the busy person which to me explains the lack of posting. With any luck once things settle, like when I get a job, I may start posting a little more frequently. Anyway, for now, let the current news of my life settle, take a deep breath (perhaps have a cup of tea) and relax.

I’ve also been enjoying some fun adverts recently, the pick being the Guinness “hands” adverts. You can see the first [here] and the second isn’t online, but it’s one for St. Patrick’s Day. Though I’m no surprised in some ways as, usually, the best ads on TV are for alcohol. Maybe at some point I’ll list or link to my favourites, who knows.

So aside from that is there anything else going on in my life? Well yes, one thing in particular I’ll keep to myself, but other than that a not a lot has happened. My project is a little further on than it was an I’m a little happier with that know that I’ve at least started something and that’s really it. Boring I know, but right now there isn’t much going on. Maybe when I’m working and I get out of education more will happen. I would bore (and possible give you TMI) about my toe, but less to say it’s been looked into. It also means I’m taking some antibiotics so no alcohol for me, shame really but that’s life.

Other news though, United are still top of the league, so I’ve always got something to smile about.

Aside from that I’ve been panicking about my final year project and generally worriting. Hopefully once all is a little more settled I’ll get back into a groove more frequent blog posts.

Anyway, start of the year I’d just come back from New Year in Australia for the 2nd time in my life. It was fantastic as usual and really had me pepped up for the year ahead. By February Cati and I had decided to move out to new digs and had a place set up in Bradley Stoke. I moved in February while Cati stayed in the flat in the centre as each location gave us both handy access to our respective Universities. I then basically concentrated on getting the house sorted and passing my modules at Uni. By the end of May I’d take all the exams and in June Cati joined me out in Bradley Stoke. Then came the biggest day of my life/year when, on the 8th July, Cati and I finally got married. Pictures can still be found on our Wedding Site if you haven’t been there yet. Straight after that we went on our Honeymoon to Mauritius which was lovely and I would dearly like to go back again possibly when the weather is a tad better. Late July I saw Cati graduate from Bristol Uni in a long ceremony and then by the end of August somehow myself managed to pass all my exams leaving me with just one year left, hopefully. September saw me start back at UWE and the wonderful task of conjuring up a final year project to do which, to this date, isn’t really started. I was up in Scotland by December visiting my brother which was nice. However, not long after I came home I was informed that my Grandpa had passed away. Due to varying circumstances I missed the funeral which added to things as he never saw our wedding as we failed to get the DVD up to my Grandparents. Finally Christmas came which I spent with my family in Yorkshire which was fun as I got a Wii for Christmas. New Year was spent at home in Bristol with Cati and close friends including my best man Andy who came down with us from Yorkshire.

So that was 2006 and now for 2007. Really all I’ve got is goals. I want to graduate from Uni this year as I don’t honestly think I could take a 6th year at Uni. I want to find a job as quickly as I can and also pass my driving test. The other thing on my mind is our first wedding anniversary as well as Cati’s birthday in December. Still, these things are yet to come. No doubt you’ll find out how I do, lets hope it goes better than I think.

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.

The England match, as I previously mentioned, was a dire display of football. Okay so 0-0 isn’t a loss strictly speaking but to be honest, with the talent we had on the pitch we should have walked it. This is no disrespect to Macedonia, they came out, frustrated our players and their defence played a blinder but what it does show is the current trend in England teams. As soon as our tactic for the match is beaten we seem incapable of adapting at times. We sometimes fluke it and win, others a sheer act of brilliance makes the difference, but today we had neither and 0-0 was the result. Let’s just hope that the same doesn’t happen against Croatia in mid-week as that really would put us in trouble!

Got myself a DVD re-writer for my PC as well this past week. Finally I can get some stuff of my PC as well as create the odd DVD video that I can play in my DVD player in the front room. Let me tell you, watching stuff on my main television is a billion times better than watching on my PC screen. It’s a dual-layer one too so if I really wanted I could buy dual-layer DVDs to write on but for now the stuff I’m doing I don’t need to. THis tiny upgrade has also highlighted the fact that I really want to upgrade Gandalf (my main Windows machine, yes it’s named after the LoTR character). I mean it’s starting to show its age now and I really want to get new components in so things are catered for. for a little while at least. Still it would require a heck of a lot of money and while some may say it’d be cheaper to buy a new PC I don’t need that as I have a very expensive case as well as nice prepherials that I want to keep so buying new is out of the question. Silly you may say but hell, I like building the damn things and chances are I wouldn’t get a Hiper PSU from a Dell!

Aside from that the eagle eyed among you may have noticed that I’ve finally upgraded WordPress to version 2.0.4 and my theme to Beta 2. I did actually try Beta 2 of Squible a while back but I had too many issues with it so decided to keep with the old version. However, a recent spate of annoying bot comments, pushed me into upgrading to see whether they were exploiting a bug (they were able to post comments on a topic where you couldn’t). So I decided to start fresh and give Beta to a whirl again. This time there hasn’t been any issue expect one with Flickr which I hope to resolve soon (i.e. it doesn’t seem to retrieve my pics instead it pulls random ones). Either way I’m up-to-date now and that’s a bonus I suppose.

In other news I signed up at 360voice.com to give my XBox 360 a “blog” of sorts and it’s an amusing read, anyone who really wants to see what my 360 says about me should visit this page. My NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, have gotten off to an indifferent start to the NFL season. They’ve currently won one and lost two and just don’t look as good a unit as they did last season. Granted we no longer have Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, Randle El or Kimi VO but you’d have thought we’d be a lot better. In contrast United has gotten off to one of the best starts I’ve seen in a while though at the moment we’re stuttering. I think that’s mainly due to Giggs being out but then we should still perform better than we have been doing.

Oh well, anyway, I’ll be down in Bournemouth again this weekend for Ruth’s birthday. Should be a laugh as it has a bouncy castle and everything, should definitely be a good weekend!

When I got there, I went up, told my name and they said they didn’t have a sheet for me. This sorta worried me but the lady said I could check my results online and that I should find a computer lab and do so. So I wandered over to P-block and my usual labs room and logged on. When I got to the page and logged in to see my results I saw something I’ve never seen whilst at Uni.. ‘Pass in all modules taken.’ That’s right, I’ve managed to pass any and every module I took this year for the first time since starting
University. This means this year I only have my final year project, a core module and an option to do and I’ll finally graduate, gawd I really hope I do it.

Anyway, all is good and here’s to what I hope is my final year at UWE.