We have a new email spam filter at work that cuts out emails with words like 'sexy' and 'offers'. So i got one today from my friend Paul with 'sexy' in it, utter fools. Maybe words like 'prescription viagra', 'burundi', 'w@nk3r', 'muffcam'...lets work together people, and use the common sense provided with our brains!

Well good afternoon world. So much has happened since my last blog, but I'm just too lazy to get around to getting down in digital print! But as I'm working on bank holiday (for the extra money of course) but not being able to actually do much constructive work due to IT problems (and of course there's no one in IT support to sort anything out!!) so I'm at a bit of a loose end.

CRICKET: Our rag tag of England cricketers threw away opportunities again, had South aFrica on the ropes and thanks to dogged, yet dull displays from Gary Kirsten they managed to turn the game around and ended up easily beating us! So can we stop picking all these old codger, worthy but not really Test class bowlers and stop making excuses for not picking Graham Thorpe, and get over the personal issues, then maybe we can start building a good squad and team spirit again. The makings of a good side is still there, but a complete lack of a single decent match-winning spinner in the whole country and injuries to some high class potential seamers doesn't help. We could still win the last Test and come out of the series with a good draw, but it'll mean more persistence required from the bowlers and a little more fortune and concentration from the batsmen, and of course Thorpe replacing Hussain. Let's not let Stewie end his career with a drab poor performance, he deserves better!

IRAQ: Well done George, you foolish, blood-thirsty, blind-to-the-truth, deceptive and downright evil man, when will the reign of this mad tyrant President end! He's ruining the environment and keeping his big business buddies who paid for him to get into office happy, whilst trying to rule the rest of the world by force until it becomes blatantly obvious that they never had a clue what to do with Iraq once Saddam was ousted and come running to the UN for help, and even then try to dictate terms. the attacks of 9/11 were one of the most horrid acts of violence the world has ever seen, but America's actions since have been simplistic and blinkered to the wider picture, they have no right to expect foreign cultures to just succumb to a western, captialst lifestyle just because Bush decided Saddam had to rightly go. Who the hell does he think he is, I just hope future generations will not look back on the work of the Bush jnr administration with sorrowful, guilty eyes.

GENERAL: Life is pretty good. I mean I've been a bit down lately, but really, I've got a job, a flat, food, friends, a girlfriend, something to fill my days. Cricket for a decent team on a weekend. But still it gets me down to think about my debts and all the stuff that needs attention, chilling out is definitely required. That is life's biggest test, whether to plow on through problems, well perceived problems, or to give up and feel sorry for yourself. I chose the latter for a while, but friends and Becx managed to pull me out pretty quick, it never lasts for too long.

And i got a good friends stag weekend in a week or so, then a trip to the Reading Festival to see Blur and the White stripes, and then my first wedding experience. Of course I can't afford any of this, and a holiday seems increasingly unlikely for the foreseeable future, but putting it in perspective, I could have nothing, no job, friends, loved ones, home, nothing to eat! Simple things must be considered when facing an alleged problem, and perspective is always a useful tool when trying to cheer yourself up!

CRICKET: So Nasser Hussain has quit. Maybe he's had enough, fair enough, but surely in the middle of back-to-back Tests isn't the ideal time?! Maybe Michael Vaughan is ready, and keen, and in pretty good nick with the bat, but Nasser has still done a pretty decent job of turning England into a competitive and more gutsy team than some of his predecessors.

But when South Africa blasted nearly 400 for 1 on the first day at Edgebaston, the press were as eager as ever to turn on a team that had just won a triangular one-day series. It annoys me that they feel its the right thing to say after a single bad day. Even when going into the final day, with only 20 required and still three wickets in hand to save th follow-on, the tone of news readers was one of nervous negativity. I know the media have a job to make stories sound more exciting, but please, could you add maybe a hint of national pride rather than assumptions that we will fail.

But it's far easier and safer to be negative and pick faults than it is to stick your neck out and back someone. Nasser has left the national team in a more solid state, able to show more grit, and we did avoid the follow-on and never looked like losing the match. Thanks Nasser, but no thanks to the press.

ENVIRONMENT: "Disappearance of Amazon rainforest brings pledge of emergency action " from the guardian article, Saturday 28th June 2003:

"Rainforests cover less than 2% of the Earth's surface, yet they are home to some 40 to 50% of all life forms - as many as 30 million species of plants, animals and insects. Up to 30% of the world's animal and plant species are found nowhere but in the Amazon, an area of 1.54 million sq miles (4.1 million sq km) - larger than western Europe. Scientists issue a warning that its rate of destruction poses serious threats, not just in respect of lost species but by reducing production of oxygen and unpredictable consequences for global weather patterns."

read the article in full

Well, here i am at work. Taking time out to mention that I despise my home internet connection with a passion. something must be done, as having approximately a minute everytime i dial up, leaves me a little short of time to actually do anything. My junk emails are building up, and my frustrations are boiliing nicely at gas mark 3, in a light casserole dish, with accompanying boiled potatoes.

Anyway life otherwise is good, Becx got her degree, we had fun at her graduation ball. And I'm not doing too bad with my local cricket team which is nice. Getting to bowl at former Test cricketer's (Rob Bailey) and then have them say 'well bowled' after the game is always a promising reward.

Musically, I'm impressed with the Thrills, have heard all the singles, very Neil Young/folky/70's stylee, but perfect summery stuff. The Badmeaningood collection by the Scratch Perverts is also a high quality selection of hip hop and soul/blues classics and inspirations, not quite as abrasive as some of the scratching and mixing, and scratching and mixing and scra...

am also impressed with www.proteinos.com. Very intruiging and well designed portal

Well blogger has changed since i last popped in. But for the better I'm sure. Been a busy time, what with my girlfriend's graduation ball in Manchester, we arrived by limo no less, after negotiating the tricky task of pouring a magnum of champagne in to glasses during the journey, it really isn't that easy. Aaah the high life.

But the night was good, entertainment was ok, dj, not brilliant, food, not too bad, and Becx looked fantastic in her dress, made for the occassion, and impressive hair, as styled by mr tony and mr guy. Unfortuantely the high drinks prices meant we weren;'t too blitzed by the end. But we did see the sun coming up next morning, so it wasn't a bad effort.

I've had contact from an old friend in Melbourne, Oz. Good bloke, who found my work email via my personal site, whilst looking for cricket scores, the power of the net. And another old friend from back home in Torquay has put 2 web site projects my way, and they're both willing to pay, which in my current financial state, is very good news...more soon people, hope you are well.

By the way, George Bush is a liar, its official, and Tony Blair is a fool for trusting and following him...harsh but fair i think

Well its been a while, have been off visiting family and friends, and my girlfriend Becx for her 3rd year production, performing arts piece, which I got a little too involved in for my liking! She did well, some very impressive movements to 'Edge Hill' by Groove Armada, supplied by me! Always glad to help and all that, but when I got dragged out to be a part of the opening scene of the piece, that was a little bonus! Had a long weekend at home, which was perfect, spending time with family and old friends, the weather was kind, even though my old cricket team got beat. But we made up for it in the pubs of Torquay, much to my body's regret the next day!

The next weekend it was Becx's 21st, and she did pretty well. We visited Sankey's Soap in Manchester, James Lavelle and Unklesounds were djing, not sure if we heard them as it went on until 6am and we left at 1.30, frankly there were some hardcore clubbers in the downstairs section, that dance floor must have been a swimming pool by morning. Still well worth the trip.

Work is going ok, despite the lack of money, plenty of valuable experience, when I can get my lazy arse out of bed!

INSOMNIA: It�s gone midnight, and I can�t get no sleep. Insomnia. (It�s not that bad, I just thought it was a cheap way to get a song reference in). Got some relaxing tunes playing via my RealOne Player, and lots of ideas about things I�d like to do to enhance my web skills. But when I get down to it, it never seems to go as I expect, all these tutorial magazines I have, with all these step by step tutorials, but something doesn�t work, a file from the accompanying disk, or there�s just one action that it doesn�t explain in excruciating detail, and now I�ve messed up an important part of the process. It doesn�t always work out this way, but am in a frustrated mood. My BT connection is still woefully pathetically crap. In a nutshell. But after discussing it with the helpline man and my own examinations of my computer, it seems it�s the modem or the phone wiring in my flat, so I�ll need to sort that little issue out sooner rather than later. �16 a month for an internet connection that doesn�t stay connected for more than 5 minutes ain�t a lot of use. So that�s where I�m at right now.

MONEY: Minimal pay rise at work, not gonna cover all my increased outgoings, so that�s not good news for a heavily in debt graduate, I�d be lying if I said it doesn�t get me down. But I am most definitely not the only one. Having lots of money is not a big issue in my life, not having to worry about paying bills is. I just ask for enough to enjoy and make the most of my days, have some new and interesting experiences once in a while, that�s not too greedy is it?

The US sugar industry is kicking up a fuss because the World Health Organisation says in a report that only 10% of American's diets should be sugar, attacking the report the sugar industry says: "Taxpayers' dollars should not be used to support misguided, non-science-based reports which do not add to the health and well-being of Americans, much less the rest of the world," considering the problem of increasing numbers of over-weight Americans, and the growing tidal wave of taste-less convenience foods taking over our daily routines, this leaves a rather sour taste in my mouth. The sugar industry are blackmailing the US geovernment saying they want funding dropped for the WHO. Read the full story here
World Health Organisation

back2work :: jesus, did i enjoy my maccy d's allstar big breakfast (wretch) erm not really, i regret it as soon as i sit down and take the first morsel they have to offer. Anyway, had 1 hello how are you from the nice Irish journo, Rachel, who's friends with my boss Emma, and the rest of em can fark off. Ignorant toerags. I've given up trying to look for meet and greet opportunities, they have their safe, dark world where no light gets in, and I have my own corner, lit by real sunlight. Never mind, life does go on.

Wonder what stunning stories they have to offer the web audience today? A few rehashes, a few tenuous local stories from national stories, all good stuff...do I want to keep my job, well yes? Then stop slaggin off your employer, oh, yeh, good point, sorry. Later people. See today's paper online : Peterborough Evening Telegraph

Well the end of the week was far better than the beginning. I don't recommend having a tooth pulled. It's bloody horrible. And I thought I looked after my teeth?! Anyway, birthday was good on friday. My wonderful girlfriend made me a cake, and I got a damn impressive assortment of cool pressies from family and friends. Had a pleasant day in Stamford. Although we had a pizza in Ask, and frankly it wasn't the best, but we survived.

So this is Easter Sunday, just saw the Pope on BBC1 doing an address to all his fans at the Vatican, that guy speaks a whole load of languages, but he doesn't look at his peak I have to say, the guy is officially on his last legs. Not much else on the goggle box, (where does that saying come from? And who really cares?) Listening to Jacues Le Cont' and Slam's Fabric cd's, and bloody good it is too, cheers Dan for the bday copies.

humorously btopenworld have sent me a letter telling me about their great email filtering system, and 'hoping you're enjoying your time with us' well not as such no. But a friend of Becx's family works for bt and I might be able to pick his brains as to what's up with my horribly lame connection. OOO sun's out, better get outside and make the most of it, back to work tomorrow, althoug it is time and a half and I can go pretty much when I want. so it can't be too bad.

PILFER ::I have to say, I've had more fun in the last few days than possibly anyone ever in the history of the known universe. I discovered last week that my door lock doesn't work properly, and one big shove and it pops open, so I'm locking the deadlock aswell now! Then Saturday during a rather gruelling 7 and a half hours cricket practice day, some kindly passing thieving toerag decided my wallet looked ripe and did a runner with it. they only got �3 and a debit card which hopefully I blocked before they did anything too exciting with.

TOERAG ::Of course in my mind I can't fully remember what I did with the damn wallet, after i had it at lunch. Started to doubt my self, and think maybe i just dropped it somewhere foolishly or left it lying around with a flashing sign above saying, come and get me? But I'm fairly sure I didn't. Ironic that my first day of cricket at Peterborough Town's Brettin Gate ground had an unhappy ending. After 10 years playing in the Devon League for Barton and Abbotskerswell and not losing a penny to thieves, it frankly is almost funny. And on another bright note, the wallet was a bit past it speak, and I was planning to get another one, so it's just hurried that chore on a bit.

MORE GOOD NEWS ::Then today, at the ET, a web page I thought had been finished had some mysteriously missing elements, which I had to carefully re-insert. And then my old chum Mike phones to say his work is ridiculously busy, and they have offered him triple-pay and little choice in working over Easter, Which kind of buggers up his planned visit to another friends, where we were all gonna catch up. all in all, I've not really enjoyed much of today, and tomorrow it's the dentists for half an hour of numbness and filling and random dental torture, I really can't wait to spend the evening dribbliing uncontrollably, practice for old age, which as I turn 29 on Friday is fast approaching. At least I get to spend it with my lovely girlfriend Becx :-)

MUSIC :: On a brighter note, everyone must get the White Stripes album, Elepehant, it really does rock. I can also recommend the Junior Senior album too, it's a real party album, lively, bouncy, indie/dance with some fruity lyrics thrown in for good measure!

Sony have patented the term 'Shock and Awe' for use in a forthcoming computer game. Congratulations, may you sleep well tonight and try not to think about all the Iraqis that died during the real-life events of Shock and Awe, this avenue of marketiing frankly sickens me, but unfortunately people are gonna buy it. Read the Guardian Online report

So its goodnight from Saddam then, unless he's sitting in a cave somewhere in the middle-east playing snap with Osama Bin Laden! Nice that they pulled that staue down right in front of the journalists hotel, make sure they get good shots for the telly. Yes I am cynical, but as long as the Iraqi people get to have a say in the running of their country now and it doesn't just turn into New Texas, with a big oil line pumping black gold straight to the US of A then at least some good has come out of Crazy George's go-it-alone who-needs-the-UN-anyway plan.

Channel 4 reported last night about all the Texan based companies that have won tenders to work in Iraq when it's free from Saddam's rule. Not suspicious at all. I'm glad the whole thing seems to have been over quickly, with minimum loss of life, althought the amount of friendly fire and media kills was unbelievable. How do these American's get trained, on Playstation 2?!

Have just had training on the new admin (content management system) at work. Seems better than the previous version (which it should be) and hopefully will work better...? But it adheres more to the .NET system set up by Microsoft, which is fine, except if you work on a mac, which we at our paper do. It seems strange that any microsoft solutions wouldn't work so well on a mac, well actually it's no surprise, why would they want anyonhe to use a mac, when pc's are much better and Bill is trying to rule the IT world with Microsoft. He kinda got away with it afte that big court case in America, but no one's fooled, they make everything as pc/microsoft friendly as they can, and force their products and services on the rest of us, via their network and operating systems. Competition is a dirty word, so frankly I like using my mac, its a lot more pleasnat to look at for a start, and just has a nicer atmosphere about the environment, I'm not sure if I'm explaining it right, but if you've used both, you might understand more.

Just a quick one before work. The Government are proposing to make big shops close on Xmas Day, quite bloody right too. The commercial world we live in breeds the idea that we need every shop open all the time, convenience. Frankly I reckon we can all survive without shopping on Xmas Day. The only people who need to open are greedy bosses who are only concerned with profits and not too bothered about generosity and the needs of their staff. Unfortunately, in the retail industry, that sort of attitude is rife, its all about competing and getting on over on the other shops, to make that extra pound, well frankly it makes me sick after 12 years in retail, I would rather be a dirty hobo on the streets than devote my life to one faceless corporate retail whore company, and that's what you have to do, devote your time and all your energy for frankly not much in return, because it isn't exactly fulfilling, because every member of staff is expected to do so many tasks simultaneaously that actually feeling like your meeting people is a thing of the past...enough, later people

Another template, well the last one that changes colour, very cool, but very mental after a while. Bed soon for me, didn't England do well, especially that Mickey Rooney, 17, makes me feel a bit inadequate at 28, knockin on 29.

Well here we are, Wednesday already, and after a few days of excruciating dental pain, i am now feeling better thanks. Whilst at work, I've just completed my webguide for april hope you have time to take a look, there's a few interesting titbits from around the web, and some comment and links on the war, from some different points of view.

Much looking forward (is that English?) to my girlfriend coming home from Uni on Friday, it gets a bit lonely in the flat (blub) but you got to appreciate time on your own, and make the most of things in life. As a couple of people I know from back home have died recently, frnkly before their time, but everyone's gotta go sometime, and you never know when, so everyday shoould be seen as an opportunity rather than a series of chores. I'll leave you with that. Anyway back to the Peterborian grindstone now...

A beautiful sunny sunday afternoon. Been to cricket training and didn't do too bad, gonna have a pizza, write my blog and then get outside and enjoy that sunshine, before my week of deskbound, indoor activity begins! I suppose I could always be a gardener, or a bin man, they get plenty of fresh air. My friend Tom's a postie, but it's the winters that can't be a lot of fun.

Watched Magnolia last night, fantastic but slightly mental film. 3 hours, but the acting and storyline was impressive. And at the end it makes you think a little, I also felt a wee bit confused, but in general a film that makes you think about life at the end is alright by me. And I don't mean thoughts like "Why have I just spent a couple of hours of my life watching this shite?" Shawshank Redemption, there's another one. You must all see it.

From what I see of the war, things are going to plan, but more like Saddam's than Crazy Cowboy George's. So it's going to be Vietnam II then, all this 24 hour news coverage shoould start to loosen its grip soon, especially as even the BBC are admitting mistakes. But their biggest, is the world service reading out all their info on this Salam Pax guy who has been writing this blog from Baghdad, and frankly he's not Saddam's biggest fan, so the blimming Beeb have done the guy no favours and put his life at risk, and for what end? They certainly aren't going to win any journalistic awards for it. As for less than serious coverage, The Onion have come up trumps again, cutting through the world of news like a hot knife through butter. Not for the faint-hearted.

Right, if btop will let me go online, I'll upload this, finish me spicy pizza, and sunshine here I come, later people