After last years successful ObscureInternet Secret Santa it was obvious that it would become on ObscureInternet tradition. Therefore when December 2008 quickly crept up on us, we chose a theme and prepared for more random present giving. This years theme was a gift from a pound shop  and a mix CD.

My item arrived by registered post on Christmas eve (a clear sign of a busy Secret Santa). The pound shop item was Glade Candle with a Christmas scent, which a like. The wife isn’t too happy with it, but she insists on sticking those Air Wick FreshMatic Automatic Sprays around the house, which I’m not happy with, so I’ll just use it when she’s out of the house.

Now when it came to the Mix-CD there was a little problem, described on a attached note.

I had received a couple of DVD-R filled with DivX movies instead, which looking at the bright side meant I did not have to worry about receiving music I might hate.

If you are wondering (as I was) T.A.O.J.J.B.T.C.R.F is ‘The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford’ which along with ‘No Country for Old Men’ are a two films I haven’t seen yet and have been wanting to watch for a while.

S.O.A.P. is ‘Snakes on a Plane’, which unfortunately along with ‘Talladega nights’ had CRC errors. However I’m more interesting in ‘Zodiac’ which I’ve never heard of, but it looks interesting.

So, overall this Santa gets a thumbs up, I can watch a few films in a nice smelling room. 

Looking forward to next year’s now.

It’s only a few days away, but I’ve nearly got Christmas all sorted. I just need to wrap the wife’s presents up.  Wrapping things up is definitely not one of my talents, but it’s something I’ve managed to get better at over the last few years. Mind you, when you start as poorly I as did you can only get better. I used to get mother to do all wrapping for me, this however is no longer an opinion.

The healthly get fit lifestyle is on hold over Christmas, while I stuff my face with as much junk as possible. I shall be doing the new years resolutions thing again this year, and so I imagine getting fit and health will be high on that list again this year.  The one benefit of having that ‘killer’ virus last weeks, was managed to lose five pounds. 

I suppose it’s time to reveal that secret thing that I’ve had going on for the last couple of years. It’s no big deal, I do karate. There you go, I told you it was no big deal.

I’ve been having an interesting time, which can should split into two contrasting parts. The good part was a work related to trip to Copenhagen and the bad part was this rather nasty virus I returned home with.

Mind you, the trip to Copenhagen wasn’t all plain sailing, and not just because I flew there. My original and direct flight from Newcastle was cancelled, so I had to book another. The new flights I booked were via Amsterdam, so they added another four hours on to my flight time, however on the bright side they only seat they had left were in business class, so I did travel in style even though all I try and do is sleep when I’m flying. Also the fancy food they tried to give me on the flight involved eating little dead things, with faces, which I’m not into.

I didn’t even get to see a lot of Copenhagen when I got there, as I was a very tight schedule and It was dark when I arrived. What I did see (outside of the docklands industrial estate) looked lovely. I did however, have a good meal and some drinks in a great little bar after (I have no idea what these places are called or where they are). So, hopefully I can make another trip to Copenhagen soon.

Now as I alluded to earlier, returning home wasn’t great as I, and the rest of my family, have been suffering with this virus which seems to spreading making a rapid grand tour around Britian (at least according to the tabloids, which is where I got the title ‘Killer Virus’ from).  I spent most the entire weekend either in bed or lying on the sofa watching TV (a big change in habit for me).  I missed taking the boy and the niece to the Christmas Panto and a Christmas Party. Making my Christmas party count for this year now officially Zero.

I know this post make  it two Youtube video posts in a row, but this one has Hulk, Wolverine, Thor and Deadpool. That’s comic book nerd heaven for me, and a hell of a cast for a DVD.

Anyway this blog needs more comic book posts.

Isn’t this amazing? Reyn never fails to impress.

Well it is almost the time of year again, where I like to say ‘Bah, Humbug’ and complain about the amount of money I’m spending on the  ’Jesus wasn’t born today or born in Bethlehem, so lets buy lots of stuff from Argos like the Pagans did’ or ‘Christmas’ as it more commonly known. 

Since I have a child and wife who rather likes this holiday, I am forced to tolerate it. Anyway, We’ve done a some christmassy things already, first of all we all went to see the Christmas Parade in the town. Here’s a Vimeo video of said parade (Isn’t Vimeo rather good, much better than YouTube)

On a similar subject here’s another video. This time it’s the boy Tubing on a snow ramp that was in the town last weekend.

We’ve done a bit of Christmas shopping, however I don’t know what I want for Christmas. I’ve even posted on the forum for ideas. I’ve got a less invites to parties this year (with money being how it is) and those I do have invites to I got a few scheduling conflicts. 

Hopefully this time next week I’ll be in Copenhagen for work, if all goes well I will take pictures for you.

Oh, last thing before I forget; ObscureInternet.com Secret Santa 2008 has started, get your name down.

Well the last post certainly caught a fair bit of attention, in fact it’s the most popular post I’ve written since the move to WordPress. I must blog about current events more often (or just blog more often).

I’ve been Working from home for the past few weeks, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be travelling again in a while, probably not until after the new year. This gives me plenty of time to go stir crazy, but at least it means I spend less time traveling.

Working on ObscureInternet.com as well, been interview some bands from MySpace (first one was published on wednesday, a lovely young lady). The request for interviews got a much bigger response that I expected, I’m still writing and uploading the answers I got for requests I sent out over two weeks ago.

Also I’ve just bought myself a nice new Microphone so I can start broadcasting show live shows for Radio6581. I’ve got a few things to sort out but these should be coming very soon. I’m also thinking of doing some Podcasts for ObscureInternet.

Oh, while I’m on the subject of retro radio,  it’s time to Vote for ROTY 2008! again on remix 64, it only seems like a few weeks since the last awards show.

Fitness wise, I’ve been going Wii-fit intermittantly and I’ve manged to complete Week 2 of Onehundredpushs. I managed to complete more than 81 push ups in one session, which surprised me greatly. The weight is still yo-yo-ing (is that a word? I hope so) but as I’ve said before this doesn’t really bother me.

I’ve also been busy with something else that I’ve got going on at the moment, but it’s a bit of secret and has been for almost two years. I may reveal the secret at the end of the year, but don’t get too excited, it’s not that interesting.

The idiots at the BNP have manage to have their list of member leaked and published online.

Here it is get while you can; http://bnpmemberslist.blogspot.com 

Update 19-Nov-2008 10:51

Link appears to be broken; So here are some torrents of the list, the full list on Wikileaks and a rapidshare link of the email addresses

Update 19-Nov-2008 14:58

BNP member proximity search – Find BNP members near you.

http://lolgriffin.blogspot.com/ - LOL Griffin

BNP Google Maps Mashup

Yes, in case you’ve hadn’t noticed by now I’ve tweaked the design again, and this time I’m happy with the results. 

Here’s a little sneak preview of design for those of you reading the RSS feed. Also when I change the design again this image will also be a nice reminder of how the blog use to look. I’ve changed the design a number of times, but I’ve never really saved screenshots of the previous design, so I can’t really look at the evolution of the site. Archive.org only gives a few of the old designs, and the images (such as the old logos) are missing.

The new design is an attempt to reflect the C64 part of C64Glen. It’s a lot more blue and it uses the Commodore 64 font in the main logo.

The blog is now running using WordPress 2.7 beta 2, and must say, I have been impressed by new dashboard interface and functionality. The only downside is the Blog Stats are missing from the main dashboard screen.

It’s been an interesting week, first of all we’ve had the end to all the nonsense in the USA. Yes, the US election finally came to an end on Tuesday. I stayed up, until after three o’clock in the morning, to watch all the fun on the BBC, and also to actually see if Obama would win. Obviously Obama was favourite to win, but given the nature of Americans, I had to see it before I would believe it. Thanks to the BBC excellent coverage, I did see it and even that idiot John Bolton didn’t manage to spoil it.

Wednesday was Bonfire night. This year rather than go to an organised display, Conor and I walked around the local estate visiting the various fires that had been assembled by the local children and the unemployable. This was something I haven’t done in a long time, and it was an interesting experience. It is just like a organised  display except people go these Bonfire in there pyjamas, and the fires are mostly built out of Wheelie Bins (which burn surprisingly well), garden fences and old household furniture. In conclusion I really should move.

Finally today’s Wii Fit weigh showed that I have lost 3lb pounds in the last two weeks, which is weird because I haven’t had time for either Wii Fit or the hundredpushups thing in those two weeks.