Congratulations to me and Jessica! We have passed our grading and I am now a 4th Kup whilst Jessica is a 6th. I was going to post a couple of pictures of us sporting our new belts, but it seems our instructors are now on holiday and we won’t get them until next Tuesday 🙁

…Anyway well done again to Jessica.

In other news, me and Jessica have booked a trip to NYC! It’s going to be pretty cold when we go in January but I am looking forward to seeing all the cool buildings and Jessica is hoping for some snow in Central Park. I am sure there will be loads of pictures from that trip! – I intend to be sporting a beanie.

All together MMmmmmeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaooooooowww (private joke).

If you are stressed at work, take a minute out with the on-line bubble-wrap. All better? Back to work…….

Saw a link to this amazing picture on digg. It takes a while to load but there is so much detail in it I recommend you wait and see the whole thing.

Should have a grading result late Tuesday/Wednesday.

Pictured here is the free chocolate bar that I got today from Croydon. When I say I got it, I really mean Jessica got it, as she was much braver than me.

Basically there is a woman named Rachel Blake and she recently e-mailed me a link to a site promoting Apollo bars. You go to the site and there is a passcode which you can utter at a Forbidden Planet store to get your free bar. If this means nothing to you I suggest you try watching Lost or googling Hanso.

We went into the shop and after looking around Jessica said something along the lines of “I’ve been told if I say Rachel Blake to you then you’ll give me a chocolate bar” to the shop assistant. “I certainly will” said the assistant, handing over the bar “there are Lost books over there if you are interested.” We pretended to be interested in the Lost books for a while and then made our escape.

Opening up the bar revealed a dark chocolate slab with a web address on it. The site reached via the address lets you can upload pictures of yourself with the bar. Go to the site and try to find me – you can choose to look at just the people from London to narrow things down.

Hanso Apollo Bar Lost

This is a genuine chance to get a free PS3. Why do I believe it? There has been a BBC news article about it and the offers are from fairly big name sites.

Basically, you have to sign up and complete one of the offers on the page. If you can then get 13 other people to do the same you will get a free PS3. So what’s the catch? All but one of the offers involves you laying down cash. So if you want to get in quick you can use the screenselect offer – free DVD rental for a month and no cost (as long as you cancel the account before the end of your first month).

If you are going to participate, please use the link above and help me on my way.

Playstation 3 Freebies

I have finally got round to putting my pictures from the British Grand Prix on the site. You can find them in the picture library. Unfortunately you are not allowed to carry a camera whilst on duty as a marshal, so most of the pictures are of the shop and stands area near the start finish straight.

I managed to get a few shots of some pit stop practice after Saturday’s qualifying. Enjoy 🙂

British GP

Last night at Taekwondo I had a go at board breaking. Breaking real boards would quickly become expensive so we used re-breakable boards. The boards are coloured, with white representing a pine board with thickness 1 inch and red being the equivalent of two white boards. The two halves of the board slot together and they are suprisingly hard to break apart once joined.

As it was my first time I tried breaking a single white board with an elbow strike. I managed to break it first time (despite my dodgy technique) and was reasonably pleased with myself. I tried the same technique with my left arm and had no problems. Then I tried to break it with the base of my palm but failed 🙁

Although I initially found the idea quite scary I now see why the exercise is useful. As my instructor pointed out… I could go on hitting pads for years and not know my technique was off – breaking boards showed me where I need to improve. I need to put more body weight and movement into the strike as I am currently relying on my arm to do all the work.

If you fail to break the board it can be a little painful and punches are not recommend as your knuckles can break if you do things incorrectly. The boards only come out once or twice a year so maybe next time I will be confident enough to try some kicks 🙂

Taekwondo

I was a little unsure as to which blog I should post this in but I have decided on here as it involves Jessica and I know she wouldn’t be seen dead near the tech blog!

Pictured is the fine case that Jessica has created for my ds:lite. Made in under five hours I am very pleased with the result and I am now trying to think of other things I can get Jessica to crochet 🙂

Recently she crocheted a blanket for baby Katie. You can see the finished result on Jessica’s blog. I don’t know if I have commented on this before but the blogger spell-checker always wants to replace “Jessica’s” with “Cheesecake”. I think I have said that before haven’t I…? Funny enough to warrant another mention though 😉

ds lite crochet

Me and Jessica usually go for a walk around the local roads at lunchtime. Today I was somewhat surprised to see half a house! The other half had recently been “eaten” by a nearby JCB.

I am sure the rest of it will have gone when I leave to catch the train.

Mentos and diet coke

You might rememeber a video of diet Coke and Mentos? It seems there is now a huge number of people trying to make rockets with the same trick. There are hundreds of videos of people trying on youTube – if only they could devote their time to another fountain display 🙁