Dope

It was an interesting day of sport for me yesterday.

Last night was my first Hibs game of the season. It was only a friendly but it's always exciting going back to Easter Road after the summer break. Normally friendlies are a bit crap but Hibs were very impressive last night and beat Bolton 3-0. We played some impressive football and at times Bolton struggled to get the ball from us. JC seems to have got the Hibs players very fit during the pre-season and everyone seems to be comfortable on the ball. Let's hope we can continue the form into the new SPL season.

Last night was also when the Tour de France descended into farce. The race leader (and odds on favourite to win overall) Michael Rasmussen was sacked by his team for lying about his whereabouts last month and suspicions over missed drug tests. Two other riders including Vinokourov the pre race favourite were kicked out for failing drug tests and this meant both their teams where withdrawn under the new zero tolerance policy.
I'm actually quite disappointed by all of this. This year's tour had been one of the most open and enjoyable for years. As much as I liked Lance Armstrong, the 7 tours that he won where never always that exciting. Usually he exerted a stranglehold over the race lead early on and the final result was never in doubt. However this year there were a number of riders in contention and the mountain stages were fascinating to watch. The battles between Rasmussen and Contador over the past couple of days had been amazing to watch. However any credibility the race had has been ruined, one French paper has even run an obituary for the Tour - died aged 104. Many of the team sponsors are thinking of pulling out due to the bad publicity which will be a disaster for cycling. It takes millions of pounds a season to run a pro cycling team, if sponsors do pull out then there will be hundreds unemployed.What is most galling is that I do believe the majority of riders are now clean, it is the idiots in the minority who are ruining the sport for everyone else. Most of the teams themselves have recognised the dangers of doping and have instigated strict anti-doping programmes, however a few have slipped through the net. In the past, drugs were almost an accepted part of cycling. Riders in the early tours used to get round the course powered by brandy, cocaine and amphetamines. Recently cycling has tried to clean up it's act as fans were gradually becoming disillusioned by all the drug scandals. Many of the so-called star cyclists of recent years have been linked to drug taking in some way.
It's imperative that cycling manages to get rid of all the drug cheats and removes any suspicions otherwise there may not be a future for it. There will be very few sponsors and very few fans left if the scandals continue.

Ring

Do you want to know what really grinds my gears? (thought it would be nice to pay homage to the simpsons on the week of the film release)
Call centres being permanently busy. Due to the fact I have been moving, I have had to phone a lot of call centres for address updates etc. However every time I phone, I'm told that there is an unusually high volume of calls at the moment. I'm then on hold for about 10 minutes with the same message being repeated every so often. It doesn't seem to matter which company I phone, what day or what time of the day I call, the call volume is still unusually high.
At what point does the unusually high call volume become the norm and the company realises it needs to hire more staff? Doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you never answer the phone to your customers you are eventually going to alienate them.
The worst were BT ironically, you'd think they would know about telephones. I was getting told to call back between 1pm and 4pm when it would be less busy. Of course the fact I was phoning at 2pm just didn't seem to register.

Room With A View

I had quite a productive day in Aberdeen yesterday. Firstly I got quite a lot of my book read on the train which was good. Secondly I managed to find a second hand book shop in the town centre, that should be quite handy when I can't afford to buy full priced books to read. Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, I have arranged accommodation for my first year which is great news. Some positive news for my 100th blog post.
Thought I was going to have real trouble finding a suitable flat that was of a reasonable price but I've got very lucky and found a room in a good flat with my first viewing. Going to be sharing with a fellow physio student which could be good and the flat is only a 20 minute walk from Uni.
Now I just need to decide what to do with my current flat....

Rent II

It turns out that if I rent out my flat while I'm in Aberdeen, I'm going to lose money. It's likely that I'll be at least £50 down every month, even more if interest rates continue to rise or something goes wrong with the flat. Not good news, I was hoping I'd at least break even as I can't really afford to lose money while I'm a student. It's going to be difficult enough to get by without my normal annual income without starting from a negative balance every month.
Guess I need to decide what the best option for my flat is, still rent it out or just sell it. It's not easy this whole going back to Uni malarkey.
On the positive side at least I'm starting to make some progress with flats in Aberdeen.

Die Even Harder

Watched Die Hard 4.0 last night and it is really rather good. I was concerned when I heard that Bruce was reprising the role while in his fifties but the film worked well. Admittedly there was very little attempt to ground some of the action sequences in reality and there are a few continuity errors but that doesn't matter. You really have to suspend disbelief for the whole plane/truck sequence but it's still fun to watch. When Bruce is battling against the bad guys you can't help but enjoy it.
Some of the acting from the minor characters is comically bad but Bruce is good as a more world weary John McClane. The Kevin Smith cameo is pretty funny too. "Do you like The Fett?" "I was more of a Star Wars man"
If you like the Die Hard movies then you will love this.
Saw the trailer for the Bourne Ultimatum, that looks excellent. Can't wait for it to come out.

Le Tour

It's July which means that it's time for the Tour De France. I was going to post why I love watching the tour but to be honest, I'm not really sure. I quite enjoy going for a cycle myself but it's not as if I pay a great deal of attention to the sport of cycling at other times of the year.
Cycling is a very individual pursuit so by any normal rationale, watching a bunch of guys cycling round France shouldn't be that interesting. However that isn't the case and it's one of the world's great sporting events.
When I was younger, I'd barely heard of the Tour but then in the early 90's I started watching it for some reason. Channel 4 had the rights and showed highlight packages at dinner time. Perhaps there was nothing else on but for whatever reason I was hooked and have been ever since.

I have a lot of respect for those cyclists who compete in the Tour although the drug allegations do colour that a little. It can be difficult to know just how much is down to sheer power and force of will or whether it's drug assisted. If we assume that the riders are clean unless caught (a big assumption I know) then it's an impressive feat of endurance to spend 3 weeks cycling around France, doing hundreds of kilometres a day. It's certainly something I don't think I will ever be able to do even with the assistance of EPO.

The mountain stages are the best, not just for the stunning scenery. I know how hard it is to go up hills on a bike but the speed some of these guys go up steep gradients is nothing short of amazing especially when attacks are being launched. That's not to say the other stages are poor, they can be just as exciting with sprint finishes or breakaway groups.
I also quite like the Frenchness of the whole event. Quite often when watching sport in Britain, everything is shown from a British (or more accurately English) point of view. There is a slight element of this in the Tour when watching it but ultimately it's French and it always will be, makes the whole event sound more exciting. Would you rather have the Yellow Jersey or the Maillot Jaune? Last place or the Lantern Rouge?

Whatever the reasons, I love watching it and I'd recommend it to anyone. Go on, give it a chance. You know you want to......

Hoard

There is something quite cathartic about throwing stuff out. I'm currently sorting through all of my belongings in preparation of moving out of my flat so I can rent it out. As I'll be moving into Sarah's there will be less space to keep everything so it's given me an opportunity to declutter. I'm actually feeling quite good about doing it.
I've always had a slight tendency to hoard especially when it comes to entertainment materials such as books and dvd's. It also extends to clothes and knick knacks although I have got better recently with not keeping these. Quite often I keep belongings just in case I ever need them again (which invariably I don't) or for half baked sentimental reasons. It's amazing just how much junk you can store when you get your own flat. I have hundreds of books that I have collected over the years partly due to the fact that I may read them again (which never happens as I buy too many new books) and partly because I thought it would be cool to have a large book collection. However I have to accept that I'm probably never going to have a house big enough to have a library room so I may as well get rid of them. Well, maybe about half of them.

Having too many belongings can just be excess baggage. Effectively there isn't really a need to keep all the stuff I have (why I still have a street hockey stick bought about 9 years ago when I've never played street hockey is a mystery to me) so it may as well be chucked.
As I'm going to have a bit of a nomadic life over the next 4 years of studentdom then I really need to keep my stuff to a minimum to save carting it between Edinburgh & Aberdeen.

Rent

Now that my exams and holiday are out of the way, I have to concentrate on getting ready for University. I had thought I could relax a bit over he summer but I'm not sure this will be possible.
My main concern is living arrangements. It's likely that I will rent out my current flat and then rent a flat up in Aberdeen but that is easier said than done. There is a lot that needs done before I can rent my flat out, far more than I initially realised. I've got to get gas and electricity safety certificates, register as a landlord, possibly change my mortgage and insurance details, register with a letting agent, get the flat properly cleaned etc. I'm going to be lucky to break even with all of this especially with yet another rise in interest rates. Still I guess it's a good idea to retain propety in the current housing market.

Renting in Aberdeen isn't going to be easy either, apparently it's the most expensive place to rent in the UK and my initial look at flats certainly seems to confirm this. This could seriously affect my student budget which isn't good. I guess I'm going to have to get used to being broke if I'm going to spend the next 4 years being a student. Hopefully it will all be worth it!
If anyone has property contacts in Aberdeen then let me know..........

Dr What?!

Are they trying to ruin Dr Who?
The 3rd series finished at the weekend and I thought it was the best one yet. David Tennant is a great Dr and I liked Freema Agyeman as the Dr's assistant Martha. I actually preferred her to Billie Piper (which some may say is sacrilege).
However at the end of the series Martha decided she didn't want to continue travelling in the Tardis so the scene was set for a new assistant for the 4th series. I was hoping for someone who would be as good as Martha but it seems that makers have gone for the worst possible replacement in Catherine Tate. Am I bovvered? Yes, very much so.
She is a dreadful choice. She made a guest appearance in the last xmas special and it ruined the show for me. Her character was just shouty, whiney and annoying. The whole way through you kept thinking that it was Catherine Tate, she just wasn't believable in the role. I can't understand why they have now given her the full time role of the assistant. At least Martha will be returning later in the series for a few episodes but I'm concerned that Dr Who may be going downhill now. It was one of the few consistently good home-grown programmes on TV, I hope that it continues but I have real doubts. I was looking forward to the 4th series but not any more.

Gun Toting Tomcat

Hey people, I'm back.
It's been a good 2 week break even if the first week was taken up with studying and exams. It was nice just not to be bored all day at work.
The exams went ok although I have realised it's better to actually be motivated to sit an exam. Really should have done more study but I guess it doesn't matter. There were too many random questions on old subjects anyway.
The holiday was great, very relaxing. Just lay by the pool most of the time while reading various books, magazines and the Guardian. Was quite impressed that the local spar stocked the Guardian along with the usual holiday paper shite of the Sun, Record and Mirror.

My holiday reading list was:
Bill Bryson - The Life & Times Of The Thunderbolt Kid
Dave Eggers - A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius
Don Winslow - The Winter Of Frankie Machine
Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master & Margarita
Brian Freeman - Stripped

Each book was quite different (you don't want to much of a similar type on holiday) but I enjoyed them all.