When you get tagged by Tara Cain it’s imperative that you respond or you’ll never hear the last of it.

I made that mistake last time and haven’t been allowed to forget it.

Well Tara, you won’t get your pound of flesh this time because I’ve done it. So there.

This meme is called Stories and Songs and was started by Brits in Bosnia before being passed on to Tara.

The recipient chooses a song that transports them back to a place and time and they have to write about the memory they attribute to the song. Apparently it doesn’t have to be a favourite song.

The first song I ever remember hearing on the radio was Morningtown Ride by The Seekers. I must have been about 3(ish) (1971/72) sitting in the kitchen drinking a beaker of milky sweet tea and I remember my mother singing along as she washed up at the kitchen sink. She looked so happy as she got lost in the music.

Here’s the song:

I’m tagging a whole load of people I used to know in the blogging world but haven’t kept in contact with. It’s something I regret but when home life became more pressing than blogging, it was a natural consequence.

Anyway, I’m not even sure if these people are still blogging, I took their web addresses straight from a list I keep in my shirt pocket right next to my heart. Oh, fine then, it’s actually on a spreadsheet. I guess I’ll find out what they’re up to as I visit the through the week and let them know they’ve been tagged.

Turf Dad
Mike
Professional Blogger for hire Vered
Green Jello
Kool Aid
Professional SEO Writing Jamie
notSupermum
Julie
Awesome Daddy Blogger Ron
Avlor

I know that some of the people on this list are not into memes, and that’s OK, I just wanted to throw a link out to some people I used to know. The next time I get tagged I’ll link to a load more people I used to know, and so on, until I’ve run out of people I used to know, if that makes any sense at all?

BTW, my posting schedule here has gone all to rats because I’m busy in my shed building something. I’ll show it to you when it’s done. And just in case you were wondering, it’s not a large hadron collider, sliced bread or a time machine, because those things have already been invented.

Oh, yeah, and some guy I wish I used to know has started a new website about funny things children say, and is going to be a lot of fun.

Dave
Selfish Blogger

I think I was five or six when I learned to tie my own shoelaces. Probably five when I think about it because that would have been my first year at school.

I mention it only because my eight year old son has only just learnt to tie his shoelaces. That may seem a little late in life but the the reality is, he hasn’t needed to learn. All his shoes are and always have been velcro fastening.

There were no velcro shoes when I was his age. There were lace-up shoes and slip-on shoes and if you wore slip-on shoes you were teased mercilessly.

I distinctly remember that my school had a wooden board in the shape of a foot with laces. It was a ‘lace tying simulator’ for want of a better term.

I don’t ever recall seeing one of those at my children’s school and they’ve never mentioned using one, so I guess it’s something that doesn’t happen anymore?

It’s interesting to think that these days there might well be teenagers who still can’t tie their shoe laces. No. That can’t be possible. Can it?

And in case you thought there was only one way to tie your shoe laces, think again. There are at least 17! Have look at How to Tie Shoelaces.

Dave
Selfish Blogger

Picture: Aussigall

Filed under: House guests are disgusting plebs

What is the matter with people? Why can’t so called civilised people use a spoon to get jam out of the jar?

Why do they have to use a knife? The same knife they’ve just used to spread butter on their toast!?

Seriously it’s disgusting when you look inside the jar and find blobs of mashed up jam combined with smears of butter and toast crumbs.

Why would you use a knife to scoop jam out of the jar? If you use a knife you have to stab away at the jam to get a bit on your knife and then it falls off so you rake up a bit more and before you know it you’ve got jam frappe going on.

Here’s the thing… Use a damn spoon! Select only what you need – so you don’t need to put any back in the jar and for heaven’s sake leave the remaining contents of the jar butter free and largely unmashed.

Peasants.

Dave
Selfish Blogger

Photo : thebittenword.com

My kids were still off school today owing to the snow. Most of the main roads are clear so we could have made it in today but the conditions last week meant that heating oil deliveries are all backed up. Fortunately school will be open tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it.

We’re out of our usual routine. The children know it and they’ve taken full advantage

This last week of unexpected school holiday has left me feeling like I’m running an all day cafe.

There have been constant demands for food and drinks – it’s never ending.

The children get up at 7am (often earlier) and have breakfast soon after. My wife, on the days she’s off work, will get up around 8.30am (after I’ve graciously allowed her the chance to sleep in. How great am I?). Anyway, whatever she eats for breakfast will be scavenged by the little people.

After their second go at breakfast they start asking how long until lunch, before then assaulting me with endless requests for drinks and snacks.

After lunch and throughout the early afternoon I hear the same requests for snacks and drinks.

The extended Christmas holiday left them with the idea that we’ve permanently reintroduced junk food back into our diets and they’ve come to expect it.

Well, the Christmas holidays are finally over, they’re back at school, and…
the All Day Cafe is CLOSED.

Dave
Selfish Blogger

Photo: nicephore

Tim Brownson wrote a post about Work/Life Balance except he called it something else. Something rude that I couldn’t possibly repeat on this blog. We’re far too wholesome here.

He was basically saying that he ends up working long hours because he enjoys his work. Work is play and play is work. He works long and hard because he wants to and not because he has to.

I confess I felt a bit envious because I’ve reached a time in my life when I want to work my little socks off.

As much as I love being a stay at home dad, and as much as I love being a family man, I’m overcome by he desire to provide financially for my family.

I want to provide in a big way too. I don’t want to earn enough to survive, I want to earn enough to thrive and like Tim, I want to do it on my own terms.

I’ll be honest though. The money is not the only reason I want to get absorbed in work… I also feel a bit familied-out.

This Christmas and New Year was one of the best I can remember but the memory of our time together is being sullied by the unexpected extension to the holidays caused by the unusually severe (only by our pathetic standards) winter conditions we’re experiencing here in the UK.

The kids should have gone back to school this week and really and truly they needed to go back to school. They are bored out of their skulls and even taking them out in the snow twice each day building snow men and snow forts and snow villages doesn’t offset the boredom.

They’re bouncing off the walls.

It’s not just the kids either. My evenings are currently spent watching TV with my wife, and as nice as that is once in a while, I’ve had my fill of it now. I’m not a big TV watcher anyway – I’d rather do something constructive than simply watch for the sake of watching.

Normally it’s not a problem because when we’re not snowed in, my wife will usually go out playing sport or get involved in something to do with the board of school governors, leaving me time to do the things I want to do.

I feel bad for declaring that I’m overdosed on family because I have so much to be grateful for and nothing that anyone could describe as a real problem. But the fact remains, I want my life back. I want to build things. I want to make things. I want to achieve things.

I still have high hopes for 2010, but now I want to get on and make it all happen.

I can’t be the only person frustrated in this way – but admitting I want a bit of distance from family life probably won’t win me much sympathy.

All is not lost though. The snow fort doubles up as a handy retreat when it all gets too much! If only my family would stop whining when I banish them to it. Sheesh.

Recently I mentioned that I was aiming to post on a daily basis. I still intend to do that but following the Christmas and New Year lull I decided to progress my plans for this site whilst also working on another.

I’ve tried my hand at a new site design too for Selfish Blogger. I’m not sure about it yet but I was fed up with the dark look of my previous effort. I’m not fully happy with it but it’ll do for now.

What I really wanted to mention is I’m about to open up the site to guest posts from a project I’m involved in. To those of you who come here to read my personal blog you may wonder what the hell is going on when you see posts about Gusset Warmers, Table Leg Replacements and False Eyes – Fear not, the blog, my blog, is still in full operation and I’ve tried to set up the site so you can quickly access the blog and cut out the Gusset Warmers (unless you want to read about them?).

Over in the sidebar you’ll see this button:

Hit it and it’ll show you only the blog posts.

Thank you to those of you who’ve welcomed me back to blogging and kept me company here.

To acknowledge your support I’ve posted some links to your sites in the next paragraph. I got the idea from a new site called Creative Copy Challenge. It’s very new and already doing very well.

It snowed! Heavily. Something it rarely did in the south of the country. I was standing in my kitchen staring out of the window at the heaviest snowfall I’d seen in years. I’d just put a cake into the oven and was lost in thoughts about Inner Productivity. Unfortunately I’d forgotten that the oven was faulty but was abruptly reminded when the contents of the Exploding Oven were splattered across my bare and well muscled torso. The shock meant that my bladder Just Busted. I was standing in Rivers Of Urine and Covered in Chocolate cake mix. The complete Wackiness of the situation was brought home to me as I decided to abandon Naked Baking Day forever.

And that is why you won’t see me taking part in Creative copy Challenge 3!

See you soon.

Dave
Selfish Blogger

2010 is going to be a brilliant year for me. I’m already enjoying it and I’m going to continue in the same frame of mind. The Noughties and my thirties are gone and so too the trials of the toughest decade of my life so far.

I have high hopes for the Teenies (got a better name for 2010-2019?) and my forties and want to start the decade with a bang.

First on my list is getting a six pack. I want to be a 41 year old with a flat stomach and abs you can eat your dinner off (as long as you’re of the female persuasion – guys, you can use plates like normal people).

I’ve talked about this for years and years but I’m closer to achieving it this year than anytime over the last decade – So I’m going for it!

By the last day of February I’ll be at my target weight of 173lbs and from there I’ll see what needs to be done to get the flat abs.

Second on my list is bringing in some money using this damn computer. I’ve been utterly devoted to this time sucking device for years and what has it given me in return? Nothing but headaches and heartache.

By the end of January this thing will bring me in an extremely modest $100 and by the end of February it will have earned me $300. How? I don’t know exactly, but I’m not going to let that small detail prevent me making rash promises.

By the end of 2010 this computer will be earning me $2000 a month!

That’s it.

No promises of:

Getting out of bed at 5am everyday
Becoming a better parent
Giving up alcohol
Sticking to a budget
Learning to play the guitar
Getting better organised
Dancing naked in the rain

Nothing else. I’m going to do those two things and let the rest take care of itself.

I suppose I’d better get on with it. Over Christmas I put on 4 and a half pounds and in the first four days of this year I’ve earned only 71 cents.

Happy New Year!

Selfish Blogger

It’s Christmas Eve and in our house it’s tradition to get drunk on Vodka first thing. Of course it goes without saying, only the adults get drunk, not the children. We’re not that irresponsible!

No, the children are all given cigars to smoke and the eldest child (eight years old) is put in charge for the day. It’s a responsibility he really enjoys, because it’s the one day a year he gets to drive the car without a parent sitting in with him.

OK, so all of that was just a big fat lie. But what follows is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

I’m finally finishing my reply to a meme foisted upon me in May 2009(!!) by Mrs Sticky Fingers Tara Cain. Can you believe how lazy I am? May ‘09!!

This meme became known as the Blame Tara Meme for reasons I can’t remember, as it was soooo long ago.

Thinking I was being clever, I turned my reply to the ten questions into a multi-parter. Little did I know I’d abandon blogging several times before I ever got to complete it.

The first two questions:

1. Who is the hottest movie star?

2. Apart from your house and your car, what’s the most expensive item you’ve ever bought?

are answered in a post entitled Hot Movie Actresses.

The next three questions:

3. What’s your most treasured memory?

4. What was the best gift you ever received as a child?

5. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made?

are answered in a post that sounds like a jail sentence Three To Five.

And here are the final five questions and their answers:

6. 4 words to describe yourself.
mischievous, quiet, resourceful, helpful

7. What was your highlight or lowlight of 2008?
Highlight: Being home as a stay at home dad and enjoying family life. Not too many men get to do that.

8. Favourite film?
Matrix. I don’t want to be a battery.

9. Tell me one thing I don’t know about you.
I crash landed a MD-82 flight simulator at DFW Airport. I bounced it 50ft off the runway. Needless to say, I wasn’t offered the job of chief pilot.

10. If you were a comic book/strip or cartoon character, who would you be?
Superman. I like to keep a secret identity and I have my own very disabling kryptonite.

I’m not going to pass this one on as that notion is even sillier than children smoking cigars, and besides, there’s no one left in the world who hasn’t done this one.

Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!

Dave

The title, “Santa Leaves An Unwelcome Gift”, was very nearly:
Santa deliberately misunderstood his wife when she asked him to put another log on the fire.

I may have a few more alternative titles as the day progresses, and if I do I’ll leave them in the comments.

I thought I’d keep it festive this week so for those of you hoping to see a picture of a woman with a moustache (as promised last week), I can only apologise.

Santa Leaves An Unwelcome Gift

If any of you get an unwelcome Christmas gift, I hope it’s nothing like this one!

Selfish Blogger

I bought It’s Not What You Think
by Chris Evans not because I was particularly interested in the life of the man, although I’m not disinterested in it either – that would just be rude! And rude I am not! No, the reason I bought it, is love him or hate him, the man is incredibly successful and I wanted to discover why.

Chris Evans, for anyone living outside the UK, is a very high profile broadcaster on both radio and TV. He is without doubt an key innovator and has had a hand in changing the face of modern broadcasting, but such genius comes at a cost. He has his good days and his bad days like everyone else… When he’s at his best he’s charming and funny, at his worst he’s an annoying tosspot. But frankly I can forgive him that.

It’s tempting to write him off as a big-headed gobshite but there’s more to the man and the book gives an insight into the person behind the larger than life public persona.

I was expecting him to carry this persona through to the pages of the book but was pleasantly surprised to find that Chris Evans actually comes across as a humble man, grateful for what he has in life. He acknowledges he’s made some mistakes and appears to have done what he can to make amends.

It took me a while to get into the book and I had to force myself to read the first few chapters without skipping over bits of it, but I’m glad that I did. The story of his early life is written well enough but his writing style doesn’t really come alive until he starts to tell us about his love for radio – after which point I couldn’t put the book down.

One thing I hadn’t realised is how successful he’s been with women. I was somewhat irked by this because it’s not like he even tries that hard. To be fair though, he doesn’t boast that he can’t beat them off with a shitty stick or paint himself as God’s gift, in fact he suggests that his success is something of a surprise to him.

Another thing I hadn’t realised is how hard he worked to get to where he is today. Until I read the book I had no idea how driven he was from a very early age. I’d always believed he was a face plucked from a crowd of young thrusters to be the next big thing – when the truth of the matter is he worked his backside off, took personal and professional risks and made personal and professional sacrifices.

As I said earlier, I bought the book to find out what makes him the man he is and I came to the conclusion that it was his winning mindset. A mindset that he cultivated right from his early days.

Here are just some of the things I picked up on (but there were many more):

• Do what you love.

• Be the best.

• Play to your strengths.

• The money is nice – but it’s not everything.

• Being grumpy is a waste of time.

• We’re only here or a short time – wring every last drop out of life.

This is only the first part of his autobiography so when I reached the end I was left wanting more, but then I suppose that was the aim. I’m definitely looking forward to the next installment.

It’s Not What You Think by Chris Evans is an amusing, enlightening and enjoyable read. He comes across as honest and sincere and as a result I have a new respect for the man as both a fellow human being and a broadcaster.

He’s still a gobshite though.

Selfish Blogger

For months while I played gooseberry to Tara Cain and David Wright over at Blog To Fit, I enjoyed a certain degree of success with my weight loss and fitness goals, but I hit a frustrating plateau.

I lost a pound, I gained a pound, I lost a pound, I gained a pound and then I stayed at the same weight for 3 weeks before continuing the cycle. It’s fairly disheartening and writing about it made it seem somehow farcical.

My departure from Blog To Fit was more to do with my personal circumstances than my inability to bust the plateau, but whatever the reason, it resulted in me putting the pounds back on again. No surprise there.

Eventually I got back into the exercise habit and did really well in losing the weight. I did a lot of running and built up the miles. I was really getting into it when unfortunately I started to experience pain in my left knee.

I stopped exercising and started eating too much. The weight gradually returned until I found myself 30lbs overweight again. I was tempted to entertain thoughts that somehow I’m destined to be 30lbs overweight for the rest of my life. It would have been easy to allow myself to think that my body wants or needs me to be 30lbs overweight but I refused to go there.

A couple of months ago I set about changing my attitude and my approach to losing weight and I’ve enjoyed the most successful period of sustained weight loss I’ve experienced in years.

I’ve lost over half the 30lbs of excess weight and I’m well on my way to losing the rest.

To be precise I’ve got another 12lbs to lose and feel that my goal is now well within my reach.

At some point I’ll write more about my weight loss, my motivations and my methods but for now I’m just enjoying the feeling of a loose waistband.

Selfish Blogger

Maybe slightly on the morose side but the sentiment is just lovely for those who can’t be together at Christmas. I’m not a big fan of the Carpenters but I can’t deny that Karen Carpenter had an exquisite voice.






Greeting cards have all been sent
The Christmas rush is through
But I still have one wish to make
A special one for you

Merry Christmas, darling
We’re apart, that’s true
But I can dream
And in my dreams
I’m Christmasing with you
Holidays are joyful
There’s always something new
But every day’s a holiday
When I’m near to you
The lights on my tree
I wish you could see
I wish it every day
The logs on the fire
Fill me with desire
To see you and to say
That I wish you Merry Christmas
Happy New Year too
I’ve just one wish
On this Christmas Eve
I wish I were with you
I wish I were with you
Merry Christmas, darling

Selfish Blogger

It’s the Saturday before Christmas so I feel obliged to share a seasonal tune. This isn’t my favorite Christmas tune but I love it all the same.












When it comes to sublime music at Christmas this one must surely be head and shoulders above the rest. What else needs to be said?

Bing Crosby
I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas

Selfish Blogger

Over the last week I’ve been posting here on a daily basis, partly to prove to myself that I can do it if I try, and partly to reawaken the site after laying dormant for so long. I need it to be active and alive if it’s going to help people with their own projects.

I’m trying to purpose each day and give a structure to what I’m doing here on Selfish Blogger. This method holds some promise and has focused my attention. I should point out that this is another trial that I’m running to see what happens. I’d like to think I’ll keep this going but as I can’t predict the future I won’t make any rash promises.

The Friday Fenzy is just a mixed up and messy way to point out a few things that interested me over the week and share a few thoughts, irrelevancies and randomness just for the sake of it. Feel free to ignore any or all of it.

Cartoon:

Fitness:

I enjoyed this article about fitness standards and thought the standards expected of the Utah Police Officers fairly pitiful. Even in the worst shape I’ve ever been I could exceed that standard, not that I’m being judgemental or big headed you understand.

Food For Thought:

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it’s yours to keep for the entire period.

An Insult:

“He has a face like a Saint – A Saint Bernard.”

Graffiti:

Shocking News:

James Chartrand is not James Chartrand!

Books:

With all the quotes that float about the Internet it’s no wonder some things get lost in translation (or even transmission). This book looks intriguing and might make for good toilet reading?

US They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions

UK They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions

10 Ways To:

10 Ways to Pull More From Each of Your Days

A Crap Joke:

Only Slightly Rude:

Needs a Caption:

This picture is begging to be used in a caption competition LMAO – but I’m not going to make any suggestions.

Because I Can:

Tara is a music snob.

Tim has been leaving his curtains open and decking his halls.

Pippa has been swapping Christmas ornaments.

Patricia has a Harvest Potluck book for download.

Selfish Blogger

I’ve been experimenting with different types of posts this week, including a review of a Dyson Ball Vacuum (which I enjoyed writing) to see whether I can sustain Selfish Blogger as a personal blog in the long run. The problem I’ve had in the past is having a very fluid remit. That’s not a medical condition, it just means I had no specific direction other than to get a post out. Funnily enough, having such a wide remit seems to stunt my creativity and also my productivity.

You’ll notice from some of my posts already that I’ve applied catchy (or cheesy) names like, Sublime Music, Sunday Love Songs and Midweek Madness. I’m discovering that purposing my output is helping me to focus and get some content written.

Monday’s unofficial title is, “All About Me Mondays“. I have a range of subject matter in mind but usually it will relate to me and my life. You might even say I’m being Selfish. (BTW I’ll never get tired of the selfish gags, so don’t go wasting your time hoping that I will.)

Tuesday’s unofficial title is, “Test Drive Tuesdays“. This will be me writing informal reviews or opinions about whatever takes my interest at the time. It could be a book, an electrical appliance, a service or another website.

Friday is going to be called, “Friday Frenzy“. It’ll be a mixed up, muddled up collection of all sorts of interesting (and possibly uninteresting) stuff.

Thursday’s unofficial title is, “Thoughtful Thursdays“.

Thoughtful Thursdays is about me interacting with other bloggers. This could be a guest post from a friend, it could be a reply to a meme, it could be highlighting another blogger’s efforts.

In the New Year I’m going to send out a list of questions to some of the bloggers I used to know to find out what they’re up to. When I dropped out of blogging a while ago and I lost touch it was something I came to regret. I still can never be the the guy who flits between hundreds of blogs dropping comments the way I used to but I can find a way to stay in the loop and keep the friendships going.

As for today’s post I’m just going to drop a straight link to a webpage where the authors have unwittingly gifted me with a summary of what they’re doing these days. I’ve followed them from the start of my own blogging career and I’ve kept in contact with them behind the scenes. The name of their game is Creative Productivity and the question answered is Where are we going? . I’ve you’ve got a second, pop over and see what Sean Platt and Dadvi Wright have been up to. It’s very impressive.

Selfish Blogger

For Wednesdays I had planned just to doctor a picture of somebody famous by drawing facial hair on them, like a great big handle bar moustache or maybe some sideburns. It was going to be called Midweek Moustache, but I reasoned that after a while pictures of women with badly drawn goatees might wear a bit thin.

I know! It sounds crazy! I mean, how could that ever loose its appeal? But I still decided against doing it EVERY week.

I’m still going to do it but I’m going to mix in it up a bit and show off some of my terrible photoshop skills. But I don’t want anyone thinking it’s just space filler. This stuff has real artistic merit. Honest.

So then I was going to call it Midweek Makeover to reflect the idea that I’d draw more than just facial hair but  decided I’d run out of ideas within three weeks.

In the end I figured I’d broaden the remit for Wednesday’s content to include whatever my juvenile mind registers as fun and humour. No shortage of ideas there!

I’m branding Wednesdays:

Midweek Madness

My first submission is a mixture of Midweek Moustache, Midweek Makeover and Midweek Madness. How’s that for adding value?

After I saw the original picture I imagined that at least one of these men would want to wear a disguise. It was originally going to be Tiger but I thought it would be funnier if the President went to such a ridiculous extreme to protect his own reputation.

See. I told you it has artistic merit!

Feel free to tease me.

Selfish Blogger

ps Next week it’ll just be a picture of a chick with a moustache. 

Just in case you’re a man looking to buy the woman in your life a nice thoughtful gift like a steam iron, a washing machine, or a rolling pin so she can bash you round the head with it for being such a sexist pig – Don’t! Buy her something she’ll really treasure… A Dyson Ball Vacuum Cleaner! More specifically a:

Dyson DC25 Animal Lightweight Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner for Pet Owners

Of course I’m joking about the sexist pig thing. Men just aren’t like that anymore. Misogyny belongs to another era. Besides men are too frightened to be overtly sexist these days in case the PC brigade come smashing the door down and threatening to tweak their nipples.

The solution? Buy the vacuum cleaner for yourself!

I’m serious, it’s brilliant. And here’s my first ever vacuum cleaner review.

Owing to my stay at home dad status I get to do the vast majority of everything, and quite right too – my wife goes out and works hard to bring home the bacon while I have it easy at home. I wish.

Fortunately my role reversal has given me a new perspective on how the other half live and opened my eyes to the delights of such things as quality vacuum cleaners.

Prior to the Dyson Ball Vacuum we had the DC04 and lovely as it was – this one is even better.

I’m 41 years old so I hail from a time when the phrase, “It beats as it sweeps as it cleans” was in common use, and ever since then that’s been my expectation of vacuum cleaners. Obviously some do it better than others, but my feeling of the 04 is it didn’t do it as well as it should. It’s not that I want to see a heavy groove mown into my carpet but I do want to see that it’s been touched by the brush. The 04 was disappointing in that respect. On the other hand the Dyson Ball fulfils that expectation nicely. As I run it across the carpet I can see where it’s been, and where it’s been is clean. (They should use that as a slogan!)

The absolute best thing about this machine compared to the 04 is that it gets further under the furniture. I’m especially thinking about under the beds. The 04 didn’t make it far under before you’d and up smashing the dirt collection cylinder thing into the bed frame. But the slimline cylinder on the DC25 combined with design allowing for a better angle, allows you get much further under.

And. The slimline ‘nose’, for want of a better term – you know, the bit at the front where the brush is housed and all the sucking takes place – is much more slimline and so it gets under sideboards and Shackleton’s high seat chairs (lovely) much better than the 04.

I like the ball. It makes for speedier manoeuvring and it makes it much, much easier to get in to the corners. It’s a bit heavier than I was expecting but actually that gives it a better feel in my opinion. My wife says it feels light but then she’s of Amazonian proportions. Even so, the ball makes the weight almost an irrelevance.

The waste collection tank, or whatever it’s called is slimmer and doesn’t have the capacity of the old cleaner but actually it doesn’t matter. One trip around the house won’t fill it (unless you’re total slobs and living like absolute savages), and emptying it on a regular basis somehow makes it more reassuring what with not having a ton of dirt stored in it.

Doing the stairs is easier with this model because new smaller dimensions of the hand held brush. The 04 had a lumbering great brush the size and weight of a house brick but the DC25 has a daintier version. It’s a big improvement.

We’ve got two stinky dogs in our house both of which moult. My wife loves the dogs but I think they’d be nicer as rugs. That would be a fabulous irony, don’t you think? Anyway, we have a two storey semi with a mixture of hard floors (wood/vinyl/tile), carpets and rugs. The Dyson DC25 works well on all surfaces. And even with the brush turned off (which is a really nice feature), this thing has a great pick up. The suction is much better than the 04.

I’ve got two problems with it.
1. The power cord isn’t long enough, but then the power cords on Dysons have never been long enough. It’ll do a room of average proportions quite nicely but if you want to move to another room you’ll have to unplug it. My wife tells me not to worry about the length of the cord. She’s says that length doesn’t matter and assures me I’ll learn to live with it, just like she has.
2. It’s a bit noisy. More than I was expecting and more than I’d like, to he honest. That is until you turn the brush off when you’re doing the hard floors and then it’s much quieter.

…As for looks, it’s butt ugly in my opinion. It’s a cross between a football (soccer) and a Cyberman but frankly who cares? It’s a bloody vacuum cleaner, not a work of art. It’s there to do a job of work, and a good job it does too.

Does the DC25 Dyson Ball Vacuum suck? Oh yeah baby! But in a good way.

The price tag is a little hefty but you really do get a lot of suck for your buck!

We’ve had the Dyson Ball for two months and we’re really happy with it. You could do a lot worse than this, but I doubt you could do any better. Highly recommended.

Selfish Blogger

Virtually nothing that happens in my house is private. People are in and out of each others business (oo actually ‘business’ is a bad word given the context but we’ll press on regardless). There are 7 of us living in the house and the activity barely stops.

Image: swpave

Over the years I’ve become used to going to the loo with the door open so that I can listen to the children trying kill each other downstairs and remain confident that I could hear them well enough to intervene if ever they started to actually kill each other.

So no one really thinks anything of seeing another family member sitting on the throne with the door open.

A few days ago my eldest boy (8) was sitting upon the Armitage Shanks as his Grandma walked by to put laundry away. As she did so he asked her to get him a newspaper. She questioned him as to why and he said it’s because real men read the newspaper on the toilet. Grandma asked him whether that was something he’d seen on TV and he replied, “No, but daddy does it all the time, and I want to be like daddy”.

What a good lad. Clearly I’m an excellent role model.

Selfish Blogger

The idea for this one came from a radio show I listen to every week on BBC Radio 2. It’s hosted by an incredibly talented and famous broadcaster by the name of Steve Wright and has been the way millions of people have started their Sundays for years.

The show is just brilliant if you are or ever have been in love. Click through to the site and have a listen. It’s superb.

I’m not stealing Steve’s idea, I’m just borrowing it for a while, and I hope I’m not breaking any rules by borrowing the name, “Sunday Love Songs” – it just seems like the natural thing to call it.

Incidentally, the man introducing the song is in fact Steve Wright! How’s that for picking a perfect first song?

Anyway, if I could sing at all, this is one I’d sing to my wife.

It’s absolutely beautiful.

Roberta Flack:

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

Selfish people share their music with others whether they want to hear it or not, so on Saturdays I’m going to share with you some of the music that I like – and I don’t care whether you like it or whether you don’t. You’ll simply have to learn to ignore it (which I suspect will be the case) or endure it.

OK, so the real reason is I can’t afford and ipod and I want somewhere to store free music.

This is Israel Kamakawiwo’Ole singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow / What a Wonderful World, which in my humble opinion is an absolutely sublime piece of music. It sends the goose bumps into overdrive!

One day I fully intend to edit together video clips of my children growing up and have this as the soundtrack.