Category: Weblog

Well. Where the hell have i been? Ill tell you where, ive been anywhere apart from the internet! The way i look at it, is were gonna spend the next million years plonked in front of one, so i needed the break while i had the chance!

Xmas

Xmas is always a lonley time for me. As i have lived alone since i was 18, i usually wake up alone, and go to my mothers or fathers for dinner. The year was no different, i got up about 11:30am, and waked and baked 🙂 Gem was at her mom’s because she has a younger brother who still belives in santa etc. The day was pretty good, dinner was superb as my mother is a brilliant chef, and i got loads of random prezzies like a custom passport holder etc.

Gemma came up later on, and stayed with me till yesterday. I have spent a lot of time with her this xmas, and thanks to her ive had the BEST xmas ever. I love you gemma!

I Went to see my family in skegness the day before my birthday, and it was so nice to be able to tell them that “me and a mate have started a marketing company..” I have wanted to tell my cousin james that i have taken the jump and am now self employed. And i did, and it felt amazing. 🙂 I went to see my grandma too, she is in a home now and is looking so small and frail. She was once such an amazing person, so clever, well spoken and intelligent. Its such a shame to see her barely able to walk or speak. Love you grandma, your a legend! 🙁

After the day in skeg, we had a chilled out night, only to be woken up at 9:00am on my birthday, by my half dressed girlfriend throwing pillows at me. I had been told what my birthday suprise was, and it was a trip to london, to watch the panto!!!!!! 😀 😀

My 23rd Birthday

We got to newark train station at about 11:00am, and waited for the train to arrive. It was on time, and in the blink of an eye we were on the train to london. The journey was a laugh, we played cards and ate overpriced food (£3 for a 2 slice of bread sarnie!!!!) We arrived in london at roughly 12:30pm, and were not in a rush so we wandered about the streets taking in all the randomness.

After our little jaunt round the streets of london, we headed to a little bar for a drink before we went next door to a little itallian reasturant to have our lunch. The food was to die for, and the prices were’nt that bad either. Just over £50 for 4 people to eat a starter, main course and a bottle of wine plus a few other drinks. Not bad for london at ALL!

We then had nothing to do until 7:00pm, as thats when the panto started. So i decided that i wanted to see the london eye, so we took the tube to that area, and walked about for a bit. The tube stations were mad, and as soon as i went in one i remembered a film i saw called Creep. Its set in the london underground, and its right scary 🙂

Anyway…

There is obvioulsy no way to predict the weather months in advance, but if it was possible then my mom would of booked us tickets on the london eye. The weather was really good to be honest, and that meant the queue was about 4 miles long, so unfortunatly i was unable to experience the 30 minute long ride round probably the largest “Ferris wheel” in the world. I heard some american calling it that.. yeah, so it is like one of them ferris jobbys, just a tad larger 😆

We wandered about, looking a the mad shit that london had to offer. Street performers, mimes, random little stores selling alsorts of random crap. It was amazing. My mom said she would be unable to live there, as it was too big and busy. I think id love living there, i love the fact its so big and there are so many lives all going off in one place. So many cultures, religions and races. Awesome.

The next part of our trip was actually the point of us going there, the panto. Now i havent been to a panto since i was about 3, but i was really looking forward to this as “The Fonze” was playing captain hook! We walked to a bar before the panto and had a drink until it was time. We headed off to the New Wimbledon Theatre, got popcorn and got ourselves sat down.

The panto also had Bobby davro in it, and some bird from kids tv playing peter pan. I have never laughed so much in my bloody life. It was brilliant. Bobby davro is so funny! People i have spoken to have said they thought he is a bit cheesy, but panto is exactly that – and he just made the show! It was a honor in its self to be in the same room as Henry Winkler aka “The Fonze” from happy days. And he played the part so well. He sounded so much like the old dude from futurama at times too, did he do the voice for that?

After the panto had finished, we scurried off to the tube station, as we had tickets for the last train to newark and we couldnt be late. The tube station and the train station were all very quiet now, and it reminded me a lot more of that film. It was creepy. We eventually got on the train and started the 1 and a half hour trip home.

We got to newark at 12:54, a bunch of tired little travellers we were! I think my mum dropped me and gem off at my house at about 01:30am – I was bolloxed!

All in all, it was a brilliant birthday. Best one for years! I want to thank my mum for planning it all PERFECTLY. I want to thank my mum and kev for payin for the whole day, and i want to thank gem for being there and making my day extra special.

Woh!

Thats just made my head hurt, and has reminded me about a lot of things that i had forgotten.

Im now sat here after the first day of the rest of my life (self employed, new business etc) And ive never been so happy. I have a business with one of my best mates. I have the best girlfriend in the world, and i live in a mint house, with a mint house mate. Life could only get better now if i start gettin paid a shit load. Ah well, one step at a time yes! 🙂

Check out the maxxd blog, and keep up to date with the day to day goings on of the maxxd crew.

Until next time sports fans…

It was January 2005, and a nervous shirt and tie wearing guy called 0lly turned up for his interview at a company called Mini Marquees. They make the best promotional marquees in the world, fact! And a friend of mine worked there and had put in a good word for me. The job i was going for was a Digital Printers job, and although i wasnt 100% suited/qualified for the job – my IT knowledge meant i was adaptable and could fit in with the job quite well…

…That was 2 years ago next month, and today is my last proper day here. Its been 2 of the best years of my life. The company is run by a chap who REALLY knows what he’s doing. hes one of the most switched on business men i have ever met, and i have met a fair few! He looks after his employees, and isnt tight when it comes to spending money to improve the working enviroment for his staff. Best MD Ever!

The production manager is also the bollocks, he knows whats happeneing, and when its happening. He is also a good mate of mine, and if i was to put money on who’d be running this company in a few years, it would deffo be him! Best Manager Ever!

The main designer, has also become a very close mate of mine. Ive seen him go thru a lot over the last 2 years, and he’s still going strong. Without him, this business would not have the speed and accuracy it has when dealing with customer designs. This chap is the backbone of MMX3. Best Designer Ever!

And the rest of the people who work there are ace too. The women in the sewing room, the sales guys, and the staff in the offices downstairs. Its the best working enviroment you could possibly ask for whilst working for someone else. Best Working Enviroment Ever!

The next best thing, is working for yourself. And thats exactly what the rest of my life is gonna contain.

Dave and myself have managed to get some funding from the Princes Trust, to help get our business off the ground – So when we say 2007 is going to be the year, we mean THE year.

I think we’re finishing early today, and probably going for a drink after work. And its the MMX3 Xmas party tomorrow. Then im having till January the 1st off, and then its time.

Im not used to being at MMX3 on a monday. This is reallyu gonna shake my week up! We have that meeting with the princes trust tomorrow, and thats the final one. So hopefully we’ll know by the end of the week if we got it, and if we do then we can relax and take our time doing things in 2007 so that they get done properly.

It also means i can take the time to make a few structural changes to the maxxd setup. Currenty we have a server and host a shit load of sites, i need to downgrade a little, as we need to spend our time on making money, not fixing wank servers that are hosted by COMPLETE useless fucking twats who call themselves Layered Technologies! NEVER EVER EVER go with them. They may start out cheap, but its gets costly, and you never can pay too much for GOOD support. LT have never heard of customer service! Bloody bastards!

Anyway, i have been looking for a partially managed reseller account, with unlimited resources (yes, there are some available) and with the ability to import accounts from cpanel/WHM. So far NONE have the option to do this. I have found many UK based web hosts, who offer VERY good deals, but all have their own custom made control panle software. So id have to re-created each account one-by-one. Erm, no thanks! But we do need to cut costs..

If any of you know of anyhting that may suit my needs, then holla. If there isnt one in the world with CpanelWHM compatibility, then i require FULL SSH access, so i can copy all shit across at once. These ones i have found only give partial SSH access, so again, i’d have to do each account one by one. 🙁

I have to go home now, and spend some of the money i dont have.

If Layered Technologies made lager.. It would be the most foulest tasting horrible lager in the world.. Probably..

My mind has been doing backflips this last week or so. I have had so much on in regards working and everyhting, that i havent been paying enough attention to my feelings for Gemma. Of course i have been expressing emotion to her, but i havent let the feelings develop in me enough to be able to handle all that is going off. I know that might not make sence to you, but it does to me. I dont think i have ever met any one who seems as compatible with me as she does. We like the same stuff, and when she isnt with me i think about her all the time, and miss her like mad. I have fallen in love with her, and unlike other relationships i would do anything she asked of me, whenever she asked it.

So why is it then, that i still think about my ex from time to time? I dont mean fantasize about her or anything like that, i just remember her every so often and it makes me sad. I have no fucking idea why tho, the relationship was doomed, she annoyed the hell out of me, she was clingy, dependant and didnt have her own life – she became part of mine. We used to argue all the time, fall out over everyhting and to be honest i grew to dispise her becasue of the amount of previous sexual partners she admitted she’d had. I dont remember the exact number – but it was HUGE. And ever since that day i couldnt shake that thought from my head.

I guess the problem is that when i got with her, she moved in, and stayed there pretty much every day for a year and a half. Now imagine you get a dog, and he’s around you for a year and a half, but he shits everywhere, and chews your superstars. If he died or ran away after a year and a half, you’d be sad – even though he was a little bastard. I guess thats what im feeling, cos i certinaly dont feel an attraction to her any more.

I just want to move on now, and develop my ties with Gem. I love her very much and cant let her go. I asked myself a question when i was in my last relationship. it was;

“Can you see yourself with her in 5 years time?”

The answer before was a downright NO.

The answer this time, is a definate YES.

Do you people belive in soul mates?