I usually take New Years resolutions with a pinch of salt, I find them to be meaningless and a bit of a fad.  Just the fact that people “can” break them makes them a little pointless.  So instead, I’ve come up with some New Years targets.  Yes, that’ll do for now.  Targets. 

I want to get back on the losing weight wagon, I’ve been off it for some time and the daily trips into Halifax town centre to either Greggs, McDonalds, KFC, Burger King or Sainsburys haven’t done me any good whatsoever.  In fact I’ve put on a lot of weight since I left Hanson – even with the mile and a half brisk walk round trip to town I take every day.  I really want to get back into my old trousers – the ones I’ve had to buy since don’t really fit me at all, they’re far too big, but I’m far too big to fit into my trousers, so that’s that. 

I’m really not in a happy place weight wise at all.  The plan with buying a load of t-shirts from Florida the last time we were there was that some of them didn’t fit me, but I was losing weight so they’d fit me inside a couple of months and give me something to wear.  That didn’t work out as planned and some of the t-shirts that did fit me don’t do so any longer. 

I know I used to use my blog to record food diarys and weight loss updates and things.  I think I’m going to sign up to WW online and use their online tracking system – that’ll let me record my weight and food properly and will also show me snazzy things like a progress chart.  I will of course post updates here, I’m sure at least one or two people will be interested. 

From the look of it, there are no really great deals on Weight Watchers online membership – just a two week trial and then a tenner a month (after they hit you for an initial £40-£50 for your first three months).  Once that’s out of the way, £10 a month isn’t really something I’m going to miss all that much.  We should be good to go – especially seeing as though the mortgage payments are coming down a fiver as of this month (yay for new lower fixed rate deals) and the sofas are paid off in April – thats another £50 a month we didn’t have before. 

Financially we’re not in too bad a place at the moment, jobswise we should both be secure for the foreseeable future – the only concern is the Disney Vacation Club loan which is in USD – with the exchange rate being at it’s lowest in a long, long time I’m paying about £30 a month more than I was when I initially started in May.  Again – it’s not a big deal because we’re okay financially. 

Speaking of Disney, I can now officially say that we’re going back next year!, yay! That’s something to look forward to now

Part of the motivation behind the weight loss is so that I can go on the mummy ride – I couldn’t quite get the test vehicle lap bar down (well I could, but it wouldn’t have been very comfortable for the duration of the ride).  The really cool log flume at IOA was out completely – I couldn’t even get into the sodding log.  I’m not sure just how much weight I can lose in just under 14 months but I’m going to have a good crack at it. 

The experiments with the beard/goatee have now come to an end.  I’m sick to death with people taking the piss and calling it ginger.  You can all fuck off.  I haven’t shaved it off because it’s ginger, I’ve shaved it off because I was subjected to more than enough bullying and piss taking at school for me to be arsed to endure any more of that. 

It’s like the whole PS3/Xbox 360 thing.  People will swear blind that their console is better than yours because that’s what people do.  I’ve got both of them, I know how it is and I can give a balanced opinion about it.  The PS3 is a bag of wank as far as games are concerned.  The Xbox 360 is great for gaming.  The PS3 is great playing Blu Rays.  It might have superior technology powering it but none of it is being used at the moment, with games (fallout 3) looking best on the PC, followed by the 360, followed lastly by the PS3.  Fanboys piss me off.  Unless it’s the film fanboys, thats a great film and worth watching just to see Kristen Bell in a Princess Leia slave outfit.  Awesome.  That’s out soon. 

Also – Yes the iPhone can’t forward texts, nor can it Bluetooth.  Who gives a flying fuck?  Seriously.  It does exactly what I want it to do (apart from being able to forward that text I wanted to last night).  Belittling someone because something they’ve bought isn’t as good as something you have is exactly the same as waving a giant e-penis around.  Nobody gives a shit.  At all. 

So, rant over.  Everybody just play nice with your own toys and don’t rip the piss out of people for no reason.  Or if you are going to rip the piss out of them, do it once, twice maybe, but not persistently all night at three separate family get togethers over the duration of a week.  It gets real old, real fast.

As soon as I stopped this week I came down with something nasty.  I thought it was a cold, it was very flu like – runny nose, achy limbs, didn’t feel like moving around much.  Tuesday, woke up and was much better – in fact all the symptoms had vanished.  Wednesday, I was better still.  Woke up this morning with some fluid on my chest and was very cold.  Spent most of the day feeling dizzy and a little out of it – feel much better now though.  Probably has something to do with having something to eat.  It’s just typical that as soon as I get some time off I get ill. 

Tried some of my humour tonight.  Sue’s mum was looking for the rum, I said “Why is the rum gone?”.  Nobody got it.  I had to retell it to several people before someone picked up on it being a Pirates quote.  Gutted. 

So anyway – targets. 

I’m going to lose weight.  I’m going to join Weight Watchers online and go to the gym in order to help this.  If I can’t go first thing in a morning because Sue is working nights then I’ll go at lunchtime or (god forbid) after work.  I don’t like the gym after work, it fills up with all those people that love themselves.  It’s not too bad in a morning, not sure about lunchtime, but it’d mean eating a sandwich on the fly, running over to the gym, working out, showering and getting back to work inside an hour.  It’s possible I guess. 

At least the personal trainers should leave us alone now.  Arsehole.  If it wasn’t for that incident a few months ago I probably wouldn’t have stopped going.  I know I went a few times after but it’s never been the same. 

I think I’m going to weigh myself on Saturday morning.  Saturday can be my new weigh in day.  I’m also going to start eating cereal for lunch, I’ll also try and make time for a proper breakfast in the morning – even if that means getting up that little bit earlier.  It’s not like I’m that late to bed most nights. 

I’m really looking forward to getting home.  It feels a bit like I’ve been non-stop this last week and a half.  Doesn’t feel like I’ve had any time alone with Sue either – we’ll have to make sure that Sunday is spent watching films curled up on the sofa together (not gouging on chocolate, because chocolate is bad – and pointy). 

Everything will be pointed and counted.  I’m dreading just how many points I’m going to be able to have actually, it’s scary to think that I’ve put weight on and I’m in a worse place than I was the last time I decided to try and lose some weight (probably around this time last year actually).  We were really good up until we went to Florida, we fell off the wagon about the time we got off the plane and never got back on the wagon when we got back. 

This way, when we go to Florida next, I won’t be able to eat half as much food as we did last time (nor will we be purchasing the deluxe dining plan – we had 30+ meal credits left!!)

I’ll post up my weight on Saturday morning.  I guess it’ll be weekly postings after that (the first week’s post will be loss due to water retention obviously)  We’ll see. 

Smaller trousers and smaller t-shirts here we come. 

Bring me that Horizon.

So the question is, what do we do about taking a holiday next year?  It can’t be a case of “not going” because that’s insane.  Everyone needs a break, even if its just for a few days somewhere like Scarborough or Blackpool.  Just a break from the norm, getting away from everything that pisses you off in your boring mundane routine. 

Thats if you have a boring mundane routine of course, some people don’t.  I have a routine, but its not boring or mundane (at least not at the moment).  Since moving to Frog and changing hours to pretty much full on days though the weeks just feel like they’re flying by at great speeds.  This is worsened by Sue working nights, I can be home less than 90 minutes (if theres heavy traffic) and Sue goes off to work.  It can sometimes get you down but hey thats life and everyone has to make a living – right?

I always find it amusing that weekends seem to be on a different timescale to weekdays.  Friday nights for me are about as useful as a chocolate teapot – I’m knackered from a long week and by 10-11pm I’m knackered and falling asleep on the couch.  Saturday morning I may sleep in, then before I know it its lunchtime, getting on for mid afternoon and I haven’t done anything! 

Sundays are weird.  They’re not like Saturdays because you know that you can’t stay up late and watch TV – you’ve got to prepare for work the next day.  Even though its a full day off, its just not the same is it?

Anyway, back on topic. 

The reason for me writing this is because I’ve got a long weekend planned, we’re off somewhere (I’m not 100% sure on where yet) probably around the East coast because I like it there.

Whilst looking at the English Country Cottages websites (where I first discovered Red House Farm) I realised just how nice some of these places are.  We’ve stayed in a few before and they’ve always been lovely and like a home away from home. 

I’ve just been searching for cottages that contain wood burners, pools, games rooms, awesome. 

I’ve found this one just outside of Scarborough with all of the above and it looks lovely.  Sleeps 4-6 people though and there are only two of us.  Its about £280 for three nights.  If we were going as a family of 4 or we had two friends to take that wouldn’t be too bad but as there are just two of us, its a little pricey.

Luckily on the same complex there is a smaller cottage for two, still has access to the games room and pool but doesn’t have a wood burner.  Wood burner isn’t massively important but you wouldn’t believe just how nice and cosy one is.  Its lovely.  The accomodation for two costs £187 for three nights – much more conservative. 

I started off looking for hotels in Whitby, Scarborough and Blackpool (yes I know Blackpool is over the other side of the country before anyone says anything) and I realised that whilst staying in the town centre is handy – its also expensive, probably filled with stag and hen parties at this time of year and its not actually clear what will be open in these town centres anyway. 

Sue quite fancied Butlins again, I didn’t.  It’s not that I didn’t enjoy staying there, its just I know that we can get better value for money and a more relaxing break elsewhere. 

I checked availability anyway and they have nothing for the weekend I’m looking at.  Shame :p

Bed and Breakfast would have been fine.  The problem I found with B&B when we stayed in Whitby a few months ago however was that because we were in such a remote location and all we had was a kettle, it was very difficult to get food later on.  Whitby was a good 8 miles away, down country roads that I wouldn’t even start to think about driving on :p  If you went out for the day early doors and got back around 3pm ish, you’d have to go out again to get something to eat for tea.  Sue was ill one day and going back out for food seemed like a mammoth task just for me

The handy thing about staying in a cottage with a kitchen means that you can go out for the day, come back and make yourself a plate of chips or a fishfinger sandwich or something.  Super noodles, whatever you fancy.  You don’t have to eat out twice a day (although that can be nice). 

So anyway.  No Florida next year.  I can cope with that. 

I think we’ll probably look at doing lots of long weekends rather than a week or two weeks away somewhere.  With 20 days holiday You could go away for 10 out of 12 months.  Take into account bank holidays and you have even more time available still.  Even if you took December and August out of the equation you’d have plenty of time away. 

I don’t fancy going abroad anywhere next year.  I’ve never really been in to Sunbathing holidays.  I’d love a safari holiday somewhere with the cameras though. 

Plan for next year is to save money, pay off the credit card (which I’m determined to do before December) and get ready for Florida in April/May 2010.  Hopefully the Harry Potter section will be open at Universal. 

£150 a month into premium bonds, means by the end of December next year there will be over £2100 invested in them.  That should pay for the Flights and possibly the tickets for the parks, leaving us in a fairly good position. 

With the DVC membership then allowing us to go every two years after that, things should start looking a whole lot better. 

I’m really looking forward to next year.  The year of holidays in good old England.

I’m still really enjoying the work and I’m learning so much it just feels so invigorating and refreshing. 

We completed another office move this week, the desks have been moved around to try to make the layout a little more fluid and sit departments who need to talk to each other closer together.  I’ve ended up with a window seat which is great for my SAD.  combined with getting out at lunchtime in the daylight means that the last few weeks have been much better than the last month or so.  The main reason for me ending up with the window this time round is because we’ve flipped sides, so we’re now facing towards the front of the office, I need to talk to Al a fair bit and he would have been on my left – absolutely useless for me with me being deaf on my left side. 

I’ve got two days off to use up before the end of the year.  I’m planning on taking Sue away again for the weekend, either sometime in November or December depending on prices and various other factors.

First choice would have been Disneyland Paris, it was generally this sort of time of year when we’ve gone.  Checked Jet2 for prices and it was £19.99 each, each way.  Great – Around £80 for the trip, similar to what I paid last time.  Click Next…… £280.  What…the….fuck?

Taxes, fuel surcharges, baggage fees.  Sod that for a lark. 

Checked Eurotunnel prices, not much different, its too far to drive and it’d be a pain in the arse on a coach. 

Plus just to make sure, I checked the prices for Disney on a three night basis – cheapest I could do it for was £488.  You’re looking at just short of £800 for a weekend away.  Jesus Christ. 

I bet for not a lot more you could do a week in Florida on a no frills. 

So we’re looking at somewhere in this Country again.  Blackpool is going to be mostly closed or filled with stags and hens which I just can’t be arsed with at the moment, Whitby would be really nice but we’d need to stay somewhere close to the town centre, Red House Farm was lovely but when you’re there for a weekend and you don’t have cooking facilities we found it to be a little limiting, especially when Whitby itself was a good 8 mile drive away. 

Theres always Scarborough, its just a case of finding a nice, quiet, central hotel with access to decent, free parking.  Itching to get out with the camera again and since the weekends are my only real oppertunity to do so I want to make the most of it. 

I also fancy just spending an entire day shoving  2p pieces into pacman ball / coin dropper machines.  Its fun.  Some would even go so far as calling it thereapeutic. 

Trying to organise a curry with the people from work next week.  So far its looking good with at least 10 of us going.  Mmmmmm curry.