VM & Sky, DAoC and Aliens!!!!

Well i've really enjoyed watching the big fuss over Virgin Media Group and Sky these last few days. In absolute honesty i was of the belief that a last minute deal would be reached between the two companies. I believed that wholeheartedly until 11:59 last night. I wasn't expecting the signal to just drop. I have to be honest, i didn't watch it until midnight, so i don't know what time they pulled it but when i turned on Sky One this morning i was expecting more than a blank screen. However! I'm happy to see VM stand up to Sky and refuse to pay an unreasonable amount. I have no intention of returning to Sky (Despite my displeasure with the 4mb broadband) i'm quite happy with them. The only thing that really angers me is the fact the VoD (View on Demand) content they keep harping on about, it's either Pay Per View meaning that because i no longer get sky i have to pay a fee to watch each episode! or It's old content that i've seen before.
I'm going to phone Virgin at some point next week once the fuss has died down to see if i can get V+ installed to compensate for the loss of these channels. Reason being we've still got a sky dish and Sky offered me a Sky+ box for nothing provided i paid the £10 a month for the services. (as opposed to a £75 installation + £10p.m

DAoC wise, i've returned to the classic server cluster tonight, i was against returning to the game prior to 1.88 being released as i'm primarily an Archer and at present we're the weakest classes on the table! However a friend of mine told me he'd returned and as WoW was getting repetitive without my duo partner to level with i've decided to go back to Gareth for a while. At present i'm not sure this is the best thing to do BUT i'm back playing Hib for a while so i've started a new toon (Bubblecow) on Lamorak and will be trying to get levelled up a little whenever i'm not playing something else.

And finally tonight i spotted Aliens (James Cameron's finest film imho) on Ch4, i thought this would just be a highly edited and disapointing version, however much to my suprise they actually showed the full Special Edition version (possibly slightly edited but i didn't spot it!) Kudos to Ch4, i'd grown accustomed to having to dig out the old VHS out whenever i wanted to watch this and was grateful to be able just to settle down infront of the TV and enjoy an awesome Sci-fi film. Well done C4!

Adios!

Film4 & baby kicks!

Wow i've been impressed with Film 4 recently, since it went over to freeview i dont think there's been many nights when i've actually gone to bed without watching or falling asleep to a good film. Fair enough many people will complain they keep repeating some films for days on end but i'm not a person who objects to that really. It's been years since i've seen the likes of 24 Hour Party People, The Deer Hunter, Once upon a Time in America, Forrest Gump, Chariots of Fire etc.. etc.. Most of them are films i don't actually have in my DVD collection (though i'm not sure why).
Well done Film4, Thank you!
They're no Sky movies, but on the same token they don't cost anyone a penny to watch, They're mostly Great films! (interspliced with some incredibly strange and thought provoking films, not forgetting the downright strange films aswell....)

Lastly, i didn't realise just how hard the baby has been kicking my wifes innards until this morning, i woke up to find myself being kicked in the back. Initially i thought it must be the dog on the bed or possibly my wife pushing me, but it wasn't. Truth was she was trying to hug me and the baby was unimpressed with being squashed and forced to share the space with his/her soon to be daddy. I wouldn't be suprised if i actually have a slight bruise from the beating i took! 15 weeks to go... remains to be seen if she'll last that long!!! She's insisting she will as she's travelling to the London Book Fair at 32 weeks pregnant (much to my disgust!) but so long as she manages to keep the blighter in till April we're all good!

15 Weeks, 57 and Download Speeds

Well where do i start? I suppose saying YEEEAAAHHH!!! DING 57! is a good place to start, finally i've knuckled down and gained that last 20% needed to hit lvl 57, so my hunter is now merely 13 levels behind the rest of the guild (oooh lucky number there i guess!) after what's that so far? 2 months since TBC launched? and yet i'm still not even 60! god that's commitment for you! hmmm maybe i'll play more in future.

So with the good start over i'm going to have a grumble about my download speeds with Virgin Media (or NTL:Telewest is really at fault i suppose) Until a few weeks ago i was running on the 10mb NTL cable connection, it was basically the one thing i wanted when i moved in with t'other half and she agreed it was fine, and all was well with it. However when i decided to tell Sky where to shove their digibox and stroke NTL's ego by moving to them for all three important services (Phone, TV & Internet) i decided to take a drop in my net speed as i thought 10mb was a bit much considering how little downloading i do outside of gaming. But since dropping from 10meg to 4meg my download speeds seem to have dropped through the bloody ringer! and i'm not happy about it!!!!!one!!! but Virgin dont seem to give a shit, yes they acknowledge i should get a faster conn but wont accept blame, so i'm tempted to phone them and tell them i'm going back to sky and will be taking my cable modem and shoving it up (non)Virgins arsehole! replacing it with a 16mb DSL connection with Sky. But i can't even do this, NTL installed a new line to the house, meaning that my phoneline isn't with BT! so i can't even try and get DSL over it anyway!!!! fecks sake! they really know how to make a person cry. In-fact i think i'm going to stop myself there, i don't really want to depress myself anymore!

On an alternative note i'd like to say a big thanks to my mum who called me tonight (after speaking to my sister whom i'd been texting about there only being 15 weeks left before she is an auntie) in shock having been under the illusion that this birth thing was happening at some point in the very far future and that she would not be a Grandmother for a long time to come! Strangely it seems my wife is still in denial, despite this revelation she is also convinced that the little blighter will not be escaping her body EVER if labour is involved. It's hard for me to remain straight faced when that type of hysteria is thrown around, yes it's scary, yes it's probably going to be very painful but does trying to convince yourself it's NOT going to happen really make you feel better? Meh i'll call it a night at that, it's nearly 2am and i want to get some sleep at some point this year, here's an image showing what the 25th week looks like!

No Posing!

Well she wouldn't co-operate and pose for a bump shot tonight! so i'm unable to post one and you'll have to make do with this instead!

I think i'd have been better with the bouquet on that day 18 months ago... I suit it!

On a slightly completely un-related note i've still not hit 57 on WoW! I've accrued at least 1.5 levels of 200% exp since i last played but was so bored within an hour of logging in earlier i decided to hold off and play when i could actually be bothered. Fingers crossed i'm in a better mood soon, as i've missed out on so much game time recently i'm suprised the guild still talk to me when i log in.

Well shan't stay on for long, i'm missing CSI: Miami and it's actually been quite good.

Oh and before i forget Monk rocks!

Been a while

Haven't posted for a while, we've been busy this last few weeks!

Billie is now 24 weeks and the bump is progressively getting bigger, she even demanded that i take a picture yesterday to ensure that a record of her progression is kept. I'd post it if she'd let me, but it was on her camera rather than my own so i haven't been able to get it uploaded yet.

The house was finally starting to seem sorted until we started clearing out the soon to be nursery, within an hour we'd knocked a dividing wall down and turned what had been a dusty mess into a dirty, plastery, dusty mess! so the wall will be returned to it's original state soon and then we can finally get to work on tidying up the room and putting some baby furniture into it.

It's looking increasingly unlikely that i'll ever get this machine upgraded, and with Direct x10 being on the way for these games soon to be released i'll be left out of the gaming loop. Will just have to make do with what i have for the time being, at least i can still play wow at the moment.

Ummm that'll do for now, might post a mobile blog later if i can get a decent piccy of the wife!