Sleepypete's Pillow

Before you read any of what’ll be below – I’m ok, albeit a little shaken (although I’d never admit that. Hmm … doh!). Haven’t seen the need to rush off to hospital, although it is still in my mind. I’m actually more worried about my leg.

Net practice again tonight, which meant me attempting to continue that crash course in wicket keeping …

There’s not really enough space in nets to stand back as you should do with quicker bowlers, so I’m usually right behind the stumps where you need practice, practice, more practice, agility, quick reactions and a little stupidity. I have a couple of those right now (the stupidity and the reactions) but I’m badly in need of the practice. The agility is so-so, loss of weight has helped but I’ve hurt my left leg.

The stupidity is still in control though, so I started off the practice without wearing a helmet.

That’s a really bad idea. Top edges do nasty things, plus bales (the little bits of wood on top of cricket stumps) tend to fly straight up when people are bowled. So you should wear head protection when standing up to the stumps.

What actually happened ?

Ball’s coming down behind the batsman (where you’re unsighted as a keeper anyway) and he takes a swing. He gets a top edge, so instead of the ball coming near my gloves it goes straight up. And on to my top lip.

Oops

The damage wasn’t actually too much, one fella didn’t even realise I got hit (think he was the batsman). I cleaned myself up and got rid of most of the blood and then did what you should ALWAYS do in situations like this : Get back on the horse as soon as possible.

So after returning from getting cleaned up, on comes the helmet, gloves go on the hands and I’m back behind the stumps trying to learn wicket keeping. Looks like they’re relying on me to do that job this year, which is scary.

My keeping still needs a lot of work, although it’ll hopefully be easier standing the right distance back. I was getting a lot of confidence late on though from getting lots of clean takes and good stumpings.

So yeah – lesson learned. When standing up to the stumps, wear a helmet as it protects you when Strange Things happen. I’ll look into buying other stuff too, like a face mask type grill so I can still see better. A face mask will also be lighter and airier.

Practice – went ok. I’m timing the ball pretty well out to the offside and the defences seem ok. My shot play seems more attack minded this year, with me flipping back to defence instantly when the ball demands more respect. Promising for the season.

How am I feeling now ? Shaken and sore.

Shaken – Beneath the “doesn’t hurt at all” show, I was actually a little shaken. Fingers were wobbly for a while.
Sore – my left leg has decided to stiffen up. The problem is in the hamstring at the back of the leg right near the top. It’s a bit sore. It isn’t torn as the leg still works ok.

Lip’s gonna look great at work tomorrow 🙂 But I’m not worried about it. Taken my lumps, learned my lesson, more worried about the duff leg.

PS My challenge at work tomorrow will be to show off the cut lip to as many people as possible … and come up with a different explanation to all of them. Muahaha 🙂

Saw one from the Cheezburger crew and laughed …

Sadly I can’t add it here because their Terms of Services are EVIL but here’s a link to the original : “http://cheezburger.com/6140758784?siteId=15632“. Yes, I see people stealing copyright pictures all the time and reposting them often without attribution but I’m not about to do that. There’s even one on Facebook who monetises it … They’ll use photos from places like ICHZBGR and attach “sponsor a kitten” to it. That’s really dodgy ground and can easily get them sued. (Although they don’t say they got permission, that could have happened)

Anyway – I’m getting sidetracked again. The caption is “OMG don’t put me on facebook” and it’s a shocked kitty in a babygro.

There’s not that many pictures of me around and there’s a very good reason for that. Webcams and cameras dislike me intensely. It’s true. I haven’t heard or seen a camera lens crack yet but it must have been close.

And it’s been a while since I’ve been in a shape I’d have liked to be photographed in. There’s pictures of me on Facebook from last year which contributed to me deciding to lose weight. I’m chubby in them. Even the ones from Snowdon show me carrying around a backside that’s on the ample side. But I seem to be doing ok as people are saying I’m visibly more slimline these days.

Still trying to figure out what weight I was when this was taken :

That’s me on the bottom left with the big arrow (I needed to make it really obvious to the Mercs or they wouldn’t have got the message). It was taken in late summer ’98 (Hey ! I heard that – that would be 1998) when I helped that side to win that cup that we’re showing off there. I could still bowl back then too.

There aren’t many more recent pictures than that which I’d like to have visible and out there, although I do know what’ll be on my Facebook timeline when that gets inflicted on me :

That picture is perfect. It was taken 2 years ago in a game between my old side and my new side. I’m in the field towards the left, hands in pockets (as usual), white sun hat stopping my hair from getting in my eyes and I just so happen to be indulging in a bit of sledging with the incoming batsman who was an awesome colleague (they posted him down south).

I wasn’t being too rude, honest. Just reminding him how many runouts he’d been involved in – muahahaha.

So most of the time when I see my ugly mug on Facebook, I’m thinking that I need to learn to hide better. Some FB pics are fine, others are downright nasty. Hopefully at least one will appear this summer with me leaping about after taking stumpings.

Was travelling this weekend, doing the Easter and birthdays thing …

I can keep up on Facebook on weekends away but I leave blog updates for later. (The family don’t know I blog, I’ve managed to keep it a secret despite linking a few pages across)

Travel conditions on Friday could only be described as “interesting”. I knew it was going to get like that when, while approaching Birmingham, the skies suddenly started getting dark. And this isn’t sun down type dark, it’s Apocalyptic Rain Incoming type dark.

Rain on the roads isn’t actually too bad, if you’re aware of what needs to be done to avoid it being dangerous. That’s things like expecting there to be rivers in the road, knowing that puddles are deeper than they appear and will grab your wheel and attempt to spin you but most of all having a firm belief that everyone else on the road will be a moron.

Safe driving in rain doesn’t include slowing from 80 to 60 in the outside lane of a motorway to have a good look at the accident that’s happened on the other side of the road. That’s why motorway accidents almost always cause traffic congestion both ways, because of idiots who will make the conditions dangerous when they don’t need to be.

Anyway – conditions were actually pretty bad on Friday, I could feel my front wheels wanting to aquaplane. That’s pretty rare, especially as my front tyres should only be about half worn (need to check that).

They weren’t great on Sunday either, with the morons racing down the M5 on the way back. The catalogue includes – a motorhome doing 85-90, an Audi towing a trailer at 75mph (it was visibly snaking) and the bunch of people who shot past at 100+.

Meh – that’s frustration that needs to be put in a box and forgotten about. (I only get frustrated because the morons who cause the danger are usually the ones who survive their inevitable accident)

I forgot the easter eggs …

Oops. I got about 30 miles up the road before realising too. It won’t take long to consume the evidence 🙂

Birthday weekend – it was my nan’s birthday in the week (she’s 93) and my mum’s birthday this week. So we had one of our occasional gatherings together.

Diet – despite eating almost everything in sight come dinner time, I always manage to lose weight up there. Must be due to eating healthily … Perhaps there’s a lesson there ?

Hugs – I got a hug from Super Waitress at the Swanholme 🙂

Car – even though I’m not quite right yet from the net practice, the car let me do 3 hours 180 miles nonstop last night and the same distance with 2 stops on Friday (munchies + petrol). It’s an awesome cruiser. And because it’s the best car in the family now for carrying people, I do all the driving over the weekend too. (5 doors, mpg, speed, handling, comfort).

Cricket – I have control of those leg muscles back again now but my back is still suffering. Shoulder and neck are a bit sore too. But they’ll manage. The leg muscle stiffness is normal for unconditioned legs that don’t see enough exercise for the leg muscle mass I have. The shoulder and neck are from me attempting to bowl, I have my info now and know my bowing days are over. I’ll be converting to wicket keeping instead, which will lead to its own special brand of Unhappy Muscle Hell.

And now straight back into the whirlwind today. Easy evening tonight, easy evening tomorrow. Nets Wednesday, munchies Thursday. Hopefully I won’t be too much of a statue come Thursday evening. Seriously considering having Friday off.

PS Today also marks the anniversary of the release of a frankly inferior piece of crud that held back personal computers for many years. It was unreliable, had an evil keyboard and was not fit to be called a “computer”. Sometimes, the worst possible option becomes the popular one, just like VHS did. Yes, I am definitely a BBC Computer Snob. And proud of it.

Another one from the Facebook feed :

I think I do ok with figuring out which of the wolves to feed. I definitely recognise the truth behind the proverb as I know those two wolves are inside me, just as I know I have the hyperactivity manic bunny being dragged down by the depressive elephant.

I like to help people out. In fact, I like to help people out so much I’ll get carried away with it. It happens at work and with the cricket. At work, I’ll prioritise work that enables other people to do stuff ahead of the work that’s focused on me. (I’m terrible at arranging things like car services.) With the cricket, I’ll step into Coaching Mode where I’ll not be able to resist pointing out the flaws in people’s techniques in a “you should be doing it this way” kind of way.

With the cricket, I need to figure out how to do that a bit less obnoxiously as it can put people off. Like the fella who batted without any left hand control, I’ll see if I can get him to watch me next week. Spindly arms mean I don’t have as much power as I’d like but my technique is pretty good.

I got sidetracked into talking cricket again didn’t I ?

The happy wolf I think I’m doing ok with, although I don’t get as many opportunities to feed it as I would like.

The angry wolf is what threatens to get the depressive side of me in control. And it’s favourite food comes from when I get blocked from helping people out. I can be prone to jealousy but I always try and ask “Is she happier with the other guy ?” Their happiness is more important. But if they’re sad and I’m blocked from giving them the support they need, I don’t understand and that’s when my confusion feeds the evil wolf.

But at the moment both good and evil wolves are locked in their cages because the I Hurt Like Hell wolf is in control ! Post nets status is currently :

Lower back lumbar muscles – are frozen making it tough to bend
Thigh muscles – are in concrete mode
Hands – are covered in bruises
Shoulder – is actually ok because I only bowled about 6 deliveries

Post nets stiffness will probably last until Sunday and then it gets better from there. I’ll be stiff again after Wednesday’s nets but it’ll ease earlier. It’s just tough to get back into it after such a long time away.

Cheating and making Blogger delay this until Thursday ! Ok, so net session tonight, what did I get out of it :

1 – I can’t bowl. Ok, I can bowl but very, very slowly. Which means “GRENADE!!!!” type lobbing of the ball, which is completely and utterly useless. If I put any power into the action, then the mechanical hitch takes over and messes up the delivery. And I need that power to bowl either seam or spin. No bowling.

2 – Batting was surprisingly good. Muscle memory was still there, technique was active and the feet were moving.

3 – Shots were coming all round, I just need to use them in matches.

4 – I can play the Pietersen switch hit !!!!!! And it’s surprisingly easy to pull off. It’s actually easier than doing a reverse sweep. Can’t say I’ll use it in games because it needs slow bowling and the right field but it’s an option.

5 – I still have the batting flaw which means I can’t hit balls that come down 6 inches outside leg stump. And those are supposed to be meat & drink 4 balls. Just can’t get to them.

6 – The run to Yate does wonders for the car mpg. Car went from 48mpg to 49mpg on the night.

7 – Even though I can’t bowl, I got value out of the session by standing behind the stumps and impersonating a wicket keeper. Even managed to take a few, including a high wide fast one taken one handed standing up close.

 8 – I think I need to buy some keeping gloves as the kit bag gloves were a little big. (I have little pinkys)

 9 – Ow. Owowowow OUCH. My legs need a hell of a lot more conditioning than they currently have as the batteries were running out very quickly. But they appreciated me having less ballast.

10 – Nets worked up an appetite. I was incredibly hungry when I got home and nearly started snacking before my shower.

11 – Tomorrow will be “interesting” (in the historical sense) as I have a mandatory training presentation to sit through. That will be absolute perfect conditions for making sure I become a statue by lunchtime.

12 – Bruise count is a shiner to come on my right thigh, probably one on my left thigh and a mystery bruise on my left hand between thumb and finger. My back (lower lumbar area, under and between the kidneys) is what’s making it curious to bend down.

13 – It was totally, utterly worth it. Despite the disappointment of having absolutely nothing available for bowling. Hopefully more people will appear next week as we only had 4 of us tonight, 2 of whom (not me) could bowl.

And even before they start, it feels like I’ve been beaten up again …

I’m going to defer Pink Hat Project (or change what I’d do for it). And I’m very disappointed about that as it means I can’t assure myself that I’d be able to throw myself into every game possible this year. Taking stock of the issues at the moment :

Leg – the infection that kept me out of cricket last year improved quite a bit. It’s not been icky since about December. I think the infection is completely gone now but the leg is not yet healed and still flares up when I wear the wrong thing.

If I did launch Pink Hat Project as a season long thing, I couldn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t have to pull out mid season due to the leg becoming infected again.

General frailty – I carry a bunch of old injuries that like to remind me and slow me down. At the moment, it’s the hip injury but I’m also getting flashes of pain from my upper body and lower back that I cannot relieve through stretching out. I have a finger that’s decided it wants to tell me it’s at broken+3weeks.

It sounds like general depression inspired whinging (I am in a depressive cycle right now) but I just don’t have the confidence that I won’t break down a few games into the season. Hence keeping in reserve the option to take a fortnight or so away from cricket if I need to. And I probably will need to at some point.

But … I will still wear the Pink Hat at every opportunity in honour of a fallen colleague who passed away not 3 weeks ago now. I just won’t do it as a massive thing that would put so much pressure on me I’d permanently break something through pushing myself to play when I’m already injured.

And thinking about it, I think a bounty will be in order if I do pass certain goals this season :
Score a 50 (never got one, should have done),
Get runouts or stumpings (wonderful if they happen, opportunities are rare)
Get 10 catches over the season (this is likely)
Or even less likely – get wickets (depends if I can/do bowl)

So instead of doing it on just turning up and being mediocre, having a bounty on doing something that’s worth a reward. I like that better. I’m only expecting I have 1, maybe 2 (3 at absolute max) seasons left in me before I can no longer command a place in a team on merit and I’ve already lost one of the reasons for being in a team due to the bowling. Batting I’d be able to do at age 50 but if I don’t have the speed in the field then that’s the point where I can’t justify being in a team.

Still – it seems like I’m writing off my chances and disappointing myself before even trying to see what I have available. I’ll see how it goes at the practice tonight.

At the end of the day it’s motivation. I need to appear strong for other people to give me the impulse to feel strong myself. Perhaps I need a cheerleader to tell me I can achieve stuff even when the depression makes me believe that I can’t ? (Please let it be a cheerleader with intelligence!)

Craziemob watched Hunger Games tonight.

Gotta say, this is a really well made film. They got their script and executed it pretty well. The main star, Jennifer Lawrence, playing Katniss will be massive. But then again, we could already see that from her being the highlight of X Men First Class.

Wait – you’re probably detecting a hint of very faint praise there …

Yes. The execution is done extremely well. The cast play their parts well. Sets and effects are top notch. Will I buy it on blu-ray ? Probably not. Although saying that, this is likely to be another Avatar where I avoided buying it until a second watching off Sky movies. Yet the hype has made this such a smash hit that we’re likely to see the next two books in the series turned into film.

Bit like Twilight. I watched Twilight. Honest. Yep, I’ll freely admit that I’ve watched Twilight once. And I’ve even bought Paramore albums ! But I stayed away from the sequels. I may well end up doing the same with Hunger Games (Today’s hyperactivity broke just before the start, which is probably why I’m underwhelmed).

Hunger Games – great execution, script was carried by the star. Concept somewhat tired and World Setting was nonsense.

Do I recommend you see it ? No. Watch Mirror Mirror instead cos that’s highly entertaining and is a film I will Definitely buy when it comes to bluray at an acceptable price. And I enjoyed John Carter more too.

Hyper ?

I must have needed the break and looking back at the “Anyone got the number of that truck ?” post just as I started my leave reminded me how burnt out I was. This morning though, getting back in to work was a Sleepypete spinning like a top. I got to my desk at 8.45 and by 9.30 I’d been thinking so quick I was amazed it was 9.30 and not 11.00 yet.

Hype – is Hunger Games. The hype has made people come out to see this one for sure. But having seen it, I’m not sure Hype will get people out to see the sequels. The concept has been done better before and in Future Earths that are less nonsensical.

Hectic – oh yes. Next few days will be nuts :

Working like a dervish as usual,
Shopping to do (need stuff for weekend)
First net session for cricket on Wednesday
Battleship will be watched on Thursday (I will leave my brain in the car where it’ll be safe)
And travelling to do

Hopeful ?

I’m very curious to see what I’ll have available in the net session on Wednesday. I’m feeling pretty good at the moment. I still feel the point pain in back and shoulder that reminds me to not go nuts with trying to bowl too quick. And I still have the faint limp due to the hip injury. But I’m hopeful that I’ll be able to turn the arm over a little on Wednesday, although I don’t particularly want to do any bowling in matches this summer. I prefer fielding these days.

What I do know however is that my legs are in great shape. The power is there in the muscles and the knees are supporting delivering it. The hip injury is slowing my walking but it’s not in muscle groups that affect power running. I’ll be looking for some serious speed in the summer on cricket fields where I’ll have the space to pin the ears back and go for it. And perhaps with carrying less ballast, I’ll have brakes too. That’ll be a pleasant change !

Back to the fray tomorrow.

PS Hell ? That’ll be what I’m in on Thursday when all my muscles go concrete after nets !

Last day of the break today – and I think I’m recharged and ready to dive back into work tomorrow. As always, I’ve listened to a ton of music over the break. Actually just over 1000 different tracks with today to go. What kind of stuff ?

I’ve quite enjoyed Taking Time Out (T’Pau). I’ve needed it as the mental exhaustion from how hard I’ll drive myself takes its toll after a while.

One of the albums I’ve listened to again is Duffy’s Rockferry which has the track “Warwick Avenue”. So beautiful, so sad. Love trying to sing along to this one (it’s outside my range) but I know I’ll have to be careful if I ever do get into another relationship as I suspect me singing along to songs like this made Ravenwolf very uncomfortable …

Another really sad one that’s come through is Roads by Portishead. This is one that’ll make me sit up and pay attention while joining in too.

I’d actually much rather sing along to the Incidentals (Alisha’s Attic), although my voice isn’t cooperating with that one at the moment. Or Forever Autumn from the War Of The Worlds show. Had the chance to go see this near Xmas but we declined due to : cost, logistics (Lincs+London+back) and the tickets went sooo fast.

Also listened to the first All About Eve album again. This is a real blast back to the past, with All About Eve being the first group I really got into. Favourite track is Apple Tree Man but videos are hard to come by, here’s a more recent one : Blue Sonic Boy.

I reckon that if I’d listened to the album this one comes from before doing my cabin fever breaking city centre wander, I’d have come home with a few Morcheeba albums. Fear And Love – had never really registered those lyrics, I’d just sung along and got lost in them.

I’ve not picked up her latest album yet (it’ll go cheap soon) but I’ve turned into a fan of Katie Melua and one of her best is Piece By Piece. Dunno when I’ll listen to that again though because the way I choose what albums I listen to don’t favour it because it’s so good. (That doesn’t make sense does it ?) Anyway, am I someone’s Shy Boy ?

And thinking of amazing voices, here’s one from Tori Amos’ album of covers : Strange Little Girls.

Just added another couple of greatest hits album to the library, one of them is The Bangles. They broke the mould when they broke onto the scene but sadly didn’t stick around for many albums. I reckon tomorrow will be a Manic Monday.

Also put on the Seal greatest hits acoustic album which has a track which says it all : Bring It On.

Could be a wrench though getting away from the Lazy Days (Robbie Williams) but that time off has had the desired effect : Feeling Good (Nina Simone). But not before more chill out, next album up in the queue is Fallen Empires by Snow Patrol which has this Symphony.

Spotted this one being popular in the hit counters …

Opinion on my CT – Lexus didn't botch it, the reviewers did. Most of the reviews available at time of writing were on prerelease cars before the CT got tuned from that feedback. After 6 months of ownership, the CT is an awesome car. Not as quick as you'd like but that's the only weak point of an incredibly strong package.

This is another in the theme of “you may be interested in” … 🙂 Sparked off by this Register article that’s talking about improving how your network at home works.

Networking is getting into everything these days as Data and Information become ever more prominent in our society. We’d be lost without our Google searches … Even some cars like the Nissan Leaf can have you able to interrogate it via apps on your phone. Mentioning cars, loving the Bluetooth integration on my CT. Getting urgent messages around is much easier with that, instead of fumbling with the handset to interpret or send a text, just call them with the speakerphone which lets me keep a hand on the wheel at all times.

The Reg article is a pretty decent one and well worth a look if you’ve been having trouble getting the machines on your network to talk to each other. While it is a bit techie, it doesn’t get sidetracked into the black art of getting Windows machines to talk nicely. Although it helps there if the software ({cough} Krapspersky {cough}) doesn’t get in the way.

I run a few devices here on my home network :
Acer laptop – this connects via wifi and is my main “looking at stuff” computer
Homebrew desktop – games + email in the morning
Littlewhitebox – this is an Apple Airport Express (I have an older model)
Panasonic bluray player – connects via wifi but to be honest it’s a bit pointless it being connected
Phone – although not really because I have the wifi disabled to save battery
Xbox360 – if it ever sees games again I have a Long Wire for it
Linksys router – connects it all together

The network sees quite heavy use, as unless I’m watching something on the telly I’ll be streaming music to my hifi. The laptop plays the music off iTunes, it’ll chuck it over the network via the Airplay protocol and the Littlewhitebox will decode that and send it to the amplifier. It works extremely well. The quality is very good, outside of the crackles you’ll get with certain music on mp3s.

When my amplifier breaks (I’m waiting for a dodgy HDMI board to break, although it hasn’t misbehaved lately) I’ll replace it with something that supports Airplay natively. I’m a firm supporter of the Airplay system and the Littlewhitebox. It’ll expand the mp3 up to about 1.1Mbits/s, which is getting close to cd quality while still using a little compression. It gives you a portable box that can go anywhere and plug into anything with an audio input. I’ve even had it feeding music through a telly. The hifi mags always seem to ignore it though when they review network streamers.
 And I’m getting sidetracked again.

The wifi’s been doing pretty well lately. It’s been able to cope with the 1Mbit/s streaming audio, 360p video coming from the internet and occasionally massive file transfer when I send stuff between laptop and desktop.

What’s it have to compete with ? I live out in the suburbs so there’s happily no flats with 1 router per place to compete with. I can see 8 other networks at the moment but I know one of my neighbours had or has a scanner that likes to try hacking other people’s networks. I have my router set to not broadcast its name, which stops that scanner from jamming my network.

No broadcast – trouble free for months
SSID broadcast – jammed within days

I think the intention of that jammer is to knock devices off the network so they have to reconnect. With WPA-PSK encryption, the connection phase is the only time when the key can be intercepted. (WEP is brute force hackable without that clue.) But … it’ll still take millennia to derive the passcode even if you intercept it. (tomshardware article)

My kit is a little old, so it takes longer to copy files than if I wasted cash on the latest and shiniest stuff. But when you really look at it, if you can stream audio at 1Mbit/s while copying massive files and watching video then 802.11g is perfectly adequate. But I am thinking of stepping into Powerline networking bits. If that amplifier breaks, I’ll replace it with something that has Airplay built in but it’ll need a wired connection. But that’s the only reason I’d have to add Powerline networking bits.

Recommendations ?

Read reviews, sort through what they say to point yourself towards the best kit
(Belkin are on my Do Not Buy list for their predilection to having a gadget for everything but none that work)
If what you have works, you don’t have a need to change
Make sure your wifi is encrypted (WPA-PSK if your bits support it)
Investigate router options for avoiding interference

I’m interested in Powerline network kit but I’ll not buy anything until I actually have a need for it. The Xbox360 is effectively my dvd player now and the bluray player and audio streamer have a wifi connection. The desktop sits next door to the router where it can use a wire to get the best performance online. There’s all my networking needs right there.