Gary Vine Associates

Lucy’s birthday was a great day for everyone – especially me! I woke up early to make myself a cup of hot chai tea with extra hot and then waited for her to come downstairs. When she did, she walked into the kitchen to find 100,000 ‘Gary Vine Associates – Advice For Life’ business cards scattered all over the floor. She was shocked. “I didn’t just get you one birthday card, babe!” I said as I went back upstairs for a sleep.

By the time I’d woken up again it was time for her next present. I came downstairs and the lovely little thing had made me breakfast – egg on cold toast. Ten minutes later I was eating egg on hot toast and really appreciating the wonderful girlfriend I have. I have never once regretted meeting her at that Castaway audition.

It took my little SME Of Joy a few minutes to work out her next present, but once I explained to her the benefits of an SDSL line at home she was really interested in how exactly I thought it was a good present. I told her that and she went upstairs for a lie-down, clearly overwhelmed by my generosity!

Next I had to do some quick business so I rang Anya and told her to engage some clients wherever she was at that moment in time. Needless to say, Gary Vine Associates may soon be entering into an agreement with the Lithuanian Methodist Church. Eat that, competitors!

For dinner, I took the apple of both my eyes for dinner to her favourite restaurant: Chez Gary Vine. We had a lovely frozen pizza made by some kind of doctor (so it must be good!) and then some ice cream left over from Valentine’s Day.

She then went to bed and I watched my Top Gear DVD. There were some really great cars.

Ciao!

Sometimes Lucy likes to take a break from doing all the cooking and have a nice night with me doing all the work. So I decided to take her out for a meal at a local restaurant.

Lucy said she wanted to spend some quality time together, so I said we should watch Iron Man 2. It was brilliant! Lots of noise, lots of explosions, lots of action! Lucy was so blown away she didn’t say a word in the car on the way home. Glad she enjoyed it!

The meal was very good too. We went to Frankie & Benny’s and I had a Mixed Grill Platter. I had a feeling it would help me get to sleep straight after my bedtime online casino session. I’m not sure what Lucy had, but it was pretty expensive. Oh well, I guess that’s quite literally the price you pay for going to a posh restaurant.

My camera isn’t working as well as it used to. I feel like I’ve lost my third eye – no longer able to see the things I could before. I snapped a bin on a roof and it was art. A cow in a field – art. A painting on the wall of a museum – art. My girlfriend thinks it’s a waste of time, but she just doesn’t get it. Just like I don’t really get her, but I guess that’s what true love is sometimes!

Trying to work out what to do this weekend without my camera. Already spent some time with Lucy – check! Maybe see the lads? Gazzo’s going through a tough time at the moment so he might need cheering up, and Old Mick’s cynical as always. Maybe Johnny the Horse? I haven’t seen him in a while.

No doubt, whatever happens, I’ll write about it here.

Ciao!

When I’m not kicking ass playing online blackjack, or even online bingo, which I’m increasingly into lately (don’t knock it – you can pick up some decent prizes and there are lots of women to talk to in the chat rooms), I like to kick back with a few DVDs on my widescreen Samsung. It’s 42″

So what do I like to watch? I’m glad you asked! Well, I love HBO, mainly because it’s not really TV? It’s HBO! When I watch HBO TV I just sense real-life as I watch the people act out the script. Unsurprisingly, then, the majority of this list is HBO shows.

5. Family Guy

I love this show it’s so random! Sometimes when Lucy is away I like to have the lads round, crack open a few cans (beer) and see what the Griffin family are up to! Do you like babies who talk? How about DOGS who talk? Sometimes it’s really wrong, but this show is definitely in my top five!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

4. Madmen

Advertising. The slick world. Dogs eat dogs. The past. That’s what this show’s all about. I love the style of the clothing, and the message it conveys. Pure HBO at its best. This show made me start smoking again!

3. The Wire

This show is so good I can barely understand it! It deals with the streets and the underground world of New York. It’s cops and robbers all the way, with some well-rounded characters including gays and lesbians. It’ll take you about three episodes to get into it, but once you do, there’s no way you’ll ever be the same again!

2. The Shield

What happens when one man has a job as a vigilante cop? Simple: vigilantism! Vic Mackay is one bad-ass police officer, and he doesn’t take no (or yes) for an answer. I don’t know where he stands on Maybes though – probably on their necks!!!

1. 24

Best. Show. Ever. Jack Bauer is the fastest man alive, and probably the toughest. This man has saved US ass so many times it’s untrue. But, if I had to guess a figure, I’d have to say… 24

Smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back before breakfast … with some cold, hard cash! Had a BRILLIANT week. This is mainly due to my superior gambling skills, granted, but as the old saying goes ‘you can’t gamble when you’re an idiot’, and I am not an idiot. Hence my win.

It makes no sense to me when people slag off online blackjack. It has all the thrills and spills of its offline counterpart but with none of the bad feeling. If I lose at a casino, I have to do the walk of shame back home, and inevitably end up crawling into bed at 6am with Lucy crying herself into unconsciousness. When I play on my laptop, Lucy just crawls up next to me and waits up until I finish, then when I do finish, I knock the computer off and we go straight to sleep. If anything, online blackjack has saved my relationship!

What’s going to happen this weekend, then? Lucy is away with her mother (again!) and I am at a loose end. Perhaps another quiet outing (not!) with the lads is in order? My mate Gazzo is down from Manchester and he’s always a laugh! Last time we went out he fell in a bin!

I might also spend some time on my wheels. Picked up an old BMW 5-series a couple of months back and she needs a little TLC. When I first got it, Lucy joked that she would leave me because I spent so much time with it, then she went to her mother’s house for a couple of days, just to leave me to get on with things. I think she knew I needed time alone with the car.

I love that girl.

I’m a man – sure. I’ve got a girlfriend – check! I go out with the lads – bingo! And I drive a Beemer – cheers! But in the last few years I think there’s been something else a man needs to complete his armoury – a superb internet connection.

As the old saying goes, you’re nobody ’til somebody pings you a seriously large PDF over the email and remains comfortable in the knowledge that you’ll be able to download and view it with ease. I get sent a lot of important documents so it’s vital that my net connection is top drawer. It also comes in handy for the online gaming, naturally. So after absolutely no discussion with her indoors, I opted to get us an SDSL line. Why? Simple. Speed. I can do my downloading without any hassle whatsoever. It’s a Godsend! Also means I can go on Chat Roulette without any slowdown – time to dig out the webcam and have a laugh at some strangers.

I’ve been going down the gym a lot more recently. Started a high-intensity cardio routine which I hope will get me a swimmer’s body by summer. I’ve even bought a couple of small weights to play with while I’m playing blackjack online, and I’ve been clenching during games (admittedly not good during those edge of seat moments).

This week I’m still looking for a new long-term job, but I may postpone it as I’ve got a couple of big meetings coming up. Just been thinking outside the box a lot and figured it’d be best to lay down some creative before these ideas flutter away like nobody’s business. Still haven’t written them down, though – I like to do things on the fly.

I’ve also picked up a digital camera from a friend, and ever since I’ve felt inclined, no POSSESSED, to take pictures of all the little things that make up London. The other day I walked by a bin and took a snap. It was beautiful, man – such a stark image, you know? I’m not even doing it to get commissioned but just because I think beauty is great.

I’ll leave you on this snap:

Ciao!

Awesome, awesome weekend back in the capital. Lucy was away seeing her mum (how many times do they need to see each other?!). Anyway, while the cat’s away, the mouse will play! So, myself and a few ‘partners in crime’ decided to get together and have an old-fashioned night out!

It’s been a while since we’ve all been together. The last time was maybe in 2003 for Ibiza. We had a laugh! Some stories from that holiday can never be retold – not even here! What happens in Ibiza… stays in Ibiza.

It all started, as per usual, with a few quick games of poker at mine. Not online poker, old-fashioned style. I cleaned up, as per. Oh, by the way, we’d all donned our Pacino suits by this point!

So we catch the tube and head central up to Leicester Square for a few beverages with the tourists. I’ve lived in London for ages now and I’m still not cool with the prices – it’s not 2-4-1 vodka in Ibiza anymore!

Steve showed me this app on his iPhone. Basically, it checks your heartbeat. Why might this be interesting? If you’re aware of it, you can take steps to calm it down. Useful in a poker game, no? Here it is: iPhone heartbeat monitor.

We ended up in a non-descript club full of university students who have just left home for the first time. I spent most of my time at a slot machine. There was nothing major going on, except Jack trying in vain to get the number of a girl. He’s been reading that dating book The Game, bless him. Doesn’t he know that luck comes naturally?

So Lucy came back on Sunday night and went straight to bed. Her mother must have worn her out – she certainly wears me out!

Ciao!

Guys, you know when you have one of those days when you just wake up feeling brilliant? Luckily, I’m having one of those. Might be down to an absolutely top drawer weekend though…

My girlfriend and I had been discussing taking a weekend break in the Lake District for quite some time, and this weekend we finally got the chance to do it. Now usually a ‘chilled-out’ trip is not my idea of fun (I love to keep myself occupied as much as possible), but this was just what the doctor ordered.

We arrived at our B&B at around 9pm on the Friday. We managed to have dinner at the restaurant before nipping across the road for a quick drink. By this time, Lucy was pretty tired (understandable, really – she’s a primary school teacher so she’d been on her feet all week), so she dozed off as soon as we got in. Luckily, I’d brought my laptop and managed to have a couple of quick games of Blackjack in bed. Great win.

Saturday was definitely a ‘couples’ day. We woke up at around 12pm (first time I’d done that since my student days) and went for a walk. The scenery was incredible. It’s easy to forget about areas of natural beauty when you spend so much time in The Big Smoke, but the rolling landscapes made for a great escape from London’s busy, grey environment.

We spent the evening in a cosy pub about a twenty minute walk from the B&B. I must admit it was nice to get to the end of the night and not have to take part in the mad scramble for a cab home.

On Sunday we filled ourselves up with a superb full English breakfast before driving back down to our busy, London lives. Of course, I managed a couple of games of slots before bedtime, getting me in the mood for a couple of interesting project meetings I have scheduled for the week.

I think I’ll be heading back up to the Lakes the next time work, and play, allows for it.