Andy Ramblings

OK. I've been very busy over the past few weeks, my website got a bit hacked up again, and it took me a bit longer to fix than expected. one small file was missing!

Anyway. I'll post something up this week-end. 3 days off Wooop!

30 years ago, there was a young boy, who 30 years ago was a not very well boy, he did go to school, but only for 2 days a week, this young boy was nobody else but myself. I was doing hemodialysis 3 days a week for over 9 hours. It all started with a phone call, I picked up the phone, the person at the end asked if they could speak with my mother, I handed the phone to my mother, It was 6pm there abouts, I was to go to Paris, there was a kidney waiting for me. I got some clothes together, with the things a 10 year old thinks he will need. I gather it wasn't very useful.

So I set off to Paris, accompanied with my eldest brother and my mother driving from Luxembourg to Paris. We arrived in the early hours of the 28th of April 1977. This was the infancy of kidney transplantation on children. I had the operation at around 7am. I remember waking up afterwards in a seeing my mother and brother who were talking to me, but through a window, the nurse was covered head to foot, I could only see her eyes. I was in a totally sterile room, I was in there for around 3 days, before being moved to children's ward, but again in a fully sterile room, but this time I was allowed to have visits from family members, but they had to wear full sterile outfit. I think I was in there for a week or so, before I was moved to a semi-sterile room.

I had my first acute rejection 3 weeks after the transplant, I can remember having a temperature of 40^o or so. I recall I was put on a bed if ice cubes, somehow they didn't feel cold, but was most definitely cooling down. 3 weeks after that I was allowed home, I was well puffed up with the steroids, My mother didn't even recognised me, I looked very much like a munchkin from the wizard of OZ.

 

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Yep, there are so many reasons not to diet, as it can and in some cases get too involved with your life. As in this Dilbert cartoon.

Not being a fan of Tagging and have normally ignored many, but as it's Christmas The New Year and as it was Davide Simonetti's  Birthday, I thought well  Ok, this once, I'll do it. They will be brief as I'm not at home, am in Brussels and may have a few beers as I type....

"What are the seven best things you did this past year?"

Well, 7 of the best things? Not too hard then.. Here goes.

1: Finally getting of the steroids that I've been on for the past 29 years,  They were beginning to cause, well, not beginning, they had been for a few years, causing a lot of havoc with everything else but what they were been taken for. Good riddance to them!

2: Very recently, seeing England loose the Ashes so spectacularly that it but a full stop on all this cricket stuff  and that the English team of 2005 didn't actually win because they played well, but that they had had a pact with the weather.

3: Seeing Bush loose power in such a democratic way! Now too see him go back to his old job of Village idiot, hopefully he will bring along his pet dog with him.

4: Building up new commercial websites, and well, this is still ongoing, but hopefully to make something more with it.

[After a pause of a few days Internet techie problem, parties and evenings out]

5:Seeing Bush get a serious bashing in the US Mid-terms, Not that I think that much is going to change, at least it' gotten rid of that smog look of his face, oh and a certain Rummy has gone. Hoping to see him ride into the sunset with his poodle and a huge boot out the backside.

6: Seeing Blair the Magnificent start his slow, ( wish it was faster) decline, and seeing him dig his political grave live on TV. I don't think many people believe a word he says any more. Just wish the guy would not keep trying to save himself, but his party.

7: Well, it has been a long year, many events have happened, many people have gone, so good riddance, some, well you would have liked them to have stayed a little longer, but you know in yourself, that time moves on, and we are all left with the good memories of those. For me, as this is about me, I'm glad to have to have made it to the end of this year in one piece. Ok, I have plenty of spare parts, but that's different.

So now to tag a few other people to see what they have to say about their 2006 seven best moments, So, in no particular order.
Keith, Zoe at MBIAT,Karelian Blonde, Guyana Gyal, Anna at That's the way life is, and anyone who would like to share

So reader(s) as 2006 comes to a close, how was it for you? I hope that you like the new theme, it's still being worked on, but I'm sure you will agree with me, that it is a lot faster.
Happy New year, Bonne année, ? ????? ?????, Feliz Año Nuevo, Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar, Nuovo anno felice Lyckligt nytt år and for everyone have a great Hogmanay!! Drink lots and be safe.( I can't vouch for the correctness of the translations)

I gets up at the normal time on a Monday, around 08:30 there abouts. I goes of and get a nice steaming hot black coffee with one sugar, you know, coffee that's stronger than pure coffee. Sitting down and relaxing, getting myself upto date on the world events. On the climate change we're all doomed! Unless we spend some £1trillian or something like that and all will be OK.
Then my mobile rings, at 8:45 (yes, coffee was quick),
Good morning says I,
Is this <my full name>
Yes, speaking,
This is <My bank> can I do a security check,
Sure ok says I,
What age are you going to be at your next birthday..
Oh, 41 says I,
Thanks, says nice person from my Bank, Can you confirm or not that you tried to spend £200 on a casino site?
Err Nope, says I, wondering what's going on..
Ok, are you the only person to use this card?
Yes, Only myself.
OK, it appears that your card has been compromised,
Oh! says I under my breath, thinking to myself, now where could it have happened?!
So, to cut a long story short, Some bastard has skimmed my card or has managed to get hold of the card number and security number at the back!
I'm a pretty cardwise, and make sure that I don't leave my card lying around, haven't used it recently to pay for something, except one place, When I had to phone to get my Eurostar ticket, I'm not saying anything, other than that's the last place where I gave the card details over the phone. The phone being the least secure place to give your details as your are relying on a human to:

• Not write the info down
• Not remember it
• Dispose of it correctly

Where as, over the internet, if your pretty sure, as long as the site is secure and is a regular one that  you use and not a fly-by-night site, that the security is very good and you don't have to worry about the info being destroyed correctly etc.

Nice way to start a week, sir, you've been robbed!  I think I'll go back to bed and wake up on Friday!

Yes, It's time for me to have a mid-life crises! Well I could have missed the mid-life as well I might have already passed it. But It all starts at 40 so they, who are 'they' by the way! Baby boomers I guess. Anyway. so I will start and plan my mid-life crises. Get a flash car or motorbike and go wild!
But first things first, a car... don't have one, or do I have a flash motorbike...

SO, to the mid-lfe I have arrived. at the age of 40! Wisdom will ensue.

There that's it for today!