Happy belated birthday.....Roger Taylor!!!

This guy is my hero......

Happy birthday for yesterday as Roger Taylor was 58 years young. To say this guy has influenced me is an understatement!!! For those of you who don't know him, or don't recognise who he is in the photo then you need to know that this man is the backbone of Queen.

He also said one of the most profound lines in history. Magic Years 1 VHS, while recording One Vision with Queen in 1985 -

"I don't like the word "religion", it tends to f**k people up"

Now I don't like using profanity on the blog but have you ever heard a more sensible summing up of the role that religion plays in life. I want that on my tombstone!!!

A superb drummer, singer, song writer, guitarist, sci fi fanatic, helmsman and loads of other talents that you would never know about. Happy birthday Roger, thanks for the music and lets hope it ain't over yet!!!

And if you ever get the chance, listen to "Fun In Space". Its very early 80's in style but this guy was somewhere else!!!

God.....

It was sad to watch Robbie Fowler, possibly the most natural forward and gifted finisher of his generation, leave Liverpool at the end of the season but I think the sheer pace of life and pressure on the team to succeed meant that God's advancing years (he's younger than me, Christ there's a thought) suggested that he could no longer fit in with Rafa's plans.

Of course, Robbie does not need to play football to be our hero. They just need to mention his name or point out his presence at Anfield and the crowd will always go mad. He is one of those that you just cant berate for their work in their LFC career. He stands alongside Dalglish, Hansen, Souness, Rush, Beardsley, Barnes and Gerrard as legends of the club.

So now he moves onto Cardiff. Good luck God, you know where there is always a welcome for you. You have played your part in history and now that you step back from the pressure of the Premiership and enjoy yourself. Just show us 1 or 2 glances every now and then of exactly why God be thy name.

I love my wife and I think she is great!!!

At the request of my wife Kerris who is ill at the moment (typical while I am not there), here is a small piece of homage to her!!! She will feel better because I have taken the time to get a hot picture of her and let her know that I love her and remind her that she is, without doubt, the best thing that ever happened to a boy like me.

Get well soon my love, I will be home tomorrow and will return prepared to ease the burden that is 4 children on ridiculously long school holidays.

Boring & Frustrating!!!

Many people might think that being a Key Account Manager for a security industry leader of global proportions has a slightly JetSetting lifestyle as I peddle my wares all over the UK.

Well I am sorry to disappoint, but you would be mistaken.

I don't enjoy spending time away from my family, I never have. Before I met Kerris, I was happy to roam across the UK enjoying all the locations that I had never been too and generally taking the time to enjoy the exploration of it all. However, that was a long time ago. There isn't really any part of this country left for me to explore, you see the odd new place but in general its the same old same old!!!

I seem to be in any one of 3 places on a regular basis. They are, Manchester, Birmingham and London. Don't get me wrong, I have no personal hatred of any of these places (well maybe Manchester) but if you look at it from my point of view, every day its a motorway, either the M62 or the M6, if I had an autopilot button in my motor then it would find the way quite happily.

I don't want to complain too much, this is my chosen path. I love driving, I enjoy the countryside and free flowing traffic, I don't get road rage and basically I get paid for driving around in a powerful, air conditioned iPod.

So driving is the boring and the frustration lies in the hotels that I stay in. Ingersoll Rand don't have any caps (within reason) on how much to spend on a hotel but I have a conscience and this tells me that unless I am in London, paying more than £70.00 is too much. There is a huge amount of variation in what your £70.00 gets you these days. I have sometimes tasted luxury for that price but mostly, as is the case this evening in London, you get slammed in some box room that used to house the ironing boards!!! I am too nice and too British to complain.

Anyway, there you go, another insight into my mind!!!

So......how am I doing then????

This is a nice picture I reckon. This was taken last week in Anglesey proving that you can be sat in an ancient village in the middle of nowhere and you can still get a better phone signal than you can in your own home!!!

More importantly though, it shows me looking quite happy, healthy and relaxed enjoying time away and not having to care about how my arms, legs, balance and mental state. I think a picture sometimes does live up to that old cliche that it can speak a thousand words.

My good friend, Sandro, called me last week and it is the first time I have heard from him in ages. Sandro follows the blog and we were chatting about everything and nothing while pointing out that time does fly and at this point last year, we were all gathered in Montreal celebrating Annie and Dario's wedding. Happy anniversary by the way kids....I think you got married anyway, I didn't understand a word of it though (it was all in French), I reckon that Kerris and I actually unknowingly joined some kind of Satanic cult.

Anyway, Sandro pointed out that in the early days of the blog, it was all about monitoring how my condition was progressing. And, he quite rightly went on to say that there was not much talk of my condition recently and I should get back to keeping people updated. Well, as usual, you are absolutely right son.

Lately, its been a case of "no news is good news" on the Myelitis front. I havent suffered from anything that hampers my day to day life and that can only be a good thing.

I do have some symptoms that don't seem to go away and I think its time to have a chat to the consultant as to whether or not I should be more concerned. For instance, I have a constant light pins and needles sensation in the first 2 fingers of each hand. This moves around the hand depending on my mood, I have noticed that stress (of which I get a lot but show little) increases the feeling. Also, I have noticed that alcohol (or the morning after to be more specific) increases the feeling and generally exhausts me.

I had a night out with my good friend Nick on Friday in Liverpool. All day yesterday I had this increased feeling and a huge amount of lethargy. It may partly be self inflicted but I know my own drink limits and I was nowhere near a drunken mess and I know the feeling of a hangover and this was different.

To sum it up, I said to Kerris yesterday that its like I am connected to a dimmer switch with 8 settings. The switch is constantly on 1 but the likes of stress and alcohol seem to turn it up to a 2 or a 3.

So I will see the consultant 1 more time and I will keep you posted!!!

It's OK. I am not dead or anything!!!

Now that you know I am still alive, I apologise for the lack of Blogging this week.

Not that it's been a slow news week, quite the opposite in fact. I have had a full on week travelling up and down the UK and exhibiting at a series of security roadshows.

On Monday we set up in South Mimms services on the M25, Tuesday we moved onto a Premier Travel Inn at the very edge of a Heathrow runway, Wednesday found us in Leeds and finally on Thursday we finished off somewhere in County Durham. All very busy!!!

The shows were organised by one of my customers, Onyx Hardware, and I have to feel a little sorry for the guys because it was clear as day that at each venue they tried their hardest to get bodies through the doors but attendance was not fantastic. I certainly don't blame Onyx, its just a matter of people fitting it into their days. Most Locksmith type customers are out and about earning their crust in the day and it's difficult to get people to realise the benefits of attending.

So there we go, a busy week of travelling from town to town and I am happy that I was able to support a customer in a venture!!!

This weekend, we are off once again to Anglesey. We are taking Jay on his own as Luca is away in Tenerife with his Nanny, Auntie and 2 cousins. I am sure pictures will follow......

Smoke Free Environments!!!

More than anybody, I welcomed the smoking ban in enclosed public areas. Being a non smoker myself, I have always hated the smell of my clothes after visiting a bar, club or restaurant. It can only do good and if it puts 1 person off taking up this awful habit then it is a job well done.

Nanny culture has taken over though. In the post arrived a non smoking sticker that I must now put into my company car as it is considered a place of work and must adhere to the rules!!!

I thought that I should either put this on my blog or send it to Wogan!!! Is it just me!!!

Top 5 Technical Tips.....

Some of you may know that my entire background is telesales and technical support in the security industry. Yesterday I had cause to become quite frustrated when I needed some technical help from a supplier of CCTV. So, without naming names etc, here are my 5 top tips that should be considered when either working in or considering employing someone in a technical support role.

1 - The most important lesson. Just because they are calling you, it doesn't mean that they are at fault. Yes, 99.99% of people make genuine errors but the next call could always be the one that exposes a weakness in your product.

2 - Speak English to people. The most common praise I get is that I have never spoken to anyone above their personal level of understanding. I speak English, I break it down to single syllable words if needed but I never go over any ones head.

3 - If you don't know the answer, don't take a guess. If you do this, you will be wrong.

4 - Never avoid the call, always speak to the person. Yesterday I got a technical answer via text message. I am sorry, I don't do "c u l8r" and all that daft talk.

5 - Keep your calm at all times. If you show frustration to the customer then they get frustrated. It will not fix any problem, it will only cause them.

There we go, all rules that I follow and they serve me well. Try them yourself!!!

Adios Luis Garcia!!!

One of my favourite Liverpool FC players has left the club today. Luis Garcia has joined Athletico Madrid in a deal that paves the way for Fernando Torres to join the club later this week.

Luis is one of those players, in my opinion, that Liverpool needs. He either has a pig of a game or shows flashes of genius that turn games around.

Who can forget the contributions that Luis has made to the recent success of the club. Yes, Chelsea fans will always recall "the goal that never was" on the way to our glory in Instanbul but earlier in the campaign, against Juventus, is where he embedded himself into my hall of fame with an amazing goal that took the wind out of their sails for sure.

I wish Luis all the luck he deserves, he is always welcome at Anfield in my opinion. Show our management that they were wrong to use you as a pawn in a transfer deal. Lets look to the future and hope that Torres pays back the 27 million with interest to us, lets just hope he doesn't show the same form that our last striker called Fernando showed!!!