March, 2010:

As most of you probably already know the very generous people at Buff are donating a over 150 Buff headgear bandannas things to Hadrian’s Walk.

If you are unsure what a Buff is, then take a look at this:

What’s even more exciting is that Buff are allowing us to create our own design for it. And the plan is that we’ll be sell them to whoever fancies buying one – and 100% of the proceeds will go to the Joseph Salmon Trust.

Mark Wilson, who’s a friend of my brother and a member of Team Bandicoot, has come up with three logos for each of the teams (Bandicoot, Ocelot, and Gnu). And Oli Walker, from Team Ocelot has put them together into a preliminary design.

We’re going to need to go to the printers on this very soon as the manufacturing process takes about a month. So any suggestions or comments you have on the design would be very welcome.

Here’s what we’ve come up with (we’re not entirely sure where it joins up, but we think it’s at the thin ends):

What do you think?

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If you follow me on twitter then at the beginning of this month you may have seen me crowing loudly about the fact that I was only working a grand total of six days in March.

The reasons for this are too boring to get into, but it has something to do with the end of the financial year, the fact I only work three days a week anyway, and my general incompetence in planning ahead.

So I had grand plans for March. I was going to get fit, restart the diet, get several Midnight Movie Club podcasts in the bag, re-invigorate this blog, and work on various bits of Hadrian’s Walk.

Yeah, well…

In my defense I did do a hell of a lot of Hadrian’s Walk stuff, but not a great deal of anything else. I didn’t even watch any TV. My days without the kids at home were spent staring dead eyed at the computer screen pressing refresh on my email and Tweetdeck. And my days when I had the kids at home were spent staring dead eyed at the computer screen pressing refresh and with the volume of iTunes turned right up to drown out the sound of them crying and hammering on the cellar door.

I’m kidding of course. We don’t even have a cellar. I locked them in the cupboard under the stairs.

But now March is all but over and I haven’t got much to show for it. Today is my last day of freedom. Well, technically I have tomorrow as well but I have Evan on Wednesdays so the possibilities aren’t as limitless. But today he’s at nursery and Amy’s at school (with the added bonus of going to a friends house for tea afterwards too) and so the world is my oyster. Well as much as the world within a maximum two hour round trip anyhow.

So my question is – what shall I do? How should I spend my final moments as a man of leisure? I’m turning to you, a bunch of freaks I met on the internet, to guide me. Help me blogosphere, you’re my only hope.

I shall be sitting here staring dead eyed at the computer screen and pressing refresh on my email waiting for your response.

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Today see’s the launch of the MADs 2010. That’s the UK Mum and Dad Blogger Awards for those who haven’t come across them before.

Those who know me know that I am uneasy with the concept of treating blogging like a competition. However I am currently in the process of negotiating varying levels of corporate sponsorship for Hadrian’s Walk, and am using exposure on this blog as one of the inducements to become involved.

It would benefit both the sponsors I have already acquired (more on that later) and my efforts to get even more sponsors if I were to appear on the shortlist for one or more of the awards.

The way the MADs work is that nominations will be open until the end of April, then the five blogs with the most nominations will go through to the final shortlists.

So if you have the time could you go over to the MADs website and take a look through the various categories and see if there is any you feel I am worth nominating for. Unfortunately there is no “Best chicken keeper and pop culture podcast producer” otherwise I’d be a shoe in.

The nomination form is here. You can see an explanation of the various categories here

If you think there are more worthy blogs than mine to nominate, then certainly vote for them instead. And don’t forget to nominate some other people too. I’m just trying to mop up those people who may have nominated me but not be aware of the MADs.

And while we are on the subject of awards. Congratulations to Martin from Xbox4NappyRash (who is also an intrepid Hadrian’s Walker) for winning this years Irish Blogger’s Awards. Well done man, it’s very well deserved.

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It’s been a long time suince I’ve done one of these, so here’s a reminder of how it works:

I’ve taken a short film synopsis from imdb.com and fed it into Bable Fish, an online translating service. I then translated the synopsis from English into Greek, and then from Greek back into English. The resulting gobbledygook is posted below. Your task is to try and identify what movie the passage refers to.

It’s another easy peasy one today:

[character] is acquired the work should receive a empty work – and the easier way are wed one American [character] is New Yorker that is intense horticulturalist and found precisely the perfect level with his greenhouse. Unfortunately the level is for the wedded pairs only. A marriage of facility appears also the ideal solution in the two problems. In order to they convince the superior employees of immigration they are wedded for the love, it should they are moved in the one with the other. As combined badly effort of pairs to face the life together, they begin to fall.

The last winner of this contest (all the way back in August last year) was Laura from the blog Are we Nearly There Yet Mummy?. She’s had a busy week it seems. Her husband is twinkling, her dog hasn’t been sick, and she has unruley eyebrows. She also has a tendency to take Go Go hamsters into work with her. It takes all sorts it seems.

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My Macbook has started making funny squeaking noises after the hard drive has been running for a while. And even worse it’s decided to start spontaneously shutting down at random inopportune moments.

This is not a good thing. Not a good thing at all.

I’ve been looking at how much a new Mac would cost. And the answer is basically “too much”. Especially as the car is due it’s MOT this month.

I mentioned this to Kerry.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been wondering recently if we could do without it” she said.

“What?” I replied, my face going white.

“Maybe we could not get it fixed and not get another one”

I began to panic “But….but….but…. I’d lose all my hobbies! And how would I organise Hadrian’s Walk??”

“It wouldn’t make any difference surely?”

“It would! I mean I could use the library but you’re only allowed an hour there and…”

“No! Not the computer! I was wondering if we could ditch the car. God no, we couldn’t live without the computer!”

“Oh. OK. Yeah, we could do without the car”

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The breakfast show on BBC Radio Leeds did a wonderfully comprehensive piece on the Joseph Salmon Trust’s campaign to get VAT removed from headstones this morning. They interviewed Rachael, Joseph’s mother and a founder of the charity, as well as two people who the Trust has helped in the past.

Also they gave a pretty big plug for Hadrian’s Walk thanks to Gary, the organiser of Team Gnu and also the blogger behind Jerry Chicken who emailed into the show. Great work Gary!

You can hear the piece here (my favorite bit is when they mention my name). For some reason the first 10 seconds is blank, just keep with it:

[display_podcast]

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You can also listen to the show in full on the BBC iPlayer here. The interview is approximately 2 hours 6 minutes in (it will only be available for 7 days)

If you want to sponsor us on our 86 mile hike of the Hadrians Wall footpath in aid of the Joseph Salmon Trust then you can do so on the Hadrian’s Walk justgiving page:

http://www.justgiving.com/hadrianswalkers

If you would like to sign the Joseph Salmon Trust’s petition to remove VAT from headstones then you can do here.

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Ben Folds plays with Chatroulette in front of a live audience.

That man rules. I mean he really rules.

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I am not renowned for my multi-tasking. My absolute limit is a maximum of three activities at the same time, and two of those include breathing and maintaining my heartbeat. Nor am I a particularly well organised individual. For example the only reason I have a beard is that I am unable to manage any kind of regular shaving program.

So co-ordinating this Hadrian’s Walk thing has been a real challenge for me, and has very much taken me out of my comfort zone. Which is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it’s probably been rather good for me.

I learned a lot when organising the Dales and the Cumbria walks in 2008 & 2009. but this year the scale of the walk is around six times as large, and I’ve ramped up my efforts in publicity, fundraising, and promotion to match.

And so far the results of this have been pretty damn good. In fact they have been bloody great, with the prospect of even more fantastic things to come. But all that is for another post when things are more concrete.

This post is about my ineptitude in multi-tasking.

Because whilst I’ve been going great guns on the administrative side of the walk, I’ve totally neglected the physical.

In just over three months I’m going to have to walk 85 miles over the course of 6 days. And I’m not prepared for it. Not prepared for it at all.

Granted I did the 76 mile Dales Way when I was 56lb heavier than I am now. And the Cumbria Way last year was a good deal more hilly and challenging than the Hadrians Wall footpath will be. But it’s been a winter of sofas and chocolate for me and my legs aren’t currently up to the task of hauling my carcass across the width of the country just yet.

A Landscape and an idiot
My favorite picture from last year’s Cumbria Way

So I’ve re-started my training regime. Yesterday I walked 6 miles, and today I walked 4. And I’ve learned a couple of valuable lessons. Firstly that I need a less leaky raincoat, and secondly that I had forgotten how much I enjoy a decent daily constitutional.

Oh, and that wet trousers equal unpleasant chaffing.

If you would like to make me spending my evenings waddling like a penguin then you can sponsor the Hadrian’s Walk on our justgiving site:

http://www.justgiving.com/hadrianswalkers

Every penny of every donation will go straight to support bereaved parents who have lost a child. Everyone involved in the Joseph Salmon Trust works on a voluntary basis, and all admin costs are paid for by corporate sponsorship (this year it’s TK Max)

You know I’m not going to stop pestering you about this, so you may as well do it now.

Go on. Do it now.

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Evan and I went swimming yesterday. We were bobbing around minding our own business when a little girl turned to her mother, pointed at me, and said:

“Mummy? Why has that man got a beard on his back?”

Bloody charming.

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