The gift that keeps on giving

Posted on January 8, 2012 by HippyDave

I think my other half has been reading my blog, I didn’t actually think she would be bothered to (good job I don’t put anything too bad on here about her). I know this because for Christmas she got me a percolator bong and the only place I mentioned them was on this blog. I never mentioned it to her in passing confidence because I didn’t think she really liked me getting high.

Turns out anyway that me seeking herbal highs doesn’t actually bother her, in fact she likes it like that, because I am much more agreeable when am high! This explains why she buys so much stuff she obviously asks me when I am in one of my ‘good’ moods! This is why I have dubbed the percolator bong a gift that keeps on giving, currently I am getting a really smooth smoke, they look awesome and are a really good addition to my collection.

I do have a number of different bongs, of varying sizes, styles and made out of a number of different materials, a far cry from my younger teenage years where my bongs were usually made from things I found around the house! Although I don’t smoke as much as I did when I was a teenager, my tastes have become more refined as has my style and a lot of my bongs are now more for decoration. I have used them all but kept them in good condition and they are all clean to display.

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Relationships

Posted on January 5, 2012 by HippyDave

Down at the pub last night having a catch up with some of my mates who I haven’t seen since before Christmas due to our many family obligations, when one of them posed this question: “Can men and women be just friends?”

Odd question out of the blue really but it turns out his wife is ‘good’ friends with this guy from her work and they often go out for drinks on a lunch and after work. She says they are just good friends but he has some reservations.

I think men and women can be acquaintances but good friends, no (unless one of them is gay) I think no matter what sexual tensions could bubble over if they get too close. I have female acquaintances (wives and girlfriends of my mates) but none are good friends and most I probably wouldn’t be able have much of a conversation with.

Speaking of cheating, apparently the 4th of January is according to experts the worst day of the year for infidelity. People find that Christmas takes a toll on relationships because of the amount of time people are forced to spend together. Also according to law firm Divorce-Online, Facebook was cited as a reason for a third of divorces last year with more and more people using the internet as a way of starting and conducting an affair.

Personal I don’t get it, if I was ever that unhappy with my wife I would leave her rather than cheat on her, plus we actually enjoy spending more time together, the only people we were sick of by the end of Christmas was our families!

I find statistic such as 18.3 per cent of women and 25.4 per cent of men have cheated on their current partner at least once scary, I mean marriage and even a partnership should be with that one person and one person only. Call me old fashion but I do think it’s time people took marriage seriously.

Okay enough of this feminine posting, time to get back to my Xbox and my Christmas goodies……

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That’s it for another year

Posted on January 3, 2012 by HippyDave

Well it’s all over and done with now for another year, the decorations are away, most of the chocolates have gone and my waist line is significantly bigger. When I was a young child I would feel sad at this time of year, the fun and excitement was over and although I had the year ahead to look forward to, I always felt like there was something missing once the festive season finished.

Now though I feel glee!

To be honest I have been quite lazy over this festive season, didn’t really leave the house unless it was to catch up down at the local, or fetch some more milk. I have been lucky because I got quite a lot of DVDs for Christmas so I have had plenty to watch on TV. I also got a couple of Xbox games and I also treaded myself to a new laptop so I have had plenty of things to keep me occupied. I have also got quite into playing bingo online, after trying out a couple of new websites (making the most of offers). I seem to have lost count of the number of sites I am now signed up to!

I tend to play on a site until my winnings or deposit run out; I think I have lost more than I have made. Over Christmas I was having fun playing XBingo games, no different really to other sites but some decent prizes. Swapping from site to site does mean it doesn’t get too repetitive and I like to think I am getting good odds although it is hard to tell.

Anyway as we are now in January I thought I might mention New Year’s resolutions, that’s it, I mentioned it – I don’t have any nothing I want to give up or change about myself so not making them and even if there was I doubt I’d stick to them, no one ever really does do they?!

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Phones on cusp of being our primary computer, says ARM

Posted on December 28, 2011 by HippyDave

According to ARM, mobile phones are becoming our primary platform. This is no surprise really considering how quickly this type of technology has come along in recent years. It doesn’t seem five minutes ago since I first used  Motorola GSM 3300 Brick which was given to me by the company I worked for because I spent a lot of time out of the office working (back when I was in the rat race).

Back then the most you could do was call people on the move and at the time I thought that was really space age (ignoring the fact walkie-talkies had been around for decades though). Little did I think we would be using mobile phone like we are now as our own mini personal computer which runs a lot of our day to day lives. Warren East, CEO of ARM, believes that the next generation of smartphones will be efficient enough to use at the centre of our digital-lives. The idea of mobile telephones becoming our digital assistants is course not a new one, but the extent of power in the next generation of smartphones, leads us to believe that one day, they will be able to assist us in everyday activities. If still did the job I was doing when mobiles first came out I am sure I would get a lot more out of my handset than I do now.

ARM believes that superphones with faster processors to enable us to take advantage of faster bandwidth offered by LTE and 4G will arrive in 2012, again, taking us another step closer to the phone that will become the ‘hub of our lives.’

According to experts: “[Mobile phones] are becoming the compute platform giving you the power in the palm of your hand and as we look forward to superphones it is really giving us the kind of compute power I’m using to present to you at the moment. We’re starting to see people using that increased compute power with a much more sophisticated user interface with the ability to be able to connect to multiple screens, with the ability to seamlessly move from one form factor to another and take one’s digital world with us as we go, It’s even turning into something that can do content creation – and that’s happening with the compute power that is in the palm of your hand.”

Every day there seems to be a new way in which mobile phone technology improves/ makes easier our day to day lives and hopefully as long as it’s safe and secure I don’t see anything wrong with utilising them in your everyday life.

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Losing one of my favourite TV shows

Posted on December 26, 2011 by HippyDave

I found out, somewhat rather belatedly that one of my favourite TV shows has been cancelled. I haven’t really talked about it on here however I do feel quite close to some of the characters on this show and when I tell you what it is you can probably guess which character!

After the launch of Sky Atlantic a whole host of new TV was brought to my attention and some series I have become quite fond of, one of which, which is being cancelled is Bored to Death! I feel a lot for this show mainly because it shows how relaxing and useful smoking pot is, in fact many of the pot paraphernalia shown on there I actually own such as Volcano vaporizer easy valve and snuff bullets. In fact on one of the latest episodes they featured an Iolite Original Vaporizer which I own that looks like a walkie-talkie!

Anyway back to the show, it is based around an out of look writer who embarks on a career as a private detective (unlicensed) on Craigslist who ends up in a number of capers with his two friends played superbly by Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis. I find the humour to be quite dry and good for an American show really.

Anyway I would recommend that if you haven’t seen this show to do so, before it’s lost to oblivion!

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Future purchases

Posted on December 21, 2011 by HippyDave

New car

I am thinking about buying a new car and was wondering how much is my car worth? It’s just over four years old and it doesn’t have a huge number of miles on it so I’m hoping it hasn’t depreciated that much. Its paintwork is also in good condition and touch wood I haven’t been in any accidents with it that have caused damage.

I had a quick look on Auto Trader to see what cars like mine (Volkswagen EOS 2.0 TDi) go for second-hand. I found that most go for anywhere in between £7,000 to £13,000 so I think I should get a good price when I trade in.

Now the reason for looking for a new car is two-fold 1) I like driving new cars, I like the feel of them, the new car smell and well I have a short attention span so like having a new if slightly expensive new toys to play with. 2) The EOS is a convertible and my mates tell me I look like a poofter or say ‘here comes the hairdresser’ when I pull up in my car. I don’t exactly know why they think that driving a convertible makes me look gay but I have had enough and thought I might get something less gay, a Audi A3 RS 3 Sportback 2.5 TFSI S tronic which  is what I have my eye on!

I would like:

Black (pearl effect), because in past conversations my mates have said white cars are gay (yes they are homophobic and yes I find them childish and annoying sometimes)
19” x 8.5J ‘5-arm Rotor’ design alloy wheels finished in titanium
Interior in black leather well fine Nappa leather and everything including dash etc. also in all black
Bluetooth
BOSE® sound system
Cruise control
Electric lumbar support seats (well I do have a bad back sometimes)
And well that’s about all I can get on this model.

I don’t really have time at the moment to hang around dealerships so I think I will start looking and negotiating in January whilst everyone else is skint after Christmas should be able to pick up a bargain.

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Christmas gifting for relatives

Posted on December 16, 2011 by HippyDave

Unfortunately for my nephew who is nearly sixteen all this Christmas is bringing him is revision and GCSE coursework. Now he is quite a grafter and works really hard but unfortunately it doesn’t leave him with much free time. When I spoke to him the other week about Christmas presents I was surprised to hear him ask for a Kindle. I was thinking he might want the latest Xbox game or some other waste of time teenager gifts not something as useful as a Kindle.

But as he explained he doesn’t have time to really play video games, well not at the moment, he has a part time job and wants to do well at school and he plays football a couple of nights a week too. He has a long bus ride to school and also to his part time job so a kindle will enable him to do his school reading easily plus read some books to relax as well. 

I suppose his parents are quite lucky to have such a focused teenager, I remember when I was that age the last thing I wanted to do was school work and the only reason I took a part time job was so I could buy pot, polar opposite of my nephew! He is a bright lad with a flair for writing however he does need to concentrate because next year he will be starting his A-levels and he will need to know how to write collage essays which are a lot more in depth for A-levels than they are for GCSE’s.

Anyway, back to my point, I have bought a Kindle for my nephew which looks quite cool. Now I’m not up on all the gadgets out now but I do quite fancy one of these, in fact probably could have done with one for the holiday to Africa with the delays we had. I think I will see how much money I rack up from relatives and buy myself one too and widen my horizons by reading!

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Christmas wish list

Posted on December 11, 2011 by HippyDave

When it comes to Christmas I can really be a big kid and I still get excited about getting gifts, each year I send out ‘wish lists’ to family and friends and wait in anticipation for Christmas morning when I can find out if they got me something of my list which I wanted or something else that I most likely don’t want. Normally the latter comes from relatives I don’t see that often but they think they know me better than myself and go for something way off line.

My main wants this Christmas include:

Xbox games; Need for Speed: The Run, Forza Motorsport 4 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim plus some Xbox points as well.

Blu-rays; Captain America, Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI), The Inbetweeners Movie, The Hangover Part II and Senna.

I could also do with a new electric shaver mine hasn’t worked properly since I came back off holiday.

I also would like a new satnav device as the one I use is over five years old and has a habit of stopping working right when you really need it.

Power tools are also good, I have a great collection but always like more to play with and half start DIY projects.

Some of my closer friends who know me quite well could also get me a much wanted percolator bong to add to my collection. To be honest these are defiantly some things that my relatives won’t be getting me such as volcano vaporizer bags and cannabis seeds, you know my usual.

Something’s I don’t need include; aftershave because bought some in duty free, random wash packs, normally smells I don’t like so never get used because I like my usual stuff which I am quite capable of buying for myself. I also do not want man jewellery, never wear it and that includes cufflinks, when has anyone I know ever seen me in a suit unless someone is getting married or buried!

I know some may say Christmas isn’t all about the presents and I know that, however I would much rather receive gifts I can use/like rather than waste them and if people can’t stick to my lists then in all honesty would rather they didn’t bother, after all I always ask what people want (well the missus does to make sure my friends and family get something they need.

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The Safari

Posted on December 8, 2011 by HippyDave

The main reason for the holiday to South Africa was to go on safari, something which my other half has wanted to do for many, many year. So after visiting my father in Durban we moved onto the Kruger National Park.

The park covers 19,485 square kilometres (7,523 sq. mi) and extends 360 kilometres (220 mi) from north to south and 65 kilometres (40 mi) from east to west and it is one of the largest game reserves in Africa. We stayed on the reserve, and as part of our safari package, in a luxury lodge.

The reason we splashed out on a lodge was the fact that the missus has quite a big fear of insects, bugs and snakes so she thought she would be happier somewhere less prone to the elements. Personally I think it’s because she is a snob and didn’t want to slum it in more basic accommodation.

It can be hard to decide what you want to do there are quite a few self-drive safaris, photographic spots, bird camps, and specially designed camps for children. There are numerous different types of safaris as well which come as packages and include accommodation, too many to mention here! It did take us quite a while, before we booked to decide what was right for us.

The Luxury Lodge Packages Safari Experience was pretty phenomenal; it was a three day safari which included two nights in a luxury lodge in an area with exceptional game viewing including tracking the big five and bird watching. The rest of the time you have to yourself where you can relax by your own pool or in the spa. We also went out in the afternoon/early evening on an open safari to spot some nocturnal animals in their habitat.

I really enjoyed how relaxing the break was, even including the excitement of spotting all these animals in their natural habitat, we were not rushed and everything seemed so serene. I defiantly would recommend this type of holiday and no doubt in the future I think we will go again and maybe stay in a different area of the park.

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Holiday fun

Posted on December 6, 2011 by HippyDave

The night before our flight to South Africa we stayed in London, we spent the day seeing some sights before having a nice meal out and getting down for an early night. Because we came in from Leeds we arrived at Kings Cross so I was looking for Kings Cross hotels when I booked ours so we didn’t have too far to trek across the Capitol. Plus it is easy to get the tube (Piccadilly Line) all the way to Heathrow, took about an hour but was cheap and as it was first thing, it was really quiet.

To be honest I found staying at a London Bed and Breakfast before our flight out much more pleasurable than having a mad dash to the airport. We were in the city we needed to be in for our flight out and it added an extra night onto our holiday really that we could enjoy together plus there is a lot less hassle! I think in the future any early flights I have I will book a hotel room the night before much more leisurely lol!

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