Its not even december yet & already i'm getting sick of the xmas adverts. Don't get me wrong, I love xmas but i hate when the adverts start 2 months before the big day, it takes away some of the magic.

This week at work they finally let us know wether we will get the holidays we requested during xmas, we can request holiday during the xmas period but they won't confirm until about this time who has got what they wanted. Most of us have got between xmas & new year off but not xmas eve, according to the bosses most of our work will be xmas eve morning so we can ask for half day holiday & we may get it. But there are 3 people in my team who have been given xmas eve off, all of which requested the holiday a lot later than myself & at least 3 other people so we're not too happy. 1 person is due back from maternity leave so they have let her have the day off as otherwise she would have to come in for 1 day, another booked a holiday to lapland a few months ago so has asked for the day off & got it, the 3rd person we don't know what reason they have given for allowing her the time off. We can all understand the reasons for letting these people have the day off but why grant holiday to some people then tell those that requested it much earlier that they can't have the same, it is not fair. Those of us that didn't get the day could easily have made holiday plans but didn't because we were waiting to find out if we had got the time off so why can someone else just book a holiday & be given what they want?? Its just another in the long line of complaints at work at the moment, my manager plays favourites far too much but as the md seems to think she can do no wrong we get nowhere by complaining.

Last week I was told i would be doing a certain job that would have meant much more phone work, because I have had a bad throat for a few weeks i asked if i could split the phone work with my usual job but was told no, so i called in sick on friday because my throat is so sore i physically cannot be on the phone all day. No doubt when i get back i will have a 'letter of concern' or even a stage 1 disciplinary for attendance as this is my 3rd period of sick leave within 12 months, there are other people at work who take far more time off than i do but they seem to get away with it, its not like i hadn't given my boss a chance to assign me work that would have meant i could continue to work while my throat gets better.

Anyway enough bitching about work. Jack has been a little off colour the last coupe of days, he doesn't seem to have his usual energy during the day & at night he is getting up about 3 or 4 times ( so we are both like zombies during the day too ). I hope whatever is bothering him is gone in a few days, next weekend we're supposed to be going to my mum's & having his picture taken with my 2 nephews, they adore him but we don't get to see them very much as they live a bit too far to go for a day trip. My mum doesn't celebrate xmas due to her religious beliefs but the photo of her 3 grandsons will make a great present for her.

I struggle to find the time to update my journal these days & when i do i don't get much time so my entries are shorter than i intend them to be, kids...who'd have them!!

Lots of fireworks going off here last night, I think this year has been the loudest yet. I must admit though they did stop fairly early which was a blessing, we had put Jack to bed about 7.30 but he woke up & wouldn't go back to sleep because of the loud bangs.

 

This was Jack being very happy on a trip to Coombe Abbey yesterday, he did cheer up though but screamed all the way there & most of the way back.

 

Jack now has 5 teeth come through completely & 1 we can see will be through in the next couple of days, his favourite pastime seems to be using his teeth....normally on mummy & daddy!!

 

On friday when he was having a bath he stuck his tongue out & has been doing so ever since, he is the funniest little man I've ever met. Also the cutest, we have just been playing in the lounge, he kept laying on me & crawling over me when all of a sudden he just lay next to me & went to sleep. I wouldn't trade being a dad for anything in the world, its the best.

 

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone.

Today we got to go to work in fancy dress, I am just a big kid at heart so I loved it. Of course people expected me to go as a Vampire but I don't like to be too predictable. A lot of people thought it incredible that I drove to work like this but hey, thats all part of the fun.

No trick or treaters this year which is pants but it means we can scoff all the sweets. Hope you are all having fun today.

 

We Are The Champions

So those of you that are regular visitors to my little blog will know today was a very important day. The last day of the 2007 Formula 1 season & what a day.

I am a passionate Ferrari fan so I desperately wanted Kimi to win the title, however I am not an idiot & so believed we could win the race but suspected that Alonso & Hamilton would be in the top 5 giving one of them the title, most probably Hamilton. How bloody wrong I was, it was a fantastic race & Kimi Raikkonen is now the Formula 1 World Champion of 2007!!

For the last few laps I was on the edge of my seat praying that Heidfeld & Kubica would not take each other off (which was looking very likely) as this would elevate Hamilton to a position where he would gain enough ponits to take the title. Thankfully they stayed on the track, Kimi won the race, Massa was 2nd in the other Ferrari & so Kimi won the title. My nerves were in tatters by the end of the race.

So it's now over for another 5 months, roll on 2008 & lets hope Kimi can do it all over again next year.

For the Lewis Hamilton fans out there, your day will come but until it does...WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!

Its been nearly a month since my last update, there just never seems to be enough hours in the day at the moment.

Today we went to visit my mum, it was great seeing Jack with his other nanny as we don't get to see her that often. My mum absolutely adores all 3 of her grandsons & to see her happy getting to play with Jack is brilliant. Mind you, we went round the town to do a bit of shopping & loughborough is absolute pants now. Its all bloody mobile phone stores, charity shops & chain stores. It used to be a great little town with loads of independant stores that all sold different stuff & now there are so many shops standing empty & what is there isn't worth bothering with. I'm glad I moved away ( I know coventry isn't amazing but its a hell of a lot better than loughborough now ).

Not a lot else has happened over the last few weeks, I have been off work ill for the past week, I have been feeling lousy with headaches, sore throat, chesty cough, & other aches & pains. Turns out I have a chest infection, a few people at work have had the same & its not nice. Jack has also got a chest infection so while i've been off I have been looking after him rather than him going to nanny & grandads, although I'd rather neither of us were ill I have enjoyed spending time with my son. I hate having to go back to work now because I have enjoyed it so much, so if anyone out there knows of anyone that wants to employ me to work at home feel free to tell me!!! Alternatively if any of you feel like paying my bills so I can stay at home with Jack I would have no hesitation accepting your charity!!

Right gotta go, I need to watch the qualifying for tomorrow's brazzilian grand prix. In case any of you have been living in a cave for the last few weeks tomorrow is the final race in this years formula one season & we have no less than 3 drivers who could win the title, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Fernando Alonso (McLaren but not for long I don't think) & Lewis Hamilton (McLaren). Lewis is in his rookie season & could be the first rookie to win the title since the start of the championship back in the 50's, Alonso is only 4 points behind so could quite easily spoil the party to join the elite group of drivers who have won 3 consecutive championships. I personally would like Kimi to win it for Ferrari but then I am biased & I don't care....GO KIMI!

I hope you are all having a good weekend, take care... VampJack x

 

I'm back (no thanks to aol)

VampJack is back......welcome to my new lair!!!

AOL well & truly screwed up my house move so I had to wait until this week to get my broadband back on, they very nearly lost another customer. The only reason I'm still with them is that I managed to speak to a customer service agent NOT based in india who actually knows what customer service is. When will companies realise that just because you can get some poor idiot in india to work for pennies does not mean customers will accept speaking to someone who can barely speak english, why do they think some companies have based a lot of there advertising around the fact that they have UK only call centres.

 

So on to all my news. The house move was a pain in the arse, it is a nightmare trying to move with a 6 month old baby who's teething. The first 2 days when we actually moved our stuff Jack spent with his nanny & grandad but after that it was a real pain trying to sort everything out with a screaming baby demanding attention every 2 seconds. The house itself is nice, we are no longer right near a railway so we don't the train noise all day & night, we also live away from a main road so we don't get to hear the sirens of police/fire/ambulance all night long. We have a bath which is a real luxury, sometimes it would be easier having a shower but we have really missed having a bath as the last house only had a shower. It is so much easier bathing Jack Jack without having to get his baby bath out, especially as he outgrew the baby bath a coupla months ago. He loves having a bath as well, he likes having more room to play & splash around.

While I have been away from j'land Jack Jack has learnt to walk with the aid of his Tigger ride on toy, he holds on to the front of Tigger & walks pushing it along. He is so fast when he's crawling as well, his favourite things to do at the moment is either playing with any wires he can find so we have to watch him all the time, the other thing is switching off the Sky box (not a bad thing sometimes but a pain if something good is on).

The cats are getting very wary of him now, he hasn't quite grasped the concept of stroking the cats, he thinks he's supposed to grab a handful of fur & hold on tight. Angel tends to stay away from him when she can, Bailey on the other hand is a bit more tolerant & lets Jack grab him sometimes.

Jack Jack no longer gives me gummy smiles when I get home from work, on 31st august his first tooth came through, quickly followed by the 2nd & we think the 3rd is about to put in an appearance. My son now has teeth! Jack has taken to using his dummy again, he did stop for a while but I think he just loves chewing it to be honest. Occasionally we get bitten, he seems to think it great he can now bite anything in the house. At meal times we either have to take it in turns eating or we sit him in his high chair between us with his own dinner. If we don't do this he stands in front of us with mouth wide open like a baby bird expecting to be fed, he also tries to grab our dinner so meal times can be real fun in our house at the moment.

BIG NEWS:

Jack Jack can now say dada. I was so emotional the first time he said it. The novelty seems to have worn off with him now but for a few days no matter what he was doing he would be shouting dada dada dada all the time. I have captured this most treasured of moments on film, i think i must have shown it to nearly everyone i've talked to at work but what the hell, its a proud moment in a dads life. Nic has been trying to get him to say mama, her mum has been trying to get him to say nanny & grandad has been trying to get him to say grandad (i think he might struggle with this one) but his daddy is his first word & no one can ever take that away from me.

It seems that in the last month Jack has made so many advancements, he really is learning so much with every new day. Can you believe he was 7 months old last sunday? Just this last week he has learnt to clap his hands & he can now wave (as opposed to randomly throwing his arms around like all babies seem to do). The nights have been a pain since he's been teething as he was back to getting us up 2 or 3 times a night, luckily the last few nights he has slept through until at least 7am and he even goes to bed earlier now as well. Nic gets up early for work and Jack has been waking up just as she's about to leave so I get an early morning wake up call each day, its not so bad though, she only works 3 and a half days a week so I get a bit more sleep on fridays when she doesn't have to get up for work.

We've been into town today to try & get Jack some winter clothes, we have a few bits but he really needs some proper thick winter coats & jumpers before the weather turns any colder. The range of boys clothes is appalling. If you have a little girl you are spoilt for choice but if you have a little boy....tough! We have been in bhs, woolworths, adams, primark & boots. They all have only a small selection of baby clothes for boys, tomorrow we are going to go to matalan to see if we can do better there, asda is nearby so we will no doubt try there as well. Okay I know that people say you can dress girls up more than boys but honestly, do they really think we will buy only a couple of items of clothing to last the whole winter? Or maybe they think what few items they have are so good that we will want to buy loads of the same thing so he can wear them each day, if so they are dead wrong, who the hell designs these clothes. I think some ceo with no morals has found that he can get clothes designed for next to nothing if he sponsors the local mental institutes.

Anyway enough of my incessant babbling. I hope you are all well, I will have to catch up with all your journals over the next week or two. Enjoy the rest of your weekend & I hope you like the new pics...VampJack x

 

PEPSI TATE 1965-2007

My broadband is still not connected at my new house & my works computer resource policy forbids me from using my pc to update any blogs...but today I really need to express my grief over the loss of my friend. I wrote this entry last night at home & today I really don't know why I came to work.

 

Today is a bad day, I found out a friend of mine died yesterday morning. Pepsi Tate was the bass player in the rock band Tigertailz. I met Pepsi years ago when I was just another fan & we became friends. He would always put my name on the guest list for Tigertailz’ shows all over the country, one time when I went along to the soundcheck during the day he asked if I was coming to the show that night, when I told him I couldn’t afford it he told me not to be stupid because I’m always on the guest list, I explained it was the taxi fare home that was the problem. I did go to the show that night, Pepsi had insisted on it, he gave me the taxi fare home himself. 

 

Each time they toured I would go to as many shows as I possibly could, and I was always on the guest list & each night I would get to go backstage after the show. Pepsi always recognised me every time I turned up to the first night of the tour, sometimes he’d write letting me know about the tours in advance so I could let him know which shows I would be at.

 

I have not spoken to Pepsi for a while as we lost touch but he still remembered me when I got in touch a couple of years ago. We’d talk on the phone sometimes & we’d write occasionally (this was at a time before email made keeping in touch easier) but I would not consider it a close friendship. This made it all the more surprising today when I heard the news, I was stunned & had to take some time out from my desk to gather my thoughts. I feel so empty, I have lost some very close friends in the past so I am no stranger to grief but today I feel a great sadness. Pepsi was larger than life on stage & that is how I will always remember him, but I will also remember him as a Pepsi Tate the man. Pepsi died yesterday morning after losing his fight against pancreatic cancer.

 

It is difficult for me to share my feelings sometimes but I feel so emotional at the loss of my friend that if I don’t open up to someone I think I will start to slip back into depression. I suffered with depression for years but have been okay for some time now & do not want to go back to the fragile person I was when my depression was really taking over my life.

 

Pepsi you will be missed by a great many people. Goodbye my friend. 

 

19th September 2007

 

Tigertailz

 

Pepsi & Jay

My journal entries will resume once my broadband is up & running, today I don't care what my bosses may say about me updating the journal. Some things are just too important

 

Pepsi live 2007