Meet the new boss, same as the old boss....

Wow, what a couple of weeks it's been... Busy would be an understatement. A couple of weeks ago, I moved into my new place, so a lot of time has been spent getting things together to make the house into a home (Including a lot of self-assembly items - My hands still have the cuts and bruises!). Things are finally coming together, and I have a sofa/couch turning up tomorrow which will be another step closer to completing the jigsaw.

On the 22nd, I had to travel to London to meet my wife at Heathrow. Waiting for what seemed like forever while she went through customs and getting her baggage was nearly a soul-destroying experience, but was more than made up for by finally getting to see her again.. And for good this time. The past week has consisted almost solely of the two of us spending every waking (and sleeping) second together, I don't think we've been more than a few feet apart at any one time. Although the magnitude of the situation still hasn't really sunk in for either of us yet, I really can't describe how happy I am right now - There simply isn't a word for how being around Tara day in, day out makes me feel, it really is the best.

Finally, on the big news front, I quit HEXUS a couple of weeks ago. With my wife here, I don't want to spend long evenings when I should be with her slaving over editorial, and it was pretty clear that the HEXUS job would involve a lot of that. Secondly, I quickly realised that I wouldn't be able to support myself and Tara properly financially from working for them full-time. Thus, a couple of quick phone calls to my former boss, and I was soon invited back to work where I was before at better pay and on some more exciting new projects. I start back there a couple of weeks from now, which hopefully gives me chance to finish all my outstanding HEXUS work and spend some more time with my wife to boot! I'm kind of sad in some ways that reviewing/writing full-time didn't work out, and I had great fun getting to try out the hardware I did, but my private life and family is way more important than satiating the geek in me. It's something I'd try again though, but I think the circumstances would have to be hugely different to those I encountered this time around. Maybe if I win the lottery I'll give it another crack on my own terms... :oP

At the end of last week I finally got broadband back into my life, as my 1Mbit service was transferred to my new address. I'm very tempted to move up to the 2Mb feed available at this new property, but I'm holding out for the time being. This morning a whole load of 802.11g kit that I'd ordered turned up, so today so far has mainly involved me getting that all set up... I'm done now, and I have to say that it feels good to have a completely wires-free 54Mbps network. Everything was beautifully easy to set up, and all in all it took me no time at all to get to exactly where I wanted to be network topology-wise. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of downloading to catch up on... ;o)

I hold in my hand....

...the key to our bungalow. Yep, I got everything finalised today, and it's now mine to keep. Well, rent, but don't spoil the imagery. ;o) I also have the water, gas and electricity connected, so all that's left for me to do now is get the phone line connected and sorted, followed by an ADSL link up and running, and I'm 100% sorted. Well, apart from all the furniture and the like I need.

It's been a busy time in the HEXUS department too, with exciting things coming my way almost as quickly as I can deal with them. Today saw the release of my preview of Corsair's new RAM, which is pretty darn cool I must say, and also released (sort of, it isn't on the front page but got linked to elsewhere, God knows how that happened) was my look at Gigabyte's 3D1 video card - SLI, but on a single board... I don't need to explain to you why that's cool I'm sure. ;o) Still plenty of interesting things in the pipeline too, so I don't think I'll be getting bored any time soon.

Aside from that, I'm now counting down the days until I get to pick my wife up on Heathrow on the 22nd... Life is going to start getting very different from here on it, but in the best way possible.

I have a house!!

Well, almost.... The deal is all but done, I just have to stump up exorbitent amounts of rent now and it's all mine!!

All of that should be sorted by this time next week, still leaving plenty of time until my wife arrives on the 22nd. After all, I only still have to sort out gas, water, electricity, phone lines, broadband, furniture.....

There are other exciting things in the pipeline too, but I'm not going to talk about those yet. :oP

Heart Shaped Box

Oooh... Looks like I've been slacking on the Blog front, doesn't it? Probably because I have, although at least I suppose it's proof of being busy. ;o)

Anyways, today is Christmas Eve, a day on which it is notoriously difficult to get into a working frame of mind. Which is why I'm sat here, Blogging. As you can probably guess from the lack of updates here, work at HEXUS has given me plenty to do, which is most definitely a good thing, and is still providing plenty of enjoyment on my end. Aside from that, life goes on as normal, aside from the prospect of needing to find a place for me and the wife to live within the next few weeks, a process that will gather pace once Christmas is out of the way. It's hard not to get stressed about that, but I'm sure everything will slot into place in due time.

Today's entry title comes from (obviously) the Nirvana song, pumped to me as I write this courtesy of Last.FM - Possibly the greatest Internet radio service ever. To explain, the site is partnered with another great site - Audioscrobbler. The basic principle of Audioscrobbler is that you download a plug-in for your favourite media player, which then notes the mp3s you listen to and collates them in a central database under an account you've set up on the site, then displaying your listening habits and so on and so forth.

Last.FM takes this one step further by offering you an Internet radio station which chooses what songs to feed you based around the music in your profile. It works incredibly well, and rarely gives you a song that you'll hate. Even if it does, you have 'Love', 'Skip' and 'Ban' buttons to denote songs you really love or hate, and your profile will thus become more specific to your tastes from there. I can't praise the service enough (They have a pay service too with some extra functionality, which I'm seriously considering forking out for), so anyone with an interest in broadening their musical horizons or simply listening to some damn fine music should check it out at least one. See? A Pixies song has just come on. Yes, it's that good.

Finally, this is my opportunity to wish anyone reading this a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you all have a great time, and stay tuned to everything I do through 2005! ;o)

This is traditionally a time to start taking stock of the year just gone by, and I can safely say that 2004 is the best year of my life. Great new job, fantastic wife, and plenty of good friends out there. Some (if not all) of you reading this have played a part, big or small, in making this a great year for me, so to you goes my heartfelt thanks and gratitude.

First day of school

Yes, that's right, today was my first day of full-time employment with HEXUS. And I did I enjoy it? You bet your life I did! ;o)

My first day proved to be pretty fruitful, as I managed to knock out a couple of articles by the day's end, and also got things a little more organised here in my 'bunker' - Which is a good job, as I have a shed-load more stuff headed my way! Oh, and did I mention that Rys is the greatest boss in the World ever? (Seeing as I'm sure he'll read this, I guess this is the online equivalent of giving the teacher an apple, but hey, he's a great guy, what can I say?)

To complete a fine day, I received my Christmas present from Tara today. Of course, no placing of items under Christmas trees on this occasion, I dived straight into the box. :oP All I can say is, that girl has got to stop spoiling me! Oh well, I do exactly the same to her, and have done this Christmas, so I guess we're even.

Half-Life 2 Deathmatch

So, Valve had a Half-Life 2 Deathmatch mode under their sleeves all along then... It got released on Steam yesterday, and I have to say, it's.... Unique. What other DM gametype lets you pick things up and throw them and people? You have to give Valve some kudos for taking the physics engine that helps make Half-Life 2 itself so impressive, and successfully inject it into an online game mode.

Having said that, the enjoyment of the whole thing was somewhat short-lived for me - There's only so many times you can chuckle with glee as you crush someone in a corner with a car, or take them out with a well-placed radiator to the head. After a while, it starts to feel more like 'domestic argument simulator' (Hey, there's an idea for a mod!), with everybody eschewing traditional weapons in favour of simply throwing stuff at each other. It's immensely fun for half an hour or so, but then it starts to feel kind of childish. Maybe I'm just getting old...

Still, now it's out there and at the mercy of the mod community, there's stacks of potential in their, so I can imagine some really great things coming out of it. It's been a long time since I've really found a game I can get into playing regularly online (Battlefield 1942 was probably the last I gave up any real time to), but maybe something under the Half-Life 2 moniker will crop up and grab me.

Away from that, my Leadtek 6800GT and Ultra review (yes, them again!) for HEXUS is done, so I'll throw it into the back-end once I'm done with this. I can't wait until next week when I can start really sitting down and cranking out content, especially seeing as my last few days of my current job are going soooo slowly - There's only so much you can do when you know you're about to leave!

January 21st 2005

Is now the provisional date for when my wife will return to England. Permanently. Nothing much more to say... :oD

I'm incredibly excited, and also tearing my hair out at the amount I need to sort out in such a short period. It's going to be an interesting few weeks.

Now the end is in sight, I'm just tired...

After tomorrow, only one more week to go until I start my new job! Unfortunately, that means lots of paperwork and writing up notes for my successors. Still, I'm pretty much done with it so next week should be relatively simple.

As for Hexus work, I feel a lot more comfortable now I know my way around the back-end and can put my own articles in the system - I can be something of a control freak at times, so having that extra step available to me makes a big difference. :oP Apart from that, review work has ground to a halt thanks to our wonderful postal service - They certainly know how to make losing things look easy! Oh well, hopefully it'll show up eventually... I have a plethora of guides on various things to write now too, so that should keep me out of trouble as well. :o)

Aside from that, things are looking really good for my wife to move over here towards the end of January next year - She's basically all set aside from buying a plane ticket. It might even be sooner, who knows? Of course, this kind of puts the pressure on me to find us a place to live somewhat, so I'll have to crack on with that once I'm bedded down in the new job. Still, all that aside, I really really can't wait. I have a feeling 2005 is going to be a great year. :oD

Heh, it feels weird thinking about 2005 - I remember the Transformers Movie being set in the year 2005 to give it a futuristic feel, and twenty years later, here we are...

Feeling Peaky

All things considered, it's been a kind of busy time since my last entry. The big stress of last week was works attempt to wring every last drop out of me in my final couple of weeks with the company, in the form of sending me all around the UK handing out ID cards - A real "you're leaving, fuck you" job if ever I saw one. Anyway, after plenty of debate and discussion, revolving around me pointing out what an insane idea it was (Why not just send the cards out to the sites for other people to dish out? Handing out cards and getting a form signed isn't rocket science), I finally got my point across and the idea was canned. This leaves me free to concentrate on the important things that need to get done in my final two weeks, thank goodness.

I was in London the whole of Saturday, to see Arsenal's game against West Brom - It ended in a hugely disappointing 1-1 draw, but it was good to be back at Highbury after not being able to make it at all last season. Damn, it was cold though! It was also cool to get my first look at Arsenal's new stadium at Ashburton Grove (aka The Emirates Stadium - ugh), it's fantastic that they found a site so close to Highbury (You can see the new stadium easily from the North Bank). The worst part of my Saturday was the train journeys - Engineering works meant that the trains were taking detours, which meant a 3 hour journey up to London, and closer to 4 hours back!

The number of games I want to make time for is growing ever longer - Inevitably, Half-Life 2 is still my main focus (I can't believe people have completed it already, I could never dedicate that much time to any game in a single sitting), but the Pro Evolution Soccer 4 demo released on Friday has caught my eye too - I didn't like it to being with, but I'm starting to warm to it. Then there's Football Manager 2005 (Which is basically Championship Manager under a different name), which is time consuming at the best of times, and I haven't even installed Need For Speed: Underground 2. Oh, woe is me... :oP

Things have slowed right up on the reviewing front, as I'm currently left waiting for things to show up before I can move on with most of the things I have sat here. But, my second review for Hexus was published at the weekend, which is always edifying. Two more weeks, and I'll be beavering away on this stuff full-time... It just can't come quickly enough!!

Finally, as we're fast approaching December, no doubt you'll all be looking for Christmas presents for me... To make life easier for you, look no further than here. ;o)

Half-Life 2

Last night afforded me the opportunity to play Half-Life 2 for a couple of hours, so it's somewhat inevitable that I'm going to have to wax lyrical about it here.

First off, I know a fair few people had issues with Steam and unlocking the game yesterday, but for me the whole procedure was flawless. I actually ended up unlocking it twice on my two systems, the first at 8:00am as soon as the game became available, and the other at around 1:00pm - Both working flawlessly. I didn't get to fire up the game on either system until the evening, but again it worked on both occasions with no problems. I can't speak for anyone else, but for me personally the whole process was impressively smooth.

So, on to the game itself. The first thing of note is the graphics - The background to the opening menu screen looks stunning, but when you fire up the game you might find yourself a little underwhelmed. I know I was briefly, until I realised why - This game isn't designed to look jaw-droppingly pretty like Far Cry or the like, it's made to look realistic. That means (with the odd exception) no stupid, plastic-looking characters and surfaces, everything has an understated, grittily realistic look to it. And it works very well indeed, to the point where sometimes you want to just stop and admire how right everything looks even in the middle of a firefight.

Then there's the gameplay. Again, for the first couple of minutes I didn't feel right, or particularly immersed in the game. I was expecting another long intro sequence on the train to acclimatise, but no, that was all over very quickly, which left me feeling a little empty. Empty, that is, until I stepped off the train and wandered to close to a security guard, you have me a sharp shove to push me to a safer distance. A small touch perhaps, but enough to pull me into the atmosphere of the game - All of a sudden, I felt intimidated by my surroundings, and it was onwards and upwards from there.

Much as Doom 3 was very much a reimagining of Doom and Doom 2, so Half-Life 2 holds dear to it everything that made the original the great game that it was. This is something of a relief in this world of ever-decreasing sequels. If anything, the introduction of realistic physics as taken Half-Life 2 into the realm where Half-Life wanted to exist but perhaps didn't quite make it. In most situations you find yourself with two options - Brute force, taking out your opponents one by one (and using a lot of ammo in the process), or thinking smart and using the surroundings to your advantage. Okay, so most of the 'puzzles' (if you can call them that) are simple enough, but it all sits together very well with the game itself.

There's a lot to be said for the characters in the game too - When Half-Life 2 was first announced and Alyx unveiled, I started to worry about what this sequel would hold. But, thus far, to my relief the additional characters add to the game rather than distract from it. Having said that, why did they make Gordon Freeman mute? It was bad enough with the Doom 3 marine, but it makes even less sense here.

Half-Life 2 has also surprised me with its stabs at humour so far - They're actually funny. Normally (with a few exceptions), attempts at jokes in most games fall flat on their face, but thanks to the quality of the graphics, characters and voice actors, it works exceedingly well. I don't remember ever laughing out loud at a game before (Not when the developers intended it, anyway).

From the sound of point of view, it isn't as impressive as Doom 3, but still more than acceptable. It doesn't seem to like running on a generic AC97 on-board sound controller though, the game stutters like crazy sometimes when it access a new sound. I'm yet to try it out properly on my Audigy equipped-rig yet.

So, as of right now, I'm truly in love with this game - It's been a while since I've found a game so difficult to drag myself away from, it really does drag you in like something I haven't experienced since... Well... Half-Life. There's still a long way to go, so I might get bored or have something ruin it.. We'll have to see. But, for now, I'm just going to sit at work itching to get back to City 17...

Am I ready for Half-Life 2?

So, tomorrow is the big day - Am I ready? Well, let's put it this way, I've spent the evening setting up a system featuring an Athlon FX 53 and Leadtek GeForce 6800 Ultra so yeah, you could say I'm ready. ;o)

Of course, this is just a temporary test system for the time being, but I can imagine it doing an admirable job with Half-Life 2, so I can't think of a better way to experience it.

I should also point out to all the kids out there ready to drop out of school to take up careers as hardware reviewers that it isn't all fun and game-playing - Indeed, if I get everything I need together by tomorrow evening, I will in fact most likely be spending the evening benchmarking, and not playing Half-Life 2 at all while the rest of you enjoy it.

I had a load of other things I was going to mention in this entry, but firstly I've forgotten them in my excitement, and secondly it's getting late - Time to call the wife before getting some sleep. Maybe tomorrow I'll work out what I was going to say here and put something more constructive together.

The date is set

After a few days of constructive discussion about the terms of my contract, and more precisely my period of notice, we've finally come to a date when I finish my current job - December 3rd. It's a relief that I didn't end up with the whole nine weeks as specified in my contract, so I have to thank my boss for backing me on that one. I may even have some holiday available to curtail the time left in my current position even further.

My other good news is that my wife is now looking at moving over here much, much sooner - We're talking about the end of January now, rather than a year away. It means a lot to think about and organise, but it also means that Andy is very happy and excitable right now. ;o)

Aside from that (If you can have an aside from all these life-changing events), things are actually rather quiet, and just involves a lot of waiting for things to happen. This means that I've had a bit of time to feast myself on Azumanga Daioh amongst other things (okay, I admit I'm still on a streak of playing a lot of FIFA 2005 too). We're a week away from Half-Life 2 now, and I'm quietly looking forward to finally getting to see the finished product after all the hype and delays. It has to be good, it just has to - I need a good, involving FPS to convince me that not all games from now on are going to be unconvincing rehashes and sequels of what has gone before.

Talking of FPSes, I'll have to see if I can coax my wife into bringing her X-Box over to the UK with her, I'm itching to try out Halo 2.... :oP

Times, they are a' changing...

So, about that big announcement - I was going to keep everyone in suspense a little longer, but I may as well just go ahead and come out with it.

Yesterday, I handed in my notice at work. Why, I hear you ask? Because I've accepted a position as a full-time reviewer for Hexus. Yep, that's right, once my notice is up where I am right now (which could be four weeks, or it could be longer, I'm arguing that one out right now), I'll be taking up a post doing full-time hardware reviews.

Am I excited? That would be putting it mildly, yes. Am I happy? You bet I am. To be honest, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing with my time, so the opportunity to take it up as a full-time concern is a dream come true for me. Of course, the sad side is that this means standing down from the news and article posting side of Elite Bastards, but I'll still be sticking around to some extent whenever I can, so you haven't seen the last of me there.

So, there you have it, not much more to add really. I actually have some other pretty cool stuff to talk about as well, but I'll save that for another day - Don't want to overload you now, do I?!

New beginnings and Boards of Canada

I was going to write a whole load of stuff here on Friday, but Blogger seemed to be dead, as is my memory of what I was going to write. So, instead two random things to think about:

Number one - Everybody go out and listen to a Boards of Canada record. I hadn't listened to any of their material in a while, but most of today I've been rekindling my love for them. If electronic music is your thing, then you owe yourself a look at these guys. Fantastic stuff.

Number two - I should have a big, big announcement to make in the next day or two, so keep your eyes peeled and I'll reveal all as soon as I feel that I can.

A short Blog entry is a pretty rare thing for me, so cherish it. ;o)

Ever had one of those weeks...

Where nothing goes right? Work yesterday was pretty crappy, and when I said to Tara "At least things can't get any worse" - They get worse. Not due to work, but instead thanks to my Mum spending a morning in hospital thanks to some idiotic coach driver slamming into the back of her car. She seems okay thankfully, whiplash and aches and pains aside, but not the start to the day I wanted to hear, it stressed me out to put it mildly. The boot (or trunk, for American readers) of the car is shot to pieces, horribly bent out of shape to the point where it won't close - God knows how long that'll take to get fixed.

Work is also still sucking today - I've had enough work piled on me in the last couple of days to literally last me a year, nobody seems to understand exactly what it is I'm doing and why it can take so long to get things just right. Even when I do get things done I don't remember being thanked for it.

Okay, rant mode over now - Yesterday evening did bear some happy news, with Tara getting together all the forms we need to sort out for her to come and live over here. A small step really, but I can't help but be excited, it's another step towards triggering the domino effect that my life has seemed to line up as to get everything where I want it. Continuing the good news, I'll also be receiving a couple of video cards to review, although there is a strange feeling of deja vu surrounding them.... ;o)

Finally, today is election day in the US. Yes, I'm English, but I guess you could say having an American wife gives me a vested interest in these things - I've taken a much keener interest in US politics in the last four years, so there's a strange feeling of excitement/trepidation about the results. Whatever happens though, life goes on, whatever idiocy the politicans dream up next...

End of an era

Well, I just stood down from my staff position at Rage3D - I simply don't have enough time to keep an eye on the place, besides which it has changed beyond recognition from the place I knew and loved.

I feel kind of sad about it, I remember how thrilled I was when I was offered the chance to be a Moderator there, but times have changed and so must I. It's the best thing for both me and the site - Rage3D is crying out for SuperMods and Admins who are available to deal with things as quickly as possible, and I need to focus on the other things I'm doing with my career over babysitting the forums there. Still, it was a fun couple of years. :o)

Holiday? What holiday?

So, here I am, after a week away from work, sat back at my desk in the office. Nothing has changed in that week - Literally. The work I'd given other people to handle in my absence has been bounced straight back into my queue as soon as I turned up, regardless of the liberal sprinkling of ASAP and URGENT notices in said jobs. * Sighs * And boy is the clock ticking by slowly this morning, roll on lunch time....

Anyway, as for my holiday, it had its relaxing moments, but Tuesday afternoon saw the (unexpected but welcome) arrival of a large box of goodies for review courtesy of Hexus, so I spent some of the week and weekend working on that. Add to that the Far Cry article for Elite Bastards, and it was more or less a semi-working week. Not that I'm complaining though - I absolutely loved every minute of it. I kind of wanted to test myself out by setting aside full days to do review work to see how it felt - Getting up early-ish and getting straight down to it, getting the whole thing done and submitted by that evening. And it all went swimmingly. It reminds me of the line in the movie 'The Road To Perdition' - "To be paid to do what you love - Ain't that the dream?". Couldn't have said it much better myself...

Aside from that, yesterday was my two-month anniversary of getting married. It's weird, it already feels like an age ago that I was in Las Vegas with Tara, not two months. I think I've stumbled onto a new anime love, thanks to BetrayerX at EB - Bleach. It's one of those series where you watch the first episode, and the potential is just overflowing out of every pore. I've watched the first three episodes now (There are four out right now), and it's developing very nicely. I think I'm going to overflow with anime this week actually - I still haven't watched the latest episodes of Naruto and School Rumble, volumes 3 and 4 of the hilarious Azumanga Daioh on DVD should be turning up this week, and I just ordered the first Tenchi movie. Oh well, whatever keeps me out of trouble. :oP

There's nothing worse...

Than your spiritual Internet home being down for close to 24 hours. Yes, the Elite Bastards server is basically down. No, I don't know why. The same thing happened after my original 3DMark05 article, which I understand as it was a 'big thing', but although we got linked a lot of places this time around, the traffic shouldn't be any worse than what we've had to handle before in the past. Once everything is back up and running, I think a post mortem is called for - It's frustrating sitting here not being able to do anything though.

The worst part of all has been doing my usual morning flick through the usual sites I visit, trawling for news - I have loads of interesting stuff, but nowhere to put it. So, to ease my pain, I think I'll make the rest of this Blog entry a little mini-news page, if nothing else to remind me what to post when the server is back up and running properly. So, here goes:

- John Reynolds Radeon X800 XT PCI Express review at SimHQ
- Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault ships early
- Need For Speed Underground 2 demo released
- ATI topples nVidia in card sales

Coming soon to a magazine near you?

I always feel a little... Odd, talking about things which aren't "done deals", especially when they are little more than a "Would you be interested in...?" kind of deal. This one is a little different though - Some freelance work which would end up in a print magazine as well as on the web. I can't say any more, mainly because I don't know any more myself, but it was just an interesting little vignette that dropped into my inbox yesterday evening. It's almost scary how your name get around like it does.. Not that I'm complaining mind you!

Yesterday evening also ensured that at least one morning of my week off work was spent slaving over benchmarks, courtesy of the Far Cry 1.3 patch. It's one of those things that I just can't leave alone - A thought of 'Oh, I'll just take a quick look for myself to see how the HDR effect looks' soon turns into 'Right, I reckon I should benchmark all these features at these resolutions', and before I know it I'm waking up early so I can start work on writing up what I have. I'm not sure if it's obsession, addiction, or just being a glutton for punishment, but hey, I love every minute of it. Talking of these things, my 3DMark05 follow-up is finally taking shape, but I keep getting distracted.

Back to Far Cry 1.3 though - The HDR effect looks awesome, real jaw-dropping stuff. But, it actually gets a bit overbearing at times, and the performance drops together with losing anti-aliasing make it kind of unpalatable for me. I respect the technology immensely, but I don't see it getting wide use until some of those caveats can be rectified in future hardware designs. Always exciting to see something a little more ground-breaking though.

Back in the 'real world', my birthday was uneventful, just like I wanted it to be. More or less just another day, but with lots of birthday cake. ;o) Yesterday was more important for me, and I got to spend plenty of time talking to the wife on our three year anniversary, which all on its own made it a great day for me. She's better than any birthday present. :o)

Quarter of a century alive, three years of happiness

Well, a couple of important dates coming my way as I write this (Isn't it great having a laptop with wirless Internet connectivity, and being able to write an entry while lounging around in bed and eating toast?):

First up, tomorrow (Sunday 24th October) is my 25th birthday... That makes for quarter of a century alive. I'm one of those people who finds each and every birthday more depressing (Given the choice, I would have stopped this whole ageing thing at 21), so 25 years old is a milestone in depression for me. ;o) The amusing thing is seeing my family, wife etc celebrating ecstatically, wanting to take me out for meals, buying cakes, presents etc, while I would happily just brush the whole thing under the carpet. Still, that's where I derive my pleasure from on birthdays - Seeing other people enjoying themselves. :o)

The day after however, is far, far more important - It is me and my wife's three year anniversary since we started going out together. We'd known each other for about six months before that, but the 25th of October was the fateful day when we finally got over the whole 'will we, won't we' thing - Or rather, my wife did, by asking me out. :oP From an airport in Chicago as it happens, but that's a whole other story. On that day, it felt like the happiest day of my life, but the great thing is that over the last three years I've had so many 'happiest days of my life' with Tara that I've almost lost count, and each one has been better than the last. I can honestly say that the last three years have been the best ever, and I'm not even going to try to put into words how I've felt these past few years... The good times I've shared with Tara really are beyond words.