Living

Yesterday I watched a video about a young man cyclingacross the Sahara desert. One of the things he says near the beginning of the video is that it is when you put yourself in situations like these that you really feel alive.

http://youtu.be/XugFGQdW1Hc

Also in the news yesterday, was lots of press about the annual Perseid meteor shower. While going out at night to view a meteor shower in significantly less dangerous than riding a bike across the Sahara desert, it was an opportunity to seize the moment and just do it.

So that is what I did. I discussed with Rachel, if she wanted to come where we might go to get some good views. We found a spot in Boothstown on a bridge over the canal. We were there just a few moments and we saw our 1st 'shooting star'. I wanted to capture an image of one but as we were looking east from the west side of Manchester there was a lot of light pollution. So I dropped my wife and little boy back home at about 2am and this time alone dashed out into the Peak District. There was a car park I was recently introduced to with a short walk to a small hill which would have given a great view of the night sky.

Again, it didn't take long to spot a little meteorite or two. But I wanted a picture. I set up the tripod, pointed the camera up, played with the settings and kept hitting the shutter button. The pictures were 30 second exposures and the meteorites when you did see them were very bright. Brighter than the stars. But they were very brief. Like a tiny spark in the sky. So given the short nature of the meteorite, it was hit an miss as to whether I would capture one. You can't predict these things either. They hit the atmosphere at random times and appear in random parts of the sky. So it was just a case of keep taking photos and hope that one shows up while the sensor is open.

After an hour, the exhilarating feeling was leaving me. I was starting to get cold and I was confident I hadn't snapped a meteorite.

I arrived home about 4:30am, but before I could go to bed, I had to upload the pictures from the memory card to the computer to review and see if I had snapped one or not.

Given how long the exposures were it is easy to put some visible features in some of the pictures down to environmental factors. But towards the end of my batch I found the following image. I've added another image looking at the same spot of the sky for comparison. You can see a streak just to the right of the center of the image just below a distinctively yellow star (or galixy, possibly Andromeda).

Was it worth it. Ask my wife and I and you will probably get different answers. I'm feeling very tired today after just a few hours sleep. But I am defiantly pleased I went out and did something out of the ordinary, something rather cool, and maybe crazy too, even if I didn't get the stunning image I was hoping for. I did still get some great pictures of the stars and I will always remember this night.

I should sign off this post by expressing gratitude. I'm grateful that I had the means and the health to do this. With no job, I probably could not afford a car to find a suitable spot to star gaze. Without previous experience in the pennine hills, I wouldn't have been able to go where I ended up. Without a passion for hiking I wouldn't have considered the little ascent to my final spot and obviously without my health I wouldn't have made it up the hill either. Without the type of job I have I wouldn't have been able to come into work so late today and without a photographer for a wife, I probably wouldn't have the camera to capture the images and the post processing know how to tweak them and get the most out of them.

Back to Blogging.

Its been about 5 years since I opened my blog. It's a shame that it has been so long. But the social media world and the way society now interacts with one another has changed massively in those 5 years. The main reason for the change and move away from a personal blog has been Facebook. It's easy to share views or goings on and it's easy to follow friends and see what they are up to too.

However, of late I have flet that there is extremely little of value left on there. More and more adverts are appearing and utterly pointless articles with no foundation or substance are being recommended in my feed. I have found myself reading rubbish.

With the recent birth of my son Troy, I decided I would keep an online diary for him. A blog. Documenting various things that have been going on for him to one day review.

Whilst I get into the habit of writing for him. I may as well get into the habit of writing for me too.

This space was supposed to be a place where I would express my opinion and share some of the good and bad times of my life.

This is what I intend to do again.

Too many factors.

At this time I find myself in a pivotal position.

I know the contract I am currently working on is going to come to an end soon. So, I'm looking for another job. This is no decision to be taken lightly and the consequences can be massive, for good or for bad.

I'm not going to go into details, because as the title suggests, there are just too many factors to consider and attempt to list. But needless to say after many days of thought and discussion with my wife & certain colleagues at work I am no closer to making a decision.

Dark Day for Christians

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/8353512/Foster-parent-ban-extreme-distress-of-anti-gay-Christians-over-ruling.html

The last time I was enraged by a shocking story was when the government were proposing to allow abortion agencies to advertise in the media just over a year ago.

This time two judges have ruled that, a couple that have fostered children in the past, when they reapplied to foster again, were unsuitable candidates because the could not say that they would tell a child that homosexual behaviour is okay.

This is in despite of all the good work they have done for previous children & that they intend on having children of about 8-12 years old in their home.

There has been a lot going on in the world with sexual equality. The 'gays' want the same rights as everyone else. To some extent I don't disagree with this. And the laws of our land have embraced this. 

But to oppress a majority group (i.e. those with traditional religious beliefs) in favour of this minor to be seen as a government embracing change & all ways of life is taking things too far. I'd even suggest stupidity.

It seems that in an effort to regulate everything common sense is being thrown out of the window. Simple decisions are no longer simple but complicated drawn-out procedures. I know I'm not alone in thinking this (part of the majority in fact) and it is the means of a whole other debate.

But these regulations have, in this case, and many others like it, got in the way.

This couple will be declined but I will be willing to bet another couple who does not discourage a youth to drink, smoke or be disobedient once in a while will be approved as foster careers.

Note that Sir Elton John & his gay partner, David Furnish, have recently adopted a young boy.

I ask what will be next? Young couples being declined the ability to adopt because of what they believe? Then will it be the monitoring of parents ensuring that they do not teach their children anything contrary to what the government says should be taught? The government issuing curriculum's to parents ensuring the children are being taught correctly?

These ideas may sound extreme but this behaviour of denying the right to foster because of their beliefs is the start of what has been described as dark times ahead.

To finish my piece I leave you with a quote from the article above.

"two High Court judges backed Derby city council by ruling that homosexual rights "should take precedence" over the rights of Christians in fostering cases."

Someone will be held accountable for this statement & decision. I wouldn't want to be that person.

About Me

I have just reviewed my profile for my blog and since I wrote it over a year ago nothing has changed.

I'm still working long hours, I feel underpaid, struggling to keep up with the rising bills and want kids but can not figure out how this is possible.

As I approach the big 30 my brother asked me how I'm feeling. So here are my thoughts.

In many ways I do feel like I'm getting old. There are signs, the belly got a little bigger, I'm driving slower, I enjoy and appreciate things I've never appreciated before like getting outdoors.

However, though I have a lot, I feel like I've not made the progress I would have hoped to make by this point in my life. I may not have had any goals written down but I had a slight idea.

I graduated from uni & obtained a reasonably good job in the industry I had hoped for. I've gained some experience. I'm serving in my church. I'm married & have a home. I even have a car I am delighted with.

So what milestones have I not overcome?

Through some bad decisions & bad timing I find myself in a kind of stalemate situation where I've not been able to progress for the last couple of years.

We brought a house in 2007 knowing that it would be a struggle at 1st but assumed it would get better as my earnings went up. With my income supporting the home Rachel could then ramp down work & we could concentrate on raising a family.

But things did not happen the way we anticipated. The world as we knew it changed. I didn't get the rise I hoped for & as part of the financial crisis energy costs have soared. Gas, fuel even food. The cost of living has risen faster than my pay increase. I find myself financially worse off now than when we originally brought the house.

So the obvious answer is to move. Sell the house for somewhere smaller. But that is not an easy thing to do. We brought our house for our family. It was to be our forever house. To sell up now would be hard as I'm also convinced that things will get easier. But I don't know how long this will be.

So here is the dilemma. Sell up and sacrifice the facilities we had hoped for to start our overdue family & write off the last couple of years and investment in our house or hang in there and wait till the economics change.

I know there never is a good time to start a family, and I know that when they come they will be our greatest source of joy. But I can't get past the massive loss, of both time & money which we won't get back, if we sell.

So here I am hitting 30 with just the one thing absent from my life. My yet to arrive children. That's my regret.

It isn't through lack of desire or planning. I put it down to bad timing & unforeseen circumstances and a lack of faith to just proceed with the family regardless of the consequences.

I do wish I had made some better decisions in the past but reflect on those decisions isn't going to help me now. For now, I (we) remain stuck until we make a decision.

Something I've been upto.

Something I've been excited about is my new car. The best way to describe it is the next best thing to my dream car. My dream car would be in the form of an S4 or even an RS4 both of which would be very expensive and can remain my dream. This is an Audi A4 avant quattro, 200bhp. A more powerful engine would be an S4. It's lovely. It's practical.

Rachel has been so good to me in supporting me in getting this car. It makes her happy to see me happy. There are only two problems now. I need to sell my other car and I have canged from driving a diesel to a petrol. I thought I prefered petrol cos I considered the diesel to be dirty. Now I can see why they are more attractive to the motorist. The diesel was noticeably more efficient and so I now find myself shelling out more in fuel bills. And with fuel being at an all time high it even more noticable than ever before.

So maybe my dream car is a diesel!

For now, I'm keeping the Audi. If my Mondeo does not sell I may have to reconsider my position.

Half Way Through The Year

This blog was supposed to be kind of a diary and a trail of my thoughts. I still want it to be that way but it would seem updating my blog isn't as important to me as checking my friends facebook status updates & reading the news feeds that come through to my phone.

What have I been upto in the last 6 months worth of writing? Nothing comes to mind. It's the next few months that are something to look fwd to.

Raych & I have been working like dogs this year so far. Rachel more so. She committed at the end of last year there would be more play time. Unfortunately just getting straight has taken most of the year. But it is coming to an end. These next few months are something to look fwd to.

It all starts in a couple of days time. This weekend we go camping with Donna & Garry (uni mates) which we are looking fwd to. We are hoping to either climb Snowdon again, which we love doing, or spend a day at the beach. We then plan on spending the next weekend doing the same just us. I have a stag weekend with Craig and the wedding will follow shortly after. We have our family trip to Fortaventura in August and then if all goes well we are going to climb Ben Nevis in September.

A busy summer, and all the while I'll still be cramming in the hours at work. Can't afford to take too much time off. The cost of living continues to go up. It is hard at the moment & I do worry but I can't work all the time & I like everyone else, needs to take time out. Without something to look fwd to I can imagine like being very dull and unfulfilling.