KwAcKy's Konfessional |
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Nothing of interest; just mindless links to bikes Birmingham City Football Club and useless junk  
  
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30 April 2003
Georgina arrives Georgina Arwen, daughter of Samantha and Richard Looker, was born on Monday 28 April 2003 at 5 to 8 in the evening. Weighing in at 7 lbs and 10 ozs and measuring 23 inches. Sam showed all the signs of starting labour last Friday; she had back ache, felt sick, loss of appetite, general "feeling strange" and suffering from a headache. I asked her to hold her horses for 24 hours, the question of BCFC's safety had to be decided first. By Saturday she was in so much pain she couldn't get out of bed. I truly believed it would happen that day. Shows what I know. On Sunday Sam felt fine. Monday morning I went to work as usual and left wifey asleep in bed. I called at about 10.30, Sam said her back ache had returned and she was getting weird pains but she was alright. I got nervous. I called again an hour later, no frigging answer. I was busy at work so I got my head down and got some stuff done. I called again. My cousin was there, she's a pressure point therapist and has helped Sam throughout. The contractions were regular and every 40 minutes. I warned my boss and started to send e-mails and memo's to colleagues. I cleared my desk. I got home and the contractions were every 15 minutes. Bloody hell! They dropped to every 10, then 5 in about an hour. I've got no experience of these things, but it seemed to be happening very quickly. I ran a bath. By the time Sam had finished she was down to every 2 to 3 minutes. We called the hospital. They suggested we should go for a check up. We got there at about 4.55 p.m. and Sam was examined 20 minutes later. 4cm's dilated. This was it. You feel like a bit actor in the most important movie of your life. Actors you've never heard of have a better script than you do. So you ad lib. I took it on myself to act as cleaner. Don't why, I just wanted to do more than just rub Sam's back. Sam did really well. She started off on gas and air but it made her sick. She yelled for more pain relief but the midwife told her to wait as it would soon be over. Yeah, right, I bet you say that to all the girls. 6 or 7 pushes and the wee one arrived. Less than 3 hours labour and little in the way of pain relief, those yoga classes really paid off. She was much cleaner than I expected and far more vocal. Quick check over and she was handed up to Sam. Food was her first thought and she took to the breast straight away. Sam looked tired but radiant. Georgina just looked squished! While they were dealing with the after birth, I held my daughter. I just stared at this thing and tried to take it all in. A product of genes, biology and love. My responsibility, my commitment, my raison d'étre? Sleepless nights, heartache, heartbreak. All to come. As I stared, I fell deeper and deeper in love with this tiny bundle of skin and hair (yep, she has a full head of brown hair). A midwife walked in and caught me staring with tears welling up in my eyes. The little sod has been here for 5 minutes and already she's got me hooked. Well, she's home now. Feeding well, sleeping when she wants to. Nature v nurture gets played out in my own home. At the moment, she seems very confident, by that I mean she doesn't seem to scare easily. The dog gave her a good sniff which seemed to amuse her. When he barks (and he's got a very loud bark) she just opens her eyes. She doesn't seem to get flustered. The hospital staff said she will be a happy baby because she didn't get stressed during the birth and won't have a hangover because Sam didn't have any drugs. If she looks like anyone, she looks like me. Square face, dark features, long eyelashes, small mouth, big voice! She'll grow out of it. 26 April 2003
That's right, 3-0 AND we're staying up. Not many teams would be in 12th thinking "phew, we're in this league next season", but that's the way we are. Not the classiest performance but, to me, a sign of a good side is to make a victory looked easy, which we did. Although 'Boro had a lot of possession, they could do nothing with it. Dugarry (looked offside to me but who cares?) Clemence from a free kick and Lazaridis off his head from a sublime Savage cross. Two top chants today:- 1) Horsfield, knock him out, Horsfield Horsfield knock him out. 2) You can stick yer maccarone up yer arse" BBC Sports report as does Sporting Life with full stats 
Did I mention we're 12th? And above the Vile? 5 points above the Vile? Now I know they are taking the piss. The US has asked the United Nations to take steps against North Korea on the grounds that North Korea won't scrap it's nuclear weapons programme. Can someone remind me which country still has enough nuclear weaponary to toast us all 12 times over? Could it be the same country that is going ahead with its Star Wars programme? The same country who unilaterally decided to breach the agreement with the USSR/Russia to scale down the number of IBMs? I hope Korea carries on with its development, because someone needs to stand up to the school bully. And these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men who used them." The World Set Free. H.G.Wells 1914 
24 April 2003
Nice piece about White House spin and another on media coverage and a denial about the planned US bases in Iraq If you ever wanted proof that people can be quite mad, read this. Hooray! The War is over and everyone wins. Not quite. Despite American promises of "Liberation, not invasion", Uncle Sam is proposing to set up 4 US military bases to "keep an eye on things". It's got feck all to do with the pressure Saudi Arabia has been applying pressure on the mighty green machine to fuck off elsewhere. Nothing either to do with oil, which seems to be flowing freely now. But wait, we're all too harsh on those who police the world. They have a nice side to them, they want to lift sanctions. The sanctions they have kept in place for 12 years. lift the sanctions, sell them drugs and foods and generators and water sanitation plants and pay for it with....... Oil! For almost 13 years, Iraq has been unable to clear up the mess made by all sides during the last Gulf War. It's been unable, because the UK and USA won't let them have the equipment they need to wash away the depleted uranium and plutonium, the mines and the unexploded bombs. Let's not forget the damaged infrastructure, the equipment and medicine to cure the ill and heal the wounded or the ambulances needed to ferry people about. That's right, ambulances. Banned. Why? Because they contain equipment and utensils which could be used to manufacture weapons of mass destruction. Honest. Talking of which (WMDs, not my honesty), the 2004 edition of the Guinness Book of Records will have a new entry "the longest game of hide and seek". Iraq will have the world record. The game will go on until the press have found something else to worry the public about. In the meantime, the uranium from the last conflict is continuing to kill thousands of innocent people. I bet you thought this government wanted the troops out of Basra because they've done their job? W R O N G . The place is poisoned. 40% of the population will suffer from cancer. Hodgkins disease is rife, but it's curable in 95% of cases, but only if you have the required drugs, which the Iraqis don't because they are banned. In this country, our soldiers have all the symptoms of radiation sickness, but the Government denies that there is a problem and won't treat them. As the sanctions took hold, those that could be arsed about the plight of a Middle East country were told in 2001 that half a million children had died in Iraq. The famous reply by then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was we think the price is worth it. Of course you do. You don't care about the children in your own country, why bother about some dirty Arabs who don't even go to Church or watch football? This is from a country that puts a guy called Looney in charge of bombing Iraq. But hey, we're all trying to knock the humanitarian effort the US of A is doing for folks in the Middle East. If it wasn't for their efforts, these poor kids wouldn't even get their faces on the internet. The big question is "who is next?" Syria and France (yeah, right) have been told off for their stance during the war. But we all know the Yanks like to bomb stuff, even their mates. From June 1998 to January 2000, USAF flew 36,000 sorties over the no fly zone , 2/3's of which were "combat missions". In 1999 alone, almost 2000 bombs were dropped on 450 targets. We did our bit of bombing as well that year, which only cost £800 million. I leave you with the words of Mark Twain 23 April 2003
Elvis Lives, Princess Di. This has been nicked from a link Bluetitch put up. Well, sort of nicked, it's a link from a link. 21 April 2003
From Behind! 
Despite the linesman's attempts to rule EVERYTHING offside, Blues twice came from behind to beat Southampton and secure another 3 points. Sod talking about defying relegation, let's look at Europe! (j/k). 6 wins from our last 8 games. For the first time this season, we win after going behind. What a match! Brucio on Dugarry Oates on Brum Reports Teamtalk BBC Sport Singing The Blues Sporting Life and stats SkySports ICBirmingham 20 April 2003
Blues win away We've got 41 points and we're tied with Villa and Fulham. Despite their win, Albion go down because Bolton beat West Ham. I can't see us going down, only up. Our goals this season were: 1. to stay up 2. to beat the Vile 3. to finish above the Vile looking good so far ;-) 
REPORTS BBC Sports Teamtalk Singing the Blues The Guardian/Observer (rare in their praise for the Blues) ICBirmingham who also have a good interview with Stan Lazaridis Bring on the Saints! Race Results from British SuperBikes Sunday, 20 April, 2003 British Superbike Championship, Thruxton: Race 1: 1 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 26min 58.706sec 2 Steve Hislop (Yamaha) at 4.850sec 3 Michael Rutter (Ducati) 5.783 4 Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 8.802 5 Steve Plater (Honda) 8.927 6 Sean Emmett (Ducati) 9.911 7 Gary Mason (Yamaha) 11.732 8 Mark Heckles (Honda) 21.430 9 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 21.554 10 John Crawford (Ducati) 22.481 11 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki) 28.923 12 John Reynolds (Suzuki) 42.329 13 Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 44.441 14 Paul Young (Yamaha) 53.369 15 Francis Williamson (Yamaha) 1min 05.521sec 16 Mike Walker (Yamaha) 1 lap 17 Paul Jones (Suzuki) 1 lap 18 Neil Cray (Suzuki) 1 lap Not Classified: 19 Nick Medd (Ducati) DNF 9 laps Dean Ellison (Ducati) DNF 0 laps Jon Kirkham (Yamaha) DNF 0 laps Race 2: 1 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 28min 11.120sec 2 Michael Rutter (Ducati) at 2.735sec 3 Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 2.844 4 Steve Plater (Honda) 4.065 5 Steve Hislop (Yamaha) 6.153 6 Gary Mason (Yamaha) 11.002 7 Sean Emmett (Ducati) 14.933 8 Mark Heckles (Honda) 15.360 9 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 27.897 10 Dean Ellison (Ducati) 28.246 11 Scott Smart (Kawasaki) 28.405 12 Lee Jackson (Kawasaki) 28.761 13 John Crawford (Ducati) 28.956 14 Francis Williamson (Yamaha) 49.440 15 Paul Young (Yamaha) 53.386 16 Mike Walker (Yamaha) 1min 15.888sec 17 Paul Jones (Suzuki) 1:16.319 18 Nick Medd (Ducati) 1 lap Not Classified: John Reynolds (Suzuki) DNF 11 laps Jon Kirkham (Yamaha) DNF 2 laps Championship standings: 1 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 140pts 2 Michael Rutter (Ducati) 99 3 Glen Richards (Kawasaki) 72 4 Gary Mason (Yamaha) 59 5 Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) 58, Race Results from Super Sport Race result: 1. S. Easton (Ducati) 26:13.654 2. K. Harris (Honda) +10.607 3. J. Crockford (Honda) +15.269 4. S. Andrews (Yamaha) +15.884 5. T. Sykes (Yamaha) +17.215 6. A. Coates (Honda) +19.768 7. R. Frost (Kawasaki) +20.091 8. K. Murphy (Kawasaki) +20.561 9. T. Tunstall (Yamaha) +26.325 10. S. Norval (Yamaha) +26.850 14. J. Moodie (Triumph ValMoto) +29.879 17. C. Jones (Triumph ValMoto) +47.757 British Super Bike Qualifying Michael Rutter went 1.5 seconds faster than his best qualifying time to claim pole position for the race at Thruxton today. Rutter put his Renegade Ducati 0.362 seconds in front of Shane Byrne on the Monster Mob bike. Third on the grid went to a resurgent Steve Hislop, looking for a good result after a bad weekend at the previous round at Snetterton. Glen Richards also had a good qualifying, completing the front row 0.657 seconds down on pole. The second row includes Gary Mason, John Reynolds, Steve Plater, and in seventh, ex-WSB rider Mark Heckles in his first BSB race on the Honda. 1) Michael Rutter 1:14.771s. 2) Shane Byrne 1:15.133s. 3) Steve Hislop 1:15.220s. 4) Glen Richards 1:15.428s. 5) Gary Mason 1:16.325s. 6) John Reynolds 1:16.396s. 7) Mark Heckles 1:16.528s. 8) Steve Plater 1:16.769s. 9) Lee Jackson 1:16.774s. 10) Dean Ellison 1:16.788s. 11) Scott Smart 1:16.888s. 12) Sean Emmett 1:17.063s. Non-Superpole qualifiers: 13) John Crawford. 14) Jon Kirkham. 15) Yukio Kagayama. 16) Francis Williamson. 17) Paul Jones. 18) Mike Walker. 19) Nick Medd. 20) Neil Cray. DNQ: Paul Young. British Supersport Qualifying 1) Stuart Easton. 2) Karl Harris. 3) Tom Sykes. 4) Simon Andrews. 5) Adrian Coates. 6) Kieran Murphy. 7) John Crockford. 8) Mark Burr. 9) Leon Haslam. 10) Shane Norval. 11) Jim Moodie. 12) Jamie Robinson. 13) Michael Laverty. 14) John McGuinness. 15) Danny Beaumont. 16) Rob Frost. 17) Tom Tunstall. 18) Callum Ramsay. 19) Craig Jones. 20) Craig Sproston. ValMoto qualifying report. It says something about this years riders and bikes, if the qualifying time is almost 2 seconds faster than the lap record. Valmoto Triumph put in time that was a gnat's nut away from the the old lap record, only to see it smashed to pieces by at least 6 other riders. It also looks like me old mate Rob Frost is struggling with the new Kwak. Rob's very fast but he needs to just get the points in, rather than try and get the fastest lap each lap. Good luck all. 19 April 2003
Football According to IPFreely, who reports on the Birmingham Reserve team, Kirovski and SqueezyCheesy both had a good run out mid week. Savage is reported to be available for today's game and with Bryan Hughes scoring a cracking goal last week, Brucio has some selection problems in midfield. Feck me, I never thought I would be saying that about Blues! Blues travel to London to play Charlton. Charlton have an excellent manager in Alan Curbishley. He's one of those rare managers who just gets on with his job using the resources available to him. Inheriting a team in the old second division and without a ground of it's own, Curbishley helped establish the Charlton side throughout the 1990s, before assuming full managerial control in June 1995. Three seasons later, the Addicks were promoted to the Premiership He's an ex Birmingham City player and someone I had on my wish list as Francis' replacement. Talking of which, Trevor Francis got the boot the other day. Shame. Anyway, back to today's game. Both sides can be very hard to predict. One week they are capable of beating a top six side, the next, falling over themselves to give the game away. 1-1. However, dear old Lawro reckons Blues will lose, which is always a good omen. With the baby due any minute, I'm on home guard. So I'll be glued to the radio. Today, I will be mostly musical Barney hits the South Side (how do I put one of those parent advisory stickers onto me blog?) ;-) BINGO! 
If that didn't give your mind a little side step, watch this ode to the moon. Now take a step back into time and sing along to this children's TV classic. You can even have your mobile phone join in. 
18 April 2003
I could sit and Blog, but it's a nice day, so I'm going out on the bike. By the way, they are making a doll of Comical Ali! 13 April 2003
Me like pie. Mmmmm. Pie.  Me like pie crisps. Mmmmm. Pie crisps. Me like pie blogs. Mmmm. Pie blogs. Me like Weebl and Bob's latest adventure about pie. Mmmmm. Pie.  
     
Reports The Sunday Times Observer icNewcastle Sky Sports and here BBC Singing the Blues Sporting life 09 April 2003
Back to Baghdad So, the Yanks have conquered the land, hearts and minds of the people of Iraq. In order to install in them the initial trait of of capitalism, ownership, looting has been allowed and even promoted. One of the stories that has touched me is the tale of an Iraqi father who dared to fight for his homeland. He was captured by British troops who held him for questioning He feared for the safety of his son. His son didn't want to leave his father's side. 
So they kept them together. 07 April 2003
Update The baby didn't move all weekend, so we went to the hospital. Mrs Kwacky and little kwacky were monitored. Little Kwacky's heart rate was very high, reaching up to 180 bpm at times but there was no movement. Sam saw about 3 midwives, 3 doctors and a consultant. She was put on a drip and given antibiotics just in case the wee one had an infection. Blood and urine samples were taken. The combination of the high heart rate and no movement worried the hosptial staff. One doctor said "you probably can't feel any movement because you have a lot of fluid". This expert opinion was based on the size of Mrs Kwacky's bump. The scan machine came, the doctor changed her mind "oh, it's a large baby isn't it?" Sam started to tell me where everything was in the house in case she stayed over night. A midwife overheard "don't take any of the baby stuff out, bring it along"!!! They were talking about a c-section. The "Nil by Mouth" sign went up on her door. A scan, another machine, more tests. They finally decided to keep Mrs Kwacky in overnight to check on progress. If need be, they could induce. Great. I got to bed at about 1 this morning. Neither of us slept. In the morning the little tyke started to wriggle about (must be tough when you've got your head firmly wedged in someone's pelvis). More tests, another machine, a new type of scan. This one was so detailed it allowed them to watch the blood flow. Heart rate at 160 bpm. Still high but improved. Little kwacky could be seen mouthing something, probably "bugger off, I'm trying to sleep". All fingers and toes are there. Nothing amiss by all accounts. 6 and half pounds at the moment. "Do you want to go home and feel miserable or stay here and feel miserable?" "I think I prefer to be at home" opined Mrs Kwacky (or was that pined?") So, she came home. Then slept. For 6 hours. No baby yet, but, just like it's dad, making itself known. 06 April 2003
05 April 2003
The reports from both sides are mixed. US are saying that the incursion into south Baghdad was part of the operation to take the city. Then they say it was a reconn into the city,but, die to the limited resistance they meet, they carried on into town. Now they are saying they are just checking out the area. Iraq say that no western troops are in the city and that the Republican Guard have expelled all coalition troops from Saddam/Baghdad International Airport. US military report a site with chemical weapons which have been buried. We've had similar reports before of course. However, the sceptic in me thinks that America will "find" weapons of mass destruction by hook or by crook, just as police have often "found" some damning evidence in a person who is a known criminal but has evaded detection for some time. UK forces in South Iraq have found a mass grave of people who "appear to have been executed". George must be thrilled seeing as he rules the only country apart from Nigeria that executes minors and 38 of his 50 states have the death penalty. Almost 4000 Americans sit on death row. A study of death row cases between 1973-1995 (4578 cases) found that almost 70% had serious reversible errors. Makes you proud to be in bed with these people in the fight for truth, justice and the American way. But don't get me wrong, I do believe that some good will come out of this (or am I just fooling myself?) The BBC website reports that the people in a small town in the South have heard the Iman calling them to prayer for the first time in 15 years. Maybe it's because I'm no great fan of the American regime, maybe it's because I do have some faith in our armed forces, or maybe it's just the manner in which this is being reported by press around the world (believe, me I do read more sites than just the BBC) but it does seem that British troops have more of sense of purpose than taking on the Republican Guard and showing images of destroyed Iraqi military hardware? Questions will arise about the legality of those killed by Saddam's regime, but let's not forget that the good old US of A public defenders advise clients to plea bargain rather than ask for a trial by jury (which they are entitled to by their Constitution). In 1998, the Californian public defender made sure that only 1, count it, 1, felony client had a trial by jury. OUT OF ALMOST 900 Defendants!. God bless America. MotoGP The new season starts this weekend. Rossi maintains pole at wet and windy Suzuka Cold, blustery conditions and persistent light showers made for mixed conditions at the Suzuka Circuit yesterday afternoon, where Valentino Rossi maintained pole position for the SKYY VODKA Grand Prix of Japan. The only rider to improve his time from yesterday was Jeremy McWilliams, who bravely attacked the patchy track at the start of the session to ensure qualification, after failing to lap within 107% of Rossi's provisional pole time yesterday due to mechanical problems. With ambient temperatures as low as 6ºC and the track registered at just 11ºC, the rain which had fallen throughout the morning was never going to dry in time to allow the other riders to make any progress and several teams decided not to lap at all. Their decision was confirmed when further spots of rain began to appear halfway through the session. McWilliams was by far the quickest rider today ahead of what could finally be the two-strokes' last stand, with Proton Team KR (UK bike, born and built here!) optimistic that their all-new V5 four-stroke will be ready for the Arnette Africa's Grand Prix in three weeks' time. Qualifying times here Woke up this morning and switched on the news. Some officials say that the American troops have made it into or near the centre of Baghdad. They have been concerns raised by army officers that Iraq would use chemial or biological weapons. I would be very surprised if that was the case, especialy in the capital. Strete to street fighting is the closest scariest and most dangerous type of combat. Every house can contain an artillery piece, sniper, RGP or be booby trapped. The Soviets took Berlin in 3 days but at the cost of 80,000 soldiers. The number of killed civilians is not known. As this war is more about propoganda and "liberty" and promises to keep civilian casualties to a minimum, the RAF have developed a special concrete bomb. This bomb can be guided like anyother, but it contains no explosives. It can hole a bunker or building or take out armour without a blast radius which could harm or kill those around the piece. Wherever our troops may serve, they always have time for a nice cup of tea :-) Ever fancy yourself as a thrash metal lead singer? Now you can practice in the safety of your own home with Growl Karaoke. Or you can try this rather distasteful suicide bomber game. Here's one for Squealy, a beer mat game for when the boozer isn't open. 02 April 2003
Iraq This war is heading for a bloody ending. Coalition troops mass outside Baghdad and the Iraqi Republican Guard brace for the opening shots. The governments of both sides have been busy preparing. Iraq says US or UK missiles exploded in a market place, UK and US suggest it was an Iraqi car bomb set off in the Shia area of Baghdad - designed not just to kill and injure, but to turn Saddam's known opponents against the alien invaders. US troops rescued a PoW. 2 more US soldiers were found inside the same building but the troops aren't sure if they were already dead or killed during the ambush. Blair warns us that Saddam will use dirty tactics to turn public opinion against the coalition. The destruction of important religious sites is imminent. I gave up on the press a while ago. I read everything with a pinch of salt no matter the source, be it Western, Arab or Russian. That's not to say I don't believe everything and I do appreciate a good article, like this this account of UK marines inspecting a police station. Bike I'm off on Friday. Taking the bike in for a quick fix (front forks and an engine bolt to care for) then I'm going to go for a nice long rode to blow away the cobwebs. The Sportsbiker crowd (link to the left, cheers Joe!) are meeting up in Stow this Sunday. I can't believe it was a year ago when we all met up for some pub grub and a drink and when we met Ket on his new CBR600. He'd not had it long and we left him behind. I had to stop and wait for him! Think it'll be the other way round this year! I won't get to use the bike much this year and I certainly won't be doing many track days. Shame. There seems to be one organised almost every week. I'll have to hang out with a cruiser crowd next year I'll be so slow! Baby The nursery is almost done, just a colourful border and a dimmer switch to put up. Jenny the Giraffe has moved in and looks at home in the cot. Less than 4 weeks to D-Day. Have to make sure Jr doesn't arrive on or near a home game ;-) |
