sjdean on the blog

One of the most intriguing things that has grasped my attention recently in my Christian faith, is the concept and important of Community. As a single person, it gives me a unique experience into the struggles people can have, and without my singleness, I would not have found other voice who feel lonely and isolated yet welcomed and accepted by their Church. My bible study and reading over the years has given me a model of Christian living that is rich in community, showing itself in fellowship, support, care and love for on another, in strong bonds of friendship that should be some of the closest we have in our lives. We have a relationship with God through the power of the Holy Spirit. We are reconciled to him, therefore, as I've said a few times before, we should be reconciled to each other. We are interconnected as one body, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, we are the same in Christ, no division, no barriers. If one of us hurts, we all hurt! As Jesus said, a new command...

It is starting to drive me mad everytime I see a Facebook post talking about what the Conservatives are doing to the NHS by signing the biggest privatisation deals in history. Well no. Not really. Its a collection of 11 deals with the biggest one at £240 million, at only half of the cost of the £500 million Virgin Care service. And the deal only brings in outside contractors. It does not privatise any section of the NHS. It is not being sold off. Of course, total all the PFI contracts for hospital building signed under the previous Labour government, where were the complainers then? Where were these liberals complaining about privatisation? " The high cost of hospitals built under PFI is forcing service cuts at neighbouring hospitals built with public money. For example, overspending at the PFI-funded Worcestershire Royal Hospital has put a question mark over services at neighbouring hospitals" Anyhow. Until these people agree that there are savings to be made in th...

I was going to label this post, "Equality", but how about All Inclusiveness instead. I've been reading this week on Feminism jargon from the likes of Emma Watson and something about Iceland and equal rights. There's a lot going on there, but there's still something that rubs me up the wrong way. In the name of equality, we ascribe labels to groups and talk about what they do and do not have and what we must do to get that group equality. But then we splinter this group even further when part of that group doesn't agree with the nuances of the other part of the group. It's quite amusing as a man seeing a group of women bickering amongst themselves about how feminism should work and calling each other names! It's actually not amusing at all, it's quite sad. At Church, it sometimes saddens me when I hear about all the different groups and activities for the different sections of community, There are groups targeted for children, for families...

I pre-ordered the Google Nexus from Carphone Warehouse a couple of weeks back on the 19th November. What Im surprised with, is that they've taken funds from my credit card before having the stock available. I do actually have some sympathy for them. Phones are high cost items, they don't want people placing lots of orders and cancelling when another provider eventually delivers. Makes sense. But. both the 32 Gig and 64 Gig variant were down for 1st December shipping. Great! You'll have it before anyone else! I'll order the 64 Gig from you. That has now been pushed back 2 weeks to 15th December. The 32 Gig has also similarly been pushed back to 8th December. And we all know how phone releases work - 15th December is an estimated date, and I quite expect actually to see no stock arrive then and it will be pushed back to maybe start of January. So Carphone Warehouse will be sitting on my money for at least four weeks if not longer. Usually in the world of Mail ...

Not often I find myself with a vendetta against someone, but right now, I've got one against TSC Cars. Oh, I don't mean Im going to send round some flaming horse muck in a bag or anything. I mean, Im going to do whatever I can to make sure people realise what they're like - restorative reputation. As you know, my problem, is that my car is so reliable, it's difficult to get rid of, but it has got a few sore points like blowing oil past some valve stem seals. I visited TSC Cars near Balsall Common, though I think they also say near Kenilworth, Honiley and Coventry, probably a couple of years ago to look at a VW Passat. I was very unsure about it and wanted to do my research before buying. Im not your average consumer, I look at MPG, real world and quoted, reliability, timing drive vs belt, problems with the vehicle in general. Not being able to make up my mind, I never took it for a test drive. Second car, was actually a more reasonably priced Peugeot 407, but ...

Dear Sir, I was in the left hand lane of Church Road to turn right onto the A4040 in Yardley Birmingham when a white vehicle in the right hand lane also turning right, cut across into my lane. You were also in the right hand lane and wound down your window to start explaining that the left hand lane is for the store and I should go back and take a look. I explained both lanes for the A4040 and you should take a look. I hereby offer the following picture for your future reference: While the left hand lane is indeed for the store, I hope that you can see both lanes clearly show A4040. Not only that, the lanes on the round about are clearly defined. Im hoping you don't tell people off for driving in bus lanes outside their hours of operation?

Am I over Rush . Nah. Rush are brilliant. Many years ago I bought a great rock album from 1997 called Cheap Trick. Not the first Cheap Trick, but the second Cheap Trick. I wasn't too keen on their earlier stuff. I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I find myself seeing Cheap Trick videos on YouTube and being blown away about how good a band in their early 60s are. This surely gives Rush some hope. Forget Rolling Stones. Cheap Trick and Rush are at the forefront of progressive OAPs. Gives me some comfort that life isn't over at 40. I've found that the strained voice of Robin Zander I found on the 1997 album is a bit of an act and the guy has a brilliant vocal range and still in his 40 years of touring with Cheap Trick, still delivers flawless performances in the same Chicago range. Tom Peterssons 12 string bass has a really great sound to it, I can only hope Teddy Lee picks one up for the next album. Rick Nielsen is a funny and charismatic guitar player who see...

I have been boring people to death with thoughts about buying a new car. I am unfortunately not one of those people who can simple say "I want that one". Ten years ago, maybe, when Nissan were reliable. However newer cars have so much more fangled gubbins to go wrong - and that's mainly with the diesel engines, from diesel particulate filters that require a certain way of driving (eg 60km/h for 20 minutes) to re-generate, dual mass flywheels, injectors, timing belts vs virtually indestructable timing chains, egr valves, even service intervals. My Primera, do an oil and filter change at 6000 miles and the car continues. However my car is now smoking at start up, so it's nearly dead. On top of the diesel problems, and each manufacturer has their own unique design and way of doing things, some belts last longer than others, some injectors are better, some engine designs are more robust, others disintegrate, Ford Mondeo legendarily reliable in 2007+, but econo...

I've seen various delays in my area from BT OpenReach with enabling Fibre to the Cabinet, or FTTC as it is known. Let it be known this is a major project and there will be delays and problems. However as an IT professional, it is the way in which those issues are handled, progressed and conveyed which to me gives the most contention as the handling is poor, progression is slow, and the lack of information to the general public is virtually none existant. There are many people in similar situations to myself where BT have given excuse after excuse as to why their cabinet has been delayed in the roll out and each one has been proven wrong. My particular situation for the CMSPR Exchange for Hall Green and Springfield, saw a typical roll out. The cabinets were installed and connected to fibre and the first ten cabinets activated for fibre really quickly at the beginning of September. A month later, start of October, and we have ten more cabinets enabled. However my cabinet is o...

It is fundamentally disgraceful to sell off the Royal Mail. The government says it is a way to bring in fresh revenue. If someone really does have £3bn to purchase the Royal Mail, how on earth are they going to be able to afford to pump more money into it to upgrade facilities? Either prices go up, or costs go down. But hey, we can't afford everything, people want their benefits and taxes to go down - but we don't want to pay for it. It is a mistake to sell off the Royal Mail, but it's a mistake for us as the electorate to expect something for nothing.

I recently went to see Kick Ass 2 at the Odeon Broadway Plaza cinema. I usually use CineWorld at Broad Street as that is a wonderful cinema. Odeon however had the film I wanted to see. There was no obvious notice from outside that the cinema was actually open. I had to tentatively scout for an open door. Very uninviting. I collected my tickets from the machine and was seen by an "usher" or ticket inspector who validated my ticket and asked me to fill out a survey. My sensors were up. The male toilets downstairs were filthy. Missing soap dispensers of which only two were available, and only one had soap. Even that fell off the wall while using it. A cubicle had grafiti and the ceiling was filthy. I purchased a drink, popcorn and hotdog. I was not told about a lift which would have helped. It's difficult enough to get that up the stairs without assistance and it was worse for me with my vertigo. I managed one flight of stairs to the landing and saw the next flight of...

When I heard that BT was going to roll out Fibre to my local telephone exchange the CMSPR "Springfield" exchange, I was absolutely delighted. I don't like Virgin cable, and quite frankly being the second city, the fibre rollout by BT has been appalling. Other more rural locations were getting it before us.  But first the Exchange became marked as a Future Exchange and I remained patient. It then rolled over to a "Coming Soon" exchange and would be enabled by the end of September 2013. Brilliant News. I can finally move away from ADSL2+ and with BeThere being sold off to Sky, it's a good change to migrate to a new service. Far be it from me to be ignorant of how they install fibre, I've read up on how other people get their cabinets installed. Sometimes a contractor plonks a cabinet on the ground then come back weeks later to dig up and install power, trunking to BT man holes for routing cable then weeks and months later, possibly fibre. ...

Here's a picture of the house from the Central Television Production of the Upper Hand. The house is already on the internet in several forms in video, so I have no issue with posting this as proof I found it. But I will respect privacy and not publish the location for now.

Im a great fan of The Upper Hand TV show. It was filmed by Central Independent Television in Nottingham using the scripts of the American sitcom, Who's the Boss as a basis. Im a fan of regional television, Central in particular being my local region and wish it would return. But I've always been curious to find the Upper Hand House. I have now found the house. I found it on Google Maps and Street View and visited the area on Sunday and took my own photographs. For security and privacy reasons, I cannot divulge the location, but once I've suitably blurred out any identifying details, I may post a picture of the house - the decision will be based on the fact that pictures of the house are available on a DVD. I would love to share with you the area, as we could have fan days and visit the local pub, but I have been advised there is a restriction on posting pictures of the house for security purposes. I don't think this is true, and nothing in UK Law stops me from d...

I've been a little dismayed to see that Kick Ass 2 hasn't been quite as successful at the box office as it's predecessor. It is true that nothing can hold a candle to Kick Ass, but Kick Ass 2 is still a great movie in its own right. If the UK is anything to go by, I think the problem has been a complete lack of advertising. Nobody I know actually knew the thing had been released. I wasn't even aware of the first Kick Ass until my brother showed it to me to be frank. When I talked about Kick Ass 2, the reaction has been "when's that out?". I've had to say it's been out three weeks! As far as I can see, apart from Jim Carrey and a huge poster on a relatively quiet road, there's been virtually no advertising. No wonder it's performing poorly. Looks like it's near the end of it's run, so go see it people. Simon

I've been hearing a lot about bangernomics recently - which essentially about finding the hidden gems of automobiles, cheap, high mileage, well looked after, used cars, not necessarily all three, loving them for as little as possible and then running them into the ground without worrying about high cost repairs. This I think comes from the idea that when people looking to change their current car, should check to see how much the current car costs in terms of how much it costs monthly to fix, vs loan repayments and then only changing it when the monthly cost increases. I believe this is somewhat of a false economy. First off the simple premise, you don't get anything for free. So even the banger has to be bought from somewhere, and even though you're not spending wild amounts of money, still has a cost to it. So it is a case of minimising that cost. Now most will buy their banger with an MOT, use it for a year, sell it on. But, my car cost me £3000, I've had ...

Im thinking of using a little money to follow my vocation. First step, is to purchase a new bass guitar. For many years, I've had a Vintage V900 (Vintage - a brand name of John Hornby Skewes). It is a reliable bass, but I've had problems with it over the years. Take the back plate off to change the battery and you're left with a mish mash of wires and what looks like a possibly second hand Active Bass electronics. The wiring is substandard and brittle and I've had to resolder things several times. There's no electro magnetic shielding in the battery and electronic compartment and this could explain the hideous humming you get when waving the bass near anything electrical such as a monitor. The action was too low causing hideous fret buzz, and the tuners kept detuning, poor poor parts, and needed to be replaced. Very poor in my opinion. But it has been my reliable steed. However the pots are now disintegrating and unusable. So Im considering a Fender ...

Before I get going, let me just point out that the staff are fabulous, PALS are fabulous. It is obvious they are working under difficult situations and making the best of it. This gripe is about the "system". I've been due to have my gallbladder out. They called for me last Tuesday to advise the operation had been cancelled as they had run out of space due to Norovirus doing the rounds and the other hospitals closed. Although I failed to get the message, they did however leave one, and they have been busy with other issues since Norovirus. No problem there. The biggest gripe I have is that neither reception, or the nurses said my operation had been cancelled. They just said there was a problem and left me waiting in the waiting room for two and a half hours. They eventually got back in yesterday. Nil by mouth again since midnight, hanging around waiting, waiting, no feedback. Just patient waiting. I was there from 8am and the doctor finally saw me at 2.30pm to say t...

I hear many debates about the privatisation of the NHS, some make arguments that it would be good, others bad. It is hard to know where to tread in this minefield. However, I am conscious, that any private company exists, mainly and solely to make a profit - unless of course it is a truly philanthropic company, but given that most companies have shareholders, and shareholders by and large care about making a few quid through the stock market, then to me the idea of private companies running parts of the NHS is an absolutely abhorrent idea to me. Competition is the thing that is lauded. Competition is good. Is is. But in this captitalist and greedy culture we live in, that competition will seek to cut corners. It will either save costs through mergers, or cutting back of non-essential services. Employees, namely doctors (and most likely nurses) will have to work longer hours, more oncall hours, perhaps less pay reviews, less benefits, less investment in equipment. The only way ...

It almost amazes me when some downtrodden fetishist group declares the Church has lost touch with Society and that the Church needs to reflect society. How can we ask Gay Bishops to be celibate? The Church has clearly lost its way. Gay bishops, Celibacy, right or wrong, Im not here to debate that point. Im here to debate the principle that the Church is expected to almost follow mainstream society. What is good for society, is good for the Church. Er, if that was the case, we should be tolerating alcoholism, recreational drug use, casual and promiscuous sex, divorce, consumerism, materialism etc. The Church may be an outdated concept, but I believe the Church and its leaders have a position to be the last vestige of moral ethics, a beacon, a guiding light in the decaying fabric of society. Instead of wanton permissiveness and selfish greed, we strive we something more, something better, purpose, meaning, self-respect. Our greed and permissiveness can be seen in marriage and div...