It's a Blog ! Not a Log !

Mentioned a few posts back that I won the Carphone Warehouse’s TechnoGeek contest, which resulted in me winning a lovely shiney new Dell Laptop, also mentioned in previous posts was a bit about the piece they had in the Trafford Metro about me winning, at the time I did’nt actually have a copy of this news piece, but now thanks to the lovely Suzi at Bisslancaster I now have a copy, so with no further ado heres what the Metro had to say

VINCE IS THE (TECH) CHAMP!

Trafford man announced as Trafford’s gadget grand master!

A Trafford man has been named  ‘Tech Champ’ after winning a competition with the new-look Carphone Warehouse store at the Trafford Centre.

The store wanted to find the area’s biggest technology fanatic who could become a honourary member of the store team and be able to review and provide feedback on all of the new products, and self confessed technology geek, Vince Elgey from Davyhulme, certainly fits the bill!

Vince (43), who works in IT, explains: “I admit that I’m a tech geek. If it has a wi-fi then I want it, if it’s the latest model then I must have it, if it means I can talk to my twice removed cousin in Timbuktu then I’m in the queue! I’m constantly twittering on my iPhone, updating my Facebook status and posting on my blog.”

As part of his prize, Vince received a brand new Dell laptop and he’ll also get to test out exciting new products before they hit the shelves.

Vince continues: “Technology plays such an important part in my life so I was thrilled to be chosen as the Tech Champ. I’m really looking forward to getting the chance to review the new products that come into store and I’ll be posting my reviews on my twitter, Facebook, YouTube, blog and AudioBoo accounts!”

Branch manager Neil Sears, explains: “It used to be the case that gadget lovers were thought of as being a bit geeky.  However these days it’s rather cool; everyone wants to have the best laptop, the most stylish phone or the latest application or music download on their mobiles.  In fact all of our store team are extremely proud of their expert knowledge and gadget know-how. “

Neil continues: “We’re excited to welcome Vince as an honorary member of our team. It’s always useful for us to get customer feedback on all our new products and services and I think Vince is going to do a fantastic job for us!”

The store is the latest in the new breed of ‘wireless lite’ Carphone Warehouse stores which have been developed to keep up with an ever changing technology market. Customers can find a wide range of laptops, portable game consoles and games and broadband packages as well as all the latest mobile phones and a team of experts who can handle any home IT problems and provide quick and expert solutions. They can even offer computer support and repairs as well as technology tuition.

Anyhows the Laptops still going strong and I’m loving it to bits and am looking forward to eventually testing out some of the gizmos and devices the Carphone Warehouse decide to throw my way and once they do I’ll be sure to test it to its limits and share the results with you lot

for a couple of the Mashable Open Award

Theres  anumber of catagories I’d ideally like people to nominate me for:

1st up is Flickr Photo of the year

Click to vote

Then of course theres the Best Blogger to follow

Click  to vote

So come on people get voting for your one and only It’s a Blog ! Not a Log !

And was presently surprised to discover that it’s a Dell Inspiron 1750 Laptop, 17″ Display, Dual Core, 250gig drive and 4gig of Ram

Quite liking it alot, so anyways arrived at the Carphone Warehouse at 10:45am and by 11:00am the photographer had arrived and then spent the next hour having photo’s of me in various poses picking up the prize, hopefully be getting some pictures emailed across to me by the Photographer a very nice man called Paul Francis, his website can be found here Paul Francis Photography, check the site out to see the sort of work he does, I think you’ll be impressed, plus he’s a top bloke

After having the photo’s taken I rang Keri at Bisslancaster to thank them, after all it’s not every day you win a laptop is it . . ., also thanked the people at Carphone Warehouse and the guys behind Geek Squad for donating the Lap Top as a prize, hoping that in the next few weeks that I’ll get a call telling me whether I’ll be getting gadgets to review for them or not, hoping I will as I have in mind to set up a sub-domain on my webhost and set up a specific blog just for the reviews.

Now suppose I’d best go play with the new Lap Top a little bit more so that I can hopefully review it on here

Thanks again Carphone Warehouse

Ok, ok I’m an UberGeek already I know, but now I can finally apply for a job as one, I won’t get paid for it, but there’s a chance to play with all things geekery for free . . 

Seems our local branch of the Carphone Warehouse are looking to employ an Honorary member of staff who’ll get to play with all the new shiney gadgets they get at there store, what more could I want ( erm maybe my own Hubble telescope ), so I think I’m going to enter, god only knows what toy’s I’ll get to play with if I get to be a winner, be pretty cool testing out new stuff and it’ll give me the chance to review it on here at the same time.

If its camera phones I can use them for either my flickr or YouTube account, then there’s always the chance it could be the latest 3G phone with fancy apps for me tweet with, anyway I’m in the middle of hopefully successfully selling myself to those Carphone Warehouse people and need to get back to typing up an email . .  watch this space to see if I’m the one. . . .  .

Just a quick post to let everyone know that its Chorlton Park Festival today and we;ll be there entering Blue our Cane Corso in the RSPCA Fun Dog Show, so we’re hoping you’ll all be there to offer Blue some support.

Will hopefully post some photos and videos of the day later, details below about the event, its being held at

Chorlton Park
Barlow Moor Road/Mauldeth Road
Manchester M21 7HH

“Dear All,

The RSPCA Manchester and Salford Branch are running a Funday on the 11th of July 2009 – 12-5pm.

There will be:

* Dog shows
* Ethical and charitable stalls
* Rescue dog parade
* Flyball Demos
* Food and refreshments
* Artists and musicians
* Games and rides
* Bouncy castle
* Climbing wall
* Football tournament
* Other Sports

If any charities, community groups and ethical traders would like a stall at the festival:
info only is free
charity/community stall £10
trader/business £25

Please email for booking forms or call 0161 882 0680.

ALSO DOG MOT’S:

We will have vets doing free health checks for dogs. Fleaing, worming and microchipping can be purchased for just £1 each! Brilliant money saver!”

2 Very Tired Passengers

Well actually got back Sunday night but just not been arsed to post about it . .

What happened then ? Well we arrived at Adam’s early Saturday morning, made ourselves welcome and just chilled for a couple of hours, the afternoon was spent wondering up and down the Thames near Hampton Court waiting for Blue to do her little bit before returning to the Braggs household where we were treated to Adam showing us his fine BBQ skills, these skills were greatly helped by the handy Butchers down the road which sold what I class as some of the finest sausages I’ve ever had, they also did a nice sideline in chive and onion cheese.

It was good to see Adam as not seen him in about 8-12 months I reckon, also got the opportunity to meet the latest edition to the household Francesca, gorgeous child, she’s definitely got Sam’s looks, it also gave Mel the chance to get acquitted with the kiddiwinks, seems Ava there eldest was hooked on Mel, spent most of the weekend latched onto her, which was kind of cute in a non broody way.

Other house guests for the weekend were Jenny, again someone I’d not seen in a long while, probably about 4yrs ago was the last time I saw her, she’s just returned from working in New Zealand and was crashing at there place until she found work/lodgings I’m guessing.

Anyway the evening was spent drinking and watching a movie or 2, then it was off to bed.

Sunday was another early start and we left Adam and co around 9:30am to make our way to Essex for the Cane Corso day, actually thought we’d get there fairly quickly, but due to that horrible road the M25 it took us about 2.5hrs to travel 100 odd miles, arriving about 1:00pm, the event started around about 1:30pm so we headed to the local pub for a few beers and some food, I went for the Plough-mans Bacon sarnie (Don’t ask), Mel decided she wasnt all that hungry.

Anyway after relaxing with a beer for about 1/2hr we headed to the event, it was held in an equestrian centre just outside Wix and when we got there it was fairly bustling with people and their Cane Corso, never have I seen so many dogs of one breed in one place at one time, it was a sight to behold, and the difference’s in sizes, colours and temperaments of all the gathered Corso’s was amazing, before this event we’d only ever met one other Cane Corso and that was a puppy called Koo in Cornwall and now we were faced with about 50+ of them, but even though I do say it myself Blue was indeed the prettiest princess on the block, she gotta few admiring glances I reckon from all the dogs there lol.

We entered Blue in a few of the competitions, but alas she didn’t walk away with any prizes this time, which was a shame as it would have made up for the 700 miles we must have put in over the weekend just to get there and back, but all in all it was a fun day, though Mel was a little put off it all due to another Cane Corso wanting to take a bite out of Blue, but that’s to be expected when you have over 50+ of these magnificent beasts in one place. So after bidding our farewells we set off home around about 3:30pm, eventually arriving home about 8:30pm, I got myself off to bed and Mel did the same a couple of hours later and that was the end of a very hectic driving weekend.