Please don’t judge me too harshly, but for the past couple of years I’ve been nurturing a love affair with a TV program.

Sometimes my inner geek just gets the better of my and I have to feed it, but its usually left disappointed and unfulfilled when a show inevitably outlives it’s natural life but continues to be made as it’s a “bit of a money spinner”¹. But not so with BSG. And yeah, its a sordid little secret, but I just can’t help myself.

If (for some insane reason) you haven’t been keeping up with the Adama’s the last episode aired this last Friday. While I’m a little sad to see it go, I’m so glad at least it (almost) gets an ending, and didn’t just peter out when the main cast all leave and the writers run out of ideas. If you’ve got no idea whats occurring in the BSG Universe, you can check out the basic plot - although I’m guessing if you’re not into it, you’ve stopped reading by now anyway.

A Fitting End

Warning - Spoilers!

The ending was, to be honest, annoyingly obvious. They find Earth, and it turns out that the entire thing has been set 150,000 years in our past - so the Humans and Cylons that come to (our) Earth are what gave rise to modern man - a common ancestor.

All the survivors agree to send the ships into the Sun and live amongst the prehistoric humans with little or no technology.

And it turns out Baltar wasn’t crazy after all, and the “Angel 6″ that only he can see is a messenger from God, as is Starbuck - but in a slightly different way. The music she remembers playing as a child (and that Hara wrote down) was really the jump co-ordinates to Earth. So the whole thing was engineered by this ‘cosmic entity’ AKA God (although “He doesn’t like that name”).

The character development and personal stories were, as always, top-notch - But it just felt a little like a cop-out. It didn’t really explain why Starbuck was told she was the “Harbinger of Death” - when in fact she was the one who took them to their salvation. Nor, how if the Humans created the Cylons, how is it possible that the Human Cylons had existed for thousands of years? - Unless they’d met-up with them between the first and second wars. Who knows.

There’s a new TV Film coming called “The Plan” - So I guess that’ll fill in some of the holes.

I am, despite some of the ending, still a big fan - But now I need to find another Sci-Fi treat to fill the void that BSG has left. Suggestions (and p*** taking) are most welcome.

¹ *Cough* Stargate SG1 *Cough*

Then came the mighty CD (although my mum still calls these tapes), 74 minutes of digital clarity that skipped when you tried to take it anywhere and scratched when you didn’t put them back in their boxes.

Just prior to the portable digital music player iPod generation, I had a miniDisc player which was a kind of half way house between tapes and CDs and (supposidly) better than both. You had the robustness of tapes with the digital music clarity of CDs. The only problem was that these were about 10 years too late. If they’d have been invented before, they’d have been a smash - the trouble was they were kind of laughable in a world where you could buy a creative Zen jukebox that would store a WHOLE Gigabyte of music on it’s internal hard disc.

And now iPod and iTunes rule the roost. But hot on their heels comes a new kid on the block: Spotify has quickly become my music player of choice when I’m working. But I can’t take it with me. So, where next for Digital Music?

Digital Music On The Go

Surly the next thing that Spoitfy must be working on is portability, and it seams fairly obvious that someone, somewhere must be beavering away on this right now. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Apple - Why not have a service, available through iTunes, that does exactly what Spotify does. Namely offer unlimited streaming music for a fixed fee per month.

BUT what if, as part of your monthly fee, you could license those tracks (obviously with some form of DRM) for your iPod? Suddenly things start to make a lot more sense, The DRM free version on the traditional store would still be available if you wanted to own the music, but you could simply “rent” the music for extended periods of time to listen to on the go. I, for one, would also be more willing to pay a monthly fee for a service that let me take music with me.

Maybe you’d have to re-sync your iPod every week (or so) to renew the rental on your hired music, just to ensure you keep paying the monthly fee and don’t just pay one month and get a load of music for one small price.

If Apple don’t do this, then I can imagine that Spotify may through some kind of iTunes plugin (although I don’t know about the technical ins-and-outs of getting this to work).

It just seems obvious to me that this must surly be the next step in the evolution of digital music. And maybe, with everyone paying a set fee, we can save the music industry.

Last Sunday Christian, Annie and I ran the Sussex Beacon Half Marathon. I must admit, waking up at 6am is usually unheard of for me, but the mix of nerves and excitement made the early morning wake up call somehow easier to bear. Probably not so easy for Katie, or indeed my parents who had driven 200 miles south the previous day to come and watch me do my first ever race. Still, get up we all did and headed into Brighton.

Christian is a bit of a veteran runner, having done the London Marathon in the past, and several other half distances, so inevitably he ran it in 1h 36m, and left Annie and I far behind. In the months running up to the race, me and Annie had completed several big Saturday morning runs, including the full distance a few weeks earlier in 2h 22m. So I was determined to knock a good 20 minutes off this and aim to run it in under two hours.

It was sunny, but still cold when we set off at 9:45am - I felt great! As soon as I started running all the tension and early morning faded away. It’s an awesome experience running along the sea-front, hearing the thunder of a thousand pairs of feet and the cheers of hundreds more people lining the streets.

But that’s nothing compared with the rush you get crossing that finish line. My final chip time was 1:58:35 with Annie coming in just behind me at 2:05:42.

I defiantly think I’m hoked! Really looking forward to the next one, whenever that may be.

There’s no trains to Brighton, the buses are off and it took Katie over an hour to get to work this morning! So I thought I’d get up and see what all the fuss is about.

Walking down to the seafront, there was something of a party atmosphere. All the kids whose schools had been closed were chucking large snowballs encrusted with rocks and glass at each other. I joined in by playing the ‘because it’s snowy I can’t see where all the dog turds are’ game. Fingers frozen and faces aglow the fine people of Littlehampton made the most of the apparent catastrophic transport system failure.

Even this little guy was out enjoying the weather. I spotted him and got a few snaps from a distance, but then he landed right in front of me and proceeded to pose for the camera. Right little show of he was.

So in conclusion, snow is fun and, for some reason, disables 100 tonne express trains.

Hold onto your pants internet because a new phenomenon is coming your way.

There was a seminal moment in our great nations history last Friday when Jonathan Ross and Stephen Fry publicised the service on the BBC. And, in fact Fry’s followers on Twitter increased by over 19,000 people today alone.

This, in fact, could be the perfect tool for celebrities. It offers them an unedited right to reply, and for us lesser mortals a tantalizing glimpse into their worlds. But for me, I can’t really see the attraction in following people like Ross and Fry, for the most part their lives are as mundane as mine, and to be honest - I really don’t care what they’re up to.

If you really want to though, you can follow me, I’m @roobottom (apparently).

Over the last few days I’ve watched in awe the historic events in America. “Yes we can” said Obama, and yes he most certainly did. So now comes the uphill struggle of actually bringing into law so many of the things he’s promised, and a steep climb it looks set to be. But it seems like he’s captured the hearts and minds of not only a nation, but the entire world. As an American friend remarked “We can be proud again, no more pretending we’re Canadian”.

I find myself feeling proud of him, proud of what he’s achieved, but most of all proud of the hope he’s given to millions. But mixed with pride is an odd jealousy - I’m a little ashamed to say that I’m actually more interested in US politics than British at the moment. And why is that? It’s because I’ve lost hope. Hope in the system to affect any real change for our nation’s better.

Compared to Obama, Mr.Brown seems as charismatic as a wet dog. He neither inspires me nor gives me any real indication that he can help press into law changes this country so badly needs. In this time of economic downturn, we need a leader to lift us. We need someone with real conviction, and the moral fortitude to push for change. Heal the sick and feed the poor Jesus said, isn’t Obama’s ideal the embodiment of that? Religious or not, surly you must agree that these things are fundamental to a moral society?

Where do we go from here? What change can we as a people make? How do we make our voices heard to those that would govern us? How do we get our HOPE back?

Katie’s uncle Bill is about to embark on a harebrained scheme to raise some cash for the RNLI. Together with his mate Dave (everyone’s got a mate Dave) they’ll be traveling the entire length of the English and Welsh coast using nothing but their free bus passes.

You can support the old sods by texting SAVE to 84424, they’ll get £1.50 (but some, very nasty, networks may charge you slightly more). Or donate on their just giving page, and that way they’ll get ALL your lovely wonga, and if you’re a UK TAX payer, they’ll get that too.

They’ve set up a website so you can track their progress, checkout sillyoldsods.co.uk for more information on the trip.

See what I did there? Kangaroo, and blow-offs from it’s bottom? Put ‘em together and what do you get? That’s right! An idea for a rather tenuous illustrative pun. And here she is, in all here vectory glory…

I had some very good times in 2008, but it’s the people that made my year. I’ve tried to name each and every one of you who made 2008 such an amazing year. Please, if I’ve forgotten anyone, or any events, feel free to publicly berate me via the medium of comments. Here it is then, 2008, in Review:

January

Brr, January - There was snow, My car reached 111,111 miles, and I finally got to see Rob & Bekki Cotton on their barge!

One thing that does standout was the trip that Matt Clegg, Ben Marklew, John McNally and I took to the lakes to climb The Old Man of Coniston. A top weekend that, thinking back, makes me want to do more outdoor related stuff this year. You know, like the BIG outdoors rather than the tiny stuff you get in your local high street after stepping out of the kabab shop at 3am.

• High Point: The top of The Old Man
• Favorite Blog Post: Apple, Innovators or Money Grabbers?
• Flickr Photos: January 2008

On January 15th it was a year since Katie’s dad passed away. Tony Sellwood was an amazing man… I tried to write something fitting about him shortly after he died, but couldn’t find the words. Similarly now, I’m struggling, but as the second year anniversary approaches in 2009 I remember him fondly as a joker with more time for people than anyone else I’ve ever met. I know he’s with God.

February

February was a bit of a mixture. At work, Glubble Family Edition was launched to a somewhat mixed reception. My abiding memory of this time was spending late nights at my parents (when our net connection was down) till 3am chatting with Ian Hayward, pushing pixels around interface designs.

Elsewhere, Katie and I took a long weekend to Bath. I dunno why we did, but I’m sure that we did, as I have photographic evidence.

Life at Cherrytree was fun, as always, and Matt Clegg managed to bake a pie with the edibility of mild steel.

• High Point: Finally! The launch of Glubble Family Edition.
• Favorite Blog Post: Dome Cinema Worthing
• Flickr Photos: February 2008

March

As I write this review, it’s now that I wish I’d blogged more and taken a whole heap of photos. What did you achieve in March 2008 Jon? Oh, well, Katie and I dressed up like knobs and went to a party.

• High Point: Being Knobs.
• Favorite Blog Post: Apple iPhone, 3G and Skype
• Flickr Photos: March 2008

April

April is my birthday month (just in-case you were thinking of buying me a present) and in 2008 I experienced my first ever Coke Float thanks (mainly) to the fine work of Richard Kemp. I have yet to find a way to repay him for bringing such joy into my life.

By this point of 2008 I was spending more and more of my time in Littlehampton (something to do with this random girl I met) and in April “LA” got snow! Ah snow on the beach, Mark Wilson, Kamran & Ellie Khan, Katie and I very much enjoyed pelting each other with snowballs.

But by far the best thing about April was going to the Scilly Isles. It was hard to believe that just over a week before we’d had snow as, when we got there, it was hot hot hot! Sea Legs (heretofore know as Cath Hyslop), Katie, Katie’s Mum and I all spent a week in Sea Leg’s Mum’s cottage. Katie and Cath had years of family holiday history on the tiny islands, and had spent 6 months living and working on Scilly before traveling Australia for a year - So they knew most of the locals, but best of all knew all the best pubs.

• High Point: Watching the 6am sunrise over Scilly
• Favorite Blog Post: I didn’t blog this month… sorry
• Flickr Photos: April 2008

May

The start of some warm weather prompted me to take the plunge and invest in some running shoes. And, needless to say, I was less than delighted when my first efforts yielded a total distance of 100 yards and a collapsed lung. Over the coming months though I did get slightly better, and having run an impressive ’slightly further’ I took the decision to enter a half marathon in February 2009. Which, actually, now I come to think about it is not very far off at all…Oh dear.

Meanwhile, our lovely (and by this I mean not at all a bunch of money-grabbing jobs-worths) letting agents had informed us that the landlord wanted to sell Cherrytree and we had to move out at the end of July. The hunt was on to find a new place where I, Matt Heaton, Matt Clegg and Steve Clark could live. Not too much effort went into this initially, after all how hard could it be to find a four bedroom house for let in Walsall? To four, very, VERY clean living young gentlemen…

• High Point: Discovering that running could actually be fun.
• Favorite Blog Post: You know you’re living in a shared house when…
• Flickr Photos: March 2008

June

June went by in a blur. We still weren’t putting in too much effort on the house front, it was hot and not a time for sitting in writing blog posts. So consequentially I can’t recall anything that happened. Maybe the best solution for June would be a sign saying: “scene deleted”.

July

July was a month of big decisions. We still couldn’t find a place to live, and the time was quickly drawing near when we’d have to say goodbye to our beloved Cherrytree. A place in a shared house became available in Littlehampton (aka LA), and it seemed to be a no-brainer. It was certainly a lot closer to Katie than Walsall. But in typical Jon Roobottom style I couldn’t decide what to do for the best. This was it, if I moved it meant I really liked this girl. Thanks to the sterling efforts of Dan Mayley, and praying more than ever before, I finally saw the light and took the plunge.

It was around this time that Glaxstar offered me a deal whereby I’d go freelance, but they’d guarantee me hours for a considerable block of time. How could I not? I’d been itching to get my teeth into some freelance stuff for months - I bit their arm off. God is good.

A week before I left I went camping in Coed y Brenin, Wales with some old mates; Paul Lloyd, Kris Benbow, Jon Ford, Lewis Burden, Lee Nash, Dave Handley, Mark Gosling and Jon Macey. Awesome is all I can say, it came at just the right time. Let’s hope we can do it again in 2009.

The day before I left Hannah Kemp threw me a party at chez-kemp. Having spent the last 4 years in Walsall Community Church, this was above and beyond the best send off I could have asked for. Guys, each and every one of you has made Walsall special, and I really can’t express what it meant to me to have you all there for the party. Chatting, drinking, relaxing and eating part cooked bbq spare ribs with each one of you is an absolute pleasure.

Matt H, Matt C, Adam, Steve, AJ, Kemp, Hannah, Minnie, Esther, Sarah, Dan & Erin, Andy & Sue, Raz, Paul, Lee, Kirsty, Katy & Ben, Lou and Paul & Esta… Thanks for turning up to say goodbye… or maybe just making sure I leave.

So on Saturday 26th July 2008 Kemp, AJ, Steve and I packed up a big van and moved my stuff into my new house.

• High Point: BBQ at Chez-Kemp and new horizons.
• Favorite Blog Post: My love hate relationship with O2
• Flickr Photos: July 2008

August

I love the summer, and August didn’t disappoint for once - or it may have done, depending on how reliable my memory is. But I recall August as hot. Katie and I travelled back to my Mum & Dad’s place in Walsall for his 60th birthday. I think he ended up paying for the meal, so, thanks dad.

It was also the big fruits’ birthday, so we celebrated Angie Tuffill being another year older in style with an American themed part. I think prizes went to Kamran Khan for the best costume as Uncle Fester, although he’s not a million miles away from that normally.

I also got to relive my youth by finally getting to see The Levellers live at Arundel Castle. By the looks of some of the older gentlemen in the crowd, they’d been reliving their youth from just after lunch and by 8pm they’d relived so much they were probably going to regret that one in the office on Monday morning.

• High Point: Dancing to Riverflow!
• Favorite Blog Post: None. Too busy outside in the sunshine.
• Flickr Photos: August 2008

September

September saw Annie & Christian Powell get hitched, which was good news for all of us as we knew they’d throw a decent party. And they didn’t disappoint, with not one wedding party but two. Apparently the rave on Sunday night went on til 3am. I’m sure the 3 huge barrels of ale that Christian had invested in helped there.

Kamran Khan and I decided to service my car, I mean, how hard could it be? We got all the stuff and set about the task. 6 hours later we’d changed the air filter, just about managed to swap the spark-plugs and put a hole in the drivers side floor. Well, I say we did that, the hole was mainly me. Still, my car seemed to run all the sweeter for our efforts.

Cath Hyslop got baptised! Admittedly I was supposed to get dunked too, but I’m not all that great at making decisions. Please note, that’s a candle on the cake, not anything else.

• High Point: Wedding & Baptism
• Favorite Blog Post: Happy go lucky review (The only crappy post I wrote).
• Flickr Photos: September 2008

October

October is Katie’s birthday month, and in true southern style we and a few others went for an all you can eat Chinese. I feel we really didn’t take full advantage of the ‘all you can eat-ness’ of the thing, especially Katie who powered her way through starters only… Ok, she had about 2 tonnes of fried seaweed, but that’s not the point.

The month was also memorable for a day trip Katie and I took to London. I’d been to London so much for work related stuff over the last few months, it was really nice to spend some time (and LOTS of money) exploring the city.

October was also the month when our new cell really took off. I’d arrived in LA at a point where the cell-group was in flux, Claire Jones had decided to take a well earned break from her leadership role and we were waiting for a someone to step into the breach.

But in October we decided that we’d take our cell in a new direction, each week we’d take it in turns to lead with whatever God had put on our hearts to share. So far it’s worked extraordinarily well.

• High Point: Chinese Food!
• Favorite Blog Post: Shared House Etiquette
• Flickr Photos: October 2008

November

November was awesome because of the WCC men’s weekend away at Standlake Ranch in Oxfordshire. Like the weekend away in 2007 it was an amazing time with God, and He did so much in my life that weekend, perfectly building on the previous year with perfect timing for everything that was going on in my life.

Flix & Maryanne Gillett got hitched too! Gotta say guys the bangers and mash was inspired, and Flix’s speech is possibly one of the best I’ve ever heard.

December

The early part of December saw Katie and Cath jetting off to Hong Kong (”Hongers”) for a few days. Was I jealous? Yeah, a little, but I flippin’ hate flying with a passion so avoiding the 12 hour flight was some small consolation.

Later in the month Katie and I took a week’s holiday in Scotland. I’d told her that I’d booked a B&B and found a suitably crappy looking random guest house on the internet to fool her with. I’d actually booked a private cottage with a hot tub as I’d hatched a bit of a plan.

When we got there, the post code on the cottage website took us to some random housing estate. Not to worry I thought, it can’t be far, I’ll just drive around til we happen upon it. An hour later I was getting a little stressed as all my plans for a surprise were rapidly going down the toilet. In the end I had to confess all and Katie knocked doors until we found someone who’d heard of the place.

When we eventually arrived at the cottage I thought I’d booked (as there we’re two on the website, a one bedroom place and a three bedroom place) the lights were on, and we could here voices in the garden. “Hello?” I shouted as I walked around to the rear of the cottage. I was really fuming now, over an hour to find the place and the owners had double booked it! I was greeted with sight of a naked couple in the hot tub, she quickly moved, but he just sat there, and I couldn’t help but glance at the thing that was floating in the crystal clear, illuminated, water.

“Erm…” I said, “Have you booked this place, cos I think I have”.

He was actually quite polite, and as we made a quick exit we noticed that the driveway continued on to a larger property just around the corner. In my haste and annoyance I hadn’t realised that the place I’d booked was actually the three bedroom cottage. Oh well, you live and learn.

That night, Katie and I relaxed with a bottle of wine and the promise of the hot tub bubbling away outside. I couldn’t wait any longer, she was clearly impressed with the way I’d handled the naked man and the iron was hot to strike. I sat her down, got on one knee and asked her if she’d be my wife.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…. really?!” she said. And then just kept on saying it. Eventually I had to ask her if that was a ‘yes’.

The ring didn’t fit, we’d seen too much nakedness, and all we had for dinner was fish fingers and chips. But it didn’t matter, the place was brilliant, and she’d said yes. I couldn’t be happier.

As 2008 drew to a close, 17 of us played a murder mystery and then on Florrie Fuller’s suggestion we played musical statues to the small hours. Thanks to everyone who made my year so awesome, you know who you are (even if you’re not mentioned by name here). Here’s to a brilliant 2009, and look out for your wedding invites coming to a post box near you sometime in ‘09… We promise!

• High Point: Getting engadged
• Favorite Blog Post: She said yes!
• Flickr Photos: December 2008

It’s been a while coming, but finally I popped the question and for some unknown reason Katie said yes! So this is it then, I’m off the market. Please ladies, don’t weep and don’t, for goodness sake, do anything silly.

On a serious note, I’d like to say a big BIG thank you to all that have congratulated us over the last couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to my life with Cake - she’s a good ‘un… I’m not a big fan of deeply personal emotions on my blog - but screw it, I bloody love her. I couldn’t be happier.