The random ramblings of furrygerbil
Paracord Pieces
01 week ago
Clyde Region Explorer Belt
I have started making paracord bracelets and keyrings to raise money to help me get to America with the scouts in summer 2013.
Bracelets are £4
Keyrings are £2
UK Postage is £1 flat rate
Please email paracord@furrygerbil.org.uk if you want to buy anything, if you don’t see the colours you want have a look at the colours page and I can make custom pieces.
Payment is by paypal only.
I also have a facebook page feel free to like it 
Thanks
My latest cinema viewings
03 weeks ago
by furrygerbil
in Films
A real feel good film. When Benjamin Mee looses his wife he up roots his family and moves to a zoo much to his daughters delight and son’s dismay.
The story follows the struggle to get the zoo ready for the zoo inspection and open for the summer season. Short of cash and burdened with spiraling costs his wife comes through for him one last time.
The return of the muppets!
The story follows Walter, a life long muppets fan, in his attempt to get the muppets back together to save their theater from being demolished to make way for oil drilling.
It’s another feel good film with all the usual muppety goodness, songs and bad jokes. Don’t be worried about laughing along with this film, everyone else will be to!!
Pirates – In an adventure with Scientists
The latest film from Aardman studios follows Pirate Captain as he tries to win pirate of the year. Running into Darwin in the middle of the ocean he is convinced that his parrot is the source of untold riches and heads to London to claim the prize where he sells the parrot to Queen Victoria. When he discovers the real reason Queen Victoria want the parrot he has to embark on a rescue mission to save the ill fated bird.
This is typical Aardman, very funny for all ages, lots of adult and visual jokes. Fast paced action will keep you on the edge of your seat and laughter will keep you falling off it.
This is the oddball of the films I’ve seen recently, only went to see it because Muppets was sold out and I’m glad I did.
When a Manhattan couple find themselves unemployed they need somewhere to live and find a rural commune where everything is free and life is good. The strange mix of people makes for interesting connections in the film and a there are plenty twists and turns to keep you thinking.
It’s a strange look at life and how even the simple life can be complex.
A very interesting film and well worth a watch.
Maltese Falcon
02 months ago
by furrygerbil
in Books
After reading The Good Thief’s Guides in which The Maltese Falcon is the main characters favourite book I went out an bought it myself . It is fantastic!!
It has everything I look for in a book, crime, suspense and someone out to prove everyone else wrong. It is easy to see where Chris Ewan gets his writing style from and that is no bad thing.
It follows Sam Spade as he searches to find the missing Maltese Falcon while being bombarded from every direction by people wanting to pay him to find it and hand if over to them all while he is playing his own game against them and the local police. It’s not easy to keep up with all the comings and goings in this book but it is well worth the read.
Ups, downs and roundabouts
02 months ago
by furrygerbil
in thoughts
Lots of ups and downs over the last few weeks and to be honest there haven’t been any roundabouts but it made a better title than just ups and downs.
Last weekend was amazing, this weekend is shaping up to be quite good too but the bit in the middle was very odd, even for me.
Last weekend I went to see the Muppets and spent the whole time laughing, it is amazing. If you haven’t seen it you’d better get a move on and go.
Sunday night I went to a gig with someone who is fast becoming one of my best friends, love her to bits. After a few missed trains and other transport issues we finally got to Oran Mor. The gig itself was the Jezabels who are hard to describe but alternative/indie rock just about covers it. They were supported by the John McIain Band who were brilliant as well (The saxophone sold it to me from the off). Another missed train, entirely our own fault for going to the pub between gig finishing and train leaving, and a taxi back to town then home via another pub…
Monday morning I was a bit slow on the up and poor Hayley had been up for a couple of hours trying to work the TV then we headed off climbing. A good session and lunch to boot .
Monday night I had a sever case of the post weekend blues and just felt generally rubbish for some reason this carried on for most of the week and a lot of stuff has been buzzing about in my head and I’ve been generally a bit lost. This was all changed last night with a good night in the pub with the usual bunch and a few who have been away for a while. Funny how you don’t really miss someone until they come back then you realise you have missed them for whatever reason.
Tonight is a flat party the off to the Garage with the same bunch from last night (give or take a few), should be good
That’s enough of the rambling for just now.
Glasgow graffiti
03 months ago
by furrygerbil
in Photo Blog
Underpass under the Clydeside expressway between Kelvingrove and the Riverside Museum.
Everything happens at once
03 months ago
by furrygerbil
in thoughts
So, you bumble along in life and things just happen then one day you stop and think… It’s only then that you discover just how much you do and what you’ve agreed to do.
My life needs to slow down a bit at the moment. Everything seemed to be happening at once, thankfully it seems to be calmed down a bit now. Uni stuff went skewee for a while which put my holiday in April in doubt for a bit, it’s all sorted now back on the modules I’m meant to be on and can now go on holiday.
Second thing that happened was spending most of last week catching up with friends which involved spending too much money and drinking too much alcohol but it was totally worth it even if my body was objecting by the end of the week, need to do it more often but maybe not all in the one week.
Finally and most exciting thing is I am now the expedition team for Project X!!! Project X is the Clyde region scout explorer belt expedition to the east coast of America in summer 2013. The expedition is taking 57 explorer and network scouts to Washington for a couple of days, they will then set off on a 10 day hike down the Appalachian trail then onto a jamboree in Florida for a week.
If anyone is wondering how I ended up involved in this, blame a train journey with the organiser and my big mouth! Semi jokingly asked if they still needed leaders and was told if I was interested he’d see what he could do, 3 days later it’s all done and I’m signed up for it. 18 months of hard training and fundraising ahead but it’s a once in a lifetime experience (or hopefully a first of many in a lifetime for me). So, expect this blog to be inundated with waffle about project x and all associated stuff.
For anyone who’s read my blog before you will have noticed that the book reviews have dropped off a bit, this is mostly because the only things I’ve been reading are lecture notes and I doubt anyone would ever want to read a review of them.
Nights like last night
03 months ago
by furrygerbil
in thoughts
Nights like last night don’t come about too often but when they do they make everything else in life worthwhile.
Last night consisted of friends, food, drink and an amazing selection of music.
So what made last night so different to other night involving all the same thing? Well I’ll tell you, it’s the fact that we were (almost) all back together for the first time since we left Uni. It’s not often we can get our amazing bunch of friends all in one place at the same time. Since leaving Uni we’ve been spread out from Aberdeen to Derby and haven’t seen nearly enough of each other but it was like we’d never been apart and that’s the value of a true friendship.
Some of us barely speak to each other over the year but it’s as if we talk everyday when we’re back together, I love it, of course I would love to see them more but that’s not going to happen.
The people in this post know who they are and so do the ones who were missing, you’d better make it next time :p. You are all amazing and I don’t know what life would be like without you and I don’t want to.
P.s. that’s the mushy stuff over, normal service will resume in the next blog.
Good Thief’s Guide to Venice
13 months ago
by furrygerbil
in Books
Anyone spotting a trend here? Yep, I’ve read the next (and currently final) Good Thief’s Guide.
This book sees our hero Charlie living it up in Venice while working on his latest novel when a mysterious beautiful cat burglar breaks into his apartment, steals his copy of the Maltese Falcon and tells him he can have it back when he breaks into the house of Count Borelli and RETURN a briefcase to his safe without peeking. Charlie’s curiosity gets the better of him once he is in the safe though…
The book takes some very interesting twists and turns with Charlie and Victoria yet again ending up in a casino where they bump into Victoria’s father, Alfred, who helps put the pieces of the puzzle together. Charlie’s criminal tendencies move on from just mere burglary to the lofty heights of kidnapping, though he did think it in the best interests of the kidnapped at the time.
There are also hints the Charlie and Vic’s feelings are developing beyond friendship, but only hints.
The more sharp of you will have notice that I seem to have missed out Good Thief’s Guide to Paris, I have read it but will have to read it again before I can post any comments on it. I will get there eventually. Promise.
Good Thief’s Guide to Vegas
04 months ago
by furrygerbil
in Books
The good thief’s guide to Vegas is the third book in Chris Ewan’s Good thief’s series featuring Charlie the mystery writer thief. Funnily enough this book is set in Vegas and revolves around Charlie and Victoria’s misfortune of getting mixed up in an illusionist deception of the casino which employs him. Victoria is Charlie’s agent for his lawful career and we learn a lot more about her and her past in this book. Yet again Chris keeps us guessing through the novel and having read the two previous book I’m starting to get a feeling for his writing style but I still couldn’t work out the ending.
This book was a first for me as it’s the first e-book I’ve read and it was a far nicer experience than I expected, the iPad I read it on isn’t the easiest thing to put in your pocket but it is easier to sit in bed and read, you don’t have to hold the book open at the right page just prop it up against the headboard. I’m impressed and will buy more, might even consider buying a kindle just for the ease of carrying one. But that’s in the future.
No idea what to read now though…