Growing a tash for charity

Throughout November (including while covering Jersey’s elections) I’m going to look like a bit of an idiot ;D

I’ve agreed to grow a mustache for a charity called Movember - it’s to raise money for Prostate Cancer (something my father in law came close to dying of last year - fortunately he recovered).

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’m growing a Mo because I’m passionate about tackling men’s health issues and being proactive in the fight against prostate cancer.

If you think this is a worthy cause - and I know there are a lot of cause based calls on your wallet - you can donate to my Mo by:

Going to the donation page and donating online using your credit card or PayPal account.

The money raised by Movember is used to raise awareness of men’s health issues and donated to The Prostate Cancer Charity which will have an enormous impact on many men’s lives and the awareness will help us to fight prostate cancer on every front - through research, support, information and campaigning.

Thank you in advance if you do decide to support me and thank you for not laughing - too much - at me if you don’t.

I’ll be posting photos of my progress during the course of the month.

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Lunchtime ‘Window Shop’ Challenge

A while ago I wrote a post called ‘ten things to do on a rainy lunchbreak‘ and one of the ideas I suggested was the Lunchtime Challenge.

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10 things to do on a rainy lunchbreak

We all love lists, they’re the mainstay of the blogosphere and pretty much the sole type of content on the DIGG homepage (or at least it often feels that way).

I’ve made lists before, I’ve put together lists of the people I’d most like to have dinner with, the people I’d like to run my fantasy magazine and others - this is my first top ten list.

It’s the list of things to do on a rainy day during your lunchbreak.

1 ) Read a book
Reading is fun and I like to keep a book in my bag at all times - that way I can quickly pull it out and read it. Although reading at your desk in an open plan office isn’t much fun - you need ’spaces’ in your workplace for this to work.

2 ) Eat
Just gourge yourself on nasty fatty snacks to kill time.

3 ) Listen to podcasts on your iPod
What it says on the tin really, just find a quiet corner, put the buds in and listen away to anything from TWIT to the Friday Comedy Podcast from BBC Radio 4.

4 ) Catch up on TV
If your in the UK you can visit bbc.co.uk/iplayer or itv.com and catch up with last nights television that you might have missed. It’s also a great way of knowing what people were talking about on your office facebook group or even around the water cooler this morning. I haven’t included 4OD as it requires a download and probably won’t work in most offices.

5 ) Read blogs
Just go to technorati.com and read blog posts on a massive range of issues from Britney and her kids to the cost of a loaf of bread in Brighton!

6 ) Annoy workmates
Find different ways of pissing off the other people stuck in the office during a busy lunchbreak. This could be another list on its own but for example you could:

1) Shout out the results of last nights footie match so that anyone that recorded it hears.

2) Hum really loudly an annoying tune so nobody can get it out of their head.

3) Talk about the ending of a TV show or film you know people haven’t seen yet and want to.

7 ) Play games
Go to somewhere like king.com or search the BBC for a range of games and get playing. See if you can beat your own personal best bejewelled score.

8 ) Get wet
Go outside and get soaking wet and then come back into the office and pretend to everyone that you REALLY LOVE THE RAIN and NEVER GET COLDS. Then spend the rest of the day sneezing and coughing.

9 ) Go virtual window shopping
Head over to Apple.com, Amazon.com, Play.com, Dell.com or any e-commerce site of your choice and make up shopping baskets of things you’d love to have but can’t afford.

A good game is to set yourself a budget (say £10,000) and see if you can hit that figure EXACTLY within a certain amount of time (say 10 minutes).

You could make it more challenging by setting certain criteria like it must include at least seven CDs with a folky-blues feel and a green label.

In fact you could involve other bored workmates and set each other challenges. (I might do a full post on the Virtual Shopping Game next time I’m bored at lunchtime).

10 ) Make a list
Think of something and then make a list and see if you can get everyone else in the office also bored and not able to go out due to the rain to join in - might start a fun debate.

Can you think of any more?

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Making a tit of myself

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We all do things that make us look a bit um… odd at one time or another and my most recent was playing the part of a musician for the pilot of a new radio show I’m making.

With that explanation you’d expect it to be a comedy but it isn’t - the show is a weekly look at new music in Jersey and playing tracks/interviews from local bands.

However, BBC local radio is traditionally aimed at people over 55 and Jersey is no exception - so, although many a local station has launched new music shows - including a podcast from Northamptons Weekender - boards are being tread lightly when it comes to something this different.

We’ve more or less been given the go ahead but we needed to make a pilot to prove the idea, to showcase some of the music we’ll be playing and to prove we can actually talk like human beings.

We’ve been told to put a rough cut pilot together without expending too many resources - so we did and one of our regular features is called I was, I am and I will be - where we ask a musician for a track he was inspired by, a track he wrote and a track he wished he wrote or would like to write one like.

This is where the being able to talk like human beings bit falls down.

We didn’t have a musician to hand so I played one - this was ALL improv done on the spot - Claire (asking questions) didn’t know how I would play it and I didn’t know what she would ask or what the name of my band would be.

Obviously this would never go to air - normally it would feature a Jersey musician talking to us about his musical tastes and playing the songs he puts forward - but I thought I’d share my moment of um… making a tit of myself with you.

Listen to me making a tit of myself (mp3) >>>

Oh and for non Brits - ASDA is Wal-Mart and George is their own brand clothing line.

And yes I know we didn’t really play the Teletubbies or Bob the Builder - we didn’t have either to hand when making the pilot.

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