Sometimes…Crazy Works…

We've all been there, right? That moment someone suggests something really crazy and everybody laughs about it. Then someone says...'Well...why not?'

 

Well, I've bore witness to that over the last month or so. To let you understand, Glasgow 2014 were running auctions where you could either bid or buy directly items that were related to the Commonwealth Games. One such item that came up was the one of a kind statue of mascot Clyde that we affectionately dubbed UAC (Uniform & Accreditation Centre) Clyde. 

 

We decided we wanted to leave a legacy from the volunteers. Something special. During the Games there was trail of 25 statues around Glasgow, one being placed outside the Yorkhill Children's Hospital. No one knew what was happening with the 24 (one was stolen!) so we decided that since Clyde brought smiles to kids of all ages, why not try and get this special one? And if not, the money raised would still go to the charity. So it would be a win-win situation.

 

There was another from the Village but UAC Clyde meant something to the volunteers: we all had to come into contact with him at some point before the Games. Heck, even the Queen met him! So at first it was the Clyde-Siders raising money for him, then Host City Volunteers...before we knew it, we had volunteers from all areas of the Games wanting to pitch in. And boy did they! Not even an international e-money service blocking an account twice could stop us. We were ready to bid on him when...he vanished from the site.

 

Worry not. The story goes that someone heard what we were trying to do, spoke to some others in Glasgow 2014 and they pulled him from the auction, and gave him to us! We were shocked. But this meant that the money that was raised to buy him would also be going to the hospital. Cue another furious round of selling personal items, some that couldn't be replaced.

 

On Sunday, it all came to a head. A large group of volunteers from all sections gathered in a car park nearby and then, piped in by some lovely musicians, we headed to the hospital to officially hand him over. And the money? We raised an astonishing £6060! It was such a lovely end to what was an amazing experience. And apparently the kids are already loving their 'Smile Generator'!

 

So there is something to make you smile given all the evil that we hear about these days. Hope that it restores a little faith in humanity!

 

Photos © Vhari Lannigan & Allan MacBain

Glasgow 2014 : A Clyde-Sider’s Review

Well...hasn't time flown? Doesn't seem like 2 weeks ago we were just getting the 20^th Commonwealth Games in Glasgow underway and now it's all over. Had you asked me back on the 28th February 2013 whether I’d be picked for the Games I’d probably have said no, never mind being offered a position as photo team member in press operations. Then again, if you’d told me last year I would be in LA, I would have said the same!

To think that the real journey only started back in March at the Orientation event at the Emirates Arena.
Then it was all go! Seems it was no time at all until the opening ceremony… Or in my case, seeing the dress rehearsal!






Looking back, it’s all a little surreal with everything that’s gone on. Let’s start with the bizarreness of seeing athletes and officials getting on the trains, cycling in the streets. But after a few days of that, it seemed normal!

And now to the shifts. I'll admit that the first couple of shifts were a bit daunting but think that was because I didn’t really didn't know what to expect. But by the end it was all running smoothly. There wasn't really any difficulties, just learning how to balance what the photographers wanted but taking into consideration about those that had paid for tickets. Going to miss working with the lovely team mates :(

The medal ceremony music is now firmly ingrained into my mind having seen 7 medal ceremonies across the 11 days. I've been really surprised by how the spectators, no matter who the might have been there to support, got right behind every single athlete taking part and raised the roof several times (I'd hate to see roof repair bill lol) And it didn’t stop there. Even of the long journeys home people have been buzzing on packed trains. I don't think I've spoke to as many strangers in a while!

As for what else I got up to:

- I've taken photos for people (apparently being a photo team member means you can take pictures)

- Handed out free badges (thank you People Make Glasgow!)

- Been given a row by a kid for saying hello to other Clydesiders in passing on the train!

- Played tig in the SECC concourse (there's a phrase I never though I'd say.In my defence, the parent did involve me and we ensured we didn't cause a hazard! These were the Friendly Games after all)
- Been a walking information point
- Been Twitter support!

…and you guys thought all I was doing was looking after the photographers :)

 

My only regret is not being able to catch up with other Clydesiders outside of shifts. Feel I missed something there. But still, was a fantastic experience that I wish I could do it all again. Feels a little odd this week but think it’s got me wanting to volunteer more now.

Recommendation: Ochil Fudge Pantry

Ok, so it’s not like me to have a post about a product but it’s very rarely that I come across something that I want to share with the world.

 

 

In this case, it’s a company called the Ochil Fudge Pantry. I happened to come across these guys at the Craft For Christmas & Hobbycrafts event at the SECC last week and have to admit that before then, I hadn’t heard of them.

 

And I have to ask why. Judging from what I’ve seen over the weekend, it seems that going on the first day of the shows was the best bet seeing as by Sunday they’d announced they sold out of the stock they’d taken. Anyhoo, we couldn’t pass by a stand that was offering free samples of their wares.

 

Here was the first mistake.

 

This is fudge, but not that you know. With a range of flavours from Chilli Chocolate (which I’m reliably informed has a chilli kick right at the end of a mouthful) to Rhubarb Crumble, Rum & Raisin to Iron Brew (I’ve already seen it used in cakes so why not fudge?) there was a wide choice to choose from though have to admit that the Apple Crumble flavour is probably my favourite (Would love to have experienced the butterscotch again but it seems that I’ve got a fridge raider that snaffled it!)

 

Though to add to the enjoyment of eating this carefully made fudge, it has to be the packaging! Along with the usual blurb that’s required on food packaging, the writing right below the barcode made me laugh:

 

 

Got to love a company that has a bit of fun, right? Anyway, enough  about me spreading my love for them. Why not check them out for yourself and see if you can find a flavour that you love?

 

Visit Ochil Fudge Pantry Site

Share A Little (Video) Love

Okay, it’s not often that I ask for help but I’m needing all the help I can get. I need to get as many views as possible on this video by the end of this month! So far it’s accumulated nearly 72,000 views, but there’s no telling how many other entries could be added between now and the end of the competition.

 

The prize is to be present at the next video shoot (location yet undecided) which let’s be honest, is an opportunity that doesn’t come up very often!

 

Cheers all

Vhari x

Review: Zapper.co.uk

So we’ve all been there: you have a load of CDs, DVDs, Games & books that you’ve tried to sell elsewhere and had no success. As you might have seen from TV adverts, there’s a new breed of site that’s been born to help….’recycle’ I guess is the best word that which you no longer need.

 

This was the position I was in. Having already tried pricing with a previous site (then having forgotten my password and being unable to retrieve it!) I started looking around elsewhere. Then I stumbled upon Zapper. Until then I’d never heard of it and thought that maybe it was too good to be true. So did a little searching and of course saw good and bad points, but decided that I’d take the risk with them.

 

So the idea is that you insert a barcode from your item and then they return either with a price or a notice saying that they can’t accept it because it’s either not popular enough or they have too many. Fair enough. So our list was populated by DVDs, PlayStation 2 & 3 games (there were more games but Amazon was offering us just that little bit more on their trade-in store at the time) and by the end of it, there were 32 items, mostly DVDs coming in at around 30p a time. For arguments sake we’ll say that the 32 items = £14.

 

Great, so then you go the review stage and ensure that everything is present and correct. And once you’ve seen to that, it’s onto the packing stage. Here is where you choose your postal method, which is completely free by the way. You can either choose to send by Royal Mail or Courier (for me it was City Link). The site recommends that you choose courier if you have more than 30 items. So of course we picked that (sorry Postman Pat!). They give a recommended number of boxes based on your list, so our was 1. Fine. One medium PostPak box took all of them. You enter the box size but you can’t have half sizes so it a round number which I took up to the next full number (so 37.5cm became 38cm etc etc etc). Next you pick your date and they tell you when the next date is if you complete the transaction on the day. Ours was Wednesday (this was the Monday). That’ll do nicely.  Then you wait.

 

Because I’d picked courier as my postal method, I had to wait for Zapper to send me my label that you attach to your box for collection. There’s also a receipt for the courier to sign and date to confirm that they’ve picked it up. So Wednesday came and, at 11.30am the van drove up and whisked my parcel away down south. So far so good. And now it’s just onto the waiting……

 

Friday
Received two emails. One to say that the ‘goods’ were being checked in and then another to say that the cheque for the £14 had been authorised and should be sent out within 7 days….so close to the end now…..

 

Thursday 5th July

Cheque has arrived. Was beginning to wonder where it had gone to but it was sent out within seven days. That is, seven days of receiving the parcel (and doesn’t by my calculations include the weekend),

 

Would I use them again? To be fair, I can’t actually fault them on anything. of course our experience is only on DVDs & Games, but we might be trying our hand at some books soon.

 

You might get slightly higher prices on other websites for some items but if you’re wanting to shop around, but if you’re wanting to clear a bit of space quickly and don’t have the time to try flogging your items on eBay, I’d recommend them.

Oh No! YLOD! Who You Gonna Visit? Techbytes!

So here’s the scenario: I’m just daunering through the Playstaion Store whilst downloading a demo on the PS3 when, without warning, it turns off, beeps and flashes it’s wee red light. So assuming it just having a hissy fit, try to turn it on, for it to turn on, beep and turn back off. Yes ladies and gentlemen, my 4 years & 130 day old 60GB launch day PS3 has fallen victim to Yellow Light Of Death (YLOD) syndrome.

It was quickly online to find somewhere that could repair for a reasonable price. After all, a brand new PS3 is just out of the question at the moment, it’s not back compatible and my fattie just so much better than the slim (minus the hard drive space mind). After much trawling, comparing and deliberations of whether to try the hair dryer trick (which was quickly scrapped as knowing my luck I’d kill it well and truly!), I stumbled upon Techbytes and, after much reading reviews (that were mainly PC related with a few consoles thrown in), I decided to give them a try.

After explaining what I thought was wrong with it, a few more questions seemed to point that I was right. Handing it over, price and an explanation of their turn around time was given along with a book in receipt (they scanned the console's serial no) so if needed, I could check on the progress of the repair. I was pleasantly surprised to be notified 2 days later via text that my console was ready to be picked up, despite having been told that it might have been longer due to high demand.

The receipt I got when I picked the console up detailed what exactly had been done to the console and for the price (£69 for YLOD repair at the time of writing), it was worth it (compared to the price of purchasing a new console). Considering that the repair is covered for 3 months, I don't think that you can go wrong. Have since had it up and running for the past few days checking for myself that everything is alright (even though they’ve already tested it), although I am now paranoid about backing everything up, so it’s the last thing to get done before switching the PS3 off. If you’re in the Glasgow area, then I have no hesitation in recommending these guys to you.

 

Techbytes Glasgow

 

* Parts of this post will be appearing on review sites, so don’t worry if you feel you have a case of Deja vu :p *

Links For Donations to Japan

As you’ve probably all heard and seen by now, an eathquake now marked as being at a magnitude of 9.0 and a subsequent tsunami devastated entire areas of Japan. The stories and images coming from the country are heart breaking. Many of the humanitarian charities are now running appeals for you to donate to. These are just a few that I’ve come across, allowing you to donate to ones that are close to your heart. This is by no means a definitive list, but these are official ones, mainly from the UK. If you are from elsewhere in the world, then please either navigate from the British sites to your country’s site or locate one from your country.

 

Save The Children
Shelterbox
British Red Cross
Oxfam
Salvation Army (through Just Giving)

 

Also, search engine Swag Bucks, the site that allows you to earn credits (Swag Bucks) as you search, have just recently started accepting Swag Bucks as donations. Visit the blog to see more information regarding it.

 

Please give whatever you can. Remember, every little helps!

 

Regards

Vhari x