Monday Bloody Monday

Start of the week and what a week its likely to be I've the ongoing landscaping project to complete, Mum 70th birthday and party & our trip to Toronto next Sunday.

This weekend was spent preparing for all three - unfortunately with so much time being devoted to the garden I was unable to make the Morton game - Half time update from Dad calmed my fears as he report a dour 1st half this was promptly followed by 2 fairly quick fire texts reporting goals - Game finished 3-0 to Morton and keeps the league form up despite a poor showing in the cup in midweek.

Tomorrow night we have Dumbarton away in the Challenge Cup - This one has really failed to catch the imagination and I reckon we could see the poorest turn-out for a local derby for some time.

Found this during a quiet time this morning and thought i'd give it a try.

Jobs
1. What was your first ever job? 1st Adult job was working in the IRH hopsital laundry cleaning all the laundry from the local hospital
2. Did you enjoy it? Imagine 35+ degree temperature and the lovely incoming converyor belt of horrors and I think you get the picture - How that place is not a health hazard i'll never know. Money was good though for poor student's summer.
3. What made you decide leave/not ever leave? It was only for 3 months of the summer before Uni but it certainly made up my mind as to whether Uni was a good idea or not
4. What has been your favourite job so far and why? X-ray Programmer in Solectron - Heading the right direction of the sort of job I could see myself doing - Also I was good at it its seemed my brain was tuned into all the complex algorithms
5. What is your ideal dream job? Working for Disney Pixar doing 3D Amination

Simplytot pt2

G was at IRH today for her 18-20 week scan

The Consultant confirmed all is well and the midwife team took G on a tour of the facilities at IRH Maternity

She has had a good past couple of days (Dont wanna get our hopes up that she has finally got it under control) and think the scan helped matters - Just put her mind at ease. She is also starting to feel movement coming from the womb just little "butterflies" like feelings : )

Normal service resumed

After a good start to the league campaign on Saturday (2-0 home win v Raith Rovers) its was back to old habits against Brechin at Glebe Park.

The Ton went down 2-1 in the 1st round of the CIS cup after taking the lead early in the 1st half. Another year another 1st round exit - We dont seem interested in a money spinning cup run.

Wasn't at the game but via txt updates from DR it appeared much of the sparkle of Saturday was missing from Morton's play.

A month of long away journey's continues with Stranraer on Saturday - Hopefully the Brechin defeat was a wake up call that wont prove too costly.

Kirk & Harris

Went up to see Debbie, Stephen, Kirk & Harris on Sunday evening.

1st time we had seen them in about 3 months and it was good to catch up both kids are growing up so fast

Squad 2006/2007

very quiet on the transfer front for the Ton with 4 players in total coming in -
Stevenson before our campaign finished in May, Mcgovern on loan from Celtic and a couple of youngster who impressed Jim over the pre-season.

Goalkeepers -

Gonet, McGurn,

Defence -

Greacen, Harding, Keenan, MacGregor, Weatherson, Black

Midfield -

Finlayson, McAlister, Millar, A. Walker, Mclaughlin, Stevenson

Forwards -

Lilley, McLean, Templeman, Mcgowan

Plus youngsters


Gonet - Tough start replacing McGurn at Somerset Park but performed well in the games
following - Looks a good shot stopper another years experience will do him good.


McGurn - Undoubted number 1 and appears to have cut out the errors - Could do with
commanding his area more as a bit suspect on crosses - great shot stopper.


Greacen - On his day is commanding and uncompromising but at times last season made
some silly mistakes - looked for a while that Stuart & Ryan couldn't play in the same defence but improved last season.


Harding - Has improved after looking a bit shakey - looked very comfortable on the ball during pre-season but must cut out long hopeful balls forward


Keenan - Somewhat of a utility man without really excelling in any position. Always
commited to the tackle but needs to be more controlled at times. 1 good performance
followed by 1 awful performance suggests he'll struggle to gain a regular place.


Macgregor - Good to see Davie back after a couple of seasons lost due to injury -
Dependable and read the game well - may be a better option in central defence than full back


Weatherson - Our 1st choice right back. Positioning at times could be better and often decision making lets him down but solid in the tackle and good distribution.


Finlayson - Good engine but needs to work on his crossing - Handy player to have as can play a number of roles but probably doesn't produce enough to merit a starting spot


McAlister - Most exciting player at Cappielow on his game - Tore defences apart last
season and hopefully more of the same this - needs to be more consistent though

Mclaughlin - Does the dirty work in the centre of the park and has certainly improved
but needs more help for the lighter midfielders.

Stevenson - Signed from Alloa before our fate was sealed last season - impressed in
pre-season - Looks like could be the missing link between midfield and front


Millar - Seems to have stagnated in the past year - Needs up his performances or the
boo-boys will get louder

A. Walker - Looks a good player but fails to deliver all too often Another who needs
to step up his performance although has managed to avoid the wrath of the boo boys thus far

Lilley - Disapointing 1st season back - infact take out the purple patch in the middle and it was an awful 1st season back. Lost the pace and strength that made him a hit 1st time round - Hopefully better supply will help him this season.


Mclean - Hardly given a look in for the 1st team last year then thrown into most important game of the season - Not seen enough to comment fully but has scored a lot in reserves.

Templeman - Didn't expect to see him back after going on loan but glad he is and looked to prove some folks wrong in pre-season games. Showed in flashes what he could do last season but needs better service

We at present appear to have a decent group of around 14 players who could do the job at this level - however beyond that we dont seem to have much back-up and may struggle if hit by injuries.

In defence - We have a solid enough 4 out of 5 positions but seems to be lacking a decent left back and while Davie can deputise there a natural left footer is required

In midfield I think we all hoped he would sign a good quality central midfielder in the Veira, Keane, Gerrard mould but this doesn't seem to have happened. Last season our problem seemed to be that our midfield was often too light weight with too many ball players and none willing to get their hands dirty tracking back. Alex Walker needs to do more to justify a place and provide the ball wining for the likes of Stevenson & Mcallister.

Up front Derek Lilley place could be under threat if Mcgowan shows the form he did in
the 50mins against Skunks at Cappielow - Temps needs to carry his pre-season form and
add more goals to win over the fans


Starting 16 for the season (3-5-2)

---------------- Mcgurn -------------------

Weatherson----- Greacen --- Harding



------- Mclaughlin -----A Walker -----------

Millar -------------------------McAllister
----------------Stevenson-------------------


--------- Lilley --- Templeman -------------

Subs -

Gonet, McGregor, Keenan, Finlayson, Mcgowan

1 major change was that of the home kit - After 3 years of the Blue & White hooped Vandanel Kit we again signed up with Vandanel this time with vertical blue and white stripes - Its a nice enough kit just not quite Morton - More Killie in disguise :)




Hopefully this is finally our year to get out of this division.

Views of the Clyde

Took my camera with me up to my parents house last night and caught some nice sunset shots.

Even just on the automatic setting I notice a dramatic difference in the image quality











Lost a bit of the quality with shrinking it down but still really pleased with the results.

My new Toy !!!!!!

Got myself a new camera for the upcoming trip to Toronto and everything else thats going on.

After much deliberation I went for the Canon Powershot S2 - Ordered it online last week and have been making buttons ever since waiting on it. Finally after some delivery issues I was able to pick it up yesterday and its a beauty !!!!!

My old camera the Nikon Coolpix 3200 certainly served its purpose well but felt that I wanted something with some more options. One of the major irks with the Nikon was that without a flash all images would be blurry when taken without tripod. Its will still come in handy the Nikon as its so small you can carry it around anywhere but the Canon S2 is my new weapon of choice

Had a play around with it last night and its a beast of camera. There are so many options and settings that I was tying myself in knots trying to figure it all out. Its weighs in at around twice the size of the Nikon and at first I felt it was just too big but then I got to grips with it and love it - It has solid feeling and fits comfortably in my hand - the detail in the images are fantastic.

Im hoping put a bit more thought into what im doing with this camera - With the Nikon it was great for point and shoot moment but found especially when taking part in the 26things Photo Scavenger Hunt I was being hindered by the limited options of the Coolpix 3200 - Hopefully with some free time in Toronto I can make a good attempt at August's 26things

My life in a spin

I know I have been slacking recently but things have been hectic without anything really major happening.

Last weekend we had the Gaffney's at ours - 1st time all 5 of us have been together for about 6 weeks or so. Just had a quiet night but it was good catching up. Alyssa is growing up so fast she is wandering around exploring everywhere and has also developed a Diva-style tantrum to ensure she gets her own way. :)

(some pics of Alyssa to follow)

On Sunday as the great weather continued we had everyone round for a BBQ - nothing fancy just mass produced charred food.

In between times the football pre-season got underway ( I was begining to get
withdrawal symptoms during the 2 weeks since the World Cup final) Morton played a Morton 1995 select team as well as St. Mirren & Sheffield Utd. in the space of 9 days all at Cappielow.

They then hit the road with games against Partick, Morecambe & Barrow over 5 days across the weekend.

All in it appears to have been a succesful pre-season schedule with players looking sharp and new signing Jamie Stevenson settling in well. 1st game of the season is at Cappielow on Saturday versus Raith and will have a more thorough run-down on the Ton by then (I know how you all like to keep up with Greenock's finest)

Football aside the past week has been taken up with gardening or sorry landscaping the garden and the worrying thing is that we're not even halfway there. Decided a couple of weeks back to re-locate the entrance to front of the garden - This then progressed from a simple case of a bit of welding work on our fence and a few new slabs to a full scale landscaping job.

Let me just clarify something we're not talking a huge expanse of ground here (Think more postage stamp) but the problem is more the lie and shape of land. After many days and nights with a spade and spirit level we are now ready for phase 2 - Foundations are in place and the materials have been ordered

The plan is before we head off to Toronto our front garden will be monoblocked and walled with a convinient slopping path replacing the pram unfriendly stairs (the motive behind it all). Hopefully by that time my arms and hands will stop squealing out in pain with every movement - we can but hope :)

G is doing ok - seems to have as many good days and bad days and at times it getting her down. She's also worried that the sickness is never gonna go away.

Got my Niece over with us at the moment from Ireland - She is hoping to go to Uni in Edinburgh next year and is trying to get placements sorted for this year to ensure she qualifies for entry to the speech therapy course at Napier.

Mum is 70 later this month and after months of talking about it she has finally decided to allow us to throw her a party (tough decision I know) - So cue loads of runing aroudn trying to get a party organised in 2 & 1/2 weeks

With that and our holiday a couple of days later its gonna be a very hectic month :)