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You must be Aviva laugh!! Rip Off!

17 Jan

KnightHawk - My new car :)

I had to pick up my new car today and being the law abiding citizen that I am, decided to apply for Aviva’s Free 7 day Drive Away insurance to ensure that I had insurance on me when I drove the car away. Have to say, it is quite a good marketing tactic on Aviva’s part as you can apply for the free car insurance online, but to activate it you would have to speak to one of their customer services staff who will provide you Aviva’s insurance quote for when the free insurance expires. Fair enough I think to myself as I had already checked online on other insurance sites for quotes and knew what my rates would be.

Called Aviva up and spoke to a rather lacklustre customer rep, after she had taken all my details down and put it through the system, provided me with a quote of £5300+ for the year….I was like hold on, the car itself is not worth that much more and almost every quote I have received from other insurers have been either under or just over the £1000 mark. I have a few years no claim bonus and in no way high-risk. The quote was for a 1.4 Honda Civic Hybrid, a car that is on the low Insurance band. Do Aviva really expect anyone to take up this rather preposterous quote? No wonder they are not on price comparison sites. What was even funnier was that the customer rep didn’t even think it was weird to give someone such a ridiculous quote and was ready to provide me with a monthly breakdown, as if  I would be happy to throw down close to £450 a month on their silly insurance.

Aviva advertise that 10% of their customers paid £203 or less, fair enough, the other 90% probably pay £5000+ . Come on Aviva get your act straight, you win on so many levels by providing the 7 day driveaway insurance and then blow it all away with those outlandish quotes. I think there is a bug in your systems, you might want to fix it.

Thankfully my quote was not as bad as Daniel’s who was quoted £10575 for a 1.6 Honda Civic . Does Aviva hate Honda Civic drivers?

My 2012 New Year’s Resolutions

1 Jan 2012 New Year's Resolutions
2012 Resolutions

2012 Resolutions

Every year, like countless others, I sit down prior to the New Year and earnestly write down my New Year’s resolutions; needless to say rarely do I ever complete the list. I often get asked why I bother, Simples, even though I may never have completed the list I do at least get halfway through it.

Over the years, my new year’s resolutions have made me take up middle distance running, write poetry, grow spiritually, change careers, lose weight/gain weight, take part in flashmobs, help others, run seminars, find faith, grow a moustache, start my own business, gain qualifications e.t.c , so if anything, these lists have been major motivators in my life. I can honestly say that because of the lists I have never once been bored in the past 10 years.

With the beginning of 2012, it is time for me to create a new list and this year I plan to keep a blog of how well I am progressing through the list. This blog post is to motivate myself and others, if this has motivated you in any way, I am happy to have helped and would love to hear and share your story.

Philippians 4:13 tells us, “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” John 15:5 declares, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” If God is the center of your New Year’s resolution, it has chance for success, depending on your commitment to it. If it is God’s will for something to be fulfilled, He will enable you to fulfill it. So with those words I wish you the best for your resolutions and have a really special New Year.

Niro’s 2012 New Year’s Resolutions (in no particular order)

Spiritual Wellbeing

  1. Read the whole bible and grow spiritually
  2. Attend the Alpha course
  3. Spend one hour every week reflecting and meditating on everything that has happened that week and plan effectively for the next week

Family & Friends

  1. Get Married
  2. Build stronger relationships with family and friends
  3. Make date night with my other half a permanent fixture every week and do something fun
  4. Keep in closer touch with mum, dad and bro

Learn new things

  1. Learn Photography
  2. Learn Dancing
  3. Learn to Cook
  4. Learn to play the Guitar
  5. Gain a recognised qualification in Marketing

Self Improvement and Motivation

  1. Set goals for 2012, put them in writing and go for it – DONE (17/01/2012)
  2. Be super efficient and super organised both at work and in my personal life
  3. Improve oratory skills
  4. Give a speech in front of 500+ people
  5. Master Neuro Linguistic Programming
  6. Read a book every 2 weeks

Health, Diet  & Fitness

  1. Stick to a strict training schedule at the gym and motivate others to keep fit and healthy
  2. Run 3 10K races and beat current personal best of 49 minutes
  3. Benchpress 100kg (minimum 5 reps)
  4. Lose the family pack and gain back the six pack
  5. Limit sugar and fatty food intake
  6. Get a full body checkup
  7. Have wisdom teeth extracted

Financial Wellbeing

  1. Become Entrepreneurial
  2. Create multiple streams of income
  3. Understand the basics of Finance
  4. Invest in shares
  5. Clear all debt
  6. Move into own flat
  7. Buy a new car – Done

Creative Wellbeing

  1. Write 20 poems
  2. Take part in an Open Mic Poetry reading
  3. Blog atleast once a week
  4. Write the lyrics for a song
  5. Publish a book

Out and About

  1. Go somewhere beautiful on honeymoon
  2. Explore the quirkier side of London

How to Win Friends and Influence People Online

2 Jul

Let’s face it, we now live in 2 worlds, the real world and the virtual online world. Being a web designer I spend equal time on both and the line dividing them has become extremely blurry. I have found skills that I use offline to be very beneficial to me online.

When I was younger, I was fortunate enough to have read a truly remarkable book by Dale Carnegie called “How to Win Friends and Influence People” first published in 1937. What Carnegie wrote in his book, I have pretty much followed religiously and have found it truly beneficial in everything I have done since. It has helped me to build a number of successful online communities and to raise my profile both online and offline.

I came across a really good blog post by J. Eddie Smith where he has adapted the techniques mentioned in Dale’s book to be more relevant to our interactions in the social media realm. Definitely worth a read!

A modern take on Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People [Photo by Aidan Jones via Flicker] Carnegie wrote his masterpiece How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936, but he could have written it in 20,000 BC and it would have been relevant then – and today. The underlying message is that being social and cultivating respect from others is the key pathway to reaping rewards in both your business and personal life. Web 2.0 hasn’t changed a thing. In fact, Carnegie’s ideas may be more important today … Read More

via Risk + 2.0

It’s okay to hug / be hugged by other grown men.

2 Jun

I love hugs as long as they are from the opposite sex, which raises the question is it okay to be hugged by other men? Well, the post below (via you’re a grown man) will definitely raise a few eyebrows. Funny yet interesting read!

it's okay to hug/be hugged by other grown men. I work with a guy who cringes every time I try giving him a hug. Granted, I’m hugging him because I take great joy in his public discomfort, but that’s beside the point. The question is, why have guys gotten so weird about hugging? Grown Man, I don’t want everyone around me to think I’m gay! First, nobody thinks that and, furthermore, why would you think that? Really, stop and ponder this. If you saw two guys in a quick embrace, would you think, … Read More

via you’re a grown man

Bullfighting role reversals

19 Apr

Came across this picture today and felt it was very poignant. In this day and age, how is it that bullfighting which is a despicable blood sport, still allowed to be legal in Mexico, Spain, France, Portugal, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, and Ecuador?

The object of bullfighting is for the bullfighter (matador) to “conquer and kill the bull with a swift clean kill by placing a sword in a coin-sized area between the bull’s shoulders.” Advocates of bullfighting argue that if the matador aims correctly, the animal dies in a matter of seconds. This type of quick, clean death, however, is not the norm. In most cases, the matador misses the target, injuring the bull’s lungs and bronchial tubes, causing blood to flow and bubble through the animal’s mouth and nose. Causing the poor animal to suffer till it’s last breath.

What many people might not know is that there is an Indian (Tamil Nadu) style of bull fighting known as Jallikattu. Technically, it is more bull taming sport than bull fighting. In Jallikattu, the bull is not killed and the ‘matadors’ do not use any weapons. This sport is also known as “Manju Virattu”, meaning “chasing the bull”. Maybe the other bull fighting countries should adopt this style instead of killing the bulls in the end.

Bullfighting - By-Your-

Bullfight by BY-YOUR-

To my wonderful housemates <3

18 Apr
Care: It makes a difference - passiveaggresivenotes

Care: It makes a difference - passiveaggresivenotes

Permanent Corsets

17 Apr

Want to look slimmer and have a coke bottle figure, but the only exercise you can manage to do is the walk down to your local McDonalds? Well then here is the solution.

Body modification. Get yourself a permanent corset. Yes it might hurt a bit, but once you look at your new sexy figure in the mirror, the pain would be easily justified. Plus your body would probably go in to shock and neutralize the pain anyway.

Body modification by izatrini.com

Body modification by izatrini.com

A Captcha that advises potential members

16 Apr

The world would be perfect if all Captchas told us about what we are signing up to….

Captcha feedback by Librarian by day

Captcha feedback by Librarian by day

Topsy Turvy

15 Apr

˙ɹǝʇʇǝq ʇno suɹnʇ ʍoɹɹoɯoʇ ǝdoɥ ‘ןןǝʍ ɥo ˙ʇɥƃıɹ ǝq oʇ ɯǝǝs op ı ƃuıɥʇou ‘sʎɐp ǝsoɥʇ ɟo ǝuo sı ʎɐpoʇ ןןǝʍ ¿ʎʌɹnʇ ʎsdoʇ ʇıq ɐ uǝʌǝ ǝqʎɐɯ ‘uʍop ǝpısdn sןǝǝɟ ƃuıɥʇʎɹǝʌǝ ǝɹǝɥʍ sʎɐp ǝsoɥʇ ɟo ǝuo ǝʌɐɥ ɹǝʌǝ

Eyjafjallajökull – Iceland volcano spits out consonants and vowels

14 Apr

Pretty ironic isn’t it, the world has been waiting for Iceland to return the cash they owe, but somehow the letter “c” got lost in translation and they gave us ash instead. To make matters worse they decided as some kind of cruel joke to give the volcano a name that even the best tongue twister would have a serious challenge pronouncing. Eyjafjallajökull according to the BBC’s Pronounciation Unit (and you wonder where our taxes go) is pronouced as AY-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl (-uh).

On a more serious note, it just comes to show that as much as us humans like to think we are in control, it is nature that really holds the ultimate key to our existence. Volcano eruptions are nothing new, but when you add up all the natural disasters that we have had recently it does make you wonder if Gaia has started to take revenge. Is it too late for us to change our ways? James Lovelock who originally proposed the Gaia Hypothesis seems to think so. If humans do not go through significant evolution over the next century both in terms of our habits and necessities, there is a high likelihood that we too will be extinct just like the numerous dominant species before us.

Wrath of Hell - Eyjafjallajökull

Wrath of Hell - Eyjafjallajökull Eruption by Orvaratli

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