Today would have been Andy’s birthday.

I don’t want to wallow in sadness because that’s not what Andy would have wanted. Instead I want to highlight a few things that he influenced. So today, if you find yourself thinking about Andy, think about these things:

Carol Jarvis’ solo album is on pre-order at Amazon and you can order it here. Carol plays trombone wonderfully, and from a brief conversation with her I know that Andy changed instruments in a brass band so that she could take over, and encouraged and mentored her. She is donating the profits to MacMillan Cancer Support.

Stuart Pendred has been one of Andy’s mates since childhood. He’s now a hugely accomplished singer (yes, you are Stu…) and will be the baritone soloist at a performance of Brahms’ A German Requiem on Saturday 20th March 2010 at St Paul’s, Onslow Square, London. Find out more here.

Stu is also involved in running for Andy’s Angels who will be running again in 2010 in aid of the Bone Cancer Research Trust. The first race they’re hoping to compete in is the Oxford Town & Gown 10k on 16th May 2010. Find out more about entry here. I believe that the team are hoping to compete in more races during the year.

The BCRT was a cause that Andy was devoted to, partly because so little is known about Bone Cancer. At the time of writing over £5,400 has been committed in donations towards the £10,000 target that he had set himself to raise. If you want to donate or sponsor the runners, please do so here.

My own family, MrsG-T, MiniG-T, MicroG-T and even BabeG-T had all met Andy and all were touched by the great example that he showed of dealing with life and its ups and downs.

And finally, think about Andy’s amazing family – his wife, three daughters, son, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. They’ve handled the changes in the last couple of years with tremendous dignity, great humour and been unfailingly lovely. As a family we’ve hugely enjoyed spending time with them all.

Guys, I think you’re all great. Thanks for being a great tribute to our shared memory of Andy Greig.

Happy birthday Pal!

Over the last year I’ve found that I’m a lot less anxious to buy new equipment and it’s not just because our normal three-bedroom terraced house is surprisingly full.

I think it’s partly because I have pieces of equipment that I either don’t use, or don’t use to anything like their capacity. My iPhone 3G is probably the one thing that I really use to something approaching it’s functional abilities!

So, my decision, my new year resolution if you will, is to use the stuff I have in a more efficient way. and to get rid of things that I can’t or won’t use. I need to include the whole house including the loft and the garage.

I have too many computers, too many audio systems, too many printers, too many books and too many magazines. And that’s just the stuff that I know I have!

The plan is to rationalise, to work out what I want to achieve in our home, and then configure the equipment that I have to make it happen. The rest of the stuff will be disappearing, hopefully not into landfill but somewhere where someone else can make use of it.

If you know that you can use some of my stuff for a useful purpose, please contact me here. Write and let me know what you would use the thing(s) for, how much you can afford to pay and I’ll send the goods to you. Any proceeds are going to Andy’s Angels, so please try to at least cover the cost of mailing.

To kick things off I have a blue and white Mac G3 tower with a built-in ZIP drive, and an HP Laserjet 4L printer with some spare cartridges. I’ll work out a better way of posting items up for grabs in the near future!

I’d also like to share with the readers of this blog where the stuff went and how it’s being used now, if that’s OK with the recipients.

It’ll be interesting to see where all my excess stuff ends up and what it ends up doing.