Likes/Dislikes

Favourite Film(s):
Shawshank Redemption, Batman (the dark knight), Anchor Man, Rushmore

Favourite TV:
Alan Partridge, Only Fools & Horses, Peep Show, Scrubs

Favourite Book:
The Life of David Livingstone

Favourite Destination(Holiday):
Livingstone (Zambia Africa)

Favourite Sports:
Football, Running, Pool, Table Tennis

Favourite Football Team:
Aston Villa

People i like:
David Livingstone, Muhammad Ali,

People i hate (dislike):
the man from the confused.com tv adverts

Favourite Food:
Chinese

Villa

My favourite football team is Aston Villa, i have supported them since i was 8 yrs old and have several season tickets and been to many games. I got m season ticket this yr with my cousin and will leave feedback on each game i go to (for the football fans out there)

Villa (1) v Odense (0)

after the 2v2 away draw i didnt think this would be an easy game, and we should have been 2 nil down by half time. Freddie Bouma dislocated his ankle (bad injury!) but Ashley Young went on to win us the game with a great goal. New signing Sidwell looked poor!

Villa ( 4 ) v Man City ( 2 ) 17th Aug 2008

Probably the best all round game i have ever been to, Man City had great support and the game was great too! Agbonlahor scored a hatrick in 7 minutes! Probably should have finshed 4-1 but they scored a scrappy goal in the last few minutes of the game. Ou season tickets seats were better than expected!

Other Hobbies

Aside running and Playing football i enjoy playing my xbox 360 and watching football games. My favourite xbox games are Gears of War, Fifa 08 and Pro Evo 08. i have other games but don't often play them. Below is a video of a screamer i scored with Peter Crouch on Pro, !! watch the vid until the end, it gets clear (ish)

I also love listening to music. I like all types of music especially Hip Hop & Soul. I listen to music when i run, especially as i'm often alone so it doesn't get to boring, i have all types of music on my Zen from 2pac to Enya! I was at a wedding a few years back and i was convinced i found 2pac alive and well, you be the judge? on the right! ! !

As i'm still at uni part time i dont get chance to read much, apart from study books and magazines, but when i do get chance i like to read books about my heroes and inspirations. I have read a few books about Dr David Livingstone and i have been to his museum in Africa, i like him so much as he dedicated his life to helping others and discoved some great places. I also like Muhammed Ali, Tupac Shakur (for the side that not many people see, his dedication to education and for studying under street lights just to get into college as his mom couldn't afford electricity sometimes) My other inspirations are my parents, especially my Dad who helped my so much with my football life when i was growing up, he took me all over the country and made sure i had the best equipment, even when he lost his business, our house and pretty much everything i still never went without, i'll put some family pics on here in the near future!

Running Man

One of my favourite hobbies is Running, although i say hobby i'm now taking it a little more serious and shall be entering competitions from Feb 2008! I assume i will be FAR from the best but my ambition is just to complete the courses in a respectable time and to raise as much money for charity as possible. Some competitions have set charities but where they dont i shall be choosing the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) I remember this being one of the first charities i gave money to so i have decided to stick with this, on occasions i shall also be raising money for a group of people i met while in Zambia (Africa), the money here will be for children and adults for education, foods and construction.

I run at a place called the Abbey Stadium, it has a gym, running track and indoor sports facilities. i have used the track for around 8 years now but only joined the gym in 2007, this is because i played football in between runs so didnt need the gym. I used to average 4 miles per day and never really ran over 5 miles at a time but late last year i started to do 6 - 7 mile runs and also weights in the gym and continued to play football with friends.

My personal best was for a 10km run was achived this week and was 41 mins. Today is the first time i will be training with a running club where my cousin runs(its something iv'e been meaning to do for a while!) Its with my cousin where i shall be running at Brands Hatch in Feb, its a 10k race and should give me some good practice for a half marathon im 'hoping' to compete in at Silverstone in March.

From Feb 18th 07 - 3rd Jan 08 i ran 55 miles, i have found some days really tough but im hoping running with my cousin will give me some idea on running more efficiently as he has alot more experience at running at a good level. I've also picked up some great tips and advice from a forum (about.com) see the link below. Alot of the people there do alot more than i do and compete in 1/2 and full marathons, mostly in the USA. It was just talking to some of them and seeing their blogs and stories that made me take running more seriously, it was the final push i needed.

I played football from the age of 9, 4 1/2 years professionally, but i have found it alot different to training for big runs. I used to train 3 times per week (minimum) and play once per week in a game. Endurance is the key and i'm slowly learning how to pace myself instead of just flying out the front door and running until i nearly drop, lol! Below is a pic of where i train!!

From 25th Dec 07 until now (August 08) i have ran nearly 800miles, this includes Roads, Track and Treadmill. I hope to hit the 1000mile mark by December 25th of this year!!

i entered a 10k race for sports relief this year at the abbey stadium, i raised £40 and completed the race in just over 37 minutes and finished 2nd (my cousin came 1st!!)

We also entered a 10k race for leukaemia charity in Bromsgrove and this was a road/country lane run, probably the hardest race i have ever done, i came 10th out of 250+ people in 41 minutes.

This October (08) i am running in Nottingham in a race called 'survival of the fittest' it's a 10k race with army obstacles every mile! my training at the minute includes running approximately 20-25 miles per week (+ football), weights and hill sprints.

Vacations

Italy 2001 - I went to Mantova on a student exchange type thing! while i was there i visited Venice and Riccioni, Riccione was the 'party' capital of Italy and Venice was Architecturally one of the most amazing places i have ever seen. I was escorted around Lake Garda (Lago di Garda) by an elderly guy who showed me a water plant that didn't absorb water, it can only be found on two lakes in Japan & Italy. Another place i visited was an old church near Mantova, people all over the world went there to draw on the 'sacred/miracle' ground, there was a 1 year waiting list for this and some of the greatest artist in the world visit there (see pic). The main attribute i relate to Italy is their dedication and preperation to healthy foods and drinks and lack of desire to consume beer!! (Duration 2 weeks)

France 2002 - Here i visited the capital (Paris). The people were alot friendlier than publicised. Disney Land was a major disapointmnet and the cost of inner city living was ridiculous. I ventured to Notre Dame, The Louvre Museum, Eiffel Tower and i travelled along the River Siene. The main aspect i relate to France was the shopping opportunities, the Louis Vuitton shop was two designer handbags (see pic) which shows thier desire of shopping !! (Duration 1 week)

Africa 2006 - This is were i went with Jamillah. We went to visit her family in Zambia, on route we stopped in Holland, Kenya and Zimabwe. Zambia was trully the most amazing place i have ever been to. We went to Livingstone, which was founded by David Livingstone (my hero) along with Victoria Falls, which was named after our Queen. Victoria Falls was awe inspiring and i would advise anyone to visit there atleast once. I went on a water safari where i seen crocodiles & hippos and we also went on land safari, it was there i had the greatest experience of my life, our jeep was forced back by Elephants ready to stampede, it was frightening yet trully amazing to see these animals up close. The main attribute i relate to this country is how supersticious they were. (Duration 2 weeks)

Ireland 2007 - This vacation was one of my favourites, we went to Dublin and travelled to where my Grandparents grew up. It was a 3 hour drive fom Dublin to County Cavan, (lakeside views) and we travelled around seeing various sites and the church and school my Nan went to. We had to travel by ferry as we just found out Amelia was pregnant and couldn't fly! While there we went to the Guiness Museum, Jamesons Museum, Dublin prison where the IRA was supposedly formed and the River Liffey. One of the main things i will remember was the amount of construction work taking place, building's were going up on every corner.(Duration 1 week)

Prague 2007 - Just after Ireland i visited Prague (Czech Rep) it was a friends birthday and 6 of us in total went. It was a nice place in terms of architecture but for some reason the people there did not seem to like the British (i'm sure its not the only place) I don't think i'd ever go back there unless i was with my family but definately not with a group of friends/men as they seem to frown upon it. My memory of Prague will be feeling like i was in the film 'Hostel'. (Duration 4 days)

Family

Me and Jamillah (Amelia) got married in Oct 2006 and moved into our own place straight away. We are now expecting our first child! this is the reason why i have started documenting certain aspects of life on the web.

My wife has a degree (Bsc) and Masters (Msc) in Economics and studied at the 4th best university in England. She was originally from Africa where her family still live, my family are English/Irish and live just down the road, thats mom, dad, sister and niece!

Darcey Rose

We are expecting our first child on 6th March, a daughter to be precise. we have had a few 2d scans and our own private 4d scan. Its pretty amazing as you get to see all parts of the body to make sure she/he is safe and well. There is no particular reason why we chose the name Darcey, it was just a name we could both agree on!!
Darcey is now 5 months old!! very bright (and noisy) and as you can see from the picture she is beautiful. I got her first Villa kit a few weeks ago!

Deano Dude

My name is Dean and this is 'my space' for posting general information about anything and everything !

Don't take anything personal, they are my thoughts and opinions and know one has to agree with them!
(this isnt really me, its a face warping software pic! honest)