Marking was going really well, so it stands to reason it would go horribly wrong, some diabolical and I do mean diabolical submissions ruined what has been a fun couple of days, oh well they fail, not my problem...(no really they didn't do a damn thing more than class work and then submitted it...bahh)
The new board works great, of course I can't quite fit all I want in it, but on reflection I need to fit what I need, not what I want, and it does that perfectly. Just need a few right angled cables to finish fitting it all in and make sure that the holes in the board are clean and tidy, if I ever do want to use a looper on it, I'll take it as a separate unit, rather than fit it on to the board. (I must resist)
I have used it without mixer, but now the mixer if fitted, and I tested it with cluttered cables and its great, a bit of earthing noise to deal with but other than that, its fantastic. More important, I can carry it and put it in the boot.....its been fine at 2 rehearsal so far, and now with the mixer fitted, I can take it and only use 2 channels and lose 2 huge XLR cables...once the current titles are tidied up under the board, the GK cable and the dual jack (or jack to XLR depending on venue) will be tucked in and secure in the case ready for transport.
I've also fallen head over heals in love with a new toy, TC-Helicon have brought out a new Voice Live 3, extreme edition.. It is fantastic, especially if you plan to play along to backing tracks, which I like to do....its dammed expensive though....So I have made a decision to sell off all my older voice processors, and see if I can come close to the price of a VL3X, I don't intend to buy one unless I sell at least 3 of the other unit...watch this space. (it will fit in the new board, replacing my GTX and 3button switch).
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Tuesday, 14 April 2015
Marking going well so far..and 89.7Kg
I'm genuinely quite pleased so far with the CT1 grades of my non programming students, so far, pretty much all of them have actually done a good job, even those who failed didn't fail by much. Non programmers usually have a really hard time with this course and there's a lot of staring at blank screens in the class usually, but this years crop certainly had a go.
Hoping to get them finished up by tomorrow, then I can do the PR4's.
And yes, the scales didn't flicker this time I have properly cracked the 90kg's. The Diet...is still going ok, I am finding, that I tend to eat a small meal/snack, something healthy and low carb around 3/4in the afternoon then later in the evening, around 10 I will have a larger meal...this goes against the usual advice of not eating later, but I find it stops me going to bed hungry, and I'm not exactly an early to bed person, usually heading to bed 1 or 2am, depending on whether I have to be in work early.
The weight is indeed slowly dropping without me feeling constantly nagged by hunger. Of course, I have to cut out all sugar,(still tend to drink a few sugary fizzy drinks at band practice, that needs to stop) reduce my calories as much as possible; I aim for 1000 a day, but going up to 1500 is ok on occasions.
The push ups and sit ups are also increasing... as are the long fast walks with the dog...who's starting to get left behind sometimes.
I tried to find one of those door mounted pull up chin bars in the local sports shop, but nothing.... Guess I have to start getting my 25euros a months worth out of the gym soon...
I do plan to (yeah right) as soon as I'm not completely out of puff going up and down stairs a few times....I want to get some proper use out of it.
Cycling to places also helps too... now the nice weather is here its nice to be out on the bike,I am trying to only use the car for to and from Band practice.
Anyways...back to marking for a few more hours, then back some guitar practice.
Ahthankyew
Hoping to get them finished up by tomorrow, then I can do the PR4's.
And yes, the scales didn't flicker this time I have properly cracked the 90kg's. The Diet...is still going ok, I am finding, that I tend to eat a small meal/snack, something healthy and low carb around 3/4in the afternoon then later in the evening, around 10 I will have a larger meal...this goes against the usual advice of not eating later, but I find it stops me going to bed hungry, and I'm not exactly an early to bed person, usually heading to bed 1 or 2am, depending on whether I have to be in work early.
The weight is indeed slowly dropping without me feeling constantly nagged by hunger. Of course, I have to cut out all sugar,(still tend to drink a few sugary fizzy drinks at band practice, that needs to stop) reduce my calories as much as possible; I aim for 1000 a day, but going up to 1500 is ok on occasions.
The push ups and sit ups are also increasing... as are the long fast walks with the dog...who's starting to get left behind sometimes.
I tried to find one of those door mounted pull up chin bars in the local sports shop, but nothing.... Guess I have to start getting my 25euros a months worth out of the gym soon...
I do plan to (yeah right) as soon as I'm not completely out of puff going up and down stairs a few times....I want to get some proper use out of it.
Cycling to places also helps too... now the nice weather is here its nice to be out on the bike,I am trying to only use the car for to and from Band practice.
Anyways...back to marking for a few more hours, then back some guitar practice.
Ahthankyew
Saturday, 11 April 2015
Rehearsals begin
This is just us in rehearsals, its a rough mix and we had Britta's voice over gained so she sounds a bit distorted at times, but we'll learn...less gain when the wee one is doing the shouty stuff
Ahthankyew
Ahthankyew
Phew... Cracked 90kg
Finally, I cracked 90kg....granted it was only flickering on and off but the scales defiantly said 89kg then 90 then 89 then 90...clearly my intake of air I my lungs was kicking it over, I shall stop breathing.
But at least the diet and exercise is starting to pay a visible dividend....no difference yet to the folds though...Now that the better weather is here I 'll be cycling to work more so it we can start to up the exercise parts.
The Gadgeteers are on tenderhooks (tenterhooks?? I never know) at the thought of a live pub gig in 2 weeks, we have 33 songs in our repertoire we have to become note perfect on in 5 rehearsals...
shiiiiit
Maybe that's why I'm losing the weight...nerves
Ahthankyew
But at least the diet and exercise is starting to pay a visible dividend....no difference yet to the folds though...Now that the better weather is here I 'll be cycling to work more so it we can start to up the exercise parts.
The Gadgeteers are on tenderhooks (tenterhooks?? I never know) at the thought of a live pub gig in 2 weeks, we have 33 songs in our repertoire we have to become note perfect on in 5 rehearsals...
shiiiiit
Maybe that's why I'm losing the weight...nerves
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 9 April 2015
The Gadgeteers Ride again, getting a new board ready.
We have a gig, on the 26th April at Café Happy Days in Breda...one of the busiest nights here, its called Koningsnacht, Kings evening, the evening before a National Holiday for the King...so always a busy evening, the Dutch love to party.
Its short notice, but we do have a fair set arranged and can add a few numbers, it is far longer than we have ever played though, 3.5 hours...not all playing of course we can take breaks.
Scary though to book a gig only a few weeks away...better get our practice heads on. I hope this will be the 1st of many new gigs in the pubs and cafe's
https://www.facebook.com/events/1594814947431440/
In honour of this event, and the fact I am getting a cool tax rebate in a few months, I am finally putting the finishing touches to my new gig board idea. Something much more portable for band based events. The Mega Board is just tooooooo huge to lug around for band events, it's staying at home for recording my looping efforts, unless I ever get some gigs on my own...unlikely.
The new Gigboard, will consist, of a GR55 (I picked up a 2nd one super cheap on eBay), my VoiceLive Play GTX, which will also serve (with the GR55) as my main guitar source and of course vocal processor, perhaps with the Tone Synth added for Daft Punk covers.. A small 5 port mixer, going out to my RC3, and maybe...just maybe a few of my single pedals, hooked up via my 5 way signal looper. (not an audio looper, it routes the guitar signal to different paths, allowing different pedals to work in different routes.)
The VL-GTX is not as powerful as my VL2, but it works fine for the singing and backing I do in the bands, so no need to load up the VL2 to the board.
I need to keep this light, so the single pedals, and even the RC3 are probably going to be overkill. But the Mixer to bring the 4 cable outs from the GR and GTX will make it easier to hook up to a PA. At the moment I take 4 inputs which is a lot.
If it turns out its getting too heavy I'll keep my single pedals in their current board and use when I am only playing guitar.
I've bought a basic but strong pedal board on eBay, its on its way now, so assembly will start next week when it arrives. Pics will follow
As will some video and audio of our rehearsals.
Ahthankyew
Its short notice, but we do have a fair set arranged and can add a few numbers, it is far longer than we have ever played though, 3.5 hours...not all playing of course we can take breaks.
Scary though to book a gig only a few weeks away...better get our practice heads on. I hope this will be the 1st of many new gigs in the pubs and cafe's
https://www.facebook.com/events/1594814947431440/
In honour of this event, and the fact I am getting a cool tax rebate in a few months, I am finally putting the finishing touches to my new gig board idea. Something much more portable for band based events. The Mega Board is just tooooooo huge to lug around for band events, it's staying at home for recording my looping efforts, unless I ever get some gigs on my own...unlikely.
The new Gigboard, will consist, of a GR55 (I picked up a 2nd one super cheap on eBay), my VoiceLive Play GTX, which will also serve (with the GR55) as my main guitar source and of course vocal processor, perhaps with the Tone Synth added for Daft Punk covers.. A small 5 port mixer, going out to my RC3, and maybe...just maybe a few of my single pedals, hooked up via my 5 way signal looper. (not an audio looper, it routes the guitar signal to different paths, allowing different pedals to work in different routes.)
The VL-GTX is not as powerful as my VL2, but it works fine for the singing and backing I do in the bands, so no need to load up the VL2 to the board.
I need to keep this light, so the single pedals, and even the RC3 are probably going to be overkill. But the Mixer to bring the 4 cable outs from the GR and GTX will make it easier to hook up to a PA. At the moment I take 4 inputs which is a lot.
If it turns out its getting too heavy I'll keep my single pedals in their current board and use when I am only playing guitar.
I've bought a basic but strong pedal board on eBay, its on its way now, so assembly will start next week when it arrives. Pics will follow
As will some video and audio of our rehearsals.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 6 April 2015
My board Final?
Under the tier is still a shambles of cables than will need some work to tidy, but aside from a sticky out XLR on the VL2 everything is looking neat..and more importantly working fine
Behold..the new "final" board.
Of course, there's more... The Adrenalinn III is capable of far more than just being an Amp modeler, its a fantastic fx unit in its own right, so it can connect up to my Berhinger FCB1010
Which then gives me the ability to select presets, volume control, wha control, and a few other things...
Now....to learn how to use it all.
The BeatBuddy is still proving to be a bit hard to get my head around when the RC-300 is the midi master (it refuses to be a slave) so I need to adjust my timings to work within that and see if I can get some recording done.
The cold/cough from hell kept me from recording for the last few months, but it hasn't stopped me practicing a few songs, I've got holidays soon, so I'm going to gear up for a mega recording session with all toys fully on display.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 5 April 2015
The temptations of the flesh are many and tasty
Not going to do the weigh in today.. I know for sure I blew it big time the last couple of days.. And especially last night at Poker with Peter and Liz and the gang..
I pigged out on Gourmet and more importantly on some absolutely fantastic rum
Ahthankyew
I pigged out on Gourmet and more importantly on some absolutely fantastic rum
Wow this stuff was nice, I had quite a lot of it.....which probably caused me to play quite brilliantly at poker even though I suffered a massive loss when sitting 2nd or 3rd in chips with over 50euros, when I had a nut flush only to lose out to 4 kings....ouch that was a killer, but my betting strong actually scared the 4 king hand into thinking I had a royal flush....he bravely played and caught me out...
Damn it was the hand of the evening...and pulled in a wedge of euros, wish I'd won it lol
.
Lucky I still had 10euros in reserve and managed to push that all the way back to 27.50 in only a couple of rounds, for a 2.50 profit. at close.(we only play 25euro stake games and set a time rather than last man standing). If it hadn't been for that big loss I would probably have left as chip lead, but no matter, I'm always happy to leave in profit.
I did however lose a clear 1kg when I checked on Friday... If will try to walk/exercise the excess of the last few days away.
I had some awesome news on Thursday too, but can't say just yet....I did however celebrate...more to follow on that one when its all out in the open.
Damn it was the hand of the evening...and pulled in a wedge of euros, wish I'd won it lol
.
Lucky I still had 10euros in reserve and managed to push that all the way back to 27.50 in only a couple of rounds, for a 2.50 profit. at close.(we only play 25euro stake games and set a time rather than last man standing). If it hadn't been for that big loss I would probably have left as chip lead, but no matter, I'm always happy to leave in profit.
I did however lose a clear 1kg when I checked on Friday... If will try to walk/exercise the excess of the last few days away.
I had some awesome news on Thursday too, but can't say just yet....I did however celebrate...more to follow on that one when its all out in the open.
Ahthankyew
Wednesday, 1 April 2015
Hungry...but determined, and more toys
ok I've upped the stakes now....calorie counting and a bit of light exercise, walking , using stairs, and the sit ups and push ups....grrr, will try to pop to the gym (yeah right) sometime soon.
I'm trying to stick to 1000-1500 KCals, basically, a breakfast biscuit eaten as later as possible around 11. A small sushi or bento box from AH (ideally the 35% discount one) followed but a small evening meal...no supper
Drinking lots of coffee, with no sugar of course, I've not had sugar in my coffee for years.
So yes by 9-30 am hungry, but am not going to give in.. I have FOLDS....
if I haven't started to lose weight with this on Sunday's weigh in.. I'm just going to pig out and go with the rag on a stick.
I am hoping once the weight loss becomes noticeable, I will be able to focus better on ignoring the hunger...right now, though there's a couple of cheeseburgers in the fridge that are calling to me....I am resisting, even though I'm well under my quota, I don't want to go to bed with food in my stomach...It needs to burn off.
Onto Toys....
I picked up a Google Chromecast dongle today, only 35euros so I can easily get Netflix on my downstairs (or bedroom) Tv. Its not without flaws, the thing is controlled by your iphone, or laptop, but it seems to sometimes lose the connection to your chosen control device and then it can't be controlled, needing a reset to get it going again... Hoping they fix that, as resetting is a bit of a pain.
But it does stream well, no major issues there.
Ahthankyew
I'm trying to stick to 1000-1500 KCals, basically, a breakfast biscuit eaten as later as possible around 11. A small sushi or bento box from AH (ideally the 35% discount one) followed but a small evening meal...no supper
Drinking lots of coffee, with no sugar of course, I've not had sugar in my coffee for years.
So yes by 9-30 am hungry, but am not going to give in.. I have FOLDS....
if I haven't started to lose weight with this on Sunday's weigh in.. I'm just going to pig out and go with the rag on a stick.
I am hoping once the weight loss becomes noticeable, I will be able to focus better on ignoring the hunger...right now, though there's a couple of cheeseburgers in the fridge that are calling to me....I am resisting, even though I'm well under my quota, I don't want to go to bed with food in my stomach...It needs to burn off.
Onto Toys....
I picked up a Google Chromecast dongle today, only 35euros so I can easily get Netflix on my downstairs (or bedroom) Tv. Its not without flaws, the thing is controlled by your iphone, or laptop, but it seems to sometimes lose the connection to your chosen control device and then it can't be controlled, needing a reset to get it going again... Hoping they fix that, as resetting is a bit of a pain.
But it does stream well, no major issues there.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 30 March 2015
not lost an ounce
I've cut out snacks, I have a small lunch and dinner, I take the dog for much longer walks, and try to do a bit of power walking as I do it...I even gulp, have been doing pushups and sit ups.
and 2 weeks later
not an ounce lost....
I hate diets..but I still have folds, so have to keep it up.
increasing the pushup count from 1 to ...1.5 next week maybe...
Ahthankyew
and 2 weeks later
not an ounce lost....
I hate diets..but I still have folds, so have to keep it up.
increasing the pushup count from 1 to ...1.5 next week maybe...
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Sober code review
Damn I was drunk last night......but boy was I productive...and after going though it today, aside from misspelling a lot of labels, the code is excellent. As was the graphic optimisations I did to try to produce a graphic solution to a scrolling issue I didn't have the space to code.
I seem to be becoming more coherent and focused while drunk.....
Scuze me, I have to do a quick shopping trip to the off-license...4 crates of Cabernet Sauvignon should do it.
Ahthankyew
I seem to be becoming more coherent and focused while drunk.....
Scuze me, I have to do a quick shopping trip to the off-license...4 crates of Cabernet Sauvignon should do it.
Ahthankyew
quite drunk
yup did even more coding, and fuck me it all works.
seems to be the way to do it.
only trouble is it makes me sadder than hell, wish Brenda was still here, I miss her so much
being drunk and productive isn't worth the pain I feel not having her here.
Ahthankyew
maybe not yet
With the benefit of wine, I managed to do quite a lot of Z80 coding today
of course, it was with the benefit of wine, so it may not actually work when I am sober.
ta daaaaaa!
Ahthankyew
of course, it was with the benefit of wine, so it may not actually work when I am sober.
ta daaaaaa!
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Am I past it?
Health issues aside, (99.95% now so pretty much there)
I worry if I am still up to my job..not the teaching, I still love that, and enjoy the challenges it gives me. But as a programmer, can I still cut it?
The last year, I have had so little time to do much programming, but when I get time, it never seems to be productive.. I can't seem to finish my Z80 project, though I usually work on it 5-10hrs or so a week, I seem to spend more time firefighting and hunting for memory than actually progressing towards a clearly visible but still distant end. I can't do much more till that's out the way as people are waiting for it to be finished and I can't let them down. There's an old coders adage, 95% of the work is in the last 5% of the project....very true in this case.
I have also a PSM and a PS4 project on the back burner...but just no great inspiration to move forward with them. The PSM one is dead though, since Sony have sadly decided to kill of the PSM program...so sad..
But the PS4 gig is potentially a great thing.. it was going to be my Masters gig project but the masters never kicked off, so back burnered, with a glance from time to time. I fear disappointing an old friend who has let me run with this project he originally created with his brother...But I do still hope it will be the masters project in Sept... Not that I want to do the masters..but if I have to, that's the project I want to do. etc....moan moan rant rant. Masters crap shit fuck..
I dunno what I need to do, I've had writers block before of course, but I never used to suffer prolonged writers block, I have an enviable reputation for getting projects finished, but that drive seems to be missing.. I can't just sit down and do it....all my tips and tricks which I pass on to students are not working...I need a kick up the arse from somewhere, but its just not there.
We're moving into a quiet period at work, for 3 weeks, and I have a quiet block also coming up then summer...that might finally give me some chance to recharge... I can't wait for the summer holidays, though mostly I plan to sleep and do as little as possible, before going down to La Moreau in France, for a special week of guitar playing and performing in memorial to a lost friend.
I think I need to do something else for a while...once I get the Z80 thing done..music still fills my time, but not when I am so busy with work. Could it be time to clear out the shed and get my model building tools set up on the workbench?? hmmmm naaahhh...too much hassle.
Being single also isn't helping, I can't say how much I miss Brenda, she doesn't read this, so I can be open, I can't really get over her, nothing would make me happier than having her back in my life, but I know in time nothing would make her sadder....can't win!
Need more time, apparently it heals all wounds....might bleed to death waiting though....hmm there's a song lyric for someone.
hmmm that got depressing quite quick........can't think of a way to make it lighter right now...Better just go get back to staring at my screen, I have some odds and ends of marking and project reviews to do...suppose I might as well crack on with this.
Ahthankyew
I worry if I am still up to my job..not the teaching, I still love that, and enjoy the challenges it gives me. But as a programmer, can I still cut it?
The last year, I have had so little time to do much programming, but when I get time, it never seems to be productive.. I can't seem to finish my Z80 project, though I usually work on it 5-10hrs or so a week, I seem to spend more time firefighting and hunting for memory than actually progressing towards a clearly visible but still distant end. I can't do much more till that's out the way as people are waiting for it to be finished and I can't let them down. There's an old coders adage, 95% of the work is in the last 5% of the project....very true in this case.
I have also a PSM and a PS4 project on the back burner...but just no great inspiration to move forward with them. The PSM one is dead though, since Sony have sadly decided to kill of the PSM program...so sad..
But the PS4 gig is potentially a great thing.. it was going to be my Masters gig project but the masters never kicked off, so back burnered, with a glance from time to time. I fear disappointing an old friend who has let me run with this project he originally created with his brother...But I do still hope it will be the masters project in Sept... Not that I want to do the masters..but if I have to, that's the project I want to do. etc....moan moan rant rant. Masters crap shit fuck..
I dunno what I need to do, I've had writers block before of course, but I never used to suffer prolonged writers block, I have an enviable reputation for getting projects finished, but that drive seems to be missing.. I can't just sit down and do it....all my tips and tricks which I pass on to students are not working...I need a kick up the arse from somewhere, but its just not there.
We're moving into a quiet period at work, for 3 weeks, and I have a quiet block also coming up then summer...that might finally give me some chance to recharge... I can't wait for the summer holidays, though mostly I plan to sleep and do as little as possible, before going down to La Moreau in France, for a special week of guitar playing and performing in memorial to a lost friend.
I think I need to do something else for a while...once I get the Z80 thing done..music still fills my time, but not when I am so busy with work. Could it be time to clear out the shed and get my model building tools set up on the workbench?? hmmmm naaahhh...too much hassle.
Being single also isn't helping, I can't say how much I miss Brenda, she doesn't read this, so I can be open, I can't really get over her, nothing would make me happier than having her back in my life, but I know in time nothing would make her sadder....can't win!
Need more time, apparently it heals all wounds....might bleed to death waiting though....hmm there's a song lyric for someone.
hmmm that got depressing quite quick........can't think of a way to make it lighter right now...Better just go get back to staring at my screen, I have some odds and ends of marking and project reviews to do...suppose I might as well crack on with this.
Ahthankyew
Friday, 20 March 2015
New Board Layout
I don't carry this around as much as I did, its too heavy, this is what I now consider my solo performance looping board, since I don't need to do much vocal effects or any looping with the band, the looper and big vocal unit are not essential to band work. Since I don't gig solo (maybe one day) it now mostly static in the attic.
But I like this board a lot, I've now added the Beat Buddy to it, which I love to use but am having some issues getting it to midi sync with loops, I dunno if its a problem with the RC-300 which is known to have issues as a slave, or the BB which may have issues being a slave...but bottom line is they drift after a few loops making it hard to have the BB as the drums in a performance piece......I don't beat box expexially well with a paralysed lip so I do kinda need a drum system that works for me.
If its a BeatBuddy software issue with its receive being slightly wrong, it will get fixed.. boss sure as hell have no interest in fixing the RC-300 slave functionality...shame.
anyway heres the new layout of the board... A bit of space I could fill in but won't, and a few straight cables still in place which will be changed for angled ones soon to clean things up a bit more.
Ahthankyew
But I like this board a lot, I've now added the Beat Buddy to it, which I love to use but am having some issues getting it to midi sync with loops, I dunno if its a problem with the RC-300 which is known to have issues as a slave, or the BB which may have issues being a slave...but bottom line is they drift after a few loops making it hard to have the BB as the drums in a performance piece......I don't beat box expexially well with a paralysed lip so I do kinda need a drum system that works for me.
If its a BeatBuddy software issue with its receive being slightly wrong, it will get fixed.. boss sure as hell have no interest in fixing the RC-300 slave functionality...shame.
anyway heres the new layout of the board... A bit of space I could fill in but won't, and a few straight cables still in place which will be changed for angled ones soon to clean things up a bit more.
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Diets make you hungry....and my will power is terrible...but 91.3kg
I have cheated several times, the packet of choccy raisins was just asking to be eaten
But slow and steady the grams are dropping... AND I have discovered something very useful
Breakfast grain biscuits...choccy ones from Aldi... 79Kcals for 2 of em, but they stop you feeling hungry for at least a couple of hours in the morning.. I'm not normally a breakfast person, except at weekends, but I do get hungry as hell around 11 and often sneak in a sausage roll or baguette snack before lunch...no more..
The breaky biccies let me last till lunch time when said Sausage roll or baguette is lunch, and even then only 1 sausage roll or half sized baguette. So trading in 79Kcal for 500 or so is a good plan.
They do have a salad bar at the work canteen but its not very inspiring, I might just walk to the store and buy a ready made one..only use half the dressing.
Not much weight coming off yet but still early days, and only just beginning to exercise...risked a few morning pushups, which I will try to do every day as well as a some Ab crunches, also taking the dog for much longer faster paced evening walks... I'll try to hit the gym soon..(grrr)
A rough BMI calculation has me at 30.9 which is obese...well the folds told me that.. I basically need to lose 30Kg to be in my perfect weight for my height, but I'll settle for getting down to around 70kg without the folds. Less than my stated target, but that sill has me in the overweight group, so I need to aim lower but not at the 60 it wants for ideal..I am 51 after all I can't expect a washboard stomach and pert pecs...so just lose the weight and tone up and I'll be happy...might live a few months longer.
Oh, so far today...no coughing fits...a bit of throat clearing but no cough.....it won't last the whole day, but its nice to not notice the cough...now that I think about it, I want to cough...dammit.
Ahthankyew
But slow and steady the grams are dropping... AND I have discovered something very useful
Breakfast grain biscuits...choccy ones from Aldi... 79Kcals for 2 of em, but they stop you feeling hungry for at least a couple of hours in the morning.. I'm not normally a breakfast person, except at weekends, but I do get hungry as hell around 11 and often sneak in a sausage roll or baguette snack before lunch...no more..
The breaky biccies let me last till lunch time when said Sausage roll or baguette is lunch, and even then only 1 sausage roll or half sized baguette. So trading in 79Kcal for 500 or so is a good plan.
They do have a salad bar at the work canteen but its not very inspiring, I might just walk to the store and buy a ready made one..only use half the dressing.
Not much weight coming off yet but still early days, and only just beginning to exercise...risked a few morning pushups, which I will try to do every day as well as a some Ab crunches, also taking the dog for much longer faster paced evening walks... I'll try to hit the gym soon..(grrr)
A rough BMI calculation has me at 30.9 which is obese...well the folds told me that.. I basically need to lose 30Kg to be in my perfect weight for my height, but I'll settle for getting down to around 70kg without the folds. Less than my stated target, but that sill has me in the overweight group, so I need to aim lower but not at the 60 it wants for ideal..I am 51 after all I can't expect a washboard stomach and pert pecs...so just lose the weight and tone up and I'll be happy...might live a few months longer.
Oh, so far today...no coughing fits...a bit of throat clearing but no cough.....it won't last the whole day, but its nice to not notice the cough...now that I think about it, I want to cough...dammit.
Ahthankyew
Sunday, 15 March 2015
Oh and I really am going on a diet.
Caught sight of my nakedness in the mirror this morning.....there were folds....FOLDS...I just can't handle that...
Not going to do anything fancy...2 small meals a day, avoid butter/oils/fat and no eating after 8pm
Can't believe there were FOLDS!!! oh ugghh... I'll be washing myself with a rag on a stick before long.
start weight is 92Kg.... target 80kg... It will be done, and I will buy myself a new bikini for the hols when I get there.
Folds!!!!
Ahthankyew
Not going to do anything fancy...2 small meals a day, avoid butter/oils/fat and no eating after 8pm
Can't believe there were FOLDS!!! oh ugghh... I'll be washing myself with a rag on a stick before long.
start weight is 92Kg.... target 80kg... It will be done, and I will buy myself a new bikini for the hols when I get there.
Folds!!!!
Ahthankyew
stuck at 99% maybe I should use some homeopathy
Still can't shake the damn cough...doctor time....though as soon as I tell him/her that I feel better he'll suggest I come back in 2 weeks...watch this space.
There is an astonishing argument going on, on Facebook, which I have been part of but no more, It has made me realize that people are just unbelievably dumb and unwilling to accept facts if it does not fit with their view.
Its about homeopathy of course, I dunno how to link a specific FB thread but its the Richard Dawkins page, where they highlighted the homeopathy research in Australia, as I did in the last thread.
What follows is an absolute clusterfuck of misinformation, misunderstanding and blind stupidity on a level I can barely comprehend.
Misinfomation 1st...sadly they used an image of a rack of herbal essential oils...now I'm not going to say these are utter nonsense....some good does come from their use in massage, and inhalation, but its hardly medicine...but more importantly its not homeopathy....so many people just jumping on that as a sideways means to defend their belief in homeopathy.
Misunderstanding and stupidity....I cannot, I mean I really cannot comprehend how incredibly bad this is, 99% of the people posting in defense of homeopathy clearly think it is a herbal remedy, in the same way as Aspirin, ginger and garlic etc are.....its incredible to me that people are so astonishingly misinformed... It matters not how many people post on the thread to point this out, THEY KEEP MIXING IT UP.
Herbal remedies are not useless, they may not have a lot of efficacy, but for some very specific things they do work and many modern drugs own their origins to herbal remedies.
Homeopathy is something totally different, it is basically like taking a tablet of aspirin, which we know helps with many things.....throwing it in a reservoir.. and expecting every one who takes a glass of water from that reservoir to have their headaches cured... It is utter madness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
When I was a kid, I genuinely was amazed at they way communication and travel made the world a much smaller more intimate place. The sharing of knowledge convinced me that in time we would see an end to wars, a global understanding of science and an ability to tap into the knowledge of mankind to make life better, a bit like Star Treks utopia..
We have all that global understanding today via the internet, but rather than enlighten us it seems to have made us more and more convinced our stupidity is right because we are able to find other stupid people to back us up.
The internet has caused confirmation bias to run wildly out of control, we no longer trust anyone we appoint to take care of or lead us, doctors, scientists, governments are all out to destroy us with their massive conspiracies and evil deeds to keep us down. We've seen the rise of fanatics, and a glorification of stupidity and ignorance. Not just Homepathy; Anti Vaxxers, Jihadists, 9/11 truthers, Neo Right wingers of all styles, Illuminati, Lizards in government...the list is too long....too incredibly stupid to bother getting our head around.
If I could afford it... I think I really would just go find a cabin in the woods somewhere, take my retirement collection of scale models to build and hide away waiting for death or a UFO lift to some other planet. I just don't think I care anymore about this planet and the naked apes running it.
But everyday I read the news and I know...we're heading for oblivion....
Hey Aliens, if you're reading this....please take me with you?
Please?
Ahthankyew
There is an astonishing argument going on, on Facebook, which I have been part of but no more, It has made me realize that people are just unbelievably dumb and unwilling to accept facts if it does not fit with their view.
Its about homeopathy of course, I dunno how to link a specific FB thread but its the Richard Dawkins page, where they highlighted the homeopathy research in Australia, as I did in the last thread.
What follows is an absolute clusterfuck of misinformation, misunderstanding and blind stupidity on a level I can barely comprehend.
Misinfomation 1st...sadly they used an image of a rack of herbal essential oils...now I'm not going to say these are utter nonsense....some good does come from their use in massage, and inhalation, but its hardly medicine...but more importantly its not homeopathy....so many people just jumping on that as a sideways means to defend their belief in homeopathy.
Misunderstanding and stupidity....I cannot, I mean I really cannot comprehend how incredibly bad this is, 99% of the people posting in defense of homeopathy clearly think it is a herbal remedy, in the same way as Aspirin, ginger and garlic etc are.....its incredible to me that people are so astonishingly misinformed... It matters not how many people post on the thread to point this out, THEY KEEP MIXING IT UP.
Herbal remedies are not useless, they may not have a lot of efficacy, but for some very specific things they do work and many modern drugs own their origins to herbal remedies.
Homeopathy is something totally different, it is basically like taking a tablet of aspirin, which we know helps with many things.....throwing it in a reservoir.. and expecting every one who takes a glass of water from that reservoir to have their headaches cured... It is utter madness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathy
When I was a kid, I genuinely was amazed at they way communication and travel made the world a much smaller more intimate place. The sharing of knowledge convinced me that in time we would see an end to wars, a global understanding of science and an ability to tap into the knowledge of mankind to make life better, a bit like Star Treks utopia..
We have all that global understanding today via the internet, but rather than enlighten us it seems to have made us more and more convinced our stupidity is right because we are able to find other stupid people to back us up.
The internet has caused confirmation bias to run wildly out of control, we no longer trust anyone we appoint to take care of or lead us, doctors, scientists, governments are all out to destroy us with their massive conspiracies and evil deeds to keep us down. We've seen the rise of fanatics, and a glorification of stupidity and ignorance. Not just Homepathy; Anti Vaxxers, Jihadists, 9/11 truthers, Neo Right wingers of all styles, Illuminati, Lizards in government...the list is too long....too incredibly stupid to bother getting our head around.
If I could afford it... I think I really would just go find a cabin in the woods somewhere, take my retirement collection of scale models to build and hide away waiting for death or a UFO lift to some other planet. I just don't think I care anymore about this planet and the naked apes running it.
But everyday I read the news and I know...we're heading for oblivion....
Hey Aliens, if you're reading this....please take me with you?
Please?
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 12 March 2015
Well I already knew this wouldn't help
As always, the Alternative medicine nutters are swarming all over the internet now that another massive study on the efficacy of Homeopathy has shown......it does nothing.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/11/homeopathy-not-effective-for-treating-any-condition-australian-report-finds?CMP=share_btn_fb
Hardly a surprise of course, but still people refuse to listen, from the Big Pharma consipiracy nuts, to the, well it works for me gullible people, are rushing all over the net to comment.
And Missing the point as always.
Why?
Placebo....its as simple, yet complex as that. The Human body is fantastically effective at fighting illness, virus, diseases even some of its own genetic conditions, every single minute of every single day our bodies are working hard to kill infections and grew and replace damaged tissues that occur as an everyday fact of life.
We probably get attacked by a 1000 cold or flu viruses a day, but for the most part our body kicks their asses and moves on and we never notice/
Its only when the body gets overwhelmed and our defenses routed that we get sick, a virus, we don't know, or damage too big to fix quick, then we need help.
What controls our level of immunity to sickness, is basically unknown, but we do know that stress, poor mental outlook and a host of other life issues can have an impact on our immune system, that makes us less able to fight and gives the bugs a chance to get us.
But equally, we can boost our immune system, positive thinking, positive actions all work wonders and help us fight a whole range of illnesses, from Cancer to man-flu (actually there is no cure for man-flu, millions of men die every hour from it)
Placebo is the trigger for this positivity, it comes in countless forms, but the basic idea is that someone cares how we are doing and is paying attention to us, and we feel good about that...allowing us to fight. Even babies and animals can benefit from placebo, they just need to be made to feel that someone cares and is doing something for them.
Now...if you accept that placebo is a real thing, and it most certainly is....then you need to realize all the quack medicines out there are just pandering to that placebo effect...if it makes you better that's fantastic, but sugar pills and a cuddle from someone you love will have exactly the same effect.
Lets not be stupid about this, its just making greedy people rich.
Ahthankyew
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/mar/11/homeopathy-not-effective-for-treating-any-condition-australian-report-finds?CMP=share_btn_fb
Hardly a surprise of course, but still people refuse to listen, from the Big Pharma consipiracy nuts, to the, well it works for me gullible people, are rushing all over the net to comment.
And Missing the point as always.
Why?
Placebo....its as simple, yet complex as that. The Human body is fantastically effective at fighting illness, virus, diseases even some of its own genetic conditions, every single minute of every single day our bodies are working hard to kill infections and grew and replace damaged tissues that occur as an everyday fact of life.
We probably get attacked by a 1000 cold or flu viruses a day, but for the most part our body kicks their asses and moves on and we never notice/
Its only when the body gets overwhelmed and our defenses routed that we get sick, a virus, we don't know, or damage too big to fix quick, then we need help.
What controls our level of immunity to sickness, is basically unknown, but we do know that stress, poor mental outlook and a host of other life issues can have an impact on our immune system, that makes us less able to fight and gives the bugs a chance to get us.
But equally, we can boost our immune system, positive thinking, positive actions all work wonders and help us fight a whole range of illnesses, from Cancer to man-flu (actually there is no cure for man-flu, millions of men die every hour from it)
Placebo is the trigger for this positivity, it comes in countless forms, but the basic idea is that someone cares how we are doing and is paying attention to us, and we feel good about that...allowing us to fight. Even babies and animals can benefit from placebo, they just need to be made to feel that someone cares and is doing something for them.
Now...if you accept that placebo is a real thing, and it most certainly is....then you need to realize all the quack medicines out there are just pandering to that placebo effect...if it makes you better that's fantastic, but sugar pills and a cuddle from someone you love will have exactly the same effect.
Lets not be stupid about this, its just making greedy people rich.
Ahthankyew
Monday, 9 March 2015
97% fit
Creeping up a bit, I STILL have a cough, last night it got quite bad too, it seems any time I expose my lungs to cold night air I have to pay for it.
This is 8weeks of a cough...I can't recall ever having a cough for so long, I am getting nagged to go to the docs but while that has merit I know that I am improving, which gives you some idea how bad it was originally.
If I can just keep away from cold night air I should be ok...
hmmm I wish the dog could walk himself before bedtime
Ahthankyew
This is 8weeks of a cough...I can't recall ever having a cough for so long, I am getting nagged to go to the docs but while that has merit I know that I am improving, which gives you some idea how bad it was originally.
If I can just keep away from cold night air I should be ok...
hmmm I wish the dog could walk himself before bedtime
Ahthankyew
Thursday, 5 March 2015
95% fit
One advantage of work at home days is I can have a really good lie in, at least as long as the dog stays cuddled up in his bed and does not want to go walkies
I still have a bit of a cough, but overall, I am sleeping all night and the cough is not chronic and constant
Can't say I'm 100% yet, till the cough finally goes, but I am feeling so much better, sore ribs and stomach have eased and the coughs are more of a clear out than a bring up a lung and pop several blood vessels while you're at it.
Still want to see the back of it.
Not much other news to speak of, been busy finishing the last of my late grading, only to discover I can't enter the damn things on the school system..grrr
Finally getting some time to code on personal and school projects too, so my mojo is slowly returning. But my frustrations with slow internet connection to my PC (caused by my dongle not the ISP) are proving to dent that mojo.
Soon be done with my Z80 gig, its been painfully slow and much harder than I expected but after a couple of major bug finds I can now creep toward the finish line at last. Next up is a PS4 gig I've been back burnering for too long
Ahthankyew
I still have a bit of a cough, but overall, I am sleeping all night and the cough is not chronic and constant
Can't say I'm 100% yet, till the cough finally goes, but I am feeling so much better, sore ribs and stomach have eased and the coughs are more of a clear out than a bring up a lung and pop several blood vessels while you're at it.
Still want to see the back of it.
Not much other news to speak of, been busy finishing the last of my late grading, only to discover I can't enter the damn things on the school system..grrr
Finally getting some time to code on personal and school projects too, so my mojo is slowly returning. But my frustrations with slow internet connection to my PC (caused by my dongle not the ISP) are proving to dent that mojo.
Soon be done with my Z80 gig, its been painfully slow and much harder than I expected but after a couple of major bug finds I can now creep toward the finish line at last. Next up is a PS4 gig I've been back burnering for too long
Ahthankyew
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