Just a quick note. As a little joint birthday treat to ourselves, we've managed to track down and purchase a Nintendo Wii!
We're not big gamers but we've always like fun, multiplayer games, and the Wii is cheap and fits the bill.
I'll be writing more about this incredible time-wasting machine soon, but if any readers also own Wii's and want our Wii number then drop me an email. Perhaps we can hook up and have a Mario Kart race one day!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Blogging
It'll seem odd that I just posted my holiday notes from the end of March. These have been half written for ages now, and I have a few other notes that need writing to completion before publishing. I've been surprised to have almost an entire week of free evenings and an almost free weekend, so it's good catching up time...expect more backdated posts.
The question then is, how do I get regular time to write this thing?
The question then is, how do I get regular time to write this thing?
Shopping, Beer, and Slugs
Sally and I made our approximately three-weekly trek to Sainsbury's yesterday. Shopping is always interesting as we both have our little things we're passionate about. Fair trade, free range, recycled, compostable, organic, low-energy, locally sourced, etc. And we're fortunate enough to a) have the choice to buy these things b) be able to afford them! So our shopping bill is probably quite high for a two-person household.
We also seem to buy a LOT of cereals! I eat a combination of muesli, crunchy oat cereal and corn flakes for breakfast, and I snack on cereal bars during the day (either bought, or all-natural, home-made from...oats, muesli, seeds, dried fruit, honey, egg whites, and apple juice - recipe available on request). Cereals also last a long time so we stock up whenever we're in the shops. I reckon about a third of our trolley load was cereals! Maybe I'm addicted to oats?
We were also astonished to find cheap beer. I mean CHEAP beer.
We've been using up some old, past-its-sell-by-date lager in beer traps to get the slugs in our garden (highly effective I might add!). But we've run out, so I bought some Sainsbury's "Basics" bitter. For...wait for it...97p for 4 cans!!!
This is cheaper than coke! It's probably cheaper than bottled water. I've heard about such beer on the news, but to actually see it in the shops is astounding.
Sally turned the cheap-beer thing into something light-hearted though by commenting that, because we've switched from lager to bitter, "we'll probably catch the older, fatter slugs with beards now".
We'll wait and see!
We also seem to buy a LOT of cereals! I eat a combination of muesli, crunchy oat cereal and corn flakes for breakfast, and I snack on cereal bars during the day (either bought, or all-natural, home-made from...oats, muesli, seeds, dried fruit, honey, egg whites, and apple juice - recipe available on request). Cereals also last a long time so we stock up whenever we're in the shops. I reckon about a third of our trolley load was cereals! Maybe I'm addicted to oats?
We were also astonished to find cheap beer. I mean CHEAP beer.
We've been using up some old, past-its-sell-by-date lager in beer traps to get the slugs in our garden (highly effective I might add!). But we've run out, so I bought some Sainsbury's "Basics" bitter. For...wait for it...97p for 4 cans!!!
This is cheaper than coke! It's probably cheaper than bottled water. I've heard about such beer on the news, but to actually see it in the shops is astounding.
Sally turned the cheap-beer thing into something light-hearted though by commenting that, because we've switched from lager to bitter, "we'll probably catch the older, fatter slugs with beards now".
We'll wait and see!
Cycle Logs
I'm strangely obsessed with tracking my cycle times!
I think the whole blogging thing, and tracking my life in general, started last year when I wasn't well and wanted to record some of what was going on so that I could spot trends and try to work out what was causing me to be ill, or what was causing me to be well.
My sister has also been a bit of a role model for tracking fitness, I know she's used various tools, electronic and paper, over the years to track her running alongside injuries, nutrition and other facts that are related.
A while back I wrote about where I store my routes. But I've recently been reviewing where I store my cycle logs too. All prompted by t1mmyb's little note on Twitter the other day.
I started out using Google Docs for tracking my times in a simple online spreadsheet. This was OK but when it started getting big and unmanagable I started looking for something better, and decided to stick with www.bikejournal.com. It's a bit clunky but did a good job.
But Tim pointed me at www.mycyclinglog.com. A fab site which is slick, fast, looks nice and does some interesting things. It also allows you to have a "badge" that you can stick on your blog (look right and down), it integrates with Facebook, and has RSS feeds. I love it and I was an almost instant convert.
In fact, in an odd kind of way, it's reinvigorated my waning passion for cycling. Tracking your times makes you want to improve your times! Perhaps having them on public display will make me want to do that all the more!!
I think the whole blogging thing, and tracking my life in general, started last year when I wasn't well and wanted to record some of what was going on so that I could spot trends and try to work out what was causing me to be ill, or what was causing me to be well.
My sister has also been a bit of a role model for tracking fitness, I know she's used various tools, electronic and paper, over the years to track her running alongside injuries, nutrition and other facts that are related.
A while back I wrote about where I store my routes. But I've recently been reviewing where I store my cycle logs too. All prompted by t1mmyb's little note on Twitter the other day.
I started out using Google Docs for tracking my times in a simple online spreadsheet. This was OK but when it started getting big and unmanagable I started looking for something better, and decided to stick with www.bikejournal.com. It's a bit clunky but did a good job.
But Tim pointed me at www.mycyclinglog.com. A fab site which is slick, fast, looks nice and does some interesting things. It also allows you to have a "badge" that you can stick on your blog (look right and down), it integrates with Facebook, and has RSS feeds. I love it and I was an almost instant convert.
In fact, in an odd kind of way, it's reinvigorated my waning passion for cycling. Tracking your times makes you want to improve your times! Perhaps having them on public display will make me want to do that all the more!!
Sunday, June 01, 2008
Stupid News Reporting
This is a silly thing. I think the BBC are quite good at reporting the news, but the other day I saw an piece on the telly that I thought was very poor and unfair.
It was about how life expectancy is much higher in the south of England than in the north.
My immediate thought was that this was related to money. People in the posh south-west are almost certainly better off than those in the industrial north, and that money buys them a healthier lifestyle. Pertty simple and, though it raises issues of class and equality, not really a huge revelation.
To try to make their point - and I can't really remember what the point was, the BBC visited Manchester and somewhere in Dorset to interview people.
But rather than do this in a fair and balanced way they went to a pub in Manchester, to ask people how much they smoke and drink, and then to a gym in Dorset, to ask people about their exercise and eating habits.
Well....errr.....D'uh!!!! Of course you'll speak to completely different sorts of people in those two different places. And the sorts of responses that you'd get - especially when edited down to get the responses that you WANT to get - are going to be pretty predictable.
On top of that the presenter claimed that people in the North were more "at risk" than those in the south. "At risk"? Of what? Dying? I think you'll find that that's something we're all at risk of I'm afraid, regardless of where we live.
Yes, of course it's sad that life expectancy is lower in the North and maybe we should look at how we can address that balance. Perhaps we can better redistribute wealth, or try to change our culture somehow. These things are complex!
But I was annoyed and astounded at the way the article had been fiddled to make the point. I shall be watching the news more carefully in future!
It was about how life expectancy is much higher in the south of England than in the north.
My immediate thought was that this was related to money. People in the posh south-west are almost certainly better off than those in the industrial north, and that money buys them a healthier lifestyle. Pertty simple and, though it raises issues of class and equality, not really a huge revelation.
To try to make their point - and I can't really remember what the point was, the BBC visited Manchester and somewhere in Dorset to interview people.
But rather than do this in a fair and balanced way they went to a pub in Manchester, to ask people how much they smoke and drink, and then to a gym in Dorset, to ask people about their exercise and eating habits.
Well....errr.....D'uh!!!! Of course you'll speak to completely different sorts of people in those two different places. And the sorts of responses that you'd get - especially when edited down to get the responses that you WANT to get - are going to be pretty predictable.
On top of that the presenter claimed that people in the North were more "at risk" than those in the south. "At risk"? Of what? Dying? I think you'll find that that's something we're all at risk of I'm afraid, regardless of where we live.
Yes, of course it's sad that life expectancy is lower in the North and maybe we should look at how we can address that balance. Perhaps we can better redistribute wealth, or try to change our culture somehow. These things are complex!
But I was annoyed and astounded at the way the article had been fiddled to make the point. I shall be watching the news more carefully in future!
The week in summary
It's been a week of ups and downs!
At work I had a couple of days when all the things that annoy me came all at once. You know, badly run meetings, poor organisation and communication, demanding people who think that the world revolves around them, that kind of stuff.
But the week has ended on a high with the wedding of a couple of friends of ours, which was incredibly joyful and fun! I'd been asked to play guitar and so was part of a pretty good music team that was highly enjoyable to play with. But one of the other benefits of being "up front" at a wedding is you can see the faces of the bride and groom as they say their vows - and they were ecstatic!!!
The reception was at the Four Pillars Hotel in the Cotswold Water Park - a really swanky new place in a great location and way above your typical Hilton-type place. The food was great and the band in the evening were awesome.
A very special day!
Just a shame I did my back in larking around with the lads...oops.
At work I had a couple of days when all the things that annoy me came all at once. You know, badly run meetings, poor organisation and communication, demanding people who think that the world revolves around them, that kind of stuff.
But the week has ended on a high with the wedding of a couple of friends of ours, which was incredibly joyful and fun! I'd been asked to play guitar and so was part of a pretty good music team that was highly enjoyable to play with. But one of the other benefits of being "up front" at a wedding is you can see the faces of the bride and groom as they say their vows - and they were ecstatic!!!
The reception was at the Four Pillars Hotel in the Cotswold Water Park - a really swanky new place in a great location and way above your typical Hilton-type place. The food was great and the band in the evening were awesome.
A very special day!
Just a shame I did my back in larking around with the lads...oops.
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