Footsore
Posted: Mon 15 March, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Yet again, my foot is sore, to the point of making me limp when I walk. (Ooer, matron, Fnarr Fnarr, etc etc.)
I don’t know what the hell I do to it – I woke up yesterday morning with it being a bit sore, and it’s progressed from there.
Most annoying. It’ll sort itself out over the next couple of days, but in the meantime it’s a pain in the bits.
Weight Status
Posted: Fri 5 February, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Last year, I was working on losing some weight, and went to the local Slimming World group with Herself in order to look at doing so.
With the way work’s been, I stopped having the time to go to the meetings back at the start of December, but pretty much kept to what we’d been doing while attending.
With things calming down a bit, we’ve started going back, and of course one of the things that had to be done was weighing-in again.
I knew I’d done OK in the interceding time, hadn’t put on too much even with the Festering Season. So it was nice to see that in that time I’d put on 2½ lbs.
I’ve still got a way to go – a long way, if I’m honest – but at least I’m doing OK, and intend to keep on doing so.
Snow vs Resolution
Posted: Sun 10 January, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Resolutions 1 Comment »One of my plans for 2010 is to keep on losing weight, and get myself back to the gym, see how things go.
I had planned to be going in some time over the last week, at least get started on the idea. However, the weather has kind of kicked that into touch, and will probably continue to do so this coming week.
It might sound like the weather’s an excuse – and I suppose if I were really determined, I could still go, but it’d be interesting, to say the least. The gym itself is on the outskirts of another local village, where the roads haven’t been gritted at all. But I’ve had one crunch on dodgy roads this winter, and I really don’t want to have another one – particularly while I’m still in the poxy hire car.
I will go back to the gym – but only when it’s safe to do so.
Obsessive Behaviour
Posted: Wed 11 November, 2009 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Health, People, Thoughts, Weight Loss, Weirdness 1 Comment »Over the last few months, as I’ve written about before, we’ve been attending one of the local Slimming World groups in an effort to lose a bit of weight. Obviously I’ve got more to lose than Herself, but we’re both working on it.
So far it’s been fairly successful – we’ve both lost a stone over that time. We could, in all honesty, have lost more, and/or in less time if we followed all the rules and weighed everything obsessively.
But that’s the key word – in my opinion, there’s an awful lot of this weight-loss stuff that is actually about doing stuff obsessively. We’ve seen three (I think) “group leaders” now, all of whom have lost significant amounts of weight – and absolutely fair play to them for doing so, they’ve done fantastically well – but all of whom are (to be polite about it) just a little bit crackers. There’s a number of examples of this, although right now I can’t be arsed to list them.
The one that keeps on coming back to me, though, was the one who was still utterly obsessed by food – all she’d done was replace high-calorie foods with low-calorie ones. But there was still that slightly crackers gleam in the eye when she was talking about being able to eat “whole bowls of no-Syn trifle to yourself” and so on.
And I find I just don’t have that obsessive part to me – and to some degree it actually leaves me feeling quite uncomfortable. I’m not obsessed with food, nor do I collect anything obsessively, or really anything else. It’s simply not part of me.
I don’t know where I’m going with this, to be honest. It’s just something I’ve noticed and wanted to write about it. And maybe that’s it, maybe writing is my obsessive behaviour, whether it be D4D™ or other writing projects. In some ways I’d actually be quite happy if that were the case. I just don’t know if it is.
Unwell – Additional
Posted: Tue 27 October, 2009 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Following on from yesterday’s post about Hound being unwell, she’s definitely getting over it.
What I forgot to add to yesterday’s post though – and the subject for this one – is that because of taking her to the vets again on Monday, I had to let the new workplace know I was going to be in later than usual. So I sent them an email on Sunday night, explaining that the dog was ill etc., and I’d be in late.
It was only afterwards that I started having second thoughts, thinking that it sounded
- a bit like just an excuse for a lie-in
- like I must be a bit daft when it comes to Hound etc.
In the end, I rationalised it a bit by thinking “Well, if it were a child, they’d fully understand that we had to go to a hospital for extra checks and so on“. And in a lot of ways, Hound is to us what a child is to a lot of other couples. (No, not “A pain in the arse, that deserves regular beating”) While we’re not the kind of moronic fuck-knuckles who dress a dog up in clothes, or treat it like a surrogate child, we have invested one hell of a lot of time, energy and money in Hound over the years in a similar way to a ‘normal’ family.
Of course, it turned out that no-one in the office had thought about it like that anyway – it was just me thinking into things way too much. As usual.
Unwell
Posted: Mon 26 October, 2009 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health 1 Comment »Last night, we ended up taking Hound to the emergency vet. She’d been a bit flat all day – and we should’ve realised all was Not Well when she didn’t move while we ate lunch.
But during the evening she went downhill quite quickly, so we ended up calling the out-of-hours service for our vets, and getting over to the vets main place.
It turned out she’s got aspirated pneumonia – basically, she’s coughed on whatever, breathed it in, and done so repeatedly. Last night she was running a temperature of 40°, which was the most concern to the vet. As he said at the time, “It’s not the highest temperature I’ve ever seen with a dog, but it’s not far off“.
She ended up with four injections – antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antacid, and Metoclopramide to help food get processed.
She’s been back today to be checked again, on the knowledge that if her temperature wasn’t much better, she was going to be staying in for a couple of days with an IV drip etc. to sort her out. Fortunately, she is much better, temperature’s back down to normal, and it looks like the jabs have done their job.
We’re not out of the woods yet with her – we’ve got two weeks of antibiotics and Metoclopramide to give her, as well as three days of something that’ll help her cough up the shit that’s still in her lungs. But the indications are positive for now, and all told we’re much happier again about her health.
Still Snotty
Posted: Fri 9 October, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »This cold is beginning to really piss me off now.
I don’t know why, but when I get colds, they seem to last a lot longer than they do with other people. Maybe it just feels that way.
In this case, the “winding down” phase of it has lasted all this week, and I’m still feeling somewhat snotty now. I’ve had good days and bad days with it, but I’m bored of it now and just want it to Go The Hell Away.
After all, it would be nice to start the new job on Monday without feeling like shit.
First Stone
Posted: Tue 6 October, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Last night, I finally officially got rid of my first full stone of weight. It’s taken a while, although some of that is because of the working-away of the last six weeks, where I have slipped a few times and not been quite as good as I should’ve been.
All the same, I’m still pleased with having lost that stone. I’ve a fair way to go – this means I’m halfway through my first phase of the weightloss – I finally feel like I’m beginning to make some progress with it.
Blood Pressure
Posted: Wed 23 September, 2009 Filed under: Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Yesterday, I went to see my GP. Never my favourite way to spend time – I’m no fan of GPs at the best of times, and always go in expecting them to say “Oh, well, there’s not actually much we can do about that.”
In this case, I’ve whacked an existing scar, and opened it up again. Nothing special – it’s a fragile piece of skin, from the look of it, which is something my mother also has issues with – but more of an exploratory “Any suggestions on a) doing stuff to improve healing time on this? and b) preventing it in the future?” kind of thing. And I got exactly the expected answer. (But at least I know that for sure now)
Anyway, at the same time, the GP decided to check my blood pressure. This is one of the things that never fails to amuse me – considering I’m 6’4″ and distinctly overweight (although having now lost a stone from earlier this year) they always expect to give me a lecture on blood pressure. Bear in mind I’m rather known to be of the ranty persuasion as well, and they think it’s a no-brainer, which all goes to explain why they can never believe what it actually is.
In this case, the GP decided he’d done something wrong the first time, and checked it again.
But it still came out as 100/60. Which is ridiculously healthy and normal for someone of my dimensions and lifestyle. I don’t know how I manage it, but that’s pretty much what my blood pressure always works out to be.
Strange but true – and always fun to bemuse a GP with it.
Unsalted
Posted: Sat 19 September, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Health, Norfolk, People, Stupidity, Sweary, Thoughts Leave a comment »Sometimes you read a story and your mind boggles right out of its tiny capsule.
In this case, it’s a story about Norfolk’s Trading Standards launching a campaign to get people to reduce their salt intake. “How?”, I hear you cry. Well, like this…
New saltshakers with fewer holes have provided for fish and chip shops in Norfolk to help cut salt consumption. The saltshakers only have five holes and dispense 50% less salt than the usual 17-hole versions.
What ?!?
So this ‘campaign’ is only in the 400-ish fish-and-chip places in Norfolk. If you’re in a chippy, I somehow suspect that the salt in it is far less of a long-term risk than the amount of fat that’s going into that meal. But no, we’ll focus on the salt. Genius.
And what the fuck has it got to do with Trading Standards? Are people no longer judged to have enough personal responsibility to manage their own salt levels on their food?
I despair. I truly do.
Weight Loss stuff
Posted: Fri 11 September, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »What with all the other rubbish going on here, I’d forgotten to post a quick update about health, weight loss etc.
While I’m currently away during the week, I’m still working on the entire weight-loss thing, although I’m not managing to weigh myself regularly. I know I should (in theory) but I’m not doing – I’m quite happy with knowing it’s coming off.
Besides, I’ve got my own evidence that I’m still dropping weight.
For one thing my belt is now two holes in from where it used to be – that means that I’ve lost about an inch from round my waist.
The other big sign is that I’m now able to wear T-shirts one size smaller than I was when I started the weightloss. (And they’re T-Shirts from the same manufacturer, so none of this “one size in [company A], another size in [Company B]” malarkey) I’m now wearing a 2x shirt instead of a 3x.
It’s small things – and small but steady losses. I’m not wanting to drop five stone in five months, or anything insane like that. I am wanting to lose it, and keep it off. And as I do lose it, I’ll be doing more stuff in order to keep it off.
I’m happy with how I’m doing, anyway.
NHS Staffing
Posted: Thu 3 September, 2009 Filed under: Business, Charm School, Creativity, Cynicism, Health, News, Thoughts 2 Comments »Today there’s a lot of coverage about a suggestion to reduce the workforce of the NHS by 10% – and the resultant kerfuffle between Government, the NHS, and management consultants.
Currently the Government is saying that they have rejected this advice by McKinsey and Company, (Never heard of ’em? Me either.) which included closing 137,000 clinical and admin posts in order to save £20bn by 2014.
I’m pretty sure I could show how to save the NHS that much money by 2014, without losing a single clinical staff member.
Mind you, it would involve getting rid of shitloads of middle-managers, consultants, and fuckstick accountants. And of course that’s a plan that would never achieve approval – because it’s got to go through all those levels of shitbag middle-managers, consultants and fuckstick accountants before it can happen. And those self-serving fuckers are never going to do themselves out of a job. (Which is the same reason the “paperless office” will never happen)
I’m not suggesting getting rid of all the managers, as I think most people would agree that there need to be some of the buggers around, if only in order to make sure that the clinical professionals don’t drown in paperwork and procedures in the meantime. (Although of course if you get rid of enough of the middle-managers, you probably get to eliminate a whole host of the bullshit paperwork at the same time – sorry, it’s “streamlining” now isn’t it, not “getting rid of the shit”)
Still, wield a big enough axe, drop it from high enough, I’m pretty sure it’d still work…
Steps
Posted: Thu 3 September, 2009 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Weight Loss 3 Comments »In the ongoing work towards gaining fitness and losing weight, the current work environment is actually pretty good. In work I’m on the fourteenth floor, and in the Travelodge I’m currently on the 6th.
First of all, I’m walking between Travelodge and work – it’s roughly half a mile each way, which is fine. That now takes me about six or seven minutes (my kind of commute!) and a bit longer when I’m lugging my Big Bag on Mondays and Fridays.
Now, I’m also a lazy bastard – I admit it freely. So I really can’t be arsed to walk up the flights of stairs (if I could even find them – I know they’re here somewhere, but no idea quite where) to Floor 14 – besides which, I’d be a sweaty lump of dough by the time I got there.
But I do walk up/down the six floors of stairs (i.e. twelve flights of stairs) at the Travelodge rather than using the lift. I’m not knackered at the end of it, but I know I’ve done it (well, on the way up anyway) which is probably a good indication of how out of shape I am. But at least I’m working on it.
What does bemuse me, though, is the people – both at work and at the Travelodge – who take the lift to go up one floor. Fine, if they’ve got loads of bags or whatever, I’m not going to begrudge it. But seriously, if all you’ve got is your sodding iPod or whatever, one floor of stairs isn’t going to break you into a sweat.
Losing Weight
Posted: Wed 5 August, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weight Loss 1 Comment »I know, I’ve said many times before about the way I’ve been planning to lose some weight, and all that shit. And it’s always been “I intend to”, rather than “I am”.
Recently that’s changed though, and I am working on it. I’ve started going back to the gym, although I’m not back in the habit of it yet – I still need to think about it, and force myself to go. Hopefully that’ll improve though.
But I am already losing weight, because of the other thing. Over the last month, I’ve been going to a local Slimming World group, and it seems to be doing the trick.
Basically, it’s about “reprogramming” our food and diet a bit, getting rid of some of the convenience stuff we were making use of – by which I mean things like jars of curry or sweet’n’sour (or whatever) sauces, rather than doing our own. Other than that, I don’t think we’ve really changed a lot about what we eat or drink. We just think about it a bit more now.
One of the things I do like about Slimming World in comparison to Weightwatchers et al. is that you can set your own target for where you want to be – it’s not based on idiot BMI charts etc, unlike our experience with WeightWatchers a few years back which put me off going back. They also never announce your actual weight (nor the weight you started off at) which means no-one else knows/cares what you actually are, it’s about what you’ve lost. And that’s an attitude I quite like.
I’m not shy about it, though. I don’t have a problem with admitting that when I started, I was weighed at exactly 22st 1lb. I’m not happy (or proud) about it, but that’s what it was. And my current goal is to get back to where I was back in April 2005 , to be under 20 stone again. From there, I’ll see what happens – but that’s my current plan.
And I won’t write about it here every week – D4D™ isn’t going to turn into Dummies for Dieting anytime soon. I’ll write about it every so often, I’m sure, but not every week. That’s just dull.
What I will say now though is that in the time I’ve been going, I’ve already lost 8 and a half pounds. Not an awesome loss (just over half a stone) but equally, not bad either.
Self Perception
Posted: Wed 22 July, 2009 Filed under: Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Weight Loss 1 Comment »One of the big issues for me when it comes to my weight is my own perception of it – or the lack thereof, I’m not sure which.
Firstly, there’s the simple fact that I’m pretty big anyway, although I’m not going to use (and never have used) the excuse of being “big-boned” for being the weight I am. However, one can’t escape the simple fact that (as I’ve said before) I’m still 6’3″(ish) tall, and have a chest measurement that’s at least 50″ on it’s own. And that’s a chest measurement, not a belly one – so we’re talking structure, not flab. All told, my body can take a fair bit of weight without looking like I’m fat.
Second, my mum (in particular) is by no means slim – that’s not meant nastily, simply a statement of fact – which has done something to my perceptions of size, in that “normal” in my head most definitely isn’t Size Ten, or whatever.
The third thing is that on the rare occasions I see a TV programme like “Biggest Loser” or whatever, I try to compare my own weight with that of the competitors. And that’s a problem – because I simply don’t have the rolls of fat that appear on them, even when those people are spposedly lighter than the just-over-300pounds that I am currently. (And yes, I know that I’m probably taller than they are too, etc. etc.)
I know I’m overweight, I know I need to lose some – and I’m working on it, of which more later in the week – but somewhere along the line I need to believe it as well as know it, if that makes any sense…
Light Bed
Posted: Fri 8 May, 2009 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Health, Technology 1 Comment »Recently, we’ve been trying out a weird alarm clock that also replicates the rising of the sun, so it’s “full daylight” when the alarm sounds. It doesn’t do much (if anything) for me, but Herself is finding it pretty useful for the way her body works.
And in related items, today I came across the LOMME bed which is pretty much the same concept writ large. The LOMME (Light Over Matter Mind Evolution) is a pod-bed, and has a built in light-box alarm as well as making use of other light colours etc.
It’s pretty cool – in a “What the fuck?” kind of way – but I’m pretty sure it would be massive overkill for us…
Swine ‘Flu – Guff
Posted: Wed 29 April, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Seeing all the media guff currently about the swine flu outbreak- and seeing some of the ridiculous “Have Your Say” comments about it- just leaves me cold.
At the end of the day, there’s nothing we can do about these outbreaks. They’ll either happen or they won’t. Sure, we might be able to take some preventive measures – but it’s undetermined whether they’ll work or not.
So what’s the point of worrying about something we have no control over?
Children’s behaviour ‘linked to sleep’
Posted: Tue 28 April, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, News Leave a comment »Who’d have thought – children’s behaviour can be linked to sleep, or lack thereof.
Shocker.
Diet Coke
Posted: Tue 3 March, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »At roughly this time last year, I went through the joys of completely cutting my daily intake of Diet Coke. It was semi-successful, in that I did stop drinking it completely for about six months, but since then it’s crept back in again.
Primarily the return of it has been down to the simple fact that it’s still the only drink I actually like drinking. I don’t drink tea or coffee at all (maybe one cup of each per year) and don’t drink enough water – mainly because, even with the use of squashes, cordials etc., it just gets fucking boring. I swapped over to drinking things like Diet Sprite and/or Diet 7Up – I don’t mind them in small doses, so *shrug* – but they give me acid indigestion on a regular basis, and that’s no fun whatsoever. Sure, I could drink milk, or something similar – but then the calorie count and fat count would belt up as well, even on semi-skimmed. There’s something like 250calories in a pint of milk, and 9.9g of fat.
As a result, the intake of Diet Coke has crept back up again. Not to the levels of old – but still more than I supposedly “should” be drinking. Even now, I know it could easily go back to what it was a year or two ago, but I don’t actually want that to happen. I don’t deny – and never have – that it’s my one addiction, and I suspect it’ll never be cut out completely.
So I’m cutting down on it again. I doubt I’ll drop to zero again – I might do, but I doubt it – but it’ll get cut down, and I’ll replace about half to three-quarters of my intake with water. See what happens.
Maybe I should try getting to like tea again. I could more easily get back to drinking coffee, but even then my intake levels of it end up bordering on the ridiculous. And then I still like it black with sugar, so I’d also be adding to my sugar intake. (The same is true with tea, but I drink that less sweet, on the rare occasions I have it at all)
Anyway, I’m working to formulate a sane level of intake on all these things, and we’ll just see how it goes.
Under 15? Not a Drop
Posted: Fri 30 January, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »I find it hard to understand the new government health guidelines that say under-15s shouldn’t be allowed to drink any alcohol that were released yesterday. Even if you gloss over the fact that by that age most teenagers have had at least one alcoholic drink anyway, the advice seems somewhat flawed.
Personally, I think it’s a better policy to be introduced to alcohol as part of the process of growing up. I don’t mean to the point of abuse, or a drink with every meal, but I do believe that introducing it early, not making a big deal of it, and letting it just be part of life is a better way of dealing with it.
To me, it seems that a lot of the ritual around teenage drinking etc. is because alcohol is seen as “forbidden” and “naughty” – drinking it before you’re legally supposed to is just one of those rebellion things that people go through as they grow up. But if it’s something that’s got no shock value, something that’s part of normal life, it loses the power (unless one goes to extremes, of course) to be seen as a tool of rebellion.
I could be wrong on this of course – it’s not like I’m a parent myself – but I know that growing up (all those years ago) I was allowed to try beer, wine, lager, and even vodka and whisky. I learned the taste and smell of them, as well as what I liked and didn’t like. Once I was able to go to a pub, I knew what I could order, and whether I’d like it or not.
It meant I didn’t make the really stupid mistakes when I was old enough – such as trying to drink that first illicit bottle of vodka in one go before anyone found me and made me stop – although I was still able to make plenty of other non-drink-related stupid mistakes instead…
Weight – Accuracy
Posted: Thu 29 January, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts 4 Comments »While I was at the doctors on Monday, I opted for killing multiple birds with one stone, and also got an accurate weight measurement as well as starting off a request for a referral to a nutritionist so I can get some proper advice.
Weight-wise, I was actually quite surprised – I currently tip the scales at 140Kg. (22 stone, or just over 300 pounds) I’m not happy about it, obviously – there’s some way to go on the weightloss front for sure – but it means I was just about spot-on back in September when I estimated my own weight. Admittedly I felt like I’d put more on since then, but still, that’s what I am at the moment.
It also means that I’m one stone above where I was back at the start of 2005, which is a bit depressing. Then again, it also shows that if I do sod-all, my weight remains remarkably stable. Yes, stable at “fat bastard” level, but it’s not really going up and dwon from that point.
Still, I’m going to be working on losing some of it again – particularly now that I finally seem to be starting to be able to breathe OK again without coughing my chest up – throughout this year, and we’ll just have to see how it goes.
Doctorising
Posted: Wed 28 January, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »I forgot to say yesterday, but the final result from the visit to the local GP on Monday was that I’m now on a weeks supply of 500mg Amoxicillin, taken three times a day.
To me that’s pretty much “Well there’s something wrong with you, but we don’t know what the shit it is, so we’ll whack it with antibiotics”. Fortunately, I don’t go to the doctors often enough to be overdosed on antibiotics, or even really getting resistant to any of them, so with luck it’ll help in this case.
At least the GP realised that it’s something I (finally) saw as being worth visiting them for though – he knows I don’t like and don’t trust GPs anyway, so the fact I’d gone to see him at all was worthy of note.
Mind you, for all the information, thought and incisive diagnosis I received, they might as well have said “it’s a virus, sod off”. And as Daisy said to me, “Virus” is just Latin for “We don’t know what the fuck it is”
Kebabs != Healthy
Posted: Tue 27 January, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Now, hands up, who on this planet ever thought a kebab might be a healthy food?
No-one? Thought so.
So how the hell does this qualify as news anywhere on the planet, let alone on the BBC?
On a tangent, however, I do find it quite interesting/surprising that (to quote from the story) :
Six kebabs were found to include pork when it had not been declared as an ingredient. Two of the six were described as Halal – food or drink permitted for Muslims, which must not contain pork.
Admitting Defeat
Posted: Mon 26 January, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health 1 Comment »After the multiple posts I’ve made about this fecking cold/cough/snotfest, I finally admitted defeat on Friday, and Herself rang up the doctors to make an appointment for me while she was working from home.
So at 5.10 today, I’m going to the bloody doctors.
I fully expect them to say some variant of “It’s a cold/virus, there’s eff all we can do, now on yer bike”. (I don’t have much regard for GPs, as may have been noticeable in the past) But at least I’ll be going, and getting the answer officially…
Sleep vs. Animals
Posted: Thu 22 January, 2009 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health 3 Comments »I’m beginning to suspect that some of the reason for my having gone down with three consecutive colds over the last six weeks is due to having really badly disturbed sleep as part of my general life. And most of those disturbances are currently being caused by our fucking bastard animals.
Hound is a pain in the arse during the night – she has this habit of lying down, then scratching the floor in order to try and get comfortable. We’ve tried a number of things, including moving her basket around to wherever she’s currently sleeping before we go to bed (i.e. if she’s sleeping in the hall during the night, the basket goes in the hall) but that doesn’t work – she just goes somewhere else to scratch. We’ve taken the rug by the back door up at night – it’s one of her main scratching targets – but she just goes somewhere else. Regardless, come about 1.30am or so, one of us will end up putting her in her cage, at which point she’ll sleep. Oh, and before anyone suggests it, if you just put her in the cage at night, she’ll bark and bark ’til she’s let out. No-win situation ’til she’s gone in there at about half one.
Psycho Cat on the other hand “just” sleeps in the crook of my knees. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Except overnight he becomes like a lead weight, to the extent that I can’t easily move him. No idea how he does it, but it means that when I want to turn over, it wakes me up sufficiently to move consciously around him. Even whacking the furry little fucker with my leg (not kicking as such, but usually filed under “fortuitous collisions”) while I move doesn’t make him move. We’ve tried moving him to Herself’s side of the bed (and to the bedside chair, among other locations) but I’m warm, so he keeps coming back.
Last night was an even more extreme example. Because I’m horribly snotty, and it all pools up in the back of my throat, while asleep at the moment I a) snore, and b) cough. So on bad nights, I’ve been sleeping in the spare room. I don’t mind – it means Herself can get some sleep without me sounding like an asthmatic gorilla in the background, plus I don’t worry as much about the snoring.
Anyway, last night I went in to the spare room at about midnight, and closed the door. By that time Hound had already done her “scratching the floor to get comfortable” thing a couple of times and been yelled at, but that was generally OK.
Half an hour later, there’s scratching outside the door of the spare room. I yell at Hound, but it doesn’t stop. Eventually I get up, open the door. Yes, it’s fucking Psycho Cat, who also won’t give up on the scratching ’til he comes in. Resigned, I go back to the spare bed (a sofa-bed, I should explain – and thus rather narrow as I can’t be arsed pulling it all down at 1 in the morning) get under the quilt, and feel Psycho Cat jumping up onto my feet, then – yes – back into the crook of my knees.
Half an hour after that, Hound goes into terminal floor-scratching, gets yelled at, and I get up to put her in the cage. Which, of course, pissed off Psycho Cat, as it disturbed him from his comfy location.
I eventually got to sleep properly about two, half-two. (For obvious reasons, my last ‘awake’ thought didn’t involve checking the time) Psycho Cat was back behind my knees, Hound was in her cage, and Herself was in the other bed.
But when all that’s considered, it does make me think that it might work as at least some of the explanation of why I’m feeling so run-down…
Weighty Issues – Further Thoughts
Posted: Mon 5 January, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Introspective, Thoughts 9 Comments »Following on from my post about weight etc. at the end of last year (OK, less than a week ago) and the comments that came, I thought I’d add some more thoughts about it now we’re into 2009.
During my time off, I looked at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR, not BMI), which is basically sufficient only for the functioning of the vital organs, but gives a rough idea of what calories the body burns just to keep going. And mine works out (on an admittedly rough working out, rather than the full-precision test) as being about 2,000 to 2,500 calories, depending on the equation used.
I don’t yet know what that means for me – if it’s anywhere even vaguely close to right, I assume it means that I should be taking on at least that amount of calories per day just to break even. I also assume that if my intake is less than that (and I’m pretty sure it’s significantly less than 2,500 per day) then my body thinks it’s starving, and thus stores everything as fat instead of using it or burning it up. That’s no surprise, it’s been put forward as an idea a couple of times over the years already.
The thing is though, that if I do attempt to eat more in accordance with things like BMR figures, and recommendations from gyms etc. I just put weight on. I know, it’s because the body still thinks it’s starving and is processing into fat for storage rather than actually using the damn calories, but it’s one of the most demoralising things around – I want to get fitter, not fatter. And no-one gives any idea of how long it’ll take for my body to get used to the idea of not being starved, and use the calories instead of store them. If it’s only a couple of weeks then fine – if it’s a couple of months or more, not so fine.
Later in the year, come spring-time, I might just get out on my bike again. That appeals a lot more than going running – although running does have a certain strange appeal, just not at my current weight – but well, we’ll see. I do want to get more use out of the bike (although there’s no fucking way I’m ever going to be cycling the 25 miles to/from the current job!) so we’ll see.
In the meantime, I’m working on going to the gym on a more regular basis. It’s currently not helped by the fact I’m still coughing up lumps of lung (or the contents thereof – I’m not doing analysis to find out which) which leaves me feeling like shit, but even getting back to the basic routine of gym attendance is probably a good thing in the long term, I guess.
Weighty Issues
Posted: Wed 31 December, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Introspective 4 Comments »Over 2008, one thing I planned to do was lose some weight. I know I’ve added more on, and I wrote about it back in August time when we joined up with the new gym that opened locally. At the moment I’ve still got a couple of months ’til the first dollop of membership expires, and in that time I really should start going.
You see, over the last three months I just haven’t had the motivation. (Or, in a lot of cases, the time) I know I should go, I know I need to go in order to lose the weight I’ve put on – but despite that knowing, the actual “OK, I’m going” hasn’t clicked into place.
The thing is, I don’t over-eat – I don’t sit at my desk with chocolate galore, nor am I a biscuit fiend, or a fast-food junkie. (Well, OK, I am a biscuit-fiend, but as a result we don’t buy many biscuits at all, otherwise I’d have an excuse) At home we both eat healthily (Usually vegetarian, occasionally fish, and very little ‘junk’ food) and not to excess. I admit, my portion control could probably do with a bit of work, but that’s it. Even on a diet, I don’t lose much weight – and most of the people we’ve talked to about it say I should eat more, not less, which is something I just can’t get my head round at all.
The lack of motivation gym-wise isn’t helped by the fact that the gym is now in exactly the opposite direction to my workplace, so to go to the gym I drive past the route home. It’s not much of an excuse – it’s not meant to be – but it still contributes. Equally, it’s not open late in the evenings, so we can’t go home, eat, relax, then go.
But all told, it’s really the motivation thing – I know I should go, and I should organise myself better in order to go. I just haven’t done so.
The stupid thing about it all is that I’m not actually happy with my weight being where it is – but at the same time, nor do I worry/care enough about it to want to do anything about it. It’s all a bit of a Catch 22 at the moment – logic and emotion tell me I need to do it, but the motivation side of things, yeah, that’s just not happening. And I don’t really understand why.
I want to go back in the New Year, and see how it goes. But if I’m honest, I don’t know – we’ll see.
Slowly Mending
Posted: Sun 21 December, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »At last, it looks like this bloody cold is wearing off.
Now I’m only coughing to get rid of the lumpy crap that’s still in my lungs – and hopefully this will be the final stages of that. It’ll be good to be done with it by the Festering Season – as we’re doing some slightly sociable stuff, it’ll be good to know that at least I won’t be passing on vile colds to other peope.
It’s been another quiet weekend as a result of this grungy cold but well, it’s been necessary.
Hearing Levels
Posted: Fri 21 November, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health 3 Comments »Referring back to one of last week’s posts, my hearing levels now seem to be sorted out again.
All told it took about a week for everything to level out properly – it would have probably been a bit quicker if I also hadn’t nearly deafened myself while using the bloody tile cutter – but it all seems to be good again.
The main issue was that my brain had obviously got used to having to amplify things coming from my right ear, as that had been blocked a lot longer, so that once the blockage was gone, the amplification was still there, and it made things on my right sound far louder than those on my left.
The brain is an amazing thing, really. In that short time it’s got back to processing things at the correct levels, and all seems well.
Wall of Sound
Posted: Wed 12 November, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts 6 Comments »For whatever reason, my ears produce excessive wax. (And if that grosses you out, you’d best stop reading now)
On occasion, it gets so severe that it blocks my ear completely. Last time it happened, back in Bracknell, the practice nurse suggested using a product called Otex, which I’ve used on occasion since.
A good while back – I thought it was the start of this year, but it could’ve been longer when I think about it – my right ear got blocked up, and despite my best efforts, it wouldn’t clear out. I wasn’t worried, because I knew it was just wax, and normally it clears itself out in the end. So I’d use the Otex on occasion, but it wasn’t really an issue. (And yes, I’m aware that this post a) contains WAY too much information and b) shows just how slack I am on certain things)
However, last week I was using the Otex on the other ear, and the gunge caused by it sealed up that ear too. Which left me, well, not deaf – but most definitely significantly impaired on the hearing front. I’d estimate it at about a 60-75% hearing loss, all told. Apparently, this is a known issue with Otex – because it dissolves the wax, you end up with this kind of primordial sticky semi-liquid sludge, and that just seals the ear canal completely, and it’s then really hard to get out.
So the hearing loss was just what I needed, knowing that I was going to have a two-day training course at the start of the following week.
Over the weekend, I tried to get in to one of the local NHS Walk-in centres but failed to get seen. (although this is another ranty post for over the weekend, I think) So on Monday I got an appointment with the practice nurse at my normal doctor’s surgery. (It was actually Herself who made the appointment – I was trying to call, but failing, so she called – and it turned out that I got through just after her, so actually had two appointments to get this all sorted)
Anyway, last night after work I went in, and the nurse cleared out both my ears by syringing them. It’s not quite as vile as it sounds – it’s some kind of mechanism for pumping warm water into the ear, and letting it flow out again – and while it’s not a pleasant experience, it’s still less unpleasant than the sensations while using the Otex, where you can hear the bubbles, fizzing, and cracking of the Otex attacking whatever’s in your ear.
But now the world is very very loud. My brain had quite obviously got used to handling the deficiency in my right ear and was doing quite nicely at it, thanks very much. But now that the blockage has gone, all the sound is coming in again, and my brain hasn’t yet reduced the levels – so everything is much louder than it was.
It’s odd, you don’t realise how much you’re missing in a situation like that – because it’s been a gradual process over *cough* months, it’s just not really been something I was aware of losing. The sudden renewal of all noise levels has come as quite a shock – closing my car door when I was leaving the surgery felt like it had blown out my eardrums.
Sometimes that hearing deficiency has helped – this morning the noise of the central heating pump woke me up, for example.
I’m not proud of this post – it goes a long way towards illustrating what a complete slack-arse I truly am when it comes to taking care of my own ailments, for one thing – but it’s still a noteworthy event. If nothing else, I’ll probably refer back to it on occasion, as and when my hearing starts going duff again. (And from now on I’ll be doing what the practice nurse recommended, too – rather than waiting ’til the buildup starts, I’ll be working on controlling it a bit before that)
I know I’m bad at these things – I can’t get past the “it’s not all that relevant” thing, and I particularly have an issue with wasting even a GP or practice nurse’s time with something that is a) my fault in the first place and b) impressively trivial. But once I know I have to go and get it sorted – in this case, because I can’t hear a sodding thing – then I do at least go and get it sorted.
Gone Pink
Posted: Wed 1 October, 2008 Filed under: D4D™, Health Leave a comment »Blimey, it’s October already.
And of course that also means that if you didn’t have a colour-scheme set for D4D™, then you’re now seeing a very pink site for the next month. It’s part of Breast Cancer awareness month – and as such, it’s a good cause.
You can change the colour back to your preference by clicking on the relevant colour up on the title bar, and then you won’t see the pink any more.
Scar Tissue
Posted: Mon 29 September, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health 1 Comment »One of the things that I hate about the onset of Autumn is the way it makes my scars hurt. I suppose it’s the same as with arthritis, or bunions (not that I suffer from either of those) – but the onset of colder damper weather just makes me hurt.
I’ve got two scars where this really takes effect – one in my right shoulder, and one in my left thumb. The shoulder is more debilitating, leaves me needing to stretch it on regular occasions – and stretch it in strange ways. The thumb is a lesser injury, but still makes the entire knuckle hurt.
The shoulder scar was caused by a big stick with a nail in, wielded one night when I used to run pubs. Burglar alarm went off, Muggins had to go and investigate, and I got a big stick with nails in it for a present. I was lucky really – it caught my shoulder rather than my head. But the nail went in deep enough to jam the joint, and the scar is now about the size of a 50p piece.
The thumb scar is more down to idiocy, and was a bone-deep cut back when I was in school. I won’t bother with the full details, because they’re just idiotic – and idiocy on the part of both myself and A.N.Other. Suffice it to say that I came within microns of cutting the tendon in my thumb, and doing permanent damage. More by luck than judgement I avoided that, but I do still have a permanent reminder of that stupidity.
So yes, when the weather changes I start to ache. And that’s another thing that started to happen over the weekend, as Autumn draws in.
Fitness Thoughts
Posted: Sat 13 September, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »As things stand, at the moment I’m not fit. I’d like to be fitter, although it’s never been within my goals to be a marathon runner, or anything even similar.
I’m not going to base my weight around some specious target figure from Weightwatchers, or even from BMI charts – when all’s said and done, I’m still 6’3 or so, and have a 50″ chest, with shoulders like a brick shithouse, so I’m simply never going to be 13 stone (83kg, give or take) without multiple amputations. Mind you, without weighing myself, I currently suspect I’m about 22 stone (140kg) which certainly gives me a fair amount of lee-way on what I can lose.
Initially, I’m going to be just using the gym, in order to take off some of the weight before I do anything else. But once that’s done, I hope to be getting back on my bike, and making some use of that too. Mind you, that might not be ’til the new year, or even spring, considering how manky the weather has been of late.
There’s a long way to go yet, but at least I’m getting started on it.
The Start of the Gym
Posted: Mon 8 September, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »So yes, over the weekend I went back to the gym, and went through the workout plan I’m likely to be doing.
I think the best I can say is that right now, I’m definitely out of shape. I’ll be working it off over the next few months, and that’s going to take some work.
But I’m quite looking forward to it.
I haven’t actually weighed myself, or done any of that guff – and to be honest, I don’t really plan to do so. I might do it, but I’m not going to base anything on that information, so *shrug*. I don’t know – we’ll see.
What I do know is that I need to lose the weight, and I should see the effects of that pretty quickly. That’s the plan, anyway.
Gym Start
Posted: Wed 3 September, 2008 Filed under: Health, Resolutions, Thoughts 1 Comment »About the time this gets published, I’ll be at the gym for the induction guff and first session.
I’m actually looking forward to it – I know that over the last year I’ve put on weight again, so I do want to start working it off again. The gym itself is brand new, and only opened on Sept 1, so it’ll be interesting to see how it’s all come together. (we saw it before it opened, while everything was still getting ready and put together)
Obviously I’m not looking forward to the actual bit where they do the weighing and measuring of my current self, but even that will at least give me some motivation towards losing it again.
I shall post all/any/none of the depressing figures on here later or tomorrow, depending on how I feel about them…
Gym Thoughts
Posted: Thu 21 August, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Health Leave a comment »All told, the gym we visited last night looks pretty good. Even better, it’s very local.
Even the membership rates seem sensible/affordable – well, so long as you use the place, of course. If you don’t, then it’s money up the wall, same as any other gym.
But on current evidence, yes, it looks like I’ll be joining up.
Gym Visit
Posted: Wed 20 August, 2008 Filed under: Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Among other things, this evening I’m having a quick visit at a new gym that’s opening up near us.
Currently I’ve no idea what it’ll be like, and I’m slightly concerned that the manager has said “There’s about ten different pricing plans”, but we’ll just have to see.
I know I need to get back into going to a gym, so it’ll be interesting to see what this one’s got to offer. Otherwise, we’ll be going back to using the local council-funded one who couldn’t find their own arses with both hands and a flashlight when we went there late last year. (And we’ve never darkened the doors since that piss-poor experience)
GP Visit
Posted: Wed 23 July, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Over the last month, I’ve had a really irritating cough – not a chesty cough at all, but more of a persistent tickle at the back of my throat. It’s mainly kicked in when I’ve been talking, and has made me cough each time I spoke.
So last Friday I finally got round to making an appointment to see the doctor. They couldn’t see me until today, which was fine as I was working away from home for Monday and Tuesday.
And of course the cough, after a month of hanging around, completely cleared up between Monday and Tuesday. Typi-fucking-cal.
I still went to the docs, as there were a couple of other bits I needed to ask about, so it wasn’t a complete waste of time. Just pretty much a waste of time. Hey Ho.
On the plus side, at least I now know who my doctor is…
Bad Timing
Posted: Tue 24 June, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Travel, Weirdness 3 Comments »I’ve decided that I hate my body clock. Or my body clock hates me – I’m not quite sure which, yet.
Last night, at about 7pm I was exhausted, and had totally hit the barrier. I was speaking to Herself, and must’ve sounded like a stunned monkey, really not with it at all. At that time, I was all set for an earlyish night, as it’d been a fairly hectic day.
That’s not what my body clock wanted though. Come ten pm, my brain went *ping!* and I was wide awake again. No caffeine, no sugar, nothing to stimulate it at all, but just *ping!*.
It didn’t slow down again ’til gone 1am. And I was awake again at about half six.
Bastard.
Cutting Out Diet Coke
Posted: Wed 11 June, 2008 Filed under: Depression, Health 3 Comments »I promise, I’m not going to turn into some kind of anti-Diet-Coke evangelist now that I’ve cut it out myself. Honest.
However, I did notice today via Bitful a couple of interesting articles…
- A short piece from the Guardian of a committed dietcokeaholic (hmm, can’t identify with that at all) who cut out fizzy drinks for a month – he felt so good from that, he hasn’t gone back to them yet
- Coca-Cola is phasing out a controversial additive that has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children. (It’s a link to the Daily Mail <spit> I’m afraid, but there we go – they’re who had the story
- A story in the Ecologist : “Far from being the healthy drink implied by its sports sponsorships, Diet Coke is a worrying cocktail of neurotoxic and potentially carcinogenic chemicals”
So there we go, more grist for the mill of stopping (and not going back to) drinking Diet Coke®.
Lowered Resistance
Posted: Fri 16 May, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health 3 Comments »Following on from the dread puking lurgie a couple of weeks back, I suspect that my resistance to illness has fallen somewhat. I’m not completely sure why, but it sure seems to have happened.
This week I’ve been plagued by a sore throat and cough that just keeps getting worse. It’s not rib-rattling (yet) but I’ve also seen the effect it’s had on a colleague (who I suspect I’ve caught it through – the joys of working in an office that sometimes seems to resemble a plague-ward on a bad day) who is most definitely on the rib-rattling stage.
I’ll see how it goes over the weekend – I’m not debilitated by the cough (at the moment) although it’s making sleep rough. (Not helped by the fact that Psycho Cat followed me into the spare bedroom last night, and still spent the night wrapped round my feet.) Not much fun, but there we go.
And once I’ve knocked this one on the head, I suspect I’ll be making sure I take all my vitamins, and make sure that Vitamin C in particular is kept a bit higher than usual, just to build up some resistance to these things again.
Mains Restored?
Posted: Tue 6 May, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »It’s possible that today we will be finally re-allowed to use mains water for drinking and cooking. It’s not certain yet, because they’re doing ‘final’ tests today to decide. (Of course, if we still can’t, it won’t be final tests, but there we go)
We’ve been on bottled water since 17th April.
In that time, we’ve had a dropped off leaflet about why we couldn’t drink the water, and one letter – addressed to the previous occupants, who moved out at least eighteen months ago. And that’s it. It really hasn’t been Anglian Water‘s finest hour (three-and-a-half weeks. Whatever) in terms of customer service.
Any information that’s been acquired has been gained by us calling them. In fact, we wouldn’t know about today’s tests if I hadn’t spoken to Anglian Water‘s customer services people on Friday. And because they couldn’t be bothered to tell us, it would’ve meant that all the access to the back of the house (where there’s an outside tap they could use to test the water) would have been locked, so they couldn’t test our place.
We also took the opportunity to get them to deliver more bottled water to everyone on the road, as on Friday there were two six-packs of bottled water left on the pallet dumped on the roadside a couple of weeks ago. For a bank holiday weekend. As it is, I’ve been dropping off some of those six-packs of water to the older people on the road (and bear in mind that a good 50% of the people on our road are at least sixty) rather than them having to try lugging bloody heavy loads of water back to the house.
All told, it’s been a total farce from start to finish. And once we’re actually back on the mains service I’m going to be having a serious conversation with Anglian Water about why the hell it’s been such a fuckup. That’ll be a fun conversation, for sure.
Solid
Posted: Tue 6 May, 2008 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 3 Comments »Following on from a stomach bug (food poisoning, viral thing, whatever) there’s a stage in the recovery process that is a real throwback to childhood, but that has a joy all of its own – and far out of proportion with the actual import of the event.
That event is the first post-illness solid dump. There’s a true happiness about this, coupled with knowing that you can finally drop your guard a bit, and not worry that every single occasion involving that area is going to necessitate a run to the closest loo.
Or, to quote a friend…
Thought I was going to fart.
Was wrong.
Puking for England
Posted: Mon 5 May, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health 3 Comments »Well, what a Bank Holiday weekend it’s turned out to be.
On Friday night/Saturday morning I developed a dollop of what we think was food poisoning – it might’ve been something viral from somewhere, as Herself has also gone down with the same thing today, but we’re not sure – which led to explosive levels of fluids being expelled from the body. (No, I’m not going to go into details, I’m sure you’ll figure it out)
It meant that all our plans for Saturday went tits-up from the start, and the rest of the weekend followed suit. Herself knew I was feeling really bad, because I went back to bed and slept twice on Saturday – all told, about four hours. That’s just something I never do. Coupled with that, any time I stood up, Gravity took over, and caused a quick dash to the nearest toilet. Yes, for 24 hours I was Gravity’s Bitch.
Sunday wasn’t much better, although was better, and today’s been OK (so far) for me, although Herself picked up the same complaints last night and is currently crashed out in bed still.
About the only good thing that’s come out of it is that at least I’ve been ill on a weekend, and thus didn’t lose out on any money coming in. And that’s a pretty poor silver lining for any cloud.
Selling Seeds
Posted: Wed 23 April, 2008 Filed under: Getting Organised, Green, Green Garden, Health, News 4 Comments »It’s good to see that apparently more and more people are buying vegetable seeds, and growing their own veg, particularly in light of rising costs and growing awareness of the environmental impact of various imported fruit and veg.
We’re doing this more and more now that the garden is getting a bit more sorted – so far this year we’ve planted:
- Three rows of potatoes
- Leeks
- Carrots
- Onions
- Bell peppers
- Chilli peppers
- Runner beans
- Peas
- Rhubarb
- Tomatoes
and - Parsnips
We’ve still got plans for broccoli/calabrese, courgettes, pumpkins, cauliflower, more leeks and parsnips for over-winter, and a couple more tubs of potatoes as well as gooseberries, blackberries and (probably) strawberries on the fruit side. And even then, as we get more organised next year we’ll do even more.
It’s just good to see people doing more for themselves in this way – I suspect it’s something that’s going to keep on happening. I certainly hope so.
Water Shortage
Posted: Tue 22 April, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Health 7 Comments »Since last Thursday, we’ve been unable to use our mains water.
About a year ago (apparently) one of the people on our road had an oil delivery, and some amount of oil spilled/leaked into the ground. Since then, Anglian Water have occasionally been testing the water supply there, and the diesel has now leaked into the pipes. (Apparently, in a fit of genius, the blue plastic pipes used for the supply of clean mains water are permeable to diesel oil. Which fucking Mensa member came up with that one, particularly for an area where every house has oil central heating?) Therefore, it’s now contaminated for everyone on our road – which admittedly only runs to about eight houses. We can use it for washing and so on, but we can’t use it for drinking, cooking, giving to animals, etc. etc. In short, it’s unfit for consumption.
So since Thursday, Anglian Water have been keeping on checking the contamination levels, and supplying all the houses on our road with bottled water.
Yesterday (Monday) they confirmed that the entire of the water main for our road is going to need to be replaced, which might happen next week. And even then we can’t go back to using the mains water until it’s been repeatedly tested. And I bet they replace the pipe with another blue-plastic one that the diesel oil will eventually seep into as well.
So with luck, we’ll be back on mains water in a couple of weeks time. And until then, Anglian Water will keep on supplying us with bottled water.
Surely it would’ve made far more sense (financially, practically, and from the perspective of customer services) to replace the pipe with a non-permeable version a year ago when the leak/spillage originally occurred, spend a day or two doing it, and have no further issues, rather than the farce of sending someone out to check it every so often for a year, then have to supply eight houses with bottled water for a fortnight while they finally get round to repairing/replacing it?
Caffeine Free
Posted: Sun 20 April, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health 3 Comments »It’s been more than a month now since I stopped drinking Diet Coke, and I’m pleased that I’ve managed to do it.
I wouldn’t necessarily say I feel any better for it, but well, at least I’ve cut out the addiction.
Losing Weight in 2008: Update
Posted: Wed 9 April, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Well, to be honest so far I’ve done absolutely sod-all when it comes to increasing my levels of exercise or decreasing my weight this year. I know, I’m a slacker.
There’s been a whole bundle of reason, but they all really come down to one thing – I couldn’t be chuffed to do it. Now, with spring and summer coming up, I might just get round to it.
Way back, we did sign up with a leisure card thing for the nearest large(ish) gym in Dereham, but the experience we had there was so crap that neither of us has actually bothered to go back since. Maybe we should do, just to give them a fair crack of the whip. But well, maybe not.
However, I do plan to do a visit to the other big gym in the area (it’s on my way home from the current contract, and also close to the large Sainsbury’s store where we do most of our shopping, so it’s at least vaguely convenient) tonight, and see how that goes too.
Then, of course, I just need to build up the motivation to actually go, and/or do something else as well…
Cutting Out Caffeine
Posted: Thu 27 March, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Health 2 Comments »Regular readers will be amazed to know that while we’ve been away, I’ve completely stopped drinking Diet Coke. Coke and Diet Coke have always been my major addiction really, and over the years my intake has gone up and down, but never really cut out completely. I know I drink/drank way too much of it, and then a while back Herself issued me the challenge of cutting it out completely while we were away.
In light of knowing that I’d be foul if I went straight from my normal levels of Diet Coke to zero, I cut my intake way down in the month or so before we left for our break – and that was probably one of my smarter moves of late, if I’m honest. It meant that once we got here on Friday, I just cut it out completely, rather than needing to reduce the intake before dropping to zero – and it means that I’ve now not had any caffeine or Diet Coke for a week.
I’m not cured of the addiction, I’m sure – it wouldn’t take much at the moment for me to just go back to the pre-holiday intake, if not the pre-reduction intake. So it’s still something I’m going to keep on working on, and drinking other things rather than Diet Coke, and just seeing how it goes.
Along the way, it also means I’m drinking more water, and using fruit squashes and the like. No bad thing at all – I can’t deny, the range of fruit squashes and so on has increased massively since I were a lad, and that’s definitely a good thing. So it means that I’ve got a lot more variety in what I’m drinking, and hopefully increase the healthiness (to some degree) of my liquid intake as well.
Time will tell, obviously- but I think that with other thoughts and plans that have been started while we’ve been away, it makes sense to reduce both my intake of caffeine and artificial sweeteners (Aspartame in particular, having seen the reports that Pete linked to a while back) and the evidence of the last week or so that I don’t actually need that caffeine and Diet Coke in my life to keep me going (which I’ve occasionally thought I do) then that’s a good starting point, and a good motivation for the future.
Dental Plans
Posted: Sat 15 March, 2008 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »Once we come back from our week away, there are a couple of things I need to get sorted. Nothing urgent, but still, needs to be done I think.
First among those is a visit to the dentist. It’s been a fair while since I last went (Probably coming up for two years ago now, if not three – UPDATED : Ah, a quick check tells me it was May 2005.) so I know that the odds are I’ll need some work doing again.
Which makes me think that it’s probably worth organising getting some dental insurance first, so I’m not massively out of pocket when it comes to getting the work done. I wonder what the insurers think if you buy the insurance, then a couple of months later get a load of work done…
Cookery Lessons
Posted: Tue 22 January, 2008 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health, News, Thoughts 1 Comment »On first read, the news that cookery lessons are to become part of the compulsory school schedule is great news. I did cookery lessons way back when I was in school, and it was a useful grounding. (Admittedly, I don’t do a great deal of cooking, but at least I can cook, and can do enough to mean I’m OK without needing to go to a takeaway for meals.)
But then you take a look at the fine print. One hour a week, for one term? Not really a comprehensive course then. (Or a grammar one – ha, education joke. I slay me.) If it were one hour a week for the full school year, you’d have pupils with a decent knowledge of cooking, basic recipes, and general nutritional knowledge that might actually go some way towards the end goal.
Once a week for one term? It’s hardly worth the effort. Of course, even a tiny bit of effort is better than none at all, but still, there’s so much more that could be done with this.
Turkey Out
Posted: Wed 16 January, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Customer Services, Cynicism, Health Leave a comment »OK, so it doesn’t have quite the same ring as Chicken Out!, but apparently Bernard Matthews has decided to make more of their turkeys free-range, mainly in light of the public reaction to documentaries (talked about before on here) by Hugh Fearnley-Bellend et al.
Of course, if the birds had been free-range he might not have been hit quite so hard by the bird flu scare at one of the Bernard Matthews farms back in February 2007. But that’d just be me being cynical, of course.
Bleh
Posted: Thu 29 November, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Health 1 Comment »Grand. Just in time for being away from the office for four days, I’ve got what feels like the starting of a flu thing.
- Sore throat. Check.
- Aching joints. Check.
- Belting headache. Check.
- Lethargy. Check. (Some would say “No change there, then”)
- Feeling like shit. Check, check, and double-check.
Great.
Blind as a Badger
Posted: Sun 25 November, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »[post written on Monday, but should’ve been done on Sunday]
So yes, the eye-test happened today. And I’m pleased to report that all’s well.
Well, I’m still blind as a badger, obviously – the eye-test wasn’t to see if there’d been some miracle cure, and I hadn’t noticed. But (again) my sight has changed so little in the last nearly-three years that I can stick with the same glasses. I’ll probably get some new ones in the new year, but for the time being I’m fine with the ones I’ve got.
Lose Some Weight in ’08
Posted: Wed 14 November, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Introspective, Thoughts Leave a comment »One of the things I know I really should/need to do over the next year is get back into going to the gym, doing more exercise of whatever type, and generally lsing some weight.
This last year, and particularly following on from the farce with Holmes Place (Now Virgin Active, but still scumbag dickheads) I lost all real motivation to keep going to the gym, which was a habit I’d managed to get in to before starting work in Cambridge.
About two months ago, we did get round to joining the one in Dereham, although not paying a monthly subscription – and maybe that’s part of the problem as well. Because it’s “Pay as you go” rather than “Pay regardless” it means that there’s still not actually much drive to get us there. If they were taking £35 a month from us and we weren’t using it, we’d feel far more guilty, and would have more drive to go.
At the same time, this year we’ve been hyper-busy with stuff on the house and garden, which has also added to our lack of motivation for going to the gym. Of course, working in the garden should also add to the general exercise regime, and probably will, but it’s not quite the same as a gym session.
So I know that in the new year (possibly before then, although the way the next seven weeks are looking at the moment, I wouldn’t guarantee it) I need to do more on the exercise and fitness front. It won’t just be the gym, I suspect – I still want to get back into the archery, but when it’s only held on a Sunday, it eats in to the time I’ve got for dealing with house stuff too. Still, I’ll look round, see what other clubs are available – I don’t mind taking up an evening with going, but a Sunday is (at the moment anyway) a bit too much.
I also need to think about getting the bike back on the road – I had it serviced and repaired recently, so that it’s in full working order again, but then just haen’t been using it, or really feeling like I want to get out and use it. I may make use of it in the time between Christmas and New Year, when I’m not working, and see how things go.
All told though, I know that I need to get back to where I was in mid 2006, regularly going to the gym and generally getting into it, losing a fair amount of weight, and gaining a commensurate amount of fitness. I know I need to do it, but I still need to locate the motivation to actually do so. And that’s what I need to work on first, breaking back into the habit, and wanting to go, rather than “just” knowing I need to.
Free Rice
Posted: Tue 13 November, 2007 Filed under: Green, Health, News Leave a comment »
(via Blue Witch)
The FreeRice website has recently started as a spin-off from Poverty.com, and as of the time of writing has already donated some 1,330,639,890 grains of rice to be distributed through the United Nations’ World Food Programme. Read the FAQs for more information
FreeRice has two goals:
- Provide English vocabulary to everyone for free.
- Help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free.
This is made possible by the sponsors who advertise on this site.
Whether you are CEO of a large corporation or a street child in a poor country, improving your vocabulary can improve your life. It is a great investment in yourself.
Perhaps even greater is the investment your donated rice makes in hungry human beings, enabling them to function and be productive. Somewhere in the world, a person is eating rice that you helped provide. Thank you.
Yes, it’s advertising-sponsored, but it’s not intrusive and hell, it’s what pays for the rice.
My average literacy level so far is 40-42, (mainly because I had occasional moments of twonkdom) which is apparently pretty good. Still, it’s fun, and it’s for a decent cause, so go on, participate, have a bit of bobble-hatted fun, and do some donation of rice via the UN. You know you want to.
Pink
Posted: Mon 1 October, 2007 Filed under: D4D™, Health Leave a comment »Yes, you may have noticed, D4D™ is using the horrific pink colour scheme during October, rather than yellow.
The reason? Go Pink for October.
And if you *really* hate the pink? Just choose a different colourscheme up at the top there, just under “Dummies for Destruction”. Simple as that…
Gymmage
Posted: Sun 23 September, 2007 Filed under: Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »Today we’re off doing the “induction” thing at the gym we joined last weekend.
It shouldn’t be much of a struggle – we’ve done this a couple of times before, after all- but it should be the first steps towards getting back into the gym routine.
Weight Loss- Motivators and Demotivators
Posted: Fri 14 September, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Introspective 3 Comments »After the general success of my weight loss over the last two years, I’ve kind of slacked off so far this year, and I’ve seen the effects of it. Of course, I can chuck up a number of excuses, all of which are at least fairly valid – we’ve been busy with the entire moving (twice), total relocation from Berkshire to Norwich, buying the house, working on the house and garden, blah blah blah. All true, all valid.
But at the same time, well, I just couldn’t be chuffed with going to a gym, or whatever. We’ve still been eating sensibly in general, and all the usual dog-walking stuff and the like, but I still just can’t be chuffed with exercising. The other part was that I was leery of joining another gym after the Holmes Place farago at the end of last year. (And even though they’re now owned by Virgin Active, they’re still a bunch of useless shitbags who keep on calling me to go in and try out the place again now it’s been taken over)
I’m working on it again now, mind you – we’ve just joined up with a new local(ish) leisure centre that’s got the gym, the pool, so on and so forth. As yet we’re just trying it out, and bought what they call a “Leisure Card” which’ll give us about a 20-25% discount each time we go, rather than signing up for a year’s contract again. We’ll see how it goes.
I’m also getting the bike repaired and serviced – as I posted over the weekend, I finally got it in to the local cycle shop, so we’ll see how that does while it’s there.
Working on my motivation is something else entirely. I know I need to lose some weight again, but I can’t deny, I find it far too easy to lose motivation on that score – and the main reason for it is something to do with vanity.
You see, in my head, weight loss should equate with changing the size of one’s clothes. I should be able to go from (for example) a 50″ chest to a 40″ – over time, of course, we’re not talking ‘in four weeks’, or from an XL shirt to an L . That’s what weight loss should do – according to my brain, anyway.
But with me, regardless of whether I lose weight or not, I’ll be in the same size clothes. My build is large anyway – my shoulders can’t change or lose weight, neither can my basic chest-size. The majority of my fat is on my stomach, so even trouser sizes won’t drop – the lower half of my body is actually pretty fit, due to lots of walking, so there’s not a lot to lose there either. Yes, I know I’m shallow and all that, but that simple fact of not changing clothing sizes is enough to demotivate me on the entire thing. Pathetic, isn’t it?
Intellectually, I know I need to lose weight again – my stomach region has grown, and I do want to lose that or at least reduce it significantly again. I know I need to do it, and to increase my fitness at the same time. But I also need to change my perceptions or motivators – I need to find something that makes me want to lose weight, because when all’s said and done, my clothing size isn’t going to change for the better, regardless of how much work I do.
Weight Loss
Posted: Sun 18 March, 2007 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Health, House Purchase 3 Comments »When I had my medical a couple of weeks back, (which reminds me, I really must write about what fuckwit scumbags Friends Provident areHell, and most people who read D4D™ on any kind of regular basis) know, I’m never going to qualify as a lightweight. Or even a middleweight. Unless I opt for at least a double-amputation, I will always be large, and heavy. It’s unavoidable.
Back at the start of ’06, I did lose a fair amount of weight, admittedly – about three or four stone. I felt a lot better for it, and I managed to keep most of it off. But when the doctor weighed me, I was 21 stone. (That’s about 133kg, for the metric among you) Nowhere near what I used to be (roughly 24 stone) but heavier than I’d expected to be, if I’m honest.
So when all’s said and done, yes, I know I should lose some of that, and at some point I probably will. But right now, I’m just at a point where I can’t be chuffed to do it. Some of it is down to the entirely crap experiences with Holmes Place at the arse-end of last year, which has left me with a pretty negative perspective on the entire fitness, gym, and health-club thing.
Some of it is down to the way everything else in life is going at the moment as well. In short, it’s chaotic – there’s the move, the house-purchase, the wondering what to do next when it comes to work (of which more later in the week) and more importantly the where of that work, and it all just puts the gym and weight-loss things into perspective at the ‘lalalalalala-can’t hear you’ end of the spectrum.
But really, when all’s said and done, and if I’m being completely honest, at the moment I just can’t be bothered with it. I’ve no heavy motivation to lose the weight, and I’m having trouble finding any motivations. Again, if I’m honest, I’m not actually looking all that hard, either.
Even the life insurance and so on that caused me to hae the medical in the first place isn’t a sufficient motivator – at the end of the day, when they decide my premium should go up because I’m a fat bastard, that’s what the premium will be. They won’t change it in a couple of years time, if I’ve lost the weight. Even if I baffled medical science and dropped down to my so-called ideal weight of 13.5 stone, the premium wouldn’t change. I’d still be paying fat-bastard-rate, regardless. Hardly a motivator, is it?
Ponky
Posted: Fri 9 March, 2007 Filed under: Health, Travel 2 Comments »I don’t know what someone (I suspect it was the guy opposite me, but I’m not certain) on the train had been eating last night, but fuck me dead, they smelled nasty.
This particular someone had farts that could stun a donkey at 50 paces – they smelled like something that’d crawled out of the colon of a long-dead dung-eating mammoth. Truly, truly unpleasant.
Of course, they may have been improved slightly by the addition of warm air in the train carriage, and the fact it’s a pretty much sealed environment. But bloody hell, it was unpleasant.
Organising That Health-check
Posted: Sat 24 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Health, House Purchase 1 Comment »So yes, the healthcheck that finally happened on Friday was an utter nightmare to organise.
It started off with being told that I needed to sort one out, and that the insurance company had engaged a third party who would contact me to organise an appointment at my convenience.
Yeah, right. What actually happened was that the company called me up and said “We’ve made an appointment for one of our nurses to come and see you at home on Tuesday at 4pm”. Which is hardly at my convenience. So I called them back and told them so.
Them : “But why don’t you want an appointment at home on Tuesday at 4pm? We’ve made all the arrangements”
Me : “Because I’m not going to be at home at that time. I’ll be at work. If your company is willing to pay me to take half a day off work to come and see you, I might consider it”
Them : “No, we can’t do that. But we don’t understand what the problem is with this appointment, it’s at your home at 4pm”
Me : “Amazing as this may seem to you, I work. Maybe I’m the only person you’ve ever dealt with who works, but there we go. So 4pm on a weekday is not convenient. I’m home for about 7pm, if that helps”
Them : “Oh no, our nurses only work 9-5”.
At which point I ended up going back to the insurers and telling them they could stuff their business. The people they engaged would have problems discerning between an arse and an elbow, and there was no way I was using them. So they promised to organise something else, a proper medical at a proper doctor’s surgery. However, it would still be organised through a third party.
And then I got another call about a week later, from the first third party, still trying to make a ‘convenient’ appointment for me on a workday at 4pm, and which for an appointment ‘at my convenience’ was strangely immovable. This time they got told to sod off.
When the second third party finally called, the first thing they said was “So, you need an appointment in Norfolk?”. At which I think I growled. The woman at the other end certainly seemed surprised. I re-explained the situation (actually, that’s probably more like re-re-re-re-explained, but there we go), and they finally discovered a surgery that was close to the workplace. Halle-bloody-lujah.
But all told it’s still taken four weeks to organise a poxy medical. But if my blood-pressure is too high (I doubt it will be, but still) I’m going to blame it all on the poxy fucking insurance company and their medical third parties. So there.
Patronised
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Health 2 Comments »Ah, the joys of being patronised by medical ‘professionals’.
“Well, Mr Lyle, you’re really rather overweight, aren’t you?”
which really should get the response “Really? And there I was, hoping to climb Everest tomorrow“, instead of the one I gave, which was “Yes. And?“. To which the twat had no answer.
Health Check
Posted: Fri 23 February, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, House Purchase, Sweary Leave a comment »One of the real pains (and one I haven’t yet written about on D4D™ – believe me, it’s coming) with our house-buying process at the moment has been that as part of the entire mortgage malarkey, we’ve both been advised to get some proper life-insurance, that’d cover the whole amount of the mortgage should one of us suddenly develop a ‘critical’ illness or drop dead. Of course, that also means having to deal with another load of financial scumbags – insurers.
Back in Jan 2005, I got one lot of cheap-ass life insurance on Herself’s insistence (in fairness, she got some too) which became not-such-cheap-ass insurance when the insurance scumbag underwriters at Norwich Poxybollocks Union decided I was overweight, and whacked an extra amount on my premium. Not a lot, to be honest, but still rather more than the initial quotation had been. Bastards.
Since then, I’ve lost a fair amount of weight, although (as I’ve commented many times) I’m still never going to be 12-15stone without going through at least one limb amputation. That’s a fact of life. I’m not unfit – OK, I’m not fit either, but there we go – and… oh, chuff it, you all know the score by now.
Anyway, with the mortgage application and insurance guff, the scumbag insurance underwriters have – again – thrown a wobbly. And they’ve insisted that this time I don’t just pay extra, I have to have a ‘health check’ too before they might deign to take my money.
So while you’re reading this, I’m in a random doctor’s surgery, having a basic medical and healthcheck for scumbag dirtwad insurers . Whoopee Doo.
Compeed
Posted: Sun 18 February, 2007 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I bought some more Compeed®™ plasters, this time for the poxy burn on my hand. I’ve used Compeed plasters before, and I think they’re absolutely marvellous.
However, they’re also deeply strange. I can’t explain how they work, but the material in the body of the plaster is a sort of semi-liquid gel, which ends up forming itself into the wound, and forming almost an inverted mould of whatever you happen to have done to yourself. For me, the plaster itself becomes a source of fascination, it feels so odd as the gel solidifies with body heat, but it’s also good to know (and feel) that they’re actually doing some good.
Dogs and Health
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »In general, I can’t say I’m surprised at the ‘revelation’ that Dog owners (and, I suspect, pet owners in general) ‘lead healthier lives’. Particularly in the case of dog owners (or at least responsible ones) part of that is due to the enforced exercise regime – also known as “dog walking”.
Currently I’m not as good on this score, because Herself takes Hound for its morning walk while I’m sat on a train going to work – although on weekends Hound decides that it’s back to being my job. Which is fair enough.
Once we’ve moved, though, I suspect we’ll also be back to doing a lot more Hound-related exercise. In the current place, we mis-assessed the situation, and we’re actually not very close at all to anywhere that’s good for Hound-walking. There’s one small area that’s semi-close, but for a border collie it’s just too small. In fact, I’d say the designated ‘dog walking’ area is actually smaller than our garden. Once we’ve moved, though, there’s just fields all round, so I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot more, even in the evenings.
It’s also well-known that stroking one’s dog or cat is, in general, good at reducing stress levels, blood-pressure etc., and as such is usually quite healthy.
Then again, the people who created this report had obviously not met our two, as Hound is great at inducing heavy levels of stress when she’s in irritating (AKA “Barky twat”) mode, and Psycho Cat is great at guessing when you’ve just relaxed while stroking the furry little fucker, and then biting your fingers at the opportune moment…
Ug
Posted: Tue 14 November, 2006 Filed under: General, Health Leave a comment »I hate having a cold.
It’s 6am (OK, now 6:15am) and I’m wide awake. The skin at the bottom of my nose is glowing like Rudolph, and is sore. For some reason I’ve woken up, and my brain won’t let me go back to sleep. So instead I’m sat here, coughing my lungs up, sneezing, and generally feeling like shit.
Oh, and one of my nostrils is blocked by a plug of what I can only assume is snot, which has apparently congealed in a spot that is both unreachable and immovable.
Ain’t life glamorous?
Bleh
Posted: Mon 13 November, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Travel Leave a comment »Ah, you can tell it’s Monday 13th.
It’s 8am, and I’m still at home. By now I’m supposed to be in London, and pretty much on my way to Kings Cross in order to get my arse on the Cambridge train.
Only I feel like crap, having developed a cold and cough, and slept through the alarms. And now, well, I’m going to be late.
Still, it means the trains won’t be as crowded, with luck…
Back to Yellow
Posted: Fri 3 November, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Health Leave a comment »Now October’s over and done with, the default colour for D4D™ should’ve gone back to Yellow.
As I said at the time, D4D™ went that horrible pink colour by default for October as part of Breast Cancer Awareness month.
What’s really sad and geeky though is that I actually just wrote a simple little script-bit that’ll change it automagically in October from now on. I really need to get out more…
Awake
Posted: Tue 31 October, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Why is it that even whem I’m utterly knackered, having been awake since 5.30 this morning that my body wakes up again at about 9.30pm ?
It’s now half midnight, and I’m not even vaguely interested in going to sleep.
Grrrrr….
Holmes Place
Posted: Tue 17 October, 2006 Filed under: Customer Services, Getting Organised, Health 7 Comments »So yes, Holmes Place, the snivelling bunch of bureaucratic tosspot scumbags. I really can’t begin to emphasise just how gobsmacked I am by their attitude to customers, but I have to say, I wouldn’t ever recommend Holmes Place to anyone ever again.
Fair enough, I understand, they have a minimum contract, and they make their money from the people who sign up in January in a fit of the New Year resolutions, do maybe a month or two, and then don’t come back. That’s where the profit and cream comes from for the business – after all, if people have to pay, but choose not to use the facilities, that’s their choice.
What I object to on just about every front, though, is their attitude when this isn’t the case, when you’ve moved (or, in my case, am primarily based) somewhere else, where there’s no Holmes Place within a radius of 65 miles. I can’t help that, and it’s down to the company not having a facility in the area. If there were a Holmes Place in the area, I’d be using it, and I would’ve transferred my membership over to that one. But there simply isn’t the facility. Yet I’ve still got to pay for four months where I can’t use the gym, not where I decide not to.
I’m still going to find the name of their customer services director, and write another snotty letter to them. In the meantime, well, it’s time to get D4D™ into the top ten on Google for a search on Holmes Place. Currently I’m only at about #15…
Pink?
Posted: Mon 2 October, 2006 Filed under: D4D™, Health Leave a comment »If you’ve never bothered setting a default colour-scheme for D4D™, then you’ll notice that the site is – for October only – using the excessively foul Pink colour-scheme instead of the standard bloody-horrid Yellow one.
There’s a reason for this – it’s Breast Cancer awareness month and as such a number of sites are going Pink for October. Live with it.
Or just change the default colour scheme to Yellow by clicking on it up there somewhere.
Dog Shit
Posted: Mon 14 August, 2006 Filed under: Animals, Health, Thoughts 4 Comments »Every morning, I get annoyed by a certain percentage (and I assume it’s a minority) of dog owners. Now, we own a dog, the ineffable Hound, who goes out for a walk every morning. During that walk, she normally has at least one major shit. It’s what dogs do.
If I actually see her taking her shit, I clear it up. I pretty much always carry at least a couple of shit-bags in a pocket. As a responsible (well, at least semi-responsible) dog-owner that’s fine, it’s part of the job. (To make life more complex, I don’t technically own Hound – I inherited her. She’s Herself’s dog, bought with previous partner, but I’ve inherited the role of dog-owner/walker/plaything) If Hound disappears off into the bushes and bracken for her shit then I admit, I don’t chase in after her in order to get it. I’m not that dedicated, frankly.
But what really annoys me is the people who take their dog out, watch it having a shit on the path, or anywhere else in full vision, and just leave it there. Don’t even bother cleaning it up. If I see them doing it, I do tend to ask whether they plan on picking up their dog’s shit – and do they need to use one of my spare shit-bags? (I never did manage to be subtle) But most of the time you just come across the discarded article, and it really pisses me off.
If you’re going to own a dog, then picking up that dog’s shit is a simple part-and-parcel of the process. It’s a job that grosses me out completely, but it’s part of the deal, so I do it. I’d love to never have to pick up a still-warm (and in winter, slightly steaming) fresh-laid dog log. (you can feel it through the bag – I don’t mean pick it up in one’s bare hand)
I just don’t understand the people who don’t get that, who think it’s OK to leave their dog’s shit all over the place for Someone Else to clear up.
Working Out?
Posted: Tue 1 August, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Health 2 Comments »Hmmm, I’m really not sure how this one’s going to go. Anyway – up ’til now, my gym visits have always been after work – it’s been easier that way for a number of reasons, and also means that Herself and I meet up at the gym, and I don’t need to get the train home.
Today, though, I’m doing something different. I plan to go to the gym in my lunch hour. I must be fucking barmy. But we weren’t in the mood yesterday for the normal gym visit, and I figure that maybe I need to change something in order to motivate myself a bit more to go.
I’ve no idea how it’ll work out – in theory it’s a good idea, and should allow me to go more often while I’m here. And I might as well take advantage of not being in London, and instead still being at the original office. It’s just that, well, going to the gym in one’s lunch hour is just a bit, um, dedicated, isn’t it?
Updated : Well, actually it all went OK – a lot quieter than the evenings (hardly surprising, but all the same) and all went smoothly. No problems getting on to any of the machines, all done in 30-35 minutes, then grab some lunch, and back in the office on the dot of the hour. And yes, I know, I shouldn’t eat straight after a workout, but hey ho.
Weight Stuff
Posted: Wed 12 July, 2006 Filed under: Health, Resolutions 6 Comments »OK, I went to the gym last night for a “reprogramme” on what I do. It was supposed to happen last week, but well, I forgot my kit, and it all generally went a bit tits up.
So last night was the one. And I did OK – I’ve a new programme of work, which should be interesting. I nearly passed out on the rowing machine, but that’s because the instructor told me to breathe on each stroke (Hello Google), and once you start doing 34 breaths a minute – well, OK, once I start to do 34 breaths a minute, I end up hyperventilating. Which really isn’t much good or much fun, and doesn’t tend to do much for one’s health. Particularly when one almost bounces one’s head off the next rowing-machine along.
But anyway. The weird bit is this : Back in January when I went for the initial session my BMI was 30.1. I’ve since lost about a stone, and lost a lot of visible fat. So how come my BMI is now 33.3?
Or is it all just a load of old bollocks, and nothing I should worry about?
Barmy
Posted: Mon 3 July, 2006 Filed under: Health, Weirdness 1 Comment »This evening, I’ve an appointment at the local gym, where one of the trainers is going to put me through my paces, and figure out what I should be doing in order to keep on losing weight.
Today’s temperature around here is supposed to be around 32°C. I’m going to be doing a shitload of work in the gym. In short, I must be fuckin’ barmy.
I expect to be a sweaty puddle in the recuperation area by 7.15pm.
Diaries
Posted: Fri 23 June, 2006 Filed under: Geeky, Getting Organised, Health 3 Comments »Next Wednesday I’ve got an appointment at the gym with a nutritionist. Kind of weird – I’ve been planning it for a long time now, but finally got round to making the appointment this week.
So of course, as part of that, I have to make a list of everything I eat or drink between yesterday and next Wednesday. OK, that could be interesting – in a kind of depressing “how much diet coke?” way.
But now comes the sad part. Rather than doing a diary where I write it all down, then forget stuff, then lose the bits of paper etc. (Hey, at least I acknowledge my own inefficiency) I’ve gone and written a tiny little web app that lets me add in items, keeps them in a database, and provides a printable record of them anytime I want. I can even access it through my phone.
I really need to get out more, don’t I?
Sorting Sleeptime
Posted: Wed 21 June, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health 1 Comment »For a long time I suffered from epically bad insomnia – it seems to have sorted itself out a bit at the moment, bizarrely, although I still tend to suffer from very disturbed sleep – but 43 Folders has a list of things that may help to break insomnia.
Some of them I don’t agree with, but in general it makes a lot of sense. However, for me, I’d say that the one I disagree with most is
Get in the habit of going to bed when you are sleepy and sleeping where you sleep best
I think that what caused my insomnia (or at least contributed to it) was getting in to the habit of only going to sleep when I felt tired, or only sleeping in places I wanted to sleep, and that screwed me something rotten.
Ah well. It’s still an interesting set of ideas…
Bugfood
Posted: Sat 17 June, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »One thing I hate about summer : mosquitos.
For some reason the little buzzing hypersonic bastards think I taste great, so they all attack me in the night. And I get covered in lumpy bites that drive me utterly insane.
Currently, due to the lack of foresight displayed by sitting outside one evening, my feet – particularly, my toes and the sides of my feet – are covered in itchy little bastard bites.
Time for some insect repellent…
Loud
Posted: Tue 30 May, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »The infection in my ear has finally cleared up. It’s taken its bloody time, but it’s gone.
However, in the meantime my brain had kind of got used to that damped-out sound, and was happily processing the world while taking that fuzziness into account, and thus amplifying whatever was getting through, so all was OK and at about normal volume.
Now that it’s just gone, though, it’s still catering for that problem, with the result that the world seems like a very loud place at the moment…
No Rides
Posted: Wed 24 May, 2006 Filed under: Health, News, Weirdness Leave a comment »Somehow, I’m failing to see the attraction in this.
You have to be aged 18 and over to get in and tickets will cost £15 for the attraction which opens on 7 September.
The theme park will include life-sized silicone-made models which visitors can touch to discover erogenous zones.
Although I do love the line about it being “a sex theme park with no rides”. For a sex themepark “with rides” I assume you need to pay your £15 in Soho, or Amsterdam…
( RED )
Posted: Thu 18 May, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »It’s about time someone came up with an idea like this. Pity it had to come from fucking Bono, but there we go.
Anyway, the idea is called ( RED ), and is a range of products where some of the cost is donated to causes dealing with AIDS, malaria etc. on a global scale.
I like the idea, and the ability for people to put their money where their mouth is, and show support for the cause with “limited edition” products at the same time.
Eh?
Posted: Fri 12 May, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Since the weekend we went down to Somerset, I’ve had an ear infection. It’s not painful (well, except for one day close to the start, where I had absolutely killer earache) it’s just bloody annoying – I’d say my hearing is probably about 10% of normal in my right ear at the moment.
Anyway, I finally got round to making an appointment at the doctors about it. I’ve had this kind of thing before, and have never been arsed to go and get it sorted – after all, it clears up in the end of its own accord, and I just can’t be keffed to go and get a prescription for bloody antibiotics etc. But this time Herself (being a nurse herself) has nagged me ’til I gave in and made the appointment.
What surprised me, though, was the attitude of the practice nurse. She seemed amazed that I wasn’t demanding medical attention right now, and was instead quite happy to leave it ’til there was a free slot in her diary. Like I said, I’m not in pain, it’s not urgent – it’s annoying, but not debilitating or life-threatening, so I’m pretty easy about the entire thing.
Still, 9:15, Monday morning, I’ll be at the doctors. First time in a year or more – and even that was just for a checkup as I was transferring to this doctors having moved to Bracknell.
Joining In
Posted: Thu 30 March, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 3 Comments »Yesterday afternoon, I had a headache. It wasn’t just a headache – I’ve had plenty of those, and never had real cause to notice/care/complain – but yesterdays one was a stonker.
What upped the anté a bit was that it also seriously affected my vision. I ended up with a moiré pattern (like the pattern you see on TV when someone’s wearing a jacket with a small check pattern on it) around the edges, and a blank spot in the middle like you get from looking at a bright light then looking away.
All told, it really wasn’t much fun, but paracetamol took the edge off it, and I managed to get through the day, although I felt pretty rough by the end of it.
Turns out, having spoken to a couple of other people, it may have been the start of a migraine. I’ve never had one before, so I don’t know for sure, and I don’t want to be “classic bloke” who says a cold is flu, a flu is typhoid (whatever) and a headache is always a migraine. That’s not my style at all – but all the same, this one has me wondering whether it might’ve been the start of something new. And I’ll certainly keep an eye on it – if I get any/many more it may even be time to stop by the doctors for a check-up…
As they say, welcome to the club!
We Are What We Do
Posted: Wed 29 March, 2006 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »via a fairly convoluted route (that I can’t be arsed to repeat right now) I came across a site called We Are What We Do, which falls into line with a lot of my own feelings about life.
We’re not another charity. We’re not an institution. We Are What We Do is a movement. We’d like to inspire people to use their everyday actions to change the world. Whoever they are. And wherever they are. And that includes you.
We’ve created 50 simple, everyday actions that can improve our environment, our health, and our communities, making our planet and the people on it much happier. We started by putting these actions in a book, but the whole movement is getting bigger. And bigger.
The 50 actions aren’t anything hugely strenuous, but they’re ideas on what can be done to help out. As it turns out, I’ve done about half of them already, and regularly do a third of the list. So I’m well on the way.
But it’s a great idea, and one that should go a long way…
Maintaining
Posted: Wed 29 March, 2006 Filed under: Getting Organised, Health 3 Comments »Over the last year or so, I’ve lost a fair amount of weight. (as I’ve blethered on about once or twice before)
Having not done so in a while, and having noticed a fair reduction in belly-size etc., I thought I’d weigh myself again. It’s not something I do on a regular basis, and I don’t obsess about weight-loss much (if at all) even though I know I’ve been doing well.
I was fairly surprised, though, to see that according to the scales I’m still dead-on the 20st mark. I’ve lost a fair amount of fat, but still weigh the same. Mind you, I do know that I’ve been putting on muscle tone instead, so it’s all swings and balances. But all the same, it’s pretty depressing to still weigh the same, despite large visible differences…
Disturbing
Posted: Thu 12 January, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »For once I’m going to apologise about the image that this post may conjure up. Trust me, it was worse having to see it first hand.
I’m not a fan of the changing rooms at gyms – too many people (usually), too little space, and, well, blokes in various states of undress. And believe me, Nick Kamen they ain’t. Now, I realise I’m hardly a pin-up of the male physique – far from it – but I do try to keep it at least mainly under cover. It appears that I’m the exception in this, but there we go.
Last night was the worst one so far though. Having been to the gym, I go back to get changed, and opposite me are two men who are preparing for their session. Well, either that or they were getting dressed in lycra bodysuits for a night on the town. I didn’t ask. Both were at least forty, and in the gay world would’ve been referred to as bears. (although not as bad as this “not for those of a sensitive disposition” image.)
The disturbing part, though, was when both of them started rubbing Vaseline into their arse-cracks and round their balls. In fairness they were doing it to themselves, not to each other, but all the same it was hard to miss such an activity…
Health Stuff
Posted: Wed 11 January, 2006 Filed under: Health 3 Comments »So yes, last night at the gym was a bit rough. Not unexpected, really.
Basically, I’m changing some of the stuff I do there. I’ve lost a lot of weight in the last year, and while I still want to lose some more, I also want to make sure there’s some good muscle and so on there too. So I’m going to continue with the cardio-vascular stuff, the exercise bike, the cross-trainer and *shudder* the rowing-machine. But I’m also going to be doing a lot more work with weights etc., and that was what last night was about.
We went through a fair number of the machines for weights, along with some stuff around free-weights, which I’ll probably also be getting into later. For now though I’m going to work to build up the basics using the machines.
The way of working out what levels of weights I should be doing at the moment was kind of interesting. First we went with what I thought I could do, discovered I’m a bit – in some cases, very – optimistic, took them down to a do-able level, with my first estimates becoming the target I should aim for. So not breaking myself initially, but building up to where I should be (or at least where I want to be) – and from then, well I guess it’ll just be a natural progression. In theory.
We also did the dread thing at gyms – my Body Mass Index (BMI). It’s a ratio of fat to weight, and I always knew it wasn’t going to be great. It’s not something I obsess about, or anywhere even close, but on occasion it’s interesting to know, as it gives a decent set of figures to track over time and see how the BMI decreases.
Anyway, last night it pegged at a BMI of 30.1 . Not great – it still puts me in “obese”, but only by .1 ( or .2 , if you’re feeling picky) as the cutoff from “overweight” to “obese” is at 30. I know that this time last year I was closer to the 40 mark, so I’m not unhappy with that progress at all – there’s still a way to go, and I’ll conceivably never be in the “OK” weight range, but that’s fine with me too. All the same, it’s progress, and I’ll keep on with it.
Ouch
Posted: Tue 10 January, 2006 Filed under: Health 2 Comments »Ouch.
In fairness, not as ouch as I could’ve been. But still, ow.
Torture
Posted: Tue 10 January, 2006 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »In a lot of ways I’m really not looking forward to this evening. I’ve got an hour’s session with one of the personal-trainer type people, and she’s threatened/promised to make me ache…
Still, it’s all part of returning to the gym, supposedly.
Bleh
Posted: Fri 9 December, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Yet again, feeling rougher than a badger’s arse in wintertime.
At some point I’m going to get the time to enable me to be really really ill. In the meantime it’s more just feeling rough. Bleh.
Weighty Issues
Posted: Wed 7 December, 2005 Filed under: 2005 Resolutions, Health, Thoughts 4 Comments »Roughly six months ago, I wrote about the weight I’d managed to lose in the first part of the year – at the time I was down to 19st 10lb. I’ve eased up on the dieting a bit since, and not been cycling to work in a while – although I do generally walk home from the train station most days.
Anyway, I weighed myself yesterday, and while I’ve put on a little bit, I’m now dead on the 20st mark. No, that’s not light – but it does mean that even without making every effort for the weight to come off, or to keep it off, I’ve still managed to maintain pretty much the same weight for six months now.
And to me, that’s still a success. Yes, I’d like to lose some more, and there’s some other stuff I plan to do in order to manage that – but equally I suspect that whatever I lose in fat will just change to muscle (I know it’s not a “just change” procedure, but the fat will go and be replaced by muscle that has developed from the exercise) so I’ll still be in a similar weight range, I guess.
These are the kind of thoughts that follow you on a day when you’re sorting out techie stuff…
Feeling Rough
Posted: Thu 24 November, 2005 Filed under: Domestic, Health 1 Comment »Ah, it looks like it may just be one of those winters.
Over the last few days I’ve been feeling a bit ropy, and last night it developed into a sore throat. So it may just be that I’ve got my first cold of the season. It’s no big thing, colds aren’t something I generally worry about – but it does mean I’ll feel a bit rough for a few days.
Gastric
Posted: Sun 30 October, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Hmm, I can honestly say that combining left-over veggie curry with chinese Special Fried Rice can produce some *ahem* interesting gastric side-effects.
It all tasted pretty good at the time – and was definitely filling – but it appears to have combined into some kind of substance that would’ve been logged as a chemical weapon in some countries.
Best
Posted: Fri 28 October, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »I have to confess, I find it extraordinarily difficult to have any sympathy for George Best. Yes, he was a talented footballer, but couldn’t handle the pressure/adulation/whatever. He’s had more chances to change than most, including a liver transplant.
Yet still he’s insisted on pissing it all away. And if he does recover from this latest hospitalisation, I can pretty much guarantee he’ll continue to piss it all away.
It’s sad to see someone doing that to themselves. But it’s also very hard to be sympathetic about it.
Expensive Hobby
Posted: Mon 3 October, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Having just ordered some of the things I forgot when I went to Quicks, I’ve now spent just under £600 on archery, and have so far had exactly one session using the bow etc.
Of course, that average should now change quite rapidly – I’m going to be going to one of the local archery clubs on a regular basis, and don’t intend to spend any more on equipment for a good few months. But all the same, getting started on this one has most definitely not been cheap…
Arching
Posted: Sat 1 October, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »The archery session went ahead last night, and all went well. I’ve got a stonking bruise on my arm where the string hit it a couple of times (I may even post up a photo of it, you never know) and my shoulders ache like a bastard, but that’s just through exercise they haven’t had in far too many years.
The bow’s bloody good though, and I’m really pleased with how easily everything came together. I’ve got to get a couple more things from the Archery place, but in the meantime all’s well, and I’m really pleased with how well it all clicked back into place.
So yes, who knows, perhaps even some serious competitive shooting in 2006…
Bow-legged
Posted: Fri 30 September, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Well, with all things being well, I should be finally getting to start myself up on the archery front again tonight. Since buying the bow a couple of weeks back, I’ve either been manically busy, or simply timings haven’t conspired to make it possible to get to any of the local clubs. It’s been a pain in the neck, because I’ve been wanting to do it, but everything’s worked against it.
Even now, if it starts raining I could be shit out of luck. I hope not – but it’s possible.
We’ll just have to see…
Hep C
Posted: Fri 30 September, 2005 Filed under: Cynicism, Health, Thoughts 3 Comments »The BBC today has been banging on about how Britain is ‘failing’ on Hepatitis C, and failing to diagnose it in the majority of cases.
Now OK, I’m sure I’m just being thick here, but how can a story say something like this?
[the study estimated] 500,000 UK people had the virus, which attacks the liver, but only one in seven knew. Only 1-2% of those with the disease in the UK had been identified and treated with approved drugs, which can cure between 60-80% of those treated, it said.
They estimate 500,000 people may have the virus, but they don’t know. I don’t see how you can come up with such a seemingly arbitrary figure as “we’re only diagnosing 2%” (or 10%, or 20% – the figure doesn’t matter) – because in honesty you have no fucking idea how many people actually carry the virus. That “2% diagnosed” could actually be 50% of the people with the virus – you don’t know, because you haven’t bloody well diagnosed them all.
Short of making it a compulsory test – and that would be too expensive to be feasible, I suspect – the figures are bollocks, and it all comes down to hype.
Or am I missing something relevant?
Well Done
Posted: Mon 19 September, 2005 Filed under: Health, News 1 Comment »On a different note, I just wanted to say well done to a friend of mine, Jules, who today completed the Great North Run in 2.25 hours. I’m really pleased she made it, and completed the run successfully – although I’m still sad I didn’t make it up there for the day, but due to being epically disorganised I didn’t get round to trying to book a room ’til WAY too late.
UPDATED : Oops, knew I’d forgotten something when writing this post. Also a huge “well done” to Pix for completing her 17mile hike round the above-ground route of the Circle Line in London. Even better, it was all for a good cause.
Weekend
Posted: Sun 18 September, 2005 Filed under: Customer Services, Health 2 Comments »Well, I now own a bow. And arrows. And case, quiver, sight, tab, bracer, stabilser, etc. And I’m £520 lighter for it too. Sheesh. One of these days I might even involve myself with a sport that’s cheap. One day. Maybe.
Other than that, the store we went to in Waterlooville was OK, but Waterlooville itself is – to be frank – a fucking dump. Strange, strange place.
And the weekend has been very quiet internet-wise, as we seem to be cursed by joint problems with the wireless network and the NTL connection. Not helped by the fact that motherfucking NTL don’t even have a customer services department that’s open on a Sunday. The cuntwit tossbags. So we’re unconnected (except via a slightly shonky dial-up connection through Tiscali, of all things) until tomorrow. Gah.
So all in all, a quiet weekend, and quite an expensive one. Roll on work. Never thought I’d say that…
Compound
Posted: Sat 17 September, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Over the weekend, I’m intending to go down to Quicks Archery Store in Portsmouth, and sort myself out with a new compound bow, along with all the other gubbins necessary. I’m actually really rather looking forward to it.
I used to do archery about fifteen years ago, and was fairly good at it, even shooting at county competition level. In the intervening time my interest in it waned, the equipment got sold, and I moved on to other stuff.
But then we went off to Center Parcs earlier this year, and one of the activites was – you’ve guessed it – archery. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed it, and as it turned out I was also still pretty good at it, so since then I’ve been thinking about getting back to being involved in it, finding out about local clubs, all that type of thing.
The limiting factor for it was not driving – a decent compound bow isn’t particularly small, nor easy to walk around with, let alone riding a bike while carrying one. But now that the test’s been passed too, it’s time to sort out everything else – and that’s what I’m doing this weekend. I’ll have more news, and possibly photos, later in the weekend.
Cutting Down
Posted: Fri 16 September, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 2 Comments »One of my regular sins/addictions is caffeine. I know I drink too much of it (drink? take? whatever), although I do regularly reduce my intake when I know it’s getting way too high. Over the last couple of months – well, all this year, to be honest – it’s been gradually increasing, and so I decided that while we were away last week, I’d reduce my intake again.
My main source for caffeine now is diet Coke®. Yes, I know it’s bad for me, and all the chemicals etc. don’t do me any real favours. However, Coke/Diet Coke® is still one of the very few drinks I actually like drinking, as opposed to the “Oh god, if I have to” feeling that comes (for me) with most drinks. And at least I no longer drink coffee, the strength of which would probably have been dissolving my insides far more than Coke can. In fact, so far as I was concerned, coffee strength was determined by a) whether it dissolved the spoon, and b) whether the coffee could be served in slices. If both conditions were fulfilled, then it was about right.
Anyway, I digress. (Hey, there’s a change to normal. Not.) My caffeine intake has now been dramatically reduced – it’s been better than halved, if I’m honest. I still drink “too much”, but it’s nowhere near the level it was at.
I’m actually quite pleased with myself for reducing the intake in this way. But equally I’m sure it’ll have a bit of a resurgence, and the cycle will begin again. No willpower, you see. *grin*
E111 EHI card
Posted: Fri 2 September, 2005 Filed under: Health, Travel 8 Comments »
If you’re resident in the UK, and intend to visit somewhere in the EU, you now need to get an EHI card. The old E111 form expired yesterday, so any future travel needs the new card.
Fortunately, you can apply for it online, which saves a good amount of time/bureaucracy. You do need to know your NHS or NI number for the application, but that’s no great hardship.
Or am I the only person who knows their NI number off by heart?
Organ-ised
Posted: Mon 22 August, 2005 Filed under: Health 3 Comments »
The BBC this week is launching a season called “DoNation“, designed to make more people sign up to be organ donors. I’m not sure how useful it will be – but anything that gets more people to sign up is a good thing in my book.
Personally, I believe that the organ donation scheme should be one where you have to “opt out” rather than “opt in” – although on the BBC breakfast programme this morning there was a spokesman for the NHS who said that it shouldn’t be this way, because the donation of organs was a gift from a person, and as such should be seen that way, rather than a requirement. And when it’s phrased like that, I can’t disagree. All the same though, when you see how many people don’t sign up “because it’s too much effort”, you do start to wonder just how simple it has to be in order for people to do it. And if the situation were reversed, how many would actually “make the effort” to ensure they weren’t on the list?
In order to make things “easier”, the NHS has even sorted out a way to register online to be on the organ donor database. It’s an amazingly easy thing to do – one set of information, and that’s it. Or you can sign up by calling the NHS on 0845 60 60 400. Go on, it’s worth it.
Badger
Posted: Fri 19 August, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Over the last week I’ve been feeling – to put it tactfully – rougher than a badger’s arse in wintertime. It started last Friday on the train, where it was chuffing freezing thanks to an overzealous application of the air-conditioning. Probably going from train to smoky pub didn’t help in the long run, but anyway, by the end of the night my throat was feeling decidedly dodgy. Ah well, it’d been loud and smoky, it’ll wear off I’m sure.
How wrong I was. Saturday it was worse, and by the time I got home on Sunday I was beginning to sound like some kind of 0898 chatline porn bint, I was so husky. Generous dosings of paracetamol and so on have meant it’s eased off a fair bit over the course of the week, but now it’s Friday evening, and I’m back to feeling rough.
Sore throat, plus additional cold stuff (sneezing and snot, primarily) mean it’s likely to be another couple of days feeling blocked up and shitty.
I’m not going to make out it’s flu, or anything “male” like that – it’s just a bummer that I feel like shite. Ah well.
And why is it that these things always kick in on a weekend, rather than during the working week?
Hotel Chocolat
Posted: Thu 18 August, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions 1 Comment »I know I mention this company on a semi-regular basis, but I still think that the stuff Hotel Chocolat do is – in general – bloody fantastic.
Herself got me one of their “Ultimate Chocolate Dipping Experience” boxes as a thing for me for passing that bloody driving test, and we opened it tonight. Wow.
The dried strawberries aren’t up to much – they rarely are – but the rest is fantastic so far. And of course if we really push it we’ll just get some small fresh strawbs when we have the rest of it over the weekend. Maybe even go to the local pick-your-own place. Hmm, now there’s an idea…
Repellent
Posted: Tue 16 August, 2005 Filed under: Health, Weirdness 1 Comment »This story contains one of the creepiest things I’ve seen in a long time. The first “Mr. Afghanistan”, a body-builder. And is it me, or is he actually gold?
Personally I’ve never been able to see the appeal in bodybuilding, particularly to this kind of extreme. It’s just grotesque.
Shite
Posted: Tue 2 August, 2005 Filed under: Health 2 Comments »While I do think that the idea of the home testing kits for bowel cancer are a good idea, one quote in the news sent my mind off on a little alternative trip.
“To use it, you just put the stick into a lump, then send it off to the testing centre”
Now there’s one place I really wouldn’t want to be in charge of opening the post…
Resurgence
Posted: Wed 27 July, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Travel 3 Comments »Interesting to see that cycling has had a bit of a renaissance since the London bombings, with the shop mentioned in the article going from selling 3 bikes a day to 15 a day now.
I find I do have a couple of doubts about the entire thing though – first of all, people are quoted saying “The Tube is dangerous, I feel safer cycling”. In London?!? These people are quite blatantly insane. I know my life is made dodgier by cycling on the roads in Bracknell – I don’t even want to think about adding London buses and taxis in to the equation. OK, so they’re no longer at risk of being involved in a bomb on the tube. But there were also incidents on buses – and a bus roof landing on/near a cyclist isn’t going to be good for the health either.
Second, I have to wonder what these people will do once it starts raining again (as it has here today) or as the nights draw in and it gets colder. Will the ones who are so willing to get back into cycling during the balmy light summer evenings be so willing to use their bikes on a cold wet November night?
Missed It
Posted: Tue 26 July, 2005 Filed under: Health, News 5 Comments »As it turns out, you can miss stuff happening if you blink. According to research, when you blink, certain parts of your brain (primarily the visual system, funnily enough) shut down. That’s why we don’t perceive blinks as mini-periods of darkness. Allegedly.
Interesting stuff, though.
And please note, I have avoided all use of the <blink> tag, and any “humour” therein.
Stage 15
Posted: Mon 18 July, 2005 Filed under: Health 5 Comments »To Herself’s slight despair, I’ve been watching a fair amount of the coverage of this year’s Tour De France. I do tend to do so every year, but she’s not overly interested in it. Personally I think it balances out some of the stuff like “Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye” and “Judging Amy” that she watches, but hey, that’s domestic bliss for you.
Anyway, yesterday’s stage was generally billed as the toughest of this year’s Tour, and if you look at the profile you’ll see why. Five climbs, four of “Category One” (which in layman’s terms equates to “Fuck Off, I’m not doing that!”) over 205.5km (about 128 miles), and the winner completed it in six hours. That’s riding at an average of 20mph through the entire stage, including the uphill bits.
I’m in awe of the TDF competitors at the best of times, but to ride at that speed for six hours – and to have done so after two weeks of riding similar distances every day – is, to me, nothing short of superhuman.
UPDATED : Geoff Thomas writes in his diary about completing Stage 15. Another superhuman effort, as I’ve written before.
Perfection
Posted: Tue 12 July, 2005 Filed under: Health 1 Comment »Perfect drink for a hot morning after cycling into work…
A glass of Copella Apple and Blackberry Juice, chilled down so it’s almost frozen. Seriously refreshing – and not loaded with artificial sugars and shite.
Mmmmmmm.
Helmets
Posted: Mon 11 July, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 3 Comments »BSAG has written today about whether it should be made compulsory for cyclists to wear ‘safety’ helmets, which is, of course, something I’m currently fairly interested in. Since buying the new bike back in April (which also means I’ve now been cycling for three solid months – Gods, it feels a lot longer than that!) Herself has insisted that I wear a helmet. And I do so.
Now, I’m not one of these people who gives a toss really about whether or not I look like a knob. My genetic heritage has ensured that I manage to look like one most of the time without even trying, let alone worrying about acoutrements that might help the cause. But I find I don’t like wearing the bike helmet at all. Appearance isn’t an issue. I find I don’t like the way the straps work, or where they’re placed, and personally I feel that some of the “functions” of the helmet actually increase the risk when wearing it.
Primarily, the straps vibrate in any form of wind. Of course, on a bike there’s always a breeze going past, and so the vibrating straps set up a hum in the ears that can block out the sound of a car approaching from the rear. (and has, on several occasions) It doesn’t help that I’ve got ears that stick out, making my head resemble a taxi with both doors open, which of course adds to this problem.
I don’t feel invincible wearing a helmet – Bracknell’s drivers go a long way towards reminding me that a helmet is no protection against a fuckwit bastard in a BMW – and I don’t take unnecessary risks. (well, not too many, anyway) Do I think the helmet would do me any good at all in an accident? No, probably not.
I realise that there are circumstances where a helmet probably does help. But they’re more in the instances of “falling off” rather than “hitting something”. And in thos I’d probably be just as well off with a pair of decent bike gloves to stop me grinding my hands to shit. I’ve also been watching the Tour De France over the last week, and in both of the “big” accidents I’ve seen, most people didn’t come anywhere even close to landing on their heads, instead sliding down the road on hip/thigh/arm. When riding in the TDF though, I can see the point of the helmet for one thing – when there’s a big accident, you get other bikes landing on you too, and that’s when the helmet is useful for protection. But that’s not a “normal” bike-riding circumstance.
I’ll keep on wearing one, as Herself thinks that it helps, and if she’s less concerned about me on the bike then that’s fine with me. But no, I personally don’t feel it does me any positive favours at all. I’m sure I’ll reassess that as and when I have an accident (I don’t intend to have one just to find out, but well, law of averages and all that jazz) and in the meantime I’ll minimize the chances I’ve got of having an accident.
But, as BSAG says, a helmet and minimizing the risks has no effect in comparison to better bike routes, and drivers that actually pay attention to other road users.
Geoff Thomas
Posted: Mon 4 July, 2005 Filed under: Health, News, Thoughts 1 Comment »Two years ago, Geoff Thomas (apparently a former football player, but *shrug*) was diagnosed with leukemia. This year, he’s following the example of Lance Armstrong, himself a survivor of testicular cancer, and riding the Tour De France. Not at the same time as the other riders, but a couple of days in advance.
Quite remarkable, and well worth sponsoring.
Blueberries
Posted: Sat 2 July, 2005 Filed under: Customer Services, Health 5 Comments »I just drank an Innocent® Blackberry and Blueberry smoothie, and couldn’t resist copying the text that was on it. Sheer genius…
We don’t know who invented blueberries. Probably Thomas Edison, or Benjamin Franklin. Anyway, whoever did it, we thank you, mainly because blueberries seem to do a multitude of things very well. They look good on your cornflakes, they taste amazing, and they contain more antioxidant power than brocolli, spinach, or garlic. Over the years we’ve found that they taste slightly more agreeable when blended into a smoothie than garlic or any of those other things. If you disagree, please email your concerns to iwantmysmoothietostink@innocentdrinks.co.uk.
How ace is that? Particularly the email address…
A Walk down Memory Lane
Posted: Fri 1 July, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions, Thoughts 5 Comments »Via bsag, a fairly interesting little meme about time…
10 years ago…
Hmmm, 1995. I was working in Rugby, as the manager of the Three Horseshoes hotel there. (Nasty website, but I had nowt to do with it. Promise) Working from 6am-ish through to midnight/1am, with (if I was lucky a break in the middle somewhere. Insane hours, little to no sleep, running round like the proverbial fart in a fit. It was brilliant, and in some ways I’d still go back to that kind of work, if I could sort out the hours a bit. Mind you, that’s hotels for you – the breakfast bit is the killer.
5 years ago…
I was definitely in Manchester by that time, but where was I working? *racks brain* I think that I was actually working for Ebookers in London. And commuting between either Manchester and London or Bath and London, thanks to a friend with a flat in Bath, and depending on what else was going on. It was hugely expensive, immensely stressed, and probably overall not many hours less than I’d been doing five years earlier. The pay was better, but was swallowed up by travel, rent, that kind of thing. So, a major change of jobs, but no change in financial status, really. And still as daft as ever.
This time last year…
I was working in Oldham. Less money, easier job. d4d™ was going great guns, and was nearing its second birthday. Tim Henman had collapsed out of Wimbledon like the wet fart he is, and I was looking forward to seeing Herself properly for the first time following on from when we’d been together at the wedding in June. So… shite… that means it’s our first anniversary soon. Flippin’ ‘eck. Time flies when you’re having fun, doesn’t it?
Yesterday…
All very domestic. Working at the new place continues to be cool as chuff, and really rather satisfying. The cycling’s also going well, and thank christ the weather’s cooled down a bit too. Home, and cooked up some seriously yummy Goat’s Cheese and Caramelised Onion pasta, (cheers, Waitrose) although Hound® nicked some of it before it got cooked. Fucker. Ended the evening by watching The Punisher, which was just as brainless and shite as I’d expected, but entertaining all the same. In a dumb “can’t be arsed to do owt else” kind of way. Oh, and started work on two of the websites I need to get sorted.
Today…
A load of work has landed on my desk, so I’m going to be busy for the next couple of weeks with it all. Which is no bad thing at all. Other than that, sorting out events for next weekend, which as well as a certain anniversary is also Father’s birthday, plus the fete where the charity will take part. Oh, and just for good measure there’s the christening of my god-daughter too. Nothing like a quiet weekend. And yes, that one is going to be nothing like a quiet weekend.
Out tonight for a curry with some of Herself’s friends, and I guess we should walk Hound® at some point too.
Tomorrow…
Shopping, Gardening, more website work, and sorting out some photos etc., I think. Oh, and doing some fruit picking somewhere along the line. No solid plans just yet, but I’m sure we’ll be busy. After all, it’s a “quiet” weekend. Ha.
Getting There
Posted: Wed 22 June, 2005 Filed under: Health, Travel Leave a comment »On the ride to work (which hasn’t changed much, as I’m still in Wokingham. I just go a different direction at the train station) just after I leave the house there’s a nightmare road. Partly the nightmare is because it’s always half-full of parked cars, and avoiding those (plus idiot schoolchildren who don’t know the difference betweeen path and road) makes for a hairy ride on occasion.
The main reason it’s a bastard though is because the entire road is uphill. It’s only a gentle(ish) slope, but Jesus, it’s a killer. It always leaves me knackered – still determined to go on, but knackered all the same – and chuffed. This isn’t helped by being very soon after leaving the house, so I’m not warmed up or anything.
Anyway, I’d always said I’ll know when I’m getting to some point of fitness when I can do the road without being bollocksed at the end of it. And today was that day!
Of course, we’ll have to see how I do tomorrow with it (and then next week, as I’m travelling to Norfolk straight after work on Friday, and there’s no point cycling in at that point) but I do feel pretty good that I’d managed to complete that road without being knackered.
Moonwalk
Posted: Sun 19 June, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »I’m glad to see that the annual Playtex Moonwalk event went off smoothly last night in London.
It’s a walk through London at night, where 15,000 people – mainly women in self-decorated bras – are sponsored in aid of Breast Cancer charities. Long may events like this continue.
Headwind
Posted: Thu 2 June, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »I know I’ve written before about things that detract from the entire “cycling as commute” concept.
The one that occurred to me today – the entire way, irrelevant of which direction I was actually travelling in- was that Headwinds are an utter fucker. And they hate cyclists.
It’s one of those things that you just don’t need to worry about when you’re in a car. Travelling into the wind isn’t an issue – you might need to put your foot a tiny bit harder on the accelerator, but that’s it. However, when you’re riding a bike that headwind is there, and on occasion it’s enough to almost stop you dead.
Today’s journey to work has been of particular note. No matter what direction I was travelling in, even as I turned a corner, I was still heading into the wind. I’m knackered – and I’m willing to bet that it’ll be the same on the way home, even though I’ll be going in the opposite direction.
Giving Up
Posted: Tue 31 May, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »“Tobacco is the second major cause of death in the world. It is currently responsible for the death of one in ten adults worldwide (about 5 million deaths each year). If current smoking patterns continue, it will cause some 10 million deaths each year by 2020. Half the people that smoke today  that is about 650 million people  will eventually be killed by tobacco.”
Help – For a life without tobacco
Flat
Posted: Mon 30 May, 2005 Filed under: General, Health Leave a comment »I don’t know why, but today I just feel flat. Well, flat out exhausted, to be exact. I don’t want to be feeling like this, because I know there’s a whole bundle of things I could/should be doing. But I just can’t break through the knackered feeling in order to build up the energy/ enthusiasm that’ll let me do anything.
All very odd. And not very pleasant. Not my normal type of mindset at all. But it’s actually been tempting to just go back to bed and lie down for a while. Thing is, last time I did that I didn’t wake up for eighteen hours, which is something I’d rather miss, if possible.
Ah well, I’m sure I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.
Rain
Posted: Tue 24 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Travel 3 Comments »It’s pissing it down this morning, so I opted out of fitness and went instead for a lift in to the station. Which is all well and good, except that – like a twunt – I forgot that at the other end I’ve still got to get to the office.
So while it’s nice to be semi-dry when I get to the station, and while I don’t get soaked by road-rain stuff on the way in, I do spend longer in the rain.
Arses.
Pedestrian
Posted: Mon 23 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Of course, when cycling to work, it’s not just cars you’ve got to watch out for. Sometimes it’s the bloody pedestrians too.
One section of my journey is on a dual-purpose path. One half is for cycles, one half is for pedestrians. The parts are clearly delineated by a thick white line, and the classic “cycle” icon on every junction, and at regular intervals. It’s pretty hard (I’d have thought) to not notice that it’s a cycle-path.
Today all of these clues had obviously bypassed one moron person. He saw that the pelican crossing fifty yards ahead had changed to allow pedestrians across, and obviously assumed that this meant he could simply dash across the road, because everyone would be stopped. Twat.
He didn’t look behind him, just turned and walked. Straight onto the cycle-lane. With guess who coming towards him at – admittedly – a fair rate of knots. Luckily my reactions aren’t bad, so I could move out to get round the fuckhead. But he still then tried calling me a twat. For riding on the cycle-path, completely safely. Hey, if I’d collided with the knob, I’d have allowed that I was perhaps not riding safely. But I was – and I avoided the cocksucker.
So I stopped and pointed out that perhaps he should pay a bit more attention – I wasn’t the first cyclist to have gone past him, I’d seen two others doing so, so it’s not like he “didn’t know” it was a cycle-path. Conveniently this also meant he missed his opportunity to cross the road, and had to wait at the pelican crossing.
Be still, my bleeding heart.
Knackered
Posted: Sun 22 May, 2005 Filed under: Domestic, General, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »I have to say, tonight, I’m shattered.
Another ton of gravel has been deposited on the garden, and we’ve also removed a full skips-worth of earth in the process of remodelling what we’ve got. So between the two of us, we’ve probably lifted/wheelbarrowed/hauled/skipped between three and four tons of stuff this weekend.
My spine is complaining loudly, as are my arms. Tomorrow I’m back at work for a rest.
In other news, I’ve just turned down an interview tomorrow – having looked at it sensibly, forking out £15-ish per day on travel and taking 90 minutesish each way (assuming the trains run on time) is not what I moved down here for. I’m sure other stuff will come up soon enough, after all.
In other other news, we’ve started thinking about future directions, what we want to do with our lives, and where, and why. It’s not going to really start happening for at least a year yet, as Herself has a Masters to do, but all the same, we’ve got some ideas, and it’s time to start sketching them out into some kind of idea/plan/scheme. Should be interesting.
But for now, I’m off to collapse in bed. See you all tomorrow.
Dental
Posted: Fri 20 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Sweary 16 Comments »Ah good, I hear you cry, another post about dentists. Trust me, it ain’t good.
I’ve just been to my final dentists appointment for the time being, and all I can constructively say at the end of it is that all dentists are cunts. No two ways about it. If they weren’t all sadistic bastards, there would be at least some movement to progress dental equipment in the same way that most other medical systems have improved over the last fourty fucking years.
But no, they still use the same dirty great sodding needle for anaesthetic, the same manky noisy bastard drills, the same little steel picks that slip into gum tissue, everything. So far as I can tell, sod all’s changed in the time I’ve been going to dentists. Ergo they’re sadistic bastards who enjoy doing this shit. Let’s face it, who in their right mind says “Yeah, when I grow up I want to be a dentist.”?
Today’s joyous visit included the epic highlight of an anaesthetic needle in my gum. Not the lip, not the cheek, the fucking gum. Right at the front. And the sod got the place wrong, so I also had anaesthetic fluid run up my sinus into my nose cavity. I can smell the fucking stuff. I can’t feel my nose at all, but I can still smell bastard anaesthetic.
The other jab went into my cheek. Fair enough. It still hurt, but it’s nowt compared to a gum-jab, I can tell you. And the best bit of that one was that it didn’t sodding work. Not a jot. I’m going to get all my normal side-effects from the anaesthetic (flu-like joint pain, and a head that feels like it’s been whacked by a sledgehammer covered in velvet) without the benefit of having it had kill any fucking pain at all.
In the end we went ahead with the second filling without pissing about with any more anaesthetic. It was far easier to do it that way, and only actually hurt when the tosser slipped with his little steel pick. Cunt.
Medical science has come ahead in leaps and bounds over the last half century. Dental science has stayed where it was. And because of that, I can only reiterate, all dentists are sadistic motherfuckers.
Work vs. Rest
Posted: Wed 11 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Travel Leave a comment »One interesting thing I’ve found during the time I’ve been cycling to work recently is that progress is more measurable on a Monday.
I think that cycling all week, it’s best to have a couple of days off at the weekend. This seems to give the muscles time to recover a bit, but also to build up – I know it was always said that in gym workouts etc., it was better to work out every other day, for a similar reason.
All the same, it’s interesting to see how much my fitness levels have improved already – the parts that were knackering me in the first week are now fairly easily surmountable. Within a week or so, I’ll probably be only using the train one way to work, and cycling the full distance home. That’s the plan, anyway – just to see how I do and so on.
I’m enjoying the ride, in general. There’s far too many idiots on the roads now, but that’s part of the process. It’s still a good feeling to have completed the journey, and it’s also pretty fun and exhilarating in pieces to just get it right and do the ride smoothly without being prone to too many unnecessary risks…
Ouchy
Posted: Mon 9 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »After the exertions of Saturday in the garden, I’m beginning to wonder if I didn’t do my legs a fair amount of semi-damage. A lot of this is because of the amount of shovelling and lifting that was being done, and because I knew my back was dodgy anyway, I did a lot of bending from the legs instead.
Yesterday in particular, all the muscles at the back of my legs – calf, knee tendons, and upper thigh – were sore. There’s a comedian who says “You always know when you’re getting older, because you start making noises when you sit down or stand up”. Yesterday that was me. It’s better today, but it’s still sore when doing such strenuous exercise as walking.
I’m sure it’ll improve, but it has to be said that right now I’m really not looking forward to the cycling parts of getting home after work…
Too much information
Posted: Fri 6 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »You know, there’s one thing that no-one ever mentions when it comes to things like commuting to work by bike. Well, I’m sure there’s plenty of things that no-one ever mentions, the same way I’m certain that there’s stuff most cyclists mention when it comes to travelling on roads. Fucking idiots in 4×4 vehicles, for example.
But I digress. In this instance I’m going to mention something that I’ve never heard anyone else whittle on about.
It’s not an easy subject, and some people will just think “Ick”. Indeed, on some occasions even I think “Ick”. But it’s a fact of life – when you’ve been cycling for a couple of miles, and it’s warm – even worse, when it’s warm but rainy/windy, so there’s also a fleece jacket of some description added into the equation. I’m sure I’m not the only one to have noticed the manifestation of : Sweaty Crevice.
No more information need be disseminated. I’m sure you can all work out what I’m referring to. It’s not pleasant.
Be Afraid
Posted: Tue 3 May, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts 3 Comments »One thing that has happened as a result of the visit to Center Parcs is that my interest in archery has resurfaced. So I’ve spent a bit of time looking for local archery clubs and the like, and I think I’ve found a couple that I might sound out a bit.
The down side of all this is that – yes – I need a new bow. And that could be very dangerous. Herself suggested I should perhaps look on Ebay – something I’ve avoided doing ’til now. I know what I’m like, and registering with Ebay could end up being a very expensive proposition. Mind you, with luck it might be a bit less expensive than going to Quicks down in Portsmouth, who do have some excellent stuff. But chuff, is it expensive.
Anyway – it’s looking more and more like I’ll be back into archery properly by the end of the year. And I can’t wait.
Weight Loss – continued
Posted: Fri 29 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions 2 Comments »It’s been a while since I last wrote about the weight loss.
It’s frustrating, but it’s been a slow process. I thought I’d be losing it a lot quicker than I am – but at least it’s still going in a downward direction. I just wish the fucker’d fall off faster. Still, maybe if it comes off slowely it’ll stay off. Or somesuch garbage. We’ll see.
Anyway, as of last Sunday, I’m 19st 10lb. I’ve lost a full stone this year, and it’s stayed off. I still want to lose more – and I think that with the cycling and the more sensible diet (by which I mean “the stuff I eat” not whether it’s Weightwatchers, Atkins, HighGI, F-Plan or whatever) it’s going to keep coming off. With more exercise in the lifestyle too – and a fair amount of gardening and dog-walking into the bargain – I’m still optimistic about losing the weight, and gaining the target weights I want to. I’m not demoralised – well, not too much – and I still want to keep on with this plan.
We’ll just have to see where I end up.
Great North Run
Posted: Tue 26 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts, Travel 5 Comments »Flippin’ ‘eck, one of my friends (I’d say she’s insane, but hey, horses for courses) has managed to get herself on a team who are doing the Great North Run on 18th September. Utter madness.
Still, we’ll be going up there to add to the (im)moral support and so on, so it should be quite fun. I’ve never been to a marathon-type event before, so I’m quite looking forward to it.
Bike Routes
Posted: Fri 22 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, Travel, Weirdness 5 Comments »
Over the last week, it’s occurred to me that the majority of bike routes (or cycle paths) in this area are, frankly, shite.
There’s one just round the corner from the house which is supposed to allow cyclists to avoid the chicane “road calming” methodology. That’d be great, except there’s some silly old bastard (not ageist, he’s about 70, and definitely a silly bastard) who parks his fucking metro right in the cycle-path. I’m considering talking to the local plod and seeing if they can do something about it. The alternative is writing up a couple of A4 sheets with “Thanks for parking like a cunt”, and supergluing them to his windscreen. That’ll learn him.
Going through Bracknell you get to see subways that bikes aren’t allowed through. You also get to see “cycle paths” that have full-height kerbstones at every junction, so you only use ’em at risk of buckling the bike wheels. There’s even junctions on the cycle paths where to turn left you have to bounce up a full-height kerb.
It’s actually kind of interesting too to see how drivers attitudes have changed. In fairness, a lot of the time drivers are now far more aware of cyclists, and some even let you out when the alternative is to face-plant a parked car. But most of them appear to see cyclists, then ignore them utterly. Leaving the office at half-five is as close to “dicing with death” as I’ve been in a while. There’s no chance – the drivers all rub against the kerb, and it’s nose to tail. The “safest” place is to ride down the middle of the bloody road. Or walk. Which kind of defeats the theory of cycling.
Pedestrian
Posted: Wed 20 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »After the rest of today’s activities, I decided I couldn’t be arsed to use the bike to get to work this afternoon, so I walked instead. Not the entire distance, just to the train station, then from train-station to office. And, of course, the same on the way back.
It’s not going to be a common-place “can’t be arsed” attitude, but today I just felt I’d had enough of road-users for some reason.
Scientific Study
Posted: Tue 19 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, News 6 Comments »Well, another set of scientific study results get filed under “Sherlock, Shit, No.”. According to researchers at the University of Bristol, children in affluent families grow up taller and thinner than those in less well-off families. No, really? What a shocker.
And of course there’s no correlation between an affluent family, and not having to buy “value” food items. No sir. None at all.
Ouchy
Posted: Tue 19 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions 3 Comments »Well, the ride home only took about 50 minutes. But shite I was knackered at the end of it. Still, I’ve proved I can do it now.
However, this morning all I can say is “Ow!”. There’s a couple of places where the saddle contacts with my body – no, not those bits – but bloody close – which hurt like a bastard. I knew they would, but still, Jesus Christ.
So today I’ve wimped out a bit, and rather than doing the full sixish miles each way, I’ve cheated and ridden to the train-station, used the train, then from trainstation to work. It’s still about two miles all told each way, but as Herself said last night, now I’ve proved to myself I can do it, and I’ve got a goal, I should perhaps take it a little bit easier than doing the full distance every day right from the start.
So yeah, I’m going to keep on doing it – but maybe just a little bit more sensibly than I did yesterday.
Oh, and yes, Anni, in relation to your comment, I was way optimistic on my timings. I know, I know. Definite faults in the calculations.
Biking
Posted: Mon 18 April, 2005 Filed under: Health, News 2 Comments »Maybe it’s just something that’s on my mind today, so I’m noticing it more, but it’s interesting to see that Transport For London has launched a series of TV ads to promote bike usage, and a school in North Yorkshire is encouraging children to cycle to school by giving them a bacon sandwich when they get there. Possibly not the greatest way to encourage weight-loss – but I can see the motivation.
After all, I’d have killed for a bacon sarnie when I got in this morning.
Feeling Better
Posted: Thu 14 April, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Well, yesterday was grotty. I still don’t know why, but dental anaesthetic simply flattens me. My joints end up with the kind of aches one normally associates with a dollop of ‘flu – although thankfully not this one – and I’m just groggy, grouchy, and flat for about 24 hours.
The anaesthetic itself wears off really quickly – within two hours I was completely un-numbed (if that’s a word) and back to ‘normal’,or at least as close to it as I ever get. But the after-effects hit me like a hammer, and last bloody ages.
Surprisingly, my jaw doesn’t feel too bad at all today. Yesterday it felt like I’d been kicked by a horse, but today while there’s a mild ache, it’s not bad at all – particularly considering the size of the bloody tooth they pulled out. (Literally bloody, by the way – fucker took ages to stop, too). I’ve not even bothered with any paracetamol today.
In fact, the worst bit now is the antiseptic padding they put in – I keep getting little tastes of something TCP-esque. Not nice.
Blah.
Posted: Wed 13 April, 2005 Filed under: Health 2 Comments »Ah joy, a visit to the dentist first thing in the morning. Even better, an extraction. As readers will recall from about eighteen months ago, my body doesn’t like the anaesthetic that dentists use, and processes it really quickly.
Six – yeah, count ’em, fucking six – jabs of anaesthetic later, I’m done. I had so much painkiller in my face that it finally went numb from ear down through lower jaw and across to the other side. My mouth feels like I’ve been punched. And the paracetamol hasn’t kicked in yet.
Blah.
Blood Test
Posted: Wed 6 April, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Today’s the day of my blood test. I have no idea when I’ll get the results, but will hopefully know once I’ve been.
I’m not really looking forward to this test, but well, it’ll (hopefully) answer some questions. We’ll see, though.
UPDATED : All went well with the test. Now it’s just another week to wait before getting the results. *sigh*
Weight Loss
Posted: Sat 26 March, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions, Thoughts 3 Comments »One of my semi-resolutions that didn’t really get listed was the intention to lose some weight. At the start of this year I was at 21 stone (133Kg, for the metric among us) which really was too much, even for my height/frame.
So we started off on the weight-loss plan, aided and abetted by WeightWatchers, and a plan to go to the gym more. The gym’s happening, and I’m getting back into enjoying going, and there’s also the plan to buy a bike, although I’ve been whittling on about that one for a while now, so don’t hold your breath.
However, the weight hasn’t really come off the way I expected it to. Yeah, I’ve lost a stone, but that’s not really a lot, all things considered, for three month’s work. I’d wanted to lose more than that in this time. Don’t get me wrong, my body shape has changed, and I’ve lost an amount of fat, but the weight hasn’t changed as much as I’d expected hoped. I suspect that some of it has changed to muscle – which, in true Sod’s Law style, weighs more than fat, of course – or maybe I’ve just redistributed my lard a bit.
I’m not going to give up though – I still want to lose more, and there’s a few more ways I can think of to do it, but we’ll just have to see how it all works out, I suppose.
Nosmo King
Posted: Wed 16 March, 2005 Filed under: D4D™, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Poo, I missed out on No Smoking Day. I saw a piece of guff about it yesterday, and was thinking “Oooh, nice title-bar image for d4d™, you know, one with loads of cigarette brands on it”. Maybe I’ll just leave it ’til next year – it gives me some time to knock the image together, anyway.
NHS
Posted: Tue 15 March, 2005 Filed under: Health 2 Comments »A couple of weeks back, I went to the local GP to sign up and sort out my basic details. At the time I also said I’d like to see a doctor about getting my thyroid function tested, as there’s a family history of it, blah, blah, showing some signs of it being a factor, blah blah.
I finally got to see the doctor this morning, and all went well. Ish. According to him, there’s no signs of thyroid mis-function (or whatever the word is), the patches of flaky skin around my eyebrows etc. aren’t really flaky, I’m not excessively warm (considering my reputation as a walking furnace, I raised my – flaky – eyebrows at that one) and that really I should be working harder to lose weight, not laying it at the door of thyroid malfunction.
Again, we’ll exclude the roughly 8,000 paces I do per day, the regular gym visits, and the Weightwatchers.
Anyway, I’m now booked for another visit to the doctors on 6th April for a blood test. Third time lucky, and all that cobblers.
Snoozy
Posted: Mon 14 March, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I went down with a bit of a bug. Not a huge nasty type flu or anything, but primarily it was down to aching joints and a throat that felt like someone had gone at it with sandpaper.
I’m not the sort of person who exaggerates how bad their feeling, I don’t do the “cold = flu, flu = pneumonia” type thing at all. However, what really pointed out to both me and Herself that I was feeling cack was that I went “for a lie down” at 4pm on Saturday, and woke up at 8am on Sunday.
So, yes, 16ish hours of sleep. I feel much better for it, and generally a bit less like Death Warmed Up, but at the same time it really doesn’t feel like I had much of a weekend…
GP 2
Posted: Tue 1 March, 2005 Filed under: General, Health 5 Comments »Well, the visit to the doctors (well, practice nurse, as it turned out) went fine. Having pissed in a bottle, they seemed to do absolutely sod-all with it. Mind you, can’t really blame ’em, can you? I guess it’s just for their amusement “You think you’re so special, yet we made you piss on your fingers this morning. Ha!”
But blood-pressure’s fine ( 131 / 80 , if that means anything to anyone ), and there doesn’t seem to be anything else to worry about. I’ve got to make a proper doctor’s appointment in order to get thyroid levels etc. checked, so that appointment’s been made for a couple of week’s time. Oh goody.
GP
Posted: Mon 28 February, 2005 Filed under: General, Health Leave a comment »Tomorrow, for the first proper time in about four years, I’m going to be visiting my local doctor. Not for anything specific per se, but mainly in order to get myself registered and a basic check to ensure that I’m not dying of anything just yet.
One thing I am intending to get tested is my thyroid function. My father certainly has an underactive thyroid, and we’re about 95&percent; certain my grandfather had the same thing, so the odds are that it’s going to be relevant to me too. It would also go a fair way to explaining certain things about me, such as (to a degree) body shape, and the unwillingness of my body to lose weight in the way it should.
I don’t particularly like GPs, and tend not to visit them unless it’s important. This initial visit doesn’t really come under “important” for me, but I know it needs to be done at some point. In general though, I’m the direct opposite of the people who dial 999 because they’ve got a headache, in that I generally would rather GPs saw me (or indeed anyone else) for a valid reason, rather than from an acute attack of hypochondria.
So anyway, I’ll be there tomorrow morning. It’s playing a bit on my mind at the moment, even though I’m fairly certain there’s nothing wrong with me generally – but it’ll be good to get this thyroid question out of the way, all the same.
Gymmage (again)
Posted: Fri 18 February, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions, Thoughts 4 Comments »After nearly a month of going to the gym, I’ve come to the following conclusions :
- I really hate communal changing rooms. They’re the one place where I actually do feel body-conscious. Maybe in the end I won’t, but for now, yeah, totally.
- Whoever designed the cross-trainer missed out on a satisfying career creating torture devices for S&M people
- The TV screens in gyms are invariably filled with shite. Although at least we don’t have kids programmes like Adrian’s one does.
- My legs are far more developed and muscular than my arms/torso. Not in an unbalanced way, but it’s noticeable.
- Did I mention that cross-trainers are torturous?
Food Stuff
Posted: Wed 16 February, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions 6 Comments »While I am (in general) being pretty good food-wise at the moment, I do still have some thoughts about certain things.
- Following on from a gym session, walking the dog, and generally freezing one’s arse off, the restorative powers of chip butties (or, in this case, chip ‘wrap’s in tortillas) are greatly under-rated. And not excessively fatty.
- No matter how appetising their muffins and cookies look, there’s just something that stops me from buying Otis Spunkmeyer foods. Don’t know what *cough* other than a slightly childish sense of humour, but I just can’t do it.
- Cheese must have addictive qualities. I’ve cut down on my intake of it since moving, and it’s the only thing I crave.
- Hotel Chocolat‘s Chocolate enrobed fruit (particularly the Mangos and Oranges) are truly evil and lovely.
Papal Health
Posted: Thu 3 February, 2005 Filed under: Health, News 3 Comments »Is it just me that’s ever so slightly cynical regarding the true health status of the Pope? (well, I know Herself is saying the same kind of thing, so I know it’s not just me) All the information is coming through the Vatican, the hospital he’s staying in is keeping very quiet, and it all sounds very dodgy indeed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s not a nasty “relapse” over the weekend, or early next week once the potential new Pontiffs have all been notified, and made their way to Rome from wherever they currently are.
But maybe I’m just a cynic…
Gym thoughts
Posted: Wed 2 February, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions Leave a comment »Last night was the first visit proper to the gym, following on from the induction session last week. And my general conclusion is : “Holy shit, I’m out of shape”. 45 minutes of work-out (including a bit of warm-up and cool-down) including 10 minutes on the rowing machine, 10 minutes exercise bike, and 10 minutes on the cross-trainer.
I’m OK on the exercise bike – six miles in ten minutes is OK. The cross-trainer, well, it’ll increase those “steps per day” for sure, and it’s agreed that I’m comfortable for a walking speed of about 120 paces per minute. The rowing machine I currently feel was probably designed by someone with a degree in medieval torture implements. I still feel utterly unco-ordinated on the bloody thing, and really don’t get how it’s supposed to work. Still, practice makes perfect, I figure.
Feeling Putrid
Posted: Mon 31 January, 2005 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Today’s currently not all that good a day. I ended up getting in to work slightly late, mainly due to feeling like shite, but it was my day for the early shift (only by an hour, so it’s no great trauma – and I do get to leave at 4.30 instead of 5.30) so I came in thinking “get this bit out the way, then aim to head home so I can collapse and die for a bit”. Bad, bad, bad idea.
Out of the team of six, three others are already off sick today. So I can’t really head home, short of literally collapsing and dying. Arse.
Ah well, I’m sure I’ll get through it – I’ve managed far, far worse, after all.
Co-proxamol
Posted: Mon 31 January, 2005 Filed under: Health 868 Comments »Interesting to see today that the painkiller co-proxamol is to be scrapped. Apparently it’s been linked with up to 400 deaths per year and a study found it was the second biggest method of drug-related suicide in the UK, accounting for almost one in five deaths.
I’ve used co-proxamol before, and I can see why it’s easy to overdose on, either intentionally or accidentally. It’s a seriously heavy gun in the world of painkillers, and while it’s sad to see something so effective be withdrawn from the market, I can understand the reasons why it’s necessary to do so.
Optical
Posted: Sat 29 January, 2005 Filed under: General, Health Leave a comment »Having signed up with the gym and so on earlier in the week, today was also the day for the sight check-up, as I’ve been hugely slack and not had them tested (Have your eyes ever been checked before? No, they’ve always been brown) in nearly four years.
I’m pleased to say that the prescription has hardly changed. Of course, I’m still what’s technically known as “Blind as a Badger” without them, but with them my sight is OK, and hasn’t changed. So that’s saved me somewhere around £300 straight off this month. Yay!
Gymtastic 2
Posted: Fri 28 January, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions Leave a comment »Actually, the gym was nowhere near as bad as I thought. A blood pressure of 128/88, lung something of 530. Just need to lose weight (No? Really?) and keep going regularly.
Cross-trainers are still some form of medieval torture device, but I think I can get used to them. Exercise bikes are no worries, and the rest? Well, I’m just going to take it all as it comes. But it should all be OK.
Gymtastic
Posted: Thu 27 January, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions Leave a comment »Expect a post saying “Ouch” at some point later (or in the morning, if I can’t be arsed tonight) for tonight is the night of the induction session at the gym.
I haven’t been to a gym in about a year now. I should’ve done, I know, but I haven’t. So this session is going to be interesting. I know the kind of things I’m interested in doing, but we’ll see what they have to say – should be fun, if nowt else.
10,000
Posted: Tue 25 January, 2005 Filed under: B&Q, General, Health, Resolutions 1 Comment »Today, Gordon’s talking about pedometers, and how many steps people walk in a day. As it’s something that’s good to do as part of the healthy thing, I thought I’d have a quick count-up of the main part of my walking each day.
Thanks to the B&Q delivery (still cocked up, but less cocked-up than it was) I was able to count my walk to and from work. just for this post (He lies, in a fit of “look what I do for you people” pique) It works out as roughly 2,100 steps, although I’ll be verifying that tonight. So assuming I walk both to and from work (I do most of the time, but occasionally get a lift from Herself) just the walk nets me approximately 4,000ish paces. Not bad considering that the average is only 3,000 per day, and that doesn’t take into account the walking I do around the house and office, at lunchtime, or when we take Hundus for a walk. So I reckon that on a normal day I probably average about 5,500-6,000steps – possibly more, but I doubt I break the 7,000 on average.
What interested me more was my walking speed – those 2,100 paces took me approximately 20 minutes. That’s 105 steps per minute, or 1.75 per second. Fairly fast, I’d say.
Thoughts on Weight
Posted: Mon 24 January, 2005 Filed under: General, Health 2 Comments »I’ve never been small – I’m 6’4″, and tend to average around 20-21stone. (Gordon wrote some thoughts about this earlier this month) I don’t (normally) see myself as “fat” – I’ve got a 50″ chest, which isn’t fat, it’s bone structure. I know, we’ve all heard the “I’m not fat, I’m big-boned” excuse a thousand times, but at some point it does have some veracity.
I know I need to lose some weight – and, as detailed below, it’s beginning to happen. But when I look at what Weightwatchers recommend as my target weight, I can’t really do anything but laugh.
Start Weight : 20st 10.0lb
10% Goal : 18st 9.0lb
Weight Goal : 11st 9.9lb
11st 10lb?!? Now that’s going to be impressive – losing half my body weight. Meanwhile, back in reality…
Quite honestly, I simply don’t think it’s possible for me to lose that much weight. I’ll be happy with 16 or 17 stone – even that I think only borders on feasible. We’ll see. But eleven stone on a 6’4″ frame with a 50″ chest? It’s not going to happen.
Upgrading Health
Posted: Mon 24 January, 2005 Filed under: General, Health, Resolutions 2 Comments »Since the start of this year, I’ve been working a bit on general health and fitness. The first part of that was to start losing some weight. As of yesterday, I’ve lost nearly a stone in weight in three weeks, which I reckon is pretty good. I’m working on losing it sensibly, rather than any crash-dieting or whatever.
The next part of it starts this week. Over the weekend we joined up with a local gym, and the initiation initial consultation is going to be on Thursday. We may go in the meantime just for a tryout, but having visited it before Christmas I pretty much know what to expect.
There’s still a long way to go – including a visit to the GP, and a thyroid test. (It runs in the family, so it’s best to see how I’m doing on that score) There’s also a plan to buy a bike, which should be interesting as I haven’t ridden one regularly in about eight years.
Still, it’s all working so far, and it’ll be interesting to see how things go.
Changes
Posted: Wed 5 January, 2005 Filed under: Health, Resolutions Leave a comment »The new job is still going well. I think I’ve done more brain-work in the last 48 hours than I did in 18 months in the previous job. The learning curve is somewhere just short of effing vertical, but that suits me just fine. I like being challenged mentally (as opposed to being mentally challenged *Grin*)
Along the way I’m also working on weight loss – we’ve both joined Weightwatchers’ online programme (and I have to say that for a system that’s entire web-based, their website is utterly fucking shite) and that’ll continue to be worked on. It was one of my targets for 2005 anyway, to lose some of my ample bulk, and it’s going to be interesting to see how it works. There’s also a gym membership in the offing, which’ll help too. There’ll be fairly regular updates on that score – not that anyone really cares, but well, what the chuff, it’s going to be interesting to me.
Now I just need to get the move and so on sorted – there’s a lot of stuff around that still to be organised, but with luck I’ll be able to get a lot of that dealt with while I’m up there again this weekend.
But in general, 2005 has started well, and I just hope it’s going to keep on in the same vein…
Don’t expect much today
Posted: Mon 24 March, 2003 Filed under: Health Leave a comment »Well, I’m back. Hadn’t realised they were going to do so much in one 90 minute session. I’ve had
- 9 surgical extractions
- 1 root canal work
and - 13 injections of local anaesthetic.
Needless to say
Unsurprisingly, I feel abysmal.
Thankfully, that’s pretty much the worst of it over with. I knew I needed a lot doing – and in many ways I’m glad that all the really shitty stuff has been done in one day, so I don’t have to go back thinking “I’ve got another day of feeling as shit as I do right now”. But all the same, fuck me, what a morning.