Monday, September 26, 2005

Weight Check

At 19:30 on 30-07-2005 : 14st 1lb, 26.7% BF
At 16:30 on 14-08-2005 : 13st 5lb, 26.3% BF
At 19:30 on 29-08-2005 : 13st 3lb, 25.8% BF
At 17:30 on 12-09-2005 : 13st 0lb, 25.7% BF
At 17:30 on 26-09-2005 : 12st 12lb, 25.0% BF

Still heading in the right direction...

Monday, September 19, 2005

New Toy - Just Browsing

I have been a little dissapointed with the Dimage A200 Camera that I purchased last year. It has all the feature that I wanted, but the lens quality is just not good enough. So, I have been considering changing the camera again.

The shortlist was:
Canon EOS350D & the Nikon D70s - Both in the £600 to £700 region, both with excellent reviews

I am in no hurry however to change, but as I was passing Jessops today (With time to kill) I decided to go in and have a look at them. The guy behind the counter was excellent, getting all the camera's, lenses, memory cards etc ot, showing me A4 prints taken from both models...
My personal conclusion was that the 350 felt cheap and the build quality did not seem up to the standard of a £600 camera, but the NIkon, although fantastic, was just a little too large and heavy.
The compromise seems to be the Nikon D50, several £100 cheaper, smaller, lighter, few controls to hand (I considered that to be a good point!), but with a significantly 'shorter' zoon lens as standard (18 - 55 on the D50, 18 to 70 on the D70) However the difference in price would allow me to get an additional 55 to 200 lens, a large memory card, and still be within budget.
The combined range of 18 to 200 is 35mm Equiv to 28 - 300.

The 'trade in' price offered by the shop for my A200 was a rather pathetic £125 - they are selling 2nd hand on Ebay for approx £300!!

Hmmmm, maybe soon....

New Toy - Purchased

Well, it has been a while since I last treated myself to a "Boy's Toy"...

Today I was off work, and wandering around the Merry Hill Centre, when I was draw towards "Game"... Initially I was going to walk past, but then I saw MotoGP 3 for the XBox running behind the counter - It looked really good, especially after watching the real MotoGP on TV yesterday afternoon... Whilst I was looking at the XBOX games, I moved towards the PSP games... They have a couple of really good racing games...

Long Story - Short

I am now the proud owner of a nice shiny new Play Station Portable, complete with 1 GB memory card, latest firmware, screen protector, soft carry case, USB lead, UDM & Memory card case, carry bag and three games:
Burnout Legends
Midnight Club 3: DUB edition &
TOCA Race Driver 2

Friday, September 16, 2005

Been golfing today...

Indoors at LivingGolf...

After 10 minutes on the virtual "Driving Range", I played 18 holes at 'The Belfry'. To be honest, I was rubbish... but I did enjoy myself.
What was my score I hear you cry... well it was not impressive... 138!! Even accounting for my 28 handicap that's still in the region of 30 over!

Ah well, I will be better next time.

Finally..

discovered how to remove the Hard Drive from the Acer Laptop... It was getting worse: 3 hours to format a 10 GB partition with FAT32!!

I have now scrapped the Travelstar 'IC25N040ATMR04' and ordered a TOSHIBA 'MK4026GAX'. This new drive has a 8 MB buffer and a 5400 spin speed, so should be quite a bit quicker than the old one...

Monday, September 12, 2005

Weight Check

At 16:30 on 14-08-2005 : 13st 5lb, 26.3% BF
At 19:30 on 29-08-2005 : 13st 3lb, 25.8% BF
At 17:30 on 12-09-2005 : 13st 0lb, 25.7% BF

Still heading in the right direction...

Been a strange week...

Not much going on:
Back at work, but waiting for it to be home time as soon as I got there!
Evening watching TV, because I couldn't be bothered to do anything else.

On the Plus Side:
Amy has started her new school, and is really enjoying it.
England won the Ashes back from the Aussies
Had a second golf lesson, and it seems to be starting to come together a little bit

On the Negative Side:
I think my laptop is sick: Looks to be a failed hard Drive, but it is not easy to locate the HD to change it... Took just about every screw out of the case, and still it won't come apart.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

Post Holiday Blues?

I know we were only away for a couple of days, but I am feeling really miffed at being back, I just can't work up any enthusiasm for anything.

As expected, I didn't get up in time to go to the bike training, so that was a waste of £90, I intended to go to the gym this morning... got up in plenty of time, but just could not be bothered, and I *so* don't want to go back to work on Monday.

We have already started to discuss next years holiday, and an appartment in Turkey is amongst the current favourites, as All I want from a summer holiday at present is Rest, Relaxation, Sun and a pool to keep the kids from under my feet whilst I read a book or two, and chill with my MP3 player...

I have, however, finished the book I started on Wednesday - Night Watch - and jolly good it was too. I have also taken delivery of my external Hard Drive, and have backed up my Music, Pictures and Document partitions. It comes with some software to enable 'One Touch Backup' from the button on the front of the drive, but I have chosen not to install that. Instead I have created three partitions to mirror those I am backing up, and have used the "SyncToy" power toy from Microsoft to keep both sets in Sync..

Friday, September 02, 2005

Back Home...

had a really great few days away,

The journey down to Torquay was fine, hardly any traffic on the motorway.
The Hotel was really nice, the outdoor (heated) pool kept the kids occupied for hours on end.
The food was generally great, and I am not expecting to loose much weight this time!
Weather was generally good
Started "Night Watch" by Terry Pratchett, and have got over half way thro' it already

We visited Cockington Village today, before stopping off at Weston-Super-Mare on the way back where we had a very nice Chinese take-away with Barry & Carol.

The journey back was fine, although starting out on a 2 hour journey at 9:00 PM on a full stomach meant that a can of red-bull and a strong cup of cofee were required to maintain my alertness.
The downside of that, is that it is now well past midnight, and I am still not ready to go to bed... I am supposed to be up at 07:00 tommorow (well actually today now) to ride to leicester for a track based riding course at 08:30. I think I am going to feel *way* too tired to be able to ride safely at speed for the best part of a day, and may just not bother to go...

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Happy Birthday to me...

Well, today I am 44...

Yes, not too long ago, I thought that 44 was ancient but I don't feel any older today than when I was 24.

Mostly "Cash in Cards" this year, but Amanda is taking me to Torquay for three days, and I have had two actual presents:
An "American Chopper" : A scale model of the "Black Widow" bike, off the kids and a 'Chipper Net' from Jackie, Pete and Matt, so I can practice more golf shots in the garden. I almost bought one of those nets yesterday, but decided at the last second that I best not, at least not before my birthday - Wow I am getting telepathetic in my old age!

Finally for today, checked my weight again last night:
At 16:30 on 14-08-2005 : 13st 5lb, 26.3% BF
At 19:30 on 29-08-2005 : 13st 3lb, 25.8% BF

So another 2lbs lost, and another 0.5% BF... still going the right way, and at a speed that I am happy with... New aim, to be below 12st 7lb and in the 24.x% BF range by Christmas

Monday, August 29, 2005

Cool Website for Music Lovers

http://www.pandora.com/

Just tell it the name of an artist you like, and it will create a personal 'Station" containing tracks from a variety of artists with a similar "feel". Be prepared for some (pleasant) surprises.

You can try it out for free - for 10 hours - after that it is a subscription service... $36 for a year. You do need broadband tho' as it's a 128 kbps audio stream. I still have a few hours left to make up my mind with regard to taking out the subscription

It's back

On Thursday, Sky One, 20:00 - "Brainiac - Science Abuse" Series 3

The show that takes a chemistry PHD, and uses it to blow up Caravans!!

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Been a strange week...

Not been blogging for a few days, for a number of reasons...

Started two weeks leave, so the daily routine has been disrupted...
House Guests for 3 days, who use the spare room, which is where the PC is, so limited access to internet...
Been out and about, due to 1 & 2 above, so little time at home...

On top of that, we have had a problem with Amanda's mom this week, who is getting *way* to close to a nervous breakdown... Mike is still stable, but seriously unwell, but Carol is showing signs of cracking under the strain of it all.

OK, highlights of what we have been doing this week...

Monday: Golf Lesson
Alex and I have had our first lesson with the Pro at Halesowen Golf Club. So far we have just worked on the Grip and the Swing, and as a result, neither of us can actually hit a ball straight anymore!! We have another 4 lessons booked for September, so we are hoping that it all starts to come together by then!

Tuesday: Garage Clearance
Spent the morning at Carol's... Cleared the garage out, put it back tidy, and took two VERY LARGE loads of rubbish to the tip!

Wednesday: Gave Blood
1st time in over 12 months, due to having the tattoo done last year, but back on track now at 44 times and counting.
Evesham Garden Centre... Three new house plants, all three are varietys of "Dracaena - Dragon Plant"

Thursday: Stratford-upon-Avon
Some very nice new Mark Spains were seen in the "Castle Gallery", but I resisted temptation, and did not buy one, but I did get a nice polo neck jumper for £6 (RRP £20) from "Soccer World" in there closing down sale.

Saturday: Misc
Visit my Mother, cut the front lawn, tidy the garage, wash the bike, trim the front hedge, watch the cricket, find problem with computer!!
Yep, the boot drive on my main PC seems to be a bit delicate at present, some partition swapping and a re-written MBR seems to have stabilised things, but it has brought home how poor my backup strategy is... *most* of my music is also on my Iriver, but a don't have copies of any of my general data, OR my photos...

Sunday: Order External HDD
I have just ordered a Freecom FHD-3 250GB 7200rpm External USB 2.0 Hard Drive from Amazon for £145 inc VAT and delivery



Saturday, August 20, 2005

The Corrs - Home - September 26th 2005

From "www.thecorrswebsite.com"
One year after their last studio album, The Corrs are returning full circle with their latest album Home, to be released by Atlantic Records on September 26th.

As the title suggests, The Corrs are back to fond beginnings, defining a journey that began 15 years ago. It is a record that is held close to the bands’ hearts, compiled through a songbook of the late Jean Corr, and brought to life by the bands’ urge to bring new interpretations to traditional Irish songs.

It was Caroline Corr who first suggested a return to traditional form, since “everywhere we go in the world we are asked to do more Irish music.” Featuring the BBC Radio 2 Concert Orchestra and working with orchestral arranger Fiachra Trench and producer Mitchell Froom, who has worked with The Corrs on three previous albums, the band set out to create an eclectic mixture of songs and instrumental airs.

Recorded over six months, the making of the album became a journey in uniting both old and new. Traditional Irish songs were carefully chosen, and set to new arrangements, whilst remaining true and faithful to the core emotion of the originals. The mixture of traditional and contemporary, is one that is truly celebrated throughout Home. Whereas the predominately Irish songs are interpreted in a contemporary way, other songs such as ‘Heart Like A Wheel’, originally written by Anna McGarrigle, remain strongly Irish in sound and spirit. This spirit shines through in tracks such as ‘Buachaill On Eirne’ which is one of two tracks sung in Gaelic; a true testament to the integrity of this album, and its desire to bring together Ireland’s past, present and future.

The full tracklisting is as follows: My Lagan Love / Spancill Hill / Peggy Gordon / Black Is The Colour / Heart Like A Wheel / Buachaill On Eirne / Old Hag / Moorlough Shore / Old Town / Dimming Of The Day / Brid Og Ni Mhaille / Haste To The Wedding / Return To Fingall


I have pre-ordered my copy from www.play.com for £8.99

Monday, August 15, 2005

New Scales: New Starting weight

Last week, we replaced the bathroom scales, the new ones are electronic and calculate Body Fat %

So, as I am a firm believer in not comparing reading between two different scales, I shall take yesterdays figures from these new scales as the starting refernce point for any future weight gain/loss:

At 16:30 on 14-08-2005 : 13st 5lb, 26.3% BF (undressed)

Katherine - You were great!

A minor issue with lack of parking at Ragley Hall, but soon solved - even if the guya t the gate had no idea where we could park!

The concert itself was really good, KJ looked amazing, sang really well, and the fireworks were fantastic.

If you get to go to another outdoor concert, what have we learned?
1) Get there early!!
2) Take your own picnic chairs (£3 each to hire!! We sat on the picnic blanket!)
3) Take a flask (£2.50 for a small cup of coffee
4) Even if the BBC say the weather will be fine - Take a brolly!
5) Take a torch

There is a new CD out October 31st - "Living the Dream" - I pre-ordered my copy from Amazon as soon as we got back last night!

Saturday, August 13, 2005

It's been a week...

Since I wrote my note, message in a bottle...

Sorry, just got all Sting on my blog for a moment! Seriously I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged..

Ok what's been happening then,

1) Been ill. Had a temperated and felt really rough for a couple of days. (Wednesday & Thursday)
2) Been to the Balloon Fiesta at Bristol (Friday) - Pictures to follow soon
3) Alex has managed to split his head open by fallingover at full speed in front of his mates push bike! He hs got a lovelly bruise and graze on the side of his face, and 3 sterastrips holding the gash together!
4) Recieved my Beta copy of Windows Vista, running it on the laptop. Not too impressed at this stage, some hardware not fully functiona, and IE7 is not nice! It also seem noticably slower that XP on the same (admittedly fairly low spec PC), and to top it all, the video card in the laptop does not support the advanced renedering on Vista, so I don't get the full visual effect.
5) Had my final weigh-in for the Body Transformation Program. Final results weight is down by 10lbs, waist is down by 4.5 inches, body fat% is down by almost 2%
6) Purchased the first three seasons of ALIAS on DVD
7) Managed to hear the new CD by Charlotte Church - Tissues & Issues; Excellent
8) Man Utd managed to get off to a winning start to the Premiership today with a 2-0 win at Everton
9) Purchased a new Electric Toothbrush (a Sonicare model from Phillips, on the advice of my dentist)
because... finally
10) Had my new tooth fitted. There was no need for a temporary one, and I have the finished article in my mouth NOW! - Picture to follow soon!!

Off to the gym early in the morning, the 6 week program is over, but I want to lose at least another 10 to 15 lbs... and then tommorow evening we are all off to see Katherine Jenkins in concert at Ragley Hall.

Friday, August 05, 2005

Day out at the Safari Park

On Wednesday, we went to the West Midlands Safari Park. A good day was had by all, and I got some reasonable photo's (Having finally remembered to take my camera out with me!)
You can see them here : http://www.redbreva.com/Photography/_PhotoAlbums/WMSP-08-2005/index.html

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Impressions, eBay, Buckets and Choppers

We have started a new working pattern this week, and I now get 1.5 rota days every three weeks. As I had a dentist appointment this morning, I booked 1/2 a days leave, and I get two days off...

So this morning I went to visit the dentist, and he has taken the (hopefully) final impression of my mouth. I have to go back next Wednesday for the fitting of the initial tooth... A final ceramic one is still a about a month away.

From there it was a vist to the post office, I sold three audio books on ebay last night, and then on the the driving range where Alex and I shared a bucket of balls. He is getting about 20 yards, I am getting about 120!

Finally, for now, We are hoping to go the Bristol (Parkland of Ashton Court Estate) on the 12th of this month... There is an "International Balloon Fiesta" on, but the main attraction will be that "American Choppers" will be there! You can even buy your car park ticket online, get access to a closer car park, save money and beat the queues!!