Seeing as how some friends of mine have been/are away Snowboarding I wonder have any of them tried this…

Thanks to Darragh Doyle for sharing

F1 tweets of the week from @redbullf1spy

We’re launching on Wednesday because that’s when the test begins, not because it takes two days to put it together the first time…

…now, fit nosecone A onto chassis B, remembering to use jack C. If nosecone generates lift, assembly has been installed upside down…

The Superbowl ads, some actually inspired me to look up the products, shame the ones that I found interesting are US only either way, I may be starting to loose my ad blindness

And finally, given the week that’s in it, I can’t really neglect to mention George Lee. When the game wasn’t going your way, you picked up the ball and ran away. Thanks for wasting the electorates time, energy and money. There’s a word beginning with C that rhymes with hunt that I think suits you perfectly sir. but on a lighter note…

Thanks to Damien Mulley for sharing.

There may be people reading this that have never met me and think that I’m being ridiculous or sarcastic in my excitement and joy at this moment, but what you don’t know is that only 4 years ago I was super obese (it’s a clinical term, not me trying to make my obesity sound cool), something I’ve only ever talked (in detail) to 3 people about and one of those was my doctor and aside from him, I have never let anyone know how bad it really was. Well here goes nothing.

When I first spoke to my doctor about my weight, he weighed me, I knew it was going to be bad and it was. Was this the heaviest I had ever been, I honestly don’t know, but I’m pretty sure I have been heavier because the largest trouser size I’ve ever worn was 2 inches bigger at the waist than the ones I wore that day.

As we chatted about the different ways to lose weight he was tapping away at his computer and then he stopped, looked me straight in the eye and said the most terrifying words I’ve ever heard “George, I’ve been calculating your BMI, while we’ve been talking and yours is 38.5, you are super obese“.

He proceeded to explain to me what BMI is and what the effects of this could be and the discussion got a lot more intense (I want to thank Dr. Tomaz, for taking the time to explain this in a way that was not judgemental, preachy or condescending, I believe you are the one who got me onto this road, which is saving my life). We discussed every method there is to losing weight, the natural ones (diet and exercise), the medical ones and even the surgical options.

You can find a BMI calculator here, you just need to know your height and weight.

I left his office that day, with a prescription for Reductil (banned for sale in europe this week) and a stronger resolve than I’ve ever had to lose weight. I joined a Gym within 24 hours and over the following month dropped 20lbs. For 3 months I took my medication, went to the gym at least 3 times a week and recorded every calorie that I ate. I dropped a total of 45lbs in those three months.

Then I stopped. I couldn’t handle the stress that the rapid weight loss was causing and I was starting to show signs of depression as a result. After some discussion with my doctor, the decision was made to stop taking reductil, but continue with the diet.

He wanted me to continue the exercise but without reductil my weight loss stopped, reversed and I became frustrated, stopped exercising and I regained about 20lbs weight. From what I’ve read about reductil being banned, weight gain when you stop taking it is one of the reasons it’s been banned, but the main one seems to be that it causes heart attacks and strokes, so please don’t take this as an endorsement in any way and don’t try to source it from some dodgy ‘internet pharmacy’.

Since then, I’ve been watching what I eat but I returned to my sedentary lifestyle. I’ve focused on my diet and while I haven’t cut out any of the foods I love, I have learned to cook most of those dishes myself and with cooking from fresh ingredients when possible I have continued a much healthier path to weight loss. I am sharing these recipes on my new (with a little help from Elly) website NotJunkFood.net at the moment and will continue to do so.

I’ve managed to lose weight slowly but consistently for an extended period of time without adding a large amount of exercise to my lifestyle. It’s been fresh ingredients, portion size, frequency of meals, daily breakfast and drinking cold water that have got me this far.

There is only so much weight loss that can be achieved though diet alone and I fear I’m approaching that point, so I need to exercise more and I hate exercise, I’m not fit. This is going to be difficult for me, to say the least, but it has to happen, it’s going to happen, I am already making this happen.

Beginning today I will walk a mile everyday and keep an eye on things to see how it goes, adding to this meagre amount of exercise as I need to/am able to. My next target is to get myself under 200lbs (round numbers are good goals ), then 183lbs (BMI of 24.9 for me and within the ‘normal’ BMI, just) and my ultimate goal is 170lb. I’m looking forward to that day, it will mean the end of my weight loss and the start of weight maintenance.

The afternoon before my mother died, I promised her I would lose the weight, not for her but for me. I will not let anything stand in the way of me keeping that promise and I will achieve all of these goals before the end of this year. The time has come, this is my personal call to arms, this is my mission, this is my right and this will be done.

Now I want, no, I need to hear from people reading this, Do you need to lose weight? What are your weight loss goals? What have you been doing about them? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? The comment form is below so have your say.

“So where are myself and Elly off to?” I hear you ask. The city of Amsterdam, one of our favourite cities in the world and the place that we got engaged. We’ve been there a good few times over the years and we’ve seen a lot of the museums before. Thankfully there is a (kind of) new one for us to see this time, Hermitage Amsterdam.

I say kind of because The original Hermitage museum is in St. Petersburg. I have always thought that it was in the Kremlin as that’s what our tour guide told us when I was in Moscow in 1990, but maybe the 20 years have taken there toll on my memory more than I thought.

Either way that Museum tour was one of the most amazing of my life, our guide barely stopped the whole tour and I know there was a lot more to see. I could have stared at the Imperial Faberge eggs all day, such amazing pieces of craftsmanship and pure beauty, I cannot describe and no photo I have ever seen can do them justice. But I’m waffling now. In short, I’m giddy with anticipation

I mentioned we’re going to a music festival, Jam in the Dam to be precise. Two concert halls under one roof and a full set from all the bands each night, which is great because if you miss a band one night, you get to see them the next. I’d love to be able to go to all 3 nights but these days I’m grateful to even get 1 night.

There is only one act on the lineup that I’ve heard of before (I will be getting myself upto speed on the rest of the lineup before we head off so expect some post about them as well) but I’ve been a fan of Les Claypool since I first heard Primus play at the battle of the bands in San Dimas, California… oh wait a minute, that was in a movie… Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.

Primus were barely even on screen but the music grabbed me and it’s never let go since, they still sound as fresh as the first time I heard them. Bands come and go and over the years Les has moved on to other projects and I have purchased almost all of his albums since.

If ever there was a band that I would travel through time to hear it would be Primus, even over the chance to be at Woodstock, so there was no way I was going to miss the chance to see Les play, especially since it’s his first European gig since I discovered you could use the internet to keep tabs on your favourite bands.

Unfortunately, I’m going to have to wait until March but in the meantime hears the track that grabbed my attention so fiercely 19 years ago…

Ok then,

New Name, check!
Categories, check!
Tags
New Theme, check!
About page, check!
Contact page, check!
Comment Policy, check!
Links updated, check
Comments, check
Gravatar support, check
Plugins, check
Widgets, check
Full backup, check
Future backups scheduled, check

Great, a new name and a new look, so what next?

Well, I think I’ve posted enough about the workings for now so I better get writing some post’s. I have a few idea’s bouncing round in my head. I’m thinking some posts about TV shows, Music, some gadget reviews (although with cash tight they will be more ‘long term use’ reviews ) and shure what the hell maybe even a few posts on games consoles.

One thing I’m fairly certain of is that I won’t be scheduling weekly features as I have done in the past, I think the (self-induced) pressure to have posts on certain topics every week is part of what stopped me blogging for so long. I know this works for some people but not for me, so posting will probably be erratic and seem a little un-focused for a while, while I find my way.

So, why not grab yourself a cuppa, sit back, relax and get ready for what’s sure to be an “interesting” next few weeks

There are a number of reasons/excuses for this

Not enough time
Nothing that I wanted to write about
General disillusionment with the world
Tired of all the work required to keep WordPress up-to date
Tired of dealing with the random curve-balls that WordPress used to throw my way

I could go on. Long story, short I now have more time on my hands, there are thing’s I want to write about, the world ain’t so bad and WordPress has moved on so it’s now a lot easier to update.

I know this because I’ve spent the last while building a new site around WordPress which launched recently and now that I’ve smacked all the curve-balls out of the park why don’t you pop over to Not Junk Food and see what it’s all about. I’ll be keeping that site focused on my favourite topic, food and the rest of my posting will happen here.

So will I get back to regular posting here, who knows, but I’m going to give this place a bit of a makeover and a tidy up, so expect to see changes shortly.

Also, it came to my attention a while back that Paris Hilton has borrowed my blog title for a perfume so I’ll be changing that as part of the makeover.

Now I’m off to look at new theme’s and plugins.

1. Snagged our future home
2. Discovered an amazing sale in IKEA Belfast
3. Been to IKEA Belfast
4. Bought 2 loads of furniture
5. And last, but by no means least, possibly even most importantly, been to my nephew/godson’s confirmation.

All in all it could be described as a busy, expensive and exceptionally tiring  weekend.

Wow, is it really August since I posted last? Well, seeing as how I know the answer is ‘yes’ that’s a bit of a dumb question really.

Anyhow, how to start back? There is the old reliable ‘what have I been doing?’ format or the ‘ignore it and pretend it never happened?’ format (Well it’s too late for that one now) or how about the ‘come clean with the reason you haven’t been blogging’ format.

Well the last one’s easy, I didn’t feel like it. :p and that’s because a lot has happened in my life since last August. I guess that brings me into the ‘what have I been doing’ format but not for long.

So what have I been doing?

August was spent working, September was spent travelling all over Europe, October was spent visiting mum, November didn’t see an improvement for mum and she passed away peacefully at home on the 11th, December saw a Christmas of adjustment, January until now was in general a bit quiet and mostly about connecting with some old friends online, getting ready for the move into our new home, oh and I went to Creative Camp.

So am I likely to change my posting schedule? Well, let’s just wait and see

I was a huge fan of the old cartoon series when I were a lad, so I really hope this doesn’t suck. I’m still bitter about the whole Sly Stallone, Judge Dredd Fiasco, That could have and should have been a monster franchise.

Seriously, can anyone read that article and tell me how exactly it’s a GPS systems fault that Paula Creely parked her car on a railway crossing between the gates?

What the hell has gone wrong with the world that this girl can misuse a Level crossing and then blame a GPS. Did the GPS tell her to stop in between the gates? was the GPS driving? Is she just stupid? Are the BBC stupid for publishing such a stupid story?

Come on Paula, take some responsibility for your own stupid mistake.

A while back I saw a post on the giz about this device and giggled to myself a little, it did seem like a step in the right direction though as most folks who drive and want to play there tunes from there ipod will want an FM transmitter so coupling it with a breathalyser means you don’t have an excuse for not checking before putting that key in the ignition and heading home cause you’ve got an early Dail session in the morning

But seriously folks, here’s another area where technology could really help. If one of these breathalyser devices was linked to the ignition of your car and you were forced to blow into it before you could start your car, of course if your over the limit your car is immobilised until someone who returns a sufficiently low result takes the test, then at least you’d have to get some sober person to conspire along with your own drunken insanity, and how many people are going to do that for someone?

Maybe these idea’s are a little extreme but they’re both fairer than the current penalty points system, maybe they could be used in conjunction with each other, say you get 6 points for speeding then you have to have the GPS tracker thingy on your car until your points expire, and this is noted on your license so if your stopped at a random checkpoint the garda is notified that you should have this device and can check etc. etc.

Similarly, all convicted drunk drivers would be forced to have the breathalyser ignition system fitted and similar note on there license, in this case I would say permanently. there would still be a need for random checkpoints but it’s gotta be better value for money than having Gardai sitting in hedges?