Dieting...

...sucks. Although it does present some good challenges. Like how to make interesting, filling, healthy meals that come in at 400 calories or under. And, as I love baking, how to still be able to make things that can actually be eaten without blowing the calorie budget. I’m currently mulling over how I can still make decent chocolate brownies. Prunes will probably come into it somewhere…

I did it! Sort of

Well, I sort of did it yesterday. Didn’t get very far off the ground, but I did climb part of the way up into a tree. Still, when you haven’t done something for a while, best to start with small steps.

See more progress on: climb a tree

Should you use it?

Let’s suppose you have managed to obtain a PhD/doctorate in some field – let’s say some specialism of chemistry or biology. You’re now not working in that field, or anything related to it – you’re in business software. Do you continue to use the title Dr? Is it misleading to anybody in any way to have that title on your company business cards?

See more progress on: post random thoughts

Things that annoy me.

Petty, but cartons being put in the bin without the air squashed out of them first. It’s just wasted space. And when you only have small bins, and go through a lot of milk cartons in a day, it means the bin is overflowing at the end of the day, and doesn’t need to be.
And the coffee can being left with the lid off.

See more progress on: post random thoughts

Hmm. No.

I don’t think this is going to happen. It’s not just a matter of the hat suiting you, it’s a matter of the rest of your wardrobe looking good with the hat. And my wardrobe is not suited to hats.

See more progress on: find a hat that suits me

Big stuff

Well, the bedroom is finally getting organised. There are now wardrobes in it. This means that instead of all the clothes being vaguely folded up and stuffed on open shelves, they can actually be hung up, or put away in proper drawers. Behind doors, so that even if the contents of the wardrobe are a mess (they won’t be. Honestly!), the room itself shouldn’t be.
Next step: bookcases. Lots and lots of shelves to put the many books I have on. Maybe I’ll even go so far as to alphabetize them…

See more progress on: get my house tidied (and keep it that way)

From the boss!

There was a demo at work to day, for a potential big client. Part of it was showing the software I’ve been working on (as part of a team, but I’m the only one who’s been there since the start).
Anyway, apparently the demo went well, and the head of SoftEng (one of the people involved in the demo – there were a few, all showing different bits of the application) called me up to say, thanks, well done, it’s looking really good, and a lot of that is down to you.
Anything to keep the troops motivated… :-)

See more progress on: believe compliments

Well...

I say worth doing, but only because there isn’t an option between worth doing and not worth doing. I have the domains (both .com and .co.uk) registered, and have them hosted, but I haven’t actually done anything with them yet…

See more progress on: Have my own Domain Name

Oh dear

I seem to have lapsed on this goal. Haven’t been taking any pictures at all recently. Must try harder. I think I’m having the same block as I have on so many other things: if I can’t do it perfectly (in this case, tak a good, interesting picture) don’t do it at all.

Although also, if there’s nothing new to take a picture of, what’s the point taking a picture?

See more progress on: take a photo every day for one year

Pushing myself

When you feel like you’re stuck in a rut, your skills are out of date and you’re close to ‘burnout’ what do you do? Set yourself an impossible goal, of course! In work, I’m stuck on versions of SE and EE that are way old. So I’m aiming for the programmer certification on J2SE 5. If I get that, I’ll decide where to go next.

See more progress on: become Java certified

Better.

Things have been a lot better lately. I’ve been trying to get out of the house for long walks, and that seems to have made a difference. Work is still stressful, but a lot less so, and I seem to be handling it OK. Let’s hope I manage to keep this up.

See more progress on: be less depressed

Getting out

With the arrival of spring, and the clocks changing, it’s staying light a lot later in the evenings now. So this means that instead of it being dark by the time I finish work, there’s enough light left for me to go out and take a decently long walk in the woods. I’ve also been trying to go out at lunchtime – and actually managing it sometimes. And if I do that, I do notice a bit of a difference in the afternoons.

See more progress on: go out of the house once a day

Just for fun

This week, I’m not concentrating on any partcular exercises. I’m just going to pick one or other of the guitars up every day and attempt to play something – anything. Re-familiarise myself with some of those ‘easy’ chords I used to know.

See more progress on: play my guitar more

Why not!

Well, I can’t very well learn poi unless I have some. So I got some (thank you www.oddballs.co.uk). I also picked up a ball to have a go at some contact juggling. Not an acrylic – too expensive and fragile for a beginner! Just a plain white solid ball.
While the contact can be done inside (the ball goes down when it gets dropped, hitting the floor or my foot), the poi will need to be an outside activity – there simply isn’t enough room inside to swing them without hitting something. Luckily the back garden is semi-private, so hopefully I won’t be giving the general population of the town something to talk about.

See more progress on: learn poi

Not scared

I’m not so much scared of driving, as hate it. And a good many of the things I hate about it aren’t going to go away. Some of them are just bad luck, some of them are my own fault, and some of them are just a symptom of the way the world is going.
For example:
Bad luck – coming up behind a cyclist. Normally OK, but it always seems to happen to me on the bendy, twisty parts of the road.
My own fault – I can be a fairly hesitant driver. For example, I won’t overtake something unless I’m certain I’ve got enough room to do so. And I can’t see round corners.
Symptom of the world – the driver behind comes up very, very close, starts gesticulating and flashing, then overtakes both myself and the cyclist. On a corner I couldn’t see round, so how could he?

See more progress on: stop being scared of driving

Not in the near future

This is not going to happen in the near future. I have no idea what such a job would be, or even how to go about looking for it. I have no skills other than those I use in my current job. I’m not even up-to-date enough in those skills to start looking for other jobs in the same field (software development). I am, basically, monoskilled and damn lucky to have the job I do. So I better just stick with it. Face it, any job sucks.

See more progress on: Get a job that I enjoy, am proud of, and is fun

Will I ever?

Well, I’ve got the mark registered, and got the forms to send off with the piece. I just have a couple of problems – I don’t have a piece I feel is good enough to send, and I’m too scared to call the Assay office for help in filling out the forms and the process.
OK, the hallmark is only a mark of the purity of the metal, not the quality of the work, but still. If it’s going to be done, do it on something decent. Maybe one of my chunky square wire bracelets (bad picture of one above)?

See more progress on: see my hallmark on a piece of jewellery

Scales, 10 minutes, 4 days, 4 weeks

I don’t want to create a complete new goal for this, but I do want to record it as a related subgoal.

I will pick up a guitar and practice scales for 10 minutes at least 4 days a week for the next 4 weeks.

At the end of that time I’ll review my progress and either add to or repeat the goal.
I figure 10 minutes should be achievable (was going to be 5, but that’s not really enough time). 4 days a week (Mon, Tue, Thu Fri) because those are the days it’s easiest to do, the guitar just being an arm’s length away from me. Scales, because it’s a basic exercise for flexibility and strength in my fingers.

See more progress on: play my guitar more

Not happening

Still not happening. Other than essential trips (work, groceries, dentist yesterday), I just don’t seem to get out of the house. It’s entirely my own fault; I guess it just can’t be that important to me. After all, it’s scary outside – much safer to stay in the house…
Oh phooey, that’s just silly, and there’s no excuse. I need to get out and get some fresh air every day. Time to keep a log of whether I did or not, and if not what feeble excuse I came up with.

See more progress on: go out of the house once a day

Purplish

Thought it was getting better. Been feeling OK for a while, then things started going downhill yesterday, and today’s been just awful. Feels like a combination of the ‘blues’, the ‘mean reds’ and something else I can’t quite put my finger on. I can’t figure out why it’s happened, I can’t figure out how to snap out of it. But I want to, because I don’t like this person very much.

See more progress on: be less depressed

Yeast free

By Thursday the bread I made on Sunday is usually finished. So to go with that night’s soup I’ll sometime make some soda bread. I’ve got a couple of recipes I use, and last night I tried a new one (from The Bread Book, Sara Lewis).
The recipe was actually for Date & Walnut soda bread. However, having neither dates nor walnuts in my cupboard, I made it without. Needed a little less of the liquid (and I added too much, and had to add more flour), but it seemed to turn out OK. This one had a lot more sugar in it than I’m used to seeing, which gave it a kind of sweet crust. Not unpleasant, and went rather well with the spice soup. One to try again, I think – with variations.

See more progress on: bake really good bread

Physical, not mental.

I currently do Pilates regularly, but the mat class I do is pretty much floor-based, and focusses a lot on ‘core stability’ (which is the whole point of Pilates). I want to try something a bit more ‘active’ and ‘stretchy’, but still with the ‘core stability’ bit. I think yoga seems to fit what I’m after.
Trouble is, I have the impression that there’s a lot of ‘spiritual’ stuff around yoga. I’m not interested in that – it’s purely the physical side I’m interested in. So I need to go find a class that matches what I want.

See more progress on: try yoga