Run run run as fast as you can.
You all remember that chant kids used to yell out when you were at school, “Run run run as fast as you can you can’t catch me I’m the ginger bread man.”
Well this has nothing to do with gingerbread but a lot to do with running. Lately I’ve been doing 50 metre sprints at the local rugby field. Basically you run as fast as you can until you reach the end.
After having a short break you do it all over again and you repeat this until you’ve run about 1km.
I’ve been working on my recovery times between each set. Hopefully I’ll be able to eventually run a block of 500 meters all together and as recovery times on that become slower I’ll join two together and eventually I’ll surprise myself by running my 2.4km run test in just over 10 minutes.
Wouldn’t that be a nice achievement?
Anzac Day 2013
Don’t give up on your dreams.
ITM V8 Supercars Pukekohe 2013
This weekend I had the awesome experience of attending the ITM V8 Supercars races on a 3 day pass. I’d never been to such an event before mostly because I’m a bit nervous hanging out in big clouds of people.
Saturday we spent the morning in the burning sun watching some of the action out on the track. Sunday we came back just after lunchtime to see the final race.
Playing with new toys while running.
I’ve recently started using a Raspberry Pi that one of my mates acquired as a mobile Linux platform for testing some of my somewhat random location based software.
Here’s how my new toy works:
The Raspberry Pi (RPi) gets the location from the GPS attached to a usb port. This is then coded into a standard string of numbers and sent as a text message to my computer at home, waiting to receive the GPS data.
My web server then reads the encoded number string and decodes it to a decimal location and places a point on the map. Using some of the cool tools that come with google maps you can then join the dots. Each point on the map was a text message that was sent.
It’s not the most optimal solution but it was fun to do.
The science of loosing weight.
I’m proud of myself for reaching an interim weight loss goal. Late last year I reported about the extra weight I’d gained and the bad eating habits that lead me to gain more than I needed. Now I’m happy to report I’ve lost my first block of 5kgs (11.02 lbs). I’m still trying to get down to somewhere between 75kgs and 80kgs so for me, the challenge isn’t over yet.
My biggest change has been my diet. The combination of eating less fast food and ignoring my chocolate cravings has helped a lot. I’ve learned to say “NO” when I visit my mates and they offer cakes, biscuits as snacks. I’ve stopped drinking coffee and tea and started eating breakfast.
Sleep has been a big factor as well. Trying to break the cycle of working until all hours of the night and into the early morning has helped. Routines work well for me.
Hopefully all will continue to go well and by my next weigh in I’ll have improved fitness and motivation. The more results I see the more I want to achieve.
While I’m not in a position to dispense advice I’ll say this: Loosing weight is easy, the hard part is getting out there and doing something about it.
ASB’s Ridiculous Over-The-Counter Fees.
Recently I’ve had a run in with ASB in regards to their fees relating to my account. I’ve known since the first time I got pinged $3 for an over the counter deposit that the fee was there, but I didn’t realise someone else could get the fee generated as well.
I’ve been selling a few things on Trademe lately and unknown to people actually go into the bank to pay money into my account. That simple fact of going into the bank gets me a $3 fee every time. I don’t think this is fair because you can’t control what other people do.
The fee structure is totally ridiculous. If you walked into the bank with someone’s account, you know someone you didn’t like, and went to the counter 3-4 times a day to deposit $1 ASB would ping that customer $3 each time. You could effectively empty a random person’s bank account just by going to different branches and depositing money into their account.
The website does mention over the counter transactions but it does not mention that a third party could effectively do the same.
I’m so angry I’m thinking of changing banks. I’ve been with the asb since I was a kid. My loyally is fast running out.
My Linux Virtual Development Box.
For a long time the only way you could really emerse yourself in the LAMP environment was to install Linux on a computer. But why have a whole computer dedicated to Linux you’re a total n00b like I am. There didn’t seem to be any point having two computers running so I made the switch to running virtual environments.
My Virtual Machine “VM” is running debian and has a whole load of cool things installed that make development easier. I installed Samba, a small program that lets windows talk with Linux. While it’s not the huge undertaking learning how to use it was my next big hurdle.
Search engines and Twitter are both your friend when it comes to using an operating system that requires you to input everything on the command line. Those of you who remember MSDOS 6.22 back in the early 90’s will be familiar with this. Linux is nothing like MSDOS though. It requires a whole load of new learning. Even most of the basic commands are different.
It’s a challenge but I’m picking it up.
Fire burns by Pakuranga Creek.
This afternoon the fire service responded to a scrub fire in Pakuranga Heights. Smoke was seen coming from behind a local house. Ennis Ave was blocked for about an hour while the fire was contained and extinguished.