One of those days...

Today has been one of those days. Now, I'd like to say that I did allow the day to develop, I just don't say, "It's going to be one of those days...", early in the morning 'cos I spilt the coffee. No, don't curse the day!

One of my jobs at Central Hall is to get the talk recorded and get it to the office on Monday; normally this is quite a straightforward task. Well, as straightforward as anything "technical" ever is! I'm also recording a new song and it (was) nearly done. I was given a PC for recording purposes and I prepare the talks on that machine too.

So I import the talk WAV from the H2 (takes ages...) to my Tracktion software as usual and it plays. Once. Then it's silent. I can even see the waveform on the screen but it's making no sound. My song tracks all work fine - on the same screen, on the same software. So I re-import the WAV and again it works once and then goes on strike. OK, restart the PC and begin again with a Normalised (takes absolutely ages on the H2) WAV now and it seems to be better. I chop the track nicely and go for an Export as a WAV as normal. At this point the whole Tracktion screen simply disappears. Uh, this is bad...didn't save the song...hours of work...gone in an instant.

This process of arriving at a point significantly worse off than where I started has taken me until lunchtime.

After huffing and puffing for a bit I resign myself to having to re-record the song (acoustic, bass, vocal, keys, drums...) from scratch and re-do the talk. Humph.

OK, re-restart the PC and...TRACKTION HAS COMPLETELY DISAPPEARED FROM THE COMPUTER AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Now, I can't even re-record the song! Or redo the talk!

So, at the end of this day I have spent quite a lot of energy getting myself to a point some distance behind where I was when I started.

Here he is...

Careful, careful...

Time, I think, for another delve into the world of RoSPA. In keeping with my current food OBSESSION let's see how many people injured themselves in a food related way.

OK, on the hassandlass website I'm looking at "Breadbin". Hmmm, can't really see how you hurt yourself here but, hold on a sec, yep, I have the results:
In 2000 there were 71 "Victims" of "Breadbin", in 2001 there were 36 and in 2002 there were 185. BREADBIN?? 185 in 2002 means one person every other day!!

Right, let's check out, hmmmm, "Coffee Grinder". Results:
In 2000 there were none, in 2001 there were 18 and in 2002 none again. That is a BIG peak there in 2002. I can only think that either i) there was a Government awareness campaign after the 2001 epidemic vis a vis the dangers of grinding coffee or ii) everyone started drinking instant (or "Warm Drink of Weetabix" as I call it...). Interesting that the Breadbin is seriously more dangerous than the Coffee Grinder. Thinking about a sandwich or a cuppa? Go for the brew, seriously, your life could depend on it.

Last one. Let's choose, "Serving Tray". What do you reckon? How does this innocent looking piece of equipment compare with the near lethal "Breadbin" and the surprisingly harmless "Coffee Grinder"? Folks, I have to tell you that the humble Serving Tray is a DEATH TRAP!! In 2000 there were 1,419 Victims, in 2001 1,464 and in 2002 1,599! (On the increase, you notice?) HOW??

So, in summary, using advanced techniques of statistical analysis I calculate the following:

a) A Serving Tray is 2.6 times as dangerous as a Breadbin,
b) A Breadbin is 16.2 times as dangerous as a Coffee Grinder, and
c) A Serving Tray is 15.3 times as dangerous as a Breadbin and a wopping 249 times as dangerous as a Coffee Grinder.

I'll stop there.

You have been warned.
Ignorance is no longer an excuse.

(I have just checked back to a post I did on risk, read it here, and a Serving Tray is 2.2 times as dangerous as a Bus Shelter.)

Expressions...

Tonight at Central Hall we're having a meeting listed as Creative Prayer. The aim is to explore various expressions of creativity in prayer and worship and whatever else that means. I like to have everything prepared normally so this is something a bit different for me!

I am really keen to help facilitate people's creative expression before God. I know that my most natural expression, singing, is well catered for in our church life but what if your expression is painting? Or sculpting? Or dancing? Or...whatever it is? So we don't have a plan as such, just a few thoughts and we'll see what happens.

It's good to have some space and time for these sorts of expressions of the creativity that God has placed inside us all.

Some of it I will understand and some of it I will not. The picture is an example of "not" :-)

Another bottle...

My weight loss is now up to four 2 litre bottles of Diet Coke - WOW! I changed my plan slightly yesterday though as my wife, who's a Doctor, said I needed more protein so it was chicken for lunch! I know that at this stage of my food journey I can start to go a bit over obsessive and begin seeing food as the enemy. This way leads to bigger problems than being overweight! I think this highlights just what a complex thing your relationship with food can be - one season eating to excess, the next eating next to nothing. It can flip right over.

I was once working four nights a week in a factory on a line. I lost weight then by eating nothing but fruit and fibre and swimming one hundred lengths at the pool in the morning after each shift. Lost a lot then too, but this is not exactly sustainable is it??

This time my plan is to have two phases - Phase 1: Achieve an acceptable weight, and Phase 2: Maintain that weight.

Phase 1 is going well but I do have to be careful not to lose a healthy perspective on it.

I'm hopeful that Phase 2 will be sustainable.

Phew...!

A new low this morning! I was ruthless yesterday and have reaped the benefit this morning. I remember in Winner's book he has the same experience several times of eating just a bit too much and then feeling the annoyance the next day as the numbers tell the story. For me, this is one of the reasons weighing night and day is crucial - I can keep in touch with what's happening day by day and respond as necessary.

Yes, it is obsessive. BUT if I am serious about being slimmer then it is the only way. I'm 38 and this is (was??) the decade where I can really make a difference to later life healthwise. Without this sort of approach I would go gently into that good night of obesity, and all that it brings.

Rage, rage against the widening of the waist!

Just how careful I have to be...

Went out for Chinese last night (a birthday...) and, boy, that's been a wake up call! Big spike in my bar chart, seriously not happy about this. Felt like lots of good work was gone in a flash. Simply ATE TOO MUCH. I have to remember that, given the opportunity, I will overeat, every time. I am a Compulsive Overeater. If you are not like this it's difficult to explain.

So, it is a setback but I shall have my victory! In a couple of weeks it'll be a blip on my chart and a lesson learned.

A new man...

...I am a new man! I played golf today and the contrast with my last game was amazing. Before I lost some weight I was struggling around the course and after nine holes I went home exhausted. Played poorly too. Today I could have carried on after 18 easily (although the weather won just before that...) and the trousers I bought to wear for golf when I was at my largest.....are now too big!! GLORY GLORY!! And I played quite well too, very encouraging :-)

I have now lost more than the weight of three 2 litre bottles of Coke and this since late November. (Well, Diet Coke, in fact...)

I'm starting to think that this way of eating is conceivably sustainable. If so, this is a huge step forward for me. I won't be cured, but I can manage myself so that I eat what I need and not the amount I want. Being slimmer is much more tasty than loads and loads of food.

Thanks again Michael Winner.

(I just read the previous post and the result of the two meals was my spreadsheet weight bar chart levelled off for a couple of days, but I've caught up now, hurray! I did go easy on the first one which was veeeeeeeeeeeery hard but "relaxed" a bit on the second one. YUM!)

Easy does it!

Hmmm, it doesn't take much to stop the flow of weight from my body! I'm maintaining my loss just about but I'm being forced to eat curry for the second night on the trot. Mmmmmm, nice. Last night we went out for an IaMT night and tonight friends are bringing one over. Reminds me of Michael Winner when he describes when he's going to be tempted most to eat and eat.

Never fear! I shall catch up and begin shrinking again tomorrow :-)

The incredible shrinking man...

Since following Michael Winner's advice I have lost 5kg!!!!!!!!!! This is super-great, and I have already got back into my bike leathers :-)

I just put 5kg of Diet Coke and vegetable oil (2 x 2 litres Coke and 1 litre of oil which is close enough) into a carrier bag (in the bottles, not poured in...) and the weight of it is amazing! Have I lost this much already?? Yes I have.

I haven't stopped eating anything or exercised (although I know I should anyway...). I eat a lot less and, most importantly I think, eat little in the evenings and nothing after 6:30 if possible.

According to the Body Mass Index chart* I should be about 10 and 1/2 stone which is 66.7kg. HA HA VERY FUNNY!!

My wife reckons 80kg should be about right for me - in this case I am already half way there - excellent :-)

So here's to next year and a thinner me - I shall continue to blog as long as I don't disappear altogether.


* The Body Mass Index chart is an officially sanctioned instrument of despair which will, if you are a wider person, rob you of what little hope you had of reaching an "acceptable" weight. Do not take much notice of it unless you are the one person in the world for whom it was designed. And even he/she should try not to get too down about it.

Brainlock.

Walking back from the shop the other day I had a moment of deep wonder. It was dusk and the moon was up - I thought, "So that's a planet. And we're on another planet. So how does that all work then?"

I remember as a kid lying in my bed and imagining moving outwards (if even that makes any sense) through space and wondering where the edge was. But if you got there and then went a bit further...............

Re the picture:
"Representing a narrow "keyhole" view stretching to the visible horizon of the universe, the Hubble Deep Field image covers a speck of the sky only about the width of a dime 75 feet away. Though the field is a very small sample of the heavens, it is considered representative of the typical distribution of galaxies in space, because the universe, statistically, looks largely the same in all directions. Gazing into this small field, Hubble uncovered a bewildering assortment of at least 1,500 galaxies at various stages of evolution."

Do you know how big even one galaxy is? The average Galaxy has, wait for it, 100-200 billion Stars most similar to our Sun. Erm, nope, sorry, cannot fathom this.

So, 1500 Galaxies in a part of the sky covered by a dime at 75 feet away and each of the 1500 Galaxies contain 100-200 billion Stars like the Sun?

WWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT??????

Look at what HE made!

I do make myself chuckle...

Went to Sainsbury's today and when I paid the checkout lady asked me, "Have you got Nectar?", "No", I replied, "It's just a bit of a cold..."

Lovely logic...

Just heard a comedienne on Radio 4. Her Mum writes her about a Council Tax leaflet that's come through the door. It says that if you're in prison you don't have to pay the Council Tax. If, however, you are in prison for non-payment of Council Tax, you do have to pay the Council Tax.

I love things like this!

More on Mr Winner...

My beautiful wife, Ali, went to London for the weekend with her sister to do the Christmas shopping (bah, humbug...) and brought me back a present: Michael Winner's book: "Fat Pig Diet", and I am genuinely pleased she did. While she was in London he was doing a signing, so my wonderful wife queued up and got one signed for me. He said (as verbatim as I can make it), "You don't look like you need one of these?", she said, "It's for my husband...", he said, "Is he fat?", she said, "Well, he does struggle with it a bit..."

It's been about a week and it is indeed working. His two main rules are: EAT LESS and don't eat after 7:30pm. I am losing weight and it's not painful so far. One of the keys is to weigh yourself last thing at night and first thing in the morning. This is crucial for motivation as you don't see the visible evidence of progress but the numbers don't lie.

Being a bit gadgety I am logging my weight on a spreadsheet on my phone to chart my progress and it looks GOOD!

Another motivation is to get back into my bike leathers. I was recounting this to Billy earlier today and he said that lard is the answer. I said lard was the problem :-)

One step forward...

This morning I successfully put up two new light fittings and later two dimmer switches to match - excellent!

I am, however, typing this on my laptop as I've broken the desktop I normally use. I broke it putting the lights up. How, you ask? Well, under our stairs is the trip switch board for the electrics but there's no light to see what you're doing. I had to try each switch until the lights went out and one of the first ones turned off the supply to the PC. Oops. Now it won't boot up "properly" but will operate in Safe mode (Yes, I have tried System Restore but to no avail...). If it wasn't for this laptop I would be disconnected!!!

The lights look nice, though.

(Oh, and if you know how to fix the PC.....??)

Neeeeeeeeeoooooooowwwwwwwwww......

We have our bike (Kwak ZZR600) back on the road! I am very excited about this as riding a motorbike is one of life's very special joys for me. It is sooo fast! It's been SORNed for months as it broke it's own brake lever (by having a little lie down on a hot day on our front garden...) and electronically immobilised itself due to circuit board corrosion.
0-60 in about three and a half seconds - it's FANTASTIC!

I did my Direct Access about three years ago, and I tell you, when the examiner (very nice bloke, rode an R1) told me that I'd passed I nearly cried on the spot, seriously, I was that happy.

The novelty doesn't wear off, although I did a track day at Silverstone and that nearly made me give up riding on the roads. I experienced another reality that day - quite incredible! Nearly cried that day too when I arrived and heard, smelt, felt the bikes getting ready. Ah, yes. I think it's in you or it just aint. Part of me is indeed a "Biker".

Which reminds me of something I saw from my kitchen one day...

I watched an interesting vignette being played out just now. A Robin had flown through our outer back door and was struggling to find its way out again. It kept flying into the glass windows but wasn't finding the open door. As I drank my coffee and wondered how to help it I saw Socks, one of our cats, leap up and almost catch the Robin. This attack forced the Robin to fly the other way and...out the door!

There must be some sort of sermony-type message there...come on...think...I know:

"Sometimes in life it takes an unpleasant situation to force us in a direction that leads to true freedom."

Nice!

Calm down, dear......

I actually went on our running machine today (whilst listening to Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill). I am too fat and uncomfortable with it. I've blogged about eating and weight before so forgive me if it all sounds a bit familiar!

Michael Winner has recently lost a lot of weight and written a book, The Fat Pig Diet, and I've heard him talk about it a few times. The key is (drumroll...) to eat less. Not rocket science, is it? So why do I persist in eating too much? Well, it's the mind isn't it? I eat to celebrate, I eat to commiserate, I eat for comfort, I eat out of boredom, I eat simply for the pleasure, I eat to escape...

When was the last time I ate because I was actually hungry??
Can't remember.

I did start going to a group for compulsive over eaters and it was very helpful - it made a real difference to me as the aim is to get to grips with the reasons we eat, not what you weigh or should weigh. Then I thought I had it sorted and stopped going. Hmmm...

The problem with weight loss programs (with which I have enjoyed great success in the past) is that they in no way address the reasons for compulsive eating. It's treating the symptom not the underlying cause. Consequently, you reach your target and go out and celebrate with a great big meal!!

This is a much bigger (no pun intended) problem for men than most would think - it's hidden.

It can, of course lead to a vicious circle: I find myself with feelings of shame about my size so I eat for comfort which makes me bigger which makes me feel shame so I eat for comfort...

What I want, is to change inside so that instead of turning to food I turn to Jesus to supply my needs. I did just write a song about that...

So, Michael Winner, I salute you, for you have got me onto the running machine again and thinking about eating less.

Buses...

Nice to see that Sim has interrupted his hectic schedule to actually post on his Blog again - it does seem to be like buses with him though, nothing for ages and then loads all at once :-)

(Ballet can be confusing, but finding the right seat isn't supposed to be...)

This also made me laugh...

So the Association of Chief Police Officers have changed their collective mind about the reclassification of Cannabis, eh?

I heard on Radio 4 that they now believe that the downgrading of the drug a few years ago is, "Sending out the wrong message."

Well, DUH!