Away again.

Away till next Friday.

Symbols.

Great doc on latex symbols to be had from here.

I find OO2 excellent, downloadable from here.

Maybe I was wrong?

A while ago I posted about being unhappy with my iBook. After using it for a few weeks I am changing my mind on how I feel about it. Perhaps it is just the small form factor or it's stability, not sure yet. I find that I just use it and not really think about it. I have no more gripes, I am used to the noisy, warm hard disk.

Must go to the gym today.

Book worm.

If you like reading and buy books online then this might be of use to you. It lets you enter a book's details and then get back the total cost of purchasing it from the various Amazons. As expected it almost always cheaper to buy and ship from the US or Germany, than the UK. Pity really.

Sore....gently does it.

SWMBO (She who must be obeyed) is laughing at me because I am still sore from the gym. I should go today but I will linger on the "light duties" list for a while longer, maybe tomorrow. It is really weird but I always hurt more the second day after a session rather than the day after.

Anyway, enough bitching, a need to get my CV in order!

New job

I am looking for a new job. I have contacted some agencies and outlined what I am looking for. I was hoping it would be an easy process, but it has its fun parts too.

I am seriously thinking of going the contracting route. Off to find out more about it.

Back at it.

I am busy at the moment and am not likely to be free of current stuff till the beginning of February.

I went to the gym today and ahhhhhhh....met some customers! I normally like anonymity in the gym, it find it more relaxing and will be less distracted. I shouldn't over react; i don't like mixing my private and work life.

Away for so long.

I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. I need to get my house in order.

Small changes, big effects

They say if you make one small change every day (surely they mean week) then big effects are on the way. I read this in a magazine in a doctor's surgery.

The basic idea is to change one small thing each week. Not something big like give up smoking this week and cure world hunger next week. Something small, personal and not too discomforting. So, I thought, I will think what are the small things that I wish were not so each day. Now, I will choose one and change it. In a months time that will be four done and I will see how it has gone.

So much so quickly.

Went to the gym this morning and I can't believe how much I have slipped by not going regularly for the last while. I probably over did it today. Must get routine going again.

Crazy time.

No gym and no fun for the last few days.

Crazy work time.

Late, late...night,night.

Pat just wrecks my head. Nice guy and all that, but he really does me in. I think people will look back in years to come and laugh at how ridiculous & farcical it all seemd.

I think poor old JC was close to blowing a fuse. Very poor to treat such a serious and topical subject so flippantly.

Very odd topic.

So I went to an actual farm and got real vegetables. Eh? Real vegetables? Have you ever noticed how the vegetables in supermarkets are all remarkably similar? All the carrots are the same size, shape and colour. Parsnips are generally slightly larger than carrots and onions are typically about the size of a tennis ball. Shocked as I was when I saw onions about twice their normal size and ditto for carrots. The shapes varied too, not always prefect cones.

Ze farmer explained to me that the supermarkets will only buy vegetables that fit a certain specification and are not interested in any deviations. They prefer smaller size vegetables as they look younger, fresher and healthier.

Anyway, I took a consignment and cooked them, they were fantastic. I don't know if it was because I literally dug them up and ate them within 2 hours or because they were so big and varied. By the way, I got them for free. It was as much a novelty for me as it was for the farmer who couldn't believe that I thought all vegetables grew to a perfect shape and then jumped into a plastic bag.

So...the bottom line. Where should I get my vegetables next? I believe there is a farmer's market in Dun Laoghaire shopping centre (the old one, not Bloomfields) every Thursday and there is a farmer's market in Leopardstown race course every week too. I checked out the one in DL and they seemed to have some nice home cooked stuff and organic vegetables. The home cooked stuff was nice (I scoffed a pie) but the vegetables were very pricey. The vegetable (and fruit) shop in the basement is also very dear. I will try to get to the one in Leopardstown.

Home Sweet Home

Home at last! Wrecked.

Heading home.

I am starting the long journey home later today.....I am really looking forward to it. After a little experimentation I am going to stick to one of two runs, the 8km or 5 km.

Old dog, new tricks.

So I tried this new idea of running/walking at a fat-burning pace. It was very frustrating, because in order to stay within the fat-burning pulse rate I had to walk at a brisk pace. It took approximately 20 minutes to do 2 km. I didn't do anymore as I was bored. I was going to do a 5km jog but could be motivated to do it.

I have been clicking on the next blog link to see what goodies are out there. Some sites come and go very quick!

Can't wait to get home!

Always tomorrow.

I am off to a gym tomorrow. Somebody warned me that there may be a time limit on the machines. Eh? I am reliably informed that the maximum you can use certain machines for are 15 or 20 minutes. This is to allow everybody have a fair go. Okay, no worries, I understand.

CV template hunting is not going particularly well. There are billions for Word but few for Latex. I will keep going.

Slower running.

I am going to try to run at the "fat burning" rate. I am told it is 60% of (220-your age). So, 220-35=185, and 60% of this is:111. So I should keep my heart rate below 111 but above my resting heart rate. This could be hard because my resting heart rate is quite high (~90). My buddy's is 45. Smug git.

I need to get a good CV format in Latex, I am looking for a good example that I can adapt and use.

Nice site.

I found a good website, CoolRunning seem to have some good advice for beginners and some training plans that would suit me. I will read on and may adopt one of their plans. I opened up a running log so I could keep track of training there.

Tick...gym done.

It feels a bit like that, tick, chore done. I will get back into a regular routine and that will make it more enjoyable. I ran 8km in 55m55s. Again, no world record but I am happy for two reasons, first I am hitting the 8km (or 5mile) mark and secondly because I did it without slowing down. Some people have told me that varying the speed is better (as in required) and I shouldn't run the whole lot at the same pace. I don't know and for the moment don't care. My goal was to be able to run 5miles, without expiring and I have done it. Now I want to be able to do it regularly. I am going to go searching for a proper training schedule, Google should help. I am getting a bit tired of doing more or less the same thing on the treadmill (is that the correct spelling?). Next week I am going to alternate between a 8km run and a 4km run, the 4km being at a much better pace.

I am going to take the plunge and join WestWood in Sandymount.