Friday evening it was down to Rob G's with the gang to watch the rugby, which was a surprising success after the dismal performance of Wales the week before. The evening was enhanced by chips from the local chip shop and also a red velvet cake, which was delicious. A great evening all round.
Saturday was a fairly unproductive day, apart from going to the gym in the morning, which was good. I went on the treadmill again but found it harder for some reason so I didn't run on it as long.
Sunday was off to Rhyl with Andy, Rob G and Chelsea so that they could do the 10 mile running race. Despite the fairly dire weather forecast it was quite warm and mostly sunny, with the only downside being the incredibly strong wind that was blowing sand all over the place. Chelsea and I saw them off and then hung around for a while until they came back. They did really well given the conditions, and we got a Subway before heading back.
The rest of Sunday was spent watching some more Breaking Bad, pretty much. Still enjoying it.
The running class on Monday evening wasn't quite as much a fail as last week. I did struggle at one point, when we went up the industrial estate. It's a long, gradual incline, and it just goes on forever. I had to slow right down for it, but once I got past the top, it was OK. Unfortunately I misjudged the kerb by the police station and took a tumble, scraping my leg and hand. I felt fine at the time and finished the run fine, but by the time I got home I was starting to feel various aches and pains, and I had to wash the road grime out of the cuts on my leg which really hurt.
Today has been reasonable, but it's been a bad day for eating, and my aches from the fall got worse, in particular my left knee, but hopefully I'll be OK for the gym tomorrow evening. I need to get as much exercise in the week as possible as this weekend is my sister's wedding so there'll be family stuff going on for most of it.
Developments on the house are suddenly proceeding. It's been valued by two separate people who nearly agreed. After saying this needed to be done for so long, it's somewhat disconcerting for it to suddenly be happening, and I'm suddenly very conscious of how much crap needs to be sorted out. My Mum's eyes are playing up again and if the treatment isn't as effective as last time then she won't be able to drive, and that's going to be a real issue.
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Running fail and win
The running class on Monday was a crap for some reason. I really struggled after the first 9 minutes was done as I got a bad stitch and my legs were killing me. One of the guys ended up taking me back a different way and breaking it up a bit. It was quite demoralising but he said not to worry about it. He also recommended that I try the 30 day planking programme that went around recently to build up my core strength.
It was the first DnD for a while on Tuesday, which was good fun. Unfortunately it turned into the usual snack fest. The game was good though.
Yesterday evening I went to the gym and had a good session. I did a 5 minute walk on the treadmill to warm up, then 20 minutes on the cross trainer, then some weights, and back on the treadmill again. I'm getting more comfortable running on the treadmill now, and I did 20 minutes of mixed running and walking, which felt good.
Tonight I went out for a run with Dave from work to repeat Monday's session. After the terrible run I wasn't expecting much, but it was a lot better this time. We did the same route and the stitch began to kick in at around the same spot. However this time it didn't amount to much and almost went away again. We did a bit of extra running and even a short sprint when we were nearly back at the leisure centre.
After the giant Breaking Bad fest on Sunday I've kind of stayed away from it and have been watching South Park season 10. The last episode I watched was the brilliant Make Love, Not Warcraft, which was awesome.
It was the first DnD for a while on Tuesday, which was good fun. Unfortunately it turned into the usual snack fest. The game was good though.
Yesterday evening I went to the gym and had a good session. I did a 5 minute walk on the treadmill to warm up, then 20 minutes on the cross trainer, then some weights, and back on the treadmill again. I'm getting more comfortable running on the treadmill now, and I did 20 minutes of mixed running and walking, which felt good.
Tonight I went out for a run with Dave from work to repeat Monday's session. After the terrible run I wasn't expecting much, but it was a lot better this time. We did the same route and the stitch began to kick in at around the same spot. However this time it didn't amount to much and almost went away again. We did a bit of extra running and even a short sprint when we were nearly back at the leisure centre.
After the giant Breaking Bad fest on Sunday I've kind of stayed away from it and have been watching South Park season 10. The last episode I watched was the brilliant Make Love, Not Warcraft, which was awesome.
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Generator of trouble
It was an uneventful week until Wednesday, when there was a massive storm battering the building in work through the afternoon. The lights flickered occasionally but all was OK until the power went out at 4:50pm. The computer room was running on battery but we had to spent the evening making sure the generator was running and fuelled up. The power came back on after a while but the electricity company couldn't guarantee the supply would stay up, so we shut down a lot of stuff. There was about 10 of us who stayed until 8:45pm, and then we came back in early the next morning to power it back up again. The only casualty of the various power wobbles was a BladeCenter power supply. By the time I was heading home I was really hungry and as it was so late I got a Chinese, but I didn't feel guilty at all.
Thursday was not a productive day as I didn't sleep well and was very tired and took an early finish. I did intend to have a nap and watch some Breaking Bad, but ended up just reading and relaxing.
Friday was an awayday with our new director for the department, as there's been some shuffling around. It was the usual making people get to know each other thing, which was fairly typical. The lunch was OK though. Due to limited parking at the venue I had to leave my car on the street, and when I came back to it I found the central locking must have bounced as it had been unlocked all day - remarkably nothing happened to it.
In the evening it was my sister and her fiance's combined staghen evening, pretty much just an excuse to gather all their friends and go drinking around town. I didn't stay out for the duration, but did see a few places including a rather shady new venue called The Loft, which looks like it should be quite a nice little place but had some very weird hardcore techno going on, and some bizarre dancing which might have been explained by the little huddles of people swapping things around in a most suspicious manner.
Yesterday I headed over to my Dad's house as my cousin was over for the day, so we spent a nice morning chatting and having the traditional chips for lunch. After that it was over to Rob and Em's for Steve's birthday. The plan was to watch a movie and then get an Indian at the top of town, which worked out very well. The movie was Hot Rod, which I hadn't seen or really heard of before, but it was pretty funny, and the meal was as always in that place excellent. It was a really good evening.
Today has pretty much just been a Breaking Bad fest. I've finished Season 3 and got a good start into Season 4.
Not much else to report really. It's been a shit week for both diet and exercise and I've put on a kilo. Bit of a wake up call really, and I think the running class tomorrow is going to be very hard.
Had a really fucked up dream last night, where it was all quite disturbing, but the bit that was horrfying was at the end. I was in a sort of nightclub crossed with a haunted house, and there was a disco type thing and a bar, and various people dancing around and things. Then suddenly something happened, and everyone had to get out. But the only way out was to run down corridors and go through doors which led to rooms with horrors inside which you had to get past. I tried a door that said 'Sharks' and unsuprisingly there was a pool with sharks in it. The next door was labelled 'Psychiatrist' and then inside there were more doors with different types of therapists, and then one of them started to open and the therapist emerged but hugely deformed and mutated, and it was at that point I woke up in absolute terror.
Thursday was not a productive day as I didn't sleep well and was very tired and took an early finish. I did intend to have a nap and watch some Breaking Bad, but ended up just reading and relaxing.
Friday was an awayday with our new director for the department, as there's been some shuffling around. It was the usual making people get to know each other thing, which was fairly typical. The lunch was OK though. Due to limited parking at the venue I had to leave my car on the street, and when I came back to it I found the central locking must have bounced as it had been unlocked all day - remarkably nothing happened to it.
In the evening it was my sister and her fiance's combined staghen evening, pretty much just an excuse to gather all their friends and go drinking around town. I didn't stay out for the duration, but did see a few places including a rather shady new venue called The Loft, which looks like it should be quite a nice little place but had some very weird hardcore techno going on, and some bizarre dancing which might have been explained by the little huddles of people swapping things around in a most suspicious manner.
Yesterday I headed over to my Dad's house as my cousin was over for the day, so we spent a nice morning chatting and having the traditional chips for lunch. After that it was over to Rob and Em's for Steve's birthday. The plan was to watch a movie and then get an Indian at the top of town, which worked out very well. The movie was Hot Rod, which I hadn't seen or really heard of before, but it was pretty funny, and the meal was as always in that place excellent. It was a really good evening.
Today has pretty much just been a Breaking Bad fest. I've finished Season 3 and got a good start into Season 4.
Not much else to report really. It's been a shit week for both diet and exercise and I've put on a kilo. Bit of a wake up call really, and I think the running class tomorrow is going to be very hard.
Had a really fucked up dream last night, where it was all quite disturbing, but the bit that was horrfying was at the end. I was in a sort of nightclub crossed with a haunted house, and there was a disco type thing and a bar, and various people dancing around and things. Then suddenly something happened, and everyone had to get out. But the only way out was to run down corridors and go through doors which led to rooms with horrors inside which you had to get past. I tried a door that said 'Sharks' and unsuprisingly there was a pool with sharks in it. The next door was labelled 'Psychiatrist' and then inside there were more doors with different types of therapists, and then one of them started to open and the therapist emerged but hugely deformed and mutated, and it was at that point I woke up in absolute terror.
Monday, 10 February 2014
Run for fun or pain?
The running class was tonight. I had to stay late in work to assist with the ongoing server issue, but happily it looks like the work I did on the SAN has sorted it out, which is good news. I then headed to the running class. Tonight was three 8 minute runs. The first one was OK, even though it started out up a hill, but half way through the second one I got a nasty stich like I did last year, and it didn't go away. My calves also started to hurt quite a bit, so due to those and the stich it wasn't much fun, but I still did OK.
I've come clean to myself about how shite my eating has been over the last couple of weeks. I was deluding myself and in denial about it. I'm going to try and crack down on it again as I know I felt better when I managed to before Christmas. It's not so much what I eat as how much of it, so I went shopping after the run and picked up food for the rest of the week. I was hungry, which is not a good thing when you go shopping, but also feeling motivated, so I was reasonably inclined to shop sensibly.
I was thinking today about how much I enjoyed the first Mass Effect game, and how much time I dedicated to playing it a couple of years ago. I'd quite like to replay it but between Breaking Bad, South Park and exercise I haven't really got the time. I'm not hugely fussed about replaying the sequels though. The first one had something a little special that they didn't, although it's hard for me to define exactly what.
I've come clean to myself about how shite my eating has been over the last couple of weeks. I was deluding myself and in denial about it. I'm going to try and crack down on it again as I know I felt better when I managed to before Christmas. It's not so much what I eat as how much of it, so I went shopping after the run and picked up food for the rest of the week. I was hungry, which is not a good thing when you go shopping, but also feeling motivated, so I was reasonably inclined to shop sensibly.
I was thinking today about how much I enjoyed the first Mass Effect game, and how much time I dedicated to playing it a couple of years ago. I'd quite like to replay it but between Breaking Bad, South Park and exercise I haven't really got the time. I'm not hugely fussed about replaying the sequels though. The first one had something a little special that they didn't, although it's hard for me to define exactly what.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
A laptop with a tent mode
The rest of last week was fairly OK, with only a bit of an issue in work with the SAN. As my manager is in Ethiopia and he's the one who knows the most about it, it was up to me try and fix things. Not that we managed much over the weekend.
Friday evening was uneventful. Yesterday morning I headed to the gym and had a decent workout. I tried the treadmill again at a slightly slower pace and got on with it fine, although my calf muscles still hurt after I stopped. The rest of it was fine.
After that it was off to Steve's to watch the rugby with snacks aplenty. It was a good day, we watched the Wales/Ireland game which was a disappointment since Wales played appallingly, and then the following England game. After that we hung around and watched a bit of the Sochi games and headed home.
Today has been focused on one thing: starting the third season of Breaking Bad. I guess I really should have done some more tidying or something, but the weather hasn't been right for it at all this weekend.
The computer development is a Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 13. It's the clever folding back on itself one that can become a big tablet or can be put into 'tent mode' to view the screen and things like that. It is going to replace the M11x. I left it downloading various updates and things while I was watching Breaking Bad and by this evening it's got most of what I need on it.
The thing is pretty thin, but despite that feels very solid. It has a typically good keyboard as you'd expect on a Lenovo, although the layout is a little odd. The trackpad is fantastic, although because it's so big it can get in the way a little. The build quality is very good indeed, but not quite as good as the Thinkpad version that is being deployed in work to some users. Despite the thin design though, it's actually possible to upgrade the RAM to 8gb (not sure if more is possible) and install a second mSATA SSD, which is good to know if the 128gb one becomes a little cramped.
So far the only real downside is that the keyboard isn't backlit, which is a bit of a downer after the Alienware. It also has a strange function where the F9 key instantly switches the screen off, which led me to think it was broken or something when I hit it by accident thinking it was the trackpad disable button. Oh well.
Not much else to report on the whole.
Friday evening was uneventful. Yesterday morning I headed to the gym and had a decent workout. I tried the treadmill again at a slightly slower pace and got on with it fine, although my calf muscles still hurt after I stopped. The rest of it was fine.
After that it was off to Steve's to watch the rugby with snacks aplenty. It was a good day, we watched the Wales/Ireland game which was a disappointment since Wales played appallingly, and then the following England game. After that we hung around and watched a bit of the Sochi games and headed home.
Today has been focused on one thing: starting the third season of Breaking Bad. I guess I really should have done some more tidying or something, but the weather hasn't been right for it at all this weekend.
The computer development is a Lenovo Ideapad Yoga 13. It's the clever folding back on itself one that can become a big tablet or can be put into 'tent mode' to view the screen and things like that. It is going to replace the M11x. I left it downloading various updates and things while I was watching Breaking Bad and by this evening it's got most of what I need on it.
The thing is pretty thin, but despite that feels very solid. It has a typically good keyboard as you'd expect on a Lenovo, although the layout is a little odd. The trackpad is fantastic, although because it's so big it can get in the way a little. The build quality is very good indeed, but not quite as good as the Thinkpad version that is being deployed in work to some users. Despite the thin design though, it's actually possible to upgrade the RAM to 8gb (not sure if more is possible) and install a second mSATA SSD, which is good to know if the 128gb one becomes a little cramped.
So far the only real downside is that the keyboard isn't backlit, which is a bit of a downer after the Alienware. It also has a strange function where the F9 key instantly switches the screen off, which led me to think it was broken or something when I hit it by accident thinking it was the trackpad disable button. Oh well.
Not much else to report on the whole.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Thwarted food cravings
Yesterday and today have been fairly busy days in work due to a system upgrade that's become rather more complex than it was supposed to. Oh well, my part of the work has gone smoothly today, although it's been a while since I upgraded a server to a new version of AIX.
I was determined to make chilli last night, and got the stuff on the way home to do so. Unfortunately I was just frying the onions when the gas ran out. The hob runs off a gas bottle since we're in the middle of nowhere, and it lasts a good long time. But it ran out just at the wrong moment. So I had to put all the stuff away and have spaghetti hoops instead. What a letdown. Fortunately watching four episodes of Breaking Bad helped distract me from it.
Tonight I managed to make the chilli and it came out pretty well. I tend to make a bit batch of it and then make myself sick of it for a few months. I then continued to watch Breaking Bad and have now finished season 2. So far I've really enjoyed it and it's certainly lived up to the hype. Can't wait to start the next season.
Not much else to report really. I was going to go for a repeat of Monday's run tonight but then I had to stay late in work to help a colleague troubleshoot a server issue, and by the time that was done, I didn't feel like it and came home to do the chilli. The plan now is to go to the gym tomorrow and do the run on Saturday morning before going to watch the rugby at Steve's. It's probably a good thing anyway because today I seem to be really aching from circuits on Tuesday.
I've put things in motion to shuffle my computers around again. This time the target is the M11x - it's a great little machine but I think I've finally outgrown it. I'm still chuffed with the Surface and the G73, no problem there, and the gutted Latitude is still running nicely.
I was determined to make chilli last night, and got the stuff on the way home to do so. Unfortunately I was just frying the onions when the gas ran out. The hob runs off a gas bottle since we're in the middle of nowhere, and it lasts a good long time. But it ran out just at the wrong moment. So I had to put all the stuff away and have spaghetti hoops instead. What a letdown. Fortunately watching four episodes of Breaking Bad helped distract me from it.
Tonight I managed to make the chilli and it came out pretty well. I tend to make a bit batch of it and then make myself sick of it for a few months. I then continued to watch Breaking Bad and have now finished season 2. So far I've really enjoyed it and it's certainly lived up to the hype. Can't wait to start the next season.
Not much else to report really. I was going to go for a repeat of Monday's run tonight but then I had to stay late in work to help a colleague troubleshoot a server issue, and by the time that was done, I didn't feel like it and came home to do the chilli. The plan now is to go to the gym tomorrow and do the run on Saturday morning before going to watch the rugby at Steve's. It's probably a good thing anyway because today I seem to be really aching from circuits on Tuesday.
I've put things in motion to shuffle my computers around again. This time the target is the M11x - it's a great little machine but I think I've finally outgrown it. I'm still chuffed with the Surface and the G73, no problem there, and the gutted Latitude is still running nicely.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
All good fun
It's been a good week on the whole. The weather was a bit flaky last week so I went to the gym in the evenings and didn't get a chance to repeat the running session from Monday. I was brave though and ran on the treadmill for the first time in ages. However I put too much speed on I think so my legs suffered rather.
On Thursday we went to Rob and Em's to watch The World's End. I had no prior idea what it was about, which was definitely for the best, and we all really enjoyed it. I was surprised to see afterward how many people seem to dislike it when compared to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but I thought it was great. And it was fun to see what they could do with a huge budget.
The weekend was good too. It was the beginning of the Six Nations, so we all piled down to Rob and Em's again to watch it, with the usual large quantity of snacks and then Chinese in the evening when Jane was there. It was a great day, had an ace time.
On Sunday it was the christening of my friend Amy's daughter Phoebe. I'm not good in churches, but it wasn't too bad. I'm not sure if the priest sensed my lack of enthusiam for being there, because after he'd chucked water on the baby, he came out with a bowl of water and flicked it over everyone else as a sort of baptism refresher, and I'm sure he targeted me on purpose. After that there was a do at the local rugby club, which was good fun and it was also good to catch up with everyone. We also got to meet another friend's baby for the first time after she was born not long after new year.
Running was OK again on Monday, this time it was three seven minute runs. I have to admit I found it harder than last week, and there was a nasty hill. Not long, but steep and for whatever reason it winded me and I struggled to get my breath back until we walked again, and then I was OK. Tonight there was no DnD as Rob couldn't make it so we went to circuit training. It was pretty hard - despite doing other exercise, I did find it difficult.
Tonight has also been the first geeky evening I've had in ages, since most of my evenings recently have been either continuing the South Park binge or watching Breaking Bad. I'm halfway through season two of Breaking Bad and really enjoying it. I've also nearly finished season 9 of South Park.
The geekiness today was setting up one of my spare gutted Latitude E4300 laptops with the Windows Hyper-V 2012 Server, which is free. I thought it would be interesting to compare it to the other E4300 which is running the free VMware ESXi. So far it's been a bit troublesome and it took a while before I could get the Hyper-V Manager on my Windows 8 machine to even connect to it, but I think that's not helped because I don't have a domain. Anyway, I've got it to the point where I can create and run virtual machines at least, and it's nice that the management tools are built right into Windows 8. So far so good anyway.
I'm always a little surprised at how well the gutted Latitudes cope with this kind of thing. Despite being utterly not what they were intended for, they run the virtualisation stuff rather well with a second hard drive stuffed into the optical bay. They could do with some more RAM though, 4gb is rather limiting. Neither of them has batteries either - if they did it would be handy in power cuts like last week when some work was being done on our electrics and nobody told me that the power was going off.
In other news the 206 went in for it's MOT yesterday. I was fully expecting it to fail, but much to my astonishment it passed fine, with the only thing being a numberplate bulb. It also had an oil and filter change done at the same time.
On Thursday we went to Rob and Em's to watch The World's End. I had no prior idea what it was about, which was definitely for the best, and we all really enjoyed it. I was surprised to see afterward how many people seem to dislike it when compared to Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but I thought it was great. And it was fun to see what they could do with a huge budget.
The weekend was good too. It was the beginning of the Six Nations, so we all piled down to Rob and Em's again to watch it, with the usual large quantity of snacks and then Chinese in the evening when Jane was there. It was a great day, had an ace time.
On Sunday it was the christening of my friend Amy's daughter Phoebe. I'm not good in churches, but it wasn't too bad. I'm not sure if the priest sensed my lack of enthusiam for being there, because after he'd chucked water on the baby, he came out with a bowl of water and flicked it over everyone else as a sort of baptism refresher, and I'm sure he targeted me on purpose. After that there was a do at the local rugby club, which was good fun and it was also good to catch up with everyone. We also got to meet another friend's baby for the first time after she was born not long after new year.
Running was OK again on Monday, this time it was three seven minute runs. I have to admit I found it harder than last week, and there was a nasty hill. Not long, but steep and for whatever reason it winded me and I struggled to get my breath back until we walked again, and then I was OK. Tonight there was no DnD as Rob couldn't make it so we went to circuit training. It was pretty hard - despite doing other exercise, I did find it difficult.
Tonight has also been the first geeky evening I've had in ages, since most of my evenings recently have been either continuing the South Park binge or watching Breaking Bad. I'm halfway through season two of Breaking Bad and really enjoying it. I've also nearly finished season 9 of South Park.
The geekiness today was setting up one of my spare gutted Latitude E4300 laptops with the Windows Hyper-V 2012 Server, which is free. I thought it would be interesting to compare it to the other E4300 which is running the free VMware ESXi. So far it's been a bit troublesome and it took a while before I could get the Hyper-V Manager on my Windows 8 machine to even connect to it, but I think that's not helped because I don't have a domain. Anyway, I've got it to the point where I can create and run virtual machines at least, and it's nice that the management tools are built right into Windows 8. So far so good anyway.
I'm always a little surprised at how well the gutted Latitudes cope with this kind of thing. Despite being utterly not what they were intended for, they run the virtualisation stuff rather well with a second hard drive stuffed into the optical bay. They could do with some more RAM though, 4gb is rather limiting. Neither of them has batteries either - if they did it would be handy in power cuts like last week when some work was being done on our electrics and nobody told me that the power was going off.
In other news the 206 went in for it's MOT yesterday. I was fully expecting it to fail, but much to my astonishment it passed fine, with the only thing being a numberplate bulb. It also had an oil and filter change done at the same time.
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