21 September 2009

0 Days Without Crisps

Potato ChipsImage via Wikipedia
It's Monday and time to continue a trend of promised new and positive habits only for them to fall apart midweek. Often that involves maintaining a regular (and high) attendance at the gym - there is really no positive benefit to going only once or twice in the week, well that's what I've found anyway. Another positive habit that keeps getting restarted is a better diet which brings me to the title of this post - the countdown ( or up) has started -- today is 0 days without crisps.

I seem to keep bringing work up and I promise it won't make an mention for a while after but I've always found work to sap at my motivation. usually around Sunday afternoon or evening I find motivation to try doing things a little different, try harder and generally be more productive. I don't know whether this is down to me reflecting on the weekend and realising I could have done more, a build up of motivation due to the prolonged time not at work or a mix of the two but promises are made, oaths are sworn that come Monday, come tomorrow I will be a better person.

It's scary to think that on weekdays I am out of the house for near enough 12 hours means I'm not aligned on improving myself - it sounds like an excuse and it probably is but it's the only explanation I have to why it took me 3 months to join the local gym and over a year to start driving lessons (man that looks terrible when put down in black and White). Following some root canal work I had to undergo did mean I had to change my diet to cut out most of the unecessary sugar and I succeeded to a certain extent.
Just like championing the gym visits, there are lapses of routine and discipline. In terms of diet, there are 3 which I hope to eradicate completely - those being chocolate, cheese and crisps. my problem is I can go fairly long times without needing them in the house but every now and again I cave in and stick them onto the tesco order and proceed to binge on them without restraint. Combine this with poor gym attendance and I think to myself "hmm, think I've put on some weight" or "my belly looks bigger than I remember" the self-esteem takes a nose dive and motivation follows it down too and there is no more will to change for the better arg!

Coming back to the present and after consuming a high number of crisps from the multipack I purchased over the weekend I decided to finish them off and announce "no more crisps!" It's difficult to explain why I do relapse in instances like this. Crisps are good to have around as they are super quick, zero preparation and can cure a shot of hunger but just like consuming a huge bar of chocolate I feel terrible after. Also how ridiculous is it that I am moaning by my inability to resist crisps!?

I believe the secret is some kind of sponsor, I see it as the only reason why other habits like preparing my lunch for work, hell even getting out of bed for work, driving lessons etc is that there is someone else there to make me accountable, someone that will be disappointed, pissed off if I don't do it.
So this is day 1 without crisps and the first day of a habit that I intend to keep - please keep me honest!

15 September 2009

Google Analytics and Censorship

Image representing Google Analytics as depicte...
A bit of a meta post this one. Google analytics is a free service that anyone with their own website, even just a simple hosted blog like this one should give a try. google analytics is basically a site usage reporting tool - a big step up from the hit counters of the internet's infancy.

The statistician in me loves to pour over the reports it offers and it's always interesting to discover how people find this blog and also what they check out while they're here. I usually check once a month or so and see how the latest ran has been received etc and to see where I get he visitors from. I've linked the blog from my facebook profile, my Twitter and other social bookmarking sites so the majority of direct traffic comes from there. the other traffic comes from search engines like good ol' google. i can reveal that the most popular searches have been along the lines of "gym motivation" thanks to the couple posts I did on that and also Jonathan Ross whose podcast I wrote a review of - I guess the scandal with Russell brand has kept those searches going. There is of course some gaming and f1 searches due to my leaning toward writing about those subjects. in the past I've tried those search terms which have led people here and fair play to them digging deep through the search results as they didn't show on the first couple of pages for me!

Now I took a stance that I would not go on about my current job although I have no doubt made my thoughts clear and even lamented about them in a Your New Favourite Podcast episode. I have also named my employer, only once and that was a "first day" post but someone managed to stumble onto the blog. I fear what kind of impression they would get from the rantings of one of the employees. it's also worth reiterating that any thoughts and opinions expressed here within this blog are mine and mine only and in no way reflect that of my employer. Checking the google analytics recently and it seems someone (or many) have been clicking round the blog, in particular the "work" category.

Until I had to answer the phone late on in the morning one day, the only words to fall out of my mouth were "Spineosaurus" and humming of the Jurassic Park theme

Everything written here was correct as at the time of writing and to be honest I'm a little sick of censoring myself. I do it constantly at work, being on the phone to strangers means I can't really say what I think.

In fact I had some work colleagues as friends on facebook and xbox live but I've decided that I will draw a line at the office hours - all other times I should not feel restricted in my opinions because of fear that someone from work may be listening. of course I know better than to bad mouth the company - I have some sense of professional integrity combined with an ever present fear and anxiety of my actions towards others. That being said I should be able to say whatever I feel like and I'm not fussed by being confronted by people over these words. It's all my opinion, and it's true, but who really pays that much attention to what I say and do - I can say that at work that that's not the case. Until I had to answer the phone late on in the morning one day, the only words to fall out of my mouth were "Spineosaurus" and humming of the Jurassic Park theme - thank you /filmcast!. In fact, I feel it's become so bad that I actually think of the person you see during the working day as a different persona, a separate slice of me is a better way to put it as I only share a small section of me - I am content to share this mostly silent but sometimes blithering idiot that they call "Jonathan".

Apologies for the rant but I'm making a (small) effort to blog more as a friend has recently started blogging and another friend is keen on starting a podcast with the working title "the toast rack" which I think sounds awesome. so look at for more blogging, hope to get back into the routine of reviews in what ever form they take, and maybe some more Your New Favourite Podcast episodes time permitting of course.