0 Days Without Crisps

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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!

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Google Analytics and Censorship

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.

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Gym Impressions #1

This is going to be the first of what hopes to be a lengthy series of opinions and reviews towards some music that I have listened to, whilst gymming, to use a bastardisation.  As I have mentioned earlier (I hope), I got myself a little mp3 player which I would then load new albums onto, and then go enjoy them at the gym, and thus avoid having to experience any other noises that may be happening.  I also hope to start adding a few pics to the blog, brighten it up a bit with a few album covers by using Windows Live Writer, so here goes.  If it fucks up then I'll take the post down pretty sharpish and try again :s

EDIT: laptop was being incredibly unresponsive when adding the pix so apologies it looks a little crappy and in need of better presentation, but I ran out of hair to pull out arg!

 

 Mike Park - For The Love of Music

Ah, Mike Park, first experienced this guy when he supported Alkaline Trio when a group of us went to see them in wonderful Brum.  For those not in the know, Mike Park is the founder of Asian Man Records, a record label that Alkaline Trio released some of their first material, hence the connection.  Armed with a stool, guitar and a small projector, he put on one of the greatest, and without doubt most enjoyable support sets I have witnessed.

The standout track from the live performance was of course "From Korea" which he is probably the most well known for.  I acquired two albums through Soulseek - a great little App, a peer-to-peer program which I've found to be the best source for the more obscure and/or less known music.  Anyways, back to the review, and I opted to put on "For the Love of Music" onto the mp3 player because of the familiarity of the "From Korea" track.

Now, "From Korea" itself is a very simple song, in which Mike Park explores the misuse of politically incorrect terms like "gay" and "nigger" to quote the song.  Just like at the live show, the song is very immediate, has a wonderful sing-along quality and serves as an obvious entry point into Mike Park's material.

I admit, I was slightly skeptical at what just one guy with an acoustic guitar could do - could it be as good, if not better than From Korea?  The answer, is most definitely yes, and in fact as alluded to before, "From Korea" Is one of the simplest songs on the album, and that a high number of them contain other strings to add layers to help create a greater depth to the songs.  Park has a wonderful sense of melody and by the second chorus I was already armed with the skills to sing along to what are all at times throughout, simply charming lyrics - "You're grade today, an A for loving me".

Other standout tracks are "I'm Supposed to Be There Too" and the other protest (kinda) song "Hey You!".  Overall, a great little album, I can almost guarantee it will not blow you away in terms of stature or content, but if you feel like kicking back and enjoying some charming, acoustic based, and honest music, then look it up.

 

 AFI - decemberunderground

Not so much a new album, it's been knocking about for at least a year, but I felt it deserved at least a listen.  Now, my first exposure to AFI was the album "Sing the Sorrow" and because of this I'm not a fan of the much more raw and lesser produced material which predates that album (sorry).  Before experiencing decemberunderground, reviews I had read on Amazon had expressed generally negative thoughts due to the departure from the type of music which AFI started out with.  Not weighed down with this emotional baggage, I was ready to check it out.

The first song, or more of a short introduction, sets the scene for more to come, mainly the more orchestral-sounding element which first began on "Sing the Sorrow". Also the first vocals are very much of a "Sing the Sorrow" mould and definitely not the more harsh, ragged, more harsh vocals on previous albums.  The first song "Prelude 12/21" also features the lyric, "kiss my eyes and lay me to sleep", which I almost immediately found myself changing to "Kiss my arse and lay me to sleep" - old habits die hard...

After the quiet opener, the album properly kicks off and as is as explosive as ever, and does not let up much at all.  Something that is quite immediate is the high quality of production that this album has been subjected to.  The entire album simply wreeks of slick production, which some purists and hardcore AFI fans may hate, but it's something I am finding myself requiring as a prerequisite to a good album - solid production.

Moving onto the songs themselves, and I regret that there aren't many standout tracks on the album, although saying that the quality of all tracks is high, and there is a good flow to the album.  A flow which is helped very much by the pace of the songs, it's almost a barrage at times.  One reason perhaps why there aren't more standout tracks is the difficulty (i have at least) of understanding and recognising the lyrics which is a continuing element of AFI's music.

If you have never heard of AFI before, I would recommend "Sing the Sorrow" before this one.  The standard is very high on "decemberunderground" but it lacks the standout tracks, which luckily "Sing the Sorrow" posesses in high numbers.  Although that is my personal view, and perhaps a fairer assessment of this band would be to begin at the start of their discography, but again I have given it a try and not found anywhere near as many gyms as can be found on "Sing the Sorrow" and this, their latest albums.

More Gym Impressions later, I am still undecided whether to post the "mini-reviews" altogether or give them their own individual post listings, mmm..

Till then, here's hoping you will listen to something new today.

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"Is it Jim?" / "No, it's Hughes, I'm here for the gym.... crap" *holds head*

Hey all, Just thought I'd blog about my recent ventures to the gym, something I intend to do heavily on a regular basis.  I've been putting it off for ages, but the start of July came, and I thought hell, why not, I'm not getting any fitter/losing any weight, sitting on my ass trying to force myself to go.

Now, the gym is in fact the small one they have at the Secondary School, and although it's not much, I am happy to use it as leaving the house, jogging to the school actually puts me in the correct frame of mind for some mean gymming.  One goal I have set myself apart from the general ones, those being to improve my general fitness, lose weight, get some proper upper body strength.  Yeah, it's a little worrying that I'm a little out of breath after climbing  a reasonably large flight of stairs - that's when I started to think to myself, I need to do something about this.   The losing weight is pretty obvious, although I'm not really fat, I do have a bit of a belly which my Nan attributes to "beer", but yeah I'm about 12 and a half stone now, although haven't weighed myself for a while, but that weight I am happy with, just want to work on the process of making that weight more productive, i.e. turning some fat into badass muscle, grrr. The general fitness is my main aim, there are times at work, when I'm moving boxes etc and I find myself for want of a bit more strength lifting things, particularily over my head, so there are the straightforward, logical reasons, oh and finally to pick up chicks lol. Nah, as I said, it's a small gym so it doesn't get that many attendees, and even less that are in fact hot...

 

At the turn of this year, Eric had this plan of joining the Navy, of which the only fitness requirement is to be able to run a mile and a half in under 12mins.  Along with the general fitness, the aim of achieving the 12min target seems a sensible long-term target to work towards. I say, long-term because despite my questionable fitness, my second time on  the treadmill, and my first attempt at the full mile and a half distance, I ran it in just over 15mins.  Still a bit off, but I reckon I can get that down by some next time (Friday), it's just a case of getting used to the distance, and then working at getting the time down.

 

Speaking of the gym more generally, I am concentrating on the treadmill as mentioned above, the rowing machine, which is good for arms and actually quite a lot of fun, and the varying methods of lifting weights.  Mike asked what am I benching (obviously gym/work out slang), to which I can confirm that after feeling out where I was the first time, I have settled on 35kg as a basis to work from, although the last time I went (Thursday) I tried out 40 and obviously a bit tougher going, but manageable. 

 

It was particularly cool the first time I went the first time as I had the equipment to myself, so I didn't have to worry about looking flustered, or straining to pump the iron (that's the correct terminology right?).  I also had a go at a few chin-ups, man they are tough, and I conclude that after doing a fair few reps of varying weights I cannot hang from the chinup bar with one hand - perhaps I needed chalk?...

 

Also the great thing about going to the gym and the jogs there and back is what it is doing to my self-esteem. It is very premature to expect my build to be changing, but it may be down to an inflated ego, but already I feel better in myself. It does honestly feel good to do a workout, once resting pulse is reached again, to actually be making a difference to myself. Contrary to what Fight Club says, self improvement rocks!

 

It does seem really weird when in the gym, myself personally I'm making it a habit of jogging at least a mile and a half and rowing 1km but it's very weird that all that effort doesn't actually get me mile and a half down the road (or river)

 

Also something I am also quite pumped in doing is taking my music into the gym, block out everyone else and have something actually decent to listen to. I've also decided that it may be worth using the time to listen to some new albums (or old ones :D) which I've been meaning to give a proper listen, so more of that later.

Here's feeling fitter already, and you can too!...

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Blogging Promotion

Hey, new blog, and second of the day. I was reading one of the top blogs on Technorati, and it actually contained a blog mentioning how to improve the quality and readership of one's blog. One of the tips was to keeping blogs shorter and more focused, one thing I am guilty of not doing. So here we are, trying to put these ideas into practice, and here's the seperate blog to go with it lol.

Another idea was to link to other people's blogs, so I'm starting a call to the masses: If you want your blog to be linked from here, contact me, and that goes for both friends and strangers. To my friends, you know the correct channels of contact, and to strangers, don't hesitate to mail me - I'm not sure if I have put up contact details on here, but if I have, then power to you stranger, and if I like your blog, then I will happily link it, and probably become an avid fan and follower of it :D.

When I get round to uploading this later this eve no doubt, I should link the article. And here it is - quite a smart blog, it may ahve to be one for the future. Another pointer was to maintain very good, or more accuractely correct grammar in your blog. I think I mostly achieve this, although there is no doubt a few spelling mistakes from the frenetic pace of my touch typing, plus grammar is fine except if I type the shorthand "ppl" or drop into the kind of typing that I usually reserve for the chat channels for WoW - i.e. slightly broken english with just enough information in the sentence to illustrate the main point, or lots of terminology, which is always a good thing :D.

I don't think it's wise for this newly adopted blog etiquette that I start waffling about something else. Saying that, the monkey guy read my last post about geeks which was a tiny bit lengthy which reminds me I need to ask the guy how he stumbled onto my blog. Also he commented that I could be the first geek stud, which is my bad cos the Japanorama programme mentioning how thanks to the Otaku movement gaining momentum, some of the more outgoing ones have decided to enjoy the spoils of this newly found fame, so actually there exist a good number of geek studs out there.

"Hey, do you wanna IM later?"
"I'm IEEE standards complaint, if you know what I mean?!"

Take it Easy
J-Man.

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