First Photos

Here are some first photos from my camera. Not brilliant by any means.

Apologies and Update

Apologies if you have been looking for new posts, life has been hectic as well as not being well. Hopefully as I come to the end of March work life gets a little easier. None the less, here is a list of things that have happened since my 10% post last....

1. Won "Fat Boys" competition at work. This was a conglomerate of men who put a tenner in a hat, and whoever lost the most weight won the pot. As you can see, I have lost quite a bit since we started in January. This made me £120 (of which I then have to take 12 people out for lunch, which is a eat as much as you like buffett funny enough).

2. Recent work event called a "Hot House" I won an IPOD Shuffle. Which is nice.

3. Going to New York on 4th May (not long now).

4. Ordered my new camera (Canon Powershot IS S2) - review found here, along with the following memory card, detail here. I got this card because (a) its very fast, (b) durable, (c) 1Gb should be enough. I was recommended in several places to get the fastest card you could afford. I choose not to go with a digital SLR because of cost really. This camera also came with bag loads of great reviews.

5. I have been asked to be part of a worship team leading a Saturday Night conference in June for young lay readers (I think) of the Church of England and Europe. Bizare though this might sound, it came about via the British Telecom (my employers) Christian Network. I am not sure if I will be "leading" the worship - but should be good.

6. Thought I was going to Barcelona in June with work, now I am not :-( as there wasn't enough funding available. Oh well never mind. Maybe if I can persuade work to pay for my hotel and flight and persuade the Conference organisers for a free pass they might let me go. MMM gonna send that mail now!

7. Had a nasty cold where I couldn't speak (Emma said it was a blessing in disguise) - harsh.

8. Lost 4 1/2 more pounds which is a miracle cause dieting has been difficult being away from work and some social events compounding that. Still onwards and downwards.

10% Passed

Well, after about 8 weeks I reached my first milestone at Weight Watchers. The first success marker is loosing 10% of your current weight which for me was a 28lb reduction. By some unbelievable chance of luck / effort / excersise I have managed to loose 5lb this week, taking me past 28lb and putting me firmly with a loss of 30lb.

I was very nervous to be honest. Friday night I went out with a friend to a local pub and had several pints. It was a great night but unfortunatley when I returned I lost my resolve and ended up stuffing my face with 3 Bagels and chocolate spread. This blew my prep for the night high and sky.

However, with help from Em, I simply took the extra points from the next day (this was 11 points taken from 33 immediatley), and 2 1/2 from Sunday - plus excersise on Sunday and Monday and I seemed to have pulled it back. Tonight I had kept several points back for a beer night with an old friend in Ipswich. However this didn't transpire but enjoyed a night in with Em, a plate of not so healthy food, some home made trifle and a bottle of wine.

Suffice to say I am stuffed. But tommorow I am back on the diet, more excersise, and now aiming to reduce 10% of 18 stone (my first 10% from 20 stone) to the goal of 16, 3. The lightest I ever have been in 5 years is 16, 9. So getting there will be a personal and significant achievement.

Good whipping

I made emma a trifle tonight to cheer her up.
The process involved whipping double cream - at this point its worth nothing my direct would restrict me from having any of it.

Anyway, I wondered why whipped cream goes thick in the first place so looked up the answer. (Ps - its also 03.22 am and I just cannot sleep. Heck, I may actually work soon).

Here is the answer.....

The mixing process creates air bubbles in the cream and as the cream is whipped the fat is distributed among the air bubbles, which causes them to stick together and create foam. The fat particles must be cold for them to stick together.

Po, Fizz and Cbeebies (not forgetting Bridget)

Hi

I found this following link by chance. I was watching Bridget Jones (Edge of Reason) when I saw one of the Cbeebies presenters as a small part in a Korean Jail Cell (or something like that). I looked up and found it was Pui Fan Lee.....

I then learnt that Pui (on the left is also)......... Fizz from the tweenies....

















Not only that, she is also................... PO



Apparently, if you know the tellytubbies at all, Po can be heard counting in Cantonese which is not surprising given the actress. Champion

Max the Giant

Here is a picture of Max that I took yesterday, I though it was quite cool, and ever so slightly mad.......

Blickling

Went to our usual haunt of blicking today (Sunday). Nice walk but as we neared it we feared that the tea room was closing at 4pm and we had missed it.

However, we arrived at 3.56pm and there was loads of people there and they were still serving, so I thought it was good we weren't turned away. Here are a couple of photos (of the grounds and lake, not the busy tea room of course):

The Quiet Zone Part II

I sat on the train again today IN THE QUIET ZONE.
Man, it makes me angry.

The inspector came along and said "OOOh, double whammy". Not having a clue what he was on about I questioned him, something like "Eh? What? Eh?"

He explained that because I was in the "QUIET ZONE", I was not allowed to use my mobile or my laptop. He went to great pains to explain not even a personal stereo is allowed. I explained the sound on the laptop was off, that the keys could not be heard and the phone was on silent.
His reply (he was very nice about it to be fair) was that no electrical equipment is allowed in the "Quiet Zone". Sorry, Quiet Zone my ar**.....

How farsicle is this. So, even though I am being quiet and someone with a newspaper is making more noise rustling, or someone coughing, I am castagated because its "electronic".
I told him I thought this was stupid but was polite back.

I now intend to write to One indicating my annoyance at this. The only reason this is a quiet coach is because ONE recently aquired new rolling stock, and although I cannot prove it, I am sure that they simply didn't remove the labels etc.

Quite annoying, quite irritating, rather farsical and just damn stupid......