Rob's Rambling » Personal

4 Hour Body: Day 3

Rob — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:01:52 +0000

It's Day 3 and so far I haven't grown tired of anything on the 4HB - the recipes are many and the food is pretty good (Not sure if it'll continue like that but I guess we'll see)

I'm getting into the routine of everything now - wake up 6:30 (which I would anyway), drink +- 1l cold water, cook breakfast, eat breakfast.

I've decided to measure every two days rather than every week as I know how low my tolerance is for this sort of thing - I need frequent reminders or I'm simply going to stop.

I'm feeling better than I have for a while which is nice and I've stopped having the urge to snack (because I'm eating SO FREAKIN' MUCH).

In other news, I went for my first run-around-the-block yesterday and it nearly killed me! I stopped exercising about 8 months ago and this is the first real bit I've done since then.

Holy crap, I am unfit! I'm aiming to do this around 3 times a week until I can handle longer distances so look forward to many blog posts about how sore I am.

I am an exercising baby at this stage.

So, on to the good, the bad and the ugly. Measurements!

July 28

Weight: 84.5

BMI: 25.0

L Bicep: 35

R Bicep: 35.5

Waist: 97

Hips: 99

L thigh: 56

R thigh: 56

Total: 374.5

That's right baby - down all over the place At the moment I'm skeptical and unsure if the gains will stay or not. I also really need to find a way to do body fat measurements.

I will start replacing some of the weight loss with muscle building soon so I don't expect to see such drastic changes in weight over the whole course but as Tim says - Inches (CM) are what counts!

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4 Hour Body: Day 1

Rob — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 19:50:26 +0000

So, after having looked at a number of diets, plans and so forth, I've settled on the Four Hour Body that Tim Ferris is behind.

It sounds interesting, touting high-protein, low carbs and some quite interesting ideas.

Measurement is important to the 4 Hour Body and since I do so enjoy seeing actual physical results, I'm glad to have something to compare with.

Measurements cover:

BMI
Weight (once a week)
TC (total centimeters)
Some other more technical ones that I don't have access to yet.

So, here are today's figures:

July 25

Weight: 88.5 kg

BMI: 26.1

L bicep: 35

R bicep: 35.5

Waist: 97

Hips: 100

L thigh: 58

R thigh: 58

Total: 383.5

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Setting some personal goals

Rob — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:33:27 +0000

Hi, my name's Rob and I'm an IT guy. I'm pretty good at it actually and I'm continually exercising my mind with new coding so that's all good.

Unfortunately, I'm beginning to adopt what I will delicately put as the "typical IT guy" physique and that just won't do. So, personal goals then - which I need to do my damnedest to stick to.

Do 50-100 pullups by month end (I'm not going to limit myself to 3 minutes, that's for insane people like Norio)
Lose between 0.5 and 1.0KG / week for the month of July (new goals to follow in August)
Cut down calorie intake per day by 1000 for July, 1500 for August, 2000 for September
Maintain list of measurements (starting 11/07/2011)

Comments? Crits? Encouragement? Hit up the comments.

That's it, simple and easy. Now we see if I can stick to it. Time to start removing the insulation from my abs

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Incredible Connection are idiots

Rob — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:59:23 +0000

The avid reader will notice a trend with most of my blog posts.

I choose an idiot and I blog about them. It's a simple formula and the subjects usually provide themselves pretty easily. I don't think anyone would argue that there's a dearth of idiocy around.

Today it's Incredible Connection.

I guess it's partially my own fault for using them in the first place but dammit, they were cheap.

I bought a laptop from them 8 months ago and it's been something of a problem child. I've already had to send it through for a hard drive replacement and now the bloody power supply has packed up.

I (being the naïve customer that I am) thought this would be a trivial thing to fix.

I'd bring my charger in, they'd verify it was broken and give me one of the many they have in stock.

The first two steps were right on the money but that's where it all goes wrong.

What actually happened after the charger was verified as broken is it was taken away and sometime on Monday or Tuesday it will be sent to Joburg.

Then in a few days another technician will look at my still broken charger, verify that it's still broken and send a request for a new one when he has a spare moment.

In 15 working days, I should have a charger.

Now, do Incredible Connection offer a spare from one of their many? No.

Do they have any sympathy for the fact that my laptop battery doesn't last 15 days? No.

Do they actually give a toss that instead of a laptop I have now got a very expensive paperweight? No.

The singularly unhelpful technician who shrugged when I asked what I should do with my laptop for 15 days really helped.

What a terrific way to piss off a customer.

Congratulations, R300 worth of charger has cost you any future business and any residual goodwill I may have had.

Idiots.

© Rob for Rob's Rambling, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: idiots, incredible connection, laptop, warranty

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The End of Lost (spoilers)

rob — Mon, 24 May 2010 21:27:54 +0000

At the moment I'm a little torn. I'm not sure whether to feel upset or happy but I'm guessing it'll settle on a mixture of both.

On one hand, I don't feel as screwed over as the Wachowski Wangs made me feel. But on the other, I'm left with a sort of empty feeling.

Was this really the best way they could think of to end Lost? I mean yes, technically Lost (and the events on the island) were not purgatory but cutting it that fine and making the flash sideways purgatory is a little much don't you think?

Purgatory was discussed (and dismissed if I recall) quite some time ago so it's not like the guys didn't have enough time to think up an alternate ending or two.

Eh, my brain is all over the place here so here's a quick and easy summary. I'll need to watch this again before I have a final judgement.

The Good

Oh, how fuzzy did I feel to see them all sitting in the church together? It was heartening. And seeing Sun and Jin get their memories back must have been one of my favourite moments on TV.

Kate shot the smoke. Hell yeah.

Seeing Bernard and Rose again? Priceless. I totally forgot about them!

The gut-wrenching feeling when LockeSmokey threathened Rose and Bernard. Every time he pulls that knife man... every time!

The Bad

Essentially, nothing is really resolved besides the most recent of questions. Yes, there are answers to questions that can be inferred but just once it would be nice to have something given to you by the people over at Lost.

It was purgatory all along. (You damn dirty apes!)

Shitbrick. 6 years? I feel a little robbed. Two, maybe three seasons and I'd be happy but 6?

The Ugly

Locke's feet. I mean really. I know it's not nice to mock the crippled but they were nasty.

The lovey-dovey feeling of everything. Ick. I'm a sucker for a good bit of love but I don't think it should be used as a kind of modern day Deus ex machina. It pissed me off in Harry Potter and it pissed me off tonight.

Vincent. Fucking Vincent didn't get to go to heaven? Damn that sucks. If there was ever a definition of a good dog...

That's not nearly all but it's all I have time to think about now. I need to go through the last episode and rewatch as well as the (probably excellent) Lost Journey video.

Thanks for the ride Lost, it was super. Regardless of how you ended, I think this is definitely one for the record books.

Still firmly a Lost fan,

Rob

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Bad Movies (Part 1)

rob — Thu, 20 May 2010 21:52:51 +0000

When I work I inevitably watch bad movies. It helps me pass the time and I know I don't have to spare too much attention in order to get by.

So far I've had:

Deep Blue Sea - 5/10 Terrible plot, horrible CGI but Samuel L Jackson has a great moment.
Screamers - 3/10 Horrible plot. I mean truly horrible.

Did you know Screamers actually has a semblance of a plot? It's a terrible plot to be sure but it is there.

I think next I'll tackle Tremors 1 - 4.

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I’ve learned two things

rob — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:02:13 +0000

I don't need anything more than 4 hours of sleep a night. Kick ass.

It's taken me a while to arrive at this conclusion because it takes some time to form the effective habits that allow me to do this. Now I manage another 6 hours of work every night. How awesome is that?

2. Someone, someday is going to murder the people on "What Not to Wear".

Seriously. They're offensive, they're assholes and someone is going to kill them one day. It won't be me because I am impeccably dressed but it'll be someone, someday.

Now however, it's 2:54 am and I'm going to sleep, work done.

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Kicking my own ass today

rob — Sun, 09 May 2010 11:00:27 +0000

So, I've been working on and off on a number of sites that are my own personal projects (as if I didn't have enough to do).

Lately though, I've been slacking a little - hence the stagnation that is BlogNation.co.za. No more of that though. This is the time that I've started working.

I even have the help (and the blessing) of my dear wife who has promoted understanding that I'm just not going to be able to go to bed before 2am every night.

I can survive on 4 hours of sleep - I know I can, I've done it before. And actually, I'm quite proud of how it's been going.

BlogNation is now finally almost production ready. Something for me to throw around the internets. If it works, that's great. If not - then at least I tried and I learned a bunch of things.

Wish me luck. Rollercoaster ride over.

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So, I need to become a billionaire.

rob — Sat, 01 May 2010 10:34:00 +0000

billionaire ( ) n. A person whose wealth amounts to at least a billion dollars, pounds, or the equivalent in other currency.

I decided last night that I need to become a billionaire. It's not all that crazy is it?

Well, perhaps just a little. Still, it gives me something to aim for. I'll grant that it may have had something to do with watching Iron Man 2 last night but I think the point still stands.

I'm 27 now, I'll probably live to be around 75, I'll work till I'm 65. I'm a teacher earning a teacher's salary. So that's not going to work.

Plan B then.

I do so love Plan B.

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Jazzed

Rob — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 18:21:22 +0000

Sitting here at Smokey Swallows, I'm somehow reminded of being at the concert of an aging rockstar. Interesting, a little syncopated and just a touch too loud.

Generally speaking, I love jazz and this is no exception. These guys are good, heavy even. If I were the type I would even be tempted to call them hip cats.

It's really not their fault the venue is a bit too small - with the result that I'm forced to invent a new word "jazzed". Meaning I'm being jazzed to my gills, like having little jazz nails hammered into my skull.

Perhaps wine would be a good accompaniment.

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