Login
Search
Links
Tags
apple art avr bangkok bike canon centennial park dav3 drive email fail feedback food funny howto hua hin humour inspirational international iphone iphoto kick boxing language license lyrics malaysia map micro muay thai music osx photo photos phuket rant review ride shopping singapore squash sydney test thailand tip travel ubuntu video walk wordpress woy woy youtubeArchives
- January 2012 (4)
- October 2011 (3)
- September 2011 (9)
- August 2011 (11)
- July 2011 (2)
- June 2011 (7)
- January 2011 (1)
- September 2010 (4)
- August 2010 (4)
- July 2010 (10)
- May 2010 (1)
- April 2010 (1)
- October 2009 (1)
- September 2009 (2)
- July 2009 (2)
- June 2009 (4)
- March 2009 (1)
- January 2009 (1)
- November 2008 (2)
- October 2008 (1)
- September 2008 (4)
- August 2008 (1)
- April 2008 (8)
- March 2008 (8)
- February 2008 (11)
- January 2008 (16)
- December 2007 (1)
- May 2007 (2)
- March 2007 (1)
- December 2004 (1)
Recent Activity
Monthly Archives: April 2008
I’m going to Singapore
I have never been overseas (unless you count going to Tasmania overseas, but most people don’t – self included). But I have a good friend in Singapore who I have been wanting to go and visit over there. He is originally from Australia and has been working there now for a few years and he comes home all the time, but I’ve never made the trip there.
Last Friday week ago Jetstar announced a new service from Melbourne to Singapore via Darwin. As an introductory offer they opened the service at $200 each way. The problem is, I don’t live in Melbourne, I live in Sydney! So I needed to find a way to get to Melbourne, I opted for Jetstar again and found a $110 return fare Sydney to Melbourne.
With all fees, taxes and tariffs, the whole trip is costing ~$550 RETURN!
So I have to fly from Sydney to Melbourne, tinker around for a few hours and then fly from Melbourne to Darwin… Off the plane again for a couple of hours and then on to Singapore. Now, it sure is going to take longer than flying straight from Sydney to Singapore, BUT it’s almost half price… And we get to stretch our legs a couple of times along the way, so for me, I think it’s a fair call.
I have to admit, we’re both amazed that so many people who know have been there, and give it a few weeks and so too will we
BTW, the map at the top is for a friend who’s coming as well… He made the admission the other day that he doesn’t even know where it is! :-S
2008-04-25
I had another game of squash today, I have found it hard to get back into the fitness groove lately, but squash is easy. I love the game, it kills me, but I love it. We played for almost 2 hours today! Only about 10 games. I prefer playing handouts, the new international rules make games go too quick.
I played a friend who I rarely beat… We played a few weeks ago and played 16 sets and I only got 4 off him. And it was only at the end of each 4 games when he was tired that I got one from him.
But today started off with a bang. I got 2 sets from the outset! I wanted to go home then, but he wouldn’t let me :-P. Towards the end of the second set he was getting a bit gnarly and decided to clonk me in the head with his racket. I tell you what, a squash racket in the head puts you on your arse pretty quickly. I dropped real quick. I recovered well, and took the final 2 points I needed to get the set, but then couldn’t find the groove again.
I was feeling a bit off, but at the end of the day he is a much better player than me. The thing is, he makes me work hard… Work REAL hard for those hours.
We’re pretty closely matched. Today we played many sets where we were stuck on 2 points for handout after handout. And we had about 4 games where we went over the 9 points to finish the game. 1 game went to him at 13-11.
It’s a good game.
2008-04-22
I have not done any exercise or walking for a long time, over 2 weeks (there was one night I did a small amount of gym work, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I bugged out early…)
Mum was in town, so I took an early mark from work and we went out to dinner in Surrey Hills. And on the way back I thought I would take her for a short jaunt around Central. All up, not quite 6km.
LCD, or two?
™
™
™trademark of respective companies
I only went for a short walk to Moore Park (2.2km) today because I wanted to see what was out there in LCD land. So I paid a visit to Bing Lee, Dick Smith PowerHouse and Harvey Norman… I think I have found the one I will buy, it’s the Samsung “SyncMaster 245B”, features a resolution of 1920×1200 and a 5ms refresh. It only has DVI and VGA inputs (why is it so hard to find dual DVI inputs?). So, I have contacted my bank and I am upping the limit on my credit card – Australians LOVE credit…
Well, I do :-)
All 24″ varieties were very expensive at these stores, the cheapest of which was around $750. The Samsung though was $999. A little out of my price range. Although a quick search on StaticIce (link) found many places selling these little BIG beauties from as low as $530…
One place would even sell them from little more than $500 if purchased with a new system. I don’t need a new system… Or do I??
That’s almost 2 for the price of 1! Maybe I should buy 2 :-)
2008-04-08
I had another game of squash planned for today, but the guy I was to play didn’t recall that we’d made a pact to do such… and he’d already settled into a couple of beverages and so it would have been a little unfair to do it to him.
So instead, I troddled on down to the gym in my building complex. It’s not too bad, a rowing machine would really spruce the place up, but beggars can’t be choosers. I only did another short workout, 13 minutes on a stepping type machine (i don’t know the name of one machine from another… it wasn’t actually steps, but more like a “cyclic walker”???) and 10 minutes on an electronic bicycle.
I have to admit, these cycles aren’t too bad, almost as good as the rower, but it’s not… The rowing machine is my favourite. The cycle machines hurt your butt! Maybe that’s only a problem if you have a big butt, or something.
I did a little over 20 minutes, but I was sweating profusely today. The place isn’t too greatly ventilated, and the sweat was literally dripping of me (I mean, how else does it come off you?). I went back up to my place for a shower and fell asleep instead.
I was woken by a friend that reminded me we were having dinner tonight at “Taylors On Central”. I had steak (and chips)… tisk tisk… And two glasses of soda water. So upon coming home I donned the workout gear and back to the gym. Only another 20 minutes, pretty much the same routine.
But then I did something I have NEVER done before, or at least it feels that way… I WENT FOR A SWIM!
I only did half a dozen laps, but that’s half a dozen more than I have done in the last 10 years. I HATE swimming, but recognise it is an exercise that is low impact, so I should try and get into it. I don’t see it myself, but we can only wait and see.
Weight wise, I started this phase on Sunday 6th April 2008 at 95.6kg. This morning I weighed in at 94.8kg. almost 1 kg in 3 days. Tonights meal is not going to help matters too much, but we can’t eat healthy ALL the time.
We have to be realistic. :-)
2008-04-07
I played a game of squash with Woodsy today. A tall bastard with the reach of inspector gadget. I don’t know why I play him… Yes I do, because he kills me… Literally
He wipes the floor with me, but today I had a reprieve. He had a visitor from out of town so we played 2 on, 1 off. The sitting off never lasted long, but it was a break none-the-less. And this other guy gave Woodsy a run for his money. I don’t think he dropped a set all day, but I got close :-)
So we were on the courts for almost 2 hours and it was good. On the way home I stopped off at the Strawberry Hills hotel for a $5 steak (and a soda water). Considering these meals are so cheap, they are of exceptional quality. I have paid 2, 3 and even 4 times that for a steak of a much lesser standard. If you are ever in Sydney and like a simple meal (I mean, it’s can’t be too complicated for $5), then drop into the Strawberry Hills hotel on Devonshire Street. The serve meals til late. This almost feels like a shameless advertisement, but it isn’t. I have no vested interest in the place, other than the occasional meal.
Then after getting home, having a shower and getting changed, I decided to go to the gym at work and start and get all sweaty again. 15 minutes on the rowing machine which equated to about 3km. I then jumped on one of the computerised cycles and did another 10 minutes there. I raised a sweat, but I probably should have raised more…
next time…
2008-04-06
And what a start today was. It always seems to be the way that it is much easier for me to go for one of my walks when I find a purpose to it.
Todays purpose was a computer fair at Kensington… So into my walking shoes I jump and off I go.
The fair was less than 5km away, but going on to the beaches after it and doing the coastal walk from South Coogee to Bondi. Once there, that almost made 15km, so a bus ride was required for the trip home ;-)
Phase II
Today marks the start of Phase II. Phase I went well maxing out at a 12kg loss, but sliding back down to only 10kgs at the end of 3 Months. I’d lost 12kg in the first two months and in the last month I put 2 back on.
January was a GREAT month and February wasn’t too bad, but March just saw me falling back into my old ways… bad bad March
April is the new January. Back to doing all the things I need to do:
Exercise… eating well… and the hardest part, cutting back on the grog. April is supposed to be alcohol free, so [fingerscrossed], let the games begin
Posted in weightloss
Leave a comment