Getting ready for next month

Exercise bike

Well it's almost the end of January and I've managed to rise to the challenge I gave myself at the beginning of the month. I've posted to my blog at least once a day, every day! I see no reason why I can't maintain this for the next 4 days.

One of my three words is consolidate and I'll be concentrating essentially on this notion for next month.

Last year I lost over 20 kg (44 lb.) and more importantly I have maintained my new weight for over six months now. I feel really great.

I do need to further consolidate this and besides my daily walks and taking the stairs rather than escalators or elevators I still feel that more daily exercise is required although as I'm not a fitness guru I'm still a little unsure exactly what to do.

So rather than waiting and procrastinating I'm going to use what I have at my disposal.

I have an exercise bike similar to the one illustrated above, an exercise ball and some weights so I'm going to use the web to put together a daily program that I will adhere to for each and every day in February.

I hope to provide more details tomorrow. If you have any ideas please drop me a line!

It's Thursday!

Today is Thursday which means at midday I get to start on the second part of my working week! I work in IT from Monday to Thursday midday and on Thursday afternoon and all day Friday I work in my private Hypnotherapy Practice. I always look forward to this as I absolutely love working with people. I would much prefer working with people for the whole week and maybe this is where I'm heading to over the next few years.

I hope Your Thursday will be an exciting and fun filled day!

Rabbie Burns Night!

Rabbie Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796)

Today is Rabbie (Robert) Burns Night and as I lived in Edinburgh for ten years and would gladly go back and live there again, I thought it appropriate to honor this event with one of his poems.

I could, of course, have inserted "Address to a Haggis" or even Auld Lang Syne but I prefer something more romantic (It'll soon be Valentines Day)  .


"O, My Luve is Like a Red Red Rose."

O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my luve is like a melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho it were ten thousand mile!

On the move

Once a year I travel to nearby Lausanne to record my voice for an oral exam for English for foreigners. I look forward to it because it makes a nice change in my routine. So here I am! Another station and another platform.

Pully Station, Canton Vaud

Passing it on

I have many feeds that I "read" everyday but some of them stand out more than others in their relevance and scope.

If I have to pick just three people I would say Leo Babauta, Chris Brogan and Jacqueline Carly (aka Fitarella).

Leo, because he's been a long term influence over the past years. Chris because initially I was very interested in marketing and he is, in my opinion, one of the best thinkers around. For over three weeks now I must add Fitarella (it's easier to type) because she has stimulated me into action from my normally just thinking and wondering.

Here I am towards the end of January and I've posted to my blog everyday and sometimes more than once. In fact I have now posted more than the total of the last three years. Go me!

Now I am full of ideas and more importantly full of actions. It is becoming more and more important to me to start paying back and passing on rather than just passively listening.

I do it in real life with friends, colleagues and family so why not here on the web where I potentially have the biggest reach.

So thanks guys. I'll start by acknowledging my influences. Now run over to G+ (or go back if you came from there) to follow the links (it's easier than trying to do it here!

Travel plans

EasyJet

I've been planning our trip to Miami in March when we will be cruising for 11 nights in the Caribbean. Yay!

Some dear friends of ours have moved from Phoenix to North Carolina so we were looking into flights from Miami to NC but using the means at our disposition we were only able to see flights via Washington or Chicago which would mean using a full day to travel both ways and this would have seriously curtailed our visit.

We also thought of driving up and back but this is a 13-14 hour trip each way so difficult to do in one day.

In desperation we chatted with our friends over Skype and they were able to find us a direct flight from (Fort Lauderdale airport) FLL to Myrtle Beach which is just an hours drive away.

So unfortunately this sort of "local" information is often missing on the big search engines and sometimes the cheapest flights are ignored.

I am a frequent Orbitz client but was surprised that if I research a flight from Geneva to Edinburgh on their site that Easyjet isn't mentioned although it is by far the least expensive option long as you don't try at the last minute.

So we need more crowdsourcing for flights. Last word is, if you are traveling in another country it is probably a good idea to ask friends and acquaintances if they have any tips.

Incidentally, our flight from FLL to Myrtle Beach is with Spirit Airlines and we are looking forward to flying with them.

Spirit Airlines

Power tools to the rescue

My son needs a new desk but his room is quite small and his existing desk is too small for his iMac.

Today I purchased some wood and wanted it cut to my specifications to use the existing space as much as possible.

Our local store doesn't do specialist cuts so tomorrow I will have to take out the Power Saw and cut out the shape myself.

DIY is not really my thing so I hope it goes well and am crossing my fingers!

I'll probably take photos and post them here.