14 years ago, my smokin’ hot wife, Cyndi, and I were married. It has been a wild exciting ride up to now, and I hope for many many more. Did I mention she’s hot?
21 July 2012 — Walmer Castle
In July 2012, we took an afternoon and went to Walmer Castle. As English Heritage Members, we were able to go for free–well, once we paid our membership that is. Walmer Castle is famous for several reasons; however, in my mind, the most famous thing is that the Duke of Wellington (the same guy who invented Wellington Boots).
The castle itself was really well designed and looked neat. While it wasn’t classic castle, it was well preserved. It was shorter–more fort-like–but had what used to be a moat. It also had incredible gardens.
The gardens were wonderful to walk through. The flowers were very pretty, and the greenery was–well–green. If you want to see the pictures we took, have a look at our flickr set for Walmer Castle.
The Biggest Loser xBox 360 Game
Last January (Jan 2012), I had to return to the US for a couple of weeks for my grandpa’s funeral–I can’t believe I didn’t blog about that. While I was there, I bought several things to bring back. One of those things was The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout for xBox with Kinect. I never opened it (and had forgotten about it until I was looking through where I had hidden the kid’s and Cyndi’s Christmas presents). Today was my first time using it.
After some fiddly setup (be prepared for about 30 minutes of “stuff”), I was ready for my first workout. However, before I could start, it did a short body analysis. I entered my weight, the game had me face the Kinect, pause, then turn to the side, and pause. I was ready to work out.
First off, I am way out of shape. I knew I wasn’t in the best shape; however, I didn’t think I was this out of shape. After all, I used to ride my bike thousands of miles a year (and had even done two centuries). Wow.
On to the good:
- The workouts are good. My heart rate was up the entire 30 minutes
- There’s good customization. I was able to tell it my weight goal, select a time-frame, enter how many times a week to work out, and choose my workout duration.
- Having the kinect see the entire body allows the game to give you good feedback: knees up, too wide, and that sort of thing
- I liked the fact that it measured my waist, height, neck, etc… with nothing more than me removing my shirt.
Now for the bad:
- When I laid on the ground, the kinect didn’t track me so good. Although, to be fair, I think this may be related to available space more and position more than anything
- It didn’t always track my movements right. For example, in typical computer fashion, it told me to widen my lunge; however, when I widened it by more than an inch, it said too wide. In some exercises, it is very “computer picky.”
Now, this was only my first workout. Overall, I think it went well. I told it I wanted to do 4 per week. I’ll use it for this week then post a follow-up.
Getting Ready for Prague — Day 1 of 101
Yesterday, I blogged about how I wanted to loose 10kg before Cyndi and I went to Prague. Well, I need to loose 13kg now. This morning when I stepped on the scales, I weighed 113kg. Can you believe it?! 249lbs. Wow.
Anyway, here’s a link to my fatsecret journal for today, 2 Jan 2013. Just a reminder, the eating will be a day behind…if I can record what I eat. It may or may not be totally accurate.
I also worked out this morning using an xBox game: The Biggest Looser Ultimate Workout. I’ll blog later today about what I think about it.
[Update 2013-01-02 06:38:38] My review of The Biggest Looser Ultimate Workout is posted here.
Image from Mrs. Magic via flickr
Isaac and his pushbike
For Christmas, we Isaac’s grandpa and grandma got Isaac a pushbike. 2 reasons: 1) he outgrew his kid plastic push scooter thing and 2) we thought it would make an easier transition to a real bike. He loves it, and he’s getting good at it. This picture is him coming down the “big hill” by our place.
Weightloss
While Cyndi and I were in the states 1.5 years ago, I gained a ton of weight. Over the past year, I lossed that. Before Christmas, I weighed 110 kg. That is about 242lbs. I want to be about 190-195 (call it 90-95kg). The least I ever weighed while cycling was right around 205lbs. Cyndi and I have a trip planned to Prague in April. My goal is to be 10kg down by then…about 100kg. I’ll be keeping my fatsecret profile up to date with my weight.
Image from puuikibeach via flickr
2013!
How to Sharpen the Mind
Nordic Track for Sale
I’m selling a Nordic Track Ski Machine. I have two (plus one more in the US). If you are looking for a great way to loose weight or get in shape this new year, this is the way. I’m selling it on Ebay…check out my Nordic Track auction here. More pictures are here.
Webstats and Privacy
In this post, I talk, briefly, about the 4th Amendment and how the government thinks it has a right to any data you’ve shared with anyone. In today’s digital age, this doesn’t make any sense. I put documents on my Amazon Drive, mark them private, and expect they will stay only with me. Some people do the same with Google Documents or Dropbox. I send email today instead of writing paper letters. The government thinks they should be able to see that information since you’ve “shared” it with someone (in this case, you’ve shared it with the service provider).
Anyway, I’ve started pulling my information back in to my own hosting. That way, what is mine is mine; however, I’m sure the government doesn’t see it that way. Part of that was evaluating webstats. Currently, I use google analytics; however, I’m thinking about moving away from that.
I’ve used awstats in the past–way in the past when I ran my own website at home. I started looking at it again, found these instructions, and decided to give it a go. I’m happy to report that they seem to be working well. I’ll give it to the end of Jan then look at ditching google analytics.
Oh, yes I know there have been some improvements; however, it is clear the government thinks it should have access to your information instead of assuming it does not. If you need yet another reason you should fear the government and work to restrict its size and scope here you’ve got it.
Image from wallyg via flickr