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Well, it seems all I’ve been doing lately is posting about movies, books or food. Hah! Well I thought I would post a little about life for the last month or so. Things have been busy busy busy. I feel like I am on the go non stop day in day out. It feels like I haven’t taken a breath and rested for more than 20 seconds for the whole month and it doesn’t look to change much at all for the next week or so.

I’ve had the bike for just on a month now, (been riding for 10 weeks now and I think I can cross it off my bucket list as I know how to ride now). I am getting more and more confident each time I get on the bike and don’t in any way regret any decision to buy it. It was well worth the investment, even though I have fallen off it about a billion times already.

It feels good sometimes to get out and ride but I am still not at the point where I am able to switch off and do things instinctively like I can with my running. When I run at the moment, my brain switches off. I am able to just run and run without thinking, my brain goes off and I can relax I guess you could say. With riding I have to constantly think about what I’m doing, concentration is always at a peak. But I guess with that it means that my heart rate stays up there and it means I can burn a hell of a lot more calories (11k ride on Sunday morning burnt like 1200 calories which is roughly 2/3 of a daily intake).

In life outside of the bike, work has been pretty good, but I have been having to focus pretty damn hard, make sure I am getting every single booking and every single dollar so that I can make my goal of top consultant. As of this morning I was sitting in first place but I am holding onto that position by the skin of my teeth ($60.. yes that’s right $60). I have to work my butt off to stay in first place and the thing is, It is going to take major effort to stay there.

The trip planning is pretty much done now. I have like 2 things left to organise but they both can’t be done till very last minute (JR Pass and rail in France both don’t allow bookings till like 2 months prior) so you could say I am pretty much done. I have to organise some insurance thanks to lovely difficulties I am having with my current policy (won’t cover me due to a clause on the length of trip) so after the Travel Expo on Sunday I am hoping to have this all worked out. With the Trip pretty much done all that’s left in my check list is really to organise the spending money, insurance and those train bookings and its all done, and with less than 3 months to go, I would have to say its all going to go swimmingly.

What more can I say. It has been a pretty full on last month or so, and with more full on times coming I don’t see things quieting down any time soon. I travelled to Canberra for a weekend last month to catch up with Stuart, Michelle and see Daniella again which was an awesome weekend. Qantas stuffed me around on the way home and still haven’t given me the credit that I wanted for the flights (giving up on that I guess). Next weekend (easter) is going to be some fun travelling. I might post about it just before I go but will be doing some travelling for the hell of it and acting like a Plane nut for the first time in a while (essentially flying to Sydney for Anzac Day via New Zealand).

Guess I should probably get back to work now… slacked off enough

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Well i alluded to this in my last post but the last 6 weeks or so I have been learning to ride a bike. But the whole aim was to learn to fully ride a bike. Part of that process means if I am going to learn I am going to need something to learn on, I can’t keep relying on someone else to provide me with a bike to practice on or do my lessons. So with this in mind I did a bit of research, took lots of advice from professionals and from friends and I pulled the plug.

I bought a bike!!! Yep thats right a 2 wheeled, human powered mode of transportation. Now this may not sound as like exciting news but considering this is my first EVER bike and im almost 30 years old, its a big deal to me. Unlike most people I never had a bike as a child. I was never taught to ride as a child and never given a bike by my parents, so I never learnt to appreciate what its like to have that ability to get places quickly and easily unless i was walking.

But I am really excited at the process of learning to ride. The more I learn the more confident I get and the better I feel. I dunno if I am gonna be hitting mountain trails or anything yet, but at the moment my little goal is 2 things:
1. Do a River Ride around the city (i think its like 40km or so)
2. Ride a Bike overseas while on my holiday
It sounds kinda silly but the most daunting part of this is making sure I am confident enough to not want to die when I get on the bike. At the moment I have a habit of focusing on things while I am riding, like this morning, was trying to thread a bit of a path between a rubbish bin and a pole. So i was doing as instructed, focus on where I want to go, don’t focus on what I want to avoid. So i was looking at the gap, looked at the bin, looked at the gap, looked at the bin, o that bins getting awfully close, clang! Handle bars hit the bin lid. WOOPS!

But enough about me learning to ride, what about the bike. Well I followed some advice from my trainer and other people and looked into a mountain bike. But not a full on moutain bike. Matt & the boys at Avanti Plus Fortitude Valley really looked after me. They really knew what to recommend to me for someone who is looking for a decent first bike. They gave me two options.
Avanti Agressor 1
Avanti Agressor 2
Both are Hardtail Mountain bikes. So that just means they only have Front Shocks rather than both Front and Rear. So good for both general riding but then if I do decide to go off road (which eventually i do want to learn and try it out cause it seems like fun).

I looked at both bikes, not much different between the two, with the Agressor 2 having the better parts (both have the same frame). So thats what I went with. In the long run the bike will do me better. Rather than spending less now and then having to go for that bike in the future, it is more logical (damn my logical focused brain) to buy it now. So i bought the bike and now I just need to get some roof racks for the car, cause my car is a bit small and the bike takes up 2/3 of the car when in it. So once I have that I will be all kitted out for the moment (will eventually need to get some lights for it if i ride in the dark etc but for the moment, i don’t really need them as I wont be riding in the dark).

So if anyone wants to go for a nice easy ride sometime, let me know, im still learning remember!

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So as you know i have been wanting to work on some of my fears this year and conquer little things before I go off travelling this year. Lots of little adventures rather than one big one like Kokoda. Most people know I have been learning to ride a bike but I will leave that for another post another day. Lets go over one of the other things I have been working on. Getting over my fear of Rollercoasters. I have always had the fear, but my size just gave me an easier excuse, one that meant i didn’t have to admit I had a fear.

The thought of putting myself into the rollercoaster, where I was at risk of dying (or so my mind told me) was just over powering. But because the harnesses wouldn’t fit me, I didnt have to worry about it. But now that there is the new sized mal, I don’t have that excuse anymore. I can fit in the harness, so now I either admit I have a fear of something so silly, or I work through it. I won’t say that I will ever be not afraid of them, but hell, I will be able to go on them without turning into a heaping mess.

I think this last weekend has done some good that way. With a group of friends heading up from interstate wanting to hit the theme parks for a weekend, and my friend Daniella visiting from Germany it was a perfect chance to work on this fear. So i told my friends, do not give me an excuse to not go on a ride. I can’t say no to any ride (although I should of said no to the lethal weapon cause my head still hurts). So saturday rolled around, we hit movieworld and first up was Batwing Spaceshot. Like a reverse Giant Drop. You get shot up and then fall back down again. It was ok, line was mega short (we were on pretty much straight away). I was nervous as you would expect, but I sucked it up. Getting shot up was ok, it was those few seconds of weightlessness as you come back down again that freaked me out! They seemed to last for ever!!

Next up, Superman the Escape. A traditional rollercoaster (no loops thank god). Pretty fast from when you see it, but the line was huge (pretty much an hour wait). But I tell you what, the speed didnt affect me much. It was the drops. God damn they were high and they were STEEP! looking down at that hill just scared the crap out of me!

After that we did Lethal Weapon. This is the one that freaked me out the most. It has loops, and thats one thing I have never really liked. Going upside down has always freaked me out. So my friends dragged me on it. They failed to warn me that I was going to be thrown about inside the seat like a pin ball with my head banging side to side constantly. Hurt like a sun of a bitch! Scooby Doo coaster was the last of the big ones that I had to combat and it was so much fun, loved every minute of it.

Then after night out on the town on the Coast saturday night and finding out that I am a Cadbury now (2 drinks and i was fucked!). Daniella & I went to Seaworld on sunday. She had told me she wanted to swim with dolphins while she was over here and since they offer it at Seaworld, I thought, why the hell not. So I did it to! Amazing experience, words can’t describe how much fun it is. Then we had a good chance to check out all the stuff at Seaworld before spending an afternoon over riding the Jet Rescue Coaster 4 times in a Row. Love that rollercoaster. So much fun. Its fast and it flicks you side to side, curve after curve, awesome!

So all in all, it was an awesome weekend. I loved it! Definately put a good dint in that fear. I don’t think i will ever be able to get rid of that fear, but it sure wont control me now thats for sure.

Theme Park Weekend

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What a day to be an avgeek (Aviation Geek). Two big things happened today that both happened before I even got to work.

First thing to happen was the final launch of the Shuttle Discovery. Shuttle Discovery took off this morning (our time anyway) for its final flight into Space. Off to the ISS it goes to deliver its last payload of random stuff to help the station but I tell you what, it is an impressive site. STS 133 headed into the bright blue sky trailing a massive fireball behind it. Seeing that launch live on CNN this morning just made me want to see one in real life, but unfortunately that just won’t happen as I am pretty sure there are not enough shuttle launches left.

What I have done though is added to the bucket list. I wanna see a Space Launch of some kind. Be it rocket or the new replacement to the shuttle, I wanna see that plume of flame launch into the sky, see the smoke trail behind it as it reaches for the heavens. It would be a site I wanna see, just once in my life in real life.

The 2nd big thing today was the US Air Force finally deciding on a tanker to replace their ageing fleet of KC-135’s. These tankers have been flying since the 50s. I mean seriously there are planes their with more hours than some United Flight Attendants (inside Avgeek joke), but the journey to this day has been an epic feat of stupidity. Backwards and forwards, claims of corruption and mishandling. Stupid moves made by not only the companies involved but also the US Government. I mean seriously who takes a freaking decade to make a decision on an aircraft that is essentially an airliner (767/A330 in this case) with a hose out the back.

So Boeing won the contract (first time around it was EADS, then it got contested) with their Bid of a Tanker based on a 767. Only time will tell how long and if this contract ever goes ahead. Personally i give it a week before the problems start all over again and the claims of wrong doings start to fly left right and centre. If they finally do start to build these things, it will be fantastic to see something new flying around and the chances of seeing them in Brisbane are really good as we often get them escorting over here for exercises or stopping off on their way around the world. Cross my fingers we get to see one in the next decade or so.

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Ok well most people i know, know that I don’t know how to ride a bike. As shown in the ACA interview, its something I want to conquer. Well It has begun. The big challenge for me this year. Learning to ride a bike.

Last sunday I bought my first ever helmet. It was a bit daunting as I had no idea what to do, for something so simple to. I mean its just a bike helmet. Thousands are sold world wide every day. But I had no idea what I was doing and just decided to grab what looked like a good colour, had the right standards things, and also was pretty cheap. You may now probably think “why buy something cheap to protect your head” well my thoughts at the moment are. I may not enjoy riding a bike, if I am not going to buy one, why would i need a decent expensive helmet when the plain cheap ones do the same thing. Because if I do enjoy it, then I will buy a bike and a decent helmet worth every cent. But till that time, I will just use what I have.

On Tuesday I had my first lesson with Andy. Yeah i’m back doing PT but this time only 30 mins a week and I am paying for this time. But it was good. I am slowly getting used to it. I have not yet started to pedal or anything, just slowly getting my balance on the bike, one little step at a time! I did a bit more this morning and some more tomorrow morning after i do some weights. The more I do the longer I spend, the better it will be!

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Well this weekend has been a very productive weekend. I have spent most of the time at home, but unlike last weekend where I just chilled out and did nothing, this weekend was spent being productive. Managed to get quite a bit done on the “Reflect” project. Reflect is going to be a 24 inch digital photo frame that I am giving to my parents as a gift, but the thing is, I am building it from scratch and trying to use as much stuff as i can either find or scrounge and keeping costs to absolute minimum. So far all I have had to pay for has been the framing edging (as you will see in the photos below. All the other materials have been scrounged from around the house (and some even swapped for some beer with people my dad knows). Total outlay for this project shouldnt be more than $60 or $70. I do have to buy some PC parts (being mouse, keyboard & wireless dongle) and thats where the big chunk of $$$ is going to come from.

But my dad has been helping me, guiding me on what I need to do and how to do it. But he did try and jump ahead of me by doing the major carpentary work on the box itself, which I wasn’t to happy about, but hey… what can you do.

Today also there was a new project that began, called Operation Spring Clean. Yesterday I bought a new tv after having endless problems with my Media Player & the old TV (incompatibility as the Old TV wasnt Full HD, and the Media Player wanted Full HD to work. So what do I do… I buy a new one. to be honest though, I have been looking at new tvs for months now, but every time I just dont get one, I never make up my mind. So I pulled my finger out and just did it. Picked up a Hisense 42″ LCD Full HD for $850. Very happy with it, looks awesome 😀 Would probably look better with a Blu Ray but hey, next time. Only one problem though… The size of the TV meant rearranging a lot of things to make it and the peripherals fit. It was also covering up the inspire project and that dog just wont hunt!

So Operation Spring Clean began, It meant moving up stuff in my room and cleaning up a lot of the cupboards so I could rearrange some stuff for storage. It needs to be done some time. I got most of it done (so that I can make my room habitable till tuesday) but the rest of it will be done on Tuesday afternoon, after I pick up some more storage boxes for some other stuff. (might get rid of the bowling ball in my cupboard to).

Photos so far….

Projects

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So I have come to realise over the last week that it is the little things in life that tend to make me happy. These small things, may not seem like much but when you put them all together, it makes me a happy chappy. After a week of missing some of these little things that I have grown accustomed to, i won’t be taking them for granted anymore I tell you that.

Some of the little things, that make me happy…

* A Nice, Yellow, Large Banana – It may sound silly, But I do enjoy starting the day with a Banana on my breakfast. I love the taste, the texture (even if they are a little bit over ripe) but after a week of tiny little bananas thanks to limited stocks and the shops (stupid panic buying but i won’t rant on about that) I have come to appreciate them more!.
* Music – So the gym has had no power the last few mornings, and its wierd how much you kinda forget that music usually plays in some instances in the background but you never realise just how much you miss it till its gone. Also I left my ipod at home yesterday so had a daily commute without music, wow… felt so bored even for the 10-15 mins each way.
* A Hot Shower – As above, no power at the gym the last few days, so this morning was my first hot shower this week, o my god, how good! I guess I always took it for granted, but a hot shower in the morning, after a work out is fantastic. It helps relax the muscles and helps relax me into the day.
* A moment to breath and relax – We live in a pretty fast paced world these days. Everyone seems to want things RIGHT NOW DAMMIT!, and it means that especially at work, people are not prepared to wait even a few minutes they want it now, and they want it done yesterday. So with calls on hold it feels like you don’t get a chance to even breath, you get rushed, your heart rate increases. The chances you get where you can stop for a minute, take a deep breath, calm down, and just switch off, even for 1 minute, make me happy. Hell I’ve been running round the house this morning getting stuff done quickly before i go to work in 9 minutes (shit 9 minutes!) but when i get to the train this morning, I’ll have 25 mins on the train, music in, book out, to chill out, relax and some quiet time before the world becomes crazy.

And with that… back to a crazy world…

by ·Comments Off on 2010…. What a year!

Well its always around this time of year (well normally a few days before but im giving it to you like a few hours before the end of the year) that I look back on the last year and ponder on all the good and bad things that have happened.

There hasn’t been to many bad things this last year. I mean sure I have had my bad days, where I have had my struggles but nothing royally bad has happened. I mean sure I’ve had sickness (who can forget my Malaria scare) but its been by average a pretty damn good year.

Lets look at the good things that have happened to me in 2010.

* Travelled a LOT! Pretty much spent at least once every month travelling away from Brisbane. Numerous trips to the Gold & Sunshine Coasts, be it overnight, or for the day. Visited Melbourne 3 times, Sydney & Canberra. I got to visit Norfolk Island, that was definately an experience. I also got to visit PNG but see the next point for more on that. I saw the end of one passport now that it has been cancelled. Looking back at the stamps in that passport just makes me reminisce.
* I got to trek Kokoda. I mean seriously… I never thought that would happen ever and it was probably one of my top 5 things for the year (not the top, prolly number 2). Visiting the Track was a life long dream, now come true and seriously it changed my life.
* I met some amazing new people. From all over the place, got to spend plenty of time with them and have made some fantastic new friends out of it (you guys know who you are).
* I got more and more into Twitter. After a solid year of saying “i am so not joining”, i joined in 2009 but didn’t really do to much, well that changed. In 2010 my twitterverse spread like wildfire and am now totally and utterly addicted.
* I moved into the world of Smartphones and Android. Even though i bought the phone just before the end of 2009, I hadn’t really done to much with it. Now that with 2010 fully underway I am onto my 2nd Android Smartphone and fully intertwined with connectivity. I am connected 24/7 which is probably not the best thing, but I love it!
* I got more and more into Mileage & Point Accumulation. I joined Flyertalk back at the very start of 2009 and didn’t really do to much. But the last 12 months I have been heavily looking into the best ways to get the most bang for buck out of the point programs. I have churned 2 seperate cards for points and who knows what the new year will bring with these points.

The #1 thing though of 2010.. It has to be A Current Affair and the Weight Loss. You have all seen it, you all know about it, so I don’t need to say to much about it, but over the last year so many people have given me words of encouragement and support and now this is my time to say a BIG THANK YOU! I love and appreciate you all!!

Now as we all wait for 2010 to come to a close i leave you with the parting words that have helped me all year.

“The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday”

heres to 2011 and all the fun it will bring!

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Well this post today wasn’t originally meant to be about this but will leave that post till tommorrow now, but I thought I would blog about something that happened on tuesday afternoon. I was at work and having a pretty good day to, lots of bookings and not to many problems for a public holiday (just the usual). But my vision started to go funny. Its really hard to describe what was going on but suffice it to say, it wasn’t normal.

Originally i had thought that I was having problems with my eyes and that something was up. So when my break rolled around I went and washed my face and checked my eyes in the hope it was just something in the corner of my eye. No luck, no change there. By the time i was back at my desk after heating up my lunch (break is only 10 mins) I was starting to get some pounding in my head right behind my right eye.

O dear. this was not good. I grabbed the last of the panadol out of my desk drawer (yeah i keep random stuff in my desk at work) and shoved them down my gob. Unfortunately this didn’t do much, the pain grew and grew. I had never had a headache that hurt so bad. I quickly googled migraines wondering if this is what was going on and wikipedia gave me a quick over view for what was to come. Looks like i was undergoing my first ever migraine. O dear!

I tried to push through it and stick around at work, we were getting hammered and I just didn’t want to leave, but the pain got to much to bare. So I had to leave, I got out of there quick as I could and tried to get home before I threw up my lunch (nausea was kicking in). As soon as I was at home, I pretty much just blacked out my room as much as I could and my dad went in search of something for me to get rid of the pain (eventually he returned with some stuff from the chemist) but I pretty much just hid in my room, under the covers for the next few hours.

About 3 hours & 2 panadeine later the pain had pretty much subsided back to what I would classify as a tolerable headache. I managed to drag myself out of bed, clear some stuff up and then pretty much went straight back to watch tv in the dark to let it fully subside.

I had lasted threw my first ever migraine. I had hoped that I would never get them, but i guess that just was not going to happen in my life. Now at least i know what I need to do when they happen again but I just wish i knew what caused it!

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With the Festive season in full swing, it becomes a time to reflect on the past year and look to the year ahead.

This time of year is usually full of eating, drinking and being merry. This year will be a bit of a challenge for me. Last year was a little different. I was in weightloss mode so couldnt really indulge at all, this year. Bit different. I knew i could indulge to some extent but whatever i intaked i would have to work off later. Well i didn’t do to bad really. I did gain a bit of weight but im sure thats a mixture of both christmas and muscle build. So will just be good over the next few days and make sure I get my brain back out of christmas mode and back into work mode.

Enough about that, looking into the new year (i will post about 2010 in a few days) I am going to try and make a few changes to the blog.

First thing i want to do with the blog is I am going to change the “New Mal” Category. From now on that is going to be called Adventures. Because thats exactly what the last year has been and this way i have somewhere to put all the posts about all the crazy adventures I am sure there will be over the coming years. I am also going to try and start blogging a bit more often and try to put some purpose to some of the categories I have. I get a lot of questions about how to lose weight and what i have been doing so I am going to try and share some of those tips, tricks and recipes! Now I am not going to turn this into a food blog or anything like that. It will still be about me but more about sharing some stuff that worked with me for you.

With a new year comes a new set of “resolutions.” I don’t really like the world resolution. I prefer Goals. So we all knew my goals for 2010 were pretty big, 2011 wont be as big, just more of them. So here they are!

1. Learn to Ride a Bike before I turn 30
2. Try to get over some of my fears (boats & rollercoasters/thrill rides).
3. Try to overthink things less
4. Do a pull up. Thats right just 1 pull up!
5. Finish 2011 around 90kg
6. Get back into my photography
7. Go for a hike at least 4 times during the year
8. Be the #1 Consultant at work (also a bucket list item)

These are all really achievable goals this year and I am going to try and get them all done over the next year!

Now you all know I have a bucket list. These are the things im looking at wiping off in 2011:

1. Travel Around the World in First Class
2. Fly a Plane
3. Try to get over my fear of boats
4. Try something I don’t really want to do

In the next few weeks I am going to post my Travel Bucket List for 2011. This will cover pretty much all the extra little bits and pieces that i wish to do with my travels in 2011. All those things you plan to do while you travel.

What are your goals for 2011?