As I slowly but surely approach 30 I look back at the last ten years and realise that I haven't done enough to keep fit and active. I've never really been into sports (other than cricket where you spend a lot of time just standing still) and the gym was always a major chore.
Recently however, after a bit of peer pressure I've decided to join in a weekly game of 6-a-side football with some close friends. My wife ( an avid Arsenal supporter) is thrilled to bits about it. I on the other hand; a guy who not only doesn't play football but doesn't even watch it was feeling a little worried. Would I be able to last an hour? Could I even last 5 minutes? Only one way to find out eh....
Week 1 was a killer. I was out of breath within minutes, get a stitch on my side and get a cramp in my leg. I could hardly breathe when I got home later that night.
Now in week 6 I've noticed a huge improvement in both my health and stamina and also in my ability to play the game. I'm finally starting to feel healthy again.
Totally Trollied!
On Saturday afternoon i went shopping in Tesco with my daughter. As usual, I end up with the trolley with the dodgy wheel which keeps pulling to one side - why are all the trollers at Tesco like that?
Anyway, so I'm having to walk at an odd angle and really forcing the trolley to go in a straight line to avoid smashing into the aisles and after getting a bit frustrated by my trolley I gave it a swift jerk as I walked out of the store. At this point I thought nothing of it but I could feel this sharp pain in my lower back by the time I got back to my car.
By the evening the pain grew and I could hardly stand or sit... So off to bed. I wake up on Sunday morning in the most agonising pain in my lower back. Unable to get out of bed without feeling like I'm about to die. I can't even bend down to pick my daughter up, which is pretty heartbreaking. No doubt I won't be playing football this week!
I'm loading up on Ibuprofen and applying lots of ice packs so here's to hoping I have a speedy recovery.
I guess the moral of all this is, no matter what your age and fitness level, do not take your health (and especially your back) for granted.
Monday, 26 March 2012
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Ready to snap!
No... I'm not about to lose my cool and start shouting at everyone; I'm talking about snapping photos.
I've always been a keen photographer and have spent the last couple of years snapping away in the Asian Wedding market under my company Rivaaz Photography.
As with most things though, this too has taken a bit of a back seat as of late and it wasn't until I logged into my 500px.com account this morning that I realised that I haven't picked up my camera in what seems like forever!
So this is my pledge; as part of my attempt at learning some new skills; to pick up my Canon 5D mkII again, get off my backside and take some pictures!
I've always been a keen photographer and have spent the last couple of years snapping away in the Asian Wedding market under my company Rivaaz Photography.
As with most things though, this too has taken a bit of a back seat as of late and it wasn't until I logged into my 500px.com account this morning that I realised that I haven't picked up my camera in what seems like forever!
So this is my pledge; as part of my attempt at learning some new skills; to pick up my Canon 5D mkII again, get off my backside and take some pictures!
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
The first step
Towards the end of last week, while making some small tweaks to my LinkedIn profile I came across some interesting groups for front-end developers. Several clicks later I found myself on some current job opportunities and decided to see what the general requirements are these days - the last time I applied for a job was in 2003!
It soon became pretty apparent that I was a little behind on my knowledge.
I've always thought of myself as an early adopter of new technology and trends. I follow a bunch of RSS feeds which keep me on top of what's hot and what's not, and I'm constantly 'Stumbling' to soak up some new info. However, I seem to have been left behind on a few topics which really count - such as HTML5, SASS, LESS and even some CSS3 to some extent ; topics which will benefit my portfolio and help improve my skill set.
This weekend I decided to set up a personal blog and make a conscious effort to learn some of these new skills which have passed me by. The plan is to document what I'm learning and hopefully engage in some conversations with people in a similar position along the way.
This image sums up my thoughts pretty damn well!
It soon became pretty apparent that I was a little behind on my knowledge.
I've always thought of myself as an early adopter of new technology and trends. I follow a bunch of RSS feeds which keep me on top of what's hot and what's not, and I'm constantly 'Stumbling' to soak up some new info. However, I seem to have been left behind on a few topics which really count - such as HTML5, SASS, LESS and even some CSS3 to some extent ; topics which will benefit my portfolio and help improve my skill set.
This weekend I decided to set up a personal blog and make a conscious effort to learn some of these new skills which have passed me by. The plan is to document what I'm learning and hopefully engage in some conversations with people in a similar position along the way.
This image sums up my thoughts pretty damn well!
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| via: Hannes Beer |
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Introducing.... Me
I'm testing out Blogger for the first time to see if it can become the platform of choice for my personal blog. I've used Wordpress and Tumblr in the past and they're both cool at serving their purpose I guess but WP can be a bit of a laborious task for posting things quickly; and Tumblr just doesn't have the flexibily I would like.
Could Blogger fill the void?
... Let's find out
Could Blogger fill the void?
... Let's find out
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