So I might be away for a day or twelve...
(Side note: It is actually much handier than I thought it was going to be, I can upload all my university notes as .pdf files and edit them by hand in class. It's amazing!)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Fit Ideas
The funny thing about exercise is that it's not that hard to do. A lot of times, we build it up in our heads to be this impossible, painful, agonising chore that is as much a figment of our imaginations as dragon/unicorn hybrids that breathe fire through the tip of their horn (okay, that might be a little obsessive but you get the picture, right?).
Todays post is a list of simple ideas to help you, me, that guy in Norway who occasionally stumbles online and reads this site and anyone else who is interested in being a little bit healthier.
Simple Idea #1: You're Supposed To Be Healthy
Our bodies are built to be efficient machines that work hard and recover quickly. Up until the last century or so, thousands of years passed where humans exercised their butts off just to provide the necessities (food and whatnot) just to survive and they would do it seven days a week. No weekends for cavemen! We are not made to spend days on the couch or in bed, we are made to be active, healthy individuals, it is, in rather dramatic terms, your destiny. Embrace the fact that your body is perfectly capable of standing up to rigorous exercise because that is its purpose.
Simple Idea #2: You're Supposed To Be Happy
Building on from idea #1, when you are doing what you're supposed to do, you are happy. This goes for anyone and anything. A professional cook is happy when they are cooking, a stand up comedian is happy on stage. If hammers could talk, I'm sure they'd be happy when they are hammering rebel-punk nails into submission. Therefore, if your body is built to be active and healthy, doing that will make you happy. Endorphins are the bliss inducing chemical people like to spout out here, but it's more than that- it's about the peace in knowing that you are living the way you are supposed to.
Simple Idea #3: Eating Healthy Isn't Impossible
With a plethora of fast food options on the menu and their few healthy competitors vastly overpriced, a large majority of people think eating healthy borders on the impossible. It's not. You just have to think: Fresh. Fresh food is what our heathy ancestors ate and it served them well. So next time you go to a supermarket think: 'Can I trace this food in three steps or less back to its original place in nature?'. Breads and pastas go through three steps as grain, flour then final product. Milk and butter are only a quick two steps away from the cow (as is a juicy steak). Vegetables and fruit juice are barely even a step away from their place outside. These are the foods you want to be eating. That chocolate pudding or microwave pizza, on the other hand, could be more steps than a marathon. Eat fresh and feel great.
Simple Idea #4: It's Not Easy
Ask any professional cook or hammer if they got to where they were easily. The cook will probably rant on about their years at culinary school or the overworked-underpaid apprenticeship. The hammer will probably give you something about being melted and reshaped as solid steel. Either way, just because you are supposed to do something that will make you happy doesn't make it easy. Changing a relaxing routine or swapping your favourite foods for fresher alternatives take more than a day and it's best to start slow. It's something you have to work at but it's something you'll be glad you did.
So that's my four simple ideas. Nothing too heavy but hopefully you found something thought provoking in their to ponder next time you have a long commute and left your phone at home. You're supposed to be healthy, you're supposed to be happy, eating healthy isn't impossible but it's not easy.
But it's worth it =)
Todays post is a list of simple ideas to help you, me, that guy in Norway who occasionally stumbles online and reads this site and anyone else who is interested in being a little bit healthier.
Simple Idea #1: You're Supposed To Be Healthy
Our bodies are built to be efficient machines that work hard and recover quickly. Up until the last century or so, thousands of years passed where humans exercised their butts off just to provide the necessities (food and whatnot) just to survive and they would do it seven days a week. No weekends for cavemen! We are not made to spend days on the couch or in bed, we are made to be active, healthy individuals, it is, in rather dramatic terms, your destiny. Embrace the fact that your body is perfectly capable of standing up to rigorous exercise because that is its purpose.
Simple Idea #2: You're Supposed To Be Happy
Building on from idea #1, when you are doing what you're supposed to do, you are happy. This goes for anyone and anything. A professional cook is happy when they are cooking, a stand up comedian is happy on stage. If hammers could talk, I'm sure they'd be happy when they are hammering rebel-punk nails into submission. Therefore, if your body is built to be active and healthy, doing that will make you happy. Endorphins are the bliss inducing chemical people like to spout out here, but it's more than that- it's about the peace in knowing that you are living the way you are supposed to.
Simple Idea #3: Eating Healthy Isn't Impossible
With a plethora of fast food options on the menu and their few healthy competitors vastly overpriced, a large majority of people think eating healthy borders on the impossible. It's not. You just have to think: Fresh. Fresh food is what our heathy ancestors ate and it served them well. So next time you go to a supermarket think: 'Can I trace this food in three steps or less back to its original place in nature?'. Breads and pastas go through three steps as grain, flour then final product. Milk and butter are only a quick two steps away from the cow (as is a juicy steak). Vegetables and fruit juice are barely even a step away from their place outside. These are the foods you want to be eating. That chocolate pudding or microwave pizza, on the other hand, could be more steps than a marathon. Eat fresh and feel great.
Simple Idea #4: It's Not Easy
Ask any professional cook or hammer if they got to where they were easily. The cook will probably rant on about their years at culinary school or the overworked-underpaid apprenticeship. The hammer will probably give you something about being melted and reshaped as solid steel. Either way, just because you are supposed to do something that will make you happy doesn't make it easy. Changing a relaxing routine or swapping your favourite foods for fresher alternatives take more than a day and it's best to start slow. It's something you have to work at but it's something you'll be glad you did.
So that's my four simple ideas. Nothing too heavy but hopefully you found something thought provoking in their to ponder next time you have a long commute and left your phone at home. You're supposed to be healthy, you're supposed to be happy, eating healthy isn't impossible but it's not easy.
But it's worth it =)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
There's a reason why 'Food' and 'Good' only differ by a single letter!
A few of my favourite meals
For about six months this year I lived in a warehouse with a friend. It was pretty cool, I had a huge room and the shower had an almost limitless supply of hot water- but the kitchen was terrible. For starters, there were no real appliances and on top of that, bench space was scarce at best.
Needless to say, now I'm in a regular persons house with a regular persons kitchen, my love for feeding myself has once again blossomed. I figure today briefly share a few of my favourite meals.
Tangy Eggs Benedict
More or less a regular Eggs Benedict (poached eggs covered in hollandaise sauce) with the one exception being that I add a lot more lemon juice. It makes the sauce slightly thinner but it gives it a kick and makes it taste much less fattening than the traditional meal.
Lemon-Herb Salmon
I love showering fish with finely cut herbs and then topping it with lemon skin before wrapping the whole thing up in foil and throwing it in a hot oven. The foil keeps all the delicious juices from evaporating so when it comes out it falls apart in juicy citrussy goodness!
Avocado Chicken Kiev
This one is a new addition to my favourite meals and requires a little more attention than the others. Basically you have to thin out a chicken breast and roll it around some frozen herbed butter. Crumb it, cook it in oil until the crumbs are crisp and then toss it in the oven. The avocado is raw and adds a yummy freshness and the whole thing is topped with a basic cheese sauce.
Hearty Mushroom Steak
Steak, in my opinion, is the cats pyjamas of all things yummy and by far my favourite meal. Just take a nice flavourful cut of steak (I normally go with scotch fillets because of the yummy marbling) and cook it to how you desire. Then brown some mushrooms in butter and add cooking cream (healthy? ha!) and serve with any side you want. I'll normally do mash or chips with a salad.
So that's it, a yummy breakfast, lunch and dinner that (if you're anything like me) will make your tummy smile!
For about six months this year I lived in a warehouse with a friend. It was pretty cool, I had a huge room and the shower had an almost limitless supply of hot water- but the kitchen was terrible. For starters, there were no real appliances and on top of that, bench space was scarce at best.
Needless to say, now I'm in a regular persons house with a regular persons kitchen, my love for feeding myself has once again blossomed. I figure today briefly share a few of my favourite meals.
Tangy Eggs Benedict
More or less a regular Eggs Benedict (poached eggs covered in hollandaise sauce) with the one exception being that I add a lot more lemon juice. It makes the sauce slightly thinner but it gives it a kick and makes it taste much less fattening than the traditional meal.
Lemon-Herb Salmon
I love showering fish with finely cut herbs and then topping it with lemon skin before wrapping the whole thing up in foil and throwing it in a hot oven. The foil keeps all the delicious juices from evaporating so when it comes out it falls apart in juicy citrussy goodness!
Avocado Chicken Kiev
This one is a new addition to my favourite meals and requires a little more attention than the others. Basically you have to thin out a chicken breast and roll it around some frozen herbed butter. Crumb it, cook it in oil until the crumbs are crisp and then toss it in the oven. The avocado is raw and adds a yummy freshness and the whole thing is topped with a basic cheese sauce.
Hearty Mushroom Steak
Steak, in my opinion, is the cats pyjamas of all things yummy and by far my favourite meal. Just take a nice flavourful cut of steak (I normally go with scotch fillets because of the yummy marbling) and cook it to how you desire. Then brown some mushrooms in butter and add cooking cream (healthy? ha!) and serve with any side you want. I'll normally do mash or chips with a salad.
So that's it, a yummy breakfast, lunch and dinner that (if you're anything like me) will make your tummy smile!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Balloons Are Fun
A couple of weeks ago, on a sunny Sunday (oh the irony!) afternoon, I was chilling out at my girlfriends house with a small helium tank and some balloons. Normally, in situations such as these, a group of people often end up speaking in hilariously high pitch squeaky tones until whatever amount of helium is available is exhausted. However, since there were kids around, and inhaling helium really isn't that good for you, we decided to do something else.
That something else was to float the balloons as high as possible into the sky and then bring it back to earth. As a cheap yet relatively strong way to anchor the balloons to us doomed to the ground, we used ribbon and got some impressive height- which led us to think: "What would happen if we put a camera on these balloons."
And so the subject of todays post was born. Using a digital camera I have owned and rarely used for at least four years and some foam from a hot chocolate box (with the addition of duct tape and a ring) I created this:
After some quick research online, I discovered that one litre of helium is equal to one gram of vertical lift. My makeshift camera mount weighed in at about 305g which means we would need about 305 litres of helium to send this baby up. We estimated that around 25 good sized balloons would get us the lift we needed (I'm not sure why I thought a balloon held 12 litres of helium) but upon testing that theory our camera wouldn't budge.
So, we ended up cutting some weight off the base of the camera mount and then doubling our amount of balloons. The end result? A floating success!!
We let it up on a moderately fine day, though there was a bit of wind high up. We had the balloon connected to two spools of ribbon for safety incase we needed to cut one line. in hindsight, I wish we had've gone up as high as possible but unfortunately I chickened out and decided to reel the camera back in after a couple of hundred yards.
Watch the complete journey
Still, it made for an interesting Sunday afternoon and definitely gave my some ideas on how i could improve the experiment on multiple fronts (check back for a much more impressive balloon mount and ascension system in a few months!)
That something else was to float the balloons as high as possible into the sky and then bring it back to earth. As a cheap yet relatively strong way to anchor the balloons to us doomed to the ground, we used ribbon and got some impressive height- which led us to think: "What would happen if we put a camera on these balloons."
And so the subject of todays post was born. Using a digital camera I have owned and rarely used for at least four years and some foam from a hot chocolate box (with the addition of duct tape and a ring) I created this:
After some quick research online, I discovered that one litre of helium is equal to one gram of vertical lift. My makeshift camera mount weighed in at about 305g which means we would need about 305 litres of helium to send this baby up. We estimated that around 25 good sized balloons would get us the lift we needed (I'm not sure why I thought a balloon held 12 litres of helium) but upon testing that theory our camera wouldn't budge.
So, we ended up cutting some weight off the base of the camera mount and then doubling our amount of balloons. The end result? A floating success!!
We let it up on a moderately fine day, though there was a bit of wind high up. We had the balloon connected to two spools of ribbon for safety incase we needed to cut one line. in hindsight, I wish we had've gone up as high as possible but unfortunately I chickened out and decided to reel the camera back in after a couple of hundred yards.
Still, it made for an interesting Sunday afternoon and definitely gave my some ideas on how i could improve the experiment on multiple fronts (check back for a much more impressive balloon mount and ascension system in a few months!)
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Super Speed is Super Awesome (Or is it?)
I was watching television last night and in an advertisement for a certain paper towel, they had a large, chubby man cleaning a kitchen at light speed. It was only for a few seconds, but it made me think "does super speed make all menial tasks look awesome?".
Needless to say, when I awoke this morning and got started on all the dishes from last nights dinner, I decided to put my question to the test- here we go:
So, what do you think? Answer below =)
[Edit: Just tricking, stupid poll hates my blog]
Needless to say, when I awoke this morning and got started on all the dishes from last nights dinner, I decided to put my question to the test- here we go:
So, what do you think? Answer below =)
[Edit: Just tricking, stupid poll hates my blog]
Thursday, August 4, 2011
You and Stuff...
The world revolves around me. Everyone is thinking about me. Every time I enter a room, everyone is focusing on me.
This is how the world works, it is the reason why women wear make up, why men insist the women they are with wear makeup. It is the reason why everyone in the world knows at least one person who turns their face when a camera is pointed in their direction.
Meanwhile, in reality, everyone is focused on themselves. After all, if the world revolves around you, how much attention do you pay to anyone else? What do you care if John Doe is walking around with Jane Doe on her arm (who, for the record is completely free of cosmetics!) when you have your own image to maintain?
Chances are, next time you walk into a room, the only people who will notice will be your closest friends and those who need a favour. Everyone else is most likely on the lookout for their closest friends and people who they need a favour from.
Oh, and then there's that one person who is just bitter and cruel. They may make assumptions, but everyone knows what happens to people who make uninformed decisions!
This is how the world works, it is the reason why women wear make up, why men insist the women they are with wear makeup. It is the reason why everyone in the world knows at least one person who turns their face when a camera is pointed in their direction.
Meanwhile, in reality, everyone is focused on themselves. After all, if the world revolves around you, how much attention do you pay to anyone else? What do you care if John Doe is walking around with Jane Doe on her arm (who, for the record is completely free of cosmetics!) when you have your own image to maintain?
Chances are, next time you walk into a room, the only people who will notice will be your closest friends and those who need a favour. Everyone else is most likely on the lookout for their closest friends and people who they need a favour from.
Oh, and then there's that one person who is just bitter and cruel. They may make assumptions, but everyone knows what happens to people who make uninformed decisions!
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