Getting Fit? Not Really

So, I've been following the program set by my PT for 3 weeks.
It's hard, very tiring, and yet - I'm not seeing any results. That is pretty disheartening, as you might imagine.
I weighed myself just prior to starting this section of the programme.
I haven't really changed my eating habits - though I've stopped eating chocolate at work.

I weighed myself after one week and I had lost 2lbs. Woo!

However, since then I haven't lost any weight at all.
I have seen a change in my measurements, but I'm not sure how much of that is my dodgy measuring and wishful thinking.
None of my clothes fit any better...

Now, I confess, I am supposed to do two repeats of the program (at least) which should take 40 minutes. About half of the time I do two repeats, though it takes more like 45 minutes. I'm not really getting on with the concept of rinse and repeat. If I hated it the first time, I'm hardly going to look forward to it.
I've discovered some interesting things about how I like to exercise, which is good.

• I don't mind cardio. 3 minute bursts are fine.
• I dislike the bike and cross-trainer.
• I don't dislike the rower (at the moment) and can row 600m in 2:40 if I try, at the lowest resistance.
• While I like weights, doing them like cardio sucks.
• Olympic lifts are fun!
• I get bored easily - three weeks in and I want to change stuff!
• I have results focus - I want to see changes in my body, I want to weigh less, have less girth, feel better

Now, I can't wait for my PT to sort this out. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or what. I'm probably not going fast enough on the cross trainer, but that's only one out of 3 cardio bursts.
I know I'm belting through the weights - to the point that they're not fun.
I'm shuttling between items, no rest, barely time to have a drink.
And yet - no change.
It's not acceptable!

So, it's been suggested (by my fiancé no less) that it’s not possible to out-train a bad diet. I begrudgingly accept that this is probably true. So, I’ve looked up some recipes with reasonable calorie counts (in the 300-400 range) to have for dinner with veggies, potatoes or pasta (another 100 cals for pasta!) or to have on their own for lunches. The aim is to create a deficit in the number of calories consumed as compared to the number required.

I’m using a formula to calculate the number of calories I need to consume which is as follows:
BMR = 655 + (4.3 * lbs) + (4.7 * inches) - (4.7 * age)
(BMR is basal metabolic rate)
Maintenance Calories = BMR * 120%

So, for me that’s
BMR = 655 + 922.1 (sorry, not telling you my weight, height and age!)
BMR = 1577.1
Maintenance Calories = 1892.52
To lose 1lb per week, you need to eat 3500 calories less*
That’s 500 calories per day
So, to create a 500 calorie deficit, I need to eat no more than 1392.52 calories, or expend more calories.
Several sites recommend not reducing calories lower than 1200 calories.
So, that’s the plan. I’ve never tried calorie counting before, but we’ll see how it goes.

Tuesday night’s food wasn’t quite the number of calories I had planned because it seems that I can’t read a recipe! I scaled down all of the ingredients from a 4 person recipe to a 2 person recipe. Except I didn’t. I forgot to scale down the cheese (the cheese will be my downfall). While this made the mustard-and-cheese-stuffed-chicken-breasts very tasty, it also made them an extra 200 calories! Whoops! I had a little bit spare from having my über healthy porridge and sultanas for breakfast (I love it!) but I was probably only under by about 300 calories in the end.
Nevermind, I’ll do better today.
I’m not going to beat myself up about it, in the end if it gets to April and I’m exactly the same size and shape then so be it. All in all (and sending many good vibes to the Karma Gods) I’m the happiest I have ever been at the moment, and why shouldn’t I be? Okay, work is a bit irritating, but there’s some interesting stuff happening at the moment, we’re buying a fab new house, we’re getting married in the spring (in the Spring!!) – it’s all good, I can’t (or rather, shouldn’t) complain!


And anyway, my dress is going to have a built in corset in it.


*this is a generalisation, I gather, but should get me close enough

In which I rant about HDNL

So, as you can see from my last post, I’ve been ordering shoes from online. The shoes I’ve had to return were actually no problem. HDNL delivered the Barratts shoes, Royal Mail delivered the ASOS shoes. Both were left with a neighbour. Success! Well done to both companies.

So, given my success, and the fact that I had a £10 off voucher for LoveYourShoes (Barratts) I decided to give the whole shoes online thing another go. I’ve ordered some fit-flops. (You know, the ones that tone your bum when you walk)

The first problem was with LoveYourShoes. for some reason the £10 wasn’t taken off. Why would I pay the shop price plus delivery when there’s a Barratts in town? I wouldn’t. I had to wait until the shoes had been shipped before they could refund me. What a good system that is. Anyway…

They use HDNL to deliver, which was previously a success. When they delivered to my house last Thursday, I was left a card suggesting I could go to Hull (35 miles away) or arrange a new date (when I’m at work), so I called and asked them to deliver to work. Technically we’re not meant to get parcels at work, but I’ve never had trouble with it before. They said that it might be too late to schedule the redelivery to happen on Friday, but that it should be updated by Monday.
On Friday there was no sign – I assumed that all was well.
On Saturday we went out in the morning, and when I returned there was a card from HDNL. I assumed that this was a different order – something else I’m expecting in the post.
On Monday there’s another card. I’m not expecting three parcels so I suspect that something is up. I call HDNL (at 10p a minute) again.
To their credit, the chap on the end of the phone was very nice, apologetic and helpful. He confirmed that they were indeed all the same parcel (I’m assuming it’s the shoes) and that the re-direct message had not got through. He told me he’d call the Hull depot and fix it, and that my shoes should be with me on Tuesday, or today at the latest.
Well, it’s almost 3pm (HDNL are at pains to stress that they could deliver any time between 7am and 7pm) and there’s no sign of my shoes. That doesn’t mean that they’re not here with the post room, but I suspect that they aren’t there either. So tonight I’m going to have to call them again.

I wouldn’t bet on them not having returned the shoes back to the sender. If they have, I’ll probably wait for my refund and then go buy them in store without the money off. Or possibly even from another supplier who doesn’t use HDNL.

At least with Royal Mail the depot is just down the road from my house.
Not Hull.

Dressed down

Today I will write my plan for achieving my gym-based goals.
I have already set up a spreadsheet with my current stats in, and I’ve reinvigorated my “diet blog”. I’ve done it more for myself than for sharing, somewhere to record my thoughts and hopefully my progress. It also means that I will not clutter up the real blog too much with random gym/thin stuff. It was a chuckle looking back at the old posts, and at how well I was deceiving myself. Funny that. Anyway, the new stats are truer – I got OH to do them for me. If I’m not honest with myself then I can’t achieve those goals.

I had planned to make a dress for the wedding we’re attending in a little over a month. I’d mentioned it at the hen night (Saturday just gone, good fun.) and I was reminded that the bride will not care, she’ll be too busy to notice, and everyone else is looking at the bride anyway. So, since it’s probably not worth the neck-breaking that I’d need to do, I’m not making a dress any more. So I went out and bought one instead. It’s pretty; it’s a bluey purple colour. I’m not entirely sure that it goes with the shawl I’m making, but I think I can carry it. OH thinks I should wear pink tights too, to tie it in. I might do that!
I’m still making the shawl. I’m not really making the shawl for the wedding, you see. I was always planning on making the shawl. the wedding is just a good deadline. I’m afraid it looks a little like brightly coloured yarn-barf at the moment, but lace has a tendency to look a little scraggy until it’s finished and blocked.

Anyway, moving on from weddings…

We’re continuing on our Organic drive in my house. We planned to visit a shop in town which has some nice organic products in (specifically, I’m looking for face wash) but they were closed on Sunday. (other than the dress, the shopping trip was pretty much a failure) so I still need to do that. As it stands I’m using my soap-free-soap at the moment. I can’t remember why it’s soap free, I’ll have to find the leaflet again some time. I cut it in half and put half in my gym bag. Unsurprisingly that half is lasting a lot longer than the half in the bathroom, but they are still both going strong. I’m slowly becoming more aware of what goes in to some of the things that I use. Like palm oil, which is used to make Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (that’s a foaming agent) for your shampoo. Palm oil, when responsibly sourced, isn’t an issue – it’s renewable, it doesn’t need masses of pesticides. You can even get organic palm oil, I think. No, the problem is that it’s very profitable to grow palm oil, and to do so rainforests are being deforested and replaced with palm oil crops. This means that our lovable friend the orangutan is running out of habitat (and it’s not only them, they’re just an example). It also means less trees to “filter” the carbon dioxide out of the air. If you don’t believe that humans are causing global warming then you must still see that wiping out a rare creature like the oranguatn just so that you can have foamy shampoo is a little on the silly side.
Some things we’re avoiding by buying organic are more obvious too. Bleach is one of them. Generally speaking we try to keep bleach off our skin, it’s not very good for you. Why then do companies keep on bleaching things like tampons and sanitary towels? There’s no need really, when you consider what you’re going to do with them, does it matter so much if they’re off white? Really? I find bleach in those products is an irritant, and I’ve been doing my best to avoid it for some time. Organic is a great way to do that!
We know from things like the nicotine patch that you can absorb things through the skin and into the blood stream, so if you’re watching what you eat then why not watch what you rub on your body too?

Anyway, I’ve still got an hour or more before lunch and I’m already wondering whether I can justify a chocolate bar. I can’t, but there you go. I have prunes on my desk, but they’re not doing it for me this morning. Ho hum. I’ll find something else to do.

Support our Hill Farmers!

Today on Ravelry I followed a link to this article from the Telegraph about how last spring (2008) some farmers found it more economical to burn their fleece than to sell it to the British Wool Marketing Board.
It’s a travesty! I know that we can buy a synthetic sweater on the high street for £10 – or less sometimes, heck – I’ve done it! but there is nothing to compare to a real wool sweater.

You can see here what price the British Wool Marketing Board will pay for fleeces. Note that the prices are “up to” and not actual prices. That is the most a farmer will get for their fleece.
They also claim that “The British Wool Marketing Board operates a central marketing system for UK fleece wool with the aim of achieving the best possible net returns for farmers.”
On This page you can see that the average price that the WMB are selling fleeces for is 71.39 pence per kilo. They pay farmers a maximum of 58p per kilo (Cheviot) – so on average the WMB are making at least 13p profit on each kilo of fleece.
On the information provided for hand-spinners, you can see that a whole fleece varies from 1kg (Shetland breeds*) to 4.5 kilos (Wensleydale**)
I’ve managed to find the price list on the site...
For Shetland fleece I think that the WMB is making around £1.85/kilo for handspinners***.
For Wensleydale they’re making about the same - £1.86 by my reckoning.****
I’m sure there are overheads to be met, but the idea of a farmer making less than 50p per kilo of fleece does sound a little stingy. (That means for a flock of 100 Shetland sheep he might only make £50-100 per year for fleece, or for 100 Wensleydale sheep he’d get around £175-225 as they have larger fleeces)
Many farmers in the UK breed their sheep for eating, with the fleece being a bonus. However that bonus used to be enough to pay rent for the pasture on which the sheep graze. I doubt that this is covered at 50p per kilo.
The article I linked to above states ”The cheques they received for wool used to cover their rent. Now it's almost worthless because fewer people want woollen products” - I’ll repeat that - fewer people want woollen products. This is not a good state of affairs. Synthetic fiber is usually a polymer – it’s made from oil basically. Nylon, for example. We made nylon in Organic Chemistry lessons. (In this case Organic means that it belongs to a family of hydrocarbons to which methane, ethane etc belong to, not grown without chemicals) I confess, the sweater I’m wearing today is made from 17% Nylon and 83% Viscose. To manufacture viscose you need Methane. I'm cross with me.
But woollen garments are so much nicer! They are warm, breathable and envirnmentally friendly***** So, in the words of podcaster Brenda Dayne, if you’re cold, put on a sweater. That’s what they’re for. And I’ll add, make it a woolly one, if you possibly can.

Lastly, we need to do something to get our famers a better deal on the price of fleeces – whether that’s buying fleece direct, or simply getting them a better price from the WMB? Many years ago dairy farmers started making ice-cream from milk that the Milk MB told them to pour down the drain – perhaps we can do something like that?
Come on people, support the farmers!


* Shetland yarn is quite well known, check out Jamieson’s for example where 100g of dyed Aran weight is £4.50.
** Wensleydale yarn is nice, and has a beautiful lustre – check out Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop (very nice people)
*** Assuming that fleece bought by WMB at 45p/kilo and that I get an average (1.5kg) fleece.
**** Again fleece bought at 45p/kilo and assuming I get a 4kg fleece this time.
***** Some might argue that they’re not environmentally friendly because of sheep-farts. Some might argue that they’re not because of the processing of wool. I’d bow to the processing argument, but I am talking about hand spinning here too. once you have the spindle or wheel there aren’t many production costs – except cups of tea in my case!

Dead giveaway for my CSI Swap Pal

So, I found out what happened to my CSI Pal’s parcel! Yey!
My CSI pal lives in Athens, Alabama. That’s in the USA.
The parcel was sent to Athens, Greece.
It clearly says on it Alabama, and some idiot has crossed it out, circled Athens and then it went to Greece.
It’s now some well travelled stuff!

How irritating.

So, for any of you sending packages to the United States where the town/city also has an address in Europe, putting the state and zip code is not enough - you will also need to put the country. I thought it was obvious that Alabama was in America, but clearly it is not.
So, if you need to send packages to Athens Alabama (not Greece), Birmingham Massachusetts (not West Midlands), Manchester New Hampshire (not Lancashire), anywhere in Georgia USA (rather than the ex-Soviet state), and no doubt thousands more, make sure that you write, in MASSIVE letters that you’re trying to get the parcel to the USA

Grr.

And, annoyingly, the box has been a bit battered, so I have to buy a new box.

UPDATE: I’ve posted the parcel in a nice new box, and I’m off back to see the man at the Royal Mail about getting a refund for the first one, tonight…

Things change and things stay the same.

I recently “friended” an old school friend on Facebook. I think I knew her until about 11 years old, so it’s been a while. Funny how people still look the same, isn’t it? You know, they do look different, but not.

I wonder how much of the me that was then is still the me that is now.

I still like animals, making things and messing around with computers. I’d still rather sit inside with a book than run around on a field. I still have a love/hate relationship with my hair and I’m still paranoid about the size of my rear. I still like to sing, and I’m still out of tune. I still enjoy dancing.
There are things that have changed too. Whether for the better or not I am not sure.

I look in the mirror and still see myself. I look at those photos and still see myself (well, except the one where I’m not sure it’s me) just younger, and perhaps a little more of an optimist. Or not, after all: “What’s the point if I’m not going to win” – a sentiment I fist expressed at about 7, and still find hard to ignore today. The meaning of “to win” can change though, and that’s the bit I have to work on. Sometimes you only have to beat your own goals.

Okay, back onto the up-beat side of the blog. I’ve been hurridly knitting some bootees for the new baby (not mine) to go with the card I’m sending. Photos to come, probably. Easy knit, even when hung over.
Oh yes – here’s a tip. White wine, then gin, then red wine, then sambuca (sp?), then more gin – don’t try it.

Persimmon homes can not spell

I was on the bus on the way back into town from our other offices. I was idly reading the signs on a new housing development. They advertise the mortgage offers that Persimmon homes is offering on these houses and flats, such as a 120% mortgage.
On of the signs reads thus:
Mortgage Sudsidy available.
I had to look twice, but it really says that. Now, I’m sometimes willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, so when I got back to my desk I went to dictionary.com and looked up sudsidy - it’s not a real word according to them (and according to me, too). It offered a close word: sudsed (to make something soapy, or slang for beer) or subsidy (which I suspect is what they really meant, meaning “a grant or contribution of money” {one of the four definitions}).

I can’t be the only person to have noticed this. What I want to know is:
If the person writing the request for the signs didn’t notice when they ordered, the sign maker didn’t notice (or didn’t care to point it out) and then when they put the sign up those people didn’t notice either, then why isn't someone paid to check this?
I feel I would be poking my nose in to go to their marketing suite and tell them, but I would guess that nobody else has told them because the sign is still there!

I wish I'd taken a photo of it...

[Edit to add: someone on Ravelry has suggested that the implication is that the Mortgage company will take you to the cleaners... made me laugh anyway]

Put your money where your mouth is

Last night was shopping night. We went to our usual supermarket having not really eaten last week’s shop. Having picked up the few bits we needed, I casually glanced over at the poultry counter. There haven’t been any Organic chickens for about two months since the chicken programs Jamie Oliver and Hugh F-W filmed were aired. Anyway, there were two beautiful organic chickens sitting on the shelf, waiting to be bought.
We don’t really need chicken, but I thought I’d have a look. The price has gone up, but I expected that to happen now that the demand outstrips supply. It’s 50p a kilo more expensive (that’s around 25p per pound in real measurements). That made the not-quite 2lb chicken a princely £10 (almost). Well, I ummed a little more.
But, I decided I have to stand by my convictions and put my money where my mouth is. If I’m so committed to having chickens have a better life then I have to be prepared to pay for it. So we bought the chicken. I reckon it will make easily three, maybe four meals if I’m careful with it. if I can stretch it to four meals (or more) then that’s only £2.50 per meal, which is pretty reasonable.

I can understand that your average single parent with two kids to feed probably can’t afford to spend that much, even if it could last for four meals. Perhaps the problem is that we (as a nation) have become too used to being able to shovel our gobs full of whatever we want, whenever we want. We never had the waste-not want-not culture that some of our parents, and grandparents (and even great-grandparents for some of the younger generation now) did. I don’t think that we need to eat a whole chicken for every meal, every day. I think that we should aim for meat-and-three-veg most nights, but that could be chicken, fish (yes, I know that’s not cheap either), pork, lamb (don’t talk to me about blue tongue), beef, or indeed any other edible animal (rabbit, pheasant, guinea fowl – I could go on)
My point is that we should stop viewing it as our right to eat more chicken than we can stand (or in the case of many, to eat just the breasts and legs and then waste the rest of the good bits) and start viewing it as our privilege.

[steps off soap box, for now]

Ethics versus Environmental.

Caution: Pet Peeve coming up.
You may have noticed that as time goes by I am becoming more environmentally and ethically aware. Some of you might think that those are the same thing, and so I feel that I must point out that they are not. There may also be some mention of bananas, but I don’t know until I finish.

First, lets begin with the difference between environmentally friendly and ethical (caution: both links are to wikipedia, which may or may not be trustworthy).
Here’s my stab:
Environmentally Friendly is when you take care of the environment. You might recycle plastic bottles or paper, you might choose to cycle rather than drive somewhere. Environmentally friendly actions have an impact either no impact or a positive impact on the environment. It might be that you buy things which don’t get packaged in eighteen-squillion layers of plastic wrap so that sea-gulls don't get all tied up in the plastic wrap after it's dumped on a landfill somewhere.
Ethical is a broader brush stroke, I admit. It’s a philosophy. Behaving in an ethical manner might, for you, mean also being environmentally friendly if you believe that not doing so is “wrong”. For me, ethical is more of a “treating people fairly” kind of approach. It’s about giving the man that picks my bananas (see) a good wage to do so. It’s about making sure that the Blue-Faced-Leicester sheep farmer gets a decent price for his fleece too though (don’t get me started on the UK wool marketing board!).

I can exemplify where the two don’t mesh with bananas (sorry).
Lets say that this specific banana is grown organically, in Brazil.
Tariq, a banana picker, is payed a good rate for his services (I have no idea what rate that would be, but the nice people at Fair Trade give the banana a sticker to say that they think it’s fair too)
Then the bananas are sprayed with goodness knows what to keep the bugs off in transit (oh good, so they’re not really organic?)
And then they are flown 3000 miles across the world to be put in my local shop.

Now while I could be being ethical still, by buying that banana, I think I wouldn’t be environmentally friendly would I?

My dad doesn’t believe that carbon emissions are causing global warming. That’s fine, he’s entitled to his view as I am to mine. However, he once said to me about religion:
If the people in church on a Sunday are wrong, they’ve wasted their Sunday mornings. If the people not in the church on the Sunday are wrong, they’re going to Hell.
I’ll let you think about that one for a moment.
If the people who don’t recycle and don’t shop environmentally and ethically are wrong then we’re going to be up to our ears in it reasonably soon.
If I’m wrong then I lose nothing, as it doesn’t take much effort to buy loose potatoes instead of pre-pack.

Unbelievable

I am incensed! The Evil Delia is promoting New Zealand Lamb at the moment. While I am sure that New Zealand lamb is fantastic, it’s being shipped from the other side of the world just so that some sticklers can have lamb at Easter – appalling. Okay, so Welsh (or Lincolnshire, or Devonshire, or wherever) lamb isn’t in season yet. In the UK lambs are only just being born so they’re not ready yet. That’s no reason to go and buy imported lamb. Delia should be ashamed of herself.
It may be admirable that her new cookery book and show has got people who don’t usually make things from scratch (Lint, I’m looking at you) into the kitchen, but seriously – frozen mash? What is that about? How hard is it to peel and boil some potatoes, then mash them up with a masher?

Delia has sold her soul, clearly. Not content with showing the nation how to boil an egg (yes, she really did) she now wants us to put frozen mash in everything. Come on Delia – sort it out!

In other news, our new gym is opening in just over a fortnight. It’s been too long, I feel all flabby and unfit. OH bought me an interesting book, New Rules of Lifting for Women (Link to Play.com) which talks about the different benefits of endurance training (like running) and weight training. He favours weight training (could you guess) although he hasn’t completely convinced me that I never need to use the treadmill again; I am now convinced that I don’t have to spend 25 minutes running on it. Nor do I need to do triceps kickbacks. Woo. And I can eat chocolate and peanut butter on the diet it recommends. There has to be a catch, right? Well I don’t know. Maybe there will be when I start doing it. the important thing is that my new goal is not to lose weight, but to lose fat - in other words, I’m going to have to measure my body fat percentage (my bathroom scales can approximately do that) and also my waist/hip etc. but I shouldn’t worry if I don’t lose any actual weight. Well, we will see.

On the knitting front, I haven’t got anything new to report. I’m using up the leftover Cascade 220 from my slippers to make a Nintendo cosy (I think I mentioned it?), I’m still working on OH’s sweater. I have yet to cast on the second Earl Grey. The hat is coming along, but hasn’t been touched for a few days.
I was asked why I “never wear anything” that I’ve knitted. It’s an interesting question really. Okay, not very. You see, I think that pretty much all non-knitters think that you can rustle up a sweater in a day or so, or even hours! Come on people! Many people also seem surprised that I’ve only knit one shrug and no other “proper” clothes yet. I have only been knitting for a year and a bit, and also do all artists paint landscape? Why do I have to knit sweaters to be a knitter? Okay, grumble over!

What's the matter - are you Chicken?

I have picked up the Manly sweater again this morning, only time for a row and a half before work, but it is back as my current WIP. Well, it’s the one on the sofa anyway. I had a bit of a sort out of my knitting hold-all thingy last night. I took all of the random yarn I bought over the past month or so and stashed it properly in my yarn chest. I have too much yarn for it to properly fit in the chest, so I need to get knitting (or think up a new way to organise the yarn – I’m sure there’s a better way!)

I have only one set of sock-needles, they’re fabulous surina wood. They bend rather than snapping, which is good. I have been considering getting a second set, but I am not sure about it. (If I do, I may go back to knitterbabes on e-bay because they do kits with yarn, needles and markers at a really good price)


I don’t usually talk about *issues* on my blog, but I wanted to talk about my New Year’s Resolution, my Change One Thing.
I have been discussing with the OH about why resolutions fail, and as advertised for the Boots campaign, Change Just One Thing is the answer. If you try to lose weight, eat better, exercise more, quit smoking, keep the house tidy, wear nicer clothes, spend less. . . it becomes too much.
So, my one thing? well, I watched Jamie Oliver’s special about chickens. I watched Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Chicken Run. I realised that I had two choices, stop eating chicken all together, or be a lot more picky about my chicken (and eggs).
I can’t describe, to anyone who hasn’t seen the conditions that a standard chicken is kept in, how horrible it seems. These fast growing chickens who never see daylight and are killed (wasted) because they’re a bit small, or because their poor little legs can’t support their grotesquely huge bodies. They live in a barn which is never cleaned out, eating and eating for 23 hours a day. It’s barbaric.
I would like to say that if it were any other animal we’d be more caring, but sadly I don’t think that is true.
Now, there is a new standard, called Freedom Foods which is a little better. It’s still not perfect, the birds still never see the outside world. It’s a more affordable option for those on a budget though, and it is probably the future of mass-produced chicken.
So, what about other options? Well, my preferred choice is Organic, as certified by the British Soil Association. There’s more to this than just the birds eating organic meal, they have to be free to roam in mottled shade (bushes or trees) and have a safe shed for the night time. they use slower growing birds which don’t have the risks of their legs developing too slowly for their weight.
If you want to read more, there are articles like this one at WhyOrganic. I’m sure that there are some opposing views, but I have no links to them. (Sorry, not very balanced I know).
So, where was I? Oh yes, my resolution. I will not buy any chicken, duck or other poultry, or eggs that have been intensively produced.
Now, there’s a bit more to it than that, of course. I’m also trying to only buy outdoor reared pork, lamb and beef, and all with the British Farm Standards mark (that little red tractor which means “farmed in the UK”). In the case of poultry it should be organic – that’s the only way to ensure the standards. (If I can get organic pork, beef and lamb I will!). I’m only buying British vegetables (which means that I’m eating a lot of root vegetables at the moment!) and in some cases organic (usually leeks at the moment!).

Now, I am sure that some of you are thinking, if you’re so concerned about the animal welfare, why aren’t you a vegetarian? which is a fair question.
By being vegetarian I would be making less of an impact in the marketplace and also making a massive impact (lifestyle and health) upon myself. I like eating meat! I believe that if I switch to organic this is making more of a statement that stopping eating meat. Think of it like this:

If I normally buy a chicken grown in hideous conditions in a small shed for £2.50 (the shame) then I’m putting £2.50 into the industry I dislike.
If I don’t buy any chicken at all, I am simply not spending the £2.50.
If instead of buying the nasty chicken I buy a free range organic chicken for £6.00 then I have put an additional £3.50 into the market. This then affects the amount of profit that the shop I bought the chicken from makes, which in turn affects what they buy in to stock.
If it is seen to be profitable to rear chickens (and other animals) in a better environment then more shops will buy in these types of stock and then more farmers will be able to afford to switch to organic (or at least free range) and therefore we’ll all have much tastier chicken! (Trust me, it’s got lots more flavour to it!)

I should admit at this point that I do have a soft spot for chickens. I think that they are such lovely creatures. They can be friendly too, you know! I hope one day to have a couple of laying hens (I don’t know about owning my own meat-chickens, I would probably get too attached) and if I do they’ll be of a crazy breed!

Here’s an example of the kind of chickens I like
I saw this one at Chatsworth house. It’s cute isn’t it? I especially like the feathered feet!
I also like some of the other breeds, but the fluffier the better! Haha.

So, anyway, that’s my change one thing. I’m going to extend the one thing every so often (when I think I’m ready!), so for January it was just only buy free range chickens and eggs For February it’s Only buy Organic Free Range Poultry and Poultry produce, only buy UK farmed meat and vegetables
I hope one day to be able to source all of my yarn locally too. If I ever get round to learning to spin there’s a vague chance that I could spin my own yarn from UK fleece! How nice would that be? I gather that you need 5 acres to grow your own sheep though, which is probably a bit out of my reach. Angora bunnies are a different story…


Other links that might be of interest if you want to find out more about farming and animal welfare in the UK. I’m not saying I agree with everything said through these links, just that they make good reading for a perhaps more rounded view…
Welfare standards for Chickens certified “free range”, “freedom food” and “organic”
The Guardian – The Green Way to Eat (the comments are hilarious!)
Biodynamic Farming

Flood?

This morning the path we normally use to walk to work was flooded. It wasn’t flooded enough to turn back, there was a six-foot stretch that was under about half-an-inch of water.
I was creeping through the water in my all-stars (which have maybe a bit more than a half-an-inch sole and canvass tops) and some idiot decided to cycle through the water quite fast. Not fast enough to splash me, but fast enough to cause some serious ripples. Idiot. But the canvass held up okay and my feet are not wet. I still shouted at him. Tsk. Anyway, we got to the other end of the puddle and I thanked the nicer cyclist who had waited until I had crossed (how thoughtful!)
I think we’ll not use the riverside path to go home this evening!

It’s also pattern day on my page-a-day calendar. Last week I got a shawl pattern, this week it’s a hat and scarf. It’s a pretty pattern but I’m feeling very Meh about scarves at the moment. (Even the nice angora yarn I was using for my scarf isn’t tempting me back to it. I might frog that one.)
I intend to spend some time this weekend working on Mum’s Matching Hat. It’s a hat inspired by the Irish Hiking Scarf, but not quite like either of the patterns I’ve found on Ravelry I’m using the colour from the scarf as a coloured stripe around the center of a band which is running around the bottom of the hat. This is bordered on both sides by some creamy-white yarn. This gives a pretty wide band, about 2-3 inches. Once that’s long enough to go around a head, I’ll join the ends to make a circle. Then I’ll pick up some stitches (the exact number I don’t know yet) and knit in the round to make the hat. I’m thinking about doing it in a rib which is similar to the cable rib, but without the cable. Either that or I’ll do it in 2x2 or 3x3 rib, which is good for decreasing. I might even do 3x2 rib. Who knows, eh?

The gym is going to continue pilates for one more term. Then they plan to put it on timetable but without out current instructor. The benefit of that is that it will be included in the price of the gym membership. The drawback is that it will not be with our current instructor who we get on with very well. We do have the option of attending classes privately with the same instructor, but you can imagine the difference in price to the subsidised rate we currently get!

Oh well.
Work still sucks, I’m afraid. We’re off out for drinks later on today, which will be welcome. I think it might be a tidiness problem.
As I like shoes, I am going to use shoes and a common shoe-based issue as an example. Please bare with me. (is that the right kind of bare/bear?)

We have a procedure which goes as follows: You unlock the front door, open the door, pick up any post, walk down the corridor and turn right into the living room (or dash up the stairs to the loo). Here’s some pseudocode:
Unlock(front_door);
Open(front_door);
If Exists(post) then Pick_Up(post);
Traverse(corridor);
If NeedLoo = True then DashUp(stairs) else Enter(lounge);
Now, the function Traverse(corridor) can fail if InTheWay(shoes) = true. Because you’d fall over them.
This problem is a bug which needs fixing, (so the shoes are dodgy data or something, causing the program (you) to fall over). So, while we should just say “I keep falling over these shoes, therefore I will move the shoes” we can’t do it because there’s also a project trying to lay a new rug down in the hall. Sadly, project NewRug don’t know anything about the shoe error and so they’re doing nothing to combat it. They take a copy of the hallway (shoes and all) and work on that to produce the same entry pattern as present, including cursing at the shoes. We move the shoes here in my bit of the team, but then when the project launches we find that the shoes have crept back – only now they are under a rug.
I think my example has gone crackers. What I’m saying is that we don’t make life easier for ourselves ever. Moving the shoes should be part of the rug laying anyway because otherwise the rug can’t be successful. You know?

Clearly, I need a strong drink. Or certifying. Or maybe both, but let me have the drink before the men in white coats come.

General Work Moan

I’ve ordered some more yarn from Get Knitted in their sale. It’s some more of the lovely SWTC Karaoke. Two skeins are for something for a friend. They don’t know about it yet. The other two skeins were going to be in the colour “black rose” but they ran out (they had 2 skeins last night, but I wasn’t the first person to try to snaffle them!) so I got the same colour as Crafty Drama Queen gifted me in the SP swap. Wild Cherry it’s called. It’s a fantastic colour too, reds and pinks – subtle but also pink. (See pic to left)

I’m blogging this now to take my mind off the fact that work sucks. It’s not that there’s too much or too little to do (there is plenty to do), it’s not that I don’t like my boss (because the current one isn’t bad), it’s not that some of my colleagues drive me bananas (in fact, I like my team) but it just sucks. The longer I sit at my desk trying to think of things to say in people’s feedback or appraisals, the longer I spend trying to figure out what the plan should be, the longer I take to read and reply to emails, the more I realise that I just don’t care.
What’s to care about really? I work in data in an insurance company. As a result of what I do not much happens. Okay, the company as a whole do some useful stuff. People pay the company lots of money so that when the worst happens they don’t have to worry about money. I don’t even feel especially good about that, though that’s another story.
I know that most jobs are as pointless. But some jobs do make a difference to people. Like cleaners. If the cleaners don’t turn up for a couple of days, we’d notice. The place would be dirty and smelly, we might not have any hand towels (though I’m not sure that the cleaners do that.) if the vending machine guy didn’t turn up we’d have no nasty vending machine coffee and tea. (As vile as it is, I’m much happier if I can have a cuppa.)
Anyway, my point is that I don’t necessarily want my job to be a happy-happy-joy-joy make-the-world-better type job, but I’d quite like to get some satisfaction out of it. Whether that be satisfaction that I’m providing a service, creating something or doing something I enjoy.

If I knew what it was that I didn’t like about this job then I’d have a starting point.

So, while I carry on merrily working put up with the dullness of this job I will take the odd chance to look at nice yarn, to read other people’s blogs, to doodle on notepads and generally procrastinate.
The funny thing is, the other day I was thinking that it wasn’t so bad. I wonder what’s happened today to make it seem worse? (my ex-boss is something to do with it, even I can see that, but still I can’t complain when he speaks the truth.)
Perhaps it’s my rebellious anti-authoritarian streak coming back to haunt me. Or maybe I have just been in the same place for too long. I have been here for four years and four months (and four days, tomorrow)
That’s a long time to be in one place. Even though I’ve been promoted, it’s the same old. I don’t know how many of you went to 6th forms attached to your secondary schools? It’s a bit like that if you’re promoted within your team. Everyone knows who you are already but they also have preconceived ideas about you. Changing people’s perceptions is like plaiting snot hard. And back then in 6th form when I felt like that my rebellious streak appeared. I made my hair a silly colour (black with a red hue, then red, then blonde) and wore clothes which were just outside of the uniform policy (skirts a bit too short, platforms when they were banned, tops with logos on them, jeans, you know the sort of thing) (oh – yes, we had “uniforms” in 6th form in that we had to dress like business people.)
Okay, I realise that doesn't sound too rebellious...
Anyway, I shall stop complaining. 6th form was less dull than work is. Though my hair is a funny colour again…

Perhaps it’s just winter blues?

Not 24 hours and more sock yarn

Last night I was online longer than planned which meant that we were late going to the supermarket. Normally on a Monday we would go to pilates and then go to Morrisons after. However, last night we discovered that it shuts at 9pm. No problem, we’ll go round the corner to Sainsbury’s – right? Wrong. Sainsbury’s shut at 8pm. So, we drove to the shopping park to the other Sainsbury’s. that shuts at 10pm, but as it was only 9:20pm we had enough time to dash round and buy stuff.
Who would think – not open 24hours? How bizarre! I wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t there.

We did buy lots of locally sourced veg again though. (by local I mean UK. Lots of it was Cornwall and – for some reason – Scotland. The leeks were from Cambridge and the parsnips and carrots from Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.)

Anyway, while I was online before the shopping happened, I found a new e-bay seller who was selling Opal Feelings. She had some 1702 (the shade I have previously used, in the pic) and also 1706 which I like the look of. I dropped her a note about combining postage. We’ve sorted it out and the yarn is winging it’s way to me now!

However, I still have two 100g balls of burgundy sock yarn, two 50g balls of coffee-coloured (for L’s Earl-Grey socks), one ball each of brown, orange/brown and green (from the Harrogate S&C) and half-a-ball of the Opal Feelings I already have. Also I have some lovely alpaca mix sock yarn from SP11 and some nice 100% wool, both in hanks rather than balls. And yet only one set of sock needles…
And that’s a lot of sock yarn
Well, I’ve been told that sock yarn doesn’t count towards the size of your stash, so that’s some good news at least. And I am looking forwards to knitting some more socks.
Sadly, though, I think I’m going to give up on the gypsy socks for the time being. After making the mistake I couldn’t fix and having to rip back the whole sock (I was only on sock 1) I guess I will put that aside and move on to the socks for L. Socks are nicely portable at least.

Proper post, and randomness

Proper Post
Who am I kidding? Proper post! Hah! I’m too tired to do a proper post. Christmas was fab, by the way. I got some lovely things, ranging from books to clothes to smellies to crafty things to a sat-nav. I had a nice relaxing time away from everything.
Then, new year and my birthday were much as usual. Not out this year, at home with just The Black and my OH. Very nice Chicken for tea though. Either I’m getting old or something, but new year doesn’t hold much excitement. Hey – look, the world didn’t end and we’ve managed to add 1 to a big number (sorry Chip – I know that’s your sentiment that I’ve pinched)

I’m mostly a little grumpy at the moment. I’m at work, it’s 18:05 and I expect to be here for at least four more hours. Okay, so I didn’t come in until 15:00, but really – night shifts? Grr.
Ho hum.
And it’s cold in the office. Boo. I did bring a thermos with me, with some proper tea in it (not the horrid machine stuff, can’t be having that at this time of night)
Anyroad, enough proper blogging, I’m too shattered. Have some randomness:


Randomness
I saw the idea on Knitting Mama’s site and couldn’t resist.
The first line of the first post of each month in 2007:

Jan – I would have back dated this post to near-enough the time I was actually 25 (I doubt that the time is exact, you know) but it will not let me.
Feb – You'll all be glad to hear that I went driving again.
Mar – It seems that everyone in the country is complaining about broadband at the moment.
Apr – Knitting is my pastime
May – Last night was my first pilates class.
Jun – As promised, here are the pics of my new storage solution for my yarn stash
Jul – This weekend my parents were visiting to bring us a sofa-bed
Aug – That’s what I’ve been doing!
Sep – I couldn't resist, I went yarn shopping.
Oct – This post is dotted with pictures of flowers, read on and you’ll understand.
Nov – I can’t view my own blog at work today, it tells me that “The Websense category "Emerging Exploits" is filtered” which isn’t ideal.
Dec – Well, SP11 is all but over, I have one parcel to post tomorrow for my downstream.

And, for the fun of it, here’s the last line of the last post of the month for each month in 2007:

Jan – Who knows.
Feb – The odds of me passing my theory, getting a practical test and passing it within the next fortnight are a bit slim!
Mar – Having actual sock yarn should help a lot.
Apr – Who knows; or cares?
May – Have a great day people, the sun’s out and even I am in a good mood!
Jun – I’m looking forwards to being able to see other people’s work, get help on my knitting, find out about other yarn
Jul – Maybe next year!
Aug – Being back at work sucks too, but I have to earn the money to pay for our fun holidays somehow!
Sep – But I do at least get to work with this beautiful yarn.
Oct – It’s annoying to have people doing that nearby and I don’t want to be one of those annoying people!
Nov – I've loved everything you've sent, and I'm looking forwards to doing lots of "me knitting" once Christmas knitting is done!
Dec – Learnt what a "French seam" is

De-stash

I'm getting rid of some of my yarn.

No, it's not a joke, I've listed six lots of yarn on ebay (stuff I can't think of a project for, mostly crazy or baby yarn) and I've also chucked some into a charity bag (less nice colours)

So, there's a big box of yarn on my dining table which is for sale, and hopefully I will be able to get rid of it.

That does have an up-side, as you know! 4 balls in the charity bag and 22 on ebay - that's up to 26 balls of yarn I can buy! In theory anyway. I feel free once more!


On an unrelated note, there was a big old rant here about me not looking nice in photos. I've decided to delete the rant, because it's both foolish and self-absorbed.
Happy thoughts!

What's that all about?

Today as it’s finally summer here in the UK, I decided to have my lunch in the park near work. I like to do this in the nice weather. Anyway, I sat down on a small wall near a bench where two young mums were sitting. Nothing wrong with that, they were sitting having a natter and a drink of pop. One of the mums was letting her kid get sunburn, but I couldn’t possibly comment, not being a mum myself (I thought you keep them out of the sun til they’re big enough to tell you they’re burning?)
Anyway, I was enjoying my sandwich while the mums changed their babies. I also have no issue with this, it’s a pain to have to find somewhere that you can get the push-chair into that has a parent and baby room, and nobody could be offended by a naked baby bottom.
So then, the two mums put the smelly nappies on the bench and walked off. I’m sorry – when did public benches become a place to dispose of nappies? When did they stop being the responsibility of the mum who had just changed the child? It’s not like there aren’t bins in the park! Sheesh!

And so, I have felt guilty all afternoon for not:

1. reprimanding the mothers
2. clearing away the nappies

In fairness, I didn’t see them leave, and they might have just forgot the nappies…
And I couldn’t bring myself to clear them away, I don’t want to deal with that until it’s my own baby’s smelly nappy I have to throw away!

On a completely unrelated note, I have begun a new knit project to take on holiday with me (maybe). I’m making the zig-zag-bag out of a back issue of Simply Knitting. I’ll keep you posted, but it looks cool so far (I’m using pink, purple, pale orange and pale green yarn for this one) and shouldn’t take long to knit – in fact I might manage to finish it before I go. I’m planning on crocheting a scarf on the plane, if I can just pick which scarf pattern and which yarn! I might go for a one-colour one as that will mean less yarn to carry on the plane. If it could be done in one ball that would be even better, but we’ll see. If it could be one that I can knit from one end that might be best… we will see, I suppose. I’ll also be taking the gypsy socks in my case, to cast on and get started while I’m there.

Lastly, you might have noticed that it’s my blog-o-versary in FOUR days time! In honour of my having been blogging for another whole year (I think that might make 2 years!) there is now a survey in the sidebar. The survey will close on the blog-o-versary and is just for fun. I would run a competition but I wouldn’t know what to make the prize. Maybe next year!

Remaining philosophical

This weekend we went back to Gainsborough to celebrate my Dad’s 50th birthday. The celebrations have been ongoing since his birthday, and are now on hold until Florida. Anyway...

On his birthday Mum and Dad organised some food from the new Marks and Sparks Food store (it’s new in Gainsborough). The following night my sister had organised for him to go se a T-Rex tribute band (2-Rex) and he got cake and champagne! We all arrived on Friday night and I gave Dad the gifts I’d got him. I’d splashed out a bit more than I normally do, and so he got a flashy heart-rate monitor (he runs and goes to the gym), the Tomb Raider chronicles (I think) for the PS2 and a bottle of posh single malt whisky (which always goes down well). Shopping on the Saturday and then Mum, Gayle and I went to the new shopping area in Gains while the boys watched the football. Sunday morning we sat up on a hill while Dad went on his gliding experience (from Mum). We got sunburn. Well, Gayle and I got sunburn! Mine is down one side of my face, so I look a right pillock. It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, and I even got some knitting done on my sock, which is over half complete now.

We also went for a run on the Saturday morning (me, Dad and Leon) and managed Dad's 3 mile course in 30 minutes. Woo!

And, more good news! We didn’t win the PTH. We were mid-table this time, probably due to it being less actuarial now than it was. I’m willing to bet that the next one is even more convoluted, and I don’t like the buying big prizes nonsense. This could be the end of Bad Data.

On the knitting front, I’ve begun shaping the gusset of my sock. I was hoping it would come out with a distinct corner, like when you buy them, but it doesn’t look like that at present. We will see, I guess. I’m enjoying the self striping yarn, and will almost certainly buy more at some point. Sock yarn is so expensive though! Enough for one pair of socks can cost almost ten whole pounds! I don’t spend that kind of money on socks I buy, never mind socks I’m making and so my time has to be factored in! Oh well. I do have a cunning plan on the sock front for this Christmas (7 months and 2 days away!) but that is all I'm willing to say!

So my run of three bad luck items is as follows:

1. Car is not going to pass its MOT and so needs fixing or selling
2. Computer blew up
3. Failed driving test

Now that they’re out of the way (and assuming that no1 counts) then I should be a bit luckier now. They say that it comes in threes, but I’m not superstitious, it’s too unlucky (ba-boom-tish)

Well, I guess that’s all for now. Wish me happy hunting for my new PC and car, and also luck in getting a test earlier than the next one is scheduled for.

Remaining philosophical.

Bother

Last night, I was minding my own business surfing myspace and facebook when the screen went black and the computer started making a funny noise. I turned it off and on again, the screen remained blank and the noise persisted. So I turned it off and went to bed feeling slightly guilty.

So, this morning I asked Leon to turn on the PC and have a listen to see what he thought was wrong with it. Leon turned it on and it went and made the same odd noise as before. Then it went “bang”. It smelled of burning. I think it is now dead. It has lasted a long time (I got it in 2002 to use for my degree course) and was well due for replacement. I am slightly sad that it’s dead, it’s like losing an old friend!

So, we’re in the market for a new PC. I have been trying to decide what to do with the overtime pay I’ll be getting this month for the extra work I did in December and January. (It’s a long story) and now the decision is pretty much made for me.

It does put a bit of a damper on the car search too, because we don’t really have any spare money even without having to buy a new PC. You see I was planning on spending the money on either

1. a new mattress
2. towards a new(er) car
3. towards a new computer
4. save it for a rainy day

Looks like now I don’t need to wonder, just spend it on the thing which by becoming deceased is now top of the list, a new PC.

There are some nice ones from Dell at least, and for only a bit more than the money I’m expecting (5 days worth of overtime after tax is not enough to flee the country with) but we’ll see. We’ll probably end up spending vast amounts more than we wanted to. So it is.

So, no blogging from home for me for a while (is that an issue, I think not) but I do now have the hope of having a PC which is capable of running Civilisation 4.

Undressed Voting

Today has been manic so far, and isn’t set to get any better!

Last night I packed my gym kit as well as packing for the long weekend so we can go directly there. So we jumped into the car, drove to the gym, worked out for an hour and then went to get changed. I showered and then once I was dry started to get my clothes out of my bag:
Clean socks – check
Clean knickers – check
Trousers for work – check
Shrug – check
T-shirt… T-shirt… oh dear.
So, I dressed in what I had (the shrug doesn’t leave much to the imagination) and dried my hair, put on a little makeup and then waited for Leon in the lobby of the gym. We discussed the situation and decided that the best solution was for Leon to drive me back home and for me to get my t-shirt and then for us both to walk in to work.

Anyway, that disaster averted, I’ve got a big stack of work to do at work, including lots of chasing of other people.
Anyway, I’m then going to go home, hopefully a bit earlier than usual, to clean out my hamsters and feed and water them. Then I’m off to vote*. Hopefully I’ll have had time to stick some things in the car ready to go. Once we’ve both got home, voted and been to the loo, we’ll be off to Gainsborough (via a petrol station), hopefully in time to go get some grub.

* I have no idea who to vote for. I’m not even sure what my choices are. Having looked on the council web page, I have a choice between three Labour candidates, three Conservative candidates, three Liberal Democrat candidates, one Green candidate and one BNP candidate.
So, I will not vote for the BNP. That’s an easy one. There are too many radical elements in the BNP.
I have no idea what the Conservatives or Greens hope to do in my ward as I haven’t seen any pamphlets or anything.
The Lib Dems have sent me information telling me how awful it would be under Labour, and that they might want more recycling. However, these same councillors (whom we have presently) seem to want to build flats out the back of my house.
Labour have sent me information telling me how awful it is under the Lib Dems and that they would be much nicer and give me not only more recycling, but better everything! – oh and that the Conservatives have no chance.
So I have to vote for three candidates** for the three seats, and then hope that they don’t build flats and do improve the recycling.

** Why do I have to vote for three candidates? Surely it would be fairer if everyone voted for one candidate and the top three got in. It already feels like my vote is unlikely to count, and in any case I don’t think that these candidates stand for what I want. Politics sucks. I’ll still vote though, because I am obliged to – no vote no voice. People fight (and die) in other countries, and did in this one, in order to be able to vote. I can’t throw that away, I just wish I knew more about it. more information would be better.