Christopher Hamilton

I have a lot of things on my to-do list at the moment but I never seem to actually get anything done. Not only is there a lot of writing I want to do, including posts I’ve started and need to finish, I have to rebuild Silicon Souls from scratch, get out for a run or two, move house, and I have a list of other things that seems to be growing by the day.

I need to come up with a way to get myself going, and Leo’s post on LifeRemix seems like the way to go. I’m especially fond of number 8, “When you’re done, celebrate with a nap.” That sounds like a great reward about now.

The problem with having so many things to do, is that you want to try to get them all done at the same time, and make no real headway with anything. When that happens you tend to give up after a while because of the lack of progress, and utter the dreaded “I’ll finish it tomorrow”

I’ve been doing that far too often recently.

So today I’m giving myself one task, not three.

Figure out the three things that need to be done tomorrow.

It makes me laugh a little just thinking about that statement, it’s procrastination at it’s finest. I think that deciding what needs to be done, and what can be left for a while is going to take me all day to sort out, which is why I’m not going to try to clear anything important of the list today.

At the moment everything on the list is important in it’s own way, and I’ll get nowhere until I have a clear picture of the whole thing, and each items true place on it.

Last week was a mixed one for me. I went from feeling great, to being really sick, to then being fine again, and as of today, feeling craptastic. Added to that roller coaster of health, I had to continue to pack up everything in my flat in preparation of my impending move.

I also had my little cousins 21st birthday party to attend, and thankfully that happened at the point where I was feeling pretty good. If it had fallen on one of the days I was sick, struggling through it would have been torture. As it was I had a really good time, and got to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in a while.

The reason I was sick, and then not, and then sick again is because of the fact that I work in a department of 2 people. My boss has been sick for a week or two, but we both come in most of the time whether we’re sick or not. It basically means that as soon as one of us recovers the other usually gets sick, and then passes it back. It’s difficult to break the cycle because we’re so busy that it’s hard for either of us to be away for an extended period.

It also doesn’t help that something, that can only be described as a plague, has been rampaging it’s way through the entire office since Christmas, and doesn’t seem to want to leave.

So all I seem to have done in the last week, is feel sorry for myself, and clean the flat. It was not the most enjoyable of weeks.

Never one to shy away from setting myself ridiculously difficult challenges, my foray back into running and getting healthy has been dominated by the distance challenge I set myself, and which Lance agreed to do with me. I could easily have set something easily reachable to boost my confidence and keep me running, but that wouldn’t have the same “Prove To Everyone I Can Do It” factor. When I mentioned it to a few friends, they said I was crazy. I would never manage to do the distance I was talking about, and then pretty much dismissed what I told them my plan for next year was. It was a response I expected, and one that I’m very happy to have received.

That may sound a little strange, but there was a part of my brain that screamed “Fuck You” when I got that response. It adds an extra dynamic to the pursuit of my goals because no-one believes I’ll manage it, and that pushes me harder than the thought of just doing it for myself ever would. It’s the same drive that made me go scuba diving even though I can’t really swim. It’s the same drive that made me go sky diving when heights make me feel sick. It’s the same drive that’s going to make me run the length of the UK in 2008. That’s 874 Miles.

Looking at the distance I’ve run so far, it looks as though I’m going to struggle to reach that target. It works out at about 73 miles per month, which I’ll be lucky to reach this month. That doesn’t bother me though. As the year progresses my runs will get longer, and the monthly mileage will get higher. At the moment my average run is about 3 Miles and that’s the level I’m going to stick at for a while. I don’t plan to rush this journey.

My distance challenge is also the means to another end for me. It’s not only something I have to prove I can do, it doubles as a solid training foundation for what I have planned for next year. My goal for next year is to complete the New York Marathon, assuming I can actually get a spot. It’s something that’s going to be exceptionally difficult, but it’s a challenge I’m excited about. I could have tried to get into shape in time to do it this year, but I knew that wasn’t a viable option. To go from pretty unfit to running a marathon in 11 months would have been possible, but really hard. This way I can build my fitness levels up to a point where I would be confident that I could complete the marathon.

This year, as well as the basic road running, I’m going to look into doing a few runs for charity. The Great Edinburgh Run is in May, which I plan on making my first official run this year. If I can get healthy, and raise some money for charity at the same time, then happy days.

Technorati Tags: Fitness, Nike Plus, Running

In the next four weeks I move out of the flat I’ve had all to myself for the last year. That in it’s self isn’t that big of a deal, but what I’ve come to realise is that since I’m the only one who lived there, I have to deal with all the moving arrangements myself. Talk about a total pain in the arse.

This week I’ll be making arrangements to cancel all my utilities and packing up as many things as possible. I plan on having everything bar the essentials in storage at least a week before I move. That way there will be a lot less pressure to make sure everything is done and the flat can get a huge deep clean before I hand back the keys.

My Virgin ADSL account has just been cancelled, and thankfully there’s a 30 cancellation period so I can still use the net at home until I leave. It was the one thing I was a little concerned about, because being without access to the net for more than a few hours makes me a little distressed.

Hopefully everything else is going to be a smooth process, but I still have to deal with BT. That is a call I’m not looking forward to.

Technorati Tags: Moving House

I’ve become totally addicted to Wine Library TV.

I first found out about the website through watching Diggnation, where Kevin Rose mentioned it. Since I love my wine, hell I’m in a wine club, which sounds poncy, but it’s a case of really good wine delivered to my door every couple of months at a discount. What’s not to like about it… where was I?

Oh yeah… Kevin mentioned the site on Diggnation and I decided to go and check it out. Unlike a lot of video podcasts Gary does the Wine Library TV Thunder Show every day, which is crazy. Each episode has him tasting a different bottle, or range of wines and rating them in his own unique way.

There are some fantastic videos on the site, where he’s been on Conan O’Brien and Ellen Degeneres’ shows trying to teach them how to taste wine properly, and well you really have to see them to believe what is actually going on.

I’m in the process of going back and watching all of the previous episodes, which considering episode 387 was released today should take me some time.

If you happen to be a wine fan, I would HIGHLY recommend you go and check it out. You’ll learn an amazing amount about wine in a couple of episodes and I can almost guarantee Gary’s enthusiasm will have you hooked straight away and make you want to spend the money to get some really nice bottles for the experience.

Today’s episode is all about Californian Pinot Noir and I can’t wait to watch it.

Technorati Tags: Wine

One of my old photo’s from my trip through Paris in 2006 has been used for a tour guide of Paris on the Schmap Website.

You can see it here.

Schmap provide a useful widget that gives you an overview of the guide.

Incidentally here is the photo that was used.

It’s nearly 2am.

I’m wide awake.

I have to get up early tomorrow.

How pissed off about the whole situation am I?

Very.

This is possibly one of the coolest things I think I have ever seen.

I’ve decided to start running again. It’s been a while since I actually made myself get out of the flat and run for a few miles. In fact I think since it started getting really cold here in Edinburgh, I’ve gone with the more… lazy approach of spending a little time on the exercise bike followed by a lot of time on the sofa. The problem with the bike though, is it’s dull. That and the fact that it’s very easy to avoid really working out when you never have to make too much effort.

The reason I’ve decided to use running as a means to get up of my arse, is that I have Nike+ and I can use that as a motivational tool. I’ve setup a few challenges for myself that my good friend Lance has decided to do with me. They can be found on my Nike+ page over on the right ——->

It was the fact that I noticed Lance had already made a start to the challenge that I decided I couldn’t get too far behind him, and got out of bed at 6.30am for my first run of the year.

I’d set the bar at doing a 45 minute run, which would be more than I’d done for a long time, and to be honest a bit over ambitious for my first attempt. I managed half an hour and then hit a wall that I couldn’t fight through. So I changed my run to take me in the direction of home, and five minutes later I found myself at my front door, pretty knackered. That was about ten minutes ago, and I feel pretty good at the moment, now that I can breath properly again.

I managed to clock up 3.29 miles, which for a first attempt in a long time isn’t bad.

Now, time for a shower, a coffee, and to get ready for work.

Technorati Tags: Fitness, Health, Running

I finally arranged a replacement battery for my MacBook Pro last week, and it arrived earlier today. The old battery would say it had a full three hours charge available, and then after about ten or so minutes, the laptop would switch itself off. It was in a word, buggered.

Initially I thought I’d made a mess of some of the power settings on the laptop, and so spent several hours going through EVERYTHING. At the end of that ordeal, I realised that everything was setup as it should be and that the most likely scenario was that I’d have to buy a new battery.

I looked at the cost, swore like a sailor, and then forgot all about it for a few months because I use the laptop plugged into the mains 90% of the time anyway. Then I tried to use the laptop when I was out having a coffee, and like clockwork, ten minutes into using it the thing switched itself off. I had to choke back the profanity that flooded into my mind. A loud abusive rant at my laptop in the middle of Starbucks may have made me look like a madman, so I managed, barely, to restrain myself.

It began to look like I was going to have to cough up the £100 for a new battery, which pissed me off somewhat. I had better things to spend my money on, but it looked as though there was no getting around it. Just before I bit the bullet I thought I’d go onto the Apple forums and see if there was anything else I could do to save myself the money.

I’m very glad I did.

It turns out that it was a common fault with the batteries bought around the time I picked up my MBP, and Apple had extended their warranty for a further two years. This meant that if my battery met the requirements I could get a replacement for free. It fell into their criteria for a faulty battery and so I could get one sent out to me straight away. I made the arrangements and one was couriered out to me, with the instruction to send my faulty one back to them. When UPS arrived, the guy hung around for a few minutes while I powered the laptop down, and swapped the batteries. I switched on the laptop, and the battery started charging. So I put the old one into the box, attached the proper label, and he took it away there and then. I didn’t even have to mess about with rearranging a collection.

I’ve charged the battery completely and I’m in the process of letting it drain for the first time. Now I get to have 3 hours of battery power, which allows me a greater sense of freedom to write where and when I want than I’ve had for a long time. Now if I want to go to the pub or a cafe to write, I don’t have to hunt for one that has obvious power sockets. I can just turn up, fire up the laptop and write away.

To say I’m happy about that is a massive understatement.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, Tech