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right arm this time

Filed Under Category Education, Faith, Religion and Belief by titanium

Gave blood again- so that’s a cumulative 940mL! (Check out my observations from my first visit, not much about it has changed. )

So, I gave out of my right arm this time, because that was the chair that was free at the time. My vein isn’t as obvious on that side, but the nurse found it alright- though I had to clench my fist to raise it. This means a little more pain, because if you relax it doesn’t hurt.

Blood stats- I got it out in an amazing 6 minutes 10 seconds, which beats my old time (9.47) by over three minutes, but I was still 18 seconds off the fastest. I had drunk a large amount of water before hand (yes, and “been” quite a few times before I got to the chair too. ) And yep, I’m still B+ (wink). Oh yeah- haemoglobin down from last time- 14.1.

Now, there was some drama when the needle came out- I felt light headed, nauseous and hot. so the reclining chair was set so my head was down and my feet were up. The nurses put a cold cloth on my head, and fanned me (the fan had the cute blood drop mascot on it.) Diagnosis? Low blood pressure. So I stayed in the chair a while, then they tilted me up some (my feet still up) got me a drink and checked my blood pressure (going up). I was still in the chair. Some of the nurses left to go elsewhere, leaving just three in centre. So I was stuck in the chair after I felt better, waiting to be let down so I could eat something. I was told not to have the orange juice, disappointingly! I have no idea why.

Eventually I was set free to have another drink of water and some food. I had a crackers and cheese, and some fruitcake. I felt like I needed the sugar for my health- so it doesn’t quite count as Lent busting. I didn’t have any chocolate biscuits though- so that was good.

So, a very different blood giving time- I would still go again, but hopefully it would be a bit more like the first time!

February 23, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

giving up dessert for Lent

Filed Under Category Coffee and Food, Faith, Religion and Belief by titanium

So. Lent. A time to give stuff up – now, this is stuff that you like, you aren’t allowed to give up homework, etc. :)
Lent is a time of preparation, to get ready before Easter. To give something up… because it’s tradition, right?

So, I’ve decided to give up dessert for lent- so that’s biscuits, morning and afternoon tea, pudding, ice cream, chocolate etc. Sweet stuff. I’ll still eat fruit though, and I haven’t abandoned caffeine (ie, tea and coffee) – but I don’t do those with sugar anyway.

Now, I’m not doing this for the tradition of Lent. Instead of the time spent eating the sweet things, I’ll be thinking about God. So, I won’t be sitting around moaning about my lack of sugar. (Hopefully!) When I feel like a biscuit oozing chocolate chips, or a blueberry muffin, an icecream, or a lolly, that will remind me to think about God. I hope that this will help my spiritual journey and growth.

I also have to admit that weight loss is appealing, but that really was a secondary thought to the whole giving something up for God Lent thing.

So, Days One and Two. Gave up dessert. Had a muffin, but this was before I decided to do Lent, so that doesn’t count. Didn’t have morning tea or afternoon tea at the Office (I help out a friend there occasionally) Didn’t do dessert after the evening meal both days. What was tough was hitting the wall in the afternoon and really craving the sugar, for energy. I can’t believe how many things are out there to encourage you to eat dessert type things- food eating norms (dessert after mains, morning/afternoon teas) and ads! The ads are annoying. You aren’t even watching the tv properly, and a thought pops into your head: “mmm… ice cream cone…” ARGH!

So, 38 days to go. I really really want to achieve this, so I’ll be blogging about my progress to keep me accountable.

February 22, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

is this familiar to anyone?

Filed Under Category Coffee and Food, Podcasts and other Media, Randomness by titanium



This is the first time I’ve posted a YouTube video, and I won’t make a habit out of it, but this one has something in common with the lives of most geeks. And teachers. And working people.

What I want to know is: How much is too much?

February 21, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

ad-busting: just fat is fattening

Filed Under Category Education, Randomness by titanium

Don’t you hate the ads for products with someone gleefully biting into something, saying: “and the best bit is, it’s only 1 gram of fat” or “only 2 percent fat”. What is implied here is that only fat is fattening (these products having a small amount of fat are therefore not fattening.)

The food you eat is digested (broken up into smaller bits), with useful parts used by the body (and the waste disposed of.) Carbohydrates get broken down into simple sugars, which are later used as the fuel for the body. Proteins get broken down into smaller proteins to be used to build cell walls, etc. Fats get broken down, and stored. This fat keeps you warm, and also is an energy store. ( reference site)

Your body is paranoid. It is always trying to be ready for a disaster, like if you are marooned on a desert island with nothing to eat. So, when times are good (indicated by a lack of energy burning activity and an abundance of food) the body stockpiles energy- just like the ‘Uncle Fred’ we all have who never throws anything away: “but we might need this someday”- never mind the fact that you can’t get in the door any more.

It is true that unused fat in the body is stored. But if you aren’t burning the energy you get from your carbohydrates (sugar is included here) then that will get stored too!

I guess it’s not a big selling point to say “Almost no energy to burn from this snack” though. But it’s not just fat that is fattening, and I wish this was communicated more clearly in food ads!

February 16, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

green house gas = pollution?

Filed Under Category Uncategorized by titanium

The top green house gasses are: water vapour, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Ozone(O3. Besides Ozone, which is blueish, they are all colourless.

This, however, doesn’t make for very entertaining television. The television news delights in showing smog enshrouded high rise buildings, while shouting headlines of climate change, doom and gloom. Climate change is the new issue, global warming the new enemy- but our knowledge is outdated. What we are talking about is pollution.

There is a car advertisement that goes a bit like this:

What if the air was clean again? Would the grass be greener? Would you breathe easier, feel younger, live longer, feel better? What if every car was like the X with reduced green house emissions.

Pollution is adding pollutants; dirty, unhelpful, poisonous things to the natural environment, the air, the water, the soil. I seem to remember the anti pollution movement being big in the National Geographic Magazines I used to flip through as a kid. Athenian marble is coated in black soot- causing the ban of some cars on certain days. Asian cities, with people wearing masks. Smog. Fish floating in poisoned rivers.

It’s all very visible, obviously negative, but people have adopted the new buzzword- global warming.

Global warming and climate change are inadvertently becoming phrases to describe any environmental damage. This reduces the effectiveness of an already name-calling debate. Pollution is a problem- we need to deal with it. Global warming is a different issue. We need to deal with that too.

February 11, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

error messages

Filed Under Category Linux, Tech by titanium

I was reading Hari’s blog, talking about a difficult problem on his computer, which he worked out from clues from an error message.

Error messages always frustrated me. What does it actually mean?! Then I realized that error messages are just symptoms. For example, a ping error might be “Server not found” – this doesn’t necessarily mean there is a physical disconnection, there could be another problem, like your network settings might be borked.

I began to understand error messages when I had to write them for my programming class. It’s difficult to write understandable, useful error messages- for one you are way too involved in the code, to you, it’s obvious what the problem is, with just a couple of words. Also there are so many different things that could be causing a problem- a verbose error message is too difficult to write for each situation.

So I am now beginning to appreciate error messages for what they are- clues. You must take a deep breath, and think like a computer, and you understand a bit more what it is trying to tell you.

So there you go, learning to think like error messages helps you figure out your computer problems.

February 10, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

they’re watching…

Filed Under Category Randomness, Site Stuff, Tech by titanium

I was browsing though my stats, and saw something interesting. A visit from Redmond- yes, that Redmond. The ISP was Microsoft Corp. They dropped by via google, and the browser was firefox (on windows XP) but they didn’t stay long- 0 seconds.

Don’t know how legit it is though- apparently Time Warner have dropped by too.

Probably just the robots.

February 8, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

powering Australia

Filed Under Category Environmentally Friendly by titanium

As the ordinary people lug buckets in a water shortage, we begin to think about other resources. The debate about Global Warming has brought up the topic of energy, and electricity generation.

Australia generates most of its power from coal. Coal fired electricity accounts for about 80% of Australia’s power consumption. (source) It also exports a lot of coal for power generation in other countries. (Uranium is also exported as fuel for nuclear reactors.)

Both the often-used strip mining and the gasses released (both polluting and green house) are reasons that the Coal industry is targeted by environmentalists. ( see also: this)

The whole reason for this blog post is to criticise an argument of John Howard (PM) I heard on TV- the above is simply background. (I’m afraid I don’t have the reference- yes, this is dodgy blog reporting.) He derided Labour’s commitment to greener energies, saying that he is committed to keeping the coal miners in their jobs. However, he then said that he was willing to look at Nuclear power, unlike the Opposition. (my paraphrase)
Surely, we have got to stop depending on a fuel that is so bad for the planet we live on. This is going to mean, unfortunately, the end of an industry. People are going to lose their jobs. This will happen whether we switch to green energy (such as solar power) or nuclear energy.

Nuclear power generation is not without it’s problems, and the complete antagonism from greens groups is just one of them. The debate, the research into safety and viability will take years. We need to take action now- let’s develop viable, clean, renewable energy generation instead.

February 8, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

love hate the commute

Filed Under Category Randomness by titanium

Ah, the commute. A nice brisk walk to the train station, a quick train ride, possibly a bus ride. All to get somewhere. To do something. And when you’re done, you turn around and come home again.

I don’t mind the time- I like trains, and the time “wasted” in travelling isn’t- it’s valuable thinking time, or time for reading, or if I’m brave/foolhardy, school work. I like just sitting still, thinking, or just letting the sun play on my face.

However, this is if I’m organized. This is where I hate the commute. I used to live on a school property. This meant I had 30 seconds (sprinting) to get to the computer lab and fun. I could stay at home, or I could go out and see people. I could go out and work at something. Sure, I had to commute into town, but most things were on my doorstep. I hate how I have to walk three+ blocks to get to the shops- 2+ to get to a field. I have to catch a train to get to church. Really, it’s not that bad, but spontaneity is so restricted. Pre planned spontaneity. Sigh.

Do you love or hate your commute? Or both?

February 7, 2007 | |

COMMENTS

jobs for working hedgehogs pt1 english

Filed Under Category Education, Randomness by titanium

I’ve decided to brainstorm different jobs you can do with a skill set. Today, I’m looking at english/literature/writing skills. Feel free to add ones that I’ve missed in the comments!

I’m sure there are many many many jobs that I’ve left out here, but this is a good start. What else can you think of?

February 7, 2007 | |

COMMENTS