I am sat in a series of very slow, official, dull meetings. It’s too warm, there is too much paperwork, and it’s hard to maintain focus (especially if you’re blogging from your PDA). All I can think about is how much I’m looking forward to going for a swim after all this. Warm up, 4x 400m in 8 mins each, warm down.
Then I get to cycle home in the rain.
Energy and motivation for work is really starting to dip now. I must take some time off. Maybe next week.
Lotto Win
Woohoo! Actually only a tenner, but it’s still nice.
Sod’s Law Revealed
I told you Sod’s Law was real – a descriptive formula for the law has been calculated, and by a Cardiff University lecturer no less. Mathematically it is expressed as:
1/8Ti x I 3/8 + O + Sb
P + M
with:
- Task Importance (Ti)
- Inconvenience, and financial and emotional cost of task not going to plan (I)
- Optimism – the tendency to think everything will work out fine (O)
- Background Personal Stress Levels (Sb)
- Extent of Planning (P)
- Memory – especially for things that worked out well
I’m not entirely sure how I’ll be using this on a day to day basis, but it’s a good start to changing some of the variables and avoiding the effects of Sod’s law.
Link to BBC article.
Gadget Geek Kim
Kim says she wants to buy a Playstation 3 when they come out. Honest, this was not my idea. She really does want a game console. I swear I didn’t put her up to it. She loves playing the musical genre of games, like Songstar (the karaoke game) and Buzz (the music quiz game). Jack loved Guitar Hero (a guitar playing game) when he tried it at the weekend with Ele, Lee & Nick, and I reckon he’d really enjoy some of the dance mat games. I’ll bet there are some drumming games out there somewhere too.
Kim also watched Doom last night, the film of the game. She knows a little of the game(s), but not much. She thought it was “a very good film” right up until the fight at the end, which she thought was silly. I never would have guessed that she would have enjoyed it. I didn’t really expect to enjoy it myself. Maybe she’ll be playing Battlefield 2 soon…
So I’m adding a Playstation 3 to my list, probably to buy in Spring next year. Maybe.
Blue C on BBC
Swansea University and the School of Medicine’s IBM Blue C supercomputer is noted on the BBC’s news website. We’re predicting UK avian flu scenarios.
Link.
The Triathlon Salmon
I’m reading an article on xtri.com about cortisol, stress, training and the salmon. It’s nicely relevant to www.dontbeasalmon.net (this website) and is similar to comments I’ve made in the past, but this time is linked in with problems of overtraining (the salmon “under-rests” for weeks in its attempt to reach its spawning grounds and as a result of continued high stress levels then dies).
“Over the long term, elevated cortisol levels can be as detrimental to overall health as elevated cholesterol is for heart disease or excessive blood sugar is for diabetes. Aside from that, elevated cortisol levels make you fat, destroy your muscles and bones, kill your sex drive, shrink your brain, squelch your immune system, and generally make you feel terrible. So what to do?”
“Remember, it’s OK to eat the salmon, and it’s even OK to save the salmon – but just do whatever you can not to be the salmon.” I feel I’ve heard that before somewhere…
Link.
TDF Outage
Noooo! I’m in Swindon, trying to watch the deciding stage of this year’s Tour de France, but we’re under a huge thunderstorm & the satellite signal has been lost.
Rivers in the street, hail of the size to put in your drink, & lightning almost in the garden. All because my sister planned a barbecue.
Specs
I picked up my glasses today. Only a minor correction (honest), but computer screens & other reading material instantly feel so much easier to read. Now I can feel the strain in my eyes without glasses. I’m back to maximum geek power!
Mad Blogs
I love the internet:
thegalacticpost.blogspot.com
Landis
Uh, did I say “out of contention”? OK, not if you attack on the first hill with over 120km to go, drop riders in the top 10 with bemused looks on their faces and blast your way over all the mountains on your own to both win the stage and come back to within 45 seconds of the yellow jersey.
Time trial on Saturday. OMG it’s going to be ace!