Posts

Posted Jan 29, 2023

A day in two parts. The easy bit was at the start, with a bit of rowing and weights (pulled something doing squats, really annoying) then a quick stint in the spa.

Posted Jan 28, 2023

A short entry today: a busy day, and it's late.

Posted Jan 27, 2023

At circuits this morning I really got a sense that my Janathon efforts have started to pay off. I feel like I can maintain a level of intensity that I wouldn't have managed a month ago, and my legs are feeling particularly strong. This is despite not yet being back on the running - and even there I believe my Achilles is heading firmly in the right direction.

Posted Jan 26, 2023

Another busy day, good fun! Lots happening at work, definitely keeping me interested. Then this evening orchestra resumed after the Christmas break. This was the first rehearsal for the concert I'm playing a solo in, but thankfully we didn't play that piece.

Posted Jan 25, 2023

One of my least favourite sleep-related events is the kind when for some reason I end up going to bed really late, but console myself with the idea that I'll have a bit of a lie-in to compensate, only to find that the universe has other plans. This happened last weekend when my late-night sleep deprivation was exacerbated by a very early phone call the following morning. Last night was similar, as I was woken a few times during the night.

Posted Jan 24, 2023

It's been a busy work / other things today. Today's blog post is really an article I put up on my site about SEO, but I might as well just explain that it was my first day in London of the year, which I really enjoyed. I enjoy commuting (Endor is good!), I like my work colleagues and yoga was lovely this evening. Result!

Posted Jan 24, 2023

Here's a bullet-point action list I wrote a while ago about specifically how to improve your Google rankings. Note: it takes a certain amount of time and work, there is no quick fix. Here goes:

Posted Jan 23, 2023

It's been a busy day today, which I like. Also a pretty cold one, which honestly I'm not quite so keen on. It started with my early-morning training bootcamp thing, which was really mighty cold (something like -6C apparently). There was a certain amount of lying down to do core exercises, too, which thankfully got replaced second time round - the trainer took mercy on us.

Posted Jan 22, 2023

Sleep hasn't featured as much in today's outline as I had hoped.

Posted Jan 21, 2023

What do we hate? HMRC. Why do we hate them? Because they make us go through a hellish process every year, which is bad news for someone with a tendency to leave things to the last minute.

Posted Jan 20, 2023

I decided to have a go at forming a daily blogging habit about two and a half months ago. Since then, the habit does seem to have formed fairly strongly; apart from when I've been ill, I have written a blog post every day since then. It's been fun, too.

Posted Jan 19, 2023

If you've ever wanted to use an app to track your training, and you have an Android phone, I have a recommendation for you. The app is called FitNotes, and it is excellent. It does a single thing - tracking training - and does it very well. It's also free (but you can become a supporter, which I ended up doing as it is so good), and doesn't contain adverts. Finally it's clear and easy to use.

Posted Jan 18, 2023

Every day at the moment seems to be overly busy, without enough time to do the things I feel like I need to. I have a horribly long (and growing) list of things at home and work that need to be done by January 31. Clearly something is going wrong here.

Posted Jan 17, 2023

Today has been pretty busy. The work that I couldn't face doing last night ended up taking quite a long time today. After getting back, I managed a quick yoga class, then some boring admin stuff around a daughter's university accommodation. And now it is time for bed, so there's not going to be much more here today!

Posted Jan 16, 2023

I'm sitting here with a pile of work I need to complete. But I'm thinking about having done exactly that at the same stage last week, and know what the consequences were. So instead I'm going to take the alternative approach and just go straight to bed. Fingers crossed I'll be fresh as a daisy in the morning!

Posted Jan 15, 2023

{:class="img-responsive small alignright"} I noticed recently that I was approaching what I call my Wordleversary - and I have been celebrating it today. This is to say, I have completed 365 Wordles. I can't remember the exact day I started, but it would have been just over a year ago as I have missed just a few days over that time.

Posted Jan 14, 2023

Today has not gone to plan. Early signs were a bit worrying - today's Wordle was a nightmare (more of that tomorrow). And then, while stuck on the last chance to guess the words with only a few letters known, an email arrived which made it clear that someone had just succeeded in hacking in to Ellie's Instagram account.

Posted Jan 13, 2023

There's not a lot for me to say today - after early circuits this morning, the day has been basically dedicated to work.

Posted Jan 12, 2023

Wednesday had been going pretty well, on the whole. I'd slept in a bit, and had a reasonable day at work. I did a short gym session in the evening (2km rowing and some weights), some minor errands ... and then things went somewhat off-piste.

Posted Jan 10, 2023

If you need confirmation that things don't go the best when you've had insufficient sleep, just look at today. On the plus side, I did manage to finish the work last night, and that was somewhat important. And I also got quite a lot done at work today.

Posted Jan 9, 2023

Working rather late tonight, so just a quick entry. The day has been pretty action-packed, all told. I kicked off with kettlebell circuits, worked all day, did an hour's yoga and then did a few more hours of work.

Posted Jan 8, 2023

According to my watch, I had more than nine hours of sleep last night. I'm not sure whether it's just me, but often when I get some decent rest after a few days of insufficient, I find myself feeling kind of subdued. Today falls into that category.

Posted Jan 7, 2023

Today is a good example of why it's important to get to bed on time.

Posted Jan 6, 2023

The view at my boot camp this morning was pretty special. It was a 6:30 start, so still very dark. However, there was a pretty clear sky, with a full moon hovering over the trees. Kind of like the header photo ... but not. A busy hour.

Posted Jan 5, 2023

As I continue along the process of getting the shape of my life in order, I find myself thinking about habits and how they work. So it was rather timely that Tim Ferriss released his most recent podcast with guest James Clear - the author of the top-selling book Atomic Habits. The episode is long, but interesting.

Posted Jan 4, 2023

The header image is not a photo of my gym. One obvious difference is that it looks empty, whereas mine was comparatively heaving when I got there this morning. I had actually intended to go to my early bootcamp this morning, but after a disturbed night's sleep I thought better of that idea; instead I went for plan B.

Posted Jan 3, 2023

Back to work! It was a fairly eventful day there, in that a number of things went wrong due to problems coming up around holidays and missing data. I learned a few things on the way, though, and am now fairly clear on what needs to be done tomorrow.

Posted Jan 2, 2023

Today has been my last day of holiday before returning to work. This is neither good nor bad, really - I've enjoyed the holiday, and I'm looking forward to work too, so no complaints from this end.

Posted Jan 1, 2023

Happy New Year, everyone. Here is 2023.

Posted Dec 31, 2022

Goodbye 2022. It's been something of a mixed year. There were some good high points - changing jobs being one of them, and having all the kids being healthy and happy another. But my memory of it will be rather tainted by the awful ending with Tom passing away.