“Architect Certification - has promise, but i don't ever see myself getting in. not that i've even been in the game long enough (7 years full time). but the real question is ... what about Ingo. he's a Solutions Architect MVP, but isn't he something like 25? would they make an exception?”

*nods*... I know others who are in the 'holding pattern' without quite the 10 years (I don't think... well they're not THAT old and grey yet)... 10 years as a pure architect is pretty tough....

MCE - moving into "20 new markets, making 30 countries and 17 languages by the end of 2005". sweet!

NZ should be one... I've gone back to Snapstream for the moment but NZ support might get me to shift back to MCE.

Visual Studio and SQL Server - release dates. ... i cant wait! Biztalk 2006 ... is somebody ever going to write a good Biztalk book? been interested in it since 2004 ... but all the books suck. plus the certification exam needs to be refreshed

Has he tried one of Scott Woodgates books?
It's gonna be cool... lots of cool new stuff in the BizTalk spce

Sean McB has a announced an NZ only competitin around VSTS.

Coolest thing is the “I never thought of using it to do that!”... category.

Don't think my schedule is going to give me time to have a crack at this one..... but... get onto it now closing date is 12 August.... and see you all @ Tech Ed!...... W00T!

OK... SO yesterday was pretty average.

Poor eating, stressed, no exercise.

I ate rubbish (Chicken Roll with Hollandaise for lunch and kebab for dinner!... Bleh.) I had Thai Soup (takeaway) Thursday night too but followed it up with a good long bike ride and a session of Pilates with Zosha et al. Watched the rugby with Matt from Fortress and pigged out on cheese.... bleh.... altogether bad.

Not going to make excuses. Fell off the rails.

Back on track today. Did a 60 minute run with Toby (the Dog) this morning and then did a clean up of my bach. pad.

Protein shake with Bannana for breakkie. Going to head in and do some work soon.

Found a great new running circuit... need to know Dunedin to understand instructions...

It's a figure 8 loop around Ross Creek. You start at the entrance to Ross Creek on Cannington Road and take the track that runs along the edge of the golf course around to the lake. Run across the dam then up the hill and along the northern boundary. Run right along the northern boundary until you get to the booth road entrance right at the top corner of Ross Creek. Cross ver the road and head up the Pineapple Track. Keep climbing the track and you will go past the water tanks and treatment facility and eter into a closed in bush track. Head up this for about 200m and you will get to a signposted track for McGouns(sp) Creek. This is the apex of the run distance and climb wise.

Head down the McGouns track until you hit a 4WD track. Head left down this track back towards Booth Road but just before you cross over the bridge take a right onto another 4WD track. Follow this down until you hit the sealed road. Cross the road and you are back into ross creek. RUn down the southern edge of the lake this time and cross over the track you run up on. Run down the dam face, to the footbridge. Then down the creek for about 250m when you get to a stream crossing. GO across the stream and up the hill.... you'll be back at ya car.

The DCC says you are meant to have ya dog on the lead here... but mine preferes to be off and the fine is only $100 bucks or something so I reckon it's worth the risk. Not been caught yet and everyone else does it.

Having a crapy day today... more about it later.

No exercise this morning... didn't even eat breakfast..... BLEH!

Didn't make lunch... BLEH!

REALLY REALLY cld in the house this morning....

DPF posted this

It is a complaint letter with diragrams that put even the great Rory Blyth to shame.

[UPDATE] You have to cut and paste the link

Nic Mentioned he didn't know wifef's name... Its Deborah (or Deborah Darling if I've been naughty).... haven't really blogged my wedding day yet- scanning some photos soon... but here she is... and like any good Windows Mobile Device MVPs wedding the vows were read off a Windows Mobile Device- in this case an HTC Harrier..... thought about using an HHP Dolphin but wouldn't fit in the suit pocket......

I've just gone and done it again!..... Body went on auto pilot and ate my muesli bar for lunch instead of afternoon snack..... GRRRRR.........

OK...

So since my post this time yesterday I've done pretty well.

Exercise.

Did a 20 min run with the dog last night @ 130bpm to 150bpm Heart Rate (Found the HRM in my sock draw). Got up this morning and did a 25 minute stroll with the dog- legs were sore from yesterday.

Food- I ate a light dinner last night. Steak and Salad. Went and watched the rugby with Matt @ TicketDirect. I managed to build almost an entire Pocket PC Ticket scanning application during the rugby match... which was pretty cool- look out for it in action at the Wellington match next week and the ABs Lions test in Welly early next month.

Today I had a protein shake for brekie. M bar for morning tea. Lunch was a chicken sammie with humus and lettuce. Had my afternoon M bar at  lunch.

Shopping for today:
Dinner for tonight

I really quite like David Benson-Pope. Were I still in Dunedin South he would have had my electorate seat vote. He was a great asset on the Civil Unions campaign and to be honest he's not a bad guy.

I'm an ACT voter but to be honest I think the party should be doing better things with their time than muck raking over this sort of stuff. Call me judgemental but looking at the guy on the TV I reckon a tennis ball and a bit of duct tape was probably a useful educational tool....

... having said all that....

I agree with pretty much everyone (here, there) that the decision by the Speaker of the House not to forward the Benson-Pope complaint was a really bad one. The allegations are there and I think that it realy needs to go to the comittee to be sorted.

1. OK... Day one went pretty well.

Kept to a good eating schedule.

1. Breakfast
   Protein Shake
2. Morning Snack
   Muesli Bar
3. Lunch
   2 * Tuna Sammies
4. Afternoon Snack
   Muesli Bar (Ate this a bit too early... body went into 'autopilot' and just picked it up and ate it... whoops...)
5. Dinner
   300Gms Fillet Steak (Super Lean)
   Salad (With a little Asian Lemon Splash dressing from Zarbo)
   1/2 a Ciaatta Bread (felt like carbs as I had to play Canoe Polo last night) Splurged and had some Taramasalata on it as it was on clearance at super market- bit naughty but not too fatty and salmon fatty acids good....
6. Late snack after Polo
   Protein Shake

Got through a bit of water but not as much as I'd like. Not doing to good on that today either.  Note to self... DRINK MORE WATER

Exercise yesterday was a 40 minute game of polo. Did a few walking meetings during the day too.

As for today. Missed taking the dog for a run today. Do have a lead though- his grandma left him with one when he went to the groomers yesterday. I did by my Pilates mat yesterday but no dumbells.... instead I got a big rubber exercise band- trying that out tonight.

1. Exercise today so far has been a 40 minute PT session with my trainer dave. General upper/lower/cardio circuit session. Was good. I pushed out high reps for each set and I felt +ve. Planning on a run with the dog, some bike time and some Pilates this evening... Need to do some work too.

Food plan for today.

1. Breakkie
   Protein Shake (was gonna have Bannana but they aren't ripe enough yet) Had this after my PT session
2. Morning Snack
   Muesli bar at about 11am
3. Lunch
   Chicken sammie on 1/2 ciabatta with Taramasalata and lettuce. 6 Cherry toms. Eating this right now.
   I got a whole loadof lean chicken at supermarket last night and cooked it up for this weeks lunches.
4. Dinner
   Is steak again. No bread tonight. Just steak and a BIG feed of salad.

Stuff todo and get today.
Probablly OK todaMaybe some bread from the supermarket cos the other stuff might be getting stale. But should probabbly be OK for sammies tommorow.

General feeling of well being.... not too bloody bad Not been hungry at all which is good. My fod plan is really to not cut down too much on quantity (I'm upping exercise to deal with that) but I'm being much more careful as to when and what I eat. Less fat. bit more protein. Not ditching carbs altogether- I aim to lose via exercise not this stupid stick ya body into Ketosis mode that's all the craze at the moment. Progress thus far goo.d Just got to stay +ve

Things I need to work on:

1. Dragging my sorry ass out of bed in the morning to walk the dog. Anybody got any hot tips on how to make getting up easier? Especialy in COLD COLD COLD climates...?

'That' Chris Trotter....

http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/archives/010776.html

“Higher taxes are no longer viewed, as they were back in 1999, as the price that New Zealand's better-off citizens should expect to pay for improved social services.

Six years of unprecedented spending on health and education have not produced the anticipated results.

Even on the Left, there is a growing sense of frustration that no matter how much money gets spent, nothing seems to happen.

New Zealand's bureaucratic structures would appear to have an inexhaustible capacity to absorb taxpayers' dollars, along with an indefatigable propensity to divert, discourage and delay any and every attempt to bring about even the smallest of administrative changes.”

Details from the WWDC Keynote here.

Will be SWEET to dual boot an x86 with Longhorn and MacOS X

"Every release of Mac OS X has been compiled for both PowerPC and Intel . This has been going on for the last five years"

http://xtramsn.co.nz/entertainment/0,,12253-4449335,00.html

“Welsh singer Charlotte Church has slammed American President George W. Bush as a "proper weirdo" after he mistook Wales for a town. “

Wifey and I went to the Reef for our Honeymoon recently.

Here are some photos of our trip with Pro Dive Cairns. Second trip with them... good operation.

You've all seen the billboards....

http://gonzofreakpower.blogspot.com/2005/06/bill-bored.html

Is this going to be THE viral campaign of the election?

OK. So this post has a bit of stuff about some of my plans as well as my first weigh in.

I weighed in this morning at
108.2kg
25.6% body fat

This is still much lightr than my peak weight (about 115kg) but my target is to go under 100kg- ideally to around 96-98kg. This was my weight when I was at the peak of fitness at the end of highschool. I am a big guy anyway- broad shoulders, 6'3” - so I'm never going to be a flyboy.

I'm going to reward myself for hitting my weight target with Lasik Eye Surgery So I really need to get it off before paddling season kicks in properly

I got all of my exercise technology sorted out last night. I have it all set up in my lounge.

• Diamondback Road Bike on a Magnetic Trainer
• Media PC running Snapstream (Set to record good stuff to watch on bike as well as the daily episode of Pilates TV on TV1)
• Pilates Mat - tried with my Thermarest last night- no good. Need a closed cell mat. To buy today.

I gave the system a trial last night. Did 25 mins on the back and an episode of Pilates (this week is Boy exercises week so all strength stuff- might save them away till a bit later) then off to bed by about 1/2 past nine. I had finished all my exercise by 9pm but then watched some Kayak Porn because I felt the need for a thrill.....

Up this morning and into the diet routine.

• Protein shake for breakfast. I'm going to add a bannana if I have exercised in the morning. I didn't exercise this morning because I couldn't find a lead for the dog- added to shopping list.
• I made some Tuna sammies for lunch- two sammies - white bread will get brown next time for more fiber - small squirt of Tartare sauce (soooo full of FAT!). I'm going to have a protein shake too as I brought some to work with me.
• Snacks over the day I have a Tasti muesli bar and a pams muesli bar- they were the low fat options at the supermarket. I also have a bottle of Gatorade made up from powder. Need to drink more water too. Will report back on how we get on.
• Dinner - Going to be fillet steak and salad with minimal dressing. Need to buy salad.

Exercise plan for today

1. Run the dog @ Ross Creek - about 30 minutes
2. Game of Canoe Polo @ Moana Pool - about 40 minutes

Shopping for today

1. Dog leash - Supermarket
2. Readymade Salad - Supermarket
3. Second hand dumbells from Cash Converters
4. Pilates mat from Para Rubber

General tasks for today

1. Find heart rate monitor watch. The alarm goes off at 6:30am every morning so it is somewhere in the house.

I'm going to lose some kilograms. Mainly because I've got back into kayaking and I'm too fat for pretty much every playboat (even the big boy models) on the market. I also realy want to look like a 'sexy beast' for Christmas

So. I'm going to blog about it. That way all you people who read this blog religiously can kick my ass if I fall off the wagon. I'm gonna try and do a sort of daily diary with my eating and exercising and all that jazz.

Please, Please, Please... if you find me slacking kick my virtual ass

Here

Nicked from Darren Niemke

The stupid internet kiosk @ Dunk Island will not lewt me enter paths with URLS... so I ahve to create  a link to my Outlook Webmail Here.... MEH!

It still didn't F'ing work... NOTE: If travelling to Dunk prepare to do without interweb :-(

”

There’s a lot of “dialogue” between Anakin and Padme that goes like this:

Anakin: I think you’re so beautiful.

Padme: No – you are.

Anakin: No, seriously, baby. You’re hot.

Padme: Oh, Annie.

Anakin: I love you.

Padme: No, I love you.

Anakin: For reals, though, I think you’re so awesome.

Padme: You’re so nice.

Anakin: Obi-Wan is a dickhead.

Padme: Really?

Anakin: Totally.

Padme: No way!

Anakin: Way.

Padme: Wow. I love you.

Anakin: I totally love you more.

[lather, rinse, repeat]”

See more here...

Grab some Silica gel sachets (the ones that come with pretty much every item shipped out of china these days). Dry them in the oven, store them in a ziplock back.

When you pack your housing, chuck one or two inside. Leave the housing for half an hour... Wammo- dry air in housing == no condensation.

Rod Drury has blogged about broadband in hotels. It's true, the Asian hotels do screw you pretty hard for boradband access. Singapore is CHEAP compared to China 5* Hotels.

My hot tip for travelling to broadband equiped hotels as to take your own WiFi Router. At my hotel in Perth last week I had my own private WiFi network setup that covered not only my room but also the restaurant- I could surf the net over breakfast