Monday, June 8, 2009 at 12:07PM Harking back to my previous blog post, fell off the wagon only a couple of times this week in my attempt to get a bit trimmer and fitter for MacMania09. Just too much Pizza on Friday night with friends and a humongous Sunday lunch :-(
Even so, I've managed to trim 3lbs off this week without going too berserk!
That brings me down to 14st 7lbs (203lb or 92Kgs) after 7 days.
More than happy with that!
Monday, June 1, 2009 at 7:22AM Just four short weeks before leaving for MacMania 09 and I'm way behind in where I wanted to be.
So the next four weeks are going to take some serious planning and hard grafting. I'll need to cut down the distractions (sorry Twitter) and get some focus to make sure everything is accomplished before I can leave.
Following on from a recent blog post, the overwhelming consensus was that the world will not end if I don't publish a show for two weeks.
Really!!!
Oh well, that's a good thing then! It relieves the pressure somewhat in that I don't have to double production leading up the trip, besides which, even if I did the shows for the weeks I'm away, there is no guarantee that I could publish them remotely. I've got a house sitter organised who will take on some of the membership related emails and queries, so I should be able not to worry too much about that side of things.
One thing I will take seriously over the next four weeks is to try and get in shape for the trip.
I could do with losing at least two stone (28lbs) to bring my weight down to a reasonable level. I appreciate that it's not going to happen in four weeks but I'll try my best to at least make a dent in that. Nothing dramatic, just a bit more exercise, no chocolate, reduced portion sizes and no alcohol midweek (a definite cause of midnight snacking!). I'll also be trying out a regular course of JuicePlus to supplement my eating habits. It just so happens that one of my regular ScreenCastsOnline viewers is associated with JuicePlus and he has kindly sent over some samples for me to try out - Thanks Curt!
I'll not bore you everyday with an update, but I'll try and report back at least every week to let you know how I get on. Going public may help me stick to a sensible regime. Just for the record, as of today I'm, 14st 10lbs (206lbs or 93Kgs), if I can loose at least 14lbs in the next 4 weeks, that would be a start!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 11:03AM Well back into the swing of things now and I think I'm just about over the trip!
In case you missed the "live" appearance on MBW, Allison captured some video of the event : http://bit.ly/cxe5Z
Now I'm into organising and planning for the trip in July to China, South Korea and Japan as part of the Mac Mania 09 event. I'm going out ahead of the cruise to take part in the pre-cruise tour which is an week long tour of inland China. This means I'll be away for the best part of two weeks, which equates to three ScreenCastsOnline shows. So in effect, that leaves me with six weeks to prepare and record 9 weekly shows and 6 x 90 minute presentations.
I may even decide to skip a weekly show (or even two) whilst I'm away, as even if I prepare the shows in advance, there is no guarantee I'll be able to publish them on time from such exotic locations?
Do you think people will mind?
It may give people a chance to catch up?
At least I had the good sense to not take on any commissioned work for the same period.
So things are going to get a little busy round here, and you'll have to excuse me if my blogging becomes light and sporadic. Somethings gotta give!
Friday, May 8, 2009 at 2:03PM Finally made over to the US following a long and pretty much uneventful journey. By the way, if you can afford to upgrade to World Traveller Plus on BA for long haul flights (basically Premium Economy) it's well worth it. Huge difference in comfort and space.
My plans on documenting the creation of this weeks show as the basis for the show next week didn't quite go to plan as things all went a bit "pair shaped" during the encoding stage. Despite having both Mac Pros configured as normal, I spent the best part of Wednesday afternoon and early evening trying to get the encoding to run properly. I finally managed by reverting back to a single Mac Pro, but considering it was around 8pm before I stared uploading the various versions to Libsyn and I was due to get up at 5am the following morning. The post product tasks had to wait.
I'd planned to do them on the plane and was successful, but I wasn't able to record those stages so will do them retrospectively when I get back. So still on track for next week.
Plans for today include a visit to Santa Monica to try out the new camera and GPS, then traveling across to Catalina Island with Steve and Allison in the afternoon. The Star Trek screening isn't on until Saturday evening, so that gives us a day to explore and chill out. That's if it's possibly for three geeks to ever chill out!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 7:13PM So with the upcoming LA trip (and others) in mind, I thinks it's time I invested in a decent camera rather than the cheap and cheerful ones I've always ended up buying in the past.
My needs are simple:
Mandatory
Optional
