Eating for England….
Posted by Leeb - 03/06/09 at 09:06:19 pmHaving been a “like yeah man, 3 times a week” gym bunny for about 2 years and thinking I had been doing pretty well, treadmill, pushups, pullups rah, rah, rah….it dawned on me that I have more or less been wasting my time as I probably have only trained to a large extent using exercises I like, i.e. the ones that don’t hurt anymore! And- as a result there arn’t any.
- So I got my self a personal trainer to try and remedy my situation - Jason Statham is where I want to be, Joe Pesci is whaere I am now
I hark back to my military days on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday mornings when Gabriel tries his best to kill me. I have never sweated so much in recent history [well 10 years anyway] as during the last couple of weeks.
Gabriel has made it his mission to correct all my worsening body traits encouraged by my past 10 years of couch potatoe-ing and ill-beer swilling escapades. Right arm stronger than left- noooo problem Gabriel will find all the wasted, dwindling muscles in the left arm and murder them one-by-one. same goes for outward pointing feet [great for marching...but we don't do that anymore...], sloping right shoulder ['cos that's the one we carry stuff with right!...] and thus - lazy muscles targeted and destroyed, Sir! All to the resounding Portugese-accented cries of “awesome, come on, up, up, up, there!…”
I am loving it! as they say at McDonalds….or would if I were allowed to grace one! I shudder to think what my punishment would be…brings water to my eyes already.
Also, as part of the new routine, I have to eat. Eating has never been a problem for me, hungry = eating. Now I have to eat to strenghten and build my new muscles, trouble is the amounts at each sitting are astounding.
I feel as though I am eating for England so to speak, here’s a normal days eating:
first thing in the morning: 20g whey protein shake
200ml skim milk, flax seed oil tbl spoon, vitamin c, glucosamine
breakfast: 2eggs
1 wholemeal toast(brown bread)/ 60g dry oats to cook a porridge
peanut butter/nuts or chicken sandwich
lunch: big kumara(microwave 6-8 min), 200g tuna/ salmon
tomatos, onions, parsley
dessert: banana/ apple/ kiwi fruit
afternoon tea, pre-workout(30min-1h before): piece of fruit
20g protein
300ml milk
60g porridge/ 1 slice of brown bread w hummus
coffee
post workout: 30g whey protein, 600ml powerade
1h after post workout meal
dinner: miso soup, mesclun salad, capsicum, garlic, 200g chicken breast
mustard, chilli
before bed 50g cottage cheese
Phew!
Communication…..
Posted by Leeb - 05/04/09 at 09:04:49 amResolve from Yahoo! Read on for the exciting game of ping-pong which resulted in a conclusion which I already knew 
After receiving an email advising me that I had infringed their TOS agreement and that my account with Yahoo! would be terminated, dot dot dot
“Hi there, I don’t believe this is the right form for asking
this question but I can’t find another! So here goes:
I recieved an email from Yahoo stating that I might have violated the
TOS in some way - but I don’t know how???!! I have had a re-read and
I believe that I have been doing nothing untoward or different to my
past 12 or so years as a Yahoo member…please let me know how I have
infringed the TOS so a) I can either do something about my actions or b)
you guys can please apologise and remove any record of my infingement
Many thanks in advance, Lee”
“Hello,
Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.
Mass distribution of unsolicited email messages (or “spamming”) violates
the Yahoo! Terms of Service (TOS).
Please include the following in your report of email abuse to assist us
in a prompt and full investigation:
1. Original subject line — Please forward the email with a subject
identical to the original subject.
2. Complete headers — Email programs often display abbreviated
headers. To learn how to display the full headers in a Yahoo! Mail
account, please visit the Yahoo! Mail Help Desk.
3. Complete message body — Please include the complete, unedited
content of the email message in question. Please do not change or edit
the message in any way.
If reports of email abuse are missing any one of these three items, it
may take longer for the Yahoo! Mail Abuse Team to properly investigate
and take appropriate action. We appreciate your efforts in reporting
this abuse to Yahoo!. At this time, we will need you to forward a copy
of the message, as opposed to sending it as an attachment. Due to
security purposes, our custom messaging system is unable to access
attachments.
Regards,
Customer Care Abuse Team - Yahoo! UK & Ireland”
“Hi there, would it be possible to get a human being on the end of my
emails instead of what appears to be automata response?
I don’t spam so could this be that someone has aquired my address and
password?
Cheers,
Lee”
“Hello Lee,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! Mail.
At this time, it is unclear what assistance you are seeking. In order
for us to better assist you, I would appreciate some additional
information. Please reply to this email with the full details of what
you are experiencing — the more information we have, the better we will
be able to investigate this issue.
I look forward to providing you with a solution as soon as possible.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Mail.
Regards,
J
Yahoo! Customer Care”
“Hi guys the assistance I seek is for you to explain or investigate the
instance of “spamming” from my account…as was stated by yahoo! In the
first instance prompting this communication 
I don’t belive I infringed your tos and would like my record cleaned
up…
Cheers, lee “
“Hello,
Thanks for writing to Yahoo! UKIE Customer Care.
In order for us to better assist you, we would appreciate some
additional information. Please provide the Yahoo! ID in which you are
requesting assistance.
Regards,
Customer Care Abuse Team - Yahoo! UK & Ireland”
“Hello, is this not my email address?
Cheers,
Lee.”
“Hello,
Thank you for writing to Yahoo! New Zealand.
Mass distribution of unsolicited email messages, or “spamming”, violates
the Yahoo!Xtra Terms of Service (TOS).
After investigation, we have determined that this email message did not
originate from the Yahoo!Xtra Mail system. It appears that the sender of
this message forged the header information to give the impression that
it came from the Yahoo!Xtra Mail system. The “@yahoo.com.au” address
associated with the email does not exist.
We take the operation of Yahoo!Xtra Mail very seriously. Unfortunately,
there is no control over messages sent through other email systems and
it’s not possible to pre-empt the misuse of the Yahoo!Xtra name in
forged headers.
While Yahoo!Xtra cannot technically prevent its domain from being forged
in the headers of an email message, actions have been taken against
companies in an effort to prevent further forgery of the Yahoo!Xtra
brand and to seek damages as appropriate. Individuals are strongly
discouraged from forging the Yahoo!Xtra domain in the future and
appropriate action will be taken as necessary.
Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! New Zealand.
Regards,
J
Yahoo! Customer Care”
“Thanks for the apology Jean does this mean my account won’t be terminated?
Glad to hear we got to the bottom of this….
Much appreciated,
Lee.”
NO RESPONSE
awesome. I should send them a bill fro my time wasted, wasted trying to back up my free email account because of the threat of termination, wasted [time, not me] writing the emails, mental anguish at the possibility of losing my contacts [thank the internet Gods for my iPhone...]. I guess as in everything else in life, there’s no such thing as a free email client.
On a positive note though, it gave me pleasure in writing this blog and I got to learn about POP account backups…
Back now - phew…but might not be emailing you soon..
Posted by Leeb - 24/03/09 at 04:03:53 pmI have just received an email from my Yahoo! big brothers letting me know that they will be terminating [maybe, maybe not] my account if I don’t stop violating their TOS [their choice odf words not mine]…
I don’t even know what I have done to be rewarded by such effecient service as this!
the nice chap in me wanted to make amends and find out how I, THE CUSTOMER [ablbeit non paying] can amend my ways and gain favour with the big fellas. So off to help I go…could I find the feedback form? evntually after about the same amount of time as it would have took to sign with Google or any other free service provider… I found the ‘report abuse’ form.
So I did.
We’ll see what comes back and I’ll publish it - but only if it’s good stuff.
Are you a witch? Discuss.
Posted by Leeb - 11/11/08 at 09:11:14 pmThis is sometimes how I feel when I talk to people about new concepts that may not mesh with their reality right away. I almost feel as though they might at any minute point and shout “witch….burn him” [do guys qualify as witches?]…
An outcast, nutter, paranoid, conspirator are some suggestions people have offered.
Today I had a chat [and I know I can be a soapbox artist with the best of them] thus I moderated myself in the 3rd person so as not too get too ‘enthusiastic’ during the discussion. Todays chat was regarding our new leaders - and whether a multi-millionaire investment banker would be putting the welfare of Average Joe Smo, ahead of his Boys Club mates. I cannot say for sure. Hence the chat.
Anyway, this discussion evolved into whether or not the anti-social behaviour suppression laws such as murder, rape, serious assault etc were in fact put in place for the sake of economics or for personal rights protection. I argued in favour of the former. Stating that in my uninformed opinion -all these particular [but not limited too] laws were to protect the flow of money indirectly or directly. My reasoning being, that if people fear being murdered - they aren’t likely to shop etc ect etc.
I suggested a different approach to life> “wouldn’t you [Person] like to live in a non-money or barter-based World?”, meaning everything was ‘free’ and people worked to better themselves like in “The venus project” and asked [person] what he thought that must be like. He could not understand me and the whole conversation seeemd to centre right back to his ‘programming’ of this normal life we [I mean me] all seem to live that goes like this. “If she gives me that, what will she expect me to give her in return?” How do I know that she isn’t unconditionally giving me the [whatever]…? My programming takes over and makes me sceptical.
Our entire conversation centred around what I think he saw as me trying to change his mind on what he thinks as as ‘normal’ and me trying nothing more than trying to engage his imagination as to new possibilities. I don’t think it was my tone, or demeanor or stance etc but he would not even entertain the thought of imagining a resource based economy [even though we both knew and are secure our current reality] and called me paranoid as to my perceptions of what I perceive as all the controls on me within Western society.
In wanting to share a new experience I felt like a pharmacist in a 17th century village. Completely out of touch with my coleague and friend! And especially so when other people joined in the conversation with similar outlooks as my friend. Outlooks centering around scarcity, never having enough [of whatever] and always wanting to get something for giving something.
Cats don’t swim….
Posted by Leeb - 11/11/08 at 08:11:17 pmOr shouldn’t at any least.
Having parked the car at the marina on a high note from an awesome days being and doing, I hear a sound. Can’t make it out at first - is it a seagull or boat? Nope it sounds like a cat crying.
MC runs in the direction of the cry -as my cat has a tendancy to jump off the wharf when she is chased….- sure enough there is Missy in the water trying to remain afloat on some ropes securing a yacht.
Now I know not everyone likes cats - and in NZ I’m pretty sure few would shed a tear for the little bird murdering creatures, but an animal in pain isn’t very pleasing to listen to [unless you are one of the humans mentioned in my earlier blogs...who'll be dealt with when I get to power...] anyway, there are two blokes in my story.
The two men are about 15′ away from my cat, I heard her from about 100′ away in the car park….did these guys really not give a shit? I spoke to them to ask for a net to rescue my pet - and so ascertaining that they weren’t deaf….the response “oh, is that your cat?” got me interested….what the #$@#$%$#ing difference does that make? This animal is obviously in some sort of distress -hmm shall I a) leave it to drown slowly? b) help it? I hope he doesn’t cut himself and start bleeding out…..a) Do I torniquet? or b) “MC, can you pls go grab a cup…it’ll be black pudding tommorrow for breakfast”…mmmmm.
I cannot 100% definitely say these guys heard her cry for help from 15′ away…..so therefore I can only assume that my hearing should be insured for billions, as I obviously have the X-men factor with my superman hearing from 100′.
My observation of some of my fellow [in]human animals never cease to astound me.
Confusing inadequacy with risk aversion…..
Posted by Leeb - 06/11/08 at 10:11:14 pmToday was a day when I thought myself better than I actually was. The wind was about a 5 knot Nor’wester and my boat [small ship of 45tons] was sitting by the dockway having been inserted into the drink the day before by crane…
Along side wharf and cranes
Easy task to manoevre her back to her berth? “Should be -you’ve done it before!” said my internal all-conquering voice…..just to put things into perspective - “done it before” was approx 6 months ago when she was a heavier laden vessel with more weight on the stern and a big bulb on the bow to keep her straight, and a dead calm day.
OK to cut a story short - I started the engine [my other voice was saying "nooooooooo- get help....you're not good enough, you'll fail"] etc etc…..engine running we cast off her stern line….then the bow line……oops…I was out of my depth now.
The boat is 60′ long….the distance from the wharf to A-Pier end post is about 70′ hmmm not too much room to play “lets-see-how-she-handles-with-all-the-weight-and-bulb-and ballast-removed” in amongst all these nice shiny and expensive yachts with 10′ clearance to spare.
The story goes on….I had no helm control, she wouldn’t answer conventional bum-walking prop stuff…..and oh yeah the bow was now off in the wind going where it damn well pleased…..I was somehwat concerned to say the least….I [asked] for a stern line to be put back on……just in time……
She swung round 180 perfectly in the breeze and lay along side the wharf….on with the bow line and off went the engine!
I felt pretty low at this point…..why couldn’t I just drive my 45t 60′ [unstable-cos-she-is-in-partial-refit] boat to her berth in this breeze? The answer was of course ‘experience’…I just wasn’t born with the skills to pilot a boat of this size…I have to learn. I have driven her 3 times now….once from Australia to NZ [on the autopilot in big wide open seas with no-one to hit!] and a couple of little trips under supervision….
I suffer from beating myself up over my not being able to live up to my own expectations! I wonder how many other people do/feel this? And….because I fail to live up to my expectations - I sometimes feel inadequate. Of course this is ridiculous….skills have to be learned….and I learned the difference today between feeling inadequate for a task or ‘afraid I might fail’ scenario, and a geniune ‘risk aversion’ warning put out by my subconcious…..a lesson learned well today - although this could have been incredible expensive in both financial terms and credibility….
In the end I phoned my great friend Captain Ron Palmer to assist my little excursion - to my surprise [and his] even this man of 1000’s of hours of BIG SHIP [10,000tons+] experience had a few problems handling her!
Great job Ron for putting her in the berth!
Well I am back….and a little bit of MKP…
Posted by Leeb - 14/10/08 at 12:10:00 pmHave been incredibly busy…..although on reflection and being truthful here I have obviously decided to put everything ahead of blogging.
2 weeks ago I attended a ‘training’ weekend provided by a group known as the Mankind Project www.mkp.org. I knew nothing about this group but was looking for some personal development and life context expanding work to do - MKP seeemd to be a cool idea.
I normally Google anything I might be upto and this instance [along with some encouragement from my mate www.timdejardine.com] I did my research.
OMG - some of the stuff I found was less than appealing. One guy said he had been raped, another touched up, some emotionally scared, others led-down-the-exploited-path, brainwashed by a cult etc, blah blah blah.
Well here’s the truth of MY experience. Bollocks! I have to admit I had my moments on day 1 [Friday night] when I did my donkey impression and dug in the old what-a-load-of-hockey-bullshit heels. This was my problem. I went with ‘an open mind’ but had all the baggage of modern maleness sheilding me from a great learnign experience. Looking back I wasted day 1.
I found the group of guys, the location and the training a truley awesome experience - I am not brainwashed and I am of resonably clear character and sound mind to know when I am being taken for a ride. I have to say I am changed for the better.
I think that the guys mentioned above could have had a negative experience as they described -but I think not. I -and I am going out on a limb here- think that they might have the same experiences if they took any challenging task which invited any self assessment, except maybe being raped…which I couldn’t in a million years see how this would happen on a weekend likle the one I attended! The course literature and its leaders even stated that sex was prohibited on the course…not that I am into hairy asses anyway - but some guys are I suppose…]
So if there are any guys out there all I can say is don’t believe the crap on the web…go find some dark bits of yourself and grab em by the ears! www.mkp.org.nz
Handover…..
Posted by Leeb - 14/08/08 at 02:08:00 amSorry I mean Hanover.
I have ‘lost’ a reasonable amount of my cash when I need it working for me. Yup, I am one of thousands who took the fitch rating given to Hanover Finance as a sign of a thumbs up. Poppy Cock.
I am also feeling stupid, feeble and angry at my self for not doing my homework and being dare I say it, Greedy.. It’s funny that I do more research into buying a fridge or PC than I did investing [should that be donating?] in Hanover Finance…
Lessons learned from this little doctorate of life:
1) Don’t believe the hype. Nice recognised Kiwi homely guy -Richard Long- doing the ad voice over, flashy sponsorship of NZ morning business TV program, massive media coverage in evry format, …must be good - looking at the 10% interest rate on 1st Ranking SECURED debenture stock…
2) Look at the rating. Now I have learned what ‘Non Investment Grade’ means. I have to put this lesson up with the one I learned as a kid…the one about not sucking lemons! I thought a Fitch B+ would be good. Here’s the list…look where Hanover sits.
Investment Grade
- AAA : the best quality companies, reliable and stable
- AA : quality companies, a bit higher risk than AAA
- A : economic situation can affect finance
- BBB : medium class companies, which are satisfactory at the moment
Non-Investment Grade (also known as junk bonds)
- BB : more prone to changes in the economy
- B : financial situation varies noticeably [Hanover]
- CCC : currently vulnerable and dependent on favorable economic conditions to meet its commitments
- CC : highly vulnerable, very speculative bonds
- C : highly vulnerable, perhaps in bankruptcy or in arrears but still continuing to pay out on obligations
- D : has defaulted on obligations and Fitch believes that it will generally default on most or all obligations
- NR : not publicly rated
If you are gonna part with a reasonable amount of cash into an investment….talk to people who know, don’t know and those who have no opinion. Then make up your own mind. Don’t do as I/we did…and get sucked into the “woohoo… $6K in only 12 months for doing nothing” closed group chat thing…I have done very much more than $6k’s worth of worrying, pleading, letter writing, moaning and now crying in the last 12 months.
4) And when you’re down in the dumps about the bad investment you/I made, don’t listen to all the pricks who come out saying things like “well I warned you…” or “you should have known” blah blah blah. Hindsight is awesome.
On a final note it will be interesting to have a little look-see in about 25 years when people want to draw on their nice kiwi-saver scheme pension….shock horror….”what do you mean it wasn’t guaranteed? that’s my life savings mate?”…
I can’t believe the NZ Government will stand by and let these two F$#%&^s just carry on with their oh so fantastic [rich] lives when this blows over them….
I tried to be proactive with my investments for my future but I suppose greed and stupidity/naivity on my part led to this. So I’ll suck this one and get on with it. I’m only 34.
Some older people arn’t so lucky. I hope Eric and Mark get their big dollop of karma….
Eating animals….
Posted by Leeb - 02/06/08 at 12:06:00 amI have no problem with eating meat…so why am I trying to go vegetarian?
Living on a boat has seen some changes, not only in the way we consume -or not consume- as the case may be, but how I/we think about food.
The fish we catch have a good life. They are swimming soing their thing and whammo the next thing is me bashing their head in. They don’t know or hopefully feel anything. Quick. As I would expect to be processed if someone were unlucky enough to have to eat me. Baseball bet to the head when I don’t expect it sort of thing.
The cows, sheep, pigs and worst of all chickens and sea caught fish arn’t so lucky. They know whats going on.
Why can’t we pay more for meat? This would mean that the animals might see daylight whilst they are alive. Chickens might be able to scratch in a field, pigs roll in the mud. We eat to much meat…just look at all the fat people around…
You eat veg…you don’t get fat.
c’mon lets all boycott the intensively farmed meat and eggs