A bit of this and a bit of that

And here’s your last chance to send us to Tuscany ..

owen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:54:06 +0000

You might have seen on my other blog that I’m taking part in a competition by FuelMyBlog which if we win will allow us to go on holiday to Tuscany. Rules are simple, the person with the most votes wins, so check out our entry below and go ahead and vote for us!

Once you click on the link, you’ll go to the Gallery view, click on the photo of us and choose Vote. You’ll be asked for an email address as part of the process but they promise they won’t use it for spam. The voting closes tonight, so you don’t really have much time. Just ask yourself, would you prefer looking for life insurance quotes online, or voting for us in this competition? There, I knew you would be voting for us .. Go on Go on Go on …

Time to do some house refurbishments

owen — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:52:55 +0000

We’ve decided that out house needs a bit of a spruce up this year. Not that we have too many issues with the way it is, but unless you maintain things they tend to fall in a state of disrepair. The outside of the house is due a paint, and we have some other bits and pieces. We’re also going to have to make some changes to accommodate the twins. First of all, one bathroom for a family of five (+ any guests) could be a bit of a problem, so we have a downstairs cupboard we’re turning into a toilet. Then there’s the issue of how we get a double buggy into the house. We’ve tried the front and back doors and they’re just not wide enough, so we’re planning a conservatory at the back which could act as a “staging area” where we could leave prams, shoes and other paraphernalia. We’re not doing anything fancy, like mosaics or using glass tile; just what we need to sort out the day to day.

Maybe there will be photos .. just maybe …

Every thought about insurance?

owen — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:47:35 +0000

Ever thought about how important insurance can be? Well, most of the time you pay into it and don’t need to claim, and it may feel like a waste of money. But recently, my wife bought a new phone, dropped it in the bathroom and that was the end of the phone. It was going to be an expensive affair, but someone told me to check if our household insurance covered us for that eventuality. Turned out it did! So we got the money back for the phone and are looking for a replacement. There are loads of different types of insurance policies around, from household and car insurance all the way to life and disability insurance. But one always needs to hope that they never need to claim for one of the latter!

Play games in the Dojo

owen — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:21:44 +0000

I was looking for recommendations for games on my new Android phone (the HTC Magic), when someone recommended a game called Cubed Addict. It’s a multiplayer blocks-based game which is really addictive. My thumbs are going to start looking like they took some sort of HGH releasers. You play against players all around the world using your mobile. Reading through the blurb it looks like there’s a whole set of games aimed at being released for this Dojo platform, but Cubed Addict is the one that’s available at the moment.

It’s available for any phone that supports Java. And there’s even a Web version if you want to play. Check out out at the Dojo.

Using FatSecret

owen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:31:14 +0000

I’ve switched to FatSecret to keep track of my diet. The main reason is that they have an app for my Android phone. When I buy something from a shop, I can just scan the barcode and it appears on my food diary (assuming it’s a product if knows about), which I thought was really smart. Anyway, it does everything you could want from a diet tracket; keeps track of foods you eat, lets you define your own foods if they’re not in the database, keeps track of exercise, calories and most importantly weight.

Now that we’re back from Butlins I’ve started going to gym more regularly too, spending more time on the treadmills and less time on weights. So I’m really focusing on calorie burning with the aim of dropping a couple of kilos a month. We’re off on holiday again in a few weeks, so I just want to drop a few so I don’t have to be too careful on holiday.

A great time at Butlins

owen — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:59:44 +0000

I’ve just downloaded the photos of our trip to Butlins and knocked up a quick video to show friends and family what a great time we had. I must say, it was a pleasant surprise; I didn’t really know what to expect, and we ended up having so much fun with loads of different activities we could take part in. There are different things aimed at all ages groups, with entertainment throughout the day and throughout the evening. There were also some great surprises, like finding chocolates and wine waiting for us in our apartment, small things like the ability to borrow DVDs for free from their library to watch when everyone was asleep and the impressive selection of food that was available for breakfast and dinner. Do you have cereal for breakfast? Toast? Fruit? Yoghurt? Pancakes? Kippers? Bacon and Eggs? Sausages? Hash Browns? Well, you could have anything you wanted, or mix and match what you wanted, or all of it if you could manage. Dinner was even more impressive with so many choices to pick from you didn’t know where to start.

Arthur was in heaven, there’s no other word for it. He was getting up early every morning to make sure we were up and about before anything started. His favourite area was “Bob’s House” as he called it; an entire area devoted to kiddies, with a giant Bob the Builder standing outside. They had a mini fun fair in there, with live shows depicting stories about Bob and his friends. He even got a photo with the gang. Here are the photos, check out how much fun he had:

It wasn’t just Arthur who was having fun. Butlins in Skegness have a huge pool packed with slides and rapids and all sorts of fun water fun. We spent a good proportion of our time there, jumping in the bubbles, sliding down the slides (it was Arthur’s first time in a big slide) and messing around in the wave pool. It’s probably the biggest pool I’ve been to in the UK and definitely one I’d recommend if you’re after any water fun. But the fun didn’t stop there, there were loads of things to do all around the complex, from crazy golf to panning for gold, from slot machines to video games, from live shows to entertainment for the kids. Arthur even joined a circle class and got to rotate plates and clown around.

The one thing we didn’t get the opportunity to try was the Spa. Yes, there’s even a Spa at the complex offering massages and all sorts of treatments. There was a pregnancy package I had my eye on for Camille, and would have booked her in, but as it was our Father’s Day trip, Camille preferred to spend the time with me. I would have liked her to enjoy the luxury of it, but was quite pleased she preferred to spend the time with me and Arthur. So we went to the fun fair instead, rode a carousel and went bowling.

There were so many different things to do that we didn’t even leave Butlins to explore Skegness. I wouldn’t have minded a walk on the beach, but we just didn’t find time for it. Again, there were all sorts of live shows that we chose not to go to, just because we had to choose, and always chose something that Arthur would have enjoyed more.

I just wanted to say thanks to the team down at Butlins and FuelmyBlog for setting up the trip for us. It was a pleasure to try out Butlins and we’ll certainly be going there again in the future.

Off to Butlins this weekend

owen — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:23:09 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

We’re off to Butlins this weekend; after deciding we wanted to have a weekend away for Father’s Day. I must say, the family camp holiday is totally new to me; my only exposure has been old movies, of the Carry On type. Not that I’m expecting that sort of thing; I’m pretty sure that it’s going to be totally different. Anyway, we’re off to Skegness and really looking forward to it.

It will be interesting to see if I manage to stick to my diet while I’m away. I tend to be okay when I’m keeping track of what I’m eating, but when I go on holiday, it all goes to the wind. And I’m not going to be taking any sort of top rated diet pill, just watching the calories; so it could be interesting. Anyway, we’re looking forward to loads of frolicking and fun. I’m positive that Arthur is going to positively love it.

Watching Doc Martin

owen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:42:39 +0000

: Image by Reinante aka Benquerencia via Flickr

We’re watching Doc Martin at the moment, series 1 all the way through to 3. We’ve watched the occasional episodes, but never quite in a sequence; so it’s quite refreshing to watch them all in the proper order. I quite enjoy the series to tell you the truth; it’s the sort of humour that I find refreshing, and the characters in the show are rich are full of life. We’ve been going through these phases of catching up on series by watching them all from start to end.

We quite like watching TV together every now and again. Not that we’re going to put a TV wall mount and flat screen TV into the bedroom any time soon, but we quite like watching TV in the evening before retiring. Obviously, there are other things we do too, like reading, or in my case coding, or just surfing the Web. I’d love to be able to go out for a walk sometimes in the evening too, but with Arthur fast asleep, we’re not going to just leave him on his own. Still, it’s great that there are just so many choices of what we can do!

Starting the counting again

owen — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:53:16 +0000

I know I’m running the risk of sounding like a broken record, but I’ve decided to start calorie counting again. When I’m not doing it, I start eating rubbish and that’s what causes me to lose control of my weight. It’s not that I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I guess it’s a problem of caring about the right thing at the right time. When I’m counting calories I care more about my totals than snacking, so it sort of works for me. I’ll be using My Calorie Counter again, as I was quite successful with that in the past.

It’s a choice really, I know I could take a fat burner or two when I need, but I don’t think that’s a sustainable, long term alternative, so it’s back on the counting and trying to stick to less than 1500 calories a day. I’ll keep you posted!

TT in the Isle of Man

owen — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:41:05 +0000

It’s that time of year again, and the TT races are back on in the Isle of Man. The races have been held for over 100 years and every year the races get more and more competitive; as bikes get more powerful and new records are set. It’s a pretty dangerous do, but it puts the Isle of Man on the map and thousands of people come and visit us for a spot of excitement and fun.

Here’s a video from a couple of years back showing some of the fun that i to be had on the island during TT:

And if you want to get a bit more fun, check out the live webcam stream down at the Bushy’s tent. You don’t need high speed satellite internet to enjoy the feed; anyone with broadband can enjoy the feed, but don’t expect a decent viewing if you’re on a dial up connection!