Losing it[1]

Back down a bit to 206.8 pounds (14 stone 10.8 pounds, 93.8kg) today. That’s the same as this time last week…

Managed to do some more exercise tonight - the usual 10km on the bike, the traditional 160 crunches[1], a Bullworker set and three sets of dumbbell exercises. I worked quite hard, but it was one of those sessions where my heart rate didn’t get all that high - the peak was 134.[2]

[1] Owww!!
[2] I’m a geek. I record details like that

Or ending it. It’s all quite arbitrary, really, isn’t it?

Anyway, I did persuade myself to do some exercise this evening. Started with the usual 10km on the exercise bike, and followed that with 160 assorted crunches on the abominable abdominal exerciser and three sets of some dumbbell exercises. Peak heart rate for this session was 137, which isn’t too bad.

Now if I can do something similar two more nights in the coming week, I’ll be back on target.

John Humphys has been a familiar presence on British television for many years. These days, he presents Mastermind and Radio 4’s Today programme. Cardiff-born[1] Humprys has a passion for language, and a horror of its abuse and misuse, which is what prompted him to write this book, subtitled “The Mangling and Manipulating of the English Language”.

As you might expect, it’s very well written, full of examples of bad, misleading and incoherent English. The worst examples come. as any Dilbert reader would expect, from the world of management. That would be bad enough in itself, but as idiotic management language (and thought) spreads into education, health care and government, the situation is getting worse. Language is used to conceal meaning, to avoid actual communication.

Humphrys has some very serious points to make, and makes them very well. But he also has a lot of fun in the process as he mocks some of the particularly bad examples of language mangling. Some of his favourite examples are his own errors, which he cheerfully admits to.

Lost for Words is well worth a read. It’ll give you a laugh, but it might also make you think a bit more about what that politician, manager or official really means….

[1] Like me

I recently re-read the Sherlock Holmes stories for the first time in quite a few years. I got hold of a boxed set of the separate books, which being rather more portable than the omnibus editions that have been on my shelves for many years, I carried around with me and read on trains and buses. Having all the separate books allowed me to read the stories in the order they were written, which I’d never actually done before. It was interesting to see how many of the stories I’d at least partly forgotten - I’d read some of the later ones only once or twice before, I think.

Another difference this time round was my ability to visualise the locations. The last time I read Holmes, I’d hardly ever been to London, whereas now I’m very familiar with at least part of the city. I’ve walked down Baker Street many times, for instance. And in one of the stories, there’s a reference to the Langham Hotel. I’ve actually stayed there!

These are classic stories. Anyone with the slightest interest in detective stories will probably have read them at least as many times as I have, but I thought I’d mention them anyway.

Oh yes, and Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson”. Not once. So there.

I picked this book up in Waterstone’s as it looked rather intriguing. It’s one of a series of mysteries set in the late 19th centutry first published in Russia and now being translated into English. Apparently this is the third to be written but the second to be translated. Either way, it’s the first one I’ve seen. The series is centred around Erast Fandorin, who at this stage in his career is a diplomat. However, at first sight, the hero appears to be a French detective, Gustave Gauche, who is investigating a multiple murder and robbery. A clue leads Gauche to the maiden voyage of the luxury liner Leviathan, as the criminal has to be either a member of the crew or a passenger. The story is told from the viewpoints of several of the suspects, which adds to the interest and complexity of the plot.

As with any good (or even many bad) detective story, there are lots of red herrings, a nice dose of misdirection and the traditional confrontation of the suspects. Well, there’s a few of those, as it becomes clear that the masterful French detective appears to owe a little Clouseau….

Whenever the words “detective” and “19th century” are mentioned, it’s inevitable that Sherlock Holmes will come to mind. Fandorin isn’t really much like Holmes, other than in the way he runs intellectual rings around the official representative of law and order, but he is worthy of further attention. I’ll be getting hold of the other Fandorin books as they appear.

Well, I suppose yesterday was a bit of a lazy day, so I’m not all that surprised that my weight is back up to 207.8 pounds (14 stone 11.8 pounds, 94.3kg).

Should do some exercise later….

Well, fairly good. Back to the same weight as this time last week: 206.8 pounds (14 stone 10.8 pounds, 93.8kg). Which means I’ve recovered from any slight over-indulgence earlier in the week…

Close to going live with the all-new version of Losing it[1], that is. I’m mostly happy with the new design, everything seems to be working as it should, but there are still daily changes being made to the WordPress code that it’s running on, so I’m not going to fully commit my actual live site just yet.

What I am doing is entering all new posts both in the main site and the test version, so that when I do decide to make the switch, the amount of work required will be minimal. I hope.

Back up a wee bit more to 208.0 pounds (14 stone 12 pounds, 94.3kg) this morning. Mutter, mutter, etc.

Another exercise-free evening - partly due to lack of energy, but also because I had bills to pay and a bank statement to check and all that tedious stuff…….

Well, after a couple of days of being well-fed and getting no exercise to speak of, it’s not too surprising that my weight has crept back up to 207.4 pounds (14 stone 11.4 pounds, 94.1kg).

Too tired to do any exercise type stuff tonight.