Movember

Forget October - it's over - welcome to Movember.

As part of a charity drive to raise's Male Health awareness, and partly as a team bonding exercise at work, it is time to grow my "Mo". During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I'll be growin a Mo (slang for Moustache). That's right I'm bringing the Mo back to raise funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity because...

• Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer diagnosed in men in the U.K. with at least one man dying every hour from the disease.
  
• Every year about 35,000 men in the U.K. are diagnosed with prostate cancer and about 10,000 men die from the disease.
• One man in 11 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime in the U.K.

Several other people at work are signing up for this - to be part of our team, give me a shout. Also, the golden rule of Movember is all participants must start clean shaven. That's right - the goatee is going into temporary retirement too !

To sponsor my joint beard shave and Mo (moustache) grow, AND fight against prostate cancer please go to http://www.movember.com/uk/donate, enter my registration number which is 119515 and your credit card details. Or you can sponsor me by cheque made payable to "The Prostate Cancer Charity" clearly marking the donation as being for my Registration Number: 119515. Please mail cheques to: The Prostate Cancer Charity, ATT: Movember, First Floor, Cambridge House, 100 Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, London W6 0LE.

All donations are made directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity which will use the money to fund high quality research into the causes, treatment and impact of prostate cancer and to provide support and information to men and their families.

Thanks for your support

More info is available at www.movember.com.

No change here

Coming up with the pun-a-rific title here was no trouble at all - a few words around the work office has unleashed a deluge of unsympathetic (and rightfully so) puns at my expense. But puns about what you may ask ?...

Saturday night was a beery old night (and a beery old night was he... I'll stop there). But only slightly into my second drink, a couple of uni mates, free of the drinking shackles of fatherhood for one night only, decided it was time to revisit old university habits. The old tradition on wine at dinner was if a copper coin made its way into your drink, you were required to down it in one. Not sure this rule ever applied to pints as such, but in anycase, a penny found its way into the bottom of my drink.

I kind of put off the delight of necking the drink - it wasn't wine, it was only my second and mainly it wasn't much past 6pm. I intended to survive the evening somewhat intact if possible. But a few gulps in, having taken enough crap from the guys opposite me, I decided to finish the other half of my drink and use the penny to retaliate... The drink slid down past gritted teeth easy enough, but the penny took its time, and suddenly jumped forward to strike my teeth. That was sort of the plan, but I hadn't counted on how much the damn thing would hurt. A small exclamation of pain was all it took for the troublesome coin to join that final swig of ale in flying down my throat, and before I could believe it, the penny had gone.

It was soon followed by small bits of bread, and plenty of fluids bought for me by guilty parties all around. Enough I hoped to avoid any "problems" with my new high-copper diet and speed the issue to its eventual resolution. Coming up to 72 hours later, and whilst I can't say I've looked too hard, there is still no definite sighting of the "not-so-loose" change. I even called NHS Direct who directed me to an A&E department, but they sent me away saying that short of stomach cramping or vomiting, there wasn't much to worry about. Of course, now my stomach has started hurting this afternoon, classic placebo timing or sinister revenge of the coin ? Post-gym session I'll put it down to the weight training for now, but why do I have a feeling this is far from over :(

They always said that my drinking would get me in the end...

There coming to get you, Barbara !

Mini-Hobby update - my boardgaming quest for the perfect boardgame may soon come to an end...

Over time I've picked up a number of games which on a high-level can be split into Eurogames (limited randomness, quite simple rules, quite deep tactics - e.g. Chess, Settlers of Catan, Gin Rummy, Ticket to Ride) and Ameritrash Games (greater randomness, lots of cool looking bits and normally strongly themed - e.g. Mousetrap, Fury of Dracula, Zombies!!!, Monopoly).

Now, I have some great Eurogames, but these can be off-putting for some people and are best played with a certain number of players. Ameritrash games tend to appeal to more people (due to pretty pieces) and can be more fun, casual games that work with a wider variety of people. So thus my quest begun to find the ultimate Ameritrash game, which needs:

• Quick to play
• Zombies !
• Good player interaction (teamwork / conflict)
• Zombies !
• Simple rules

By all reports, Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game has this in spades. Released 2 months ago in the US, it has been getting great reviews from everyone over there. And it was pegged for a UK release this Halloween (how appropriate). But... today I found out that a tiny release of stock is being released this week (6 copies are headed to the shop that I spoke to) and then lots more stock will be released in 4-5 weeks (surely they mean "28 days later..." ?!).

And I am happy. As I have bagged one of those six copies :) Assuming royal mail put down the kettle and start working again, I should have my grubby hands on it something next week...

Braaaaiiinnssss...

Suddenly, from nowhere... an update !

Ok, three people commented on the lack of posts here - which is a lot in the micro-world of blogging. Besides, one of them was my mother, so what kind of son would I be to ignore my own mother ;)

I am assisted with getting today's blog going with the handy firefox plugin ScribeFire, which offers you a little pop-up writing panel, which allows you to quickly start typing when the mood strikes, as well as easily adding links to the page you are looking at. Recommended to all firefox bloggers out there... yes, both of you :) - or maybe not - I just finished this blog post, clicked the wrong thing, and lost everything without a warning message. So it's a power tool without a safety catch :(

Today's post will be sidestepping my #1 project of weight-loss with a simple "click the Traineo link" comment. Things are going pretty well, I'm feeling healthy, and have gym sessions, cycling to work and now an occasional swim at weekends going for me. I have also signed up for the BUPA London 10,000 run next May, which is the furthest I have ever ran (and then that was almost 6-7 years ago !)

Moving on to more important housing news. Mimi has moved in with me, and along with Jon and his girlfriend we are cosily filling our 2-bed / 1-bath house. Not TOO cosy yet, although occasional morning waits for bathrooms and tripping over drying suggests that 1 month is the longest we can sustain this these days ! At the end of this month, Mimi and I move onto out new rental place in Barnsbury (which is located here). It's a basement flat with a large bedroom, kind of modern interior, good storage space and a large shared garden at the back. There is also a large park space infront of the house, which might be fun next summer. The garden is shared with the house above, which I am led to believe has a lady occupying it who is often away and quite friendly, so that sounds like things should get on fine. We have men and large vans hired for the move, otherwise it would be just me lifting the heavy things, which wouldn't be great, not with my back...

Yep, more back problems for me. Nothing major, just a slight stoop which was quickly "popped" out a large and brutal Aussie Physiotherapist. It has caused me a bit of neck pain, which became aggrivated at a recent trip to "the electric ballroom" rock / metal club in Camden. I probably didn't need to be rocking out TO THE MAX, but when in rome... Anyway, it's all on the mend now, and I'm sitting much straighter at work, the threat of a post-rugby victory trip back to the defeated antipodean physio filling me with dread. All that neck twisting, if done a little too hard, might... <shudder>

Well, I had some more here (before losing it) about writing (still ticking along a little), coding (not ticking along at all) and finaces (£240 mystery transaction with Tesco being disputed - people, check your bank statements every 2 months, it can pay off !) but they will have to remain part of my signing off paragraph for now. Apologies for the break from blogging, hopefully I'll have some more news closer to the BIG housemove. And once Royal mail stop sitting about drinking tea, they might deliver my camera from the repair shop so I can get pictures too !

Going down...

Ok - diet plan is on for a good start. I got some scales, which kindly placed me much closer to 19 stone than 20, and then got a little more serious on exercise. Three to five times a week is the plan, with cycling into work and the gym offering the best chances for exercise.

So far I am hovering just under 19 stone, but hoping to see that continue to drop slowly. It's easy to get disheartened - weight loss of more than 2lbs a week is quite unsustainable so not likely to happen. Need to keep vigilant on bad foods and getting to the gym (always tricky to fit in around work) especially as winter rolls in...

[EDIT] ---> Come celebrate in voyeuristic web2.0 style by tracking my fitness and weight loss at Traineo (click the button in the sidebar, or click here).

My name is Ben

My name is Ben, I am 30 years old and I live in London near Tower Bridge and work for UBS investment bank in the IT section. I take these facts pretty much for granted, although a 20 year old me would of been fascinated to hear them.

Today I am sick. Which means in between the napping, I have a day off. Not a "day off" like the weekend where I can go out and do stuff, but a day out of the often fast moving stream of life. Indeed the weekends, whilst fun and fulfilling, are rarely "days off" nowadays.

I often wonder why I am doing the things I do. I don't recall choosing them. Well, maybe I chose between X and Y or this and that, but I never sat down and said to myself - gosh, it's a big world of stuff, what would you like to do in it ? I rarely picked holiday destinations, often led by convention or friends ideas. My set of job interviews were somewhat dictated by the pushiest head hunters.

I guess what I feeling today is I don't spend enough, or any, time on these questions. It's not like my lack of decisiveness has led me into a corner - indeed, most of my choices were based on "which life direction leaves me with the greatest number of choices still open". But this thinking may of prevented me from following a hidden passion or interest I really hadn't considered for myself. And later in life, where commitments are more prevalent such as house buying, career progression and settling down, decisions can be made harder by this attitude of keeping options open.

My name is Ben and I am 30 years old. My options are open. It's time for me to start thinking about using them, rather than simply keeping them open. I currently live in London, currently near Tower Bridge and current work for UBS investment bank. All these could or could not change; but they can if I want and so can I, as I choose to, when I choose to. And realising this should not be scary, but totally awesome :)