last day in Iligan city...

Hi All,

Well today was our last full day here, it's getting towards the end of the day now, coming up to 5pm local time as I write this...

Iligan, what did I think of it.....

It's changed in a lot of ways from two years ago, more people, more traffic, more of almost everything but there is less shops open in the center of the city then before and there is more PNP (Philippines national police) and army around then two years back, in fact this time I saw 2 APC driving down the street one day, another day i saw some army people go into the mall, there was enough fire power on them to kill a small town!!!!!!!!!!

It still feels safe here and everybody is just getting on with life, the counter outside the shops were you leave your bags now make you open anything you leave so it can be checked before being left.

I love it here but also hate it, the place/country could be so much better if the amount of paper work was cut way back! the people (or at lest the ones we talked to) all seem very nice and down to earth but there is the whole thing of seeing a white person and jacking up the price!

Love it/hate it.... I guess I do both.... having said that I'm sad that tomorrow we leave and it could be 3 or more years till we come back, I'll miss my wife's family, their some of the nicest people you could ever meet, even if we have problems understanding each other! :)

Tomorrow we fly back to Manila, then on Tuesday back to New Zealand, in just over a week it's back to work and the trip will be but a thing of the past... we're learnt a few thing along the way this time and it will make the next trip better, things like we'll put the stop over at the end of the trip not the start, if we fly from Cebu we'll pack lite.... we'll not try to put to much in to too short a time etc etc

It's been a GREAT trip and a GREAT time, 6 weeks+ has just zoomed past! in 5 days time we'll be back in NZ and we'll be re-living the trip as we tell mum & dad about all the highs and lower.....

that's all for now.

boy it's been a long time....

Well my last post was way back on march 22nd.... what happened to all the time from then till now?


I DON"T KNOW!

But it's gone never to be found again.... What have I been up to? a bit of this and that, mostly working and saving for a big holiday oversea! which I must add I'm on right now! this post is coming to you live from Iligan city in the southern Philippines.

The holiday is going good, we're been away for almost 6 weeks with another two to go and so far we have been to: Sydney, Manila, Hong Kong, Cebu, Bacolod and lastly we're in Iligan visiting and spending time with my wifes family.

Iligan is both a great place and a place that's not so good, reason for not so good: heat, dust, dirt to much noise and concrete but it's good because of: heat, the family, the people and just because it's so different to what I'm use too! it's both fun and hard work, guess I'm tiring to say I both love it and hate it at the same time! maybe a bit more love than hate to be truthful!

I love to travel, see new thing and meet new people but I'm also the first to say that if you do that everyday the fun goes from it very very quickly, you have to take a break from your travel in order to enjoy your travels more... say 6 days pushing to see as much as you can and then 2 or 3 days relaxing someplace, then start again, you'll enjoy the trip more, lest that's what I think!

Jeff

Random net stuff...

Here's a couple of you tube video's I found in the last week, the first one will get you thinking.....



And this one is just a nice bit of advertising!

life goes on & on & on...

I haven't posted for almost 2 weeks..... why? because I have been doing stuff with my limited spare time, I have been working on the model warship most nights for at lest 1 hour and I have found that it's so good to just sit back and do model building. I think it's something I've been missing, the reward of building with my own hands, yer I've done a bit of it with the model railway stuff, but it doesn't seem to have the same "buzz" at the end of a project. I don't know why that is....

But I also know that when I have finished the build and have sailed the corvette a few times I will be looking to start the next project... in this case the 1/200 scale model of the IJN Yamato I have sitting around here. In the mean time I will get the 1/72 corvette finished. I have enjoyed radio controlled model ships almost as long as model railways, there close to one another in the model building skills you need, but both of them are far enough apart to give a different feeling of reward at the end of the project.

As an interesting aside, I ALWAYS feel as if my skills and level of build can be much better, I am always trying to be better, but having looked at some r/c ships on you-tube, I'm feeling a whole lot better about my skill levels! some of them are just so bad it's not funny! mind you on the other hand some of the workmanship is mind blowing in it's perfection!

Now for the weight....

It's very slowing ticking down, today's weight after yesterdays eating blow out was 128.7kg, so my weekend highs are getting lower slowly! I'm walking/biking 40 to 50 minutes a day, 6 days a week and it's noticeable that my energy levels and wellness feeling have both gone up in the last few weeks!

Jeff

what's happening in my life...

The short answer is not a lot! Wife and myself are both trying to save money as hard as we can so we can still have our trip later this year, my weight is still up and down, but over all it's slowly coming down, today's weekend high was 129.05kg just need to try harder still.....

One of the things I have done it the last few days is to find and dust of two old projects of mine, the first one is a 1/72 scale flower class corvette. This is a plastic model made by Revell which I am building as a Radio controlled working model. Tonight I did the first little bit of work on it in over 2 years and it felt good to be doing it! I think if I got myself geared up I could get the whole fitted out and running in just a couple of weeks....

Anyway here's a couple of photo's of it, frist one is a side on view of the whole.




2nd photo is looking inside the whole at the possible fitting out arrangement for the motor.



The other model ship is a 1/200 scale model of the IJN Yamato battleship, O, you think at 1/200 it's smaller then the corvette? WRONG! it's about 1.35 meters long! again it's a plastic kit, but this one been designed to be made as a free sailing model, means there is less work involved in building it as a RC model. Here's a couple of photo's of the whole and decks...





Anyway I guess I'll leave the Yamato till after I have the Corvette finished and working OK, from time to time I'll post updates here on how the builds going!

Bye for now ;)
Jeff

Up & down, up & down, up & down......

Yer, that's what my weight has been doing again....

Last week I got down to 127.8kg, Then on Saturday I got back up to 129.6kg and today I'm back to 128.6kg. I AM losing weight, my weekend highs are not as high as they use to be, I us to get up to 132kg in the weekends...... I believe part of it is over the week I get a bit dehydrated, working next to the boiler all day in the hot summer heat will, I guess do that to a person! then in the weekends I rehydrate and put on 1 or 2 kg of fluids. Having said all that, the major thing is I am losing inches around my middle, I know this because my shorts and pants etc fit me just that little bit better (read as NOT AS TIGHT!) also I FEEL better for doing all the exercise, I feel more alive and better able to handle the day.....

Jeff

Every time!

Every time I post on here about how good I'm going on the weight, the next day I gain some.....

This time I went back up to 129.50kg but that's Ok because I'm now back do to 128.80kg, Ok it's not as good as last week, but that's life and I'm looking at the "BIG PICTURE" e.g. long term, the weight went back up a little, but over all it's very slowly going down, which is what we need!

One thing I have noticed, if I do my 30 minutes + of exercise in the morning it seems to give me a better result then if I do it at night time, I guess it gets the body up and going in the morning and gives the kick start the body needs. Were as doing it at night the body goes into shut down not long after so the effect isn't as long lasting?

Wife and I are working most evenings cleaning the flat, we have a landlord inspection on Friday morning, it's should be OK as the place is MUCH cleaner now then when we took it over, We try to always look after the place and keep it clean & tidy!

That's all for now,
Jeff

So far, So good....

Well the weight is slowly coming down, even after having fish & chips for lunch yesterday! Mind you Wife & I did go for a 90 minute walk yesterday afternoon, so that more then likely helped...

Life in general is good, things are ticking along nicely, we're still waiting to find out how many airline points I have so we can carry on planing our trip later this year. The walk my wife & I did yesterday was up a old railway line, the railway was pulled up back in the mid 1980's and made into a road for a coal mine, but the mine was short lived due to the coal having to much gas in it, anyway we walked up to the first tunnel and back to the car. It took us a good 90 minutes and one way was all up hill on a steady climb, that's OK helps get the heart going..... maybe next weekend we'll take the bikes up so we can get right up to the old mine site.

I've started the building of the next stage of my model railway, cost so far is $10.84 for the timber! there was a packing case that came to work this week that is just the right size and was made from 15mm MDF, which is the same stuff the rest of the railway is built from.

And before I forget... weight today is 128.65kg! start weight was 131.9kg so a total of 3.25kg so far! :)

Jeff

On the right track?

Well so far I seem to be on the right track with the weight this time.... the weight it's self isn't coming down fast, but that's Ok becasue slow and steady is better anyway. What I have noticed in the last few days is the clothes seem to be just that wee bit looser than last week, but the more important one is a FEEL better, I can walk for longer and doing some everyday stuff is a bit easier too. Even with the set back in the weight lost last week wasn't that big a deal as I was feeling fitter and feeling fitter just makes the way I feel about myself better, which leads to better eating and doing more exercise, which then leads to feeling fitter that leads to feeling better......... etc etc etc etc

Other than that work and life is ticking along good, Wife and myself are still working on the trip in August and a new plan it to use my air points to vist Hongkong. Anyway better go kick Wife of the bike so I can finish my execise and go have a shower!

Before I forget, today's weight 129kg so down 0.35kg from yesterday!

Jeff

Were did I go wrong again?

Ok, so I was down to 128.50kg and then the next time I checked my weight a couple of days later I was back up to 131.90kg again! Now did that happen? I mean I was trying hard and being careful about what I was eating....

But then looking back at it, I can see were I did go wrong, it was small simple things like a biscuit here, a biscuit there.... which all adds up to way to many biscuits! but the one that REALLY got me was a fruit drink, must say it was very nice and being a fruit drink should have been OK? but after reading the label on the bottle I find it has more energy than a can of soft drink in each glass! I didn't see that one coming!

But on the good side I have re-learnt a lesson..... ALWAYS READ THE LABEL!

because it may look ok on the outside but if you read the label you may just find that the "good" food it worse than some of the bad stuff out there! also one biscuit a day maybe OK, but if you say that 6 times a day you can kiss your weight losing goodbye!

So were am I upto today? back down to 129.35kg this morning so have lost 2.55 kg in the last 4 or 5 days. This time with more care and more hard work it WILL stay off! as for me right now, I have another 10 minutes to go on the Exercycle :)

Jeff

weight is going down

Well on Friday I was down to 129.15kg, but I was a bit bad on Friday and on Saturday was back up to 129.20kg, so that's pretty good! This morning I was down to 128.5okg! The great thing about this weight loss this time around is it's good down to earth weight loss, not that loss of 2kg in a week from drying out and then putting it back on in the weekend only to repeat it the next week....

This time I have found my self will or is that self control?

BUT I WILL LOSS IT AND KEEP IT OFF THIS TIME!

Part of the effort to get back on top of my weight is walking, like today I did a good hard 30 minute walk after I dropped Wife of at her work but before I had to get ready for mine. I enjoy walking, but living were we do, it does rain a lot and I'm not much of one to go out in it.... anyway by chance we were in a good will store and found a old Exercycle for a whole $5! I got it and have spent 30 minutes on fixing it up and it goes good! I've just done 20 minutes on it and it showed me how unfit I am now compared to two years ago :(

The major thing is that from finding my self will last week till today I have lost 3.4kg and I have made it past a Friday with very little damaged to the weight! So now only another 40+ years to go! next goal 125kg! see you there soon ;)

Jeff

A quick post

Weight went down again today, only a "little" bit, now down to 129.90, so that's a very small loss of 0.10kg, but that's better then going up again!

Had a good day food wise and had a 50 minute walk with my Wife today, also put in a few km's of walking around at work, so hopefully another loss tomorrow!

Jeff

Another day of work and weight

It's very hard to write a blog when not much is happening in my life....

Work is ticking along still, I've spent most of this week trying to clean up the railway passenger cars and make them a bit nicer to ride in. Most of the work has been small stuff like using a pot scrub to clean the brake dust of the windows. As the cast iron brake blocks wear down with use the dust somehow manages to find the windows and stick like glue to them! It takes about 20 minutes to scrub a window and wash it down, so far I have done 4 windows.... only 30 to go!!!!!!

Other small jobs have been to clean out the spider webs, only problem is next morning the webs are back! I have to get something that will kill the spiders next time. Also today I got out the paint and have touched up some of the damaged paint work around the doors & windows, that one little job that took about 40 minutes has made a huge difference to how good the cars look!
By the time I have all the windows scrubbed clean and with the webs gone (hopefully for good!) and the paint touched up the cars should look very good!

On the weight front, I was 130kg this morning! that walk paid off yesterday! I had a 1 hour walk again today and my eating has been pretty good but not perfect :( so hopefully another weight loss tomorrow....

Ok, So maybe I did have something to say after all! LOL :D

Jeff

Life is life

Life is Ok for now, not much to report on anything at all! work is ticking along and is a bit busy with Chinese new year, but the numbers are still down from what we were getting last year.

Specking of down, yes the weight is DOWN!

130.80Kg on Sunday 13.65kg this morning! I feel this is a honest down, not a dried out down, hopefully more off tomorrow, should do, I had a 1 hour walk tonight!

Jeff

life is both good & bad....

Good 1:

Wife & myself have booked our hotel room in Manila for a week, it will give us time for Wife to do some of the Philippines paper work Wife did not do last time, it's a pain but we have to get it done. The same hotel as 2 years before and it's an extra $220nz more for the same length of time! we had to book "that" hotel because it will be 2 years and 2 days from when we first meet in person and it was at "that" hotel ;)

Good 2:

We have worked out a plan if the worse happens and one or both of us become unemployed, we have enough money in the bank to cover our outstanding bills and be debt free apart from normal weekly stuff like rent and food, this "fund" we will not touch at all apart for the above reason! In the mean time we will work our butts off and save hard so we can still afford to go to the Philippines late this year and visit Wife's family.

Bad:

I started anew on my weight loss program yesterday, it lasted about 3 hours.... having said that it wasn't all bad! I over eat BIG time on Friday and went up in weight to 131.25kg on Saturday, yesterday with a bit (very small bit) of self control the weight this morning had stayed the same! so I was 131.25kg this morning too! I am hopping that my eating today was better over all and I did get in a GOOD 25 minute walk this morning before work, so maybe a small loss tomorrow!

Tune in tomorrow and find out!

Jeff

Life isn't good....

We had a staff meeting after work on Thursday, the manager told us that the company MAY be bankrupt by December, now it did not come as a complete shock as you don't have to be Albert Einstein to see it coming after 3 peak season with falling number of visitors. I don't know why our numbers are going down, yes some of it is outside our control like petrol prices and the current world wide recession, but somethings ARE, like the debt the company is carrying, not advertising to get people to come in and other stuff. Is it managements fault? maybe.....

I guess the big question for me now is, do I stay and hope it all comes right OR do I start looking for another job now? I want to stay, I LOVE my job, it's simply the best job I've ever had! but now I am not single anymore I have to think of my wife too, so may be it's time to get out well it's still a good time to find work......

Should I stay or should I go?

I have already sent a e-mail off to Kiwirail tonight about possible employment with them as a driver, I'll have to wait and see what I get back from them.

Weights be stuck at 130.80kg for a few days now, I REALLY must get back in to walks and less eating and get down in weight again! I have more reasons then ever to do it, like living a long time with Wife, fitting on airplane seats and now also it would help with getting a new job if I decide to start looking.

On that note I'll go and sit in a dark corner someplace and think about my life some more...... till next time see you all!

Jeff

Life is good

Yep! it's good! the last few days have been not bad at all, work has been good and last night we had some old friends staying with us, so there was the old chin wag session to catch up with what's been happening in our life's. It's was great to see them, wished they could have stayed longer....

I got a good amount of work done today, lifted 4 tracks set up out of the ground ready to be picked up and loaded on a wagon, there from a old siding we don't use anymore, so we are moving them to down close to the engine shed to build a new storage siding.

The weight has come down a little bit to, down to 130.25kg this morning. Today wasn't that good food wise, but between the track work at work and the good 25 min walk I did when I got home, I'm hopping that it should all balance out for a small bit of a weight loss tomorrow...

Jeff

So far, So bad.....

Weight, yer, it's something that I have a hard time with, been trying for years to get rid of some of it and a couple of years ago I did get rid of 49kg of it....

But my life changed for the better after I married my Maganda Angel (beautiful Angel) but in the time it took us to set up our life together here in NZ, found a flat and then set up a home, my weight became a low priority, so over time my weight has gone slowly back up due to over eating and under excusing, now today I fine myself back up to 131.90kg :( and I'm SO PISSED with myself for allowing it to happen!

BUGGER!!!!!

Well what can I do? LOTS!!!!!!!!

I REALLY need to get out and walk/bike ride for at lest 30 minutes a day 6 days a week, finding time for it NEEDS to be number 1 on my things to do each day, also need to keep out of the kitchen, I find myself for ever snacking when at home, I need to STOP that big time! I need to be very careful about my eating and make sure I do get out for a good hard walk/ride at lest 5 days a week.

I NEED TO DO THIS! I need it so I can have a long happy life with my wife and kids (if we have any!) but most of all I need to do this for ME!

Why me? I could tell you all sorts of reasons and whys etc, but it comes down to this......

If I can't do it for me then I can't do it for anybody else!

TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE REST OF MY LIFE!

Jeff

P.S also need to do it to fit in the airplane seat in just over 200 days....

Murphy's law turns 60!

Murphy's Law rules! It’s the maxim that says if something
can go wrong, it will – and it’s now 60 years old. So just who WAS Mr Murphy?

By Marcus Dunk

While this year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of his On The Origin Of Species, another major theory is celebrating an anniversary this year and - if anything - it offers an even more profound insight into the workings of the world than Darwin's theory of evolution.

It was 60 years ago that Murphy's Law was first formerly introduced to the world. Also known as Sod's Law, this is the landmark theory which, put simply, states: If anything can go wrong, it will.

From a slice of falling toast landing buttered-side down on the floor to the recognition that if everything is going well you have probably overlooked something, Murphy's Law is the ultimate theory of human impotence.

Wheels of misfortune: Buster Keaton and Fatty Arbuckle run into trouble

The timing for this anniversary is perfect. While evolutionary theory and its revelation that we are all descended from monkeys may have been granted added poignancy by the recent mind-boggling incompetence of our bankers and the failure of the global financial system, Murphy's Law is the true law for our time.

Faced with a credit-crunched world where rising unemployment, falling house prices and the collapse of Sterling have made planning for the future more uncertain than ever, the clear-eyed pessimism of Murphy's Law and its recognition that the world more often that not conspires against our best-laid plans is one that should provide great comfort in these difficult times.

But who was Murphy, and how did he give his name to such a law? Far from a failure himself, Edward Aloysius Murphy Jr was actually a successful American pilot and aerospace test engineer who worked on safety systems for such renowned experimental aircraft as the SR-71 Blackbird and the X-15 rocket plane.

Born in 1918, Murphy was the eldest of five children and attended the prestigious United States Military Academy, West Point, from which he graduated in 1940. He was immediately commissioned into the army Air Corps, and during the Second World War saw action against the Japanese in China and Burma.

A fine and conscientious pilot who was often described as 'no-nonsense', Murphy decided after the war to involve himself in the technological aspects of aircraft design, and went to work as a research and development officer for the Air Force. It was during this period of his life that Murphy became involved in the experiments that would give rise to the naming of his Law.

On the slide: Murphy was involved in G-Force tests where a rocket-powered sled was mounted on a railroad track

In 1949 the U.S. Air Force was keen to assess the impact of G-forces (gravity force) upon pilots, and set up a series of experiments to test the human tolerance for G-forces during rapid deceleration.

Murphy was involved in these tests, which were conducted on the 'Gee Whiz' - a rocket-powered sled mounted on a railroad track. As fragile-looking as it was dangerous, this contraption could reach supersonic speeds.

For these tests, the sled would travel at a speed of over 200mph for half a mile, before coming to an abrupt stop in under a second. Volunteering for this unpredictable experiment was one Colonel John Paul Stapp, a witty and charismatic Air Force flight surgeon who agreed to be the guinea pig, and for his trouble suffered numerous concussions, broken bones and burst blood vessels in his eyes.

There are a several contradictory accounts of what happened on the day that Murphy's Law was coined, but some facts are clear. Murphy arranged for one of his assistants to hook up a series of 16 sensors to the subject's body, and the terrifying speed and stop test was then carried out. To Murphy's surprise the sensors failed to pick up any readings.

After investigating, he discovered the sensors had been installed the wrong way around, invalidating the entire test. Furious, Murphy was heard to say of his assistant: 'If there are two ways to do something, and one of those ways will result in disaster, he'll do it that way.'

It hardly trips off the tongue, but something in what Murphy said stuck with Colonel Stapp, and later at a press conference he attributed the success of the team's safety record to their willingness to anticipate and factor in disaster. He termed it 'Murphy's Law', which he explained as 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.' The press picked up the coinage, and it quickly spread until it became common usage.

Evolutionary theorist: Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Like Darwin's theory of evolution, Murphy's Law has evolved over the years as specialists have delved deeper into the implications of Murphy's discovery. Countless variations of the law have developed, the most notable being Finagle's Law, which states that anything that can go wrong will - and at the worst possible moment.

Others have teased out subtle intricacies, noting that nothing is as easy as it looks and everything takes longer than you think, while others have observed that left to themselves things always go from bad to worse.

The practical applications of Murphy's Law seem endless, with some notable gems including:

No matter how long or how hard you shop for an item, after you've bought it, it will be on sale somewhere cheaper;

The other supermarket queue always moves faster;

In the military, the more sophisticated your equipment, the further you will be from civilisation when it fails;

Your best golf shots always occur when playing alone;

A valuable object which falls in a hard-to-reach place will land at a distance which just exceeds the tip of your fingers;

And if you want something bad enough, chances are you won't get it.

The principle underlying this law is as old as humanity itself, with numerous descriptions of the phenomenon recorded in the 19th century and before.

And the classic example of Murphy's Law - the slice of bread landing on the butteredside - was noted in a poem as early as 1841:

'I never had a slice of bread
Particularly large and wide
That did not fall upon the floor
And always on the buttered-side.'

For Murphy himself, the law and its variations to which he gave his name was the cause of great annoyance. While he preferred to see the law as a principle of good, defensive design - a willingness to be prepared for the worst - he regarded most versions of his Law as 'ridiculous, trivial and erroneous', and said as much before his death in 1990.

Although he may have failed to see the joke, he does have something of a point. While it is easy to label Murphy's Law as the ultimate pessimist's charter, there is an undercurrent of optimism running just beneath the surface of this Law, one that wryly acknowledges that although things will probably go wrong, recognising that fact is the first step in being prepared for when that actually happens.

Faced with a downturn that could rival the Great Depression of the Thirties, Murphy's Law is the perfect creed for our times - a rallying cry of wry pessimism and cold-eyed realism that could be just the ticket to see us through the current downturn.

Unlike the Darwin anniversaries, no formal celebrations have been planned for the 60th birthday of Murphy's Law, but no matter.

In the coming year, if your plans go awry, if disaster strikes, you lose your job, lose your home or find your slice of toast has landed butter-side down on the kitchen floor, know that in your own way you have paid tribute to Murphy and his most universal of laws.

Copyright: Dailymail.co.uk

life goes on

yer, I'm in that frame of mind, life just goes on no matter what I think! not a bad day, just not a good day too!

Weight 128.65kg, so down a bit in the weight which is good!

Jeff

P.S this so far is my shortest post by far!

Doing business

You know I'm really starting to hate how the business are run here in this little town, the company that's been fixing my car need a lesson in good manners, on Friday well fixing a wheel bearing they broke a wheel stud, OK if the stud was stuffed it was stuffed, but you can also break them by being careless and rough which is what I think happened here. I asked to see the remains of the stud, but it was already "thrown out" I told them I wasn't happy. Anyway today I took the car in to get the new stud, I was given a bill for $89 !!!!! WHAT THE *&^&&^!!!!! I told them I wasn't going to pay that and NO WAY was a replacement wheel stud ever going to cost that much! AND why should I have to pay at all? it was there stuff up, not mine! To cut a long story short, have much "TALKING" about it, I ended up paying $39, which I feel is still $39 to much....

The other one today was the travel agent, went in to pay for the tickets, handed a bill for $3146, I asked why as the price that I was given was $3084, answer was a "booking fee" I told the agent that I wasn't paying any booking fee, as I was not told about it on Saturday when we made the booking. The agent looked a bit shocked, but then backed down from the booking fee and said that we could still get it for the $3084.

On to round two.....

I got a phone call later in the afternoon from the travel agent saying that she had come up with a cheaper fare, it was now $3026... BUT because that fare was over $50 cheaper then the other one we would not get the $100 of travel vouchers. I asked if we went with the $3084 fare did we still get the vouchers? no was the answer, so we have gone with the cheaper fare and when all said and done it's only $40 higher then the other one after the vouchers. Ever way it's still a VERY cheap airfare! So it's all done, we pick the tickets up on Friday! :)

Weight today was down again! :-D 129.45kg, not much bit very little bit I lose is going to add up to a big weight lost in time.....

Jeff

costly weekend

Yep very costly! Wife and I booked our airline tickets to go back to the Philippines later this year to see her family. Wife is happy because of the time with the family and I'll be happy if I get some time to look at the old steam locos laying around Negros that are left over from the sugar cane boom days, also need some time in Manila to look at the progress of the "Philippines National Railway" rebuilding and to meet some of the railroad historical society members.

Must say we did get a GREAT deal on the tickets, we're flying with Qantas and for the two of us return from NZ to Manila was only $3084! last time it cost us over $4500! we were going to go via Hongkong and have a stop over there but that would have been another $3000 + a week less time with Wife's family, so after HUGE amount of talking about it we went with Qantas deal.

I'm a bit disappointing about the fact that we will not be going to HongKong, but hey it's life! and maybe next time we will be able to go there, lest we are going to the Philippines again and we WILL see more of that great country this time. It's an amazing place!

Only got about 7+ months to wait for the flight.......

And how for the rest of my life ;)

Weight, yep that thing I hate to talk about but feel as if I have to for my own health, today it was down to 129.75Kg, not much of a lose but it was some so that's good! today's eating wasn't to good but it also wasn't too bad. I just need to be very careful about what I eat because it always has been very very easy to put on weight for me and VERY VERY VERY hard to lose it!

I need to walk at lest 30 mins a day, more if possible, but it's not always easy to do that. Wife and I went for a walk along part of a local beach after I got home from work, we had to cut it short as we were both starting to get sun burnt, still a good 25 minutes walk along a beach and your legs know that it's been a good workout as you walk along the sand.

Mind you even if the walk wasn't to good from a weight point of view it was great in another way ;) Wife... she looked so Maganda (beautiful) and she was so happy walking along and picking up stones off the beach (there is a huge range of stone types on the local beach) still can't believe that I have a wife who is SO beautiful both inside and out! I don't know how to say what I want to say, but guess it comes down to the fact that I have NO IDEA how I lived without her before and I KNOW that I couldn't live if I lost her for any reason.

Anyway, stay turned for the next blog entry, due sometime soon ;)

Jeff

not much to say...

Well, that's what I have, not much to say!

life is just ticking a long as normal, only thing of interest is the car needed repairing again! $263 this time for a wheel bearing and the company that did the work also broke off a wheel stud, I'm meant to pay for the replacement...

BUT I think I'm going to have a bit of a talk to them about that, why should I pay for it when it's one of their workers using to high a setting on the air wrench? Ok it may have been rusted up or something too, but you use something like WD40 if that's the case. I think I will ask to see the remains of the stud and if their not able to show it to me then I'll argue the cost e.g. NOT ME PAYING.

As for the weight, well..... it's not good, OK not good is an understatement! this morning I was 130.25kg, it's been hanging around between 130 & 131 for a couple of weeks now and due to one thing and another I haven't worried about it or been able to get time for a walk each day, it all adds up to being very very bad weight!

So tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life and on that note I REALLY need to get back on track and lose some weight, as of tomorrow, no juck food, no chips etc and a walk EVERY day no matter what the weather!

Jeff

P.S ok, maybe I did have something to say after all!

HDR photo's

HDR stands for "High Dynamic Range" it's a process were you take 3 photos of the same thing, one photo 2 f stops under, one normal and the last one 2 f stops over (lest that's how I understand it so far!) it gives a photo with a huge amount of detail in it. I'm not sure I like them, but then again I like them enough that I'm having a play around with making my own! I have downloaded a program called "photomatix pro" trial (so my images have a watermark) seems to work OK but I think I need a tripod as holding the camera for 3 photos dead still isn't easy, so there is some ghosting of edges in the photos. Anyway have a look and see what you think...

Normal image:



HDR image:


Normal image:


HDR image:


So what do you think? let me know please!

As for the weight, will today it was 129.70kg, very bad, but down from high a few days ago of 131.90kg! need to try WAY harder this week!

Jeff