Recommended sites for training and nutrition information

There have been a number of people who’ve asked questions about nutrition and such on the comments for some of my posts. While I really am more than happy to answer such questions (along with others who have been kindly helping people out), I would really, really recommend these sites :

• johnstonefitness.com : These have got to be the beginner-friendliest forums out there. Great advice, nice people, and a good dose of experience speaking. Read the articles, browse the forums, make the most of it.
• t-nation.com : Great place for articles. No, make that the best. Heaps of routines. The forums are a mixed bag; there’s a lot of experienced lifters who contribute, but the discussions can get a bit tedious.
• ironaddicts.com : Awesome, no-nonsense advice. Has a bit more of a hard-core feel to it.
• bodybuilding.com : Lots of articles, generally good fun. The forums are even more of a mixed bag than t-nation; you’ve got legends like Serge Nubret posting, sure, but the majority of the conversation I’ve seen consists of what I can only imagine to be 15 year olds with self-esteem issues questioning each other’s sexual preferences.

The negatives for these sites I’ve stated above are my personal preferences, and quite frankly, are far outweighed by the positives. I read these sites regularly, they’re excellent sources of information, and most of what I’ve got to offer in the form of advice I probably picked from one of those sites to begin with.

How to rotate a .mov file

My trusty and somewhat aging Nikon records videos in 15sec chunks, and saves them as .mov files. If you’ve made the same mistake as me, and recorded while holding the camera vertically, it’s a bit annoying. Fortunately, there’s a simple process to string the files together and rotate the picture:

• Get Bink And Smacker Video Tools: http://www.radgametools.com
• Get virtualdub: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=9649
• Get your favourite compressor (divx, xvid, wmv etc)
• Start bink and smacker, choose the input .mov file, and convert to an avi. If you choose the first .mov file in a sequence, the software is smart enough to ask to append them all together
• Start virtualdub and open file. Choose filters, and add the rotate filter. Save to output file
• Open previous file, then choose compression options, and resave. Voila!

So it goes

God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, “Sit up!”
“See all I’ve made,” said God, “the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.”
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going God.

Goodbye, funny man.

Philips HQ 6707 Cool Skin review

I got this shaver about 2 years ago, after having tried a Braun Activator. I’ll give you a quick review-in-a-review: I couldn’t get used to the Braun. It shaved close, but the neck area was plain impossible, cutting me at times, and I gave up on it.

Then I got the Philips Cool Skin, which is a lot, lot better. I really like having a wet shave with it, as I have somewhat sensitive skin, and this helps. Still, the Philips is not perfect. Cheeks, chin, these areas are easy, and come out really smooth and closely shaven. The neck area took me months to figure out, and it’s still pretty poor, and looks like I didn’t really shave it. I have to go round and round many times to catch all (well, most of) the hairs on my neck.

If you’ve never tried an electric shaver before, I highly recommend the Philips Cool Skin range. When the time comes to retire mine, I’ll probably end up just upgrading it.

P.S. The Nivea sachets you can use with it are nice, but really it’s not the best shaving gel (try the King of Shaves, or Real Shave Co ranges), and overpriced. The good news is that this shaver will work with anything, so you can keep your wet shaving habits!

Update:  I resisted doing this for the longest time, since it felt like going against the shaver’s strength, but I’ve finally tried using it dry for a bit, and I’ve found that this makes the shave quite a bit easier, and faster around the neck/adam’s apple. So I’d have to say that the Cool Skin is a brilliant idea if your facial hair doesn’t extend too far down your neck, like mine does.

I… goddamn…. want it !!!!

I can only mutter and moan until I get my hands on one of these.

Google Code Search

If being able to search for “lang:lisp xml” or “^int printk” sounds exciting to you, head over to Google Code Search. You get to search using regular expressions, plus filter by files, languages, licenses etc.

Why midnight snacking is addictive

I goddamn knew it.

Not dead yet

This is a bit spammish, but just in case anyone has been reading this blog, and is wondering whether it’s dead, you will be happy/ecstatic/dismayed to hear that it’s still live and kicking ! But it’s holiday time, so there won’t be any new posts for another couple of weeks to come.

 I also expect that getting a tan may improve my writing ability, so stay tuned.

Cottage Cheese recipes

Pancakes…. nachos… cheesecake… smoothies… waffles. Follow the recipes on this page, and you won’t be bored with your cottage cheese anytime soon.

Good news, everyone !

I don’t really have a direction or such with this blog, which I’m sure must be thrilling if you stumbled this way. We’ll just have to see how this pans out, eh ?