Poker Media Mid Life Crisis

[Mohican]

Did Martha get a better degree than you?

[DaveShoelace]

Ok, so funny story about his ashes. This one is in the 'its a bit sick but he would have found it hilarious' category. If there is one piece of advice I think anyone grieving should heed is that be prepared that a grown mans ashes amounts to a hell of a lot of dust. We were asked if we wanted all his ashes, or just a small amount to scatter somewhere of significance. Naturally we went with all the ashes, not knowing how much it would be.

The plan was to scatter him in Graves Park, which is a truly wonderful 5 mile round park in Sheffield on our doorstep, where he had walked dogs all his life. What a lovely final image right?

We had no idea that his ashes would be the size of a small bin and weigh about 5lbs. We thought it would be a small sprinkle of a motion but we quickly realised to get these ashes out would take a good five minutes of banging on the tub like a bottle of HP sauce. The worst thing was the ashes themselves were really dense, and left a noticeable mark, and you are not technically allowed to scatter ashes in the park. We tried to start spreading them in a small river, but it left a big garish stain on the side of the earth. I remember commenting that rather than saying a final goodbye, we were essentially littering. We then went into the woods and tried to scatter them just on the floor but again it was leaving an ugly mark on the ground.

Eventually we found a powerful small rivery/waterfall kind of thing that we figured was powerful enough to take the ashes with it, mix them up and not make a mess. The problem was it was on a really severe slope. I will never forget the image, I'm laughing thinking about it, of my Mum holding onto a tree with one hand, my sisters belt with another, to give her support as she hanged off the edge of where the waterfall and very aggressively tried to scatter Dad into a river and not make a mess, while me and Gina were acting as lookouts to make sure nobody came by.

It was not a success. We managed to empty the urn, but left a really ugly stain on the side of the earth by the river that stayed for a good year. For the next year every time I walked my dog past it, I was presented with a big grey 'Dad stain' which both made me laugh and upset me in equal measure.

Getting the full ashes of a full grown man is not a dignified experience at all, the only saving grace was that if there is an afterlife, we all know he would have been laughing pretty hard at that one.

[DaveShoelace]

Did Martha get a better degree than you?

My degree was in media studies.

So yes.

[horseplayer]

fantastic post

[DaveShoelace]

Stag Do this weekend for one of my best mates. We are doing this:

http://zombieexperiences.co.uk/encounters/reading-shopping-mall/

After about 10 go-karting stag do's in a row, I'm so looking forward to doing something memorable. My own stag do was very tame, but during the day I took the lads for a private game at Dusk Till Dawn. These were all my £10 home game buddies, most of whom have even been in a casino, so they loved it. They were all wearing sunglasses like dicks and pretending to re-enact the scene from Casino Royale.

After zombies we are also playing dodgeball, so it will be memorable even if the night out itself is pretty tame.

[millidonk]

Wow. Looks class and dodgeball is a sick touch. Kudos to whoever came up with those ideas!

[DaveShoelace]

Wow. Looks class and dodgeball is a sick touch. Kudos to whoever came up with those ideas!

 

[DaveShoelace]

Stag weekend was amazing, best one I have been to.

The Zombie experience was brilliant, they put on a really great show. You spend the first hour or two following round some 'police' running around pitch black corridors of a disused shopping mall with small flash lights and pump action airsoft guns. It was a real 'less is more' deal where the longer you waited to see a zombie, the scarier it was when one popped out at you. I know it sounds silly a bunch of adults pretending to fight zombies, and for the first hour I was quite skeptical and laughing a bit, but once they get you running around in the dark and confining you in small spaces, you start to really get sucked into the experience. It was genuinely scary (One woman started crying in another group) at times and you had adrenaline pumping around really fast when you were being chased.

The final hour was a free for all, you had to run around, alone a lot of the time, with only ten bullets in your gun, looking for stuff to take back to the base. The limited bullets made it fun, otherwise it would have just been a case of shooting people who don't shoot you back.

If you are ever organising a stag do and want to do something different, please consider this. Should have some good pictures from it in a few days.

http://zombieexperiences.co.uk/encounters/reading-shopping-mall/

Then we played dodgeball, should have some good pics for that soon also as we got dressed up for it. We all took it really seriously (but we still drank during).

Then it was just your typical messy night in London. Cracker of a weekend.

[FUN4FRASER]

Looked Like a Great Weekend Mate   

[DaveShoelace]

And just so I have even more accountability, here are my starting stats from yesterday:

Weight - 94kg (I'm 5ft 10" btw)

Stomach  - 43.5"

Belt line 43.5"

Chest 44"

Body fat - 20.3% - 21.8%

The aim is to lose 6lbs and three inches (combined across the three measurements in any order) by October 7th.  

Weight - 92kg

Stomach  - 40.5"

Belt line 41.5"

Chest 44"

Body fat - 18.5% - 20.3%

90kg atm. Doing my next big weigh-in/measurement around the 16th.

I haven't eaten bread for over a month. It has (almost) stopped me from being hungry in the evening. I have a mate who essentially stopped being 'our fat mate' by doing this so I had to do the same because that title is now mine. I'm amazed how easy it has been actually, the only thing is that it has taken a bit of planning at lunchtimes. Now I have either this nice mixed bean salad thing or an omelete. Simples.

[DaveShoelace]

I get plenty of exercise (gym and dog walks) but my job is sedentary. I read a book recently called Eat Move Sleep which has lots of data which suggests long hours of sitting is more deadly than smoking. Really scary stuff like every hour of TV you watch over the age of 25 takes about 20 minutes off your life expectancy and stuff.

So today I decided to raise my desk and stand while working instead of sitting. Two immediate takeaways:

1) I am really energised, I have gotten so much done this morning in two hours. That may be a short term plaebo, however.

2) My back is killing. Even though I lift weights at the gym and walk a lot with my dog, my back is completely unprepared for not sitting. It makes me want to keep going to see just how valuable standing is, and how dangerous sitting.

The book had this really eye opening thing where they studied thousands upon thousands of bus conductors and drivers over a really long period. The conductors who stand and walk all day were 40% less likely to get pretty much every deadly common disease.

btw by 'raising my desk' I mean I have plonked and old TV unit on top of it, it looks pretty stupid

[RED-DOG]

I would imagine that lying on your side is even worse than sitting.

[tikay]

I would imagine that lying on your side is even worse than sitting.

Very good.

Punish these errors, punish them.

[AndrewT]

From the accounts I've seen of people who have changed to a standing desk, they say that the first week does feature lots of hurty back and feet but that goes away once your body gets used to it.

[BorntoBubble]

And just so I have even more accountability, here are my starting stats from yesterday:

Weight - 94kg (I'm 5ft 10" btw)

Stomach  - 43.5"

Belt line 43.5"

Chest 44"

Body fat - 20.3% - 21.8%

The aim is to lose 6lbs and three inches (combined across the three measurements in any order) by October 7th.  

Weight - 92kg

Stomach  - 40.5"

Belt line 41.5"

Chest 44"

Body fat - 18.5% - 20.3%

90kg atm. Doing my next big weigh-in/measurement around the 16th.

I haven't eaten bread for over a month. It has (almost) stopped me from being hungry in the evening. I have a mate who essentially stopped being 'our fat mate' by doing this so I had to do the same because that title is now mine. I'm amazed how easy it has been actually, the only thing is that it has taken a bit of planning at lunchtimes. Now I have either this nice mixed bean salad thing or an omelete. Simples.

Out of interest how have you been measuring your body fat %%% was interested in doing this the other day and didnt know how to go about it