So, how does one go about a lifestyle change?

Diabetes medication my friends.  That is what now sits on top of the freezer and is taken once a day.  Type 2 Diabetes that used to be controlled by diet (bwahahahahahaha) has now advanced to the stage where I need to take medication.

I hate medication.

So, the only way about this is to have a lifestyle change and eat good stuff.  Perhaps even exercise?  Alien words.

That cartoon looks familiar...

I have been trying to do some research on what to be eating and what is low GI etc. but the truth of the matter is that most websites that Google throws at me are very evasive in providing answers.  They love to give me links to pages that will just cost me a little bit of money to find out and all I have to say is screw that!

There appears to be a whole little industry that has arisen around Diabetes that try to screw the victim out of cash and I don't like it.

So what I am asking from people that take a look at this post and who may also be a Diabetes sufferer is where do you go for information?

I have to say that in the past few days I have been eating what I think is low GI (Glycemic Index) foods and they are filling me up so I am not really snacking in between meals.  And because my wife wanted to go for a drive yesterday we got stuck at take out and it made me feel ill so hopefully these are good signs.

Also, are there people out there who have achieved the whole lifestyle change thing?  I am wondering how hard it is to change not only your own lifestyle but your families as well.  My wife almost sneers at me when I say I can't eat something that previously I would gulp down and I want to know how to win her over.

Anyhow, that is what you get for being a lazy couch potato and give up sport or outside activities.  Such is the view from my window this morning!

Getting Organised

I am a terribly organised person.  It is a funny thing because people tend to think I am super organised.  With my blogs, full time work, a part time job,  part time university and gaming everyone seems to get the idea that I am on top of things as a whole.  The truth can not be further from that reality.

Truth is that I work well under pressure and so I tend to leave everything to the last minute.  While I know that this is what I do, sometimes it bites me badly in the bottom.  Like this week when I had to have an assignment due and when it came to the day I was hit by a bout of man flu.  means I have to take a big hit to my score and it is my fault.  No one else to blame, totally my fault.

The true view from my window is guarded by the evil cat Onyx...

I also looked at the things that I have lined up to do and realised that this style of approach (leaving things to the last minute) is unsustainable.  See, I have three reviews to do on products for the other blog.  Each of these is going to actually contain an interview with people at the companies.  I have three more assignments due soonish, a game every week (sometimes three) and also have to fit time in for the family and my part time job.  Not to mention continuously thinking about my teaching role.

So I have to get organised.  I have begun to use my calendar a bit more in an effort to keep me up to date with what I am doing, need to be doing and where I need to be.  One of the things that I am looking at is Google Calendar in line with my Linux distribution.  Problem is that I am having troubles syncing the calendar on to my phone (being an iPhone) and I tend to use my phone a lot to remind me what to do.  Apple in their brilliance decided that Linux was not to get the iTunes application for us.  Apparently they hate us!

So I have two weeks off from my teaching job as we ended Term 1 today.  In that two weeks I intend to get organised.  I will explore my options as it comes to calendars, scheduling and work required.  I will attempt to set up schedules (I shudder at the thought, I hate lists and schedules) and also some form of rewards for me to use to keep me on track!  If anyone out there in reader land has some ideas for me I would love to hear them.

Anyway, that is what the view is like from my window today!

I Wanted to Be A Journalist When I Grew Up

Thank goodness I dodged that bullet.Seriously though, media has become as dirty a word as lawyer or politician these days.  In all honesty I wanted to be an author when I grew up but my ever practical father advised me that I needed a second job to be an author and if writing was my game then I should look at journalism.

Throughout high school my entire life revolved around learning shorthand, studying English, getting work experience with the local paper and radio station so that I could achieve this goal.  Once I had achieved that I was a short jump to an author and I would have it all.

Grumpy Old Man!

Of course it never happened, as so many childhood dreams fail.  But I am glad of this fact.  I sit and watched the news this morning, something I try to avoid doing, and I got so angry at it.  I no longer read papers, watch the news or in any way attempt to catch any sort of update in the world due to the nature of the reporting these days.

When I was focused on becoming a journalist I learnt that it is the role of the reporter to present an unbiased and accurate picture of what was occurring.  It was not the reporters role to offer commentary or pass judgement on any particularly news worthy story that they become involved in.  This morning though I sneered at the TV as the media did what it tries to do all the time.  Make up a story where one should not exist.

Australia is heavily involved in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane.  Strangely enough this costs money to send out search vehicles and people to pilot them.  So the media did this morning what they always do when a story is stalling, try to create controversy.  "It's costing us a million a day!"  "Why should we foot the bill?"  "Malaysia must pay!"

Piss off media.  Pull your head in. Every person in Australia would just love to have this at a resolution.  We would like to help all the people out there find out what has happened to the missing plane.  This is peoples lives.  If their were some cute 18 year old blonde haired, blue eyed surfer girl from Brisbane on that plane this would not even have been an issue.  These stories would never have surfaced.

The media is a money making machine.  It creates news if it has none.  reporters are now largely expected to add their own point of view making it no longer news but opinion.  In the future they will look back to the news agencies and what will they think of us then?

If you want to have an opinion, write a blog or go on a talk show.  If you want to report the news, report what happened.  Not your opinion on what happened.  There is no integrity to being a journalist anymore.  My Aunty, as we walked from the court after hearing the coroners report on my brother said to my mother and I as a woman from the paper came to talk to us "Come on, that scum is a journalist".  That was five or six years ago now but I know now exactly what she meant.

Such is the view from my window today!