Sugary Fat

BBC did a programme on a pair of twins on different diets.  And in short, diet doesn't affect much.  A healthy person with a low sugar diet maybe be worse than normal sugar diet.

Because 'sugary fat' tastes remarkably good, we cann't stop ourselves!

Pricked

This year's medical is underway.  When I had my medical yesterday, the nurse pricked me twice and still could not find my vein.  This morning, I popped in to see if the nurse could find it, but to no avail.  Just when she finished all the medicals, we had one last try.  She said Paul had the same problem, so we bathed my arm in warm water, and she found my vein and took some blood.
Later I spoke with Paul, I feel less sorry about myself; the nurse pricked Paul's right arm three times and left arm twice before bathing him arm and found his vein.
Maybe I will do some weightlifting to pop out the vein next January in anticipation of the blood test.

Knaresborough

My swimming ticket allows me to use different pool in the areas.  Since Starbeck pool is often unavailable, I went to Knaresborough.

According to the map, it was only 2 miles away.  I remember Knaresborough being very hilly, so I was a bit skeptical about the journey.  So I paddled on, the majority of the journey is a mild climb or descent, but the last 0.5 mile, it was a steep hill.  I tried to cycle up the hill, but my gear slipped, so I pushed most of the way up.  On the way back, after the first steep descent, it was a mild climb, nearly all the way.

Well, Knaresborough Pool is nice, albeit I nearly drown, but I am not going to cycle there again!  I would rather walk!

Micromanaging vs. Autopiloting Your Money

Micromanaging vs. Autopiloting Your Money is always the question in mind.  After much debate, I think micromanaging often take more effort than its worth.

Postmarks

I was flipping through my post, and I realized, the post these days do not have clear postmarks.  It is really not helpful.

Fxxking Dog(s)

I was having a rotten day, when I got a message saying my board games were destroyed.  Verity could not confirm the extend of the damage, but said the crime scene had not been cleaned up, and I could survey the damage when I arrive.

So on my way to Verity's, there were loads of dog excrement, and me being in a foul mood, was a bit absent minded stepped into one.

When I got in the house, it was just about how I expected it.

I picked up my scrabble, now with a missing corner, and my Rivals.  I also picked up her Munchins, and I left Verity's with the confetti-ed boxes.

Horrible creatures!

Fake Cream

David, Yosi and I were eating at the Arndale Market's food court.  Since I have already eaten in Leeds, I opted for some cake and coffee instead, while David and Yosi had some Greek food.

The food in the food court was very affordable, and mostly because they were mediocre.  David's meze and felafel were not of the best quality.  My coffee was okay, but the cake were quite horrible.  I had not had fake cream for a while, and this was one of the worst.  The fake cream tasted so artificial, like those in a long-life packaged cake.

I must choose my cake carefully in the future.

Mistook Harrogate as a City

Seeing a long queue of traffic in Harrogate, Harrogate can easily be mistaken as a city.  Who could imagine a small residential town can showcase such dreadful traffic jams.

儒民政策是真正的愚民政策

When people say the Communist government dumbify the citizens, Chinese has been dumbified since Han dynasty over 2200 years ago. 

Before Han, there were hundreds schools of thoughts, and there were many philosophers.  Qin unified the country using Legalism.  When the government decided to use Confucianism - 'know your place' school of thoughts to govern, and the remaining school of thoughts died out.  It is a real shame!  We could have better social, scientific and economical progress with the different school of thoughts which provokes thought and nurtures great philosophers.  Afterall, it was a Taoist who invented gunpowder.

Frozen Milk

I froze milk for the first time, apparently it is quite common to freeze milk in England.

I tried to defrost it, but it took a really long time, I had to have dry cereal as the result.  This morning, I finally had enough for a coffee, but as expected, it was the fatty milk that thaw first, and as the result, I had an extra creamy coffee.

I really need to plan my milk consumption better, so I don't have to freeze milk in the future.

Aspartate

Aspartic acid (aspartate) is one of the most common amino acids in the typical diet. As with methanol and phenylalanine, intake of aspartic acid from aspartame is less than would be expected from other dietary sources. At the 90th percentile of intake, aspartame provides only between 1% and 2% of the daily intake of aspartic acid. There has been some speculation that aspartame, in conjunction with other amino acids like glutamate, may lead to excitotoxicity, inflicting damage on brain and nerve cells. However, clinical studies have shown no signs of neurotoxic effects, and studies of metabolism suggest it is not possible to ingest enough aspartic acid and glutamate through food and drink to levels that would be expected to be toxic.

Start Hard

I have been playing one of the time-killing game on my phone.  I have been setting new record after new record. 

If I start the game at level , I found that my concentration dwindles by the time I reach level 10, and I will fail shortly after.  So rather than starting at a low levels with low rewarding scores, I start high and my concentration can earn me some record breaking points.

What's a House For?

I used to think a house is for one to relax in after work, over weekend.  The richer one is, the nicer the house or neighbourhood.

In this nice house in Harrogate, Jerry is working at home a lot, another weekend, Tia and I were working on Sunday.

Do I want a house to relax or do I want a house to push me upwardly mobile?

New Exercises - Chasing Buses

In winter, I rely on buses.  And since I am relying doing long journey on buses, these buses tend to be fairly infrequent, and if I miss one, I would be sitting around for 30+ minutes.

As a result, I have been chasing buses.  Lets count all these as my exercises!

Skimmed Milk vs Diet Soda

I made a grave error of not bringing water into town.  I was thirsty and I needed to find something to drink.  I thought about healthier options, like juice and milk.  There were some skimmed milk marked down, but made a quick calculation, it has a lot of calories.  So I opted for diet soda at the end.

Montezuma's Lordy Lord Dark Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs

Apparently, Santa got me this bar of chocolate for christmas.  I started eating it yesterday.

The first bit, frest out of the packet was very fresh, with that liqour-like quality to the chocolate, but the kick faints quickly over a day.  The chocolate tastes very nice, and the cocoa nibs is a nice addition, although they do stick to the teeth.

I had a slight difficult commencing the eating of this bar, as the top half of the bar was a logo, not gridded. 

Twinkie's Return

I remember Twinkie's maker Hostess went bankrupt a couple years ago, and I was surprise to find Twinkies in the sweet shop here.  Then I googled about it, and found some chip shops sell deep fried Twinkies, just in case Twinkie on it own doesn't clog up your arteries.

There are enough of unhealthy snacks around England, why does the Brit like more of the same from across the pond?

Sponsored Dinner

I had to loitered around Leeds all afternoon between shopping and dinner.  I ended up in a bookkeeper.  I just sat in the warmth for many minutes.  I have tried to check the tennis results,  but the computer was playing up.  Then I spotted something called Bingo King, and I was trying to work out how it works.  At a glance, I thought, "this has a very good odd to win!"  Then I picked up the slip and read the basic rules, and took another betting sheet to work out the odds.  As an experiement to check out my mathematics, I put GBP 1 stake.  And I walked out with GBP 7, that sponsored my dinner, yay!

Linseeds related injuries

I was hungry and the only thing I had was a bag of linseeds I forgot to drop off at work.  So I snacked on the linseeds.

Linseeds is meant to be one of the superfood, but the amount I ingest often cause an injury, a sore jaw!

Maybe I should consider it one of my exercises.

Real Oxytocin

I have the real oxytocin supplies, I don't need the rat anymore!

"Live For Today"

"Live For Today" is a really bad life philosophy.  I have "Live for Today" before, and you would spend a life time catching up the slack.

Volunteered

My boss has volunteered me to various odd jobs.  I could not say no.  I would just have to work longer hours...

Noisy Scooter

As I march up the hill everyday, there is a very noisy and smelly two-stroke scooter.  I can literally hear him miles away, and smell it from a block away.  Everyday.

When Little Rome is back on the road, she would sound so quiet!

Exhausting Training

My boss mentioned about training a few weeks ago, and apparently he had already agreed on the date but failed to tell any of us. We were all thrown into training.  And since I haven't been working in Building 31, my climbing and physical is a bit weak.  I am exhausted!

Whenever Paul had a steel wire between his legs, I asked him to step across, then Steve said I was killing joy, as it would be funny if anything is damaged.

Then I thought about what the boys really distasted last year when we were presented with this picture:

I think this is a good reminder for the boys.

Flickr Christian Invite

I have just uploaded some pictures, and the most 'Christian' pictures were of Fountains Abbey.  Then strangely I was invited to join a photo group with a Christian theme.  I politely declined.

Winter Battery Care

It has only been 3 weeks since Little Rome last ran.  I had charged up the battery, but she refuses to start.  I must retry on a warmer day, or rather, tomorrow evening.  It would a an idea to give her a little run.

Knitting II

While Sarah was knitting her scarf, I picked up the thickest wool and knitted.  It feels nice to complete a task, even though this really isn't an article.

Sarah ran out of large wool, and I think this is my knitting done for another 20 years.

Knitting

I had not picked up a knitting needle for 20 years.  While Sarah and Marta were playing with their knitting, I played with it too.

I do remember most of the skills, but I am still bored after 10 rows, so I gave up.  I rather listen to radio and have a nap.

Roundhay Park

Ever since Sarah missed Roundhay park last February, we have been planning to go.

This was the first time I had a proper walk in the park, most importantly I knew where I was wandering, rather than following.  Apparently I could walk from Roundhay to Rotherwell through consecutive parks.

It was a quiet winter days, it has not got all the football and crickets but still full or kids, grannies, dogs and the odd joggers.  The café was packed, and the queue did not subside the whole time we were there.

Tropical World was still full of kids, but could be worse.  As soon as I stepped into Tropical World, it reminded me again why I was not home.

The other gardens are all wintery, not many flowers in flower beds.

Roundhay is always a great dayout.

Fountains Abbey in Winter

Fountains Abbey promised different scenery in different seasons, snow covered Abbey, red leaves.  We went to Fountains Abbey on new years day.  As a rainy winter day, the scene is not much different from other rainy days in different seasons.  The trees were bear, the ground was refreshingly quiet.  A lot of pheasants and grouses.

I should try to visit when it is more photogenic.

Greatings from Australia

My sister sent me a few voicemails, being furious with mother, understandably.  It was new years day, so I said. "Happy New Year".