More Monday

It's Monday again and Kris was up before dawn had a chance to crack. Kris went off to Coogee to get some folks fit by getting them to run around in circles. I went back to sleep and got up at 7am. The best couple of hours sleep I've had in a few days.
My neck was starting to feel better, but I still went to the physio to get it checked up. Lucky for me it's not broken, just a pinched nerve, which is somewhat painful.
I had to take it easy again today with painkillers and plenty of ice. I still managed to do a bit of work and listen to a bunch of podcasts, as well as taking some time out for a stroll on the beach.
Kris the ever active went off to work at a new contract she is doing in North Sydney. A long day for Kris, she didn't get home till 6:30 this evening.
Dinner was plain and simple - egg noodles, yummy.
We then watched some CampChaos videos and answered some emails. Until tomorrow....

Recovery Weekend

Ok, this weekend was a nice lazy one. Owing mostly to the fact that Neil had developed a nasty pain in the neck over the end of Friday and it had become extremely uncomfortable by Saturday. This meant that around here there was plenty of ice pack and video action and not much else, although we did get out on Saturday afternoon for a walk after I'd finished my latest kitchen adventure. Rasberry Quinoa Pie, with, yes, you guessed it, that now-famous (at least around here, anyway) gluten free macadamia pie crust. We thought it wasn't much better than interesting when we first sampled it yesterday, but I have to say the flavours and textures are growing on us and the pie is disappearing rapidly!

Hope you've all had a good weekend.

Signing off for now: Sore Neck Neil, and Kris :)

Fab Friday

After last nights exuberance it was not overly surprising that today started a little bit later than normal and in a fairly average manner.
We struggled out of bed at around 9am this morning and after little debate made out way to the beach. The sea did a fabulous job of bringing us back to life and giving us the energy to get the day back on track.
After breakfast it was time for work. Apart from the plan to take over the world, I cant tell you much else about what I’m doing ;)
I know Kris has been working on some content her website. I’m looking forward to seeing that.
The day is coming to a close and I can still feel the after effects of yesterday. Looking forward to dinner and an early night and then a wonderful weekend with plenty of sunshine.

Thanksgiving Thursday

We may be in Australia, and out of season for the Harvest Festival, but we're still in touch, even this far away! Not only was the weather spectacular all day, but we finished the day off by visiting some very special friends of ours, Deborah and Ben Bradley for a Thanksgiving Feast and some sensational shared time.

After I spent much of Thursday morning gathering ingredients for a traditional Thanksgiving Pumpin Pie, and wondering at the same time how this vegetable (that every good Australian knows to be a very good ingredient for a sumptuous soup) was EVER going to make a delicious dessert, I set about creating it. With recipe in hand and faith in my heart that my friends were not playing some cruel joke on me, I followed the instructions, adding a few variations of my own as we needed a dairy free version. I am now here to tell all Aussies and other non-initiates to this fabulous dish, that some liquids do solidify under the influence of heat AND that pumpkin(aka Cow Fodder by my coach and seafarer, David Adams) was made for higher purposes than soup, scones and even cows. Pumpkin Pie ROCKS!

Huge Thank yous to Ben and Deborah and some new friends and fellow foodies: Audrey, Stacey, Craig, and Tyler for a fantastic night that we all enjoyed.

PS if you want the recipe, check it out on ForgivingFood.com

Craig explains how you do the Mashed Potato while sitting down.

Ben and Kris carry out a careful and precise operation on the dead bird.

The Beast is cooked. Debs says 'Look its bigger than I am!'

The great thing about it being Always Summer Time is that we get to eat water melon all year long. I was a little concerned to find Kris stuffing as much into her mouth as possible while holding a very sharp knife. My main concern was how do I get some!

Wizard Wednesday

Another really early start for Kris. 5am and she’s up and out the door! Back to sleep for me. 5:30am and Kris was back – woops what happened there? Who cares at that time?
I finally got up at 7am and hit the weights, good to get the endorphins flowing through my blood first thing. Plenty of endorphins keep me smiling for the day :)
After breakfast it was time to head down to the CBD in Sydney for a few things. I had a couple of meetings and popped into the Microsoft ISV days event in Darling Harbour. All really interesting and good to see the software developer community getting value from this.
I had lunch with a friend.
I then met Kris in North Sydney near the end of the day and we headed home. Kris had a meeting in North Sydney that sounds like it went really well too.
Back home we spent some time going through software development lifecycles. Watch out world, Kris is getting a really good grip on the software development process.
The day is coming to an end and my belly tells me it must be time for dinner. So until tomorrow, have fun and keep smiling.

Terrific Tuesday!!

Big lie in today - didn't get up 'til 7 am and made our way straight to the beach for a run. Enthusiam waned to an all time low when the rain began to fall from the sky at the rate of small bucket-loads and the temperature dropped another 5 degrees C, so we made our way back home for the balcony blitz session which involved creative use of a couple of our skipping ropes, the swissballs, some weights, the all important workout music tracks AND the oven timer. We had fun, and no complaints recieved from our downstairs neighbours. With the morning workout completed, it was time for me to head off to a meeting down by the beach (no, it wasn't a spiritual guidance meeting with the Ocean) and Neil to get stuck into his latest projects.

As for me and my latest projects, I'm seriously looking at taking on a Playtime Fun and Fitness Franchise. I've been meeting with the team for the last week or so and I have to tell you, this is THE BEST concept I've seen in group fitness training EVER. We are talking a morning session starting at 6 am and 48 Big Kids playing Crab Soccer, Rob the Nest and Red Rover, AND we're talking about the same Big Kids getting some serious working over in strength training and cardio circuits. This is Serious Fun and Serious Fitness all rolled into one. All fitness levels are catered for. Everyone starts and leaves the session with smiles on their faces, and in between they work hard. And they get results. Since the latest research shows that average Australians are now more overweight and fatter than their American counterparts, it's a good thing that this unique programme has been brought to life by it's creator James Brabon. Check it out and sign up:- www.play-time.com.au

That's all for me today, I have to be at Coogee for tomorrow's cardio session, which means leaving here at 0500 hrs!

Magnificent Monday

For Kris the day started before the sun awoke. I was half asleep and remember her getting up but no more. The reason for Kris’ ungodly hour of rising was fitness training. She had to get down to Coogee to help a bunch of folks get fit.
I arose at the more sensible time of 6:30 to do a weights session. Certainly feels like we are both getting back into shape again now.
I got working on a couple of projects for clients that I can’t discuss here for confidentiality reasons. Some of the work I did today that I can discuss is the work on my website for the forthcoming book. eXtreme.NET. I’ve set up my eXtreme .NET store now as well.
Kris got back from her training at around 10am. Time for me to take a short break and we wandered down to the shops to grab a snack. For me it was back home for work and for Kris it was back home for a nap to catch up with her sleep.
I had to go out this afternoon for some meetings. The meetings were of course magnificent :)
Now this day is nearly over and it’s time for dinner. What’s cooking Kris?
Until tomorrow….

Bonus Day!!

OK, so we're back again today, and after the effects of yesterday's bike ride being so apparent on our bodies last night, I wasn't sure just how 'sunny' today would be. (believe me: we were sore, and the description of 'stumbling to bed' was an understatement. We crawled and 'ouched' and 'ow!-ed' a lot on the 10-step trip to our bedroom from the lounge-room last night. It even hurt to lie down! Any-hoo, today was our lucky day: we woke up close to pain free, and I was thinking today was sunnier than any day I could remember, even though the sky was covered in a white/grey sheet of cloud and the temperature was cool.

No lie-ing in for me - I was so excited just to be pain free that I had to get up and get moving. OK, the call from Mum and Dad at 0800 hrs did have a little to do with it, but after chatting with them we were off to check out the beach. Not much activity down there today as it really was pretty cloudy and cool. This meant that the usual Sunday morning hordes of 'Nippers' were down to only a few diehard 7 year-old Dee Why Swans and that there was plenty of beach to walk on. A quieter beach, but definitely not as fun a beach as last week. You just have to see these kids to believe it! It is real entertainment watching them go through their Sunday morning club activities, guided by the many Mums and Dad's needed to keep them safe and under control. At any one moment, there can be 25 eight year olds running and laughing for all they're worth into the sea, (like lemmings) while a bit further up the beach another group is diving into the sand, hands outstretched, reaching, reaching for one of the the few sticks stuck into the sand in an event called 'Flags'; and somewhere in between are what look like at least 50-60 five year olds running into the surf until they're ankle deep, turning to their right around a responsible adult and running along the beach in the water for about 25 metres until they get to turn around the next responsible adult and head out of the water and right back up the beach to where they started! Lots of wooping and yelling and laughing and giggling - it's inspiring.

While things were relatively quiet on the beach, Neil and I took a walk up the beach and returned before heading home for a quick shower, a great breakfast and a trip to the Mall for some items that were less essential than yesterdays purchases. We emerged from the Mall after about an hour with a couple of pairs of 'Boardies' for me, and a new shirt and pair of knee length trousers for Neil. Man! That place was Manic, EVEN at 11am. It's amazing what power TV and print marketing media has over us - it's frightening, really!!

After our escape was made good from the Mall, we lunched, slept and of course there was the requisite nerding-out. (Neil's real place of repose is in front of his beloved computer!) A good thing, though as our store has been launched and the link can be found on the right hand side of this page, AND I'm Skyped up!! Haven't had the chance to use it yet, but can't wait until my FRIENDS accept me to their Skype lists!

Super Saturday

After a wonderful week of fun and excitement, it was time for a super special Saturday.
After a late start ;) we got on our bikes for a couple of hours cycling.We ended up cycling through a number of different terrains including roads, marshland, sandy tracks and best of all some rainforest!
of course plenty of hills with the ups being an average speed and the downs being a little faster than Kris would like :)
After we got home, had a big feed and washed, we headed off to the mall for some entertainment.
We bought some essentials and did a fair amount of window shopping. Only one month till Christmas and it seems like the world was out at the mall ensuring they reach the limits on their credit cards!
Super Saturday continued back home with some reading before dinnertime.
Dinner was accompanied by watching Ronin on DVD.
We were feeling pretty sore after our bike ride and stumbled into bed.
Untill tomorrow...