An Album A Day

March 6:MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
I've heard this band's name mentioned so many times but only knew one song by them, Time to pretend - though having listened to the album now I also knew kids but didn't realise it was the same band! Hmm not sure what to make of the album - the singles are definitely the stand out tracks but I would listen again.

March 5: Portishead - Dummy
Another of my bargain buys in the Woolies closing down sale. I never really got into Portishead at their prime but saw Beth Gibbons at Glastonbury in 2004 (I think) and was blown away by her. This album was a great showcase for her haunting vocal.

An Album a Day

I just stumbled across a blog where a guy was listening to a different album every day for a year and that sounded like a really cool idea, so I thought I might give it a go. Except that I know I won't manage it every day - when I'm out and about I listen to music but my MP3 player tends to be on shuffle rather than a specific album. But I see no reason, especially now I've found the awesome Spotify site, why I shouldn't listen to an album every day I'm in front of the computer for any period of time - which is generally at least 5 days a week. So I'll keep a list and perhaps comment now and then and we'll see how this goes.

The full and updated list is here - and all albums are, of course, available to buy on Amazon unless otherwise specified!

RULES:

1. Listen to a different album, every day, for a year.
2. Of those albums, 50 of them have to be ones that you haven't listened to before.
3. Of those 50, fifteen of them have to have been released this year.

Feel free to recommend any particular albums you think I would like to listen to!

Bold means I haven't listened to this album prior to this year
Italic means it was released this year

The first four days:

March 4: Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
I heard the current single "I'm Not Going To Teach Your boyfriend How to Dance With You" on XFM and loved it and the album, on first listen, doesn't disappoint, I'll definitely be adding this one to my collection.

March 3: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
The latest album from one of my favourite bands is stunningly good and they definitely deserved their recent Mercury prize. I'm going to see them at Wembley next week, can't wait!!

March 2:Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus
I bought for £2 in the Woolworths closing down sale! Hmm, quite entertaining as far as sweaty honky tonk rock and roll goes, don't play it with the kids around though as some of the language is a bit coarse, to say the least!

March 1: Mew - Frengers
Mew are Danish and I simply adore them ... the singer's voice is haunting and magical and this album showcases it superbly.

The Teenager Audio Test - Can you hear this sound? Created by Train Horns

The Teenager Audio Test - Can you hear this sound? Created by Train Horns

Created by Train Horns

Win a wedding!!

I'm running an amazing competition in the March issue of my magazine, CT In The Vale* - the prize is an entire wedding worth over £15,000! More details of the prize are available here or visit the CT In The Vale website and click the link on the right to enter. Good luck!

*The competition is also running in all the other CT magazines ... so the winner won't necessarily be from my area.

Gym Sunday 26th october

Sundays there's an hour when kids can go in to the gym so the three of us went in. Luckily Katie and Dan were fairly sensible so I was able to do pretty much the whole CV programme, plus a couple of weight machines!

Treadmill - 10 mins at 5.5km/hr, gradient 5
I concentrated more on my breathing today and was able to keep my heart rate below 161 so no nasty warning lights, and I actually felt a lot more comfortable doing this than i did two days ago! I think I'll go for 12 mins next time. Amazing how much easier it feels already.

Cycling - 7 mins, programme 6, effort 3/4
Felt much easier than on Friday - in fact, I actually increased the effort level from 3 to 4 for the last few minutes. I'm meant to keep to about 60 rpm but find a speed of 70ish more comfortable - but for the last minute I really went for it (in a bid to beat Dan distance-wise!) and touched 100rpm! Next time I'll go for the full 10 mins on level 3.

Rowing - 1000m
The kids and I "raced" the 1000m and all finished about even - they had a faster stroke rate but I covered more distance per stroke. As with the other exercises, this also felt a bit easier and I didn't really start struggling till the last couple of hundred metres. Next time I think I'll try and go for two lots of 750m.

Lat pull down
3 lots of 12 reps with 15kg

Leg ??? (have to check the name of this one)
because of the problems with my right knee I do each leg separately on this one and managed the 3 sets of 12 with 5 kg on the right and 15 kg on the left. Scary how clicky my right knee is though.

Wave - 1.5 mins
Pathetic!! I find this machine difficult anyway and was pretty knackered by now. I think I need to do this one much earlier on in the routine in future.

First proper workout Fri 24th October

My first "proper" go in the gym, squeezed in while Dan was at footie training.

I did the cardiovascular programme and it went like this:

Treadmill - 10 mins at 5.5km/hr, gradient 5
I was keeping an eye on my heart rate, trying to keep it below 160bpm but towards the end it was getting really high, 164+ and I got a warning "HIGH HEART RATE" flash up!!! Scary ..... I think I need to keep an eye o this and concentrate on breaqthing properly to keep it lower.

Cycling - 7 mins, programme 1, effort 3
This felt alright though I was pretty tired by the end.

Rowing - 1000m
Exhausting - I was fine up to about 600m but then really struggled to do the last 400. No way I could have done another 1000m afterwards!

Wave - 3 mins
I conked out on this one and only managed 3 mins! Shocking. I found it really difficult though.

Came out feeling good though - tired but good.

Gym progress - start at the beginning

I've recently won three months gym membership and as this is my best opportunity ever of losing weight and getting fit, I'm going to do the best I can! Thought I'd plot my progress here.

So, I'll post each trip in a separate entry, starting with this one - my fitness and goal setting session on Mon 20th October.

Hmm, very unfit. I did a test on the treadmill which monitored how much of my full heart capacity I use doing exercise and on a scale of 1 (almost dead) to 12 (super fit) I'm a level 3. Definitely room for improvement! I was also weighed - 96 kg (15 stone 1lb) - and my blood pressure was very slightly higher than it should be.

I returned on Thurs 23rd and Dave, my trainer, gave me my personalised programme, aimed at weight loss and general fitness. Two days of cardiovascular exercise and one day of toning on the weight machines. We went through every exercise and he noted down all the adjustments I'd need to make to seats, weights and effort levels. he's given me goals but I need to work up to them rather than feel disappointed if I don't reach them instantly. I have a review booked in 4 weeks time - so let's see what I can do between now and then!

So - the programme I'm aiming for is:
CV days -
Treadmill - 15 mins walking at 5.5km/hr on a gradient of 5
Cycling - 10 mins on programme 1 or 6, effort level 3/4
Rowing - 2 x 1000m, resistance 5
Wave - 10 mins, level 3

Toning days:
10 different machines (I think) to give full workout. 3 sets of 12 reps on each. Weights range from 5kg to 20kg depending on machine

Paddington gets second helping of Marmite in new TV ad | Media | guardian.co.uk

Paddington and Marmite ... it's just wrong.

Paddington gets second helping of Marmite in new TV ad | Media | guardian.co.uk

Clegg's conference speech

BBC NEWS | Politics | LIVE - Clegg's conference speech

I rather enjoyed Nick Clegg's speech, but wish he'd gone further on taxes. His comment on reducing the tax burden for 9 out of 10 families implies that there'll be tax cuts for all but the highest earners - which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing - but why not go further? I've long been of the opinion that a 50% tax rate for all those earning over, say, £250,000 would put enough money into the system to help the poor, schools, hospitals etc. whilst not affecting the rich too much.

Maybe that's a very simplistic view, I don't know .... I guess I just get angry that some Premier League footballer earning £50K a week is paying the same percentage of tax as a fairly average earner working hard for £35,000 a year. Seems very unfair and I'm sure a higher rate tax bracket would help.

Ding dong ...

As of yesterday, I have another string to my bow - I am an Avon lady!!

I do like Avon products, especially the moisturisers, and though there is apparently someone working my road, I've never received a book - so I've signed up to work with Avon myself and will be distributing my first set of brochures later today.