Categories
Fun Ross

Thoughts On Getting “Old”

Since turning 40 (unbelievable I know) I have noticed a few changes:

We recently went shopping for a new sofa for the family room, to aid getting one the fitted I did a floor plan of the room in Visio.

I felt compelled to then do a plan of the whole house and garden!

I resisted!

I get annoyed by really trivial things:

I quite like (as an occasional treat) a Twix from the vending machine. It’s great because it’s chilled. But because it’s chilled it quite often breaks when it falls from the machine.

This really annoys me, even though I’m just going to bite it and chew it!

Categories
Microsoft Office Technology

Favourite Shortcut Keys – Outlook

Apple Keyboard (with Avid shortcuts; Letterboxed)
Creative Commons License photo credit: laffy4k

If you look at the left hand menu you will see the items:

  • Mail
  • Calendar
  • Contacts
  • Tasks
  • etc

These can be quickly accessed by using the following shortcut keys:

  • (Ctrl+1) – Mail
  • (Ctrl+2) – Calendar
  • (Ctrl+3) – Contacts
  • (Ctrl+4) – Tasks

In addition, when you use Ctrl+1 to access mail, this takes you to the folder that you were last using, if you would rather jump straight into your In-Box – use (Ctrl+Shift+I).

Categories
Fundraising Marathon Ross Running

Edinburgh Marathon 2010

The Good

Most would have said the weather was good, I beg to differ it was waaay too hot!
On the plus side I’m sure that helped bring out more spectators who really helped spur me on and yes the garden hoses and sprinklers WERE appreciated!

The Bad

The golden rule is to have practiced everything and have no new kit on race day.
Due to the heat in the days leading up and the forecast I decided to treat myself to a new belt with a bottle holder built in. Unfortunately this was not really up to the job and my bottle jumped out the holder in the first few yards after crossing the start line.
Due to the excitement of the start I even forgot to start the timer on my watch so it was a few minutes after crossing the start line before my watch started. My watch gave me a time of 6:23:24 and my official time was 6:34:05. I had also made sure that my watch had a new battery but I had not double checked the settings and I ended up having to fiddle with it during the run to get it set properly. My Garmin FR50 was complaining over the last few miles of low memory, I’ll either have to buy a new watch or speed up: I’m “cheap” so I’ll have to keep up the training !

The Ugly

No real injuries to speak of, the plasters on my nipples fell off so I had to get some emergency vaseline from the first aiders at mile 8. I finished with a small blister on each heel, but this was due to the fact I did more walking than running in the latter stages.
Obviously I’m stiff and sore today but I’m keeping moving to prevent complete seizure.

Continue reading “Edinburgh Marathon 2010”
Categories
Technology

Google Spreadsheet & SQL Queries

Learning SQL
Creative Commons License photo credit: therefromhere
I am a big fan of Google Spreadsheets, they give you most of the features of a desktop “office” based spreadsheet but your data is stored online, no more need to carry your data on a USB stick.
I’m also a huge fan of databases, SQL is a fantastic tool for querying data.
Now you can combine the best of both worlds: store your data in a spreadsheet and then summarise the data using SQL.

Continue reading “Google Spreadsheet & SQL Queries”
Categories
Fundraising Marathon Running

Marathon Training Update

how about this one
Creative Commons License photo credit: damianromero

Parkrun

Last Saturday (10th April) saw the the launch of the Strathclyde Park Parkrun.
After recieving so much encouragement from the folks at the Glasgow Parkrun I decided to give something back and volunteer to help. This is a win-win situation as I can run the ~4 miles from home to the park run, help out then run home so I’m doing my good deed for the day AND getting a run in !

Injury

Unfortunately on my run home after just 2 miles I got to experience just how bad “shin splints” are!
My other half was working so I had to hobble the last two miles home where the kids were great keeping me supplied with frozen peas.
To try and speed my recovery: 5 weeks until Edinburgh marathon (donate here: http://www.JustGiving.com/26Miles4CHAS) I did not do any running at all.

I’m Back!

It’s only a tiny niggle now so I thought I would brave a wee short run: 3 miles, Chatelherault and back. My time was “down” but no new or reoccurrence of any injuries. Despite having wun ~25 miles in my new shoes I have swapped back to my old ones “just in case”, and I’ll stick with them until post Edinburgh.
Hopefully a week of short runs will set me up for a longer run at the weekend then I’ll get back on track.

Categories
Microsoft Office

Google Calendar Sync – Auto Run

A nice quick hint.

I kept forgetting to start Google Calendar Sync when I started Outlook. I don’t always start Outlook when I start my laptop and I’m not always online when I run Outlook so puting it in my Startup folder is not really an option.
My solution, a macro that runs when Outlook starts that gives me the option of running Google Calendar Sync if I feel it’s appropriate.

Private Sub Application_Startup()
Dim response As Integer
Dim RetVal
op
response = MsgBox(prompt:=”Do you want to run Google Calendar Sync?”, buttons:=vbYesNo)

If response = vbYes Then
RetVal = Shell(“C:\Program Files\Google\Google Calendar Sync\GoogleCalendarSync.exe”, vbMinimizedNoFocus)
End If

End Sub

NOTE: WordPress seems to “prettyfy” the quotes so when copying the code above it is better to delete and retype the quotation marks in your code editor of choice.

Categories
Fitness Marathon Running

Edinburgh Marathon Training Update

yellow
Creative Commons License photo credit: darkmatter
It’s been a while since I have written anything so apologies in advance about the length!

Marathon Team Update

Start with the good news: as of today the fundraising total hit £300 which is great but the marathon is no sprint, so lots more time (6 weeks gulp) to go. http://www.justgiving.com/26miles4chas
The not so good news: unfortunately Paul has had to pull out of the Edinburgh Marathon due to an injury he has picked up during training.
The better news: Paul has agreed to competitively run the distance of the marathon before the end of the year. Due to this, we will be keeping the fundraising page open until the end of the year so you can show your support.

Continue reading “Edinburgh Marathon Training Update”
Categories
Emma Fitness Fundraising Me Ross Running This Site

What A Week !

Busy Busy Busy
It has been a very busy/eventfull week this week!

Continue reading “What A Week !”
Categories
Fundraising Me

Get It On With Bryan Burnett – Radio Scotland


WOW! What a way to start the week!
Bryan chose my suggestion from Friday to be the theme for tonight’s show.
Then to top it off he even played my suggestion.

A fantastic show (as always)

I’m a happy man!
http://www.JustGiving.com/26Miles4CHAS

Categories
Technology

Dell Tech Support – Must Read The Script


Dell: Can I confirm that your laptop has been collected.
Me: Which one, I have had two collected in the last week.
Dell: The one that needs the repair to the palm rest and screen.
Me: Yes that was collected last week, a day later than was arranged.
Dell: OK, Thank You.
Me: Can you confirm the status of the repair?
Dell: Yes we received the laptop last week and are waiting on the replacement parts.

I’m glad to see that the Dell quality processes have finally kicked in and they are confirming that they are actually repairing the laptop that they have collected and that they have not mistaken my laptop with someone else’s that has the same service tag and the same fault.

Update

The laptop was returned all fixed today !