Happy Humpday

[jadesfire]

Mornin' all. It's grey and a little miserable out there this morning, but not raining at least (yet). Because of this, I have decided it is about time we started being awesome again. Not that we ever stopped being awesome, you understand, but I feel our awesomeness went into hibernation with the winter.

To get us going:

Today I am awesome because I worked out how to create a .CSV file. It probably saved me an hour of tedious copying and pasting into gmail and was almost ridiculously easy to do. (I feel like I should be wearing a badge marked 'ask me how!')

I am also awesome because I got a coffee on my way in to work but didn't buy any baked goods. My weight has been slowly creeping up over the last few months, which isn't a problem in abstract, but is when my clothes were bought for someone 14 pounds lighter! It won't be a major wrench to cut out the junk, but it is going to require concentration. I feel like I'm off to a good start :D

For anyone who's wandered in and is wondering why all the egotism, from my original post:

The British are normally terrible about being proud of what they achieved. We get all embarrassed and blushy and 'ah, well, you know'y about it. But for the next month, I'm going to try and post the things I am achieving, the things that I am proud of, the things that make me awesome. Because I want to be awesome. Come join me.

This is not a space for embarrassment or modesty. I *know* you all rock, whether it's because you aced that exam or took that picture that you're proud of or left someone a comment that made them smile or took a walk in the sunshine and felt good or remembered to take your tablets this morning. There are days when keeping breathing for the next minute is a stunning achievement. I want to know about that. Please, tell me.

So tell me, flist, how are you awesome today?

Comments

[miss-zedem.livejournal.com]

Today I'm awesome because I got up when the missus did, and therefore have achieved breakfast, some fic-related research, and painting my fingernails orange before 10am. My plan is to spend the morning ficcing (which is totally a word ;P), and the afternoon CV-ing/job applicationing. We'll see how that works out...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Woot! 'Ficcing' is definitely a word. The jury's still out on 'applicationing' ;)

I'm trying to push my getting up time earlier at the moment - I used to be able to get so much done in the mornings! It definitely gives a good sense of achievement.

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

YAY you, good luck with the applications and YAY for the ficcing...looking forward to the results :)

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

I've not been very awesome (yet!) today - but yesterday I cleared my desk :) I can stretch out without knocking 4 months of junk mail and unshelved books on the floor!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

There's still time :) But having a clear desk makes the most enormous difference. Enjoy!

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Ooh - my reading room table is now half tidied!

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

I have to do this at home... my magazine rack is *bulging* with envelopes.

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Like you with the baked goods, I did not buy chocolate in the petrol station!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Woot \o/ Go you! I also did not eat the cake in the staff room. If I can manage that for the rest of the day, I'll call it a success :D

Hard work, this self-control lark, isn't it?

[mad-jaks.livejournal.com]

Yes. Hard work. It being Lent helps. I think next year I'm going to save making my 'New Year Resolutions' until Ash Wednesday.

[crashbarrier.livejournal.com]

Well done you.. I revel in your Awesomness!...

Today I am awesome because I stepped upto the plate and got an important spreadsheet done for the exam board on friday... it is very very important and i have been struggling with it for weeks.. then this morning "TA-DAH!" i think i am channelling Rodney McKay's ability to pull stuff out of the hat under dire need:D

Also.. I sort of finished another picture... I am on a sketching roll... although the writing i wanted to get finsihed.. has gone no where. i think my brain is re-directing the creativity..:D:D

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Go you! It's amazing what you can do when you really, really have to, isn't it?

Creativity is always a good thing, no matter where it's directed :D

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I'm not particularly awesome - I left my mobile phone on the train on my way home from work - but the train guard is really awesome! I rang the phone to see if anyone would pick up, then the guard rang my home number about 10 minutes later and agreed to drop it back off at my local station in about an hour from now! I had been so upset as it was just one more thing to not have go right (no car, no sleep yesterday, no break on my night shift) and then that lovely, ordinary person turned my day around.

I'm awesome for selling stuff on eBay which I've been meaning to do for 18 months! Pennies for cons and concerts...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Eep! that's not good, I'm so glad someone came through for you. Hope you and your phone are now reunited!

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

It's early morning here (well, early for me, a quarter past seven) and I am awesome because this week I took on a furniture-repainting job that I found frightening. Still do find it frightening, in that not-sure-I-can-do-it-right sort of way, but I am doing it regardless.

I am awesome because I have been making contacts with new people out there in the big scary world, and then following up on them, and there's a new teaching opportunity I have because of that.

Also, I have pursued another little job (some faux finish stuff) instead of waiting for the client to get back to me. Now I have an appointment to see the site and make an estimate, on Monday afternoon.

I'm sure I'll come up with more awesomeness, but I'll need breakfast and coffee first. And I am proud of you, btw, for cutting the junk. One of the things I want to do today is be awesome in that regard myself, and to walk to the bank this morning instead of driving.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

You are definitely awesome for tackling scary things - I'm so glad it's paying off for you!

I'm taking the 'no junk' one snack at a time right now. Planning not to have anything, ever, is just too much for me, so I'm deciding on a hungery by hunger basis. It makes it much more manageable!

I know it's often harder for you guys in the US to do the walking thing than it is over here - we're much more set up for pedestrians, I think. Hope the weather is good for you :)

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I wish your awesome brain had been available for consult last week when I was trying to create a .csv file. I finally went the cut & paste route after wasting several frustrating hours. Outlook Express is of the devil, I tell you!

In the spirit of the awesome, I made an awesome energizing dance-around-the-room playlist last night for exercise inspiration.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Oh noes! Mine was a very simple CSV - I had everything in a spreadsheet, so I copied the individual list into Word to strip out the formatting, then copied it back into Excel with simple column headers. Then all I had to do was save it as a csv file and gmail recognised it right away. Trying to get Outlook to behave is utterly beyond me, I have to say...

Woot! That playlist sounds like a great plan Oxford Uni. has recently banned Spotify (boo!) and I definitely miss my bouncy music list!

[naye]

You are truly magnificently awesome! (.CSV? What?) On top of all your other accomplishments, you have also made someone halfway across the world feel loved and hugged. ♥ Thank you.

Me... *deep breath*... I am awesome, too! I am! Today, I wrote another cover letter, submitted two job applications (one place only wanted the resume, so I did not cheat!), and answered a phone call from Big Company's "pre-interview" guy without panicking, even though I was standing in the local mall waiting for my fast-food order.

Oh, and I studied some English grammatical terms! ...despite my current profession, they are not in great demand from the students, but it seems I might need to know them for an interview-test thingie. I now (almost) know what past, present and future simple, perfect and progressive correspond to in actual language use!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

You are definitely of the awesome - that's a shedload of scary stuff done!

I honestly don't know what a .csv is technically, but I know it can turn a list of email addresses in Excel into entries into my gmail contacts, and that's all I need to know! The main thing is that it worked \o/

Okay, so I know most of those, but you lost me at 'progressive'...

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

YAY for awesomeness, it can be really hard to avoid buying pastries and the like when they look so enticing, so yay you, it's a great start. I have absolutely no clue what a .csv file is or what you'd use it for lol.

I'm awesome today because I bought the kidlet a pair of Ben10 slippers that I just know he'll love. :)

I'm also awesome because I did a heap of smelly laundry.

I'm hoping to continue my awesome of yesterday with more fic writing.

Nate

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I think it's easy to get in the habit of buying food with drinks, whether you really want it or not - you do it without thinking. My main aim over the next few days is to become aware of what I'm eating in the hope that it'll help me stop eating what I shouldn't!

*grin* That's definitely all awesome :) Good luck with the writing!

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

Thanks, miss_zedem just helped me greatly with some info for a plot issue so it looks like it's coming together *grins* Wow, I don't usually worry so much about research for my fics (because its subjects I know about or are shallow pron not because I'm lazy or anything lol) *grins*.

Good luck, it can be easy to lose track of what you eat over the day, so becoming more food conscious can only help, surely? Don't forget to allow yourself a treat though, a little of what you fancy can do your willpower the world of good. Have you thought about keeping a food diary (I'm so forgetful that half the time I can't remember what I had for lunch)?

Nate

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I do sometimes use a food diary, but when I'm really struggling, I can't cope in thinking long-term. I tend to concentrate on "what I eat next will be good", otherwise if I screw up, I beat myself up over it, and if I look too far ahead, I panic.

baby steps :)

[azure-chaos.livejournal.com]

That seems a good way to work it then *nods* :)

Nate

[perspi.livejournal.com]

YAY AWESOMENESS! Our f-lists are awesome.

Today I'm not feeling particularly awesome. But yesterday I submitted a manuscript!

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

We are awesomecakes covered with awesomesauce TRUFAX

WOOT! That's brilliant and more than enough awesomeness to keep you going for days to come :D

[perspi.livejournal.com]

INDEED TRUFAX.

As for eating: Good luck to you! In the exercise programs I've been following, they advocate a fairly large portion of your daily intake be protein (so, macronutrients of carbs, protein, and fat, yes? And they recommend 40% of your calories come from carbs, 30% from protein, and 30% fat). And the recipes include 100-calorie or 150-calorie snacks, planned into your midmorning and midafternoon, and the snacks are high in protein (like 10 or 12 grams). I have found that these kinds of high-protein snacks are great, because they satisfy my hunger and the protein keeps me from being hungry again for longer. (For example, I just had a protein shake for a midmorning snack, and I have some Greek yogurt for my afternoon snack! MMMMmmmm.)

This does require some planning, but once you get the hang of it it's easy, and it helps me a LOT in terms of making good eating choices--if I have something planned, I can resist temptation, and if I'm not hungry, it's also easier.

My favorite snacks: Greek yogurt (very high protein! Yummy!), 3 oz shrimp cocktail, 2 oz of fresh mozzarella cheese with 5 cherry tomatoes and a spoonful of basil pesto, a deviled egg, or some hummus and red bell pepper. I have a small fridge in my office, though, so I can get away with some snacks that others may not be able to do...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

That's really interesting. I (more or less) follow the Slimming World plan, which is pretty un-restrictive in general terms and fits nicely with that. I shy away from calorie counting, because of the way my brain works, and tend to go for fruit for snacks. It has to be said, though, that after 3 days of 'fruit for snacks' I am so booooored of sweet things, and start really craving savory. One of the things SW taught me was that proteiny food really satisfies, even if I look at it and think "hmmm...there's not much there." It's big on low-fat more than anything else, so maybe I should get back to making my own hummus again...

The short version of which is: ooh, that's really helpful! I struggle for snacks and those are really good ideas.

I'll have to eat them in the staff room, though. They don't like us getting food near the books!

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! I mean, I don't like calorie-counting, either, but the idea of 'roundabout' 100-calorie, high-protein snacks fit right in with my eating habits, in that I need to eat something and if I have it, it will be a better choice than going to get some junk from a vending machine.

I'm glad to be helpful! These snacks are all pretty low-fat, too, since that IS part of the eating plans, also. As part of my recipe-post series, I will have to do a snacks post, with all the snacks I like...

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

I am always trying to find new things to put into my diet. I tell myself that it's because I'm interested in new things, rather than because I get bored easily ;)

A snacks post would be awesome! I remember seeing your chilli recipe and thinking that it looked epic. When we have a bigger kitchen, I will definitely have to try it out (ie when we have a cupboard big enough for a pot big enough!)

[crystalshard.livejournal.com]

Today I am awesome because I didn't lose my temper at the nameless idiot who wrote the repair and maintenance publications for the tech I work on. I spent two hours rearranging, rewriting and deleting paragraphs in a section only four pages long.

On the bonus side, once I've finished, I can legitimately claim to have rewritten the book on this particular piece of technology.

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Eep, that sounds like a job and a half :S That definitely counts as awesome \o/