Kris Cruickshank

I have a huge LCD tv now so I don’t really care about this goal anymore. I have achived my goal.

I have been learning to drive this year, but because I don’t know anyone that can take me out driving, I have had to get all my lessons and driving with my instructor which is very expensive. At the end of November I had my first test. I was so nervous I made some stupid mistakes and failed :( my next test is in feb hopefull I can be less stressed and pass this time.

To help me loose weight this year I have got a personal trainer. It is a bit expensive but she looks at my food diary and gives me an exersize program as well as motiviting me. Just started so we will see how it goes.

Hi bought the lego mindstorms kit and built a couple of simple robots with it. It is great fun, but not had enough time to play with it for a while :(

Its a good kit, if you are wanting to start with something simple I think its worth getting, it has some quite sophisticated sensors and controller. You can even write your programs in Robot C. I was very pleased with myself when I was sitting on my sofa with my laptop on my knee and my robot on the other side of the room and I was debugging its movement in Robot C wirelessly using bluetooth :).

Been climbing for about a year and a half now. Not done any outdoor climbing yet, but I climb indoors about 3 times a week now. It is great exercise: builds strength, stamina and makes you think. A lot of people think its all about upper body strength but its not, it works everything: legs, back, stomach, shoulders, etc. I love it.

[The pic is from last year when I first started]

I am two stone lighter than I was when I added this item to 43things, but I keep forgetting this. I still have a lot to lose so that I can get to a healthy “overweight” instead of obese :(

16.5 stone or not I can still climb a 6a overhang :)

I did a three day trek in Changmai Thailand. The last day was riding elephants, white water rafting and bamboo rafting.

The elephants were beautiful, so relaxing watching them walk.

See my pics on flicker: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=93729709%40N00&q=elephants&m=tags

• 3G
• wireless LAN
• full QWERTY keyboard
• 2MP camera with macro mode (its useless in the dark though, I tried it in the pub the other night and it is useless een with the flash thing. it does lovely day shots though)
• Windows mobile 5
• MS office with outlook sync, tasks, email, contact, calendar etc. (word, excel and power point are not nearly as good as I thought they we going to be)
• windows media player (but actually it sucks, a much better player is TCPMP)
• 400Mhz processor
• 64Mb RAM
• 64Mb storage (and you can get a MicroSD card, I have a 2Gb card on orderP

actually given its features the phone is smaller and lighter than other models.

You can also get a TOMTOM GPS module and software for it that works via blue tooth.

I have typed this entry on my dream phone connected via the WLAN in my flat.

There are a few features it still needs but it meets all my current needs.

I have attached a photo of a bumble bee on a flower that I took using the cameras macro mode.

Yay!

Yay! I have my central heating installed in the end I went with Edinburgh Central Heating & Plumbing (http://www.edinburghcentral.co.uk/)

Daniel Stone, the plumber is very nice, did a great job quickly and was cheaper than the competitors. He also gave me the quote faster than anyone else.

As well as getting the central heating installed I also had the pointless water storage tank removed and really nice shower put in.

I currently have useless, expensive electric water boiler and no proper heating. We just had a very cold winter hear in Edinburgh and it was miserable in my flat.

I have my bonus and saving and am going to get a new combi-boiler, 3 radiators, shower and have my water tank removed.

I have been collecting quotes; I have 3 so far and am waiting on the last one. I was wondering if anyone has used the companies before? The two companies that I am thinking about using are:

1. Edinburgh Central Heating & Plumbing (My first choice at the moment)
2. Jackson Hart Plumbing & Heating (Haven’t received the quote yet)

Any help would be appreciated.

They will give up when they are ready, I can’t make them. They still smoke and their is a smoking ban in scotland :(

ho hum

Well I finally finished it!

I really liked the first couple of books and I liked the end. But I thought the whole set was a bit long and disconnected.

All in all, I think its worth reading :)

I finally got round to messing about a we bit with C#, I needed to find out how well the mixing of .NET stuff actually works.

I had a:

• C# class lib
• C# App
• C++ MFC App (unmanged, converted to manged)
• C++ Lib
• C++ Dll
• C++ Console app

And I could kindof do everything I needed to. I might be able to do my new project in C# :)

I have been feeling much more confident the last few months…and I feel so much better for it, I feel like I have reduced my shyness to almost a comfortable level now.

Last night I went to a Ceilidh with freinds and had a great time, I was relaxed and danced with loads of people. I felt comfortable asking any of the women in our group to dance (I only knew 3 of them). There were other dances where you change partners, and I ended up dancing with complete strangers and this was actually good fun, I knew some of the dances a better than some of them so I helped them with the steps etc. I didn’t even mind to much when doing the dance where you are supposed do some dance on your own in the middle of the group while they spin around you….ahhh a good night. Thanks Shell

I find I naturally loose weight when I am in a relationship. I don’t actively try and loose weight; I just have a smaller appetite and feel happier doing extra exercise. I have lost 1.5 stone in the last couple of months just by being in a relationship! All my friends say that they are the opposite.

I almost got to do this, but unfortunately it wasn’t raining properly, and I had to go home to work :(

Life has been a bit busy at the moment I have been neglecting the 43 things website. I have been busy working on the items though :)

It’s time to close this one now! I have been living here for about a month. Still need to get the windows painted and gas central heating and boiler installed. But I love my flat. It’s not the best flat in the world but it’s all I need and it’s a good first time buy. Yay! I am on the property ladder. It’s much easier than you think, and other than the happy feeling of “this is mine :)” every now and then, it doesn’t feel much different to renting. My monthly bills are actually going to be less!

Some Pics on Flikr

Good luck to you all. It is worth doing, just go and see lots of places.

I had heard loads about Ikea but had never been, the thing that I was told that allowed me to keep my sanity was that the place is so big that you really had to spend a day their. And that once you’re in you can’t get out; you have to walk round looking at everything until you get to the checkout.

I got my dad to come with his van to help me get it home (their delivery is really expensive). I wanted to buy nice shelves that would span one of my walls. It needed to hold all my books, clothes and other bits and pieces. I also needed a desk for my computers, a good desk chair and lots of other little things.

Before I left I measured my room to get my ideal and maximum size for each of the things I wanted. I also measured other things like my windows and under my bed, on the off chance that I would find nice blinds or under bed storage (they have these things but I didn’t get them).

I went to Ikea with my measuring tape, measurements and a clear idea of what would be the perfect shelves. I warned my dad that this was going to take a very long time. I walked round the place sitting on all the chairs, measuring all the desks and tables, pushing/pulling shelves to make sure they were well built. There was lots of stuff, that was not my taste at all but there was plenty that was. A lot of it seamed to be very good quality, it is worth looking at everything to find the real gems. My shelves, for example, (NORREBO shelving unit) is made of solid birch, has a really nice beeswax finish and is a really solid shelving unit. I got some drawers for it and aesthetically it is exactly what I was looking for but does not serve all needs but it is closer than anything else, and I wanted it to do everything (they did have shelving unit that did everything but it was not as nice looking or as well built).

• duvet covers (nothing I liked!)
• sheets (the flat sheets were only available in white)
• cutlery (I thought the forks were ugly – little prongs)

All in all I really liked Ikea, and got what I needed on my trip and would recommend it.

Today I am motivated, I was good! My normal lunch/breakfast/dinner is ok but I eat of biscuits (the company I work for give you free biscuits etc.) anyway today I never touched them and went for a swim at lunchtime.

Having somebody else to, do this with makes it easier, thanks Michelle

Primarily I want to lose weight to get a girlfriend but it conflicts directly with the other thing that I feel I need to get a girl which is be more confident and happy with my self.

So did some thinking about myself and have decided that I am actually quite happy with my self. I feel more confident, but I am still overweight, and now I can’t convince myself to lose the weight. Need to mentally beet myself up ;) “You fat and your ugly, get your ass to the pool and go on a diet”....no it’s just not working. Anyway, I don’t eat badly and I walk about 8miles a day. What to do?