My partner and I were shocked and saddened last night to learn that Seve Ballesteros has been diagnosed with a brain tumour. He is true magician of the game, an inspiration to champion golfers and fans alike.

May you have the strength and support to make it through this difficult time. Here's to your speedy recovery, Seve. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you.

technorati tags: seve ballesteros

Often when something happens in my life that I don't enjoy, I tend to make an amusing post about it. It's my way of making lemonade out of lemons. Sometimes however, you just get lemons.

I was listening to my headphones in front of the computer. The song had ended so I took the earphones off to put them away. Without looking I reached into the wires of an air purifier with my hand still holding the earphones. My middle finger was the entry point and the charge went right through my body and down to my toes. If I had to describe it I would call it "being bitten by an electric eel underwater".

For hours afterwards I was unable to speak faster than 30 bpm and tingles and pains surged randomly through different parts of my body. The next day I was still speaking slowly and had pains in different regions of my head.

The most frightening moment was when I tried to use a computer and spent around a whole minute trying to figure out where the "copy" button is in Ctrl + copy. I felt like a complete dork when I realised it was just the "c" button. Considering I have been using computers since I was a kid, this was cause for concern.

The doctor did a multitude of tests of my reflexes and coordination. He wasn't entirely convinced I was ok, but he didn't want to alarm me either. Little did he know that underneath my vague and slow exterior was already a lot of panic and alarm. He ordered me to rest for a few days and get an Ambulance subscription. That didn't really fill me with optimism.

The next few nights were frightening as my heart was beating quickly and tingles and pains kept their random patterns going well into the small hours of the morning.

After I regained my energy after a couple of days, I tried yoga to get my circulation moving and exercise my muscles. Amazingly it worked so well that by the next day I was feeling like a new person.

I am pleased to say I am feeling back to normal apart from the occasional pain manifesting throughout various areas of my head. This is the first day I have blogged since the incident and I am happy to say I know how to use Ctrl + C again.

technorati tags: electrocution effect shock medical

The weather is totally unpredictable at the moment. One moment you feel like you need an air conditioner, the next you are freezing and are considering installing Gas Fires or Electric Fires to keep your house warm. HotPrice have years of experience in the area of installing gas and electric fires and can offer design and technical advice for your specific needs. Depending on the size of the room you are heating, you can decide between LPG fires, freestanding fires, cast iron fireplaces, Hole in the Wall Fires and other otions too numerous to mention. The well-known brands featured include those from Dimplex to Kinder to Smeg. The site includes a "Jargon Buster" section, which for me was quite useful as I don't exactly know the difference between a balanced flue and a fanned flue. This section is quite detailed so if you've ever wanted to know what the distinction is between a radiant gas fire and an outset fire, this might be a good place to start. The section on installation information specifies that it is important to find a CORGI registered installer to install your fireplace. According to this information, a non-CORGI installer runs the risk of causing damage to your fireplace or invalidating your guarantee, which is an undesirable situation to say the least. Hotprice do not carry out installations, however there is a link in the site where you can find a CORGI registered installer in locations throughout the United Kingdom.



This post brought to you by HotPrice.

My new pedometer arrived yesterday from Ebay land. It is rather snazzy and very easy to set up. You just enter your weight, age, height and step length and it calculates how many calories you are burning throughout the day. I wear it clipped to my belt to remind me to walk more. It's a good incentive to walk instead of catching the tram one stop - you get to thinking "maybe I could add another k to my total!" It becomes a bit of a competition (albeit against yourself!)

Yesterday's tally: 8539 steps, 3.71km and 165.4 calories! - and I wasn't feeling too well that day!

Today so far: 3118 steps, 1.34km, 60.4 calories.

Apparently there were 200 calories in my breakfast banana. And my breakfast tamarillo had 40 calories. There is no danger in my eating more than one tamarillo because they taste a little - how should I say... tangy. I think that's how they are supposed to taste. They make me do the "just sucked on a lemon" look.

I think I could make a million by creating the "Tamarillo Diet" - it goes something like this:

Breakfast:
1 Tamarillo

Lunch
2 Tamarillo

Dinner
2 Tamarillo

Dessert
1 Tamarillo


I can just see the testimonials:

"I lost 50kg in six months!! And I no longer have a vitamin C deficiency!!"


Important note: Please do not try this diet at home. It is a joke. Then again, so are many of the other diets floating around Hollywood. The "Cabbage Soup" diet, the "eat nothing and pretend you're just really busy" diet, the "eat and then spend an unnaturally long time in the bathroom" diet, and then there is the diet followed by many a Hollywood celebrity which basically involves looking in the mirror for long periods and pouting.

It's probably more sensible to just eat a lot of fruit, vegetables, pasta and rice. And make sure you cook with extra virgin olive oil. After all, millions of Mediterraneans can't be wrong.


Pedometer price $4.95 plus $6.00 postage.
Verdict - Success!!

technorati tags: shop ebay pedometer walking exercise

The game was going so well. Elsternwick Golf Course, first nine holes. The sun was glinting from behind the clouds, my partner had just got his third ever birdie on the second hole and I was driving well. My short game was a bit sketchy but since this was our first game back after playing the Apollo Bay Golf Course, I wasn't too fazed.

Suddenly my scorecard showed consecutive bogeys. I was quite content. Another bogey on the seventh. Happy days.

We began the second nine with a relaxed and easy game.

And then it happened.

Before I go into the event in detail, I would like to make it clear that I am a normally well-adjusted person. I have been described as "even-tempered". Perhaps even "bubbly" at times.

Until my ball landed in the right side bunker at the 17th.

For some reason I had a feeling of dread as I approached the cavernous bunker. The lip seemed taller than me and for some reason I found this daunting.

"Remember the Jack Nicklaus book" A soothing voice said inside my head. I relaxed again. Then I seized up again. I couldn't remember. Whatever precious nuggets of genius Jack had imbued in my brain had somehow leaked out the other end, leaving a void of panic and terror.

I tried to remember as best I could - open the clubface, hit the sand behind the ball...

So far so good.

Then I struck the shot. My ball flew upwards, upwards and upwards.

Then it just stopped, cruelly wedging itself just below the lip of the bunker.

Something inside me snapped.

"Yaargh!" I ran up the side of the bunker and grunted, striking the ball hard enough to make it dribble back down into the position it had first landed.

"F@&#* ing sand!"
*THWACK*

The ball repeated its journey back down to my feet, leaving a rather pretty little bubble-pattern behind it.

For some reason this really offended me.

*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*

"Arrgh!! Yah!"



















In my mad fury of swinging and thwacking I realised that at least two of these particular shots were nowhere near the ball. They were aimed squarely at the sand for the sole purpose of revenge.

"Yiggh! Ack!! Raargh!!"
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*
*THWACK*

I could tell that my partner wanted to say something at this point but thought better of it.

"Graghph!!"
*THWACK*

Finally the ball came popping up out of the bunker and landed on the green, quite close to the pin. A lovely shot.

I took this as the final insult. I stormed out of the mangled bunker (apologies to the greenskeepers and other staff) and stood on the lip, panting maniacally.

"Ruh!"
I threw my cap down in disgust and stormed off to get my putter.

On this rather lonely walk back to my bag I was thinking "Wow... people actually do throw their hats down when they do a bad shot. Then I realised that I had done exactly fifteen bad shots and got mad again. I finished my putt and as we were walking to the next hole I muttered "What did you get?"

"A par." My partner replied. "You?"
"Eighteen."

I was almost immediately calm again. For some reason the sand was out of reach and so was my fury.

My partner sensed this was a good time to speak.
"Er, you know that thing... in the bunker?"

"Yes?"

"Your left arm was bent."

(*Argh!*)

Unfortunately I had managed to forget the most basic rule. "Keep your left arm as straight as you can". I must have looked like a deranged woodcutter.

I have learned so much from this experience. I have realised that you can't, simply can't lose your cool at any time on a golf course.

Not even to take out your revenge on an inanimate object.

technorati tags: golf bunker rage sand wedge elsternwick