Sneak Peak at Badge Match

I have been away for a while – miserably failing at one of my new years resolutions to blog once a week!

Nevertheless, I have been quite successful in some of my other resolutions – another post will follow on that shortly.  This post is to give you a sneak peak at Badge Match, an iPhone game I have been developing with the help of a friend who was in charge of the UI design.

This is the app icon:

Badge Match Game Icon

Watch this space more will be revealed shortly!

Resolution 1… lose weight…

OK, So this being the first week of the year, a good place to start is probably the first resolution.  This week I went to the gym 3 times (combined two workouts in one day), the first was extremely painful, ahh who am I kidding they were all painful, but the first especially, it was difficult to sit down on Tuesday, actually the sitting was ok I could just fall into the chair however the standing up again afterwards was not fun!

I used to hit the gym quite often, back in my fitter days.  And the routines I have been doing this week came very easily (I have started on the beginner workouts), so it was a big shock and eye opener how much I struggled!  I weighed myself on Monday and I was a pretty hefty, even for a 6ft guy, 95 kg’s.  The heaviest of my life I suspect (and only suspect because the last year of uni I was packing quite a bit as well), the aim?  Get back down to around 78/80 kg’s which I would be pretty happy with.

So I have a few workouts I am following lets call them A, B & C.  A & B consist of a light warm up of about 5 mins, full body weights, 6 different ab exercises & 10-15 mins of high intensity cardio, hopefully finishing it all in 45/50 mins.  Workout C is 30 mins of high intensity cardio.

I alternate workout A and B, training 3 times per week; then complete the 30 minutes of high intensity sprints or other interval training (Workout C) one other day per week for a grand total of four workouts per week (e.g. this week I planned to do Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat = A/B/A/C, however due to a friends birthday meal on Friday night I combined A+C on Saturday).  Following this example, the following week would look like this: Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat = B/A/B/C.  No doubt that’ll kill me again, but hopefully it’ll all be worthwhile… I guess we’ll see in a few months!  Oh and I am going to try to only check my weight fortnightly or monthly… not decided on that one yet!

When my friend Jon gets back from the states I am hoping workout C might be changed to a game of squash, that can get pretty intense when we get going (for him more than me if I’m honest )!  I’ll probably try and throw in a spin class here or there as well because they are so much fun!!!

More on progress with the other resolutions next week…  Or if I am bored perhaps during the week…

New Years Resolution/Goals for 2011

January 1st 2011.  So we begin another year, more than most new years day today I have looked back at what happened the previous year, as with every year there were ups and downs.  So I have decided to reassess and try to set some goals, now these could also be called resolutions, but I want them to be more than just that, hopefully they will be lifestyle changes, but I guess resolutions are as good a description as any!

OK so here goes, here are my goals:

1. Lose weight & get fit…. Yep the customary one that I guess thousands of people have every year, unfortunately this is quite an important one for me after putting cushion than I want!  Gym 3 times a week?  Oh yeah and perhaps some squash games with Kluger along the way!  How will I measure this goal… pretty simple… hopefully lose about 18kg’s (yep put on a lot), and fit back into my nice shirts/jeans!!!!  So anyone who knows of any running events, or bike rides etc…. let me know and I’ll do it with you!
2. Further myself & gain knowledge… Hummm how to explain?  I tend to be the kind of person who can happily coast through life seeing what it brings.  I will try to apply myself to be more proactive, every month I want to be able to look back and say I have added ‘X’ to my repertoire.
3. Help those less fortunate than myself… Even though there are many things I would like to change about my life, and things I could have to be in a better position, it is quite a humbling thought to remember that there are lots of people all over the world who are worse off that us.  Hopefully I will be able to give back more this year, either through donations, helping others, recycling clothes, raising money for charity… not sure yet… watch this space!
4. Achieve MCTS accreditation… This could be viewed as related to number 2, but it is something I have wanted to do for a while now, I am revising for Microsoft exam 70-536 which I will be taking late Jan/early feb, assuming I pass that I will move onto either WCF/WPF or the ASP.NET 3.5 technology to complete the MCTS
5. Be more productive at keeping in touch with friends and family… I am really quite bad at this (as a lot of us are), again probably comes down to not being proactive enough and feeling like there isn’t enough time in the day, but I am determined to improve, get back in touch with old friends from uni, keep in touch with friends and family in Singapore as well.  With today’s technologies the world is smaller than it used to be, and keeping in touch should be easier than ever!
6. Release an iPhone/Android application… I have a few ideas, and have been planning this for a while, I will continue, hopefully complete design and development this year!  In doing this I am learning new technologies, and adding more skills to my CV, and you never know might even make me my millions.  Again watch this space!  If you want to be a tester of my application let me know, should be ready in the spring/summer!
7. Get an official golf handicap…  I have been playing golf for a few years now, since my good friend Phil introduced me to it at uni.  It is a great game, requiring patience, skill, desire, belief and mental strength, I would say I am an OK golfer, this year I want to get an official handicap, lets aim for 18.  I also want to play some nice courses, maybe the London Club, Royal Blackheath?  Need a playing partner though…
8. Save money… I have no problems spending my money, but as I am no longer a spring chicken, I guess the time has come to start thinking about saving money for the future, whether that be buying my own place, starting a pension, etc etc… need to stop spending it on unnecessary things… Note, Crystal Palace tickets do not come under the category of unnecessary things!
9. Be more understanding… Guys in general tend not to be very attentive… now being a married man I guess I should try work on that side, I hope to be more supportive, helpful and stronger for Suraya when she needs me.
10. Write a blog… Yep… hopefully writing this blog will force me to be proactivle and achieve the goals I have set out here… As I will write at least one post a week throughout the year detailing how I am getting on!  I doubt no one will be interested in reading, but it is more of a stimulant for me than anything else!

Lets see how I get on… Oh… and a happy new year to you all!!

I’m Posting every week in 2011!

I have decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now.  I will be posting on this blog once a week for all of 2011.

It won’t be easy, often life gets in the way of things we want to do but hopefully I’ll achieve this goal, I hope you enjoy reading.  I will be writing about many things, from golf and football, to .Net, XCode and Android development (oh and probably some weight loss/get fit plans).  That’s the idea anyway.  Check out The DailyPost!

If you  read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

Signed,

Matt Stacey