Month completed: September 2009

This goal has been one of the toughest so far.

But one of the most rewarding.

After two months of training, I ran, and completed, the Run to the Beat half-marathon in south London last Sunday, in a time of 2 hours, 19 minutes.

Which is a great time, I think.

Considering I ran the race dressed as a banana!

Yes, a banana.

As part of running for Leukaemia Research, they gave me, and 200 other people, a banana suit to run in.

Being a hot day, and running in a banana suit, is not a good combination, but I was determined not to walk the race, and was very pleased that I got through the race without walking at all.

I felt terrible afterwards, and my legs have only just recovered, but it was definitely worth it.

I raised £450 for Leukaemia Research in the process (you can still donate here) which was a nice addition to this goal.

Would I run another one? Yes. But not for a year or two. And definitely NOT in a banana suit!

Month completed: September 2009

Introducing yourself to others is never an easy thing to do.

Although people almost always say hello back, exchange your handshake or smile back, starting a conversation with a complete stranger is never easy.

So to achieve this goal, I wanted to go somewhere that I would have to introduce myself.

That place, I decided, would be a networking event. One in which I went on my own, and knew not a sole who was there.

And what better networkers are there than entrepreneurs? Not many.

So on Tuesday I went to an entrepreneurs event in west London, on the Thames, which someone handed me a pamphlet for.

Aimed with business cards and a big smile I entered.

Immediately I looked for someone on their own, to start a conversation with.

He was almost relieved when I started speaking with him, which reminded me that starting conversations with strangers is an almost universal fear.

Once we started talking we then became a magnet for others to join our conversation, and by the end of the night, I had spoken to and exchanged business cards with well over the 10 people I was after for this goal.

The event finished at 9pm, but I had such a great time meeting new people that I was one of the last to leave, at 11pm.

I am now looking to feed my entrepreneurial desire, so will definitely be trying to go to more networking events and continuing to say hi to strangers (within reason!).

p.s Apologies for the lack of recent posts – a lot of my time is taken training for the half-marathon at the moment.

[Image via here]

Month completed: July 2009

The three foods I hate, and chose to give a second chance to, were:

• Olives
• Blue Vein Cheese
• Vegemite on toast

Here’s how I went (there are several near-spews along the way):

Month completed: July 2009

Like any good Londoner, I now have a bike.

Like any very good Londoner, I now have a folding bike.

He is orange, and I have named him Banksy, after the iconic London artist/vandal, whose work I dig.

You like?

Here is what Banksy looks like, all folded up at home.

I love riding so much. It cuts down my travel time to work by more than half, and I can stop using public transport. Nat has a bike too, so we are going to start doing lots of weekend rides together – can’t wait!

Month completed: July 2009

This is the space in our new house that a TV should be.

However, since Nat and I moved into our new house a month ago, we have not gotten round to purchasing a TV (the old house had one already, but this one didn’t).

And after a month without TV, I must say I am out of the habit of watching it. With books to read (I am currently on the fourth Harry Potter), a wedding to plan (more on that later), and late nights of work, TV has not been a necessity.

And right now, we are in no rush to change that.

The only thing I do miss is the Ashes, which just started, and would have been good to flick on this weekend.

Month completed: May 2009

As mentioned in a previous post, I went to Bali recently for a bit of rest and relaxation, but also to catch up my family, who I hadn’t seen for nine months, what with me being in the UK, and they in Australia.

One of the activities I did while there was scuba diving (that’s me below), and my experience was a lot different to what I was expecting.

Here’s what I found:

• It is hard to force yourself to be calm, when your only air supply is coming through a mouthpiece that could fall out of your mouth at any moment
• Then there is the stress of making sure you pop your ears every metre, and not coming up too quickly, or you could die
• A thumbs up hand signal does not mean ‘things are all good’. It means ‘I want to go back up to the surface’
• A five minute training session is just about enough (people have been surprised when I told them that was all we had before we went down, but for me, it was enough)
• Being a good swimmer counts for nothing, as it is all about using the flippers properly
• It takes about twenty minutes to stop stressing about losing your mouthpiece, and start actually enjoying the views
• The views of the colourful fish, coral and sea anenome are really amazing
• Being among all the fish and coral is like being on an entirely new planet
• Going down 10 metres doesn’t sound like much, but it actually was

Would I go again? Absolutely. Next time, at the Great Barrier Reef.

Here’s a couple of shots of the event. The first is during the training. I got caught looking very confused. The second is just seconds before going under. The heart was beating fast at that point.

Month completed: June 2009

To achieve this goal, I decided to bring in an expert. Shaun Church approached me after I put the call out on Twitter for someone with the skills to build what I was looking for.

This was back in December, and after six months of blood, sweat and tears, we have created what people may well call…THE GREATEST WEBSITE EVER MADE

Then again, they may not.

But why don’t you head there now, and make up your own mind.

p.s. there is a puzzle hidden within the pages of the website. See if you can solve it!

Month completed: May 2009

A trip this month to Japan to visit great mate Andy allowed me to complete this goal.

While there, we took a trip to Koyasan, a mountain region a few hours from Osaka, and the birthplace and spirital home of Shingon Buddhism, a Japanese form of buddhism formed by Kobo Daishi in the 9th century.

In Koyasan there are lots of different Buddhist temples to stay in, giving visitors the full experience of what Buddhist life is like.

Andy and I spent a night in a temple called Sekishouin, and had a great time.

We wore the Buddhist robes, ate Shojin (an array of different vegetarian food, including seaweed, tofu and bean curd), slept on the floor, drank Japanese tea, and got up at 6.30am for morning prayers. One interesting thing was that the temple had a 9pm curfew, which we only just got back in time for (we went for a quick wander to an ancient graveyard next door).

One thing I didn’t get a chance to do there (but did a few days later) was to wash in an onsen. There were no showers or baths at the temple, so the onsen was the only way to keep clean, and involved washing naked in the presence of other men, in a big communal bath. Andy did it though, and said it wasn’t too pleasant*.

The monks seemed very content with their lives, but for me, one night was enough, and I appreciated the meat dish I had for dinner the following night!

*My experience of an onsen later in the trip was pleasant though, after the initial bizarreness of sharing a bath with naked Japanese men. If you ever go to Japan, I would recommend doing one, because it is a very popular Japanese pastime.

Month completed: March 2009

I have always been interested in the fact that your level of ’smarts’ can be identified by just a single number.

That number being, of course, your IQ.

Whenever the national IQ tests come on TV, or there is someone with an off-the-charts IQ written about in the paper, I am therefore interested.

But whenever I heard someone say what their IQ was, I had nothing official of my own, to tell me what mine was, for comparison.

There are the tests you can do on the Internet or with Facebook, but they lacked that ‘official’-ness.

There really is only one place to go to get your official IQ score – Mensa.

Not heard of Mensa? This is a club with only one criterion to pass to be eligible for admission – an IQ in the top 2% of the population.

The British Mensa club run regularly testings for people who want to test themselves, find out their IQ, and perhaps get a good enough score to make it into the club.

A couple of weeks ago, I went for my test. And I can tell you now, it was one of the HARDEST tests I have ever done. Hard both as in the questions were difficult, but hard in the speed required to answer the questions (there were over 200 questions to answer, with an average of maybe 30-45 seconds a question).

Here is an example of a question. Let me know what you think the answer is (I still don’t know):

Which of the following words is the odd one out?

- CHAIR

- CAT

- SUN

- BRIGHT

- HOPE

That question was a middle of the road in difficulty one!

After the test, I felt like I did OK, and started the two week wait for my results to arrive in the mail. My brain was in overdrive after the test, and Nat said I spent the night sleeptalking about puzzles and numbers.

Earlier this week, my Mensa letter came.

The test is split into two groups. The first is Culture Fair, which is an intelligence test that aims to minimise cultural or educational biases (basically, your ability to recognise patterns in shapes). And the second test has questions ranging from knowledge of English language to logic puzzles.

In the Culture Fair test, I got 124. This put me in the top 7% of the population.

In the second test (I wish I could remember the name of it), I got 138. This put me in the top 5%.

You don’t get a combined score unfortunately.

To get into Mensa, I needed 132 in Culture Fair, and 148 in the second test. So, considering I was, in total, just 18 points of Mensa, and made the top 7% and top 5% respectively, I am quite chuffed.

If you want to really challenge yourself, book yourself in (UK office here, Australian office here) for a Mensa IQ test.

As for the EQ test part of this goal, there is no official tester of the EQ, so I did this one on-line. The EQ is the Emotional Quotient is described in Wikipedia as:

…a concept that involves the ability, capacity, skill or (in the case of the trait EI model) a self-perceived ability, to identify, assess, and manage the emotions of one’s self, of others, and of groups

Being IQ smart does not mean that you will get the world served to you on a golden platter. If you don’t know how to interact with others, and be part of society, you won’t get far. So that is why it is important to have a good EQ, as well as IQ.

My EQ, from the test I did, was 112. The description that came along with is was:

Your Emotional IQ is in the average range. Essentially, you’re able to recognize and deal with your own emotions and those of others in a reasonably effective manner. This is likely evident in your ability to relate to others, express your needs, and maintain a satisfactory level of emotional health.

Not sure how much I will read into it, but there it is.

So, if you want to see how smart you are, or how in touch you are with your emotions, why not give an IQ or EQ test a try.

Month completed: February 2009

Today marks the six month mark of when Nat and I landed in London to embark on our two-year adventure.

The adventure now looks likely to extend past the two years, because we are having such a great time. This six months has just flown by.

One of the main reasons for coming to London was to use it as a base to see Europe. So far, we have been able to make the most of this plan, with trips already to:

• Ireland
• Belgium
• Amsterdam
• Venice
• Edinburgh
• Bath

Luxembourg is coming up next, and then I have trips to Bali (to catch up with the family) and Japan (to catch up with a great mate) in May to look forward to.  Sorry if my listing of trips is making you jealous, but while over here, Nat and I are trying to do as much as we can. We are realising now just how far Australia is from the rest of the world.

Highlights so far include:

- Falling in love with Guinness, and going to the Guinness factory in Dublin

- Going to Edinburgh for New Year’s Eve

- Watching England play soccer at a packed Wembley stadium

- Finding a place to live within 24 hours of arriving

- Eating Belgian waffles and drinking Belgian beer in Brussels

- Having access to cheap theatre, and seeing my first ever pantomime

Only lowlight is Nat hurting her hand in Edinburgh, which required emergency surgery and has meant she is now eight weeks into a twelve week physiotherapy recovery. I think she is enjoying having me doing more of the cooking and cleaning though!

If you are ever in the London area, let me know. I am always looking for an excuse to indulge in a pint.