h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I find that increasingly I can waste an entire morning or evening just reading, surfing or watching the idiot box. My recent purchase of Apple TV and Netflix hasn't helped any. The problem is that unless I go for a long walk or exercise I rapidly feel tired and almost weak afterwards. I have to force myself to get up and out, whereas previously I would think "What a nice day for a walk". Now insomnia has added to my malaise (it is 4:20 AM right now).

I need motivation. Somebody give me a kick in the arse.

It is so dificult to motivate oneself sometimes; I can easily waste days* on end, just messing about on the net, then get annoyed with myself for not even doing something like reading a book instead (which is hardly any actual physical effort afterall).

The key is to just start doing* soemthing.... I got into a reluctant state of not wanting ot make bread, and it took me a while to get myself motivated to do it, and now, so long as I keep it up, and make it regularly, and don't loose the 'habbit' again, I can motivate myself to make it simularly for housework

hmmm... so just get into 'habbits', only good ones... I'm not getting much walking out and about in at the moment, though, but that is largely due to the grotty weather here

2legs



I blame 2legs for good advice.

Its probably not the 'healthiest' way to do it... But I do find most people get easily into habbits, so its just a question of establishing the 'good' habbits', we want, and nnot the lazy sitting in front of the TV or computer habbits, which I like you certainly seem to ever increasingly suffer from
Of course, the idfficult bit is establishing, or re-establishign the good habbits; the first few walks are tricky to motivate to do, but then it gets easier... (or indeed whatever the task/thing is your wanting to do as the 'good' 'habbit')
Of course... If I were to follow my own advice, I might sleep better too and not be up all night on the interwebs, and getting annoyed at myself, yet again, for not getting any reading done

I've gotten out of the habbit of reading too, since a while before Christmas, and I'm trying* to re-establish that habbit myself now

Start off small, a leisurely stroll and make it a plan rather than waiting for that nice day when you just might fancy it

If you are feeling unusually tired and lethargic for a period of time, a health check might be an idea

I've found the same thing these past four months while I've been, shall we say, resting. It's so easy to spend an entire day on the sofa skimming through Google Books, but in my defence I'll say that it really is meaningful research, mostly, and I've learnt an awful lot about my chosen subject - beer and its history. Did you know, for instance, that beer barrels and ale barrels used to be different sizes? Or that IPA as we know it came about, indirectly, as a result of Napoleon, The East India Company and gypsum? Or that Watneys Red Barrel was the first keg bitter - and was devised in the 1930s?

I need a kick up the bum too though, because it's getting increasingly difficult to button up my jeans and increasingly uncomfortable to wear them for any longer than an hour or two

Wait, I'm getting my beers mixed up We have Napoleon to thank for barley wine, sort of

Oh. no. You've just reminded me, how utterly ignorant I am, as regards beer (though I seem to have mastered the drinking it bit, without amassing the necessary knowledge),...
Fantastic.
another huge bunch of stuff I can waste time reading about on the internet ; Well, I had just about finished reading everythign the internet has to say on the matter of bread

I had to do a little* thing today, to prevent my being lazy... I walked past the bakery, who do nice bread; Was tempting to go in, and get a loaf, and get them to slice it, to put in the freezer; as a 'spare bread supply', reserve... of course, if I had* of done this, I'd have even less motivation tomorrow to bake bread ... and so I didn't
This then gives me double incentive to make bread, some for 'now' consumption, and also to make an extra batch for just freezing
Simularly, I bought a litre bottle of milk, from nextdoor; I don't use milk in anything cept bread really (and the occasional hot choclate drink), so that's kind of 'made' me make bread tomorrow
OK... its not exactly going out on a ten mile hike, or spending an hour in the gym, but three or four or five hours bread making is, surely somewhat better than just spending that time sitting at the PC

Mind, I was tempted by the butchers... again...

Great.... now I want to go for a walk. To the local!

Anyway, a lot of the stress that kept me up an night is gone- my the money pit is finished and for sale.

http://public.fotki.com/clzoomer/w3rd-condo-finished/

Oh, and what's gypsum got to do with IPAs? Was it added along with the extra hops?

The water at Burton upon Trent (the well water, not the river) has higher levels of certain minerals, including gypsum, than at other places, and that makes it very good at two things in particular - extracting plenty of good flavours from the hops while leaving some of the less favourable ones behind, and producing a relatively clear and bright beer, which was quite handy at a time when people were turning away from from porter, which was pretty well opaque, and when it was becoming more common to have beer served in glasses rather than metal tankards, meaning you could see what was in the beer.

A lot of brewers still 'Burtonise' their water by adding a mixture of salts and minerals to recreate the same properties as Burton water.

You're welcome