Is it a bird, is it a game? No, its Glamstart !

I had the privilege this week of popping over to Glamorgan Uni in order to attend one of their CELT talks.  This one was about GlamStart, a fresher game coded by Martin Lynch.  Martin is one of that rare breed of highly competent technologists who can also communicate very effectively in a public forum.  I enjoyed my play with the software and took the liberty of grabbing a few piccies for you in order to explain it further.

You can read more about Glamstart at http://glamlife.glam.ac.uk/gettingstarted/1367/glamstart 

After logging in, you are greeted by your Dean (or in my case a random Dean speaking to you via a video:

 

 You then get to create your online persona including character, job and accommodation:

 

 

This then puts you into your room – where you can interact with all of your facilities including tv, computer, pda (for lecture times etc) and of course, bed!  The video links on the side are unlocked as you progress and find things in the game:

 

You can move your mouse around whichever room you are in and click – at which the character will walk over to that position / item. The “map” button takes you to the map of the campus that you can use to enter different areas:

Of course, I went straight to the LRC or Learning Resource Centre for a nose around …

Once inside, you can go venture into different rooms and interact with different characters via embedded videos and faq’s:

But don’t forget to keep an eye on the time and check out your PDA for the next lecture that you may need to rush off to !

At the end of each hard day, you may choose to watch some TV

… before receiving notification of your outcome for that day :-

I think that there are 10 days in all with rewards that translate in to free printing vouchers.  All in all VERY NEAT – well done all!

I discussed next steps with Martin and how making it a living environment (possibly akin to secondlife) might be an idea – and combining it with the MLE to bring people into it and so on and so on.  And the whole “community” element of that for distance learners, part-timers, pre-enrollers … oh the mind boggles!

But for what it is now, I think its another great way of finding out about the University for people who don’t like to look at linear text intensive web pages – and at the end of the day, that’s exactly what it is – information and communication in an alternative format with embedded incentives.

(Hey Mike, just imagine what WE could do with a bunch of coders available to get on with this sort of stuff … !)

Top effort Glam!

midomi – finds tunes that you hum !

This is worthy of a post in and of itself!  http://www.midomi.com is a website that finds the tune you are humming but can’t remember the title of …  I was wondering what the song was that the Korean’s were singing so excellently as referred to near the end of my earlier post (Halos won and lost 1 of 2) …

Well, I went across to midomi and hummed a few notes into my MacBook and voila! 

And here’s a rendition from our very own Paul Potts

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrUWPCWWfLo

Da blubba update …

So anyway, 3^rd post of the evening – a daunting record for me!  And its going to concentrate on non-work stuff…

Firstly, a blubba update on the week.  Good start – taking it easy in terms of working up the exercise and working down the intake.  That’s not a cop out – you genuinely have to ramp things up/down at a sensible pace to avoid your body going into survival mode etc etc!

Lost a couple of pounds – which is a normal target but now as much as is possible in a normal “first week” if you really dropped the carbs etc.  That’s because carbs hold water and period of carbohydrate reduction will see a dramatic initial weight reduction (not fat) due simply to the lack of presence of water holding carbs in the system.  Having said all that, we went to friends for lunch and tea yesterday and today and, well, I had to be polite didn’t I ???!!!!

Today, “off-day” – did that well, 10/10 

But if I’m going to be up at 6am pedalling, then I need to hit the hay!

Time to loose da blubba (again!)

 

My very good friend Mark Harris (read his blog, by clicking here) gave me two large boxes of Maltesers today.  That, and a glimpse in the mirror of my side profile as I left the house this morning formed the mental trigger I needed.   (By the way, how do you keep track with those friends you were so close to when you were younger – but now, what with all the commitments that life, family, work etc throw at you, its all you can do to grab a conversation and hand over some Maltesers as you pass on a Sunday?)

 

Anyway, I’m here yet again – and this time its PERSONAL – I need to loose some pounds – and I’m going to share my experiences (well, some of them!) here – partly to help but also as its kind of a public commitment – which helps me!

 

 Firstly though – let me say from the outset that the only reason I’m trying to loose some poundage is for my own personal satisfaction.  This is in no way meant as a comment on anyone who may not choose, want or need to do the same!  Okay then, lets go… 

 

Now, as you may have guessed, I’ve done this before and I’m not far from having lost as many pounds over the years as I currently weigh!  Is there a pattern here?  Thing is, I think I’m approaching that certain time in life where such cyclical activity is going to be “less optimum”, lets say.

 

Firstly, we’ll start with a brief reminder of the facts… Basic rule is that calories in, minus calories out is weight gain or loss.  NOTE however that I said weight back there and not fat. That’s because apparently (and I’m no expert), muscle is a much more ready food source to the hungry body than fat. Anyway, the plan is for exercise plus diet changes, and I’ll run down both briefly… Exercise – basically getting heart rate to between 60 and 70 percent of your “maximum heart rate” (crudely 220 minus your age) for at least 30 minutes at least 3 times a week.  This apparently keeps you in the fat-burn zone and the longer you do it, the more fat you burn!  If you go above that heart rate, then you get fitter and may burn muscle as energy but no more fat than if you kept it at the 60-70 percent rate! That was an amazing revelation to me as it is REALLY easy to get to that heart rate and stay there for ages (aerobic – ie you recover as you’re doing it) as opposed to go like the clappers until you drop (anaerobic).

 

I’ll be using the stationary bike and will get in at several half hour sessions plus at least one 1 hour sessions per week. What’s more, if you can do your exercise first thing in the morning and don’t eat for an hour after (I be going for 6.00am – 6.30am) then you’re supposed to burn TWICE as many calories that if you did it later in the day!  This is because its after a period of fast and your metabolism goes into overdrive! I envisage fat dropping off and strength remaining. 

 

But I’m reminded of a book I read recently (You: The Owners Manual) that goes on about taking your heart to the max for 20 mins a couple of times per week.  Its not about weight loss but heart health.  Need to think how I get that in there – maybe some weights in the gym… 

 

Okay, food.  If exercise is my hubris then food is my nemesis! I could eat for Wales.  In fact, I could probably eat … Wales. For me, its all about discipline and avoidance – it has to be. That’s because I just don’t see “grey”. There’s the school of thought that says you need to eat like the person you want to be and do that for life.  I’m up for that but it takes too long.  I want fast but sustainable results. Gradually (and that’s vitally important so your body doesn’t go into starvation survival mode), I’m reducing my food intake in terms of type and quantity of food from, well, absurd amounts of absolutely everything to: 

 

Breakfast: 2 weetabix, semi milk, tiny bit of sugar (well, I am human), glass of orange juice, cup of tea and few gulps of Yop (yogurt drink) 

Lunch – sandwich, brown bread, no butter, usually either ham/tuna with a bit of salad in there. 

Evening meal – just what the family are having (normally meat, veg, potatoes – or lasagne or whatever – “normal” stuff) and a good size plate of stuff but no pud. 

 

There’s my main rule – absolutely no no no no crisps, biscuits, sweets, chocolates or cakes.  I just don’t do the “I’ll only have 1″ thing. Drink will be mainly water and the odd cup of tea during the day.  You need to sleep well. 

 

Weigh-ins will be each Sunday morning for consistency – and I’ll let you know the news.  I’ll take Sunday as my “off” day and anything (within reason) goes. But I need to come up with a plan for when its done (in, say, 4 months?).   You see, I’ve been here before – but this time, I need to work out a way of keeping it real!  I’ll tell you if I come up with anything – and will post updates on how the I’m progressing … 

Very late 30s, where’s the cocoa, my upgraded cat and what UMPC?

A very late 30s blog entry – can’t get much later 30s than this! So what’s been going on in my mind and during my week as I prepare to turn the page of another decade tomorrow?

Well, you may know about the Wii shortage in shops (not that I’m after one – been there, done that – then sold it on ebay) – what’s even stranger is the cocoa shortage!  We had over 20 people pass through our house today (pretty normal Sunday!) and Liz was anxious to find some cocoa for baking yesterday – but  we had to visit no less than three large supermarkets and a couple of small stores before we found a tiny tub of the stuff – where has all the cocoa gone?

Travelling backwards in time, had a lovely day today – my turn on security duty at The Heath – Peter my 60+ yr old neighbour passed by on his way to St Mark’s – he is SUCH a lovely chap – and its very good to have Wyn Hughes back from Africa (and North Wales).

Saw Joseph at the New Theatre in Cardiff – the bloke who came second in the TV thing was playing the narrator and there was one of the other blonde chaps playing the lead – he made it to the top notes but missed quite a few of the others on the way!  But what really impressed all of us was one of the 4 maidens who outshone all of her fellows with an endless passion in her dance etc – sounds odd I grant you – but she was great!  Trouble is, the kids have all seen the video with Donny Osmond starring – so this was, well, never going to be more than “yea, that was okay”…  Kids!

Work over the last week has been an interesting mix of things including the timetabling project, an IT strategy for the new City Centre Campus, user group meeting for the latter (whole day) etc.  But it also included some progress on a couple of interesting initiatives I have, including hosting a national competition along with one of our vendor partners (more later if it comes off) and some interesting research proposals with local people and overseas colleagues.

 

Oh, and I was also informed that the Learning Environment element of our Learning and Teaching strategy (the bit I wrote) was highlighted as a national exemplar and something that could be a model for taking the whole sector foreword.  That was nice to hear – but what we really have to concentrate on is implementing it!  Piccy above shows what it was all about.

And, I got Leopard on my MacBook.  Have I said how great I think Mac OSX is?  Well, its good – and what I personally like is the magnification function – so much better than others (allbeit that was there before Leopard).

Having said that though, I’m in the market for a PDA replacement and would like an Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) that has a SIM card slot for data (basically, a phone card for connecting to the Internet).  I’m looking at the latest offering by Samsung – the Q1 Ultra (pictured below) which is due for release with the SIM function in early December – anyone got any views or opinions on this or any other one?