Спортивный уикенд: мысли про завтрак | Рутина: путешествия, кино, сайты, книжки и фото

Спортивный уикенд: мысли про завтрак | Рутина: путешествия, кино, сайты, книжки и фото
Не ожидаль? Новый сникерс и миндаль? Вовсе нет — спортивный уикенд на рутине сегодня в среду, теперь малиновый. Давай про здоровое питание поговорим, ты не против? 

Киев, сентябрь и туман | Рутина: путешествия, кино, сайты, книжки и фото

Киев, сентябрь и туман | Рутина: путешествия, кино, сайты, книжки и фото
Киев 2: Киев возвращается и наносит ответный удар. Сентябрь, дождь, туман и зачем стоит поехать в Киев в сентябре в нескольких словах и картинках.

How to stand sub-tropical climate in Moscow?

Hi there, fellow runner. It’s summer here, in Moscow, Russia. Climate have slightly changed recently and we have some sort of sub-tropical weather conditions. You know, when I say sub-tropical, I mean it: hot and wet. Physical and mental activity makes your body sweat as sweeping broom. Running is cancelled for the rest of us who suffer even from tiny overweight, weight lifting feels like swimming. Sport aesthetics? Forget about it. Hot. And wet. What to do now, you may ask. What to do to stay somewhat fit physically and mentally?

generic png to make your eyes notice the text

As usual, there is no simple answer. There are plenty of options for those, who are lucky enough to live and work in suburbs, preferably near clean local river or pond. If you are one of such guys then shut up and get off. You are not welcome here for now.

...Physical and mental activity makes your body sweat as sweeping broom...

The other obvious option, long walks instead of short, powerful runs hides danger: due to harsh sun your skin suffers a risk of damage when exposed for long periods of time. Sun burns and chance of skin cancer are not our options. Use skin protection if you’ll take this path.

There are always other sports for people in such circumstances: you can do yoga or play chess but face the truth -- you won't gain muscles with yoga or chess. You won't loose weight. You’ll even won't get smarter if you are stupid :) Not an option, then.

...you won't gain muscles with yoga or chess...

So you might want to invent some sort of activities fit exactly for your needs -- you may choose to modernize your transportation habits adding some bicycle here or there and shifting your schedule to cover more fresh parts of the day, earlier in the morning and later in the evening. You may review your food choices and and it will help you find more willpower and just power to fulfill your running plans.

So by fixing your overall unhealthiness where it still present you find great capacity of health in your day-to-day life and discover sport in unexpected areas of your typical day. Cheers!

By all means, never stop struggling with obstacles between you and goals you set, wether they are laying in the field of sport, health or just wellness. Combine, try and win. Life is a bit more complicated then simple gambling, but there are still lots of similarities.

Or you may choose to skip and take a flight to some other country for a moment :)

Sharpen and unsharp mask for bored designers

P.S.: Everybody love these letters!

Hi there, fellow designer. Running is boring and walking is extremely time consuming. What should bored designer suffering time shortage do in such circumstances, you may ask. Of course he or she should sharpen stuff.

Looks like you’ve done great job planning and designing another website layout and it’s final outfit. Your mighty developer friends are working hard cutting your pixel perfect templates in beautiful pngs. And then you find out that your beloved client childishly provided low resolution, bloody small and blurry as hell images for, let’s say, team page. Set of, speaking truthfully, shitty company leaders portraits.

...your beloved client childishly provided low resolution, bloody small and blurry as hell images...

Imagined? Yeah, it’s a pity, that client ruins your design this way. Sure there is no universal cure here and extremely bad images will still be bad and even can transform to a nightmare in spite of all your efforts but you still can try.

Here are your options. You can apply sharpen filter, unsharp mask and a combination of other/high pass filter and blending modes.

• First option seems nice if your target image is free of jpeg artifacts due to sharpening will affect entire image, including areas you’d better don’t show anyone.
• Second option is much better because it’s not so destructive nature -- it increases low scale acutance of predefined in radius value amount of nearby pixels. It won’t add new details, just increase contrast of this neighbors.
• Third option is just a hand crafted variant of unsharp mask, but playing with it’s values you can achieve both sharpen and unsharp mask results.

So, now it’s not exactly that boring to take off for some running, isn’t it? See you soon, dear designer.

...there is always one more option -- hire freelancer or contractor...

By the way, there is always one more option -- hire freelancer or contractor. You might think that creativity is your field and you don’t want to put your hands deep in this nerdy mess. There are always lots of guys who know how to do messy stuff and eager to help.

Mark Chagall. Plus confession of a walkaholic

We've almost missed this event, but here it is:

la Maison bleue. Marc Chagall said no to skeuomorphism when Sir Jonathan Paul "Jony" Ive wasn’t born yet

Hi there, fellow walker. Surprised? Me too, a little. Never thought this way about walking, but if you dig deeper it become extremely obvious. Walking is a tool for better procrastination. There are plenty of quotes about how good walking is. How it helps with one’s health improvement and how good it is for organizing thoughts and clarifying mind. It’s only better face of truth. You waste tons of time walking and counting steps. Even more: you participate in endomondo contests for those who walk.

It’s time to confess for me. Late during this winter i’ve found myself quite overweight. I’ve discovered this fact walking from office back home. For sure, this walk was somewhat healthy exercise: it took about two hours and was about 15 kilometer long. And of course it was full with trouts and building of world control plans. Total domination))

So one evening it was icy and windy and I fell down, barely injured my back and was zero as an athlete for a couple of months. Looks like start of a bad story? Sort of, so let’s find a shortcut. That’s what i’ve found out for myself from this long walks in winter and early spring. One absolutely should do things for fun or money only: life’s too short for other things. One shouldn’t walk too much due to awful statistics: more walking -- more chances to break your back during doing extremely stupid thing. Walking delays everything: you walk, time passes by.

You walk and plan things while you should just do things. And some more things to confuse you even more: walking is fun? Then walk, but don’t stick to it. Think twice before choosing walk instead of any other possibility. Walking is addictive. And yes, walking consumes time.

Do more with less: run instead or work harder. Sorry for inconvenience, dear. But you’ll find this out for yourself sooner or later, so why shouldn't I tell to this truth right now? If it seems obvious for you, you’d better shut your mouth since we all of rather different mind power and it took me this long to realize walking myth due to your silence beforehand. So why should anybody speak now? )

We need more fun!

Hi there, fellow runner and/or designer! Here is another travel post, you might have noticed already that our blog came out to be true travel blog recently. Never mention that recently can not be applied to this composition of words for sure, due to me being lazy, absent and stupid ) Let's fix this crap for now and on.

So, let's talk about Sri Lanka and find out our common level of knowledge in this area of geography. All you might know already is that Sri Lanka is an island. You also may be educated enough to find it on the map -- it's somewhere in the south. You might be confident enough to consider that Sri Lanka is situated in one of southern seas or oceans and you'll be correct -- it's in the Indian ocean. Why, if it’s located in the Indian Ocean, shouldn’t it be close to India? For sure it is, brilliant!

View of Sri Lanka from space by http://www.flickr.com/photos/59513227@N08/5441487304/

What is Sri Lanka famous for, not speaking about it’s geography? Of course it is well known all over the world for it's marvelous tea industry. And they dig gems, they are great miners be sure. When we are not talking of bitcoins ) In Sri Lanka they produce natural rubber, kauchuck. And they have interesting situation with religion, Sri Lanka is real cradle of multiculturalism. They have plenty of cultures living in peace now. Muslim, Buddhists and Christians with Hinduists.

Claudius Ptolemy's map of Ceylon, 1st century AD in a 1535 publication.

So. Let’s talk about disadvantages of Sri Lanka for typical stupid tourist. First of all is weather in summer. Due to it’s geographical position, lankians have their rainy winter when we, hardcore northern men have our summer. So the weather is floating around 29 Celsius and heavy showers with lightning bolts from time to time. Without further delays I should say: I am going to visit this island soon. Wish me luck and you’ll get lots of pics in a couple of weeks.

By the way, what do you think about HIIT and fast weight gaining or loosing programs? Know some good ones? Or know something wrong there? Share your knowledge, please.

Moroccan trip and few photos from this marvelous kingdom

Hi there, fellow runner! It's been a long time ago when I wrote you last. Now I've got it, my mistake :) Bug s are fixed and here is some review of my Moroccan trip. It was ages ago, I know, but forgive me -- I have to start with something :)

So here it is, city of Agadir panorama taken from the mountain at it's side

Here is how people should get to their plane in Morocco -- on foot.

Meet the king, Mohammed VI of Morocco

Google I/O easter eggs (some of them)

Hi there, fellow internet user ) Today is the day of funny Google pics, it's like their doodle stuff but about a bit more tech-full in some ways -- they, this easter eggs, are hidden in interactive Google I/O  logotype right in the middle of web page dedicated to this event.
Here they are, they come to life by clicking on two parts of the logo for a certain times
:

ASCII Google I/O logo

Bacon and egg

Original Google I/O logo

8bit Google I/O logo

Cats Google I/O logo

Morocco daydreaming and other stuff

Hi there, fellow runner. The spring is finally here, but here in snowy Russia it is still far and winter still grabs it's hold on humankind. How the things are going out there in your lands, countries and cities or small towns? If you'll ask me, I've almost finished my re-reading of Robert Jordan's and Brandon Sanderson's Wheel of time. Meanwhile gained additional 15 kilos of fat and began running again.

Jüdische Hochzeit in Marokko

For now, one of the main points on my agenda is choosing new running shoes, planning my ongoing vacation and losing this so stupidly gained weight.

As for weight, I still have a plan, but weather in this county makes me feel dizzy and canceled two out of three planned trainings already. Honestly, I've started running last week on Saturday, had a descent run on Sunday and since then I had no opportunity to continue on. The next issue is about overweight. Since this crap occurred, I have troubles running in my current running shoes, legs feel itchy and almost scratchy after slow 30 minutes training. So I added more at home exercises and is googling all day long for a new pair of shoes that I am sure will support my feet in much better way.

The awful weather made me jealous of other countries with other weather conditions. You know, Russia is large and anyone might find his or hers place under warm sun here, but I've found out that I'm stuck in Africa with all my thoughts. I have dreams and daydreams about Tunisia or Egypt. Almost every night and day in that case.

City of Essaouira mwanasimba from La Réunion

So, I've decided to plan my trip for upcoming vacation and plan it remembering and keeping in mind my beloved Africa. I sure as hell will go to Tunisia again, it is very beautiful country, full of ancient stuff and nature's wonders but I've been there less then a year ago and it would be somewhat weird, won't you say so?

And here I am in front of this dilemma, looking for a calm African country with sea or ocean and which accept Russian tourists with no visa. I've decided to go to Morocco. Always wanted to visit Marrakesh and I am really fond of mountains of Atlas. Wish me a concurrent stay there and nice flight, I'm going to escape this terrible spring and wash away all memories of it in cool waters of  Atlantic ocean.

By the way I'm still thinking and overlooking this matter. I'm planning to have this trip in May or even in June, so there is plenty of time to throw dice few more times and go somewhere else.

Stuff I love: G-SHOCK GD101-NS (collaboration)

New Nigel Sylvester collaboration model: G-SHOCK GD101-NS

New Nigel Sylvester collaboration model: G-SHOCK GD101-NS

Sometimes things don't go as well as they should and there are many ways they can go wrong from that point. In case everything stumbles down from the hill and there appear to be a snowball of troubles upon you in the result you go and hang yourself or buy some bright g-shocks. They can cure what need be and you'll handle the rest. In other case, when there is no trouble at all except from that one you imagined, you go and hang on every f*cking opportunity to let your steam get out of your head. Or you just can get this black as a crap g-shock (New Nigel Sylvester collaboration model: G-SHOCK GD101-NS). An life will be much better, be sure of it.

Great infographic out there: the average american savings approach

Here you go: http://www.thetinylife.com/the-average-american/

Good study on savings approach among regular American households

I wonder if anyone have something like this about Europeans or Russian households? If no, it's a great thing to invest spare time in such a research.

New icons / 9 retro icons by damn-love.com for free

Here is the overview:

New icons / 9 retro icons by damn-love.com for free (you can use them in your commercial projects, but it'll be great if you drop me a line and leave a link back to damn-love.com)

in png:

Frugal training plan to look extremely great up to summer starting in February

Hi there fellow runner! Finally, here is a plan for the rest of us.

1. Nutrition

Here are my basic advices on food. You can stick to them if you want to, but can shift to your own nutrition plan, it's not mandatory, must of my thoughts are based on two points -- healthiness and frugality. And it's average plan. You can imagine more healthy and less frugal variants, while some other folks may think it otherwise.

a. Breakfast

Muesli is the key here. Buy some and add some kefir instead of milk. It might be nice to grab some additional stuff to put it in your bowl later -- vanilla sugar, cinnamon, various nuts, dried fruits of some sort, fresh fruits like banana or apple.

How to get it: according to a rule of fist (the rule where you consume no more then the size of your fist in one meal) grab a fistful of muesli and put them in a bowl, put some additions if you want, fill the bowl with kefir, mix everything well, wait for a couple of minutes, eat.

Tip from a pro: don't prepare your meal a long time before you'll eat it. For example in the evening the day before. It tastes better fresh.

Alternative variant: fruits and cheese. Simple, fast and tasty.

b. Early lunch

Drinkable yoghurt would be a perfect decision. It can be the only dish there or can be accompanied by whole grain snack like muesli bar or some fresh fruits like apples, grapes or pears. Nuts will do good too. It's an optional meal -- good for those fellows who commute from home to office for about an hour or more.

c. Lunch

If you prefer eating out then try some complex lunch here with a bit of everything -- fresh vegetable salad, soup, buckwheat porridge and some meat if you love meat or fish if you love fish or just porridge if you don't like eating dead animals and fish. I, myself, would rather prefer such complex approach to alternatives like subway or other sandwich-based meals. Ant here is my point explained: sandwich approach is good if you are short on time but you will soon be hungry again, so if you are free for about an hour or a half of it -- spend it whole tasting food you eat and feel good long after. No hastiness mean good meal for me.

Tip from a pro: from the other side you might as well prepare your lunch box at home and deliver it to your office. It has it's benefits: it's more frugal way, it can be healthier way, due to your area may suffer lack of good places to eat out healthy. But there are negative points here too: eating at office cuts your opportunity to walk out of the building for a certain amount of time, less socialization and also it takes time in the morning or evening to prepare descent food for your upcoming lunch. So choose your way.

d. Afternoon snack

Some fruits or nuts if you feel hungry still. And by the way it's not fixed to the office hours. So if your trip back home is long enough you may become too hungry to stay in control of yourself later in the evening, when you'll be enjoying your healthy dinner.

Tip from a pro: always have something healthy and tasty with you in your bag in case of sudden hunger struck.

e. Dinner

Here it is, last meal of the day. Typically you will reach dinner worn out and would like to refresh yourself towards some evening opportunities, or dinner may be eaten out though it will be an affair itself. My basic rules here are: when eating out you may intake more calories because you'll consume some of them during your trip back home. Though, when eating at home you may switch to vegan style or something like that. My personal choice is: bowl of creatively mixed vegetable, fruit or combined salad with some yoghurt and spice topping.

Tip from a pro: if choose salad, be creative, invent new mixes each day so you'll never get stuck with it's taste.

f. Some typical advices

First: hydration. Some say that coffee does not count as a fluid intake because of it's nature. Tell this to the about 50% of people who prefer drinking coffee all day long instead of water. Though you might want to switch to water. And you should if you could. By the way promote a habit of drinking a glass of water early in the morning.

2. Training

Here is the carcass of your training plan. It's not very complicated, especially in comparison to p90x )) But there are options even in this plan. So you can shift activities, mix in some from "additional training" section and exclude parts of running, weight lifting or abs, squats and push-ups. Therefore you should consider that fact: if there are more exercises during your route from February to June then there are greater results in your final shape proportionally.

a. Running

There are only two ways to run for you here: first is to tun like hell and second is to run as you can and want to. For me decision is made already, for you I can't give any advice because I'm not a pro at all.


Read more in next week's shiny little episode, so stay tuned )

Hi there, fellow runner, it's February out there

How the running is then? In February, I mean.

A memory of light (again!)

No spoilers in this review! 

Hi there, fellow runner, reader, designer, fantasy fan or other evil creature! So the last book is finished. I've listened to the audiobook of the 14th book of the wheel of time series, "A Memory of Light". I, sure as hell, am going to buy ebook or paper one later, but the thirsty for the information was completely overwhelming and audiobook filled my needs perfectly. It was about 48 hours of total rush. There could be three more books, but it would be harsh times waiting for two more to come out. Finally, without any spoilers: the book is good and expectedly. It covers all holes and does it nice. Due to it's limitations it can not tell all and every bit of main characters fates, but the way it is done is quite normal.

It's time to re-read the wheel of time now, am I correct? While listening to the book, I, myself, find two places in which background is not clear to me. Have to refill lost knowledge now )

So, I'll give this book 5+ of 5, it is great. It does well. I've been reading many warhammer books recently and they all ended in mess. This ended well. Any other good books you can advise? Comment please.

Stuff I love: first g-shock ever (G-SHOCK DW 5000C, the first shock resistant watch) / lack of motivation for new year plans

Hi there, fellow runner! Today is 11th of January and to be honest it's not the start of the new year, almost half of a month passed and what about your wows and obligations to yourself, you made just before new year started? Are you still here in your healthy mind and working hard to reach your aims or gave up all efforts and left flags and banners behind? Are you going to be proud of yourself? If you feel a lack of motivation again ten what to talk about, I have a plan for you. Just do three things and feel happy this year.

• Go to the gym or do anything like (run, swim, jump, carry that weight) on regular basis. Start today, do every day.
• Do something for your other half. Something good. Regular.
• Find and adopt or even invent nutrition plan for the new you. Use imagination. Be tricky.

Now you are prepared for your new life and new you. By the way, you can make yourself a gift too -- love +Casio G-Shock Watch , maybe? They are awesome, true. Today I googled for something new in g-shock universe and have found out some antique history stuff. You know what!

G-SHOCK DW 5000C, the first shock resistant watch

The first g-shock model was released in April, 1983. It was really long time ago. Here's cite from casio's web site.

In 1983, Casio released a new watch that overturned the thinking of the watch and clock industry. Amidst the trend towards thinner lighter watches, the novel rugged design of the G-SHOCK was based on the unique concept of a watch that could be dropped from the top of a building and still not break. When it was first introduced, the G-SHOCK was only popular in certain markets, such as the US, due to its unique appearance. However ten years later, fashion trends had changed, and after consumers took a fresh look at its functions and design, it became an instant hit worldwide. G-SHOCK established the new category of the shock resistant watch, and has become Casioês signature watch. 

And  here we are, 30 years later.

A memory of light (14th book of the wheel of time series, finally the last book) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Hi there, fellow runner! Oh, you might not be runner, thou it's good for your health! Today is the day, we waited for last 20 years. Oh, it was yesterday, that day, but here in Russia there is no difference, because of lack of e-book selling. So, without further oral trash! Last book of the +The Wheel Of Time series is here! +Brandon Sanderson has finished the great work started by Robert Jordan (RIP 2007). We are all eager to grab our copy of brand new book, audio book or (I hope it will soon be available) ebook.

A memory of light (14th book of the wheel of time fantasy series, finally the last book) by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

It's one of those days when you are just happy, if you love reading and happy enough to have free time to spend it on reading. Great thanks to Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan for this story, I hope (and almost sure) that final part will be absolutely perfect.

Robert Jordan was the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007) He used this pseudonym for fantasy novels, including the bestselling The Wheel of Time series for which he was best known. He also wrote historical fiction as Reagan O'Neal, a western as Jackson O'Reilly, and dance criticism as Chang Lung, and he had ghostwritten an "international thriller" that is still believed to have been written by someone else

So, happy reading, fellow anybody!

Stuff I love: Casio g-shock updates

Hi there, fellow runner with true designer's heart in your healthy body! Merry Christmas and happy new year to you! I've been to Egypt for vacations and so there were no updates recently, my bad. I sure as hell will fix this issue as soon as possible and new articles are to come on daily basis as usually. 30th Anniversary of G-SHOCK in 2013! Super awesome!  G-SHOCK Initial Blue Pack is spotted on my facebook feed, so here it is.

G-SHOCK Initial Blue Pack, mudman is so nice in black and blue!

By the way, there are some more news and updates of somewhat questionable freshness, but why shouldn't i mention it here if it pleases me? Everybody love burton stuff, am I correct? Anyway, whether you love burton stuff or not, this cute dark and pretty calm piece of machinery deserves your love!

Casio G-SHOCK Burton edition

This year will get back to our German language fun so stay tuned and let's improve more sides of our life. Honestly, great plans and unexpectedly big expectations are to arrive in a couple of days.