Just FYI to my readers – I cannot access the Blogger posting interface. This has been a problem on and off for the last six months and seems to be a problem with my ISP. I’ve used a proxy to get around it in the past, but Blogger’s new security features make that not work.

I can edit my template, but I can’t edit my posts. I’m posting this from Flock. Flock does not support Blogger labels, and thus all I am getting are Technorati links in my post footer. Old posts that should be updated with new information cannot be. I will try to do some of that from school, but I cannot from home.

I apologise for the inconvenience.

You may have resolved to make this the year you finally start—and stick with—an exercise program, but you’re fighting an uphill battle, and it’s all too easy to give up after a few weeks. Judging by the fact that the January crowds in the gym are long gone by February, you’re not alone! Learn more about javaburn benefits.

The question is how to turn your determination into action you can sustain for more than 30 days. While this website is filled with hundreds of ways to help you make your training more effective, we can’t actually come over to your house and light the fire that gets you moving. At some point, you must take action. No one can do it for you.

Let me assure you, I in no way want to write the companion article in February that implores you to get back to your workouts! So let’s save us both a lot of time and stick with it.

Strategies For Starting Off Right
1. Define Your Challenge
Write down your ultimate physique goal and how you’d like to look. Include weight, body fat, and any physique improvements you’d like to see. Now divide it by 3. That’s roughly your 90-day goal—to get you a third of the way there.

Write down your ultimate physique goal and how you’d like to look.

2. Make Time For Your Health
Work up to 60 minutes of physical activity each day. That doesn’t mean you’ll be on the weight-room floor seven days a week, but strive to get some kind of activity—even if it’s a walk with your dog or a leisurely bike ride. Take advantage of great weather when it happens by taking your workouts outdoors. If you’re new to fitness, start with two 15-minute sessions or three 10-minute sessions to help you become acclimated. Check out the best java burn reviews

3. Discover What You Enjoy
Weights are one of the best ways to make significant physical changes to your body. Unfortunately, not everyone enjoys lifting. The most important determinant of long-term success with fitness is how much you enjoy an activity. Choose something that make fitness fun! Explore new exercise classes and activities to determine which you prefer. As a beginner, almost anything you choose will be challenging, but gains will be made starting your very first week.

4. Don’t Go It Alone
Train with a friend who’s at about your level of ability and has similar goals. You’ll be far less likely to skip your workout when you know someone is depending on you. It’s also more motivating when you push each other, and you’ll be far less likely to cut your sessions short.

The microformats-discuss mailing list reached an impossible signal/noise ratio for me awhile back. My inbox was just too flooded with discussions I did not find interesting and I archived 90% of it without even opening it. Well, today I went browsing through the archives and here is some of the interesting stuff I found summarised for those of you with similar issues:

• Scope was discussed again, some arguing that rel-tag needs to be defined as to where it applies. The upshot (which I fully support) was documented on the wiki.
• There was some discussion surrounding microformats detection and false-positives. Discussion concerned using the profile attribute of HTML to get around this, but since parsers should check for validity of uF as well as root class existence, it shouldn’t really be a problem.
• There is a bit of ongoing discussion which I do not 100% grok. It could have to do with saying an hCard is for the owner of a page, but that is determined by whether or not it is in an
  
  element. It could have to do with two hCards being for the same person, in which case I agree that class=url, rel=me on both of them pointing to each other demonstrates that very well. Or it may have to do with seeing if an hCard is useful at all… I don’t get that.
• There was some discussion caused by the announcement of Videntity’s hCard and XFN integration (yay!) Great potential there.
• There was the age-old ‘my rel-tag URLs are crap’ issue brought on by a Blogger-FTP issue. The Blogger problem makes sense and probably will not be ‘resolved’ except by removing rel=tag from FTP blogs. Blogger-FTP is crap.
• Someone questioned the value of XOXO itself! They were kindly directed here 😉
• There is a presentation (S3!) about AHAH. Of course, AHAH is built on AJAX and thus subject to cross-domain issues. They need a JSONP version.
• Finally, another bit on proving two hCards are for the same person. In a more dangerous way.

I wrote once before about the existing WebOS systems. I planned to follow that post up, but time did not allow. Now I will follow it up twofold.

Using
I have come to use WebOS in a broader sense than I once did, which seems to be the ‘catching’ way to use it these days. That is, defining WebOS to include things such as Netvibes and BoxtheWeb, Omnidrive and Box.net, Zoho and Google Docs. I have been asked by some how I find WebOS useful at all, or if it is just an interesting experiment. I will attempt here to answer that.

Online storage is amazing. Work at home, save online, work at school, save online, etc. It is far more convenient than carrying flash media everywhere I go. I have used YouOS, Google Docs, and Gmail for this, but the result is basically the same.

Online office is similarly useful. I can work on and access the same document across computers at my house, or on campus, without any real hassle. Open, edit, save. Collaboration features just make it that much more fun! SVN for documents 😉

AJD (ala BoxtheWeb or Netvibes) is something I really love. I use BoxtheWeb, being the project originator, but there are many out there. I have many feeds, but I still like to be able to glance at them all at once. See what my contacts are reading these days, access my del.icio.us, and search, all from one page. There’s something to be said for that convenience.

Last but not least (and I’ve likely forgotten others) : YubNub. I couldn’t live without it. The amount of time saved being able to type ‘g singpolyma’, ‘tet microformats’, ‘hwdial singpolyma.net’ is amazing. And the development stuff is fun.

As for full-scale webtop integrations. I haven’t been using the full-fledged features yet. There’s something there though… just not ready yet (or maybe I’m too geeky to see it past the GUI 😉 ).

Standards
I mentioned in my last post the need for standards. If I could run Netvibes widgets on my BoxtheWeb page while integrating my YouOS storage, that would be very most awesome. The companies themselves seem to be organising, but it’s private and they’re not taking input. So, as always, the community needs to get their foot in the door before the industry runs on its course and we have many too many products and it takes years to create standards.

Drawing inspiration from the Microformats process, research into existing practices/standards should be present before suggesting something new. To aid the community in organising such research and development, I have created a wiki and a discussion group.

Perhaps not all of us are geeky enough to do the research and formal stuff for the wiki, but anyone who uses any of the products listed above, listed on the wiki, or related products, as well as those interested in Simile and related projects can contribute to the discussion on the discussion group. Anything from observations about how things work, suggestions as to how things should/could work, or even pointing out projects that may have been missed is welcome. Feedback from users as well as geeks is necessary to make this project work.

National Healthy Eating Day
(205) 481-7000
Eating healthy is a way of life and can be simple yet have wonderful benefits! It’s not about strict dietary habits or never having good food… it’s about feeling great having more energy, improving your health! Eating Healthy starts at home and can be done in simple steps!

Here are some tips to help you and your family start eating healthier:

Be a Savvy Shopper: One of the best ways to make healthy eating a breeze is to be a smart shopper. That starts with planning meals and making a detailed shopping list grouped by the layout of your supermarket before you head to the store. Concentrate your shopping in the outer sections of most supermarkets—produce, seafood, meat and dairy departments—where the healthiest and least-processed ingredients tend to be. In the freezer section, head for frozen vegetables and fruits. In the inner aisles, go for healthy staples like whole grains, canned or dried beans, canned tomatoes, spices and plenty of tasty condiments. Also GO FOR color, variety, and freshness for a healthy eating plan.
Read Labels: When you pick up foods that have nutrition labels, make sure you always read them. Check the nutrition information and also look at what ingredients are in the product. A general rule: the simpler the ingredient list is to read, the better. Watch out for large amounts of sugar or unhealthy fats and high levels of sodium in packaged foods, even if they claim to be healthy.
Keep a Well-Stocked Pantry: When your pantry is full of staples, you’ll find you won’t need to run to the store in the middle of cooking dinner to get a bottle of soy sauce. It makes it easier to improvise a dinner on the fly when you don’t already have something planned. Ingredients like pasta, canned beans and canned fish can be the basis of spur-of-the-moment meals.
Maintain Moderation: Moderation is about eating only as much food as your body needs. It’s also about balance. Eating well is not about deprivation—it’s about that good feeling you get when you eat something that is flavorful, wholesome and satisfying. No food should be off limits. Studies show that depriving yourself of the foods you love, especially in the name of dieting, may cause you to overeat later. Embrace a delicious and healthy way of eating that you can sustain for your whole life. The bottom line is that maintaining a healthy weight comes down to balancing the amount of calories you eat with the amount you expend during the day. So if you’re going to have that piece of cake, think about cutting back somewhere else or exercising a little longer. The best way is to reduce portion sizes of unhealthy foods and not eating them as often.
Eat with Good Habits: Taking your time, eating with others, and timing meals can lead to great benefits.
Stop eating before you feel full and drink water throughout your meal. It takes a few minutes for your brain to tell your body it’s had enough. Drinking water not only slows down eating, but also hydrates your body. Being dehydrated can often make one feel hungry when they are not.
Enjoy meals together and at a table. When everyone sits down together to eat, there’s less chance of children eating the wrong foods or snacking too much. In addition, you can model healthy eating habits for your kids. Kids and adults often have mindless overeating when eating alone or in front of the TV or computer.
Get kids involved in cooking and planning meals. Everyone develops good eating habits together and the quality time with the family will be an added bonus.
Time meals so that you always have a healthy breakfast and have small healthy meals throughout the day. Also avoid eating late at night so that you’re eating when you’re in more active times of the day and fast overnight. Try out alpilean.
In addition to those tips, remember that eating healthier starts with the ingredients you use! Here are a few ways to make healthy dietary changes:

When you use oils for cooking, baking or in dressings or spreads, choose healthier oils- which include canola, corn, olive, safflower, sesame, soybean and sunflower oils.
Limit added sugars in your family’s diet. Sugar-sweetened beverages are the largest source of added sugars for most of us, so reduce or cut out soda, sports drinks, energy drinks and fruit drinks as well as enhanced waters, sweetened teas and sugary coffee drinks. Drink more plain water instead.
Reduce the amount of sodium you eat: If using packaged foods, compare food labels, and choose the product with the least amount of sodium. Processed foods like canned soups or frozen dinners can contain high amounts of sodium. Use herbs and spices to add flavor when cooking, instead of salt.
Load up on fruits and vegetables: At present, only one in four Americans gets the 5 to 13 daily servings of fruits and vegetables the USDA recommends. Simply upping your consumption of fruits and vegetables—foods packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants—helps to lower your risk of heart disease and diabetes. Add them to dishes your family already loves and use them as healthier sides, snacks and desserts. If you choose canned, watch for added sodium and sugars.
Make the most of meats: Protein is essential for our bodies. It’s a component of every cell in our body, it helps us build and repair tissues and gives us energy. The foods highest in protein, such as beef, chicken and seafood, often are at the heart of a meal. And that’s where they should be—at the heart of it, not the whole meal. Try filling just a quarter of your plate with a lean protein, such as chicken, fish, tofu, lean beef or pork. Check more about alpine ice hack.
Serve seafood: The American Heart Association recommends eating two servings of fish and seafood a week. Why? Seafood is a good lean source of protein. And many fish, especially fatty fish like salmon, tuna and sardines, have something that’s hard to get from other foods: omega-3 fatty acids and specifically DHA and EPA, healthy fats that have been linked to improving everything from heart health to brain functioning to depression.
Cook with good fats: Not all fat is bad—and some, like the unsaturated fat in olive oil and canola, may actually help reduce “bad” LDL cholesterol, which in turn may help to lower your risk of heart disease. There are plenty of ways to make cooking with less fat easy and tasty. For instance, make sure you have a set of nonstick or cast-iron skillets so you can cook with teaspoons of oil rather than tablespoons. Try roasting vegetables with a little olive oil or serve them with a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Add fats from avocados, nuts and seeds and eliminate trans fats from vegetable shortenings, margarines, cookies, fried foods, and baked goods. Regardless of what kind of fat you use in a recipe, use all fats in moderation because they are high in calories.