Posted by Ben on 26/08/2011, 12:17 PM
“Today marks the two year anniversary with my gf. I have a pretty cool day planned and here is the first thing that occurred. – Ben
A dozen White & Red Roses, Teddy Bear and two boxes of Chocolates.
“I wanted to do this post for her because she sometimes doesn’t get why I spend my time blogging.” – Ben
Posted in Personal | Tagged: Personal | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ben on 19/08/2011, 4:00 PM
“I decided to partake in the City2Surf this year. For those of you that don’t know of the race, it’s a 14km ‘half-marathon / fun run’ that starts from Sydney city and ends at Bondi Beach.” – Ben
It all started with Mikey convincing me that we should do the City2Surf this year. I previously would have laughed it off (like every other year), except he pointed out this would be a good excuse to go to the gym, do training and get fit. Since I started my heath kick in July 2011, and that he promised we could go in the Yellow Group (Jogging & Walking), I said yes.
I wasn’t aware of this initially, but the 2011 run was unique in a number of ways. Firstly, it was overcast, cool and rainy – apparently it is usually hot and sunny (making the run harder). Secondly, there was a record number of people (86,695) in this run. Thirdly, we were attempting to beat a Guinness world record for the ‘most number of people stretching simultaneously’. Whether Sydney is awarded that remains to be seen. I joked that there was no such record and this was merely an OH&S requirement for the event and they couldn’t figure out a way of making us all do it.
The World Record attempt for 'Largest number of people stretching at once'
I’m no runner. I have been doing a bit of running as exercise, but nothing that could be considered ‘near-marathon’ levels. I had previously bought new shoes, a heart rate monitor and had tried to get into running as much as I could beforehand. We woke up that morning sharing the same hope as the rest of Sydney, “please don’t rain”. I was able to snap a quick picture of the starting line for the Yellow group (below) which shows the sea of people all along College St.
My photo of The 'start' of the race (~8:40am)
At 9:05am the start gun went off and… nothing. One of the things you don’t expect is that the start of the race is really slow. You are barely walking for about 10-15 minutes as the mass of people slowly start to take off. We didn’t start running until we turned onto William St and it was downhill. The YouTube clip I found shows you the start of our group (unfortunately we were in the middle of that pack so it ends before we could have a chance to run by).
Running downhill was the easy part, I was silently dreading the ‘Heartbreak Hill’. I tried to live in ignorant bliss for as long as possible and not know the exact route or features until the very last minute. I was utterly depressed when I found out that the infamous ‘Heartbreak Hill’ is actually 4km long. Regardless I remained positive about doing it. I had been running a little bit and I did a 7km run at Iron Cove and managed to do that in 1:10 and that was with a lot of walking.
When I did see the route finally I wasn’t impressed that it didn’t go straight to Bondi, but rather loops around Rose Bay, Vaucluse and Dover Heights.
The course of the race - I tried to mark where Heartbreak Hill starts
One of the best aspects of the run is the people watching. There is a $5,000 prize for the best outfit and people have fun and run in all kinds of interesting outfits. Morph suits were abundant, but I’ve managed to track down some photos of the costumes I liked. The outfit I liked best was the ‘Sailor Girls‘ – which I used at various points during the race to gauge where we were in the pack. The photo provided immediately below doesn’t really do them justice, but I was happy to find at least 1 photo of them. If anyone has any more, or can find more, please let me know.
'The Sailor Girls' - Click image to view larger image. (Original Photo)
Photo sources from Flickr, visit the original photo here.
'Bananas' - Click on image to visit original photo
'Mario Brothers' - Click on image to visit original photo
'The Smurfs' - Click image to visit original photo
Photos sourced from MarzoSyd’s Flickr – Thank you for the awesome photos! It’s a shame I couldn’t find more photos online (considering almost everywhere you went there was a camera).
The run itself was a lot of fun. I even managed to sneak some time to live-tweet my progress at various points. I think I’ll do it again next year, though with more training and more running. I was able to find one image of Mikey & I stepping over the finish line.
Mike & I stepping over the finish line
After 14km you reach Bondi to a see of people. Stores, restaurants and venues are crazy busy. We had decided previously that we wanted to try (and rewarded ourselves with) Moo Burger. We managed to score a table and feast on meal that would make most people ill. In hindsight drinking a massive chocolate milkshake wasn’t the wisest choice.
'We made it' - Mike & Myself celebrating with a Moo Burger afterwards
.
p.s - as an added bonus and thank you to my running coach Emma, here is a photo of Dr. Chris Brown (aka “Bondi Vet”) who took this photo demonstrating how to stretch before the run.
Dr. Chris Brown (Bondi Vet)
Posted in Personal, Pictures | Tagged: ben, city2surf, city2surf 2011, emma, mikey, Personal | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ben on 16/08/2011, 4:00 PM
“I used to do personal updates on my blog, I wonder why I stopped doing them” – Ben
This is a meme-esce version of my life, click to visit original post
The Man Behind the Blog
It occurred to me the other day that while a fraction of my readers know me, the rest have no clue about who this Ben guy is. I won’t get too into it, suffice to say that I’ve been feeling like I haven’t ‘written’ much on ‘my blog’. I’m going to try and contribute a bit more and force myself to write more than the occasional witty comment. Relax, this won’t become a soapbox for my insanity…. there will still be all the regular posts you’ve come to enjoy. How to start an introduction? I’m not sure. For now I’m just going to try and write a few more personal posts and see how that goes.
2011 – A Year of Changes
Whilst I am acutely aware that change is inevitable, I couldn’t have imagined quite so many things would have occurred this year. I have had my company bought out and had my office made redundant, I’ve travelled to the USA on my first business trip, I’ve challenged myself to a month without the internet or gadgets, I signed up for the City2Surf and lately I’ve been exercising. The later is something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time (see NYE resolutions for 2009, 2010 and 2011). I am 6’1 and over 100kg, whilst my height masks my weight a bit – I’ve often had self image issues and basically hated the way I look in photos. I’ve spent July-August 2011 exercising 4 times a week and have managed to lose about 4 kg in 4 weeks. I’m pretty happy with that.
Australian Government needs to treat immigrants better
I have recently had to deal with the worst the immigration department has had to offer in watching helplessly as my girlfriend battled to get a valid Visa and continue to remain in the country. It’s sad that someone that has studied here, worked hard, paid taxes, done everything right is treated so poorly. I can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it was (and still is) knowing that people doing the right thing are getting punished whilst people that screw the system get away with it. I am very thankful that someone caught the mistake that was made and that instead of being ‘deported’ in 28 days, she was granted an awesome visa. It has made us both happy and we look forward to the rest of this year. This experience has shown me that perhaps our government doesn’t deal with these cases in the best way. I started watching SBS’s ‘Go back to where you came from’ and whilst it’s good that it shows the reality behind the hardships of these people, it’s also upsetting to see how ignorant people can be.
Comment, comment comment
I love it when I receive comments on posts. I get them almost immediately and will often reply to them. I appreciate my usual commenters; ‘JPS’, ‘gregoryno6′, ‘Wongstar’ etc. I also love it when someone new comments. I get a feeling that there are heaps of different people that visit and enjoy my blog. I average about 800-1,000 views a day – which is something pretty cool for a little hobby of mine. Unfortunately not all comments are good. It is a shame that people don’t read my FAQ about trolling. In my opinion everyone is entitled to their opinion and I’ll listen and reflect upon what is said… but if you say stupid shit I will change what you wrote and point out where you are a moron. Writing “your such a faggot” will become “you are awesome” for example. I was getting a lot of crap over the Misty cosplay post, and I got the shits and closed the comments on that. I didn’t want to close the comments, but I’m sick of having to justify and explain it – it’s a joke… get over it.
Share my posts however you like!
I recently had my best day ever because someone put my Facebook – Boiling Water post onto StumbleUpon. That resulted in my busiest day of 5,843 views. I get a kick out of it when someone references my blog. Did you know that if you search ‘Baxter Your So Wise’ in Google Images my site is the #1 result? Pretty cool.
New Sections / Content!
Coming soon – various forms of new content. Mostly food related, but also some other bits and pieces that involve my life. Keep an eye out for new pages appearing along the ‘About/FAQ’ & ‘Most Popular Posts’ area!
Posted in Personal | Tagged: ben, Personal, update | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 06/08/2011, 11:46 PM
“I just noticed my blog just reached 400,000 views! Thanks to everyone who reads and comments on my blog. Please feel free to pass on the URL to anyone you know that might enjoy the stuff I post” – Ben
Go man go!
Posted in Gif, Personal | Tagged: blog, futurama, gif, Personal | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 30/07/2011, 2:40 PM
“I was on KnowYourMeme.com and saw this template. I took about 30 minutes and filled it out. Resizing the ‘friends’ section took the longest. Good thing I have photoshop on my laptop
” – Ben
My Life as a Meme
Posted in Personal, Pictures | Tagged: meme, my life, Personal | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 26/06/2011, 9:00 AM
Posted in Personal, Pictures | Tagged: Corgi, corgis, dog, dogs, Personal | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 23/06/2011, 12:00 PM
Posted in Personal, Pictures | Tagged: do anything, Personal | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 01/06/2011, 7:30 PM
“I’m currently travelling in the USA, so there might be some disruptions to my usual posts. I’m working on ensuring there is at least 1-3 new items per day.” – Ben
Map of USA (click to very large size)
Summary of trip so far:
Posted in Personal | Tagged: Personal, travel, USA | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ben on 12/05/2011, 9:00 AM
“I like to mix up my posts a bit with what I would call ‘nice’ images. I liked this image because it kinda sums up how I feel when I stress about not catching up with friends for a long time. In the end, it isn’t my fault we haven’t caught up – you could have called me too” – Ben
Posted in Personal, Pictures | Tagged: catch up, friends, miss people, missing people, Personal, rants | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 06/05/2011, 9:00 AM
“I love helping people start blogging. This is obviously one of my hobbies, and I enjoy it” – Ben
I’m going to run through the ones I like/love.
This blog runs on wordpress, it’s free, it’s got a lot of features and its simple to use. You can schedule posts, you can quickly add stuff via bookmarklet widgets and you get some awesome stats on your blog. I converted from blogger to wordpress and have never looked back.
Tumblr is a new, awesome, and expanding blog service. It’s free, it allows you to share and find content quickly. Warning: You will lose a lot of time if you sign up for tumblr and start browsing blogs. I will be doing a How To: Use Tumblr soon (this is how much I enjoy it).
Five examples of why I love Tumblr:
(NB: these are all in ‘archive’ view, which is something I’ll cover in my Tumblr specific post).
Sigh. Blogger is a great ‘beginner’ service. It links into Google and is a good place to cut-your-teeth. I hated the image handling system and found it to be inferior to wordpress.
Whilst not really a ‘true blog service’ it is often referred to as a ‘micro-blogging site’. Sign up, follow people you find interesting, and start tweeting. Add in TwitPic, iPhone, and URL shorteners like j.mp and you can have some fun. Feel free to follow me at @Benjamin_Lewis and ask me questions or just say hi.
Here are two guides to using twitter:
Inspired from the Source: Lifehacker
Posted in How To, Personal | Tagged: blog, Blogging, How To, Personal | 7 Comments »
Posted by Ben on 20/03/2011, 9:00 AM
“This is a post dedicated to my friend Sarah, who is mad about Spongebob. Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!” – Ben
Cookies!
Rollercoaster Gif
Pickles
Bird is the word
Excused for life
Fun
Blink Gif
Happiness
Eyes Gif
Pipe
What's your name? gif
Weewoo
Muuuhahahaha gif
Excuse me sir
Robber
Happy Birthday Spongeboob
Pattie Launcher Gif
Spongebob Store!
Patrick Dancing gif
More time for thinking
Let's get naked
Crabby loves money gif
Wumbo baby
Spongebob-mop-shirt
Posted in Funny Pictures, Gif, Personal, Pictures | Tagged: collection, Personal, spongebob, spongebob squarepants | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 02/03/2011, 3:00 PM
“so this is day 2 of me being offline. I am probably having some sort of weird withdrawls. I thought this comic was not only apt… but star wars!” – Ben
Posted in Personal, Star Wars | Tagged: Comic, offline, Personal, Star Wars | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Ben on 15/02/2011, 7:36 PM
“I’m going to log off & disconnect from the internet this March as a personal challenge and fund-raising for the QLD Disaster relief appeal” – Ben
The origin of the idea:
This all started, as many crazy schemes do, with a night of drinking. Mike & I were sitting down discussing Will & Bossa’s amazing bike ride from Sydney > Melbourne for charity and felt like we should do something like that. We stipulated that whilst it must be crazy and challenging, neither of us wanted to make it a physcial (and time consuming) challenge. It would rather, be a psychological and personal challenge. Tailored to test us. What should we do? give up meat… no. give up drinking…no. Too simple, too easy/challenging. So we decided… no Internet access or online gaming.. and there the idea grew.
The terms:
A overview of my online (addiction) usage:
Its not a secret that I have what I would consider a heavy online presence. The fact you are reading this on my blog makes that point pretty clear. The thing you might not know is just how many online sites, services and things I am involved with…. and I’m curious as to the amount of attention they demand of me and my life. This blog probably requires the most active attention as I have made it a promise to myself to try and post at least 1 new thing I like daily (if not more). So far I have managed to keep that up, and I’m fortunate to have about 800-1,000 people read my humble little blog each day.
To post content on my blog I have to source it from numerous places. I have a Google reader account that actively provides me with 300-600 new items of online content each day, and I manage to review most of it either quickly on any computer I have web access with… or on my iPhone via my Byline app. It’s a rather convoluted and really nerdy system I have, but it keeps it organised and helps me find the stuff I love. Here is a screen shot of a typical day on my Byline iPhone app… note I’ve grouped the content into different topics, all of which get differing amount of attention from me.
A typical day's worth of Google Reader content for me.
Facebook, twitter, deviantart, and the other social sites. I love facebook, most people do. I love having the ability to chat to people I know instantly and “keep in touch” with others I haven’t seen in a long time. Anyone that knows me, knows I have a tendancy to whip out my iPhone and post something on facebook or twitter mid conversation and I am fully aware how rude and annoying that practise is (I have been trying to cut down on that).
So basically… I waste a lot of time and effort on “online pursuits”. I’m wondering what my days would be like if I disconnected… and if I possibly can. I’m struggling to work out how I would pay my bills… how I would book movie tickets… how I would keep in touch and aware of my friends birthdays. We used to do it, we used to be able to walk around with mobile phones.
No iPhone:
This will be a real challenge. I live and breath by my iPhone and have gotten into the habit of using it for everything. I am going to downgrade to the most basic mobile phone I can find… which I believe will be an old school Nokia.
Who is monitoring you?
Everyone. If you see me using the internet… I’ve failed. People on facebook can see when I’ve interacted with other people. People on playstation can see the last time I logged in. My sister will be changing my wifi code at home, and give my girlfriend the passwords to all of my logins (for her to change and mind for a month). As for work… I’m not going to be using the net.
This is madness Ben! why are you doing it?
I want to give up something I love and use all the time as a personal challenge. Its like Lent or Ramadan, but tailored a little more towards what I need to give up.
Allo pointed out I should explain and document a reason for doing this. I want to see what life is like offline. We are so used to having the internet for everything we do… for any question or interest. People may or may not be aware that the Australian government is working on censoring the Australian Internet… this might just be what it is like in the end, like Egypt recently… no internet. Ok that is a little alarmist of me, but the government needs to pull their heads out of their asses about this scheme and needs to work WITH the Australian people rather than against it.
I can’t help but notice people on trains or buses that either have music blocking out the world, or glued to a gadget to pass the time. I know… I am one of those people with at least 2-3 ways to pass time if I ever feel bored.
I’m also curious to see what happens to me personally when I disconnect. I’m so distracted by online things that I barely know anything about the world around me. Unless its a funny picture, a meme or shared on someone’s facebook… I probably don’t know anything about it. I will be trying to write down my offline experience for a cool blog post on 1st April.
Donations / Fundraising
I’m not really doing this for money, but I have set up a page for donations (which I will be giving to the QLD Disaster Relief Appeal). I have been asking people to bet against me… see how many days I can last… but I’m hoping I’ll make the whole month. I guess $1-2 a day isn’t too much to ask… but you can give whatever amount you want… it’s going to help the people of QLD anyway.
How can I reach you?!
Call me? Write me a letter? I dunno. If worst comes to worst you can reach me via my sister/gf.
Disclaimers:
My blog will continue to operate automatically throughout March, I have worked hard to ensure there is a scheduled post for every day. I won’t be able to monitor it though, or comment for the month. If something breaks… then it won’t be fixed for a month.
I will be getting my sister to check my email for bills/actual important messages, but I am not allowed to interact via email. I guess she’ll print out a copy of the email (grandpa style).
See you on the other side.
Posted in Personal | Tagged: offline, Personal | 5 Comments »
Posted by Ben on 17/01/2011, 9:00 AM
“I’m not a morning person, in fact I’m one of those people that values their sleep. I know that sleeping in (and skipping breakfast) contribute to my weight problems. So I’m going to try and wake up earlier.” – Ben
"Orange Coloured Sky" by Absurdity (click image to visit artist site)
This is mostly sourced from the awesome Lifehack.org site, and please go there for the full detailed post.
Source: Lifehack.org (please visit for the detailed version of this post)
Posted in How To, Personal | Tagged: early riser, How To, morning, morning person, Personal | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ben on 02/01/2011, 10:52 PM
“This is an automatically generated stat’s overview of my blog provided by my host; WordPress” – Ben
The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 190,000 times in 2010. If it were an exhibit at The Louvre Museum, it would take 8 days for that many people to see it.
In 2010, there were 491 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 835 posts (that means that this blog doubled in size this year alone!)
The busiest day of the year was June 7th with 5,741 views. The most popular post that day was Deadpool’s Opinion on the New Star Wars Trilogy.
The top referring sites in 2010 were ayumilove.wordpress.com, reddit.com, en.wordpress.com, facebook.com, and twitter.com.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for philosoraptor, x-rays, 4chan, christina hendricks, and sad keanu.
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
Deadpool’s Opinion on the New Star Wars Trilogy December 2009
1 comment
Doodle God Walkthrough / Guide July 2010
19 comments
Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like? November 2009
2 comments
Collection of Abnormal X-Rays: Those objects shouldn’t be there! March 2010
2 comments
Christina Hendricks has huge boobs February 2010
Posted in Personal | Tagged: blog, Personal, stats | Leave a Comment »
