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Showing posts from October, 2018

In-Year Review

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Previously on 40 by Forty... It's in-year review time in the civil service so, in honour of this fact, it's time for an in-year performance review of my 40 by Forty challenges. Also, you may recall that challenges are suspended over holiday periods and I'm counting this week (which included a mini-break to Perth and a Halloween house party) as a holiday week.  By which I mean I've not done anything this week. It's not like I've done my in-year review at work either, though, so at least I'm consistently not doing anything. Long-term challenges The long, dark teatime of the challenge year is fast approaching.  The effort required to stick to the long-term challenges is growing. This is exactly the sort of time that I would normal drop things like this.  Good job I've got you, fictional reader, peering over my shoudler to keep me going! As before, each one is linked to its respective blog entry. Learn French (me) - Yeah, this one is now thorou...

Challenge 6: Do 10 Pull-ups

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It's been a super busy week all round, with me being in Leeds and Renae making ALL THE PUMPKINS, so it's time to break out a long-term challenge blog post. So, what's this challenge all about? I'm not the buffest of men.  I used to tend more towards scrawny than wiry, before I started tending towards doughy rather than doughty. This challenge is about, in some tiny way, addressing that. I need to do 10 pull-ups.  (In a row, without stopping. Not just across the year.) This challenge is courtesy of Andrew Law, who has something against me. Challenge accepted. I've only owned it for a day, but I hate this bar already. How's it going to work? Well, simply put I'm going to pull myself into the air, repeatedly, until I can do it 10 times in a row.  Then I'm going to NEVER DO IT AGAIN. How's it going so far? I can manage four pull ups in a row.  Four.  Observant readers will note this is significantly less than 10. The plan is three set...

One-off Challenge 28: Brew Beer

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Normally, I don't write up these one-off challenges until they're fully completed, but most of my challenge time this week has gone on this one, so I'm doing a main post about it now and will drop a short update later to report on the final outcome This challenge is courtesy of... Beer brewing badass Logan Bartlett.   The challenge Brew beer.  There's a lot of options for this.  I could (if I happened to have a bunch of spare cash) go to one of our local breweries and take advantage of their self-brew option.  That's the route Logan, this week's challenger, usually goes down and it always results in some excellent brews.  At the other end, I could be roasting my own barley and gathering hops from... wherever the hell hops grow.  As I'm not overly flush with either money or time, however, I'm going for a middle ground and choosing to use a home brewing malt kit. As both Renae and I are very (very) fond of dark Belgian bee...

One-off Challenge 21: Learn The Bongos

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This challenge is courtesy of... Ben Schiller.  The challenge Learn the bongos.  I am as white as they come and I do not, j in any way shape or form, have rhythm. Anyone who has seen me attempt to play a Guitar Hero game can attest to this. Still, bongos are just about a simple as instruments come, so we should be ok, yes?  Well...  I'm admit the first problem was not one I'd anticipated, namely we don't own bongos and nor does anyone else nearby. So I'm going to bend the rules a little and learn the djembe instead. It's a drum that you got with your hands, comes with its own string to assist in taking it to a hippie drum circle and would most definitely not be allowed in to the Court of Session . Close enough to bongos for me!  Also, Donna owns one, so that's a plus. I got a quick lesson from Donna on picking up the drum and then it was down to picking a rhythm to learn and some practice. (The practice was made harder by the...