Noblejoker

The one thing they missed in this article is regular exercise

Sick of feeling as flat as cardboard? Top up your energy reserves with a little nutritional know-how

1. Know your nutrition
Eat protein for lunch and starch for dinner. Carbohydrates are calming, whereas protein peps you up. As a general guideline, opt for: 20% protein, 15% fat, and 65% carbohydrate.

2. Vitamin boosters
Critical vitamins for energy include the B group, magnesium and potassium. Vitamin C is great for resistance to bugs, whereas antioxidants offer good overall protection for your health.

3. Iron out lethargy
Low iron levels can leave you feeling flat. Good sources to start you off are red meat, legumes, green leafy vegetables, free-range eggs and chicken.

4. Blood sugar balance
Remember to eat breakfast and lunch; eat little but eat often; and avoid refined foods like white bread, sugar and chocolate.

5. Be on the liver lookout
Look after your liver by upping your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. Drink plenty of clean, filtered water. Go easy on alcohol, coffee and soft drinks.

6. Digest best
Eat slowly and chew well. If experiencing indigestion, consider an acidophilus supplement.

Energy made easy - Blackmores

How to be a Great Dad - 12 Awesome Tips

Every Sunday is Family Day on Zen Habits.

I’m often asked about raising six kids, and being productive and achieving goals and changing habits in the midst of raising so many kids. But here’s the thing: I do all the other stuff, the productivity stuff, because of my kids.

They, and my wife, are my reason for being.

It is my lifelong goal to be the best dad possible, and while there are many ways I can still improve, I think I’m a pretty great dad already, when I sit back and think about it. I know there are some readers who are just starting out in their careers as dads, and this post is for you.

How can you be a great dad? As always, my list of tips:

Put their interests first, always. Do you enjoy drinking or smoking? Guess what — it’s not good for them, and you’re setting an example with everything you do. I quit smoking about 18 months ago not for my sake, but for my kids. Now, it is still important to take care of yourself (otherwise you can’t take care of them), but you should still have them in mind.

Protect them. As a dad, one of your main roles is protector. There are many ways you need to do this. Safety is one: child-proof your home, teach them good safety habits, set a good example by using your seatbelt, make sure they use a car seat if below a certain age & weight, etc. But financial protection is also important: have life insurance, car insurance, an emergency fund, a will.

Spend your spare time with them. When we get home from work, often we’re tired and just want to relax. But this is the only time we have with them during the weekdays, often, and you shouldn’t waste it. Take this time to find out about their day, lay on the couch with them. On weekends, devote as much time as possible to them. While work may be your passion, it won’t be long before they’re grown and no longer want to spend time with you. Take advantage of these years. The thing kids want most from their dads is their time.

Give them hugs. Dads shouldn’t be afraid to show affection. Kids need physical contact, and not just from their moms. Snuggle with them, hug them, love them.

Play with them. Go outside and play sports. Do a treasure hunt. Have a pillow fight. Play Transformers or Pokemon with them. Don’t just watch TV. Show them how to have fun. See 100 Ways to Have Fun with Your Kids for Free or Cheap.

Do the “mom” stuff. Things that are traditionally considered “mom” duties are not just for moms anymore — changing diapers, feeding, bathing, rocking them to sleep in the middle of the night. Dads should help out as much as they can, sharing these types of duties equally if possible. And in fact, if you’re a dad of a baby, this is the perfect time to bond with your child. You should leap at the chance to do these things, because that’s how you start a life-long close relationship with your child.

Read to them. This is one of the most important things you can do for your child. First of all, it’s so much fun. Kids books are really cool, and it’s great when you can share something this wonderful with your child. Second, you are teaching them one of the most fundamentally important skills (reading) that will pay off dividends for life. And third, you are spending time with them, you’re sitting or lying close together, and you are enjoying each other’s company. See the Best All-Time Children’s Books.

Stand by mom. Don’t contradict their mother in front of them, don’t fight with her in front of them, and most definitely don’t ever abuse her. How you treat their mother affects their self-esteem, and the way they will treat themselves and women when they grow up. Be kind and respectful and loving of their mother. And always work as a team — never contradicting statements of the other.

Teach them self-esteem. Maybe this should be No. 1. Well, these aren’t in any order, but this is one of the most important points. There is nothing you can do that is better than giving them high self-esteem. How do you do this? A million ways, but mainly by showing them (not telling them) that you value them, by spending time with them, by talking and listening to them, by praising things they do, by teaching them (not telling them) how to be competent. Praise and encourage, don’t reprimand and discourage.

Teach them about finances. This is a point often missed in articles about dadhood. You might not need to teach your 1-year-old about index funds or portfolio diversity, but from an early age, you can teach them the value of money, how to save money to reach a goal, and later, how earn money and how to manage money properly. You don’t want your child to go into the world knowing as little as you did, do you?

Be good to yourself. You shouldn’t give up your entire life when you become a dad. You need to take care of yourself, give yourself some alone time, and some time with your buddies, in order to be a great dad when you’re with your kids. Also take care of your health — eat healthy, exercise — because 1) you can’t take care of your kids if you’re sickly, 2) you are teaching your kids how to be healthy for life, and 3) you want to enjoy those grandkids someday.

Be good to the mom. This isn’t the same as No. 8 — you should be good to their mom even when they’re not looking. Take her to dinner, give her a massage, do chores around the house for her, give her some time alone and babysit while she goes out, show affection to her, give her little surprises. Because when mom’s happy, the kids are happy. And dad will be happy too!

Source: How to be a Great Dad - 12 Awesome Tips | zen habits

I thought this was funny AND informative 

How to keep cookies fresh

After all that perfect chocolate chip cookie baking, what's the use when your batch goes stale in a matter of days? Cookies are great out of the oven, but biting into a hard crumbly mass later in the week is no fun. That's why you need to understand the science of cookie osmosis, or How to Keep Cookies Fresh.

The trick is simple: place a slice of fresh bread in with your cookies a day or two after you've baked them, or whenever you find their texture has deteriorated. The moisture from the fresh bread will migrate to your cookies (through cookie osmosis, see diagram above), rendering them soft and chewable again. It will literally unstaleify them!

Source: How to keep cookies fresh -- megnut.com

FROM DILBERT WRITER - SCOTT ADAMS
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/marriage_surpri.html

I was watching the news the other day when I see that yet another husband is suspected of killing yet another wife who has gone missing. It’s pretty much automatic to suspect the husband in cases like this. This is one of the factors I had not considered before getting married.

Now every time my wife is 15 minutes late returning from some errand, I start planning my alibi. I take a digital picture of myself standing in front of a live newscast, or I start making phone calls to my mother – that sort of thing.

The worst case scenario is that she drives her car into a ravine and no one finds the remains until I’ve already been in jail 30 years. That’s why I always encourage her to take the freeway. “Remember, no winding mountain roads, honey!”

The most disturbing part of this “husband did it” phenomenon is that there’s always a motive. I’m still in the newlywed phase, but it’s disconcerting to know that it’s only a matter of time before every casual onlooker assumes that if one of us disappears, the other one had a perfectly good reason to commit murder. It’s not much of an endorsement of marriage.

I’m in Las Vegas today and wasn’t going to blog, but my wife has been in the bathroom for way too long and I need an alibi just in case something goes wrong in there.  Note how calm I seem to be while I write this. You might be called as my character witness.

I agree with this article - Yao is the best now. He would be viewed as even better if anyone had a centre anymore. Most teams are playing the Euro style small and run so the trend is a little different. I think it is because all the big guys for years have been drafted out of high school. They haven't learned a low post game so of course they are run and gun.

Being a Celtics fan I am just waiting for a trade for Kevin Garnett - it's going to happen and maybe Boston is in a position to be the winning bidder - let us pray!

THE TIME IS YAO

By Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports
November 21, 2006

NEW YORK – Outside his locker, Yao Ming closed his eyes, squinted hard and declared himself unimpressed late Monday night. Do you see the scar, his uneasy disposition was trying to tell everyone. Do you see it? All shapes, all sizes, all relentlessly probing and poking and prodding him. As Yao was questioned, the gentlest soul in the sport declared himself unaware that it had been Knicks pest Nate Robinson who was responsible for blocking his layup attempt.

Most of all, the Houston Rockets center wanted everyone to understand that ridiculous rejection came with a flailing hand poking his pupil, momentarily blinding him. It left a bulbous bump on his eyelid, a souvenir to bring back from his annual trip to Madison Square Garden. It left Yao unwilling to find the cuteness in a moment that isn't so cute when they just swing wildly for you and treat you like a tree to be torn down.

"Is that who did it?" Yao coyly said, insisting it was impossible to tell that a 5-foot-9 Robinson had blocked him. Well, Yao would say, "I've been blocked by a 5-foot-3 guy before, so that's not a record."

There was just a hint of something seldom seen with Yao – a stubborn edge – that had not been part of his disposition. He is running roughshod through the NBA now, pounding people into submission, performing at 7-6 in a way that never seemed possible.

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Everyone still is holding onto Shaquille O'Neal, refusing to believe the reality of his changing body. Everyone is scared of dismissing Shaq these days, choosing to respect the mythology that surrounds what is no longer a legitimate force.

"I think Yao is the best center in the NBA," a truth-teller named Tracy McGrady declared Monday night at the Garden. This wasn't audacity out of McGrady, nor embellishment. He's watching every night, and he knows what he sees. Let everyone else saddle themselves with a grudging respect for Yao Ming, but McGrady sees him on the cusp of taking these Rockets a long, long way.

Yes, Yao Ming is the best center in the game. If not, what is everyone watching this season? This was an inevitable truth and it has arrived. No one had to see Shaq go down with knee surgery last week to declare him diminished, because if you watched the Heat on the way to the NBA championship, you understood that it was the greatness of Dwyane Wade that was the difference. Shaq was dangerous, but he no longer was dominant.

For some reason when it comes to Yao, people refuse to believe their eyes. Night after night, he has transformed into everything people feared upon his ceremonious arrival four years ago, delivering 30 points and 15 rebounds on nights now as easily as a man walks down his driveway for the morning paper. He dropped 34 and 14 on Shaq last week. He's averaging 26.4 points and 10.4 rebounds a night – much better than his career averages – and he's using his 310 pounds near the basket to move bodies and that reach to block everything within his wingspan.

Every moment now, he's a presence. "At his height, his ability, he's almost unstoppable," Houston's Rafer Alston said.

Everything is up, way up for him, especially his turnovers, which tells Yao that "there is more physical contact." Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy tried to defend him a few days ago, and it cost him $25,000 to the league office. Yes, Van Gundy always has been overprotective of Yao. He always has been that way with his stars, but he isn't exaggerating the level to which people reveled in Yao's sluggish moments, almost reveling in his failures – real or perceived.

"I've never understood the Yao-hate," Van Gundy said. "I'm trying to figure out why people have a problem with him. They always kind of say what's he not. … He doesn't refer to himself in the third person. He hasn't given himself a nickname. And he doesn't try to offset his negative nights with excuses."

Part of the discomfort with Yao was the unknown that surrounded him – the threat, the idea that some within the American basketball culture feared the tapping of Asia could start another stream of dominant players to the NBA. They could live with the Europeans on some level, but beginning on draft night in 2002 there has been a transcendent level of nastiness and unfair standards of success for him. He was as accommodating and as respectful as any star to enter the league in years, yet there was an element who treated him as an intruder, like an experiment that needed to fail.

Along the way, Shaq mocked Yao's heritage with a verbal slur, and too many people laughed it off. Outwardly, Yao laughed also, letting Shaq off the hook. Not anymore, though. If you watched his recent meeting with O'Neal, you noticed the deference was gone. Respect yes, but no longer deference. After he hung 35 and 17 on the Knicks' Eddy Curry on Nov. 10, he quickly disappeared into the Rockets' weight room, pumping iron and preparing himself for a meeting with Shaq in the next 48 hours. That's when Yao hit him for the 34 and 14.

Now, Yao Ming is 26 and has taken every shot this league has for him. He keeps coming back, stronger and stronger, tougher and tougher. And, as McGrady sees it, "He's playing at an MVP-caliber level."

They've come at him for five seasons – with words and slurs, slaps and scratches, doubts and dismissals – and the solemn, sure relentlessness of Yao Ming kept churning and churning, until the NBA was left with a talent suddenly impossible to stop, a phenomenon suddenly transcending the game.

Yao Ming, best center in basketball.

He has the scars to prove it, too.

FROM SCOTT ADAMS THE AUTHOR OF DILBERT
THIS GUY IS HILARIOUS

Every time there’s a military conflict, someone points out that many of the victims were NOT adult men. The theory is that a tragedy is way more tragic if anyone other than adult men get killed. If you throw a woman or a minor or a puppy into the mix then we all have a reason to be sadder and madder.

I totally agree with the view that some tragedies are more tragic than others, depending on who is involved. But I do demand efficiency. That’s why I propose ranking the value of all types of people so I can more easily judge how sad I should feel when they get killed.

For example, if 400 villagers are buried in a mudslide, I’d like to know how many of them were drunks, assholes, nags, dickheads, crooks, or males, just to pick a few examples. I wouldn’t feel as much pressure to feel bad about that portion of the village. In the best case scenario, the victims would all be adult men with no special talents. That’s barely even a tragedy.  We adult males have our uses to be sure, but society agrees that it’s not such a big deal when someone kills us.

I think that the main reason there are so many wars is that most of the soldiers are adult males. If all wars had to be fought exclusively by second graders or contestants from the Special Olympics, no one would ever start a war because the results would be too tragic.

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/10/tragedy_ranking.html

Ok then - I have decided to use this blog more

Up to now it has just been posts about family pics and stuff but from now on I am going to use it for all my random thoughts and stuff. I thought I might start up a new blog but having 3 seems silly.

Most people who read this will be family or friends anyway so if I can't make a dick of myself to you people then who can I do it for?

So expect more regular posts on all sorts of topics in particular basketball and the Celtics, Life the universe and everything. Oh except for PC and tech which I usually post to my other blog at www.mcd311.biz

So brace yourself cause here it comes :)

Hi all

Tracy has taken some new photos and put them up

The recent posts to our Picture account at www.pics.noblejoker.com
are from the Baby group birthday in the park last weekend

We also have some more photos from the last month or so including of Zac's birthday which we will post soon

So keep checking in! :)

IMG_1637_edited-1
Originally uploaded by NobleJoker.

That makes 5 boys in the family with only 5 years between them
We have a basketball team - hooray!