Techno-GEEK to the MAXIMUM

Although I don't consider myself a geek, my brother and my friends have for a long time taken the p*ss out of me for my love of technology and gadgets... oh ok, and for LOVING Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid... and yes ok, I still watch all the repeats now when they're on TV... AND ok yes, I record them on my DVR...

BUT...!

That was it. Techo-gimp, techno-geek, beep-bop-beep-bop, 110110110 and gadget boy and more... Laptop-Lover was my favourite for sure. I had the first generation of smart phones back in the early 2000s when Nokia first ventured beyond the LCD black/green screens and Windows Mobile was in its infancy and Apple iPhones ("What - Apple, make a mobile phone, are you kidding me?!" - said friends) were still a glimmer in the eye of Mr Steve Jobs.

X-Box, DVDs, Hi-Def TV, GPS Sat-Nav in my car, laptops, smaller laptops, even smaller laptops, only shopping online... you can quite happily peg me as someone who enjoys the bleeding-edge and I'm certainly an early-adopter and now I've just finished converting my life and have given over my eternal soul to Apple.

Beautiful, reliable, sexy looking, awesome always Apple. Apple TV, iPod Nano (I have 2!), iPhone 4, MacBook Air 1st Gen... and now... I'm the proud owner of the lovely MacBook Pro. IT'S AWESOME!

And so the reason why I'm writing this blog... if I wasn't a techno-gimp before, I certainly am now...

If you've tried running Microsoft Office 2011, specifically powerpoint and excel at the same time, you will have noticed that even the more powerful of laptops struggle to keep up. Screen freezes, over-heating, running so slowly you would sooner slit your writes than reboot the bugger one more time. So much as I loved my MacBook Air, it was time to trade up.

At 9.59am January 23rd I listed my MacBook Air on eBay for a modest $500 with a Buy-It-Now price of $700. Within minutes, literally just a handful of minutes, it sold! I took that $700, threw in another $100 of my own and within another handful of minutes a refurbished MacBook Pro was mine!

Now. My MacAir had a 1.6 GHz Intel processor (this is how quickly a computer can think and do stuff) and a 2GB RAM chip (this is how MANY different things a computer can think about and do at the same time) and a 70GB Hard Disk (how many things it can remember and store). My MacBook Pro came with a 2.26 GHz Intel processor (so a nice but modest uplift) and a 2GB RAM chip (same as my Air). BUT... the wonderful thing about MacBook Pro above MacBook Air is that the components are removable and replaceable. The MacBook Air doesn't allow you to swap out many, if any, of its components. In order to deliver its small size and weight comes this sacrifice.

So with this in mind, I thought I'd have a go at upgrading the hardware in my new MacBook Pro. Who would have thought how EASY it is and actually, how fun and interesting it can be!

Here's what I managed to uplift:

• RAM
• $90 got me 8 GB of RAM in the form of 2 x 4GB chips. I sold my existing 2GB RAM for $15.
• My laptop can now open and run EVERYTHING without slowing down or freezing!!
• Email, powerpoint, excel, iPhoto, Skype, iWeb, Safari/Internet browsing...! It's AWESOME!
• Hard Disk
• $120 got me a Seagate 500GB 7200rpm solid-state hybrid hard disk. I sold my existing 250GB hard disk for $20.
• OH MY GOD! This is worth a quick explanation
• Solid State memory (like on Flash USB memory sticks) have no moving parts, therefore they perform much faster, perhaps 10 times faster than regular magnetic hard disks with an arm that reads the disk sort of the way an old record player read vinyl records. 500GB of solid-state hard disk would normally cost in the region of $1500 BUT Seagate have come up with a hybrid where it has 4GB of solid memory servicing the most recently / frequently used files and the rest of the data is stored on the magnetic section of the hard disk.
• I can start my laptop up from cold and it will be up, running and fully functional with 40 seconds!!!!!!!!!!! Even with my MacAir it would take a couple of minutes to boot up!
• Check out this comparison video, it's amazing what the difference is...

With my lovely new parts for my MacBook I ventured into the unknown... opening up the casing of the laptop. Holy **** this was actually quite terrifying the first time! Thankfully there are some pretty amazing resources online. Check this out... here's the short video guide to replacing the RAM chips...

After an hour of carefully taking out screws, placing them on a mind map so I didn't forget where they came from (!) here's what my MacBook looked like...

Was I able to put it back together? Yes. Thankfully! Just about!! I have large hands and as everyone who knows me will testify, I'm one of the clumsiest dumb-asses you could hope to meet! It wasn't too bad though and I felt really good pressing the power button after I put it all back together again to see that I didn't break the damn thing. It's here - it's working!! 

I've found so many great resources online I feel like I should give a few shout-outs...

• www.powerbookmedic.com
• Free online video tutorials and how-to guides with loads of detailed step-by-step instructions and loads of spare parts.
• www.ifixit.com
• Great graphical how-to-guides and forums where you post questions and others respond with answers and help. Free.
• Google
• For bring all us nerds together! :)

So... basking in the triumph of my component upgrades and marveling at how I didn't break the thing (!), I'm sat here in Starbucks happily tapping away and wondering what I'll tinker with next....

Go boldly people, make it so.

How I lost 120 lbs in 4 months and got my life back.

Back in 2009 I was about 350 lbs / 156 kg. I was MASSIVE.

I had been this way since I left university in 1999. Yes, I'm 6ft 6in and people said I could 'carry it well' - come on, I didn't. I couldn't. I was ill, my health was in danger. I needed help.

How did I change? It was incredible really. Someone very close to me, one of my closest friends wrote me the most beautiful pair of letters which snapped me out of my trance and allowed me to accept that I had a problem. I did what I should have done 10 years prior to that - I asked for help.

The letters were fictitious diary entries that I would write on my 50th birthday. One was written assuming I continued to live as I was doing, in denial. The other assuming that I had made a change in my life. The note from my friend was entitled, "A sad story and a happy story". I won't share what she wrote for me here, but it opened my eyes immediately and I owe her my life. I will be forever indebted to her. My eyes were streaming with tears. I read the letters on December 30th 2008.

On Feb 2nd 2009 I was at my first session with the Lighter Life UK program, sat in a room with 12 other guys - also hugely overweight.

By the way - should anyone want to read the letters that my friend wrote to me, if you're stuck like I was in a body that felt alien to you, stuck in a situation that keeps you up at night, keeps you away and hiding from your friends and loved ones - please email me or get in touch here and I will be more than happy to send them to you. 

The program consisted of eating 4 x 120 calorie food packs and drinking 4-5 liters of water per day. No cheating, no real food, just meal replacement drinks and chew bars. Every month I would go to the doctor for a check on my blood pressure, heart rate and lung capacity. In 16 weeks I went from what you see above to what you see below... from 350 lbs / 158 kg to 225 / 103 kg.

I kept to myself for the most part during the 16 weeks of being on the programme. I was 'in the zone'. The only person I saw day to day, besides my work colleagues, was the friend who wrote the letters. She got sooooooo sick of me talking about all the different things I was going to do and change about my life (and the first thing I was going to EAT when I was finished)... how she's still able to talk to me I don't know! Haha. Anyway... she stuck with me and I stayed committed to the programme. I did it.

Did I have a 6 pack after I finished? No. Not by a long shot. But I was healthy, I was happy, I was reborn.

How am I doing now? Nearly 2 years on? Well if you read my previous blogpost you will know that I've rather foolishly put back on around 50 lbs / 20 kg of the 120 / 55 kg just recently over the past 4 or 5 months. I'm almost as big as I was in the Week 6 photo above. Bugger.

It's not going to creep back on any further though. I'm back on a healthy routine eating properly, not letting the stress of work and other anxieties get to me... I've got 8 months until my wedding to the lovely Miss Musical and I'm not going to let her down nor myself. I'm going to be the slim, super happy, super confident, full of passion for life Tall Englishman I was when she met me... 

Miss Musical - just you wait for our wedding night! Meow! :)

If you're reading this and you need help, email me. I'd love to talk with you. Anything I can do to help or talk with you about - you've got it. It's important to me to pay it forward, so as my friend helped me, I'd like to help you. If you want to talk, hit me back!