The DaxMindMapper Reloaded

Darrell Russell. A Software Contractor with over 10 years development experience. He is an experienced Microsoft .NET software developer specialising in C#, VB.NET, SQL Server Databases, ASP/ASP.NET web sites, XML, Web Services, WinForms, WCF and WFF development and consultancy work on a freelance basis. Based in the South West of the UK (Tetbury, Gloucestershire) and available to do work within South Wales, the M4 corridor, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Somerset including Bath, Bristol, Swindon, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Salisbury. At the moment he is particulary interested in Agile Software development methodologies including Test Driven Development (TDD).

January 20, 2009

Laguna Key is broken .. to fix it Renault are asking for £145! Sod that ..

Filed under: Cars — Dax++ @ 6:01 pm

.. there’s an excellent looking blog on fixing broken Laguna cards:

Repairing a Renault Laguna Card Key - A common fault with these keys is that one of the buttons stops working. You can tell when this is a fault with the key rather than the car because the led stops flashing. If both buttons have failed then first try the obvious and test the battery and make sure the contacts are clean. If so then you need to resort to one of two drastic solutions; buy another one (about £130) or repair it.

Will give it a go over the weekend - fingers crossed.

January 15, 2009

13st 1lb

Filed under: Rock Climbing, Training — Dax++ @ 11:29 pm

Managed to get half way up a 7B route this evening at the Link centre. Wow!

January 14, 2009

13st 2lbs

Filed under: Rock Climbing, Training — Dax++ @ 10:16 am

Going well so far :-)

January 12, 2009

I’d forgotten what it’s like to go for a proper run ..

Filed under: Training — Dax++ @ 5:00 pm

.. your lungs feel terrible.

Then to cap it all you get back, have a shower, get the suit back on and then continue sweating for the next 10 bloody minutes.

.. ‘orrible.

Yep, today went for my first “proper” run. 4 miles with the last mile at 95% or so.

(I’m giving my fingers rest from climbing and trying to lose a bit of weight too)

January 11, 2009

13st 3lbs

Filed under: Rock Climbing, Training — Dax++ @ 7:02 pm

January 8, 2009

Climbing/Techie Events of 2008

Filed under: Rock Climbing, Tiered Solutions — Dax++ @ 9:15 am

Just thinking over the climbing and technical events of my life during 2008 (I’ll update it now and then):

  • Climbing 101 routes out doors!
  • Falling off and decking on an HVS (Gonna Write a Classic) over at Banygor - oops
  • Having to jump off a 6B route at Wyndcliffe Quarry (Silver-Tongued Cavalier) and take a bit of swing - wahey!
  • Fave climb of 2008 was a VS route at Symonds Yat called Goblin’s Grumble.. not a star rated one but felt great to make the moves upto the bird’s nest at half height
  • Another fave route was A Little Stiff’ner F6a+ over at Banygor - awesome
  • Having a project canned on me (and the rest of the team) but still walking out of that role on a Friday and straight into another one on the Monday == result!
  • Working 10 minutes from a indoor climbing wall == life is sweet :-)
  • Getting Tendonitis in my shoulders for the third year running but this time beating it off with no loss in climbing (using exercises and taking it slightly easier at the wall) .. in the past I’ve had so much pain that it’s been difficult to change gear in the car and had to stop climbing for months.
  • Getting really bad neck pain (to the point where I’m having to decline belaying duties and not being able to sleep at night) .. but beating this too using exercises and sorting out my posture).
  • Discovering AAA syntax with Rhino Mocks 3.5 - it makes mocking a whole lot more readable - well done to Oren Eini for this quantum leap in readability.

Climbing over the last week or so ..

Filed under: Rock Climbing, Training — Dax++ @ 9:12 am

.. is a mixed bag.

Good:
I’m definitely seeing improvements in my strength and some improvement on endurance,
I reckon my technique (body position + foot work) is at an all time high.

Bad:
I still climb a little too slowly and statically - it’s both my strength and weakness. I analyse the coming moves and then execute them fine but there is a definite pause between those two steps .. would like it if the two steps flowed into each other .. only pausing when I see “real� difficulties ahead.
My weight is definitely holding me back .. and this time I’m having real issues with losing the weight .. I’m just bloody starving all the time. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the lbs will come off slowly rather than not at all.
Finger joints are pretty fragile (though better than they where).

January 7, 2009

13st 5lbs

Filed under: Training — Dax++ @ 2:43 pm

Oh well .. the long, slow road to losing weight has started.

January 2, 2009

13st 8lbs

Filed under: Training — Dax++ @ 9:21 am

How’d that happen in one day?!

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