At last! A big hitter is taking a stance against excessive packaging!
Who needs it? Who wants it? Why, when we've surely all suffered serious lacerations from clamshell packaging, or fought impatiently through excessive packaging to get to our new techno-toy, are we inflicting all this unnecessary environmental damage in order to... what? Make something easier to hang on a vendor's racking system?
Has the world gone mad?!
Thank heavens - an injection of sanity. Amazon.com, the most visited website among the top 100 retail websites with 11.52 percent of the market (ahead of Walmart, Target, etc) has chosen to say no to wrap rage.
Click here to see more about this utterly sensible initiative.
Thank you, Amazon! Let's see other big vendors get on board.
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This website needs a revamp - I still like its look and style, but there is always room for improvement. But it is hard for me to look at my own site with an objective eye, so I've decided to do some market research, and I'd like your help.
I'm going to run a few short quizzes that will ask you what you like and don't like about my website, and how I can better deliver the kind of content that you want.
To show you how much I appreciate your feedback, the first 20 people to submit their responses will get a free signed photo of me and my boat rowing across the Atlantic. Not worth much now, but maybe a collector's item of the future!
Click here to answer my 10 Most Urgent Questions - it should take no more than 2-3 minutes of your time.
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Yesterday I started my Masterminds course with Australis Media, to learn more about the power of social networking, or Web 2.0. If you haven't heard of it - you soon will. It is fast becoming the most powerful force for change, and if proof were needed, click here to see how McCain and Obama compared head-to-head in online relationships.
As my friend Ellen put it on Facebook (and my Australis tutors would approve), "The foundation of the vision began with people. The next level was the articulation of a shared misison, one that these people could rally behind and see as a collective destination. The third level was the creation and utilization of social tools that allowed these people to choose and use the way that they wanted to join this movement and pursue this shared mission."
Speaking of the election, a friend has suggested that it is inappropriate for me, as a Brit and environmental/motivational speaker, to comment on American politics. I may thereby estrange a proportion of my audience. This may be true.
But how can I totally refrain from comment? How can I pretend to ignore these historic events taking place in the United States that will have a profound impact on the rest of the world? However, out of due deference to my (Republican) friend, I will attempt to control myself.
So I merely put it on the record that I have noted the presidential result and am reacting appropriately from my non-American side of the pond.
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Since I arrived back on dry land most of my workouts have had to be in the gym. I know a lot of people detest gyms - I'm not saying I wouldn't rather go for a hike or a row out of doors, but generally my life has been busy, time is tight, and the gym gives me the best bang for my buck in terms of time efficiency.
A friend recently asked for some tips on the kind of routine I use, and I thought others might be interested too. So here we go...
(Do bear in mind that I have developed a high boredom threshold after many days at sea - so boring old cardio routines may be less intimidating for me than for anyone who has not spent 12 hours a day on a rowing seat for 100+ days at a time...)
I aim to do an hour of cardio per day. Sometimes I only have time for less, but an hour is my default. I've been banned from running by my doctor so I tend to use the elliptical trainer or ramp cross-trainer - although yesterday felt inspired to use the rowing machine, and sometimes use the stationary bike. But I find the elliptical or ramp are most effective at getting my heart rate up into the aerobic zone.
99 times out of 100 I do interval training. Long slow distance is just TOO boring - even for me! I also believe that interval training is more effective and time-efficient for the heart and overall fitness - based on some research but also on my personality and intuitive feeling for what works with my body.
I'll usually choose the "manual" programme and set my own intervals. Samples:
5 or 10 mins warmup, then one of the following...
Ladder: 1 min hard, 1 min easy, 2 min hard, 2 min easy, 3 min hard.... up to whatever. Option to repeat ladder several times, so after getting to "top" of ladder, go back down to the bottom and start again.
Or a rowing ladder might use number of strokes rather than minutes.
Or sometimes I'll use heart rate, e.g. go hard until my heart rate reaches 150-160bpm, then go easy until it drops back down to 120bpm.
Pyramid: as ladder, but then come back down again in steps rather than dropping straight back down to the smallest interval.
Or just a alternate x minutes hard, x minutes easy.
And warm down again for 5 minutes at the end.
I very much go with the flow - whatever I feel like on the day. By the time I start the workout I've decided what I'll do and I commit to it. No further negotiation with myself is allowed!
After my cardio I'll usually do some weight training - just for about 10-15 mins. I use free weights, 10-15 reps, 2-3 sets, often alternating a chest exercise with a back exercise, or biceps with triceps, or legs with crunches. Or sometimes a superset on one body part, such as alternating shoulder presses with lateral raises. So I keep moving from one exercise straight into another, which keeps my heart rate up for a few bonus minutes beyond the cardio.
I'll also have a good stretch - usually at the end, sometimes at the beginning if I'm feeling all knotted up when I arrive at the gym. I've got a nice little routine that incorporates bits of yoga, pilates, physiotherapy exercises, and just things that feel good!
I keep meaning to take podcasts on my iPhone to help pass the time, but keep forgetting. I actually quite enjoy just switching off and letting my mind wander. There is so much going on in my life right now that my gym time is part of my precious "me-time". When I tune out from my conscious mind, I often have some of my best brainwaves. Sometimes I get off the cardio machine with a huge list of great ideas that I have to scribble down quickly in my notebook before I forget them. So my gym time is never wasted!
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