Dogs

Okay blogging everyday is harder then I thought but I am gonna get better at this haha.

Well like my blog title says dogs, no I don't mean friends who back stab you (calling someone a dog never made sense to me since dogs are the most loving animals I have encountered) I mean the actual animal dog.

I got my Lagotto Romagnolo few weeks ago and she has already found a place in my heart. Shes the most beautiful dog and she makes my day brighter after hard days work.

I've been wanting a dog since late last year and it took me til now to finally get one. The first dog I had was a cross breed who we had got as a gift off a friend. She had a very hyper temperament but at the same time she was very loyal and affectionate, whenever you came home from work her tail would wag 700 times a minute and she has the happiest smile on her face. She was one of my best friends when I was younger, that's what I love about dogs, when you have one you never feel alone, they are like an ever faithful companion who would never leave your side. Unfortunately Bella did as I was at school she had ran away from home then got hit by a car which had made tears fall down my eyes and made me feel broken inside.

Its been more then 4 years since her passing away and I told myself I want to experience the joy of having another dog again and since I am older now she shall be taken better care of. Since my last dog was a cross breed which I didn't pick I decided I am gonna go for a pure breed which I will take into consideration whether I will be able to take care of her or not. First I thought of a dog I wanted when I was younger which was a Labrador. I was determined to get one but I forced myself to keep the idea in my head for at least a month (but that didn't stop me from talking to various breeders about the breed lol). I read a few articles on the Labrador and heard from a few owners and to my surprise they are a pretty high maintenance dog and you gotta consider a few things before buying one. Labradors shed alot, and by alot I mean alot, (their fur will actually stick to furniture, a lady told me her Labrador passed away 3 years ago and she still finds hair in the house), they get that really bad dog odor and they require alot of exercise else they get obese. My next breed of choice (which I am glad I didn't get when I think back to it) is the Labradoodle, which is a Labrador X Poodle which mainly got mixed to get rid of the Labradors hair shedding but keep the Labrador Temperament. If you ask about Labradoodles on a dog forum your gonna create alot of hot water! Cross Breeds are unpredictable, you won't know what your gonna get and its not garanteed a Labradoodle is not gonna shed or be smart. A guy on the forum suggested to me to get a Lagotto which I had never heard about so I investigated. The Lagotto Breed appealed to me alot, they were a non shedding water dog that was highly intelligent which is exactly what I wanted! The only flaw with this dog that was mentioned is its urge to dig (they are used for truffle hunting) and they have a high energy output (water dog trait). She is gonna be an inside dog I told myself and I am a high energy person myself so I will be able to exercise her easy. I made the choice and I never looked back.

The breed is pretty rare in Australia so it was pretty hard for me to find a good breeder (not some backyard breeding clown that just does it for money). I went on dogz.com.au and found one, it didn't take long to make a date to go see her and it was pretty much faith for me the way I see it. That day I went to see the breeder to talk about the breed and actually see the breed in person (which I hadn't done) I was pretty impressed with the way they looked and their temperament. They wern't shy at all like most dogs I've come across and they looked like your typical shaggy dog. The breeder told me a litter was just born yesterday and one white female is available (to my luck I wanted a female!) and I thought to myself this must be my future dog!

It was a long 8 weeks before I got her, her name is Lois and so far shes been a joy. Typical puppy behavior, I have been using positive reinforcement training so shes learning fast, her toilet training is going well and shes gotten so attached to me. We got so many years to have good times together!

To conclude, dogs all big and small have their benefits and flaws but they all got one thing in common, they need to be loved! It all started back when a wolf became stray from their pack and found refuge with cavemen who accepted the wolf as part of the family.
Dogs are social creatures and forever mans best friend.
Remember if your getting a dog that gotta stay in the backyard all its life, get a goldfish and SAY NO TO ANIMAL CRUELTY AND BACKYARD BREEDING

The Terrible ending to Skins

WARNING!!! SPOILERS ALERT FOR SEASON 7 OF SKINS!! READ AT OWN RISK

One of my favorite shows had its epic finally last night, but I am so disappointed at the way they made this new season! Effy's episodes were alright, it has both Naomi's and Lily's stories there as a subplot and it showcased Effy's ability to manipulate men into doing what she wants (like she did in season two with the guy selling her mums pills and in season three and four with Freddy, Cook and JJ haha). She still had her need to go out and rave all night but she had the strong ambition to make it in the real world which ultimately ended in her nearly sending an innocent kid to jail, losing support for her old friend, losing her job, and ultimately ending up in jail. I know its quite normal for skins to end seasons open endedly but it pisses me a tad off when its the completely last season compromising of only 3 main characters, and 6 episodes compared to the earlier seasons having 8-10 episodes and 7-9 main characters and yet they still decide to leave things open ended. Not to mention leaving the open ended parts of the earlier seasons still in the dark! (Okay Effy's not mental anymore, Cassie and Sid never made it unfortunately and by the sounds of it Cook did kill that Dr Foster guy but far it was just clued out.)
What I was hoping for in Cassie's episodes was connections to the earlier seasons especially to the characters but they seems to be none, we had a scene with her on the bench she nearly died on in season 1 and we saw her dad and her little brother (who just breifly appeared in one episode in season 1) but that was it. Her plot in these two episodes were pretty lame I got to admit, I think the writers are losing interest knowing the shows gonna end or something. Cassie was famous for her eccentric personality in season 1 and 2 but this new Cassie is completely normal! She works in a diner, roots a waiter in the diner who was in the army (pretty skinny one too), leads on a virgin that likes taking photos of her, screws the virgin over by joining a modelling agent, has issues with her father, makes friends with a prostitute, steals the cocaine of the prostitutes client, gets the virgin bashed by the skinny army guy and that was the highlights of the two episodes. Like what has happened to this show? They even took out the mad intro out with the trippy music!
Cooks episode don't even get me started. Basically he is still on the run from the cops for bashing that guy in season 4, he killed someone (I am guessing John Foster) and now he is a drug dealer with no home, rooting a chav and dealing with a main dealer who is a psychopath. Cooks episodes have no connection to the past seasons what so ever and it lacked creativity. I gotta admit it had its suspense moments and cooks badboy charm was shown off  but it lacked a good plot and the ending was too far fetched and also ended openendedly.
To conclude skins is such a great show, it always put me in a good mood whenever I am in a shit one and it has all sorts of drama in it and makes you think logically about how teenagers actually live their lives. This last season was such a disappointing end to such a good franchise.

Ideas

How do people come up with ideas? It seems to be one of the major things to run this world whether it would be creating something that can compute data at fast rates (computers) or something simple and entertaining such as an alien coming to live among us humans and saving lives throughout his day (Superman). Everything in the world started off with an idea. Ideas usually come to us by accident or if we have a general interest in a certain field mixed with ambition we get a fixation on how we would like something to be. The possibilities of what humans can achieve seem limitless to me since seeing all we have achieved. You can argue that there's a limit but 20 years ago no one would imagine having half the technology we got now. As a kick start to my IT career I decided to learn Java and also get into Android app programming particularly games, since I am a game addict and all.

Like I said in one of my previous blog posts the amount of accomplishment you would feel from having an idea and making it happen would be astonishing so I am going to take little steps towards that goal and start creating my own java games. I have had a hard time having ideas come to my head. It took me a while to get some but the easiest way I made it happen is by just getting a pen, book and motivation and writing down gibberish until the ideas flow out of your head, it could be anything no matter how silly or hard. (Like who the hell thought of a game where you flick birds at pigs?)

Its been a busy as few months mixing work with private study but I know its all gonna pay off! In the meantime I am saving up to pay for my uni fees and I will also have a head start in the IT field having studied a language thoroughly. Its a long road ahead and I am willing to persist my way to the end!

Gym

One of my regular routines in life which I have surprisingly been persistent with is hitting the gym. It was my new years resolution to be in my best physical form this year and thus I have achieved it, I can be proud to say that I am in the best shape that I have ever been!
Whats motivated me?
Well I was probably in the worst shape in my life last year when I was working long hours 7 days a week and I would just eat and drink my stress away. I reached a wooping 88kg. I started getting criticized by everyone around me (even out of shape people which made me feel even more shit) and also the fact that the year before I had lost weight and got into shape, now I gained it all back plus 5kg extra :(. Another thing that also motivated me was the fact that I have been single for a whole year and a wake up call shot up in my brain that something has to be done!
I have constantly been going to the gym 5 days a week, I started off trying different routines since I wasn't sure what worked best with me. At first I was doing 3 hours of low instensity cardio (60% of max heart rate) 3 times a week since it worked for me last time, It worked at the start but I quickly got bored since it was long, boring and draining and i had quit this routine after losing 4kg in 4 weeks. I got an app on my iphone called 'fitness pro' which had a list of gym routines I could try and I also researched a new cardio routine call High Intense Interval Training (HIIT) and I got to say, if you are gonna do any cardio do HIIT!! Slow steady state cardio is bull****, its boring and time consuming!
I was doing one routine out of the app for 8 weeks then switching to another routine. They had a whole list of routines, from on the top of my head I remember doing a routine based on Chest building, another one on Muscle Definition, Strength Increasing. It was going so well! I was losing weight and my workouts were fun! (BTW when your losing weight be aware the amount you can lift starts dropping for some reason :S) Also going to the gym became a habit, I felt shit every time I missed the gym, I would go to a 24/7 gym if I worked overtime and I invested alot of time looking at my results and wanting to improve.
A tragic thing happened which became a great thing afterwards, my iphone broke meaning I couldn't use the app anymore, but I decided it was time to have a completely new routine since I was getting bored with the ones on the phone so I went to the most trusted website in the world, Google!
My favorite type of workout is a strength workout since its low rep and high intensity and you get a big endorphin rush from the sets. I looked up routines and came across one I really liked. Its called the bill star's 5x5 strength workout and I can honestly say its a workout that has not failed me yet! (I'm on my tenth week ATM and I am still not bored of it).
 With weight loss, what happens is you loss all of your excess weight fast and then you come to a point where the weight loss becomes very slow and stubborn, with this workout I have been shredding this stubborn weight at a good rate. I even quit doing HIIT twice a week and I am still losing weight from this workout.
The weight loss isn't the main thing that's awesome about this routine, My Personal Record gains have been very consistent and I can even feel myself get stronger very quick. When I started this workout I would struggle to bench 50kg (once I got the bar stuck down and someone had to come lift it off me) and now I am easily benching 57.5kg after 9 weeks!
To conclude the benefits of going gym are far more then you think. Its not just physical exercising but its also mental exercise since motivation is something that needs to be exercised on a regular basis. Gym releases endorphin's into your brain which act as pain killers towards stress which is one of the reasons people get addicted to lifting weights. Gym has motivated me to quit bad habits such as junk food and smoking, made me way more confident in the way I tackle the world, made me appreciate the guy I see in the mirror, makes me determined in my direction in life and most of all keeps me healthy and lively.

Bill Starr 5x5 workout:
http://stronglifts.com/madcow/5x5_Program/Linear_5x5.htm

Start to my blogging hobbie

Well not sure how many people actually read other peoples blogs who are yet to have a name for themselves or what not but the reason I want to get started on this is so I get a habit of keeping track of where my life is at and also share ideas and my personal interests to others, and to also meet people of similar interests of mine.
Well anyways I am from Victoria, Australia and I am an Electrician who is looking to get into the software engineering field and expand on my skill set. Long story short after I got my electrical license and the ambition of becoming a fully qualified electrician faded away I started to get bored and unhappy really quick about what I was currently doing, I knew I had the potential to do more with my life and didn't picture myself wasting 40+ hours a week doing the same thing over and over again just so I can make ends meet.
Well I watched this movie which inspired me (I know its very cliche but yeah) called "three idiots". Its a foreign movie in India which is basically how two guys made friends with this eccentric guy who totally changed their lives by convincing them that turning their passion into their careers is the key to success and happiness. This movie really touched me and made me think I was so dumb when I was in high school not to pursue my dreams (I wanted to be someone big in the computer industry).
Well anyways ambition was non existent after I had gotten my electrical license, don't get me wrong I like doing the job, I love helping run a business and I am very good at what I do, I have been doing it for nearly 5 years of course it has grown on me! But still something inside of me disagreed with letting myself just tread water my whole life, I did something which in the past would have not been proud of admitting, I went and bought these motivational tapes to listen to called "Personal Power 2, by Tony Robbins" and I gotta admit it was a wake up call after listening to it.
I decided on my dream of making a name for myself in the IT industry and it is gonna be an enjoyable ride! Well first of all I will share an insight that had hit me a couple days ago. Artists, they work so hard at what they do, let me re phase, what they love doing! The stories I hear of these kind of people that work day and night to produce music, paintings, designs, pictures, etc, they probably feel the greatest feeling of accomplishment since what they made is their own idea, then they took action on the idea, produced a result and have people admire it. It must be a beautiful feeling. Its something I want to feel several times in my lifetime.
The amount of things one can achieve in the world of technology is limitless and I am choosing to be part of it. Well if your reading this I appreciate that you gave me your time and I hope to start connecting with others so we can share each others interests and journeys.
For now ciao.