Cholesterol test results are back

Posted on January 25, 2006 by Cam

The results of my cholesterol test are in, and they’re not the greatest, but not really unexpected. I mean, I’m dieting for a reason, right? So here they are:

  • Cholesterol 6.3 mmol/L (ideal range 3.5-5.5)
  • Triglycerides 0.9 mmol/L (ideal 0.5-2.0)
  • HDL Cholesterol 1.31 mmol/L (ideal >1.00)
  • LDL Cholesterol 4.6 mmol/L (ideal <3.5)
  • LDLC/HDLC 3.5 (ideal <4.0)
  • Chol/HDLC 4.8
  • Fasting Glucose 4.7 mmol/L (ideal 3.6-6.0)

So, what does all this mean? Well, in sequence: my total cholesterol level is above normal; my triglicerides are OK; my High Density cholesterol (the good ones that collect fact from around the body (says my doctor)) levels are good; my Low Density cholesterol (the bad ones that deposit fat around the body) levels are above normal; the ratio between the two is OK (so I need to do something, but not panic). The Chol/HDLC ratio is above normal; and my fasting glucose is OK.

Yeah ok, but what does it actually mean? It means I’m not about to kark it just now, and that I can take steps to lower these levels and in so doing reduce my risk of having a heart attack or something.

I had the test at the very start of my diet, which was the 10-Jan-2006, and as you will notice is just after Christmas and all that. Not that I am making any excuses or anything, because the fact of the matter is that I need to lower my Cholesterol.

I need to reduce the amount on cholesterol forming foods that I eat. For me the big one is chocolate. And cheese. And butter. Bugger. But I can eat all the fresh green vegetables that I want!

I like to have target to reach, so here are the targets that I asked my doctor to set for me:

  • Total Cholesterol <5.3 mmol/L
  • LDL Cholesterol <3.5 mmol/L

My next test is in July-2006.

Cam.

PS I’ve lost a little more weight, but not as much as the first couple of weeks. I’m now 89.8kg, so back under 90kg! yay!

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Getting an Image in the K2 header

Posted on January 22, 2006 by Cam

Matthew Stinson wrote some time ago about including images in the K2 header. Although the notes are for an older version of both WordPress and K2, this will help me get a better understanding of how this all works.

To add a banner graphic you first need a banner of appropriate size (760 x 200 is the default, but you can go bigger/smaller according to your needs so long as you adjust the rest of K2 appropriately). When customizing K2’s CSS you should use the K2 styles CSS rather than editing the K2 CSS directly, as any custom styles you create will automatically overwrite K2’s styles without altering core files. The banner you want should probably be placed in

wp_content/themes/K2/styles/images/

that is, an images folder inside the styles folder.

The CSS code to include a banner in your custom style looks like this (edit the all-caps sections to match your materials):

#header {
/* Contains the H1 and menu */
background: url(images/YOURBANNERGRAPHIC.FORMAT) no-repeat;
background-color: #CHOOSE A COLOR THAT MATCHES YOUR BANNER GRAPHIC;
}

Edit your custom CSS file (make a copy of sample.css and edit that copy) and upload it to the styles folder. Then, upload the banner graphic to the images subfolder mentioned above. Finally, access K2 options in WordPress and select your custom style. Load your blog site and the banner should appear.

lets see how I go…

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Other things to work out

Posted on January 20, 2006 by Cam

Things that I keep seeing around the place but not really sure how to use yet:

  • RSS Feeds – feeding directly into wordpress, and testing to make sure that my feeds work
  • pingback
  • trackback
  • linkback

any ideas?

Posted in Blog Notes | 2 Comments

Basis of the site is done!

Posted on January 19, 2006 by Cam

This time last week, I’d never heard of WordPress. Six months ago I started mucking around with blogger, but found the lack of categories a bit of a drag, really. And I guess because I wasn’t really happy that things weren’t just the way that I wanted them, I kinda lost a bit of interest.

So from setting up a wordpress.com hosted site, creating a new blog and loving WordPress in the process, I could see that the tools that I wanted were finally at my fingertips. All I now needed was my own domain some place to host it and then I could get cracking with my own fully customisable installation of WordPress.

I timed it well too. WordPress 2.0 was just officially released so I spared myself of having to upgrade.

I would like to thank a few people too. From people who have taken the trouble to write up their experiences with getting everything working, to others who are publishing themes and styles and plug-ins and all sorts of wonderful stuff.

There have been a bunch of other inspirational sites as well, (and we can’t forget the WordPress wiki).

Anyway – off to add some more photos now!

Posted in Blog Notes, HandyHints | 3 Comments

WordPress 2.0 vulnerability

Posted on January 19, 2006 by Cam

aha.. it seems that WordPress has a known vulnerability which may allow an attacker to carry out an SQL injection attack, so we’ll have to watch out for a patch…

UPDATE 29-Jan: It has been reported that there is now a fix for this problem and that it involves an upgrade to WP-Stats 2.01.  The problem was also localised to the Wp-Stats plug-in and has been patched. You can read more about the problem, and go directly to the source for the fix.

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new domain and WordPress installed

Posted on January 18, 2006 by cincoll

OK, so the new domain is set up, WordPress is installed and running, other blog data imported (not that there was much), all in a couple of hours. Very hapy with WordPress so far. Next will be the theme and template.

Will also need to set up a new default page for incoll.org

what fun! :-)

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Second Week on the Diet

Posted on January 16, 2006 by cincoll
Well, it’s the start of the second week on the diet. Started last week at 92kg and this week I am 90.2kg. So heading in the right direction, although I daresay most of that loss is fluid. I’m on the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, which apart from not being able to drink much alcohol, is actually very easy to adopt. I’ve got a pedometer too, so that I can be sure that I am doing enough walking.
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CalorieKing.com.au – Food Data. Nutrition information about your favourite food. fat, fibre, protein and more

Posted on January 12, 2006 by cincoll

This is a must for learning about foods that you eat when eating for your health and wellbeing. This site lists just about every food you could think of. CalorieKing.com.au – Food Data. Nutrition information about your favourite food. fat, fibre, protein and more
A very handy reference.

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XP Hint:Screen refresh rate

Posted on June 21, 2005 by cincoll

This is a big one for me: Flickering monitors. I personally find them very annoying, but others seem to tolerate them much more than I do, but complain that their eyes are tired. Whenever I help someone out at their PC I fix their monitor refresh rate.

Why is this a problem? On CRT monitors, they need to constantly refresh the screen to display the image, otherwise it fades away. If the refresh rate is too slow, under certain conditions the flicker (fade then refresh) becomes noticeable. This is particularly relevant for larger screens, and irrelevant for LCD monitors which don’t have the same fade issues – if a pixel is on, it is on.

What can be done to fix it? In XP the default refresh rate is 60Hz (times per second). For high resolution GUIs something above 72Hz. But you need to make sure that your monitor can handle the higher refresh rates. XP has some neat protection to help ensure that you don’t end up with a blank screen, by allowing the setting to be confirmed (or not) before it times out and reverts to the previous setting. If your monitor is correctly detected by XP then you should be pretty right.

  1. You can make the refresh rate change by going to Start > Control Panel > Display to bring up the Display Properties dialog box
  2. Select the Settings tab, and click the Advanced button – the Plug and Play Monitor Dialog box will be displayed.
  3. Depending on your video card in your PC, you may see five or six tabs on the dialog box, or there may be more than 10.
  4. In the Plug and Play Monitor dialog box, click the Monitor tab.
  5. In the Monitor Settings area, ensure that the Hide modes that this monitor cannot display checkbox is checked. This will help ensure that we don’t select a refresh rate that is too high.
  6. In the Monitor Settings area, from the Screen Refresh Rate drop down list, select a refresh rate higher of 72Hz or higher.
  7. Click Apply. XP will now test the setting. If the display looks ok, click Yes to keep the settings. Generally speaking, the higher the refresh rate the better.
  8. Click OK on the Plug and Play Monitor dialog box, and the Display Properties dialog box and close the Control Panel.
  9. Finally, you may need to adjust the monitor to optimise the display height, width and positioning on the screen as the refresh rate can sometime affect these. Use the controls on the front of your monitor to make these adjustments.

You can also get information from XP help by searching for screen refresh frequency in XP’s Help and Support tool available off the Start menu.

By the way, the same flicker is present in most fluorescent lights in office buildings. If you can get some natural light in, this can help ease the load on your eyes, or alternatively get an incandescent desk lamp.

Cam.

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Office Hint: Moving paragraphs up, down, in and out

Posted on June 20, 2005 by cincoll

Sometimes I want to resequence a list of items in Word, Powerpoint or OneNote. I use the keyboard shortcut ALT+SHIFT+arrow to move paragraphs up or down.

You can also change the indentation level as well by pressing the left or right arrow keys as part of this sequence.

This also works for multiple selected items as well.

Cam.

btw this has a different effect in Word when you are positioned in a table, whereupon it will move the whole row up or down. Not sure how to move individual paragraphs (with the keyboard) when positioned within a table. Anyone?

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