Adrian Mateljan

I keep forgetting that five of his six ends are pointy when he lies like that.
- Calvin and Hobbes

So it has now been two weeks since Lou and I returned from Orlando, Florida. I promise I will post about that soon - after I finish my RedDot User Group Conference post, which I attended the week before our holiday… The last two weeks have been kinda hectic - but I finally have some time to fill you all in.

We flew back into London on the Sunday morning and got to do all those fun things that need to be done on return from a trip away - unpack, do shopping, pickup Kobe etc - so I didn’t manage to settle much before being back at work on Monday. To make things more challenging, I had arranged to take the Friday off in order to go with Lou to pick up Hobbes - and therefore squished my 35 hour week into four days. The original idea was to give us the full weekend to settle / integrate Hobbes into our home.

During the week, Lou’s various Hobbes related purchases arrived - as can be seen below. Click on the image to see a bigger version, again to see it in its full glory! From left to right we have the small cat tree (in the bedroom), the large cat tree (in the family room) and the litter robot (just above the stairs). The trees came in five pieces, so some evening assembly was required.

Although the drive to pick Hobbes up was almost two hours (both ways), we had no trouble bringing him home - even with the carry box open at the top. The rest of Friday was the same - he was only interested in sleeping / hiding. Initially in the bathroom, and then behind his small tree in the bedroom (we shifted him because we thought the noisy bathroom fan probably wasn’t helping). By evening he was timidly checking out the room and glad of the baby barrier we had erected around his small tree and litter box - we couldn’t keep Kobe out of the main bedroom overnight.

As I suspected, Kobe hasn’t had any issues with Hobbes. If anything, she couldn’t meet him soon enough! Hobbes on the other hand was very wary of Kobe and would hiss at her across the room. Saturday saw Hobbes more confident with the bedroom and a little less wary of Kobe. By Sunday Hobbes was exploring the family room and hissing at Kobe was restricted to being set upon while playing.

Lou wasn’t confident to look after Kobe and Hobbes by herself on Monday, plus we needed some supplies and rest, so I also took Monday off from work. However, Hobbes was becoming more confident each day, so it wasn’t too much of an issue. We had had three earlier urine related “accidents” and a couple of near misses, but things were now turning to protecting areas Hobbes hadn’t been able to get to previously - the table, the upstairs room with my miniatures and paperwork etc.

So I squished another 35 hours into four days. Lou and Hobbes coped and Hobbes pretty much has the run of the place now. He and Kobe are getting on fine - though we still can’t play chase games with him while Kobe is in the room, and we need to be wary of Kobe swallowing his small cat toys. I’m not sure he particularly likes the attention from Kobe, but he doesn’t hiss anymore and only attacks if he has been interrupted attacking something else. Kobe is starting to demand more attention as the novelty of Hobbes wears off.

Its been a long two weeks, what with nine hour days (plus four hours travel) and limited rest acoss our first four days with Hobbes. The London underground strike on Wednesday and Thursday did not make things any easier. I haven’t had time to exercise since before Orlando (ie three weeks) and some of our eating has not been the best as Lou hasn’t been in the mood to cook. I doubt my Monday weigh in will be positive.

89.0kg

I’m back! Lou and I had an awesome time in Orlando, Florida. Thankfully it doesn’t seem to have had a major effect on my weight goals - just a sideways movement for the fortnight. My haircut may have helped a little too - short hair again!

In our week we managed to visit Disney (Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Blizzard Beach), Universal Studios (incuding Islands of Adventure), Discovery Cove and the Florida Mall (not a theme park). Pictures and further details to follow - hopefully sooner rather than later. We will probably go back at some stage - still plenty more to see and do!

Meanwhile, I think I am still recovering from the return journey / catching up on my sleep - so this tidbit will just have to do for now.

88.9kg

Well, this half month wasn’t quite as spectactuar as the last - but I still made up some ground which also means I am still on course to get back on target. Challenges this last week included a cake sale at work in support of MacMillan Cancer Support and some very mild illness (which affected exercise this week). The big break through though? I’m able to wear my silk trousers that I had tailored in Singapore in early 2006 again! Comfortably even.

Here I am comfortably wearing my silk trousers for the first time in two years!

The challenge for this fortnight will be keeping on track while spending a week at Disney… wish me luck!

90.2kg

Amazing what a bit of dietary and exercise consistency can achieve huh? I have now been officially without coffee for two weeks (and Lou thought I was addicted…), eating well and not excessively and even exercising more regularly (it probably helps that the regime Lou and I are on suggests a bit more variety than I usually entertain.) With any luck I should be back on target by the end of the month.

You can now follow me on Twitter: adrianmateljan

Hobbes (8 weeks)

Last Sunday we made the trip down to East Sussex to visit Hobbes. He was a bit shy - a cat fight (involving two older cats) which occurred just before we arrived had apparently spooked him. Shy or not, he couldn’t resist chasing a piece of string like a madman. (or should that be madcat?)

Had a bad start to the day today. Firstly, my iPhone - which I am sure I had fully charged - ran out of battery life overnight and hence failed to perform its duties as an alarm clock. Luckily I only overslept by 45 minutes.

But get this, I was drinking my “green” drink over at the TV, reading  my e-mail on my iPhone (now plugged in and recharging from my main power board) when the bottom of my glass fell out! Result - “green” drink everywhere, including splattered across my main power board (thankfully I wasn’t standing right over it - or I imagine the start of my day would have been much worse…)

The glass had a heavy bottom and a deep etched design - both of which probably contributed - but still it isn’t something you would expect, right? I’m pretty sure glass is dishwasher proof. Expansion/contraction in our conservatory kitchen perhaps? I have had the glass for probably about a year…

Thankfully the rest of the day was incident free. (I was under instruction to come straight home if it wasn’t, just in case!)

93.1kg

Ok, we are now officially off target. Not only that, but I missed the April 1st update as well. Still, given that Louisa and I have been to Cornwall over Easter, it could be worse!

Lou has us both on a new alkaline regime for the next 12 weeks, so I am expecting to make some new dents in the above graph. It involves an alkaline diet as well as exercise. I can´t speak for the regime itself (yet) but I do think any course of action that involves not over-eating and exercise will work if applied consistently (its an energy equation, right?) Anyway, with Lou on board now it should make things a little easier. The removal of a lot of complex carbohydrates and sugars from our diet shouldn´t hurt either! Lack of results to this point have simply been a lack of consistency in eating and exercising, in my humble opinion.

Spent the Easter long weekend in sunny Cornwall. Had a very relaxing time and ate too much good food. More details soon…

Happy Easter everyone!
Adrian, Louisa & Kobe