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I'm continuing with the Hogwarts theme, even though I might not be around much over this next challenge. This time, it's going to be a very simple challenge. 1. Do something to improve my pulling power or grip strength every day. 2. Do something to improve my flexibility every day. 3. Do something to improve my computer skills every day. 4. Do something to help my mental well being every day. None of these really need to be much. I just want to stay on track with doing at least a little bit. Otherwise, I'm doing parkour class on Saturdays, Silks class on Saturdays, parkour open gym on Tues (when possible), with hopefully some strength yoga every Sunday and a strength session every Thursday. I also have to tangle with spring break, my son's birthday, my husband's birthday, some computer stuff I'm doing for the parkour gym, a huge science convention (just attending, but it will clog a weekend), and a ton of kids' activities.

I have been struggling a long time with self-discipline and computer addiction (which increases my body’s feeling of weakness and tiredness). I make plans all the time to do better, I make lists almost every day of things to do but I never follow through. I have made many challenges but failed, it's a cycle of overeating-computer addiction-body fatigue(from just sitting, and being out of shape) I want to change, I want to do better. Instead of doing challenges, I want to do a log for the rest of 2016, which is of changing habits. This log will initially be for August 15th 2016-January 20th 2017 I will log: Computer time Food (and how many servings) Exercise

Intro: At the end of January 2015, I weighed 255 lbs, hated myself, and constantly felt sick and tired. I started watching what I was eating, and then at the end of February took the plunge and joined a gym. I came across NF a week before the April 2015 6WC started. There are links to my introduction/origin story and my first eight challenges in my sig below. Feel free to go rummage around in there. I’ve made steady progress through the challenges over the last 12 months, with just the occasional setback. In October, I was invited (and thrilled) to become an Ambassador for the Adventurers guild. Over my first four challenges, I set a specific goal of getting properly fitted for a good quality, tailored, three-piece suit, and get a good photograph taken wearing it, because I was sick of being disgusted when I looked in the mirror or saw a photo of myself. Having achieved that goal, the focus is now on getting to a target weight of 180 and staying there. And now, the misadventures of a man experiencing a mid-life crisis and attempting to convince himself that he still has The Stuff… No, Def, it’s not me. This time. Introducing Larry; Larry Laffer. Back when I was still an immature, sniggering buffoon, I found smutty humour hilarious. Shocking, I know. Thankfully, I’ve outgrown such juvenilia. Let’s just imagine for a moment that I haven’t, though. This challenge is homage to my all-time favourite computer game character, Larry Laffer. In the late 80s and early 90s, Al Lowe’s Leisure Suit Larry series kept me glued to my Commodore Amiga for countless hours, giggling at innuendo-laden situations and innocently longing for pixelated nudity as Leisure Suit Larry went Looking for Love in Several Wrong PlacesTM. Disclaimer: There were a couple of terrible console arcade-style revivals in the early 2000s, but they were the equivalent of the American Pie movies which didn’t feature Jim, Finch and the real Stiffler, and should be avoided at all costs. I’ve plateau’d bigtime over the past couple of challenges, partially my own fault. While I’ve generally stayed within my calorie limits, and kept up the exercise schedule, there’s been a bit of general fitness/life malaise, and a constant battle to eat properly, rather than meeting my targets with bad calories. With that in mind, I’m going to change things up a little this time. I’m going to go a little lighter on the cross trainer, and get back to NF basics and lift more weights. I’m also trying something different with how I track certain things. Rather than daily totals, I’m trying out weekly pass/fails to determine my grades. Quest 1: “Buff Sheds Sweat in Search of Sexier Stuff” 5,000 calories burned on the cross trainer at my gym. Achievable Points on offer: +3 STA A – 5000+ (Points x 1) B – 4500-5000 (Points x 0.75) C – 4000-4500 (Points x 0.5) D – 3500-4000 (Points x 0.25) F – < 3500 (Fail. 0 Points.) Quest 2: “Buff Burpees to Boost his Bodaciously Bangin’ Bod” 500 burpees by the end of the challenge. Achievable Points on offer: +3 DEX A – 500+ (Points x 1) B – 450-500 (Points x 0.75) C – 400-450 (Points x 0.5) D – 350-400 (Points x 0.25) F – < 350 (Fail. 0 Points.) Quest 3: “Buff Pushes Pounds in Pursuit of Pulsating Pectorals” Scoring slightly differently this time around. A minimum of three weight training sessions each week. Each week with three sessions is a pass. Achievable Points on offer: +5 STR A – 5 Weeks (Points x 1) B – 4 Weeks (Points x 0.75) C – 3 Weeks (Points x 0.5) D – 2 Week (Points x 0.25) F – 0-1 Weeks (Fail. 0 Points.) Quest 4: “Buff Feasts Faithfully upon the Finest Foods” Log food, and stay within my calorie target. Rather than scoring it daily, it’s a weekly target of 11200 (8000 for short week 5). Each week under target is a pass. Achievable Points on offer: +2 WIS, +1 CHA A – 5 Weeks (Points x 1) B – 4 Weeks (Points x 0.75) C – 3 Weeks (Points x 0.5) D – 2 Week (Points x 0.25) F – 0-1 Weeks (Fail. 0 Points.) Quest 5: “Buff Hydrates His Hotness with H2OHMYGODINEEDTOPEEEEE” Hydrate like Bobby Boucher. Again, I’m scoring it weekly. Drink 21 litres of water per week (15 on week 5). Each week over target is a piss pass. Achievable Points on Offer: +1 CON A – 5 Weeks (Points x 1) B – 4 Weeks (Points x 0.75) C – 3 Weeks (Points x 0.5) D – 2 Week (Points x 0.25) F – 0-1 Weeks (Fail. 0 Points.)

So, I went to download some stuff to start writing code again... just a Software Development Kit and IDE... with the goal of making some apps to see if I still dig the problem solving aspect of writing programs. Apparently, my dinosaur computer is too old. Maybe I could shell out some money and upgrade it so I could upgrade the OS so I could run some stuff... but it's not the machine I would have picked if I'd had other choices at the time. (It's an iMac from 2007-8. It was free. It is currently serving its purpose of web browsing and occasionally running Word and Excel, and sometimes being closer to hand than an actual calculator.) Since I haven't done anything serious with a computer in years, and I was never super-knowledgeable about hardware, I now have no idea how much computer I need to acquire to start writing code again. I'm not fooling myself into thinking that this is a career investment, so I'm can't just go get the current top of the line (or even near that), but I don't want to cheap out so much that I find myself in the same spot I'm in now - can't run the stuff (IDE, etc) that everyone else is using. Any suggestions on what I should be looking for in a new (to me) computer? tl;dr: suggestions for a computer specs for getting back into programming?

This is for all the folks on Nerd Fitness who are also on HabitRPG so we can get together to talk about the program and maybe form parties. http://habitrpg.com for those who have no idea what I'm talking about and want to know about the game.

My computer is very, very slow, even after reinstalling Windows and starting from scratch. It's a few years old, so I suppose it's to be expected. Therefore, I am in the market for a new one! WHAT I NEED IT TO DO: -Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. -Gaming! Torchlight 2, Skyrim, that kind of thing. Doesn't have to run on the highest settings, but it's gotta be smooth. -General web browsing, email checking, boring stuff. Obvs. The guy at Best Buy was trying to sell me on one of these Lenovo ThinkPad things: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-thinkpad-yoga-14-2-in-1-14-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-1tb-16gb-hybrid-drive-black/8618451.p?id=1219354097142&skuId=8618451&ref=30&loc=KW-4322&ksid=33328961-80ed-bca8-b35f-00005a0e2c88&ksprof_id=8&ksaffcode=1587996&ksdevice=c And the bf was telling me the Surface Pros (2/3) are pretty darn sweet (he's got a 1st-gen one). I like the idea of having the touchscreen built in so I can do artsy stuff without having to cart around a Wacom tablet; apparently with the Lenovo above that's not an option even though it has a touchscreen? I guess it's not a dealbreaker, but it would be nice to have one less piece of equipment to mess with. Of course I'd like to not spend a ton of cash if I can help it; the budget is pretty tight these days. That said, I do understand you get what you pay for, so I'm thinking if I can keep it to $1000 or less that should be manageable.

For his birthday, my nephew has requested a computer programming book, he suggested Java, but if someone has other suggestions not Java I think that would work. Not sure what his math skills are,but not advanced. We bought my son a C++ book when he was this age, and it was too hard. But the ones for younger students are sometimes way too easy. He wants something that he can just work through on his own. If he can only do the first half the book and then it gets difficult and he needs to wait, that would work. Any suggestions?

I'm falling back into the bad habit of being on the computer too late. Note posting time as evidence. I would like to do a mini-challenge during our challenge break. All computer,TV, electronics turned off by 9:30. The challenge will start Monday July 21 and end on Sunday July 28th. Anyone want to take the challenge with me? We can post here on how we are doing and encourage one another.

besides me, of course. i have been using it avidly at home since 2008, but i know very few other people who do the same. i figured that, since this is a forum for nerds, there must be at least a Linux user or two lurking here somewhere. that said, if you use Linux, reply to this post with your distro of choice and why you like it.