Luca Belletti's Lifestream

March 10, 2010

Tidying up lucabelletti.com should anyone visit

Last night I finally met Gordon, saw Mike again and chatted to some unfamiliar faces with familiar Twitter handles.

So, in case anyone decides to look around here, this is where I've been chucking stuff in since last July.

Before that, there used to be one of them proper blog things called Bitful. By the way, the registration for that domain expires in two weeks; I have considered not renewing it, but will probably end up claiming that little patch of real estate for myself again. I could say I will do it for old time's sake, or to keep legacy content available, but the truth is I cannot be bothered to move everything here. The folks at Posterous say it's easy, but the last thing I want to deal with after my day job is figuring out why something did not work the way it was meant to.

Which reminds me, I ought to put a note on Bitful saying that the general direction of my brain dump has changed.

And now I am getting late for work because of writing a blog post - how 2004!

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March 9, 2010

Happy 10th birthday London Eye!

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March 8, 2010

Sticker on soap dispenser at the vauxhall griffin pub

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Filed under // bones photos skulls stickers

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March 8, 2010

Lost three pounds in a week

I lost three pounds last week. In weight, not money thank you very much.

It could have been the flu, it could have been my March detox (no
wheat, dairy, sugar or alcohol for a month), it certainly was not due
to yesterday's slip up (peanut butter on rice cakes until nothing was
left).

Way to fracking go.

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Filed under // diets food weight

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March 5, 2010

Does anyone recommend Mozy for online backups?

I have recently bought a new computer and thought it would be a good opportunity to change online backup setup.

Most of my files are already online in Google apps (I trust Google's synchronous replication), and I don't back up music, movies and iPhone apps (they can be downloaded again easily from iTunes), so it's mostly photos I'd hate to lose.

I have used JungleDisk paired with Amazon Web Services for the last two years, but the monthly fee keeps creeping up (more files, larger files, and I am paying per MB both for uploading and for storing).

I was going to switch to Picasa so that I could backup my photos online with Google Storage space (very cheap at $5per year for 20GB), but you can only back up photos in Picasa Web Albums and I'm not interested in it at the moment.

So I had a look around and am thinking of installing Mozy. I shall try the free version tonight (limited to 2GB) and will purchase the home plan if it's good ($4.95 per month, no limits on upload traffic or storage). There also seems to be 15% off.

Is anyone else using Mozy? Would you recommend it or any alternatives? What I want is something easy to use that runs unnoticed in the background.

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Filed under // backups cloud computers data online

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March 4, 2010

Great motivation to lose weight

My mother told me I am fat. To which I wanted to reply 'pot kettle' but didn't know how to say it in Italian.

Well, she did not say it in so many words. I was opening her bedroom window and turning my back to her, and she said 'Don't put on any more weight, you look like your grandfather'. I had to ask what he looked like and was told he was a big man. Next time I'm visiting I'll look for pictures so I can check how fat he was.

In the meantime, I am spending the month of March detoxing. Lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and fish. No alcohol, sugar, dairy or grains. Need a major cleanup. Started on Monday and doing very well so far.

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Filed under // detoxing diets mothers weight

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February 25, 2010

Where's the last month gone?

I seem to work and work and eat and eat and then eat some more (getting a bit out of control but will spend March detoxing so that's alright. Mmmh, was going to spend January detoxing, then decided it was going to be February...). No gym either, which is making me mad, but I was training for the Brighton half marathon and I have learnt that I cannot do weights regularly and go for three or four long runs every week. Oh, and the half marathon? Had to defer it to next year because of a rib I cracked (possibly, it clicked when touched and hurt like hell when running, it's better now thank you) while snowboarding (or rather, falling from snowboarding). Snowboarding lessons in Milton Keynes were fantastic and glad we thought of doing that before going snowboarding on the Alps in Italy. Leaving tonight actually, so bye for now and back to work.

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Filed under // detoxing italy running snowboarding

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January 23, 2010

Burns Supper

Click here to download:

burns-supper-lcAoHiplFqcqADbhvFCp.zip (3855 KB)

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Filed under // burns kilts scotland suppers

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December 31, 2009

2009 was not all bad

I don't think I've ever done one of these end-of-year reviews. I always lacked the energy and motivation to look back.

But as 2009 draws to a close, after seeing so many friends' Facebook and Twitter updates bidding good riddance to what has been for them an awful year, I can't help but ask myself if it was all that bad for me too.

There are a couple of things that yes, I would have been happier if they had not occurred. Stuart mum's breast cancer (chemo- and radiotherapy completed, waiting game started), and my own mother's heart surgery (very slow recovery as she is 84; for a while we feared she would never be independent and lucid again, but we now hope for a full recovery in due time).

These were opportunities for me to grow and develop. I found the discipline to train for the Great South Run in Portsmouth while collecting funds for breast cancer research (a staggering 1,691 pounds, thanks to the generosity of family, friends and colleagues, and you can still donate if you wish to do so). And dealing albeit briefly with my mum I discovered what it is like to care for an old woman who requires assistance for even her most personal needs.

What else is there? I've enjoyed my job, I love the flat, city and country I live in (as a British citizen since August), I have been in reasonably good health and I am grateful for having family, friends and Stuart in my life.

So let me raise my glass (which is definitely half full) to wave goodbye to 2009 and welcome the new decade. May it bring health, love and work to all of you.

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Filed under // cancer running surgery

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December 31, 2009