October 2010

A while ago I had been thinking to do something about the amount of comments on my blog.  When I divide the number of comments by the number of visitors, I’m getting a really small percentage.  So small that the first two digits following the decimal separator are zeroes!

Maybe that’s because I’m not frequently asking people to actually comment on what I write.  Everyone is free to comment, but I’m not asking for it explicitly.  Most people will only post a comment when they don’t agree with what I wrote, or when they have an issue that might (or might not) be related to the post’s subject.  And some people will post a comment when they’re really satisfied with what I wrote, for instance because it saved them some/a lot of time.  But only a minority of visitors are actually doing that.

And that’s okay, I’m not expecting everyone to post a comment every time they read something here.  On the other hand, that means that I don’t know anything about you besides what the web statistics tell me.  All I have are some numbers indicating things like “most visitors are coming from the US”, or “post A was the most read post in the last X months”.  But it doesn’t really say anything about you: what’s your name, what are your daily activities, who do you work for, and so on.

But, Who Are You?

Then I came across a blog post by Adam Machanic, where he’s doing exactly what I’d been thinking.  His post is titled Who Are You?.

Following his example, I’m asking you now to post a comment here.  Tell me (and the world) something about yourself, anything.

In case you want to know something about me, I’m sure there’s plenty to be found on this very site, for instance in my About page.

If there’s something about me that you couldn’t find and want to know, post a question here and I’ll answer.

And How Do You Stay Fit?

Now that I’m asking for some interactivity from you, let’s add one more question.  Given our profession, we’re probably not getting enough physical activity during our regular daytime tasks.  So, what are you doing to stay in shape?

I tried running for a while but found that I couldn’t get myself into those running shoes frequently enough.  Then my eldest daughter started to take swimming classes.  And I decided to go swimming as well while she’s being kept busy by the swimming instructor.  So every Wednesday evening I swim for about half an hour.  In that time I can do 700-800 meters.

And recently I’ve added an additional sport to the list: mountain biking.  I try to get on the bike once a week, either Saturday or Sunday.  Distances so far reach between 25 and 55 kilometers.  Terrain so far includes small paths through forests (known as single track), mud, roots and trunks, cobblestone, sand, paths through agricultural fields and also regular road.  The region where I’m doing this is not flat either, so physically this requires quite a bit more than swimming.  But I really like it, it gives me a sense of freedom and I get to see some nice landscapes, and trees from real close-by.  Currently I’m using a second-hand bike which I have bought for a good price from my brother-in-law but by next year’s Summer or so I’m planning to buy a new one.  So the MTB on the picture is not my bike yet, but it’s one of the possibilities on my list for next year.  I’ve got official dealers for Cube, Trek and Specialized close-by so it’ll be a difficult choice   If you happen to know one of these brands and you’re happy with it, do post a comment to share your experience!

With these two sports on my list of sports activities, I’m happy and I can feel the difference as opposed to no extra activity at all.

How about you, what do you do to keep up the shape?

Looking forward to those replies!

Valentino.