My daughter..

Just wanted to let the world know that my first born, Myar Jane Arnold, arrived this snowy morning in Worcester. She was 9 lbs 13 oz .. she is beautiful!

Also the geek in me went out immediately and registered www.myararnold.com and secured her email address at google.. Twitter?? of course..

Why? Personal brand! Myar has just entered the world and its her future..

Why Myar? Myar is an anagram of Mary. Both Becky and myself had grandma's called Mary. Beckys nanna passed in June just after Becky told me that she was expecting. My Nan passed a few months later. We believe it's a fitting way to pay tribute to our mothers mothers.. However, neither of us wanted to call our first daughter Mary. So it had to be an anagram.

Why not Myra?? I don't think its fair to call our daughter after one of the Moors Murderers.Why not Mayr? or Ryam? or Raym? In all honesty, only Myra and Mary was found at behindthename.com , and Mya was close. Mya is a variant of Mia , and we just added an R to the end. In fact,  we will still pronounce it My-uh

Anyway, keep your eyes and ears out for more of what Myar is getting up to..

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The best news ever

I have some great news I want to share with you..

I am going to be a dad!

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While we both found out from a pregnancy kit at the beginning of June, it was only on Tuesday this week that we went for the 12 week scan. The antenatal lady who did the scan, said that 'it' was 14 weeks and 4 days old.. and our expected due date is the 1st January 2010. The geek in me immediately thought of 010110 and binary numbers..

• 0101 1000 X


• 0101 1001 Y


• 0101 1010 Z

Perhaps the name should begin with one of those letters??

Its great news, and both us are really happy

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Losing this big fat belly

I have just spent ten days with my parents and family back home. Do you want to know what every single friend and relative said to me? 

"When you expecting?"

They were'nt talking about children. They were talking about me having a big belly. Now, I have been out the forces now for eight years. I have been to University, and I have been travelling. I now work for the largest IT company in the world as a Technical Consultant. I spend a lot of my time talking on my phone, and sat behind my laptop. On a day to day basis, I generally don't do a lot of exercise. However, I have been saying for the previous three years that I need to Get Fit and Stay Fit. 

I always thought my Body Fat was over 30%. After all if you take the standard test which is:

1. Work out your height in metres and multiply the figure by itself


2. Measure your weight in kilograms


3. Divide the weight by the height squared (the answer to Q1)

For example, you might be 1.6m (5ft 3in) tall and weigh 65kg (10st 3lb). The calculation would then be: 1.6 x 1.6 = 2.56. BMI would be 65 divided by 2.56 = 25.39.

If I followed this example, I am 1.8m tall, and weigh 100kg. This would currently mean 1.8 x 1.8 = 3.24. 100 / 3.24 = 30.9 . As the BMI Categories are:

• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9


• Overweight = 25-29.9


• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

I would be classed as Obese. ME?? OBESE! :(

However, I discovered a different site today. The CholestorolNetwork . Here you enter in your height, weight and sex. You then enter in your waist size and hips size. Finally you enter in your forearm and wrist size. After I entered my results in, it comes back with 24% body fat. "You have 52.7 Pounds of fat and 167.3 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water)"

Anyway, I know I have this belly. I have to do something about it. As such, from today and for the next two months, I am on a diet.

I will not drink any fizzy drinks. Eat any chocolate. Drink any alcohol. I will do exercise every day. 

I will let you know how I have done at the end of February..

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100 Skills every man should have

Over at Popular Mechanics, there is a post on 100 Skills every man should have. Being a 33 year old man, I thought I should check to see where I am. How much do I know?? I have starred ( * ) all mine. 

Brains and charm are fine, but a real guy needs to know how to do real stuff. After months of debate among PM’s expert editors, here’s our lineup of essential skills, broken down in 10 categories for the competent man—plus 20 tools you need to own. Did we leave anything out—or included a skill you don’t think is worthy? Sound off in our chat, then take PM’s interactive DIY quiz to see how you measure up!

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january blues

What is it about January, that makes me come down with sty's in my eye? That someone punctures my tyre? And knocks the mirror off my car? That my job just seems to increase in workload everyday with no chance of slacking? That my landlord STILL has not fixed the main light in my room? That my cat wakes me up every morning at 4 wanting attention, but because I am tired and I just want to sleep, she then scratches me? and then I can't get up to do my run?

I hate whingers.. my brother told me that I am "glass half empty type of guy", in other words pessimistic... One thing I remember from the army, was that they used to say that the soldiers aren't happy unless they were moaning! I liked that.. I think there is nothing wrong with moaning, but as long as you get things done, promptly and properly, then you can do it!

Anyway, Januarys nearly over now.. so roll on February!

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