COVID-19, the NEXT LEVEL ! ! !
Today, December 1st is the beginning of a new chapter in fighting the Corona Virus in the Netherlands. The second wave is underway and taking its toll. Government wants to take more actions and December first has been declared the start of the new offence.
COVID-19 is a big problem as it is hurting people a different way. Getting Corona is of course hurting yourself, differently from one person to another. One person has fever, respiratory issues and headaches and the next person has to go to hospital and well, let's not think of the worse. Others run a museum and had to close; no public admission ! ! ! Restaurants , Bars also have to close down, so if you are the owner of the place, you are a different victim.
It is needed to be a little more strict because numbers are not declining:
Newly reported COVID-19 infections
Two weeks ago: 37.706
Last Week: 36.931
Total Tests and Tested Positive
Two weeks ago: 226,364 / 31,278
Last Week: 251,690 / 30,303
That actually stopped an uptrend, so that is good. That said, it is not going down fast enough and that is why a new rule starts today:
Face masks have to be worn in all public indoor spaces, such as shops (supermarkets), museums, gas stations, restaurants and bars, theatres, cinemas and concert halls. Once people are seated at their table in the restaurant or in the theatre auditorium they can take the mask off but if they go to the toilet or leave it has to go back on
Places of worship, such as churches, temples, synagogues and mosques, are exempt from the rule.
Face masks were already compulsory on public transport but will now have to be worn inside railway station buildings and
Police will walk around more than what they are doing now, to do more random checks. Once again, this does not mean there will be more fines, as supermarkets for example, won't let you in, if you are not wearing a face mask. Do they let you in after all, they are risking a fine themselves or closing.
Good and Bad of course. Good, because it probably will help slowing down the spreading of the disease, but the situation will be more hostile than what it was ! ! !
I went in town and it looked all okay. People were wearing their face mask and it seemed all okay. One gentleman went in with a face mask, but was told to leave when he was caught inside without one. Supermarkets are very strict now.
We will just see how it goes the next couple weeks. I am very positive ! ! !
It will al be okay, as long as people just stay relaxed and keep themselves safe and others. Wearing a mask is not too bad, if you have doubts whether it helps ..... well, it doesn't hurt either, just a little bit of tougher breathing from time to time. Just relax a little.
Once again, tough world out there, everybody is tested and we just need to take care of each other.
Stay safe ! ! !
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Donkey Kong is Tired ! ! !
Another week another chance loosing some weight, right in front of the festivities coming. Christmas may be a little eating party as we are not allowed to invite people, so may be too much food in the house ........ or ...... just don't buy it ! ! !
I am so happy we have no hard agreements in our competition as it probably would have killed the fun and we are still doing this. Gord is having his hard moments, I am having my hard moments. We are getting through it though. Both at our own pace, both with our own goals ! ! !
Can't believe it, this is our seventh week Gord, trying to beat Mrs. Scales .... Days that pass really fast, some days that are NOT passing fast. If you are busy, it is all fine, but sitting in front of the television, or just sitting to take it easy ..... those are the tempting moments, not to grab anything from the closet. Yes, we still have things in the closet, that I should not eat, but sometimes it just is not working ......
Last week was a tough one. On Thursday, I had a little walk, and it messed up my whole week. I do not know where the idea came from to actually do this on a Thursday, but Friday was not very productive and the weekend right after, well, I did rest a lot. Not practising asked its toll and I did sleep a fair bit. If you are tired, if you sleep, you probably need it, so that is good, I guess ...
They, “the scientists” claim that sleeping is also good for dieting / changing eating life style. Thinking about it, it makes sense, and I can come up with at least three good arguments why sleep helps:
- “I am tired” let's take a Late .......
- “I am tired” hmmm..... let's skip those push-ups / work-out/ run
- Staying up, watching a movie/ series gets those snacks out
Those two make sense, Coffee instead of sleeping, do I need to say more ? ? ?
Let's not work-out, I am tired and I need to rest a little bit ..... case closed your honour ! ! !
Honey, while you're in the kitchen, can you grab some chips, nuts, cookies, etc. for me ..... Nice, to watch movies/ series but it keeps you from sleeping and it may make you eat more than you SHOULD eat.
It all makes sense and it is the little things in life, you can learn from, so logical and still, I also have to share I am not sleeping those 8 hours a night or more ! ! !
I do work-out every day, push-ups that is ..... As a site project, we launched the push-up challenge in the months of November and December. When doing it correctly, we will end up with 2.000+ push-ups:
If done correctly, you have done 735 push-ups today, in total. That is a nice total, but looking at the total, you have NOT done a third of the total. So there is still a little bit to be done. I take it easy, do two sets a day to NOT stress the arms too much. Once again, if you feel like doing it in one session, great, if you want to do it in 11 sessions, power to you. As long as you did 39 by 00:00 midnight. It is fun and well, doing 2440 push-ups in total, sounds more than you are actually doing, NOT ? ? ?
This week, I had an easy task/ challenge:
Actually re-reading this, I may have not passed the test. Did I post on Cinnamon, yes I did, I showed you guys the walk, by video and picture, but did not share what I am thankful for. I do recall talking about being happy doing the walk with my fellow walkers, yes, very happy, but thanking my fellow Coilers and Cinnamon giants, well, should have done a better job. Editing, I like thinks raw, I guess haha .....
Wonder how Gord's Challenge went last week ! ! !
Inspired by two other bloggers, Alexander Smith and Srdan Vocanec, your next challenge this week has a good side and maybe a bad side. The good side: I allow you (if I could actually say you would not be allowed, but okay, let's say I have that power) to have a glass of whine or a (glass of) beer, and please describe it for us like a dram! session or share the wine colour, bouquet and the fit with the dinner you are drinking it with. Surprise us, can be done in your blog, but would be funnier in a short Cinnamon Video..... we will see how this turns out .... I am REALLY looking forward to it ! ! !
For the actually weight loosing challenge, you need to be a Coil Subscriber. If you are interested in extra content, supporting the creator's on this network, look into it, you won't be disappointed ..... just click here ! ! !
Something's Brewing ....
Reading a title like that, yes it is meant positive, you may be triggered to read on .... what is this going to turn into ..... once again ONLY positive ! ! !
Google SEARCH, first thing to write about:
Yes, I know, partially incomplete, but this does, at least, show a trend ! ! ! The graph shows the trend line for the search word XRP, and well, it is going up, not steady, PRETTY STEEP ! ! !
Cryptocurrency in general is making a surge .... it is all taking an elevator ride...... and it starts looking like 2017 ..... in general EVERYTHING is going up.
Of course I do have to mention Bitcoin, yes, Bitcoin is UP also and is noticed by the big audience:
This has been rising for a while but it also reaches new heights on a daily base.
Twitter, of course, is a big crypto news source. I have been a member on Twitter for a long time, but started to get more active in 2017. Lately, I have noticed, I gain like 20-50 new followers a day, doesn't particularly say something about me, but more about the fact that there are a lot of new people entering this industry: people interested in crypto / XRP ! ! !
Myself, I am positive about the whole industry. I love XRP, doesn't mean I don't love the rest of the coins out there, but one think is sure, you better have a use case for your coin otherwise you won't see the end of 2021 or 2022 ..... Most crypto projects still hold a big part of the “coins in circulation” in their own pocket, so they rely on a rising price, to finance their project. I know, I know, not all of them, many of them also have investors backing them up, but relying on price to finance your project ...... scary stuff ! ! !
So, the swings lately, the big rise, it was feeling so good, a retracement ..... have we seen the bottom ....., of course we do not know, we cannot say, but it looks healthy, strong and steady to rise. More and more people hearing about it, more important, the big institutional businesses are finding their way to the industry.
Another positive thing: the SCAMS, and FUD is rising again. They appear when it makes sense, when new people enter the industry; positive sign. We saw this in 2017 also. I don't want to circle back to 2017 all the time , but we did see the big rise back in 2017's December. You cannot ignore identical growth as the Crypto industry is cyclical .... over time it will repeat itself, only difference, it will go higher every cycle. Let's wait and see how this one will turn out.
STAY SAFE ! ! !
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Gingerbread Cookies
It is the season for cookies and we know it. We started with some Pepernoten last week, but now it is time for some Gingerbread Cookies.
Immediately I have to think about Toy Story ...
Well, let's first get a cookie on a plate before getting it to move like that ! ! !
So first up, washing hands again, we only do things with clean hands, thinking of it, nowadays we wash our hands all the time, oh well ......
Today we are creating the dough ourselves so the big gun is coming alive .....
This machine is fully equipped, you can knead, beat, toss, anything is possible. Many small tools come with it when it is delivered to you. If you order it in the next 10 minutes .... hold on, this is not an infomercial .... let's get on with the cookies! ! !
This is the product we are going to create. You need to add Butter, Water, Flower and a lot of love
Flower
Butter
All the ingredients together, time for some:
Tossing and Turning
Time to create that magic ball:
No not that one ! ! !
THIS ONE ! ! !
When you create something with though, you always have left overs, so you throw that away ? ? ?
NOOOOOOOOO
While dad creates something else:
20 minutes in the fridge ...........
Almost there .............
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73tGe3JE5IU
Time for some cookie shaping:
Nice in the sun, baking getting a nice tan ! ! !
and look at the boys coming out of the oven .....
Now, they need to cool down a little, but talking about gingerbread cookies ...... yes, they mighty look like it.
Now, they only need some glaze, finishes them of like the way they are:
Well the finished product does not only look great, it also taste great ! ! !
Tomorrow we are going to try the “Pepernoten” again
STAY SAFE ! ! !
The Day After ....
Today is recuperation day, as yesterday was a pretty battle. Fun, happy that we finished, that I finished, but yes, I felt it yesterday evening. feel it today ! ! !
Going back to last Sunday, practising 21 Kilometres with a break within, hmmm.... no that is not enough preparation for a 45 kilometre walk. Yes, I have done proper Marathons, but those were a couple years ago; I am biking/ walking, but nothing close to 45 kilometres.
The beginning of the race was really nice ..... I was talking, making jokes, making little videos and having fun. Well the fun never disappeared, but the talkative person became a little more silent. I had to concentrate a little more and well, although walking is something you know how to do, at the moment you are watching your phone, making a video or read something, you will slow down, and a meter behind will hurt you.
When we had lunch, one of the guys decided to continue. and not wait, have lunch on the road while walking. We kept it to a 10 minute break and tried to catch him. 10 Minutes is not too long but it took us about 50 minutes to catch him. For the two people that have trained for 2 months, NO PROBLEM, for me it went too fast. After this catching I felt really tired and had to take it a little easier. We stayed together a little longer, but I felt it was going too fast ! ! !
The day after, I feel good. A little sore, a couple blisters, but overall I cannot complain. All the things that are hurting and / or blistered up, is due to the lack of training. I am well aware of that, so nobody to blame, except myself ! ! !
I am pleased, have to think about a new challenge for ourselves though. If it going beyond 45 and yes, that was discussed, I do need to train a little more ! ! ! Tonight I see myself going to bed early and happy the weekend is here. We will see what the weekend brings.
STAY SAFE ! ! !
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A marathon .... walking
08:00 in the morning and we have started. The car dropped us off.
The start was showing some clouds, some drizzle but it was all good. I am joining a group of 5 in total, walking the coast of Netherlands.
So, started with a little test: everybody walking left , I go to the right...... mass adoption ...... everybody on the right.
09:00 o’clock now; and we have been walking a little off road; nice but it makes the distance a little longer. We are having fun though, little bit of rain , but positive attitudes.
Right now it is 09;46, we have little rain but it is refreshing. 10 km is behinds us, well, little while ago and we already formed three groups. Of course I am in the first one, but still very close. We are having fun:
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=461526020533520317
Rain stopped, so makes us smile and ready for crazy pics:
Still doing fine. 11:36 am and we found some rain again. So time for some instructions:
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=461528164502341581
........ and we are half way. I walked back to real the last group in. It has been a steady pace, so good to relax the legs a little. It is really nice and I am feeling good. When we return to the front, there will be lunch for us.
We just had a short lunch. Amazing ...... we had tomato juice with ginger and a chicken sandwich. Ready for part 2, halfway: The lunch was organised by our sponsor: Het Beleg, we got nice chicken and a healthy drink. Amazing and it tasted very good:
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=461540942524975089
Resuming, look at this, beautiful:
We are well over 30 now and I am a little behind. My legs hurt a little but I am not stopping. Thought we were almost there as I saw the Olympic Flame:
Well, I was wrong, from that point on, I was hurt and I do have to say walking went pretty fast. A picture:
This is the view I had for a good while:
I started to understand that I should have trained a little more. 20 km is fine ....... but having 1 run as practice ........ eh no !!!!!
So the three were moving their bodies a little faster and I decided I had to pick my own pace. That went well, ....... well, I could do differently.
https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=461545916734637078
So, at a certain time I got this screenshot from the other group:
My app did NOT show that amount, so I had to do a little more ....... I had my app off for a bit so to get the 42,2 on my phone, I had to do some more kilometres.
One of the runners did not like it because it would actually push me over the 45 k according the time I her phone ........ yep, she did not like that but oh well. At least I am showing the 42.2:
This was the app of my friend:
Well, did 45,2 +
I am happy, and when we congratulated each other , my wife came with the following framed picture:
Loved it. This was an amazing day, we had fun, we did a lot of sports and it was amazing.
4 amazing people doing an amazing Corona Marathon Walk. Congrats everybody; it was a lot of fun; oh and the lady .... she walked a couple more kilometres, so she is the big winner ..... congrats. But , I saw 4 heroes, thank you ! ! !
Stay Safe ! ! !
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November 25 .... Party or ...
November 25 is a loaded day, a lot has happened on this day in the history of our family, so a memorable one today.
My twin brother's son was first born 13 years ago. Not without complications because he was born with cystic fibrosis. I don't want to write about that specifically, but ... November 25th
In 2010 I got engaged to my wife in Venice on November 25th. Exciting, in the gondola of course, a great moment ... November 25th
In 2011 we got married on Kauai, Hawaii ..... on November 25th. Beautiful day, we took all our most important friends, it was beautiful.
November 25, 2017, my parent in law passed away in my arms. I was still trying to resuscitate him; but this to no avail. Nice that he was not alone, but a traumatic experience.
Then we are in 2020 ..... I got the results of a corona test that I took yesterday. The test was negative, so that was good news. It was exciting yesterday; didn't hurt, but annoying little stick in the nose. Very happy the test was negative ! ! !
Why did I take the test ? ? ? Noah's teacher was tested positive, Noah has been coughing lately, we had to keep him in the house and I started coughing and had a running nose. I am not scared of it, but it is better to be in the know than to be in unknown territory
The 25th is a very special one, and I am happy to see a green XRP on top of this.
NOW, time to spend with my wife. Love you all
STAY SAFE ! ! !
XRP brings smiles ! ! !
November 24 today and we are smiling. Smiling because XRP went from “stable coin” status to being awake and grow Grow GROW.
As an OG, being around since 2017 this is a familiar situation. Although it seems to be different this year. 2017, who was around will say the same, it was Bitcoin leading the dance, giving it to the ALT Coins, that left the dance floor for XRP, always late to the party ! ! !
It does feel good though and last Friday we were suddenly surprised by a sharp increase in price. Surprised may not be the correct word, as it was expected. As many people know, Crypto Currencies move cyclical; meaning, the show repetitive images after a particular amount of time ! ! !
Once again I have been around since 2017 and have, like a lot of others, seen 3 tough years. Nobody thought it would BE three years because every year once again:
Q4 2018, well, brace yourself ! ! !
As we all know, THAT did not happen.
Chinese New Year in 2019 and the gates are opening .....
Well, not where I live ! ! !
Nothing worked, not when tax years ended, when tax returns were mailed, when bonuses were send, when clarity came, what still no clarity ! ! ! We just had to be patient for this:
The memes were showing again, moons, lambos, yes all nice, it has been a long “winter”
We started with this, not knowing what the next week would bring:
Right there, 32% on Friday, nice little eh ..... BIG Jump. Funny how you look at gain percentages. In the stock market 10% is an amazing jump, good luck getting those, but WE are not happy with 32% ..... we are ALL thinking about well at least 500% ..... would bring us above 2 dollars and that may still be conservative. We have gambled for three years and at the moment we have a little bit of payback.
Yes Bitcoin has shown massive gains already. The mother of all coins showed $4,916.78 on March 13, 2020. At the moment we are at $18,500.00 (round number), high triple digits right there. So, 2017 what was it like:
So, from November 12 to January 4 ....... a serious jump. We have lived our normal lives the last three years but most of us probably own MORE XRP now than what we owned in 2017.
You know things are happening when non-crypto believers are starting to show interest .... the FOMO effect, or is this not the FOMO effect yet ? ? ? Who knows ! ! !
Bank of America partnership is mentioned again, mentioned on the Ripple website:
Let's just wait what happens with this, no hype without facts. Facts are reactions of fellow XRP investors. I asked them the following question:
Overall, you can say that positivity has hit the XRPCommunity and everybody that wants XRP to succeed, almost everybody.
Well, that was last week, we are having quiet a Tuesday also. We peaked in the low 90s and we fell a little.
It is amazing what positive vibe is going around and not only with XRP. I hear the smiles when talking about BTC, ETH, LTC, ADA, XLM, VET, TRX besides others.
Let's enjoy this pump right now, before you know, we have to wait another three tears....... Enjoy
STAY SAFE ! ! !
Donkey Kong is going to walk
Last week, I was happy I had lost weight. I feel the exercise in my life is a nice additional part of my life at the moment. It is fun to loose weight, but without the big stick in the door (Dutch expression – Stok achter de Deur) named Gord, it would be LESS fun.
Gord is actually NOT the only one that is a big help. Reading the comments on the different Social Media is also helping. This challenge, battle – not hostile, brings out the best out of a lot of people. Thanks for following our challenge it is comforting and it is helping beating the scales.
Beating the scales is something I am definitely having on my mind. That made me contacting Gord for my weekly challenge. He wanted me to make 20.000 steps in a week, so I said Hi Gord, and gave him the following picture:
He kinda understood what I was writing, 20.000 was not going to be challenging. He changed it luckily:
So, 60.000 had to work on that. I also felt I had to work on Carbonated Drinks. It is not that I drink a lot of it, but I just should not drink it. There are a couple things that are not good drinking (a lot) carbonated drinks (water excluding):
- Tooth decay
- Gain Weight
- Bloated Feeling / Gas
- Chance of Dehydration
Tooth decay happens when you drink a lot of carbonated drinks that contain citric acid or sugar ... let's be friends with our teeth ! ! !
Gain weight, well that is a tough one. Sodas give you a hungry feeling. Carbonated water increases a hunger hormone called Ghrelin in men. (good word for hangman)
If you have a sensitive stomach, it is better to cut on carbonated drinks as it gives you a bloated feeling and well, releasing that, not the worse, but in a public place ....... may cause a situation.
Chance of Dehydration, what ? ? ? Yes, sounds weird but, your kidneys get rid of excessive sugar through urine. Going to the restroom means you are loosing a lot of water ..... increases your risk of dehydration. You do need to drink a lot of sodas, but still something to consider.
There are other reasons why your should not drink sodas, but I only talk about these 4 ! ! !
On the other hand, if you have a stomach bug, coke may be the solution. It will clean the pipes a little and after a toilet meeting, things may be fine again ......
So water it was, drank a lot of it. That brings me to this weeks challenge for Gord ..... Maybe not a nice one for you buddy, gave you a break last week, but this week, I am going to ask you the following:
Gord is going to have 2 days on which he ONLY drinks water. No Alcohol, no fruit drinks, no sodas, JUST water. One day to learn and the second day to get the feeling it is not that bad. No coffee buddy, no tea buddy, ONLY water. Tough, I know, but what are 2 days in a lifetime; Trust is in your hands, you can do it buddy. Describe us next week how you got through the day. Looking forward ! ! !
My son had a nice drink last week, that probably should NOT be consumed by myself, although tempting:
So, Gord asked me to do 60.000 steps this week. With a marathon coming up next week, I had a lot of steps yesterday. Did not know before Thursday I was going to do this, so I was in luck, although I like to make some steps. This has been my week of walking:
Made it pretty easy. This is a list of 113.372 steps and I even have to mention my phone died on Sunday when I did the big walk .... Well, the bars show I made it easily ....
Thanks for supporting the Challenge, will keep on going, love ! ! !
STAY SAFE ! ! !
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