.... in more ways than one! I am doing the Cardiff Half Marathon on 18th October and raising money for Cancer Research UK. It is such an incredible feeling when someone sponsors me. Because during these tricky times they have put their hand in their pocket and shared their hard earned cash with me for my cause. Cancer Research UK is entirely funded by the public, so they rely on people like me and you to help them continue their life-saving work. But on the flip side, the other way Fundraising can be "heart warming" is when a non-runner like me has to go out and run 8 miles!!! My heart rate went through the roof today! You can see details of my workout by clicking here. But I am so thrilled that I was able to run 8 miles without stopping! I still can't believe it! In fact, as I write this entry I can feel the first waves of endorphins kicking in. I think You can help support me in this mad cause by sponsoring me. Just click here. Remember by giving, you are warming my heart in the right way; without me collapsing on the carpet from exhaustion!
Because I think of all the good it will do.
This was without any shadow of a doubt the hardest run I have ever done.
The thing people always say about exercise is it's great because it increases the endorphins in your body which put you on a real high.
Today was not one of those endorphin enducing days - I was so shattered after the run that my heart rate was still up at 145 as I lay on the carpet trying to recover. Even after my shower those elusive endorphins didn't show up.
I'll sleep well tonight!
Thank you in advance for your support.
Thanks again.
Dickie's Blog
As promised Tony Robbins, a world renowned expert on Leadership Psychology, has released another incredible video.
Imagine this: You're on the run because your home town is right in the path of a hurricane.
...And you've fled to your parents house in the next town over, hoping the storm will pass and everything will be OK.
Now, imagine that on that very same day, you make ONE MILLION DOLLARS ...with nothing but a laptop computer and a spotty internet connection.
Even though this sounds like something from a movie, it actually happened to the person Tony interviews in his new video:
http://tonyrobbinstraining.com/328/john-tony/
The video is free and it should start playing automatically.
I'll post Part 3 later on this week with details of a very rare recording which Tony did back in 1989 called the "5 Keys to Wealth & Happiness".
Tony Robbins, a world renowned expert on Leadership Psychology, has just posted a brand new video for you on his blog and you can watch it here:
http://tonyrobbinstraining.com/320/interview-with-frank-kern-and-john-reese/
In the video, you'll discover:
- The "4-Square" System For Creating Massive Action TODAY.
- The number one thing that's holding you back...and how you can banish it from your life forever.
- The subtle mental shift that millionaires use to get a financial jumpstart.
- A short exercise that destroys your nagging skepticism and builds your momentum to succeed.
It's free for you and should start playing automatically.
It will really get you excited and motivated to begin taking massive action on some of those things you've been stalling on.
I'll post Part 2 later on this week which is a great video of Tony & John discussing John's million dollar day - the day when he launched a new product and took over $1m in sales in less than 24hours!!
A half of something is 50% less. 50% less is a big reduction so usually when you get 50% off something it's a good thing, isn't it?
If I were getting 50% off the price of a new car I'd be really chuffed. But the 50% I'm talking about here is not a good thing. Nope, in fact it's a very bad thing. Such a bad thing that I can't quite believe I've got myself into such a mess.
On October 18th 2009 I am going to run the Cardiff Half Marathon in memory of my Dad, John Armour. I've been puffed in by a good friend, Martin Gibbs, who's a very good runner and he did the Cardiff Half Marathon last year.
www.justgiving.com/formydad2009
My dad died from Cancer, Mesothelioma, in 2000 and I have a website dedicated to his memory - www.formydad.co.uk
I have raised nearly £15,000 for Cancer Research UK through Triathlons but I have not competed since 2006.
I have never been a runner and in fact the longest run I have ever done is 5 miles. The triathlons I've done were only Sprint events where the run leg is just 5K and my 5K time in 2006 was 34mins!
So the thought of doing a Half Marathon fills me full of fear and dread!
So I've got myself in this huge mess and as always I try to find the positives and thankfully now I'm sort of over the initial shock and disbelief at my own stupidity, I recognise there are some great things about doing this.
To raise some more money for Cancer Research UK in memory of my Dad, to help prevent others from having to suffer like he did, definitely makes this a worthwhile challenge.
Plus, I'm helping to keep the memory of my Dad alive and it's an amazing feeling to do something which seems so daunting and near impossible and to come out the other end having achieved it.
And I know that Dad would be so proud of me. I just wish he could be here with us today. 
So whilst this huge 50% off race appears not to be a good thing; it actually really is something amazing, especially as it's not 100%! So please help by supporting me. 
www.justgiving.com/formydad2009
Spam affects all of us. Everyday as part of our daily task of going through our emails we have to remove and delete Spam from our inboxes.
Well now we can fight back with help from Spam Poison. http://www.spampoison.com/
If you have a website just add a small line of code to your website and whenever a Spammer's robot scans your web page it will be sucked into a Spam Poison page.
These links will redirect email harvesting bots to trap sites that will feed it with an almost infinite loop of dynamically generated fake email addresses, mostly on known spammer owned domains! This will render their harvested lists practically useless and of no commercial value.
Add the Spam Poison code to your website today and let's fight back against the Spammers!
Please READ this carefully and click the image on the right.
I received this letter in the post yesterday from an outfit called Domain Renewal Group. They were originally called the Domain Registry of America (DRoA).
The letter is very clever in the way it's written. It makes the reader assume that their domain name is due for renewal with this company. Most domain names need to be renewed every 2 years and to the less versed on these things it is quite easy to forget who you registered your domain name with. So the assumption is this letter is an invoice which must be paid.
It is not an invoice. It's an attempt by DRoA to get you to pay them for a domain name that they don't even control! Many people and businesses fall for this trap. Make sure you are NOT one of them!
Please click the image on the right and familiarise yourself with the look of the letter.
If you receive one of these in the post, ignore it and call the person who looks after your domain name and website.
If you have any doubts please get in touch and I will be happy to advise you.
From March 2009 .net magazine have invited me to be one of their Industry Experts each month in the Big Question section if their magazing and website. Click the image below:
I appear for the first time in this month's issue - 188.
www.secondlife.com for those who don't know is a free online virtual world imagined and created by its Residents. From the moment you enter Second Life (SL), you'll discover a fast-growing digital world filled with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity.
As I explained in my earlier Blog; we are researching the popular web platform to see if there are ways for us to engage with our current customers and potential new customers.
We've had a busy few weeks on SL. We now have a virtual office and we've even got a Red Bull vending machine! LOL! 
Yes I know it sounds a little bit "out there" but you'll have to come in and experience it for yourself to understand!
Lots of other plans but can't go into more detail at this stage. 
Come and have an explore around this amazing world - my name in Second Life is Dickie Antfarm. Feel free to hook up and I'll be happy to show you around.
If anyone reading this is an expert in SL, then please do get in touch. It's always good to pick up tips and recommendations.
There is a good reason for why I keep changing my profile photos on this website and all my social networking websites.
I am supporting the "Save Croft Racing Circuit" and thought it would be nice to have my kart racing photo up.
You can offer your support on Facebook, just click the link above. It would also be great if you can sign the Official Government Petition.
Please sign up now and show your support; it would be a travesty to see this wonderful race circuit shut down.
It's all well and good having a nice website designed but you also need to make sure the major search engines know that your website is there and that it gets listed so you can drive extra traffic to your site.
The easiest way to do this is to manually submit the website. Each search engine has it's own submission process. It's best to go to the submission page of each site and read the guidelines listed there.
I have listed the different search engines below with a link to their submission pages.
Google: http://www.google.co.uk/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Yahoo: http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/uk/free/request
MSN: http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
Don't worry about AOL, they now use Google as their search engine.
There are also a couple of directories which you should submit your website to.
Open Directory Project: http://www.dmoz.org/add.html
Yahoo! Directory: http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/directory/suggest/suggest-06.html
Google is without doubt the search engine used by the majority of people so make sure you spend some time going through the Google site and check out their tools and other resources such as Google AdWords. Go to http://www.google.co.uk/options/ to find out more.
Finding your way around the search engines might seem slightly daunting to begin with, but it will definitely be worth your investment in time and before long that extra traffic will arrive.
I just have to tell you about this amazing new rock band - Blue Addiction.
The drummer lives just round the corner and babysits for our daughter. We found out he was in a band and my daughter asked if she could go round to see him and his friends practice.
Well, Henry (the drummer) came round earlier to invite us over today. We whizzed round there at about 5:45pm tonight and I was blown away.
Blue Addiction are INCREDIBLE!!
Check them out on My Space - http://www.myspace.com/blueaddiction
They are Unsigned and I think they should be snapped up, so please spread the word about Blue Addiction! The band have entered the Live and Unsigned competition and have made it past Round 1!
Please tell everyone you know about them!
I write my To Do List every day and I think they are an extremely useful tool for getting things done. I usually write mine last thing at night so when I start my next day I have my fresh To Do list ready and I don't need to waste time first thing in the morning thinking about what I need to to that day.
You can click the photo on the right to see one of my recent to do lists. Please excuse the items which have been blotted out but some of the tasks are not for outside eyes! I don't want to start breaching corporate or client confidentiality! The danger of blogs. 
I've read in books and been told that it also helps to write your To Do List last thing at night because that way it's on your mind when you go to sleep. As you drop off to sleep and during your sleep your mind clears out all the other clutter and with your To Do List fresh in your mind, you'll be amazed at the ideas and problem solving your mind will have done for you over night. I've woken on many mornings with the answers I need or a clear way of how to handle or deal with items on my list.
I number each item just for neatness, but the numbers do not always represent the importance of an item. As I complete each item I tick it off the list.
The other great thing about having a To Do List is that it sits on my desk, next to my laptop or PC and I can then add other items as required throughout the day.
Then at the end of the day, those items which have not been completed, get added to my new list for the next day, along with lots of new ones! So start writing your To Do List today and get "doing" each and everyday. You'll be amazed at how effective you'll become.