Because I Can (bs)

Lamps

2010-12-10T20:53:00.001-08:00

P90x Shoulders and Arms

2010-04-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Been sick this week, and was travelling the previous, so haven't done much P90x. Felt well enough to do it tonight. I'm getting ready for a 5K, so I \'m staying away from any leg workouts while I'm running. I was really low on energy (sick) so I skipped the Ab Ripper.

I only have one set of dumbbells, and it's not easy to change the weight. So I do everything with 15lb dumbbells. Below is the list with reps.

shoulder press 12 reps 15lb
in out bicep curls 15lb 16 reps
2 arm tri kickbacks 15lb 12 reps
alt shoulder press 12 resp 15lb
in out bicep curls 15lb 16 reps
2 arm tri kickbnacks 15lb 16 reps
deep swimmer press 15lb 12 reps
full sup arm curls 15lb 12 reps
dips 12 reps
deep swimmer press 15lb 12 reps
full sup amrm curls 15lb 12 reps
dips 20 reps
upright rowws 15lb 10 reps
static arm curls 15lb 12 reps
flip grip twist kickbacks 15 lb 12 reps
upright rows 15 lbs 12 reps
static arm curls 15lb 8 reps
flip grip twist kickbacks 15 lb 12 reps
seated shoulder fly 15lb 10 reps
crouching cohen curl 15lb 12 reps
lying down tricep ext 15lb 14 reps
seated shoulder fly 15lb 12 reps
corouching cohen curl 15lb 12 reps
lying down tricep ext 15lb 16 reps
straight arm shouder fly 15lb 10 reps
congdon curls 15lb 12 reps
side tri rise 15 per side
straight arm shouder fly 15lb 10 reps
congdon curls 15lb 12 reps
side tri rise 15 per side

Feel good. Will definitely see good results if I can get back on schedule. Seeing results already.

P90X Day 3 - Shoulders and Arms + Ab Ripper X

2010-03-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Well, well well. Something I got through pretty easy. Finally. Though I suspect it was only because I was using resistance bands, and not free weights. For many of the exercises I just didn't have enough weight. I think I may need to just write these down and go to the gym to do this workout next week.

One thing that that bring the pain was the Side Tri Rise. Holy Jesus, those things kill your triceps...
(1:25 mark)

No problems with the dips. The Shoulder flys did get hard around the 8th rep the second time around. It wasn't easy, but compared to all the push ups and chin ups on Monday, and the Plyometrics yesterday, this was a welcome relief. Sweated a ton, but didn't tweak anything, and felt good the next morning. We'll see if I still feel that way after doing it with weights. :)

P90X - Day 2

2010-03-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

Plyometrics, bitches!

See also: Knee pain

Made it 32 minutes before my right knee made it clear he wasn't going to let me jump anymore. He's such a party pooper. In his defense I haven't done anything (even run) for more than 30 minutes other than walk or sit in front of an LCD of some variety or another. I rarely run more than 3 miles, and even 30 minutes is an easy pace. Usually doing it in 26-27 minutes, then a cool down. So I'm really pushing it with the Plyo.

Though I only made it through half way, it was a good workout. Heart rate was up, sweated plenty, and could feel everything. It's fun, too. Much more fun than push ups and chin ups. And the kids tried to doing it with me. Trevor pussed out early, but Audrey kept up the whole time I did (though she wasn't doing everything correctly, she was still trying.) That was a lot of fun, too.

My legs were very tight to start with, still feeling the effects of Monday night's fast mile on the suckmill. Left hammy and right knee were sore. The stretching/warmup helped a lot, but I think just wasn't ready to go very long.

Shoulders and Arms and AbRipperX tomorrow. I think Kristi will be going to the gym alone, as I want nothing to do with a treadmill right now.

P90X

2010-03-22T20:05:00.000-07:00

Been using Facebook to rant/rave for awhile now. But it has some limitations that render it insufficient for this this type of post. So I'll keep any in-depth P90X stuff he on the blog.

Day 1 is in the books, and boy howdy do I feel emasculated. Started with Disc 01, Chest and Back. You can take a look at my data here. As I can only do 2-3 Chin Ups, I did all of those with the help of the chair. And I depended on it a lot the second half of the workout.

The push ups were killer. I've been doing 15-20 a day for a few months. Didn't expect that to be the hardest part. But by the second time around, I couldn't do a single rep. I was reduced to doing them from my knees. My arms were jelly. :(

Now, it certainly did help me for Ab Ripper X that I'd run a fast mile (7 minute) 2 hours earlier. By the second exercise, my hips wee killing me. I stuck it out, and did maybe 12-15 reps of everything (instead of 25). But not fun.

And yes, it does make me cringe to think I consider 7 minutes to be a fast mile, when my PR is 5:36. :)

It was hard, no doubt. Look forward to just making it though that doing the full reps. 90 days.

I'm off to have a nice glass of milk and a chunk of Chocolate.

On Marriage and Love.

2009-06-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

I'm an conventionally unconventional fellow. The idea of marriage as legal institution has little relevance to me personally. I don't really care that the State recognizes our relationship, and I especially don't care if the Church does. But I do, very much so, believe in the commitment I've made to Kristi. It's a commitment to each other that both of us have maintained despite it occasionally flying in the face of Reason. We are each full of faults in our personalities and habits. As I expect anyone reading this is. :)

Mark Sanford (R. Buenos Aries) , like many other prominent Republicans that spend their time lecturing us on the the sanctity of marriage, was cheating on his wife with Eva Peron. Whatever. I think we all know when a politician is moralizing, he's full of shit. The more anti-Gay they are, the greater the likelihood they like the feel of another man's cock in their mouth. The more they expressed outrage at Bill Clinton's infidelity, the more likely they were themselves cheating (Newt, Rudy, Bob Livingston, Jesse Helms,...).

They are not alone in this hypocrisy, though. I myself am fairly radical about the environment, for example. But I live in in an Energy sucking 3,000 square foot house. And I have not one, but TWO automobiles! My actions do not square with my beliefs. So let me not cast too many stones on Gov. Sanford. A few, but not too many.

What really got my attention about the Gov's infidelity, was a section of the statement his wife put out today. You can read the whole thing here.

I believe enduring love is primarily a commitment and an act of will, and for a marriage to be successful, that commitment must be reciprocal.

Was a truer statement ever made? Perhaps this has been stated before, in some form or another. And it of course seems obvious and hardly worth stating after you've read it. That's a good indicator of it's veracity; it's obviousness upon revelation. For love to endure, you must want it to. It requires effort. Sometimes a lot of effort. Frequently more effort on one side than the other.

As my friends are getting older, I'm confronted more and more with failing marriages. Usually fault is easily attributable to one of the parties. Sometimes egregiously so. But sometimes not. Nobody is immune. People change, of course. Neither of us is the person the other married. Fundamentally, we are. But dynamics change. That's redundant, of course. They would not be called dynamics if they were not variable. :) So it's not unreasonable, or a great sin, or even a failure, if time has passed and you or your partner is no longer putting forth the effort needed for your love to endure.

I don't really know that there exists any formula that increases your odds of success. I suspect there is too much that is random and unpredictable. Like so many other things in life, it takes hard work AND luck to succeed. The Gov's wife ignores the role that chance plays in our lives, as her faith in her invisible Superfriend necessitates. Her statement is generally true, but it takes more than just desire and effort. Circumstances matter.

There are, of course, things you can do to mitigate the risk associated with time and evolving circumstances. Communicate. Don't just complain, but communicate. Compromise. Listen, and be willing to adapt. As an "Evolutionist", I acknowledge my bias towards adaptation as a solution for survival. And I hesitate to apply any lessons of biology to human social interactions. But I find this point to be self-evident.

Finally, if things aren't going to work out, adn they often won't, please wait until you've filed for a Divorce before you start a relationship with someone else. Cheating is ethically indefensible. And in most cases, morally reprehensible. However good it may feel at the time, it's never in your best interests.

2009-03-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Man wearing "I [heart] My Marriage" t-shirt arrested for beating his wife.

Ok, I can't stand these annoying "I love my wife" bumper stickers that the "Promise Keepers" pimp. No shit, Sherlocks.

Of course, as much as I dislike paternalistic assholes, I love irony. And few things are more ironic than this.

UKE: The Great Pretender

2009-03-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

WS64 is a fella in Germany that develops his own arrangements for songs he covers on his many Ukuleles. I was posting his best stuff to Facebook, but, well, Facebook now SuperSucks. So here, for your pleasure is WS64's cover of "The Great Pretender"

If you like this, he has scores of videos up, and his covers of the Beatles are amazing. Here is is his Youtube page

Back on MT

2008-03-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

Movable Type is fixed (db problem), so I'm back to my own site.

Because I Can

$8.30 per gallon

2008-01-18T09:20:00.001-08:00

That's how much I paid for gas in Amsterdam. God Bless our military!

Dora The Explorer

2008-01-12T22:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter is obsessed with this show, so I see perhaps 3 episodes a day. I suspect over the last year, I've every episode, maybe twice.

So imagine my astonishment while flipping through the channels here in my Hoofddorp hotel when i happen upon Dora teaching not Spanish, but ENGLISH!

Of course, after considering this for a moment I realized it made a lot of sense, since English is the second language most kids in Europe need. But it was rather surreal to witness it for the first time.

Middle Class now able to steal from the Capitalists

2008-01-04T11:41:00.001-08:00

This is just brilliant. I gotta say, it never occurred to me to do this before, because, well, I like my house, and like having decent credit. I got a family to raise and all. And I can just about afford the payment.

But it makes me smile, a big smile, to see that the middle class was able to use the housing bubble to essential rob banks. Of course, they get their credit dinged, and can't live in the house they used to get the money. But they don't have to give any money back, and they aren't going to prison. But oh, their credit score will be low! Really, our desire to keep a good credit rating is all that prevents most of us in this situation from just saying "Oh Well, take the house back, I'm gonna go enjoy all this money you gave me."

Well, that and common decency. But hey, nobody in the Capital Markets plays by any rules that involve decency. If you're playing their game, why should you?

I love Giftmas

2008-01-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

I most often describe my religious views as "antagonistic". I'm devoutly atheist, and find most religious traditions to be simply absurd on their face, and find little reason to avoid pointing it out. Christmas in particular I find a great deal to dislike. Be it the fact that Jesus, Christ or not, wasn't born in Dec. Or the fact that the whole thing is just a co-opting of established pagan traditions. Most annoying to me is the Santa Claus myth.

Now, I realize this is a secular tradition, and one that annoys the Religious equally. But why on earth do we need to lie to our kids about this Santa character? Do you think it adds any value? Would they not be just as happy to get gifts if they knew they came from Mommy and/or Daddy? I can tell you, Trevor gave two shits about what came from who. That he got it was important to him. I'd advise any parent (my wife included) to honestly think about what difference it makes, and if that difference is worth deceiving your children for. While you're at it, how about evaluating the efficacy of any of the "miracle" based explanations you provide to them?

That said, I love to give presents, and of course to get them. I like the spoils of the holiday, even if the underpinnings are nonsense. So I celebrate Giftmas. I dunno where that term originated. I recall first hearing it from Jeremy, many years ago. In any case, it's rather ubiquitous today. Not LOLCat ubiquitous, but close.

The best thing about having kids, is buying one gift, and that constituting both a give and a get. Exhibit A:

The AFX Long Beach Grand Prix HO Slot Car track. 50 ft of track, extends into the next room. Need to get a pic of it setup. Pretty sweet. Best part is, when Trevor opened it, he said "This is just like you wanted, Daddy!"

Oh, and did I mention I love the cookies? I do. A lot. Mmmm...Cookies...

I hate Vista

2007-12-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

So, being the awesome husband that I am, I bought for my lovely bride a laptop so that she may poot wirelessly around the house. I got an HP tx1302us (for $299 thanks to being one of 1000 people offered the deal on Black Friday). I got a 4g kit to make it usable. Now, on to what I hate.

User Access Control: If ever there were a more annoying "security" feature, the TSA must have it in their training materials. It prompted me FIVE TIMES while installing iTunes. WTF? Needless to say, it was the first thing to go.

The Wizards: Oh Dear God, how I hate these. Go ahead and try to connect to a WAP that isn't broadcasting its SSID. I spent 2 ours trying to figure this out. And it wasn't until all the OS updates were installed and rebooted that the options I needed were present. Of course, if it were as simple as it is in XP, I'd have been happy and done in 2 minutes. When will MS learn that not every user is a moron and that they should let some of us opt-out of the hand-holding? They managed to make most tasks more difficult. Incredible for most, but par for the course for them.

I will say, I like the icons for alt-tab. See, I'm not all hate.

MT is broken

2007-09-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

I use MT. http://danisaacs.com/blog

Unfortunately, Jeremy, from whom I mooch web hosting, has migrated servers, and has not yet moved his blog to the same server that mine runs on. As a result, there are some problems with the MT install that won't get fixed until he moves his over. And now that he has a fiance, he's no longer dedicating most of his spare time to putzing around with his servers.

I don't know why, but I don't like Blogger. And if you don't know why you feel something, its worth questioning that feeling.