dangerousmeta!

Some crusty old exercise advice fer you young’uns.

2009-11-08T20:59:01-07:00

Rejoined Santa Fe Spa here back three weeks ago [highly recommended, btw], after a summer of not meeting my fitness goals — first time I’ve ever let myself get a little ‘hammy’ around the middle. I hate it. Every damned minute of being out of shape. I hate it with a passion beyond anything in political circles, even. I’m a person who takes my fitness for granted, counting on it at all times to be there when I need it. I let it lapse, and now I’m kicking myself thoroughly.

Enough of my personal disappointment. I wanted to relate to those yet to reach the middle years that in my 30’s, it would take about a week after laying off some time to get back to where I could really kick the weights around and torque the treadmills to death. In my 40’s, about two weeks. Now that I’ve just freshly turned 50, I had a really fantastic workout today, which shows that three weeks is my timeframe now to get back to kicking the weights around (rather than them kicking me around). And the process hurts just that percentage more than younger ages. Especially those thrice-damned situps and crunches. My body adjusts to increased weights in fits and starts, and today was the day where I significantly increased poundages and MPH, nearly back to where I consider myself ‘decently fit’ (though its going to take a deal more sweating and avoidance of carbs to narrow the waistline). Running’s been hard after all my knee injuries, but I’d really like to make a 7:30 mile again, which will take care of the excess weight, I’m sure.

The trick now, is to make sure to fully warm up everything. I used to be able to blast into sets of pullups cold, or full-on running - NOT ANYMORE. I’ve been walking for five minutes, then running, trying to get at least a half hour in before starting on the weights. Once warm, nothing gets tweaked. And, I have to be careful to baby all the hurts I sustained from my ‘immortal’ younger days. Those extreme weighted dips I did ten years ago that tweaked my right shoulder resulted in my needing to take more time on that side to get the shoulders up to strength without setback pain.

So, in a nutshell, dare to be immortal, young’uns, but remember that later on you’ll be paying the piper for all those “aw, just go for it” injuries. Invest in your extreme fitness wisely. Try to keep a minimal level of fitness all year round, so you have a good base to start from, rather than fit-for-summer and lost-for-winter, as I’ve done in the past.

I hate it

2009-11-07T19:29:29-07:00

when I drop a nice, crisp apple and ruin the crunchy perfection.

Showreel.

2009-11-06T20:13:02-07:00

Mill 2010. I love the slot car bit, near the end.

CNN: Mrs. Who?

2009-11-06T00:00:26-07:00

Change your name after marriage—why? “I am freshly gobsmacked every single Sunday morning when I see that about half the women—mostly under 35, all women with careers, all women who chose to submit their announcement to the putatively liberal New York Times --are electing to give up their identity.” Facebook and the social media are going to kill this tradition. You heard it here first.

Times Online: Jeez, isn’t 15 a bit late?

2009-11-05T23:58:17-07:00

Mandatory sex lessons for every 15-year-old. I believe ours started in 6th grade (11). The explanatory films were so vague, I remember one boy asking the teacher, “Miss ---, are you SURE we’re supposed to urinate in our girlfriends?” Still, learning on the street wasn’t much more accurate.

Sorry for the recent lack of postings.

2009-11-05T19:44:01-07:00

It’s just really busy here in the studio; many overlapping projects. I’ll get to linking when I can. Biggest problem is finding items that interest me enough to drive a flow of commentary. I’m running through 500 or so RSS feeds, and can’t find anything compelling to comment upon. It may be time to throw out my ‘regulars’ and try some new sources.

Wow.

2009-11-04T17:25:19-07:00

Ataque de Pánico! [video]

Customer service.

2009-11-04T02:08:38-07:00

I bought my most recent eyeglasses from 39dollarglasses.com. Over the weekend, one of the nosepiece screws fell out. Fished some thread through to hold the left nosepad in place. I emailed them to ask if I could purchase replacement screws. Instead, they’re sending me an entirely new set of frames.

Washington Post: “Oh look … yummy treats.”

2009-11-03T23:33:00-07:00

Great white sharks coming closer to shore than thought, researchers find. “For years, humans have thought of great white sharks wandering the sea at random, only occasionally venturing close to shore. We were wrong.” I still recall my first trip to the Jersey shore after “Jaws.” A long wad of dirty toilet paper wrapped around my leg, causing no less panic than the shark I feared it might be.

Hey, I look like a human now.

2009-11-03T21:52:38-07:00

Instead of a woolly-booger.

A bit late for blogging this morning.

2009-11-03T17:19:30-07:00

Santa Fe Spa was less crowded this morning; most seem to go for the weekend-freeing Mon-Wed-Fri workout schedule. Now, to go get my ears lowered. Links later on.

Washington Post: America, in default?

2009-11-02T15:33:12-07:00

Could America go broke? “The idea that the government of a major advanced country would default on its debt — that is, tell lenders that it won’t repay them all they’re owed — was, until recently, a preposterous proposition. [snip] Well, it’s still a very, very long shot, but it’s no longer entirely unimaginable.”

BBC: Plowshares into swords.

2009-11-02T15:15:01-07:00

‘Twin Towers’ warship enters NY.

BBC: Humans tend to foul their own nests.

2009-11-02T15:10:34-07:00

Logging caused Nazca collapse. “Our research contradicts the popular view that Native American peoples always lived in harmony with their environment until the Spanish Conquest.” I believe that ‘popular view’ is only held by those who have never read Lewis & Clark’s journals. The Anasazi at Chaco had middens piles as long as the face of Pueblo Bonito, right in front. You had to walk through the garbage to *get* to the place.

Mind blowing.

2009-10-31T21:22:38-07:00

All-Sky Milky Way Panorama 2.0. Click on the picture, and see why Carl Sagan was so sure about SETI. Damn, that’s a lot of possibilities. Via Follow Me Here.

CNET: New iMacs have difficulties with Flash.

2009-10-31T14:29:12-07:00

New Apple iMacs plagued by choppy Flash video playback? “We visited several sites with heavy streaming video content like Hulu, YouTube, and the Break Media Network, and experienced similar issues: popping sounds and jerky video rendering the content unwatchable on several accounts. Like many of the users in the Apple thread, we called up the Activity Monitor and saw that the Flash Player demanded a surprising 114.4 percent of the iMac’s CPU processes.” Bummer for those of us programming video in Flash.

NY Times: $3,500 per rent-a-bike. Ouch.

2009-10-31T00:11:48-07:00

Reality Deals Setback to Paris Bike Program. “With 80 percent of the initial 20,600 bicycles stolen or damaged, the program’s organizers have had to hire several hundred people just to fix them. And along with the dent in the city-subsidized budget has been a blow to the Parisian psyche.” Great idea, being brought up short by vandalism.

Boston.com: Great photos of the Ares launch.

2009-10-30T23:20:16-07:00

The Big Picture: Launch of the Ares I-X. “The two-minute sub-orbital test flight encountered a few problems along the way, as the launch pad was slightly damaged, a planned stage separation did not go quite according to plan, and a possible parachute failure led to a hard splashdown for its first stage.” Bugs to be worked out.

Times Online.UK: Getting down and dirty with Neanderthals.

2009-10-30T16:25:33-07:00

Neanderthals ‘had sex’ with modern man. “Due to the length of time that has elapsed since Neanderthals became extinct, any trace of their DNA in modern humans could have been diluted below detectable levels. Paabo hopes to overcome this by scanning the Neanderthal genome for the genes of modern humans.” I thought this DNA link to ‘modern’ humans was already established?

NPR: Measuring the stimulus effect.

2009-10-30T16:20:26-07:00

Is The Stimulus Really Working? “The Recovery Act is a two-year program, and most of the spending has yet to be rolled out. So far, only about 24 percent — or $120 billion available earmarked for contracts, grants, loans and entitlements — has been paid out, according to Recovery.gov, the government Web site that tracks the stimulus initiative.” Offhand observation: every media source shows photos of road repairs when they discuss the stimulus. Not all of us rake asphalt for a living.