My Dad came to visit over the weekend. It was a blast. Rob and Veronica came up and we watched the Russel Crowe "Robin Hood" on Blu-ray. Not particularly recommended, but it had its moments.
Dad wanted to watch the Ohio State massacre. So, I got a cheap antenna at Target for $10. You can get about 3 or 4 channels over the air with it, but you have to re-aim it for each one. Still, I got great reception on the game and was able to watch in HD. I watched the Browns in HD the next day... that's not a good thing, for the most part.
I need to go ahead and get cable and internet for the place, but I can't quite figure out what it'll cost. With two really nice TVs, I'd like to get HD. I'm guessing between cable and internet, that'll be $100 a month. It's not a monumental sum, but for some reason, I hate to commit to it and order it. I'll probably go ahead, though.
I think the reason I'm feeling bummed is that it looks like no work is going to get done on my house for a while. Probably not for a month or two, and maybe not until next year. There are nice-ish parts of the house. The downstairs half-bath is about 95% done. The living room is only really needing flooring.
Overall, though, it's a house that's like a construction zone and not many parts of it are very nice at all. I get depressed a lot when I walk in the place.
I'm e-baying off some stuff and already shipped off one guitar. It feels good to un-clutter. The guitars I'm selling are going for what I wanted. I like having a bunch of stuff, but I find myself more than willing to sell off my crap to make sure Logan has what he wants/needs. In a lot of ways, I figure my prime is basically done, and it's his turn, now. Sometimes I would get sorta sick thinking of all the absolute crap I own. Wishing I'd never bought it in the first place.
I think I'll continue to get rid of stuff, strategically. I'm not going to be living in austerity or anything of the sort. However, I need to get to where I have, say, 1 of each kind of gun, instead of 2 or 3.
Selling that stuff doesn't hurt my quality of life in any imagineable way.
However, the guns and 4-wheeler I thought about selling aren't selling very well at all. The 4-wheeler is probably because of the season and the economy. The guns? When Obama was elected, everybody who wanted a gun ran out and bought one. So, nobody is buying guns these days. That, and the economy. So, I'll be keeping that stuff, I think.
The guitars, though? I loved having the collection, but I literally never touched the things. I'll keep two Mexican Stratocasters. One for me and one for the boy. However, I doubt I play more than 10 or 20 hours a year, now. So, not-having electric guitars isn't that big of a deal for me.
Logan had a football game on Saturday and scored another touchdown. He's scored half his team's touchdowns this year. A little of it is that I think his coach remembers him from last year. He didn't play nearly the key role in the offense last year, but I think the coach remembers the times when he got to play QB and really impacted the game.
On Sunday at baseball practice, he looked oddly very sharp. That's good. I was hoping the time off would let him sort of recharge and spin down and I think it's not hurting him at all. About once a week is all I want him working out for baseball.
Took my Arabic test and got a 109 out of 100 if my extra credit answers are included. The prof really isn't trying to give anybody a hard time. If you put in at least a little work, you're going to get a good grade.
I'll grunt out the rest of this semester, but I'm not doing this again in the Spring. Having a couple of extra appointments every week is a pain in the butt and it works out poorly with both my reserve service and with being able to watch Logan if Tessa gets called in to work the hospital at the last minute.
So, I'll grunt out the rest of this year, but after that, I'll get rosetta stone or something.
At work, we're really busy, which is nice. However, we have a potential cash flow crunch coming up. These are the times when it's not much fun to be captain of the ship. I've gotten us through worse in the past, though, and I can get us through this. By mid-November, we should be one step closer to being in good health.
I think I just need a good night's sleep. I'm feeling a little worn out today.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Row, row, row your... um... rowing machine.
Got on the rowing machine for the first time last night. Good stuff.
It didn't beat me up like running does. That's probably good. I started off too fast. Sort of like running, you have to temper your enthusiasm for the first few minutes, because what seems like easy stuff gets a lot harder after you've been doing it for a while.
I adjusted the drag factor (resistance) with the little vent-adjustment device on the side. Once you do that, you can get the computer to tell you your exact resistance because the vent-adjustment is not that precise. My factor was 115. What, precisely, that means, I'm not too sure.
Seems to be good enough for what I want to do for now.
I didn't have any music down there. I'm fixing that by dragging down some speakers for my iPod.
I tried a few different 500 meter workouts, but so far the one I like best is the 2,000 meter workout. I was able to do it, completely, twice. The first time was just a tad under 10 minutes. The second time, I was at 9:10. I was trying to break 9:00, but I started my final sprint just a little too soon and gassed out.
I did a total of 6,000 yards, and the other 2,000 were either 500 meter repeats and/or just general goofing around.
It's sort of interesting that the machine remembers what you did. So, you can race against previous bests, etc. Next session, I'll probably try to establish a 10K PR.
They actually had a marathon as one of the possibilities. I can't imagine spending that kind of time rowing.
This is going to work out well. I obviously want to maintain my cardio-vascular health, and my heart doesn't care whether I get the exercise rowing, running or riding a bike. I need to be able to do at least a reasonable amount of running for the Navy, but meeting the minimums isn't usually that bad.
Having the rowing machine will let me cut down a bit on the running. At the current time, I am thinking of cutting down to 3 or 4 days a week, max. It's taking a toll on my knees for sure.
Having healthy heart and arteries is nice, but so is being able to walk when you're old.
The other nice thing about jumbling things up is that the more you do one exercise, the more your body adapts to it. So, you get better at it, but it doesn't stress your system as much. By doing mutiple forms of exercise, your body gets better benefit from each session, I think.
Checking the C2 web-site, rowing seems to be mostly interval work, like swimming. When I was in peak swimming shape, I almost never swam more than 500 yards during any one interval. Yet, it translated to optimal performance in the water.
I think the only reason you don't do all-interval workouts with running is because of the risk of injury. Interval workouts probably are optimal in terms of increasing performance.
Other than that, took my Arabic test and did pretty well. I need to put some more of my junk up for auction. The house is a money pit. Basically, nothing is new.
Logan has a football game tomorrow and a scrimmage on Sunday. As always, a great weekend if you're a Dad who likes watching sports.
It didn't beat me up like running does. That's probably good. I started off too fast. Sort of like running, you have to temper your enthusiasm for the first few minutes, because what seems like easy stuff gets a lot harder after you've been doing it for a while.
I adjusted the drag factor (resistance) with the little vent-adjustment device on the side. Once you do that, you can get the computer to tell you your exact resistance because the vent-adjustment is not that precise. My factor was 115. What, precisely, that means, I'm not too sure.
Seems to be good enough for what I want to do for now.
I didn't have any music down there. I'm fixing that by dragging down some speakers for my iPod.
I tried a few different 500 meter workouts, but so far the one I like best is the 2,000 meter workout. I was able to do it, completely, twice. The first time was just a tad under 10 minutes. The second time, I was at 9:10. I was trying to break 9:00, but I started my final sprint just a little too soon and gassed out.
I did a total of 6,000 yards, and the other 2,000 were either 500 meter repeats and/or just general goofing around.
It's sort of interesting that the machine remembers what you did. So, you can race against previous bests, etc. Next session, I'll probably try to establish a 10K PR.
They actually had a marathon as one of the possibilities. I can't imagine spending that kind of time rowing.
This is going to work out well. I obviously want to maintain my cardio-vascular health, and my heart doesn't care whether I get the exercise rowing, running or riding a bike. I need to be able to do at least a reasonable amount of running for the Navy, but meeting the minimums isn't usually that bad.
Having the rowing machine will let me cut down a bit on the running. At the current time, I am thinking of cutting down to 3 or 4 days a week, max. It's taking a toll on my knees for sure.
Having healthy heart and arteries is nice, but so is being able to walk when you're old.
The other nice thing about jumbling things up is that the more you do one exercise, the more your body adapts to it. So, you get better at it, but it doesn't stress your system as much. By doing mutiple forms of exercise, your body gets better benefit from each session, I think.
Checking the C2 web-site, rowing seems to be mostly interval work, like swimming. When I was in peak swimming shape, I almost never swam more than 500 yards during any one interval. Yet, it translated to optimal performance in the water.
I think the only reason you don't do all-interval workouts with running is because of the risk of injury. Interval workouts probably are optimal in terms of increasing performance.
Other than that, took my Arabic test and did pretty well. I need to put some more of my junk up for auction. The house is a money pit. Basically, nothing is new.
Logan has a football game tomorrow and a scrimmage on Sunday. As always, a great weekend if you're a Dad who likes watching sports.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
What bothers me about raising taxes on the top earners...
Ya know, I think I finally figured out why I'm vehemently opposed to letting the Bush Tax cuts expire on top wage earners.
Now, I have never paid taxes in that bracket (okay, one year I did, but it was an extraordinary circumstance). During my best years, I came darned close. Now, I'm not even in the ballpark. I'm lucky to be eating a bratwurst at a tailgate party in the parking lot.
Here's what bothers me about it, though. I think our taxes are too high. If you have a good job and a good income, you're paying about half your money to the government. I don't care what your philosophy, but when 50 cents of every dollar you make goes to other people, I think that's crap.
I don't like the argument of, "oh, it only hoses over a few people, and not you! So, let's do it!" Using that logic, it'd be okay to grant civil rights to everybody except, say, Jews or black people. After all, it wouldn't affect me, personally. Hell, who cares if some black guy or jew doesn't get to vote. So long as I get to vote, screw them, right?
I think it's pretty easy to see the flaw in the "it only affects others, not you" argument when painted in that stark light. Taxes are too high. On me, on most people who pay taxes (only about half the wage-earners out there), and on people who make a lot more than me.
I believe that taxes should be lower, and government should be smaller, and there should be fewer people in the wagon and more people pulling.
So, to try to appeal to me by saying, "Well, it only affects other people, not you"... well... that sort of pisses me off. It's like saying it's okay to do a very bad thing so long as you promise only to do it to somebody else.
I'm also suspicious enough of the government to know that whey they say they're going to raise taxes on somebody else, that means they have the power to raise taxes on anybody and everybody. What I want is government that never raises taxes, ever, for any reason, and lowers them whenever possible.
There are practical constraints on this. I vote for school levies, for instance. However, as a principle, I want government that does what people are supposed to do: lives within its means.
It doesn't work if a person goes out, buys a yacht and a Lexus and supports their deadbeat relatives in a 5,000 square foot mansion, for them to then go to their employer and say, "hey, I need more money".
That's what the government is doing. Instead of saying, "Gee, we can't afford a Lexus and my deadbeat cousin needs to get his own place to live and find a job", the government is basically saying they love to spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, and to make that happen, people who work need a smaller and smaller piece of their own paychecks.
The other thing that bothers me, and I think this is one of those conservative / liberal litmus tests, is that I want to be wealthy one day. I am doing what I can to make that happen. I don't want incentives removed for this. I put everything I have on the line every day. I expect a reward when/if I start breathing the rare air of $250,000+ a year.
So, I don't care how many times they say that this only screws over a small amount of people. That's not good social policy. That's just divide and conquer: tell a majority that it's okay to screw over a minority. Our basic premises of civil rights are designed to protect us against the tyranny of the majority. As one person eloquently put it, majority rule is like two lions and a sheep deciding what they're going to have for lunch.
In any event, got a lot going on. Test in a few hours. I'm about 1/3 of the way through studying. Will go to school early and try to find a quiet place to finish.
I'm totally pumped to do my rowing machine workout today.
Gotta buy a bunch of stuff for my Dad's visit tomorrow. Need another bed and some food for the fridge.
Now, back to studying.
Now, I have never paid taxes in that bracket (okay, one year I did, but it was an extraordinary circumstance). During my best years, I came darned close. Now, I'm not even in the ballpark. I'm lucky to be eating a bratwurst at a tailgate party in the parking lot.
Here's what bothers me about it, though. I think our taxes are too high. If you have a good job and a good income, you're paying about half your money to the government. I don't care what your philosophy, but when 50 cents of every dollar you make goes to other people, I think that's crap.
I don't like the argument of, "oh, it only hoses over a few people, and not you! So, let's do it!" Using that logic, it'd be okay to grant civil rights to everybody except, say, Jews or black people. After all, it wouldn't affect me, personally. Hell, who cares if some black guy or jew doesn't get to vote. So long as I get to vote, screw them, right?
I think it's pretty easy to see the flaw in the "it only affects others, not you" argument when painted in that stark light. Taxes are too high. On me, on most people who pay taxes (only about half the wage-earners out there), and on people who make a lot more than me.
I believe that taxes should be lower, and government should be smaller, and there should be fewer people in the wagon and more people pulling.
So, to try to appeal to me by saying, "Well, it only affects other people, not you"... well... that sort of pisses me off. It's like saying it's okay to do a very bad thing so long as you promise only to do it to somebody else.
I'm also suspicious enough of the government to know that whey they say they're going to raise taxes on somebody else, that means they have the power to raise taxes on anybody and everybody. What I want is government that never raises taxes, ever, for any reason, and lowers them whenever possible.
There are practical constraints on this. I vote for school levies, for instance. However, as a principle, I want government that does what people are supposed to do: lives within its means.
It doesn't work if a person goes out, buys a yacht and a Lexus and supports their deadbeat relatives in a 5,000 square foot mansion, for them to then go to their employer and say, "hey, I need more money".
That's what the government is doing. Instead of saying, "Gee, we can't afford a Lexus and my deadbeat cousin needs to get his own place to live and find a job", the government is basically saying they love to spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, and to make that happen, people who work need a smaller and smaller piece of their own paychecks.
The other thing that bothers me, and I think this is one of those conservative / liberal litmus tests, is that I want to be wealthy one day. I am doing what I can to make that happen. I don't want incentives removed for this. I put everything I have on the line every day. I expect a reward when/if I start breathing the rare air of $250,000+ a year.
So, I don't care how many times they say that this only screws over a small amount of people. That's not good social policy. That's just divide and conquer: tell a majority that it's okay to screw over a minority. Our basic premises of civil rights are designed to protect us against the tyranny of the majority. As one person eloquently put it, majority rule is like two lions and a sheep deciding what they're going to have for lunch.
In any event, got a lot going on. Test in a few hours. I'm about 1/3 of the way through studying. Will go to school early and try to find a quiet place to finish.
I'm totally pumped to do my rowing machine workout today.
Gotta buy a bunch of stuff for my Dad's visit tomorrow. Need another bed and some food for the fridge.
Now, back to studying.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Jimmy the Cultural Ignoramus
In Arabic last night, we watched some films of people engaging in basic conversation. Couldn't tell you what they were saying, but I did notice that all the women were smokin' hot and wearing form-fitting clothing.
Apparently, Egypt is the middle east's version of Bollywood (which is India's version of Hollywood... why I didn't just say Egypt is the middle east's version of Hollywood is beyond me... but I digress...)
So, learning Egyptian dialect is a good bet because most people in the Middle East can understand it since they've seen a lot of Egyptian movies.
Which means that Egypt probably has its share of incredibly hot looking actors and actresses and wannabe famous people, etc. In fact, one of the dudes on there looked like he could have been a leading man on Jersey Shore.
So, I asked the prof how common this was. The women weren't wearing headscarfs and their clothes were pretty tight. They basically looked like Americans. He said that all sorts of attire is present in the middle east, including women wearing hot pants, etc. Not just in Egypt, but Lebanon, the countries around Saudi like Kuwait and UAE, etc.
Now, I know how utterly ignorant this sounds, but I'm a bit shocked. Even when I was in Korea (30 years ago, mind you), women did not wear tight clothing. Korea is a conservative society, but doesn't have nearly the reputation of the Islamic countries.
Just goes to show: you can't always go by your preconceptions. That moment, alone, was worth every penny of tuition I paid.
We reviewed for the test, and unfortunately, the only way I wouldn't get an A on this thing is if I had a stroke right after writing my name. This prof is a very cool, laid-back guy who doesn't want to flunk anybody. Honestly, the tests and quizzes are reasonable, but they're intended to allow people to get high grades.
I don't think I'll be doing it in the Spring, though. It's not the class, itself, that's the problem. It's that it puts one more thing on my plate at a time when I really have enough going on, already. I don't need 2 more appointments every week.
In the Spring, Logan's travel baseball will fire up full-tilt.
I will have a basis from which to continue learning, though. I can always get the rosetta stone for Arabic and now that I can read and write, I should be able to make some progress through self-study.
The other factor in all this is that my odds of deploying to iraq seem to be diminishing over time. I'm fenced off until I finish DAWIA Level I, and that might not happen for another 12 months. If Obama's time table holds, we'll have the bulk of our 50,000 support troops out of there by then.
This, of course, causes a bit of a domino effect, since even if our Afghanistan mission is alive and well, we have a lot of active-duty troops who used to be in Iraq who can fill those slots.
This has been such a roller coaster ride. When I joined, there was a 100% deployment rate. That was true until about a year ago.
Then, 6 months ago, it dropped to maybe 40-50%. Now, maybe 20%. I still have a bag packed, but with each passing month, the odds of deployment decrease. The American public is bored with these wars and wants to focus on a domestic agenda. Obama isn't a war president, and will want this off his plate as soon as possible.
Project e-bay is off to a good start. I already got a bid for the minimum I wanted on my one Melancon guitar. I put up my Gibson SG and it started getting bids immediately. So, I should be down 2 guitars within a few days.
I need to go whole-hog on this thing and get my debt as low as possible. Tonight, I'll probably take pictures of some of Logan's old baseball bats.
By "old baseball bats", I don't mean bats he actually used. He was at a strange point last Spring where he couldn't handle a heavy bat, but the big-barrels were too short. I bought at least half a dozen bats (at an average cost of about $150), before I found one that works for him. I'm sure I'll take it in the shorts if I e-bay them all off right now. However, they're not doing anybody any good in my basement.
Right now, I guess I feel like I'm surrounded by junk. So, I can either sell it off or give it away, but some of this clutter has got to go.
The rowing machine is on the UPS truck to be delivered today. At that point, the cardio dungeon will be 2/3 complete. I do need to get a TV down there, though. I might be able to get the treadmill down there this week, which would pretty much finish it up.
Apparently, Egypt is the middle east's version of Bollywood (which is India's version of Hollywood... why I didn't just say Egypt is the middle east's version of Hollywood is beyond me... but I digress...)
So, learning Egyptian dialect is a good bet because most people in the Middle East can understand it since they've seen a lot of Egyptian movies.
Which means that Egypt probably has its share of incredibly hot looking actors and actresses and wannabe famous people, etc. In fact, one of the dudes on there looked like he could have been a leading man on Jersey Shore.
So, I asked the prof how common this was. The women weren't wearing headscarfs and their clothes were pretty tight. They basically looked like Americans. He said that all sorts of attire is present in the middle east, including women wearing hot pants, etc. Not just in Egypt, but Lebanon, the countries around Saudi like Kuwait and UAE, etc.
Now, I know how utterly ignorant this sounds, but I'm a bit shocked. Even when I was in Korea (30 years ago, mind you), women did not wear tight clothing. Korea is a conservative society, but doesn't have nearly the reputation of the Islamic countries.
Just goes to show: you can't always go by your preconceptions. That moment, alone, was worth every penny of tuition I paid.
We reviewed for the test, and unfortunately, the only way I wouldn't get an A on this thing is if I had a stroke right after writing my name. This prof is a very cool, laid-back guy who doesn't want to flunk anybody. Honestly, the tests and quizzes are reasonable, but they're intended to allow people to get high grades.
I don't think I'll be doing it in the Spring, though. It's not the class, itself, that's the problem. It's that it puts one more thing on my plate at a time when I really have enough going on, already. I don't need 2 more appointments every week.
In the Spring, Logan's travel baseball will fire up full-tilt.
I will have a basis from which to continue learning, though. I can always get the rosetta stone for Arabic and now that I can read and write, I should be able to make some progress through self-study.
The other factor in all this is that my odds of deploying to iraq seem to be diminishing over time. I'm fenced off until I finish DAWIA Level I, and that might not happen for another 12 months. If Obama's time table holds, we'll have the bulk of our 50,000 support troops out of there by then.
This, of course, causes a bit of a domino effect, since even if our Afghanistan mission is alive and well, we have a lot of active-duty troops who used to be in Iraq who can fill those slots.
This has been such a roller coaster ride. When I joined, there was a 100% deployment rate. That was true until about a year ago.
Then, 6 months ago, it dropped to maybe 40-50%. Now, maybe 20%. I still have a bag packed, but with each passing month, the odds of deployment decrease. The American public is bored with these wars and wants to focus on a domestic agenda. Obama isn't a war president, and will want this off his plate as soon as possible.
Project e-bay is off to a good start. I already got a bid for the minimum I wanted on my one Melancon guitar. I put up my Gibson SG and it started getting bids immediately. So, I should be down 2 guitars within a few days.
I need to go whole-hog on this thing and get my debt as low as possible. Tonight, I'll probably take pictures of some of Logan's old baseball bats.
By "old baseball bats", I don't mean bats he actually used. He was at a strange point last Spring where he couldn't handle a heavy bat, but the big-barrels were too short. I bought at least half a dozen bats (at an average cost of about $150), before I found one that works for him. I'm sure I'll take it in the shorts if I e-bay them all off right now. However, they're not doing anybody any good in my basement.
Right now, I guess I feel like I'm surrounded by junk. So, I can either sell it off or give it away, but some of this clutter has got to go.
The rowing machine is on the UPS truck to be delivered today. At that point, the cardio dungeon will be 2/3 complete. I do need to get a TV down there, though. I might be able to get the treadmill down there this week, which would pretty much finish it up.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A whole lot of little stuff...
Arabic quiz today. Didn't study. Clearly not-studying, now. Will need to hit it once I get to the office. Woke up at 3-something and couldn't get back to sleep. Yuck.
I am glad I'm taking this Arabic class because it reaffirms what I have long suspected: that I was lucky to graduate from the schooling I've done already; that I'm not a person who enjoys being in school; and that it's not a good idea for me to go back or to entertain ideas of a career change that involve going back to school.
My rowing machine should arrive tomorrow. I'm pumped. Need to jumble up the workout schedule a bit. For the sake of my knees, it's probably best that I cut back on running a little bit and change up the routine. Rowing seems to have no downsides that I can tell. I'm pumped.
My guitar on e-bay has only been there a couple of days, but it's doing really well. I was hoping to get maybe $850 for it. With 6 days to go in the auction, it's already at $900. So, I may even be able to get what I have into it if it gets a last minute bidding surge.
Pity. I was hoping the auction would be a disaster. Then, I'd have an excuse to discontinue project e-bay and keep all my stuff. However, it looks like I'll be auctioning off stuff on a relatively continuous basis.
I checked out my house to see the problem my guys found yesterday. I think I know what's causing it. Basically, they built the second story, but part of the main 2nd story exterior walls don't sit on load-bearing walls. Long story short: part of my 2nd story is sagging a little bit. It can be fixed. Might have to jack it up a little bit and put a steel beam under there.
On top of that, I have moles in my front yard. Double whammy. The moles are a problem, themselves. The second problem is that moles almost always mean grubs that are destroying my lawn. Great. I put down grub-x in the spring, but apparently that wasn't enough.
So, it's just nonstop joy these days.
Today, I need to call my dentist to get a crown put on my root canal. Another "yay" situation.
My Dad is coming to visit this weekend. I need to run out and buy another bed for the cabin. There's next to no furniture in there right now. I've got couches in the living room and 2 single beds upstairs. One for Logan and one for me. I'll go out and get one more inexpensive single bed. That way, when Logan has a sleepover, they can actually sleep on beds.
He should be able to catch Logan's football game. They're supposed to be on Saturdays from here on out. That'll make it easier for him on the Sunday scrimmages. He was pretty worn out last Sunday having to do 2 sports on the same day.
I woke up way too early today, got breakfast at Waffle House (it's the only place open). Now, though, I'm tired and I'm going to lay down until the house starts moving and grooving.
I am glad I'm taking this Arabic class because it reaffirms what I have long suspected: that I was lucky to graduate from the schooling I've done already; that I'm not a person who enjoys being in school; and that it's not a good idea for me to go back or to entertain ideas of a career change that involve going back to school.
My rowing machine should arrive tomorrow. I'm pumped. Need to jumble up the workout schedule a bit. For the sake of my knees, it's probably best that I cut back on running a little bit and change up the routine. Rowing seems to have no downsides that I can tell. I'm pumped.
My guitar on e-bay has only been there a couple of days, but it's doing really well. I was hoping to get maybe $850 for it. With 6 days to go in the auction, it's already at $900. So, I may even be able to get what I have into it if it gets a last minute bidding surge.
Pity. I was hoping the auction would be a disaster. Then, I'd have an excuse to discontinue project e-bay and keep all my stuff. However, it looks like I'll be auctioning off stuff on a relatively continuous basis.
I checked out my house to see the problem my guys found yesterday. I think I know what's causing it. Basically, they built the second story, but part of the main 2nd story exterior walls don't sit on load-bearing walls. Long story short: part of my 2nd story is sagging a little bit. It can be fixed. Might have to jack it up a little bit and put a steel beam under there.
On top of that, I have moles in my front yard. Double whammy. The moles are a problem, themselves. The second problem is that moles almost always mean grubs that are destroying my lawn. Great. I put down grub-x in the spring, but apparently that wasn't enough.
So, it's just nonstop joy these days.
Today, I need to call my dentist to get a crown put on my root canal. Another "yay" situation.
My Dad is coming to visit this weekend. I need to run out and buy another bed for the cabin. There's next to no furniture in there right now. I've got couches in the living room and 2 single beds upstairs. One for Logan and one for me. I'll go out and get one more inexpensive single bed. That way, when Logan has a sleepover, they can actually sleep on beds.
He should be able to catch Logan's football game. They're supposed to be on Saturdays from here on out. That'll make it easier for him on the Sunday scrimmages. He was pretty worn out last Sunday having to do 2 sports on the same day.
I woke up way too early today, got breakfast at Waffle House (it's the only place open). Now, though, I'm tired and I'm going to lay down until the house starts moving and grooving.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Oh, this ****ed Money Pit
The guys were working on my house today. Put in one of the windows and at the end of the day, they came to me and said, "Your window is going to look really funny".
Great. Bottom line is that the flat roof probably leaked at one point in time which is causing one corner of the 2nd story to droop.
Set aside for a moment that they didn't stop when they got to the point where they realized it would look funny. I mean, a reasonable person might stop and wait for guidance. They just put the window in, anyway. Now, of course, it's almost certainly going to have to come back out.
This house just depresses me. I bought it because of proximity to Logan's house so he won't have to go far between the houses. I also love the lot. It backs up to a wooded ravine. In the little time I spend there, I've seen a hawk and a deer so far. It's beautiful with a feeling of seclusion that isn't easy to achieve in a well populated suburb like the one I live in.
Darned if it just doesn't seem like something is constantly going on, though. It gets old. I'm dealing with a lot right now and just didn't need this. Oh well. Still, with the ability to have my construction guys work on it, and with the discounts I get at the various construction supply places, I can get these sorts of repairs done for probably 1/4 or 1/3 what it would cost most people. However, it's just one more pain in the butt for me to deal with.
My root canal is finished, and I am still a little numb from the novocaine. I'm on an antibiotic because the endo thinks I've got a little bacterial infection that seems to be lingering. I'll be calling my dentist tomorrow to get a crown put on. Yet another way for me to spend my $$$.
I got the notification that my rowing machine shipped today, though. That'll be good for stress relief. I need to run tonight and am going to pound the pavement once my food digests.
I'm going over now to see the crappiness of the building I will soon call "home", myself. If it isn't one thing, it's another these days.
Great. Bottom line is that the flat roof probably leaked at one point in time which is causing one corner of the 2nd story to droop.
Set aside for a moment that they didn't stop when they got to the point where they realized it would look funny. I mean, a reasonable person might stop and wait for guidance. They just put the window in, anyway. Now, of course, it's almost certainly going to have to come back out.
This house just depresses me. I bought it because of proximity to Logan's house so he won't have to go far between the houses. I also love the lot. It backs up to a wooded ravine. In the little time I spend there, I've seen a hawk and a deer so far. It's beautiful with a feeling of seclusion that isn't easy to achieve in a well populated suburb like the one I live in.
Darned if it just doesn't seem like something is constantly going on, though. It gets old. I'm dealing with a lot right now and just didn't need this. Oh well. Still, with the ability to have my construction guys work on it, and with the discounts I get at the various construction supply places, I can get these sorts of repairs done for probably 1/4 or 1/3 what it would cost most people. However, it's just one more pain in the butt for me to deal with.
My root canal is finished, and I am still a little numb from the novocaine. I'm on an antibiotic because the endo thinks I've got a little bacterial infection that seems to be lingering. I'll be calling my dentist tomorrow to get a crown put on. Yet another way for me to spend my $$$.
I got the notification that my rowing machine shipped today, though. That'll be good for stress relief. I need to run tonight and am going to pound the pavement once my food digests.
I'm going over now to see the crappiness of the building I will soon call "home", myself. If it isn't one thing, it's another these days.
Of Aspirin, Dehumidifiers and Home Renovations...
I'm a little surprised at how humid my basement is. Odd, given that drying structures is my job, but I think humidity was around 80% before I put in the dehumidifier yesterday. I just bought a consumer model at Lowe's. The stuff we use at work would be too expensive to run in a residence from an electricity standpoint. I let it run with the internal bucket for a day, and after less than 24 hours, the bucket was completely full. I went to buy a hose, so it would automatically discharge into the sump and by the time I got back from the store, it had already accumulated about a quart.
There was a musty smell down there, and yesterday it seemed to be much, much better. It would be nice to be able to use the basement as liveable space. The previous owners put a lot of money into drywall, etc. All it would really take is some inexpensive carpet and I'd be good to go.
I am hoping my rowing machine arrives sometime this week. Not sure two a day workouts are going to be necessary, though. I feel like I'm breaking through my weight-loss plateau. More on that later.
Sometime this week, I may schedule my guys to come and basically move me out of the old house and into the cabin. It all depends on getting a reasonable child custody split for Logan. If I can get that, I'm ready to be out of the house, full-time, and away from the drama.
I don't look forward to the task of moving the treadmill, though. It's going to be a bear. Still, it'll be nice to have a treadmill again. Not so much that I love running on a treadmill, but it's very convenient from a child-care standpoint. I can be in the house and Logan can be watching TV or whatnot.
Last night, he ran two laps with me and he was a little bit winded. I think it was because he had played both a football and baseball game earlier that day. Kid was just tuckered out. It's hard to imagine that the running would be difficult for him since he's a kid who can run a mile in a little over 7 minutes.
Football isn't going to be so bad. This is the last year of rec-league, flag football. I was afraid his team would get destroyed, but they actually managed to win yesterday. There are only 6 games in the season. Logan got some good playing time. Because it's rec, the kids get an equal mix of playing the line and backfield. Logan got some good carries and scored a TD. He also had one long run that set up the TD.
Baseball? The team is practicing on Wednesdays and scrimmaging on Sundays. I don't mind the scrimmages. They're basically fun and are just enough baseball so that the boys won't be starting over from zero in the Spring. However the Wednesday practices conflict with his football team's practice. So, we aren't practicing baseball right now.
That's just fine with me. I still maintain that 9 years old is too young to specialize into one sport. I want him to try a little of everything. I have a cousin, Dan, who was exceptionally athletic, and for some reason, in middle school, he stopped playing baseball and started running track. There's just no good way, most of the time, to tell what a kid will enjoy, what he will be good at, etc. Best at this age to let them try a little of everything. Middle school, if they're serious about one sport, maybe let them start focusing, then. However, in the mean time, I think they develop better all-around athleticism and avoid burnout if you give them a variety.
As I've said countless times, the boy loves sports. My job, as I see it, is to make sure he doesn't get burned out to the point that he dreads playing.
It really is something to see the kid, though. It's almost as though I dreamed him into existence. He's lanky and lean. Quick footed and fast. Is probably the most coachable kid on any of his teams. I think back to times such as when he was 5 years old and playing tee ball.
His first practice? He tried to catch a ball, didn't catch it and it hit him in the face. Later in the same practice? Tried to catch another one and it hit him in the face.
I had two reactions to that. First was, "Oh well... at least I've got guitars". I figured there was a pretty decent chance that he'd end up like me and be completely not-athletic.
My second reaction was complete guilt because I hadn't spent any time with him working on catching a ball. He had the aggressiveness. He got hit in the face because he fearlessly wanted to catch the ball. Now, he had been throwing balls against the front door since he was about 3, but that was apparently different than judging the trajectory of a ball in flight.
I immediately went to the store and bought some tennis balls and worked with him on learning how to catch. By the end of the season, he was doing fine, but still had difficulty catching the ball if thrown from a distance. I actually considered approaching the coach and saying, "We both know Logan shouldn't play first base, right?"
Well, the next year, he was born again hard. We had been working on catching the entire year. Now that he had a genuine baseball glove, he had been playing catch against the front door pretty much every night. He got to where his hands and eyes were quick enough that he could catch a wiffle ball with his baseball glove. If you've never tried it, it's considerably more difficult than catching a baseball.
From that point forward, he was one of the better players on his rec teams and when he tried out for the Mavericks organization, I knew he stood a chance of making the A team.
It's hard to imagine that he's gone from being my adorable little chub-ball to being a lean, quick, solid athlete.
Enough bragging on my boy. I'm a proud Dad, not just for what he does on the field, but for the considerate, sensitive, hard-working young man he is. I think every parent just hopes their children will do well, making their way in life. I think Logan has good traits that will serve him well.
Plus, he has hollywood leading-man good-looks. Of course, that's in my unbiased opinion.
On the workout front, my wonky scale weighed me at 192 this morning. The thing isn't that accurate, but it's more accurate than not. Although I sufferred a minor setback going to Texas, I feel like I'm about to break through my plateau, now.
There are a few reasons for it. One of them is that my diet has really improved. It's not as strict and stringent as it was when I started. However, I'm paying better attention to what's good and what's not.
The other thing is that my body has had time to adjust to the higher mileage routine. I've been doing at least 5 miles for quite a while, now. Been doing 6 for a few weeks.
My rule of thumb is that any new training stimulus takes 3 weeks to show up in your physiology. Daniels says that it takes 6 weeks to get the full benefit of any new training stimulus. So, the results of the higher mileage are only just now showing up.
The other thing is, I am taking aspirin every day, now. It's supposed to have some therapeutic benefit in terms of reducing the chance of heart attack. My decades of bad diet have no doubt made me a prime candidate. The main reason I started taking it was because of my root canal, to help manage pain. (To avoid ODing on ibuprofin, I would take some acetominiphin and aspirin every day, too.) Also, to help with inflammation in my knees caused by the running.
It just occurred to me that the old ECA stack was actually able to help people lose weight. It consisted of ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin. I get some caffeine every day. No ephedrine, of course. However, the aspirin probably has some weight-loss effect.
The last factor is that a couple of days ago, I started adding really hard intervals to my running workouts. For instance, last time, I ran one mile at 9 minute miles. Quite a departure from the days when I could do a 20 mile training run at 9 minute miles. It got my heart rate up over 170 bpm, and was a serious butt-kicker.
I do believe that high intensity interval training causes weight loss in greater proportion than simply the number of calories that are burned in the session. So, that could be it, too.
As much as I'd like a 2 workout schedule, I think I'll probably stick with one per day. It just has to be a quality workout. I'm going to see about finding a way to get a TV down in the cardio dungeon of the cabin. That way, when I'm watching TV, I can spin pedals on the recumbent bike, too.
I still have a little bit of a belly right now, which leads me to believe I was delusional to think that I was only 10 pounds overweight when I was at 205+. I should probably be at 185 for general good-health and somewhere in the 160s or 170s for optimal running weight.
I am still very curious how my next triglyceride numbers will look. I think there will be a dramatic difference now that I'm at a lower weight and exercising regularly.
The house is getting a little more done in terms of renovations. With the cold weather approaching, it would be nice to have, say, windows that close. The house really isn't that liveable, yet. It's sort of depressing to be there. I think getting some cable TV will help quite a bit. That and some floor coverings. I really want hardwood. So, probably a bit more expensive than just throwing down some cheap carpet and pad, but in the long run, I think hardwood is more economical.
Today, my root canal gets finished. This thing has been horribly uncomfortable and I'm hoping that finishing up the whole deal will make for a less painful tooth to deal with. After that, I need to pay for a new crown. Yay.
There was a musty smell down there, and yesterday it seemed to be much, much better. It would be nice to be able to use the basement as liveable space. The previous owners put a lot of money into drywall, etc. All it would really take is some inexpensive carpet and I'd be good to go.
I am hoping my rowing machine arrives sometime this week. Not sure two a day workouts are going to be necessary, though. I feel like I'm breaking through my weight-loss plateau. More on that later.
Sometime this week, I may schedule my guys to come and basically move me out of the old house and into the cabin. It all depends on getting a reasonable child custody split for Logan. If I can get that, I'm ready to be out of the house, full-time, and away from the drama.
I don't look forward to the task of moving the treadmill, though. It's going to be a bear. Still, it'll be nice to have a treadmill again. Not so much that I love running on a treadmill, but it's very convenient from a child-care standpoint. I can be in the house and Logan can be watching TV or whatnot.
Last night, he ran two laps with me and he was a little bit winded. I think it was because he had played both a football and baseball game earlier that day. Kid was just tuckered out. It's hard to imagine that the running would be difficult for him since he's a kid who can run a mile in a little over 7 minutes.
Football isn't going to be so bad. This is the last year of rec-league, flag football. I was afraid his team would get destroyed, but they actually managed to win yesterday. There are only 6 games in the season. Logan got some good playing time. Because it's rec, the kids get an equal mix of playing the line and backfield. Logan got some good carries and scored a TD. He also had one long run that set up the TD.
Baseball? The team is practicing on Wednesdays and scrimmaging on Sundays. I don't mind the scrimmages. They're basically fun and are just enough baseball so that the boys won't be starting over from zero in the Spring. However the Wednesday practices conflict with his football team's practice. So, we aren't practicing baseball right now.
That's just fine with me. I still maintain that 9 years old is too young to specialize into one sport. I want him to try a little of everything. I have a cousin, Dan, who was exceptionally athletic, and for some reason, in middle school, he stopped playing baseball and started running track. There's just no good way, most of the time, to tell what a kid will enjoy, what he will be good at, etc. Best at this age to let them try a little of everything. Middle school, if they're serious about one sport, maybe let them start focusing, then. However, in the mean time, I think they develop better all-around athleticism and avoid burnout if you give them a variety.
As I've said countless times, the boy loves sports. My job, as I see it, is to make sure he doesn't get burned out to the point that he dreads playing.
It really is something to see the kid, though. It's almost as though I dreamed him into existence. He's lanky and lean. Quick footed and fast. Is probably the most coachable kid on any of his teams. I think back to times such as when he was 5 years old and playing tee ball.
His first practice? He tried to catch a ball, didn't catch it and it hit him in the face. Later in the same practice? Tried to catch another one and it hit him in the face.
I had two reactions to that. First was, "Oh well... at least I've got guitars". I figured there was a pretty decent chance that he'd end up like me and be completely not-athletic.
My second reaction was complete guilt because I hadn't spent any time with him working on catching a ball. He had the aggressiveness. He got hit in the face because he fearlessly wanted to catch the ball. Now, he had been throwing balls against the front door since he was about 3, but that was apparently different than judging the trajectory of a ball in flight.
I immediately went to the store and bought some tennis balls and worked with him on learning how to catch. By the end of the season, he was doing fine, but still had difficulty catching the ball if thrown from a distance. I actually considered approaching the coach and saying, "We both know Logan shouldn't play first base, right?"
Well, the next year, he was born again hard. We had been working on catching the entire year. Now that he had a genuine baseball glove, he had been playing catch against the front door pretty much every night. He got to where his hands and eyes were quick enough that he could catch a wiffle ball with his baseball glove. If you've never tried it, it's considerably more difficult than catching a baseball.
From that point forward, he was one of the better players on his rec teams and when he tried out for the Mavericks organization, I knew he stood a chance of making the A team.
It's hard to imagine that he's gone from being my adorable little chub-ball to being a lean, quick, solid athlete.
Enough bragging on my boy. I'm a proud Dad, not just for what he does on the field, but for the considerate, sensitive, hard-working young man he is. I think every parent just hopes their children will do well, making their way in life. I think Logan has good traits that will serve him well.
Plus, he has hollywood leading-man good-looks. Of course, that's in my unbiased opinion.
On the workout front, my wonky scale weighed me at 192 this morning. The thing isn't that accurate, but it's more accurate than not. Although I sufferred a minor setback going to Texas, I feel like I'm about to break through my plateau, now.
There are a few reasons for it. One of them is that my diet has really improved. It's not as strict and stringent as it was when I started. However, I'm paying better attention to what's good and what's not.
The other thing is that my body has had time to adjust to the higher mileage routine. I've been doing at least 5 miles for quite a while, now. Been doing 6 for a few weeks.
My rule of thumb is that any new training stimulus takes 3 weeks to show up in your physiology. Daniels says that it takes 6 weeks to get the full benefit of any new training stimulus. So, the results of the higher mileage are only just now showing up.
The other thing is, I am taking aspirin every day, now. It's supposed to have some therapeutic benefit in terms of reducing the chance of heart attack. My decades of bad diet have no doubt made me a prime candidate. The main reason I started taking it was because of my root canal, to help manage pain. (To avoid ODing on ibuprofin, I would take some acetominiphin and aspirin every day, too.) Also, to help with inflammation in my knees caused by the running.
It just occurred to me that the old ECA stack was actually able to help people lose weight. It consisted of ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin. I get some caffeine every day. No ephedrine, of course. However, the aspirin probably has some weight-loss effect.
The last factor is that a couple of days ago, I started adding really hard intervals to my running workouts. For instance, last time, I ran one mile at 9 minute miles. Quite a departure from the days when I could do a 20 mile training run at 9 minute miles. It got my heart rate up over 170 bpm, and was a serious butt-kicker.
I do believe that high intensity interval training causes weight loss in greater proportion than simply the number of calories that are burned in the session. So, that could be it, too.
As much as I'd like a 2 workout schedule, I think I'll probably stick with one per day. It just has to be a quality workout. I'm going to see about finding a way to get a TV down in the cardio dungeon of the cabin. That way, when I'm watching TV, I can spin pedals on the recumbent bike, too.
I still have a little bit of a belly right now, which leads me to believe I was delusional to think that I was only 10 pounds overweight when I was at 205+. I should probably be at 185 for general good-health and somewhere in the 160s or 170s for optimal running weight.
I am still very curious how my next triglyceride numbers will look. I think there will be a dramatic difference now that I'm at a lower weight and exercising regularly.
The house is getting a little more done in terms of renovations. With the cold weather approaching, it would be nice to have, say, windows that close. The house really isn't that liveable, yet. It's sort of depressing to be there. I think getting some cable TV will help quite a bit. That and some floor coverings. I really want hardwood. So, probably a bit more expensive than just throwing down some cheap carpet and pad, but in the long run, I think hardwood is more economical.
Today, my root canal gets finished. This thing has been horribly uncomfortable and I'm hoping that finishing up the whole deal will make for a less painful tooth to deal with. After that, I need to pay for a new crown. Yay.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
A Cool Sunday Morning
This is probably the first time in my life that I feel a little sad at the changing of the season. Now, up here, there's nothing sad about the change from Winter to Spring. It is usually long overdue and greatly anticipated. Spring to Summer brings the end of the school year, and I am as happy as Logan is when he gets to shake off that mortal coil.
Summer to Fall? I don't know, but the cooler temps have got me wishing the Summer wouldn't end. That's a bit odd given that this Summer was way too hot, with no big thunderstorms. Making it not only grossly uncomfortable, but grossly unprofitable for my business. However, maybe I'm just getting to a point in my life where I truly feel in my soul that there are only so many Summers in a person's life and every one that passes is spending pennies from a jar that can't be replenished.
Or maybe I am, as always, acutely aware that my boy is only in my life for a short while. He's pretty much at the halfway point. In 9 more years, he'll be out of High School and if I can at all make it possible, he will be off to some school somewhere (probably Ohio State), to begin to live life on his own terms. Raising Logan is the best experience of my life and if I had my way, he'd never move out. Of course, that would put a bit of a crimp on his development. So, I know he has to go. Just not yet.
This year he's in 4th grade. Next year, he starts full-blown football in pads. After that middle school, then High School... ah, but one thing at a time. For now, he's 9. As always, I need to make sure to cherish each moment.
Funny thing, but my Arabic class is causing me to get my act together on pretty much everything... other than Arabic. This was a pattern I noticed when I was a student in the wayback days. If I had a test or assignment coming up, I would procrastinate by doing things that appeared to be of roughly equivalent importance. For instance, that might be the only time the carpet ever got swept.
This weekend has been incredibly productive for me. Go figure. I actually started "project e-bay" where I'm going to sell off anything I haven't touched in a year or more. I'll have to see how it goes. I'm a pack-rat and collector and it wasn't such a big deal when I was making huge coin, but these days, it makes sense to right-size my stuff.
My brother, Rob, helped me move my recumbent bike into the cardio dungeon of the cabin. (I'm going to start calling the new house, "the cabin" to differentiate it from "the house".) I'm going to need major help to get my treadmill over there. The thing weighs a ton and a half. I'm figuring a 3 man lift, at a minimum. It's not just heavy, but it's very wide, so it has to pass through all doorways sideways.
Once I've got all that, it should be enough that I have a capable cardio room in the cabin, and I will probably move my weights in there from the warehouse. I doubt I'll move my weight rack or bench. They're pretty junky and sort of worn out. For instance, when I do bench press, the bench wobbles like a mutha. I'd also like a bench that can incline. For decline, I guess I can use a sit up board.
I still have 5 personal training sessions left, and I'm just not sure how I want to use them. Maybe I'll wait until my college class is done. It's amazing how such a small committment sort of casts a shadow on pretty much everything else.
Today, Logan has a flag football game at 1:30, and a baseball scrimmage at 5:00. That doesn't leave much time in-between. I'll run either between the games or after the baseball scrimmage. I'm glad to see them scrimmaging in the Fall instead of having full-blown practices.
I know that Logan is fortunate to be on this Mavericks team. It's one of the premier organizations in the area and is his best shot at playing baseball at the highest possible level. I do worry, though. He's only 9 and I don't want him to get burned out or start thinking of this as work. I also am constantly concerned because he is playing up a year. (He should be playing on a 9 and under team next year, but because of the way the Mavs organize the teams, he had to try out for the 10s team.)
I know I whine about that a lot. I just know my boy loves baseball and I don't want to do anything that takes away from that.
As for exercise, I'd say I'm at a genuine plateau these days. I've been about 193-195 for over a month, now. Part of it is that I'm not following my diet very well. The other thing is, I think I just hit a plateau. I am a person who believes that it's hard to lose weight with one workout a day. I can still remember when I tapered for my first marathon and cut out bicycling and swimming. I actually gained weight.
I do think one workout a day is fine for maintaining weight. Might actually cause a person to lose weight gradually over a long period of time. However, for folks wanting to lose a pound or two a week, it's hard to do without making some pretty big changes to diet as well.
However, as much as I believe it's very difficult to lose weight with one workout a day, I also believe that it's hard to keep weight on with two workouts a day. Ultimately, I think I want to transition to a workout schedule of rowing and running 5 times a week, and recumbent bike 4 times a week. That's 14 workouts, which means twice a day.
The trick, of course, is finding that much time. I consider a workout to be about an hour.
The math works out pretty simply, too. If I run for an hour, that's about 900-1,000 calories burned. If I do two workouts like that a day, that would mean 2,000 calories just in exercise, alone. Throw in 2,000 more that get burned just by base metabolism, and that means I'd have to eat 4,000 calories a day just to maintain my weight.
I may get cable TV and internet installed at the cabin here, soon. I feel like I should try and get a TV down in the workout room. Whoever owned the house previously, finished the basement into 4/5 separate rooms. One of the smaller ones is where the cardio dungeon will be. It's still big enough for all 3 cardio machines, but not particularly spacious.
For space reasons, I'll probably put the weights in the furnace room. The nicer of the big rooms is where I have the pitching machine set up. I want to get some netting put up in that room so we can throw the yellow no-sting balls instead of wiffle balls. Not a huge difference, but they fly a little truer and give more realistic feedback through the bat.
I put a dehumidifier down there and it filled up in less than a day. I need to get a hose to attach to the side of the thing, so it'll drain automatically. The basement is sorta musty and damp, and drying it out will make it a lot more pleasant to be down there. Logan even noticed that it has a dank, musty smell to it. The basement is a bit humid and a dehumidifier is probably a good idea, anyway.
So, big sports day today with the most athletic kid I've seen in a long, long time. I will try to get in a slow 6 miler today. I ran 6 yesterday and one of them was at a 9 minute pace. All I'm gonna say is, it was hard. I had my heart-rate monitor on, and I was up over 170 bpm. That's just not a pace I can sustain.
I figure I'm 20 pounds overweight in terms of optimal running condition, though. That makes a huge difference. All I can do is just keep plugging away.
Summer to Fall? I don't know, but the cooler temps have got me wishing the Summer wouldn't end. That's a bit odd given that this Summer was way too hot, with no big thunderstorms. Making it not only grossly uncomfortable, but grossly unprofitable for my business. However, maybe I'm just getting to a point in my life where I truly feel in my soul that there are only so many Summers in a person's life and every one that passes is spending pennies from a jar that can't be replenished.
Or maybe I am, as always, acutely aware that my boy is only in my life for a short while. He's pretty much at the halfway point. In 9 more years, he'll be out of High School and if I can at all make it possible, he will be off to some school somewhere (probably Ohio State), to begin to live life on his own terms. Raising Logan is the best experience of my life and if I had my way, he'd never move out. Of course, that would put a bit of a crimp on his development. So, I know he has to go. Just not yet.
This year he's in 4th grade. Next year, he starts full-blown football in pads. After that middle school, then High School... ah, but one thing at a time. For now, he's 9. As always, I need to make sure to cherish each moment.
Funny thing, but my Arabic class is causing me to get my act together on pretty much everything... other than Arabic. This was a pattern I noticed when I was a student in the wayback days. If I had a test or assignment coming up, I would procrastinate by doing things that appeared to be of roughly equivalent importance. For instance, that might be the only time the carpet ever got swept.
This weekend has been incredibly productive for me. Go figure. I actually started "project e-bay" where I'm going to sell off anything I haven't touched in a year or more. I'll have to see how it goes. I'm a pack-rat and collector and it wasn't such a big deal when I was making huge coin, but these days, it makes sense to right-size my stuff.
My brother, Rob, helped me move my recumbent bike into the cardio dungeon of the cabin. (I'm going to start calling the new house, "the cabin" to differentiate it from "the house".) I'm going to need major help to get my treadmill over there. The thing weighs a ton and a half. I'm figuring a 3 man lift, at a minimum. It's not just heavy, but it's very wide, so it has to pass through all doorways sideways.
Once I've got all that, it should be enough that I have a capable cardio room in the cabin, and I will probably move my weights in there from the warehouse. I doubt I'll move my weight rack or bench. They're pretty junky and sort of worn out. For instance, when I do bench press, the bench wobbles like a mutha. I'd also like a bench that can incline. For decline, I guess I can use a sit up board.
I still have 5 personal training sessions left, and I'm just not sure how I want to use them. Maybe I'll wait until my college class is done. It's amazing how such a small committment sort of casts a shadow on pretty much everything else.
Today, Logan has a flag football game at 1:30, and a baseball scrimmage at 5:00. That doesn't leave much time in-between. I'll run either between the games or after the baseball scrimmage. I'm glad to see them scrimmaging in the Fall instead of having full-blown practices.
I know that Logan is fortunate to be on this Mavericks team. It's one of the premier organizations in the area and is his best shot at playing baseball at the highest possible level. I do worry, though. He's only 9 and I don't want him to get burned out or start thinking of this as work. I also am constantly concerned because he is playing up a year. (He should be playing on a 9 and under team next year, but because of the way the Mavs organize the teams, he had to try out for the 10s team.)
I know I whine about that a lot. I just know my boy loves baseball and I don't want to do anything that takes away from that.
As for exercise, I'd say I'm at a genuine plateau these days. I've been about 193-195 for over a month, now. Part of it is that I'm not following my diet very well. The other thing is, I think I just hit a plateau. I am a person who believes that it's hard to lose weight with one workout a day. I can still remember when I tapered for my first marathon and cut out bicycling and swimming. I actually gained weight.
I do think one workout a day is fine for maintaining weight. Might actually cause a person to lose weight gradually over a long period of time. However, for folks wanting to lose a pound or two a week, it's hard to do without making some pretty big changes to diet as well.
However, as much as I believe it's very difficult to lose weight with one workout a day, I also believe that it's hard to keep weight on with two workouts a day. Ultimately, I think I want to transition to a workout schedule of rowing and running 5 times a week, and recumbent bike 4 times a week. That's 14 workouts, which means twice a day.
The trick, of course, is finding that much time. I consider a workout to be about an hour.
The math works out pretty simply, too. If I run for an hour, that's about 900-1,000 calories burned. If I do two workouts like that a day, that would mean 2,000 calories just in exercise, alone. Throw in 2,000 more that get burned just by base metabolism, and that means I'd have to eat 4,000 calories a day just to maintain my weight.
I may get cable TV and internet installed at the cabin here, soon. I feel like I should try and get a TV down in the workout room. Whoever owned the house previously, finished the basement into 4/5 separate rooms. One of the smaller ones is where the cardio dungeon will be. It's still big enough for all 3 cardio machines, but not particularly spacious.
For space reasons, I'll probably put the weights in the furnace room. The nicer of the big rooms is where I have the pitching machine set up. I want to get some netting put up in that room so we can throw the yellow no-sting balls instead of wiffle balls. Not a huge difference, but they fly a little truer and give more realistic feedback through the bat.
I put a dehumidifier down there and it filled up in less than a day. I need to get a hose to attach to the side of the thing, so it'll drain automatically. The basement is sorta musty and damp, and drying it out will make it a lot more pleasant to be down there. Logan even noticed that it has a dank, musty smell to it. The basement is a bit humid and a dehumidifier is probably a good idea, anyway.
So, big sports day today with the most athletic kid I've seen in a long, long time. I will try to get in a slow 6 miler today. I ran 6 yesterday and one of them was at a 9 minute pace. All I'm gonna say is, it was hard. I had my heart-rate monitor on, and I was up over 170 bpm. That's just not a pace I can sustain.
I figure I'm 20 pounds overweight in terms of optimal running condition, though. That makes a huge difference. All I can do is just keep plugging away.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Stimulus Schpimulous... Uncle Sam just bought me a rowing machine!
If you're one of those forebearing souls who read these blog posts, you know that I've been jonesin' for a rowing machine for a while, now, but just had no way to pay for it. Especially at a time when I've started selling off excess posessions to pay off a credit card, it was hard for me to justify just slapping down the plastic to buy something.
Granted, this was a fitness something, and of all the ways I waste money, wasting it on fitness is generally a good bet, unless you don't count things like being healthier, living longer, and avoiding type 2 diabetes.
It's been a while since I got a paycheck from the Navy because I didn't drill with them in August. I attended a symposium instead. Despite faxing and e-mailing the paperwork a handful of times, it didn't get entered until I went to Fort Worth and hand-carried my paperwork to them.
So, I just pulled up my leave and earnings statement and I got paid for my rescheduled September drill and my symposium. $834.12 after taxes. I'll get paid for my normal September drill, too, and that'll be another $300+.
So, the rowing machine is paid for.
Now, some of you may wonder how using new-found money to buy something new, versus using the money to pay down the aforementioned credit card is any better in the final wash. Well... to that, all I can say is: "Uncle Sam just bought me a rowing machine".
I didn't join the reserves for the money. At the time I did it, my income was at a lifetime high. In fact, the first year I did it, I called it my expensive hobby, since officers have to buy their own uniforms. Conservatively, I spent a little over $2,000 that year just buying uniforms.
As time has gone on, though, it's gotten a little better. Once you make that initial investment, you really don't HAVE to buy more uniforms, though there's always cool stuff like mess uniforms, the new Navy Working Uniform (NWU), and swords to buy. But the cost is in the hundreds of bucks per year, not thousands.
So, I get a check each month that almost cancels out my USAA loan (which I got because I was a newly commissioned officer: $25,000 at 2.9% interest), and my USAA car insurance premium. When I get my promotion to O-3 in a year and a half, I'll pretty much break even.
There are other benefits, though. For one thing, my 2 week annual training is above and beyond my drill pay. Since I get the same amount of money from my business whether I'm at annual training or not, that's pure additional money. For another, I should get a $2,000 bonus for taking this Arabic class through the Navy's Language and Culture Bonus program.
The biggest financial boon? Health insurance. Since I'm a business owner, I'm essentially self-insured. I have a family policy that I estimate would cost me $700 or so per month, with hefty copays and deductibles if I had to get a privately issued policy.
Instead, I pay $200 a month for my entire family and my copays and deductibles are the lowest I've had in my life. I've also got great prescription drug coverage.
So, oddly enough, this thing does end up dropping a coin or two in my pocket from time to time. Go figure. It also makes it tax-deductible for me to go to Ft Worth and visit all my old college buddies every now and then.
In the mean time, I'm pumped that I have a way to pay for the rowing machine. I've got my recumbent bike moved over to the basement of my house and there is room in there for both the treadmill and rowing machine, I think. I don't know if I'll be able to afford a TV for that room, but as long as I have loud, rowdy music, that's good enough for now.
Rome wasn't built in a day. In a house with no floor coverings, a TV for the workout room comes WAAAAYYYY down the list of priorities. In fact, you can tell there's no lady of the house, or the workout room would undoubtedly come somewhere below floor coverings on the priority list.
Granted, this was a fitness something, and of all the ways I waste money, wasting it on fitness is generally a good bet, unless you don't count things like being healthier, living longer, and avoiding type 2 diabetes.
It's been a while since I got a paycheck from the Navy because I didn't drill with them in August. I attended a symposium instead. Despite faxing and e-mailing the paperwork a handful of times, it didn't get entered until I went to Fort Worth and hand-carried my paperwork to them.
So, I just pulled up my leave and earnings statement and I got paid for my rescheduled September drill and my symposium. $834.12 after taxes. I'll get paid for my normal September drill, too, and that'll be another $300+.
So, the rowing machine is paid for.
Now, some of you may wonder how using new-found money to buy something new, versus using the money to pay down the aforementioned credit card is any better in the final wash. Well... to that, all I can say is: "Uncle Sam just bought me a rowing machine".
I didn't join the reserves for the money. At the time I did it, my income was at a lifetime high. In fact, the first year I did it, I called it my expensive hobby, since officers have to buy their own uniforms. Conservatively, I spent a little over $2,000 that year just buying uniforms.
As time has gone on, though, it's gotten a little better. Once you make that initial investment, you really don't HAVE to buy more uniforms, though there's always cool stuff like mess uniforms, the new Navy Working Uniform (NWU), and swords to buy. But the cost is in the hundreds of bucks per year, not thousands.
So, I get a check each month that almost cancels out my USAA loan (which I got because I was a newly commissioned officer: $25,000 at 2.9% interest), and my USAA car insurance premium. When I get my promotion to O-3 in a year and a half, I'll pretty much break even.
There are other benefits, though. For one thing, my 2 week annual training is above and beyond my drill pay. Since I get the same amount of money from my business whether I'm at annual training or not, that's pure additional money. For another, I should get a $2,000 bonus for taking this Arabic class through the Navy's Language and Culture Bonus program.
The biggest financial boon? Health insurance. Since I'm a business owner, I'm essentially self-insured. I have a family policy that I estimate would cost me $700 or so per month, with hefty copays and deductibles if I had to get a privately issued policy.
Instead, I pay $200 a month for my entire family and my copays and deductibles are the lowest I've had in my life. I've also got great prescription drug coverage.
So, oddly enough, this thing does end up dropping a coin or two in my pocket from time to time. Go figure. It also makes it tax-deductible for me to go to Ft Worth and visit all my old college buddies every now and then.
In the mean time, I'm pumped that I have a way to pay for the rowing machine. I've got my recumbent bike moved over to the basement of my house and there is room in there for both the treadmill and rowing machine, I think. I don't know if I'll be able to afford a TV for that room, but as long as I have loud, rowdy music, that's good enough for now.
Rome wasn't built in a day. In a house with no floor coverings, a TV for the workout room comes WAAAAYYYY down the list of priorities. In fact, you can tell there's no lady of the house, or the workout room would undoubtedly come somewhere below floor coverings on the priority list.
Project E-bay Begins!
I have a pesky credit card balance that I took on with a cash advance last year to help the biz get over a rough spot. Now, about a year later, it's still there and I haven't really made a dent in it.
I have a bunch of pretty valuable stuff, which I seldom touch, and that I mostly just "collect". I need to sell the stuff off.
It makes no sense to have fungible assets on hand when you have interest bearing debt that you can't pay off. Basically, you're just paying constant interest on your stuff. Basically, I could be buying another guitar every year for the cost of the interest on all my crap. After a few years, I could have it all back just for the interest expense I'd be saving.
I am hoping that by e-baying off a bunch of my stuff, I can pay off half this balance. That leaves another half that I'll just have to pay off with cash flow, but that's better than nothing.
So, the project starts with a beloved guitar: one of my Melancons. They're all going to go. I don't play them enough to justify having them around. Pretty much anything I haven't touched in a long time has got to go.
I need to get rid of my debt and try to simplify my finances. A lot of my lifestyle and spending was justifiable when my business was high-flying and the economy was booming. These days? Not so much.
So, if you want to see the first Melly that I'm gonna Selly (sorry, bad rhyme, there), here it is. I'm going to go cry in my protien drink, now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320592022206
I have a bunch of pretty valuable stuff, which I seldom touch, and that I mostly just "collect". I need to sell the stuff off.
It makes no sense to have fungible assets on hand when you have interest bearing debt that you can't pay off. Basically, you're just paying constant interest on your stuff. Basically, I could be buying another guitar every year for the cost of the interest on all my crap. After a few years, I could have it all back just for the interest expense I'd be saving.
I am hoping that by e-baying off a bunch of my stuff, I can pay off half this balance. That leaves another half that I'll just have to pay off with cash flow, but that's better than nothing.
So, the project starts with a beloved guitar: one of my Melancons. They're all going to go. I don't play them enough to justify having them around. Pretty much anything I haven't touched in a long time has got to go.
I need to get rid of my debt and try to simplify my finances. A lot of my lifestyle and spending was justifiable when my business was high-flying and the economy was booming. These days? Not so much.
So, if you want to see the first Melly that I'm gonna Selly (sorry, bad rhyme, there), here it is. I'm going to go cry in my protien drink, now.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320592022206
Of Rowing Machines and Food Poisoning...
Tuesday we have another quiz in Arabic. It's our 3rd, but the first that I'll say actually covers a lot of material. Clearly, the class is shifting out of first gear. To date, we've been learning the alphabet, with a smattering of phrases thrown in. Now, we're continuing with the alphabet and learning vocabulary in earnest. This is the "memorizing laundry lists" phase of the class. It's going to suck donkey balls.
One thing that's less challenging than I thought is reading and writing Arabic. It is a very, very orderly and structured language from a written standpoint. I think, here, that having a background in music and computer languages is a bit of an asset. This is also the 3rd alphabet I've learned, after the Latin/English alphabet, and the Korean alphabet. (4th if you count the Greek alphabet, due to fraternity participation, but I don't count that since I never read or wrote a word in greek.)
People who can read and write music learn a structured syntax that is used for expressing moderately complex topics. I took 2 semesters of music theory and sight-singing/ear-training in college. So, although not a music major, I have more music training than most. (That doesn't count the 4 years I spent teaching guitar, where I always made sure my students had, at least, a minimum understanding of reading music.)
Computer languages are pretty much the same way. I learned a lot of them, not many of which I could do anything with today. However, they ranged from the relatively english-like (COBOL and BASIC), to the utterly abstract (assembly language).
I also wonder if my formative language development plays a part in any of this. I didn't speak English at all until I was nearly 4 years old. I spoke Korean up to that point. I don't have a lick of Korean right now, other than a handful of phrases and a basic, but vanishing grasp of the alphabet, both of which I got when I was 19 years old. However, my proficiency with English is considerable. I often wonder if that's due to simply innate intellect, or whether the experience of abandoning a language and learning another one had anything to do with it.
After this semester, I don't know if I'll do any more classes in Arabic, though. I may just get the Rosetta Stone program and study on my own. Blocking off this time on Tuesdays and Thursdays is proving to be a bigger hassle than I thought. In the Spring, with Logan's travel baseball in full-swing, there's just no way I can do it. It's already a lot to deal with when it comes to being home when Logan's mom has to work.
She gets called in on short notice to work night shifts at the hospital. Also, when she has more notice, she usually doesn't tell me, which leaves me scrambling to arrange a sitter at the last minute. Honestly, sometimes I just wonder, can't we make a little effort, here? It's not for me, it's for the boy. He doesn't need to be in the middle of a bunch of drama.
We don't get along, I get it. Hence the need for the whole divorce thing. However, there's no need to be uncivil, and we're already effing up the kid's life enough already. He doesn't need to sense tension about who is going to be here to watch him.
I try not to get too worked up about it. There's nothing to be done. I just do everything I can to shield my boy from all the idiocy. I just marvel that people can act like such vindictive children sometimes.
I am thinking of just taking the plunge and buying the rowing machine. I'm really at a plateau, weight-wise. Need to do something to shake things up and break out of it. I've checked into used ones, but at best, you save maybe $200 or $250. To me, that just doesn't justify it.
The big concern here is money, obviously. It's a grand and I'm really trying to watch my finances these days. Things are still tight at the biz and we're not out of the woods, yet. OTOH, I've got good momentum going on my fitness routine these days and I need to keep that going. Personally, I'd categorize myself at the high side of being in okay shape. I no longer feel overweight, per se. However, I'm not that far from it. If I were down in the 180s, I think I'd feel like I was actually in good shape and I need to put some effort in to get there.
The food poisoning I had yesterday appears to have run its course. Who knows what brought that on.
I didn't run yesterday. I really need to get my workout room set up in my new house. I should go buy a dehumidifier and get the thing going down in the basement. I've got a really large basement. Of course, all that takes is money, right?
On an encouraging tip, we have some positive news on the cost side of things in the coming months. Our warehouse rent is going to drop by $200 starting Oct 1. In December, we pay off the two Chevy Trucks we bought when we were brand-new. That will free up over $1,000 a month in cash-flow. So, I keep reminding myself that if I survive 2010, then in 2011, all other things being held equal, I'll be able to drop another $12,000 in the bank.
The trick, of course, is surviving 2010.
One thing that's less challenging than I thought is reading and writing Arabic. It is a very, very orderly and structured language from a written standpoint. I think, here, that having a background in music and computer languages is a bit of an asset. This is also the 3rd alphabet I've learned, after the Latin/English alphabet, and the Korean alphabet. (4th if you count the Greek alphabet, due to fraternity participation, but I don't count that since I never read or wrote a word in greek.)
People who can read and write music learn a structured syntax that is used for expressing moderately complex topics. I took 2 semesters of music theory and sight-singing/ear-training in college. So, although not a music major, I have more music training than most. (That doesn't count the 4 years I spent teaching guitar, where I always made sure my students had, at least, a minimum understanding of reading music.)
Computer languages are pretty much the same way. I learned a lot of them, not many of which I could do anything with today. However, they ranged from the relatively english-like (COBOL and BASIC), to the utterly abstract (assembly language).
I also wonder if my formative language development plays a part in any of this. I didn't speak English at all until I was nearly 4 years old. I spoke Korean up to that point. I don't have a lick of Korean right now, other than a handful of phrases and a basic, but vanishing grasp of the alphabet, both of which I got when I was 19 years old. However, my proficiency with English is considerable. I often wonder if that's due to simply innate intellect, or whether the experience of abandoning a language and learning another one had anything to do with it.
After this semester, I don't know if I'll do any more classes in Arabic, though. I may just get the Rosetta Stone program and study on my own. Blocking off this time on Tuesdays and Thursdays is proving to be a bigger hassle than I thought. In the Spring, with Logan's travel baseball in full-swing, there's just no way I can do it. It's already a lot to deal with when it comes to being home when Logan's mom has to work.
She gets called in on short notice to work night shifts at the hospital. Also, when she has more notice, she usually doesn't tell me, which leaves me scrambling to arrange a sitter at the last minute. Honestly, sometimes I just wonder, can't we make a little effort, here? It's not for me, it's for the boy. He doesn't need to be in the middle of a bunch of drama.
We don't get along, I get it. Hence the need for the whole divorce thing. However, there's no need to be uncivil, and we're already effing up the kid's life enough already. He doesn't need to sense tension about who is going to be here to watch him.
I try not to get too worked up about it. There's nothing to be done. I just do everything I can to shield my boy from all the idiocy. I just marvel that people can act like such vindictive children sometimes.
I am thinking of just taking the plunge and buying the rowing machine. I'm really at a plateau, weight-wise. Need to do something to shake things up and break out of it. I've checked into used ones, but at best, you save maybe $200 or $250. To me, that just doesn't justify it.
The big concern here is money, obviously. It's a grand and I'm really trying to watch my finances these days. Things are still tight at the biz and we're not out of the woods, yet. OTOH, I've got good momentum going on my fitness routine these days and I need to keep that going. Personally, I'd categorize myself at the high side of being in okay shape. I no longer feel overweight, per se. However, I'm not that far from it. If I were down in the 180s, I think I'd feel like I was actually in good shape and I need to put some effort in to get there.
The food poisoning I had yesterday appears to have run its course. Who knows what brought that on.
I didn't run yesterday. I really need to get my workout room set up in my new house. I should go buy a dehumidifier and get the thing going down in the basement. I've got a really large basement. Of course, all that takes is money, right?
On an encouraging tip, we have some positive news on the cost side of things in the coming months. Our warehouse rent is going to drop by $200 starting Oct 1. In December, we pay off the two Chevy Trucks we bought when we were brand-new. That will free up over $1,000 a month in cash-flow. So, I keep reminding myself that if I survive 2010, then in 2011, all other things being held equal, I'll be able to drop another $12,000 in the bank.
The trick, of course, is surviving 2010.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
GPS gone wild!
Last night was sort of strange when running with my droid phone.
This model actually has the ability to use GPS tracking satellites, instead of just using cell tower location. So, I turned that on with my endomondo application and ran.
It looks like it went sort of haywire. When I look at the map, it's got me running my loop, but about 100 yards to the Northeast for a couple of laps. It also appears to have not-registered my first two laps at all. Also, during the run, the voice coach that tells you time and distance every mile, didn't really work.
It was a really hard run. It was a cool-ish night, but was about 68 degrees. I really struggled to get in all the laps. I think it may be because I was running a little too fast.
I also appear to have picked up some food poisoning that is making life a little inconvenient at the moment. I'll give it a day or two and if it doesn't clear up, I'll see the doc. I'm not vomiting, which is a break, I guess.
Right now, I feel like my trip to Texas made me fatter, slower and worse for the wear on the diet. Oh well. I have a lot of time to catch up. Besides, not like somebody made me eat that barbecue sandwich.
Today, more Arabic, and frankly, I'm pretty sure at this point, I won't take another class after this. With a kid active in sports, it's just too hard to do. I'll finish out this semester and apply for my bonus from the Navy, but this is probably going to be it. The novelty of returning to school has worn off and the reality of how little I enjoy sitting in a classroom has returned.
This model actually has the ability to use GPS tracking satellites, instead of just using cell tower location. So, I turned that on with my endomondo application and ran.
It looks like it went sort of haywire. When I look at the map, it's got me running my loop, but about 100 yards to the Northeast for a couple of laps. It also appears to have not-registered my first two laps at all. Also, during the run, the voice coach that tells you time and distance every mile, didn't really work.
It was a really hard run. It was a cool-ish night, but was about 68 degrees. I really struggled to get in all the laps. I think it may be because I was running a little too fast.
I also appear to have picked up some food poisoning that is making life a little inconvenient at the moment. I'll give it a day or two and if it doesn't clear up, I'll see the doc. I'm not vomiting, which is a break, I guess.
Right now, I feel like my trip to Texas made me fatter, slower and worse for the wear on the diet. Oh well. I have a lot of time to catch up. Besides, not like somebody made me eat that barbecue sandwich.
Today, more Arabic, and frankly, I'm pretty sure at this point, I won't take another class after this. With a kid active in sports, it's just too hard to do. I'll finish out this semester and apply for my bonus from the Navy, but this is probably going to be it. The novelty of returning to school has worn off and the reality of how little I enjoy sitting in a classroom has returned.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Of Knights, Monks and Military People...
I just finished listening to "Pillars of the Earth" and "World Without End" on audiobook. It was funny to me that I identified with one group of people moreso than any of the others in the book.
Naturally, I should have gravitated towards the businesspeople. I am one and being a capitalist and businessperson is my primary calling in life. However, that is something so natural to me, that I just can't envision that a person could be any other way. It's too familiar. There's nothing exotic or interesting about it to me. When I was an employee I spent every day wondering how my other co-workers managed to get through each day without losing their minds because I believed that everybody was entrepreneurial by nature.
In the book, it isn't just the merchants who are entrepreneurial. There was very little "employment" per se, back in the middle ages. Even farmers were essentially pure entrepreneurs. Laborers were like free agent self-employed people with very short term labor contracts.
It is also odd that I didn't relate so much to the nobility. Granted, I have an absolute disdain for the nobility, but the men of that era were also their nation's (or more specifically, their king's) fighting men. I could relate to the warfare part, but the very concept of ruling people against their will, due to heredity goes against pretty much every bone in my body.
No, to me, I related most closely to the monks, which is most curious of all. I am not particularly a man of faith. I am a man of science by nature. I believe in the quantitative and the measurable. The observable and the demonstrable. I leave the miracles of metaphysics for others to figure out.
Yet the monks were the ones I related most closely to, and it is because of my service in the military that I say this.
Like members of the military, they were essentially a society separate and distinct, unto themselves. There have even been Supreme Court decisions that have reaffirmed the notion that the military is not like the society it defends as it is a "specialized society separate from civilian society".
They dress differently, live differently, and generally segregate themselves from the population at large.
That's not so different than the military. In fact, as I climbed higher and higher into the corporate hierarchy, it became painfully obvious that military service, the higher you go, is more and more rare to find on a resume. Not only do most of these people not have a family member in the military, there are broad swaths of affluent society where people literally may not be good friends with a single member of the military.
What appealed to me about the monks was that they had a belief and they were willing to commit their lives to that belief. That, ultimately, if they gave their lives in service to their beliefs, that was okay with them.
I have come to the conclusion that to the vast majority of people, my service in the military makes no sense. When I first enlisted at age 17, a lot of people's first reaction was "why would you do that?"
They would not have said this if I had announced that I was going away to college. Nor would they have said it if I were to take pretty much any other job.
But join the military? That's just crazy.
And this is from the perspective of a person who came from a family where military service was not just normal, but common. Of my father, aunts and uncles, I had 5 military members out of 5 of my grandparents' kids and their spouses. That's 5 out of 10 people... 1 in 2.
In my family, though it was not uncommon to join the military, it was very uncommon to stay. It was the norm for us to join, get college money, go to school, then live a productive life in the civilian sector.
A lifelong committment? Crazy. As crazy as announcing that you are running off to join the Jesuits or Fransiscans.
You find out quickly that you don't do this for public approval. Yes, there's a lot of public flag-waving, but anybody who has spent time in a Fortune 500 company knows that in a lot of companies, reserve service is not only not-respected, but it's an absolute career killer.
It's the kind of thing you do because you believe, deep in your heart of hearts, that it is the right thing to do.
So, the stories were interesting to me. The monks weren't always virtuous or clever and in some cases, they were downright deceitful and dishonest. The same can probably be said for some members of the military. However, by and large, I appreciated what most of them were doing by taking the oaths they took.
I have said countless times that I'm thankful to the US Navy for giving me the opportunity to serve. If a person is fortunate in life, they will find a calling that not only are they good at, but that they feel gives them a sense of purpose and a way to give back to society. A way to serve something greater than themselves.
I feel that to some degree as an entrepreneur, but I take special pride in my military service.
Naturally, I should have gravitated towards the businesspeople. I am one and being a capitalist and businessperson is my primary calling in life. However, that is something so natural to me, that I just can't envision that a person could be any other way. It's too familiar. There's nothing exotic or interesting about it to me. When I was an employee I spent every day wondering how my other co-workers managed to get through each day without losing their minds because I believed that everybody was entrepreneurial by nature.
In the book, it isn't just the merchants who are entrepreneurial. There was very little "employment" per se, back in the middle ages. Even farmers were essentially pure entrepreneurs. Laborers were like free agent self-employed people with very short term labor contracts.
It is also odd that I didn't relate so much to the nobility. Granted, I have an absolute disdain for the nobility, but the men of that era were also their nation's (or more specifically, their king's) fighting men. I could relate to the warfare part, but the very concept of ruling people against their will, due to heredity goes against pretty much every bone in my body.
No, to me, I related most closely to the monks, which is most curious of all. I am not particularly a man of faith. I am a man of science by nature. I believe in the quantitative and the measurable. The observable and the demonstrable. I leave the miracles of metaphysics for others to figure out.
Yet the monks were the ones I related most closely to, and it is because of my service in the military that I say this.
Like members of the military, they were essentially a society separate and distinct, unto themselves. There have even been Supreme Court decisions that have reaffirmed the notion that the military is not like the society it defends as it is a "specialized society separate from civilian society".
They dress differently, live differently, and generally segregate themselves from the population at large.
That's not so different than the military. In fact, as I climbed higher and higher into the corporate hierarchy, it became painfully obvious that military service, the higher you go, is more and more rare to find on a resume. Not only do most of these people not have a family member in the military, there are broad swaths of affluent society where people literally may not be good friends with a single member of the military.
What appealed to me about the monks was that they had a belief and they were willing to commit their lives to that belief. That, ultimately, if they gave their lives in service to their beliefs, that was okay with them.
I have come to the conclusion that to the vast majority of people, my service in the military makes no sense. When I first enlisted at age 17, a lot of people's first reaction was "why would you do that?"
They would not have said this if I had announced that I was going away to college. Nor would they have said it if I were to take pretty much any other job.
But join the military? That's just crazy.
And this is from the perspective of a person who came from a family where military service was not just normal, but common. Of my father, aunts and uncles, I had 5 military members out of 5 of my grandparents' kids and their spouses. That's 5 out of 10 people... 1 in 2.
In my family, though it was not uncommon to join the military, it was very uncommon to stay. It was the norm for us to join, get college money, go to school, then live a productive life in the civilian sector.
A lifelong committment? Crazy. As crazy as announcing that you are running off to join the Jesuits or Fransiscans.
You find out quickly that you don't do this for public approval. Yes, there's a lot of public flag-waving, but anybody who has spent time in a Fortune 500 company knows that in a lot of companies, reserve service is not only not-respected, but it's an absolute career killer.
It's the kind of thing you do because you believe, deep in your heart of hearts, that it is the right thing to do.
So, the stories were interesting to me. The monks weren't always virtuous or clever and in some cases, they were downright deceitful and dishonest. The same can probably be said for some members of the military. However, by and large, I appreciated what most of them were doing by taking the oaths they took.
I have said countless times that I'm thankful to the US Navy for giving me the opportunity to serve. If a person is fortunate in life, they will find a calling that not only are they good at, but that they feel gives them a sense of purpose and a way to give back to society. A way to serve something greater than themselves.
I feel that to some degree as an entrepreneur, but I take special pride in my military service.
September 10th, 2001
The following is an e-mail I sent to my friends that was archived by my sister-in-law, Laura.
The very next day, it was September 11th. I remember sitting in the living room as they reported the devastation and just weeping at the idea that I'd brought forth this beautiful, innocent being into such a violent world. Probably a lot of it was just that I was tired. However, part of it was that I had something to worry about and I felt oddly responsible for the crappy state of things.
Little did I envision that he would be raised in a nation at war.
I used to take my lunch hour and drive 20 minutes to his day-care just to see if he was okay. I'd drive 20 minutes back and wolf down my lunch in a hurry. Whenever I'd visit, he'd be quietly sleeping in his crib. I knew he was okay.
The next month after this, we took him to Arizona on an airplane flight and I felt some apprehension because it was so soon after the attacks. It's one thing to take a risk with your own life. Something else entirely to take a risk with a child who has no say in the matter.
The 9 years since I wrote this have been an absolute joy as his parent. He's an amazing little man, and I'm very proud of him. Of course, I was proud of him even before there was real reason to be, but he's lived up to my vision of him and then some.
Sent: Mon, September 10, 2001 6:46:56 AM
Subject: My Little Boy...
Today is Logan's first day in day care. I went with Tessa to drop him off. He was asleep when we took him in (in his bucket.) I think I'm more emotional about it than Tessa. She probably just hides it.
Last night, I slept with him in my bed until about 1:00 a.m. This morning, I woke up and fed him and got him dressed. He actually smiled at me this morning.
I really wouldn't mind if he slept with me every night. He just sleeps better if he knows somebody else is with him.
It is an amazing thing to be raising a child. Those two months went by in the blink of an eye. Tessa is very ready to be back to work. Logan was driving her nuts. I think she just got stir-crazy. I'd probably feel a lot better if she were home with him. However, she wants to return to work. I think with kid #2, I'll try and see if she might want to stay home.
The tough part is thinking you're leaving your baby with strangers. I really wish I were independently wealthy so I could stay home with him all day.
Saturday morning, Tessa wanted to go to spinning class. So, I got up and watched Logan. He was cranky, so I put on the Def Leppard. He likes to be bounced, so, I bounced him until my arms got tired and he fell asleep to the soothing sounds of "Animal."
We gave him a bath last night in the kitchen sink (we have this giant insert thingie.) He got scared when I used the kitchen squirter to wash his legs off. These are the things I'll probably always remember. I keep trying to live in the here and now. There's something to love about every age they're at. There's something you'll miss, too.
With day care, the normal parental worry is that he'll be taken care of. Not like we're uber-parents or anything, but there's two of us, so we can apply the full-court press. He doesn't ever sit alone crying or anything. I just want them to take good care of my little boy. Bounce him when he's upset. Hold him when he wants to be held. Make sure he gets his binky if that's what he's after.
Looks like the normal routine will be for me to feed Logan in the morning, dress and change him to get him ready for school.
The very next day, it was September 11th. I remember sitting in the living room as they reported the devastation and just weeping at the idea that I'd brought forth this beautiful, innocent being into such a violent world. Probably a lot of it was just that I was tired. However, part of it was that I had something to worry about and I felt oddly responsible for the crappy state of things.
Little did I envision that he would be raised in a nation at war.
I used to take my lunch hour and drive 20 minutes to his day-care just to see if he was okay. I'd drive 20 minutes back and wolf down my lunch in a hurry. Whenever I'd visit, he'd be quietly sleeping in his crib. I knew he was okay.
The next month after this, we took him to Arizona on an airplane flight and I felt some apprehension because it was so soon after the attacks. It's one thing to take a risk with your own life. Something else entirely to take a risk with a child who has no say in the matter.
The 9 years since I wrote this have been an absolute joy as his parent. He's an amazing little man, and I'm very proud of him. Of course, I was proud of him even before there was real reason to be, but he's lived up to my vision of him and then some.
Sent: Mon, September 10, 2001 6:46:56 AM
Subject: My Little Boy...
Today is Logan's first day in day care. I went with Tessa to drop him off. He was asleep when we took him in (in his bucket.) I think I'm more emotional about it than Tessa. She probably just hides it.
Last night, I slept with him in my bed until about 1:00 a.m. This morning, I woke up and fed him and got him dressed. He actually smiled at me this morning.
I really wouldn't mind if he slept with me every night. He just sleeps better if he knows somebody else is with him.
It is an amazing thing to be raising a child. Those two months went by in the blink of an eye. Tessa is very ready to be back to work. Logan was driving her nuts. I think she just got stir-crazy. I'd probably feel a lot better if she were home with him. However, she wants to return to work. I think with kid #2, I'll try and see if she might want to stay home.
The tough part is thinking you're leaving your baby with strangers. I really wish I were independently wealthy so I could stay home with him all day.
Saturday morning, Tessa wanted to go to spinning class. So, I got up and watched Logan. He was cranky, so I put on the Def Leppard. He likes to be bounced, so, I bounced him until my arms got tired and he fell asleep to the soothing sounds of "Animal."
We gave him a bath last night in the kitchen sink (we have this giant insert thingie.) He got scared when I used the kitchen squirter to wash his legs off. These are the things I'll probably always remember. I keep trying to live in the here and now. There's something to love about every age they're at. There's something you'll miss, too.
With day care, the normal parental worry is that he'll be taken care of. Not like we're uber-parents or anything, but there's two of us, so we can apply the full-court press. He doesn't ever sit alone crying or anything. I just want them to take good care of my little boy. Bounce him when he's upset. Hold him when he wants to be held. Make sure he gets his binky if that's what he's after.
Looks like the normal routine will be for me to feed Logan in the morning, dress and change him to get him ready for school.
Back in the swing of things
Okay, priority number one for me is to get back to running and following the diet better. Over the weekend, I wasn't on the diet at all. So, I need to be extra good just to make up for that. I also need to lose a few pounds to make sure I'm comfortably under the Navy's weight limit during my weigh-in in October.
It's amazing how going out of town just throws everything out the window. I'm most surprised by how little running I did. I had an opportunity on Monday, but it was so hot, I cut my run short. My hat is off to all the Texas runners down there. I should have just run indoors on a treadmill, but I tried to run on the track. Mental note to self: until I get in a lot better shape, stick to cooler weather or indoor conditions.
Took my first test in Arabic and got 14/20. Not so good, but the prof curved us because the highest grade was 17/20. So, I got an 85%. Not too good, but not so bad, really. I also didn't study while out of town like I thought I was going to, either. I need to get back on the wagon as far as keeping up with the class before I fall so far behind that I end up with a crappy grade.
I may also not take the full 4 course sequence in Arabic. The reason for this has to do with the current political climate. It looks like we've got 50,000 support troops in Iraq right now. However, the preliminary word is that they want to draw that down to nearly zero by next year.
In Iraq, they speak Arabic.
The other two places I could get deployed would be Afghanistan and Djibouti.
Both places, technically, have some Arabic. However, Afghanis primarily speak Urdo and Pashto, neither of which I intend to learn. In Djibouti, the official languages are Arabic and French, but few people speak either. The actual spoken languages used there are Somali and Afar, with a little bit of Swahili thrown in for good measure.
So, basically, if I don't deploy to Iraq, it's sort of pointless for me to try and learn Arabic. Without some immersion, I won't ever get proficient in the language. I'll just forget it over time.
I'll finish this semester for sure. At that point, I should be able to read and write Arabic and if I do go, I can try to cram some Rosetta Stone and might have a good enough basis for learning through immersion.
The other thing is, frankly, attending class is a bit of a hassle. It presents child-care issues when Logan's Mom gets called in at the last minute to cover a shift at the hospital. It's inconvenient sometimes, especially in regards to trying to travel to and from drill, etc. Mostly, I just have always hated sitting in a classroom. Of all the things I am in life, a student who functions well in a classroom environment has never been one of them. It's a miracle I completed the education I did. However, it's not surprising that it took me longer than it should have.
The third thing is that deployments continue to get fewer and farther between. I am loathe to say it's unlikely that I'll deploy, but where it was once a 100% certainty, it's now more like 50% and looks like it may be trending more towards, say, 20%. I still want to be prepared, because 20% is still a darned good chance of deployment. However, it's just not the same environment it once was.
I'm getting closer to buying a rowing machine. The one I want is for sale in Indianapolis and the seller won't ship. That usually means a much lower price. It'll take a full day to drive down to get it and bring it back, but it'd save me about $600. All in all, probably not the best trade-off if I consider my time to be valuable, but right now, I'm more budget conscious than time-conscious. I'm eager to get my cardio room set up with a treadmill, recumbent bike and rowing machine. I already own 2 of those things, but will need 3 men and a boy to help me move the treadmill. My brother and I can move the recumbent bike pretty easily on our own.
I've been driving past the country club wistfully, lately. All in all, though, I can't complain. The recession hasn't been kind to me, that's for sure. However, it's been a lot worse to a lot of other folks.
Logan was sorta clingy last night. He told me he was excited that I was home. I felt glad that he said that he didn't really miss me so much while I was gone. He spent some time with his grandparents and had a pretty eventful weekend, apparently. I think they took him to one of the local fairs.
That's sort of how I feel about these things. I dread leaving him, but once I'm where I'm going, I don't think about it much. I hope that's how he deals with it, too.
So, I'm back in the swing of things. Monday, I get my root canal finished. I can't wait to get a new crown on it. It was a badly done crown that caused this whole problem to begin with.
It's amazing how going out of town just throws everything out the window. I'm most surprised by how little running I did. I had an opportunity on Monday, but it was so hot, I cut my run short. My hat is off to all the Texas runners down there. I should have just run indoors on a treadmill, but I tried to run on the track. Mental note to self: until I get in a lot better shape, stick to cooler weather or indoor conditions.
Took my first test in Arabic and got 14/20. Not so good, but the prof curved us because the highest grade was 17/20. So, I got an 85%. Not too good, but not so bad, really. I also didn't study while out of town like I thought I was going to, either. I need to get back on the wagon as far as keeping up with the class before I fall so far behind that I end up with a crappy grade.
I may also not take the full 4 course sequence in Arabic. The reason for this has to do with the current political climate. It looks like we've got 50,000 support troops in Iraq right now. However, the preliminary word is that they want to draw that down to nearly zero by next year.
In Iraq, they speak Arabic.
The other two places I could get deployed would be Afghanistan and Djibouti.
Both places, technically, have some Arabic. However, Afghanis primarily speak Urdo and Pashto, neither of which I intend to learn. In Djibouti, the official languages are Arabic and French, but few people speak either. The actual spoken languages used there are Somali and Afar, with a little bit of Swahili thrown in for good measure.
So, basically, if I don't deploy to Iraq, it's sort of pointless for me to try and learn Arabic. Without some immersion, I won't ever get proficient in the language. I'll just forget it over time.
I'll finish this semester for sure. At that point, I should be able to read and write Arabic and if I do go, I can try to cram some Rosetta Stone and might have a good enough basis for learning through immersion.
The other thing is, frankly, attending class is a bit of a hassle. It presents child-care issues when Logan's Mom gets called in at the last minute to cover a shift at the hospital. It's inconvenient sometimes, especially in regards to trying to travel to and from drill, etc. Mostly, I just have always hated sitting in a classroom. Of all the things I am in life, a student who functions well in a classroom environment has never been one of them. It's a miracle I completed the education I did. However, it's not surprising that it took me longer than it should have.
The third thing is that deployments continue to get fewer and farther between. I am loathe to say it's unlikely that I'll deploy, but where it was once a 100% certainty, it's now more like 50% and looks like it may be trending more towards, say, 20%. I still want to be prepared, because 20% is still a darned good chance of deployment. However, it's just not the same environment it once was.
I'm getting closer to buying a rowing machine. The one I want is for sale in Indianapolis and the seller won't ship. That usually means a much lower price. It'll take a full day to drive down to get it and bring it back, but it'd save me about $600. All in all, probably not the best trade-off if I consider my time to be valuable, but right now, I'm more budget conscious than time-conscious. I'm eager to get my cardio room set up with a treadmill, recumbent bike and rowing machine. I already own 2 of those things, but will need 3 men and a boy to help me move the treadmill. My brother and I can move the recumbent bike pretty easily on our own.
I've been driving past the country club wistfully, lately. All in all, though, I can't complain. The recession hasn't been kind to me, that's for sure. However, it's been a lot worse to a lot of other folks.
Logan was sorta clingy last night. He told me he was excited that I was home. I felt glad that he said that he didn't really miss me so much while I was gone. He spent some time with his grandparents and had a pretty eventful weekend, apparently. I think they took him to one of the local fairs.
That's sort of how I feel about these things. I dread leaving him, but once I'm where I'm going, I don't think about it much. I hope that's how he deals with it, too.
So, I'm back in the swing of things. Monday, I get my root canal finished. I can't wait to get a new crown on it. It was a badly done crown that caused this whole problem to begin with.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Back from the Lone Star State
Just finished my first drill with the unit in Fort Worth. The trip was an absolute pleasure. Everything about it was better than I was expecting.
I like my new unit. It is composed of about 8 officers and maybe 20 enlisted people, but in the Navy, only officers can do defense contracting. So, the enlisted people will be moving to different units very soon. It will be a 100% officer unit in the upcoming months.
Everybody was awesome and I felt very welcome. I joined as a way to serve, but being around my fellow officers has been such an unanticipated pleasure that I really look forward to drill. Figure I already have a lot in common with these guys. So, it's good to have a weekend once a month where I can interact with people whose company I enjoy.
The military is a strange fraternity. We sacrifice for it. The administration in the military is absolutely horrific. We have to go around with bad haircuts all the time. We have to spend our money on funny looking clothes, and in a few cases, we have to travel quite a bit at our own expense.
Mostly, we do it for the mission, which ultimately is to peform acts of managed violence on behalf of the United States of America. However, I think the other reason we do it is for the people we get to serve with.
I got to get together with a lot of my old classmates from 20 years ago. I attended Texas Wesleyan College/University for 4 years, but graduated from Kent State a few years later. Jamie Lloyd (Basler) opened up her home and hosted a nice get-together with everybody. It was an absolute joy to see everyone. I've seen some of them here and there in the last 20 years, but this is the first time I've seen most of them since I left school in 1991.
I also toured the old campus with Jamie. It was remarkably the same. The neighborhood actually looked like it had improved a little bit. I bought a yellow tee shirt that had "Texas Wesleyan University" on the front. I liked it because it looked sort of old school and reminded me of my old gym class shirt from middle school. I also got a wesleyan hoodie.
I didn't get to run like I had hoped over the weekend. The weekend was just packed and I am pretty exhausted. I did run a PT test, which was 1.5 miles at a hard (for me) pace. I tried to run the next day, but wasn't used to the heat and humidity and ended up running only about a mile and a half, again.
My tooth is still killing me. I'm also pretty tired, so, I'll take today off before getting back to it tomorrow.
I'll give the endodontist a call tomorrow. He seemed to indicate that it should be sore for 48 hours afterwards, but it's still pretty painful 5 days later. I'm swallowing down gobs of OTC pain killers.
The lodging on post was nice, but strange. I had my own room, but shared a bathroom. It wasn't as inconvenient as it might seem at first blush. Once I was used to it, it wasn't that bad at all.
Next month, there's some gigantic helicopter thing happening at the Joint Reserve Base, so there won't be any room in the typical lodging they have for us on post. They'll get us hotels off-post, but they'd be giving me a room-mate. I'm not so excited about that. So, I used some Marriott Rewards points and I'll be staying at a nearby Courtyard by Marriott.
I also wanted to use some travel vouchers I got as a frequent flier on southwest. Found out that I couldn't use them for both legs of the trip, but at least I was able to use them for one.
So, this next trip is going to be funny. I'll have 4 days in a hotel and half of my airfare for free due to accumulated rewards points.
Next month is the weigh-in and fitness test. So, I have a month to do one last push as far as weight loss and running.
This recent trip is the first time I gave the new droid phone a test. It is a handy thing to have. Obviously, it's a phone but it's also an acceptable web-browser. It worked as a good enough GPS unit during my trip. In some ways, it's better than a dedicated GPS. Overall, it's not. Unfortunately, it's clunky and quirky as far as using it to replace the iPod, but even there, it can work passably enough.
However, considering that I also like to travel with a small digital camera, this thing takes the place of about 4 appliances and provides a lot of additional functionality as well.
Although I really missed the boy, I'm going to look forward to these trips. I should only have to do about a half-dozen of them next year. (The military's fiscal year starts in October.) I should also have a 2 week contracting course and the supply officer symposium. So, it'll be a full year. I'm just trying to clear the decks so I don't have to miss any of Logan's travel season, though.
I like my new unit. It is composed of about 8 officers and maybe 20 enlisted people, but in the Navy, only officers can do defense contracting. So, the enlisted people will be moving to different units very soon. It will be a 100% officer unit in the upcoming months.
Everybody was awesome and I felt very welcome. I joined as a way to serve, but being around my fellow officers has been such an unanticipated pleasure that I really look forward to drill. Figure I already have a lot in common with these guys. So, it's good to have a weekend once a month where I can interact with people whose company I enjoy.
The military is a strange fraternity. We sacrifice for it. The administration in the military is absolutely horrific. We have to go around with bad haircuts all the time. We have to spend our money on funny looking clothes, and in a few cases, we have to travel quite a bit at our own expense.
Mostly, we do it for the mission, which ultimately is to peform acts of managed violence on behalf of the United States of America. However, I think the other reason we do it is for the people we get to serve with.
I got to get together with a lot of my old classmates from 20 years ago. I attended Texas Wesleyan College/University for 4 years, but graduated from Kent State a few years later. Jamie Lloyd (Basler) opened up her home and hosted a nice get-together with everybody. It was an absolute joy to see everyone. I've seen some of them here and there in the last 20 years, but this is the first time I've seen most of them since I left school in 1991.
I also toured the old campus with Jamie. It was remarkably the same. The neighborhood actually looked like it had improved a little bit. I bought a yellow tee shirt that had "Texas Wesleyan University" on the front. I liked it because it looked sort of old school and reminded me of my old gym class shirt from middle school. I also got a wesleyan hoodie.
I didn't get to run like I had hoped over the weekend. The weekend was just packed and I am pretty exhausted. I did run a PT test, which was 1.5 miles at a hard (for me) pace. I tried to run the next day, but wasn't used to the heat and humidity and ended up running only about a mile and a half, again.
My tooth is still killing me. I'm also pretty tired, so, I'll take today off before getting back to it tomorrow.
I'll give the endodontist a call tomorrow. He seemed to indicate that it should be sore for 48 hours afterwards, but it's still pretty painful 5 days later. I'm swallowing down gobs of OTC pain killers.
The lodging on post was nice, but strange. I had my own room, but shared a bathroom. It wasn't as inconvenient as it might seem at first blush. Once I was used to it, it wasn't that bad at all.
Next month, there's some gigantic helicopter thing happening at the Joint Reserve Base, so there won't be any room in the typical lodging they have for us on post. They'll get us hotels off-post, but they'd be giving me a room-mate. I'm not so excited about that. So, I used some Marriott Rewards points and I'll be staying at a nearby Courtyard by Marriott.
I also wanted to use some travel vouchers I got as a frequent flier on southwest. Found out that I couldn't use them for both legs of the trip, but at least I was able to use them for one.
So, this next trip is going to be funny. I'll have 4 days in a hotel and half of my airfare for free due to accumulated rewards points.
Next month is the weigh-in and fitness test. So, I have a month to do one last push as far as weight loss and running.
This recent trip is the first time I gave the new droid phone a test. It is a handy thing to have. Obviously, it's a phone but it's also an acceptable web-browser. It worked as a good enough GPS unit during my trip. In some ways, it's better than a dedicated GPS. Overall, it's not. Unfortunately, it's clunky and quirky as far as using it to replace the iPod, but even there, it can work passably enough.
However, considering that I also like to travel with a small digital camera, this thing takes the place of about 4 appliances and provides a lot of additional functionality as well.
Although I really missed the boy, I'm going to look forward to these trips. I should only have to do about a half-dozen of them next year. (The military's fiscal year starts in October.) I should also have a 2 week contracting course and the supply officer symposium. So, it'll be a full year. I'm just trying to clear the decks so I don't have to miss any of Logan's travel season, though.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Fut Wuth, Ah Luv Yew!!!
My first drill at Fort Worth is drawing to a close. Great stuff going on, here.
First, I got together with a handful of old classmates from Texas Wesleyan. The biggest difference between me and them is that they actually graduated. I was on the 4 year, no-degree plan. It was awesome seeing everybody and I hope to see a lot more of them throughout my time here.
Jamie Lloyd (Basler) hosted us all at her house and she put out a nice bunch of munchies, etc. It was so cool of her to do this, and she did it on short notice. So, I owe her.
Second, coming down here sort of reminded me why I never fell in love with the weather. Like William Tecumseh Sherman (himself a native of Ohio) said if he owned hell and Texas, he'd live in Hell and rent out Texas.
It's muggy here and really hot. Now, this Summer, it's been hot and muggy in Ohio, but trust me... it's hotter and muggier, here. I distinctly remember always dreading wearing any nice clothes in the warm months when I lived here because I'd sweat through in the time it took me to get out the front door and get the A/C going in the car.
Even so, I love Texas. Fort Worth is my adopted hometown. I like the climate in Hawaii better, but Fort Worth has a lot of character and I enjoy my time here.
I am disappointed that I didn't get to run much, but the first couple nights I was here, I was meeting friends, etc. Not a biggie. Today, we ran a mock PT test and I ran the 1.5 miles in under 15 minutes. I really struggled with the humidity, and although the heat wasn't oppressive, it was noticeable. Especially in light of my recent running at home in temps in the 60s. It was actually in the 50s when I left Detroit.
Next month, when I run the test for real, I should be able to get an even better score because it'll probably be cooler.
Tomorrow, I'll run at least 6, though. I found where the running track is and I'm gonna eat that sucker up.
The CO of this unit, like me, also flies here at his own expense. So, he's being really cool about working with me on drills. He's allowing me to double-up when I drill here. So, instead of showing up once a month and drilling for 2 days, I'll be showing up 6 months out of the year and drilling for 4 days. That way, it cuts my airfare expense in half.
I'll try to do all my drills during the cold weather months because Texas is a mutha in the Summer. Plus, I want to leave May, June and July as open as possible because that's Logan's travel season.
The Navy will fly people to certain billets, but this isn't one of them. I specifically wanted Fort Worth and I specifically wanted a Contracting Officers' billet. So, I knew I'd be paying to fly. However, being able to consolidate my drills, only drill half the months of the year, and make the most of my airfare is a big plus. Commanders of these units have a lot of latitude on this sort of thing, and I'm lucky my commander is so accommodating.
Money was never a factor in why I'm doing this, of course. I've always considered this my expensive hobby. However, it's nice when it doesn't cost me quite as much. Oddly enough, there are a couple of ways I do pretty well financially, by participation in the reserves.
The first is that I get a $2,000 bonus for every language course I pass. Since I'd be taking the classes, anyway, that's a nice perk.
The second is that I get my health insurance for only $200 a month and it's the best insurance I've ever had. I don't think I've ever paid a deductible or copay in the entire time I've had it.
At this point, I'd be reluctant to leave the reserves because it saves me so much on health insurance. Especially because I own my own business and would have to shop for an individual policy, otherwise.
The Navy doesn't pay airfare, but they provide me with a room while I'm here. It's with some trepedation that I accept this because the Navy is notorious for, say, putting 2 guys into a hotel room. I think it's just part of the Navy's culture. On ships, everybody lives in very close quarters and it's not unusual for two officers to share the same stateroom.
There is a hotel here on post, though, called the Navy Lodge. It's $65 a night, and I may pay for it out of my own pocket from time to time. For this drill, I did get my own room, but with a shared bathroom with another room. This wasn't nearly as inconvenient as it may sound at first blush. Especially since I have my own sink in my room.
However, Homey don't play room-mates if he can avoid it. Granted, that continues my streak of this being my personal little nonprofit endeavor, but hey.
Next month, by the way, there won't be any normal rooms available on post and they'll put us up in hotels off-post. That pretty much guarantees I'll have a room-mate. Navy Lodge, here I come. Not only do I not want the room-mate, but I really want to stay on-post. Nothing like a 3 minute commute in the morning.
So, it feels good to be back in Texas and seeing friends I haven't seen in years. I really like the unit and the commander is really working with me on this.
I did start the ball rolling on getting my final contracting course for my DAWIA (defense acquisition workforce improvement act) certification. I found out that until I actually have my DAWIA cert, I'm fenced off (meaning the can't pluck me for other various supply corps officer mobilizations.) Hardly matters, though. The only people mobilizing right now are contracting officers, anyway.
Next month, I'm authorized to double up on drills and in a really cool coincidence, my brother and his family will be here! So, I'll get to see him, his wife and my two nephews! That's something to really look forward to.
First, I got together with a handful of old classmates from Texas Wesleyan. The biggest difference between me and them is that they actually graduated. I was on the 4 year, no-degree plan. It was awesome seeing everybody and I hope to see a lot more of them throughout my time here.
Jamie Lloyd (Basler) hosted us all at her house and she put out a nice bunch of munchies, etc. It was so cool of her to do this, and she did it on short notice. So, I owe her.
Second, coming down here sort of reminded me why I never fell in love with the weather. Like William Tecumseh Sherman (himself a native of Ohio) said if he owned hell and Texas, he'd live in Hell and rent out Texas.
It's muggy here and really hot. Now, this Summer, it's been hot and muggy in Ohio, but trust me... it's hotter and muggier, here. I distinctly remember always dreading wearing any nice clothes in the warm months when I lived here because I'd sweat through in the time it took me to get out the front door and get the A/C going in the car.
Even so, I love Texas. Fort Worth is my adopted hometown. I like the climate in Hawaii better, but Fort Worth has a lot of character and I enjoy my time here.
I am disappointed that I didn't get to run much, but the first couple nights I was here, I was meeting friends, etc. Not a biggie. Today, we ran a mock PT test and I ran the 1.5 miles in under 15 minutes. I really struggled with the humidity, and although the heat wasn't oppressive, it was noticeable. Especially in light of my recent running at home in temps in the 60s. It was actually in the 50s when I left Detroit.
Next month, when I run the test for real, I should be able to get an even better score because it'll probably be cooler.
Tomorrow, I'll run at least 6, though. I found where the running track is and I'm gonna eat that sucker up.
The CO of this unit, like me, also flies here at his own expense. So, he's being really cool about working with me on drills. He's allowing me to double-up when I drill here. So, instead of showing up once a month and drilling for 2 days, I'll be showing up 6 months out of the year and drilling for 4 days. That way, it cuts my airfare expense in half.
I'll try to do all my drills during the cold weather months because Texas is a mutha in the Summer. Plus, I want to leave May, June and July as open as possible because that's Logan's travel season.
The Navy will fly people to certain billets, but this isn't one of them. I specifically wanted Fort Worth and I specifically wanted a Contracting Officers' billet. So, I knew I'd be paying to fly. However, being able to consolidate my drills, only drill half the months of the year, and make the most of my airfare is a big plus. Commanders of these units have a lot of latitude on this sort of thing, and I'm lucky my commander is so accommodating.
Money was never a factor in why I'm doing this, of course. I've always considered this my expensive hobby. However, it's nice when it doesn't cost me quite as much. Oddly enough, there are a couple of ways I do pretty well financially, by participation in the reserves.
The first is that I get a $2,000 bonus for every language course I pass. Since I'd be taking the classes, anyway, that's a nice perk.
The second is that I get my health insurance for only $200 a month and it's the best insurance I've ever had. I don't think I've ever paid a deductible or copay in the entire time I've had it.
At this point, I'd be reluctant to leave the reserves because it saves me so much on health insurance. Especially because I own my own business and would have to shop for an individual policy, otherwise.
The Navy doesn't pay airfare, but they provide me with a room while I'm here. It's with some trepedation that I accept this because the Navy is notorious for, say, putting 2 guys into a hotel room. I think it's just part of the Navy's culture. On ships, everybody lives in very close quarters and it's not unusual for two officers to share the same stateroom.
There is a hotel here on post, though, called the Navy Lodge. It's $65 a night, and I may pay for it out of my own pocket from time to time. For this drill, I did get my own room, but with a shared bathroom with another room. This wasn't nearly as inconvenient as it may sound at first blush. Especially since I have my own sink in my room.
However, Homey don't play room-mates if he can avoid it. Granted, that continues my streak of this being my personal little nonprofit endeavor, but hey.
Next month, by the way, there won't be any normal rooms available on post and they'll put us up in hotels off-post. That pretty much guarantees I'll have a room-mate. Navy Lodge, here I come. Not only do I not want the room-mate, but I really want to stay on-post. Nothing like a 3 minute commute in the morning.
So, it feels good to be back in Texas and seeing friends I haven't seen in years. I really like the unit and the commander is really working with me on this.
I did start the ball rolling on getting my final contracting course for my DAWIA (defense acquisition workforce improvement act) certification. I found out that until I actually have my DAWIA cert, I'm fenced off (meaning the can't pluck me for other various supply corps officer mobilizations.) Hardly matters, though. The only people mobilizing right now are contracting officers, anyway.
Next month, I'm authorized to double up on drills and in a really cool coincidence, my brother and his family will be here! So, I'll get to see him, his wife and my two nephews! That's something to really look forward to.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
The diet simplified, the running app for my droid...
Okay, I got on the scale this morning and was at 192. The scale is notoriously inaccurate, but that would be an all-time low for first thing in the morning weight.
I'm settling into a phase of the diet where I follow it when I can and don't sweat it when I don't.
If I were diligent about it, there are a lot of foods I WOULD eat. However, I think the bulk of the diet is done by avoiding the following:
1. Dairy, and this includes creamy anything.
2. Bread.
3. Processed Sugars.
4. Deep Fried Anything.
I don't always succeed, but this gives me a good rule of thumb for when I want to be good. As for what TO eat, I figure at this point, if it's not on the 1-4 above, whatever, it's okay.
Obviously, stick to some common sense stuff. Chicken is better than red meat. Lean beef is better than fatty cuts. Almost anything is preferrable to pork.
It amazes me how, when I go too far off the reservation on 1 thru 4, how it affects my appetite. For instance, when my son was trying out for his baseball team, I ate a big mac value meal. The whole time during the tryout, I craved a hot-dog. As soon as we left, I went to a gas station and got one.
I was just hungry and craving, and I think it's because of that bread.
In any event, the closer I stick to the diet, the better I feel. The farther away I get, the worse I feel. I've got some upheaval in my personal life that makes it hard to cook at home, but a diligent person can follow the diet, more or less, if they want to.
I figure I'll lose a pound or two every now and then, and that's fine for me. I'm in the low 190s, now. A really good weight for me would be in the low 180s. Good marathon running weight would be maybe 170 or a pound or two less. I think I was in the low 170s when I ran my first one.
I'm on the right trajectory and don't feel much angst about how fast I get there. It'll happen.
Obviously, the more religious you are about the diet, the faster you're going to lose weight.
I have another incentive for some of the things on the diet, though. I have a history of a lot of sinus/allergy issues and I think it may have been related to dairy and glutens. So, the closer I am to the diet, the less I use of my allergy meds. In fact, I haven't used any of my allergy meds since starting the diet.
Running is obviously going t account for some weight loss, too, now that I'm doing between 24 and 30 miles a week. I'm shooting for 6 miles, 5 days a week, but lately it's been more like 2 on, 1 off.
Went for a run with my droid last night and the Endomondo application. It uses the phone's GPS to give you data on your run. Sorta neat. Every mile, a voice comes on and tells you how many miles, your total time and your last mile split.
The USA Track and Field route mapper worked really well. It said the loop around my neighborhood was 0.75 miles. The GPS in my phone probably put it a shade over 0.73.
I was curious how accurate the GPS would be. The ones in phones aren't usually as accurate as the ones that operate off of satellites. However, it overlaid my path on a map and it was pretty much spot on.
My phone is a battery hog, though. I need to get spare batteries, which aren't available because the phone just launched. If I had kept it on a charger when I was at my desk at work, I'd have been fine, but the battery got low after a lap or two and then it still worked, but wouldn't play music. Apparently, that hogs a lot of battery. I was able to complete the entire run before the battery died completely.
You can order a bluetooth heart rate monitor that works with this application and the data display is so awesome, I am probably going to do that. It's $100, which is pricey in a way, but frankly, a cheap HRM costs $65, so it's not so out of the question.
I also need a better holder for it. My old iPod video arm-band holder didn't work very well... it was just a tad too small.
Today is more Arabic, for which I am not prepared. Then packing for Fort Worth for the weekend, for which I am also not prepared. However, I'm going to get to see a lot of old classmates from my 4 years at Texas Wesleyan University and it's going to be a blast.
I'll also get to see my main man, Patrick. He served in the Army with me as well as going to school with me and playing keyboards in my band at the time. Haven't seen him since we went to the Mississippi Delta in our search for the crossroads.
I'm settling into a phase of the diet where I follow it when I can and don't sweat it when I don't.
If I were diligent about it, there are a lot of foods I WOULD eat. However, I think the bulk of the diet is done by avoiding the following:
1. Dairy, and this includes creamy anything.
2. Bread.
3. Processed Sugars.
4. Deep Fried Anything.
I don't always succeed, but this gives me a good rule of thumb for when I want to be good. As for what TO eat, I figure at this point, if it's not on the 1-4 above, whatever, it's okay.
Obviously, stick to some common sense stuff. Chicken is better than red meat. Lean beef is better than fatty cuts. Almost anything is preferrable to pork.
It amazes me how, when I go too far off the reservation on 1 thru 4, how it affects my appetite. For instance, when my son was trying out for his baseball team, I ate a big mac value meal. The whole time during the tryout, I craved a hot-dog. As soon as we left, I went to a gas station and got one.
I was just hungry and craving, and I think it's because of that bread.
In any event, the closer I stick to the diet, the better I feel. The farther away I get, the worse I feel. I've got some upheaval in my personal life that makes it hard to cook at home, but a diligent person can follow the diet, more or less, if they want to.
I figure I'll lose a pound or two every now and then, and that's fine for me. I'm in the low 190s, now. A really good weight for me would be in the low 180s. Good marathon running weight would be maybe 170 or a pound or two less. I think I was in the low 170s when I ran my first one.
I'm on the right trajectory and don't feel much angst about how fast I get there. It'll happen.
Obviously, the more religious you are about the diet, the faster you're going to lose weight.
I have another incentive for some of the things on the diet, though. I have a history of a lot of sinus/allergy issues and I think it may have been related to dairy and glutens. So, the closer I am to the diet, the less I use of my allergy meds. In fact, I haven't used any of my allergy meds since starting the diet.
Running is obviously going t account for some weight loss, too, now that I'm doing between 24 and 30 miles a week. I'm shooting for 6 miles, 5 days a week, but lately it's been more like 2 on, 1 off.
Went for a run with my droid last night and the Endomondo application. It uses the phone's GPS to give you data on your run. Sorta neat. Every mile, a voice comes on and tells you how many miles, your total time and your last mile split.
The USA Track and Field route mapper worked really well. It said the loop around my neighborhood was 0.75 miles. The GPS in my phone probably put it a shade over 0.73.
I was curious how accurate the GPS would be. The ones in phones aren't usually as accurate as the ones that operate off of satellites. However, it overlaid my path on a map and it was pretty much spot on.
My phone is a battery hog, though. I need to get spare batteries, which aren't available because the phone just launched. If I had kept it on a charger when I was at my desk at work, I'd have been fine, but the battery got low after a lap or two and then it still worked, but wouldn't play music. Apparently, that hogs a lot of battery. I was able to complete the entire run before the battery died completely.
You can order a bluetooth heart rate monitor that works with this application and the data display is so awesome, I am probably going to do that. It's $100, which is pricey in a way, but frankly, a cheap HRM costs $65, so it's not so out of the question.
I also need a better holder for it. My old iPod video arm-band holder didn't work very well... it was just a tad too small.
Today is more Arabic, for which I am not prepared. Then packing for Fort Worth for the weekend, for which I am also not prepared. However, I'm going to get to see a lot of old classmates from my 4 years at Texas Wesleyan University and it's going to be a blast.
I'll also get to see my main man, Patrick. He served in the Army with me as well as going to school with me and playing keyboards in my band at the time. Haven't seen him since we went to the Mississippi Delta in our search for the crossroads.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Running, Tired, Droid, Root Canal, Etc...
Running the 6 milers is taking a toll, I think. I find that I'm sleeping longer and napping more than I ever have, before. I know I'll get used to it, eventually. However, for the time being, it's work.
This morning, I got up and tried to walk down the hallway. Got light headed, lost my balance and fainted into the door. Got a nasty scratch on the side of my head, but luckily, no real damage.
I got most of my root canal yesterday, but the doc said my roots were deteriorated and infected. So, he said he did about 80% of it and I go back in a couple of weeks to get the rest done, after the antibiotic cures the infection.
He had told me it was like getting a filling, but that's not true. The tooth is really, really sore. Got some ibuprofin and aspirin. Those are good because they're anti-inflammatories. I should probably take some ibuprofin and ice down my knees after I run. I notice my knees feel great today. Probably will feel a whole lot greater after I lose another 10 or 20 pounds.
Anyway, the soreness is slowly getting better over time. He said maybe 48 hours to get to where it isn't quite so present. I'll be glad to have this whole thing over and done with.
I've got the droid phone and it's working. I will try out the running application tonight. I'll be running the 0.75 mile loop in the neighborhood. I'm just curious how accurately it will measure distance and speed. We'll see. After that, I'll use it to do some out and backs. It'll be nice to calculate distances without having to know them beforehand.
I still don't know how to sync up my music with my droid, but I can get Pandora. That'll be good enough for my running.
There's a bluetooth heart rate monitor strap I can use with the droid's running application, but it costs $100. I'll probably just use my basic polar monitor until the battery wears out. Then, I'll bite the bullet and get the bluetooth.
I've got drill in Fort Worth this weekend. Looking forward to meeting my new unit. My travel and pay from the Junior Officer symposium still isn't paid. The folks that handle reserve pay and travel could give the DMV folks a run for the money in terms of unhelpfulness and lack of customer service. Honestly, that's one of the things I like best about the reserves: it reminds me how utterly screwed up administration is in the military. It's one thing if it's a minor annoyance about your part-time job. It's another matter, entirely when it's your sole source of income.
So, in a backhanded way, being in the reserves does me a good turn: it reminds me of one of the reasons why I don't, and didn't, want to make the military a full-time career.
I'm really looking forward to seeing my DFW (Dallas and Fort Worth) friends this weekend. I haven't seen them in ages. It'll be good to get back in touch.
This morning, I got up and tried to walk down the hallway. Got light headed, lost my balance and fainted into the door. Got a nasty scratch on the side of my head, but luckily, no real damage.
I got most of my root canal yesterday, but the doc said my roots were deteriorated and infected. So, he said he did about 80% of it and I go back in a couple of weeks to get the rest done, after the antibiotic cures the infection.
He had told me it was like getting a filling, but that's not true. The tooth is really, really sore. Got some ibuprofin and aspirin. Those are good because they're anti-inflammatories. I should probably take some ibuprofin and ice down my knees after I run. I notice my knees feel great today. Probably will feel a whole lot greater after I lose another 10 or 20 pounds.
Anyway, the soreness is slowly getting better over time. He said maybe 48 hours to get to where it isn't quite so present. I'll be glad to have this whole thing over and done with.
I've got the droid phone and it's working. I will try out the running application tonight. I'll be running the 0.75 mile loop in the neighborhood. I'm just curious how accurately it will measure distance and speed. We'll see. After that, I'll use it to do some out and backs. It'll be nice to calculate distances without having to know them beforehand.
I still don't know how to sync up my music with my droid, but I can get Pandora. That'll be good enough for my running.
There's a bluetooth heart rate monitor strap I can use with the droid's running application, but it costs $100. I'll probably just use my basic polar monitor until the battery wears out. Then, I'll bite the bullet and get the bluetooth.
I've got drill in Fort Worth this weekend. Looking forward to meeting my new unit. My travel and pay from the Junior Officer symposium still isn't paid. The folks that handle reserve pay and travel could give the DMV folks a run for the money in terms of unhelpfulness and lack of customer service. Honestly, that's one of the things I like best about the reserves: it reminds me how utterly screwed up administration is in the military. It's one thing if it's a minor annoyance about your part-time job. It's another matter, entirely when it's your sole source of income.
So, in a backhanded way, being in the reserves does me a good turn: it reminds me of one of the reasons why I don't, and didn't, want to make the military a full-time career.
I'm really looking forward to seeing my DFW (Dallas and Fort Worth) friends this weekend. I haven't seen them in ages. It'll be good to get back in touch.
Monday, September 6, 2010
After Action Report on the Long Weekend
It was a nice relaxing weekend. I didn't get a run in on Saturday, but was able to cover 6 miles on both Sunday and today. My goal routine, now, is 6 miles, 5 days a week.
Today's run was really hard, though. I ran it on the 0.75 mile loop around the neighborhood. (8 laps.) There were some changes in elevation, but I don't think it was really that hard overall. I finished it just fine. Not like I collapsed at the end gasping and wheezing or anything. It was just a tough one.
I wonder if the jump to 6 miles, from 5, is more substantial than I was thinking. I know I'll get used to it eventually, but depending on how I feel tomorrow, I may mix in a couple of 5 milers during the week to give myself a little break.
I also was utterly exhausted last evening. I just totally crashed upstairs while Logan watched TV downstairs. After today's run, I took a shower, and then took a long nap. Could be the crappy diet (I pretty much blew off my entire diet these past few days and last week wasn't so hot, either.) However, I think the running is in there, too.
Really, I only just got used to the 5 milers. So, I haven't given myself time to adjust to them before moving ahead. The old rule of thumb I believe in is that it takes a full 3 weeks for a new training stimulus to result in increased performance.
In any event, I feel great now that I'm up to 6 miles. Because of my history with this, I don't consider a run of less than 6 miles to be a real run. So, it's discouraging to have to do all that base-building with shorter distances while I ramp up.
So, 6 miles, 5 days a week. I want to give that a long time to settle in and work its way through my various systems. I'll probably stick to that until November or so. (Yes, I know I also said I'd be sticking to 5 miles x 5 days a week until the first week of October.)
Once I get used to that, I will probably start marathon training in earnest. At this point, I'm targeting the Glass City Marathon (in Toledo) in the Spring. It's nice to do a hometown marathon. You get to sleep in your own bed and you don't miss that much of your day.
Then, for the Fall, I'll try and do the Air Force Marathon if I can get a room in their Bachelor Officer's Quarters.
Last time I did this, after my first marathon, I had a HUGE jump in speed afterwards. I've never been a very speedy runner, but for the most part, where, say, a 9:30 pace might be what I'd do on a daily training run, I was doing them in more like 8-flat.
I don't know how much of that will be gone due to age, but if I could get faster, that'd be nice. It didn't take long to show up, either. Basically, 4 weeks of marathon recovery (with no running), and then voila. Instant speed. Go figure.
This week, I have a lot going on. Root canal is a biggie. Might be tough to afford both the tooth and a rowing machine this month. I was tempted to just plunge ahead with the rowing machine until I remembered the root canal. Oh well. After the root canal, I need to get a crown, which will probably cost just as much.
Oh well... the things we do to be able to chew food.
I've been abysmal about my diet lately. I need to stick to the very basics of it, at a minimum: no bread, dairy, anything deep-fried, etc. Even if I don't do the positive things such as making sure I get all the right amounts of all the protiens, carbs, etc., the least I can do is avoid negative things like eating processed sugars.
I was just thinking today that now that I'm up to 6 miles, 5 times a week, that's as heavy a workout schedule as anybody can reasonably expect. I'll be curious what my HDLs look like when I get tested again in February. If they aren't perfect, then, frankly, perfection isn't realistically attainable for me. It's not like I can reasonably try to create a workout schedule that involves, say, 12 hours of workouts every week. I mean, I have done it in the past and may do it in the future, but as far as being able to commit to it week-in, week-out as part of a healthy lifestyle? That's just not realistic.
I do want to get going on putting together a cardio room, though. I really do want two workouts a day until I lose the weight. I don't think running, alone, is enough to cause massive weight loss, but honestly, if you hit 2 workouts a day, that's pretty massive. I figure get a rowing machine and do that 5 days a week. Use the recumbent bike for an easier workout on the off days.
One thing that's sort of encouraging at this point is that my running isn't that much slower than it was when I was 35. So, age hasn't punished me all that much. What's really remarkable, though, is that back then I was about 175 at this point. Right now, I'm 195. So, I'm trotting a whole lot more weight around, and it hasn't slowed me down much.
The rule of thumb on this is that every pound slows you down by about 2 seconds a mile. So, if I lose another 20 pounds, that's 40 seconds a mile. That's pretty significant.
I am also wary of doing a lot of running at this weight. It's hard on my knees and at this age, that's a factor. However, it's a viscious circle. Of all the exercises I've ever done, running is by far the best for weight loss. So, to lose weight, I should run, but I don't want to run until I lose weight.
I got some good news today. Got a call from an old employee who I really loved. She was the only person I've ever employed who I trusted to make the same decisions I'd make in every circumstance. In every way, she was the most awesome employee I have ever had.
She left for personal reasons, but wants to talk to me on Wednesday about possibly coming back. So, cross fingers. If she's willing to come back, she's one of those people who I will make room for in the organization, no matter what.
This will really take a lot of stress off my shoulders in the work arena.
Last part of this week, I fly to Ft Worth for drill with my new unit. I'm pretty excited. I don't like packing up and all that, but I almost always enjoy serving in the Navy Reserve. Maybe it's just that the Supply Corps Community is just extraordinarily filled with good folks whose company I genuinely enjoy. Who knows. I almost always find myself really enjoying my drill weekend and the interaction with the other Pork Chops. Now that I'm drilling with them, I will start trying to get that final class I need for DAWIA certification. It'll only give me Level 1, but that's a pretty huge step. I'll get working on Level 2.
Not sure what the deployment future holds, but as always, deployment is a real possibility. If at all possible, I'd like to have completed 4 semesters of Arabic and my DAWIA Level 2 before I deploy. I'll almost certainly deploy in some capacity related to contracting if I have my DAWIA. Other than separation from family, it shouldn't be a bad gig.
They still haven't made the official announcement on Mavericks selection. However, I have it from a reliable source that Logan made the team. It's a reliable enough source that I'm certain it's true. However, it'll be nice to get the formal announcement.
Today's run was really hard, though. I ran it on the 0.75 mile loop around the neighborhood. (8 laps.) There were some changes in elevation, but I don't think it was really that hard overall. I finished it just fine. Not like I collapsed at the end gasping and wheezing or anything. It was just a tough one.
I wonder if the jump to 6 miles, from 5, is more substantial than I was thinking. I know I'll get used to it eventually, but depending on how I feel tomorrow, I may mix in a couple of 5 milers during the week to give myself a little break.
I also was utterly exhausted last evening. I just totally crashed upstairs while Logan watched TV downstairs. After today's run, I took a shower, and then took a long nap. Could be the crappy diet (I pretty much blew off my entire diet these past few days and last week wasn't so hot, either.) However, I think the running is in there, too.
Really, I only just got used to the 5 milers. So, I haven't given myself time to adjust to them before moving ahead. The old rule of thumb I believe in is that it takes a full 3 weeks for a new training stimulus to result in increased performance.
In any event, I feel great now that I'm up to 6 miles. Because of my history with this, I don't consider a run of less than 6 miles to be a real run. So, it's discouraging to have to do all that base-building with shorter distances while I ramp up.
So, 6 miles, 5 days a week. I want to give that a long time to settle in and work its way through my various systems. I'll probably stick to that until November or so. (Yes, I know I also said I'd be sticking to 5 miles x 5 days a week until the first week of October.)
Once I get used to that, I will probably start marathon training in earnest. At this point, I'm targeting the Glass City Marathon (in Toledo) in the Spring. It's nice to do a hometown marathon. You get to sleep in your own bed and you don't miss that much of your day.
Then, for the Fall, I'll try and do the Air Force Marathon if I can get a room in their Bachelor Officer's Quarters.
Last time I did this, after my first marathon, I had a HUGE jump in speed afterwards. I've never been a very speedy runner, but for the most part, where, say, a 9:30 pace might be what I'd do on a daily training run, I was doing them in more like 8-flat.
I don't know how much of that will be gone due to age, but if I could get faster, that'd be nice. It didn't take long to show up, either. Basically, 4 weeks of marathon recovery (with no running), and then voila. Instant speed. Go figure.
This week, I have a lot going on. Root canal is a biggie. Might be tough to afford both the tooth and a rowing machine this month. I was tempted to just plunge ahead with the rowing machine until I remembered the root canal. Oh well. After the root canal, I need to get a crown, which will probably cost just as much.
Oh well... the things we do to be able to chew food.
I've been abysmal about my diet lately. I need to stick to the very basics of it, at a minimum: no bread, dairy, anything deep-fried, etc. Even if I don't do the positive things such as making sure I get all the right amounts of all the protiens, carbs, etc., the least I can do is avoid negative things like eating processed sugars.
I was just thinking today that now that I'm up to 6 miles, 5 times a week, that's as heavy a workout schedule as anybody can reasonably expect. I'll be curious what my HDLs look like when I get tested again in February. If they aren't perfect, then, frankly, perfection isn't realistically attainable for me. It's not like I can reasonably try to create a workout schedule that involves, say, 12 hours of workouts every week. I mean, I have done it in the past and may do it in the future, but as far as being able to commit to it week-in, week-out as part of a healthy lifestyle? That's just not realistic.
I do want to get going on putting together a cardio room, though. I really do want two workouts a day until I lose the weight. I don't think running, alone, is enough to cause massive weight loss, but honestly, if you hit 2 workouts a day, that's pretty massive. I figure get a rowing machine and do that 5 days a week. Use the recumbent bike for an easier workout on the off days.
One thing that's sort of encouraging at this point is that my running isn't that much slower than it was when I was 35. So, age hasn't punished me all that much. What's really remarkable, though, is that back then I was about 175 at this point. Right now, I'm 195. So, I'm trotting a whole lot more weight around, and it hasn't slowed me down much.
The rule of thumb on this is that every pound slows you down by about 2 seconds a mile. So, if I lose another 20 pounds, that's 40 seconds a mile. That's pretty significant.
I am also wary of doing a lot of running at this weight. It's hard on my knees and at this age, that's a factor. However, it's a viscious circle. Of all the exercises I've ever done, running is by far the best for weight loss. So, to lose weight, I should run, but I don't want to run until I lose weight.
I got some good news today. Got a call from an old employee who I really loved. She was the only person I've ever employed who I trusted to make the same decisions I'd make in every circumstance. In every way, she was the most awesome employee I have ever had.
She left for personal reasons, but wants to talk to me on Wednesday about possibly coming back. So, cross fingers. If she's willing to come back, she's one of those people who I will make room for in the organization, no matter what.
This will really take a lot of stress off my shoulders in the work arena.
Last part of this week, I fly to Ft Worth for drill with my new unit. I'm pretty excited. I don't like packing up and all that, but I almost always enjoy serving in the Navy Reserve. Maybe it's just that the Supply Corps Community is just extraordinarily filled with good folks whose company I genuinely enjoy. Who knows. I almost always find myself really enjoying my drill weekend and the interaction with the other Pork Chops. Now that I'm drilling with them, I will start trying to get that final class I need for DAWIA certification. It'll only give me Level 1, but that's a pretty huge step. I'll get working on Level 2.
Not sure what the deployment future holds, but as always, deployment is a real possibility. If at all possible, I'd like to have completed 4 semesters of Arabic and my DAWIA Level 2 before I deploy. I'll almost certainly deploy in some capacity related to contracting if I have my DAWIA. Other than separation from family, it shouldn't be a bad gig.
They still haven't made the official announcement on Mavericks selection. However, I have it from a reliable source that Logan made the team. It's a reliable enough source that I'm certain it's true. However, it'll be nice to get the formal announcement.
Morning Pre-Run Spin-Up
As I digest my oatmeal and egg beaters, I'm trying to map out a running route for today. The weather is glorious. Here in Ohio, we only get a handful of nice weather days every year. So, it's a shame not to take advantage of them when they come.
My preferred place to run: a track, is not available in my town. Sorta crappy, really. The schools put them off limits to try and limit vandalism. Though, in a perverse way, it probably increases vandalism. Figure, if you had people showing up at the track to run at all hours of the day and night, that would make it hard for vandals to do much.
So, I'm trying to map out a little loop in my neighborhood. Circular routes are best because the last thing I want to do while running is try to remember "did I add that little offshoot that puts in the extra .15 mile?" The most obvious is a 0.75 mile loop around the main part of the neighborhood. If I have to watch my son, that means I'm back around to the house pretty frequently.
I have been eating completely badly lately. I need to stick just a little closer to the diet. I probably gained weight over the weekend. I just don't want to think about how much.
A new restaurant opened up near me. They claim to make "healthy fast food". I can't wait to try it out. I'll swing by it today. If you ask me, it's doomed to failure, but I'll eat there until they're out of business if they have stuff I like.
I have 5 personal trainer sessions left, but have put them on hold while I figure out my schedule. I am very, very pleased that doing the sessions got me kick-started back into shape. I also think the whole body-building, body-shaping aspect of it has some nice benefits, obviously.
However, I'm a little disappointed in my progress, strength-wise. I would have expected a lot bigger gains in push-ups, chin-ups and the like, and frankly, my progress is minimal. In fact, on push-ups, I feel like I've done much better in the past working out on my own.
I guess the idea is that you can body-shape and body-build with lower weights, and very, very slow reps. I prefer higher weights and reps done at medium speed. Usually, if I stick with it for a month, I can get to where I'm doing reps with about 200 pounds on the bench. I seriously doubt I could do that, now.
So, part of it is that I need to think about how to use those remaining 5 sessions. Maybe for shoulder and abs, because I'm not good about hitting those very hard, myself.
I also think that for weight-loss, if I added a second workout, that would be dramatic. Looking back to how I did it the first time, it was when I was doing two (or more) workouts a day where I really never had to worry about what I ate. I still look back with fondness on the period of my life where I was eating 3 heaping servings of ice cream every day. Granted, that was because of about 4 or 5 hours a day of sustained aerobic exercise, but still, it was nice.
I'm sorta pumped about the idea of a rowing machine. I need to move the treadmill to my house. So, those two things will be the start of a good cardio gym. I'll move my recumbent bike as well. At that point, really, all I need is a TV and I'll have everything I need for daily workouts.
Trouble is, the new house doesn't have cable, at all. So, I need to get that, too. Still, I can pop in DVDs or something.
My preferred place to run: a track, is not available in my town. Sorta crappy, really. The schools put them off limits to try and limit vandalism. Though, in a perverse way, it probably increases vandalism. Figure, if you had people showing up at the track to run at all hours of the day and night, that would make it hard for vandals to do much.
So, I'm trying to map out a little loop in my neighborhood. Circular routes are best because the last thing I want to do while running is try to remember "did I add that little offshoot that puts in the extra .15 mile?" The most obvious is a 0.75 mile loop around the main part of the neighborhood. If I have to watch my son, that means I'm back around to the house pretty frequently.
I have been eating completely badly lately. I need to stick just a little closer to the diet. I probably gained weight over the weekend. I just don't want to think about how much.
A new restaurant opened up near me. They claim to make "healthy fast food". I can't wait to try it out. I'll swing by it today. If you ask me, it's doomed to failure, but I'll eat there until they're out of business if they have stuff I like.
I have 5 personal trainer sessions left, but have put them on hold while I figure out my schedule. I am very, very pleased that doing the sessions got me kick-started back into shape. I also think the whole body-building, body-shaping aspect of it has some nice benefits, obviously.
However, I'm a little disappointed in my progress, strength-wise. I would have expected a lot bigger gains in push-ups, chin-ups and the like, and frankly, my progress is minimal. In fact, on push-ups, I feel like I've done much better in the past working out on my own.
I guess the idea is that you can body-shape and body-build with lower weights, and very, very slow reps. I prefer higher weights and reps done at medium speed. Usually, if I stick with it for a month, I can get to where I'm doing reps with about 200 pounds on the bench. I seriously doubt I could do that, now.
So, part of it is that I need to think about how to use those remaining 5 sessions. Maybe for shoulder and abs, because I'm not good about hitting those very hard, myself.
I also think that for weight-loss, if I added a second workout, that would be dramatic. Looking back to how I did it the first time, it was when I was doing two (or more) workouts a day where I really never had to worry about what I ate. I still look back with fondness on the period of my life where I was eating 3 heaping servings of ice cream every day. Granted, that was because of about 4 or 5 hours a day of sustained aerobic exercise, but still, it was nice.
I'm sorta pumped about the idea of a rowing machine. I need to move the treadmill to my house. So, those two things will be the start of a good cardio gym. I'll move my recumbent bike as well. At that point, really, all I need is a TV and I'll have everything I need for daily workouts.
Trouble is, the new house doesn't have cable, at all. So, I need to get that, too. Still, I can pop in DVDs or something.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)