The Program

I'm about to embark on a public journey to fitness.

"Why would you do this?" you ask. Well, fitness is fitness. There are tons of reasons to get/be in shape. Over the weekend I went on a hike with my Boy Scouts (still a Scoutmaster) and while it was a short hike - about 1 mile each way - the elevation change was fairly significant - 600 feet up. Needless to say there were quite a few times that I was left huffing and puffing.

"I've got to get in shape!" I say to spyderfry on the way up the hill.

"Cardio is Rule #1" he quotes Zombieland, one of his favorites.

Anyway, fitness. Better health. A sexier physique. Being the "strong man" in the family. And the vacation to the beach later in the year.

And why would I make this public? Well, like Scott Adams says, everyone is looking for their own preferred pain. Mine just happens to be public motivation.

Join me on my trek. What is my program? It's a balanced approach, drawing equally from Couch to 5 K for the cardio and from The Testosterone Advantage Plan for the weights. I know, I know, Testosterone Advantage Plan, begin hurling middle age loser epithets my way etc. But if you look at the workout plan it presents I think it's a pretty compelling case. Sure, as I read the book the Wikipedia voice in my head says "citation needed" at least five times per page, but it sounds good at least. And C25K has a couple of pretty good Android apps, which works well with the nerd factor in me.

Both C25K and TAP are 9 week programs, so that's nice. And I have a comprehensive gym at my place of employment, so that's nice too. And as long as I can live with the thermodynamic constant of energy in = energy out I should be doing pretty good in a few months.

My wife is busy with a program of her own, P90X. I was going to join her, but I couldn't commit to that kind of structure. And I've never been one to work out in front of the TV. But I do need some pressure. A little public visibility, maybe, and a cadence. I need someone who knows better than I to tell me when to go, when to stop, when to slow down (there's an app for that). So here's to working out and losing weight, and Stay Tuned for More Fantastic Updates!

Mobile Posting

So I'm posting this from my phone. This is really just an experiment for me.

Guns Guns Guns

This last weekend a dream of mine was finally realized.

I got a handgun.

It's a Taurus PT1911, blued. The finish actually looks like some kind of parkerizing, not traditional blueing. It wasn't super expensive, and from my extensive research the PT1911 is a good middle-of-the-run gun. It has a bunch of features that are usually found in custom 1911s, nut the ones that were of interest to me were the Commander hammer, the beavertail safety, and the Novak sights.

I've had the opportunity to put 50 rounds through it (just plinking) and it seems to shoot fine. I've heard it takes a few rounds to "break in" the gun, so I'm not shooting for accuracy yet, and I'm just shooting the cheap Blazer ammo I got at Sportsman's.

Why did I get it? A few reasons:

1. I like to shoot. I have a Remington 870 and a Marlin model 60 that I like to shoot. I hope to get a deer gun and do some big game hunting next year. And a 1911 is fun to shoot, even if the ammo is a little pricey.

2. Defense. I plan on getting my CCW and carrying fairly often.

3. Excercising a right. It's in the Constitution, look it up. A right not excercised is one that is easily taken away.

Next stop: a Hunter's Ed class!

Excel as a moral compass...

This afternoon a friend of mine (who is a Computer Engineer) and I were talking about walking away from an underwater mortgage. The discussion included the implications of bankruptcy, credit ratings, how companies look at assets and make similar decisions, and finally the morality of making such a decision. He was specifically going to try to convince a relative that it would be in their best interest to walk away from their mortgage.


Some paraphrasing:
Him: "Banks just look at it like a spreadsheet."
Me: "But I made a commitment to fulfill an obligation, regardless of how they look at it."
Him: "I'm going to make a spreadsheet to show them that it's better to walk away."
... Some moments of silence ...
Him: "I just saved my Excel document... it said I had a minor loss of fidelity."


I thought that was pretty dang funny. Of course, Excel was referring to compatability differences between the Office 2003 and Office 2007 versions of files, but I like to think it was trying to tell us all something more profound.

Time to lift...

...with a new soundtrack:

Metallica, Whiskey in the Jar
Metallica, Fuel (one of the greatest workout songs ever)
Alice in Chains, Rooster
AC/DC, Big Gun
Avenged Sevenfold, AfterlifeA
venged Sevenfold, Nightmare
Bad Religion, The Empire Strikes First
Muse, Supermassive Black Hole
NOFX, The Separation of Church and Skate

All on shuffle and repeat.

Power Nap

So I tried a new thing today: a power nap from NapSounds.com during lunch.

Thise of you that know me know that I am trying to break a serious caffeine habit right now. That, coupled with my pseudo-insomnia has left me pretty tired the last couple of days. At times during the day I really feel like I'm dragging and don't know how I'll make it through the day. Anyway, I thought about this site this morning and resolved to try it.

Note- I had listened to one of these a couple of years ago and it didn't work super well. Needless to say I was a little skeptical.

so I have an RSS reader/podcast catcher on my phone, so I set it to sync with NapSounds' Electronic powernap feed. At lunch, I hopped in my car, drove a couple of miles to the Lucky Peak overlook, and parked my car. (I didn't want to do this in my employer's parking lot as last summer some guy took his life in his car and wasn't found for a couple of days, and I don't want any more dead-car-guy scares)

As the podcast started playing, I laid back and relaxed. There is a semi-soothing voice that was telling me to follow it to more relaxing rest and some kind of garbage. I was pretty convinced that I wouldn't fall asleep, so I thought I'd just lay there for the 20 minutes of the recording with my eyes closed.

I don't know at what point I dozed off, but I did. And the recording helped me wake up gently a short time later. I was surprised to see that 25 minutes had gone by from the time I had parked my car. As I awoke I felt more rested than I did when I had parked, which was good. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised.

So, if you're looking for a good way to take a quick power nap, check out NapSounds (www.napsounds.com).

Some of my faves

These always make me laugh:

 

I’ve always wanted to ramp into some sweet bacon.

Sweetness

I have an entire day today with no meetings. Wide open. I look at the calendar and see nothing but possibilities.

Apologies

Sorry for all the "image not found" posts, it seems that the service I was using for my mobile photo posting, Shozu, has gone and changed everything. I'll remove those posts later, maybe repost some of the "best of" pictures that I still have.

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated as an Irish holiday. I normally identify myself of Scottish ancestry, since Stewart is a traditionally Scottish name. However, my great-great-great-grandfather (+/- a couple of greats), James Stewart, immigrated to Ontario, Canada back in the 1800's. I don't know much about him, other than he was married at some time before that in Ireland to Hannah Carey (or Carney). So at some point in the not too distant past one of my ancestors lived in Ireland. Which, in turn, would make me at least a little bit Irish.

Happy St. Paddy's Day everyone!