Chronicles: Alan B. Rowley II - Success Warrior - ECoach - P90X

Mute Math

While we were waiting in line to meet the Trans-Siberian Orchestra on Tuesday night, a chatty woman who almost goes to more concerts than me and I do security for the dang things suggested that I check out Mute Math.  She bought Alanis Morisette tickets once because Mute Math was opening for her.  She drives all over the country going to concerts.

I told her that I would check out Mute Math and I have done that.  I watched a video on YouTube which was cool because all the action is backwards but the singing is frontwards.  I can't embed it so go check it out yourself: Typical by Mute Math

I'm listening to their self titled CD now.  It's okay.  Probably not something that I will be coming back to listen to again but I enjoy listening to music that I've never heard before. 

Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

CNN Republican Debate: Who Is Ron Paul?

We ended up getting a little bit of a late start to come home so I missed the first 30 minutes of the debate.

"I wouldn't say that I really miss it," - Office Space

Tia sat down and watched some of it with me but eventually decided to go do homework.

"Ron Paul never gets to talk," she said as she was leaving the room.  She doesn't follow politics very closely but since I've been talking about Ron Paul so much, she wanted to see what the guy had to say.  She never found out.

It seemed like the questions and responses went to candidates in about this order:

Does Anyone Else Find This Odd?

Even now, mainstream media states that Ron Paul's ideas are radical. 

Ron Paul believes that our country is based on a supreme law called the Constitution and that the government should abide by that law.  He has pointed out many places where the government has broken the law and says that we should bring the government's actions back into compliance with the law.  He states that if there is something in the law that we don't like, we should change the law and make Amendments rather than just break the law.

For this, his ideas are called radical.

What does that say about our country, our government, and our media when following the law is considered a radical idea?

Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 10

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

Monday morning, I went to work in plain clothes.  The chief took me out to breakfast at Denny's. 

Have you ever had the feeling that everyone is looking at you?  I have.  That morning at Denny's.  Most of the people were probably travelers and had no clue who I was but that didn't stop me from thinking that they were all looking at me.

We had breakfast and then went back to the office.  I don't remember what I did that day or the next.  I was in plain clothes and probably just hung out in the office doing nothing but killing time.

I do remember what happened Monday night after I was home.

Commentary for November 26th, 2007

How about some awards today?

The award for the candidate that hasn't learned an incredibly valuable lesson yet.  Envelope please.

Hillary Clinton, with this beautiful comment on how she would fix the Social Security problem:

"I don't think I should be negotiating about what I would do as president. You know, I want to see what other people come to the table with."

Even after taking quite a bit of heat about not being able to take a stance, she continues complete ambivalence.  I don't know about you but this statement says to me, "I have no clue how to be president so I'm going to see what my opponents say, take a poll of likely voters to see which idea they like the best, and then I'll say what I'll do."

"If I was president, I would . . ." is a staple in a candidates vocabulary and it should be.  Maybe Bill will make all the decisions for her between blow jobs.

Success Warrior Diet Program: P90X and Turbo Jam (Week Ending 11/24/07)

Disclaimer: This P90X review is just one guy's journey through 90 days to see what happens.  Your results will probably be different based on any number of things (diet, intensity, other activities) and you should be healthy enough for hard workouts before you start this program.

11/18: I got up this morning and managed to put a DVD in through blurry eyes.  I chose Turbo Jam's Learn and Burn so I could get a sense of what I was getting myself into. 

The first ten minutes goes through the 11 key moves, Chalene calls them, in slow motion so you can learn them.  After that, you do about 16 minutes at a faster pace that covers the moves so that you get a sense of what they are like at normal speed.  It's lots of punches and kicks, while crunching your abs.  I think it's going to be fun.  I want to try one of the full speed workouts tomorrow.

I was going to do a weight circuit after lunch but did yard work and packed up some of the things in my office instead.  It wasn't exactly exercise but it was necessary. 

I've gone back to my clean diet.  I needed to.  I've put some fat back on my gut and I'm not going to let that go unchecked.  I still have until June to get into the best shape that I can.  I'm going to be doing my version of P90X doubles as many days as time allows.  I want to get back to where I was when I hurt my throat and then blow right past that and see if I can find my abs.  =)

Commentary for November 24th, 2007

Very short post for this blog today because Trey, Tia, and I are going to go play in the park because a weather reprieve.

NHasks.org has put out ads in newspapers asking all the presidential candidates to answer a set of questions.  The public then gets a chance to rate the answers based on straightforward, truthful, and responsive the answers are.

I think this is a beautiful thing.  Candidates are encouraged to actually answer the questions without double-talk, hyperbole, and innuendo.  They are still free to be vague if they would like but they will obviously get ranked down.

So far, only Ron Paul has answered the questions.

I can just see the campaigns of some of the other candidates where debates are going on to decide if they should even take part and if they do take part, how should they answer, and who should write up those answers.

Take a look and check back often to see if any of the other candidates are willing to take a stance.

Don't forget to take my presidential poll.

Meme: Lifelines

I have to get going to the store.  We have a family party today and I have been asked to bring my football dip (a chili queso kind of concoction) so we need to get up to the store and then get back to make it so we can get to the party and eat way-way too much.

So I'm doing an easy to answer meme from Friday 5 today.

If you were on a game show and could phone a friend for help, who would your lifelines be for sports, arts & music, literature, history and geography, and science?

Sports: my brother-in-law Michael.  We were playing a game at a family party a while back and came across a sports question about women's soccer.  He was in another room watching football so we just yelled the question to him and he yelled the answer back and he was right.
Arts & Music: tough one, probably go with my dad by default.
Literature: my dad.  He has read more books than anyone I know.
History and geography: my dad.  A lot of those books were about history and geography.
Science: PTE Rick.  I used this lifeline a couple of times when I was taking physics last year.

When you need someone with muscles to help you with a task, who’s the first one you call?

Nick.  One of my karate students.  He's strong and always willing to help out.

When you need some creative help with ideas for a project, who’s the first person you call?

My wife.  I usually write but if I need to get some thoughts clear enough to jot them down, I'll talk to her.  I will explain things out and she asks questions and it forces me to be more clear.  Then I head for the computer and type it up.

When you have a moral dilemma and need advice, on whom do you rely most?

Jesus.

Yeah, just kidding.  The guy causes more confusion than anything.  Not that I blame him because I don't think he had any idea all the crap that people were going to write about him and all the weird ideas that were going to become "laws".  Poor guy gets a bum rap.  He probably turns over in his grave everytime someone uses his name to further their own personal agenda.

The real answer is that I can't remember the last moral dilemma I had.  Life is pretty clear cut for me.  I focus on taking care of my family and not interfering with other people's lives. 

For advice, I usually talk to my wife and we explore different aspects of situations.  She's studying psychology so she's a great choice.  She has a strong sense of what is right and wrong without forcing her right and wrong onto other people.

When you need to know the best way to get somewhere, which of your directionally-gifted friends do you call upon first?

Yahoo! Maps.

Commentary for November 22nd, 2007 - Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving, and even more importantly, it's my birthday (on the 25th but I always lump the two together). 

Here are some of the things that I'm thankful for:

Number one is my wife.  She thinks that I like my son better than her but it's not true.  I see my son more.  My son *needs* me more.  I feel extremely responsible for his development but Tia is the guardian angel of my mind, my heart, and my well being.  If you're a Heroes fan, I'm Maya and she's Alejandro.  If you don't know that the means, watch season 2 of Heroes.  If you do know what that means, be thankful that Tia is here for me and has been for 7 years.  Just about everyone that knew us before we got together said our marriage wouldn't last.  In 7 years, I can say that our marriage has just gotten stronger and stronger.  We started out as great friends and have become such wonderful partners in everything that it's amazing.

Donuts Are Dangerous

This story was requested by PTE Rick.  If you would like to request a topic for me to write on, please leave a comment in this post.

I'm a Navy brat and have lived around the world.  I ended up living in Idaho for a couple of years and it happened to be when I was 14.  The cool thing about living in Idaho when I was 14 was that I was able to get my driver license.  Idaho is still a farm state and the kids in the family needed to be able to drive to help out with the farming.  I never did any farming unless you consider midnight garden raids farming but I didn't turn down getting my driver license.

At the time, we had one of those big-ass Chrysler station wagons that was big enough to host a Wimbledon tournament inside it and a 68 Cougar that was a really horrible green color that hasn't been since the 60S unless you happen to be a parent of an infant on Enfamil and seen what it looks like after human processing.

Not only did this car not have power steering but I swear that it actually had extra resistance on it to make it even harder to turn.  I kid you not when I say that in order to make a U-turn, I would put both hands on the same side of the steering wheel and pull hand-over-hand to get the wheels to turn. 

Hell, now they have cars that will parallel park for you and you don't even have to touch the steering wheel.

Anyway, one rainy day, my dad let me have the car for some reason.  Rick was my next door neighbor at the time and went with.  We picked up Shane and Blaine who only lived about a half mile away and then we went to the high school.  Blaine somehow ended up riding shotgun which seems odd to me looking back now.  Not that Rick was complaining in the least when all was said and done.

Commentary for November 20th, 2007

Today's post on the SW Blog is about my thoughts on my retirement.  It's my own personal point of view but it might be worth checking out if you're the least bit curious about a retirement plan unlike the majority of plans currently being circulated.

I did a news report on thespoof.com for fun.  I have read some of the spoof articles and had been signed up with them for a couple of days trying to decide whether or not to write an article for them when my wife made a comment that sparked a thought that sparked a spoof.com post.

I'm still working on getting my house more organized and PTE Rick called me today to discuss my possible move to Minneapolis.  It could happen.  We also talked about money and getting strong for a declining economy.  If you aren't doing the same, I highly recommend it.  Call me if you want to bounce thoughts off of me.  You can get my phone number off of my coaching website.

By the way, if you Google "PTE Rick," the number 1 site is this blog.  How cool is that?

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 9

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

When I got home, I went to the bedroom.  The peeked out the blinds and looked up and down the street.  I don't know what I was looking for.  Everything was quiet out there.  I took off my uniform and got ready for bed.  Before I climbed into bed, I peeked out the blinds again.  Still quiet.

From that day on until we moved our bedroom into the basement, I would peek out the blinds every night before I went to bed and first thing every morning.

I climbed into bed and fell right to sleep.

I have only woken up 3 times in my adult life screaming from a nightmare.  This was one of those times.

Commentary for November 18th, 2007

I have decided on a completely new plan for my P90X training in the future, the very near future in fact.  90 days (well, I only made 70 before my injury but anyway) was fine to have every single day planned out but I have a hard time living my life that way.  I was going to plan out several P90X phases over the first half of the year but in trying to plan one out for the last part of this year, I failed miserably.  I have done a few workouts but not many.  So I'm going to set it up in a way that works with how my brain is wired.

My exercise DVD collection has P90X, Turbo Jam, and Power Yoga.  My wife also has several exercise DVD sets that I can throw in the mix.

What I'm going to do is go with a general outline of the types of workouts that I want to do for that day so that I have enough structure that I will make progress.  I'm not going to list the exact workout for each day and will leave that up to how I'm feeling.

What I found was that if work interfered and I missed a week, my whole plan seemed botched.  This way, there is no definitive plan and I'll just pick up with the type of workout that I have planned.  If I feel that I need a recovery week, I'll work that in but with my life recovery weeks seem to be built right in.  It's trying to keep to a plan that's the hard part.

I'm going to do 3 of the P90X weight workouts each week and alternate the other tapes in between them.  I am planning on doing Plyometrics X each week because I am determined to beat that workout.  I'm also going to try and get a yoga workout and the X Stretch workout in so that I can stay limber. 

I start it today so we'll see how it goes and of course, I'll keep you posted.

What Does Neurotypical Physical Mean?

I took the Aspie quiz that PTE Rick blogged about yesterday and this chart shows my results.  It looks like I'm extremely heavy in the physical aspect of the Neurotypical side.  That's soooo me.

I'm joking.  I have no idea what that means.  Can anyone out there tell me this supposedly says about me?

From looking at the chart, my guess is that it has me pegged as a Pisces, which is totally off base because I'm Sagittarius.  Maybe the test isn't accurate.

It could actually represent the FSM Pirate Fish.  If that's the case, then there might just be some validity to this test after all.

The American Academy of Religion will be meeting this weekend and one of the items on their agenda will be a discussion into whether or not the Pastafarian belief can now be classified as a religion.

If it can, I wonder what kind of implications that could have as far as what His believers can garner under their religious protection. 

Commentary for November 16th, 2007

Today's post on the SW blog is lazy and it's about the creation of money.

The coins you see to the right are not money.  They are coins, Liberty Dollars.  They do have value based in silver and gold but you can't pretend that they are legal tender.  There are people that do use them in a barter system.  Supposedly the company that makes these coins was raided by the FBI today.

"According to the e-mail, about a dozen agents arrived Wednesday morning and seized gold, silver, platinum and nearly two tons of recently delivered Ron Paul Dollars. They also took all the files, all the computers and froze the group's bank accounts, the e-mail said."

The FBI supposedly also raided the company's vault in Idaho and siezed all the gold and silver there as well.

I can't verify the email yet (the article I'm citing from is going off the same email rumor) but if it's true, it raises some questions.

1.  The big debate that has been going on for years is whether or not this is counterfeit currency.  Liberty Dollars have been being made since 1998 so it's seems odd that it took 9 years to figure it out.

2.  If it is counterfeit, why did the FBI do the raid?  It should have been the Secret Service.

3.  Do you think there's any coincidence to the timing of the raid with the arrival of two tons of coins with Ron Paul's face on them.

4.  If these coins can't be handed out, should they also sieze things like Superbowl coins and those chocolate coins in gold foil that look like money?

These questions either point to a hoax email or to an illegal siezure (a nice way of saying "theft") by the government.

I'll keep you updated if I learn anything new.

*Update* - Apparently it's true but the Justice Department is no releasing any information on the raid.  There is a lot of speculation that the reason the raid took place even though the company is already in litigation with the government to settle the matter is because the Ron Paul dollar was going to take the company mainstream.  The Liberty Dollar was a mere annoyance to the Fed when very few people knew about them but putting Ron Paul's face was going to make them popular and the Fed doesn't want to draw attention to the fact that they are destroying the value of the dollar.

Unfortunately for the Fed, the raid is drawing media attention now and anything that looks like the Fed is trying to suppress people is going to make them look worse if they can't keep the lid on it.

Have you ever tried to keep the lid on anything that has to do with Ron Paul?  =)

FOX coverage    "This is going to get a lot of attention." "Yeah, it is," they say at the end of the story.

NBC coverage

Choosing the Presidential Nominees - Tony Robbins style

Tony Robbins has a theory about presidents that I would like to share with you and then ask for your participation in an experiment.

Here's the deal, in a nutshell.  There are three basic categories that the politicians must compete in and none of them have anything to do with politics.  What's more important is what the voters see, hear, and feel about a candidate, regardless of policy.

Americans like the leader of their country to look good.  That really comes as no surprise.  We are obsessed with how people look and it comes into play even in presidential elections.

Americans like the leader of their country to sound good.  We want someone that is articulate with a pleasant or inspiring voice (What does that say about Kerry considering W's vocal ablities or lack thereof?  I'll tell in the next paragraph).  Leaders must be able to move people to action with their speeches.

Last, Americans want a leader that they feel will follow through with the promises that were made (Kerry's flip-flopping became a major issue).  This last one is kind of hit and miss because a lot of Americans have become so jaded that they really don't expect politicians to do what they said they would.  In the absence of any candidate showing signs of integrity, this category is dismissed and only sight and sound matter.

Now you know how it works, let's find out who the final two candidates will be.

Commentary for November 14th, 2007

Check out this pic that Cherise was kind enough to share with me.  What do you think?  McGuyver ingenuity or as redneck as you can possibly get?

Today's post on the SW blog is about internet gambling.  The woman in the picture was gambling that no one would take a picture of her face.

Gambling and lottery participation will probably increase this next year.  People will spend money they should be spending elsewhere on the slight chance of winning. 

I just got this month's Money magazine and there's a piece in there on predictions for 2008.  I have only read the introducing paragraph and they state that there isn't going to be a recession.  I'm going to have to finish reading the article to see how they came to that conclusion.  I'm sticking with my forecast of 80% chance of recession with 100% of people taking foolish risks with their money out of desperation.

5 Reasons Why I'll Vote For Ron Paul

As promised, and without any other introduction, here are my answers to this meme:

#1 - The Iraq War, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, China, and anyone else that the US is about to attack

Just about everyone acknowledges that we were lied to in order to gain support for Bush to illegally attack Iraq.  Caught up in the 9/11 furor, we allowed it to happen.  Realizing now that the whole war is built upon gaining control of oil in the Middle East (unfortunately not for us but so that oil companies can get 12% off of all Iraq oil sold around the world), 70% of Americans want us to get out.  We have said so.  We have voted so.

The response, instead of the requested withdrawal, has been to put us on the verge of war with Iran.  This time though, it doesn't look like the world is going to let us just walk in and try to seize someone else's country.  The lie being told to us this time is that we are trying to stop Iran from getting a nuclear missile.  To do this, we are willing to challenge Russia and China.  Isn't there anyone in Bush's administration smart enough to pass on a little tip to Neo-Napoleon?

"Pssst.  Mr. President, China and Russia *do* have nuclear missiles.  Maybe we shouldn't piss them off."

We don't have the manpower to control Iraq so how are we going to control Iran too?  A draft?  No.  We've been assured by the candidates that there won't be a draft and yet the Universal National Service Act (a fancy name for draft) was submitted again this year.  The beautiful thing about the UNS is that it conscripts people into government service but not necessarily into the military.  So while you and I (because they can take people up 42 years old) will be over in Iran killing people that are trying to defend their country, the sons and daughters of politicians and the rich will be helping disaster victims in California.  How cool is that? 

Ron Paul wants to pull our troops out of Iraq and doesn't want to go to war with Iran.  He points out, quite rightly, that there are lots of people that have nuclear missiles.  We don't attack them all (yet).  It's obvious that the nuclear threat is a cover for what W really wants.  Ron Paul also points out that the people in the Middle East wouldn't be so pissed at us if we would just come home and let them sort out their own problems.  Our president is sacrificing the lives of Americans so that a few people can go from being filthy, stinking rich, to being filthy, stinking rich beyond what the mind can comprehend.  Can you imagine the amount of money that 12% of all Middle East oil sold would amount to?  Neither can I?  Trillions per year.  I can't even fathom what a trillion dollars looks like.  Is it worth sacrificing 5,000 soldiers so far and many, many more than that if we invade Iran?  Ron Paul says no and I happen to agree with him.

I threw Pakistan in there, not because we are going to war with them (yet), but because it shows the hypocrisy of the current administration.  We are supposedly in the Middle East not to defend ourselves (well, except now we are again from Iran - you know, which ever excuse is handy) but to "spread democracy" and yet we are sending billions of dollars to support a military dictator who has just seized control of the country. 

Ron Paul would stop sending money to Musharraf.

Money that we don't have, by the way, and that brings up the next point.

Commentary for November 12th, 2007

The post in the SW blog today was about gambling versus investing and control over those activities on the internet.  Who gets to pick what's gambling and what's allowed on the internet?  The US government is trying (in vain, in my opinion) to control the internet.

Intrade.com has shown the big loophole that exists.  Maybe the government will try to stop Americans from participating.

Ron Paul (you knew I was going to mention him) doesn't want the government to control the internet.  That was his belief before getting into the presidential race and I'm sure that he believes it even more now that the internet has been shown to be so valuable for sharing information (especially Ron Paul information).

The government probably has the same problem with the internet as mainstream media.  It makes it much harder to sneak around and decieve the people if we are allowed to talk to each other en masse.

I've never looked into it but I suspect that the internet gambling ban was because of taxes.

5 Reasons Why I Blog

I saw this meme in CV Rick's blog yesterday and thought I would write up my answers.  I thought about just copying and pasting his answer here because they are so similar but thought maybe it was best if I actually put forth the effort to put it in my own words (except for some of the headings).

#1 - It's About The Writing

Writing is part of my life and has been for a long, long time.  Following through with my writing has not been part of my life, ever.  I used to write tons when Rick and I were swapping stories.  When we quit, I quit.  I knew that I was supposed to be writing.  I could feel that I was supposed to be writing.  I would even jot down ideas that I could write about but I never actually put the words down.  When I discovered blogging a few years ago, it seemed like a natural fit.  I was writing and I could tailor it to my short attention span.  I could switch topics every single day.  I also found out something very important.  People liked what I wrote.  I switched how I blog recently because I felt it was taking too much time to do two posts per day.  My plan was to write one post that took some thought and then just write a little blurb in the other blog, maybe some side thoughts about the post.  What has happened so far is that I'm still writing two posts a day.  I have to face the fact that I just love words and love writing.

Commentary for November 10th, 2007

Now that I don't have to worry about the economy anymore, I can turn my attention to World War III. 

You may recall that I mentioned that the US might want to block China from becoming all she can be.  I said that one way we could do that would be to take control of all of the oil in the Middle East and then charge China through the nose for the oil.  I also said that China might make a move to block that little strategy.  They did sell jets to Iran so Iran could try to defend itself from the impending US invasion.

It just might go a little further than that.

Rudy Guiliani says that we need to increase the size of our military by a long way.  He said that our military is too small to hold the Middle East and way too small to handle China.

I haven't been able to find anyone that has asked Rudy why we would have to go to war with China. 

The poisonous toys?

Or is it because they won't let us go in and claim the entire Middle East as US property?

Probably the toys.

Terrorism Schmerrorism

We have more important things to discuss now.

J Lo is pregnant.  It has been confirmed.  Rumors have been floating around since her wardrobe person made the slip about how her job was getting more difficult because Jenny is getting bigger.

Seriously though, what happened to terrorism?

When was the last time that you remember we went to condition Fuschia or whatever the stoopid scale thing was?

Sure, we get a token video of Osama every 6 months but it's barely a blurb on the news. 

"Osama made another video and yadda, yadda, yaddda.  Katie, what's the weather look like this weekend for the big game?"

Our government rules by fear though so since terrorism has lost its ability to motivate people, it has to be replaced.

Commentary for November 8th, 2007

I finally got around to talking about my own finances in today's SW blog post.  I still ended up talking about the national economy because it's been on my mind a lot lately.

I have some questions for you.

The media is doing a poor job of warning people about the impending downturn in the economy.  I know.  You're surprised.  I am too.  Usually, they are right on top of things.

What would be the best way to warn people about the upcoming recession?

Is it too late for them to do anything about it?

If it's not too late, would they do anything about it?

These questions run through my head every day.  Maybe you can put them to rest for me.

Ask a Cop: August 6th, 1993 - Part 8

On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  It was an act of violence that changed the world and the way people thought from that point on.  48 years later to the day, I was involved in an act of violence on a much smaller scale that nevertheless changed me and the way I thought from that point on.

After I had told my story, I went to the patrol officer's office while everyone did their work.  I did a little bit of work too, which lead to something a bit weird.

We wrote down the days activities on a log sheet that we carried around in our car.  When we got back to the police department, we would enter all the information into the computer.  I hadn't been given any instructions about what to do so I was just hanging out in the office while everyone else worked, trying to figure out how to investigate a police shooting.

I decided to put in my log entries, except the for the last one.  I left that one for the chief.  I had done a couple things before having dinner with Jorge and I entered the information into the computer.  As I was sitting there typing, the phone rang.  Out of habit, I grabbed it and announced who I was.  On the other end was the dispatcher.  She let me know that Doug, who had been life-flighted to major hospital, was dead.  I hung up.

Commentary for November 6th, 2007