I played in my first softball game in about 15 hundred years. I only got one chance at bat and I flew out to right field . . . barely. Another foot to the right and I would probably have had a double. Maybe next time. Maybe with some practice.
Fielding, I did better. Not great and now my left quad is tight. You wouldn't think that would happen with all the stuff I do but each sport uses the muscles in different ways.
I had fun and that's all that matters. We ended up losing 18 - 10. We had one really good inning at bat and they had two really good innings at bat.
Next week, I'll have to see if the City Council meeting ends in time to get to the game.
We have decided to completely rearrange our house and to remodel it. We've started with the rearranging and hopefully will start on the remodeling in a couple of weeks. We're starting at the back of the house and moving forward, both in the rearranging and remodeling.
It's taking longer to rearrange that I would have thought. We are going through every single drawer and closet though and discarding what we can and organizing in a better fashion what we are keeping.
With that exciting tidbit of news, I'm going to call it a night and try to get some sleep. I've been called in the middle of the night every night this week for work and I'm hoping that tonight is the night that I get to sleep all the way through.
G'night.
***
Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by selling BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small. Insanity has been released so go check it out.
On a lark, Tia and I went to see a house about a block away that's up for sale. It's on its way to foreclosure and we heard that the previous owners were less than kind to the house. There would be some fixing up to do but we would probably be able to get a good price should we decide to buy it.
The realtor started up the stairs outside to the front door then stopped. She tried to sugar coat the damage that had been done but still prepare us for the fact that the owners were the kind of people that had pets and didn't care where the pets went to the bathroom. In the house, outside, whatever.
"We've heard," I said.
Well, "we've heard" just doesn't prepare you for the reality. Not because of the shape of the house. 12 years in law enforcement, I've walked into similar houses (and worse - I even had the health department condemn one).
The difference being, those weren't up for sale.
It didn't help that it was in the 90s, all the windows were closed, and there was no electricity. The baking cat urine smell attacked us as we came in. The realtor said that most people just turn around at that point and walk back out. Not us, we ventured in.
Back to my point. This house is for sale. All the carpet is going to have to be chucked. The bank should hire someone to do that right now and then do some other things to at least tone down the meth lab smell of the place. They're asking for $200k and they are never going to get it. No one has even made an offer on the house, not even for half the price.
Tia and I talked about it and decided that it would be way too risky. Houses that have had meth labs in them can't be cleaned. The chemicals seep into the drywall and become a permanent part of the house causing health problems for the poor family that didn't know about the lab. We didn't know if cat urine would be the same but it was so pervasive in the house that I don't know if you could ever get rid of it unless you really just gutted the house.
Might as well just build a new one.
We also believe that objects take on the energy of the people that handle them or live in them. That is not the kind of energy that we want to invite into our lives.
We've decided to remodel our home instead and put our life energy into the place that we enjoy living and that will be great with a few changes.
***
Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by selling BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small. Insanity has been released so go check it out.
My schedule, like yours I'm sure, changes from minute to minute. My original plan for this week has suffered a couple of hits.
Today, I was going to do some extra cardio after work. Tomorrow, I was going to do some sprints in the morning and play softball in the evening.
Both of those have been shot down.
Today, I ended up working late and then we went to look at a house that's up for sale. The house is worth a blog post all by itself. I still did karate tonight.
Tomorrow we are heading into town early and I have a special city council meeting at night so the run and the softball are out.
However . . .
On both days, I will still be doing my early morning workout and this brings me to my advice for today. If it's important, do it first thing in the morning before anything can happen to ruin your plans. If fitness is important to you, don't leave it to chance. Plan it for a time that is a sure thing. It doesn't necessarily have to be in the morning but for many people this is the prime time. The phone doesn't ring. There aren't any surprise meetings. I don't get any surprise visitors at six in the morning. It's me, my class, and my workout. No matter how the rest of the bonus activities go for my plan, my most important workout is done for the day.
Today was chest and abs. Tomorrow is back and shoulders. For me, the resistance exercises done in an intense circuit gives me the most benefit and so it is the first thing that I do. If I have time for an extra run, or cardio, or a softball game, great! If not, I'm still doing what I *need* to do.
What are your thoughts?
Speaking of questions, I was prompted to write a post on my political blog. Give it a visit and answer the questions.
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Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by hawking BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small. Insanity has been released so go check it out.
Friday, I had a great time with my youngest brother. We went to Riverdale and played 3 rounds of disk golf. That's my disk in the tree on the second hole of the second round. Had I not hit this tree, I would have been sitting pretty for an easy shot into the basket. Instead I had to take a shot from here to put me in range.
It was a touch on the warm side but I don't care about that. We got a little sunburned. The course was being used by quite a few people when we got there at 11 but as it got warmer, the crowds thinned out. The smart ones left. We just kept on playing. I didn't drive 152 miles just to give up because I was sweating and sunburned.
Our first round, we didn't keep score. It had been a year since we had played and for those of you that aren't familiar with disk golf, you should know that there are several different disks that are used and they all fly differently. We used the first round just to familiarize ourselves with our disks again.
We took a break after the first round though because my brother wanted a new disk and to get some mosquito repellant. I ended up picking up a new disk too (a Roadrunner for those that care) to help make up for my lack of a forehand shot because there are a lot of right-turning holes in the Riverdale course.
My brother won the second round by 2 strokes, which really sucks because I was up by 4 in the front 9. He can outdrive me and has a better forehand throw than me (which is critical for holes that have a right-hand bend to them). Once I got used to the flight pattern of the Roadrunner, it did help me compete a bit better on the right turns.
By the third round, the heat and fatigue of chucking frisbees as hard as we could was catching up to us. The third round wasn't about who could play the best. It was about who wasn't the most sloppy under the conditions and the game was tight all the way. Once again, I lead in the front 9 and then he came back and took the lead in the back 9. On hole 17, I was able to tie it up so that the whole thing came down to the last basket. On the tee, I threw a nice shot with my new Roadrunner so that I could approach the basket from the right where I had a clear shot of it. My brother threw too high and the disk drifted off to the left so that he had to approach through a pine tree. He tried to make up for it and did a fairly good second shot but the disk took a hard skip sailing far enough past the basket that he missed his first putt attempt.
So the score is 1 - 1 for this year. Last year, we played 3 rounds and he won all 3 so this is a step forward for me. I'm planning on going back for the tie breaker in a couple of weeks. I'm going to see if he wants to meet in Salt Lake to try a new course (new to us) and shorten up my commute a bit.
Yesterday, I tried something new for me. I went and ran up a steep dirt hill for 11 reps. I made mention of this in my fitness class on Friday and jokingly invited everyone to join me. We were working our legs with plyometric drills so I didn't think there would be any takers. Wrong. Mad Madi showed up to give it a shot.
Here's what the last rep looked like:
Here's the link in case the video embedding is still malfunctioning.
I'm going to be doing more videos for this blog so please give me some feedback. I wanted to explain more in the video but didn't want to bore people who just wanted to see the exercise. Would you have liked to hear more explanation or did you like it short and sweet? Next week, I might film it from the top to see if that's a better angle. Maybe do a video with a longer explanation as a separate entity? Let me know what I can do to make it better since you are the ones that will be watching my future video attempts. Tell me what you want to see.
Today, I can feel my quads from running the hills and I can feel my obliques from the disk golf. What a great ab workout disk golf is! I highly recommend it. Maybe it will help with my batting in softball. I joined a team this year and have a game on Tuesday. I need to run to town to get some cleats. It's been about 15 years since I've played softball.
This morning I went for a very easy 3 mile run. Just to get me breathing (I never did finish the series on Heat + Fuel + Oxygen = burned calories) and to loosen everything up. The first few hundred yards were stiff but everything worked out and I feel better for it.
Today I have a bit of yard work to do and we're taking Trey to the tennis court so he can knock around some tennis balls. We've never done it before but he asked if we could and we have time today so we'll be doing that shortly.
Let me briefly get to the title of today's post before we head out the door. Life is not a spectator sport. People frequently ask me if I've seen this show or that movie and the answer is usually no. I have 3 movies from Netflix sitting on my DVD player that have been there for 2 weeks. I don't have time to watch them and I'll be downgrading my membership because there isn't much point in paying to not watch movies. Maybe in the winter I'll change that back but right now the weather is good and we are doing too much to stop and watch TV.
I had more to add to this and maybe I'll get to it tomorrow but for now, it's time to go play.
***
Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by hawking BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small. Insanity has been released so go check it out.
All the experimenting for the last couple of years has come back to this. I *need* to get into top shape in the next two months so it's going to be an all out blitz similar to what I was doing when I started P90X. I won't be doing P90X but here's what I will be doing, starting Saturday:
Saturdays: I'm going to sprint up a hill, walk down, and repeat until I break down in tears.
Sundays: Nice easy run, anywhere from 4 to 8 miles depending on how I feel after the hill-tearfest.
Mondays: My morning class in the . . . morning (natch) and then a session of One-on-One with Tony Horton in the afternoon and then karate. Triples. Talk about crazy. The next two months are going to be brutal.
Tuesdays: Morning class followed by interval sprints at the track. As many as I can before it looks like I'm no longer sprinting. That might be two in the beginning. =)
Wednesdays: Morning class, afternoon with Tony Horton, and then karate. Triples again. Yikes!
Thursday: Morning class and an afternoon with Tony Horton.
Friday: Morning class and an easy run, whatever distance my legs and stamina will carry me (hoping for that 4-8 mile range again).
I will quickly restate my disclaimer from a while back: I do not advocate this kind of program for anyone that doesn't have mental problems.
To fuel this, I'll be going back to my effective but boring routine of eating with a minor twist. I'll be eating lean protein and lots of vegetables. I'll be limiting the starches and pretty much eliminating sugar (like I eat much sugar anyway). I'm going to start at about 2100 calories a day, which is probably going to be way too low but I'm just using it as a starting point.
Have to run do an errand for my mom so I'll continue with the nutrition portion of this program tomorrow.
***
Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by hawking BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small. Insanity is out so go check it out.
You know me and food. I'm always trying out different things just to see what the effects are on my body, mind, and spirit. So, two days ago, I got this wild hair. I decided to try a juice fast. I had heard about these things but discounted them as not for me. I don't even know why the thought came to me. I thought the medication was supposed to quiet the voices but I can still hear them whispering to me.
Juice fasts are usually done for 1 to 3 days. I decided to try it for 24 hours just to see what it felt like. That was the initial plan but apparently the medication affects my ability to count because I ended up going for 36 hours.
Here are my observations:
1. It was much easier than I thought it would be. Summertime would naturally be the easiest time for me to try something like this because I don't tend to eat as much anyway. I still thought that I was going to be starving but I wasn't. It was pretty much painless and I may try it again someday to see if observations 2 and 3 occur again.
2. I was tired. I don't know if it was the fast though because I was tired from the start. I did my workout at 6am and then went back to bed. Trey was an angel and let me sleep until 10. That's so not like him. I was lethargic all through the day. Since it started so early, I wonder if it was caused by the fast or if there is something else going on. Hence, the possibility of a second test. Plus, I've gone back to my regular eating today and I'm still tired. Hmmm.
3. I had a headache for the second half of the day and I still have it today. My mom can't do a no-food fast because she gets migraines. I used to get migraines but they weren't food related. Plus this wasn't a zero calorie fast. I probably drank more juice than most fasters do but I didn't really keep track. So, again, a second test may be in order to see if the headache thing is related to the fast. One time might be a fluke where something else is causing the symptoms.
Other than these three things, I don't really have anything to report. I don't feel any different other than the lethargy and headache, which may or may not be related. Nothing else felt different or cool or helpful.
If you've tried a juice fast or any other kind of fast, please leave a comment letting everyone know what you did and what your results were.
***
Remember, I'm going to be funding my return to college by hawking BeachBody.com products so please visit the site and make a purchase, no matter how small.
He's still working, exercising, kenpo-ing, exercising, coaching, exercising, eating right, exercising, and trying to get enough sleep.
What this is going to mean for now is a scaling back on blogging. Scaling back meaning dropping the SWB blog for a while and aiming for a post a day for Chronicles.
Chronicles will still, uh, chronicle my fitness journey and the other days will likely be a mish-mash of topics. What ever strikes my fancy for the day and probably covering several things per post like the Snippet Saturday posts.
Today, Tia and I are going to the city to see if we can help pull this country out of the recession by buying birthday presents for Trey.
No, we didn't get our "rebate" from King George yet. We won't be using that to help with the recession. That's going toward paying off my car. Other than the mortgage, we should be debt free in June. July at the latest.
Speaking of the mortgage, I called my credit union to see what kind of rate I could get on a refi*. Not a whole lot better than what I have now. What the hell? Uncle Ben is selling fiat money at bargain basement prices. You'd think my credit union could pass some of that savings on to me.
Tomorrow, I'll update my P90X Journal and maybe on Friday I'll have an interesting story from today's little outing. It seems like something funny or interesting happens when we go into town. I think the reason for that is the fact that I don't get out much so anything beyond my front lawn is interesting or humorous.
I check the headlines just about every day and I really should be recording my thoughts each day about what I see. Things seem busy for me now so I'm lucky when I can a blog post done.
I couldn't let this one pass though.
Stocks are up because people are spending more money.
Why are they spending more money? Everything costs more. Inflation is forcing people to pay more for things they have to buy. Trivial things like food.
I read an article quite a while back that stated that the Fed is always trying to create *some* inflation. They always want costs going up so that businesses think they are making more money. Seems stupid to me but there it is.
Anyway, that theory has kicked into overdrive with the current inflation rates. Companies are bound to see record sales in dollar amounts because the dollar is worth less. The whole thing seems like a game to me and the people being hurt by it are the ones that can't afford to play.
Speaking of which, I was just paid 68 cents in dividends on my stocks. Watch out Buffet, I'm on my way.
I'm not jumping on the blame wagon. If I did, it would be to point out something in an effort that we wouldn't repeat the mistake again.
You would think that maybe, somewhere in this mess, there was a lesson or two that could be learned. Maybe banks shouldn't loan money to people who can't pay them back. Maybe artificially raising the prices of houses and then borrowing the fake equity was a bad move. Maybe people shouldn't borrow money they can't pay back. Maybe people shouldn't live paycheck to paycheck promising away all their money in the form of installment payments. Maybe Wall Street shouldn't take these worthless debts and bundle them up to conceal their worthlessness and sell them off. Maybe the Fed shouldn't bail out people who did all these unethical actions.
You know? Somewhere in there, there must be a lesson.
You know what though? Knowing what we know now, would we do it again? Hell, yeah, we would. It would be a more pronounced spike but it would still happen. People would get in on the game sooner and try to get out before everything fell apart.
Congress and democratic presidential candidates seem to be discussing a minimum gas mileage law quite a bit. We need to conserve gas and cut down on global warming causing emissions.
I know I'm more laid back than most but I don't see the need to pass such a law. It has seemed to me to be quite obvious that the problem will solve itself. Oil is on the decline which means prices are on an incline. Americans have put themselves into debt to such a point that no matter how much money they make, they are living from paycheck to paycheck.
That means that when gas prices hit $4 a gallon, $5 a gallon, and on upward, people are going to start voluntarily ditching gas guzzling vehicles. If Congress wants to speed up the process, don't tell people what kind of cars they are allowed to make or buy, just add a sin tax onto gas. Raise the price of gas and you will see fuel economic car sales go through the roof.
I know, we want our cake, our frosting, a scoop of Neapolitan ice cream, on fine china, with a glass of milk, and be able to eat it too. Like your mom always said though, if you keep touching it, you're going to go blind. The more we try to make laws to force people to do what someone has deemed is "right" the more we have to make laws enforcement agencies and even more rules and regulations and in the end, the whole thing just backfires anyway.
Not that this is good for the employees but GM is laying off 3,500 people who were making trucks and SUVs. Sales are decreasing as gas prices increase. People are switching to cross-overs. Maybe those people can get jobs building cool cross-overs or maybe they'll have to switch industries to what ever market will rise with the decline of car sales.
Walking shoes?
Unfortunately, our monkey-spanking government has created tax incentives for companies to move out of the country and preferred free trade agreements that benefit workers in foreign countries.
We could stop the whole thing if we would buy American but we want our companies to pay American taxes and high salaries to people so they can buy the cheapest crap on the planet that was built in Taiwan from Wal-Mart.
To conserve gas and cut down on deadly emissions, we should pass a law that people aren't allowed to buy stuff that has to travel more than 1,000 miles to get to the retailer.
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