Diversity Is Not The Spice Of Life, But It Helps

This weekend provided me with three distinctly different experiences. It was quite rewarding.

Today’s Daily Challenge
Stand straight, bend your knees, jump as high as you can, return to a squat, and repeat four times.

Can you feel your legs working double-time as you jump up and down? That’s because this exercise calls on many muscles in your lower body, including the quadriceps (the large muscles at the front of the thighs), calves, and glutes (the muscles in the backside). Bonus: The speediness of your jumps also raises your heart rate and can bring a boost of energy to your day.

I can see myself doing this in LA Fitness today!
Or perhaps not.

This Week’s Big Three

1. Do an exercise routine at least three times.
2. Clean out my “briefcase” and filing cabinet at home.
3. Deliver two boxes of items to Goodwill.

Getting Thrown Out Wouldn’t Have Been A Laughing Matter
On Friday afternoon the work drinking club, now permanently down a woman, went to Meehan’s (Sandy Springs) before heading over to The Punchline for our planned nighttime activity.

At Meehan’s I had a couple of beers and, get this, a shaved brussels sprouts salad topped with a grilled chicken breast! Huzzah. (I’d undo any “good eating” accomplished this weekend on Sunday.)

Inside The Punchline we were seated, in what turned out to be about a half-filled event. Three comedians were on the bill and I’m not going to say that they weren’t funny, but I will say that I was less than entertained. At one point during the headliner’s act some people in the audience started talking, loud enough to the point the the comedian could hear them (though probably not on purpose as I’d gather these people may have had too much to drink). The comedian stopped the show, called them out, and then bought some shots of Jaegermeister in order to appease them. The second time it happened, the comedian wasn’t so cordial. I’ve seen comedians combat hecklers in the past, but this guy was upset that people were interrupting his flow (I can understand this) and actually started calling for security to do something about it. Luckily for all parties the people (somewhat) quieted themselves and the comedian had little more than ten minutes to the end of his set.

Glug, Glug, Glug Went The Trolley
As planned I met my photog buddies at Duluth Rexall Grill for breakfast before our trip to the Southeastern Train Museum to shoot. What I hadn’t planned was driving through a monsoon to get there.

Breakfast was enjoyable, but I could see from the skies that I wouldn’t be pleased shooting so I bailed on that idea and followed ITP-Reader John’s lead by running to Fry’s and MicroCenter instead. Turned out that my decision was a good one since I heard from one of the guys that the rain was so heavy it closed the road to the museum so they couldn’t go either.

When the weather cleared by early afternoon I decided that instead of staying inside and “studying” that I’d get some exercise. What?!? I managed to walk 6.9 miles on Saturday (and you know that had I looked at the app prior to stopping it I would have carried on for another tenth). I’m still feeling this decision today.

On Saturday evening I picked up my coworker “K” and ITP-Reader Randy’s brother Kevin and the three of us went out to (Duluth again?) see the Gwinnett Gladiators play. The stint of cold weather we suffered at the beginning of the week must have convinced people that it was “hockey season” as there were deep lines to buy tickets. By the time we got to our seats we had missed the first period. We were compensated with an entertaining game that was decided by shoot out.

ITP Flickr Pic
“Why Digital Isn’t Always Better”

On top is a screen shot of a Kindle book I bought a few weeks ago. As I started reading it I realized how badly this book was formatted. On bottom is a screen shot of the same part of the book as seen through Amazon’s “Look Inside” feature on its website.

You’d Think Friday Would Be Fry-Day
With healthy eating and exercise already under my expanding belt line I drove up to ITP-Reader Barb’s for fried food and football. I know that I had a great time eating deliciously fried food and seeing many ITP readers (too many to list!) there. I’m sure you all had an equally great time seeing me as well. Thanks again to Barb and Allan.

I left Marietta at the start of the day’s second game with the intent of driving home and being productive. If you call falling asleep on the couch for hours as being “productive” then I succeeded.

Twice I Held Raspberry Pi, Twice I Did Not Buy
Don’t go leaping to conclusions, this is not the “win” about which you are probably thinking.

Raspberry Pi (sans ‘e’) is an inexpensive hobbyist’s computer, not a delicious dessert. I have been considering buying one for a couple of months, but have realistically realized that I don’t have near-enough time (especially the way I sleep these days) to learn all of the things in front of me now, never mind one more.

At breakfast on Saturday morning ITP-Reader John mentioned Raspberry Pi, and the fact that MicroCenter has them in stock. This weekend I just happened to be in the two parts of town that have MicroCenter stores and in each one I had a Raspberry Pi unit in my hand, but talked myself out of making the purchase.

Now if I could only be so disciplined about food.

Today’s Personal Project
Do a weight routine at LA Fitness.

Stats & Goals
Daily
Current Mood – fat and a little sore (fitness), other than that pretty okay
Current Music – silence a the moment
Website Of The Day – Yesterday I stumbled upon Andy Blair’s Flickr set of “Vintage Shots of New York”. As a New Yorker I found these fascinating, especially those taken by Blair as a teen in the early/mid 1970s.
Mode Of Transportation To Work – my car
Exercise (b)Log – Friday: nothing; Saturday: walking, ~6.9 miles, Sunday: nothing
Morning Weigh-In – Oops, I failed to check. Let’s say 215 pounds.

Monthly
Foot Mileage – ~6.9 miles
Wheel Mileage – 0.0 miles
Gym Visits – 0 (0 cardio)

Marta Rides To Work – 0
Bike Rides To Work – 0

January Goals
– clean my basement to the point where I could have people over
– hire a plumber to fix all of the sinks at the ITP Estate
– walk no fewer than 75 miles
– have European trip plans in place, if not carved in stone

2014 Goals: Measurable
– Get my weight down to 190 pounds so that I can wear a 36″ waist pants comfortably
– Completely read ten books, audio books permissible
– Save $500 for the sole purpose of donating to charitable organizations of my choice
– Completely run at least one 10k
– Fix all (or at least most) of the things which are wrong with the ITP Estate
– Sell the ITP Estate (tentative)

2014 Goals: Unmeasurable
– Continue to Simplify, simplify, simplify
– Continue backing up all data, including the off-site storage
– Do not create a solution for something which is not a problem
– Eat smaller portions
– Start, and continue, to make my own bread using my bread machine as well as using the technique outlined in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking
– Read and discard magazines during the month in which they arrive (even digitally)

Books I’ve Read/Heard In 2014

Cheers,
Paulie [eatl/ga]