Eighty Years (or so) To The Big Zero

Well I’ve started to switch up my exercise routine and am doing arm curls (biceps) and military presses (lats/delts) using my weight lifting bar. I don’t have a pull up bar in my house so I’m doing the military presses where you lift and lower the bar behind your back from a full lift over your head. Until (or if) I get a bar in the house I’ll just have to strengthen my back and shoulder muscles using these few exercises. There is a lat machine at my work but I’m not there regularly enough.

It’s a 15 pound bar and I have all the weights I own on it so I’m lifting 45 pounds total for low reps of 10 per set. I’m doing one set for now. I’m going for tone not bulk.

I was digging through my pictures and found this previous photo of me working on my back muscle groups.

Here is a never before seen photo of me doing pull-ups:

Of course that was a while ago and my skin has lightened a lot since then.

Here is a more recent photo of me doing a pull-up:  (I’ve gained a little extra weight as you can see. 8^(

I hope to one day get back (ha!) to that former glory. So when you see B(10) or LD(10) on the Road to Mt. Olympus chart know that I did ten reps for Biceps and ten reps for Lats/Delts.

On another front my cookie jar was stolen. 8^( That’ll be another entry for the end of the month.

Until then …

A Whole New You

I’m in shock. I just passed a level in Tomb Raider Anniversary I have been stuck on for four months.

Shortly after purchasing the game for the PS2 last year sometime in October or something I got stuck on a level with an impossible jump. I spend hours trying to make this jump. It couldn’t be done.

I read walk throughs all over the web looking for a clue to how to make this jump. I knew what needed to be done I just couldn’t do it.

It sucked too because this was the fifth location for the game and there are 14 locations. I barely made it through a 1/3 of the game and it was driving me insane. I had dreams about this jump that I couldn’t perform.

So I haven’t played the game since early December - having gone to it every other month on and off just to see if somehow the jump had changed or I was able to via a fluke make it. Nothing. But tonight, tonight seemed different somehow.

Tonight I wrapped my tiny brain around the fucked up camera angles that Tomb Raider forces on the user. Camera positions that change dynamically and quickl as Lara Croft is moving through the space so that at one moment the left directional button will become the down button and a split second later the left again, only to turn into the right directional button on its way to becoming the down button again all the while the camera is twirling and changing views trying to get the best shot of Lara’s ass and breasts. (The only reason to buy the game according to the people to develop this once amazing title. Now it’s all about which shot will give you the best close up of the product. And by product we mean, tits, lips, ass and full frontal shots. How about making a playable game again you jerks! We can enjoy your 3d handy work in the Manor when we’re not trying to save our skins from vicious bears and crazy fifty foot drops.) Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy a well photographed woman, real or imagined, it’s part of my dna as a male to respond to these things - I’m a slave to evolution. But come on people! Does it have to interfer and prevent game play?

So anywho…

Somehow I worked out what was happening and made the jump only to have so little health left and used up all my health packs from the three dozen times I fell attempting the jump tonight I restarted the game. But I made the jump.

Then I went to the Manor House and tried the same jump in the training room. After three attempts I made the jump in the training room and was able to eventually get the silver elephant in that room. But I wasn’t happy. I tried the jump again. Fell. Again. Made it. Again, Made it. Again. Made it. I was able to do the jump on command now and so loaded up my saved game from December.

Went through all the traps that I had memorized having done them so often when suddenly I fell from the top of a column before I even got to the jump. Slow down! I reloaded and tried again. Slowly. Methodically.

I made it to the jump area. I positioned Lara and went through the moves. First time made it. Got out and saved the game.

Now I can enjoy the rest of the dangers and adventures Lara must go through in this game. The stories for these games are always so good. I like them a lot. But sometimes the game play is brutal. I’ve never actually finished a Tomb Raider game. Actually I rarely finish video games. Often times I just stop playing them. Classic expections are Diablo II (enough said), and all the Ratchet and Clank games - all four of them except the latest because it’s on the PS3 and I don’t have a PS3 I have a PS2. Darn companies forcing people to purchase new gaming consoles to play their games because they don’t want to keep developing for older systems. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t - see Abes Odd World for the Xbox. Microsoft killed that series.

But Ratchet and Clank now that’s a game series. I’ve played those games at least four times through each and they never get old. Man I love me some Ratchet and Clank.

Thinking out loud

If you’re tracking the road to My Olympus you’ll notice I finally put a 1 into the weight lifting row.

That row kinda has a dual purpose. Originally it was to be for lifting weights at my house. And it still is. But I’m also keeping track of anytime I do the circuit training equipment at my work. The what!

We have this brand new amazing PE area with perhaps a dozen stations covering all muscle groups. Last night (Friday 25Jan08) was the first time, myself and another co-worker took advantage of the machines and worked out in the room.

We’re hoping to make a regular once a week event and perhaps twice a week but that’s not until later. For now once a week is more than enough for me. There are 11 stations and you go around the circuit doing exercises for the different muscle groups. There’s also a treadmill so I may be substituting my nightly walk on Fridays for that.

So the weight lifting row is confusing because it only shows a number one, when it should show: biceps (10), triceps(10), lats(10), quads(10),delts(10),hamstrings(10),lower back(10),abdomen(10),treadmill(1.5 miles) etc. etc. Just know that for each 1 it covers a lot of areas.

Oh, on a cool note I did sit-ups in their machine and it was a flat bench, not an incline like the one I have now (a gift from my mom a long time back), and I was able to easily do 20 situps. 8^)

This morning I’m a little sore but nothing major. I can definitely feel the difference with each week. New mass update by the end of today.

Until then, I have some coding errors to track down on my other website.

A Whole New You

Today I went into Wal-Mart. My car was making a weird grinding noise and I was concerned my oil was dangerously low. So I went in to get some oil.

I use to walk Wal-Mart like a ritual and would spend no less than an hour or two just going down the aisles like a ghoul searching for things that looked good. Often times I would emerge with a basket of merchandise that quickly lost its value as I left the lot - kinda like cars do when you buy them. (Although I’ll still only buy a new car. I don’t trust used cars because history is unknown regarding them. I’ll eat the extra money to know I’ve been the only one to drive it. I’m sure there’s some psychosis in this somewhere. 8^) )

So tonight the rain was a light sprinkle and I needed the car to cool down before I put oil in it so I did my routine. But an interesting thing happened. The stroll was flat. It was empty and nothing was appealling. I ended up making my way to the car section rather quickly, got my oil and left. I didn’t buy anything else. I put the oil in my car - it said it was a little low so I put some in it, I’ll check again tomorrow morning just before heading to work - and went home.

This in itself I think is a good thing. I had walked into the belly of the giant and wasn’t shat out the other end covered with debris and trinkets. This is progress.

I realized something else yesterday just before I crashed. (Remember the night before I had gotten up at 3am? I went to bed at 5pm the next day and basically stayed in bed until the next morning. I think I had a bowl of cereal for dinner. I wasn’t really that hungry anyway.) So anywho…

I realized that I haven’t been watching tv. I watch the evening news (maybe) but after that there’s nothing on that I’m interested in seeing. Reality programming is garbage, game shows are garbage (I saw 1 versus 100 a couple weeks ago and a woman was eliminated because she didn’t know the answer to this question:

Which of these movie titles contains a prime number?
A) Scary Movie 4
B) Ocean’s 11
C) Star Trek 6
D) Jason 10

What was worse was about two dozen people in the “mob” also missed it. What really pissed me off was it was a $75,000 question. 75 thousand dollars! Idiot!

Instead of TV I’ve been reading a lot more and cleaning around the house. I’ve also been exercising and while I should be having more energy I think I’m still in the phase were exercise makes you tired rather than perks you up. Like detoxing or something.

So that signal distraction is nearly whipped.

I’m going to be putting my wares on ebay next month. I’m not getting any hits from local geeks so I must expand my circle of buyers. I’m also going to put my Heavy Metal Magazine collection up for sale again. That is a great magazine. I forgot how good the stories and art were/are in that magazine. If you’ve never checked it out go to the bookstore and flip through a copy. Very cool.

Well it’s getting late and I should be going.

Thinking out loud

Well I don’t think I’ll be sleeping anymore.

Perhaps it was the garlic and onion canned tomato I put into the rice and chicken dinner tonight or maybe it was the fact that I went to bed tonight at 9:30pm, but for some reason I woke up at 3am. I stayed in bed for an hour trying to get back to sleep but it just wasn’t happening.

So I’m up and writing on this blog while catching up on my listening to Harry Shearer on Le Show. He has some very interesting insights on news and events around the world. Check him out. (Yes the guy from the Simpsons.)

I think I need to get a new bed. Actually I don’t think, I know. There is a shallow indentation in the center of the bed that causes you to roll downward into it. This happened a couple years ago during a particularly entertaining evening when company was over but I didn’t notice until several months later. For some reason I was distracted. The shallow has gotten worse over the years.

Regardless I’m thinking of trying a waterbed this time. I hear they are much better for the back. Maybe I’ll be able to get a solid nights sleep again.

In the meantime off to the races.

Speaking of races, there is a positive side to getting up in the middle of the night. On Sunday I got up at 4 am and it was a full moon. I went to the kitchen and looked out the back window and saw movement in the backyard.  Bigfoot!

I looked closer and upon further inspection it turned out not to be bigfoot but was in fact a herd of deer. There were perhaps 12 of them moving in a line across the back yard. There were baby deer, does and a few larger deer all cautiously moving through the yard. Their coats were highlighted by the moon and you could see them in various levels of shadow and light as they crossed. It was very cool to watch.

Today is a rest day on my trek to Mount Olympus so no updates on that front.

In the meantime here’s some Music by one of my favorite Artists.

Thinking out loud

I have three(3) entries for the Daily Commute up on that page.

I had to redo the page to make better sense of the data and to help keep track of things more efficiently. (Well as efficiently as necessary for a blog and not a scientific paper.)

It rained on Saturday night and I didn’t get a walk in. So on Sunday I played some disc golf in the morning. It was under 30 degrees in North Florida that morning. Later that day I went for a three mile walk as well. I’m maintaining a consistent exercise routine of sit-ups, push-ups and dips. I’ve also included some extra data regarding mass.

I’m not worried about that changing too much this early in the experiment - muscle weighs more than fat after all. I’ve noticed a nice albeit minor change in the looseness of my pants and shirts. Minor but noticable. I also feel better when walking/running.

An update on my Entertainment budget. I completely blew through my budget last week by about five dollars. I went and saw the movie Gloverfield with some friends. It was a good movie and enjoyable. It’s very shaky cam’ish. I hope the directors cut has some small bits that are shaky cam and the rest of the movie is steady shot. I wonder how it will change the feel of the movie? I know my eyes would settle down more if presented that way.

Anywho… better go. Time for a walk.

PS(The number in parathesis next to the disc golf number is my score for 18 holes. For example, this Sunday I was +7 over par, counting three as par for each hole. I’m getting better. 8^) )

The Daily Commute, Thinking out loud

So I didn’t get home in time to do my walk/run tonight. It wasn’t raining tonight either like it was yesterday but yesterday was a rest day.

So I did extra sit-ups and both push-ups and dips to kinda make up for it. I know it’s not the same but unless I purchase a treadmill for the house I’m subject to the effects of weather and other obligations.

Besides while a treadmill would be nice part of walking/running is to get outside and enjoy the air. I’m shooting for tomorrow for the walk. Hopefully the weather will hold.

BTW - Talk about a freak out. I walked out of Publix the other day and there was a voice mail on my cell phone.

I listened to the voice mail and it started like this, “Hello this is Mr. Garcia from the Department of Homeland Security.” You know how your mind can run really fast and dozens of thoughts can go through it in a split second. Well I started thinking… hmmm I guess they finally caught me. Shouldn’t have downloaded Loose Change and Zeitgeist.

Then the message continued, “We’re conducting an invesigation…” great! Now I mentally started thinking of what else I might have or had done in the past that was now under review. Then the words, “on xxx yyy” Wow. They were invesigtating a friend of mine. What? How’d they get my cell phone number? Who are these people?

Well it turns out my friend is going for a position and will be working with/under/around computers used by the DHS. They were doing a background check. So a couple phone tag messages later they finally call me back at school while I was in class. I ask them to call me back in a hour. I could tell he was getting annoyed, and I really wanted to help my friend get the job, but I was in class with students. What could I do?

Later the interview was routine but there were an awful lot of “Do you , or have you ever known XXX to be a part of a subversive group that seeks to undermine the security of the US Government?” “Do you or have you ever heard XXX mention they would rather live in another country than the US?”, “Do you know or can think of ways XXX could be blackmailed?” and things like that. It was very interesting.

Then they wanted to know my mailing address. If I had said no that probably would have looked bad for my friend so I gave them an address that wasn’t my home address but a dead drop PO BOX I use in emergencies. Looks like I’ll never be able to go there again. 8^(

I hope my friend gets the job. He owes me a favor now. 8^)

A Whole New You, Thinking out loud

So as one of my goals this six months I’m taking more time to read.

Today was a rest day and I did just that. I didn’t do any exercises and I ate very sparingly as well. Mostly bran muffins, breakfast bars, lots of water, and for diner, some home made egg Ster-Muffins with cheese. I know cheese is bad, but you can’t deny the cheese. It’s part of who I am.

So anyway I’m relaxing today and took the time to read a book on weird stuff and places in Florida for research for a book I’m writing with a fellow author. He’s right. The book was very flat and seemed to have been text messaged into the publisher. The photos were terrible photoshop croppings, often times pretending to be the real thing. There was this story about a huge hole in the ground in northern Florida and they took a picture of the area and then used the marque oval tool in photoshop and filled it with black. It was a huge solid black spot on a pretty picture of a forest floor.

When I was reading the story I kept going back to the photo because it just looked so weird. When I finally figured it out I noticed the cropping for most of the photos in the book. I think our book idea is much more interesting - look for it in 2013.

Last night I woke up at 4:30 am. I was wide awake. I sat up in bed going “What the hell?”. I thought for a moment something outside had awoken me and so I was very still just listening. Nothing stirred. It was a quiet night and for some reason I came out of a complete sleep to full consciousness. It’s happened before. The most disturbing moment was when I was in middle school and I woke up at 2:37 am for three nights in a row. On the third night my great grandmother passed away in the “middle” of the night according to the doctors.

So when it happens that’s cool. If it happens twice I start to get concerned. It’s only happened three times in a row a few times before. No one I know close by has died so.. it was probably just a coincidence anyway.

Regardless last night I forced myself back to sleep and so naturally I overslept this morning.  

Tonight I’m going to bed early. I read a complete book. Did some chores and now it’s sleepy time.

Thinking out loud

I uploaded comic images for my Star Wars collection and for my huge (well that’s relative I’m sure) collection of Punisher and other comics from the early to mid 1990’s.

Tell all your friends. It’s a fire sale only without all the burning, although the prices are hot hot hot! (Too cheesy? Ok. Just let people know. I’m really trying to sell everything local because of the hassle of mailing stuff.)

Oh here is something funny. It’s not a special issue or anything I just like how it shows Frank Castle’s character in one simple panel and situation.

 and if you can’t read the red text on the right here is a close up. 

Punisher is a good comic. Heck I even have an Aquaman comic in there but only one. Sorry Shag.

Check out the Hawking my Wares link to the right to see the list and images. Thanks.

Thinking out loud

There are a lot of little things to do and a lot of big things to do plus some medium things that also need doing. Basically overload.

If you have ever found yourself in this position you may have considered joining a monastry/nunnery. And it might have been a good solution. Who wouldn’t want to read all day, grow food in the garden have lots of quiet time to reflect on ’stuff’. The problem is the reading section is rather limited and the garden only grows porridge and that stuff you’re reflecting on is forbidden fruit and you will never ever get to know. I imagine it would get rather tedious after a while but on the bright side things would be much simplier. It’s a trade off.

Well I’m not going in that direction with this little experiment (although at times I wonder what the difference is between my house and a monastry).

Regardless back on track. There are a lot of things I’d like to accomplish during this six month period. Both for myself as a person and because they will help ‘get things done’ around the house and yard.

To prevent overload I have used a free program call FreeMind. It’s a mind mapping software package (free) that helps you organize things that are swirling around in your head. Get them out of your mind and on paper(screen) so they can be better visualized. It’s pretty intuitative and easy to use.

So I created this mind map of some of the things that are going on in my brain and what I’d like to accomplish and get done that doesn’t require a lot (or any) money to complete.

Enjoy.

PS( Just wanted to clarify that most of the images on this site can be clicked for larger images. Just in case people weren’t aware. )

Thinking out loud