Too long for Facebook.

I wrote this a few months back on some random pieces of envelope, but I think it's still poignant. Kinda like the old livejournal posts I used to write... Same vigor and annoyance about a topic.


Hi,

Just was on the FaceBook.

A diatribe for those younger than me... Just trying to find words that are no longer than 140 char...

I remember when every char counted... When a 2400 baud modem was fast and 20 megabytes was vast.

Old man... In new shoes.

Few remember that the early digital age was so long ago.

I can't even.

I reread those days, I was 8 and or 13 in those days... Those memories aren't concrete or concurrent.

Eh, 30 hits home tonight. 30 ain't bad. 30 is good. drama has ebbed away, my brain feels bigger, my knees are still mine and muscles aren't atrophied.

Biking is fun, running is more calming but not so nice to the lower legs. A change of stride is called for. Bike for legs, run for gams. If I were a lady, they'd be pretty.. haha.

Push-ups got my back, curls and diet round the rest out. I'm down 3 pounds and a belt size... easy to do when you underestimate all caloric intake by 10%

but I wonder if being so open, so open on Facebook is really what I want to be.

Society says I should be. The work-place insists that I be. friends wonder why I'm not.

C'mon! you're missing out on how your friend needs 'Tape' to complete a mafia mission!" "Why aren't you helping the world protect the rainforest!? Do you hate Mother Nature?" "sign this petition against petitions!" "Take this quiz and realize you don't know your friends as well as you thought, on a percentage basis" "25 random facts about you that both Google and Facebook didn't know about you, but thanks for filling in their gaps about you and your intents in our/your survey/proclamation!"

Jesus...

Perhaps stories are better left muted... Until you actually see people.

Party like 1999, when you actually talked, laughed, cringed, reached, compared, and hoped...

Remember that? hoped?

Remember when you talked about that... Before an election reminded you to?

I do...

it was 2002. and I wasn't prompted... I was encouraged.

Call it a fitness sebattical

Yeah, that's the ticket.

I've plateaued with the push-up challenge and have been doing the first day of week five twice a week.

Also, I stopped running when the weather turned cold in late October. I tried to keep it up by running in the morning at the fitness room in my apartment complex. But that entailed getting up at 3am. F-That!

Jesse from work convinced me that running a 5k on May 19th would a good idea. I've got about 8 weeks to redo the couch to 5k program, which is perfect since that's how long the program takes to complete.

So, I lucked out last weekend and earlier in the week and managed to run twice. Then the snow/rain started... I might have to use the fitness room after all. Lame.

In spite of overtime making my re-engagement with fitness more challenging, it has helped me feel better about working the longer hours. Getting more sleep sure does the trick too!

If this entry seems stilted, well... I'm rusty from not writing for months.

Here's to writing weekly *raises imaginary beer to all*

General Improvement Trends in Life

-Eat better (more home-cooked meals)
-Sleep more (at least 7 hours a night)
-Work out more (every other day)
-Write more (update blogs daily, write more poetry)
-Keep going to school (at least 1 class per semester or session)
-Keep a positive attitude and story-telling style
-Play video games rarely (less than once a week, as a reward for completing more than minor goals
-Keep computer usage to school/work/email
-Only drink with friends
-No more watching of porn (it's a little wierd when you see someone you know appear in one)
-Hang out with friends more

Addendum 12/04/08
-Minimise bragging (let my actions speak for me)
-Don't worry so much (have some fun!)

There... Do you think I'll have the time for it all?

Long time coming

Not a whole lot new. I've mostly kept up on my 100 push-up challenge. I'm still on week 5, so I've kinda stalled out a bit. I'm up to 40 push-ups in one go though, so there's progress for ya. At the beginning of last week I tried to do the first day of week six, but I couldn't even do the first set to completion. Oh, well, I just finished out the day pretending I was doing week 5 :-P.

I've completely stopped the couch to 5k program. I switched to 4 10 hour days and I'm finding it alot harder to cram everything in the day that I want to, on top of all the leisure I feel I'm entitled to (whether I deserve it or not)

I want to workout different parts of my body so I decided to get a bow-flex. I friend told me about one for about $300... now I'll need to do is make some more space in my tiny cave of a room. Out of all the pieces of fitness equipment (outside of a cleared parcel of floor) the bow-flew seems to be the most compact for what you can actually do with it. Perhaps more research would have been prudent but I think my gut feeling isn't too off.

Week 5, Oi! Oi! (Fit-Up#10)

I can now do 30 push-ups and started week 5 of the push-up challenge!

Also I'm on week 3 of the couch to 5k program. I'm using a handy podcast to help keep track of the intervals.. plus it's got some cool House-style music too.

Oi! Oi!

Oh Hai! (Fit-Up #9)

A bit of time has passed since the last update. There's been a few note-worthy items.

One: I'm attending an Intro to Engineering class at North Hennipen Community College. A co-worker pestered me into registering for it. Good thing too, because it's only offered once every other year. I'd like to say the class is good so far but the teacher is rather unorganized and really should have a TA or two. I'm not getting alot out of the book yet either, its that intro. We'll see if it gets better. I'll be happy with a 'B'.

Two: I've stalled out on week 4 of the push-up challenge. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I'm not getting enough sleep, maybe I haven't been pushing my self hard enough with it, or maybe I'm doing the push-ups too deep so it's harder overall to keep increasing the numbers. So last week I decided to wait the minimum time in between each set (60, 90, and 120 sec) but I kinda forgot to even work out on the 3rd day. So this week I'm still on week 4 but I've added 2 push-ups per set and really pushed myself on the last set to do as many as I can. Also I'm keeping the rest times between sets low.

I'm still doing the bicep curls and I've kinda stalled out on them as well. I'm gonna have to do some research to see what I can do. I've been hit or miss on the ab crunches because....

Three: I've started the couch to 5k program. I'm on week 2 but I repeated week 1 and this week is a repeat for week 2. I was trying to ease into more. (and I forgot to run the 3rd day last week) I'm using a podcast to help keep track of the intervals and the podcast makes the time fly by. The intervals are set to a mix of house and instrumental techno, just the kind I'd like to listen to when working out.

So far the ankle hasn't bothered me a bit.

I haven't lost any weight that I can tell (still around 186). I think the weight just moved upwards, because three weeks back I drop a belt notch... So there must be some results.

Longer-term, after I've completed both fitness challenges, I'd like to start training for a triathlon and maybe a 1/2 marathon (since I can't really do a full marathon because I run on the front of my feet). I'll probably need to re-join Life-Time or some other gym that has a pool and exercise bikes.

I've been pondering getting a weight bench to increase my work-out options. I have a friend that is interested in getting rid of one he doesn't ever use but first I have to make room. Also, I think I'll do some more research online to find the free and easy work-outs that I can do with minimal equipment... That's why the push-up and couch to 5k challenges are great, all you need is shoes, a floor and ground to run on.

I still want to get a recumbent and bike across the country... I think that's still a longer-term goal but I can't wait too much longer... I just can't afford the bike and the time right now.

I think that's all that's really new these last few weeks.

Would you like a second helping of humble pie? Up-Fit #8

So, again, I couldn't get up super early this morning but I did do the first day of couch to 5k this afternoon because it was a nice day today.

Or I should say, I attempted the first day... I got 80% done, quit and walked back home. Holy crap, I really am out of shape. I really thought all the walking at work would have helped. Perhaps its because I run on the front of my foot and walk heel first? But, whatever... the first day is prolly the worst. I'll just keep at it. I just hope it's enough to get into shape by the time the Halloween runs rolls around.

But I'm definitely going to do all the workouts in the morning, especially the running. No sunscreen, no hat, able to see my phone's stopwatch feature more easily without the sunglasses, it's cooler out.

Well, off to bed.

Addendum: Apparently I did the intervals backwards and in the harder ratio. I did 60 seconds of walking and 90 seconds of running... no wonder I felt it was hard. Well, that makes Thursday's round much more bearable... Sheesh...