Happy holidays!

It's been mad busy this past year and finally things are starting to calm down a tad.  A TAD.  Hardly anything at all, but I am trying to finish writing letters, rip DVDs so I can watch them on my tablet when I travel (with captions!) and work out hard enough that I can barely push myself off the floor when I'm done.  Heh.

Hopefully, the rest of 2011 will go nice and smooth.  I'm changing my internet service provider at home, work a few more days to wrap up the year, and enjoy my hot cocoa without snow for a change.  It is really weird to be in Kansas and yet not have seen snow - usually after Thanksgiving there's a blanket that coats everything, and I've even flown back from long trips to have to figure out how to drive in the slushy stuff again.  Sometimes I can't even get in my front door!

Just got back from Nashville visiting family and friends, it was great to see a football game there and relax while enjoying the Nashville Science Center.  Science rocks!

Until next time!

Kansas Concealed Carry Handgun

What a weekend!  Sometimes, I feel like I can hardly get anything done with the whirlwind I get caught up in.  I know it's all by choice, and I could simply stay home and get stuff done there, but I'd much rather get up and go!

Saturday, I hit the road before sun up and was well on my way to the countryside when I spotted the sunrise over the lazy hills on the way to Holden, MO where I was to take a course in concealed carry for handguns.  I have hardly ever handed firearms before and I think it is a good idea to understand what to know how to safely handle and use firearms.  If the situation ever arose where I would need to protect myself, I'd rather be in the know.  Kind of going along with the phrase of "better to have and not need, than to not have and need."  So I made my way over to the ranch where Marksman Firearms (www.marksmanfirearms.com) was located, out in the relative boonies of Missouri for this city slicker.

Mind you, I've only fired a gun at one time - out in L.A., my buddy Charlie and I went to a gun range and rented out a Glock pistol for about an hour.  Charlie's a guy knowledgeable about guns - he's grown up around them, his father was in the Army, and he's a bit of a reformed redneck.  Not that's a bad thing, just when I first met him in college, I had no idea he had the kind of streak in him that compelled people to drive out to the woods, spend days camping out, and bringing home deer and other forms of wildlife in the back of a truck.  He's now a schoolteacher in a rather upscale suburb of the Los Angeles area, and well respected in the community that doesn't take well to things like guns in their neighborhoods.

Anyway, I like school, and I like learning, so this was going to be an education for me.  Tom Echerd and Kim Becker, experienced firearms guys and partners in the business, were absolutely fabulous about drilling safety and knowledge into us, and doing it in a way that was accessible and clear.  I learned about protecting myself without a gun, being aware of my surroundings and my safety, and then understanding that if there's absolutely no other way out, then as a last resort take action to eliminate threats to my immediate safety via a firearm.  After doing some testing and qualification to pass the concealed carry certification, we got to actually experience shooting different guns to get the feel of what to expect when you may have to pull the trigger.

All in all, I feel safer and have a greater appreciation for both sides of the debate on gun control and gun advocacy.  I am responsible for my own safety when I'm at home and when I'm out and about, from downtown to the suburbs to the country.  I always try to be aware of my surroundings, and hesitate to go places where I'm uncomfortable with the level of risk to crime that I could be exposed to.  Even in the safest of places, I could be at danger at any time.  I think it's smart to make sure I have all my options available to me at any time, and I think getting the Concealed Carry Handgun certification will be just another thing I can use to keep myself and my family safe when I need it.  I hope I'll never have to use it!

Chicken n' fries!

Yummy goodness.  It's considered a Southern delicacy to eat some chick'n fries (or so I've heard), or more concisely, fried chicken and french fries with maybe some coleslaw on the side.  Now, that's not such a great gluten-free meal, so tonight I'm making my own Dennis version of the meal - succulent roasted chicken breasts and crispy baked waffle-cut fries, smothered with some tasty gluten-free BBQ sauce and a side of buttery mixed veggies.  Heck, I'm hungry for seconds now!

Cooking food is one of my great joys - it used to be that I absolutely hated it, wouldn't spend more than a minute to get something to eat, or else it was just way too much work.  While I'm not yet at the point where I'll slave away for hours to make a meal, I'm seriously planning to execute a Once-A-Month-Mom meal plan. http://onceamonthmom.com/gluten-freedairy-free-may-2011-oamm-menu-oamc-freezer-cooking-bulk-cooking-power-cooking-2/  Looks like I will be spending my October 30th in the kitchen!  In the meantime, I'm gonna be reading everything I can about how to manage that "day in the kitchen" since I don't know how to manage to cook an entire month's worth of food at a time.  Gotta start somewhere!

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to making this a good week - a friend is having her house warming party on Saturday, I'll be finishing a major work project, and hopefully write a letter or two to send internationally.  Oh, yeah, and fix my freezin' furnace.  Winter is coming, isn't it?  Glad I got the gas leak fixed back in July - it's now October, I think I've put that off as long as I could!

Good times, good friends

It was awesome getting out last night and visiting with 3 buddies, one from out of town, and enjoying some good eats at Houlihan's last night.  It's been a while since I've had a good joke-fest so that was a great time.  How many times can you hear and forget the same joke over a lifetime, and still completely forget it by the next time you hear it?

Thank goodness for the weekend, there's so much catching up I need to do.  I've got to clean out my garage, tidy up my front yard, and cook my meals for the week.  I got disrupted when I found 2 full-sized wasps in my house and needed to get them away from my pets.  At first, I grabbed the extra-long feather duster and proceeded to swat them quite well - baseball and golf practice sure help with the hand-eye coordination!  However, these must've been the steroid enhanced version of the wasp, because these guys took a lickin' and kept on ticking.  I had a good 8 or 10 room clearing swats that connected, and moments later they were back fore more.  This wasn't working - time to bring out the big guns!  My vacuum hose wasn't as long as the duster, but if anything reached the end pointing away from me, it was a goner.  These crafty pests kept hovering just out of reach, threatening to zoom in for the sting at any moment.  Thankfully, I was able to corner 'em and dispose of them.  However, if there are two, there most likely are more - and I'm off to do some wasp nest hunting!

So I'm munchin' on some pan-seared Tilapia, chatting with my favorite person in the world when I'm thinking, so what's next here?  I'm at a bit of a crossroads - some of the stuff I've been spending years working on is coming to an end, so my time will be freed up a bit more than it has been lately.

So what could I do with this newfound spare time?  Find a new hobby?  Paintball's fun, but there are a limited number of targets in this city.  Volunteer?  I'm already on a couple of executive and advisory boards that I'm going to put some more effort into.  Make new friends?  Everybody could always use some new friends.

I'm beginning to wonder if it makes sense to take things in a new direction.  Maybe I should get a bold new haircut.  *smirk* I'm actually thinking more along the lines of rebuilding myself, especially since it's been difficult lately to work out and feel stronger.  Taking care of my health needs to be a priority and I think that's something I can do while I get other things in motion towards a fun, happy, and interesting future.

TGIF

Thank goodness it's the weekend! It's been one of those weeks where you feel like you're swimming against the current and aren't getting anywhere.... and the name of the game at my work is "make progress!" My to-do list ballooned to somewhere in the range of 75 outstanding things I need to do... most of them by September 1st! I'll be working this weekend.....

I went to see Katy Perry during the week - yes, I did take some time off of catching up to those tasks to see this - and man that was a fun show! I pegged Katy as just going to be a minor distraction from the week's events and something to break up the monotony of summer - but she darn well entertained me and Kelly, and it got all my senses involved - hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling!

Katy Perry was pumping out something called "Smell-o-Vision" which made the entire show smell like cotton candy.... very sugary, you could almost taste it. Of course, it didn't help that the entire time there were hawkers who were clamoring up and down the aisles selling pink cotton candy on light-up sticks. Once the cotton candy was eaten, you could wave the light stick during the show - way to go getting those young 'uns hooked on raves at an early age!

This weekend, my good buddies Val and Vic will be in town to enjoy the sights and sounds of KC - go Victory for getting a new job away from the 4th largest city in America (and the smelliest, or so I've heard). Reading all the doom and gloom about jobs in America makes me happy that there's still hope for upward mobility these days. Now if only my job will ease up and let me accomplish some serious business!

Coincidentally, this coming week is Kelly's 28th birthday - if you're reading this, Kel, happy early birthday! We need to celebrate soon!

House electric switch replacement

I love my house that I've lived in for the past 5 years. I moved here from St. Louis, MO, or rather a suburb of St. Louis, back in 2006 when my job said I had to move to Kansas City... or else! Well, it being that I voluntarily applied for and got the promotion, I picked up my belongings and found this excellent location right across the street from a great elementary school.

My thinking was, well, when I have kids, I'd love to be able to watch them get to school safely right from my front door.... then I realized, oh, yeah, I normally have to get to work a bit earlier than when the kids get to school....

First things first when I moved in - change the locks. Seriously, I've heard stories of people who trusted their friends and others with their keys, then sell their house - and then those nefarious people with copies of the keys from the old owners just one day stroll up to your house, unlock the door, and pilfer your home without breaking a sweat. I like to make it just a little bit harder than that on 'em.

The next thing I did was get rid of the wallpaper in most of the rooms in the house - there were layers upon layers of new wallpaper thrown over the old, and I swear the rooms were much bigger once I trimmed the fat off the walls! Throw up a fresh coat of paint, and the house was looking practically new!

Here's my present struggle. So I like to see when I'm walking around my house, and thus I use the light switches liberally. Well, so liberally I've worn a number of them out. I like living dangerously, so I've taken the task of replacing them myself. It's not hard.... unless you live in a house where the electrician really messed things up. Grrrrrrr.

Apparently the electrician who wired the house switches:

1) Let the house guys blast white paint all over wires and caps in the switch boxes. You're supposed to be able to tell wires apart by color. Red is live, black is negative, copper or green is ground. I seriously cannot tell the differences between the wires because they're painted all white!

2) Double and triple connects power together under one cap. That increases the chances of short circuiting house wiring and starting a fire. Yay, go him!

3) Did not use the ground wiring at all. ANYWHERE. He's tucked the copper ground wire in the back of the boxes, still painted dead white, and left me to try to fish it out behind all the triple-connected wires that take up all the room in the conduit box!

*sigh*

Two light switches down, taking about an hour longer than I wanted to. Maybe I should warn someone before I do it, just in case, y'know?

;-)

Back to blogging again

So, I just completed a 90 day exercise plan where my focus was to ensure I stayed in shape throughout the summer. Man, that was tough! My schedule has been adding more and more work responsibilities so I'm losing free time that can be used to work out and make my 90 day goal. In fact, I didn't get 90 exercises in 90 days - I had 4 days of overtime where I doubled up most days, cramming in two exercise routines or even simply stretching for an hour to meet the goal.

Thing is, I had plenty of motivation to finish that plan - on July 31st, I ran through the Kansas City Warrior Dash, which was a hellacious 5 kilometer race with a dozen obstacles in the course. Having done the exercise (but little running practice) allowed me to finish in about 46 minutes and 30 seconds - frankly, that was a lot better time than I thought I would get! The day was an absolute scorcher, even at 9:30 in the morning, and even with plenty of the course running through water and mud.

What was my true motivation? Well, I had been looking forward to an excuse to snack again at The Melting Pot! I kid you not, that place is fabulous for happy hour and their gluten free options for cheese and chocolate fondue are to die for. I figured I worked off the calories for that meal in advance, so time to dig in! Happy hour from 4-7pm most days is a good deal for two people, $5 per person per kind of cheese or chocolate bowl... definitely worth the trip to the plaza for!

Happy Saturday! Am getting ready to head off to Rosedale Park for some disc golfing - been a while since I've heaved a frisbee into the trap, so time to brush off the cobwebs and roll some rounders!

Days 88-90, plus OVERTIME

Day 88- Monday 7/25 - Was supposed to do gym and stretching, but was stuck at home until 9 waiting for the painters to finish repairs. Yay for being done! Pulled a Kenpo workout instead! +10 extra workouts remaining

Day 89 - Back and biceps, then stretching. +9 workouts remaining!

Day 90 - Wednesday 7/27 - Doubled up volleyball for the 3rd time in a row - that counts as two workouts! Woot! Did some cardio at the gym beforehand too, running on the elliptical and even did abs - down to +7 workouts!

Overtime +1- Thursday 7/28 - Stretch plus gymnastics class #4 without Kel - working hard! +5

Overtime +2- Friday 7/29 - Lunchtime workout! Then, when I got home I did some cardio to be ready for my run, then off to a movie for the night! +3

Overtime +3 - Saturday 7/30 - Long walk and core! Down to one workout left!

Overtime +4- Sunday 7/31 - Warrior Dash Sunday! Holy moly this should count as 10 workouts all by itself! Hot hot hot hot hot hot! Am soooooo glad I finished it though!

DONE! 90 days of exercise plus an extra 4 days to hash things out... off to The Melting Pot for our reward!

Days 81-87

Day 81- Monday 7/18 - What a Monday! My house is being worked on by the roofers.... been waiting since April to get my overhead fixed. Finally! Worked out at the gym, did chest, back, arms, shoulders and abs....

Day 82- Tuesday 7/19 - *grumble* My roof was supposed to be finished today... guess what? They aren't... and it's a bit hard to get outside and do some final trimming of my bushes and go for a walk when nails are strewn about and things could fall on you any minute. Where'd I leave my hard hat? I did about 30 minutes of Kenpo inside before focusing on other things for the day...

Day 83- Wednesday 7/20 - Doubled up volleyball for the 3rd time in a row - that counts as two workouts! Woot! Down to +10!

Day 84- Thursday 7/21 - Gymnastics class #3 with Kel - improving! I want to try some of those free running/parkour skills.....


Day 85- Friday 7/22 - Headed out early and visited someone recovering from surgery! When I got home I did some stretching to be ready for my run!

Day 86- Saturday 7/23 - Jingle in July run! Whoa it's HOT out! Wanted to double up, but that run wore me out! Onto the HearLife Expo!

Day 87- Sunday 7/24 - Yogaaaaa Sunday! Got up early to knock that out of the park!

So, day 87, and +10 exercises to go! I'm not gonna be able to fit 10 in the next couple of days, so I guess it's... OVERTIME!

PopSci

http://www.popsci.com/science/gallery/2011-07/big-science-universes-ten-most-epic-projects?image=9

I've always been interested in science and how to study the world around us. I'm an avid reader of Popular Science, which while often carries articles that are a bit far-fetched at times, does contain a solid reporting track in bleeding edge research. One such article from the recent magazine publication is the "World's Top 10 Most Epic Projects."

These 10 projects are huge collaborations that span hundred and thousands of scientists and engineers, all working together to research some tiny part of the universe. My favorite one is the Earthscope project, which tracks seismology data of North America - to better predict earthquakes and eruptions of volcanoes. That's of vital importance to me because I grew up around earthquakes happening on a regular basis - you could probably feel one or two a month, easily - and there's always that threat of the "Big One" happening that will tear California asunder and eventually move Los Angeles right next door to San Francisco. Of course, that'll still take a million years, but yeah, the commute is already brutal enough today!

Science rules!

Days 74-80

Day 74- Monday 7/11 - Oh no it's Monday again! Ended up working really late and was unable to get any workout time in, ended up walking a pittance too. Argh! +12 exercises with 16 days left!

Day 75- Tuesday 7/12 - Ran to the gym after work but was pressed for time, I had to get to an early HLAA meeting for dinner! Did 30 minutes of chest, pullups, arms and abs, then cleaned up and had some Mi Ranchito goodness with the gang! Brain and brawn food! ;-)

Day 76- Wednesday 7/13 - Doubled up volleyball - that counts as two workouts! Woot! Down to +11!

Day 77- Thursday 7/14 - Gymnastics class #2 with Kel - fun! Focused on improving my cartwheels so that I could face one way then face 180 degrees from where I started - haven't quite got them down yet, but next week I will!

Day 78- Friday 7/15 - Did some back and biceps and abs for about 30 minutes. Still need to get up to a full hour for a real workout!

Day 79- Saturday 7/16 - Took a long walk between dinner and frozen yogurt dessert! That was fun, discovering a hidden middle school that I never realized existed in my neighborhood....

Day 80- Sunday 7/17 - Yogaaaaa Sunday! It was nice to get in some vinyasas and moving asanas... then some streeeeeetching! Headed out to a pool party then watching some USA women's soccer at the World Cup! Go USA! So close this time, girls!

So, day 80, my goodness it's close to reward time! I can't wait to catch up on my +11 exercises as soon as I can so I can complete my goal of 90 days of exercising since May!

Day 67 through 73

Day 67 - Monday 7/4 - Still recovering from the new workouts from last week, ended up hiking for an hour looking for geocaches! More fireworks fun too!

Day 68 - Tuesday 7/5 - Started doing some back and biceps then felt sore still, decided not to push my luck just yet. *grumble* Mannnnn!

Day 69 - Wednesday 7/6 - Doubled up volleyball - two workouts!

Day 70 - Thursday 7/7 - Gymnastics class with Kel - fun! A new way to exercise and practice my balancing and flipping out. Will I soon be a ninja? ;-)

Day 71 - Friday 7/8 - No workout, but a looooooong drive down to Arkansas to finish my SCUBA training!

Day 72 - Saturday 7/9 - SCUBA swimming and training from 8:30am to 1:30pm with the occasional break and lunch, about 3 hours all together. I consider that 3 workouts right there!

Day 73 - Sunday 7/10 - Another hour of SCUBA swimming and training - woot! Diving sure can wear ya out! Back home in the evening to start the work week fresh!

So, day 73, and I've got 7 workouts in this week... no progress towards getting my workouts down! Still on +11 exercises to go!

Kinda jumping off my exercise blog for a minute....

I've been meaning to write for a bit now, things have been hectic around my career and personal life lately. However, I've got like 5 minutes to put things down on electronic paper, as it were, and get some thoughts out.

I've really got to manage my time better. I have so many things piled up that I'm forgetting to do things like call for doctor's appointments and fix my car. Stuff that you let go long enough, and something will break... and then everything comes to a screeching halt until it gets fixed. Man, I hate it when that happens.

So right now, I've got to take care of a car thing before I can head out on a long trip and earn my SCUBA PADI certification. When the heck am I gonna find time to be without my car for a few days? Never! Seriously, it's like 2 days without my car is unfathomable with all the activities I do. On one hand, I hope some day it settles down, and on the other, I'd rather be busy than bored, so.....

Now if only I could catch up on the 150+ pending items I have in my to-do worklist.... one thing at a time!

Day 60 through 66

Status at the beginning of Day 60:

2 months in! Wow! One more month to go! I'm at +10 extra days of exercise needed, though, so I either gotta catch up or have to extend my working out to reach my 90 days goal!

Day 60 - 6/27/11, Monday: I did 30 mins of chest and arms and half of abs - next time I gotta go the full hour and 15 mins!

Day 61 - 6/28/11, Tuesday: I did 30 mins of cardio - ran out of time, had to go run to dinner!

Day 62 - 6/29/11, Wednesday: No volleyball today, but SCUBA dive training! Yay! 3 hours of water training, oy!

Day 63 - 6/30/11, Thursday: I originally planned to do back and biceps and abs, then signed up for a gymnastics class instead. Fun! Definitely works my body out! Learned to do handstands and cartwheels - I have no idea what I'm getting set up for, but it's different than just doing P90X for a bunch of reps and then calling it a day.

Day 64 - 7/1/11, Friday: Took and aerial conditioning class with Kelly - basically, hanging from ropes and bars and silks - tough! Holy cow, it does a number on your forearms and wrists! I learned that "circus hurts" especially when you've got to contort into a particular shape for a move! Kelly did great though, I wonder if she could have a future as an acrobat....

Day 65 - 7/2/11, Saturday: The most grueling workout to date - running the gauntlet! Hybrid 180 in Riverside, MO set up an outdoor obstacle course consisting of 20 wooden obstacles that you have to hurdle over, climb over, run through, dive under, crawl under, and balance through. The first run I did in just over 7 minutes - but it took a lot out of me! It was nasty hot that morning too - already close to 90 degrees in heavy humidity. Yikes! Once that was done, I ran home to get ready for a wedding - thank goodness that was inside an art gallery, which was way cool too!

Day 66 - 7/3/11, Sunday: I took the day off to rest - was going to get some pool time in, but the weather didn't cooperate. Aw! Ended up having some margaritas and setting off some fireworks with some new friends. Yay!

Status at the end of the week:

66 days in on my 90 day exercise goal.

+11 exercises needed to catch up.

Days 53 through 59

Day 53 - Monday, 6/20 - Got home late from work, but did some light working out and some abs for 30 minutes, and got in 3,395 steps.

Day 54 - Tuesday, 6/21 - Did Cardio X for 45 mins, and got 3,641 steps.

Day 55 - Wednesday, 6/22 - Was supposed to do volleyball, but no games tonight! Aw! Ended up doing abs and a little bit of Chest & Back for 30 minutes. Stopped with a sore elbow, wondering what's up with that lately.... 3,238 steps.

Day 56 - Thursday, 6/23 - No exercise, so I'm behind yet another day. +9 exercises. 3,238 steps (same as yesterday) because I still had my pedometer on today but forgot to enter it in yesterday.

Day 57 - Friday, 6/24 - Took a 60 minute walk around the neighborhood - found some surprising new areas I hadn't walked before! 9,438 steps.

Day 58 - Saturday, 6/25 - What a lame day. I won't count today as an exercise day as I was busy studying and only got some abs in. Did some bowling but man that is SO NOT EXERCISE! ;-) 3,712 steps.

Day 59 - Sunday, 6/26 - Got in some yoga, but was tired and didn't finish it all. 30 mins of yoga! That'll count as exercise, but I never did get that walk in. Ack!

Days 44 through 52

Due to travel, I'm summarizing how I did on my exercising:

Day 44 - Saturday, 6/11/11: Got to yoga in before I boarded a plane to Washington DC! Once my party of 5 got to DC, we had quite a trek to the hotel, then decided to walk to the monument. Oy! For our first travel day, we ended up with 15,064 steps, more than 7 miles! Does that count as 2 exercises? I think so! +6 exercise days to go!

Day 45 - Sunday 6/12/11: Trekked around DC and Virginia, took the train and some busses - got to see the Dulles Air & Space Museum, which is huge! Walked around Chinatown a bit as well. Ended the day with 14,570 steps.

Day 46 - Monday 6/13/11: This was CRAZY day. Three of us woke up early to grab a bus from DC to NYC - walked ALL OVER town, I mean, we were in Little Italy, Bronxville, Central Park, Times Square, and Penn Station. Took the bus back to DC - arrived at 6am then subway'd home. 31, 327 steps once the alarm was set. Zzzzzzzzzz.

Day 47 - Tuesday 6/14/11: Woke up around noon, decided to take it easy today, see the other Air and Space Museum, then walk to the Lincoln Memorial. The Reflecting Pool was undergoing renovations - aw! Then tripped back to Union Station and ate dinner, by the time it was all said and done, 19,892 steps for the day.

Day 48 - Wednesday, 6/15/11: Thought we were gonna take it easy today too. Naw! Hit the Air and Space museum again (yay!) to see a new movie, Rescue 3D, then hit up the Contemporary Art Museum, zipped over to the Botanical Gardens, walked in front of the Capitol, stepped into the National Gallery of Art, then walked into the Holocaust Museum. Then we moved hotels to Crystal City - when that was all over, 23,050 steps had to be recorded.

Day 49 - Thursday, 6/16/2011 - can we take it easy today? Nope! 18,447 steps for the first day of the conference. Yikes!

Day 50 - Friday, 6/17/2011 - Finally! An easy day. Spent most of the day sitting in workshops, so my walking total ended up down around 6,900 or so. However, when I count the number of steps I've taken since Monday.... I have 99,669 steps in just 5 days!

Day 51 - Saturday, 6/18/2011 - The last full day in DC! Total of 10,699 steps for the day!

Day 52 - Sunday, 6/19/2011 - Homeward bound! Was totally trapped on an airplane and was soooo tired once I got home! No exercise, but definitely plan to keep up the walking if I can!

So, after 6 full days of walking (more than 60 miles on the entire trip!), I did have two days where I didn't get much exercising in. So I'm back to +8 extra days! Gotta tackle 'em!

Days 38 through 43

I'm gonna summarize each day and how I did:

Day 38 - Sunday 6/5/11: Yoga, and I also walked 10,689 steps.

Day 39 - Monday 6/6/11: No exercise - got slammed at work, only 5,085 steps. Back to +8 exercises.

Day 40 - Tuesday 6/7/11: Hit the gym, got an hour of muscling up in.

Day 41 - Wednesday, 6/8/11: VOLLEYBALL!!!! Yay! I was expecting to play a doubleheader, but got cut after the 1st game, so went home and did some more stretching. Two hours of exercise! Sweet! +7 exercises.

Day 42 - Thursday 6/9/11: Crammed in 45 minutes at the gym, so a full session, but didn't get my abs worked out. Grrr.

Day 43 - Friday, 6/10/11: Crammed another 45 mins at the gym, had to run for a dinner at 7, so am stuck on a week's worth of extra exercises halfway through the program!

Day 37 - results

Since I'm having a hard time posting on a daily basis, my next post will catch me up in terms of summarizing what I've been doing for the past nearly two weeks.

In any case, on Saturday June 4th, I ended up with those shoulders and arms done, then chilled at the pool, then got home to stretch and didn't do abs. So I got 2 workouts in, but I still need more! +7 workout days to go!

Day 37 - goals

Day 37! Wow! It's Saturday, June 4th, and I've got a full weekend ahead of me! It's sunny out too - a nice day for the pool and a walk! I'm still at +8 exercises needed to catch up.

Here's my goal for today:

1) Shoulders and Arms

2) Pool, then a walk after pool

3) Abs and streeeeetch in the afternoon!

That'll get me down to +7 exercises, and I'll be all limber for some events tonight!

Day 36 - results

Finally home! Was soooo wiped though, I am still behind on exercising. +8 exercise days - meaning I'll need to double up every weekend! That's fine - I think I got a plan!

Day 36 - goals

Another travel day! I gotta get some exercise in - been 3 days since my last pump up!

Day 35 - results

Yet another travel day that resulted in no exercise - worked from dawn 'till evening. +7 exercises to go!

Day 35 - goals

It's a new day! June 2nd, +6 exercises needed, I just need a run or a walk in today to keep ahead while I'm still in New Jersey!

Day 34 - results

No go on exercising - worked until late, then dinner with co-workers takes too long! Was almost 10 by the time I got back to my hotel room, with an early morning presentation. +6 exercises owed!

Day 34 - goals

June 1st, a new month! At +5 exercises needed, I still have some catching up to do! However, I'm now in New Jersey for work, and traveling makes it difficult to pull together an exercise plan. I hope I can get a run in around Trenton!

Day 33 - results

Went to the work gym, exercised my shoulders and arms, then ran home to take care of packing for the work trip. All set!

Day 33 - goals

Tuesday, May 31st - +5 exercises needed. Ready to tackle a work trip tomorrow... that might throw things off, gonna try my best not to let it!

I'll get into the gym and work on my arms and shoulders today.

Day 32 - results

Happy Memorial Day! +5 exercises still to go - did some chest and back exercises before geocaching! I had almost 10K steps at the end of the day, yay!

Day 32 - goals

It's Memorial Day! Yay! I'm so pumped for a day off, will get some exercise in and out and about for geocaching! That'll work those walking numbers up!

Day 31 - results

Yay for Yoga! All done there, ran out of time to double up, but I got some walking in for some 5,000 steps.... trying to hit my target of 10,000 next time!

Day 31 - goals

Sunday! +5 exercises over 90 days... I gotta get cracking!

Today is yoga day! Gotta earn that flexibility!

Day 30 - results

Hah, instead of doubling up like I planned, I ended up doing zero exercise. *sigh* I really need to plan my Saturdays better!

Ended up only walking some, but I need to do more! +5 exercises needed!

Day 30 - goals

One month in, 4 days behind schedule but on Saturday the 28th, I bet I can catch up some! Time to make some leg muscles!

Day 29 - results

Goodness, that worked out great! Got into the gym at 6, left right at 7! Pullups, bench presses, Y-shoulder presses, chair dips and bicep curls - feeling fabulous!

Day 29 - goals

Thank goodness it's Friday! I'll be getting into the work gym until they close at 7, so upper body workout today! Still at +4 workouts until I'm done!

Day 28 - results

I missed the arms and chest workout, but I did do abs! Just got rushed for time - it's one of those weeks!

Day 28 - goals

May 26 - +4 exercises needed - it's like soccer "extra time", after the game's over, there's still more time to play! ;-)

My goal is to hit the weights again, and work those abs!

Day 27 - results

Well, that missed the mark. I ended up working late and just could not get started on my exercise. +4 to catch up. That's not insurmountable, but I need to do the catch up!

Day 27 - goals

May 25, +3 days of exercise to catch up - I need to do some heart pumping exercise, so a run or a butt-kicking cardio workout would hit the spot!

Day 26 - results

Alright! Chest, shoulders, arms, and back! Loving this workout!

Day 26 - goals

May 24 - +3 days of exercise needed, I'm gonna try to double up on the weekend. I want to go to my work gym today and pump up the upper body!

Day 25 - results

Yessssss! Yoga accomplished! Yoga is soooo tough - I know I don't do the hardcore yoga class or anything, but man, I do feel better after completing it! Only had about 6,000 steps today, though - I need to up my exercising!

Day 25 - goals

Alright, since I missed my Day 24 goals, I'm now on Monday, May 23, and with +3 days behind my 90 day challenge.

After work today, I'd like to get another walk and actually complete my yoga!

Day 24 - results

I am sooooo far behind now.

I started really having to delve into work, and even do some travel that really ate into my free time, causing me to lose chances to keep on top of my exercise. So, I may have to push back my exercise goals, or attempt to double up every chance I can get, between now and Day 92!

So, Day 24 - if I can even remember what I did - I ended up taking a walk, but instead of yoga, I had some homework that really threw off my schedule. So, I'm at +3 exercise days needed!

Day 24 - goals

Still have a ton of homework to complete - but it's Sunday and that means what? Well, laundry for starters, but otherwise, I'm gonna get a walk in and some Yoga! Flexibility and strength, can't beat that!

Day 23 - results

Sometimes the day just doesn't go as planned. Instead of having plenty of time to do homework and work out, I ended up having a mid-day meeting that didn't go as smoothly as I'd like. Had to trim about 3 hours out of my day for that, which means I was only able to get abs in. Fine, at least that's something! Still have to get more in... so I'm now at +2 extra exercises needed! May have to go to Day 92!

Day 23 - goals

It's Saturday! I've got some homework to do , so when I get a break, I'm gonna flex my shoulders and arms and abs into some glamour muscles, and also get in a round of geocaching and a picnic too! Sun time!

Day 22 - results

Well, while I didn't get plyo done, I did do Cardio X instead, saving some 20 minutes, enabling me to take my tardiness in getting out of work and translating that into fun for the evening! Toodle-loo!

Day 22 - goals

It's Friday! If I've got time, I'd love to do me some plyometrics stuff - volleyball starts again June 1st and I wanna be on top of my game!

Day 21 - results

Not too bad of a day! I was able to do chest and back instead, plus my abs, felt good to do that! All this travel makes me weary! Alright, let's now celebrate with some yummy dinner!

Day 21 - goals

Is it Thursday? It is? Oh, thank goodness! Tomorrow's Friday! Let's see what I can do today. I ought to do my pushups and arms and abs today, so that's what I'm gonna do!

Day 20 - results

So, I'm now in Atlanta flying back to KC - I got some 30 minutes of swimming in the hotel pool, nothing at the heart-pumping level but I'm glad I got to move around and use some muscles! I think I need to make up all of the past 3 days by doubling up on my exercises - so I totally have to get back on track!

Day 20 - goals

*sigh* Yet another travel day today - Wednesday, May 18th - plus another set of presentations I can't escape. I sure hope I get some sweating in!

Day 19 - results

THAT was not a workout day. But I still got to sweat!

In the craziest fashion imaginable, after presenting all day, I took a large group out to dinner just a few blocks from the hotel in Miami beach. After dinner, it was gonna be a short hop a couple of more blocks away for a cool old bar that was featured in a James Bond movie. But noooooo.... this ended up being a 44 block jaunt to find the danged place!

On the upside, I counted 12,614 steps for the day! Woot!

Day 19 - goals

So, with yesterday's travel day being an atrocity, I'm gonna make this day a bit better. Hopefully after dinner, I'll get some hotel gym time on my arms and roll up 15 minutes of abs!

Day 18 - results

Oh, geez, that wasn't very productive. Since I traveled all day Monday, and got in and immediately had to join a meeting, then rush off to cocktail hour with the gang, then back to the room to put the finishing touches on my presentation, I guess I wasn't very mobile all day!

I finished with about 5,000 steps. I can do better than that! Next time!

Day 18 - goals

Well, it's Monday! And I am back in the air for yet another work trip! Oy! Those work trips make it really challenging to do some workouts. Let's see what I can get done on the plane!

Since I'll be jetting through the busiest airport in the US today (Atlanta), I expect I'll get some 10,000 steps today!

Day 17 - results

My gawd, that was a tough day! About 3 games of vball spread out over 3 hours, then another 3 hours of walking in the Overland Park Arboretum! Good enough for me today!

Day 17 - goals

So, I'm gonna try to get the following in today:

1) Volleyball tournament at Mid-America

2) Geocaching walk

3) Yogaaaaaaa

That'll bring me up to speed on my workouts!

Day 16 - results

Workout #16! Was supposed to double up, but ended up doing more housework than expected, so Kenpo boxing came up instead of streeeeeetch X. Alright! I have a lot to do on Sunday, so maybe that'll bring me up to speed!

Day 16 - goals

This is gonna be a good day! I'm going to double up on some kickboxin' and then streeeeetch out for about an hour. That'll get me good and ready for tomorrow's vball tourney!

Day 15 - results

Well, resting was a hit, but I still had to exercise somehow on Day 15! I ended up only getting some 4,800 steps instead of the 10K I wanted, but I got more than I expected while spending a few hours in a car! Got some geocaching in too!

Day 15 - goals

So, it's Friday! Usually I like to take a rest day on Friday, but tonight I'm gonna see if I can get up to 10,000 steps around town. So not any formal exercise, but definitely counting something!

Day 14 - results

This is some seriously tough stuff. Legs n' Back is my X weakness - I always have a hard time with the lunges and shin work, gotta protect my knees! Finished it all in a bit over an hour and a half, but I'm glad I tackled those abs!

Day 14 - goals

Since I've been exercising my upper body with weights, things are great - just need to balance it out with some lower body stuff and abs! So tonight, I'm going to crush some Legs 'n Back with Ab Ripper X - abs from memory, even! Let's rock!

Day 13 - results

Wow! That was quite the workout day. Muscling those arms and stretching for 45 mins, then rocked out to vball for another 45. Sweaty day!

Day 13 - goals

So, Wednesday the 11th - I'm gonna get some vball and arms in! Gonna hit the gym and pull out those glamour muscles with some shoulders, bicep and tricep exercises!

Day 12 - results

Ended up only doing a 30 minute walk for the day - had a meeting run late, then only 45 mins or so before having to leave to the HLAA-KC Steering Committee meeting. Had about 6,059 steps for the day - still aiming to get 10,000 again soon!

Day 12 - goals

I'm over 1/9th of the way to my goal! Well, minus one rest day.... so I'll count this as Day 12 minus 1 until I double up on a Saturday!

Today's goal is to get into my gym at work and pump some hams, calves, and quads! Aiming to include the other half of the abs I missed yesterday - so yay!

Day 11 - results

Okay, that went much better than Sunday! Ended up doing some X Chest and Back, completed half a workout there, then started up some abs before collapsing in a heap halfway through. *sigh* That just means I get a full workout tomorrow!

Day 11 - goals

Since yesterday I was unable to make a dent in my workout, today I'm gonna take it easy and do some pushups and pullups and abs and see where that takes me!

Day 10 - results

Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow.

Could not finish yoga tonight - just not in any condition after 3 days of traveling and being beaten to a pulp on my feet. Will rest and recover and attack with gusto tomorrow!

Day 10 - goals

So I've just landed from LAX through ATL - Los Angeles to Atlanta to Kansas City -- just for the extra miles and extra sleeeeeeeeep. Sleeping on these planes was not that much fun, but a pillow and blanket makes it a bit more tolerable! Those inflatable neck pillows are a lifesaver....

Gonna see if I can yoga it up today! That is, if I can get over the jetlag and plane aches!

Day 9 - results

So, yeah, I totally didn't to do any exercising at all on Saturday. Just no way. 6,000 people slammed the booth, I didn't get a lunch break, or any break, all day, and mostly sat down while people lined up around the block just to talk to me. Ack!

Looks like I ended the day with about 5,000+ steps, recorded it just as my phone battery was dying at midnight in LAX catching my flight out. What a day!

Day 9 - goals

So now today's gonna be a real test to see if I'm even up for exercising. Saturday, May 7, not only will I be outside today and standing and walking around, but it's going to be crowded and so busy that I'll barely have a moment to breathe - then afterwards I gotta run and catch my flight on the red-eye to make it back home. No time at all for an exercise plan, but let's see how many steps I count!

Day 8 - results

Oh, gawd, I need to stick to a real workout routine instead of this standing around and working tradeshow booths. I had my pedometer on all day and spent most of it in the 30x30 foot space in my work's tent. I ended up getting exactly 10,000 steps by the end of the day, which is supposed to be a good benchmark. Yay!

Day 8 - goals

Well, since I'm now into week 2, and kind of far far away from my gym and home, let's see if I can at least get a good walk in and some stretching. I'm gonna be on my feet all day outside in the sunny CA weather!

Day 7 - results

Whyyyyyyyy do I spend 6 hours cooped up in tiny airplane seats?! I need to get this quantum teleportation device completed, pronto!

After grabbing some lunch with fam in town, and driving all over L.A. for work, I got my precious 15 minutes of workout time before dinner! Yay! Goooo abs!

Day 7 - goals

It's flight day! On day 7, which is when I conquer my first week of 90 days of exercise, I get to spend most of it in a flying tin can through Dallas to Santa Ana, CA for some work stuff. I wanted to do some yoga to kill time in the air, but I didn't think the flight attendants would appreciate that any. ;-)

My goal today is just pound some abs out when I get a moment in the hotel later tonight - quick, compact and invigorating!

Day 6 - results

Well, I ended up traveling out of state on a whirlwind series of events starting on Thursday, so it got terribly difficult to blog! However, I kept good track of my exercise, so I'll spill it day by day for ya!

Day 6 - Wednesday, 5/4/2011 - ended up just playing volleyball as planned, wasn't feeling 100% but gave it my all anyway! After that 5K on Friday evening at midnight, my shins took a major beating and it's gonna take some time to heal up fully. Mayhaps I'll take that suggestion to see a physical therapist!

Volleyball is so much fun! Can't resist a spike or two or ten!

Day 6 - goals

So, almost to the end of week 1! It's always the hardest to get back up after you fall, and picking up workin out again after a break is no exception!

Today, for day 6 - I will at least do vball, but I hope to get some abs in there somewhere. If I can do both, great!

Day 5 - results

Gotta be consistent! So, 5 days into the program - 5 for 5, 100 minutes of working out today, keeping safe and making sure I work up a sweat! Vball went well, winning 2 out of 3 games - gotta keep pushing hard on my training for Deaflympics!

Day 5 - plan

I've lost track of what day it's supposed to be! Man oh man! What, it's Tuesday? Well, it was supposed to be WRITTEN on Tuesday. Anyone have a time machine I can borrow and go back in time to write this post?

While I'm waiting (how does one wait for a time machine?) it's Day 5 of the exercise plan! I'll be streeeeetching (grrrr shins are botherinyg me again) then playing some vball at the esteemed Tomahawk Ridge - that'll be about 100 mins of exercise today alone. Woot!

Day 4 - results

Whew! The trip to the gym was tough! I normally look forward to a hard workout after a long day, to be able to focus on something simple as push and pull, but Day 4 was just beating me down. I'm just glad I was able to get in some sets on the bench press machine, the pullup bar, do some bicep curls and tricep pulldowns. Kind of light compared to my normal intense workout, as I lightened the weight some, but soon it'll be full weights! Yay! Day 4 down!

Edit: I THOUGHT I didn't post this already, so I made a second post on 5/5/11 and didn't have a chance to review my blog until the following week. Man! In any case, to give more detail, here's my day 4 results:

1) Gym at 630pm after work
2) Clocked in 5,783 steps on my pedometer
3) exercised my upper body for 30 mins - bench, pullups, bicep curls, and tricep pulldowns Feeling it!

Day 4 - plan

So, hump day of the first week of this goal to reach 90 days of working out. Let's see if we can keep up my energy and go the distance!

So, today I'll be at the gym getting pumped on the weights - my usual routine consists of bench press, pullups, curls, lat pulldowns, and some abs all mixed up - we'll at least do the first four exercises as I've already done some serious abs over the past two days. So off I go!

Day 3- results

Day 3 was wild! Got some early morning trekking in checking out random places in Olathe while doing some geocaching! That was pretty fun - my group located 3 out of 3 caches, a big improvement over another outing I heard about....

After that I settled in for some kickass Yoga X - that's some serious business as it's a full hour and a half, with some tough moves to boot! Balancing on one foot for like 5 mins? Yikes! However, it gone all done and now onward to day 4!

Day 3 goal

It's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Gonna be a fun day! Am gonna get out and about, and use the pedometer I picked up as part of the Sprint fitness challenge - my goal is to have a minimum of 5,000 steps a day. Right now the "high water mark" set by my team is 15,000+ steps in a day, which is easy peasy as a 5K gave me about 8000+ steps in less than a half hour.

Today, though, I'll settle for some Yoga before din din and really get my mind and body ready for this workweek!

Day 2- results

Did my abs yesterday, man, I need to do those more often! Working out the core is a good reminder about posture - something I start forgetting after numerous hours of sitting in front of the computer at work. Good posture is important!

Onto day 3!

Day 2 - goal

So, exercise goal #2/90 was already set before I even made this post. I happened to sign up for a 5K run to be held on the Saturday morning of 4/30/2011 - and when I say morning, I don't mean at the crack 'o dawn type - this one was at midnight! Yeah, I participated in the Kansas Special Olympics' Midnight 5K run: http://www.ksso.org/events. It was a rough run - on a normal day, no biggie, but I was exhausted from the whole week catching up with me! I took it easy at the beginning and then upped the pace until my shins told me to take a rest - then just coasted on a jog the remainder of the way in. I think I ended up somewhere around 27:30, not too bad.

Anyway, that gave me quite a bit of exercise, so I'm going to add to it by doing some Ab Ripper and rip those obliques. Fun fun!

Day 1 results

Catching up on my posts regarding my exercise plan.

For my first day back into the program, I said I'd at least kick it off with some serious stretching. Mission accomplished!

Uno down, octacontakaiennagon to go!

Day 1 plan - Stretch

Since I'm keeping this simple, my focus will be to blog about what I'm going to do that day, then live up to it. Once it's done, I'll post about my success, and maybe even add a bit about my day and thoughts. Keeping an exercise journal for people to read never seemed very exciting for me, but perhaps I can add to what I'm doing during my days to spice up the content!

So, day 1 of 90 - my goal is to stretch to P90X stretch for one hour - I've got a 5K run early on Saturday, so this'll be to limber me up for that. P90X stretch, while relaxing, does take some time to do right, and sometimes I'll feel the need to rush through things so I can move on to the next on the to-do list! However, as Tony Horton says, I'll need to "clear my mind" and focus on the job at hand.

Off to work I go! TGIF!

Ha, errrr....

Well, this is embarassing. Hello, blog! I haven't written in ya for a bit. It's about time I get back in the typing saddle!

I'm gonna get some writing exercises going. First up, I've been neglecting my workout routine. I had been pretty hardcore about the gym and P90X, but work responsibilities have had me spending my hours elsewhere. So, it's Plan90Extreme (Not to be confused with P90X ;-) ) where I'm gonna do some regular short, varied workout goals to get back into my "gotta work out today" mentality. So by the end of July, I should be reaching my fitness goals!

I'll be numbering my days and stating what workout I'm planning for the day in the morning, then executing that goal by the end of the day. It might be as simple as just stretching, or doing complicated gym routines or yoga. Either way, short and to the point, and then documenting it here will be the way to go!

Tomorrow will be day one. That's always the hardest day. But, heck, Friday's never supposed to be a hard day!

Japan - Part 2

Continuing the chronicles of my adventure from the US to Japan Part 1:

With the flight plan set, I was ready to make the trek across the largest ocean on the planet to visit the land of the Samurai! My itinerary was rather simple - the day after Christmas, I was to br

ave the weather and crowds to park at formerly named Mid-Cont

inental International airport (MCI, or better known as Kansas City International Airport) to head to St. Louis (STL) then onward to Los Angeles (LAX) to crash for the night. On the morning of the 27th, Dad and I would embark on a Boeing 777 to Narita, Japan (NRT), spend a few days in town, then hike back to Narita to enter

the US via Dallas (DFW). Once there, we would part ways - I would head back to KC, while Dad made an extra mileage run from DFW to STL and ending up in LAX. Whew!

A couple of days before taking off, I had the chance to exchange Christmas gifts with Kelly. Being a silly and sly guy, I was able to get some cool UCLA gymnastics swag for her. They're the best college gymnastics team in the nation - and heck, it gives me an excuse to get her to wear UCLA stuff. ;-) She, on the other hand, gave

this the excellent Moleskine journal to use in Tokyo - it's seriously awesome, served as my notes and maps and guide the whole time I was there. I'm definitely using it as my reference writing this blog! Thanks Kel!

The flights linking me to L.A. were uneventful. Waking up in L.A., I was greeted with some excellent views of the airport:

See the light brownish part of the sky above the mount

ains, beneath the blue sky at the top? That's smog. If you had asked me what that was before I left L.A. some almost 10 years ago, I would've told you that's everywhere. Little did I know that it was simply everywhere just in L.A.

We pop into the airport, get past security, and settle in to get on the plane. It's a little delayed, so I watch planes land. It's quiet in the nice lounge we're hanging in:

Right about at noon Pacific time, our plane was ready for takeoff! Stay tuned for the long flight there!

Japan - Part 1

Konichiwa! Err, hello! As long promised since my return to the states, I'm posting my Japan trip in 3 parts to accommodate all the pictures and things that happened on the trip. I'm still grinning from the terrific experience, in no small part for my Dad making this happen pretty much on a whim. Big thanks, Dad!

I've always been fascinated with Japanese culture, language, mannerisms, geography, and history. I think it stems from a couple of things - in my lifetime, the Japanese have been considered leaders in technology and innovation - things that interest me greatly both professionally and personally - their history is pretty well documented yet heavily influenced by Western culture lately - especially notable was the arrival of the US "Great White Fleet" in 1908 where the Japanese went to great lengths to welcome Americans - and my Dad has made annual trips there for work, but tended to take my older brother to other locations, such as Hawaii or Europe. So Japan was kind of a special place that I really wanted to visit and make my own.

A couple of months ago, I jokingly asked my Dad if he was planning another "mileage run" to Japan. You see, even though he travels somewhat often to international locations, he has been cutting back on work travel during the year, to the point where he ends up close to but not quite having the required number of qualifying miles for "Elite" status on American Airlines, which has been his preferred airline for many many years. The point of keeping that prestigious frequent flyer level are the numerous benefits: free class upgrades; mileage bonuses; priority upgrades to business or first class when available (with platinum or gold, you have to wait for the elites to get their upgrades first, then whatever is leftover becomes available); waived charges for changing travel plans; even an expanded seating selection at no extra charge. All you have to do is keep flying 100,000 miles a year on the airline.

Isn't that an easy thing to do? well, to give you some perspective - flying from Los Angeles to New York City is 2,462 miles as the crow flies, and takes about 5-6 hours. 100,000 miles means you need 40 flights or 20 round trips - each flight is 5-6 hours long, so that'd be some 200-240 hours in the air. That's a LOT. I can barely take the 13 hours from L.A. to Tokyo, and I LIKE flying!

So, back to the story. Mileage runs - since my Dad needs 100,000 miles a year to stay "Elite," he needed to take one more big trip to put him over the mark. It takes about 4 international trips to make it easy to get Elite, and for the past couple of years he's had to take one flight at the end of the year as far as possible as fast as possible to reach 100K. Tokyo's easy - go from LAX to DFW (Dallas, TX) to NRT (Tokyo/Narita Airport, Japan) and back is a cool 1,230 + 5,500 + 5,500 + 1,230 = 13,500 miles. So, if you're 10-15K miles away from Elite status, there's how you get over the hump - take a day to fly to Tokyo, spend a night there, and then fly back. My Dad sleeps on planes - in fact, it's a game to him to try to be asleep before the flight takes off. He'll wake for the first meal, watch a movie, then be back under for the rest of the way.

I bugged him this year to join him - it'd be an adventure for me and maybe make the trip less boring for him. So we planned to fly out on the 27th from LAX and be back in KC in time for the new year.

I'll stop here for the night and resume tomorrow!

Back in Kansas

Whoo-hoo! Am typing up my posts as we speak!