A Single Journey Among Billions

$25 Oly bars, Work, and Why I Can't Stand Online Courses.

2008-01-07T21:19:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday I called the guy in Bremerton, and I suppose the person that was going to check out the bar didn't stop by, so I went to his house and picked it up (two dumbbell weight bars too). It's in great shape. I'm pretty excited I found it for $25. Now I need to get some cheap bumper plates. I'll do some reps of the front squat tonight, since I've never squatted with an Oly bar before, so 45 pounds should be good at least to figure out the proper movement.

Work started today. I guess it's kind of a good relief to be back at work, but I miss spending the day with my family. I suppose I can't be on vacation all of the time. I've gotta finish my SRO qualifications before the end of the month, which should be very feasible. So our schedule at work is pretty lax right now.

0730 : Show up to work

Training in the morning for a couple of hours.

1030 : Go to PT at the Gym

1200 : Lunch / Shower

1300 : Back to Work

Sometime after 1300 : Go Home

It's pretty good. Some days I will work later, but it sure beats a nine-to-five job.

So I'm taking online classes at Baker College, finishing my BS in Computer Science. Overall, I recommend taking online classes, but when participation is based on number of posts per day (although I'm sure quality counts too) it gets quite annoying. For example, just today someone in the class posted this comment:

It is interesting that in Java to allocated memory for a named constant, you use the reserved word final . After analysing why the word final is used for named constants, I came to realize that final must stand for final value. This means that there is no other value, that the value will never change and that's exactly what I named constant is. Through the execution of the program, the value of a constant never changes.

Another Student's Response:

I like the word final. It is a very strait forward word to use.

You've got to be kidding me. That is your reply. I don't know what the original poster is trying to say anyway, and to feel the need to respond. *sigh*

Well, enough rants tonight. Off to do some front squats. Tomorrow is Cindy, so that should be fun. Maybe I can convince my wife to do Cindy with me.

The quick and the patient.

2008-01-05T22:37:00.000-08:00

Well today I was browsing craigslist, looking to start adding stuff to get my garage gym off the ground, and low and behold, some guy was selling his Oly bar, two dumbbell bars with a few weights and a belt for $25. So I called him about 2 hours after I saw the add. I swear I saw his post just as he had put it on. And what do you know, some guy already called him and was going to look at it tonight. Grrr. That's the last time I wait to call somebody if I see a good deal on Craigslist. Here's hoping that he doesn't sell it tonight, and I will call him in the morning. Guess I better be quicker next time.

So much for "daily".

2007-12-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

An online journal sometimes takes the back seat to everything else in life unless you are a professional blogger (what the hell is that anyway?) or have no life. So, I've take about three weeks off from working out. Although relaxing, it probably hasn't been the best thing I could have done. I did Angie (100 pull ups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 squats) back on the 17th and I was sore for 4 days. So I'm starting again today. In the mean time, I've started working on a Mac program for fitness tracking and you can check out information at http://fitnessapp.blogspot.com/. Until next time . . .

Break Busy

2007-11-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since I last posted, and I've been at work for the most of them. We've been turning the boat over to the Blue Crew, which is a Good Thing. We need a break from the boat.

Jennifer is still in Arizona with the kids, and it gets harder by the day for the two of us because we haven't seen each other in almost two months. She will be home on Wednesday. I'm very excited to have her home and the kids. It's not quite the same at home without one's significant other around. It's also going the be very weird since it has been so long since we've even been able to actually even touch one another. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but sometimes it doesn't quite work out that way. We'll get through though -- I'm not worried about that, and I have faith in our relationship. The Navy lifestyle isn't working out so well for us at the moment, but I'm sure with our determination we can make it through strong and be better off for it in the end. I miss her so much. If only I could tell her in another way or make sure she understands.

Anyway, I've worked out only twice since last week.
19 Nov 2007: Tabata: Pushups / Sit-ups / Squats: 7 / 9 / 16.
25 Nov 2007: 20 mins of: 5 Handstand Push-ups, 10 Dips, 15 Steps - Walking Lunge

I need to work on those handstand pushups -- used the couch to assist in the handstand part.

Short Yet Long

2007-11-18T19:23:00.000-08:00

What a patrol! I'm am so happy to be back. Being underway isn't that bad, but I'd rather be home than under water.

We were pretty busy this patrol. The first four days were a readiness inspection which means lots of lame drills and losing sleep. After that our evaporator decided to go crazy and we were constantly on water conservation which meant very little if any time for showers, with even less sleep getting it repaired underway. After that, the clothes washers and dryers were on the fritz, breaking at least every other day. It doesn't help that these pieces of equipment are probably the most abused gear onboard. Good times being an electrician.

I spent quite a bit of time thinking about and missing my family -- glad it was a short patrol! I also had a lot of time to work out, and I ate quite a bit, so I gained 10 pounds over the last five weeks. Good stuff.

12 Oct : Run 1/2 mile, 50 air squats 3 rounds for time: 20:29.
13 Oct : Row 500m, max rep pull-ups 20 mins: 6 rounds complete.
16 Oct : Tabata: Pushups:4, situps:5 squats: 14
17 Oct : Row 5min, row 1min rest 1 min (5x) 1200/1300
18 Oct : 100 Burpiees: 13:42
19 Oct : 1 mile run; 7:32
20 Oct : Murphy (1/2 reps full run):43:38 OUCH
23 Oct : 20-19-18-...-1 Pu/Su/Sq
26 Oct : Barbara (no rest): 33:09
29 Oct : Nicole : 5 rounds (max reps: 7 on 5th round)
31 Oct : 1.5 mile run : 11:20
1 Nov : 100 Burpiees: 11:22
2 Nov : Cindy: (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats - 20 minutes) : 12 rounds
3 Nov : Row: 5min/rest 1min/rest(x5) 30sec/rest(x10) 15sec/rest(x20)
5 Nov : Run 5k: 32:20
6 Nov : Angie: 20:13
7 Nov : Row 500m, max rep pull ups -- 5 rounds:13:45
10 Nov : Susan (200m run, 10pushups, 10 squats 5 rounds) : 6:28
11 Nov :10 push-ups 10 squats 10 sit ups 10 rounds. 10:07 && 1 mile run 7:03
12 Nov : 15 Pullups, 25 squats 7 rounds for time: 14:40
14 Nov : Run 1/2 mile, 50 air squats 3 rounds for time: 18:29
15 Nov : 2000m row : 7:49

Couple of Days.

2007-09-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted every day, as I had originally planned, but that's okay -- not much has happened. I ran my PRQ, 64 sit-ups, 67 push-ups, 10:40 on the 1.5 mile run. Not bad. I really should have pushed my run harder, as I probably could have knocked it down to around 10:20 or less. I don't like Navy style sit-ups. My lower back doesn't bend as much as other peoples', so I have to pretty much go all the way down, and then all of the way up to get one rep in, whereas other people only go down pretty much to their lower back and back up, effectively cutting their time in half. I guess my full range of motion is good, but in a timed evolution, it isn't an advantage. My pushups could have been higher too, but the CrossFit exercises still had worked my hard last week. My suggestion for anyone starting the program is to push yourself as hard as you can, but know that you may have to take an extra day or two off to recover, until you develop the fitness that the program demands.

Not much else is going on. I'm a bit sad, as I will be leaving soon for patrol, and I have been spending a lot of time with my family. I don't mind the Navy so much as I mind leaving, and having absolutely no contact with them for so long. It's pretty rough if you are married with kids. Abianne has been watching Cars on almost a daily basis. She absolutely loves the movie. If you have a young one who hasn't seen it, I would suggest you let them watch it. Aidan learned how to crawl forward yesterday. I am so proud he figured it out before I leave! He isn't quite proficient at it, be at least he doesn't get upset when trying to crawl now. Kids grow and learn so fast. Jennifer also makes me proud. She has been taking online classes, along with staying at home with the kids. I know watching them all day in and day out is no easy chore, but she does it, and does it better than anyone in the world. I don't know what I would do without her.

Relaxation.

2007-09-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

The weekend is gone already. Went back to work today -- it wasn't too exciting. Nothing has really changed, but we did get one new guy in our division, so that is a Good Thing. The watch bill is going to be pretty slim this patrol. Luckily it will be a short patrol.

I really want to keep doing the WOD, but I'm so sore from the last couple, I'm taking days off until after Wednesday. Wednesday I'm running the Navy PFA, which isn't too bad. Just sit-ups for two minutes, push-ups for two minutes, and a mile and a half run. Right now I couldn't do enough pushups, because of Friday and Saturday's workout. Well, I probably could, but I'd rather have my arms chopped off.

I'm thinking of a piece of software / shareware that would be widely usable and not too complicated to program. I suppose I could start designing it now, and wait until Leopard ships to start programming, because just about anything I code now will probably be unsupported in Objective-C 2.0, and Xcode 3.0 looks promising. There are several ideas I have, one of which is a fitness tracking piece of software, because all of the Mac software out there is horrible. Another is nutrition tracking that isn't the crazy bloat-ware currently available. Something else could be piece of software specifically designed with CrossFit in mind. I'll have to spend some time thinking and talking with other people about what they would find useful in any of these.

One More Day Off.

2007-09-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

Today was a lazy day! I spent time with the family today exclusively, and tried not to think about going back to work on Monday. I guess I shouldn't cavil about work -- I've got to work if I want to make money. Hopefully someday my work will be something I really want to do and have fun while doing it.

Abianne and Aidan are growing so fast. I didn't think children develop, learn and grow so fast, but they sure do.

Abianne is forming sentences and although 95% of her words are gibberish, she really is trying to communicate. Her shaped blocks frustrate her so much, when she can't stuff a star shape into a square hole. I really have to make sure she doesn't become discouraged too much. She loves to run around and wrestle, so we are considering putting her in gymnastics. After a little research online, it looks like there is a local gymnastics center here that works with 18+ month olds. We'll have to see if she likes it.

Aidan has just about figured out how to crawl, but he keeps going backwards instead of forwards, which angers him. It's quite funny because most of the time he is smiling, and having a great time. He will grab anything and move it around, and then eventually he will try to bite it. I suppose it is all part of the learning process.

I did my 100 burpees today (14:43 -- fatigued after 25, degraded form after 65). It wasn't fun, especially after the squats yesterday -- my quads had turned to rubber. I thought it would be a little bit easier, but the jumping from the down part of the squat position tears you up.

Sore.

2007-09-22T01:22:00.000-07:00

Today we went out and picked up snacks and went to the bookstore and the mall. Picked up a book on computer architecture since it has been so long for me study that topic, and I need to get a jump on winter quarter classes. Both kids love getting out of the house, but go crazy after being out too long. It's kind of embarrassing when your child starts screaming in a temper tantrum in public for no reason. I think all the parents out there understand, but the people who have never had kids will never be sympathetic.

Well, today's (actually yesterday's) workout was supposed to be clean and jerks. So much for that! It's just about impossible to do without any sort of barbell set whatsoever. I guess that means it's time to look for an olympic barbell set. So I subbed in a set of Tabatas instead (air squats, sit-ups and pushups). This probably wasn't the best idea in the world as I could barely do any sit-ups after Wednesday's workout. Also, doing pushups the CrossFit way is a lot more demanding that the normal accepted pushup in say, the Navy. Score: (12, 6, 4). I've got a long way to go! Today's workout is supposed to be snatches, which again reinforces the need for a barbell set. I guess I will do 100 burpees for time. That should be fun!

Here I Am.

2007-09-20T16:04:00.000-07:00

So here is my spot, for all of the peeps from MySpace looking for more up-to-date info.

I started a new workout routine, because I was getting tired of just straight weights, or just straight cardio. It's called CrossFit, and it is an intense program that will help me achieve fitness goals that a structured routine probably would never let me (or anyone) achieve. Check out the main website at http://crossfit.com/. Yesterday I ran the "Michael" in a time of 24:59, which isn't bad, but sure as hell isn't that good (except did regular situps -- not GHD -- ouch!). We'll see how well it goes next time. Now it's time to start turning our garage into a gym, but I doubt Jennifer is down with it. We'll see ;).

I am reading the "New Optimum Nutrition Bible" which is a good read so far on nutrition and what is wrong with modern diets. However there are a few things that I am concerned about, namely the statistics in the book. I suppose to validate some of the information in the book, I will have to do some research of my own. If you are concerned about your diet, as well you should be, check out the "New Optimum Nutrition Bible."