So in preparation for whenever the hell I get a new job, I dropped by a running store today to get an idea of pricing on running shoes should I ever get around to talking to a National Guard recruiter and making a decision on the military or going for a job with a police precinct again. And in general I should start running a pretty regularly as my cardio is not very good and my size is ever increasing.
Fishers has a store called Blue Mile and they check out how you run on a treadmill and find the best shoes for you. So I took my shoes off, rolled up my pants, and hopped on the treadmill for a short recording. They played back the video of my run and it turns out that I am a forefoot striker and they say I have a very efficient run. To me an efficient run just means I wear myself out faster, amirite?
They pull out some shoes for me to try out that are more tailored for forefoot strikers. I tried them all on and could not get over the fact that the are all so bouncy, and garish (for lack of a better word) colored. I asked for more subdued colors, because as you know, for me it's all black or nothing. Turns out they did not have anything that wasn't quite so bright and with my size shoe I feel like I'm wearing clown shoes.
So I passed on it for now. I will get back to it whenever the hell I get a new job and hopefully I can find something a little less bright. Something tells me that just isn't going to happen.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Old soldier
So apparently that short blurb about me breaking a toilet seat again is the most popular post on this blog. Either that speaks to my writing ability or the quality of this blog. With that in mind, who would like to see a little more of a continuation of the old blog, i.e. a little more bitching about movies, the media and such?
Adventureland
A big thing I enjoyed about skateboarding was the adventure. To me it was to actually see and experience my surroundings in a much more complete way than it was to just sit in the car and drive around town. I have been on every single street in Vincennes, Greenwood, Winamac, Bloomington, and Monticello on my skate and I have rolled around on much of Evansville, Terre Haute, Castleton, Fishers, Huntingburg, and the south side of Indianapolis. I remember every single road I have touched with those four wheels. Days off from school meant I would throw my board in my car and go somewhere and just ride around all day long. My legs would completely give out on me after about eight hours and I would very slowly walk back to the car. There was always something so liberating about being alone with my four wheeled friend, something that gave me time to think, something that truly made me believe I would be able to find myself and this alien thing called happiness. There was nothing more exciting than coming over the hill in Evansville at night as downtown opened up in front of me. Downtown used to only be open to walking traffic so that was even better. And the street that ran along the river was really a sight. Today as I think back it was my favorite place because it was just so different from home and Vincennes, but tomorrow I may think I liked somewhere else more.
I always loved going for a ride at night. The air felt cleaner. With fewer people on the road I feel more free to move around. The city felt like it was mine, and had nothing but hidden spots and new places to see every time.
Down by the river in Vincennes I learned to ollie. It was also in that park where I really ate shit for the first time.
I guess I really do miss those experiences sometimes.
I always loved going for a ride at night. The air felt cleaner. With fewer people on the road I feel more free to move around. The city felt like it was mine, and had nothing but hidden spots and new places to see every time.
Down by the river in Vincennes I learned to ollie. It was also in that park where I really ate shit for the first time.
I guess I really do miss those experiences sometimes.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Literary joke of the day
Does anyone want to pull my John Galt?
Only if I don't get sprayed by your little fountainhead.
Only if I don't get sprayed by your little fountainhead.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Food
A couple years ago when I went to my family reunion down in Kentucky, my mom's cousin was just blown away with how much I have physically changed since the last time he saw me. I became a man, and in his mind, a bodybuilder. He always went back to how much he's astounded with how much I have changed. The morning Mom, Grandma and I left, we had breakfast with a good portion of the family. Her cousin was there telling me about his bodybuilder friend. After I ate everything on my plate, he heaped more on there telling me I need to get bigger. Not being one to argue about that, I ate everything he put on my plate too.
Today, I worked on a computer for a guy from the gym and he cooked himself, his wife, and I burgers for dinner. He and his wife had a burger and a half ear of corn each, and he put two burger and two ear of corn on my plate. Now I don't eat like that on a normal day so I was a little surprised by my portion size. I ate everything regardless. But that just leaves me wondering how much they think I must need to take in and how big they think I should be.
Today, I worked on a computer for a guy from the gym and he cooked himself, his wife, and I burgers for dinner. He and his wife had a burger and a half ear of corn each, and he put two burger and two ear of corn on my plate. Now I don't eat like that on a normal day so I was a little surprised by my portion size. I ate everything regardless. But that just leaves me wondering how much they think I must need to take in and how big they think I should be.
Result
As for the result of the PT test - I failed the mile and a half run, but only by thirty seconds. As it went, I was seeing stars and my vision was starting to white out entirely so there was no way I could push myself harder without doing damage. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I going to be depressed out it? No.
Some background information - I have never been a very good runner. We would have to do the mile in elementary school and up and I would always come in dead last. At Vincennes University, I took a running class because a friend wanted us to be in a class together and I would pull my right knee out something terrible every single time we would have to do a long run. The pain was horrible and I would limp the rest of the way, and I would have a bad limp for a few days after, which was usually time for another long run. I bought a soft knee brace but that only helped to a degree and my legs are so large now I would have no hope of wearing it again. I learned that my knees were fine skateboarding, and skateboarding was so much more fun anyway, that I would just do that instead. Every waking minute of the day.
So once I got the details of the test, I pretty much panicked. I'm nearly 75 pounds heavier now than I was then, and granted it's all muscle, but would being larger and older mean I would pull out my knee again? To me it almost seemed certain. I ran three days a week, as blogged about, and then did the rest of my exercises. The running usually went alright, also as blogged about. But I just had this feeling I would not be able to do it. I kept chugging away. Surprisingly I never once pulled my knee out.
The big day came along with excitement, adrenaline, and of course very little sleep. How would this thing play out? I've never done something like this before. It's certainly not the time to strut around in a cut-off baring the guns, shoulders, and some chest. I got some coffee and carb loaded beforehand. The other tests were very easy, but the sprint portion came and I pretty much started to doubt myself. I passed it and then the mile and a half came and I knew it was over. I pushed myself just short of bringing myself harm and failed.
On the way back in, two cops pep talked me, told me I have a great build and are clearly fit but need to run while I was snorting back snot, sucking air, covered in sweat, and seeing stars. They were very nice and told me to try again next time around and with just a little training I should vastly improve. I thanked them and limped to the car ahead of the rest of the crew.
I drove down to the nearest McDonald's for breakfast. After getting food, the adrenaline hit my like a bat to the back of the head. It hit so hard I was not sure if I would puke or pass out if I ate anything so I made a bunch of phone calls and stared at the food until the adrenaline surge passed.
After it passed, I felt as though someone else piloted my body through that test. It was such a strange disconnection from what I had experienced so early that morning. Yes I was sore but those memories do not feel as though they are entirely mine.
In the end, I am glad to know I can run without pulling my knee out. To me, 30 seconds off feels as though I cleared it and then said no to moving on. I can have some degree of running ability despite my age and size. And for the first time at a police department function, I feel as though I did pretty damn good.
Will I try it again? Possibly, but I need a new full time job first.
Some background information - I have never been a very good runner. We would have to do the mile in elementary school and up and I would always come in dead last. At Vincennes University, I took a running class because a friend wanted us to be in a class together and I would pull my right knee out something terrible every single time we would have to do a long run. The pain was horrible and I would limp the rest of the way, and I would have a bad limp for a few days after, which was usually time for another long run. I bought a soft knee brace but that only helped to a degree and my legs are so large now I would have no hope of wearing it again. I learned that my knees were fine skateboarding, and skateboarding was so much more fun anyway, that I would just do that instead. Every waking minute of the day.
So once I got the details of the test, I pretty much panicked. I'm nearly 75 pounds heavier now than I was then, and granted it's all muscle, but would being larger and older mean I would pull out my knee again? To me it almost seemed certain. I ran three days a week, as blogged about, and then did the rest of my exercises. The running usually went alright, also as blogged about. But I just had this feeling I would not be able to do it. I kept chugging away. Surprisingly I never once pulled my knee out.
The big day came along with excitement, adrenaline, and of course very little sleep. How would this thing play out? I've never done something like this before. It's certainly not the time to strut around in a cut-off baring the guns, shoulders, and some chest. I got some coffee and carb loaded beforehand. The other tests were very easy, but the sprint portion came and I pretty much started to doubt myself. I passed it and then the mile and a half came and I knew it was over. I pushed myself just short of bringing myself harm and failed.
On the way back in, two cops pep talked me, told me I have a great build and are clearly fit but need to run while I was snorting back snot, sucking air, covered in sweat, and seeing stars. They were very nice and told me to try again next time around and with just a little training I should vastly improve. I thanked them and limped to the car ahead of the rest of the crew.
I drove down to the nearest McDonald's for breakfast. After getting food, the adrenaline hit my like a bat to the back of the head. It hit so hard I was not sure if I would puke or pass out if I ate anything so I made a bunch of phone calls and stared at the food until the adrenaline surge passed.
After it passed, I felt as though someone else piloted my body through that test. It was such a strange disconnection from what I had experienced so early that morning. Yes I was sore but those memories do not feel as though they are entirely mine.
In the end, I am glad to know I can run without pulling my knee out. To me, 30 seconds off feels as though I cleared it and then said no to moving on. I can have some degree of running ability despite my age and size. And for the first time at a police department function, I feel as though I did pretty damn good.
Will I try it again? Possibly, but I need a new full time job first.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Not all that different
Through each phase of your life, you retain parts of it that ultimately make you unique. I, for one, have many a mental/emotional/physical scar, buzzed hair, stretched earlobes, and tattoos. Today, I will talk about smaller things that tie together.
Since I have been training for the police department tests, I attempted to buy a pair of shoes that are supposed to be more suited for running. In short they did not work for me. Why is that? I have never before wore a pair of shoes to do a specific thing. Since my skateboarding days I have worn Vans or something very similar to Vans, you know, something with very little padding and what I feel to be a great tread. Every pair is designed to be eaten by my skateboard so it does not matter how they look or how much mud and crap I step through. These are dude shoes. In the end, I went back to my regular shoes for running as they just do not do it for me. My regular shoes just feel natural. Is it bad? No, it is what I know.
Which brings me to another topic that may sound dumb. How have I found my talent in weightlifting? My skateboard. I have never been a great skater, but I have been a functional skater. If it helped me loco-mote I learned it. With that in mind, after studying pictures of other skaters pulling tricks and watching videos of pros pulling tricks, I obviously learned what these tricks are. Now as you think about it, these tricks tend to work your muscles at different angles in different ways. I eventually started to see these as different exercises. An ollie works you differently than just rolling off a curb. If I just ride around for hours on end, that is less exercise than adding in Porn Stars, End-Overs, Monster Walks, Ollies, along with attempts at Hospital Flips, Kickflips, Dropping in, and so forth. As skateboarding phased out and weightlifting phased in I slowly started to kind of apply the principal in the same way. My body is now the board and each exercise is a trick I can do. Like this week with only doing bodyweight stuff, I go from neutral grip pull-ups to chinups to attempts at burpees and then on to dips and a good ton of pushups. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone but myself but here's why I have gotten so good at putting on size.
And today I was doing pushups on the Smith Machine going up a notch until about level with my chest and back down and I really went slow and took notice of my muscles in action. It was very cool.
It really is still so hard to imagine this hard edged straight edger has become such a man of size and reason. Maybe one day I will have all the pieces of myself stitched together right.
Since I have been training for the police department tests, I attempted to buy a pair of shoes that are supposed to be more suited for running. In short they did not work for me. Why is that? I have never before wore a pair of shoes to do a specific thing. Since my skateboarding days I have worn Vans or something very similar to Vans, you know, something with very little padding and what I feel to be a great tread. Every pair is designed to be eaten by my skateboard so it does not matter how they look or how much mud and crap I step through. These are dude shoes. In the end, I went back to my regular shoes for running as they just do not do it for me. My regular shoes just feel natural. Is it bad? No, it is what I know.
Which brings me to another topic that may sound dumb. How have I found my talent in weightlifting? My skateboard. I have never been a great skater, but I have been a functional skater. If it helped me loco-mote I learned it. With that in mind, after studying pictures of other skaters pulling tricks and watching videos of pros pulling tricks, I obviously learned what these tricks are. Now as you think about it, these tricks tend to work your muscles at different angles in different ways. I eventually started to see these as different exercises. An ollie works you differently than just rolling off a curb. If I just ride around for hours on end, that is less exercise than adding in Porn Stars, End-Overs, Monster Walks, Ollies, along with attempts at Hospital Flips, Kickflips, Dropping in, and so forth. As skateboarding phased out and weightlifting phased in I slowly started to kind of apply the principal in the same way. My body is now the board and each exercise is a trick I can do. Like this week with only doing bodyweight stuff, I go from neutral grip pull-ups to chinups to attempts at burpees and then on to dips and a good ton of pushups. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone but myself but here's why I have gotten so good at putting on size.
And today I was doing pushups on the Smith Machine going up a notch until about level with my chest and back down and I really went slow and took notice of my muscles in action. It was very cool.
It really is still so hard to imagine this hard edged straight edger has become such a man of size and reason. Maybe one day I will have all the pieces of myself stitched together right.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Pretty good run
I had a pretty good run today. It was a little cool out and I ran what I need to run in about 15 minutes by the time I made it back to the gym, so I spent the remaining five minutes sprinting across the back parking lot. I was pretty impressed with myself. At the end of my exercises, I finally realized what was wrong with my sit-ups. It's not so much that I am very slow doing them because my abs aren't as tight right now due to those injuries, it is due to the fact that if I put my head all the way down, my chin rests on my chest partially cutting off the airway. If I hold my head differently I get a much better result. Yes, my chest is big enough for my chin to rest on, or I have a double chin deal going on. Probably both.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Stretched
For some of us, it takes a lot of lot of work in order to feel comfortable in our own bodies. Clearly I am such a person. By the time high school was done, I had both my ears pierced and the cartilage in my left ear pierced. Shortly after college started, I got this bad ass eyebrow piercing and I learned you can stretch out existing piercings my putting large gauge rings through them. I found it to be fascinating and wanted to try but was pretty much repulsed by anything larger than a half inch. I got my cartilage infected so I took it out and still tried to re-pierce it two more times before giving up on it. My eyebrow ring migrated quite a bit leaving scars along the way and due to my piss poor diet and such it also got infected and had to be taken out. So I stretched my two remaining piercings. I jumped several gagues at first in which the piercer takes a metal spacer and runs it though the hole forcing it open wider. Those times really hurt and I went to plugs around ten gauge and accidentally ripped one out in my sleep the night I got it done. I felt it come out and then the flow of blood. In knowing the hole will close up very quickly without action, I jumped out of bed and shoved the plug through the closing hole causing blood to spray out across the side of my neck.
At that point I would no longer jump a few gauges. After a while with the weight in your ear lobes your lobes would naturally stretch out. Once they started to loosen up, I would go up another gauge. There is not much to compare to the feeling of your ear lobes stretching out by going up to the very next gauge. I would sit in the car afterwards and my eyes would roll to the back of my head and I would just bask.
I got up to 00 which is nearly a quarter inch. I could put pens through my ears which is somehow even less useful than it sounds. I only liked solid plugs which were usually stainless steal and a lot heaver than hollow plugs. Flesh tunnels is what hollow plugs are and the name alone turned me off. I tried wearing them one time and just couldn't do it.
Near the end, my earlobes were loose from having 00 gauges in them for about three years and I bought a lot of light 00s in order to not have to go up a size further. My interest in keeping them around was waning and I finally gave up the ghost.
For those not in the know, stretched earlobes need a lot of cleaning. Daily cleaning of the plugs and the holes or they smell like cheese. If bad enough, you will smell cheese whenever you turn your head. The buildup on the plugs was just nasty any time. And by then I had a pretty good amount of tattoos which only took two weeks to heal up and then they are good for the rest of your life, so from a maintenance standpoint tattoos were looking much better.
And finally, I was a best man in a wedding for a friend out in Ohio. The suit was pretty badass. The spiked hair was kind of dumb and I had sticky hands all night since the sink didn't have running water. But the shocking thing to me was that they wanted my to wear plugs for this thing. My lobes were a lot smaller so I couldn't take the plugs without doing damage to my ears, so they handed me a set of claws that were still a little too big. I have no idea why it was imperative I wear earrings that night but it was the last time. The holes will never close up all the way but somehow I feel they build character. They are scars that are part of my journey to being happy with myself. Oddly enough I still have most of my rings in a drawer that I rarely ever think about. I'll likely carry those around for years before I throw them out.
At that point I would no longer jump a few gauges. After a while with the weight in your ear lobes your lobes would naturally stretch out. Once they started to loosen up, I would go up another gauge. There is not much to compare to the feeling of your ear lobes stretching out by going up to the very next gauge. I would sit in the car afterwards and my eyes would roll to the back of my head and I would just bask.
I got up to 00 which is nearly a quarter inch. I could put pens through my ears which is somehow even less useful than it sounds. I only liked solid plugs which were usually stainless steal and a lot heaver than hollow plugs. Flesh tunnels is what hollow plugs are and the name alone turned me off. I tried wearing them one time and just couldn't do it.
Near the end, my earlobes were loose from having 00 gauges in them for about three years and I bought a lot of light 00s in order to not have to go up a size further. My interest in keeping them around was waning and I finally gave up the ghost.
For those not in the know, stretched earlobes need a lot of cleaning. Daily cleaning of the plugs and the holes or they smell like cheese. If bad enough, you will smell cheese whenever you turn your head. The buildup on the plugs was just nasty any time. And by then I had a pretty good amount of tattoos which only took two weeks to heal up and then they are good for the rest of your life, so from a maintenance standpoint tattoos were looking much better.
And finally, I was a best man in a wedding for a friend out in Ohio. The suit was pretty badass. The spiked hair was kind of dumb and I had sticky hands all night since the sink didn't have running water. But the shocking thing to me was that they wanted my to wear plugs for this thing. My lobes were a lot smaller so I couldn't take the plugs without doing damage to my ears, so they handed me a set of claws that were still a little too big. I have no idea why it was imperative I wear earrings that night but it was the last time. The holes will never close up all the way but somehow I feel they build character. They are scars that are part of my journey to being happy with myself. Oddly enough I still have most of my rings in a drawer that I rarely ever think about. I'll likely carry those around for years before I throw them out.
Buzzed
Back when I started college, I bleached my hair. It was the thing to do and thought it quite the opposite of the long hair with the part in the middle that was no longer the thing to do. It was the beginning of what I kind of thought would be a long bout with finding the right hairstyle. For about a year and a half after that, I just let my hair get shaggy until my cowlicks got out of control then I would go in for a trim. The hairstylists I would see would try goofy crap to tame them and it always just make them look even more ridiculous. My favorite of that was the hairstylist that left the cowlick near my crown to grow out longer than the rest of my hair thinking if it gets long enough it would just lay flat. So after a few months, I ended up with a three inch long tuft of hair that still would not lay down and the rest of my hair being three quarters of an inch. By then I more than had enough.
So then it was off to buy a set of clippers and do it myself. I started out with a larger guard and spiked my hair but that took too much effort so slowly I worked down to buzzing without a guard at all. Something about that just works. So for about ten years now I just buzz my hair off. I have come to love the feeling of a freshly buzzed head after a shower. Sure it makes me look like a cop/military guy/bodybuilder but it just seems to work. When it was much thinner and had nearly quarter inch holes in my ears it made me look the stereotypical Straight Edger. This is one enduring hair style and now I just don't care enough to try anything else.
So then it was off to buy a set of clippers and do it myself. I started out with a larger guard and spiked my hair but that took too much effort so slowly I worked down to buzzing without a guard at all. Something about that just works. So for about ten years now I just buzz my hair off. I have come to love the feeling of a freshly buzzed head after a shower. Sure it makes me look like a cop/military guy/bodybuilder but it just seems to work. When it was much thinner and had nearly quarter inch holes in my ears it made me look the stereotypical Straight Edger. This is one enduring hair style and now I just don't care enough to try anything else.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Nearing
Had myself a pretty wild weekend. A friend of mine had her baby, another friend partook in some triathlon action and kicked some ass. I missed the event because of work but we had some hefty lunches after my shift ended. I got self-righteous with a sandwich shop and a cashier at Wal-Mart. I couldn't find this shoe shop supposedly near the pyramids and ended up wandering the city for a while. Sat in a hot tub a lot. And got my hours in working the gym. I have to say that was a whole lot more than working and eating which is how my weekends usually go.
Due to last week's scare I took off four days from lifting weights. Today, being my first day back, decided to radically change things up since my test for the police department is coming up in a few days. I am only going to get my running in and do bodyweight exercises and get out in under an hour. This is major for me as I am not going in entirely to bulk up, at least for this week. Shorter exercise times to keep me from fatiguing out when I am really going to need all I have, no squats, and still all the pushups I can possibly take. Yes, I probably should have been doing something like this for at least three weeks by now but how would I get another pound of mass gained this month?
Needless to say this weekend will also be nuts and then next weekend I am finally getting my CPR/AED certifications. Does this mean things are starting to turn around? I'll have to wait and see.
Due to last week's scare I took off four days from lifting weights. Today, being my first day back, decided to radically change things up since my test for the police department is coming up in a few days. I am only going to get my running in and do bodyweight exercises and get out in under an hour. This is major for me as I am not going in entirely to bulk up, at least for this week. Shorter exercise times to keep me from fatiguing out when I am really going to need all I have, no squats, and still all the pushups I can possibly take. Yes, I probably should have been doing something like this for at least three weeks by now but how would I get another pound of mass gained this month?
Needless to say this weekend will also be nuts and then next weekend I am finally getting my CPR/AED certifications. Does this mean things are starting to turn around? I'll have to wait and see.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Next day
After a terrifying episode yesterday, I manged to get nearly 11 hours of sleep. I went into work today and everything seems mostly normal. My memory seems a little screwy yet but I have no pain from my spinal area. There is a small sensation between my shoulder blades so I am not sure if I pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve. I haven't had to take ibuprofen at all. So clearly I am going to take a few days off from working out and go real light when I go back to it for quite some time. In an effort to relax some muscle, I drove out to the Lifestyle gym near Carmel and sat in the hot tub - 15 minutes with the jets on and nearly five minutes with them off. There are days where the hot tub makes all the difference and today felt like one of those days. I come out lobster red and feel kind of bloated but my chest, shoulders, and back feel much better.
I seriously hope that last night's episode was an anomaly. I have been extremely stressed lately with the job search and the feeling as though I will NEVER FIND A FUCKING THING, despite the fact I spend about six hours a night on job searching, application submitting, and researching companies which leads to little or no sleep which leads to much caffeine consumed, which leads to exceedingly heavy workouts, on top of working seven days a week without end, ad infinitum. I seriously hope it was just from fatigue and exhaustion and nothing else.
I seriously hope that last night's episode was an anomaly. I have been extremely stressed lately with the job search and the feeling as though I will NEVER FIND A FUCKING THING, despite the fact I spend about six hours a night on job searching, application submitting, and researching companies which leads to little or no sleep which leads to much caffeine consumed, which leads to exceedingly heavy workouts, on top of working seven days a week without end, ad infinitum. I seriously hope it was just from fatigue and exhaustion and nothing else.
Pinched nerve?
Had quite a scare last night. At the gym I was doing standing shoulder presses with a 70 pound barbell, at which point one of the dudes wanted me to try 80 pounds. So being all macho, I used a 90 pound barbell but I had a lot of trouble swinging it up. I arched my back out too much and certainly felt something happen but I had no pain. So I continued on with my workout as normal and nothing was off at all. Once I was driving home my right foot fell asleep and that feeling worked its way up to my head. My right arm went extremely numb once I got home. The numbess worked its way back down my left side albeit much weaker. I had no appetite and could not remember any password to get into email accounts or anything. I laid down for about an hour and felt a little better. Tried to eat again but I couldn't do it. So I laid back down at 9:00 and slept straight until 7:00 this morning. There is a small sensation in between my shoulder blades now, but doesn't hurt at all. I am going to take about five days off from lifting to see if this ensures I am healed. And with wonderful timing too as I have the Fishers Police Department PT test on the 23. Story of my life.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Garage Band + Moonshadow
"Garage Band" is a comic book and it is one of my topics of discussion today. I believe the writer/artist is French, the topic is basically music and friendship, the art is subdued watercolors, and therefore I pretty much love it. One of the guys in the band manged to get use of an old airplane hanger his father owns. They have use of it so long as no one gets in trouble. They want to take things to the next level and get signed so naturally they steal a whole sound setup from a bunch of badass bikers. They manage not to get killed with a little help from the main guy's dad, but they lose use of the hangar. The drummer then manages to get ahold of an abandoned factory and the story begins anew. Basically this story is a nice little nod to my punk rock years. Music ruled my life and I very much wanted to be in a band and put my voice to use. While I am the target audience for this, I really do not know how much others would enjoy it.
And the second book is the trade paperback "The Compleat Moonshadow." It is an extremely verbose sci-fi story about a human boy who is the product of a human woman and an omniscient silver orb in the sky. He is on a journey to learn about his father and himself and he has the help of a black cat, a flute, and a vulgar teddy bear of which may or may not hate him. As they shoot about space, the main character learns more about himself with each issue. That is very much the simple version of this book. Basically the end and the punchline is that the boy is actually now an old man telling the tale of his life which may or may not be an exaggeration or a fabrication. The writing is very good though it reaches a point near the middle where it seems to be too much. But the real gem is an epilogue story titled "Farewell Moonshadow" which recounts the story of the boy as he grew into old age. The writing is a lot more sparse and relies more heavily on the art. Many pages are basically a novel with the writing on one page with the adjacent page containing the illustration. The final pages are probably one of the most awesome things to come out of a comic book I have ever read. The old man is in a wheelchair and is in town for a large birthday party. A man brings him a cake with a candle to blow out. The old man does but dies after. Immediately he then becomes a silver orb in the sky while the town celebrates his life. I loved this book as well for its oddities and fantastic art. The epilogue almost topped the rest of the story.
And the second book is the trade paperback "The Compleat Moonshadow." It is an extremely verbose sci-fi story about a human boy who is the product of a human woman and an omniscient silver orb in the sky. He is on a journey to learn about his father and himself and he has the help of a black cat, a flute, and a vulgar teddy bear of which may or may not hate him. As they shoot about space, the main character learns more about himself with each issue. That is very much the simple version of this book. Basically the end and the punchline is that the boy is actually now an old man telling the tale of his life which may or may not be an exaggeration or a fabrication. The writing is very good though it reaches a point near the middle where it seems to be too much. But the real gem is an epilogue story titled "Farewell Moonshadow" which recounts the story of the boy as he grew into old age. The writing is a lot more sparse and relies more heavily on the art. Many pages are basically a novel with the writing on one page with the adjacent page containing the illustration. The final pages are probably one of the most awesome things to come out of a comic book I have ever read. The old man is in a wheelchair and is in town for a large birthday party. A man brings him a cake with a candle to blow out. The old man does but dies after. Immediately he then becomes a silver orb in the sky while the town celebrates his life. I loved this book as well for its oddities and fantastic art. The epilogue almost topped the rest of the story.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Coincidence
So after my run today, I did the usual leg and chest workout though I did either throw on more weight or do supersets. I kind of alternated it but I always superset the hell out of pushups so that would pretty much go without saying.
I had a conversation with one of the dudes I always talk to while we are working out about stretch marks. Dudes' got a lot of them with real deep ones around the ditches and biceps that look real painful and a few on his chest that are wide and go pretty far across. I have always wondered why I am not absolutely covered in them having put on so much mass though I am glad that I do not have many. Lately I have developed a lot of small stretch marks on the sides of my chest that are really only visible when I am pumped up. They aren't pink or anything so I am fine with it. But today is the day I got my first real stretch marks. They are pink and right along the pec/delt line and I noticed that right after military presses and incline bench presses. It kind of sucks since I've gone this far without any major ones, but I really do think it was only a matter of time. But yeah, I'm really good at this coincidence thing.
I had a conversation with one of the dudes I always talk to while we are working out about stretch marks. Dudes' got a lot of them with real deep ones around the ditches and biceps that look real painful and a few on his chest that are wide and go pretty far across. I have always wondered why I am not absolutely covered in them having put on so much mass though I am glad that I do not have many. Lately I have developed a lot of small stretch marks on the sides of my chest that are really only visible when I am pumped up. They aren't pink or anything so I am fine with it. But today is the day I got my first real stretch marks. They are pink and right along the pec/delt line and I noticed that right after military presses and incline bench presses. It kind of sucks since I've gone this far without any major ones, but I really do think it was only a matter of time. But yeah, I'm really good at this coincidence thing.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Untold tale
Since I applied for a job with a telecom last week and while I await word on whether or not I even have an interview, I think it time to talk of an experience I have never talked about until today.
Back at Winamac, there is a company called Pulaski-White Telephone Co-Operative, also known as PWRTC. This is the company we went through to have internet back in the day. In high school, I seriously loved this company and championed all causes associated with it. And why wouldn't I? This company did basically brought me the world. Now the internet was still very much in its public use infancy - my friends and I had Juno email accounts and we flaunted the fact that we were among the first in the area to have email as though we were truly on the cutting edge. The internet was basically that, early GeoCities and AngelFire sites, chat rooms, and more message boards than you could ever imagine. Broken links and sites were very common.
So my senior year came around and PWRTC called me up out of the blue wanting to interview for a cable layer position. I thought it odd since I did not turn an application in but it did not matter. I was super stoked for this and went into the interview having no idea what exactly the job entails and somehow even less of an idea as to the hours they wanted me to work. I dressed up a bit and got there a little early all ready to take whatever offered with no question asked. As it turned out I was basically there to take a job - the interview was basically just a formality. Thing is that this was a full time position. And I would have had to quit school in order to take the job. They were unwilling to let me work any hours outside of the norm since this was a position that requires a team of people on site at any point to get the cable laid. Additionally I was about 138 pounds and knew this was going to be a very tough job on me for quite some time.
So I wound up turning it down. Dropping out of school on my last year of it just seemed like a completely outlandish idea to me. Yes, I could have gotten my G.E.D. but why would I do that when I had less than 180 days to go. They didn't seem to understand why I would turn down a great paying job for school. In the end, they told me to come back and apply after I graduated and they would set me up with a position then if one was available, but I never went back. By then I was getting ready to go to Vincennes University and was more than ready to get the hell out of that area.
What does this have to do with now? I applied to a telecom outside Indianapolis as an IT. If I get this, in some odd way I would have come full circle.
Back at Winamac, there is a company called Pulaski-White Telephone Co-Operative, also known as PWRTC. This is the company we went through to have internet back in the day. In high school, I seriously loved this company and championed all causes associated with it. And why wouldn't I? This company did basically brought me the world. Now the internet was still very much in its public use infancy - my friends and I had Juno email accounts and we flaunted the fact that we were among the first in the area to have email as though we were truly on the cutting edge. The internet was basically that, early GeoCities and AngelFire sites, chat rooms, and more message boards than you could ever imagine. Broken links and sites were very common.
So my senior year came around and PWRTC called me up out of the blue wanting to interview for a cable layer position. I thought it odd since I did not turn an application in but it did not matter. I was super stoked for this and went into the interview having no idea what exactly the job entails and somehow even less of an idea as to the hours they wanted me to work. I dressed up a bit and got there a little early all ready to take whatever offered with no question asked. As it turned out I was basically there to take a job - the interview was basically just a formality. Thing is that this was a full time position. And I would have had to quit school in order to take the job. They were unwilling to let me work any hours outside of the norm since this was a position that requires a team of people on site at any point to get the cable laid. Additionally I was about 138 pounds and knew this was going to be a very tough job on me for quite some time.
So I wound up turning it down. Dropping out of school on my last year of it just seemed like a completely outlandish idea to me. Yes, I could have gotten my G.E.D. but why would I do that when I had less than 180 days to go. They didn't seem to understand why I would turn down a great paying job for school. In the end, they told me to come back and apply after I graduated and they would set me up with a position then if one was available, but I never went back. By then I was getting ready to go to Vincennes University and was more than ready to get the hell out of that area.
What does this have to do with now? I applied to a telecom outside Indianapolis as an IT. If I get this, in some odd way I would have come full circle.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Truths
As a man of muscle, I find myself being compared to Mike Haggar, of Final Fight fame. What's this Final Fight, you may hear yourself asking if you've never played a video game console machine in your life? Well he be the biggest, roughest, rootin-tootinest, slab of muscle of a man that will have ever existed in the realm of the video game. If you need further illustration as to who this Greek god of video gaming is, prepare to wet thine pants in sheer amazement: Now sure, I don't have a mustache or wear a belt like a fool. Nor am I a mayor who takes his damn shirt off and fights thugs to the center of the city in order to save his daughter. But I do have an expansive chest and shoulders a good set of abs. And I have set of nice slacks and shoes I can fight in. Though I still find myself unable to take my shirt off in a public place. I don't think I will ever be big enough or cut enough to be fine with that. Oh hell, who am I kidding? I will never be this cool. Also, I do not believe I have ever played Final Fight as any one but Hagger. There is simply no need to.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Horrible run, great workout
My calves have been so sore and tight all day that I was pretty much not wanting to sit down at all so they wouldn't start to tighten back up. But it's running day so I donned a wifebeater and shorts and went for it - only to run into a couple dead ends along the way causing me to turn around entirely and go a different route. And my calves started to pump harder than I have ever felt around the ten minute mark. I continued to push myself but my legs pretty much called it quits around the fifteen minute mark and I had to haul my big sorry ass back to the gym to finish my leg workout. For the remaining time, I only worked out my quads and hips since my hamstrings and calves took quite the beating already.
Once came the chest workout, I was on a roll. The honor roll. After my many sets of pushups and dips, I did every single bench available, and put together a military press on the Smith Machine. Military presses and Incline presses on the Smith Machine make these real cool muscles along my ribs really pop out. After incline dumbell flyes I headed out. Hopefully I can get the running put together well before the police PT test.
As a side note, I found a ton of really cool jobs I have been applying to. I really hope I get something soon.
Once came the chest workout, I was on a roll. The honor roll. After my many sets of pushups and dips, I did every single bench available, and put together a military press on the Smith Machine. Military presses and Incline presses on the Smith Machine make these real cool muscles along my ribs really pop out. After incline dumbell flyes I headed out. Hopefully I can get the running put together well before the police PT test.
As a side note, I found a ton of really cool jobs I have been applying to. I really hope I get something soon.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
And a follow up
I was going to buy a replacement toilet seat and after taking one look at the ridiculous variations in size and all that, I just bought a roll of duct tape and ducked up my toilet seat for now. LOL. LOL, Indeed.
Also, this is post number 50.
Also, this is post number 50.
Fast Twitch
So after the Jack3d incident, I was determined to find something that could be for me, a pre-workout that would swell me up twice my size without me wanting to workout for more than two hours at a time and does not keep me up for nearly 14 hours after taking it. I was told to try Superpump 250 because it was supposed to be even more intense than Jack3d and I at least thought it would be hilarious. Well, that did not do anything at all so no blog.
Well now there's Fast Twitch and I actually think this one is okay. I drank it before an arm workout today and I started getting a warm feeling all over. After I got off work and into my gym clothes, I went after my arms like a madman. Fast Twitch pumped my entire body up a bit but I did not feel like a balloon. I just do not understand why my chest and traps really get it when I get pumped. My traps end up halfway up my neck with my chest huge and hard as a rock. I did not crash after the caffeine wore off and the swelling went down slowly. As far as pre-workouts go, this is still not something I would use regularly but I would consider using it again. I may do so for my police department PT test.
Well now there's Fast Twitch and I actually think this one is okay. I drank it before an arm workout today and I started getting a warm feeling all over. After I got off work and into my gym clothes, I went after my arms like a madman. Fast Twitch pumped my entire body up a bit but I did not feel like a balloon. I just do not understand why my chest and traps really get it when I get pumped. My traps end up halfway up my neck with my chest huge and hard as a rock. I did not crash after the caffeine wore off and the swelling went down slowly. As far as pre-workouts go, this is still not something I would use regularly but I would consider using it again. I may do so for my police department PT test.
Gawker
Sometimes you come to a conclusion that you can grow out of websites as well. During my many years on the internet, I have a list of sites I once visited on a daily basis only to eventually grow bored with the schtick on that site and then move onto a different one. Obviously I will not bore you with all of them.
But today I shall speak about Gawker Media's sites. I used to absolutely love Kotaku for their video game news and other silliness. Then I branched into Gizmodo for their gadget news and Lifehacker for all their useful information. And finally I started to go to Gawker's main site for the great videos, some useful information, and some pretty funny snark on the entertainment industry. i09 was alright for comic book gossip every now and then but Deadspin (a sports page that snarks on team sports) and Jalaponik (a site for cars) were clearly not for me.
Then in January they changed their layout entirely in favor of making something more iPad friendly. That would be fine if the re-design would have been useful on anything that is not an iPad but I guess I am asking for too much. Gizmodo and Lifehacker became entirely about smart phones and Apple products. Kotaku became worthless for video game news, and Gawker's main site now hosts ton of stories about sex in order to stay hip with the kids, no more news - just editorializing. Just like everywhere else. Links to videos to go a short writeup about the video and then you have to click a link to actually see the video. Stories shortened up to resemble a Twitter feed all over the place. I can obviously go on. I was going to give them a chance to fix their suddenly humongous list of problems, not that the prior site design was without fault, but it is just too much to take. They introduced some fixes but that did not bring back stories of note and not people being hyperbolic.
So in the end, I just have to walk away from it. They had three months and that is a lifetime in internet years and they just somehow got worse. I will find new sites and this is by no means a huge milestone in my life. But I do have to complain about stupid decisions people make in order to stay hip with the kids.
But today I shall speak about Gawker Media's sites. I used to absolutely love Kotaku for their video game news and other silliness. Then I branched into Gizmodo for their gadget news and Lifehacker for all their useful information. And finally I started to go to Gawker's main site for the great videos, some useful information, and some pretty funny snark on the entertainment industry. i09 was alright for comic book gossip every now and then but Deadspin (a sports page that snarks on team sports) and Jalaponik (a site for cars) were clearly not for me.
Then in January they changed their layout entirely in favor of making something more iPad friendly. That would be fine if the re-design would have been useful on anything that is not an iPad but I guess I am asking for too much. Gizmodo and Lifehacker became entirely about smart phones and Apple products. Kotaku became worthless for video game news, and Gawker's main site now hosts ton of stories about sex in order to stay hip with the kids, no more news - just editorializing. Just like everywhere else. Links to videos to go a short writeup about the video and then you have to click a link to actually see the video. Stories shortened up to resemble a Twitter feed all over the place. I can obviously go on. I was going to give them a chance to fix their suddenly humongous list of problems, not that the prior site design was without fault, but it is just too much to take. They introduced some fixes but that did not bring back stories of note and not people being hyperbolic.
So in the end, I just have to walk away from it. They had three months and that is a lifetime in internet years and they just somehow got worse. I will find new sites and this is by no means a huge milestone in my life. But I do have to complain about stupid decisions people make in order to stay hip with the kids.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Pumped
Given the events of this week, I needed to workout so damned hard I would have to drag my broken ass to the car afterward. I did my run on the treadmill as it was still cold and raining. Then maxxed out the leg press machine for three sets, twelve reps at 400 pounds, maxxed out the hip abduction machine at three sets, ten reps at 305 pounds - no wonder my upper legs are getting large, eh? Then on to the hip adduction machine three sets, ten reps at 265 pounds, leg extension machine three sets, eight reps at 145 pounds. After that zercher squats three sets, ten reps 135 pounds and then regular squats for two sets of the same weight. Then on to the hack squat machine for three sets, 8 - 12 reps at 200 pounds. And finally the hamstring machine for 3 sets, 8 -12 reps at 140 pounds and the standing calf machine for three sets, ten reps at 235 pounds. That's just the leg stuff I think is boring.
Now the chest - Split level pushups with a 25 pound medicine ball for twenty reps each arm, close handed stance on the medicine ball for 15 reps. The time killer - wide stance pushups on the Smith Machine moving the bar up one slot until basically arm level and then back down to the bottom for ten reps each level and a short break in the middle - that basically came to 90 pushups in the end. Then I used the Smith Machine to do incline bench presses ten sets, three reps at 145 pounds and after that incline dumbell flyes three sets 8 -12 reps with 45 pound dumbells. On to decline bench press three sets 8 -12 reps at 155 pounds, pec fly machine three sets 10 reps at 190 pounds, and finally dips - two sets, ten reps wide grip and two sets, ten reps normal grip. And my chest is my favorite area to work out. I wanted to do flat bench with close grip but both benches were used and I just did not feel like working in with someone or waiting around for it to come open. And I wanted to do weighted dips with far fewer reps but I could not find the belt.
Now I normally do not work out like that. I really wanted to test my limits and see just how long I can workout. Turned out to be a little over two hours. Needless to say, my chest had to have been twice its size when I left and my legs were feeling pumped pretty large as well.
A couple guys I chat with a lot gave me a pep talk this week. Both commented that I really have bulked up and just are not a skinny dude anymore. One commented that the change to my body is most noticeable through my chest and shoulders. That was nice. It doesn't weird me out when friends comment on my physique but it tends to do that when random people comment.
Anyway, I have come to enjoy a good pump through my muscles. Used to be that only my forearms would pump up but now each part of me that gets worked through real good gets pumped. Sure it could swell me up nearly twice my size for a while but it feels great.
Now the chest - Split level pushups with a 25 pound medicine ball for twenty reps each arm, close handed stance on the medicine ball for 15 reps. The time killer - wide stance pushups on the Smith Machine moving the bar up one slot until basically arm level and then back down to the bottom for ten reps each level and a short break in the middle - that basically came to 90 pushups in the end. Then I used the Smith Machine to do incline bench presses ten sets, three reps at 145 pounds and after that incline dumbell flyes three sets 8 -12 reps with 45 pound dumbells. On to decline bench press three sets 8 -12 reps at 155 pounds, pec fly machine three sets 10 reps at 190 pounds, and finally dips - two sets, ten reps wide grip and two sets, ten reps normal grip. And my chest is my favorite area to work out. I wanted to do flat bench with close grip but both benches were used and I just did not feel like working in with someone or waiting around for it to come open. And I wanted to do weighted dips with far fewer reps but I could not find the belt.
Now I normally do not work out like that. I really wanted to test my limits and see just how long I can workout. Turned out to be a little over two hours. Needless to say, my chest had to have been twice its size when I left and my legs were feeling pumped pretty large as well.
A couple guys I chat with a lot gave me a pep talk this week. Both commented that I really have bulked up and just are not a skinny dude anymore. One commented that the change to my body is most noticeable through my chest and shoulders. That was nice. It doesn't weird me out when friends comment on my physique but it tends to do that when random people comment.
Anyway, I have come to enjoy a good pump through my muscles. Used to be that only my forearms would pump up but now each part of me that gets worked through real good gets pumped. Sure it could swell me up nearly twice my size for a while but it feels great.
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