I was supposed to be out taking my first snowboarding lesson today, but due to a serious miscalculation I was busy being hung over instead. I attended “Singles CPR” yesterday and ended up drinking beer and talking nonsense with several people afterwards. So today, instead of being up at Mt. Hood in beautiful conditions, I was lying in bed reading, Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. He’s one of my favorite authors, but this is not my favorite book of his.

Serendipitously, my friend Megan from San Francisco changed her plans as well and I got to hang out with her this afternoon. She and my sister came over to give me a bit of verbal abuse about acting my age, and then she gave us all haircuts. I got to eat dinner with her family, which is always an amusing event.

Oh, and in case people were thinking that I wasn’t going to a serious gym, it was 80’s day on Saturday and here’s a picture I stole from Aaron Buck:

I was told that I would be excluded from any prizes because I didn’t actually buy anything. This was all stuff from my closet.

Sometimes you hear about a movie that’s supposed to be so great that you’re expecting way too much by the time you get to see it. Clerks was that way to me. Kevin Smith really just likes to hear people recite his dialog and you really need a good actor to make a soliloquy sound believable. To me, Jason Lee has great delivery of Kevin Smith’s dialog and Ben Affleck does not. I saw Slumdog Millionaire today, and it was a good movie, but it wasn’t what I was expecting and I didn’t really like it. I don’t like movies this grim. I realize that life is awful and if I need a reminder I watch the news. Sure there was a happy ending, but that didn’t make up for all the horrible stuff I saw on the way. I can’t believe so many people like this movie. Also, I don’t think I’m giving anything away because NPR has been talking about this movie non-stop for months.

I proved to myself that I can climb a rope today. I usually take Fridays off from the gym, but today was the start of a deadlift cycle, so I went in. You’d figure deadlifting would hurt your back, but it usually makes my back feel better. After deadlifting, there was a bit of “goofing around” which included climbing the rope. I have the strength to do it and I’ve been to the top before, but there’s really only climbing on Fridays now. Odd how that’s the high point of my day.

So at a 4-way stop, the only real rule is that if nobody gets hit, everyone wins. There are rules of courtesy, like whoever gets there first goes first; rules of right-of-way, like the person in the intersection has the right of way or the person on the right has right-of-way; but really, if there’s an accident, everyone loses. Today, I was following the, “I was here first so I’m going first,” rule, and someone just about ran into me. He didn’t like the fact that I was going when he wanted to, so he honked and I rated his driving, with my right hand, on a scale of 1-to-5. He followed me closely and even turned followed me as I turned and I started my deep breathing and thinking, “What do I have in my car that I can hit him with?”

Fortunately he turned off. He was a porcine dude, and I’m not sure I have the strength to keep whaling on a big dude until he feels me hitting him. I’m lucky I didn’t get out of the car to confront the guy as I’ve done in the past, but you know how it is, even when you’re trying to follow the rules.

I wonder if I miscounted at the gym. I seemed to finish faster than others, but really, one minute out of 30 is probably not a big deal. I’m so tired that I called my sister instead of my buddy Il. Of course, I usually mistakenly call my buddy Greg instead of whoever I’m trying to call, but the tiredness is throwing me off my game.

There are also things even more consequential than having my customer issues escalated to the director level. On my way home, the CHECK ENGINE LIGHT came on and it’s just taunting me with its impudence. I called the dealership and they told me to wait a couple of days because it might just reset itself. WHAT IF THERE’S SOMETHING CATASTROPHIC GOING ON?

Yeah, I know. I can’t get worked up about it either. There really isn’t all that much going on lately, and I’m so tired from the workout at the gym that I can’t think of much else. I’ve already flossed my teeth, so I guess the day is done. Sleepy time.

I work with a bunch of computer geeks, so there’s no surprise that our group lunch outings are almost like watching Rainman.

Today, however, I was scheduled into meetings from 11AM to 2PM. Fortunately I had a half-hour break where I went down to the (ugh) cafeteria and had what they call a Chicken Caesar Salad. It’s OK, but I think the lack of rice and beans probably contributed to my lethargy at the gym. Actually I think it was yesterday’s front squats that tired out my core and just the incessant work at work that made me so tired. (I can’t get any more specific because I actually like my job, even though it makes me surly.)

Hey, it’s about a third of the way through month 2, so I should have been on one and a third dates so far. I’ve only been out to dinner with Il and my mom and neither of them count. I wonder if Crazy Carolyn in Chicago is doing any better, or if she’s safe from having to eat her hat.

HAH.

It was a Monday today, and as punishment for surviving Monday and all the ridiculousness of work, one of my tormentors has arranged an hour-long NOON meeting for me. This follows my hour long 11AM meeting and, I think, is followed by a 1PM meeting. Or maybe not. Maybe I actually get to eat lunch tomorrow.

For some reason I was nervous about going to the gym today. I think it was probably due to the amount of coffee I had to drink to stay awake through all my afternoon meetings (1PM-2PM, 2PM-3PM, 3PM-4PM, and 4PM-4:30PM). It was front squats then a muscle-fatiguing workout of snatches and ball slams. I didn’t finish with a great time, but I did beat several of the yoots in my class, and I was able to front squat 215lbs for my 1 rep max and a P.R. Last week I did NO squats because of my knees.

In other news, they fixed my shower to stop water leaking out some gaps in the door, but that just meant I couldn’t use my fancy new shower today. The doors are up on the rooms and the hardware is almost all in (handles, hinges, and strike plates). Then comes the carpet and we’re even closer to being finished!

I had a pretty full day compared to most of my Saturdays. I like sitting around and reading things off the intarweb, watching DVDs, and basically not doing a whole lot. I do go to the gym in the morning, but most of my Saturdays are pretty boring.

This week was an exception. I started out by somehow destroying my firewall which broke my connection to the intarweb. I thought about looking up instructions on how to fix it, but they’re on the intarweb. I couldn’t pay my bills, check for directions, or check my email. But I had to abandon it to go to the gym.

Today was “Fight Gone Bad.” 247 wasn’t a great score but I did a lot better than last time. I guess I was the only one actually JUMPING during the box jumps, so next time I’ll try stepping up or down. That should add at least 20 to my score pretty easily. Jumping was slower and it also took a lot more energy so I couldn’t catch my breath before heading to the push press. Anyway, it was fun, I was tired, and getting a workout is what counts.

I got home and only had time to shower before I headed to a birthday party for 1YO Zola. I haven’t seen my friend Kim since before she was pregnant with Zola. I know most of her family, too, and it was good to see them as well. As with most birthday parties for little kids, there were lots of adults around and so it wasn’t just me watching a bunch of kids running around. Plus, the teriyaki chicken was great and I ate too much of it.

I got home to fight with the firewall for a bit, and I noticed that I had a bunch of obsolete cables but couldn’t find the one I needed to fix things. I fought with it for a while before I rushed off to a birthday party at a bowling alley for Nadine from the gym who is 29 years older than Zola. I didn’t win any money bowling which I didn’t even know was possible, but they had some convoluted scheme involving colored pins. Devon won $10 for picking up a spare.

Things ended early enough that I was able to find the cabling necessary to hook an ancient SPARCclassic to an ancient SCSI CDROM drive and resurrect my firewall, which is the reason you’re able to read my boring description of my day. Why do I even find it necessary to tell anyone about this? I guess there’s just no one else to tell about my day, and I just wanted to write it down.

I think my morning coffee at work was served without the antidote. My stomach started grumbling soon after and I was lightheaded all morning. This caused me to be argumentative and surly in my morning meeting, but which did motivate me to get a lot more work done during the day.

I was still tired all day and sore in my upper back and knees. By the time 6:30 rolled around I was ready to just go to bed early and skip the gym. But I’m cheap and a creature of habit, so the $10 late fee plus the regular trip to the gym pushed me over the edge and got me to class.

We’re doing Fight Gone Bad on Saturday, and a lot of people are getting nervous about it. I’ve only done it once in the past, last June, back when I had a hard time with push presses, wall ball, and a lot of other things as well. I remember getting a very low score on it, maybe less than 200, so it won’t take much to improve that score. I’m not worried at all.

What did worry me was today’s workout. It was a 250m row, 20 ball slams, and a sprint to the end of the parking lot and back, three times. The last time I did this workout, I ended up bonking and walked on my last run. As tired and sore as I was all day, I wasn’t looking forward to this workout. I ended up getting a cumulative time of 6 minutes for three rounds which was pretty darn good, though I thought I was going to lose my lunch. I think several people actually did lose their lunch from this sprint workout.

Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday but I’m still not going to bed on time. I’m still kind of wired from the workout. It’s the most awake I’ve been all day, just when I should be sleeping.

So I may have been given some feedback at a place where I spend at least 8 hours of my day, and one of the key words may have been, “surly.” I guess I need to work on that, but really I found it to be quite accurate. You are who you are.

More proof that I’m tired this week. Yesterday after getting back from the gym, I tried to close the door to my new bathroom. The door that’s just leaning up against the wall and still needs to be installed. I basically pulled the door onto myself. Today we did a core “grind” workout and when I got home I got this huge cramp in my lower abdomen on the right side. If you’ve had a calf-cramp, you can imagine how much it hurt.

I wonder if I’m dehydrated. I blame change. I usually take a look at people’s workout blogs to see what the workout is, and that keeps my diet on track. (I can usually eat a chavindeca or some tacos and rice and beans and do quite well at the workout, though too much sour cream is not a good idea. We eat a lot of Mexican food for lunch.) THMFIC doesn’t like that people post their workouts early, because some people see the harder workouts and bail out on their class. Today the guys who usually post weren’t at the early workouts and so I didn’t know what was coming. This led to my eating a snack pack of 3 pieces of fried chicken, Greek fries, some sort of dip, and bread. I probably had my sodium intake for the week in one meal.

Jeff from Cincinnati (where they can’t make chili) thinks that a Greek restaurant with hamburgers and fried chicken makes nothing well, but he’s wrong. They make EVERYTHING well at the Mad Greek Deli. I’m just not sure that there’s anything that’s good for me there. At least nothing that I’d go out of my way to order. My favorite is the Chicken Souvlaki Special, but I’ve had most everything there over the years and I’ve not been disappointed.

I made a miscalculation in my weight and I’m not sure I’ve gained all that much. Not that I haven’t been trying during Superbowl Sunday, Il’s birthday dinner, UFC fight night, and other sundry events. I’ve been trying to drink more water lately, and I find I lose several pounds overnight. Part of it is getting up and going to the bathroom, but I’m not quite sure that’s the whole story. A pound is about a pint of water, and I can’t be losing three pints a night.

I’ve really been dragging at both workouts this week. Tonight we had four rounds of the same set of exercises and I was certain after the first round that I wouldn’t make it all the way through. I hope I start feeling better as the week goes on because Saturday is Fight Gone Bad. Not that I really care. I have adopted certain strategies that give me a lower score. For example, on the box jumps I actually JUMP onto the box and JUMP off of the box. Some people step up and/or down, which is quicker. I just don’t want to show up at Crossfit San Francisco and look like a goober again. There is the part where I actually AM a goober, but still.

The high point of my day was going to Target to buy a toilet brush for my new bathroom. I also signed up for “Singles CPR” because the local Red Cross sent me a notice just about the time I thought about signing up for a certification anyway. Plus, as Megan pointed out, screw the Libertarians.

I suppose it’s not a big surprise I’ve gained a bit because I’ve been eating like a pig at lunch lately. But as the kids used to say, “Whatever.” My knees were hurting at the gym so I didn’t get to challenge the women’s record holder in the front squat. I usually try to keep up with her because, well, it’s a goal isn’t it? My stomach has felt kind of funny since Saturday afternoon when I had a tuna melt at Kenny and Zuke’s. I wondered if my dinner from Super Burrito Express needed an antidote, but I’ve since heard that several people from the gym have had the stomach ‘flu. Yet more things to look forward to in my delightful day-to-day existence. In any case, I did finish the workout (with the big hole cut out where I should have been doing front squats) and my knees aren’t perfect, but they don’t hurt like they did last week.

I thought about renewing my CPR certification and my libertarian buddies tried to talk me out of it. I guess it’s not safe to rely on the Good Samaritan laws any longer, and you can be sued for trying to help people. Their suggestion was just to keep walking. I suppose there’s no reason to get the BLS for Healthcare Professionals cert any more, but I may just do Community CPR. Just like anyone else who took the EMT classes, I’ve had a heck of a lot more CPR practice than most people. Fortunately, I’ve never had to use it beyond what the paramedics taught me: It’s not really, “Airway, Breathing, Circulation,” it’s “Airway, Freeway.” (In my case it was modified to, “Airway, 911.”)

I was thinking there’s something I meant to do today, and I’m not certain of what it was. I did, however, remove the unused electrical conduit and another piece of water pipe out of the basement and swept and mopped the grime that accumulates down there. The recent electrical work didn’t help, either, as it knocked grime out of the ceiling. I’ve been blowing black boogers out of nose all day because of that, and I cut myself with the conduit. I figure at least I did something that wasn’t football-related.

Well, my team didn’t win, but it was actually an interesting game this year. I was expecting to go to my buddy Il’s house and see the game with Il, his brother, and his brother’s kids. Il’s brother went skiing this year so it was just me and Il eating a pile of chicken wings, Doritos, and potato chips. Health food. We then watched a Blu-Ray copy of Hancock which was funnier than I remember. Last time I saw it was on a tiny screen on an airplane instead of a 52″ HDTV so I probably missed a lot of the visual effects. My TV is a 15″ standard definition, so it doesn’t compare. At least I now have seven months or so to get an HDTV before football season starts again.