Well, I was out late a couple of nights on this three day weekend and I wasn’t feeling all that great today. One of the two things I had on my list never happened (experimenting with paint stripper) but I did finish installing the incredibly expensive light switches in the hallway and removed the mirror from the dining room. I’m not sure what the previous owners were thinking, but they covered up a window with wood paneling and a giant mirror. Unfortunately, I broke the giant mirror ON MY SHIN which probably means seven more days of bad luck while my shin hurts and bleeds all over the inside of my pants. And the wall under the wood paneling looks like absolute crap. I now have to decide what to do about that wall.

I had other plans but I had a stomach ache in the middle of the day. Most Mondays that would mean that I could take a day off from the gym, but the holiday meant the gym was only open in the morning and so the partner workout almost killed me BEFORE I had the stomach ache. It also gave me an excuse to download Plants vs. Zombies and sit around playing that.

Oh, and the stomach ache might have just been from eating a second dinner late last night. Sean wanted to go see a movie and we saw The American, but I think that was just an excuse to go to Ringside for their happy hour again. I will say that the trailer showed all the action in the movie (which really wasn’t that much) but I did enjoy the slower pace.

I should keep this short since I should try to get some sleep but I’m out late again on a school night. Last night I was invited out to see a band, and I went. I got back early enough (11-ish) but it takes me a while to wind down.

Today my friend Sean and I were going out to get burgers, but he was going to have to beg off because he needed to hook up his ailing mom’s iPad. The key words here are friend, ailing mom, and help with computers. How could I turn down that kind of request for help? I got all sorts of stuff ready but we didn’t need it. What he really needed was backup in case there were some problems. It took some time but we got everything working with little trouble, though installing iTunes on an old computer took some time.

Afterwards we went to Ringside and had some Happy Hour grub. The food there is phenomenal. Even after we had stuffed ourselves with steak bites, crab cakes, and french dips, we still got the burger and it still ranked in the top three. It was taste, and not hunger, that made that one of the best.

Now it’s even later because I promised my mom I’d test-drive her new shower. The plumber had cross-threaded the shower attachment, and it took me some time to diagnose and fix it. Ah, well, can’t have my mom in a faulty shower.

I guess I don’t agree with all of the exercise seminars I go to, but Chip Conrad once pointed out something that Bruce Lee said, and Steve Maxwell also used the same quote:

”Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own.”

and

“Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”

I don’t have a sport I’m training for, and there’s nothing I’m trying to be the best at. I just want to get through life in a little better shape and still eat those things I’m not supposed to eat. Heck, Steve Maxwell was talking about some awful and harmful diet drug that let a guy eat a whole ice cream cake every night and all I could think of is how tasty those Baskin-Robbins clown face cakes are.

I know eating enough calories for a whole week and then taking some kidney-killing drug is as ridiculous as my chance of winning the lottery, but I fantasize about that as well. I even buy tens of dollars of lottery tickets each year! I even fantasize about going out with women who don’t know I exist, because my super power is invisibility to attractive women. I know some of them just learn to face towards the sound of my voice that they can barely discern above the background noise, but in general I think I could be a spy. But my second super power is always getting caught at doing bad things, and my third super power is an inability to keep secrets.

Oh yeah. Super powers. I’m quite the catch.

Today started out GREAT. A car wreck added 20 minutes to my usually 25 minute commute. Two of the three elevators at work were out because they wanted to paint the doorways. The bathroom by my office was closed so I had to walk across the building. And tomorrow we’re supposed to have a fire drill. Hooray for all of that.

Today we did the same ball slam/dumbbell snatch ladder that we did two weeks ago. This time I wasn’t DFL (though I was slower than I’d like) and took almost two minutes off my last time. The only difference was that I wasn’t feeling like throwing up the whole time (only part of the time). At least it’s an improvement.

I did some electrical work today that I know I’m capable of doing. However, replacing four outlets and seven switches and putting in four lighting fixtures took all afternoon. I think it could have taken longer but I ran out of parts.

I was tired today after another Steve Maxwell seminar yesterday. I enjoyed it but I heard a lot of complaints. It wasn’t a certification, but then again it didn’t seem like a normal clinic either. I guess the worst part was that it should been one or the other (or both) but it was neither. I suppose I got something out of it, so that’s about as much as I could ask for.

I’m not sure why I’m so tired. I think I may not be 100% because I can’t have lost all my fitness in three days off, can I? Let’s see, what did we do? Six squats holding a heavy medicine ball then carrying it against our chests (making it hard to breathe) down to a cone and back. Then sprint to the corner, and then do a side plank for 45 seconds. Oh, we do that four times, and the medicine balls I used were 60#, 70#, 80# & 90#.

Then we did a rope climb, hip slap, and knee tuck combo. Rope climb without my feet. Hip slap is where you’re almost doing a handstand against the wall and then slap your hip with alternating hands. I think we did that three times?

Oh, we finished with burpees and squat hops.

I think I know why I’m tired. (Plus, I’m probably not 100% recovered yet.)

Well I didn’t make it through Monday, or go to work Tuesday, and I felt bad enough after work today to stay home from the gym. I’m not that sick but I seem to have what at least one of my co-workers did, where you just feel tired and not too horrible. A mild and miserable cold.

Having a mild and miserable cold just means there’s not much else going on. I’ve had enough time in front of my computer to start feeding my RFID obsession (trying to read some cards for no good reason when I know it’s just going to hold a serial number). That’s a nerd’s life, though.

I helped a buddy move today and I was thinking it would be fairly easy, and really it wasn’t that bad. The best part was the whole crew was from the gym and we’re used to lifting heavy things. Plus the guy moving is a Civil Engineer and has much more practical knowledge and spatial awareness. The thing I didn’t count on is that as a Civil Engineer, he has a lot better (and heavier) furniture than most of the people I’ve helped move in the past. There’s a tradeoff between good, heavy, and large furniture, and cheap, heavy, Ikea furniture. At least the Ikea furniture can be replaced easily if it’s broken. The better stuff can be repaired and restained.

I bought some more things for the house, including more lighting fixtures (floodlights for the back yard). Weird how I can spend hundreds of dollars for indoor lights, and only have to pay $20 for outdoor lights from Home Depot. I was too lazy to put them in, of course, but I did wire up my mom’s Washlet. I didn’t want to do too much before the painters were finished with whatever they’re doing. No need to put things in just to get paint on them.

I had some plans for tonight. Boring minimal plans, but plans nonetheless. I’ve been sore all over all week because of THMFIC was on vacation to Hawaii and when he leaves for a week he usually cranks up the workouts. Anyway, my plan was to go to the gym (because I’m foolish) and then get to bed early. UNFORTUNATELY, we’re not only dog-sitting for my sister, but I’m also hiding her iPad (no that’s not a euphemism).

The only program I told her to buy for her iPad is Plants vs. Zombies. I’d never played it, but I’d heard a lot of good things about it. Well, I turned on her iPad and found the game and I didn’t look up for an hour. Fortunately I was able to break free and get on with my evening, however little was left and I really want to start playing again. So much for sleep; I may start playing again after I floss my teeth.

I don’t take many pictures of myself, though I used to do the “camera at arms length while putting my arm around a cute Japanese woman” thing when I was in Japan. That was a while ago, and a lot more random when you had to actually put film in the camera and send it off to get it developed to see what the picture looked like. That’s why I had to ask the gym to see if they’d give me some pictures of me for my online dating profile. I still have a match.com account, for example, that needs updating. That site kind of bums me out, though, and I have yet to get a date there.

Here are some pictures.

So what does that show me? I’m an old sweaty Asian man who seems to squint a lot. Any comments on the pictures from the peanut gallery?

Something yesterday was much harder than I first realized, because my hamstrings are sore and I couldn’t do any ankles-to-bars because my abs were too sore. Other than that, the day was OK. People scheduled customer calls during the time I wanted to be at lunch, but that’s to be expected. Another bad $6 salad down my gullet.

I did spend quite a bit of time researching my RFID obsession. There’s data on my company ID badge and I want to know what it is. It started back when I got an ID card at a conference. This is going to require a very tiny soldering iron and a microscope to build the circuit board all so I can read a long number, I bet. A long and boring arbitrary serial number. I’m not sure why I even bother, but you know how obsessions are.

I’m not dealing with the heat that well. I didn’t have to go outside for more than a couple of minutes today, but that was enough to suck the life out of me. I got home from work and passed out for a few minutes. I went to the gym and felt like throwing up most of the time until we did the workout, where I was DFL for the whole day. No one was slower than me. All I had for lunch was the small expensive salad at work, so that probably wasn’t to blame. I’m probably just falling apart.

Maybe it’s the heat. Maybe I need to move to Antarctica.

Hey, those dates I went on a few weeks ago didn’t go anywhere. In fact, I can say more than one of the women has removed their profile and is not returning my emails. I’m hoping this means they found a nice guy and not something less interesting, like giving the hell up. That’s my usual tactic and it doesn’t seem to be working out. But my luck is all used up by not getting hit by meteors. You know how it is.