The new gym I go to does a lot of crossfit training, so I decided to go to the main Crossfit web page to check things out. It was kind of intimidating. The thing is, I’m used to going to a neighborhood gym. There’s a lot of doctors and lawyers there since my neighborhood is no longer the working-class neighborhood I grew up in. My old gym and the new crossfit gym I go to fit in with the not-always-so-young urban professionals in the area.

The main crossfit page, however, looks much more hardcore. For example, I’m not sure I’d ever seen a 100lb barbell plate before I walked through the Gold’s Gym in San Diego. (I actually had a guest pass, but I worked out there during my business trip but I went out of my way to find In-N-Out burger and coincidentally the Gold’s was next door.) The pictures from the main crossfit page remind me of the San Diego gym. Lots of big scary guys with crewcuts. I think it’s all Marines and gung-ho cops.

Which is not to say that’s a bad thing. I’ve never had a run-in with a big guy at the gym. They’re usually quite pleasant and helpful. I think the not-quite-so-young urban professionals could be worse in that regard.

Really, all this means is that if I do end up working out with the guys from the main gym, they’re going to be through their workout and drinking beer before I’m even halfway through. No problem, really, since I don’t have anywhere I have to be.

Most of the day I spent being tired because the workouts at the gym are in the morning on Saturday. Fortunately, I didn’t have that much to do today. I did figure out that strategy is very important when you’re doing 3 exercises 5 times with rest in between. The one you pick to do first makes a big difference.

Later in the day I helped my neighbor transport a wood chipper and standing outside I ran into four people I haven’t seen in months. Winter in Oregon is usually a time for all of us to hide and on nice days like today, everyone seems to be outside.

I took my first picture with my Buttberry today. Nothing special, but not too bad. I guess every cell phone I get has a better camera in it.

Stay Strong.

Instead of using Netflix, I use Greencine. When I joined they had a much more eclectic selection than Netflix. Not sure how Netflix is doing now. Anyway, I’ve had Bound and The Beyond sitting on my desk for way too long. I should have made it my New Years resolution to watch those darn movies.

I think I promised Nathan at the gym that I’d cut down on the cheeseburgers. Part of my dinner was half of a cheeseburger my mom didn’t finish at lunch, so I think that means I’m not supposed to eat a cheeseburger tomorrow. That’s hard on Fridays, when the company cafeteria expects a low turnout and isn’t on their A game. We usually figure that’s a sign that we should go to the Helvetia Tavern and eat yet another cheeseburger with an enormous pile of fries. If I avoid that I’ll probably just have to “eat in.” I can’t imagine what sort of horrors will be inflicted on me at the company cafeteria. I think the only healthy thing there is the napkins.

I’m back at the gym and I’m back to being the slowest one there. I think it’s mainly a problem with my pacing, or at least that’s what I like telling myself. And even better, I got on the scale and noticed that the numbers are gaining on me again. It’s a battle of me against the cheeseburgers, and I think the cheeseburgers are winning.

Oh, well, I guess it’s no time to give up.

It figures that the first day of work would be the first day I felt better. I still punted the gym tonight, but I think I must have really been tired. Usually when I call something off (like staying home from work) I immediately feel better and thus feel guilty about being so lame. But this time I felt even more tired.

The only good thing about being a little sick is the dreams I’ve had. Some of them were pretty interesting. Last night, my dad was sitting in his t-shirt with his hair all askew, looking at a computer screen, clicking a mouse all over the tabletop. I asked my sister where he came from and she told me that my brother-in-law had exhumed him. Yeah, I miss my dad.

Sunday I was back in my old college dorm, trying to use the elevator. But the elevator went in 3-dimensions and turned into a trolley. I was trying to figure out the buttons when a woman told me that we were in “Benjamin Square” (which doesn’t exist in Cambridge). She said I didn’t look harmful and wanted to know if I wanted to get coffee.

I’m not about to examine my dreams for any meaning but they’re kind of fun to see.

So Saturday I had a cough. Sunday morning I woke up with my voice gone and when I thought I’d take a quick nap, I almost missed the whole afternoon. It was a nice day, too.

I can say I feel a little better today, but stomach problems limited my outdoor excursions. At least I can use that for an excuse on why I didn’t do anything beyond finishing my taxes. I owe some money, so I doubt I’ll be turning them in early.

Since we punted the ham radio thing today, I decided to go to the gym. I almost feel like I’m coming down with something, but I went anyway. Not too bright. It was someone’s 30th birthday, so they had a special workout.

• 1 lap around the block (450 meters)
• 30 kettlebell swings
• 30 sumo deadlift high pulls
• 30 sit ups
• 30 wall ball
• 30 lunges
• 30 box jumps
• 30 ring rows
• 1 lap around the block (450 meters)

I did the list backwards not that it mattered, and I was the LAST ONE FINISHED. I was dragging myself down the last part of the run when two or three cars were honking and people were waving. I thought maybe people were leaving the gym and just giving me encouragement, but I think they were from the other gym (a block away). Nice that they got to see me in fine form, looking like I was about to pass out.

I took a nap today that I didn’t feel like getting up from. My buddy Greg and I went out to lunch and I think we were competing on who could cough more. Oh, well. I’m guessing I’m not making it to the gym five times next week.

I made my first phone call with my Blackberry today. I’ve been using it for email and nothing else so far. I called my friend Greg and his wife answered and she kept saying, “Hello? Hello? Hello?” I thought my phone was broken until she started laughing. Sheesh. Sounds like Greg came down with the ‘flu and we may not make it to the ham radio thing this weekend.

I successfully made it to the gym four times this week. It’s making me sleep well if nothing else. When I got there today, Dave the Trainer’s client Craig told me that I need a social life. What would I do with one of those? A couple of days ago I found out that Dave the trainer had broken up with his girlfriend again. This time it might take, because she’s left the country. At first I thought it would be bad because we’re fishing from the same pool. Then I realized that I’m usually playing golf when I should be fishing. Besides, fishing requires me to get up early in the morning and get bit by mosquitoes and I’m not down with that.

Oh, the other thing this working out and being tired has made me do is look up weird videos on YouTube. I mean, why am I listening to, “The Humpty Dance,” “Same Song,” “Da Dip,” and “911 is a Joke,” when I have all those on my iPod already? “Da Dip,” and “911 is a Joke,” get stuck in my head when I’m at the gym because of dips, and the Public Enemy lyrics, “Get up, get get, get down.”

I’m not sure why, but the other song that got stuck in my head when I was working out with Dave the Trainer was, “Baby Got Back.”

Instead of sending my tax forms in, I’ve been reading about how to enter in some of my stock transactions. It’s kind of a mess, if you ask me. I suppose tax accountants are paid well for a reason.

I found out why my Blackberry wasn’t working right. Turns out even though I have a receipt telling me that I’ve signed up for a new data plan, I WASN’T SIGNED UP FOR A DATA PLAN. Does that make sense? Ah, well, it seems to be working now. I don’t hate it as much as I did yesterday.

I think I overdid the mini-bananas this morning. I only had 3 and a Mandarin orange but I felt kind of bad all day. So of course I went to the gym. Oddly enough, after all the sweating I felt a lot better.

What I don’t feel better about is my stupid purchase of last week. I got my Crackberry today and it’s a worthless lump of excrement. Especially since Blackberry service is broken today. Kind of silly to get something that can do mobile email only to find out it CAN’T DO MOBILE EMAIL.

I live across from a school yard, and kids often come there to hang out. And by kids I mean rich high school kids who drive their parents’ cars here and make noise while they’re drinking and smoking and carrying on. What usually happens is if they’re too annoying I call the police non-emergency number, take the 3 minutes to wade through their voice mail system, and report the kids. Noisy kids are a low priority, so they dispatch a squad car if they’re not busy. The squad car shows up and the kids just get in their cars and drive away. I’ve been told not to warn them off on my own, in case the kids aren’t the docile neighbor kids who are usually out there.

Well, last night something went wrong. About 45 minutes after I called, my doorbell rang. I stumbled to the door and two officers asked me for my contact information and date of birth. Turns out that the cops showed up and the kids ran off, dropping beer bottles and abandoning three cars that had booze inside. The cops didn’t want to have a drunk driving situation, so they towed the cars.

I hope the kids realize that it’s not a good idea to drink and make noise in a residential neighborhood.

We had a neighborhood gathering today welcoming our newest neighbor. I wish we’d see the neighbors more often, but everybody hides in winter. Other than that I had the joy of starting my taxes. Looks like I owe some money. At least that means I made some more than the government first thought I’d make.

Several times a year I get to go to Ringside steak restaurant for birthday dinners. It started out with my buddy Il and me going for my birthday. Then we added his birthday. Then some other friends of my sister got in on the deal (15% discount for birthdays and anniversaries if you get on their mailing list) and I was invited to their group birthday celebrations. Anyway, it was Il’s birthday dinner tonight and we pigged out. Not only did we have a bottle of wine between us, we also had some Scotch afterwards.

The sad part was that we both realized we were probably going to make it to the Scappoose strawberry festival because neither of us had anything going on for Father’s day. (For those not paying attention, both our fathers passed away last year.) We both talked about the new things we were going to do this year. I didn’t have anything spectacular, but I think Il’s going to Korea for the first time in 30 years.

I did get a discount coupon from eHarmony. I wonder if I should use it.