Whistles, HIIT, and leg sweeps.

In preparation for the next phase of the body-rebuilding/whatever the hell I am doing I have been exploring the lovely Bodyrock website and it's High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) videos.  I did a couple of their beginning videos and they kicked my ass. That's a good sign that by doing them I will make great progress.

These videos feature a sweatproof body timer thing.   It looks lovely, appears to function well and is actually quite inexpensive... but a free app that replicates it's function is even less expensive. Naturally it was downloaded to my phone upon discovery.

During testing I discovered that the Interval alarm was a coach's whistle.  The first time it went off Cin poked me in the ribs with her cold nose while whining in concern.

The second time she bit me and ran into the other room in fear.

I think I'm going to change the alarm to something that doesn't leave me mauled by a malamute.

Further, working out with/around her is... umm... a treat.  But only if you appreciate the absurd.

 Firstly, whenever I work on the heavy bags, BOB, or the speed bag Cin glues herself to my side and makes a sorta... half-chuffing whining noise.  I don't actually know if she is complaining... or just excited...

Cin also did it when my former room-mate came over and gave the heavy bag a few test smacks.  Just not as loudly.

Secondly, practicing the various katas are also problematic.  When I am on the mat she wants to be on the mat with me.  Not on her dog bed, not on the wood near the mats... she wants to be ON the mat.  Shoo her away and it lasts until your back is turned and she's back on the mat.

Lastly, she loves my Gi pants, not only because they pick up her shed hair so effectively but she appears to love the *snap* they make when I am doing kicks or moving quickly in a technique or kata.  Last week she actually grabbed the hem of my pants as I was leaping backwards (don't ask... it's part of the kata) and yanked me sideways resulting in me crashing to the ground instead of landing gracefully.

If I can figure out how, I'm going to teach her to do that on command.

Dojo, dog hair, and cheat days.

I soft launched the Dojo on Friday, delivering flyers to friends and neighbors.  Response has been positive, but as of yet, no one is breaking down the door for lessons.

I am building a framework to hang the heavy bag.  I went shopping for one and the only ones I could find were really rather expensive.  So I am using some 2x6 I bought for other projects and bought a $15 rafter adapter designed to hang bags from pipes, beams etc.

The fun part will be getting the 100 lb bag hoisted in the air and then attached all by my lonesome.

Not quite sure how I'm going to accomplish that step yet.

Speaking of the Dojo, dog hair is going to be a constant problem.  Even though the winter has finally started to get a little chilly Cinnamon appears to have decided to drop her winter coat.  Frequent sweeping of the dojo (and the rest of the house) are a guaranteed necessity.

Bonus, she has decided that the bath mat outside the shower is her new bed instead of the nice comfy dog bed I'd tried to get her to use.  It was  chocolate brown...



So some quick measurements for you... for the good news part of this weeks 4HB update.

Since beginning 4HB I have lost a total of 9 inches from hips, waist, and chest (mostly from the first two locations.)

Weight loss this week has been an underwhelming 1.5 lbs, but there is an interesting little datum blip right in the middle.  In a recent post's comments I addressed what an impact cheat days can have and how clearly they effect the overall picture.

Now, I think cheat days are import both psychologically and clearly physically, they allow you body and soul to enjoy what you were craving.

But, this week there was an unexpected cheat day on Tuesday, which just dinner and dessert varying from the typical weekly meal.  It resulted in a 1.2 gain over the next two days (I forgot to measure Wednesday morning.)  Couple that with what would have been an expected loss of .8 lbs over that time span... and basically a single of cycle cheat day resulted in wasting 2.0 of progress... something that would take at least 3-4 days to recover from.

So instead of a daily average of .44 lbs... for the week the average was .02.

Is an extra cheat day worth halving your progress?

This space *not* Intentionally left blank.

It was my intention to write here more frequently, but I find myself more often then not staring at this white space waiting for inspiration.

It's not that my life is empty, there is a lot happening. I just wonder of how much of it worth putting down on paper.

For example, I still love my new job. But a lot of my day is spent digging into the innards of OpenPGP workings, user profile management, and redundant fallback procedures for fault tolerant servers. It hardly makes for heady reading.

He brandished the mighty scroll wheel, and rolled his cursor down to the next line. His breath caught. "Certificate services are denied in non-standard port settings! How can this be?" he cried in alarm.

*Ahem* I think we will spare you all that.

I suppose the one thing of note is I will be doing a sweep of the eastern 1/2 of the state next week with new equipment installs interspersed between 17.5 hours of driving in 4 days. Thoughts of this trip are mixture of excitement and dread. On the one hand, I will be seeing parts of Montana I have not visited and meeting new people, on the other hand... 17.5 hours of driving mixed with equipment installs.

If nothing goes wrong I will have ~ 2 hours to set up each site. Any longer and the time table goes out the window. Things always go wrong... so...

Weather has been... exciting, with 50 degree days followed by 6 inches of snow and 20 degree nights. I almost took my snow tires off for this trip. I'm glad I didn't. I may wait until July at this rate.

However, the early warmth has caused the Woolly Mamot.... err dog to start her shed a bit early. It's fair to say that there will be mountains of dog hair over the next few weeks. She is in otherwise good spirits, though the regular walks she goes on with the Girl have shown just how out of shape she is now that she doesn't have a 1 acre yard to cavort in every day.

I suppose the other thing of note is that I have officially hit the 1/2 point in 3rd Brown. I have learned 1/2 the techniques and 1 of the two kata. I suppose I should add a big "In theory" in the front of that. The first Kata (who's name I never remember) is at least as hard as the Green belt one (Chinese Hands) that kicked my butt.

Which reminds me... need to practice it more tonight... *sigh*

Dog + Snow.

Hullo Interwebs...

This is not quite how I envisioned my return to the endless sea of electrons, but here it is.

Some minor updates, as you can consider this a post to get the old brain pumping as I get back in the swing of things.

First, my nickname for the next couple of weeks is "Pinky" although there was some discussion of making it Lefty. I have managed to remove the tip of one of my fingers. Again. Some of you may have recalled this happened with frightening regularity previously because sleep deprivation + exacto blades are a poor mix.

The upshot of this is discovered my lovely lass handles herself in a crises when there is blood involved with aplomb and alacrity. I've never had a better assistant while self ministering.

Second, dog is fine and hasn't jumped out any windows or other heroically stupid acts. Still moderately gassy, though after year with out pig ear treats both volume and potency have decreased dramatically.

Third, I received my Green belt in Kenpo. This means I am technically qualified to teach everything up-to and including Green. 3rd brown is going fast, and most of the 2nd brown techniques I learned in the Green belt kata, so these next two belts should be over and done with soon. I also have 4 ladies who would like to start official Kenpo lessons, but I have to find a place. All the dance studios and gyms I have contacted rent out at either what my hourly rate would be, or more... so I would break even or lose money renting from them.

Fourth, school is on hold. At least until next fall. More on that later.

Fifth, I got a great computer job in the mean time, started about a month and a half ago. Good pay, great location, and a great group of people to work with. It's a six month contract, but may turn into a permanent position. One that may include the flexibility to continue with school, with a guaranteed paycheck.

That's all for now, all this typing is making my finger hurt.

A day without rain...

Is apparently a day with snow.

Yes it snowed here this morning. Didn't stick... but still.

Nonetheless it had cleared up enough this afternoon that I snapped a pic of the front of the house.


I am also making progress, albeit slowly, with unpacking. I had planned on alphabetizing these as I put them up and realized is was better for my sanity to get the boxes out of my office and books on shelves then to have them organized...

New House... same tripping hazards...

Dog pictures...

Cleaning out the camera and I ran across these two which I haven't shared before.

This why it is dangerous going down the stairs in the dark round these parts.



Cinnamon says, safety third!

FEED ME

Dog ... in thought.

So I came upstairs to feed the mighty Cinnamon and found her sprawled winsomely at the top of the stairs, clearly exaustesd by the wait. I ran back down and grabbed my camera, but she had moved before I could snap the shot.

The shot with the flash on, although blurry, was too funny not to post.

The New Casa de' Architectures

So this is gonna be a picture heavy post, and I discovered a new trick... Photoshop Elements has a spiffy photomerge tool built into it... so I will be abusing you with panoramas. Also we are moving in, there are boxes and random stuff everywhere. Cope.


The House. Not a whole lot to say here... looks big doesn't it? It is. Over 3000 sq ft.

First Panorama. The Backyard. The 1 Acre backyard. There are horses next door. The dog is thrilled.

Living Room, from the landing.

Living Room, from the dining room.

Bonus shot of the roommate and girlfriend comparing swords. Yes... we are geeks.

Dining Room. (Aka .. the soon to be gaming room)

Second Panorama. The Kitchen. The Panorama is a little messed up. Really I needed three pictures to get it to work instead of two. However, this is what you get. The backsplash is steel.

Master bedroom with beached squid. Okay, it's actually my bed all rolled up. The picture doesn't do justice... the room is really long.

Master bath. Actually, there is a closet opposite of this and it acts as a sorta of a hallway to the actual bathroom.

Guest Bath. But if my camera is there... how did this picture get taken... hmmm...

Wait? Stairs? Where do they go?What is this? Another door? What horrors lie beyond?

Ummm... okay. Not so much a horror... just and unfinished basement.

REALLY unfinished. (Panorama three for those keeping count.)

Oh... that's better. The one of the roommates is claiming this for his office.

This one will be my cave...err... office.

There is even a workbench in the utility room.

If these pictures haven't bored you to tears, there are some more here. They include the other two bedrooms (to become a sewing room and roommate bedroom respectively,) exciting pictures of the utility room, storage room, laundry room and other fun and exciting things... like bathtubs! Ooooh!

First School day.

After a stressful weekend trying to get moved out of the house early, so the new tenets could paint before moving in, I was happy to spend labor day recovering (in theory.)

The reality is: I had to go digging through all of my boxes looking for my text books, which I thought I had kept out. I had a 50% hit rate. I found my Japanese text books but didn't find the math text book I needed, so I had to go to class without. However, it wouldn't have mattered since it appears that there is a new version that I would have had to buy. Correction... have to buy.

That sorta set the tone for the day. MSU financial aid is actually not screwed up anymore but the AK student loan is. More paperwork might unsnarl it, but it might not. Also, I apparently neglected to withdraw in a timely out of my one summer class I had signed up for LAST summer at UAA and I'm on the hook for $431 (coming out of my dividend.) I called and double checked with the UAA lady in charge and apparently I withdrew a week after the final date (I was already in MT at that point.)

No internet at the house as of this morning but it's supposed to be working by tonight (fingers crossed.)

I'm supposed to be testing for my purple belt tonight, but I think digestive problems (and funds) are going to keep me home tonight.

Only other thing of note is the dog seems to be adapting fine to the new digs, likes the big yard and hasn't tried storming the fences yet. Thus far when I'm home she's got run of the yard, comes in at dinner for a couple hours, and is only on the dog run at night or when I'm at class.

For the record, she has once again proven to be a true malamute... she get's the chase part of chasing stick (and ball and Frisbee and tire and...) but the retrieve portion is mostly hit or miss. Actually it's mostly miss. Though sometimes she substitutes "bite enthusiastically" for "retrieve."

Otherwise life continues. Mostly stressful, but with some bright points.

Only 7 toes to go!

Today I was over at C's house to give her a ride to the airport. While C finished getting ready I had let the dog loose to run around the fenced back yard.

Once it was finally time to go, I wrangled the dog who gave little yelp when jumping into the back of the car. A quick examination revealed a little blood on on of her toes.

Airport shuttle was completed and the dog was taken back to the house for a more thorough examination.

Seems that one of the toenails she had cracked doing a superman impersonation had been filled with blood and weakened. Somehow during her romp this morning she managed to peel the toenail back off the regrowing toenail stub so it was only connected by a thread.

The toenail underneath was, of course, grody and covered with month old rotting blood. However thorough cleaning revealed healthy nail and flesh beneath, but I'll still be keeping a close eye on it.

This would be the third toenail she's lost in 4 months... so only 7 more to go to complete the set!

Here's a bonus picture of her enjoying the afternoon sun.

Dumb Dog in Sun

Mystery of the flying nun... err... Dog.

*Cross posted to me other blog as well.*

So I came home from seeing the Incredible Hulk to discover Cinnamon the wonder dog in the yard. This was bit odd because I left her in the house when I left. Furthermore she was limping.

A quick interview with the downstairs neighbors revealed the following:

Apparently he was sitting on the front porch talking to his father on the phone when he heard a tremendous clatter from the eaves, he stepped out, looked up in time to see my dog finish climbing out the second story window, onto the eaves and then jump the ten feet down onto the cement walkway.

A slightly fumbled landing with a minor faceplant later she ran over to him excitedly. He didn't see any obvious injury and he put her in the yard while he called the landlord to see if he had contact info for me. I arrived mere minutes later.

My quick survey showed what appeared to be superficial damage, and she wasn't exibiting any pain as I poked and prodded. Nonetheless, I arranged for after-hours veterinary service and off we went to meet her new doctor.

Good news: Scrapes, split lip, minor contusion of the jaw, bruise on the eye, and maybe a minor sprain of two ankles. Not enough of sprain to do more then slow her down a bit.

Bad news: She's gonna be really sore and slow for the next two weeks at least but nothing the the strong doggy aspirin she was prescribed shouldn't take care of, and of course these sort of visits are not inexpensive.

Orange Belt update. (Oh... and doggy opera)

Even though I am only two class session into the new belt we have already covered over half of the new techniques. Sensai seems really pleased with the speed that I'm picking them up.

Frankly, I suspect it because most of the techniques are just variations of the preceding belt or similar to techniques I learned in the other Kenpo style I studied.

Also after sparring session my instructor said that my aggressiveness, situational awareness, and technique were at green or brown belt level... my speed, stamina, and accuracy were about orange. He also said as I continue he expects that will ramp up swiftly as I get into better shape. Oh, he also has noticed that I've lost weight. He's the first person to notice... mind you he's been seeing me every week for 6 months whereas most people down here haven't.

Lastly, and most pleasingly, I have made a permanent mark on this style of Kenpo. A knife disarm I learned in my Tang Soo Do days is the center point to a new Green belt technique named broken reeds. Also a wrist escape I shared with my instructor may become the Anvil variant B.

~~~~

As I was typing this Sarah Brightman was playing fairly loudly on the stereo. I realized that there was some weird crooning noise coming from near my elbow, and when I looked down there was my dog; her head tilting to one side and then the other staring intently at the center channel speaker and crooning in harmony to the opera.

Weird dog.

Doggy Drugs.

Clearly ye dog has been partaking of illicit pharmaceuticals... look how psycadellic her picture is.



Has nothing to do with me trying different camera setting... oh no.

My dog is weird,

So I went to get kleenex to blow my nose and found this...



So you think she's trying to tell me the apartment is too hot?