Final saga?

Well, I got my laptop back on Tuesday. I brought it home, opened the box, and read the tech notes. It appeared they replaced the motherboard with the processor and then restored the OS. Crap. That meant I had to do a full Carbonite recovery plus any software reinstalls. Fine, whatever. I'll deal with it since it appears they fixed my laptop. I pay the annual Carbonite fee for this purpose anyway (worth every penny by the way).

So anyway, last night I'm on my machine and chatting with my cousin. Re-reading the notes, it appears the processor they put in is different than what my system came with. Instead of a Turion 64 X2 TL-56, I got a Turion 64 MK-38. I'm thinking, "Wow, maybe they upgraded me." So I did a quick search, and lo and behold it turns out it's a slower chip. The MK-38 is a single-core chip at 2.2 GHz. The TL-56 I had was rated 1.8 GHz, but being dual-core, it's faster than the MK-38. So imagine that. HP fixed my laptop, but still left me worse off. It's like taking your V6 car into the shop and coming out with a V4. What a disappointment.

Well, today I called my executive case manager. He asked if I got my laptop. I told him I did, but explained the processor situation. He checked his notes and the original specs of my machine and agreed that I have a slower chip now. He told me that he promised me a replacement if this repair went wrong, so he put in an order to send me a brand-new laptop that is comparable or better. He explained that it'll get to me in 14 days and that I would need to send the current one back. Fine with me. This case manager seems very nice anyway, so I made the arrangements, and now it's a waiting game. So pretty soon, this whole fiasco may well be over. I can't wait.

Even though this seems to be ending on a happy note, I can't help but feel like I have a sour taste in a my mouth from all this. Would I recommend HP? Take a guess.

Good food, good company

I finally made it over to my cousin's to get a taste of his crepes, which he started making ever since his return from a study-abroad trip to France. We went to get some groceries and went over to his place to do some prep work. I don't know why, but I like cooking. Well, I love DIY in general, but cooking is pretty awesome. You got the preparation aspect (I love mise en place), the assembling/cooking, and then you get instant gratification of your creations. How cool is that?


Anyway, we went about prepping our ingredients. We bought ingredients for savory crepes as well as dessert crepes. We also saved some fruits for a chocolate fondue later. My cousin also bought a loaf of Italian bread to accompany the brie I bought, so I couldn't resist and set that up at the center of our table.

My cousin took care of cooking and assembling the tasty crepes. We did ham, cheese, and mushrooms.

Overall, it was a nice night with good food and good company. Although I might have filled up a bit too much.

Broke 180lb

A bit late with the workout update. I had to attend to a personal matter. But here's the workout breakdown:


Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), BBS (2x30lbs)
Tuesday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75), elevated pushups (25, 25), wide pushups (20, 20), triangle pushups (10, 10)
Friday: None
Saturday: None
Sunday: None


On the bright side, I think that easy week I had the week before helped my body recover a bit more. I finally broke through the 180lb barrier. Hope to reach 175lb soon.




Last weigh-in:
179.0 lb/182.0 lb

Crick in the neck

Didn't have a good week last week. I didn't do any mini-workouts Monday, because I had the day off. Then the rest of the week, I was just so bogged down by the extra work I have. Too tired and stressed to try. But I still pushed myself to do the mini-workouts at the minimum. What added to it was that I woke up Wednesday morning with a nasty crick in the neck. Maybe I slept wrong or whatever, but it hurt enough that I didn't want to do any shoulder or back exercises. I was afraid I might pull it since it was already tight. I was able to do some pushups, but not as much since I was tired:

Monday: none
Tuesday: Calf raises (75), pushups (45)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75), elevated pushups (25, 25), staggered pushups (20, 20), ab work
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each)

I guess I did make up for it by assembling an IKEA loft bed for my sister on Sunday. It took about three hours, but I felt pretty accomplished. Tried to help out with some house cleaning, but the dust got to my lungs and irritated it plenty. Had to take a double dose of albuterol to calm the bronchial tubs down a bit. I woke up with a little wheezing this morning too, so I had to take another dose.

Didn't really weigh myself this week, but my diet was mostly the same, so I'm assuming I weigh the same.

Case escalated!

I didn't have time to write about this before, but my HP laptop case has been escalated. Whether through BBB's efforts or not, an Executive Case Manager called me personally and left a voicemail. When I called him back, he told me he was taking over the case from Steven, my previous case manager. He reviewed the case and told me that with the amount of repairs my laptop has gone through he has no problems with replacing the machine. He saw that I had a fourth repair schedule and that the box was already shipped out, so he told me to send it to the repair center one more time. He gave me all his contact info and told me to call him once I receive the laptop back. He wants to know how it went good or bad.

So this is good news. It's been four months, but I'm glad something is happening. I mean, I don't really care if they fix it or not. I want a workable machine. So if they fix it, I want an extended warranty. If they don't, then I'll accept the replacement. Once this HP fiasco is finalized, I'll review my computer situation and go from there. I just can't wait for all this to be over.

Workout updates

I've been busy at work, so no background this week. Here's the workout updates:

Monday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), BBS (2x30lbs)
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75)
Wednesday: Squats (40, 20), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 10, 3), chinups (10, 10, 5)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75)
Friday: Squats (40)
Saturday: lunges (20 each), chest dips (30)
Sunday: Pullups (10, 10, 5), chinups (10, 10, 5)

Last I weighed, I got the same results:
180.0lb/182.0lb

Got some cardio in

So I had intened to go to the Cambridge Bow Tie Bike Ride on Sunday. But instead, I wound up breaking two tire valves on two separate bicycles while I was pumping air in the tires. After attempting to go to a bike shop to get replacement parts and finding out we were two hours early for their opening time, we settled on a quick hike instead at the reservation near my home. The "quick" hike turned out to be 7.72 miles when we missed a connecting trail. What a day.

Anyway, the week was pretty good, I suppose. I was able to squeeze a BBS workout in one day and some pushup variations in another. I had a couple of bad eating days, but I'd like to think the long hike took care of that. Here's the breakdown:

Monday: Squats (40), parallel pullups (5), lunges (20 each)
Tuesday: Pushups (40, 40), calf raises (75), BBS (3 sets of 10 w/2x30lbs), chest flies (10, 10)
Wednesday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), pullups (10, 6), chinups (10, 10), hammer curls (10)
Thursday: Pushups (45, 45), calf raises (75), elevated pushups (20, 20), diamond pushups (10, 10), staggered pushups (20, 20), wide pushups (20, 20)
Friday: Squats (40), lunges (20 each), parallel pullups (8)
Saturday: Pullups (10, 8), chinups (10, 10)
Sunday: 7.72 mile hike

Last weigh-in:
180.0?/183.0? (I really didn't get a good weigh-in that was consistent with how I normally weigh-in. I think it's the same as last week)