All these family dinners...

Been going to a lot of family dinners lately. I know, not really an excuse, but man...so much food. Here's the update:

Monday: Squats (40), horse stance (1.5 minutes)
Tuesday: Calf raises (90)
Wednesday: Lunges (20 each), neutral grip pullups (10), squats (40), horse stance (2.0 minutes)
Thursday: Calf raises (90)
Friday: None
Saturday: Chinups (10), pullups (10)
Sunday: BBS (30lbs X2)

Pretty sucky. Did horse stance a couple times. Forgot how much those things burned near the end. I do a pretty deep seated horse stance too. Enough so you can put cups on my thighs and watch me squirm in agony to keep them balanced. Haha. I'll try to fit in a couple of those this week too.

Last weigh-in:
179.5lb (that elusive 175lb!)

Hmm...

I was at the bookstore the other day and ran into this:

Haha. Pretty funny. I know, the book actually gives some tips into how to read certain genres. But at first glance, I cracked up. Reminds me of solar-powered flashlights, powdered water (just add water!), etc.

Not you too, Carbonite!

So, I was doing my daily routine of checking out the headlines when I ran across this: "Carbonite Stacks the Deck with 5-Star Reviews". So in the wake of the Belkin mess, apparently, Carbonite has posted some positive reviews of themselves to manipulate the ratings. I find it very disappointing that Carbonite had to resort to this.

I've been a customer of theirs for nearly two years, and I have used the recover backup functions at least four times (twice for my HP, once when HP wiped my laptop to "fix" it, and once when I replaced my HP with my Aspire One). Each time I recover, I am very thankful that my data was backed up offsite. Sure, I would've achieved the same results with an external HDD, but say my apartment burns down and destroys both my computer and my HDD. Or if someone steals my HDD, and later I lose my data on my computer. That's pretty bad. And with an HDD, you have to remember to plug it in and do regular backups. I've said before, the two keys of a good backup is: 1) regular backups and 2) store offsite away from your computer. My backup is in the "cloud" with Carbonite and it syncs automatically whenever my computer is on and connected to the internet.

I just bought a 500GB external HDD (500GB for $115!) so I can move some video files over there. I'll probably do another copy of my files there too as a secondary backup, but I don't plan on cancelling my Carbonite subscription. If anything, I got the HDD to backup some nonessential files (videos) so I don't have to backup those to Carbonite. And since I don't really care if I lose some videos I've already watched, I can save time if I need to recover my data again from Carbonite.

Again, it's a shame Carbonite had to do what they did. Unlike Belkin, their product is actually good.

My "bar"

Those who know me, know I have a decent liquor section in my apartment. Here's the setup in my new place:


Top: bartending supplies/shot glasses, Balvenie Single Barrel, Johnnie Walker Gold, Johnnie Walker Black, Mount Gay aged rum, peach schnapps, Hennessy, Godiva Chocolate, Chambord, Bombay Sapphire, my Grandpa's ginseng stuff, vermouth, various little bottles
1st rack: Finlandia (in the process of trying out vodkas besides Grey Goose and Belvedere; most brand names taste just like vodka is supposed to taste: tasteless), Ketel One citrus, Barcardi (2x), Barcardi 151 (fire!!)
2nd rack: Jose Cuervo (trying to get rid of it, will replace with Milagro as the everyday tequila), Canadian Club
3rd rack: Sour apple, triple sec, coffee liqueur
4th rack: random bottle of white wine, and a bottle of nice champagne that has moved on (yum!)

As you can see, I try to have a bar that is ready for a variety of drinks. I would definitely like to add some other liquor/mixers in. On my would-like-to-have list are: Bailey's, Kahlua, Jack Daniels, Tanqueray (only cause it fits on the rack, unlike the Bombay Sapphire; both taste like gin is supposed to taste: burning, though great with tonic), Captain Morgan's.

Well, that's all!

Back to 176.0lb

Here's my latest update. Nothing much here. Trying to fit in some dumbbell mini-workouts at home. On the bright side, I'm back to my weight before I went on vacation. Work's been a bit busy, so feeling guilty about taking too much time to do the mini-workouts. Although, it's probably the same amount of time as the smokers take. As for the weekend, I have no excuse. But it was nice just to have a relaxing weekend for once.

Monday: Squats (40)

Tuesday: Calf raises (90)

Wednesday: Neutral grip pullups (10), lunges (20 each), Squats (40)

Thursday: Front raises (10, 10), calf raises (90), pushups (40)

Friday: Neutral grip pullups (10), squats (40)

Saturday: none
Sunday: none

Last weigh-in:
176.0 lb

Sick...

Somehow I managed to catch a minor cold. Had a sore throat then some stuffiness for a week. I'm recovering a bit now, but put a damper on my energy level.

Monday: Neutral grip pullups (10), squats (40)
Tuesday: Calf raises (90)
Wednesday: Pushups (40), lunges (20 each)
Thursday: Squats (40) - feel sick and weak.
Friday: Side raises (10, 10), neutral grip pullups (10)
Saturday: Rear lat raises (10, 10)

I told myself I'd go to the gym, but wound up wussing out. The thought of going home, warming up, changing, then heading back into the cold to drive to the Y wasn't all that appealing to me. I did manage to so part of my mini-workouts, but not too much. BBS workouts have all gone to heck, but I'm trying to incorporate them back in somehow.

I need to add horse stances back in. Turns out my legwork isn't helping much in the ski area. Squats and lunges are good and all, but in a ski run, the quads are in use 100% of the time. So the exertion level is closer to doing horse stances for minutes. Last season was better since I was doing kung fu at the time and we were holding horse stances for at least 5 minutes before every class. I'll have to work up from the 1-2 min I can hold now. I'd like to aim for 5+ minutes as an average run on a decent mountain is close to that if not longer.

Last weigh-in:
177.5 lb

Blegh...

It's been tough trying to get back to a routine. Last week was okay. Shoveling and skiing helped even out my caloric burn. I really need to get into a routine and go to the gym. Problem is that it's really cold out. Hahah. Excuses.

The only positive last week was that I was able to get back to regular eating habits.

Monday: None
Tuesday: Calf raises (90)
Wednesday: Squats (40), neutral grip pullups (10), calf raises (20 each), shoveling
Thursday: Calf raises (90)
Friday: None
Saturday: Ski @ Loon (Quads on fire!)
Sunday: None

Last weigh-in:
177.5lb