Lacking Luster

Such is this blog. This is why things like facebook and other social media are not for me. I have the hardest time keeping up with this. Email is about the best that I do.

You know it's cold when... Your car shakes horrible when trying to idle, even though you just drove it for an hour. Or when a car passing you creates a fog that cannot be penetrated by sight. But Chena at less than 40below is awesome. It feels so good. And then you sleep for 10hrs, only to wake up and do yoga.

"Yoga??!!?!?," you say. It was a P90X workout that I never did. It was hard. For the first 45 minutes, you're in positions that stretch you body beyond belief, holding it, and dripping sweat. Then we got into "balance poses" and you think, "what the h*&% was I just doing?!?" Those were more like, just hold a not so awkward position for longer.

I got some great face time the other day with the UAF and UAA advisory boards. It was an unspoken duty of a position that I hold, and as a result, I've been asked to help muster student support for a new engineering building. Sort of single handedly. I keep asking myself over and over, how do you sell something to someone who just doesn't care. Its not easy.

And as a cherry on top, mark "Moving at -40 below" off my list of things to do. That was this weekends activity.

The Steven or Opportunity Cost

This is two days worth of material, and I will somehow try to catch your attention to keep you reading.

I'll start with Friday, at 1:30am EST when I did "The Steven"
50 push ups - 30 sit ups - 25 burpees - 50 jumping jacks - 40 mountain climbers - 30 dips - 120s plank - 120s superman - 50 slider push ups - 24 lunges
I did it in 17:43.97

NEVER underestimate the effects of caffeine. Even in small doses. I had a small amount before bedtime on Thursday night, and tossed and turned until 1:30 when I was so frustrated that I did the workout that I was supposed to do at 6am. I wanted to do double that, "The Steven 2.0", replacing all push ups with body weight rows, but that wasn't happening at 1:30am when I was fatigued.
I left PA with a lack of sleep.

I had the opportunity to swap flights back to Fairbanks so that I didn't have to get in at 12:20am. I was actually in bed at 10pm Friday night. I was so happy. Especially when I didn't wake up until 7am.

BUT WAIT!!! The flight was incredible because I got to sit next to a real estate/insurance tycoon who had made quite a bit of money. We talked about everything. I got to pick his brain. It was very inspiring/provoking. He told me to look at my opportunity costs for grad school. Assuming my job prospects pay me no less than $60k a year starting in May and grad school costs $40k a year and takes 2 years to complete, it would cost me roughly $215k to go to grad school. (Don't forget 6% interest)
Numbers mean a lot to me. Do my dreams of Nuclear Engineering pencil out?
He also said something that I've read in the Rich Dad Poor Dad books - he's not in the insurance business even though he owns a State Farm franchise. He's in the investment business. Something that I had slightly forgotten, but really shouldn't. His profits from his day job go into some investment portfolio. Real estate in this case.

And at the end of all of that, today, this morning, I was amazed at myself.
I benched 190lbs, dead lifted 335lbs, and shoulder pressed 135lbs.
Amazing: the most I've historically benched is 195lbs last spring. I've lost 20+ pounds and can bench almost as much. (How does that work?)
Yes, 335lbs. I tried for 345, but couldn't lift it. I should've tried 340 to double my body weight.

When the Rubber Hits the Road - 13

No menu today either. I've been sporadically snacking since I've been traveling so long. Also, I was probably in the air or asleep when any specified "meal time" was in the current time zone that I was in.
So in summary, the most closely related thing that I've eaten to a meal was a bunch of turkey roll ups. I definitely think that those will be the default when travelling. You can buy turkey sandwich meat anywhere, cucumbers and peppers are also extraordinarily common. But I've eaten beef jerky, an assortment of nuts, carrots, a banana, and... An Avocado. It was delicious. I might go get another one to eat. Ripe and amazing.
When I went to the store (walmart was the only place that I successfully found), I looked at prices and realized the higher cost of living in Alaska. 39 cents a pound for bananas that were ripe. 50 cents per avocado. Yeah. Had I not eaten the whole avocado and 2/3 of the cucumber, $11.18 would've fed me dinner for two days. I saw pineapple, but fear the pain of eating an entire pineapple by myself in one or two days.

I go to see my mom and brother last night for an hour. It was really nice. I wish that I was returning through Anchorage on Friday, instead of spending 4 hours in Seattle. It's really strange passing through your home town.
And SOGM: there was a black woman on my flight from FAI>ANC and when we landed, I got her bag out of the overhead bin. She started singing. Whether the two were connected, I don't know, but ALWAYS help a lady get her bag out of the bin. You will reap a reward. Mine was her singing.

Took two more flights. Walked quickly across an entire concourse in Chicago. Made it to HOT Harrisburg, PA. Saw a river super high. Rented my first car.
My lucky day: first, the woman behind the counter was born on Elmendorf and said that she hadn't seen an Alaskan Driver's license before. Second, they were out of "Honda Fit, or similar" size vehicles. I got an Impala for no extra charge. It's silver, black leather interior (which is a sauna in the sun) has a Bose stereo system, satellite radio works here, and its a gajillion (copy and paste that into word and it corrects it to gazillion) times larger than my car. Not really, just bigger.
I drove about 30min to the hotel, using my non-toll road instructions, checked in, then worked out:
20 Burpees - 20 Bodyweight Rows - 20 Diamond Pushups - 50 Chair jumps - 50 dips - 50 Good mornings - 20 Clapper Pushups - 20 B.W. Rows - 20 Mountain Climbers (per leg) - 2:00 Plank - 50 dips - 20 B.W. Rows - 100 ab twists - 25 Pikes
The chair jumps were changed into 100 jumping jack because they were quieter when I hit the floor.
I did all of that in 19:42.69
And finished up with 2:00 superman - 20 decline pushups - 20 pikes

Then I went to find the grocery store. I drove around a bit. Higher cost of living in Alaska or not, all of the residents up there are blessed compared to what I'm seeing here. There's been some losses here. I'm assuming from the downturn. More than I've seen in Anchorage or Fairbanks.

Eh. Back to homework. I want to have some whirlwind adventure.
Oh, and many, oh so many, hedges of protection around Dan as he journeys forth today.

Day 6 (With Pictures!!!)

D (9/4): carrots, cucumber, salmon

B: 1 whole egg - 2 egg whites - green onions - peppers - 2 leaves of kale - mushrooms - spinach

S1: 3 baby carrots and a piece of beef

D: Rosemary garlic chicken, ratatouille

Notice the last item on the food list: ratatouille. That's right, I made ratatouille. At first I "bit off more than I could chew" by under estimating the size of a "large pot" in the recipe. It calls for a large pot. I had to make it in two pots. And froze 4 servings because it made so much. But! It made me feel gourmet when combined with the chicken. I had sliced a clove of garlic and inserted it into the chicken, (cut slits) then rubbed it with rosemary and grilled it. The ratatouille was good alone, but the combo was amazing.

I guess I don't really need to post what I am eating, but it's proof that I am.

The other thing that I did today: WOD (workout of the day)

20 Burpees - 50 Pushups - 20 pull ups (or bodyweight rows) - 50 dips - 20 bench jumps - 50 ab twists (with 10lb ball) - 120s plank - 50 "good mornings" - 30 ball pushups (15 per arm) - 40 mountain climbers (20 per leg) - 20 chin ups (see above) - 50 jumping jacks (modified for low ceiling) - 50 sit ups - 120s superman

BONUS!!!

50 dips - 50 Pike pushups - 40 side ab crunches (20 per side)

ntb: 29:59.41

When I got into the burpees, about number 6, I knew that I had created a workout that would go over 20min. Took me 29:59.41 to do it all including the bonus round. I also discovered that I have a very weak core; it took a lot of time to do the sit-ups. It's good to know that my mind is still more ambitious than my body. Now I have something to aspire to: my mind's goals.

I was pumped up/twitching most of the day, but felt amazing.

I feel like I should be writing something deep here. Did you know that the closest point on the earth's surface to the earth's core is in the Atlantic ocean even though the deepest point in the ocean is in the Pacific? How's that?

I'm looking forward to going to Hawaii. Really.