8/30/2013

Worked at home all day, so no exercise as of yet.  Going over to Roanoke, will run somewhere over at Betsy's, then run the stairs, and workout at Planet Fitness.  That's a lot, I know.  Will let you know how it comes out.

Last night, went to Jade's for a pesto party---mmm. Matt grilled chicken, Sharon and her girls were there, and Izaak, and Alanis.  Good times.  Left about 9:20 and went to Billy's Barn to see Conrad Oberg, a young blues guitar player.  Very nice.  Met up with Maureen and Paul and some of their friends, and ran into a nice woman I have known in the past.  Hmmm.  It's nice to know Billy's is a nice fun place.  Will stop there more often.

Yesterday, Tuesday, 8/28/2013

Had a great day.  Got money from editing job number two, and signed a contract for work through Thanksgiving, but there's lots more where that came from. I love this work, and working with this guy.  I'm going with this one big time.

Left my morning meeting and went and joined Planet Fitness, a gym.  $20/month, got a Planet Fitness T-shirt, can work out at any Planet Fitness anywhere, lots of extras.  And had a great workout!  Full body, I worked everything.  Chest--bench press, incline bench press, flies.  Shoulders--overhead press with n dumbbells, side and front lifts with dumbbells, worked rear delts on cables.  Triceps--pull downs with bar, and with rope.   Biceps--curls with dumbbells and on the machine.  Lats and back--sitting rows, wide gripped pulldowns to back, medium gripped pulldowns to front, shrugs.  Abs and core--leg lifts, hyperextensions to the front and sides.  Quads--extensions on machine, presses.  Hamstrings--curls on machine.  Calves--on leg press machine.  That's a pretty good workout.

I can't tell you how good this feels. Sore today, and love it.  I am loving the running, etc., but working out in a gym is what I really love.  Will probably need two days off ,then workout Sat morning.  But will do a 5k on Friday.

After that, went to Fret Mill, downtown Roanoke, and got a book on blues mandolin, with CD.  And some really good picks, Dunlops, different thicknesses.  Read an article that good picks are worth it. Only 40c a piece, but nicer than what I'm used to.  Got one thick one, maybe for mandolin.  Can't find it right now, but got two that are medium, 1.14mm and two medium .96mm.  Will find out what I like.

But the big news is that I bought a new mandolin.  $55.  It's a Savannah, and they had others of that brand and more, up the price scale, but I loved the way this one played.  So easy.  I had them hold it, will get it Saturday.  Can sell my other one.

Then went to dinner at Maureen's, met her poet friend Alice.  She'll help in our food business.  We talked about it, might get going next week.  Could be fun.  And some extra money.  Maureen made a great dinner, fajitas and sauteed some eggplant slices with parmesan for appetizers.  They don't drink, so I didn't either.  Felt good.

Called Gina on way home, talked a long time.  She's in Florida, looking for a job.  Fun conversation.  I realized how fun my life is now.  Meeting great, interesting people, having quite an adventure.  Every day is different.  Today I will do lots of editing for first editing project. Stay home and work here.

When I got home, it was raining and windy on mountain, very beautiful.

Now, coffee!

8/27/2013

Went for a morning run on the road—first time I’ve done that in a while (but I can look back here and find out how long), since I’ve been doing lots of flat, 5k running and running on the trails.  I went farther than I have, though, running 16 min downhill rather than the 15 last time.  But I was farther down the hill at 15 min than last time, significantly.  It took me 20 min back up, though, and it was very hard.  Didn’t take water  but have to next time if I go this far.  I’m drinking water now but going back out to run some sprints uphill. 

When I got back, there was a Comcast truck in the driveway.  Turns out there is no line on the pole outside the house, so they have to put one in. That doesn’t cost me anything, but a) it could take a while (he said hopefully they would contact me soon), and they might not be able to do it.  That would suck.  Truly.  Oh well.  (See update on this below.)

The last couple of days were wastes, as far as eating right and not having beer goes. Sunday, of course, after weighing in at 216, I did run hard, but then had the three beers and some pizza.  Yesterday, I did no exercise, and ran out of food I had brought to eat during the day and stopped and got a Little Caesar’s pizza.  Yuck.  Ate a few slices and then (yikes!) a couple more last night. I also had most of a beer at Betsy’s, a coffee porter, Thunderstruck by Highland Brewery.  Went and visited with Maureen, saw her cottage and we talked about some work plans I will detail here later.  Tomorrow night, Wednesday, I am going there to eat, with her and her friend Alice, and she’s making eggplant parmesan. She’s a good cook, this should be nice. We’ll lay out our business plans, which could start next week.  I don’t know if Alice is invited because she’s in with us, or just coming as a friend. 

Then Thursday night, Jade is having people over to her house for a pesto party. Should take something to eat for that.  Hmmm…

Played quite a bit last night. I think my song, She’s Got A Way, is about ready to record. Need to check and see if I have Audacity, or need to get it, or what, for simple recording.  Also, I need to have it because I’m coming up with lots of musical, song ideas, and need to get them down before they are forgotten.  I also like my new blues piece, in A, using D7 and E7 dominant chords.  I don’t know, though, even where the lyrics would go.  Usually, even if I don’t have lyrics, I can tell where they go, and can hum the lyric parts or sing dummy lyrics. With this, I can’t hear it.  Maybe Hettie can.  Need to call her and Frank today. 

I also have the other song, Still in Love, that I need to practice.  Have the lyrics written down, but need to see if I can recall the melody.  I also have the blues piece in D (dropped D), the fast piece, and I did a new part to it last night.  I do know where ly rics go in this one, so just need to come up with some.  That would make four new songs, not bad at all. 

Ok, go run a bit more.  Hard to get out there, but must be motivated.  It’ll be hard to lose 3 lbs again with my beer drinking and pizza eating this week, but have to make sure the scale at least goes the right direction.  Ate a hard boiled egg and drank some tea, now…go.

I did.  Ran the longer short section (from my marker around the second switchback) in 2:30, and I was doing it at 3.  So I am getting faster.  I did the run from the concrete slab, then, in :57. Did it again, this time at :52.  I told myself, if you do it in :50  or under the third time, you can stop for the day, otherwise, you do more sprints.  Incentive, huh?  My heart was pounding, and I waited for the time clock to come around to zero, took off and…:44 sec!  In the last 20 or 30 yards, I felt my heart pounding and felt myself wanting to slow down, and I thought, I am not going to lose it right here, keep pushing, keep pushing…and it paid off.  Ahhh.  Shower time.  Nah, gotta get some ab work, haven’t done them in several days. 

800 crunches, in the 4 different positions.  200 bicycles, 100 “side” crunches, 50 each side, with 15 lb weight, 100 crunches with 15 lb weight overhead (50 with feet in air, 50 on ground), 100 Russian twists with 15 lb weight.  So 1300 total.  Then 1 min plank, and two 30 sec side planks (1 each side).

Was eating some rice I made, with some pinto beans I made (I made a mirepoix and then cooked the rice in it), when another cable guy shows up in front of my house.  I go out and he was walking up the driveway, and he said, “that other guy must be blind, the connection is right here,” pointing to a pole, not the one the first guy was looking at at all.  So he gets in his little tub on the extension thingy he has on his truck, hooks it up, and it’s done.  I was hooking it up, the first guy comes back and rehangs the wire to the house, which was down (but still working) and I go in, hook up everything, call Comcast and now I have internet, including wireless internet service! Turns out the box they sent me (modem I should say) has wireless capability.  Who knew?  This is great.

Woo hoo, online!  Finally, at home!  And I have my new business cards!  Here's a bad photo (from my bad camera in my bad cell phone!).

They really look good.  Good day.  

8/22/2013

Got up and did ab workout, listening to some Schumann piano solo stuff, which is ok.  Then I switched to the new Chris Thile, doing Bach on mandolin. Very beautiful.  Bach is just so logical.  Really love the Sonata in G minor,  BWV1000.  Near perfect.  Listened to it again.  I will listen to this new album, Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol. 1, a lot.  Wow. It’s still playing as I type this.  Great stuff. 

Now shower and go meet person from second editing job, for the second time.  He’s supposed to bring me both the manuscript and money.  Here’s hoping. 

Frankie loves it when I’m outside on the back porch. Stays out here, beside me most of the time as I workout, and just wandering around.

Got the manuscript and money.  We meet again on Monday, sign a contract . Went very well.  I might be able to make this work.

8/23/2013

Got up, about to run, then it rained. Not hard, cleared up so I went and ran around 11, on the greenway down by Hanging Rock.  Ran 1.7 miles and back, so my usual, 3.4. It’s not marked as to mileage like on the Roanoke River greenway, but it says it’s 1.7 on the map, and it feels like it.  Very flat,pretty in places.  It’s great for running, because it’s not paved. It’s that tight little gravel, so very easy to run on.  Wouldn’t take my road bike on here, though.  It’s pretty short for that anyway.  I’ll do this more. 

There were several signs up giving info about the trail and area.  I read three of them. Let’s see what I can remember now.  The first was for the Valley Railroad.  After the Civil War, in 1866 someone wanted to build a railroad through the Shenandoah and on into southwest Virginia.  Started building the railroad but only got as far south as Lexington.  They cut the timber and cleared the path through Salem, but never got the railroad built. In part because of the crash of 1873.  Robert E. Lee was the second president of the railroad company, but he died before much happened.  So part of this greenway is the part they cleared for the railroad, about .3 mile I think it said. 

The second sign was for Kestler Mill. The greenway runs along Keslter Mill Road. In 1842, John Garst came there and built a mill across on the other side of the stream, to grind flour, meal, etc., for the people in the area.  The mill was working until 1922.  In 1906, Kestler bought it, hence the name.  The mill was the  meeting place for the people of the area. 

The third sign was for two ‘future’ presidents who led the Northern army through there in the Civil War, fighting battles all along.  Rutherford B. Hayes, born 1822, was a general, and of course became our (I think) 19^th president.  A young captain in that unit was William McKinley, who became the maybe 22^nd president, and was killed by an assassin. 

Actually, I read a 4^th sign, about the area where coal was unloaded from the train, for the people to take home and use.  Almost all personal heating, cooking, etc., was done by coal then.  As electricity came about, coal was used for power generation, not personal use, so there was no need for this facility anymore. 

Two more signs, but I’ll read them next time.

After I ran the greenway, I drove back home and ran up the first, steep part up towards Dragon’s Tooth.  5 min, steep uphill.  Very hard, then I was done.  Showered, went in to Starbucks for coffee and internet.  Came home and played guitar for several hours.  Very creative. Have two new parts for songs.  NEED LYRICS!  Wrote a new one the other day I don’t think I mentioned, I Still Love You.  Like it very much.  Lyrics and all. 

Had made pinto beans the other day, so I’ve been eating them with rice.  Very good.  Breakfasts have been the same (but no tomatoes!!  Buy some in Salem tomorrow!!).  All I drink this week is tea, either regular kind or Red Zinger.  Regular in day time, since it has caffeine, and RZ at nights.  And some water with lemon in it.  Want to weigh at Betsy’s tomorrow, Saturday. Only two beers all week.

Bought $20 worth of stuff in a Groupon like deal from Play It Again Sports, for $10.  Will go in tomorrow maybe to buy some used weights.  Need a 40 pound dumbbell, or dumbbell set.  Then I could do biceps out here.  Also check Craigslist. 

Get up tomorrow and go to yard sales!!!

8/21/2013 (cont.)

Great workout at House of Strength.  Upper body, which I wanted.  Bench press, got 225 twice, two sets, but was wanting 4.  Then did shoulder presses, cable rows, push ups, bicep curls, work on rear delts, and side planks.  

8/21/2013

Ran an hour today, one direction this time, up toward McAfee Knob.  But typically, when I went both directions, I would stop after 30 min and have water . This time, I forgot I would be out without water for an hour.  Turning around after 30 min, I got really thirsty, and had to walk a bit more than I otherwise would have.  Still, was running for almost an hour.  I think I was over half way to the top.  Next time I will take water. I could have gone further.  It was damp on the trail, but never muddy. 

Going to House of Strength today to get my second free workout.  Upper body, can’t wait.  Made pinto beans, which are so good, with rice and corn and peas for lunch.  Will go to Betsy’s, maybe afterward, and do laundry and hang out some.  Now, here's Frankie when he was a kitty.

8/19/2013

Just got to the library, setting up shop here, and a group of people with Down's Syndrome walk in.  Maybe six, and one guy who is in charge.  I've been him before, many years ago.  These aren't kids, some of them quite old.  You get all caught up in your problems, and then you just see that it doesn't matter a hill of beans what you do.  Some people have it worse.  I have a mind, a pretty good one, and lots of education that put things in it.  I have my health, pretty good health.  I can do what I want at my age, still.  I'm running a lot, working out, losing weight, eating right.  No telling how long that will last.  One thing goes wrong, I have the mind or health of one of the people that walked in.  But it's pretty good now. I'm going to work it for all I can.  You know how sometimes just a smile from someone on the street can mean a lot?  Well, it means even more to people trapped in those minds, who for the screw up of one chromosome can't fully feel all it is to be human, to solve a math problem, to experience a Renoir, to hike the Appalachian Trail and truly begin to comprehend what it all means.  I can do all that, and so much more.  Lucky, I am.  No one to thank.  I mean, my parents for making my education, and in a way, all of this possible. Stop and say hi to some of them, and the guy in charge.  It helps.  I know.  I was him.

Half a bagel this morning, two cups coffee, etc.  One more tomato from my Knobl harvest to go!  (Thanks, Geoff!)  Will get more at the Farmer's Market this week. There's one guy who sells at the market right down the street here in Salem.  The actual market is Saturday, but he comes in every day.  Maybe he has some.  Brought Indian potatoes and sweet potatoes, with onions and bell peppers, that I made last night.  And a hummus sandwich, ww bread, lots of tomato, spinach.

Had a spinach and lettuce salad last night.  Had some bleu cheese crumbles, some almond slivers, dried berry pieces, for it.  And Italian dressing. And lots of the Indian potatoes.

I played mostly uke for hours.  Watched some educational videos on it.  Learned a lot.  One guy was tuned down like a whole step.  I can get it in tune with him, but it would have been nice had he jsut said, "Hey, I'm tuned down a step."  Would have saved time.  Then, in another video, he's tuned somewhere else.  Frustrating. Need 3 ukes.  One of each (not a baritone) would be nice.  Someday.  But I did learn a lot of blues licks, and how to play in A.  Couldn't do that before. Learned some nice turnarounds and new chords.  Also, there was a video lesson of Shady Grove.  Great song, just two chords, but the Am is nice.  The guy runs through it slow--it's amazingly easy--and then at regular speed, BUT...before he took off in the lesson, when he's just playing it through in the intro, he took off on this little run that was nice!  That's what  I wanted to know.  Of course, he wasn't teaching that, so I had to figure it out.  The camera was on his hands, so it didn't take too long.  I think I'll add this to my uke repertoire.  Need to learn the words.

Marshall Chapman was good the other night, but I want to focus on her guitar.  I have a guitarist rating system, 1 to 10, with Richard Thompson on top. This isn't for guitarists in bands, but mainly for solo guitarists or those who have minor accompaniment.  David Rawlings counts, and he's like 9.5.  5 I reserve for like, professional-like competence, but no extras. Finger picking adds a point, and of course, the more you do with it, the more you score.  Chapman is a 5.5, nothing to sneeze at.  Usually, people at a 5 who have done it as long as she does have made a choice not to go any further.  If you have great lead players as she often does, you don't really need to do more.  She was very good at just "entertaining with voice and solo guitar."  Thompson, Kottke, Michael Hedges are the tops there.  And her thing is song writing, not guitar playing.  So a 5 isn't criticism.  I think Gillian Welch is a 5.  Sharon could get there.  (I want to show Sharon how to gain some points, but that's another topic.)  Playing Shady Grove well, finger picking it some on uke (this system applies to any stringed instrument, pretty much) is a 5.  What the guy did last night gets two points.  I learned to do it.  Need practice to make it smooth and second nature, but I can do it.  I don't know the theory of WHY certain 'extras' work.  The only thing I know is that there is a relative minor scale, three frets down from the root.  G has Em as its relative minor.  A has F#m.  Here's the cool thing.  You can always solo/do lead parts in the relative minor key, especially in countryish, folksy music.  I mean, you can always solo in the scale OF the key, G for G, and so on, and you can use a major scale or the blues/pentatonic scale.  That's the only two I know.  In the relative minor, and this is only an hypothesis, but I think likewise you can do the pentatonic or (what I will ignorantly call) regular scale.

That's why there are so many rootsy songs in G--you have the relative minor right there in Em.  Now every unfretted note (in standard tuning anyway) 'counts.'  And what I will call the fundamental blues lick, sliding up a double stop on the second and third strings to the second adn third frets, correspondingly, is ALWAYS appropriate.  That's just too cool, and that's all I know and I'm sticking with it.  Would love to have someone to ask about these things.  Here's one question--and I could just try it, I guess--playing in the pentatonic scale alwasy sounds good in the relative minor; does playing in the major or minor scale work as well??  I'd need a rhythm guitar player to explore this.

I bring all this up, because I have this pretty well down, at least some of it, on guitar.  Now I'm doing it on the ukulele, and I don't know ANYTHING about the ukulele, so I...well, don't know what I'm doing.  The guitar is easy because you have barre chords and you can THINK of where the barre chord is on the neck and instantly find both the relevant scales in that key and the relative minor of the key.  Uke has barre chords, but I can't THINK in them yet.  Oh well, I'll get there.  Want to take my guitar (and uke??) to Bburg Wednesday night for the jam at the Market.  Might learn something there.  I'm just making all these connections in my head, almost FEELS like new neural connections are forming, and it's exciting.  How this scale fits in with this chord progression, etc.  Doing it for BOTH the uke right now, and the guitar.  Have to put a new string (or maybe all of them, if I think it needs it) on my mandolin, and I'll be doing it on that instrument, too.  I was doing that before the string broke, then moved away from it.  What *I* love is that all these instruments are in different tunings. And I'm exploring Open G tuning, which I have never really done much at all.  When I get back to doing SERIOUS open tunings, I'm going to be ecstatic.  Some people become great guitar players and never explore different tunings. Traditional jazz players, I think, never use different tunings.  Blues players use Open G, Open D, mainly.  I love the idea of open tunings, and what the masters, Nick Drake, David Crosby, Joni Mitchell, did with them.  (Confession: I've never really explored DADGAD, either. Yikes!)

I used to want a guitar for every tuning, and I was getting there.  My guitars are, with the exception of my Martin, all in Florida. Doug has two, and the electric (which needs work) is in storage.  I gave Zara the one I used to have in Open D.  I'll get back there.  Now I want another uke, maybe a concert one, so I can put a low string on top.  Ukes have a higher string on top, and I absolutely love that, but in Florida I had access to a uke that had the top string switched to a lower string, and it opened up some possibilities that weren't there on the regular uke.  I don't want to play uke only that way, but I want to be able to.

Maybe change mandolin strings tonight, get back to it.  Blues mandolin is an amazing thing.  Need to get my Yank Rachell mp3s switched over to this laptop, so I can just listen to him. He's the master.  And Johnny Young.  Got to meet Yank in Indianapolis before he died, but I wasn't interested in mandolin then.  Damn. Missed opportunity.  He was full of stories.  I remember a couple, need to write them down.  I can watch some lessons on youtube, but just listening to Yank records is the best.

Now to work.  I agreed to take a little less per hour with Gordon, in exchange for a guarantee of more hours, and a lump of cash.  Still better than working at Lowe's or something.  Better than minimum wage for sure.  Waiting to hear from the other 'editee.'

8/18/2013 Sunday

At the library, on the internet.  Will work out abs later. Legs very sore, so no running for now. (Chest, shoulders sore, too.) Plus, with all the rain it is very wet out there!  Gotta go get water jugs filled--found out that the Kroger in south Salem has good water for 30c/gallon.

Went to a house concert last night in Roanoke to see Marshall Chapman.  It was great. Just her and a guitar with about 20 people in the cozy den, complete with a roaring fire on a wet night in Roanoke.   Got to talk to her a lot afterward, she had a story about everybody.  She's 64, and just, to paraphrase a line from Big Mama Thornton, "Nobody tells Marshall Chapman how to sing no song!"  She's her own thing, and it's incredible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZyhNkQ1O74

This is her doing my favorite song of hers, Leaving Loachapoka.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcwguCjD3as

And her doing her 'hit,' recorded by Sawyer Brown, I think (thanks, Matt).  Betty's Bein' Bad.

Went and had a glass of (unsweetened) tea with Gordon, the writer I am editing.  Unbelievable how much alike we are, in so many ways. Talked for a couple of hours, about all kinds of things.  He doesn't drink anymore, and I'm trying to lose weight and get in shape, so tea it was.

After that, I went to Wasena Park and ran THREE POINT FOUR MILES!  I've discovered that my new MO in running is to tell myself I'm just going to go, say, 2 miles, yeh that'll be good, not feeling strong tonight, yeh, two miles, then I get to 2 miles and say, well, maybe a couple of more tenths, then next thing you know, I'm at my goal.  After the run, I went back and ran the steps near Betsy's house.  5 times, 47 steps each time.  Takes me a tad over 30 seconds up, then a little more back down, each time.  I'm just beat after that, but took a long, brisk walk with Betsy to the Fresh Market. Got some sushi.  Sushi is just a nice, cool place to lay your wasabi.  Mmmm.

Got home and crashed. Read my book for a bit.  I'm reading, rereading really, The Eclipse of Darwinism, by historian of science Peter Bowler.  Interesting story that is not well known.  After Darwin published the Origin in 1859, by 1870, not only was the idea of evolution completely accepted by the scientific community, but natural selection as the main mechanism was accepted.  Darwinism was ascendant. Then over the next two decades, an assault on Darwinism (meaning the natural selection mechanism) started, and knocked Darwinism from its perch.  By the turn of the century, Darwinism was no longer accepted by the scientific community.  For many reasons.  Julian Huxley called it "the eclipse of Darwinism."  Bowler explores the story, including the main arguments against Darwinism.  (Evolution, he notes, was still accepted, just not Darwin's mechanism.  And it was Darwin himself who converted the scientific community.  Chambers had published a book earlier that was pro-evolution, but from more of an 'internal mechanism' stance.)
The thing that interests me, or one of them, is that there was an argument from PHYSICS that Darwinism HAD to be false.  Lord Kelvin, one of the leading physicists at the time, did calculations and found that the age of the earth wasn't nearly enough to allow for the kind of time even Darwin specified he needed for evolution. This was an argument by the top physicist, using a science that at the time was vastly more secure than biology.  Turns out, we know now Kelvin didn't know about radiation from the sun, and that fact would have changed his calculations, and did, but it wasn't known for some time after that.  But at the time, it was THE BEST SCIENCE. And it said, DARWINISM IS FALSE.  That's just a cool historical situation.  To quote my favorite movie, Cool Hand Luke, "Sometimes nothin' (in this case, a 'false' theory) can be a pretty cool hand."

Got up this morning, Saturday morning, and went to work out at the House of Strength.  I had written Ryan the other day, the owner, and asked if there was anything I could do for him, any work I could perform, in exchange for a workout or two.  He asked me to give him a couple of days to think, and last night he let me know he had two projects, each worth two workouts.  I went to the gym at 9, had a great workout, and got the info for doing the first project.  The workout was cool.  Ryan designs a workout and everyone jsut does it, no questions.  Today we did 9 sets of 3 reps of benchpress, but with elastic bands attached from, basically, the floor to the weight bar.  So it is harder at the top of your rep, and wants to pull back in as you reach the top.  Makes it much tougher.  Mark and I did 45 lbs on each side, or 135 total.  Nice.  Then we did military presses, 95 lbs., ten times, 3 sets.  And same weight, sets, reps of bent over rows.  And 3 sets of 10 sit ups, from completely prone to sitting up, with a 25 lb weight over our heads.

Finally, we finished up with the following. Do ONE pushup, but not a complete pushup, but just  from the bottom of the movement to half way up.  Puts more emphasis on triceps.  Then do TEN burpees--a hard movement that involves going from a standing position, to quickly down in a pushup position, then standing up quickly by bringing one's feet toward one's hands, then leaping in the air, straight up, then back down, etc.  Next round, do TWO pushups and 9 burpees, then 3 and 9, etc., till you're done.  Unfortunately, the burpee movement was hurting my knee, so I just did the pushups (after ten, then 9, then 8 burpees).  Glad I did.  Protecting my knees is first priority.

Ate a couple of eggs, a piece of grilled chicken breast.  And tea, unsweetened.

If this doesn't get me in shape, nothing will.

Darn, just weighed in at 219. That's only 1 lb down from last time, nearly two weeks ago.  Not good enough. Still, it's the right direction.  Less beer, more water/tea.  Get some stevia instead of the sugar in morning coffee.

8/16/13  Friday

Just a brief update of the last few days.  Had a few beers on Tuesday night with a friend, more than I've had in a while.  Got up Wednesday morning, not feeling too hot, but went right out and ran an hour and ten minutes!  On the App. Trail, uphill most of the first part. That was my longest run.  Took two brief one minute breaks, not included in the running time.  Also did a good abs workout. Then an abs workout on Thursday morning. Spent most of Thursday editing stuff on my first editing job. Met a guy for lunch (ate a chicken sandwich at TGIFriday's, adn fries!) and got some new editing work.  Looks promising.  I could see turning this into a way of life.  Plus, this job could turn out to be something bigger.  We'll see.

My first editing job (I'll change his name to Greg) is great.  I love this guy's writing.  Very nice, deeply insightful.  We are a lot alike!  I'm going to get some more money from him this afternoon!  Woo hoo!  The second guy is bringing me money on Monday, and his manuscript!

Editing today, and applying for some other things.  I plan to go to Betsy's later.  Will try to get in a 7 min workout, run a 5k like I did last Friday, and then do the steps.  (As pictured in last Fri night's post.)  If we are getting up to workout again with her friends, I'll stay over in the spare bedroom.

Eating well.  A half a bagel in the morning, cream cheese and LOTS of fresh tomato.  Coffee, etc.  Been having ww burrito with lettuce, tomato and hummus for lunch.  With cherry tomatoes, eaten like peanuts!

There are 3 days posts here, Sat, Sun, and some from today, Monday, but in reverse order.

8/10/13 Saturday

Got up this morning, hoping it would rain. Betsy and I were supposed to meet several of her friends to work out at 9.  But if rained, we couldn’t do it, as it was outside, in a playground.  But alas, clear as a bell. I was still so tired from the other night.  We went to work out, met Megan, Tammy, and her husband Mark.  Pam, a friend of Betsy’s joined us for the first part.  I led a 20 min ab/core workout, very tough.  Then we switched off between 5 ‘stations,’ each person doing one exercise and moving to the next station. The stations were rows, on the underside of a bar in the playground, chin-ups, jump rope, tricep dips, and don’t know what to call these things where you, on your back, use a ball under your calves and roll it in towards your butt. Works hamstrings, very tough. All in all, it was a great workout, and we finished up at 10, after finishing with some exercise we wanted to do.  I ran sprints on the soccer field, from goal to goal.  4 times.  I was beat, and decided to take off two days. 

Worked on the house, mainly the back porch all afternoon, putting up screening.  And napped.  Went to that Catawba event, and talked to some people but didn’t really see anyone I knew.  Oh, on the way back from working out, Betsy and I stopped at a great yard sale in Roanoke, and I commented how great it was to one of the women running it, and she said she would give me a chair I was looking at if I would say that on camera, for her to advertise the sale on FB.  I did.  Fun. Bought a few inexpensive armless chairs, for playing on the backporch, and a guitar stand, a pyrex 4 cup measure, etc.

Ate 2 eggs for breakfast, and coffee  per usual.  Then had tomato sandwich, on gluten free frozen waffle.  Great.  Later had some of the grilled veggies from Monday night.  And a bagel with tomato slices and cream cheese, and at 11pm a veggie burger, cheese, lettuce, mayo.  WW bun. 

8/11/13

Woke up sore today, mainly my thighs. I think that’s the steps.  Taking the whole day off from exercise.  Eating well, though.  More of the same type stuff.  Sunday evening, I went on a cooking binge.  Made Indian style potatoes, with green pepper and onions, with potatoes from the Catawba Farmer’s Market and sweet potatoes I had from being grilled last Friday night.  Excellent. 

Then sautéed some Twin Oaks tofu I had in the fridge, with a Memphis type dry barbecue seasoning I have but had not tried.  A little salty, but very good.  I then sautéed the remaining veggies I had from the grill, mainly squash of various types, with garlic and peppers. 

I had some cooked rice and peas that had been in the fridge for a few days.  It gets kind of hard and clumpy, and not very good, UNLESS you sauté it in some oil. The pan I had used had lots of little charred bits from the previous sautéing, and the rice came out perfectly.  But, too salty, since there had been the salty seasoning in the pan.  So I made another cup of rice, and added it to the sauté.  Perfect. 

I guess that was it.  I used up ALL the grilled veggies I had had in the fridge, before they went bad.  I like doing that.

Cara and Mike came by in the afternoon, to harvest "money plant."  I had to go meet a friend, so I couldn't do much, but learned how to do it.  It can be sold on ebay, apparently for lots of money.  Does anyone else know about this?  Wild.  

8/12 Monday

Worked out abs and did my 15 lb weight routine—shoulders, biceps, forearms. Did lots of pushups and tricep dips.  Nothing on lower body. Still sore there.  Will run again tomorrow. 

1/2 bagel for breakfast, with cream cheese, and big slices of fresh tomato. Love tomato season!  And the usual two cups of coffee, etc.  

Now at the Salem Library, brought lots of food for lunch, but there isn't a microwave. Ate the potatoes--they are good cold/not warm, but the rice, ratatouille and grilled veggies need to be heated.  darn.

Had a good day, got lots done.  Got a small editing job, but it already paid a little cash.  Woo!  And might have found a harmonica player.  He lives close, is outgoing and is a writer.  Did the 7 minute workout, and now I'm going to go run.  Will try to go about a 5k distance.  Will let you know!

I did workout this morning, too.  Heavy abs--800 crunches, 200 "bicycles," 50 crunches with 15 lb weight, 50 movements on each side, moving shoulder in toward knee, with 15 lb weight on shoulder.  And 1 minute plank, followed by 30 sec plank. Then did my shoulder, curl, reverse curl, wrist curl workout.  And lots of pushups.  Whew!

Just ran 3.3 miles (an extra tenth for a 5k) in Wasena Park.  Very humid, and lots of gnats.  Wehn you are sweaty, they just stick to you.  Ugh. This was a very flat run, but it was still very hard.  Almost quit several times, thinking, "this would still be good," but kept on.  Towards the end, I was like, "3 miles would be good, don't you think? "  But I kept on, and on and on, it seemed. It was by no means fast, or pretty. Will it get any easier?  I guess if this was easy, everyone would be in shape.

I haven't run that far in at least 5 years.  I guess when you don't keep at it, it's not easy when you start back up. Time for a shower.

Ok, I lied.  There are some steps near where I am tonight, and they are just crying out to be run up and down.  

As you can see, these are very homemade steps, and though they all seem to have the same rise, the runs are very...odd.  You'll get three regular steps and then a long run, like a section of a sidewalk, then maybe two steps and then two of the long runs.  And so on.  No discernable pattern.  but there are 47 of them, total, and I went and ran them 5 times.  Now to shower.  I promise.

Concrete slab I use as a marker.  Right around the first switchback.

Just a nice view from the run this morning.   Mountains in background are lovely.  Wish I had better camera.

8/8/13

Ran the road this morning, 40 min total.  Very hard.  15 min straight downhill, then turned around, 18 min back up.  18 min of solid, steady and sometimes brutal uphill; finished last part at what I call “healthy run” pace, pushing it.  Got some water, then went back (walked) past second switchback and ran to top.  3 min of “healthy run.” Pushing it.  Then went back to what I will call “concrete slab,” a marker I use.  Ran “healthy run” to top—1:12.  So went back and did it again, as fast as I could.  57 seconds!  Took off 15 whole seconds!  Went and did it again, this time at just my regular hill climb pace, 1:30 seconds.  A little short of 40 min, but I’m happy with it. 

It’s not getting easier, exactly—this is still hard—but I am going lots farther now than I did.  Finishing stronger.  I’ll have to ask someone who knows—Mark Lattanzi, maybe Cortney, or JP, if 18 min of uphill ever gets what they might call easy.  When I did the last long trail run, I was able to go pretty fast when I would get to a relatively flat, smooth section of the trail.  There’s not much flat area around here to test it out on.  There’s a flat 5k in Roanoke next Saturday, but it’s $25 to register now, and I just don’t want to use money for that right now.  Maybe they’ll let me volunteer, doing something before or after the race.  I could ask. 

Bagel, cream cheese for breakfast, 2 cups coffee, cream little sugar. 

Back to Tommy Mcclennan.  Guitar King.  Says the recordings are from 1939-42.  This guy deserves deep study. 

Put up ad on Craigslist for a harmonica player, today.

I have a confession: I had three beers tonight!  And a turkey sandwich, with spinach and Italian dressing, and a spinach salad with Italian dressing and some almonds and blue cheese. And some sautéed tofu, with the ratatouille. Mmm.

That’s the end of the turkey.  I had slipped back into eating some turkey and chicken.  I want to stop it.  Hard to give up chicken wings.  That’s all.  Everything else, out.  99% vegetarian. 

Played guitar most of the evening.  Had watched a video on youtube today about some blues licks, so tried them out, and saw how they connect up with some other things I know.  Very cool.  I have a new “way” of playing blues, more like a T-Bone Walker style.  And I played in Open G tuning for the first time in a long time.  Not a tuning I’ve explored much, but very fun.  New tunings always suggest new patterns, and this one did for sure.  Played some slide with it too.  Will have some new songs in it soon. 

Listening to Tommy McLennan, my new love.  Great 20s, 30s blues player.  I put him in the Jackson, MS, Tommy Johnson school, but need to check on it.  Haven’t listened to him much before.  He’s a monster.  His version of Bottle Up and Go is definitive.  Will post a youtube vid here soon.  Every song, he’s having so much fun.  Palpable.  “Ain’t it hard to be lonesome, when you’re sleepin all by yourself.  Lord, the one that you’re loving is sleeping with someone else.”  I could normally just look it up in my blues books, but they’re all in storage.  Damn. 

Listened to a radio interview with Susan Jacoby, about her new book on Robert Ingersol, the Great Agnostic.  Even he said he wasn’t an agnostic, but an atheist “practically.” This strikes me as a bad usage—to distinguish atheists and agnostics by how certain they are.  Let’s get in the 20^th century --we don’t even need the 21^st for this one—we aren’t CERTAIN about anything.  Nothing, not mathematics, certainly not science (haha, I caught that), not ordinary stuff.  So, I’m not certain about there being no god either.  I’m also not certain there’s not a Zeus, but I’ll bet on it.  Heavily. This deserves a whole post, soon.

Will attend this on Saturday!

Celebrate Catawba

August 10 @ 10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Farmers’ Market, LIve Music, Raffle and Auction. Tour the VT Catawba Sustainability Center. Courtsey shuttle between the two sites on Rt. 779.

Come celebrate the lives and land of the beautiful Catawba Valley!

New post, 8/7/2013

It’s raining on the mountain, very beautiful.  8 am.  Pouring really.  Just started the 7 min workout, but when stepping up on the chair, I felt a new knee pain, left knee, which I’ve never had trouble with before.  Sharp pain.  So I stopped.  I finished another workout, upper body, and I don’t feel the pain now. Damn. I love that workout.  I’m going to try to get more of a stool, like Betsy has, lower, and might not be as hard on my knees.  Plus, could work faster.  Still, I’ll give it a few days.  Try some light running tomorrow if I can. 

Upper body workout with 15 lb dumbbell.  Shoulder press, shoulder side raises, front raises, triceps, curls, reverse curls, wrist curls, then repeated twice (3 times total).  Good workout.  More pushups, tricep dips.  Arms seem covered, but still concerned that this will only maintain, not grow, my biceps.  They do hurt (good hurt), though.  Shoulders good.  Abs good.  How to work lats?  If I had a bar a few feet off the ground, I could get under it, lying on back, pulling up. 

House and car.

Coffee, the standard 2 cups, cream, little sugar.  Bagel and cream cheese. 

Listened to Hayes Carll radio interview.  Good stuff.  Now checking out the Carpenter Ants.  Funky, rootsy.  Not bad.  Then some Karen Dalton--you should really listen to her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raLXnnlPI_I 

Katie Cruel. Great song.  One of Dylan's favorite singers, and one of the few musicians he really respected in his early days in Greenwich Village.  

Two veggie burgers this afternoon.  And some mac and cheese with tuna and veggies.  Waiting to hear on a job I've applied for and really want.  Damn.  Hate this.

First post!

8/6/2013

Catawba Fitness/Music/Food/Philosophy/Living Blog

I just got back from a run on the Appalachian Trail.  I’ll fill in the background later, but I’m living right beside the trailhead/parking lot for the Trail, the one at the top of the mountain in Catawba that goes up to McAfee’s Knob, and up (the other direction) to Dragon’s Tooth.  I live right at the top of the mountain (sign here says “Elevation 2,000 Ft”—ok, it ‘s not the Rockies, but it IS beautiful).  In Catawba, right off Catawba Valley Road, on Old Catawba Road, which is a tiny little road that goes straight downhill in a series of switchbacks.  I’ve been varying from running the road, down a ways and then back up, and running on the Trail.  I’ve been increasing my running times, and speeds.  Nothing fancy, I just use my watch to time myself. 

This is looking down Old Catawba Rd to the first switchback.  

Today I ran for 57 minutes, with about 5 min in between, to get water.  I was walking that 5 minutes.  I walked up to the parking lot, just a few yards up 311, then took off running towards Dragon’s Tooth.  The first 2:30 is uphill, very nasty, then it levels off for a minute or so, and then about another minute up to the first overlook.  Has been taking me 5 minutes for this part, but did it in 4:45 today. Not a great difference, but every little bit counts.  Then there is a craggy part, and then up and down for the next 5 or 6 minutes, then STRAIGHT UP for a looooonnnnngggg time.  Today I ran exactly 15 minutes, to the second lookout area, then turned around and came back, finishing in 31 minutes.  That’s when I walked back to the house for a drink of water—I left a water bottle on my car hood.  Walked back to the parking lot, crossed the road to head towards McAfee’s Knob.  The first 3 minutes of that run is a steady, non-pleasant uphill, and at a couple of the switchbacks, there are steps that are like rock ledges, and it is more like doing lunges than running.  Tough. Today was the first day I did this whole 3 minutes without walking any of it.  This part has a long series of steps—I meant to count them, but couldn’t.  These are so hard.  But I did it. I was winded, and stopped a minute.  Then took off running for 10 more minutes.  My iPod ran out of charge; I would have gone farther, but turned around.  It was about 14 minutes back—lots of uphill—making it 57 minutes running, total.  Saw some squirrels and little lizard/skink like things.  Very few people. 

Yesterday I went to Betsy’s to make ratatouille, more on that later.  I weighed in this morning—220 lbs!  I was up about a month or so ago to 238, 239, something like that.  That is too heavy for me.  So since I’ve been here in Catawba, I’ve been concentrating on losing weight and getting healthy.  I weighed at Betsy’s about 2 weeks ago, and was 226.  Last week, I was 223.5.  So this is definitely big.  3 ½ lbs in a week.  Last night at Betsy’s, I did the “scientific 7 minute workout,” (url here) which I highly recommend.  That’s the 4^th or 5^th time I’ve done it, first time on Saturday of Floydfest a couple of weeks ago. 

Right outside the front door; it's trash day so you can see my garbage can. This looks out across 311 and up towards McAfee's Knob (3.9 miles)...

...as you can see!

Fitness background:  I started out a few weeks ago running down Old Catawba Road, about 9 minutes down, 11 minutes back.  That was tough.  Now I still do essentially that same amount, about 20 minutes, but I go a lot further down, and hence, back up.  But now I finish with a series of what I will loosely call sprints, all UPHILL, but is really best described as a healthy, uncomfortable run.   I walk down to the second switchback, and it takes me 3 minutes to get back to the top (running).  I’m working on taking time off of that.  Then I do a couple of 2 minute runs to the top, at a fast pace, then a couple of 1 minute runs, and then I’m winded. 

Right at the beginning of the trail, heading up to Dragon's Tooth.

Besides the running and 7 minute workout, I’ve been working my abs pretty hard.  Most days I work them.  One workout is 800 crunches, a couple of hundred “bicycles,” some crunches with a 15 lb weight, including 50 (on each side) crunching in, turning one’s shoulder towards one’s opposite knee.  Some days I do abs on the exercise ball I found in the house here. I also do a minute long plank, on my elbows, then another 30 on each side.  Oh, right, I take the 15 lb weight and, feet off the ground, twist side to side, 20 times, then repeat a time or two.

Over the last few weeks, Betsy took me as a guest to the YMCA, and I had a great upper body strength workout.  Then, about 2 weeks ago, she took me to the House of Strength, a great gym run by Ryan ___ in Roanoke.  I got a great upper body workout—Ryan is great.  If I had more money (more on that later), I’d join there.  Last week I went to help Ryan time his “gym rats,” who were timed to get to the next fitness level.  After that, I got in a GREAT bicep and lat workout.  Nice.

I can’t afford to join a gym now, as I don’t right now have a job.  But I found a 15 lb weight here in the house, and I’ve found I can do a lot with it.  How you say?  That’s way too light for me!  I have found if I sit on the ground, legs straight in front of me, taking away any input from my legs, I can do curls (I have to do about 40 on each side, but at the end of that, my biceps are hurting!), and I can do my triceps, my shoulders (both presses and side and front raises), etc.  I can keep my chest at least maintained by pushups, including incline pushups from the ball.  Still, I want more regular weight workouts.  My legs are handled by the running and some lunges, etc.  I am a bit worried about keeping up my biceps and lats. 

My little workout area on back porch.

The goal here is perfection.  Betsy has an app that lets you take and post photos of your progress, and next time I go there, we’re going to take some pictures and post them.  I’m feeling my body getting fitter, and less flab around the middle.  I’m feeling my heart getting stronger, too.  I am beginning to see some real cuts in my abs.  I am at 220, as I said, and want to get to 215, at which time I’ll assess my body and see where I want to go.  Down to 200?  I’ve been down to 208 or so a few years ago.  Will I see 200 again?  Should I? I’m pretty lucky to have a decent piece of clay to work with, fairly broad natural shoulders, nice proportions, etc.  If I can maintain my musculature and still lose weight and get fit, I would be very happy.  Want to get my body fat percentage tested. 

Food and Drink. Background, I LOVE food, I’m a real foodie. If I didn’t work out, I could easily be 300 lbs but I’m never going to do that.  But right now I’m concentrating on eating (and drinking) to lose weight.  I don’ t DIET per se, but I do watch what goes into my body.  First, NO FAST FOOD.  None.  NO COKES OR SOFT DRINKS.  When I stop to get an internet connection at MacDonalds, I get a small drink for a buck.  I DO let myself have A coke, what a treat for me.  I could get their unsweetened tea, but this is an occasional and special treat, to have the cola.  We do what we can.  I’ve cut out chocolate and sweets for a while.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve had a couple of pieces, at Betsy’s. That’s it.  The only added sugar I get is a tiny bit in coffee in the morning, which also has a tbs or so of half and half.  Like I say, we do what we can.  As for beverages, besides a couple of cups of coffee in the mornings, I drink only water, water with a few drops of lemon juice, and unsweetened tea (often Red Zinger, yum).  I don’t keep beer here at the house, but do have a couple when I go out, very occasionally, with Matt and friends. 

Betsy’s been making ratatouille, and it’s great.  Last night, I went over and we made a double batch, one for her (she’s starting back to teaching, so it’ll be nice to have lunches to take) and one for me.  We grilled lots of zukes, yellow squash, eggplant, carrots, portobellas, yellow, orange and green bell peppers, and sweet potatoes. Oh, and yellow beets.  She sautéed garlic and onions, and added the cut up grilled veggies, lots of canned tomatoes, some vegetable stock I had made the night before, and voila!  Salt, pepper, not too much more. Some cayenne.  Now I have a ton in my fridge.  I guess there is a tiny bit of oil in this, but it is so healthy. I can freeze some and live on this stuff.  I got a couple of blocks of Twin Oaks tofu at the Roanoke Food Co-op, which I sauté and have with the rat.  Damn fine eatin’.  Put it over some rice, wow.  (There is a young deer frolicking in my yard right now as I write this. Wow.  Yard.  It’s more like a wilderness area.  No grass.) 

Otherwise, I have some veggie burgers on whole wheat bread, with a little good mayo and a big handful of spinach.  Some burritos, whole wheat tortillas with a little cheese, a big handful of spinach, some rice and black beans, and salsa.  I can’t give up bread and bread products.  I like to have bagel and cream cheese with my coffee for breakfast.  I’ve started having HALF, not a whole, with a thin layer of cream cheese.  I just had one this afternoon, half. A real treat. 

Today I had some ratatouille with a poached egg for breakfast. Really good.  Then had some rat for lunch, with a couple of grilled sweet potato slices.  And just now, the half bagel and cream cheese.  Not too bad. 

One of the ways I suspect that I lose weight is that I have learned to live with a low level of hunger.  When I ordinarily would eat, I just put it off a bit.  You learn to make that part of your comfort zone.  I just don’t eat a lot these days.  

Music.  I’m passionate about music.  Listening for the most part, but I do play guitar and bit of mandolin and my new love, ukulele.  I’ve played guitar for many years, but I’m getting very serious about it now.  I’ve been out on the back porch, where I can’t see anyone for miles.  No neighbors close by.  I played Sunday afternoon out there for hours.  I am breaking in my fingers, the pads. It’s tough.  But worth it.  Playing a lot, I’m getting pretty good.  I have 20-30 songs I know (still memorizing lyrics), and want to start playing out.  I want to put an ad on Craigslist looking for a harmonica player.  I’d like to do some songs with my friend Sharon, and have Matt do percussion (with MY washboard, I might add).  Lots of blues, but lots of other stuff.  Some originals, mostly covers.  I wrote a song I like the other day.  Met some people here in Catawba I want to get together with to play, especially Hettie, a blues singer.  I’ve worked up Love Me Like a Man that she wants to do. 

When I run, with my iPod, I get ideas for new songs to work up.  Today, the shuffle function played “Yummy yummy yummy I get love in my tummy, and I feel like loving you.”  Great.  I can do this one on acoustic guitar.  What great old song—I think people will love to hear it, and be surprised.  Also, Dylan’s Ballad of Hollis Brown.  Two days ago, I heard Ryan Adams and Gillian Welch do Return of the Grievous Angel—wow.  Great one to have harmony vocal on.  Sharon???

I do one song on mandolin, the Stones’ Honky Tonk Women. Gotta get a new string and do some more mandolin songs.  Originals?  Ihave one kinda nice thing.  I want to work on my blues mandy playing, and sit in with the band on Monday nights at the blues jam at the Cellar. 

I have a couple of uke originals, including a great blues.  Uke blues.  I love it. 

I’ll post my song list sometime soon.

Philosophy.  I’m happiest when there is something I’m working on, some idea.  I’m getting a lot out of my new FB group, The Way Station, where I was introduced by the great Don Griffin.  He was a Pentecostal pastor, who is now an atheist.  We’ve been having some great exchanges.  It’s really helped me focus some of my ideas on atheism, religion, science, etc.  Would like to collaborate on a book with him. 

Been reading Susan Haack’s Science Within Reason.  Need to get serious about it. She makes a distinction, I think I recall, between science and rationality in the right way.  To me, science is a subset of rational methodology, just a ‘muscle’ that has been particularly well exercised.  So the question is not, Can SCIENCE explain X (God, soul, etc.) but can RATIONALITY explain it.  Different question.  Of course this is subject to contextual, definitional variation.  That’s why I want to see what Haack says about it. 

Signed up for a Mathematical Philosophy class from Coursera.  Need to watch a couple of lectures. 

Talked with new friend Felta the other day about my critical thinking plans.  Should do this.  Damn.  I gotta have guts.

That’s fitness, food, and music.  Now life.  What to say?  I need a job.  Otherwise, I’m pretty happy.  I’d like to be in a relationship, but can’t rush that.  My heart’s still a bit raw.  Will make the best of this alone time.  I have great friends, all too many of them far away, but several close by. 

This is beautiful out here.  I like it.  Never lived this “rustically.”  Don’t need too much more.  I have stuff stored in Tampa, some of which I’d like to have here.  Some to store in Tennessee.  

What I’d like to have: An internet connection here at the house.  For applying for jobs, and some entertainment.  50 to 70 $/mo.  A place to workout.  Would like to find someone who has some free weights or such in their house.  Could trade for cooking, something.  A new pillow or two.  $20.  A new mandolin string.  I thought I had a set here, oh well.  A couple of bucks.  Is there some place in Salem? 

Summary:

Ratatouille and poached egg, coffee 2 c and cream, little sugar. 

Ratatouille, sweet potato.

Bagel and cream cheese.

Ratatouille with rice, and sautéed tofu twicebefore bed (appr. 7:30 and 9)

Run, 57 min on trails. Later in the evening, 800 crunches, 200 bicycles

8/5/13

Bagel and egg, cheese slice, 2c coffee, cream, little sugar.

Veggie burger, slice cheese,ww bun, mayo, spinach. 

Mac and cheese w/veggies, tuna.

Grilled veggies, misc., bowl of ratatouille, rice (1/2 cup)

7 min workout

8/4/13

Coffee, cream, little sugar.  WW

tortilla, egg, cheese, spinach. 

??

Ran hills 40 min.  Heavy abs, pushups, plank, bicep curls, triceps, shoulders.