Hm, Site Busted?
Can't seem to access my site through the web, but I can still post to it through Blogger. Strange.
Yeah not much happening around here, been actually studying some, working out some more, sticking to everything as I should be.
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Sore All Over...
Found a new training regiment online, and began it yesterday. It's actually based off of what Navy SEALs do to prepare for their training. It's eighteen weeks long, but the last nine become pretty ridiculously difficult, so I'll probably just use the first nine. Basically each week adds on more sets or reps of pushups and situps, along with eventually adding more distance to the running and length of time to the swimming. By the end of nine weeks I should have no problem whatsoever with the minimums for the pushups and situps, and might even be able to get closer to maxing those categories. Maxing the 1.5 mile requires something like a 7:30, and I wasn't even able to run that in high school, so I'm definitely not expecting that. Ten minutes flat would be a nice long term goal, although the requirement is only twelve.
Monday night at Chumash brought home happy faces yet again... To make a long story short regarding my participation in the tournament, I was basically as sure a thing as you can get, having 20 against a dealer 10 and being all in, with the only other competitive person having over half her chips in with 15. Had she hit and busted, I would have won. Had she stayed and the dealer beat her (he had 17) I would have won. Had she hit and the dealer still beat her, I would have won. As it turned out, she doubled down on 15. Basically her only chance, and it required a miracle. She got a 6, and won the table, sending me packing. All was not lost however, my friend who had never made it to the final table before finally did, and took a respectable 3rd, pocketing $300. His girlfriend also did well on the night, getting a nice four of a kind on a machine, and then later they both got flushes at Let It Ride. I was up and down a bit overall, occasionally going on winning streaks, but nothing to write home about. Eventually I left up a whopping $10, with the other two up a combined $390. The fourth in our party was the lone downer, but even that number wasn't significant. So great fun in the car on the way home was had by all, as well as a simply hilarious dinner conversation involving a lot of straw wrapper launching at each other. Always nice to be back in 5th grade again. :)
They seem to have mumblings about road tripping for Spring Break and needed a location, I mentioned Yellowstone and they seemed jazzed, we'll have to see how that ends up working out.
Now I must go study for the midterm I have in a few hours. Yes of course there is a method to my madness.
Found a new training regiment online, and began it yesterday. It's actually based off of what Navy SEALs do to prepare for their training. It's eighteen weeks long, but the last nine become pretty ridiculously difficult, so I'll probably just use the first nine. Basically each week adds on more sets or reps of pushups and situps, along with eventually adding more distance to the running and length of time to the swimming. By the end of nine weeks I should have no problem whatsoever with the minimums for the pushups and situps, and might even be able to get closer to maxing those categories. Maxing the 1.5 mile requires something like a 7:30, and I wasn't even able to run that in high school, so I'm definitely not expecting that. Ten minutes flat would be a nice long term goal, although the requirement is only twelve.
Monday night at Chumash brought home happy faces yet again... To make a long story short regarding my participation in the tournament, I was basically as sure a thing as you can get, having 20 against a dealer 10 and being all in, with the only other competitive person having over half her chips in with 15. Had she hit and busted, I would have won. Had she stayed and the dealer beat her (he had 17) I would have won. Had she hit and the dealer still beat her, I would have won. As it turned out, she doubled down on 15. Basically her only chance, and it required a miracle. She got a 6, and won the table, sending me packing. All was not lost however, my friend who had never made it to the final table before finally did, and took a respectable 3rd, pocketing $300. His girlfriend also did well on the night, getting a nice four of a kind on a machine, and then later they both got flushes at Let It Ride. I was up and down a bit overall, occasionally going on winning streaks, but nothing to write home about. Eventually I left up a whopping $10, with the other two up a combined $390. The fourth in our party was the lone downer, but even that number wasn't significant. So great fun in the car on the way home was had by all, as well as a simply hilarious dinner conversation involving a lot of straw wrapper launching at each other. Always nice to be back in 5th grade again. :)
They seem to have mumblings about road tripping for Spring Break and needed a location, I mentioned Yellowstone and they seemed jazzed, we'll have to see how that ends up working out.
Now I must go study for the midterm I have in a few hours. Yes of course there is a method to my madness.
Sunday, February 16, 2003
AYYYYYYYYAHHHHHHHHHH!
Okay that isn't anywhere close, but I was trying to get a sound that was at least as loud as the Tarzan yell. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhayayahhhhhhhhhhh is probably closer but that looks like laughter. Anyway you get the idea. Went on a very awesome hike today up on the Red Rock trail off of Paradise Road on the other side of the mountains, and had loads of fun. Unfortunately I wasn't exactly informed as to what type of trail it was, so I went in my usual jeans and comfortable air max's. Turns out that balance was the name of the game, as at least 1/3 of the trail involved scrambling or bouncing between rocks. This was largely because you ended up crossing the river the trail ran along countless times along the way. The trail eventually leads to various swimming holes, and this especially cool rope swing thing thtat zips you way out over an especially deep one. Had I been wearing a bathing suit I would have been in heaven. As it was, due to the recent rainfall, one of the river crossings ended up much deeper than it looked. Like, much deeper, with no alternate route to be found after searching around nearby. So initially rolling the jeans up to the thigh is working out along with carrying both my shoes and socks, then both large rocks I'm standing on about halfway across give way, and given I'm barefoot and all the other rocks are as slippery as they come, after a gallant stumbling and balancing act I manage to stay mostly upright, and immediately learn that Nike's float when you drop them in rivers. After one more slightly less traumatic skidding session I make it to the other side, with my jeans soaked from the thigh down, and a big toe bleeding slightly. Man was it fun though.
For future reference, after rainfall, this could be an even more fun hike. I recommend a bathing suit first of all. Second of all I recommend socks and shoes for the majority of the hike, but also sandals for the treks through the water, goes much easier through the sharp stuff. A backpack obviously helps for carrying everyone's extra equipment. Also don't forget your camera, as we got some really nice shots of each of us slinging ourselves out over the lake on the rope swing and posing as if we were about to fly off. There were some close shaves, but nothing to write home about. The whole excursion reminded me of a trip my family and I made to Dinkey Creek, which was so long ago I don't even have any recollection of where it is. The water up here though was actually a decent temperature though. Not exactly Reccen heated pool, but far from freezing ocean as well. I'm sure I'll be making a return trek at some point.
We also have a movie review tonight, as I managed to get in two social events in a single day, amazing as it sounds. The Recruit walks away with 4.5 M's. This was actually a very entertaining movie, but it gets kept out of the 5 star range due to predictability. There were some twists, but the entire ending is somewhat obvious as it progresses. Huge bonus points though for making me laugh out loud at various random occasions, including the line "metaphysically wrinkle-free." You really had to be there. Huge negative tick marks however counterbalance the previous, due to a chase scene that involved a VW Bug and a pickup truck. I mean, cmon. Not exactly Bond, James Bond. Didn't check the indiglo once though, probably because this fell into the less than two hour category rather than the ever increasingly popular over two and a half hour category. Not a diehard Pacino fan, prefer De Niro myself, but Farrell performed well. Oh, and the female lead wasn't blond. All in all some pros and some cons, and I've heard mixed reviews from other people. I really don't think I could ever take a job where you can't trust anyone. I think I could easily handle working with classified information and not being able to tell anyone, but not being able to trust the people you work with, or even loved ones, because they might be bad guys, is just kind of hard to fathom. Although now that I think about it, if anyone is working for the KGB, it's my brother. He's got that "pretend to be stupid" thing down pat.
Wow longest movie review in a while. Must be in a talking mood.
Okay that isn't anywhere close, but I was trying to get a sound that was at least as loud as the Tarzan yell. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhayayahhhhhhhhhhh is probably closer but that looks like laughter. Anyway you get the idea. Went on a very awesome hike today up on the Red Rock trail off of Paradise Road on the other side of the mountains, and had loads of fun. Unfortunately I wasn't exactly informed as to what type of trail it was, so I went in my usual jeans and comfortable air max's. Turns out that balance was the name of the game, as at least 1/3 of the trail involved scrambling or bouncing between rocks. This was largely because you ended up crossing the river the trail ran along countless times along the way. The trail eventually leads to various swimming holes, and this especially cool rope swing thing thtat zips you way out over an especially deep one. Had I been wearing a bathing suit I would have been in heaven. As it was, due to the recent rainfall, one of the river crossings ended up much deeper than it looked. Like, much deeper, with no alternate route to be found after searching around nearby. So initially rolling the jeans up to the thigh is working out along with carrying both my shoes and socks, then both large rocks I'm standing on about halfway across give way, and given I'm barefoot and all the other rocks are as slippery as they come, after a gallant stumbling and balancing act I manage to stay mostly upright, and immediately learn that Nike's float when you drop them in rivers. After one more slightly less traumatic skidding session I make it to the other side, with my jeans soaked from the thigh down, and a big toe bleeding slightly. Man was it fun though.
For future reference, after rainfall, this could be an even more fun hike. I recommend a bathing suit first of all. Second of all I recommend socks and shoes for the majority of the hike, but also sandals for the treks through the water, goes much easier through the sharp stuff. A backpack obviously helps for carrying everyone's extra equipment. Also don't forget your camera, as we got some really nice shots of each of us slinging ourselves out over the lake on the rope swing and posing as if we were about to fly off. There were some close shaves, but nothing to write home about. The whole excursion reminded me of a trip my family and I made to Dinkey Creek, which was so long ago I don't even have any recollection of where it is. The water up here though was actually a decent temperature though. Not exactly Reccen heated pool, but far from freezing ocean as well. I'm sure I'll be making a return trek at some point.
We also have a movie review tonight, as I managed to get in two social events in a single day, amazing as it sounds. The Recruit walks away with 4.5 M's. This was actually a very entertaining movie, but it gets kept out of the 5 star range due to predictability. There were some twists, but the entire ending is somewhat obvious as it progresses. Huge bonus points though for making me laugh out loud at various random occasions, including the line "metaphysically wrinkle-free." You really had to be there. Huge negative tick marks however counterbalance the previous, due to a chase scene that involved a VW Bug and a pickup truck. I mean, cmon. Not exactly Bond, James Bond. Didn't check the indiglo once though, probably because this fell into the less than two hour category rather than the ever increasingly popular over two and a half hour category. Not a diehard Pacino fan, prefer De Niro myself, but Farrell performed well. Oh, and the female lead wasn't blond. All in all some pros and some cons, and I've heard mixed reviews from other people. I really don't think I could ever take a job where you can't trust anyone. I think I could easily handle working with classified information and not being able to tell anyone, but not being able to trust the people you work with, or even loved ones, because they might be bad guys, is just kind of hard to fathom. Although now that I think about it, if anyone is working for the KGB, it's my brother. He's got that "pretend to be stupid" thing down pat.
Wow longest movie review in a while. Must be in a talking mood.
