(Sadly) I’ve been really busy at work lately and haven’t had time to write. So busy, in fact, that they are requesting I work extra hours and on weekends some times. Really? You want me to be here even more? The place I hate the most? Uggghhhh.
Anyways, to try keep my sanity, I’m writing this before I start to get bothered by my 32 micro managers to: A) Hopefully start my day off well, and 2) Make sure I keep my promise of posting more often, which still isn’t happening as much as I’d like.
Oh, and once again, I’m really sorry I’m not posting more training and/or nutrition stuff at this point. Again, my writing right now is all about me and my psychological state so please just hang on for the ride, and I’ll eventually get to more posts that might be relevant to your interests.
Here we go, another post of grand randomisity:
1) Costco didn’t rock my sox off.
– Sure, I found some good deals, but I wasn’t blown away. A 10lb. bag of farm raised, grain-fed, frozen chicken breasts was awesome. 93/7 ground turkey that has had their beaks cut so they don’t fight in their holding pens was also a good deal at $2.25/pound (except I had to buy 4 pounds). About the only thing I was really really excited about was the 2 dozen cage-free, natural eggs for only $5. I realize I’ll probably get AIDS and cancer because the chicken and turkey were farm raised and grain fed, but I really just like the flavor of cage-free eggs.
2) Snow tires are awesome
– I haven’t really had the best opportunities to test them out yet, but I’ve gotten to drive on some snow covered parking lots and some slushy, slippery roads without any type of sliding around and near death experiences. I’m still waiting for the 6″ downfall to really test them out. So far, they were well worth the $800’ish. Don’t worry, that included all the service and some baller rims.
3) Instant coffee is the suck; instant coffee mixed too strongly is even worse
– Bought some Foldger’s Instant Coffee at Costco so that I could bring it to work and keep at my desk. Of course, Costco doesn’t have industrial size 4-cup coffee filters so I had to make some for my morning commute. Not only does instant coffee normally suck, but I mixed enough coffee for four 6-oz cups for my three cup mug. The caffeine buzz is outstanding right now!
4) Me? Training for a 5k next summer?! GTFOH!!!
– It dawned on me (again) that I’m beginning to dislike training just for the sake of training more and more. I’ve also come to realize that I can usually do new-to-me events/lifts well to quite well without trying too much. And that’s really fun for me. I thought, “hmmmm…..what if I actually *tried* to run a 5k? Then what would people say?” Chances of this happening are small, but it’s not entirely out of the question. I’d like to show that an olympic lifting, football-has been, all things explosive dork could train for endurance using Gym Movement, and be quite dominant. I think I could get my time down to 6.5 – 7 minute miles fairly easily. Who knows? I’ll just have to wait and see this summer.
5) Freelancing
– I’ve been helping out Mike Nelson with some diction/transcription/whatever you want to call it when you type out someone’s verbal lectures. It’s not fun, but I’m not horrible at it. I’ve also been trying to figure out how I can whore out my mad Excel skillz. If anyone needs some super-sweet spreadsheets with or without custom macros or some transcription, let me know.
6) Polaris
– You never know who reads this site so I’ll just say that their products are awesome and they have 2 sites here in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.
7) I want more time to read
– Getting back to my psychological infatuation (both mine and other’s) at the moment, I just bought 6 books at the recommendation of The Dark Lord. When I’ll have time to read them? I have no freaking idea, especially with my increased engineering and freelancing work load.
8) You need direct gunz work to get bigger gunz
– I used to think that you just needed to progress with chin-ups, pull-ups, dips, and rowing variations to get some sweet arms. In fact, I used to call other “guru’s” ritards for suggesting otherwise. Sadly, I think I have to retract and apologize. Once I started focusing a lot on my chins and pull-ups, I went from being able to do about 6 in a row to 18 in a row. I’ve also been able to do doubles and triples with a 36kg kettlebell hanging from a belt. Guess what? I still only have 14.5″ pythons. Looks like I’ll be adding some more direct work to my routine when it tests well.
Anyways, that’s all I got for now. I’m going to enjoy my caffeine buzz as long as possible
Do a 5K!! I’ll even come to MN and do it with you, haha!! Also, good to know that I’m not really missing out on too much by not having a Costco membership.
Lastly, these types of post are pretty entertaining to me, if you cared to know.
I feel like you just spit in my face. Costco is TOTALLY worth it. Do you not look at their coupons? And their produce is priced well. And then their liquor?!?! I don’t have enough time to talk about this….
@Talya
I think the caffeine was clouding my judgement this morning. Just because I *think* I could do it doesn’t mean I will. :-p And thanks for letting me know that at least one person is interested.
@Allie
How do you receive coupons before being a member? I did get some apples, kiwis, and blueberries. I’ve hard about the myths of their liquor section too. However, I wasn’t on that mission last night so I didn’t go in there.
I just meant that when I went to Aldi the first time (though, quality of food may be on different levels) I was completely blown away. A week’s worth of food for $40 made my mind melt. Costco was just, “eh, ok, I guess.”
Having a specific goal that has a time limit is always a great thing. That is why I do powerlifting meets—sign the form, send in the money and show up. Lift in front of a large group of people in a completely new environment on commands, plus do 6 circa max attempts in one day. I don’t particularly enjoy it, but I to experience (on some level) what athletes go through and I know I will be better because of it.
The starbuck instant coffee packets are quite good! Other instant coffee sucks large moose balls.
Hmmm, maybe you can pick me up some cage free eggs next time 🙂
See ya later tonight at the XHP Center.
rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
http://www.extremehumanperformance.com/home.php
Mike,
I saw the Starbucks packs but 8 servings of that cost more than 240 servings of Foldgers. Call me cheap if you must. :-/
Also, I’d be glad to be your egg delivery man. Hahaha!
Coffee, sweet giver of life, is something that should never be skimped on, my friend.
“Robert Timms Coffee Bags” is about my bare minimum (half soluble/insoluble in a teabag). My standard is the biggest wank but so damn good; “Fair Trade” organic single-origin Peruvian coffee from a female-only employee farm. $14 per 250g, ouch.
If you can get Robert Timms in the US (probably not), I recommend you check them out.
Also, I recommend you check out 4 Hour Work Week (the book) if you want some tips on dealing with micromanagement and being asked to work extra hours. Don’t bother buying it though, libraries exist for a good reason.
Piers, I don’t think I’m that fanatical about anything in my life at this moment, much less something that costs that much. I am a little jealous though. Haha!
I’m pretty sure Tim Ferris never worked as a design engineer for an aerospace company. The scripts don’t work here.
+1 inch to my arms in 35 days, all about the gunz training
I agree w talya on all accounts!!! these posts are quite entertaining, a nice break for the non hardcore fitness-personalities like myself. 🙂 I wish you luck on (maybe) doing the 5k! maybe I’ll join you?? haha
@Champ
Tell me all your sekretz.
@Annie
Well, if you and Talya both make it up here, maybe I’ll do a 5k. Or maybe I’ll just watch you two. Bahahaha!
If I don’t have the good coffee at home, I just waste more money than that on espresso (which sucks half the time anyway). Makes sense in the long run.
Also, fair enough on the Ferriss thing. I found the book interesting, but most of it doesn’t apply to me right now (due to 90% of my job just being “be in a certain place at a certain time, incase shit goes down”). Hard to outsource/automate “being somewhere”. Hence my curiousity if it’d work for you in a business environment.
The long run, you say, eh? I’m not so good at looking at that. :p
My role is a lot of “you need to be here just in case” too. Plus, it’s hard to do electromagnetic intreference and/or lightning strike testing from my couch. Sadly.
If you don’t save as much as your membership costs they send you a check for the difference. Hardly a bad deal. But thats just me. Did I mention I mention I got a bomb ass jacket for $30 there?
I hate micromanagers.