One month

So I've been here (not exactly counting the hours) for one month now.  Things I've gained:

• sand-covered clothes
• an appreciation for people who ride the bus to work
• the beginnings of an allegorical comparison of deployment and prison

Things I've missed:

• my second son's first birthday
• the east coast "heat wave"
• quality food

Thanks to jalopnik for their approach to destankifying a car (we'll see if it works on dorm rooms).

Based on a friend's suggestion, I did 5x5 workouts of deadlift and shoulder press.  As I was doing my DLs, there was a guy next to me putting up 515.  Wow...I got 405 a couple weeks ago, so if I can increase that by 10% or so, say to 450, I'll feel pretty happier.

Update: a strong, hulking Army behemoth I talked to at the gym yesterday (no mustache) suggested I increase the weight on my sets, from about 50% of my max to 75%.  My friend Keith suggested combining deadlift and shoulder press on one day and then squat and bench press on another.  Actually, he suggested cleans in combination, but cleans work so many muscles I'll keep them on their own day.

Warmup: 9 pullups, 9 dips and 9 OHS
Workout: Deadlift - 5x275, 5x305, 5x345, 365 (couldn't do it), 1x365 (couldn't hold it)
               Shoulder press - 5x135, 5x135, 5x145, 4x150, 3x155
Cooldown: 15 pushups, 15 air squats

I think I'll take tomorrow as a rest day.

So I had shredded steak, sauerkraut, two over hard eggs and chicken sausage for dinner.  Kinda like these guys.

onions, green peppers and jalapenos are nice and cozy in their egg blanket

That being said, I'd love to be able to try this method by Gordon Ramsay (apparently he's not always loud and obnoxious...maybe Fox has that effect on people).  Here he is showing how to make the perfect scrambled eggs...and then give it to the missus in bed.

Finally, I really enjoy the humor of That Mitchell and Webb Look.  They give us the gamut for doctors: Homeopathy, 1970's era doctors and Nutrionists.

Mercator Projection and other big words

Have you ever heard of coursera.org?  The site hosts free courses or links to universities hosting free courses.  The courses don't count towards a degree, but are more useful as far as skill/knowledge exploration.  The course I started yesterday is Maps and the Geospatial Revolution, which introduces topics that PSU discusses in more depth in their 
certificate and master's programs in the same field.  It is very approachable and interesting (the professor makes bad jokes,
similar to those that my wife loves).

It's also interesting that the discussions on the site quickly brought to mind multiple subjects: cryptography (web privacy), finance
(don't buy a new vehicle: your old one has no internal GPS!), photography (more built in GPS receivers) and William Gibson novels
(locative art in Spook Country).  I also thought this What-if posit is appropos of the course.

After getting laundry started, I decided on bench presses for tonight's workout.  I got someone to spot me attempting 250 (didn't happen)
and then witnessed him easily putting up 335.  Realizing I was not the alpha male in that part of the gym, I asked the Hulk for some tips.  So
a few days rest, I'm going to start my first set of bench heavier (5 reps of 185) so that my last set of 5 will be closer to my max.  Here's how
it panned out:

Warmup: 9 pullups, 9 35lb shoulder lifts (like this, but happier), 30 air squats and 5 135 bench presses
Workout: 1 rep bench at each weight: 175, 205, 225, 225 and 250
Cooldown: More bench: 5x210, 5x175, 5x155 and 10x135

...and then more eggs and sausage.

I tried scrambled for once, even though the "eggs" used come out of a carton.

This is a warning: clothing does not equal (!= if you speak C++) trash!  

I'll end by saying how it hasn't hit me that my youngest son turned 1 year old about 24 hours ago.  He sure enjoys saying hi to me via
video chatting and I'm glad I'm gone at this point in his life when fourish months aren't noticed.

Two white hairs

No picture included; you'll just have to believe me: I have two distinct white hairs on the left side of my mustache.  I'm well on my way to a fully-formed old-man beard ala Jeff Bridges.

Warmup: 15 dips, 8 pullups, 8 feet to bar, 10 good mornings and 15 overhead squats

Workout: Push press: 10-95lbs, 9-95, 8-115, 7-115, 6-135, 5-155, 4-155, 3-165, 2-175 & 1-195

Cooldown: 12 deadlifts @ 225

Dinner was steak, more steak, salmon (thus endeth the s-foods), carrots and green beans slathered in "olive oil" (I don't really trust the labels on the food out here, but it's the best I can do without buying a hot plate for my room).

Steak number two is hiding

Many thanks to Edleez Tobacco for the free cigars to send to troops overseas.  I've donated to the local cigar club (so far I doubt the existence of smoking jackets) and sent some to some of the guys I work with.

Here's one of the smoking gazebos near my room:

It's like the people who built it are telling smokers, "You can smoke here, but you're going to have to walk on stones instead of the sidewalk."

Also have to thank the Rogers Family for the coffee they send to troops as well.  Much better than the Folgers I found in the back of the cabinet at work or the black liquid they try to pass off as coffee in the dining facility.  Today during breakfast I poured half a cup and couldn't even bring it to near face it smelled so bad...similar to boiled used car oil.

Stopped by the BX to see if they had any new free comics, which basically entail The Avengers helping some troops during a random daily event (walking in an airport, brushing teeth, reading the latest updated AFIs or trimming nosehairs).  Oh yeah: they aren't for me, they are for my son.  For perspective, here's what the BX looks like:

Frank Lloyd Wright, eat your heart out

Grammar: even British people and panda bears literally pay attention to grammar.

The Gourds

My work cell phone here is from circa 1998 and has 13 digits.  It's weird and sad at the same time.

I just got back from saying goodbye to two guys, working out and eating.  It was my first time in the Fox Sports bar...I had envisioned drunken revelry and peer pressure to chug German lagers (not old German lager).  Instead it was rather brightly lit and quiet.  I said my well-wishes and then...

Warmup: 15 situps, 15 back extensions, 15 pushups, 15 bar overhead squats and 8 pullups

Workout: 15-12-9 115lb hang cleans and burpees; 10:04

Cooldown: 15 dips and 10 feet to bar

Post workout meal consisted of the 4 S's: steak, steak, sauerkraut and salad.  To wit:

On my way back from the dining facility, I saw a guy talking to a girl outside one of the Cadillacs (a concrete common bathroom).  He was trying to convince the girl of something and he looked at me and said, "...just ask him."  I recognized him from the gym, but couldn't imagine a scenario where they were arguing about dips: "Dips in the gym are when you lower yourself in a hanging position, not ranch, bleu cheese and barbeque!"  I stopped and said, "Ask me what?"  To which the female inquired, "Why are there cameras pointed at the Female's door to the Cadillac?"  The obvious answer is that some bozo(s) were caught going into the females bathroom or lurking outside...guys must realize this without thinking too much and women not so much.

The workers (I don't think they quite rank as baristas) ground another bag of organic whole beans for me.  For some reason, companies sending coffee to soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen must assume coffee grinders come in MREs or deployment bags or something.  

I'm sure the inside of your local Starbucks looks just like this door

Before I went in to work today, I regaled myself with the music of The Gourds.  The only song I know is their remake of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice."  Enjoy.

Linux is cool

Another slow day at the office, so I watched some videos (thanks to Stanford's Open classroom!) on Practical Unix, aka catch up on what's been happening in computers since 1972.  I've been toying with Linux since college (the netbook dual boots into Kubuntu) and keep learning more in fits and starts.  One day I'll know how to host my own Apache server from the comfort of my mother's basement

I don't usually watch the Ellen Show, but Hulu sends me emails and this is hilarious:

Check Out The Ellen Show: What's Wrong With That Cat?

Did a modified Diane tonight:

warmup: 10 knees to elbows, 10 back extensions, 10 OHS, 10 pullups and 10 pushups

workout: 21-15-9 185 deadlift; 30lb dumbbell shoulder presses: ~12 minutes (didn't have my watch with me)

skill: 7 behind neck tricep extensions (25kg dumbbell)

Post workout meal: hamburger topped with two fried eggs, two beef sausages, covered in salsa and a salad

Started reading Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories finally.  I read his Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It a few months ago and so far GCBC feels like a longer version of the same.  Other books on my reading list, in the order they are piled on my shelf:

1. Storm Front, Jim Butcher
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
3. Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson
4. The Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan
5. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer
6. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
7. Zodiac, Neal Stephenson
8. Blood Rites, Jim Butcher
9. The Dante Club, Matthew Pearl
10. Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris
11. The Intelligent Asset Investor, Ben Graham (with commentary by Jason Zweig...I wonder if there's a Jason Dreig?)
12. Security Analysis, Graham and Dodd

Any suggestions for other books?

On the floor

Tonight was a shorter shift, so I got some laundry done, got a haircut, did a modified Crossfit Total workout and studied a little Linux.  I'm going to try sleeping on my new rug tonight and see how my back feels tomorrow.  This will be especially interesting since I did one rep of 315 squat tonight so my lower right back is tight.

Workout today was

warmup: 15 dips, 8 pullups, 15 back extensions, 15 situps, 15 OHS

workout: shoulder press (1 rep each): 95, 135, 175; squat (1 rep each): 175, 225, 315

cooldown: squat: 5 x 185, 5 x 135 and 5 x 45

Primal dinner (4 eggs over hard with ham, green peppers, tomatoes, onions and mushrooms, beef sausage, meatballs and shrimp scampi):

I got a beef brisket MRE from the dining hall...that is expired.  Not sure if I'll eat it or put it in a museum.

The Air National Guard graffiti artists work

Rest

So not much to say today.  I bought a rug for my room (adds a little color, softer on my feet and is the first step in trying to sleep on the floor).  My feet keep sticking out of my bunkbed rungs and I've read about the positives of sleeping on a hard surface, so I'm going to start with fresh sheets and give it a try.

Rest day today...my traps are really tight from the 30 cleans yesterday.

It really ties the room together

Five Haikus

To start:

Rocks; no grass in sight.

Flip-flops and sand covered boots.

Tenderized white feet.

Sixteen ounce water.

Mongolian beef stir fry.

Grab and go sandwich.

Cadillac shower.

Feet hang over top bunk bed.

Room thirteen quiet hours.

Well done salted steak - 

Tasteless, flabby boiled green beans.

DFAC Tuesday night.

Perfect secrecy
key length equals message length
burn your one time pad

Workout:

Warmup: 15 dips, 7 pullups and 15 barbell overhead squats

Workout: 30 135lb power cleans...4 mins

Skill:  10 barbell shoulder presses

So far, the gentlemen at the coffee beanery have ground my coffee beans for me (no need to buy a grinder yet).  Our coffee supply is flowing with whole beans donated by one of the many companies that give free coffee to soldiers, so I imagine I'll continue to use the commercial grinder as long as I can.

Primal tools: fish oil, MCT oil, magnesium, pork rinds, macadamias, cod liver oil/grass fed butter blend, Vitamin D and Vitamin K2

sunrise at 5:30am

Undisclosed Location

So I decided to spend my summer in an undisclosed location in southwest Asia.  I'm growing my mustache,  trying to eat paleo and catching up on my reading.  

My life the past three weeks has been pretty routine: I work night shifts with no expected days off; I wake up in the afternoon, shower, eat, sweat on the walk to the bus stop, watch some computer monitors for 8-9 hours, bus back to my room, work out, eggs over hard with sausage, read, go to sleep, and back to step 1.  

Right now I'm reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, which is a mix between Catch 22 and The DaVinci Code, sort of a mix between Tom Clancy and William Gibson.  It is truly tough to put down.  If, you are female, I sincerely doubt you enjoy it as much as I do.  It is essentially a geek's dream book  mostly dealing with hacking, cryptography and war.

I'm also going through John Durant's blog as well as keeping up with Mark Sisson, Rich Nikoley and Wellnessmama.

For the record, here is my workout from a few hours ago:

Warmup: 10 dips, 10 back extensions, 10 pullups, 10 situps and 10 barbell overhead squats

Workout: 5x5 dumbell front squats (55lbs, 60, 70, 80 and 95lbs)

Skill: push press - 135lbs, 155, 165, 185 and 205

who knew the Canadian superhero team was here?!

My before bed meal: eggs over hard, ham, peppers, salsa and sausage patties.