What I’ve Learned So Far

“Reflect upon your present blessings,
of which every man has plenty;
not on your past misfortunes,
of which all men have some.”

–Charles Dickens

~

(Photo by Arturo Donate.)

After most of a week of South by Southwest madness, then most of a week of catching up from that madness, I finally got back into the gym this week. I did it with some gusto.

23 March 2010 — power:

• Spin bike & roller to warm up.
• Barbell squats: 10 x 95#, 15 x 115#, 15 x 135#, 15 x 135#
• Pullover machine: 3 x 10 x 50#
• Incline d.b. bench: 3 x 10 x 50#’s
• D.b. bent-over row, per arm: 3 x 8 x 50#

24 March 2010 — flexibility & cardio:

• Spin bike & roller to warm up.
• Bicycle crunches: 2 x 20
• Planks.
• Oblique crunches.
• Elliptical stepper: 25 minutes hill repeats, 280 kCal.
• Runner’s stretches.

25 March 2010 — a “three-ring circuit” workout, alternating legs / chest / back:

• Box jumps @ 24″: 6 x 10
• Bar dips: 2 x 10
• Pushups: 2 x 10, 2 x 20
• Bodyweight rows from bar of Smith machine: 2 x 10
• T-bar rows: 4 x 10 x 45#

(Did the whole thing in 22½ minutes. Tough work.)

26 March 2010 — cardio:

• ARC stepper: 5 mins warmup (42 kCal), 25 mins hill repeats (309 kCal).

~

(Photo by Steven Leggett, used under a BY-NC-SA license.)

There will be no miracles here.

There will be no particular moment when the trumpet sounds, or when the scales fall from your eyes. You will not win the lottery. You will not wake up richer or more beautiful.

Jenny brushes the hair from Dylan’s eyes. He’s only four, but he has strong ideas about haircuts (No) and about her touching his hair (No!). So she does it when he falls asleep on her lap.

It’s late, and she ought to put him to bed, but she lets him rest with her on the couch for a little while longer. It’s just the two of them, like it always is, and he fell asleep watching Blue’s Clues on DVD, like he always does. But she knows that this “always” won’t last.

She hums a little tune to him as she smoothes his hair with the back of her hand.

We wait for epiphanies that don’t come. We think that someone will walk up to us one day and grant us permission to start living the lives we were always supposed to be living. We wait in vain.

Conor fell asleep in his dorm room with his paperback of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich still clasped in his hand. He had to read it for class, no one was around to talk to, and the roommate was spending the night at the girlfriend’s, so Conor thought he’d start in on the book as a way to fall asleep.

He stayed up to finish it. Before he was done, his eyes were red.

We need no miracles here.

Claude was an old man and he had been married to Doreen for a long time. When his grandchildren asked him, “Gampy, how long have you and Gammy been married?,” he always told them “A long time — but not long enough yet.”

Gammy’s in the bed now, but Claude can’t sleep. Doesn’t want to sleep. He’s slept away enough of his minutes with Doreen. He wants to be awake for the rest of them.

An hour ago, the nurse said, “She won’t need me again,” laid her hand on his arm, and then went out to wait in the hall.

He doesn’t want her to come back. He wants her to come back.

The miracles around us are ongoing.

~

(Photo by Amy Palko, used under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.)

At least for me and the rest of the Interactive attendees. The crazy kids listening to music and watching films, they still have a few days of debauch left.

I have a head full of ideas, a couple of overloaded inboxes, and a lot of following up to do, so my next few days may be chaotic. Normal posting will resume . . . sometime.

Meanwhile, how’s by you?

~

(Image from fliegender via Neatorama.)

I just slept ~10 hours to make up for the standing, walking, talking, listening, (moderate) beer-drinking, and not-sleeping that I’ve been doing since Thursday afternoon when South by Southwest Interactive started cranking up.

Next on my agenda: shower, shave, more coffee, and then back to the Convention Center for more of the same.

This year I’m trying a different approach by not lugging my laptop around everywhere. I’m tweeting a few things about what I’m seeing and doing (via @twalk and @Hoovers), and taking notes for blog posts — and nefarious world takeover plans — yet to come.

If you’re at the conference, feel free to ping me on Twitter so we can meet up. If you’re not on Twitter . . . well, you’re probably not at SXSW. But you could still ping me via e-mail, since I’ve got my Blackberry with me.

Whatever you’re doing this weekend, I hope you’re having a similar amount of fun and stimulation.

It’ll be here within 48 hours. I’m not ready.

More to the point for this blog, it remains to be seen if I can survive SXSW, use it for business purposes, and still keep up the pace of posts here. I’m dubious, but we’ll see what happens.

Meanwhile, are YOU going to be at SXSW? If so, won’t you please attend the session I’ll be running? The official SXSW listing is here, and our Facebook event page is here. I’d love to see you there!

I’ve had the quote below sitting around for a while now — you’ll note that the Salon item it’s from is dated May 2008 — because I didn’t quite know what to do with it.

So, what I’m going to do is (a) share it with you, (b) ask you to think generally about how it relates to your political views and the ways that you form them, and (c) await any comments you’d care to make.

Here’s the quote:

“Peak oil and climate change are fronts in the culture wars . . . Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Sensible people could agree that well-regulated markets incorporating the appropriate prices for environmental pollution and energy consumption will provide powerful incentives to allow humanity to avoid devastating energy shocks and the complete despoliation of the planet. We don’t have to consign ourselves to totalitarian dichotomies in which vegan organic gardeners stand on one side, threatening to employ the power of the state to deny everyone else their right to eat bloody porterhouse steaks; while across the trenches stand ranks of right-to-keep-and-bear-arms, give-me-my-SUV-and-suburban-gated-community-or-give-me-death Ayn-Rand disciples, draped in the furs of newly extinct mammal species, for whom a lifetime in hell would be infinitely preferable to a government-mandated solar power water heater.”

Amen.

American politics these days is typically framed in terms far more oppositional than we need if we ever want to come to constructive solutions to our problems.

Are you falling victim to these false dichotomies? Are you engaged in a culture war that you didn’t realize you were signing on for? Do you wear the political suit of clothes that someone else picked out for you, such that if you support Policy A you must support Policy B and oppose Policies C and D?

If so, I ask you to review your beliefs. Test them. Don’t be anyone’s chump, which in my experience is far more likely when you’re moving in lockstep with anything.

Think for yourself.~

(Photo of the crowd at Burning Man by Neil Girling, a.k.a. mr. nightshade, used under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.)

If you read this blog, thank you for taking the time.

If you ever choose to comment here, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

If something I write strikes you and you use it to make your life better, thank you for letting me in.

If you’re a friend of mine, I thank you for your friendship.

If you listen to my blatherations on Twitter or Facebook, thank you — I’m grateful that so many smart, kind people keep in touch with me this way.

If you do anything to make the world better today, thank you for your effort.

If you are rearing your children with close attention, thank you for tending to our future.

If you spare a moment to smile at a stranger today, thank you for making the world a brighter place.

If you take an extra moment of care to do something right, thank you for taking a stand for excellence in a world geared to mediocrity.

If you love those around you, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

~

(Photo by my Twitter pal Amy Palko, used under a BY-NC-SA license.)

Flexibility is not my strong suit, but I’m working on it. Besides that, there’s that certain je ne sais love-handle about my physique that I’m intent on changing. Thus this morning’s workout:

• Brisk walk in the neighborhood, through the park, etc. — 60 minutes, segueing directly to the gym . . .
• Foam roller to loosen muscles.
• Dumbbell rows (per side): 8 x 45# warmup, 3 x 8 x 60#, 3 x 8 x 50#
• EZ-bar curls: 8 x 55#, 8 x 55#, 13+ x 55#
• LOTS of stretching: runner’s thigh stretches (standing, sitting, supine), sun salutations, etc.

How did YOU work out this weekend?

~

(Image by Piez.)

My workout on Thursday was all about lifting weights. Today’s, by contrast, emphasized flexibility work, cardiovascular conditioning, and bodyweight core exercises.

• Spin bike — 5 minutes for warmup.
• Elliptical machine — hill intervals for 25 minutes.
• Foam roller to loosen muscles.
• Plank pushups — 3 x 10.
• Leg-ups on captain’s chair — 3 x 10.
• Rotator-cuff exercises — bands & tiny dumbbells.
• Back hyperextensions — 3 x 10.
• Incline sit-ups — 3 x 10.
• Runner’s stretches.
• Steam room.

How do YOU mix up your workouts to keep them fresh?