Progression

Fence in Sun

Temperaments

I interpret these looks as:  

"Please!"   "Maybe?"   and  

"Are you going to be the jerk who doesn't give me my treat?"

Cresting with Nicki

Mt. Baker Looking West

Mount Baker Sniffing North
Spring 2013

The Big Mucky

It was misty today but clear.  I decided to give my wrist sprain an extra day of rest, so i postponed today's gym with tomorrow's romp and took Nicki up to the Big Mucky.

Technically, we are in a drought, although one would never know it.  Parched, the earth is not.

I would wager that next to water, Nick loves mud most. At any rate he was in one of his elements and could not get enough splushing and sniffing. 

As we rounded the far end of the trail shown here, we ran into a couple with a pair of black lab sisters.  The three dogs got along instantly and romped around in circles non stop for 20 minutes as the humans chatted incomprehensibly.

We then walked to the far end of the Big Mucky where the couple had parked their SUV.  Nicki and i hitched a ride with them back to where i had parked my Jeep -- me riding in the back seat with three un-quietable fuzzie-forms.  Once back in the Jeep, Nicki finally settled down and actually snoozed.

It was one of those days when Washington is bathed in its unique soft-glow.  Mt Baker was veiled by the thinnest sheen of mist through which its snow reflected in "warm" creamy way.   Needless to say, I was unable to capture it.

Stove

Dusk to Dusk & Haute Kitsch

It was one of those "dusk to dusk" days in Cascadia: grey, damp, drizzly and dark.  The Gloom is here.

The other day, looking into a dark patch of thick forest nearby it suddenly "dawned" (i use the word with circumspection) on me what the "Black Forest" must have been like: dark, foreboding, impassable and inescapably enveloping once inside -- the lair of witches and erlkonigs.  I shuddered.

Up over the line for dinner the following day, I asked asked my German friends if the Black Forest was still anything as dark and foreboding as the forests here.  "Neh," they said, in an tone that said, "nothing close." 

About a year ago, I wandered with Nicki into one of these wooded thickets.  It was Spring and not as dark by half. Still, within paces I completely lost my sense of direction and went into an instant panic.  Imagine what it was like when full continents were so covered.

In all events, the gloom was such that I needed a little brightening up.  As it turns out the NY Met's Meistersinger conducted by Levine was on U-Tube.  What a cheerful production.

 [Full Four Hours:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LILqOT9Ov4w]

A music buff i chat with opines that Wagner is Haute Kitsch.  But he and I are agreed that this minimalist Wagner Moderne that has been orthodoxy at Bayreuth is just plain crap.  Wagner was a Romantic par excellence; this does not work.

Several months ago he and i fell to incredulous gasping at a modernist Flying Dutchman which finaléd not with the fated couple ascending into heaven, but with Senta falling flat on her face from a fire escape onto the pavement below.  Puleeze.

It's a shame about Levine though. He's obviously seriously ill and it's sad to see this happen to such an ebullient and emphatic conductor.  Compare his conducting of the Met's Tannhauser a decade or so ago.

Apple Does It Again!!!

I donno when this came out...  but this is definitely the solution to my hassles with LIBRE OFFICE. 


http://www.theonion.com/video/apple-introduces-revolutionary-new-laptop-with-no,14299/ 


Thanks again Apple!

Gizmo-rama

The Old/New Year gizmo-rama appears to be nearing its whimpering finale… The last of the gadgets finally arrived  which meant that i spent most of the day under the desk pulling and plugging wires.

The Wire Box

About four years ago, i completely gave up on trying to run orderly bunches of cables hither and yon.  Within a fortnight they were back to being their dusty, unfathomable jumble.  So fuck it. All A/C wires got run to a one of those file boxes with holes in them where they were plugged into surge protected strips leaving one or two thick cables to lead out from the box to the electrical outlet.  A lid was attached to the box.  What mess the wires got themselves into inside was their business. 

External Drives

Maybe about seven years ago, i gave up keeping any important data on the computer's internal drive.  There were a number of reasons for this all of which justified not keeping anything important in the computer(s).  I have two pair of external drives each consisting of an "original" and a "backup."  Since then internet storage and USB drives provide  provide additional security.

Patch Plugs

Given the above system together with the fact that i can't seem to use only one computer but (for a variety of eccentric reasons) am often switching from one to another, it occurred to me about three years ago that plugging and unplugging FW and USB cable was an ideal way to loosen or plain break the socket running to the mother board.  At this point, i came up with a genius solution. 

There exists a female/female FW coupler. I attached and firmly taped this coupler to a one foot FW cable and then plugged the end of that cable into the external hard drive.  I could plug and unplug the external hard drive to and from any number of computers without worrying about damaging the socket.   It's a genius solution, i must say.

So i've extended it to the other end of the set up as well.  The only caveat is that there is a length limit for FW cables (15 feet being the absolute max), so the coupling has to be kept as short as possible. 

Obviously, it does no good if the "socket-extension" itself wiggles around, so this year i made sure that i found ways to tape up and firm up this connection so that the plug into the drive or console remained as rigid as possible.

As for USB, I have applied the same principle using those mini four-socket USB strip/hubs. 

Cable Clamps

All this still leaves a lot of cables dangling about (and it gets worse when ethernet and telephone are thrown into the literal mix).  The best solution i have found is to use those black metal paper climbs.  They come in mini, medium, large and ultra large.  They are cheap and can be used to clamp whatever bunches of cables you have running in whatever direction.  When the cables need to be loosened there is no unwrapping, untwisting or untagging the bunch.  Just press the clamps little handles and everything drops loose.

Etc.

My new/used 2 Core Duo came with a complimentary macally keyboard and apple mouse (in matching white).  I've always like Macally keyboards and have used their clickable (ugly as hell) Bondi IBM boards for years.  But this newer gleaming white Macally has a lighter click and a nice feel.  So I ordered another one with a two button matching mouse; as well as a black mouse for to go with the Pismo which i have decided is the Chevy Bel Aire classic of computers and which i will not give up.

As for all the rest… it has been the usual mess with new phones, head-sets, answering machines and -- seeing as i have so many consoles an ethernet router.  The router i ordered didn't do what it was supposed to do but as it turns out my internet provider had an upgraded router/modem for no extra charge.  Other than having to stand in line for half an hour behind morons ordering "channel packages" it was a good deal.

I have no illusions that a final solution has been achieved.  It will all have to be redone again in six months for some reason or another… but at least for now it is done.

Needless to say... i was awol from gym :(  which means double duty tomorrow.

It's raining anyways.

 

End Year Finals

Geronto Flex Year End Final Results are In !!!  
(given in weights (reps) sets)

Bench Press (machine)
    85(18) 100(16) 115(14) 130(12) 145(10) 160(08)

Incline Bench Press (track lift)
    70(12) 90(10) 100(8,8,6)

Back Row (machine)
    85(18) 100(16) 115(14) 130(12) 145(12) 160(08)

Wide Grip Pull-down (cable)
    85(18) 100(16) 115(14) 120(12) 145(08)

Narrow Grip Lat Pull-Down (cable)
    50(12)  65(10)  70(10)  75(08)

Military Press (machine)
    50(18) 60(16) 70(14) 80(12) 90(10) 100(4)

Wide Grip Dumbell Delt Press
    25(12)  30(12)  35(10)  40(7,3)

Three Deltoid Dumbell Raises (Front/Side/Back)
    10(12) 12(12) 15(8)   

Olympic Bar Curl
    45(20) 55(18) 60(16) 65(12) 79(14) 75(10) 80(4,4)

Incline Dumbell Curl
    25(12)  30(10,6,4)
   
Preacher Curl (machine)
    65(12) 70(10) 75(08) 80(6,4)

Incline Sit-ups:     35lb(10) x 3

Dips: BW(10)x 3

Chin Ups: BW(8) x 2  :(
   

The drop-set routine has worked out pretty well.  It boils down to a three set warm up followed by three sets of "real" anaerobic lifting.  It has built stamina and by forcing a graduated warm up has avoided what i call brittle-taffy injuries.

   
Some yung'un who seems to spend a fair amount of time scaling inaccessible places is to blame for the olympic bar curls and the shoulder dumbell presses which made for increased joint stress and difficulty but which i have so far managed without popping or snapping anything. 

New Year plans entail getting off most machines and adding at least some basic leg work. ( I was doing leg extensions and leg curls but left off in mid summer.) I'm also determined to do 10x3 chins and then start working on the same number of pull ups.   

At the beginning of the year my max military press was 70, and max bench press was 125 (all this on account of stupid shoulder and elbow injuries).  So progress was made.  

But the real star of the show remains Mr. Nicki  who this weekend proved that he can run, jump, leap, and bound with inexhaustible effortlessness for hours on end.