Our daughter baby sat for a neighbor Friday night, so my wife and I went out shopping for disk golf disks. The store only had three in stock, so we bought them all.
We went out to play in the Sat afternoon. There are two courses separated by a strip of woods so we play one round of nine holes at each. One of the course is where we went last weekend. There is a sign there that reads, "Disk golf is a walk in the park", which is what it is. The distances are around 150-500ft, where in regular golf in the distances are measured in yards, but similar numbers.
We did okay with the disks, some of the proper equipment. They travel farther on a throw than a play disk for catching, which means our aim, or lack thereof, gets us into trouble. My wife threw one up in an oak tree and it got stuck there about fifteen or twenty feet off the ground. There was a dead tree on the ground nearby so I brought over a long limb that I could hold up high enough to push the disk and get it down.
Earlier in the day there was a monthly tournament there that was two rounds each on the two courses. Turns out that the two rounds we did was a lot for my recovering shoulder.
Speaking of aches and pains. Friday's weight-training session went fine. Weights were not much more than the bar, half what I was doing before I tweaked my lower back, so it wasn't a lot of work, but the back didn't feel worse afterward. Still waiting for it to get better though.
16 January 2012
exercise and burning calories
When I mentioned "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" a while back I should have added mention of one of the interesting bits from it.
He had a slide about exercise and weight control. Some of the points of this slide were:
- Working out to burn calories is not practical considering the number of calories in a "a candy bar, juice, or dessert". Not enough hours in a day.
- Toned muscles from "weight training improves skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity -- because insulin works better in strong lean muscle". Two or three times per week.
- Exercise also "reduces stress and the release of the stress hormone cortisol -- appetite goes down when stress goes down".
He had a slide about exercise and weight control. Some of the points of this slide were:
- Working out to burn calories is not practical considering the number of calories in a "a candy bar, juice, or dessert". Not enough hours in a day.
- Toned muscles from "weight training improves skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity -- because insulin works better in strong lean muscle". Two or three times per week.
- Exercise also "reduces stress and the release of the stress hormone cortisol -- appetite goes down when stress goes down".
08 January 2012
catching up
We spent the last week of the year visiting relatives. I managed to get to a gym there twice, but then tweaked my back again. It's getting quite frustrating that I keep doing that ever since I started training again after the shoulder surgery recovery. Getting nowhere. No progress.
The fun part was that the day of our return flight I was increasingly nauseous as the flight time approached until I threw up in the airport restroom, then on the first (short) flight, then twice more on the longer flight. If I had diarrhea, now then it would have been a most excellent return trip. I went to work the following day (Tues) to get some material return for a telecon, but didn't feel too great. Stayed home the next two days. Stomach is still not 100% today (Sun).
I was cleaning up my office on Fri and found a frisbee, which reminded me of disk golf. Our department is changing buildings, so I have to pack up. We three went out and did nine "holes" late this morning, then had lunch. My wife and I did it once about twenty years ago in Baton Rouge. This course was in San Jose, about a 40min drive. Took about an hour to play with our three frisbees. Our frisbees were the standard throw and catch type. There were a bunch of guys on the course, one woman. They all had bags with multiple disk golf, well, disks. Sort of like regular golf, there are different disks for different purposes. The three broad categories are driver, middle range driver, and approach/putt. I think if we do it again, it would be nice to have a mid-range driver for each of us.
The fun part was that the day of our return flight I was increasingly nauseous as the flight time approached until I threw up in the airport restroom, then on the first (short) flight, then twice more on the longer flight. If I had diarrhea, now then it would have been a most excellent return trip. I went to work the following day (Tues) to get some material return for a telecon, but didn't feel too great. Stayed home the next two days. Stomach is still not 100% today (Sun).
I was cleaning up my office on Fri and found a frisbee, which reminded me of disk golf. Our department is changing buildings, so I have to pack up. We three went out and did nine "holes" late this morning, then had lunch. My wife and I did it once about twenty years ago in Baton Rouge. This course was in San Jose, about a 40min drive. Took about an hour to play with our three frisbees. Our frisbees were the standard throw and catch type. There were a bunch of guys on the course, one woman. They all had bags with multiple disk golf, well, disks. Sort of like regular golf, there are different disks for different purposes. The three broad categories are driver, middle range driver, and approach/putt. I think if we do it again, it would be nice to have a mid-range driver for each of us.
22 December 2011
circuit training day
This morning was circuits, same as Tues. Kind of out of breath though. My wife and daughter have had colds recently, perhaps it's my turn. The back ache comes and goes now. Yesterday it was fine most of the day, then sore last night. Today so far it's okay too.
Last night our daughter asked me why we talk about the solstice, which includes lighting candles (and blowing them out) and talking about the meaning and symbolism associated with the solstice through human history. We have done it on the solstice or on the 24th in different years since she was old enough to understand the concepts. I explained how it was/is so she would have a ritual or tradition to associate with the holiday. One could argue we are re-creating the Christmas holiday without using the label, which is kind of weird considering the holiday came from Yule or solstice celebrations in the first place. We started doing it so she would have a tradition. Traditions are important for children to tie them to earlier generations in a family and create connections within the human community, but difficult ... or awkward at best, for atheists to deal with within a religious society, so it was stressful for us to come up with something we could do that would be appropriate without dogma or abstract ("sciency").
Last night our daughter asked me why we talk about the solstice, which includes lighting candles (and blowing them out) and talking about the meaning and symbolism associated with the solstice through human history. We have done it on the solstice or on the 24th in different years since she was old enough to understand the concepts. I explained how it was/is so she would have a ritual or tradition to associate with the holiday. One could argue we are re-creating the Christmas holiday without using the label, which is kind of weird considering the holiday came from Yule or solstice celebrations in the first place. We started doing it so she would have a tradition. Traditions are important for children to tie them to earlier generations in a family and create connections within the human community, but difficult ... or awkward at best, for atheists to deal with within a religious society, so it was stressful for us to come up with something we could do that would be appropriate without dogma or abstract ("sciency").
18 December 2011
exercise changes
I went to the podiatrist this week. It's been about two years since toe surgery, but it's still painful sometimes. We discussed the MRI from a few weeks ago. I shouldn't do motions that use weight to bend the toe upward. Stretching it manually is okay, but lunges and calf raises are not, unless I'm wearing shoes that prevent toe bending. That's possible for lunges, but not that great, so I have to cross those two off the list. The orthotics don't seem to do anything when I wear them, but he says they are supposed to help in the long term, but shoes don't fit properly and heel cups don't last with them.
The restriction should also extend to jumping rope. I don't do a lot of cardio work, but walk every day and do rope jumping as part of circuit-training for cardio. If I reduce the walking and stop rope, there's nothing left that I currently do.
I'm supposed to do weight-bearing exercise for my osteopenia/osteoporosis. That's why I started jumping rope along with the weight lifting. I don't know what other weight-bearing exercises there is that is not impact or toe bending.
My wife, our daughter, and I did some shopping around yesterday and tried some stationary bikes and elliptical machines. No one seems to sell rowing machines in the stores. During all this I asked the wife if I should just sell the power rack as used and join a gym, but she said it was okay to get more equipment to avoid the crowded gyms and the things that go along with them.
Ellipticals seem to be the better way to go, based on various web pages, so I bought one yesterday evening that had a smooth rotation and fit us (well, the adults). It's a compact model, but still a big piece of equipment. Had to move some things around in the garage to make room for it last night and spent a good chunk of the morning putting it together. Had to make use of a hammer because a bolt wouldn't line up and a plastic fairing for a joint had broken hooks so it won't stay on. Box the ~100-lb worth of stuff back up and head back to the store or deal with it? Okay... a little fairing is not a big deal.
I tried it a few times, up to a five-minute session. My "walking" pace seems to be 45-47rpm and it's more work than walking. My back has been getting better the past few days and felt 95% today until trying the elliptical, which made it burn a bit on the tweaked side.
Give the gift of "fitness". We didn't know what to get each other this year... the elliptical answered that question. We both have shopping for the spouse done.
The restriction should also extend to jumping rope. I don't do a lot of cardio work, but walk every day and do rope jumping as part of circuit-training for cardio. If I reduce the walking and stop rope, there's nothing left that I currently do.
I'm supposed to do weight-bearing exercise for my osteopenia/osteoporosis. That's why I started jumping rope along with the weight lifting. I don't know what other weight-bearing exercises there is that is not impact or toe bending.
My wife, our daughter, and I did some shopping around yesterday and tried some stationary bikes and elliptical machines. No one seems to sell rowing machines in the stores. During all this I asked the wife if I should just sell the power rack as used and join a gym, but she said it was okay to get more equipment to avoid the crowded gyms and the things that go along with them.
Ellipticals seem to be the better way to go, based on various web pages, so I bought one yesterday evening that had a smooth rotation and fit us (well, the adults). It's a compact model, but still a big piece of equipment. Had to move some things around in the garage to make room for it last night and spent a good chunk of the morning putting it together. Had to make use of a hammer because a bolt wouldn't line up and a plastic fairing for a joint had broken hooks so it won't stay on. Box the ~100-lb worth of stuff back up and head back to the store or deal with it? Okay... a little fairing is not a big deal.
I tried it a few times, up to a five-minute session. My "walking" pace seems to be 45-47rpm and it's more work than walking. My back has been getting better the past few days and felt 95% today until trying the elliptical, which made it burn a bit on the tweaked side.
Give the gift of "fitness". We didn't know what to get each other this year... the elliptical answered that question. We both have shopping for the spouse done.
15 December 2011
lower back
I don't know what happened this time. I had some hip flexor pain over the weekend due to good mornings on Fri, so I read about the "proper" technique for those, then did some practice ones with no weight on Mon, using that technique but must have messed up a squat or deadlift rep but didn't notice any problem until Tues. Worse on Wed, but still not hobbling, just occasionally painful. Wed's workout was upper body, so that was fine. Looking like today's circuits will be skipped and Fri's lower body will be an upper instead.
Today is the final for my class, so will spend the bulk of the day preparing for that. I could probably skip the final and get a good grade, but would like to do well on it.
I had a second interview with a company last week. They do "bleeding edge consumer electronics" which is a competitive, fast-paced environment. Much different from the research environment. I don't know how I would do in that, plus the company is currently in our city, but is moving soon farther away than I currently commute. I will not be able to work the hours I do now and WILL have to work longer hours, so basically I would have to leave at the same time I do now, but will get home three hours later. As you can tell, this is not an ideal change.
Today is the final for my class, so will spend the bulk of the day preparing for that. I could probably skip the final and get a good grade, but would like to do well on it.
I had a second interview with a company last week. They do "bleeding edge consumer electronics" which is a competitive, fast-paced environment. Much different from the research environment. I don't know how I would do in that, plus the company is currently in our city, but is moving soon farther away than I currently commute. I will not be able to work the hours I do now and WILL have to work longer hours, so basically I would have to leave at the same time I do now, but will get home three hours later. As you can tell, this is not an ideal change.
11 December 2011
Dickens Fair
We went to the Dickens Fair today. We have gone the past ... three or four years, but this time was not in costume, just street clothes. We didn't spend very much time there, because we were not in costume and we've been there a number of times before. Same old. In costume it's more interesting because we are more of a part of it.
Over the course of the weekend I set up lights on the house and we decorated the tree inside, but since our daughter is too old to continue the Santa myth, there's not much to the holiday, so neither my wife nor I were that interested in decorating. Well, she wanted the lights up, but wasn't interested in the rest of the process.
Festive lights as images of the sun, representing the continuation of life in the dark and cold of the winter solstice, with shiny and nostalgic decorations replacing the images of the things people wished the coming year to bring don't make a big holiday. I don't know it it's because we are too detached from the rhythms of the year that we aren't into it or just because we have no family here to gather with.
Over the course of the weekend I set up lights on the house and we decorated the tree inside, but since our daughter is too old to continue the Santa myth, there's not much to the holiday, so neither my wife nor I were that interested in decorating. Well, she wanted the lights up, but wasn't interested in the rest of the process.
Festive lights as images of the sun, representing the continuation of life in the dark and cold of the winter solstice, with shiny and nostalgic decorations replacing the images of the things people wished the coming year to bring don't make a big holiday. I don't know it it's because we are too detached from the rhythms of the year that we aren't into it or just because we have no family here to gather with.
05 December 2011
summary
I've been reminded that it's been a while since I've written here, so here's a quick summary of the last few months.
Obviously I haven't had too much to write about. The Java class I started back then is nearly finished. Our last assignment is due this week and our final is next week. I went into the class knowing some Java, but it was good to get a formal education in the language. Now if I can only leverage that with my experience programming in C and recently C++ into a new job. Haven't made much progress on that front. Paid a service to write a resume for me and have had a number of recruiters contact me for contract, web programming, or both position. None of which I'm actually interested in.
Now that's it's December, it's eight months out from my shoulder surgery. That was primarily a biceps re-attachment with some other clean up.
Back at the beginning of Sep, I started a more normal weight training program because I could finally hold a bar across my back. It was not comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, but I at that point I could do sets of squats as long as they weren't too long or too heavy. Not too long because it hurt and not too heavy because I couldn't hold the weight. At least I could do some. The physical therapist thought I was a bit overzealous, but said it's a good stretch for my arm, so go ahead.
In mid Sep I caught up on a number of articles I have been meaning to read. One of them was "Eat Like a Warrior King" by Dan John. In it he wrote about "the secret to nutrition", which was to "eat like an adult."
The highlights of the article were:
"Stop eating fast food, stop eating kid's cereal, knock it off with all the sweets and comfort foods, and ease up on the snacking. And don't act like you don't know this: eat more vegetables and fruits.
"Really, how difficult is this? Stop with the whining. Stop with the excuses. Act like an adult and stop eating like a television commercial. Grow up.
"Every success in your life doesn't call for several extra rounds of beer, a salutary doughnut, and high fives from everyone. You're an adult now; you don't need a cookie every time you do something special.
"...if you want to look good in the future, you have to start looking at food like, well, food and not a reward."
--
The arm/shoulder bugs me off and on. For example, in mid Oct I made it ache practicing volleyball with our daughter. I didn't hit the ball very often, I was mostly throwing it to her at different speeds, vertical angles, and distances from her. I did hit it some and caught her hits most of the time. One was a jumper, which was a mistake. I learned that reaching my arms up high to catch a ball is not a good plan. That one catch was probably the one thing that aggravated it the most.
The problem was I wanted to help her. The old man can play with her. My wife has usually been the one to practice with her, because she knows how to play, but for just practice, I figured I didn't need to know how to pass or set, but it turns out I have to be capable of catching and throwing. I'll have to be more conservative today or fess up that she should wait until we pick up the wife from the airport and they play.
Last saw my orthopedist in mid Mov. He said I should be using light to moderate weights on upper-body exercises and no push up, dips, or other heavy work like those for at least a year post op if not 18months (minimum of five more months). Anything overhead is to be limited, and people shouldn't be doing overhead press anyway. However, I've always read that overhead press is THE exercise for working on shoulder strength, but the behind the neck version was out.
A few days after that I saw the PT to get exercise recommendations. Upper body work should be in the 10-15rep range, so 6s, 5x5, etc. are out. Overhead press with DBs is okay if inclined and not heavy. No pullups. Pulldowns are okay, but not heavy and not too wide, but not too narrow either (becomes a pullup) and palms facing is better, but I don't have a bar to do that. No dips. No pushups. No overhead triceps work like French press. No bench press, but DB floor press is okay with palms facing. Lateral raise is okay if not above shoulder. Bent-over lateral raise is okay.
Took a couple pictures to see what my arms look like. The pictures confirm that my left biceps is smaller than the right. The lift numbers are more interesting. Those took a nose dive when I injured the shoulders, of course, and are recovering. I'm back up to where I started two years ago and now have to progress to ... something more.
--
A few weeks ago our daughter went to an evening birthday event, so my wife wanted to go out and felt like having fish. She's less inclined to be a veggie than I am, so, while I've been "strict" about my dairy-egg-veggie habit, she has some turkey or fish occasionally. We went to CreoLa, which is a Louisiana-themed restaurant near us. She's been there before, but I haven't because it has no veggie dishes. Before we went I checked the Seafood Watch chart, but afterward it occurred to me that because most shrimp comes from overseas these days, the shrimp I had was probably not from the "best choices" list and was from the "avoid" list.
My wife invited a guy over for Thanksgiving, but he came down with something the morning of, so called to cancel. She had bought a turkey breast (for him), so now we had it. I cooked it and ate most of it. Another foray into meat eating.
I learned a new saying related to shopping on Thanksgiving Friday: people buying things they don't need with money they don't have. Shopping for the adventure of it. Weird.
--
My wife and I recently watched "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" on youtube. It's about 90min long though. Interesting stuff about the role of sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the American diet. There's also the not so interesting details of the digestion of sugars, but discussion points out how fructose is bad for our system. As a medical practitioner, she's oohing and ahhing about how horrible those things are. If you want more reasons to stop eating sugar and drinking alcohol and sodas/pop, check it out.
--
I don't normally write about exercise motivation, because it's not something I think about much. Last week I read something by Frank Zane about it. He broke motivation down into five categories:
deficiency: you're not satisfied and want to change.
goal-oriented: you're training for something, e.g., competition.
success: you're responding to positive feedback and want more.
ongoing: you're feeling great from what you have done and want to continue.
structure: you're following a plan.
Success and ongoing motivation seem similar, but former is externally driven and the latter internally. The last one is for the OCD in all of us.
Obviously I haven't had too much to write about. The Java class I started back then is nearly finished. Our last assignment is due this week and our final is next week. I went into the class knowing some Java, but it was good to get a formal education in the language. Now if I can only leverage that with my experience programming in C and recently C++ into a new job. Haven't made much progress on that front. Paid a service to write a resume for me and have had a number of recruiters contact me for contract, web programming, or both position. None of which I'm actually interested in.
Now that's it's December, it's eight months out from my shoulder surgery. That was primarily a biceps re-attachment with some other clean up.
Back at the beginning of Sep, I started a more normal weight training program because I could finally hold a bar across my back. It was not comfortable by any stretch of the imagination, but I at that point I could do sets of squats as long as they weren't too long or too heavy. Not too long because it hurt and not too heavy because I couldn't hold the weight. At least I could do some. The physical therapist thought I was a bit overzealous, but said it's a good stretch for my arm, so go ahead.
In mid Sep I caught up on a number of articles I have been meaning to read. One of them was "Eat Like a Warrior King" by Dan John. In it he wrote about "the secret to nutrition", which was to "eat like an adult."
The highlights of the article were:
"Stop eating fast food, stop eating kid's cereal, knock it off with all the sweets and comfort foods, and ease up on the snacking. And don't act like you don't know this: eat more vegetables and fruits.
"Really, how difficult is this? Stop with the whining. Stop with the excuses. Act like an adult and stop eating like a television commercial. Grow up.
"Every success in your life doesn't call for several extra rounds of beer, a salutary doughnut, and high fives from everyone. You're an adult now; you don't need a cookie every time you do something special.
"...if you want to look good in the future, you have to start looking at food like, well, food and not a reward."
--
The arm/shoulder bugs me off and on. For example, in mid Oct I made it ache practicing volleyball with our daughter. I didn't hit the ball very often, I was mostly throwing it to her at different speeds, vertical angles, and distances from her. I did hit it some and caught her hits most of the time. One was a jumper, which was a mistake. I learned that reaching my arms up high to catch a ball is not a good plan. That one catch was probably the one thing that aggravated it the most.
The problem was I wanted to help her. The old man can play with her. My wife has usually been the one to practice with her, because she knows how to play, but for just practice, I figured I didn't need to know how to pass or set, but it turns out I have to be capable of catching and throwing. I'll have to be more conservative today or fess up that she should wait until we pick up the wife from the airport and they play.
Last saw my orthopedist in mid Mov. He said I should be using light to moderate weights on upper-body exercises and no push up, dips, or other heavy work like those for at least a year post op if not 18months (minimum of five more months). Anything overhead is to be limited, and people shouldn't be doing overhead press anyway. However, I've always read that overhead press is THE exercise for working on shoulder strength, but the behind the neck version was out.
A few days after that I saw the PT to get exercise recommendations. Upper body work should be in the 10-15rep range, so 6s, 5x5, etc. are out. Overhead press with DBs is okay if inclined and not heavy. No pullups. Pulldowns are okay, but not heavy and not too wide, but not too narrow either (becomes a pullup) and palms facing is better, but I don't have a bar to do that. No dips. No pushups. No overhead triceps work like French press. No bench press, but DB floor press is okay with palms facing. Lateral raise is okay if not above shoulder. Bent-over lateral raise is okay.
Took a couple pictures to see what my arms look like. The pictures confirm that my left biceps is smaller than the right. The lift numbers are more interesting. Those took a nose dive when I injured the shoulders, of course, and are recovering. I'm back up to where I started two years ago and now have to progress to ... something more.
--
A few weeks ago our daughter went to an evening birthday event, so my wife wanted to go out and felt like having fish. She's less inclined to be a veggie than I am, so, while I've been "strict" about my dairy-egg-veggie habit, she has some turkey or fish occasionally. We went to CreoLa, which is a Louisiana-themed restaurant near us. She's been there before, but I haven't because it has no veggie dishes. Before we went I checked the Seafood Watch chart, but afterward it occurred to me that because most shrimp comes from overseas these days, the shrimp I had was probably not from the "best choices" list and was from the "avoid" list.
My wife invited a guy over for Thanksgiving, but he came down with something the morning of, so called to cancel. She had bought a turkey breast (for him), so now we had it. I cooked it and ate most of it. Another foray into meat eating.
I learned a new saying related to shopping on Thanksgiving Friday: people buying things they don't need with money they don't have. Shopping for the adventure of it. Weird.
--
My wife and I recently watched "Sugar: the Bitter Truth" on youtube. It's about 90min long though. Interesting stuff about the role of sugar and high fructose corn syrup in the American diet. There's also the not so interesting details of the digestion of sugars, but discussion points out how fructose is bad for our system. As a medical practitioner, she's oohing and ahhing about how horrible those things are. If you want more reasons to stop eating sugar and drinking alcohol and sodas/pop, check it out.
--
I don't normally write about exercise motivation, because it's not something I think about much. Last week I read something by Frank Zane about it. He broke motivation down into five categories:
deficiency: you're not satisfied and want to change.
goal-oriented: you're training for something, e.g., competition.
success: you're responding to positive feedback and want more.
ongoing: you're feeling great from what you have done and want to continue.
structure: you're following a plan.
Success and ongoing motivation seem similar, but former is externally driven and the latter internally. The last one is for the OCD in all of us.
21 August 2011
Saturday
Worked on homework Saturday morning and made a good start on the two programming assignments, but still need to answer the review questions part.
When I had had enough, I left the computer and my wife immediately jumped on it. We need a second computer. I looked into some used or refurbished ones. They are a lot cheaper than a new one and the new ones have Windows 7. Bloatware. I use a W7 machine at work and like XP better. Could do a linux one, but at least for the class, the programs need to run under Windows and either XP or 7 should be okay for that.
Saturday afternoon we drove to San Francisco to visit a guy who makes shelves for chinchilla cages. He didn't mention that he lives in the Tenderloin. Lots of street people but surprisingly there was some parking. We bought a few (wooden) shelves and talked with him some about chinchilla care. He's a nice guy. The shelves are because we apparently are keeping the chin we have been fostering and they like to hop, so like multiple levels in their cages. They are wood because they like to chew.
In the evening we three went to a murder mystery dinner on a river boat in Sacramento and stayed the night in a hotel there. The dinner was a comedy thing, which is not what we expected and it wasn't that good. Actually it was kind of annoying and we weren't the only ones that thought so. It was not off to a good start when nothing happened for an hour and a half after we/the entire group were/was seated. We drove back this morning, caught up on pet care from the morning and continued with home weekend stuff.
When I had had enough, I left the computer and my wife immediately jumped on it. We need a second computer. I looked into some used or refurbished ones. They are a lot cheaper than a new one and the new ones have Windows 7. Bloatware. I use a W7 machine at work and like XP better. Could do a linux one, but at least for the class, the programs need to run under Windows and either XP or 7 should be okay for that.
Saturday afternoon we drove to San Francisco to visit a guy who makes shelves for chinchilla cages. He didn't mention that he lives in the Tenderloin. Lots of street people but surprisingly there was some parking. We bought a few (wooden) shelves and talked with him some about chinchilla care. He's a nice guy. The shelves are because we apparently are keeping the chin we have been fostering and they like to hop, so like multiple levels in their cages. They are wood because they like to chew.
In the evening we three went to a murder mystery dinner on a river boat in Sacramento and stayed the night in a hotel there. The dinner was a comedy thing, which is not what we expected and it wasn't that good. Actually it was kind of annoying and we weren't the only ones that thought so. It was not off to a good start when nothing happened for an hour and a half after we/the entire group were/was seated. We drove back this morning, caught up on pet care from the morning and continued with home weekend stuff.
first class
Thursday night was the first class. It was mostly a review of the course guidelines and requirements, then a review of some material related to the course.
Most of the students are traditional students, recently out of high school. There was one guy who was about my age, but through a dialog with the teacher, he is not ready for the course. He pointed out that when he started programming classes, punch read machines were used. My first class must have been the year after him, because they were being removed that year.
Maybe half of them took the prerequisite class over the summer, so the material and the teacher are very familiar to them.
After this one class, it seems easy enough, but she assured us that the work will get more complicated and time consuming.
Before the class started two students were in the hall waiting for the door to be unlocked and talking about their history of programming classes. I thought they were annoying. Not sure why. Maybe they just reminded me of how out of touch I am with modern methods.
I hope work doesn't interfere with the class schedule. If any travel comes up, then I could potentially miss a class. They have an attendance policy that factors into the grade, so I don't want to miss a class due to a travel conflict.
Now that I know the schedule, I can let people at work know and hopefully the projects can fit in around it.
Most of the students are traditional students, recently out of high school. There was one guy who was about my age, but through a dialog with the teacher, he is not ready for the course. He pointed out that when he started programming classes, punch read machines were used. My first class must have been the year after him, because they were being removed that year.
Maybe half of them took the prerequisite class over the summer, so the material and the teacher are very familiar to them.
After this one class, it seems easy enough, but she assured us that the work will get more complicated and time consuming.
Before the class started two students were in the hall waiting for the door to be unlocked and talking about their history of programming classes. I thought they were annoying. Not sure why. Maybe they just reminded me of how out of touch I am with modern methods.
I hope work doesn't interfere with the class schedule. If any travel comes up, then I could potentially miss a class. They have an attendance policy that factors into the grade, so I don't want to miss a class due to a travel conflict.
Now that I know the schedule, I can let people at work know and hopefully the projects can fit in around it.
11 August 2011
class
I forgot to write about the class I'm planning to take. Because it's been a long time since I've taken a programming class and I've been writing C since then, I thought it was about time that I took formal training in modern programming methods and a modern language. The local community college has an introduction to object-oriented programming in java class, but when I looked at the textbook, it was obvious that was too beginner for me. The next course, programming methods in java, is much more my speed, but they have caveats with that course that it's not a beginner class and students are expected to know the fundamentals of programming and programming in java. Toward that end I have been working through the textbook for the intro class, so hopefully I'm prepared. The other issue with the methods class is the time. Apparently many people drop it due to the time requirement for completing homework. I have arranged to drop my work hours to 32 instead of 40/w, so I'll see how that goes.
An additional concern is our one computer at home. There are three of us and only one desktop. My wife does some browsing and email and our daughter is starting seventh grade in a few weeks. I assume that more of her homework (aside from math) will be done on the computer. We are potentially going to have computer-time conflicts. I had bought a tablet (7inch Samsung) to help with the computer conflict, but the thing is not that useful because it's annoying to type on it. Laptop? Used laptop?
Oh, and of course, because the methods class has two prerequisites, there was bureaucratic foolishness I had to go through to register for the class.
In the end, I hope the class makes me more useful in the programming job market, since I can't find any positions in my current field, where programming is just a side line.
An additional concern is our one computer at home. There are three of us and only one desktop. My wife does some browsing and email and our daughter is starting seventh grade in a few weeks. I assume that more of her homework (aside from math) will be done on the computer. We are potentially going to have computer-time conflicts. I had bought a tablet (7inch Samsung) to help with the computer conflict, but the thing is not that useful because it's annoying to type on it. Laptop? Used laptop?
Oh, and of course, because the methods class has two prerequisites, there was bureaucratic foolishness I had to go through to register for the class.
In the end, I hope the class makes me more useful in the programming job market, since I can't find any positions in my current field, where programming is just a side line.
09 August 2011
chinchilla
For a while now, our daughter has wanted a chinchilla. We talked about it and came up with a plan that she would save up the money for the critter and we would buy the cage, etc. for it. However, she and my wife went to the local chin rescue center over the weekend, so...
We are currently fostering a 5-yr male chin named Carlos. She would like to name him Fig. Chins are nocturnal animals. That was something that became quite clear to me because his cage is off to the side in the living room and I have been (mostly) sleeping on the couch since the surgery, because I can't sleep flat. The sleeping flat thing is getting better and instead of moving the cage upstairs last night, I tried sleeping in the bed. It worked out okay, but when I tried it once last week, the ache in the night bothered me more. I guess it comes and goes now, but soon I'll be ready.
The girls were out of town last night. Our daughter doesn't have a summer camp this week, so they are vacationing.
The chin makes a mess during the night: bedding and his little poop pellets out of the cage and everything moved around inside.
I don't know what we're going to do about this. We need to try the cage in her room one night with her trying to sleep with the racket, so she can experience it, but that means the cage has to be elsewhere and I'd rather not have it in the living room.
They didn't say how long this foster period was. Apparently it's open ended.
We are currently fostering a 5-yr male chin named Carlos. She would like to name him Fig. Chins are nocturnal animals. That was something that became quite clear to me because his cage is off to the side in the living room and I have been (mostly) sleeping on the couch since the surgery, because I can't sleep flat. The sleeping flat thing is getting better and instead of moving the cage upstairs last night, I tried sleeping in the bed. It worked out okay, but when I tried it once last week, the ache in the night bothered me more. I guess it comes and goes now, but soon I'll be ready.
The girls were out of town last night. Our daughter doesn't have a summer camp this week, so they are vacationing.
The chin makes a mess during the night: bedding and his little poop pellets out of the cage and everything moved around inside.
I don't know what we're going to do about this. We need to try the cage in her room one night with her trying to sleep with the racket, so she can experience it, but that means the cage has to be elsewhere and I'd rather not have it in the living room.
They didn't say how long this foster period was. Apparently it's open ended.
crochet
In the past week or so I've pulled out the crochet tools and managed to get some work done. Enough to finish a scarf I started a year ago for my wife. Actually, she and our daughter are going to share it. It was the yarn I dyed at a yarn-dying "party" last July. It was an on-and-off project while doing other projects, but I haven't done much since the skiing accident and none, until now, since the surgery.
I was supposed to make a scarf for my mother-in-law for her birthday. It was originally our daughter's idea to knit one for her, but she gave up on the project and I volunteered to crochet one. I had plenty of time, but after being idle for months, don't have much time now.
I was supposed to make a scarf for my mother-in-law for her birthday. It was originally our daughter's idea to knit one for her, but she gave up on the project and I volunteered to crochet one. I had plenty of time, but after being idle for months, don't have much time now.
getting attention
Yesterday morning I had to work to get the PT's attention. After doing the exercises in a PT session, the chief PT stretches my shoulder (then comes the ice and electrostim). Yesterday the guy on the table next to me was wanting to talk with him about the golf developments over the weekend. Hello, he's stretching me, it's my time to talk with him. I wanted to ask about the latest estimate of my timeline for being able to put a barbell across my back, do overhead presses, etc., so I butted into their conversation to take care of business.
The answer was another two months for doing back squats, in the mean time use DBs. Which means I'll continue doing front squats with a 45-lb plate and keep doing leg extensions and curls with the iron boots. Over the weekend a clerk at vitamin store suggested doing squats with a Smith machine because then I could hold on with only one arm. That was a good idea, but I would have to join a gym to do it.
He also said that even though I can't do overhead press yet, I could do incline press. They went okay with light DBs. I'll have to try front raises and lateral raises for shoulders. I forgot to do them at yesterday evening's garage session.
Deadlift and biceps curls are progressing faster than I expected. Anything shoulder-related is slow.
The answer was another two months for doing back squats, in the mean time use DBs. Which means I'll continue doing front squats with a 45-lb plate and keep doing leg extensions and curls with the iron boots. Over the weekend a clerk at vitamin store suggested doing squats with a Smith machine because then I could hold on with only one arm. That was a good idea, but I would have to join a gym to do it.
He also said that even though I can't do overhead press yet, I could do incline press. They went okay with light DBs. I'll have to try front raises and lateral raises for shoulders. I forgot to do them at yesterday evening's garage session.
Deadlift and biceps curls are progressing faster than I expected. Anything shoulder-related is slow.
05 August 2011
more PT
I went to the ortho a month ago and Wed this week. Each time he looked over my shoulder and moved it around and said to continue with physical therapy (PT) and come back to see him in a month.
Wed I tried to put a bar across my back to see if squats are an option yet. No joy.
In the mean time, I bought some "iron boots" and have been using them for (standing) leg extensions and curls. Been doing deadlifts with a barbell. Did 3sets x 10 x 95lbs this week. (Prior to surgery I was doing around 250.) Front squats 3sets x 10 with a 45-lb plate. Even vertically, holding the plate is the hard part.
Have been struggling with things like normal lat pulldowns and floor press. I can floor press 12-lb DBs, but a barbell is too heavy to attempt. Next week I'll try 16-lb DBs. Doing them on the floor, because it's not worth it to unfold the bench and it keeps my elbow from moving too far back. Two of my PT exercises are triceps pushdowns and lat front pulldowns and those are okay. On overhead (normal) lat pulldowns, the muscles in my shoulder grind, but I can do the movement if the bar is kind of out in front, far enough so I won't hit my nose. Still can't do something like a shoulder press, because the arm doesn't move like that. That also means hanging leg raises are out. Prior to surgery I was doing them with arm straps, but I tried getting in those the other day. No way. For the last month or so I've been doing leg lifts and crunches.
Wed I tried to put a bar across my back to see if squats are an option yet. No joy.
In the mean time, I bought some "iron boots" and have been using them for (standing) leg extensions and curls. Been doing deadlifts with a barbell. Did 3sets x 10 x 95lbs this week. (Prior to surgery I was doing around 250.) Front squats 3sets x 10 with a 45-lb plate. Even vertically, holding the plate is the hard part.
Have been struggling with things like normal lat pulldowns and floor press. I can floor press 12-lb DBs, but a barbell is too heavy to attempt. Next week I'll try 16-lb DBs. Doing them on the floor, because it's not worth it to unfold the bench and it keeps my elbow from moving too far back. Two of my PT exercises are triceps pushdowns and lat front pulldowns and those are okay. On overhead (normal) lat pulldowns, the muscles in my shoulder grind, but I can do the movement if the bar is kind of out in front, far enough so I won't hit my nose. Still can't do something like a shoulder press, because the arm doesn't move like that. That also means hanging leg raises are out. Prior to surgery I was doing them with arm straps, but I tried getting in those the other day. No way. For the last month or so I've been doing leg lifts and crunches.
26 June 2011
travel
A week ago Wed, a group of us left work early in the morning for a road trip to eastern Nevada. Seven guys and some equipment in two vans and a truck towing a trailer. We returned this week Thurs.
I did what I could to continue with shoulder physical therapy using tubing, the pulley rope, and the exercise equipment in the hotel's "fitness center". They had a multi-station exercise machine that included a leg attachment for leg extensions and curls. My old weight rack and bench setup had one, but because I was relying on deadlifts, manual glute-ham raises, and squats for leg work, the new bench doesn't have a leg attachment. For this surgical recovery and the potential next one, this is a problem because I can't hold a barbell or heavy dumbbell to do leg work. The old-time strongmen used "iron boots" that were strap-on "boots" that could include a dumbbell each before the days of isolation leg work. The tubing is awkward to use for leg work, I ordered a pair of those boots. The boots should be useful for a long while. I will need to build up a lot of strength before I move beyond them, but I can see that using them for leg curls may be I'll continue with anyway.
The landscape where we were in Nevada was sage desert and hills. Dry and sandy in some parts, but where we were working had springs and different types of associated biting flies, but the air was dry.
I didn't bring a camera, but took some pictures with my phone on the way back. On the way I bought a few postcards. The following pictures are from the phone.
Once we came across the California border, we entered the Mammoth Lakes area, where we stopped for the night.
As we approached the Sierra Nevada mountains, we were in a meadow.
Once in the village of Mammoth Lakes, we found that the road to the Devils Postpile was closed, so we stopped on the road there and looked out over the valley from the embankment. While we were wandering around there, a few of us went over to a snow pile and made a snowball each and carried them back. When we arrived back with the others, we put them on the railing. Another guy had some carrots and another had a pocket knife, so I fashioned a face with a couple pebbles and carrot slivers.
On the other side of the railing, there was a rock wall with a chipmunk wandering around. "Don't feed the wildlife", but someone gave it a peanut.
I thought it was strange that the place name didn't have an apostrophe, so I looked it up. Official place names in the US aren't allowed to have apostrophes in them, so there are only a few exceptions and Devils Postpile isn't one. I don't have a picture of it, but it's like Devils Tower, a magma pile that cooled slowly and fractured vertically to make rock "posts".
The next morning we continued the drive across California, passing through Yosemite national forest. One place we stopped for picture taking was Tenaya Lake.
Another place we stopped was at an overlook toward Half Dome. Most of the rock there is granite. In the foreground are mounded granite slabs. Half Dome is a granite mountain that has a shear rise in Yosemite valley, which was to the south of the road/pass we were on. We didn't detour down there.
I did what I could to continue with shoulder physical therapy using tubing, the pulley rope, and the exercise equipment in the hotel's "fitness center". They had a multi-station exercise machine that included a leg attachment for leg extensions and curls. My old weight rack and bench setup had one, but because I was relying on deadlifts, manual glute-ham raises, and squats for leg work, the new bench doesn't have a leg attachment. For this surgical recovery and the potential next one, this is a problem because I can't hold a barbell or heavy dumbbell to do leg work. The old-time strongmen used "iron boots" that were strap-on "boots" that could include a dumbbell each before the days of isolation leg work. The tubing is awkward to use for leg work, I ordered a pair of those boots. The boots should be useful for a long while. I will need to build up a lot of strength before I move beyond them, but I can see that using them for leg curls may be I'll continue with anyway.
The landscape where we were in Nevada was sage desert and hills. Dry and sandy in some parts, but where we were working had springs and different types of associated biting flies, but the air was dry.
I didn't bring a camera, but took some pictures with my phone on the way back. On the way I bought a few postcards. The following pictures are from the phone.
Once we came across the California border, we entered the Mammoth Lakes area, where we stopped for the night.
As we approached the Sierra Nevada mountains, we were in a meadow.
Once in the village of Mammoth Lakes, we found that the road to the Devils Postpile was closed, so we stopped on the road there and looked out over the valley from the embankment. While we were wandering around there, a few of us went over to a snow pile and made a snowball each and carried them back. When we arrived back with the others, we put them on the railing. Another guy had some carrots and another had a pocket knife, so I fashioned a face with a couple pebbles and carrot slivers.
On the other side of the railing, there was a rock wall with a chipmunk wandering around. "Don't feed the wildlife", but someone gave it a peanut.
I thought it was strange that the place name didn't have an apostrophe, so I looked it up. Official place names in the US aren't allowed to have apostrophes in them, so there are only a few exceptions and Devils Postpile isn't one. I don't have a picture of it, but it's like Devils Tower, a magma pile that cooled slowly and fractured vertically to make rock "posts".
The next morning we continued the drive across California, passing through Yosemite national forest. One place we stopped for picture taking was Tenaya Lake.
Another place we stopped was at an overlook toward Half Dome. Most of the rock there is granite. In the foreground are mounded granite slabs. Half Dome is a granite mountain that has a shear rise in Yosemite valley, which was to the south of the road/pass we were on. We didn't detour down there.
11 June 2011
normal activities
This week the lead PT said I should start doing normal activities again. Last time I saw the doc, he said not to, but that was several weeks ago. There goes my excuse for not doing dishes. I did them last night. Shoulder was sore reaching around, but I didn't break anything. Started tying my shoe laces again. (I had a slider to hold them, which worked with one hand, plus a little assist.)
I was out of a town for work some this week. Was of little use loading and unloading the equipment and I refused to drive the van full of cargo, but I was able to do my primary role. That was mostly just operating a laptop.
Late last week I also started typing with two hands again. I can get my arm on the desk, but it's not mobile once there. Limit of range of motion. I can also get my hand on the steering wheel of my car, but it's not of much use other than stabilizing.
Tried wearing a t-shirt. It's doable, but not fun putting on or taking off. Been doing button-front shirts since the surgery.
Oh, training related, sort of, I started lifting a 40-lb DB for 3 sets of 12 as an experiment, bad arm stabilizing, but held by the better arm, in a squat/deadlift. Doing those and crunches for the last week, three "sessions" so far. Tried leg lifts, but gave up because they put too much tightening on the shoulder
I was out of a town for work some this week. Was of little use loading and unloading the equipment and I refused to drive the van full of cargo, but I was able to do my primary role. That was mostly just operating a laptop.
Late last week I also started typing with two hands again. I can get my arm on the desk, but it's not mobile once there. Limit of range of motion. I can also get my hand on the steering wheel of my car, but it's not of much use other than stabilizing.
Tried wearing a t-shirt. It's doable, but not fun putting on or taking off. Been doing button-front shirts since the surgery.
Oh, training related, sort of, I started lifting a 40-lb DB for 3 sets of 12 as an experiment, bad arm stabilizing, but held by the better arm, in a squat/deadlift. Doing those and crunches for the last week, three "sessions" so far. Tried leg lifts, but gave up because they put too much tightening on the shoulder
05 June 2011
150
I read an article online this morning about how people have a hard time keeping track of relationships with more than 150 people, Dunbar's number. They were relating it to numbers of factory workers and Facebook "friends". In the work setting, people can't keep track of whose job is whose and efficiency goes down. That's why Gore-Tex factory size is limited. I think the 150 thing also works for other other "friends" lists too.
I also watched an online exercise video. One day I'll be able to that again, but my weight is also approaching 150. In the past 2.5 years I've managed to gain something like 10 pounds, mostly muscle. In the last two months, I've lost most of that. Return to exercise is another month away, at least. By then I'll be starting Completely over. Nothing I can do about it, but it bothers me. I have some knowledge about how to train, which I didn't back then, but I still have to do all the work get to where I was. Yeah, and that's just for the first shoulder. Did I mention recently cross-country skiing was THE stupidest thing I've done?
I also watched an online exercise video. One day I'll be able to that again, but my weight is also approaching 150. In the past 2.5 years I've managed to gain something like 10 pounds, mostly muscle. In the last two months, I've lost most of that. Return to exercise is another month away, at least. By then I'll be starting Completely over. Nothing I can do about it, but it bothers me. I have some knowledge about how to train, which I didn't back then, but I still have to do all the work get to where I was. Yeah, and that's just for the first shoulder. Did I mention recently cross-country skiing was THE stupidest thing I've done?
03 June 2011
better PT session
This morning's session went much better. The place was less crowded and I received some better direction. The lead PT manipulated (stretched) my arm as I have seen him do for others.
He says I need to get more range of motion into the shoulder before we can move on. Behind schedule.
Exchanged messages with the Dr office earlier this week. I don't return there until next month, so I asked if I should have the MRI of the other shoulder before that appt. I'm anxious to find out the extent of the injury the outlook for surgery, not that I'm ready to have it done. He said no and wants this one to heal more before pursuing anything with the other, so the limbo continues.
He says I need to get more range of motion into the shoulder before we can move on. Behind schedule.
Exchanged messages with the Dr office earlier this week. I don't return there until next month, so I asked if I should have the MRI of the other shoulder before that appt. I'm anxious to find out the extent of the injury the outlook for surgery, not that I'm ready to have it done. He said no and wants this one to heal more before pursuing anything with the other, so the limbo continues.
30 May 2011
PT coniniuing
PT exercises continue. I haven't been to the PT place since Wed, but they tell me which exercises I'm supposed to do at home. Those are done 2x/day. They don't seem any easier, but the shoulder has a little more range, not dramatic. The arm is out of the sling, except for sleeping, but mostly hangs there, because it does raise on its own, but bends at the elbow most of the range that joint used to have.
I looked up shoulder cartilage tears yesterday to verify what I had read before. They don't heal due to lack of blood supply, so I don't see how PT on the left side is going to help the tear on the right, as the therapist suggested. PT would help restore it AFTER its surgery.
I looked up shoulder cartilage tears yesterday to verify what I had read before. They don't heal due to lack of blood supply, so I don't see how PT on the left side is going to help the tear on the right, as the therapist suggested. PT would help restore it AFTER its surgery.
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