Working Out

I quit working on a regular basis when I got Penny.  I felt bad leaving a new dog in my apartment 10 minutes after I got home just so I could go work out.  Now that I’ve had Penny for a while and she’s used to being alone in my apartment I’ve decided to pick back up my workout routine.

Finding the motivation to do it really isn’t that difficult, it’s finding the time.  Right now, I’m using the simple workout room in my apartment complex and that closes at 9:00pm.  I’m not quite ready to sign up for a gym membership, especially since I hate other people watching me.  If I ever fell using the equipment I’d never return.  I’m not the most coordinated person.

Another issue I face when exercising is how quickly I get bored. I used to listen to podcasts of NPR’s Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, but that has gotten bored. I really wish I could use my Slingbox app on my iPhone to stream TV, but stupid AT&T won’t allow streaming over 3G. I decided to load my iPhone up with a few TV shows to pass the time.  Last night I was working out and watched an hour-long show and the time flew by.  Of course since it was my first workout in a while I took it easy, but I’m glad I’m finally getting back into the swing of things.

,

My Favorite 5 Posts Over the Last 5 Years

5yranniversaryIt’s hard to imagine that today is my 5 year anniversary of this blog. I’ve never posted anything groundbreaking or life-changing, but I do have some favorite posts from the past 5 years. They are nothing spectacular, but they were fun to write and put out there for the world to see. Here are my favorite 5 (in no particular order).

The New Rules of Blogging
This post is quite old and not many people will understand it. It was basically an inside joke with some members of the WordPress and Habari communities. The post was inspired by someone that we all found completely annoying and we hated her blogging style. This post was created as a joke.

The Game
I really love this post, but not as much as I love baseball. I was excited about baseball season starting and was bored when I was working in the computer labs in college, so I wrote this. It was even featured on StLToday when the season began a couple seasons later.

The Best Hip Hop Albums
Everyone knows that I love music, especially hip hop. In 2006 I put together some of my favorite albums of all time. 3 years later and I’d still say this list is the same. Maybe that’s because I’m still waiting for the sure-to-be-a-classic Chico and the Man album.

Three Generations of Cardinals Fans
This isn’t so much a post as an image. One of my favorites. My nephew, my dad, and me.

The World Can be Saved by the Bell
Last, but certainly not least, is my favorite post of all time. Anyone who really knows me knows I am a freak when it comes to Saved by the Bell. I think it’s the best show in the world (only slightly kidding here) and have seen every episode too many times to count. Heck, if I could get away with having the theme song as my ringtone without looking like a total geek I would.

So there you have it, my favorite 5 posts from the past 5 years. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I have writing them.

I am not my father

No, this isn’t a post about how I’m turning into my dad, though my dad and I are a lot alike when it comes to many things, especially politics and baseball. The title of this post needs to be taken literally. For those who don’t know, I am named after my dad. Growing up in the same house, phone calls could get confusing. Are they calling for me or my dad? Then I started getting mail. It was easier to figure out that college pamphlets were for me and AARP material was for my dad. There is one avenue in my life where I’m still confused with my dad: email.

My dad and I have very similar email addresses because we have the same name. My family on his side continuously sends me emails (emails that are sent to the entire family) thinking I’m him. Then I get all the replies when they reply to all. It’s been explained that my email address is not my dad’s, but once your email address is in their address books there’s no turning back. You’re on the chain for good and because of family happenings regarding my grandparents over the past few weeks I’ve been seeing an influx of emails. Sometimes I’ll get 20 a day not meant for me.

I’ve decided I’ve had enough and set up a gmail filter. Any message that comes from the addresses of my aunts and uncles go directly to a new label and are marked as read. It’s not that risky because they think I’m my dad anyway so they wouldn’t be using that address to contact me. They also know that my dad never checks his email so they including my mom’s address on all emails. Then once a day I will delete all the mails from the label. I had a bit of trouble trying to figure out how to enter in multiple email addresses in the from field in a gmail filter but I think I found a solution. If you place a | between the email addresses, gmail will see them as separate addresses and apply the rule accordingly. Let’s hope it works. I’m waiting for the next email to arrive.

On Missed Opportunities

I hate missed opportunities. I let this sit and fester until I obsess over them, going over every possible scenario in my head until I can’t think anymore. There was a situation today where I wish I would have totally done the opposite of what I did. I didn’t do anything bad, in fact, I didn’t do anything at all, and that is the problem. I wish I would have done something. I won’t say what, because it’s really not that important. It’s the principal of the thing that is important.

I really need to start the Costanza Experiment again and start doing the opposite of what I normally do. If I would have stuck with this, I would not be stressing over the missed opportunity today. The real kick in the shin is that I have, in one way or another, been waiting for this opportunity all week. Finally it presented itself in the most perfect way possible and I didn’t do anything. Will the opportunity be lost forever or will it present itself again? Maybe I shouldn’t wait for another opportunity to present itself and instead abide by the old cliche and “make my own opportunity.” That would be the opposite of what I usually do. Enough stressing.

,

Bat for Lashes Saved My Life

The band Bat for Lashes saved my life this morning. No, really. Let me explain. It all started last night while reading Questlove’s tweets. Questlove is the drummer for The Roots. If you don’t know The Roots, they are a fantastic band and also the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Bat for Lashes was a guest last night on Late Night, which is why Questlove was tweeting about them. He said how good they were, so I purchased their album last night.

Fast forward to this morning. I wanted to listen to my newly purchased album on the way to work. Normally I listen to hip hop or 90’s alt-rock on my way to work in the morning, and usually at a fairly high volume. Since I decided to go with Bat for Lashes, a relatively chill band, the volume was not up too high. This is what saved my life. I was driving down highway 94, like I do every morning, and I come to the intersection at Harvester and 94. Shortly before I reach the intersection I notice the car in the left lane was not moving. Normally I would have thought the driver was having car troubles and kept on through the intersection. Normally I would have been listening to the music loud enough that I would not have heard the St. Charles County Sheriff’s sirens going off as he comes speeding through the intersection. But I was listening to Bat for Lashes. So I did hear the sirens, I did stop in time, and I did avoid running directly into a Sheriff’s car at 55 mph. My life was saved because of what was playing in my car this morning.

While I didn’t collide head-on with another car, I did almost get hit from behind. The person behind me was not as observant as I was and almost plowed right into the back of me at 55 mph. Luckily he was able to slow and swerve and avoid hitting me. It was scary seeing him miss me by inches and wind up along side of me. Two catastrophes were avoided this morning and Bat for Lashes saved my life. Nothing like a near-death experience to wake you up in the morning.