Explorations: Education, Fitness and Food

Choices

2011-10-16T09:53:00.001-07:00

Sometimes it is hard. Sometimes life gives us what we see to be a bad hand. Sometimes we choose poorly.
Life has been that way. Relationship failure and job stress can make you feel pretty crappy.

I choose to dwell on the negative. Diet followed, training followed. Part of me wanted to change, but not enough.

Then after a night of no sleep, and low emotional defenses I became exactly who I didn't want to be, who I have struggled to not be. I didn't like it, but it was my choice to walk that road.

After that I realized that I need to choose who I wanted to be. I needed to be that guy who was in control of himself. I needed to focus on where I was going, and the positives in my life.

Good friends
New friends
Being knighted
Having a job
Having a place to live
Having people care about me.

Choose who you want to be. Sometimes the road may be rough, but if it was easy it wouldn't mean anything.

30 Days. Day 7

2011-04-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Day 7 activities.
20 rounds
60s slow work
30s 40# KB one handed swings
Alternating hands each set.

~260 swings
Left hand work was mostly 1-3 drill (onside 1-6 drill) working on how I return with the right hand
Right hand work was mostly engagemnet tactics

Day 8 activities.
5 rounds
22" box step -ups x10
30# One handed swings x10@
70 turns of the jump rope
~15# bodybar macebell swings x10@
18:34
Stretching
Child pose 30s, Cat Camel 5s/5s x5, bird dog 5s x5@, Pigeon 30s/30s@, Hamstring 20s@, Child pose 60s

Practice tonight

Warm-up: Dynamic stretching
Slow work
Sword footwork drill
First blood
Shield line drill
Bear Pit

30 Days. Day 6

2011-04-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hit the gym.

Bench Press: WU 45# x10, 95# x10. 100# 4x8, 115 x9.
Knee Raise: 3x10.
Neutral Grip Lat PD WU 75# x10, 125# 4x8.
Squat WU 45# x10, 135# 3x8 x10 x8.
Stretching: Child 45s, Cat Camel 5s/5s x5, Birddog 5s x5, Pigeon 30s/30s, ham 20s, Child 60s

Seems to only be two of us posting what we are up to for this challenge, so either some people are too busy to post, don't get it or have simply given up already. Hopefully they are just too busy to post.

Drill thoughts & Practice orgnization

2011-04-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Organization

Warm-up: dynamic stretches
Slow: Helm off slow work
Active Warm-up: First blood line drill
Drill Segment: Partner and line
Endurance: Bear Pit

Drill ideas
LD = Line Drill
PD = Partner Drill

Shield position (LD)
Pig throws 6 consecutive head shots
Attacker throws onside leg to offside head
Modifcation: Attacker throws a single shot after the 6th blow is thrown.
Concept: Pig won't know where to defend. I feel in the last incarnation even if we threw legg offside head, we still knew those two shots were coming.
Line can call shield position to remind the Pig.

Opening Gambit Leg Strike (LD)
3 shot combo. Once slow, Once fast
1: Strike to foul weapon
2: Strike to offside
3: Strike to onside leg, snap or wrap.

Sword Foot Work (PD)
Partners stand square to each other. Palms raised and facing each other at chest height, they suspend a sword, parallel to the ground, between them.
Lead: takes steps
Follower: maintains position
Do not let the sword fall.

Sustained Strike (PD)
Attacker throws a 6+ combination, defender defends. After a few rounds are complete fighters discuss and then switch places

Elbow

2011-04-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

Put on the armor and swung my stick a fair bit on Sunday. Fought through several line drills and stuck it out to the end of the bear pit. There was a few times my forearm was sore, but the elbow seemed to do ok.

I took ibuprofen before and after as well as wore my tennis elbow strap. It was pretty stiff before I went to bed, but really most of me was.

Today it is not perfect, but it is doing not too badly. Certainly better than a few weeks ago when I threw too many shots on the pell pole at practice.

We shall see how it goes this week.

Practice this week will be a slightly different format after listening to how Ramsgaard runs there we thought we would look to more fully adopt a similar system. One of the parts we liked was the inclusivemess of it. I personally was a fan of the communication and learning to watch fighting aspect.

One of the biggest changes will be switch up who "runs" practice. Week one of this format has fallen to me. So I will need to come up with some drills to run, which I may write about here.

May crown challenge. Day 5: Ran to the train this morning. ~3km ~17mins

30 Days. Day 2, 3 and 4

2011-04-23T07:19:00.000-07:00

Barely managed to get something done workout wise.

Got this started at about 11pm.

5 rounds: 25mins. 16kg KB
16kg Left Handed Swing x10
16kg Right Handed Swing x10
BW Lunge x5 @
BWSquats x7
KB Chest press x10@
KB Pullover x10
KB Halo x5@

Part of the aspect of these challenges is the mental knowledge that you have signed up, that you are on board. That you have promised yourself and others you will get it done.

Today is Day 3. Attending a fight class with HG Owain and HE Alden.
Tomorrow is Day 4. Fighting with the above, test of the elbow as well.

30 Days. Day 1

2011-04-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hit the gym this morning with a pretty mishmash workout. Just wanted to get in and move some weight and burn a few calories.

-Deadlifts WU 66# x10. 176# 5x5/120s. Every second set I did shoulder work 10 of each ITYWs.

-Followed up with Mace swings with 18# body bar. 2x10.

-Followed up with 3 rounds of left handed swings, right handed swings, jump rope, lunges, jerk press, rest. 30s of each, 40# KB on the swings and jerk press. Ended with 3 TGUs per side with the 40#

30 Days to May Crown.

2011-04-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

I love fitness challenges, well maybe love is to strong a word, but I enjoy having a goal to work towards, often I am just spinning my wheels in my fitness life with no clear aim, making it easy to miss a day here or there.

So when this challenge was posted on Facebook to get us in form for May Crown in one months time, I was eager to get started!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=148507295216584

Here is the concept:
so, Sir Arminius started this last August. the purpose is to challenge everyone (including myself) to do the best they can at Crown in May. Sir Arminius thought we can all do better is in our conditioning, preparation, and awareness.

To that end, he offered the following challenge:

Every day from April 21st until September Crown (May 21st iis the day of the Crown Tournament) do one of the following:

1) 30min of cardio

2) 30min of gym/workout

3) 30min of pellwork

4) Fight practice or fight at an event

5) 30min of video study

6) Attend an event but no fighting

Obviously there are needs for breaks due to fatigue and natural body rest and this is why the video portion is included, and ‘attend an event but no fighting’ (that and it is a great way to immerse and analyze fighting).

I’ll try to think of a suitable reward for those of us who can complete the challenge (maybe I’ll make dinner?), and I would ask that if there is anyone you think would enjoy/benefit from this to please invite them to the group --

I have been out of fighting since Ursulmas with a nasty tennis elbow, which is mostly cleared up. Certainly not 100% but SO much better than it was. I hope it will be in good shape for May crown. Because of this I suspect most of my checkboxes are going to be 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Weekend & the start of a new week

2011-01-24T06:58:00.000-08:00

Well despite the previous week the weekend was not too bad.

I spent most of Friday and part of Saturday trying to source parts for a project, I met with mild success but not really enough to get started. I hope to source the remaining parts today and maybe get started tonight.

Besides this I managed to get the shop area of the garage partially organized and built a new shelving unit for storage of tools etc.

I also put in just over 1000 swings with the 16kg this weekend, leaving me with about 2400 to go. Normally I would say this is easy. No trouble, given the volume this month 2400 before the end of the month should be easy...except...

URSULMAS. The knight is coming in on Wednesday and we are leaving Thursday morning. I am contemplating taking a KB, but I doubt I will swing it. Tournament should be epic, lots of excellent fights, I am sure I will return sore.

To do:

Minor armor repairs.

Addition of leather below shoulder lamellar, perhaps with some brass or steel to help it hold it's shape.

Shields are in ok shape. I could relace the small round.

Hit the gym this morning.

Bent over Thorasic Rotation x8

Squat stand x5

behind x leg lateral lunge x10

Seal jack x10

reverse inch worm x5

1 leg forward backward hop x10

Plank: x60s x60s

Side plank: x45s x45s

1a)Front leg elevated split squat: 40# x12 x12

1b)Inverted Row: x12 x12

2a)Romanian DL: 130# x12 x12

2b)Pushups: x12 x12

Training

2011-01-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

Gym this morning

Warmup
Bent over thorasic twist x8
Squat to stand x5
X-behind lateral lunge x10
Reverse inchworm x5
seal jacks x10
1 leg forward backward hop x10

Core
Kneeling rotation resist. 20#. 2x30s
Elevated plank 10s x10
Elevated side plank 10s x5@

Strength
1a) SL Rom DL 65# 12/11 60# 12/12
1b) OH Shoulder press 20# x12 22.5# x12 * (Left shoulder is messed up, takig it very easy)

2a) OH Squat Light body bar x12 x12
2b) Kneeling Lat PD 100# x12 x12

Extra
KB Ladder @16kg
One handed swings both arms per rung
2,4,6,8,10,12,14,12,10,8,6,4,2 = 196swings
+4 extra for 200

Rut

2011-01-21T06:49:00.000-08:00

Been an interesting week.

Yes ancient Chinese curse interesting.

The beginning was just no fun at home or at work. By the time things were back on an even keel and the week looked like it was getting better Wednesday night hit. Apparently all the crap in the early part of the week meant my mind didn't think of anything but that. It was SUPER active Wednesday at bedtime. So much so that I didn't actually fall asleep till midnight.

I get up at 5am. I was pretty tired. My morning was ok, but by lunch time a combination of being stupid tired and the emotional stress of the earlier week conspired to crush me. I went home in a bad mood. Completely unhappy with the world and didn't want to make myself see things better. A bad place.

Earlier in the day I had posted and exchanged some playful jabs about practice so I was on the hook to go. I was not really looking forward to it. Previous practices the stick I was using was old and taped all to hell, felt like a tonne of bricks and moved about as well. It had made fighting a struggle and less fun.

Before bed on Wednesday I had made a new sword (Rattan) and re edged my sheild, so I had that to look forward to at least.

What a difference in everything that stick made.

Everything.

I went to practice pissed off, hating the world. I left practice ready to take on whatever the world had to offer.

This week was pretty unacceptable in regards to how I want to view life.

Life isn't perfect but it is what it is. Enjoy what you have or do something to change it.

Monday! New week!

2011-01-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

Monday!

Hope everyone is planning on having an awesome week and are doing what they need to in order to make it happen.

Weekend was fairly productive. Saturday more than sunday. Sunday relieved a few equipment failures and the need for a few more supplies. No trouble. Get those today and then back to the project!

Got the lining installed and trim on the new del. It is gonna be warm, but it is gonna be an awesome del for 12th night. I can not wait. Still need to do the arms and hem it, plus add some closing ties on the inside and outside.

Training over the weekend consisted of swings. I think I got maybe 500 or so in over the weekend, not great, but still easily on track.

But enough about the weekend. Today is Monday. A new start.

Got up this morning and did some swings with the 16kg
One handed swings x10@ x2
Two handed swings x10
45s rest & repeat
Double ladder: 2@ x2 4@ x2 6@ x2 8@ x2 10@ x2 8@ x2 6@ x2 4@ x2 2@ x2
Total swings this morning: 300

Off to the gym
Did a modified NROL for abs workout. I just don't have the time to do the full workouts, but in 30 minutes I got the following done

Mobility Warmup
Thorasic extension & rotation x8
Squat to stand x5
Cross behind lateral lunge x10
Reverse Inchworm x5
Seal jack x10
one leg hop x10
two leg hop x10

Core
1a) Plank 60s 60s
2a) Side Plank 45s 45s

Strength
1a) elevated front leg split squat: 30# x12 35# x12
2a) Invetered row smith elevataion: 6 x12 x10
1b) Romanian deadlift: 90# x12 100# x12
2b) Pushups: x12 x12

All done by 7:15am
Lets get on with the rest of the day!

Thursday: Back in the swing of things

2011-01-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

Pretty basic day, got some maps finished off this morning. Our team lead and the geologist seemed to be happy with the finished products. Yay me.

Then lunch with some friends, some from here and some from the old company. Was nice to see everyone, even if we don't see as much of each other as we used to.

Swung 0 kettlebells today. Took it as a rest day. In fact took pretty much the whole day as a rest day. Woke up exhausted and needed to get those pesky maps finished for a morning meeting so I skipped the gym.

Finished the day with a trip to the bookstore to pick up NROL for abs, which I am reading and will report back on in a few days, and finally off to practice.

Got to practice a little late so I missed the slow work and drills. Did a fair bit of sparring. Can definetely tell I was out of it for a month. Good to be back swinging some sticks at people as well as the social aspects. Unloaded a fair but of work and holiday angst at people.

Also my package has arrived in the mail. Should be cool. More on that later. Don't want to ruin the surprise.

The day is what you make of it.

2011-01-05T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today was kind of a crappy day. Well it could have been. For some people it would have been. It certainly had it's moments. Despite those moments and some definite negative thoughts about life in general, I had a good day. I have a job, I have a roof. I have some amazing people in my life.

At my lowest. I got up. I went for a walk. I went to Starbucks. I had a latte. I decided what I needed to do. I went back to work re-energized. I went back to work ready to get some things done. Most importantly I went back feeling pretty good about life.

Despite this having the potential to be a bad day I also had some work to do.

Started today with 200 16kg kettlebell swings
4 sets of
10 Left handed swings
10 Right handed swings
10 Left handed swings
10 Right handed swings
10 Two handed swings
45s rest.

Then off to the gym.
A1) Single leg deadlift 70# x4 x8
B1) Incline pushup x4 x8
B2) Bent over rows x4 x8

Day at work and then home

More swings.
150 20kg kettlebell swings
3 sets of
10 Left handed swings
10 Right handed swings
10 Left handed swings
10 Right handed swings
10 Two handed swings
~90s rest

Dinner

More swings.
150 16kg kettlebell swings
3 sets of
10 Left handed swings
10 Right handed swings
10 Left handed swings
10 Right handed swings
10 Two handed swings
~60s rest
Rest periods were used for some "shadow fighting", slow work on my wrap return, and slow work on a slot shot.

Bugs! (w/ photos)

2011-01-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

No not the creepy crawly ones.

Wabbit.

Awhile ago I decided I should cook rabbit. I tried it as a child and when I found out it was bunny I didn't like it. I am much older now and am willing to try things again.

I didn't hunt my rabbit. I went to the butcher. They had frozen farm raised bunny. It was not cheap. Oh well off I went with my bunny. It got home and got put in the fridge for another night (It was frozen).

I looked up recipes. Take one jointed rabbit. I saw this repeated over and over. I am a city kid. Wtf is jointing? I consulted the great Oracle Google and behold I was shown many many videos on jointing. The most helpful was probably from ifood.tv. http://www.ifood.tv/video/how-to-joint-and-prepare-a-rabbit-for-cooking

Well ok. I can do that, looks easy. I took pictures as I went to detail how my jointing went. Now if you are squeamish you might not like these, however they are really no worse than cutting up a chicken...except it's clearly NOT a chicken.

Here I have my hard won bunny. The butcher took care of most of the hard stuff. Skinned, no head, no paws. Awesome. Just a nice rabbit.

She said to follow the line and once you have cut through to the hip, to twist off the leg joint. Easy! Ok I mis judged where that joint was. Applying the twisting pressure to where the joint actually is, is far more effective than applying it to the leg bone.

Ok. Here we go now! Starting to look less like an animal and more like meat! I have both the legs removed at this point. All that is left is the front legs and the "saddle"

The arms are pretty simple. They have no physical joint. The float free from the rest of the skeleton. Cut through the muscle and the legs are free. The video says they are only good for stock. However the recipe I have chose is essentially a soup/stew so I opted to use them. I have also removed the right saddle at this point. It went pretty much as described and just pulled out.

And the finished product minus the carcass. Two legs, Two arms, Two saddle pieces. Now it looks like meat.

It was an interesting thing to do. I have never rendered a body to meat before. I haven't even really carved a chicken or a turkey after it's been cooked.

I think a chicken would be different mentally though. We are raised on chicken. We grow up on them, we know what one looks like whole dead.

The rabbit was new. It is not something we see unless we go looking for it. I know all meat comes from animals. That we kill and eat them. I didn't hunt this bunny, or clean or skin it. I did the very last part of the butchering, but it is still as close to an animal as I have been that I am going to eat. I see rabbits everyday here in Calgary. Alive, running around, making baby rabbits. Wild animals.

Worth the experience to be a little connected to your food. Hunters get a raw deal a lot off the time, but frankly those guys are more connected to their food than any of us non hunters will ever be.

10,000!

2011-01-01T10:17:00.000-08:00

Woah. That is a big number!

It is also a target number for my swings in January. Another KB trainer on FB has issued another challenge. The last challenge I completed was the 200 swing challenge in November. It was a lot of work, but I believe it had some definite positive results. But it was only 200 a day.

Wait 200 a day? Yes. That is 6,000 swings in November. I used all sorts of weights and sizes. 10,000 works out to about 333 a day. However this isn't a daily challenge, it is a monthly challenge. With that in mind and knowing I have 10,000 to do I have set forth with a plan.

5 days a week with about 500 swings a day with 2 rest days from swings. This will put me at 10,000 after a month.
I am currently planning on doing 200 in the morning and 300 in the evening and working in sets of 50.

10 left
10 right
10 two handed
10 left
10 right
30 seconds rest

I suspect that will get changed up with weighted ladders and such as I get bored with it.

There are other reasons to do this besides a positive outcome physically, and maybe I will talk about those and what they mean to me in the future.

Lets get swinging.

Hated Monday

2010-12-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

Ahh the slammed Monday. So hated. So reviled.

Why does everyone hate Monday. Does it represent to them the return to something they hate? Something they don't want to be a part of? The end of the weekend, the end of a break from fun and frivolity.

I don't know. I used to hate it too. For a lot of the reasons above. Then something changed. Outlook on life perhaps combined with a change in life in general.

I don't hate going to work. I don't hate getting up early. I don't mind either. Work is a place I can contribute and be productive at a job I like. It is a place where I meet new people and forge new relationships. I have become a morning person in my old age. I like getting up early and getting some stuff done before most people are awake. By 5am I typically have a nice omelet ready to go. Way better than a bowl of cornflakes!

But there is another reason.

The real reason that Monday has won a place in my heart? As some people hate it because it is the start of a new week, I love it for that. It symbolizes a new start a new exciting time to get things done. To work towards your goals.

Everyone is excited about new years eve and making resolutions. Every week has this.

I love Monday's they are awesome. They are like a New Years Day every week.

Training notation

2010-11-22T18:58:00.000-08:00

I was asked recently what my cryptic notation meant. So here I am to make it less cryptic.

I post most of this to twitter and am limited to 140 characters so things sometimes get truncated, but this is the basic idea.

First things first. My notation borrows heavily from Lou Schuler and Alwyn Cosgroves book: The New Rules of Lifting, which I totally recommend.

Anyhow.

Kettlebell Challenge

So an example of the more cryptic is the 200 swing challenge. In it's most basic form it looks like this
200 SC: 24 x10@ x10

200 SC: A title for what I am doing. 200 Kettlebell Swing Challenge or 200 Swing Challenge
24: The weight I am using. You can assume Kg when I talked Kettlebells. otherwise I will use # for lbs and kg for Kilos
x10@: Number of reps completed in a set. 10 reps in this case. BUT WAIT!? What is the @??? That symbolizes 10 reps with each hand. So I am saying I did 10 reps on each side with a 24kg kettlebell.
x10: Total number of sets.

So that line says 10 sets of 10 reps per arm with a 24kg kettlebell.

Sometimes it gets a little longer, but it's all a similar format. Weight, Reps, Sets

Example:
24 x20 x5 16x2 x20 x5

5 sets of 20reps with the 24kg (two handed swings) followed by 5 sets of 20 reps with 2 16kh bells.

For more conventional lifts
Deadlift: 135# 5x5
5 sets of 5 rep 135# deadlifts

Deadlift: 135# x5 140# 3x5 145# x5
1 set of 5 rep 135# deadlift, followed by 3 sets of 5 rep 140# Deadlifts followed by 1 set of 5 rep 145# deadlift

Sometimes you will see
Shoulder press 55# x10@ x10@ x7/x8
2 sets of 10 reps with a 55# db, and a 3rd set managing 7 with the left and 8 with the right.

Sometimes the exercise names get truncated
Bent Over Rows become BO Rows
bench press becomes Bench
Shoulder press becomes SHPR
etc

For metabolic/interval type work
You may see
Jump rope Tabata.
8 sets of 20 seconds of sprint followed by 10 seconds of rest. Killer 4 minutes.
OR
Jump rope 30/30 x10
10 sets of 30seconds of work followed by 30s of rest

Anyhow. That is pretty much it in a nutshell.

November is here.

2010-11-06T10:20:00.000-07:00

End of October and the beginning of November. It has been a busy past couple of weeks.

With the sale of BPs assets to Apache and the deal finalized I found myself approaching the day where I would switch companies. November first was the start day, but the week before was busy finalizing some work projects and lunches.

I didn't get out to the gym very much over this period and unfortunately the Gold's I was using is half way across the city and not really in range to get a lunch time workout in. That left this week fairly light in terms of activity, but large in calories due to excess Halloween candy.

I did get a fair amount of fighting in during the week leading up to Halloween. The club did demos for Heritage Park in Calgary, and I helped organize the heavy combat aspect. We didn't fight a tonne, but we fought four days in a row and a decent amount more nights.

On a positive note the new building I am in has a fairly extensive facility in the basement. It is a little cramped but in reality it is probably better equipped than the Gold's I was using. I would say overall it has less equipment, ie less flat benches, one cage, one bench station, but it has a wider variety. Jump ropes, olympic lifting station, 35# weights. ( I always hated that Gold's didn't have 35# weights )

So I signed up at the new gym and I figure I can put in a short 30 minute workout before work, more on that in a bit.

November does bring about the 200 swing challenge, which is sponsored by a KB guy in town over facebook. The basic concept is to add 200 Kettlebell swings to your day over and above your regular training. Typically these are completed in 10 one minute rounds with 20 swings per round.

November 1: ‎100 20kg Two handed swings 100 16kg one handed swings. 10 minutes
November 2: 16kg x10@, 16kg x10@, 20kg x20, 20kg x20, 24kg x20,16kg x10@, 24kg x20, 20kg x20 16kg x10@, 20kg x10: 10 mins (16s are One handed swings, 20 and 24 are two handed)
November 3: 20kg x20,20kg x20, 20kg x20, 20kg x10@, 20kg x10@, 16kg x10@, 16kg x20, 24kg x20, 16kg x10@, 20kg x20. 10 mins (x20s are two handed x10@are one handed per side)
November 4: x10 16kg. sets of 20.
November 5: 24kg 24kg 24kg 24kg 24kg 24kg 20kg 20kg 24kg 20kg. No 16s today.

November 1 - 3 were pretty slow apart from the swings. I did a TRX circuit on the Monday I believe which was pretty good.

November 4: I signed up for the gym and did a "Magic 50" routine. Warmed up on a concept 2. Did 5 sets of 30-30, followed by a circuit of pushups and BW lunges. Then moved on with a 16kg bell did a magic 50, and did 7 burpees all the way through instead of 10, cause they kick my ass. Apart from the occasional challenge I suspect Infinite Intensity needs to go away due to time constraints. Hit practice in the evening and had a pretty good time, worked hard.

November 5: 30 minute workout in the morning. 5x5 deadlifts, then a superset 3 x10 of bench and DB rows. Hip Dominant, Horz push and pull. Then a quick core circuit. 2 rounds of 60s planks, x20 mountain climbers and x5 roll outs.

Home Gym: October 26, 2010

2010-10-26T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to do intervals at the gym this afternoon. Except I never made it to the gym. Work got busy yadda yadda,

Put the home gym to use today instead: Circuit style.

5 Rounds
30 turns of the jump rope (Fast)
5 burpees
10 24kg two handed swings
10 TRX Squat to row
10 TRX roll-outs
45 seconds rest

Managed to nail a double under on the jump rope finally. Then the next round I couldn't get one at all, and then on the final round I was nailing them pretty solid. Awesome.

I also did a set of 20 push-ups after getting home from work. Nothing huge, but still happy I can do 20 straight through. (Elbows were out, so they were easy ones)

Infinite Intensity. Monday Oct 26, 2010

2010-10-26T06:48:00.000-07:00

Weekend saw nothing of huge interest training wise.

Little TRX, little kettlebell, little jump rope, little push-ups. Nothing major, maybe 10-20 mins total, was really just playing around a little. On the push-up note I managed to put down a single set of 20. That was a first for me, elbows were in an easy position, still felt like a pretty sweet accomplishment on something that is one of my weakest areas.

I also priced out some new toys. Looks like I can get set up with 90% of what I need for about $1500 (Cage, bench, 300# weights). I also had a chance to look at mats that a few places sell. Definetely considering some of these as well. The cheap ones I got are nice and great for lots of stuff, but anything heavy has the very real potential to damage them easily.

Monday back in the gym for another shot at the Magic 50

Magic 50
45# KB, 5 circuits, 60s rest
5 KB Snatches per side: x5 x5 x5 x5 x5
5 KB Swings per side: x5 x5 x5 x5 x5
10 burpees: x9 x9 x7 x8 x5
Time: 14:07
Def did not win this. Burpees are still royally kicking my ass.

Finisher
Tabata Concept 2

Strength Training: II

2010-10-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

October 19, 2010

This was a killer, my legs are fried, so tired, I am wondering how they will feel tomorrow?

Warmup: 3 circuits, 60s rest
15# bar OH Walking Lunge x5
30# KB swing x10@
x5 Burpees

Workout
A) 1 arm DB Clean and Press 60# x4@ x4@ x4@ x4@ 90s rest
B) 1 arm DB Snatch 70# x4@ x4@ x4@ x4@ 90s rest

C) SS with 60s rest
C1) Bulgarian Split Squat 70# (35#x2) x5@ x5@ x5@ x5@
C2) Glute Ham Raise BW x5 x5 x5 x5
I think I am abandoning the machine and going to a bar to pin my legs, I just don't think I fit in the machine well.
C3) 60s rest

D1) Pushups x15 x15 x12 x7
D2) Lat PD 130# x5 x5 x5 x4
D3) 60s rest

FINISH HIM!
Tabata 8kg Med Ball slams
Aprox 10 slams per 20 second interval

Intervals & Fighting

2010-10-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

October 16, 2010: Harvest Feast
Fought in the Harvest Feast tourney, went 5 rounds, decent showing
Fought pick-ups after and was the last guy off with my knight.
Had a serious mental block fighting him the first few though, second set was much better.

October 18, 2010

Intervals
800m x4, 90s rest @ 6.5mpg 7.0mph 7.6mph 7.2mph
50m x4, 50m jog @ 9.5mph 9.5 mph 10 mph 9.5 mph

Core 3 circuits,
90s rest

Flag x4 x4 x4
Side bends 60# x6@ x6@ x6@
Supermans x10 x10 x11
DB Twists 60# x6@ x6@ x6@

Home Warrior Challenge: Magic 50

2010-10-13T20:01:00.000-07:00

Got off my ass tonight.

Warrior Challenge
Total time: 13:54s

5 circuits, 60s rest
x5 45# KB snatches per side: x5@ x5@ x5@ x5@ x5@
x5 45# KB swings per side: x5@ x5@ x5@ x5@ x5@
x10 burpees : x10 x10 x10 x7(x3) x7(x3)
Finished off the last few burpees with squat thrusts

Finisher
Tabata Jump rope.
20s on/ 10s off x8

I am sweating bullets now.

Quick workout.

2010-10-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

As I had mentioned last week ended up being pretty busy getting moved to the new house, getting everything organized etc. I chose not to shoe horn a workout into the day, leaving last week pretty open.

I had planned on setting up and doing Warrior Challenge one again on Monday. Then I woke up with a huge headache and generally felt like crap.

I woke up Tuesday, I had a dentist appointment, so I though I could get up, kill some time, fit in the Warrior Challenge and then hit the dentist. Did one round, had no gas and no will to continue.

Excuses upon excuses.

No gym at work today, got in late.

Did manage to get a light workout in this evening. Small miracles

Tabata Jump Rope, not super intense, but as intense as I can manage without tripping myself too much.
x10 burpees
x10 pushups
x10 TRX rows
x10 TRX chest presses
x5 TRX tricep press

Misc screwing around with the jump rope.

Nothing huge, but better than nothing.

Home Gym

2010-10-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Finally moved into the new house. One of the things the new house has is 10' ceilings in the basement. There is lots of space down there, and one of the corners will be the new home gym.

The previous house I could do some stuff in the garage some of the time, and I will still have that option for some stuff, sledge strikes for example.

Below is the space I am going to use for the gym. The total area is aprox 10' x 14'.

As it is concrete and I will probably train barefoot at home, I need some kind of mat. At Costco today they had 8 packs of puzzlemats for $13.99. I picked 3 up and I will need 2 more. A total of 5, or about $70 for the floors.
I got two of the packs laid in today and tested out some jump rope and a few light Kettlebell snatches and presses, finished it off with a few burpees.

So here is the floor after laying down one set of the mats. I decided to lay them down 5 wide, but in the end they are going to be 7 segments wide and 5 deep, which should give me plenty of room for jump rope, burpees and a power cage.

And here is the current state of the gym with my kettlebells lined up (24, 20 and 16) as well as the foam roller.

The final addition today was to try and hook the TRX up again. I tried to hook it up to the beam a few days ago and decided the beam was just a SMIDGE to wide. Today I tried and was more persistent and got it attached. Did a few sets of exercises just to test it out. Pistols, rows, push-ups, atomic push-ups, jackknifes. Currently it is sitting over bare concrete. I am hoping I will be able to attach it to the power cage after I get that.

I will keep the blog updated as I work on the gym. I am pretty excited about having a cool dedicated workout space at home though.

Drills

2010-10-01T06:17:00.001-07:00

Drills at practice
Last nights drills.

A) Flat snap followed by a step to the left with an off body head.
B) Throw a show and laterally move. Alternate who is throwing/moving. Repeat on the way back

Other drills

A) Flat snap followed by off body leg

Pell Drills I am working on

A) Leg shot, upwards return to a flat snap
B) Punch to off body, move to flat snap, Stepping to rotate around pole
C) Standard 6 drill
D) Flat Snap
E) Double Tap Flat Snap with lateral step

Thoughts on practice last night
I was pretty wiped going in. The hall was very warm as well. I was not at a peek physical space or a peek mental space due to these factors.

Generally the round shield was OK all things given.

Heater shield was ok, but I may be rotating the point to far out, exposing my legs.

Some discussion on planes of attack and stepping past people.

Infinite Intensity Day 4

2010-09-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Let's preface this by saying I have DOMS everywhere, my abs especially after the Flags of Day 2.

Also noticed that the 5 day cycle is not 5 days on, 1 off. It is 4 days on and 1 off. To keep it in line with a week I'd need a 3 day rest break, which right now looks pretty sexy.

September 30, 2010

Warm-up
3 circuits, 60s rest
15# bar OH Lunge x5@
Single leg, stiff leg dead x5@
Mountain climbers x10@
15# bar Mace swing x10@

GPP workout #1
5 circuits, no rest
30 seconds of each
A1)Burpees, was pushing out a whopping 3 of these, 1 per 10 seconds. Sad.
A2)jumping jacks. blessed rest. Not
A3)high knee DB press. Knees are pretty low, still kicked my ass
A4)KB Snatches (30#). knocked out 5 per side.

Core workout #1
3-5 circuits (4 complete, 60s rest)
A1) Barbell roll-out (5) 5/4/4/2
A2) V-ups (12) 10/10/8/7
A3) Russian twists (20# x10@) x10@ x10@ x10@ x10@
A4) Back extensions (12) x12 x12 x12 x12
A5) Chinnies (high reps) x20 x30 x24 x18
This is pretty toned down from what it was supposed to be, it still nearly killed me.

Fighter Practice
30 minutes of drills & slow work. Took a stick to the face. cheek is still sore
2 hours of assorted sparring & resting. Was pretty drained from the week though, not much game going on there.

Nutrition
Been tracking in Livestrong, aiming for about 2300 which should be a 2lb a week deficit, we shall see how that goes and dial in from there on my actual needs. Was over by a few last couple days (100ish) but under by more the days before.

Scale had me at 226# yesterday.

Infinite Intensity: Day 3

2010-09-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

September 29, 2010
Strength Workout #1

Warmup:
3 circuits
Over head (15# bar) lunge x5@
30# Swings x10@
Burpees x5
60s rest

Workout
A1) 1 Arm DB Clean and press, 60s rest: 60# x3@ x3@ x3@ x4@

B1) 1 Arm DB Snatch, 60s rest: 70# x4@ x4@ x4@ le x3/xq Ri x4
* Should have rested at least 90s. Failed on the fourth rep of the left hand

C1) Bulgarian Split Squat: 20# x5@ 35# x5@ x5@ x5@
C2) Glute Ham Raises: x5 x5 x5 x5
* Ham raises need much work, maybe getting half reps.

D1) Lat PD 130# x5 x5 x5 x5
D2) Pushups: x15 x15 x7 x7

Finisher
Heavy bag carry
~60# right shoulder 2 laps of workout room
~60# left shoulder 2 laps of workout room
Tabata 8kg Med ball slams. Smashed myself in the face. Chose a softer less bouncy ball.

Infinite Intensity: Day 2

2010-09-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

September 28, 2010
Intervals
800m x4 (60-90s rest walk)
50m x4 (60-90s rest jog)

Got to the gym with the assumption I could just program that into the interval section. HAHAHHAHAHHA

So the gyms treads are all imperial. Hmm what is 800m in miles? My first guess was .5? That seemed to long so I just did my warm up as that. And I went with .2

My real intervals looks like this
321m @ 7.5mph 90s rest
321m @ 8mph 90s rest
321m @ 8mph 90s rest
110m @ 8mph/100m @8.5mph

80m @ 9.5mpg/ 90s at 5mph
80m @ 9.5mpg/ 90s at 5mph
80m @ 9.5mpg/ 90s at 5mph
80m @ 9.5mpg/ 90s at 5mph

Core Workout
3 - 5 circuits
Flags x5
Side bends x6@
Supermans x15
DB twist x8@

Completed:
3 circuits
Flag: 4/4/3 (form on the way up was bad, down was ok, stopped when I started to drop)
Side bends (60#): 6@/6@/6@
Supermans: 15/15/15 (I am pretty sure I suck at this)
DB Twist (60#): 8@/8@/8@
Subbed DB twist for rotational med ball throw, wasn't sure the gym woulda been cool with that.

Infinite Intensity. Monday September 27, 2010

2010-09-28T05:41:00.000-07:00

Last week I started writing up a new program. Based on my goals of being a stronger and better fighter I had planned to up my conditioning drills and work around full body lifts.

Part way through I thought, I should just look back at Ross Enamait's stuff. I pulled Infinite Intensity off the shelf and decided it go with that as my basic template.

It's example routines are based on a 5 day cycle with one day rest. For now I suspect I will change that to a 5 day with a 2 day rest, making it align with my work week. This does give me a lot of extra rest, but it also maximizes my chances of staying in the 5 day cycle.

The program should increase my conditioning
The program should increase my strength
The program should increase my core

Those three things combined with taking his advice on skill work for my sport should help me with the tools I need to accelerateand reviatlise my otherwise stagnant career.

I aim to track my training logs here and also I typically post them on Twitter.

So with that I give you Day 1 of Infinite Intensity.

Sept 27, 2010
Warrior Challenge 1: Magic 50
5 circuits
5 DB Snatches @ 50# per side
5 DB Swings @ 50# per side
10 burpees*
Rest <= 60s Total time: 19:40s * Burpees were a mix of burpees and squat thrusts w/ jump: 10/0, 8/2, 5/5, 7/3, 10/0 Finisher
3 sets of Farmers walks.
55' with 75# Dbs
Pell work
Ross suggests some light skill training on Day 1.
So. Revamped the pell pole. Added some padding. re applied target areas. Still need a little more padding lower down for leg shots
10 minutes on the pell
Worked largely on lateral movement when throwing shots. ie throwing a double flat snap with a deep lateral step on the second tap, to change my angle of contact
Also worked on an onside lower body to head double tap that felt nicer (maybe faster) for the lateral step.
Did a drill involving the following
1: Step forward with left leg
2: Punch a shot towards opponents right hip
3: Step laterally right
4: throw a flat snap at opponents head
5: repeat.
Goal of the drill was to circle the pole while maintaining range and using lateral movement
Threw a bunch of regular snaps.

Weighing down the clubs

2010-09-10T16:19:00.001-07:00

Recently a blog post over at www.diystrength.com prompted me to build a set of clubbells. My bells are made from ABS and are about 2' long.

I had orginally filled them with sand, but really they needed more weight. DIYstrength.com is a spin off from www.strongergrip.com. Stronger grip is a commercial site, where he sells empty clubs and media to fill them. On that site he suggests shot as a viable media.

I did some searching and sourcing shot through sports stores and had some luck. Then I went by Princessauto.com they sell sandblasting media. This stuff looks like sand, only made of metal. $40 gets you 50lbs of weight. Not too bad.

The next hurdle was installing the media. I didn't want to mix it with the sand. It would be nearly impossible to separate again.

Here is what I did.

Supplies
Baggy
Duct tape
strapping tape
steel media

I realize I don't have strapping tape in the photo, but it was a last minute addition.

Basically we are going to combine these items into a compact tube we can insert into the club

Step 1) Add media to bag.

Step 2) Create a duct tape wrapper

Step 3) Wrap the filled baggy in wrapper

Step 4) Use the strapping tape to tightly wind the tube so it will fit in the clubbell.

Step 5) Repeat...(harder than it sounds. Make sure the weight on the second baggy is equal to the first)

I ended up with two nearly 4lb (~1.7kg) clubs as my beginner set.

More Training Equipment: Quick overview

2010-03-24T17:39:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to throw up a quick post to highlight some of the toys I have created.

Here is a bunch of stuff I brought home from the store last year. Sledge hammer, basket ball, sand, tire plug kit, contractor clean up bag, wheel, canvas bag, duct tape.

The sand and ball with the plug kit got turned into a medicine ball....

First I filled it with a funnel and then using glue and a tire patch kit I sealed the ball. It has held up fine for basic stuff, but I haven't given it the ballistic treatment. I had a small ball to make a tornado ball with, but it got used for the mace head...

Next up is the sandbag. Using the contractor clean-up bags and the sand
+ duct tape I made a modular sand bag.
The bag has held up well, but I disliked the canvas bag I bought so I sewed a new one out of some brown denim, which seems to do ok. Note I again am using these for lifting and don't do much slamming.

Finally I wanted to highlight the macebell I created using a shovel handle, a small basket ball and cement. The mace is sitting on top of the new sand bag cover as well. Way nicer. In the end I added some tape marks along the handle to allow for progression.

Combat Training Equipment!

2010-03-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I am hosting a twitter chat with scottbird of www.straighttothebar.com. We are going to discuss combat strength training. So check out http://www.straighttothebar.com/v2/showthread.php?t=9146 for details on the chat and then read a little about me, where I came from and how I train.

I am not an expert. I am a simple amateur who loves to hit things and loves fun training equipment.

So as some of you know I changed the old life around a few years ago. I cleaned up the diet. I started working out. I bought a basic weight set. I even used that thing when I couldn't get into the gym. I buckled down and I lost 100+lbs. I taught myself a lot about what I can do with my mind set on the prize.

Over the years I have read a lot and lifted a lot. Taken breaks, gotten back into it.

One of the things that has remained constant though, from even before I lost my weight. Medieval fighting.

I hit people with sticks. I am a member of the SCA, www.sca.org, a medieval re-creation group. There are without a doubt groups out there that are more hard core and fight with rebated steel. We opt to go the slightly less hardcore route and fight with inch and a quarter rattan. We have strict armor requirements, and for the most part injuries are fairly low key, pulled muscles, bruises. Occasionally there is an IT tear or a concussion.

The combat aspects of my hobby life have pushed my training life. I have become interested in how real combat athletes train: MMA and boxing for example. Websites like www.rossboxing.com introduced me to a world of ultra fit people capable of amazing things.

I don't profess to be anywhere near that level of fitness. I don't even think it is needed for my game. But I do think being able to be fresh longer than the other guys is awesome. I do believe learning to move properly is an exceptional goal and one that will help.

Because of all of this my training modality has moved towards "athletic" training. In the gym things are fairly similar, large compound movements, full body routines. Maybe with more explosive stuff and more core training.

Outside the gym though, at home, the barbell I bought largely gathers dust. When I train at home the toys are what hold my interest the most. Some I bought. Most I built.

Often I am doing complexes at home.
Tire strikes
Mace swings
KB snatches
Sandbag cleans
sandbag presses
med ball choppers
jump rope
etc.

See you tomorrow!

Outside. Finally.

2010-03-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

Weather reached a balmy 7 degree Centigrade yesterday. I had a little extra time so I thought I would get out and do some running. I hadn't been out since around Christmas when I was gung-ho to try the new Garmin 305. Shortly after winter happened. Since then I have maybe put down two or three treadmill sessions on my free gym day.

I have no trouble being out running in the cold, but since I run in vibram five fingers now the cold is actually a non option. Or at least an easy enough excuse to not run.

With the 7 degrees I thought it was a good idea to head out. In the shade it was still a little chilly, but in the sun it was very nice. I strapped the Vibrams on and set the garmin for 10 reps of 500m run with one minute rest. I didn't want to over do it, but I wanted to run an ok amount as well.

I didn't break any speed records, but I racked up nearly 6km in 43mins and ended at a park. I also brought a jump rope with me, cause I am weird like that. The park was nice and 99% clear of snow with dry ground. It sports four soccer fields, two of which are 50m between posts. I set the water bottle at 25m and went back to the start. I did a quick jump rope warm-up and then started sprinting.

I was unsure of my sprint fitness level so I put down 5 at 25m just top see. I had also never sprinted in the Vibrams before so I wasn't really sure what to expect. On grass at least sprinting in the vibrams was awesome. Easily the most comfortable sprints I have run. Confidence gained I finished the last 5 sprints with the 50m distance I was averaging about 10 seconds per 50.

After finishing those I picked up the jump rope and did a set of Tabata ropes and then wandered home.

All in all it was an excellent workout on a day I didn't really have anything planned.

The only regret is I had thought about taking the TRX with me but didn't. Sad.

Food

2010-02-12T19:26:00.000-08:00

When I first started cooking the chef I watched the most on Food Network was Jamie Oliver. I have been a large fan of his since the Naked Chef. Over the years he has evolved from a chef to a crusader for healthy fresh food. He uses his knowledge of cooking to try and help people. To teach them to cook so they are not forced to eat processed food.

Jamie has recently been given an award from TED http://www.ted.com/ . He gave a 20 minute speech on the state of food in America. This should be watched. People need to know what is going on, to realize that food in our society has changed DRAMATICALLY over the last generation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIwrV5e6fMY

New Year and Culinary Disaster

2010-01-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Things here have calmed down since Christmas is ended. Family has all gone home and I am back to the regular routine. It was good to get back to work. To get back into the swing of training and eating on a regular basis.

New years is a time everyone makes resolutions. As far as I can tell, they seem to make these simply because it is what we as a society do. They don't make them because they really want to. Sure maybe they know they want to quit smoking, or lose 10 pounds, but making the decision to change how you live should be because you have decided to change, not because it's suddenly 2010.

Does that mean I think you shouldn't set goals simply because it's the new year? No. I think you should set goals because you want to achieve them. If this occurs because you looked back over the previous year and you don't like what you see, then get it done. I fall into this category myself

Make your goals and change who you are when you are ready. Now when someone else tells you that you are. Doing it for others is a sure road to failure.

In the kitchen I haven't been super busy, although I did start experimenting with a quiche crust. First attempt was a TOTAL failure. Glad I had a frozen shell in the freezer. Turned out tasty in the end, but the crust needs work.

I tried a few modifications to the pancake recipe, some added vanilla, some steel cut oats. They were very tasty, definitely a win. Could make them either way. On the positive side this is a use for steel cut oats that doesn't take cooking on the geologic scale.

Tonight I made pizza. Not 100% from scratch, the sauce was bought at the store already prepared. The crust was a modification of Galya's mock bread recipe. Check out her excellent blog if you are not familiar with it.

Pizza Crust
1/6 cup oats Oats.
2/3 cup Oatbran.
3 eggs.
scoop of whey.
Mixed and spread over a parchment paper covered pizza pan.
Cooked for 10mins at about 360.

The crust came out awesome, I may try making it a bit thinner next time. This attempt was 1/2cm thick. Topped it with pizza sauce, chicken, bell pepper, mozarella, Arugula and sprouts. It turned out pretty well, but again a slightly thinner crust would have been awesome.

A return to a routine has also seen my return to the gym. Last week was an amazing training week for me. Hit the gym 4 times to complete week 1 of the Power Training push-pull routine. Then I went back on saturday to do some treadmill work with the VFF as well as a KB complex, it was good. Time to be serious about my training. I don't suspect I will be perfect when it comes to gym attendance, but I will be better than I have. I will do more stuff at home, which leads into...

IRONGYM! I am sure you have all seen these on TV. The bar that hooks onto your door. Lots of companies make them. They are fairly inexpensive, running around $40 Canadian. It sets up and comes down in seconds and I even liked doing push ups on it.

I have seen a lot of the people in the fitness industry recommend this as something everyone should have. I agree 100%. If you do not have a place to do pull ups at home, then this will give you that last plane of movement that you are probably lacking.

FINALLY. I would be remiss without mentioning Cardio Strength Training, by Robert Dos Remedios, CSCS. This is a new book that he calls a logical progression from Power Training. It is centered around doing intervals instead of slower, lower intensity cardio.

The book itself has lots of explanation, lots of workout ideas, including TRX and kettlebell, and the text itself is an easy read. It is an inexpensive weapon to add to your arsenal. So if you have no clue about intervals, density sets and tabata protocols, this book will be a welcome addition to your library.

Back to the gym tomorrow. If you are not headed there, why not?

Nike+ vs. Forerunner 305

2010-01-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

First: I am not the runner some are. I have completed a single 10k in my life. I don't run everyday, I don't even run every week.

That being said I own a Garmin 301, and a Nike+ system, so I will first compare my thoughts on the Garmin family vs the Nike+ family and then move on to comparing the Garmin 301 vs the 305. I used gmaps pedometer to compare distance accuracy.

Although Garmin makes accelerometer/pedometer systems I have never used them. So I can't compare them vs the Nike. I suspect they suffer from similar issues.

Nike+ is a foot mounted device that right out of the box will be a fairly accurate method of tracking your steady pace runs. You can calibrate it further if you wish via calibration runs. There are pros and cons to this methodology. The chief pro to it is it can be used indoors, outdoors, around trees, tall buildings and I assume it has potential to work on a treadmill as well, although I have never tried it. The main con is that as a foot pod based system, it makes some assumptions, it needs to be level for optimum performance and that means special Nike+ shoes.

You can use a clip to place the sensor on non Nike+ shoes. Clipping it down by the toes will make it fairly level as well. Some shoes do not allow this option. If you for instance run in Classic Vibram Five Fingers, clipping is not an option at all. If you use VFF Sprints, like I do you can clip it to the shoe, but it is not level. For me with a calibration run the result was still out by a couple if hundred meters over 3km.

The best thing Nike+ has going for, outside the technical, it is community. Nike+ website has challenges against other Nike+ users of all levels. This in itself can be a powerful motivator for people. They also have training plans based on what days you should run. Looking over the website as I write this I see it has been improved as well. Large icons with plans for popular distance, 5k, 10k, half and full marathons. As well as customizable programs for distances and sports.

My biggest complaint about the Nike+ is not it's lack of accuracy. It is not it's community. It is that it does not allow for even the simplest interval session. I personally think the Nike+ system would easily be 10x better if they added simple functionality over and above the tracking of a steady pace run.

The Garmin 301 and 305 are both GPS enabled tracking devices. They sync with the orbiting GPS satellite network and are constantly using your ground position to calculate your distance and your pace. It's pretty cool. However like the Nike+ system it does have some drawbacks. When I run at work the 301 takes a long time to get a fix on the satellites due to all the tall buildings and tree cover along the paths. Once it has it, it tends to hold on to the signal until I run under a bridge or covered area, then I get a hole in my collected data. On a whole though I feel it is a more accurate system than the foot pod idea. Garmin in fact makes a foot pod sensor, but I have never used it.

The 305 is supposed to have a much better antenna than the 301 so it will hopefully gain a better signal downtown than the 301 has.

The Forerunner series is simply awesome when it comes to training features. Simple intervals to complex interval sessions are possible. It can be fully customized in terms of interval sessions. Maybe you want to run 3mins, walk 2mins, run 3km, walk 1km, run 10km, walk 20secs. Whatever you can set the Garmin up to do it. It also allows you to race old times with virtual partner. This is one my my favorite functions. It is a simple idea but very clearly shows you how you are doing vs. previous runs.

Although Garmin makes a cycling computer, the Forerunner series can just as easily track your speed and distance on a bike. Foot pod systems are unable to do this. The Forerunner also allows 3 categories of training sessions. Run sessions can be kept separate from Bike sessions and "other" sports. I have used the Garmin interval functions for other cardio machines such as rowers and even some kettlebell work, although it can't be worn as a watch, or the KB is likely to smash it during snatch and jerk moves.

Now what do I think of the 301 vs the 305? Well visually the 305 is much different looking, but still a fairly bulky wrist based system. My sister got one for x-mas and joked about it's size slowing her down in her races. It's wrist strap is a plastic and metal buckle system vs the old Velcro system on the 301. It comes with a longer strap in case the installed strap is too small. However the installed strap is already larger than the Velcro strap on the 301. It is a nicer looking unit than the 301, so the redesign here is a step in the correct direction

The 305 has a charging/interface cradle vs a direct mini USB connection on the Garmin 301. I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, it is different. The display on both machines is fairly similar, so if you are used to a 301, moving to a 305 will not be difficult. The 305 has features for courses which my 301 did not have. In essence it can save courses you have previously ran so you can try and run them again either as you did before or with the virtual assistant. These courses can also be exported directly to Google earth or as a standard .GPX file.

Both the 301 and 305 have included wireless heart rate monitors. The 305 can display your BPM or a % of max HR. On my first run I displayed % of max HR. It seemed to be fairly decent. Keeping my HR at approx 82% HR I was able to run/walk 3km and felt absolutely fine. Pushing the HR up to 90%+ wore me down fast and I was exhausted after a 400m stretch. Those seem to fall decently into where HR Zones place aerobic vs anaerobic.

At the core of the Forerunner is a Garmin GPS system. It even allows for basic GPS way points. You could use this for geocaching if you wanted to for example.

If you have a 301, you probably won't get THAT much more moving to a 305, but if you want to upgrade for looks, slightly more functionality and can get a good deal on it, I doubt you will be disappointed.

Sadly like the Nike+ the Garmin does have a huge gap in terms of functionality, which ironically is where the Nike+ Excelled. Although it has an impressive software tool for managing your run history, it's online presence is not up to the standard of Nike. Basically it gives you your offline information in an online setting. Although it allows you to view other people's run's in the area it really lacks the social aspect of Nike plus. Fortunately a few months ago I wouldn't have even been able to say that much good about the Garmin online experience. So things have changed and I hope they continued to push and improve their online presence.

So which do I like better? Well I am currently leaning towards Garmin. I like the Nike+ system, do not get me wrong, but the Garmin just gives me SO much more information, splits, graphs, charts and maps, that it really gives you an idea of how your run went after you are finished. How you responded to hills, how various paces effected your heart rate etc. It is simply a more robust unit. You will however pay for the extra functionality. The latest and greatest models are not cheap, although Costco was selling the 305, which is NOT the latest and greatest, for around $170.

So if you want all the bells and whistles: Garmin wins hands down in my books. If however you chiefly do steady state runs, the Nike+ might me just what you need for a lot less money.

P.S. The Forerunner doesn't have Lance Armstrong and others congratulate you when you achieve a personal best. Seems a little cheesy, but it's nice to get that instant feedback that you did something better than you had previously.

Village 2009; Beginnings

2009-12-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

We started decorating for Christmas this weekend and it began with an early present for me. I received the Lionel O-gauge Polar Express train set. This is something I had wanted for a little while. I had some model trains as a child, but haven't had one for ages, I have always thought they are very cool and they play into a vein of hobbies I have had over the years.

As a boy I built some plastic models, nothing fancy. As I grew up I became a nerd and started painting miniatures. As I matured I moved into wargames, which were an outlet for my figures. The scenery was always cool. Then I started collecting a Christmas village. We had a small cardboard one as a child, but the new porcelain ones are were it is at.

So once a year I put up the village if I am able. I cobble together a table with a white cloth. I use some books for hills and away we go. With the introduction of the O gauge things needed to change a little. First the basic track is 3 feet by 5 feet and will not fit on a regular table. I set out to build.

The table I decided needed to be 6' x 4' This would allow ample room for the train and the village. I wanted to be able to access the table from below without drilling a million holes in it; so I can run electricty. I needed a lower area for a bay area as I picked up a few water pieces over the years.

I will do a whole post with the village set-up. But right now I have a table built. I have a bay area roughed out and to make it more interesting and gain back some real estate for houses I have the beginnings of a train tunnel in the back.

Coronet

2009-11-25T20:47:00.000-08:00

Coronet is this weekend. The tournament to decide who will reign as Prince and Princess for the next 6 month reign. (www.sca.org if you have no clue what I am talking about).

The tournament day itself will be fun: combat, feasting, drinking, crafts and who knows what else. I will try to keep the food under control, at a dull roar.

Before the tournament is a road trip. About 6 hours of road trip. These are usually the death of me. I spend too many calories on crappy junk food to eat along the way as I get bored. This road trip I am going to avoid this, I am going to start it with a plan and plenty of healthier and lower calorie snack ideas. I am thinking if I portion out 6 or 7 bags at around 100 cals each I should be golden for the trip.

Snack ideas
Zuccini chips
Popcorn
Trail mix
Veggies
Beef jerky
pepperoni
hard boiled eggs

Time will tell how well this works out, but I am hopeful I can maintain a decent caloric level over the weekend.

Quiche

2009-11-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

I made my first quiche ever last night. It was a last minute thing so I used a store bought crust. There wasn't a huge selection of crusts so I didn't look that close at what I was buying, knowing they were all crap.

So now that is has been done I aim to develop a better crust for use with the quiche. I suspect this will be an iterative process as I learn and make new ones. Means there will be a lot of quiche in my future.

In the days to come I will share how my crust experiments are going as well as detail some of my ingredients

Last nights quiche

Bison Quiche

300g Bison
1tbsp coconut oil
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 pepper chopped
Handful spinach
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar or mix

Browned the ground bison with some 1/4 onion and the coconut oil.
add oregano and sage.
Once close to being browned I added a good handful of spinach.
Then I added the other 1/4 onion and about 1/2 yellow pepper.

While that cooked for a minute I combined 2 eggs and 1/2 cup of 2% milk in a bowl. To this I added about 1/2 of the cheese. I sprinkled another 1/3 on the bottom of the pie crust.
I then added about 1/2 of the bison mixture, and then poured the egg mixture on top. I finished adding the bison mix in and pressed it all together (I probably used to much stuff, it was VERY full of stuff).
Covered the pie with the remainder of the cheese and popped it in a 375f oven for aprox 40mins. A knife will come out of the center clean when it is done.

Let sit for 15minutes once I took it out.

TheDailyPlate.com puts this recipe at about 2100 calories, so 268 per 1/8th of a pie.

Pancakes

2009-11-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

Over the last several months Sunday has become pancake day. Although I am aware of the various protein pancake recipes out there I wanted something a little more pancake like, that was healthful and not hugely caloric.

Initially I was simply using a whole wheat pancake mix at the store. Then one day I was reading the ingredients. Pretty simple. Flours and some baking soda.

I set off to create a solid pancake recipe. I have read a lot of different recipes so this is no doubt a combination of knowledge gained reading blogs and experimentation.

When I first started these the initial cakes were edible, but very very dense.

Below is the current edition of the pancakes. These were this mornings idea, and I think the best I have made.

Pancakes (Makes aprox 9)
1 cup oats ground
1/2 cup oat bran ground
1/8 cup quinoa ground
1 tsp baking soda
1 scoop unflavored whey
100g "balkan" style yogurt (Plain, full fat)
2/3 cup applesauce
2 eggs

Nutrition profile for recipe from http://livestrong.com/thedailyplate
Cals: 882, Carbs: 128g (sugar 7g, fibre: 20g), Protein: 53g, Fat: 27g, Sodum: 256mg

Mix it all together and make as you would pancakes. I use whole oats, regular oat bran and quinoa and grind them in a coffee grinder.

Another change has been syrup. I typically have been taking a cup of frozen blueberries or mixed berries and boiling them with a little water, reducing them and having that over the pancakes

Basic fruit reduction
1/4 cup water
1 cup frozen mixed berries
1 tsp lemon juice

Boil water, and add frozen fruit, turn down to medium. Let simmer. Once cooked a little mash the fruit and let simmer and reduce while you make the pancakes. Check often and turn off at desired consistency.

No more excuses.

2009-10-31T20:05:00.000-07:00

Just an quick update.

I have been at the "new" job for about one and a half years. I think things are going pretty well there now. Schedule is a little more under control. Working 7-5 or there abouts now.

A Gold's Gym opened up this year very close to work so I signed up there. This has alleviated a lot of workout concerns as I can get in at lunch now. I am typically getting to the gym 2-3 times a week for resistance training.

I have also recently added swimming back into the mix. Tuesday's have me heading to the pool to swim for about an hour after work.

Thursdays are typically fight practice in the evenings. This has all come together to mean I am fairly active again, which is good.

Another step in the right direction is going back to food logging. I have started using www.livestrong.com to log my daily calorie intake, 1800 is my goal at the moment, as well as my current weight. This will allow me to better asses the calories I am burning in a week.

Since I have started this I have dropped from 220lbs back to about 210lbs as of today and am doing fine.

What does this all mean? Same thing as always. We may be busy, we may not think we have time, but they are all just excuses. If we want to be healthy and active we need to make it a priority in life and get it done.

Confusion.

2008-06-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

Life progresses onward. School is finished and I have started a new job. I still feel very new even after three weeks. I am however optimistic about it as a good job where I will be able to learn a lot.

Downside to job is I am still pretty busy time wise. Commute is about 1 hour and I start at 7:30am. Need to be out of the house by 6:30am. I work till 5:30 so am not home till about 6:30pm. End result of this is I find my self needing to pick up some sort of exercise routine that fits into my life, which now includes someone else to work around as well.

I used to work out in the morning, and it worked out well for me. I am considering a home gym in order to do this again. Option 2 is a gym membership downtown, which means working out after work, which seems like a good idea, but I am often exhausted after work and I am not 100% convinced I will actually go regularly.

Besides the exercise I also need to get my nutrition in shape. I am having SO much trouble with this. I want to be healthy and have a decent body that I feel good about, but I have such a sweet tooth and desire to eat crap some days. I have been able to suppress it before and ate well for several years. I know how to eat well, but I always seem to think tomorrow is early enough to start.

Really I need to suck it up and get it done.

End of it.

2008-04-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Well tonight is my official last night on the help desk answering phones. I have approximately 50 minutes left. The job was good to me in some ways. Most people were good when they called, some however are just tools who need to learn to read. They ruin support for the rest of you.

Either way done and out in less than an hour.

Tomorrow is a new day, Tomorrow is my final exam of my program.

Currently I know one mark, it is an A+. I am anticipating 2 more in Linux and Reservoir Engineering and Developmental Geology. This leaves a few wild cards.

Foremost is Geology. I do not know how well I did on the lab exam. I did ok on the midterm, but only managed an 82 on the pretest. I do not feal great about the final. I knew what we were supposed to know, but purposely did not study some stuff as we were told it would not be there. Unfortunately 11 marks worth of it was there. I may be able to squeak out a 90 on the test, but I suspect mid 80s to high 80s is more realistic. So at the end, probably an A in the class, I do not know about the A+ though.

Next up Geop 395. Did well on the lab test I believe. No clue how well the labs were done, we never got them back. The Mid term and quiz were both strong at over 90 and I am pretty sure I crushed the final. Probable A+

The last is Geophysics 397. We had no midterm. The entire class was based on a project and a presentation. I believe I did both well, but do not know for sure as I have not seen the marks. The final for this class is tomorrow. I feel very prepared for it so I am optimistic I can achieve an A+ in this class.

My 4.0 probably hangs on Geology.

So tomorrow is it all done school 2 years later I have a substantially new life. No longer working in retail. My income has approximately doubled, plus better benefits and bonuses. I have a new girlfriend. I am optimistic about the relationship. Life is good.

The biggest change to my life? This institution will be gone. When I moved to Calgary I got my first job here, that was back in 2001. I worked here when the Towers came down and now just about 7 years later I am finally leaving it. It has been good to me for the most part. Good people, good friends, places to live, employment and flexibility for me when I went back to school.

Despite being happy to never have to answer the help desk phone again, the job ensured high marks and no student loan, and for that I am grateful.

That is all for now.

Abstract

2008-02-09T13:39:00.001-08:00

In modern times the ability to find and exploit economically viable hydrocarbon reservoirs is of increasing importance. Being able to determine if a bright spot is a reservoir or just an anomaly is an important part of this challenge. If we can determine this we can drill fewer dry holes, which translate to a more successful company. One of the ways we can determine the fluid content in a potential reservoir is through AVO analysis both traditional AVO and through AVO inversion. AVO inversion techniques where applied to bright spots located off the coast of Trinidad where they have been able to distinguish between hydrocarbon accumulations and non hydrocarbon accumulations in all cases but one. AVO inversion can be a powerful tool which can be used to eliminate false positive bright spots from seismic sections allowing us to drill better and more productive wells.

Thoughts on AVO.

2008-02-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

How do we find out about the subsurface? Seems like a simple problem. There is rocks down there. For some professions that might be good enough, but to find the precious hydrocarbons our planet has locked away it is not nearly enough.

Actually finding out what is 3km or more below the surface is a significant problem.

One method is to drill a hole. Simple, but fairly effective for a small area. We have developed many tools to find out what is down there. Measuring everything from background radiation in rocks to how resistive a rock is.

We can use several holes drilled over a large distance to infer what is down there, but in terms of finding new places to drill that will have hydrocarbons, maybe not the most effective.

Seismic can give us a good idea of what is down there. Essentially we introduce a wave pattern into the earth and then record how it comes back to the surface at various locations and then sum the results to enhance the signal and remove the noise. Once we process these "stacked" waves we can get a good idea of what the subsurface looks like. Figure 1 below shows 2 sources being reflected at a common point and being recorded. Since they have a common reflection point the received wave contains information about the same point.

fig 1

It is important to remeber that it is not a photo, but a mathematical model based on our understanding of rock and wave physics. This means it is not perfect.

The model may exhbit a "bright" spot where the signal returned from the sub surface changes significantly on the displayed section. These can often be caused by a gas reservoir. The gas in the rocks strongly effects how the waves travel and how they return to surface. In figure 2 below we see the amplituides at 1.4 and 1.6 get stronger as we move right to left and then die off again. This may indicate a reservoir. Each second on the diagram correspods to 5000'.

fig 2

Unfortunately often might not even be 50% of the time and drilling every bright spot means a lot of dry holes being drilled. Obviously this is not what we want, drilling a hole 3km into the surface is an expensive prospect.

In figure 1 we would see a difference in amplitude between the two rays despite the fact they are reflecting from the same point, this is caused by the different angle the rays strike the reflector at. As mentioned earlier, summing these or stacking them removes this information but produces a good signal of that point. The formulas for this relationship are complex and have been simplified over time. A simplifictaion by Shuey is the most common way to express this relationship.

Analyzing how the relationship of how the amplitudes change with incidence angle can answer some important questions. Do we see the amplitudes getting weaker as we move further from the source? Or do we see them getting stronger?

In general the responses can be classified in 4 ways and will tell us what type of rock and what type of fluid we have in the pores.

This is the basic idea behind AVO and a formation charged with gas will exhbit a different AVO response than one charged with water. And more importantly it can be used to differeniate a gas charged bright spot from another anomaly.

This gives us a basic understanding of AVO and a place to move forward from.

Another Semester

2007-12-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

Another semester has come and gone. This puts me 1 semester away from actually finishing some kind of post secondary education. Feels pretty good.

The marks this semseter break down as follows...
CMPP 230 Database Design & SQL Program A+
CMPS 320 Unix Systems for Geologist A+
COMM 288 Technical Communications II A+
GEOL 385 Case Studies in Petr. Geology A+
GEOL 390 Log Analysis for Geologists A+
GEOP 396 Advanced Geophysical Appl. A+

This maintains my GPA of 4.0 and continues my lowest mark being a A+, which is a grade higher than 90%.

Christmas is almost here and despite being alone for most of it, it should be relaxing and I am looking forward to it.

Lisa has gone to visit family in Texas, and I miss her already. I know she will not be gone long, but knowing she is not close, knowing I can't if I want to, just go and see her sucks. Depsite the short time together she has become very very dear to me. I love her very much.

Well despite not having written in here in forever I don't seem to have much to say, so to summarize....

Marks good.
I love Lisa.

Win or Die?

2007-09-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

If you don't get in the water you can't drown.
If you don't get in the water you can't win,you can't start and you can't even finish.

Not starting because of fear of failure and pain is a mistake.

Infinite Rage

2007-09-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

More like frustration and certainly not infinite, but discrete frustartion dosen't have quite the ring to it.

The last week has been interesting. I don't mean in one aspect of my life, across all aspects it has been this way.

Gym time has been pretty low over the last week. Once on the weights and once on the treadmill. Although judging from my weight last Monday I am not eating enough to support the amount of exercise I was doing. Typically on Monday I am the heaviest, which I attribute to retention of water from eating poorly over the weekend. Last Monday I was down 4lbs from the previous Friday. When I weighed on Tuesday I was at the same point.

School, well it was an interesting week. We wrote our first linux test this week, I totally forgot we had it till the night before. Such a scatter brain this year so far. Be a miracle if I maintain the A+s. Either way I set about reviewing and making flash cards. I specifically targeted my weak areas. Things like how to get the kernel version number from the system I ignored even though I figured it would be on the test.

# 7 What is the version of the kernel you are running and what command did you use to find it.

No problem. Fire up a command prompt.
Linux:# root:/ $_
Keith: ver
Linux: Unrecognized command.
Linux: # root:/ $_
Keith: Fuck.

Yeah so apparently in DOS you use ver to get version and in Linux, you don't. Guess I didn't know how to do it afterall. On the positive side it was only 2 marks and I found the kernel number stamped on some system files.

The answer is "uname -r" btw.

Well I still think I did decently on it.

Geology and Geophysics were pretty standard this week. We did more accumap in geology lab and more survey layouts from seg-y headers in geophysics.

Oracle. Got our test back from last week. 48 out of 50. I'll take it. One wrong which I legitimately answered wrong and one wrong that I guessed at.

Well logging. The interesting course this week. As in ANCIENT CHINESE CURSE kind of interesting. Class starts as well as usual. Andreas has a new plan which I am happy to try. He has an assignment on his website. No trouble. He is going to go over it one at a time. This will force people to pay attention and follow what he is doing.

We do not have printouts, but we have two monitors. I open the assignment up on one and the log we are looking at on the other. I copy and past the log into paint so I can make notes. I also have facebook up. Initially I am having trouble keeping up with him, or that is how it feels at any rate. I feel he is all over in terms of speed. I can't guage how long I will have to write things down I start becoming frustrated right away.

We got through question #1, then we get to question #2. Brock puts up his hand and asks how to do #3. At my current frustartion levels this pushes me into an even deeped frustration. Can he not see that Andreas is about to show us that and we don't need to slow things down by asking him retarded questions.

#3 is a volume shale calculation. Basically we are figuring out a ratio between how much is at one point in the log compared to the difference between the sand line and the shale line.

The formula in the book reads....
Vclay = Vshale = (SPclean - SPlog)/(SPclean-SPshale)
where
SPclean = Max SP deflection from a nearby clean section
SPlog = log reading from the point of interest
SPshale = SP reading from the shale baseline.

On this log the scale is as follows
SAND SHALE
-90 -80 -70 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 0 10

No trouble, I have been reading a lot on this stuff I understand how the SP log works. I can't really read the board from where I am, but I go to town. I calculate 56% or something. He calculates around 44%. Hmm I think. I ask Natalie next to me what numbers he is using??

She tells me. I ask what he is using in each variable. And this is where the train loses it.
He is using Vshale = (4-(-40))/(4-(-82).
I am using Vshale = ((-82)-(-40))/((-82)-(4))

Ie I have used
SPclean = -82
SPshale = 4
he has gone the other way.

So now I am frustrated and I don't get why. I stand up and walk to the front to read the board myself. admitedly I am now in a POOR mood. I point at the board and ask where he got the 4 from???? He tells me it's the shale measurement. I ask why? Why not the clean? I don't get it. He starts explaining the concept of the formula. I don't want to hear this I want to know why the hell we are using 4 where it says SPclean. I turn and walk back to my desk muttering, he replys that maybe if I put up my hand like everyone else etc etc. Sure I can now agree with that, but in my poor mood it did not help things. I sit down and put up my hand. I repeat my question. He starts explaining how the formula works. I interupt and start to ask again why we are use the shale line value in the clean spot. he interupts me and tells me not to worry about the formula in the book.

That is the last straw in my brain. I have gone from frustarated to argumentitve and I know I am done, I know nothing is gonna help now. I leave. I get up and leave the class in a VERY pissed off state.

So unlike me. I can not believe how frustrated I got over the whole thing. So now I get to go back and apologize for my outburst and I still have no idea why he would put the values in the way he did. I also have no contact information for him so I can't even ask in private.

Summary: I handled it very poorly. He is smart. He is a lousy instructor in my books.

And that wraps up school and moves on to the love life.

Lisa and I are getting along well still. We are still enjoying each others company and she is making a lot of effort to see me when she can, which makes me feel pretty damned special. We have had a small conversation about where things might be going. Half of her wants to try and make something from this and the other half is scared. I can't say I blame her.

I think we will both be ok though. She makes me smile and makes me happy and obviously cares for me as much as I care for her.

What an emotional web we weave.

Change of Perspective.

2007-09-22T09:35:00.000-07:00

Time invariably marches on. What we do with that time is the issue. Opportunities are always there, we just need to open our eyes and see them.

I have not stopped caring about Shannon, and like other relationships in my past I know that when someone touches me as deeply as that I always will. This does not mean I can not move on.

I spent a lot of time thinking about how to win her back, how to fix things, how to be better for her. In the end I needed to realize that it was truly done. I needed to realize that nothing I could do would fix things, or bring her back. All I was really doing was causing us both pain, which is not what I wanted to do.

What does this have to do with opportunity and opening your eyes. I moved on and decided to live life. I asked out a woman I had wanted to ask out for awhile, but was unable to because I was shy and to emotionally encumbered. This wouldn't make much of a blog entry if she had said no, so I will assure you she did not say no.

We have been out a couple of times and we are both looking forward to our next date. She is intelligent and attractive, a great combination. She is originally from England, still has an accent and uses what I consider to be insanely addorable British slang.

I currently do not know where things are headed right now with her. I know we enjoy each others company, and are wanting to take things slow.

The end point of all this is that life dosen't just dump things on your doorstep. You need to take an active role in how you want things to play out. Sure it might steer you, you can not for instance control the actions of other people who effect your course. But you can actively navigate along the corridor provided.

And now on to school and a breakdown of the classes.

Geophysics 396: Seismic survey design. We are learning how to determine optimal fold right now and by the end of it we should be able to design an effective 3d survey to image a subsurface event effectively. Lab wise we are learning to read SEG-Y header information and determine the subsurface survey size by locating the max/min inlines and CDPs. Using the corner points (in UTM) we are able to plot the survey. This is all for orthogonal layouts mind you.

Geology 385: Case studies. We are going through a case study or two every week. Basically an overview of a field and what they are doing there that makes it interesting. With weyburn we talked about secondary and tertiary recovery as well as horizontal drilling into marly formations. Lake Newell talked about deviated wells again, but with rigs starting at 45 degrees so they could get a much steeper angle much faster on the borehole. In the labs we are learning accumap and becoming much more framiliar with querying the large database to find information on wells and other things. We will also learn geo-scout later in the semester.

Comm 288: Technical communications. This course involves writing a large team project. We are doing it in conjuction with Geology 385. We basically pick a field, Ricinus, in our case and are writing a term project with the aim to sell "Cardium Unit #1" of the Ricinus field to the investors. The teams are broken down into a company President, VP Production, VP Land and VP Exploration. I have been given the exploration role for our company. The cardium formation should be ok and I have already found a lot of overview on the depositional environment it was formed in. With the addition of well logs and hopefully some seismic it should be interesting.

Geology 390: Well logging. This course is essentially self taught. We have a new instructor who is a PHd and I am sure SUPER smart and a nice guy, but he is not currently a great presenter. He is planning some more interactive stuff next week. We shall see how it goes. The concepts make sense now. Once you have a clue what each of the logs do you have a better chance at understanding the curves the log readings draw. The whole idea is pretty cool.

For instance clay based rocks(shales) have more of a particular potassium isotope than sandstone does. Shales are source rocks, where the Hc comes from and sandstones are resevoir rocks, the places that the Hc is stored.

By running a tool down the well bore we can measure the presence of this isotope along the well bore. Neutron logs bombard the formation with neutron. These neutrons are absorbed when then contact a hydrogen atom and release a gamma ray. The release of these rays can be measured. This indicates a presence of hydrogen, most noteably water. The presence of this water can give us another indication of porosity, or lack there of.

Formation density logs can be used to determing the porosity of the fomation (How much empty space is in the rock to store Hc).

We also run electrical logs which can be used to measure the resistivity of the fomation. Archie conducted expriments and figured out formulas that describe how formation resistivities change with the presence of water saturation, porosity, and water resistivity changes.

Putting these all together we come up with something like this....

We have three columns. The first has the SP log and the Gamma ray log. They measure essentially the same thing, changes in gross lithology. Gamma is preferred. The scale moves from a reading of 0 to 150 API units for the gamma ray log. So when the line is on the right we have a high reading and so it is a shale. as the line moves left our isotope count is dropping, the formation is becoming more sandy. The second column is showing the resistivity of the formation. You will note that the resistance spikes at one point registering over 20 ohm-ms. The last column is showing us the density log (FDC) and the Neutron log (CNL). As the log moves down the CNL line suddenly drops telling us that there is low hydrogen in the formation there. Looking at the Density log we see the two lines cross at this point as well. The density log is indicating an area of high porosity. Combining all these logs we see that at the top of the log we have a shale that is becoming sandy as we get deeper. At a certain point the resistivity shoots through the roof. At the same point we have an indication of low porosity from the Neutron log. and an indication of high porosity from the density log. Really the Neutron log is not showing us low porosity, it is showing us low hydrogen. So low hydrogen in a high porosity area?

Gas contact. This also fits with the other two logs. High resistivity and moving into a resevoir type system.

From the gamma ray log we can also infer that the grain sizes in the rocks are getting smaller as we move up, or fining upwards. This may indicate a river type depositional environment or it may indicate a transgressive sealevel along a shore line. Both of these should result in a fining upwards trend. Looking at the whole gamma log I would probably go with the shoreline or barrier island type system. Starting near the bottom we have a shaly sequence that moves into sandstone. It coarsens upwards. This indicates that sea was in a regressive state. Over time sandstones were deposited. Then we see that it moves back into shales as we get towards the top indicating that the sea has transgressed back onto the land.

A lot of information from a few wiggly lines.

The last two classes are Unix, where we are dealing with linux at the moment, mostly at the command line. It is currently fairly boring, but we are moving into commands like grep which are newer to me and so a little more interesting. The other is Oracle which is ok, currently we are building pretty simple databases and the commands are coming pretty slow. We can also practice on-line so I can work on it anywhere easily. It is a pretty good class.

All in all it is a pretty good semester, despite the well logging stuff being self taught.

Well that is all for now!

Choices

2007-08-16T07:57:00.001-07:00

Everyday we make choices. They guide us through our life like a giant choose your own adventure book. You have just got home from work, what do you do: Go for a run, turn to page 15 or Lay on the couch and watch a movie, turn to page 75. Some are simple, some are more complex. Sometimes we know a choice is right to make and we still make the wrong ones. Part of what makes us Human; we are not totally designed on logic.

I was originally writing this as a comment on exercise and nutrition. We can choose to eat properly or we can choose to work out. We can choose to be dedicated. These choices all fall directly to us. Now though this is more about life and relationships, making the hardest choices of all.

Emotion is such a huge part of us. It is an important part of us, but one that must not run rampant over all logic. I am guilty of this at times, and at times I am guilty of no emotion and just seeing through logical eyes.

I have made many choices over my life, as have we all, some are small and we make them everyday, some without thinking. Others are larger; I made a choice to not weigh 300lbs. Some of these choices workout for the best others do not.

My weakest area on choices is easily relationships. I can make the decision to be with someone, to give them my heart, to let my emotional barriers down. That is no problem. I can make the decision to be with them, to love them forever. This is not my issue. After awhile, maybe things aren’t perfect for whatever reason, emotions take over without logic, without the thought that I love this person and want to be with them. Emotions of fear and being with one woman forever emerge. I guess maybe it boils down to a fear of committing to what I want so very badly. I choose to withdraw. I move away and in the end either I break up or she breaks up with me. I am left wondering what the hell happened. Most of the time perhaps it was for the best, maybe my fears were because I couldn’t be who they needed me to be. Or I wasn’t willing to work on things enough.

Ironically when I look back at my history of relationships, the closest thing to a one night stand was a series of encounters with a friend that was still probably 3 or 4 months long. I am not one to look for tail every where, I am certainly not a playa. So then why after a time do I wonder if the girl I am with is the right one? Why do I wonder and pull away from the relationship. It makes very little logical or emotional sense to me to pull away from what I want.

In the end I make the choice and I have to live with it. If she makes the choice not to be with me, and truly believes in it, I need to stand by her choice and let her make it. I need to choose to be a better person, someone who is less selfish. I can’t just decide to turn off my feelings, but I can decide how I am going to act on them. Sometimes I choose to be selfish and in doing so I end up hurting people I love. I do not want to be this person anymore, I want to be better for me and for the people I love.

Choices, we can all make ones that will make our life better. Sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t. Choices are however what will guide us: how we choose to react to things, how we choose to interact with others, how we choose to live our lives.

For now I need to make some hard choices, and the last few days have been fairly insightful for me. I choose to let how things are be good thing for me. I choose to understand and accept why Shannon can’t be with me. I choose to not dwell on rekindling the past relationship with her. I choose to not live for the slim hope of a possible future with her at my side. I choose to be someone she can trust to be a friend, not someone she can trust has an ulterior motive.

Tournament and being fed up.

2007-06-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well I can not deny this year has been interesting. Unfortunately a lot of it has been the ancient Chinese curse kind of interesting. Some days I have a hard hard time staying focused and being positive.

It seems as soon as something good occurs something bad occurs to nullify it. The last good thing was the job, I am still looking forward to it. I am happy that this is the last day I will most likely be sitting here doing this job. For a couple of months anyhow. To counteract the new job I get word that my rent is going up $100 a month. Well now I can't say that it is now a lot, but it is more. The new amount is pretty on par with single room rents I guess. However I no longer feel it is necessarily mutually beneficial for me to live there. At the new rental price I can find a place much closer to school. In the end I would rather it stay where it is, but if it has to go up it will and I will live somewhere else.

Over the horizon looms a potential place, only a few blocks from SAIT for essentially the same money with someone I know. Perfect. I will take a look next week. Another good thing. Now though it must be time to duck.

Reading the SAIT notices for employees I come across an interesting tidbit. They have moved tuition deadline from the start of classes at the end of August to the end of July. They will notify new students in an orientation package that is going out in mid-July and they will post a general announcement on the Student homepage on July 9. Wow. Not only are they moving the date a full 30 days closer, they are dragging their feet in telling us Students. In the end instead of having this pay cheque and two additional pay cheques to save for tuition. Now I have THIS cheque.

Will I come up with the money? I guess I will have to, but all it will do is introduce stress into my life that I really don't need.

And on to Tournament.

I went to practice on Thursday it was the monthly Tavern, sort of like a mini-event. We held a small triple elimination tournament.

When I arrived on scene there was absolutely nobody I knew. We have a lot of new fighters that have started in the year or so since I practiced. That's great I think to myself. A bunch of unknowns. Not in the sense that they are nobodies, but in the sense that they are Xs in the fighting equation. I have no idea how much skill they posses, or how long they have been fighting for.

I start messing around with my stuff and Varrus shows up. Yay, someone I know. Now Varrus is also going to school and hasn't been to practice in about as long as me. Good to see a familiar face. I think when it was all said and done the lists had maybe 18 or so people, 4 or so I knew fairly well.

I fight a few warm-up fights and it's a good thing I work out and in somewhat decent shape, because once you put that helmet on and start moving and swinging your stick around you overheat almost instantly. Still despite how fast I got tired, the guys I was fighting got tired before me. Or at least quit before me :D

Eventually they call us in and we do a Grand Melee. In this warm-up we all start in a circle and when it starts we engage each other in single combat until someone is victorious over the field. I win my first fight of the Grand Melee, but I lose my legs and have to go to my knees. My hamstrings cramp up almost instantly. I apparently am unable to effectively fight from my knees and die in the next combat. I spend the next few minutes trying to work the cramp out and get on with things.

The first few rounds are challenge rounds, I am victorious a couple of times. I fight a guy I know, and am victorious again. Well at least I didn't get knocked out in three. I fight Varrus. He wins, but the fight was fun. The tourney progresses. I have to fight one of my early victories again. This time I lose.

In the middle of the tournament the sky clouded and the rain and thunder came. I looked up at the sky, and wondered if this was a bad sign for me? I play a Mongol persona and once of their chief deities is the everlasting sky, Mongke Tengri.

Then there are three of us left. Me, Varrus and Robert. I had just fought Robert so I am picked to fight Varrus again. Not an impossible fight my any means, but not an easy one either. We square off and Varrus comes at my like a Roman devil. Damn I was SO not expecting it. Either way I managed to fend off his mad demon rush and hold him off long enough to get my composure back. The sun begins to emerge from the clouds and it is obvious, to me at least, that Tengri, the eternal sky is smiling upon me as Varrus falls to my blade. We stand up as we had both lost our legs. Both of us non-practiced guys are experiencing leg cramps, so despite us having issues it put neither of us at a disadvantage.

Now in their infinite wisdom they have decided "by" fights are destructive. Robert has the by this round and loses. It was his third loss, so he is out. Final two. Me and Varrus. We are both dead tired and sore at this point, we are both even with two losses. Typically in tournament they fight something like that best two out of three. We are old and tired, we opt for sudden death, next one to die loses.

Now it is important to note here, because I find this little factoid far more entertaining than who won in the end. A field of 15-18 guys, most of which probably practice fairly regularly and those who do not, do not because they are lazy, not because school or work interfere. Of this field the two guys left? Varrus and myself. Two guys who haven't fought in ages.

In the last fight I couldn't tell you exactly how it went down, only that again as the thunder shower passed and the sky and sun opened to smile upon the field, it was a good day to be a Mongol.

Bodyweight....

2007-06-24T23:23:00.000-07:00

So I have always found bodyweight training interesting. Why don't I do it? Not sure, partly because it doesn't feel like I am going anywhere to do it, so I lose focus and maybe wander back to the computer or something.

I do not believe that we are unable to get a good resistance based workout with just our own bodyweight. I am well aware I can get a kick ass workout.

So with this in my brain a friend mentioned something in his training log which I hadn't heard of before. The TRX. I asked what that was. He gave me a link to the item in question, http://www.fitnessanywhere.com/index.php

So my first thought was $200 was pretty pricey. However the guys who have it say it is worth the money. Maybe, but I still have trouble seeing materials and work on the device adding up to that much.

Either way I thought it interesting and worth trying out. I found some rope and a set of old hollow plastic dumbbell handles. I made handles and then every so often I tied knots in the rope. My thought was I could loop the handles through and attach it at different points like you would attach a yo-yo to your finger. So far I have only played with it indoors on door frames where the knots work as stops.

Before I got started I thought it might be an interesting gadget. I got ready to try it to see just how useful it might be. I put the rope over the door and closed it so I could try some push-ups. I can do push-ups so I set the handles so they would be close to the floor. I got down. I put my hands in the handles and attempted to do a push-up. I stress attempted. The fact my hands were able to move in any direction made it essentially impossible. Ok I thought. I moved it so I was on more of an angle and presto I could do chest press exercises. Rows were fine, I could do those as well, which was handy as heck.

You can always do push-ups for chest exercises but sometimes there is just no where you could do any type of back movement. With this device you can. Very cool.

So then I started messing around on-line. I found reverse crunches, hamstring work etc. Roland suggested I try ab roll-outs with it. Roland is a pretty nice guy, at least I thought so, maybe he hates me, those were HARD on my abs. Crazy hard.

The last really cool thing I have discovered is the assisted pistol squat. Essentially the suspension system is used to balance and add assistance in doing a one legged squat. Even with the system I was only able to do 3 or 4 in a row.

In the end I am 100% sold on the idea as a system and will be using it as the basis of my resistance training for the next few months at least while I don't have easy cheap access to a gym. I am still not willing to spend $200 on it though. I will remain with the rope system for now, with the intention of building a "proper" one as well as a few other goodies in the next week or so.

In other news what turned out to be a scouting mission for webbing turned into a 44km bike ride this afternoon (with a short break for coffee). My legs are still tired. The way into town was awesome I felt fantastic and had a great ride. The way out was evil. Lots of hills and I was tired and trying to outrun a thunderstorm. Unfortunately as you can guess, being tired and riding uphill equals a pretty slow progression. The storm however was not moving that slow. About 5km out, ie 20mins or so if caught up to me. By the end of it I was DRENCHED. Was so happy to get into a warm shower!

Shannon and I are also getting along well and chat on-line most days. In a lot of ways this is great and in other ways painful. As I have stated before I care about her immensely and have decided I would rather have her in my life as a friend than not at all. So it is great I get to stay in touch with her and also painful because it is hard to honor her decision about our relationship and just be a friend, and not try to actively encourage her to change her mind about things.

Apparently I have a lot to say these days...

A few steps, things coming together

2007-06-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

Been a little while since I wrote especially considering all the current goings on in my life. However I wanted to tell some people about things in person before they read them here.

Well we will start with the diet and nutrition portion of my life. Still going well. I have stuck religiously to plan A of the TNT plan. This does not mean I couldn't do things better, but I could most certainly do things worse. Everything I have eaten is approved on this plan and I have not strayed into processed carbs and starchy vegetable land. This puts us 20 days into the plan.

My home scale has shown more dramatic changes than the gym scale, this may be to me weighing after working out, consuming water etc. It is the same time of the day so you would think it may weight heavier but still show the same sort of weight move. Either way I am not concerned about my overall weight, I am really desiring to me leaner, more than anything.

The gym scale put me at about 217 or so last week and my home scale put me at 205 or so yesterday, but more importantly it registered the lowest bodyfat # I have ever seen it even consider for me. This combined with pants feeling a little looser makes me pretty happy.

The next large thing is a car. In a previous post I put up a picture of a car I was considering buying. Well it is officially mine. I can drive anywhere I want now. Not that I do a lot, but it is great for getting groceries and other errands on the weekends when transit out of here is horrible.

Lastly I went for an interview with Western Geco. They showed me around and I enjoyed myself. It rekindled my interest in what we were doing in school, it had been two months since I had looked at anything related to exploration. In the end they did not offer me a job and in all honesty I was crushed. I talked about this awhile ago, after I had come to terms with it, my words didn't really do the magnitude of my disappointment justice.

However that behind me I had another interview with Total E&P. A company I had frankly never heard of before. It was for an IT position not an exploration position. I was less enamoured with this job. I went to the interview anyhow. I have always been told you should do as many as possible to get used to it, so they are less intimidating.

I went to it. Total E&P may not be big in Canada, but they are it turns out a HUGE player elsewhere. They were founded in the middle east in 1924, and have just recently moved into Canada in 1999 to set up oil sands operations. They have plans to build their own upgraderer and have already outgrown two downtown office floors. They told me they had gone from 15 to 225 employees in the last few years. The position was essentially what I was already doing with a few important differences. 1) More money 2) Downtown office(I have always wanted to work downtown) 3) AWESOME downtown location above the Devonian gardens. 4) Relevant industry. Contacts made through this job will be 100 times more valuable than contacts made at SAIT. The kicker is that if I can't work at Total in the fall due to conflicts I am more than welcome to come back to the help desk at SAIT. Yes this means I was offered the job and I accepted. I start July 3rd and have a 2 month contract till the end of August.

So in the end life is pretty good and I will leave you with the Dalia FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading). Dalia FPSO is 300m long, 60m wide and 32m high. She is big.

Low carb, potatoes and Ubuntu

2007-06-09T21:43:00.001-07:00

So if anyone reads this and has been paying attention you will note I have been eating a low carb regime as recommened by Adam Campbell and Dr. Jeff Volek. They are publishing a new book out in November I believe called The TNT Diet (Timed Nutrition Tactics)

So I have done well and have managed not to stray, of course I can eat full fat sour cream and regular pepperoni so it's not THAT hard.

However to be creative I went back to a recipe I see pop-up every once in awhile. Low Carb Mashed Potatoes. I didn't use any recipes because frankly I was not impressed the last time I tried it. This time I boiled up about 1/2 head of cauliflower until tender and then drained it. I put that in the food processor with a couple tbsp of butter and maybe 5tbsp of ranch dressing (1 carb per tbsp). I wizzed this all up until it was kinda creamy like mashed potatoes.

Two thumbs up this time. It was very tasty. I probably made enough for two or three people, but it was so good I ate it all. I figure in total I am looking at about 11g of sugar from the cauliflower, 10 or so of fibre and 7 grams of protein. I am officially stuffed as well, so I probably ate to much of it.

In other news I finally backed up my computer to DVD and wiped XP. It was in serious need for a re-install. However this time I don't do much, 90% of what I do is on-line and the rest is chat based and the occasional document. So I chose to install Ubuntu 7.0 instead of Windows XP. Well it still looks like linux as it is a gnome environment on it for the GUI.

In terms of use, it is easy. If I need to find a package I can search for it in the Synaptic Package manager. If it is not brand new it will probably be there all compiled up and ready to go for me. Ubuntu handles the install and away I go.

So after a day I am impressed. I have music and my iPod is connected, probably the one thing I was most worried about.

Vroom Vroom

2007-06-08T15:54:00.001-07:00

Beginning earlier this year I began a quest of sorts to purchase an automobile. A CHEAP automobile. I plan on upgrading in about a year, once I have a real job.

So I began looking through classifieds. Then my boss mentioned one of the client support guys was looking to sell a car for about $2000. A little high, but they have 3 cars and just want to get rid of this one.

In the end it turns out to be a 1991 Honda Accord with a little surface rust. It is an automatic and runs well. It sports 291,000km. A lot perhaps, but in line for the age of the car.

So after much humming and hawing and convincing and unconvincing. I have decided to go for it. I would rather buy it from someone I trust than a dealer. So the inspection will cost about $70. The car will go for $1500. Insurance should run me about $80 a month. We won't talk about gas. My current usage model is envisioned as not using it to get to work, but using it for shopping, and getting places with the bike etc.

It will be the first vehicle I have owned in quite sometime and I am looking forward to it. Hopefully we can get all the details worked out by next week. It would be handy to have to get to the 5km race I am planning on entering on the 17th.

Life goes on

2007-06-08T14:16:00.000-07:00

So I didn't get the job. So what? nothing has changed. I still have my current job, I still get paid enough to live. I still have a roof over my head. I didn't get flooded out.

In other news TNT Plan A is going well. I am surviving just fine without processed carbs, no surprise. I am surviving just fine without sugar from fruit or from oatmeal, perhaps a little more surprising. Intervals are just as evil as I remember, but I will do them as well as my other goals, I will give this plan a very fair shake and maybe come out a little leaner and maybe even with a little more muscle.

Not much else going on right now.

Jamie Oliver

2007-06-04T11:11:00.001-07:00

Been a little while since I have watched Jamie do any cooking on the ole TV.

I don't have a TV. I have however over the last month managed to catch 4 or 5 episodes of his new show. The guy is a star, and has easily double or trippled my desire to cook and expriment again.

You can get some of his recipes on www.foodtv.ca

His new show is done very rustic, older looking kitchen, almost cabinish, a lot of outdoor cooking in a wood over, over charcoal etc. As always he is picking his own herbs. However now he is big time and is not picking them from his window box, he is pulling them from his massive garden and making his gardener try things. (What a crappy job that guy has, not) Because of his garden he is now pulling produce out of it as well, fresh tomatoes, beans, berries, you name it. he is very encouraging when it comes to people growing there own stuff.

His website describes the new show as follows, Check it out. He makes it look as easy as it is.

This series is my chance to get back to doing what I love: cooking at home with simple, accessible ingredients. Over the last few years I’ve been growing my own fruit and veg with the help of my gardener Brian.

It’s a really laid back show and each episode focuses on a particular theme – it could be a look at all the different varieties of tomatoes, what you can do with lovely home-grown potatoes, or how to cook different cuts of lamb – but I’ll also be looking at how easy it is to grow your own produce; sometimes in weird and wonderful ways.

Even if you live at the top of a block of flats you will be able to have a go at growing something! It’s a celebration of no-nonsense beautiful seasonal food – a proper cooking show for modern-day people.

PAIN and diet.

2007-06-02T14:21:00.000-07:00

61 small steps to be preformed. 1 step taken. 60 to go.

I hit the gym on Friday and I did the New Rules of Lifting break in program A. Now it's the day afterwards. I can tell you that walking, sitting, moving in general sucks. DOMS has set in with a vengenace. At least it's a "good pain", one that makes you feel like you did something.

On the other side of the challenge I started TNT plan A yesterday as well. So far so good. No huge shocks to my system. No cravings over and above wanting to shove crap in my face when I am bored.

KABOOM!

2007-05-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well today it was illustrated to me why I am not a betting man. The one thing in the past uncountable years. The one certainty I would have bet on, the Calgary Transit work stoppage has been avoided by a tentative deal that goes for ratification tomorrow. Crazy. No such thing as a sure thing.

So there are a few places in Calgary where the bike paths suck ass. Some of the paths are wide sidewalks, and then they suddenly turn off. Not at an intersection mind you, but in the middle of the road. The signs say bike path left and forward. If you look on a map though it shows that the forward path is a designated on road route. So now you are actually riding on a sidewalk. Something I sorta hate and still do sometimes. Yesterday I had elected not to turn off on to the park path, but instead to go further north before turning into the neighborhood and snaking my way home. I have taken the route in previous years no big deal.

So there I am on the sidewalk, approaching an intersection, tree is obscuring the vision a little so I slow down as I approach. I see a car approaching the intersection. He slows, i ease off the breaks, and get ready to coast across. He stops slowing. Fuck. At this time I suspect I should have jammed on the pedals and tried to slip by him, but no. I hit the breaks and stop dead infront of him. I actually thought for a second, a brief fleeting second that his bumber would stop in time. Long story short he bumps into me a little. I get a couple of scrapes, I don't even get knocked over. The front tire is however BENT badly, unrideable.

The guy was nice enough about it, left me his number as he had offered to pay for repairs and drove me the rest of the way home. Probably a bit older than me. Saucony shoes in the front driver seat as well as a health club tag on his key chain. At least I got hit by someone who can appreciate cycling and not a total redneck douch like the prick that ran over Fish and then sped off.

Rock and a hard place. I wasn't on the proper side of the street. I was against traffic and on the sidewalk. I was not in the right place. He certainly did not look right as he pulled into the intersection, he slowed initially because he was looking left at oncoming traffic. Could have just as easily been a small child chasing a ball instead of me. Part of me really dosen't think he should pay, part of me would take half. None of me thinks he should pay for all of it.

I looked over the bike tonight a little closer, since I need to take it in for repairs. (What kinda shop opens at 10am?) Front wheel is pretty obviously screwed. Back wheel looks pretty decent, it maybe has a little whobble, but it might have been there already. It isn't enough that it touches the brakes. The rear shifter seems to work fine. the front shifter works, but on the smallest gear the cage is now touching the cage. I do not believe the forks or frame is bent. So hopefully it's a new wheel and a minor adjustment on the cage and I am good to go again.

interestingly enough the title of this entry has nothing to do with a collision. Instead it refers to TNT, Timed Nutrition Tactics. A new work by Adam Campbell and Jeff Volek. I have been fortunate enough to have a sneak peek of what it will be like and am basing my new nutrion plan around it. The next 4 weeks are low carb. Not atkins VERY low, but low. No grains, breads, sugars etc. Plenty of meats, fats and vegetables.

I am stating this new plan in time with the JPfitness 61 Day Summer Challenge. My tracking spreadsheet, personal goal section and grocery bill are all available at
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pcYKF234Hk5WTYj2BGLy7JA
My training log for at least the next 61 days is at
http://forums.jpfitness.com/showthread.php?p=391537#post391537

It should prove to be interesting. The 52 day challenges at Mens Health have been a great help to me in losing the weight.

Strike!

2007-05-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

Although it is not official Calgary Transit is on the verge of going on Strike. I am both looking forward to it and dreading it.

It will force me to ride my bike to work, which is about 12km one way. It could potentially be very good for me. On the other side until it is, it will suck. :)

School went well. After losing round 1 to stats, scoring 76% on the first of two midterms after a very bad day, I managed to come back and score 100% on the second midterm and quiz right before it. In the end I managed to squeak out an A+ in the class. It was a relief to not have my row of +s interuppted.

30019 CMPN 269 Computer Networking A+
30109 CMPP 334 Java Programming Level I A+
30025 DRLG 220 Drilling Fund. for Exploration A+
30050 GEOL 380 Exploration Geology A+
30026 GEOP 296 Geophysical Data Processes II A+
30024 STAT 240 Statistics A+ 4.000

Straight across the board. That's what I am talking about. So we exit the first year with a 4.0 GPA. Can't complain about that.

In other news I recieved a $500 scholarship from Landmark Graphics. That was nice. I will be applying for it again. They hand them out to students in second and third semesters.

Work is still pretty up in the air though, not 100% sure what I am doing over the summer. Waiting to hear about a geophysics job, and if that falls through I am stuck at SAIT for the summer. I never get to leave. I feel like the place is the mob. hahahha.

On the relationship front, I am doing mostly ok. There are still nights where I miss Shannon intensley. I don't suspect it will go away anytime soon. I care about her and hope she knows that even if I do my best to not contact her. I figure it is easier for her if I don't. When I miss her she is the only one I want to talk to about it.

The strangest thing for me has been that the scarf she made me is the one thing that really triggers me emotionally, for good or bad. Sometimes I don't put enough appreciation into homemade gifts, but it is pretty clear to me that I should. This item she made for me with her love and two hands is probably one of the most important things to me right now.

Continuation

2007-04-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

Well as we can see I was not in the best mood when I wrote the last entry.

I am officially single, and as of last weekend after seeing her again to collect some stuff, it suddenly seemed so VERY final. Hit home pretty hard, I am sure for both of us.

The next few days were pretty bad, I was sad and feeling very sorry for myself. I talked to her on-line a couple of nights ago and it was very very hard and again or still I was sad. A couple days later now that some of the emotions have passed I am happy I chatted with her and told her how much she meant to me, even if we were not destined to be together.

I don't know if I totally agree with her reasons for breaking up, but in the end I guess I don't need to. They are her reasons and it takes two to make it work. I won't say we had a perfect relationship. I am not always or ever, perhaps, the best communicator. Maybe even part of me never thought it would work. I personally think that is a part of me that I don't like and a part of me from my past. Not perfect? yes. Workable? I thought so.

No matter.

At this time in a much less emotional state I have decided instead of dwelling on the break-up and how much I miss her, that I would focus on the past. That I would focus on when she was happy with us, when we were BOTH very happy with us.

Thanks for everything Shannon, know I love you.

Life sucks

2007-04-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

Despite working as hard as you can at life, it can still kick you in the gut.

life sucks.

Interesting links....well I think so anyhow

2007-02-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

Surfing about last night I came across a fairly indepth website.

Sure I had seen the USGS website which has some cool stuff on it, although all about the US. However last night I came across what amounts to our equivalent agency, Natural Resources Canada: Earth Sciences Sector. Maybe not as catchy as USGS, but still has a lot of stuff. The link is http://ess.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php.

So a quick overview finds Maps, images, data, a geoscience data repository, links to other sources of information on geology.

The geoscience section has a tonne of information on geophysical surveys in Canada. Most of it seems to be just basic logging information, however some of the stuff, ie the Seismic and magnetotelluric data (Lithoprobe) section,http://gdr.nrcan.gc.ca/seismtlitho/index_e.php, has a fair bit of interesting stuff. They have a website dedicated to the project as well, http://www.lithoprobe.ca/.

Also I found something called the Frontier Geoscience Project, which is described as "From 1984 to 1990, over 6800 kilometres of deep (> 15 s) multichannel reflection seismic data were collected offshore Eastern Canada". You can download a lot of the segy data as well as read the processing reports for them, ie line 84-1 is located here, http://gdr.nrcan.gc.ca/fgp/grand_e.php#841. Most of the sections aren't hugely exciting, but the processing sequence is of interest to see how they got from acquisition to section.

The USGS has a similar site for segy and images of the sections located here, http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of02-368/data98.html. Some good ones there. Much larger and much higher resolution.

Hubble Ultra Deep field.

2007-02-10T08:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Saturday.

Came across this a couple of days ago. Touted as the most important picture humanity has ever taken.

Pretty big shoes to fit.

What is this image you ask? It is a picture taken from the Hubble telescope. It is aimed at a section of space in the fornax consteallation. It was aimed at that spot for 11 days.

Now it wasn't aimed at a star, or a galaxy. It was aimed at the empty space between them. a section of space that comprises 1/10,000,000th of the night sky.

Perspective. Nasa says the area of space comprises 1/10th the size of the full moon.

But, what did hubble see?

10,000 galaxies.

yes. 10,000 galaxies. Each containing billions of stars, all located in a section of the night sky not much bigger than a grain of sand.

You can think big and you can think the universe is even bigger than what you think of as big. But looking at this and thinking about what it comprises, you realize that our concept of big, our concept of REALLY REALLY HUGE, does not do justice to the size and scope of the universe....

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/56540main_closer.large.jpg

Pretty crazy stuff.

What else is going on? Apparently some seismic geophysicists out of the University of Washington have been studying seismic waves generated from earthquakes and have noticed a dampening effect being cause by something big. Their conclusion? A body of water roughly the size of the arctic ocean may exist in the mantle somewhere below Asia.

http://www.physorg.com/news90171847.html

My world has been pretty boring.

Stats test this week as well as a Geop test. Did well on both of them. Well the Geop no trouble, def did good on that one and the Stats, I believe i did well. But who knows.

Downloaded the registration form for the triathlon I did last year, need to get that filled out and sent away.

Been swimming pretty consistently. Averaging about 3km a week right now. Nothing massive, but time is at a premium right now. Been a long time since I swam reps of 25. My shortest is 50 with 100s as my typical main amount these days. Latest experiment was a 25m no breath length followed immediately by a regular length. Although part of my loves the 25m no breath lengths. They are very taxing. Swimming the 25 without having to break stroke or your form at all means you feel like you are moving pretty fast.

1 1/2 into work. 1 coffee down.

That is all

Java Quiz

2007-02-05T13:31:00.001-08:00

100%.

Can't do any better.

Booyah.

Mapping and such

2007-02-03T07:39:00.000-08:00

Well another Saturday brings another 8 hour shift.

Pretty decent week, went and got my DL renewed so now I will actually look like me, instead of the old fat me. Good times.

In general it has been an ok week. In stats we are doing permutation and combinations, probabilities and binomial events.

Permutations and combinations deal with have a group of things and determining how many ways you can combine the things. ie if you have 20 people how many ways can you randomly combine them into a comittee of 3 people.

In permutations we are concerned with the order of people, in combinations we are not
given..

WCW
WWC
CWW

In a permutation those are all different sets since the order is relevant, but in combinations they are all the same set, 2Ws and 1C.

They are noted 3P20 and 3C20 respectively.

In order to figure these out we need to use factorials. Whats a factorial you say? On your calculator it may have a label x! If it does, then that is a factorial.
What it does is this 5! = 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. So 5! = 120

In the example about 3P20 it looks like this
20!/(20-3)!
This will generate a couple of big numbers, fortunately a lot of the calculation will cancel out.
20 x 19 x 18 x 17!/17!
the 17! will cancel leaving us with 20x19x18x17 = 6840 ways to do it when order matters.

In combinations we would get the following
3C20 =
20!/((20-3)!3!)
which becomes
6840/(3 x 2 x 1 )
or
6840/6
or
1140 different ways when the order does not matter.

We also did probabilities.
In our examples we had a branching tree diagram with a 40% chance, which we will call (p) going one way and a 60% chance, which we will call (q) going the other.

q is p's complement. They add up to 100% or 1

We did it as a survey scenario.
we figured out the probability of asking 3 people and covering all the scenarios.
We drew a tree diagram to illustrate this point and then worked out the probability of asking three people and getting the responses as ppp or qpq or qqq. It turns out all you have to do is multiply the probabilities together.
P(p AND p AND p) = P(.4 x .4 x .4) = 0.064 or 6.4%
for
P(q AND q AND q) = P(.6 x .6 x .6) = .216 or 21.6%
for
P(q and P and q) = P(.6 x .4 x .6) = .144 or 14.4%

And then we moved into binomials. As nice as the tree diagram is. If we have two choices and the probability of choice p = .20 and choice q=.80 and we have 30 trials, and need to find the probability of the branch that has 3 p choices, we are in for a lot of work? Or are we?
Turns out we can use combinations as well as the fact that some of the branches will have the same probability ie in the above example
P(qqp) = .6 x .6 x .4 = .144
P(pqq) = .4 x .6 x .6 = .144
P(qpq) = .6 x .4 x .6 = .144
In the end we can make a formula that needs to have a few variables.
1) N = number of trials
2) X = number of instances of p
3) Probability of p and q
which is....

xCn*p^x*q^(n-x)

With the combination formula and my initial example

n = 3 trials
x = 1 (One instance of P, should be .144 *3 since we have three ways of getting that branch)
p = .4
q = .6

= 3!/((3-1)!1! * .4^1 * .6^(3-1)

= 3 * 2 * 1 / ( 2 * 1 ) (1) * (0.064) * (.36)
= 6 / 2 * .064 * .36
= 3 * .064 * .36
= .432

So now with

n = 30
p = .2
q = .8
What are the chances of getting at least 3 p answers or outcomes?
= 30!/(30-3)!3! * .2^3 * .8 ^(30-3)

= 30 x 29 x 28 x 27!/27! * 6 * .008 * .002417852
= 4060 * .008 * .002417852
= 0.0785318
So we have a 7.85% chance of achieving 3 p answers in this arrangment.

Then we learned how to figure out the expected value, or the mean. Which in this case turns out to be n * p

in the 30 example = 30 x .2. We would expect to get 6 p answers

Then we learned the binomial standard deviation = sqrt(n*p*q), = sqrt (30*.2*.8) = 2.19089.

We can use this to determine values that would be unusual.
Unusual values are determined as being outside the range created by the expected value +/- 2 x the standard deviation

6 +/- 2(2.19089)
or about 1- 10. so common values in this scenario would range from 2 - 9.

Thats stats. Quiz on Friday. Pretty sure I have a half way decent grip in the material.

Geophysics has been pretty quiet lately. We have been drawing 3d layout diagrams.

Geology we started on carbonates. Sedimentary rocks formed by life and chemical processes such as reefs. We have also started mapping strike lines and outcroppings on maps in the lab. Stats I can kind of explain here. Strike maps, I'm not gonna bother trying.

Java. Computer programming. Nuff said.
intro to networking. Nuff said.

My goal in these classes is to get my stuff done ASAP, so I can help everyone else. I will end up helping them anyhow so best to get my stuff out of the way first! :D

Left to do today.
Java program.
Java logic assignment.
Stats homework.
Pay rent.

7:23am

2007-01-27T06:22:00.000-08:00

The week has proven busy between school and work. Not that this is a new thing. Despite working one less day this semester I am working more hours than I was last semester. Which will make the pay cheques nice, and schedule wise it's not to bad. It keeps me busy and out of trouble. Although somedays I think I should just sleep here on campus.

We are well into the semester now. I like all of my teachers, well all but the networking guy. I am sure he has exprience in the field or some such thing, but frankly I think he is a bit of a tool and couldn't teach his way out of a wet paper bag.

So far we have written two quizzes. One in Stats and one in Geology. I scored 22 out of 24 on the stats test, and although I haven't gotten the Geology one back yet, we went over it in class and I am pretty sure I got everything right. So that one will be nice as well.

One of the guys in my class has an old graphing calculator that he just came across a TI-81. If you know anything about these you know that the TI-83 is the most common model they sell now. The TI-81 was the first model they sell. It is QUITE underpowered compared to the 83s, but compared to my $9 superstore calculator it is plenty powerful. It's basic Stats functions make it worth it's weight in gold compared to the one I was using.

If you remeber back to the end of the Calculus semester, 2 people were in the running for the highest mark in the class. Me and Raj. Raj has sinced taken a DB consulting job with a US company and is waiting for his Visa papers to go through. He has officially dropped the program now and it in the middle of moving. Tonight a bunch of us are all supposed to go out to a club. I am not a large fan of clubs, infact typically avoid them like the plague. I guess this is a fairly special occasion so I will go down for a little while to say good-bye..or well yell it I guess.

I don't watch a lot of TV these days, but on the ole fitness forums, "Heros" has quite the following. So I have tuned into this show and am now pretty hooked. I only mention this because this was the first week it was back on with a new episode! YAY!

Here is a website that we found last semester. More specifically a link to it's glossary page which is pretty cool. http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/default.cfm

Saturday. January 13, 2007

2007-01-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

One week of classes have gone by.

Networking will be a pretty basic course for me. I found the midterm review and can already pass pretty decently.

Geology so far looks to be interesting. I like the way our new instructor does labs and seems to lecture pretty decently.

Geophysics will be interesting, we have a field trip on Monday to see some 3d Data stuff at one of the big companies

Statistics so far pretty basic stuff, I am sure that will change.

Drilling. This one should prove interesting. We have talked a bit about drilling platforms, both on shore and off shore. Semi-subs are by far the coolest in my book.

So that leaves Java. Looks pretty decent as well, should be a fairly straightforward class as well.

Pet peeves? Powerpoint used exclusively. I have 2 instructors that rely on Power Point.
Networking. Guy has been around awhile and there is no excuse.
Drilling. She is a brand new instructor using the cool technology. She writes a little at least.

Compare to geology and geophysics? Almost NO power point.
In Geophysics our guy will use over heads and such, but often he projects directly on to the whiteboards so he can make notes on the pictures. Very cool use of technology.

Drilling will be a largely self directed course I think, with some guidance from a rookie teacher that did well in her drilling course.

I am trying out new flash cards. They are spiral bound and come in sets of 50. I am hoping these will be easier to use, even if they are less random. They cost a fair bit more, but I have high hopes.

Holidays and beyond..

2007-01-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

Well been a little while since I posted, Christmas and all of that took time up I guess.

I worked full time at the help desk the week before Christmas and the week after Christmas leaving only me only one week off.

Having just work and no school was interesting, but without any set hobbies right now I was largely bored the first week off.

Over Christmas I read a couple of books, Shadow of the Giant as well as Runner. That kept me mostly entertained. After Christmas I played some games, Starcraft and some Quake III.

Christmas itself was pretty low key, spent Christmas Eve with Shannon's family as well as Christmas day. We had the morning at her Parents house and then to her Grandparents place for an early Christmas dinner. After that we went back to Shannon's place and had her family over for an evening of bad food, ok all of Christmas was bad food, although tasty, and board games. Five of us played Risk most of the evening with my armies remaining victorious and crushing all who opposed me.

We also had some friends over during the Holidays that I hadn't seen since school started, pretty busy and it is sometimes hard to get in touch with people who are also busy. Conflicting schedules suck.

After working on the desk the last full time week I was ready to go back to school and work in the evenings. Full time help desk work is for the birds IMHO.

I started my second semester this past week, Mon Jan 8th. We typically start at 8am and go to 2 or 3. The only day this dosen't hold true is Thursday, where we start at 11:00am and end at 6pm. This translates to a work schedule of 3-8 M-W & F with an 8 hour shift on Saturdays and Thursday off. Should be ok and infact I think it will be pretty cool.

The only realy issue is workout time. I get to school at 7am, I go to class at 8am. Workout takes 45 + shower time, dosen't leave me much time to get to the gym and to class. I will attempt something new tomorrow and leave home earlier, get to campus at 6:20am or so and work out then.

So far the classes look pretty ok, even though there is a fair number of them.

We had our first geology lab today and overall I think I like how the new geology teacher does things so I have pretty high hopes for that class.

At the end of it all, it's good to be back in class.

Marks are in.

2006-12-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

Technical communications: A+
Computer Fundamentals: A+
Geology: A+
Geophysical Data Process: A+
Technical Calculus: A+

4.0

1/4 of the way.

2006-12-16T06:11:00.000-08:00

With the last final exam written and the celebrating over I am now officially 1/4 of the way through my Exploration program. Hard to believe an entire semester is done already. Now we march confidentally into new courses.

Networking
Java Programming
Drilling Fundamentals
Geophysics Data Processing II
Geology
Statistics

Yes. 6 courses, but the credit hours are almost identical to what we had this semester.

I am still waiting for marks for a couple of courses but for the three I have gotten back: Geology, Computers and Communications, I have scored A+'s across the board.

Not much else to report. Week out from Christmas and I have done VERY little shopping.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

2006-12-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

Ok so it's not the night before xmas, but I do have my first final exam in a couple of days.

Math 235: Technical Calculus.
I stand at 95%.
If I score 0 on the final I get 56.9% in the class.

Monday afternoon. 2 hours. 8 or so questions

Indefinete Integrals
Finding the integration constant
Definite Integrals
Finding areas between curves, horizontally and vertically
Displacement/velocity
Charge and Voltage
Work by a variable force
-Spring work
-winding work
-electrical charges work
Force on a submerged surface.

I am ready to go. Mostly. It is all laid out in black and white. I know what I need to know. I know how to do them. It really should be among the easist of the exams.

I have two goals
1) Not to lower my mark
2) BEAT RAJ!!!!! :D

We got our quizzes back from math class on Friday. I got 98% on it. It was out of 20, I got 19.5

The 1/2 mark? Question 1) Determine the area between the curves a) Find the interesections of 3x^2 and x^3. No trouble. X = 3, Y = 27. 3,27. I go to draw the graph and determine that they also meet at 0,0 even though the formula dosen't give it. Oh well I use it anyhow, but do not write it for an answer on part A. Part B was to sketch the graph.

1/2 mark off.

Yee circled the s on interesctions and drew red arrows at my 0,0 points on my graph to illustrate it was an intersection point.

The kicker? Raj: 19.5/ 20, where does he lose his 1/2 mark? The EXACT same place.

He will be a tough one to beat on the final exam. I am expecting him to write a near perfect test.

In other school news we wrote our Geophysics and Geology lab exams this week. We started with geology and so I will start with geology here as well.

We got our contour labs back a few days before the test. We got back the lab but not the contour maps. I determined from my 54/60 on that lab that I have no clue how to draw faults on contour maps. No problem. I can figure it out. When I go to learn them using the lab...I discover we didn't get the maps back. Now it is useless all it does is tell me I don't know how! :D
So I did as much research and applied as much logic as I could to it and made my best concept of drawing faults on the test, hopefully it is correct.

Identifying rocks, no trouble.
Correlating strata, no trouble.
Original Oil in Place Calculation (OOIP) no trouble...OR maybe not.
In the lab the scale was 1 cm = .25 miles Pretty straight forward Cm * .25 = Miles. The lab test stated 1cm = 1.1 miles and we were given cm. I multiplied and did the rest. I was talking to Cody who had talked to the rest of the class, a lot of which divided. Upon talking to Raj he is pretty convinced John had reversed the scale. 1.1cm = 1 mile. CRAP. I will lose some marks for that one. Otherwise it went pretty well.

Geophysics very straightforward, mostly calculations, finding velocities from slopes.

He had the graph drawn and we just needed to calculate the slopes. No big deal but the graph was pretty fine and the dots were pretty big. I did the best I could. The last question calculated cross over distance which is the point on the TX graph where the 2 lines meet. It was at 500m. My calculation based on my velocities? 697m. I won't tell you my exact words, but they were not pretty. I abandoned the question and finished the rest of the test with no trouble. I still had 40 minutes left. I went back erased the entire diagram and picked new points. For the steep graph I picked the crossover point and 0,0. For the less steep one I used the cross over point and a very obvious point on the graph. End calculation? 524m. Close enough.

I do not believe I did SUPER SUPER great on these but I don't think they will hurt my mark. We have the finals next week, so far I have found them fairly easy to score close to 100% on so hopefully that dosen't change. I just need to learn well logging. :D

Fortunately I have a plethora of flash card and a working random question generator.

Been awhile

2006-12-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Wow been awhile since I have posted.

I didn't realize how long, but since my last post was "midterms" and I am about to write finals....

Where are things? I and the rest of my classmates feel a little overwhelmed. What we have to do isn't unachievable, it is just a fair bit of information put on us at the very end that will require work to learn.

Fortunately our schedule will open up over the next week, the week before exams, allowing us to study a fair bit for them.

We start with Technical Calculus on Monday morning, Dec. 11th. I feel pretty good about this actually.

We have a quiz in class on Monday, which I need to do some work on. I sat down a few minutes ago and did some displacement/velocity problems and seem to have a pretty good grasp on them. This makes me happy as they are the most complex of the ones we have to do.

1) Area between curves

2) Motion problems

3) Electrical Problems

I think I am doing well going in. This is the last time before the final I have to destroy Raj and squeak a little higher than him. Ever since I blew that one quiz with an 88% I have maintained the second highest mark in the class. It would be cool to end with the highest mark. If not Raj is a good guy and he worked hard to get it.

We also have a geology and geophysics lab test next week. They seem like they should be pretty straight forward if you know the formulas John told us to know. In geology we get to color, how cool is that, coloring in a test for MARKS! :)

Once those are done we still have to write final exams for them. I should be plenty prepared for them by then though. When it is time to go into battle I will be ready.

In computers we have to put together a visual basic project and give a presentation on it. The project was easy. I suspect ours is among the best in the class. Especially when you take our design document into consideration, ie we have one. Not that everyone dosen't have some sort of design documentation, but they don't have a 30 page document, outlining the project from beginning to end.

In other news the season is playing havoc with my nutrition I haven't totally given up but I have adopted a new strategy to combat my poor nutrition

Monday: Barbell complex, HIIT session

Tuesday: Swim, total sets = 1000m

Wednesday: Barbell complex, HIIT session

Thursday: Swim, total sets = 1000m

Friday: Off

Saturday: Resistance and running for an hour.

Sunday Off

Nutrition: decent during the week, aiming for about 85% clean.

So far I have maintained my weight at 210 or so despite eating like ass a lot of the time.

Shannon and I have put up our Christmas tree as well, infact it has been up for about a week now. We have baked the gingerbread house, but haven't had time to build it. Between work and school we are both swamped and time is at a premium. I am currently using most of my extra time to shop for xmas, and frankly it has been a pretty pathetic attempt at it.

I have no pictures to upload this time, so I will just leave you with this.....

Midterm rundown

2006-11-04T06:31:00.000-08:00

I did three midterms.

Geophysics
Geology
Applied Calculus.

Geology: 98.5%
Geophysics: 96%
Applied Calculus: 94%

All in all I am pretty happy with all of them, although I made stupid mistakes in both Calc and Geophysics.

I don't have much else to add right now, but I thought I should update the marks.

Christmas you say!

2006-10-30T17:10:00.000-08:00

Well with Halloween all but done it is time to set our sights on Christmas!

Wow, almost November, and frankly it looks like Christmas outside these days.

Not just yet though.

First the school.

Wrote Geophysics today, think I did good on it.
Got the math midterm mark back as well. Still not living up to my original 99%, but I'll take the 94% and laugh all the way to the bank. Highest mark was 96%, but I am second. I am also second in the class losing by 1 lousy percent.

Hopefully I clean up on geophysics. Still searching for the elusive 100%, though I don't think I managed to get it on the Geophysics test.

So here I am in all my goblin glory! The mask was purchased as was the gloves, everything else is my creation. Had a pretty good time at the party, drank a fair bit. Apparently they still make non draft Guinness in bottles. ICK! Drank 4 of my 6 of those, as well as a couple cans and misc punch glasses. I think we ended up with more alcohol in the house after the party than we started with.

Well that is all that is new with me right now. I will update after we get our geophysics marks back. Hopefully I will maintain above 90% in all the classes.

Keith.

Halloween and Geophysics!

2006-10-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

Tonight is Shannon's halloween party. I am dressing up as a goblin. Should be interesting and fun. I will be sure and get pics of the complete costume.

On Monday is the Geophysics midterm. 100%? I don't know. Last chance for one till the finals. We shall see.

Flash cards yeah I got stacks and stacks of them. Everyone in my class thinks I am nuts. They should see my latest project.

Enter MS access and a fair bit of time infront of a computer at work. This equals one custom built random geophysics tester with diagrams and calculations. 160 questions in the pool at last count. Won't repeat a question until an entire round of questions has been gone through.

Good times.

See ya Monday night!

Math Midterm

2006-10-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

So we had our Calculus midterm today.

Quick over view.

#1: Quotient rule - No problem, double and triple checked. Should have it nailed
#2: Product rule - see above
#3: Higher derivative - Think I got this one as well
#4: Implicit differentiation - Usually not to tricky.
#5: Definition of the derivative - I know I nailed his one.
#6: Curvilinear motion - I think I got this one as well
#7: Tangent lines. No trouble. Checked it on a graphing calculator in computers
#8: Box max/min problem. Easiest of the max/mins. Apart from #9 gave me the most trouble. I copied a + down as a - which effected my answer alot. However it made it an impossible answer, so I knew it was wrong. Got it nailed in the end.
#9: Related rates problem. Speed of sound, temperature. Most of the class had no clue. 3 of us got an answer that was similar. We all converted the rate of change, that was in Kelvins per hour into Kelvins per second. The formula was given with T in K and t in seconds. An exceptional mark vs a good mark hangs on the balance of this question
#10: Curve sketching. Nailed it. Labeled the graph, put x and y, title. Should get full marks.

Now I wait. The related rates one will drive me nuts till I find out. It was trickier than I expected to see.

2006-10-24T16:51:00.000-07:00

Middle of the week update.

Geology Midterm. 98.5%. Should have been 99.5%. I answered a question incorrectly, stupid brain.

Oh well. I have a couple more things to add to the flash cards for geology but I am pretty solid on the material.

Next stop math Midterm on Friday.

Geology Midterm

2006-10-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

Monday.

I'm going to nail it.

Nutrition and a spooky time.

2006-10-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

My nutrition has been considerably better over the last week and a bit since I worked out a plan in my training log over at JPfitness.com. My weight has levelled off back at 211 or so, which is more in line with where it should be, which brings me to one of my favorite rants.

I weighed in at 219lbs after what I am calling the thanksgiving free for all. We are talking chips, salsa, guacamole, wine, gunniess, turkey, potatoes with cream AND sour cream, sweet spuds, salads, pickles, broccolli, pumpkin pie, egg nog, whipped cream, and gingerbread cake. THEN we took a pie home and Shannon and I polished it off within a day plus some more egg nog. I ate quite a bit of food and drank my share of alcohol. 219lbs on the Tuesday morning I worked out. I was at most 213lbs or so before I went into the weekend.

So I gained 6lbs over Thanksgiving. Or did I? I have heard a tonne of people I work with, I was doing so well, I lost 5lbs or I lost 10 lbs and then I went on vacation or whatever and put it all back on, usually it's over the course of a weekend.

The numbers aren't 100% accurate but let's run them anyhow. We need to consume/expend 3500 extra calories to lose or gain a lb of fat.....a choclate bar is around 250calories. So for me to have gained 6lbs over 3 days, I would have had to have eaten 21000 calories....EXTRA. I already need around 2500 or so to maintain my current body. So to gain 6lbs I would have had to have eaten around 9500 calories each of those days. The equivalent of 38 chocolate bars, a DAY. Good luck.

Is it possible to do? I am sure it is, is it likely? No I don't think so, It would be like eating a 600 calorie meal every hour for 16 hours.

What is more likely? Your body is working through all the crap you gave it. Your body is jacked full of salt and it's retaining water. You drank to much alcohol and not enough water, your body is dehydrated and is holding back the water.

Thursday came up, yes 2 days later, I weighed myself on the same scale at the same time of day, 211.5lbs, I lost 7.5 lbs! woo hoo!

Nutrional plans are long term plans, if you look at the scale everyday and the fluctuations, even if they are 10lbs, are your measure of progress you will be done before you even start.

I would recommend the following: only weighing yourself once a week and making a graph to track your overall trend over some period of time, weighing everyday and averaging the results and again....graphing them over a peroid of time or you could not weigh yourself at all, measure your dimensions. Check how big your gut is and again, plot these measurements over some time.

I often tell people I lost 2lbs steady a week when I lost my weight. I also fluctuated as much as 10lbs in a day. On the scale in the morning: 256, at night: 266.

It's a long term choice, anyone who promises you fast results is a liar.

I just looked through my training journal to find some information I want to share with you. At the beginning of the year I went to the dentist and was given bad news, I had a lot of cavities, and I don't mean 3. I mean like 6, and one root canal at least. Crap I stopped drinking diet pop on the SPOT. Over time I would have one in restaurants, how bad can one pop be? Soon it was 1 every second day. Then one a day, and then 2 or 3 a day and BAM I am drinking a crap load of it again, I am buying it buy the case to save money, so I have something to drink in the fridge. I don't really subscribe to the whole Aspartame will make me stupid theory, but I couldn't have had water or tea? Nope diet pop. I took a look back in August and thought DAMN IT! I stopped it again. My first Diet pop day was August 16th, 2006. It's now October 14th, 2006. I haven't had a diet pop in 2 months. Why am I sharing this now? Well I used to track the number of days I had gone without one and then I stopped. A couple of days ago though I realized I hadn't even contemplated buying one in quite sometime. Small victories.

I also stopped drinking coffee again, I was consuming WAY to much of it since being back in school, to the tune of 2 or 3 large cups a day. I have upped my green tea intake and cut my coffee off. I will probably one day have the occasional coffee as a treat, but I want to avoid drinking a million gallons a day.

Enough about my food habits, so here is something different. It is now Saturday Oct 14th, Halloween is around the corner. Shannon is having a party on the 28th, I have no real costume ideas. Oh I have one that would be cool, but I am just not sure I can toss together a Minotaur costume in 2 weeks with school and work! :D

And I can't leave an entry out without letting you all know about school.

We had 3 tests this week. A rock test where we are given a sample of a rock, which we have already seen, and we have to name it, classify it as Sedimentary, Igneous or Metamorphic, and give 2 properties we can see. Fairly easy test given we have seen all the samples before. However one rock looks like another a lot of the time. Rhyollite and Andesite are a perfect example. Two igneous rocks, both are volcanic, one is slightly darker colored and termed an intermediate rock (Andesite), where as rhyollite is a felsic rock. No problem if I have them sitting next to each other. Which they were not on the test of course. Still think I did ok.

We had a Math quiz as well, I mentioned this in my blog last week. I worked long and hard on the stupid related rates cone volume problems. I was ready to take names and chew bubblegum. What was on the test? A frickin' sphere. Now you have to understand that in a cone question we have a conical tank and it is being filled with water or sand, so we basically have a small cone within a big cone. And as the water gets deeper, ie the small cone get's bigger, it also gets a wider radius at the mouth. So height changes, so does the radius. Far more interesting question. I spent hours learning how it worked, looking crap up on line. But we get a sphere. As the sphere get's bigger it's radius increases. NOTHING else. boring. ie it was a Mickey Mouse question.

And last but not least we had our Geophysics pre-test on Friday. At the beginning of the week John (Our instructor) did a little review and then gave us a mock test in the lab. There was stuff on there I knew he had mentioned in class but come on it was in PASSING, because someone asked a question! AGH! So I sorta think about panicking, and even do for a day or so. By Thursday we had a little review with John and I added a total of 3 or 4 flash cards to my deck and ran the cards through a couple times on Thursday night.

On Friday Morning I get to the school at 7am or so and by 7:10 there is three guys studying geophysics with me. So I run my cards one last time. I go to Math and the Computers and then everyone disappears again. We have an hour before the test so I grab the MP3 player and a tea, go and eat my lunch outside, do a little 10 minute walk around campus and go back to my locker I am bored and it's 12:30 now. Hmm What to do. Oh I'll look up what a critical angle actually is, I know how to calculate it, but can't recall what it is exactly. Jimmy had asked me how to caluclate it earlier and I told him, but said, couldn't tell you what it is though. I look up from my notebook and around the corner comes Jimmy. The first thing I say is, "The critical angle is the angle the refracted ray travels along the boundary between two layers". He says, oh. And informs me that half the class is madly studying for this test. 30 minutes before the test and they are madly studying. Man they need to seriously calm done. I think I benefited from my relaxed mindset more than they did from studying. I looked up one thing in that hour. It was on the test. I wonder how much they looked at was on the test?

Anyhow, I destroyed that test, I feel more confident in this one than I did about my geology test. I don't know what I got wrong on this one, ie I think I got everything, I can't say that for geology.

Closing in on 1/8.

2006-10-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Another week has gone by, we are rapidly closing in on 1/8th of the way through the program, or 1/2 way through the first of 4 semesters.

This week we had a Geology "pre-test" which was worth 10%. It was our first no lab test in the class. We have our midterm scheduled for Monday October 23. I think it is safe to say I passed the test and more than likely destroyed it. We will see when we get it back.

Next week we have a tonne of stuff. Geology rock test, Geophysics pre-test, English assignment due, Math quiz and probably a Computer test on Excel as well.

Calculus. My past bane.
Our quiz will include.
The Derivative of a power functiony'=(1+2x^2)^3'
y'=3(1+2x^2)^3-1(1+2x^2)'
y'=3(1+2x^2)^2(2(2x^2-1)
y'=3(1+2x^2)^2(4x)
Good on those ones

Implicit differentiationx+y=2y^2
x'+y'=2y^2'
1+y'=4yy'
1=4yy'-y'
y'(4y-1)=1
y'=1/(4y-1)
Should be good here as well

Higher derivaties
y'=2x^3'+3x^4'
y'=6x^2+12x^3
y"=6x^2'+12x^3'
y"=12x+36x^2
y"=6x(2+6x)
Ditto on these ones

The last three are longer so I won't provide examples.
Applications of Derivatives

Tangents and Normals
These I like.

Curvilinear motion
Using derivatives to calculate velocity and second degree to calculate acceleration
Shouldn't be to bad. Infact for the most part some of the simplest ones we have done. I will have to review how to convert a negative angle into the correct positive angle.

Related rates problems
A water tank has the shape of inverted right circular cone with inside radius of 5.0 m at the top and inside height 12.0 m. Water flows into the empty tank with a constant volume flow rate (in m3/s). When the water is 1.00 m deep, it rises at a rate of 0.24 m/s. Determine the water’s volume flow rate. How long does it take to fill up the tank? (Hint: Volume of a right circular cone with radius r an height h is )

good times? Yeah they should be.

My only concern is that these problems are all fairly indepth and take some time. I did the pre-test and did MOST of it in 40 minutes. We will have an hour and I write tests fast.

On the agenda on my two day long weekend is to work on Calculus, mainly related rates problems, but def some from each of the 6 areas. Also we will be attending a turkey dinner at Shannon's parent's place. Heh such a nerd. In related rates problems we are looking at functions of time, ie one variable is a function of time because it is a function of another variable that is a function of time directly. Get it? Shannon's Parent's place. We are a function of the turkey dinner because she is a function of ok fine I'll let it go. Stupid Calculus course.

Other than that things are quiet as heck here today in SAIT land. Long weekend most of campus is closed.

At 2pm there is a woman's soccer game though, so I might take a bit of time to go and check that out since one of the people I know from school is on the team.

Diet and Fitness? Seriously lacking motivation these days. Need to reign them both in.

Fitness wise I have 2 swim, 3 resistance and 1 run planned for most weeks right now. Nutrition, has just been hard to keep in line with school and spending time with people who want to eat elsewhere.

That's it for this week.

Remeber similar triangles

r R
- = -
h H

r = R/H(h) (very imporant for cone problems!)

Keith

Minerals and a year gone by.

2006-09-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Got back our mineral test this week, 98%. Although I think I should have been a little higher. We were instructed to only give properties we could actually tell by looking at it. Ie we know that calcite reacts with hydrochloric acid, but we can't use that one because we can't test it. I lost marks for saying Quartz was Hard, but not specifing that it was a 7 on the scale, I can't tell this by looking at it. On the other side of things I couldn't necessarily tell that it was harder than the other rocks. Oh well, 98% isn't bad.

Calculus is going ok. Higher derivatives suck. Although they are not really harder than most other problems, they take at least twice as long and give you at least twice as many places to make a mistake. We started normal and tangent lines today. These are much cooler, I can graph them and see what they look like. There is a certain amount of pleasure in putting in the given equation, watching the graph form, and then putting in your derived line formula and hitting enter and watching it intersect at the appropriate point at a right angle.

We have a test in geology next week. Pretty convinced I could do ok on it right now. So I am not planning on turning up the studying, I added a few more flash cards based on his review, but over all I am good to go.

What else is going on today. One year ago I started seeing Shannon, so that is pretty big news. Her best friend is having her birthday tonight, so she is going to go to that, with my blessing, but I am going to skip it as it's at a bar which I don't really dig on to much anyhow. I think we are planning on doing some dinner tomorrow night to celebrate our 1 year together.

Love you Shannon.

Saturday post.

2006-09-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well it's Saturday.

Usually I post earlier on Saturday's but this week I have been trying my damndest to solve a calculus problem. Still no luck either. You would think I would stumble upon the answer with the number of times I have tried it. In the end though I suspect each of my answers is either identical to the others or a simple variation of the same wrong answer.

Work is done in 45 minutes and then I am scheduled to hit the gym. I am tired and it is a 5x5 leg day. I do not want to go. Unfortunately(fortunately) with all my spare time I have been reading over at jpfitness quite a bit and can't let me peer group down, oh that and I was over at http://cassandraforsythe.com/ from a link on Lou Schuler's site (www.louschuler.com) and was reading her new home page and came across her motto, "No excuses" which has been ringing in my head all damn day.

I am anxiously awaiting Monday already so I can sit down with my classmates and figure this problem out or have Dr. Yee show us how it works in class. I am sure it will be obvious, and once i have seen one I can work out others until it becomes second nature to me.

In other news I have to start saving up some extra cash for a new .mp3 player. How cool is that? Small, compact, 1gb and only about $90 cad. In contrast my current lyra has a rubber band from broccoli holding the battery in, only has 192mb of space and was over $100 when I bought it. Time for an upgrade.

Well that is all for today. Back to Calculus or something.

Calculus Strikes back!

2006-09-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

So we started implicit differentitation today. We need to find derivatives of functions like y^3 + 2x^2 =3

So no problem

3y^2y'+4x=0
3y^2y'=-4x
y'=-4x/3y^2

Gold.

I got that.

As soon as we put in quotient functions though it all goes to hell. I have yet to get one of those correct if the u and v functions are more than a singel variable, ie I can manage if it's x/y but (2x^2+3/3y+1) screws me over something fierce!

However back to the important part of the title. The Empire struck back at the Rebel Alliance after the destruction of the Death Star at the hands of the Alliance. So the question remains what did I do to anger the Calculus Empire and have it strike back at my Rebel Alliance.

We did our first math quiz on Tuesday, and we got the marks back today.
As happy as I am with my mark, and don't get me wrong I am very happy, coming that close to perfection and missing it is strangely dissapointing.

It was out of 35. I managed to score 34.5 or 99%. Oh yeah, suck on that Calculus Empire. I lost a .5 of a mark because I didn't resolve an equation completely. Personally I thought it should be left in the form I left it in, 49/4+pi, but I guess not.

Oh well, I will take my calculus mark and I will run all the way to the bank.....

Now if a little droid would just show up with plans to the new Death Star I could look at.....

Math, parabolas and tangents

2006-09-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Today's word problem...

Find the equations of the tangent and normal lines to the parabola with the vertex at 0,3 and a focus at 0,0, where x=-1.

Hmmm I said to myself. No problem if i had the equation for the parabola...

I know what a vertex....But what is the focus....Time to do research.

Apparently a line drawn from the focus to any point on the parabola will equal the length of a line drawn from the same point on the parabola to the "directrix".

Geez.

Do not fear though! I know a vertex is the point of the parabola and I know the focus lies within it, so I know it opens down.

So I go about and read a tonne and work through some examples....

All I got to say is, what would be do without Pythagoras?

In this situation I know a central point (0,0) and I know a point on the parabola (x,y). I know the distance between these two points is equal to the distance from x,y to the directrix.

If I think enough I even know that. I have one point given to me on the parabola. The vertex. 0,3. The distance from the focus to the vertex? 3 units. Since the distance from the vertex to the directrix must equal this we know that it is also 3 units long, so it sits at 6.

So given that and given that pythag states A^2+b^2=c^2 we know have enough information to determine the formula.

A= the distance from the Focus X to the x on the parabola (x-0)
B= the distance from the Focus Y to the y on the parabola (y-0)
C= We know that when the vertex = 3 the distance here must also be 3 as it must equal the directrix. We have 6 units from the focus to the directrix and it opens down. As the point moves along the parabola the distance will get closer to 6. So we can safely say C = 6-y

We get

Sqrt((x-0)^2+(y-0)^2)=(6-y)^2

That works out to be y = -((x^2-36)/12)

Based on THAT formula we can then calculate a derivative to get us a formula to give us the slope of a tangent line at any point.
I get that to be y'=-24x/(-12)^2 -x/6

Nope STILL not finished yet.

We need the equation for the tangent and normal lines.

Turns out That Slope = rise/run.

Rise = y1-y2
Run = x1-x2
slope = m
so
m=(y1-y2)/(x1-x2)
OR
y1-y2=m(x1-x2)
We know an x co-ordinate, but we don't have a y. We can put the x at -1 back into the parabola formula and pick up a y value. I got -35/12 for the y.

We also need to know the slope at -1 so we put the -1 back into y' and get (-1)(-x)/6 = 1/6

Now we can go
y1+35/12=1/6(x+1)
and once it's worked out we get,
y=(x/6)+37/12
That gives us tangent.

Now the Normal.

Normal lines have a negative recipricol slope to the line of interest, in this case our tangent, which was 1/6. Our normal slope must therefor be -6/1 or -6

We put that back into our "point-slope formula"
y1+35/12=-6(x+1)
y=-6x-37/12

And that's everything.

parabola: y = -((x^2-36)/12)
Tangent at -1: y= (x/6)+37/12
Normal to Tangent at -1: y= -6x-37/12

I am sure they are not simplifed the prettiest, but hell.

If you go to http://gcalc.net/jar/gcalc3.jnlp and select graph plugin, you can input(ie copy and paste everything after the =) the functions and see how the all play out.

School and life

2006-09-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Well another week has come and gone.

School is progressing well. We have a multitude of assignments and tests next week. We start with a Calculus test on Tuesday that will cover limits, definition of the derivative, and derivative formulas. On Wednesday we have a quiz on minerals and their groups. We have to be able to identify 17 or 18 minerals from pictures as well as their chemical make up. Ie. That's Molybdenite and it's formula is MoS2. It is a sulfide. Then on Thursday we have a word test in computer class. We also have a "resume" assignment due on wednsday, but I will probably knock that out today at work.

We started Excel in computer class. A couple of us, have skipped the "learning" portion and have moved directly on to the "do" portion of the assignment. We were both done the first half of the assignment in class. I think we have aprox 2 weeks of classes to work on Excel. Should prove pretty boring.

In general the class of people I am with have become a fair bit more friendly. Even so there is definite divisions among people, but I get along with everyone in the class for the most part.

Of the classes we have I am finding Geophysics the most interesting. Possibly because we are largely discussing seismic surverys, and it is a very real application of what we might be doing once we are finished the program.

Workouts have been going pretty well, I missed Tuesday's due to an ART appt but was back in on Thursday doing NROL. I decided during the middle of the routine that is Alwyn Cosgrove was my gym teacher I would have hated his guts. Three sets of 15 reps with 30 second rest breaks is EVIL.

Calculus, Physics and Chemistry!?

2006-09-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

So back in the day, I went to college. I took the sciences. I hoped I would finish a BSc in Computer Science. I never accomplished this, I didn't understand the real world and the more advanced sciences destroyed me. Calculus never worked for me, I had a hard time balancing chemical equations and Physics? That's largely based on Calculus.

Fast Forward a number of years and I am going back to school. Our program co-ordinator came into the class and told us that some of us had expressed an interest in dropping Math 235, "Technical Calculus". He strongly advised we did not drop it. That we do it and that we pass it. They had found that students doing Geophysics in second year had a massively hard time without the Math 235. They had made this technical calculus course a pre-req for it.

Now my brain sometimes works slowly, but at that moment, it clicks over and it comes up with...geoPHYSICS. Ah crap I have managed to pick a program that contains "Calculus", "Physics" AND "Chemistry"!

Chemistry comes in the form of Geology. The first part of the course has been learning about elements and minerals....and balancing chemical equations!

How am I doing with this stuff?

I understand the concept behind solving for tangent. I am ready to get into the actual technical calculus. I am happy it is not a pure calc course as I don't need to memorize proofs of the calculus equations like I did in college.

As for balancing chemical equations. I can do that now as well. Now it's almost easy. Crazy stuff.

Physics? Well we haven't hit any formulas in there we are still just discussing how seismic surveys are set up, and right now we are just discussing marine surveys. After last class though that all fits together much nicer now as well.

In other news I was sitting on the "Help Desk" the other day, 4:30pm or so, minding my own business and in walks my Introduction to Computers instructor. Busted. Now she knows I know something about computers. :(

Workouts are going well. I have been doing the first hypertrophy routine designed by Alwyn Cosgrove in the New Rules of Lifting book. I have been hitting that 3 days a week. My nutrition has been ok, and I am trying to eat enough to gain size right now. Eating at 3000+ calories when it comes from good foods is much more difficult than you would expect.

Eating like the typical North American, you can go to McDonalds and polish off 1000 calories no problem, or drink 3 cans of coke, or have a big slurpee. In general you can rack up the calories pretty fast.

I started supplementing with "Creatine" as well about a week ago, so hopefully I can put up some decent lift increases in my deadlift and squats. Maybe on my bench press as well, but I am really more concered with the leg muscles as those lifts feel so much more powerful.

I think that is all I have to say at the moment so I will leave you to your computers and I will get back to writing out mineral groups and their radicals...

Halides, (Cl)-1, (F)-1
Carbonates (CO3)-2
Oxides (0)-2
Hydroxides (OH)-1
Phosphates (P04)-3
Silicates (SiO4)-4
Sulfates (S04)-2
Sulfides (S)-2
Native elements, Neutral

School begins

2006-08-29T18:39:00.000-07:00

So I have now attended two days back at school.

Day one was pretty basic. We started a powerpoint presentation in "intro to computers" and did some free form writing in "Technical Writing". The other instructors pretty much introduced themselves and told us to have a good day.

Our Calculus instructor told us to buy either the abridged $40 text book or the bigger $147 book. He advised us to get the big one if we hadn't been in touch with math recently. I was still pretty set on the small book. $100 is a lot of money.

The bookstore was out, but they have some on order. On the way to our first real math class I ran into one of the more friendly guys in the class, he had bought the expensive one and said it was a good idea if you didn't have the background. No trouble. Now I am considering the big book but still wanting the small one.

First day of math class comes by and well I went anfd bought the big book. Sure I know what a polynominal, but even in highschool math I wasn't that great factoring. I spent most of tonight reading and working on it. I think I have a basic understanding now. woo hoo!

Schedule wise I start at 10 a couple of days and not till 3pm on thursday. Plenty of time for homework or what have you there!

Geology looks pretty cool, we did an overview of the course today and it is VERY geared towards exploration. This is called this and it is important because it can trap hydrocarbons. These areas are important because they are prime areas hydrocarbons might be found and several other comments.

We get to color in class. :D

I also started my first help desk shift last night, and am now working my way through the second one. I had 5 calls last night and maybe 2 this evening. Eventually night classes will start and things will get a little more hectic until then I have a TONNE of time to work on calculus.

That is all for now.

The new bike

2006-08-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a co-worker of mine pointed out a free roadbike on an online classified ad.

Today the guy dropped it off.

It is a Suteki brand bicycle. Little bit of looking around looks like is was a sears brand bike and sold for around $200-$400 in the early 80s.

Steel frame as I suspected, "Tough Lite Steel".

The tires came with it, but they look a little worse for wear. Probably just pick up a couple of new cheapy ones. No tubes either. The front wheel looks fairly true, I haven't looked at the back one yet.

Chain is there but a little rusty. Probably need to replace that too, but not as high priority as some things.

Back break pads are wrecked I will need to replace them.

Frame..sizing is best described with a picture..

I figure the frame weighs about 20lbs

Wheels are 27 x 1 1/4"

Few cosmetic problems here and there. But not in that bad shape, especially for the low low entry price of $0.

It looks pretty mechanically sound. I suspect I can get the parts I need at mec.ca for maybe $20-$30 to make is rideable.

Sunday

2006-08-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I start my new job. Hopefully it is a nice day so I can ride my bike to work and hit the gym prior to the first day.

This weekend has been pretty decent nutritoin wise. We had a small party for Shannon's dad. I had a small piece of cake, but otherwise I avoided the buns and stuck to just the burger patties and some mustard. I avoided the multi-grain chips and stuck with the red peppers. I stayed away from the coke and drank water.

Shannon took me to dinner and I had a quiche and ditched the crust with a side spinach salad.

If you won't listen to the fitcast, Michael Rousell just mentioned grating orange peel on to oatmeal. Sounds like it might be tasty.

Final Day and other musings

2006-08-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

So here I am. Friday. August 18th 2006. My final day at the Computer Store. Yep that's it. 4 years of my life done and I move on to the next stage of my life. I am quite excited to say the least.

I have a couple more chores to do here and then I am off! I never have to come back again unless I want to buy something!

In nutrition land, I have managed to eat close to or over 3000 calories since Monday. My macro split has been roughly 50% fat, 10% Carb and 40% Protein. I have at times eaten low carb but I doubt I have done it for this long a stretch, wow a whole week with no oatmeal or cereal of any kind. Pretty crazy. I currently feel no ill effects from eating only 100 or so grams of carbs per day. I am just as strong in both my resistance and aerobic pursuits. I have avoided all diet pop the last couple of days and had cut down a little before that. I managed to cut it out once before for a couple of months and then slipped. I will be more succesful this time.

Workouts have been excellent lately I have been pretty focused on doing the New Rules of Lifting. I have been working hard during the routines and logging pretty diligently. I suspect now during this routine I am working as hard or harder than I ever have before. Sure feels like it anyhow.

So close

2006-08-16T15:06:00.000-07:00

4:06. Another day done.

I have 15 1/2 hours of work left here.
2 lousy days. Kick ass. I can't wait to be out of here.

Dieting away

2006-08-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

So I decided I do not drink enough water. The easiest way to add more water into my diet is to quit drinking so much diet soda. I finished my last two diet sodas in the fridge last night and will not be buying more. I will instead drink more water and green tea.

I have also discovered that trying to gain weight while eating good for you foods is pretty dang hard. Getting above 3000 cals on a clean diet is pretty difficult.

I eat fairly low carb, and no, don't think atkins low, think I eat less than what most people in North America eat. I eat plenty of fruit and veggies, probably MORE than the average North American eats, I just don't eat much processed grain. Sure sometimes I will have whole wheat pancakes or oatmeal, but it's maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Typically my diet consists of eggs, cheese, salsa, mixed veggies, tuna, fresh veggies, nuts, whey protein and lean or not so lean meats: beef, ground beef, buffalo, chicken etc.

In the school world I am officially ready to go. I have a locker and I have a part-time job. Bring on the classes.

A new beginning

2006-08-14T14:26:00.000-07:00

This is the first post here. I used to keep a blog on MSN spaces and for the most part likes what it could do. It's editor drove me crazy though.

Here I am.

33 years old. Ready to start again.

In one week I start a new part time job.

In two weeks I go back to school full time. I am going to be studying a program called Information Exploration Technology. Basically information technology and oil exploration. Sounds cool.

I will also talk about other aspects of my life. My love, my hobbies my workouts and my nutrition. If you're lucky maybe even my herb garden which I just started.

Welcome and enjoy

Keith.