Dave's Not Here

I bought a new snowboard setup yesterday.  I just wanted boots, and could use bindings, but Tammy told me to get a whole setup.  Of course, she thought a setup would be about $300, when I was trying to explain that just boots and bindings would be $300 . . but I digress.

The sales guy immediately saw why I needed boots.  He called my old Morrow boots antiques.  And, by today’s standards, he was probably right.  I thought my gear was 10 years old, but, after checking, it is more like 6 years old . . heh.  He immediately went to some Shaun White boots.  That particular set was one of the few I knew by name, and I had only heard good things, so, I was sold before I heard the price, $249 with a 30% discount, giving roughly $175.  While this is likely a bit high, I needed the fitting, which was the most important part, and why I didn’t even bother with e-bay.

The bindings were Burton Custom white bindings.  I thought the White on white looked really cool.  (And, I went with white laces on the boots):

Finally, we looked at snowboards.  I was really torn between two Burton boards, that were about $30 apart.  I also looked at a Ride rocker board.  The rocker was interesting, since it was supposed to make things easier — i.e. harder to catch an edge, you just muscle the board around.  I didn’t think I needed that kind of help, but, figured it wouldn’t hurt.  So, I was stuck between two Burtons and the Ride.  Quinn was with me, so I let him choose.  He was already leaning toward the ride, but, when he (and, honestly, me too) found out that the graphic on the Ride changed when it got cold, he was sold.  So, I ended up with the Ride Crush:

The left image is the top, when room temperature.  The middle is the top cold, and the right is the bottom.  The artwork was all done by a 7th grade art class in Seattle, WA.  Tres cool.

I pretty much mirrored my existing setup, with a 15 degree and 0 degree.  My previous board didn’t have quite 15 degrees, so, this one will be a bit different.

I can’t wait to try out the setup on Thursday!

I am in Utah, with my iPod.  I normally only use it for the airplane, but I decided to go snowboarding with it.  I didn’t have any relevant playlists, so I just picked one band, Hollywood Undead (yes, I like them.  Not sure why), and it was great to snowboard with tunes.

But, I was now in trouble.  I loved boarding with music, but I didn’t have any way to create a playlist.  My iPod syncs with my iMac at home, not with my work laptop.  So, I got annoyed, and used an iPod  extractor to extract the music that I liked from it.  (I had itunes just “filling” the rest of the 80Gb with random music).  So, I pulled off about 2.5 Gb of my “Must Haves”, one of the few playlists that I actually use.  (Normally, I just fill my ipod / iphone with a “must have” playlist of stuff that I’m listening to at the moment).

Once I had the music off, I refreshed my Rockbox to the newest version, and actually read the manual.  I was floored.  While it is not intuitive like the iPod, the rockbox software had MANY features that I loved:

• Car mode – when power goes off, the ipod shuts down.
• Pulling out the headphones pauses.
• Announcing of songs with voice (gonna enable that for when I’m boarding)
• Fade in/out when pausing / changing songs.

And, I also noticed one other thing in the manual.  The “Database” mode, which I had been using, is very limited in features.  Rockbox’s full feature set is mainly available when using the filesystem, not when supplementing it’s database from the iPod strange method of storing files.

So, I deleted all 80Gb of data from my iPod, added on the extracted music into a music folder, and moved to Rockbox.  I think the only functionality I have lost is podcasts & video’s purchased from Apple.  And, I can always reboot to the Apple OS if I need to use that.  I’m going to stop syncing music with iTunes, and make this a rockbox only device.

Happy times ahead.

I’m finally starting to get closer to my goal weight, so, I thought it would be a good idea to determine what my goal weight should be.  The insane BMI charts say 143 lbs.  I have no idea what they were smoking when they made those tables, but that can’t be right.

When I weighed 201lbs, my scale told me that my body fat was 25.6% Assuming that is accurate, that means that I have 51 pounds of fat, and 150 pounds of non-fat.  Assuming that 150 is my non fat true weight, and using the WHO tables, that state that my %BF should be between 8-18%, that means that my weight should be:

At 8% body fat, I should weigh: 163lbs
At 18% body fat, I should weigh: 183lbs

Does this sound right?  My math was as follows:

NonFatWeight = Total Weight – (Total Weight * %BF)
So, current weight: 150 = 201 – (.256 * 201).

And, the ideals give the above numbers.  Is that math close enough for a goal?  Or, should I be doing it some other way?

Today’s Pain of the Day was weird. It was heavy legs, but I had some squat issues again. I guestimated my 5RM of squats to be about 225#, but, when I tried it, I started getting pains in my lower back / hips.  The weight felt ok, but my form must be off or something.

I’m seriously considering starting the Stronglifts.com program after my trip to SLC.  But, I need to get just a bit of metrics in to make sure I’m not losing muscle on my diet.  The woes of a stats freak . . .

The Workout

• 5 mins of cardio
• Circuit x2
  • Squats 185#/5, 185#/5
  • DB Lunge 40#/5, 45#/5
  • Lying Leg Curl: 145#/5, 145#/5
  • Hyperextension w/bar 50#/5, 50#/5
  • Hip Adduction Machine: 235#/5, 280#/5
  • Hip Abduction Machine: 235#/5, 280#/5
  • Calf Raises: 225#/6, 225#/5
  • Hanging Leg Raise: 10, 10
  • Reverse Calf Raise: 225#/5, 225#/5
  • Crunches: 35 (on machine), 60
  • Twisting Sit Ups: 10, 10

I ran out of time, so I skipped my closing cardio.

Today’s Pain of the Day was a little different than usual. It was my first low-rep, heavy, push day. Which means, doing heavy bench. I’ve read a lot about using a power rack for it, so I decided to give it a try.

I set up the bars on the power rack, and put the bench in it. I laid down with the bar just touching my chest — it was about .5″ over the safety bars. I exhaled, and I could roll the bar over my head, and escape. Perfect.

When I benched, on my second set, I failed early. And, I got stuck. So, I rolled the bar up, like I practiced, and I was set. Perfecto! I can now bench heavy, safely knowing that I won’t get stuck! Who needs a spot? muahahahaha

The Workout

• Cardio: 5 mins
• Circuit (x2)
  • Bench: 185#/6, 185#/2 — Note, I should have only done 5 the first set, and saved my strength for the 2nd.
  • Incline DB Press: 60#/7, 60#/5 — I had trouble getting the 65# weights to my shoulders.  So, I used 60#, which was a bit light.  Next time, I’m going to use my knees to kick the weights up there.
  • Decline Flies: 40#/5, 40#/5 — Need to up the weight.
  • Shoulder Press: 40#/6, 40#/3 — Should have only done 5 first set
  • Bar Dips:  BW/8, BW/5 — This was actually MORE than on my lighter day.  Weird.
  • Rope Pull Downs: 80#/6, 80#/8 — Was cable pull downs, not rope, since I’m not wearing gloves any more.  Should have used more weight.
• Cardio: 5 mins + 2 mins cool down.  Did the entire 5 mins at 6.0MPH

All in all, much better workout than normal.  I don’t know if it was the heavy weight, or finally getting back into the groove after San Juan.

Original Post

Today was the first repeat of my new Workout, v3.0. And, it went VERY well.While the numbers may be dropping, that is just because I’m starting to find my groove, and figuring out what weights I should be using.

I did switch out one workout.  I read over on stronglifts.com that the Inverted Row was a much better exercise than the Bent Over Rows.  So, I switched it out.  While it was harder, it was also much more fun!

Today I lifted 14796.2 lbs.  Details of each lift are here:  The Captain’s Log

I didn’t wear my HR monitor, but, I pretty much took it easy this workout, and didn’t do any cardio.  Probably burned around 250 kcals total.

Original Post

I have several iTunes issues, and, hopefully, my intar-web friends out there can help me solve some of them.

First, the setup: My music files are stored on my linux file server, and I can access them via AFP (netatalk – linux), NFS, or SMB. Currently, I’m using AFP, but, that may be causing some of my problems — see below.

1) iTunes Sucks — Is there an alternative?

Since my iPhone is jailbroken, I’m really not tied to iTunes anymore. The Pwn Player seems to work fine. And, while I’ll miss genius, as long as I have a decent shared playlist alternative, I can live with it. I have tried Songbird, but it hangs when importing my music.

2) Is AFP the best way to share the files?

They need to be accessible from my computer, my wife’s Macbook Air, and my kids computers. And, I prefer if new additions were all owned by the same user, to avoid issues.

3) I have some non-apple mp3 players, so, I’d prefer not having to have duplicate playlists.

And, this means that I’d like to be able to sync to a directory, not just to an ipod.

4) I would love it if the application keep the music organized for me, and downloaded album art on it’s own.

Since songbird doesn’t work, what are my choices? How would you set it up, so that you could get to your music on your computer, iPhone, iPod, and non-apple mp3 player? My iPod is also set up with rockbox, so, it would be more than hapy with a directory sync, instead of an ipod sync.

Because I still have way too much time on my hands, I decided to redo my workout again. Actually, I was tired of not being able to adequately track my progress using the Men’s Health Personal Trainer program.  While their circuits were good, I wasn’t able to tell if my new diet was robbing me of muscle mass.  So, I needed a change.  Also, I wasn’t getting in my cardio, so, my days off were really just days off.

I first made a plan based on a three way split:

• Chest and Back
• Arms and Shoulders
• Legs

But, the problem with that split is that I need a day of rest between Chest and arms.  And, no matter how you lay it out, you need an extra rest day between  the workouts (outside of the weekend).  There were several conflicts:  Pulldowns and Pullups (Back) also worked biceps (Arms).  Bench and Pushups (Chest) also worked Triceps(Arms) and Shoulders.

So, that split was not going to work.  I instead went with a Push / Pull split, as follows:

• Pull
• Push
• Legs

So, these exercises have absolutely no cross conflicts, and can be done every day.  I only work out M-F, so, almost everything gets two workouts each week, and the cycle repeats every three weeks.  I did the Pull workout today, and I’m very happy with it.  I also created Documents and Spreadsheets over on Google Docs.  I can print them out, and take them to the gym to jot down my progress.  I still need to create a spreadsheet to track the progress . . . but I’ll do that today.

If you’re really bored, check them out — I think you’ll like it!

Workout Instructions
Workout Exercises / Spreadsheet

Original Post

My last business trip to Utah, I did some creative flight arranging so that I would be able to hit the slopes the Saturday after the trip.  I spent all weekend deciding where to go, and ended up going to my first choice, Brighton.  But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

On Thursday, I heard a commercial about night skiing.  I have seen night lift tickets on price charts before, but I had never considered it before.  I looked it up, and it was $32 to go night boarding at Brighton.  I googled a bit, and there didn’t seem to be any basic skill requirement for night boarding.  So, I decided to go.  I looked at the resorts in the area, and Brighton was the closest one that had night time boarding, so I went on Friday night.

When I got there, I learned that there was some two-for-one deal going on, so, I ended up getting a lift ticket for $16 by buddying up to some locals.  (Score!)  I started out on the beginner slope to warm up.  It was SOOOO flat.  It wasn’t a typical green, it was the green where people first learn to ski / board, so, bad choice on my part.  (But, it was a bit nostalgic.  My second time snowboarding was on that Brighton lift.  And, I managed to bust really hard.  Now I wonder how I got moving fast enough to bust on that flat slope

After my slow run, I headed over to the Magestic lift.  It ran to the middle of the mountain, with green and blue trails all the way down.  It was still light out, and I loved the runs.  The blues were pretty steep, and really wide.  They reminded me of the blues on the California side of Heavenly.  As I was going down them, I kept seeing piles of powder.  The powder looked a few weeks old, but, it was still deep.  There was a bunch on the edge of Shoulder, if you cut the corner tight.  I started taking that instead of Shoulder.  The powder was not soft — it was more like ungroomed snow — very bumpy.  I loved hitting it, but, I did bust several times . . and, it was steep enough, that when I busted, I’d keep sliding . . . but it was still fun.  I never conquered it . . it was just too bumpy and too steep for me.

After I got around shoulder, I would usually head over to the left (facing downhill).  There were several places where you could cut across the powder onto another trail blow.  There were many busts, but it was all fun.  And, all soft.  It really did not hurt at all busting in that packed powder.

On my last lift of the night, I took Crest Express up.  I choose my path poorly, and ran into many flat spots.  Flats are REALLY hard on a snowboard.  If you don’t keep up enough speed to get past it, you have to unbuckle, and sasquach-drag-a-board all the way to the crest, so you can go downhill again.

I was stunned how many runs I got in from about 6:00 to 8:45.  I was about a normal half day of boarding.  I was wiped out!  And, the night part just made it fun.  There were dark shadows in some places where the terrain wasn’t easy to see . . . and it just added more fun.

Saturday, I slept in a bit, and got to the slopes around 9:30.  I went straight to Magestic, and starting having fun again.  I found about a 3′ jump.  (Meaning the ramp, at the high part, was about 3′ over the snow).  It looked like a perfect one for me.  I’m a little scared to actually jump with my legs, so, I needed a larger ramp so that my momentum would give me air.  And it did.  I launched.  And I did not land well.  I got scared by the air, and leaned back.  So, I landed looking like a slalom water skier trying to get up out of the water, with my board almost vertical. My second attempt was even worse.  I didn’t get lined up quite right, and made an adjustment while I was on the ramp.  Because of that I caught an edge, and fell from the top of the ramp.  The board caught, and pretty much slammed me into the snow.  Owie.  I decided to start playing on smaller ramps, and doing actual jumps with my legs

I had a nice lunch, and another couple of runs, and was getting tired.  So, I decided to buy a lesson to keep me on the slopes for another couple of hours.  The instructor pointed out that I wasn’t bending my knees nearly enough . . . so I have a lot to work on.  Rod a lot more of the blue trails up at the top of the mountain with her.  Finally, when the lesson was over, I boarded back down the mountain and went home.  Was a great trip.

And, now that I know about night boarding, I will get in MANY more!

I thought it would be hard to stay on plan while I was traveling, but, it wasn’t bad at all.  I did have a couple of “gotcha”s with some poor restaurant choices, but, it really wasn’t that hard.

First, I noticed that the following foods travel well:

• Bars
• Puffs – If you keep them in their original box.
• Soups
• Shakes
• Puddings

I’m sure other things also travel well, but that’s all I brought.  I bought a soup thermos bowl, and it was great for taking soup to the office.  I would pre-make the soup, get it really hot, then close it up.  It did not last till lunch (I got to the office around 7:00AM), but it was great for a morning snack.  (Or, I could have heated it up a bit again at the office)

Shakes were also easy at my office.  Shaker cups travel well, then I just added water from the cooler, and shook it up.

At home, I mix puddings with my wife’s milk frother.  It works great.  I’ve never been able to mix pudding fast enough with a fork or whisk.  So, I tried buying a little cheap immersion blender.  It also did not work very well.  So, pudding was the worst thing for me.  (But, it would be bad at home too, without the magic frother.)

Finally, flights were also easy.  I just packed a few bars and snacks.  In a nutshell, I was surprised how easy it was to travel on MF.  The toughest choice was where to have my lean and green, and the MF forums had plenty of suggestions for that.