Chapter 2 of The Slight Edge is entitled “The Secret of Easy Things.” In it, Olson makes the point what separates high achievers (which he defines as the top 5%) is their consistency. In his words, “That’s what successful people do: simple things that are easy to do.” The first time I read the book I tripped over this sentence. I repeatedly read what lead up to it believing I had missed something important, or it was some sort of Zen meditation. It isn’t. It is just as straightforward as it read.
It’s his next point that makes this clear. If simple, consistent action creates success (however you define it) and is easy to do, then you would think more than 5% of the population would be super successful at whatever matters to them. Here my friends is the answer, “Because they’re all also easy not to do – and while anyone could do them, most won’t.”
“Here’s the problem: every action that is easy to do, is also easy not to do.” Boom.
This may be the great stylistic divide between Olson and Goggins *waves to Tulip*. Olson is insistent that small, repeated steps lead to great achievements over time. This is the critical thrust of his book. There is no one great leap to success. Your initial results are invisible. They are real, you are achieving something, you are progressing. But whether it’s finances, relationships, or fitness, your initial positive actions provide little or nothing in the way of a visible achievement though those achievements are real. You either need faith you are building on success after success, or you need to spend some time envisioning where you will be well down the road.
Olson tells the story of someone who commits to reading 10 pages of a book per day. It’s easy to do and easy not to do. After a week of reading, that person is 70 pages into a book. That’s nice but it is unlikely that person, their family, or friends will notice anything coming from it. A year of reading 10 pages per day yields 3,650 pages. I estimate that’s about ten to twelve books. Imagine reading ten to twelve books on art, cooking, investing, history, or any other topic that interests you. This isn’t rhetorical. Take a moment to picture yourself a year from now having done that. You can’t help but gain a level of expertise.
What easy thing, done consistently, will make a big impact on your life?
****************************************************************
As predicted, Gavin Newsom won’t relinquish his emergency powers on June 15th. I may just be an unfrozen caveman California lawyer, but I cannot fathom the Constitutional underpinning for continuing to invoke and exercise these powers. Don’t get me wrong, California’s Supreme Court is well to the political left and is exceedingly unlikely to sustain any challenges to Newsom’s claimed authority. I’m having trouble even making the argument an emergency of any kind still exists. I don’t think this alone is enough get Newsom recalled but his penchant to continually step on rakes gives me some hope he will be recalled.
Weekly cuteness. I think this could be Rhywun if he rode a bike. P.S. Festus I saw your belated shout out from last week’s article.
This week’s music is for Newsom.
/flaunts the fact that I haven’t even carried a mask with me since June 2nd.
Last week, I had three cheat days instead of just two (I wasn’t going to skip barbecue and beer over the holiday), but I still hit a new low weight, and a new low body fat percentage. I haven’t been able to ride for the past week due to a foot that still won’t fit into a tennis shoe (and while they do fit in Doc Marten’s, I don’t really want to do a long ride in those). Resting heart rate is still peaking at about 50 bpm, and per Fitbit, my Cardio Fitness has staid in the Very Good to Excellent range for the past two weeks.
As it stands, I may not hit the 180 goal by the end of the month, but I should be damned close. The vacation at the end of June will hurt, as will Fourth of July, but if I don’t get there by the end of June, I should by the end of July.
Currently enjoying the problem of having too many “crushable” beers in the upstairs fridge.
Curious how you know your body fat percentage?
Bathroom scale also has a body fat percentage measurement (through impedance). I doubt it’s that accurate, but figure it’s useful for general trends.
I had no idea that existed.
They’re pretty common, cost around $40 at most places (based on memory), but they’re based on electrical impedance. So if you have thick callouses, or dry feet, they measure nothing. Stepping on after the shower has always given me a measurement though. Again, probably not the most accurate one, but I’m more interested in trend lines and figure any errors will be consistent across the measurements.
And of course, you “gain” a small amount of weight (between 0.25 and 0.5kg) just by showering, as the warm water hydrates your skin. It’s fun to weigh yourself before and after a shower and see the difference.
“You look heavier.”
“I just showered!”
There’s a reason to stick with a consistent routine for the weigh ins.
“You look fifty pounds heavier.”
“I just had one hundred showers in a row!”
BEAM:
I’m just adding mass!
BEEFCAKE!
Speaking of showers, the bathroom in our state park lodge room this weekend had a shower panel system similar to this. (Ours had six side spray heads in a vertical line. You could get the top three, bottom three, or all six at once.) I loved it, and now I want one. I love long showers anyway. If I got one of these, I might never get out until the water heater was empty.
If I recall correctly, LBJ’s presidential shower had 9 water outlets. No idea if I ever knew and maybe I’m mis-remembering…
“After five years, five replacement showers, a special water tank with a pump, and six body-spray nozzles, the “shower crisis” was still an issue. According to Brower, the pumps sprayed hundreds of gallons of water per minute, more than a firehose, and that still wasn’t good enough”.
Fourscore:
Well, I mean it didn’t wash the shit away, did it?
Also handheld thingies. Not sure how accurate they are.
LBJ had a BO problem, or tough hide, or what?
Yesterday I achieved one of my Glibfit goals by doing a 200 km bike ride, which also moved me another pound closer to my other Glibfit goal.
Where did you ride? Did you stay on the peninsula. I saw many a peloton in the East Bay yesterday. Great riding weather.
I was in the East Bay. Diablo foothills and the Tri-Valley. The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too windy.
There are some great roads out there and the weekend has less traffic that is more patient. Are you sitting on a bag of frozen peas today? ha!
I’ve discovered the joy of CBD cream.
Wow, that’s a 124 miles.
124.2 to be pedantic.
I’ve got two cycling stickers on my car, both the ovals, one 50.0 (with some writing saying half century below it), one 62.1 (saying metric century below it). I had someone walk up to me outside a grocery store and say, “I know what the 50.0 means, but what shoots 62.1?”
There’s a reason I tell the girlfriend our neighborhood isn’t one that is going to be popular for robberies when there are people there.
In his words, “That’s what successful people do: simple things that are easy to do.”
When I read Drucker’s giant book on management, there was a section which aligns with this.
I broke it down as, “Do the easy stuff first.” For instance, if you have 100 people in line, and 95 of them require what amounts to a yes or no answer, you need to get those 5 people with a complicated or potentially unanswerable question into a different line. Once you have breezed through the easy stuff, you can address the hard parts.
It seems to work. I should try getting back to that in my daily life.
Last weekend’s joy with reaction to the 2nd shot of the vaccine left me with little joy (read; it hit me hard with both flu symptoms and a minor MS flare-up) so I took it easy on myself and kept the workouts down. Maybe not a great idea, maybe not a bad idea. Don’t know, but that is how I felt about things. In any case, holding steady, which is good.
But I gotta start riding the bike again. Easy to do, but as you say, easy not to do.
I walked 1 mile in the wildlife sanctuary, meandered about the trolley museum for half an hour, then walked through a flea market for a like amount of time.
Unfortunately, yesterday I also ate a rather large amount of food, offsetting any amount of activity I managed today.
On the topic of this, I’m putting myself on my own program to start carving out that exercise time and re-build those habits.
1 squat, 1 pushup, 1 situp began today. Tomorrow 2-2-2, then 3-3-3, etc. Gonna have to find a place to add pullups in there, but first need to build some momentum.
Diet has been way better from a few weeks ago when wife left town; I did a 4 day fast and that really helped me drop some weight and recalibrate my relationship with food.
Keep at it, my Glib friends!
P.S. Aristotle said it better, but Will Durant did an even pithier job.
Link here.
Four days?! Wow.
I think I’ve done several 3 days just water and a couple week just juice (cayenne maple lemonade).
A 4 days fast is impressive. It really puts things into perspective..some clarity and fog. Coming out of a fast, food tastes different and the break fast meal can be really interesting while eating and in the hours after. Do you think you will do another fast?
Absolutely. No question about it.
Hi Big Chafed, Thanks for another edition and greetings from NOCal. Yeah the old “extra 5%…” Me I’m ejoying the thought of a 45% increase in my home equity today..maybe it’s time to pull the rip-cord Beautiful hiking weather…breezy and cool.
G-fit update: Sleep was very good..but many weird dreams. Food was very protein and lower carb levels are paying off but fruit season is on the horizon. Hike mileage was up to 48 miles. Wim Hoff/meditative “ancient man” techniques; Did a couple times. Weight level up 1# at 174.
Goals: Meeting goal weight range max (175-170). Still not dead from Covid…
My wife is continuing 2/24hr fasts (Mon/Thurs) this week… Her weight loss and gains are a little erratic, bouncing over and her low goal range (137-132).
I also have been coaching (badly) a friend. He is a big guy and started around 290#. He has been OMAD and follows low carb—sort of. He is doing about half of what I recommend, because doesn’t want to lose the weight too fast. WTF and whatever. Anyway he is down to less than 260 and was doing pretty good, but he has a pretty heavy social schedule due to his wife. He is kind of an introvert and a uses alcohol as a social lubricant. Well, he had back to back socials and on the Monday weigh-in gained 7# in 2 days. That’s a bummer and kind of discouraging. Anyway, I think he is on a plateau of sorts where whatever different has an impressive impact to weight control. I told him to lay-off the socials..but his dance card seems pretty full for the summer (end of lockdown). If this keeps up, he is going to lose 90# over the summer and be the same weight or more in Sep. The struggle is real!..cheat at your peril but don’t cheat 2 days in a row.
De todos modos, ¡tenga una gran semana y sáltese una comida o tres!
The daily swings can be discouraging if you look too closely at them. There’s a reason I weigh in daily, but focus more on trend lines and weekly averages. I’ve had days with a +6 pound swing, which quickly drops off to get me back below where I was before. That’s why I dislike the advise of not weighing in daily (but can understand why the advise exists), because if I went back, I could probably find a month that showed minimal loss with one weigh in a week. When I look at the trend lines, they’re still pointing down, and the averages have been dropping about .75 pounds a week, and I’ve continued to hit new low body fat percentages (all on bathroom scale, so not really accurate, but good enough for a trend line).
I agree about trends and think weight ranges are a better for realizing a goal. Getting to the goal weight and maintaining are 2 different things.
Relative to my friend. He weighs himself daily. I checked on him after the first social and he was surprised his morning weight did not change. Tempting fate, and knowing him, he probably went out social 2 with more vigor. Next morning weight was plus 7#. Damn!
That’s gotta be mostly water, “inflating” any carbs/fiber in his gut.
Very few people can eat (7 x 3,500) = 24,500 calories in one evening.
What? That’s only ~165 beers (at ~5% ABV) in a night.
/safety warning: Do not attempt to drink 165 beers in a night. Do not attempt to drink over 100 beers in a night. In fact, figure a case is probably a decent maximum to attempt.
I need a hundred beers, exactly; exactly one hundred, thank you
Agreed about water but I don’t think it has much to do with water in the gut otherwise the loss of water would be as fast as the gain.
I think weight management is a combination of CI/CO, hormones and water regulation. Based on my BS theory, alcohol messes with stress hormones levels due to toxicity. Those stress hormones call your body to hold water. I think a certain percentage of that water is held in fat, which needs to go through a more rigorous process to release again or it just stays…
There’s some research that shows alcohol mucks with the metabolism process in general. IIRC (and in complete layman terms), the body processes alcohol calories first, and converts anything else it can into fat to be dealt with later. It doesn’t help that alcohol isn’t exactly a low calorie thing to begin with.
Alcohol’s considered a “pseudo”-carb, at 7 calories/gram.
Sure. Eating sodium-heavy foods will do the same thing to you, and it takes up to 72 hours to “rebalance” to your longer-term average. You can absorb water into every cell and interstitial space in your body.
I always weigh myself on Tuesdays, to try to counteract “sudden” weight changes over the weekend, particularly if I’ve eaten out (which hasn’t been that much of a problem lately, has it?)
because doesn’t want to lose the weight too fast. WTF and whatever
+1 Laird Cregar
What easy thing, done consistently, will make a big impact on your life?
“Easy things” are relative, but I could finish the little fabrication project I started yesterday. I should go downstairs and turn the welder on…
Just getting over the broken toe. Mowed the lawn and used the weedeater today. Up and down the hill, up and down the hill. Now my foot is screeching at me.
Biking tomorrow, At least the shoes are stiff and keep the toe from bending.
Sorry about the toe.
I’m relearning to walk again, with a walker. Trying to not hop on one foot and to use the weak foot a little. Baby steps for now. I had lost a bit of weight but judging from my pants I’ve regained that, around the middle, same as before.
Heavy on the protein, light on the exercise.
Glad to hear you are doing better.
Progress is progress.
Good deal. Hope the progress continues.
Slow & steady something something. 🙂
Hey 4X, Keep up with the protein. Great for healing what aches you! I am sure that your PT has given you a tonne of exercises, mostly for the big muscles but you might want to do a little research on strength of the small muscle strength in feet to improve balance..I bet there are some low impact exercises you can do while seated.
So many things I could say, so many reasons/excuses I could give, but I like the focus on this new guy instead of Goggins (thanks, Tulip!).
I realized that once I took responsibility for who/what I am and why, and ACCEPTED who I am, I felt more at peace. Now I can choose to do or not to do the easy things.
I helped somebody on Reddit yesterday.
Mojo, I was about 45 when I realized I was the only one responsible for any/all my problems. Quit the booze and life took on a different perspective.
Some of us take more time to grow up.
It’s a lot easier to blame someone else for your problems. It’s hard to look into yourself.
It’s been a slow process. I am afraid of pain, so even though I “accepted” responsibility years ago (paid lip service, rather), I only just realized that I finally internalized it and now feel more at peace and in control, and it wasn’t that painful.
Not doing phrasing:
https://twitter.com/everymanjack/status/1399764056806879238
I have been terrible. Stress eating and walking less due to dog walking less. We go to specialist vet tomorrow. With luck, they’ll find something easily treatable and I’ll get back to it.
However, I have not given up and am still trying to do something everyday. I really hope it does pay off eventually.
Please don’t feel guilty on top of your worry. The pup is far more important. I, too, hope pup’s problem is minor and manageable.
Same here. Hoping your puppers will be recovering quickly, T.
Ugh, I’m there with you, Tulip. I hope the news is good. My girl (11) has thyroid cancer and bad kidneys, so who the fuck knows. She’s defied the odds repeatedly and is absolutely spectacular.
Doing something every day is exactly what Chafed and Olson are talking about. Once you give yourself permission to skip it, everything goes to shit. Praying that the news is good.
I too have a teenage dog with Three Stooges Syndrome and elaborate Rx regimen. https://frinkiac.com/caption/S11E12/899360
Sorry about that Tulip. As a long time pet owner I get it. You have no reason to feel guilty. I hope your vet has a solution.
Crossed fingers for Babs.
IRBE – regarding fasting:
I have a good friend who swears that his weekly 36 hour fast has changed his life. Eats his last meal on Saturday and then nothing until Monday.
Since that fast I’ve been able to keep my weight down about 12 lb from where it was. I’m going to do another one, probably 3-4 days again, while maintaining my exercise regime.
I don’t think it’s an accident or coincidence that almost all of the world’s religions and spiritual practices include fasting.
We’re assaulted on a daily basis with non-stop messaging to eat-eat-eat worse than an Italian grandmother after Lent. I think even eating “healthy” every day isn’t “good” for us in the long run. We did not evolve to be shoveling food in our gullets every day, 3 times per, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Not a chance.
The overwhelming majority of illness on our planet is a direct result of how we eat and there is an entire disease economy that benefits from it. Conservatively, about 1/3 of our economy is invested in (a) getting us to eat unhealthy amounts of, (b) low-level poisons, and then (c) providing us with “pill-based” solutions, (d) paid for through “
healthdisease insurance” companies, who send us to (e) disease managers who (f) are incentivized to write scripts on behalf of (g) pill manufacturers who know full-well that this is all just symptomatic treatment.We didn’t shut down pharma or fast food during the scamdemic, but govt absolutely wouldn’t let people go to gyms.
I would subscribe to your news letter. I need to try this fasting bizness but I am WEAK!
We all are, ‘sloper. I am, too. It’s just a matter of giving yourself permission to suffer and laughing about it while it’s happening.
I can’t count how many times I walked to the refrigerator and pantry and stared and reached and almost… almost…
Keeping busy and getting out of the house are a HUGE help. Turning off the TV with it’s bombardment of EAT-EAT-EAT is also a help.
It’s like any other addiction; it is neither pretty nor fun while you’re going through it, but as you start to come out the other side, you can feel your head and body clear and start to function closer to the way they’re meant to. And nothing breeds success like success.
I’ve tried and failed to do this fast thing dozens of times for a whole variety of
reasonsexcuses. Just keep on keeping on and don’t get down on yourself. Love yourself up, smile, and laugh while your stomach growls and your brain tells you you’re DYING of hunger.You are not those feelings. You’re a piece of the divine, a creature of light, and this meatsack is a temporary haven. It helps me to think of my body as something that has been entrusted to me and that I should care for appropriately, but YMMV.
Try a daytime fast, ala Ramadan.
I read that as “ramen”, thinking, yeah that would work
“Wassa matter? You no like? I make it just for you.”
(Irish) Italian grandmother victim status confirmed, TOG!!
Nah, local Neapolitan restaurateuse, while I was waiting for my companion’s plate to come out.
“Nothing, I’m just waiting for him.”
“Dis-a nice girl! You keep this girl!” Signora, he’s just my coworker, but compliment accepted.
I’ve always wanted an old-country nonna or Oma though.
Only because you’ve never had one.
/remembers gramma and misses her strudel
/looks up recipe, realizes he has no children to stretch the dough
/plans a trip to the local strudel shop
I never got the full grandma experience. My maternal German grandmother died before my sisters & I were born, and my paternal Presbyterian grandmother had Alzheimer’s as long as I knew her. ?
But my maternal grandfather – Geep – was awesome. ☺
Me neither really. And the most recent immigrants were 19C AFAICT.
Keeping us fat and “happy” so we can’t fight back on that day when we will need to.
People that fast are weird, hippie people who do yoga…
I find it very beneficial for physical and mental strength. That is why I advocate it here so much. It works! There are a number of variations of fasts (intermittent, wet fast, dry fast, fasted exercise, ect.). Like anything; “Follow the Science”, experiment and pick what works best for you.
I always do intermittent fasting (OMAD) and exercise in a fasted state. I mix in prolonged fasts when convenient (when my wife tells me..). I have tried 36, 48, 60, and 72 hr fasts. For me, I get diminishing returns for fasting over 48 hrs. Weight loss during a dry fast is pretty predictable. First meal after fasting is always interesting.
I highly recommend, getting fat adapted or metabolically flexible before trying a prolonged fast. Either by reducing carbs or intermittent fasting for a couple weeks. It make longer fasting much easier.
How long is what you consider an intermittent fast?
14-18 hrs. Eat dinner at 4 pm, have breakfast at 10 am or eat dinner at 4 am and have breakfast at 10 pm. It doesn’t matter.
I am on schedule to have dinner ready by 6 so I will try to skip eats until noon tomorrow. Here goes nothing. I am down to two cups of coffee a day because as I get older coffee messes with me and I figure a coffee or two is allowed in a fast. Well, it will be in my first attempt.
I recommend keeping the coffee. There is nothing more miserable than fasting with a coffee withdrawal headache.
Best of luck. Keep yourself busy.
FWIW, for more than a month now I’ve skipped calories (other than in my daily double espresso) before and during my daily exercise and I like the results I’m getting.
According to Strava, for the last four weeks, I’ve run 103.4 miles a week and biked 86 miles a week. The only non-fasted portion of that was the 53 mile foot race I did on May 22nd and a few miles here and there on a small number of days where I had to cut my morning run short and so I ran again in the afternoon.
Coming up, tomorrow, Tuesday and Wednesday will be “full distance” days of exercise, then I do a two day taper, followed by a 50k race, followed by a two week taper, a 50 mile race, up to a week of recovery, another two week taper and then the Hardrock 100.
I’ll be eating during the races, but I plan to do all the rest of my e
Oops. “…the rest of my exercise fasted”.
Interesting…has your water intake changed? More or less.
I notice when exercising fasted, I don’t want or need as much water. My body fat is higher than you and my exercise is much less.
I wonder if there is a point that water supply/availability changes and dehydration/need occurs differently.
Hummm
I am definitely drinking significantly less water as I exercise, and I drink based on my thirst (per Noakes.
I still consume water, but today, for example, I did my 100 mile bike ride in six hours and twenty minutes and consumed about 46 ounces of water. The temperature was 60F when I started and 90F when I finished.
That is really interesting. Over 6 hrs, that is really no water. Wow! It kind of supports my BS theory/thoughts. Thanks.
Are you guys camping in Silverton? I am assuming you will have support for the Hardrock. For those who don’t know what deadhead is talking about, this is it. My old stomping grounds are to the north and east a bit but I am familiar enough with the area to know that that is “holy shit” country.
I’ll be camping in Lake City for the San Juan Solstice in three weeks, then I’ll return to Albuquerque, then head up to Silverton in early July.
I haven’t yet decided where I want to spend the 4th of July. I need to discuss that with my kids. I’d like to spend a couple weeks in Silverton before Hardrock, because really altitude acclimation is all I need.
I can’t claim to be getting healthy or in shape, but I had to order new slacks and blouses and bras for work. Smaller ones than what’s in my closet, so I’m moving the right direction.
Gonna have some nice work clothes to donate th goodwill. I hope they help some other round chick get a job. Too bad the government is discouraging such things.
Dayton has an organization just for that. Don’t know exactly how you’d search for a similar org in your area, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were one near you.
There are some specific business
-clothes charities whose names I forget; don’t know how active they are lately.
I did remember correctly that it was Dress for Success; emph. was, I guess.
Good job HS.
Glib fit food for the week simmering: It started with grilling some marinated bone in pork chops. Chops then de-boned and and bones added to a pot of onion, celery, little peppers a poblano all diced to make a bone broth. The broth will be used to make up some kick ass ramen. Sliced pork chop, a couple eggs, and a few noodles. I get three servings out of one hunk of ramen. I am restarting my ramen kick after a week or so off. If the Old Man rolls around, I have binged watched a bunch of Uncle Roger videos. That guy is awesome! and I really like his Ramen take downs.
I was still 188.8 yesterday, but after chasing 5 yr olds around a water park and a day of packing, I am pretty sure I am down some.
5 year olds and a water park sounds like torture.
It keeps you on your toes. But was mostly fun.
Razorfist on Fauci.
I appreciate good ranting.
Noted for later viewing. In public at the moment…
I rarely click on links to that guy. He likes the sound of his own voice too much. His 30 minute rants can be summed up in about 30 seconds.
Fauchi is a douchebag liar. I just can’t imagine him doing all of this on his own. He had to have some reason to think he’d be OK after all of this lying and cheating. Who told him that this was all going to be acceptable? Who wants him underneath a bus to deflect from the real villain? There’s more to this than just “Fauchi bad.”
BTW, didn’t click on Razorfist.
Fauci served his purpose, but for his own credibility, he hedged more than The Party would have liked. They’re throwing him under the bus for a better Party member to come in for the NEXT edition.
Watch what happens to the American people when they’ve got their hand-picked guy in charge.
I’m waiting to see what happens for the folks who won’t get vaxxed the next time… We’re going to get our (re)-education the old-fashioned way – just like the Japanese.
Won’t take the stick? Property is forfeit. You can’t expect to enjoy the benefits of the social contract while being a bad-thinker who refuses to hold up xir end of the bargain, comrade!
Cute pup. Does he have a vice there?
Limited Hang-out. FTW. We’ll never know.
Worked out Tuesday over lunch. Avoided opportunities to workout the rest of the week. That’ll have to be fixed soon. I’m never going to have a full week without noontime meetings,, so Ill need to be adaptable.
Ate like a pig this weekend. Can’t say I regret it (anniversary dinner last night) but I’m paying for it today and will continue paying for it on the scale this week. It’s too bad because I wasn’t doing too poorly throughout the week.
This week is gonna be treading water. Wife picked up a bunch of hours at work, so im on baby duty more than usual.. I’ll try to build on last week by working out at least twice, with a goal of 3x.
Main focuses will be not killing the healthy eating momentum over next weekend and drinking plenty of water.
Chafed!
Weekly cuteness pegged the meter. Thanks! I know everyone hates the Scots, but I can’t wait to get back there. I also wish I weren’t so allergic to kitties.
It’s interesting, one of the challenges in the 75 hard is 10 pages a day of a non-fiction book. It’s harder than it sounds.
My week was a clusterfuck, gym-wise. But I still got plenty of hikes in to make up for it. Time is getting short here and my to-do list is fucking insane. So Anthrax it is!
Have a great week Glibfitters!
Are you moving Tundra? If so, where and when?
Yep. House is sold and we are headed to CO in July. Not sure where we will ultimately end up, but it’s adventure time!
Sweet!
Wow! Be sure to flip Ilhan Omar the bird on your way out. Enjoy your adventure.
P. S. Tell MikeS to check in once and awhile.
I will absolutely do both!
Are you going to change your handle to Flat Irons or something?
Nah. My H&R handle was From the Tundra, inspired by this:
https://youtu.be/j22fnL-56uQ
I’m gonna keep it.
Oh..OK. I thought you were a geology buff. I hope the move goes well.
Might want to stock up on cannabis treats for your dogs. Moving can be stressful for the older ones.
Stressful for all of us old dogs!
Good idea, I’ll stock up for all of us!
I haven’t carried a mask with me for several weeks, since the governor grew a pair and told local government officials they couldn’t punish businesses that won’t enforce their paranoid rules.
Had a mask thrust in my hand twice, most recently by Mrs Prole, who wanted me to wear it for the five seconds to the table. I stuffed it in my pocket and strolled unmasked to my table. Mrs P gave me a glare, but I just changed the subject and said something wryly seditious and got her laughing.
I’ll doubt I’ll set foot inside the business that dispatched an employee with a cheapo pale blue Cone O Shame, and insisted I wear it as a condition of possibly becoming a customer who buys something. It’s like they’re uninterested in letting the proles inside.
My house arrest exercise routine (which I’m about to head out on) has been a twice-weekly 90 minute walk around the park, carrying 15 pounds of weight in my pack. It has kept the flab more or less at bay. Probably should do it more than twice a week though.
If I could get my diet a little more under control, I’d be all set.
Plate carrier and plates with a few mags of 5.56?
Heh. I guess I wasn’t being as subtle as I thought. I’ll probably bump it up to 25 pounds eventually, which covers my AR and a little extra.
Drywall repaired and new shelving and clothes rack installed.
It’s even level!
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/GwR4kbiVTE-EsYt40GXABw.B-r0VPCQZrSA1gakD1vMb-
Much beefier hardware.
Speaking of beef…(hey there was no steak nor gat in that pic) prices are up 40% since the new year. I might have to switch from my preferred protein to chicken which is 0.99cent/#. Supply lines are weird too.
Yeah. Meat prices are making me sad.
I do have some nice strips on deck for dinner though.
That cat is adorable.
Weight is the same as last week but bodyfat % a bit lower. I have not been good about eating well since I got back from that trip to Pennsylvania two weeks ago. But, I have been at least consistent with going to the gym.
I was at the gym last Saturday and saw that mid-morning seems to be the time when a lot of thick fit women (subreddit is officially SFW, but you might use a little caution going there from a work computer) go to the gym. It was nice. It was also nice that even though the gains for my lifts are slowing down, that they are increasing.
Every now and then I’ll do something to trigger a little pain down my leg. I’m still not out of the woods yet.
I am still hopeful that Newsom will be recalled.
I just finished a little yard work and washing off the Mustang. It’s time to get cleaned up and head to a weekly meet-up of liberty minded folks.
I haven’t been in the spin studio for a month now. They had limited capacity, so you had to book a week in advance, and I much prefer riding outside then in class, so I would book when rain was predicted, and cancel when the rain didn’t show up. Now, I can’t even fit into the cycling shoes, but I’ve got two classes scheduled this week (rain is predicted Monday through Friday), and capacity has been increased so you can actually book a class the day before now. I may not suspend my membership.
The local YMCA is no longer requiring (or even making possible) reservations for fitness classes or facilities. I can decide to go any day I want on a whim!
But will I…?
That’s entirely up to you. What do you want to do?
I plan to continue going to my Butts & Guts class Tuesday evenings (missed the last two due to Dayton Dragons game, then anniversary.) On another day, probably Thursdays, I may try some of the more specialized equipment in the fitness room – ideally, something that works abs, since I have my own treadmill at home. Swimming is great, but it’s rough on my hideously expensive hair, and it doesn’t seem to be helping to take the weight off.
Good for you.
Do you have any fitness goals? Or is it just dropping weight that you’re looking to do?
Mainly to lose a little weight – don’t really need to lose any more than about twelve pounds – and flatten/firm up the gut.
My body stores all extra weight right in the midsection. So for me, dropping weight/body fat is the primary goal. I just recently had to purchase new shorts for a vacation at the end of the month (the girlfriend [!] wanted to go back up to Put-In-Bay) after trying on the old ones.
“I am still hopeful that Newsom will be recalled.”
Then replaced with…a socialist douchebag or a socialist shit sandwich?
He really can’t be replaced…he’s irreplaceable. He has an emergency order that prevents replacement for all we know. Maybe he can write another EO to make himself President of California or USA or North America. It has to be followed, because it is an emergency order.
Re the reversal of the AR-15 ban: to quote Bugs Bunny, “An’ I hope ya choke!”
He’ll just judge-shop until he finds someone to uphold it. Hell, I have very little confidence in the SCOTUS at this point.
It sounds like be need some common-sense judge control.
What this country really needs is some common-sense asshole control.
That don’t matter. The dude thinks of himself as a career politician. He will go higher if left alone. A new douche will have to start from scratch. Newsom was raised to be a politician. Kill his ambition where it stands. Who cares who takes up the mantle. Besides, punishing them is all we got.
Punishing him..are you serious. This recall gives him a reason to raise campaign funds and re-entrench favors in mid-term. These types like to campaign more than govern. There is no money in governing.
Never let a crisis go to waste. The more crisis the more money/favors/grift.
You don’t politic much…//meant as a compliment.
Tell that to Gray…what’shis name?
I’ve been familiar with the doing a little, let it add up for a long time. In grad school, I used a book called “Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day”. The point was that even when you don’t feel like doing something, do a little anyway. Don’t wait until you feel inspired. I completed my dissertation, so I guess it works. While I was writing my screen saver was the phrase ” a done dissertation is a good dissertation ” scrolling across the screen.
Q: How do you eat an elephant?
A: One bite at a time.
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What is the least sexy saxophony ever? Don’t say Kenny G (a belated happy birthday, Kenny). Maybe Tim Cappello.
I’m starting to get “you’ve definitely lost weight” comments. That’s progress, but I’m on the road a lot for the foreseeable future which is the most detrimental thing to my diet.
I started packing some Atkins bars and shakes for road trips to satisfy food needs/cravings without blowing my diet.
When you’re traveling and need food late at night, most options are unhealthy.
Bring your own.
For sure. Tons of meat sticks and jerkey.
I’ve been doing the Atkins frozen lunches for a long time but just recently started doing the shakes for breakfast. Very tasty!
I’ve had the bars in the past, but the sugar alcohol in them affected my digestion….negatively. It looks as if at least some varieties no longer use that, so if that’s the case I may give them another try.
Keto crisp bars, munk fruit bars, and love good fats bars are all pretty darn good.
You leave 80’s sax guy alone!
I thought this was the sax guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy1B3agGNxw
Sax Guy
Sax guy
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgYQNV35ggo
MEYER!!!! I’m gonna activate your dental plan!
That’s the only reason I know there is a country called Moldova.
I had a great afternoon headed upstream on the Big Manistee, I kept everything in my waterproof box, until I landed and dropped my phone in the water.
Anyone who wonders why I don’t answer, now you know,
/God Damn It!
Whoa! my phone works!
Island hopping, much upper arm strength needed,
https://photos.app.goo.gl/85c4eM1MBMEYf85D8
Afternoon, glibs. Last night I watched Knives Out with the Mrs. I will say that it was genuinely enjoyable as movies go, and the best movie I’ve seen that has come out in the last few years.
Only critique is that many of the side jokes will date the movie in 10 years.
I enjoyed Knives Out. I’m mildly concerned that Netflix bought the rights to all sequels, and has already started stacking “names” for the next movie(s).
Of course, I also like schlock. I just recently rewatched Final Girl and Repo: The Genetic Opera.
Last night, mostly out of boredom, I started watching The Fourth Kind, intrigued by its supposed setting in Nome, Alaska.
One of the first scenes has Milla Jovovich flying into what’s supposed to be Nome. She flies past tree-covered, lush mountains, to land in a town that is surrounded by said mountains, then she drives down a secluded road through huge conifers to her home.
They lost me right there. Nome is on a coastal tundra plain. There are no mountains and trees never grow more than 4-5 feet high.
When I start a movie I generally try to finish it, but the pin was pulled on that grenade with the scenery. Turns out the “Nome” segments were filmed in Oregon. Assholes couldn’t even bother to look at a fucking map. I switched over and rewatched Season 5 of Letterkenny instead.
Come on man. The original Nightmare on Elm Street was set in Ohio, and had palm trees in the city.
There is nowhere in Ohio outdoors that palm trees will survive.
Most people never bother to learn much geography outside of their own locality. In all the years I lived east of Denver, I must have had a hundred people ask me how I liked living in the mountains. “I live forty miles away from the mountains,” I’d tell them, and they’d boggle.
But you’d think a movie production company would at least make some effort.
Multiple people have asked if you can see Canada from Cleveland. You know, since it’s just across a lake. Now, mind you, the shortest distance from a (arguably) Cleveland suburb to mainland Canada is ~40 miles.
I’ve also had people from California ask if Lake Erie was a salt water lake, or a fresh water laek.
Can’t you see Ontario from the top of the tallest ride at Cedar Point?
It may be possible to see Windsor, but Cedar Point is outside of the realm of Cleveland suburb.
From Put-In-Bay you can see Pelee island, but you can’t go there yet. Since the ‘vid will kill everyone if you do.
/puts extra money in the vacation fund to Put-In-Bay to buy anti-DeWine shirts and drinks for people wearing such
In the movie Bird on a Wire, Mel Gibson takes the ferry from Detroit to Racine WI. He then gets involved in a chase through Racine’s bustling Chinatown.
Theoretically possible, I guess, but a hell of a commute.
The transition is stark. If you’re used to Appalachia, with rolling foothills before the mountains start, it would be easy to assume that east of Denver would be hilly.
I remember being shocked the first time I flew into Denver. On final approach, all I could see was flat prairie. I had thought that Denver was in the mountains, not in the plains just east of the mountains.
Nuts to that show. Ain’t no damn trees in Nome.
Exactly so. Like I said, the production company obviously phoned that one in.
Oh god, that movie is part of a running joke between me and my sister. Some years back, I had an owl right outside the house, so I took a picture of it and showed it to my sister. She insisted that owls are creepy because of that movie. Now, chance I get, I send her owl-related photos.
Perhaps this entirely made up movie, with made up characters and made up storylines, is set in a made up world in which Nome Alaska has trees and mountains all around it.
My husband is such an idiot.
That is all.
I went to Salt Lake City last week.
Liked:
– Everyone was genuinely nice
– Young women in yoga pants
– Warm, but not too warm
– LDS mission gals looking good
Disliked:
– it got too hot
– everyone has tattoos
– liquor laws
In conclusion, SLC was a land of contrasts. I enjoyed my time there but would never move there.
It was record breaking heat wave last week, so yeah, it was hot. I’m with you on tattoos.
Also, once I moved out of SLC, I agree that I won’t move back, but that’s more an antipathy towards urban living.
I ended up talking to the guy with the van covered in political stuff right by the LDS mothership.
He was really friendly and dedicated to his causes.
Used to live in an apartment three blocks from there and down the hill from the Capitol. Fun for the young and carefree.
Dang, I can only imagine. I stayed on First and State or something close to that and boy howdy the scenery was unreal.
GlibFit.
https://archive.li/VZ2J1
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Speaking of Alaska, Q, what ever happened with that land up Fairbanks way I seem to remember you bidding on?
A number of quite fine specimens in there.
Last night I watched Knives Out with the Mrs.
Last night I watched Scotland, PA. Weird, (very) loosely based on MacBeth. I liked it.
Fab project is done (for now). Tools put away, floor swept.
Maybe there really is something to this “just do SOMETHING!” business.
Just in case more people needed a reason to hate the Romans, they thought beer drinkers were uncultured barbarians!
/looks around for woad.
Berbarians are superior to civilized folk. So take the compliment.
Yeah, my German ancestry makes it hard for me to claim any superiority over anyone else.
There’s a thought in my head that
couldshould (probably) be spun out about the hatred of the barbarians/outsiders over the past. Tribalism never went away, it just became more hidden./Fuck the Stillers! Fuck the Yankees!
Meh. Civilized individuals today and in the past make up a small minority of every society. It has always been that way.
Just in case more people needed a reason to hate the Romans, they thought beer drinkers were uncultured barbarians!
And….?
Speaking of which, I think it’s time for a sammich and a beer.
/looks at the Pink Boots society beer I’ve been drinking
Of course it is. Girlfriend is out and about, and my only job for the day is to have a cocktail ready for her when she gets home. I’ve requested she let me know when she’s leaving as the only condition. The cocktail decision will be based on if she stops on the way back for cheap champagne (pronounced Champ-Ag-Nay per Zapp) or not. There will be muddled strawberries and rum regardless.
Update to Glib diet:
Discovered a German deli with approx. twenty-five or so different kinds of sausage. The dried, spiced beef sausage is my new fav, along with the garlic and the potato sausage…
Okay, maybe I am having a hard time making up my mind.
I can tell you that roasting them with mushrooms and onions and peppers is the bomb diggity.
Also: that fuckhead Gavin Newsom can pound some very coarse, abrasive sand.
Only 25? Are you sure they’re real Germans?
🙂
They left out the wurst of the wurst.
Brat.
Was it the European Deli? They have killer pirogi too.
Oh, one other GlibFit thought:
Good eating habits are built in the aisles of the grocery store. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say on the edges of the grocery store, since most of the aisles are filled with garbage, with the spice aisle being the exception.
Pro-Tip: if it has a food label, there’s a 90% chance it’s shit. (Notice that apples, pears, cucumbers, and avocados, etc. do not have ‘nutrition’ labels on them).
Keeping the garbage out of the cupboards and pantry helps immensely with getting eating habits under control.
Good eating habits are built in the aisles of the grocery store.
Haha. This morning, at the grocery store (fewer and fewer masks every time!) I found myself standing next to a Hostess Cakes impulse buy display. I resisted.
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The girlfriend (after many conversations) understands why I don’t want big bags of chips (or other salty snacks in the house). Fuck what they say on the bag, the serving size is the bag.
This. It’s like a 6 pack.
Man, I loved their fruit pies when I was a kid. Raspberry.
End caps don’t count.
I had a very unsatisfactory surf and turf for my last dinner in Maine for this trip. To say that I could do better at home would be underselling. I have done better at home. It is not that hard to fully cook a steak without either drying out the inside or carbonizing the outside. And if you have stuffed scallops, I expect to be able to find scallop among the breading. I’m mostly annoyed that I ordered it takeout, and didn’t have a knife, which they didn’t provide, and had to find a fork, because they didn’t provide that either.
Take out/drive-through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWfaiTLPUKQ
That’ll teach you to go to Arby’s. (Motto: “We’re slow, but we’re wrong.”)
Seriously, sorry it was such a disappointment.
It was 99.
I have strange nostalgia for arby’s (even though I won’t argue it’s good)
Certain of the stores around here are OK, but we used to have one that was seemingly staffed by folks who couldn’t hack it at McDonald’s.
I’m quite fond of Arby’s chicken salad wraps.
There oughta be a law. No doorbells in advertisements or movies played on the tv. The penalty for breaking that law should be harsh.
Aroooooo–!
What if they just don’t sound like your doorbell?
New England beach food… now I want a clam roll.
ONE SOLID HOUR ON THE TREADMILL, BITCHEZZ! 😀
Good for you!
You da lady!