Ingrid Croce

I've been thinking a lot about Ingrid Croce today. 

Been listening to Another Day, Another Town over and over for the past few days (after picking it up from The Great Escape for 99¢). I had another copy a long time ago, but it disappeared somewhere along the way. Probably during one of the low water times when I sold a lot of my records off. You know, though, even when I didn't have the record, I heard those songs all the time. They'd roll around in my head, as crisp and clear as if they were on the turntable. 

"Tell me, what do people do when there ain't nothing to do,

When there's no one else around to do nothing with or to?"

 That is some good shit, man. And of course I loved Jim's other three albums as well . . . and the other stuff that came out after he died. I think I managed to get hold of everything. But Another Day, Another Town always held a special place in my heart. There's an awkwardness, an innocence, a rawness, there that is just amazingly charming. And I think Ingrid had a lot to do with that. In fact, while I was listening today I started thinking, "I'll bet that that was an Ingrid line," every once in awhile. 

I just went Googling around to see if she had ever released any music on her own, but I came up empty handed. I wonder why. She was such a big part of Jim Croce's music during his early years. My guess would be that once Maury Muehleisen came onto the scene, Ingrid was gone. Of course, that was also when A.J. was born, so I don't mean that in any evil, edging her out way. And Jim died shortly after that.

Fuck.

I miss Jim Croce. I hope Ingird's doing well.

Going to go listen to that album again. Third time today. It's on YouTube if you'd like to join me and don't have a dollar.

How Green Is My Mountain?

A long time ago, in a classroom far, far away, I would read an essay by Douglas Kraft 1  entitled "The Trances I Call Myself" 2  to my Great Books class. We did a lot of out loud reading in that class--so that we could stop and chat along the way--but usually the reading rotated. With this article I did all of it, presenting it to them as An Annotated Lecture. I would also start the class by saying that it was an optional thing, and if they didn't have to listen they didn't have to; they could do other homework, they could read, they could have a mimed conversation, they could even sleep as long as they didn't snore. This always delighted them, and immediately half or more of them would get to the serious business of not paying attention. The remaining folk would move to the front desks and I would start reading. And we'd stop to chat. And invariably someone who had chosen NOT to take part would raise his or her hand, and I'd ask them if they wanted to join us, and they usually did. And by the end of the class quite a few of the initial abstainers would have moved into the group. It was a beautiful thing.

I can't seem to find that article right now . . . though I'm sure that there is a copy of it somewhere in this house . . . but I remember a passage near the beginning wherein Mr. / Reverend Kraft talked about how a college class once tried an experiment on its professor wherein if he was on the left hand side of the classroom they would act bored, but if he was on the right hand side of the classroom they would act interested and enthusiastic. It didn't take long for the professor to be glued to the right hand side of the room. And he never consciously realized what was going on.

Kind of scary, ennit?

I was Krogering yesterday and was looking for some whole bean coffee. I really love the Starbucks Pike's Place stuff, and it was to be had, but (1) I thought a little exploration might be nice and (2) the Pike's Place was a couple of bucks more expensive than some of the other brands. I'd also just recently happened upon a coffee from Maine, and for some reason I thought that might be a thing to try. And this led to that, and then I saw something called Green Mountain Coffee . . .

. . . and that seemed like a thing to try. And it was right beside a Maine coffee . . . which I didn't buy because it wasn't whole bean    . . . so it was pretty much the same thing as buying Maine coffee, right? So I bought it. Made a pot this morning. It was quite good. And a buck or two cheaper than the Starbucks stuff.

I sat down and read my 15 minutes of A History of Philosophy with my first cup. Poured another and started to watch Morning Joe. And when they went to commercial, I saw this:

Now, I watch Morning Joe pretty much every day for at least a few minutes, so I'm thinking that I probably have seen this commercial more than a few times. But I didn't remember seeing it. 

Hmmmm.

Did I just get nailed to the right hand side of my classroom?

Who's in charge here, anyway?

1 . . . who seems to go by Doug, but I am 97% sure that the essay was signed Douglas . . . + a middle initial or two that I can't seem to come up with . . . unless it was C. B., which just sprang into my mind)

2 I think. It might have been entitled "Trances We Choose to Live," though. Definitely one of those, though. Probably.

Is This Mic On?

http://phonynoam.tumblr.com/post/171355653075/hey-aha-wb-with-bass

More Laughs From Lucifer

Lucifer

Season 3, Episode 15: "High School Poppycock"

Written by Chris Rafferty & Jen Graham Imada

"Has all that masturbation finally caught up with your eyesight, Daniel?"

"High school reunion is a very popular torture in hell. "

Three seasons in and Lucifer continues to keep me interested and amused--mostly courtesy of quips like the two above. No other comic book based show has kept my attention so effectively. In fact, quite the opposite: most of the other shows---Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Supergirl, Black Lightning, Smallville, Legends of Tomorrow, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Gifted, iZombie . . . have either bored me silly or become so ridiculous that I can't bear to pay any attention to them at all. (Though I do miss Constantine . . . and am kind of fond of Legion, and hope that it makes its way back to the little screen.) I have enjoyed all of the NETFLIX Marvel shows . . . but even there, I have to admit that I struggled with all of them at some point.The writing is nowhere close to what you get every week on Lucifer.

So cheers to Lucifer. Long may he reign.

Philosophy Today

Today in my reading of Fr. Frederick Copleston's A History of Philosophy I met Roger Bacon (1219/20 - 1292 edition), who seems super-de-dooper cool, and whose Opus Majus I would really like to have a good look at . . . 

And I read three lines which I thought were worth remembering and pondering:

(1)  " . . . it is not right to condemn or to neglect any particle of truth."

(2) " . . . all truth of whatever kind leads ultimately to God."

(3) " . . . the divine light operates in all men, good or bad . . . . "

And as I transcribe those lines, it occurs to me that they are all ways of saying the same thing, aren't they? All roads lead to Rome, man. 

And I suppose, in a far less profound way, that's my current problem with The News. Everybody seems to be intent upon focusing events through their point of view, which inevitably distorts what actually happened. Which is frustrating as hell. But if you follow the thread of that point of view, you can wend your way through the maze and find the truth. (And flee the minotaur at the same time, which is usually a good idea.) And maybe that's why it's important to watch news that is presented from a perspective you find unpalatable. When FOX News pisses me off, I am going to try harder to follow the thread, to see why they are saying such stupid ass things, to see what truth lies at the other end of that thread.

Mmm-hmm.

Trumped Up . . . OR . . . Gimme Some Truth

Here's the thing: I loathe Donald Trump. I do not even want to give him a token of respect by referring to him as President Trump. I think he is a terrible human being who came to power via a combination of appealing to the lowest emotions of desperate people and through dirty dealings with Russian agents. I have no doubt in my mind that he will not finish his term of office because he will be run out of D.C. on a rail. I even bet my daughter-in-law $50 that that is what would happen . . . and I am not a betting man. However. Vero Nihil Verius, Mr. Shake-speare. The truth is the truth is the truth, and it's got to be told.

I've been in and out of listening to the news all day, and I've heard so many different news anchors say something along the lines of, "In the White House meeting with the Parkland students and parents, Trump suggested that we arm teachers," that I can't even tell you how many there have been. At least a dozen, though.

And the first time I heard it, I thought, "Um . . . that's not exactly what happened." But I let it pass. But as the refrain was repeated throughout the day, and began to harden into The Official Story, I finally had to go Googling to see if my mind really was beginning to collapse under the weight of sixty years of life on this bitch of an earth.

And in The Washington Post, under the column title "Word for Word: What Everyone Said When Trump Met With Students and Parents to Talk About Guns" (by Valerie Strauss, February 22 at 12:25 AM), I found (after much searching) this little exchange:

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. It’s incredible. Very sad. Thank you very much.

Does anybody have an idea for a solution to the school shooting, and the school shootings that we’ve gone through over the years? And we’ve seen too much of it, and we’re going to stop it. We got a lot of different ideas. I could name 10 of them right now.  Does anybody have an idea as to how to stop it? What is your recommendation to stop it?

Yes.

MR. ABT:  I don’t know if I’m going to say something you haven’t already heard.  You know, I could tell you that, in addition to all of the sorrow that we are feeling in our community right now, there’s also a lot of anger. Anger that the police can visit a person dozens of times and not take action. Anger that the FBI could get at least two credible tips and not take action.

And one possible solution, which we’ve discussed with Secretary DeVos over lunch, was, if a tragedy strikes, can we wait for the first responders to get to the campus four, or five, or six, or seven minutes later?

And one possible solution, which may not be very popular, would be to have people in the school — teachers, administrators — who have volunteered to have a firearm safely locked in the classroom, who are given training throughout the year.

There are plenty of teachers that are already licensed to carry firearms. Have them raise their hands to volunteer for the training. And when something like this starts, the first responders are already on campus. And if it’s not the teachers, you could have people that work on the campus. A custodian could be an undercover policeman. Someone who works in the library or the lunchroom could be an undercover policeman. He serves lunch every day, but he also has a firearm at the ready. A guidance counselor.

If you can’t stop it from happening, and with hundreds of millions of guns out there, I don’t know if it will ever be fully stopped. But the challenge becomes, once it starts, to end it as quickly as possible.

Mr. Frederick Abt, is the father of a Parkland student (who was  there by his side, as was Mrs. Abt.) 

And that's what I remembered hearing. A parent . . . a parent who was furious and frightened and who I don't think should be blamed for proposing such a bad idea . . . is the one who brought up arming teachers. Not that this is the first time this idea has floated to the surface, of course. And, also of course, Trump jumped on this immediately. 

But that's not how the news folks have been reporting it. And they have been very open about calling it a stupid idea. Which it is, of course, but . . . I haven't heard anyone say, "A parent of a Parkland student brought up the stupid idea of arming teachers, and Trump agreed that that would be worth looking at." But that's exactly what did happen.

It's there in the papers, man.

So let's just keep it real, news folks. As I've noted previously, I hate the term fake news, deplore the people who use it to dismiss ideas that they don't like, all of that. But when you distort what happened in order to sharpen the point you want to stick into the voodoo doll of your target . . . well, it's not exactly what I'd call real news, you know?

My Fat Struggle: Year Two

When I began this Quest For Fatlessness a year ago, I weighed 260 pounds. That first day I exercised for 20 minutes--a rather mild-mannered bike ride. Today I weighed 

 --which is actually a bit on the heavy side . . . but not by all that much. And today I exercised for two hours. I also got caught up on Con Man and CNN and MSNBC, so it wasn't all work. Or all play, depending on how you see these things. 

So I've come along a bit. 

Speaking of today's exercise session . . . well, first, I'll make it official:

Year 2, Week One: Tuesday, 2/20/2018

Exercise: Warm-ups (the full Monty today), Schwinn 62 minutes (15:05 / -339 calories / 66rpms; 15:04 / -339 calories/ 66rpms; 15:04 / -342 calories / 66rpms; 17:05 / -391 calories / 66rpms), and HWs.

There. Now, as I was saying . . . I was a little late getting it done last night, but I knew that if I didn't hit it early today that I would run out of time, as I had to take Jacqueline to the YMCA to meet her friend and was planning on going to a concert tonight. So, with a sigh, I got to it a little after 10:30 this morning. And I kept at it pretty steadily, but still had a hard time finishing up and getting a shower in before it was time to leave at 1:00 pm. But the good news is that I did it, I did it all, and I did it even though I really didn't feel like doing it. That's a pretty good way to start Year 2.

I haven't been keeping track of the incoming calories for awhile now, and although I keep telling myself that I "should" get back to it, I don't know that that is going to happen. On the one hand, I know that I owe my 90 pound (from my heaviest point) weight loss to counting those calories. And I know that it's easy to slip back into extra pounds if you don't watch those calories. But I am exercising so much, burning so many calories . . . and feeling really hungry when I'm hungry . . . that I just can't bring myself to do it. Maybe that will change. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't, though. But I will try to be more aware of when I am eating extra shit "just because I can," because There Be Dragons. Fat Dragons.

Happy New Year.

Year 2, Week One: Wednesday, 2/21/2018

Exercise: 5 mile Mall Walk with Pat. 

Mo Bettah Exercise: warm-ups (compete), 62 Schwinn (12:02 / 271 / 66; 18:04 / 423 / 67; 15:05 / 355 / 67; 17:05 / 391 / 66), LWs, fifty sit-ups. 

Year 2, Week One: Thursday, 2/22/2018

Exercise: Warm-ups (with all push-ups and planks and ab stretches), 30 twists with 15 lb dumbbells, Schwinn 15:04 / 322 / 64; 15:05 / 325 / 64; 15:05 / 310 / 63. And that was it. I was absolutely drained.

Actually made a conscious, premeditated decision not to do any weights today. The arm muscles are feeling a bit stretched thin, and I believe that they really need a recovery day. Probably would have been beneficial to lay off of the push-ups today as well . . . maybe the planks and ab stretches, too . . . but I really wanted to get them in. Although I do have to admit that all three of them put more strain on me that is the usual wont. I guess that's why the conventional wisdom is that you life weights every other day. But that really does not work for me. So I'll see if I can do it this way, with just sporadic days off for recovery when I think that's what my body is telling me. (In the immortal words of the philosopher O. Newton-John, "Listen to your body talk, your body talk."

Year 2, Week One: Friday, 2/23/2018

Exercise: 4 mile Mall Walk.

I really thought that I should skip the weights and biking today . . . not to mention that asskicking "warm-up" routine . . . and was feeling pretty okay with that decision. My muscles were feeling strained, I hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, it was getting late and time to eat dinner . . . .  And then I changed my mind. Started (again) with the thought, "I'll just do a little bit of it. As much as I can without hurting myself too much." And then I was able to do my warm-ups, my 62 Schwinn minutes (with a quite respectable 15:04 / 343 / 66; 15:05 / 326 / 65; 15:05 / 334 / 65; 17:04 / 381 / 66 . . . 1384 total "calories burned") and all of the HWs. And, as usual, I felt a hell of a lot better after I finished than before I started. I also sweated like a motherfucker. My post exercise weight was 191.4 pounds. Not great, but not so awful.

Year 2, Week One: Saturday, 2/24/2018

I felt brave enough to do a Wake-Up Weight this morning: 192.2 lbs. Not great, not terrible.

Exercise: Nada. Nichts. Just too weary, man.

Year 2, Week One: Sunday, 2/25/2018

Exercise: 62 Schwinn, LWs.

Year 2, Week One: Monday, 2/26/2018

Exercise: 62 Schwinn, HWs. 

I wasn't feeling all that great about exercising today . . . just the usual laziness, but I was still hitting it . . . and Joe's CLS worker came by as I was getting ready for the last 15 minute set of Schwinn-ing so I stopped to talk to him. He told me that he could see the effects of my exercise, and as he hadn't seen me in a month that meant even more (since it implied that I'd continued to show improvement in the last month). Funny how just a little bit of encouragement at the right time can really fuel the fire, isn't it?

Year 2, Week Two: Tuesday, 2/27/2018

Exercise: 62 Schwinn, LWs. I also did a pedometer check in, which showed that my actual "step" count was 9,225 . . . which is what a walk of a little over 5 miles would get me . . . and my actual calories burn was 510.6 . . . which I know is low, since is doesn't count any calories burned for all of my push-ups (total of 85), planks (4 1/2 minutes), ab stretches (total of 95), or any of the weights (totals of 50 curls, military presses, rowing, toe-touches, and twists with 15 lb dumbbells). Which I know is a significant amount of burn. At least another 100 or so calories. But anyway.... I also did a post exercise weigh-in: 189 lbs. Not too shabby. Not where I want to be, but heading in the right direction, at least.

Thus endeth week one of year two.

Year 2, Week Two: Wednesday, 2/28/2018

Well . . . I thought that I had seen the last of the back pain from leg lifts and / or sit-ups, but after exercising yesterday I was hurting a bit, and it got worse and worse. I ended up sleeping on a heating pad, which didn't actually seem to do any good at all. And this morning I am really feeling it. I'm hoping that some stretching and a lighter touch on exercise today will help to relieve it a bit.

Exercise: Speaking of a struggle . . . I decided to do a walk, and since it's still kind of cold and rainy, I went to the mall. Did a good 5 miles, but probably only 75% or so speed. It was painful. I think I felt a little better when I was done, but it's a close call. My back really hurts. Fuuuuuuck. Going to rest a bit, then see about doing some stretching, maybe some push-ups, maybe some bike riding.

And? Well, I made it through all of the warm ups, which surprised me. And 30 minutes of Schwinn. Actually felt a little bit better, but I'm still in a lot of pain, so I decided to call it quits for the night.

Tomorrow is another day.

Year 2, Week Two: Thursday, 3/1/2018

Big, big pain today. Couldn't even think about doing any exercise. Mostly just hoping that this isn't the way my body is going to feel for the next fifteen to twenty years. (More or less.)

Year 2, Week Two: Friday, 3/2/2018

Better. Did just a little exercise--stretching, one set of push-ups, ten minutes on the bike. Thought it might help.

Year 2, Week Two: Saturday, 3/3/2018

But it didn't. Actually hurt more yesterday than Thursday. But stubborn to the end, I went ahead and did a full 62 Schwinn minutes and LWs . . . leaving out the sit-ups. And . . . felt a little better, but still some serious pain.

Year 2, Week Two: Sunday, 3/4/2018

Woke up at 3:30 . . . but not from pain, at least. Which is not to say that there wasn't pain, because there was. 

But I did the whole warm-ups, 62 Schwinn minutes, and HWs . . . leaving out only the leg lifts. I did a slight expansion on the ab stretches, kicking it up to 25/25/25/25 for a total of 101, and will probably add some more sets in later on. I'd like to get at least another 50 reps in . . . to make up for the 50 leg lifts (or, on alternate days, sit-ups). Still not feeling great, but was able to do everything without straining the back. Although I expect I'll pay for it a bit later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Year 2, Week Two: Monday, 3/5/2018

Feeling a little rough, but did all of the warm-ups, 62 Schwinn minutes at a pretty good clip, and all of the LWs except sit-ups.

Year 2, Week Three: Tuesday, 3/6/2018

I was really thinking that it'd be advisable to take a day off today. Didn't sleep a lot or well last night, still had a little back pain, but enough lessened to think that a day of rest might get me back to normal. But then I started thinking about all of those calories latching onto my gut, and the steps that wouldn't be recorded on my pedometer, and I decided to do just the Schwinn. Not even any warm-ups, because even that shit puts some strain on my back. So I started off slow-ish to make up for not stretching, and that went pretty well: 20:04 / 392 / 62. Not setting any fires, but not so bad. Rested a little bit and had another go. An you know, I had been thinking that since I was not doing my warm-ups or weights today, that maybe I should just pile through and do a straight 62 minutes, which I haven't done for some time now. But I was already feeling a little worn as I neared to 20 minute mark, and I started thinking about how much my ass would hurt if I stayed on the bike for the whole time, so I stopped at 20. And it was mos def the right move. The second set went even better than the first: 20:04 / 425 / 64. Not a world record (or even a personal best), but a significant improvement on the first round. So on to round three: 22:04 / 471 / 64. So pretty much held steady there. Good show! And instead of zero steps whilst cooking on a heating pad reclined upon the sofa, I just hit 9,115 steps for the day, and I know that I had less than 1,000 when I started. Woo-hoo.

I think it was also a wise move not to do the warm-ups and weights, though it irks me a little to do so. Right now my back feels pretty close to full strength . . . like a good 94%. Here's hoping it stays there or moves it on up.

Year 2, Week Three: Wednesday, 3/7/2018

Trying to get back to the routine today, so did all of the warm-ups, 62 Schwinn minutes (326 / 65; 342 / 66; 351 / 67; 354 / 63--that last was probably lower than it would've been because I had to stop for a few minutes at 14:00, so that threw off the rpms and the calories burned a bit . . . still, not too bad overall at 1373 "calories burned"). Also did a pedometer check, and the biking accounted for  8,674, and including the warm-up movements a total of 9,726 steps. Pretty good.

Felt pretty okay today, too. Just a smidge of back pain when I did some of the exercises . . . especially toe touches . . . but nothing too bad. Hopefully that will continue to be true through tonight and tomorrow morning.

I got brave and stepped on the scale after I finished exercising. 

Not great, but not too fuckin' bad, either, I'd say.

Year 2, Week Three: Thursday, 3/8/2018

5 mile Mall Walk with Pat.

Year 2, Week Three: Friday, 3/9/2018

1 mile walk, but did a full 62 Schwinn and LWs. Didn't quite finish the warm-up stuff, but that was a lack of time more than anything else. And later on, when I had the time to finish up, I needed to do some drinking more than some push-ups. Maybe mañana. 

Year 2, Week Three: Saturday, 3/10/2018

Did. Whole shebang: 62 + HWs

Year 2, Week Three: Sunday, 3/11/2018

62 Schwinn + LWs

Year 2, Week Three: Monday, 3/12/2018

20 Schwinn + lat  raises, 25//20 Push Ups 25/25 Ab . . . and then I pooped out. Don't know why, but I just didn't have it in me.

And I was still feeling out of it on Year 2, Week Four: Tuesday, 3/13/2018, but of course I didn't want to miss another day (since Monday was pretty much a wash), so I decided to just do stretching and Schwinn, no push-ups or planks or ab stretches. And I felt pretty good after my first 15 minutes on the bike (at a respectable 326 / 64). And I thought, well, maybe I'll just do ONE set of push up and planks and ab stretches. So I did. Did another 15 Schwinn minutes, and thought what the hell and did another set of p-u/p/as. Another 15 Schwinn. Another set of p-u/p/as. The final 17 Schwinn minutes. Which is where I am right now, wondering whether I feel like doing another 20 push-ups. Hmmm. I think I'll give it a shot.

Did.

And of course while I was there I went ahead and did the plank. And since I'd gotten that far, I figured what the hell and did the last 26 ab stretches. Now I'm wondering if I might could do a set of LWs. Just one set, mind you. The 20s. Maybe. 

Did.

And it was a little bit rough. So I thought about leaving it there. On the other hand . . . the 20 set is the hardest one. So I thought I'd rest up for a minute or two and see how I felt then. Like maybe just go ahead and finish it off, y'know? Mmm.

Did.

So that ended well. I feel better now than before I started, too, which is a good thing. All this exercise shit is hard to endure if you don't get some positive feedback from it.

Year 2, Week Four: Thursday, 3/15/2018

Yeah, I blew off yesterday. Didn't get much sleep Tuesday night and just couldn't get myself to do it. And today I just did a little bit

--stretching, 2 sets of push-ups / planks / ab stretches, and 30 minutes of Schwinn.

Not feeling very into it today, I'm sorry to say.

Year 2, Week Four: Sunday, 3/18/2018

Don't really want to talk about it, but I will. First off, I didn't miss both of the days that I've skipped here. But I did miss one . . . and didn't go whole hog on the other. So yeah, I pretty much skipped both of them. Now I'm trying to get back to business. And I'd really like to just gloss over the whole Grinding To A Halt Thing, but I started this who Public Display of My Fast Struggle primarily because I saw it as a way to keep myself honest, and I'm not going to stop doing that now.

This goes back a-ways, of course. That's clear now . . . though it wasn't Then. First the I'm Tired Of Keeping Track of My Calories, which quickly led to eating more than I'd been previously. That didn't have horrific effects, though, because I was exercising so much. But in the last week or so I've been struggling with keeping up with the exercise part as well. I have missed a few days. Not horrific, but I know where that one ends. So I am going to try to take this bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. Starting now.

So today I went for a three mile walk in the park with Pat. I haven't been walking very often lately. Partly because Pat's, need were hurting here and I didn't much like walking alone. It was hard, even though three miles is less than I / we was / were doing not that long ago.

When I got home I rested up for a few minutes, then I did my stretching exercises . . . the whole shebang. I did allow myself a little rest time between sets, though, and with that it wasn't too awful.

20 wings                      / 25 push-ups / 1:12 plank / 25 ab stretches

leg stretches (30"x6)   / 20 push-ups / 1:02 plank / 25 ab stretches

calf stretches (30"x6) / 20 push-ups / 1:02 plank / 25 ab stretches

20 toe touches            / 20 push-ups / 1:02 plank / 26 ab stretches

And now I'm going to attempt to do the full 62 Schwinn . . . integrated with the full LW regimen. Wish me luck, I'm gone need it, chile.

First round: 15:04 / 340 / 66rpms . . . not bad. And followed with the 20 reps of curls, presses, toe raises, rowing, and twists with 15 pound dumbbell/s.

Second round: 15:04 / 344 / 66rpms . . . and even a little less not bad. Felt good, too. That second round is always better than the first one. Maybe the best of the four, actually, as The Tired starts nipping in on the third round. ANYway . . . followed with . . . well, was going to follow with the rest of the LWs, but the dryer buzzed, so I did that instead. Next time.

Third round: 15:05 / 365 / 68rpms . . . and I take back every back thing I ever said about third round. This felt good . . . and I picked up another 21 rpms over the second round. Kind of tired now, though. Still . . . had enough pizzazz to get through the 15 / 10/ 5 rounds of LWs, so did that.

Fourth round: 17:04 / 393 / 67rpms. Did it . . . and with some pretty impressive numbers, too. 

It felt good to be back on the full schedule. But one thing I know: it's more important to have a pretty good week than it is to have a very good day. The Fat Struggle is won by weeks, not days.

Mmm-hmm.

Year 2, Week Four: Monday, 3/19/2018

Tough one today. I got halfway through and had a visitor, and it was about two hours before I could get back to exercising. I thought about just ditching it, but convinced myself to give it a shot, and ended up finishing the whole 62 Schwinn + HWs . . . which is particularly noteworthy in that it's been a few days since I did the HW routine, but I got through it without a lot of trouble.

Also did a post exercise weight and came up with 194 pounds. Which ain't great. But ain't terrible, either.

Year 2, Week Five: Tuesday, 3/20/2018

Aquaman & Stargate: Atlantis

Well, you know. You saw Justice League, right? How could I NOT have a massive man crush on Jason Momoa? So I did what any self-respecting, OCD nerd with a massive man crush would do: I checked IMDb to see what else Mr. Momoa had been in. Which is when Stargate: Atlantis  caught my eye. 

I'd been vaguely aware of the Stargate Universe for some time. I'd never actually watched any of the shows or movies, though. Nor was I even vaguely interested in seeing any of them. They looked really bad to me. Dorky. Goofy. Silly.

But hey, Jason Momoa. And besides, Atlantis. Best of all, the Louisville Free Public Library had the entire series on dvd. So I requested  the first season. 

I was disappointed to learn that JM wouldn't show up until Season 2, but I figured I'd get a running start, and put disc one of season one in anyway. And I was intrigued by the first episode.  There was evidence of a sense of humor in the writing, but it was also pretty compelling storytelling.  And there were several good characters. And there was Rachel Luttrell . . . who was kind of hot. (Quite hot, actually.) So I kept watching. Got slowed down a bit when Joe decided he wanted in, but I enjoyed his company enough to be okay with slowing down my roll. 

And now . . . we've just finished the third of five discs, and I realized today, after watching "The Defiant One," that I realky liked this show. So I'm still anxious for Jason Momoa to rear his lovely head, but I am grooving on this thing in and of and for itself now as well.

Hmmm. Maybe I should give that Stargate movie a look . . . . 

Black Panther

Black Panther has just opened . . . not even through the first weekend yet . . . and it's already earned $76 million, and it looks like it's going to make a whole lot more in the near future. And the (capacity) crowd that was there when I saw it was at least 50% black, and they seemed pretty pleased with it. So I guess it's just me. 

But I did not like this movie.

For one thing because I didn't think it was a very good movie.

But for a bigger and better reason, too. I thought it was a racist movie. Get this: Wakanda is the most technologically advanced society on the planet . . . but it is still ruled by a king . . . and that king defends his right to rule his people by engaging in mortal combat. Does he do this in a high tech colosseum, at least? No. He does it in a river. While his people stand around in tribal costumes and grunt and shriek. Many of them display bodily mutilations of one type or another. The message seemed very clear to me: no matter how advanced their civilization might become, these Africans were still just tribal warriors at their core.

Not to mention that the soundtrack is just fucking ridiculous. Tribal drums and howling voices.

And that, my friends, is some racist bullshit.

V-Day

I'm sick of.

I'm sick of it & I'm sick of it.

I'm sick of men using their power to intimidate and take advantage of women.

And I'm sick of the advertising industry turning women into cheap whores.

Case in point: here's a poster I saw in the Mall today:

And if that's still not obvious enough . . . 

This is not empowering women. This is not giving women control of their sexuality. (That's just liberal idiocy and bullshit.)

This is exploitation and degradation, and it is contributing to the misogyny which is blazing across our society every single fucking day now.

And there is a very real cost for this. 

Battered women. 

Murdered women. 

Abused women.

Did I mention that I'm sick of it?

Time to grow up, America.