Updates [Part 3.1]

ok, I lied....but not intentionally. I said this update would be about the fence but I forgot to look for the pictures. Instead I happen to have the pictures about the sandbox project ready!

The sandbox project

I seem to recall it starting on a whim...or maybe I was just strolling through Home Depot. I seem to recall having a purpose while I was at Home Depot...but then I always do when I am looking at all the projects I can do and then talk myself out of cause I know I'll never finish it.

I remember looking to my left and seeing the landscaping timbers on sale for $1.50 as they had been damaged by the rain. $15.00 later I have the timbers, four long lag bolts, and landscaping screen (keeps soil in but lets water out) and I am out in the garden area looking at sand.

I bought five bags of sand and I ended up leaving Home Depot with a $50 receipt. To be frank its really all a blur. I remember the wife being slightly......justly....miffed at me.

30 minutes later I have all the timber cut and I am installing the lag bolts on all the corners. The landscaping screen has been sandwiched into the timbers as the "bottom" of the sandbox.

Then came time to empty the five bags of sand into the sandbox. Then shortly after came the immense disappointment when I realized that five bags of sand is woefully inadequate to fill my sand box. Shortly after that I realized that it would take over $200 bucks to get enough sand in the sandbox if I buy it all from Home Depot.

Praise be the Craigslist....mercy by thy name! I found some guy giving away a mountain of sand nay just a few days after the christening of the sandbox. The sand kind of like poo but a good hose bath and about an hours worth of work and the kids have a full stock sandbox. Perfect for the wife to stick them in while she reads her Vampire books (Twilight?) and drinks her Mexican martinis

Updates [Part 3.0]

So another major update that I have not blogged about (at least I don't think I have) is the front fence, the sandbox, the birdhouse, the hole in the front yard, the front retaining wall, adding a window to the tool shed, the middle property fence, the fence post storage rack, and the new old lawn mower.

I have pictures for these so I pull those projects into their own posting. Just wanted to plant a seed for you guys to come back and check on the posts. I'll work towards posting the front fence post tomorrow

Sprained wrist

About three weeks ago I managed to sprain my wrist. We were doing some grappling work at the Krav studio and the night I hurt my wrist I had partnered up with Elana. She is pretty aggressive and goes full gusto into all the moves, which is something I like from any partner. However that night she moved to fast for me to properly prepare myself for a top mount reversal.

A top mount is where the defender is on his or her back and that attacker is literally sitting on their [the defenders] stomach. The reversal part comes into play when the defender traps one of the attackers feet and, depending on the attack, bucks the attack of their [the attackers] base (from sitting) and on to their [the attackers] hands to re-base, usually.

It is at that point that the attacker, when in practice, should turn their hand(s) from palm on the mat to back of hand on the mat. As the next part of the reversal comes when the defender traps the hand that they are going to flip on. If you have your palm on the mat then all your weight is on your wrist...while turning....and you palm is great for traction...so your hand gets stuck and you end up breaking it or screaming loud enough so that you stop mid-way through and only sprain it.

When you do this move right in training then you [the attacker] literally spin your backhand-to-mat and everything is fine and dandy.

To make matters worse...I kept going. My wrist didn't hurt initially, I mean except from the sharp pain from when it happened. About a minute later it went away and I kept going. Later that night I was doing some bag work and I managed to roll my wrist on a right jab. It was then that I knew I did some damage is it did not stop hurting. It was a bad night for me and it put me out of Krav for about three weeks now. I am dying to jump back in!

In summary: Elana is a warrior beast woman and really has no concept of scaling back....which like I said is a good thing....usually. She trains like she fights and that means someone is eventually going to get hurt...which is expected. Just wish it was someone else.

My milkshake is better than yours

I.....I um....well I had to share this. I can't justify it. I would say its work safe but if someone you respected saw you watching this it could set your career back.

Updates [Part Two]

Loosing weight

I've lost about 20 pounds since February through exercise only. I know if I had a 80/20 diet of 80% vegetables and 20% lean meats (chicken, turkey, fish) that I could shed another 20 pounds. However budget constraints at the moment are making their presence known. And I have blogged about this before.

The update is my BMI gains! I started with a 31.5 Body Mass Index......which is fat. I think it losely translate to 31.5% of your body is FAT. I am happy to report that I am now sitting on a 21.5% Body Mass Index! YEAH! I lost 10% of my body fat! I lost 1/3 of my starting body fat weight!

While my total body weight may be holding at 180 it does mean that I am converting the lighter fat into heavier muscle. The mirror and the wife doesn't lie. Everyone has noticed muscles popping out and my tummy shrinking! I can even see my........feet again.

Updates [Part One]

Its been a rough couple of months and my post count reflects that. Once an avid poster, my post count has slowed to a trickle. I have had a lot going on recently that took so much of my time that I either did not have time to post or I simply did not want to.

The first thing I have been doing in my free time is EVE online. EVE is a video game that you log into and play with other people from around the world. Its a game that is based in a futuristic space empire type setting. You have four main races/empires fighting for domination. Its a game I played many years ago when it first went to beta testing.

Back then I had started my own corporation (guild) called Atlas Incorporated. We grew quickly and became one of the top corporations in the game. It was thanks to my ex-wife that I had to quit the game and give it all up. It was something that nagged at me for years. So about three months ago I decided to give it another go and try to recreate what I had lost.

Three months ago I started a new corporation (new character as well) and started building it up. Taking lessons learned from the first time plus lessons learned in real life and putting them to application. We actually grew very very quickly and wildly successful. We were building things for the in-game market, turning a nice profit, mining low security space, developing players, etc.

Things started to turn downhill about a month ago. To make a long story short, the economy is bad, I have to figure out how many people are going to lose their jobs, I can't run a video game guild and do that at the same time. I asked a friend to help me run the corp, he sucked at it and blamed me. Everyone believed him and left my corp for his newly formed corp.

Now there is a lot more to this short story. But it did teach me something...if you are going to build an organization of any kind, plan the infrastructure well in advance. The second thing I learned was that when it comes to video games I really need something I can pick up and drop down when I need too. EVE online is not one of those games. As such, I am selling my account in hopes that some pale faced kid in his mothers basement will give me his paycheck from the video store.