Today, my dad handed me a piece of paper, from my mom. It was a page torn from a magazine. (Click the image below for a larger view.)
It took me a bit to figure out what, exactly she was trying to say. My mind raced. Does she know something I don’t? Is she trying to tell me something?
Fortunately, on the flip side of this page is a recipe for some awesome-looking vegetarian chili, which is what she really wanted me to get.
I hope.
Biking and Bears
Today I took a bike ride with a friend on my lunch break. We stuck mainly to a class 2 and class 3 road, although we did a little off-roading on a newly-cut driveway (still very fresh). It was great to get out on my bike on my lunch break, something I haven’t done in years.
While we were returning, on the steepest part of our uphill climb, I heard a loud noise to our left. I looked and saw not one, but three bear cubs between 30-40 feet from us. They were running on what appeared to be an intercept course, so I yelled for us to stop. Fortunately, said bears were running toward the nearest pine trees, which they scaled with amazing speed! Once I realized they were cubs, and they weren’t a threat, we moved as fast as we could to get out of there, just in case mama bear was around. Given that thought, the rest of the hill went down pretty quickly!
This is not the first time I’ve encountered bears while biking, but they were definitely a lot closer to civilization this time. It makes me a bit scared, as I don’t like thinking that they need to be coming this close to humans for food. Hopefully they were just kids getting into trouble without mama’s permission.
40th Anniversary of Osensei Morihei Ueshiba's Passing
On April 26, 1969, Morihei Ueshiba, best known as the Founder of Aikido and referred to by aikidoka as? ?sensei (“Great Teacher”) and , died at the age of 85. ?sensei’s legacy lives on today, as Aikido is practiced around the world, with his students and their students continuing to hand down his teachings.
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackelope is Out, and I'm Running Xubuntu
Get it while it’s hot!
I did a clean install of the Xubuntu Jaunty Jackelope release candidate last night, and it went very smoothly.?The install ?was quick and easy, and I like the themes and default apps that come with Xubuntu.?On the small screen and limited hardware, I am liking XFCE more than GNOME, which seems bloated by comparison.
This morning I did an apt-get upgrade, which updated 70 packages, and that was it.?
I haven’t yet gotten Compiz working (because I can’t find a button to turn on desktop effects… lame, I know), and it’s taking me a little time to find thinks in locations other than where I expect them to be, but that seems to happen any time I try a new ?remix / respin / distro / desktop, so I won’t hold that against it.
Push Ups Progress, or Lack Thereof
Okay, this push-ups thing is getting on my nerves. Last night, prior to Aikido, I tried, and failed, to do a single push up. Apparently I was still really sore from push ups on Saturday and weapons class that morning, so I decided to do them again today.
I restarted week 4, and could barely finish day 1. I never claimed to be brilliant, but somewhere, I think, there’s a problem with the “progress” I’m making.
100 Push Ups, W4D2(r2), FAIL
Darnitall! I was unable, again, to get through day two. I failed out on the fourth set of 25. ARGH. I am sick of starting over! One possible reason is that I had sword class this morning, which may have drained some of my upper body strength.
On the sit-ups front, week 3, day1 went much more smoothly, and I banged them out with relative ease, which is to say, barely.
Book: The Mindbody Prescription
At the suggestion of one of my online friends/fans, Forkmantis, I just finished reading The Mindbody Prescription: Healing the Body, Healing the Pain
100 Push Ups Wk4(r2) Day 1, 200 Sit Ups Wk3(r2) Initial
Okay, I’m starting to confuse even myself with this, but suffice to say I’m back on track, albeit a bit behind, on my push ups AND now back with the sit ups again!
So last night, I restarted Week 4 of the push ups, doing sets of 21, 25, 21, 21, and 25, and then followed it up with an initial test of sit ups, ending at 45. “More than 30” was all I needed to do to get into Week 3, so I’ll start there maybe today at lunch time.
Are you doing sit ups or push ups too? Let me know!
100 Push Ups, Week 4, Round 2!
I totally lost track of where I was, and have not been keeping up with the push ups plan. So I’m restarting Week 4 after doing an endurance test where I ended with 33. I guess I shouldn’t feel too badly about that, since I started with 20. Oh well. Here we go, again!
Hundred Push Uhhh…
So, I backslid. I admit it. I’m back down Week 4 Day 2 after being up to Day 3 and not being able to hack it. Darnitall.