Head-dibs

Being refreshed with some good R&R but today's WOD was different. Learned a new move today called the Death March. Think: Walking Dead(lifts) Miss my training partners, that's for sure. Plugging away at it though. One WOD at a time. A. 3x Dumbbell Push Press x 8-10 reps (35#) Rest 45 seconds Death March x 20 steps (35#) Rest 45 seconds Side Plank x 45 seconds each side Rest 45 seconds B. AMRAP 10 10 Wall Ball Shots 10 Burpees

Nice day out. Feels like Springtime! Planted re-started lettuce and celery this morning , then went to training in the garage, which I deep cleaned  on Monday--more room for training! So that my training brethren know I'm not just sitting around binge watching Netflix all day (just in the evening), here's today's WOD (ok, so I'm a day behind--but I cleaned my garage--get it? "Cleaned"? It's a weight lifting joke . . . never-mind) . . . A. Four sets of: Romanian Deadlift x 6 reps (185#) Rest 60 seconds Single-Arm Dumbbell Press x 8 reps each (35#) Rest 60 seconds 100-Meter Suitcase Carry + Waiter’s Carry (35#) (hold a DB at side in suitcase carry, and another DB overhead in waiter’s carry) Rest 60 seconds B. AMRAP 9 12 Kettlebell Swings (35#) 9 Goblet Squats (35#) 6 Burpees

And boy are they happy! See, just get the seeds in the ground and watch em' grow.

(ht: Open Culture) " Matthew Might , a computer science professor at the University of Utah, writes: 'Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is. It's hard to describe it in words. So, I use pictures.' In his Illustrated Guide to the PhD , Professor Might creates a visual narrative that puts the daunting degree into perspective. Anyone who has already pursued a Ph.D. will see the wisdom in it. (Or at least I did.) And young, aspiring academics would be wise to pay it heed." Find the Illustrated Guide here .

Got a late start to the garden this year but we are just now beginning to enjoy the fruits of our labor. It's hard work getting the soil turned at the start, but that's the hardest part--and once it's done, it's done! Get the seeds in the ground and the rest goes according to design. Cukes are still taking their time as are the peppers. Saw tiny watermelons on the vine--about the size of a pill. Unmistakable dark and light stripes--they look so cool! Tomatoes are on the way. Celery is growing slow. Hoping to draw squirrels away from the tomatoes with the celery. This nice little zucchini harvest means Italian Steak for Father's Day! Yay!

FIRST, A MATTER OF INTEREST  (at least I think it's interesting) Recently reading Benjamin Franklin's autobiography, I remembered that I had bound in one volume a copy of his works that include writings from Boston and London (1722-1726), Philadelphia (1726-1757), London (1757-1775), Paris (1776-1785), Philadelphia (1785-1790), Poor Richards Almanac (1733-1758) and of course, The Autobiography. Link Source As I thumbed through the volume I discovered a great disparity of difference between the Barnes and Noble version I was reading and The Library Of America publication I now held in my hands. With no comment from the editors or publishers, I found large and inexplicable omissions in the B & N text. I was disappointed. Performing some line-by-line and page-by-page comparisons, I noticed the language was lightly softened for the modern reader, but could not shake the disappointment of feeling deceived by the publisher making such changes without commentary. As ...

One of my favorite authors is the Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn (I made mention of him in yesterday's post ). I was first exposed to his writing as a freshman in high-school and was so captivated by the imagery he conveyed that I read all three volumes of his Gulag Archipelago . Solzhenitsyn is perhaps one of the most powerful writers of our age, though it seems that age is passing. Suddenly this truth becomes an illustration of the point that stands out to me today: the will to live. Solzhenitsyn was a fighter. He stood for he stood for truth and human dignity in the face of oppressive Communism. He personally demonstrated the will to live by withstanding years of imprisonment and persecution as well as surviving an assassination attempt by poisoning in 1971. This short prose-poem by Solzhenitsyn is a near-perfect picture that captures the kind of indomitable spirit he displayed, a symbol of strength we are hard-pressed to find today. "We were sawing firewo...

The title by no means is unique to me or The Beatles, sorry to say. I'm of the persuasion that the hit 1967 song was inspired by the short book "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn published in 1962. But I could be wrong. A gripping book, by the way. A short read but deeply moving, full of deep, beautiful and tragic thoughts: But I'm taking the long way 'round to this post. My intention is to give a kind of a snapshot of a typical week-day in my own life. It's a journal post, after all.  5:45 a.m . Wake up, fall out of bed, find coffee. Should be brewed and waiting. 6:00 a.m. Shower, get dressed. Drag the comb across my head. 6:15 a.m. Fix breakfast, get lunch together, keep waking up. 7:15 a.m. Leave the house. 8:00 a.m. Arrive at the University 8:05 a.m. Start coffee (most mornings), eat breakfast and get all systems booted up. 8:10 or :15 a.m. Start workday: e-mails, phone calls, so-forth and what-not 8...

The guys over at The Art of Manliness posted this collection of " 20 Classic Poems Every Man Should Read ."  I believe the primary reason poetry remains a timeless effective literary device in all cultures for the simple reason that many things are best said in through poetry; in other words, narrative cannot convey the depth of meaning mastered by poetry. Besides, poetry keeps a guy from getting calloused over and keeps him feeling. I'm glad to recall how a few of these poems were introduced into my own life, even memorized at a very young age. What follows are a few comments on a handful of personally significant poems from the list (above) along with a few choice lines. Ulysses (Tennyson):   life is for the living, so live it to the full.  "I cannot rest from travel: I will drink life to the lees . . .  Come, my friends,‘T is not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds T...

Quick garden update: Zukes are coming in! Harvesting already! Cukes are happy too!

80 days is a long time for a 20-year-old to be on a ship, especially in 1728. Few actually “went along for the ride” as mere passengers on a vessel. There was an expectation that each person accomplish a measure of work while on board at the very least; regardless, there remains plenty of time for a young man to think. This is what Benjamin Franklin did on his return trip to Philadelphia from London--he thought. A common practice of Franklin’s time was for a man to construct a set of resolutions. The young Franklin came away from this return voyage with a short list of traits that ultimately became a list of virtues that he would practice until the age of 79, noting by his own admission that he often failed in his attempt though remained faithful to the spirit of the endeavor. As an older man he confessed that despite his shortcomings he felt he was far more happier having tried. In other words, he did not achieve the moral perfection expected from the virtues, but he found himsel...