Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Back in the Bayou. Here is some good reading:

Well I'm back on the job in Louisiana. Not much else to say about that.

Here is a good article on the fallacies of The Biggest Loser by Mark Sisson and his Website Mark's Daily Apple. For those not familiar with his site, I highly recommend it!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Home and About to Leave Again

As I'm getting everything around after our journey, here is a link to a good article from the Fitness Spotlight:

Get Bigger Muscles By Walking

Just a little something to show how the body building magazines are wrong as usual.

AND!!! Michael Pollan wrote an OpEd on Health Care in the New York times. I Love his style of writing and his books are definitely worth the read.

Michael Pollan NY Times

I'll be posting pictures soon, but i have some things to take care of first. My lawn looks like a savanna, I need to keep up some Navy Reserve training, my dog misses me, and I need to spend some time with mother ocean and mother to be before I head Back to the Bayou. Have a great weekend.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Sympathy Weight is NO Joke; or Pee-Yew, who Fartlek'd?

Pregnancy is an amazing process. The woman's body transforms itself in to a walking, talking, human factory -- completely rerouting every nutrient, calorie, and molecule of her being into the formation of a new life: Nature's Perfect Parasite. I personally find this part to be the most intriguing. All of this transformation happens on a deeper, evolutionary level. Its all involuntary. She doesn't know why its happening, other than the fact she's carrying a baby, its just nature; the same way the human race has been reproducing since the beginning of our sense of time. Amazing.
In the same regards, Dads-to-be have been caring for the womenfolk, and getting fat for just about the same time. Its definitely worse now than in caveman times, since we're aren't out with the boys for weeks chasing down woolly mammoths to throw on the grill, or running from sabre-tooth tigers while our ladies are growing the tribe. Men now get caught in the house eat, sleep, complain, repeat cycle along with their ladies. As the mommies put on baby weight, so do the daddies. This sucks. I have managed to put back on the weight i started to lose when i first discovered Crossfit. I work-out when I am on the job, but vacationing has been rough on the slim-down front. I am in full-on sympathy weight mode.
The biggest speed bump in a diet, and in my opinion, the reason diets don't usually work for long-term results, is the fact you end being the "weird guy on some weird diet," and are alienating yourself from your friends and loved ones. My wife has a Get-Out-o-Jail-Free card on most things. I don't like it when she goes crazy on the junk food when I'm gone, but its better than her starving our little cinnamon bun. When I'm home, I end up eating when she eats. Even if I don't want to, I always end up eating something. Its also harder to find the time to work out. I can get a run in here and there, i go surfing o skating when i can, but regularity is a thing of the past, and I am making the assumption its not coming back anytime soon when the little one arrives. Either way, i'm getting bigger too. Screw that.

I decided to fight off the vacation-crap-eating-hangover today with a run in my Brother-in-Law's neighborhood today. I haven't ran enough in the past few weeks, and my body is thanking me now. However, running on inclines for the first time since I lived in Ohio combined with the afore mentioned "Daddy Belly" left me gassed and nauseous WAY too early. I had a 2.3 mile route planned, but cut it down to just under 2. I was fighting off pukie after the first hill. This caused me to run an unplanned Fartlek style shuttle run. It definitely wasn't fast, and it wasn't very pretty, but i got off the couch, and got my ass moving again. Now I just need to dial in my diet again, and let the belly fall off. As much as I don't want to, I will have to go on a modified zone diet as soon as we get back.

As a cool down, I got to do a little niece workout using lunges and squats. They didn't know why I was doing it, but they had fun trying it too!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Attack of the Blog: A Synopsis of the Last 3 Months

I know I have been in Blog Hibernation as of late, but my life has taken some exciting new turns while not having a computer. I'll do my best to put the past few months together into a coherent synopsis for you.
--July: My wife and Unvailed the big secret: WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!! I am so excited and unprepared, I don't know what to do. More of this later.
At the same time all this is happening, I start my New Job with VIH Cougar Helicopters as a Rescue Specialist. The plan was to start in September, so I had to withdraw from the last two classes in the way of my B.S. I'm frustrated and excited. The job is a chance of a lifetime. All my US Navy Rescue Swimmer buddies and I hear about these jobs, but never hear about anyone having them. Somehow, i was in the right place and the right time leading to an interview, leading to a job. Stoked. VIH Cougar


The job requirs me to travel, fly in Helicopters, jump out every so often, and really help people. My cup of tea... or, my quad shot of espresso. There are more differences in the Cougar version of Search and Rescue that I am grappling with, but over-all I can't complain. A very good way to make a living. The biggest Suck is being gone from my walking oven baking my little cinnamon bun. I fly out of Galliano, LA an hour south of the Big Easy, DEEP in "Da Bayou". Our contracts are with the major Oil companies in the oil patch, so we fly out to the Oil Rigs in the gulf, mostly. There is more to it than that, but you get the idea. I am on call for a couple of weeks, then I fly home.

--August Big news... Baby Fout! My wife is currently 22 weeks pregnant with our first. I have been reading daddy books to try and prepare me for the biggest adventure of all: Daddyhood. Even with all the lifesaving and flying and globetrotting, rearing a new life will be the most challenging and (hopefully) responsible thing I have ever attempted -- compunded by the fact ITS gonna be a GIRL!!! The Radar Myth Confirmed*. We had our second Ultrasound -- The cool one where they tell you the sex of the baby. I don't have an uploaded picture, but she is definitely a SHE. And for those waiting to ask, yes, we have a name. No, I won't tell you. It is a surprise. Deal.

--September After a surprise schedule change, I ended up with 3 weeks off this month. I go back to Louisiana at the end of the month, so we are taking full advantage of this and visiting family in Ohio and Mississipi. We are still able to travel at this point, and I don't think I will be able to during the holidays since I don't know my schedule yet, and will most likely be working Thanksgiving
and Christmas. I hope to be able to work all of January as well to make up for time I will be taking off in February wen the Baby pops out. So we are traveling!
We drove up to Ohio first; a drive I have made a bajillion and a half times it seems. Mama is still nervous in the mountains. We had a chance to see My Parents, my little brothers, go to the OSU/ USC football game(!), do a little Kayaking, and see my Grandmothers. It was a very nice trip, and being it has been over a year since I had been up there, a very good chance to go. We also had a chnce to stop at an Amish country store. They make some of the best food on the planet from the freshest ingredients by hand. Just like Great Grandma used to make. Its the only White Bread I don't feel bad eating. A slice of my childhood. (The store is just up the road from the church camp we went to as kids; we would stop every summer.)

We cruised on down south to visit Family in Mississippi. Since travel takes longer with an expectant mother, we decided to stop in NashVegas for the halfway point. I love Nashville. We went down to music row to listen to some good unadulterated country bands and get some grub. It was the first time I ever had a Burger with Hotdog chili sauce on it. It was a surprisingly awesome combo. Plus, when the chili falls off your burger onto your fries you get chili cheese fries. but, I difress. Nashville rules.

Now we're in Jackson, MS. Always a new adventure!

Monday, September 14, 2009

A Sad Day... But we still went to the game!



I'm still alive! I just haven't had a chance to update this thingie without a computer.

My loverly Wife and I found some tickets to the OSU vs. USC Football game on Saturday. Being she is 22 Weeks pregnant, we went sober. STILL an amazing time.

GO BUCKS!

The score wasn't fun, but I was nursing my throat back to health all day yesterday.

Backdated updates to follow.