http://my.greasy.com/stiva/ stiva's Blog en-us © 2010 Greasy.com All rights reserved. Fri, 30 Jul 2010 02:17:27 GMT 30 http://my.greasy.com/stiva/training_program_20090226.html I haven’t posted the program of exercises that I follow. I started a somewhat changed program this week, but it’s pretty similar to the previous one because it’s built on the big basic, compound exercises. According to the hard gainer philosophy, I should only be weight lifting once or twice a week, but have broken the work outs apart due to time. There’s no way I could squeeze in aerobic or ab work on the same day as lifting. Without having breaks during the week, I may have probl ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/training_program_20090226.html#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:23:12 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/sets_20090224.html This is all about weight training, so you may want to skip it... Last night was my first workout after taking a week off for work travel. I had been weight training since Dec without a break. The new weights are 90% of the latest numbers from before. I did one warm-up set at 75% of the new weight followed by two sets of eight (2×8) for most of the exercises and 2×15 for squats. Everything was relatively easy, except for squats, supposedly they are supposed to be easy at the beginning of ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/sets_20090224.html#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:20:22 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/update_20090221.html I didn’t post anything last week because I was taking the week off from weight training because it’s been several months since I started doing it and hadn’t taken a break yet and I was on travel for much of the week for work. I wrote "much of the week" because the trip was cut short due to a, um, problem with the equipment, so we came home early. An interesting part of the trip was that we were able to use our corporate partner’s corporate jet to fly the team and all the equipment. ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/update_20090221.html#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:18:41 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/keypad_20090215.html Ever since we bought our new cell phones, which was months ago, I have wondered about the keypad backlight feature. The there a setting for how long the keypad backlight stays on. I have it on "always". To me that means always, as in, it should always be on when flipped open, but it doesn't. It turns off once I place a call. Because it's winter and dark and dreary much of the time, when I'm finished with the call, I have to grope around trying to find the "end" key in the dark. In speakerp ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/keypad_20090215.html#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:47:05 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/working_20090215.html I'm supposed to work on reducing stress, but I often am trying to squeeze in working out between coming home from work and heading to pick up our daughter from after-school day care. The last few weeks have been busy at work too, preparing for a trip. Friday evening we three were planning to go out for Valentine’s, avoiding the day's rush. I was home an hour late, so I was wrestling with bailing the workout, doing one set only and asking the wife to do pick-up duty, or doing the usual tw ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/working_20090215.html#comments Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:39:11 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/snacks_20090201.html I went to the grocery store earlier today to get a few things. The place was packed. I was surprised when I walked past the chip and cracker aisle and saw ... not a whole lot. That aisle was hit pretty hard. That's when I realized what day it was today. I should have gone later when everyone would be at home with their TVs ... and snacks. http://my.greasy.com/stiva/snacks_20090201.html#comments Sun, 1 Feb 2009 23:20:27 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/locking_pencil_box_20090201.html I wrote a while back about the Kitty's classmates taking her things from her pencil box. After that we bought a locking one. This week she caught a boy trying to pick the lock with a scissors. The lock is very hard to work now. Takes a lot of maneuvering of the key to open it, sometimes, so it's basically broken. Dolly brought it to the attention of the teacher the next day. It turns out that there were two boys trying to break into and they are going to reimburse us for the cost of the bo ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/locking_pencil_box_20090201.html#comments Sun, 1 Feb 2009 18:20:14 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/snow_trip_20090201.html Last weekend we went out of town to the Big Bear area (Murphys / Arnold) for an "annual" snow cabin trip. We didn't go last year. As it was, we went late and arrived Sat afternoon. Dolly and Kitty went looking for snow for sledding, etc. I stayed at the house and caught up on some reading and talked with the others that had stayed behind too. It was snowing outside Sun morning. That's something don't see very often, so I found the camera and took a few shots. View out the window of the ren ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/snow_trip_20090201.html#comments Sun, 1 Feb 2009 18:15:28 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/20090120.html Another thing that happened on Sun afternoon was I went shopping for a new TV. We have had the old one for less than ten years. It was practically new. We don't have cable, so use the broadcast channels, which means we will have an issue next month because our (now) old TV only had an analog tuner. Almost a year ago we bought a new DVD recorder, which has a digital tuner, so the problem was partially solved. We had a choice: a new TV or a digital converter box. We thought about it for a wh ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/20090120.html#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:49:56 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/karate_exercise_20090120.html There was no karate class for the last two weeks of the year, but I haven't been back since. It's nice to be home in the evening and not rush out the door to get to the class. The class is also two hours and finishes between 2030 and 2045. I'm usually ready to get to bed and read by 2100, since I wake up at 0500 on work days. Even after a quick shower after class, I'm still a bit strung up from class and not ready to sleep. During the off period I also had some lab tests done and found tha ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/karate_exercise_20090120.html#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:25:08 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/tech_museum_20090120.html Mon we went to the Tech Museum in San Jose to see the Leonardo da Vinci exhibit. This is the last week. The weekends are not long enough. We got going late because we had another family over for dinner on Sun evening, then had to take my car in for a scheduled oil change, then had a list of things to do in the afternoon, so that limited the time at the museum. Kitty wanted to spend a little more time there, but I think it was okay. The Leonardo exhibit was boring for her, so she didn't muc ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/tech_museum_20090120.html#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:07:29 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/bulk_20090116.html A few people have commented about how I shouldn't bulk up but just use weights for fitness. Bones respond to the stresses placed on them. To attempt to build bone strength, they have to be stressed. To continue to stress them means increased weight. Increased weight leads to increased muscular strength and variable amounts of muscle growth. At my age and without the use of steroids, it is unlikely that I will become the next Dorian Yates. I would like to gain some muscular mass though. Eve ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/bulk_20090116.html#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:48:03 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/night_stand_20090115.html Besides the lamp, there are the following: - a copy of "Brawn" by Stuart McRobert (non-fiction - strength training) - a copy of "Sister of My Heart" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (novel) - the controller for my side of the electric blanket (for pre-heating) - a sleep mask (I like it dark to sleep) - in the winter, a small container of Eucerin (dry hands) http://my.greasy.com/stiva/night_stand_20090115.html#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:10:55 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/trash_furniture_20090114.html On Fri evening I looked behind our back fence to see how the weeds were growing to determine whether it was time to cut them. I saw an old entertainment center / bookcase behind the fence next to the fence gate to the apartment building next door. Argh. To Dolly and me, the piece of crap is from one of THOSE people: 1) there has been some moving in and out lately and 2) it was adjacent to the gate. The piece of furniture is particle board and has been out there a few weeks, at least. I don ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/trash_furniture_20090114.html#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:11:33 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/apple_laptop_20090113.html Taking the iPhone / iPod navigation concept to the laptop: New Apple Laptop http://my.greasy.com/stiva/apple_laptop_20090113.html#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 21:53:19 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/body_awareness_20090110.html Back when I was doing yoga regularly, one of the concepts talked about classes and in the books was being aware of what is going on in throughout the body during the poses. To feel the process. Now that I have not been doing yoga and starting to lift weights, I notice different things. In yoga body parts had various amounts of tension/relaxation in them and occupied space. In weight lifting, it's more of an adrenalin feeling, with muscles in some stage of being pumped up and blood rushing ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/body_awareness_20090110.html#comments Sat, 10 Jan 2009 18:08:05 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/thieves_20090110.html Kitty has a "pencil box" at school. One type of thing she has in there are animal, multi-part erasers. They have been disappearing or she sees them in the hands of other kids in her class. The others deny that they are hers, but they look the same. Hmmm. Other items have disappeared from her backpack too. She and Dolly have been discussing this. I don't see the need for much discussion. Get a little lock for the pencil box and the backpack and be done with it. http://my.greasy.com/stiva/thieves_20090110.html#comments Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:54:46 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/magnolia_mound_cottage_20090108.html Fri (2 Jan) morning we three went to Magnolia Mound plantation. It's a Creole (French mixed with the local Indian or Caribbean) cottage, which means it's a house raised up on (brick) posts. The San Francisco plantation was too, but had a lower story of rooms down there. In the case of that one, those rooms might flood, but the real living space was upstairs. Magnolia Mound is just north of the LSU campus and it and its outlying buildings are built on a mound, so out of the Mississippi floo ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/magnolia_mound_cottage_20090108.html#comments Thu, 8 Jan 2009 20:43:45 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/oak_alley_pictures_20090104.html After SF, we visited Oak Alley. The approach to Oak Alley is also from the rear. The house is pale pink, not white. Again, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we could from the veranda. This is the view from the front of the house toward the river. That hill in the distance is the levee. Front of Oak Alley. This is the front approach to the house. The bricks were only added a few years ago, and there was formerly only the raised walkway or drive. The oaks were planted about a h ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/oak_alley_pictures_20090104.html#comments Mon, 5 Jan 2009 01:40:06 GMT http://my.greasy.com/stiva/san_francisco_plantation_pictures.html The entrance to the San Francisco plantation house (which has nothing to do with the city) brings you into the rear of the house. This is the view of the house as it's approached from the parking area. The back door, up close. We weren't supposed to take pictures inside, so I only have one of the dining room. It's hard to see, but the room is one of several in the house with a painted ceiling. They don't have complex moldings on the ceilings, but have painted them to look like they are. Th ... http://my.greasy.com/stiva/san_francisco_plantation_pictures.html#comments Mon, 5 Jan 2009 01:29:36 GMT