So this week I decided to try the Beach Body Fat Burning Express (FBE) Diet and Exercise routine and failed miserably.
FBE is pretty simple, it’s a low calorie no carb diet plan that you follow for six days while you complete the FBE Aerobics routine. The aerobics were tough, a lot of lower body and core work, with squats, lunges, and yoga. It was tough but doable.
The failure came on the part of the diet. I was consuming practically 0 carbs and only about 800 to 900 calories a day. I stuck to this for two days and then my body said “I’ve had enough” and crapped out on me. I suppose I broke the first rule of Exercise Club, I talked about Exercise Club. Oh wait, I mean I didn’t talk to my physician before starting the diet. I think I just went too low on the food. I was worn out and sick physically and didn’t work out for two days and missed a day of work. I was broken mentally, I was being told by my body I needed to eat and at first I tried making good decisions, a piece of chicken, some string cheese, but then all hell broke loose. I was physically and mentally exhausted and didn’t want to get out of bed so I ordered food and gorged. I ate burgers, pizza, and wings and washed it all down with 72 oz of cola. That’s over half a gallon of soda. I had failed and it was an Epic Fail.
This was only mid-week so I made some decisions. I was disgusted with myself for failing so dramatically, but instead of turning around and going to more food for comfort, I looked at what had happened and decided to go back to the diet I had been following previously.
Unfortunately the rest of the week didn’t go well either. My daughter ended up with the flu. This provided some long nights and skipped workouts. Once my daughter was able to stomach some food again, no one really felt like cooking so it also resulted in a trip to a fast food establishment. Truth be told, I didn’t pick the best of meal options then either.
So here I am, getting back on task and still moving towards my goal. I haven’t had a cigarette for 2 weeks now. I stop consuming caffeine by 7 pm. I consume about 1200 calories on a good (sticking to the diet) day without feeling hungry. My energy is up, my sleep is good. I naturally wake up at about 5:30 am every day. My life is getting better and I’m getting healthier.
The weigh-in and Fitness test. I only lost .2 lbs this week, which is kind of depressing but it doesn’t mean I’ll quit, it just means I need to refocus. Overall I’ve still lost over 10 lbs and that isn’t depressing so I have to look at the big picture. My fat % dropped by 2% and my waist dropped 2 inches. Both of my arms grew by an in which isn’t bad either.
Now for the fitness test, I still couldn’t do a pull-up and I did about half a pushup. I was able to do 10 In & Outs, which could have been more but my knees where hurting, and I increased my curls by 4, which also could have been higher but I gave in at 11 instead of going to muscle failure. I gained 2 inches on my leap and 3 seconds on my wall squat, so slight improvement in almost all areas. The major differences I found where in my Heart Rate test, I had a lower heart rate after 1 min of Jumping Jacks than I did last time but it didn’t cool off as fast as before. The main difference is I pushed myself a lot harder for this test, I’m surprised how difficult 1 min of jumping jacks had been last month.
1/2/12 Weigh-in
Weight – 350.2 Lbs
Fat % - 44.4
Measurement Inches
Chest - 53
Waist - 54
Right Arm - 16.5
Left Arm - 16
Hips – 52.5
Right Thigh - 31
Left Thigh - 31
Fitness Test Resting Heart Rate 62 bpm
Pullups 0
Pushups 0
In & Outs 4
Curls 7/Arm 30 lbs
Vertical Leap 12"
Toe Touch -9.5"
Wall Squat 33 sec
Heart Rate Max 144 bpm
1 min 100 bpm
2 min 80 bpm
3 min 76 bpm
4 min 72 bpm
1/29/12 Weigh-in
Weight – 339.6 Lbs
Fat % - 42.2
Measurement Inches
Chest - 53
Waist - 52
Right Arm - 17.5
Left Arm - 17
Hips - 52
Right Thigh - 31
Left Thigh - 31
Fitness Test Resting Heart Rate 64 bpm
Pullups 0
Pushups 0
In & Outs 10
Curls 11/Arm 30 lbs
Vertical Leap 14"
Toe Touch -9.5"
Wall Squat 36 sec
Heart Rate Max 138 bpm
1 min 112 bpm
2 min 100 bpm
3 min 98 bpm
4 min 92 bpm
After some suggestions from friends, I've decided to start posting an "audio blog" about my story, "The Guardian Legend" (or :"Legend of the Guardian", or various derivatives). It's still under development, as I try to refine my writing style.
I started recording the first chapter. After some irritations of dealing with Audacity (my audio recording software), I found out some things about it. First, while the heart of the story is undoubtedly good (at least that's what others have said after reading), it's... well, lacking. As soon as I start reading it out loud, I find it lacking something. The words jumble together, and it sorta feels... like a "B" movie.
But not a BAD "B" movie, but one that has potential. Like it's lacking good special effects... instead of seeing an awe-inspiring helm of a next-generation spaceship, you see a really tiny corner of it, where a great actor is using something that vaguely looks like one of the computer panels from NASA, back when they launched Apollo 13.
Anyway, I have to figure some way of writing my story so it's entertaining. The underlying actions are interesting, the idea of what's happening is good... but the way it's written is just... well, it's bad. I can tell that some of the writing is a few decades old. Yuck.
So how do I write it? Somehow, I've gotta find a writing style that matches how I tell stories. As I remember it, people reading the story weren't as thrilled as the people that I told the story. Because I really get into it when I'm telling the story, but somehow that just gets lost in the written part... ugh.
Anyway, this entry is just an appetizer. I'm working on the audio blog, but there's a bit of work left to do. Stay tuned!
I've got a lot of code-stuff I'm working on. It seems like Darkman is going to start helping, at some point (instead of just continuously asking why I'm not using X or Y), which will be good... but I need goals.
The major goal at this point is getting CS-Project version 2.0 off the ground. Version 1 is okay, though it's very stale, not very web-two-point-oh-ish, and generally kinda clunky. And the last version, v1.1.5, was released in the middle part of '08, which is quickly becoming more like four years ago. FOUR YEARS.
Okay, so the big goal is to have a new release of CS-Project. There are a lot of libraries that have been built to help out, but I need something short-term to get me off & running. So, here goes:
Dynamic SQL creation (building the entire statement dynamically) with proper parameter cleansing
cs-content/cs_globalFunctions has this in the form of string_from_array()
not SQL-specific
cleaning gets weird, usually too invasive
special statements don't work ("field >= 100", "field LIKE '%thing%'")
USES
building dynamic SQL
handling complex joins & such
BECAUSE I HATE DUPLICATING CODE!!!
proper authentication tokens
cs-webapplibs/cs_authToken does this
hashing might be too weak
needs documentation
USES
"lost password" requests
API keys
URL or path-based permissions
cs-webapplibs/cs_genericPermission does this
not tested very well
read/write/execute settings not stored nicely (should use a bitmask instead of lots of columns with true/false values)
needs an interface
USES
setting who can access a given page
things like a CMS could use it...
Web-based Content Management
cs-cms (the whole library) will eventually do this
based on cs-blogger
needs a good WYSIWYG editor
needs database schema & stuff
based on how CS-Content works
USES
CrazedSanity.com could use it (and BuzzKill.org, and CS-Project.com, and...)
CS-Project could use it for project-based "info" pages
Okay, there's a good list. Now I'm off to figure out how to accomplish that.
Due to the laws of physics and for the good of the space-time continuum, I am only allowed to remember small, usually disconnected fragments at any one given time.
CrazedSanity has had a much-needed update, and we're now at version 5.3.3... after a few problems. I doubt much of anybody would have seen the problem.
After making some visual changes, I also changed some configuration things. In the process, I screwed up some connection information for the database, so the live site was trying to connect to a non-existent machine (my test machine). So I did a couple of things to help avoid it in the future.
Oh, and I also pointed the live site to a test database. So some out-dated blogs and data were displayed. Not a big deal, fixed it within an hour or two.
On the GOOD side, I've updated the main page to also show the most recent 5 entries for each person's blog. I noticed a while ago that I'd missed some entries because I was only looking on the main page & apparently missed a day from Prophet, so when he updated the next day, I only saw the most recent.
I'm working on other changes as well. Some other changes as well, such as:
retrieving HTML chunks from CS to load on your website
hits tracker changes
Ajax!
and more
Stay tuned! If you're really interested, send me an email or comment on this post.
This is the "most current" page for Slaughterstock. I'll try to keep it updated every year, so you should be able to just bookmark this page to keep current.
NOTICE: The location AND DATE for Slaughterstock HAS CHANGED due to flooding, see the "Location" and "Date" sections.
Slaughterstock 2011 is Coming...
-- [DATE] --
The date is now officially Saturday, July 30th. I believe you may show up the day before, though I'm not completely certain, as I am no longer in charge of the location (see the "Location" section
-- [RULES] --
No drugs.
We're not responsible for your accidents.
No minors (miners are still okay).
No fighting.
BYOB (ABSFM) -- Bring Your Own Beer (And Bring Some For Me)
Don't drink and drive.
If it's not yours, don't mess with it.
Clean up after yourself.
Have a good time.
I reserve the right to kick out anybody without any reason whatsoever. I reserve the right to do whatever I want whenever I want for whatever reason I want. If you're a designated driver, let me know and I'll try to provide some pop or whatever--provided I'm not already intoxicated. ;)
I will not be allowing people into my house by default, though I may make exceptions on an as-needed basis. If you gotta go to the bathroom, find a tree or something and bring TP... I might rent a port-o-potty if there's enough in attendance, but it hasn't really been a problem in the past... but there isn't really a hard-and-fast rule about it, so talk to me first.
Don't make a mess. I'll have a garbage receptacle nearby, and the fire works for most things, but glass and aluminum don't burn and are a pain to cleanup. We're all there to have a good time, so don't do stuff that will make it unpleasant for me or anyone else afterward.
-- [LOCATION] --
The location has been changed temporarily to Finley, ND. Contact me (SlaughterSt0ck - at - CrazedSanity - dot - com) about it; if you know Prophet, you can talk to him as well.
-- [MUSIC] --
BANDS: I haven't invited any. I don't forsee myself inviting any to play. If you're in a band and you want to play, bring your own stuff (power shouldn't be a problem, but you should bring a generator if you have one, 'cuz that's a lot of extension cables). There won't be a stage unless someone brings one. Loud stuff stops at 10pm so neighbors can sleep. I gots no monies, so any band that is thinking of or actually decides to play is doing so for free--and if you invite crazy, disruptive, or otherwise unsavory folk, I reserve the right to kick 'em to the curb (if we had one).
MUSIC: I've got plenty available in MP3, so I'll probably just plug a stereo into my laptop and let Amarok amaze everyone with it's totally awesome randomization capabilities (hrmm... I wonder how long it will take to build a database of 45,000 songs).
-- [BURNINATION] --
There will be a bonfire as usual, weather permitting. In the event that weather isn't permitting... well, I don't know. The soon-to-be-traditional Failure Burning (burning something that's failed you or something that symbolizes failure) is a go, weather permitting again.
Review Surely someone is having a laugh. Having read nothing but five-star reviews of this luxury notebook on other sources, I find myself surprised to be staring at a four-star product on my desk. Four stars is pretty good, you know, but that’s one less than five.…
Microsoft's man rallying developers and partners to buy into Windows Phone is reportedly jumping ship to help push Amazon's cross-platform Kindle push.…
Posted by Timothy Prickett Morgan on 2012-02-06 05:14:12
Rise in the East and Latin America
If you were expecting for IT spending to go up this year and for new projects to get going – and perhaps to get a pay raise – the consensus is building that this is not going to happen. That's the bad news. The good news would seem to be that instead of being asked to do more with less, IT shops will be asked to do a lot more with a tiny bit more dough. But it's not that simple, so don't jump to conclusions.…
Service could be set for greater expansion in the region
Micro-blogging phenomenon Twitter is stepping up its efforts at international expansion and has pinched a senior Google executive in a clear sign the company could be looking to target Asia in the coming months.…
MojoKid writes "There's a new tablet in town called the Spark. The Linux-driven tablet, based on the Zenithink C71 and KDE was unveiled by developer Aaron Seigo recently. The tablet will be available for pre-order this week and will start shipping worldwide in May. In terms of specifications, the 7-inch (800x480) multi-touch slate will run a 1GHz AMLogic ARM processor and Mali-400 GPU, sport 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage (with a microSD slot for expandability), 802/11b/g WiFi, a pair of USB ports, a front-facing 1.3MP webcam, and an audio jack. The UI of choice is Plasma Active and there will apparently be a content store where developers can peddle their wares and users can snag software."
Posted by Brid-Aine Parnell on 2012-02-06 04:17:03
'Shieldcrocs' mingled with dinosaurs
Bone-bothering US boffins have identified a new species of prehistoric crocodile, nicknamed "Shieldcroc" because of a flat ornamental skin shield on its ginormous head.…
Motorola Mobility has admitted that some refurbished Xoom tablets were sent out to their new owners with previous users' data still present in the gadgets' memory banks.…
Not content with almost total domination in Western markets, social networking behemoth Facebook could be planning an assault on China if it can just do a deal with the authorities there, its latest regulatory filing has revealed.…
A leading GP has declared that the general public are too rude about doctors on the internet in a complaint that may amuse those of us more familiar with the culture of "Internet feedback".…
First time accepted submitter gmrobbins writes "The Seattle Times profiles avionics engineer Don Bateman, whose Honeywell lab in Redmond, Washington has for decades pioneered ground proximity warning systems. Bateman's innovations have have nearly eliminated controlled flight into terrain by commercial aircraft, the most common cause of fatal airplane accidents."
India's Supreme Court has ruled that the 2G licences awarded in 2008 were not fairly distributed, and has snatched 122 of them back from the operators who were using them.…
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