The Calm Before The Storm

That's right!  We are getting a BLIZZARD here in the lovely Commonwealth of Massachusetts starting off at 11 PM Friday night.  Who is going to need a workout after shoveling the deck, the path to the fire hydrant and mailbox?  Ran my snowblower 2 weeks ago when we had a foot, topped of the tank this afternoon and it fired right up!  The greater Milford region, according to Accuweather which has a residential station around the corner from my house is forecasting.....DRUM ROLL....27.1 inches. Wind gusts Saturday to 46 mph and Saturday night 66 mph.  Good times, stocked up on a 12 pack of Perpetual IPA and a handle of John Barr scotch. 2 more years of this and I'll be in FL My brother mentioned that it will be a low of 35 in Beautiful Sunny Naples FL on Saturday.  He has never turned on the heat.  It's a source of pride, not let's face facts, he's a skinflint.  Not me, if I'm cold, I turn up the heat.  

The foot is taken care of.  I received a cortisone shot in the top of my foot near ring and middle toe.  I let out a nice Ric Flair like WOOOOOOOOO when the podiatrist stuck it right in the middle of the sore spot.  Not the first time I've enjoyed being poked.  Coming Up (like a flower), a week from today, is the shoulder. Just a black and blue bruise on my foot and a little numbness in my ring toe, which is normal.  Have to wear inserts for my high arches from now on.

Took 4 days completely off.  Because of the shot, I couldn't do yoga and any one legged stuff, or jerks because of pushing up on my toes. Decided to keep my feet flat and do The Giant 2.0.  First workout of 3,4,5 was great. 5 rounds, 60 reps. Yesterday, did the 3,5,7 ladder.  Got to the 4th ladder and my back started getting balky near but not on my SI joint.  Quit at 53 reps.  Woke up this morning, still tight, decided to do day 25 of the 2019 Yoga with Time 30 day challenge.  43 minutes later I felt good.  With an empty nest, I'm going to need it to do shoveling. 

My plan as of right now is to go out 3 times. In the morning after coffee. Around 4 PM and then Sunday AM.  Playing couples cribbage in the afternoon and watching the NFL games.  Go Bengals and 49ers. As a Patriots fan, I was glad to see the Bucs lose in spite of the fact that my siblings have season tickets to Tampa Bay. I sent them the I Love LA video by Randy Newman.  Great tune.

Bills should have fired their defensive coordinator and special teams coach right after the game.  Why not squib kick it and make them return it and burn off clock?  Why are the safeties so deep on 1st and 10 with 8 seconds left?  They were on their 30.  One of the best games I've ever seen and one of the best weekends of football. I'm satisfied with the Patriots season.  They finished the season in kind of a dud, but they played well and improved from last year.

Good day to empty the drawer of my opinions.  You may agree with them or not.  That's fine, I like debate and what people think. Been a strange 2022 so far.

1. I'm ambivalent in regard to COVID.  If you want to get a vaccine and boosters, terrific, that's your prerogative.  If you don't, that's great too.  But we should not be segregating people and showing proof.  If you don't have to show an ID to vote, why should you break HIPAA laws and show vaccine status?  For the record, I did get the JnJ last May.  I was forced to by my mother who wouldn't allow me to visit her if I didn't.  Complete go through the motions.  Yes, Mommy still does tell her soon to be 53 year old eldest son what to do sometimes. There will NOT be any booster shots.  She is aware of this and currently we are agreeing to disagree as the bride and I are going down to visit in March. My pal Darren told me last June when I was down, I'm always welcome to stay at his place.  MRNA does not work against Omicron. No more big pharma juice for me.

2. Finally the stock market went up today.  Been getting treated like a baby treats a diaper. I have gotten hammered this year, but all my holdings are quality.  Fed printed too much money, Brandon shut the Keystone Pipeline down. When gas is more expensive, logistics become more expensive which leads to higher prices with a weak dollar.  Rates are going to have to go up, and this will kill the real estate market.  Commercial Real Estate is going to crash due to remote work.  Why pay for office space?  When leases expire, it's going to get REALLY UGLY.

3. More people voted, dead or alive in the 2020 election than ever in the history of the United States.  The only voting laws we need are: Show your ID at the poll, and absentee ballots. None of this mail-in stuff. 

4. Why are we so worried about Ukraine's sovereignty but not our own at the Southern border? 

5. Winter sports are awful to watch.  The NBA is garbage.  Nothing but a 3 point shooting contest, everything you've ever been taught on how to play basketball is thrown out the window.  Celtics need to trade Jayson Tatum yesterday.  Guy is more interested in All Star teams than banners.  A complete stat padder.  And don't get me started on hockey.  I saw the puck better in 1979 on a snowy UHF TV-38.  They pan so far away from the action.  I can't see the numbers, the helmets hide the players' faces.  It looks like the Ice Capades with sticks.  We SHOULD NOT be sending a team to China as well.

6. I got the Disney Plus channel after Thanksgiving.  The Beatles Get Back movie was PHENOMENAL.  I watched all 8 hours twice.  The second time to study it. I didn't see a band that hated each other.  They got along great.  Paul McCartney ate, slept and drank songwriting.  Watching him figure out the riff of Get Back the song in 5 minutes was amazing.  Also, figuring out lyrics.  At first it was an immigrant protest song, talking about Pakistanis getting back to where they once belong but it changed.  Ringo was the glue of the band and dependable.  John had full on ADHD but was supportive and brought a couple of songs to the table.  George had a bunch of songs just percolating and stood up for his opinions well.  It inspired me to start playing the piano again. Since the New Years, I've taken the Beatles easy piano book that my wife has an been playing 20-30 minutes a day.  So far, I've aced We Can Work It Out and Nowhere Man.  Here's proof.

I'm currently working on I've Just Seen A Face and Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da which is difficult trying to keep the reggae groove with the left hand.  It's fun and keeps the mind sharp.  

7.  I finally made the break. I'm completely off social media.  Deleted my 14 year old, 1300 + contact LinkedIn account in December. Don't need it, going to use SalesIntel to develop my network.  The virtue signaling, good bye messages, and pronouns got to be too much.  I wanted to use Bro, Bruh, Brah, but it wouldn't be good for my career. If you're SO sad to leave your company, then why are you leaving?   It's basically the want-ads for those looking for a job.  I have a great headhunter and a better network.  Quit Twitter in 2020, Fakebook in 2010, never been on Instagram. (Imagine a narcissistic 52 year old taking pictures of himself.)  Never going to happen. 

8. Here's a great hack.  Pretend it's 1985 once every week or 2.  Do not turn on your phone or your computer.  Just TV.  Or take an information fast.  Read books, lots of them.  Your brain will thank you.  

9.  Speaking of books it is amazing how relevant Atlas Shrugged! is today.  

10. My role has changed at my company. I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling, especially to the Midwest.  Chicago, at least three times in 4 months. New York twice and Dallas.  Going to be craziness. 

11. Metabolic syndrome is the greatest risk from a health standpoint that the US has today.  Gaps in care, high BMI, high H1C, large belly circumference, low HDL and hypertension are wreaking havoc on health.  Type 2 diabetes is an ugly disease that must be reversed.  It is an ugly way to go.  

12. Congratulations to the greatest Red Sox player of all time making the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.  David Ortiz!  Everyone swear it is Ted Williams, but the Splendid Splinter hit .200 in his only World Series appearance with 0 HR and 1 RBI.  Never knocked in 100 RBI after 1950.  I made friends with Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy at a golf tournament last September, he told me to look at Williams' OPS.  They're ridiculous statistics.  However, Papi ended the 82 years of losing to the Yankees, has 3 rings and hit .688 in 2013 World Series.  It would have been .700 had Carlos Beltran not reached into the bullpen and caught a sacrifice fly.  My ballot:

Ortiz, Clemens, Bonds, Schilling, Kent, Sheffield, Ramirez, Visquel and A-Rod.  Bagwell, Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza were rumored to be on the bean.  Put them all in and Pete Rose.  

Adjusting Into Middle Age...Yoga anyone?

 Greetings from the injury couch.  

I need to stay off my foot until Monday when I see the podiatrist.  A case of Morton's Neuroma with a side dish of bursitis in the top of my middle and ring toes on my right foot.  I originally injured the foot jumping rope 10 or 11 years ago.  Since then, a little numbness once in a while, but it reared its ugly head in November from running.  I've stopped running and noticed it was getting better the last 2 weeks.  Yesterday, for some reason it was sorer than usual and I popped 800 mg of Advil that my son had from getting his wisdom teeth out.  When I got up to go to bed last night after watching TV and sitting for couple of hours, I couldn't put ANY weight on it.  It was throbbing.  Today it is about 75% but I made the appointment.  Add that to the arthritis/spacing/spurs in my left shoulder and you would think that I'm a physical wreck.  Hopefully I'll get cortisone shots for both and we'll evaluate.

Working around the shoulder has been easy enough.  I stopped doing pull-ups and strict presses.  Running a kettlebell chain program called Herky Jerky. It is keeping the conditioning up.  More importantly, I've been doing daily yoga for over a month.  Every day, except today, of course Yoga With Tim on YouTube has a 30 day challenge.  I'm doing the 2019 one and have completed 24 days. The best part is when he has the Orange County Yoga bunnies as his students.  

I can honestly say when I'm doing it, I count the minutes until it's over. BUT!!!! it works wonders.  My back feels bulletproof,  my shoulders, hips and hamstrings are completely loosened up.  I can do a crow pose for 2 seconds and my balance is significantly better.  It is exhausting and really a challenge.  Something I will definitely stick with.

My son was home from college where he started lifting.  19 years old, 6'2" and a long, lean 195 lb. While home on semester break he joined a gym with barbells.  Full of testosterone, he's making GAINZZZ all over the place and was chugging 2 protein shakes a day.  To be young and know what I know now.

Went as a guest his last day home before he went back.  I haven't lifted barbells in 5 years, so decided to peck around and see what felt good.  First the ugly: Threw 135 on the bench laid down did 3 sets of 5.  Form good, weight felt light, but both shoulders were like Rice Krispies. Especially my GOOD one!  Then squat rack.  Did a warm up set and my shoulder ACHED from reaching back and trying to grip the bar on my back.  Did a couple of sets of 225 for 5 after they stretched out.  But I figured with the yoga I wouldn't have had the issue of gripping the bar on my back

Now the good.  I did a standing military press for 3 at 115 lb. and just missed 135. As in if I wanted to shake and grind I might have gotten it, but what would be the point?  Then we went to the deadlift.  I ended up ripping 275 off the floor, no problem perfect form.  I had 315, easy but was too lazy to switch out the plates. 

I'm going to join that gym in the summer.  Monday and Tuesday I had soreness in places I didn't know existed.  

Add running and jumping rope to the "No More, You Can't Do" list.  I'm so glad that I didn't do 75 Hard, I would have had to quit today and start over 1/2 way through.