Looking forward to learning more Monday. As with anything I can't control I'll take it easy, absorb all the information I can, and make the best decision I know how to when I do get a chance to take action. Anything else is just killing time as far as I'm concerned, futile.

Day 125ish now on the training trail. Knee is improving with stretching before after and throughout work outs. Holla. Schedule has pretty much been 6 days on, 1 off since last post. In another week or two I'll need an extended break 3-4 days for recovery. Cardio is back to boss mode (which definitely hinders lifting progress from a cal expenditure and recovery standpoint), but let's face it, I'm lifting for vanity and rehab purposes not mass... the less I got to carry 80 miles in August the better. Been spending a lot of time on a notoriously femine piece of equipment though, not the elliptical, this guy.



I don't care, I love this thing. the model at my gym is a little steeper though. I mean it doesn't cause me pain on the IT band, no runner's knee, muscle burn + max hr, come on... its a mean machine. Try it out if you have one at your gym, you'll be in a pool of sweat 7 mins in. Plus the gym's token smoking hot girl always gets on the treadmill right in front of this...

-----------------
Lincoln Lawyer: Now I hate Matthew McConaughey as much as the next guy, but this is a flick worth watching. Its got a heart, its got some good performances, Ryan Philipe plays the trust fund baby like no other.. see Cruel Intentions.... and another plus one, its a film! not a computer generated world... I don't know exactly where my vendetta against CGI originated but I hate it, I think it pulls viewers out of the experience and is a cop out. By that I mean for years filmmakers showed the impossible via illusory effects, real world objects interacting in a such a way in front of the lense that it appears the impossible is happening. That impresses me, that tricks my brain because I don't know how it is being done and cannot see clues as to how it is put together, like a good magic trick... CGI is transparent, you know when it is utilized and that draws you out.. my brain, it is not impressed. This is different from animation because you walk into an animated film accepting it as the reality of the film, it fits within the realm of the film.


Anyways, interesting movie, bit predictable a little too early. The framework of the plot could have been held with the secrets exposed later in the film, but instead its designed to pit the two main chars against each other in a kind of war contained between them, a secret war. For this time of year though, trashy movie season indeed, it was good.

Limitless: Meh, fun movie, not a lot of substance and anything provactive in it at all is abandoned in a cookie cutter Hollywood ending. That said its pretty entertaining throughout, with a 20 min span near the opening of the 3rd act where it drags, worth a watch.

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New CR Pro:

Logged in today and saw this...
http://www.cardrunners.com/article/402/announcing-new-plo-pro-ben-foldngst8n-de-ath/

Pretty happy about this. Not sure I've had any experience with the player personally, but his results look excellent, and certainly not easy to compile over such a large sample. You can be sure he's got the mental side down at the very least. CR has always been hurting for PLO pros, combination of it being a young game (as far as high traffic era of PLO goes), swingy (players coming and going), and niche viewers (doesn't make sense to allocate a ton of resources to developing CR PLO team). So this is a much needed addition. I don't watch many vids, usually just Stinger when he is playing 10/20+, but I'll check Ben's first set out for sure. Reccomend you all do too and leave some feedback, can't tell you how helpful it is... part of the video making deal is an element of goodwill to other players, we want to see people succeed, and feedback is the only way to measure whether we are delivering on that.
------

Oh boy.. haven't played much, nothing much to say about poker. FTP has stopped tracking on tableratings for months which is awesome!!! Some privacy. Stars is still accurate most days though, surprised the leaders in everything poker haven't made changes yet.

I open up the tables all the time and check out who is playing and what not but I just don't sit often. All I can say is those cats are lucky I hate poker! If I could find the drive to focus on the game I think I could annihilate the games. At half speed I'm doing quite well and that's cool, feel fortunate for that. Think the only way to produce that drive would to be to spend some time living with some real successfuul PLO guys, high level enough that I felt inadequate and jealous haha but I don't really fancy doing that and especially not for such a shallow purpose!

---------------------------------

BTW GodlikeRoy's blog, semi new, probably good quality posts and frequent updates during the blog honeymoon stage : ) -- Good player, been around awhile, fun reads take a look.
http://godlikeroy.com/
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Take it easy fellas, gl at the tables

J

twitter.com/rollover2k

Hey dooods,

Sitting on the stoop in Morristown, NJ right now. Its almost 70 degrees and I forgot how nice warm weather was.

I think we are at day 112 now.

I obviously can't remember the last two weeks workouts in detail but of those 17ish days I've got ~10 workouts in which is still not so good. Don 't know why I can't seem to get serious about this, yet the same time a year ago I was training like a mad man for nothing at all.

Did a couple cardio sessions but the knee is still not corrected yet. I am continuing with the starting strengthesque program to help get the right knee balanced out and my doctor has me doing some stretches for the IT band which is the real issue now, not so much runner's knee.

Next appointment with my Crohn's doctor I'm just going to tell her I want to go off my medicine, I think the immunosuppression is just killing my energy and I haven't felt right in a long time. I'd rather go back to ending up in the hospital once or twice a year for a week then feel like a pile every day. Progress is ok though, need to take off 5-10 lbs before race but that won't be a problem when I start shifting to cardio intensive stuff again and with the weather coming back you can bet there are some 50 mi bike rides and 20 mile hikes in my future.

Last workout thing, started taking a pre workout supplement. It does have creatine which seems to be contentious whether it is dangerous or bad for you or not, but it is super bossssss.


Just make sure you drink a ton of water if you use something with creatine, draws water to your muscles which gives you some more muscle energy and endurance and if you don't compensate for that you'll be bone dry.

-------------------
Anyways, I'm in NJ for UFC 128 in Newark. I bought the tickets when they first came out for Rashad v. Shogun and I get to visit my sister you just moved out here. But at 126 they announced Bone Jones get a title shot, I was the real winner that night. What a huge fight.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cs-shareit/CommunityServer.Components.ImageFileViewer/CommunityServer/Blogs/Components/WeblogFiles/mmacrossfire/6278.jon+bones+jones.jpg-550x400.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0TTXDM86AJ1CB68A7P02&Expires=1300478003&Signature=O99vOYWJ52KfLj4r5iy%2f194vJJM%3d" alt="" width="550" height="354">

If anyone is reading in the Newark area I've got 2 extra tickets I gotta get rid off before tomorrow, I'll give ya the poker rate : )

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I started getting into some new biz now too. Just closed on a rental home in Ann Arbor, and am closing on a house in Royal Oak by mid April. Also looking into a cash deal on a car wash. Obviously I know nothing about these businesses first hand but trust me when I say I've done everything one can do to prepare short of jumping in, and I think I've budgeted for the apocolypse and still found the cashflows covering expenses and mortgage/opportunity cost.

The ann arbor house is being managed, I'm not handy, nor do I have a desire to be handy or available.. the cool part for me was negotiating the deal and seeking out the right people, negogiating with them etc. Non poker people.. man they give up too much information, its like watching High Stakes Poker with the hole cam...


Its a 4 bedroom, with an egress window in the semi-finished basement, so I'll be putting in a 5th down there for an easy $6k/yr in rent at a one time cost of under $5k. How can you not make that play if the place fits code!? Rents for $2200/mo right now, $2000/mo next year due to the sellers dilly dallying on renting it out, and $2400/mo next year as promised by the prop manager, I did all my figures at 1900/mo.... with extra bed and garage the best scenario for me is ~3k/mo.

Is it a nice house? Naw, is it close to 100 years old? Yep, Does it need lots of repairs? Yeah.... does that matter? Nope. It just has to be habitable and it will get rented in AA where the landlords pretty much run the show. because the university was plunked right in the middle of the city long ago and space to live near campus is premium. The lot right now is worth 110kish completely empty, I closed at ~190k, insurance for 1 milli liability/195k replacement 789/year, taxes 5.3k, mgmt ~1800/yr, utilities paid by tenants, potential mortgage (1100/mo) cash buy right now, maintenance est ~3k/yr, starting to whittle away b ut you have to remember all expenses prop taxes, insurance, maintence are deductible so I see about 30 cents on the dollar back there + the equity/land appreciating, plus the year over year rent increase which may remain stagnant or it could go back the 5-7% that Ann Arbor has seen prior to 2008, plus you can deduct mortgage interest if I do go that route so 30 cents/dollar back there + the equity gained.... EZ game, hopefully I don't eat my words down the road but the cool thing about this over poker... if I take a 200k shot in poker and fail, I lose 200k... in probably a couple hours, if I fail here I lose maybe 20% of investment?
-----

The second house is in Royal Oak, where I live, and I'll be living in it with current roomate until whenever? http://www.trulia.com/property/1072529311-511-S-Campbell-Rd-Royal-Oak-MI-48067

I currently pay $900/mo for my porition of a 3 bed apartment. Thats 10,800/yr, my buddy pays 400/mo for his part of it. He'll be here for 3 years for dental school, knows incoming students, current students, etc so I feel even if I decide to leave Royal Oak I'll have no problem keeping the place full. Its 4 bedroom with a laundryr room, so when I'm down... 5 bedroom, although one is tiny. The royal oak rental market is solid because there are so many professionals in detroit on mid term horizons who won't live downtown.. everyone lives in metro. 4bedroom like this depending on finish anywhere from 1000-1600/mo which more than covers the cost of holding it if I can't exit at a proper price when I want to leave. Currently though the plan is to live there have an office, rent one bedroom to one of my best friends and hopefully one other... basically getting paid to live in the place.

Its not a palace, but I like it, its updated, its fairly well kept minus couple cosmetic things, and its under 100k holla. Regardless of what kind of cash I have available I don't feel like buying a nice big new place in the burbs is a smart choice at my age. Anything that ties me down needs to have a contingency plan in case I want to pick up and move and these places are both fit that bill.

The second is on a semi busy street which cuts 10-15k of the value and reduces the potential appreciation of the home with the market. That's ok though I don't have kids and its right close to downtown Royal Oak. I can sell it for 40k less in 3 years and I'm no worse off than if I stayed in the apartment because of the rent I'd be paying and the rent my roommate will now be paying to me. Again, land value is significant here as well on a long term horizon as Royal Oak is trending towards being kind of the place for young professionals in metro detroit.

--------
So then there is that other job.. poker. That truly seems much harder to me than this other biz, again hopefully not eating my words later.

But I linked together a couple decent sessions and am feeling almsot full confidence. I will make a video I've been meanign to put out for CardRunners soon. I just refuse to do it when I don't feel confident in my game because that isn't fair to you guys. Still down on the year about a hundred dimes or so but that's alright I haven't played over 30k hands and I've been in worse shape later into the year before. To date never had even close to a losing year and I won't this year either, this may be the first year my earnings don't improve on the previous though.

Poker is dumb though, it makes me very miserable, and my new goal is create passive flow such that I can let poker go. I think that will be satisfying work to me, I like business and its kind of fun to just go out and try to enter a new arena, and something that leverages what I am best at.. making financially sound decisions. The house thing, that was done as a challenge really, I mean obv I make more if I sit at the comp and play poker in the hours spent chasing deals, but its interesting to me.

Right now though, it just seems frivilous not put a little time into it for the sake of security for the family I'll eventually have. If I knew I was never going to get married or have kids I'd stop today and just live happily. But sheeeet, kids and women are expensive : )

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ALright, little less narcissitic post nexxt time, anyone who knows me knows I don't talk to people about almost any of the stuff I write in here so its kind of an outlet.

Take it easy, gl at the tables.

J

WOWWWWW, can't believe I haven't updated since January 24th.

Well we are on day 95 I think of training all though I have missed a pile of days in between last post at Day 59.

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After last post I fly to Florida with a buddy to visit one of my best friends. One of those guys I used to run around with way back in middle school who was completely different than me but somehow we always got along great. Anyways, he had a baby and I'm the godfather so it was cool to go down to St. Pete Beach and meet her, she's already 8 months I think!

Well facebook is dumb now and won't let me save pictures to upload for ya, so I just have a couple.

St. Pete is pretty beautiful, they are going to miss it


Baby girl



Oh yeah, I got a new car, first big thing I've spent money on... haven't regretted it for a second though. Its a 2011 cts coupe, hard as hell to see out of, but soo soo comfortable, and the awd in michigan makes it a snow boss as well really love it. wanted dark blue but they don't have it or a dark red in caddy for 2011... kind of sucks so it was chromaflair gray or black and I just left it up to chance first car she could get in. Its not the 500 hp engine in the CTS V.. but it also doesn't start at 63k haha, I'll take my 300 and love every second of it.



We rented a boat one day and went exploring some of the islands around St. Pete. There is this guatanmo bay lookng fort on one of them, complete with old turret stations and barred cells looks like a Call of Duty level or something right.


Before Gasparilla festival thing. Apparently, every year in Tampa they celebrate the pirates founding the place, its kind of Mardi Gra esque fun day. Parade and you party down this street lined by huge mansions. Makes my giving up of alcohol quite different though, I swear I never ever craved a drink in my life until I decided I wouldn't drink at all anymore haha. Me and friend in back, buddy in front and his fiance. I'm really happy for them.


Here is my 2010 giraffe by the way. Never did that obligatory end of year, new year post. The results are great, almost all 25/50 with maybe 5% 10/20 and 10% 100/200. The volume is pathetic, its missing some hands, and of course I played WSOP some tourneys etc.. but its atrocoious none the less. Just finally realized I don't care about making more money, whether I am winning or losing poker drains me, and after that the motivation just melted away. If only I could find work that I was into that paid like this huh, then I might work more then 700 hrs/year


Through 2 months of 2011, I'm down pretty big, played about 20k hands. No worries I manage like a boss and will have a good year yet, I haven''t just run good for the past 6 : ) Its wearing on me a bit though, I'm not tilting. But its been long enough that you get to where your results are starting to recondition your thinking, and that's where the game gets real tough because you are fighting against reality more or less, its almost like faith in religion.. you've got to have the resolve to deny what is in front of your eyes to beleive in something more really. That's abstract, but any poker players reading this will make sense of it haha

---------------
I've had a pile of coaching requests. Some from old students who I'd actually like to do a few hours with, but I can't in good conscience right now because I wouldn't be able to bring them my A-game right now and @ 500/hr that's just not fair.

Training as I said has been weak. After Florida I flew to Vegas and went to UFC 126 with my friend, met Chinaski out there. It was Superbowl weekend too, fun trip. Amazing main event with Anderson Silva delivery a Bruce Lee kick to Vitor's face and Jones getting a title shot at 128 vs Shogun. Have ticks to that too hollllla.

I ran a couple times in Florida, ate junk. Got back and immediately was out for wk, wk 1/;2 with a nasty cough/fever. That leads me to days 85-94 few scattered workouts getitng back onthe horse.

Day 94: Ran 36 mins,stretched iout IT band a lot, found a new doctor that showed me how to handle runner's knee and IT band syndrome if that doesn't work I'll go to phy therapy. Love this guy, he's actually on my team.

Day 95: Took muscle pharm assault sample from my buddy and worked out.. wowwwww that stuff is nuts felt great.

4x6 squat 145
4x 8 lat pulldown 180
4x6 deadlift 145
4x8x35 dumbell shoulder press
4x7x145 bench press
4x12x90 calf raise
4x8x200 leg press
4x8x27.5 cable press i can't do much weight with these but its still an awesome work just squeezing in and concentrating on it
4x7x110 sitting back pull (dunno what its call pulling arms back with wide grip straight back)

Just felt really good all the way though. Tomorrow I'll hit bicep/tricep/core and just try to do everything compound. Then on to Ann Arbor for house inspections more on this biz next post.

Take it easy folks, gl at the tables


J

Day 56: Doc appt in morning, friends in town at night -- nothing doin

Day 57: Skiied at Boyne Highlands half day... absolutely frozone out there, never skiied on a colder day. Didn't stay as long as I would have liked and had no will to hit the park. There was a contest too, if this wasn't my first day out this year I'd have gone in there and destroyed it competition was really weak. I think I am going to plan a trip someone out west before season is over, really miss going out a lot I used to ski 50-60 days a seasons.

Day:58: Energy drink hang over, never had a monster before last summer or any energy drink now I would drink them all day long if I didn't know how bad they were for me

Day 59: Ate trash all welcome, bleh! Used to be ironclad about blowing off workouts and eating right, armor is chinked I guess better get that discipline back. Ran 3.25 mis this morning, will do another starting strength workout tonight. DL, Squats, Overhead press, Bench press, Cable crossover, some lat/back stuff

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In the midst of looking for some rental properties will my friend's dad. He is retired and is a pretty accomplished builder so he brings maintenance to the table and I the business end and knowing how to advertise/screen in a student atmosphere. I'm real excited about this I'll post more information as we find some places, just screening right now.

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Came across this link on 2+2 pretty entertaining stuff:

http://lvcabbiechronicles.blogspot.com/


--- Time to go watch some Dexter, only have a couple episodes left and I'll be free of that show! And ready for some Heisenberg:



6 minute recap of season 1 and 2 of BB if you are interested.. its so good, who would of thought Hal from Malcolm in the Middle could nail this part so fully.

Day 47: Went as planned, intervals, and was pretty boss that workout never gets easy

Day 48: Day off like a bum

Day 49: Day off like a bum

Day 50: Plyometric morning, night workut 40 minute row, 20 min bike.. bout 6k meters on the way

Day 51: Shoulders and Arms p90x --- worked soooo hard, I really like shoulder presses, but man I hate straight arm stuff

Day 52: Day off like a bum

Day 53: Day off like a bum

Day 54: Pushups/Pullups intermittently all day... smart people, does 100 pushups in say 3 sets in a row= 100pushups throughout the day minus the cardio benefits? I'm thinking not but I don't know much about muscle growth..... at night did:

145x5x8 squat

135x5x8 deadlift

40x5x8 dumbbell chest press (incline)

30x3x10 dumbbell shoulder press

15x3x10 straight arm shoulder lift (in and out one leg up)

30x4x8 cable crossover, dunno what they are called... chest squeezes basically hah different heights

180x3x8 lat pull down... love lat stuff dunno why

BWx3x8 inverted rows (legs on bench body out in front of rack in plank position underneath bar pull up)

150x1x8 leg press

170x1x10

200x1x10

when I lift I tend to wanna work small muscle groups, but you don't get much out of that in the way of calorie burn so I'm trying to so working with all compound lifts... DL especially was killer. Doing lower weight with higher rep/sets to get used to form for some of the bigger lifts.

Day 55: Ran 3 mi when woke up, not sure what I'll do tonight for workout kind of blasted everything yesterday so maybe something like yoga?

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So I am pretty disappointed in the results looking now that I'm 55 days in! If I had kept to a program like p90x I'd be in way better shape BF% wise. Do think some of the endurance stuff I did was good though just to get used to blasting through many hours of activity. I guess I won't worry about it too much because right now I feel like I could do all 80 miles, take a long time but I could do if my knee didn't refuse.

Poker has been meh I am getting crushed on stars but I had a plus 70kish sess on ftp other day so that peeled off some the pain. There are some fun big pots on PTR if you wanna see the agony. on the real though I've been playing fairly well so I feel good.

Just realized I have had water boiling for oatmeal for like 25 minutes, think I'll go refill that pot and get down to biz, I'll give some other flavor in the next blog just didn't want to stop the training log.

If anyone wants to organize a mutual beneficial training thing with me I'm down. Like some kind of hours matching thing or something like that, for every X you do I have to do Y or I owe you money or something like that. I dunno, wish I had someone nearby who was as serious about it would make going easier.

Gl at the tables,

J

BTW fun, ridiculous race probably near you at some point
http://www.warriordash.com/register2011_michigan.php:

Day 44: Off like a noob! Gotta stop going 2 and 1 and get on the 3 and 1 schedule or 5 and 2 whatever I can keep up... trying a new sleep schedule complete with alarm clock hoping to add some structure and see if that increases productivity so to speak

Day 45: Plyometrics POW... HR not measured but rpobably under 170 the whole time really hit it hard

Day 46: CHest/back/core 30 sets, heavy on decline bench and lats

Day 47: Getting up and doing P90x PLus intervals, another good cardio workout

Measured BF% today, the calipers I don't really trust but I'd say I can confidently say between 11.5 and 14%, think more like 12%... I wanted to get to single digit last yr and did for a period I"m sure so I'll work towards hitting 8.5% and staying there.

Played a good sized session today, lots of 100/200 and got smokeD!!!!! I've had worst days only playing 25/50 deep though so I can't be too concerned. I also played quite well I think, 2 pots I spewed for quite a bit of EV but overall quite well. The sick part is actually enjoyed the session today. Not only do I feel more motivated now that I've been knocked down some, but the tables were challenging and engaging, got in the flow so to speak which is an enjoyable experience with anything.

Its funny that successful poker conflicts with itself. To achieve a high win rate with low variance (desirable for sure) you have to play stakes where you will be downright bored and unengaged.... only when the challenges of the event converge with your skills will you be engaged with an activity, conversely when they exceed your skills you'll be anxious or discouraged.... so theoretically the optimal place to play poker to maximize motivation and focus is where you are breakeven..... which is why to be a successful player you've got to accept some level of boredom or disengagement with what you are doing.... a real achilles heel.

Couple crystalizing moments today. Really haven't dug poker for awhile, I don't like playing, I never feel like playing and would always rather be doing something else. Today I woke up at 5am to workout and saw everyone cleaning off their cars on the way back and warming up to go to woke. Took my car to the shop and saw everyone opening up there and was in phone contact all day with the mechanic, who was there about 10 hours..... these guys don't have a choice, day in and out they gotta get up and do what someone else tells them to do.... I haven't had to do that in years.... that kind of freedom is easy to drown in and easy to take for granted and easy to squander. The real value of professional poker is not in dollars its in freedom, don't forget that.

I feel stupid going deep into the red at the beginning of the year (although I always seem to) why not in December to avoid some taxes or go out with a bang? I don't know I guess knowing I have 11 months to work up to another successful year makes me feel a little free to take some shots play around a bit. And losing, while I'd prefer not.. does motivate me to play.. when I crush month after month I just want to sit up back and coast.

THis hand is indicative of how the day went. Super standard (well flop play is whatever I can either call flop/call any turn or shove flop makes no difference really) but there was probably 20 big pots that just played themselves all the way through be it my 3 or 4 bet or opponents and all you do with these is just run em out and embrace whatever happens. I don't mind losing to a guy I used to watch back when I was playing with play money and 5/10 was the biggest game on Pstars! Haha come a long way, cool to see that its possible for guys that where on top 5 years ago and earlier to stay there, Rafi Amit is a real OG.

http://www.pokertableratings.com/hand-history/stars/lefty2506/1IkrNaahGJf4Eb49H52gAj9dhT2+mrceyz2AYxVmdbT77gxz4eSQTvznhjTgGXk/n/G8RSL0nkYKdPBqUaO7UnJCOqEP6IKdC4QLg67oUrQ=

That's all for now dooods, gl at the tables

J

Day 28: Plyo

Day 29, 30, 31: Off for christmas/bday etc

Day 32: 5 mi run, ab ripper

Day 33: Plyo legs

Day 34: Ab ripper X, 15 reps

Day 35: Kenpo X

Day 36: Almost a day off, just some core/pullup/pushups but not a good full workout

Day 37: NYE, relaxed

Day 38: NY day, UFC 125 no workout

Day 39: Chest/Back/Shoulders - 24 sets? Push 20 minute run....Can't really remember took it pretty easy on weight though because have been lacking in strength training

Day 40: Race sim 1 --- 50 miles on the stationary bike, took just under 3 hours. Knee held up fine on the cap but had some kind of tightening/soreness/pain on the outside of shin up near knee. Super, new pain! Anyways, heart rate like 130-140 whole time feel like if I wasn't so uncomfortable I could have done 75 miles. I think the bike portion of the race I'm ready for and will do best time wise. Next race sim I will try to do 10 mis on rowing machine or 30 mi hiking.. not looking forward to the 5-6 hours that will take.

Day 41: Day off, pretty burned after doing about 1300 calories of work on the bike

Day 42: Bi/tri/core - 27 reps --- pretty good intensity

Day 43: 4 mi run, 8 sets core

----

Need a serious rework of the training schedule because I can tell I'm losing muscle fast. I just went to doc and weighed in at 165, 135 at August of last year when I went in... so I put on 30 lbs in about a year, even if BF % went up by 10% which it didn't I gained 15+ lbs of muscle... lot of hard work would like to maintain that.

Trying new schedule now of waking up real early and working out right off the bat, think it will be easier to motivate then, rather than waiting until the tail end of my day to make it to the gym.

Next change is to scale back cardio or scale back intensity, I need to keep the strength training in more so I either need to take it easier and just spend more time in the gym or drop some cardio time to make room.

000000000000000

UFC 125

WHOAAAAAAA, kind of a boring card but so worth it to see that main event. It was like straight out of a Rocky movie with a 10/8 first round to Maynard landing over 100 heavy strikes followed by an Edgar round, Maynard, Edgar, Edgar for a title fight DRAW! It was a draw in my mind but the judges went 48/46, 46/48, 47/47.. so they kind of got it right... but by chance.
http://blog.fightmetric.com/2011/01/edgar-vs-maynard-ii-official-ufc.html

May go to 126 in LV live, sick card will be fun.

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Not many movies out right now to see, need to catch Black Swan because I'm in love with this girl:

True Grit: If you don't walk in expecting a Coen bros flick, this won't disappoint.. if you are familiar with their portfolio... well you won't be happy, has none of the richness of No Country for Old Men for example just no subtext. Apparently, Ethan just said to Joe 'hey you wanna make a western'... 'yeah that'd be neat'... and when you are the Coen brothers you get to experiment with blockbusters.

Bridges is great, simple per usual, but simply great. The little girl everyone is raving about comes across much better than most young people do playing that 'I'm young but I'm a force to be reckoned with' character, but Oscar worthy... no way. And it blows my mind why they casted Brolin to play the brooding half wit bad guy.. his part is miniscule and there is little room for performance.

Matt Damon is ok. This casting seemed a bit off to me too as he plays an arrogant Texas Ranger and I've never looked at Good Will and said he looks like a ruffian and a prick to boot.. he just looks to nice to be playing the part in my opinion.

Tron Legacy: I don't know what I expected having seen the original.. it's about as consistently logical and coherent. On the plus side Olivia Wilde is smoking and the music is kind of cool. The visuals weren't enough to entertain though after initial entry and the plot follows a really funny pattern. The Matrix trilogy is pretty much Tron (original) and Tron Legacy is pretty much the latter portion of the Matrix... guess this what people mean when they say postmodern : )

Tell me this 2 characters aren't exactly alike if you've seen Matrix and Tron!


And

Darkon: Second time I have seen this, maybe 2nd time writing? But this is my favorite documentary, and is genuinely entertaining. It follows LARPers.. live action role playing, in the 'Darkon' realm. If you have seen the movie Role Models you know what I am talking about, its basically real life Dungeons and Dragons.

Anyways its got all the qualities of what I think makes a good docu. First, it is the events, by that I mean the chronology or context doesn't seem to be manipulated like Michael Moore is famous for doing. 2nd, it covers material that isn't easily observable.. or rather isn't observed often in this case.. I mean this is a world we know little about. 3rd... it is both close to the people involved and seemingly true to them. We get to hear there stories throughout the video not a docu's take on it. Its just real pure. Interesting too that as they tell their stories they all share a bond they don't speak to each other about. Every testimonial either contained a story about some deep seated dislike/disappointment in oneself or ones life... its no wonder they take their hobby so seriously, for them it's the only relief from what is eating them... healthy or not that was the case for everyone spoken to.

Its on instawatch Netflix, check it out please.

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Book:

Just finished 'The Flow' by Mihaly Superlonglastname here is link:
http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Flow-Psychology-Engagement-Masterminds/dp/0465024114

Quick but good read. Guy is obsessed with isolating what makes life worth living and how to achieve it. Interesting blend of science and psychological theory. The book isolates the Flow as that which is satisfying in life, the Flow being a state you reach doing certain activities that cause you to become completely immersed, distorting time, creating intense focus. If you have gone skydiving or ever been in a near car accident this is partially what he means. An experience in which nothing outside permeates. To a lesser extent maybe you've experienced this when working on a paper you are interested in, studying poker hands, doing what really makes you tick.. maybe an intense workout... whatever it may be.. these are satisfying times. People report this happening during tv watching only 14% of the time but because its so accessible we gravitate towards these activities, passive leisures. Mihaly would argue we will see greater ROI if we just put up that initial investment to through together a pickup bball game or to travel somewhere because these are high % active leisure... basically saying yeah it's a little work to find the flow but once you are there its all worth it.

Really good read as far as self-help stuff goes, I can't explain it well but it's short enough that if you are at all interested in improving your quality of life you gotta read this. I'm already looking him up to see if I can sit in on some talks with him in Chicago or something like that.

Blog is too long as is, 2011 goals next post.

Take it easy folks, gl gl

J

psssss.. bidding on this, very excited I love it, had a thing for orange cars since my first car 1975 Ford Maverick. The color is emberglo and was only made in 1966 if this was all original it would be a nice collector, as it stands with the 302 in it instead of 289 and custom exhaust its just a nice clean car that I will happily purchase and run to the ground and love every second of it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1966-FORD-MUSTANG-COUPE-EMBERGLOW-302-ALUM-HEAD-4-SPEED-/120667751394?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item1c185bc3e2#v4-39

Mad tilt... typed up long entry... entry gone upon misclick. Check back another time.

Day 21: Day off I think? Running together but I think I took another lazy day.. gotta kick that habit and at least do something like a 30 min workout when I feel like that

Day 22: Yoga, P90x, didn't do the full 1.5hrs I always seem to talk myself out of the balanced postures portion but the first 45 mins is a good workout and then I did the ab portion and some select postures as well.

Day 23: Biking 23.5 miles, 1.5 hrs, 115 watt average... because of the level changes on bikes watts is the measure you want to use its the tell all incorporates distance/speed/effort. Anyways avg hr 165ish for 1.5 hrs happy with this workout

Day 24: P90x plus Upper Body, bah such a bear this is one is, never going to put on size with it but there is lots of body weight work in it and so its perfect for my goals

Day 25: Off day, lunch with extended fam to video games with a couple friends and watching Tron old and new... .sweet jesus the plots are a mess in these movies... unbelievable, not worth discussing..... interestingly enough though The Matrix trilogy is essentially Tron (original) and Tron Legacy is essentially the Matrix Trilogy.

Day 26: Biking, 20 miles, 1 hr 20 mins, 125 watt average less distance and time but overall tougher workout than Day 23.

Day 27: Knee hurts from biking now too what the hell, did 15 sets of ab exercises and about 30 mins of kenpo X from memory.. bad workout

Day 28: Today, Plyometrics, I think the knee can handle everything, only jumping will really stress it and I can modify that.

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So I went to the doctor for my knee and he went on to equate what I was doing to chronic piercing or tattooing and even to cutters. We are all destroying our body he says. He went forth with many analogies as if I were incapable off understanding a man of his knowledge. He said he won't refer me to a sports doctor or ortho because what I am doing is outside normal use. I asked him to define normal use... he skirted around. I said 50 years ago on the farm I'd need to me working and my knee isn't capable right now, that would be normal use no? He says 'things are different now'... I dunno doc we are using the same equipment but the function has changed? I mean, how is he going to arbitrarily define normal activity. He went on tell me 15-20 mins a couple times a week was plenty of exercise to have 'healthy body very long time'..... maybe so maybe not but he sure isn't in good shape and I refuse to be schooled on fitness from someone who can't keep their self healthy. Last year I came in for the same problem plus a pain in my arm.... his answer was similar, don't run, and don't lift over 30 lbs just do many reps!? Anyways... he's fired.... I'll be getting a knee doc and either getting a referral or paying out of pocket for some help. I am 90% sure this is simply the result of a muscle imbalance I just want confirmation in this and what exercises will be best to correct.

Ridiculous.

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Green Street Hooligans: Just watched this Elijah Wood flick about football teams in England and their 'firms', not sure if these actually exist or not... regardless the movie was very weak and Elijah was outshined by everyone in it. He is really just not a strong actor, his best part is in Sin City where he doesn't speak.. just looks creepy.

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New vid coming out tomorrow on my birthday, its a leakfinder with a good midstakes player. I think its a cool vid, but am a little nervous about it since its been so long since I"ve made one... feedback is appreciated.

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Book

Just finished "Life is So Good" by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman (sp). Its about a 103 yr old fella who learned to read and write at age 98. The reading is obviously real light as a result but its really a cool story and a perspective you just don't even touch on in American History in high school. A real micro look at life for a black man in the 1900s that probably speaks to a macro level. Short and easy, well worth your time even if you aren't a regular reader, I know I'm not.

http://www.amazon.com/Life-So-Good-Extraordinary-Journey/dp/0141001682/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293130690&sr=8-1

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That's all for now, been eating pretty healthy, real excited to get down on some Domino's pizza for my birthday and some homemade Challah.. cake is overrated, and watch True Grit. Actually on Christmas day my sister is taking me to a Chinese buffett and True Grit from my birthday, that is one Jewish Christmas for a guy raised Catholic.
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If you are feeling generous in the season of giving: http://www2.children.org/en/us/Pages/Home.aspx

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Take it easy doods,

GL at the tables

J