August 2008
41 posts
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7 Truths You Should Know About Your Body
There’s no such thing as localized fat loss. Actually there is, it’s called liposuction. Sorry, but all those crunches will not remove the fat from your midsection. You can not choose where you lose fat. Your genetic blueprint is what determines where you lose fat. Suffice it to say; when you go into a caloric deficit you start burning fat. That fat can come from anywhere...
July 2008
93 posts
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Well Rested
After yesterday’s bout with narcolepsy while working out, I decided to turn-in early. I was in bed by 10:15 but didn’t really fall asleep til about 10:30pm or so. But I got a solid 9 hours and 15 minutes of sleep in last night and what a different a night makes! I feel awake. I feel present. For the most part I feel “reset” which is what I’ve needed after last...
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Adjustments to Google Docs
Some of you know I track my physical results pretty intensively in the documents that are linked on the right of my blog. Today I’ve made a few adjustments to both:
The Physical Activity and Caloric Balance has been adjusted to reflect a few realizations.
Adjusted the per minute rate for physical activity
Incorporated BMR calculator
Reordered the worksheets to flow in order of...
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Results Discussion
I decided to graph out my results for the past 3 weeks. From the first graph, it’s obvious that there was no real weight loss until the last 7 days. The second graph shows the correlation between hydration % and fat % from the Tanita scale.
The above two charts show a few things. It first shows the obvious relationship between weight and fat % over the last 3 weeks. But it also shows...
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California 'Dodges Bullet' as 5.4 Earthquake Rocks...
Seriously?
Either you’re too young to remember “real” earthquakes or you’re not from around here. What we experienced today was childsplay compared to the monster quakes we had often in the 80’s. What about Northridge in ‘94?
I was on a conference call with some people from the East Coast while the earthquake happened. Everyone in the room was native...
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Take a Seat
A concept visualisation of this graduation project at the Design Academy Eindhoven. An interactive seat which follows the user at the library.
It’s not the most incredible thing you’ve ever seen but it’s pretty nifty. I’d love a chair that followed me around like a dog or a servant and if I got upset or something I could kick it over… just kidding!
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State of Flux
I’ve been MIA for a couple days now. The best way to describe how I am is that I’m in a “state of flux”.
Why am I in a state of flux?
For a couple reasons. The obvious ones are that I’m still somewhat recovering from last week’s bout with food poisoning. While I’d say that I escaped relatively unscathed, my body and my scale tell me otherwise. This...
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708 Miles Per Tank!
It took almost two weeks but I finally broke the 700 mile mark on a single tank of gas! Let’s just say that it was pretty painful. I couldn’t run the A/C, I had to drive 55 or slower on the freeway, I’d draft semi-trucks, and it would take almost take twice as long to get to my destinations.
But I did it! I broke my previous record of 606 miles on a single tank. Truth be told...
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Funky Lettuce - The Aftermath
I was pretty much bedridden all yesterday. I rotated between 2 couches and my bed for several hours at a time for 10 hours. I tried to intake as much fluids I could but I was SUPER dehydrated yesterday. This was exaggerated by the fact that I was sweating throughout the day (fever). My pee was brown.
Calorie-wise I drank 1.15 Jamba Juice 24 oz. Strawberry Surfrider and orange juice pretty much...
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Funky Lettuce
Welp, I really screwed up this time.
I had a salad last night where the lettuce had already turned brown and gotten kinda slimy. Didn’t think twice and ate it.
I’m paying for it big time now. I want to throw up. I’m super cold (and I’m wearing 5 layers of clothes right now). My stomach feels horrible. I’m really nauseous.
Now I’m sitting upright because lying...
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D3 Solution
As we speak I have listed both my 17-55mm f/2.8 DX and D2H on eBay. The solution to the D3 dilemma is surprisingly neither the 17-35mm f/2.8 nor the 14-24mm f/2.8 but is instead the 24-70mm f/2.8.
Interestingly the 24-70mm f/2.8 is similar in focal length to the 17-55mm f/2.8 DX. Due to the 1.5x crop factor the 17-55mm f/2.8 DX is effectively a 25.5mm-77.5mm f/2.8. So what is the benefit to...
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Homesick
It’s the smell of humidity in the air.
The warm summer breeze.
The howling of the typhoon winds around the windows.
Being up at 4:30am because I’m jetlagged.
When it’s clear in the morning but rains in the afternoon.
Old reruns of Jackie Chan movies on cable.
The commotion of thousands of people in a city that never sleeps.
Seeing and talking to my family again.
...
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Course Correction
I feel fat.
I know it’s only a day later that I stated that I feel stronger and bigger.
Well, I feel fat today and for sure I’ve gained fat.
Body dysmorphic disease aside, I know this because when I grab the lard around my waist, there’s more to grab.
I’m making a couple changes as a result of this discovery: 1. I will decrease my caloric intake to less than 2,000...
OGs
This is the only known photograph of all 4 of the OGs together. The last known gathering of the OGs was roughly 3 years ago. Much has happened since then that has made it difficult for such a gathering to occur. However on July 19, 2008 the stars aligned and OGs were reunited at Gan Bei in Rowland Heights, CA.
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Basketball Sleep - Part Two
I suppose this is why you don’t play basketball 2 hours before going to bed. We played 6 games last night, losing the first 3 by devastating blowouts did not help. We later redeemed ourselves by winning 2 convincing games back to back but then dropped the 6th in a 21 point game. I’m not too worried about the 6th game though because most of it was in good-ole-fashioned fun, just...
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Biking FAIL.
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Muscle Math and Fat Figures
I feel bigger. I look bigger. I am definitely stronger. But based on my spreadsheet I have neither gained (nor lost) any weight. Last week I took in a calculated 921 calories less than I burned. That’s good for about 1/4 pound of fat. But based on my spreadsheet, there has been no change in my body composition. My fat content if normalized for hydration and weight, have been the same for the...
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D3 Dilemma
I have decided to pull the trigger and buy the camera of my dreams to replace my outdated Nikon D2H. The main features I’ll get from shooting the D3, are more megapixels, great high-ISO performance, full-frame sensor, and better dynamic range.
I’m pretty excited because for months I’ve been drooling over the pictures on the Internet. The high-ISO performance of this thing is...
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Affliction - Cycle of Conditioning
I wanted to post this diagram first for future reference. Don’t worry about the stuff written in pencil, just take a look at the core diagram.
Click here for larger version.
Supplemental History Update
I’ve made updates and added more history to my Supplemental History post a while back.
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The Weekend Update
Last night was arguably the most fun I’ve had in a year. It’s been a long time since Allen, Larry, Mike and I have hung out. Basically yesterday was a tribute to the old days where it was just the “OGs” drinking and having fun. It’s been years since we’ve done an NBA2K night at Larry’s house where we drink shots for losing at the half and at the end of the...
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Abs Gone Wild!
This is mainly a post about abs, but I already know that it’s going to encompass several topics so bear with me.
I am not officially doing Larry’s “6-pack Challenge”. To my knowledge only Dai and Larry are doing the challenge. I have however adopted a variation of the challenge where I want to drop below 10% (according to my Tanita scale) and basically be...
Supplies!
An American, a Dutchman and a Chinese strand after a shipwreck on an uninhabited island. The American says: “I’ve been in the army for many years, I know how to survive. So if you guys don’t mind, I’ll give the orders”. The Dutchman and Chinese agree. The American then says: “Ok, each of us will will have to search for something. You, Chinese guy, get us...
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Dis iz wat i have to put up with...
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NO SKWISH!
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Advice... FAIL.
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Affliction - Aversion
“There are many techniques that give temporary relief. When you become miserable you divert your attention to something else. Then you feel that you have come out of your misery, but you are not totally relieved. If something undesirable has happened in life, you become agitated. You cannot bear this misery and want to run away from it. You may go to a cinema or a theatre, or you may...
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Top 10 Skills Every Man Should Have
I was thinking about this the other day and mentally put together a few things that I thought would be invaluable skills every man should have. Admittedly, I searched the Internet and took a look at some other lists (which weren’t nearly as good). These are my top 10 in no particular order.
Drive manual transmission
Ride a motorcycle (with manual transmission)
Load and shoot a...
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Police. FAIL.
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Affliction - Why Americans Love Yoga
Around here, yoga classes and yoga studios have been popping up like Starbucks over the past decade or so. Many that practice yoga swear by the positive effects and the peace they’ve achieved by routinely doing yoga. While I there are many physical, demographic and cultural reasons for why yoga has become so popular, here are 3 reasons why I think modern day Americans love yoga.
1. Americans...
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How Much Protein Should You Be Taking?
As an athlete and semi-experienced “body-builder” I’ve been taking protein for years (since 1997). In that time I’ve heard a lot of different suggestions for how much protein one should take when actively lifting weights. Most of my influences have come from the “muscle-head” camp where more protein = more muscle.
However as I grow older and more curious about...
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GNC Mega Men vs. Mega Men Sport
I wanted to know if there was a difference between the GNC Mega Men “regular” multivitamins and the Mega Men Sport multivitamins. Looking at the Sport label above, I see that the Mega Men Sport has 150 mg of BCAA (branched chain amino acids) including L-Valine, L-Leucine, and L-Isoleucine. These are missing from the Regular Mega Men.
Looking at the abbreviated label below, I...
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Affliction - Why Do We Fight?
fight [fahyt]
–noun, verb
1. a battle or combat.
2. any contest or struggle: a fight for recovery from an illness.
3. an angry argument or disagreement: Whenever we discuss politics, we end up in a fight.
Why do we fight? This question is designed to search deep into the assumptions of our actions, thus the answer lies not on the surface. For example, the answer is not “because I was pissed off”...
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Supplemental History
On the topic of supplements, I thought to supplement my last post with a short history of supplements I’ve taken, when I took them, what companies made them, and what my experiences were.
Creatine Monohydrate - Circa 1996 I started taking the powdered form of creatine between junior and senior year in high school. During summer school, I took a weightlifting class where the trainers...
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There Something in My 'Juice'
I’ve been taking Muscletech’s Nitro-Tech (powdered protein supplement) off and on for about 5 years now. I think I’ve gone through maybe 3 of their 4 lbs. bottles. Recently however, I ran out and went to GNC to purchase a new bottle and discovered they’ve changed their formula.
When I first started taking Nitro-Tech, it was basically a protein supplement with a timed...
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More Gameshow. FAIL.
more fail, owned and pwned pics and videos
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Solve Puzzle? FAIL.
I like this one :)
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60+ mpg
Some of you know that I drive a Prius. Fewer of you may know that I’m pretty fanatic about maximizing my fuel efficiency. In March I achieved 60.4mpg over a full tank and drove 606 miles before filling up.
On my current tank of gas, I’m estimating a new personal record for most miles driven as well as highest mpg rating on a single tank of gas. I know this is going to be a good tank...
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Search. FAIL.
Reposted from failblog.org
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tumblr Categorization and Tags
Since I’ve had my tumblr blog, I’ve been posting about the things that are important to me on a daily basis without much concern for cohesiveness or sticking to any particular topic. As a result certain themes have surfaced that allow for the logical categorization of this blog.
In my categorization process I have added tags to most posts that appear on the right column of the blog....
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tumblr Tag Cloud Generator →
I stumbled across this while looking for a way to categorize my posts. While it doesn’t automatically update your tumblr Tags, it saves you one extra service to sign up for and it works just as well. Kudos to Heather Rivers
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Affliction - Series of Articles
I’ve decided to combine my series of posts regarding anything related to the human condition under “Affliction”. This will include old material and new material and will hopefully provide some insight on affliction (the human condition) and hopefully how to cope with pain and suffering.
To start all of these articles will be titled “Affliction - [Subject Title]” and...
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The 10 Machines You Must Avoid At Your Gym →
Wow. This article is so full of shit that I had to basically repost it from Larry’s blog and rant about it here.
Basically this article boils down to this: Each machine or exercise targeting a specific muscle group by restricting the aid from other muscle groups, is bad for you because it puts pressure on your joints and is unnatural in movement. Alternatively you should perform an exercise that...
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19 Days
19 days since my last day of rest. Finally a day of rest. While it is well deserved, it doesn’t quite feel like enough. That’s probably because I slept at 6am last night and just woke up at 1pm. I’m sore from pretty much head to toe from paintballing and I’m tired as hell.
Looking ahead there’s basketball tomorrow and I’m not sure I want to play. Basketball...
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Success!
The weekend update. Totally awesome.
The weekend started off with a 3 mile run with Larry and later taking pictures of my 4-pack, going to the airport to pickup Eugene, then drinking at a 1020 in Arcadia. Saturday morning we went paintballing at Conquest Paintball, then went to Fogo de Chão for dinner (where the cuts of meat were superbly delicious). After that we headed back to my house for some...
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Bachelor Party Paintball
It’s been over 4 years since I last paintballed. Since then my equipment has been sitting in storage collecting dust. So it took me 2 weeks to get the gear sorted out. Aside from my loader getting stuck on the balls, things went without a hitch today. No chop and no barrel breaks!
My friends (co-workers, high school and college guys) and I played 12 games. I can’t count how many guys...
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Oops
Scratch that last post. I’m on my way over to Allen and Larry’s house right now and Larry just suggested that we run 3 miles. I guess that means no rest for me today.