gpp-w7d1

squat: 135×8, 165×8, 195×15
barbell press: 45×8, 95×8, 115×15
reverse lunge: 45×5
lat pulldown: 6×10, 8×10, 10×15
seated calf raise: 45×20, 90×10

May 31, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

Made to Stick

Finished ‘Made to Stick’ the other day. Solid read, like Gladwell without the arrogance but with some practicality.

I like the way that the authors emphasis the use of ‘the story’ and how much more effective and ‘sticky’ concepts are when they are built into a story.

They break ‘stickiness’ into five concepts: simple, unexpected, concrete, emotional and stories. There are definitive examples within each concept that effectively help ideas adhere become easier to recall. I’ve suffered through a fair number of ‘biz’ book but this one was pretty great.

This copy was from the library, but I need to pick up a copy for myself to highlight and underline and scribble over.

May 29, 2009 | Filed Under Books | Comments Off

gpp-w6d3

incline bench: 135×8 (two sets), 195×8 (two sets)
barbell row: 135×8, 165×8 (two sets)
dumbbell flys: 30×8, 40×12 (two sets)
bentover dumbbell raise: 30×10, 30×8
tricep extension: 55×12 (two sets)
dumbbell curl: 30×8, 35×10

May 29, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

gpp-w6d2

medicine ball rotations: 15×2
medicine ball situps: 15×2
squat: 135×6, 165×6, 195×6, 225×5, 275×5
barbell press: 45×12, 95×6, 115×6, 135×5, 155×7
standing calf raise: 135×8, 155×8

May 27, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

gpp-w6d1

It was a holiday today, so the gym was full of once-a-week lifters who do nothing else but bench; flat bench, incline bench, decline bench, dumbbell bench all in a row. I hid away near the dumbbell rack and knocked out a quick, high-rep workout.

dumbbell bench: 65×8, 75×15
dumbbell row: 65×8, 75×18
dumbbell press: 30×10, 40×18
bentover dumbbell raise: 25×20
tricep pressdown: 8×10 (two sets), 10×18
barbell curl: 60×18
cuff: ext (3×8 two sets), pull (4×8 two sets), hip (2×8 two sets)

May 25, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

gpp-w5d3

Squats nearly killed me, two sets of ten reps at 225 had my heart pounding and my lungs burning.

squat: 135×6, 185×6, 225×10 (two sets)
barbell press: 45×8, 95×8, 115×10
lat pulldown: 10×8, 12×8 (two sets)
seated calf raise: 45×12, 90×10, 90×8

May 22, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

dt4 progress

Finished a track last night, ‘Passing’, three left to go. Hopefully I’ll finish them this weekend and take the next week to mix and hopefully master next weekend. I’m listening to some of the tracks that I finished months ago and I’m reasonably happy with them. I’m trying some new ideas and they have a different sound than the last project.

I like getting up early to get work done but sometimes at night when I’m on a roll I start to get some anxiety about getting enough sleep to hit the gym in the morning. The workouts are the priority, they keep me sane and I guess health benefits are worthwhile.

Starting to plan the next workout phase post vacation. It’ll be good to have a week away from the gym and recover. It will also give me a chance to really beat myself up for the ten days or so prior to leaving. Workout facilities at hotels are usually pretty sparse but we usually end up doing a ton of walking.

First softball game tonight, should be fun. I haven’t done much interacting in a non-work environment for the last 5-7 years so it’s bit of a challenge to try and remember names and how normal people interact. My lousy jokes and non-sequetor references seem to get little-to-no response. I have to remind myself that not everyone has memorized every line from Arrested Development.

May 21, 2009 | Filed Under music, personal | Comments Off

gpp-w5d2

incline bench: 135×5 (two sets), 165×5, 195×5, 225×6
barbell row: 135×6, 165×6, 195×6
dumbbell flyes: 30×10, 40×8, 50×8
bentover dumbbell raise: 25×8, 35×7
tricep extension: 55×8, 65×8
dumbbell curl: 30×6, 40×8

May 20, 2009 | Filed Under lifting | Comments Off

on Pixar

I’ve been reading about Pixar, the company. One of my favorite notes is how much of their history lies in failure. The main computer scientist started off working in a boring CAD company, Jon Lasseter was fired from Disney, the company itself was sold by Lucas to Jobs who then tried to sell of parts of it for years. Even when ‘Toy Story’ was set to be released, Mattel and Hasbro couldn’t be bothered to distribute toys (Disney’s primary concern?).

The script for Toy Story went through 10+ revisions and the final product is nothing like the original idea. They went through revision after revision to try to capture an effective and appealing story. Competitors such as Dreamworks rushed to compete and failed on both a technical and story level. I can’t think of another film company who have had such a consistent level of quality and box-office performance.

I remember seeing ‘Toy Story’ at the Dollar Cinema in Muncie and being stunned at what they were able to accomplish. I was studying music at the time and managed to get in touch with one of the sound designers at Pixar. It still remains a dream company to work for.

May 19, 2009 | Filed Under films, geek | Comments Off

gpp-w4-ssc-1, mathematica, music

Day off from the gym, but Jen and I walked this morning. It was good to get up early and have a couple of hours to make some progress on a few projects before heading to work. I have a list on my desktop asking why am I not work on … mathmatica, music, ruby.

There has been a long, bitter and angry history with mathematics in my past but the first time I saw mathematica in college I thought it was fantastic. When the home edition became available this year I snagged it, but haven’t put much time into it. I’ve starting working through some of the tutorials. I really like the idea of using to plot some work issues such as capacity growth and bandwidth usage. I like the idea of forcing myself to break down the numbers and understand what we really need.

I also started getting some music projects happening. I have about half a CD finished and four more tracks in their alpha state. I have a pretty clear path on two of them and the other two are still amorphous. I want to finish the project in the next month and then take some time to focus on ‘big music idea’. Not that it’s very big, but I want to work on a piece with new sound design rather then just getting something up with stock sounds. In college I focused far more on sound design and miss that part of music.

May 19, 2009 | Filed Under geek, lifting, music | Comments Off