Training 54/55.

54
Nutrition
Cup of coffee w/equal, cream
Shake - 3 eggs, inst coffee, equal, cream
4 salami stick snacks
Shake - 3 eggs, pb, equal, cream
2l water
1l diet soda

PT
Pushups - 3x15
Lunges - 3x15
Dips - 3x15
One arm DB hang snatch 3x15x30
Calf raise - 25x105

55
Rest/free/carb day. No PT.

Nutrition/Food
Ummm... let's see... there was hamburger, salad, diet soda, milk tea, chocolate, 20cm Subway BLT w/mayo, a few beers, cookies... I think that was about it.

Kevin Smith's New Opus - The Teaser Trailer.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

It'll change America.

Overheard in the Office | It Takes Chicken to Make a Tender Moment:

"Token black kid: When Obama is elected we'll have fried chicken Fridays!
Super white Californian: I love fried chicken!
[they quickly embrace]

UMass
Amherst, Massachusetts

Overheard by: wallflower"

Training 52/53.

52
Nutrition
Coffee w/cream, equal
Shake - 3 eggs, coffee, cream, equal
Tuna, mayo, tomato, wasabi
1l diet soda
Shake - 3 eggs, PB, cream, equal
5 sausage links
2.4l water

PT
Chins - 5/4/3/2/1
One arm DB hang snatch - 52.5x5/5/5
Overhead DB press - 40x10, 70x5, 80x5, 90x5
DB front squat - 50x10, 105x5/5/5
DB RDL - 105x15
Bungee face pull/dislocates superset - 15/15/15/15

53
Nutrition
Coffee w/cream, equal
Shake - 3 eggs, coffee, cream, equal
3 sausage links, 4 cheese sticks
Bacon
1l diet soda
2.5l water

PT
30m Rutten MMA wkout/Boxing, 3m rounds

Basically, you're screwed.

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > Ryan Frederick's Preliminary Hearing:

"Pay close attention to this one: According to a reporter I spoke with this evening who attended the hearing, Detective Kelly Roberts testified that the police announced themselves four times, waiting four seconds between announcements...

After the fourth announcement (presumably, about sixteen seconds), they detected movement in the house. Roberts says a light "changed." It was at this point that they announced "Eight ball! Eight Ball!" a code signaling that the raid had been compromised. At that cue (pardon the billiards pun), they took down the door with the battering ram.Think about the implication, here. The police come to Frederick's home to serve a knock and announce search warrant. He's asleep in his bed. Sixteen seconds after the first knock, it isn't the fact that he hasn't yet come to the door that triggers the violent, forced entry. It's that there is a "change" in the light. It's the light that makes them conclude the raid had been compromised. Not the flush of a toilet, or the cock of a shotgun. A light. How do they know that light isn't someone coming to answer the door, possibly to allow the police to come in for a peaceful search?

What this means is that, as I've written before, there's no real difference between a no-knock and a knock and announce warrant. Once the warrant has been issued your door is coming down, and there's not much you can do about it.

This then raises the question of what exactly you're supposed to do when someone knocks on your door, and announces that they're the police and that they have a search warrant. Don't come to the door, and they're going to break it down and come after you. Come to the door to verify it's really the police (by no means a given)—and to let them in if it is—and your very movement toward the door can, also, be a trigger to break the door down and storm your home. Arm yourself and wait for them to come in? You're practically begging them to shoot you.

Seems your only option is stand somewhere in your own house with your hands in the air, wait for the door to come down, and hope the raiding officers don't mistake your t-shirt for a gun, or possibly trip or mistakenly fire and accidentally kill you. Be prepared to be thrown to the ground, stepped on, handcuffed, and have the barrel of a gun pointed at the back of your head.

This is just one of many conundrums posed by the proliferation of paramilitary-style police raids. The people on the receiving end of the raids are put in positions where it's nearly impossible to even know what the right response is, much less be in a position to make it. Not to mention that, at the same time, they're being subjected to trauma that makes any sort of clear-headedness or careful consideration of their options pretty much impossible. Make the wrong decision and you're either dead or facing a felony charge."

Overheard Roundup - Women, midgets and dildos.

Overheard in New York | Is This Your Vast Feminist Conspiracy Theory Again?:

"Emotional suit: My shrink said I'm dragging my feet to test my wife.
Supportive suit: He could be right.
Emotional suit: No, it's a woman.
Supportive suit: Oh no! She is manipulating your ass.

--3 Train

Overheard by: EmLo"

Overheard Everywhere | Either Way I Won't Be Able to Get Off Now:

"Suit #1: I can't believe I've lost them again!
Suit #2: Are we talking about dildos still or the midgets?

McDonald's Parking Lot
St. Louis, Missouri

Overheard by: I wish I heard the first part of this conversation"

Network news = useless.

You know things have gone horribly wrong when Katie Couric has the most journalistic integrity.

Network news anchors praise the job they did in the run-up to the war - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com:

"...the three network news anchors appeared jointly on The Today Show this morning and were forced by McClellan's book to address whether the media failed in its duties in the run-up to the war -- the first time, to my knowledge, that this topic has ever been broached by network news journalists (h/t Kitt). The fact that television news has blacked-out the whole issue until now is, by itself, rather amazing.

While Katie Couric impressively argued that the media did fail to do its job -- pointing out that the White House threatened networks which were perceived to be too critical with cutting off access to the war and that anyone who questioned the war was deemed unpatriotic and all of that "affected the level of aggressiveness that was exercised by the media" -- the painfully empty-headed Charlie Gibson and the mindlessly establishment-defending Brian Williams both insisted that the media did a perfectly fine job and that they would do nothing different. "There was a lot of skepticism raised about" the Colin Powell speech, said Gibson, in one of the falsest statements ever uttered on TV...

Perish the thought that journalists should be adversarial to our political officials, challenge what they say or point out when they're lying. Instead, their job is merely to pose polite questions, let political officials say what they want in response, and then go home -- just as Charlie Gibson said. This is why most establishment journalists will never be convinced that they failed to do their job, no matter how much evidence is presented: because of the understanding they have of what "their job" actually is. If anything, by Gibson's understanding of what they're supposed to be doing, they did their job brilliantly, by letting Bush officials go on their shows and -- as Cheney aide Cathy Martin said about what happens when they went on Tim Russert -- "allow[ing Bush officials] to control the message.""

Never. Gonna. Happen.

Can't fight the future.

Japan urges limits to youngsters' cell phone use as panel notes dangers of crimes, overuse - Mainichi Daily News:

"Japanese youngsters are getting so addicted to Internet-linking cell phones that the government is starting a program warning parents and schools to limit their use among children."

Truth.

SuicideGirls > News > Culture > MISUSING SEX (Part a Million):

"The moment you say anything publicly, someone will completely misconstrue it and then blame you for having told them to do whatever it is that gets them in trouble. This goes for anything you say about any subject in any tone of voice or with any string of words in any language. Communication is tough."

Well played, young man.

Overheard Everywhere | At Least You Have Your Priorities Straight:

"Ten-year-old boy: You know what I would have if I could have four wishes?
Big sister: I don't know. What?
Ten-year-old boy: One: no drought in Georgia; Two: no global warming; Three: world peace; Four: a Komodo dragon that is really nice and fun to play with, is a vegetarian, lives forever and can grant eternal life.

Druid Hills, Atlanta

Overheard by: Miranda"

Training 51.

Nutrition
2 cups of coffee w/equal, cream
1 diet soda
2l water
4 eggs w/cheese
4 chs sticks
Tuna salad w/lettuce, tomato, mayo, wasabi

PT
30m Rutten MMA wkout/Thai Boxing 2m rounds

40m guided relaxation/meditation
Bed@2330

"People have plenty of excuses they think are valid, but every one of them is lame."

Marc Allen’s Blog - Marc Allen:

"There are no valid excuses. People have plenty of excuses they think are valid, but every one of them is lame. Whatever excuses you think you have, there have been many people in far worse situations than you who have gone on to great success."

Somebody just had a great day at the airport.

Japan: Not the Model of Efficiency you might think it is.

Customs gives passenger free hashish | Japan Probe:

"Drug dogs at Narita failed to locate drugs planted in a bag by customs police, and a passenger ended up walking away with some free hashish"

Thorazine and those pesky old folks.

Awesome.

1957 Thorazine ad promises "control of the agitated, belligerent senile" - Boing Boing

Training 50.

Nutrition
Cup of coffee w/cream, equal
Shake - 4 eggs, inst coffee, cream, equal
4 eggs, ground pork, cheese
2 diet sodas
1L water
Shake - 4 eggs, peanut butter, cream, equal

Training
Pushups - 10/10/10
Overhead press - 30x10, 50x10, 60x10/10
One arm DB row - 45x10, 50x10, 52.5x10
DB front squat - 50x12, 80x10/10/10
Alternate DB curls - 30x10/10/10
Shrugs - 105x10/10/10
Facepull/Dislocates superset - 15/15

40m guided relaxation/meditation
Bed@2245

On the other hand...

In endeavoring, in accordance with Sandy's advice, to look on the bright side...

My computer crashing beyond all repair is amazingly frustrating. Especially as I just recalled this AM some more student and school pics I had in my "NEW" folder that hadn't been backed up yet [sigh].

But!

It is true that I had a huge backlog of things to read, do and organize on the old computer. Ebooks, comics, photos, things to download, things to prioritize... But honestly, the when of when I was going to get to all that was kind of escaping me. Every day presents a new onslaught of info, video, RSS feeds and other things...

But now? Well, now I have a clean slate. Which is kinda cool actually. And honestly, I've got almost everything up to about 5 or 6 months completely backed up on a bunch of CD-Rs. So, once the new laptop gets here I can reinstall a bunch of it, in a far more discriminating way.

And the new laptop will give me a chance to do something I've been wanting to do for a while - switch over to a Linux operating system.

When the laptop gets here it'll be all set up with Vista, but the seeming consensus online and around the way is that Vista, well... kind of blows. Not that Windows ME and XP were outstanding or anything, but I was used to them.

The learning curve on Linux might be a little steep, but I figure most of the shortcuts I've played with in XP over the last 3 years wouldn't apply to Vista anyways.

And just, from a philosophical point of view, I really want to move to a Linux OS. Talking about free software. Talking about open source software. Talking about a revolution. Well, okay, not really that last one.

But honestly, I'm tired of... well, I read something recently... that the role of technology, the goal, should be to find ways to make technology work for you, in order to make your life easier.

Not lock you into some proprietary software that limits your choices and cripples your machine's capability to the benefit of some company's outdated business model or head-in-the-sand attempt to run from or block the future. [Looking right at you, Microsoft. You too, Apple.]

So, Ubuntu Linux seems to be the most user friendly distro out there. And I'm definitely gonna need 'user friendly.' So once I get the new laptop, I'll fire it up, download the Live CD and install it. I'll probably dual boot with Vista for awhile, till I get the hang of it, and make sure it plays nice with the hardware on my laptop. But after that, it's bye-bye Microsoft. Bye bye crippleware. Bye bye DRM. Bye bye nonsense. Hello computing freedom.

It'll probably be about the geekiest thing I've done. Well, computer geeky, anyways. My long tradition of comic book geekiness transcends. But honestly, besides playing around with my Commodore 64K [jesus, 20 years ago...] I've never really done a lot of computer nonsense. I never even really learned how to deal with spreadsheets. Word processing and the internet. That's been my computing life. But even with that, I've managed to figure out that it just doesn't have to be as difficult as some companies want to make it.

Open source is the way to go. Things you can tweak and change and make your own, make work the way you want them to work... that's what computers should be for. Even if you're only doing stuff as simple as figuring out what extensions and add-ons you want for your Firefox browser.

So yeah, geek mode on, I guess.

Today I broke a student.

Well, okay, I didn't break him, but I bent him pretty good. Sent him for an unscheduled dental visit, I did.

In the words of Adrian Monk, "Here's what happened..."

So, elementary school today. And one thing I do [critical heads would say it's the only thing I do, but those people suck] is roughouse with the chirren'. Faux Judo, Sumo, Puroresu [pro-wrestling], K1, plus the occasional spinning around and throwing in the air. So there I am defending against the onslaught of no less than 3 attacking munchkins, when one of the kids trying to execute a tackle gets his legs tangled up with another one of the kids. He starts to go ass over tea kettle, but instead, unlucky kid, he face plants into my knee. Hard. With kind of a sick, cracking sound. I could've sworn he broke his nose or knocked some teeth out, but thank Buddha he didn't. Tears and some blood ensued, but nothing as bad as I imagined in the minute my heart stopped before we got him to the nurses' office.

And they ran him out for the dentist checkup, and he came back smiling before lunch, albeit with some slight bandage on one of his teeth. [Which I was told was because one of the teeth was a little loose, but would be okay.] And while I was worried, the other teacher were like "Eh... kodomo... shoganai." [Kids? What can you do?] Never let it be said they're raising weak kids here in Japan. Least I could do was over up a whole sheet of stickers to the lad as recompense. I mean, it wasn't really my fault. It's not like I punched him in the eye or anything... but I was raised Catholic, so I still do guilt quite a lot.

So, let's see... in the last week -

* I was double billed for an internet purchase [still being resolved] which nearly led me to bouncing a check.

* I was bitten by some insane insect/spider, had my eyebrow swell up the the size of a golfball, missed work, went to the hospital 3x and had [really minor] surgery.

* Had my hard drive crash and my computer die, losing a crapload of pics, ebooks, music and some video.

* Sent an elementary school 3rd grader in for an emergency dental visit.

You know, I'm thinking I'm due a run of good luck.

Teaching Fail.

[Plus a Hawaii shoutout.]

Overheard Everywhere | Or the Word "Dyke" Ever Again:

"Teacher: So, for the final sentence we should get some sort of metaphor for tax cuts helping the US recession.
Student #1: Hmm... Hey, you know like, the commercial where they put gum in the hole in the dam to stop the leak?.
Student #2: Or the finger!
Teacher: Oh, you mean in the dyke!
Student #1: Yeah, so... Tax cuts would be the finger in the hole of America's dyke?
Teacher: Maybe we shouldn't use a metaphor.

English Essentials Class
Waimea, Hawaii"