Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Alpinist is no more

All good things must come to an end. My favorite magazine, a monument to the climbing world and probably one of the best publications (for tons of reasons) has ended.

http://www.alpinist.com/

Alpinist LLC to Suspend Operations
Jackson, Wyoming — October 16, 2008 — Alpinist LLC, which publishes the climbing magazine Alpinist, runs the website
www.alpinist.com and produces The Alpinist Film Festival, announced today that the October 2008 financial crisis has forced them to suspend operations.

Founded in 2002 by Marc Ewing and Christian Beckwith, Alpinist began in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as an archival-quality publication dedicated to world alpinism and adventure climbing. The quarterly quickly gained a reputation for both superior writing and beautiful photography; by 2004, Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner called it, "The best climbing magazine in the world today." Alpinist went on to win numerous awards; in March 2005 it was featured in a seven-page article in Outside Magazine ("The Purists") that explored its impact on American climbing.

Bummer.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

No 5 Hour Drive

Turkey day was so excellent. Me, Mrs Dirtbagger, and Dirtbagger's Mom. No 5 hour drive to Spokane. No horrible weather. OK, it was raining, hard but no problem with that shit.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Here's the Skinny

Well, one month later, here is the drama.

My calorie difference didn't equal my weight difference. That meant that my basal rate, which was an estimate was incorrect. I initially had 2250, now adjusted down to 1983.
Based upon that, redid my spreadsheet. Here is the run down.

During this month of October I rode 19 times, for a total of 50 hours. Longest ride was 5 hours.
Calorie burn / calorie intake was about the same @ 86,000.

  • Best - 10/25 - 157.2 - 4.6
  • Worse - 10/9 - 160.6 - 8.2
  • End - 10/31 - 161.2 - 6.4
I appear to have difficulty getting my body below 160. I would dip near and then feel completely ravished and would gorge on just about anything. Gonna keep pushing and see if I can get below 160.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Happy Halloween

Punk'in

Monday, October 20, 2008

44 - Wow

OK, Big Fucking News. Today I am 44 years old.

HA!

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Back to MSFT??

Job Front

So I'm not really making progress looking for a job outside of MSFT. It taught me several things.
1. I don't and have not networked well.
2. I've not kept up on what's going on in the business world like I used to.
3. Finding a job outside of MSFT channels is much much harder than I thought.
4. Contactor/Vendor jobs are pretty limited in their scope, scale and influence.

So about a week ago I sat down and reviewed all the positions I thought were of interest. I then asked Noah to email each of the hiring managers and send my resume. She sent a total of 22.

I got 3 responses all of which said they had filled the position.

HOWEVER, one shiny glimmer of hope. I did get a phone interview last Friday. I think it went well. This last Monday I received an email that I would be contacted by human resources to schedule a full interview loop.

Well, I hope it goes well as it's the only sincere thing I've got in the queue right now.

Back Fat

Oh, today I was @ 158.6 weight, with 7.1% body fat. My goal is by 10/20 be below 160. At the end of the month, I want to hold BELOW 160 and at Christmas still be below 160, and carry that through the new year into this next summer.

Bike Ride

I've been riding 2-4 hours almost every day. I let the air out of the tires of the Colnago and put it up for the winter, convinced we would not see any nice days. Then we had yesterday. Spectacular. Pumped the the tires and did a nice 4+ hour ride.

Oh yesterday, I got in an arguement with a CADMAN (local trucking company) dump truck driver and he pissed me off so much I noted is truck number, called his company and complained about his lack of professionalism. I had to leave a voice mail, but I basically told him, I ride a lot. I have a lot of experience on Washington roads, I encounter their trucks EVERYWHERE, and I have never ever in all my years encountered what I thought was such outside of the norm, extra ordinary, lack of professionalism, ever.

Less than 1 hour later, the supervisor's supervisor called me back took down the facts and told me he would follow up on the episode and then contact me this next week to let me know how it went. Wow.

Mom is Moving HERE!

Mom's moving over here and we've been helping her look at houses. Her qualifications are so rare that she has 3 companies (in this uncertain economy) wanting her to come for interviews. One place in downtown said that she should NOT accept a job with anybody UNTIL she interviewed with them. Wow. That has certainly NEVER happened to me! Way to go MOM.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Monday, October 06, 2008

Fucking Mandelbrot?

Ok I got nothing to say.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Back on the WAGON

Yep, 10/1 time to start tracking calories, again.

Gotta get sub 160 before the end of the month.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Work Out

OK this thing was brutal....One hour work out in the morning was pretty damned hard. Then the rest of the class was chalk sessions.I learned lots of great things on lifting, methodology, training. Good session. Here I'm hauling around a 40 lbs medicine ball.
Here was their blog on our workout.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Lucky Lab Brew

I'm sitting here in the alphabetic district of Portland @ the Lucky Lab Brewery, drinking beer, eating pizza and chilling. Everything (except my wife, my dog, and my dorky cat) are here. Well, OK, I only have once bicycle, no climbing gear. But shit, I'm close....OK, not really even close, but it's cool, nonetheless.

Did I mention I have a buzz?

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Blast from the Past - 4 Years Ago

This might make you laugh.... Me @ the Argentina/Chile border guard station, January 2004.

.

.

.

.

Almost 6 months later

Prepped for 4 hours of surgery, July 6th 2004.

.

.

.

.

Two months later, second chemo session.
I got a huge gash in my neck, I've got a big ass needle poked into my chest. I have a plastic device embedded into my chest about the size of a chestnut, my whole face is puffy from chemo. Oh and I suspect I puked up my lunch from earlier today.

What a horrible experience.

Today, I weigh about the same I did 4 years ago, after 4 rounds of chemo therapy....Therapy....that word makes me laugh when used in conjunction with chemo.

Just like when people say "when you got sick." Funny...I felt fine.

Cancer is full of funny contradictions.

Being alive vs. being dead is one, I guess.

I did it.

9/11 - 160 - But that was after a four hour bike ride.

If I can hold it for a week then, I really did it.

On 9/11, my career crumbles just like the twin towers

My professional career is over. I couldn't even get hired here:

> Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:15:36 -0400
> From: VirtualEdge@safeco.com
> To: xxxx
> Subject: Safeco Insurance – Proj Mgr Sr, IT #3806
>
> xxxx,>

> After carefully reviewing your qualifications for this position, we have decided to pursue other candidates. Our Career Center is updated as new positions become available. I invite you to visit Safeco.com frequently to apply for opportunities, maintain your profile, check your application status and set up job agents to receive new job postings by email.

> Thank you for participating in our process and for considering Safeco as an employer. Best wishes in your job search.

> Safeco Recruiting

Turned down by a machine at a lame insurance company.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Seminar Agenda

Got the agenda for our weekend mountain athlete lifting seminar....Looks painful.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

0730-0900 Strength Training Session
In this hands-on session attendees will experience first hand a training session which includes a 1-RM strength test, complex work and strongman training.

0900-0930 Mountain Athlete Training Philosophy & Goals of Gym Training
Our approach. What we feel is important, lessons learned, and the drive for continuous improvement. The transferable goals and attributes of gym training as they relate to mountain, industrial and tactical athletes.

0930-1000 Basic Training Concepts
Fundamentals of strength and conditioning will be explained and discussed: Adaptation, Progression, Accommodation, Specificity, and Individualization.

1000-1130 Periodization Basics
Discussion of differences between Linear, Undulating and Conjugate periodization, periodization cycles (macro, meso, micro), and applying periodization principals to a yearly calendar. Periodization for hybrid gym training, and integrating hybrid gym training with program design for sports and activities outside the gym will be covered.

1130-1200 What athletes need. How we train it.
A nuts and bolts discussion of how gym training can complement the performance and out-of-the gym training and practice for mountain, industrial and tactical athletes.

1200-1300 Lunch Break

1300-1400 Training Strength
Different types of strength, types that are important for mountain/industrial/tactical athletes and how to train them will be covered.

1400-1430 Core Strength
A strong core is key to durability, especially in mature athletes. Discussion will include static versus dynamic core training, loaded core training, and strength endurance.

1430-1500 Power Endurance & Metabolic Conditioning
Power endurance - or the ability to deliver power over extended periods is perhaps the most important physiological attribute to hybrid athletes. The principals behind power endurance will be discussed. Training sessions to train and evaluate power endurance will be demonstrated and discussed.

1500 - ?? Programing Basics (Lecture)
Conjugate periodization to train in the gym for maximal strength, explosive power, power endurance, strength endurance and metabolic conditioning will be covered. Lecture will include programming for an example month.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

0800-0900 Core Strength Training Session
In this hands-on session attendees will experience first hand an intense, core training session.

0900-1000 Sport Specific (Climbing) Training & Periodization
Physical attributes and how to train them for climbing will be covered, including how to incorporate sport specific training with hybrid gym training.

1000-1100 Training Session Design
This is where the rubber hits the road. Designing daily workouts which meet conjugate periodization goals, yet take into account athlete physical and mental fatigue, movement and muscle balance, and time restrictions is as much art as science. Learn the approach we use.

1100-1130 Professional Development Strategies
Developing a strategy for continuous learning and professional development which pays attention to time and cost restriction will be discussed.

1130-1200 Final Q&A
An open question and answer period to address any lingering questions.

Tim is Back!

My friend Tim is back from living in China for 4 months. Now somebody to go run with. He's a good guy and helped me a bunch when I was sick...

We went for a 40 minute run. Back felt OK. Legs felt really good. I think I need some new running shoes.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Saddle Time: 4.5 Hours

I rode 4.5 hours today, on the new bike of course. I really like that bike.

  • It rides really well.
  • It fits me really well.
  • It looks cool.
What more could you ask of a 9K dollar bicycle? :)

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Job FIRST, Hypermotard SECOND

Nuff Said.

Friday, September 05, 2008

The GYM is working

Back if feeling better than it has in weeks! Its working.

Monday, September 01, 2008

Back STILL hurts

So after 8+ weeks of 2x a week chiropractor, and 2x a week naturopath, I'm done. Time to take the situation into my own hands.

Go the the gym and pulverize my back until it gets in line!