"Ripley: Why do you care about them?
Annalee Call: Because I'm programmed to.
Ripley: You're programmed to be an asshole? You're the "new model" asshole they're putting out?"
Alien Resurrection, 20th Century Fox, 1997.
...well, not exactly. The breakfast was delicious and filling. I ate the egg (protein) first. I show a lot of fruit below but I ate only a few pieces. I pick and choose the fruit I feel like eating at any one breakfast. Those two containers of fruit have been lasting a week. I have been alternating eating a loaf of bread one week with oatmeal the following week. Working out well.
If you really must know, the quarter-cup of instant oats is microwaved for 75 seconds with a half-cup of water. Then I throw in a few slivered almonds and either blueberries or craisins and mix it all up with a teaspoon of honey. It makes for an excellent alternative to the bread and provides a few more grams of fiber.
For a richer experience, slap on additional butter and use more cooking oil for the egg. For bread, I prefer butter to cheese. I like cheese but eat it very rarely.. usually with a bottle of red zinfandel on Saturday nights.
Don't waste food. Lick it clean. Yeah, disgusting.. but no one is going to be viewing your plate.
Is it on one side because I was trying to save oil.. as it was just one egg? No, its on one side because of gravity.. my cooking range is tilted ever so slightly to that side. So.. I just sprayed that side with oil knowing the egg will situate itself there with gusto. Clever, huh?
I estimate the value of this nutritious breakfast at around two dollars.
Very happy to have been present when Alex Honnold visited Somerville Bouldering in 2019. The women on stage strike me as, well, being in a moment that most women and men only dream of. Alex, on the other hand, reminds me of a dying breed... perhaps that of the character of Clay Bell from Guns of the Timberlands or maybe Logan Cates from Last Stand at Papago Wells. Not in a "draw fast and make the first shot count" sort of way, mind it. But in a.. can teach us about how to get out of -- and in Alex's case, get into AND out of -- a pretty awful situation sort of way. Incidentally, the character of Junie Hatchett in Last Stand at Papago Wells has festered in my mind since I first read the book as a teenager growing up in Madurai, India:
Let's dive right in. We have already had SARS and now COVID-19 in the span of 20 years. With human population exploding and existing humans living longer, hundreds of thousands of "human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square miles"1 will become a common theme in pretty much every square mile of the planet. That means, this sort of pandemic will become more common. Secondary inference: we need to get into the habit of quickly adapting to similar situations as they arise in the future. So now is as good a time as any to start practicing.
Those of you who have always had a habit of washing your hands once you get indoors, be it home or the office, you are in luck. Because we already have a stockpile of hand-wash soap and sanitizers on hand.
I have noticed some men in public urinals handling a smartphone in one hand while operating machinery with the other and then not washing their hands before exiting the restroom. Ugh! Those of you who don't have a habit of washing your hands, well, here now is a great opportunity to finally develop a healthy life-long habit.
There is no point in blaming China for this pandemic. It is what it is. We have to trust in China's ability to prevent such infections from arising in the future. But we should also see this as an opportunity for medical and emergency responders around the world to better anticipate and work together in future should such a situation arise. And more situations like this will arise. Vaccines might be developed faster but there will be infections and deaths first.
Social distancing is not a request. It is an obligation to your community. Homebodies are in luck as they don't really have to do anything remarkable. But those of us who have a need to get out under the sun or hit the gym will need to curb our enthusiasm and just rein it in. I have resistance bands on hand. And, of course, calisthenics. Time to start practicing the handstand and doing a little tumbling work. Gyms closing temporarily are a great idea as everybody touches everything and breathes out something heavy in gyms. Therefore, sanitizing surfaces and spraying to negate aerosols in such environments may just not be good or fast enough.
If it’s a sunny, “near Spring” day out, bring your beach gear out to the balcony and do a bit of reading!
Having difficulty shedding those extra pounds? This would be a great time to ration your supplies, eat less and lose some serious weight!
Having difficulty in stopping spending on drinks at your local watering hole.. or on amazon.com every month and then promptly getting rid of cardboard packaging, etc.? Well, let's use this opportunity to rein all that in.
In an ideal society, there will not be any panic buying. But there are no ideal societies. Particularly in a democracy like the United States which is home to a vast number of group mentalities and mindsets, and therefore deep distrust between groups and between groups and their government, panic buying will be the norm. It is hard to fault parents with young children and the elderly in such situations. But everyone else should make an effort to be considerate in their purchases and put trust in the infrastructure that they have had a hand in gradually building and honing over the decades. So be considerate and leave some supplies on the shelf for others. This is easier said than done though because.. there are no ideal societies.
Continue ordering the occasional food delivery to support your local **reputable** restaurants but be prepared to disinfect surfaces of the food containers -- using wipes and not by spraying -- just behind your front door.
Notice that other than the hand washing part, which should be general practice anyway, there is no "medical advice" in this post. If you are not a medical expert from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), stop texting and forwarding home grown or unattributed medical advice to your family and friends. I get this stuff everyday from family and it annoys me to no end.. because then, when they do call, I don't feel like taking their calls.
Lastly, it would be a good idea to stop constantly talking and posting about COVID-19. I, for one, am tired of hearing about the damn thing. You have done everything in your control to prevent the spread of this virus. Now we wait for the pandemic to slow down and end. But how about this post then? It is talking about COVID-19? Well, nobody reads my blog. So its okay!
I will talk more about the advantages and disadvantages of my super-popular No-routine routine in a future post. I will note, however, that I do that routine on Saturdays only when I am staying in town but want to expend some energy and just be in a gym environment. In the meanwhile, here are some short goodies that I now have had significant experience with:
Sauna
I remember using saunas occasionally back in my 20s. But then I did it more because it was available at the gym and it seemed a "cool" thing to do in a harebrained sort of way. This past year, I started using saunas both because I decided I needed a pro-active way to take care of my skin, particularly of the face, neck and lower legs.. and also because I read about Olympic lifter Dmitry Klokov using the sauna for recovering from hard workouts. Here is a video of it, actually:
The recovery aspects of using the sauna caught my attention because I wanted to move away from using post-workout protein shakes. I still think protein shakes are needed to gain muscular body-weight but my goals no longer involve that sort of thing. I wanted to remain strong and mobile. That's it. And, yes, I diligently started using the sauna Tuesday and Thursday evenings after my upper body workout. I only use it for 15 minutes at a sitting. On Sundays, I might hit the gym to just sit for another 15 minutes in the sauna. The idea is to work up to 30 to 40 minutes of total sauna time per week. And it works! My skin looks and feels better and muscle soreness is not evident at all. And then there is just that great feeling of relaxation you have when inside the sauna. Now I start twitching when I think of hitting the sauna as I cannot wait to finish a work day and earn my "reward".
Knee Sleeves
I have long had crunchy knees. By crunchy, I mean that my knees make a little creaky noise when I get back up from, say, sitting or kneeling on the floor. But there was no pain and my knees were always very mobile. Strangely, I don't hear that noise when I am squatting with a heavy barbell. In recent years, I no longer squat heavy preferring to stay around the 250 lb range for several sets of five or six reps twice a week. Still, I noticed that as I got near the 200 lb range, my knees would start feeling "uncomfy" like they were going to explode out the sides. Then I saw a YouTube video where Dexter Jackson was answering fan's questions while sitting outside a gym:
And one thing he mentions in the video is about how wrapping his knees saved them and that he wished he had started wrapping them earlier in his career. Now Dexter is known for his longevity in professional bodybuilding. The guy just did his 18th or so Mr.Olympia in September 2019 and placed fourth at age 49! Needless to say, when I first saw this video last summer, I decided to invest in a pair of knee sleeves (which are somewhat different from knee wraps, by the way) and.. voila! Just as with the sauna, I saw immediate results. My knees seemed to track better, yes, but the more significant effect was in how compact and "young" my knees felt. These days I always start my leg workouts with Leg Curls, followed by Good-mornings before moving on to squatting. The reason for this sequence is simple: the Leg Curls warm up my knee area thoroughly while the Good-mornings grease my hips well and also warm up my glutes and lower back.. and the net effect is much better prep for squatting. I generally do a couple of warm-up sets with an empty bar and 135 lbs without knee sleeves. Then I put on the knee sleeves and rep out the third and fourth sets with about 185 and 225 lbs respectively. Then I add another 30 lbs to the bar and do two or three sets of five or six reps. A nice, tight finish. Do I take the knee sleeves off right away after finishing squatting? No. Because I do kneeling ab pulldowns next and the knee sleeves provide nice padding for my knees when I am knelt down. They also continue to keep my knees warm for a while after the squats. But I noticed that about seven or eight minutes after the last set of squat, my knees get cold anyway. At this point, I take off the knee sleeves, turn them inside out and wipe them down with a towel provided by the gym. If you don't do this, the funk builds up. Still, I now have a second set of knee sleeves that I use on alternative weeks.
Conditioning not Cardio
Listen. Have you been attempting to lose weight, body fat, whatever and failing miserably? I have a thought that might help you out. Here it is: get on that treadmill with an intent to improving your general fitness and your conditioning so that you can play better.. be it lifting weights, jumping into a lake with your family in the summers or just walking around town or the workplace without dragging your feet. Stop thinking about losing weight because that has a lot to do with your eating, drinking and merry-making habits. Be honest with yourself. If you are eating and drinking as you please, you are not going to lose weight. So simply get on the treadmill and maintain a good walking pace on, perhaps, an uphill slope. Yes, all you need is brisk, steady walking. There is no need to run unless you like to run or are preparing for a marathon. Steady walking has the benefit of not screwing up your joints and your feet. It might actually make your knees and lower back feel better. If you are working out to gain muscle, steady walking will not affect that goal either. As for time or distance, use this general rule of thumb when first starting out: either walk 20 minutes or a mile, whichever comes later. So if you have walked 20 minutes but have not yet reached a mile, keep walking until you reach a mile. Or if you have a reached a mile but are still short of the 20 minute time period, keep walking until you reach 20 minutes of walking time. As with the sauna, two or three short walking sessions a week is better than one long session. This way, you won't feel too bad if you have to skip a walking session. Also, multiple sessions -- be it walking, sauna, lifting weights -- provide better structure to your week days, which is supremely important. At some point, you will find yourself increasing that time and distance to say 30 minutes as your conditioning improves. That's fine. But I suggest that you first increase slope and walk uphill more before attempting to increase the time/distance component. The best time to get on the treadmill is immediately after lifting weights. I like to walk after my lower body workouts on Mondays and Wednesdays.
I spent a recent Wednesday shooting the breeze at the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in Rhode Island. In its scale, the refuge had strong resemblances to World's End in Hingham MA. Sachuest Point though felt a bit more out there unlike World's End from where you can see packed Hull MA as well as the Boston skyline. The former also had noticeably more wild life. I spotted whales out on the bay, for instance. Here are some National Geographic totally non-winnable photos taken with an iPhone 7:
Is this a butterfly or what?
What's the grassy equivalent of a scree called? Lots of bugs flitting about.
More flowers in this shot. When I reviewed this shot on location.. on the iPhone screen, the depth of field was not as obvious as it is here.
What the sign says.
This bunneh looked like it wanted company but it would never have worked.
Butterfly.
Shady tree. It started getting quite humid in the early afternoon.
In the end, there was not much to do. Since access was free and each of the trails rather short, I could certainly see this spot as a place to take a sunny break from your work day if you are a supremely bored remote worker who lived nearby. There were a bunch of kids for a school trip, lots of fat locals, a few in-shape locals and joggers, fly fishermen and tourists like me who were just showing up to walk around, grunt and leave. End.
I think it is okay not having a definite goal in mind when you embark on a new activity. Sometimes, it can be a bit difficult to form a vision. In this case, attempting to force yourself to form a vision before you participate may take the fun out of the activity. You would be setting yourself a mental block instead of making progress in some form. Take health and fitness, for example. Telling yourself you will have a six-pack by beginning of summer or be able to run a mile under four minutes or improve your blood lipid profile.. forget all that.
You could do body part split weight training. Advanced bodybuilders take this even further training hamstrings one session and quads the other. Or you could train the whole body in a single session. So if you are just getting into weight lifting, how do you have fun with it? How do you maintain enthusiasm? If you are coming back from a long lay-off, are not sure which routine is best to get back into the game and this, in turn, is preventing you from showing up at the gym.. well, what do you do?
Be like a butterfly.. drift with the breeze.
I recommend the no-routine weight lifting routine. What you do here is not think in terms of whole-body training, split training, three times a week training, doing a different number of sets for compound lifts vs isolation lifts, morning training vs evening training, etc. To put it bluntly, you do not think at all. The only thing you know for sure is that you are going to expend a certain amount of energy by hitting all the muscles in your body when you get to it. That's it. Here are the relevant points:
When you get a hankering to train.. to hit the weights, you drop whatever you are doing and you make your way to the gym. Ensure that you keep your mind a blank slate all the way to that first set of that first exercise. This is key. If you let your mind wander to something other than training.. money problems.. girlfriend problems.. its too hot or cold outside.. you might just decide to grab a bottle of beer, sink back into the recliner and watch YouTube videos instead.
Once on the gym floor, start with any exercise.
You are only going to do three sets per exercise. Yes, even for a big lift like the Dead-lift or the Squat.
Keep repetitions high enough to get a good burn. This likely means lighter weights.
Emphasis should be on strict technique and full range of movement on e.v.e.r.y exercise. This likely means lighter weights.
Do the exercises in any order. None of this, "I will do the compound lifts first because they need the most energy and focus, which I will have at the beginning of the workout" crap. That does have value but not here. Absolutely no thoughts like that. You walk by the Leg Press machine and you feel like using it, you use it. You happen to glance over at the Dumbbell rack and you decide to do Bicep Curls, you do it.
Use any implement. Use a barbell, dumbbell, cable, kettle-bell, etc.You amble over to the Lat Pull-down machine to hit the lats and someone else beats you to it. Ok, make a 15 degree turn and go do pull-ups on the assisted Pull-up machine.
But en-route, you pass the Hack Squat machine. Aw shucks, should I do Hack Squats? Do it.
Use your own body. Feel like doing push-ups? Drop down and give me.. as many push-ups as you can do.
Rest time between sets? Just enough to catch your breath and/or set weight for the next set. Then you keep going like the energizer bunny. Continue keeping your mind a blank slate.
If safe to do so, make the last set a drop set. For instance, drop sets can be safely done on an exercise like the Leg Curl or Side Laterals for the shoulders. But they may not be a good idea on an exercise like the Squat or Bench Press.
Do as many exercises as you want. Heck, even do an exercise that you had already done earlier in the workout if you feel like it.
Even if you had only lifted the day before.. go lift today if you feel like it. Do not let thoughts of over-training hold you back. It is difficult to over-train unless you have not been sleeping and/or eating well for weeks now. Otherwise, you are capable of expending a lot of effort.
Conversely, if you had not lifted for three or four days, do not lose sleep over it. You will eventually get back into the gym. Just don't wait another week to get back into the gym. You do want to maintain a semblance of momentum or you risk losing whatever gains you have made. Or worse, you stop lifting altogether for weeks or months and start to regress.
Be like a butterfly chasing nectar. Move from flower to flower in any direction. Catch the breeze and let it carry you. Do not resist the breeze. Watch out for predators and chatty old men.
Rather than talk about my entire history there or the quality of education, which largely will come down to an individual Professor's ability to engage their students and the students' own work ethic and motivation, I will just briefly point out stuff I observed on graduation day on May 31, 2019.
The campus is right by the ocean. So the graduation setting was on a large, new lawn by the ocean. It was a spectacular, warm day to begin that became cold and overcast half-way through. Brr.
There were 2,700 graduating students as announced by a speaker. There may have been a collective gasp or groan from the audience upon hearing that number. My first thought was that it was going to be a long graduating ceremony. So, ok, it was a groan then. But my immediate takeaway here was that, if I ever did my Master's, I was going to spend a bit more money and get into a private school with a considerably less graduating number. I felt a bit elitist at that thought. But the UMB graduation ceremony just made me feel like a statistic, which was an awful feeling.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 trying one's patience the longest, the half-a-dozen or so speeches fluctuated between 2 and 7. But 2,700 students walking to the podium, after the speeches ended, to get their certificates -- empty folders really as the actual certificates were to be mailed out later -- proved to be the more taxing experience.
One of the speakers was white, male and old. He looked like a "MA state legislature guy".. Boston Irish and like he had been around the block. As a matter of fact, he admitted he had been making the rounds doing some of these graduation speeches. No disrespect. His speech was short and funny and a number 2 in length.
Another speaker was white, female and old. Apparently, she was the new temporary Chancellor of UMB or something like that. I had lost track of those changes in leadership in recent years. Her speech was a number 5 in length and, for the life of me, I cannot remember most of what she said except for one part.. when she pointed out various students from diverse backgrounds who were hard pressed to fund their education while taking care off their families, a child or an ailing parent, and still got a 4.0 GPA. These students were asked to stand up in the crowd. And I felt ashamed. I had thought I had put in a decent effort to finish my education and, well, the "decent effort" was only magnified during this part of the speech. I realized that I had had it relatively easy. This part affected me the most that day and I would leave campus later telling myself that things were going to change in how I ran my life.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley was engaging without being remarkable. Because I was just as old as she was and I could relate to some of the things she said. I dismissed some of her points about success. I have observed that individualism, luck, being in the right place at the right time, etc. play a notable role when it comes to attaining success. So it is best to really just look at your own progress up to your current station in life to define your success rather than by looking at what you could or should have been. Her points about creating a work ethic and believing in oneself were certainly relevant if somewhat generic. But I think that was all she could do in that context where she had to connect with a generic crowd. Still, she was a palpable hit with most of the student population, who were black. Her speech was a number 5.
Another speaker was a svelte, sparkling white girl, a magna cum laude student.. looked late 20s from where I was seated. She said she had got accepted to work at Microsoft as a Program Manager. She made four points covering some traumatic event in her life, leadership, etc. The audience did not relate to her as they did with Rep. Pressley. I understood well how things stood in America then. This young white woman reeked somewhat of privilege although I doubt that was her intent. Wouldn't you have to be rich and go to an Ivy-league school if you want to reek of privilege? But, unfortunately, that was the vibe she put out. Personally, I think she just liked the attention of her fawning 2,699 fellow students. And she was operating at an entirely different level. I mean, Program Manager at Microsoft. So the folks watching probably sensed the distance between them and her. She was also a solid public speaker. And her GPA was up there and I think she also had a double Major. She had certainly put in the work. But that persona.. it was all Reese Witherspoon from Election. I had run across her type in corporate America many times. They are quick to move up the ladder. I wished her well. Then I just soaked in the sun while waiting for whoever came next onto the podium. That's all I could do. Her speech was a number 7.
Once the storm clouds blocked out the sun, it became suddenly cold and I wished I had won a thicker shirt under my thin academic dress. It was May. What was I thinking? I had been a New Englander for so long. I should have known better. Probably one reason why I had not gone up that ladder myself.. because I tended to be cavalier about things. I thought about that then. Oh, how I thought about that while sitting there on that rickety chair and shivering as yet just another statistic of this world. I made a mental note to fix the cavalier attitude once and for all.
While seated at the Clark Athletic building waiting to do the walk and later during the long stop-start walk to the lawn, I managed to chat with a bunch of students and realized the magnitude of the diversity and background of who I had been attending school with and the part of the world I lived in. I also got the number of a couple of female students. I knew that these things won't work once they realized I was not as young as I looked. But I had to stay in practice and keep my skills intact. I would text them a few days later. One of them responded. That chat would peter away to nothing. The other never responded. So there! I reinforced my belief in all this: best to move things quickly with women than to try any lame attempt at a traditional dating process. But I had been there with my parents and they with their families. So (shrugs)...
My folks had asked me many times over the years as to when I was going to finish my degree. They had stopped asking in the last few years. Still, I wanted them to experience my college graduation and I myself did not just want to receive my degree by snail mail.. which was what happened anyway. I invited my parents to the graduation. But at the end of the ceremony, they just looked relieved that it was all over. A couple of my friends had dropped by amidst their busy schedules and it was great to see them there. They had to leave early.. work, kids, you understand. By that time, I myself couldn't wait to leave but knew I would stay until the end. I have had a long history with that campus. And I knew I wouldn't be returning after that day.
As soon as the students had been handed their certificates after walking by the podium, most started leaving right away. Some of the ushers kept chanting, "Please stay. Please stay". But their calls went unheeded. I stayed until the end when faculty started leaving the podium. A handful of the remaining seated students kept our eyes on them. It was ultimately a meaningless gesture. Once the last of the faculty filed past the student seating, I skedaddled out of there.
The new West Garage parking lot was great when I used it during the last semester. But on that day when we were ready to leave campus, a huge jam caused an absolute standstill for almost 15 minutes. Garage employees eventually sorted it out and cars super-slowly started streaming out and onto Morrissey Boulevard. I am sure the University will ensure parking to be a smoother experience next time.
In the end, the ceremony was anti-climatic for someone of my experience and age.
I have some fond memories from over the years of attending classes, making a few friends -- still connected to a couple of them on Facebook -- and meeting my first girlfriend in one of my distribution requirement classes. Anthropology, I think. She was a ballerina who eventually moved to Florida to work for Sarasota Ballet and to continue her education there. We wrote letters to stay in touch but stuff stopped eventually happening between us and I lost track of her. I still have her letters and a photo of us together. And I have fond memories of just being on campus and trying to figure things out on my own in the complete absence of mentors.
The Campus
UMB is a beautiful campus. Very accessible by public transportation. And it will become more beautiful as further construction, landscaping and building renovation work get done in the next couple of years. Also, there is much better in-campus parking and huge Freshman dormitories today.. all built in the last couple of years. Campus wide Wi-Fi has been in place for several years now. And, by the time I left, more professors were starting to use online products like Blackboard and realizing that new students preferred a connected experience to printing papers out. So I expect newer students to have a modern, updated experience. But the graduation rate was only 51% at last check. Compare that to Harvard University at 97%. But the latter is much more expensive to attend and there is prestige involved in attending and graduating from there. So the students there, high-achievers or not, are driven to develop a solid work ethic and maintain a compulsion to finish. Will UMB manage to cultivate that sort of work ethic and dedication in more of its student bodies? That remains to be seen.
Finishing your education
I strongly recommend that students start working with an academic advisor right from the first semester. It is never too late to begin with an advisor. So do it! They will be the closest thing to a mentor students will get on campus. I never paid attention to an academic advisor during my first run in college many years ago. The cavalier attitude thing coming into play then. But, during this second and final run, my academic advisor Alex was a huge help in seeing that I stayed on track to finish. My biggest advice to students though is to welcome mentors in your life from outside the college. You likely cannot go asking for mentors. Well, how about people close to my own age? Drink with them. Sleep with them. Play with them. Compare notes with them. But don't listen to them. Just keep an eye out, ok, when meeting new people.. as a good mentor that you click with can accelerate your success in life whether it is to do with career, romance, etc. Well, why can't I just listen to my parents? Parents are inherently good, well-meaning people. But understand that parenting and mentoring are two different things. Your parent may be a great mentor to someone else but an awful mentor to you. It will come down to their own experience and outlook on life. And, yeah, its great to be able to experience and figure things out by yourself. That certainly builds character. I get it. But a mentor can help shave off years of dawdling in your life. So find a good balance in bringing people into your decision making process and get on with it.
