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  • Monday Exercise Update

    Workout length:  15 minutes
    Workout focus:  Flexibility
    Workout music:  Podrunner
    Workout location: Alpine Resort
    Maximum bpm:  155
    Average bpm: 121


    Exercise of the day:  Bridge


    Begin lying on your back with your legs bent in front of you and arms on either side.  Lift your butt in the air and slowly bring your torso up as well, keeping a straight line from your knees through your thighs and torso.  Hold for 8 counts and return to start.  Rest and repeat.


    Yesterday, we were able to attend a birthday party for our friend Lisa.  Her husband is Dan with whom we played D&D once a week for a long time.  Lisa also played with us too.  However, ever since their marriage about two years ago and them settling down in Fremont (on the far side of the bay) we haven't seen them but for a couple of times.  So it was great seeing them again.  They cooked up a bunch of food and their friend also baked 3 different types of cheesecakes and a variety of other desserts.  Plus we got to meet their other friends, and a large part of Dan's family, who all reside in the Bay area.  It was a really wonderful time.


    We also saw a movie, "I, Robot" with Will Smith.  It was about what I expected it to be.  Lots of action and special effects.

  • Sunday Exercise Update

    Workout length:  30 minutes
    Workout focus:  Lower Body strength
    Workout music:  iTunes Mix
    Workout location: Desert Spring Resort
    Maximum bpm:  165
    Average bpm: 144


    Exercise of the day:  V


    This does not involve an alien invasion.  Instead, it is another form of a crunch.  Starting flat on your back, lift both legs and your arms and your back up into the air, to form a V as best you can.  Hold for two counts and return to start.  Repeat 10 times.  Try not to pull with your shoulders and neck, but focus on the abdominals.


    Yesterday, we watched "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."  I quite enjoyed the bits with Whoopi Goldberg, but the other parts were a little predictable.  Definitely a Chik Flick.


    After that, we watched "The Emperor and the Assassin" but I started to fall asleep near the end so we finished watching it today.  It is set near the end of the Warring States Period, in the mid 200's BC, when there had been hundreds years of war and the various hundreds of smaller states have coalesced into seven larger kingdoms, with the Qin Kingdom being much stronger than the other 6, including the Zhou whose dynasty had been in power but was in decline. 


    The Qin King's (the "Emperor" to be) filial duty was to unite all the kingdoms into one, and the movies focuses on his plans to annex the Yan Kingdom with the assistance of Lady Zhou, his concubine / childhood friend.  She must find an assassin and have the Prince of Yan send him to kill the Qin King.  The Qin King being prepared for this will ensure the Assassin doesn't kill him and instead will use this as a way to get the Yan to surrender without any bloodshed.  Of course, not everything goes exactly as planned, and it is very interesting to see how the personalities of the main characters change as various plot points roll out.  Be warned, there is a lot of violence of many different types.

  • Saturday Excercise Update

    Workout length:  30 minutes
    Workout focus:  Core strength
    Workout music:  "Latin"
    Workout location: Urban Oasis
    Maximum bpm:  175
    Average bpm: 142


    Exercise of the day:  Plank


    Plank and plank!  What is plank?  Earlier I described the Horizontal Plank, which seems quite vertical to the planks I did today.  The first is called Plank and it is like doing a pushup but you are on your elbows.  Your back is flat and your head is in line with your spine.  Hold for 25 seconds.  Rest and repeat.  The second is called Bent Leg or Kneeling Plank.  You knees and hands are on the floor.  Your head, back and calves form a straight line.  Hold for 15 seconds.  Rest and repeat.


    Yesterday, I felt under the weather so I didn't get up until 5:30.  No time for exercise.  It was a busy day at work, but the people I interact with are all very nice so it was manageable.  After work, we watched a movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with Mariln Monroe and Jane Russell.  It was very funny.  I had seen parts of it before, such as the Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend song and dance number, but never the whole story.  A large part of the story takes place on a trans-Altantic cruise ship from NYC to Cherbourg, France (sorry no Umbrellas).


    Today, I would have done my exercises earlier but I got paged for work around 3:00 am and was in front of my computer dealing with 3 different issues until noon.  Again, it was bearable because the people I interact with are for the most part easy to get along with.  Stil I need to run some errands today.  On Thursday, we depart for Hawaii!

  • Thursday Physical Challege Update

    Weight: 218 lbs. (99 kilo)  Hurray!  I am under 100 kilo!  Goal is still 200.  At this rate, it will take 5 more months. 
    Resting heart rate: 81 bpm
    Heart rate after 2 minutes of jumping jacks: 158 bpm
    Squats: 50, same as always
    Pushups: 20, continuing to do better
    Crunches: 34, better than my original amount, 24 but less than the number I did on my first physical challenge, ten days after.  But I think I wasn't doing them properly.


    I've been doing this for a full month, can you believe it?!


     

  • Wednesday Exercise Update

    Workout length:  30 minutes
    Workout focus:  Upper Body
    Workout music:  "80's"
    Workout location: Alpine Retreat
    Maximum bpm:  159
    Average bpm: 131


    Exercise of the day:  Squat Lunge


    With your right foot leading, first do a lunge and bend your arms towards you like you are doing a bicep curl.  Return and with the same foot go to the right to do a squat keeping your arms bent at the elbow but lift them so they are horizontal.  Return and repeat 7 more times.  Rest, then do a set with the left foot leading.


    Tomorrow is the physical challenge.  I hope I continue to do better than the last time.


    Yesterday, I watched Hotel Rwanda.  It was very moving and not what I had expected it to be.  Apparently, it is based on a true story.  If you liked Schindler's List, you will like this one too.

  • Tuesday Exercise Update

    Workout length:  15 minutes
    Workout focus:  Aerobic
    Workout music:  "Hip Hop"
    Workout location: Island Paradise
    Maximum bpm:  163
    Average bpm: 132


    Exercise of the day:  Karate Kick with Squat


    From a standing position, do a karate kick with your right foot.  Then extend your right leg and do a squat.  Repeat 5 more times.  Then repeat with your left foot 6 times.


    Yesterday, we watched a documentary on the Weather Channel about tsunamis in Hawaii.  The name of the show was "It could happen tomorrow."  Most tsunamis that would hit Hawaii would be coming from the edge of the techtonic plate and would take about 3 hours to show up.  And there's a good advanced warning system that alerts the people 3 hours before, 2 hours before and 1 hour before.  But there are also tsunamis that can be created by geological activity around the islands themselves.  These types of tsunamis would take ony 15 or 20 minutes to reach the other islands.  So it is important to be aware of what's going on if you are at the beach.  If the ground is shaking so much that you can't stand up, then head away from the shore.  If the water at the beach rushes out so much you can see the sea bed, then head away from the shore.  Don't panic but get yourself away from the area that is most likely going to be flooded and otherwise impacted by the huge wave or waves.

  • Monday No Exercise Update

    No workout this morning.  I set my alarm for 4:30 but kept snoozing until 5:00.  Then I rushed to take my shower, get dressed, have breakfast, take out garbage, mail letters and drive to work to get here by 7:00.  If I had done the 15 minute workout, I am certain I would have been 30 minutes late.  We shall see how it goes tomorrow morning.

    Yesterday, we watched "Memoirs of a Geisha."  I quite enjoyed it.  I am sure it was more spectacular on the big screen. It has been years since I read the book, so I couldn't say how faithful the movie was to the novel, but it all seemed to fit together nicely.  The actress who played the main character as a young girl reminded me a lot of one of the young girls I knew when I was an English teacher over there.  That girl just graduated from college.

    I also watched several episodes of Doctor Who from the second season of the new series, then watched them over again while listening to the commentary.  I can't get enough of it and am patienly waiting for the episodes of the third season to be aired over here.

    I also finished the 12 Days of Coffee that Chuk's sister's family gave us for Christmas.  Mom and Dad got to try some when they were here for the holidays but after they left I just prepared some on the weekend when I remembered to do so.  Chuk doesn't drink coffee so one packet lasted for a couple of days.  And each time I brewed a new flavor, I sang the song.  I will share the final verse with you here.


    On the 12th day of Coffee, the Stephens gave to us:


    12 Italian Roast, 11 Holiday Blend, 10 Bistro Blend, 9 Breakfast Blend, 8 Mocha, 7 French Roast, 6 Irish Cream,


    5 French Vanilla,


    4 Hazel Nut, 3 Cinammon Nut, 2 Buttered Rum,


    and a Creme Brulee!

    My favorites were the Cinammon Nut and the very last one, the Italian Roast.  I think the worst was the Creme Brulee, which tasted more of Brulee than of Creme.  That is to say, it tasted like it was completely burnt.  Even adding an equal amount of milk didn't save it I am sorry to say.  Overall, it was a lot of fun.  Thank you Melanie and Stuart!!

  • Sunday Exercise Update


    • Workout length:  15 minutes

    • Workout focus:  Yoga

    • Workout music:  No choice provided

    • Workout location: Meditation garden (outside of the Empress' Dojo)

    • Maximum bpm:  not sure

    • Average bpm: 130

    Exercise of the day: Horizontal plank


    Starting with hands and knees on the floor, lean to your right side, extend your left foot out and raise your left hand to the sky.  You back should be flat against an imaginary wall.  Hold for a bit, return to start and then do it on the other side.


    Instead of choosing one of the daily workouts, I decided to see what the meditation garden had to offer.  First off, the trainer doesn't provide as many verbal cues.  She explained the first set of poses and ran through them twice.  Then she continued without any verbal cues for two more runs.  With some of the poses it wasn't clear how long to stay in them, so I held it for two counts and went to the next one.  That seemed to keep me in synch.  However, there was were no cues when an exercise ended, so when I couldn't see the screen and I heard her go into the the next one, I was scrambling a little.  Finally, the last pose was the (shudder) Corpse Pose, which is basically lying on your back, breathing.  I almost fell asleep waiting for her to say that's the end.  I peeked and saw there were 8 seconds left, so I put my head down, counted "one Mississippi, two Mississippi..." and after 8 seconds there was nothing.  I peeked again and there was just a dialog box saying what a good job I had done.  Maybe that's how Yoga is supposed to work...


    Yesterday, I watched Gallipoli.  It was a lot of fun until the very end.  Thankfully, young Mel Gibson's character didn't get killed, but it was still a rather somber ending.  No board games.  We decided to have Easter dinner on Saturday because for the past few Sundays, dinner gets interrupted by some emergency at work.  We made vegetable dip, cheesy potatoes, special mushroom/bacon stove top stuffing and ham baked with pineapples, cloves and maraschino cherries.  It was all very good and we enjoyed it while we watched Madagascar, which I thought was very funny.

  • Saturday Exercise Update

    Workout length: 30 min.
    Music: "Techno"
    Setting: Alpine Chalet
    Focus: Lower Body Strength
    Maximum bpm: 161
    Average bpm: 136

    Exercise o' the Day:  Warmups


    It's important to do warmups before doing any sustained physical activity.  Here are the ones the program has me do most often.



    • March Warmup:  Honestly, I thought this was just for month of March when I first saw it, but it is marching in place in time to the music, swinging your arms back and forth.

    • Kick Warmup:  Kick your feet in time to the music.  If you can, do a little hop also.  Arms are also moving side to side.

    • Side Kick Warmup:  Kick your feet to the side.  Arms both go up when you kick a foot to the side and come back down when the foot come back in.

    • Steptoe Warmup:  As you step to the left, arms go up.  As your right foot follows, arms go down.  Step to the right with arms up and arms go down as your left foot follows.

    • Hustle Up and Back:  More than walking but not skipping, go forward and back and keep arms moving.

    Last night, I watched Forrest Gump.  I didn't get a chance to see it when it came out.  It was endearing but a little too sappy for my tastes. 


    After dinner we played Risk 2210.  It's like Risk but set in the far flung future. 


    You still have the map of the world, but in each ocean, there are two or three territories.  Each group is called a colony.  There is also a hybrid topological / political map of the moon, with about twenty territories crammed together but highlighted in three different colors.  These are also called colonies. 


    Instead of armies, you have three models of Machines of Destruction (MOD).  The MOD 1.0 has the capability of 1 army.  The MOD 3.0 and 5.0 are worth 3 and 5 armies each.  They are tiny little plastic forms certain to cause much damage to the unsuspecting foot if they are ever lost and dropped onto the floor.  But there's more plastic! In addition, there are 5 different commanders(Land, Diplomat, Space, Naval, and Nuclear) and some space stations (remind me of Monopoly hotels), but you don't get all of them at the very start of the game, just the Land Commander, the Diplomat Commander and one space station.  Depending on the number of players you get a certain number of MOD 1.0.  In our game we had 30.


    There are 8 different decks of cards.  Like the original, there is a deck showing the various countries / territories of the world, but this is called the Land deck.  There is also a Water deck and a Lunar Deck.  Then there are command cards corresponding to each of the commanders.   You can only buy command cards of the deck whose type of commander you have in play.  So if you haven't bought the Naval Commander, you can't buy any Naval Command cards.


    What's this about buying stuff?  Well, you start the game with 3 energy units.  And based on the number of territories you occupy, you get more energy.  You also get bonuses when you occupy a whole continent or a whole lunar or water colony.  You also get MODs equal to that number to deploy where you see fit.  In addition, you place 1 MOD 1.0 in each territory where you have a space station.  You use the energy units to bid for turn order (its not always clockwise), to buy commanders, space stations, command cards and even to play command cards.


    I forgot to mention earlier but before the game begins, 4 land territories are chosen at random to be taken out of play.  Large radiation warning signs are put on the map in those unlucky spaces.  Their cards are removed from the Land deck.  No one may occupy, invade or even pass through those territories.


    Thankfully, this version of the game only goes for 5 turns, which are called "Years" to avoid confusion with a player's turn. 


    Overall, I quite liked this game.  It took us about 3 and a half hours to complete.  For battles you still roll D6 but if your commander is involved in the battle you may roll a D8.  If you are defending with a commander you always roll a D8, but if you are attacking, then it depends on the situation.  If you are attacking from or invading into a Land territory, you roll a D8 for the Land Commander.  But if the Land Commander is on the moon or is in a water territory invading another water territory, then you just get to roll a D6.  Same with the Space and Naval Commanders.  The Nuclear Commander gets to roll D8 all the time no matter where he is.  The Diplomat always rolls a  D6 when attacking, so I don't recommend using him for that.  He's more useful for defense and for getting very interesting cards.


    I think it would be fun to play with more people though.  I am very happy I got this for my birthday.  Thank you, Chuk!

  • Friday Excercise Update

    *Ding*


    Workout length: 15 min.
    Music: "House"
    Setting: Island Resort
    Focus: Core Body Strength
    Maximum bpm: 141
    Average bpm: 116

    Exercise o' the Day:  Single Leg Lift


    This exercise is a member of the crunch family as your head and shoulders are off of the floor.  Bring your left knee (leg bent) to your chest.  Touch your left ankle with your left hand and your left knee with your right hand.  The right leg is extended but not resting on floor. Count 1, inhale, then exhale as you switch your legs, making sure that you keep your head and extended leg off the ground and that your knee is touched by the hand on the opposite side of the body.


    I was very surprised I got leveled up to Gold in this program.  When I checked up on the walkthrough / hints pages (hey, it's a "game" so there have to be cheats, right?), it said I would have to meet my commitment goals for 7 weeks in a row to get the Gold level.  Well, you know it hasn't been 7 weeks.  Plus I changed the goals after the first 10 days.  So the new "level" is the Island Resort.  Sort of apropos since we are going to Hawaii in less than 2 weeks.  The new music choice is "House" which will be nice to give more variety.  Just so you know, there were no cheat codes listed.


    Yesterday, I watched Blood Diamond, while I worked on the needlepoint pillow.  I really enjoyed the movie and am glad it had a happy ending.  The project is going a little more slowly than I expected, but I think that's always been the case with needlepoint -- I underestimate the project.  The tips of my fingers were aching because I had to hold onto this tapestry needled to pull it and the yarn through the canvas and I think it was a size too large.  So I tried a smaller thinner needle and it was a little better.  But even this morning the tips of my fingers still ache faintly.  Anyway, I am beginning to think this combination of yarn and canvas might not be the best.