ravnos

Ah sir, freak out may be an understatement. Actually, no I didn't really freak out this time. I did in January. I've been taking it in stride this time, just... doing what needs to be done. Update: Interview on Thursday. I'll likely spend half to most of the day in their office. I'm going all out to impress them.

Short update: My cat got sick again last weekend so we spent it, and most of last week, re-nursing him back to health again. Flare up up the same problem as before, not a new thing, and because we recognize it now we were able to get right on top of treatment and tackle it aggressively, didn't need to hospitalize him this time. He's doing much better again, eating voraciously, etc. Now we just need him to NOT do this again. Seriously. It stresses me the fuck out. As a result my eating went to shit for the week and I didn't work out. Didn't even meditate every day. Got back into it yesterday (Sunday) though, and worked out this morning. Fresh start. No excuses, etc. etc. Other update: Waiting for a potential employer to return to the country from a "business" trip to Spain to do an interview. Really excited about the opportunity. Cross your fingers for me, pray, sacrifice to Odin, whatever floats your boat.

LolLolLol Ranger Monthly... I wasn't able to do the lunges for the challenge this week, it's been insanely busy. I'm going to get back on track this coming week. Will post story response later today/tomorrow.

I did things. Sorry, super busy, I'll post this weekend.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're participation is mandatory CA

*Cracks his knuckles* Alright... let's back into this. *Wiping sweat from his brow, he looked out across the field. Rather than toil in town rebuilding, he had chosen to help some of the nearby farmers resow their fields and start producing crops again to feel the inhabitants who had lost everything and those helping them restore their homes. A long day's work done, he threw his cloak and pack over one shoulder and the hoe he had been working the field with over the other. Walking across the neatly planted rows of seedlings, taking care not to crush any underfoot, he set the hoe against a wall of tools, took a long drink of water and began putting his other gear back on. It was a long walk back into town and he needed to get started in order to get dinner and enough sleep to be back out here working at dawn. The sun was setting as he walked the path back into the Adventurer's town, and it was dark well before he returned. Sitting down at the inn, or at least the makeshift one build to house many of the craftsman traveling through the area, he ate a hearty dinner and washed it back with a pint of ale. Paying the innkeeper, he stepped out into the brisk night air and took in a deep breath. As he exhaled, silence fell and he heard the distant sound.* *sweerf* "What was that?" He muttered to himself... *Turning the corner he spied Teros crossing a street, heading in the same direction he had heard the sound come from. His friend had been distant lately, tormented by his own demons, and he had given him his space. Staying back, he followed silently, watching his friend track the mysterious sound, observing his discovery, or lac thereof, and allowing him to leave uninterrupted. Stepping out of the shadows he had cloaked himself in, he inspected the tracks himself.* "Interesting... something was dragged through here." *He picked up the trail where Teros had missed it, his dark vision more carefully honed that his Satyr friends'. He too met with discouragement at the construction site though. Turning, he went to his quarters for the evening and quickly fell fast asleep.* Later that day... *Turning the corner, he came suddenly upon Teros leaving the construction site he had found the night before. It had been another long day's work, but he had stopped early to investigate more and meet up with his old friend.* "Ah... I was looking for you. I saw you last night but am afraid I allowed you your inspection alone. Did you find something new this morning?"

Yes, yes it is. For the record, however, it's Malkavian.

Is it a laptop or a desktop. If a laptop, bring it on Sunday, I'll work some magic. If desktop... you could still bring it but that's up to you LOL

Damn straight. My favorite clan, however, is not Ravnos. LOL

FYI technically I'm not starting the gym yet, because Boston is an icy death trap and my fiancee can't walk there. But I'm doing small things in other was to boost my fitness, like walking 3 miles yesterday....

Teros will be visiting me soon. Here is some Peanut Butter to go with all your jelly.

Yes, I just cloned my last challenge: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/61288-ravnos-tackles-the-ninth-circle-of-hell/

As it is wont to do, life imploded during the last challenge, so I'm just pretending it didn't happen. Onward! Adventure! Excitement! Cthulhu! Join Ravnos on his ninth challenge as he battles demons, breaks PRs and continues on his merry quest for strength, honor and wisdom. Come! Join the merriment! Weep at the tragedy. Cheer on the excitement! Ninth official challenge time. Let's see where we're at with this. I've reached many of the goals I started out on NF with. I've gotten my waist to below 32 inches (and still improving) and I'm dropped my body fat considerably. However, it's time for a change. My focus now is on strength and endurance gains, as well as putting some muscle back on. GAINZ! I, of course, have the continued goals of working toward doing Salmon Ladders, dropping to 8% BF, eliminating stomach fat, squatting 1.5x body weight, deadlifting 2x body weight and OHP, Bench and Row 1x bodyweight. Last challenge kind of fell through the cracks and my life got hectic afterward, preventing me from signing on here... ever. In that time I maintained my paleo diet, participated and defeated my first Spartan Sprint and hung out with the ever-amazing, Teros. As we go into 2015, however, I'm recentering my life around what's actually important, me. This means less time stressing about a shitty job (I did not end up succeeding in my goal of getting a new job by the end of 2014... working on that) and more time on my health and personal goals. So without further ado, here are my quests for the second challenge of 2015 and my return to NF. Quest 1 - One More Rep Continue improving my lifts. My main, main focus this challenge is going to be breaking a 100lb Press. I've been plateaued between 90 and 95 pounds for a while now, and I took nearly 3 months off from the gym, so it's fallen back down to 85... Now it's time to break down my press technique and start making some real fucking progress here. Gym three times a week, no excuses, and a focus on OHP for gainz. Quest completion - 3 workouts, every week. +3 STR. Bonus: OHP 100lb 5x5. Quest 2 - Adapted Paleo I've adapted my paleo diet to improve gains, because I was struggling to stop losing weight. I added milk and potatoes back in (organic milk from grass-fed cows) and I've seen some great results. No fat increase, no gut problems and my weight went back up to 160 and stabilized. SO! the plan is 6/7 days of the week I eat modified paleo. Saturday is my cheat day, were I can have a little sugar, fruit, whatever. I still avoid gluten because it makes my gut very unhappy. Quest completion - follow diet plan 100%. +3 CON. Quest 3 - Nerd Fitness! I have failed miserably at even signing on here to check PMs since October, so it's time to get back on a regular checking/posting schedule here. My goal here is to sign on at least three times a week, update here and check friend's challenges. Let's get the gang back together... Quest completion - +3 CHA Quest 4 - Stop spending so much god damn money Try to recover from blowing some savings. Part of this will be selling some items in my home (comics, Magic The Gathering cards and vinyl). The other part is GETTING A NEW JOB. I've been doing weekly IT training with a friend of mine, so the goal here is to make sure I go every Tuesday and work on my skillz. Plain and simple. Motivation! Quest completion - Increase savings. Do job training, start applying for IT positions. +3 WIS Quest 5 - Turn on endurance I've been ignoring my endurance and conditioning for a while now, and while I felt comfortable doing the Spartan, I know I can make some marked improvements. My goal here is to do some running, once a week. Probably in the morning. I don't mind running in the cold, so we'll get this started soon. So... Quest completion - One run per week, 3-5 miles. +3 END More to come!

>.> <.< I should probably get a challenge up. Might just recycle the old one.

http://hplovecat.tumblr.com/post/110528875646/men-of-broader-intellect-know-that-there-is-no

Thanks! Yeah I love Fitocracy when I remember to use it... I track exercise on RunKeeper, food on MyFitnessPal and strength training on Fitocracy, plus I try to cross-post it all here, so it gets time consuming and I often end up going "crap, I need to go do something else" and not posting to one of them...

Update: The cat is doing great. He's back to his normal grumpy self, he's just a little under weight now. But his normal grumpy self eats like a garbage disposal, so he should gain that weight back fairly quickly. I'm trying to get back into my routine now. I meditated for 5 minutes this morning, did a body weight workout, I ate healthy all day, got my work done and am relaxing at home now. Budgeted, sorted out some vet bills (thank Cthulhu for my tax return) and now I'm going to do some writing...

(In all seriousness, I'm alive. My life just went to hell early in January and I haven't caught up again yet. Hopefully I'll get back on track by the next challenge, and I'll return.)

That is not dead which can eternal lie.

Sorry been super busy dealing with cat-related nightmares. Haven't tried the beer yet (it's currently sitting in my fridge, I'll probably have one tonight).

Because Morgan James is a better singer than Peter Gabriel?

Just gonna leave this here...

No worries. I'm really into the craft beer scene so I tend to read about it every day anyway. Doesn't really affect me, other than all the news about Sam Adams the other week making me want t Boston Lager (I resisted haha). Also: check your home state here for Gansett sales - http://www.narragansettbeer.com/wheretobuy

Some good news on the cat: So the bloodwork showed elevated kidney values, which could just be from him being dehydrated, or could be very early signs of kidney disease. Neither one is a big deal, especially because we caught it if it is kidney disease. He needs to have a urinalysis and we'll go from there. Scheduling an appointment with our regular vet for that. Hopefully, this all gets sorted out ASAP. The emergency vet said the amount he's eating is pretty good, and if we are worried we can put him on an appetite enhancer, but I didn't opt for that. I want to get the urinalysis done and chat with my regular vet before moving that decision. He's been sleeping on the couch all day, which is actually fairly normal activity for him. I fed him a few treats but he hasn't wanted to eat anymore canned food today (possibly because it's bee in the fridge all day so it's a little drier, I'll open a fresh can later tonight and try to get him to eat some more before I go to bed). So good news overall... one more test to go.