Bearlee is ...

[WhiteGhost]

18 hours ago, Bearlee said:

I see that most of the events may be held in areas I’ve never heard of before Yanqing and Zhangjiakou

Yanqing is where the Badaling section of the Great Wall is and Zhangjiakou is the other side of the wall from Beijing.  So even though you have never heard of it, you've already been there  .  I will actually be in Yanqing for the next 2 days for work stuff.  

 

18 hours ago, Bearlee said:

All the locals wanted a picture with the fat white guy that looked like he was going to have a heart attack on the wall. That or I was some kind of Godzilla like creature they’ve never seen before.

It is actually more likely the latter.  I was once mobbed by a tour group at the botanical gardens because I was literally the first white person they had even seen (except on television).  Every single one of them wanted a picture with me.  You don't get that as much in the cities where there are a lot of foreigners, but most of the tourist spots are filled with people from rural China who live in places that foreigners don't tend to congregate.

 

18 hours ago, Bearlee said:

Where about in the US?

I will be in San Diego for a few days, then up to Salt Lake City for a few more.  We will try and get a few days of camping up in Yellowstone as well (none of us have ever been there) and then back to LA for some business meetings that just got scheduled over the last few days.

 

18 hours ago, Bearlee said:

I also bought a cast iron grill pan

Look what I just got for my birthday:

Spoiler

 

[Bearlee]

4 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Yanqing is where the Badaling section of the Great Wall is and Zhangjiakou is the other side of the wall from Beijing.  So even though you have never heard of it, you've already been there  .  I will actually be in Yanqing for the next 2 days for work stuff.  

 

It is actually more likely the latter.  I was once mobbed by a tour group at the botanical gardens because I was literally the first white person they had even seen (except on television).  Every single one of them wanted a picture with me.  You don't get that as much in the cities where there are a lot of foreigners, but most of the tourist spots are filled with people from rural China who live in places that foreigners don't tend to congregate.

 

I will be in San Diego for a few days, then up to Salt Lake City for a few more.  We will try and get a few days of camping up in Yellowstone as well (none of us have ever been there) and then back to LA for some business meetings that just got scheduled over the last few days.

 

Look what I just got for my birthday:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

North side of the wall? Isn’t that where they were trying to protect from? Me being a stupid Westerner, if it isn’t a main city I couldn’t possibly remember it. But I found most of the Chinese were the same, most thought all American’s either came from New York of LA. I knew they never would of heard of the suburb I’m from, but it hurt when they never heard of Kansas City either. So instead of trying to explain where I was from I just said New York and got a sad look since I’m not what they were expecting a New Yorker to look like.

 

I thought it was probably more of the later. Though I thought it could of been that I was big and cuddly and maybe reminded them of a panda. I’ve been back to the wall two times since and I was going to “conquer” it, but they took us to a different section that was nearly vertical and there was no way I could do that. Felt bad though because they had a guy there dressed in traditional armor that had to weigh at least 60 pounds (mind you he was Chinese so half my size, quarter my weight) and he was marching up and down the raised part of the wall like it was nothing. 

 

Throw in San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle and you’ll have the whole Pacific Time Zone covered.

 

Awesome pans! I really like my grill pan. I know when to flip the meat, when the pan lets go of it. Get yourself a meat thermometer and you should almost be guaranteed a great steak every time. How did the seasoning process go for you and how’s the cleaning? For some reason Tapatalk isn’t letting me post pictures anymore or else I’d show you my pan and cooked steak (almost made the mistake of saying “mine”, but thought Sloth would jump all over that).

[Bearlee]

Posting two days in a row! For some reason I was having a real bad day emotionally and didn’t get out of that funk until I got to work, unfortunately for the Cubs. Snapped a couple of times at Cub2 and Cub1 is so sensitive that he takes any kind of emotional outburst from me as an attack on him. My usual Stoic personality is coming back to bite me. I think I’m getting cabin fever. It’s been mid to high nineties ever since mid May. It stinks for going out and doing anything. The other part that sucks is that before this heat wave we had snow just two weeks before and the early part of the year was mostly sub freezing so I didn’t go out then either. So we had one week of Spring like weather. I don’t think I would be a good candidate for going to Mars with it’s wild temp swings. Though temp controlled suits and habitats might be right up my ally.

 

At work I couldn’t believe how much I was getting done, so I thought I would throw in an extra yoga session. I also realized that I have a whole half of the DDPYoga I haven’t done in a while, so I did the Energy Classic today.

[WhiteGhost]

4 hours ago, Bearlee said:

North side of the wall? Isn’t that where they were trying to protect from?

Yeah, but they have been on relatively good terms for a while now

 

4 hours ago, Bearlee said:

but it hurt when they never heard of Kansas City either.

I have observed that they pretty much only recognize cities that have NBA teams, Ivy league schools, or both  

 

4 hours ago, Bearlee said:

almost made the mistake of saying “mine”, but thought Sloth would jump all over that

And here I thought we had a "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" arrangement going on    

[Shello]

On 7/16/2018 at 4:48 AM, Bearlee said:

Where about in the US? And I live right next to Missouri, though I don’t like to go over there. Kansas snob. Same reason I don’t like Nebraska, Iowa snob.

I live in nebraska and don't like it but I'm a Minnesota snob and don't like Iowa either. 

 

On 7/16/2018 at 5:10 AM, Bearlee said:

And on my first attempt I think I pretty much Nailed It! By the way if you have Netflix you need to watch Nailed It, hilarious show about baking. But unlike the cooks in that show I had what I think was a near perfect steak.

I can confirm that show is hilarious!  Congrats on a perfect steak.  

[Sloth the Enduring]

Minnesota snob here, I actively dislike Iowa and Missouri, I’m meh on the Dakotas and Kansas, I really like Wisconsin until they remind me that they’re racist, redneck hillbillies.

[Bearlee]

Just a quick reply. Did my second official yoga session of the week, though at the very last hour. Finally told myself I could half-ass it as long as I did it. Once I got going it was an okay session that I put more effort into than I thought I would. Though I’m concerned that this is usually my mindset. And I wonder what the people that come into a gym and think “I’m going to set a new PR today” think and feel like. Will I get to a point where I will look forward to a workout and think “I’m going to crush it today”?

[Sloth the Enduring]

Woot! Two yogas!

Embrace the grind, crush it later.

[The Most Loathed]

I was raised in Iowa and knew that Miinnesota was awful. When Laura suggested that we consider moving to the Twin Cities, it was just a hard No for me. Eventually I relented and we decided to come visit. I fell in love with Minnesota and now I'm a total snob and hate when I have to drive back south.

[Bearlee]

On 7/19/2018 at 11:44 AM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Woot! Two yogas!

Embrace the grind, crush it later.

 

I feel that these are things I should be saying to you. Once you get two yogas in I will. 

 

On 7/22/2018 at 6:38 AM, The Most Loathed said:

I was raised in Iowa and knew that Miinnesota was awful. When Laura suggested that we consider moving to the Twin Cities, it was just a hard No for me. Eventually I relented and we decided to come visit. I fell in love with Minnesota and now I'm a total snob and hate when I have to drive back south.

 

I figured you being from the heart of Iowa you led a fairly sheltered regional life. Where as I lived right where Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota all touch. Plus Omaha was just a short jog away and always thumbing its nose at us. And the Nebraska football team was technically closer than the Iowa Hawkeyes so a lot of people I lived around where more Nebraska fans than Iowa fans. But now that seems silly becuase the real battle is Kansas and Missouri.

 

When I have been to Minnesota I have loved it and I could see how one could easily become a Minnesota snob. Though I would have to take a crash course from Sloth on the subtle art of Minnesotan communications.

[Bearlee]

I’m starting to feel a little like my BIL the gambler who would talk about all the money he won from the casino but failed to mention the five other times he got taken to the cleaner and ended up in 90k in debt. Because here I am after a workout out saying “Look I did something today” but really it’s been a struggle lately. Friday I missed my workout and said to myself it was okay because I unexpectedly ended up working 16 hours that day, but the reality is that I had already missed my normal window for working out even before the surprise school day was sprung on me. And I also missed my Monday session, but I don’t remember why? Probably lazy. So I’m not completely like my BIL since I’ll mention the bad, though the results are about the same.

 

Eating has improved slightly. Not near as much sugar and more water is being drunk. I’m not in the good range yet, just a slight improvement.

[WhiteGhost]

I was thinking of you yesterday. We were on our way back to the hotel and we could see tons of stars. I broke out the Skyview and we spent a few minutes as a family looking around and identifying stars & planets. If we had been in a slightly darker place, we should have been able to see Saturn, which was right above us

 

[Bearlee]

20 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I was thinking of you yesterday. We were on our way back to the hotel and we could see tons of stars. I broke out the Skyview and we spent a few minutes as a family looking around and identifying stars & planets. If we had been in a slightly darker place, we should have been able to see Saturn, which was right above us

 

 

That’s awesome! If you could almost see Saturn then Jupiter and/or Mars should have stood out like a neon sign. All I’ve been able to see lately is those planets and sometimes Venus if I get out early enough. Sometimes the Big Dipper if I get in a dark enough place. But glad to hear that you saw something and hopefully the family enjoyed too.

[Bearlee]

Second session of the week completed. Must have worked hard because I’m sweating fairly hard. First time in a long time that I didn’t go in with the attitude of I’ll just half ass it just to complete it. Though I did stress if I was going to get it in due to actually having to do some work.

 

A/C crapped out on me yesterday. Fortunately it’s been one of the cooler days in months. Still got to 90, though it was in the low 70s when I went to work so hopefully the family won’t be too hot when trying to sleep. And this is the new A/C system that I had installed a month ago. Argh.

 

I was proud of myself Tuesday. I cooked up a big batch of spaghetti. Wife likes the spaghetti I make since I add the works to the sauce to really make it filling. I use 2 jars of sauce and add one pound of ground beef, a carton (a pint?) of mushrooms, a zucchini, an onion, and two red peppers to one box of whole wheat spaghetti. Sprinkle grated cheese on top before serving and it’s a really filling meal. And probably one of the healthier meals I make.

[WhiteGhost]

7 hours ago, Bearlee said:

 

That’s awesome! If you could almost see Saturn then Jupiter and/or Mars should have stood out like a neon sign. All I’ve been able to see lately is those planets and sometimes Venus if I get out early enough. Sometimes the Big Dipper if I get in a dark enough place. But glad to hear that you saw something and hopefully the family enjoyed too.

Yes, Mars was super bright.  Sounds like all you have been able to see recently is what we can get on a great night in Beijing

[Bearlee]

Short update. Missed Friday’s workout but don’t feel too badly about it. I had vacation stuff to get ready and didn’t even completely finish that.

This week on vacation. Heading to BIL’s in Texas. Might be a stressful week. Not foreseeing a lot of workouts being done, but might possibly be a lot of pool time.

If you don’t hear from me for the next week or so know I’m still alive.

[Bearlee]

After talking with Sloth I realized I haven’t updated for a while. I’m back from Texas and I’m worse for the wear. No workouts done like I predicted but there was a lot of pool time which was also predicted. What I did not foresee was my reaction to being in a food desert. The nearest grocery store or restaurant is 30 minutes away with good traffic, so something in my head snapped when I could get food that I got way too much of it. In stead of getting one meal I’d get two and repeat the next day.

Another thing that threw me was that I was having an identity crisis. My BIL lives in a really nice subdivision but all the houses look the same, which was unsettling. But I got to thinking how can this many people have these nice homes and nice cars? But to be honest I really didn’t want that lifestyle. Then I thought if I don’t want this kind of lifestyle then what do I want?

And even though my BIL has a nice house, the place is a mess and my vacation turned more into me being a house cleaner and baby sitter (because both parents are almost never home).

Anyway, glad to be home and looking forward to getting back on track. Or I should say find the track because even before vacation I wasn’t doing so well.

[Sloth the Enduring]

Welcome back brother Bear.

[The Most Loathed]

Welcome back.

Knowing what you want and getting it is key. Sometimes, so is knowing what you don't want.

[Bearlee]

Quick proof of life post. 2 of 3 yoga done. Shop air was turned off and didn’t feel like doing yoga in 85 degree room.

Cub1 is back to school as of Friday. Half day, so I couldn’t even consider yoga at home. Didn’t sleep well today but here I am posting at 1 AM. [emoji30]

[Bearlee]

2AM and not going to sleep again. Just maybe a quick post. Probably had my laziest day ever. By 8PM I noticed I had only taken 400 steps all day.

To try to counter act the laziness when wife got home from work I took Cub1 to the local observatory. I had a great time, he got motion sickness and complained the whole time we were there. Though when we were going home he said he liked it. So maybe a win for not pushing it?

I was surprised by the crowd size but learned that the Perseid meteor shower was going on so there was a greater than normal crowd size. While there I saw three really bright meteors, one somewhat bright, and one faint meteor. I also got to look through some of the astronomical society member’s telescopes and got to see Saturn, Jupiter and four of its moons, Mars, and galaxy M13. M13 was a little disappointing because it mostly looked like a smudge with specks in the telescope. We also didn’t get to look through the really big telescope because you can look through that after a presentation and we were in group 10 and they were just starting group 6. And the presentation is about 30 minutes long, so we would of had to wait about two hours for our chance for the show and then another 20-30 minutes to look through the telescope. I was up for it but not Cub.

Oh, and since it was darker I was able to make out several constellations also. The main new one I could make out was Hercules. But I also pointed out Scorpio, The Big Dipper, Cygnus (the goose), and Cassiopeia (the 5 dots in an M configuration, or lady in chair).

And I actually got a wow from someone that knew less than me when I told Cub1 while he was looking at Mars that it’s completely covered in a dust storm.

And if you’ve read this far here is a neat space fact. If an rock in space is less than one meter it’s called a meteoroid, while the meteoroid is passing through the atmosphere it’s called a meteor (hence meteor shower and not meteoroid shower). And if the meteor survives the atmosphere and lands it’s called a meteorite. If the rock in space is larger than a meter it’s called an asteroid. And if the object in space is mostly water than it’s called a comet.

[WhiteGhost]

On 8/12/2018 at 3:18 PM, Bearlee said:

And if you’ve read this far here is a neat space fact. If an rock in space is less than one meter it’s called a meteoroid, while the meteoroid is passing through the atmosphere it’s called a meteor (hence meteor shower and not meteoroid shower). And if the meteor survives the atmosphere and lands it’s called a meteorite. If the rock in space is larger than a meter it’s called an asteroid. And if the object in space is mostly water than it’s called a comet.

That was really interesting.  So if a meteorite becomes a meteor when it passed through earths atmosphere, is an asteroid called an aster if it enters the atmosphere?

 

I suppose most people would just call it a pending disaster...

[Bearlee]

19 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

That was really interesting.  So if a meteorite becomes a meteor when it passed through earths atmosphere, is an asteroid called an aster if it enters the atmosphere?

 

I suppose most people would just call it a pending disaster...

 

From what I can tell it’s still called a meteor or an asteroid impact (or in some cases an event if the asteroid is big enough). Interesting and I never thought of that before.

 

Well new week and starting off okay with first yoga session done. Though I really do need to focus more on eating. Today I realized that I eat even when I’m not hungry because this is the time I normally eat. And had a reminder of how much of an emotional eater I am when after working on a work problem that I couldn’t fix (because it’s not my departments problem) but the company wants it fixed now, that I went to the gas station and got a pint of ice cream and wolfed it down.

[Bearlee]

Well did my second yoga session of the week and it didn't go well. Did Red Hot Core for the first time in months (sigh) and 2:30 minutes into the workout I had a "massive" cramp in my upper left abdominal. Then quarter assed the rest of the workout. But it got done.

[Shello]

On 8/11/2018 at 1:06 AM, Bearlee said:

Quick proof of life post. 2 of 3 yoga done. Shop air was turned off and didn’t feel like doing yoga in 85 degree room.

Cub1 is back to school as of Friday. Half day, so I couldn’t even consider yoga at home. Didn’t sleep well today but here I am posting at 1 AM.

Hot yoga is all the rage now.  That was your opportunity to give it a go.