EricMN joins the Resistance

[EricMN]

Main Goal

 

I've had a bad 2020. (I know I'm not alone, Social Media seems to believe 2020 should be cancelled like a bad sitcom and also like every race I signed up for so far this year.)

 

I am out of shape. My arthritis is flaring. 

 

My fiance went to Florida for a scheduled six weeks this winter to escape the cold, and then due to COVID-19 restrictions and the fact that TSA agents at the airport I would have flown into to retrieve her were testing positive for COVID, wound up staying there for three months. She's now been back a month and things are... tense. My kids just now finished distance learning school and mostly not successfully. She is constantly cold and unhappy unless it is warm and she is outside, and she has preferred to sit in a lawn chair in the warmest spot close enough to WIFI to matter, which is smack dab in the middle of my shop/garage, where she does her nails because her nail salon has not yet opened. Everything about that has just not been conducive to me getting healthy. 

 

Then, during Memorial Day weekend - when she had been home for just a week - this bad dramedy of a year jumped the shark and the plot changed from zombie plague to worldwide rioting with a heaping dose of police brutality smothered on top. Over the course of a week, the neighborhood where I grew up was looted and burned.

 

 

Since then, my kids and I have been running a donation point out here in the 'burbs to get needed supplies to people in the City where the anarchists and white supremacists ransacked, looted and burned all the shopping, grocery, and pharmacies in non-white neighborhoods while skipping over the gentrified, white parts of the city to go continue inflicting chaos on brown people. We started collecting clothing for a houseless (they're not "homeless", they're not "a blight on this city", they're people who need the safety and stability of somewhere to live) community that was established in a hotel a block away from the riots that saved the building and the owner's business. We expanded to personal care items and other stuff that the individual supply sites in the City were requesting. We volunteered to deliver meals from a volunteer kitchen in a restaurant shuttered by COVID-19. Everything has been a whirlwind of "we're too overwhelmed and busy to catch our breath".

 

I'm going to be clear: there is definitely "sides" in all this, and I need everyone to know which side I'm on. (Hint: it's not the systemically racist, fascist Police-Military industrial complex.)

 

 

Seriously. People were protesting police brutality and the unjust policing and killing of black people and cops everywhere pretty much went "Hold my beer." 

 

I'll wait for those of you who thought that maybe a middle-aged white man from the suburbs who has espoused the Jedi way and who for years has been serving a multicultural youth group that includes a great group of African American kids might be on the other side of this to slowly back away, and probably for good.

 

Okay, for all both of the rest of you, here we go.

 

My family and I are going to be on the right side of history. My youngest monstie and I attended a Black Lives Matter protest together. My middle child was pepper sprayed and my eldest was tear-gassed, both of them at protests in Seattle that turned violent when the highly-militarized police force decided that Stormtroopers gonna Stormtroop.

 

This is the beginning. We are now part of a ragtag band of galactic Rebel Scum, a role for which I have been preparing my entire life.

 

 

I'm gonna need to get in shape before some fascist jackboot in military cosplay cracks open my skull and steps over me while I lie unconscious, bleeding from the head on the pavement.

 

My gym has finally opened, but classes are running with very limited space and I'm going to need to use the stuff I made back in April to get back to being strong enough to stick it to the man, and also in good enough cardio condition to not be the slowest one trying to flee from an unjust tear-gassing.

 

Goals:

 

If you know me, you know the drill. Run, Lift, Boot Camp, don't eat like an asshole.

 

I've decided that I'm not tracking macros for a while. But I need to make sure I'm not housing burgers and fries on the regular. Lockdown life has actually been pretty good here for the last few months: lots of chicken and steak and vegetables, along with a daily breakfast of two slices of pumpernickel rye bread, three scrambled eggs, and four small, thin slices of bacon. If I were working out regularly, I would probably have lost weight.

 

Resistance training for the Resistance. Dig it.

 

As this challenge starts, I'm refurbishing my existing deck and building an 8-foot extensions while helping deliver the remaining clothing for those in need and trying to coordinate COVID-safe youth mission efforts to help my city rebuild over the coming months. 

 

I will probably be happy to get in 2 runs during the first week, and I will be really happy if one non-deck-building workout happens, but not doing it is not an option. I'm fighting against a fascist police state while helping my friends and neighbors rebuild and I need to be my best self to do it.

 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following along. It's been crazy watching this all unfold. I hope things get better at home so you can more easily make things better in the world.

[Terra]

Following!

[darkfoxx]

Following as always - well done and be as safe as you can. The kiddos are learning some great lessons. Shit things about humanity and the way things currently work, but at least the power of change. 

 

If there are local donations needed, lmk - can’t help in person from this far, but can absolutely help in that way. 

[DarK_RaideR]

You know I love you already, but reading all this and your take on things makes me proud beyond proud for you. Keep fighting the good fight 💪

[Sloth the Enduring]

Daaamn. I am a moderate. Keep fighting the good fight brother.

This was SO’s neighborhood too right? How is she doing?

That’s what really got me worked up when all this was happening. The woke people cheering the rioting as the language of the oppressed. It’s not just stuff or property, it’s memories, community, local resources, friend’s businesses, jobs. So far none of the people arrested have been local.

This is an open invitation. Feel free to drop in when you’re in the neighborhood. We can sit six feet apart on my patio and awkwardly not know what to say to each while enjoying a pretentious beer or fizzy water. I’m one block east of Folwell.

[EricMN]

Check-In

 

So, folks, thanks for stopping by. Angry Eric will be replaced with Slightly Less Angry Eric for the remainder of the week leading up to 'Murica Day on Saturday providing nobody's local Imperial Stormtrooper Division continues to murder citizens of the Republic.

 

Slightly Less Angry.

 

No less rebel-y or scummy.

 

In the two weeks or so since I posted my opening screed, I spent about a week de-nailing the pitted and cracked and semi-petrified decking from my existing deck frame. This was followed by a couple days of loading and unloading the large lumber required for this project, and another day spent drilling 42-inch deep 4x6 post holes for the deck posts with an auger and then further work with a manual post-hole digger putting those holes in the right places because evidently spatial layout skills are NOT part of my toolkit. Add in the six 60-lb bags of concrete mix and you've got a little workout there.

 

In short, my deck has a good foundation and I also now have a good foundation for regaining my upper-body strength.

 

I have not yet completed my deck and I am annoyed. Last week was completely day-job free as it was scheduled to be my annual Youth Mission Trip. I'm used to building and completing at least one of these with a team of untrained teenagers in under five days. But I am a software engineer, and true to my breed, my estimation skills suck. For one, I have been working mostly alone on this project. Due to weather, I was two days behind on removing the existing decking, and because we have that massively-heavy, OMG you need a forklift to move it patio umbrella, I tried to replace deck boards as I pulled them so I didn't have to get the aforementioned forklift. Finally, to add insult to estimating injury, I am short three 20-ft decking boards to finish the expansion (which is 8ft by 18ft). I had to rent a moving truck to pick up the materials the last time and this time the delivery fee from the store was cheaper than the truck rental, so those will be here Tuesday afternoon and I can start getting the lower deck completed. Oh, and the aluminum railing kits we (she) chose are a pain in the ass to install, and I will need to cut down two railing panels and one stair railing and I'll have to be pretty precise or it will look terrible.

 

I'm not done, but all progress is progress.

 

Eventually there will be fascia boards and lattice skirting on the whole thing and I will be happy. But for now, this is a project that isn't done on time and I'm annoyed.

 

And again, last week was supposed to be my Youth Mission Trip.

Spoiler

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBvpqBPAS3D

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBw5dSLgXFJ/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBzaVC7A2qu/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB2ICIbgiJs/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB4mn-iA9-y/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB7K2XqgRS3/

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB9zHfEgo5I/

 

So I'm back from "vacation". I haven't run and I haven't got in a proper workout, but I did get to the Chiropractor twice in the last week and my back is about as straightened out as it will be for a while and I feel like I could probably go for a run without a lot of pain. A friend asked if I wanted to join his virtual Ragnar team and I was too stupid to say "No", so I'm committed to 10-12 miles this week, which is a good thing. I do better when someone is watching.

 

Nutrition has been ~really~ good, except for the 90-degree day when I ate a whole medium Buffalo Chicken pizza. Which, in retrospect, is still better than a whole medium most other things pizza. I stayed sufficiently hydrated.

 

I'm ready for this week.

 

On 6/17/2020 at 6:27 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following along. It's been crazy watching this all unfold. I hope things get better at home so you can more easily make things better in the world.

My friend, I am just trying to do a little of what you do in my own way.

 

On 6/17/2020 at 8:59 PM, Terra said:

Following!

You're still my favorite superhero.

 

On 6/18/2020 at 1:58 AM, darkfoxx said:

Following as always - well done and be as safe as you can. The kiddos are learning some great lessons. Shit things about humanity and the way things currently work, but at least the power of change. 

 

If there are local donations needed, lmk - can’t help in person from this far, but can absolutely help in that way. 

The clothing donation drive was overly-successful, thanks in no small part to the fact that all the thrift stores in the area were closed for almost three months. It was so successful that we stopped taking clothing donations because we had more than our recipient orgs could take. Donations are now dwindling severely because the cameras and outrage have disappeared. We're going to refocus and I'll let you know what our strategy is.

 

On 6/22/2020 at 3:35 PM, DarK_RaideR said:

You know I love you already, but reading all this and your take on things makes me proud beyond proud for you. Keep fighting the good fight 💪

I know that when it comes down to punching actual fascists, that you're going to literally have my back. I call the purple lightsaber.

I will drop a few "m'f'ers" for  suitable effect.

 

On 6/22/2020 at 5:28 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

Daaamn. I am a moderate. Keep fighting the good fight brother.

This was SO’s neighborhood too right? How is she doing?

That’s what really got me worked up when all this was happening. The woke people cheering the rioting as the language of the oppressed. It’s not just stuff or property, it’s memories, community, local resources, friend’s businesses, jobs. So far none of the people arrested have been local.

This is an open invitation. Feel free to drop in when you’re in the neighborhood. We can sit six feet apart on my patio and awkwardly not know what to say to each while enjoying a pretentious beer or fizzy water. I’m one block east of Folwell.

I know Folwell. I went to Folwell back when Middle School was called Junior High. My first year attending was the 1979/1980 school year. That's 40 years ago for those who don't like to math.

 

The SO was more of a south-of-the-creek girl, and I think that's the delineation where people went to the 'burbs for shopping instead of Lake Street. But one of her best friends' parents still live across the street from the Holiday store on Hiawatha and the Creek Parkway that burned to the ground. She still knew the neighborhood. 

 

You and I are in agreement with what happened to our City. A lot of those businesses and jobs won't come back. Some will. In the meantime the community is going to be hurting for resources, and the donations are drying up. I worry for everyone who will now be riding the bus for hours to  and from the suburbs for necessities. I also really, really worry about the brown people who will have to drive to the suburbs for things like groceries and personal supplies and who will be harassed by suburban police for driving while nonwhite. 

 

And I will take you up on that invitation. I can even bring some pretentious beer to leave as a "next time" gift. If we ever coordinate that social-distancing trail run at Leb Hills, you'll be invited over to hang out on my deck in whatever state of unfishedness it happens to be in to have a beverage as well.

 

And this time, I mean it. I'm going to need more friends on the right side of things as I fight the good fight.

 

[DarK_RaideR]

I prefer Angry Eric to Whiny Eric

 

Lead the way

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

The amount of FU to the Government in this thread has me warm and fuzzy in all sorts of places.

And I mean ACTUAL freedom.

[EricMN]

Check-In

Okay, this is far too far over-due. I didn't realize how far behind I was. What's been going on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L0BMfqXLZM

 

I finished my deck, the single most Suburban White Guy thing I could possibly say.

Spoiler

Resist? I realize I have the luxury to both fight the man AND build a deck in the suburbs because I don't constantly have police pulling me over on the way home from work, like the dad of a family a block away from me.

 

We have continued to take donations from the 'Burbs to Minneapolis to support the people who are putting their lives back together. Many of our donations went to the Sheraton, where 200 houseless people lived before they were forced to encampments in the city parks. We collected over a ton of clothes in the first two weeks before having to shut down donations on clothing due to having nowhere to send them. We are now providing mostly personal items (toilet paper, dental care products, feminine hygiene,  disposal diapers, etc). We are bringing about a pickup truckload per week at this point. People needing donations could use a truckload per day, but donations citywide have slowed to a trickle now that  the cameras are gone and the white backlash of people who want their lives to "get back to normal" has happened.

 

Between the anti-racism/anti-police-brutality counter-protesters (Lick That Boot! Lick That Boot!) and the Coronavirus protestors (um... how do you protest a pandemic?) who are actively ignoring sound science on how we need to proceed to get there,  it's clear we're living in the stupidest timeline right now.

 

 

The kids' grandma and grandpa just came to visit from Rapid City, SD. They retired a couple years ago and travel in an RV. They camped at Lebanon Hills - right across the road from where I will be trail running starting *checks notes* tomorrow morning. They are Rush Limbaugh conservatives who both had long careers in law enforcement. My babiest daughter is a flaming ACAB pinko commie liberal. She came home angry every night this week after spending the day with them. Quote: "I love them so much but they're so wrong about everything and won't stop talking!"

 

I started running again. I got four runs in during the past two weeks for a total of 12 miles. I used to call this low-end average for a single week. It's a start.

 

My back is a mess after a month of construction. I need to get going on real workouts now that I will get my schedule back so that I can regain some kind of actual core strength.

 

On 6/29/2020 at 6:15 PM, DarK_RaideR said:

I prefer Angry Eric to Whiny Eric

You and everyone who has ever listened to me bitch my way through an OCR. Miss you and yours, my friend.

 

On 6/29/2020 at 8:22 PM, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

The amount of FU to the Government in this thread has me warm and fuzzy in all sorts of places.

You were the one person I was worried about offending, Chaplain. I'm glad we're still friends. I have respect for isolated individuals that have put their misguided energy into fixing our broken mess of a government from the inside, but that's where it ends. Also, I won't dive into my views on the bizarre, quasi-religious nationalist zealotry of "American Patriotism" because this is my Nerd community, but readers should feel free to extrapolate from this sentence.

 

10/10 would watch this series on Disney+

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

1 hour ago, EricMN said:

You were the one person I was worried about offending, Chaplain. I'm glad we're still friends. I have respect for isolated individuals that have put their misguided energy into fixing our broken mess of a government from the inside, but that's where it ends. Also, I won't dive into my views on the bizarre, quasi-religious nationalist zealotry of "American Patriotism" because this is my Nerd community, but readers should feel free to extrapolate from this sentence.

 

I get that, given that I volunteer as a Police Chaplain, and frankly even if I were offended (which I'm not) I'd choose to remain friends. I love you too much to let something like that get between us.

[DarK_RaideR]

2 hours ago, EricMN said:

You and everyone who has ever listened to me bitch my way through an OCR. Miss you and yours, my friend.

Miss you and yours as well. Was glad to see you face and hear your voice again so thanks for the update (btw "no one's going to have to maintain this until after I DIE" was such an Eric thing to say)

 

2 hours ago, EricMN said:

My babiest daughter is a flaming ACAB pinko commie liberal.

 

2 hours ago, EricMN said:

I have respect for isolated individuals that have put their misguided energy into fixing our broken mess of a government from the inside, but that's where it ends

These two are a great segway onto sharing an amazing video I recently ran into, discussing police (ironically just days before the George Floyd murder) and Disco Elysium, a highly praised recent videogame. Pro tip, look up the entire channel about similar videos from a similar viewpoint dissecting pop culture.

 

[darkfoxx]

That deck is amazing! Glad to hear you’re still out fighting the good fight. If you’ve got a local donation pool that’s linked up with PayPal or Venmo, lmk - I’m happy to help send reinforcements.