Mad Hatter climbs boulders, draws pictures and looks for ways to get unstuck

[Mad Hatter]

On 9/11/2020 at 5:53 PM, sylph said:

Here for this.

😍

 

On 9/11/2020 at 8:10 PM, Scaly Freak said:

It's completely unacceptable. 

 

And it's also a bad sign. That kind of management behavior becomes "normal" and lingers only in an environment where no one above the manager notices and puts a stop to it. It's not saying anything positive about the culture of the company. (Side-note: Picturing the reaction and actions of my immediate manager and the manager above them if I made excuses and tried to pass blame off to a person below me, is genuinely frightening, and I like that.  )

So he never replied directly to my second much more pointed message (to be fair I did say that it's not me that he should explain/apologize to), but soon after he called the people involved to a meeting and apologized and made plans to make things better. I'm glad he did, though I hope it's NOT just because of what I said to him. Unfortunately for my friend it's not really enough as the whole thing has been festering for a long time. She's tried to bring it up, but she's not very confrontational and with this guy you have to be extremely blunt and/or forceful to make him listen. I wish I'd known earlier how much stress it was causing her. 😕

 

I have almost the opposite issue. 😄My boss is so concerned that I'm not involved in all the "new shiny things" (there's nothing new or shiny, besides the tech it's all remaking the same stuff as before) and that I feel left out. Bless his heart, I couldn't care less about what I'm doing, I feel like a drone no matter what. But I don't want to tell him that, he'd get sad.

 

On 9/11/2020 at 8:49 PM, Harriet said:

Brilliant! 

One moment of glory.  Now it's back to slug after a few days of really crappy sleep.

 

4 hours ago, Waanie said:

That's great .

 

I've never heard of that drill of being first as extended as possible, and later as bunched up as possible, but it sounds like a good exercise. As a short person, I feel like I often extend as far as possible already though, since my furthest reach is a comfortable reach for a normal person. I rarely climb bunched up though, since I often move only one high feet at a time and let the other leg dangling. Do you have any tips for making small moves when bunched up, or is just trying it out the way to go?

I got the drill from https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/blog/2018/9/13/progressing-core-workouts-part-5-climbing-exercises but I'm pretty much just winging it.  I've never done any climbing "training", all my climbing learning has been of the form of fall off boulders => copy friends => mostly still fall off.  But this drill sounded good because I often struggle with keeping my feet on the wall (i.e. lack of core strength) and I also quite often underestimate my reach, and for example use high feet when I don't need to. I like using high feet and heel hooks because it makes the positions more comfortable and stable and I can use my legs and balance instead of my core and finger strength. The drawback is that it's sometimes harder to move from those positions and it kills the movement as I'm then climbing more straight on instead of a long diagonal. Even if I only have one foot one I still end up pretty bunched up with my butt sticking out further from the wall, which makes it harder to really get the weight over that foot and push off of it. I noticed this tendency a while back when I forgot one of my shoes at home. Instead of renting shoes I decided to climb the entire session on one foot and my climbing actually ended up more fluid and strong! Quite the eye opener. Of course I'm huuuugely generalizing here as each problem requires its own technique, but it's interesting to experiment with different options. Normal boulders are set to force a certain movement so it's cool to play on a splatter wall where I can do whatever I want. 

 

I don't really have any tips yet, I need to do a lot more experimenting! For myself I think the problem is that when I'm bunched I lose core tension which makes it difficult to transfer power from the foot to the hips and I end up pulling excessively to shift my weight, either with my hands or my leg. Or when I did this drill in more extreme positions my feet would cut. So I guess my tip would be to keep that connection? But I don't know if that helps you at all.  

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

8 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

So he never replied directly to my second much more pointed message (to be fair I did say that it's not me that he should explain/apologize to), but soon after he called the people involved to a meeting and apologized and made plans to make things better. I'm glad he did, though I hope it's NOT just because of what I said to him. Unfortunately for my friend it's not really enough as the whole thing has been festering for a long time. She's tried to bring it up, but she's not very confrontational and with this guy you have to be extremely blunt and/or forceful to make him listen. I wish I'd known earlier how much stress it was causing her. 😕

 

 

If the situation improves, does it matter why?

 

Rhetorical question, since making a change for the wrong reasons tends to make it a lot more difficult to turn the change into a lasting improvement. But there is a silver lining here: Speaking up led to improvement. It's of course terrible and sad that your friend is so stressed over this, but perhaps it will become just a bit easier for her to assert herself after seeing that doing so makes a difference, and that no one has retaliated against you or actively bullied you as a result of your bluntness.  

[Mad Hatter]

👩‍🎨The weekend was a bit a flop as all my plans got cancelled because of weather and life. Instead I attended an online art expo and watched a bunch of lectures and panels and art. I spent way too much time in front of the computer, but it was really interesting and I learned some stuff. The side effect of that is that I've been having huge problems sleeping and feeling pretty zombified.

 

🤯I also looked at what schools around here have to offer, just to see if something sparked my interest.

 

💪Today I went to the gym, and had a surprisingly good session despite slugification! I first played on the coordination move board, picking easy problems from an app. This is a very new type of training board and it's actually pretty cool! I absolutely suck at coordination moves, but I was happy to discover that they made it accessible enough that even people like me can do little hops, while it's still possible to level up to absolutely bonkers complex moves. Then I went to the Moon board and just tried to string some moves together. It felt a little more comfortable today, though I still didn't get very far. I also did a few sets of pull-ups and push-ups. Not bad!

[Mad Hatter]

13 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

If the situation improves, does it matter why?

 

Rhetorical question, since making a change for the wrong reasons tends to make it a lot more difficult to turn the change into a lasting improvement. But there is a silver lining here: Speaking up led to improvement. It's of course terrible and sad that your friend is so stressed over this, but perhaps it will become just a bit easier for her to assert herself after seeing that doing so makes a difference, and that no one has retaliated against you or actively bullied you as a result of your bluntness.  

Yes exactly, I'm afraid it's only temporary improvement, assuming the improvement even happens. Could well be that the only result of this is more meetings, which would perhaps solve the surface issues, but not underlying problems. I also think that management should have better measures in place to prevent situations like this from escalating this far, by for example checking in on employees to make sure they're happy, and that they feel safe to speak up, either directly or through some other channel. 

 

I also hope it will be a bit easier for her next time. Though who knows about the consequences, maybe he didn't reply because he cancelled me. 😆

[Scaly Freak]

12 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Yes exactly, I'm afraid it's only temporary improvement, assuming the improvement even happens. Could well be that the only result of this is more meetings, which would perhaps solve the surface issues, but not underlying problems. I also think that management should have better measures in place to prevent situations like this from escalating this far, by for example checking in on employees to make sure they're happy, and that they feel safe to speak up, either directly or through some other channel. 

 

Most companies have a process for making anonymous reports about issues like these, and making it safe to speak up is one of the biggest reasons for that. And to be fair, solving the surface issues (also known as "symptoms") gets rid of the fog and white noise that obscure the underlying issue, and makes it possible to start tackling the real problem. Assuming all involved parties are willing to work together to solve the problem, of course.

 

20 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

I also hope it will be a bit easier for her next time. Though who knows about the consequences, maybe he didn't reply because he cancelled me. 😆

 

Sounds to me like you should be thanking him for no longer talking to you! 😆

[Tobbe]

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

🤯I also looked at what schools around here have to offer, just to see if something sparked my interest.

 

And? Find anything interesting?

[WhiteGhost]

hmmm, already well into page two before I even find my way over here.  I was going to comment on some stuff but I am still distracted by the whole jogging thing.  Are you going to try it again or was that just a temporary demonic possession?

[Waanie]

Thanks for the climbing resources! I took notice yesterday of my style, and I think I'm alternatingly stretched out and bunched up, and barely anything in between in harder routes. Stretched out is indeed easier for me (except when I can just barely reach it and have to cut feet once I activate my lats). I also feel I can't be as creative with my hips when bunched up, since correcting my rotation then makes sure that my weight is too far out of the wall.

 

It is funny to see that we have opposite problems; for me engaging core comes naturally with any type of movement, but I'm terrible at applying heel hooks and having two high feet in general.

[KB Girl]

On 9/14/2020 at 8:07 PM, Mad Hatter said:

💪Today I went to the gym, and had a surprisingly good session despite slugification! I first played on the coordination move board, picking easy problems from an app. This is a very new type of training board and it's actually pretty cool! I absolutely suck at coordination moves, but I was happy to discover that they made it accessible enough that even people like me can do little hops, while it's still possible to level up to absolutely bonkers complex moves. Then I went to the Moon board and just tried to string some moves together. It felt a little more comfortable today, though I still didn't get very far. I also did a few sets of pull-ups and push-ups. Not bad!

That sounds good!  

[Mad Hatter]

On 9/14/2020 at 9:45 PM, Scaly Freak said:

Most companies have a process for making anonymous reports about issues like these, and making it safe to speak up is one of the biggest reasons for that. And to be fair, solving the surface issues (also known as "symptoms") gets rid of the fog and white noise that obscure the underlying issue, and makes it possible to start tackling the real problem. Assuming all involved parties are willing to work together to solve the problem, of course.

 

Sounds to me like you should be thanking him for no longer talking to you! 😆

Most *large* companies. The Helsinki office is only 12 people, there is no such a thing as anonymity even you tried.

 

😂

 

On 9/14/2020 at 11:30 PM, Tobbe said:

And? Find anything interesting?

Plant science? 😂

 

On 9/15/2020 at 8:26 AM, WhiteGhost said:

hmmm, already well into page two before I even find my way over here.  I was going to comment on some stuff but I am still distracted by the whole jogging thing.  Are you going to try it again or was that just a temporary demonic possession?

You won't believe it, but it happened again! 🤯

 

On 9/15/2020 at 7:13 PM, Waanie said:

Thanks for the climbing resources! I took notice yesterday of my style, and I think I'm alternatingly stretched out and bunched up, and barely anything in between in harder routes. Stretched out is indeed easier for me (except when I can just barely reach it and have to cut feet once I activate my lats). I also feel I can't be as creative with my hips when bunched up, since correcting my rotation then makes sure that my weight is too far out of the wall.

 

It is funny to see that we have opposite problems; for me engaging core comes naturally with any type of movement, but I'm terrible at applying heel hooks and having two high feet in general.

Oh that's really interesting about creative use of the hips!

 

Oh I wouldn't say I was any good at those either, they're just comfortable positions to be in as they're very stable. 😄 But pulling out of them is hard!

 

12 hours ago, KB Girl said:

That sounds good!  

Yeah! 

[Mad Hatter]

Oh, I see I haven’t posted an update for a bit.

 

💪 Tuesday I went for a jog again! Craziness. I just wanted to do something active during my movement break, but I also wanted to be outside. Gotta take advantage of the few good days. 
 

Wednesday was climbing and I felt pretty trash after not sleeping well. But even then it feels like they’ve bumped the grade difficulty on the easy climbs? There was an orange (roughly 6a-6a+) that I couldn’t even start and that’s normally an easy flash grade. But I did do a really scary “harder” problem where you end up perched in a little ball right at the top of the wall, balancing without hands and with only one good foot! 
 

Thursday I was having a day. I curled up in my pink dino onesie, eat a lot of potatoes and didn’t even leave the house.

 

Today I went to the office gym! Mostly to hang out with a friend. I did squats and deadlifts, very light as it’s been a whiiile and I wasn’t very strong to begin with, as well as some weighted core exercises plus helping out my friend with form and scaling the exercises that he was doing up and down. It was nice, except that he kept roping me in to his meetings. Such cheek! 😒😄

 

I’m not sure if will become a habit, it was haaaard getting up and getting ready so early in the morning. It really makes it feel like work. It’s also frickin’ cold! I had been blissfully unaware that autumn really is here since it’s still warmish (by Finnish standards) during the day. And it’s just going to get worse. I did enjoy the gym, but I think I like my candy colored climbing wall better.

 

 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

26 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

Oh, I see I haven’t posted an update for a bit.

I’m not sure if will become a habit, it was haaaard getting up and getting ready so early in the morning. It really makes it feel like work. It’s also frickin’ cold! I had been blissfully unaware that autumn really is here since it’s still warmish (by Finnish standards) during the day. And it’s just going to get worse. I did enjoy the gym, but I think I like my candy colored climbing wall better.

Habits are what will carry you through the winter that is on it's way. Motivation is fleeting. You got this, Hatter! Kick some ass!

[Mad Hatter]

1 hour ago, Jittersthe.Clown said:

Habits are what will carry you through the winter that is on it's way. Motivation is fleeting. You got this, Hatter! Kick some ass!

I'll still go to my climbing gyms! But I appreciate the sentiment.  I just don't feel very strongly about going to the office gym just for squats and deadlifts 1x/week + a bit of hangout time, when I could be going to my climbing gym which is next to my house. I also much prefer training at lunch time - I'm stronger than in the mornings, but I'm not tired from the day's work. There's just lots of cons that I don't think makes up for the pros.

[Harriet]

Pink dino onesie sounds amazing. 

[Waanie]

On 9/18/2020 at 2:33 PM, Mad Hatter said:

I’m not sure if will become a habit, it was haaaard getting up and getting ready so early in the morning. It really makes it feel like work. It’s also frickin’ cold! I had been blissfully unaware that autumn really is here since it’s still warmish (by Finnish standards) during the day. And it’s just going to get worse. I did enjoy the gym, but I think I like my candy colored climbing wall better.

Candy coloured climbing walls sound cool . I have a saying that if you're cold, you're not biking fast enough, but that's just for Dutch cold and during a bike-commute . If the gym is close to the office, can you possibly take a longer lunch break for your workout?

 

Anyway, your exercise sounds really well-rounded right now, with the running for cardio, strength training for strength and climbing for both (and fun of course). Really cool!

[Mad Hatter]

On 9/19/2020 at 8:36 PM, Harriet said:

Pink dino onesie sounds amazing. 

I love it, it's instant comfort. Like a wearable hug.

 

23 hours ago, Waanie said:

Candy coloured climbing walls sound cool . I have a saying that if you're cold, you're not biking fast enough, but that's just for Dutch cold and during a bike-commute . If the gym is close to the office, can you possibly take a longer lunch break for your workout?

 

Anyway, your exercise sounds really well-rounded right now, with the running for cardio, strength training for strength and climbing for both (and fun of course). Really cool!

It's cute! But the holds are slopier than they look.

 

 

Hahaha I'll pass on the cold advice until after the Netherlands start getting -20C winters.  But the cold is only just one factor that makes going to the office gym a little less nice than going later to the climbing gym. I'll play it by ear, if I wake up early enough and want company I'll go lift, but it's not a big deal if I don't as long as I do something else instead.

 

Hmmm when you put it like that the list is really lacking in being upside down! And dancing! 

[Mad Hatter]

Had a very chill weekend, not much to report. On Saturday I hung out with friends, we checked out a new Iranian brunch place and it was awesome! Yummy food and really nice, chill atmosphere. 😍 

 

I also built a fort/reading nook. It makes me happy.

[Jittersthe.Clown]

This fort/reading nook you speak of, might you have pictures? I may be a bit envious and wish to make one. 

[Mad Hatter]

3 hours ago, Jittersthe.Clown said:

This fort/reading nook you speak of, might you have pictures? I may be a bit envious and wish to make one. 

It’s still quite scrappy looking because I just threw together random stuff around the flat. The structure is a deconstructed bunk bed that I have in my kitchen after a failed plant growing experiment. The sitting surface is my climbing crash pad. The book is The Truth About Animals and it’s awesome. Today I learned about the original watermelon vampires.

 

[Scaly Freak]

The reading fort looks incredible. The only thing missing is a sleeping cat in the corner  

[KB Girl]

That is ❤️❤️❤️ 

 

And the climbing wall also looks really great  I'm glad you seem to enjoy going there more than you initially expected. 

[WhiteGhost]

On 9/18/2020 at 8:33 PM, Mad Hatter said:

it was haaaard getting up and getting ready so early in the morning.

So much this.  I went from waking up around 10ish every morning to 5:45 and it is killing me. 

 

need...  sleep...  

[@mu]

Such a cute hobbit corner ❤️  I love your light bulbs where did you get them?

 

On 9/18/2020 at 2:33 PM, Mad Hatter said:

I went for a jog again!

[Waanie]

That looks like such a happy climbing wall . I think you could do handstands and dancing as movement snacks whenever you feel like doing them, instead of planning them as a workout this challenge?

[Harriet]

On 9/21/2020 at 5:39 PM, Mad Hatter said:

It’s still quite scrappy looking because I just threw together random stuff around the flat. The structure is a deconstructed bunk bed that I have in my kitchen after a failed plant growing experiment. The sitting surface is my climbing crash pad. The book is The Truth About Animals and it’s awesome. Today I learned about the original watermelon vampires.

 

 

This looks super cosy and I need to know about watermelon vampires and what this book is about.