faille's "I'm Not Saying it Was Aliens, but..." Challenge

[faille]

I was going to sit this challenge out, but I like the new format and decided to give it a try.  Before I start: my keyboard's 'w' is being finicky, so I may or may not manage to fix them all!  I apologize ahead of time.

 

Epic Quest: Hike the Inca Trail and see Machu Picchu 

 

Doing a multi-day adventure trek has long been something I want to do.  A couple of friends have gone to see Machu Picchu, and I've also seen Steve's trek.  The pictures are stunning.  I love the culture and the theories around these ancient civilizations.  I've never been to South America.  It seems like maybe this is the "cliche" trip for a certain crowd, but I don't care.  *I* want to go! 

 

Now, obviously this isn't something I'll be able to accomplish in 6 weeks.  BUT, there are lots of things I can start doing to prepare myself and remove excuses. 

 

 

 

Progression Quests

 

Language.  WIS +4

 

According to the Googles, the primary language in Peru is Spanish.  I grew up in Arizona, took Spanish in High School, and currently live in San Diego.  I *still* cannot speak Spanish, and frankly this is embarassing!  Part of the journey of Machu Picchu is spending a couple days in Cuzco to acclimate to the elevation.  My desire is to be able to speak with the locals in Spanish when I am there.

 

For this challenge, I am going to pull out my "Behind the Wheel Spanish" book on tape, and listen to it every day on my commute.  If I'm not listening to the book, I will listen to Spanish radio or find some podcasts, or some other language oriented activity.

 

At least an hour of Spanish consumption a day earns an A.

 

Strength.  STR +3, STA +2, CHA +1

 

Since the Inca Trail is a multi day trek on foot, I will need to have the strength to carry my gear.  Since I am not ready to start lugging bricks around in a backpack, I will start with general strength training.  For arms I will revisit (again) a modified Convict Conditioning/Angry Birds format of progression.  For abs, I will do AbRipperX from P90X, and for legs I will do squats whenever I can (brushing teeth, waiting for food to cook, etc).

 

20 minutes of strength related activity 3 times a week gets me an A.

 

Nutrition.  CON +2, WIS +1

 

This one is kind of a stretch insofar as it relates to Machu Picchu, but it is still a goal I want to pursue.  For this challenge, I will make 3 different "bulk" or "freezer" paleo meals that I can freeze and eat later.  One of my favorite quick meals right now is meatballs, coconut oil, and broccoli.  Delicious, but I use storebought meatballs and they are not paleo by any stretch of the imagination.  So cooking up a big batch of paleo meatballs that I can freeze for later is one example of a meal.  

 

Let's say that the porters on the Inca Trail will be cooking for a group, and therefore so will I this challenge, so I can appreciate them more

 

3 meals of at least 5 servings to save for later equals an A.

 

Side Quest

 

Laundry.  CON +2

 

For this challenge I have only one side quest planned.  This was originally going to be my "life" challenge until I saw the new challenge rules.  Since it doesn't fit into my Epic Quest this time, it will be a side quest.  Similar to my previous "15 minutes of crafting a day" goal, this goal will be a "15 minutes of chores a day".  This will be tracked using the Unfuck Your Habitat app.  My priority each day will be laundry, then my desk.  If there is nothing I can think of to do on a given night, I'll use the UFYH app's random option to give me something to do.  

 

Ideally I would do this every day, but since it is a side challenge, as long as I'm on top of my laundry instead of letting it languish for literally weeks in the hamper I'll call this one a success.

[TxAg_WxNerd]

Here's to a great quest!

[Thunderneath]

Great start to the thread, and awesome goals, faille! Good luck with the quest. Machu Picchu is about as epic as it gets.

[faille]

Language - B - Giving myself a B on this one.  I listened to Spanish radio on my commute all week, but didn't listen to the Behind the Wheel Spanish.  I was going to hook up my old phone to my car and use it as an ipod, but I can't find where I put it!  So tonight I'm going to burn it onto an old fashioned CD and listen to it that way.

 

Strength - A - Three days of pushups and situps.  For pushups, I'm following my modified "Convict Conditioning" progression.  Back up to Incline pushups, 40/21/16.  Working my way back up to 40x3 before moving on to knees again.  For situps, I'm doing a 30 day challenge with another group I'm involved in.  It starts with 15 situps, 5 crunches, 5 leg raises, and a 10s plank and goes up from there every day.  I have a feeling sometime this week or next it will progress past my fitness level (ends at 120s plank, wwhaaaaat), but when that happens I will just split it into multiple sets.

 

Nutrition - Not Graded - I did not make a bulk meal this week, but I did pick out the first recipe I want to try.  I will buy ingredients Monday or Tuesday and make it Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

Side Quest - A - It is the end of the week and I managed to do two loads of laundry and have them all put AWAY.  Plus I fixed a leaky faucet and scanned some papers from the ever growing pile.  

[Thunderneath]

Looking good so far! How've the last days been? 

[faille]

Looking good so far! How've the last days been? 

 

Welllllll

 

I've been rocking the Language piece of this challenge.  Last week and this week I've been listening to the Behind the Wheel Spanish on at least half of my commute each day.  The rest of the time I am listening to Spanish radio or some other Spanish language programming (Pandora channel seeded with Shakira or the album Bari from Ojos de Brujas).  I've also been playing around with an app called DuoLinguo.  The radio is actually pretty good because there is a lot of repetition.  Songs I like I will look up the lyrics to when I get home.  The traffic reports and advertisements are good for practicing number comprehension (freeway numbers and phone numbers -- uno ocho ciento, bla bla bla...  cinquenta y cinco no hay espera, and so on)  I'm much more visual so if I read I can pick out a lot of words and get the gist of something, but listening is a whole other animal for me.  Speaking will be even harder!

 

Once again I'm dogging it on Strength.  I did well in Week 2, then last week I only did one day.  I've been working later and then busy in the evenings, and it's just not very fun for me to stop and do pushups.  Excuses, excuses!  So I need to find a better way to apply myself to this, or at least a better more short term goal to motivate myself. 

 

Thunderneath, I have to give you credit for helping me meet the first part of my Nutrition goal!  I saw your post while I was on a break for work, so on my way home I finally stopped for the ingredients.  There is now a large crockpot full of meatballs in my fridge, just waiting to be turned on in the morning before I leave for work.   This probably would not have happened if you didn't post a checkup on my thread, so thank you!

 

 

My Side Quest has fallen a bit on the wayside.  Last week I only did one load of laundry and it is still sitting in the hamper waiting to be put away.  And my bathroom is a mess.  Since I prepped my bulk dinner tonight, tomorrow will be a UFMH evening.

 

The week has just started, and the challenge is only half over, so there is still time to turn it all around!

[Thunderneath]

Way to freakin' go on the language challenge! That's excellent, and I totally applaud you for rocking that hard. Are you starting from scratch on the Spanish comprehension? 

I've heard some really good things about the flash card apps available for smart phones, apparently lots of people use them for learning new languages. If you're really visual, maybe it's worth checking out? DuoLingo looks pretty awesome too, just from a quick Googling.

 

How've the other aspects of the Strength challenge been going? Glad you did well on Week 2, that's awesome to hear. Don't lose motivation now! We're past the halfway mark! Maybe set a goal of a specific number of pushups per day, and add one or two per week until the end of the challenge?

 

Aw shucks, I'm glad I inspired you to fill up that crockpot! The accountability aspect of these challenges has been the most effective part of the whole thing for me, and I'm glad other people are finding it helpful too.

 

Come on, Side Quest! I'm going to be a total hypocrite and tell you to get that laundry done, because I've been living out of my laundry basket like a shameless slob, and if you do yours you've got the moral high ground, and won't that feel nice.

[faille]

Way to freakin' go on the language challenge! That's excellent, and I totally applaud you for rocking that hard. Are you starting from scratch on the Spanish comprehension? 

I've heard some really good things about the flash card apps available for smart phones, apparently lots of people use them for learning new languages. If you're really visual, maybe it's worth checking out? DuoLingo looks pretty awesome too, just from a quick Googling.

 

How've the other aspects of the Strength challenge been going? Glad you did well on Week 2, that's awesome to hear. Don't lose motivation now! We're past the halfway mark! Maybe set a goal of a specific number of pushups per day, and add one or two per week until the end of the challenge?

 

Aw shucks, I'm glad I inspired you to fill up that crockpot! The accountability aspect of these challenges has been the most effective part of the whole thing for me, and I'm glad other people are finding it helpful too.

 

Come on, Side Quest! I'm going to be a total hypocrite and tell you to get that laundry done, because I've been living out of my laundry basket like a shameless slob, and if you do yours you've got the moral high ground, and won't that feel nice.

 

 

I'm not really starting entirely from scratch on the Spanish.  I took a couple years in high school and have some concept of the grammar.  Vocabulary, phrases, and anything other than present tense is what gets me.  Which is pretty much the entire language, lol.  I never really get beyond the basics of "Hi how are you?  My name is Faille, I'm from the United States".  I would say this is the first time I'm really starting to pick out words and phrases from the radio that I actually understand, which is really encouraging.  I still feel stupid speaking it, like native speakers would know I'm using stilted beginner's language.  So that will be something I need to focus on in future challenges

 

Strength is going horrible.  I don't even know what else to say other than that!  Increasing by one or two per week should be something I'm able to do....  Hell, DOING one or two per week would be a good goal at this point!

 

Oh man, those meatballs are soooooo gooooooood.  I have about 10 servings frozen and ready to be eaten whenever I want now.  It made about 45 generously sized meatballs I would say.  Time to start looking for two more bulk recipes to cook up.  Maybe something chicken based this time. But I highly recommend this meatball recipe.  Super delicious

 

As far as the Side Quest, I did put the laundry away and pick up the bathroom after I made my last post.

[Thunderneath]

At least you're making progress on the Spanish though, that's great.

 

Anything new on the Strength side of things? Have you considered doing a few sets of knee pushups during the week in lieu of full ones, just to get the ball rolling? We've got two full weeks ahead, that's enough time to get going!

 

That's an awesome looking meatball recipe! I might have to try  it myself now that we've got a crockpot in the house.

 

Well done on the Side Quest!

[faille]

Okie dokie.  The hard truth.

 

Progression Quests

 

Language.  WIS +4

Grade: A+, WIS +4

Goal: Hour a day of Spanish

Reality: Worked through the entire program (about 9 hours) of Behind the Wheel Spanish during my commute.  Play with Duolingo on occassion, have started to go through the Coffee Break Spanish podcasts.  When I'm tired of focused learning, I just listen to Spanish radio.  My entire FM2 band is programmed to Spanish.  I'm definitely learning!

 

Strength.  STR +3, STA +2, CHA +1

Grade: F.  STR +0, STA +0, CHA +0

Goal: Strength 20 minutes 3x/week

Reality: I didn't give this goal a fair shake.  I allowed it to fail.

 

Nutrition.  CON +2, WIS +1

Grade: C.  Con +1, WIS +0.5

Goal: Make 3 bulk meals to freeze for later

Reality: Only made one.  It was delicious.

 

Side Quest

 

Laundry.  CON +2

Grade: C.  CON +1

Goal: All laundry put away by the end of the week.

Reality: I did pretty well on this for the first part of the challenge, and then not so well on the second half.  Due to company my bathroom got a deep cleaning, and I've also kept my car clean.  The laundry has languished over the last week or two however.  I'd say this is a C.

 

Final Stats

The way I am choosing to level is by total points.  So I will not reach Level 3 until I have 45 total points accrued.  At this rate I will be on my 11th challenge and still be level 4  But each point is a step in the right direction, so onward I go!

 

Faille | Level 2.89 Elf Ranger

STR 4.25 | DEX 5 | STA 5 | CON 7.25 | WIS 9.5 | CHA 8