mightstone2k answers the call of the wild

[Elastigirl]

I've thought about getting Original Strength.I didn't know how much time it took. Sounds like a good combo with S&S . I'll look into it again.

 

We do Dave Ramsey budgeting, hs recommendation is $1,000 dollars in an emergency fund, and then not putting anymore into savings until your debt is paid off, which is what we did.

[mightstone2k]

Well... people screwed the pooch royally in a few different ways re: my second case. And they all revealed themselves yesterday while I was sleeping my way back to a normal rhythm. Nothing too major. It's fixable. Just annoying.

 

Good news: I'm off nights. I spent yesterday slumming and idly updating my old Oversold Cemetery deck. I can do a better write-up on that later, if any Magic nerds want to read it. Otherwise, it's onward and upward on case work.

 

 

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[Machete]

On 2/9/2017 at 11:45 AM, Elastigirl said:

I've thought about getting Original Strength.I didn't know how much time it took. Sounds like a good combo with S&S . I'll look into it again.

On 2/9/2017 at 4:41 AM, mightstone2k said:

I also received Original Strength. There is a ten-minute daily reset in the book. I've been using it as a warmup and it feels really good. That plus some goblet squats and halos, then I knock out S&S. It's a good setup.@Elastigirl, I can give a more in-depth review if you want... at some point.

 

The guy who introduced my to S&S is big onto resets. I believe he is an OS instructor. I have the book, I just haven't read it because I am lazy. I use a lot or rocking for warmups on my classes with an older, less mobile population (you'd be surprised how many people have forgotten how to crawl). Any cliffnotes? What do you think of the book? I have the Kindle version, so there are not pictures.

 

[mightstone2k]

 

The guy who introduced my to S&S is big onto resets. I believe he is an OS instructor. I have the book, I just haven't read it because I am lazy. I use a lot or rocking for warmups on my classes with an older, less mobile population (you'd be surprised how many people have forgotten how to crawl). Any cliffnotes? What do you think of the book? I have the Kindle version, so there are not pictures.

 

This is off the cuff, so don't let it turn you off. A lot of the book reads (to me) like a sales pitch. The science is surface level, and there are testimonials at the end of each short chapter (one chapter per reset, some additional chapters on other topics). But I'm not buying it for the pleasure of the read. I just wanted to know what the resets are, how they recommended programming them in, what the key concepts were, etc. and I got that fairly easily. It'll be a good reference for nailing down fine technical details and for progressing each technique. But if you're looking to engage with the science, don't bother.

 

 

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[Kishi]

On ‎2‎/‎9‎/‎2017 at 11:45 AM, Elastigirl said:

We do Dave Ramsey budgeting, hs recommendation is $1,000 dollars in an emergency fund, and then not putting anymore into savings until your debt is paid off, which is what we did.

 

!!!

 

I may have to use this approach with some of my debt-reduction efforts. Once my savings are built back up.

*

Anyway, sorry to hear about the screw ups on your case, but glad to hear that they'll be fixed quick. Also, hope the OS works out for you. I think I've felt some of it work before, especially for Turkish Get Ups, but I don't know that I'd do it so often as to make a thing of it. Then again, though, I'm not trying to smash myself anymore, so... maybe...

[mightstone2k]

I am not dead. I may feel kind of like it, but I'm not

Trial one is over. Trial two kicked off prep today. Senior counsel is aware that I'm far less prepared than either of us would prefer, but she's rolling with it. And she let me keep opening statement and closing argument, which was a good surprise. Those involve telling a story and applying law to facts, respectively, both of which are more in my wheelhouse than making a sentencing argument. Five directs, two crosses, and two motions arguments round out the shedload of things I need to do. Plus witness interviews, the script, assembling the trial box, marking exhibits...

 

It's going to be a long week. Long nights, at least. I'm hitting the gym tomorrow morning, then it's possible (likely) I'll be there until 2100 or later tomorrow night. This is what being unprepared gets me. A ton of work, grindy long days, and stress. Go. Team.

 

At least she's taking the bulk of the witnesses. And marking exhibits is just playing around in Adobe. That can be my mindless break work as the nights drag on.

 

Don't miss me too much. I'll be in, out, and around.

 

 

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[The Most Loathed]

hang in there

 

 

 

[Kishi]

You got this, man. It'll suck for a bit, but you got this.

[starpuck]

Your cheering squad is cheering for you!

 

 

 

 

[mightstone2k]

@Kishi@Machete S&S is 5x10/arm for one-hand swings, yes? For a total of 100 swings? Stupid question and I know I can just check the book. That would take too long. I've been swinging the 32 for 5x5 to get used to the weight, and I want to increase the volume to where I should be. I just don't remember if I should be adding reps to 5x10/arm or adding sets to 10x5/arm and then add reps to 10x10/arm.

 

Everyone else: alive. Not dead. Powerlifting competition has closed the cross functional room in the gym today, which is where they keep all the kettlebells. No training today. That has been going surprisingly well, in that I've been able to train more days than not this week. Small victories.

 

 

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[Elastigirl]

Keep hanging on. S & S is 5 x 10 for each  hand, total 100 swings

[mightstone2k]

Thanks! I forgot you were also an S&S aficionado. Thought I was missing someone.

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

Jesus, I just keep eating all the f***ing chocolate sitting around the office. I feel like a fatass. That's about the only thing penetrating the general sense of numbness.

 

 

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[Kishi]

10 swings for every piece of chocolate!

[mightstone2k]

On 2/21/2017 at 0:11 AM, Kishi said:

10 swings for every piece of chocolate!

Well, that didn't quite happen (read:  at all).  But it could have been worse.

 

So yes, I'm alive.  The trials are over, and I slept for a blessed 10 hours last night (and tonight might be the same).  Here's a recap.

 

Trial 1:  guy emailed out study material compromising the enlisted promotion tests and told the recipients to delete all the messages between them and him

Charges:  violating a lawful general regulation, attempting to do the same, soliciting another to do the same, and obstructing justice

Result:  pleaded guilty to all charges and specification pursuant to a pretrial agreement

My ask:  bad-conduct discharge, reduction to E-1, forfeitures (unspecified amount)

Defense ask:  I forget

Sentence:  1 month confinement (disapproved per PTA), reduction to E-3 (just hit the limit imposed by PTA), $500 forfeiture, and a reprimand.

 

Trial 2:  guy abused a power of attorney to sign a car over to another guy, who shipped it to the US to sell (they would split the profits)

Charge:  larceny of property worth more than $500

Result:  naked guilty plea (no PTA)

My ask:  bad-conduct discharge, 4 months confinement, and reduction to E-1

Defense ask:  20 days confinement

Sentence:  30 days confinement, 3 months hard labor without confinement, 2 months restriction to base, and reduction to E-2

 

The first sentence I'm okay with.  The BCD was off the table anyway because of the PTA.  He agreed to waive his administrative discharge board as long as he got no worse service characterization than General.  I argued BCD so the judge didn't realize it was off the table.  So he's getting fired anyway.  The second one disappointed me.  I gave the sentencing argument on both cases, and I honestly thought the BCD was in play there.  I mean, he stole a car.  But ultimately, I can move on.  The main lesson I learned was how to actually prepare for a trial, which is something I was never taught.  So the practical lessons mean my next trial will hopefully not be quite so all-consuming.

 

Now it's back to normal life (sort of).  Here's what March looks like:

5 March:  Cassie comes into town

12 March:  Cassie leaves

18 March to 2 April:  back to US for two separate courses, one of which sounds really interesting.

 

Training-wise, I probably won't be in the gym while Cassie's here unless she wants to go.  I'm working Monday-Friday 0800-1700, and I'm not going to take more time away from her than that if I can help it.  I don't know what equipment is available at the first base I'm training at, and I know the second one is probably going to be a bodyweight week.  So definitely kettlebells today through 4 March, against 13-17 March, then who knows.  Achieving Simple is going to take longer than I expected if I keep missing kettlebell training.  I'm trying not to stress about it, but it's tough.  It feels like my plans keep getting thrown awry.  But after spending two weeks fully immersed in work and not really having quality time with Cassie, I'm not going to spend extra time at the gym when she's here.

 

Relationship, work, training... those seem to be where all my energy goes.  And one of the three is less enjoyable than the other two.  The courses will at least be time away from work, which I need, but they are both still work-related.  And I'll be living out of a hotel room for two weeks, which drives me up a wall.  I may have to look for nearby gyms that (1) have a 32 kg kettlebell and (2) are walking distance.  I also need to start thinking about my PFT, which is in June.

 

I skipped the gym today.  I decided to have an easy, unstressed morning and go after work.  Well, we have a Distinguished Visitor coming later this month that we are briefing, and each section (Military Justice and General Law) need to provide slides.  By Monday.  The Chief of General Law is entirely focused on motions that he argues the week the DV is here, and the Chief of Legal Assistance is not confident enough to brief his own shadow.  So that means I'm trying to gin up slides covering the entire section.  I was at work until 1830 (after seven 14 hour days... four of which were part of a long weekend), and my eyes had that nagging "we want to close" feeling.  That usually means I half-ass my workout, and I didn't want the frustration or potential injury that comes with that.  So I skipped the gym.  I should have gone in the morning when the thought crossed my mind.  But I didn't.  So once again, work took away from my life.

 

What worries me is that I'm just making excuses or expecting too much personal time.  I actually feel bad about walking out at 1830 and leaving our deputy - who got passed over for promotion, is now extremely unhappy, and likely is separating this summer - still there pulling this slide show together (I did send him some incomplete inputs), and probably coming in on Sunday.  I really want to draw a hard line with work and carve out more personal time.  I skipped the gym a couple days during the two weeks of trial, let Cassie slip to the back burner, and ignored my family entirely.  And, of course, haven't gone anywhere in Japan in months.  Being laser-focused on law school is what broke us up the first time.  I'm hyper aware of that.  The distance and time difference is hard enough.  Add on that I'm unavailable for large swathes of time and exhausted the rest, and I start to worry that I'm doing something wrong.

 

That was a lot of rambling, and my mind is not together enough to say that it was all coherent.  I'm still tired.  I am sad about missing the gym.  I'm only half-excited about the end of month trips.  I'm looking at the next couple weeks and worrying that this DV visit is going to keep work hell (albeit for different reasons).  Basically, my morale is low.  I've missed the gym too much and probably will for more of March than I want, I've neglected my girlfriend, I've not gone anywhere outside of the home-work cycle for months, my family is annoyed that I haven't been in touch much, and work keeps wanting more (and it's unnecessary added work).

 

About the only plus is that my missing Legos came in, so I can work on Serenity this weekend.  Maybe even come close to finishing it.  Not that it makes me feel any better about my life.  It will just clear off my dining room table.  I'm not doing anything that makes me a better person or makes the world a better place.  And I'm exhausted.  So I'm going to sleep.  At least tomorrow morning I can hit the gym and commissary before spending most of the day in front of my computer talking to my girlfriend and trying not to reveal how little I'm actually doing.

[Sloth the Enduring]

That was an interesting read. What is PTA?

 

I don't think anyone would fault you for not training while your girlfriend (wife's?) is there.

 

Enjoy the Legos.

[mightstone2k]

That was an interesting read. What is PTA?

 

I don't think anyone would fault you for not training while your girlfriend (wife's?) is there.

 

Enjoy the Legos.

PTA = pretrial agreement. You're probably used to a completely different meaning for that acronym. Yeah, no one will fault me for not training while she's here. No one but me. And that's really my only critic.

 

Girlfriend. Her mom would have a stroke otherwise [emoji1]

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

 

Any Magic: the Gathering players (casual or competitive) reading this?

 

Today's highlight: signing up for the Spartan Sprint in Tokyo in May. 

 

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[mightstone2k]

Yesterday's "update" post was lame and short.  It wasn't even a quickie (*snicker* @Starpuck *snicker*).  My sense of honor compels me to give you more than that.

 

Saturday (yesterday):  It was a low-key day filled with much nothing.  I started the day with the gym (now swinging 32 kg for 5 sets of 7 reps per arm) and a commissary trip.  I took a legit grocery list with me (BuJo for the win!), with an eye toward cooking one actual recipe.  The other big meal for the week was just going to be another curry template.  But I got lucky, and walked out with the ingredients for buffalo chicken chili and Thai beef stew.  I doubled both recipes.  The beef stew is something I've done before, and it is fantastic.  The chili is new, and it was on point.  That's the last recipe cooking I'll do for the next two weeks.  I'll try to squeeze another one in between Cassie (who has already promised to cook that week) and traveling, but it's unlikely.  That will be a template week.

 

Then I spent several hours on FaceTime, followed by a trip to Moripark Outdoor Village.  It's a collection of outdoor stores in Akishima.  I wanted another pair of travel chopsticks from the Montbell store (because two is one and one is none).  Turns out I discovered a climbing gym.  That might be something to go play on.  And later that evening I went to the Goat with two of my coworkers for post-trial relief (whiskey).

 

Today was also somewhat low-key.  Fill the crockpot, go to mass, go to the gym, get lunch (okonomiyaki), and chill at home.  I assembled more of the Firefly.  It's assembled, except for the drive.  That's a puzzler.  The components slide onto a long, narrow tube, and the directions started you in the middle of the tube and assembling toward the end.  The problem is, it's essentially four components that need to connect, and distance matters.  So I got frustrated as hell yesterday morning with it and set it aside.  I think - on calmer reflection - that I should start at one end and assemble toward the center.  Then I just need to make sure they all fit together, and the distance will work itself out.

 

I also researched a Pennsylvania mortgage issue.  My uncle died several months ago, and he was way behind on his mortgage.  The lender wants to sell it at a sheriff's sale, and my mom is thinking about making an offer before that to renovate and sell the house.  She wanted to know whether the lender or my uncle's widow owned the house (she wasn't on any of the paperwork; my uncle and deceased grandmother were) so she knew who to make an offer to.  So I got to dig into Pennsylvania foreclosure law to find the answer, which was a nice change of pace.  I am a transactional guy at heart.  Researching to find an answer is much more satisfying to me than researching to advocate a position.

 

I also reassessed my finances and decided that I want this loan paid off sooner rather than later.  I have a monthly budget, which includes a set amount for savings.  Any unspent money I have at the end of the month gets thrown into savings as well.  I decided that I will take my unspent money and throw it at my loan instead.  The interest on the loan is higher than the interest earned in the savings account, so it's a smarter decision.  And my Pennsylvania tax refund will go to the loan as well (Federal already came in and got thrown on the loan).  I'm not sure what I'll do once that is paid off.  I like having something to do with my money, and having it be something long-term useful is a huge plus.

 

Finally, I had promised to reward myself after completing these trials with something suitably nerdy.  So I bought a Magic: the Gathering deck.  I was a green mage at heart back when I played regularly.  So I brewed up and bought a devotion/Genesis Wave deck.  That gives me a triad of decks from my olden days, two updated and one that hearkens back to my true nature.  The updated ones are Dark Fires and Madness.  Dark Fires is a G/R/b deck that gets out undercosted creatures with haste to beat face.  Madness is a G/U tempo deck that likes discarding things to either play them at a discount, recast them, or generate advantage from having them in the grave.  The devotion deck ramps up crazy mana and wins either through an army of boosted creatures or a massive Genesis Wave that gets you a beefy, stompy creature to throw in your opponent's face.

 

Yep.  That is how I celebrated my first real trial(s).  My goal for tomorrow is to wake up at 0530, have a cup of coffee, and hit the gym for a kettlebell session before work.  That's one of the benefits of S&S; it's a quicker training session and I can knock it out in the morning without being stressed about time.

[Elastigirl]

On 2/24/2017 at 11:14 AM, mightstone2k said:

. Yeah, no one will fault me for not training while she's here. No one but me. And that's really my only critic.

 

 

 

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I think you need to be a bit easier on yourself. Also if you don't have time for the gym or S & S, maybe just do a quick BW circuit a couple of times during the week?

[mightstone2k]

5 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

I think you need to be a bit easier on yourself. Also if you don't have time for the gym or S & S, maybe just do a quick BW circuit a couple of times during the week?

I do.  I'm thinking about greasing the groove on push-ups for two weeks.  My PFT is creeping up (June, although I'm thinking about doing it in May before the Spartan), so it wouldn't hurt.  And it would be easy to drop and knock out twelve or fifteen over the course of the day.

[starpuck]

Hmm, I could do this greasing of grooves thing.   And I'm debating a shift back to bodyweight stuff.   Perhaps we can be groove buddies.

 

[mightstone2k]

Hmm, I could do this greasing of grooves thing.   And I'm debating a shift back to bodyweight stuff.   Perhaps we can be groove buddies.

 

I spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out what Disney movie that gif comes from. The guy looks vaguely like the dude from Emperor's New Groove, but I don't recognize the stick figure.

 

Don't try to GTG more than one or two things at once! Young M2K tried that once. It was unsuccessful [emoji12] what kind of bodyweight stuff are you considering?

 

 

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[starpuck]

Hehe, yeah no, not too much grease.

I like pull ups.  I want them back.

Push ups can be done anywhere.  That's nice.

I really need to get my core strength sorted out.

That's all I know.

[mightstone2k]

Hehe, yeah no, not too much grease.

I like pull ups.  I want them back.

Push ups can be done anywhere.  That's nice.

I really need to get my core strength sorted out.

That's all I know.

Naked Warrior has a really nice strength training template. Train for one-arm/one-leg push-ups and pistols. Add in pull-ups and you've got a minimalist, fully stocked bodyweight program. OA/OL push-up progressions will hit your core pretty hard. All you'll need is a pull-up bar! #StrongFirstJunkie

 

 

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