Can I Please be a Quitter

It HURTS!!!
    My stomach hurts from the sit ups..My shoulders, arms, and back...Do you remember Dr. Smith from Lost in Space? The Pain! The Pain!
    Suck it up boy..What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger, and that is the point of all this after-all. Okay I have talked me into it. Back to the gym I go for round one of the day. The good point is, it can only get better. Right? I sure hope so. I love seeing the numbers on the scale slowly dropping toward my goal of 205.
    Today is Stretching day, like yoga but not so sexy when performed by a fat boy, but I am not here for the purpose of impressing anyone with my beauty :). My goal is to get back into the shape I was in at 35. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...Faster than a speeding bullet...More powerful than a locomotive..Get the picture?  Big "S" ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ.
    Well enough of this, I am sitting here procrastinating, delaying the inevitable, I am off to the torture chamber. Time to induce more pain on my body.  See you there ;).

Korean Studies

내 한국 연구에 유용하다.
조금 더 배운 매일.
읽기와 쓰기를하는 것은 좋습니다.
또 한국 음식을 공부하고 있습니다.
한국 스프 제가 제일 좋아하는 것입니다.
내가 나중에 표시됩니다.

Smiley Face For Me :)

    I get a smiley face...another pound gone.  The workout routine and restrictive diet is working well. My stamina is increasing. I don't stay hungry all day as my body adjusts to the routine. Packing in the protein (chicken), and plenty of fiber (vegetables and fruit). Trying to stay with the high performance foods. I eat a lot of food. :)  I keep it low fat, no dressing on the salads, just a little pepper or fresh salsa. The same for the protein, no sauces, just various spices. It works for me. Still a little painful getting my butt out of bed and being in the gym 30 minutes later. Again in the afternoon, like 2 or 3 O'clock, that's a fast one lots of cardio, no breaks for 30 - 45 minutes. In the evening, I shoot for weights, using circuit training both to lose weight and build mass in the shoulders, back, and chest. I have to confess...I hate sit ups. Sit ups and push ups are killers for me. the rowing machine helps get the sit ups started by leaning back on each rep and then needing to do the sit up to prepare for the next rep. Push ups..you just have to do them. The run happens after the morning workout. I still need to work in this area, slowly building back up to the wall, for me that was usually around 4 miles. I'm not worried about breaking the wall just yet, not until I lose a few more pounds, like a save the knees deal.
    I am interested to see what my blood work will look like when I get back in shape, lipids, cholesterol etc. Hopefully they will all be lower and back inside normal parameters.
    Enough about my self inflicted pain program. I'll update again soon.

Origin of Words

    Have you ever wondered how certain words were coined, how they came to be? maybe, what were the circumstances surrounding their first use? I never did either, until today.
     I was just sort of browsing around the internet, one of them days. I came across several articles defining the way of life as it pertained to the Native American for centuries. As I understand it, they lived a simple semi-nomadic life in harmony with nature and for the most part, each other.
     The women were industrious hard working souls, laboring from sun up till past sun set. They raised the children, skinned elk, bison, and bear. Cooked over open fires and clay ovens. Gathered nuts, berries and roots for their diet and as a supplement for their often meager winter rations. When the tribe would move for various reasons, the women would disassemble the home, and reassemble it at a new location. From the bounty of nature they would make clothes, utensils, tools, and a sundry of other things to make the family comfortable.
    The men, on the other hand, would often lay around camp for days on end just shooting the breeze with other men. They would hunt and fish all day, delivering the catch to the women for processing. Often they would hold wild parties where they would dance throughout the night, stuffing themselves of food prepared by their womenfolk. many times, fearing their woman worked too hard, they would venture out to distant lands to find another young woman. He would bring her home then where she could help with all the chores around the home place. the men were very considerate of their women in this way.
    So anyway, back to the subject. One day there ventured into camp the white man. He looked upon the noble Indians, saw their way of life and were not amused. After much deliberation and dance around the communal fire, smoking the pipe etc. The leader of the white men stood and declared, "We shall make your life better". This brought amusement to the Braves, they looked at each other and then at the white men and with a simple gesture and a single word, changed history.
    The chief of the tribe stood, as the white man began to speak, the chief held out is hand in a stopping motion and asked him. How?
    The moral of the story is that when two men in suits knock on your door and say, "We are from the tribe of government, and we are here to help". Run Dude Run..

In The Gym

Just a quick update to remind myself that I can do this, I have been in the gym 3 times a day, 15 Km on the rowing machine today, 5 Miles walking, Push ups, sit ups, and weights.. Yup its fun.

Getting Skinny is Killing Me

    Loving this losing weight stuff however, I forgot how painful the process can be when you begin.
I'm not posting any stats or progress reports other than to say, my goal is to get my weight to an even 200 or 205. Sounds a little big still considering my height 6'0" but, that is a very comfortable weight for me. If I go under that then hey; Smiley face for me ;)  I have already been dropping weight fairly quickly, I am seeing a reduction in the spare tire, as well as the man (o)(o)'s. I'm not following any pre-defined  diet/exercise program, just what I feel like doing for the day.
    Basically it goes like this:
0 sugar, 0 trans fats, maybe 8-10oz of meat per day, I get my protein from other sources, I cook most of my own food, lots and lots of veggies and fruits, 1 cup of good strong coffee in the morning, rest of the day, it's decaf, tea, water, or tomato juice.  Of course you need some starches, so I have a little rice each day. And to keep the metabolism burning from the diet perspective, I eat a ton of hot pepper and hot sauces, I love those anyway.
    Exercise is the killer. A straight out low calorie/low fat diet doesn't make you skinny, it just make you weak and hungry. So I do some hard exercising, (relative to my present physical condition), on average I walk 3-5 miles per day, broken into 3 sessions, I run at least 2 miles per day in the mornings, I hit the gym 3 times a day, and go for the burn in a different area each time.
     Today it was:

• 0530, stretching, 3 mile run.
• 0630, squats with 100lb bar weight.
• 0700, walk 1.5 miles for breakfast
• 1000, basic bicep, triceps, and lats with dumb bells
• 1230, walk 1.5 miles for lunch.
• 1500, Row 3 Km on a rowing machine, max setting in 15 minutes.
•           and more squats.
• 1730, walk 1.5 miles for dinner.

Later this evening I will  hit the gym one more time, for calisthenics. As a note, it is 3/4 mile from my room to the dining facility, I schedule these times into my work schedule, And yes, I spend a lot of time taking showers. Cause losing weight is hot sweaty work.

OK, Time to clean my room, again. Later..

Hydroponic System Breakthrough

    Wow! Where does the time go? I can account for the hours, it's the days I lose track of. Have you ever noticed that when you are with a special person or working on an interesting problem, the hours rush by so fast, and when they're gone, time begins to crawl again. Have no doubt,someone in the field of quantum physics that studies the time continuum is searching for an answer to this mystery. Me? I just go with it. Enough of that. On to the good stuff!
    For those of you that read minds, you already know that I have been working on a special project concerning hydroponics. Well, I have finally overcome the final hurdle in the mechanics and I do believe I have it. For years I have been working on a small scale system, capable of producing approximately .5 - 1 Metric Tons of fruits and vegetables per year. I have been having problems with certain switching devices and torque conversion in the pumping mechanism.
    I was trying too hard. I went back to the basics and there I found my answer. Multiple low volume pumps! Who knew? I have run the math on both the hydraulic and mechanical aspects of the system, The flow through and drip systems are known factors and easily adapted to a multi-stage system such as the one I designed. Instead of designing special drives and pumps, I was able to adapt parts from common household appliances and vehicles to accomplish my goals. I only needed to fabricate one part for use in a tower system and that can be done for just a few dollars, and I may yet find that part on the market somewhere.
    So without spilling the hydroponic beans, here is an overview of the system. Using an elevated tower to support a wind turbine that will turn gears which in turn transmit torque to low voltage/amperage motors to charge back up electrical storage batteries; and also provide a direct drive system for multiple water pumps, I will be able to assemble a nearly fully automatic closed recirculating system. Extremely low maintenance the only training the average person would need, they can get it from the internet or their local farm agent, would be a basic understanding of hydroponic formula application.
    I am currently in one of the best places to test my theory, the arid deserts of Iraq, therefore I shall begin construction of a 1/4 scale functional model within the next month and test it this winter. Enter my problem, getting either premixed hydroponic solution or the basic ingredients to mix my own. I will figure that out.
    So what's in it for me? Did I mention that I'm American (translate-capitalist)? But seriously, there is more to life than money , right? So aside from being able to profit financially by selling/installing systems, selling plans and such (Giving seminars?). Here are some of the more humanitarian aspects that drove me to undertake this project. To really understand this you need to investigate the benefits of  using hydroponics to grow food.

1. The system could be constructed by humanitarian organizations in famish stricken parts of the world, to help communities feed themselves.
2. Families around the world could build this system with scrapped materials and realize a major offset in their annual food budget. (You can't grow junk food with it.)
3. Several of these systems, co-located, would support a small area with a fruit and vegetable market business, either family run, or co-oped by various groups as a supplemental income source. 
4. Maybe an honorary degree in Horticulture, Agriculture, Mechanical Engineering? Sandhills Community College of Pinehurst, NC? Hello?
5. Maybe a little recognition from the Nobel committee? (OK, I'm reaching a little on that one.)
6. Seriously, if I place a dollar value on the plans, and then donate them as charitable contributions on a per use basis, I should be able to offset any new taxes (translate-fines) my beloved government may levy against me for having the audacity to attempt making a profit while not being an elected government official. :)
7. Sorry, had to stick that in there.

Enough for today, I have an appointment this evening and need to prepare. It is a test of my verbal communication skills, verification of my ability to extract various radical emotions through the use of voice, inflection, bad grammar etc. If I keep this up I may become bilingual......Later folks.     

What a week this has been

    Wow...One crisis after another..Nothing big and scary...Just entirely too much little stuff.
Internet crashing a couple of times a day, they finally replaced the old cheapo they had with a decent Cisco, still not state of the art but it is Cisco and that is as good as it gets. Hopefully there won't be any more issues with connectivity.
    On Tuesday one of the guys was feeling real helpful so he took the trucks over and topped them all off with gas. That was nice of him. but....the two that burn diesel weren't feeling so hot after that. I spent two days dropping fuel systems and purging them out. New filters and separators, cleaned the injectors a little and they were running like new. It was one of those accidental things,  The kid stayed with me the entire time, working right there to get the problem fixed.  Then he stenciled "DIESEL" over the fuel doors of every diesel vehicle we have..Good Kid
    On the lighter side, I am losing weight, that is always a good thing. We are under some type of elevated security status until 2300 this evening. So for the last four days if you went off of our little piece of heaven, between 1800 and 2300, you had to wear protective jackets (mine is 37lbs) and wear your helmet, pack heat etc.. I haven't been doing dinner, I hate getting all dressed up for army food.
    I have been doing a lot of writing in my spare time, not here of course, but I have completed rough drafts of several short stories, finished a couple, and have the outlines for several more. Really enjoying that, researching, putting the ideas into word form and playing with the grammar trying to make if palatable for the intended audience.
    Writing lets me escape into my head a few hours every day. That is a very confusing place to be, unless you are familiar with the filing system and please don't open the wrong closets.
    So for now, that is all that is on my mind, be back soon with more dribble.