Month: August 2024

Just a standard run of the mill tuesday morning in mid August. The weather is looking a little nicer today after three or four cool rain days, with higher than normal winds. Not that I kept the mosquitoes away any, the higher winds that is. Those pesky buggers are still very much present, and a nuisance. Itchy bumps are plaguing us daily, thanks to our blood thirsty mini friends in the sky. I think we need to invest in a super high powered propane fueled mosquito trap that could cover a full 1km radius. If it could also kill black flies, horse flies, and deer flies, Wasps, Hornets, and anything else undesirable, I’d be thrilled.

So yeah – Tuesday. Still very early in the week, but not a Monday. Not many more of these to go before school starts back up. I didn’t count down the weeks this year, like I was doing last year. The deaths and subsequent funerals of last summer put me in a different frame of mind this year. I mean, I still need to know what day it is, and how many weeks have gone by, but I’m not joyfully playing with the kids going back to school. I will miss having them around. I will miss having lunch with my wife. I will miss having someone to talk to throughout the say. It will take some getting used to it being just me and the new dog at home, all day, every weekday. It is going to be an adjustment for all of us, dog included.

I have a long list of projects I’d love to tackle come September. Dog training, table refinishing, fair sculpture project, finish priming & painting my resin model kit, completing my Ninja Turtle bust, finishing all of my children’s book illustrations and posting it here, along side my two other free books. Power washing the windows, and back deck. Purging all closets, and tidying up every single bedroom, my wife’s included. Purging ratty old shoes/boots that don’t fit anymore. Donating clothes we don’t need. Sorting coats (soring/summer/fall/winter/rain/sport) etc… you name it. Thin those down so that we have room in our hall closet for quests. Should we ever entertain any. Throwing away old broken toys, and McDonald’s junk items. I’m sure come fall we will see more new hand me downs from neighbours, so I best get on it sooner, rather than later. I’m not manic about the purging. I know that I could go far harder in the paint than I do, but I know deep down that I’m not a minimalist, even if that would drastically declutter our home, and make it feel larger than it is. I’m far too fond of making custom furniture to eliminate THAT much stuff. Can’t declutter everyone else but leave all my shit lying around. I’m far harsher about my own spaces, than I ever would be about my kids stuff. I may just tackle my book shelves again to reduce my footprint there. If I wouldn’t reread the books I keep just for the joy of it, I probably shouldn’t keep them. Or, he says, OR I need to pack them on the shelves three deep, two high and just condense it all down to open up shelf space for all the new rocks, gems, and pottery bits my kids accumulated this summer.

I did an early purge this summer by bringing a whole bunch of our clothes up to the cottage to leave here. That way we could go up without having to pack too heavy. Space is limited as it is, but now with the dog we really have to be strategic about what gets packed up for those trips. He’ll have his own bag of food, treats, chew toys, combs, brushes, and nail clippers. Which makes it very apparent that I need to buy a laptop because my massive desk top box takes up too much space in the car. Plus my desktop computer is 10 years old, and Adobe & Microsoft products have accelerated beyond what I can update my computer operating system to. Not that I want to throw down nearly $3K for a newer machine, but that forward march of all the apps I subscribe to for work doesn’t show any signs of stopping, or slowing down. I’ll have to budget for it instead of the bandsaw or any new major tools for the wood shop. Unless I can pick up a new client, or draw out a higher marketing spend from my current roster. I will have to raise my prices in the new year, so that might cause a stir among some of the smaller clients I have. Times are tough out there.

Ciao Bella.

Not since playing B Team rugby in university have my hips been so sore at night while trying to sleep. But back then, it was from being dump tackled to the rock hard compacted soil of our raggedy fields, and not just from pushing the pedals on an elliptical. The decades, they do change us boy!

Now that wasn’t my first run this year even, but it was the longest. I chased my oldest around a track 2 or three times in May, and a few more times after that, but that would have lasted 10-12 minutes tops. I think the issue stems from the 98 minutes of run time yesterday. I stretched a bit afterward, but I failed to stretch before. I trained just about to limb failure, which I probably should not do. Live and learn.

Problem was, after the first 33 minute weight loss run, I felt incredible, so I did an extra interval run for 65 minutes, and as soon as it was half way through I knew, just knew that I should call it quits, but I was breathing ok, and my feet didn’t hurt (even though I was barefoot), and I was sweating, but didn’t realize I had sweat through my hat, t-shirt & shorts causing a puddle to form under me on the floor. Eew!  That was all news to me once I stepped off.

I rarely EVER feel good during a run, so I thought I should keep going. Next time I’ll quit while I’m ahead!  That was a good portion of my Sunday mid morning, the running that is. Not much else went on after that. Back to Monday now. Have a solid week. Ciao Bella!

First run results, after a 28 minute run, with 5 min cool down period which was still on the clock.

And about 30 sec after 8 finished that, I did an interval training session for 60 minutes, with a 5 min cool down period, for a total of 98 combined minutes of running today. My hips are a bit sore. No doubt.

So 943 calories, 98 minutes, and just over 13,000 steps. I was sweating profusely after that long of a session. It dripped off my elbows to pool on the floor under the elliptical. I really need to go mop that up. Running in bare feet in the elliptical is kinds fun. A bit slick after you get into it and start to slide on the foot plates. I had music to listen to this time which made for a more fun experience. I wish I had my JBL Boombox 2.0 to blast tunes directly into my bones, but alas I do not. Although I will say this, being able to sing along with my eyes shit is a benefit I don’t get when running on a track. Can’t go eyes closed when running properly. Not unless you want to run into somebody, or something, such as trees, garbage cans, and fencing!

School will start soon so maybe the public track will have fewer people at in during the day. If I could be assured that the dog would actually run, I’d bring the fuzz ball with me. But he’s not keen on walks, so I don’t know if he’d care for runs. I’ll give it a try, and can make a determination from there on how to proceed.

Can’t go barefoot when I run on the track. I’d have a hell of a time not pulling toe nails off if I tried that.the elliptical has a strange gait, but also less stress on my ankles (which I appreciate). So it’s a bit of give & take. I’m well shy of the 3,500 calories needed to drop a full lb of body fat. Maybe a gym with freevweights would help me get closer to a caloric deficit, if I also keep up some jogging/running. We’ll just have to wait & see.

Had to dip out for a dog food run early today. Luckily I found a reasonably priced bag that should last the week before I take him to the vet on Friday. I can grab his real food then. For now, we’ll just have to make due with what I could find. Slim pickings round these parts, especially on a Sunday morning.

Tried to look at the meteor shower last night, and I fell asleep wrapped in a thick fleece blanket. Besides the mosquitoes buzzing my face it was rather peaceful. I rarely ever see anything anyway. So no harm done here.

33 minutes on the elliptical.  4524 strides, 211 calories, on intervals of ; incline 4, resistance 1, to incline 10, resistance 8. I was sweating profusely afterward. First time I’ve completed 100% of a listed program. I’ve done 3 mins, 5 mins, 8 mins, 18 mins, and now a full 28 plus 5 minute cool down. Not much, but it’s a start.

And you can check the description for a bunch of vague swats at a pat answer, if the post contains anything at all besides a call to try my system, course, book or retreat where answers are promised there instead. What a crock. I love the stitches where people debunk in seconds what appears in longer video posts. A real time saver, life hack for sure. They suffered momentarily so that the rest of us don’t have to. Wicked.

Click-bait really has gone too far. Who got destroyed in a rebuttal. No one. Not really – ever. This isn’t the wildest thing you’ve seen. Those aren’t banned videos of car accidents. It’s all a lot of noise. Junk information to soak up your attention 10 sec at a time. Distraction. Nonsense. Empty fun at your finger tips. Easy enough to swallow up a few hours of your day. Whose getting paid for all this? By the sounds of it only the top 1% of content creators like Mr Beast, or Joe Rogan.

Saturday morning is here again. The dog threw up on my bed spread. What fun! Nice way to wake up before the sun rise to a retching puppy. Looks as though he got into some play dough, or perhaps kinetic sand, or mushy felt. Either way it was a chemically vibrant unified orange colour. Unnatural to say the least. More laundry! Glorious day. Love it.

Have to take the puppy to the vet on friday for a booster shot, and the next heart worm pill based on his weight when weighed in the office. Shouldn’t be an expensive visit this time around. But you never know. Gladly his neutering bill is paid for already through the adoption people, so the new vets can’t upsell us on their procedure instead. Phew! I love my pets but I don’t love the vet bills. Part & parcel of the whole experience though.

Bait & switch is step #3, check out my bio for more. Ciao Bella!

LinkedIn and Jetpack/Wordpress are up to their shenanigans once again. It seems like every eight weeks or so the connection breaks down. I’m not a prolific writer with tens of thousands of daily views, so it takes a few zero traction days for me to clue in that the links are down – again. Oh well. I think WordPress owes me .15$ for the last three years worth of ads served, which means essentially zero dollars earned. Not exactly a rich vein of a revenue stream. My writing isn’t an earner for the family, is what I’m saying.

Although I have had a few novel pdf downloads in the last month. That puts a smile on my face!

I’d love to say that I’ve lost 15lbs since Christmas, but I waiver between 198 & 200lbs on the daily, and I can not seem to get under 198lbs for any length of time. Smaller portions, and reduced snacking, and an increase in movement (walking the dog) have helped out. But sheesh. Plateaus suck. I didn’t want to have to spend money, but I might actually need to get to a gym for free weights, and increased periods of movement.

I have not swam as much as I was doing in May/June/July, and haven’t used my bike, nor long board at all in recent weeks. I had high hopes for getting some use out of that stuff this year. Being trapped elsewhere without my stuff makes it hard to accomplish. On the other hand I have paddle boarded and wrangled massive tubes behind the boat nearly every day, so… I’m not entirely motionless. Bugs here are still bad so not walking the first trails at all either, which is a shame. I look forward to that in October/November when all the mosquitoes and black flies, deer flies, and horse flies are dead.

I should probably get a count on what calories I consume in a day. That might tell me something useful. I was doing time on the elliptical here. I did 3 mins, 5 mins, 10 mins, and then 21 mins respectively. I used the tower once, and have been squatting with the weighted bars, but nothing like a routine has emerged. The elliptical feels more like an odd stepper, than a running gait. Makes my hips tight. The travel on the paddles isn’t long enough, like running with shoe laces lightly tied together. Must take some getting used to. I prefer running on the track by our house with my kids. But that’s outdoors in the heat and full sun of the day. Sweat city! Drenched and smelly.

So I need a better plan. Yes smaller portions are good. More vegetables is a smart choice. More water, less soda & juice as fluid intake will help. But I need to create a much larger deficit between what I take in, and how much energy I put out over the course of a day. Would a step counter activate me to walk, do more? Maybe, but again i don’t want to go spend any extra money. Feeling cheap. And I’ll tell you why.

A client emailed me privately to say they had been laid off, so now I don’t know if I have lost that client as a whole, or if it’s just that both of my regular contacts are gone, or have moved on. That stresses me out a bit. They were pulling back on work over the last eight months, but design ebbs and flows, so not everyone is in a heavy growth pattern all year, every year. That dip felt normal to me. Guess not.

That could potentially be client number two who dropped me this year. Well, the first was taken over and bought out, bringing all design in-house, little I could do there after I sold all my working files to them. Fine. But this one hits different, as they were my third largest client. I haven’t heard anything official yet, but no news, and no further projects might spell that out plain as day. You know? Right. I could be worried about nothing. I’ll have to wait and see.

In September I’ll reach out to other clients and see if they need any help. Get the ball rolling out & about once more that I have bandwidth for more/new work. Sounds like a plan to me. Sold!

Thursday with rain on the forecast, and a couple of thunderstorms tucked up under, ready for deployment at a moments notice. Still sat watching the Olympics, this time it’s men’s diving from the springboard. Watching people spin like tops and then miraculously not make much of a splash at all. Crazy-town. Can’t be too many more days left of this years competition. I don’t typically bother with the opening nor closing ceremonies. If I were involved I most likely would, but otherwise it’s a pass for me dawg. Bzzt. No golden buzzer here bro.

Best eat breakfast and get back to work.

Where did the time go? A family visit took up a real big portion of yesterday which caused a bunch of back ups here. Cleaning had to be redone as some folks just didn’t leave – at all. So yesterday’s time spent cleaning was a total waste. Now I’m back in the thick of it, work wise, and I have to clean everything top to bottom once again. bathroom’s, floors, table tops, chairs, you name it.

I’m doing yet another load of laundry inbetween saves on my display packaging file that I am working on. Getting bigger each go round, with more and more elements added in. Yikes!

I still need to have breakfast, and get a few more items done before other family come for a visit. Was to be no overlap, but the lingerers just had to stay! I’m sure I’ll have to hear about it.