Pain and suffering - another workout done

Today wasn't so brutal as I was just bad at it.  The warmup was relatively easy but the 5 rounds of 400 m runs and 15 front squats with 115 pounds was rough.  I was bit ashamed to finish in around 25 minutes, but oh well - another day.  Some days you suck more than others.  I put up decent numbers yesterday.  Strangely enough I seem to do better on the days I only get 4-5 hours of sleep.  Not entirely sure what that means.

Checked on my flight for Japan and looks like I got window seats the whole way which is good.  If I had to fly for that long in between two people I might have snapped.  Speaking of which I had my cash count paper disappear on me but I believe I was right about 4900, and thats now to 4665 now.  Still a lot of bills to pay though and a lot more debt to make payments on.  Just about 5 weeks left till I go.

Progress

Yesterday's conditioning workout was the baseline workout that you do when you first join - 10 pull-ups, 20 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, and 40 squats and a 500m row for time.  I think I did around 8 minutes when I first joined.  It's been about 2 months so I was relatively happy when I got that done in 4:27 yesterday.  Added 10lbs (145) to my ten rep max for box squats too since last week.

Freaking beat today, muscles and brain are worn out.  Doesn't help it hot as hell out.


Another $6149 to make before my trip to Japan on August 29th.  Clock is ticking...

WOD and my must go place for Tokyo

Figured I could start posting the crossfit workouts I been doing over at Emerfit if for any reason to keep me blogging.  Yesterday involved some kind of warm up that I've already forget and then max rounds for 20 minutes of:
- 10 Renegade rows (should have been with 35lbs. dumbbells but I couldn't find any so I had to scale down to 30's)
- 20 Weighted sit ups
- 800m run

I squeezed out 3 rounds but only by sprinting the last 100m of my last 800m run to finish round 3 with 2 seconds left.  Had been pretty worried I was going to be the guy who only finished with 2 rounds and didn't think I was going to finish that 3rd round but I managed to squeeze it in.

In related news, a few customers I haven't seen in awhile have come in and said I look like I lost weight and my face is thinner.  What the hell - people trying to say I had a fat face?  I didn't think I had weight to lose. Maybe I am thinner, I haven't had a night of eating a sleeve of oreos in forever.  It sounds like a great idea though, I'm not above cheating my diet.

A friend sent me this bloggers story about Muscle Park in Tokyo.  It's got a few ninja warrior challenges, other strange and very Japanese games, along with some apparently terrible hamburgers.  I'm there!

Been playing powerball again and sad to say I didn't win again last night.  Looking forward to winning on Friday so as to avoid working this weekend/rest of life.  

Finally, I found this poster for the July 2nd Freedom Fest we had at Hodi's

It's kind of badass

Mission Japan!

I've always wanted to go to Japan and made a few half ass attempts at going for the last few years but now it's really happening.  I got a ticket for August 29th to September 15.  I'm flying into Okinawa where I'll meet Sensei Banks whom I'll hang with for most of the trip before I head to Tokyo for a few days to meet a friend and get lost for a few days in the city.  Getting lost is really the plan, I want to wander and just experience what I can without having to worry about the bar and work - all that other shit. 

I can't put into words how great it feels to finally know I'm going for real, it's a dream come true.  Honestly can say I probably wouldn't have been able to swing the trip if I wasn't going to my crossfit classes.  I get a huge boost of energy after a workouts that allows me to work as much as I have been the last few weeks and I need to work as much as possible if I'm going to be able to afford the trip.

So work, work, work till I leave.  It's not enough to make enough money that I can enjoy my trip, I owe plenty of people money and its time I get everybody paid.  Living in debt sucks and it's bout time I not only dig myself out of the hole, but get a head.  Eating right and exercising has given me the energy and motivation now to get shit done.


Still a long way to go but I'm excited that I'm heading in the right direction.  My goal is to make 8k before I leave to pay bills, debt and have enough money to enjoy my trip.  It's not enough to take care of all my debt but it's a pretty good start.  After a week and half I've got another $6789 to go.  It's a good start but there just isn't much room for error or screwing around.

Every time a customer puts a dollar/quarter tip down on the bar,  every time I pick up a dime or penny off the street I think to myself "I'm a (however much it happens to be) closer to Japan." 

Goals are fun.  

Oh dear god...

Roommate decided to cancel our internt and TV which we had talked about but didn't tell me the day it was happening and didn't give me a chance to get everything transferred in my name.  So now I been dealing with trying to get internet for the house and it's been way too complicated.

I read a book on a business a little while ago and the author had mentioned if a business really valued you as a customer they wouldn't put you on hold forever.  Dealing with Qwest now and I've never been more tempted to murder someone.  Not sure what idiot thought that it was a good idea to have Qwest advertisements for their on hold music but hearing the same ad for a their high speed Internet service that they don't even offer in Fort Collins is kind of making me have violent thoughts.  I called earlier and got through to someone who couldn't input my request directly so they had to put me on hold with someone else, who then sent me to someone else.  It took forever, I had to give the same information 3 times only to find out that I couldn't get someone over to the house to check the phone line and bring a modem over till next Friday.  I asked to be transferred to the cancellation department where I was put on hold till I was disconnected.  Not from Qwest, my call just disconnected.  Half hour later and now I'm on hold again with someone else.

This really is why I should be in charge of everything...15 minutes of the same damn voice repeating the same damn commercials is such bullshit. 

Not like I planned on doing any real work today...

Pot calling the kettle Lebron James - is this title rascist?

Found a good article on yahoo sports about a Cub's minor league team that is promote tonight's game by poking fun at Lebron James.  In addition to giving away non - existant replica Lebron Champion rings the team is trying to skip the fourth inning of the game to honor James who they say " who took off the fourth quarter of every finals game"  For the full story check it out here

Skipped crossfit today to heal up, yesterday was my 3rd day straight going to class and I definitely felt it, especially in the beginning.

Anthony Weiner may have resigned today but myself, like the amorous Ashida Kim - I remain

Got to go back and beat both Mass Effect games again to be ready for the 3rd.  Decisions made in every game change the outcome of the story and with each game taking easily 30 hours plus to beat, theres a lot of desicison to make.  The first trailer below is for the 2nd game which possibly was the best game I ever played or at least in the top 5.  The 3rd(and final) game is looking even better




ME3

It's getting real in the whole food parking lot

Saw this on facebook.  Enjoy

1 step forward, two steps back - The Dance of D

Today's workout over at Emerfit was pretty good.    The warm up was 4 rounds (or 5 - I forgot already) of 5 pushups, ten squats while holding a kettlebell (goblet squats), ten of whatever they call holding a pvc pipe and rotating it around your body, ten back extensions, and 5 crunches.  The actual workout was 5 rounds of 400m run, ten pullups and ten backsquats(w/ 125lbs. for me).  As always it was pretty terrible.  I did do better on my pullups, sure they were swinging pushups but I did the first 2 sets straight and the last 3 I think I got like 5 out every time before I had to drop down and rest before finishing.  All was well, I finished felt good got in my car and was ready to take on the rest of my day.

So I pulled out on to Harmony road, hooked a left at the night on to Timberline and got in the left lane to avoid the slower traffic because of people turning in the right lane.  Right after I switched lanes everyone in front of me slammed on their breaks, so I did the same.  I was able to stop but I had some help from the bumper of the car in front of me.  Who then bounced off the minivan in front of him, who then hit the red smaller car in front of them.  My first accident, and it was my fault.  The red car took off right away and fled the scene.  I got out of the car right away and checked on everybody in front of me, who were thankfully were fine so I suggested we pull on to a side street, which we did.  I called the cops and took a look at the damage.  The Nissan Extera I hit was fine, a few scratches.  My Jeep was fine too.  There's a tiny little impression of the Nissan's trailer hitch in my bumber and a small dent but thats it, if anything it looks more jeep-y.  The mini van didn't look quiet as good, the bumper and rear door were both beat to hell and the front bumper took a hit too.  God Damnit....

Turns out I hit the nicest, most forgiving people in the world.  All parties agreed that sometimes it just happens.  Despite everything being my fault, everyone was really friendly and just happy no one got hurt.  Which really just made everything worse, when the woman driving the mini van hugged me and told me it was all ok before she drove off I felt about as bad as could be.

So I got what looks like $165 in fines and 4 points off my license in addition to my first court date ever.  Very glad everyone was OK, my car is fine (good call mom and dad, that thing is a tank), but still pretty pissed at myself.  Sure whatever asshole that decided to stop quickly helped, and we were all driving too close to each other but really it's all my fault.

The bar is doing better, I have a way out of the business, and a new one lined up to hop on board.  But it's all so far out, and stuff like today seems to bring up a feeling I get a lot - I'm a huge fuck up.  I stay up many nights racking my brain for ideas or inspiration, trying to jump start everything and get my head on straight and it frustrates the hell out of me.  Nights like tonight I just want to give up, call it quits.  I sat on my bed a few minutes ago and looked at Conan who sat there smiling with his tongue hanging out (I think all this talk about rear ending excited him - I accept my dog and his "alternative" lifestyle).  I just wanted to give up, let my failure completely consume me.  It felt like standing on the bottom of a pool looking up.  And then it felt like something else, something that happened today, 4 rounds into our exercises in class.  I had just finished my 4th round of running and came back to the pull up bar and it's a pretty damn high bar.  I looked up at it, exhausted and breathing hard.  I wanted to quit, but I just couldn't.  As terrible as finishing sounded, not finishing wasn't an option.  There was only one option - jump up and grab on.  Finish.

I know how to fail, I know how to slack, fuck up, and half ass.  But I don't know how to give up and quit.  Quite Frankly, it's pretty fucking frustrating.   It'd be nice to be OK with just getting by, just surviving, just breathing and happy with what I have.  Just can't do it though.  Can't stand at the foot of the mountain and say "nice view."  I can't find peace till I reach the top.  Only through success can I find serenity. 

There are times when the bar gets slammed and I'm behind with no way to catch up.  No one to help, nothing to be done but bury your head and move as fast as you can.  Only one thing to do, put your head down and pour drinks.  Battle through.  Nothing else you can do, can't just walk away from the bar, can't slow down, can't give up.  Head down and move - just don't stop.  And then the night is over and your tip jar is full of money.  Some customers are pissed they had to wait but most recognize you did your best.  Easy to deal with for a night.  Hard to for a few years.  But what else can you do?  Failure is only an option when you allow it to be.

Amateur Porn and Ninjas

Looking at back at when I started my blog it's pretty disappointing - man did I waste a lot of time between least year and this year.  The retirement counter is definitely moving faster than me. 

Read a good quote that said something to the effect - "Busy people get things done."  So if I'm not getting enough, I must not be busy enough.  It's a depressing thought because I thoroughly enjoy doing nothing.

Put this together today.  As added incentive to not touch the ground, I haven't cleaned up dog poop in forever and falling could literally mean eating shit.

 
I'm slowly constructing a tiny Ninja Warrior course.  Look for future blogs titled "broken ankle", "Eating all food in liquid form through straw" and "typing with my tongue" to follow.

Finally for those of you with time to blow, a Netflix subscription, and low expectations, try watching The Amateurs, a weird Jeff Bridges movie about a few losers trying to make a porno.  It's actually kind of funny, a movie that you would say "It wasn't that good, but I enjoyed it." 

i c weiner - the new store

To commerate Weinergate, I've redone the store through cafepress.com, you can see my Weiner shirt here.  More shirts and such to come.  I hate going through cafepress because the products are a bit pricey, but on the plus side you don't have to pay anything at all, so I can design a bunch of shirts, hats, whatever and throw it up on the store and if it sells I make a little cash.  If not, I don't have a 100 shirts with Weiner's face on it.

All kinds of things that have happened since I last blogged in February - I got a plan to get out of the bar business, the bar had it best month ever (April), I booked a rock show with a bikini contest,  and spent some time in Portland for a martial arts demonstration (As pictured below).

Oh wait, that's from the store two minutes away from our where we stayed in Portland.  But I think that particular picture sums up are trip pretty well.  (Keith I remembered this is the picture I tried to text to you, see what you missed!)

I started doing cross fit and it's terrible but kind of awesome too.  I feel great for hours after a workout and I'm already getting in shape pretty quickly.  Plus you can work out in funny shoes.

 I use to think these things were pretty freakin' stupid.  But for the kind of lifting we've been doing they're actually pretty good.  I definitely feel a difference in my workout in terms of what hurts in my legs at the end and I also feel like I can move better.  They're pretty comfortable too, wearing toed shoes is like walking barefoot but not having to worry about setting in dog poop. 

So to summarize, the bar kicked ass so I'm trying to take off, somewhere out there some guy is making bank as a dew rag model, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to look like this in like a week

Well maybe a bit bigger.  Go to the store.  Happy Fathers Day Dad
 

And the award for dumbest question I've been asked over the phone goes to...

I been in the office a lot daily and I've tried to answer the phone more.  I think it's a good thing to assist customers and bands it's just the phone is not always the best way to do things.  Most of the time just a minute or two research online would save both parties a lot of time.  Thinking a little also helps.

Someone who called about 5 minutes ago provided the perfect example.  The call went something like this:

Me: "Hodi's can I help you"
Stupid Person: "uhh I understand you have an event with some bands tonight?"
Me: "Yes we do"
Stupid Person: "Can I like just come in without buying a ticket?"
Me: (Dreams of saying - "Can you come into the show for free we're charging a cover for?  No please go find a solid wall and bounce your head off it till you figure out why that was a stupid question").  I actually said "No, just like a movie theater, if you want to go in and see a movie you have to buy a ticket."
Customer: "Oh...thanks"

I pondered explaining why that was a moronic question but I don't think it'd be worth the effort in any way.  I was too stunned to be sarcastic. 





 :

Jujitsu, Kicking Ass, and The Meanest Letter I've written in awhile

Our CSU jujitsu class started yesterday and the group we have looks pretty promising.  We'll see who actually last the semester.  Even when my instructor was around our classes would go from 15-20 students and end up with 3 by the end of the semester.

Went from class to work and had a near sold out show on Tuesday for our year anniversary of not being sold/new partners buying in.  Had a lot of great regulars show up to help celebrate and tip well to boot.  Very fun night to work.  I been having a lot of fun behind the bar lately and it's been paying off.  I've had a number of customers tell me I was a great bartender, they like me, etc.  I'm shocked how easy it is to be nice to people and how well they respond to as a bartender.  I'm making more money and having more fun.

Course I wouldn't be me if I wasn't a grumpy asshole from time time to time and after telling the guys next door to get there damn cars out of my private lot by 6 (We actually let them park in lot during the day) I finally snapped when the same guy I told last week to move his car (At 7pm) left his car in the lot past 9pm last night and one of my staff had to park in the lot next to Hodi's.  It's the same place him and our sound engineer were parked when their tires were slashed a few weeks ago.  I decided to leave him this:

click photo to enlarge

Strangely I don't see his car in my lot today.  It may seem a bit harsh but I can't regret the letter, the profanity, or the fact I taped the shi*t out of the letter when attaching it to his window.  And as mean as it is, I could have just towed his ass.  

Class, work, done at 330am, bed at 5.  Up at 1030 for work.  Bleh....

Whiskey in a can...one of many things I should have thought of

It's not real Scotch and it probably doesn't taste good but I think it's a real step forward for mankind.  Whiskey in a can!

Creepy Dad and Ipad track pad - Macterbation and more

Becca and I watched  Dexter: The Fourth Season like we usually do - 4 episode at a time.  We finished the season in like 3 days. The villian in season 4 locks his daughter in her room.  I thought that was a bit creepy and then i saw this on the door to the second bedroom in the house:

I remember from the first time I saw the house - that this was the kid's room.  Apparently locking your child in their room is a more common practice than I knew.  Or the guy who use to own this place was a serial killer.  Strangely enough just like the villian, the previous homeowner liked to do carpentry.  Unfortunately unlike Dexter's villian, this guy sucked.  One of my goals for this summer to fix the house up a bit.

In equally unimportant (yet much cooler) news, I downloaded an app that lets me use my Ipad as a keyboard.

It works pretty well and using my pad' (Thats what we cool kids call our tablet computers) as a wireless keyboard is pretty cool.  Using my Ipad as a keyboard for a Mac does seem like a bit much though.  Maybe later I'll put on headphones, listen to my Ipod, while I browse the net on my Mac, using my Ipad to type in searches on google.  Macterbation at it's finest.  If only I had an Iphone....

New Photo Scanning Business

So I teamed up with our house photographer at the bar and put together a little photo scanning business. We can scan and restore pictures, documents, and 35mm film plus photo negatives.  Visit our site at http://sharpscans.highwire.com/.  Help us get off the ground by passing the word along to family, friends, relatives, etc!

Happy Festivus...A story that could only come out of Orange County

Found this story on msn.com.  An inmate in Orange County, out of concern for his diet tried, to get something different than the usual salami meal.  Unfortunately for the inmate, kosher meals are reserved for inmates with religous reasons for not eating the standard prison meal.  He complained and  when brought before a judge his lawyer cited Festivus - a holiday created by Frank Costanza from Seinfeld.  It worked too for a little bit, the inmate got kosher meals for 2 months before the county had the order thrown out.  You can read the rest of the story here

And if you'd like to learn about the wonderful holiday of Festivus watch this:

Back?

Yep I'm back.  Shouldn't have been gone in the first place but I got a bit lazy and busy at the same time.  Doesn't mix too well.

Things are relatively good.  I sold my digital camera on Ebay.  As much as I wanted to film my product review for the powerband I just couldn't justify having a camera I never used that I paid a decent amount for when I have bills to pay.  Using that money and additional money made bartending I've put a decent chunk of cash into the company to repay what I owe in addition to paying our lawyer off and an employee who the business owed.  Getting rid of debt feels good!  Only another another $270,000 and I'll have the business and personal debts cleared.  Some of that the business itself will take care of hopefully.  Between the lawyer, accountant, employee debt owed and what I owe the business I've paid off close to 4k in the last 3 months.  I've also paid off a bit on some personal credit cards.  If I can keep doing this for 5 years I'll be set.  That's a bit depressing...

I also quit drinking almost a month ago, quit soda the week after, and finally red bull the week after that.  I'm just too busy right now to feel even a little hungover even once a week.  And honestly I don't enjoy beer or even whiskey enough just to drink one with dinner so if I'm not going to be having a few and good time, I dont' see a reason to do it at all.  After quitting all 3 I do feel a little better.  Even when I'm beat I'm not quite as exhausted as I usually am.  As a bar owner though I'd encourage everyone around Fort Collins to come buy soda/red bull/alcohol or some mixture of any two at Hodi's...I got bills to pay!

I started working out again too last week and have been to the gym 4 times in the last week.  It's been pretty pathetic but I do swell up pretty quick so at least I'll look better pretty quick.  I can't come close to doing what I use to though.  Guess it'll take some time.

Got my tax refund last month and it was the biggest I'd ever gotten - $1100.  Gave me a bit of breathing room.  Got me thinking about how I need to get a bit of bump here and there to get a head.  As much as I've paid off in the last few months there is still a lot more I could paying off and things are tight enough already.  I need to figure out how to make another $30 a day or $1000/month.  As is, I could spend the next 3-5 years doing what I'm doing and end up at zero by the end of things which would be nice to some extent but I don't want to be 32 and at zero.  Compound interest tends to add up, the time to start saving was now/5 years ago.


So I got pile of debt, not entirely sure my floor at bar will last another few years, and I'm working all the time but I'm paying stuff off, getting healthy, and tomorrow is Thanksgiving which is one of two days during the entire year no one can ask me anything about work.  I can go an entire day without having my phone on and everything won't go to shit.  I'm spending the day by myself cleaning the house and playing video games.  The dogs and I will split a small turkey it'll be great.  Is that sad I'm looking forward to this?  I don't think it is, like I mentioned previously I have 2 days a year where I won't get a work related phone call.

Just a warning - anyone calls about business tomorrow just to spite me - I will kill you.  Slowly.

And finally for your enjoyment - the hottest workout video girl ever

Cross Dressing and an Ugly Burn - My most disgusting blog to date

Last Sunday a buddy came back to town and stopped by my house to pick up his motorcyle I been holding for him.  It needed a little work so a friend of his asked me to tilt the bike back.  I didn't know it'd been running for a bit and put the exhaust right up against my shin.  Not a pleasant feeling.  It created a huge blister that didn't look too bad till it popped.  This is it 2 days after

I shaved around the blister and kept it clean and covered for a few days and it's finally starting to get better.  It was almost a blessing in disguise.  The first few days after I burned myself I'd wake up and redress my bandage and before I'd wrap it up I'd throw some hydrogen peroxide on it and I'd wake up pretty damn quick after.  Must be like what coffee does to some people minus the burning sensation.

Going from gross to absolutely disgusting Tour de Fat was this weekend, which meant both my roommate and friend had to dress in drag, drink a lot and ride bikes around now.  A farmer's tan is bad - a tan from wearing a dress and bra is much worse.  And of course, being guys with stuffed bra's they did exactly what guys with boobs would do - molest the crap out of themselves.  It just goes to show when given the chance a straight man cannot resist grabbing a a boob.

No Power Balance Video review yet due to too much work.  Soon though.  I may spend the extra time and do a bit more research.

Jujitsu class at CSU is going very well.  Small class but good students and I have access to the weight room and facilities any day I have class for the entire day.  Unfortunately the pool, sauna, and hot tub won't be ready till after spring break next year.

Back to bartending 5 nights a week.  Should be good, I'll be able to pay off my debts to the company and whatever personal debt I have too.  It's a lot of work and I did 20 hours in two days last week but it's what it takes.  Shit needs to get done and done right one way or the other.  Not always fun.

On a happier note - Japanese Ping Pong

Amazing catches and riots

Before I run off and do inventory and whatever else I need to for work here's a few amazing catches from some Japanese baseball games that happened this summer.  Yahoo Sport labeled this "The most amazing catch we'll see this season"


EMBED-Spiderman Style Baseball Catch - Watch more free videos

Then this happened a few weeks later.



Of course if you were actually at the stadium you'd discover that the wall is only 3ft high.  They're a short people.

Finally here's a link to some videos from this weekends New West Fest riots.  Nothing special I was hoping to see some more aggressive baton use on some stupid people. 

Lots to do today, little time to do it.

Kids these days

Tonight we had a private party at Hodi's for a girl's 21st birthday. Worked out pretty well till the end when all the drunk college kids started acting like drunk college kids. All kinds of fun. Turns out though we had a fairly well behaved crowd compared to the rest of Old Town. This weekend is New West Fest in Fort Collins and the first night and today seemed to go well. Big crowds in old town, live music, vendors, big affair. Became a much bigger affair toward the end of the night. Saw a lot of cops south of Hodi's. Had heard some guy got stabbed. Some how it became a riot and we could see the tear gas from Hodi's. Heard something about chairs or people being thrown through shop windows. By the time Travis was changing the marque the cops had cordoned off Old Town and were walking down College Ave in a line wearing riot gear carrying tear gas and paintball guns pushing people out of area.

What the hell is wrong with people? How many people really need tear gas shot at them to decide to behave? Too many stupid people I guess. Wherever i retire I'll have to make sure to go somewhere far away from stupid people.