#183 - Lonesome George

Motto: The Tyrannosaurus Wrecks His Car

Despite the title of this post, this Column will not be about a massive, old tortoise.

My brother & father-in-law are in Philmont for what I've come to learn is basically the culmination of Boy Scouting. My boss told me that he went there when he was a kid and it is responsible for some of his fondest memories. That's awesome. I am in this spot right between super jealous and not in least bit jealous of them. Philmont is fun, but demanding fun.

My wife is gone with my mother-in-law and her siblings to Colorado. They are also doing outdoorsey-type stuff. Melissa said she climbed Red Rock Canyon with a GoPro strapped to her chest earlier today. Typical Melissa, doing things I'm way too much of a wuss to do.

Here's what all that boils down to - I'm alone for the next few days.

Well, except for Thor 2, Loki, and the birds that decided to make a nest in our plant:

While I'm alone, I've decided to take on a number of personal challenges. Starting several of my medium-term goals. See the Top 5. It's a large portion of why I wanted to post this. After a self-evaluation, I realized I'm more long-winded than I shoudl be. As a writing exercise, I did this next bit. An overview of my understanding of fitness, in 100 words: Being fit is worth the effort. Fitness necessitates both a quality diet and consistent exercise. A quality diet prefers natural, nutrient dense foods (meats and vegetables) over processed, calorie dense foods (donuts). Cook your own meals. Don'’t drink soda. Track your diet. A couple of cheat meals per week is probably okay. Exercise at least three times weekly. You should lift weights, elevate your heart rate, and maintain flexibility. Use free weights, not machines. Do squats, deadlifts, bench, pullups, rows, presses, run, and yoga at a minimum. Doing these things will give you a healthier, happier, and longer life. Kthanksbye. The last thing I want to talk about is something I've talked about a long time ago (Columns 21 & 22) - my "goal physique". First, it was Daniel Cudmore, whom I saw in the movie "X-Men". Then, it was Matt Grevers, whom I saw in the Olympics. Now, I'd say I'm aiming more for Serge Ibaka, whom I saw on ESPN Magazine's "Body issue".

I made that using GIMP on my new Ubuntu system. It's definitely nothing fancy, but it's the first tangible piece of media I've created... and it's a bunch of shirtless dudes. Maybe I need to reconsider my priorities. Top 5: Things I'll be Working on this Week 5. Set up some system automation for importing content into my media server. 4. Try to understand Android Studio. I tried this for a few hours last night... it's a whole new experience. 3. Workout. Really hard. 2. Gun stuff. More on this at a later date. 1. Learning Lightworks video editor & rebuilding "My 25th Year". I've got less than three weeks until my birthday. I want the video ready to show on August 1st. Even if I was an expert with Lightworks, it would take me a full 6 to 8 hours to put the video together from scratch. I tried setting the first 3 clips up for 2 hours over the weekend. Lightworks functions in a completely different manner than my old editors.

Quote:
“How do you plan on changing your skin color?”
- Jon, when I told him Serge Ibaka is my new goal -