Yesterday canoed for 5 1/2 hours in Okeefenokee National wildlife refuge / stephen foster state park, in southern Georgia. Peaceful, quiet, didn't see or hear very much wildlife though. Alligators float with their heads barely visible and stay still... Beautiful landscape, very quiet... Took many photos...
Very glad that Obama-Biden won the Presidential election (by about 7 million votes), and that the Democrats took more seats in the House and Senate...
Election results
www.talkingpointsmemo.com
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
From Wilmington, North Carolina
It's a beautiful morning in Wilmington, North Carolina, in southern North Carolina...
Been moving from town to town since last week, through West Virginia, Virginia, and the past two days visited Raleigh-Durham. Walked around Duke University, and went to North Carolina's History Museum. Have some cool exhibits on war history and the African-American photo journalist Alexander M. Rivera Jr.
("Bearing Witness: Civil Rights Photographs of Alexander Rivera") Rivera is now around 94 years old. I took a photo of one of his photos of Thurgood Marshal before he became US Supreme Court Justice...
As has often been the case with my traveling since 2002, I feel more like a fugitive (not from justice, but from a deranged mafia of fools) than a vacationer... I tend to spend time in cafes and bars, and go for walks...
I walked around University of Virginia's campus in Charlottesville a few days ago, and visited my Alma Mater's campus, Ohio State, the first day of this trip... College campuses are great scenic places for long walks...
Been moving from town to town since last week, through West Virginia, Virginia, and the past two days visited Raleigh-Durham. Walked around Duke University, and went to North Carolina's History Museum. Have some cool exhibits on war history and the African-American photo journalist Alexander M. Rivera Jr.
("Bearing Witness: Civil Rights Photographs of Alexander Rivera") Rivera is now around 94 years old. I took a photo of one of his photos of Thurgood Marshal before he became US Supreme Court Justice...
As has often been the case with my traveling since 2002, I feel more like a fugitive (not from justice, but from a deranged mafia of fools) than a vacationer... I tend to spend time in cafes and bars, and go for walks...
I walked around University of Virginia's campus in Charlottesville a few days ago, and visited my Alma Mater's campus, Ohio State, the first day of this trip... College campuses are great scenic places for long walks...
Monday, October 6, 2008
Moving out of House
Starting to move stuff out of the south toledo house... Finished the rock garden, planted more ajuga (flowering ground cover) hopefully will look very nice next spring, and made some progress on patio tiling in the back yard...
Will try to depart on trip south this Wednesday, going via Columbus, Ohio, where I will spend a few hours revisiting my old home and alma matter, Ohio State... Then east to the nation's capital...
Will try to depart on trip south this Wednesday, going via Columbus, Ohio, where I will spend a few hours revisiting my old home and alma matter, Ohio State... Then east to the nation's capital...
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Creating a rock garden, federal budget
Been placing pond rocks one by one on a bed of sand next to the house I'm staying in... moving out in October, but this spot on the house border was unpleasant and I've wanted for years to improve it...
I suppose it's something like layiong bricks - one by one, putting the pond rocks next to each other - you can't just throw them all on the sand, it'll mess up the sand... The street I live on and some others in the neighborhood are - or were all - brick streets, each about 1/4 or 1/2 mile long, all bricks, maybe 20 - 30 bricks across. Back in the late 1800s or early 1900s people slaved away, laying those bricks to make the streets. Since, the city paved over some of the brick streets... The bricks look better than the asphalt, though...
Brick laying is still big in 2008 - they used bricks to build many of the buildings at the new Westgate shopping area in West Toledo.
I didn't end up discovering much about the Federal Government's spending that I found very interesting to note... But recently read (in my Congressional Quarterly cq.com email) they'll be spending about $650 billion in 2009 for military-related spending, some of which goes to the Dept. of Energy, which handles a lot of the nuclear energy stuff for the Department of Defense...
worked out at the gym on tuesday... Thinking of maybe hitting the pool today and actually trying to swim a bit. I've never been that much of a swimmer...
I suppose it's something like layiong bricks - one by one, putting the pond rocks next to each other - you can't just throw them all on the sand, it'll mess up the sand... The street I live on and some others in the neighborhood are - or were all - brick streets, each about 1/4 or 1/2 mile long, all bricks, maybe 20 - 30 bricks across. Back in the late 1800s or early 1900s people slaved away, laying those bricks to make the streets. Since, the city paved over some of the brick streets... The bricks look better than the asphalt, though...
Brick laying is still big in 2008 - they used bricks to build many of the buildings at the new Westgate shopping area in West Toledo.
I didn't end up discovering much about the Federal Government's spending that I found very interesting to note... But recently read (in my Congressional Quarterly cq.com email) they'll be spending about $650 billion in 2009 for military-related spending, some of which goes to the Dept. of Energy, which handles a lot of the nuclear energy stuff for the Department of Defense...
worked out at the gym on tuesday... Thinking of maybe hitting the pool today and actually trying to swim a bit. I've never been that much of a swimmer...
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Research on where the US government spends its budget; Another Gym workout
Today, with the Democratic Party convention inspiring me to pay attention a bit to the election, and to wonder about what shoudl be different about the U.S.A. - which should lead most people to wonder what the the Federal Government is already doing around the nation, with all of the hundreds of billions of dollars it spends each year...
Elections, Presidents, Congresses come and go, but how much of what the U.S. Government does change in how it affects us over the decades? We may mostly see it only in foreign policy or military engagements, or tax rebates or cuts, or when we visit a national park on vacation... Unless we work for the government...
One thing I noticed is the U.S. Government gives the Smithsonian Institution $800 Million every year... Perhaps they should open some museums other places than just Washington D.C. and New York City...
My notes from looking at the Budget are on my notebook computer, now I'm at the library. Later I will post more potentially interesting info from the U.S. Budget...
Another Upper Body workout...
Lifted weights again at the gym.
I don't think I did any lifts outside of the usual workout...
Elections, Presidents, Congresses come and go, but how much of what the U.S. Government does change in how it affects us over the decades? We may mostly see it only in foreign policy or military engagements, or tax rebates or cuts, or when we visit a national park on vacation... Unless we work for the government...
One thing I noticed is the U.S. Government gives the Smithsonian Institution $800 Million every year... Perhaps they should open some museums other places than just Washington D.C. and New York City...
My notes from looking at the Budget are on my notebook computer, now I'm at the library. Later I will post more potentially interesting info from the U.S. Budget...
Another Upper Body workout...
Lifted weights again at the gym.
I don't think I did any lifts outside of the usual workout...
More weights - Legs, Sit-Ups, Abs 8/26
Another trip to the gym....
Did more weight on the leg press than last time,
Leg Press
around 170 lbs, 30 reps, then down to about 140 lbs, 40 reps
Leg extension, leg curl, abductor/adductor machines, basically same as last workout... I didn't write them down again
I also used the abdominals weight machine which
works the mucles at the "love" handles, for the first time...
40 lbs, 30 lbs - 2 sets each side
* abdominals machine - 80 lbs, 70 lbs
* 4 sets crunches/sit-ups on inclined bench
this person thinks the abductor and adductor machines are not a good workout, but I would say working muscles is working muscles... Sure, one should have several other leg/butt exercises in their routine: bike, jogging, sprinting, various cardio machines...
Since I can't jog, and certainly can do sprint intervals like I was recently, with this broken little toe on my right foot, weight machines are a way to keep the legs muscles from deteriorating...
Which can happen very fast. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2001, but right afterward had some problems jogging, took a lot of time off, and my muscles went away in a matter of a few months...
Miss jogging, sprinting, doing the cardio machines...
Did more weight on the leg press than last time,
Leg Press
around 170 lbs, 30 reps, then down to about 140 lbs, 40 reps
Leg extension, leg curl, abductor/adductor machines, basically same as last workout... I didn't write them down again
I also used the abdominals weight machine which
works the mucles at the "love" handles, for the first time...
40 lbs, 30 lbs - 2 sets each side
* abdominals machine - 80 lbs, 70 lbs
* 4 sets crunches/sit-ups on inclined bench
this person thinks the abductor and adductor machines are not a good workout, but I would say working muscles is working muscles... Sure, one should have several other leg/butt exercises in their routine: bike, jogging, sprinting, various cardio machines...
Since I can't jog, and certainly can do sprint intervals like I was recently, with this broken little toe on my right foot, weight machines are a way to keep the legs muscles from deteriorating...
Which can happen very fast. I ran the Chicago Marathon in 2001, but right afterward had some problems jogging, took a lot of time off, and my muscles went away in a matter of a few months...
Miss jogging, sprinting, doing the cardio machines...
Monday, August 25, 2008
Yet another weight lift 8/25
Another trip to the gym....
I actually wrote some of the lifts down, as I can't remember what I did afterward otherwise...
Seated Cable "row" pull
105 lbs, 12 reps;
75 lbs, 15 reps;
55 lbs, 15 reps;
45 lbs, 15 reps;
with little to no rest in between;
Lateral raises (deltoids)
15 lbs each hand, 5 reps; 10 lbs, 17 reps, 5 lbs, 25 reps;
Triceps extension with two-handled rope
42.5 lbs / 15 reps; 35 lbs / 8 reps; 30 lbs / 6 reps; 25 lbs / 8 reps; 20 lbs / 4 reps
Pectoral Machine
80 lbs / 10 reps; 70 lbs/ 5 reps; 60 lbs / 5 reps; 50 lbs / 5 reps, 40 lbs / 5 reps; 30 lbs / 7 reps - no rest in between...
Pull-ups
hand position 1 (works biceps, shoulders, chest)
Counterweighted 25 lbs ( I weigh 170 lbs) / 8 reps;
cw 40 lbs / 11 reps;
cw 55 lbs / 10 reps;
cw 70 lbs / 9 reps;
hand position 2 (shoulders, back, deltoids)
cw 25 lbs / 6 reps;
cw 40 lbs / 6 reps;
cw 55 lbs / 5 reps;
cw 70 lbs / 7 reps;
Cable Curl (Biceps)
30 lbs - 25 reps
57.5 lbs - 5 reps
I don't know why but my biceps haven't seemed to want to get much stronger,
despite working them extensively since December... They get exercised on the
pull-ups and the Cable "row", so I didn't focus on them much today...
Ski-Jogging Machine
6 minutes at 50 resistance, incline of 5;
Not much of a cardio workout, felt low on energy as I started the ski machine after the lifting...
Probably needed some food...
the broken toe is gradually improving...
Watching some of the Olympics got me contemplating doing a triathlon some day,
though I don't know where... Would prefer to swim in clean water...
I actually wrote some of the lifts down, as I can't remember what I did afterward otherwise...
Seated Cable "row" pull
105 lbs, 12 reps;
75 lbs, 15 reps;
55 lbs, 15 reps;
45 lbs, 15 reps;
with little to no rest in between;
Lateral raises (deltoids)
15 lbs each hand, 5 reps; 10 lbs, 17 reps, 5 lbs, 25 reps;
Triceps extension with two-handled rope
42.5 lbs / 15 reps; 35 lbs / 8 reps; 30 lbs / 6 reps; 25 lbs / 8 reps; 20 lbs / 4 reps
Pectoral Machine
80 lbs / 10 reps; 70 lbs/ 5 reps; 60 lbs / 5 reps; 50 lbs / 5 reps, 40 lbs / 5 reps; 30 lbs / 7 reps - no rest in between...
Pull-ups
hand position 1 (works biceps, shoulders, chest)
Counterweighted 25 lbs ( I weigh 170 lbs) / 8 reps;
cw 40 lbs / 11 reps;
cw 55 lbs / 10 reps;
cw 70 lbs / 9 reps;
hand position 2 (shoulders, back, deltoids)
cw 25 lbs / 6 reps;
cw 40 lbs / 6 reps;
cw 55 lbs / 5 reps;
cw 70 lbs / 7 reps;
Cable Curl (Biceps)
30 lbs - 25 reps
57.5 lbs - 5 reps
I don't know why but my biceps haven't seemed to want to get much stronger,
despite working them extensively since December... They get exercised on the
pull-ups and the Cable "row", so I didn't focus on them much today...
Ski-Jogging Machine
6 minutes at 50 resistance, incline of 5;
Not much of a cardio workout, felt low on energy as I started the ski machine after the lifting...
Probably needed some food...
the broken toe is gradually improving...
Watching some of the Olympics got me contemplating doing a triathlon some day,
though I don't know where... Would prefer to swim in clean water...
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