Training Log - 3.27 - 3.28

Well, I'm almost back on track. Tuesday I did a good lifting session - not necessarily a specific "Day" (1, 2, or 3) on my workout schedule - but a combination of lifts to help bring be up to speed. Yesterday I went a a good run too. 4 miles, and I ran down off of River Rd. to the 'trails' (in various stages of maintenance) that run along the river. So it was a little bit of stop-and-go, but more interesting and fun than usual.

Now I know...

...how a father feels after a child finally does something you feel proud of...

...or something like that.

That's sweet.


(What's this guy's name?)


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UPDATE! - There's yet another EZ tattoo out there!
How many of these guys did this on Spring Break?!

Training Log - 3.21 - 3.26

I'm falling behind! AH!

Most days I've been too busy to get a real workout in (this is what I hate about getting freelance work). I still haven't done Day 3 from last week... but Änna and I did go on a 4 mile run last Thursday (+ light plyos)... so I'm sitting at about a C-... The worst part is, I know that when I get home there's still a project waiting for me that needs to be done by tomorrow, so I doubt that I'll be catching up at all tonight. That will put me at a solid D, meaning Tuesday I'll have to do some A+ workin' out to get that average back up.

ASS.

Training Log - 3.9 - 3.20.07

Friday the 9th was a sad day. It was the first time since the New Year that I didn't do a "workout" of any kind... after flying in to CO and then driving to Boulder, I just collapsed into bed (with visions of ski slopes swishing through my head) without doing any push-ups or sit-ups. Boo.

Saturday and Sunday (10th & 11th) - downhill was a good workout. Some of my usually-un-used muscles got a rude awakening on some of those black diamonds. :)

Monday's (the 12th's) - "workout" was pretty 'lax'... just an hour long hike. But I was still acclimating, so get out of my grill.

Tuesday and Thursday (13th & 15th) - was some, at times, pretty grueling, but mostly very enjoyable XC skiing.

Wednesday and Friday (14th & 16th) - those hikes left my quads and lungs burning.

Saturday (17th) - I failed again and did nothing for a workout. (But I did drive 900 miles!) Really though, I wish I could be as good at working out every week that I was on vacation last week.

Sunday (18th) - Day 1 of the workout week + plyos.

Monday (19th) - Push-ups & Sit-ups.

Tuesday (20th) - Day 2 of the workout week + 2 mile run.

The Conclusion of the Spring Break Saga

Where I last left off, Änna was still holding that tarantula... Sorry to leave you in that situation, honey. But from the jungle (it was really sticky in the Pavilion) to the snow covered mountains - our story continues at the Eldora Nordic Center.

What I really found incredible about Boulder was how quickly we could go from walking down Pearl St. or The Hill (in a t-shirt and shorts, temps in the 70s), to clamoring up the side of a mountain, or even to skiing on well maintained, completely covered cross country trails. We did something like this every day, and because it never took more than a couple of hours to hike a nearby mountain, or to ski at Eldora, we would get back and still have half a day to go find something else to do.

Tuesday afternoon's skiing was excellent. And even though our skis weren't waxed quite right (hard to do for 40-50º weather and 30-40º snow...) it was still pretty amazing to be skiing in only tshirts with views of the mountains all around us. I could get used to that. Oh, and a crazy side-note... Änna and I were heading back to the car when who do we run into on the trail? Laura Hannah! Laura was a friend of mine from high school who I'd recently heard was living in Boulder and dating one of the Johnny Bravo guys...
I introduce my wife... "Wife?!" says Laura... and then she asks, "Do you know a guy named Pokey?" To which we both laugh and explain our connection to Katy and Pokey (Dan).
It's a small, small world.

The rest of the week, in brief:
Dinner Tuesday gave Änna her first Fondue, and we either met up with Katy and Dan for pool, or went over to their place to hang out... my nights are getting confused now. Hot tubbing happened one of these nights as well... Wednesday started with a relaxing morning, followed by a run that turned into a hike (we ran a mile and found ourselves at the foot of a mountain, so we went up), finished by a dramatic dinner at the Tea House (made dramatic by the frat boy and sorority girl who drunkenly broke up, and even more drunkenly got back together, all in the first 45 minutes of our dinner...). I also had a first, sending back my very well done ribs for a fresher rack. Thursday we almost didn't go back to Eldora (the plan was to ski) because it was raining in town, only to drive up and find a sunny mountain top waiting for us. How nice! My wallet was accidentally stolen by some geezer skiers who took home the wrong shoes (?!) and there was a couple of hours where we didn't know how easy it would be for me to buy drinks (or anything), let alone fly home in 2 days (although it turns out that wouldn't have been a problem either... I'll explain later.) Thursday night we postponed our dinner until 10pm to take part in Hapa Sushi's happy hour. I think we got the most sushi I've ever seen a table of five get... and we finished all of what could have been 100+ pieces. (FYI - Dan can really put away the sushi after a workout! Dang.) Friday turned into much the same kind of day as Wednesday, more chillin' and more hiking (this hike was cooler than Wednesday's, although we had to drive a whole 5 minutes to get to the base...). We finished the day with a nice Mediterranean dinner, and we said our goodbyes back at our hotel after trying to watch Running with Scissors on pay per view... I should say right now, things started to get weird at the end of our trip... maybe just a sign that it was time to go home....

For instance:
1. Thursday - The wallet/shoe dilemma.
2. Friday - We couldn't figure out the bill at the restaurant.
3. Friday - The $13 pay-per-view movie's sound was all messed up.
4. Saturday - We wake up with 2 messages. The first is that, although our waitress said it was IMPOSSIBLE, we have been double charged for our meal Friday.
5. Saturday - The other message says that our flight that was supposed to take off in 3 hours has been canceled due to weather out east and we will not be able to leave until Monday afternoon...

Saturday - we rent a car (our hotel lobby happens to house a Budget car rental desk - furthermore, the guy tells us that a car came in from Montana that we will be allowed to take one-way to Minnesota) and drive home.

In spite of the inconveniences at the end of or trip (and even those were fairly entertaining), we had an awesome time. Who knows, in 2 years maybe Änna will land some job at a firm out west and we'll have to move out there... I wouldn't be complaining very loudly. :)

1000 Visitors! + Blogging Thoughts.

I thought I'd take a quick detour from chronicling my Spring Break to celebrate my blog's 1000th visitor who came yesterday (March 17th - St. Patrick's Day) at 12:16:22pm.

Thank you, friends, for helping me out with my self-worth... I don't plan on quiting the blog anytime soon.

---

While writing at a coffee shop this weekend I was asked the question, "Why do you have a blog?"

My initial response was a silence that became pregnant with the awkward supposition [by my inquisitor] that I was [silently/awkwardly] coming to the realization that this "blogging" that I so enjoy doing is mostly a pointless waste of time - a cry out for attention from a want-to-be writer, with less talent than ambition, or less ambition than talent - a desperate stab at stardom, scrawled upon the vast bathroom-stall-door that is the internet blogsphere...

"To let friends know what I'm up to," I recovered, finally realizing that my friend's question wasn't meant to be the pseudo-psychological probe that I let it become.

---

There's a lot of The Dream wrapped up in blog culture. The Dream of Being Read. The Dream of Being Recognized. The Dream of Being Appreciated. The Dream of Affecting Someone's Thoughts and Life.

---


Maybe that's dipping a bit too far under the surface for something so mainstream right now - and I doubt the majority of bloggers would agree with me some points - especially considering how darn functional blogging can also be.... For travel and news sites it's great. Writers can post from anywhere with an internet connection and need only basic word processing skills. Reading about my friends' trips abroad, in Rich Text, with pictures, has been great and exciting. And maybe it's just because this technology is new and hot right now, but blogs seem to be a format that people [both writers and readers] want to return to. On a couple occasions that's happened right here - unlike the bathroom-stall-door, blogs have the potential to [conveniently] cultivate dialogs, and I feel privileged to have some documented in my archives.

So like I said, for now, I'll keep blogging. And then later I'll decide what was a waste of time and what wasn't.

Again, thanks for reading.

Spring Break pt. 2

Tuesday morning our plan was to head out to the Butterfly Pavilion, located just 10 minutes South of Boulder. Anna had heard about this educational and scientific center in a Boulder travel magazine and even the guys at our hotel's front desk were pretty enthusiastic about the place when we asked for directions.


And although my camera was barely functioning (LOW BATTERY!) I still got a couple neat pictures.








I do have to admit that I wasn't as excited for the butterflies as Anna was, but it turned out to be a pretty cool addition to our trip. It was almost other-worldly to be surrounded by 100s of those delicate, beautiful bugs. (The 100s of 5-15 year old kids I could go either way on... haha.)

Aside from the butterflies at the Pavilion, there were a number of other creatures on exhibit: leaf bugs; stick bugs; spiders... And if you know anything about Anna, you know that she has a very real fear of spiders... So you might be a little surprised when you hear that she made it a personal goal for herself to hold Rosie, the Pavilion's tarantula. (Ok, you're probably not surprised that Anna made a personal goal... but she seriously, if not stubbornly, faced her biggest phobia. It was a proud moment.)

I guess uploading those pictures wore me out. Still coming up: Eldora Nordic Ski Center, more good eats, and hiking.

Spring Break, pt. 1

Just because I'm not in college anymore doesn't mean I don't get a Spring Break, right?

(Even though I already took a week off to go to Mexico in January this year... but, uh... that was for our Honeymoon, kind of. Haha.)

Ok. I'm spoiled, so what?! I wasn't about to let Anna's Spring Break go to waste.

And you're thinking, "What a guy."

But Colorado has been awesome. Right now we're taking our first real break from traveling and hitting all the hot spots around CO to chill and study - and to update blogs, of course!

Our trip so far...

We flew in Friday night, late. I think we landed at about 10:50pm, but didn't get out of the airport until midnight. Longest-baggage-claim-ever. My dad, coincidently, had planned a ski trip with some friends that just happened to overlap with the weekend that we were coming to visit, so on top of being able to see Karin (my sister, a senior at Boulder) and Katy & Dan (friends who now live in Boulder), we'd be able to ski and hang out with my Dad too. He and Karin picked us up from the airport. Our trip from Denver to Boulder was uneventful and we got to Karin's apartment at around 1am. We got the bed, my Dad got the couch (Sorry, Old Man!).

Saturday morning we got up early to head out to Breckenridge. Neither Anna or I are very experienced downhill skiers, so skiing with my Dad (who recently got back from skiing at Alta) and Karin (who basically lives part-time on the ski hill) was a challenge, to say the least. I think we both impressed ourselves though, me more so on the first day, Anna more so on the second. It was a blast, really, and I wish that I had a camera that I wouldn't mind carrying up on the mountain because the views were absolutely breath-taking. And the place we were staying wasn't too shabby either. We were upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite with a fireplace which was nice to come back to after shredding those black diamonds. Oh, and the outdoor hot tub was more than OK...

Our plan was to come back Monday so Karin could make it to class. This was a very hard thing to do waking up Monday morning in the mountains, but we had a lot more to see in Boulder, and our legs would benefit from a couple days' rest before we hit the slopes again, so we (however remorsefully) headed back.

Monday Anna and I cruised around Pearl St. after quickly dropping off Karin for school and checking into our hotel. Probably the biggest surprise of the trip so far has been the weather. Monday and Tuesday the highs were flirting with 80(!), and we soon realized that we'd over or under packed - depending how you look at it. Shopping for shorts and flip-flops became a priority. :) In the afternoon we met Katy for some hiking and throwing in the park. Then more cruising-around and back to the hotel to change for dinner. Which was awesome. We met Katty and Dan at an Ethiopian restaurant not too far from our hotel (nothing is really too far away here, it seems) and had a pretty un-top-able meal. If you've never had Ethiopian (we hadn't before Monday) wait until we get back and we'll go with you!

...

That's all for now. On my next installment: Butterflies, the Eldora Nordic Center and more good eating, of course.

Two things.

I was searching the web for "open source video editing" and came across two programs that might actually handle some serious video work... The first, and apparently more supported of the two is called Jahshaka. (It has a cooler-looking website, that's for sure.) The second is LiVES. Better or worse than (the also free) iMovie or Windows MovieMaker? I don't know. (I doubt they can be as sophisticated and stable as Premiere, Final Cut, Vegas, etc... :) Please, prove me wrong!) But for now I figure these are worth checking out.

Also, Louis found this place, Open Studio, from MIT (again - these guys seem to be on the cutting edge of open-things). I joined and played around a little bit. Good for a diversion from work if nothing else.

Training Log - 03.06 - 03.08.07

Tuesday and Thursday were just push/sit-up days. Wednesday I did Day Two of the workout week and waxed my skis for Colorado instead of skiing. Tonight I'll try to get in Day Three but then it'll be skiing instead of lifting for the next week. I'm excited!

Memory Lane.

My lunch today: 1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich, potato chips, and a glass of milk; with a nice Girl Scout cookie finish.

Our cupboards have been slowly accumulating these ingredients over the winter months (the peanut butter, jelly, potato chips, and Girl Scout cookies are not exactly mainstays in the Hagstrom household) to finally present themselves in the form of this throwback meal from the days of babysitters and weekend lunches at my friends' houses. Occasionally, my own mother would concoct a dish as specifically remarkable as this, but more often my siblings and I would have to thwart off offerings of mustard and mayo on turkey or ham... with lettuce.

Yuck.

Our sal-i-vation would only come when we could escape away to other, ordinary families' houses where they appreciated the comestible advances of white bread, JIF and skim milk.

In the past 15 years or so my cravings for the PB&J have subsided, with only a brief cravings-spike during the time that I spent in Australia (where my roommates and I discovered the full range of abilities of our sandwich griller/maker)... that is, until lately.

In recent times when I have wanted a sandwich, not surprisingly, I've made for myself the sandwich that my mother would have liked to make me. Usually turkey, provolone, lettuce or spinach, and a smidgen of mustard and/or mayo on whole grain bread. But not today. Today was different. Today, I had an escape back to my childhood - served up with a side of potato chips - and I fulfilled an ancient craving that has been building up since my adolescence. And at a time in my life where I could go out and get whatever I wanted for lunch, I found it was nice to have what I really wanted from a time when I couldn't do anything about it.

Training Log - 03.05.07

Did a Day 3/Day 1 combo lifting day to keep on track + plyos.

Training Log - 03.02 - 03.04.07

Fridays are never good for working out (for me). Especially when we have evening plans... it's a night that I just want to cool out on. I did push ups before bed.

Saturday and Sunday I skied pretty hard. 8-10k (5-6 miles) on Saturday at Como and a little more than that on Sunday at William O'Brien State Park. I was thinking I'd do Day One of lifting on Sunday night, but I could feel the weekend's skiing in my arms and legs all night, so I just rested. That means lifting tonight.

The coolest thing I heard all day.

A cockroach can loose its head (literally) and live for another 9 days. It finally dies, not because it bleeds to death (or the cockroach equivalent of that), but because it's starving...

For the right kind of movie, that'd be a great opening theme... the crime drama/thriller movie metaphors abound...

Training Log - 02.27 - 03.01

I went skiing on Tuesday night, and I'm glad I did, because now all Hell's broken loose! (In a good way!)

Wednesday and Thursday (tonight) became just push up/sit up nights because of the weather, but I'll be out on this snow as soon as the blizzard's through!