looking ahead

This year. Whacked out beyond belief. I've about wrapped up the preliminary version of 'business plan 2009'... which is really pretty darn great, if I do say so myself. On the advice of a good friend and mentor, I am also revisiting the events, the catastrophes, the successes, and the soon-to-be-gone "me" of 2008. One idea permeates the feeling of this year, and that is the fact that I could never have done it alone.
George Burton Adams said, "There is no such thing as a 'self-made' man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has ever done a kind deed for us, or spoken one word of encouragement to us, has entered into the make-up of our character and of our thoughts, as well as our success."
Well said. For quite some time I romanticized the idea of independence, and the self-made woman that I thought I was. Now I realize that it just ain't true. I've a list of folks, at least a mile long, that have made just about every aspect of who I am possible. I'm pretty sure there are just as many more who I've forgotten. So to every single person out there who has given me an introduction, an opportunity, a direction, an idea, a word of encouragement, a smile, or a reason not to jump out the 31st floor window (and even to those that have frustrated me enough to want to jump, or perhaps push you... you've inspired me in your own way). Thank you is never enough. I only hope that I have played a positive role for some of you. I've got a great little ever-expanding network, and I am so grateful.
Here's to a fabulous 2009, and to connections new and old.

And to the workout:
Swing combo, 12kg x1 /8kg x1:
10 front right
10 lat right
10 front left
10 lat left
10 halos

sandbag(40#): 8 squats+ 50ft carry x13 in 10 minutes (ok, slightly more than 10 minutes, but I had to finish the last one, right?)

dead solider

ahh. Johnnie Walker. Blue, of course. We killed the bottle over the holidays. It was quite a treat, and now its back to clean living. hmmm.... or at least some less extravagant decadence. ha!

to make up for it:
Pushup rows/single leg dead 15#dbs: 6/6 x4
Band twist/Turkish get up 12kg: 10/5 x3

Merry Christmas!

All the warmest, happiest holiday wishes to all!

Today was just a short little one - but the movement was my gift to myself. :)
Didn't have time for the bodyweight part, and my stopwatch was inaccessible, so its un-timed.

Pullups/Bent Rows 20# 8/8/8
KB Clean, Press, Windmill (both sides) 12kg/Burpees 5/4/3/2/1

preparing for the holiday

The house is full of Christmas guests, and the holiday is almost here. This year we are having the big dinner catered by Gelsons, which is both a relief and makes me feel a teeny bit guilty... but not THAT much. Since fresh fish from Echo Park Lake is not an option (ha!), it will be nice not to have to shop and cook, and just hang with the family instead. A nice way to ease out of what has been a very, very insane year.

I had to sneak in the workout this morning while everyone was sleeping. I must say, it is hard to be 'stealth' when you're throwing a sandbag around...
Today's workout:
Swing combo, 8kg x2:
10 front right
10 lat right
10 front left
10 lat left
10 halos

sandbag(40#): 8 squats+ 50ft carry x12 in 10 minutes
less weight this time, much better. still challenging.

Tiffany blue

There is something about that little blue box. This one doesn't actually belong to me. I am neither the lucky recipient, nor the generous giver of whatever magic is inside. I'm just holding it in safekeeping until it goes to its rightful owner. (It does look pretty good on my red couch, though.)

In Capote's 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', Holly Golightly describes the store as a place to help with the 'mean reds':
"You know those days when you've got the mean reds.... the blues are because you're getting fat or maybe it's been raining too long. You're sad, that's all. But the mean reds are horrible. You're afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don't know what you're afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don't know what it is.
What I've found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany's. It calms me down right away..."

Well, I don't happen to have any colorful emotional issues at the moment, but having a bit of Tiffany here certainly adds cheer to the house. Breakfast to go???

Anyway, for today:
Pushup rows/single leg dead 15#dbs: 6/6 x4
Band twist/Turkish get up 12kg: 10/5 x3

head in the clouds

So many things to do.... but somehow I seem to keep daydreaming.
So nice, but there will be consequences...

Meanwhile, a very grounding workout:
Pullups/Bent Rows 20# 8/8/8
KB Clean, Press, Windmill (both sides) 12kg/Burpees 5/4/3/2/1 in 6:15
Bodyweight drill x 3
10 squat
5 burpee
5 hip stretch pushup
3 cobra/dog/scorpion
3 switching knee hug
5 roller jump

rainy days

I'm loving all this rain, and the beautiful skies. With actual "weather", it really almost feels like the holidays. I can even say that I see snow from my window... a rare event, both in the fact that usually smogged-over San Gabriel are even visible, but that they are snowy to boot. Yay.

Today's workout:
Swing combo, 8kg x2:
10 front right
10 lat right
10 front left
10 lat left
10 halos

sandbag (fully loaded... maybe not the best idea) 8 squats+ 50ft carry x10 in 10 minutes
holy crap! this was more difficult than expected. i thought it would be a piece of cake. wrong!

me gusta...

What started out as Christmas hell turned out to be a fun adventure. I think my health has fully recovered, and I started out yesterday with a mile-long list of errands and catch up stuff to do. I had a significant list, given normal crap that I've ignored while feeling under the weather, plus holiday shopping, decorating, etc., AND an exciting but time consuming new personal project.
I was on a roll, and ticking off items right and left. I even managed to get the tree, put it up and decorate it in record time. Yeah. Well. Maybe the tree was just wishing it was back in the wild, uncut and growing free. Or maybe I wasn't paying enough attention when I set it up (nah.... couldn't be that, could it?)... but in the wee hours of the night, I was knee deep in another project from "the list", when I was shocked back to reality by a thundering "BOOM".
Tree, meet floor.
It was a total disaster. Water everywhere, lights, tree, broken ornaments, angel wings, arms, santa hats.... ugh. I muttered a few obscenities (ok, maybe it was louder and clearer than a mutter), and started picking up the pieces. I was really heartbroken at first, since all the decorations are meaningful keepsakes acquired over my entire life. Each one representing a year, an adventure, a place, activity, or inside joke, I didn't want to lose any of it. Thankfully, the broken bits were from some of the more generic items, and those that were really meaningful survived.
The cause of the crash appeared to be the branches on the bottom, which weighted the tree unevenly, and prevented a secure stance in the stand. I really should have noticed it earlier, but what the hey? It seemed to work.
So what I needed to do to fix things is chop off the lower branches, and I do not possess a saw. My good kitchen knife (now ruined), didn't quite do the trick.
Cut to: me at (almost) midnight in the Hollywood Home Depot. Who knew? That place is a regular party in the middle of the night. I had THE BEST time. I met Esteban from Guatamala, and he and I had a delightful, slightly hilarious multi lingual conversation about pipe fittings. (yep... my intention was to get the ingredients for a 2nd leverage club, but H.D. was non-cooperative and didn't stock all the sizes I needed to make a match). The whole interaction reminded me one of my favorite Manu Chao songs, "Me gustas tu"... que voy a hacer, je suis perdu... O.K. then, time to make a list of the good stuff! :)

What fun!
And now, the tree is up and all sparkly and happy, although I'm sure it would rather be on a snowy hillside. Come to think of it, so would I.

Today's workout:
Swing combo, 12kg x2:
8 front right
8 lat right
8 front left
8 lat left
8 halos

then 30 sec. each pushup/ninja/burpee/mills/15sec rest x3

back to normal - kind of

This sure felt good, though:

Snatch/windmills 30sec each side x3 (30 sec rest)
Rumi:
7 ea side deads
7 ea alt shoulder squat
7 ea get ups
7 burpee clean press

feeling the love

I'm in a strangely excellent mood, in spite of the craziness of this past week. I'm still feeling pretty crappy physically. I've had the "cold" from hell (the word cold doesn't do it justice, but I'm not feeling at all clever enough to come up with an alternate name for it). It has traveled extensively over the week - from my throat to my nose to my sinuses to my chest, and back around again. My voice is nasal and ravaged, leaving me sounding a bit like Elmer Fudd, had the Exorcist demon left Linda Blair and possessed him. Sexy. ("Its a beautifuw day for an exowcism").

Add to that a car with a dead battery, the resulting $50 cab ride to make a very important meeting, some after hours necessary schmoozing with very important colleagues from New York, and the continued market madness, and its been a doozy. Love the public sentiment for Wall Street in the photo above. I can't help but laugh... who screws up the word 'fuckers'?

On the plus side, feeling crappy also provided me with a little more downtime, and I'm starting to solidify some new goals. Its an exciting time. I also got the desired effect from the workout today, and feel very close to human again. ( I repeated the same one as last time, since it was pretty pathetic)

Assisted pullups: 6, 6, 5, 3
Russell combo, 15#dbs, x4
6 bent rows
6 swings
6 squat press
6 burpee