Awesome

"Nothing to tell now, let the words be yours, I am done with mine."
 Cassidy, John Perry Barlow

The Dead playing it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH8aPu-W_ZM
Barlow on it.  http://www.litkicks.com/BarlowOnNeal

Awesome are all the people who post good covers.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdckin2EnEI; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w_Y6xgzN2E; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RycKSb1mxsw
Awesome is good writing from people who I'd otherwise have no access to.  http://authenticstrengthtrainer.blogspot.com/2010_08_04_archive.html
Awesome is all the easily accessible nostalgic shit that reminds me I grew up in a great time.  See Cassidy above.
Awesome are smart people use social media well.  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000035362998#!/OfficialElizaDushku
Awesome is being able to respond to a post, and meet world class artists as a result.  http://www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco
Awesome is watching folks just stretch out and serve up good info, unpacking their heads in public.  http://www.begin2dig.com/ 

Awesome is the random connection.  Like AP's blog.  http://amypagnotta.blogspot.com/  I found it about eight months ago, trolling.  It was late; I was kinda drunk.  I liked her photos and layout and the way she put things.  AP seems to do many things, all of them quite well, but I think her day job is journalist/producer.  We exchange some comments back and forth and become casual virtual acquaintances.  I send her stuff like Guy Clark video and Richard Brautigan readings and she has not blocked me yet.  (And as cool as the below is, read AP's post from 11/26:  " in sickness, figure it out yourself. in health, we may chat"  gasp, hard left to the gut . . .)
Last week she throws out on her comments:  hey, I'm interviewing Salman Rushdie, what do I ask him ?  I suggest a couple of softballs to get him talking, like "what makes you optimistic ?"  So she uses it and gets a thoughtful response which resonates with moi, deeply.  To quote her post:


"i got to chat with him for 45 minutes in a closed room with just my camera guy. it was awesome. we talked about all kinds of things including my favourite subject- whether or not an objective reality actually exists... fellow lion david barry wanted to know what rushdie's optimisitc and pessimistic about and he gave the following answer:

I studied history and one of the things you learn as a historian is that the future is never what you think it's gonna be. You can be optimistic about the future and a calamity is around the corner. You can be pessimistic about the future and things turn out much better than you expect. The truth is, the only thing you don't know is what's going to happen because what really happens is always an amazement. If you think about the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989, I would guarantee that twelve months before that, nobody could've forecast it would've happened. There was this thing which looked like a solid tyranny standing there with a whole apparatus of repression and gulags and the KGB and this and that, you know, and then suddenly one day poof, it blows away like wind. I mean the surprise of the collapse of the Soviet Union is sort of what I'm talking about. History surprises you. Right now I think, for instance, it's quite easy to look at the future and think that the world is a bit bleak right now, and that things are not going very well. It's a world of great conflict and disagreement and argument, dissention, it's a world of intolerance and bigotry and so on. It's easy to see all that corruption and easy therefore to think that things'll just get worse. But actually, they may get much worse than we fear [he laughs]. Or they may get much better. In a way, it's an optimistic thing: you cannot foresee the future. There's a famous old, in the days that Marxism was fashionable, there was this woderful phrase where what you were supposed to have was pessmimism of the itellect and optimism of the will. And I think that's a perfectly reasonable position. You can be gloomy about how you think things are going but you should be optimistic about your ability to affect them.

 So how fucking awesome is that ?  A bit drunk late one night I stumble on a smart person's blog and get to, as a result, in effect, ask Salman Rushdie a question ?  And his answer, including:  "The truth is, the only thing you don't know is what's going to happen because what really happens is always an amazement"  is pretty much what I live on these days; I don't walk around spinning in circles but I have been absolutely amazed at some of the events of the past few years and am completely optimistic, in the face of some damning evidence to the contrary, that I can effect positive change.  Why should it be otherwise ?  As Barlow says above:  "Some things don't change. People die. Others get born to take their place. Storms cover the land with trouble. And then, always, the sun breaks through again."
Can we "like" this any more ?  I think not.

Saturday, still at Dillon beach and its a rainy day.  Up in the sun room napping and watching Barry work on a puzzle.  It's a lazy day, but force it out to the garage in the cold dark for:
15/15 16kg seven rep pace x 50, snatches.  25 minutes of straight snatch work that goes really really well.
Sunday, two hours of clean-up out the door, Stationhouse cafe for lunch.  Hit home by 2:00, tired but need to get away from all other humans, so Rose and I go out into marsh where it is freezing cold, need socks for the vff.  Got the 300mm working again but no opportunities.
Monday, fuckin a its back to the work world.  Leave suburbs early, hit gym in am like:
Burpees to three pushups to suitcase dead with twin 24s x 5
10 24kg Goblet squats
5+3 neutral grip pull ups, 22lbs assist
30 walking lunges, bodyweight.
3x

15/15 32kg swings, ten reps x 5
5+5 20kg windmills
10+10 37.5lb woodchoppers
3x, save last set of swings were 30/30 24kg at 20 reps

PM, Pradeep sweatfest.  Tough class and about 40 minutes in he has us in Dolphin plank for ten count, up to plank for ten count, descending ladder back and forth like that down to 1.  That was close to two minutes in plank after some extended series prior and entire class was thoroughly smoked.

God I felt great this morning though.  Long work day, rough mediation and grind.

Day off, to pick up again tomorrow.

White Haired People Dancing

"It seems the simple things, the hardest to explain . . ."
Dave Mason, Shouldn't of Took More Than You Gave
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj2h0LSTY3U
Sunday, three mile marsh walk. Want to hit ct before Yoshi's with 5, but he bails and end up making no one happy. Familiar territory. 5 and I go see Dave. It's hit or miss with the more senior rock star contingent, but not Dave. Voice has lost nothing, powerful as ever. Guitar chops unscathed by time. There are older guys with much younger women, by like 30 years. Dude, are you nuts ? Neither look happy.  But there are also the older folk, hippie dancing to Dear Mr. Fantasy. Fit women well-dressed with white hair, a good ten years older than moi, moving beautifully to all those familiar songs.
Monday, long day in one of the most emotionally wrenching depos in memory. Creep into Pradeep at the end for a good blow out. Not sure i am gonna handle it but it goes good; will probably be it for yoga for the week, so throw it down hard.
Tuesday, another long day. Into ct at 7:30. 30 min scheduled but it goes longer and all for good. It's 200 20kg one hand swings, 100 28kg two hand swings, plus 78 push presses, 20kg, save last 14 with 24. Some hard row work, then hot chocolate and good company.
Wednesday, work scramble and off to Dillon Beach to visit dysfunction junction for four days.
Thursday, beautiful if cold in West Marin. We hit the beach with Rose in am and give her much surf play. I escape with kettlebells mid afternoon. Find a flat spot road side, goes like:
20/20 10 incline pushups off of marine terrace rock formation, heckled by cows x 8.
10+10 28kg rows
Think I am going to press but it's no good. Form is just fucked, all shoulder and no lat. Even 20kg feels shitty, don't even try. Go to meathead 28/32 deads.
60 sec mtn climbers.
x3
Add a bunch more incline pushup sets to bring to 120, then go to swings.
It's 20 swings to rows to bring those to 100, then Tgus.
Have not done Tgus for over a week, know I'm gonna pay and do for four sets. Then 30/30 with the 28x4 to close it out.
Go and feed excessively; Brigid seizing control from a bunch of culinary control freaks to roast the best turkey in memory. Get out of her way people.
Friday. Work most of morning to mid-afternoon; email polite but firm letters out and then hit the soft west marin coastal trails. Ian and I walk Rose past the gate where the Nazis stickered my car the day before. We take Rose off leash and pad toward the isolated beach 45 minutes away. If there is a better substrate for vff than this dense undulating coast I'd like to find it. We spend two hours walking and throwing a stick for the ecstatic Labrador. Work calls on the way back up; playing pro from Dover while perched on the western edge, send Ian and Rose ahead; they don't need to hear it. Come back to Sara and Pats huge crab feed.

Satellite tv sucks.

WTF

"They call it Pork . . ."
Evil Cat to the Pig, Babe

The National Park Service wildflower chart has poppies blooming January through August.  Never seen them before February in the Bay Area, but through August sounds right.  Before Sunday I had never seen poppies blooming in November as above.  Nor had I ever seen a king snake this late as Brigid and I did on Saturday, basking in the very warm sun on the south levee.  Nor have I ever experienced a November evening as warm as Monday's in downtown SF.    

Parkour soreness left nothing but gimping around with Ian on Sunday.
Monday, start very early
20/20 10 push ups x 8, really strong until last set of eight
10+10 standing rows, 65lb dumbbell
8 squat to press, 90lb barbell
12 step back lunges, 40lb on shoulders
3x, ten push-ups 2, 3
30/30 20 24kg swings x 10

evening, hour long Pradeep class
Felt great after double session, missed that lately, felt leaner almost instantly
Tuesday, nothing after seven hours of depositions and head fried
Wednesday, early am
8 burpees to push-ups (x 2), to twin 24kg suitcase deads
10 24kg goblet squates, slooow and hang out down there for awhile
Strict mp presses, 5+5 20kg, 4+4 24kg, 1+1x2 32kg
5+5x2 sls, second round 12kg bu
3x, 32 kg press failed second reps both sides third circuit

Coach Dos circuit which is
5+5 figure 8 to bu hold
5+5 cleans
5+5 press
5+5 windmills
10+10 snatches
10+10 swings
16kg, it is almost five minutes of straight work with a pretty light weight and it's fun.
10 reverse pull-ups off of smith machine
3x
Done by 8:50, in for outstanding BASF seminar on law and motion tips where all three panelists (including Busch) reaffirmed observations in STFU.

PM, back for late MH yoga, very slooww hard  class; 7:20 boat north rung out and strong.

Thursday, 30 minutes with CT and Renee A., 25 minutes no break like:
5-1 swings to 1-5 GS descending swings/ascending GS
10 wall push-ups
x3
10 swings to 2 20kg gs x5
10 push-ups
x3
adds up to something like 65 goblet squats and I hate those things.  This was really fun though and I like working out with those two, otherwise so solitary.
Friday, meetings most of day, no sweat.
Today marsh walk and running around, talking to Ian about stuff like this . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbDzob84Tok

 Brigid playing with phone:

Rose rolls

Now the game is almost over and Cal is getting stomped as expected.  So whatcha gonna do ?  Gonna get off your ass or just stare at the fire ?
It is raining hard out and lightening and thunder sounds like it is pounding Burdell just to the north, shove the hot toddy weather thoughts back,  haul bells into the den, amazing how fucking heavy; just do this:
10+10 28kg rows
10 24kg goblet squats
1-3 24kg, 1-3 28kg press ladder
10 deads with 32/28
3x
30/30 20 swings x 10, alternate 28/24


Cooking this to take to Anne's while doing that:

Roast rack of pork with butternut squash, apples, potatoes, roasted peppers and onions.  Absolutely outstanding; yup, Martha Fucking Stewart, that's me . . .

Small Price to Pay For Beauty

 "I can't help you Sundance . . ."
Butch to the Kid, early on . . .

Did not exercise Wednesday.  Too busy early and way fried late.  Arrived home Wednesday round 7:30 after round two of interviews with mid-size law firms trying to fill excess space.  Ugh.
Darling daughter bounces in shortly after, plunks her beautiful self on the bed and spends two solid hours talking.  She is so bright and locked into her strengths; spinning about grades, school, what she wants.  I was sooo clueless at her age and she is such an old soul.   Never wanted to not disappoint someone so much.  She tells me all her friends' parents are so old, even those younger than me by a decade, but she sees that I can still move well.  "Will you come to do parkour with me on Saturday ?"  Could I not ? What do you do it for anyway, if not for this ?
Three miles Thursday and long day full of work and necessary drama.
Friday, in early throwing down the gauntlet we all knew damn well would be picked up by the afternoon, just needed to work hours well into Thursday night at 350.00 per to get people thinking about what a real shitstorm would look like; with some people you don't get to skip the playground part.  Opposing counsel backpedaling by 11:00 am, flip it back to the transactional types by 1:00, my role as horse head in the bed finished.  Clean up other stuff all day then into therapist session and then  gym.  Cortisol levels last three weeks are off the fucking charts and that does not make for strength.  Spent after an hour exploring my inner me; worthwhile, but gym after no good.  Start it though like this:
10+10 24kg floor press flip to ten pushups
10+10 TRX step back lunges
Presses, 5+5 20, 4+4 24, 1+1x2 32, actually had failed reps on right side third set
20 walking lunges, twin 35db
3x
30/30 24kg swings, 20 x10
That is a good but not blowout workout.  Heading north after stuck in nasty traffic, barely getting Brigid to B Ball by 8; could have done 2.5 of Pradeep and been better off.

Some thoughts after a difficult week:


-If you have spent some time on a road and are at cross-roads, you damn well owe it to those who you have brought with you, to those you have met, and those you will meet, to come to a clear understanding of why you are where you are before choosing a direction.  You can't do this alone, and are kidding yourself to think you can.  To do anything else is to be a terrorist; unexploded ordnance with feet.
-Corollary: acting on impulse is for teenagers.
-Have the balls to look in the mirror and admit your shortcomings.
-Don't hurt innocent people.
-Don't tell people what their priorities should be.  You have no fucking clue unless you have lived their lives.  Your decisions give you no license to think you can inform others.
-If necessary, acknowledge that you misjudged people.  Don't beat yourself up about it.

Yeah, should have gone to yoga . . .

Saturday; parkour with Brigid.  A blast; jumping  off of vaults to hang off window ledges, up walls to hang off 4X4's, fun fun fun.  Could do much fine and improvement by end of class on weak points namely vaults on left side.  Then to three miles marsh walk, Brigid and I movingly gingerly.

The White pelicans left at last for the Winter.  They were here a week ago; Ian and I commenting that it seemed late.  Gone now for Mexico.  Much will be better by the time they return.

STFU

“Don't play what's there, play what's not there.”
Miles Davis

Phil Weinacht turned me on to that quote in the Fall of 1977.  Meaningless at barely 18, but it's gained traction.  Phil directed the HSU jazz ensemble and was a good guy.  Got us to the Reno Jazz Festival where we did ok.

More recent takeaway is to know when to shut up, which in my profession is easier said than done.

This Buddha landed in Civic Center plaza last June, to stay through 2011.  Work is by a Shanghai sculptor Zhang Huan.  Doubt he intended to elevate the quality of oral argument in S.F. Superior and will have to ask Judge Busch sometime if  it has.

I love standing under this piece and looking up before court appearances.  It makes me better, reminds me to be quiet.  Any decent lawyer knows that the best argument is the one you never have to make, the judge got it from your papers and you just say something like:  "unless the court has specific questions, I will submit."

Course, its not always that easy.  Some folks (almost always men) will blather on about every point, real or imagined, and ya just gotta listen and watch.  See if the judge bites, or looks like he or she is biting, then tailor accordingly.  Busch never bites.  I will never forget just starting out and winning motion after motion in front of then Judge (now Justice) Lamden then having my ego maniac boss at the time come in on the fifth motion to show me how its done, and have an exasperated judge practically scream:  "sit down counsel, you won."  Less is almost always more, you don't need to rub the audience's face in it.

Now, try to find that balance in your workouts.

Nothing on Thursday, except some more shopping ourselves.

Friday, into sf , workout late like;

8 burpees pushups (2) to double24 suitcase deads

1+1-5+5 24 kg press ladder

5+5x2 sls w35lb plate

10 120lb lat pulls, isolate and focus.  Yes a machine, sometimes can be useful.

3x

10 32kg swings to 1+1 24kg TGU x 10

15/15 10 32kg swingsx10

200 heavy swings, feel it.

 Saturday, MH class, surprisingly fried from prior day and weak on left side plank.

Sunday, dog walk with Ian started out in heavy rain, clear later.

PM, want to hit ct class, but not gonna happen  Grow more lethargic as watch Raiders win and fold laundry.  Check twitter and ct has a tweet planning kettlebell blood bath.  Good visual, get your ass up, and go heavy.

10+10 32kg rows

10 24kg goblet squats

1+1-3+3 24 kg presses, to 1+1-3+3 28kg strict mp presses

5+5 single leg deads, 24kg

3x

Plan on 200 28 kg swings.  Hah.  Heavy rows and presses plus heavy swings on Fri and bells are slippery and grip is fried.  Shut it down after 100.

Monday, Great Pradeep class at 5:30, very happily drenched.

Tuesday, mind numbing stress and not enough food.  Wet beautiful night in Hayes Valley 30 minute ct class at 7:30; very happy to be back in studio with tiny powerhouse, its a 15/15 25 minute blast

ten minutes swings

ten minutes push press

five minute swings

Turn on radio heading north just in time to hear Roy Eisenhardt describe Michael Lewis' Blind Side as jazz improvisation on City Arts & Lectures.  Leaving space for the reader.  Don't feel you need to connect all the dots.  Respect audience intelligence.  Lewis self-deprecating, says style is a function of indolence and laziness.  Right, stop it.

Busy, stressful times; stay quiet and set up tomorrow.  

 

Bandwagon

“The fans sitting up there are helpless, they can’t pick up a bat and come down and do something. Their only involvement is in how well you do. If you strike out or mess up out there, they feel they’ve done something wrong. You’re all they’ve got. The professional athlete knows there’s always another game or another year coming up. If he loses he swallows that bitter pill and comes back. It’s much harder for the fans.”

Willie McCovey to Roger Angell, 1978

I never thought Stretch was the most articulate of folk, but he nailed it there, I think, it sounds right.  It's largely lost on me.  The closest thing to sacrifice I made for the Giants was choosing to go to a game at Candlestick in 1977 instead of going to hear Jean Pierre Rampal.  It was my 18th birthday and I'd spent all summer weeding the yards of the Tiburon wealthy listening to the Giants play.  Those were the days of Bill Madlock, Larry Herndon, Johnnie LeMaster and Bob Knepper.  I have regretted missing Rampal for years, but Jay let me drink beer for the first time supervised and I still remember the skunk taste of Heinekin, which I thought was actually good.  I have no idea who the Giants played or if they won.

I have been the worst sort of bandwagon fan.  All over downtown for the past month people have been dressed in Orange and Black.  T-Shirts and jerseys have been snapped up and green has exchanged hands.  I have contributed nothing, not even the "Let Timmy Smoke" T-Shirt given fleeting consideration.  The only dollars I spent that I would not have otherwise is the four bucks today on the 38 Geary; parking at Fillmore and taking Muni downtown after getting completely skunked on the Larkspur ferry early this morning.  It occurred to me as I watched the crowd resplendent that I have never purchased a team jersey or t-shirt of any sort.  Not for myself, nor as a gift.  I have owned Grateful Dead wear, Bob Marley, and Steve Earle.  I have had Guy Clark's Homegrown Tomatoes emblazoned on my chest, as well as Gillian Welch's sly lyrics.  I have bought Pink Floyd, Hendrix and Led Zep for the kids, perhaps even Slayer, and certainly the Beatles.  I have bought Monterey Bay Aquarium T-shirts ad nauseum, but not a single damn sports jersey.  The closest I can recall is the RKC sleeveless T I own that I bought along with my 32kg bell last February to show off my skeevy middle aged delts.  At least I can press that fucker now.

So there I was today at California and Montgomery in black Italian wool doubled pleated slacks and a pink dress shirt waiting for a parade.  I caught some shit for the pink shirt, but I do love this town and that alone was reason to turn out:

Cody Ross

 Brian Wilson, Lunatic

Buster Posey, don't know his politics but he looks like a young republican.

Pat Burrell

Andres Torres

It was a raucous crowd and it has been a wonderful time to be in this town.  I am no big baseball fan but people turning out, coming together, and forgeting the shit for awhile is a good thing.  Anything to postpone the pain of election day.

Sunday

Walk in the marsh with second son and first Labrador.

Tired and almost let it slip, but no, out back in pm for:

10+10 28kg rows

10 24kg Goblet squats

Presses, 5+5 20kg, 4+4 24kg, 3+3 28kg, 1+1x2 32kg.  All went well, no failed reps.

10 double bell deads, 28/32  132 lb deadlift is just too fucking easy and not sure why I even bothered except its an easy way to jack up the pounds moved.

3x

30/30 28kg swings, 20 x 6, had to drop to 24 gor 7-9 cause losing grip and back to 28 on last.  Ten total.

To Grandma's for Game 4.

Monday

Four miles, nada mas.

Tuesday

VO2 max, fast cause no time

16kg, 15/15 seven rep pace, x 52

plank work, sixty second front, 30 second sides, 3x, 25 sec rest between front and side.

Today

60 min Pradeep power class.  Smoking.

Parking lot calls and emails, buncha work, get home and immediate attention demanded.  This is the orange and black that sticks with:

It's been a blast, here is to next year; I will go to more games.