Not LikeTexas

“I have always had the feeling I could do anything and my dad told me I could. I was in college before I found out he might be wrong.”
Ann Richards

For anyone reading this (if anyone is reading this) Ann Richards was a class act, smart school teacher who was Governor of Texas before Karl Rove sent her packing and installed George W. Bush as Governor.  We have had some sick Texas folk the last decade and with all due apologies to Lyle Lovett, who I do love, the place is just down right western weird.  Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSJ0RuOeqCI
We lived in Texas from 1962 to 1967; in Dallas when JFK got shot, left when my father (who grew up in New York and had a graduate degree from Columbia) could no longer stand hearing his children grow up with Texas accents, and landed us in the Bay Area in 1967.  We went from Roger Miller ("King of the Road") to the Grateful Dead ("The Golden Road to Unlimited Devotion") in about a week and there are pieces of us that are still in Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jerry Jeff Walker, Robert Earl Keen country.  Weird places breed good songwriters and how the hell could you leave Townes off the list.  Hot dirt makes good art.
San Francisco is not so direct and some of that has to do with geography.  Unlike Texas you can never see your destination from a distance; there are no straight lines to anywhere.  Its like being wrapped in a cocoon surrounded by gentle hills and it is always a relief to return, no matter where you went or why you left.

Spoiled rotten and your medium sized dog too.

Up Market street Monday at 7:05, went like this:
20 cp, alternating l/r 24kg, switch to 10 pushups, good coaching from Sneha when she took off the invisibility cloak the floor trainers seem to wear.  Don't be harsh, she is terrific, particularly good help on left which is decidedly weaker.
30 box squats, body weight.
20 walking overhead press, 16 kg
8+8 single leg deads, 16 kg, in honor of Sara Cheatham's 11/10 blog post, photos from military rag.  http://saracheathamsblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-article-in-military-spouse-magazine.html. She might be the healthiest human animal ever, need to show this to Brigid who wants to do ROTC in high school.
3x
8+8 windmills, 16kg
swing, highpull, snatch progression, 16kg 5+5
32 kg swings, 30 seconds
TGU, 2+2 16kg, 2+2 24kg
2x, ran out of time.

Back for 5 miles of hamster work in pm.

Tuesday am, six miles.  Wanted to return for MH stiff guy class in the pm; either hips or hammies, anything is better than shoulders.
Not happening.  Phone was ringing as it was getting dark.  Addenda to draft on no notice.  Receivables to stress about.  You can't be or do whatever you want.  You do what needs to be done.  Pretty much where Jay was coming from.  Three hours each way tomorrow to see Donald in his maximum security shithole.  Suck it up.  Look forward to getting back.

Down Time

"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of."
Ogden Nash

Made a crack about baby seal pictures while being unkind to Adam Gopnick last week.  See ?
Saturday good flow class with MH.  Ninety minutes of tension and sweat.  With only a walk on Friday was really strong so the one legged stuff, warrior three variations, half moon, were all solid.  Staying up in triangle to keep torso straight, better.  Plank and vinyasas really strong, no shoulder soreness at all.  Held crow for a good bit.
Hanging with Barry all day Saturday, boring routine stuff, more time at the house than I'd spent in weeks.  Opening and closing the door for Rose.  Glad I can be of service.

She is gimpy so no walk, evening was just a 25 minute blast like this:

16kg swing, high pull, snatch combo 5+5
10 clean to five press l/r, 20kg
20 swings, 28kg
5x



Today, rejuvinating two hour nap on the floor in the sun with my constant companion.  She was disappointed, no mud, salt water or shit to eat,  but one of us has to be the adult in the relationship.

No Denim

"I hear the train a comin'; it's rollin' 'round the bend,
And I ain't seen the sunshine since I don't know when."
Folsom Prison Blues, Johnny Cash

Donald Young was convicted of kidnapping and first degree murder in March of 1983.  He was sentenced to life without parole.  He was 23.
A few years later he was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondilitis, a degenerative disease affecting his spine.  His condition coupled with the glacial pace of the California Department of Corrections responses to his ever increasing medical needs gave him the opportunity to become a serial plaintiff.  He has filed multiple actions based on the federal Civil Rights Act due to the state's inability to timely respond to his medical needs.  The fact that he is smart, mouthy and a born leader who goads the correctional staff to retaliate adds color to his claims.
I met Donald in 2008, when I was appointed to represent him, in what I think is his 12th or 13th case against the state.  Representing him means visiting him for extended periods in several maximum security facilities, which, god willing, I would never otherwise have the chance to visit.  Donald is in a wheelchair, but his upper body is extraordinarily fit; Donald is a true badass.  He doesn't scare the shit out of me, but he comes close.  I don't like him, at all, but his appetite for learning is impressive.  He always brings a pad and pencil and writes down any word I use he is unsure of, and is always sure to use it, correctly, in follow up correspondence.
There is a litany of rules for visiting inmates.  One rule is no denim.  Inmates wear denim, no one else, and there is no room for ambiguity.  The Department of Corrections staff are incredibly polite, and first time I visited Donald I joked with the admitting officer that I'd almost worn my jeans.  All humor drained from her face:  "It would have taken you days to get out of here."  Oh.

Earlier this week planned on spending Friday and Saturday in Folsom with Donald, preparing for trial to start Monday 11/16.  Got six miles of cardio in on Tuesday, and sixty minutes MH's Stiff Guy yoga class, where we spent an hour on shoulders.  It sucked but needed it badly.  Wednesday, no exercise, 18 hours in Irvine settling a real estate case, missing the last flight to SF and having to fly into Oakland late, cabbing it to SFO to pick up the car, getting in after midnight exhausted but wired, spent an hour drinking Malbec and watching You Tube videos of Lauren Brooks and Mark Reifkind doing high pulls and snatches and some Hungarian guy doing some really crisp cleans.
Thursday, trial prep.  Five miles in the morning, to the office all day, then load up the largest Timbuktu bag made with 35 pounds of paper and hit the gym.  Might be the only workout for a while, went like this:
15 Hindu push-ups
10 goblet squats, 24 kg
10 clean to five press, 24kg/r 24/16 kg left.
20 tactical lunges, 16 kg
3x
Five 16kg high swing, pull, snatch combos, l/r, much better
10 windmills, 16kg 5l/5r
15 32kg swings, these were great
TGUS, 16kg 2l/r, 24kg 2l/r
3x
Back down market st. to ferry, Timbuktu/gym bag bandolier, look like an idiot but functional fitness in action.

Today.  Up early to get to Folsom by 9:00.  Since no denim the only casual pants I have that won't fall off are 17 year old very faded black dockers, with ripped hems, bleached spots, and paint splatters.  Shit, going to be with Donald behind a metal table all day, going to be comfortable.  He won't care.  Throw on a washed out light shit brown turtleneck, no shave or beard trim, look like a mangy aged rottweiler.  Add a nice dollop of coffee down the front going up highway 37, yes Donald, your counsel is here, ready to prep you for your 12th or 13th civil rights case.
Get off at Greenback, start looking for Folsom prison.  Directions are ambiguous as hell.  Pull over to figure out where I am, AG's office calls.  Donald is still at the prison in Salinas.  He missed the bus to Folsom.  WTF, how could he miss the bus, he is in a wheelchair and it takes four guys to move him.
AG says, come down to my office, we will call the judge, get a short continuance.  Wonderful.  Mangy aged rottweiler now gets to go face to face with the opposition.  Back down to Sac, praying the judge will not require us to appear, eyeing the pile of dirty shirts in the back seat, wondering if there truly is not a better option.  AG gives me a long look, but he is cool.  I keep it straight faced, we talk about our kids and drink too much coffee.  Judge gets it, kicks us  to 12/14.
Iphone freezes on the way back down.  No phone or email for 90 minutes.  May as well just shoot me.  Get home, spend an hour restoring everything.  4:00, take Rose to the marsh for a walk and to breathe.  Lost all the tunes on the ipod, can replace most, but will miss uber-hot Felicia Day vid, Do You Want to Date My Avatar.  In the marsh, stop every ten feet to send a snarky email to someone back in the office.  Reply at your peril.  Absolutely will not kick my dog; the rest of the world is fair game.
Back toward the car, somone has boosted Rose's harness and leash from the bush where I'd left it hanging.  $45.00 dollars of lab restraint now to  be replaced.
Brigid comes in, proud of the sprocket grease on her tricep.  She rocks.

Really looking forward to yoga in the morning . . .

Musings - Michael Fucking Chabon

"I have a deadline. I'm glad. I think that will help me get it done."
Michael Chabon

No shit buddy.  The question is what kind of deadline, are you paying the recipient, or is it a pissed off judge, with a crushing case load full of meth heads and violent crime dealing with budget cuts.
Anyway.  Michael Chabon and Adam Gopnik are at the Herbst tonight and I wish I was there.  Gopnik I can do without.  Decent essayist, but I'll take real reporters like Jane Mayer, Ken Auletta or John Lee Anderson, (ok Anderson writes for the Times, but his stuff is in the New Yorker quite a bit) any day.  Gopnik did a send-up on Sing Along Sound of Music about ten years ago that was very very funny, but he lost me when he went to Paris to write about life there with his young son.  It was cloying and too easy.  Yeah it was a best seller but how could he miss the side of that barn.  It's like taking cute pictures of kittens or baby seals.  Or your children or dog.

Chabon on the other hand is pretty amazing.  I have only read Wonder Boys and bits of Manhood for Amateurs, which I also wanted to hate.  Do I really care about your sex life with your wife or your getting laid at fifteen by one of your mother's friends ?  I didn't think so but he writes beautifully.  He is a good interview  as well and Ian would have liked it.


Nothing in morning with client meeting at 8:30 which I thought would last 30 minutes but stretched to 90.  He was manic and I went along with him.  It was 10:15, and I was already behind, mentally parsing up the day in six minute increments, trying to figure out how to get everything done.  Park in Portsmouth Square in Chinatown, race around the corner and nearly run into the column above.  Strength.  Slow down.  Breathe.

Walk into gym at 6:00.  I hate Equinox at 6:00 on any evening except Fridays and Mondays are the worst.  Full of young people in Lulu Lemon, I am the oldest straight guy by a good 15 years.  Go stake out some space in the corner and try to get it started.  The trainers are all really cool and put the bells back between client sets when I am around, but there are only two 16kgs for the whole gym, and this guy is holding them doing heel raises.  He could have been using dumbells, or any two of the hundred or so 35 pound plates around, but no, had to use the kbells.  Grab two 35lb dumbells and start.


Pushups to renegade rows, 5 pushups to five rows, 2x
10 Goblet squats, 24kg
Walking alternating overhead press, ten out, ten back,  muttering Michael Fucking Chabon on the punch up r,l,r
Single leg squats to box, 10r/10l, right pretty good, left feels like shit
3x

BUP 12kg 5r/5l, 16kg 5r/1l, then back to 12, spastic but got better each circuit
windmills, 8r/l, spastic cause trying to keep torso straight
30 24kg swings, tired of being spastic so these were good and strong with bell flying up
TGUS, 2 16kg l/r, 2 24kg, l/r, spastic cause trying to keep good rkc form, though looking forward on the lunge helped.  Also better each circuit.
3x

After tomorrow it gets ugly.  Stay strong, don't forget to breathe.

Musings - Better

 

 

 

"Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right."
Scarlett Begonias, Robert Hunter


Loved that lyric 30 years ago, now sounds insipid.  But seemed tense and ugly all over the planet last week so retreated to the Grateful Dead play list in gym Thursday and it helped.
Thursday am, ten minutes late for Ericka's 7:00  class, hate it when people come in late, so stuck again on the elliptical for seven miles.  Back in the afternoon, went like this
 15 hindu push-ups
12 front squats, two 16 kgs in rack
20 renegade rows, 35lb dumbells, really focus on keeping shoulders level and no hip rotation, entirely different exercise from whatever I was doing before Ms. Tom straightened me out
eight 1/r single leg deadlifts, 16 kg, again focus on shoulders and hips level and square
3x

10 windmills l/r 16kg
30 swings, 24 kg
3,2,1, TGU ladders l/r, 16kg, again focus on rkc form and staying with it.
2x
Had to cut it short to get home and feed the masses.
Friday, worked from home busy busy, had to go into city for Judge Feng's swearing in at 5:30.  Was going to head into the gym before; but packing up, had not gotten Rose out and she is looking at me lovingly.  Traitor. Ok; scratch the gym, and head to the marsh. Beautiful afternoon.  Come home, and an hour later sitting in Soluna in a suit knocking back a pre ceremony Johnny Walker; three cubes will do it please, yes just like that, thank you.  Feng's swearing in funny as hell, great guy, but too many judges and lawyers in one place.  Flee as soon as acceptable, back to Soluna for one more, a really nice night.  Work up a good head of pity about how I would rather go out in SF, but no where to go.  So head back, where I thought it would just be me and Rose; but Brigid was there.  Put in Two Towers, pity gone, never should have been there in the first place.  Rest of crew comes tumbling in late.  Better.

Saturday, back down the freeway.  Ninety minute trance flow class.  MH commentary about what a weird week it was, everyone seems to agree so it wasn't just me.  Susan cancels meeting and then up to Praxis for session with Ms. Tom.  Not sure what to be most impressed by, the outstanding Stanford education, quiet low key style and observation, or the year of pole dancing on her resume.  Good coaching on everything we went over, need to watch ETK again on the elbow strike and get lats working in snatches.  Back down to downtown, accordian man playing Layla in Civic Center station.  Get down to Equinox, left the fucking keys in Hayes Valley, back up, accordian man now on I am the Walrus.  Once again to Equinox where I am waylaid by Ms. Patel who is also beautiful and smart, and she wants to sell me $300.00 worth of metabolic testing.  Yes, I am sure it would be helpful.  You are right, I probably do overtrain.  No, I don't intend to stop with the kettlebells until they need to be pried from my cold dead fingers.  Pick-up Barry at grandma's and negate all that good work by scarfing four slices of pepperoni and olive washed down with two glasses of chianti.  Barry full of soft smiles and handsome in his new haircut.

This am, take the north levee on the marsh walk.  Amazing the difference a couple of hundred yards can make on an ecosystem; southern levee is all ducks, geese and wading birds.  Northern levee is all about raptors and nervous rodents.  Rose is over-joyed.  Same place, two years ago, shooting pictures of an immature red tail, bird gets nervous and looks up.  Peregrine falcon high up on the same tower.  Red tail takes off and the Peregrine drops like a stone, get the fuck outta my space.  Never would have been there if not for being fit and for the dog.  Grateful for both every day.

Musings - Swinging in The Dark

"The sun is up, the sky is blue, its beautiful, and so are you."
Dear Prudence, John Lennon

Harsh on myself last post.  Dial it back there DT . . . yes you have work to do but so does everyone else. 
Click on the photo, the eye on the Northern Harrier is amazing, hate to be a field mouse . . .

Tuesday, hard day.  Running for 13 hours, finishing the day with a conference call starting at 3:30, dark dark in the office by the time it was done.  Long road home.  8:00 arrival, knew I would be toast if I sat down.
Quick change, out in the back yard with the moon coming up big.  Went like this, after pump stretches, Halos and warm up squats:

15 pushups to T side plank, alternating l/r
 20 tactical lunges, l/r 16kg
10 slow good renegade rows, 20kg, shoulders level, no hip rotation.
15 goblet squats, 20kg
3x

16 windmills 8 l/r, 20 kg
20 kg swings, 30 first circuit, 40 second and third
TGUs, 6 total alternating left right, 16, 18, 20 go slow, really focus on form.
15 of those sit-up that things we did on Sunday and are on Lauren Brooks' video, 16kg.
3x

All that was good, glad I did it, but back was tightening up due to the cold at the end.  Wear more clothes, no, don't call yourself a douche.

This morning, early up, five miles on the Habit Trail.  Intended to get back in pm for two more miles and core work or better yet yoga, but could not stand the thought of Brigid alone another night with her eldest brother.  Got on the 4:25 boat, some guy named Christopher L starts a YELP thread about the Beatles, rolling me back to Arcata in December 1980, drinking beer and angling for an angel faced blonde from Auburn after the Zoology final, and learning Lennon got shot.  Landing snapped out of the reverie, more work up the freeway, to early TJ's dim sum feast.

Cardfio and Kbells tomorrow, unless I can get in for a 7:00 yoga class with Ericka H, the sweet voiced drill instructor.  Need to breathe deep these days, a lot to do and it all matters.

Musings - Back up, Assess as in Ass- ess

"You are strong, you are beautiful"
John Wild Buckley

I have always liked JWB's slogan; positive, simple, empowering.
Me and Brigid, her at seven, August 2003 in the parking lot above Tom's Place at the trailhead to John Muir Wilderness.  Pre-Rose, I was pushing 240 and she could tuck up nicely under my belly . . . Eee gad, fat Dad.  But I did get her there.
 Ok week last week.  Saturday was a great flow class with  MH, started out, two old guys talkin': him, "how ya doin D ?"  Me:  "I don't know yet."  Him: "well we are going to take this slow. . ."  Me, channeling Lyle Lovett: "Honey its so early, we prob'ly shouldn't speak yet." Him: sidling away politely.
Slow did not mean taking it easy; held poses forever, series from warrior two to peaceful to triangle to half moon took about ten minutes per side and after 90 minutes just wrung out.  But felt strong.  Marsh walk in pm with Rose and Brigid was sublime.
Sunday, morning full of difficult work for good clients, then off to Praxis for late afternoon kbell clinic with the redoubtable Ms. Tom.  Beautiful afternoon in the City, god how I miss living in SF.
And god how I have missed good coaching.  Good mobility drills and some humbling takeaways:
1.  Renegade rows:  go light so you can keep the shoulders level and no twistng at the hips; mc did a good article on this, now listen, check your fucking ego at the door and stay at around 35lb, even lighter if you have to, until you can do it right.
2.  Snatch: no you really don't know how to do this exercise; what ever you have been doing ain't gonna cut it period, let alone for anything heavier that a 16.  Been grooving some really awful stuff here and I need to fix it.  It will take one on one work and I just need to start over; Cecilia busted me in about 1.5 seconds.  So no unsupervised and NO V02 max until you learn to walk.
3.  Deck squats are fun; saw the non momentum variety on You tube, think I can work toward this;
4.  Don't give up on your get-ups on the way down; another place where I need to slow down, check the ego at the door.  Time to groove a 16 or maybe a 24 if the 16 goes well.  Yes there is a lot of crap out there on the TGU's but that is not carte blanche to be a sloppy.

Oh yeah, and don't be too hard on yourself . . . You are strong, you are kind of ugly, but you do have a terrific dog.

Today, depo starting at eight am, grinding all day until 5, was going to skip workout but forced myself to hamster land and six miles on elliptical, which was a little over an hour.  Heart rate above 160 for most according to the hamster handles; whatever, I was glad I forced myself to do something.