We are so fucked . . .

"The Senate chamber is an intimate room where men and women go to talk to themselves for the record."

George Packer, The Empty Room, The New Yorker, August 9, 2010.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_packer#ixzz0wMp85ZW6

 You take Packer's article, read it in conjunction with Purdum's upcoming Vanity Fair piece http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129090078 and you may as well learn how to stand on one foot well, military press 40kg and snatch 200 in ten, 'cause that's about the only thing you control and the rest is just Rome falling around you. 

Friday

10 dolphin to dolphin plank

5+5 sls, 12kg bu

Press, 

10+10 double 16 alternating overhead press

3+3 24 kg c to p

1+1 32

20 walking lunges, double 35lb dumbbells

3x, but last circuit three singles on the 32 strict mp, both sides, crushing it.

30/30 20 24kg swings x 10.

Finished by 3:45, walk up to client's office in workout gear to pick up 12k, bag man in running shoes and shorts.

Get back by 4:20, still feel strong so 60 min yoga.  Went well.

Saturday, three mile marsh walk with 5 and dogs, Bella gets launched as above.  5 takes pity and feeds me massive quantities of sushi; his heart is huge which is why I have loved and forgiven him since 1968.

Sunday, one more three mile walk, wash and shave Barry, wash Rose, then to Sara's for bbq.

Monday, three miles am, beat the crap out of the day, then

pm

15 pushups, hands on med balls, feet on box

5+5 sls, to 5+5 sls 12kg bu on active side

10 double 16 clean and press

3+3 24kg press

1+1 32kg press, fucked

20 walking lunges with 2 35lb. dumbbells

x3

45/30, 24kg jerks x10.  Five sets per side, a bit over 100 jerks total, more work needed.

Tuesday, five miles, late.

Wednesday

am

20/20 10 pushups, slow and hard x 8

3+3 16kg bu squat to press, to 8+8 squat to press, 80lb barbell

10+10 rows, 60lb dumbbell

6+6 single leg deads, 16kg

3x

8+8 16kg windmills top, 12kg bottom

5+5x3 16kg snatches

2+2 24kg tgu

3x

5+5 snatches to get to 100

20 more pushups to get to 100.

Smoking 60 min MH yoga in pm.

We are still so fucked.

Marsh walk with Rose this morning, trying get her to crap out the 1.75 pounds of chateaubriand she stole off the counter last night.  Makes me gag to think about it.

A beautiful walk.  It's quiet, deserted.  Shooting at  Harrier on the north levee, sounds like a stealth bomber just above, look up and it's a thousand or so ducks heading in low, webbed feet hanging for landing.  Heart stops.

This is about 20% of them after they've landed.  Still focused on the Harrier and can't go wide.

Been watching this bird for a couple of weeks now; it is young and not very skittish, foolish youth.  It flies up off the north levee and circles 'round cooperatively to my left.  I am maybe 30 feet away, now cursing not going to the mid-range zoom, cause I don't need all the glass and sure could use VR.  Fuck it, do your best.  Snap off 30 or 40 shots while the bird looks at me, head cocking with every click.

I know the real opportunities are gonna come when it flies off.  It's foggy as hell and I can't get the shutter speed I need given my slow lens and caffeinated grip, but what the hell.

Bird continues to be cooperative and flies behind a few blades of grass mitigating to some extent my poor technique.  But I have been walking this marsh for nearly four years now and have never gotten so close to a Harrier, glad to have started carrying the camera again.

Harrier gone now, but the noise is wild, the ducks are going off, the swallows are clicking at practically arms reach and terns are screeching overhead.  Everything is feeding and I can almost forgive Rose her $19.00 steak theft.  Almost.

If the demise of our political institutions was followed swiftly by the species' extinction, or at least significant reduction in numbers, what it would be like to see the planet bounce back.  This marsh is just a tiny pathetic remnant of habitat but it shines.  I wanted to sit in the dirt with my dog and just soak it in.  Was able, for a good time though not long enough, to do just that.  

We are so fucked and it is so beautiful.

Beautiful Strings

"Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license.  Indeed, the evidence shows that Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same sex couples.  Because California has no interest in discriminating against gay men and lesbians, and because Proposition 8 prevents California from fulfilling its constitutional obligation to provide marriages on an equal basis, the court concludes Proposition 8 is unconstitutional."
Perry v, Schwarzenegger, Vaughn Walker, Chief Judge, U.S.D.C., N.D. Cal.

Sing it Judge.  A concise conclusion after a 136 page evisceration of the Proposition, the hate behind it, and the abysmal effort to defend it.  Stay tuned.
Friday, three miles in am.  PM, into sf, driving Larry Carlton and crew around while mixing work fairly adeptly if I do say so.  Very nice people;  after sound check (a real treat) "Ok David, we'll see you tonight at the show."  Umm, may not make it.  "What, well you'll come tomorrow then."  Lamely, uhmm, I'll try.  Road crew shaking their heads.
So Saturday, feeling strong 'cause no kbells since Wednesday, goes like:
10 dolphin to dolphin plank
10 20kg goblet squats
Presses
5+5 16
4+4 20
3+3 24
2+2 28
1+1 32
It's all play until the 28, but 32 shooting up both sides, all three circuits.  Best press session, ever.
10+10 20kg tactical lunges
Swings, 30/30, 20 per, descending ladder, five rungs each 28-16, 400 swings total.
Call comes in a 6:30, have an 8:00 ticket, drop B with Anne and into Yoshi's for the 8:00 set, awesome musicianship.  "Glad you made it David." Oh yeah, and back up by 9:45.
Sunday, three miles
Monday, Good work day, just angry I have to do it.  Workout goes like:
20/20, ten push-ups x 10.
5+5 step-ups to 12 inch box, double 16's.
10+10 60lb dumbbell rows, these are awesome
10 slow box squats, 22lb body bar.
3x
30/30 20 24kg swings, to 1+1 24kg tgu, x 10.  Uh huh, felt great.
Tuesday.  Felt like prey all day.  Angry, fucking livid in fact, at my partners, one for being quietly  passive aggressive and the other for having the audacity to take a two week vacation after his abysmal year.  Around 4:00, tired of the pity party and resolve to light fires and start blowing shit up.  Now that feels better, predator, not prey.  Walk dog late with Ian.
Today, four miles am.  SLS on heavy bottoms up.  Good productive day at work.  Yeah, your vacation is fucked for this year, but it is not your time on the clock.  You can descend to their level and gin up some sense of entitlement, but fuck that.  Just do the work, make the calls and fry some asses.
PM, not feeling sharp but:
5+5 x 2 pushups to renegade rows, 50lb dumbbells
10 box squats, 22 lb bar, to 10 ten double 16kg squat to press
MP, 3+3 24kg, to 1+1 32kg, unlike sat not a single clean press on left.  More down time needed.
5+5 sls, with 12kg bottoms up.
x3
Snatch session, 15/15, seven rep pace, x 30.

Cardio in the morning, more blowing shit up, and close with EH 60 min class tomorrow.

Try to breath deep, and not think murderous thoughts.  Don't read junk emails while driving.  Scratch your dog.  Think well of Vaughn Walker.  HSB line-up comes out at 4 tomorrow.  Smile, not maniacally.

Dog Days

"I will try to make myself worthy of your trust."
Daniel Schorr @themaninthehat, 12:29, February 28, 2009


RIP DS, will miss your voice.  It would be nice if all journalists made such a commitment.  Instead, with the exception of Jim Lehrer and his crew, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert,  I wonder who to distrust least.  There is little in the way of commitment to reporting; the news is dominated by partisan bickering  and grandstanding.  News anchors just serve up softballs to the shouter on the left and the screamer on the right, and if we are lucky David Gergen is in the middle.  It sucks, and is getting worse.

Friday off day.
Saturday, three mile marsh walk That was only four exercise days last week and I felt better for it.  Need to get smarter about backing off; any success here is sure to be temporary.

Grinding work all weekend and gonna blow off kbells on Sunday, email comes in, we are outside on Marina Green and that tips it the other way.  Rose gets a good swim, nice hour workout in the spitting fog on the green.  I hope I am not as paunchy as that photo makes me look.
Monday, five miles
Tuesday, three miles in the am, nine and a half hours of mediation to a very very successful end.  Cooked, leave, gonna bag any thought of pm workout.  Client reminds me, "David, go do it.  You told me not to let you skip without at least chiding you."  Didn't remember that, but whatever.  Hit the gym at 7:30, goes like this:
5 burpees to renegade rows to suitcase deads, 24kg.
10 box squats, 22lb bar overhead, to 10 double 16kg squat to press
3+3 24kg MP, to 1+1 32 kg MP
20 walking lunges, 35lb dumbbells
3x
30/30 20 24kg swings, x10.
After running on adrenaline and caffeine all day, that was plain shitty.  The only thing that felt good were the heavy presses on the right, though I did get two out on left.  Glad I did it, but was not one of those times where you push to start, and shitty becomes good after 20 minutes.  This was shitty all the way, and almost never feel like that.
Wednesday, 60 min MH class, then up to CT for 30 min blast
10 24kg suitcase deads
10 burpees
5+5 20 kg long push press
10+10 24 kg swings
x5
Very little time between sets and circuits and was a drenching 30 minutes.
1+1 20 kg tgu.
Thursday, totally great 60 min EH class.  Bunch of trainers in there, she is the real deal.

Burning through the Fog

"I like playing in Oakland, they have colorful uniforms"

Rickey Henderson

Colorful it is.


Thursday 7/15, four miles, no mas;
Friday, 7/17 another three mile crap day, from a workout standpoint, Rose loved the marsh.

Saturday, 7/18.  Three miles am, pm, feeling drag ass but not skipping.  Fairly lightweight deal like this:
10 Dolphin to Dolphin plank, slow
10 24KG Goblet squats
Press work, forget 32, it's hot and right shoulder is mildly verbal from earlier press fest
5+5 16kg
4+4 20kg
3+3 24kg
2+2 28kg
20 20kg tactical lunges
3x
Swings,
30/30 20 swings, 24 kg x 10
Sunday, nothing.  Do some Yoshi's runs in am, Rohn Lawrence from Pieces of a Dream and Jessy J.  Both are delightful.
Then it's Audrey's memorial in pm and I am rocked.  All those people I have known for so long.  I want to stand up and just tell them how beautiful they are, how I don't want to do this sort of thing again, but know we will and too soon.  That gets mixed up with Jay nearly three years ago and I can't talk but that's ok; the tribe gathers when members move on but no one has to do anything.  The dysfunction is acknowledged and shoved aside for what really matters; we shared formative time, laughed a lot and care deeply.  Barry gets it, everyone gets a hello and a hug.  Brigid loved Audrey and is a bit stunned, but her helpful self.  Ian and his mother no shows as is usually the case; there is always something more important to do.  For my part going to have to be sad for a bit.
Monday 7/19.  It has to be a back-off week, busy and I need it anyway.  AM workout like this:
10 pushups to 5+5 renegade rows, 24kg x 2
10 24kg goblet squats, really slow and strong
windmills, 3+3 12kg bottoms up, 7+7 16kg
20 walking lunges, 35lb dumbbells
x3, then 40 pushups in sets of 10 to get to 100.
TRX work
5+5 rows to bicep curls, sllooww
10+10 lo to high woodchoppers
3x
Tuesday, nothing, too much work.
Wednesday 7/2
am
20/20 10 pushups each x8

5+5 sls, then 5+5 12kg bu sls
10+10 60lb dumbell rows
10 80lb barbell squat to press
x3, not the push-ups, last three circuits, are you nuts ?

Swings
30 24kg x5, alternating with 10 32kg x5
between each, 1+1 TGUS like this
1-3, 12kg bu
4-6, 24kg
6-10, 50lb barbell
Relaxing TRX stretch after.

Get CS on the line after months of bullshit and tear him a new one for mc, sometimes I love my job.


pm, absolutely smoking MH class.



Today
Busy day laced with hard meetings.  Finish at 6:00, 45 minutes of recap emails, get two miles on elliptical.
Then up to CT studio, fun on a late weeknight.
Some yoga poses to start, love the full body triangle experience.
Kick into Kbell gear
Descending swing ladders 5-1 30/30, 20 each, stick with 20kg given previous day's swing fest
10 box squats alternating.
1+1 TGU, right bad, really bad, due to sweat slippage.  Fucking around with G on bu stuff after, fun and will do more of, gonna kick his young ass on the 24 left next week.
Shitty wf sushi dinner on drive up.  Dog ecstatic upon arrival, as usual.  Humming.

Bump City

"You done went and found you a guru,
In an effort to find you a new you.
And maybe even managed to raise your conscience level."
Tower of Power, What is Hip

I lived in the East Bay from 1980-1983 and managed to barely set foot in Oakland.  BART trips from Berkeley to see the A's and smoke dope in the bleachers and wait for Rickey Henderson to do something amazing (he never disappointed) don't count; you don't even need to touch the ground to get to the Coliseum.  There were the dozen or so Dead concerts at the Henry J. Kaiser convention center after they closed Winterland, but those barely count; I didn't live there then and last time I was there was for the bar exam.

The closest I came to any serious Oakland street time was at the end of 15 mile runs starting in North Berkeley, up Euclid to Marin, gut busting two block hump, eventually up to Skyline and a long sinuous ridge route to Claremont and down to College, up and across campus and back to Virginia.  That was where the white people lived in the East Bay in the early eighties.  There I flirted with the northern edge, but that is essentially Berkeley.  Doesn't really count either.

No, to get a taste of Oakland ya' gotta come out of the City Center BART station and catch the high school aged punks smoking dope on the side walk at 9:30 in the morning while their teenage girlfriends scream at their babies in beat-up strollers.  Ya' gotta see the angry Oakland cops on the corners with their dogs just waiting for some shit to go down.  You have to see the young men splayed on the sidewalk, boot in the back, being told to shut the fuck up, while being cuffed with all their buddies heckling the cops.  You have to see the bleary eyed old ladies asking for change in front of De Laurers so they can get the daily meal, a cheap sandwich from Subway.  It's grim and this pathetic white boy from the suburbs doesn't like it.

  'Cept on Wednesdays at noon.  On Wednesdays at noon bands play at City Center.  People dance.  Its not like downtown SF where you have a bunch of stressed out Marina chicks barely tapping their toes in front of 101 California while they eat their fro yo.  It is an eclectic group that likes to move and they are not shy about it.


That I get.  I stand on the perimeter with old Chinese couples, well-dressed women and earnest Cal students and watch the kids from the federally funded summer programs get down.  I remember an old lady in the Coliseum bleachers reminiscing about the A's World Series runs of the early seventies:  "We were out here and they were winning.  There was a full moon; everyone was happy.  That was a beautiful feeling."  Indeed.

Saturday
Head in for MH class, Equinox has cut it to 75 minutes which pisses me off.  But MH is MH and though it goes fast it is good.  Afternoon, take Ian, Brigid and Rose for marsh walk along the north levee.  It was just mowed, so figured it'd be good, but no.  No path and bumpy, crappy water to the left,  Kids are complaining so I suggest we bushwhack it under 37 go up the railroad grade, come back and take south levee back.  Clawing through mud and pickle weed, they look at me like I am nuts.  Who is to say they are wrong.

Sunday
Go out at 7:00, to DO WORK.
Burpees to pushups to suitcase deads, eight reps, two pushups each, 20kgs.
10 24kg Goblet squats
10+10 28kg rows
5+5 sls to ten inch bench
x3
add another 32 pushups to get to 80.
20 24kg swings, 1+1 24kg tgu, x10.
Monday, five miles.
Tuesday, tired, think I'm gonna do kbells in the evening, instead 3 miles in morning and then MH pm stiff guy class.  Hour of hammy work, it is awesome.
Today
warm up, then
10+10 24kg alternating floor press, flip to ten pushups
20 body weight box squats, clean two 16kg and 10 squat to press
Press ladder, 1+1-5+5, 24kg, clean each press
60 second plank
x3
That was a shitload of press work, light, but still . . .
10 32 kg swings, 20/15x10
PM yoga.  MH class is packed, drop mat in front row next to model buddy, gal comes to squeeze in next.  Bitch.  I sweat and don't want to be in model buddies' lap.  I move up to the very front to give them room, four inches from mirror.  No 50 year old man should be that close to a mirror for any reason save possibly hair removal.  I feel like Gimili the fucking dwarf on stage, too broad and squat.  Practice was actually pretty good, considering.
Hard Style Ventura coming up, and the boards are abuzz.  Looks awesome.  Then I read Rif's account of RKC II where they make everyone do doubles.  Double 24's are no joke, he writes.  No shit.  Unless you been doing it all your life, this is a young folk's game.  Who am I kidding.  Just stay on the side, and watch them dance old man.

The Difficult Kind

"I am very picky about my people and my beer."  
Shelby Lynne

Shelby was at Yoshi's this week and despite having nine comp tickets, I didn't go.  I should have.  Shelby is smart and extraordinarily talented, here appearing as Sheryl Crow's doppelganger on The Difficult Kind, from the 2003 Grammy's, back when she was flirting briefly with mainstream commercial success.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQBlBbzVeog&feature=related.  She blows Sheryl Crow off the stage just standing there;  even the N'sync guys in the front row could not have missed the appeal of a real WOMAN belting it out with devastating confidence.  Wow, Britney who ?
But I didn't go.  I thought it would be too hard to hard to juggle the scheduling from 30 miles north and B would have had to come and could not figure out how to get him into the city without going and collecting him and returning and blah, blah, blah, blah blah.  Dipshit, just do it.  Maybe next time for Nashville-by-way-of-Palm Desert meets Yoshi's.  Sushi and sake don't leap to mind listening to her but it woulda worked.
Get over it.
Monday, six miles
Tuesday, nothing in am, PM like this starting about 7:30:
Ten pushups to 5+5 20kg renegade rows x 2
5+5 single leg deads with corrective stick, a la Franz' video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGXeeJKsekw
Clean &Press
16x5/5
20x4/4
24x3/3
28x2/2
32x1/1
not a single 32 on left, though 28's felt really strong.
10+10 24kg suitcase deads
3x
Would have been fine to stop there after Sunday, but left to my own devices the default is push so
30/30 20 24kg swingsx10,
which tore a few more callouses on my right hand after Sunday's swingfest.  Should have stopped.
Wednesday, three miles am
PM, quick ab circuit, planks, 45 sec each front side side, 20 sec rest per.
Thursday, Four miles am, opt for rest pm.
Today, stay at home in Novato day, kind of poking at work after JL saved my bacon yesterday.  At 2:30 its a marsh walk with Ian and Rose.  Take Brigid to MST and out to the back with bells at 7:30.  Went like this:
10 dolphin to dolphin plank, slow, hard
10 20kg goblet squats
C&P
16x5/5
20x4/4
24x3/3
28x2/2
32x1/1
Crushing the 32 both sides save last on left, would have liked to finish it but, I'll take it.
5+5 sls, to 12 inch base
3x
5+5 windmills, 20kg high, 16kg low
1+1x5 24kg tgu
x2
Slow on the tgu's, felt very, very good, no ballistic stuff, let the hands have a break.
Yoga tomorrow.  First class this week and can't wait.

1776

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Declaration of Independence


"There is no such thing as luck."
Obi Wan Kenobi

"Make it so."
Jean luc Picard

Fuck the fireworks, I'd like to join Brigid up there, in the hammock at Uncle John's, for Anne's 83rd, 7/3.  Unbelievable bbq salmon, potato salad, veggies.  Yum.
Actually pretty shitty at the Lyon Street steps 6/29.  Swings and TGU's flat after Sunday.  Need to practice sub maximal and stop being a dick.
Went like this:
20/20, 10 slow push-ups x8
20 tactical lunges 20kg
5+5x2 20kg snatches
5+5 single leg deads 16kg
x3, 40 more snatches, 40 more pushups to get to 100 each.
20 24 kg swings x 5
1+1 24 tgu for active rest. Stop before I hurt myself.
6/30
three miles am, pm mh yoga, good
7/1
gonna be a swing fest on 7/4, so TRX only
12 atomic push-ups
10+10 split squats
5y,w,row,bicep curl, really slow
20 walking lunges, double 35's, trainers and clients fleeing as I head toward them breathing like Darth.  But the form is solid and good.  Thanks Casey.
3x
TRX sls side, 18lb medicine ball
10+10 military curls
10+10 lo to high woochoppers, pull down lats, serratus, all of it and purr.
10 reverse pull-ups off of Smith machine.  It is good for something.
2x
Aiming for yoga pm but can't get there.
7/2
In honor of thinking sub maximal steal Rif's back off press workout

Warmup Swings

16 kg x 5/5/5/5 x2

20 kg x5/5

24 kg x5/5x4

Clean and Press

16 kg x5/5

20 kg x5/5

24 kg x5/5 x 5

Snatches

20 kg x5/5 x 5

Took no time, focus is on volume press work which was no problem at all.

7/3, three mile Marsh walk with Ian.  Crazy beautiful.

7/4.  Long ass wait on the corner of Vallejo and Machin waiting for them to get Garbarino's ego trip out of the way so we can walk our dogs down Grant street in the 95 degree heat.  Barry is delighted so it's worth it.  Got a fair amount of mileage in just running around; I'll call it two but that is light.  Rose hot, tired and fried.

Race into City late for CT swing fest; think I'm gonna be late, too hot, stuck in traffic psychic crap.

But by the time hit Richardson Bay bridge, wind is blasting the heat away no traffic energy level soaring; crap blows out with western breeze.  Pick up CT for 1776 swing fest with Dan P and Bob ?, in the park on Page.  Beautiful breezy day with light bouncing off of the surrounding buildings, Dan is a perfectly delightful fellow victim and CT has it dialed in.  Some trepidation, we kick it off:

16kg
50x10

40x10

30x10

25x10

20x10

15x7

1x21

1:53, at 1300 we knew we would make it, insane swing count totally doable given CT's plan which undoubtedly took only a modest amount of her considerable brain power; happy to have it.

All pretty happy, hands fucked but better now.

That hammock looks really really good . . .this is why I love the Internet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdckin2EnEI