A Saturday entry
Threads…
Lawn..
Exercise..
Shower…
Just sitting down with a nice cold Margarita. I mix them with Cuervo Gold Tequila and Grand Mariner, pronounced down here ‘Graw min’yea.’ Or is that when you pronounce it ‘Graw min’yea’ down here you then have to repeat it ‘Grand Mare’in-her’. Anyway, I like them frozen or on the rocks but the wife likes them frozen. So we drink them frozen, right? Right. On the rocks is much more friendly to the caloric intake since you get your 2 1/2 oz of booze in a tumbler instead of in a tall fru-fru glass. But who am I to argue?
Threads weren’t too bad. That is chapter nine of eleven, I think, in the SCPJ2 exam cert course book I’m using. It is not near as excruciatingly boring as was the previous couple of chapters on… shit, I need to review. This is the most rules-based language since I had to learn Ada in college. Obviously, for those who paid attention to the post about my strategy to achieve three certifications by mid-August know that I am already a week behind on my ambitious plan. Slogging through this book has been much more tedious than I could have imagined. While I am still convinced that this is the best course prep book out there, the writing style leaves much to be desired for someone who covers the amount of material I am in such a short time. The naming conventions in the plentiful examples, while very descriptive, get way too confusing when discussing the example code in the context of the overall language constructs. Too similar sounding names for the principle and the example is confusing when working with complex material, like high-level abstract computer programming with Java.
I should really try to get into chapter 10 this evening, but the margarita it too good. So I will have another. Then, who can study with a tequila buzz?
We had some good rain about a week and a half ago so the lawn was overdue. I have the rider (I bought it for $100 off the neighbor about a year and a half ago), the gas weed eater and edger, the gas blower, all the conveniences of modern day lawn care. So why does it still suck? Don’t get me wrong, I love to mow. There is nothing more therapeutic, in my opinion, than mowing. I don’t mean mowing with a walk-behind push mower, but mowing on something big, something that makes Tim Allen go ‘Rrrrrr.” But taking care of my lawn sucks.
I guess the reason is that mowing the lawn is a chore. Something that you have to allocate time for and fit into a schedule. Tending to your lawn is something you have to work in around your job. Whereas mowing a pasture with a tractor is a job that other chores have to be worked in around. You cant get into trouble for not doing the lawn if you were busy mowing.
Exercise is very important. Especially when you like to drink like I do. I will be forty in less than two months and except for about twenty-five stubborn pounds, a few lines around the eyes and mouth, and some gray hairs on my head, whiskers, chest, and probably even on my butt, I look better now than I did in college, the first time anyway, where I played football on scholarship. Why do they call a free ride for athletics a scholarship?
In deference to my age, I have toned down my workouts quite a bit. But being of the obsessive-compulsive type, I am sure I will continually increase the intensity until I blow something out of whack. Usually it is a joint that I strain. Elbow or knee. That is what I always do. Then I quit exercising due to injury and once again find myself, in about a year’s time, in need to start a new work-out program and that stubborn 25 pounds has metamorphosized into about 40 excessive pounds. Which is not as bad as it sounds since I am 6′ 4″ and solid as a rock. I have a washboard stomach under my beer gut. No kidding!
Anyway, all I do is about 20 minutes on a treadmill at a substantial incline. I just reached a 14:40 mile the other day (I just started working out again about six weeks ago.) I carry a 10 pound dumbbell in each hand as I walk and alternate between different toning exercises while walking. Then, after the treadmill, I retire to the back porch, where my gym-quality power rack has been vanquished. I don’t really need the power rack since I don’t do any power lifting anymore, but it also has a weight stack on a pulley system that is damn convenient. Strictly low-weight, high-rep. I spend about twenty minutes doing a simple circuit-type training routine. Then I do some bench presses for a good overall total body-strength exercise (and to make my chest obscene, of course).
I tell you what, already being a potent stud, this exercise routine really gets me into competition shape. I doubt women my own age could keep up.