Body Fat Reduction Challenge Day 8

For the first time in many months, my Mondays are starting to look similar. For the past two Mondays, I've started working out at 8am, was dry heaving by 8:35am and then finished my workout under the watchful eye of Vin Vallejo.

The dry heaving and fatigue was far worse LAST week, so at least I'm improving, but the delicious, not so healthy for me food that I scarfed down at WordCamp Phoenix this weekend didn't help. My dinner from MFTasty last night almost made up for it, as the grub he served us was tasty and delicious.

My arms are very tired right now and all I want to do is take a nap.

This week I'll have five straight days of Vin kicking my ass and doing his best not to make fun of me when I can't finish resistance sprints (or band sprints, or whatever).

Body Fat Reduction Challenge Day 7

After a night eating delicious but not all that healthy food at WordCamp Phoenix, today's run was a requirement. I felt better than I expected, but didn't run as fast as I'd eventually like to. I'm right around 9:30 per mile, which I'd like to shave at least a minute from.

The best way to do this is to lose fat and gain some muscle, which I'm counting on Vin Vallejo to help out with. I start the Vin diet tomorrow and will go all Paleo after that.

Time to stretch!

Body Fat Reduction Contest Day 6

6am wake up call today ended my hopes of boot camp at 7:15am and three presentations killed my chances for the 1pm. I was totally planning to go, Vin Vallejo.

A run, probably four miles is in my future.

My body feels absolutely fantastic. I have a few sore spots from where Vin really leaned in with his hard stick.

Tomorrow is going to feel fantastic.

Body Fat Reduction Challenge Day 5

The best part of my day was when I woke up. As I laid there yet to move, my body felt rested, I felt relaxed and I was glad I'd been working out.

Then I moved and realized everything hurt. Thanks to Vin Vallejo and a combination of stretching, a foam roller and a hard stick, I feel like someone beat me up and then rubbed the bruises in.

The five minutes of jumping rope did a helluva job on my calves.

Three days off! Woohoo!

Body Fat Reduction Challenge Day 4

Today was, according to Vin, my "stretching and healing" day. Good thing, as I still haven't recovered from Monday's workout and I'm positive my shoulders are going to be unusable tomorrow after yesterday's boxing session. 

Here's what happened today:

-I goose stepped my way across the room.

-I lunged and stretched, making sure to suck in as I did.

-I laid on the floor and tried to relax as Vin used a variety of instruments to get as deep as he could.

My back feels great, my calves are still pretty sore from jumping rope (I could barely handle five minutes) and I'm quite tired.

But I FEEL good.

I have the next three days off for WordCamp, but I'm going to get a run in sometime. Next week is FIVE days straight. Oh god.

Body Fat Reduction Challenge Day 3

I'm having trouble using my arms right now. Well, unless you count letting them hang at my sides. That's going pretty well.

But driving, holding my arms up so my fingers can type and reaching above my head are a bit of a struggle. Either I had a stroke this morning or Vin Vallejo of Pro Fitness AZ had me do an hour of boxing. I'm not sure I can tell the difference quite yet.

I did learn a bit today:

1. Running a half marathon in no way means you are in shape.

2. There are five kinds of boxing punches and I'm not sure I'm better than Glass Joe at any of them.

3. Being out of shape and chunky is worse than any workout I've ever done.

4. I'm slightly fearful of ex-fighter Vin sweeping my leg if I don't pay attention.

5. Jumping rope isn't like riding a bike and my toes hurt from the rope repeatedly hitting them.

6. I know what you couch to 5k people feel like.

Tomorrow's workout is allegedly stretching and healing. We'll see.

Body Fat Reduction Challenge Day Two

Vin Vallejo from Pro Fitness AZ didn't kill me yesterday.

But I'm still kinda chunky and now instead of being relaxed after a week of no running, my hamstrings are tight, my shoulders are sore and my lower back requires me to roll instead of sit up in bed.

At least I know we didn't waste our time. I have today off from meeting at the gym, so I'll probably enjoy a nice 5k and stretch, or maybe just stretch.

The diet what Vin sent yesterday, which I'll share once it's more complete, will require me to buy a few specific items that I'm currently out of (tomatoes, cottage cheese) so I probably won't be able to start that until next week. I'm always wary about changing too much stuff at once, as it's easier to give up on everything that way.

But hey, no Diet Coke!

Body Fat Reduction Challenge

I have far more fat on me than I'd like. While I can still run pretty far and I mostly fit into to my 36" waist pants but sometimes not large shirt, I miss the feeling being light on my feet. I've had little success losing weight for almost two years now, so when Vin Vallejo of Pro Fitness offered me the chance to participate if I'd share my experience, I couldn't say yes fast enough.

Vallejo took down my body measurements, recorded my height and weight, and then took a picture straight on and another profile. He also gave me a handheld body fat test, which showed as a little over 25%, which I think is the proper percentage for a pregnant or nursing woman. That's a lot. Vallejo said his goal for me was to get down to 17%, which would mean I'd lose nearly 30 lbs of fat and gain 6-7 lbs of muscle.

I think that would look pretty good on my 5'11" frame, and would help me prepare for my long-term goal, the 2012 Ironman here in Tempe.

Today was my first day. My half marathon last weekend did nothing to prepare me for this. Three and a half workout sets later, I dry heaved in the rest room for nearly seven minutes. I bet that didn't happen during YOUR Monday morning.

Finish the sets I did, and Vallejo said his goodbye and promised to send a meal plan.

I received it a few hours later and by now rigor mortis (don't fight it) is kicking in. My back is tight, the hamstrings we focused on today are stiff and I really want to take a nap.

I'll be posting about work outs ever day for the next two months. Yes, I'm doing them in Vibrams.

Until next time, Pro Fitness.

These are not the hackers you're looking for...

I can't comment on this State Press article, so here's what I would have said:

Colin -

I hope your editor and/or journalism professor beats you for quoting Wikipedia. It sounds terrible and offers no flow to the writing. Paraphrase and link that stuff, yo.

Second, Co+Hoots, Skysong's Hackspace and Gangplank aren't hackerspaces, they're coworking spaces.

Next, Gangplank never charges. Co+Hoots does. 

Third, I can't believe you managed to get the copyright statement for the Co+Hoots and Gangplank logos correct, yet failed to interview anyone from either shop. You realize email and Twitter make requesting an interview a 30-second task?

HeatSync Labs IS a hackerspace. They break shit, put it back together, make new things and build stuff. That's what hackers do. They figure out how something works, then use what they found to make something different or better. It's an important distinction.

Do better.

Original article here: http://www.statepress.com/2011/01/20/geekin-it-hackerspaces-what-the-hell-are-they/

Huge pet peeve

Know those industrial-size toilet paper dispensers in most building bathrooms? The ones with the capacity for a roll of one-ply toilet paper that lasts about a week?

I hate those things. I hate that they're mounted sideways, making it near impossible to obtain a flat roll of toilet paper for me to clean up my business. It ends up twisted and irregular and I swear I use about three times as much as I would if the roll wasn't parallel to the wall.

I can't be the only person with this problem.

Need design person for full-time gig in Phoenix (tell your friends!)

Good friend of mine is launching a retail product in a few months. He's looking for an in-house designer to help maintain the website and create and modify packaging for all product lines.

Office is located on Camelback and 32nd-ish.

Qualifications:

-Be fluent in both web and print design, with emphasis on print
-Apply and modify corporate and brand graphics
-Prep art for packaging
-Familiar in working with printers
-Create new packaging as necessary, as well as promotion material, marketing materials, print ads etc, sales sheets, cost sheets, power point presentations etc.

Pay is negotiable and depends on experience.

Interested parties should send a print work portfolio to tyler@tdhurst.com

Please attach PDF or give link for download. Please don't send a bunch of links to individual projects.

Fruit hunting for @meyouhealth

I completed this challenge years ago in the orchards of Eastern Washington. You see, my grandparents had land out there, so they gave us permission to enter, but let me tell you, finding what we were looking for was treacherous.

The parcel of land, lined with tree after tree, made for tough navigation. Once we were in this maze, it was often impossible to see our way back out, and after the sun set we could barely see each other.

We'd often trek through the maze armed only with Capri Sun and a bag slung over our shoulders. My brother and I would run from tree to tree, grabbing our low-hanging prize before anyone noticed. We'd sometimes eat our kill right there, as a celebration of the hunt. Juices would run down our chins, and then we'd take our bounty back to grandma's house.

She skinned, chopped and grinded for us. Sometimes she'd even add spices to the pulpy mixture to make a sort of cider that could be enjoyed warm or cold. 

I often wonder if the trees knew we were eating their offspring so close to where they lived. Thankfully, I hadn't seen Lord Of The Rings yet, so the nightmares about walking trees never surfaced. But sometimes...I dream of it.

Anyway, that's how we got apples for our breakfast. Sometimes we'd go to the store and buy bananas. Those were easier.

Perhaps my best @meyouhealth challenge EVER

Play mini-basketball with a wadded-up piece of paper.

I was born for this challenge.

This morning, as I walked into Starbucks I notice a crumbled napkin on the floor. I glanced around, looking for the garbage can, but the line must have blocked it. Frantic to both get this likely contaminated piece of paper out of my hand and complete the challenge, I shifted into a three-point stance and pump faked.

No one moved. Crap. That usually works. I then swung the hanging strap of my laptop bag over my left shoulder and buckled the top. Confident it was secure, I threw a cursory glance behind me and noticed a lady opening the door behind me. No way in hell was I going to let her catch me on a breakaway!

I fake dribbled, took two large steps (maybe three, but I didn't hear a whistle) and reached over the counter just left of the espresso machine. The barista looked up and our eyes locked. Hers were a mixture of annoyance and fear, my eyes burned with a desire I've only felt on a eight-foot hoop while playing with a women's basketball.

Still leaning, I switched hands Jordan-style and lofted the wad, left-handed, with a little scoop shot. It hit the back of the can and bounced in. BOOYAH.

I lurched back, bumping into a customer in line on his phone and quickly apologized.

I left without ordering coffee and probably won't go there again.

But damn...what a rush.

Good message from West Wing, re: #gifford shooting

We're not enemies.

Exposition of Jared Lee Loughner

This was ridiculous. My first reaction is here: http://tdhurst.com/public-exposition-jared-lee-laughner

Below is the Vimeo version of the five Jared Lee Loughner videos from YouTube and his one favorite video.

Best description of Yoshi...ever

Totally copied from Dorkly.com. So awesome. Part of a series on best and worst versions of sidekicks.

Finally, a sidekick that would swallow anything. Uh, I mean, a sidekick that would let you ride it all day long. Crap! I mean – a sidekick that could really take a pounding. I MEAN A SIDEKICK THAT WOULD ALWAYSCOME AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME! OH GOD, WHY CAN’T I STOP?! …Yoshi was a good sidekick and a dinosaur. He could eat enemies, had a variety of abilities depending on his color, and Mario could sacrifice him for an extra jump over long chasms. That is all.

http://www.dorkly.com/article/1740/the-dorklyst-the-7-best-and-7-worst-sidekicks-in-videogame-history/page:2

Free your writing and the rest will follow

I just finished reading Accidental Genius by Mark Levy. The book explains and gives examples about the concept of free writing, which is unedited, often unpunctuated and always unstructured writing that's said to be able to unlock ideas and solutions that exist just beyond the clouds of our minds.

I wrote the rest up at tdhurst.com

Latest cover letter

I'm ready to take my talents to a bigger market.

Let's face it, the sun in Phoenix is nice and all, but this is the JV. I've done of ton of good here by connecting businesses, sharing ideas and helping people understand that magic that good stories bring with them.

I'm a 24/7 workhorse. I blog from bed, check Twitter anywhere I have web access and am on more beta lists than I can keep track of.
I've been a product reviewer for Fresh Pair, Sumo Lounge, TNT and a host of smaller firms. I was also flown to NYC courtesy of JetBlue for a holiday party because I'm one of those influential types.

I want to create awesome. How can I help you do that?

Playing with words (h/t @dpatricklewis)

Reprehensible behavior from Phoenix Government

I hope that this story is not completely true.

http://phxdowntowner.org/2011/01/01/city-gags-committee/