LMAO… I can NEVER go out in public with you. The world would implode. Someone would end up in prison.
[quote]ThePerfectDrug wrote:
LMAO… I can NEVER go out in public with you. The world would implode. Someone would end up in prison.[/quote]
Go for it. Gotcha covered.
Bear, you are the luckiest person ever to have Dave around to tell you to pull faster. I have to have my imaginary Dave tell me that, and it works like shit.
n- fucking with peoples heads is a constant. that train track is always running.
owlie- you’re obviously remarkably intelligent, and i like you for that 
if my ego were a cock it’d be rock hard right now. could pound finishing nail through oak trim.
nads- if you’re stuck thats not the bloody part. that smears and gets stiff more than sticky, so maybe you should go shower…
bre- now seems like a good time to remind/inform you that my boss has told me that he has bail money set aside in an account, just to make sure i dont miss work. good to know we have more than one person on our side, though.
kimbahhh- oh i know im lucky, believe me. i never fail to learn something when im there, even if its not directly related to my lifting it gets sorted, filed, and stored. im a roast, baste me!
Meet Countdown, 4/16
Sunday Bench @ EFS
Deficit bench, with cambered bench bar
Where they come up with this shit i’ll never know. I love it.
So the bar is smooth and from what i could tell, ringless, but my grip felt good and no one told me to fix it. (i’d been told recently that it was a bit too wide.)
more description for those who havent seen one (i hadnt before today)- the “raised” part is what touches your chest, and the “low” part where your hands are is about 2 inches lower than where the bar/your hands would be with a straight bar. also, the sleeves don’t rotate, so if you wobble and the plates wobble, you have to fight the wobble. so, dont wobble.
worked up to 5 sets of doubles with 135. tried 145 but it wasnt pretty enough for Teds taste. (this is assuming the bar weighs 45 and not 50… not sure at this point. dont care much.)
made sure my setup was consistent so its automatic at the meet (had not idea it was INconsistent, thanks for waiting till now to tell me, guys), and that i was driving through my heels and using my godforsaken lats.
so then i was sposed to do a set for reps with 135 to just before failure. while i was wrapping my wrists, ted asked me how many reps i was gonna get. ?!? having left my crystal ball at home, i took a guess and picked 6, as that’s the most reps ive gotten with 135 that i can remember.
so i got 135x8, for a +2 rep PR. HAPPY DANCE
dunno what got into the boys today, but they were having a dick waving contest of arnold expo amusement proportions, testing grip and weird “feats” of strength.
so i had to try some of em myself. one was a weird kettlebell swing curl into an overhead press thing- Jon tried and quit. i tried (with a smaller bell) and got it.
the second was pullup related, but using only the index and middle finger of each hand. Ted told Jon that he’d pay Jon’s meet fee if he could get 5 pullups like that. didn’t happen. I gave it a shot. I made it happen.
so then Ted said that he used to try doin it with his ring and pinky fingers but could never really manage. OF COURSE, i had to try that, also. i got 2.
You all may thank my two older brothers for this “beat or match the boys” mentality/obsession i have. i believe its part of my charm.
then there were more back exercises that i forget most of, except for front and side chain raises. those things are EVIL. and i LOVE them.
seems like the week off did me pretty ok, now i just gotta NOT fuck up.
shit, don’t know if I’m more impressed by 135x8(after already doing all the doubles at 135 w/cambered bar) or the 5 two finger pullups, probably the pullups but still nice bench PR. Bet you will press something insane on meet day.
I love the finger pullups. WTF?!
So many things that I could comment on, but seriously, nice training. That’s what this is all about, right?
Congrats on the rep PR.
Alright, I can’t resist commenting on the brown sheets. Good call on that retort. Somebody has to help snap the public out of their collective commercial zombie mentality. Really, HGTV?!?
I’m glad you have people that have you covered. First thing SH told me was “I’m not bailing you two out”. I think we have a pretty good record so far. I don’t think I’ve even seen your shenanigans make someone cry. Sounds like some good clean fun to me…
Nice work on the squats and Woo Hoo! on the bench PR. Cambered bars are a bitch so that’s pretty cool to hit an all-time bench PR with a specialty bar that makes the movement harder. And, beating the boys is so fun.
You’re going to kill it at the meet!
[photo]26097[/photo]
I said goodbye to my hero today.
Between March 25th and April 1st, she went to the ER for a kidney infection that lead to renal failure that led to sepsis and system failure.
She turned 95 in February, and lived enough for several lifetimes.
Before you offer me condolences of any kind, at least skim the following rant- it may or may not follow any semblance of structure.
She was born and raised in Small Town, Ohio. She got married at 19, and buried her husband when I was 2. She lived through 5 wars, The Great Depression (raising a baby, my dad’s older brother), Roosevelt, the Kennedy’s, the hippies, and the emos.
When she and my grandfather bought their first house, she worked right along side of him making it livable, shovel to shovel digging the trench for the sewerline from the house to the street- it was without indoor plumbing.
She made Rearden Metal look like aluminum foil.
She wasn’t famous*, rich, or remarkably religious- she was the cornerstone to not only my family, but dozens of others. Without noticeable effort on her part she mentored and changed the lives of hundreds of people throughout her years, capable of making anyone in her presence know that they had her full and undivided attention even though her razor sharp mind never dropped below mach 3.
She lived 4 blocks away from my parents house, by herself and taking care of herself until I was 23, when she fell and broke her right hip. Replacement and recovery went well, and just when we weren’t sure whether she’d leave assisted living to go back home, she fell again and broke her left hip and wrist. Again, replacement and recovery went well, and we made arrangements for her to stay in assisted living- a full 1 bedroom apartment with a kitchen, but trained medical staff available 24 hrs a day.
Slowed but not stopped, she also beat blood clots, minor strokes, pneumonia, and shingles. Not ONCE did she ever feel sorry for herself or accept pity. Damned if she was going to miss her quilting club*, church, trips to the store or anywhere else she wanted to go- there was an army of her minions to take, drive, come, and do.
Out of necessity in her early years, she learned to quilt- by hand, of course. In her later years, she said that quilting kept her from losing her mind and her hands busy. She created cloth masterpieces that won awards and were featured in magazines. I have three that are among my prized possessions.
-A white and blue lace trimmed bo-peep themed quilt that she made for me when I was born, as she did for each of her grandchildren and great grandchildren. I was born a week after my due date, which worked out well for her because it gave her time to finish it. No definitive word about whether or not she used some kind of voodoo to keep me in there.
-A zebra backed compilation of each of my swim team shirts from high school and my senior t-shirt, something I asked her to do with me and she agreed even though she wasn’t sure how well it would turn out. Pleasantly surprised and proud when it was finished, I wasn’t allowed to have it for a few weeks because she was busy showing it off.
-A piece from the bottom of her special cedar chest, that her mother-in-law made… over 100 years old. Part of my 2009 Christmas presents from her, what she said when she gave it to me means as much if not more than the quilt itself. “I want you to have this because I know you’ll appreciate it more than anyone, even though you didn’t know the woman who made it. The way you value your family and it’s history is something I don’t see in the others, and I want you to pass it on when it’s necessary.” That Christmas she also gave me a set of rose jewelery that her husband gave to her when she was about my age, and her favorite cookbooks and recipes from the last 70 years.
She taught me to cook, sew, and make gift boxes out of greeting cards. She taught me that strength doesn’t start with the physical and that courage doesn’t mean fearless- it means facing the IT even if you’re scared shitless.
She told me a year ago that she knew she wasn’t meant to live much longer. Not that she wanted pity or WANTED to die, just that she knew it was coming and was gonna hang out and have a good time until something bigger than her came along. That she had a DNR and would be disappointed with me if I were selfish enough to cry or be sad when she was gone, that she’d done everything she wanted to do and had no regrets.
I told her once that if I have to grow up, I want to be just like her. Her nod of approval meant everything, but she went so far as to add, “You should. You’re pretty close already.”
*Famous, by Naomi Shihab Nye
The river is famous to the fish.
The loud voice is famous to silence,
which knew it would inherit the earth
before anybody said so.
The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds
watching him from the birdhouse.
The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.
The idea you carry close to your bosom
is famous to your bosom.
The boot is famous to the earth,
more famous than the dress shoe,
which is famous only to floors.
The best photograph is famous to the one who carries it
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.
I want to be famous to shuffling men
who smile while crossing streets,
sticky children in grocery lines,
famous as the one who smiled back.
I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,
but because it never forgot what it could do.
I’m so sorry for you and your family’s loss… but sounds like you will continue to learn so much from her, and make her proud. Brutal HUGS
Thank you for sharing her story and your memories…I’m very sorry for your loss.
(((HUGS)))
that was an amazing story. I am so sorry for your loss, Bear.
You are incredibly blessed to have had such a person in your life.
I am sorry for your loss and glad you got to have her for so long. Sounds like an awesome lady. HUGE HUGS
I am sorry for your loss and glad you got to have her for so long. Sounds like an awesome lady. HUGE HUGS
I’m not good at this kind of thing but I am glad that you appreciated the treasure of a woman that you were lucky enough to have in your life and that you were damn smart enough to soak up every ounce that you could. Priceless!
Thanks for sharing her condensed story with us.
She sounds like a remarkable woman. I am sorry you had to say goodbye to her but it sounds as she was proud to pass her legacy on to you.
I remember seeing that pic of you and her and thinking that old lady looks cool as heck. I thought about the two of you yesterday while I was putting magazines away in the quilting section. What an art quilting is, how much love, patience, and commitment it must take to produce one masterpiece. You have three from her to carry with you for the rest of your life. It sounds like your gma is going to live on through you, whether it be in your greatest achievements/landmarks of your life or your day-to-day interactions(sounds like share a lot of her personality traits). I feel lucky to have known a piece of her story.
this was beautiful! What a wonderful person to have had by your side all these years! I’m sure you will miss her, but you must be so grateful to have had her in your life what a fantastic woman “And so it goes” - Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five.
I don’t know what to say. Nothing feels quite right. So, I’ll just say that I’ve been here checking on you, and I hope you and your family are doing okay.