Saul the Sulcata

Saul soaking

Baking bread

Waiting for the dough to rise...

When I Became a Man

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

I Corinthians 13:11

Winter garden

Lift Weight, Lift Spirit

Happy April!

Today was bicep and tricep day. Felt strong with the weights I normally do but couldn't jump it up a notch. Next week. Strike that...I did go to a higher weight on the tricep pulldowns. Apparently I have pretty strong triceps. I mean, relative to my other muscles. Shoulders are probably my strongest. Weakest...um...of all the days I probably feel weakest...guess I'll say legs. I don't feel like my squats and leg presses are where they should be. But what does "should" mean anyway? I want to lift more on everything.

I'm 35 and never lifted regularly in my life. I played around a few times in high school but that was minimal, a handful of times at the most. I was athletic my whole life until after high school when I turned to pretty much just sitting around all the time. Never got fat because of my fortunate metabolism but couldn't say I was fit. Somewhere around my mid-20s I read that book, Body for Life, and started running a lot. That lasted maybe 6 months or so. Last January I started running regularly because I wanted to get fit for my wedding. I maintained a good routine for 6 months or so. I ran 3 or 4 times a week during that stretch. Also did lots of Wii Fit, which is no joke, so don't hate. I got down to about 150 for my June wedding and was in the best shape I'd been in since being a teenager. After the wedding my running routine fell away.

In February one of my friends, who's been lifting regularly for a while now encouraged me to join him at the gym. I went along and loved it. I joined Anytime Fitness on Valentine's Day and I've been there 5 days a week since then, except for a few slack days. I can see and feel the difference and it makes me happy. I really enjoy working out. It clears my head, strengthens my body, and makes me feel better overall. I'm happier and more energetic. I feel stronger at the end of a long shift and I sleep like a rock at night.

Life is good.

Leg Day

Just returned from Anytime Fitness. Today is leg day. Felt good. Got good and low on my squats. I focused on getting low and maintaining form and didn't worry about doing as much weight as I could. Had 25s on each side and that was just right. 3 sets of 8. I also threw in some abdominal work today. Haven't been working them at all in the 1.5 months I've been going to the gym.

My quadriceps are humming. My abs are giving me a slightly nauseated feeling. Nice.

Chugged my protein shake and now it's into the shower and off to work. Training a new server today. Been doing that a lot lately. We're really piling on the staff this year. It's going to be a busy one.

Cheers.

This BlogPost is August

This entry is brought to you by:

Hell, for 8 bucks you can't afford not to buy it!

I suppose writing, "This entry is brought to you by," suggests I am being paid in some way for promoting Arcade Fire's new album. I can assure you, I am not. I wish I was, though.

<------- click there and benefit me and yourself as well, my friend...

August has been a ride. This whole summer has been a ride. Now that I think about it, this whole life has been a ride. What kind of ride, I'm not sure, but a ride nonetheless.

School is back in session which means both myself and my wife are busier. That's not an entirely bad thing. It just sucks that we don't have dinner together as much as we'd like. I love being with her as much as possible. Yesterday I didn't see her from 6:30 AM to 9:30 PM and I was home way early last night. If I work a dinner shift during the workweek it means I'll see her for a little bit in the morning, kiss her while she's sleeping when I come home at night, wake up with her, kiss her goodbye, and see her again 12 hours later, sleeping, then I kiss her, and I miss her dearly and I wonder what the fuck's going on...

...and then happiness wells up in me, all the way to my eyeballs, eye-hole deep in cool, cleansing waters. Love. Love is what the fuck's going on. We work hard for love. Why else would you get up in the morning?

In other exciting MitchellG news, I've been using the heck out of Foursquare. Does it mean I'm messed up if I want to share with the world where I am? A voice crying in the wilderness...

My Foursquare usage has been entirely driven by my acquisition of a Motorola Droid. What a fun, useful device. I'm using it to get more organized. My personal time management is not one of my strong areas. I'm working on it, though. Taking advantage of the calendar feature has already helped me stay on top of things. And I've signed up with Mint to better manage my money. We'll see how that goes.

Speaking of making better use of my time...

Peace,
mitchellg

testing Blogaway Lite (beta)

I've been messing with my Droid for hours today.

Grandfather died today

My grandfather died today.

We called him Grandfather. He fit that formal-sounding title. He was like a king, a stern man who ruled strongly with love. He could rule a room of people by simply introducing himself, "I am Norman Glucroft." The man.

My work ethic comes from him, though I slack more in 1 day than he did in a year. But when I'm at work, the way I look at things and behave comes from him and my father. I am honored that I got to work with both him and my father. Those experiences are a big part of who I am.

When I think of Grandfather I think of working excellence, unbeatable business acumen, his intensity when making a point, and his laugh. I can hear his laugh right now.

He is one of the greatest men I've ever met and I'm blessed to have him as a forefather. Part of him IS me. I hope he is proud of me.

The last thing I did with him was introduce him to my fiance and then the 3 of us spent a legendary time together looking at old photos and talking about them. I'm glad that happened.

I love you, Grandfather.

Gulf oil spill jokes: proceed with caution

If you're feeling inclined to make a joke about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, some thoughts for you...

Joking about the spill is like making fun of your mom. If you say it, it's ok, but if someone else says it then you're going to have to kick their ass.

I have to admit that I feel a strong negative reaction when someone I don't know makes a joke about the oil spill. Like, you and your friends can make fun of each other but if someone from outside the group goes there, then it's on.

I also internally squirm with annoyance when someone who's not from the Gulf Coast makes fun of the oil spill. Again, the jokes are for the insiders only. If you're not directly affected by the spill then it's best to say compassionate and appreciative things. Why say dickish things?

I joke a lot about a lot of things and I've uttered more than my share of oil spill joke-atrocities. I'm not saying it's off-limits to humor. I'm saying that you should first establish a compassionate, friendly connection on the matter, then rip away.

The oil spill is possibly the worst environmental disaster the United States has ever known, and it's right on my horizon. (Get it? Horizon!? Deepwater Horizon!? Ha ha ha ha ha ha....) (See, humor...)

I'm no ardent environmentalist but, believe me, I love the beach and and I love the Gulf and I love all the animals and plants and THE PERFECT NATURAL BEAUTY OF IT ALL and I hate that it's being befouled by stupid human tricks.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

- mitchell

P.S. The above sentiments apply to joking about any sensitive matter. Think carefully before you speak.

the meek shall inherit the scraps

So much going on...

Booked our honeymoon at River Street Inn in Savannah, Georgia. It's going to be awesome.

There's an epic oil spill in the Gulf.

We found a baby red-eared slider looking all pathetic on the sidewalk and brought it home and named it Gurgi and gave it a nicely equipped aquarium to dwell in. I haven't had a pet of any kind since high school. Gurgi's cool and will be treated royally.

Finally found Cory Doctorow's book, Little Brother, the other day at Barnes & Noble. I've only been half-heartedly searching for it, but I've been doing so for about a year. I didn't realize I should've been looking in the teen section. Yeah, I could've ordered it, but I figured it'd show up when it was time for me to read it. I downloaded the book a while back but we all know it's a pain in the ass to read long works on a computer.

Peace,
MitchellG

iloveyoutoday

So much is going on in my life right now, I'd be remiss to not write about it.

Wedding, work, and school: that's a lot of shit.

And by "shit" I mean, "stuff going on".

I love my life and mostly all I can think about these days is that I'll be married soon and I'll have a wife and I'll be a husband and what does that mean for my life in general? What does it matter? A  L O T.

Yesterday we had our pictures taken by Lotus Photography, a fun, talented, and skilled photographer if there ever was one. I thank you for our unforgettable experience. It was a blast and an honor to be a part of your creative process.

I feel like I'm going through a sort of born-again process, not of the Christian variety, though related to it. Nothing is changing but Everything is changing. That's all. And I'm realizing it A L L THE T I M E.

Life is constantly, continuously, and continually happening. Life is all around us.

And all of Life is Love.

Peace,
mitchell

Glasses of Insecurity

Sometimes I take off my glasses and I do things without them. I'm writing this right now without my glasses. Sometimes I like to see the world through my own eyes.

My glasses are a burden I choose to bear. I could switch to contacts but I have a terrible time getting them in and out and I'm not willing to put the effort into getting good at at. If I had enough money I'd look into getting laser surgery, despite the risks. I could generally get by without my glasses but it's best that I keep them on most of the time. I'd rather wear glasses and be able to see than not wear them and have great difficulty recognizing faces from a distance and reading street signs.

The burden of my glasses is more mental than physical. I wish I didn't have to wear them. I wish I had naturally excellent vision. In a deep way it bothers me that I have shitty vision. It pisses me off. My glasses bother me appearance-wise, as well. I don't dislike my appearance with my glasses, but I think I look better without them. Why would I want something altering the natural appearance of my face? Why would I want metal, plastic, and glass sitting on my face?

I know my glasses help me. I prefer seeing well over not seeing well. It's like I'm hindered by some deep ubermensch envy and my glasses are a constant reminder of my failure to attain some unfounded, unfair sense of how things ought to be.

Sabbath Mind

One of my innumerable New Years resolutions is to observe the Jewish sabbath. To that end, I put in a request at work to no longer be scheduled on Friday nights or Saturday days. The GM honored my request, which I appreciate.

I'm not sure exactly how I plan on observing the sabbath. I don't plan on regularly attending services, at least not in the near future. I'm not going to go all-out and not turn on my computer or worry about things that might cause "work". What I am going to do is cultivate a more God-centered perspective on my day of rest. I'm going to refrain from thinking about my job or school. I'm going to focus on the Love of the Universe as well as the love of my life, my future wife. The sabbath is going to be about me and my betrothed, life and God.

Tires, Tebow, Jesus, and Hemingway

My Scion xA's been needing an alignment and a new tire for a few months now. The one tire was worn along its inside edge down to the threads. It was pretty bad. I amassed enough money over Thanksgiving weekend to finally afford the needed repairs. I figured it'd cost lost than $150 and it did. I wasn't sure how long it was going to take so I took a couple books with me:

I went to Vannoy's on 9th and had an excellent experience. I was immediately greeted upon exiting my car. The lady was friendly and informative. It didn't take long for one of the techs to come into the waiting area and inform me that I needed a new pad on the front driver side. I'm on a tight budget so since it wasn't of immediate importance I declined to repair it. Next time. I was afraid they'd be pushy as far as getting me to buy more tires than I came in for or to pay for miscellaneous other services I didn't know I needed. The tech only mentioned the brakes because what he was saying was true. I need front brake work. Once I said I'd pass he was courteous and back to work on the car. The alignment and tire mission took less than an hour and cost less than I'd expected. Sweet.

While waiting I first flipped through a magazine called Autoweek or something like that. Interesting. Sweet Porsche on the cover, of course. Then I turned to the books I'd brought. The New Testament was in my back pocket. I'd gotten it from a coworker over the weekend. I saw him catching a moment during the shift to glance at some lines in the prep room. I think he thought I was going to make fun of him but I asked him what it was and then told him I used to have one just like it that was green. He asked me if I wanted one because he just happened to have another in his bag. Cool, yeah, I'll take it.

The first Bible section I went to this morning while waiting for my car was Hebrews 12:12. Tim Tebow had something like that on his face when they played FSU and I was curious as to what it said.

Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

Um. What?

I tried to find something meaningful in it and gave up. I flipped through some more sections, ones indicated in the front of the book for explaining things like love, charity, courage, trust, et al. Then I'd had enough and turned to the Hemingway book. The first thing I see there is:

On the booze boat Harry had the last sack over.
"Get me the fish knife," he said to the nigger.

DOLP!

Talk about a change in tone. It was too jolting. I only finished the chapter because it was only a page and a half. I was done with Hemingway after that. I don't mean done forever. It was just too big of a jump after piously reading scripture.

While preparing this post I realized that Tebow's face didn't say Hebrews 12:12, but Hebews 12:1-2.

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

That makes a little more sense. Keep the faith. Play hard. Jesus is Lord. Go Tebow.

Don't slaughter your finest impulses

I don't want to be one of those people who used to do a lot of things but doesn't seem to do much of anything anymore.

Things I used to do a lot but don't do anymore but would like to return to doing a lot: causing mischief, playing basketball, driving aimlessly, writing, reading, playing tennis, playing in the woods, drawing, fomenting dissent, studying anarchism, crashing my computer from messing with it, long walks...

One thing I used to do a lot but didn't for a long time which I've recently returned to my life is bike riding. Julie and I got a couple cheap Huffy cruiser bikes and while we don't ride them every day, we do ride them somewhat regularly and it always feels great.

Every day we slaughter our finest impulses. That is why we get a heartache when we read those lines written by the hand of a master and recognize them as our own, as the tender shoots which we stifled because we lacked the faith to believe in our own powers, our own criterion of truth and beauty.

From Sexus by Henry Miller

GreenPunk

Julian strode through the forest as if he owned it, which is ironic because he believes no one can own the land.

Pensacola Junior College has horrendous customer service

Way back when I first attended Penn State, I was warned by more than a few people that in such a large university I'd be nothing more than a number. Well, I never felt that way. I never had a problem reaching a faculty or staff member who could provide answers and help. My instructors and professors knew who I was. I have my issues with academia but when it came to good ol' customer service, Penn State never let me down. Whether it was questions about what courses to take or financial aid, answers were quick and easy to come by.

About a year and a half ago I began taking courses at Pensacola Junior College, and I've had nothing but headaches from the financial aid department. 3+ hour waits, phone calls transfered back and forth from office to office...heck, I can't even get a human on the phone right now. I mean, I can but she transfers me to uselessness. WTF!? Yesterday I drove to campus, waited in line for a mere 20 minutes and then was told they couldn't help me. "You didn't hear my announcement," the lady at the financial aid "triage" desk informed me. Pardon my language, but, NO FUCKING SHIT! If they knew they were out of short term loan funds, just put up a sign and save a lot of people from wasting time standing in a useless line. I can't just call and get an answer so I have to drive across town only to find out something that'd take 2 seconds to announce or even post on their freakin' web site.

I never had trouble with my funds at Penn State. I always just registered for classes and things were taken care of. No trouble with my Stafford loands. At PJC, though, I have to wait weeks for my funds to be dispersed so I have to take out a loan to tide me over until I get my Stafford loan. Fees are due at PJC over a week before classes start. That seems back-asswards to me.

People laugh when I make comparisons between Penn State and PJC and I feel a little ridiculous about it, too. There's no reason, though, that PJC can't do a better job serving the people who pay for its existence. Train the people who answer the phones. Train them better. Make it possible to talk on the phone (or IM) with a person who can answer questions about financial aid. PROVIDE MORE TIMELY INFORMATION in a variety of formats. It's easy to do.

And to the financial aid triage lady, some words of advice: people waiting in line tend to be edgy/grumpy; think about what you say before you say it. I wait tables for a living so I deal with hungry, impatient, grumpy people all the time. If someone waited half an hour for a table and then ordered the dinner special, which we ran out of an hour ago, I wouldn't say, "Oh, you missed the announcement." I'd simply say, "I'm sorry, we're out of the dinner special." In the first instance, I blamed the guest. In the second I simply provided information.

a letter to my constituents

Funny how in my last post I mentioned Live search. A month and a half or so has passed since then and Live is done, stick a fork in it. 

Now, if you go to www.live.com you get bounced to Bing. WTF is Bing? It's Microsoft's latest attempt at contesting Google's dominance of web search. I've used Bing a couple times. I can't say anything bad about it, but I also can't say that there's anything special about it that gives me reason to use it over Google. Millions of people are in the habit of googling. How will Microsoft convince them to stop googling and start binging (not to be confused with bingeing).  Maybe some of them wonder if you can google on Bing. Is Bing a better googler than Google? Will Bing become a verb? How will Bing conquer the internet?

As I type this, I'm watching the national soccer teams of Spain and the USA in the first period (or half or however soccer's split up) of their match in the FIFA Confederations Cup, somewhere in South Africa. Neither team has scored yet, at 11:45 into the match. I'm not a big soccer fan but I like watching it sometimes. I'd rather watch soccer than hockey, that's for sure. It's hard not to be drawn into the crowd's enthusiasm for the game. Soccer fans are maniacs, and I mean that as a compliment. I love the intensity. It reminds me a lot of college football.

The last 3 days I had jury duty. I was grumpy at first that I'd be taking a pay cut for a couple days (I don't get paid if I'm at jury duty) but I soon got over it and started to enjoy my civic duty. I figure it'll be one of the few times in my life where I'm directly involved in a government function. Or maybe it's blown my mind and I'll go on a quest to be the next John Adams.

I will say this, I feel a little more patriotic than I did before serving in that jury. It also gave me a little more faith in my fellow Americans. And I'd say I feel a little more compassionate towards human beings in general. I'm a better person for having served in that jury. I'm glad the founders of our country laid out such an excellent system. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I think it's pretty bad-ass. My fellow jurors and I were the center of the universe there for a few. Everything hinged on what we decided. I had moments with dim recollections of Kafka and Dostoevsky. Sometimes I thought I might go insane with boredom and break out of the courthouse screaming with several sheriff's deputies sprinting after me. But mostly it was an awesome experience that improved me as a man and as a person. I'm glad I didn't labor over ways out. I'm sure I could've imagined up something to get out of jury duty, but why? WTF is wrong with people that they want to get out of it? Those people should be sent to countries that don't have trial by jury.

Storms moved through the Pensacola area yesterday. They were a welcome relief from over a week's worth of heat indexes over a hundred a couple record-setting days...

USA SCORES!!!!!!!!!!! (around 26 minutes in)

...there's nothing like waiting tables outside in over a hundred degree temps and worrying that the sweat which has built up all over your face just in the brief time since you wiped it off before walking to the table will drip off your nose and disgust the guests. That sucks. Mostly I don't mind the heat (sometimes it annoys me) but I did welcome yesterday's rain. It'd been too long and we needed a break from the heat. I'm pretty sure most of the plants liked it, too...well, except for one of my fellow juror's tomatoes. He said he was going to be having a bunch of fried green tomatoes because the rainstorms damaged a bunch of his plants. Oops. Collateral damage.

Cheers,

mitchell

Lazy Man's XP Optimization

I recently did a Live search for the terms "optimizing xp in older machines". The first link Live gave me was Optimizing Windows XP on an older machine. The link led to a useful page. That's all I ask for from a search engine.

From there I chose Eric's first link, A faster Windows XP? Here's how. I followed the instructions to disable indexing services. Cool. I just learned a little about how Windows XP works, and I sped up my computer a little.

Afterword
The more I learn about how computers and operating systems work, the more I realize that they use a significant amount of resources doing things that most people don't care about or need. I'm also surprised by how much is required of a computer's processor(s) to just deal with the increasingly graphics/video-centric Web. I wonder how many computer crashes are caused each day simply by going to MySpace.