"Give a man $300 worth of protein, and he'll eat for a month..."

She's arrived. Sustenance for the month of May. G's thinkin' of how yummy that b-day cake is not going to taste.

Amazing how warm it can be outside, and how cold it can be in this effin' house. That should be a country song. Ha ha! "'S too hot to golf... 's too hot to fish... and too cooold at hooome." Right. Screw it.

The rest of the day went well though. Got an A on my chem exam and a 98 on math. Put down another decent endurance day at the gym (and my joints felt really really good quite unexpectedly after the thurs./sat. onslaught) and ended with a third try send on a new v4, and i even almost tagged my project. In just over one week i'll be done with the semester (and the angels erupted in a lofty chorus), and in 2 probably very long days i'm off to Wa for Josh's wadding. i'm fairly happy about that. Yes i am. Any suggestions for wedding presents?

Happy Shredfest to me

Shwag Count: High.

Scored me the Arc'teryx S-240 sport harness at ye olde 2009 Shredfest today. Hundred dollar harness; clocks in at 8.5 oz. :-)

That was a pretty good time, Shredfest. we showed up early to clean up the trails/crag, then had a bouldering contest followed by a raffle/num-nums which i was blest at (i was seriously needing a new harness). Pulled down some fairly cool problems, even though i was still torn down from thursday's destruction. my hands are thrashed and bloody. Climbing at U-Mound is an exercise in pain tolerance: there are no truly positive holds, so you gun off of frictiony slopers to two-finger micro-crimps on quartz crystals, high step onto the same bits of natural glass, and grovel over the top out four moves later and twenty feet off the ground. Consequently there is no flesh left on my hands (one climb involved a series of hand jams on the crap, so the backs of my hands are also flayed) and it hurts to allow my consciousness to waft in their general direction. Good times. Good times...and some very cool folks to climb with, to boot.

Then yesterday my lovely, attentive wife gave me for the b-day permission to order The Master from Detroit Rock-- that skull hold i've wanted now for some time. If all goes well, i should have a trick campus wall in the very near future. Then maybe i can get strong for real. And shaving twenty lbs. off shouldn't hurt a thing, i'd think... assuming the numbskulls at Fed-Ex can figure out which bit of the U.S. Nuevo Mexico comprises.

i go now to heavily lubricate my tattered nubbins.

I slaughtered this horse last Tuesday; 'm afraid she's startin' to turn.

Strange and stormy days... There're snow flurries cavorting about out of doors. Yesterday i was forced into shorts to avoid heat stroke. i'm hoping the ominously equivocating maelstrom sounding off from my own south hole portends only that i'm really hungry, and not that i'll be decanting any future stools into the porcelein void. i'm confident, though, that the veggie Italian sausage and eggs with barbeque sauce, brie and feta i just ate'll calm the storm. i mean, how couldn't it?

i order the v-diet stuff when i'm done here. Still waffling about the lemon vs. chocolate Surge junk. i really hope my guts don't feel like this when i begin to relentlessly bombard 'em with organic acids. i guess i should be glad i'm getting it outta the way now.

Worked out at the rockgym proper yesterday. One o' my workout partners shewed up, and we punished each other. Do two routes in a row each, then switch-- back and forth for nearly three hours. That was the first time in a long time i got a legitimate solid failure-by-forearm-pump instead of quitting cuz my joints just couldn't take anymore. Then we did a pretty decent ab workout. Then i onsighted a stiff v3 that i really didn't think i was gonna be able to do when i scoped it. Ended up pulling down maybe 8 or ten 5.10s and a couple of 11s (although i didn't get any of those without hanging), and put in several tries on my 12- proj. i found that i really need to lose twenty pounds to feel solid on 12. That's friggin' haaard.

So on to the first step to the goal...

Bed Sore

Nutty week. Fri. evening we ended up staying up till two playing a game at Nate's And Beryll's. Then the baby decided to wake up every hour or so for the remainder of the nigh. Then Steph woke up blowing mud from every major orifice each time she'd open her eyes, so she stayed in bed all day, and i got the chil'uns all day on four hours of sleep. Then Annie succumbed to the plague. Not so surprisingly i woke up this morning, brushed my teeth, gagged and tried to roar an HCl hole through the bottom of the toily. Now i've been in bed most of the day, and they're all at our birthday party at the moment. So while it's shaping up to be a bad day for ab work or eating pork products, it does have its perks. Trouble is i have so much to do for the end of semester i can't afford to be sick, so i would surely appreciate a prayer for some healing. Peace, and may your Easter be as laid back as mine.

Some Beach

Sacre bleau... i've had enough Red Label to kill a lesser man. (Think maybe a 3 ft. tall man.) And we're watching "Sabrina" (which is why i'm able to write, presently). i climbed today, which was an error. i effed up a forearm tendon pretty good, so i'm gunna take thurs. off i think. And to top it off, i didn't get my project. Hacked my way up some dark 11s on tr and hurt most of the more useful joints in my body. And we're going on vacation may 23ish for a weekish, so i'm thinking it would be beneficial to my marital life to start the vdiet a tad earlier (what so's i can eat some seafood with the fam, etc.) So i'm thinking i'm gonna try to start it on mon. the 27th when i get back from josh's wedding. That'll put my first week of living on protein shakes and not drinking liquor at the beginning of finals week. Who knows? Maybe it'll make me brilliant.

Vee Six

i'm not so sure now if it was an intercostal or the right lateral serratus afterall. Anyhow, hurts to breathe. But i got me a V6 today. (At least, it says V6 on the start tape...) And i'll take it as one, cuz it was bloody hard and i ganked a muscle over and over and over doing it that theretofore i was unaware i had. Sick li'l climb.

Babaganoush

So i'm thinking sure, ya, i'll just go in to the Kletterhalle for to do some light toproping, ya. But, says i, first i'll tick off this prob i was trying to link on tuesday. And hijinks ensued. Turns out it's a v6. i did all the moves on it, but just couldn't quiiiiite link through the crux after the start. So i ended up spending around three hours sporadically going back and trying to link this damned thing. There is nearly no flesh left on my hands, and i think i actually managed to pull a posterior intercostal muscle. One of the most frustrating sessions i've experienced in a while-io. i know i can do it 'cause i did all of it already, but i could not pull through the crux lockoff for anything. It'll go on tues. but i really wanted it today. Anyhow, she didn't turn out to be much of a "light workout" day. On a brighter note, i did tick a handful of hard 5.10s on TR, and i think i just aced my math exam, so i'm finding a happy place. i think i need to take a week off and come hunt some pigs.

Wrong! ...Conan!... What are the best things?!

That rocked proper, that did. Burned the midnight oil. Then i burned the 1,2, and 3:00 oil working on a stupid paper for math. (Who assigns papers for a math class?)Yessiree Bob: i do believe MS Word has gotta be one of the stupidest engineered pieces of software ever to get flushed down the pipe. It's the tool of Satan. Two hours to do the math and 4 hours to convince my tables not to spontaneously cook into an omelette. Math, it turns out, is more easily done with large quantities of Paulaner Salvator. Who knew? Got up at 6:45 to a screaming Katja and took Annie to school. Then i clumb on pure, manic, euphoric sleep deprivation. Didn't exactly topple any huge numbers, but i did get all the moves worked on a good handful of crazy problems. And by the grace of God i got to work with some cool folks, and good company generally makes a good day. i figure i'm gonna hit the wall and tip off into a seizure here in 15 mins. in math class, but that was a sick workout anyhow. And now i'm satisfied that i'm definitely, definitely too old for all-nighters.

Intravenous, intertwined

Well. The weekend, at least, has been a happier place to be. By the grace of God (and, i think, after a protracted argument with God) i've engaged in a tiny bit of detox; and it's reeeeeeally nice. Had a really hard, full-body workout on fri. and went for about an hour run yesterday. And that was a nice surprise, 'cuz i went out for maybe a 20 or 30 min. run, and just felt so dang good i kept running. Made me remember why i like running. i'm pretty sure i've lost some weight as i didn't have the usual ankle/hip jarring session i usually have when i first go back to running. 'Course, that's because i have only tree-branch-like appendages left where once i had a lower body. But weight is weight, and less is good.

And for the last couple of days we've kept the ethanol consumption to nearly nil. It's amazing to me how used one can get to being toxic and feeling like crap all the time-- how adroit i am at shifting blame for a neverending bad mood onto fairly insignificant, mostly unrelated bits of bad luck; and can finally bring myself to open up a can of Job on God before i'll take a look at how poisoned and selfish and manipulative and self-pitying i've become. i'm sure i'm not done with that, i'm sure, but at least for a little while this weekend i've been shown that there exists a light outside the tunnel.

i think now we're gonna go to the climbgym. Still a hair chilly in the hinterlands to haul the kiddos to the rock, but they had a redpoint comp at the gym yesterday, and there should be a ton of new routes up. And Annie really wants to get to try out her new shoes. i'm gonna really try to stick to my one-hard-session-the-week pledge for a couple of weeks and see if i can heal some tendon enough to start training hard again. But a ton of 5.9s oughtn't count...

beautiful veins & bloodshot eyes

'K: That might'a' been a tad excessive. It's been a good, long while since i've worked out to the point of needing to puke. But in a longish chain of cathartic modes, this is one of the more constructive. Kindof a hodge-podge of a workout, but nice and hard. Went fairly hard on straight leg deads and hanging straight leg raises. Took it easier on bench and sundry pressing motions, but i did do a bunch of 'em. Tried doing some heavyish wide grip pulldowns, and my lats were like Yes please! Gimme some o' that! but my biceps weren't having much of it. Ended up doing some experimentation with theraband toward some bicep and shoulder rehab. Was a good workout. Climbed yesterday after having beer with breakfast, and that didn't go so well. i'm trying to get comfy with the idea of taking some real time off. i've been failing on stuff i know i can send, and that's worse (i think) than not going in at all. i'm hanging on by the fingernails for this damned semester to be over with so i can focus on some structure to my workouts that doesn't revolve around getting from one class to the next. If i can muster the strength of will, i'm gonna try to climb just once a week for the next couple of weeks, and get my chunky butt into the iron gym more often.

The whole world calls me "Hank"

i'm getting a li'l desperate for motivation here. This semester just keeps on not ending. Turns out m' math teacher lost our last exam, so we have the option of either retaking it or having that test struck from the record (which increases the weight of all the other exams.) Thing is, i know i got an A on it which would be some really nice padding. Very irritating. i can't seem to sleep well ever. i have a damaged left pointer finger, a damaged left rotator cuff, and bilateral biceps tendonitis. i need to do something besides just climbing, but i can't dredge up the motivation to get into the gym regularly. So i have gaping muscle imbalances. Got 1 beer left in the fridge, and maybe an ounce of scotch left. (That's probably a very good thing, come to think of it.) One of my stupid cats just woke Katja up, and the dog jumped the wall again and is sitting in our front yard cuz she's too scared of me to come in the door. Wow. i sound like a country song today. i think i could use a trip to Banff. Yeehaw.

Weekend Power Update

Really i just wanna write something, cuz i'm bored of playing flash games and weary of trying to eat kimchi. If you've never partaken of kimchi, try to maintain that status. Kimchi is fermented cabbage, which i suspect would throw up some red flags for many non-Koreans, but i've been curious for many years and i had to give 'er a whirl. Anyhow, i'm presently still alive, so i'll chalk it up as having made me stronger. Lessee... noteworthies: Jacked m' rotator cuff up again, as well as an extensor tendon on the distal phalanx of m' left pointer finger (figure out how to pull that off, and get back to me.) Still have some nagging tendonitis in the biceps. But i'm taking an ethanol supplement each evening, and that boosts morale for minutes/night. Ooo... got Annie an early b-day present: some Madrock Mad Monkeys. Frivolous purchase mayhaps, but there're two more li'l units of justification waiting for hand-me-downs to seal the deal. Steph has lost some weight, and it shewed in her climbing performance. She still hasn't gotten over the head-trip part, but she snagged a 5.8 the other night with no problems, and she couldn't even get started on an 8 a few weeks ago. Oddly weight dependant sport, climbing. Speaking of which, i'm basically counting down days to start the v-diet. And i could use some prayers. i have a math test, chem test, chem lab test, physics test, physics homework and a math project to do this week; and i'm too lazy and smitten by spring to think of any of it. i hope it's going well for you lads.

One step forward...

Got a 5- today that'd tossed me 100,000 times before. Kinof a nice feeling. then i hurt my shoulder again screwing with v2 i'd done before. Very stupid. Don't think i hurt it too bad, but i could'a done without. Nearly flashed a 5.11- on toprope, then did flash another 11, also on toprope. Nice to have some climbing partners. climbed to the burndown, and that's good stuff. i wanna go back and lead both those routes--start getting a solid base of 11s under me, and some serious endurance.

Afterglow

HEEheeheeheeHEEHEEheeeheeee

Snagged a projecto hoy. One of the coolest problems i've ever done, and definitely one of the hardest. Sit/lie down start with a high left foot, right foot flagged, hands matched on a nasty slick sloper. Stab up with the right hand to a half-pad pinch, establish, growl yer left hand up to a half-pad crimp inside. Right foot up to the start hold, twist left into another inside half-pad crimp for right hand, stand and (reeeal carefully) throw left for a decent, but off-axis incut. Catch yer breath, then throw left again with the right hand for another greasy pinch. Walk a foot way up high on the right to gun through left with left hand to another slopey incut. Twist yer torso 180deg. for a bad foot out left, match on the incut, and scream yer right foot way up, knee pre-dropped, to establish on the previous incut. Get that and you can stab for the finish. i kissed the hold when i finally snagged it. Happy me.

Oh, and i got some Monster Milk yesterday. Like it so far. Whaddayou think about it, cuz i know you've tried it?

Projectin'

Went in to the gym last night for a quickie. Did 75 hanging straight leg raises in sets of 20. If you note that 75 is not evenly divisible by 20, it's 'cuz i was dying of lactate poisoning on the last set. Also did straight leg deads. Ergo my core is a smadge jello-y. Didn't have a particularly high pain tolerance, and m' shoulder was tweaking so i did some fairly arbitrary sets of pressing movement with very little weight, and ended up doing curls with theraband just to get some blood flowing to the afflicted areas. Tues. i'm hoping to send the hardest climb i've yet been on. Got two main projects on the barbie, and either one'd qualify as Sickest Yet. we just adopted three kittens, so there flew a little quid, and i've gotta buy plane tix to Josh's wedding, so there's a li'l mo'. But i'm gunna try to have it scraped together for end of April. Should be quite doable. That means June'll be the month for a 5.12 redpoint. 'S'a happy thought, that is. we need to get us a trip together for Hueco. That'd be good times.

Very fat; very weak

Today was unequivocally better than tues. Sent a couple of coolish problems, including a v4 that'd spit me off maybe 50 times. Kind'a thing where you throw to a one or two finger side-pull pocket from a heinous skitchy stance, and hope you stick. Every time it was like Stiiiiiick dammit!!! Nooo! Why?! Like if i could just get one more millimeter of flesh on the hold, i'd send. Finally shanked that sucka' today. That was nice. Only my biceps tendonitis is starting to rear its ugly heed again. i need some days off. But i'm pretty confident the reason it's so bad now is i gained some weight o'er the weekend. i do believe the tendonitis'll go away when the flab goes away. End of april it starts. i'm gunning for end of april for the v-diet. Peace to all my hood.

Ogres have layers

Did two sessions at the climbgym today. Both sucked in sundry ways , but with nearly equal magnitude. i think i put on about 4 or 5 lbs. of lard over the weekend. Texas, as usual, has been bad for me. At any rate, my hands should be stronger because of it, and i'm looking even more fervently toward a month of liquid dieting. It's coming; i can feel it. And with it will come solid 5.12. }->

Weekend needed

Unlike the brothaz, i had a crappy workout today. Turned out to be some good times though. Went in at ca. 10:30, and i was the only one there. So i fell off of everything i laid hand to for a while. (Actually, i repeated that "5+" i polished off a couple o' days ago.) Then i hooked up with coupla' guys and the energy was better. Still didn't send anything, but this one guy was strong, and we worked out the crux moves on a v7. i can actually see it going soon. Then i threw on a thiiiiiin, super tweaky 5 that i've secretly believed is impossible, and i came up with some new beta on it. i might just have it if i can get healed enough. And i've got another real hard 5 i think'll go when i'm fresh. So i was about to leave and this group of chicks came in--one of whom i've climbed with before, and taught her to lead last week. So she put me on this 10+ and i got to the crux and hung twice, and i was like, i totally don't have the juice today, but she gave me the "c'mon, don't be a failure" speech and i sent. That was waaay past having nothing left in the tank. Anyhow, that's the power of having someone questioning yer manhood. But i'm super amped about trying out the power of being 20lbs. lighter. i want 5.12. want. it. Moral: came up with some new projects and new motivation, even if i sucked this time.

Bump

V5+ today. Four tries. And the first two were cuz i had the beta jacked up on the first move. (Very subtle, that first move.) Then this big troupe of Tapout "cage-fighter" dorks came into the cave, and i said Yeah. Gotta get outta here quick. It's gonna get smelly soon. So i sent. They were nice enough, and i got a "C'mon dude!" when i set up for the final throw, but there's just a weird vibe in that crowd that raises my hackles. Anyhow, today was a ver' nice workout. i'm starting to stick things i didn't think i could stick a couple of weeks ago. And it was way more fun than the physics homework i was supposed to be doing.

Then...

went back after class for a second sesh. Steph and the kids were supposed to meet me there, but i finally called when they didn't show and it turned out one of 'em had an accident in the underoos. But i was already there, and didn't want to waste the trip. i'm not sure i sent anything at all (except that "v5" i was so excited about the other day), but i tried lots of hard problems. i was plumb juiced... nothin' left in the tank. i guess it's good to have that kind of workout once in a while, to take it to meltdown; but i think i'd'a rather just gone on to the grocery store. Now for that physics homework...

Leetle Milestone

i onsighted a 5.11- on lead today. i've flashed 11 before on toprope, but i'd never yet led 11. So to onsight one is an encouraging feeling. i think a 5.12 redpoint is not too far away. i'm getting more and more amped about the v diet thang. i really believe that if i were minus 15 or 20 lbs. i could walk up and onsight solid 5.12/v7 right now. i really believe that. And if could onsight at that level, it isn't unthinkable that i could redpoint 5.13/v8ish. That's a pretty dang cool thought to me.