Earthquake

Yesterday (Wednesday) morning, I trained my clients, then went back to bed for a little while. My allergies have been kicked up lately, and I didn't sleep very well the night before -that, and staying up a bit too late. Sometime in the late morning, I thought I heard and felt a loud WHAM and the house trembled at the same time. I'm prone to weird dreams, sleepwalking, and seeing my ferret in the airvent when I sleep, so I assumed I'd been having a dream, and went back to sleep. Later, during our morning dog walk, I saw this on the tree behind us:

I thought, "Hmm, that's a little weird. Why would tree cutters start on the bottom, the not finish the job?" I looked down on the other side of the tree, and saw this:

Putting two and two together (or is if 5 and 5, or 2 and 5, or 5 and 2...I get them mixed up sometimes), I figured a tall truck had hit the tree, and that was the WHAM that woke me up.

Another block down the street, and we saw this:

If you look close, you can see the jagged upper edge of the truck. Someone got it really big trouble. The drivers only choice is to blame the foreman or owner for sending him into a residential area with a truck that was too tall to get anywhere in Winter Park. I bet the drive thought he'd driven over something, tried to accelerate through it, which caused more damage to the truck. Whoever the owner is, he'll blame the driver, who's probably just a part-time employee. He'll get fired, the owner will have a van out, the insurance will have to pay for the damage, and the only people to come out on top will be the repair people.

Other News

January is a very slow month for Sports Authority, and since I'm mostly a holiday employee there, my hours are cut back. I'll have more time to do some local marketing. I'm going to do a mailout for my neighborhood. I'm not working at Sports Authority at all next week, so I'll also have some time to pre-study for my up-coming classes.

No title for Today. Couldn't think of one.

I worked yesterday. It wasn't very busy. There wasn't much stock left. We mostly had to clean up. Things were pretty messy from Christmas shopping.

I slept in this morning. I've been missing on sleep -probably a big reason for lack of posts, and lack of creativity in the posts I do get to make. We walk the dogs, went to Sams, the Mall, El Potro, then walk the dogs again, mostly to find Nancy's cell phone. We found it. Now, we're watching Empire. After that, I'll go to bed.

Sorry for the boring post.

Merry Christmas

Okay, so it's not the most original title. We're suppose to be celebrating the Sweet Little Baby Jesus's Birthday anyway.

Something's been bothering me lately. It's not important, but here goes: You know in Star Wars....how the Jedi and the Sith use Light Sabers, and these things seem to be the ultimate weapon in that galaxy? Did no one there ever invent a mirror there????? Hello??? Reflect the light! Duh. Come get me now, you little green Jedi bitch. I bet the Emperor is gay (not that there's anything wrong with that), and he pronounces his name, Darth Thidious. I'll make me a mirror suit, and beat their asses with a simple stick!

Wonderful Christmas spirit there, huh?

Nancy and I went to Epcot for Christmas today.

It was a little crowded, but not nearly as bad as Magic Kingdom probably was. We watch the Christmas performance, hosted by John Stamos. I wonder if he's still has that wife of his?

After that, we at at Biergarten at the German Pavilion. Nancy was all about the cute German Matre D guy. She was all giggly and stuff. "Yeah, I know what Deutsch means....Tee Hee."
The food was pretty good. I ate too much. The most interesting thing about the whole day was that the Wonders of Life Pavilion was open.
We rode Body Wars, and Nancy saw Cranium Command and the closest thing to porn Disney's ever done, The Making of Me. The parent couple starts smooching in bed, and you know what happens next. Of course, Met Life is not longer the sponsor. I'm not even sure Met Life is still around. The Mafia probably bought them out.

I did Yoga before work on Friday, but had to get up early on Christmas Eve to work at Sports Authority. It's amazing how frustrated people get when you don't have merchandise on Christmas Eve. All I had to do to stop their lashing out at me in anger was to thump my chest and yell, "Come on, bitch. What you got?? Huh? What's you got? You're a little pissy-ass whiny bitch, cause you waited till Christmas Eve to shop. Now you got shit. Those little snots noses back at the trailer are going to have to get soap for Christmas, cause you're a pissy-ass-whiny-wait-till-Christmas Eve bitch." Of course, the manager didn't like that. Okay. I didn't really do that, but I sure wanted to. So did all the other employees. Probably everyone who worked in retail on Christmas Even felt that way. Actually, they day at work wasn't bad at all. Only a few people were angry, and they were mostly frustrated with themselves, and we happened to be standing in front of them when the frustration came out. If they were really mad at me, I would have had to bitch-slap them. Well, at least I would have wanted to.

To be honest, I'm simply too lazy to get that angry.

Flowbee

For about the last eight years, I've cut my hair using a flowbee. Now, obviously this isn't a picture of me, but you get the idea of how it works. Well, my Flowbee stopped working a few weeks ago, and I started feeling like a hippie. Not that a being a hippy would be a bad thing, I just don't feel comfortable with long hair. For me, hair is something to get out of the way. I not particular about the style either, as long as it's not offensive.

The best hair cut for a man would look the same everyday, day-in, day-out. No one would ever notice a difference. I think that's how Floyd stayed in business in Mayberry.

I went to one of those, "As Seen on TV" stores to look for another. I thought I'd found it, but it turned about to be a cheap imatation. It wasn't even electric.

Me, with long hair

In a fit of hairy rage, I found my Flowbee -luckily I hadn't thrown it away- got some tools, and went to work. Within twenty minutes, I'd taken it apart, figured out what was wrong, fixed it, put it back together, and went to work cutting my hair. It worked.

I don't make any money promoting the Flowbee. I just like it, use it, and suggest anyone else who's interested in simplicity and saving money purchase it. If I can find a link in one of my affiliates, I'll post it. Also, this wasn't an advertisment; I really couldn't think about anything else to write about.

I've done my Christmas shopping. Sports Authority has been busy, but not busy enough. I think all retailers are like that this year, except Wal-Mart. The beast roars.

Happy Birthday to my brother, Mark Thompson. And Happy Birthday to my friend, Josh Miller.

Time

Nancy's mother isn't going very well. She's not bad off, or anything, but probably just what most 85 year old women experience. It's difficult to watch someone become feeble, and struggle to communicate. You feel bad for them, and frustrated with them at the same time. Then you feel guilty for feeling frustrated, right to the point where they annoy you, then you feel bad for them again. Being a family member to an elderly person is a difficult place -much like being a parent again, but this time to your own parent. I guess most people throughout history experienced this, unless war, famine, or disease killed everyone off.

I keep up with Jack LaLanne. He's 91 now, and still doing well. He's lived the life of health and fitness, and he shows the lifestyle does work. He still enjoys life, and gives of himself to many people. I can only hope to be 1/4 as healthy and vibrant as Jack. Too much Diet Dew in my gut now. I'll probably have a large green tumor removed from my liver someday.

It's a VHS tape, and a bit pricey, but you'd be purchasing a piece of history. Everyone knows I'm a huge Jack LaLanne fan. At the very least, check out the Jack LaLanne Website- http://www.jacklanne.com

I've blogged it before, but I'm fairly sure I'll die one of two ways -or maybe both:

1. I'll be 95, and shot to death by the jealous husband of a 20 year old girl.
2. While mountain climbing, parachuting, skiing, or something like that, my last words will be, "Aw shit."

This Blog brought to you buy:

I checked out a few places, and these guys do have good low prices on memory, and a pretty easy way to find which is the right memory for your computer. Give it a try -even tells you what you're computer will top out with.

Visit DannyTland

Today was my birthday. I worked. Nancy gave me presents and cards, and Abby and Chili gave me a card. Family and friends called me. I'm 42 today. Doesn't feel like it. All-in-all, it's been a pretty good birthday. I'm blessed, far more than I deserve, that's for sure.

A new entry in my writing blog today: DannyTland. Check it out.

Kong

Today, Nancy and I celebrated my birthday. It's actually tomorrow. I'm going to be 42. I was born at 10:15am, away in a manger, no crib for my head. Oh, wait, that was someone else.

I spent most of the morning fixing some computer stuff, and doing another command line tutorial. Sometimes, I get forced into them.

We saw King Kong this afternoo/evening. When you go to see it, be prepared for a marathon of a movie. I liked it, but it was long. The main thing I liked about it was how close they kept to the original 1933 version. Nancy thought Kong was like a big puppy.

I have to work tomorrow, so I won't be celebrating my birthday till after work. We'll go to dinner. Probably El Potro. I like El Potro.

No pictures today, as nothing much really happen worth taking a picture of. There's always me, but there's enough pics of me on my flickr pages already.

Corporate Communism

If you work for a large corporation, you'll probably have a good understanding what it's like to live in a communist/fascist government, but mostly at work. Instead of the government controlling you, your job/company/business does. If you're an employee, the company can dictate every move you make, so long as it's within the law (which the companies have done a decent job of controlling). While this whole idea seem horrible, under a benevolent dictator, it's concept that works well.

In order for a business to get the job done, it must have a system. Michael Gerber discusses this in his book and company called The E-Myth. While I disagree with some of Gerbers philosophy, for the most part he's right. There is this one part where he has the owner go throughout the Key Frustrations process. Problem with that is; a business isn't suppose to be your anxiety treatment.

For any particular duty in a business, any process, any service, there needs to be a system. A system to deal with customers. A system to deal with vendors. A system to deal with employees. As Gerber loves to say, "You manage systems, not employees." This is correct, to some degree. Some business owners take this too literally, and forget that while you don't' have to manage employees and people, you still have to deal with them.

The point about systems; good systems make the business successful. Bad systems run the business into the ground. Even when a business or organization doesn't intentionally create a system to accomplish something, it's still using a systems, possibly an unintentional one. Probably a bad one.

Good systems come from successful practices. Successful practices come from good ingenuity. Good ingenuity comes from good judgment. Good judgment usually comes from the experience of bad judgment. Good judgment can come from the base of good character, but that seems rare in this day-in-age.

When a business has problems, it usually has problems with it's systems, not it's employees. Bottlenecks in the flow of business are the first place to examine a bad system. If customers aren't buying, a new sales system needs to be in place. If customers aren't coming in the door, a new advertising/marketing system needs to be created. If an employee doesn't seem to be doing his job right, it's the system the employee is using that's the problem, not the employee. If the employee follows a system that's not created by the company, he will make up his own, if needed. Sometimes, this can be a good thing, especially if the employee is trying an intentionally created system. If he's not following any particular system, the employee is doom to failure, and the failure isn't his fault. Unless the company provided the system, and the employee chose not to follow it.

If an employee decides to buck the system, whatever the employee does needs to have a reason, purpose, and procedure. The employee just might create a better system.

The benevolent dictator role is important for the company. He provides leadership. He is a leader that people want to follow. He is a leader that demonstrates the systems, if needed. The benevolent dictator can be the owner of a company, the CEO, or even the stockholders to some degree, but it's usually a manager.

The manager job is to help and assist the employees with following systems and procedures.

Now, here's the weird part; How is the whole idea much different that soviet style governement? With systems, the employee has to do very little thinking, other than remembering the system. Employees can master the systems, behaving just the way the company wanted. Such a company actually works well. Such a company can be successful.

Did we defeat soviet communism, only to run headlong into it in our workplaces?

Ace

I aced my final. According to my teacher, I shared the highest grade on the final, and ACED the class! This was a really good start toward my new endeavor in Computer Information Technology. A real confidence builder.

My next class is; Intro to Operating Systems. Other than MS DOS, I'm familar with the others, especially now that I've used Linux for a few weeks. I'm getting pretty decent at it too. Anytime I run into a problem, I just look it up online, especially in the forums, and I usually find my answer. There's still a few things I'm not quite getting, but it will come. Always does.

Not much to report today. I spent most of my time studying, pretty much from the moment I woke up. I'm becoming a coffee drinker. Helps with early studying. I did do Yoga before I went to the final. I think it really helped.

However, Nancy had a difficult day. Check it out on her blog: Nancy's Blog: http://360.yahoo.com/nikkiinu2000

Grand Opening!!

I'm announcing the Grand Opening of a new blog: DannyT Land! I had to make it DannyT Land since Dannyland was already taken. Otherwise, I'd have gone with Dannyland.

You now get to glimpse not only at my life, but in my head too, scarey a place as it may be. It's actually pretty entertaining in there. Busy. Very busy.

DannyTland is my writing blog. I'll do an occasional writing prompt, and throw it there to see how it's recieved. I may go with a prompt and continue it, maybe even to a full length novel. Sometimes it will be fiction, sometimes nonfiction. Maybe a bit of commentary here and there too. I'll probably keep it mostly fiction though. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Click here to go to DannyTland.

This was at Jamie's class.

Today- I trained my clients this morning, and studied. I studied a lot, since my final is tomorrow. I'm probably overdoing it a bit, but some of the material I'm covering is pretty interesting. At least, it interesting to me. After dinner, Nancy and I went to Jamie Morris' Amherst Writers class, then I came home and started the new writing blog. That's my day, so far. Next, I'll go to bed.

Getting Closer

I didn't post yesterday. I'm sorry. Sue me. Watch me care. Okay, already, I'll work on it! Damn, just get off my case. Am I starting to sound like Tom Hanks, talking to Wilson, the soccer ball, in the movie Castaway?

This is, from the left, Laura, Nancy, and Amy. This was lastnight at Amy's suprise birthday party. She was really surprised as everyone started showing up, seeminly for no reason. Elias had called us that morning, and asked us to be there around 7:30pm. They were going out later that night, and Elias got called into work. He got home at 8:20pm, so the party got started a bit later than expected. All in all, it turned out to be even more of a suprise that way, so it worked. Amy eventually caught on. I think she was pleased. Good job Elias.

Okay, I'm going to go ahead and say it: "It's begining to look a lot like Christmas..." I'll let you recite the rest. Luckily, we're going to Disney this year. The only year I felt Christmasy was when I delivered for Meal-On-Wheels. I'd like to do it again this year, but it seems to be mostly outsourced. I'll call and see if they need anything, but they didn't last year. It was on of those things that to do on Christmas that didn't make you feel like commercialized, materialistic scum. Well, almost.

Speaking of materialized commercialistic scum -opps, got it backwards- time for a COMMERCIAL!
THIS BLOG BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

Nancy and I watched this movie tonight. I highly recommend it. I especially highly recommend purchasing it through the link above, since I get some money if you do. How's that for commercialized? If you want to save some money, go to Blockbuster, and get the previously viewed ones, like I do. This one is a keeper.

Tuesday is my final, and I haven't really studied all that much yet. I really need to. I think I'll do well, but I'd rather go in a bit more prepared. I'll study tomorrow, but I've been keeping up most of the semester, so it will really be review.

I worked today from 12-8 at Sports Authority. It was busy.

I'm Sorry

No pictures today. Nothing pithy to write about. I got up, trained clients, and went back to bed. I'm still sick. I'm such a baby when I'm sick. All guys are, I guess. Women seem to laugh about it. They find is somewhat amusing, somewhat bothersome, and somewhat disturbing all at the same time. I worked at Sports Authority from 3-10 today. I'm wiped. Nyquil, here I come.

Well, I figured I'd do one ad, so here goes:

As most people know, Jack LaLanne is my fitness idol. This man has lived the part. Of all the fitness icons, he's done the most to show living the life works. Some of his methods and concepts may be out-of-date, but they can't be too far off. Jack is 90 years old, and still going strong. This would be a nice gift for someone over 50. They'd remember the name. I will always remember the name of Jack LaLanne.

There's my ad for today. How'd I do?

Here's to hoping I feel better tomorrow! I bet if I juiced like Jack does, I probably would.

Sick

Figured out the reason I haven't been working out. I've been in denial that I'm getting a cold. "It's just allergies." "This weather's getting me." I probably had lots more, but that's the down-and-out truth. Crud stuck. So, with that, I couldn't come up with any good blogging, so I'll give you some sick Danny pics:

This was after going to the Christmas get-together at the Rollins College Presidents home. Nancy donates, so she gets invited to those types of hoo-te-doos. I don't even get invited out for a beer with the homeless drunks. Lets see who I give to next year.

This was at Sam's Club. Nancy had to get stuff for the Christmas party next week. I forgot about it, sort of. We'll miss the end of The Apprentice, unless I can scoot everyone out the door before then. I was feeling so bad while shopping, I had to sit down. (Guys, take note. The cold excuse works, sometimes.)

I wasn't feeling good at all. This was at lunch, and either I was about to sneeze, or something smelled funny. You know, how everything smells different when you have a cold? Maybe it's just me.

That's my day, folks. Sorry I didn't have anything interesting.

I'm considering starting another blog. This one would be specifically for writing. I'd take that days Writer's Digest prompt, and go with it. The blog would only be for that. Good idea? Yes, no? We'll see.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Amy Deutsch, Nancy's daughter, and to Chivas Z -the horse, of course. The 2005 Year End High Score in the Adult Amateur Jumper catagory (not sure if it's catagory, class, level, etc) winner. Good job! Maybe I can get Amy to fill in on any corrections in the comments at the end of the post (HINT, Amy!)

I had my last class for the semester tonight. Next week is the final.

Today- I worked on printing up a few more ebooks to give out, then forgot to offer them tonight. I did plan out my tasks for the rest of the week. No workout yet though. I'm really falling behind on that. Not totally sure why. Probably just out of pattern. The Holidays always set off my patterns.

Tomorrow, I really want to get a Yoga session in. I always feel so much better when I do.

Online Backup

Keeping a backup of your most important files is an absolute necessity these days. An external harddrive is an option. A small, keyring jumpdrive is another option. But, what is your were in an absolute disaster? One like Katrina?

One option is Yahoo Briefcase. If you have a Yahoo ID, you have a Yahoo Briefcase. Sign into your Yahoo email account, go to the Yahoo main page, then to ..all Y! Services, the select Briefcase. You can upload your most important files there. You'll have about 30meg of storage to use.

The main option, for the normal user and even power users, is Streamload. Streamload is an online storage site. You can store up to 10gig of files! That what I said: Ten gigabites! For Free!! And I'm all about free stuff. You can purchase more storage for a monthly price, as you can with Yahoo Briefcase. With the free account, you're limited to 100meg of uploads a month. Paid accounts get more upload limitations.

If a major hurricane hit's me, and I lose everything, I'll lose my hardware, but my most important files will be availabe as soon as I can get to a computer hooked to the internet.

My suggestion: Use your laptop or desktop store your programs, and maybe that huge music collection you downloaded. Keep your current files on a jumpdrive, and all your important files on online storage. When you have a major computer crash, you'll just shrug off the inconvenience, but not be devastated.

Commercials

After experimenting with ads on this blog, mostly to learn how to do it, I'm probably going to keep the commericals to no more than one per post. Maybe even one per day. I don't intend on trying to hock something just to make a buck. Any ads you see will be something I actually use, or something I'd like to have. Or, at the very least, something I'd recommend. I'll keep up with the free stuff links too. Here's a good example:

This is the current desktop I have on my Linux Fedora computer. I'm blogging from it right now. Fedora, a Linux distribution helped along by Red Hat, is free. As is all the software that comes on it. As is all the software that you can load on it, including OpenOffice.org 2.0. The only problem I have with Linux at the moment is that I can't hook my Pocket PC up to it. Not just yet. I have a progam that can do that, but I haven't been able to get it to work yet. It's not broke, just some parts missing. I know that sounds weird, but programs on Linux have dependencies. Sounds like pseudo-physchological term, I know, but that's how it works. Programs seem to come in pieces, not all of them as a whole. A bit frustrating, but once it's all together, it's a pretty kickass system. From what I'm reading on the Linux and Fedora forums, I'm doing a pretty good job so far. The whole Command Line thing is a bit of a bitch for me, but I'm learning something on it everyday. Hopefully, when I get in my next class, I'll know most of it, and can surf the web during class. Oh, of course, I'm not doing anything like that right now. No....not me.

Okay, I think I provided enough free stuff there for you. Anyone interested in putting a Linux machine together, I'll be glad to share my experience with you.

I had one hell of a time putting this new blog format together this morning. It really came about because I completely destroyed the older Template, without saving the html before I started. I was trying to put a Skype button, AIM button, Yahoo and MSN messenger buttons on my blog and CoachDANNY.net page (all are bodycoach2). Oh, can't leave out google talk. One thing I like about the Linux Messenger GAIM -it combines all those messenger services into one. You can laugh, but the world will communicate more through messenger/voice services in the future, especially help and information services.

Today- I did my updates on my CoachDANNY.net website, and this blog. Then I went to work. It was busy tonight, but not crowded. Everyone coming in, came to buy something specific. We watch Devils Triangle on SciFi network after, and I blogged. I guess I can't really say blogged, since it's a past tense term, and I'm currently blogging, but when you read this, I will have blogged. I guess, from my perspective, later on, I will have been blogging. Yeah, figure that one out.

Exercise- Did I workout today? Yoga? Endurance? Anything? NO. My reason -I got too busy with my website. Is that a good excuse? Of course not. The truth is; I just let the time slip away.

Food- This subject, if I recall, is going to be avoided this month.

Intentions- We see how good they worked yesterday. Guess I'm on my way to hell. Hopefully, I'll make a U-turn tomorrow.

New Look

I hope you like the new look. It still needs some work. I'd like to make the Title a bit bigger, but other than that, I'm pretty satisified. I messed up the original layout, and did a google search on Blogger Templates, and found this layout. I think it looks a bit better, and the text is easier to read.

Let me know what yall think.

Lunch Break

During my lunch break today, I walked over to Petsmart. I like going there because the let dogs in. Dogs make my heart feel good inside. It's difficult to hold back a smile when I see a dog, tail-a-waggin. Today though, my heart broke a wee bit. The dog you see above is one of several they had out. There was a volunteer group taking care of them. They were Katrina survivor animals. Each one had a story, where and how it was found, the condition it was in, and how it is now. They were very nice dogs, and wanted to go home with someone so bad. I wanted to take one home, but another dog just won't work right now. A year or two away, maybe. We'd love to taking in a Katrina survivor, but ChiliDog just isn't old enough yet. She's got another year or so before she's grown enough. I feel bad though; everyone could have a reason to not take in a dog. The thing is to find a reason why. That's the only way these dogs will have a home. Hopefully, there will be some dog-empty homes out there, badly in need of some love, and badly needing to give love. One of the beautiful creatures would be glad to help out such a family.

Okay, enough of the sappy shit.

Today- I went to work at 10am, came home, ate at El Potro, went to Borders, walked the dogs, then back on the computer for more Linux practice, affiliate setups, and Main Site work. I'd like to have My Store page completed by tomorrow night, and the sub-pages of it by Friday. I'm just waiting on acceptance from a few more affiliate vendors. Oh, speaking of that; Today's Blog brought to you by:

Florida Shorts: Short Tales by Five Florida Writers

The link above is, once again, for our book. This link is through Barnesandnoble.com, if you're use to working with them. Our writing group actually will make a little more money if you purchase through Barnes and Noble's website, but it's not that important. We'd just like you to buy our book.

I do have one more product recommendation:

I tried out this DVD, and was really impressed. It's pretty basic, but Seanne Corn does a really good job of instructing you through the sequence. Like I said, it's pretty basic, so it would be a good one if your fairly new to Yoga.

Okay, enough ads for today. Speaking of Yoga, I STILL haven't trained in a few days. Anything. This is what happens when I get out-of-pattern. It's partially why I prefer to train, in one way or another, everyday. Training momentum works for me. Or at the moment, works against me. I would train tonight, but it would keep me awake right now. Yoga tomorrow- for sure.

Stephen and Brett, if you read my blog- and I hope you do- please send me some pics to post.

TitleAuthorKeyword

Disney MGM

Nancy and I went to Disney MGM today. We had a good time, especially on the Rock'n Rollercoaster. That's the best rollercoaster I've been on.

I woke up late today; about 9:30am. I've been staying up too late trying to get this affilate program thing working well. So far, Wal Mart and Amazon have responded, so I'll post some of my suggested purchases from them for now.

Nancy and I left for MGM late today -about 2:30pm. This was probably a good thing, except by the time we got there, Nancy's bloodsugar had dropped too low. Anyone who know's Nancy, knows what happens if her bloodsugar gets too low. We got some icecream in her, and the Wicked Witch of Orlando disappeared.

Oh, let me do my commercial now:
Today's Blog brought to you by:
Bowflex SelectTech Dumbbells, and the SelectTech Package

Pictured above is the Bowflex/Nautilus adjustable dumbbells, called SelectTech. You can learn more about them at: BowFlex SelectTech. For some reason, the picture above is showing the 220 in my preview mode, but when you clieck on it, it should come up with the 550 set. These are pretty cool. In some ways, they're better than PowerBlocks. The only drawback of them is that they go up to 52.5 lbs, and no addon kits are available, just yet. I've tried them a bit, and they are a really good tool. Well made too, probably better made than the PowerBlocks. The BowFlex bench is nice, but a bit too big for me. The overall price of the package isn't too bad though. Prices subject to change, of course. Right now, it's listed at $866 for the entire package.

A lesser priced alternative is:

The current price for the Cast Iron Adjustable Dumbbells are $39.99. I good deal there. I'll post up some recommended adjustable benches tomorrow. Sports Authority has a pretty good selection of some pretty good stuff, but Amazon and Wal Mart list some good things too. If you're curious, or just click on the links above.

Back to the importan stuff: ME - Tomorrow, I'll be working at Sports Authority. Hopefully by Monday, I'll have my CoachDANNY.net site updated, and you can see that. Maybe do some online shopping there too, while your surfing my site. Enough sales. Well, one more:

Don't forget to buy a copy of Florida Shorts. Three of my stories are in it. You can even have it giftwrapped, and sent directly to someone on your Out-Of-Town shopping list.

I haven't worked out in a few days. Other than walking the dogs, nothing. Nada, Ziltch, Zippo. Goose egg... So much for my making it go somewhere idea. I've been so focused on learning Red Hat Linux - Fedora Core distribution. I'm liking it more and more, despite some of the limitations with things I'm use to. Actually, the OS isn't really limited; my understand is. I'll get better.

Thanks for reading my blog. Oh, and don't forget to read Nancy's Blog

Affiliate

Today was fairly productive, even though I didn't really do anything. It's a realization as to why I sit in front of the computer so much. Since I don't do movement in front of the computer, I feel lazy. But, I get a lot done.

Today, I signed up for some affiliate programs. On my CoachDANNY.net site, I'll have many more links in My Store section. Right now, it goes to my cafepress.com apparal site. I do hope you visit that site, and make a few purchases here and there. I'd love to see my face on someone I've never met. That would be pretty cool. I've signed up for several different companies. Basically, if you use my links to purchase something, I get a little bit of the money. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick out specific items I recommend. Right now, each checkout will have to be seperate. I'm sure there's a way to consolidate the checkout, but I'll work on that later. Most of my affiliates have to do with fitness, books, or places I shop, and things I like. You'll see.

We saw, Walk The Line today. Joaquin Phoenix will probably win the Oscar for that, for sure. It might even get best move. Reece Witherspoon did really good in the part of June Carter Cash, but I don't think the part was that much a stretch for her. She's a Tennessee girl already. She did a good job though. I was convinced of each part through the movie. This one is a must see.

This blog was brought to you buy CoachDANNY.net sweatshirts. If you're cold, buy one of my friggn sweatshirts. NOW!

Tardy

I am so sorry I haven't posted since Sunday. Bad blogger. Bad, bad blogger. I deserve low page rankings -but I hope you'll overlook this little indiscretion.

This was a sign over the gas pump, 2 for $2. It was referring to a one liter bottle of water. If I remember right, that's slightly more than a 32oz bottle. That water cost $4 a gallon?? Friggin forget making a car that runs on water. No way I'm paying $4 a gallon for water, unless it was a life-or-death situation.

Not much is going on with me. I'm one of the Grinchy types this time of year. It's not that I don't like Christmas; I don't really like most Holidays -except Thanksgiving, and that's only recently. It's mostly because holidays throw me off my patterns.

I did have my Powerpoint Presentation on Tuesday night for school. I'll figure how to get a link to it on here, and make it available for you to download. I did it on, "Alternative Publication Methods Using Current Technologies" Sound boring, but I can make anything fun. Except Christmas.

This is Drew Baye, Emma, and their new son Luke. Congratulations Emma and Drew, and welcome to carbon-based existence little Luke. It will be an adventure. Drew and Emma; I'd like to personally thank you for your contribution to the Social Security fund. Since they're not going to do things my way, they're going to have to pay a pretty penny for me. Anyway, glad everything worked okay for ya'll. Checkout Drew's site: http://www.baye.com.

If you're a flickr fan, go to the FlickrNation blog, and download the Podcasts. Some pretty good insiders info there, and information about what may be going one with flickr in the future. Not quite as entertaining as other Podcasts, but good information.

Animal Kingdom

We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom today. This was a view from one of the bridges there. You can see the new Everest ride in the background. Click on the picture, or my little flickr badge on the right of the page, and you can see all the pics I took today. Told you I'd get more pics to you.

Animal Kingdom is really nice. It's usually not very crowded, and it's a place you feel like you can really take your time, especially for annual pass holders.

These two Merkat's were sitting sentinal, while the other were going about their Merkat business. They didn't really pay us any attention, except as a mild distraction.

I think the Everest ride is going to be spetacular when it's ready. The que line looks like a Himilayan village, minus the Maoist rebels, that is. Then again, there might be some Maoist coming to Disney now and then, but I doubt it.

Tomorrow, I'll spend most of the day working on my Powerpoint presentation for school. It's already too long, so I've got to cut it a bit. I'm going to try to give out some of the Florida Shorts ebooks to the students, partially in hopes of drumming up some business.

Don't forget to visit Nancy's blog: http://www.360.yahoo.com/nikkiinu2000

And, don't forget to order a few gift wrapped copies of Florida Shorts for your friends that aren't in town. It's easy to do, but make sure you do it before December 12, or it might not get there by Christmas. Order now, and I'll pretend to enjoy Christmas.

Fedora

Here it is, so far. My cheapy Linux computer. Right now, I have it set up to work similar to Windows, but it can be set up to work like a Mac. You can even switch back and forth. This is the same system that is going on the $100 MIT Laptop. You've got to check out that link. It's part of the One Laptop per Child Initiative. If this initiative works, even half way, it will change the world as we know it. Information will flow, faster than anyone can imagine. People across the planet will be in contact, on a regular basis. The children we see in the improvished areas in Thailand, Africa, India, and South America will now be in chat rooms. No longer will be able to ignore the rest of the world, while we suck on our Liquid Candy, and devour food than can do us no good at all.

It's small, green, in very durable. That yellow thing is a crank. It generates electricity for the device. Most of the places and people that will get this device won't have electricity. In some areas of the world, this laptop will be the family's only night light source. Read more about it from the links above.

Like I said before, Red Hat Fedora is going to be the Operating System for that computer, so it's a good thing I'm learning it now. Have I become a Linux convert? No. I'm not fanatical about anything (except undoing the HIT damage I did), and not about to fall into the Microsoft is evil mindset. This stuff is I's and O's, on/off switchs on an incredibly microscopic level. It's not the hill I want to die on, so to speak. Chocolate, however,...I could get fanatical about that, especially Dove Chocolate.

Yesterday- I worked lastnight, Black Friday night. So far, it didn't seem to go well for anyone but Wal Mart. The news and the other stores are trying to make it sound good, but don't be fooled. Let's hope people spend more money between now and New Years Day. Monday will be important, as that is the day for Online Sales, the Online version of Black Friday.

Today- I really didn't do much of anything. I did some homework, studied, and worked more on learning Linux. I didn't workout, didn't do Yoga, didn't run. I sat on my ass. Funny thing - I don't feel too guilty.

Intentions- Tomorrow, we're going to Animal Kingdom.

Thankstaking

Every year, everyone participates in Thanksgiving. This year, I've decided to be the receiver for all that thanks.

You're welcome.

Can you guess who this is? Yes! You got it right! It's ME, and my first bike. I think I was about five years old in this picture, maybe less. My mom can add to this post, when she remembers the year. I don't remember the year, much less the bike. Can you believe the stuff they made us wear in the 60's?

I didn't have any pictures of today, so I decided to show you that one.

Yesterday- I trained my clients, worked on homework, learned more Linux, and went to work.

Today- I goofed around all morning, took a nap, had Thankstaking dinner, had two glasses of wine (which I rarely ever have any alcohol) and got a bit tipsy -cheap drunk that I am.

I will have more entertaining post for you in the future. A bit dry with them lately, huh? And, I haven't kept to that fitness thing very well, have I. Sorry about that.

Oh, and once again, You're welcome.

The Tech Cave

Anyone who knows me knows how messy I can be. As I wrote in a previous post, I work best in an environment of Natural Order. What looks clean, or neat to someone else is very unsettling to me. Mark Twain said, "A clean desk is the sign of an insane mind. Or someone who needs more work." Well, I'm not sure that exactly what he said, but it was something like that.

This is a picture of me at my work/study/play place. It looks like lots of stuff, and it is, but each and everything you see has purpose. I actually know where each thing is, and why it's there. The monitor shows my Red Hat Fedora screen, and the laptop has my WindowsXP stuff.

This is me, sitting down after a grulling two minutes of cleaning up. Fold up the table, put the stuff on the desk, and close the closet doors. I just need me a Super Hero's suit now. Unfortunately, I'd probaly have to call myself Methane Man.

Today- I worked on my Powerpoint presentation for school. I'm doing it on Alternative Publication methods, and using our Florida Shorts book as an example (don't forget to click on the link, purchase a copy, and have Amazon gift wrap it for you. They'll deliver it too). I also read over a little about the Linux Command Line. I actually was able to make it do something today. Not really sure what, but it did something. Hey, it's progress. I'll take what I can get. It amazes me what you can do with a free operating system and free software. I had a few bitchy moments putting this blog down, but you're reading it, so it couldn't have been too bad. After lunch, we went to the movies, and saw Harry Potter; Goblet of Fire. It was really good - the best so far. I'd forgotten that I didn't have work today, but remembered this morning, luckily. After the movie, we went to Borders. There were a lot of teenage girls from Bishop Moore Catholic High School there. Most had theire skirts hiked up a bit. Young girls never change, do they? At my age, I see that and I think, "Yeah, that's cute, little girl. Now where the hell is your father?" You know your over the hill when you see a young girl, thong showing, and you think, "There's no way I'd let a daughter of mine out of the house like that!" I don't even have a daughter. We ate dinner late, and watched Firefly. I tried to get the bed earily, but failed miserably.

Nutrition- Maze. I ate a lot of Popmaze (Thought I'd try that out. It just doesn't have the ring of popcorn, does it?) We saw Harry Potter today. It was good. I highly recommend it. It's a big long - two urinal visits for me. That's a long movie.

Exercise- None. Friggin none. Not even Yoga. I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy.

The Awful Truth- The real fact-of-the-matter is; at any given moment, I rarely have any clue of what I'm doing.

Brownie Points- I was able to get the command line thing to actually do something today.

Intention- After tomorrow, I will have regretted the intentions I intended on making today, but didn't. More than likely though, I won't remember that. I'm like a dog that way.

Command Line

Yes, more Linux news. Not much else is going on with me these days. Obsessing on something is how I make progress. It's also how I study. All or nothing. Not a productive way of life, but hey, it's what I've got. I did work on some homework for school today.

So far, I like Linux except for the bitch of installing programs. Evidently, Red Hat "Fedora" is actually one of the easier ones. Ubuntu is another, but it can be really complicated. Maybe it's not that complicated for someone who's use to it. I'm not. I'm a GUI guy (Graphical User Interface- like what you see with Mac OS and Windows, not C prompt). Give me something like looks like a file folder, and a 'wizard' to help me install software.

Installing some software on Linux requires using the Command Line. That name even sounds like something to be avoided. I don't want nuthin have'n no command over me! You can think of the command line like the C prompt on MS DOS. I know Linux users are going to cry foul here, but that's what it looks like, except with a white background and black lettering. In order for me to really learn Linux, I'll need to learn the Command Line. I wonder if I'll actually get to command anything. Right now, it feels like it commands me.

If I can learn it well, I'd like to take older computers, and fix them up with Linux, and give them to people who otherwise couldn't afford a computer. Until Linux is mostly, if not all, graphical like Windows and Mac OS, it's not going to be a hit with the general public. As it stands now, it seems to be about 85-90% graphical, with occasional need to go to the command line. Geez, I sound about as boring as ZDnet.com right now, huh? My point is; Linux has a future, and I need be on top of that. It might even have more of a future than Windows or Mac. Who knows. It doesn't matter really. They're all just toys to me anyway.

Nutrition- Please move along. Let the next of kin through.

Exercise- Nancy and I worked out today; Lower Body- Hamstring emphasis. Tomorrow is Back/Triceps day. Higher reps on back (no more than 15, no lower than 12), and heavy on triceps (no higher than 6, no lower than 3). The next time we do Back/Triceps, the pattern is reversed.

During the other workouts (chest/biceps, quads, hams), we'll do one set, maybe two at the most, of 8-12 reps of one of the 'off' parts. This is a newer strategy for me, and I've just really started playing with it, so I'll report the progress back to you.

The Awful Truth- I haven't done Yoga in over a week. I can tell the difference too. It's not a good difference. For me, personally, Yoga has to be the focus of my training, and I've let that focus go a bit. I need to go back to the daily 30 minute routines. Also, I've failed in the last few days to give you some pictures. People seem to like those. My iPAQ doesn't syncronize with this Linux system. Not yet, that is. There's a way to do it, but it's more advanced than my current skills. I'll do a work around soon. I'm trying to get as much practice with Linux as I can, before my classes in January. Be Prepared.

Brownie Points- Getting MP3's to work on Linux was a biggy for me. Not having Halloween candy is another brownie point. Not having it in the house, I mean.

Intentions- I intend on working my Chest/Biceps tomorrow, doing more PowerPoint presentation homework, another Excel practice homework (even though it's not necessary), and doing 30 minutes of Yoga. That, and sleeping in a a bit.

Today is my second posting from my Linux based computer. I've done pretty well getting this thing going, if I say so myself. I don't know how Red Hat Linux compares with the other distributions out there, but it's working well for me so far. The hardest part of working with Linux is installing programs. It seems that it's a bit easier with Red Hat, than the others, but I'm still not sure what I'm doing when I try to install something. I must be doing it fairly well; I've installed about five programs so far. The most important one for me is the MP3 player. I was able to get the RealPlayer to play MP3 files. That was the hardest thing so far.

Today, I worked more on setting this little beast up, obviously, went to work, came back and set up Linux some more. Loaded some of my files on here; pictures, documents, etc. Not that I'll really use them a lot, but I do need the practice with this. I'm willing to bet Linux will eventually beat out Windows, unless Microsoft can bring down the Windows prices. Bring them down A LOT. And Mac OS isn't winning any kudo's with tech types anymore either. When you're update contains 13,000 bug fixes, somethings wrong. The thing that's wrong is you're releasing software before it's ready! This is nothing new, though.

Exercise- Other than walking the dogs, didn't workout. That's not good, but not really bad. The whole intention of Holiday training is to get as much in as you can, and let the holiday schedule cause your rest days.

The Awful Truth- Spent way too much time obsessing on getting this computer working. Sorry Nancy.
I don't want to start my next class unprepared, so it was important for me to get this working. But, I do tend to overfocus on it.

Brownie Points- I've added Linux Red Hat to my skills. Now, I just need to learn some basics of that whole command line prompt thing. Ugh. Text based computing is the pits.

Bored enough yet?

Weeee

I'm writing this post from my new computer. Did I say new? Yes. Expensive? No. Practially FREE! All I paid for was the harddrive -not too much. What's different about this computer? I'm running it on LINUX!! That's right! Linux -Red Hat Linux, to be particular about it. I downloaded it to my WindowsXP laptop, burned the install discs, and loaded them on here. Kick ASS!! Linux is pretty cool looking. Red Hat's Gnome desktop looks a bit like Mac OS X, so it's not too hard to work with.

It was fairly important that I learned how to use this operating system. My next class is 'Intro to Operating Systems", and Linux- Red Hat is part of it. Now, I'm ready.

The cool thing about Linux is that most of the software is FREE, including the Office application from Open Office.org. There's a version for Windows or Mac too. You may have heard about the hoopla with it in Massachusetts. They decided to go with Open Office .xml file formats, and .pdf document formats, meaning - they've pretty much decided to go to Linux.

Don't get my wrong, folks - I'm not a Microsoft basher. I like Microsoft, and think they make some pretty good products, though somewhat overprice (especially compared to FREE!). I like Apple Mac OS, but I'm not a Mac fanactic. Basically, I'm just a techy guy, who like to workout.

Sorry I don't have a picture today. I'll figure how to load pictures on this computer soon.

Exercise- The last few days, Nancy and I worked out everyday, except for today. So far my impromtu breaks idea is working. Next workout is Legs- Hamstring Emphasis.

Nutrition- Has been pretty good too, maybe except for lastnight - El Potro. Love that place. With the Holidays and all, I'm going to post my nutrition, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. In January, we'll get really serious about the food aspect of my training. For now, I'm going to enjoy eating, and workout enough to give it somewhere to go besides fat.

The Awful Truth- As Maggie Wang says, "Move along now. Nothing to see here."

Brownie Points- Right here, right now! I installed, and am using, Linux. I'm WAY proud of myself right now.

Intentions- Workout tomorrow morning, before work.

This is one of those days when I start off having no clue what I'm going to write. Bear with me, please. (I guess if I wrote, 'Bare with me,' I'd be asking everyone to get naked with me?)

Today and yesterday have been uneventful. I did have my class lastnight. Saw that I did well on my test. Worked on the start of learning Powerpoint. Trained clients this morning, did homework, worked at Sports Authority. Didn't really have any eventful thoughts, either. Least not, ones that I can remember. Guess I'm just getting old.

The old part, I can tell. I've really noticed a change in my eyes and hearing in the last two years. I struggle to read things close now. Time for the reading glasses. With hearing, I sometimes struggle to discern sounds. Sounds close to me sometimes are more difficult to hear than sounds coming from farther away.

Then there's the whole digestive problems. And allergies that I didn't have before. I'm convinced it's a feminist plot! Hey, it's just easier to blame them for everything, anyway.

This week, I'm going to do my nighttime oatmeal trick, to heal up my belly. The last two days, I must have had some allergic reaction to something. My gut rumbled like crazy, every joint in my body swelled, and my hands and lips were swollen. Even the lining of my mouth and my tongue swoll up. Not enough to go to the hospital, but just enough to make me really uncomfortable.

Enough complaining Danny. Time for bed.

Signs of Christmas

After I trained my clients this morning, Nancy, Shelly, and I went to the Festival of Trees, at the Orlando Museum of Art. It's a fund raising event for the Museum, put on by the Council of 101. The counsil does some great things for the museum, despite their reputation for being a bunch of self important snobby women. I've met a few, and didn't find them to be self important. I didn't meet them long enough to know if they were snobs or not. But, the council of 101 does have that reputation. Like most volunteer organizations, I'm sure about 20% of the people do 80% of the work, while the rest are there for self promotion. Such types are easily seen through.

The Festival of Trees was really good. Disney quality presentation. If you'll click on my little flickr banner, you can see some of the trees. My toy doesn't have a flash, and it's really sensative to movement, so some of the pictures weren't great, but you can get the idea. You can click on the flickr words here, too.

After that, I worked at Sports Authority tonight.

Exercise- I'd intended to workout today, but forgot we were going to the festival. I need to get with Nancy about the Holiday schedule of events, so I can plan workouts.

For the rest of the holiday season, I'm going to plan on working out everyday. It's worked for me in the past- giving the extra food somewhere to go besides fat. Unplanned events will force breaks.

Nutrition-

• Breakfast- Zone bar for breakfast, midmorn- Whole wheat bagel with Olivia spread
• Lunch- Asigio Roast Beef sandwich (Panera), chips, pickle. It's what they had at the festival.
• Dinner- Turkey sandwich, apple, leftover cake. evening- honeynut cheerios with added protein and fiber. I figure; if I'm going to eat bad, might as well make it better.

The Awful Truth- The whole no workout today thing. Also, while writing this blog, I almost forgot what part comes next.

Brownie Points- Being able to remember what comes next. I think I was respectful to Nancy's friends at the Festival. It's hard to tell if I embarass people, since I don't experience that emotion. Usually, when people tell me I've embarassed them, I'm more curious about what that feels like to them, instead of what I did. To be honest, I'm not really interested in what I did anyway. I'm going to be me either way. I can't let someone elses embarassment dictate my personality. So, brownie points for being ME!

Intentions- I intend to do tomorrow, what I intended yesterday to do today. Don't worry, I had trouble with that one, too.

Relief

We did screening on Saturday. There were a few blips -the slides in one tray were mixed up a bit- one of the judges didn't understand our screening process- but it went pretty well. I was at the computer almost 9 hours straight. Took a twenty minute lunch. When it was all said and done, we did the statistical decisions needed to keep the catagories repesentative of the applications, what the judges liked, and what we think the public likes. Tough decisions. All seemed okay. I even had two Smirnoff ICE drinks -it only takes one to get me really tipsy. Two, and I'm a falling down drunkard. Nancy made the house look wonderful for the judges party. The patio looked like an outside diner. This house is really good for events like that, but we rarely use it for such anymore.

This morning, I got a call that we'd printed out the wrong information for the notification committee. Opps. I didn't know what they needed, and I'd assumed they needed address, but that wasn't it. I made the changes, and took them to city hall in my pajamas. Imagine that; CoachDANNY at Winter Park old City Hall in his pajamas. Don't worry; I didn't get out of the truck.

Even after that was done, there was still a problem with one catagory being mixed up. Evidently, when I'd sorted the scores by catagory, the one that was mixed up didn't sort the names right. Someone with more advanced Excel skills would probably have picked it up right away, but I didn't know to look. Luckily, it was just one catagory, and I was able to go back and fix it. I think.

I have one habit that has served me well. Whenever I make changes to a file, I make a new file. So, I wind up with things like; screeningv1, screeningv2, screeningv3...etc. That way, if I mess up along the way, I can go back a few steps, and fix it. Of course, that new file would probably be something like; screeningv115. I windup with lots of reduntant files, but hey....it's just I's and O's. Binary stuff, lying around on my harddrive. If I get full, I'll trash a few, but I try to transfer them to something else. I'm pretty good about keeping old info and security stuff, and I'm getting even better about the security stuff. Problem is- I don't really have anything that needs to be secure. ID theives would probably decided they needed to help me out. Bad credit can be a good thing, at least as far as ID theives go.

I learned a lot this weekend. I'll be ready when it comes time for awards this year. I'm going to keep studying Excel, even after this class is over. Can't hurt.

Now, it's time to tackle new challenges. The fitness stuff.

I'm trying to figure out a good home physique picture taking standard. I want something that will really show comparisons. Lighting is a big problem I didn't consider until recently. I'll need to figure a standard for lighting. Something really cheap, but works. I'll have all that posted up soon. Be prepared; you're not going to be too impressed with these first photos. No excuses, except for the Halloween candy. I measured my body fat the other day; 19% on the Tanita scale, and my abdominal skinfold was 19mm. Both are just about the worse they've ever been. It's funny how you don't think it's that bad, until you see the actual numbers. My weight hasn't changed much lately; 156.5 average, but obviously I've gained a bit of fat in the last few weeks. I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Well, with the way you friggin eat, Danny, no wonder!". You'd be right.

Tomorrow morning, I Intend to plan my week, meals, and training, not just for the week, but through all of the Holidays. Christmas Combat Training plan - Ready for Crusades! I ain't figured out where I'll be Crusading just yet. I heard some people like to Crusade the Bahamas, or the Carribean, or even Hawaii. Some have said the Crusade's to Alaska are nice, but I've heard storys that Crusade's to the Middle East just aren't that great. They say the people that live there are Eatings. But, they don't look overweight, or anything.

Maybe, they have Fitness Crusades. I'd like that.

Pressure

No commentary today. Sorry.

I pressure washed today. I wish I could wash away the pressure.

I promised to give you more pictures, and stuff about fitness, so here's what I have today. This is a pic of me doing what I call, Lower Abs. I'm backwards, on a decline bench press. This is the top of the exercise. My legs lower to the ground with bent knees. My feet barely touch the floor, the the next repetition starts.

A more accurate name for this exercise would be: Hip Flexion + Reverse Crunch. This is a warmup exercise, especially on leg day.

Nancy and I worked Legs-quad emphasis today. I'd intended on going very heavy, progressing dumbbell squats with 8 reps, starting with the 20 lbs'ers, and working my way up. I got as high as 50 today. I've done better. I wasn't tired, overtrained, etc. My hip was irritated again. It felt better after the workout, but not enough to go as heavy as I can. Like I tell my clients, "Just give me what you've got today." I usually expect a perfect workout, my best effort and focus. Today was good enough. I can be my own worst client.

Nutrition- Breakfast, Zone bar, then Whole Wheat bagel 1/2 hour later. Lunch- Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jelly sandwich. Did I ever tell you how much I like Peanut Butter. Dinner- El Potro. We might not be able to get there this weekend, so we ate their tonight.

Screening

The anxiety level is much less today. I measured it with an anxiety test. It's interesting to do that stuff sometimes.

When I was an athlete, we learned how to manipulate anxiety. Some people had to learn to calm down. I, on the other hand, had to psyc myself up. I had to increase my anxiety before an event. Sometimes you see athletes do this by bouncing around, punching the lockers, or shaking the jitters, like swimmers do. Others have to remain as calm, and still as possible. They focus on something other than the event, usually their breathing. For them, anxiety destroys their performance. For me, it enhances my performance. It helps me focus, and hone in on the task at hand. At the peak of anxiety, nothing else exists. It worked great when I was an athlete.

But, it doesn't work so well in real life. Top athletes actually go through counseling to learn how to transition into real life, if there actually is such a thing. Basically, the go through deprogramming.

I never learned how to shut the anxiety down when I needed to. I had to train myself. Sometimes, it's more of a struggle. Luckily, not this time.

So far, things with the Art Festival pre-screening went well. Tonight, I updated the database, which I'd never seen before, and did a pretty good job of it. Then, I transferred the data to an Excel worksheet. Not to difficult. My next task is to prepare the spreadsheet for Saturday. I might need some help with that. Hopefully, I'll get it right.

I did other screening, too. After I'd trained my clients this morning, I fixed 2 panels in our pool screen enclosure. Panels that had been out since Hurricane Charlie, last year. It took me a while to figure it out, but I did. I impressed myself. Almost killed myself in the process. I would have been an unimpressive ghost then. Haunting a pool....hmmm. I could think of worse places to have to haunt. Hopefully, I'll never die at a rest-stop on the Florida Turnpike.

I didn't get my body stats up yet, as I want to provide it with an entire picture, front/back/side with stats at the bottom. I'm going to do it every 90 days, or so. I'd really like to get an Alignabod backdrop. It helps with reference points to really see changes. I'll probably go ahead and do the first round without it. Shipping seems to take awhile, and it might actually get here after the holidays. Anyway, I'll post something up for you.

Nutrition-

• Breakfast- 2 Zone bars
• Lunch- Subway grilled chicken sandwich, with spinach, tomatoes, and lots of green peppers. I like to tell the sandwich maker, "You might not have enough green peppers in that little bucket. Strangely enough, green peppers don't mess with my stomach. Go figure.
• Dinner- Ham sandwich, chicken-noodle soup.
• Snacks- a few pieces of Halloween candy, but much less that the last few days.

Exercise- I was suppose to do some endurance training tomorrow. Life got in the way. Either that, or poor planning. We know the real answer there, don't we?

The Awful Truth- I didn't plan a better time for my endurance training.

Brownie Points- Reread the whole thing about screening. Both parts.

Intentions- Better planning for Yoga and endurance training. I can do endurance in the mornings, but Yoga still has to be in the afternoon. I've tried Yoga in the morning enough times to know that it just don't work well for me there.

I also intend to getting more sleep, and getting you more pictures of me.

Anxiety

I'm not worried about the impending Bird Flu pandemic, Terrorism, or even global warming. My own anxiety will get me first. Funny thing is; I don't get anxiety of those things.

Anxiety has been my own personal plague. It lead to a really good freakout in college circa 1985, a decent one in 99, and please excuse me while I have an entertaining freakout now. Interestingly enough, I have learned to somewhat compartmentalize my anxiety. I keep it specific to the anxious topic, as best I can.

The whole Art Festival thing isn't going too well. At least it doesn't seem like it is. I'm ill-prepared for what I have to do this Saturday, and the impending screw up will be seen as my fault (can anyone say- 1.Fortune Telling, 2.Mind Reading, 3.All-or-nothing thinking, 4.Mental Filter, 5.Magnification - I'm just all over the lists of 'cognitive distortions' here. Hey, my anxiety just went down a bit. How bout that?

Truth is; it will probably workout fine. There will be some awkard stuff, since I am very new to using Excel, and I'm not practiced with the procedure the guy who set this workbook up used. I'll get through it. But, in the meantime, excuse the 'rage against the machine' yell. Thank Pink Floyd

Enough about me. Wait, forget that; it's never enough about me.

All day, I tried to think about what to write about with fitness. Nothing came through. We'll keep working on that, won't we. In the meantime, know that trainers do struggle with this stuff, just as much as all of you. The fact that we have the knowledge, access, and ability to this stuff makes any excuse stupid, but it's still tough. We do understand. Be right back,...have to finish another Milky Way. Halloween is no longer a favorite Holiday, but Haunted Mansion will still be my favorite ride.

Today- I didn't workout any clients, as I told them to scram. Actually, some rescheduled, and one had a death in the family. No, it wasn't her own death.

Nutrition- I didn't want to post this, but I guess I should:

• Breakfast- 3 slices of Nancy's wonderful French Toast, from leftovers. Hey, I didn't want it to spoil. I've heard that some foods actually do spoil in the freezer, but I just can't let my french toast show me that.
• Lunch- Arby's French Dip. Such a hypocrite I can be.
• Supper- Some sort of premade pasta/chicken dish. I'm sure the sauce is now clinging to my ribs.
• Snacks- Halloween candy is almost gone. Almost.

Exercise- One thing that I fail to post, mostly because I don't consider it exercise, is the 45min-1 hour of walking the dogs, most often twice a day. You see, it's how the log on to the Urinet, and read their Peemail. I can't deny them the scent surfing, can I? Abby must have found a few good message boards, and left one helluva reply.

Nancy and I worked Chest/Biceps today. I think the anxiety from the whole Art Festival thing helped me push a bit harder. I was stronger, even though I didn't have as much sleep.

The Awful Truth- The whole anxiety thing, and how it's difficult to keep in check. To all who've had to deal with it with me; sorry. The Yoga really helps for it, and that's the main reason I do Yoga. Actually, there's another reason, but it's just not fit to print here.

Brownie Points- For passing my Excel test today; perfect score with extra credit. Now, the REAL test- actually using it in life- comes this Saturday. PostGrad studies, anyone?

Intentions- I intend to look here tomorrow to see what I intended on doing today, even if I had no intentions. At least, no 'honorable' intentions.