Adjusting My Mind

I have always been physically tough, but not so much emotionally. My daughter figured me out. Earlier this year, she stated it: I live like a monk for five or ten years, then date and get hurt and go back to another five or ten years of living like a monk.

Body and mind are a package. When the mind is broken, the body suffers.

My daughter is right... I am no good at romantic relationships, but I have many good friends instead. Hopefully, old friends don't play cruel singles games. I could write a book but TV has captured them... like the one that went and screwed an old boyfriend and came back and bragged to me about it. Purely a daytime TV soap.

I'm no angel. Nobody's perfect and we all have baggage, but at least let's not associate with devils. Let's leave the poisonous snakes alone.

I've been adjusting my thinking to control my passions. I keep it inside my pants. I hug friends but do not cop a feel. This adjustment is kind of like the chiropractor does... cracks the bones of my mind.

I don't have to wade through bull to find what an old friend's problems are... I just have to accept and accommodate. I've seen my friends when they are a mess due to divorce, sickness, birth or circumstances. Most of us have some degree of neurosis, psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar/mania/depression. However, I am blessed with kind friends, and I like them... otherwise we wouldn't be friends. The question of whether they can be tolerated is made easy by the fact that I'm not living with them. And, my tolerance to anger has been zero: bitch me out once and it's goodbye forever, so my current friends have passed through some sieve already.

I've worked at this and feel like I've got it but I proceed cautiously. I want good quality for the rest of my years. Adjusting my mind will take care of my body, so I can train.



-copyright 2014 by Willy

Bare Knuckles

I quit wearing gloves.

On one level, I quit wearing bicycle gloves, removed the speedometer/computer and tossed the heart rate monitor. I ride my heavy fat-tire bike... the carbon has been hanging from the ceiling for years. When I hike my usual solo 7-mile trails, I change to boots but wear whatever I have on (dress shirt and pants)... I do not carry water nor food but I do carry a phone. Bare knuckled.

On another level, I do not use an electric toothbrush either. At my shower you'll find a bar of soap and a razor... no shampoo nor bottles of any kind. At my sink is a toothbrush, Water Pic, baby oil and hairbrush. Pretty simple, eh?

There's only beer and popsicles in my fridge. I own no iron, no mixer, nor blender. I seldom use the heat or air conditioning at home, and I open my window at work. Do I live like a monk?

I do not use mosquito spray and I do not wave a stick in front of me to break the spiderwebs on-trail. Spider bites are an acceptable hazard.

Given a choice, I do it the hard way. I do not use work gloves at the farm. I use a hand saw, I use sandpaper in a block, I cut up small trees with a bow saw, and I usually drive a screw with a screwdriver. I have better control this way rather than with motorized tools, and it toughens my hands and joints. Bloody knuckles heal.

The world is fragile.

I do have to be careful, because I'm too strong. I have twisted doorknobs off, destroyed vacuum cleaners, and hurt with a handshake or hug.

Why?

Why do I do things the hard way? Not only do I like the accomplishment, but doing things the hard way is training. I will be able to do these things when I get old... while my buddies can't already. Use it or lose it!

Storms took the power down and a neighbor with a generator invited me to watch TV, but I thanked him and said that a candle and my iPhone will suffice. I do it because I like simplicity.

Although I'm a rocket scientist, I like no frills. The more complex something is, the higher the risk of failure and the lower the reliability. In my old cars, I've cut off many unneeded gadgets, and the cars are aging rather well. I like low risk.

Sooo... why live bare knuckled? Because it improves both my body and my character. A lot of people talk tough, but I live it.


-copyright 2014 by Willy

Happiness... On Relationships

My thinking on relationships... if you want to be with the one that makes you laugh, then you'd better find the levity to make yourself laugh first.

And/or just accept yourself and embrace the simple solitude. If so, then there's nobody to have to compromise with, nobody to distract me from Mother Nature, nobody to take away time with which to meditate... and nobody to ruin a beautiful sunset. That congruence, or lack of it, strikes me as funny.

My daughter pointed out to me that I have these cycles where for five or ten years I behave like a monk, then date somebody and get disgusted, returning to behaving like a monk for five or ten years.

I plan to add some damping to that cycle.

I plan to be happy.


-copyright 2014 by Willy

Unintended Consequences

OK, so every few years I get these full-body hives ("Poison Ivy went Systemic").

I don't roll around Poison Ivy but I am always outside doing something: hiking, bushwacking, climbing, camping, backpacking and bicycling... besides trimming hedges, eradicating briers, cutting grass and bush-hogging fields. I get submerged in nature's fauna and flora. Getting scratched, scraped, bitten and stung is normal... it's the price to pay for outdoor activity.

The response has been Prednisone, a steroid.

It still means days of itching and a couple of weeks of rash... but Prednisone makes a young man out of me: No arthritis and no back pain, cardio is easier, weights go up, and I smile more.

I don't like the rash, but I love the solution!

-copyright 2014 by Willy.

How Intense?

That is the big question: How frequent and intense should workouts be? It looked to me that too often or too hard and I'd pop a gasket and go RIP on the spot, but not often or not intense enough and I'd die slowly of organ failure.

The solution for me has been variety: I have a base, and add variation.

I warm up, stretch and self-massage every day.

I do something or two every day, but every day is different. Like weightlift every other day, hike outside two or three times a week, bike out once or twice a week, and do cardio machines (elliptic and studio bike) several times a week. And then do something special and motivational several times a year, like week-long backpacking trips, mountain climbs and bike tours.

Every weight workout is different... in form, type, sets and angles/machines/weights. Every cardio is different in location/surface/machine, time and intensity.

Once a month I do heavy weights as well as all-day hikes or very fast hikes and high heartrate elliptic sessions. I rotate these and warm up very well.

Is it working? Yes, I think so... for me. I do well, but still get occasional injuries, for which I have to take time off or modify my workouts to recuperate. I do seem to get elbow tendinitis too often, so am continuously modifying and cold-packing. Could I do better? Probably, but as compared to what? There are not that many old athletes around. I read a lot, discuss and experiment, but I don't have all the answers. I've been working on this particular answer for decades.

-copyright 2014 by Willy

My Plan

What do I plan to do when I get old? When wrinkles take over? Well, I've never smoked and don't plan to. I will exercise often (but not too intensely) in order to stay tough. I will maintain activities with friends to have a social life but I will avoid mean people. I will eat and drink in moderation, including coffee every morning, to avoid being overweight. I will take a couple of baby aspirin every day to reduce risk. I will not care about wrinkles but will work hard to maintain function. And I will laugh hard and often to avoid depression.

Oh, wait... that's what I already do.


-copyright 2014 by Willy

I Have Grown

As I've gotten older, my life has become more fun. I learned to avoid problems. Life is no longer scary. Kids have gone and so have mothers, wives and other problem relationships.

Surround yourself with the right people in life and things go smooth.

I no longer worry about breaking a leg nor stepping on toes.

I just go.


-copyright 2014 by Willy

Devil or Angel

I have been having a great time for the last year or two with some long-time good friends. They're terrific... smart and capable.... and I enjoy them.

But the devil does show up eventually to mess things up. Relationships are unstable. People are more complex than rocket science... by far.

I am good to the core... no drama, and what you see is what you get. 

Recently, things seemed to be in a fix. Nothing was working... arguing back lengthened it and a calm response did too, silence did not work, and laughing enraged them worse.

I chose.

It is a simple thing I tried: I chose to translate rage as terms of endearment. No matter what they said, I hear "I love you." So, I smile and think back "I love you too," and I mean it.

How can you argue with that? They know I do this, I smile, and the instance is defused.

I can't change them, but I can choose to wear rose-colored glasses to interpret those instances of devil into angel... for my mental health. It's a good way to decline an invitation to an argument. It works... when I remember to do it.

No, I don't know what I do to enrage them, and they can't tell me either. And, yes, I know I'm no angel.

The more usual solution is to just leave.


-text copyright 2014 by Willy.

Risk

The TV was full of babbling weathermen being interrupted by the EAS. Their excitement, brought on by the unfolding weather threat, was communicated to the public as fear. Two people died that evening.

Afraid?

A few hundred people may die yearly in the U.S. due to tornadoes, but 35 thousand die due to cars, 74K to diabetes, 157K to stroke, and a whopping 685K due to heart attacks. Every year! Fear a tornado? Hell, it's best to hike during a tornado... which I did.

I do not accept their drama. I don't fear a tornado, I fear inactivity... and drive a big new truck.

Fear inactivity.


-text copyright 2014 by Willy. Statistics by the CDC.

Frozen?

Studies have shown that the single treatment that can relieve fatigue, anxiety, depression, arthritis pain and reduce the risk of diabetes and age-related cognitive disorders is exercise.

Sometimes we get emotionally wounded... it's not that we don't care, it's that we get emotionally frozen. And this makes us physically frozen too. Unable to focus. Unable to do.



It is depression.

We need help in moving past this so we can start fighting for life... we need a hand to get out of this big bowl we're in.... so we can move again.

The solution? Besides a good counselor, is regular exercise.

Yes, it is a chicken and the egg thing... which us engineers solved long ago: grab either one and the other follows. In this case, exercise will make your emotions follow.

Focus... with exercise.


-copyright 2014 by Willy

From The Noise

There is an awful lot of junk, stuff or noise out there. When watching TV, we are bombarded by ads; when driving we get the signs and billboards; when dealing with people, we deal with fakes and lies; and when reading an article or book, we read biases and opinion... when all we want to do is find content.

In dieting, we have junk food where we really should be taking in protein and high-grade carbs. In exercise, we have throw-away miles where we should be getting effective use of our time. Where's the beef?



In engineering, we call this finding the signal amidst the noise, and it's a rather difficult task. Noise makes up most of our world, by far. So much, that sometimes we can't find the signal... we have too many choices.

The real solution is an iterative one. You have to know what the signal looks like before you can recognize it, and thus many "looks" are postulated, and extraction attempted, before success can happen. We need to know what the signal looks like. We need to know the form of the answer before we can get the answer. We need to know what we need before we need it. Yes, it seems like double-talk, but it's true.

Not only that, but it is human to see something false out of the noise if we lack control. People want to react to the situation we're out of control in. This explains why TV is so effective. People feel out of control and TV talking heads helps them make sense of it, even if it's a false understanding and thus... brainwashing.

In the health and fitness area, it's about what motivation works for diet and exercise. I have found that silly goals are much better than logical goals... because silly goals are emotional and logical goals are not. We respond to emotional goals much better than common-sense goals. My current goal to trim down fat is to enter a bodybuilding contest (for which I have to show my abs). Amidst numerous logical reasons (noise) like heart attacks, blood pressure and diabetes, the possibility of embarrassment in a bodybuilding contest (signal) is working well for me.

Change your thoughts and you change your world.

- © 2013 by Willy

Kindness

Life can be tough and is often broken.

Kindness is welcomed in all parts of life... especially in health and fitness, where by far the most important component is mental. A stress filled life is not a healthy life and kindness is the best there is against stress. There are some stresses in life that are unavoidable... usually people. But this can be mitigated... usually by other people's kindness plus some steadfast thinking (like a resolution to outlast the stressor). That kind word, received or given, makes a huge difference in tolerating stress, sleeping better and being healthier. It's an attitude: Do it with kindness... it's not what you do but how you do it. I thank all those who have been kind to me... maybe somebody in yoga who said a word here and there... and hope I return kindness back.

- © 2013 by Willy

A Smile to My Face

Q: "What makes life worth it?" A:"Anything that brings a smile to my face!"

If I ever make it to old age, it will be because of the smiles. Sure, there's motherhood and apple pie, family and friends, truly nice/beautiful people, the splendor of nature, the physics of detail, and so on. All of that matters... but number one is just good laughing-out-loud kind of fun smiles. My favorites are (1) Slapstick, as in the Pink Panther and Home Alone movie series, and (2) Silliness, like in absurdity... which is everywhere. I've got to laugh at political theater, among others (What? Do politicians really think we buy their drama?). Given a choice on what to watch on TV, I choose comedy... but with news a close second. The way I laugh at the news, somebody will surely take me away sometime. News has the silliest content ever. I choose to laugh until my belly hurts.

One item in the news today made me smile in a different way. Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, is getting absolutely swamped with mail. Floor to ceiling, semi truck loads... of handmade snowflakes, sympathy cards, favorite football cards and piggybank money. "It's awesome," said the PTA president. "From children, just like us," said a local child at the recent tragedy. "That much love multiplied this many times," said the narrator. It made me smile all over.

My new year's resolution is to smile more... every which way.

- © 2013 by Willy

Secret Fitness Techniques

Wow, this year went by so fast that it was a blur!

I was looking over my notes and trying to determine how I did with my resolutions this year. On the positive side: I lost weight/fat and improved muscle tone, and vastly improved my hiking endurance. On the negative side: I did not bicycle enough, I had knee and shoulder injuries, and I did not consume enough protein.

My resolution for this next year is to continue hikes and lifting as is, but increase protein and bicycling, and be more careful about injuries.

I wanted my self-discipline and self-motivation to be stellar this year but it was a year full of stress. Stress may be the reasons for the injuries and for a very long "cold," or maybe it was over-training. So, let's try it again next year, and every year, and let's use the same secret techniques that have produced a good work career for me. To remind myself, what to do...

Set goals. What worked well last year was a target waist size and related weight loss, a defined "easy" hike mileage, and increased reps... when my weightlifting buddy wasn't looking. Begin with the end in mind. At work, it's been the number of technical reports published.

Be proactive. What worked well before was to madly cross-train, using all off-work time (no hanging around the house watching TV!). Just do it, the Nike ads say. At work, my interest takes over. Nobody has to tell me what to do, since I'm doing it. Do keep in mind that I have a desk job.

Do not overdo it. Think no over-training injuries. Allow both the mind and the body to win. Think win-win. At work, it has been distributing success credit to others.

Key is playing nice, smiling, sharing, mentoring, being courageous, keeping integrity, and demonstrating patience... with myself and others at the gym, trail, road, and work/lab. However, I do admit that I avoid some people to...

Be happy, and stay happy. "Do what you can with what you got," is my mantra... and...

Remember to rest. Nothing beats eliminating drama and reducing stress, and thus getting good sleep. The body has to heal itself after the carnage. Add regular massage, too.

Shhh... those are my secrets. Don't tell anybody.


- © 2012 by Willy

P.S., a happy new year to you.

Dealing With a Threat

"No." I told the young panhandler at the Safeway grocery store door.

"You a rude son-of-a-b$#&$!" he said, lurching forward.

"Say that to someone your age." I said while putting my groceries in my backpack at the bike rack.

Then another twentysomething joined the first as the first continued the insults: "Bring one, you son-of-a-..."

Now, this 62-year-old can take one young punk, but not two. So instead I went inside the store and told the Service Desk. By the time I came back outside, the two punks were gone.

I thought to myself: This assault is in a nice neighborhood, mid-morning, at a nice store called SAFEway... how ironic. There just isn't relief, even on vacation.

Then I bicycled away. Bicycling away from a threat works!

-copyright 2012 by Willy

Getting to the Trailhead

How do you get to a peak? Same way you get to Carnegie Hall... practice, practice, practice. Then drive to the trailhead.

Some trailheads are more difficult than others to get to. In Colorado, $6M was spent paving 12 miles of Guanella Pass Road from Georgetown to the Mt Bierstadt trailhead, and it was wonderfully easy to get there. On the other hand, getting to the Greys and Torreys trailhead requires a high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicle due to the dirt road ruts. Around here in the south, it's important to have the right trailhead vehicle... one that you don't mind getting scratched by brush, banged up by potholes, or smashed by vandals. Thus, an important piece of backpacking equipment is the selection of your trailhead truck, which has the conflicting requirement of getting us there, not be too nice, and being the daily driver to work.

It would be something to meet all three with one vehicle.

One solution is to own more than one: a daily driver and a trailhead truck. And decide which one to take, depending on destination. Either hope that the trailhead truck can survive the interstate, or hope the reliable daily driver can stay pretty.

As time goes by, the reliable and pretty car slowly becomes the trailhead truck, the close-to-dead trailhead truck is discarded, and a new vehicle bought for reliable and pretty daily driver... in a cycle period of many years.

I have to think this through better but I may be doing a version of this that involves three vehicles: My 22-year-old tired trailhead truck reached 253K rough miles. It burns oil, has questionable reliability and looks like hell, so I bought a newer truck today to restart the cycle. I have an older van. I may keep the old tired trailhead truck for special occasions where I need to leave the truck at an unfavorable location for weeks, like AT segment hikes... and I do not lock it so as to avoid somebody busting the window to get in to search.

Happy trails to you.

- © 2012 by Willy

Hiking Resume

OK, so if somebody asks for a resume... and it's to compete for a hike spot... what should I say? Ability, of course, but also I realize that it's a group, that I'll need to mention mental and physical fortitude with people as well as contributions and leadership. How about something like...

"My achievements are many. Hi, I'm Willy and I'm an engineer group leader. I mentor college co-ops and interns to take over for me, and put out fires. I also taught 20 years of evening classes at the local college. And I even taught Faith in Sunday School to High School seniors. I can write well too... have published 200 documents, mostly technical reports, conference and journal papers, but also am a published poet. I am really good on my feet... not only having gone through the Toastmasters curriculum early on but having pushed my club to achieve Top Ten international recognition. I am an excellent people leader and communicator.

"I like the hiking adventure. I've hiked and backpacked my whole life, progressively getting better, so that at age 62, I'm darned good. This year, I hiked Colorado twice, the Smokeys (four times), plus a segment of the AT. Last year it was Yosemite and its High Sierra camps loop, and another segment of the AT with my daughter, and more CO... I'm bagging peaks of CO 14ers as well as AT segments. Have done the Grand Canyon three times (including a rim-to-rim), Mt Hood wilderness, Big Bend, Yellowstone, Everglades, and etc. I conveniently have a mountain trailhead right out my backyard and hike locally three times a week, crosstraining with bicycling, weights and elliptic. I was a certified personal trainer. I'm a no-nonsense ultralighter. I'm not good at snow, but own crampons, snowshoes and axe. I like mother nature and the outdoors but I love the view from the top (like from Vogelsang saddle). I'm slow but sure, and have the demonstrated desire to climb.

"Yes, I do Facebook but only have 60 'Friends,' which is typical of my generation.

"Why am I a perfect fit for this? Because I have the demonstrated desire to climb. I'm in shape... both physical and mental shape. I like hiking, backpacking and climbing... and do it all the time. I'm a mature, seasoned and aged adventurer, so I know a few things I can contribute. I have the good attitude and enthusiasm for it. I'm fluent in Spanish, my original language. I have real friends... the face-to-face kind I drink a beer with. So... best of all... I have people skills."

That should do it. That's about what I turned in. We'll see how an aged adventurer rates.

- © 2012 by Willy

Control

I know how to control a machine, but how do we control ourselves? How do we bridle back our actions and emotions? Throttle down? Control our anger? Invoke self-discipline? Govern ourselves properly? Stay on the straight and narrow? Meditate and pray? Diet and exercise? Not cross the line? Not ask for a phone number?

Good questions, but ones with no apparent answer... if we read the paper or examine ourselves for flaws and urges.

A lot has been said lately on this subject with the recent demise of Cosmo’s publisher, and comparisons to Playboy. Both of these magazines are the antithesis of self-control, with their prime axioms being seduction philosophy and lack of inhibition. Sex sells, but it also brought plenty of drama and misery in this battle of the sexes, and produced plenty of casualties.

I still get temptation... like yesterday... but put me down for diet and exercise and hold the drama.

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, amen.

- © 2012 by Willy

On Solitude

There is no one waiting by the green light at the end of Daisy's dock, and there will never be. I have a very comfortable solitary life elsewhere, and I like it this way.

There is a big difference between solitude and loneliness... a matter of choice. Loneliness is depression, whereas choosing solitude is enjoyment... for time at work, bicycles, mountains and gyms with a better sense, clearer mind and healthier body. I sleep better, see more, feel better and enjoy life.

I have analyzed my ex-wife and my other relationships. I now realized that I am blessed not to be encumbered by them. I have no albatross around my neck... and want none ever more.

I used to think that it was a tradeoff, a balance between joys and sorrows, but I now realize that there was only short-term joy and long-term sorrow.

The monks are correct in their solitude, however, even THEY pledge obedience to their abbot... the head monk. No way!


- © 2012 by Willy

P.S., No way!

Life is a Decision

Life!

That was an easy decision.

Many runners say that life is just putting one foot after the other. The trick, unlike running, is that a decision has to be made for every step. Life is complex. Plans are changed for us. Many decisions have to be made very quickly... about as quick as when running.

The trick is to be prepared for opportunity... and trained for obstacles.

Personally, I keep to a schedule... doing the same things at the same time in the same way... so that I can deal with the all-too-common perturbances that life throws at me... those I can't control... the "incoming."

This weekend, I was glad I cross-trained well to both hike and lift heavy weights, because I had to physically bring down an ailing hiker with vertigo who fell backwards, twice. I was worried that he was going to split his head open, so I side-hugged him, grasped his shirt, physically held him up straight and marched him down in lockstep. I gave him encouragement, even though I was scared. Afterwards, I was exhausted... it was squats-while-walking for six hours... my legs and right delt are still burning.

I have often mentioned that I made a decision to go solo... to do a simpler life with far less drama... which allows me to do what I want to do.

Life's about training and conditioning... in many ways.

I can't be young again but I decided for life... that I'm going to be a REALLY-tough old man. The old is easy, but the really-tough is... tough!

- © 2012 by Willy