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.

Good Versus Evil

There's always a struggle. It ranges from that within us to worldwide. And it's usually a choice: It's good versus evil.

If there's a top, there's got to be a bottom. If there's a god, there has to be a devil. If there's good, there has to be evil.

This week, again, evil slaughtered innocence. It broke my heart. How could a teenager kill elementary school babies? I am thankful for my kids and grandkids... and want to keep them all.

And again, some are talking about more gun laws. As if criminals and crazies cared about laws. As if we blamed cars for drunk driving. It's not the car and it's not the gun... it's the crazy and evil people. It's a widespread but allowed mental health problem that started when Cain clubbed Able. I have myself experienced these people mess up others through intimidation and abuse... several times.

Is there a solution? Is there nut control? When I was a kid, armed robbery and shooting threats to local merchants were taken care of by the neighborhood. Customers would beat the crap out of robbers, in the act, and toss them outside to the street, bruised and battered. No 911 needed. Ditto for not accepting bullying and intimidation at school... they got theirs, eventually. Is that the solution?

To me, personally, it's about every decisions I make, from being helpful to others, to what I eat and what workout I do. My solution is to avoid crazy and evil, embrace good, and train hard to be tough and thus able to defend myself and others. Tomorrow, I will do what I do every day... what I CAN do... conquer my own self. And pack heat.


- © 2012 by Willy

P.S. God, please, deliver us from evil.

Did Watson Really Win?

So, "Watson," the IBM mainframe with artificial intelligence won at Jeopardy against the two best human opponents. It also thought Toronto was a "US City" (the category) and got every question wrong on "Month," a five-in-twelve guess! IBM will surely tout it as a PR win, but it was a dreadful performance for 25 scientists, four years of hard work and a mega-million bucks. Watson should have answered every question right, and first. I have a sneaky suspicion that, given a learning curve, the two humans could have beaten Watson, but that would not have been good PR.

Why did Watson do so badly?

The engineer would say that you're always one transistor away from failure. The athlete that he's one injury away from a loss. The old that he's one sickness away from bankruptcy. Algorithm guys should say they are one human away from being human. Humans think conceptually, whereas machines exhaust logic trees by brute force. Deep Blue beat Kasparov but Eliza is awful. Machines are profoundly ignorant of what humans take for granted. There's a lot of stuff we know that we don't even know we know.

Watson did badly because our AI algorithms just aren't there yet.

Should we worry about our own idiocy instead? What about our own human thinking, which only works when void of emotion? Should we work on our mental health instead of developing artificial intelligence?

Further, Watson really did not play against two humans... rather, Watson and the two humans played Jeopardy, with little interaction. The devil is in the interaction. For instance, even if we hold out for perfection, it may be that perfection is holding out for perfection too... and not us. And we may not recognize perfection even if it whacked us in the head.

One final point: There's a lot of difference between losing and being a loser. The two Jeopardy humans are not losers, and neither should we call ourselves that. Imperfect works just fine, and it's human. Perfection is God's business. We should be proud of being human... accepting, embracing it and applauding it.

We don't yet have to worry about machines taking over the world... no Terminator scenario yet... but Watson did well for a four-year-old toddler.

- text © 2011 by Willy

Possible

"Think about what's possible
and you'll be amazed
at what's probable!"
- anon.

When I was 8 years old the cops had car radios, most people had a telephone, and I wondered why we hadn't yet merged those two together into what's now the cell phone. It took quite a while, but this possibility became the perfect probability.

Also when I was 8 or so, I wondered if it would be possible to avoid being feeble like my 60-year-old grandfather. The probability is... yes: I pressed very heavy pecs Monday, went for a 6-mile mountain hike yesterday and will do a 28-mile spin today. We don't come with a warrantee, so it's up to each one of us to make the possibility happen... with God's grace.

None of us has any control over how long we live, but we do have some control over how we live.

There is so much possible, and seems more so probable. What a ride!

- © 2010 by Willy

Over The Rainbow

... and above the canopy.

















Dorothy said that somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly.

Not only that but we also hike there, and some of us even live there. It may take near a lifetime to get Over The Rainbow, but where there's a goal, there's a way: Eventually, dreams that you dare to dream really do come true... IF you work for it.

Thank you, everyone who helped.

I have reached the state of mind in which there is no pain and no fear. Where I know I'm safe. When I feel loved and cared for by many. Real peace. All is well. Life is sweet.



- what wasn't The Wizard Of Oz is © 2009 by Willy

How Happy Am I?

I don't expect much and am pleasantly surprised when that's exceeded... which is often. Looking at life with a positive attitude but a low expectation does yield the necessary happiness which is the basis of life. I do get the nice smile, the kind word and even the long hug.

I discovered that my best friends are myself and God. They don't disappoint me or shit on me like relationships end up doing. That doesn't mean an exclusion to other friends. Indeed, those hugs have to come from somewhere!

It's not that I expect everybody to be perfect, but what I'm finding is that the minute there's intimacy, then the criticism and demands start, and I'm just tired of it. All intimate relationships do seems to follow the same course, which is initial exuberance followed by disappointment and finally termination depression. My plan is to balance... to continue to have my friends but not do intimacy. Also, family is good, but some are better than others, actually, some are way better than others, just like friends... some contribute.

Friends, lovers... and family... come and go. Treasure a long, stable, healthy friendship and/or family relationship if you have them.

Low expectations works!

- © 2008 by Willy

P.S., and a hug to you too.