I'm Baack

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. It's been one thing after another. From unsuccessful shoulder surgery to the busy end of the Fiscal Year, with a spectrum in-between. I am having fun with friends, regardless... just went to the beach and the National Naval Air museum, again.

This year-end is unusually busy due to the earlier furloughs (off every Friday) getting us behind in our work. Then the sequestration cutbacks' uncertainty made the program offices hold their money until year-end... at which point they had to send funds for work needed before the funds expired. Add to that the actual, real and regular work, as well as more task management, increased demands from supporting elements, delivery of reports, and, of course, next-FY planning with budget funds request. It's been very busy.

Last September, I brought down an old hiker guy off a mile-high Appalachian mountain. The 70-year-old had stability problems and was falling down backwards. I side-hugged him and locked-stepped him down in 6 1/2 hours. Not a smart thing to have done, in hindsight... should have called the rescue squad instead like we did this year on another old coot, because I only have one shoulder left.

Then, following that, in October, I got a virus/bacteria that required a double-dose of Prednisone steroid. It made me feel so good that I pressed more weight for more reps... like a young man. Not a smart thing to do either.

The shoulder hurt: Changing the car radio station hurt. Reaching for the glovebox was very painful. Grabbing something from the back seat was excruciating. I tried months of rest, ice, chiropractor, massage and etc.

The orthopedist did arthroscopic surgery... Resulting in lots of pain, complications, therapy and recovery... all for nothing, because the pain is still there. The orthopedist wanted to operate again and I understood what he wanted to do as deboning chicken, so I fired him, his physical therapist and the horse they rode in on.

I had kept up my hiking and riding. Am back to the gym, taking it easy and doing OK but avoiding overhead shoulder movements. Am doing my own therapy, trying different things out to see what works. My doctor wants me to go get a second opinion from another orthopedist.

My plan is to give it time to heal. It takes a while... everything takes a while to get over, physical or mental, so wish me luck and patience. In the meantime, I'm enjoying life and good friends.

I've been busy.


- copyright 2013 by Willy.

Why I Train, II

Yes, that's a grandbaby in that backpack.

OK, I've had a great Summer already. A week bonding with my son,  another week bonding with my daughter, and months of having fun with a young old friend.

Did a week hiking Colorado mountains with the daughter's family. It was especially nice to backpack the 1-year-old up Class 2 trails... straight up. I trained at home on long hikes carrying 30 pounds of lead weights.

The son and I upgraded my TV to a big full-smart model with keyboard and streaming (to replace my 22-year-old tube)... and new WiFi and recliners too... while that grandkid went to camp. So... this wasn't really what I trained for, but I need a place to crash after the training, no?

A great Summer already... and, now we have sequestration furloughs: I'm off every Friday until October. More outdoors and time with good friends... it can't get better than this!


- © 2013 by Willy

Tough Vs. Rugged

I made a decision a long while back that I wanted to grow up to be a tough old man. The old is easy, but the tough... is tough.

But, what is tough? What does it mean? Did I choose the right word to describe what I wanted to be? Did I mean rugged instead?

Tough is strong but flexible and not brittle. Not easily chewed. Characterized by uncompromising determination. Capable of enduring hardship and strain. Hard to influence. Just... hard. Tough is hiking 15 miles without water, which I do.

Rugged is shaggy, hairy, jagged, turbulent and stormy, with wrinkles and furrows. Weathered. Strong. Sturdy. Austere. Stern. Coarse. Having ability, stamina or resolution. Just... rough. Rugged is two weeks worth of stubble while ridding on a horse... like The Marlborough Man, a young lady friend tells me.



Rugged seems outward appearance whereas tough is deep inside... like character.

Me, always thinking function over form, easily chooses tough over rugged... while borrowing a couple of qualities, like strong, sturdy and austere... and understand that rugged does correlate somewhat with tough.

What I am, and how ruggedly old I look, are my real trophies in life.

I accept this comfortably.

I want to be a tough man, discipline, diet and exercise will take me there. And it will happen before I know it.


- copyright 2013 by Willy

Power Vs. Energy

Our houses are connected to the utility company. We used to call it the power company, which was aptly named. They had the power and we drew their power and paid for it in units of time. If we plugged in a coffee pot that drew drew a killowatt and it took a half an hour to perk the coffee, we used a half-kilowat-hour, a term of energy for which we paid at the end of the month. Power times time used equals energy.


The same is true in engineering. A super-capacitor can quickly discharge large amounts of power for discharging a laser but a lithium battery slowly powers cell phones for hours if not days.

In the same way, athletes have developed power-ful muscles and have power to use when running, bicycling and swimming. If they last a couple of hours, they have generated energy from their power (have done work). But athletes specifically train for either short bursts of high power (powerlifting, for which they look huge but can hardly walk) or long low-power endurance races (for which they look like skinny runts). Seldom do you see a muscular athlete doing cardio (they'd get small), or a racer lifting (too much mass to carry).

Which way is healthiest: Both. An athlete lacking power means brittle bones, and an athlete lacking endurance means heart attacks. In this age of specialization, we should worry about the quality of life rather than trophies and T-shirts.

- © 2013 by Willy