...

Redwood has the toots.

His new saxophone fits his style. He's loving making noises on it, which mostly to this point consist of a handful of toot-like notes...with the occasional strangling noise thrown in when he blows wrong. He does love it, it seems, and I like watching him play. If he can already do that in the first few minutes, I imagine he'll get the hang of more complex things soon enough.
-----
I've spent the last few days feeling hugely, hugely depressed. I keep trying to climb out of it. I'm productive. I'm serving others. I've accomplished some things lately that I've wanted to for a long time. But I'm also really, really unhappy despite things being "good". WTF man. That's about my reaction. Life is supposed to reward you with happy when you're doing right things.
-----
One of the accomplishments is golf game related. Shot -1 for my round last Saturday. Due to the above, I haven't felt much euphoria over it. I'm glad to have it done and overwith, since I've been knocking on that door for a couple of years. I would say I have satisfaction rather than euphoria. And satisfaction is kinda boring, mostly.

Hickory's Box of Awesomeness

The Fourth of July. As holidays go, I actually like it, which is more than I can say for some. I abhor Halloween for instance.

Outside of the heat, the bugs, the noise, the smell...the fourth is pretty cool. You just have to be in the right mood. Having excited little kids makes it easier, especially when the infectiously happy personality of Apple is one of them. Even the slightest bit of fun makes any given day "the best day ever." To say she was looking forward to fireworks would be selling very short.

So Sunday evening we pile the kids in the van along with some chairs, a towel, some water...and drive off to a neighborhood close to Maple's grandmother. The area has a reputation for shooting off a lot of fireworks. We find a spot with a vacant lot between the houses, on the corner, with a lawn that is in beautiful shape. Set up the chairs. Plop the little ones in the lap. And it turns out, that at least this year, we've chosen a great spot. Despite there being a lot of mature trees in the area, we can see in every direction really well, and we're close to three or four homes that are shooting off a lot of stuff.

Many oohs and aaahs followed as well as a frightened little girl, at least for a bit. Mostly we have a lot of excitement and big smiles and some good family bonding time. Then a few minutes before we pack up, someone just two houses down on the opposite side of the road plops a box out in the street. He's backlit by someone's flashlight, so I can see him lighting the fuse. Eventually, he steps away as the light lowers to the ground. All of us are riveted on this very large box.

And then it starts. A little hiss, and then foom...foom...foom...foom. Four white streamers fire off, one at a time about a second apart. Four big boomers fire off in quick sequence - red, green, white, gold. Then streamers again. Boomers again. Streamers again, boomers again.

When it's finally done, all the kids are squealing and clapping, with little calls of "yay! more!" In the midst of the din, we hear Hickory...our most excitable little one, call out with a huge smile on his face.

"That...was like a box of AWESOMENESS!"

15 Years!

Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of Maple and Persimmon. :)

It's all gone by so quickly. I am grateful we are in a happy place, many years later. It's a place related to the place we started...just more wise. I am thankful for all she has given me over the years, and the times I have been able to give of myself to help her. I pray for many more fulfilling and joyful days together, many more fifteens of years.

One neat thing I've noticed about my wife lately is this: she's hot. She's spent a lot of time the last couple of years getting herself back into shape. And while every little step along the way has mattered, and made her more attractive...she's getting past the rough reshaping and resizing. She's polishing now. She is looking beautiful and fit. I like that.

Redwood hates underwear

If there's one thing everybody agrees on about Redwood, it's that he's about as funny as a boy can be.

If there's one thing nobody knows about Redwood, it's that he hates underwear. The boy goes commando everywhere, it seems. We ALWAYS have to ask whether he has undies on right before he goes out the door for school. And in the past, sometimes, he'd lie to us...so we'd have to check.

Naturally, item #1 to come off when he gets home from school is the underoos. Off the bus, down the block, through the door, to the bedroom, strip down, put on shorts. The kid is a polar bear at heart, wears nothing but a pair of shorts around the house almost without regard to how cold or warm it is.

So early this week, Maple hears singing coming from down the hall right after Redwood gets home from school. She walks quietly down there, peeks around his bedroom door frame, and sees Captain Commando dancing around his room in just his shorts singing, "I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it huuuuuurrrtts!"

He's mortified at having been caught, and Maple asks him where he learned that song and whether he knows what it means. Naturally from school, and no, he has no idea what sexy means.

Long story short, attempt #1 to explain "sexy" to an eight year old fails. The task then falls to me on my return home from work. So, trying to play it low key, I settle down next to him in the living room as he's playing a computer game and get his attention focused on me.

Me: "Hey Redwood...I heard Mom caught you singing a funny song today after school."
Redwood: "Yup. I was just dancing."
Me: "Yeah, Mom said it was pretty funny. She also said you might need to know what sexy means."
Redwood: "Yeah, she tried to explain it. I still don't really understand."
...

[insert two minutes of trying to explain the meaning of "sexy" in eight year old terms. We finally get to the point where he knows that it means something like "physically desirable" in eight year old language]

...
Me: "So the guy in the song, when he's singing, he's saying he's too sexy, too attractive, too physically desirable to even be constrained by his clothes."

Redwood: "Yeah, that's why I don't wear underwear."

Just as 2 > 1, so...

craigslist > ebay

pfsense > sonicwall

chocolate > vanilla

barebones nerd kit > consumer grade kit

Five Things

The five blessings I've received from _____________.

Increasing my scripture study:

1. A much better understanding of HOW the spirit speaks to me, and exactly what revelation from God looks, sounds, and feels like.
2. Calmness regarding "controversial" topics of the gospel. To the honest and earnest seeker, there is will be an answer.
3. An understanding of why a good cross-reference system is so important.
4. The food pyramid analogy that has served me so well and kept me from easy (and often incorrect) interpretation.
5. A greater understanding of what it means to be happy and content in a place of struggle and strife.

Increased physical conditioning:

1. No more shoulder pains. Which means no more sissy graphite shafts in my irons for golf. :)
2. No more lower back pain.
   
3. No more nagging muscle tears and associated injuries. I played softball without pain and it was GREAT.
4. Looking better in my clothes. I bought new jeans because my legs and butt got bigger. They fit nicer, as do most of the clothes I already owned. I look better out of my clothes too, which Maple appreciates. :)
5. More stamina for work and fun. I like being able to run around with my kids in the yard and make them all huff and puff while trying to catch me. Not bad for a guy closing in on 40.

Being married:

1. Having Maple in my life. She has been a great blessing to me in many ways, but of special mention is the calming influence that she has on me.
2. My children. I can't even get started on this, because I'd never stop. All of them, each one, deserves many paragraphs. From Apple's impish ways through Ash's stoic example, all of them bring me a smile.
3. Working toward a common goal, building lives together and improving surroundings. Something as simple as new windows brings excitement for the future.
4. Opportunities to serve that come to me. They allow me to show my love for Maple.
5. Being married to maple brings me contentment, and contributes to the happiness I feel in spite of the sometimes unhappy surroundings of life. Much like #5 from scripture study.
   

P90X 90th Day Results

Chest/Back (jacket size): +3.25"
Waist: -1"
Thighs: +1.75"
Calves: +1"
Upper arm: +1.5"
Forearm: +1"

Weight: +11 lbs, 171 to 182

Body fat estimate (caliper method): 13%

In short, it works. I still look like me, just a little more filled out.

The biggest changes come in the last 30 days of the program, and I was hampered by being out of town frequently and developing plantar fasciitis. I'm going to keep going for another 30 days to see what my "proper" results would be.

Program review wise, I'm pleased with it. The workouts are still hard to do even now, mostly because I've increased weight and reps to match my abilities. Here's my observations:

• It's the a good season-to-taste workout, because those of lower ability levels can simply do what they can, while those in great shape can push for more. It's definitely a general fitness program, not something geared toward "just" weight loss or "just" muscle building.
  
• Guys who are only looking to bulk up are going to be disappointed. A guy looking to get in overall better shape will be happy. Again, think FIT. There's still some ways to squeeze more bulk out of the program, but it has to be modified a little bit to accentuate that desire - and it's still not the same as hitting the gym specifically for heavy lifting work.
  
• Women though...that's really the largest target audience, I think. Take a woman who is in good physical shape already, put her through this, and she'll get HOT in no time. The balance of cardio, stretching, and weight resistance can easily be modified to get really, really good results for someone looking to get toned with a little bit more muscle while burning a lot of fat.
• As always, it's generally much easier to drop fat than to add muscle. This thing will burn fat if the diet of the person using it is right. Gaining weight, as I did, is A LOT of work.

The three things I added to be successful:

1. Used myfitnesspal.com to track caloric intake, broken down by fat/protein/carbs.
2. Protein supplement - switched to BSN's Syntha-6, which really, honestly, tastes good. Every other protein I've tried has tasted horrible.
   
3. Twinlabs amino fuel. Recent addition, but I get less fatigue the next day when I take it ~15-30 minutes before a workout.