Tomorrow marks the last day of my own version of Project: Rebirth, the month-long Captain America-inspired workout program I’ve been following faithfully.
So what are the results?
Well, I’m pretty sure I could land a pretty solid blow to Hitler’s jaw, but I wouldn’t last long against the Red Skull, or even Baron Zemo.
I could probably take Arnim Zola down (in his pre-robot body days, at least).
And I would just flat-out refuse to be seen anywhere near Batroc just on principle. (Still, cheesy as he is, he’d undoubtedly kick my ass.)
I have no pictures to show you my results, because who would take (or have taken, to document the “before”) pictures? I’m not about to do some MySpace-style bathroom mirror self-shot, and even if I were willing to ask Scott to take pictures (Note: I’m not.), I haven’t actually seen him since before I even considered starting the workout. And without any “before” pictures, you wouldn’t really be able to see the results in the “after” shots anyway.
When I went in for my regular check up the other day, I found that not only was my scale lying to me about my body fat, it wasn’t even giving me my correct weight. At the doctor’s office, I weighed in at 168 pounds while fully-clothed. My scale, just a few days prior, put my weight at 174. It seems unlikely that I lost that much weight in that short a period of time.
So I’m not sure how much weight I actually put on. I think that was about what I weighed at my last check up.
More subjectively, I can say that there has been a visible increase in my overall bulk, especially in my upper body. My shoulders are broader, and my chest is bigger, firmer, and more well-defined.
My biceps are only slightly larger, but are substantially more firm, and better-defined than they were a month ago. Triceps are also more defined.
Forearms don’t appear any larger, though they are more defined (and even more veiny).
As for my legs, only my calves appear visibly larger, though my thighs (and my butt) are both firmer…under the layer of permaflab, at least.
My abs show the least improvement, though there is a noticeable difference. To be fair, the workout didn’t really do a lot to target the abs.
Beyond my own observations, a few people at work have commented on the changes to my physique, so it’s not just (or at least not entirely) wishful thinking on my part.
So what’s next?
I’m not sure. I want to take another crack at eliminating the permaflab, so I may put in a solid week of cardio, along with a decrease in caloric intake (focusing on low fat, high protein to a greater extent than I have the past month).
Then I may go back to my previous routine, simply adding in more reps/and or more weight.
Obviously I didn’t expect dramatic results, and I’m both surprised and pleased by the results that I did see, though I wish I had seen some more growth in my arms.
Still, I wasn’t in anywhere near the same kind of shape that Chris Evans was already in when he started preparing for the role of Cap (and, in fact, I’m still nowhere near it), so I knew that I wasn’t going to see the same kind of results.
Then again, a guy can dream, I guess, though ultimately maybe he shouldn’t.
Showing posts with label captain america. Show all posts
Showing posts with label captain america. Show all posts
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Neither Super Nor Soldier
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Hacking My Own Brain And Random Departments
The other day, Friday by Rebecca Black (no link provided because I’m not that cruel) popped into Scott’s head, and, because that’s how the sickness works, he tried to pass it along to me via IM.
However, with considerable effort – I commented that I thought I’d burned over a thousand calories from the act of concentration – I managed to prevent it from infecting me.
I accomplished it by voluntarily getting the song Like a Stone by Audioslave stuck in my head:
The reason that this worked is that, while I kind of like the song, I don’t really know it that well, and, while I hate Friday, I do, unfortunately, know it well.
This was the key to keeping young Miss Black out of my head, as I know that, when presented an option, my brain will always go with the song I don’t know very well, as I tend to find it more irritating to have a song – even one I that I like – that I don’t know playing over and over again in my head, even when the alternative is much, much more annoying.
Scott described it as “hacking my own brain.” I pointed out that it’s just a matter of having learned a few tricks in the nearly four decades that I’ve spent living with the thing.
A New (Old) Department Department:
After more than a year after mentioning that it was coming, and then never officially talking about it again, we recently had a reorg at work. Because they decided that the employee opinion survey-identified goal of improved communication is something that they’re going to work on for what remains of the year – and also because I’m reasonably certain they had no idea what they were doing – our managers were provided with virtually no details about what was coming beyond a vague guess as to when.
Naturally, the rumors started swirling, because, as much as executives hate to have rumors circulating, it never occurs to them that there’s a very effective method for stopping the rumors before they start. (Hint: It’s not keeping everything top secret and flat-out refusing to answer direct questions.)
For a while it seemed as though some major changes were in store for me – though I was assured that my neck wasn’t on the chopping block – such as being moved to a completely different department. This was a bummer, as it meant that I’d be losing out on having the great boss I’ve had for over a year and a half.
However, at the last minute, those plans changed, and the end result is that not much of anything is changing for me. Same job, same boss, but she’ll have a different boss, and our team is undergoing yet another name change.
I did, however, lose some team members – who performed an entirely different function from whatever the hell it is that I do – as they got moved to a different manager, and three entirely new (to us) people are joining the team, presumably to the same thing that I do, whatever the hell that may be.
In the announcement that went out, the names of the five people who will now be reporting to my boss were called out, and while it wasn’t an alphabetical listing of names, there did seem to be some kind of order in how the names were listed, which made me take note of the fact that my name was listed dead last.
I copied that bit out of the announcement and e-mailed it to my boss – who was on vacation – with the subject line “Well, at least I know my place…” and said, “Whoo! I’m Number 5! I’m Number 5!” (I also told her that I was glad that she was still the boss.)
She replied that maybe “5 is the new 1.”
Like I said, I’m glad she’s still the boss…
Ultimately I can’t complain too much, as this is still much better than some of the rumored changes, and while my neck was, apparently, never in any danger, there were a lot of other necks that ended up on the chopping block.
The Key Takeaway Department:
(In briefly explaining the history of the Java programming language to someone much, much younger than I am at work, I realize that I’m talking about things that happened when she was still in grade school.)
Me: …anyway, the key takeaway from all of this is that I’m old.
Life Expectations Department:
Some things I – perhaps foolishly – expected to see in my lifetime:
Humanoid household robots
Off-world colonies
Cold fusion
The discovery of extraterrestrial life
Something I never expected to see in my life:
A Captain America movie that’s even halfway decent
The jury is still out on some of those expectations, but today I learned that I was wrong about the Captain America movie. Not just wrong: dead wrong. Captain America: The First Avenger is excellent. I couldn’t have – and didn’t – hoped for a better Cap movie.
However, with considerable effort – I commented that I thought I’d burned over a thousand calories from the act of concentration – I managed to prevent it from infecting me.
I accomplished it by voluntarily getting the song Like a Stone by Audioslave stuck in my head:
The reason that this worked is that, while I kind of like the song, I don’t really know it that well, and, while I hate Friday, I do, unfortunately, know it well.
This was the key to keeping young Miss Black out of my head, as I know that, when presented an option, my brain will always go with the song I don’t know very well, as I tend to find it more irritating to have a song – even one I that I like – that I don’t know playing over and over again in my head, even when the alternative is much, much more annoying.
Scott described it as “hacking my own brain.” I pointed out that it’s just a matter of having learned a few tricks in the nearly four decades that I’ve spent living with the thing.
A New (Old) Department Department:
After more than a year after mentioning that it was coming, and then never officially talking about it again, we recently had a reorg at work. Because they decided that the employee opinion survey-identified goal of improved communication is something that they’re going to work on for what remains of the year – and also because I’m reasonably certain they had no idea what they were doing – our managers were provided with virtually no details about what was coming beyond a vague guess as to when.
Naturally, the rumors started swirling, because, as much as executives hate to have rumors circulating, it never occurs to them that there’s a very effective method for stopping the rumors before they start. (Hint: It’s not keeping everything top secret and flat-out refusing to answer direct questions.)
For a while it seemed as though some major changes were in store for me – though I was assured that my neck wasn’t on the chopping block – such as being moved to a completely different department. This was a bummer, as it meant that I’d be losing out on having the great boss I’ve had for over a year and a half.
However, at the last minute, those plans changed, and the end result is that not much of anything is changing for me. Same job, same boss, but she’ll have a different boss, and our team is undergoing yet another name change.
I did, however, lose some team members – who performed an entirely different function from whatever the hell it is that I do – as they got moved to a different manager, and three entirely new (to us) people are joining the team, presumably to the same thing that I do, whatever the hell that may be.
In the announcement that went out, the names of the five people who will now be reporting to my boss were called out, and while it wasn’t an alphabetical listing of names, there did seem to be some kind of order in how the names were listed, which made me take note of the fact that my name was listed dead last.
I copied that bit out of the announcement and e-mailed it to my boss – who was on vacation – with the subject line “Well, at least I know my place…” and said, “Whoo! I’m Number 5! I’m Number 5!” (I also told her that I was glad that she was still the boss.)
She replied that maybe “5 is the new 1.”
Like I said, I’m glad she’s still the boss…
Ultimately I can’t complain too much, as this is still much better than some of the rumored changes, and while my neck was, apparently, never in any danger, there were a lot of other necks that ended up on the chopping block.
The Key Takeaway Department:
(In briefly explaining the history of the Java programming language to someone much, much younger than I am at work, I realize that I’m talking about things that happened when she was still in grade school.)
Me: …anyway, the key takeaway from all of this is that I’m old.
Life Expectations Department:
Some things I – perhaps foolishly – expected to see in my lifetime:
Humanoid household robots
Off-world colonies
Cold fusion
The discovery of extraterrestrial life
Something I never expected to see in my life:
A Captain America movie that’s even halfway decent
The jury is still out on some of those expectations, but today I learned that I was wrong about the Captain America movie. Not just wrong: dead wrong. Captain America: The First Avenger is excellent. I couldn’t have – and didn’t – hoped for a better Cap movie.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Quesada On Colbert (Again)
Marvel Comics Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada breaks some bad news (and good news) to Stephen Colbert:
Interesting coincidence: the Captain America costume re-design - as well as the cover of the issue featured on the show - was done by superstar artist Alex Ross. The name of Stephen's guest that night? Alex Ross, albeit an entirely different one.
Bonus Colbert video featuring a true blast from the past:
Also, I enjoyed this quote from Mark Evanier's blog:
Don't you feel smart? Rudy Giuliani has spent more than $30 million dollars trying to become President of the United States. You've spent nothing and you have almost the same chance that he does.
Interesting coincidence: the Captain America costume re-design - as well as the cover of the issue featured on the show - was done by superstar artist Alex Ross. The name of Stephen's guest that night? Alex Ross, albeit an entirely different one.
Bonus Colbert video featuring a true blast from the past:
Also, I enjoyed this quote from Mark Evanier's blog:
Don't you feel smart? Rudy Giuliani has spent more than $30 million dollars trying to become President of the United States. You've spent nothing and you have almost the same chance that he does.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
The Times They Have A-Changed
So the time change has already happened.
This is the first time in four years that it hasn’t really affected me. On my old Friday-Sunday shift, I would have had to go in to work Sunday morning with an hour less of sleep. Not so with the Thursday-Saturday shift.
Of course, one drawback to this shift is that my days off seem to fly past even faster than they did on the old schedule. I’m not entirely sure why that is.
I guess it’s just because I just don’t do anything on Sunday, so being a wasted day, it just slips past in a hurry, whereas on the old shift I did all of my shopping and whatnot on Monday when it was my first day off, rather than totally wasting it.
That’s my theory, anyway.
Speaking of wasting my Sunday, I was invited over to Jamie and Casey’s house tonight for “movie night” for the opportunity to watch X-Men on Blu-Ray.
I’ve seen the movie often enough that the prospect of seeing it in high def isn’t that enticing. Also, it would interfere with my Sunday night TV, which isn’t really that big of a deal, but the biggest problem was that it would have involved doing something on a Sunday, and for whatever reason, I have a really hard time bringing myself to do that.
Seriously, I don’t even shower or get properly dressed. I totally waste the day.
(Even when I don’t go anywhere on my other days off, I still at least take a shower. Not so Sunday.)
In yesterday’s mail I got a rather baffling letter from Sprint talking about how one of the great benefits of working for Stanley Steemer is the fact that employees get a significant discount on Sprint wireless services, but that an error had resulted in employees receiving a much larger discount than they were supposed to their last statement.
Given that I don’t actually work for Stanley Steemer (despite the fact that there is someone at work named Stanley whom I often refer to as being tough on dirt, gentle on carpets), I wasn’t sure what any of this had to do with me, especially considering that my last statement had been normal, reflecting the discount I do get as an employee of the company I actually work for, so I gave them a call to make sure that, I wouldn’t be getting double-billed in April the way the poor schmucks at Stanley Steemer will be.
Turns out I wasn’t the only non-Steemer to get the letter, as apparently the errors didn’t stop at just not billing them enough this month.
Even Though No One Cares Department:
I know that most of my five or so regular readers don’t given one shit about comics, let alone two, but I still feel the need to talk about them here, so I’m going to briefly mention my feelings about the fact that in last week’s issue of his series Captain America died after being shot by a sniper.
Having just read the actual issue, my feelings are now, after the initial shock, the same as they were after I learned that it had happened: mixed.
The cardinal rule with the death of a comic book character is that it will never last. Death in comics is almost never permanent.
So am I worried that we’ll never see Steve Rogers again? Not really. Even if the actual intention of everyone involved is that he’s dead and will remain dead, that can, and no doubt will, change.
However, I am upset that it happened not simply because it happened, but because it was pretty much the only logical outcome of the current state of affairs in the Marvel Universe, a state of affairs I’m not particularly fond of or pleased with.
The only thing that keeps my feelings about this from being squarely on the negative side of the fence is that the story is being handled by Ed Brubaker – who, ironically, I had just showered with praise here on Wednesday, the same day the issue hit newsstands, before learning about the death.
As I said, Cap’s death fits squarely with the current status quo of the Marvel Universe, and that, more than anything, is the problem. Nothing about the current state of the MU seems conducive to producing good stories unless those stories come from supremely talented creators like Brubaker, and, quite frankly, Marvel just doesn’t have that kind of talent pool.
The whole idea behind bringing the MU to its current state is to try to make it more like “the real world,” which I think is, quite frankly, silly, and will ultimately lead to the problem known as the uncanny valley. The notion first came up in the field of robotics, but can be applied to any endeavor that tries, in some fashion, to imitate life.
Basically, as you get and closer to creating an approximation of life eventually you reach a point, called the uncanny valley, at which what had seemed previously seemed relatable becomes alien and repulsive.
So in many ways the MU seems like the real world, but there is something about it that just doesn’t feel right, in a way that wouldn’t be a problem if it were just slightly more removed from the real world.
(Honestly, I think that the uncanny valley effect is what kept me from ever really getting into Seinfeld. The people on the show sort of looked, acted, and talked like real people, kind of, but there was something just not right about them. Something alien and repulsive.)
Ultimately, though, my real problem with the death of Cap and the current state of the MU is that the MU has become a place in which someone like Cap can only be viewed as “quaint” or a “relic,” and has to be gotten rid of because he just no longer has a place.
A world in which someone who believes in things like freedom, a government for the people and by the people, and standing up for what’s right in the face of tyranny is an amusing throwback and an embarrassment that needs to be gotten rid of is one that I have a hard enough time living in, and certainly isn’t a world that I want to read about and imaginatively escape to.
So there’s my take on it.
On other comic-related fronts, there’s an article here about the casting of a Watchmen movie that asks for people to contribute their thoughts on who should be in the cast (it also includes a link to a publicity still of Rorschach created by the director to try to drum up studio interest in the project).
Here’s who I think should be in the cast: no one.
As tantalizing s that image of Rorschach is, I just don’t think a movie should be made (particularly given some of the really scary rumors about casting mentioned in the article). I think that even the best-intentioned creative team would not be able to put together a movie that is anything other than a pale imitation of the source material or that does anything other than insult its fans. It’s just too big and too complex to be translated to another medium.
So there’s my take on that, too.
I suppose that’s enough rambling on about stuff that only Scott is likely to care about (and which he already knows because we talk about this crap all the time anyway), and since I have nothing else to talk about, that makes this a good point at which to just shut the hell up entirely.
This is the first time in four years that it hasn’t really affected me. On my old Friday-Sunday shift, I would have had to go in to work Sunday morning with an hour less of sleep. Not so with the Thursday-Saturday shift.
Of course, one drawback to this shift is that my days off seem to fly past even faster than they did on the old schedule. I’m not entirely sure why that is.
I guess it’s just because I just don’t do anything on Sunday, so being a wasted day, it just slips past in a hurry, whereas on the old shift I did all of my shopping and whatnot on Monday when it was my first day off, rather than totally wasting it.
That’s my theory, anyway.
Speaking of wasting my Sunday, I was invited over to Jamie and Casey’s house tonight for “movie night” for the opportunity to watch X-Men on Blu-Ray.
I’ve seen the movie often enough that the prospect of seeing it in high def isn’t that enticing. Also, it would interfere with my Sunday night TV, which isn’t really that big of a deal, but the biggest problem was that it would have involved doing something on a Sunday, and for whatever reason, I have a really hard time bringing myself to do that.
Seriously, I don’t even shower or get properly dressed. I totally waste the day.
(Even when I don’t go anywhere on my other days off, I still at least take a shower. Not so Sunday.)
In yesterday’s mail I got a rather baffling letter from Sprint talking about how one of the great benefits of working for Stanley Steemer is the fact that employees get a significant discount on Sprint wireless services, but that an error had resulted in employees receiving a much larger discount than they were supposed to their last statement.
Given that I don’t actually work for Stanley Steemer (despite the fact that there is someone at work named Stanley whom I often refer to as being tough on dirt, gentle on carpets), I wasn’t sure what any of this had to do with me, especially considering that my last statement had been normal, reflecting the discount I do get as an employee of the company I actually work for, so I gave them a call to make sure that, I wouldn’t be getting double-billed in April the way the poor schmucks at Stanley Steemer will be.
Turns out I wasn’t the only non-Steemer to get the letter, as apparently the errors didn’t stop at just not billing them enough this month.
Even Though No One Cares Department:
I know that most of my five or so regular readers don’t given one shit about comics, let alone two, but I still feel the need to talk about them here, so I’m going to briefly mention my feelings about the fact that in last week’s issue of his series Captain America died after being shot by a sniper.
Having just read the actual issue, my feelings are now, after the initial shock, the same as they were after I learned that it had happened: mixed.
The cardinal rule with the death of a comic book character is that it will never last. Death in comics is almost never permanent.
So am I worried that we’ll never see Steve Rogers again? Not really. Even if the actual intention of everyone involved is that he’s dead and will remain dead, that can, and no doubt will, change.
However, I am upset that it happened not simply because it happened, but because it was pretty much the only logical outcome of the current state of affairs in the Marvel Universe, a state of affairs I’m not particularly fond of or pleased with.
The only thing that keeps my feelings about this from being squarely on the negative side of the fence is that the story is being handled by Ed Brubaker – who, ironically, I had just showered with praise here on Wednesday, the same day the issue hit newsstands, before learning about the death.
As I said, Cap’s death fits squarely with the current status quo of the Marvel Universe, and that, more than anything, is the problem. Nothing about the current state of the MU seems conducive to producing good stories unless those stories come from supremely talented creators like Brubaker, and, quite frankly, Marvel just doesn’t have that kind of talent pool.
The whole idea behind bringing the MU to its current state is to try to make it more like “the real world,” which I think is, quite frankly, silly, and will ultimately lead to the problem known as the uncanny valley. The notion first came up in the field of robotics, but can be applied to any endeavor that tries, in some fashion, to imitate life.
Basically, as you get and closer to creating an approximation of life eventually you reach a point, called the uncanny valley, at which what had seemed previously seemed relatable becomes alien and repulsive.
So in many ways the MU seems like the real world, but there is something about it that just doesn’t feel right, in a way that wouldn’t be a problem if it were just slightly more removed from the real world.
(Honestly, I think that the uncanny valley effect is what kept me from ever really getting into Seinfeld. The people on the show sort of looked, acted, and talked like real people, kind of, but there was something just not right about them. Something alien and repulsive.)
Ultimately, though, my real problem with the death of Cap and the current state of the MU is that the MU has become a place in which someone like Cap can only be viewed as “quaint” or a “relic,” and has to be gotten rid of because he just no longer has a place.
A world in which someone who believes in things like freedom, a government for the people and by the people, and standing up for what’s right in the face of tyranny is an amusing throwback and an embarrassment that needs to be gotten rid of is one that I have a hard enough time living in, and certainly isn’t a world that I want to read about and imaginatively escape to.
So there’s my take on it.
On other comic-related fronts, there’s an article here about the casting of a Watchmen movie that asks for people to contribute their thoughts on who should be in the cast (it also includes a link to a publicity still of Rorschach created by the director to try to drum up studio interest in the project).
Here’s who I think should be in the cast: no one.
As tantalizing s that image of Rorschach is, I just don’t think a movie should be made (particularly given some of the really scary rumors about casting mentioned in the article). I think that even the best-intentioned creative team would not be able to put together a movie that is anything other than a pale imitation of the source material or that does anything other than insult its fans. It’s just too big and too complex to be translated to another medium.
So there’s my take on that, too.
I suppose that’s enough rambling on about stuff that only Scott is likely to care about (and which he already knows because we talk about this crap all the time anyway), and since I have nothing else to talk about, that makes this a good point at which to just shut the hell up entirely.
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