SO - It's about 10:00 and we were about to turn the AC on in a little while when FedEx leaves off a box. It's my Stealth (as seen on facebook) Core Trainer.
I already do SOME planking but come on - it's a really boring 2 minutes. And if you think I'm weak at 2 minute planking - try it.
Put your forearms on the floor and get on your toes. See how long you last. It's OUTSTANDING for your core.
Well STEALTH makes it into a video game as you put your phone in the holder area and you play one of many games.
IT IS A KILLER. 30 seconds and I was toast. OMG! DJ just tried it (on her knees) and thought it was GREAT. The problem with all exercising is it gets boring. This comes with 2 games and I purchased a few more (like the old video games where you are hitting targets).
I tell ya - it was about 76 in the house and after 2 attempts I was sweating like a pig (do pigs actually sweat?)
** - "Sweating like a pig" is actually derived from the iron smelting process in which hot iron poured on sand cools and solidifies with the pieces resembling a sow and piglets.
I got the personal trainer - NOT the Pro - and look for pricing - it's all over the place and Amazon is the most expensive I think. Interesting video on first impressions of this ab killer.
SO - you want to know WHY I have not blogged? Do you really? here is why.
Last night I was drinking a beer and I had a mouthful and all of a sudden I started to cough. You know that feeling, it's happened to everybody. Two minor bodily functions competing for that same second of my life making one very large issue AND ..... to top it off, EVERYONE is staring at you.
I make my first whatever it is that happens trying to make sure beer does not come out my nose and realize I'm in deep deep shit. HOWEVER - a lightbulb goes off above my head saying "ROD, you are on the porch, spit the beer onto the floor it will help the plants under the porch". SO - I do it and I live
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that, my friends, was the highlight of a retired quarantined male with a wounded knee day. It was much better then waiting for the mail. And that is why I stopped blogging as I figured people would not be THAT excited
Cars - DJ is thinking of buying a new Outback and I started to do some research and see they now have an auto-engine shut off when you come to a complete stop.
I had this feature on a car in the 70s, a Dodge Dart convertible. It would automatically shut off IF I got it to come to a complete stop. I say "IF" because the breaks were SO bad I would LITERALLY (no really . . . LITERALLY) start pumping the brakes a block ahead of time. MANY times I had my leg straight out hoping I could stop in time and I always had a bail out ready.
I remember going to Midas Brakes to get an estimate. I could not afford it so I said put everything back. They did not want too and resisted. I lived to tell the story so . . . I also went to Car-X with that car to get a muffler and I must have looked poor as they came back and said all I needed was a new gasket AND they gave it to me free.
Car-X was my goto place for decades after that.
That care was a convertible and Elweed threw his suitcase through the back window on one super cold day. Not a huge deal but when I was working as a cook on night shift at a truck stop on 51 and the interstate just outside of Madison there was a blizzard and I worked 24 hours straight until things got cleared off. A beer truck was stuck there . . . we had a lot of beer and food (I was the only cook).
So - finally we are rescued and roads are clearing - I go to the car and open the door. The ENTIRE INSIDE is snow. I spent a good hour shoveling out the INSIDE of my car. The broken back window was facing into the wind. OH - My CB handle was SuperTramp (My #1 rock group at the time).
Back on topic - It SEEMS that auto-engine shut off is now a feature and not a pesky inconvenience.
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I see The Oaks employees are all wearing masks now. I golfed The Oaks last night and had my best round (again) with an 87 which included an 8 on the par 4 18th. sigh The round for the 4 of us took 3 hours and 45 minutes - FAST!
I can't remember any of us really spending more than a few minutes looking for a ball.
Golf is such a head game. I did not miss a putt under 6 feet. They were automatic. Just go up and hit the damn ball. In fact my entire round was just get up there and hit it. No real thinking. Walk up to the ball and hit it. The only swing thought was smash the shit out of the ball. Takes like 5 seconds. No critical thinking. You have had all that time waiting for your turn you really should know the routine by now.
The Black Cloud had a 18 inch birdie putt that he froze like for 30 seconds and then almost missed it.
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If you look at the Columbus chatter pages you would think Columbus is a horrible place to live. Yet when Kate Bender decided to have raffles to help businesses because of the assumed "pandemic" she was not expecting this huge outpouring.
Over $30,000 was raised from Columbus residents that went to businesses. Although I don't think Anytime Fitness should have gotten anything as they still took $$ out of our account the entire time
ANYWAY - WELL DONE COLUMBUS!!!
Speaking of the "pandemic" Is this the second wave or still the first
WHO said all States should have 30 contact tracers for every 100,000 citizens. That is why states shut down to prepare for the second wave.
I looked Friday at the worst 24 states in regards to Covid19 infection increases. All but THREE were run by the GOP. SURPRISE!!
OH - here is a fun thing that happened - NEW PRINTER. WELCOME TO THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY with LASER PRINTINGTECHNOLOGY .
With the HP dying once again and it being the 3rd HP in 4 years (they kept sending me a new one free) and this one NOT being in warranty we went with a BROTHER. I hope it never runs out of ink as I don't know where the ink is LOL Maybe I'll do what everybody did at work, wait for somebody else to deal with it. HEY - I was the copier guy not the printer guy.
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Scientists believe that the first person to live 250 years has already been born. I believe it's me.
WEATHER - YEEE HAAAAA After 3 days of upper 80s then it gets hot. Should be in the 90s for a good 10 days.
WELL - I'm glad someone checked in. I call it a quaren-block. Along with being a little busy in the mornings. I'm like Jimmy Kimmel. Maybe I just needed a break after 2164 posts since March 3rd 2008. NOT including nine other blogs on ACTUAL topics.
SO to recap a few weeks. Last week I golfed three 18 hole affairs and my knee held up well. The first round of the year the knee REALLY hurt but after that it's all fine as long as I cart it. The first 18 holes of the year ALWAYS kill me any way. Sadly I'm not fond of carts as I don't golf as well, you have no chance to really think about what you did wrong and correct it. It's go go go in a cart.
HOWEVER - I feel more . . . . . . "alive" and full of energy with a cart after 18 so . . . . . . .
Baseball is back so my REAL Strat-o-matic baseball will not be totally gone next year. I don't think I mentioned that my first season of SOM365 (3 games a night for 2 months after a fantasy draft) I ended up dead last and won 60 games. THAT strategy did not work. I just started a 2nd season and I'm 12-4.
REAL Strat-o-matic where I have the same basically the same players under some contract the season is almost half done. I'm 51-27 with three players with OPS over 1.000 and one part time catcher over 1.000.
Trout 1.139 (32 HRs) Yelich 1.043 (.322 21 HRS) and Danny Santana of Texas 1.095 (.360 22 HRs) Santana was a 18th round pick 2 years ago and Bryan Holiday ( Catcher Marlins) I love this guy with a 1.040 OPS.
So that is going well.
I've been a good boy and trying to stay away from all the controversy about Chris Columbus the statue and all other chatter garbage people get all worked up over.
I have my own views on Columbus and statues in general. which I wont go into at this time. Remember I' from Fort Atkinson made famous by General Atkinson and his butchering of men woman and children of the Black Hawk tribe.
OH - this is my great grandfather second form the left taken in 1940.
Kestrel Ridge Golf Course - besides some one blowing up some pumps last night . . . . . .
Let's talk about their course for a second. They started leaving the grass grow besides the fairway and BOY has it grown. NOTHING like The Oaks. The grass is waste deep and super thick and the softest grass you will ever feel. I've walked it bare foot and it is gloriously soft. HOWEVER - I LITERALLY heard this this morning "I'm not even going to look" said a golfer look at the grass.
I also have to mention that the food at The Oaks AND Kestrel Ridge has REALLY gotten better. Burgers are juicy and I have not had one bad meal at either place. . . . . EXCEPT for their "cheese curds" which is chopped up cheap deep fried cheese that I just threw away. God awful and NOT cheese curds.
They should be put in jail for false advertising. They are embarrassing. NOT wisconsin Cheese Curds. just deep fried cheese. EVERYTHING else that I have tried is outstanding.
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OK - As many of you know OR assumed I'm a male but I tell ya, this is a really a beautiful thing. Sorry about the ad
The virus. While most GOP States are in deep deep shit for opening early Wisconsin doing . . . "fine" at the moment but we're getting a little . . . . uneasy trend
from a great source - MADISON HOSPITALS ARE ALMOST FULL and the ERs is being used to house infected. NO ROOM!
You say how can this be with only 30 a day being hospitalized - well, if you are there for 2 or 3 weeks it adds up.
The number if infections are trending up along with hospitalizations starting to climb again
The controversial Daily Infections Percentage is moving up
But the concern is look who is getting infected. The young who don't care or more likely do not comprehend but the PROBLEM is the graph under this one. Death rates
Look who is dying, their parents. I've now heard of three kids that caught it and it killed the entire family EXCEPT them.
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On the cannabis front I have heard that Rockford's Sunnyside Dispensary has 14 different varieties of cannabis flower but you can't just go there. You put your order in in a 5 minutes window once ever hour and they inform you when it's ready and you have a 2 hour window to pick it up.
Just information.
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I HAVE been taking notes on things but I'm just not sure what they mean. For instance
"Put on your good bra we're going to the Sizzler" Not sure if there is a Sizzler around but . . . . . .
The dance of the flaming sphincter" Again - not sure what my thought was here.
OH - then there is Forrest Gump. The movie left out a few things. Like when Jenny tries to make love to Forrest and is foiled. WELL - IN THE BOOK it's a little different . . .
"Jenny pulled down my undershorts and her eyes get big and she say, 'Whooo - - - lookit what you got there!'" Not shown in the movie.
OK then.
Well - the words are flowing so I'll stop.
OH - anybody know who dane Rogers is? I was cleaning a closet and found a golf towel with the Dane Rogers memorial Classic on it.
Nuff said today Cheers
66 google searches for Grinders island blog in the last 7 days
HOLY CRAP it rained. Vista Circle once again became an island.
So the tropical storm came and went with 0.75 inches of rain . . . snooze boring and we were waiting around for MAYBE a thunderstorm Wednesday afternoon. waiting waiting and my friend Elweed calls saying WOW we just got hammered in Madison how are you doing?
I said there is some thunder in the distance and black clouds. Then at 2:54 the skies opened up.
This shows IF it rained for 1 hour at that rate how much would we get. The total was 3.48 inches in 24 hours not including the 0.75 the day before.
We received 0.25 inch in 5 minutes at the 3:44 mark.
If Columbus is 4 square miles that means Columbus got 243 million gallons of rain
For reference a 0.50 rate is a good size thunderstorm
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It's been a busy week with little time to write AND I was lazy and didn't feel like it. We have had family here this week so busy busy . . .
Saturday DJ and I took part in a "protest" march in Columbus where i put my knee to the test by walking 6000 steps on a "bad" knee which I guess is not so bad all of a sudden. I was not too excited as I was thinking MAYBE 35 people tops would march.
WELL . . . more then 250 turned out and even though the far right zealots in Columbus kept WANTING to have violence to show how stupid we were . . . . no violence. OH The Cage was passive aggressive as they blocked our way as they decided to all hang out in FRONT of the bar.
It was all good. When we walked past they were very polite and intimidating but then when we were on the OTHER side of the street they all puffed out their chests and played louder music and revved up their little motor bikes.
Of course on face book one rich white Columbus Resident mansplained racism to everybody which was like listening to a Jeffery Dahmer Cooking Show. What a moron.
Just looked America went over the 2 million mark in infections ov Covid19.
MEANWHILE - there is this pandemic. Wisconsin is SO lucky. I was talking to a woman in Ecuador yesterday and asked how it was down there (DIRECT TV Genie issues). They have been in quarantine for 94 days now with protests and so forth. They are really having a rough time down there.
OF COURSE prednisone influences me to have an argument on Facebook about wearing masks. having an immune issue from PMR I feel it's a courtesy to wear a mask even though Wisconsin is doing GREAT
WELL - we are doing great because of social distancing and masks and yada yada. But it seems we are taking our foot off the breaks. I know I have loosened up but GEEZ - if you go to a restaurant PLEASE put a damn mask on when talking to the waitress. They have to deal with hundreds of unknown people every night, not the circle of 10 friends you know. BUT - then the "Don't take my liberties away" people chimed in. Screw them. I have to wear pants in a restaurant - I did not hear them complaining about THAT liberty that was taken away.
And of course the guys saying Covid19 is just like the flu. sigh! What a stupid ignorant thing to say. Covid19 made it's way around the world IN ONE MONTH - it's amazingly good at spreading.
I post graphs daily on FAcebook with an observation
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Overall a fine day with a couple tiny warning flags. Number of Hospitalizations stop a 4 day decline and number of deaths stopped falling. The only thing that really stands out.
We are not like Florida with 8,500 infections in the last FIVE days. Wisconsin is more like 313 with 35 ending up hospitalized for about 10-14 days and 8 of those passing away.
So let's not put the guard ALL THE WAY down just yet.
OH - this is from Michigan Public Health
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Nuff said for today and YES - The Untold Adventures of Red Merlot and Sparkle Girl is coming.
I tell ya - if anyone coughs or sneezes on me I am taking them down. Then would someone please help me up?
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And then this happened. Notice the comment.
This fellow is not offended and I now have my porno name. Red Merlot
Actually I've trying to decide if Red Merlot needs his own blog with some stories that . . . shall we say . . . . if I was running for office they might come back to hunt me. . . but Red is not running so . . .
Like Red's first experience with vaping cannabis in Colorado and how him and his lovely wife got TOTALLY lost for hours 100 yards from their condo in Winter Park CO. YUP - actually happened.
The Untold Stories of Red Merlot. Coming soon.
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I was looking at my playlists on my phone and noticed I had Pit Bulls Greatest hits. I made a mental note to listen to this again as there were about 7 songs that were really good. I also found another album I forgot .. Epica's Greatest hits.
Epica is another Danish "symphonic rock" bands but I always felt more symphonic then rock but with a odd . . twist. I looked them up and here is what genre' they are.
Epica performs a blend of symphonic metal, progressive metal, gothic metal, thrash metal, melodic death metal, symphonic black metal and, more rarely, folk metal and power metal.
OK then - without hearing a single note I totally understand their music LOL
I actually believe Epica is more operatic metal and pretty unique. If I would have known about this kind of rock music a few decades ago I would not have put down the cello. Every orchestra I ever played in played the most boring music. Give me some Shostakovich for gosh sake. Something with a little energy.
anytime you have a metal band with a full orchestra AND full choir - good things might happen.
https://youtu.be/cx22Yuj2nzg
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I have no comments for what is happening to America. Is it Great Again? Is this what great is?
We have a global pandemic which The President ignored for 2 months, and now we have President that keeps throwing gas on a fire saying more violence will calm things down which holding up a bible as a prop for a photo op.
It seems fitting that his Presidency will end with people dying with the lack of health care in hospitals and cities on fire because of his 3.5 years of racist taunts. Remember, White Supremacists breaking windows are fine people. Black people breaking windows are THUGS.
OK OK 1 comment Nuff said.
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Gotta thank Andersons Americana for the link from their blog. OH - and the Netherlands are the Country of the day with 109 pages read yesterday from that beautiful region - LOVE your music!
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TODAY Gus the Weather Dog FINALLY gets a hair cut. Wahct for some POWERFUL storms tonight after sunset!
