unwind

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1927354

Memoirs of a Mollusk

Welp. I'm in Big D again. I'll be sitting in a hotel conference room for the next two days trying to ignore training for Accounts Payable implementation in Oracle. I'm two hours into this and the droning echoing in the back of my brain is becoming unbearable. I'll never understand why drinking on this kind of job is unacceptable. I've been working out where possible. Pulled 495 a few days ago. Haven't pulled over five since I pulled 510 a couple of months ago. Benched 355 for a horrible single on Saturday. My head hasn't been in it since the holidays set in a couple month ago, but I'm getting there. As an encouraging reminder to myself, I go through this every year at the end of the year. Typically, the first few months of the year are when I make my largest gains. I think because by then I'm completely tired of being tired and hungover. At least I got one goal last year. I pulled over 500 for the first time. I still have to get my squat up there and my bench is still nowhere near the 400 mark. Honestly, I'll be happy to put another 20lbs on my bench this year. I'd love to keep driving my squat and DL to 600 each. I just hope I can stay focused on it this year. Looks like skiing is going to be a fantasy I'll have to pocket for another season. That sucks, but I guess that's life at the moment. I'm really trying to focus on getting out of debt at the moment. As it turns out, this is very difficult when you continue spending money. Fortunately, lifting costs virtually nothing. All things considered, this has the makings of a good year. I'm looking forward to it. I'm planning to get back up on the competition platform soon. There's really no better motivation that getting your ass kicked publicly.
I didn't realize how horrible it could be to be in accounting. My ears just started bleeding from the mere thought of doing what these people do for a career. I just caught the end of a lengthy discussion on how to code trash disposal from the offices in the accounts payable module. WTF. and I thought my job was boring.

typical

I'm fat, lazy and stressed out. Otherwise, life is good. :)

Merry Christmas, ya'll!

And A Couple More

Kellan

Ok. Finally have the time to post a few pics up. They're not so good, but they'll have to do. The little bugger is adjusting life on the outside quite well. He's actually sleeping for four to five hour stretches at night. I can live with that.

FAIL

I don't know if it was a poor warm-up, infant induced insomnia, an altercation with my wife, or a combination of all, but the inertia of the weights overwhelmed me.

Bench press:
285 x 5
325 x 3
365 x 1 miss
365 x 1 missed again.

Kind of a drag to miss a weight I've his several times in the past. Nevertheless, I'm going to blame it on anything else in the universe other than myself and move on. Tonight is deadlift. Hoo-ray.
I woudl have some pics of the wee one up by now, but a couple days ago we got like three snow flakes and it brought down the internet at my house. Quality system, that is. I'll get them up soon.

Squeaky the sleep depriving mouse.

wow. I've forgotten what it's like to sleep on two hour shifts through the night. There is a good reason God makes them very cute when they're new. All is well, though. It even snowed today, which brought back memories of a better place to be. I remember when I lived in a house with a working heater. Ah, the good ol' days. Oh well. The gas heater in the gym works, and that's what really matters!

Squats:
390 x 5
445 x 3
490 x 1

So, the heaviest squat I've done was 505 in competition wearing a squat suit and knee wraps. I'm pretty sure I can beat that now without the gear. I'm really starting to enjoy squatting more than I ever have. Always in the past, my low back was the weak link. I knew I could push a ton with my legs, but I would bow my back and fold every time I loaded the bar up. Which made me really nervous about pushing my squat weight. Interestingly, I've increased my volume of heavy dead lift work over the last year which has apparently strengthened my back at least to the point of supporting what my legs will push. It's pretty cool to feel it all coming together.

I'll get some Kellan pics up soon.