Fear of Genetics

It may be a healthy fear....but probably not. I'm pretty much scared that I'm a carrier for every time of genetic disease out there. I'm pretty much certain that I'm going to have Trisomy 21 children with cystic fibrosis and Turner's syndrome. I guess I get to look forward to being a hypochondriac for the next couple years.

Update

It's been a while, so I figured I throw a little update in here. I finished my second block in the PA program (first block since joining with the med school), Human Structure, Function and Development. It was pretty hard, but I pulled through and we just started Genetics and neoplasia.

Stuff at the Forgotten Foundation has been going pretty well. We're helping more people than ever and really being a light to the Karen in Thailand. It's going to be long term, so I'm excited to get to go back after school is over and use some of my medical knowledge there.

I'm going to sign off, and hopefully I won't take so long before my next update.

2 week count down!

On June 14th, I'll be starting the Physician Assistant program at the University of New Mexico. It's been a long road up to this point, and I'm so excited/nervous that it's almost upon me. I guess it's really hitting home because I've told my current boss(es) that my engineering career is coming to a close. The great news is that they were both really supportive of it and both expressed the desire to do something else to impact people. I'm relieved. I've not been looking forward to those talks for a while now and I'm glad they're over.
Two more weeks until my life gets crazy!

Furniture improvements

When my wife and I moved into our new apartment, I had to promise that we'd do something with the dresser and night stand that I have had since college.So this was my canvas. We picked up a little paint...
...and some new handles.
I knocked these things off of the top drawers.
(too 80's for what we're going for)
We then primed and painted the whole thing red.
We did two coats of red and then picked a graphite color. Basically dark gray with a touch of blue. I added some white Elmer's school glue to a some areas.
I read that if you paint over it (after allowing 10-15 minutes for it to get tacky) it works to crack the paint so that that paint underneath can be seen.
We did a couple areas where we didn't paint over it completely and other areas that we sanded down the outer paint so the red would come through - mostly on the edges and corners. Added some simple vintage bronze handles .....

Final product:

Overall, I'd say it look WAY better than it did, and for $70 worth of supplies, we saved a bunch on what a new dresser would have cost.

Emily and I are headed to the Big Apple for our anniversary. Made it through a whole year of marriage. Instead of contemplating how that actually happened, I was wondering why they call it the Big Apple. A google search later....

In the early 1920s, "apple" was used in reference to the many racing courses in and around New York City. Apple referred to the prizes being awarded for the races -- as these were important races, the rewards were substantial.

Based on the research of Barry Popik, the use of "Big Apple" to refer to New York City became clearer. Popik found that a writer for the New York Morning Telegraph, John Fitzgerald, referred to New York City's races "Around the Big Apple." It is rumored that Fitzgerald got the term from jockeys and trainers in New Orleans who aspired to race on New York City tracks, referring to the "Big Apple."

Leg Kicks pt 2

I don't know if anyone saw the Jose Aldo vs Urijah Faber fight, but if you did you saw how devastating leg kicks can be. Here is a picture of Faber's leg 4 days later.

North South

So there is a position in jiujitsu called the North South. It's pretty controlling and uhh, interesting to people who don't know the sport very well

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Leg kicks

I have a new respect for leg kicks. I was training with a really good Thai boxer last Tuesday. We were going full speed and I was trying to circle and not move straight in and out. He was doing a good job cutting off my circling to the right and kicking my lead leg when I circled left. After the third crisp kick I was done. I didn't realize the extent of the damage until the next day. Severe limping and my leg was really swollen. Like REALLY swollen. I couldn't see the outline of my left patella. If you've seen my knees you know that that is pretty bad. One week later and it still hurts to run or touch. I'm thinking a person could win a fight with about 4 or 5 really good leg kicks. They suck!

These are a few of my favorite things

I had a grueling workout yesterday:

• 3 sets of kettle bell squats/Russian twists - 18lb kettle bell. Let your arm hang and squat until it almost touches the floor, then stand up while extending your arm toward the ceiling. Do 15 reps with one arm, then switch. After both arms are done, sit on a mat with your kettle bell. Lean back and pull your feet off the floor (knees are at about 45 degrees). rotate the weight back and forth from left hip to right hip 30 times.... that's one set.
• Bench press. 135lbs, then add 4 5lb plates to each side (that's 175lbs). Do as many as you can. Spotter pulls a 5 from each side. Do as many as you can. Spotter pulls a 5 from each side. etc. etc. until you're down to 135... do as many as you can.
• Cable rows. Same thing as bench press - start at a weight where you can do about 10 reps, then immediately go one plate lighter and do as many as you can. Repeat 5 times. Yes, you look silly on the last one because you are struggling to pull a very little amount.
• Lunge/step-up pyramid thingy. You and workout buddy alternate. We used an 18lb medicine ball. Lunge to right, left, and forward with each leg. Step up on a 24in box with right foot and bring your left knee as high up as you can (like you're kneeing someone in the face). You should be holding the medicine ball on the side of the knee that comes up. Step down. Step up with left foot and right knee comes up. Step down and throw the ball to partner. He goes through it and throws it back. Do the same thing, except this time step up 2 additional times (once per leg, so total of 4 step ups). Go up to 10 step ups and then back down to 2.
• Box jumps. This sucked. Lay out your line - 24in box. Space about 4 feet then a swiss ball. Space 4 feet then another 24in box. Jump onto the first box, down, over the swiss ball, up onto the next box, and down. Turn around and jump through it again. That's one rep. Do 5 reps - 3 sets. On the very last jump on the very last rep, try to jump over the last box instead of on to it... dont kill yourself.
• Death run. This is thanks to Zach, aka vitamin Z, aka orange crush. Set treadmill at 6.5 speed, 3 incline. Start running. Every 15 seconds go up .5 incline. Go up to 10 incline. No, this is not a long distance. Yes, it is hard after all of the jumping and other leg work. If you still dont think it's hard, once it's at 10 incline, continue to run for one more minute. If your heart rate isn't elevated you are a better man than I.

Thankfully, after I got home, I had a shower with a glass of a decent malbec. Try a hot shower with a glass of wine and tell me it's not the most relaxing thing ever. Seriously. Ok, I know what you're thinking - why not a bath? Well, if you're 6'3" and all elbows, the standard bath isn't as comfortable as you'd think. About 1/2 of my body is out of the water at any given time and that's no fun. Enjoy the workout and the mental images.

Getting in Shape 2

Here is what I did last week. I'm doing a really similar thing this week, but hopefully I wont get kicked in the face.

Wednesday:

• Weight circuits. ugh, these can be really hard if you push yourself. I'll get into specifics after today when I write down what I do.
• Finish with pseudo sprints. Put a treadmill on incline of 3 and speed at 8.5 or 9. Run for 20 seconds and then step off to the sides for 10 seconds. Repeat for 7 minutes

Thursday:

• Hit mitts like a Boss. Worked on some new combos, like feint front kick straight right, and honed some of my old favorites like the 1-2 leg kick. After 15 minutes of pushing yourself, you can be pretty tired.
  
• Everyone good had fights on Friday, so no good sparring partners. Just did more pad work than usual.

Who wants to train with me? It's so fun!

Making Moves

I am on the board of a small nonprofit called the Forgotten Foundation. We've been working on projects in Thailand with a group of refugee Karen tribespeople from Burma. If you want to know more about these people's plight, here is a good site.
Yesterday the board met and it looks as if we'll hire our first paid position in the US. We have been volunteering our time and money for 2 years and we decided that if we really want to see this project grow then we need to be able to do more here in the US to spread the word about this project. I'm really excited because the position will be filled by the reason we went to Thailand in the first place, Miles Gloetzner. Miles has spent a lot of time in Thailand (can actually speak a little Thai) and already has a good relationship with Forgotten's staff in Thailand. This may not sound exciting, but the fact that we'll have someone working every week means that there won't be the lull every few months when Aj and I run out of time. We obviously will be paying Miles, possibly out of our own pockets at first, until we can raise enough outside support to have his small salary paid. I'm not a big money asker guy, but if you can commit $5 a month, that would be awesome (none of it is going to me, but I get really excited about increasing our ability to help these people).
Also, with Miles working for us, we will be a month or two away from launching new clothes and finally getting them up on the website for purchase. I had decided that that was just never going to happen, but it's actually close now. Thanks for the moral, financial, prayer, general caring support.

Getting into shape

My buddy Jon and I decided that I should try to get into shape and try to fight (amateur) in the next 2 months before I start school. I have been going back to Jackson's about once a week and have really been enjoying it. Jon, who has cornered all of my previous bouts, said he'd like to train me for this one; he decided that my technique is ok, but my cardio needs lots of work.
I'll log what I do every week and we'll see if it gets less difficult.

Monday:
Shin conditioning at my desk.*
After work -

• run 1/2 mile to track
  
• sprint 100 meters, jog 100 meters, sprint 100 meters, jog.... a miles worth
• run 1/2 mile back

It was really cold monday. My ears hurt really badly. Imagine the sound of country music. Worse than that....barely. After about 15 minutes of sitting, I felt great.
Tuesday:
Shin conditioning at my desk.*
Training at Jackson's

• Warm up with the class doing squat jumps, mountain climbers, push-ups, sit-ups, hip triggers, hand/feet combos, and footwork drills.
• Hit mitts with Jon. Work on staying long with my 1-2, then coming in with a left kick or right hook depending on what's there. Did one warm up round and two hard rounds. This got me really tired.
• Sparred 1 round with a fast 205er that roughed me up and 2 rounds with the best Thai boxer there that night. I'm kind of ashamed to admit this, but I ducked out of the first round about 15 seconds early because I thought I was going to puke. I am definitely not in fighting shape.
• Things to remember: keep my chin down when I back up and when I'm throwing hooks

* shin conditioning is pretty important. We use our shins (not fragile feet) to kick as well as block (called checking) opponent's kicks. It's important to strengthen them and deaden the nerve so you won't think about checking with them.
Here is what I do:
Get some dowel rods and tape them together, like this:







Then, bang and roll your shins with 'em!
(sorry I'm wearing black pants. It makes it hard to see. I think people that sit close to my desk always wonder what that crazy noise is. I usually do it for a couple minutes, but that makes for a really awkward video.)

Addicted

Modern Warfare 2 might be the best/worst thing that has ever happened to me. So fun and so addicting at the same time. Why are video games so fun? I hypothesized to my wife that maybe it's because it plays into what I did as a little kid. I spent a ton of time making forts, guns, and imagining that I was fighting wars and bad guys. I guess it's fun to get to act it out in a little world created for this type of thing. I guess it's all good as long as I don't end up looking like this.

UNM Game

So I'm going to the University of New Mexico Lobos' final regular season basketball game tonight. I didn't realize that it was a big deal until the news started reporting last week that tickets were impossible to find. Also cool is that the Lobos are ranked #8 in the country and are 27 and 3. Too bad I haven't been following them - I've always disliked when people are fans of a team just because (yes, I'm talking to you, random Ohio State, USC and Texas fans). However, now that I'm actually enrolled at UNM, I guess I can cheer all I want and not hate myself.

I haven't been to The Pit for a game in a really long time. Supposedly, it's one of the loudest places to play basketball in the country. Also, Pat Forde at ESPN had a comment about it in his weekly article:
The Pit. Who plays there: New Mexico. Opened: 1966. Capacity: 18,018. The place literally is a pit, with the floor 37 feet below ground level. The roof was built first, then they excavated beneath it to put in the seats.

But, wikipedia had cooler things to say:

The Pit has a reputation as one of the loudest arenas in the country. The rise to the stands is very steep, putting fans very close to the action. Basketball writer John Feinstein once likened a visiting team's experience in The Pit to "watching Roman gladiators emerging into a wall of sound."

This often results in painfully high decibel levels. For one game, the noise reached 125 decibels, just short of the threshold of pain. A “crazy” crowd can produce 125 decibels, which is right at the threshold of pain, and is one of the loudest places to play anywhere on the planet.

I guess I'll find out!

Just for starters

I will now start blogging about stuff. starting now. ok, now. it will be really random. sorry, but i think of random things. no, i will not use capitals.
i'm not really sure why, but i just felt like writing or journaling and i happen to live at a computer. i don't really have an agenda - I'll probably write about everything from Biblical marriage to PA school, from the Forgotten Foundation to family, from traveling to the UFC. I have many interests and this is how i'm keeping track.