Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Something Like That

I went to the gym yesterday, for the first time in almost 2 months. I had been doing cardio on the treadmill, 40 minutes of intervals at level 4. I dropped it down to level 3 since it had been a while. My heart rate hit 176, which is quite a bit too high. I don't like it going over 160 much at all. I was toast after the 40 minutes. Also, lifting weights was sucky.

Today, I went and did the same cardio, and my heart rate peaked at 165, which is still just a tad too high, but it felt a lot better than yesterday. The weights felt better, and I did 20 minutes of elliptical after that, so pretty good over-all.

While I was on the treadmill, a woman.. must have been about 50 years old, gets on the treadmill right next to me. There's 5 available, I'm on the left most one because it's close to the floor fan, and she gets on the one right next to me. That's odd. There's an unwritten rule in gyms that you don't crowd people, or you just try and keep as much distance as reasonable.

Anyway.. I'm listening to music while I'm running and she waves at me like she wants to say something, so I pull one out and she says, "what are you listening to"? I said, "Lamb of God". She smiled and said, "I've heard of them" and nods approvingly. I tell her, "the name of the song is Beating on Death's Door".

A couple minutes later she moves to the treadmill at the opposite side. I was pleased.

I've got some new headphones that are supposed to be made for withstanding the rigors of a workout. They're made by Jaybird. The ones I got are called the "Endorphin Rush". They're the type that fit in your ear canal. They sound pretty good, and the materials are solid. The cord is thicker than typical, and they're guaranteed not to break during a work-out or they'll replace them for free. Sweat can't damage them at all. Not bad phones for a hundred bucks.

At the same time, I bought John their blue-tooth headphones. They were easy to sync up to his android phone, and John says they sound good. They're also guaranteed against work-out related disasters.

The only issue I have with the headphones is that sometimes tension will pull the cord down and it feels uncomfortable. I have to reach behind my head and pull some slack back up, and push the buds back in a little bit. It's really not a huge problem, but what I might do is find a small alligator clip and clip the cord to my shirt collar in the back to keep the slack consistent.

The nice thing about these headphones is that they don't give you ear fatigue. They give you a bunch of the little rubber fittings that you can try to find one that matches your ear the best, and you hardly notice they're in your ear. I do notice that I tend to have the volume up a little high at the beginning and need to turn it down a couple notches after a while. The MP3 player is a small little device that I keep in my shorts pocket.

It does make a nice difference to the work-out in my view.

....

Last weekend we were out, and I thought it would be nice to stop at a Nissan dealer and drive a 370Z. Seems odd as much as I've talked about them I've never driven one. So, the salesman takes me out in an auto, which I did not prefer. They are getting down to the last of the 2010 models and won't be getting any more cars until the 2011's show up.

My G35 was the Motor Trend car of the year in 2003. The 370Z blows it away. The Z is superbly built... solid as a rock, and the connection between the driver and the road is just.. sticky... if you get my meaning. It's not rough, but you feel it.. and the motor can push you into the seat a bit. It's not like stepping on the accelerator of a super car, but it pulls.. and sounds terrific. The paddle shifter was more fun than I thought it would be. I still think I would prefer the manual, as that's what I'm used to with my G35, but I can see why people like the auto.

The car is also far more quiet than I thought it would be based on reviews I've read (when you're not mashing the throttle). Interior noise from rattles and such do not exist... and speaking of the interior, it's very nicely designed. The car is small, snug, and you just fit in it.

Spending 7 grand on my eye surgery set me back a tad, and I had been thinking that I should have X number of dollars in my liquid bank account before I buy a new car. That seems reasonable to me. Kind of making up numbers here, but say the car costs 40k in cash, you want to save up 150k in cash before you buy it, that way you feel like you haven't trashed your bank account. But, if you think about it, if you buy the car now, rather than in 3 years, you'd have the same exact amount of money in your bank account in 3 years... if you see what I mean.

So anyway, I've been trying to talk myself into buying one again, but I know I shouldn't because my G35 is still a really nice car. Gorak forbid I drive a GTR.

....

Oh.. and it seems John is registering me for a Hold 'Em tournament that's being put on by some company in his industry.. meaning.. it won't be a bunch of experienced players, but rather mostly novices. It's a $300 buy-in game. Should be fun.. and hopefully rewarding.

I made 1900 on the MSN ladder... so I'll keep at it until I hit 2k.

1 comment:

kris said...

lol she just wants to be friends!