Posts tagged roommate
Getting into shape and losing a scale
Jan 20th
My roommate, James, and I have been talking about how out of shape we both are. We both realized how bad our cardio was and James also thought he could lose a few pounds. We talked for months about it, but finally decided to do something to change the situation, so we went to Walmart and bought an exercise bike. Why a bike? Well, for me, I’ve always been a fan of bike riding in the summer, so this felt like a natural extension of that love and a great way of keeping me on my workout routine.
We had a limited budget to work with, so Walmart made the most sense, even if I’m not a fan of them. James and I both wanted a recumbent bike for the obvious comfort reasons, but settled on a nicely priced upright. The bike isn’t super high end, but it does the job and, during my first two workouts, I’ve had my ass handed to me. The thing I like most about it is the set of 8 preset workout routines that automatically adjust the resistance over a period of 20 or 30 minutes. These presets push me harder than I would, otherwise, push myself if I had to manually choose the resistance. Here’s hoping I find the strength to keep this all going and finally get back to the shape I used to be in.
As a side story, we also bought a scale in Walmart after our other one broke a few months back. We found a nice little digital scale for $18 and put it in the cart. Unfortunately, we were so wrapped up in getting the bike to fit in the car, that none of us (our girlfriends came with us) thought to take the bag out of the cart and into the car. I hope whoever found it is enjoying the damn thing.
Keyboards and bicycles
Aug 17th
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve posted. I apologize. I’ve been extremely pre-occupied with work and trying to find time with Melanie. I have a story for you, though.
Saturday night, after a day in the city with Joe, I came home to find my wireless keyboard not working. It seemed as though my wireless receiver was not getting power. Unfortunately, my computer wouldn’t boot up unless it could find a keyboard (I forgot to disable the setting that halts boot up on a keyboard error). Multiple attempts at getting the keyboard working failed miserably and I was getting frustrated. By some chance, I happened to plug the USB receiver into my iPod’s charger and it lit up and synced with my keyboard. This was obviously not a path to go down, but I did nonetheless. Now convinced that it was a power issue, I asked my mom to drive me over to Best Buy (I don’t drive and it was too late for a train ride). I bought a powered USB hub, brought it home, and cursed myself out when it didn’t work. I gave up for the night and resigned to buying a new keyboard/mouse combo in the morning.
Sunday, after work, I picked up with Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000. With a little time to spare before having to run out to Staten Island to meet Melanie after she got out of work, I decided to hook it up. Nothing. Same exact results as with my old keyboard. I grabbed my roommate’s wired USB keyboard and the same thing happened. Then, it finally hit me. For some reason, my motherboard was looking for a PS/2 keyboard (this happened once before) and, of course, we threw out the one we had in the apartment.
My mind was racing when I remember that my dad’s computer is pretty old and/or I may have left a spare keyboard there. With no time to waste, I grabbed my other roommate’s bike (without asking) and raced to my parents. After realizing I didn’t leave a spare behind, I told my dad I was taking his keyboard for 20 minutes. I grabbed it, threw it in my backpack and raced back to the apartment in the increasingly hot 94 degree weather. I get inside my room, plug the PS/2 keyboard in and voila! My system booted, I disabled the option to halt boot on a keyboard error and plugged in the new Microsoft set. Out of curiosity, though, I tried my old keyboard and it freaking worked. It was a quick decision, though, when I realized that having to wet the contacts on my aging wireless mouse to get it to charge wasn’t exactly safe and that the old keyboard hasn’t been problem free in the past few months, anyway.
Relieved to have a working keyboard, I made one last quick dash back to my parents’ house to return the PS/2 keyboard and then raced home, showered and headed out to Staten Island. What a day that was.
Where’d the youthful stamina go?
May 15th
I remember the days when I didn’t have to worry about being out of breath or slow to get back into the groove of anything. I could run and play and frolic with no concerns whatsoever. What the hell happened to all of that?
Yesterday evening, I played a few games of 1-on-1 basketball against my roommate, James. Granted, it’s been almost ten months since I’ve played an actual game of basketball and my fractured rib still isn’t 100% healed, but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow the results. We played three games and I lost all three. It wasn’t just rust, it was lack of stamina and a complete lack of comfort on the court that got me. I was a mess. I was out of breath and completely out of tune with my own body. It was almost embarrassing.
I miss those good old days. The days of being 16 and having infinite stamina and being completely invincible.
A collection of random thoughts
Apr 30th
I don’t have anything worth talking about that could fill an entire post, so I’m just throwing random thoughts out there. You ready? Can you dig it?
I’m getting a bit fed up with MLB 2K9. It’s just too easy to hit home runs. In a game between my roommate Chris and I, we managed to hit a total of 12 home runs. In a game he played online against some random person, the two of them managed to hit 15, with each having more home runs than base hits. Ridiculous. Between the home run fest and the frame rate slow downs near foul territory, it can be a bit frustrating at times.
My new phone, the AT&T Fuze, isn’t perfect. I’m having a hard time with battery life lately. I can’t even get through the day with it, regardless of how heavy my usage may be. The GPS is also extremely slow to lock on, though an upcoming fix from AT&T is expected. Either way, I love the phone, but I can easily acknowledge that it’s not perfect.
My rib is almost completely healed. I rarely feel any pain in it unless I accidentally lay down on that side and lay on my elbow. I can’t wait to get out and actually play some basketball. I need the competition.
I finally watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. It’s a good movie, but I think some people really over hype it due to it’s age. Half of the punches thrown in the movie look pathetically fake and some of the acting from the smaller roles is just sadly pathetic. Maybe the film just hasn’t aged well. I’m just not sure.
This injury is starting to annoy me
Apr 23rd
I’m a guy and, sometimes, a stereotypical one, at that. When I fractured my rib, I thought it would be no big deal after a day or two. This damn thing is now starting to bug me as I find myself consistently being hindered by it.
Besides that every sneeze hurts like a son of a bitch and getting out of bed is way more painful that it should ever be, today was the first day I ever felt truly held back by my fractured rib. After work, I went to the park with my roommate, Chris, to play some basketball. I can’t stretch, reach for the ball, run, rebound, or shoot any deep shots without nearly killing myself. All I could do was gingerly shoot around and walk after stray shots. It sucked. I wanted to play a game, no matter how out of game shape I am. I couldn’t and it’s really bugging me.
There’s no point to this post other than allowing me to whine a bit. I want to get healthy as soon as possible so that I can actually play ball, a bit, every now an then.
