Still have a job: Trying to BRING IT w/ P90X *and* w/ job skills...

I've been in Information Technology (IT) for 24 years. Every place I've worked through the years has gone through phases of expansion / contraction / mergers / sometimes collapse. In school one of my instructors told us that whenever we started a new technology, we should take a manual home every night (before the days of online documentation) and be sure to read all of the manuals cover to cover; he said that was the way to get on the road to being an 'expert' in whatever that technology was. I've followed that advice and it has paid off.

This past week I saw a number of colleagues get laid off. I was among the very fortunate ones to keep a position. My challenge now is to continue to keep my skills current and valuable.

I'm trying to use my fitness quest as a parallel for what I need to do on the tech side. The P90X program has been great, and it has become a habit over the past (almost) 6 months to do intense workouts on a very regular basis. And it has been yielding results. I was already reasonably healthy, but I'm getting stronger,  feeling better, slowly adding muscle and losing fat.

And so the goal now is to do the same thing on the tech side. I'm current on certifications in IBM Lotus Notes/Domino development (where I spend much of my work life), so next up is upgrading my Java cert. Gosh, my Java cert is from version 1.2 (about 7 years ago?). And after that I'll probably get cranking on a C#.NET cert, since my last Microsoft cert was for VB6 (pre-.NET days!).

Lots of folks diss the certs as meaningless. I find tech certifications extremely useful for ME, since following the study guides helps me to fill in holes in my knowledge, and if I were to find myself need to look for work, the certs help get a resume past HR filters and indicate at least a basic degree of competency.

Oh, and I enjoy the discipline of spending time on a regular basis working toward a goal. Just like P90X :)

P90X: In sixth month of workouts

Dang, I see that the last time I posted was back in March! I guess I've been busy. Part of the busy-ness is P90X workouts. I've been diligent and have been hitting it hard. They do a good job of mixing up the workouts; I find I've always got something that's sore (which I kinda like), but the soreness moves about based on whatever the prior day's workout was.

When this 6th month is done, I may post some before/after pics...not sure yet. But the main thing to me is that bodyfat is now at 19.1%, weight is down (I do still want to dump about 15 more pounds of fat), and I can see muscle growth and definition.

When I started the program, I could strain out 2 pull-ups. I can now do 10. My goal is to be able to whip out 20 pull-ups, so there's plenty of room for improvement yet.

I do, however, expect that I'll change it up and perhaps to a month of a more traditional resistance program (we've got a Bowflex with all attachments, and that works well for this), and toss in some treadmill work. Then pop back to P90X.

SO, overall, I think it was a very good investment to purchase the DVDs. As for the resistance bands, I've broken one so far, and I really DO like weights more, so I suspect at some point over the next year, I'll research and buy some dumbbells, like Bowflex SelectTech, or PowerBlock, or Weider Tech, etc.

The main thing is that I've definitely again established a habit of regular vigorous exercise!

P90X - Started the 90 day pgm yesterday

Started P90X fitness program yesterday. Yesterday was Chest & Back, today was Plyometrics (jump training). On this entire bod' there's not a single place where pain is not :) Took some 'before' pics, but not gonna post those (blech!) Feels good to be hitting serious workouts again!

Should be in pretty good shape to spend 2 weeks watching TV when FIFA World Cup starts in June (taking a couple weeks of vacation to spend enjoying soccer).

For now, each morning seems to bring my body's "Thank You" for the prior day's workout (and I suspect for the day before that). Years back when we were hitting the weights seriously (2.5 hrs day/ 6 days wk) and running, etc, goal was always to be sore the next day. Was hard to achieve. I think this program may work for that goal :-D

The Downhill Trend

It's easy for us to sit around and mourn for what's lost, but in the end, this will do us no good. We complain about having to walk until we see someone with no legs, and instantly complain about not having an electric wheelchair.

We continually drag ourselves from one failed system to another, all the while blaming everything that goes wrong on everything else. We blame capitalism, corporate greed, self-serving politics, criminals, whatever we can, all the while failing to see that the problem lies not in the world outside. We "value" instant gratification over the satisfaction of hard, honest
work, and refuse to experience the world for what it actually is; a
place blossoming with opportunity and beauty. We can't be accusatory of
the world for our plight, because this is learned not in the office, or
the streets. It's something we learned at home and refuse to unlearn,
because we revile change.

Without realizing it, we've managed to slip and slide so far down the slopes of greed and self-interest that we've forgotten how to be real. We can't take responsibility for what we've done to ourselves so we
cast our anger towards anything that comes along and berate the world
for what it's done to us. We can't take the time to help another
because we're all too busy being concerned with ourselves. We've lost the "value" in values and think that money and fame and power will stop our downhill trip, but it's high time we dug our heels into the ground and made our own way back to the top. We can depend on nothing else BUT ourselves.

Because when all is said and done, no one can save us but ourselves.   

Remember the days...(by guest author Aaron)

I remember the days when protesting the President's actions was considered unpatriotic. Blind acceptance is not patriotic, either, but we have to watch carefully when and where we're pointing the finger. I find it absurd that not three years ago, we were labeled as "anti-American" simply based on the fact that we did not agree with George W. Bush. Now it's seemingly okay for "Tea-Partyers" to do exactly that and claim it's their American right. They didn't seem to be too concerned with the internment of our civil liberties with actions such as illegal wire-tapping, just to give an example.

I remember the days that "Fiscal Conservatives" didn't seem to mind a debt as long as the debt was created to fuel their war machines. It seems that expenditures to take lives on foreign soil (whether justly or not) is okay, whereas spending on health care to save lives is clearly not. Apparently, increasing the quality of life in America is not that important.

I remember the days when we could lie our way into foreign countries because it somehow seemed politically advantageous. But now we're pigeon-holed into this situation, and extraction is exceedingly difficult, if not downright impossible, at this point. Should we even be concerned with extraction? Has our presence desensitized the population over-seas, so that if we ever do leave, a vast void will have to be filled? Will this void be filled with more violence?

And why not educate instead of infiltrate? Why is it brute force that we think will be understood? One simply supposes that some day we'll flush them out, like a clogged drain, and everyone will love us again. Radical madrassas are popping up on a daily basis, and with so many tribal and unincorporated areas, it's no wonder so many go, not seeing any other way to receive an education. Here's the startling point; these youths that are sent to these facilities are not sent there BECAUSE they are radical. They're sent because their parents and tribal councils and tribal leaders want the next generation to have a better life.

And really, a better life is all anyone is asking for.