GOOOOOOD day to you!

It has been quite a while since I've posted anything, but I'm going to take a twist on my posts...more incoherent ramblings from me...whether I'm tired, drunk,  happy, sad, etc....I'm letting it flow.  Stream of consciousness to share with you on my philosophies of life.  How we can help ourselves become better people and help make the world around us be better for all.  It all starts with you...and it's all about love and respect.  You have to love and respect yourself before you can share that with others...I love you all and hope you all the best...when you're squared away with becoming the best YOU that you can be, the energy will carry over to others and everybody benefits....

Addiction...

So as most of you know, I have an extremely addictive personality.  Whenever I get into something, I REALLY get into it.  My common rotation is as follows, in no particular hierarchy/preference:

- Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
- Kickboxing/Muay Thai
- Weight Lifting/Working out/Fitness
- Running
- Comic Books (Preferably DC, but currently in Marvel for some reason)

Depending on my mood or whatever else is going in my life, I'm required to rotate it all given my level of free-time.  Currently, I'm into comic books and running/cross-training because I've had extremely "early" mornings (like...waking up as early as 2:30am "early"...some call it "night"), so I'm beat tired after work to go to the gym in order to either teach or train.  While I love the gym, I have to budget my time because it's just as much of a social activity for me as it is my physical/mental escape for the day.  This can easily eat up several hours, which I honestly just don't have.  Plus, I'm running in a Tough Mudder on November 2nd, so I'm racking up some road work in order to get my running efficiency up a little more.

I also have to budget my time in order to spend time with my beautiful wife...who also works (and works out) quite a bit.  Thankfully we are "blessed" (aka, we've positioned ourselves in life to be able to afford luxuries) to own basically a full-gym in the garage, complete with power-cage, olympic weights, and various other fun "toys" to maintain our physical fitness/wellness.  We also live in a fairly nice neighborhood where we feel safe enough (nice neighbors, low traffic, and plenty of street lights) to run regularly at night.  It's a great opportunity to get out in the neighborhood and "snoop" a little too (no, I'm not going to go all George Zimmerman on anybody.)  When when given a choice between spending time AND exercising with my wife or rolling around with sweaty men, I choose the former.

Comic books are always the fall-back and I always have those strewn about the house...I still have several in the bathroom and several on my bedstand.  I have my backpack (aka, nerd bug-out bag) loaded up with several comics for weekend days where Stacy and I don't have anything planned, other than going somewhere we can read or we visit her family or something and I get bored.  Comic books are honestly my religion and my mythology.  Most lessons in life I've learned and my strong sense of morality probably come from reading comic books since I was 10 years old.  It's probably why I have extreme body image issues and why I train in things like martial arts.  Obviously, as an adult, I've learned to transcend those silly reasons that originally got me hitting the gym and learning to fight and whatnot, but I can't help but think I have that little fat kid inside me somewhere who wants to be a superhero.

Anyways, I get really addicted to things...I'm just very lucky to have chosen the (what I think, at least) the "right" (non-self destructive) stuff.  I'm also very lucky to have a family (especially my wonderful wifey) who supports me and lets me get away with spending countless hours (not to mention dollars) training, working out, running, and buying crap to continue my addictions.

- Strength and health

Workout log: Tough Mudder 28 days out

My workout plans for today: Lifting and running.

Vertical Pressing/Pulling + Squats followed by a 3-4 mile run, depending on how hot it is outside.

- Dumbbell shoulder presses
- Supinated-grip chinups with gright slightly wider than shoulder width
- Barbell front squats
- Run with a 9:30 min pace for 3-4 miles

Fasted state except for cup of coffee made with instant Cafe Bustello, Splenda, heavy whipping cream.

Planning on refueling afterwards with water, bratwurst, and beer at Oktoberfest with wife and friends from work, followed by evening birthday dinner at Chinese buffet for my father.  2-3 fish oil capsules and one half a multi-vitamin following one of those meals.

How I'll navigate Oktoberfest paleo-style:

- Avoid the spaetzle, pretzels, and minimize schnitzel consumption
- Eat plenty of veges and non-breaded meats
- Minimize beer consumption

How I'll navigate the Chinese buffet:
- Vu's buffet method: plate #1 must be at least 1/2 vegetables with limited sauces
- Eat only meat and vegetables, no rice or noodles; only rice allowed is from sushi, no sushi allowed until after plate #1 is fully consumed
- Drink Miller Lite because it will be the daily drink special...and it's great taste and less filling

Starting All Over

So I've decided to start my blog all over again because I realized that I'm a pretty negative person.  I used to just discount it as being "cynical" or "a realist", but looking back, I was just making excuses for myself to be an asshole to people.  I've been thinking a lot about my life, my family, my friends, and my career lately and there are definitely improvements that I need to make.  My goal is to be the best person I can be to everybody I meet to positively influence their lives; it's super cliche, but there really is too much negativity floating around and my life is filled with too many wonderful people for me to be complaining about it.

Here's to smiling a little more...

- Strength and Healh