Was off my rhythm today.

The water was off, so I went in early. I spent a few minutes playing with ties checking to see which of my current ties go with the new jacket. This month I bought new shirts, next month I get a couple of new ties to go with a grey plaid jacket.

On my way into the city I drove by the section of Haddon where we will be looking at houses tomorrow. It was medium sized houses on small lots, there were kids playing in the street and people working in their gardens. The neighborhood showed a level of attention to houses and gardens that I liked to see. I was not scrutinizing roofs and sidings, but I did not see anything that looked worn out or run down.

There are two houses for sale in that neighborhood. One is on a dead end street backing up into a neighborhood park. The park is rolling land with trees and what looked like walking trails. I liked the location a lot. The other was half a block from Rt 30, and there was a nasty looking bar exactly on the other side of Rt 30. I did not like the look of that, I did not like the rundown feel of the shops on 30, and I did not like that there were THREE houses for sale on that block.

Went to school, spent the day prepping to teach and doing a little grading. Had no firm plan of what to cover today, hoped to get some ideas but I did not get enough good ideas. It was a bad class. I started by giving them a fuzzy assignment - you are a journalist pitching a story about the American Civil War, your editor wants "the story of the war" - what do you propose to write. It was a fuzzy topic, but it did serve to get them to do some pre-writing and then some buddy talking. Spent half an hour on that. Good idea, but next time explain that "time-travel news" has a deal on sending reporters to the 19th century, but we can only send a couple to the civil war era. Who should we interview and what sort of story should we expect to find. That might work better.

Then I did a loose run through of the bits of the war - goals of North and South, military run down, and so on. It was loose, I was off my pace, the kids did not know quite what to expect. I should have prepared a set of questions instead of trying to lead them through a short lecture equivalent. This is two semesters in a row that my class on the civil war has gone poorly, and I did different things each time. I guess I need to find something better to do this summer when I teach it for the third time.

Lunch was a turkey hoagie, mayo, no cheese, lettuce tomatoe and onion, before class. I also ate a hard boiled egg. It needed salt.

After teaching, and talking with a student, I went to the gym. Was still sore from Tuesday, especially hamstrings. Gym weight 177.4 before workout, 177.8 afterwards - I must have had enough water LOL.

• 4:00 cycle, stretch, 5 pushups and crunches, scp bar*10, overhead squats bar*10
  
• Sloppy Clean and Press (power clean and split press), 95*3, 115, 135*3 1/2, 2 1/2. No pop, legs still tired. Should have done 115 * 4. Play it by ear next time.
  
• Barbell bench bar*15, 95*3, 135, 155*5, 3. On the set of 5, especially on the last rep, the bar went from my floating ribs to above my face - one heck of a goofy path. I need to cut the weight and play with different places to pull the bar to, because the bar does creep forward when I push at it. Next week do 95 or 135 and work on technique and path.
  
• Overhead Press/ Push press. Went for my rep target, doing strict military while I could push press to finish the set. bar*8,95, 105* 3/2, 2/3. Repeat with 105
  
• dumbbell bench 30*5, 45, 55*5,5 Right side wandered. went straight up from armpits. If do these early add 5 pounds.
  
• dips 5, 3 full rom
  
• abs - tried the roller wheel. Too difficult for me today. try again in may
  
• abs - double crunch, 12# ball on head, to left knee, right knee "one, and, two, and". 9, 7 doubles.
  
• abs - hipt thrust, 12, 10
  
• no incline work, right front delt sore
  
• cardio, verticle cycle, 25 minutes, mostly at 10 resist, 60-62 rpm, 301 "calories"
  
• ran, at home with dog, the basic "6" as an out-loop-back. Tried midfoot and left knee hurt, added knee braces and tried midfoot, left knee still hurt. Rested and talk, then ran forefoot and knees felt good. Might be because hamstrings are tired, might be because of the interval running I did over the winter, but forefoot stride seems better for me at the moment.
  

Afterwards I noticed that my hips are rotating again. My low back is stronger than my abs, tuck the butt in and watch the spine!

Dinner was a boiled egg before the run, 2 bowls of chicken soup and some matzoh afterwards. Passover is over.

After dinner and baby to bed I did dishes, then looked up the two neighborhoods for tomorrow. Haddon has good schools, lily white demographics, and a slightly older population. Cherry Hill is still 90% white but is a little more demographically diverse. There are fewer kids, more older couples, and absolutely spectacular schools. Both are good enough, next we look at the houses themselves.

Spent a few minutes writing this, and now to bed.

Posted by Red Ted at April 24, 2003 10:26 AM | TrackBack