Author: Moby

Blog Me Baby II!

Well, it looks like I got my wish to meet a lot of my blogroll bud’s. The blogger meeting tomorrow is growing! I ran into Chad Fox today in the Castro before work and he signed on. He is gonna drag Kel and Daigle with him. Sexy Vic from v-hold has shown some interest. Even woof brandon might show up! And this is all before the graduation party for roblog tomorrow night.

homer and brettcajun are just as much fun in person as they are in the blogosphere. They joined me for my stint at the BCC contest last night. I lucked out and got to leave early so the rest of the time we spent watching tivo and chatting. Today, homer is off to Berkeley to explore some archeological stuff and Brett is slumming the day away w/lurker Tony. I’m working of course. (Pat me on the back for being such a dedicated civil servant!)

My only wish is that Steve from Bent Collective could have been in attendance. I can report he is mending quite nicely. I only wish I had better news about my local friend’s condition. He is still very sick and I’m worried about him.

Duty calls, so more later….Lots of pics coming!

First Contact..Sort Of

So here is the pic of Tony, brettcajun, and homer at the moby pad. How did I find out? I had to log onto brett’s blog to find this pic. Here I am slaving away at work and they can’t even CALL me to let me know the plane hasn’t crashed into the ocean. I mean god forbid they let their gracious host know they made it safely. Especially, after Brett had a horrible Ms. Cleo moment a few months back about his SF trip. Gosh!

hehehe, I’m joking of course. I’m at work and delighted to see the boys made it safe and sound. I’m counting the minutes till I can get away and go see them in person.

What Happened?

I’ve gotten some requests as of late for more of my old journal entries. I’ve cut back a bit on the heavy stuff. I’ve covered quite a bit of ground in the last couple of months and I think I still need time to assimilate all of it. I’m not too terribly introverted so I think I need more time than most to let it ‘sink in’.

I am rarely at a loss for words so you’ll just have to be content w/my jibberish for awhile. Besides, with the pending blogger arrivals, I’m sure to have at least one scandal to post. brettcajun is all nervous. Wait till he finds out how boring my life really is. He’ll be like “WTF was I thinking?”

And speaking of the blogger meeting, if you are local (or going to be local) this coming weekend and wanna meet the crew now’s your chance. I’m trying to schedule a big lunch before the housewarming on Saturday to give everyone a chance to meet. How does that sound? If you want in, leave a comment or email and I’ll post the details as they develop.

About

In all the hubub I forgot to mention, I posted the new bio section on the site. I already don’t like it and will probably make changes. It’s up for now.

9/11 – Movie

No, I won’t be watching this movie anytime soon if ever. I have a real problem w/the making of this movie so soon after the disaster. I was fortunate not to loose anyone in the attacks. Several of my co-workers were not so lucky. Working where I do, I am privy to certain facts not generally available to the public.

And even not being there first-hand, the pain and anquish is still very fresh in my mind. I do know folks who survived it firsthand. To ask them to relive one of the greatest tragedies in our history so soon is offensive, in my opinion.

That said, I’m not urging others not to see it. I feel strongly enough to speak out and that’s enough for me.

A Pox On Your House…

I had to go see my doc today. Last night, I developed a full body rash that was hella itchy. I normally would have waited before going to see the doc but, I have a ride-a-long on the ambulance tomorrow. I thought it prudent to get checked out. It hasn’t moved onto my face, for which, I am sooo grateful. Of course, the new EMT in me started checking off the possibilities…

Scabbies – No – been there did that once at 19. There is no mistaking it for something else.

Syphilis – No – this nasty little STD can often bring on symptoms from other little buggers hiding in your spine. Had a screening no less than two weeks ago and all good. It is possible to test negative during the primary stage so we took another blood test today just to make sure. Yes, I’m thankful my penis won’t be falling off anytime soon.

Chickenpox/Shingles – No, this would have been an irony as just last week I was reading Johnny’s run in w/said illness. Mind you, I am very leary of catching the pox. I missed it as a kid and it is much much worse if you get it as an adult. Again, thank the stars, I still have plenty of antibodies from my last vaccination.

What’s left? Allergic reaction. – Well that is the consensus I reached with my doc. Not having a clue what it might be, I’m hoping it clears up before my guests arrive later in the week. I’d hate to be remembered as the buggy blogger.

Ups & Downs III

An update on the sick friends I mentioned.

One has taken a turn for the better and almost out of the woods in scope of worry. While recovery will not be quick, it seems he will make a complete recovery. Saying I’m grateful is an understatement.

My other friend, who is local, has taken a turn for the worse. He was moved back into ICU in the wee hours of the morning due to complications w/maintaining his airway. Admittedly, my EMT experience is still limited however, I’m a bit perplexed on his condition. Everything shows he should be recovering yet isn’t. This has me very concerned my initial suspicions were true. Not good news. However, I am comforted knowing another friend of his has flown up and is taking good care of him. Only time will tell.

What a rollercoaster of a week this has been. I’m happy and sad at the same time. Plus, I’ve had all these topics to rant about and to busy to focus.

Of course, there is always next week to look forward to as well. The big blogger pow wow w/Jeff, Kel, brettcajun, homer, roblog, etc. I think there are more that I’ve left out but my mind is scattered at the moment.

The rain has finally let up. We have one more light storm coming thru late weekend and supposedly clear skies after that.

I’m hoping I’ll have better news about my friend next post.

The Martyr Returns

I rarely talk about work other than in vague references. I’m breaking w/that out of frustration. Beyond my ongoing EMT training, I’m a 911 dispatcher. I’m also a union officer for our local chapter. And for a change, my anger is directed at my fellow dispatchers rather than management.

Here I am literally leaving my friend, who is very ill, in the emergency room, to go speak at the rally and only two of my coworkers show up to lend a hand. Granted it was raining but two out of 110? That was like a kick in the teeth. I was initially very angry with my coworkers for such a poor turnout. Many of which bitch and whine daily about our problems. (I’m also of the mind don’t bitch unless you are part of the process.) I was so upset, in fact, I almost resigned my post. Why am I spending all this valuable time on people who obviously don’t give a damn. I’m not even gonna be in the same job a year from now.

After cooling off (and getting food in me), I began to see the bigger picture. Lately, I’ve been very frustrated w/the lack of leadership from our chapter president. She means well, but is very unorganized and doesn’t really fill the role effectively. This lack of direction is undermining our efforts. As clearly demonstrated by the poor turnout, our membership isn’t listening to us. That’s just wrong. And it’s not for lack of effort. All of the officers give of themselves to better our center. However, working hard and working smart are two different things. I’m a big believer in working smart first and hard second. And that’s not happening. Normally, I’d step up to the plate and offer to take over. However, with my focus on training to be a medic, I simply don’t have the free time the position requires.

Never being one to give up easily, I’ve called an informal meeting of the officers tomorrow. I’m hoping to express myself w/o pointing blame. Maybe my tizzy will spur the prez into action. If not, I’ll stick it out till the end of the year and after that, I’m done.

Come on, One More…

Ok, now that I have some food it in me for the first time today, I’m in a better frame of mind. I really am a hateful bastard when I get hungry. I forgot to mention earlier it is cold and rainy here today. Oh yeah! The rain is back. For a city that never gets rain, we’ve had enough to last us all fraking year.

Trying to get my mind off more depressing thoughts, I thought I’d share something completely narcissistic. I’ve had several requests for info on my workout routines. And since, I haven’t finished my “Body by Moby” updates yet, I thought I’d interject one here.

I have the hardest time getting my chest muscles to grow. I’ve realized in part because I’m not burning the muscle out before reaching an overall state of exhaustion. In an effort to remedy that I decided to merge two routines into one. I’m pushing heavy weight w/lower reps primarily. The twist, I’ve added one or two more sets on each bench but dropping the weights to really finish off the muscle. And while my routine isn’t really for beginners, it can be adapted as such. I work chest and triceps together as they are complimenting muscles. Meaning you can’t do chest presses w/o calling your triceps into play. Spot training is so 80’s and has been shown to be less effective than training muscle groups. I’m strong for my size so the numbers, while sounding impressive, aren’t really that exciting for me. Oh and proper form is essential. It doesn’t matter how much weight you’re pushing, if you aren’t using good form, you are wasting your time. The ‘burn’ comes from pushing the muscle to exhaustion. Part of that is keeping the focus ON the muscle.

Bench 1
Incline Chest Press – 5 sets of 8 reps each – 225lbs
(2 – 45’s each side, plus 45lb bar)
I get 3 full sets of 8 reps each w/3-4 minute break between each. The last two sets, I drop the weight to 200lbs and then 175lbs. On the last two sets I only take enough of a break to drop the weights and then I hit it.
Continue reading Come on, One More…