OMG My calves!

Likely a night of FF VI and MTGO in my future so I should get this out of the way right now.

Yesterday was a long day at work. I was planning on getting out of work between 5 and 6 so I could join the kids for some squad drafting. Fortunately/unfortunately my boss brought some shortcomings of the ISO paperwork to my attention around 5pm. Fortunately because it needed to be done as we were operating under the guise of getting this audit done today.  Unfortunately because I really wanted to squad draft and we didn’t even enter that stage of the audit today. Glad its done though. Got out around 9pm and stopped at BW3s to watch JV dominate the As and get the Tigers into the ALCS. Apparently this is the only place I can watch sporting events. A pint of Shiner and some 50 cent wings really hit the spot after the long day though. I had forgotten about the cheaper wings too so it was even better.

I really like the setup too. For example, Cal’s fantasy league (the $100 auction league, currently 3-2 leading my division), has an apparent tradition of going to Texadelphia on Westheimer to watch the Texans and the rest of the league on Sundays. I went there for week 2 and while it was a good atmosphere and the sandwich was good I was not a big fan of the setup. Just a bunch of 32”? tvs lined up around the room in the same horizontal plane. While it was good that they had every game on with the tvs labeled I was constantly turning my head and it got pretty uncomfortable for my neck. When you are tracking each fantasy player on each team like it actually matters you are checking real time its hard not to do this I think. Maybe it was positioning on the table but I doubt it. I like the wall’o’ tvs plan as you only need to look in one direction most of the time. I am sure I will go a few more times due to the pros I stated before but I definitely do not prefer the setup.

This week Cal suggested Twin Peaks for the big Sunday night game against the Packers. Fuck the Packers btw in case you were wondering where I stood on that team. Can anyone tell me what that TV setup is like? I am definitely going because its Twin Peaks and I have been wanting to check these ones out since they opened earlier this year. Just curious what I should expect when I get there.

For those interested in keeping track, I made a bet with Fuzzy that the Texans would again be in the top 3 in NFL defense this year. I asked for $5 and he upped it to $10. Feeling pretty good about it right now. At this point there is no team on the schedule that scares me. All the “scary” teams that we have on the schedule are no longer scary. Seattle shutdown Green Bay. Pats laid an egg against the Cards. And 9 points against the Chiefs Ravens? Really? 9 points? I do wish we were playing them in Houston as they are a different team at home. This is why I get so confused when people, including himself, try to say Joe Flacco should be considered one of the top tier QBs. Play a solid game on the road and check back with me. Play consistently and check back with me. Barring FURTHER injury, Ty, the Texans will be a top 3 defense at the end of the season. Hell…barring an injury to JJ Watt the Texans will finish in the top 3. The man is beast mode personified. But if you know who he is then there is nothing I can say that haven’t heard already. It was a pleasure watching him play against the Titans in person. Hopefully he sticks with the franchise for a bit. Mario Williams: 11 tackles/1.5 sacks in 5 games. GG Buffalo!

First half of the audit went well today apparently. After the intros and watching her read the QMS for 30 minutes I was dismissed to get some real work done. She seems cool enough and she is very casual so a lot of the pressure is off already. She and my boss actually know/knew a lot of the same people as she used to work at Baker Hughes so that is a plus too. He always does that though. The petrol industry is pretty much one big good ‘ole boys network. It is really amazing at some of the events I go to. Its like 5 or less companies in the 70s spawned all of the people that are in the industry today so everyone knows everyone. I’m the new money and suck at networking. Getting better though as the situation makes it really hard not to. Just don’t like talking to strangers that’s all.

Jason deli for lunch was stellar as usual. Can’t go wrong with those fruit and dessert plates. Nom Nom Nom. Got home around 6 and went for a training run. Gotta get this running technique down asap if I want to make progress in a timely fashion. Holy fuck my calves died like immediately. Actually I was able to run for 1:45 before stopping. It will definitely take some getting used to. I ran/walked 1.5 miles before my back came close to acting up again. Luckily I was able to stop midstride to prevent it from slipping all the way. Completed a good insanity stretch before hitting the shower. Calves are super tight and I will be stretching them all night. Look forward to some coaching in the morning. Hanging with Geoff while his eyes are dilated tomorrow and then we are playing some disc golf in The Woodlands. Stringer’s party at night and football on Sunday of course. ISO-guilt free weekends are amazing. Good luck to those in San Jose…wish I could be there.

Here’s to hoping.

Fuck Yo Slouch

10/10/12

So tonight I am running the normal mile after getting home from work. Almost 7pm...nice and overcast so it’s almost dark. The humidity is back too...yay. I feel like I had a good start but soon realize I am my most recent pace of about 7:54. This will make the third run in a row at 10 seconds slower than the times that I was happy with. As I reach the final stretch I have to slow down for a dog in the path that ends up not paying any attention to me. Past the dog I pick up the pace to finish the final minute of the run strong. After a few steps I feel my back “tweak” a little bit and then the very next step my back “slips” and creates a debilitating pain along my spine at the bottom of my shoulder blades. I stop the run immediately as I know what has happened. It first happened in college during a run home from some intramural flag football. It is very hard to describe but I will do my best. 

It is a stabbing pain that prevents me from slouching at all while standing. Breathing deep also hurts as well as just moving around in general while standing up right. It seems impossible to manage consistently and time and rest is the only thing that makes it go away. I am not sure if it is a muscle or a nerve or what but massaging the area doesn’t help.  It’s like there is a switch in that spot that activates whenever it is shaken or compressed the wrong way. Once it is switched I am helpless and it is very frustrating. 

As I must take my posture to extreme “correctness” (read: shoulders back, back arched, chest out, head in neutral spine) I blame my terrible posture for this issue. My body says: Fuck Yo Slouch! in other words. Growing up I never had anyone successful nag me enough to make me want to have good posture. It has always been terrible as I watched a lot of tv, played a lot of video games, and sat at the computer a lot. This created a “computer posture” that I have been working on as of late due to an MRI that revealed a bulging disc in my neck (C4-C5 I think) and a herniated disc in my lower back (last lumbar L5?-S1). The former is from a combination of sleeping on my stomach and my first rear end collision from May of 2011. This is an educated guess on my part. The lower back problem is definitely from moving a 37” Flat tube tv up to the 3^rd floor apartment I lived in off Hollow Tree. Bitch had to be at least 150lbs and it was on a dolly not made for tvs. The very last step was pretty much all back and I felt it pop. This was in August of 2009. I have not been able to afford an MRI until this year to confirm what had happened.

After receiving the results of the MRI I feel vindicated in my diagnosis that my back is structurally fucked up and I am ready for it to be fixed by someone. Just tell me what needs to be done and I will be happy to oblige. I finally make it to an orthopedic spine doctor. Turns out to be a pretty anticlimactic event:

Me: Blah Blah Blah Neck hurts after basketball blah blah blah Back hurts after sitting and doing burpees.

Him: Neck is meh. Everyone has a bulging disc in their neck. Get over it and take care of it better.

Me: Ok :/

Him: Back could be worse. Stop doing burpees. Get over it, stop doing things that make it hurt, and take better care of it.

Me: What about stuff like Insanity?

Him: Shit is hard on the back. Just recognize your limits (like the “burpee-like” plank work) and be careful with it.

Me: Ok then seems reasonable.

Him: See you later.

So per usual there is no magic solution to this problem aside from more effort on my part. Take better care of myself and stretch more.  Rocket science at its most complex.

There is hope though. After speaking with my Director of fitness I have a plan to work on my running technique to smooth out my running resulting in less stress on my body.

Listening to the Tigers right now as they lead 2-1 in the bottom of the 6^th. Go Tigers. I don’t want to go to a game 5 and have to waste a JV start before crushing the Yankees.

So what’s been up since last Thursday? The audit was supposed to be on Friday and was cancelled due to a scheduling mishap on the auditing company’s part… kind of a letdown but probably a good thing as I could tie up some loose ends prior to audit time. Of course I have left those things until tomorrow when the audit will be taking place on Friday. Just a few more pieces of paperwork  so we should be fine. I left work early since there was no audit and I wanted a nap before playing some limited Return to Ravnica somewhere. Didn’t get it but still decided to go for a run before heading to 3^rd Coast for a smaller than expected sealed event. Opened up a bomby G/W with Martial Law, Armada Wurm, and Grove of the Guardian. Fairly simple build at its core and DT was there to help me refine it. Went X-1 losing to Jace, Chemister, and the detaining angel. Got 4 packs for my troubles and we headed to Stringer’s for a 4v4 random team draft with some true dorans. It obviously did not end well after an unclutch 2-2. We got there twice on filibuster counters though J

I made it home around 5am for 6 hours of sleep. Woke up and went to UH for some rock climbing, swimming, and some cardio/lifting. Finally climbed a rock wall for the first time in 10 years. Almost made it to the top on the easy route…maybe 10 feet to the top. Belayer wanted me to take a break while I was up there and try again. It wasn’t happening. Forearms were dead and they were not coming back anytime soon. Tried another climb after several minutes of rest but I did not last long. So glad I finally got to climb though. Unfortunately I did not get to swim as there was an event going on in the pool. As long as I do one of those two things (the whole reason for buying a membership at UH) the trip is worth it. Stopped at b-dubs after to watch the end of Game 1 of Tigers/A’s. Tigers won and they are on their way to closing out the series right now.

Sunday was a game day at Geoff’s. A solid day for me as I won a game of Fearsome Floors and absolutely crushed my first game of Ticket to Ride Europe. 70 points in routes and longest train without using any stations will get you there apparently.

Came home in time to watch Drew Brees break one of those unbreakable records. Pretty epic if you ask me. Entering the game, Reggie Wayne and his 40 points put me comfortably ahead of Tobey and all he had left was Marques Colston. Not comfortable enough for a PPR league apparently. Colston put up 40.xx only one catch away from stealing my victory. Phew.

The other money league left me with a 6 point lead after Sunday and I was up against Andre Johnson. I was not optimistic. He had one catch J This puts me at 4-1 in the TMZ league and 3-2 in the auction money league. Feeling good about TMZ league but auction team is sketchy at best. Take me to the promised land Matty Ice. Ohhh…playing tha Raidahs this week…should be fun.

Sorry I have no ability to truncate myself resulting in a huge post after 6 days of not posting. Back on track now and look to finish the week strong.

Here’s to hoping J

OH. Highlight of the day: Middle-aged black man in his good-looking black Audi (stock rims) with the windows down rocking out to some Cranberries. Couldn’t help but smile.

ITS OVER 9001!!!!

So tomorrow is kind of a big day for the business. We have part one of our registration audit for ISO 9001.

ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization:

• needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and
• aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

This pretty much says you need to document everything you do and display that you follow all of the procedures that you have documented. Seems easy enough except for the fact that this business was built on the back of one man with the help of some friends maybe 15 years ago. It has stayed under 10 people to this day. When I arrived there in January of '07 there was not a written procedure to speak of. I learned everything I knew from the coolest 75 year-old man I ever met. Dude would be eating a sandwich in one hand while dropping crude oil into a bottle with the other hand. All training was word of mouth. There were no records of training either. Training records and procedures and processes are what ISO is all about. I mean obviously you cannot make a quality product unless you have documented the entire process amiright? 

A little sarcasm there but it has definitely been a worth while endeavor for us. Having all of this stuff documented makes it much easier to train and hold people accountable. Hold yourself accountable for that matter. I learned my management lesson early as to what happens when you ask the smartest person in the room to get from point A to point B with free range...or no written procedures to follow. Good luck having him or her follow any suggestions from someone with 95% more experience than him or her...obviously he or she knows more than you in the few weeks he or she has been there. Heaven forbid you try to implement any kind of written procedures after he or she has already developed the most efficient methods in the history of man...but I digress.

This has been two years in the making and it started with my previous manager who left 17 months ago or so. I went from very little responsibility to probably the most responsibility in the company. While undeserving I was very thankful for the opportunity. Remember me saying I have never seen the consequences of my 75% effort level...this is one of those times. I had never really thought about being a manager at this point as I knew I was not likely management material. Almost a year-and-a-half later I still may not be...but I have definitely progressed. Hopefully enough to pass this audit. We WILL pass this audit. For not passing it I fear would have great consequences. Even though I am fairly confident at this point I have heard it can depend on the auditor. We have had a great consultant though so we should be okay. Tomorrow begins the first half of the audit where the auditor will familiarize herself with our QMS or quality management system. Pretty much a big binder with all of our procedures, records, and controlled forms. The goal here for me and my employees is to make sure that she does not know the binder than we do.

The second half of the audit is scheduled for next Friday, October 12th. After she has taken a plethora of notes on our QMS she will begin interviews with everyone who is involved with it. This is everyone at the lab. Watching us work while asking questions about procedures we are supposedly following and making sure we maintain some or all of the records/documentation the QMS says we are responsible for. It is possible she will start this second half of the audit tomorrow afternoon right after her study of the QMS. Therefore much of today was spent making our final preparations so we can be ready if she does. In my best form I have left a few things for the morning as it will take her a few hours to comb the QMS anyway. I just need to do a final check of the training records, label some recently made files, and create a few preventative action reports. 

I must say that the files I just made tonight in this previously unused file cabinet right next to my desk should work wonders for me. As you can imagine I am a fairly unorganized person most of the time. It is really easy to only give 75% and/or wait until the last minute on a given action item when you do not do any prep work. I have never been good with files, to-do lists, or anything that leads to productivity for that matter. Definitely a step in the right direction here and since it is right next to my desk it should not require too much effort after the initial investment.

I have also started using OneNote recently and I love it. Since we use Outlook at work it has made it very easy to manage action items much more effectively. It has also been a great tool for running weekly meetings for the staff...important for managing properly I have found. For me anyway. The ability to manage the same OneNote from my phone and from home has led to me actually taking quality notes in meetings as well as maintaining it every now-and-then away from the office. I intend to start using it for personal stuff like grocery lists, budgeting, and house projects since I am always forgetting what I want to do/get and in what order. I also hope for it to be key in actually managing goals for myself, personal and work. Some of those goals will make it over here since I am looking for accountability. For example:

Fitness update: 

After three days of running a mile right after work followed by an Insanity workout (Pure Cardio, Plyometric Cardio Circuit, and Cardio Power and Resistance) my body did not want to get out of bed today. Snoozed once at 5am. Set the alarm for 6am. Snoozed for over an hour I think. Woke up in the 7 o'clock hour and didn't get out of bed until around 8. Got to work a little after 9. This led to being at work until 9 so I chose not to workout when I got home. On Wednesday I ran the mile at 7:44 again and it definitely felt harder than the first two times. Probably just because I was thinking about how hard it was most of the time.

The mind is a fickle thing...all of the time. If I could keep my mind occupied with something else during the run it would be so much easier. I often miss out on how hard the running actually is while I am distracted by thoughts of carrying Will Lowry over the finish line after his ankle gives out in the final stretch of the Spartan Beast...or throwing up at the end of a run where J-Ho set a really fast pace for me and it was all I could do to keep up at Memorial. Then I remember that I am actually running right now and continue to remind myself of how hard the running is in case I had forgotten. I hope to get a workout in tomorrow...that is if I do not go to Conroe to draft or sealed it up. Whether or not to let myself back into magic will be a topic here very soon. Quite the dilemma.

Here's to hoping.

It begins!

So I have been working out off and on for a while now… off and on meaning sparingly 1-2 times a week for months. In June I bought an Amazon deals voucher to register for the Spartan Beast adventure race on Dec. 8^th in Glen Rose, TX. $60 for an adventure race like this is a really good deal seeing as they start at $140ish usually. Amazon just happened to hit me on the right day as I was guilt tripping while seeing pic after pic from my parents at the Team Beachbody summit in Las Vegas. My stepdad(Craig) and my mom are 54 and 49 respectively and they started their first ever workout class/routine May of 2011 with an Insanity challenge. It’s an eight week program with $100 going to the person who loses the most weight% for male and female. They both won and have been going nonstop ever since. They have always been in decent shape…my mom more so than Craig…but now they are in the best shape of their lives obviously. Craig is running 5ks all of the time and they just started another Insanity challenge. Craig is instructing them and has ever since his second one.

Seeing the kind of dedication they have put in has guilt-tripped me many a time over the past year and Amazon caught me on one of those days. I talked to Will Lowry about it since he had done a Tough Mudder before (essentially the same race ran by a different company) and he said he would do it with me. He has always been in great shape since I have known him…playing soccer all of the time and that sort of thing. It wouldn’t take much for him to great ready for this race with a little extra conditioning over the coming months. I on the other hand would take a little more…actually a lot more dedication. Signing up for this race was supposed to be the motivation I needed to start training daily because I would need to in order to finish a race of this caliber…10-12 miles, plenty of obstacles, running through wooded hills, etc.

That was June. Right before my 4^th of July trip to Chicago (wedding and hanging out with Bing) I pulled a week of two-a-days. Getting up at 5am and doing some Insanity warm-up with a run or ab ripper X, going to work for 8-10 hours, then coming home to do a full Insanity workout. This routine made me feel great about myself but my body wasn’t quite recovering like I was used to…mainly my quads. I guess I am getting old. Naturally I had plans to keep up at least SOME working out up in Chicago as to not waste this beautiful week I had just put in. Of course that did not happen. So here I am telling you it has been off and on since then. The race is two months away and I have yet to show any kind of dedication to getting ready for this thing. What is my major malfunction?!

Last week I started again with a couple Insanity workouts (Cardio Power & Resistance & Cardio Recovery) a mile behind the house (Mon-Wed) and a trip to UH that included some swimming (finally) on Thursday. Now ever since I started working out again, or at least running a little, I have run a mile in 9-10 minutes…getting better over time (so I thought). This has been since 2010. So last week I ran a mile 3 times to the tune of 9:06, 9:07, and 9:11. I didn’t do anything Fri-Sun (which I had planned on doing something but was too lazy yet again) but started back up thankfully on Monday. Came home after 10 hours at the office and ran the same exact mile in 7:43. WTF? Apparently I have not been pushing myself…ever? Maybe the nicer weather? Maybe it was a fluke? Almost a minute and a half better fluke? Unlikely. Yesterday I made sure to try and recreate this seemingly amazing feat and ran one in 7:44.

This is my life in a nutshell. Doing everything at 75%. That kind of time decrease can only be explained by not pushing myself all those times previous over two years. No wonder why there was no real progress. If I wasn’t pushing myself then what the fuck was I doing running in the first place? Because I felt like I should or was supposed to be doing SOMETHING I guess. I really need to start putting 100% into my life here. Start doing things because I CAN not because I should or want to. There have been many contributing factors to living this lazy life. I have always told myself it was mainly because I have not had any real consequences to choosing this path. But maybe just because they are not seen by me doesn’t mean they are not there. Either that or I must assume that it will catch up with me at some point and I will enter a world of pain (losing my job at some point would be an example). I mean I realize now that in the end I am hurting myself and likely some family and friends along the way. Am I a masochist? Probably not and it only takes an additional 25% so it shouldn’t be some monumental task either. Just get up and do it.

A major problem has been lack of self-accountability. I hate to-do lists. I’ve never written down goals. I have never taken time to reflect on anything beyond the daily disappointments of not doing things that I told myself at the beginning of the day that I would do. It doesn’t take much for those thoughts to pass through and it’s onto the next day. I am hoping this blog will give me some of that self-accountability I so desperately need. The fact that this has taken an hour or so has been a big deterrent to me actually starting it… the initial investment of time and energy has often been a deterrent when failing to even start many endeavors…budgeting would be another example but we will get to that later. Now that it has started I imagine it taking less time. Here’s to hoping.

Good day.