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I Think Its Worth Pointing Out Just Exactly How Sore I Am

March 10, 2010 / posted in Adult Problems, Otherwise Uncategorized / Comments Off

Last year I was a good little boy and got a lot of exercise. The upside was looking great in my tux. The downside was… there was no downside. Well, my laziness was not indulged. Some might consider that a downside. Over the last few months, there’s been a lot more indulgence of said lassitude. With negative results on my midsection.

So now I’m back in it. I’ve carved out time three days a week and I’m back to the gym. This has been my first week of this new regimen and man it’s tough. I’m writing this standing up because I can’t imagine how little weight my quads will bear if I try to sit down. (Falling ass-first onto the couch is less fun than it sounds.)

And that’s just after two classes – Crossfit on Monday and Heavy Bag today. Tomorrow’s Crossfit again, with no time to recover. Oy!

I wonder if I can steal the hearing pad from my wife tonight…








Is March Too Late To Make New Year’s Resolutions?

February 28, 2010 / posted in Adult Problems, Otherwise Uncategorized / Comments Off

I used to do this thing? Where I did my resolutions for the year? It was awesome. Instead, this year, I re-launched my blog. We won’t get into how silly it is that simply not having a blog I was happy with meant that I didn’t do resolutions, but, there we are.

 

Hopefully, it’s not to late. So I’ll return to the format of years past; a review of last year’s resolutions, followed by this year’s. To wit:

Last Year’s Resolutions

  1. Go to more networking events, and go to them regularly, to meet more people.
    This I did, and did well!
  2. Go to at least two Marshall Tailgates, to see my friends from school.
    Instead of paying attention to the football season, I got married. This killed Fantasy Football too. It was well worth it!
  3. Continue to post twice weekly to WadeArmstrong.com.
    Instead, I planned a wedding.
  4. Post at least once a week here to Juniorbird.com, including regular, but not monthly, meal and drink recipes.
    Instead, I planned a wedding.
  5. Start a mystery book-writing club, and get far into writing a (blockbuster!) mystery.
    Instead, I planned a wedding.
  6. Get my orange belt in Krav Maga.
    Instead, I planned a wedding. And got really into Crossfit.
  7. Travel at least once this year, probably out of the country.
    Hey, here’s something on this list getting married helped me do.
  8. Lose 20 lbs. — I started the year at 190, which is really about 20 lbs. over the weight I look best at. I will probably blog more about this!
    Again, saved by the getting married thing! I ate well and exercised a ton all year, and got down to 170 pretty easily.
  9. Get another tattoo.
    Hey, getting married is starting to add up! I got a lovely tattoo of a crab to celebrate my engagement. My poor wife!
  10. Get out and take photographs regularly, preferably a scheduled monthly shoot.
    I did ok, but not great, here. More shooting this year, I hope!

This Year’s Resolutions

OK, one change here is that there will be no business-related resolutions here, including anything about “Toastmasters” or “Networking.” I spend enough time on business during business hours. With no further ado:

  1. Get another tattoo
  2. Maintain my weight at about 170
  3. Get a new perspective, photographically
  4. Speaking of, shoot monthly
  5. Go to at least one Marshall Tailgate
  6. Blog all the time, including about booze and cooking
  7. Be an awesome, supportive, husband
  8. Get the family finances in great shape
  9. Spend more time building friendships
  10. Move my life forward in a way that makes sense for me and, especially, for my brand-new family!

I think I can pull all these resolutions off this year, even with these two months gone before I got around to the resolving. After all, this year I’m neither planning a wedding nor going on a honeymoon!

Not that I mean that as a good thing. But, oh, the spare time I’ll have.








Two Engaged People and a Cup

June 24, 2009 / posted in Adult Problems, Otherwise Uncategorized / No Comments

So this “wedding thing”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/003821.html has been pretty much a full-time job. Ceremony, reception, DJ, flowers, dress, tux — the list goes on and on. There’s so much to get done, we haven’t even gotten to pick where we’re going for our honeymoon. Fortunately, we got one important thing done: we’ve set up our registry.
Now, I know that some of you out there are well on top of things, because we’ve already received a few registry gifts. Some towels, a coffeemaker, a cup for the bathroom — all the essentials. It’s so exciting to get gifts!
But, as someone who’s searched and searched in vain to try to find friends’ registries in the past, I don’t want to keep our registries secret any longer. We’ve got three:
* Most of our stuff is at “Bed Bath and Beyond”:http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/regGiftRegistry.asp?WRN=-616202086, a store chock full of goodness
* We’ve got some great dining items registered at “Z Gallerie”:http://registry.zgallerie.com. Look us up under registry # 400022002073
* Amazon.com has this great feature where you can put anything from anywhere on your registry. Lovely since we’ve long coveted West Elm’s outdoor furniture, but they don’t actually do a registry. Our Amazon registry, with that and more, is “here”:http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wedding/GSWIJSHIOFFG
Of course, you could also send me “something”:http://www.bhphotovideo.com/WishList/1B3CCA61DB “for”:http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/3BHZUHHUF5DA2/ “my”:http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/155SD0BNA4PME/ birthday too, my greedy ass probably wouldn’t complain either.















Clarifying a Photo From The Past

April 29, 2009 / posted in Adult Problems, Otherwise Uncategorized, Photos / 2 Comments

Last year, there was a small confusion about a photo published on this site. In particular, a regular reader thought that “a ring previously displayed on DJ L’il Bit’s hand”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/003690.html was an engagement ring — a reasonable enough thought, since it’s a pretty ring, but I wouldn’t buy her a $35 ring from Overstock.com for that purpose. I thought that was worth clarifying, especially since… well, I’ll let the photo here speak for itself:
!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/524717016_PBjos-M.jpg!
Now that is in fact an engagement ring. That is, the sentiment was entirely correct, just the timing was off. For those who prefer to investigate further, here is a close-up:
!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/524716286_PugCW-M.jpg!
Another commenter said that we “‘hit the genetic lottery.’”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/003693.html. That’s not the only lottery I hit with DJ L’il Bit! I’m *happy*. I’m a-keepin’ her.
!http://juniorbird.smugmug.com/photos/524717336_t7JbP-M.jpg!















Belated Resolutions

January 25, 2009 / posted in Adult Problems, Otherwise Uncategorized / 3 Comments

So, I’m a little behind this year — usually I have my resolutions up in the first week of the year or so. Frankly, one of my problems lately has been commitment to blogging, and I was slow getting to this post because of that. Well, I bet that shows up on my resolutions! So, on to the usual format.
h3. Last Year’s Resolutions Reviewed
# Join Toastmasters
_Apparently, I’ve been bad at this every year since b-school. I failed to find the time to make this a priority last year._
# Stick with Krav, and, especially, use it to improve my conditioning
_Big success here. We were up to 3x/week for 2 hours each time before a series of flus and injuries got us off-track._
# Post twice weekly to WadeArmstrong.com — one 4-600 words, one links
_I did pretty well here for most of the year, especially on the longer entry (which ended up being a lot more than 600 words ususally)._
# Post twice weekly here. I’ve got an exciting publishing calendar for Juniorbird.com, including a recipe of the month; drink of the month; photo that you can put on your desktop (I like to switch mine up), and even an attempt at ongoing fiction (I promise low quality!)
_Commitment problems here! Also, I think that a lot of what I was promising to write was not what I wanted to have on Juniorbird.com — for a while, it was looking like a cooking blog, which I just don’t want it to be._
# Kick up the ‘ol wardrobe a notch, by being a bit more daring
_Have you seen me lately? Socks ftw!_
# Assert myself more in restaurants — I don’t always ask what’s in a dish when I order it, and sometimes, what with my food allergies, that reaches up and bites me
_Moderate success here. I’ve asked much more than before but should probably do even more._
# Set up a regular get-together with school friends
_I did very poorly on this. Very poorly._
# Appreciate the AIG as much as she deserves
_I hope I did well! I certainly tried._
So I basically did three all-out, two halfways, and three pretty much nos. I’m still on the positive side of this balance sheet, but let’s see if I can do better this year!
h3. This Year’s Resolutions
# Go to more networking events, and go to them regularly, to meet more people.
# Go to at least two Marshall Tailgates, to see my friends from school.
# Continue to post twice weekly to WadeArmstrong.com.
# Post at least once a week here to Juniorbird.com, including regular, but not monthly, meal and drink recipes.
# Start a mystery book-writing club, and get far into writing a (blockbuster!) mystery.
# Get my orange belt in Krav Maga.
# Travel at least once this year, probably out of the country.
# Lose 20 lbs. — I started the year at 190, which is really about 20 lbs. over the weight I look best at. I will probably blog more about this!
# Get another tattoo.
# Get out and take photographs regularly, preferably a scheduled monthly shoot.
That’s a lot of resolutions, and, frankly, I’m a little intimidated by the number. But, I guess that’s the point! See you here next year to see how I did.















Another Year, Another Resolution

January 4, 2008 / posted in Adult Problems, Otherwise Uncategorized / 1 Comment

I really do like the tradition of New Year’s resolutions. Heck, I like it enough I’ve done it “four”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/000353.html “years”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/001004.html “in a row”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/002166.html “now”:http://juniorbird.com/archive/003045.html Life presents us with many daily challenges and, let’s face it, keeps most of us busy. Making resolutions around now can really help get the old head above the trees, to see the forest. I could use that, especially after the last year. So, in the ol’ Juniorbird tradition, here’s last year’s resolutions reviewed and some new ones for 2008.
h3. Last Year’s Resolutions Reviewed
# Find a networking group to go to, like I used to go to Ryze events
_Say hello to the Trojan CEO Network!_
# Join a local Toastmasters club
_Bet this one appears on my ’08 resolutions!_
# Keep up with people I met in school
_Did pretty well, actually, for ‘ol introverted me_
# Join a martial arts studio, probably either Jiu Jitsu, Aikido, or Krav Maga
_I also must resolve to blog about Krav Maga, which I’ve been attending for 3 months, more in ’08_
# Say “no” more often
_Boy, I did bad at this one_
# Keep my plants alive
_Good news: they’re all here, even the one the pit bull tried to eat!_
# Get into a habit of regularly reading and outlining business books.
_Honestly, there’s such a thing as too much business. Didn’t do it, didn’t regret it._
# Start keeping my finances in some kind of program again — I ditched Quicken two and a half years ago, as it was corrupting my accounts all the time, but I think it’s time to start keeping records again.
_Switched to “Moneydance”:http://moneydance.com/, which was fine, and used it for a year; now moved to “iBank”:http://www.iggsoftware.com/ibank/, which appears to be slicker and more Mac-y (perhaps more on this later). Anyway, kept it all up-to-date, which has been handy budget- and planning-wise._
So what’s the tally: 5 out of 8 nailed, 1 abandoned, and 2 busts. Not perfect, but I feel pretty proud.
h3. This Year’s Resolutions
It’s going to be a big year, but I think I can wedge a little self-improvement in.
# Join Toastmasters
# Stick with Krav, and, especially, use it to improve my conditioning
# Post twice weekly to “WadeArmstrong.com”:http://wadearmstrong.com — one 4-600 words, one links
# Post twice weekly here. I’ve got an exciting publishing calendar for Juniorbird.com, including a recipe of the month; drink of the month; photo that you can put on your desktop (I like to switch mine up), and even an attempt at ongoing fiction (I promise low quality!)
# Kick up the ‘ol wardrobe a notch, by being a bit more daring
# Assert myself more in restaurants — I don’t always ask what’s in a dish when I order it, and sometimes, what with my food allergies, that reaches up and bites me
# Set up a regular get-together with school friends
# Appreciate the AIG as much as she deserves
See you in a year to check in on my progress!















Orage

December 22, 2007 / posted in Adult Problems, Dreams, Otherwise Uncategorized / 3 Comments

The night Rick died, his ex called me in the middle of the night to tell me. But her voicemail was unintelligible; and I was already up. I’d been up for an hour, and I’d spent that whole time in terror. Because I had awoken in the dark, suddenly sure he was coming to get me.
Of course, the concept was preposterous. I’d done nothing to him, and Rick was nothing if not fair. But I was sure of it. The thought was fixed in my mind when my eyes opened, and an hour of applications of logic had failed to knock it away. I sat there, trying to make up excuses that would save my skin, none growing into anything convincing — and how could they, given that I had nothing to excuse?
Then the phone rang, and, half-hoping I’d been asleep, I jumped. It was Rick’s ex, and I couldn’t imagine wanting to speak to her at 3:30 am. So I went to the bathroom, and sat on the toilet, in the dull light that trickles through the frosted glass at night, for a while. I listened to her voicemail, which was incoherent with static, and suddenly stopped worrying. It just lifted. And, after a while, I went back to sleep.















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