TDotCom

i know i’ve been quiet lately, don’t hate me for it - this kat be crazy busy. but i had to share this lil nugget with yas… i giggled extensively.

The ellipticals and the treadmills

The recumbent bike

Katie on the Cable Cross Over machine

It’s a pretty versatile piece of equipment

Katie and my mom, checking out the new toys

That’s our new equipment, sorry it took so long to post these photos, I know you all were waiting anxiously to see the goodies! They really are nice and we have got nothing but compliments on the new stuff - everyone loves our new stuff. I’m not going to lie to you, they are big and expensive - but i really think that this is the beginning of a new direction for T’s Health & Wellness Center. In fact, we’re having an Open House on May 21st - if you’re in the area, are a female and would like to stop in and check out our new equipment for the day, we’ll be there from 7:00am to 7:00pm for a day of free trial periods in the fitness center.

well, it’s a beautiful day outside - mothers across the land should be pleased. Hope all you mothers have a wonderful day. i took the cocoa outside today to take some photos for the future mother of my childrens (which won’t be for a couple years, btw)… and well, i didn’t use any of them for the photo-card i made for her (from cocoa, of course) because i found a better photo to use and i’ll post it after she gets the card tonight… but i did want to put one of the photos of cocoa up - so ya’ll’s can see what our precious puppy be lookin like these days.

Cocoa on Mother’s Day 2007

and photos of the fitness center and new equipment are coming…

by the way, this wordpress blogging tool… pretty darn spectacular! it manages images for ya and everything. me likey!

i’ve been toying with the idea of playing football again this year - this time with a GPFL team, the St. Cloud Fighting Scots. and after many conversations with the wife and with myself, i’ve decided this year it’s just not going to happen. not an easy decision to make, but after i thought about it, well, it just isn’t that difficult to see what the right decision is - it’s just not the favorite decision. this is one of those times when the right decision is not the same as the favorite decision. i’ve just got too much on my plate right now, with wurk, the fitness center, the other ’side jobs’, spending time with the wife and dog and just life in general. i’ve been looking at the pros and cons and i even made a pseudo-list (i didn’t write it down, but i did have the list in my head). there were only two pros on my list: i get to play football and i have something to write about on my blog every week (that last one really isn’t that big of a deal, cuz as you can see - i’ll blab about other stuff). the cons however….

• time - playing in st. cloud takes a bunch of time, even if practices are only once a week
• money - with gas already at $3/gal, this summer’s road trips are not going to be cheap and right now katie and i are working hard to get ourselves completely out of debt (save the house mortgage). this would put us right back into the spending rut.
• safety - i’m no spring chicken and i’m not completely sold on the solidity of the OL and the ability to keep myself from compromising situations on the field. i don’t recover nearly as fast as i used to and i’m not in the best of shape right now (sure, i’m stronger in the weight room than i think i’ve ever been, but that’s only part of being ‘in shape’, i’m greatly lacking in the cardio endurance).
• family time - last year was extremely tough on katie and my relationship, she liked that i was doing something i liked, but at the same time, she spent a lot of the weekends working while i was out playing. that’s not fair to her and we didn’t get to spend nearly as much quality time together as we should have as husband and wife.
• cocoa - with both katie and i working full time, cocoa is kenneled up during the day. i don’t care for that and neither does katie (i’m sure cocoa doesn’t like it too much either). not playing this summer would give me more time to spend with my hunting buddy and continue to work on her training
• weekends - playing football is fun, but it also depletes every weekend during the season. i haven’t been fishing nearly as much as i would like and bird-hunting season in the fall has also been limited. a couple days out on the golf course would be nice and spending time with friends and family has been so rare it’s not even funny.
• business(es) - hey, i’m a small business owner - that takes time to run. the fitness center is going pretty good. we’ve got a lot of things planned in the next year and we’re still getting our methodologies worked out. that combined with the fact that i’ve got wedding photos that i took in february that need to be finished (i HATE red-eye) and a couple website projects that i’ve had to turn down because i just don’t have the time. even less time with the addition of a football season.

there might be more that i’ve got on my list that i just can’t think of right now - and that’s a by-product of not writing down my list and trying to have everything in my head - but you get the idea… my priorities have shifted. it’s not just me i’m thinking about here. i F’ing hate it, but it looks like i’ve grown up - NO MEGUSTA! but at the same time, it’s not all bad.

i’ve got pictures of the new equipment for the fitness center, tis most excellent and we’re all really excited about it (including our members, which is a good thing). i’ll post them later tomorrow (i promise).

i didn’t post on frid - cuz i was busy. katie and i left frid night to visit some friends down in des moines. a very relaxing and muchly needing great time! not only that, but sister was in des moines for the drake relays, so we got to spend some time with her on saturday night along with the ‘rents (who were down for the meet and to see sister as well). ahhh good times had by all.

today, i worked from home because i needed to head on over to the fitness center as we got our new equipment! very exciting, i must say. two new ellipticals, 2 new treadmills, a recumbent bike and a multi-gym-type-deal… very top-of-the-line and brand, spanking new! now, we’re starting to separate us from the rest of the fitness centers in the area. i call that progress. i forgot to bring the camera, but i’m prolly gonna head over there tonight, so i’ll snap a couple shots and put em up later times.

AM REPORT: box squat towel bench (10-8-6) - box squat i dropped from a 2 box to a 1 box (as i stated last week) - wow, what a difference an inch or two makes… still broke some records, but i was definitely feeling it. towel bench was pretty alright as well. broke some records there too!

i’ve a handful of online comics that i read in the morning (tons better than the crap in the paper these days). and one of my latest favorites is xkcd. this is a higher-level thinking type of comic - and if you’re keen on the math and computers you’ll prolly laugh a bunches if you read through the archives. the author of this site is pretty much a smart cat and i giggle most everytime i read this comic and this morning was no exception. my ‘train of thought’ is very similar:

this weekend, i did a lot of relaxing and work. i’ve been slacking on the latest bit of wedding photography as of late. but i got a good bunch of work done on the plethora of photos i took. and i was also working on some more of this site (check out the about T section). i’m planning on getting the rest of the site back up (updated of course) in pieces - as well as getting the

AM REPORT: towel bench and box squat 5-3-1. this week is our ‘max out’ week in the BFS program, a set of 5, a set of 3 and a one-rep max (or more). always a fun week! this morning was pretty good for me, i was well rested after the weekend. towel: 355×5, 390×3, 405lbsx1 - that one was pretty tough (i actually tried 415, but that wasn’t happening this morning). box squat: i’ve been using a ‘2′ box for a while and today it was quite apparent that i should be using a 1 box (different height). so i’ll be switching up next monday. i had a lot of weight on the bar today - to the point where the bar was bending pretty extensively just sitting in the squat rack. this morning: 605×5, 675×3, 725lbsx1. records were broked today!

i was pretty darn close to losing it, cuz i thought i’d lost all of my posts previous to the ones i’ve been writing about since the upgrade - well, for a while there, i did lose everything - not sure why or where they all went, but i still had a version of them on my local machine, so i was able to export and upload them here - now all the gloriousness of the past is once again searchable and viewable on this here site - i hope this doesn’t happen again, cuz that was just annoying.

last night i was volunteered to help out at the Ladyslippers banquet. the Ladyslippers is an all-ladies chapter of Pheasants Forever which was started by the ladies at the national office (where i works). as always, it was pretty fun - however, my table wasn’t able to make it (side note: for the last two years, i’ve been the ‘cabana boy’ for a table of ladies who are just a hoot. we have plenty of good times, i get them drinks, watch their silent auction items, help them read their raffle tickets at the end of the night… it’s fun), so i had a different group at ‘my table’. let’s just say, i’m going to be calling the girls from previous years and get them back for next year.

Katie and i are getting ready to head out to Let’s Dish. if you haven’t heard about this, you should really check it out if there’s one in your area. it’s pretty slick. basically for about $5 a plate, YOU prepare some pretty darn good dishes, stick em in the freezer and when you’re looking for something to eat for din-din down the road, take it out and read the cooking directions. some pretty stellar stuff has been eaten by katie and i through this program… uh oh, i’m starting to get the evil eye cuz i’m not getting ready… better roll!

well, i certainly did whine quite a bit yesterday, so i’m going to be a little more positive today. while i’m still somewhat sleepy (and as soon as katie comes home and the load of laundry is finished, it’s bed time). i was able to get some things accomplished today and that’s a good thing.

i promised a photo of the fitness center today, so here we go:

I’m not even sure if i’ve really let everyone in on the lowdown with the fitness center. here’s my attempt at such long overdue explainings:

last winter, katie was working at horizon chiropractic. a client and owner of a 24hour women’s only fitness center came in to tell dramy (the chiro) that she was moving to washington DC and had to sell her business. (i call her dramy cuz her name is amy and she’s a doctor… dr. amy… dramy, get it?) dramy and angie (the fitness center owner) had begun their businesses around the same time, so they got to know each other fairly well; both being in health related industries in river falls, they did a bunch of ‘new business’ stuff together. dramy jokingly said katie should buy the business… little did she know, katie was having a similar thought. that night, she and i talked about it during dinner. i kinda laughed it off at first. but i got to thinking about it and the next day i called katie and told her to get more information about it. well, she did and we weighed the pros and cons and had many a discussion about it. we asked a friend who worked at a bank if he wanted to partner with us and at the time, my dad had just quit his job. well, the friend decided it wasn’t in everyone’s best interest (as he was living quite a ways away). so we asked my dad if he would be interested. in an email he wrote; “if you don’t buy it, i’ll buy it myself” - we knew he was in. so we did it. we formed an LLC - T’s Health & Wellness Center was born. (i didn’t come up with the name - that was katie’s suggestion. my suggestion didn’t get too far: “Fitness U-Foria” or FUF for short! eh, eh? nah).

We purchased the fitness center on December 1 - slowly but surely, it’s become more and more “ours” as we painted and have made changes to the place. we’ve got a decent client base and we’re progressing (we’re getting some new equipment next week! and we’re all pretty excited about that). so now you all know about the fitness center in a nutshell. i’m sure i’ll be talking more and more about it as time goes on.

AM REPORT: usually thursday is a running/agility day, but the track boys have a meet tomorrow, so we lifted frid lifts today: bench and squat 3×5 - after yesterday’s poor performance, i honestly wasn’t expecting much this morning. i was still somewhat tired - just worn down. but i did have a decent day, broke some records even. bench - 325, 340, 350lbs squat - 415, 435, 455lbs.

last night i ventured out to check out the scots - a semi-pro team out of st. cloud. they were terrible last year and they play in the GPFL (i’d post the league site, but i’m not sure what it is). i’ve been highly recruited to play for them, they’ve gotta new coach (same coach of the alexandria mustangs back in the day) and quite a few players - even a handful of decent players. now, i know some peeps be reading this expecting me to say what i’m gonna do - well, tough luck. i’m still thinking. i know they want me to play pretty bad. its tired out and i’m thinking it’s bed time right now, yesterday i was gone from 5am to 10pm, worked out in the morning, worked all day and then went to the scots practice. this morning, well, read the AM report below. i felt good last night at practice, got to run around and make a couple guys look like fools (that’s always fun). i spose you’ll just have to check back to see what i decide to do (and then, what we (as in the wife and i) decide to do as it’s not just my decision anymore).

good news is we’re getting our new equipment at the fitness center soon! maybe tomorrow i’ll put some photos of what the place looks like - but like i said, today is tired out… it’s sleepy time.

AM REPORT: power clean and trap bar (deadlift) 3×5 - today i was sorer than i thought i was going to be and it might’ve just been cuz i was tired from the long day yesterday. the powerclean was fugly: 280, 295, 295 (4) the trap was a little better, at least i broke some records in the trap: 485, 495, 510lbs - still i’ve definitely had better days.

ain’t it amazing what a good weekend will do for a guy? had a bunch of goodies goin on this weekend. saturday, we bought a storm/screen door for out front door. we’ve been wanting to get one for a while, and it was beautiful enough to get-er-done. so we bought the thing and i started workin on gettin er installed. i got only so far before we had to run to meet katie’s brother and her parents for dinner. mike (her brother) came up from florida for an extended weekend (is interviewing up this-a-way for a job today). so we had a champ’s dinner and then katie and i went to $cotty and Red’s engagement party. good times i tell ya. we watched the twins beat up on the d-rays and told stories, most of which were exaggerated
sunday, katie and i did a long overdue sleep in - then went to visit her grandpa (parents and brother) in eau claire. post visit, katie had some piano lessons to teach. i finished putting up the storm door whilst she finished some of the paperwork for the new job (which started today - yay). a nice relaxing weekend. good times.

AM REPORT: towel bench and box squat - felt pretty good after the nice weekend, a couple records to boot. 3×5 this week: towel bench went something like 335, 355, 365lbs and box squat 565, 585, 620lbs. at least i think that’s what i did, i don’t have my card with me, regardless, a decent morning workout.