Install BluRay drive and gyro mouse

I got these from the last woot off. It's about time to put them in. I need to get some blu-ray discs to test it out as well. When I get the chance. No hurry.

Queue up Very Important People Photo Project

I have a bunch of photos that I think is good. I'm running out of pictures of myself to queue up anyway. It's a good time to work on this new batch.

Photo tags revisited

I realize I don't have enough tags on each of my photo on the main blog as I was putting up 150+ photos on there the other day. I need to go back over all the photos I have already posted then go to the ones on the queue to correct it.

** updated 7/18/09 **
Tags for macchiato daily is done. I need to go back to macchiato to go to go over the tags. Eventually.

Photo project - Random

Various observations from my phone. Taken and sent directly from my phone. Things that are interesting, but not artsy enough to make the main blog.

http://macchiatodaily.tumblr.com/tagged/Random

Photo project - Self Portrait

Various photos that are taken of me in the past posted from the daily queue. Everything not taken and posted directly from my phone.

http://macchiatodaily.tumblr.com/tagged/Self Portrait

Make list of places I want to go

Places to go, things to do. Cities and attractions. Places for travel! Yay!

Build compost heap

We have a lot of organic trash. Food scraps and clippings. I could not think of a better thing to do then to make a compost heap. I've been reading up on it. I know I can get my hands on a lot of green material, but brown would be a bit of a problem. We managed to dry out some weeds and such last week. I think that can serve as our brown. I need to find some way to dry out grass clippings without them blowing away. That can serve as our brown. I also need to build a bit of a corral so it does not look like a pile of trash. At this point I am also thinking about burying what we have so far because of the lack of brown material. Decisions decisions.

Workout Log

4/17/2009 (F) - Plan 1.0
Monday: Yoga (AM), 5k+ (PM)
Tuesday: Spin (AM), free weights/push ups or 5k+ (PM)
Wednesday: Yoga (AM), 5k+ (PM)
Thursday: Spin (AM), free weights/push ups or 5k+ (PM)
Friday: 5k+ (AM)
Saturday: 10k+ (AM) + push ups
Sunday: Rest!

Pushups adopted from http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

4/20/2009 (M) - 5.05 km
4/21/2009 (T) - 5.23 km + push ups week 1 day 1 (2-3-2-2-3+2)

4/25/2009 (Sa) - 10.06 km

5/4/2009 (M) - 4.23 mi
5/5/2009 (T) - 2.01 mi
5/6/2009 (W) - 3.29 mi

5/8/2009 (F) - 6.29 mi
5/11/2009 (M) - 2.26 mi
5/12/2009 (T) - 3.11 mi
5/13/2009 (W) - 3.11 mi

** 9/13/09 - on hiatus - will track cardio minutes on weight tracker **

lazy week

This week has been admittedly been the laziest week I have had in a while. I slept in, refused to go to the gym, and did not work out in the evening. My quads were very sore for a few days after my 5k outdoor run last Sunday morning. I took that as an excuse to recover. I'm at the point where I want to regroup what I am doing and refocus my efforts.

I lost a little tiny bit of weight this week. It's so small it should not count. But the good thing is I did not gain any weight. I have been eating well the past week. Despite the lack of physical activity I did not balloon. That is good. I cut out carbohydrates at dinner. Not strictly, but I don't reach for the rice and pasta.

I have a whole workout plan already written up. The main thing is I need to build my workout over time and not over-work my body. Not a good idea to injure myself over time. I finally found out the problem with my knees. It turns out my quads are not strong enough to hold it together. I rested a whole week to let my quads completely recover. My goal is to work until it is sore but not hurting. I should be able to do longer and harder workouts soon following my own advise. It is so hard to scale back on the amount of work I put on myself when I follow the no-pain no-gain mantra. In reality, my body is not strong enough to take the beating I have been putting on myself. I need patience.

Long distance running

I've decided to train for another half-marathon and other things to come. Marathoning for Mortals is easily one of the best books I have read in regards to training. I walk/run a half marathon almost two years ago and it was an interesting experience. I just hope on and did it on race day with little training. It was hard. I was not prepared. My body way not happy about it. But on the mental level, I was quite happy I finished it.

I find that when I have some sort of goal, I am more motivated to do the things required to achieve it. I think because I wanted to lose weight, having a goal to run long distance is a good way to achieve it. But according to all the things I have read, it takes a lot of discipline. If I'm not careful with my intake, I might end up heavier.

In the past month or so, I changed my eating habits. I have been eating a lot more vegetables and cut out a large part of my carbohydrate intake. I eat a good size breakfast and eat mostly greens and little starch at dinner. Lunch is usually anchored with a salad. Those are good fuel for working out.

I have set a goal of running a half-marathon on October 4th. I might have to modify it to a run/walk, or conversely set a time goal. I have a rough training/cross-training schedule. I will do each thing as I feel able. As an example, my quadriceps have not been happy with me since my 5k on Sunday morning. I skipped a couple of workouts that will aggravate it. It might be a lazy excuse, but I really feel I need the rest. Resting is mandatory, overworking is counter-productive.

Monday: Yoga (AM), 5k+ (PM)
Tuesday: Spin (AM), free weights or 5k+ (PM)
Wednesday: Yoga (AM), 5k+ (PM)
Thursday: Spin (AM), free weights or 5k+ (PM)
Friday: 5k+ (AM)
Saturday: 10k+ (AM)
Sunday: Rest!

This workout schedule is designed to build up my endurance. It is horrible right now. I can barely last 4 miles. Considering I want to run 13.1 miles, I need to not burn myself out at such a slow pace. Stronger muscles, less weight, and lower heart rate is what I am shooting for. Eventually I will add some distance to my workouts and demand a faster time. At that point I will be able to adopt training strategies from the book for the desired distance.

Scan old photos

We have a ton of old photos. I want to scan and archive them. I have an old flat-bed scanner in good working order. I had been thinking about upgrading to a higher resolution one, but it is not essential. I just need to pick up and do it.

Finish Watchmen

I usually don't put any time constraint on a book. But I do need to finish this one and return it ASAP.

Layouts revisited

I need to work on macchiato ink and macchiato crafts. They need to have nicer layouts and have full features for each:

1) pick theme (completed)
2) profile picture (completed)
3) write blurb
4) add notes
5) add comments
6) add tags

http://macchiatoink.tumblr.com/
http://macchiatocrafts.tumblr.com/

Canvas photo collage

I want to make some art piece with my photos that can be hung on the wall. A photo collage on canvas sounds like a great idea. I might paint the canvas first, depending on how I feel. A ton of photos, and maybe some ribbons and such to decorate.

**update 4/5/2009**
Canvas painted. It looks more like it's own work of art then anything else. Trying to figure out if I really want to put pictures on top of it or make it into a ribbon board to slip pictures in it. I already have wire frame a picture holder in a bout the same size.

**update 4/8/2009**
Still have another canvas. Got more acrylic paint yesterday. Looking at a black and green sort of background. That should be more suited for putting photos on it. Another idea. Put pictures on it, and paint the borders onto the painting. Colored background, paste picture, paint to blend.

**update 4/24/2009**
Going to paint the second canvas darker. Green and black. Will need to start picking out pictures to print and paste on the two canvas. Might have to wait until after sorting scrap book material. Many of the items will fit on canvas to make into three dimensional piece.

**update 4/28/2009**
I am much happier with the second painting. I will leave this as a living project. Print and stick pictures on it as I go. Complete!

End of March State of Things

I didn't get many items completed. That is expected because it was only half a month and I had to set up some of the on going projects as well. I personally think that is pretty impressive. I need to figure out a few more things to do considering it is a new month already. I prefer to have at least 10 things on the list to tackle.

Some of the on-going items have been working out very well. It seems I am making progress with my weight. I lost about a pound so far without very intensive or consistent exercising. I am certainly working on that. This week I started going to the gym at 6 in the morning for yoga and spin. It helps with my over all energy level. I'm happy about that. I only ran once this week. I need to make it so I can run a few more times every week. I am training for a half-marathon after all. I am currently reading a book about training for regular people, it has been helpful.

My photo blog is now in the category of awesomeness. I just hope it will get a larger following in the near future. I am lagging behind on a few photo projects on macchiato daily. I just really need to remember to work on them.

I'm fairly happy with what I have been able to accomplish so far.

List all of current books on Reading Social

I recently cleaned up my bookshelf and left the ones that I will most likely read. The next logical step is to list them on Reading Social and Library Thing.

**update 4/5/2009**
Listed everything I want to list from my bookshelf on Reading Social so people can look and compare with my library. Decided not to put more on Library Thing for the time being. I want to reserve that as for the books I have already read and can rate and review. I'll list on there as I finish each book.

Upload all current photos, organize, and queue up on tumblr

I am so behind. I took a bunch of photos yesterday that are post-worthy as well. Need to find some time this weekend to work on it.

Focused catch-up to on-going project.

**updated 4/25/2009**
Holy hell that took me a while. I have to remember there is a daily limit to how many photos I can upload on the site. I'm guessing it is about 70. Even with that it took me three days to queue up all the ones I wanted to for the time being.