Well, that was dumb.

Moved by I know not what nostalgia, several weeks ago I went and re-activated my Columbia email account, as they nowadays permit alumi/ae to do. (This was especially pointless, because they only permit you to use your original, automatic, initials-plus-number username; whereas, as soon as the forces of nepotism got me a job as a lab dork and the concomitant self-chosen username, I used that exclusively for the following three years.)

The only effect of this action is that I've had to deal with a bunch of mailer-daemon bounces for spam runs that had my old old username, which I will reiterate has not seriously seen the light of day since 1992, forged as the From address.

We will now pause for sweh to say I Told You So.

In Just Seven Days (And Six Hot Nights)...

Today, I adventured the gym's weight machines, after a 12-minute warm-up on the elliptical. (It is interesting to note that, at least according to the amazing electroscopitron, I move at a much higher speed walking on the elliptical than I do running on a treadmill. To the tune of 3mph, at that. Fallacy somewhere, I fancy.)

My arms are feeble. I knew this. But they are really, really feeble.

Some Press Thing I Forget, Next To The Pull-Down: 2 reps of 10, at 2#
Lat pull-down: 3 reps of 10, at 25# (lats {duh}, biceps, deltoids)
Shoulder ("incline") press: 2 reps of 10, at 2# (deltoids, trapezius, triceps)
Dip Assist: 1 rep of 10, with 100# of counter-weight (triceps, biceps, shoulders). Barely.

That latter device is an interesting one. It can be used for both chin-ups and for -- Well, imagine being a kid on line at the amusement park, and you're in the cattle chute corralling the line, yeah? And you're bored out of your skull so you put one hand on the rail on either side of you, and you lift your feet off the ground so you're held up between the railings just by your arms. Now, instead of fucking around, start doing push-ups. That's a "dip". So, what the assist machine does is, instead of having a dip or a chin-up be strictly Your Arm Strength Vs. Your Body Weight, it provides some counter-weight so you have, well, an assist. (It is backwards of what I expected, 'cos I didn't think it through: I set the weight to the second-lightest thingie, like I did for everything else, and had an amusing episode of Fail.)

What is driving my sudden pumping of iron is the fact that I am too goddamn feeble to do a single, solitary chin-up. (You could say weight is a factor, aheheheh. Except that I could not do this at my thinnest--size 6--in high school, either.) (Did I mention how, even at that thinnest, I was still convinced I was overweight? Not to the crazy anorexic point, but just sorrowfully resigned? Because I always had been, and because my boobs were still huge. But enough about my body image issues.) I don't want to be some scary body-builder, I don't even want to be ripped, but I want to have some basic level of tone and fitness in my arms and upper body.

I was fine at the time, although did less than I thought I was capable of because I know how this works, but now I am full of the ache and the ow.

Hello, Pennsic-goers

Does anyone remember the company/booth name that the three seriously hot Viking guys who sell the seriously awesome replica jewelry (and handmade felt, and other goodies) merchant under? Right across from the post office, next to the big shade tree Beth and I always sit under?

I feel like such a tool for spacing this.