Car and cars and exercise and cars

I need to overhaul my blog page.  I really don't want to start a second blog, considering that I can barely keep up with just one.  But, I really want to keep track of my new project.  More on that in a minute.

Exercise.  I've now completed the first 4 weeks of the insanity program.  This week is 'recovery' week, which just means that you should be on the verge of exhaustion instead of 48 miles past it.  It's still a tough workout, but it's more of an isolated program to relax your muscles and still have your heart rate up.  Kinda like yoga, except not so mind-numbingly boring.  (No offense if you're into yoga, I just can't grasp it).

I haven't noticed much weight loss, still hovering around 185.  But that's okay.  I definitely feel better and notice that my endurance is stronger.  I'm still getting up at 4:30am to do the workouts which sometimes is tough, but I get through it.  By the end of the week though, I'm ready for bed early.  Next week starts the 'max' days.  I think we stopped right around this point last time...we might have done a couple of days.  But I honestly have no idea what's in store with those.  My wife is starting those ones today, so I'll see what she thinks.

Cars. I love cars.  I love tinkering with them, learning about them, figuring out ways to make mine better. My first car was a 1981 Toyota Celica.  I loved that car too.  Of course, in my infinite youthful wisdom I decided to sell it because I thought I could have more fun in a car that had more aftermarket support.  I missed that car, and all the potential that it had.  So about a year ago, I started toying with the idea of selling my s2000 and finding another Celica like I had owned long ago.  It wasn't until I really started researching that I fell in love with the first generation Celica (1971-1977).  The style of car is beautiful.

So I began looking into those ones as well.  My original plan was to import one from Japan.  Japan has some sort of rule about cars over there where after a certain amount of miles, they aren't allowed to drive them without major overhauls.  Something like that; I don't know all the details.  Anyway, you can find them for relatively cheap and with super low miles.  Plus, right hand drive.  And with the U.S. laws about 25+ year old cars, importing them is relatively easy.  The problem is paying some dude to put the car on his boat and bring it over.  The price quickly quadrupled from the price of the car, including all the documentation needed to legally register it over here.  Although looking at how easy it was to register this car, I think I could do it myself.  Maybe next time.

So I scrapped that idea because I just couldn't pay that much for it.  So I sold my s2000 in June and really started looking for a 1st gen Celica, while also not giving up totally on the Japan idea, in case I could find a cheaper way of getting one.  Searching for a 40 year old car and finding one, as you can imagine, is not easy.  Well, finding one is somewhat easy.  Finding one that isn't demolished with rust or missing half the car is not.  I expanded my search to the 48 states and Canada.  There were a few that didn't require all new everything, but most were pushing 10k because the owners knew the value.

I finally found one locally and snatched it up.  It's almost rust free.  There are some surface areas that will need to be replaced, but all the usual spots are clear; fender wells, trunk space, engine space.  At least from what I can tell.  I haven't had the chance to start teardown on the car yet, so hopefully that rust free feeling will continue.

Don't have a lot of details yet on what's next, we're still in the planning stages.  But having the actual car was a big step in the plans.  Now we can move forward with the fun stuff.  No matter what, I'm super excited to work on this for the next however long it takes.  Plus, I'm super lucky and grateful to have an understanding wife that lets me indulge in my hobbies.

Now I need to change up my blog a bit to organize car stuff and other stuff.  That's all for now.

Work OUT!

I am starting my 3rd week of working out.  I've already lost 26 pounds and it's AWESOME.

Okay, that's not exactly true, but maybe at the end of this I'll be able to say that.  I haven't really seen much of a drop in weight.  At any time on any day, my weight will fluctuate by5 pounds or so.  If I weigh myself in the morning the scale tells me I've lost about 5 pounds since starting Insanity.  If I weigh myself at night, the scale bends in half and begs me to get off of it.  This glass of wine probably isn't helping, but whatever it's good.

I've been doing good with my diet.  Costco has these mini heads of romaine lettuce, perfect for lettuce wrap sandwiches.  Today I had 6 for lunch.  Probably not the moderation that I'm supposed to do, but they are so small!  They were good though.  A slice of ham, roast beef and chicken, with some tomato and bacon, and some mayo/dijon spread.  Other than eating healthier, the main reason is that it's just too damn expensive to work in South Lake Union.  There are a lot of good places to eat, but only two that are close enough to go to when you're in a hurry.  I'm getting tired of Jimmy Johns, which is kind of ironic since I am making lettuce wraps to replace the Jimmy John's un-wich that I usually get.  (The un-wich is their lettuce wraps).

I have been doing my workouts in the morning.  I wake up at 4:30 to do the exercises, which are about 40 minutes.  That gives me enough time to get ready and make lunch.  But just this week I started driving in to work instead of taking the bus.  It has actually cut my commute time by nearly an hour on a good day.  The bus route goes down 2nd ave from basically Seattle Center to the Stadiums.  On any day sports games, run-a-way trucks causing cars to explode or some crazy meth lady yelling at parked cars can cause traffic to come to a stop.  On those good days, I leave work at 4 and get home around 5:45.  Today I left at 4 and got home at 4:45.

Anyway, getting sidetracked.  Because I can get home earlier, I am going to switch up my workouts to the evening when I get home.  I'll be able to sleep in a little more and actually make breakfast before I leave instead of eating at one of the places that thinks they need to charge $9.00 for half an omelet because of where they are located.

The exercises are great though.  If you're looking for an workout routine, I would recommend Insanity. Don't get me wrong, it is hard.  And it takes a lot of self motivation to do it, or if you have someone else to do it with you that helps too.  But once you get past the first couple weeks, it's great.  The intensity is so high with this program you always come out of it feeling like you really got an excellent workout.

I know that I feel better just in general.  At least on the days where I needed to run to the bus, I don't feel like I'm going to die the whole way home.  (See previous blog entries).  It's still too early to see any real results in the mirror or on the scale, but my general fitness level feels higher.  We have 51 days left until Hawaii.  And while the workouts aren't going to change my Irish...uhhh...slightly white complexion, at least I can feel a little better about myself while I'm turning my skin into a nice shade of lobster.

If anyone has questions about the program, let me know.  I think it's great, and will probably continue doing it and probably try to incorporate p90x in the next round to get some weightlifting going on as well.