I don't need no steenkin' resolution

What can I say, back to work barely over a week and already looking for some time off. Gramps is missing his afternoon naps. Amazing how much your muscles and stamina go to hell sitting around doing nothing. Not to mention the weight gains. After busting my hump for the first 9 months of ‘08 the last 3 put me right back to ground zero, if not worse. Man, the doc going to give me another tongue lashing next Mon. Only good thing is I haven’t put on any more since the last visit. What’s really frustrating about this is that for the last 3 years I have been in a grind. I start out at the gym in Feb sometime (Jan is too crowded with all those resolution people) Takes me about a month or so of stop and go to finally get myself into a regular regimen. By May I’m feeling good, dropped some pounds, built some tone and starting to get frustrated because I’ve plateaued somewhat, at least as far as weight loss and waist size are concerned but I keep slugging, especially this year because I was able to strike a balance between gym visits and poker games. Before it was an either/or situation. July usually finds me going on vacation and, over the last couple of years, as if the break in routine wasn’t bad enough, not to mention all the Boardwalk food, I usually found a way to injure myself so that I was out of the gym for 3 to 4 weeks after vacation was over. The routine was broken and while I would try to start it up again I could never really get it going until maybe Nov or so and then came the start of the holiday season and who feels like the gym during that time. Add in all the overeating and along comes Feb again. Wasn’t quite as bad as the previous year but most of the work was shot to hell.

Then came this year. Came back from vacation without a scratch on me. While I didn’t jump right back into the full routine right away I didn’t completely layoff either so that within a couple of weeks I was getting more and more into my regimen. Thought that, Hey, this year I break the cycle. Gonna be able to keep it up, keep working through the holidays and hopefully break that damned waist size plateau. Was actually starting to also, the current slacks were starting to get some slack in them and I could actually shoehorn myself into the next smaller size, All I needed was a few more weeks and I would have to buy new Christmas clothes. Fat chance. Beginning of Oct a little thing known as a stroke came along. Now, not only did I lose gym time, I couldn’t do frigging anything. Feel like a frikkin slug right now and although I haven’t regained all the weight what I have is pure fat, muscle tone and strength are totally gone to hell in a hand basket. Add in the fact that the arm is still screwed up and who knows when I can start a routine again. I plan to though. Biggest stumbling block right now is the same one affecting my poker outings, I still can’t drive. I’ve been well enough to hit the gym for about a month now and actually have gone a few times but being back at work screws the situation up even more. Gym time now has to be in the evenings if I go and that is right about the times my drivers are settling in and getting comfortable. Yes, if I ask they will drive me but I already am putting them out because they are making two trips a day taking me to and from work (There’s that damned work screwing things up again) and I hate imposing any more than necessary. So I now have a lot more incentive for getting this arm back in action. I need to drive, not only for my mental health but for my physical well being as well. Just ordered two thing I was using in therapy to try to help speed up the process. One, a hand strengthener that works on pulling the fingers against resistance as opposed to a squeeze ball or grip where you push, and of which I also have, Figure this is actually better though since part of the recovery process is not just strengthening the grip but also extending the fingers, something this should help with. First thing I thought of when I knew I needed to do this was the old Kung Fu grip strengthener. Those of you who can remember reading comics when they were 12 cents might remember that item. Was advertised on the back cover with the X-ray specs and Charles Atlas 99 pound weakling ad, promising the “killer, crushing, kung fu grip” for those of you too young, didn’t read comics or whose memory is just failing them the damned thing looked like a circle of steel with springs leading down to 5 smaller rings for your fingers so that you put your fingers in and squeezed to build up grip strength. The springs offered resistance and would also pull your fingers back to their starting position when you relaxed. Being advertised on the back pages of comics made me wonder exactly how good it was but the principle made it the very thing I need. Alack and alas, a Google search couldn’t even turn up a reminisce about them let alone any info so it look like I’m stuck using something that looks like a rubber sieve called the Web. Probably works well but just doesn’t have the glamour of the Kung Fu Grip Strengthener.

The other thing I acquired was a kid’s toy. Not merely a kid’s toy but a toddler’s toy. It’s a bunch of large plastic pegs that fit into each other and a rubber pegboard. Kind of makes you feel like an idiot trying to stack them but when you have restricted use of your arm and hand it’s a real bitch trying to manipulate the damned things. Whole idea is to retrain the hand and recover manual dexterity. Luckily I found the thing on Amazon for about $11 total with shipping since most stores wanted $18 to $30 for the thing, not counting the shipping. Paying those prices for it would really make me feel like an idiot. When I get done with it I guess I’ll have to go find a willing participant and have another kid so it doesn’t go to waste as my daughter is a bit beyond such things. Hah!

Speaking of my daughter, thanks to the MLK holiday I get to see her this weekend. Cutting out of work early and heading to pick her up. Still haven’t figured who my driver will be for this trip but looks like it’s going to cost me dinner somewhere. Last one was at Red Lobster. Damn, I gotta get back driving. My nephew has absconded with her Wii after she left after Christmas and told him it better be hooked up where she left it before she gets down here. If it ain’t she’ll rip him a new one, literally. Never saw such a rivalry as the one that goes on between those two. No problem if I or her Uncle John had made off with it, but her cousin? That means war.

Ok, got some things to do so time I posted this paragon piece of boredom so I can put my followers to sleep. I have a great following among insomniacs. Thanks for lending me your ears. I’ll try to return them next week.

Another lousy Stars game

Sitting here waiting for the second game of the Stars blogger freerolls to start so figured I’d keep myself busy typing. May play a few other games tonight depending on how I feel. Already put a couple of seconds on the board in AP freerolls this afternoon.

One of the things I forgot to put in yesterday’s post was the fact I finally made it up to the gym yesterday, first time since the stroke, if anyone cares about the rehab. Was planning to basically work the legs but after a few miles on the bike and some weight work on the legs I decided to see what the arm could do, if anything. Started of with a seated chest press at minimum weight. That gave me some problems, not with the weight itself but pushing with my hand brought a sharp pain in the wrist. Not an auspicious beginning. Moved to the curls. They were a bit better. Couldn’t turn the wrist enough to get the usual grip on the crosspiece but was able to grab the runner up to that and so worked it that way. While only the 20# minimum on that also it was tough and had to use my good arm as the steadying force, the way a spotter works for a man doing a bench press. Arm work really seemed to be a long way. Moved to lat pull down after and things picked up a bit. It’s a split machine so that I could set it to just work my left arm. Started without any weight figuring the machine itself might provide enough resistance and almost wound up on my ass when it didn’t. Added 5# and that was better but still to light. Moved to 10# and that was better but might try 15 when I hit it tomorrow. Then moved to the dumbbells and found I could grip and hold a 2.5# one without much trouble so did some shoulder shrugs and then some curls with the bad arm. They felt good. Called it quits after that. Had therapy today and didn’t want to pus too hard. Hand was a bit swollen this am, probably from my cavalier treatment of the wrist. Therapist decided to see if we can start stretching that out when I told her. Also started me on the hand bike to start building strength when I told her I could grip pretty well now.

Stars tourney has started and find myself seated at Mojo’s table. Speak about inauspicious beginnings. Find myself halved early by a couple of slow plays. First I hit a K with a decent kicker and get nailed by an A-K who didn’t raise pre and was content to just call me down when I bet. Never suspected that A. Next hand had PP8s and called pre flop raise. Two lo and J hit and raiser checked and the raised my bet. Figuring he raised on PPJs or maybe even slow played an A-J. Either way couldn’t call with the 8s. Folded for awhile and thought I struck gold when I got A-A and 2 raisers in front of me. All in and both called and was against A-J and K-K. King thru the gate and I’m gone about a quarter of the way through. Just as I leave CK comes to the table so stick around to watch her and Double M for awhile. Oh well CK down. PP 9s against A-K and he flops the joint with T-J-Q.

Well time to go hunt up a few games to bore you with later. Thanks for the visit.