Revised my workout routine again, thought I'd share it. 

Day 1 - Arm/core - 3x 
Incline Crunch 13x, 1st oblique, 2nd double tap, 3rd asap
Triceps dip w/ hip extension 10x
Cable machine 10x l/r, 1st oblique @50, 2nd pulldown @50, 3rd one arm row @100
Advanced Bird dog 15x l/r
Lat pull down to fail @11
Pec machine to fail @47

Day 2 - elliptical 30min @ 12

Day 3 - Leg/core - 3x
Box jumps x15
Alternate Leg press 10x l/r @ 100 (90 degrees only)
One leg deadlifts 10x l/r @40
Farmer lift box step up 10x @ 50x2
Leg curl machine to fail 9
Dumbbell swing 10x @50 (we don't have kettlebells)

Day 4 - Treadmill walk/jog 30min @ lv 12/4.3mph+

Day 5 - Arm/leg - 3x
Leg extension machine 10x @10
Bent over row w/ dumbbell 10x l/r @60
Side plank leg lift 20x l/r
500m row max effort
Three point reverse fly 10x l/r @30
Push press dumbbell 10x @ 30x2

Day 6 - elliptical again

Then it repeats, alternating strength w elliptical/treadmill days. If you google any of the exercise names, you'll probably see how the're done, though some results are different because no one agrees on names apparently?

These are designed to take about 30 minutes. I revise this every couple weeks as exercises become passe or weights need to be bumped up, but I've been pretty careful to keep each day's exercises fairly focused and not overlapping with other exercises on that day, and to allow aerobic and lactic acid recovery as needed, and to give respite for healing from session to session.

Oh I should also count the walking down 9 flight of stairs and back up again to our flat as part of the workout, my watch certainly does.

I was dancing with one of my favorite Argentine tango followers last night in close embrace. She is a very good dancer. Despite that, she somehow kneed me in the balls. Not nearly enough to hurt, but enough for us both to be aware it happened.

So she knew, and I knew she knew.

We danced on with that little elephant in the room for another couple of measures, whereupon I whispered in her ear, "Is that all you've got?"

We both stopped dancing and bent over laughing uncontrollably.

"So you like it rough?"

"Sure, but not too rough, let's not get carried away!"

​​​​​​​

My son and I went to see "No Exit" at the community college theatre. It's a three-person study of the thesis that "Hell is other people."

What would you do in such a room for all eternity?

So I did another thing. More info in a blog post at my site.

My FXTec Pro1 finally arrived!  Except it won't work on Verizon, AT&T, or T-Mobile.  Hope i get my $700 back.

I dreamed last night that i saw Faith No More in concert (whom i've not yet seen) for the second time (at a venue i didn't recognize).  This morning, i got a Songkick alert for an upcoming FNM concert.

I can't process this.

I woke up to catpee in my bathtub today. With the addition of Roger's cats, I'd been lazy about ordering the Feliway. I'm no longer feeling lazy about ordering the Feliway. Funny how that works!

So I looked at Amazon and there seems to be a whole variety of Feliway diffuser oils now. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=feliway+refill I plan to do some research, but if anyone has recommendations (*cough* Lindsay? *cough*) I'd appreciate it! I'm rusty. This former Cat-Foster-Lady-Extraordinaire is having to dust off her old tips and tricks, and some of them are way in the back of the closet* under piles of stuff.

I'm also looking at getting help with housekeeping. Two adults and three cats is showing its effects already. I'd already been losing the ability to keep up with my house when it was me and Alistair, now I can longer deny that it's gotten away from me, and is not coming back. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes... turn and face the strange.

I'm tired already and it's not even lunchtime.

*My brain. I'm referring to my brain.

music: David Bowie - "Changes"

mood: mood

The folks at gmbinder.com are kinda brilliant. They've built a website that makes it easy for any old schmo like me build a PDF with all the formatting of a Wizards of the Coast Official 5e Dungeons & Dragons manual.

You enter simple markdown into one window, the website interperets the markdown, and uses CSS to spit the content back out in a second window with all the formatting done for you. No need to learn about different fonts or spacing or... whatever.

I've seen a couple different incarnations of this kind of thing, but GMBinder seems to be the best of them - at least that I've been able to find. And it's 100% free - at least currently.

So when I first came across one of their competitors, the idea occured to me: "This would be a great way to promote dragonbones.net and my illustration services. I'll make a short "D&D Book" that is filled with my art and talks about how to hire me to create the art for your D&D book!" It's kinda meta, and I think folks would like that. I've never heard of it being done before, and the name of the game when selling anything is 'stand out from the crowd'. So if I do this right, I can stand out from the crowd while demonstrating just how perfectly I fit in with the crowd.

Oh shut it, Westley - it makes sense to me, and that's what matters.

Anyway - if any of you would like to have a look, you can find it here.

The cover is just a rough sketch, but all the art in it is my work, and I'm already working on a revision which will expand the book, provide more samples, etc. But with that said, I would love any and all criticisms / feedback / reviews / etc. Please - beat it up. :)

So this happened. :) (My apologies to those who have seen this on my social media already.)

My 13 year old cat, Spot, has been living with a bone marrow cancer diagnosis for 9 months now. Her buddy, Scout, passed in November. Since then I've been her only source of love and affection. 

I should have known something was up when she stopped coming by for love and affection at bedtime. She stopped eating, and with a long holiday weekend coming up I knew it was probably time, before she had to suffer through three days to see the vet. So, I went looking for where she had denned up.

When I found her the look she gave me removed all doubt that it was time. Fortunately, my vet had me bring Spot to her house. My vet gave Spot a quick exam and agreed that it was time.

And just like her buddy, Scout, Spot left as soon as the euthenasia drugs hit her system.

Losing two pets in two months is hard. I like fixing things. But with Spot, and Scout before her, there was no fixing this. And the only choice I had left was to give them mercy.