Last night while watching the Phillies, Eliot said “There’s dinosaur daddy. There’s dinosaur!”

“That’s the Philly Phanatic, baby. He’s dancing.”

“Dinosaur dancing daddy. Dinosaur dancing.”

“Look daddy. Dinosaur ride ATV too.”

Saw his first MLB game tonight. Looks like a star. Runs like a sprinter.

And what about the Phillies? 7 straight? Starting to get excited. This is the team I expected at the beginning of the year.

I reached out to him and told him, ‘Look, I’m going through a problem and I need your advice.’ He used to tell me stuff like, ‘You’re going to start seeing certain things you’ve been overlooking.’ And it came true. I’d walk around like, ‘Damn, that tree does look crazy, look at all those leaves!’ Things I didn’t notice when I was f***ed up.”

Em, I relate.

I love hip hop. Confident vitality.

and her Lasso of Truth…

Rumors are that a new Wonder Woman movie is about to be announced for 2013. IMDB even has a page up.

This is my MomMom, Rose Joslin, making cannolis at my wedding. This woman was a true Italian lady. Feisty but full of love. And damn, she knew how to cook. But even more than that… she was the best hugger in the world. God bless her as she passes to the other side.

1) it works (it kicks your butt)
2) it is not the most efficient way to achieve my personal fitness goals

P90X is super time consuming. It’s also super effective. It’s also super tiring and drives you to consume lots of calories. To be in super fit shape, you really don’t need to be investing 1.5 hours per day. It’s excess. Especially Ab Ripper X. The only way that the time, energy and calorie investment is worthwhile is if you are trying to whip your body into shape in the shortest amount of time possible (you’re on a deadline) or if you are really trying to be a top performing athlete and don’t mind fatiguing your body to get there. If you just want to be a fit guy like me, you can do so much more efficiently and gracefully (giving your body plenty of rest along the way).

Here’s my new workout schedule for my post P90X life. I’ve tried to integrate P90X with some of the ideas that Mark Sission has presented on Primal workouts. I like the structure and convenience of P90X (especially when it’s cold or raining outside) so I’ve kept them. This is not necessary. In fact, people doing CrossFit have even more efficient workout programs… it’s just that I need the structure of something like P90X to really make this fitness thing work.

So, I still use many of the P90X sessions … I just spread them out more and integrate them with less time consuming workouts. Each week has about 3.5 hours of workout (rather than the 7-8 hours of the normal P90X). I’ve completely removed Ab Ripper X because it’s really best to get your ab workout from natural compound full body movements anyway.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful to someone out there. I like the way it works off a 3 week rotation to keep things interesting.

Monday – Sprints/Sledgehammer (10 minutes each, total 20 minutes)
Tuesday – Chest & Back (about 1 hour)
Wednesday – Play/Walk (who cares how much time it takes, it’s fun and painless)
Thursday – Plyometrics (about 1 hour)
Friday – Sledgehammer (about 10 minutes)
Saturday – Core Synergistics (about 1 hour)
Sunday – Play/Walk (who cares how much time it takes, it’s fun and painless)

Monday – Sprints/Sledgehammer (10 minutes each, total 20 minutes)
Tuesday – Shoulders & Arms (about 1 hour)
Wednesday – Play/Walk (who cares how much time it takes, it’s fun and painless)
Thursday – Legs & Back (about 1 hour)
Friday – Sledgehammer (about 10 minutes)
Saturday – Kempo X or Yoga X (about 1 hour)
Sunday Play/Walk (who cares how much time it takes, it’s fun and painless)

Monday – Sprints/Sledgehammer (10 minutes each, total 20 minutes)
Tuesday – Chest/Shoulders & Triceps (about 1 hour)
Wednesday – Plyometrics (about 1 hour)
Thursday – Play/Walk (who cares how much time it takes, it’s fun and painless)
Friday – Sledgehammer (about 10 minutes)
Saturday – Back & Biceps (about 1 hour)
Sunday – Play/Walk (who cares how much time it takes, it’s fun and painless)

This week I visited Sherburne, NY for the first time, I think, in over eight years. The last time I was in Sherburne was for my brother’s graduation from high school.

I spent my freshman, sophomore and junior years in Sherburne, NY and it holds a special place in my heart.

Though I’m out of touch with virtually everyone from my high school years, I still think fondly of the place (even the dog food smell, haha) and it’s been great to be back and soak up all the old memories.

Here are some pictures from Rogers Park, a great game conservation park right smack dab in the heart of Sherburne, NY.

It also occurred to me recently that modern Western humans have largely lost touch with the concept of there being a “blueprint” for living a good life. In today’s West, the goal is to define what’s best for oneself. This often turns out to be equivalent to “whatever the hell I feel like doing” – or at least to “whatever feels good without harming others.”

That sums up, to a large degree, how I’ve lived my life so far. But the ancient philosophers and writers of wisdom knew something that we’ve forgotten. That things, including humans, have natures to be discovered. Sure, there is certainly a degree of variability and self-definition that Nature allows for. But by and large, the vast number of facts are determined facts. The healthy soul seeks to know these facts, learn from these facts and act based on these facts. Wherever these facts are clearly problematic (disease, poverty and sickness), one can find joy from fighting against these facts. Wherever these facts are non-problematic, one can find joy by embracing and acknowledging these facts with one’s life.

I wrote a paper recently that investigated the various ways that biblical wisdom literature admonishes the reader to look at natural kinds, and to learn from them. The main point, in my view? That acting according to one’s nature is fundamental to peace, Joy and happiness. As one obvious example, it is part of the nature of human beings to share stories. That’s one of the reasons movies make so many people happy. Movies (and novels before them) help us realize aspects of our human nature.

It’s my view that it is also part of the nature of human beings to praise God; to have an attitude of thankfulness and admiration. I know that I’ve gone between extremes. I’ve been very angry at God…even very recently. I’ve also been inclined to disbelieve in God from time to time. But if I’m truthful with myself, I have to acknowledge that the most fulfilling, rewarding and “whole” times of my life have been when I’ve maintained a persistent attitude of thankfulness.

What constitutes thankfulness? Being Fully Human. That’s it. Seems simple, but if, by Being Fully Human, I include the property of “being thankful to God” – it turns out that many of us fail to be fully human on a daily basis.

Let me end this post by drawing your attention to this canticle (a song). The idea here is that we praise God by being the things we were created to be. That’s quite comforting to me. It makes me realize that one of the goals of my life is to discover, to the best of my abilities, the Nature of Human and to live according to that nature:

Praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD from the heavens,
praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for he commanded and they were created.

He set them in place for ever and ever;
he gave a decree that will never pass away.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,

you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,

kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,

young men and maidens,
old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

He has raised up for his people a horn, [b]
the praise of all his saints,
of Israel, the people close to his heart.
Praise the LORD.

Today, my wife and I get to meet our friends’ new baby boy. A very special baby boy, in fact.

Tomorrow, I might get to test drive a Mustang, look at house plans at 84 Lumber, and buy a bike for my wife so we can start bike riding along the Delaware Canal path.

Best of all, Miss Lillers is pretty much back to normal after two hard days of work at Four Paws