Well, not much has happened today that would be interesting to the casual reader, so this may be a bit of a short post...or I will write a really long post about nothing to do with the fact that I am in Iraq. I never really know where I am heading before I start typing!
Let's see, the day started with my laptop security cable finally arriving from Basra...I realized the day that I arrived here that my cable was missing from my luggage. I am not sure whether it disappeared en route or whether I left it out when I packed, but one thing that is demanded of all company employees is that their laptop is at all times secured. So for days now I have had to carry the blasted thing around EVERYWHERE! I even considered sleeping with it, concerned that the small desk next to my bed might be too far away from me without a cable lock on it. In any case, the cable arrived this morning, so after figuring out how to set the combination sans instructions (sadly I neither read nor speak Arabic), I was free of my laptop burden...I feel like a changed man without the laptop weighting me down...
The laptop cable cost me money, I should tell you all, American currency, and my change came back in Iraqi dinars, which are almost worthless, but I was surprised to discover are very good looking notes. The whole world has better money than America...and they do cool things like make larger values be bigger bills. Why can't we get a little of that back home?! I mean the Canadians have badass plastic cash...no joke plastic bills and they look coo tool! Of course, pretty as they are, I may be stuck with 18,000 dinar, which is worth less than toilet paper when I get back to the States, so I will need to seek a means of spending it while I am here. Spending Iraqi money is a bit difficult when you are in a work camp in the middle of the desert, by the way, though with the internet it is easier to spend American dollars than ever before!
So, because nothing else cool happened today at work I am going to talk about my New Year's Resolutions a bit, and I hope that you will forgive me for it. So I have about seven resolutions that I am seeking to implement...some people have told me that perhaps that is too many, but I don't know...most of them are relatively simple so I believe that I am not being overly ambitious. Okay, perhaps over the next few days I will talk them through one by one when I don't have anything better to write about. Tonight I will talk about one of the big three that I am undertaking...I hereby resolve to be back down to 180 lbs by the end of 2013. Now, since none of you know my weight you can guess whether that will be easily done or be quite challenging, but I will hint that I believe it will be challenging but is certainly possible.
So, I guess now I should talk about why I have chosen to undertake this goal for the year...frankly, I am tired of being out of shape. I hate being soft, getting winded, feeling like age is creeping up on me! I am still a really young guy (well, I feel young, at least), and it seems increasingly silly to be wasting these years in a fatsuit...I want to be living them with vigor and vitality. So basic health and well-being are my reason number one, but there are others which range from altruistic to vain. I believe that given the poverty present in the world there may be a certain immorality associated with being excessively overweight without some sort of medical condition predisposing one to that state. Also, I am a father, and I want to set a good example for my children...I want them to want to be healthy and fit. It seems wrong to present them with the out of shape me as a role model. And lastly, of course, I want to look good. I want to look good for my girlfriend, Erin, because she deserves the very best me that I can be.
So, to the end of losing weight in 2013 (and I have a long way to go), I have been trying to do two workouts a day while here in Iraq...it is a bit challenging as I have been working on average about 15 hours a day, but I am trying and usually successful in getting about an hour and a half of exercise split into two workouts a day. Sadly, these workouts lead to one of the big downsides of the Iraq camp...showers - we have talked about it before, but it is COLD, and I have yet to get a shower that stays hot for more than a few minutes, so it ends up being cold on cold, and then walking wet back to my room in the cold...in a towel. I really need to brainstorm about how to get around showering...maybe babywipes or something. The other downside about working out here is that I haven't been running outside as I didn't bring appropriate clothing to be exercising outside so much...also I am a bit concerned about the packs of wild dogs (I am mostly kidding, but seriously, there are packs of wild dogs, and that is weird) and perhaps if I were to start running inside of the walls it might be too enticing for one of our sniper guys (I mean, moving targets are pretty exciting). Because I can't run outside I have to run in our gym...I am posting pictures of the gym so that you can see why that might be sad...the treadmill itself is actually pretty nice, but it is inside of a cargo trailer, a dusty, freezing cargo trailer. I also like the rowing machine in the freezing trailer...it makes a whooshing noise that I love and blows freezing cold wind on you while you row, so except for the lack of moisture in the air you sort of feel like you are rowing in the Antarctic or across the North Atlantic. I want to lift weights in there, but all of the dumb bells are obviously made for guys much stronger than me...the lightest one I can find is 40 lbs...seriously, who is working out in this trailer?! Also, we have heavy boxing bags in there...I typically spend 10 -15 minutes per workout wailing away on them while envisioning myself as Rocky from Rocky 4 when he is working out in the barn in Siberia...I am a lot like him in that movie...I have a beard, I am really cold, well, that is really all I have as a comparison. Oh yeah...I do hum the Eye of the Tiger while I hit the bag, so maybe I am exactly like Rocky...or would be if Rocky had instead been played by the actor who played Uncle Lou. In any case, I am enjoying the process of trying to get back in shape...now that you all know about my goal I will keep you periodically informed of my progress.
Well, one last little thing before I go for the day...I have decided that I am going to post a picture nearly daily to track the growth of my beard. Erin today asked about how I planned to maintain it while I was here, and it made me consider the fact that my idea of "maintaining" it had simply been to let it grow, so why not follow its development as though it were Movember or something. So expect a face shot every few days at least...
And with that...peace out!
Let's see, the day started with my laptop security cable finally arriving from Basra...I realized the day that I arrived here that my cable was missing from my luggage. I am not sure whether it disappeared en route or whether I left it out when I packed, but one thing that is demanded of all company employees is that their laptop is at all times secured. So for days now I have had to carry the blasted thing around EVERYWHERE! I even considered sleeping with it, concerned that the small desk next to my bed might be too far away from me without a cable lock on it. In any case, the cable arrived this morning, so after figuring out how to set the combination sans instructions (sadly I neither read nor speak Arabic), I was free of my laptop burden...I feel like a changed man without the laptop weighting me down...
The laptop cable cost me money, I should tell you all, American currency, and my change came back in Iraqi dinars, which are almost worthless, but I was surprised to discover are very good looking notes. The whole world has better money than America...and they do cool things like make larger values be bigger bills. Why can't we get a little of that back home?! I mean the Canadians have badass plastic cash...no joke plastic bills and they look coo tool! Of course, pretty as they are, I may be stuck with 18,000 dinar, which is worth less than toilet paper when I get back to the States, so I will need to seek a means of spending it while I am here. Spending Iraqi money is a bit difficult when you are in a work camp in the middle of the desert, by the way, though with the internet it is easier to spend American dollars than ever before!
So, because nothing else cool happened today at work I am going to talk about my New Year's Resolutions a bit, and I hope that you will forgive me for it. So I have about seven resolutions that I am seeking to implement...some people have told me that perhaps that is too many, but I don't know...most of them are relatively simple so I believe that I am not being overly ambitious. Okay, perhaps over the next few days I will talk them through one by one when I don't have anything better to write about. Tonight I will talk about one of the big three that I am undertaking...I hereby resolve to be back down to 180 lbs by the end of 2013. Now, since none of you know my weight you can guess whether that will be easily done or be quite challenging, but I will hint that I believe it will be challenging but is certainly possible.
So, I guess now I should talk about why I have chosen to undertake this goal for the year...frankly, I am tired of being out of shape. I hate being soft, getting winded, feeling like age is creeping up on me! I am still a really young guy (well, I feel young, at least), and it seems increasingly silly to be wasting these years in a fatsuit...I want to be living them with vigor and vitality. So basic health and well-being are my reason number one, but there are others which range from altruistic to vain. I believe that given the poverty present in the world there may be a certain immorality associated with being excessively overweight without some sort of medical condition predisposing one to that state. Also, I am a father, and I want to set a good example for my children...I want them to want to be healthy and fit. It seems wrong to present them with the out of shape me as a role model. And lastly, of course, I want to look good. I want to look good for my girlfriend, Erin, because she deserves the very best me that I can be.
So, to the end of losing weight in 2013 (and I have a long way to go), I have been trying to do two workouts a day while here in Iraq...it is a bit challenging as I have been working on average about 15 hours a day, but I am trying and usually successful in getting about an hour and a half of exercise split into two workouts a day. Sadly, these workouts lead to one of the big downsides of the Iraq camp...showers - we have talked about it before, but it is COLD, and I have yet to get a shower that stays hot for more than a few minutes, so it ends up being cold on cold, and then walking wet back to my room in the cold...in a towel. I really need to brainstorm about how to get around showering...maybe babywipes or something. The other downside about working out here is that I haven't been running outside as I didn't bring appropriate clothing to be exercising outside so much...also I am a bit concerned about the packs of wild dogs (I am mostly kidding, but seriously, there are packs of wild dogs, and that is weird) and perhaps if I were to start running inside of the walls it might be too enticing for one of our sniper guys (I mean, moving targets are pretty exciting). Because I can't run outside I have to run in our gym...I am posting pictures of the gym so that you can see why that might be sad...the treadmill itself is actually pretty nice, but it is inside of a cargo trailer, a dusty, freezing cargo trailer. I also like the rowing machine in the freezing trailer...it makes a whooshing noise that I love and blows freezing cold wind on you while you row, so except for the lack of moisture in the air you sort of feel like you are rowing in the Antarctic or across the North Atlantic. I want to lift weights in there, but all of the dumb bells are obviously made for guys much stronger than me...the lightest one I can find is 40 lbs...seriously, who is working out in this trailer?! Also, we have heavy boxing bags in there...I typically spend 10 -15 minutes per workout wailing away on them while envisioning myself as Rocky from Rocky 4 when he is working out in the barn in Siberia...I am a lot like him in that movie...I have a beard, I am really cold, well, that is really all I have as a comparison. Oh yeah...I do hum the Eye of the Tiger while I hit the bag, so maybe I am exactly like Rocky...or would be if Rocky had instead been played by the actor who played Uncle Lou. In any case, I am enjoying the process of trying to get back in shape...now that you all know about my goal I will keep you periodically informed of my progress.
 |
| Gold 's Gym can suck it...they've got nothing on this place! |
Well, one last little thing before I go for the day...I have decided that I am going to post a picture nearly daily to track the growth of my beard. Erin today asked about how I planned to maintain it while I was here, and it made me consider the fact that my idea of "maintaining" it had simply been to let it grow, so why not follow its development as though it were Movember or something. So expect a face shot every few days at least...
 |
| The beard (Day 1 of Observation) looking good...the smile a complete fail. |
And with that...peace out!
When I asked how you were planning to maintain the beard I actually meant to say "I would prefer that you maintain your beard", but this may be an interesting experiment...
ReplyDeleteNot to nitpick or anything, but if you're going to envision yourself as Balboa from Rocky 4, you better change your tune. "Hearts on Fire" was the training montage for that particular visual barrage of badassdom. "Eye of the Tiger" was Rocky III, where he and Apollo buddied up to beat Clubber Lang. That said, "Eye of the Tiger" is a much better song for humming.
ReplyDeleteRight you are Zach...right you are indeed on all accounts.
Delete