Upgrades

Two posts in one day?!? Say it ain't so Pa! Say it ain't so.

I've been feverishly upgrading home entertainment components. The credit card ain't swiping itself you know. Heh. It's certainly something one doesn't go into lightly. It's a huge investment of, obviously, money and lots of time in research, if you're going to do it right. Nobody wants to buy a piece of equipment, only to find it doesn't work the way you want it, if at all.

The centerpiece of the upgrade was the flat panel TV. We had a 32" Sony WEGA for the longest time. Reliable but a fracking huge television, it's a monster tube. I'd grown tired of hearing the wall unit, groan and creak as it bore it's weight.

Long story short, two Sundays ago, after visiting two Best Buys, in Brooklyn and then Staten Island, spending a total of three hours in store, an hour of which was probably spent flagging down a salesperson, vying for their attention amongst a group of huffing and puffing women trying to keep up with the Joneses and "No that bitch Colleen, ain't gonna watch Desperate Housewives" on a TV bigger than mine!"

I lucked out, catching a salesperson who just reported to work.

After much wrangling with whatever was in stock, which turned out not to be but then was (What age are we living? Hello, automatic inventory updates! Get with the program.), we snagged a very sharp (heh) Sharp Aquos 42" Flat Panel TV. Yippee.

Of course, once I'm in a good mood, I can be talked into anything.

My arm was twisted into upgrading to a Sony Blu-Ray DVD player.

Yes, twisted would be an overstatement.

Best Buy had a special with the player, two free Blu-Ray DVDs, X-Men 3 - Last Stand and Swordfish if you must know. Mmmmm, Hugh Jackman. There was also a buy one and get one free (equal or lesser value). Again, if you must know, Kung Fu Hustle and House of Flying Daggers.

As a bonus, I discovered while unpacking, the player came with The Fifth Element. Yippee. “Leeloo Dallas Multi-pass.”

Yeah, the selection isn't great for Blu-Ray but that'll get better.

Hopefully.

At $24.99-$30 a pop, it has to be worthwhile. Although how worthwhile is it to see every craggy, wrinkly skin surface of your favorite actors? I don't know.

At checkout, I cashed in no less than 10 giftcards from my birthday and the holidays, some RewardZone coupons (12% off and double points baby!!!). Let's say, I did very well and my salesperson was über-impressed.

I was a miffed to find that my receiver could not handle 6.1 channels being pushed by the blu-ray player. X-Men 3 was switching over to two channels, but in French or Spanish it would play in 5.1 channel DTS.

An additional upgrade for the receiver was handled later however after noodling around the options in the player, after the fact, I may not have needed the receiver upgrade after all. Oh well, upgrades are upgrades, you're going to need them sometime.

I do find it vastly unfair that this whole new setup sits in the living room, prime viewing space, primarily occupied by the BF. I did watch BSG on the big screen. Looked like crap. We haven't gotten a new HD Cable. Garbage in, Garbage out as they say.

But it was upgrades for everyone.

The Sony 32" WEGA Flat Screen is a step up, for my XBox 360º gaming, from a 27". :)

Old tech doesn't go away, it gets re-purposed.

derailed.

I hadn't resolved anything as most people do in the new year. But I'd decided that I'd pursue some fitness goals with greater verve than I'd been at the end of 2006.

22 days into 2007, I've fallen off track.

My weak-minded self has allowed me to trip up on some typical pitfalls.

I look okay.
I think.
That's the root cause of my unplanned deviation.
I've allowed myself to justify bad habits and slacking, like…
Have another cookie/donut/piece of chocolate/helping of rice/pasta, you'll work it off at the gym.

Further compounded by,
You can skip the cardio, you've danced a lot this past weekend.
This has been a major stumbling block.

2007, well more like the last month has been fun thus far.
Let's do a quick rundown since I've been neglectful (as well) with this here blog.

Dec. 22nd - Pacha with Tedd Patterson
Dec. 28th - Cielo with Tom Stephan (SuperChumbo), opening by Honey Dijon
NYE- Eve Dancing with the Robos at Roxy with Peter Rauhofer
NYE- Chus and Ceballos w/ Victor Calderone @ Crobar with Friend Frank, J, H and N
Week after NYE - I think I actually took a break *shocked*
Jan. 11th - Frankie Knuckles’ BIrthday at Cielo with Shapeshifters
Jan. 12th - Bar Traipse to Secret and then mr. Black First Year Anniversary with O.
Jan. 14th - Alegria Tribal at Crobar with the Robos.
Jan. 20th - D’s Birthday party with O, followed by Peter Rauhofer @ Roxy

Hmmm, looking over that list, it’s a lot.

I know, I’d been going to the gym, but I can’t remember doing a cardio workout in that entire time.

I’d think, with that amount of dancing, I’d be in excellent cardiovascular shape. But it doesn’t seem to be so.

Last two events, I hit a wall. I was fine, but my body just suddenly wanted to stop. I couldn’t pinpoint what it was in both cases, but after today, I think I have.

Attempting to get myself back on track, I did a full cardio workout. Nothing big. 30 minutes on the elliptical crosstrainer with a decent amount of resistance.

It was hard. I got a familiar, long forgotten pain in my side, I used to run hard and beyond exertion, it felt like gourd was forming on the left side below my ribcage.

I was struggling. I felt like I wanted to hurl. It was unpleasant. My body was reaching the point of exertion, far sooner than I’m used to.

I’m displeased and upset with myself.
I’d lulled myself into thinking I was healthy and fit, but my laziness was catching up to me.

So until I feel righted, the dance machine will take a hiatus. 2-3 weeks of hard work at the gym will get me going in the right direction. Focus on the core of my health with little distraction.

It’ll be good and when I re-emerge, it’ll be all the better.

In the meanwhile, I’ve got plenty things off the dance floor, keeping me busy.

UPDATE:
Apparently, I'm suffering from Blue Monday.
Hat Tip: Aaron via Joe.

System Check

Running full diagnostic…

Head - Addled/scrambled from the past weekend's NYE activities. (Obligatory: Happy New Year!) As soon as an independent thought can be maintained, with little effort, a more thorough recap will ensue.

Could use a haircut.
Teeth keep going numb.
Ringing in ears, louder than usual.

Body
Neck - Feeling some residual tightness that started the beginning of last week but within tolerances.

Chest - Looks fine but smaller than I'd like. Increased cardio activities are not allowing my body to grow muscle.

Arms - Ditto.

Shoulders - Must be fine, since I had two visiting Russian women admiring/touching them on the coat check line at Crobar. Flattering but your womanly wiles were wasted. Room for improvement.

Back - Slightly sore. You try dancing 17 hours within a three day time frame and see how it feels.

Stomach - Abs are there. Could use some more refinement/tone. Going to have to thumb through this for tips.

Waist - Think I dropped another pants size this weekend.

Butt - Admirers may disagree however like my chest, good but could be better.

Legs
Thighs - Could pack some size back on them. Haven't worked them in forever but they'll respond immediately. Time to whip out this.

Joints - I'm getting older. They aren't refracting as easily as they used to. Still holding things together but they do protest now and again.

…end diagnostic.

Resolve to pack on 5-10 lbs. of permanent, lean muscle this year. (This is my only resolution.) Which also means, I have to be more mindful of eating what my body needs. At the moment, I eat more like a bird which is unhelpful to my plight.