the brothers and i have decided to embark on a first quarter fitness competition.  should make the first quarter more interesting.

Sibling Rivalry Classic
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Goal: To get an otherwise out of shape group of Kendall siblings into a virile, vibrant, and vivacious state of health.

To win: Winner must win two of the three criteria specified below.  Losers will pay $100 each to the winner.  No second place.  In the case of a three way tie (ie, all three win one of the three criteria), a run-off will be held in which all three criteria will be measured, executed in sequence.  An unnamed third party will measure the execution of the criteria and provide the final ruling.

Begin date: 1/1/2009 12:00AM (tonight @ midnight)
Target date: 3/31/09 with criteria measurement on 4/4/09 (weekend)

Success criteria:

  1) Fastest one mile run
      – Run will be recorded on a treadmill for equal comparison
      – Second mile of a run; this will allow a 1 mile warm up at any speed and avoid any of us hurting ourselves
  2) Push-ups
      – Two criteria: 1) Number of push ups in 1 minute and 2) Number of push ups to exhaustion
      – Criteria #1 will be measured on 4/4
      – Criteria #2 measured on 4/5
  3) Crunches
      – Crunches will be measured based on number of crunches performed in 2 minutes

Rules:

  – No performance enhancing substances (Creatine, etc.)
  – No trainers, paid or otherwise
  – Vitamins are allowed and in fact encouraged
  – Don’t hurt yourself; this isn’t meant to push limits, only to test our respective abilities in physical fitness

play bow,
origin: madethelflintz0r.

after being on vacation all last week, it was great to come home to our puppy, brain. while we missed her, we were glad to get away and not have to manage the dog all the time. being a puppy, she still requires a good bit of training and supervision (she’s very nosy).

we were back no more than 2 or 3 days before we had to take her to the vet to get her fixed. it’s the first overnight visit to the vet of her life, and she didn’t seem to miss a beat. when i left her at the vet, she didn’t even notice i wasn’t going with her. lol @ the silly dog.

that evening, i was constantly hearing her around the house…getting her nose into stuff, whining, scratching, drinking, whatever. it was all completely in my head. and i found that i missed having her around the house. not having her on vacation was different. not having her around the house was flat out strange. i was constantly looking under my feet while sitting on the couch. i waited for her to follow me into the kitchen whenever i got up. i fully expected her to bring me one (or all) of her toys, begging me to play with her.

i felt completely ridiculous. i am so used to her presence in the house that i merely expect it now. this longing to “have my baby around” was foreign, but fairly strong considering “it’s just a dog.”

i started wondering if this is what parents go through when their children leave for a period (or forever!). i never thought owning a dog would relate so much to being a parent. while it’s not the same at all, there are definitely some similarities (training, supervision, exercise, discipline, affection, etc.). and brain has a way of making me fully aware that i’m not ready to be a parent at all! i feel like i got a glimpse of a taste of a glimmer (e.g. pretty small sampling) of what it’s like to be a parent.

prickly pear bloom,
origin: madethelflintz0r.

a small german company, Bärbel Drexel, has requested to use the photo featured in this post in a calendar that they are doing. i’m really excited to have a photo published! i won’t be receiving any payment, but will get credit on the photo and a calendar. i will post more info when i receive the calendar in a couple of weeks.

w00t!

i don’t typically like talking about the war in iraq for various reasons, but i have a special place in my heart for the people who serve our country (and other people’s countries lol).

i wish we could focus more on stories like the one of the marine who saved the lives of 2 of his brothers. the marines are a family, and my brother being a marine makes them my family too. i have heard this from every marine i’ve ever met. i’m very proud of our marines. i think that many of the marines have been put on trial recently have been placed in extreme circumstances (uh…it is a war) and have had to make decisions that, i’m sure, they now regret.

to all the marines and other service members out there, thanks.

i was driving to my friend, lily’s, house tonight, and “everybody wants to rule the world” by tears for fears came on.  i just had to grin.  it reminded me of some of the crushes i had in middle school, and i thought it’d be a laugh to post some before/after pics to see what my taste was like (awful, i’m warning you).

where does tears for fears fit in?  i use to think Roland Orzabal (pictured left) was so cute. there was something about the way he looked in the video for “shout” that seemed to peak my interest.  (sidenote: the part of the video where they’re drumming the floor is awesome lol!!!)  i suppose it was the passion in the music.  and i was so distracted by it, i didn’t really care what the guy looked like, but he sounded cool and had a lot of passion in his music.  to this day, i still enjoy 2 of the songs where i felt some strong emotion in the music.  lololol.

tears for fears wasn’t the only band where i had an oddly-place crush.  the song, “mr. jones” was released in 1994 by the counting crows, and it was a big hit.  if you listened to the radio at all around that time, you probably heard the song 5 times an hour.  all of my friends and i could quote it word-for-(sometimes-unintelligible)-word all the way through with all the little nuances.  and wouldn’t you know it, i thought adam duritz was really cute in that music video (what can i say…i’m part of the mtv generation when they played music videos!).  what was i thinking?!  well, it’s a little more believable when you look at him then vs. now (is that gray in his goatee?).  i saw them recently with the goo goo dolls, and they weren’t bad.  i was pretty drunk though.  heh.

and i have one last memorable crush to blog on.  this is probably one of the biggest crushes i ever had on an unattainable guy: jonathan brandis.  i first really took notice of jonathan in the tv series seaquest dsv, where he played the handsome young genius.  but he had a solid career at that point (Who’s the Boss, Murder She Wrote, Kate and Allie, among other tv shows and movies that i watched around this time).  yeah.  jonathan was definitely the boy i swooned over when bop, tiger bop, and all the other teenie bop magazines were hot stuff.  i was surprised when i started doing research on this brief topic when i found that he died in Nov. 2003 from injuries sustained during a suicide attempt (wikipedia).  aww, fraunies.  he was only 27.  that being said, can you believe i coveted my copy of this magazine spread?  wow.  so i was a sucker for guys who appeared to have fun and be somewhat intelligent (lucas wolenczak).  rip dude.

so that’s my summary of crushes that were distinctly memorable.  hope you were mildly entertained.  i put about an hour and a half into this post, but it was fun (and i l00rned something!).

i’ve been thinking a lot about what this year will hold.  i’m really excited because so much happened last year, and i accomplished a lot of goals (small and large).  in anticipation, i have decided to set some new goals.

for one, i’m endeavoring to be more connected.  i mean that in the most abstract sense.  i want my body to be connected with itself–to feel that my feet are truly connected to my hands and that all my appendages are connected to my head.  this sounds silly when i say it literally like that, but that was what i had in mind when i set that intention for myself this year.  i think it really will make me more connected to people around me–my community. 

next, i intend to get back into a regular, 3-4 times a week, yoga schedule.  i really benefited from this style of workout regimen last summer/fall, and i let the holidays take me away from that.  now it’s back to it, and i want it to be that way all year.  i have a couple of goals within my yoga practice, including holding supta kurmasana for 5 breathes (i can hold it, kinda’, for 1 or 2 on good days) on a regular basis, and staying in tripod headstand (or regular headstand) for 10 breathes among others.

third, i’d like to make efforts to blog more at home.  often times, i blog when i’m at work, and not only is that bad for work, but it’s bad for blogging.  i can put more effort.

and i will add a fourth item to my list of goals just to keep ambitious.  i’d like to get back into some sort of art.  whether it’s singing, painting, or just drawing in sketchbooks, i need/want to get back to other forms of (non-electronic) expression.  have no fear…i will share all of my non-electronic endeavors electronically (they just may not start out that way!). 

that is all for now.  i wish i had more to say, but ashtanga cleared my mind this evening.  that’s why i go.

last night when i got home from tai chi, i felt awesome.  i couldn’t believe it.  it was the same feeling i get after a good yoga practice–energized and in a GREAT mood.  i think i’m still feeling the effects of the great workout last night.  i think the reason for this feeling is 2-fold: 1. we did some shao-lin last night and 2. i’m getting to the point with “push the mountain” (can’t find a good link that explains this, but this qigong link is a start) where it’s meditative, which makes the whole thing come together for me.

wow.  love it.  didn’t think i would, but now i do.  it finally clicked for me last night.  and it only took 6 weeks lol.

on a completely different note, lore sjoberg has an entertaining article on myspace.

bride making footprints
Originally uploaded by madethelflintz0r.

i have posted the pics i took a weekend or two ago when we went to topsail island, nc for josh and brandi’s wedding. josh is one my best friends, and used to be a roommate. now he’s hitched, and should be back from his honeymoon by now. congrats! and may they have a long and happy life together!!

edit 9/21/06: the link above was wrong, but has since been corrected. my apologies.

i had such a beautiful saturday yesterday!!

first, i went to ashtanga at 9am. i thought i might not be so glad i did it, considering i didn’t get to sleep in. but what i found was that i woke up sans alarm at 8am (since i’m used to getting up a little earlier anyway). so i rolled outta’ bed, threw on workout clothes, brushed my teeth and headed out the door. holy crap what an awesome practice it was! i felt GREAT afterwards.

next, i came home, and spent some quality time with my man before he had to leave for work.

i then met my friend, jill, for beauty supply shopping and lunch. jill was one of the most influential people (still is) in my life during some difficult times, and i cherish her. we worked together several years ago, but have managed to keep in touch. she’s a beautiful person, and one that i look up to. i wanna be like her when i grow up.

i left jill’s house around 3:30 or so, and called my friend lily ’cause we had planned to hang out in the afternoon/evening. did a little shopping, and picked up a cute little fountain that i’ll probably take into work for our office (lily and i share an office at work, but have become friends as well). so then i headed to lily’s part of town. ended up joining her and her friend for beers at a british pub. then went back to her house and drank some more. got tore up, watched willy wonka and the chocolate factory (the OG, not the johnny depp shit), and ate pizza.
i had so much fun! i had a grin on my face throughout the entire day.

to all my teachers throughout the day, namaste!