Steven A. Smith

The most important man alive.

Quite frankly, these guys should win an award.

Hat tip: The Agitator

The government violating the Constitution is fine...

Until it happens to you.

I'd feel bad for him, you know, except he supports the Government rooting through my phone records and financial information. Because you know the govnerment would NEVER use that information for political purposes, just to fight terrorists.

Kinda like they rooted through his medical records and his pockets. And this isn't political or anything, that everyone now knows Rush has a little, er, problem.... it's to protect us from drugs.
It's all the same, Rush, it's all the same. There's a reason the Constitution says they can't do this, and you are a prime example. Unfortunately, you support thier ability to do it, and you get to pay the price.

Ironic?

Is it ironic that I cant find the GPS I want?

I think Target might have it.

Also, on a related note: I found my valuation behavior interesting this weekend. I finally decided to buy a GPS - I'm on the road in unfamiliar areas a great deal, and Mrs Stagg could also use it on occasion. The one I picked has route optimization (the only one I can find), where you can plug in 20 stops, and the unit will optimize the route for you.

Anyway, the unit lists for $700. I found it online as low as $540 at a number of retailers, including places like Amazon.com, certainly well reputed. I've decided, however, given the risk invoved with online ordering, and the convenience of the return policies at B&M retailers, to pay about $100 more for the unit that I could in order to be able to just return it, instead of going through paying for shipping, etc, for a replacement if there is a problem.

Might be something to that, and the influence (or lack thereof) of online retailers on actual stores.

Your personal global warming experience

Oh, this should be good. That 1/10 of a degree a year has driven my A/C costs throught the roof!

I think I might send them my story. Global warming, while having not directly affected my life, has indirectly done so via the erosion of my individual (property) rights.

Somehow, I doubt they'll be interested.

Hat tip: Penn Jilette

Training: Week 1, Day 1

This is what will be Max Effort Squat/Dead, but I'm in no condition to do any max effort work.

Warmup: 5 mins elliptical, 1x10 stepovers
Squat:
45x10
2x15 @ 135

Band Goodmornings
light band 2x15

Bench situps
2x15

Lying leg raises
2x10

Lots of stretching.

Workout time: 3:20 - 3:55

A return to normalcy

At least, a version of it.

Getting back to training, and hopefully settling in to the new house and good habits. I posted a plan 6 weeks or so ago, the basics stand. For the next few weeks, I'll be working on conditioning and mobility, then get into working on hypertrophy along with some max effort stuff. Then we'll see where we go.

Nutrition is (for now) following Dr. John Berardi's 7 habits, with some very small exceptions (whole wheat bread is OK).

Required Reading

Balko on the 20th anniversary of Len Bias' death, and the other side.

Required Reading

Balko on the 20th anniversary of Len Bias' death, and the other side.

An excellent example...

Of how remarkably sad a state we are in with respect the the nanny state.

From some letters to USA Today regarding the stupidity of a certain Pittsburgh quarterback.

Time to change laws

In light of this week's motorcycle accident that seriously injured quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, I think states such as Pennsylvania have to take a serious look at their laws concerning the use of motorcycle helmets.

About 20 of the 50 states have full motorcycle helmet laws requiring riders of all ages to wear a helmet. In fact, four states — Colorado, Iowa, Illinois, and New Hampshire — have no laws requiring motorcycle riders of any age to wear a helmet.

The law in Pennsylvania, where Roethlisberger's incident happened, says riders 21 years or older are not required to wear a helmet. The motorcycle helmet law that was in place was repealed in 2003.

Even before the Roethlisberger incident, I always felt that Pennsylvania's repealing of the motorcycle helmet law was a mistake. Living in Pennsylvania, I see many riders going without helmets all of the time. While there is always a risk riding a motorcycle, not wearing a helmet is an even bigger risk.

As a resident of Pennsylvania, I would encourage Gov. Ed Rendell and the Pennsylvania Legislature to take another look at the repealed motorcycle helmet law.

I would also urge other states to look at their laws as well.

Wearing a simple helmet is definitely worth saving your life.

Craig Barto

Girard, Pa.

Well, Craig, driving a car is a risk, driving it without a helmet and 5 point harness is a bigger risk. So I guess that should be a law too? Working out is a risk, but lifting weights is more of a risl, so we should pass a law, I guess. Hell, motorcycles are so risky, let's just outlaw them all together.

Individual Responsibility. Deal with it. I can not believe people would rather the government protect them than protect themselves from their own stupidity.

What's the problem if you have nothing to hide?

Right?

I mean, that's what they want US to do.. but the military, not so much, when it comes to Gitmo.

Question

Why are the people who think it's OK to have red light cameras, speed cameras, and police cameras set up at drug corners so upset about the NSA getting their phone records?

It's all the same. It's all wrong, but we wanted it, didn't we?

Dimebag

Listening to Chronix Agression on the Sonos tonight. They played Damage Plan followed by Pantera.

It's remarkable just how freaking awesome Dimebag Darrel was.

What a loss.

Required Reading

Deirdre McCloskey on the virtue of the free market.

Hat tip: The Agitator

Quick Update

Been busy, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

We settled on our old house yesterday - sold it to a really nice guy who was renting a house in the same development. I hope he gets as much enjoyment out of it as Jamie and I did.

Took the check to the bank today. Big check. Paying off the 15% line of credit on the new house to get us to just an 80% mortgage. The remainder is going to build our liquid cash back up to a more comfortable level, and everything left is going into our investment account. Not life changing money, but money that gets me closer to not having to work (or gets me a couple of 911 Turbos.)

Lifting is probably a week away. We are still getting settled in the new house. I've got the itch to get back to it, though.

I'm off to peruse teh internets to see if there is anything interesting to blog about.