zenpundit.com

I’ve decided to follow John’s lead and hop back on to this platform once more as more of my blogfriends seem to be active on Twitter this time around.

Long day but a productive one.  Just realized that networking and leveraging attention is half the battle.

The other day I was at the gym working out when I noticed an older but solid looking gent piling an impressive number of plates on the bar. He appeared to be within a stone’s throw of fifty and had an air of a long time lifter about him though if you saw him on the street you might guess that he was a construction worker rather than an aspiring Arnold. The guy was doing barbell shrugs, an exercise for the trapezius muscles where you lift the weight by hunching your shoulders upwards. I watched him a while. He topped out at a little over 900 lbs. The photo gives you an idea of what that kind of weight looks like:

To put this feat in perspective, my personal best in that exercise when I was thirty, in peak condition and considered unusually strong by bodybuilding standards, was the low 700’s!  While shrugging can’t compare to deadlifting in terms of effort, what this gentleman managed was absolutely remarkable. Generally, the only guys who could touch that kind of weight would be accomplished powerlifters or Olympic lifters – large ones – and maybe a few NFL or Big Ten linemen. Maybe. Certainly much bigger dudes than the guy I saw shrugging yeterday.

Inspired by his example, I decided to shrug with 500 today, something I’ve not done in a while. It felt good. Who knows? Maybe when I’m fifty I too will be muscling up almost half a ton.

A  surprise Valentine’s Day Gift from Mrs. Zenpundit to better suport my humble blogging efforts ( along with facilitating several graphics-rich gaming platforms that were stressing out my aging 1 gig PC). Currently transferring a multitude of files and reloading programs. Will return to normal blogging on Friday.

Any experienced Viral Marketeers out there in the readership ? If so, drop me a line.

This year, Mrs. Zen and I hosted Christmas Eve for my relations. Though it was not a maximum possible turnout for a variety of reasons it was still a significant affair as Mrs. Zen believes in a good presentation and a menu cooked from scratch ( as a result, we entertain maybe once every three or four years – LOL!). A festive time was had by all. Or…possibly except one.

As it turns out, a gift was left behind. Or more correctly, abandoned. It appears to be a kind of sweater, perhaps one worn by an upscale shepherd or by a Scottish noble in Braveheart. To augment this woolen tunic, the gift-giver guiltily included an off-brand colonge of some kind, one marketed to young urban men of limited means who make a point to wear baggy jeans that sit low on their posterior so as to reveal a large portion of their underpants (I suspect a re-gifting on this aspect).

We have polled everyone in attendance and no one will cop to having received this interesting juxtaposition of merchandise. Or to have given it either. Whoever received it had the foresight (or anxious sense of shame) to have methodically  peeled off the incriminating gift tag before slinking away into the night.

Is it just me or is this some kind of common holiday hazard ?