Wow, I was doing pretty well at posting on a regular basis and then BLAMMO (!) ... nothing at all.

I'm exhausted. The past couple of months have been a complete whirlwind and, yes, everything is still EPIC. =)

Just got back from a two week stint in Japan and I have to say that it was absolutely amazing. I can't believe I waited so long to go. The only thing that wasn't all that great about it was the lack of (cheap) data connection. I did have the on-demand mobile wi-fi access but it would haven't been rather fun to be connected all the time without burning a hole in my wallet.

So much to do. So much to eat. I can't even elaborate on it all. For the pictorial version, check my FB (if you know it). The short version?

Crowded. Busy. Beer. Snowboarding. Sake. Beer. Dammit, we should have brought shorts. Train stations have lots of steps. Yakitori and beer. The Peace. Funky toilets. Wa-gyu. I seriously should have paid more attention in Japanese class/school. All you can eat. All you can drink. Drinking and smoking at the same time. Shabu shabu. Sakura. Nama dai. 280 yen restaurants. A lot of temples = a lot of praying. Saying hi to Dad. Doing laundry at 2:30am. Piano bar and Glenlivet. Takomasa's Takoyaki. Yoshinoya gyu-don. Eating in and around Tsukiji. Tokyo, Niigata, Yokohama, and Osaka. Beer. Kappabashi, Harajuku, Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asakusa, Ikebukuro,  and Tsukishima. Beer. Yakiniku. Osaka Jou. Sennsoji. Hikkake bashi. Meiji Jingu. Mizujizo. "I do not speak Japanese". Tokyu Hands. Fugu course. Best kaki-furai ever. Marketplace shiba-inu. Ei hire. Akagai. Basashi. Kujirakatsu. Unagi sticks. Fresh oysters. "Is that Sadako?". Hikarie. Tokyo Skytree. Asahi corporate. "Doesn't that look like sperm?" Fish balls. "Do fish have balls?" Sazae. Beer. Catching our dinner at Zauo. Uojin. Muteki-ya. Kani Doraku. Live king crab. Uni/otoro/tarabegani-don. Beer. Are you America-jin?! Stupid Kit Kats *grumble*. Onsen. 4-5 meals per day. Beer. Personal ash tray. Hachiko. "Where's my rail pass?" Beer on the train at 9:30 in the morning. Ekiben. Hadouken! First snow. First snowball fight. First fugu. First Japan!

Whew!

Aaaaaand next week I'm off to the City of Sin for a conference! On the way back, I'll be returning through SFO after spending the weekend in San Francisco. =) My business travel didn't get approved until I was in Japan (lame) so I wasn't able to start arranging for accommodations until recently. It's not looking good since this weekend is apparently really busy. I wonder if any of my friends will be available? None of them have gotten back to me so far ...

Whew!

Even so, in a bit I'll be out at Brians for beers, pool, and darts with my girl and the coworkers ... woot!

The jury is still out on my recent fitness regimen and its effects, I guess. I've been getting a lot of comments... most recently from LS, on Sunday, who hasn't seen me since November/December or so. She said I look sooo good now. JTY, on the other hand, commented Saturday night that I was getting too skinny ... like high school skinny (Even though I'm over 30 lbs heavier than back then). A week ago, CO told me I'm looking pretty good - having lost the gut and filling in at the chest/back/shoulders. We both agree that I need to work arms more (even though I have been trying to work them pretty religiously).

So, yeah, not sure about public opinion but I, personally, feel a lot better about my appearance and fitness level. I've been slacking for the past 5 or 6 weeks but plan to get back into it beginning next week Monday. =)

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I've had an epic year, so far, and the past week has been absolutely AMAZING with some of the new developments. :-D

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Thanks to SI who put together a care package (or sickness kit as she put it) for me after finding out that I was down, and somewhat out, with a pretty bad cold. =) I even had to leave training early, yesterday, since I was beginning to get weird looks from the other people in the room. I guess all the sneezing, sniffling, and coughing was finally getting to them after 4 or 5 hours.

I texted LC about it, yesterday, but the word completion made it weird with my lack of proof-reading. I texted her that I was "sneezing, snuggling, and coughing" all day. She mentioned that the snuggling part didn't sound bad at all... and it didn't (too bad I wasn't getting any snuggling) but I have to learn to proofread the texts more often! =P

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So, yeah, I've been using "epic" a lot in the past oh ... more than several months ... and as much I don't want to wear out its impact by using it so much, things literally have been "epic" as of late. =)

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So I guess since I'm now 40, I should reevaluate the whole "fit by 40" thing I started last year.

Last year, at this time I was 181 lbs, 22-24% bodyfat (the scale varies from day to day). I had a 34" waist, chipmunk cheeks and a growing beer belly. Today, I am 163 lbs, 14-17% bodyfat. I have a 32" waist although, most days, my pants/shorts are still loose. While my face is still round-ish, the change is significant and I no longer look like I'm squirreling food away for the winter. My stomach is almost completely flat (I can currently see oblique definition and upper-ab definition, but haven't seen the full 8-pack since I hit my scrawny low of 151lbs in January) - but there's no longer any overhang while I'm standing up. =)

Last year, I was running 2-3 miles, max, once a week. At that max, I was running at an average pace of 12-13 minute miles. At the end of the run I was out of breath and light-headed. I can now complete 2-3 miles at a 8 minute mile pace and have since upped my running sessions to a max of 10 miles (about 11-12 minute miles), 2-3 runs/week - and doing it fairly comfortably. I was pleased by finishing the 8.15mi Great Aloha Run in 1:22:50 (10.17 minute miles) and finished well beneath my goal time of 1:35:00. I have recently added split-legged squats and split-legged deadlifts to the routine and am beginning to strengthen up to help prevent knee tendonits. I will know when I get there when I can start doing full-range pistol squats. =)

Last year, when I started to try and build up the strength with large movement exercises, I could do three standard (forward grip) pull-ups, and could do maybe 2, and then 1 in the remaining sets respectively. My arm/back/shoulder movements now include six sets of alternating wide-grip and standard pull-ups in which I hit 9, 5, 7, 4, 5, 2 reps (respectively) and include three negatives at the end of each set. I've also included several different variations of pushups/mountain climbers/burpees until I hit 100 reps.

Last year, I started out with minimal ab workout reps and maximum pain afterward. Now, my ab workout consists of 2-3/week short workouts ... three sets of the following: 30x reverse crunches, 25x bicycle crunches, and 15 floor-wipers (I think that's what they're called).

So, yes, I think I've hit my goal in all the ways that are important to me! =)

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I am kinda feeling like a slug, though. I haven't done any bodyboarding since Thanksgiving weekend and haven't made any runs or done any workouts since the Swamp Romp on 2/25. I need to start getting back into it before all my gains start slipping.

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Pau hana get-together with the coworkers tonight since TR is in town! It's been a long while since he's been here. I think we all need an outing. People are stressed. =P

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Probably won't be updating for awhile... busy weekend ahead. Tournament tomorrow night at Halawa, Warrior Dash on Saturday morning, bbq with the fit crew for lunch, birthday dinner for TK Saturday evening, and drinks with the gang after that. Then there's Mom's party on Sunday morning/afternoon, and medical league vball at night! Whew, I'm tired already!

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Sunday (3/18):
This morning was a little awkward but it turned out pretty well and I wouldn't have traded it for anything else ... even the hike that I had originally planned for this morning. The weather wasn't right for my group, but the work gang went, anyway, and the GoPro video was soooo funny (all the slipping and sliding in the mud)! Even though I missed out on the hike, they are planning on doing it again soon in better weather. =)

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SI joined us for my family birthday dinner and met my family for the first time. She brought my favorite dessert (tiramisu) and her mom sent over two huge bunches of flowers. I think she was nervous. I wasn't, though, since I already knew my family would love her. I was reminded more than several times over the course of the night that I am the only non-DOE employee in the family!

Sweet 'n Sour deep fried chicken, tasty shrimp, and temaki sushi! *burp*

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What an awesome birthday weekend!

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Saturday (3/17):
Bleh, the big 4-0 ... or, rather, the 12th annual observance of my 29th birfday! I totally slept in until, like, 10am! I was going to do laundry, pack the hiking gear, and get my first workout in more than two weeks. I put on 7 pounds (presumably of fat) in that time. Yes, I blame it on other people. >=)

Instead, I did some quick gear packing, almost no laundry, and then gorged myself at lunch with my mom at Gyotaku. *burp!* I swear I need a nap after every meal. Must be the old age. *grumble*

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SI totally surprised me by taking me to Nanzan Giro Giro for dinner. I have been wanting to eat there for quite awhile now  and she totally gets extra bonus points for doing the research with KH long before today ever happened. =) The place was amazing! The food sure was presented well (except for the chawanmushi which we both thought was merely "interesting") and absolutely delicious! I will definitely go there again. I just wish they would post the monthly menu on their website or something so that we could check it out before we went.

I have to admit that I wouldn't have enjoyed this place a few years ago. Since then, I've learned to eat, and enjoy, a lot of things that I never would have touched in years past. Times have changed, though, and this place is definitely worth every cent... remarkably, this place also holds good value for such good quality kaiseki.

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Hiking canceled due to weather and by the time I found out, it was too late to make arrangements with my other hiking crew who was doing the same hike on the same day. Oh well. *shrug*

Cruised by Chez for a green beer (or two, or three) on the way back to the westside. Much to my chagrin, I eventually fell asleep there for the rest of the evening/morning.

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Friday (3/16):
Mellow, mellow night indoors tonight. Yet, I enjoy staying in immensely ... more than ever before!

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Thursday (3/15):
Dinner at Kona Kai! I asked KH and MS to dinner at Kona Kai tonight. It has been getting really good reviews and KH likes it as well. He said he liked it better than Sasabune (one of the chefs, Steve, is from Sasabune) so of course we had to try it!

MS, unfortunately wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to make it. So the three of us gorged ourselves on seared hamachi rolls, nigiri sushi (tarabagani, uni, otoro, moi, botan ebi, amongst others), ahi chips, and TRISTAN LOBSTER DYNAMITE. KH got some takeout for MS to eat later. I swear, the takeout looked delicious and probably cost a fortune!

I also got two extremely large bottles of Hakkaisan Junmai Ginjo from KH for my birthday. That was a surprise since I thought we were saving birthday celebrations for vacation next month! He had made a special trip to OTW just to pick it up. Awesome, Awesome! I can't wait to drink it ALL!

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Wednesday (3/14):
I got to enjoy Spring Break for the first time in, well, years! I managed to arrange a day off to spend with SI during her week-long break. I got up early and headed out into the beautiful morning to pickup SI to do ... well, whatever. We didn't have any specific plans. We spent the entire morning and the early part of the afternoon lounging while watching Netflix. - Walking dead, Spiderman, and even some 24.

I used to love Spiderman and his Amazing Friends but, much like the Kikaida of old, it seems more than a little hokey when watching it decades later!

We practically had to force ourselves to get up and leave this house. We had lunch in Waikele at Kunio's (quite good if a little pricey) and decided to catch an early evening movie - John Carter. The movie was good but definitely not quite what I expected. The best way I know how to describe it is to say that it was a sci-fi chick flick. Yes, it was. Go and see it and tell me if you don't agree!

Wow, this last entry took me a long time to get back to the current day! I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of little details but I got the major stuff, here. =) I hope your eyes don't bleed.

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Ziggy is doing well. He had to have all of his teeth extracted, last Friday, because he was getting chronic gum infections. =( Poor guy. Well, now he gets to eat his favorite soft food everyday! Still, he seems to be doing well and is on his way back to being as normal as he gets. =)

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Eww ... forgot my muddy shoes in the plastic garbage bag in my car! Have to remember to soak/clean those!

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Going to take my mom to Best Buy today to shop for a new computer. I was going to give her my laptop, originally. It has way more than enough computing power for her. Support-wise, though, I decided that it would be better for her to get something more up-to-date as far as OS goes. I hope we can get a good deal on the MS Office suite, too.

( more - sorry, there's a lot coming up )

You can be sure of that. People will change in their own ways and in their own time. I enjoyed reading "a small guide to big changes", today, and agreed with it completely.

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One perfect example of this is my fitness routine. Sure, I've tried to get in shape many times over the years. What usually ends up happening is I start with a fury and it soon dies down with a groan. Hitting small milestones and seeing small results led me to bigger and better things.

7-8 months later, I have lost 8% of my body fat (my beer belly and some of my chipmunk cheeks), lost net 15 lbs (which I want to put back as muscle), and am preparing to run my first Great Aloha Run. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. =)

Each step was tiny and I tried to keep my expectations to a minimum so I wouldn't get discouraged. I got support and encouragement from everyone around me

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But there's more.

I've been dealing with my fear better, these days, and it's been bringing down barriers in a huge way. Each time I conquer a fearful situation is a victory of its own and it encourages me to do more.

Took a rather large step on improving my financial status, today. =) There's two more steps in the plan. The last step will take the rest of this year, more than likely.

But I'm excited about it. =)

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Bigger and better for 2012!

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Anyway... I have hopes that the incoming weekend/week will be epic. Hope it's just as good for you =)

Because I need to write it down before I forget ...

Praying for Aunty M. She went into surgery yesterday to have her cancerous kidney removed. Although the surgery went well her blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels. The doctors suspect internal bleeding but have not yet been able to find the source. She's already received two units of blood and if the source is not found she is going to be rushed into emergency surgery. We're confident that the doctors know what they're doing but it's still worrisome. =/

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Supposed to go to the range with MK, TK, DJ and who knows who else. I haven't been to the range since ... oh ... I want to say May or June of last year. That, in itself, brings back some unpleasant memories. I wish my memory wasn't so "associative", sometimes.

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OMG, I just had the worst spam musubi EVER! I took a bite and couldn't bring myself to eat any more of it and discreetly tucked it away with my lunch rubbish. My group lead gave it to me as she doesn't eat much, but couldn't refuse another coworker who gave it to her. Apparently that coworker's husband made it. The brown rice was way over-cooked, the nori was soggy and rubbery and, although I'm not the biggest fan of spam but, however it was made, it tasted downright nasty, today.

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Hmm... I was going to go running tonight, but apparently I committed to a run and some food, afterwards, with the coworkers tomorrow night. Hmm. Maybe just a short run tonight and then home for lot of foam-rolling. I only just started with the foam roller so I don't expect it to have a big impact on my knee pain at the 4-6mi mark just yet.

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So I got several tasks that I've been gathering paperwork for. Need to make some calls tomorrow and get it done by the end of the month! Taxes should be done, and filed, by the end of the week, too! Woot!

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If my coworkers hadn't been so encouraging and supportive, I probably never would have gotten back into shape. They are always genuinely concerned about my fitness level, happiness level, and have been actively trying to find ways for me to get over my injuries.

ER messaged me, yesterday, offering her roll of Kinesio tape and volunteering JL to tape up my shoulder to try it out before one of the Monday night practices. The only problem is... I don't want to tape my left shoulder (the injured one) because I try not to use it much so I don't know if the tape will help prevent the injury. I'd rather tape my right shoulder to see if it helps eliminate the normal strain of my armswing.

Either way, if it DOES work ... I don't think I can expect JL to tape my shoulder every week and I sure as heck can't do it myself.

Uh oh... I think I need to hurry and get my shoulder rehabbed. I'm not sure how many obstacles there will be at Swamp Romp, but I'm definitely going to need it for Warrior Dash!

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The workouts have done wonders for my walking posture.

Unfortunately, my seated posture is still horrible. I don't have enough backside to sit up straight. It actually hurts my butt bones. I know. TMI.

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I just found out that Aunty Sak (I think other people call her Aunty Yikes/Yaiks) passed away yesterday. =( She had cancer. I don't know what kind. At least she and Uncle Sak are together now.

Aaah. This week is already starting much better than the last ... even considering the fact that last Monday was a holiday. =)

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The extra protein is definitely helping. back to 162 lbs. I no longer even consider the body fat measurements my scale display as anything but a vague number. This morning I was at 19% (not all that good). Yesterday I was at 14% (not bad). Yes, I'm sure I didn't put on an extra 5% of body fat in 24 hours.

Got a foam roller from KN, yesterday. I tried using it on my hamstrings and IT band last night. It HURTS! I'm hoping that I'll notice some results soon because I'm more than a little frustrated at having my runs cut short by pain (and not fatigue).

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Happy Chinese New Year. Wore my bright red shirt today. Supposedly red is a lucky color. I wonder if it works even if I'm not Chinese?

Heh... just for kicks, I looked up a Chinese astrology compatibility chart. What I didn't expect to find was that Rats and Monkeys are supposed to be, like, 100% compatible. Oh how wrong that was!

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I think I'm going to give the knee a rest tonight. No running. I'm still going to practice but only to teach AS how to pass.

Going to come home early and see if LC doesn't want to play a Black Ops combat training session.

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Gah, every time I remember to look up OGC pistol classes for February, I'm at work. And the websense/firewall/proxy will NOT let me look up anything related to "weapons". I suppose that's a good idea in the grand scheme of things.

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MK wasn't available for lunch. Normally that means I just grab some food and eat at my desk, but I arranged to go with TK. I figured a little bit of outreach couldn't hurt. Especially since he and his gf have recently broken up.

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I want to go to Eat the Street this week!

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Not a great week at work ... I spent a lot of time correcting other people's mistakes and checking their work. Mistakes aren't normally so bad. Mistakes happen. It's just that multiple people made multiple mistakes all on the same day/same week.

Ugh.... upgrades this weekend, too. That means I'll have to stay close to my phone and make sure I have my laptop with me. =P

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Mom's birthday is tomorrow. We're taking her to, of course, Tony Romas, for dinner. Maybe I'll take her to lunch and a movie tomorrow, too.

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Seems like the protein supplement is helping a lot. It's only been a week, but I could already see a difference in my body's reaction in the first couple of days. What a difference 50g of protein makes (and the vitamins, too, maybe). I'm no longer shedding weight so fast (that's a good thing). Good, because I wasn't looking forward to using a weight-gainer.

I've been doing a lot better at staying hydrated, too. I think I get 40oz of liquid before I even leave the house. =)

The patellar tendonitis isn't doing too well. Running seems to be making my vball game worse. Vball seems to be making my running worse. Strengthening really isn't a good idea until the pain has healed. It's all a vicious cycle. Still, though, it's not so bad that I have to cease and desist, except for the ITB pain that stops my runs ... so I will press on with the vball season and I will press on with the running. Going to pick up some KT tape and look for a foam roller, this weekend. Maybe even a stretching book.

We'll see how the game on Sunday goes.

I can't for sure tell if my rotator cuff is getting better. Most days I think it's healing but I end up doing something in my sleep that aggravates the problem. *grumble* At least it's on my left side and not on my hitting shoulder.

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I'm going to sleep early tonight. I'm beat, already.

Chad,

Going to your funeral, today, sucked as I thought it would, but it was a beautiful, clear day with a nice cool breeze and an awesome view of the Koolaus. It was good to see how many of the people that loved you came to pay their respects. It's a small world. Most of the Power Edge gang was there. I saw a bunch of guys from high school. I, apparently, am friends with one of your cousins but didn't know it until a couple of weeks ago. There were so many people there that a lot of us had to stand outside. I'm sure everyone was thinking about their own personal memories of you as your aunt (I think it was your aunt) spoke about you.

I have one that I only remembered as I was walking back to my car. When I got my new car, I remember you telling me, repeatedly, for months how I really needed to get a Broadway mirror for it; that if I wasn't going to soup up the car, I should at least have that one accessory. I resisted for months. I resisted, that is, until you gave me a gift certificate to go get one during the Christmas of 2005. I still have it and, yes, you were right - it's awesome. =)

Thanks, man, for the memories. Until we meet again.

Wats