Physical Witness

    Back in January, I mentioned that I was embarking on an unusual challenge.  I was going to see if I could perform one hundred pushups in a row, following that up with a different bodyweight exercise challenge each month.  I got sidetracked by weeks of comic book related posts to mention how I was going.  Finally, here is what has happened so far.  I did manage to get to that one hundred pushups in January, albeit with a short rest break or two, although I can manage to get to about fifty or so before I needed a break.  Actually got past one hundred.  For February, I focused on back with a modified inverted row.  Yes, I would have chosen pull-ups as the better bodyweight exercise, but I didn't have any door frames I felt were suitable. They were all either too narrow to comfortably hold, too weak to support my weight, or too out-of-the-way to work.  I got past one hundred here as well, although it was a shorter month and I felt a slight cold coming on the last day.  Yes, a break or two here as well.  March meant leg day, er month.  Bodyweight squats, usually sissy squats.  I know, but I needed some support some days.  I believe I got near one hundred fifty with these, with only two short breaks.  My quads have always been an easy target for me.  Not so my glutes and hams, which were the target for April.  I was going for the glute-ham bridge as my go to exercise.  However, I didn't want to get my hair dirty from lying on the floor every day, so I alternated these with rear lunges.  Again, fairly easy.  Almost didn't need a break with these, but I still got to one hundred.  I must admit that I somehow hurt my left elbow about halfway through the month.  Not sure how it happened, except it started on a day I wasn't exercising.  Just carrying groceries.  Awkwardly weighted groceries, but still.  Fortunately, I didn't need to use my arms for these exercises, so I didn't miss a single day.  By the way, my elbow is mostly back to normal.  No pain or swelling.  Still, both of my elbows seem to ache more these past few weeks.  May was calf months, namely calf raises.  I could go well beyond fifty of these at a time, so one hundred reps got achieved fairly fast.  June has been for one of the more neglected exercises, the bench dip targeting triceps.  Because the tris are smaller muscles, I had to have breaks for this exercise.  However, I hit one hundred just yesterday, and I will see how many more I can reach by the end of the month.  However, this is probably the last of the bodyweight challenges I will be doing, as I am left without many good exercises for the remaining body parts.  The shoulders could get by with a variation of a handstand pushup, but I would be nervous about hitting my head against the ground.  The biceps really only have chin-ups, shared with the back.  But, as I have said, I don't really have any places I could use for chin-ups or pull-ups.  I already do at least one hundred abdominal crunches every other day, and I have done those for years.  I'm thinking of just adding various bodyweight exercises into routines on my days off away from my usual weightlifting days, or day most of the time.  I am ashamed to say that I am mostly a 'weekend warrior' when it comes to exercise.  I don't have that much time during the week any more.  I tried to add more bodyweight routines on my off days, but something always seemed to come up, and I just wind up skipping more and more.  Hopefully, July will mark a bid change for me.  I just have to not go overboard.

Yet Another Shirt on My Back

    So, I took the day off from work yesterday for a little shopping trip.  Among the things I got was a shirt, adding to my overwhelming collection.  Seriously, I've got almost forty shirts to wear every day for the summer, not counting an extra thirty or so for winter, nor the dress shirts that I never seem the need to wear any more.  This also doesn't include the old shirts that I just wear around home.  Any way, this new shirt is a dark purple.  I believe the shade might have been called 'eggplant' online.  Yes, I took a look at what was available online before actually shopping at the physical location.  I was really needing a darker purple and a new pink to replace some older shirts, and I wanted to see what I could find.  I didn't order online, because I frequently have sizing issues with clothes.  In fact, this happened again yesterday.  I usually get a medium in this brand, most brands actually.  However, when I tried on the medium in a muted dusty pink, it was a little too baggy.  The small actually fit a little better, tighter.  This was actually a great thing for me, as the store was out of mediums for the eggplant shirt, only small and large.  I wound up not getting the pink shirt though.  Yeah, I normally get two shirts at a time, but I got talked out of it.  I did get a new pair of cream chinos though, to replace a pair that was getting a little old.  My new purple shirt really does complement my 'rainbow' collection of short-sleeved shirts.  I literally have a rainbow from red to violet, with a bunch of neutrals thrown in for variety's sake.  I have at least one that can legitimately be called indigo.  All types too. Tees, crews, henley, polos, V-necks.  I had been favoring one certain brand, Murano, the last few years, but I have been skipping out on them lately.  Sometimes, I just don't feel like buying the luxury brand, you know?  I still love them, but they didn't have the colors I was looking for this year.  The closest would have been a burgundy red, which I almost would have picked up, if I hadn't been wearing my maroon Murano that day, with Levi's. I just love the dichotomy of that.  The overwhelming majority of my summer shirts are solids.  One stripe, an ombre, a color block. [Excuse the lack of an accent mark.  My keyboard is acting up.  Instead of the accent choices popping up when I press down, the letter repeats instead.] My winter selection has more color blocking, but no real patterns. Still mostly solids.  I do have two dress shirts with cool vertical stripes in multiple colors, but I rarely wear them any more.  Probably not in a few years.  I call them dress shirts, but they would probably be too busy for suits in most formal instances.  

When Marvel Met Disney

    Next week features one of the biggest comic book releases of the year. (Yes, I'm back with comic books for another week.  So what.) Marvel will publish its first comic book based on classic Disney characters since being bought out of bankruptcy by Disney years ago.  Sure, Marvel has published other comic books based on other Disney properties, such as the Muppets and the theme parks, but this will be the first actual comic book featuring the classic characters.  Disney has been producing movies and television shows based on Marvel characters for a long time now, so I am surprised it has taken so long to allow Marvel to publish comic books with Disney stars.  Marvel tested the waters out last year by featuring Disney characters as if they were Marvel superheroes on a number of variant covers in honor of the 100th anniversary of Disney animation studios.  This new comic will be the first Disney comic book in years.  Disney has had a long history in comic books ever since comic books have been around.  The first comics came from Dell and lasted there until the late 1960s when Dell left the comic book market.  Then, Gold Key and Whitman took over the licenses until the late 1970s/early 1980s, mostly publishing older stories instead of new ones.  Then, in the late 1980s, a new publisher called Gladstone started publishing comics, mostly older ones with a mix of newer stories originally for the European market. (There is an in joke there for those in the know.) Disney would finally start publishing their own comics in the early 1990s, focusing on the extremely popular television cartoons.  Most of these titles soon folded, leaving only the classic titles before Disney left the comics market.  Gladstone would soon get the license back in the mid-1990s before going out of business.  Other small companies would gain the license for a few years over the last decades.  Recently, Dynamite has been publishing new comics focusing on a mix of movie and television cartoon characters, while Fantagraphics has been making collections of classic material. Yet, it will be next week when Marvel produces the first new material of classic characters, starring the world's most popular Disney comic book character--Scrooge McDuck.  First, McDuck was not tagged by autocorrect, which reflects the character's popularity.  Second, huh?  For all of the readers who don't know,  Uncle Scrooge is possibly the most popular to star in Disney comics.  Scrooge was created by former Disney animator Carl Barks as a foil for Donald Duck in a Christmas story, hence the 'Scrooge' name.  The character was so popular that he kept popping up in Donald stories, eventually spinning off into his own comic, although he would still appear on occasion in the main Donald Duck comic.  Scrooge would not be seen in a Disney cartoon until "Disney's A Christmas Carol" in the late 1970s, before becoming the star of the "Duck Tales" cartoon in the 1980s. To this day, Scrooge and Donald Duck comic books sell more copies throughout Europe than the most popular titles do in America, when all of the various weekly editions in various languages are combined.  Yes, weekly.   The basic plot of the new comic is that Scrooge has to team up with his multiversal variants to stop an evil version of himself from taking over the multiverse using the ultimate amalgamation of 'Number One' dimes.  Yes, a typical Marvel comic book  plot.  Still planning on getting it though.  In one week.

Keep That Abomination away from My Face

    After months talking about comic books, I am finally returning to other topics.  Such as new soft drinks that have been popping up lately.  Each of the big three have come out with new drinks, so I felt the need to talk about them.  First up is Pepsi.  This summer, Pepsi has come out with two new limited edition flavors, Lime and Peach.  A few years ago, Coke, and maybe Pepsi as well, came out with a lime edition, but it didn't last that long.  Peach flavored drinks have been around for decades.  I haven't tried either yet, as I am not that big a fan of lime, and I prefer apricot over peach.  But then, who has ever heard of an apricot-flavored soft drink?  Still, I might try both before the summer is over.  Next comes Coke.  Their new supposedly permanent flavor is called "Spiced."  It is a mix of Coke, raspberry, and aromatics.  I really don't care for aromatics.  I dislike raspberry.  I hate Coke.  Unless my mom wants to try it (she loves raspberry) I won't be getting this one.  Finally, there is Dr Pepper.  It was just announced that Dr Pepper has overtaken Pepsi as the number two soft drink in the country, so I was hoping for something huge.  Unfortunately, that hasn't come to pass.  Dr Pepper's new limited edition flavor for the summer is Creamy Coconut.  It was teased last year, but I somehow missed on the announcement.  Dr Pepper was giving out free samples to loyal customers earlier this year, but I missed out on the chance.  Bigger fans grabbed up all of the samples before I even got a chance.  This is one drink I definitely won't be trying.  I absolutely hate coconut, creamy or otherwise.  Sure, I have tried pretty much every other type of Dr. Pepper.  The raspberry forward Berries and Cream.  Not a big favorite. The strange mix of blackberry, black cherry, and black current that was Dark Berry.  The flavor grew on me. Even the overly sweet Strawberries and Cream that debuted just last year. I still have one every once in a while.  But this one?  No. I'm sorry Dr Pepper, but I just can't try it.  One of the last times I had coconut was as part of some 'crunch' mini donuts.  I didn't realize that coconut was one of the ingredients, and I could barely stomach three of them.  Dr Pepper should stick to fruit flavors.  How about bringing back Cherry Vanilla to the whole country again, instead of relegating it to a few places? That one was my absolute favorite of all time.  Well, maybe Crystal Pepsi, but that one has been brought back a few times, even if it was just as a online promotion.