Remodeling My Second Home

Posted on May 14, 2013 by admin

my-contractorI was involved with a house remodel here in East Haddam about 10 years ago, when I started my second marriage. The idea was to take my existing house, and make it somewhat bigger to accommodate all the children. After an initial brief period of trying to find a contractor, we settled on a person that my wife knew who had done quite satisfactory work for her sister.

We met several times and together, mulled over decisions like quartz vs granite countertops and things like tile vs wood flooring. All said and sone we designed an addition of about 800 square feet. Like any other project, the early days of excitement and enthusiasm soon became the hard reality. To save money my son and I stayed in the house during the remodel. It can be quite disruptive to have chain saws or drilling start at 7:00 a.m. right when you are waking up.

The contractors always left enough “house” for us to use, in one case the TV was moved to the kitchen and dining area, and there was always one functioning bathroom. But once again it can be difficult. With the work going on the fences were not always up, and my dog escaped several times. Fortunately the neighbors helped and brought her back home. Continue reading →

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Yuck! Another Monday

Posted on September 24, 2012 by admin

At a party for one of my friends this past weekend one of them showed looking quite different. She had lost a lot of weight and I was really impressed. Of course she was very modest about it and denied actually doing anything different than she has been for the last ten years. She is clearly lying because her spare tire is gone but I wasn’t going to pressure her into admitting she was dieting if she didn’t want to.

My days of having to lose weight have been behind me for years and I couldn’t be much happier about it. I didn’t want to discuss with people how I did it either for fear that they would judge me too. As a matter of fact that’s exactly what happened. The second that I told someone that I was following the paleo diet they just rolled their eyes and told me that there was no way that they could do that.

Everyone seems to disapprove of the diet that hasn’t tried it.  I just more focused on trying to eat the healthiest food I could that made me feel the best.

I forgot to take note of what she was eating at the party. I guess I am curious enough to know how she did it to still be thinking about it two days later.

I’m struggling a bit with motivation today btw. I’ve got to drag my butt into the gym and that’s exactly how I feel about it. Like I have to drag myself in there. I just don;t want to go. I’d rahter just hang out on the couch and pretend like I don’t have any other responsibilities to myself or anyone else for that matter. I know that’s a terrible attitude but it’s how I feel. I’ve just got to get up and do something about it. That’s why I’m signing off the computer right now. To get to the gym, burn some fat, and hope to increase my energy levels for the rest of the day.

 

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Slow Burn Weight Lifting Technique

Posted on September 22, 2012 by admin

I’ve taken several stabs at building muscle over the years. I’ve got the half-used containers of protein to prove it. I started out reading fitness magazines and doing the routines in there but never really stuck with it. Guess I never felt like I knew what I was doing. How many sets? How many reps? What do I eat? How many times a week do I train?

Then, over the years, I started learning about the slow-burn technique. With this technique you do 5-6 ultra-slow reps using a moderately heavy weight. The idea is to stress the muscle by going super slowly and to work to complete failure. You do every muscle in your body, taking each through its full range of muscle. This causes maximum T-1 response for maximum growth. From what I’ve read, this method is so powerful that you only need to perform it once or twice a week, and with good nutrition, can put on 8-10 pounds of muscle per month.

I tried this twice and didn’t keep it up for more than a week and a half because it’s SO HARD! It sounds easy, but working every muscle in your body to failure really taxes your physical and mental strength. There’s something about putting yourself in this kind of pain that’s very humbling. Still, I’m trying again, twice a week, whey protein shakes before and after, and good supplements. I REALLY want to see muscle growth this time, so I’m going to stick with it.

This is my third attempt, so I feel I have a better idea of what to expect. This helps me get my mind right before lifting and be patient enough to perform the super slow reps and allow myself to reach failure. The full-body burn the next day is a reminder that I’m doing something right.

Another thing that I need to focus on is my diet. I need to learn how to lose love handles fast because I’ve got a beach vacation coming up and I’d like to be able to wear a two piece bathing suit.

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Comparing Two Reiki Attunement Practitioners

Posted on August 13, 2012 by admin

My name is Mark Green. I have had two reiki experiences which I would like to compare and contrast next to one another. In the first experience, I was on a table in a dimly lit room with a female reiki master who achieved some success in her practice and was able to sustain rent on quite a nice office space.

My First Experience

I went in for at least ten reiki treatments covering a time span of ten weeks. I had several issues concerning my nervous system as well as soft tissue inflammation.

I was very relaxed; however, I was always aware of the reiki master who spoke with great authority on why she was a master and who detailed her advanced knowledge of metaphysics and mystical practices, in other words, how did she learn Reiki. She spoke about these things while she was using the reiki hand positions and the treatments would last approximately thirty minutes. I was never healed to any degree of the issues I came in for. I was told by her constantly “You chose this condition to have.” She never explained what that statement meant or what I was supposed to do with it. In the end, she did heal me of one condition I did not come in for: this was a shoulder condition I battled for many years as a manual laborer.

Reiki Practitioner Two

My second experience came ten years later. I went to see a financially poor and struggling master who worked out of her small apartment. She was a quiet, physically strong individual who practiced massage as well as reiki energy therapy. She never offered cryptic advice or used the karmic “You chose this condition” statement. I felt a very pure soft steady energy.

She worked on me twice and healed several of the inflammation issues I came to see her for. She did not dim the lights or use incense, and she was a master at vanishing into the background while allowing reiki to speak for itself. I learned through my research and my personal experience that the reiki style of subtle energy manipulation is effective; however, not all masters understand effective practice.

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Ow My Face Hurts

Posted on June 27, 2012 by admin
tmj jaw pain

My jaw used to hurt from my teeth grinding.

I never knew that my jaw was from grinding my teeth at night. I hadn’t been to the dentist in seven years. When I opened my mouth her first comment was, “of you’re a teeth grinder.”

I actually had no idea. Sure, my wife has made a few comments but I never realized the extent of just how much I was doing it and how vigorously as well.

I had been doing it for long enough now to actually start to grind down my teeth.

I also never thought that by grinding my teeth I would also be able to give myself headaches and pain and tightness around the jaw. It’s called TJM (I have no idea what that stands for) edit: now i do

I was fitted with a couple different mouth guards for grinding teeth. The first one actually didn’t work so well. After the plaster mold was made a guard was made out of plastic from the mold. Sadly, every time that I closed my mouth it would pop off. I had to do the plaster again, which was just miserable.

The second time I was given a small mouth guard that only fitted to the front of my teeth. I was afraid it would be very uncomfortable and I would not be able to sleep with it in.

That wasn’t the case. The first night I wore it I had a couple glasses of wine and I slept like a little baby.

Not only that but when I woke up the tightness in my face was lessened. Much less so actually. I probably wouldn’t even have noticed it if I wasn’t expecting to wake up with it.

The other interesting thing about the guard is that it’s easy to clean. I’ve just got to brush it a bit when I brush my teeth. Then I put it in its case and there it waits for me until the next night.

I did drill a few extra holes in the case. I didn’t feel that the few small holes that it had would be enough to really let it dry out.

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