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Wherein Ryan hits the 200 lb mark…

I bought my first HD tv yesterday, a Polaroid FLM-3232 32” widescreen job. It looks dead sexy with my XBox 360, which really comes into its own in HD. I don’t get HD with my DirecTV service, but I have an HD antenna on the way that should pick up the local HD broadcasts for free, so I’ll at least have that. DVDs look stellar. The only thing that doesn’t look fantastic is regular digital cable. It’s a little fuzzy because of the native resolution of the LCD screen. Ah well. The big update today is I got a picture taken that so many people have requested of me sans the 23 lbs I lost since December. It’s just a close-up but I think you can get the idea from the image...Oh and I put a picture of me in February for comparison.

As usual, click on the image for a bigger version. Everything else is good. Oh yeah...and I paid off all my credit cards. No more credit card debt for Ryan. Woot.

Wherein Ryan decides to give this mountain climbing thing a try…

I have been bouldering for the past several months, which consists of small, near-ground but very strenous rockclimbing maneuvers without equipment. Today, I went a step past that. I never thought I would ever do anything like this, but today I climbed, with ropes, harness, belay, carabiner, the whole works, up a very steep 60 foot rock face....twice. I couldn’t have picked better people to do this insane pass-time with, one of the guys I was climbing with is a professional climbing instructor, and another has been doing this for 15 years. The type of climb we were doing is called top-roping, which involves hiking up to the top of the climb and setting up an anchor system and then climbing up said system with the rope always supporting you from the top. As far as climbing is concerned, it’s about the safest way to climb, since there is never any real threat of someone slipping and falling. Don’t get me wrong, you’re still way...way up there. The first climb I did has got to be one of the scariest moments of my life, since my lack of experience gave me no trust in the equipment I was using. I was shaking and near-panicked all the way to the top. I “fell” once, which consists of dropping about a foot until the auto-belay catches you. After that one fall I realized that this rope I was on probably wouldn’t break if I hung an SUV from it, so I relaxed a little. It was quite a rush getting to the top of that climb. The trip down is just as nerve-wracking on the first go. You basically have to lean back until you’re perpendicular to the rock and “walk” down backwards as the person supporting you rachets the rope down. I slipped on the way down and scrapped my elbow a little, but it helped me figure out what I was doing wrong. The second time I went up the wall was *infinitely* easier and less stressful. I trusted my equipment and my belayer much more and actually had fun doing the climb the second time. Is this the start of an extension of my new hobby? Probably, in the long run, yes. I have my own harness and I’d be up for going again. Unfortunately Summer is right around the corner, and climbing on a mountain in 118 degrees in the middle of the desert isn’t that appealing. So I’ll stick to bouldering for now.

Wherein Ryan talks about dropping pounds, eating and online health…

I’m at 203.4 lbs as of this morning. In 2ish weeks I’ve dropped about 5 pounds, from a combination of going to the gym/climbing every day and changing up my dietary habits. The “diet” I am on is called The Abs Diet, and the subsequent book is written by Men’s Health Magazine editor David Zinczenko. It’s not a hard diet to follow, nor is it a system where you have to deny yourself stuff you like to eat. Basically it lists 12 “powerfoods” that you should incorporate into your meals (stuff like almonds, blueberries, yogurt, whey powder, flax meal). You just need a few or even one powerfood in each meal, and of course you watch your intake of empty carbs, added fat, etc. Nothing shocking. The trick is, you eat 6 times a day. I won’t say its been difficult eating...basically all the time...but it’s definitely different. My actual “big meals” like lunch and dinner end up being a whole lot smaller because of all the snacking. Apparently you advantage from the “slow burn” of calories instead of getting everything in big blasts. I’m definitely seeing results and eating a whole lot healthier food on a consistent basis now. I’m having fun at the gym and really starting to get into the whole rock climbing thing. I whimsically picked up Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” again the other day, and have had a hard time putting it down. It’s such a funny, compelling adventure and it really urges me to get back on the Appalachian Trail again. In case you were unaware, I hiked the trail when I was...12 or 13 or some such thing, for...I think it was 2 weeks. I was miserable, too young to make the trip, and the people I was with abused my youth quite a bit. But...in the end I had an amazing experience and I would like to try it again. Lastly, I’ve decided to pay for an online workout system. I’m still staying with Hyperstrike, but I’m predominantly using a system I used when I was 19 called GymAmerica (http://www.gymamerica.com). Good...stuff.

Wherein Ryan starts climbing on stuff…

I recently “switched” projects at work and am working with a much smaller team (about 7 as opposed to 70). We’ve already started working on the...thing We’ve got a tight deadline. Everyone played musical chairs in the studio last week, and I am now settled in my new desk, in a little cubical area by a window. It’s not bad. On a much more entertaining note, I’ve found an outside activity that really piques my interest. I’m sure plenty of readers are going to freak out when I describe it, but it’s called “bouldering” and it is, in the most basic sense, rock climbing without gear. However, the areas or “problems” that you are working with in bouldering are almost exclusively right near the ground, usually only 3 to 5 feet high. The only thing the climber has is a pair of climbing shoes (which I just bought), a crash mat (provided by my fellow bouldering friends), and a spotter to make sure you don’t fall on any sharp rocks. I’m definitely bunny sloping it for the time being. I need to get my shoulder and back strength up significantly. I should probably be able to do some pull-ups. My current weight check-in is 210 lbs. I’m between a 36 and a 34 waist. Ever-dropping. My goal weight is 180ish, maybe a bit higher given muscle-mass. As a little plug, I’ve been using an online fitness program called Hyperstrike (http://www.hyperstrike.com) that’s given me good results. It gives me a workout plan tailored to my week and my fitness goals...and at the moment it’s free. If you can’t tell, I’m definitely back into the fitness craze.
Things are otherwise good. The next few months are going to prove to be very interesting, whether that be a good or bad thing, we’ll see. ‘Till next time.