shopping

got my rent deposit back from my old place so i brought my girlfriend to the mall today and bought some jeans that fit (finally!), a belt, some navy Toms (i know, right?), and some other small things. grand total spent today: some $400. whaaaaa

anywho, i bought a pair of the Matix Gripper in black. this is the third or fourth time i've bought Matix and checked out their site. now i have a real appreciation for their brand:


MATIX Capital Collection from Matix on Vimeo.

Karma Karma Karma Karma

Today I gave a homeless man on the corner of Denny and Eastlake my Jimmy John's Unwich #11 and then was blessed with a thank you card from my business partner

and a cash bonus!

Cool.

I say 'tabula rasa' too much

In 20 days I will be 24. I am also desperately trying to get back on track in my own physical activities and eating the way I want to eat (paleo). I've been making a lot of excuses for myself- it's a slippery road and it's root is me. More specifically it's my laziness. I want to be better because I know I am completely capable of doing it. When I was in the prime (CrossFit 4x/week, one "sport" day, 85%-90% paleo nutrition) I felt amazing. I want to be there again.

I'm going to be there again.

Slow motion

better than no motion [/ComYe]

Things are going okay. I have some really great things ahead of me, but at the same time I have a bunch of things to take care of beforehand.

Once this ball starts rolling, I feel like I'll be genuinely happy for the first time in a long time.

----

and late post (I actually have a bigger dedication still in drafts)

Rest In Peace Michael Jackson

WOD: 2100 @ home

for time:

100 burpees

10:41

In the garage which was a perfect height for using the 6"-overhead-burpee-standard. Came out of the gate waaay too fast and suffered from it after #40.

Long day and it didn't really end on a good note whatsoever. The lady just made a delicious pork stir fry tho.

"I want things to go my way/ but lately a lot of shit been going sideways..."

"Hometown Glory" - Adele

It's been a nice couple of days- I got to catch up with some of my favorite people. Spent quality time with Shakira, Nicole Diva and Jeni, convincing two of them to get up on Twitter. Missed out on Janelle, but hopefully we'll meet up soon enough. Ah life and it's mysteries.

I've had Blue Moon to end each night for the past three nights.. Good times, it's about to be over though..

Hurmmm

Ran a workout yesterday and demonstrated a couple of things, but my biceps are SORE from all those pullups. Damn I'm weak right now.

Good news that I'm up to 130 lbs now- although I'm sure it's the high carbohydrate intake I've adopted the past two weeks. This coming Monday will be the start of Operation: Healthy Andrew. Six weeks of strength training to regain my CrossFit-ness, get my body back to where I like it, and a healthy weight.

The gym should be open, I should be back into my own place, and I should be focused once again with life!

Ooh the excitement..

Project: Andrew 2009

Seeing as it's the first day of the month, it'd be a good time to start something new (and it's not a joke).

Because of my recent HUGE drop in weight (I'm 15 lbs under my normal weight), I'm going to start recording my health status daily ala Craig (Urban CrossFit):

BW = Bodyweight (in the morning, with the least amount of clothing on)

Sleep = Hours of sleep

Nutrition = When and What I've eaten during the day. I'm attempting to get back to Paleo, starting at 3 days/wk strict and build up as we enter summer. I'm going to live life and enjoy what I want to enjoy- but hopefully just on the weekends.

WOD = Workout of the Day, if any. I'll also leave notes as to how I felt, previous performances and other details.

My goal is to hit my weight, look healthy and most importantly, FEEL healthy and happy. Here we go...

Last sleep's dream

Ok. This was weird. When I do dream, it's always funky and RARELY sensible.

I just remember being an uncle (though I'm still the same age) to two kids and I live in CJ's house from GTA: SA but it was all real like. I had a niece and a younger nephew. She grew up taking care of him and she had this shitty car that she'd drive everywhere. When they were at school I purchased some older car, but it was a strong muscle car with a lot of potential. They came home and I suprised them and my niece loved it. They drove off and I went elsewhere.

Then I blanked.

The next thing I remember was being at the bottom of this big-hilled neighborhood (downtown Kent?). Anywho I was with my best friend Dan and two others that I can't remember. We were in some house all of a sudden with a girl I grew up with and used to be so infactuated with who we'll call "Gwen". We were chatting and then it started snowing outside. I somehow endedup in the woods and it was dark. I was wandering for what felt like a good five minutes and then found a big mag-light. I put it in my back pocket. I found a road in the middle woods that led to some houses. Everything was blacked out and some people were in a mini frenzy. I found that car that I had purchased for my niece and started pushing it to get back to wherever the hell I was with Dan, Gwen and the others. The car was too much for me and I pushed it to the side of the road with other stranded (and abandoned) vehicles. I found my way onto some smaller train within the woods again and using my flashlight I found some big redhead girl on a motorbike. We didn't speak a word, but we felt like we wanted to help each other. I started lighting the way with the mag and she rode in front of me. I somehow kept up with the motorbike just running. Eventually we arrived back into civilation and I went inside this resort-esque looking cabin. I ran to this big underside of a flip flop to hug it and then it turned into a girl I dated who we'll call Ruby. Ruby and I kissed and she was saying how she was worried and scared and relieved I was okay. Dan and I shook hands and I couldn't help but feel people were blowing this "storm" out of proportion. Ruby and I walked around outside where it was snowing lightly and then I blanked again.

The final part of my dream was me running around the bottom of the hill again looking for the girl I'm seeing right now who we'll call Elle. I was panicked and running around. There was a huge dragon-type monster blocking me from her. I somehow fought the dragon and beat it down with just my fists. She ran up and hugged me (in good ol' cinema fashion) and we kissed. She sat me down and looked over my wounds. I was all bloodied, but not seriously injured. My "little brother" Mikey came out of nowhere and helped me back into that cabin where Dan, Gwen, Ruby, Mikey, my niece and nephew and Elle were all standing there looking down at me as I laid on a couch, resting. I passed out..

.. and that was my dream.

I have my own theories where some of these factors came from, but this was straight up ODD. I never remember dreams and these many situations in this kind of detail. Check the comments.

Building

Since the gym will be moving to a great location soon, I've been hanging around the area as much as possible to a.) familiarize myself with local businesses as well as the "flavor" of the neighborhood- the people, the sights, the smells, the look and b.) build my network by talking about the gym. I'm running out of business cards and my inbox has seen a huge influx of inquiries. We need a new logo so we can start printing tshirts. Any graphic designers out there up for trading services? Or website designers or photographers or massage therapists?

The new address?
1417 10th Ave, Studio #2
Seattle, WA 98122

the entrance is on 10th between Pike and Pine, use The Sweatbox's door

What will it look like? I believe we're going to keep the paint job our business mates have left on the walls: White, green and black.

the entrance is the door on the right

We have to figure out where and how to install some pullup bars here.

Oh damn am I excited. Capitol Hill- HERE I COME!

Satisfaction

I don't treat this blog as my personal outlet as much as I would normally. Hmm. I dislike the fact that when I do write, it's usually in some negative or dark tone. Retrospect makes us do that though right? Or am I the type who lies about seeing 'the glass half full'.

I caught up with little brother* this weekend (we haven't really talked or enjoyed company in months) and finally caught up with each other at Alderwood's Mac Grill for drainks. It's good to catch up and hear shit from someone far out from your perspective who will tell you things straight up. I appreciate honesty because criticism is healthy, and I don't get enough**.

The conversation became heavy and into the meaty part of life. For a while, I believed that our friendship went a bit sour. Not true, but he did decide to back off from me and my life. His reasoning? "You're never happy anymore and I didn't want to be around you because [no one] can make you happy, only yourself. It's that switch- you decide when to flip it back on."

Shit.

How revealing. His 'reason' was definitely wrong (but maybe a possibly factor in my recent 'recession'). And here's the reason I decided to blog: I AM LOOKING FOR THE WRONG THING. I'm too much a perfectionist who is too nice to get what I want, and because of that I allow people to walk all over me. The saddest part is that I am 100% completely aware of it.

Deep breath. I am the greatest excuse maker in the world when it comes to myself. I'm at rock bottom because I allow it and no one else.

The plan: "Success is the best revenge." My gym is about to have a home again. Once the doors open, the dominos will all be in place and I can finally flick the first one down and start.

• Budget is set. It's obviously a work-in-progress, but I hope it executes well.
• 1BR apt in Cap Hill. Studio if I have no options.
  
• Lose car, get a bicycle. Maybe a motorcycle?
• Focus on building my business and becoming an even more respected individual in my field/career.
• Stop worrying about my social stuff because I need to take care of #1.
• Return the favors I've been blessed with back.
  
• Enjoy life as I reach normality.
• Enjoy it even more when I surpass normality (12-36 month project).
  

I do well with planning, I'm just more comfortable with spontaneity. I don't want to fail or live on being pitied or looked down upon. I want to look happy. I want to it to be genuine.

*Was about to link you but I'd rather not put our shit out there.

**Or maybe I get enough, but I usually don't trust/respect the source enough to believe it to be real.




Distance and comfort.

Distance and comfort..

Distance and comfort...

VOTE

Real quick thing: I need your help in choosing a name for a new CrossFit facility we're opening this summer in Seattle's Capitol Hill area. Check out http://foundationcrossfit.com/ and vote in the short little survey. We have a couple of names, but you'll see them when you visit the page.

If you want to be put on the mailing list for the new joint, please let me know: andrew@foundationcrossfit.com

ENFP

Today I had a business meeting with Tony and Derrick* down at Cafe Vita and within the talk Derrick brought up how knowing personality types can tremendously assist in running a business because of the way people act/react to situations.

I took each test twice (did the original three tests, repeated them a while later). The numbers represent percentages.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

1. ENFP (33, 12, 25, 22)
2. ENFP (33, 12, 38, 33)
   

http://similarminds.com/jung.html

1. ESFJ (51.16, 55.55, 57.89, 52.5)
2. ESFP (52.63, 56.25, 57.89, 53.66)
   

http://www.kisa.ca/personality/

1. INFP (61, 55, 95, 73)
2. INFP (64, 64, 95, 77)
   

These average of these tests make me: ENFP (Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling and Perceiving types). Yay.

*Derrick- you are a Godsend. The gym will flourish because of your help!

Spirituality.

So earlier tonight I went to church for Ash Wednesday. I was born and raised Roman Catholic, but about two years ago stopped practicing. I became quasi-agnostic and lived life without the regular visits to church.

Having been through some rough times recently (and after plenty of reminders from my moms and select friends) I started going back to church to see if spirituality was the thing I was lacking. I'm still in the process of checking.

Tonight I attended the evening mass at St. Mark's Cathedral in Capitol Hill. The gospel was done by a lady of small stature, but her choice words rang in my head. She started off talking about Ash Wednesday and what it means. She spoke about the Oscars and in particular, two different scenes in two different winners: the ending dance number in Slumdog Millionaire and the candlelight march in Milk. The preacher talked about how she felt when watching those scenes; how she felt like although her body didn't know how, she wanted to dance to celebrate and be happy along with Slumdog and she felt the solemnity, sadness and honor of Milk. She explained that humans, regardless if we're taught or not, know how to do these rituals. The circle was complete when she said that even if we don't go to church often, we know that we had to be there, like this was a distant memory (it was with me) from the past. Without being too religious, the lady explained how we need to practice rituals, whether religous or not, to be in touch with ourselves. With our spirits.

Blabbering, I know, but I needed to spew it out.

Before I forget...

I had one of the best laughs in a long time Saturday afternoon after someone had an "anger outburst". Good times.

AHAHAHA

Damn. Look @ what I did back in 2002. Oh the memories.

Props to Sheena for inadvertently finding it.

Sammee Baby Tell 'Em Day

Tomorrow! All Day, Ey WednesDay!

to do:

• wake @ 7am and eat breakfast (3 eggs, 1 tbsp butter)
  
• workout @ 9am
• work on business plan
• watch Ellen
  
• talk to Nancy from CrossFit HQ
• Coraline in 3D with Sam
• get a phone/simcard?
• AotS on G4
  
• teach evening class @ 6:30pm
• din din and LOST!
  

Business plans

ARE DIFFICULT TO WRITE!

I'm back on my way. Brewing something for the immediate future. Hopefully I do this properly...

The 14th of February

Haven't had this much fun since 2007. Planned on seeing The Lion King @ The Paramount, but it was sold out (something I obviously should've thought about)

• Lazy morning.
• Breakfast/Lunch @ 1pm.
• Lazier afternoon.
• TV = brain mush.
• Greenlake run, chillin on a rock afterwards.
• Safeway
• Dinner by candlelight- spaghetti & meatballs, Beringer White Zinfadel
• music
• Vegas pictures
• No Reservations
• bedtime

Thanks Valentine.

AY YO!

I took a Berry 5 Hour Energy at 7:20pm and I'M BUGGING THE FUCK OUT RIGHT NOW.

Heart palpitations = toooooo much right now.