Fifty

Hit a little personal milestone today. 50 of these.

This winter, after interrupting my shoveling the walk for the third day in a row to help a snowstuck driver at the corner, I was displeased by how much I felt like my lungs and body were about to explode. Now, I fenced in college, did a few years of Aikido, and since buying a house I've had decent stretches of sticking to a good free weight routine courtesy of the long-distance task mastering of my blog partner MeatAxe.

But that last year or so... Well, pretty much put any excuse in there - I've used 'em all. But, decision made as indicated, sometime in January I decided I was going to get to 100 Hindu Pushups by the end of the year. I wanted to go very incrementally, so I started at 1 and added 1 each day. Days that I feel strong and could do more, I don't - the regimen is 1 extra per day.

Pretty obviously, the first 10 or even 15 or so were pretty easy - I'm no stranger to pushups and although the Hindu pushups are harder and more involved, they are mainly just pushups.

But 20? 20 was hard. I started breaking into sets, varying the number of reps but always working toward the goal of set, 30-40 second break, set, 30-40 second break, etc. Some days I was weak and had to break it into sets no bigger than 10, some days I could ram out sets of 15+15+10. I had a week off from being sick and a bit injured (these things work the ENTIRE front slab of muscle on your body and more so - never thought I could injure my NECK doing a pushup - my 41st, to be exact) and that set me back, but today I was able to shakily type over to MeatAxe "15+15+10+10, 5 minutes".

That's 50, that's halfway there, and I'm feeling pretty good about that. Still have a bit of flab to transmogrify, move, or lose; but my wind is good, my strength is up, and I'm getting closer to making my set plateau 20 instead of 15. Maybe by the end of the year I can report to MeatAxe "20+20+20+20+20, ten minutes".

MeatAxe, by the way, does a workout that would make a Spetznatz trooper put ribbons in his hair, and he's been very tolerant and supportive of my efforts. Couldn't have done it without him - thanks, Axe.

UPDATE:

After discussions with my taskmaster MeatAxe and perusal of the YouTubes, it turns out I've actually been doing DiveBomber pushups, not straight Hindu pushups. I tried some straight Hindus this weekend to feel the differences.

A Bit of a Bleg

So last week I won the Beard Chicken contest at work. For 5 months of facial disfigurement I received a couple hundred - $40 of my stake. I've had the winnings slated for a specific reward for a while now - a new airbrush - and I'm wondering if any of the folks who stop by here have any ideas.

I've used a Paasche double action siphon feed forever. Courtesy of Joe the Cat though, early last year my trusty paint-spitter hit the floor tip-first, and everything important got all crunched. Many tanks, planes, and Y-wings have languished on the bench waiting for paint or primer since then.

Now I'm faced with a choice - do I get another Paasche, for which I already have attachments, hoses, and the like, and use the leftover $$ for more tips and needles? Or do I change over to a more pricey brand because I can, and start over with accessories? I see Iwata is making a splash lately, but they're pricey. Are they any good? Do I have to be better than average to make use of what they bring to the table?

Anyone have an opinion?

I Hereby Resolutely Resolve to Act On this Resolution

So this weekend I was leafing through some of my collection of Fine Scale Modeler magazines. I mainly build WWII armor but have had a lot of fun scratchbuilding (i.e. making or modifying parts myself) the occasional space ship as well. And like most modelers I have about three projects in progress and a shelf full of stuff waiting in the wings.



But this weekend, as I looked at the 2,645th photoset and article about the German Tiger I tank followed by the 405th reader Gallery entry of a diorama showing a Tiger driving by one of its "unlucky victim" tanks, I sprang to my feet, raised my hand, and swore a mighty Oath that this year I will make my own diorama showing a blasted and wrecked Tiger I being passed by by a U.S. or Brit tank destroyer. Maybe an Archer - that weird little "rear-fire-only" TD that mated a rear-firing 17 pounder antitank gun to an old Valentine tank chasssis. Does anyone make a kit of an Archer, I wonder?

Don't get me wrong - the Tiger I was a cool-looking tank; a heaping helping of mean on top of a big pile of ugly. But as a bit of a WWII grog, you get plenty sick of 'em pretty fast.

So that's my one New Year's Resolution so far.