30 January 2026

I received an achievement from Word Press, the site that hosts my website. The achievement was for posting three days straight, this must be a new thing because I’ve certainly had a three day streak before. Regardless, it’s a welcome addition by giving me some sort of goal on writing. I started writing daily around 2019 for personal health and after so long I ask myself why continue. The same problem exists for physical exercise, after years of health it seems like health happens naturally. Only after we stop and decay has happened are the problems noticeable, and sometimes no longer fixable. The specifics of the goal don’t matter to me, only that there is something to chase and keep distracted from questioning myself. Writing when I feel like is fine for me, but now I want to see how high the number can go and what effects it might have. On Sundays I’ve rested, as sabbath means rest and now I’ll have to figure out something to post on Sunday to keep the streak possibly going over a week. Maybe I’ll try some poetry or creative writing on Sunday, it could be a continuation of my novel. Along with trying to get my work in order, I set up my blog to post automatically onto substack and that reminds me that I’ll need to get X and Threads set up to cover all bases; in time. Setting things up for the first time takes significant energy, then most things I’m able to anonymize. 

29 January 2026

When I am the strongest, I will feel the weakest. Yesterday when getting in bed my throat was starting to close up like cold. During the day I had a lot of great lifts in my gym. Another five pounds was added to my barbell and I was able to press it overhead, making it my new personal best. Soon I’ll be switching to the gold gym with gold barbell and gold plates. While the number for weight of these items will be the same, the reality will likely be different. My current set up is the cheapest I could put together. That means a plate might say, “45 lbs” and be closer to 44. Add that margin of error to every plate and I’m left thinking I can lift more than I can. Nicer equipment is likely to be more accurate, so I don’t want to get these new weights only to find I can’t lift them. That’s why I increased my weight yesterday and it was a great press, it felt easier than heavier lifts. At 37, I’m finally learning how to use my body. About 4 years ago, I figured out how to do a proper push up. At little after that I understood how to engage my glutes to perform a proper squat. Lately, I’ve been doing squats with a focus on quadriceps. Muscles only pull and are strongest when pulling in a straight line. I’m understanding how the bones need to move so that the muscles are positioned correctly. What I noticed with quad focused squats is I usually pop off the ground at the top. That momentum is what I need to harness to improve my overhead press.

28 January 2026

Cold weather continues down in the American South. There is a video game called Don’t Starve, the title implies the gameplay. The game had seasons like real life and Winter was a accurate depiction of real life Winter. In the game, you’re left counting the days until Winter ends because productivity stops and it becomes about survival. Food won’t grow, the cold will cause physical damage, and the long dark nights can cause the character insanity. A feature I liked in the game was if you shaved it would lower insanity. Personal hygiene and care for individual needs has a larger effect on health. I played that game about 10 years ago and I probably think about it ever Winter. Not much else is going on because nothing can go on. These are survival days and I’m surviving, feeling like Obi Wan in the Phantom Menace stuck behind the energy door waiting to fight. Soon it will be warm and we get a glance at warmth during the day. Maybe I should shave, and do some push ups.

27 January 2026

We braved the ice storm. Our location was safe from any damage and we’re only suffering freezing temperatures. Yesterday, daycare was cancelled due to the expected cold weather. In typical real life fashion, the kids are back today and the temperatures are actually colder. It was was good for us to be sheltering in place this weekend as last Friday I was grabbing something out of the garage and fell on the brick steps. Nothing broke, besides my pride, I twisted my ankle and cut up my leg. The whole thing woke me up to my complacency. I’ve only been in one car accident and the lesson I learned was it happened because I wasn’t paying attention. The same with my fall, as in a car, walking on stairs can be dangerous and should be the focus of attention when operating them. My injuries are doing much better now and I’d like to get back to exercising. I’ve been working on some vanity projects in my gym like a gold barbell and soon to be gold weights. It seems that lifting heavy things is good for mental health, the body feels strong. Having the environment look pretty or inspiring adds to that help and motivates me to do more. Even if I’m not lifting weights, I see the poster of Tom Platz’s massive legs and will do some body weight squats right then. The purpose for my exercise is health, I focus on legs a lot because I’m tall and legs are often neglected. My intention is to strengthen the fibrous connections to my knees to keep me walking as long as possible.

Jesus Battles the Devil

Crusader delves into the profound themes of temptation and divine purpose as illustrated in Matthew Chapter 4. The discussion begins with Jesus being led into the wilderness, where he fasts for 40 days and faces three temptations from the devil. Each temptation is met with Jesus’ unwavering faith and scriptural rebuttals, emphasizing the importance of spiritual sustenance over physical needs. The Crusader highlights the significance of these encounters, illustrating how they set the stage for Jesus’ ministry and the fulfillment of prophecies regarding the Messiah.

As the conversation progresses, the Crusader explores the calling of the first disciples, emphasizing the transformative power of Jesus’ message. The episode culminates in a reflection on Jesus’ mission to bring light to those in darkness, particularly the Gentiles, and the revolutionary nature of his teachings. The Crusader’s insights provide listeners with a deeper understanding of the biblical narrative and its implications for faith and discipleship today.

23 January 2025

Since I’m no longer a farmer I got a bucket full of rice to continue strengthening my hand. Lately I felt that my hands were hurting because grabbing barbells is a small grip for me. One product I got was a large rubber grip to put on the barbell. My thinking is the rice bucket exercise will build up smaller inner muscles that are the root of pain. All a person does with the rice bucket is submerge a hand and continuously squeeze. A couple squeezes later and the muscles are exhausted. Last night, as I tried to sleep my mind was running about everything health related I need to be doing. The holidays are over and life is normalizing, so it’s time to introduce new challenges. I’ve still got the little princess with me, so everything is difficult. Today has enough of it’s own worries to stay focused on. Change is pain. My first hurdle is change, dealing with the pain of doing something different. This is before attempting new healthy habits, just being in a new environment will hurt and my body will do everything to convince me to go back to comfort. Sugar and sweets discipline has to be taken care of. With kids I’ll never get candy out of the house, so I have to be able to face the evil and say no. 

21 January 2026

Taking care of the girls is going well. Last night, the elder princess struggled to fall asleep and I watched her run across the dark house to go potty. She didn’t know I was hiding in the shadowing. I’m happy to see her being able to move around in the dark. It’s one good thing for her to not start crying in the dark, but being able to walk and even see in the dark becomes a useful skill. An important lesson to traveling at night is how our eyes work. The two types of photoreceptor cells in the eye are rods and cones, that means cells that react to light and send that signal to the brain. Rod shaped cells specialize in low light and cone shaped cells are better adapted to see in bright light and colors. The anatomy of the eye has more cones in the center and more rods on the peripheral, so when walking at night don’t look at where you’re going. Using peripheral vision at night will make everything appear brighter.

19 January 2026

Today is a holiday and the elder princess is home from daycare. My queen is also going to congress to rewrite some laws, I’ll have the kids to myself for a couple of days. Over the weekend I was able to get my new flag hung all alone. It was a fun adventure that happened with few misshapes. Sharing a photo of the wall I hanging on with AI, it told me about hangers that would work for the type of siding the wall is made of. There are little metal hooks that go under the siding material, on the other side is a hook with a screw. First, I tightened the screws along the top of the flag and went about installing them. I had to stand on the tippy top of my ladder to reach high enough, technically that piece isn’t for standing and more technically the max weight on that cheap ladder is less than I weigh. Nevertheless I didn’t fall and the ladder didn’t break. Having a couple of tall items like the punching bag stand and white board were helpful to rest the excess flag on while I worked. My other accomplishment this weekend was another episode recorded and posted. For the episode that will be published at the end of this week, I was pleased with the research I did, it’s exhausting though and I won’t be able to do that much every week. My situation is that I constantly want to be better and it’s possible to succeed in part. After growth, rest is required to rebuild, the problem is time off feels like failure. I don’t have the solution, only that I have to be aware of my behavior to know I’m not actually failing.

The Prophetic Voice of John the Baptist WAR ep 78

Crusader delves into the biblical narrative surrounding John the Baptist, his call for repentance, and the significance of Jesus’ baptism. It explores the dynamics between different Jewish sects, particularly the Pharisees and Sadducees, and highlights the challenges posed by John to the religious leaders of his time. The discussion emphasizes the themes of righteousness, repentance, and the prophetic role of John in preparing the way for Jesus.

16 January 2026

My exercise has been going well. The main focus is still push ups, trying to raise my comfort zone, so I can speak while pushing. My claim is I’m still the strongest I’ve ever been, mostly because I weigh more than ever before. The other reason is doing clean and jerk with more weight than before. I like C&J as a total body exercise and am always telling myself to do more squats. Realistically my goal should be weight lose, but being big and strong is more fun than hours of cycling. Squats engage the largest muscles of the body and will burn more calories than any other weight lifting I can do. Thankfully I can still do pull ups, and at over 250 pounds that’s a serious lift. Recently, I’ve begun adding dips too. I hadn’t done dips in awhile because I didn’t think I was strong enough to dip at this weight. Thankfully, a couple years ago I figure out how to do this movements in an efficient way I’ve never done before. Almost 10 years after my military career ended and after a degree in exercise science, I figured out how to do a proper push up. It’s all about angles, muscles only pull so pulling in a straight line is the lowest difficulty. Taking push ups for example people dead hang then try to go up, they need to rotate their body to be as close to parallel as physically possible, then pull. I’ve even been working on my wide grip pull ups now for a wide back. Gotta love that V taper.