New Year's Eve - Time to Look Back

Another year has flown by in the blink of an eye. The older I get, the faster they seem to go. Overall, 2018 was a great year -- I was relatively healthy, got to explore Eastern Canada, took on student teachers, met new people, got out of my comfort zone and taught an option class that I have no experience in (robotics/programming), and so much more! It's also the last year of my 20's, which makes it somewhat more special to me.

Reflecting back on January... I believe I was trying to survive teaching grade 9, which was a challenge in that it was a PAT course with pressure to get students to do well. Fortunately, the vast majority of them did well in June, which was a huge sigh of relief. It also helped that I had a very strong group of kids in my group!

February... my first time being the Science Fair Coordinator at my school was probably my biggest highlight. The last time I took responsibility for a large event was probably in my second year for Career Day. Either way, we tried new things with relative success. As the Science Fair Coordinator again for this school year, it'll be good to reflect back and refer to feedback we got from colleagues!

March... I cannot recall anything significant in March besides coaching badminton and having help! It makes a huge difference to have another coach with you. Some people may scoff at badminton, thinking it's a backyard sport, but tell me that after being responsible for 50+ kids at a time (during tournaments) and hosting at least three practices a week, besides making up lessons for grade 9, marking and other lesson planning... It was a stressful month (along with April) but I certainly felt that it made me into a stronger person. Also, once again, I'm grateful for all the help I received with assistant coaching and supervisors for tournaments!

April is a lot easier to remember since I can refer back to my blog! Turning 29 was significant because it marks the end of my 20s. I'll reflect on my 20s more for my last post for the 365 Day post challenge. Another stressful month, but Your Lie in April and Violet Evergarden (one of the best anime series of 2018 in my opinion) kept me sane. April 12th marked a blackout at work, which was a first for me. I recall spending the morning trying to keep my students entertained as we wait for power to be restored. On the 17th of April, I finally (or I should say, my students) got a 3rd place finish in Badminton! The first in my books as a coach for the past 4 years! I also went back to building Gundams, with me finishing up building my MG Phenex.

May meant the school year is about to finish. My dad came back on the first, and it meant bringing back Onigiri! I made it a pledge to go to Japan every other year, since every year is too expensive for me. =( Speaking of Japan, my brother found the Eevee toy he bought for me during Japan 2017 that I apparently left inside my luggage. May also meant field trips, and one of them was rescheduled and eventually cancelled due to increment weather and conditions.

June is an interesting month; school is almost over but huge exams mark the end of the year so it's one final push to the finishing line. I managed to finish the curriculum with enough time for review. My grade 9s did well, none of my grade 7s failed the final exam and my grade 8s... about five failed.

July was mostly learning to program. I was excited at the prospect of teaching a new course! Other than that, nothing out of the ordinary happened. August was vacation time -- Eastern Canada is never at the top of my list of places to visit, but it's sad that I've seen more cities in Japan than I did of my own home country. I would go back to Toronto and Montreal, but I don't know if I can say the same for New Brunswick or Ottawa.

September, October, November and December was work mostly (and the gym). I'm glad to say that my current students have been awesome and life is going well! Also, I started watching some new series like Goblin Slayer (okay), Sword Art Online III (okay), That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime (pretty good) and Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai (Seishun Buta Yarrou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai -- simply amazing... perhaps a contender for best anime of 2018).

Though enough reflecting for one post. 2018 was a great year overall, and I'm hoping that 2019 will be awesome once again! To everyone's good health for this upcoming year!

Spicy and Greasy

I woke up and ate a quick breakfast before starting to clean my desk area for my annual clean up. That took longer than I expected, but I went for a pretty deep thorough clean -- including cleaning my keyboard. Despite not eating by my keyboard, there were still a large amount of dust and mysterious objects in between my keys.

After cleaning, it was off to dinner to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while. We were at Chef Tian, a Hunan and Szechuan Cuisine restaurant. Food was spicy and greasy, but wonderfully tasty. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but no matter how much you train your tongue to handle spice, you can never train the bottom part...

I'm not looking forward to tomorrow...

Feels like vacation...`

I cannot recall the last time I cooked/had someone cook me something during vacation. It often involves going out to eat, or buying pre-made meals at the supermarket. As for the last couple days, I've been going out to eat lunch or dinner or both like today! It's a great way to meet up with people I haven't seen in a while.

Leg day at the gym went by quickly. Squats were feeling alright, though apparently I was slanting once again. =(

Oh, I forgot to mention that I manage to finish Shadow of the Tomb Raider late last night. A great game, though I breezed through it surprisingly fast. Perhaps I should have challenged myself and set the difficult level higher. I feel slightly empty knowing that I finished the trilogy. It started in October with the purchase of a new graphics card, and it has been a fun ride going through Lara's journey as she started off somewhat timid into a hardened survivor.

Either way, one week almost done, with one more to go! It's certainly time to get started on work.

Early Dinner For Once

Since we're on break, we were able to go to the gym early, meaning that we could have dinner at a resonable time today. We tried heading to Ramen Ichinen, but they ran out of broth. Our next stop was to Tokyo Street Market, but that was extremely busy. We finally settled for Mi Noodle, just a few shops down. I had a noodle bowl a while back, so I opted for a rice bowl this time. I was quite satisfied with my rice bowl -- for $10, there was quite a bit of food.

We stopped by 3Q for bubble tea after, and that pretty much marks my night. It's nice to be home relatively early for once!

Other than that, it was quite an ordinary day.

I have decided to leave work till Monday...

Tastes Better Today!

Plans to wake up early went up in smoke. I woke up at around 10:30, got in some breakfast before heading out to the gym for leg day. 225 lbs felt somewhat great, though my back started to hurt after a while.

After the gym, we met up with a friend that we haven't seen in a while. We decided to get food at Noodle World. Unlike Saturday, the broth was a lot better this time around.

After getting home, I ended up playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider (took some time to retrace my steps so I didn't have to fight the Yaaxil in the optional tomb...) and filled up some paperwork for a rebate.

Sigh... tomorrow's another day to get work done, but at this rate I should just hold off to Sunday.

Boxing Day 2018

Like the past 10 years or so now, I've slept in for Boxing Day. I did most of my shopping online for Boxing Day, so I didn't find a need to line up for sales. I ordered a few things from Memory Express, and being the cheap person that I am, I opted to pick up the items instead of spending $30 to have them ship it to me.

I would soon find out that I would regret doing that.

Before I get into that, I went to the gym relatively late and did some back and squats. I went out to eat a late lunch at Insadong before heading to Memory Express to pick up said items. It was about 4 PM and I assumed that lines would quiet down from the morning rush.

Boy was I wrong... we had to wait nearly 45 minutes to get to the front of the line. there were all sorts of people waiting for all sorts of items. One guy in front of me left when he was nearly at the front of the line. I'm guessing he had somewhere to go, but personally I thought it was a waste since it was literally 10 minutes from the cashiers.

By the time I reached the cashiers, it took about five minutes for them to collect what I ordered online. Personally, they're not spectacular deals, but the items I got were cheaper than I have ever seen them at ME, making it a somewhat justified purchase -- though I'm not sure all that waiting was worth my time.

Either way, items purchased and debt incurred, it was time to head on home. I proceeded to play Shadows of the Tomb Raider and some Monster Hunter World.

So much for work today, but tomorrow's another day!

Christmas 2018

Waking up with a stuffed sinus is never a good sign. As the day progressed, it seemed to stabilize a bit, but I have a feeling that it'll turn into a cold at any moment. Fortunately, it's the beginning of break so I have time to recover before work starts!

Merry Christmas to all! It has been a wonderful day to catch up with people! Christmas is time to spend with loved ones, though it shouldn't be the only day to do so in my opinion.

Besides going out, I managed to get more Shadows of the Tomb Raider in -- with some parts giving me a heart attack (those Yaaxil's are the scariest out of the Stormguards or the Deathless Ones in my opinion). I also got in a couple episodes of Zombieland Saga.

Funny how I would be more scared of humans than zombies today... though I guess it's all about the context rather than the actors themselves.

In other words, time to go back to work tomorrow. I should get a start on marking those labs...

Christmas Eve 2018

Another late start to the day which was followed by a couple episodes of Zombieland Saga. It's a series that I picked up recently, and it turned what normally would have been associated with horror (ie: zombies) into a comedy. It's surprisingly good despite some cliches that are thrown around in the show.

Other than that, the gym was relatively busy in the afternoon. I met a few familiar faces that I haven't seen in a long time at the gym today! Shoulders and arms were somewhat rushed because I had to be home before 4 to start Boxing Day shopping online!

Sales aren't extraordinary, but I managed to purchase some things for myself. I then spent most of the evening on Shadows of the Tomb Raider and more Zombieland! I also finally finished Let's Go Eevee! The ending with Professor Oak was definitely hilarious.

Poor Professor =/

Other than that, just a few minutes to Christmas!

About Time!

Second day of break started off with waking up late -- around 9:30 AM. I spent a large part of the day playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider before getting a hair cut -- followed by more Tomb Raider.

In the evening we tried going for Behemoth again. My brother and I swapped roles, in which I became a DPSer while my brother was tank. We didn't die, but we timed out. Our second attempt had a 4th random member join. Unfortunately, we were wiped out (I died twice =/). With morale low, we tried it a third time, and as they say, third time a charm! We managed to beat it, albeit my brother and I dying at the end with the final ecliptic meteor. 

Either way, it's over... for now... until the extreme version comes out for PC.

First Day of Break

I started the first day of break by sleeping in -- last night or very early in the morning was spent unlocking the Behemoth quest in MHW.

I ate breakfast at a leisurely pace before heading to the gym for legs. 185 lbs was somewhat okay, though I felt my heels lifting again. I ended my sets by trying 225 lbs, but my core was extremely bad with some crazy lean. Nevertheless, something to work on... again.

After the gym, I head back to work to pick up some stuff that I forgot to pick up yesterday. After getting back home, I continued playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider (better beginning than the original and Rise in my opinion) and fought the Behemoth in MHW! It's a beast... out of the four tries so far, we've haven't defeated it yet. The closest we've gotten to was stage 4.

Perhaps tomorrow!

Last Day

Last days are always chaotic since everyone is anticipating the upcoming break. Fortunately, I thought the grade 8s were pretty tame -- started with movies/board games followed by cleaning up classrooms and finishing up with a trip to the plaza for lunch.

The gym was relatively quiet for chest day. For being away for a couple weeks, I focused on 80 kg for five reps of five sets. The gym livened up a bit near the end of my workout.

Finally, it has been a while since I last visited Wow Chicken in Chinatown. Their fried chicken is one of the best in town in my opinion.

And now, to think of what I'm going to do for break...

Still not solved...

Second last day before winter break starts! School was mostly ordinary besides a pizza party for my students and the premiere of our school's first movie created by the drama club. At the end of the day, we had our annual staff Christmas/holiday dinner.

I spent some time after dinner to get work done before leaving for the day. It's been a while since I've washed my car, so I was looking for a car wash along 52nd, which is a road I normally don't take in the evening, but only due to the massive amount of traffic on Deerfoot. I finally found a place on 68th ave, that my brother frequents back in the day. It seemed pretty run down compared to the one I usually go to, and the wand had difficulties swiveling. Either way, I got a decent wash, though there's some areas on my car that are still dirty.

Once I got home, I had more food before proceeding to try and fix my brother's 3DS. I tried modifying it last year, but to no success. Unfortunately, I was foolish enough to wipe the SD card with the jailbreak files, thus bricking the 3DS. I was trying to restore boot files to the 3DS, but with no luck after two hours. =/

Other than that, time for bed. One more day to go!

Halfway through the last school week of 2018

Ordinary day at work besides meeting with the principal to go over my professional growth plan. I stopped by Little Caesar's to order pizza for the class party tomorrow. I was going to make life easy by ordering drinks there too, but it seemed like they increased their prices for pop. Therefore, I stopped by Safeway, which was next door to pick up pop. Sure, it's probably cheaper elsewhere but I didn't think it was worth the gas money.

Wednesday is back day, like any Wednesday. I kept it to mostly back, instead of integrating squats as well (I did some rehab squats with the band). Pull ups were tough, and it did feel like my back was screaming from a lack of nutrients.

I cautiously ate some solid food for dinner today, so let's see how it goes! I think I'm recovered...

It's still there...kinda!

I thought I was fully recovered, but eating solid foods did not go as well as I hoped it would. Either way, I kept it relatively simple at the gym with one plate (135 lbs) squats. Out of curiosity, I tried squatting 185 lbs for 3s and it didn't feel too bad at all. As a final challenge, I tried 225 lbs for singles, and it went up relatively quickly.

I don't think I'll be able to do 5 by 5s yet for 225, but something to work on. You think that not touching 315 in almost two years would spur me to push harder, but I guess it truly hasn't...

Other than the gym (work was ordinary), I managed to get some candy canes from Superstore, though not the ones I got last year. I must be too late this year, since Christmas is only a week away! I also filled up on gas, and was amazed at how cheap it was this week for me (under $40, though I only drove about 250 km).

Three more days!

Start of the Last Week

Last week before winter break! It feels weird to not have my student teacher teach, but I had it planned so that this week is mostly movie week for my students. My grade 8s are watching A Beautiful Mind while my grade 7s are watching Spirited Away.

My digestive system felt pretty good today so I risked eating some solid food. I'm feeling... generally okay at the moment? Hopefully it means that I'm almost recovered!

Four more days to go!

First Break from Karate during the School Year

I cannot recall the last time I was away from karate during the school year. I don't count summers since I've been away for a while due to travelling. Fortunately, one of my seniors was able to cover  my class that I teach, meaning that I could sleep in for the day.

With all the rest I've been getting, I'm feeling a lot better than I did on Thursday. I started reading Tokyo Ghoul: re, finished Rise of the Tomb Raider and got the eighth bade in Let's go Eevee. A productive day in just nerding out.

Hopefully I'll be fully recovered by tomorrow or Tuesday!

Relaxing Day

Due to whatever I'm suffering, I spent the day at home. I started reading Tokyo Ghoul a few days ago (since I have no idea what's going on in the most current season), and came close to finishing the series today. If there's one thing to look forward to during an illness is the ability to not feel as guilty when you take a day off.

I'm hoping that I can recover quickly so it's not on my mind when I go back to work on Monday! One week to go before break start.

I guess, it could be a blessing to be sick now, rather than during break... assuming that I recover before break starts.

I guess it's not the flu at least...

Last night was horrible when I tried to fall asleep. Immediately after I laid down, my abdominal region had a burning sensation. I thought it was heartburn, but it felt somewhat different from what I recalled heartburn feeling like. Due to these aches, I had a restless night. It was a tough drive to work, and a tougher day at work. I left pretty much at the end of the school day due to how crappy I was feeling all day. My stomach/intestine would hurt every now and then, though I cannot identify why it's doing what it is doing. I'm thinking food poisoning?

Either way, I missed another chest day at the gym. I'll have to make up for it somehow.

On a positive note, at least it doesn't seem to be the flu!

I guess it's about time...

Despite being around sick people for the past month, I have been pretty lucky in that I haven't caught a cold/flu/etc. When I got home from work (an ordinary day once again), I was feeling great, until all of a sudden I felt really fatigued and my body started to ache.

I was contemplating whether I should go to the gym or not, and the gym I did go to... though after one set of 135 lbs, I was doubled over from fatigued. Not wanting to go home after making the trip (despite it being only about 5 minutes away from my house), I stretched for a good hour before coming home.

And now I feel extremely cold, and sore... and fatigued...

I'm hoping that it was due to an extraneous session at the gym yesterday, but I'll have to see tomorrow.

I haven't been to Indigo for a while!

Grade 8s had a lab today while the grade 7s worked on some notes. Otherwise, it was a pretty ordinary day. The gym was busier than I've seen in a while, which is a good sign. I was still able to grab a rack to myself and an area to do pull ups. I lost count on how many sets were done today, but I managed to fatigue both my quads and my upper back.

I stopped by Indigo after (which was literally 2 minutes away from the gym) to look for a book. I wasn't able to find what I was seeking, but found something similar. For being so late, it was still quite busy; Christmas is in full swing. It's hard to believe that it's only 13 days away.

Christmas Lights

A long day at work due to setting up a lab for tomorrow, but otherwise the same old as always. Despite leaving past 5, there was a large traffic jam on Deerfoot. I took a detour down Erin Woods, which isn't the wealthiest neighborhood in Calgary, though there was one street where many houses were decorated for the season. It was definitely nice to see, which gave a nice reminder of how close Christmas is to us!

I'm surprised that I'm not feeling that fatigued... could be due to having a second year student teacher teaching most of my classes...

Otherwise, a week and a half to go to break!

Burning Shoulders

Work was the ordinary affair. I'm teaching one to two classes now, which makes the day go by slower for me. I find it hard to do my own work while my student teacher is teaching since I sit with the students to observe how he's doing. Perhaps I need to isolate myself in a corner...

After work, I went to grab supplies for activities this week. Fortunately, Walmart had all the materials I need (my annual trip to the Deerfoot Centre to grab material), thus not having to go to the nearby superstore for Borax.

Four days off from the gym did wonders for me today. I was able to hit PR reps and sets: 10 sets of mostly 4 reps of 115 lbs (had 3 sets where I could only hit 3 reps). I never did so many, nor so heavy, so at least it's good to see progress. That costed me for arms though, since I had issues curling and doing triceps.

Either way, off to sleep!

Exhausting Sunday

I woke up a number of times yesterday, making me still tired. Karate went like normal, and I came home to work on a quiz and my student teacher's written narrative. I also managed to get in a good amount of Rise of the Tomb Raider. I hope I can finish it before winter break starts.

But that's all for today... sleep....

Tired Saturday

I wasn't able to fall asleep till around 2 AM, and waking up at 7:30 AM didn't help. I did had a massage and chiro appointment, which explained why I had to wake up early.

The gym was closed, therefore I came home and spent all of it indoors. I managed to finish some marking, progressed in Rise of the Tomb Raider and Let's Go Eevee. I took a few naps here and there, but I feel relatively exhausted. An early night tonight would hopefully solve it for tomorrow.

Four days away from the gym and too many sweets. It was a nice break, but back to reality on Monday! I should be able to last till winter break...

Hopefully...

Spicy Crab

School went like any other day, except for the afternoon. My grade 8s were partnering up with grade 4s for a health and wellness event that the grade 4 team planned a while back. Essentially, the older students were working with the younger students to create a structure out of spaghetti and marshmallows (something I do with the grade 7s for Structures and Forces). I was apprehensive at first, since I didn't know how some of my male students would act, but it went really well in my eyes. It was touching to see, normally rambunctious students, working with their younger peers in a respectful manner.

For my last class: Robotics 7, it was nice to see what I thought would be the weakest group (in terms of academic standings and behavior) actually managed to finish building their robot on time, while some of my other stronger groups did not. I guess it shows that you can definitely not judge a book by its cover.

For the evening, I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday. Dinner was served at a Szechaun restaurant down in the south. The restaurant was known for their crab and fish, so those two were part of our dinner itinerary. The crab was quite tasty and not overly spicy, which surprised me since I was expecting the numbing pain that comes with Szechaun food. Afterwards, there were board games to be played, in which I learned a new game that I never played before: Deception. Pretty fun, though it took me a while to get the hang of it.

I've never been offer that before

Work was ordinary, though I tried to get most things done during prep so I could leave work early (ended up leaving on time) to pick up a cake for my dad's birthday. For the past... 6 years now, I've been picking up a cake at Amandine, which my dad seems to prefer. It could be due to their cakes not being overly sweet or that the owner is Japanese.

After picking up the cake and some other pastries, I drove to the car wash. It's been over three weeks since I last washed my car, and it's high time for a wash, despite how messy the weekend is going to get with the melting snow. As I was washing my car, an employee at the next door mechanic shop (they own the car wash) stopped by my bay and was floating between my bay and the next bay. I have to admit it felt a bit weird, but at after time ran out, he held up a toonie and asked if I wanted more time. I never been offered additional time for free, so that was a first.

Since I've only been rinsing the dirt off my car, rather than using soap or anything, my initial toonie was more than enough so I declined his offer.

After getting home, and taking a shower, my dad told me about the International Space Station (ISS) sighting that was going to take place in a couple of minutes. We bundled up and walked onto our driveway to see the ISS pop up from the west and streak it's way east. It's been a while since my dad and I did some astro-gazing (I forgot the term). The ISS was obviously small, but easily spotted since nothing else was going that fast across the sky.

Other than that, I took a day off from the gym. It felt good to just sit here and not to anything, besides playing some Pokemon. I finished the Pokemon Tower at Lavender Town, and I knew what to expect (Cubone lamenting the loss of his mother, Marowak), but the 3D remake was heart-wrenching... especially as

SPOILER ALERT

Cubone reaches to touch Marowak's hand, though they never got the chance to touch since she found peace. Why couldn't they make contact... even if it's just for a few seconds?!? It was a nice touch to play a bit of the Pokemon Gold/Silver Lavender Town theme (which is quite a bit happier in tone) during this scene as a sense of moving on.

To help explain the scene, I'll link a video I found on YouTube with said scene.

Credits to Zephiel810, in which was the first link when I typed in "cubone mother death scene" into YouTube.

Where's my tissue box...

Caught me by surprise

Grade 8s had a paper chromatography activity, which essentially is to take a marker, place a dot on a piece of coffee filter and let water soak it up so that the dot (potentially) splits into it's base colors.

I normally find this activity a bit boring since it's super straightforward, but this year, the students really seemed to enjoy it. Maybe it's due to not having a worksheet to complete as well...

Other than that, it was legs and back. Slowly working my way back up to an additional 45 lbs for weighted pull ups. Doing 15 sets of five reps with 25 lbs was darn impossible, in which I only had... 8 decent sets of 5 while the rest were half-effort 4 reps. Squats were starting to be crooked after set 10 with just 135 lbs and sets of 5-6 reps.

But off to sleep! I need to head to the gym earlier so that I can come home and eat quicker before bed...

Rehab does work!

Work day was ordinary. Gym was different -- my squats have been quite crooked as of late, so I've been working on correcting my form with resistance training using bands.

225 lbs for 2 reps were going pretty straight so it seems like it's working!

As in terms of short stories... well I was preoccupied playing Let's Go Eevee, so it'll have to wait for another day.

Nothing to report

An ordinary day, with nothing extraordinary taking place. Work went like always, and the gym was the same as always.

I think it is time to go back to writing short stories...

It's December?!

I was aware that December started yesterday, but it really hit me hard today that we're in the last month of 2018. This year has certainly flew by quickly, and it only seems to go by faster and faster with each and every year.

As for karate today, we had our annual kata tournament. Smaller numbers than usual, but the quality was pretty good today. It's funny seeing how some students slack off during class, but during the tournament they're all gung-ho. Congratulations to all the winners!

After karate, I managed to finish marking some online assignments before updating notes. I updated my Science 7 notes last year, but somehow I lost all my files... Fortunately, it's not too hard to modify existing notes in comparison from starting from scratch.

Onto another week of work. Just three more weeks to go! Technically two since the last week before break is mostly activities and movies.

Upgrades Installed

Morning started with a lengthy session at the gym. I was getting my psoas treated, so stretching took about an hour. 135 lbs squats were somewhat enjoyable, though I cannot say the same for the rest of my exercises that were focused on hams and glutes today.

After the gym, I got home in the afternoon to upgrade my computer with the storage devices I bought recently. I don't notice a difference between going from a Kingston SSD to a Samsung SSD, but it's nice to have lots of space!

I also spent a couple of hours finishing an e-learning course that I have neglected over the past couple of months. I signed up for it at the beginning of October, but left everything till today since the closing date to get a certificate for completion is this coming Monday.

The night finished off with some more Rise of the Tomb Raider and Let's Go Eevee. Three badges down with five more to go!

Butter Lab Revelations!

The grade 7s had a conduction lab in which they had to see whether a conductor or an insulator is better at conducting heat. I had a variety of different metal objects out, and I just realize that one type of spoon was better than another type due to its shape. I would be able to use this as a learning opportunity on Monday! =)

Other than that, school was ordinary. Chest day at the gym wasn't the greatest, though at least 90 kg is starting to feel relatively light. I'm hoping that I can go back to 100 kg and push out 5 sets of 5 reps.

I got the chance to finally try out Cafe 2030. I always wanted to drink two different bubble tea drinks at once! Since I'm not much of a foodie, it tasted like any other normal bubble tea place for me.

After coming back, I tried fighting Arch Tempered Kirin on MHW. Arch Tempered monsters are harder than the already hard Tempered monsters. My brother and I were unable to beat it after a few tries, so we gave up for the night.

There's always tomorrow!

Sore Psoas

Another typical workday. Presentations are finally over for my grade 8s and thus we can resume back to notes. I can't recall the last time we've done notes, with their unit test a week back and with presentations all week this week.

Leg day did not go well. My left side has been feeling week yesterday and today, and thus it was time to investigate what was causing the issue. It seems like my psoas (core muscle) was tighter than usual, which may have explained why lifting was an issue today. I had a friend help free it up a bit, and it did seem to help with squatting today.

Otherwise, off to sleep! Tomorrow is Friday already...

No regrets!

The last time I spent so much money on my computer, was when I first built it in 2014. In the past five weeks, I purchased a new video card, new mouse, new HDD and finally a new SSD today at Memory Express. I can't recall the last time I've shopped nearly four times at one store within a week span...

I managed to grab a 500 GB SSD, which is a noticeable improvement over my current 120 GB. I was sitting on the fence (once again) on this purchase since I don't really need a new SSD (despite only having about 8 GB of storage left on this drive), but I needed to stop by since I ran out of SATA cables.

So far, no regrets! I should have more than enough space for my files (pictures and games) without needing to clear up my drives as often!

Other than that, ordinary day at work. One class finished their presentations, while there's two more left to go.

They're starting to pop up everywhere!

Day 2 of presentations - some really good ones while there were some mediocre ones. Work went by relatively quickly; I got to see my Robotics 8 class today as well.

After work, I went to try out Berlingo, which served soft-serve ice cream. The flavours were rich, though not overly sweet.

As I was driving around downtown today though, I saw another car that was the same color as mine. That's two within the span of... 6 weeks? What I never saw in two years, I saw twice in such a short amount of time!

But off to sleep... I wasn't able to get much last night so I'm hoping to make up for it tonight!

Start of Presentations

The grade 8s started presenting their disease presentations today. Other than that, classes were the same as always... except for the start of term 2 meaning new option classes.

Shoulder and a quick arm day, with 105 lbs feeling not too bad, though I wasn't able to do 5 sets of 5 reps. I ended up doing 4 sets of 5 reps and 1 set of 4 reps. I just couldn't squeeze in that last rep!

But yes, an ordinary day once again. No shopping today though!

Another Shopping Day...

Karate was the same like any other week. The class I teach had a practice tournament since the kata tournament is taking place next week. Despite being just a practice tournament, most of the students put in 100% power. Perhaps I should tell the kids that every week is a practice tournament to see if it applies to their other skills.

After karate, my brother and I met up with our cousins for a get together lunch. Scrumptious dim sum is always great to eat! After lunch, it was off to Market Mall and Memory Express in the NE to pick up components for my mom. I've been to Memory Express everyday for the past three days (including today).

Chances are I'll be back tomorrow...

On a happier note, I managed to finish marking my exams, which I didn't expect to do! It should give me time tomorrow to install my new HDD...

A first for me

Woke up and headed to the gym after breakfast. Leg day was alright, though squats weren't going up as fast as I would like for 255 lbs. I could only muster two reps. I hope it's just my body adjusting to squatting three times a week again.

Deadlift was feeling great until I headed off to 105 kg. When I went to get some clips, I somehow got a metal splinter! I had splinters before, but never metal. My brother was able to remove it without much trouble when we got home.

I went out for dinner to Ichiran. We were lucky to be there just before they ran out of stock. It didn't really matter to me since I ordered a mazemen. It was quite delicious, though I think I preferred the one at Jinya more.

Other than that, I went through a batch of written unit tests. Unlike previous years, students were able to answer a question that many students got incorrect in previous years! Overall though, they tend to do better at the written section than multiple choice.

Perhaps its time to revisit my written section and make it harder...

Black Friday

Interviews went well, considering that it wasn't as busy as Thursday. I think I still managed to see 20 sets of families? Either way, I wasn't in a rush to leave work like yesterday, but I did end up going to Memory Express to scope out some deals.

The lines were long at the SE Memory Express store, but it moved relatively quickly. I was in and out in about 15 minutes time. Afterwards, I headed to Costco to purchase windshield wipers that were 30% off. 

Chest Day was horrible in that I barely squeaked out two sets of 100 kg before stripping it down to 90 kg. I blame it on fatigue and lack of sleep from Thursday!

Other than that, a typical day once again. The end of the year is fast approaching!

WHOOOSH

Parent Teacher Interviews, especially on the Thursday, is gruesome since they're longer than normal days for me. Fortunately, the grade 8s had their second part to their unit test (written), meaning that I didn't have to teach three periods. As for my Robotics 8 class, seeing that it was their last class with me, I gave them a free period. Many of the students, included myself played a online game to end of the term in high spirits. The grade 7s had a project to work on, along with a lab that my student teacher took care of, meaning that I didn't have to teach all day! =)

Parent Teacher Interviews themselves went relatively smoothly this year. Around 30 families showed up, though most of them were students I didn't need to see. The students that you do want to see never do show up unfortunately.

In terms of today's title, since Black Friday is tomorrow, they already had some sales online that I took advantage of in the morning before work started. Best Buy had a sale on a gaming mouse, which was cheaper than I've ever seen it (I've been scoping this mouse for the past year or so ever since I started having troubles with my current one) and wireless earbuds, which could be useful at the gym. I reserved both items at the nearest Best Buy to my house to be picked up after interviews today.

The issue I had was Best Buy closes at 9 PM, while Parent Teacher Interviews finish at 8:30 PM. Since it was a Black Friday sale deal, they had a one day pick up window, meaning that I had to pick it up that night. Fortunately, there were no parents near the end of the interview so I was able to leave right at 8:30.

I started warming up my car five minutes before leaving, so I didn't feel as guilty as I... gently thrashed it driving to Best Buy. I have a stock airbox at the moment, but it's nice to hear the turbo spool and faint "whoosh" sound as it releases it's pressure once you let off the throttle to shift gears. I made it with about 15 minutes to spare, though it took about another 10 minutes to get served since everyone seemed to be packing up for the day.

Either way, I was able to pick up my items! And according to my ECU management tool, I had to pull back timing just a bit!

Test Day is Always a Good Day

My grade 8s had their first part of their unit test today, which meant that 3 out of my 6 periods (with one being a prep) were just for exams. Results were similar to last year, where a fair number of students failed the exam (I think 10 out of the 72 students or so that wrote the test). I haven't figured out class average yet, but I'm assuming it's in the 60s. The last time no one failed this Cells and Systems unit test was during the 2015-2016 school year, though my classes for that year were phenomenally good that year.

Other than work, it was leg and back day today. I've upped the weight to 185 lbs for fives (five sets -- my knee was starting to feel weird) and weighted pull ups (25 lbs for reps for 4). Squatting three days again is going to be tough, but it's probably for the best in the long run.

I never knew physical attractiveness equated to the type of car one drives!

My student teacher has been taking care of my grade 8 classes, so I normally sit with the students to observe as he teaches. During one of my classes today, a student told me that a younger student said something rude. Asking what the student heard, she said that the perpetrator wondered how such an ugly person (me in this case) can drive such a nice car.

First of all, my car, once again is quite ordinary. I bought it mostly for the rarity of it's color, rather than it's looks (and for some performance over a regular compact sedan). Second, I guess I could use a wardrobe upgrade... I've been wearing shirts from when I was bigger, so some of them are quite baggy.

I guess I should comb my hair a bit more as well...

But other than that, I was quite amused by the comment. If I had time, I could track down the student and ask what car s/he suggests I drive...

But other than that, quick day at the gym for leg day. Sets of 4 reps of 225 lbs was hard today mentally, but it went up relatively well. I did some sled work to finish off leg day before cooling down on the assault bikes.

Since it was also my brother's birthday, there was more for dinner than usual. Unfortunately, I have lost the ability to eat a lot, thus meaning I wasn't able to eat much tonight. =(

The gripes of old age. =/

Markings of a long week

It's been a while since I stayed till nearly 6 at work. I normally try to leave at 4, and no later than 5, but today marked some work to be done for the week to run smoothly for me. It meant skipping arms and shoulders, but at least I don't have to miss leg day tomorrow... I hope. Parent teacher interviews are this week as well, and it'll be a long Thursday...

I stopped by the local Dollar Tree to pick up supplies for a lab later this week. At items no more than $1.25, it makes shopping for cheap items easy to do. I purchased some glow sticks and ice cube trays (since I lost my other trays somewhere at work).

After getting home, I utilized my time to modify exams for later this week, along with making some notes. I managed to get in some Let's Go, Eevee as well! Once again, they did a great job with bringing Eevee out as a mascot!

Let's Go, Eevee!

As some of you may know, I'm a fan of the Pokemon games. I grew up with then, stopped playing after second gen for a while and got back to it once university hit with fourth gen and never looked back from that. I've enjoyed the changes to the mechanics that Game Freak has done to the games as we went to fifth, sixth and seventh gen (though I cannot say I agree with all their designs... but I understand it gets harder when you have... 800 Pokemon?!?)

With this third remake of Kanto (after the remake for the Game Boy Advance: Fire Red and Leaf Green), I was hesitant on purchasing Let's Go, Eevee (or Let's Go, Pikachu) since they took out a lot of battling and incorporated a Pokemon Go approach to leveling up your team. As a side note, I was never truly a huge fan of Pokemon Go. I felt it was too far from the original series, despite the innovate way to get people to play.

After reading a whole bunch of reviews on how decent the game was, I made the plunge and got myself a copy.

And I'm glad I did! From what I've seen so far, they really dumb down the game so younger children can get into the series, which is probably a really smart financial move since my generation is getting older and older. I'm not feeling the capturing system yet, but it's better than swiping with a finger on a smart phone (you flick your Switch remote on the screen to catch Pokemon now). 

The biggest thing that I like about the game, thus far, is the nostalgic factor. It made my heart skip when I heard the main theme, though orchestrated now instead of being 8 bit (I think it was 8-bit back in the day). 

With the laid back atmosphere (compared to competitive breeding), it allows me to not spend too much time on the game and live my life... as a responsible adult...

Time for bed!

Where do time go...

Surprise surprise -- I was able to wake up early without having a massage/chiro appointment! Going to the gym on time (around 10:30 on Saturday) felt great. 275 lbs for singles was extremely heavy, but it was a relief that I'm able to somewhat do it. I spent more time on hamstrings today to make up for not doing hamstrings.

Other than that, I got home and helped my dad with some chores after lunch. It didn't take too long, though the sun was starting to set. I answered a few emails, before spending a good portion of the day playing Rise of the Tomb Raider.

A relaxing week, though hoping I get work done for tomorrow!

Chilly chilly Friday

Students were working on their presentations for class, which is a rarity for me. I rarely give work periods at school for a number of reasons. One: I prefer to spend more time for class discussions to discuss topics in Science and two: most of my students tend to not utilize work periods as efficiently as they should.

Either way, one out of three classes were quite productive during their work period!

After work, it was chest day at the gym. It was grueling pushing out 100 kg for three reps, when a few weeks back it wasn't as bad. I'm hoping that it was just not benching for two weeks...

Other than that, other exercises at the gym went relatively well! I still have yet to find a work out app to keep track of my numbers.

KT Assault Glutton Heavy Bow Gun

Today's title would only make sense to those of you that play MHW. As of recent, I managed to get my hands on the coveted Kulve Taroth Assault Glutton Heavy Bow Gun (quite the mouthful). It specializes in spread shots (aka shotgun ammo). Even with non-optimized gear, it was able to do quite a bit of damage to monsters. I'm still a fan of light bow guns for mobility, but this heavy bow gun may make me switch.

Other than that, another typical day at school. We're halfway through November already! I took my day off from the gym to get more work done. It's a good thing that tomorrow's Friday, which means that I can relax a bit this weekend before Parent Teacher Interviews next week.

Back and Legs

Ordinary days are always good. Besides presentations for my grade 7s and finishing up the unit for my grade 8s, nothing new took place. 

Wednesday was back day with some squatting. I was working on sets of eight reps for 135 lbs just to work on some volume. My legs are feeling a lot better than Saturday (almost back to normal). It's quite tiring to incorporate legs with pull ups, but it means that I can squat three times a week again. I'll just have to take it carefully so I don't end up injuring myself, which seems to be a common occurrence now a days.

Rest day tomorrow and time to catch up on work! Report cards are done, but there's still so much to do... 

I can't be losing my memory yet... am I?

For some odd reason, I've been having trouble logging into my mark/attendance module at work. After many failed attempts, I was locked out of my account. I went to the office to get it unlocked, and I inputted a new password.

The new password was working for a good portion of the day, but I just tried to log in right now and it's not working...

Maybe there's something wrong with my keyboard at work?

Other than that, work was the ordinary with a light leg day at the gym. I don't feel as stiff as I did on Saturday, but I don't feel like I'm in tip top shape.

Power of Endorphins

Not from drugs, but just going to the gym. I was feeling stressed from last week, but today's session helped me feel back to normal!

Other than the gym, we had to go in to work today. I finished my report cards (save for a few students who have to hand in things tomorrow) and got some planning done for the week.

Life's good.

The end of the year is almost here!

Remembrance Day 2018

This year's Remembrance Day is special in that it marks 100 years since the armistice between the two sides during WW1. A student in karate reminded me about the moment of silence, and so we had a minute in which everyone (including students that are in Div 1 in school) stood quite still.

Thank you to all of those soldiers who fought for our peace. The older I get, the more I appreciate their sacrifice so that we can live in a country like Canada.

Lest we forget.

As for the rest of my day, a good portion of it was spent on completing marking and report card comments. I had plans to lesson plan, but I'll do that during work tomorrow.

I also started Rise of the Tomb Raider. It seems somewhat similar to the first game in that it's a cinematic experience, but there's some nuisance differences that makes the game deeper than the first. The story seems more interesting at the moment, and the skill tree looks more complicated.

But off to an early bed time since I'm exhausted from this week of work. I'll be able to relax a bit this following week though!

What a week of being sedentary could do!

I had a chiro session for my wrist early in the morning. It hasn't been really bothering me, which is vast improvement, though it could have been due to not going to the gym all week.

Which leads me to the next part of the blog: I went straight to the gym after my appointment. Leg day was a disaster. Squatting 135 lbs was arduous in that my hips and knees were feeling extremely tight. I was stretching for a good 20 minutes before hand, but it wasn't enough. Not wanting to injure myself from sitting all week, I decided to call it early after 5 sets of 5 reps of 135 lbs and spend another 20 minutes stretching.

I got in some Tomb Raider before playing around with my router settings. Due to dead spots at home, and having access to two routers, I decided to try setting up a Wireless Distribution System (WDS). It wasn't as hard as it looked initially, but it did take time since I was trying to bridge both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, when you're only allowed to do one. (Or so I read online).

After moving the second router to an area with dead space, I proceeded to mark my Robotic 8 websites. The rubric provided from Code.org was a lot simpler than I thought it would be, so I modified it to fit my needs. Marking websites was actually quite fun, since students tend to be quite creative. Some barely had anything, while others went above what I expected.

After that was all said and done, I spent a couple of hours finishing up Tomb Raider. The first in the reboot trilogy was overall a great game despite not having as many tombs to explore as I thought it would have. It was a cinematic experience as you control Lara Croft through the island of Yamatai. It always seemed as Lara having bad luck since the game steered you towards taking the long route to your destination (burning bridges, obstacles blocking your way, etc). Onto the second of the trilogy next week!

Calgary Zoo Field Trip

The grade 7s had a field trip to the zoo today, in which they partook in an Interaction and Ecosystem workshop. It was actually quite an informative workshop and I managed to learn some new facts myself! I was unable to visit the panda exhibit though. =(

After work, I went to A&W to try their Beyond Meat burger -- a 100% plant protein patty. I've tried vegetarian burgers before, but I have to say that this was the best one I have ever sampled yet. I would be hard pressed to differentiate between a normal beef patty and this patty.

I skipped the gym for the 4th day in the row to mark quizzes that my grade 8s had in my absence. Normally, I would have them mark quizzes after their done to save on time, but with their current topic, it's normally hard to find time after this quiz since there's so much content. After around 2.5 hours, I managed to finish!

Just robotic assignments left to go...

Stories are all marked!

Work was the ordinary, besides our Remembrance Day assembly. May those that fought for our freedom rest in peace. 

I skipped another day at the gym (3 days in a row now) to finish working on the logistical side for the Grade 7 field trip to the zoo tomorrow, followed by finishing up marking stories. After going through a whole bunch of stories in the span of 2.5 hours (including combing through student accounts for those that didn't hand in stories to see if they just "forgot" to share them with me), I can safely say that I do not want to mark any more stories till next year. They were all pretty creative, but it does get kinda boring after the nth story of how they ended up in a pool of yellow liquid.

Almost to the weekend though... which means marking Robotics projects...

Sandwich Stories

May this be a reminder that I should never assign big projects just before the end of a semester... I've assigned a simple writing piece to my grade 8s to help them memorize the pathway food takes as it goes through the digestive system. Unlike previous years, I don't have time to spare in class for students to read out loud and for me to mark them on the spot.

I started with one batch of assignments today (meaning another missed back day =/), and it took a while to go through said patch. On the positive side, students are quite creative when it comes to writing a story that personifies a sandwich as it's gruesomely gets devoured with enough details to make my skin crawl at times. 

I haven't even touched my robotic projects yet... which I'll be leaving to the weekend.

Tokyo Street Market

Despite all the new snow that accumulated on the ground, the drive was relatively smoother than yesterday (both going to work and going home). Work was once again ordinary -- grade 8s presented their sandwich stories and my grade 7s had a review jeopardy session. Mind you, it was one of the most mature and calmest jeopardy sessions I've ever had.

After work today, I got the chance to try out Tokyo Street Market. It was tough deciding whether to get yakitori, ramen or oden. I was debating on getting oden since it's cold out, but I opted for ramen... which turned out to be pretty good!

Other than that, it's going to be a bad week in terms of skipping the gym... darn my lack of foresight and the amount of marking I have to do for report cards! I should have made my due dates earlier...

NOOOOOOOO

I have a habit of going through a Duolingo lesson every morning before work. I find it quite effective in learning Japanese, and had a 465 day streak going on. Somehow though, it turned out I missed my lesson yesterday, meaning that it reset back to zero! It's my longest streak yet, with my last one being about 150 days before I forgot to do a lesson last July 2017 (when I was in Japan).

I guess it's time to aim for a 500 day streak this time around! That should put me into January 2020...

Work was pretty much ordinary besides having my student teacher start his first day. Traffic was extremely busy, since roads were icy. I'm not sure if it's just in Calgary, but when it's winter, you have two types of drivers: extremely slow for the conditions or extremely fast for the conditions.

Other than that, the gym was the ordinary. I'm able to go back to shoulder pressing without pain in my wrist. Hopefully it'll remain this way for  awhile!

Daylight Saving...

Today marks the end of Daylight Saving Time in Alberta, and the switch back to Standard Time. I personally dislike the idea of switching on and off DST since there isn't much benefit in my eyes... especially when we have to spring forward one hour.

Other than that, karate was ordinary. I came home and ate before I started to mark for the good portion of the afternoon. Perhaps I'm getting pickier as a marker, but I feel like I'm seeing more and more mistakes when it comes to assignments in science. This upcoming week is going to be busy with report cards just around the corner. I haven't started marking my option classes websites yet...

Other than marking, I caught up with some administrative items for work since we have a field trip coming up this Friday to the Calgary Zoo!

Finally, I managed to get a couple nice items from Kulve Taroth and advance the story a bit more in Tomb Raider.

Off onto a busy week!

Rest Day Saturday

I woke up late, and with an upset stomach, decided to skip the gym. Despite really liking the new gym, which really helps with motivate me to go, it felt nice to take a weekend off from the gym. I made sure that I was productive though: I continued farming Kulve Taroth on MHW. The rarity 8 items are quite hard to get...

After a few hours of that, I helped my mom with an errand before coming home to continue playing through Tomb Raider. The story line is seemingly short, for I feel like I'm near the end of the game after around 9 hours of playtime. I was expecting more tombs to raid, but it's been a delight so far playing.

Other than that, I spent most of the day relaxing, which I will probably regret since it means more work for Sunday.

Far better in Calgary!

Fridays are always awesome because it means the weekend is near, and I don't have to wake up as early! Work was the ordinary, with students calming down (or maybe getting enough sleep).

Five reps of 100 kg is getting easier for benching, though I was only able to squeeze out three sets. The last couple sets were four and three reps respectively. I know I had a good chest workout if I'm unable to do push ups at the end.

Dinner was at Jerusalem Shawarma on 16th. I haven't had a shawarma since Ottawa, and I can safely say that the shawarma here is much better than the one in Ottawa. Of course, I do not have the sharpest of tongues, but quality over quantity for me!

Holy moly...

I have no idea why I dread post-Hallowe'en school, since the last previous years have been alright. Something in my gut was telling me that today won't be like previous years, however.

And it turned out that my gut was right. I'm not sure whether my students were exaggerating or not, but staying out till 12 AM for candy on a school night??? The lack of sleep sure made some students wild (not sugar... there's enough research out there stating that sugar doesn't cause hyperactivity. I still wouldn't recommend all that sugar though -- diabetes, cavities, and other health issues).

Homeroom class party was decent, though some students decided that since it was a party, they could ignore rules and leave class whenever they wanted to leave. An another class kept on getting sidetracked with non-science questions, which was difficult for me to get them back on task. My noisiest class, however, was actually well behaved and my grade sevens were angels.

Other than that, I managed to survived relatively unscathed.

I had an eye doctor appointment in the afternoon, and fortunately everything checked out. Leg day at the gym was relatively light -- heavier reps, though less quantity. Heavy sets are much easier than endurance sets in my opinion.

Good thing tomorrow is Friday though! Lots of marking to do over the weekend...

Hallowe'en 2018

I had a guest speaker come speak to my students about robotics today, which made my day different than any other day. After work, there was a small meeting with the field advisor of my upcoming student teacher (who'll be starting next week).

I skipped working out today to get work done. I spent my evening organizing a field trip for next week, mark assignments online and finish my professional growth plan. Throughout the entire evening, we only had one person ring our doorbell. Unfortunately, we don't/haven't given out candy for ages. Our street doesn't seem to have a lot of young kids anymore, so it's mostly quiet down our street.

Other than that, a relatively peaceful Hallowe'en.

That was cheaper than I expected...

Since work was the same old, I don't see the point in dwelling on it much. As for the gym, it was leg day today. Unlike last week, my wrist was starting to feel pain once again... I wonder if it was from my shoulder session yesterday. The first warm up squat was difficult since my shoulders were feeling tight. As time went on though, the pain in my wrist got better and better, until I wasn't able to feel any discomfort. Five sets of 225 lbs went by relatively well. I upped the weight to 245 lbs and had 3 sets of 3.

Lunging afterwards was extremely tough. 35 lbs in each hand was a lot tougher than what I thought it would be. I had to cheat and use my wrist straps for the vast majority of my lunging session.

After the gym, I stopped by the nearby Superstore to pick up candy for tomorrow. I was expecting exorbitant prices since it isn't Hallowe'en yet -- however it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. A box of 120 chocolates was about $12; granted that the second box you buy would be $20.

Though I teach more than 120 students this year, but fortunately they were selling boxes of 50 for around $7. 

3D Printer Session

Work was normal besides a PD session after work to refresh how to use the 3D printer. We had a presenter present to us before (same person today), so most of it was familiar. After work, it was straight to the gym for shoulder and arm day.

Same old, same old.

Perhaps it's time to return back to short story writing.

Finally Fixed

Like the past two months, karate was the normal affair. Starting today, we'll be practicing katas daily to prepare for the upcoming kata tournament in December. It's a startlingly reminder that the end of the year is fast upon us.

I spent the first bit of the afternoon finishing up a quiz for my grade 7s tomorrow and a set of notes. It took longer than I expected, but it's probably due to another chore I've been putting aside for over a month now.

Essentially, I had to fix a small part on my car that really takes only five minutes to do. I've been putting it off since I'm just extremely lazy. In fact, I think it only took 3 minutes for me to finish, which is a first because it usually takes more time for me to complete tasks than what I would initially plan.

Other than that, I got in some Tomb Raider (amazing game so far) and continued catching up with the animation and gaming unit on Code.org. Coding definitely is not a walk in the park. I had to refer to the solution guide they had for teachers at times when I couldn't debug my work properly.

Onto the last week of October!

Grand Opening at Evolve

My morning started early due to a massage appointment at 9 AM. Afterwards, I headed straight to the gym for leg day. It was the grand opening at Evolve, meaning that there were a lot of people that I haven't seen before. Squats were feeling rough: 10 sets of 3 reps of 225 lbs. Deadlift felt relatively good -- I was able to max out at 135 kg, with 140 kg being doable, though with super crappy form. After my work out, I sampled the BBQ burgers they had to celebrate their grand opening.

They were amazing burgers and I took two for myself. After the meal, I went to look at homes once again. Just out of curiosity, I went to the community of Conrich. The houses there were huge! I think it was the first time I saw a house with an eight-car garage (four on either side).

Other than that, we spent the rest of the day with a friend who has been away from Calgary for a while.

And that's Saturday! Time to start Tomb Raider!

Bacteria Day Friday

I didn't have any quizzes planned for today, though I had a lab planned for my grade 8s. On Wednesday, my two junior high science colleagues and I plated agar onto petri dishes for students to grow bacteria. For the most part, students were being creative on picking areas to swab, which was a nice surprise.

Other than that, I left work early since I finished my work ahead of time for once!

Bench day at the gym went relatively well. 5 sets of 3 reps of 100 kg is starting to feel easy. I maxed out at 105 kg, which is a PR if I recall correctly. Once again, the difference equipment can make when it comes to lifting!

Also, I managed to finish all optional quests on MHW to unlock the final optional quest. Perhaps I'll find time tomorrow to play it and unlock the chroma color skin option for armor sets.

Dramatic Day

It might have been something in the air, but three individuals in my homeroom bursted into tears during class today. Extremely odd, for I never had that many students cry in one day before.

Other than that, there were a few meetings at the end of the day before staying back to get work done. I then headed down to the dollar store to grab supplies for tomorrow's lab.

I skipped the gym today to get work done. I caught up with marking and checking/answering emails on my other work account. Exhausted, but it's almost the weekend!

It's been a long day

No prep day, combined with students coming in at lunch to complete a spelling test/working on their project/robotic league meeting, which is then combined with preparing agar plates and a survey meant I was busy from 8-5:30. I'm sure others have had similar workdays, though it has been a while since I had a no break day. Fortunately, I had enough common sense to not be lecturing all day, which would have killed my vocal cords.

I arrived late at the gym, so I had to rush through back day. Pull ups are getting easier when it comes to 10 sets of six reps. The same goes for wide grip pull ups -- maybe the creatine is working... Once again, it's hard to believe that it's already Wednesday. Just two more days to go before the weekend!

No pain in a while!

I think I mentioned it before, but I'm a strong believer in four days of work with three days for the weekend. Longer, but less days equal more productivity (despite going to work yesterday, I just feel more energized for the week!) Work went relatively well today and I believe I'm back on track to finish in time for their final exams in June.

The photocopier at the end of the day was having issues with the stapler being jammed. It took me a while, but I managed to remove the jammed up staples, though later realize that there was a hinge which could have shorten the amount of time I spent trying to remove the jammed staples.

As for the gym, it was leg day. I'm not sure why, but today was the first day in ages that I had no pain while squatting. Usually, my knees would feel tight for the first couple of warm up sets before becoming warm. Today, however, I had no issues with my warm up! Six sets of 5 reps of 225 lbs also felt relatively easy, which is encouraging. =) I didn't end up doing much after, besides a number of laps for lunges with dumbbells. The dumbbells at evolve seem to have thicker/larger grip, meaning it's harder for me to hold onto them as long. It is, though, a great way to increase my grip strength so two birds down with one stone.

PD Day Monday

Today marked PD day -- I went in at my usual time to get marking done before our first PD session started for the day. We had a couple sessions on inclusive ed and classroom management. In between sessions, I managed to squeeze in a bit of work. Never had I felt so productive during a PD day!

I rushed on home once 4:00 hit to purchase Tomb Raider from the Steam store. It was 85% off! Despite being an old game (made in 2013), you can't go wrong with a $5.99 Game of the Year (essentially the game with a bunch of bonus content).

After work, it was shoulders and arms at the gym. I should find an app or something to keep track of my progress so I know what weight/sets I'm doing when it comes to accessory work. It's great to see that Evolve is getting some new faces.

Busy busy...

Time seemed to pass by extremely in karate today-- maybe due to being tired from last night. After class, I wanted to try out Gong Cha, since I haven't gotten the chance to do so. The line up was extremely busy; granted it was during the noon rush hour. Not wanting to wait, we walked back to my car. I'll probably have to stop by when it's -50 and two feet of snow on the ground. 

After a quick nap, I went straight to marking. Putting a show on Netflix (Dangerous Animals in Asia) wasn't my brightest idea, though it did make marking less dull. Fortunately, tomorrow is PD day, so I should have some time to finish marking the last half of my last class (if that makes any sense). 

Arguably the Best Wings in Town

Leg day Saturday was busier than usual at the gym, which is good in my books. Either way, there was enough space to grab a rack and squat. Sets of four reps of 225 lbs is doable with my wrist and wider grip now. I'll need to work on my core since it definitely doesn't feel like I have support. I also got the chance to try the sleds there, and my glutes feel like they're going to cramp up anytime now.

After working out, we went out for wings at Mug Shotz, a bar/pub down in Ogden. This is my second time there, and I have to say that their wings are probably the best in town. I have a soft spot for their dill pickle flavored wings.

After coming home early evening, I didn't feel like marking, despite the fact that I should have marked. There's always tomorrow, but not something I'm looking forward to tomorrow with the amount I have this weekend. I did, however got a couple lessons on animations done, which meant the day wasn't fully wasted.

Maybe It's Because I'm Growing Old...

Perhaps it was sheer luck, for I doubt I'm clever enough to have it planned that all of my classes (besides options) had a quiz today. It made my Friday a relatively easy day, in which I was able to give my voice a break.

Getting home took a lot longer than usual due to an accident on Deerfoot. Traffic was crawling from Glenmore, and the side routes I escaped onto were jammed pack with traffic as people had the same idea.

At home, I snacked before heading to the gym. All of a sudden though, I felt a strong wave of nausea, that I don't recall feeling in a long time. It got bad, that I started to feel my saliva thicken in my mouth -- which usually meant that I was near the regurgitation point. After a few minutes, standing by my toilet, it went away and I felt fine once again... Maybe it's because I'm growing old...

The gym was relatively good, and quiet. Bench felt relatively good, though I made sure not to injure myself. 100 kgs for 3 reps (down to two for the last two sets) is starting to become easier. It's kinda sad thinking that my bench weight is catching up to my squat weight. =/

Got my flu shot in

Normal day at work, besides a meeting after school. Otherwise I went to go play badminton at Sunridge Badminton Centre. It has been almost a month since I last went I believe? Seems busier than what I recall.

Other than that, one more day before the weekend. I'm out of things to write for today...

Oh, I got my flu shot in!

Cells, cells, and more cells!

Yesterday and today marked project/presentations from my grade 8s. I've been using the cell project as a means of them to learn the different organelles within an animal/plant cell. Each year, it's been the typical sphere with clay, but the current grade 8s have upped their game. There was a wide variety of baked goods, using a canvas as a base, to making it out of felt. There were still Styrofoam spheres and clay, but the quality seemed to be a lot better than usual.

Other than that, I went to the flu clinic, but it was closed when I got there. There was no notice stating why it was closed, which annoyed me ever so slightly. I saw a couple of people trying to enter when I got back to my car, with no luck as well. =/

Back day at the gym, though it was awfully quiet at the gym. I think there was about... 10 people in total? It's nice working out in peace and quiet, but I'm sure it's not great for business...

Namsan

Work was ordinary today. My student teacher came to visit in the afternoon before he starts in a few weeks time. Other than that, I got to try out a new restaurant. Food there was pretty decent.

Keeping it short because it is way past my bed time. I was playing MHW to complete my daily tasks after getting back from dinner.

"Excuse me, I'll make you a deal of a life time"

Day Three at my school is my toughest day since it's my no prep day. Despite kids being rowdier than usual, my day went pretty well. The one good thing about no prep day is that work seems to go by at hyper speed.

I left work early to prepare for my webinar on climate change. As I was waiting for the light to change at an intersection, I heard someone to the left of me trying to get my attention.

"Excuse me". As I looked at him, he motioned for me to roll down my window. Seeing that it was an elderly gentleman, I assumed that he was going to complain that my car was too obnoxious, or something among the like. I had a neutral expression on my face as I rolled down my window.

"I'll make you a deal of a life time. You can say no of course" were the words (or somewhat close to the words) that he said. With a quizzical look on my face now, I remained silent.

"Do you want to trade cars with me?" In all honesty, I was stunned since no one ever said this to me before. Once again, I drive a pretty normal car, so I don't often attract this kind of attention, especially from people near his age.

I laughed and he complimented on my car's color. With that, the lights turned green and I proceeded onward with my day. I wish I could have thought of something witty to respond back... maybe something like how he wouldn't want my gas bills for my car is a gas guzzler...

Other than that, gym day was shoulder day. I should have done some arms as well, but I was in a rush to get home to play MHW. I'm still in awe with the graphics of the game. 

Glad I made the plunge

With my failed attempts of squeezing more performance from my EVGA GTX 760 SC 2 GB graphics card, I've been researching for a replacement card. I've been on the fence for the past few days, since it's not a necessary upgrade. I'm able to play MHW on low with about high 30s/low 40s FPS. There's minimal lag, and graphics are equivalent to playing on a 3DS.

Among the research I've done, I narrowed it down to a specific Nvidia cards (I've heard that AMD's Vega series is pretty respectable, but I wasn't sure if my PSU would be able to handle a card efficiently since I cheaped out on a PSU). Both were beyond what was needed for MHW and any other future games that I have in mind to play once I have some spare time (ie: Winter Break). After combing different sites to price match with the store I go to purchase computer parts and peripherals (ie: Memory Express), I finally found some great sales on Amazon. However, whether the computer gods are honing in on me, the sale immediately disappeared when I was showing it to others. I went and researched some more, and decided it was probably worth upgrading to an even STRONGER card. There was a sale on Amazon, in which there was a price difference of $100 (meaning that Memory would price match and beat by 10% = $110 saving), but lo-and-behold... it doubled in price after I showed it to my brother.

The card in mind was a MSI variant. Seeing that I tried EVGA, and my brother tinkered with EVGA, Asus and Gigabyte, I thought I would try a new company. Due to the lost sale on Amazon, and the lack of stock at the NE location, I ended up going for the Gigabyte variant of the Nvidia card that they had on sale at Memory (almost 30% off their regular price). They also had 10 cards left, so I didn't have to comb around the city for a store with stock.

Installation was relatively straight forward, and the drivers were installed quite quickly. My computer did crash while installing a driver, but it didn't seem like there was any harm done. Strange thing though, was that Nvidia Geforce Experience suggested that even with this new card, I should play MHW on the lowest settings... which irked me since my cpu is still relatively quick (i7-4770K... not overclocked yet, but it's on the verge of being so).

I benchmarked my new card and found that it aligned with what other people were getting with my setup. I did a quick stress test, knowing that it's pointless since it's running on stock settings. I then proceeded to open up MHW, ignore Nvidia's suggestions, and set everything on the highest setting.

And boy, am I glad that I made the plunge. The game seems to have so much detail that I've been missing out on by playing it on low. FPS on 1080p resolution was averaging 90+, far more than what my monitor can handle. Either way, I was awestruck by how nice everything looked, which brought back memories of when I upgraded from playing SC 2 on a Macbook Pro on low settings to my current rig and playing it on ultra.

Though it is time to save up, for I spent quite a bit on my computer this month! This new gpu though should be future proof and transferable if I decided to go for a new build in the near future!

A Most Peculiar Day

I had a chiro appointment booked for this morning to check up on my wrist. My chiro tired a form of therapy, that I haven't experienced before, which involved stimulating a nerve to react to pain differently. I forgot what it was called, and he did warn me that the studies are mixed, but it was definitely a most peculiar sensation. It started with normal pulses that you get, but then for five seconds, my forearm would contract as a stead current is sent through my arm. The first five minutes or so was bearable, though the last five minutes was starting to make my forearm feel sore. So far though, no major issues when I squatted later in the day.

As I left chiro, I was driving out of downtown to head back home. Down 3rd street, turning onto 5th ave, a young man in a car was trying to get my attention by furiously waving at me. I looked at him, thinking it may be a former student of mine, and nodded and waved back, while giving him a thumbs up. Later did I realize, as he drove on ahead, that he was driving the same exact car that I was driving.

Now, my car is a normal, common car. I probably see at least 2-3 variants of my car a day. What makes my car a bit special, is its color. It's the first time I've ever been that close to a car that looked exactly like mine, while I'm driving in my own car! We even both had wind visors, which I haven't seen on any other car that is the exact same as mine. What a peculiar day indeed.

Before heading to the gym, I headed down to Popeye's Supplement store in the NE to purchase creatine and protein. Since it was customer appreciation day, they were giving out free swag. I managed to get a free gym bag filled with sample products (none that I really take), a shaker bottle (I was short on water bottles for the past couple months, but now I have two new ones!), a magazine and a t-shirt. I don't often shop here, since I've been buying protein at Costco, but it's nice to get free stuff!

The gym was relatively quiet, save a session at one corner of the gym that seemed to be talking about powerlifting. The presenter was the hugest guy I've ever seen in real life. He was extremely thick, and you could probably tell that he is a professional powerlifter. I never seen such muscle before. He was lifting some weights during their hour lunch break, though nothing back-breaking for him.

After the gym, it was back home. I continued trying to overclock my graphics card, while trying to find a higher clock speed for the memory onboard my graphics card. Unfortunately, after 4-5 hours of stress testing multiple settings, I am unable to find a stable clock speed for memory. I did manage to finish the little marking that I had though!

The difference equipment can make

My grade 8s had quizzes today, making the day relatively straight forward. The only challenge I really have at the moment is with my robotic classes, but I should be able to apply what I'm learning now to the second and third semester robotic classes!

Chest day went realtively well, granted that the benches are a lot better than the ones at the old gym. The Eleiko benches are wider, has more grip and adjustable in terms of height. With the rough knurling on the bars, I was able to hit a PR of 5 sets of 100 kg (220 lbs) for 2-3 reps. The difficult part was incline benching -- there's no dedicated bench for incline. Our makeshift bench with a squat work works, but felt a little sketchy. Other than that, the gym was slightly busier than usual with a lot of power lifters today lifting weights that I normally do not see at my old gym. Once again, it's inspiring to see people lift such heavy weight.

Work Day Thursday

I skipped exercising today to catch up on some work. I managed to slog through modifying notes, marking assignments on Google Classroom and got in some Code.org material. Sprites are definitely a lot harder than inserting images onto HTML, but animation is sure fun!

Time really flies while doing work, which I guess makes the day go by faster. It's almost Friday already.

I had something else in mind that I wanted to write about, but it has escaped my mind...

Middle of the Week Already?

Second official work day of the week, which makes it hard to believe that it's hump day already. Personally, I wish school was a four day week instead of five, and have kids in school (and us working) for 10 hours a day instead of 8. That extra weekend day would boost productivity (if I remember the research correctly).

Anyways, work was the same old. Evolve was busier today than it was yesterday, but with... 10 possible locations to do pull ups, there wasn't a waiting issue.

Perhaps its time to return to writing short stories again. Life has returned back to the daily routine with thoughts of summer long gone at this point.

Missed the Hook

The drive to work wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I managed to get to work with plenty of time to spare, which allowed me to get ready for the day. Work was the typical affair, though I had to discipline one of my classes during the lab since they were screaming and chasing one another (a few anyways).

After work, it was off to the gym. I'm starting to get used to squatting with a wide grip, but it does add more strain to my core and shoulders (where the bar sits). I have no issues with slipping anymore, which allows me to concentrate on pushing the bar up (and focusing on my feet). After completing sets of 225 lbs, I cooled down with 135 lbs. On my first cool down set, I missed the rack hook (not sure what they're called) on one side. With the belief that I was racked probably, I dropped the bar down. Of course, the left side (which I missed the hook) fell a lot lower than normal. I reacted by trying to save the bar, but the plate was sliding dangerously close to the edge of the bar. Fortunately my brother was there to save my butt, but it served as a reminder of being mindful when racking.

Other than that, it was a decent session with squats and deadlifts. The knurling on a bar really makes a difference in grip strength. Having proper grip makes it easier to lift heavier weight.

Thanksgiving 2018

I had every intention to hit the gym at 8 AM just so I can do other tasks throughout the day. I ended up waking up at 9. After getting a haircut, I headed to the gym. It was busier than Saturday, though there was tons of space to get my workout done.

After getting home, I finished my marking, entered the marks and proceeded to progress myself in Code.org. Besides programming, I helped replace one of our bidets with a new one. Installation wasn't the simplest, but it was easier than installing the cooler yesterday!

I'm not sure where the time has gone, but I swear I only put in about two hours of MHW.

And that marks my Thanksgiving 2018. I haven't celebrated it for many years, but I'm still thankful for everything I have.

My graphics card may be a dud...

Karate was the usual, with nothing extraordinary taking place. After getting home for lunch, I proceeded to install my Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler (what a mouthful) onto my computer with my dad's assistance. Taking off the stock CPU cooler was relatively simple, but putting on the new cooler took longer than I expected. It took me a while to place the bottom bracket properly (had some difficulty snaking it into the heatsink) and landing it exactly on top of the four holes. After putting it together, I went to start up my computer, but it turned out that it wasn't working. It had troubles POSTing.

It turned out that I forgot to install plastic protectors/shields on some screws that were apparently short-circuiting the board. I had to remove everything and start from scratch. Putting it on the second time was a lot quicker (probably around 15 minutes in total compared to 40 minutes the first time).

Fortunately it worked after installing those plastic... thingys.. so off to overclocking! I started with overclocking the GPU, because apparently that's the easiest way to learn how to OC parts (besides monitors... can't be easier than pressing a button on a monitor). With the help of a guide, I downloaded the necessary programs to start the process. However, my graphics card did not come anywhere near what other people were getting in terms of OC'd numbers. GPU core clock maxes that people were getting were around 14%. My card was struggling when I upped the numbers by 5%...

It might be something that I'm doing wrong, but after playing around for a few hours, I gave up for the day. Reading that it may be due to a crappy power supply unit (I have a Corsair CX750M, which is pretty budget), I tried experimenting with just voltages going into my GPU. There were no crashes or artifacts with that, so I think it's safe to say that my PSU is able to supply ample power.

There's always tomorrow to figure things out!

Evolve Strength

I woke up early on Saturday to go to work to drop off some supplies that I normally wouldn't be able to fit in my car. Fortunately, my mom has a SUV, so that was able to carry my item. Due to clear roads, I was able to make it to work in like 20 minutes, drop off my package, and get back home within an hour.

Very soon after, I drove out to Evolve Strength Sunridge (I'll abbreviate it as ESS), the new gym that is relatively close to my house. ESS is a gym that caters to power lifters, if I remember correctly, though it has a whole range of equipment. ESS has about 20 places to squat (12 dedicated for squat with 8 more stations that can be used for squatting), 8 dedicated Olympic lifting platforms (if I remember correctly), 5 deadlifting platforms (smaller than the OL platforms), 5 flat benches (that can be used for squatting), and a decent amount of other machines. There's also a ton of dumbbells that go up to 150 lbs! Also, all the bars there are Eleiko bars, meaning that they're top notch. It's nice to lift with proper knurling!

Saturday was their grand opening, though it was quiet when I got there. I got a squat rack to myself and squatted for a while, before moving onto accessory exercises. Most of the clientele there seemed to be power lifters due to their build and ability to lift extremely heavy weights. It's a humbling experience to be beside such strong individuals!

Benching on a Eleiko bench and bar was heaven-sent -- being able to adjust the height of the bar and having a slight decline made it relatively easy to hit a PR.

All in all, an amazing gym and cheaper than my last gym! True, there's no swimming pool, gymnasium or other amenities, but they weren't things that I used in the first place. 

After working out, I got home and proceeded to change my oil. I don't drive a lot, but it has been nearly 6 months since my last oil change. Once that was all said and done, I did some research before calling it a night with MHW.

No marking done, but there's always tomorrow!

An End of an Era

Friday marked an end of an era for me. Back in 2014, I was considerably overweight, and out of shape. Somehow, after Mexico 2014, a friend and I decided to head back to the gym. With the recently opened (I believe the Genesis Centre opened up in 2011?) YMCA near us, we opted to get membership over there.

I recall my first session at the gym, trying the foam rollers and learning how to squat and deadlift. Squatting the bar was tough, and I didn't bother to attempt deadlifting just the bar. As time went on, along with an extreme diet, I started to shed pounds and feel a lot healthier. Numbers for the main lifts (squat, deadlift and bench) went up and I was satisfied with my physique. Throughout the four years as well though, I went through a number of minor injuries that have set me back, but nothing permanent thus far. Lifting, for the most part, has allowed me to get my mind off work and socialize with fellow gym mates.

With the opening of a new gym nearby, and with more equipment that I would use, it was time to say goodbye to the YMCA. It was four years of growth, both physically and mentally for me. I worked out in high school, but being young, my main focus was just arms and chest (like most other young people). YMCA was the first gym where I actually "worked out".

Saturday should be exciting as I try out the new gym!

Freight Trains...

I left early for work once again, hoping to arrive early to get some work done. At the rate I was going, I should have reached work with 10 to 15 minutes before 8.

However, two freight trains delayed my commute by at least 20 minutes. I understand that these trains ship items for our consumption and it's crucial for our everyday lives... but do they really need to travel during rush hour. Fortunately, it's not a common occurrence.

Otherwise, work was pretty much the same as everyday. A bit more hectic, but it's probably due to the weather.

Leg day was... lackluster. I'm unable to keep my wrist straight when I squat with my normal grip and position (low bar). I swapped back to high bar with a wider grip to try and keep my wrist more neutral. That'll mean I need to do more core exercises to keep myself from tipping forward. One reason why I swapped over to low bar was due to a weak core.

In more exciting news, it's the autumn festival in MHW! It's nice to see things looking more festive, especially the Celestial Pursuit (aka Gathering Hub). Bad news being that limited bounties are now daily... thus having the need/want to spend more time on MHW to complete them in time...

Goodbye sleep for the next couple weeks.

Slushy Roads

Due to being late yesterday, I left for work half an hour earlier than I have in the past couple months. The morning didn't start off well since the lego kit I was carrying to my car spilled over slightly -- I had to spend a couple minute picking up the loose pieces.

Otherwise, the drive was relatively smooth, though slow. Majority of the students were at school, which is always nice to see.

At the end of the day, the warm weather and sun made the roads slightly slushy. In the span of 24 hours, roads went from treacherous to normal (but slightly wet).

Back day was extremely ordinary and boring. Only difference was me having difficulty doing five pull ups per set.

A regular day, but once again, nothing wrong with an ordinary day.

Record Breaking Snow Day

Waking up to nearly 20 cm of snow in front of my house made me feel like Mother Nature forget about autumn. (Apparently some areas got 40 cm).  Instead of going to work, I had PD today that started at 9. What normally should take about 30 minutes to get to on a normal day would, what I thought at the time, take about an hour.

It took nearly two hours for me to reach my destination. It didn't help that I was stuck on a section of Glenmore since a car broke down in one lane. The one km stretch to get onto Crowchild took nearly 40 minutes to get through. My left calf was starting to ache, along with my left quad due to all the start and stop traffic. I always felt sorry for my clutch from slipping it to inch forward in traffic.

I wasn't sure if I was able to park in the staff parking lot of the school where PD took place, so I parked about a block away. Since the snow fall was fresh, the neighborhood roads were piled high with snow. If I had to hazard a guess, there was at least 10 cm of snow. Fortunately, AWD ensured that I never got stuck (though I lost my makeshift undercarriage hole cover).

Being an hour late for PD meant that I had no idea what was going on for the first 10 minutes, until I managed to figure out where everyone was at during break time. I wasn't the latest one at PD, which made me didn't feel as bad. The vast majority of the PD session was focused around Markdown Language, which seemed relatively straight forward to learn. The session itself was harder than the other coding PD sessions I attended. It serves as a humbling reminder of how some of my weaker students feel in class when they don't understand what's going on in class.

We were let out extremely early due to traffic conditions. Going on was a lot better, with the trip only taking about 50 minutes. However, I was cringing with the way how some people drive in averse weather. I'm not claiming to be a great driver, but when it's slippery outside, tailgating and cutting dangerously is not advised. Also, if you're going to drive a lot slower than everyone, please stay out of the left lane, unless you need to make an upcoming left turn. Also, if all the traffic lights go out, treat it as a 4-way stop instead of just going whenever you feel like...

I planned to skip my workout today since I didn't want to deal with the crappy conditions. Shoveling heavy wet snow served as my 40 minute workout. Arms, shoulders and cardio: what more can you ask.

After marking online questions, I spent time playing MHW. We finally killed tempered Jho, though with the help of two randoms. Fortunately, they were pretty decent!

And off to sleep so I'm able to wake up early tomorrow. It's going to be crappy tomorrow as well in the morning...

Back to Two

I cannot recall if I mentioned it before, but I gave away one of my monitors to my dad when he took my brother's old computer. I've been back to one monitor for about a month now, but it has been hard to adjust to using just one monitor for work.

As of today, I was able to set up another second monitor (an old monitor that my brother didn't need anymore) and boy does it feel good to be back to two. I just feel more productive when I have more monitors to look at!

Since it took a while for me to set up everything, I only had an hour at the gym to pump out as many arm exercises as I can. I should start to reincorporate shoulders back to arm day to make life more interesting.

Chilly Sunday means ice cream

After karate, I was craving some sort of sweet. It was either to try out Gong Cha (which I haven't it yet), or ice cream. My brother and I opted for ice cream.

After our treat, we went to check out a new location! I'll be talking about it more sometime next week once it opens.

Other than that, I got some marking done and proceeded to hunt for tempered elder tracks in MHW. We tried for 45 minutes to beat a tempered Deviljho, but with no luck so far. =/

Pinched Nerve and Brake Pads

It turned out that I have pretty crappy wrist mobility which has led to almost having carpal tunnel syndrome. My chiropractor showed me a few exercises to help improve my wrist mobility. I also had more IMS for my wrist, which gave me a somewhat convenient excuse to skip my workout today.

And thank goodness I skipped my workout, since we changed the tires on our cars. It took a decent amount of time, and when I thought we were nearly done, it turned out that my rear driver brake pad was a lot thinner than what I thought it would be. Fortunately, I purchased some pads last year, so I had that ready. Installation was somewhat straightforward, but tedious. The bracket on the caliper made it difficult to insert the pins near the end of the process. All in all, about 6 hours was spent changing tires and replacing my rear pads.

I didn't end up marking today, since I was "tired" and wanted to play MHW. I completed a mix set, which saw a noticeable increase in damage output. Granted, I need to do a controlled experiment in order to see if I'm actually doing more damage, but I like to believe I am!

Terry Fox Run

The Terry Fox Run at school was slightly different than previous years. Other events took place at the annual assembly, which I'm in favor for since it offers a sense of variety. The run itself was great and a lot of students were stickers on their back with the name of a person they're representing/running for. It was touching to see to people running for a particular person.

As for chest day, it was relatively short (a week of short workouts) but quick. During breaks, there was much discussion on a possibly exciting topic! Tune in a couple weeks to find out! =P

Bummer...

We had a representative from Costco come to talk to us after school today. Their main purpose was to attract new customers by giving some sort of discount and (I think and) a gift card. Unfortunately, they had no promotions for existing members.

Other than that, work was extraordinary ordinary, besides having to go through a bunch of emails that I need to get sorted. The weekend is looking to be busy with marking set aside, but I guess it'll keep me busy.

Leg Day was short since I arrived at the gym pretty late. I didn't get as much done as I should have, but it's nice to have short days every now and then.

It's like it knows...

I cannot recall if I mentioned it yesterday, but I picked up a CPU cooler (Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo) for my computer. I plan to overclock my CPU and GPU to extend it's life (since my current computer is over four years old) in terms of being suitable to game without having to upgrade parts. I haven't decided how much I want to OC it at the moment, but it seems like it knows that it's time is coming. MHW was laggy for some odd reason when we were fighting Kushala Daora. FPS dropped to around 30, when I've been enjoying mostly high 40s to low 50s.

Other than that, work went like any other day. Oddly, it doesn't feel like a Wednesday today, but rather mroe like a Monday.

Corner Runs

The one issue I have at times with Junior High periods are how short they are. When I was in Annie Gale, I believed periods were about 40 minutes in length. My school is slightly longer at 46 minutes a period. It normally takes me the entire 46 minutes for a lecture (and yes, it'll be ideal if I can cut it down and have time for kids to do work, but I like to go in depth with certain topics when I teach), but let's not get started with activities.

Working with microscopes always take more time than I expect it, no matter how much experience I accrue. I cut out my bell work this year for microscopes, and it did give us a couple more minutes of microscope time. Either way, the day went by so quickly since I was up on my feet for the entire day practically.

As for the evening, I had the opportunity to drive around for a while (before I swap back to winters). It was relatively warm, and my tires were pretty warm. As I was cruising down a two lane road (one lane per side) at speed limit, I notice a Mercedes tailgating me. Now, my car isn't at all fast, but it takes corners at a decent pace (and the tires help), along with the ability to exit corners well. A corner was coming up and the recommended entry was 20 kmh. I normally take this corner a bit higher than 20 kmh, but I today was higher than "average". With much confidence in my tires and car's capability to take corners, I left the Mercedes in the background. Perhaps not the smartest move, and stoking one's ego is never a good reason to go fast, and I doubt that the Mercedes understood my intentions, nor tailgate in the future, but it did feel pretty good. >=)