Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

Wednesday was my day off, from everything but parenting.

Today

20 minutes writing

10 minutes meditation. Well about 30 seconds of mediation and 9 1/2 minutes of trying…

30 minutes strength training on my Chuck Norris Machine

No seriously, its actually a decent workout. Today’s focus Biceps, triceps, and abs.

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

OK this should have posted yesterday but was having some server issues.

Exercise = better than yesterday.

30 minute jog at 5.1 mph pace, zero elevation with a 5 minute cool down.

Mediation = mostly fail

I did make an attempt after got home from the gym but Josh heard me come in and was calling me the entire time. I gave up after 2 minutes.

Writing = Fail

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

If you work in or with HR you will probably hear about the need for documentation enough to make your ears bleed. Much of this is to mitigate liability, but part of it is about buy in and accountability. It coaxes the documenter to take some ownership. It can also help the documenter to step back and rethink his/her assumptions and/or emotional biases. I have decided to undertake a relatively public experiment and apply this to my personal life.

As I mentioned in my previous post I have been pretty good about embracing fitness, but I really want to take this to the next level. So I will give a daily synopsis of my exercise. I want this to be more than just a post, tweet or FB update that – I made it to the gym today… So I will include what I did and how I did it. Running is my exercise of choice, but let’s face it, even on a treadmill not all runs are created equal. In fact today was not much more than a brisk walk and a slow jog thrown in for good measure. I also want to exercise my brain. I actually get plenty of mental exercise through work, parenting and play, but what I haven’t been doing regularly which I would like to do is mediation. Its beneficial to mind and body and it is time to hold myself accountable to the practice.

And of course there is writing. I am hesitant to include it; I feel I’m setting myself up for failure, but it wouldn’t be much of an experiment if I only included things I am reasonably sure I can accomplish. I think for now I will count blog posts as “writing”.

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Day 1

Exercise = below par

Alarm went off at 5:30 am and I promptly hit the sleep timer. Got myself dressed, caffeinated, scooped the cat litter, added a TV show to my iPhone and was at the gym and on a treadmill by 6:30. Started a 30 minute “run” on manual – no incline and speed at 5.5 mph. After about 5 minutes I convinced myself that since I have a cold, it would be OK to drop that down to a 4.5 mph walk. Walked for about 10 minutes and was overcome by guilt, so I nudged the speed to 5.0 and slowly jogged the last 15 minutes. 5 minute cool down and then home.

Mediation = fail

Writing = D+

Well I suppose I can count this post as it is slightly more than just a status update, but I have nothing today for fiction.

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

So most of my life I have been “Big Guy”. Not a big guy mind you, but “Big Guy”. You know “watch out big guy” “what’s up big guy” “excuse me big guy”… This is what you would call irony. Though I have often wondered if those who use the expression actually understand they are being ironic. I mean if I were to asked them to define irony would they ramble on about black flies in chardonnay or would they say – hey your 5′8, skinny, and I called you big guy, I think I can grasp the concept of incongruity between outcome and expectation. I typically assume it is the former as it is a little obvious, but then again I maybe falling into the obvious cliché of big and dumb.

Anyway, I said most of my life… For a couple years it stopped. I wasn’t suddenly 6 feet tall, but fitness stopped being a priority and somewhere a long the line I crossed some magical threshold where the irony didn’t quite work. I wasn’t big, fat, or even chubby. I mostly just filled out in the rather typical way of a lot of guys in their 30’s.

I believe the G-d, The Universe or whatever you want to called it, is constantly speaking to us. Most of the time that message is hard to hear through the noise of life. I have some difficulty with organized religion, but I do think that it can be good a quieting the noise (I have more to say on this but I think I will leave that for another post). Sometimes we are fortunate enough to find a quiet place (metaphorically) or the Universe is kind enough to raise it’s voice. Though in my experience, this kindness is rarely pleasant to hear.  Anyway the Universe and I have had a few unpleasant   conversations over the last couple of years, some of which I am still trying to fully understand but others were loud and clear.  My world is a better place with fitness a regular part of my life.

I am far from perfect and have had my lapses – I have a hard time getting myself to the gym when sick and have been sick more than not over the last 2 months (kids are germ factories).  But overall I have done a pretty good job of getting and staying in shape.  So the label of “big guy” has returned, but I no longer find it condensing. I wear it and my fitted shirts with a sense of accomplishment.

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

My wonderful wife and Yoga teacher will be holding monthly workshops for the remanded of the year. I have not had a chance to update her website; I know shocking considering how I have maintained my own website as of late. Though technically this is three posts in as many weeks!

She is truly a wonderful teacher so if you have any interest, drop her line at melissa@melissafeldman.com to reserve a spot. I am re-posting her email with all of the details below.
__________________________________________________________

Hello, everybody! Hope you had a wonderful summer.

I know I previously sent out this email at a time when you may have been in and out of town and/or not yet thinking about fall yet, so I wanted to remind you of my exciting workshops coming up! So here is the schedule again. Please let me know if you have questions.

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Dear past, present, and future yogis,

I am very happy to announce my new workshop schedule!

Starting in September I will be offering one workshop each month but I will hold that workshop twice – once on a Saturday and once on a Sunday, and on different weekends. This is in effort to accommodate preferences of which day of the weekend you are available to attend, any travels you may have planned, and I am also aiming to avoid holidays.

Here are the topics and dates for 2009:

MEDITATION & BREATH
Sunday, September 13
and
Saturday, September 26

BALANCE
Sunday, October 18
and
Saturday, October 24

HIPS & TWISTS
Saturday, November 7
and
Sunday, November 15

CORE
Saturday, December 12
and
Sunday, December 6

PLEASE NOTE:
All workshops will be held at my house, 12299 Greenleaf Avenue, Potomac, MD 20854.

All workshops will be held in the morning, roughly 9am-12pm, but I will firm up the time for each individual workshop as the date approaches.

You do not need any experience to take part in these workshops; While some intermediate-advanced poses/techniques may be presented, so are the very basics. Workshops are for dissecting our practice and taking time to talk about and understand what we are doing and why. Everyone finds their own edge and works at their own pace.

Space is limited, so please register early!

The fee for each workshop is $50 per person.

TO REGISTER:
1. Please send me an email that you want to come to a particular workshop – don’t forget to indicate the topic AND date. This will temporarily reserve your space.
2. Then, send me a check for the appropriate amount. (My address is listed above.)
3. Once your payment has been received, I will send you a confirmation email and there are no refunds.

Please forward this information to any friends or family who may be interested in and benefit from these teachings.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

I look forward to seeing you!

Namaste,
Melissa

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

Here is a little idiosyncrasy from my childhood. Somewhere around age 6 I got in my head the notion that it was possible that I could die and keep on keeping on in some sort of heaven/hell of my own creation. So every time the thought popped into my head I had to check my pulse to see if I was still alive. Even at 6 I understood that it was a little silly to assume that God/The Universe would create a reality for me compete with sight, sound, smell, taste and touch and miss such a minor detail as providing me with a pulse. With the aid of cognitive dissonance I eventually reasoned that God/The Universe might want me to figure out that I was not actually “living” in the real world and the lack of a pulse would surely be the path to my enlightenment. For the record by the time I was 10 I had given up on that theory. I actually hadn’t thought of this little ritual in some time but was reminded of it while reading Tim Pratt’s Dead Reign from his Marla Mason Series. One of the characters suffers from Cotard delusion, a psychological disorder in which the afflicted believes that they are dead. Please note I am not suggesting I suffered from this disorder, I was simply a child grappling with the nature of consciousness and reality.

So on to the dream… Last night I had what started off as a fairly mundane dream. Not really spectacular, vivid, creative or particularly enlightening. Other than some normal inconsistencies/dream logic, it was actually a pretty boring dream. There was, as I mentioned, some odd inconsistencies. Occasionally when dreaming I notice the dream logic and say – hey wait a second, that’s not possible I must be dreaming… Then I either go with the flow or take control of the lucid dream. Not this time. In what I am sure was some sort of synergistic reaction to Tim Pratt’s book along with the impact of my Mother’s sudden passing I was sure I was dead, I even checked my pulse. When I couldn’t find one, I had the sudden recollection of an impact and I just “knew” that I had died in a car accident. I woke up with such a fright that it was a good hour before my adrenaline was overwhelmed by the Lunesta and I was able to get back to sleep.

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

Last night sometime – Showered, change into fresh and clean workout clothes, took sleeping pill and read until I fell asleep
5:30 am – Alarm, hit sleep timer
5:41 am – Alarm, got up. (Already dressed in gym clothes sans shoes)
6:15 am – brewed double shot espresso
6:20 am – Deiced windshield and made my way to gym
6:35 am – Started treadmill and last night’s Daily show on my iPhone

I seem to be missing 34 minutes between getting out of bed and brewing my espresso. I did check my email, deleted a few junk mails that slipped through the filter and confirmed one person on facebook. Total computer time 3 minutes – no more. Maybe another minute to put on and tie my running shoes. I didn’t blackout or fall back asleep, yet I have 30 minutes I simply cannot account for?

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

Melissa and I, well mostly Melissa, had our sonogram last week.  There was a beautiful heartbeat and everything appears to be on track for baby number two come February.   I’m really glad we are settled into our new place. The desire for baby number two was one of our primary motivations for moving in the first place and we found such a wonderful neighborhood.  I always wanted children, but the actual experience is so far above my expectations that I truly don’t have the words to describe.  In some ways I think I am more excited this time around.  Well that isn’t actually fair to say.  It is a very different experience on multiple levels.   Since we have been through this before, the fear factor is kept in check.  I am doing a much better job of finding a work/life balance and I am really just more present on so many levels that I can’t get into without completely over sharing.  Suffice it to say, I am in a much better place emotionally then I have been in sometime. 

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

The GINA is almost law.  The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) has cleared congress after 13 years of debate.  In one of the only positive moves to come out of this Administration/ Near Hollywood style parody of unfathomable incompetence, President George (too stupid for Words) Bush is expected to sign it into law.  Why is this a good thing?  Because knowledge is power and power is to often abused.  A few years ago I sat with my wife at a conference on Crohn’s & Colitis, one of the speakers was urging suffers to participate in genetic testing.  I urged her to wait.  While I know I was doing a disservice to other with this disease, there is a very real danger with allowing the wrong people to get a hold of the code, that in-part, makes us who we are.  I am strong believer in the progress of science, but the fear that she or our children*could be discriminated against based on this Mitzvah** could – well, as they say, no good deed goes unpunished.  GINA, once it becomes law will help allay those concerns.  GINA has the opportunity to help shape the future of humanity, create a world were we can reap the rewards medical progress without the fear of personal reprisal for the gift of sharing our fundamental nature.   This may yet prove to be the one positive legacy that Bush leaves to humanity. 

*currently one – at the time none

** I do believe that understanding our nature through science is a Mitzvah

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

This morning we took Joshua for his Varicella (chickenpox) and the third and final installment of his MMR vaccinations.  I know, there is no solid clinical evidence of a correlation between Autism and the MMR vaccination.  What can I tell you, Jenny McCarthy scared the crap out of us, so we split and spaced the Mumps, Measles, and Rubella vaccinations.  When it came down to it we decided if there was even a slight chance that the anecdotal reports of a connection were not spurious, a couple extra needle pricks wouldn’t be the end of the world.  However, it was very hard to watch.  As soon as the nurse walked in the exam room Joshua started to wail.  Now you have to understand Josh is one of the mellowest sociable kids you will ever meet.  He rarely melts down and when he does it is always when he is very tired and/or hungry.    As soon as he saw her – boom.  He knew exactly what was going to happen and was terrified.   What’s worse, I get to be the bad guy.  I get to hold him down while the nurse sticks him and then hand him to mommy to make it all better.  It would be nice to occasionally get to be the one that makes it all better. 

Originally published at Corey J Feldman. Please leave any comments there.

Home: Closed on both places – moved in and mostly unpacked.  Well, the essentials are unpacked, I am afraid we will be living with boxes for sometime.  Our new dinning room set will be delivered tomorrow.  We had the baby proofing service out this weekend; they will be back to finish the job tomorrow.   Our new couch and Chair & ½ should be here sometime next year (or the end of March).  I am very happy to be able to grill again. 

Josh:  Josh was cleared by both the Pediatrician and Pediatric GI for all foods except shellfish and nuts. Yeah! No more liquid gold formula.  More importantly it has been so much fun seeing Josh discover all sorts of new eats.  We had a nice little family get together for his first birthday.  He cried his way though his first haircut.  He is still not walking, which is surprising since he has been cruising (walking along the edge of furniture) and walking if you hold his hand forever.  Maybe now that he has some carpet to play on he will take some unassisted steps.  Personally I think he just realizes he can get from point A to B much faster by crawling…   

Melissa:  She wonderful as usual.  She has been a little stressed about the move and unpacking, but now that things are really coming together she is finally starting to relax.  She has had a couple problems with her eyes and the Doctor said no contacts.  She hates wearing her glasses but I think they are totally geeky hot.  

It has been an extraordinarily hectic month and I am working on my third cold of the season(this is crazy not sure what’s up with my immune system).  I plan to get all flickred up shortly with some pictures of the new digs and various recent events.