There are several aspects of my new, experimental LCHF diet that I find difficult. The most difficult is getting enough to eat. You'd think it would be easy to eat all the bacon and steak one wanted. It ain't. For one thing, fresh meat and high quality bacon means constant grocery shopping. And we're a family of six eaters. Imagine the amount of bacon we have to buy to satisfy all of us. For six, we need at least a pound and a half at a serving, and that leads to a few of us pining for just one more... Continue reading

Good thing all those people conducting search and rescue operations and helping each other in Oklahoma don't view their jobs or roles as vehicles for promoting their own personal political views. I don't think those in the IRS see the rest of us as their neighbors and fellow citizens. Oh, they'll let us equally pay for their salaries and benefits, but treat us equitably? No. Imagine if we all acted like those white-collared, college-educated, tax-paid losers who used their positions of responsibility to hurt those with whom they disagree politically. We'd live in chaos, hate, and paranoia. Government beneficence for... Continue reading

I'm slowly moving this blog over to a more functional and affordable alternative. This blog won't go anywhere, history-wise, as my wife still has her blog on this site. But how about checking out my new location? See if you like it. Work in progress...just saying. Iron Mike's Marathon Swims Continue reading

I'm so glad I'm not a Democrat as I watch the Benghazi hearings. I don't have the least compulsion to rationalize or excuse or ignore the shameful mistakes made by the administration over Benghazi in order to save my Party's face. I've been listening to C-SPAN's morning edition's discussion about the Benghazi hearings. Disgustingly, the Democrat callers and Democrat tool guests all spout the same garbage that the hearings are only a Republican attempt to disgrace Hillary Clinton. They even blame Ambassador Stevens! If only he'd had the decency to not be killed by the wrong group rather than by... Continue reading

It was the weirdest thing. I was lying in bed reading, as I do every night (no matter how tired...it's a habit), and listening to my internet radio. (I prefer Indie 103.1.) And then this song came on. Now I'm not the sharpest tack in the toolbox, so I'm sure... Continue reading

What is freedom? Is it the freedom to do whatever we want without government interference? Is it the freedom to shape our political or social culture through group action? Does it mean a well-ordered society that allows us to make long range plans without the chaos of shifting rules and new paradigms? Maybe it's freedom from anarchy and the inevitable rule of the strongest. Security is a freedom of sorts. Not worrying about whether or not one will be able to feed one's children is a freedom. It's a freedom from fear and despair. How free does one feel who... Continue reading

We just got back from a trip to St. Petersburg, Florida. We went to the beach, the Dali Museum, Busch Gardens, downtown, and several local nature preserves. While I managed to keep the carbs down, I found it very difficult to stay on as strict low carb diet as I'd been following. But, what can you do? I'm back to practically no carbs and smelling acetone all day. Today I tried to make egg blinis like the ones made for me by a Russian guest to our home. Her blinis were more like blinis; my blinis were one big omelette.... Continue reading

My favorite parts of the book Wind, Waves, and Sunburn are the chapters describing some of the old style marathon races they held in the 50's and 60's. La Tuque 24-hour Marathon, Atlantic City Around-the-Island, the Traversée internationale du Lac Memphrémagog. Those races, simply saying those names, I get a... Continue reading

OK, so this last weekend I took part in a 6-person relay at the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. Alert reader(s) already know this. This post, which I'm sure you've been waiting for with baited breath, will cover lessons I learned in this swim. (l to r) Kim, Patty, yours truly,... Continue reading

Well, I'm back in town after taking part in a 6-person relay (Go Dirty Half-Dozen!) in the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. I learned a lot on this trip and will be processing it for a few days before writing my swim report. I won't say much yet, except: At least... Continue reading

Alert reader(s) know that I'm competing in a relay at the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim this weekend. I've been doing my usual limited swimming prior to the race. I've been debating with myself on this. With 6 people on my relay and with us doing 30-min shifts, how much swimming... Continue reading

Most people, when they take on this ultra-endurance sport that I've taken on, they ease into it. For instance, most ultra-runners probably have completed many marathons before they take on their first ultramarathon. I can't imagine a weekend 10K runner would all of a sudden decide to do the Leadville... Continue reading

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Did a broken 5K pace swim on Wednesday based on my new CSS. I set my TT to 0:27.85 and set off to complete a 2000, 1500, 1000, 500 with no more than one beep rest in between. Kept to that pace the entire time, in fact, as usual, was... Continue reading

Here's an article from the WSJ about the Chicago school system: Rahm's Latest Union Beating. It's about the city of Chicago wanting to shut down and consolidate a number of schools in an effort to save money and to make more efficient use of existing resources as student numbers drop. Of course, the local teachers' union opposes these actions on the grounds that the closings will result in the breakup of neighborhood schools. CTU President Karen Lewis claims the closings are racist, and: "sets an example that low-income, African-American children are disposable." Maybe it's union integrity and honesty that is... Continue reading

Unfortunately, no new PRs in the bench press. I'm doing mostly dumbbell bench presses right now. I did add in military presses. Dang, those are hard! I'm up to 65lbs max rep on those. Pull-ups are great. I want to start doing dips. At least I'm deadlifting and squatting heavier. I'm up to 155lb max reps on both. And I'm doing straight legged dl for the hams. Keeps me off the streets. Low carb fad diet is still good. I eat a lot of steak. The real challenge is feeding six people this way. One, I have to go shopping... Continue reading

Alert reader(s) will notice I did another Critical Swim Speed test. Or what Swim Smooth calls a CSS test. Wait. That's the same thing. Anyway, on Friday I hit the pool and did the test. Again, the test consists of a 400m free as fast as you can, but at... Continue reading

Aaahh! Why do some people who slather over choice in just about every arena in life think educational choice for parents trapped in bad schools is equivalent to destroying public education?? NYT's article With Vouchers, States Shift Aid for Schools to Families has garnered the regular fascist/marxist comments from the kind of people without children trapped in bad schools. We'll get to that in a second. But first, one thing about the article that bothers me is the assumption that it's legislators who are redefining education: A growing number of lawmakers across the country are taking steps to redefine public... Continue reading

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My beautiful grey cat, Balthazar, only got 57 pageviews to my wife's 119. Undisputed, and very scientific, proof that my readers prefer my wife over my kitty. Balthazar is beside himself upset. He's currently grooming, very obviously, next to the camera. I think he's trying to tell me something. Well,... Continue reading

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In Typepad, you can track how many people (unique ISPs, I think) check out your blog on any given day. Normally, I'm below 10 visits. That's okay. I'm not prolific. Although I'm trying to be. Anyway, on 23 March, I had 119 page views. The most I've ever had. By... Continue reading

In case someone out there isn't a fanatical data collector on the low carb diet and hasn't kept up with the case of Denmark's government taxing "unhealthy" foods, here's an article in The Economist on it: A Fat Chance. Let's just say it didn't work out. In the comments, some people surmised that the Danish government is always looking for things to tax and it just categorized fat as a health risk in order to extract more kroners. Or they really really cared. This time the populace fought back. Fast Facts on Denmark 1) I got married in Denmark. So,... Continue reading

Looks like six more weeks of getting away with wearing sweat pants weather. Not everyone is happy with the snow. Continue reading

A great and useful (seriously) debate came up recently in my masters team. Should coaches attend meets that team members go to? Sounds like an easy question, but it led to a good amount of time being spent in debate. Masters swimmers attend meets throughout the year, whether it's short-course... Continue reading