lust for life

is off to pick up TWO puppies for the day!

January 6th, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

I’ve updated my pages of ground zero photos with several new photos. The east bathtub can be seen here and a broader overview of ground zero, here. Also this photo on flickr has notes on it. Pictured is the freedom tower construction with a fresh coat of snow on Dec. 20, 2008.

January 6th, 2009 | Category: General | Leave a comment

Updated ground zero pics posted on my blog at http://snipr.com/9j96m and http://snipr.com/9j95v (scroll down for latest).

January 6th, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

http://twitpic.com/zuvc - Saw this huge bird — I think it must be a turkey — just chillin’ on the sidewalk while running in Battery Park on Sunday. Bizarre.

January 5th, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

is excited about getting to meet Cassie the puppy!

January 4th, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

@MobileNewsNtwrk LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Time Warner Cable says it’s reached deal with Viacom to avoid blackout of 19 cable channels. apnews.com

January 1st, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

time warner, viacom reach deal! u heard it here first.

January 1st, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

happy new year!

January 1st, 2009 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

Getting these in under the wire.

1. Get down to 168 lbs. Again. I’m fine with the way I look now at 172, and don’t want to sound like one of those annoying people picking at minor body flaws, but hey, why not?

2. Get that score of 285 on the Marine Corps fitness test. Carryover from 2008.

3. Find stable employment that doesn’t involve so many nights and weekends. (As I’ve mentioned before, the department I work for is getting broken up and “regionalized” to four locations around the country: Philly, Atlanta, Phoenix and Chicago. I’d ideally like to stay in New York, but it looks like I only have a job here through late 2009).

4. Yoga resolutions: be able to do full wheel for a minute, standing split with fingertips on floor, a headstand in the center of the room and a handstand even if against the wall. Also: do yoga everyday for a month.

5. Run another marathon.

January 1st, 2009 | Tags: new year's resolutions | Category: exercise, fitness, resolutions for 2009, self-improvement | Leave a comment

Okay, so I am not going to make any excuses or anything on my 2008 New Year’s Resolutions. I accomplished some, and didn’t accomplish others. I sorta started out strong and lost my resolve around March. But anyway, here are my resolutions from Dec. 2007 and how I’ve done on them.

1. Amassing a score of at least 285 out of 300 on the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test. To do this I would have to average 19 (strict) pullups with my feet never touching the ground; running three miles in 18:50; and doing 95 abdominal crunches (situps) in two minutes. If I perform better than those standards one category I don’t need to do as well in another.

Today I did 15 pullups, and, later, 56 crunches in two minutes. Because a three mile run is a non-standard distance for running I reserve the right to substitute a longer distance and get its three-mile equivalent using the “average” score on this online calculator. On Sunday I ran a 44:19 10K which is the equivalent of a 20:27 three-mile run. (I would have had to run a 40:48 to score an equivalent 18:45).

Okay. So I just did 80 sit-ups in two minutes. Also just did 20 pull-ups. The last one I was kicking my feet a little, but I’m going to count it. And on the run … it looks like my best time was 19:13 on the treadmill back last January. Honestly, I’ve slowed down a bit. I had this lingering foot/ankle injury over the summer that limited my running, and since then I’ve been doing much more yoga than anything else. Hmpf.

Anyway — that is 80+100+92 =272. FAIL. Bleah! Well, I still have tomorrow to try again on the situps.

2. Getting my weight down to 168 lbs. and keeping it under 170. In the morning my bathroom scale/body fat monitor calculated my weight at 174 lbs. and in the evening the scale at my gym at work calculated it at 176 lbs. Most of my life I have weighed around 172-175 although at times I’ve ballooned up to 185 or so. I am 5-foot-11 and a tad, and (also according to bathroom body fat-monitor) 8% body fat.

Well, I got down to 168, but didn’t manage to keep my weight under 170. Currently it’s 172, according to my bathroom scale. But also 10% body fat. That’s not good. I think I may have lost a little bit of muscle from my biceps and shoulders as I haven’t been lifting weights as much. But I’m significantly more flexible as I’ve been doing more yoga. Not sure if that’s a good tradeoff though. Still, I think my “core”/abs is stronger from the pilates.

3. Become debt-free. Fail… this wasn’t a good year for me or I guess anyone else financially.

Tomorrow I will post some resolutions for 2009.

UPDATE 12/31: Just tried to do more sit-ups, but again only got in 80 in two minutes. Hmpf.

December 30th, 2008 | Tags: new year's resolutions, resolutions | Category: Running, exercise, fitness, resolutions for 2008, self-improvement | Leave a comment

@Choire @lisafleisher http://tinyurl.com/7hbmkj … also helps to be able to put your feet behind your head.

December 30th, 2008 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

again funny

December 29th, 2008 | Category: Fun | Leave a comment

just got scratched by the cat in a very sensitive place while trying to clip his nails. Oww.

December 29th, 2008 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

Jets jets jets!

December 28th, 2008 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

testing twitter integration with derekrose.com

UPDATE: So … it works! I feel like everyone is moving to micro-blogging. Well now I have set my twitter account so it automatically updates my Facebook status and this blog. So you should see more posts.

December 26th, 2008 | Tags: twitter | Category: General | Leave a comment

Pretty funny.

December 15th, 2008 | Category: General | Comments (1)

So this post is a shout-out for my best friend K. who has just opened this boutique jewelry store on Madison Avenue, the first U.S. store of hot Brazilian jeweler Jack Vartanian. It is really gorgeous jewelry, designed to be worn with an evening gown or casually with jeans. Celebrities including Kate Hudson, Anne Hathaway and Gisele Bundchen are all fans. The pieces aren’t cheap — but they are beautiful. The grand opening is today at 996 Madison Ave., between east 77th and 78th streets.

UPDATE: Some press the grand opening party got on guest of a guest, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine…

December 9th, 2008 | Category: General | Comments (2)

The blog is still alive and kicking, barely. I guess when I see a news story I want to post or neat new video I am more likely to post it on my Facebook rather than here. And I have sort-of run out of topics to blog about! Please give me some new ideas in the comments section on what you’d like to tackle.

December 5th, 2008 | Category: blogging | Comments (1)

I got no thoughts on the election or the marathon or the financial situation to share with ya’. But what I do have, via Gawker, is the puppycam.

UPDATE. That link seems down … here’s a new one.

November 10th, 2008 | Category: Fun | Comments (4)