The new home of "The Frank Report."

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You are an Eshu!! EXOTIC is the word to describe
you. You have a natural flair for travelling,
and the tales you weave have no equal. But you
also have a problem with restlessness. Never
contented to be in one place for long, you are
always up and about doing one thing or another.
Learn to relax and stick around in one place
for awhile. You just might be glad you did.


Which Changeling Kith Best Fits You?
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posted at 8:21 AM

  Time for the annual Food and Friends event which involves dining out at one of a select list of restaurants with a portion of the bill going to charity. Went to Carlyle Grand in my neighborhood where 100% of the bill would go to charity. The profit loss was partially made up by customers having to wait a long time for tables and running up huge tabs at the bar for drinks like $9 martini's.

Despite working out consistently for about six months now, it was blatantly obvious that I am not quite camera ready to do dinner out with the "pretty people" of DC who were out in force for last night's event. (Perfect bodies. Perfect incomes. Perfect socially-conscious souls. The triple threat combo.) These are the type of people who were working out before it became trendy in the 80's. The type of people who put cucumber slices over their eyes and sit in mineral baths with exotic facial masques in place surrounded by aromatherapy candles. Every tooth was whitened. Every eyebrow was expertly waxed into a permanent arch of surprise and disbelief. Every black article of clothing was from the "right" designer.

I was a wrinkled, unshaven, puffy-eyed, fat schlub in comparison.

If I were a person given to fits of envy (and since it's Lent, I'm not) I would be awed and cowed by such a gaggle of perfectly hued, perfectly moneyed alphas with effortless, flawless skin and pinpoint muscle tone. I don't know if I can bothered to put that much effort into obsessing over things and appearances to win the approval of people who (in general) I don't like.

Ah well, back to the gym to make myself beautiful while pretending that I'm "above it all."

posted at 8:03 AM

  When doing military or overhead presses, my right arm used to weaken considerably and come close to collapse for no apparent reason on the third set. Turns out I was holding my arms too far forward. Once I moved my arms back towards my head, the additional stress was taken off my deltoid and tricep and the exercise continues smoothly. More than you wanted to know about the intimate workings of my body, but there you go.
posted at 1:58 PM

  Winter is finally over and both the dogs and I have a (pardon the pun) spring in our steps. Of late, everything seems to be falling back into place. Walking the dogs has gotten easier (because it's not bitter cold), money is stockpiling in the bank, traffic is flowing, chores are being completed at an effortless pace. Maybe it's the effect of the warm weather on my mood, maybe it's the increased sunlight, whatever it is, I'll take it.

Next trips planned are San Francisco/San Diego in April and Ireland in May. Two more things (among others) off my list. Several other items were recently crossed off, but are too personal to share here. (A sense of discretion in a livejournal? How quaint!) The master goal list has been winnowed down to it's constituent "big dream/big transformation" items and I plan to be tied up with things like dating, going back to school, saving for retirement, fitness and other long term big goals over the coming years. (With a few side trips thrown in.)

Recently went to see the folks and thanks to having lots of other people/family members around as a buffer, it wasn't a complete disaster. My uncle Eddie, who at age 60+ is not in the best of shape, wants to go skydiving with me. I've tentatively accepted, although if my chute didn't open, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when he had to bring my broken body home to an outraged family meeting.

I'm still keeping up with the exercise routine. Now that it's getting warm again, I plan to start exercising in the morning as well. It was just too damn cold before. There were several interruptions due to travel, holidays and illness, but all those distractions have been cleared away and I've now got a solid head start on looking good come beach season.

Even my hair has become more manageable and effortless. I just got approached by a complete stranger at work today who loved my hair (a basic buzz-cut job) and wanted to know if my barber was local. If I start getting complimented on hair care, you know something's truly wrong in the world.

My only "failing" if you could call it that, is that I spend a good part of my weekend playing video games - part of the reason why my bank account is looking so healthy. But honestly, after a week of hard core lifting, there's nothing more rewarding than 8 hours of sleep and some mindless video violence.

Although my shape hasn't changed, my strength continues to increase, to the point that I'm now lifting weight comparable to or just slightly below the regular yuppies at my gym. By Gold's Gym standards, I'm nothing but by the jr. marketing exec/sales manager types, I'm starting to get it on. Only two things are going to make a dramatic difference at this point: lifting regularly (which will allow size to accumulate over time) and doing cardio (which will drain fat from all the right places and allow size to be revealed.) I say this of course after having gone to Mass this afternoon and juxtaposing the two extremes - unrepentant vanity and the higher call, makes me feel like a complete fraud. Maybe I'll have a beer with dinner tonight, should take care of the problem from several angles.

In other weird news, despite neglecting this blog shamelessly for several months, I keep getting hits from people Google searching for ab workouts. Maybe I should make the unwashed millions happy and just become an all-fitness/all-the-time format. Is a career writing for Men's Fitness in my future? I hope not. (Almost wrote "G-d, I hope not." My Lenten resolution is to concentrate on the 3rd commandment. Screaming in traffic jams has gotten me up to 200-300 violations per week.)

After a one month hiatus due to illness/weather/travel, I pick up with horseback riding again this weekend.


posted at 1:29 PM