While I've selected the titles to my blog posts at the outset of The 15th Expedition, appropriately, this title also applies to my fitness regimen!

After some light tests, I'm going to go ahead and green light my workout for Friday morning, a workout that will definitely open up with stretching!

Vlog #5 is available! (UPDATE: Link retired!) I'm hanging out in my backyard, which takes on a whole different meaning outside the confines of surburbia. My beard just might be vaulting me to Duck Dynasty status.

I just made a purchase of black & red Sanabul training gloves. While I really like my MMA gloves, they are far too lightweight for my bag training. I basically get 1 or 2 training sessions out of them before my knuckles are wrecked for the week, so I decided to go with 16 oz Sanabul so that I can have better workouts. Don't get me wrong—it hasn't been all bad: my elbow striking game is KILLER!

While I'm not emphasizing resistance training, I really want to amp up my striking. There's something about functional fitness that I find irresistible, and why my time on an elliptical is just...weird. I get my treadmill because if I could ever visit a place with with a level ground without a hole in the ground caused by some varmint or stick or two, I suspect a treadmill might mimic it.

Twenty-five years and eleven days ago, I went to my first music concert. A senior in high school, I was 17 and it was VAN HALEN with Sammy Hagar on the Balance tour at the Pyramid in Memphis on September 26, 1995.

I remember VH's opening act, a band that has all but been lost to music history, playing its And Fools Shine On.

VH's set list that night was the same that friends heard reverberating regularly in my black 1979 Ford F-250 truck:

1. Right Now
2. Big Fat Money
3. Why Can't This Be Love
4. Top Of The World
5. Not Enough
6. The Seventh Seal
7. Amsterdam
8. Mine All Mine
9. Can't Stop Loving You
10. Feelin
11. I Can't Drive 55
12. Eagles Fly
13. Ain't Talkin Bout Love
14. You Really Got Me
15. Jump
16. There's Only One Way To Rock
17. Dreams
18. Don't Tell Me (What Love Can Do)
19. Panama

When I remember 1995, the memories aren't so old as the Google search would show. Life felt very real, not the jagged artifacts that JPEGs left behind. I can visualize all the old faces and places as if it was yesterday, even my expert-level ninjutsu with plastic and paper at Piggly Wiggly!

It was 9,173 days ago since I saw Van Halen live and there has been so much that has happened in that span. At 17, the world just begins to open up. There were other concerts, of course, but you don't forget your first time. I even wore its black concert t-shirt with an assemble that included black Levi's and black cowboy boots for my high school year's computer club photo. Now, THAT is what a president looks like!

What a different age computers were back then!

For as much as I try to elude medias, I couldn't avoid learning about Eddie Van Halen's death yesterday at the age of 65. Sure, when it comes to grunge / alternative music from the 90s, those favorites always had a short shelf life, whether it was Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, Alice in Chains' Layne Staley or Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland. Yet, my arena rock guys were larger than life, impervious to time.

People, places, things, and ideas—all of those nouns feel in the moment that they'll last forever.

I did not work out this morning. I even woke up pre-4AM, but figured it would be more beneficial if I allocated more time to the work teams to fix my right knee. More on this topic with Vlog #4. (UPDATE: Link retired!)

I installed OpenShot to reduce the filesize for my purposes. I dropped it from 326 MB to 138 MB while maintaining 1080p by just using its presets for YouTube HD—not that I'm posting to that specific platform, though it is the underlying tech on Google Photos.

It has been YEARS since I used OpenShot. The last time I did, this song was on my iPod: Linkin Park's Leave Out the Rest from Twilight.

I'd post my videos to YouTube if that platform wasn't so...icky. Branding, self-promotion, monetization, analytics—may I release a * sigh * at this point? I do this website because it's a fun hobby; it lets me play around with tech; and it serves (I hope) as a backup to some of the things that were on my mind as the years go by. AND, it gives me another outlet to wrestle with an idea and optimize other areas!

People speak of millions of followers; honestly, I was uncomfortable years ago when my Facebook list of friends reached beyond 120. For that matter, I don't like it when LastPass reaches 40 sites.

Overall, maybe all of this has to do with my proclivity toward optimization and to that end, my desire to cut out things that get in the way. Take for example browser caching: it's great for increased speeds on a computer, but when improperly managed leads to out-of-date information and to its logical end, the eventual shutdown of a system. I see the more, more, more mindset to be EXACTLY this, whether money or fame.

Take for example someone with 1 million followers: it's paltry compared with The Rock's 199 million, but it's a baseline. For a friendship, how much time do we need to feed it each week to keep it healthy? Since, I have no idea I'll just throw out another number: 10 minutes. With just 1 million followers, how long would it take to spend JUST 10 minutes with each person? 19 years. Again, the pursuit of money and/or fame leads to out-of-date information and the eventual shutdown of a system.

And while I consider suggesting another OST, this song feels right today: Nach Deutschland