TheSPAINishLover

On 4/6/2024 at 11:48 AM, Mac said:

Looking for some solid/constructive input.  I know this can be personal but if you have any personal experiences, please share or PM me.

Confession - I'm 54, I'm tore up. Anyone who know me or have heard of me, know I have lived my life burning the candle at both ends.  It's caught up to me.  I drank like a fish, I like to eat and when it comes to physical fitness, I'm lazy. 

Current day - I have constant pain issues, health issues keep stacking up.  I barely eat now but can't lose weight.  I barely sleep.  My primary care doctor has me on a few pills because of blood work and some issues (migraines, high cholesterol, high uric acid, high potassium).  He assured me these are all light doses and the blood work shows they're working.  I should also state, I rarely drink anymore.  Apparently my quest to drink all the alcohol in the world was fruitless as they keep making more and I can no longer handle hangovers. 

I also see a pain management team.  My pain management doctor told me I need to come off my meds as they "could be causing" several of my issues.  In turn, he is also recommending testosterone treatment as that can help with inflammation, sleep, body repair, etc... plus I'm getting older.

So my question, how many of you have faced this or are facing this?  How did you handle it/how have you thought of handling it?  I don't see my doctor as a pill pusher, but there has to be another way.  
- High cholesterol - Eat better and workout.  Drink more water.  But as I mentioned, I'm lazy.  So this is a personal motivation issue.
- High uric acid - Better diet, drink more water and lose weight.
- High potassium - This is a tough one.  Better diet and drink more water.  Even the "natural remedies" state you might need medication.  Of all of these issues, high/low potassium will kill you.

Any thoughts or inputs here would be great.
 

Get back on the road to physical fitness!

I turned 48 recently and I'm in excellent shape after dropping 55lbs. via diet and exercise over the past 18 months.

No meds at all.  Health is excellent! HR is that of an average 28yo.

I wake up at 3am and in the gym by 3:40am.  I do 20 minutes of warm-up cardio at 10*/3mph.  Then do weights.  Then if I'm up to it, another 20 after.

M-Th: chest/tri; back/bi; shoulders/deadlifts; legs.  8-10 exercises: 4 x 20

F-Sun: chest/tri; back/bi; deadlifts/shoulders etc..  6-8 exercises: 4 x 10

I do combination of weights and functional exercise (burpees, box jumps, pull-ups, dips, etc.)

Drink a 1-1.5 gallons of water/day and consume 140-180 grams protein/day.

I drink liquor (151 rum w/ D. Coke) on Friday and Saturday evenings.

You have to want it!

Here's a pic from Jan of this year.  I'm even leaner now with shadows of a 6-pack abs.

The hardest part was admitting I needed to make a change and dumping my ego knowing I was starting from scratch.

7 hours ago, Mac said:

This is not a cut and dry equation.  Performance, attendance, attitude are a good start.

Here is my other list:
- What about increased company profits?  
- increased workload
- increased cost of living, to include long term inflation, gas prices, etc...
- Longevity/annual review increase
- promotion (probably goes with performance, etc...)
- market value increases.  This is a big one.  A lot of smaller companies/startups...start small.  People take chances because they believe in you and what they are doing.  They want to get in on the ground floor and grow.  Sooner or later you have to do a market value increase to add value to the person and to keep those you want to have stick around.  I knew NOTHING about logistics.  I took a very low salary (for me) to get my foot in the door.  I proved myself quickly and was given much more responsibility...then COVID hit.  We laid off half our workforce.  For those that stayed, we all took heavy pay cuts.  I never complained.  We bounced back fast and hard.  I gave it 3 months before I was going to ask to be made "whole" again.  The owner did it before I had a chance to ask.  Shortly there after, I got a big raise on top of it all.

I still feel I make way under what I'm worth (experience, lots of education, work ethic, availability, positive attitude/teamwork) but, I work from home and no one really tells me what to do.  I take time off as I see fit and my boss doesn't question me.  I have a lot of freedom so it's a trade off.  

With all that said, whenever I feel I need a raise, I start updating my resume and change my profile to "Open to work" on LinkedIn.  My boss usually calls me within a few days and says hey, we're giving you a raise...   I change my LinkedIn profile back and all is well...   I'm about there again.

I don't envy you in this market.  People suck.  Employers suck.  The media keeps telling everyone they "deserve" more.  Millennials and Zoomers feel they deserve more simply by breathing.  Another issue is there are people looking for work and aggressively apply.  Employers post jobs and then sit on applications and resumes for months.  I do not feel sorry for employers screaming for people.  DO YOUR PART!  Don't post a job unless you are ready to hire.

I could write a second and third volume here...

tltr;dr…

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2DTldfxcT2/?igsh=N2toOTk4ODRxczZl

Recovering from tooth extractions.  My son knocked out one tooth and cracked another two.

He’s been in Karate for the past 3.5 yrs and BJJ for the past 18 months.  I was working to fatigue him when he accidentally knee’ed me and fux0red my mouth.

Very nice ride.  What is the overall height?  Or should I ask, what is the height of the garage door required to clear entrance?

21 hours ago, Mac said:

Just as the thread title says....How do you maintain a relationship and contact with your adult kids?

As ridiculous as it may sound, my kids are 32 and 22, both girls, and they call and text me every day.  My oldest usually calls multiple times and texts through out the day.  I also do daily Dad Jokes with them.  I've been doing it for years and I have no plan to stop any time soon.  Most who know me know I'm a horrible father but a great big brother...   

But my kids turn to me for everything.  Both girls came to me when they needed a bra, got their periods, boys, everything.  I was pretty tough on them but my ex-wife was like raising a third kid.  I felt like the only parent at times.  I always told them, if you want it to stop, turn 18 and give me a high school diploma.  That's your ticket out.  They both did and I flipped the switch to advisor mode and have stuck to it.


So what say you?  What do you do to maintain that relationship with your kids?

My son, Sebastian, is in his late 20s.  We were off/on through his early 20s because of his extremely manipulative mom.  She used guilt to keep him under her skirt.  It wasn't until he turned 23yo that he finalized realized the reality of things.  He wanted to go into the military and I (and my wife) supported it but his mom intervened and in the end, she imposed her will on him so he didn't enlist.

Now, we text several times throughout the day...workout memes, ghetto-people clips, woke/bitchass memes/clips, etc.  He's come around and is grounded.  Thankfully, shares more with Gen X.

He's also a good mentor to his lil' step-brother.  They talk via FaceTime nearly every evening. 

Still cold!  

On 2/17/2024 at 10:53 AM, Bansh88 said:

First things first....

 

Oooooffff...not going to lie...sober life is tough!

19 hours ago, punkur67 said:

Took the little guy to the range today with my dad. Ran in to @Bobalosthere too. 

 

Should have the kitchen remodel done by Monday 

Sick!  

Oldtimer lifting competition this morning at the local gym.  Nothing official; simple camaraderie.

My bragging stats:

Bench: 315 x 4

Deadlift: 405 x 6

Squat: 315 x 6 (weak AF)

I killed them all on cardio cycles- both treadmill and stair master! 

On 2/16/2024 at 6:34 PM, Bansh88 said:

Way too small for SSSS.

But perfect for our property. 

Looks great, puteaux!

4 hours ago, ChEFF said:

 

 

Not me TLL. Trying to adjust to the half time shows. Have "No Clue" who Usher is. Peace 

Usher is the late 70's kids' John Travolta, daddy-o! 

2 hours ago, ChEFF said:

 

I hope they both Lose! Peace

Not an option, Switzerland.  Are you turning cute and woke on us, ChEFFme?  

Fooseball coverage starts at 6pm EST...pfffttt. 

I'll be in bed by 7:30ish. 

Go Niners.

2 hours ago, Esco said:

Now we all know why you are training so hard, going for the gold,

 

Takedown specialist. 

Been raining and will continue through Monday so considering my body forced me to take a week off from the gym, I'm going to sit around and do a combination of watching movies and reading...ALL DAMN DAY.  Sent a couple guys out for a day job/project which should net me $600 so happy about that.  May do a quality check towards the end of the day.

Tomorrow?  Same...watching movies and reading until the foosball game.

1 hour ago, Bobalos said:

My suggestion would be to only goto -5 next time.  LOL 

Just when you thought I couldn’t get any shorter…I mean, lower.

As I posted earlier, we received near record snowfall (over 9”) and lengthy lows here in Knoxville. Two pipes bust when we hit -7.

https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/over-300-mudslides-in-california-as-deadly-storm-damage-may-reach-11-billion/1619169

So sick of the woke, bitchasses that push climate change agendas/propaganda for their selfish reasons/profits.  Sometimes I wish I wasn’t ethical so I could scam and be rich.  

All those faux lawn companies that made tens of millions are laughing on a private yacht somewhere exotic.

8 hours ago, Free ride said:

Yep, haven't had cable for nearly 10 years.  No commercials for me. I Don't even do social media.  They're all bad for you. 

No cable TV for me for the past 4 years.  No FB.  No Twitter.  No Snap.  On IG to follow fitness and car-related pages.  I don't post and rarely ever comment.

I gained peace from it.

Red Solo Cup is the first song my son learned to sing...started singing it before he was 2.

1 hour ago, Rockwood said:

Competence kills more employees than heart disease.

Fresh start will be good for you, sometimes you have to just step back from things. 

This why I went back to basics- hiring skilled labors as a licensed handyman business.  Pretty soon as a licensed contractor.  Only the best of the best.  Cutting the 30% profit margin of competitors to 15%-20% because I'm not greedy and could realistically live on 10%.

14 hours ago, KLC said:

He could spend 2 million dollars a day for 40 years and still not ever run out of money. That is hard to comprehend. I hate to say it but that lifestyle would get old after a short time, there's only so many cool things you can buy before your mind would need other forms of stimulus. Could you ever find "true" love? It's a real life fairy tale. 

I know two gentlemen who each have net worths of $500m.  One is single.  The other is not.  They each are still chasing something but neither know what it is.  They have fancy cars, homes, toys, etc.  Travel extensively, etc. but something is still missing.

I have countless stories from my dad and others who have not changed much about their lives, their values, the things that make them happy, etc. despite having made millions.  One thing they have in common is that "freedom" and "happiness" lies within them.  They could go back to working at McDonalds or Target or Walmart as baggers and they would still be "happy".  It's a trait/characteristic/perspective that is special, VERY SPECIAL, but only a few have it.

Joe, I went from 350k/yr to 185k/yr and it saved my life.  I nearly committed suicide 18-20 months ago.  Other than my wife and dad, no one else knew about it.