30 Day Challenge -- Day Fifteen

Inscrutable notes:

06:32 89.2 24.0

No row, cooked breakfast for boy instead.

$8.50 small McD coffee, drank half

08:04 BM

11:04 H elev to gym

13:04 finished workout, felt weak, screwed up weights and cardio order due to an unfortunate number of people in MY gym. 120 max bench not a lot of sets.

13:05 apple

steam, shave, sauna

Peter gave me a bottle of Givenchy "Gentleman Only," (hint, hint?) which makes me small like a Russian whore. Will only spray on my balls for now. 

84.7 gym scale

14:14 beef tenderloin, veggies ... had violent allergic reaction to veggies which almost never happens anymore ... what happens is I have to spit out loads of phlegm and can't swallow anything until it's all out ... dashed unpleasant.

17:41 E3 to home

30 Day Challenge -- Day Fourteen

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Wife informed me at 6:30 AM that she had fired half the staff ... I was left to clean up the bodies, pay people off etc.  Insanely stressful, would have normally sent me into a dark hole, but I managed things rather well I thought, given the carnage.

07:42 4K row

88.2 22.5

Lots of Fritos to deal with shock of an empty house. 

13:21 BM

18:40 Kung Pao chicken from Meizhou Dongpo for dinner

$50 Pizza+ (not for me)

Day was a complete bust, a real disaster ... on the food discipline front I did ok (not great though) and the key was not cracking out the bottle or smoking cigars, which I would normally do.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Thirteen

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

08:40 BM

87.8 24.0

$138 Jenny Lou's cred

12:21 Ten jiaozi for lunch, giant bowl iceberg lettuce with French dressing

$802.56 Carrefour cred

15:17 4K row

16:46 4K row (to make up for Friday)

17:07 100g beef tenderloin, giant bowl iceberg lettuce with French dressing

$15 Jinsong grocery, tea for foot massage and crisps for masseur

T back at XDF on Saturday nights

18:32 end of foot massage, watched half of Frances Ha during

20:08 end of body massage

$100 massage

Notes becoming super spotty here in the second weekend ... not maniacally recording all actions with a timestamp.  That shows I'm slipping, but have not yet plunged back into total depravity.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Twelve

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Incrutable notes:

88.2 24.5

07:15 BM

07:20 mush (fresh squeezed soy milk, blueberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, apple, pear, banana)

$16 McD sausage egg McMuffin and coffee

Finished Drug War -- overly violent and lame.

Goldin Financial may want to talk with me next week but blessedly free for now.

Dreaded work: Cosmo (Century City) wants to talk this afternoon, good thing I didn't go to the gym on time and miss the notice.

11:20 E3 to gym

11:26 apple

12:27 apple

13:00 finished cardio ... usual routine.

steam but no sauna 

They changed the soap delivery system in the showers much to my annoyance, can't get good volume out of bottles unless you unscrew em and dump contents out which is of course what I will do.

13:27 84.2 gym scale

Subway has closed down ... refurb or gone?  Did a roaring biz, I thought.

13:30 apple

14:00 No protein for lunch in honor of Chrissie Hynde ... 300?g steamed veggies, two boiled eggs, tea

Dreaded work, talked with Cosmo, wasn't too bad 38 minutes, Mr. Lo, though not Won Hung Lo.

Listened to some comedy (Pandora) ... bless the office WiFi and unmonitored bandwidth ... didn't know John Pinette died earlier this year ... always liked his stuff.

Submitted insurance claims

Serious thoughts of drinking about a dozen pints of beer after work but will restrain self ... mood is not good ... this is where the month of disciple gets really hard.

17:35 E3 to home

$138 Kerchin beef jerky 

No notes after that ... just remember I had no booze or smokes on Friday night and that was key.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Eleven

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

07:00 4K row

88.2 24.5

07:20 mush (fresh squeezed soy milk, blueberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, apple, pear, banana)

07:31 scooter in motion

07:46 arrive FCD

$8.50 McD small coffee (just had a few sips of the drug, not a mainliner)

08:11 BM

Teekanne tea

$220 cash in pocket

Kitty Kat talking with Bossini, bless her. Another colleague I'll miss when I go, one of the few.

11:12 E3 to gym

12:59 cardio and weights a bit jumbled as there's more traffic than usual, wimpy 120 max multiple benches

13:01 apple

13:33 done with everything

no steam, no sauna as paranoid Livia out to get me after yesterday's absence

13:49 gym scale 84.5 (is it still consistently inconsistent?)

14:00 100 g beef tenderloin (in honor of Chrissie Hynde who was on HardTalk today), 175 g steamed veggies, one boiled egg, bottle of tea

Filled out forms for ~$9000 in health insurance reimbursement to second insurer which means at least $90,000 covered by first insurer (pays to be insured)

17:08 heading home

$50 China Unicom (new phone number for Thomas ... I asked if they can trace these $1 SIM cards back to me and they said no, there's no link between passport number and record in system, which I thought was odd)

18:09 80g beef tenderloin, 175g steamed veggies, one boiled egg, bottle of tea, dried mango, some pork ribs in soup, 56g Tostitos with guacamole (one avocado) and salsa, half a daban bingpi, several large slices watermelon

Large handful of almonds and maacadamia nuts before bed

Wacthed first hour of Drug War, kind of lame.

T claims to have hurt achilles tendon getting off bus, will take to doctor on weekend.

Feeling like I'm beginning to slip here, no progress obvious, coming towards weekend of week two, this is where it gets really tough.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Ten

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

06:52 1500m row (ran out of time, crap attack)

06:52 BM

87.8 23.0

07:12 mush (fresh squeezed soy milk, blueberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, apple, pear, banana)

07:34 scooter in motion

07:49 arrive FCD

08:03 arrive US Embassy

Dealt with a kind of attractive (Italiano?) though unpleasant consular officer ... got some stuff notarized

$100 US Embassy cred

09:11 done with biz, scooter in motion

$42 South German Bakery 

09:17 apple strudel

09:46 arrive home

09:53 half a buttered pretzel

10:49 car in motion to Children's Hospital

11:30 front desk Children's Hospital (New Century)

Saw yet another specialist about baby's cough. Best solution is the leave Beijing asap methinks.

12:45 beef and rice and onions at New Century canteen

13:37 car in motion to drip

14:01 dropped Mommy off

14:23 arrive home

Watched first episode season five Boardwalk Empire, more flashbacks on how Nucky became Nucky, sort of like how Don Draper became Don Draper.

15:31 40 Lulu dates (whole bag), bottle chrysth tea ... going to stop recording the teas I think.

Picked Thomas up from bus (the reason I couldn't accompany Mommy)

16:03 Thomas's bus arrived

16:19 car in motion to get Mommy

17:06 durian popsicle (three of them)

17:41 car in motion heading home

18:09 arrived home

18:14 100g beef tenderloin, 175g steamed veggies, one boiled egg ... sacrificed self and ate one slice of leftover spinach filled pizza

20:12 6500m row ... making up for morning shortfall and yesterday?

20:15 one half daban bingpi mooncake

Thomas's notebook arrives and Anna's Duplo boat.

Unusual day with running around to hospitals instead of going to work ... serious break with routine leads to serious slips, but I did ok (durian popsicles aside) ... need to hit the weights hard tomorrow to counterbalance, Bossini willing.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Nine

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

Overslept, no time to row.

07:02 BM

88.2 23.5

07:20 mush (fresh squeezed soy milk, blueberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, apple, pear, banana)

07:35 scooter in motion

07:51 arrive FCD (long wait at Chang'an light)

08:03 arrive at P3

Teekanne tea

Finished watching Blues the Warmest Color ... enjoyed it.

Holiday in Hong Kong today so feeling free.

$270 in pocket.

11:01 E3 to gym

12:27 finished weights: usual routine, multiple bench press 150 max

Looks like season five of Boardwalk Empire is underway .. will have to start watching again.

Moved to 10 on resistance for the bike, they monkeyed with it? 10 = old 7

13:58 cardio finished ... extended stepper to 48 mins (1) to watch end of "Survive That," kind of interesting, Discovery channel thing ... how many variations on the survival theme can they do? Guy with pipe "at base camp" in this one though, made me laugh. 

13:59 apple

steam, shave, sauna (ran sand clock out)

15:02 83.9 gym scale

15:04 apple

15:15 E3 to office

15:20 80g beef tenderloin, 175g steamed veggies, one boiled egg, bottle chrysth tea

16:02 two mini-slices Pizza Hut pizza (found in fridge and stolen, two slices remain)

17:04 E3 to home

Tried to get new phone number for T but didn't have passport with me (need the yuan jian)

17:43 arrived home

18:13 20 Lulu dates

Read "The Arrival," a book I bought for Thomas.  Enjoyed it and would like to have some of the drugs that Shaun Tan is doing.

18:27 100g beef tenderloin, 175g steamed veggies, pickle, one boiled egg, bottle chrytsth tea, 20 tots, half a daban bingpi mooncake

Walked around block with wife and baby -- nice night temp wise.

Got new 1TB hard drive, Western Digital this time ... I have bought three count 'em three Toshiba drives that all died within one WEEK ... avoid Toshiba Canvio like the plague, they're shit.

Thomas's 21 Tintin books collection arrived ... wonder how many books there are in total? 

Handful dried cranberries

Large slice watermelon

30 Day Challenge -- Day Eight

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

08:53 4K row

87.6 23.5

08:59 scrambled eggs and a banana, cup raspberry yoghurt

09:34 28 g Tostitos with salsa

Played with baby in courtyard

$10.50 April Gourmet

11:00 Magnum tiramisu ice cream (baby had a chocolate cone, her usual) 

11:20 half a daban bing pi mooncake

$59 Siku police chopper with transport truck (mid-Autumn gift for boy)

12:56 DTF lunch: bowl of dandan mian, can of Sprite (unnecessary indulgence, a slip), kao fu, mushrooms, that cai I like, various shui jiao ... over-ate of course.

$369.60 DTF cred

Surprise real estate dealings in afternoon, had to look after baby at same time, tough to do, left the easy stuff up to Mommy :) ... got a slice at Pizza+ and some gelato to share with baby

$51 Pizza+

17:15 large handful craisins, 28 g Tostitos with salsa

Pumped up scooter tires, front decent but back at 11.5 PSI (should be 36)

$81 Pizza+ (half ham filled, half spinach filled ... not for me of course)

18:45 100g beef tenderloin, big gulp of OJ (that's a no-no ... a slip since it's pure sugar), 28 g Tostitos with guacamole (avocados ripe today), large slice watermelon

T felt wrath of Tiger Mom as he cheated on his iPad time and neglected his studies. She even used the line "You're lazy like your father and will end up being a loser like him!" which always stings.

Holiday lunch out and various bowls of Tostitos (always strictly one serving size though!), ice cream and gelato, means there was some back-sliding ... not super bad, but still... can't say it wasn't unexpected.  Onward to an abbreviated week two of discipline.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Seven

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

4K row

87.6 24.0 

08:42 mush (fresh squeezed soy milk, blueberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, apple, pear, banana)

09:20 half a daban bingpi

$508.56 Carrefour cred

10:34 bottle chrysth tea

11:38 handful wasabi almonds

12:25 120g beef tenderloin, meatballs, pickle, olives, asparagus, one avocado (too hard to make guac), 28 g Tostitos scoops (for failed guac)

13:11 2K row (making up missed time from last week)

13:58 BM

14:14 scooter in motion to library (green)

14:25 arrive library

$15.40 library fines

15:43 bottle chrysth tea, large handful dried cranberries

Must  buy T a graph paper notebook

16:26 slice of watermelon

17:53 half bowl rice, edamame, pickle, olives, bottle chrysth tea, 28 g Tostitos with salsa, raspberry yoghurt

18:30 bottle chrysth tea

Played with kids in courtyard

$64.40 April Gourmet

large handful wasabi almonds

large handful dried cranberries

Not too terrible a day, though tomorrow is a holiday (mid-Autumn festival, aka mooncake day) which means the staff will be away and I will have to fend for self plus deal with the stresses of being home.

30 Day Challenge -- Day Six

(All 30 day challenge posts in reverse chronological order)

Inscrutable notes:

Slept in.

09:43 4K row

86.8 23.5

09:51 mush (fresh squeezed soy milk, blueberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, almonds, cashews, apple, pear, banana)

10:05 1/4 daban bingpi mooncake (flavor I didn't like so only 1/4)

10:30 bottle chrsyth tea

11:19 bottle chrsyth tea

Played with baby in morning

12:17 beef noodles (made by Mommy, couldn't refuse), 175g steamed broccoli, black sesame chicken, bottle chrsyth tea

12:43 large handful dried cranberries

13:58 4K row (making up Friday's missed row)

13:59 seven Lulu dates

14:13 large slice watermelon

14:42 few pieces cantaloupe

14:55 BM

17:12 large handful of dried cranberries

17:20 bottle chrsyth tea

17:40 100g beef tenderloin, pickle, olives, 19 tater tots (bilingual T calls them "teeter totters"), bottle chrsyth tea

18:39 scooter in motion (to massage)

18:42 arrive massage ( 3 mins seems quick?)

18:44 three bottles chrsyth tea

Tried to watch "The Counselor" during foot massage but it was so terrible I gave up after 48 minutes ... should've quit sooner of course.

19:40 foot massage over

21:17 body massage finished (Masseur Wang explained at length that the US knew where Osama was all along, waited for best possible PR moment to execute him ... I enjoy the weekly lessons he gives)

$100 massage

21:18 scooter in motion 

21:26 arrived home (8 minutes, this makes more sense, no idea how I made it there in three)

21:57 large handful wasabi almonds before bed.

Well, it wasn't a super bad weekend day like they usually are, stress-wise I mean. This is a dreaded three day weekend though so it's going to be tough to hold together before the weekday routine kicks back in on Tuesday and I can stay on track.