Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 18

Day 18 was Eccentric Lower in X3 and Define Lower in PIYO. 

Eccentric Lower is a pretty fun (but still challenging) workout with a good selection of moves, some of which are in other P90x workouts and some of which are new. That workout went a bit better than Define Lower did, but I go through each of them.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 17

Day 17 was yoga in X3 and Core in PIYO.

I don't really have a ton to say new about either workout. Core is probably my least favorite of the early PIYO workouts, mainly because it is the hardest one for me to do. And, I have not been super motivated to work out this week dealing with family issues. But, I did what I could for each one and got them done. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 16

Day 16 was Triometrix in X3 and Buns in PIYO. The buns workout is a 28-minute workout that includes mostly all squats and lunges, or some variation of those. There are no Vinyasas or triceps push-ups in this workout.  As is the case in the other workouts, you are moving almost the entire time, except for a few seconds in the Pigeon pose, so you will probably burn quite a few calories.

Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11

 

This is a group of stories collected by the author, Damon Dimarco who started collecting the stories within months of the 9/11 attacks. The book was originally published a few years after 9/11 and then updated for the 20th Anniversary to add a new forward by the former NY governor, George Pataki, and provide some updates on some of the people that he originally interviewed. 

The book exclusively details the experiences of people who were in or around the towers that day as well as people whose lives were affected in the aftermath, such as a woman who basically became the organizer who made sure workers at "the pile" were fed daily, got supplies, etc. The people whose stories are told in this book are generally not the more well-known people who have been interviewed many times, but that does not lessen the impact at all. The author does a very good job of conveying the emotion of the people who he interviewed, which was sometimes very raw, and did a good job of introducing who that person was and what they were like during the interview.

My only nitpicky point about the book is that it does contain a number of errors, mostly about the timing of events on 9/11, both in the timeline at the beginning of the book (e.g., saying that Flight 93 took off at 8:01 AM when it took off at 8:42 AM and that it crashed at 10:10 AM when it really crashed at 10:03 AM), and in the footnotes (e.g., in one he said the south tower was hit first by Flight 175). Even if these made it into the initial printing, they should have been corrected in the update. However, those do not really take away from the rest of the book, and since the point of the book is not to detail the overall events of the day, but to tell the stories of the people affected, it is still a five-star book in my mind. 

The book is fairly long, just under 500 pages, but it does read fairly quickly. Most of the stories span about 5 pages, give or take, but there are a couple longer ones that span about 20 pages, so there are a lot of natural stopping points. It is definitely one that I consider a must-read.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 15

Day 15 was Eccentric Upper in X3, and Define Upper in PIYO. I would say that both workouts went about the same as they did the last time I did each one. Eccentric Upper is challenging, but not impossible, and Define Upper is the same. I am still doing the push-ups on my knees until I can get my chest to the floor for 20 reps then I will switch to doing them on my toes. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 14

Day 14 was a rest day in X3, and the core workout in PIYO.

Core is a mix of easy (or at least easier) core-focused exercises and some hard (to very hard, depending on whether you modify) exercises. What is nice is that it has a mix of standing, lying down, and seated exercises, and like the other workouts, you are moving the entire time. So, you burn a lot more calories than just doing crunches and leg lifts. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 13

Day 13 was the MMX workout in X3 and the Sweat workout in PIYO.

MMX is basically a harder version of P90x's Kenpo X. You do some of the same punching routines as in the original workout (jab cross and hook uppercut combos, for example), but you do harder kicks ( such as crescent kicks) and then add in sprawls and elbow strikes along with those. So, you get a big calorie burn.

The sweat workout was a bit easier this time around, but not by much. These two workouts on the same day make it the hardest day to get through (at least to this point) when doing them as a hybrid. Of course, I started PIYO 30 days into X3, so if you start them both at the same time, you may not end up doing this combination of workouts. 

Book Review: Act of Treason: (Mitch Rapp Series Book 9 Chronological Order; Book 7 Publication Order)

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior novel, Consent to Kill+++

Act of Treason, published in 2006, is the follow-up to the novel Consent to Kill written by Vince Flynn and continues the story of CIA counter-terrorism operative, Mitch Rapp. In this book, Mitch is dealing with, or not dealing with, the death of Anna, basically drinking himself into oblivion until he gets wrapped up in the investigation of a bombing that kills the wife of a presidential candidate just before the election. The book starts out in October and then does a time jump to early January just before the President-elect Josh Alexander and Vice President-elect Mark Ross, who was introduced in Consent to Kill are ready to replace President Hayes, who announced he would not seek another term because of his Parkinson's disease diagnosis. Rapp discovers that responsibility for the attack is pointing away from it being an Al Qaeda operation as everyone assumes, and is instead pointing toward domestic terrorism.

By this point, Flynn had written six novels in the Mitch Rapp story and had really developed his style and tone. This one has a similar blend of action and suspense, with political gamesmanship and corruption interweaved throughout. The book is 415 pages but is a pretty quick and easy read. If you read fast, you can easily finish the book in a day or two. The story is mostly self-contained and resolved by the end of the novel. Flynn does introduce some new characters who could potentially be included in later novels and also uses some of the characters from the prior books. So, if you have liked Flynn's prior novels, you will probably like, or love, this one. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 12

Day 12 was a rest day in PIYO and the Incinerator workout in X3. 

Incinerator is a very fast-paced upper body workout that consists of doing ten reps of an exercise (usually with weights) immediately followed by a bodyweight exercise for thirty seconds that works the same muscle. So, for example, doing 10 reps of chest flys followed by thirty seconds of push-ups. There are no breaks worked into the thirty minutes (aside from the times when Tony stalls a bit), you just go from one exercise to another, rotating between shoulder exercises, chest exercises, back exercises, biceps exercises, and triceps exercises. The last two minutes, or so, is a burnout round in which you alternate between holding some variation of plank and doing push-ups. The workout is a tough one, but it flows well and does not drag at all. 

Book Review: Star Wars - The Battle of Jedha

 

This is now the second book in the Star Wars canon, both in the High Republic era and overall (at least for the moment). It is set on the Jedha, which is the moon that was introduced during Rouge One. This book is another one of what has become fairly common for the adult canon books being released, in that it is written as a script. It follows the events of the novel Convergence, and the battle between the planets Eiram and E'ronoh depicted in that book. Jedha is preparing for a Festival of Balance in which different groups worshiping and/or studying The Force, including the Guardians of the Whills, are included. The festival will be used as a backdrop to peace negotiations between the Eiram and the E'ronoh, to be aided by two Jedi Masters. 

The book introduces a new group named Path of the Open Hand, who hate the Jedi's use and manipulation of The Force and sets up a clear precursor to the Nihil, who are the group of pirates that are the protagonists in the other High Republic books. There are tie-ins to the later novel, including introducing the monster that can sever the Jedi's connection to The Force, although what it is exactly, remains a mystery in this book. Of course, the negotiations go sideways and the Jedi must try to protect the citizens of Jedha, many of whom do not want them there at all. 

The book introduces even more characters (at least if you read this before Convergence as I did) and still does not utilize Yoda (which has been my big issue with all of the High Republic books to this point), just casually mentioning him at the very end. The book is one of the longer ones at just under 500 pages, but it is a fairly quick read. If you are a fast reader it can easily be finished in a couple of days. I think the story is good, but not great. It is not one of the canon books I would classify as a must-read, but I do think it is worth reading at least once for those who are keeping up with the stories outside of the movies and tv series. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 11

Day 11 was eccentric lower in X3 and Define Upper in PIYO. 

Eccentric lower is the same concept as the upper body workout, just doing lower-body exercises like squats and lunges. You are again focusing on the "lowering" portion of the movement, doing three counts down and then one count up. So again, it is best to try the workout using a lower amount of weight than you might otherwise use for the various moves and then adjust for the next workout. 

As far as Define Upper goes, I did not really notice any big change from the last time I did the workout, so I have nothing new to say about it at this point.

Book Review: Landslide: The Final Days of the t***p Presidency

 

Landslide is the third book written by Michael Wolff about the 2017-2021 presidential administration. The focus of this book is on the 2020 election and the aftermath, including the lead-up to January 6th, the former president leaving office, and the second impeachment. The book is just over 300 pages and reads fairly quickly. It can easily be finished in a couple of days if you are a fairly quick reader.

I would say that the book does not have any really salacious details of the kind that were in Wolff's prior books (e.g., Wolff's insinuation that t***p was having an affair with someone in his administration, or t***p's alleged bragging about someone in the administration giving him a blowjob), it was pretty much a straight retelling of what happened in that time period, with Wolff not holding back about the fact that he thinks t***p and many of the people around him (those who were telling him he won the election and it could definitely be overturned), were batshit crazy, and getting crazier with each passing day. For me, the best part of the book was the detail of the clusterfuck that was t***p's defense during the second impeachment and the team of dipshits (including a self-described wimp who did not want to talk in front of the Senate) who were defending him. Mainly, because nobody else was willing to do it. At the very end of the book, Wolff details meeting with t***p at the southern shithole (Mar-a-Lago) during which Wolff asked the Orange Genital Wart to name who exactly was behind the non-existent plot to steal the 2020 election, and of course, the dipshit could not do so, only saying it was not Biden, and the names would come out shortly. 

Overall, you have to know what you are getting with Wolff. He is not a journalist, so he has no qualms about inserting his personal opinions or putting in all the dirt he hears that nobody else would touch. As I said above, this book was mostly a retelling of the facts without much dirt, so in that way, it is closer in tone to many of the other books about the administration written by journalists who just provide facts and quote sources. But, Wolff is not shy about letting his personal feelings be known, so in that way, it is different than many of the other books. I would say most of the information in the book is fairly well-known, especially as of this writing, but it does have some fine details about events that have not been widely reported, which shows Wolff continued to have good access to people behind the scenes, even after writing two books excoriating that administration. So, if you liked Fire and Fury and Siege, this is worth reading.

Product Review: 3-in-1: Collapsible Magnetic Microwave Cover

 

This is a collapsible food cover for the microwave. It is made out of silicon so unlike the plastic equivalents, which cannot collapse, this one can flatten down to a little thicker than a dinner plate and expand to easily cover a large bowl. And, because it is bendable, it can be used as a hot pad to grab the sides of hot bowls or plates. There is a plug at the top that can be left open to allow food to vent or be closed to allow food to steam. When it is closed, you can pour a bit of water on the top to help the steaming process. And it can easily be rinsed off or put on the top rack of a dishwasher, so it cleans up a lot better than plastic covers. Even though it costs a bit more than the cheaper covers, it is definitely a "get what you pay for" kind of thing. I highly recommend it.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 10

Day 10 was Yoga in X3 and the core workout in PIYO. 

Core is a very tough workout that requires a lot of balance and core strength. So, depending on where you are with that, even the modified moves may be tough to pull off. There are a couple of times built into the workout when they go into child's pose, but for the most part, like the other PIYO workouts, you are moving the entire time.  

Book Review: The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11

 

The Eleventh Day is a book that details pretty much all aspects of the September 11th terrorist attacks, from the leadup to the aftermath. The paperback version was put out about 10 years after the attacks, right around the time bin Laden was found and killed. The "main" portion of the book is 456 pages, 88 of which detail what happened on September 11th, the attacks, and the response by the first responders, the FAA, the military, and the politicians. Then, there are about 120 pages of endnotes, where the authors flesh out even more information. Much of the book details the lead-up to 9/11, including the rise to power of Osama bin Laden and his network and how the US government really failed to deal with him during both the Clinton and Bush administrations. It also detailed the backgrounds of the hijackers and how they got into the US and what they were doing in the months before the attack. Basically, it ties everything together about how 9/11 was planned and how it was carried out, and then goes into a lot of detail about how the US responded.

One big takeaway I got from the book is just how ill-prepared the US was for an attack like this despite the many warnings that were out there that something huge attack, including the possibility of using planes, was looming. And, just how easy it was for essentially, a group of idiots, many of whom should have been caught long before the attacks had the US intelligence agencies and law enforcement been working together. In fact, the CIA knew that at least two of the hijackers were in the US and did not tell the FBI until about two weeks before the attacks, long after the CIA no longer had any idea where they were. What was also interesting is that at almost all levels, al-Queda nearly bungled the entire thing, including bin Laden initially choosing people with high school educations to be pilots until it was made clear that they had no chance at ever learning how to fly a plane and were then relegated to being the muscle hijackers. Many of the hijackers could not speak English and even on 9/11 itself had no idea if they had plane tickets, screwed up the boarding process, and really should have been prevented from even boarding the airplanes. So, it really details the luck of the terrorist and the failures of our government.

In the sections on the aftermath, the book also tackles the various conspiracy theories, from things that amount to good questions but have relatively simple explanations, to the outright crazy things that some have come up with. They also provide great detail on how the Bush administration took their eye off the ball in going after the people who actually planned the attacks, and outright lied about Iraq playing some kind of role in 9/11 to justify the Iraq war.

My only complaint about the book is the endnotes. The text in the book does not have endnote numbers, and the notes themselves are categorized by chapter and the pages the material is referencing. But, if you really want to match portions up, you would have to flip back to the page in the book and then back to the endnotes. It would be very tedious. I think the authors would have been better to use footnotes and put the source material at the bottom of each page in the text. The book would really not have been much longer, and it would have been easier to go through the source material. That is what knocks it down a star for me.

Overall, the book is very well-written and extremely well-sourced. It has a lot of detail that even if you have watched many of the documentaries on 9/11 or read other books, including the very real possibility of a fifth plane that may have been targeted for hijacking that day that never got to take off. So, if you are looking for a book that really details how and why 9/11 happened, this is definitely worth reading.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 9

 Day 9 was Triometrix in X3 and Define Lower in PIYO.

Triometrix is a plyometrics workout involving three levels of intensity that change over a minute (at 20-second intervals). The first level is the easiest and lowest-impact version. The second level makes it more challenging, and then the third level is the most intense and highest impact. Tony and the non-modifying cast members do all three levels. The modifier does level 1 and then does level 2 for the last 40 seconds. The workout is a tough cardio workout (and has some balance components as well), but it flows very well and does drag on.

Define Lower really was not any different. I can get a little bit lower into some of the poses, but holding split leg down dog is still not the easiest thing. So, at the end, I was going into pigeon faster than they did int he video. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 8

Day 8 was the start of block 2 in X3, which meant doing the eccentric upper workout, and was the Sweat workout in PIYO. 

Eccentric upper basically is an upper-body workout in which you do one count up and three counts down for the lifting moves, pull-ups, and push-ups. So, you basically put the focus on the eccentric portion of the exercises. For me, that meant using weights that were a bit lower than what I can use if I am going two counts up and down.

The Sweat workout in PIYO was hard. I did feel I could do more at the beginning of the workout, which also meant I was more tired at the end of the workout. Plus, I was still a bit tired from the X3 workout that same morning. So, I did have to take a couple of breaks that I did not have to take last week. 

Book Review: The Cell: Inside the 9/11 Plot, and Why the FBI and CIA Failed to Stop It

 

This is a book written by John Miller (who was an ABC News Correspondent), Michael Stone, and Chris Mitchell about the lead-up to the 9/11 attacks. Miller has a unique perspective for a couple of reasons. First, he interviewed Osama bin Laden in person when bin Laden declared war on America from a hovel in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. And, he was also good friends with FBI agent John O'Neil who was the head of the FBI's NY counterterrorism unit who was trying to hunt down members of Al Qaeda up until 2001 when he took a job as head of security at the World Trade Center and was on the job for two days when he was killed in the 9/11 attacks. 

The book really details the entire lead-up to 9/11 covering more than just the 9/11 plot and attacks, but went back to the late 1980s/early 1990s when terrorist cells in NY killed the Rabbi who was the head of the Jewish Defense League and carried out the original World Trade Center bombing back in 1993.  The book does quickly detail the events of 9/11 at the beginning of the book and then about halfway through profiles some of the hijackers and their movements before 9/11. The book does include a lot of detail about what the hijackers were doing in the US up to 9/11 including the fact that it did not seem like the plan was fully formed even very late into the operation because the leader Mohammed Atta, appeared to still be trying to get his hands on crop dusting planes as late as August, suggesting that they would crash planes filled with chemicals into targets, which would have caused far less damage than they ended up inflicting.

The big takeaway from the book, for me, was how the infighting and refusal to cooperate between the intelligence agencies (mostly the FBI and the CIA) led to vital pieces of information that could have resulted in the plot being disrupted, being missed, not shared, overlooked, etc. Blatant examples of this were the fact that the CIA knew that two of the hijackers were members of Al Qaeda and were in the US and did not tell the FBI until about two weeks before the attacks, and even though the terrorists were using their real names to make purchases, the FBI could not track them down, and the FBI leadership refusing to let local agents look at Zacharias Mussoui's computer despite ample evidence that he had ties to terrorists. There was no smoking gun that the authors could point to that suggested if it was discovered ahead of time absolutely would have led to the plot being foiled before the attacks, but that evidence trails could have been followed that might have prevented the attacks. 

Overall, the book is a very good read, and very well-sourced. While much of the information in the book is well known, especially to those who have read other books about 9/11 or watched some of the documentaries on the subject, it does have some details that I had not seen before and I have read many of the reputable books and watched almost all of the reputable documentaries on 9/11. It is definitely one of my must-reads.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 7

Day 7 was a rest day in X3 and the Define Upper workout in PIYO. Define upper has quite a few tricep push-ups and has your holding down dog a bit more than you do in the other workouts, but the overall workout is very short (under 20 minutes) so it is not too bad. And, of course, everything can be modified.  

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 6

Day 6 was X3 yoga and Define Lower in PIYO. 

Again, I would say that there were not really any changes from the last time I did either workout. Which, honestly, is not all that surprising. One thing I do like about the PIYO workouts is that Chalene has you constantly moving, so you are not holing any of the poses for an extremely long time (like Tony does in some of the p90x yoga routines (especially during the original P90x Yoga). So, if you are not as advanced, that definitely helps.  

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 5

Day 5 was the rest day in PIYO and CVX in X3.

I thought that, again, CVX got a little easier, but it is still not an easy workout for me at this point. But, it is one of those workouts that each time you do it you should be able to push a little more. I definitely like the weighted cardio concept. I might, at some point, try doing it with my weighted vest on and see how that goes, since there is not a whole lot of jumping in the workout.

Book Review: Consent to Kill: (Mitch Rapp Series Book 8 Chronological Order; Book 6 Publication Order)

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior book, but no major spoilers from this book+++

Consent to Kill is set (mostly) six months after the events that occurred in the book Memorial Day in which Mitch helped stop Al-Qaeda terrorists from setting off nuclear bombs in New York and Washington as follow-ups to the 9/11 attacks. This is basically a revenge story in which the father of one of the terrorists that Rapp killed and tortured for information puts a twenty-million dollar bounty on Rapp's head. It is impossible to go into too much detail about what is in the book without giving away major spoilers, but the highlights are that Mitch butts heads (yet again) with another member of President Hayes' cabinet, this time the Director of National Intelligence, Mark Ross, Anna has a much more prominent role in the book than she did in Memorial Day, and the book definitely provides a transition point (at least a potential one) for the overall story and for the character of Mitch Rapp.

Flynn's style remains consistent in this book, including a good blend of action, political backbiting, and intrigue. He keeps the story moving along well, and does keep the readers on the edge of their seats. Without getting too spoilerish, I think it would have been more effective to end the story about 2/3 of the way in, which would basically have ended it at a major spoiler point, and then tell the final 1/3 of the story in a subsequent book, adding in more details. But, like the other novels in the series, the story in the book is self-contained but will definitely influence future novels. 

This is actually the 6th book in the Mitch Rapp series if you read them as they were published. I think the prior book, Memorial Day, is the book in which Flynn really hit his stride working out the various kinks and figuring out what he wanted to do with the story, and this one builds on that book and keeps getting better.  So, if you liked (or loved) the prior books in the series, you will probably like (or love) this one. 

You can tell that Flynn had a pretty big dislike for politics and politicians of both parties, even though he was a conservative. It would have been interesting to see where he would have landed during the 2016 election and the clear divide in the Republican party with the batshit crazy nutcases who lick the balls of the Orange Genital Wart (whom Flynn actually takes a swipe at in this novel), and the "traditional" republicans who finally started to separate themselves from the monster they created and either left the party or are trying to take the party back. From the interviews I heard with Flynn on the radio here in the Twin Cities, I would think he would have landed with the latter group, but he was also pals with people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck (who were and are huge pieces of shit), so it is hard to tell. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 4

Day 4 was the pilates workout in X3 and the Sweat workout in Piyo.

X3 pilates is a very challenging workout with moves that are much more intense and difficult than what was in the Beginner Pilates three-week series. Although, that does provide a good foundation for the X3 pilates workout. Don't be surprised that if you are still a beginner, it will be tough. This workout also features Tony Horton's girlfriend, Shauna, who is a total smoke show (and is not the Shauna that was in the original P90x yoga and stretch workouts). He does make a couple of good jokes about her being his girl.

The PIYO sweat workout is basically a yoga routine that has no resting or stopping points for the entire half hour. You are doing some variation of a sun salutation or doing push-ups the entire time. It is a tough workout, but you can modify it to make it easier, which is especially helpful for me during the balance poses. 

DVD/TV Series Review: Baywatch Season 1

 

The first season of Baywatch (or Babewatch as pretty much every teenage boy in the late 80s and early 90s called it) aired on NBC during the 1989-1990 season. It is basically a prime-time soap opera about a group of lifeguards in Southern California, led by Mitch Buchannan, played by David Hasselhoff.  Hasselhoff was a couple of years removed from the popular series Knight Rider, and was definitely the big star of the series, especially during the first couple of seasons. The main cast in the first season included Hasselhoff, Parker Stevenson, Shawn Weatherly, Billy Warlock, Erika Eleniak, Peter Phelps, Brandon Call, Holly Gagnier, and Monte Markham. Later in the season, John Allen Nelson would join as a series regular and Gregory Alan Williams would be promoted to a series regular. Eleniak and Weatherly were the first "babes" that would become what the show was known for, and Elaniak was actually the first member of the cast to pose for Playboy, although she did so shortly before the show aired. 

The show was pretty much a story-of-the-week procedural. In the first season, the stories were almost all laughably bad (like a group of hooligans using an illegal version of a jet ski to terrorize swimmers and boaters), and even when the show tried to tackle a deeper subject (like domestic violence) it was often cringe-inducing. And of course, there were the totally silly and often out of place (and out of nowhere) music montages that just spontaneously popped up once or twice an episode. The writers did try to balance the large ensemble cast, but there were many episodes in which some of the main cast members were totally absent, and Peter Phelps just disappeared in the second half of the season. 

The season did feature a lot of guest stars, many of whom would go on to be A-Listers, who basically got their start on the show as their first major role. Some of them included Mariska Hargitay (who would go on to be the lead on Law and Order SVU), David Spade, William Fichtner, Bryan Cranston (who would go on to be the lead on Breaking Bad), and Madchen Amick (who would be a series regular on Twin Peaks the next year). 

The first season was really about the show finding its footing and developing the main characters. It was definitely not a great show in terms of being an award-winning drama. It was a great show in terms of being so bad it was good, and of course, had a ridiculously good-looking cast. It will definitely be a nostalgic blast from the past for those who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. There are some DVD sets out there that label Season 2 as Season 1. NBC actually canceled the show after Season 1, after which it aired in syndication for the rest of its run. So, make sure to pay attention to the description. 

Book Review: Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars

 

This novel is a continuation of the video game Fallen Order which was set five years after the events of Revenge of the Sith and introduced the various characters, including Cal Kestis, who was a Jedi Padawan who survived Order 66. The book assumes that the readers know the various characters from the video game. Chances are if you have played the game you are probably more invested in the characters than a reader who picks up this book for the first time, especially since there is not a ton of character development in this story. 

The story is basically set around a stormtrooper who is looking for the crew of the Mantis to help her defect, promising to help the crew locate a shroud that can mask force-sensitive beings and protect them from the Empire. Of course, things go sideways and the mission puts the group in the crosshairs of one of the Inquisitors, the Fifth Brother (who was played by Sung Kang in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series).

The book is set right around the time of the Solo movie, and the cover makes it clear that the character's story will continue in the video game Jedi Survivor (or Fallen Order 2). So, you can read between the lines about what the outcome of this book is going to be, but even so, it does tell a pretty good story. The only complaint I have about it is that it does get a bit soap-opera-ish with the romance plot(s) and could have done a little bit more character development for those who have not played the video game. It is a fairly short book, under 300 pages, and can be read pretty quickly. If you are a fast reader, it can easily be read in a day or two. Overall, I think it is a good, but not a great story, and while I would not say that it is one of the must-read canon novels, I do think that it is worth reading once. 

Book Review: Betrayal: The Final Act of the T***p Show

 

Betrayal is a great follow-up to Jonathan Karl's first book about the 2017-2021 presidential administration. Where "Front Row" chronicled events at the beginning of the administration up to just before the first impeachment, this one chronicles the end, with a major focus on the 2020 election and the events that followed.

Karl, who was the ABC News White House Correspondent during the shit-show that was the Orange Genital Wart's administration, and who had interviewed the Orange Shitgibbon many times throughout his career, including for this book (for the MAGATs who want to scream "fake news"). He definitely had an inside track to a lot of information, some of which was probably not widely known until the January 6th congressional hearings. He details the in-fighting that was going on behind the scenes between the "normal" people who knew that t***p lost the election and the "crazy" people who were throwing shit at the wall to see if anything would stick in trying to get the results of the 2020 election overturned. And how the plans went from a pressure campaign on local officials in various states, to trying to use the courts, to going back to pressuring local officials, to finally trying to pressure Mike Pence, who found a spine for the first time in at least four years and did not go along with the crazy plans that were being thrown out by t***p and his band of dipshits. 

This book is different from the first one in which Karl was mostly presenting facts, but keeping most of his personal opinions out of the book. Here, Karl clearly says that things t***p and those around him were doing and saying were crazy, nuts, lies, made up, etc. And, even though he did not come right out and say "t***p show" is a euphemism for "shit show", it does not take much reading between the lines to figure that out.

The book is just over 300 pages and is a pretty quick and easy read. The is not much in the book that is new, especially if you kept up with the January 6th hearings, but there are some fine details that Karl reports in this book that flesh out some of the reporting that was widely known (if you get your news from reputable sources). It is definitely worth reading.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 3

Day 3 was accelerator in X3 and Define Upper in PIYO.

Accelerator is basically an interval workout in which you do each move for a minute at two different speeds that Tony alternates. Define upper is an upper-body-focused yoga workout in which Chalene has you do a bunch of triceps push-ups and a bunch of core-focused moves. 

Both of the workouts are challenging. Thankfully each is short and modifiable. Accelerator is, of course, 30 minutes long and Define Upper is 20 minutes long. Pretty much anyone can be challenged in both workouts no matter what kind of shape you are in. 

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 2

Day 2 was Dynamix in X3 and Define-Lower in PIYO. Dynamix is a flexibility workout in which you are constantly moving, so there are a lot of pulsing exercises or movements in which you go from side to side, plus the standard Yoga sun salutations.

Define lower is a short, just over 20 minutes, yoga routine focusing on the lower body, so you are doing several warrior and triangle poses, half moon, etc. Putting most of the focus on your legs, hips, etc. Of course, you get the option to modify, which includes using a chair for warrior 3 and half moon, which makes them much easier to do. 

Book Review: Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going

 

This book is a combination of the two seasons of Cosmos that Neil deGrasse Tyson hosted, his Star Talk TV show, and the Star Talk podcast/webisodes mixed together. The book was written by Tyson and co-author James Trefil. In it, Tyson explains what the various sciences (basically physics, chemistry, biology, and astrophysics) have figured out about the origin of the universe, the formation of our solar system, life on Earth, the possibility of alien life elsewhere in the universe, and how the universe may ultimately end. As importantly he goes through things that there is evidence for, but is not well understood (e.g., dark matter and dark energy). He is able to explain the concepts clearly without throwing a bunch of equations in the book that would require multiple years of calculus to even begin to understand. In fact, the only equation in the book is the famous Drake Equation that is used to try to predict the number of planets or moons that may have intelligent life, and even in that case, he is really just explaining what the variables in the equation represents. 

The book is what I consider an intermediate length, at just over 300 pages. There are a lot of pictures in the book, both actual photographs taken through telescopes or the various probes we have sent out into the solar system, and artist renderings of how we think things look. And, some of the tweets that Tyson has tweeted over the years on various topics are included. So, the book reads fairly quickly. My only complaint is that throughout the book the authors include what amount to margin notes that delve a bit more deeply into something that was mentioned in the main text. However, the font used for these asides is smaller and the ink used is much lighter than the main text. So, unless you have really good eyesight, they can be hard to read, especially if you are at the point in your life where you need to use reading glasses or progressive lenses. That aside, it is still a good read for anyone who is interested in Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Workout Update: P90X3 and PIYO doubles workout- Day 1

Since I finished the three-week yoga retreat, as I said in my last post, instead of just repeating that one, I decided to switch to PIYO as my second, flexibility-based workout. PIYO is a combination of Yoga, Pilates, and Cardio, and was created by Chalene Johnson, the creator of Turbo Jam, Turbo Fire, and Chalean Extreme. 

In X3, week 4 is the transition/recovery week, so today's workout was Isometrix, which is a yoga workout with all balance poses. There is no warm-up or cool down, you just start the routine cold, but because you are balancing and using your core the entire time, you warm up pretty quickly. Basically, in the workout, you alternate between a mat-based balance move and a standing balance pose, holding each move for 45 seconds on each side. If you have done any of the P90x yoga routines you have seen all of the moves that are in the workout, but it is really just holding them much longer than you have before.

The first PIYO workout is called Align: Fundamentals, which is basically a tutorial in which Chalene shows you the various types of moves that you will be doing throughout the program, breaking down both the modified and unmodified versions of them. So, it is a little slower and she does not always do each move on both sides of the body evenly. But, it is very helpful, especially if you are a beginner (even though Beachbody labels the program as an intermediate one).  

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 21

For Day 21 I just did the AM and abs workouts in Yoga, back to back. These are the only repeat workouts in the program, which is nice. I did not do the optional X3 workout (which is just a flexibility workout). So, this marks the end of the three-week yoga program. I can definitely tell that, between this and the beginner's Pilates workout, I am a bit more flexible. So, I decided instead of doing this again for my flexibility workout, I am going to step it up a bit and do the Chalene Johnson Pilates/Yoga/Cardio workout PIYO as my second workout of the day. 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 20

Day 20 was the relax workout in yoga (and also the last regular workout of that program) and The Warrior in X3. I am still not a fan of The Warrior, but it is getting a little easier to do (at least some of the moves).  That is definitely a workout for which you need to be in very good cardio shape to be able to do well, even the modified version (which is barely modified). And, at least for guys, if you still have the spare tire gut, you really have to get rid of that before you have a hope of being able to do this workout well.

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 19

Day 19 was the 20-minute flow workout in yoga and  CVX in X3. Again, the flow workout was challenging but since it was a bit shorter it was not too bad. CVX was still very hard and a 3lb weight is perfectly fine for beginners. You will still get a challenging workout. There are even points with using the 3lb weight I have to modify because I am still getting very tired out (usually in the jumping-jack moves). 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 18

Day 18 was the 30-minute flow workout in the three-week yoga program and The Challenge in X3. The flow workout was hard, probably the hardest routine of the bunch, which makes sense given how the program is laid out. The Challenge was still difficult, but a bit less so than the first couple of weeks, and I was able to bump my number of reps up for both the push-ups and the pull-ups.

Book Review: Memorial Day: (Mitch Rapp Series Book 7 Chronological Order; Book 5 Publication Order)

 

At the time it was written, this was the fifth novel in the Mitch Rapp series of spy/assassin novels by Vince Flynn. It is the seventh book if you read the series chronologically, and the second book in the series written after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. While the prior novel, Executive Power, did mention the 9/11 attacks, this was the first novel in which Flynn built the storyline around the fallout from the attacks. The plot of this book is that what was left of Al Qaeda planned another attack using a cell located in the United States to launch another attack on the country, this time using a nuclear bomb. Rapp discovers the plot when he is helping clear out a stronghold in Pakistan and then has to return to the US to attempt to foil the plot. 

The book is fairly fast-paced with an engaging story. Flynn does introduce a couple of new characters in this novel, the most prominent of which is Peggy Stealey, who is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of Counterterrorism, who, of course, butts heads with Rapp, and her boss, the Attorney General, Martin Stokes, who is angling to replace the Vice President on the ticket. Mitch's wife, Anna, is mostly absent during the events of this book, essentially written out as visiting her family in Wisconsin for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.  

In my opinion, this was the best book in the series (up to that point), and I think told a much more realistic story than Flynn's prior novels did (in which Iraq was made out to be a much larger threat than it really was). Of course, the plot and the characters were made up (he even refrained from using the names of the real Al Qaeda leadership), but Flynn again blended elements of real life into his story, including the controversy over whether torture (or the threat of it) should be used to interrogate terrorists at a time when the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used in real life were coming to light. Flynn does, despite the fact that he himself was a conservative, remain mostly apolitical in the storytelling and includes characters from both sides of the political spectrum, writing Rapp to pretty much despise all politicians and especially their hangers-on.  The story in the book is mostly self-contained, but there are definitely elements in the book that could be brought into the plots of the subsequent books. I started reading the books in chronological order, so this is the farthest in the timeline I have gotten, so I am not sure how much from this book will carry over into the other books, but it definitely seems like Flynn was setting some things up in this book that will pay off down the line. It is definitely worth reading if you liked the prior novels in the series. 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 17

Day 17 was another double yoga day. The three-week yoga workout was another 30-minute balance workout, that actually did not have any super challenging balance moves in it. The tree pose was probably the hardest one, but there were a lot of crescent poses throughout. Then, it was X3 yoga again, which, like the other X3 workouts does get progressively easier as you do them, but I am definitely not anywhere near being able to do the advanced poses. 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 16

Day 16 was the 30-minute stretch workout in the three-week yoga program and Agility X in X3. The yoga workout did not really have any new moves, just new combinations and slight variations on what they have shown in the prior workouts. The agility workout in X3 was again a little easier, with my endurance getting a little better, but I still have to modify the workout a bit.

Book Review: Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil (Ascendancy Trilogy Volume III)

 

This is the third book in what is now the third overall (and second in official Star Wars canon) Thrawn Trilogy. This book concludes the events of the attack on the Chiss Ascendancy (the group of worlds in the unknown regions controlled by the Chiss and their ruling families) with the intent of starting a civil war between the ruling families. Probably more important to Star Wars fans is that it details the lead-up to how Thrawn ultimately became a member of the Empire after being exiled from the Ascendancy (which was hinted at in the first canon trilogy).  In this book, we find out that there is more to that story, and we get a hint of where Thrawn's actual loyalties lie. The book ends just after the events of the Revenge of the Sith and the fall of the Republic and the corresponding rise of the Empire.

I think the book was a good end to the storyline and is definitely better than the second book in the trilogy (Greater Good). Although this one does suffer from a couple of long stretches in which Thrawn is totally absent so if you are not really invested in the ancillary characters, the book may drag a bit. That said, there are some good action sequences, one of which is the final battle at the end of the book, that really displays Thrawn's ability at battle strategy, which is mostly what made the character so popular in the original Thrawn trilogy of novels that were written in the 1990s. While I still think that trilogy was the best one, this book is definitely worth reading for fans of the character to get his entire backstory.

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 15

Day 15 is the start of week three, of the three-week yoga retreat. This time, Ted, who you will recognize if you have done P90x2 and/or P90x3 leads the routines, with other cast members joining in to enhance or modify the moves. This routine is again a core-focused routine so it utilizes boat, downward dog crunches, etc. Then, in X3 it is back to the Total Synergistics workout. Again, my endurance is definitely challenged, but the workout is a little easier than it was last week (not by much though), so it is a matter of just plugging away and getting through it. 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 14

Day 14 was the three yoga workout day. I did the "AM" workout in the early afternoon and then did the abs workout immediately after it. Then, just before bed, I did the PM workout. I could not tell if the AM workout was the same one from last week, but the abs and PM workouts definitely are the same as the week 1 versions. Day 7 is definitely a much less intense day than any of the others, with just a couple of flowing movements, but pretty much everything else is seated. The abs workout is definitely the most challenging of all of the workouts.

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 13

Day 13 was the 25-minute relax workout in Yoga, and The Warrior in X3. I still very much dislike (and borderline hate) the Warrior workout, but it was a little bit easier (just a little) the second time through it. It is possible to modify some of the moves, even though the "modifier" in the workout hardly modifies it at all, but even modified it is a very tough workout.

Product Review: Mavogel Cotton Sleep Eye Mask

 

This is a great sleep mask. It is very soft and blocks out all light (when it is positioned correctly). I have a floor lamp that dims on a timer, but I do sometimes get tired before it turns all the way off. I tried putting the mask on before the lamp was set to shut itself off, and I could not see any light through or around the edges of the mask. I also have blackout curtains that do a good job of keeping light from the outside to a minimum, but the electronics I use in my room always have some light that keeps the room from being completely dark, which I definitely need at night in order to sleep well, and this blocks out all of that light which would otherwise keep me awake.

It does take a couple of nights to get used to wearing this. It is a lot heavier than other masks I have tried and it has a tighter strap, both of which are ultimately good, but may be a bit uncomfortable the first night that you use it. The strap is adjustable, however, so you can loosen it up if it is too tight. While it does not always help me fall asleep faster, I definitely sleep deeper once I get to sleep when using this. So, if you are a person that needs absolute darkness to sleep, this is a good pickup.

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 12

For Day 12, I did the 20-minute flow workout and last week's 10-minute ab workout (which was one of the optional day 7 workouts that I skipped). Then, in X3, I did the challenge, which was actually supposed to be the workout on Thursday, but misread the days and did CVX instead. At any rate, I added 1 pull-up to each round and one push-up to each round. I did all the push-ups on my toes, except during the burnout when I switched to doing them on my knees to finish the entire 2.5 minutes.

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 11

Day 11 was the 30-minute flow workout in yoga and CVX in X3. The flow workout was very good, incorporating nearly all of the moves (except some of the balance moves) that were in the prior workouts this week. It was pretty much non-stop until the end of the workout when they finish with some final stretches.

CVX was again hard, but a bit easier than it was last week. I again just used a 3lb dumbbell, and that was plenty, especially in the second rounds when you are going much faster and hence doing more reps.  

Book Review: Front Row at the T***p Show

 

Jonathan Karl has a unique perspective on the former administration having interviewed the orange genital wart early in his career when t***p was just a bullshit con artist real estate developer, and then a few times leading up to his announcement that he was running for president in 2016. Then, when t***p was in the White House, Karl was the White House Correspondent for ABC news. He also had known Sean Spicer for years before Spicer became the press secretary.

The book basically details the administration right up to the point just before the first impeachment. The final chapter of the book actually ends with t***p meeting Kim Jong Un at the DMZ on the border of North and South Korea and how he was pining for Kim to accept his invitation to meet. Then, in the Epilogue, Karl briefly touches on the first impeachment but does not go into a ton of detail about that because the book at basically been written and ready to publish just as all that was starting. So, at that point, Karl is mostly wrapping up his observations. 

A couple of interesting nuggets from the book are that t***p always thought of his whole brand as an entertainment act (hence the title of the book, which is also probably being used as a euphemism for "shit show" since it is fairly obvious that is how Karl saw that whole operation) and years ago admitted that he lied to get ahead, and just what a thin-skinned little prick Sean Spicer is and how he would get upset over even innocuous questions.

The book is just under 400 pages but reads fairly quickly. I would not say it contains a ton of material that was not widely reported, but it does contain some fine details that were not widely reported. Definitely a good read.

Book Review: Dumpty: The Age of Trump in Verse

 

This is a collection of poems by the actor John Lithgow that are basically a social commentary on the 2017-2021 presidential administration.

Lithgow basically excoriates the orange genital wart and people who were around him (the various cabinet members, etc.) and promoted his narrative (mostly FOX "News"). It is not really a collection of funny poems, but he does take some funny shots at t***p and those around him. But, they are mostly meant to be a serious commentary on the policies and craziness of that administration. I do think if there were more just totally humorous poems in the book it would have been better, but if you despised t***p and his band of dipshits, it is worth reading and can easily be finished in a couple of hours.

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 10

Day 10 was another double yoga day, with the balance workout in 3-week Yoga, and then the X3 yoga routine. The best thing about the balance workout is a great variation on tree pose that makes it a LOT easier for people who do not have great balance yet. And, it eases you into Warrior III much more than any of the P90X yoga routines do.

The X3 yoga workout is still challenging, but easier since doing the first Yoga workout in the morning. And, I have started incorporating the 3-week yoga modifications into the X3 routine when I need to, and they help immensely. 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 9

Day 9 was the 30-minute stretch workout, and much like last week's workout, this one focuses the most on hip and hamstring flexibility. It does have some core work and some flow work (via slower and less intense versions of the sun salutations). 

In X3, the workout was again Agility-x. It was a little easier than last week, but still very challenging and hard to keep up with, especially at the end when Tony keeps reversing direction in some of the moves. It is definitely a workout that will be very hard if you still have a significant amount of weight to lose but should get progressively easier over time. 

Workout Update: 3-week Yoga/P90X 3 Day 8

Day 8 was the 30 min core yoga workout, expanding on the concepts from week one. This week, Elise is the head instructor, and the other cast members kind of rotate through the different workouts. While this one is core-focused, it includes a few balance moves and the sun salutation flows.  

In X3 the workout was Total Synergistics again. It is still not a workout I would say that I love, but it is better than The Warrior. There are some moves in the workout that I like and some that I cannot do very well, but I keep pushing forward with it, and hopefully by the end of the month it will be easier.