Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 18

Day 18 was the second time doing the Tabata Power workout. I was able to get about a minute or two farther into the workout today than I did on Tuesday, but was definitely very gassed during portions of the workout, especially during the shoulder exercises. But, I was able to get through it and again could do more unmodified (or less modified) moves than the last time.

DVD/TV Series Review: House: Season 4

 

Season four of House was, at least for me, an unexpectedly great season. I was worried about how changing the dynamic of the characters, with Foreman and Cameron quitting and Chase being fired would affect the show. Of course, Omar Epps, Jesse Spencer, and Jennifer Morrison all stayed on the show, but their roles were very different not being members of House's team. I think the writers did a great decision by having House hire 40 new doctors only to whittle them down to three in a reality-tv style competition. And, of course, he gave the characters nicknames instead of learning their actual names (for the most part). Some of the candidates included Olvia Wilde (playing 13), Kal Penn (playing 6/9/Kutner), Peter Jacobson, Anne Dudek, Edi Gathegi, and Michael Michele. The season is shorter (just 16 episodes) because of the writer's strike that occurred about halfway through the season. The show actually came back for four episodes after the strike so they could do their planned two-part season finale. 

The show continued with the case-of-the-week style procedural format, but the storyline about which potentials would make the cut was the main serial storyline throughout the season. Thankfully, the show abandoned the House pisses off the wrong person off storylines from season 1 and season 3, and just focused on the relationships between the characters for the serial arc.

For those who get the DVDs, there are a fair amount of extras which include a commentary track on part 1 of the two-part season finale, clips from the soap opera that House watches, featurettes on the writers and visual effects process, the new team, and the season as a whole. So, a lot there if you like the bonus material.

Overall, I think this is the best season of the show. I think all the new cast members did a great job joining an established and wildly popular show, and the existing cast did well with the changing dynamics. The two-part season finale was wonderful and set up season three very well. And, the show continued to get a ton of great guest stars including Frank Whaley, Thomas F. Wilson (from Back to the Future), Jeremy Renner (when he was still doing TV), Mira Sorvino, Fred Durst, and Ivanna Milicevic (who had done a lot of character work for many popular TV shows and would later star in the great series Banshee). If you are a fan of medical procedural dramas, chances are you watched House at some point. If you are one of the few who have not seen it, start at season one and watch it. It was almost always good, many times great, and sometimes the best show on TV. Definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Mr. Robot: Season 2

 

Season two of Mr. Robot continues the strange trip that is the story of Elliot and fsociety versus E-Corp (or Evil Corp as the characters refer to it). Season two is set months down the line from the successful hack of E-Corp. Elliot, now knowing that Mr. Robot (played by Christian Slater) is really his dead father that he has been hallucinating is staying with his mother and trying to get rid of Mr. Robot, only to fight a losing battle with him constantly. Darlene (Carly Chaikin) is now in charge of fsociety and continues to try and take down E-Corp from the outside, continuing the hacks, while Angela (Portia Doubleday) is now working her way up the ladder at E-Corp. Tyrell (Martin Wallström) is missing and is mostly absent (at least in person for most of the season), and Joanna (Stephanie Corneliussen) is trying to find him while also having a fling with a new guy who gets more and more suspicious of her.

The show continues the serial story arc from season one, revealing more and more of the backstory and including a lot of twists and turns. Of course, the audience experiencing events from the perspective of a mentally ill character allows for a lot of weirdness, as things are definitely not always what they seem, and includes some crazy moments like a 1980s/1990s sitcom version of a family road trip with that featured the 80s sitcom character, ALF. The new addition to the cast this season is Grace Gummer, who plays Dominique DiPierro, an FBI field agent investigating the E Corp hack, and BD Wong (from Jurassic Park) makes a couple more appearances as White Rose.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the show once again looks and sounds great in HD. The episodes and the extras are spread out over three discs. The extras include deleted scenes for most of the episodes and a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes. Not a ton, but what was included is good if you like watching the bonus content.

Overall, the show continues to be very entertaining. Like in the first season, there is a lot of violence, swearing, sex, and drug use in the show, so it is not family-friendly and will not appeal to everyone. It is definitely telling a long drawn-out story, so you have to watch from the beginning to have any clue about what is going on. The writing and acting are both top-notch and the show does a good job of revealing small details about the story while not giving away too much. It also blends the storyline into the real world (using clips of the mega-rich and politicians) to establish how the super-rich controls everything and why fsociety wants to take them down. It is definitely a great show and worth the time to watch.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Daredevil: The Complete First Season

 

Daredevil was the first of a series of more adult superhero shows that aired on Netflix starring Charlie Cox as Matt Murdoch/Daredevil, a blind lawyer by day and vigilante by night. Murdoch, while blind has enhanced senses that basically allow him to see something akin to radar pings. The season basically serves as an origin story for Daredevil, showing how Matt transitions to the guy in the suit. The crux of the season one storyline is Daredevil versus different criminal organizations which have exploited Hell's Kitchen in NYC since "the incident" which was the Battle of New York that occurred in the first Avengers movie, and ultimately pits Daredevil versus Wilson Fisk (AKA Kingpin) played wonderfully by Vincent D'Onofrio. The rest of the cast is made up of Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Matt's best friend and law partner, Deborah Ann Woll (from True Blood) as Karen Page, a legal assistant at Matt and Foggy's firm, and Rosario Dawson as Claire, a nurse that patches up Daredevil and one of the few who know his identity.

The series is basically a serial storyline in which the events of one episode build on another. The writing and acting are both top-notch, and the show has a lot of twists. Charlie Cox does a great job as the series lead, playing Matt as a conflicted, morally grey character who is also trying to keep his loved ones safe while meeting out unsanctioned justice. The show is rated TV-MA and is much more violent than any of the MCU movies. The show generally has more adult content than the movies including some swearing and sexual content. So, it is definitely not as family-friendly as the other MCU projects.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, it is just a MOD set with the episodes but no other extras. So, the only reason to get this versus just streaming the series is to keep your MCU collection of physical media as complete as possible. That said, it is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: The Flash: The Complete Third Season

 

Season three of The Flash has a lot going on. The season starts out with a variation of the "Flashpoint" storyline from the comics caused by Barry going back in time and saving his mother from Thawne. The fallout from that action really carries through the entire season. Then, about a third of the way into the season we get the big Arrowverse Crossover, Invasion, that involved Arrow, Flash, Supergirl (although Supergirl did not get a stand-alone crossover episode), and Legends. The big bad of the season ends up being yet another speedster, this time Savitar, who makes the team's life miserable for the entire season. And, of course, the show does mix in a bit of the case-of-the-week procedural episode, but those are definitely fewer than in prior seasons.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great, as it has in the prior seasons. Most of the special effects are pretty seamless, however, when they show close-ups of Barry or Wally super speeding, you can definitely tell they are animated characters. The extras include ten different featurettes including one of the villains, the Gorilla City episode, a portion of the 2016 Comic-Con panel, deleted scenes, a gag reel, a conversation with the showrunner and director Kevin Smith (who directed one of the episodes), and a feature on the crossover event. Plus, the crossover episodes of the other shows are included so you do not have to swap out discs with the other shows (or even get the other shows' sets) to see the entire crossover storyline.

Overall, the season is very good, even though the evil speedster storyline is a bit derivative of the Zoom and Reverse Flash storylines in the prior seasons. There are several additions to the cast this year, including Harry Potter's Tom Felton, Tobin Bell (from the Saw franchise), Violet Beanne, Jessica Camacho, Jessica Camacho (from House and Covert Affairs), and Danielle Nicolet. Some of the new cast members would have their roles expanded and some were only around for this season. The big crossover event was very good, but the mini-crossover with Supergirl which was a musical episode that allowed the vocal talents of some cast like Mellissa Benoist and Grant Gustin to be displayed was very good as well. So, if you are a fan of the Arrowverse shows, and especially The Flash, you will definitely want to watch this season.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 17

Day 17 was the sweat intervals workout again. I maxed out at pretty much the same point as I did last week, during the wide pike-ups. But, I was able to do more unmodified moves overall during the workout than I did last week. So, I am making progress, but am not where I want to be. 

Product Review: Amazon Brand - Happy Belly Hot Cocoa Pods

 

If you have a coffee maker that can brew k-cups but hate coffee, this is a good alternative. This is good-tasting hot chocolate and you get a good amount of k-cups for a decent price. And, you can set it up as a subscribe and save item to have it delivered at whatever frequency meets your needs. They are definitely easier to use than "regular" cocoa powder mix (not that making cocoa that way is hard, but this is more convenient) and allows you to easily make one cup at a time. So, if you are not a fan of coffee, this is definitely a good option.

Textbook Review: Microelectronic Circuits 6th Edition

 

This is a huge book (over 1400 pages) that is used for a two-semester class in an electronics class in an electrical engineering curriculum. It is so big that it could also likely be used for a master's level electronics class as well. The book is definitely kind of a slog to get through. Thankfully, my teacher did not teach directly from the book, and taught pretty much just from memory and experience, and created his own homework, quizzes, and exam problems. So, the book, while required, was more of a reference guide. The handful of times I did have to read anything out of the chapters I could follow what was going on, but I cannot really say how much the theory and examples in the chapter text prepare you to do the problems.

Generally, I would say that it is not likely to be the easiest book to teach yourself the material from. But, if paired with a decent study aid or supplement you can likely use it if you are trying to teach yourself the material. It does review some of the material that you would learn in the first year of circuits, but the focus is definitely on transistors, diodes, and how circuit components such as operational amplifiers are made using different types of transistors, and then gets more advanced from there.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Lucifer: Season 1

 

Lucifer was a series that aired from 2016 to 2021, starting on FOX and finishing its run on Netflix after being canceled by Fox. It is mostly a case-of-the-week procedural show (especially early on) in which Lucifer Morningstar (played by Tom Ellis), the DC Universe's version of the Devil, abandons Hell for Los Angeles where he runs his own nightclub named Lux. He becomes a consultant to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) working with Detective Chloe Decker (played by Chicago Fire's Lauren German), whom he becomes enthralled with. Lucifer uses his powers of persuasion to help Chole solve crimes, while his older brother, Amenadiel, played by Buffy's D. B. Woodside, and his demon confidant Mazikeen, played by Lesley-Ann Brandt, try to get Lucifer to return to Hell. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Kevin Alejandro who plays Chloe's ex-husband and current co-worker, Detective Daniel "Dan" Espinoza, Rachael Harris as Dr. Linda Martin, Lucifer's psychologist and occasional fling, and Scarlett Estevez who plays Beatrice "Trixie" Espinoza, Chloe and Dan's daughter, who befriends Lucifer and Mazikeen and steals nearly every scene she is in.

As I said above, the show is pretty much a case-of-the-week crime drama, with a lot of snarky humor mixed in. It is not a superhero show per-se, but of course, Lucifer does have powers that he uses in a very morally ambiguous (at best) way. There are story arcs that play out over the course of the season, the big one being that Lucifer is trying to hide his real identity from Chole, and always close to getting caught for something illegal he is doing. The season ends on a quasi cliffhanger, definitely setting up what is to come in season two.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. The 13 episodes are spread across three discs, and there are a handful of extras. The extras include about six minutes worth of deleted scenes, a handful of very short character profiles, and a 13-minute portion of the 2015 Comic-Con panel. What was included was good, but there is not a ton of material.

Overall, the show is very good. It is definitely not what I would call family-friendly as it definitely pushes the bounds with violence and sexual content that they could get away with on broadcast TV. While there are certainly religious themes in the show, it is more a buddy-cop procedural than a show with in-your-face religious dogma. It is well-written and very well-acted, and definitely worth checking out.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Mr. Robot: Season 1

 

Mr. Robot is a show that aired on the USA Network from 2015 to 2019, and starred Remi Malek as Elliot Alderson, who by day has a job at a reputable cybersecurity company, and by night is a hacker who takes down bad guys. He is approached by a group of hacktivists called society (as in fuck-society), whose goal is to take down a large, own-everything company called E-Corp, which basically uses the old Enron logo and is a metaphorical stand-in for any of the huge companies that basically run everything like Amazon and Walmart. Elliot has numerous mental issues such as social anxiety disorder and clinical depression and breaks the fourth wall by directly addressing the audience. The show has a lot of twists and turns that play out over the course of the ten episodes. By the end of the season, a lot is revealed but a lot is still unanswered. You find out there is a lot more to the storyline than what you necessarily think there will be at the beginning of the season.

For those who get the blu-ray, the show looks and sounds great in HD. There are not a ton of special effects, but the cinematography is very well done, and the show goes from looking dark and gritty to sleek and polished, depending on where particular scenes are being shot. The extras include a few deleted scenes and a short gag reel. The most extensive extra is on the second disc, a twelve-minute making-of featurette that includes interviews with the cast members and showrunner Sam Esmail.

Overall, the season is very good. Malek is great as the series lead, and it has a strong supporting cast including Carly Chaikin, Portia Doubleday, Martin Wallström, Stephanie Corneliussen, Michael Cristofer, and Christian Slater. I cannot say much about the roles of any of the other cast members because to do so would give too much away. While the show does take some creative liberties, it does try to be realistic with the computer coding and the portrayal of hacking. It is really a show that you will know very quickly if you like or hate it. It definitely uses a serial storytelling format in which the episodes build on each other and more of the story is revealed as the season goes along. It does have some swearing, sexual content, drug use, and violence in it, so it is definitely not a family-friendly show. When the show aired on the USA network, the word "fuck" was mostly bleeped out but in the blu-rays (and presumably the DVDs too) it is not.  One interesting aspect of the show is that it is set in the real world as it uses video clips from actual events and utilized deep fake technology to have real-world leaders, specifically President Obama comment on the events in the show. I definitely put it in one of my best series of the 2010s along with series like Breaking Bad and The Americans. If you have not seen the show and are looking for a good dramatic series, this is definitely worth watching.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 16

Day 16 was the first Tabata Strength workout in this round. It is actually one of, if not the hardest workout in Max 30 if for no other reason there are no breaks. You just go straight through from the warm-up to the end. I was probably able to do more unmodified moves in this one than in the other workouts, but I also got tired a lot quicker in this one. So, I maxed out at about 11 minutes in. There were some moves that I could do unmodified the entire two 20-second on rounds, and others of which I could only do one or two unmodified moves and that was it. 

Product Review: Polar Balance Scale

 

This is a decent scale that can only measure body weight, either in pounds or kilograms. It does not measure things like body water, estimate body fat percentage, or things like that. It is most useful if you use it along with one of the Polar heart rate monitor watches, which it can be synced with (although not always easily), which you can in turn synch with the polar app on a smartphone. There is no way to synch the scale directly with the app, so if you do not currently use a Polar heart rate monitor, then this is just a run-of-the-mill digital scale.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Constantine: The Complete Series

 

Constantine was a supernatural thriller series that aired on NBC in the 2014-2015 season. It starred Matt Ryan as John Constantine, a demon hunter, and master of dark arts who exorcises demons from humans and sends the demons to hell. He is joined by Angélica Celaya who plays Mary "Zed" Martin: A psychic who helps Constantine find demons and Charles Halford as Francis "Chas" Chandler: Constantine's oldest friend and sidekick. Harold Perrineau (from the series Lost) also stars as Manny, an Angel assigned to watch over Constantine.

The series is basically a case-of-the-week procedural, with the team having to find and then get rid of a particular demon. There is also a serial arc that is tied to Constantine's past that we get a few hints about, but the series was canceled before it could be fleshed out. Of course, most fans of the show know that the character was brought into the Arrowverse when the character appeared on the series Arrow and then became a regular on Legends of Tomorrow. I think the series would have been a lot better off being on The CW as it could have crossed over with the other Arrowverse shows from the get-go, but it was probably too close to the series Supernatural which was, at that time, The CW's longest running show. But, the series was just too dark to get enough of a fan base on a regular broadcast network and was never going to get the kind of ratings it needed to be renewed.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the series looks and sounds great in HD. The one benefit of being on a major network is that it got a huge budget so the special effects looked movie quality. As far as extras go, there are a couple of very short behind-the-scenes featurettes, a trailer for the series, and two Comic-Con features. One is a portion of the Constantine panel (that runs about 11 minutes) and the other is the DC Comics Night at Comic-Con 2014 Presenting Gotham, The Flash, Constantine, and Arrow, which runs just under a half hour.

Overall, the series is good, but was probably doomed from the start. The showrunners made the curious choice to abandon a major character from the pilot who was clearly going to be a series regular and basically swapped her out with the character of Zed. As I said above, it was probably too dark a show to get traction on any of the major networks as it was only going to appeal to comic book fans and they alone cannot generate the kind of ratings needed to keep a series on a major broadcast network. And, given the themes of demons and the occult that occurred in every episode, there was no chance that casual viewers were going to stick with the show. So, if you watch the show, just know that the series has a pretty unsatisfying end and while the character of Constantine lived on in the Arrowverse, the plot lines (and other characters) from the series did not.

DVD/TV Series Review: The Librarians: Season 1

 

The Librarians TV series is a spin-off of the Librarian trilogy of TV movies that starred ER's Noah Wyle made in 2004, 2006, and 2008. In the series, The Library recruits Colonel Eve Baird ( played by Rebecca Romijn), of the NATO Anti-Terrorist Unit to be the new Guardian, Ezekiel Jones (played by John Harlan Kim), a consummate thief, Cassandra Cillian (played by Lindy Booth), a brilliant scientist and mathematician, and Jacob Stone (played by Christian Kane), polymath, linguist, expert in architecture, art, art history, archaeology and world cultures of the past and present, including Native American cultures, and other fields too numerous to mention, including bar fighting, to be new Librarians. We discover that Cassandra, Ezekiel, and Jacob received invitations from the Library at the same time as the current Librarian, Flynn Carsen (played Noah Wyle reprising his role), but for various reasons didn't show up for their interviews. They work out of an annex to the library, aided by Jenkins, the caretaker of the Annex played by John Larroquette (of Night Court fame).

In the first season, Wyle is a recurring character (because of his commitment to the series Falling Skies), so he makes appearances here and there, but the focus of the series is on the new characters working out of the Annex. Jane Curtain and Bob Newhart reprise their roles as Charlene and Judson as well. The ten episodes are a mix of procedural case/mystery-of-the-week and a larger serial arc involving an evil organization called The Serpent Brotherhood. The themes of the show involve time travel, magic, dragons, and more.

For those who get the DVD set, there are actually quite a few extras. There are video blogs for each episode, each episode has a commentary track with some combination of the showrunners. director of the episode, and/or members of the cast, and then there is a gag reel. Given that the show did not have a wide appeal and aired on a basic cable network, the fact that it got a DVD release at all, much less with extensive extras is impressive.

Overall, the show is very good. It got in and out of the season quickly with the limited ten-episode run, and had a lot of twists and turns packed into the ten episodes. The acting and writing of the series were great, and the show had a good special effects budget to work with because the effects did not look too fakey as they do on some shows that do not get funding that shows that air on the broadcast networks get. All of the cast members seem to have very good chemistry and Wyle made the most of his appearances, easily stepping back into the character of Flynn.

So, if you were a fan of the TV movies this is definitely worth watching as it has a very similar vibe to those, yet stands on its own very well. It also has a great guest and recurring cast including Lesley-Ann Brandt, Matt Frewer, Tricia Helfer, Bruce Campbell, René Auberjonois, Alicia Witt, and Jerry O'Connell (who of course is Rebecca Romijn's husband in real life). It is definitely worth watching.

Product Review: Graphique 2023 Marilyn Monroe Wall Calendar

 

This is a 16-month 2023 (and partial 2024) calendar featuring Marilyn Monroe. It has a mix of color and black-and-white photographs, some of which are fairly popular, widely circulated pictures of her, and some of which I have never seen before. I get a new Marilyn Monroe calendar every year, so I have seen a lot of pictures of her, and it is nice to come across one that has pictures that I have not seen before, or are different from the more iconic pictures of her.

The calendar starts out with January 2023, and each month through December 2023 are "regular" pages with the picture above and then the blocks for each day below. Then, the last page of the calendar has the last picture and small grids for January-April of 2024. So, if you are looking for a good Marilyn calendar for 2023, this is a great option.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 15

Day 15 was the Cardio Challenge workout. I actually backslid a little bit this time, maxing out a few minutes before I did last time, but I think that is mostly because I was able to do more unmodified moves at the beginning of the workout, so by the time I was nine minutes into it I was totally gassed. So, it is definitely a trade-off. I can definitely confirm that the modified versions of the workouts are much easier than the unmodified versions. 

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Limitless

 

Limitless is a movie that starred Bradley Cooper as a down-on-his-luck writer named Eddie Mora. Eddie's ex-brother-in-law gives him a sample of a new nootropic called NZT-48 which allows Eddie to have perfect recall and the ability to analyze information almost immediately. He uses the ability to invest in the stock market and make himself rich, which puts him on the radar of multiple shady characters. He also begins to experience side effects of the drug that get worse as time goes by.

For those who get the Blu-Ray, the A/V quality of the movie is very good, especially being a non-blockbuster movie. The disc has two versions of the movie, the theatrical version, and an extended version. The extended does not extend the movie by much time, it just keeps in a bit more swearing, sex, and violence that is edited out of the theatrical edition in a handful of scenes. But, it does not substantially change the movie at all. There is a commentary track with the director and a couple of short (less than five minutes) making-of featurettes.

Overall, the movie is good. Besides Cooper, the other name actor in the movie is Robert De Niro and includes Abbie Cornish and Anna Friel in supporting roles. Of course, the movie is based on the widely debunked myth that humans can only use 10-20% of their brain's ability and that a magic pill can somehow unlock more (in the case of NZT, it allows a person to access and use 100% of their brain's potential). So, while you do have to suspend your disbelief to accept the premise, Cooper does a great job both in the slacker version of Eddie and the cleaned-up, polished version. At the end of the movie, we learn that Eddie is going to run for the US Senate, which is continued in the storyline of the TV series that Cooper produced and guest-starred in as Eddie. Although, some of the rules about NZT get tweaked from the movie when it goes to the series. So, if you like the movie, the overall storyline has more to it. So, if you like suspense-dramas, this is definitely worth checking out.

Product Review: SET OF 2 VHS STORAGE CASES ; STORE UP TO 34 TAPES

 

While there are probably not many of us left who have both a working VCR and some VHS tapes laying around, if you are in your upper 30s or older you may have some. I do not have many, but I do have the original Star Wars movies (without the updates added in), a couple of movies that never got a DVD release, and a handful of home movies. These are a good way to store standard-sized VHS tapes (they will not hold the larger cases like those the Disney movies were packaged in) that is easily transportable. You get two bags that each hold about 17 individual VHS tapes. The bags are fairly sturdy and can be zippered closed to keep out water and dust. They are definitely a much better storage option than just having them in a box. So, if you are one of the few people who still have some VHS tapes and you can find these at a reasonable price, they are a good pickup.

Product Review: Magazine Protectors Set Of 3

 

These are decent magazine holders and can store about 20, give or take, individual magazines that are regular-sized or smaller. They will not, however, hold something the size of the older Life and Rolling Stone magazines that were oversized. Also, they are not extremely sturdy. You absolutely have to pick them up by both handles or they will rip at the seams, and I even put one hand underneath them while I hold both handles in the other hand. That is what drops them down a couple of stars for me. But, if you are a person that still has a lot of print magazines, these are a good way to keep them protected.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 14

Day 14 was a return to P90x and the Back and Biceps workout. I think I like this one a little better than the Body Beast workout, especially since right now I have limited space for a home gym so I really don't have room to have a bench and barbell set up. Someday that will be the case and I will definitely return to Body Beast, but right now P90x workouts are the better option for me with limited space. 

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 13

Day 13 was just a rest day. I was not feeling well at all (I think I caught a bit of a stomach bug) so I did not even do Recharge. I mainly just stayed in bed all day and tried to get some rest. 

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 12

Day 12 was Friday Fight Round 1 again. Overall, the workout went fairly well even though I was a bit tired going into it. I was able to do more unmodified moves and can definitely feel my stamina getting better. I maxed out about the same point as last week, making it a few more seconds (pretty much as I have done with all of the workouts this week).  

Textbook Review: Engineering Statistics 5th Edition

 

This is basically a statistics textbook with examples and problems that are geared more toward engineering contexts than what you would see in a statistics class in a pure math curriculum. Like many textbooks, it falls into the trap of giving you the basic theory for the various concepts and showing you a couple of easier examples, then giving you a problem set with a bunch of problems that are harder than the examples in the chapter. Many of the problems require the use of statistical software (in my class we used MiniTab), but the book is not really keyed to any particular software program and as a result, does not give anything more than basic instructions about how to approach those kinds of problems.

Overall, I would say the book is okay, but not great. To be honest I hated stats in general and had to really grit my teeth to get through it. I would not say that this is something you can easily teach yourself from. It explains some concepts well, but others, not so much. For example, I never did understand ANOVA no matter how many times I read the chapter text. Most people are going to get this because it is required for a class they are taking, in which case you are going to have to get it regardless. If you are looking for something to learn stats from I would definitely look for a non-textbook study aid.

Product Review: Keurig K-Express Coffee Maker, Single Serve K-Cup Pod Coffee Brewer, Black

 

This is a good option for those who only want to make a single cup of coffee or hot cocoa at a time and only want to store the k-cup pods and not canisters of coffee or cocoa. This is very easy to use. Basically, there is a water container that you fill and put on the back of the unit. You put a pod in the top and then you can select to have it dispense 8, 10, or 12 ounces of water (depending on how strong you want your drink and the size of the cup you are using). There is also a button to have it make a stronger brew, which I believe waters down the contents of the cup less.

This is perfect for a single person, someone who has limited space, etc. The only thing I have discovered is that when it initially starts dispensing it can kinda spray the stream a bit, so you definitely need to make sure your mug is exactly centered under the spout, otherwise you will end up with some dripping down the outside of the mug. Also, I have found it helpful that after every few uses with a k-cup pod, do just a run to have it dispense hot water (so run it without a k-cup pod in it). That will allow it to clean the nozzle without doing a full descaling cycle which is needed every few months. Finally, the water canister has to be aligned just right in order for the unit to operate, so you may have to reposition it a couple of times to get the thing to run. So, if you are in the market for a k-cup coffee maker, do not need a bunch of bells and whistles, and do not want to spend a fortune, this is a good option.

Workout Update: Insanity Max 30/Chalean Extreme/Body Beast/P90X Hybrid Day Round 2 Day 11

Day 11 was the last Tabata Power workout for this round. Overall, it went about the same as it did on Tuesday. I was able to max out a few seconds later than I did on Tuesday, and was able to do more of the half-tuck jumps both at the beginning and the end of the workout. I still have to modify all of the push-up moves and max out during the triceps dips.