P90X2 Total Body In the Books!

Had a total of six of us in the gym tonight doing P90X2 Total Body!  Wow…this is a hard workout.  Right now, my core is screaming at me!  The variety of exercises where you are forced to stabilize your whole body while on a stability ball is just amazing.  Still looking pretty pathetic in some of the workouts so no new video this week.  Will wait until we master this workout before posting video evidence.   It was nice to see so many people joining us in tonight’s workout.  Sorry, Yadi, that you broke a nail trying to get your stability ball inflated correctly.  Even though I can’t continue to struggle with this workout, I will eventually conquer it!!!  Time…patience…practice…

 

Darren

P90X2 Core-Yikes! I Feel Like a Beginner

Ok…so…took a few days off after my trip to South Korea.  This afternoon, I got the stability ball inflated and headed out to my dungeon to get a workout in.  Haven’t been following my P90X2 rotation with all the business travel but intend to get right back on track next week.  Today, I decided to do P90X2 Core.  It never fails to amaze me how a new workout can make me feel like an utter beginner.  Am still getting used to these new work outs, but somehow managed to get through this workout.  Form isn’t anywhere near perfect.  I have a lot of room for improvement, but the  most important thing today is that I “pushed play!”  I will master these workouts!  Time, Patience, and Practice!!!

 

Cheers,

Darren

Annyeonghaseyo!

That is, “hello,” in Korean!  Yes, I am visiting South Korea for the very first time, and what an adventure it has been.  Wasn’t sure what to expect when planning this last-minute business trip to our office here in Korea.  Was a bit concerned about what has been going on in the northern part of the peninsula, but that doesn’t seem to be bothering the South Koreans one bit!

So my company has a small (and I mean small) office in the city of Suwon-shi, about an hour’s drive from Seoul.  We recently hired our 5th employee, and that means we need to be compliance with a slew of additional labor laws and regulations.  A few reporting and process changes needed to be put in place.  In addition, we had a couple of employees whose original employment agreements were not written correctly by the previous management team, so it was time for some housekeeping. 

As I said, wasn’t sure what to expect with my visit to South Korea.  Especially with me being of Japanese descent.  Wasn’t sure how native Koreans would react to me.  What I’ve found though is that the South Korean people are very hospitable and polite.  Haven’t had any issues whatsoever (though it is a bit cold!).  The hotel I’m staying at has been very accomodating, and every person I’ve dealt with has spoken very good English.  No one has laughed at me as I tried to speak the very few words of Korean I jotted down on a piece of paper.

Some very interesting observations about the culture and people of South Korea…

• Their diet is perfect for me–the main emphasis is on vegetables, fruit, and small amounts of protein.  The hotel I’m staying at has a buffet restaurant on the second floor.  Have had breakfast there each morning thus far.  The buffet is filled with salads (yes, even for breakfast), grilled vegetables, and kimchi!!!  So I have been feasting at the buffet in the morning, but in a good way.  I actually had kimchi at every meal yesterday.  As I mentioned, had breakfast at the hotel and then had lunch at the cafeteria in the office complex.  The cafeteria lunch was very simple, with rice, plenty of vegetables, kimchi, and some fried chicken.  Loaded the plate up with greens and a small amount of chicken.  Also had some more kimchi and some soup, and I was good to go.  After work, we went out to have some spicy Korean noodles.  Again, mainly vegetables with a little bit of chicken and rice.
• Would never want to drive here–OMG!  Suwon is a small town compared to Seoul, but there are still a ton of cars, and the traffic is incredibly congested.  As my brave co-workers have been picking me up and dropping me off, I’m amazed at the amount of time they spend in traffic.  The driving style here can only be described as passive/aggressive!  You give me an inch and I’ll try to take a mile, but if you only give me a foot, I’ll take it.  Wow!  There have been a few instances where I just closed my eyes and started praying!  Saw an incredibly entertaining thing last night though.  The parking lot inside the building our office is located in has the typical parking space configuration. However, it also has spaces in front of spaces where casr are backed up against the wall.  So as we get out to the parking lot last night, I see a guy literally pushing cars down the aisle so he can get his car out.  Apparently, when your car blocks another car from exiting, you leave your transmission in neutral and don’t apply the hand brakes.  This allows the person you’ve blocked to carefully push your care (and others next to you) out of the way.  I think I remember a video game like this.  Can’t remember the name though!  I just watched and shook my head.
• I am a dork!  I arrived in South Korea on Sunday afternoon.  Before I left the hotel the next morning, I wrote down the street address of our office on a piece of paper and had the clerk at the front desk write the address in Korean so I could “tell” the taxi driver where I wanted to go–great idea, Darren.  Only thing was that I forgot to get the piece of paper back from the driver when I got out of the taxi!  Didn’t realize this office complex had multiple buildings.  Walked around the campus and up and down stairs for about 30 minutes before I decided I needed to re-group.  Didn’t bring an international phone with me so I ducked into a small cafe on the ground floor, ordered a coffee and powered up my iPad.  Got Wi-Fi access, found my company’s address and was on my way.  Geez, you’d think after all these years of international business travel that I would have this stuff under my belt.
• Starbucks is lazy!!!  I was thrilled when I saw that there was a Starbucks on the corner a block away from my hotel.  Woke up on Monday morning and 6am and headed out for a tall drip.  Ugh…they don’t open until 8am??!?!?!  No worries.  Found a 7-11 and got a cup of instant coffee.  Wasn’t as good as Starbucks but it worked. 
• Time Warp Travel–So I departed SFO at 11am on Saturday, Jan. 14 and arrived at 4:3pm, Sunday, Jan. 15.  Seems like I spent the entire weekend on a plane!  What’s real strange, however, is the fact that my flight leaves Seoul at 6pm on Friday, January 20, and I land at SFO at 11:30am the same day.  I get back before I’ve left!!!  Make it so, #1!!!
• Working out in small hotel room is hard–brought along my trusty resistance band and a Tony Horton One-on-One workout dvd.  Lunges were hard to do as I had to navigate between the bed on my left and the desk on my right. Still managed to get a great workout in this morning.  Will see if I can repeat the process tomorrow!!!

All joking aside, I’m truly enjoying this trip to South Korea.  Will have to return when the weather is nicer so I can explore a bit more.  In the meantime…gamsahabnida (thank you) for stopping by the blog!!!

Annyeonghi jumuseyo,

Darren

New Year’s Day 2012!

Each New Year’s Day, we host an Open House to celebrate the arrival of the new year. Here are some photos of yesterday’s festivities.

Getting Ready for New Year’s Day!

If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know that each New Year’s Day is a big event at our place. We host an annual New Year’s Day Open House where we invite friends, family and neighbors to join us in celebrating the arrival of the new year. What you may not know is the amount of stress this event causes. It’s not about having to cook for three days or so or even making sure there is enough beer and wine available for our guests. The issue is making sure our house is ready for our annual inspection visit from my mother!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love my mother, and next to my wife, she is the most important person in my life. Unlike my mother (can you imagine an Asian version of Martha Stewart), however, my wife isn’t as neat and orderly as she is. Every year, as we get prepared to host our open house, I go into panic mode. Got to get things picked up and put away. Have to clean the entire house, have to make sure everything is perfect, have to get all the food prepared. And with all the things to do, there is always something that gets missed. This can cause friction, stress and chaos!?!?! Ugh. Do you remember the episode of “Friends” where Chandler puts up his right hand and says, “rock”, puts up his left hand and says, “hard place,” and then puts his head between his hands? That used to be me!!!

That has all changed this year! I’ve recruited a team of professionals to help me this year, and I’m actually excited about having a stress-free New Year’s visit with my dear mother!!! There were a couple of things that needed to be fixed: 1) Ice-maker: our ice-maker has been out of order for the last few months. Got Nick’s Appliance out here to look at it last week. He stopped by yesterday morning and replaced the motor. We now have a working ice-maker and don’t need to stop at Rotten Robbie’s on the way home any more!; 2) Leaky faucet and tilting dishwasher: both were taken care of by Scott the handyman. Thanks, dude. Appreciate your help with fixing the plumbing under the sink.

This year, though, I went a couple of steps further and brought in some real professionals. I brought in a team from Merry Maids to actually clean our house and brought in Mike from ZeroRez to clean our carpets!!! Can’t tell you how happy I am about my decisions about these two companies. The biggest stress for me has been getting the house clean, and it has been a challenge because I need to get my dear wife to put things away before I clean, and unless things are put away, I can’t clean or get the carpets cleaned. This year, I took a different approach. I scheduled an appointment with my local Merry Maids franchisee and got an estimate on their services. I then told my wife that things needed to be picked up and put away by a certain date, and then my team of professionals took care of the rest. Have to say, I am pleased with the results so far. Our Merry Maids team arrived at noon yesterday and got to work right away. Our biggest challenge was ensuring our dog was distracted enough to stop barking. While we were forced to be outside, I dismantled and discarded our old back yard gazebo, pulled the weeds out of our back patio, and cleaned up and vacuumed our garage. By the time the Merry Maids were done, I was exhausted. Our final inspection with Merry Maids left me feeling great. The house was simply immaculate. Even our trash and recycle bins are clean. Called our best friends, Pam and Dave, over for dinner to show off our clean house! Great job, Merry Maids. We ordered some Chinese food from our favorite Chinese restaurant and had a great dinner. So nice to be able to just sit around the dining room table and enjoy a meal!!!

This morning, right on queue, ZeroRez arrived to clean our carpets. Mike did a great job in cleaning our carpets. He was very thorough and paid a lot of attention to detail. Again, our biggest worry was keeping Missy calm as Mike did his best to clean up her messes. While this was going on, I found myself energized enough to tackle some more detailed tasks in getting ready. Cleared out our front porch area, cleaned the door and got into some detailed cleaning the standard services from Merry Maids didn’t cover. Have to say that the house is looking and feeling great. I am sure my mom will find something to complain about when she arrives tomorrow. I am fine with that. Will be more concerned if she isn’t her usual fiesty self. Monku, monku, monku…you know the next three words if you understand Japanese-American English!!!

So will be having brunch tomorrow with my cousin, my aunt and my family! Will officially take custody of my mother at the end of brunch tomorrow. Don’t think there is anything she can complain about (see above comments about “monku”) but will see how things go!!!

More posts to follow about our progress this week. Wish me luck as we get ready to ring in the new year.

Cheers,

Darren

A Surprise In the Asylum! 12-22-2011

Tonight, we had scheduled our regular Thursday night workout. As we are getting close to the end of the work week/year for most companies, I wasn’t expecting attendance to be great. Had been emailing my former co-worker, Kim, about the schedule, and she stated she might join us for the final workout of the year. Was totally excited as Kim is the first person to challenge me to a P90X rotation a few years ago. If it wasn’t for Kim’s tenacity, I don’t know where I would be right now. Last week, she mentioned she might be interested in attending one of our Fit Club workouts. She agreed to join us for this evening’s workout. What I didn’t know was that she invited a bunch of other people to workout this evening.

So I am in the aerobics room getting things set up when I see a white mini-van pull up. In the back of my mind, I don’t think too much about it until the driver jumps out of the drivers’ seat and into the back of the van and doesn’t come out. Hmmm…the sun is shining in my eyes, and I can’t tell who this person is!! A few minutes later, a white Lexus pulls into the parking lot, and I notice Jenny immediately!!! OK..something is going on here. I open the door to the gym area and greet Jenny, Kendra, and Ollie!! Their cover is busted!!! I let them into the building not knowing there are more surprises in the works. A white Camry then pulls up and out comes Gin!!! OMG, this is going to be a reunion workout!!! Finally, at about 4:43, Kim arrives, and the surprise is complete. It is a reunion of my former co-workers!!! Can’t believe that I laid 3 out of 4 of them off, and they are still speaking to me!!! In fact, they came back to work out with me! How cool is that!!!

So was tempted to record and post yet another video but decided to just enjoy the moment(s). Thank you for the incredible reunion workout!!! P90X2 Core is complete!!! Great job by everyone. This new program is hard, and I hope that anyone who attempts it will succeed!

Best regards,

Darren

Tonight’s Workout-P90X2 Total Body-12-20-2011

Getting close to the end of the year. My workout groups are still going strong. Tonight, we did the all new P90X2 Total Body workout at my former company. I tell you, the new P90X2 workouts are an incredible mixture of strength and balance. I can’t remember ever feeling this uncoordinated and sloppy. So many of the exercises involve a combination of strength and balance that it’s hard to keep up. Once again, I have been humbled by Tony Horton. Am still experimenting with the P90X2 workouts. Will plan on starting a full rotation in 2012, but for now, am enjoying the pleasure of adventuring into new territory.

Darren

A Relaxing Rest Day–Not!!!

Have been going non-stop today. Started getting the house ready for our New Year’s Day Open House, and while I’m please with the progress made, I can still see we have a ways to go. Each New Year’s Day, we host an open house where we invite our friends and family to join us for a day of great food (it’s a feast) and company. It also means my mother will be here for her annual inspection visit. Today, I focused on our kitchen. Cleaned out and organized the cupboards, cleaned out the refrigerator and organized the pantry. That might sound like a small task, but it literally took me all day. Didn’t even go out and play tennis. Looking at my BodyBugg statistics, I’ve incinerated over 3500 calories today, took over 12,000 steps and have had 9 hours and 48 minutes of moderate physical activity. No wonder I’m tired.

Will be bringing in a cleaning crew next week to complete the New Year’s Day prep. Also bought and assembled a new lawn mower yesterday to replace the one that died last weekend (RIP my faithful Craftsman). Have to figure out how to fit the new one into the shed. So many things to do. Getting a bit overwhelmed just thinking about all the things that need to be taken care of. But, I will persevere and get things done in time to celebrate the new year.

Have an incredible week, and stay INSANE!

Cheers,

Darren

P90X2-Core…Our First Attempt

Okay. So this was our first attempt at a P90X2 workout. I am not used to using resistance or medicine balls at all, so this was a very humbling experience. Think my valient group of friends did their best to work their way through the workout! I just hope that I will improve my form over the next few months.

Happy holidays!!!

Darren

A New Year, A New Program–P90X2!

Got home on Thursday night after watching my nephew perform at his school’s holiday choir program (which was great by the way) only to find package from Beachbody! I had pre-ordered the new P90X2 a while back and was waiting to get an email letting me know my order had shipped. Instead, it just showed up! What a great and pleasant surprise! The new workouts look amazing, and can’t wait to start trying them out. Will likely start with X2 Core on Tuesday night. My former company’s gym has all the things we need: stability and medicine balls, foam rollers, and mats. Can’t wait.

It’s time to Bring It, Again!!!

Darren