Times I felt like a ninny and other stories

Lifting notes

I was wondering why my initial lift in a set of dead-lifts seemed so much harder than lifts 2-through-6.

I sorted through the possibilities, starting with form.

In the end, it turned out that I was lifting too fast. Not only was I fighting gravity but I was adding in F=mass * acceleration. I wasn't yanking the weight up but it was as if I was afraid I wouldn't be able to lift it and kind of panicked.

The answer was to slow down. If it doesn't come up...well, that is not a really big deal.

I am happier now.

Trail-running shoes

Commenters on the previous post mentioned that more traditional boots last longer than trail-running shoes.

Trail-running is different than hiking. For most of us, a one-hour run is a long run while we can walk for eight or ten hours. The foam materials used in running shoes flattens out over time and does not have time to recover. I think the engineering types call that visco-elastic or visco-plastic behavior depending on whether it recovers (visco-elastic) or is permanent (visco-plastic).

Another factor is that trail-running shoes tend to have much softer and grippier compounds in the tread while boots tend to have harder, more wear-resistant. The original Vibram Commando Lug sole was ground-breaking when it was first introduced but is now considered very slippery on wet rocks compared to more modern but less durable soles and it has poor "self clearing" and picks up clay.

Empty pews

I used to jog with a local, Lutheran pastor. I asked him about the demographics of who attended, specifically men/women ratios.

He said that most Sundays it ran about 70:30 or 80:20 adult women to adult men. That seems to be very common in most Christian churches.

I asked him if he had any thoughts for the disparity.

He said that he thought it was because men are socialized to not ask for help. If that is true (and it very likely is), then one might consider the Psalms. It is generally accepted that King David wrote most or all of them.

King David had cajones that clanged when he walked. As a wee-youth he protected the family's sheep from both two and four legged predators. He took on Goliath with nothing more than a sling.

And David ceaselessly asks God for help through the Psalms.

Scopes

I feel like a ninny. I failed to put a cover on the scope.

I took the bolt out of one of my tools so I could close the case. In this particular instance, it is the kind of tool that must be "inaccessible" when transporting in a motor-vehicle. The bolt migrated in the case and came to a rest against the objective lens of the scope.

OUCH!

How do the smart people prevent this from happening? I already know that I screwed up with regard to not putting the covers on, but is there a belt-and-suspenders solution out there, maybe a rubber condom that can be slipped over the end of the bolt?

The damaged coating is about 8mm in diameter and I can still see the the center of the crosshairs if I look from slightly above the angled region. Based on a single test, the point of impact is about two-inches below the cross-hairs at 70 yards but that could be me wobbling. Still plenty good enough to blow the end off of a deer's heart for a center-of-chest hold.

Not that I would EVAH shoot a poor, innocent deer with Cocker Spaniel eyes when there are plenty of lentils and dried beans in the pantry.

Mrs ERJ told me...

It was time to buy one of those devices that goes on your key-ring and chirps when you hit the remote. 

I did find my keys. They were in the washing machine. I am not sure something that is electronic and that chirps would have helped me.

Bonus video