Warning: Bad Roofer

Let it be known that T&T Roofing in Ottawa, Ontario - Trevor Chesebro - is exceedingly bad.

He and his crew did not show up on time, banged up the siding, did not provide a proper receipt, did not clean up, and, most importantly, put leaks in our roof!

The step flashing slid down, leaving gaps, and they did not bother to slide it back up - so, of course, it channeled the rain water right into our house.



These guys also did not seal/caulk the nails they used for the flashing. We had unsealed nail holes straight through the roof.

They are completely unprofessional. Avoid them. Warn others against them.

How to squat

I recently learned about keeping my shoulder blades together for bench presses, but I did not know I needed to do this for squats too.

http://doubleyourgains.com/how-to-squat

Deconditioning

Current schedule:
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (upper), Sunday (ride)
Last week, 75% (of 1RM):

Squat 225
Dead Lift 185
Shrug 225
Bench 205
Pull up 250
Dip 250

205 is 100% of my 10RM for bench, and 35 extra is about all I can pullup for 10 reps.
I could do a few more for everything else - squat, dead, shrug, dip.
http://www.exrx.net/WeightTraining/Periodization.html

Need to do my deconditioning/rest week. It is not the right time of the cycle, but I haven't taken a break in months and I feel it...

Change

With regards to weight lifting and building muscle, just about anything works, but nothing works for ever.
It is a challenge to keep changing this up. Multiple sets, progressive loading, super-sets, slow down, heavy weights, high reps, etc, etc...

I've been asked to do another Hot August Nights race... $150 for a weekend of pain and misery. Should I do it?

Holland Code

[snip, snip]

Here are my results from a Holland Codes quiz...

Organic CropScience

"[A] study, by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It reviewed 50 years of research into the health and nutritional benefits of organic foods. The study concluded that while there were small differences in nutritional benefits of organic produce, they weren't enough to be of any public health relevance. Overall, there were no differences in most nutrients found in organically or conventionally grown crops, including vitamin C, calcium and iron." - http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/05/07/f-food-organic.html

But what about pesticides, eh?
As it turns out, most organic foods have pesticide residues when tested and many have more pesticide residues than the maximum residue levels (MRLs), which "are generally-acceptable limits of pesticide deposits."

3.99% of conventionally grown foods and 1.24% of organic foods exceed the (MRLs).
..."from spray drift and other situations where there are interfaces among organic and conventional environments".

"Our experience shows that cases with residues above set MRLs had their origin not in organic agriculture but from unintended or intended mislabelling or persistant compounds in the soils."
- http://www.euractiv.com/en/cap/eu-report-reveals-pesticides-organic-food/article-183986

How about the environment?
"organic farming yields only 75 to 90 percent of the crop of conventional systems, meaning that more land must be planted in order to have an equal return."
- http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/13/cl.organics/index.html

But it's just a small price to pay, isn't it?
"A recent study by ERS examined price premiums for organic broccoli, carrots, and mesclun (lettuce) mix. During 2000-04, the highest premiums (near 100 percent over conventional) were observed for broccoli and carrots..."



Lettuce looks good though.

This cynical reality check brought to you by Bayer CropScience, BASF, Syngenta and Monsanto.

Monkey's Uncle

While it is fun to hop on the conspiracy theory bandwagon every now and then, I really can’t take it seriously. I like to research ideas before I honestly subscribe to them, so I looked into the faked lunar landing and the collapse of the World Trade Center towers.

It is almost too incredible that we landed on the moon 40 years ago. It is history which occurred before I was born yet seems more advanced than our current technology. The key, I think, are the effects of gravity and atmosphere on landing and taking off. The moon has 1/6 the gravitation pull as Earth and no atmosphere, so the challenges of ascent and descent are much simpler. I am not a rocket scientist, so it’s all black magic to me.

The collapse of the World Trade Centers looks too controlled and neat for non-engineered processes. It looks like a controlled, engineered demolition. But, of course, I am not a demolition expert or a real structural engineer, so I don’t really know. As an ignorant outsider, I just have to take the word of the structural engineering community and the peer reviewed reports they have published, such as http://www.civil.northwestern.edu/people/bazant/PDFs/Papers/466.pdf

So, for conspiracy theories, the problem is lack of information. I honestly don’t have enough information to either believe or disbelieve almost anything. We could have landed on the moon; it could have been an elaborate hoax. The Trade Center towers could have collapsed from heat softened buckling; they could have been demolished to make an excuse for renewed investment in the military.

Does God exist? I don’t know; I’m just a monkey’s uncle and you can’t teach a monkey calculus.