"Broadside" Long

Very nice! Love the skull.

You scored as a William Wallace The great Scottish warrior William Wallace led his people against their English oppressors in a campaign that won independence for Scotland and immortalized him in the hearts of his countrymen. With his warrior's heart, tactician's mind, and poet's soul, Wallace was a brilliant leader. He just wanted to live a simple life on his farm, but he gave it up to help his country in its time of need. Nice!

I didn't have a chance to workout on Tuesday, so I had a brutal workout on yesterday. Today I just jumped rope for 20 minutes. Uh, I should say I attempted to jump rope for 20 minutes. I can go about 1.5-2 minutes before I step on the rope. But, that's a huge improvement over a month ago. Planning another intense workout tomorrow!

Kicking the coffee was hard. I've been dragging in the morning. Just this morning I woke up looking forward to a cup then I remembered...oh yeah, I'm trying to quit. I used to work in a coffee shop, that's how my "addiction" started. Good job on kicking the Starbucks habit, Blackjohn. I'll bet you have many more doubloons now! I would like to start running again like JackyTar, but I've been having some hip problems the last few years. Could be Army service related, I don't know. I miss running. Crappy workout today. Felt like I was gonna hurl after just a few minutes. But at least I did something!

I've been trying to kick the coffee addiction this week. Pounding headaches really sucked but I think the worst is over. Still did my workouts everyday though! Next I'll try to kick the Dr. Pepper habit. I think that's gonna be tough.

Thanks for the encouragement Blackjohn. Keep puttin' one foot in front of the other! LongTom, I tried indoor rock-climbing once. Holy crap what a workout. I'd like to try it again, but no rock gyms around. Wait...I do live near the Rockies! I also need to start some serious ab work. I used to think the core workouts were just a lot of hype, but boxing really put that into perspective. It involves the core muscles a lot.

Okay, I was unable to workout for four days in a row! I worked out Sunday - Thursday last week and figured I'd take Friday and the weekend off to avoid overtraining. Then my dog got sick (again!) and I had to take Monday off as well. Tuesday was a kick in the pants. I thought I was well hydrated over my break, but my workout proved otherwise. And I just felt slower and lethargic overall. I'm back in the saddle now though and I won't be taking that many days off in a row if I can avoid it.

I live about an hour from the Stanley Hotel, which was the inspiration for The Shining. Stephen King wrote a lot of the manuscript there. The Sci-Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters did a couple of episodes at the Stanley and it was very creepy. There are a lot of ghost towns here in Colorado as well, especially in the mountains between Denver and Durango. Broadside

I think I have almost all of Pavel's books, LOL! I plan on adding weight training soon, but first I'm trying to become "proficient" with my own bodyweight. If you're also interested in the low-tech approach try these websites: www.rosstraining.com www.gymjones.com Ross Enamait is a boxer I think. He's in phenomal shape and has some good tips on developing functional strength. Mark Twight runs Gym Jones (they trained the Spartans for the movie 300). He's also a mountain climber so fitness is literally a matter of life or death for him. He posts the day's workout on the website so that you can follow along. He has some very interesting ideas on fitness such as never doing the same workout twice so that you're body has to continually adapt. It's also worth visiting they're site to see the transformation of some of actors from 300.

Good for you, mate. Everybody has set-backs. Forget about 'em and just keep moving forward. BTW, I don't trust scales either or the BMI (Body Mass Index). Scales don't reflect the fact that you could be losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. I think a lot of people just see that the scale isn't moving down and get discouraged when they're really making progress! BMI is sorta the same thing. You could be in great shape and still be considered overweight according to the BMI. I trust the way my clothes fit better, the way I feel, and that little peek of muscle that I couldn't see before!

I'm a Dr. Pepper and coffee addict as well. In fact, I would drink just about anything to avoid drinking water. Strange as it sounds, I just didn't like water. But I have come to the conclusion that, like most people, I was in a state of chronic dehydration. So I now force myself to drink A LOT of water everyday. I'm getting better and I've noticed that I have much more cardio endurance when I'm properly hydrated. If you kind folks would have me, I'd like to take the challenge to better myself and jump aboard this here thread. Weight is a big issue for me right now. I just turned 35 and have noticed for the last few years that my weight has been slowly creeping up along with my age. This is severely depressing to me. At my heaviest I was close to 220. Now, at around 197 lbs, 5'10" with a 39.5" waist I still look fat. I also have high blood pressure and high cholesterol so this could literally be a matter of life or death for me. As a consequence I have studied fitness extensively and I am in pursuit of real fitness not the appearance of fitness (i.e. beach muscles). As a result of studying real fitness, I have pared away the excesses of the modern philosophy of fitness and tried to mimic the daily activities of our ancestors and "primitive" cultures of today some of whom are incredibly fit. I don't go to a high tech gym and therefore avoid the expense, musclehead who tries to tell everyone how they should perform a certain lift and the others who seem more concerned with being seen with the latest sports apparel, etc. In other words I have taken a decidedly "low-tech" approach. I use tried and true compound exercises that incorporate as many joints as possible to achieve real strength as opposed to isolation exercises (bicep curls, etc.) that give the appearance of strength. I literally workout in my garage using old car parts. I also use push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and other bodyweight exercises. You will be amazed at the shape you can get into just using bodyweight exercises. But one thing I have discovered is training like a boxer. Just take a look at one of those guys and you'll see why! Plus, it's cheap and it works. I got a cheap punching bag, gloves, and a jump rope all for around $100. In the course of one month I have lost 1 1/4" off my waist. Jumping rope 10 minutes a day for one month has added 5/16" to each calf in! I feel lighter on my feet and there is no better way to relieve daily stress than pounding a bag at the end of the day. I'm not a trained boxer BTW so technique doesn't matter much to me, I just wail away. It can be a very transcending experience. I recommend it highly. Sorry this is so long and I know I sound like an infomercial. Also, I DO NOT mean this as an indictment of anyone else's fitness philosophy, it's just the path that I have chosen. I told myself I wouldn't wax philosophical, but to those of you who read this far...thanks for listening. Broadside

Thought my mates at the Pub might enjoy this. I am in the process of tracing my genealogy and stumbled across a line of Christians from the Isle of Man. It turns out that a branch of this particular family includes the famed Fletcher Christian. It also "appears" that I could be a direct descendant of William Christian or Illiam Dhone (Brown-haired William) who fought Cromwellian forces on the Isle of Man and was executed for his troubles. I've done quite a lot of research and this seems to be a legitimate line. Thought some of you might get a kick out of this! Broadside

Loreena McKennitt - Beneath A Phrygian Sky. Puts me in the mood.

Hmmmm? Big guy, likes women who are "above average", pyrating, costuming, lives in Colorado and likes green (I looked at your photo) my favorite color. Marry me! Are your eyes blue? Better yet are they green?! Unfortunately Silkie my eyes are brown, though a lighter shade. Sorry! And yer a fine figure of a woman as would make any man proud to have on his arm. But I'm already taken. On second thought, maybe I could have 14 wives like Blackbeard himself!

Here's the finished product complete with "Fancy" pewter buttons from Jas. Townsend & Son, whom I can recommend highly. The shanks on some of buttons are a little sketchy (they were cheapos, $.55 each), but their service was excellent and incredibly fast! Yours truly,

I like "plus" size women I guess you could say although I prefer the term voluptuous. I'm kinda a big guy, 5'10" and 200 lbs, and I've been with Twiggy-size girls and I always feel like I'm going to break them in half. (Sorry 'bout the dislocated hip, babe!). But I like exaggerated curves on a woman. Larger chest and hips kinda like an ancient fertility goddess. Also, a brain is a definite must.

Welcome to my world! 75% You are pretty darn strange. You're quirky and odd, and definitely not normal. But that's great--it makes you an interesting person. You aren't exactly as strange as they come, but congratulations on being quite unique!

I'd take ... toilet paper. Lots and lots of toilet paper! Maybe I could even trade it to me amazed shipmates for anything else I needed.

Someone mentioned kilts? Cheers!

Many Thanks, Lady Barbossa and may I say your kit is absolutely stunning!

Many thanks for the kind words, mates. This is only my second major project so I'm holding off on the wool for awhile. Besides, this coat cost me less than 50 bucks. Much cheaper than wool. I ordered some pewter buttons from Jas. Townsend and will post pics when I'm done adding them. Again, many thanks!

This is my latest creation. I made one last Halloween but gave it away. (I'm such a generous pyrate). This thing has 18 yards of ribbon. I haven't yet decided what route I want to take as far as buttons. The last coat I made had mismatched buttons to give it the appearance that buttons had been lost, found, and scrounged through the years. Anyhoo, what do ye think?

Broadside at the end of the 16th century and a little into the 17th, it was the style for men to wear earrings. And yes there are accounts of Drake wearing earrings at court. Unfortunately men wearing earrings went out of style in the early to mid 17th century and virtually all accounts of men wearing earrings disappeared. That came to mind right after I posted. Those portraits were obviously not made aboard ship, so I guess there is no way to prove if Drake or Raleigh wore earrings at sea. Also, I was thinking that it may have been a fashion during that period that went out of style by the time of the Golden Age. Oh well. Cheers, Broadside

A 1588 portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh clearly shows him wearing an earring in his left ear. In addition, a 1583 portrait of Sir Francis Drake shows what appears to be a gold hoop in his left ear as well. Both of these men were illustrious mariners, so I believe that it is entirely plausible that pirates wore earrings. They were a superstitious lot. I always heard that sailors wore earrings as a talisman against drowning, the improved eyesight is a new one on me. I've got both ears pierced and I still can't see sh!t. Cheers, Broadside

This is very sad news. I didn't know the Deacon personally, but I'm saddened nonetheless. He was a very knowledgeable man. Best wishes to his friends and family. Broadside