just a quick post

I've been thinking a lot about my upcoming presentation on critiquing arguments. I don't know if I want to bring up formal logic or not. In my opinion, I don't have enough space to give even the briefest introduction to logic justice. However, I am concerned that without the logic explained, the true reason behind an argument being deemed a "good" argument will go unevaluated. As I imagine teaching argument analysis to my students, I don't want to neglect the underpinning logical axioms.

I believe my way of understanding is odd. Reflecting on what has worked for me i.e. what has improved my writing and what has improved my ability to construct and evaluate arguments, I know that an understanding of the foundations benefits me the most. However, research suggests that studying grammar in the traditional style doesn't help students improve in anything else besides knowing grammar; there is no benefit to their writing. Would the same be true for logical foundations?

To get more specific, in my view I see understanding the foundations as a means to remove the particulars from a linguistic construct. Without the particulars to trip up understanding, an individual can begin to evaluate a construction based primarily on its skeletal structure. Having only the skeletal structure, the straightforwardness of the construct is revealed, thus allowing the individual to review their understanding of logical foundations to see if the construct's skeleton is logical. I don't know if that makes sense, but I am trying to basically say this:

Suppose you are given this argument:

Duffs are never cold clams.
If Duffs are never cold clams, then heat seeking yams will drop apples.
Therefore, heat seeking yams will drop apples.

This argument is about imaginary objects, but the logical skeleton is completely valid. By understanding the logical foundations, the risk of being tripped up by the non-sensical particulars is removed, leaving an individual capable to still say something about the argument's quality of reasoning.

Bell has rung, must go.

workouts are still goin strong!

Just wanted to note here that I am now keeping track of my workouts in a small notepad because it allows me to refer to it at the gym. My workouts are still going strong!

a long day at panera

Today, I spent five hours reading and studying at Panera Bread, and it was a lot of fun. Nicole and Andrea were there with me and I really enjoyed their company. It was originally their "date" for studying, but I unhesitatingly invited myself along and am now referring to the date as if it were my idea. This is only, of course, the case because this is my blog and everything in it is about me and driven by me; therefore, I have to make every event in it one of my own conception right? Ah, well all of this sounds very innapropriate, but it seems to be the way I always start to write in this thing. I am helplessly egotistical when it comes to my blogging. I willfully plagiarise events and plans. What a bad habit...

Anyways, I am really enjoying the book I have to read by Jim Burke. He is a leading English educator, so I know I am ascribing to the present King Tut's ways of teaching English, but nevertheless I really enjoy what he has to say. I find myself scribbling "yes!" in the margins of my book because something he says rings startlingly true to my own hopes and philosophies for teaching.

Anways, just thought I'd blurb about this because I am about to delve into re-learning some of the things I've recognized I need refreshers on.

sep 7th - legs

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Squat 145lbs, 155lbs, 165lbs, 175lbs	4	12,10,8,6
45 Degree Leg Press 180lbs, 200lbs, 220lbs, 240lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Leg Extension 115lbs, 130lbs, 145lbs, 160lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Stiff Legged Deadlifts --,--,--,-- (Felt burned out and I didn't want to attempt this exercise.)	4	12,10,8,6
Calves
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Seated calf Raise 115 lbs, 125 lbs, 135lbs	3	10,8,8
Standing Calf Raise --,--,-- (Burned out)	3	15,12,10

sep 3rd - back

Wide Grip Pull Up 75lbs, 90lns, 105lbs, 120lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Close Grip Pull Down 50lbs, 60lbs, 70lbs, 80lbs	4	12,10,8,6
One Arm Dumbbell Row 37.5lbs, 40lbs, 42.5lbs, 45lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Bent Over Barbell Row 75lbs, 85lbs, 95lbs, 105lbs Great workout this day.	4	12,10,8,6

sep 6th - chest

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 95lbs, 105lbs, 115lbs, 125lbs (I did this exercise with a bar rather than dumbbells this week)	4	12,10,8,6
Barbell Bench Press 125lbs, 135lbs, 145lbs, 155lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Incline Dumbbell Flys 25lbs, 27.5lbs, 30lbs,--	4	12,10,8,6
Cable Crossovers 22.5, 25,--,--	4	12,10,8,6
Biceps
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Incline Dumbbell Curl --,--,--	3	10,8,6
Preacher Curl 60lbs, 70lbs,--	3	10,8,6
Standing Hammer Curl 30lbs, 35lbs, -- Ran out of time to complete all of the day's workout, but what I did complete felt great!	3	10,8,6

sep 2nd - shoulders/triceps

Shoulders
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Smith Machine Shoulder Press 50lbs, 60lbs, 70lbs, 80lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Dumbbell Lateral Raise 15lbs, 20lbs, 25lbs, 27.5lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Dumbbell Reverse Fly 20lbs, 22.5lbs, 25lbs, 27.5lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Dumbbell Shrugs 40lbs, 45lbs, 50lbs, 55lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Triceps
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Lying Tricep Extension 40lbs, 50lbs, 60lbs	3	10,8,6
One Arm Cable Extension 60lbs, 70lbs	3	10,8,6
One Arm Dumbbell Extension 15lbs, 20lbs, 25lbs Great workout, but I've discovered that my right arm tricep is weaker than my left arm's. I'll be working on evening those out.	3	10,8,6

aug 31st - cardio

My muscles are still sore, so I am taking two days off in a row to rest them as much as they need. I went to the gym today and ran 2.25 miles followed by stretching and abs. A nice short workout, but still left me feeling good.

aug 29th - chest/biceps

Chest
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 22.5lbs, 25lbs, 27.5lbs, 30lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Barbell Bench Press 115lbs, 125lbs, 135lbs, 145lbs	4	12,10,8,2(burned out)
Incline Dumbbell Flys 20lbs, 20lbs, 27.5lbs, 27.5lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Cable Crossovers 17.5, 22.5,22.5,25	4	12,10,8,6
Biceps
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Incline Dumbbell Curl 25lbs, 25lbs, 27.5lbs (burned out right arm)	3	10,8,6
Preacher Curl 55lbs, 60lbs, 70lbs	3	10,8,6
Standing Hammer Curl 25lbs, 27.5lbs, 30lbs Great workout today, hard as usual, but the bench was a lot better. I got almost my full reps in.	3	10,8,6

Shot trap last night!

Last night Bob and I went to Triple B's and shot 2 rounds of trap! It was so much fun. I shot really well and again impressed Bob with my shooting. Also, I found out I'm a weirdo and sight with my opposite eye. For example, I hold the gun on my right shoulder and sight with my left eye! I've always done it that way, it's how I've always shot, but Bob was worried the gun was too small for me because it looked like I was cramped or hunched over the stock. Ah well, whatever works I guess. I'd say I hit between 65% and 75% of the traps that were thrown. For my second time shooting trap, I'd say that aint too bad.

aug 28th - legs/calves

Quads, Hamstrings & Glutes
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Squat	4	12,10,8,6
135lbs, 155lbs, 165lbs, 185lbs 45 Degree Leg Press	4	12,10,8,6
180lbs, 230lbs, 250lbs, 270lbs Leg Extension 105lbs, 120lbs, 135lbs, 150lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Stiff Legged Deadlifts only 1 set at 95lbs, I stopped because the lift still didn't feel right. I gotta investigate technique on the lift more...	4	12,10,8,6
Calves
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Seated calf Raise 90lbs,115lbs,135lbs	3	10,8,8
Standing Calf Raise 45lbs, 65lbs, 85lbs The whole workout felt great today, I really pushed myself and did extra stretching and increased the amount of ab reps.	3	15,12,10

aug 26th - back

Back
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Wide Grip Lat Pull Down 90lbs, 100lbs, 110lbs, 120lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Close Grip Pull Down 90lbs, 100lbs, 110lbs, 120lbs	4	12,10,8,6
One Arm Dumbbell Row 25, 30, 32.5, 35	4	12,10,8,6
Bent Over Barbell Row 115lbs each set I'm really feeling it in my back, lots of good soreness from yesterday and today.	4	12,10,8,6

Aug 25th - shoulders and triceps

Shoulders
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Smith Machine Shoulder Press Did this exercise without the machine today. I believe I did 40lbs, 50lbs, 60lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Dumbbell Lateral Raise Wow hard. 25lbs each set	4	12,10,8,6
Dumbbell Reverse Fly Again hard, started with 17.5lbs, 20lbs, and then 25lbs last set	4	12,10,8,6
Dumbbell Shrugs Didn't feel the burn as much, I think I needed more weight. Did 25lbs, 30lbs, 35lbs, 40 lbs	4	12,10,8,6
Triceps
Exercise	Sets	Reps
Lying Tricep Extension 30lbs, 40lbs, 45lbs. Felt great	3	10,8,6
One Arm Cable Extension I think it was 50lbs, 60 lbs, 70lbs.	3	10,8,6
One Arm Dumbbell Extension I about died doing these. Used 20lbs the whole time. Found that my left arm is a lot stronger than my right arm on this exercise. Also, on my ab workouts I upped the reps of bicycle kick crunches to 30 from 20 each set for 2 sets, and I did 2 sets of 10 on the leg extension crunches.	3	10,8,6

Aug 24th - chest and biceps

Incline Dumbbell Benchpress 4 sets, 12, 10, 8, 6 - 30lbs, 32.5 lbs, 35lbs
Barbell Benchpress 4 sets 8, 7, 6, 5 - 115lbs, 125lbs, 135lbs
Incline Dumbbell Flys 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 6 - 20lbs, 25 lbs
Cable Crossovers 4 sets 12, 10, 8, 6 - 70lbs, 80lbs, 90lbs, 100lbs

Incline Dumbbell Curl 3 sets 10,8,6 - 20lbs
Preacher Curl 3 sets 10,8,6 - 35lbs, 40lbs
Standing Hammer Curl 3 sets 10,8,6 - 25lbs

This was definitely the hardest workout to complete all of the sets and reps; it killed me. But, After a week of workin out I'm already seeing some awesome results. I'm heading out to the this afternoon, I am posting this workout a day after I did it.

workout aug 21 - legs/calves

Squat 115 (12), 125(10), 135(8), 145(6)

Leg extension 70(12), 90(10), 110(8), 120(6)

Leg press 110(12), 130(10), 150(8), 170(6)

Standing dead lift - didn't complete, all sets, my form didn't feel right.

Calf raises 45(12), 55(10), 65(8), 70(6)

Standing calf raises 40(12, 10) 60 (8, 6)

workout aug 20 - back

I've begun working out following an awesome 4 day workout regiment, and I've decided to use my blog as a means to track my weights that I use in my reps each workout. This will all be a means to motivate myself to keep pushing the limits of my strength training.

Wide arm pull ups kicked my butt today, only could do 2 reps per set with 4 sets total.

Close grip pull down was a great workout, started at 80lbs 12 reps, 90 10 reps, 100 8 reps, 110 6 reps.

One arm dumbbell row was always awesome, but I think I kept the weight too light. 25lbs with 12, 10, 8, and 6 reps over 4 sets.

Bent over barbell row was intense and gave my forearms a serious burn, had 95 lbs and did reps of 12, 10, 8, 6 over 4 sets.

a day to remember

i had not been to an MLB baseball game in over 10 years; tonight that changed. before the game, wg went to the beach and we all had a lot of fun in carlsbad. at the beach i had a lot of good time to talk to people and get to know them better. then, as if the day couldn't get any better, we all went out to dinner and for dessert we had rite-aid ice cream! Pistachio Nut, fyi.

Unfortunately, the Padres lost tonight, but we got to enjoy their beautiful stadium, Petco Park.

On the way home from San Diego, some of the car ride conversations came upon the topic of salvation. Specifically, the topic of grace vs. works based salvation. For those of you who may read this and are not christian or don't care, I'm not trying to be preachy, I'm just writing this down to try to clearly articulate my thoughts on this topic. I've talked about them before, but I've never tried to pen them.

In my life, I've experienced living under both believing in works based salvation and believing in grace based salvation. Living under a works based salvation belief, is commonly called a "legal relationship with God." Basically, you do X and God owes you, or gives you, Y; eventually, you accumulate enough debt with God in order to gain your salvation . Living under a grace based salvation belief is the belief that through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, all who accept and love him are saved because there is nothing greater than Christ's sacrifice. Any effort of our own could never measure up, we always fall short. Good deeds are merely a way to express your love for the sacrifice Christ took upon himself, they do not somehow make God owe you something.

I can remember as a young teen always worried about whether I would go to heaven if I died that week. Had I done enough good? Was that extra sin I committed this week the straw that broke the camel's back? These and other thoughts weighed down my conscience regularly. In addition, I would always find myself in dilemmas: am I going to help this person because I know I will get something in return i.e. heavenly rewards? I was always taught to do service out of the sincerity of your heart and for no other reason but to help others and be selflessly loving. However, I recognized then that within a works based concept of salvation that kind of service seemed impossible. The act of service would always be tainted with the promise of selfish gain.
Within this mind set, I felt a huge weight on my heart. I can still remember how that felt. Picture the balances held by lady justice, I would always find them representing my salvation and whether I had enough weight on the right side in case I bit the dust right then.

As an adult I found an interesting view of salvation, the grace based concept of salvation. I had always been taught that the grace believers had it easy, that they were lazy and silly for believing that one could merely accept Jesus on their death bed and they'd go to heaven just the same as someone who had lived a nearly sinless life their entire life! How is that FAIR?!?! Although I do concede that the deathbed acceptance is a bit questionable, it is not our place to decide where a dying person's heart is at because God will do that. But, here's the interesting part of grace based salvation: what if it is actually more challenging than a legal relationship with God. Now this isn't a quibble over who has it tougher in life so everyone can feel sorry for them. No. I honestly see where the cynic of grace based salvation is coming from, however I don't think they're right. For one reason, it is harder sometimes to do something without the promise of a reward. What will I get out of doing this? What's in it for me? If there's nothing to gain salvation wise from doing acts of service or any other work, then doesn't that free our own conscience from itself because then a person can know that their act is truly selfless, that there is no ulterior motive for selfish gain driving the act? An interesting side note to the cynic's position of grace based salvation is that they may find it unsettling to not know the status of their salvation based on their own works. Having faith in Christ to know that your saved is not enough, a works based salvation gives a stronger sense of assurance because you can so to speak know the current running tally on your debt with God. I've done x, y, and z, I think salvation is in the books for me. The worldly reassurance present in a works based belief is not present in a grace based belief. The primary element of grace is faith and the power of Jesus, while the primary element of a legal relationship is what we do as individuals to save ourselves.

That's about all I wanted to say on the topic. I can't say I wrote it all down as clearly as possible, but I did do my best. If this topic wasn't your can of worms, just quietly move on with your life. I am personally intrigued by the subject and often toy with it in my head as I read the bible and sit in church. Knowing believers from both sides of this debate, if you want to call it that, I find myself constantly drawn back to it in my personally reflections. Even though one person may find the topic so clear and easily resolved, another person may see it completely the opposite. I's amazing how two people can hear the same message and respond completely differently. Put two people in the same room and have them listen to the same speech and they'll have heard two different messages. Blows my mind to little pieces. That simple phenomena is always why I am very gentle and subtle when it comes to discussing my personal beliefs with another person; I always have the odd sense that we can't hear the same things as one another.

well, video games make you fat.

Study: Average gamer is 35, fat and bummed

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32463904/ns/technology_and_science-games


I think I quit just in time!

I'm on my way to practice my golf game and my softball pitching. It's such a beautiful day outside it would be a crime to waste it!

rogaine and protein powder

I got Rogaine today and started my first application. I realize that I've taken on a potentially lengthy routine, having to continue usage of the product in order to keep any regrown hair. Nevertheless, I think now is the perfect time to start using it. Before more hair is lost on the crown of my head, why not take some action now? Hopefully this move will merit greater hair retention throughout my life, assuming the product works for me.

Also, a nice addition to my biological regiment has been my decision to start having protein shakes in my diet to help curb my incredible hunger while working and attending school in this upcoming semester. More school you may ask? Well I'm almost done. I'll be getting my teaching credential in English, then I'll be done for a while until I get my M.A. or Ph.D.

Before my little trip to Costco tonight, I did play some sweet tennis with my uncle Jim and cousin Justin. It was a lot of fun and we did our best to avoid the heat, but still found ourselves knockin around in 100+ degree heat. We survived and had ourselves a great match for a couple of hours.

Also, my grandma had her surgery today to remove her left breast and half a dozen lymph nodes. She was diagnosed with breast cancer last week, so the surgeons moved quickly to try and get rid of the cancer. The doctors are optimistic, but my grandma is a very brave women with a lot of faith and she doesn't fear death. She welcomes the prospect with open arms, but is still willing to fight for her survival against such an insidious threat. The willingness to die juxtaposed with the willingness to fight for survival is an admirable and rare ability in my opinion. I have only faced the willingness to live with rather ease, so I can honestly only sit back and wonder what it must be like to juggle the two dispositions. I'm praying for her and I hope that she gets whatever she wants the most.

And as a closing note, I have been hooked on Tim O'Brien novels and the Doors music as of late.

arizona sweating

Construction on the 10 last night was bogus. It tacked on an extra hour onto my lovely evening drive. I'm not complaining really. It was just unexpected, and I surprisingly had a passing motorist bless me when I sneezed with my window rolled down.

I don't know if many people know this about me, but I typically remember my dreams every morning with an acute vividness. I dreamt last night that I was skateboarding through a mall. I was just cruisin along like a street luge. I also dreamed that I was a teacher and I was attempting to lead a discussion in my classroom on close reading of a text and how poetic elements of the text helped bring out the themes. Of course since it was a dream my class was reacting oddly and kind of off in space; they all wanted to leave early to goto some graduation practice. The school I happened to be teaching at resembled my old high school, but more deserty and it had a crazy athletic field setup. And guess who I ran into? My old english teacher in high school. We hung out a bit and talked about teaching. The entire dream was very interesting and exciting at the same time. Not often that I have dreams that leave me feeling that way.

Gonna play golf today at 4:00pm with my dad. Should be a lot of fun. I haven't played real golf in a bit, but I've been tearing it up on the Wii.

a fishing week!

I can't believe I didn't think to write a little blurb about this when I first made the blog. I guess that is all due to the fact that I quit wow yesterday. Anyways, I went fishing three times this week, Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday! Caught a big sand bass on Mon. around 3-4 pounds on live bait (sardines). Then on Wednesday, I caught a big calico bass on a hot pink lure that weighed a solid 3 pounds. And to conclude the week, Thur. was spent up at Green Valley Lake where I caught 4 nice trout while freezing my butt off! Anyways, good times all around. I can't believe how awesome of a second Dad I have. Without him, those little fishies would never had the privilege of being caught by such an angler as I.

The beginning

Today, or rather tonight, I have canceled my world of warcraft account. Yay for me. I also uninstalled the game to safeguard against any impulsive relapses. I am excited and looking forward to the new chapter of wow-less life for me. The first step, a real blog. The second step is going to be using the first step. The third step, seeing how step two plays out.