chuckography

OK...Exercise time...finally!

So, we now have been in the middle of a Pandemic FOREVER and the best AND healthiest bet we were advised to do was to be locked down in our homes.

All of the "old ways" are not available.

 NO bars, clubs, restaurants, or any music venues, indoor movies, or live shows.

Instead, wear a mask and wash our hands a LOT.

If you DO venture out, be socially distant from others.

My last haircut was 5+months ago and I have the beginning of a male ponytail! Yikes.

Well, a short one. So far.

So, some might recall that I have shown photos of my pretty neat exercise area downstairs.

That is what used to be my dad's carpentry and woodworking shop so it's quite spacious. No having to get dressed and trek out to the gym..even if one was open.

Now that downstairs area is a great place to work off some SIP (Stay In Place) frustration.

BUT, my treadmill had stopped working in February, and I bought a Bowflex Tread-Climber * to replace it.

That became a game-changer.

This machine did all that my old treadmill would do but, walking forward while the two panels rotated beneath my feet, the two panels also were rising and falling! Twice the fun. Twice the exertion.

I was still testing the TreadClimber out and slowly was adding minutes to the amount of time I was on it.

On the old treadmill, I was good for 30-minutes at about 3.2 mph. Nice start to a 45-minute sweaty workout.. 3x a week.

Now I was struggling with this new beast and lucky to get past 5-7 minutes before tiring..a lot.


So, I was NOT getting the exercise I needed.


All I had going for me was eating a lot of carbs, fats and sweets.

Bery bored, I was sitting at my computer for hours and staying up late watching tv and sleeping even later.

Yes, I gained back a LOT of weight.

The coronavirus stopped all of us in our tracks as it appeared slowly..then rapidly grew.

We were in deep trouble!

Months dragged by and the daunting machine downstairs had dulled my desire to get back into exercising!

I found on my brief visits to the nearby grocery store, I was filling my cart with Apple Turnovers and packs of fig newtons...and raisin chip cookies! NOY fruit and veggies!

And several loaves of bread. And bacon and eggs. A downward tasty spiral.

My bathroom scale would flash a message Hey, ONE AT A TIME or COME BACK ALONE.


OK, enough of this. 

I went and bought another treadmill....and changed my grocery shopping list.

Back to a pre-Covid-19 exercise machine that I knew I could handle!


My old routine had been a steady 3x a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

I am back on that schedule now and am slowly getting my time on the machines back to where I was..when I weighed a lot less.

I ran out of the sweets I had been buying.

I am going to try the MAYO DIET that worked well for me in the past.


Oh, now that I am back in "gym mode" I tried to activate my ROKU so I can watch tv while I am exercising.

It would not work at first so I tried another newer remote changing device.  

I think it's safe to say the original one was a wee bit dated. I have NO idea what Mgo was all about?

I'll put in fresh batteries and see what happens then.

Thanks for stopping by while I was taking a break from exercise.

You know how we do this..click on the photos and links for more details.

*HEY, if you're interested in a hardly-used Bowflex TreadClimber, I have one here for $400!

Labels: Blockbuster, Bowflex TreadClimber, CoronaVirus, COVID-19, male ponytail, Mayo Diet, Mgo, NordicTrac, Pandemic, ROKU

posted by chuckography @ 10:05 PM 0 Comments

Revising my "to Do" list...

I keep a calendar online and a paper one on my desk.

When I get confirmation of a ticket purchase, I print it out and stick it on the front of my refrigerator.

Just like everybody else.

Well, maybe not the tacky look of reminders on the 'fridge.

I did worry that a performance might pass and I had forgotten it so I had wasted not only money, but also  missed attending an event I wanted to go see.

Nowadays, I am monitoring more of a "Not To Do" list.
Or, oh crap, another show has been canceled or postponed.

Early on, as the United States began to face facts, listen to the scientists and alert us we had to take drastic steps - a postponement was almost an upbeat concept.

If the scheduled performance was merely delayed, it would be a future event to bring happiness. YAY!

But, now Canceled seems to be the keyword of the day.

So is Distancing. 

The latest and most challenging official mandate is LOCKDOWN and I understand that concept.

To do nothing in a pandemic disease situation would be foolish and irresponsible. The wisdom today is we need to buy time!

Allowing us to roam, around, eyes closed to the problem, would be insane.

Luckily, I am an avid reader, belong to Paperback Book Swap and this PBS $20 a year membership has been very, very good to me.

(Yes, there is a cartoon in the comics each day that I like called Pearls Before Swine. It is known among its followers as PBS.)

But, back to my heavily-filled bookshelf and stacks of very readable fodder.

I am assured of using my newly-restricted alone time to keep up with my favorite authors.

Despite the real, outside world,  I can travel - in my mind - freely -  in a disease-free universe.

Oh, another fringe benefit I enjoy, I have a cat.

Not a dog that requires outside walks, breaking curfew.

An INSIDE cat who, in her 8 years with me, has ventured out an open door only ONCE to the deck outside.

She took a few steps, looked around, saw no bowl of Kibble and marched back inside.

So far, my NOT TO DO list includes several monthly meetings (like my 1st Tuesday,  Lowcountry 21st Century Photo Group, and some scheduled monthly lunches.

CATS at the Performing Arts Center has been "delayed" but The Play That Went Wrong, a Britsh farce import scheduled for the Gaillard this month has been canceled.

A favorite small cabaret-style venue 34 WEST on Meeting Street, has shut down and hopefully will resume soon. I have written about this talented 6-year old venue and hope it resurfaces.

A major (to me) annual event down at Freshfields Village by Kiawah I hope will go on as announced is Gary Erwin's annual BLUES BY THE SEA next month.

I surprised Gary one year when we BOTH showed up wearing Guayaberas shirts! OLE!

Several TO DO items still on my calendar include scheduled visits to my doctor.

In these vicious virus days, that seems to be a good priority.

Finally, click on the link to The Hammer & Dance approaches for a well-thought out view of what is happening right now and a view of our future.

Labels: college Spring Break madness, CONVID-19, CoronaVirus, The Hammer & Dance approaches, to do or not to do that is the question

posted by chuckography @ 11:11 AM 0 Comments

..an abundance of caution.

Hey,  schools are shut down,  annual March and April special events are canceled or moved to September and we are being told to hunker down, avoid crowds and don't touch our face ...or anything.

 I have a concern about the upcoming scheduled March 27 meeting of my Newspaper Retirees Group.

Like ALL of our many day-to-day activities, we are having to adjust to being in the midst of a sudden, fast-spreading CaronaVirus from China that now is officially a COVID-19 pandemic.


When we retired newspaper guys last met right after Christmas at Patriot's Point, it was a light-hearted time of camaraderie - and motorcycles - by former newspaper employees of the Charleston Post and Courier.

Light-kidding banter as we went through what-ever-happened- to comments and re-telling stories of past events that took place at the paper.


Due to our collective ages, we are in a most worrisome category of potential respiratory distress and other unpleasant effects from this fast-moving and contagious affliction.
We are being told nationally to simply "cope and hope."

Not only is there no known cure... there also aren't even tests available here in the United States to confirm if we are indeed infected.

While I often play older workers and characters in tv shows being filmed here, and movies down in Savannah, I don't FEEL old, but the scary facts are that we all really need to be careful and do frequent soap & water handwashing,  avoiding close contact in crowds and extreme  "personal isolation" as infection protection.


I received notice this morning that production on Season 2 of HBO's THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES has been halted until further notice. 

The people involved in the shutdown used the now-familiar phrase "in an abundance of caution" to announce the temporary cancellation of shooting here.
 And, NOT just here.

We saw one night all of the late-night talk show hosts did their monologues to empty theaters and, the next night, all were in re-runs "for the time being."

So, instead of a busy season of doing extra and BackGround work on sets, I have promised my children that I will "shut down" for several weeks to do my part to calm the growth and spread of this dangerous virus.

I don't plan to attend the weekly Sunday Blues Bash at Smokey's Place on Remount Road, for a few weeks.

Attend no performances at the Gaillard or PAC (if any indeed open), no meetings in public spaces, only a minimum mingling with others, no dining out or stopping for a frosty craft beer, etc.

The economy will suffer as we all comply with the government strictures.

 Charleston is really a tourism-dependent city.

I feel really bad for all our local Food & Beverage people who receive less than $3 an hour.

Tips are supposed to raise their income to a good standard of living level.

Let's hope our government leaders will get us out of this crippling economic and health situation as quickly as possible.

Here is a daily update World Health Orgnization (WHO) map, tracking CoronaVirus activity in 135+ countries

(You know the way I do this..click on the photos and links for more details.)

Thanks for stopping by. I'll be pretty free and available the next few weeks. Come by again.

Labels: CoronaVirus, COVID-19, HBO Production halted on Season 2 of TRG., my ticket to see CATS, Sunday Blues Bash at Smokey's Place on Remount Road

posted by chuckography @ 4:42 PM 0 Comments