When Mulhouse makes the international news, it’s never good

So I’ve “borrowed” the title here from an email I wrote more than two years ago when there was an unfortunate accident at the university here and part of the Faculty of Science was destroyed in an explosion.

Going further back in time, the Financial Times printed a less-than-complimentary article on Mulhouse when a couple of NHLers came to ride out the lock-out playing with the Mulhouse Scorpions.

While I imagine Mulhouse has been in the news since then, and hopefully for better things, I found it mildly amusing that a pages-long article on swine flu on MSNBC starts with a photo of a patient “showing symptoms of swine flu” being taken to a hospital in Mulhouse. At no point in the article do they actually talk about that particular case (I have no idea if swine flu has been ruled out), but it nonetheless serves as further proof that Mulhouse + international headline = bad news.

Inconvenient burpees (Day 44)

I have frequently had to take of my shoes to burpee, but today, as I contemplated my first set, I realized that my skirt might pose its own problems. Miraculously, it didn’t, because the way it’s shaped it actually stays quite where it should! That said, I’ll be extra careful about avoiding the paparazzi today!

Sneaky burpees (Day 43)

As much as I didn’t mind being filmed, I still feel weird about the idea that I will be filmed again, so I have gotten a bit sneakier about when and where I do my burpees. On my way to set number two today, I ran into my paparazzi colleague, camera in hand, so I feigned heading off in another direction, then circled back and went downstairs, ultimately doing my burpees in an out-of-the-way corner of the kitchen, rather than be seen in my usual spot (especially since there were a couple of people in the facing meeting room). Then I grabbed set 3 after a meeting, since I figured that even if he did notice that I hadn’t come upstairs with everyone else (which was unlikely as it is) I would be done by the time he got there.

Ah well. It’s nice to do something a little strange at work

Funny spam

So, bloggers have a whole extra type of spam to deal with, of which I haven’t received a lot, although I got 13 today. The way it works is that they send “comments” to your blog which either are published directly (although I suspect not many bloggers allow that) or are submitted for your approval. The result: their “message” is seen at least by the blogger. The comments are general attempts at being mildly complimentary without being specific, but often with words (or spelling) that don’t seem quite right. Today’s 13 included:

• “once again you outdid myself” (x2)
• “once again I outdid yourself” (x2)
• “an interesting take on a boring subject”
• “an interesting take on an interesting subject”
• “an interesting take on a fun subject” (x2)
• “an interesting take on a boring topic”
• “an interesting take on a fun topic”
• “kinda makes you wonder” (x3)

Most of these comments came from:

• buy viagra
• buy cheap viagra
• by viagra no prescription
• online pharmacy

Ok, so I thought it was funny.

Stealthy burpees (Day 41, Day 42)

My paparazzi-like colleague is determined to get another video of burpees, but I still don’t understand why. Yesterday my burpees were unintentionally stealthy: I ended up doing the first set at home before lunch, and the last three in the evening.

Today, I’ve done 22 of my 42, by getting one set in next to my desk before anyone got to the office, and another in a meeting room. I’m by no means embarrassed about doing burpees, but I’m sure not going to go out of my way to be filmed either!

Climbing + burpees = great + tired (Day 40…complete)

I finished my last 2 sets after a long (but great!) afternoon of climbing. Here are a few photos from the second part of our afternoon at the Lac d’Alfeld:

Guillaume

Marie

Thomas

Pierre

Me

Taking it slow (Day 40…still)

In order to (possibly) increase the benefits, and (hopefully) better protect my lower back, I’ve slowed the pace a little. My sets are still the same (although may be more likely to stay spread out), but in an attempt to improve my form, and feel the effects more directly, I’m doing each burpee a bit slower. I’m surprised at how much more I feel it in my triceps and my quads, and hope that the increasingly less “dull” pain in my lower back will disappear.

That said, I’d done 2×10 plus the 9 leftover from yesterday by noon today, so I’m feeling a little more on track than yesterday.

Finished Day 39 (nearly 9 hours into Day 40)

All there is to say (for now) is in the title. Now to actually tackle Day 40.

+9 to start the day (Day 40)

Yesterday’s even later start ultimately led to my first carry over. In addition to today’s 40, I have 9 to finish from yesterday. Of course this is nothing compared to my climbing partner who regularly racks up carry overs of 100+ (of course it now takes less than 3 days to do that…in the past he’d slack for nearly a week) so 9 is hardly a big deal, but I’m disappointed in myself. Besides, he’s significantly more athletic than I am, and much more able to catch up on extra burpees than I am (particularly at 100+!).

Uh oh (Day 39)

It’s 6:00pm and I haven’t burpeed yet today. Not good.