Today’s purchase: American Apparel two-metres-of-cotton-jersey purple scarf. So simple but I love it! Thin enough to wear indoors and be The Guy That Wears A Scarf Indoors which is basically me in a nutshell.

Does this look like an MBA student? No? Whaddya know.

So now I need more of these scarves. Here’s the range of colors. I think I want black, white, and the darker of these striped ones, but I’m open to suggestions too.

(Also: Love these jeans. Would you believe they’re from the Gap? “Morrison” slim-fit. I’m so glad I can finally wear slim-fit without looking like an inverted triangle — down to 180 lbs from >200, and a 34″ waist from a 36+. A few years ago that was 220 and a 38″, too. Yay!)

Here’s the route I took last night, leaving at sunset — 20 km (12.5 mi), about half of that along the canal or river where it’s cooler.

Started out heading south along Island Park, then across the Experimental Farm, north along the Rideau Canal, around the Parliament Buildings to visit the Cats on the Hill (and a couple of raccoons enjoying some cat food), then back home along the path along the Ottawa River.

That last path is completely unlit, so I’m glad my light provides “see” intensity and not just “be seen”. (To get an idea, see here, and then click on “Blaze”. Also check out the HID light at the bottom of the list — wow!) It’s not that bright, but once my eyes get used to the dark I can keep up a decent pace along the bike paths. I mount the light on my helmet so it goes where I look instead of where my handlebars point, which also lets me point it further down the path when necessary.

Hrm, what is my usual pace, anyhow? If that’s a 20 km ride, and I stopped for ten minutes to visit the cats and raccoons, then I averaged about 15 km/h. That’s ok, considering I had to slow down a bit on the last 1/3 because of the darkness. I should think about getting my road bike back from my mother’s garage. I’m just not sure where I’d put it. Maybe I’ll save that for next summer.

(Also: Second-last day of work today. Yay!)

I’m doing the Men’s Health “Abs Diet” (Amazon), but it’s not really so much a “diet” as it is a workout regimen with a bunch of useful nutrition advice up front.

The workout is mostly based around weightlifting, the idea being that getting the metabolism burning calories all the time is even better than burning more during the workout itself. Three days a week of full-body circuit training, with two of those days also emphasizing core strength (hence the name), plus one day of intervals and two of light (“brisk walk”) cardio. The circuit is pretty intense: squats, bench press, lat pulldowns, military press, upright row, triceps pushdown, leg extension, biceps curl, leg curls, and then through it all again.

Ah, squats. I’m still trying to manage body-weight squats, let alone ones with weight! (Which reminds me: If you’re the least bit interested in getting fit, you need to read Krista’s weight training site — it’s targeted to women, but it’s really just full of good advice for beginners in general. And Krista likes her squats.)

The food side is just as straightforward: more frequent, smaller meals, and emphasis on twelve “power foods” (protein-heavy but well-rounded). No calorie counting, no forbidden foods, just a sustainable way of eating (especially for me, Mr. Eating Out Of Boredom). The only slight weirdness there is whey powder, but with encouragement toward smoothies and the accompanying intensive weight workouts it’s not completely out of place.

So now all I have to do is keep going to the gym. It’s a bit of a pain that the gym I’m using is at work, because at the end of the workday I want to go home, but it’s a nice gym (15 or so weight machines, a big free weights section with a power cage, a dozen or so cardio machines and a dozen spinning bikes, plus two big fitness studios which I don’t use) and it’s cheap ($16/mo or so), so it’s hard to beat. I could get a membership at the gym at U of O, but that’s closer to $50/month until I’m a student, so this will have to do. Although I’m half-tempted to just get some dumbbell bars and plates for home.

I’ve noticed a slight improvement over how I was doing last time I tried to start this program, mostly upper-body, so I guess curling has had a bit of a benefit. I’m really looking forward to seeing even more results, and I think this might be the time I stick with it.