The Eco Dad

While I continue to bitch about my left knee, I'm not sitting still. I'm steadily building my garage gym out of scrap wood. While the wife was away in the nation's capital, my sons and I built a bench for my bench press as well as a weight rack of sorts. They ain't pretty, they just look that way. How'd we build the bench? Well, here's a look at the cut list: 2 @ 2"x 6"x 48" (top part where you lay down) 1 @ 4"x 6"x 48" (base where you'll attach the legs; here I used 4 @ 2"x4"x 48" because I'm using scrap wood) 4 @ 2"x 6"x 18.5" (legs) 2 @ 2"x 6"x 20.5" (top and bottom of the base to stabilize) 2 @ 2"x 6"x 12" (joins the legs and holds the top planks you lay upon) This is what your bench will look like, minus the 4 year old.  I drilled the 20.5" stabilizers to the base to start, giving me an 'I' like shape. Next, I attached the 18.5...

You know that whole " do one thing every day that scares you? " Yeah, not so sure that's the best advice. I'm sure it's got limitations and such. For instance, I took the plunge and registered for a Try-A-Tri ... an introduction, of sorts, to triathlons. Why is that a scary idea? Simply put: I suck at swimming. Seriously, I'm terrible at it. I can tread water for like 30 seconds before I need friggin' water wings. What's worse is I have less than 2 months to get some beginner level of proficiency under my belt. Pray for my swimming abilities. Know what else I suck at? Cycling. Didn't think that was possible? It is. Borrowed the wife's bike the other night and sweet Jesus those gears just slip in and out, to and fro. One second I'm struggling to push forward, the next second it's like peddling does nothing. I get it's different gears and such, but after close to 7kms I had zero figured out. At the half way point I just put it at th...

In an earlier post I discussed my internal debate between a home gym and a low-cost gym. I ultimately chose the low-cost gym for a variety of reasons, but as I sit here on weekends, with the low cost gym closed, I wish I had something more than running at my disposal. Now, I'm not going to invest in a home gym. I don't have the money or the space. With a little ingenuity though, I can create something that doesn't take up any floor space and still lends itself to working out. I'm not much of a handyman, but off the top of my head I can redneck something together. I don't normally workout in sandals.  What did I slap together? A pull up station! All this pull up apparatus took was 3 pieces of 1" pipe, 2 threaded elbows and 2 floor flanges. I'm actually a bit impressed at how easy this was to do. I'm already trying to draft a fold away dip station in this head of mine. If companies can create fold away tables and beds, surely I can create somewhe...

It's now May and I haven't blogged in a bit. I don't really have a valid reason for it. I missed Earth Day, which you figure any eco blog would recognize. I stand by my "irregularly updated" disclaimer. 😏  Besides, shouldn't Earth Day be every day? Is this blog really belated if I believe that? Well, it's not like I didn't do anything for Earth Day. I made a point of taking my boys out for a good old fashioned, unorganized, impromptu neighborhood makeover. We took out our garbage pickers, some garbage bags and had at 'er. It's like a game to them - see who can pick up the most trash. Their motives may be to win a competition, but the end result is a couple of garbage bags worth of litter off the street. It also gets them in the habit of looking after their environment. Hopefully seeing their dad do it too means they recognize you're never too old to clean your street. The family that picks together, sticks together? They genuine...

I got a new shirt today, but I didn't pay for it, so I'm not counting it as 'purchased.' The streak continues at 47 days ... or so ... I'm terrible at math when it comes to the days in the months. Either way, I don't think free stuff should count towards getting new stuff, although it goes against the accumulation of stuff. Shit! How do I rectify this? I guess I could do one of a few things. First option: I could donate an old shirt to keep the new shirt. Option two: I could donate the new shirt. Option three: I could keep all the shirts as a reward for all the purging I've already done. Free shirt and creatine when you buy giant bags of protein powder. 😕 So, it's not like I got my free shirt for nothing. I only had to buy close to a metric ton of powder, although, in my defense, it wasn't my intention to get a free shirt. I just wanted a good deal on, well, close to a metric ton of powder, which I will use. Damn it! Ultimately, there are ...