west of philly - bob

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 03 Apr 2011 05:10

kitchen finished. saved about $20,000 by doing 95% of the work myself (hired out floor and counter install, did absolutely everything else). kicking all week.

sen · Post by **sen** » 03 Apr 2011 06:13

Looks great Bob!! I wish I had any kind of useful skills.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 03 Apr 2011 09:09

Damn dude. Nice work. Shit looks tight. Also, nice toe kick and sweet flapper

Probably can't kick this week due to work overload, but I'll let you know if that changes. If not, see you at the PA Jam!

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 03 Apr 2011 09:29

Looks super good. Nice work man.

Frank_Sinatra · Post by **Frank_Sinatra** » 03 Apr 2011 12:22

Just cold chillin. Lookin satisfied. Well played, Bob. Well played.

sen wrote:Looks great Bob!! I wish I had any kind of useful skills.

I've been thinking the same thing lately... installing accounting software will not be useful after our impending descent into barbarism.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 04 Apr 2011 05:37

thanks fellas

feels good to be done with that project, I'm looking forward to kicking a lot and enjoying spring and summer now.

---
kicking tonight, tuesday, thursday, friday, saturday this week.

was hoping zach was going to send me some recent footage as motivation as he told me he would do, but oh well, I'll just have to self motivate.

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 04 Apr 2011 14:27

Sorry bob. I just haven't had the time. I haven't had a session since the last time I kicked with u.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 05 Apr 2011 04:20

no worries zach

------

well, after putting in roughly 200 hours worth of effort on the kitchen project, meanwhile working full time and raising the kids and spending time with the wife, and general contracting the major overhaul of our yard, it was exremely difficult to motivate last night to get out and kick solo and work out. But I worked my butt off anyways. I cranked out pushups and arms and abs exercises. I drilled basics and weakside guiltless for warmups, and then killed myself working on atomic, quantum, and swirls. Then I retired in and watched my original home team (Uconn) win the national championship. I met Jim Calhoun when I was about 15 years old actually - I was a camper at his basketball camp and he selected a few of us to tour his office and see his trophies etc. It was pretty cool. Anyways, despite being ridiculously busy and overstretched in life on an ongoing basis, I still love playing hacky sack and am happy to be still improving.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 06 Apr 2011 03:55

drilled solo again last night and worked out as well. weighing in around 227 right now. I'm not sure it's possible to get under 215 without losing muscle mass in the shoulders/chest/arms area, but we'll see how it goes.

this week, my workout is:

warmups (most of these, I incorporate into runs.. such as the weakside smear etc.):
kicks
Guilty basics (just long strings of whatever)
20 alternating clippers
10 Osis b2b (x2)
10 bops both sides
10 weak smear
10 weak pixie mirage
10 weak drifter
10 weak DLO
10 weak diving clipper
5 pdx mirage > paradon both sides

And then, I do as many of these as I can get through within the 1 hour time limit I have to do my shredding:
5 quantum btfly both sides
5 swirls both sides
5 atom smasher both sides
5 gyro mirage both sides
5 atomic btfly both sides
5 ducking legover
5 stepping clipper > ripwalk both sides
5 blurs both sides

tonight I have to get my barn shop back in order, then shredding with brian tomorrow. drill on friday and this weekend.

Zeke · Post by **Zeke** » 06 Apr 2011 10:24

Your kitchen looks great!

As for handyman skills... youngin's... the reason you should work hard in school and get really rich, is so that you're not forced to have to build everything yourself in order to have nice things. I'm exhausted for the last 10 years straight.

But there is something to be said for pride in one's work, particularly, when others can appreciate and/or envy it.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 07 Apr 2011 04:36

Thanks Zeke

I definitely am proud of what I've been able to accomplish with the house, yard, and barn. I'm entirely self taught and entirely self funded, so there's a real "I did it myself" feeling. Many people I see buy cookie cutter brand new construction that is way above their true financial comfort zone - in generations past, people bought what they could afford and did for themselves. Changed their own oil, fixed their own lawn mower, installed their own ceiling fans, painted their own walls... That's what I believe in. It's not about keeping up with the joneses, it's not about corporate titles and money - although I do work in corporate and make good money.. it's just not a primary focus. Instead, it's about being able to create things with my hands, learn new skills, meet real salt of the earth people, teach my kids these values, spend time with my wife, enjoy what I've built.

My quote that you posted is actually part exhaustion, and part tongue in cheek. It would be nice on some jobs to just "pay a pro"... But, having the choice to do that OR to do it yourself is really the best of both worlds.

Yesterday, I picked up a seed spreader from someone's garbage can. There was a sign taped to it "Free, broken". I need a seed spreader and was planning on buying one for $40 anyways, so I grabbed it. I got it home and spent 10 minutes looking at it. Turns out the cable that releasess the spring had come off its set screw. I re-attached, tighthened the screw, and it's good as new. This is exactly what I'm talking about, on a small scale.

Sorry, that's not really what you were trying to launch I don't think, but I guess i just felt like sharing.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 08 Apr 2011 04:55

horrible session with drew martin and brian last night. for whatever reason, we were all very lackluster. but it was fun anyways. i know that in my case, my shred suffers when i've been drilling individual tricks - my brain/body forgets how to just react and freestyle when I've been doing robotic drills. It's a cycle I've always struggled with. So, I guess i need to try to shred between now and Nick's event. Unforunately, no one to shred with this weekend I don't think, and next week I'm travelling on business. Oh well, whatever.

Also, and this was funny enough to warrant saving it in the blog..I told Drew he could party with me at my place the night before the footbag event since my place is on the way to the event and I figured that might be some fun. He replied "well, I really just want to have fun that night so I'll go to the event instead.. thanks though". Ummm, ok, I guess I'm officially nerdier than I though! ha ha

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 08 Apr 2011 06:20

Rieferman wrote:Unforunately, no one to shred with this weekend I don't think, and next week I'm travelling on business. Oh well, whatever.

Wahh, I'm Bob and I have no one to shred with this weekend, so I'm gonna wine about it in my blog

I'm down to kick tonight, homeslice.

Rieferman wrote:I told Drew he could party with me at my place the night before the footbag event since my place is on the way to the event and I figured that might be some fun. He replied "well, I really just want to have fun that night so I'll go to the event instead.. thanks though". Ummm, ok, I guess I'm officially nerdier than I though! ha ha

That's freakin' hilarious hahaha

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 08 Apr 2011 07:17

heh heh, whine about it you mean, although wine is tasty too. in any case, it worked, cuz now you're shredding tonight, so there. punk

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 08 Apr 2011 19:23

Curse texting, the internet, and the future in general! They've all changed me from my 2nd-grade-spelling-bee-champion self into a babbling moron who can only communicate using a series of grunts and gurgles!

Well, FUNK this small talk, what I'm really here to say is, AWESOME SESSION TONIGHT! That was probably one of the most fun sessions I've ever had with you, because I wasn't totally sucking, and I was ALMOST able to sort of keep up with you-ish. It was just nice to finally have a decent guiltless string, then drop rather than a guiltless string of 4, then dropping. You had some amazing runs tonight man. Your quantums and atomics looked flawless. You were on the ball. I guess that makes up for your poop-sesh you had with Brian and Drew the other night. Keep kicking throughout the week and then comes PA JAM! Excited that you'll be coming the the first event I've ever planned.

Oh and Madd nice job on the kitchen. People, the picture above doesn't do the kitchen enough justice. Seeing is believing... I saw... I BELIEVE. But for real, great job dude. Just stepping foot into that room, I could imagine you doing all the work on all of the tables and cabinets, and I saw, first-hand, how much effort you put into that kitchen.

F[uns]tylin' Eclectic · Post by **F[uns]tylin' Eclectic** » 08 Apr 2011 19:24

Edit: DoUbLe PoSt?!!?!?

Max Power · Post by **Max Power** » 10 Apr 2011 08:06

I think I need to defend myself a little. I never thought it wouldn't be fun to hang out at your house, i just thought that it wouldn't really work. It would be super fun to hang out at your house the night before the event and I think that the car I will be coming in will be stopping at your house weather you like it or not.

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 11 Apr 2011 06:52

ha ha, just busting your chops drew. if you guys want to stop by on your way to fun times, no problemo

Rieferman · Post by **Rieferman** » 20 Apr 2011 10:44

well, i had a hell of a last ten days or so.. Last week I was in Colorado on business, but couldn't fit time in to try to meet up with Ken S.

my travel back got me home about 1 a.m. in the morning so I was exhausted, and then on short rest I had to move our friends into their new house the following day. Then, I attempted to attend nick's footbag jam, and my neck went out really badly within 10 minutes of warming up - I barely made it back home and was having trouble breathing even without pain. So, all week, I've been resting and just fussing around in the shop. But tonight, I'm going to try to lightly play with nick in the shred barn. My neck is still real stiff, but I think I can take it easy. I'm hoping next week to start kicking a ton again.

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 20 Apr 2011 10:56

Rieferman wrote:well, i had a hell of a last ten days or so.. Last week I was in Colorado on business, but couldn't fit time in to try to meet up with Ken S. .

I thought I sensed a disturbance in the force...

Sorry to hear about your neck Bob. I occasionally get something similar, though a lot less severe, and it really sucks. Just take your time coming back and don't piss it off more.