sgt.barney

When the Satellite folks jumped the bill to $185 a month ... The Sarge's sought out and implemented cheaper options. Bought a $30 HD antennae for local. Roku, Sling TV and Amazon Prime for cable-type programming/content. Haven't looked back. $5,000 richer in the last 3 years. People really have no concept of the kind of money they're throwing to watch The Ol' Boob Tube. It adds up. Almost as fast as smoking did. EZPZ

Sarge - who most of you know regularly ran Full Marathons during the first years of his quit ... just completed his first 10k in 2+ years. Holy shit getting back in Marathon Shape is a job-and-a-half. This IronMan thing is gonna hurt. 10k (6.2 miles) @ 49:36 (8:00/mile) EZPZ

What is this "remorse" of which you speak? The Sarge does not understand. EZPZ

Sarge is gonna be direct, blunt, and to-the-point here... Don't. Be. A. Dumbass. It doesn't look good on you. Carry on... EZPZ

"Flu" is very rarely real, actual InFLUenza (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influenza) Influenza is a *serious*, life-threatening, pathogen (500,000 deaths, worldwide, annually (in the past, up to a fifty million in a year!)) "Flu" is usually just folks catching some unidentified, seasonal and largely harmless bug with "flu-like symptoms". EZPZ

Empathy is overrated. Boots in Butts are underrated. That being said ... The Sarge wants to punch a Dude in the face who plays like An Expert in a field in which he has no actual, real-world, life experience. Joel has never smoked. Joel has never been addicted to Nicotine Joel has never had to quit. Nothing personal, Joel. Sarge would feel same about anyone doing same. 'Nuff said. Sarge will say no more on the subject. EZPZ

Sarge has resigned himself to the life of a YoYo. Training season begins ... lose 25 to 30 pounds over the next 8 or 9 months ... Training season ends ... gain 25 to 30 in a lousy 3 or 4 months. Down, up, down, up, down, up ... It's been the ongoing story for about 6 years now. But it's better than the 25 years prior of continuous and ongoing up, up, up, up. If it had kept up at its prior rate, Sarge would be going at about 290 these days (BMI of 40-ish - extremely Obese). With the running/training keeping it in check, even though it fluctuates, it stays between 155 and 185 (21 to 25 BMI - "Normal" range). Up and down is better than continuously up. Recognize when you go out of bounds and reign it back in . We did it before, we can do it again, right? EZPZ

It's been at least ... what ... 15 years since Sarge played. And he can *still* hear that music running in the background of his brain. EZPZ

Is... is that ... is that some... Final Fantasy 10 there in your pic? EZPZ

Wasn't Sarge. He got stuck somewhere along the way. One ... two ... seven ... three ... potayto ... potahto ... 'taters ... 'maters ... howdaya like dem french fried potaters ...? EZPZ

Sarge got told, more than once, that he couldn't donate blood 'cause the walk to the BloodMobile from the Parking Lot shot his heart rate to about 110 and they've got a cutoff at 100. Over 100? You get turned away. On a walk. A mosey. Lolly-gagging and taking time on a stroll from the car to the van. This was before running. Before quitting. He's clocked in at 55 to 65 bpm every time since starting running and quitting. Mrs Sarge? They're all like OMG YOU HAVE TO COME SEE THIS every time a Nurse takes her pulse. It's mostly 41 or 42, but has clocked in as low as 35. Nurses freak the fark out out. Doc always asks "Are you a runner"? "We run Marathons", she says ... "That explains it ..." ... and life goes on ... (and then they see her blood pressure (and are all like OMG ARE YOU DEAD ?!? (80-ish/50-ish)) ... and Doc's all like : We don't care how low it goes as long as she's not having symptoms (passing out, dizzy, etc.) - "The Lower The Better", he says. Her highest readings? Sarge's lowest lows ever recorded don't even come close to her "bad days". Sarge, himself, even after quitting, is a 150/90 kinda guy and needs meds to push that down. Bummer. But the heart rate dropped drastically and immediately after quitting. The blood pressure came down significantly ... just not enough. Win some. Lose some. EZPZ

After 8 years of running Marathons ... The Sarges have both gone insane committed to an Iron Man in their 50th year of life (year-and-a-half from now). 2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 mile bike, followed by 26.2 mile run... in that order, no break in between events. 17 hour limit to complete all 3 events. 3 immediate problems. (1) Sarge, himself, downgraded to Half Marathons 2 years ago and hasn't run anything longer than 13.1 miles in those same 2 years. His last Full Monte 26.2 was almost 3 years ago. (2) Sarge has no suitable bicycle. (3) Mrs. Sarge ... she has to learn to swim ... and is TERRIFIED (but committed). One longer-term issue: Neither of us has kept up a training plan for more than 8 months. We've always trained for a season, run a couple of races, then taken the rest of the year off. There will be no time off for the next year-and-a-half. Uh-oh! ** Training kicked off yesterday. 4-miler run, moderate pace @ 7:08/mile EZPZ

Sarge calls "shenanigans" You will be SORRY BEYOND BELIEF to retire on a mere "10 times annual income" Source: Sarge retired at age 39. (Currently 48.5 years old - call it a decade into the game). The suggested long-term withdrawal rate is for retirees 4% of The Nest Egg ( or less ) to not outlive your money. This implies you'd need 25 times withdrawal (what you want for "annual income") to retire without destroying your principal and reaching Broke. Sarge would suggest that the suggested number is bollocks, and if you don't want to outlive your money you'd better not withdraw more than 3% a year - meaning you'd need a METRIC **** TONNE more than a mere "10 times". We live on about 2% of our assets. Do. The. Math. EZPS

Crying is acceptable. Smoking is not. EZPZ

The Docs gave The Sarge a year to 'sort things out' ... so no Statins. He wouldn't take them if prescribed - nasty fuckers with no actual benefit. He did, sadly, have to go on Blood Pressure meds. While "greatly.reduced" ... he's still above the "normal" threshold - even during training season. Bummer. EZPZ

Start running. Distance. Big. Miles. Seriously. Sarge went from "off the charts" high levels (triglycerides over 500, LDL over 250) to "below normal" when he started training for Marathons. HDL("good" Cholesterol) bumped from abysmal 15-18 to over 60+ He's convinced it has *nothing* to do with diet and *everything* to do with how much *strenuous* cardio exercise you get. EZPZ

The only way Out is Through. Do you want Out or not? EZPZ

Any old excuse will do for an addict... all the while maintaining the notional "no excuses" ... without really meaning it and offering up excuses anyway. EZPZ

Dumbass. Sarge believes "DumbAssery" just might be the word ... EZPZ

Sarge said he'd quit when they got to a Buck. Then he "couldn't afford them" at Two Dollars. Completely bypassed $3.00 but *swore* he'd never pay 4 bucks a pack. When he finally quit, they were $5.50 a pack (locally, Midwest - Ohio, U.S.) Price doesn't matter to a Junkie. Price. Does. Not. Matter. Ultimately, it was Health Scare. High blood pressure + High Cholesterol + High blood sugar + (a number of other minor issues all diagnosed at the same time) that made Sarge make some dramatic lifestyle changes ... only one of which was quitting smoking. EZPZ

Sarge lost 36 pounds in the first six months after his quit, later down 64. Now he bounces up and down 25 pounds depending on season (training or off season) but still down huge from pre-quit. He attributes it mostly to the Marathon Training Plan he started the week he quit, and the subsequent 6 years of logging anwhere between 0 (off season) and 70 miles (peak - 3 weeks before race) of running a week. Besides the cardio-vascular benefits, and weight loss, running is a great quit tool. It's a 100% effective Crave Squasher. Want a smoke? Hop on a treadmill for 20 minutes at your 5k race pace. You'll be sucking wind so hard you don't want a smoke for at least the next 4 hours. Repeat as necessary. Maybe you oughta make some more changes, and get into an exercise groove. It only hurts 'til the pain goes away ... EZPZ

Sarge says again: it is as easy or as hard as you choose to make it. Make your choice on how you handle your discomfort. Live with it. Nobody particularly cares what you're "real tired of". Least of all your quit. It doesn't give a shit. EZPZ

Quitting is as easy or as hard as you choose to make it. It is, indeed, a choice. Mind over matter, folks: if you don't mind, it don't matter. Embrace The Suck, don't fight it. EZPZ

It was some long forgotten spat at The Other Place when The MQ proclaimed (paraphrased, of course) : "Oh yeah?!? Well when you have *A Six Year Quit* then maybe we can talk. Until then, bugger the hell off..." Sarge is traveling on Friday and won't have a chance to post on the actual six-year but he's here to say, with gusto: "Neener-neener ... Sarge got his Six ... Howdaya like dem apples ?" EZPZ (But he can't remember, for the life of him, what the quibbling was about at the time).

You *can* but you *won't* Sarge can't put it any simpler than that. EZPZ