Fish out of Water!
Tech Person Needed
Hi CFSBK techy folks. I (Corbett M) find myself in need of an expert in web development to do an assessment of a website. The ideal person would firstly be an expert at backend development with good knowledge of WordPress and would ideally be able to assess this website fully from the backend through front end development with an understanding of design aspects, too. This is a somewhat sensitive matter with a tight time frame. If you are that expert, or know someone who is, please email me at corbett(at)variegated(dot)com and I can give you the full details. Thanks.
HERONDALE FARM GRASS-FED MEAT CSA
SIGNUP DEADLINE DEC 15!
Ask any of the 43 people who were members of the meat CSA this year, and they’ll tell you that the value and selection offered in this program is unmatched. You simply cannot buy grass-fed meat at retail at this price and quality anywhere in New York. And with monthly delivery direct to the gym, the convenience is unmatched.
The next share will be four months: Jan-April. If you like, however, you can sign up for 4, 8 or 12 months – all at once.
The Farm is offering two mixed meat (beef, pork and lamb) options:
- 15lbs/month plan: $600 if you pay in full, $650 on monthly payment plan
- 10lbs/month plan: $460 if you pay in full, $500 on monthly payment plan
Full plan details and lots of info about Herondale Farm is here.
Here’s how to sign up:
1. Returning members: You can re-up by emailing to info@herondalefarm dot com. They’ll take it from there.
2. New members: Download this PDF, fill it out, and return it to the farm via email.
QUESTIONS? Email me. WANT TO SPLIT A SHARE WITH SOMEONE? Email me. mignyc at gmail dot com.
The farm is looking for 60 members in 2013 – let’s make it happen!
__________________
What’s something we probably don’t know about you? Hidden talents? Unusual interest? Ultimate Claims to nerdom? The weirder the better!
MEAT LOVERS:
I have someone looking to SPLIT A SHARE with someone. Either a 10-or 15-pound share for the Jan-April cycle.
Ideally you two would trade months, so you'd get TWO MONTHS of meat.
Email me stat: mignyc at gmail dot com.
I often fantasize about swimming in unusual liquids. Some top ones I think a lot about are:
1. Liquid Mercury
2. Lava (it wouldn't burn me)
3. Paint
4. That blue gel inside ice packs
5. The glow in the dark stuff in those Halloween glow sticks
I've swam in seltzer before.
I eat peanuts with the shell on. True that.
Made up yesterday's Beach Muscles WOD
235 x 3, 185 x 12 on the bench
85 x 2 on the pull-up
151 sit-ups – this is going to hurt tomorrow
Betz, Fung, and Turnbull… I have some good progressive squat pictures from the Total. They'll be on facebook. I have more of everyone else, but these were the only ones I had time to get off my camera card before leaving for my client this week. Feel free to steal and use as needed.
i don't like thinking about outer space, it scares me, that's just too much space. it goes on and on forever. there might be alternate universes where all that's different is my shirt is green. like right now i need to stop thinking about it.
also, i dabbled in stand-up comedy for awhile, here's some of that: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xTZ6HRk0P0
You might or might not know that I'm adopted and have a great relationship with my birth parents.
I don't eat peanuts with the shell on, but I will eat the shell and tail of fried shrimp.
I once learned from a clown (a real Ringling clown) how to insert a straw into one nostril and pull it out of the other. No, I won't try it again. Similarly, a crazy Austrian once shot snuff up my nose with a crazy snuff-shooter. THAT I would do again.
I knit.
Total geekdom: I played the xylophone in high school band. In fact, during our senior concert I played solo in an arrangement of Aaron Copeland's Hoedown from Rodeo. If you don't immediately know that tune, it's used in the "Beef, it's what's for dinnner" commercial. There is video evidence and I thank god everyday that I'm old and it's on VHS. It may even be on Beta.
I hope you all still like me.
๐
YAY BENCH PRESS! So happy I was able to do this one. 110×3, with corresponding high-pitched anime-girl scream (the one that only happens when I'm doing max effort with something going over my head).
Also, I clearly need to work on my strict pullups so I can have more than, like, one at a time. Dan L was of course doing pullups with, like, 100 pounds strapped to his waist. Crazy man.
I feel like everyone already knows my weird nerdy things. I'm in a choir (that's performing in Carnegie Hall on Monday night! you should come!) and I do crosswords for time. I guess the part not everybody knows is that I can still do crosswords for time even after I've had quite a lot to drink. Drunken puzzling…aw yeah.
Wires and technology frighten me, mostly wires like the ones that hide behind the tv console or your work desk that are waiting to spring out and get you like so many snakes.
I like to lift to top 40 dance music, like Flo-rida and the like. I blame Dave Elwell.
I have written 5 books of poetry, all unpublished.
I was in a Joy Division cover band.
I was a vegetarian for 7 years, 1+ of that I as a vegan. I in fact I used to work as a vegan foods chef.
I do a pretty good impression of Eddie Murphy impersonating Bill Cosby.
Massive Tuesday 6am class with Lady Fox. Deftly handled, Jess, that was a beast. Great to work with Mr. Stone and my new friend Joe who is not from Philly.
Bench: (45×5, 75×3, 95×3)
115×3, 125×3, 135×3, 145×2. ARGH TOO MANY SETS. Coulda nailed 145 if I'd gone for it after 125. Couldn't quite believe it would go up since it's my 1RM. But yeah.
Pullups: 4×5 with thin red band. Oof, humbling.
Situps: 103.
Hmm…I cannot top either David (WHOAH) or Corbett (of course we still like you!). My first job after college was an unpaid research assistant gig in Indonesian Borneo. I lived in the rainforest for a while tracking orangutans, and then with a family in a village where I took baths in the rice paddy and learned to eat rice with my hands. I speak Indonesian.
@corbett, Aaron Copland is my favorite classical composer! From Brooklyn. I find it very ironic that he single-handedly created American classical music, music that is impossible to listen to without imagining a western, and at the same time, was on a communist watch list. Gotta love that!
Awesome stuff here folks, @Fox, 5 books of poetry? that's pretty awesome. Never would have guessed that.
I don't have very many surprises. I can dance salsa. That seems to surprise people that don't know me. I'm not great at it, and I am rusty, but I took lessons for a few years.
#jimmyswivelhips
My life exploits and talents pale in comparison to what has already been stated, I try not to dwell on things like outer space, my mind is too small to comprehend the vastness of it.
I can blow spit bubbles…
Oh man.. I have a lot of weird stuff but to only choose a few:
I grew up on a commune
I had a Black Panther give my graduating class speech following our graduation nude mud run
I can't say the word Mercury without sounding it out
I hiked through a remote village in Guatemala and was surrounded like an alien. While this was happening someone cut one of my mid-back length braids off.
I slept once on a live rumbling volcano close enough to see lava running at night and in the morning rocks shooting up, steaming with heat.
I tripped, fell, and landed on Jason Priestley in the middle of 5th Avenue.
I don't eat fruit. Just don't like it. Except watermelon. There is no rational explanation for this, you just have to deal with it.
I once had a job helping run a self defense class. I was the guy that dressed up in a padded suit and pretended to be an attacker. I literally got paid to get kicked in the groin – repeatedly.
Nerd cred: I love anything with Zombies in it – comics, movies, books, video games, whatever. One of my recurring daydreams is what I would do when (inevitably) the zombie apocalypse comes.
I fell into a zoo cage when I was four.
I spent a summer at mime camp.
I was on the chess team in high school.
I made my sophomore year homecoming dress.
For a talent show in grad school, I dressed up as Lady Gaga and played Poker Face on my clarinet.
Corbett! Were we separated at birth? Because I played viola in "Hoe-Down" when I was in high school.
Okay, I guess no one knows that I used to play the viola.
Brooklyn party people! I have a clean, responsible and mature gentleman friend who is looking for a place to live in the prospect heights/park slope/gowanus region. His budget is $900-1100/month and he's cool with having up to 2 roommates. Please holler back if you know of something good!
i was a race/power walker in high school and competed in the 1500m
i was an onion harvest princess in a polish festival in 1999.
I deliberately stopped smiling and laughing in 5th grade. Had to relearn how to laugh as an adult. Ask Laurel, she can probably still remember the awkward chest rattle with no associated sound that was my laugh in college.
I went to all of my high school senior year basketball games in a trench coat, tie, vest and top hat (with umbrella) in sunny California. This included away games riding on the fan bus, and not talking to anyone.
Geek cred. I made most of my pocket money in high school from competing in regional math challenges. I never attended a single one that did not have cash prizes, and gave away all the non-cash prizes. I used most of the proceeds on buying paintball equipment.
I shuffle cards to relax.
I bought my Mini, a stick shift, without knowing how to drive manual. No suprise, I burned out the clutch on Park Avenue in the first week.
I spent a weekend with Lance Armstrong in a remote west Texas town (Marfa).
I start most mornings hula hooping in the park.
I eat peanuts with the shell on.
One more. My high school job was as a school bus driver. One could acquire a commercial drivers license at 16 and a half in NC in the 1980s. I learned to drive a stick the first day of driver training. My incredulous instructor was shocked I had never driven a tractor and was pretty pissed he had to actually instruct me.
A bit off topic, but does anyone know of a decent Wendler 5/3/1 or Starting Strength app for Droid, or even a website that has one? I've tried "Big Lifts" but for some reason the numbers aren't right.
I bought a pair of converse chucks (low) on the internet and they are way too big, size 10s. Apparently they run big, so if any of your larger, taller, gentlemen are interested in some chucks, let me know, you can have 'em for cheap.
Malcolm, I think we would have been good friends in high school.
@DO please expand on how you ended up swimming in seltzer. there are so many back stories i want to know already!
i played the cello (not very well) for 9 years, my best friends parents were the middle school and high school orchestra directors there was no getting out
i missed playing copeland's hoedown by 1 year, the hs orchestra played it when i was in 8th grade
i'm still holding onto an acoustic guitar i got for my 17th birthday that i never learned how to play. it was from when i wanted to be like jewel.
oh man, that reminds me i was in on a mailing cassette tape exchange thing where you'd get tapes of "rare" jewel concerts and copy them and send to other fans. eagads that's a tough one to remember.
i apparently enjoy posting embarrassing things in public forum.
I was vegan for almost 10 years.
Since I was 15 I have played guitar (and later bass) in at least 6 bands.
I was on the golf team in high school. I tried out for soccer once but could never run without vomiting. Walking was more my speed back then.
Nerd cred: I played extensive D&D campaigns and lots of Magic the Gathering from 13-18yrs. My friend and I also ran Dial-Up BBSes so that we could play door games like Usurper against each other. Only the real tech nerds (older than 25) will even know what that means.
Todd, I played a lot of Usurper and Legend of the Red Dragon too. My first email address was some crazy BBS relayed internet gateway thing.
1. I drink gallons of seltzer (sodium free) a week. Gallons. Like, our apartment is littered with seltzer bottles at any given moment.
2. I can, and have, eaten sour cream with a spoon. Because it's delicious.
3. This may come as a surprise (*sarcasm*), but people in the fashion industry make no money when starting out, so to subsidize my meager income, I was a tour reporter/band photographer for a couple of years. Which is actually how I met Nick, when I was shooting Poison the Well and Madball at a metal showcase. I went on Warped Tour for 3 weeks in my early twenties and I have ridiculous/disgusting/shameful stories about bands that you probably know, but need a sufficient amount of alcohol in me to divulge them.
4. Speaking of metal, if you know me, you know that I love it, but also a secret… I love Cher. Like… love her. There are two people I would cry if I met: Cher, and David Bowie. And I own both of their full song catalogues. I love Cher so much, I've traveled to Fort Lauderdale once, and Vegas on 3 separate occasions to see her.
5. I'm a die hard Buckeye. I travel for games, at least twice a year and I am banned from all bars in Happy Valley due to an altercation at a previous Penn State matchup.
I really, really love MMPORPGs. (LIKE REALLY REALLY LOVE THEM) So much so that I ran a big raiding guild in WoW for about 2.5 years. I have played a lot of them and am currently playing SWTOR in my free time, not enough time to play as seriously any more. though
In highschool I took part in the annual "bikini jello wrestling fundraiser" 3 years in a row. We would compete as solo wrestlers or as teams. Needless to say we raised a lot of money… I lived in a pretty small town. And yes, cold jello is awesome to roll around in. David – I recommend this for your swimming escapades.
I've never been camping, probably because I grew up in the woods/sticks/boonies.
I rode dressage for about 5 years growing up and love horses; I ask Santa for a pony every year. Needless to say I don't plan on leaving NYC soon so it may have to be a mini-pony.
I didn't eat meat for 13 years (only seafood and veg) and completed a paleo challenge as such. I have since added meat back into my diet (thanks Dan!).
I'm allergic to beef.
My doctors were convinced that as a child I would go deaf at 12. GOOD NEWS, NOT DEAF YET!
Did yesterdays workout in the noon class. This was pretty fun. Impressed myself as the last time I bench pressed (late summer perhaps?) I failed on the third set at 105. Today I did 105 with absolute ease. Tempted to go for more, but decided to not push my luck.
4 fun facts :
* I absolutely abhor ketchup, (yellow) mustard, sour cream, mayonnaise, and pickle relish. I would abandon an otherwise perfect burrito if there was even the slightest smattering of sour cream.
* After 12 years of being a vegetarian (and a couple of being vegan), the first meat I knowingly ate was fois gras.
* I have developed an obsession for resource management board / card games like Catan, Dominion, and more recently Race for the Galaxy.
* Ice-T told me I was "alright" when I gave Body Count directions to the venue they were playing at in Boston.
Fun facts:
I know a pretty cool test of divisibility for the number 37
I once waited tables on Al Sharpton. Damn good tipper!
I once took a clowning class and loved it
I can multiply just about any 2-digit number by a 2-digit number in my head
Today is my Mom's birthday
Ich kann ein biรchen Deutsch sprechen
I เจธเฉเจชเฉเจเจ เจชเฉฐเจเจพเจฌเฉ
Once I got lost in an Ecuadorean rainforest for a couple of hours.
More:
I high-fived Carlos Santana at a concert at the Rutgers gym
I sat at the same table and chatted with Wes Anderson at the Darjeeling Limited after-party
Asta,I don't understand any of that first sentence.
I filled in for a friend as the stand-in for Matthew Lawrence in Mrs. Doubtfire.
I played the Fiddler (in full beard) in Fiddler on the Roof in dinner theater in Delaware at the age of 17.
I seem to have history of playing young boys and fairies.
I'm a huge comic book nerd.
I'm love musicals. Favorite is Rent. I also like Moulin Rouge. Sometimes in mid conversation, I would burst out "singing" my conversation. Aileen rolls her eyes when this happens.
In highschool, I used to wrestle at 150lbs.
My first job was pushing around a dim sum cart at a fancy chinese restaurant. One time, I accidently set it on fire and had to push it through the entire restaurant to get to the kitchen. Bossman was not too happy about that.
At a recent baby shower, I slurped up 3 bottles of baby food with a straw. Stayed away from the chicken and brown rice. It was too chucky to get through the straw.
The more I drink during a game of beer pong or darts, the better I get.
Once I accidently crashed my car into myself. Good thing the incident only left me a scar on my right butt cheek.
When I say "Massachusetts" it sounds like "Mass-a-two-shits"
Todd – I used to play Magic the Gathering. I still have my cards if you want roll the dice.
BTW – Love reading all of today's post. Great question MGMT!
Asta – WoW?? Awesome! I used to play Warcraft 1-3 and Spacecraft 1 and 2.
@MGMT Can we have a board game night? All these game conversation makes me want to play board games.
Everyone's interesting facts are really fun. I feel like everyone knows my weird stuff. ๐
I worked construction for 10+ years, helping to put myself through college. (Dad's a contractor.) I know how to do most general contracting stuff, but my specialties are in building cabinetry from scratch (as in full kitchen/bathroom installs) and laying tile.
I freelance in makeup and costume design. (But anyone who is on fb knows that.)
I really love heights. I have been stuck in many trees.
I sang in the 1,000 voice choir at Disneyland for the holidays when I was 16. (Their backlot is INSANE.)
I used to teach ballroom dance.
Oh, this is so much fun!
1. I got a mild concussion by walking into a stop sign.
2. I spent a summer on an archaeology dig in Cyprus.
3. When I was 10, I work at a nature conservatory. I got to feed bald eagles and black widow spiders and walk around with owls on my arm. It's unclear to me how CPS was not concerned about this.
OK:
I can roll my stomach/abdomen. I blame this for my psoas issues. I'm sure that does not actually make sense.
My high school quiz bowl team took fourth at the national championship representing Vermont.
I played in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, and lost at 3 AM of the first night.
I have the worst singing voice known to man, but I love to sing, particularly, I love to sing Montell Jordan's This is How We Do It. I think it is the best song ever made.
Deb, probably for the better. Also, I'd be interested in seeing you in a full beard…
Dave, love those games!
Sarah, how do you feel about building custom cabinetry for closets…………………………………;)
hey corbett… i had a friend send you an email. i hope it works out!
I was on a state championship chess team in high school. I recently won the NYC Amateur Chili Cookoff. I wrestled in college and once dropped 22 lbs in 36 hours. I had my driver's license for exactly 2 days before I totaled the family auto. I came in 2nd on Jeopardy. I have used a fake ID that said I was Ron Dayne. I LARPed extensively in HS.
I once had to make the decision between co-hosting a cooking show on the Canadian Food Network or moving to New York for journalism school. I chose the latter, but there's a pilot for "Beer Buddies" sitting around out there somewhere.
Board game night! YES PLEASE.
Even if it doesn't happen at the gym, I can make it happen at my place for one of the Rest Day Dinners in January. I have SO MANY board games just begging to be played.
Some friends and I started a new holiday back in 1999 named SuperFun Day. it was described thusly :
"SuperFun Day is a non-religious, non-sectarian, 24-hour celebration the second Saturday of August. The name is chosen for its inherent inclusiveness. Anyone, regardless of race, color, ethnicity, creed, age, or sexual-orientation can have super fun. Celebrate the day however you see fit, no two people agree on what super fun is!"
On the third saturday of August, we would have a huge SuperFun observational party (attendance was usually around 200 people). At its peak, we SuperFun day was observed in NYC, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, and Wellington, New Zealand. In late 2003 there was an initiative in a town in Michigan to make it a legal holiday.
Despite its success, the SFD observational party was retired after 5 years, as the organizational committee realized we all want to celebrate SuperFun in different ways.
Let's see some random facts about me.
My face is on a Magic the Gathering card. I also own the original art for it. Yes, I use to be a professional player. No I do not play now. I just don't have the time to put into playing at that level really anymore.
I was briefly sponsored by Airwalk for skateboarding.
Took 3rd in a Kung Fu competition in New York City
Did several outward bound style survival sessions in high school. My high school offered it as an alternative to regular gym. My proudest moment from that time was going 4 days 3 nights on only one match for the fire which I kept going while there was a snow storm 3 of those days and nights.
Excellent QOTD. Loving these responses.
David, apparently swimming through custard is just as fast as swimming through water. It's tougher to pull through the custard but the kicks are extra powerful.
My unbelievable/believable because I'm a big nerd facts:
*I earned sixth place in my high school's athletic awards due in large part to the six years I spent on the varsity bowling team. Yup, six years, as in I made the team in 7th and 8th grade, too. My average senior year was 197.3 and I once bowled a 274. That same year I was also a competitor in the National Academic Championship in Washington, D.C. (I had lots of friends in high school.)
*I've watched every episode of the British panel show QI on Youtube (where the swimming through custard fact came from), and download BBC comedy podcasts religiously for weekend walks to the gym. Both are great time wasters when you should be writing papers/doing work.
*I often keep the settings on my iPhone and MacBook in German as a way to "keep up" my language skills.
*I was the leader of my college a cappella group and arranged five songs for it despite being unable to read music.
Wow, this is fascinating. Some more:
I lost the tip of my left middle finger in 7th grade wood shop in a machine called the jointer.
I can inflate my stomache like a beach ball.
I have visited the morgues in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
I loved playing dungeons and dragons back in the day and my character was always a paladin.
I can raise my left eyebrow, but not my right.
I fantasize about driving a yellow cab.
I've always said that CrossFit attracts all the weirdos/nerds out there, this is proof! Love it!!
@Joel
I ALSO have a terrible (TERRRIBLE) singing voice and Love to sing, especially in the mornings first thing when I wake up. I've had "Do you remember the time" by Micheal Jackson stuck in my head for almost 8 years now. My old roommate and Sam can attest to that. I break out into the chorus of it at least 3x per week.
@GG,
Okay- this is embarrassing, but my girlfriend Sam constantly hears about all the things I want to swim in. Seltzer is a beverage I'm obsessed with (hi Shaye!) and something I talk about swimming in a lot so for my birthday last month she filled a bathtub with seltzer and I took a bath in it. So I guess I didn't technically swim in it, but pretty darn close. Here's the scoop: It's really cold and your body gets covered in bubbles, also the water fizzes a lot. So, there you go, everybody shut up and stop staring at me now.
Also- I often think of the vastness of space, I fantasize about floating around in it forever!
We should make a superfun day at CFSBK with board games, talent shoes, LARP and vats of unusual liquids to dunk yourself in
i've often thought about boiling pasta in san pellegrino. never got round to trying it
i tend to get weird sports injuries. i've had my pubis symphysis fused and, as some people have had the displeasure of seeing, a fasciotomy on my thigh after getting compartment syndrome
@David O
Have you been scuba diving? Because I think you would love it with the way you talk about swimming in stuff. You should get certified and then start checking out hydrothermal vents, cave diving…
@Asta I, like deb, have no idea what you were talking about in your first sentence.