Deciding to countdown the days till I transition. 

Did not wake up early enough for Nepa walk.  Took hotrox and had the cab stop 15 min from the office so we could walk a little bit.  did another 20 min walk in the PM. 

Morning – Two scoops protein, one scoop leucine, 4 flameout, 3 vitamin d, 3 liver cleansing. 

Lunch- two scoop protein.

PM – two scoops protein

Dinner – none

Workout – 1.5 scoops surge recovery during workout which felt MUCH better than monday’s workout.  Reverse lunge steps with 35# dumbbells for 10/10/10/8/2,  bentover rows at 115# for 10/7/7/6/5/5, push press at 115# 10/8/7/5/ and did the last 6/4 with 95#.  Barbell curl just the bar for 10/10/8/6/6, reverse crunch 10/10/10/10 in 33:44. 

Night – two scoops protein, 4 flameout, 3zma, 4 multi vitamins.

Green tea – two liters

So the velocity diet is something that a supplement company called Biotest came up with to sell their supplements (in essence).  I know this and accept it.  Why?  Because it works, it’s simple, it’s sound and because I’ve done it before and know I can do it.  The principles of the diet are based on something called a protein sparing modified fast (PSMF).  Lyle Mcdonald has a book called Rapid Fat Loss that describes what I’m doing much better than I can but in essence it’s a diet that keeps protein and workouts in it so that your body will keep more lean body mass (LBM).  This is sound because muscle is the basis of your metabolism and when you transition off your diet and keep most of your muscle then your metabolism won’t be so wrecked as it is with many other crash diets (which is what leads to yo yo dieting).  Another reason why this is sound is because you are giving your body a reason to keep muscle (thru protein and workouts) you are essentially forcing it to find energy from your own fat stores.  Lyle McDonald points this out as the difference between weight loss and fat loss.  Simple works because while I do poorly when I’m giving a lot of choice I seem to do better when a program says do this and only this.  My only focus then is on doing that one thing… not trying to decide a bunch of things.

A few major bonus of the velocity diet as I outlined in my Sunday experience is that after a whole week of eating shakes you start to crave solid food.  This is when you start to train your body to eat all the things that are good for you but you don’t eat (like veggies).  The other thing it does is it helps you eat slowly because you don’t want to scarf down your only meal of the week.  Trust me, you’ll really want to savor it.  Eating slowly is one of those things that improved satiety and digestion.  In a world where there’s a lot of conflicting information, this is one of those things that is universally thought of as a good thing. 

Now a limitation (and a major one at that) of the velocity diet is that it doesn’t do such a good job of teaching you how to eat after the diet is over.  That’s where my experience with precision nutrition comes in with it’s simple program principles of sensible eating (eat veggies with every meal, avoid carbs except around workouts, plan your cheat days, cook your own meals, etc).  I’ve tried both programs but unfortunately I ended the vdiet with no real plan or experience with Precision Nutrition and I tried Precision Nutrition without the self control I learned from the velocity diet.  I know I might eat my words later on but I’m planning on being successful this time around.  After the 4 week strict phase there is a two week transition and I’m targeting basically breakfast and lunch as the two meals to focus on making PN compliant.  My thinking is that if I can get those two meals set up right, any mistakes I make with dinner could be covered by my workouts and if I eat right during the day then most likely I will continue that momentum into the evening. 

This diet isn’t for everyone but I’m not doing this as a template for every person, I’m doing this for me.  I know my limitations and when my self control exhibits itself most clearly. 

Wednesday Oct 10- Woke up at 6, got 45 min of walking in with the wifey, bought some toilet paper.  Then took one hot rox before heading to work.  Since I knew warm water with flax seeds would probably make me gag, I decided to just go with two scoops of protein, one 5gm scoop of leucine and tried to scrap out 2 scoops of superfood but it had kind of solidified.  I tried my best and shot it down.  Also took 3 tablets of vitamin D, 3 liver cleansing pills and two flameout fish oil pills.  Filled up two liter bottle with green tea.  Lunchtime I took the same with the flax seeds and I don’t know what it is with milled flax seeds but they just make me gag.  Afternoon shake ok.  PM Shake warm water… skipped the flax.  Suspect that the refrigerator doesn’t work.  Make the evening shake to drink on the way home.  Realized that I don’t have natural peanut butter but don’t care because the evening shake was making me nauseous… I take 4 fish oil, 3zma’s, 3z12′s before knocking out at around 9ish. 

Thursday Oct 11 – Woke up at 545am (jetlag).  Took a hotrox and did a quick walk 40 min walk.  Got to the office and confirmed that the refrigerator is busted.  Used chilled water from wine cooler.  No flax seeds.  I’m going to skip them.  I also like to freeze them after I open the package but since the fridge was busted I’m afraid they’re now spoiled or at the very least a big shady.  At night since I cant count on the superfood, I’m taking multivitamin before bed.

Friday – I don’t remember much of this day for some reason…. I’m sure I had 3-4 shakes throughout tho. 

Saturday – Woke up, hotrox and 40 min walk around the block.  Drink a morning shake and was feeling pretty meh.  Was really debating whether I should go to the football game.  I really don’t want to but they say they need me and I don’t want to bail on them.  Decide to commit but maybe show up a bit later, need to conserve my energy.  Drink a shake, start dressing and feeling nauseous again.  Take a bathroom break and feel better.  Start it up on the football field and it’s clear that the diet and lack of conditioning is messing me up a bit.  Simple pulls are making my heart race… sometime in the middle of the 2nd quarter I allowed a defender thru and he and another lineman took out our qb who had to limp off.  Took our my frustration on the next play and drove the lineman about 7 yards back but in the process tweaked my back.  Decided to call it a day since we were way up and these guys weren’t going to catch up to us.  Had to take care of some work issues so didn’t take my final shake until around 9ish.  Ate some natural peanut butter from a spoon to hold off the hunger pangs.  Took two scoops protein, 4 flameout and 4 multi vitamins before bed.  Knocked out. 

Sunday – Woke up later around 830.  Skipped walk, made shake brought it with me to work meeting.  Sipping it in the cab made me nauseous.  After work meeting finished up the shake but not feeling so hot.  Rested up, got a massage and went to church.  Healthy solid meal at Roosevelt Prime that wifey booked for my bday.  Was very hungry but determined to savor everything.  Ordered the side of seasonal vegetables to start and let me tell you, broccoli has not tasted so good in so long.  It was crunchy and seasoned just right.  But most importantly I was able to chew.  I closed my eyes while I was eating it… half in jest and half because seriously tasted that good.  This is what happens when you drink your meals for 5 days, solid food becomes a novelty.  Had very small tastings of my wife’s foie gras.  Tasty but I like it better when its seared.  Shared a medium rare porterhouse between myself and the wife and yum.  However they said it was aged and when they showed it to me, it was not aged.  Way too red to have been aged 28 days.  Didn’t matter, it tasted wonderful to me.  However would not recommend it since it seemed overpriced and would have been just ok if I was normal.  Have really been thinking about my nausea…. am I allergic?  I shouldn’t be but it would really suck to be allergic now.  Realized that the tub of protein I’ve been using at home as been expired for 18 months.  Look it up on google and apparently casein can go bad (I did not think powder could go bad).  Ugh… may need to go off the diet if all the protein I counted on has expired.  My wife pointed out the expiration dates a while ago but I ignored her.  Whoops! 

Monday – Back on the shakes.  Have two tubs with no expiration dates and gave it a try.  Morning shake with two flameout, 3 vitamin D, 3 liver cleansing pills.  Sat down and no nausea.  Success!  Get home and prepare to hit the gym and realize that there’s no cold water for my workout shake.  Put one bottle in the fridge to chill it and will drink it when I come back.  Front squats @185# for 5/5/4/3/3 and quickly learned that while I’m strong in the back squat it doesn’t mean anything when front squatting, pulldowns @140# 5/5/4/3/3 (chin up grip) was ok but still feel like I was recovering from the front squats, dumbbell bench press @55# (coudln’t find the 60#) 5/5/5/5 pc of cake but winded.  Stumbled home (damn those front squats!) and get on my ab roller (forgot it at home) and did 5/5/5/5.  Wiped!  A combination of being on no carb for 5 previous days plus strength work with little conditioning has revealed itself in my piss poor shape.  Mope around a little bit feeling a little light headed… drink one scoop of surge recovery with chilled water and instantly feel better.  Probably due to the water lowering my core body temp since I don’t think i could have digested it that fast.  Resolve to chill water and bring the shake to the next workout. 

Tues – Shake with two scoops, 1 scoop leucine, 4 flameout, 3 vitamin D, 3 liver cleansing.  Legs, lats, abs are a bit tight but feel ok overall but know that it will feel worse later on and maybe on Wednesday.  Shake with two scoops protein and 1 scoop leucine for lunch.  Two scoop shake for afternoon snack.  Have a bday dinner at night and make the mistake of not making a shake to take with me.  Was fumbling around with my phone since it went dark all of a sudden.  Am starving in the cab and take the time to let the hunger roll over me, calm down but then it comes back.  Decide that I will order some veggies to hold me over until I get home but find out that the bday girl has already preordered.  Make a deal with the wife to eat some vegetables during dinner with the caveat that she will pick our the portions for me.  I chew slowly and drink tea to take off the edge and overall I feel ok.  Take 4 flameout, 3zma, 6 bcaa’s with one scoop protein before bed. 

So the whole goal for 2013 is to be a starting caliber defensive lineman. I currently play offensive line because I’m not athletic nor conditioned enough.

Now in order to do that I need to be in better shape.  Get stronger. Be quicker.

And that is the end goal of this 3 month cycle.  Gain quality muscle mass and get stronger.  Done right muscle gain without gaining a large amount of fat will boost my relative strength and make me quicker.  Put me in position to compete. 

It’s quite a few things but I’ve read enough (and know myself well enough) that I know I can’t do all of those things at once.  I’ve tried and I’ve failed spectacularly.  As Scripture says “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  So I need to stay razor focused.  First on the velocity diet.  Then the Mass made simple program.  

I should be finishing up everything right around that first week of New Years when people are busy starting their New Year’s resolutions. 

A few months ago I bought a book called Mass Made Simple by Dan John.  In one part of the book he wrote this:

One person in a hundred will have the courage to listen to my best piece of advice to prep for a mass-building program: Lean out first. My buddy in college who decided to enter an amateur bodybuilding contest lived for a month on nothing but lettuce and dope. Yes, you read that right, and no, don’t try it. For his last workouts, his friends had to literally pull him off the floor to do anything. The loads on the bar were far, far below his normal training numbers. But under the lights he looked marvelous.  A funny thing happened the weeks and months after the contest—the guy exploded. It was like he was being inflated. He gained size, in all the right places, seemingly every day. I know there’s a scientific explanation for this, but I don’t care. I found the same thing happened to me after the Velocity Diet. A week later, I lifted in an open Olympic lifting meet and everyone swore I had put on 10 pounds of muscle when I was actually two pounds lighter. If you have the courage to lean out, try it!

At first I was like…. nah, that’s not me.  Then I thought about what he said and the challenge in it.  The courage to lean out and then go on a mass building program.  So here I am… documenting my first day and a half on the velocity diet for the next six weeks followed by another 6 weeks on mass made simple.  12 weeks… just a short time in a life but hopefully the start of learning something about myself and pushing limits I didn’t think could be pushed. 

I’m documenting this for a couple of reasons.  One is I plan on posting this to my facebook and making it public.  It’s one of the things that Dan John writes about in his book… putting public pressure on to help reach a goal.  I guess that’s where you the reader comes in… if I stop writing then you’ll know I failed.  I made up some excuse or another and gave up.  But that brings me up to reason number two which is that I don’t want to fail.  I want to inspire people to push themselves.  I’ve been on countless diets, run a couple of marathons, gotten stronger but I’m really a chubby guy with low self control and a bag full of excuses.  I’ve read a lot of things and “know” a lot but I haven’t acted on them.  I don’t think I’m that different than a lot of people who want to make themselves feel and look better but find the task daunting.  So here goes….

I haven’t blogged in so long.  I’m not even sure where to begin.  I guess I’ll start with the things I always say when someone asks me what’s going on in my life.  I travel a lot for work…. not so much on a frequency basis, just every other month.  To Asia.  Specifically a city called Shantou near HK.  Pretty much no one has heard of it.  I call it the Boise, Idaho of China.  The reason being that most US residents have heard of Boise, Idaho because it’s sort of a city of significance (potatoes) but no one outside of the US would have heard of it.  Well, that’s Shantou…. if you were a resident of China you’d know they’re known for their tea and maybe if you’re a toy company you’d know that Shantou has perhaps the most toy factories in China.  Barring that, you simply wouldn’t know or ever visit.  However, my company decided to build a manufacturing facility from scratch in Shantou and seeing as I’m going to be here at Lafayette148 long term…. I’ll be heading to Shantou pretty regularly.  Come visit!

In other news I’m moving out of the apartment I’ve been living in for three and a half years.  Moving has been an eye opener for me.  I just never realized just how much stuff we had.  I’ve been trying to be ruthless about throwing stuff out but I’m sentimental.  When I look at a card or a wedding invite my memory jogs itself and I remember lots of good times and some great times.  That’s hard to toss away.  Life seems to move so much faster now and chucking away something that reminds me of the life I’ve lived.  However, I’m holding the party line that less is better on what’s going to the new apartment.  It’s got less closet space so my sister will need to make some hard choices on her shoes. 

Future blog topics to be completed in 2010:

Moving to a different country.  Scary or exciting?

Being too smart for your own good.

Faith and learning how to let go

Rejection

At least a few random and funny stories

I finally abused my authoriteh as Director of IT and gave myself access to Xanga at work. 

I’m just motivated to blog while I’m at the office.  Not for several hours at a time each day…but once in a while isn’t so bad. I can’t believe I didn’t blog at all during 2009.  Crazy.

Anyway… the reason I gave myself access was because I have something important to share which is:

Yes…. that is all for now.

Well, back in the sense that my IT guys have allowed access to it without telling me.  Even though I’m the director of IT here…. what’s up with that?! 

Anyway, I’m such a Xanga noob now that it took me a *tiny* bit of time to actually find out how to start a new blog.  Dah! 

Sooo…. I get a phone call from this guy Rod, works for an IT consulting company and after I hear him out… I go, well my IT admin would arrange all that.  However, just before I transfer him, he goes… btw, I went to school with a guy named Kinsen… from Governor Livingston?    Man… really small world.  Soooo…. in one of his emails he says “Btw, I will NEVER forget a book report that you did for Ms. LeSage’s class”    He’s referring to my 10th grade english teacher and a oral presentation I had to do for a book report.  Anyway, seeing as she reminded me and I was desperate, I used a baseball book I picked up that week.  So its a professional ball player talking about “beaver”.  Me being the sheltered kid with asian parents had never heard of the term.  And though I knew it was slang for something… I wasn’t quite sure.  Its not like I could look it up on wikipedia seeing as the internet wasn’t even a term to us back then.  So what do I do?  Why, I’ll just do what my teacher asked me to do which is to read some excerpts from the book.  Now… this being almost two decades ago and my psyche having done a clever job of scrubbing this from memory…. I don’t remember alllll the details of what I said but according to my friend, it pretty much went something like “beaverbeaverbeaverbeaverbeaverbeaver*deep breathe*beaverbeaverbeaverbeaverbeaverbeaver”  HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.  I’m cracking up now at the memory of it but I really didn’t know what it meant but I do remember thinking… why is everyone laughing?  I haven’t even read the punch line yet!!  My english teacher was NOT pleased. 

Anyway… the moral of the story is:  Don’t answer your phone. It could be your high school buddy trying to being back memories that your mind has suppressed.  Just kidding… I’m going to meet up with him and another HS buddy for drinks tomorrow.  Looking forward to it!

Hello Xanga my old friend…

I’ve come to talk with you again.

Anyone know that song?  Sometimes when I listen to the radio these days… I wonder where the lyrical prose has gone.  Catchy beats abound… but those great songs which have those words that hook into your soul along with great music behind it seem so rare nowadays.  Nowadays…. that word makes me seem dated.  In a sense I am. 

I think i’m overly nostagic tonight because I watched Rocky Balboa.  hahahhaha… so cheesy but I actually enjoyed the softness of the character that was Rocky Balboa.  His response to a former opponent who someone else would classify as a “freeloader” and the talk with his son.  I think that’s it… I’m a total sucker for father/son talks.  Maybe that’s why I like movies like Big Fish. 

There have been so many things happening in my life, I’m not sure where to start.  I will take a moment to thank God for blessing me with great family and friends.  There is something so simple yet so satisfying to my soul to have friends over and enjoy good food and great laughs.  I hope that should I ever need to go thru a drought of those times that my heart will continue to be grateful that I’ve already been so blessed. 

As of 07/25/07 Lafayette 148 is seeking to fill the following positions:

·         Accounts Receivable Assistant

·         Information Systems Administrator

·         Production Planning Assistant

·         Sr. Merchandiser

·         Warehouse Coordinator

·         Warehouse Shipping Assistant

·         Assistant to VP, Sales

Send resumes to careers@lafayette148.com

Accounts Receivable Assistant

Job Summary:

(Entry Level position)  Under the supervision of the AR Supervisor, the Accounts Receivable Assistant has responsibility for:

·         Preparing deposits and going to the bank

·         Organizing and filing AR documents

·         Calling COD or credit card customers for approval to ship

·         Making collection calls for past due invoices

·         Researching and disputing unauthorized deductions (chargebacks)

·         Responding to customer requests for account information

·         Mail Monthly Statements to customers

·         Process returns from customers

Requirements:

·         4-year Accounting degree preferred

·         Attention to detail

·         Excellent organizational and communication skills

·         Strong computer skills including Excel, Word and Outlook

·         Strong work ethic

·         Sense of urgency

·         Team player

Information Systems Administrator

Job Summary:

·         Setting up, administering and maintaining Company ERP, PLM and other business intelligence solutions.

·         Becoming company expert on all aspects of these critical business management tools.

·         Providing internal training and support to users

·         Developing customized applications of above tools as required to enhance business productivity.

·         Point of contact for resolution of all issues related to MIS tools.

·         Primary interface to internal customers, and vendor support teams for timely resolution to all reported issues.

·         Sponsoring and driving initiatives related to expansion and enhanced use of MIS tools and features.

·         General IT and helpdesk support.

·         Some travel to China may be required.

Requirements:

·         5+ years’ IS experience in general IT operations and MIS including roles as Implementer or Project Leader in the selection, deployment and maintenance of ERP, PLM, and/or PDM solutions for the Apparel Industry.

·         Significant hands on experience with these systems coupled with ability to discuss them strategically.

·         Excellent communication and writing skills. 

·         Familiarity with any methodology for formal business process analysis.

·         Familiarity with Gerber, Lectra, or Lawson family ERP or PLM products is desired.

·         Chinese language skill is a plus.

·         Project management experience a plus.

Production Planning Assistant

Job Summary:

This position will be responsible for assisting the production team in tracking and planning for production garments.  It presents a unique opportunity to work with a direct manufacturer.  Responsibilities will include:

·         Balancing fabric ownership

·         Allocating fabric orders against sales orders

·         Executing reports to see progress of production

·         Providing reports for supervisor to plan capacity

·         Working closely with Sales Support team to resolve various issues such as replacement on returns, special request and delivery dates of customers

·         Working closely with production team in China to monitor orders, track fabric ownership, and follow-up on production problems

·         Working in detail on ERP system.

Requirements:

·         2+ years relevant experience

·         College degree

·         Strong analytical ability

·         Problem solver (creative thinking)

·         Extremely detailed oriented

·         Sense of urgency

·         Solid math skills

·         Intermediate level of EXCEL (macro, vlookup, pivot table)

·         Proficient with Microsoft Outlook and Word applications

·         Ability to multi-task

·         Cantonese language a +

Senior Merchandiser

Job Summary: 

This position will be responsible for specific Merchandising activities of Lafayette 148.  Responsibilities will include:

·         Analyzing product performance/sales trends to capitalize on future opportunities and ensure a well-balanced, properly assorted collection.

·         Shopping stores to gain insight/information regarding competitive brands.  Identify voids in market and future item opportunities.

·         Pre Costing collection to identify fabric price concerns.

·         Pricing the collection to ensure profitability and attainment of margin goals.

·         Creating and maintaining the line plan.

·         Projecting sales quantities.

·         Analyzing sales trends.

·         Using Edifice system to create retail selling to create relevant selling reports.

·         Actively participate in bi-monthly/monthly retail selling meetings with Sales and Merchandising.

·         Assisting in the coordination of Sales Tools for the Sales meeting.

Requirements:

·         3 – 5 years’ wholesale Merchandising experience (mandatory)

·         Strong analytical, communication, and time-management skills

·         Must possess a passion for Merchandising

·         Strong working knowledge of the apparel market and industry

·         Strong presentation skills

·         Detail-oriented

·         Ability to multi-task

·         Proactive attitude and an entrepreneurial spirit

·         Must be a team player

·         Prior supervisory experience a plus

·         Strong computer skills (Word, Excel, Access)

Warehouse Shipping Assistant

Job Summary:  This position coordinates outgoing shipments for the Lafayette 148 warehouse.

Responsibilities:

• Invoicing for both major and specialty store accounts
• Processing UPS and FedEx label for shipping
• Applying packing list to cartons
• Scheduling pick ups
• Preparing bills of lading

Requirements:

• Administrative or Shipping experience a +
• Willingness to work overtime (some evenings/weekends)
• Extremely punctual, highly reliable

• Microsoft office experience
• Blue Cherry experience a plus
• Fluency in English as well as Cantonese or Mandarin a plus
• Detail-oriented

Assistant to VP, Sales

Job Summary:  This position will be responsible for assisting the VP of Sales in administrative and sales related activities.

Responsibilities:

·         Develops strong knowledge of line

·         Communicates on a constant basis with specialty stores, sales support and  external sales reps

·         Assists in showroom sales presentations

·         Prepares and updates specific selling reports

·         Drafts correspondence

·         Implements and maintains filing system

·         Manages calendar

·         Works closely with the Accounting department on credit memos

·         Utilizes Garpac to track major and specialty store selling

·         Occasionally assists in product knowledge seminars/trunk shows in the stores

·         Other duties as assigned

Requirements:

• Marketing degree preferred
• 1 – 2 years retail or apparel industry exp. preferred
• Strong organizational skills
• Excellent Excel, Word and Outlooks skills
• Solid math skills
• Excellent verbal communication skills
• Team player
• Ability to prioritize and multi-task