1142 Changing It Up

Jogging is starting to get "boring" for me. I'm struggling more to get out and jog every day, so instead of feeling down or getting upset at myself I decided to change things up today.

I did some kettlebell exercises instead of doing my 3 km jog. I was only able to do three sets of my kettlebell routine but my hamstrings were activated. I could feel the pain, and up to now they still sting a bit. I guess it comes with the workout I did.

Each set I did five reps each of kettlebell swings, goblet squats, Romanian deadlifts, kettlebell upright rows, two-handed kettlebell presses, two-handed hammer curls, and two-handed triceps extensions. At the end of the second set I could feel my hamstrings already. After each set I rested for a minute or so before doing the next set. All-in-all it took me ten minutes.

Now you may be thinking I should have done more, and I agree. However I don't want to risk hurting my hamstrings since I still have the rest of the day ahead and I need to work. So I'll probably stick to three sets and gradually increase the number.

Yes I'm changing my routine yet again. I'll most likely be doing MWF 5 km interval jogs and TTh kettlebell exercises, so similar to the routine I used to try to do. Hopefully now that I've been really active for the past three months I can be consistent with this.

So why did I lessen the jogs? Again, boredom. It was starting to become a chore to jog and I don't want to think negatively of exercise so I will change it up and hopefully the kettlebell exercises will also help strengthen my muscles.

Out.

1141 Twenty-Year-Old Blog

I just remembered that I started this blog twenty years ago today. March 22, 2005 was the date of my very first blog post and I started blogging because of a good friend, mentor, and former colleague. Rest in peace to Nelson, it was a pleasure to have met you, worked with you, and became your friend.

This blog has grown up as well, from a place to bitch and rant it evolved into something more censored and private, but still public.

Out.

1140: Classic Beetle Revisited

Yesterday I had a chat (online) with a good friend when I started rambling to him about a classic Super Beetle. It got me checking out the old links I had used as pegs and references for my dream Super Beetle build. I may have blogged about this before, but I am blogging about this again just so I can hopefully find these links a lot faster in the future.

Who knows, maybe when I look for these links I'll have the resources to do my dream Super Beetle build.

• Gerrelt's Garage. His aerodynamic mods on his Super Beetle are something I would love to have as well. A Kamei front spoiler and his custom made rear windshield mounted roof spoiler are two things I am definitely installing.
• The Salzburg Rally Beetle. This was my ideal build before, but thinking about it now maybe the best I will do to emulate it is the aesthetics. So either a silver body with black front and rear deck lids, or a different colored body with black and rear deck lids. Preferably high visibility colors like white, yellow, orange, or bright green. Ideally I'd also copy the performance mods done to real Salzburg Rally Beetles. And even better, they were all Super Beetles.
• Vintage Speed Taiwan. I've always been a fan of their Beetle roof racks and shifters. Pricey but I'm just dreaming anyway.
• Fuchs rims. These are my new dream rims for my Super Beetle build. Either that or the RS Watanabe 8-spoke rims.

That's it so far. I'm not even linking the aftermarket turnkey engines I was thinking off. I honestly doubt I can still get to experience this dream, so I'll just blog about it.

Out.

1139 - Jogging Plateau?

This March I started interval jogging for 5 laps (a little over 5 km). I've been able to do it but I've also noticed a few things about myself now that I'm doing 5 laps.

• My body needs rest. I tried doing my alternating 5 km interval, 3 km all jog routine I used to do with 4 km and 3 km distances. First week by the time Thursday arrived I was too tired physically and I was also feeling pain in my leg area so I decided to take that Thursday off.
• I tried to do 5 km interval, 3 km all jog, rest, 5 km interval, 3 km all jog for weekdays and I was able to do it successfully, but I honestly feel like that wasn't enough exercise. So much that I did a 5 km interval yesterday, Sunday.
• I'm going to try to spread out my rest days. Instead of doing it on Saturday and Sunday my plan is to now do 5 km Sunday, 3 km Monday, rest on Tuesday, 5 km Wednesday, 3 km Thursday, 5 km Friday, rest on Saturday. I started this already and will see if my body is still up for it come Friday.
• Overall I'm still able to interval jog my way to 5 km, and I wanted to try to jog farther yesterday but by the time I was approaching the house on my fifth lap I decided to just go home to rest. I should probably stick to my original plan of finishing one month doing 5 km and 3 km before moving to my next step which is hopefully being able to jog the whole 5 km. We shall see.
• I just hope this isn't a plateau, and I am hoping my body can adapt to the 5 km distance as the month goes by. If it doesn't I don't mind capping my exercise to a 5 km interval jog with a 3 km full jog. Then maybe I should start bringing back my kettlebell exercises on rest days.

We shall see.

Out.

1138 - Japan Surplus DA17 and Other Thoughts

I saw this Facebook reel a few days ago about a new style of left-hand drive conversion, and in it the guy mentions that they've also converted the signal light stalk to the left-hand drive position, which is the left of the steering column. So I guess I can safely assume that the wiper stalk is now in the right side of the steering column?

This is sort of amazing news on my end, since this was one of the reasons I had against owning a Japan surplus vehicle. I've also seen another local dealer of Japan surplus vehicles that has fixed the orientation of the wipers, so we're really getting closer and closer to a "true" left-hand drive Every Van.

And I will still stick to my idea of getting the base model DA17V and just upgrading from there. Yes I still want the auto-gear shift variant instead of the automatic variant. What I don't want is the variant with the auto-adjusting side mirrors since that most likely will be right-hand drive oriented. So just the basic side mirrors are enough. Power windows would be nice, specially since there are DA17 variants that have a top shelf for those with power windows.

So here we go again with my crazy wish list for a base DA17 Suzuki Every with AGS or automatic transmission.

• Left-hand drive orientation for signal light and wiper stalks.
• Convert to DA17W front and middle row seats. Meaning the "captain's chairs" second row seats for 60/40 (?) split folding instead of the bench seating.
• Add a ceiling mounted second row blower fan since the AC isn't that powerful.
• Add front fog lamps.
• Add a high quality front and rear dash cam, as well as a high quality rear back up camera.
• Install a roof rack and have it registered for roof rack usage. Also install a rear mounted ladder to reach the roof rack.

Those are the crucial mods I would want on a base model DA17V. Those will hopefully make it a bit more comfortable to ride and hopefully easier to drive around.

Out.

1137 - Car Camper Crazy Idea

I saw this youtube video being recommended on my feed, so I decided to give it a watch. Apparently the Toyota Aygo is mainly sold in Europe that's even smaller in dimensions than our Toyota Wigo. I wasn't able to finish the video, but I plan on watching it again soon. This did get me thinking again about car camping, with a slightly bigger base: the gen 2 (aka GE) Honda Jazz.

In terms of the interior I'd probably just have the second row seats fold flat, as well as the passenger seat. This will give me enough space on the passenger side to set up a sleeping platform. Behind the driver side I could probably go with a custom built camping box that can hold whatever I'd need for car camping. These would include a butane stove, cooking implements, rechargeable lights, and a drinking water container.

Add roof rails and a cargo box on the roof for other stuff, like clothes. Also a roof bicycle rack so I can bring my bike. We can change the suspension to adjustable coilovers and raise the ride height by maybe 3 to 5 centimeters, to offset the added weight and add better ground clearance should I take non-paved roads.

This seems like an ideal solo car camping setup, but then again I don't have the funds (yet?) to test my ideas out. Hopefully in the future.

Out.

1136: If I Could Have a Bicycle Collection

On the latest episode of Cade Media's The Wild Ones Cycling Podcast they covered a topic about having a bicycle collection. Now, I'm not as well-versed on bicycle years, models, makes, etc. However I do want to have a bike collection, but more a collection of bikes with different purposes. So here we go with my dream bike collection.

• Main bike. This would be the bike I'd use everyday If I could. This would most likely be that Ritchey Outback Break-away build I blogged about before. This would be my all-around all road bicycle. The main purpose of the bike is to be my main bike.
• Urban commute bike. This has to be a decent folding bike. Something I can use if I want to go around the city, then fold it and ride public transport. A Brompton isn't something I want since that seems way too expensive for an urban commuter. Maybe a heavily modified Tern bicycle or even some other cheaper brand.
• Cargo bike. Even though I said I disliked Surly as a brand because of how people seem to treat it as a "brand" that turned me off, I am a big fan of their Surly Big Dummy long tail cargo bike. I've blogged about this before, so this will be the bike I should use if I want to do the groceries or go to the wet market.
• Trainer bike. Zwift Ride with Kickr Core. Hopefully this training bike can make me ride longer at home. This is a fever dream since the unit itself is so expensive, add the monthly subscription to the app and that's it.

That's actually all the bikes I'd want. And to be honest since I rarely ride anymore I wouldn't mind just having one bike. The Ritchey Outback Break-away build.

Out.

1135: Random Car Musings

I will be posting in bullet points just to separate different ideas.

• My dad sold his Samurai, so there goes any dreams of restomods. Not that I had any funds anyway.
  
  
• I've been thinking about my old blog posts about two car garages, and I will still hold with my philosophy of one small daily driver and a slightly bigger number coding car/weekend road trip ride. Now though I'm starting to think going exclusive brands may be restricting my mindset.
  
  See, while I'm still a huge fan of the local Toyota brand, I would like to think that I'm open-minded enough to consider other brands. And while my top choices for a second car would all be Toyotas, the Suzuki Ertiga is starting to grow on me.
  
  Yes, if I could afford a second car it would be (in order) the Zenix Hybrid, a diesel Innova, or the top-of-the-line Avanza. All should be automatic transmission (since my wife's driver's license only allows her to drive automatics). I've been seeing quite a few Ertigas on the road, and strangely they look smaller than the Avanza. It probably has to do with their shape. Checking websites though reveals they're either the same size or slightly wider than the Avanzas. Which is probably good since I would still prefer Toyotas over Ertigas.
  
  Why not a Honda BRV or Mitsubishi Xpander then? Again, I still have huge faith in Toyotas. Plus in terms of affordability the Avanza is still the most affordable vehicle based off of Autodeal's website.
  
  
• Finally I saw a Dongfeng Nanobox electric vehicle yesterday. It looked nice, and the price seems to be pretty reasonable, below PhP900k. All these non-Japanese brand electric vehicles coming in to the local market at relatively reasonable prices have me thinking about owning one.
  
  One comment I read in a youtube review of the Nanobox had me thinking. The reviewer was talking about costs and basically just computed how much it would cost to fully charge the Nanobox vs how much a full tank of gas would cost for a similar vehicle. Of course the EV would win the costing hands down. I think it was PhP300++ for a full charge versus PhP1800 for a full tank of around 30L. However the comment mentioned that it might be better to include the cost of a replacement battery in the computation since you will need to change the battery of an EV eventually.

Anyway, it's not like I can afford an EV, or even a second car. So for now it'll all be musings.

Out.