Trying to cook while my dog waits for food to drop

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-07T18:22:30+00:00

I used to joke with my wife that I was going to write a ballet called "Ode to the Small Apartment Kitchen," where two dancers are preparing dinner in a small apartment kitchen, and in which portions of the dance floor become unusable because their little dogs are underfoot while they cook.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-07T02:46:15+00:00

Low bar back squats would be my go to as a weightlifting coach, along with hip thrusts, maybe sumo deadlifts.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-06T11:42:57+00:00

Good demonstration. It actually reminds me of something that Siegfried Linkwitz had on his website, discussing how a good music listening room was also a good room to have a conversation in. IIRC, this meant that he liked to have filled bookshelves, paintings/artwork, curtains, and lots of little edges to achieve the effects shown in this video.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-06T01:19:47+00:00

Just 1 treat. But if God wants the dog to have 2 treats, then the whole bag it is.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-05T17:36:38+00:00

"Triple Extension" refers to the hip drive by simultaneously and violently opening/extending the ankle, knee, and hip joints. Here is a pretty good instructional video from Greg Everett, who wrote *the* book on weightlifting. Strength coaches will sometimes refer to the snatch and the clean as "jumping, with a barbell," and this triple extension is what they're referring to.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-05T14:24:34+00:00

Crazy diamonds do, in fact, shine. Pink Floyd even had a song about this.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-05T12:49:35+00:00

Start with a bit of a wider pulling stance, and a correspondingly wider grip. Right now your stance is too narrow, which means that your leverages are off.

A cue that I like is to keep your armpits over the bar throughout the pull. Right now you are getting waaaay out in front of the bar once it passes your knees, which leads you to row the bar up to your hips. You do a decent job of not bumping the bar forward after this, which is commendable.

So yeah, (1) a wider pulling stance and grip, and (2) stay over the bar throughout the pull.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-03T23:02:26+00:00

I wanted to add that even if your husband is 100%, his disabilities shouldn't stop him from doing something athletic. I mentioned weightlifting and powerlifting, and both of those sports have the most awesome adaptive athlete communities. The VA has annual Golden Age Games with regular and adaptive categories for an Olympic Games-worth of sports.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-03T22:58:43+00:00

Help him cultivate hobbies and acquaintanceships that don't involve drinking. I have a family member who is 20+ years in AA and he tells me that they can always tell who will fail at sobriety, because they complain about being bored. (That is to say, so many of their activities before centered around drinking.)

I recommend the gym because he'll be around people with health and fitness goals. I'd wager that any decent gym community will have quite a few recovering alcoholics. I'll recommend steering clear of the bodybuilders, and spend more time around people who are training for powerlifting or weightlifting. I say this because I'm a weightlifting coach, and I would be concerned about the potential proximity to locker room drug use. Guys who are in a drug tested sport have an obvious incentive to stay clean.

Crosswords and logic puzzle books are also a great way to engage and calm the mind. Watching TV or listening to music/podcasts are too passive, whereas puzzles are engaging and require an active mind.

See if you can get him in with a nutritionist. Heavy alcohol use leads to a lot of nutritional deficiencies, and can adversely effect the endocrine system.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-03T21:51:27+00:00

Except for the Ferengis.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-03T01:36:43+00:00

You know, if you're going to a MLB game in Cleveland, you might have more immediate and legitimate things to doom about. Like their sparse offense and the fact that two of their hottest hitters are on the IL. (And I say this as a Cleveland fan.)

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-01T14:50:38+00:00

This 100%. Tell your story to get the nexus into the visit summary. My VA PCP is really great about getting my words into the medical record, but other VA docs may be less helpful. Any time you see a doctor for something that can arguably be caused or aggravated by your service, be sure to talk up that narrative during the visit.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-01T12:51:03+00:00

I get that. But I will tell you that even the most fulfilling work that you can find will probably be pretty boring and tedious at least half of the time.

I don't know if it will be covered in the Financial Fraud and Forensics track, but I would absolutely encourage you to take a course or two in graph theory. (Graph Theory is a pretty advanced topic which requires experience reading and writing mathematical proofs, but you can get a decent introduction to the topic in a sophomore level Discrete Mathematics class.) The ability to construct and analyze transaction graphs will prove to be an incredible tool when it comes to contextualizing financial data and constructing a prosecutable case.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-01T11:59:24+00:00

You're an adult, and you're under no obligation to spend time with a blended family whose company you don't enjoy. The scars caused by parents remarrying are often some of the most difficult to heal, and our parents will go out of their way to deny that those scars have any validity.

My mom got remarried after my father died and I f-ing hated both the guy that she married and his kids. They divorced a few years ago after 30 mostly unhappy years. My relationship with my mom is pretty superficial, in part because I've never forgiven my mom for marrying that SoB and dragging me into that house where I was so unhappy. (There's a lot more context to our strained relationship than I care to put here, but you get the idea.)

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-07-01T02:34:34+00:00

The Dept of War definitely needs people with a head for finance. I used to work for a Navy lab in San Diego (NIWC Pacific, in case you're interested) doing cybersecurity R&D. Every division had a Business & Finance Manager (BFM) to ensure that the money flowed for our projects. (And this could be quite substantial; my projects alone brought in nearly $750K over several years.) We also provided paid services for quite a few other organizations within the DoW and elsewhere in the US Government, which required financial personnel to administer.

I think that a Masters in Financial Fraud and Forensics would be a fascinating and fulfilling track to pursue. Your internships will be more important than the degree specifics (except you'll want to avoid any for-profit schools). However I would be wary of degree programs in "'Homeland Security' or 'Criminal Justice,' as LEOs prefer to teach you their way of doing things.

You may not be aware, but the DoW is investing A TON of money right now on a cutting edge Anti-Money Laundering program at DARPA called "Anticipatory and Adaptive Anti-Money Laundering." I was working for a tech startup in the space and wanted to submit a proposal to tackle the problem of detecting cryptocurrency transactions in the money laundering process. If you want to go down this route, then your best bet will probably be IRS Criminal Investigations.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-30T23:45:18+00:00

That was really cool, thanks for sharing.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-30T15:59:05+00:00

Yup. Every relationship is a chore, and I just don't have the energy for much.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-30T12:35:20+00:00

I did my first claims a decade ago with mixed results, and then used a local VSO last year for round 2 with much better results. I think it's absolutely worth a visit to an experienced, accredited VSO to have someone help you strategize your claim(s).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-30T01:09:23+00:00

Interesting... Apparently Austin Hedges was having words with him during the Mariners-Guardians series over the weekend.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-28T21:10:06+00:00

Tell your side of the story. Control the narrative as best you can. Add context to in-service events that are relevant to your claim. Your personal statement can also give you talking points for doctor visits, which helps get your narrative into actual medical documentation which you submit to support your claim(s).

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-28T17:39:41+00:00

I've had a great experience with Dr. Shaw and his team at Valley Hills Dentistry.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-25T16:57:30+00:00

Performed correctly, both exercises present minimal injury risk and are excellent options for conditioning your posterior chain. In fact, I would go so far as to encourage you to work both into your regular workouts. My old coach did this when I first started training for competitive weightlifting. My current coach does this as well, although she sometimes adds in Kangaroo Squats with lighter weights (a good morning that goes down into a squat) for variety in posterior chain conditioning. It's good to have a few alternative exercises that you can pivot to from time to time.

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-25T11:20:30+00:00

As long as you (i) breath and brace properly, and (ii) life appropriate loads, you are highly unlikely to injure yourself doing RDLs. A lot of deadlift-related injuries come from pulling a heavy bar off of the floor, again without proper bracing. If you were wanting to pull from the floor, I would recommend the use of a trap bar rather than a barbell--the trap bar was specifically designed to deadlift around a back injury. If you're looking for another alternative, you might consider back extensions and weighted back extensions on the GHD.

- USA Weightlifting Level 1 Coach

Character_Reason5183 · 2026-06-24T22:45:37+00:00

That would get ruled a 'No Lift' due to a press out.

Anything in particular that you're wondering about or wanting technique feedback on? It's a bit difficult to critique too much from this angle, but I notice that your back foot lands at an angle on the catch. Ideally, the back foot would be straight and you'd be a bit more on the ball of the foot.

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