This past weekend we went to New Jersey for my grandfather's 87th birthday party. He loves the little 'mis!

Have a great weekend.

Apple Computer is on another run. It's up about another 10% in the last week, over $60 per share. My recommendation is to buy. I think it's still a great time to buy Apple, even if my original purchase price is down under $13 per share. The reason is that Apple is not just incrementally improving their business - they are creating new markets and then leading them. First, it was online music, through both the iPod and iTunes. Now, it's video - beginning with TV shows and movie shorts, but you can bet Apple will lead the charge into movies as well. Don't be scared off by the rally.

OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Physical therapy was quite good yesterday - I was able to look at my palm! Wrist rotation is something you take for granted, and it sucks when you can't turn your hand palm-upward. But I'm almost there (it's tightened up again today, but that's expected).

When I got home, I found Yin doing our HomeWork - Upper Body II workout. I have three structured workouts, two for upper body and one for lower body. Each workout has a Gym version and a HomeWork version. Here's the one Yin was doing:

HomeWork - Upper Body II

Shoulders:

Dumbbell Presses (front shoulder)
Lateral Raises (top shoulder)
Bent Over Dumbbell Laterals (rear shoulder)

Arms:

Curls (Palm face up, Bicep)
Hammer Curls (Palm perpendicular to ground, Bicep)
Reverse Dumbbell Curls (Palm face down, Bicep)
Lying Dumbbell Extension (Tricep)
Dumbbell Kickbacks (Tricep)
Wrist Curls (Bottom Forearm)
Reverse Wrist Curls (Top Forearm)

Abs:

Crunches

Exercise descriptions can be found in the New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Each exercise has 4 sets. The first set is done about 15-20 times. The subsequent sets are done to failure, which should be about 15-20 reps for women (toning & strength) and 8-12 reps for men (size & strength). Take about 1 minute in between sets, or mix different muscle groups and work continuously. For example, mix Dumbbell Presses with Curls. Also, mix opposing muscle groups when possible, for example Wrist Curls with Reverse Wrist Curls.

I'll post the Gym version soon. Enjoy.

I have a couple pieces of good news. First, Yahoo/Geocities finally increased the disk space from 25 megs to 2 gigs. Since I was right at the limit, I have been unable to post many photos and no songs or videos for some time. That will all change now, and I plan to post several videos and revive the Current Song page. So, less text and more media, the way I originally intended it.

Second, yesterday I made my work-out comeback. It's nice to have a "home" sport, something I can always come back to when I need to start getting in shape. For me, it's running. After 2 months mostly in bed and 3 weeks of doing nothing strenuous, I ran a glorious 5.5 miles on the Washington Mall in perfect weather. What a great return to health.

Speaking of health, I am beginning a new regimen, which I will detail in a series of installments here. I'm looking to really start on Jan 1, being able to use my arm again for things like weight lifting or at least push-ups. Until then, I'll be doing more cardio and working on my abs and legs. November is my annual "Dry Month", so I won't be drinking with the exception of wine with dinner once or twice in the next 4 weeks. That's one of the beautiful things about alcohol - it feels great when you drink and it feels great when you stop drinking.

It's back to physical therapy today - I'm looking forward to some good progress after 5 days off.

When I left you last on August 8th, I was contented. Where have I been? On August 11th I broke my wrist badly - very badly. I was out of work for more than 2 months, mostly laying in bed and largely on medication. It probably would have been a great time to post, but honestly I just didn't want to wallow in my pathetic state. Now I am healed and on the path to recovery via physical therapy. I'm back at work and looking forward to some new goals and successes in the year to come.

I have previously recommended stocks here, Tivo in particular. I have now sold my Tivo stock, as well as my Amazon, eBay, World Poker Tour, and Harrahs. My holdings now are Apple and Google. I sold my Tivo and purchased Google on the day Apple released the video iPod and video/television shows via the iTunes music store. As relayed by Brian, I wrote in an email:

"This is going to be big! You might think about putting some amount long in AAPL stock. They are up 67% after more than doubling last year, and their products have a lot of growth to go. Companies like Tivo have got to be quaking in their boots if Apple is muscling into television shows with a completely new viewing model. It's certainly an aggressive play but they have shown the ability to monetize music better than anyone, and monetizing television could be just massive. It's not even about the video iPod - that's more of a bonus. Being able to legally download television to your computer is pretty cool and definitely worth $2 per episode."

My friend Josh reports that if each house watches 1 hour of downloaded content [only 43 minutes without commercials] per day at $2 per hour, the revenue would be 100 billion per year. I haven't checked the math but that sounds pretty good.

Even with Apple and Google at or near all-time highs, I think they are good investments. These are the giants of our time. These are what eBay and Amazon and AOL were in the mid 1990's - money machines for their investors as they come to dominate the business landscape. Like those companies, Google and Apple will likely have troubles at some point, too. But now they are both in a huge growth phase and I strongly recommend that people put their aggressive investment dollars in their stock. Not all your money - but any sort of "gambling" or long-term money could do a lot worse. Look at the charts for eBay and Amazon and you'll see that Google and Apple could both have a long way to run - by that I mean another 5x or 10x their stock price over the coming 2-5 years.

Well, it's good to be back. Now that I can focus on my progress rather than my disability, I am excited to be posting again. That's me.