Monthly Archives: December 2018

A PolyWogg Reading Challenge for 2019

The PolyBlog
December 30 2018

I have been wanting to do a reading challenge for some time now, and each year I think I’m going to do the Good Reads one (with a 50 book pledge, for instance). But I feel the approach of just counting books is “off” somehow as a raw number isn’t really what I’m talking about. Would I feel twice as good if I read 50 books instead of 25? What about classics, should I only be counting classics? Is there a way to somehow add gamification to the mix?

Or when it comes right down to it, is all I’m hoping to do is keep track of the books I do read and actually get around to reviewing them? My “to be reviewed” pile is more virtual than real, but is still quite large.

What am I trying to do by participating in a Reading Challenge? I thought I would look at a bunch, see which ones appealed to me, and work backwards to figure out why. Somebody over at GirlXoXo (yes, that’s actually the name, and they ranked high in the Google search results so might as well start with them!) has compiled a list of 2019 reading challenges, so I thought I would wander through the list.

What’s out there?

The big list as of the time of review has some 88 different types of challenges in it, and dozens more in the comments, so let’s see what I find…

  1. Pre-curated lists — Some of the lists pull from various Book of the Week/Month/Year lists, bestsellers or award winners that were generated by someone else (i.e. someone else made all the lists, the Reading Challenge is to pull some books off those various lists and read them);
  2. Location — Either written in or taking place in a specific city, country, continent, planet, or in space;
  3. Genre lists — Young adult, mystery, romance, fantasy, adventure, treasure, time travel, science fiction, coming of age, mythology, banned books, biography, historical fiction, alt-fiction, cozy,music, nonfiction, classics, “harder books”, art and creativity, dystopian, humour, multiple themes over the year, etc;
  4. Origin — Books that were given to you, already in your library, borrowed from someone, borrowed from a library, found on Project Gutenberg, self-published, etc;
  5. Series-based — All of a series, first in a series, next in a series, complete a trilogy, only backlists, etc.;
  6. Time-based — By seasons, decades, birthdays, centuries;
  7. The Title — First letter, or includes a word from a list (like a colour or a season), alliterative, three words long, etc;
  8. Adaptation — Something that was turned into a TV show or movie, or vice versa;
  9. Occupations — Police, detective, librarian, etc., etc., etc.;
  10. Length — Really short or really long, or everywhere in between;
  11. Formats — Paper, audio, or digital? Finals or ARCs?;
  12. The Author — Alphabetical, gender, diversity, everything by one author, only dead authors, only new authors, etc.;
  13. Named lists — Specific set of authors and/or books.

Some of the Challenges aimed for a specific schedule i.e. Month 1 was Book X, while others were more “a bunch of categories/check-boxes to complete over the course of the year”. Some of them add in gamification elements for sub-challenges (mini, weekly, monthly, quarterly). And others created little “bingo” cards to help encourage progress.

What appeals to me?

It sounds strange, but I really like the idea of gamification. Something like the bingo card approach that lets you have built-in mini-successes like a full-line, four corners, two lines, a row or a column, etc. And in the end, you get your full card. And, not for nothing, the Card approach works out to about 25 books for the year, i.e. one every two weeks with two weeks “off”. I’ll hit 25 books by the end of the first quarter, probably, but will they fit the card? That’s the REAL question. So I’m going to go with a bingo-style card.

From the broader list, I do like the idea of pulling from some pre-curated lists. I tried to create a master list for myself a few years ago using a number of “award” lists that were done — The Guardian, NYTimes, a bunch of others of the “Top 100” books of all time sort of thing. Plus I used some mystery award winners (Shamus, Anthony, Macavity, etc.). I almost caved when I found a fantastic website called The Greatest Books, which basically is a compilation of 119 OTHER lists of great books, and was just going to use their combined list, but since their combined list has 2073 titles in it, I thought I might stick to subsets.

I wasn’t that thrilled at first with the idea of an “origin” list (i.e. where did you get the book?) but as I thought about it, it grew on me. I do have a couple of books given to me that I haven’t gotten to yet, so an extra nudge would be good. Plus ones that are in my library in the “to be read” pile, some from the library, and I love the idea of something from Project Gutenberg.

In terms of genres, I’ll pretty much read anything but I do want to boost a couple of non-fiction titles, and I’ll cover mystery out the wazoo without even trying, but I might as well have a couple “better” ones on there. Series are too easy, I eat those for breakfast, lunch, dinner and several snacks in between.

I also like the ones that are alphabet-based…pretty easy to address, I think, so title and author are easy to add. Not sure the diversity ones work, as the “classifications” are a bit nebulous at times and I worry about the real metrics behind the approach. Almost like a social conscience quota — oh, good, you’re not a racist, you read an “author of colour”…I mean, wtf? This is 2019, not 1919, right?

My bingo card

As you’ll see, BINGO doesn’t quite work for me, even though I know it’s traditional, so I changed it to READS. And while I was originally thinking some books could show up in more than one place, I think they should be unique cells that get us to 25 in total for the year. Here are the explanations of the 25 cells:

  • Under the R:
    1. A book whose title starts with A, E, I, M, Q, U or Y (“a” or “an” doesn’t count!);
    2. A novel with an amateur detective (where “detection” isn’t their official job…even Stephanie Plum would qualify as she is a bounty hunter first, not a detective);
    3. A past or present book that has won a Governor General’s award, a National Book Award, a Pulitzer prize (at time of writing, the site isn’t loading properly, you might have to use the Wikipedia lists), or a Man Booker prize/award;
    4. A book from Abe Books’ list of Top 100 Fiction Books to Read in a Lifetime OR Radcliffe Publishing’s 100 Greatest Novels; and,
    5. A book whose title starts with C, G, K, O, S, or W;
  • Under the E:
    1. A book that was given to you;
    2. A book whose author’s name (first or last) starts with A, B, C, D, E, F, or G;
    3. A mystery novel that won one of the many mystery awards, such as an Agatha, a Shamus, a Macavity, an Edgar, or an Hammett;
    4. A book whose author’s name (first or last) starts with O, P, Q, R, S, or T; and,
    5. A book that was bought in a real bricks-and-mortar bookstore;
  • Under the A:
    1. A non-fiction book, something more general in nature (not a business or self-help book), perhaps biographical, learning, or simply factual;
    2. A book recommended by a friend;
    3. Any book of your choosing — this is a reader’s choice / free square;
    4. A book from either the Modern Library’s Fiction or Non-fiction lists; and,
    5. A non-fiction self-help (or business) book.
  • Under the D:
    1. A book borrowed from the library;
    2. A book whose author’s name (first or last) starts with H, I, J, K, L, M, or N;
    3. A book that is humourous, perhaps satirical, comedy, or biographical;
    4. A book whose author’s name (first or last) starts with U, V, W, X, Y or Z; and,
    5. A book from somewhere online, like Project Gutenberg (United States, Canada, or elsewhere), the library, or even Amazon / Google / etc;
  • Under the S:
    1. A book whose title starts with B, F, J, N, R, V, Z;
    2. A novel with a formal detective (either professional detective or a police detective);
    3. A book from the BBC’s 100 Greatest British Novels, Guardian’s 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of All-time or 100 Best Novels Written in English, or Time Magazine’s All-Time 100 Novels;
    4. A book currently on the NY Times Best-Seller list (or, if desperate, from at least one week in 2018); and,
    5. A book whose title starts with D, H, L, P, T, or X;

If you don’t particularly like mysteries, feel free to replace the AMATEUR DETECTIVE (under the R), MYSTERY AWARD WINNER (under the E), and FORMAL DETECTIVE (under the S) with suitable protagonists and awards for the genre of your choosing.

Let me know in the comments if you’re participating, and how you’re doing! I’ll post updates back to this page for my own reading through-out the year.

#50by50ish #50 – Lose weight – Part 9, fitness standards

The PolyBlog
December 19 2018

Last week, I talked about various performance indicators of success in my weight loss. Not surprisingly, the first group is my actual weight — using a simple weight scale to chart my success, failure or continued plateauing. Since you can make progress without losing actual weight, i.e. by shifting weight around, I am also doing body measurements. Third, I have more qualitative measures around psychology, physical elements, clothing, social, exercise and functional fitness. While some of the comments I received will be helpful in fine-tuning some of the indicators, and perhaps delving into wellness indicators (not entirely sure about that area yet), it seems to me that there is something missing.

Maybe it’s a hold-over from my childhood with the Canada Fitness Test where I couldn’t meet the standard, but I went looking for an objective test of fitness. I was apparently fairly naive in my approach. I thought I would punch “adult fitness test” into Google, and somewhere in the first couple of links, I would have a plethora of choices. Apparently that’s not quite what’s out there.

Don’t get me wrong, you do get hits almost immediately, and probably about 95% of them link to the same crowd-sourced link — the US President’s Challenge. This test was designed to take into account your age, sex, aerobic fitness (walking or running a set distance, heart rate, weight), muscular strength and flexibility (half sit-ups, sit and reach, push-ups), and body composition (BMI, height, weight, waist measurement). You enter all the information and submit it, and it will give you a fitness score. Sounds perfect, right?

Except it was established under Obama (President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports) and when Trump took over, it went into “permanent review”. Hence, no test. You can find out all the info from lots of sites about how to DO the test and all the steps, but one of the reasons they offered the test score online was to get you to submit your data for free to help inform their policy and program work. In order to get your score, you had to give them your data — no personal identifiers though — and they would spit out your score. Which means with the test “in review”, you can’t get your score and they don’t have the standards published online anywhere. Well, crap.

Well, no problem, there’s probably some sort of new version of the Canada Fitness Test, right? No, of course not. It got killed years ago because it encouraged body shaming for those who didn’t meet the standard. And knowledge of fitness has moved on from there, so not really the standard approach now (which is more about functional fitness).

Okay, reset. Who out there has to do fitness tests for adults? Ah-hah! The military! Of course, they must have some objective tests, let’s see what I find. Oh great, the Canadian military is in the process of switching from an old standard to a new standard. Well, at least there will be information on it. And there is. Broken down by the expected number of reps, age and sex of the candidate. Excellent. Let’s see…I’m going to need sandbags. Lots of sandbags. Wait, what?

Right, of course. A military fitness test is designed to test abilities, in theory, that a member of the military might have to have in a combat or rescue/emergency situation. So they have four elements in the test:

  • Sandbag lift — 30 reps of lifting a 20kg sandbag above a height of 1.0 m, alternating between two sandbags separated by 1.25m, have to complete it within 3m30s;
  • Intermittent loaded shuttles — 10 reps of carrying a 20kg sandbag 20m and back, alternating between loaded and unloaded bags, 400m in total, have to complete within 5 minutes and 21 seconds;
  • Sandbag drag — 1 rep without stopping of carrying a 20kg sandbag while dragging four 4 a total of 20m;
  • Rushes — Two rushes of 20m (there and back = 2 x 20m x 2 = 80m) where you start from prone position, dropping to prone position every 10m, have to complete within 51s;

Okay, that is pretty specific. So I thought I had an option for my test, even if it wasn’t very “normal” looking. Then I reached out to a friend in the Canadian military who basically said the test wasn’t very accurate of fitness levels, was too tailored to the military, and well, without being too pointed, that it was considered kind of useless by those in the know. But there are a lot of physical, political, organizational and social factors that go into coming up with a test like that, with a lot of stakeholders with a view, and well, the test is what it is.

Hmm…doesn’t sound very enticing, does it? Plus, I don’t really have a place to do sandbag shuttles every day to practice. I was hoping that perhaps some company was running fitness tests on retainer, and that perhaps I could piggy-back on their public offerings to just pay for a spot once a month. Okay, maybe not.

I checked out the US Military site, just to see what they have. It looked a little more traditional, a bit more like basic training in movies:

  • Height and weight
  • Body Fat
  • Two-mile run
  • Push-up
  • Sit-up

Hey! That looks a lot like the President’s Challenge! Great! Now, click here, click there, oh look, they have the standards. Run down the list, see if I’m a male of age 50, and I do x number of situps, I get y points. Perfect. Wait, points? What do the points mean?

Oh. You get points for each of the five areas, there is no “fail” area or “gold standard” really (nor an Award of Excellence) for any of the individual exercises, but you combine all the points and you get an overall score. Which is doable, except there’s also seemingly no published standard for the overall score. Hmm…what if I started with a perfect score and worked backwards? If I draw down the official standards, then as a male in the age 47-51 age bracket, I would get:

Exercise / Points100 Points90 Points80 Points70 Points60 Points50 Points
Push-ups59 reps50 reps42 reps34 reps25 reps17 reps
Sit-ups66 reps57 reps48 reps39 reps30 reps21 reps
2 mile run14m24s15m42s16m54s18m12s19m30s20m48s

When I look at some other sites, all of which have some variations of the President’s challenge, a few say “if you’re a man, x number of pushups are good, or if you’re over 65, blah blah blah”. They don’t differentiate by age other than “over 65”. For the rare one or two that do, men my age were estimated that they should be able to do 13-15 pushups. So the 50 point threshold seems like a decent starting point. For situps, they recommended a goal of 33, somewhere around 65 points. A little different, although the one above was how many to do in a minute vs. how many to do at all. The 2-mile run numbers are a bit hard to compare as almost all of the other sites used different distances or focused on your heart-rate after doing the distance, not the time.

So the US Military stuff gets me in the ballpark, but where does that leave me? A bit narrowly focused, based on other pages. Let’s see if I can expand that a bit…

Strength

I’ve already covered sit-ups and push-ups. Various men’s fitness programs, magazines and websites vary around what a “strong” athlete looks like, but for basic fitness, the “good” target for bench pressing is 1.5x your body weight. So, let’s see, I would have to bench about 475 pounds. Oh, that’s funny. Now, if my goal is 185 pounds overall, that would be a target bench-press of 275 pounds. I have absolutely no idea if that would be easy, moderate or hard-core. I went back to some really old workouts and I wasn’t fully pushing, more interested in cardio, but I was only doing about 75 pounds. Ook.

Okay, a leg press was better for me. Recommended target is 2.25x your body weight. At the present, that would be 710 pounds. Lord. I might as well be trying to push a Buick. Final target when I reach my weight goal would be 415 pounds. Again, I have no idea if that is easy, moderate or hard-core. Relying on an old work-out sheet, I was able to do 200 without really pushing it, so I feel it might be at least doable eventually. Maybe I’m crazy though.

I’m also crazy when it comes to the old “flexed arm-hang” exercise though. It was my nemesis when I was younger, and somehow my brain thinks if I could do it properly now, it would signal to my body that I’m “in shape”. I can’t find much on what a flexed arm-hang would look like for timing, so I’ll probably have to develop that one myself. However, a few sites have info on doing pull-ups, and the recommendation is that a man of 50 years old should be able to do 10.

If I’m honest with myself, I should be doing chin-ups (palms facing) not pull-ups (palms outward) if I want to be closer to a flexed-arm hang, but chin-ups are easier than pull-ups (chin-ups use more biceps than pull-ups), so it’s a wash. And if I’m REALLY honest with myself, I’d love to be able to do five muscle-ups (a pull-up with a slight kick to get some momentum to get your waist up to the bar). Ever since I saw Stephen Amell (star of the show Arrow) do them in a training video, I thought they were so perfect-looking for someone in good shape working hard to do something. Here’s one of his videos:

And lastly, there is a REALLY weird item that I found in a bunch of places as a test of strength. From a kneeling position, you need to throw a basketball…it never says if you are throwing one-armed or double-armed, but the test is to see if you can throw it 75 feet. It’s weird, but I kind of like it. I’d even like to try it as a triple test — one-armed throw, overhead throw, and normal shot.

Speed & Endurance

So, as I noted above, most of the tests online use running a 1.5 m or walking 1 mile test and then testing heart rates. For straight time, they suggest the 1.5 miles should be done in 12:00 to 14:25. Or, if I was looking at the military times for 2 miles, basically the same time they have as the gold standard to do another half-mile too. If I stuck to that overall “gold” standard of the military, and applied it at an even pace throughout the run, it would be 1.5 miles in 10:48 (100 points) or 15:22 (50 points). So the generic 12-14:25 is about the middle.

Most of the tests recommend the “perfect” test being a full V02 test where you get hooked up to breathing masks and heart monitors like you see in TV and movies with someone running on a treadmill. Not the easiest test to do or come by, so no.

There are three that crop up as just binary “can you do them” standards. Two are pretty simple — one is running 5km and the other is treading water for 2 minutes and then swimming 20m. The third involves a 12″ step where you step up with your dominant foot, then your second so you’re standing fully on the step, step down with dominant foot and lower your second foot. Repeat continuously for three minutes. Presumably they could all be modified — run 1km, then 2km, etc.  or tread water for 1 minute before swimming or tread for 2 minutes and then swim only 10m.

And then there are two that are not so much about endurance as specific speeds: running 300 yards in under 1 minute or swimming 700 yards in under 12 minutes. Obviously, those two could be easily converted to a more graduated number (300 yards in 2 minutes or swimming 700 yards in 20 minutes, etc.) for a varied standard.

While I can do these exercises, in theory at least, it is hard to figure out exactly how graduated the various levels would be to match the original “scoring” of the military test.

Movement

I feel like I don’t have the right elements for movement and agility/flexibility. All the tests out there basically use the “sit and reach” test that was included in the President’s Challenge. Basically you put your heels on a tape measure at 15″ (so your 0″ is somewhere around your knees), and then you lean forward and touch the floor beside the measuring tape. The higher the number (i.e. reaching past your toes) is good. 16″, 17″, 18″. The recommendation for men over 50 is somewhere around 17″. As with above, I could modify that to give scoring like with the military one. Of course, the first step is just being able to TOUCH my toes while sitting, but let’s not quibble at this point.

I am not sure the fascination with basketball in these tests, probably the availability of the court, but for a vertical height test, they basically recommend trying to reach and touch a basketball rim. For junior high through to the NBA, that height is relatively fixed at 10 feet. Most of the tests suggest jumping next to a wall and slapping the wall at various heights to see how high you are jumping if you can’t reach the rim. If I’ve learned anything from movies, it’s that White Men Can’t Jump, and it sure as hell applies to me. I’m not even sure I could whiff the net on a court.

Again, if I’m honest with myself, there are two better indicators of my jumping ability that interest me. First and foremost, I don’t want to touch the rim, I would want to be able to dunk a basketball. That would be my top standard. Touching the rim is good, sure, but true performance would require me to get even higher.

Secondly, I love watching American Ninja Warrior, and I am inspired not so much by their stories of change and perseverance but by the sheer abilities they have to get from A to B. I don’t have the courage to try true parkour running, but I saw a video of one of my favorite ANW athletes, Jessie Graff, doing vertical jumps onto a surface. Most people do them on to boxes, Jessie jumps onto whatever is handy.

You can buy actual boxes and stands to do this on, and the sizes range from as low as 14″ up to 30″. Of course, lots of people then stack the boxes in gyms or pile up large mats. Or if you are Jessie, you use large tires and mats to get up to 55″ with a running start.

I probably shouldn’t use her performance as my target height though.

Lastly, there is a balance test. You are basically supposed to be barefoot, stand on one leg, and place the second leg bent in a triangle (foot to your shin or knee that you’re balancing on). For those of you who have done yoga, you know this is the beginner Tree Pose. In an ideal yoga world, you’d get the heel of your second foot all the way up to your thigh, but for now, it is just a simple balance test and the “simpler” version is on your shin or knee. And you hold it. The test standard suggests a 30 second hold, once on each leg. I don’t know if this is a great “standard” or test element in the long run, but it seems like a decent starting point. While other yoga moves will increase stability and balance, this might work as a simple overall test of balance and basic agility.

A reality-check

I am not likely to automatically meet ANY of these test standards at the level I want to meet them, even when I drop to 185 pounds. I can get the weight down, it doesn’t say anything about my functional fitness – strength, endurance and movement. However, that’s a job for my new BowFlex and yoga exercises to help with. I will come back to the “fitness” test with an actual standard and my performance in a few months (perhaps once Poly Spring hits after April 15th). For some of the tests, I’m going to need help, such as having Jacob time me for laps or running, for example. My heart results came back normal when I did my stress test, so I’m all clear for everything, but I can’t even attempt these tests until I have some basic fitness improvements. Heck, I couldn’t even DO one chin or pull-up at this point. And my knees would NEVER allow me to run.

Baby steps, but at least I have a destination.

Rogue Island by Bruce DeSilva (2010) – BR00119 (2018) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
December 17 2018

Plot or Premise

A reporter, Liam Mulligan, investigates a series of arsons around his hometown.

What I Liked

Mulligan makes an intriguing sleuth, and he has lots of interesting characters running around the woodwork. He is far from Sherlock Holmes, nor is he Spenser for Hire taking on the tough guys. A bit more Donald Lam or Trace…slightly incompetent, but not Plum-funny. His partners-in-sleuthing are generally good.

What I Didn’t Like

There are quite a few “foreshadowing” hints dropped, and it made me figure out well-in-advance sometimes when certain things were likely to happen and how. Although, to be fair, a couple never happened (red herrings). And I thought the bad guys were all relatively obvious for the overall plot and motive.

The Bottom Line

A decent introduction of a new sleuth.

Change: What Really Leads to Lasting Personal Transformation by Jeffrey A. Kottler (2013) – BR00118 (2018) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
December 17 2018

Plot or Premise

Kottler reflects on literature and his personal experiences as a psychologist about the elements that lead people to not only make changes in their life but also sustain those changes over the long-term.

What I Liked

I had the pleasure of hearing Kottler speak as an honoured guest at my wife’s university graduation ceremony, and he intrigued me enough on the subject of “change” — what we know and what we don’t know — that I bought his book. It was the perfect book for me at this point in my life, as I’ve been wanting to make a significant change that has been holding me back for at least 30 years. I’m great at the day-to-day goal-setting stuff, but I needed to understand large-scale change on a deeper level, and this book was ideal for that education.

In the beginning, I was struck by a central question — when does an alteration in attitudes, beliefs, behaviour, thinking, or feeling “count” as change, and how long does it have to last in order to qualify? In shorter terms, when does a temporary change become permanent and sustainable? Chapter 2 was an eye-opener — hidden benefits from my current approach that resist change. Not the obvious ones but more internal ones that might even seem like positive traits in someone (being strong, standing up for oneself disguising some issues with temper, for instance). And some baby-step coping techniques. Chapter 3 dealt more with the conditions that allow you to transition from temporary to permanent change, almost pre-conditions in some cases.

Other chapters were relatively straight-forward: the power of story-telling (chapter 4); hitting bottom in various forms (chapter 5); how you react to trauma and whether it can be a positive catalyst (chapter 6); the limits to psychotherapy (chapter 7); change through physical travel or spiritual journeys (chapter 8); moments of clarity (chapter 9); and resolving conflicts in relationships (chapter 13). The last chapter — Why Changes Don’t Often Last (Chapter 14) — was the one that I was most looking forward to in the book, and while he goes into various spins and examples, most of it seems to come down to varying forms of fear. It certainly did for me, and I find the chapter fantastic for presenting it quite concisely. In the end, the price of the book is worth it just to get the 7 pages at the end, if you have time for nothing else (308-315).

I managed to use it to create a six-part “to do” list / game plan for the change that I’ve been wanting to make, and for the first time in my life, I’m doing it. I’m six months in and it seems to be holding. It’ll take another 18 months to “finish”, but the book helped me get there. Onward to the journey!

What I Didn’t Like

Several chapters didn’t really sing as well as the rest. Being happy (chapter 11) and transformation while helping others (12) were relatively bland, and a chapter on the importance of social capital (chapter 10) seemed almost like an afterthought.

The Bottom Line

It gave me the courage to get unstuck after 30 years.

Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich (2012) – BR00117 (2018) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
December 17 2018

Plot or Premise

Someone’s threatening Ranger and his soon-to-be-married army buddy, so he hires Stephanie to help with security for the bride.

What I Liked

Stephanie has some of her worst experiences yet and only once turns into a cupcake. The rest of the time, she’s rocking and rolling — missing patients, a Hawaiian tiki god, and a Yeti barely faze her. And when it’s all said and done, she’s like a machine wrapping things up.

What I Didn’t Like

The storyline with the guy after Ranger ends a bit quickly.

The Bottom Line

If you make Plum wear pink, it ain’t going to be pretty.