Nagel Family Website

Even though I have Akismet’s spam filter (Akismet has stopped 26,324 comments so far) and reCAPTCHA installed, I as still getting lots of comment spam on my blog. So I use the Comment Blacklist in WordPress (Settings > Discussion) and automatically block many comments from certain IPs or with certain keywords in them:

payday loan
casino
poker
ringtones
homeowners insurance
term insurance quote
life insurance
accident insurance
casualty insurance
phentermine
porn
cialis
p***y
c**k
car insurance
auto insurance
health insurance
Viagra
61.133.87.226
216.195.53.11
70.86.141.82
87.101.244.6
87.101.244.9
222.82.226.145
80.227.1.100
80.227.1.101
217.141.105.203
206.245.173.42
64.22.110.34
64.22.110.2
207.41.73.13
222.240.212.3
218.63.252.219
210.212.228.7
202.115.130.23
220.178.98.59
216.213.199.53
210.22.158.132
194.68.238.7
222.127.228.5
148.233.159.58
74.53.227.178
222.221.6.144
217.141.109.205
196.207.40.213
80.231.198.77
200.68.73.193
83.136.195.229
64.22.107.90
86.96.226.13
86.96.226.15
86.96.226.14
196.207.15.201
221.122.43.124
88.147.165.40
219.209.194.156
217.65.31.167
201.234.19.13
74.86.121.13
200.65.127.161
125.47.41.166
217.141.250.204
201.210.1.148
195.250.160.37
24.222.34.242
200.51.41.29
189.4.80.48
213.239.210.120
196.217.249.190
217.141.249.203
72.34.55.196
195.244.128.237
88.198.107.250
165.29.58.126
189.19.60.94
58.68.34.59
85.13.219.98
217.141.106.201

I cleaned up a couple of the words because my Mom reads this blog, but if you’re having trouble with comment spam, try using this list, and add your own as you see the spammers sneak in.

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 6:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

So last week, before our plyometrics class, our trainer told us he has a new job and probably won’t be able to train us any longer. I asked which gym he was going to, as I’d follow him there, but it turns out that he’s going into another field completely. So today was our last class with him. I’ve been in denial since he announced this last week, but will realize things will be different on Thursday when Jim’s not there.

I’ve trained with Jim for a little over a year now. When I first started with him, my form was horrible and I struggled with everything I did. Today, my form is better (not perfect) and I’m able to lift with more confidence.

The point I’m getting at is over the past year, not only have Jim and I worked together, but the group I now workout with has formed tight bonds. We get together regularly (rock climbing later this month; and a fellow gymrat is coming over Thursday night w/ his wife & daughter) and workout together on the days we don’t have class. So while we may be losing our trainer, the group will continue to be strong.

I’ve had workout partners before, but they only last a few months at most. But having a team that works together (there’s 14 of us in the class - when we get together, at least 8 of us show up), losing 1 member, even our trainer, won’t break us up. We may lose some people, but others will come in (one has signed up for the next session, after being absent from class for many months now).

Change is a part of life; you can deny it and be left behind, or embrace the change and continue moving forward.

This entry was posted by Eric on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

This weekend we made our annual pilgrimage to Moore’s Sugar Shack in Freedom, NY. I’ve been joining Laura’s family for who-knows-how-long, going for an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at this sugar shack. Historically, Laura’s brother and I attempt to eat our age in pancakes (mind you, he’s 7 years younger than me, so he has a significant advantage). I failed last year, only managing to down either 17 or 18 before giving up. This year I showed restraint and stopped at only 5. I can’t believe I ate that many in the past.

On our way home, we ended up doing some geocaching. We attempted 3 caches, and found 1 of them. I knew there was 1 we wouldn’t find, as the last 3 log entries were a no-find. However, another that we tried I expected to come up with. GPS reception was decent, but the area was pretty busy. Bottles, leaves, and a decaying deer were all fun things to find, but no geocache. It was frustrating, especially since I knew the container that we were looking for, and I’ve seen the published photos of it.

This entry was posted by Eric on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 11:19 am and is filed under Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Last week we started our garden indoors, planting all sorts of seeds. The little seedlings are starting to come up now, and it’s really exciting seeing them grow every day. The lettuce is going great, and the spinach is starting to come up, too. Becca’s sunflowers are exploding now that they broke through (I bought her the giant, 12-foot-tall variety - they’re only about 2-inches tall now). All of the squash family seedlings are coming up, as are the cucumbers. However, none of the herbs are up yet, and neither are the peppers or tomatoes (although the cherry tomatoes look great). Strawberries aren’t up, either. However, many of these take up to 21 days to sprout - strawberries take up to 30 days!

Lettuce sprouting	Becca’s sunflowers
Seedlings

I built some “greenhouses” for the plants out of some old temporary fencing and saran-wrap, and stole Laura’s heating pad to help regulate the temperature. Of course, to monitor the temperature, I’m using an Oregon Scientific Wireless Waterproof Temperature Sensor. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get it to register up in my weather station yet - I think I have to sync resetting the sensor and scanning for new channels at the same time on the base unit. For now, I turn the heating pad on during the day to get the temperature up to about 70-degrees, and turn it off at night.

Look for an update next week - I hope by then the sprouts will be taller, and hopefully some of the herbs and tomatoes will be showing signs of success!

This entry was posted by Eric on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

I’ve been told yet again that I drink too much coffee. I always thought that was like that country song about having too much money or too much fun: just not possible.

It sounds bad when I say I drink about 12 cups a day, but those are CUPS, not mugs. A mug is at least 2 cups. But lately, I’ve been having terrible headaches, which may be due to not enough water. It’s not a caffeine headache - I know those all too well. This is far worse. One hit me last night, which pretty much laid me out from 6 last night ’til 7 this morning. Feels like someone hit me in the side of the head with a hammer.

So now I’m trying to drink a full glass of water everytime I refresh my coffee, or before a meal. If not, I guess I’ll go to the doctor, which is really just a waste of time & money, as my primary doctor will send me for some tests, which will come back OK and I’ll never hear from him again with other suggestions.

Completely unrelated, I finished my wingates this week which were 6, 30-second sprints. Next week is 7, then the following week down to 4! I can’t wait to go down to 4!!!

This entry was posted by Eric on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 11:14 am and is filed under Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Steve and I got together for lunch yesterday, after I ran a bunch of errands and before I sat around in a county building for 3+ hours just to be rescheduled for next month. Well played. I hope you enjoy the guests coming your way.

Anyway, Steve and I ate at Panaro’s, a restaurant on Delaware that Steve’s good friend Mike owns. Steve’s always bugging me to come his way for lunch, so since I was heading down there, we decided to meet up.

We must have looked a little odd ordering the exact same thing; funny how that works out. At least I ordered first Of course, we started with a cup of Pasta Fagioli. Then we each got their Mandarin Walnut Salad:

Mesculin Greens tossed with mandarin orange wedges, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, red onion, and topped with orange raspberry vinaigrette dressing

Yum!

So besides the great food and helping a friend, why am I telling you about Panaro’s? Because they use Twitter to send out daily updates about their specials. Follow them at http://twitter.com/Panaros. After seeing those daily specials come across each morning, eventually you’ll cave in (like I did) and visit Panaro’s.

This entry was posted by Eric on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 at 1:52 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.