Boxer ‘shorts’

Wikipedia:

Boxer shorts (also known as loose boxers or as simply boxers) are a type of undergarment typically worn by men.

The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by boxers, for whom unhindered leg movement (“footwork”) is very important.

I know they’re called shorts, but they’re really underwear – something you wear under your shorts / trousers / jeans …

This confusing nomenclature seems to have confused a load of people in India.

Had a friend over few weekends ago. After a long day walking out, we all changed into comfortable home clothes, and he came out of his room wearing a tee and … boxer shorts. I queried him, and he confirmed that he was wearing ‘underwear’ under them. I explained to him (hopefully not too rudely) that they were underwear, and not really shorts.

This wasn’t the first time either.

A couple of years ago, at home in India, the whole joint family had gathered for a wedding. A cousin emerged from the shared bathroom, walking through the living room where all the relatives were gathered, in his …. boxer shorts. Again, wearing an underwear under it.

Back in my B-school hostel too, a lot of batchmates used to roam around in their boxer shorts. It may have been them just walking around in their underwear in a men-only hostel. Or maybe they too were wearing underwear under their boxer shorts.

Ideally, Jockey (who first popularised boxers in India), should’ve done a customer education campaign to inform buyers that the shorts were meant to be underwear, and not regular shorts. However, driven by profit motive, and seeing a large proportion of their customers using boxers as outwear shorts, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them actively promote the boxers as … shorts :)

 

Sweet pain. Bad symptom.

Legs are aching. It’s that sweet pain that comes after rigourous exercise-an evening in the gym, a long run, or a long/hard bike ride.

However, I’ve done none of these things. Last run was on Saturday, last bike ride was last Sunday, and haven’t been to gym this year. Even tonight’s Pilates class was postponed.

All I’ve done is a 1.5 hour walk last night, a 45 min walk tonight, and a blood donation in between.

I love this ache. But I’m concerned – if a bit of walking can cause it, I must be in terrible physical shape 😟

Pilates and the 2 minute tooth brushing

The electric toothbrush I’ve been using last couple of years comes with a two-minute buzzer – meant as an indicator for how long to brush your teeth (at a minimum).

As would be expected, I’ve rarely ever got to the buzzer – finishing my brushing in a minute or so, well below the suggested time. Of course my teeth are in a crap state.

A few months ago I started going to a pilates class once a week. However, it was clear to me that once a week wasn’t enough, and I couldn’t afford to go more (both financially and time-wise).

As a compromise, the instructor offered a few suggestions on how to get a few exercises in a usual day. One of those suggestions was to do single leg stands while brushing teeth – stand on left leg when brushing the right side, and vice versa. This one stuck.

A couple of months in, and the other side effect of this pilates exercise is becoming clearer. As I’ve become better at single leg balancing, I try to stay longer on each leg, and thus spend longer cleaning my teeth.

The result: In over a month, I’ve never stopped short of the buzzer :)

The other side effect: I now need to charge my toothbrush weekly, after running out of power twice, against the once in 2-3 weeks I use to do earlier.

So, stronger legs, better balance, and healthier teeth. It’s a win-win :)

Try it out..

Mild, sunny & beautiful – is it really British spring?

Today was one of those beautiful spring days that makes living through the winter worthwhile.

It was sunny, but not hot.
There was a cool wind, but neither a gale, nor freezing.
And there was plenty of beautiful walking and riding done.

Met Charlie again on the walk today. Chewie & Charlie had a few mins of fun running around, again. At the end of an already beautiful walk.

Bike had a flat front tyre – a pinch flat, probably from the last ride. Quickly changed tubes, got a few mins of rest (while catching the Giro), and off we went – Raghi & I – on another beautiful Sunday’s ride in the shire.

We’d considered a few new routes for this weekend. But R wasn’t feeling too great before we headed out, so ended up riding the usual route out to Shere & back. With a couple new easy, beautiful climbs thrown in.

Despite starting off tired – in head more than body – and needing a gel after just 11K on the flat, R surprised us both on today’s ride. She comfortably managed to climb both the new climbs without stopping. She even managed our backyard climb, Down’s lane, without a single stop or slowdown. But what was most surprising, was that she let me eat ice cream at our turnaround point in Shere. She must have been in a really good mood! ;)

Post-ride plan was to not eat anything than a bowl of cottage cheese after the ride. A cold shower later, it quickly went for a toss. Ended up eating a bucket load of cashews and peanuts, some mini carrots with hummus, and that bowl of cottage cheese. And that was apart from the dinner & dessert. So much for control!

Yesterday’s stupid (and lovely) evening run meant that my step target jumped by almost 500 steps (as predicted) to over 10,200 steps. A morning walk and playing with Chewie in the backyard wasn’t going to meet this. So, went for another post dinner walk.
A lap to the crossroads with music. Then, dropped Jyoti at the station.
And another lap to the crossroads with Chewie!

This boy wants to come along on my walks no matter how tired or sleepy he is. I wouldn’t be surprised if, a decade from now, he gets up from his deathbed because dada seems to be going for a walk.

:) :( :)

Friday, the 13th – fornicating cows!

Nothing too special about this Friday the 13th. Slightly less productive than usual, and an encounter with fornicating cows.

Yup, that was the highlight of the day – an encounter with the fornicating cows.

I mentioned earlier that the cows are back on the mount. We’ve been passing them often on our walks, and they’re usually the meek creatures they’re made up to be.

Today, as we entered the last section of the mount, some of the cows moved towards us instead of moving away. Their manner of movement, too, was more aggressive than curious. Out of concern for my safety, and Chewie’s sanity, I backed off, and went back out the gate.

Just as we crossed back, one of the cows mounted another and started humping her. The reason for their aggression was well visible!

Continue reading Friday, the 13th – fornicating cows!

London town

The day had a good start – ½ kg weight drop, 0.5% fat loss, 0.3% water gain – all moving in the positive direction. Thank you weighing scale :)

Protein smoothie, bit of work, quick morning walk with Chewie, and I went off to London for meetings and meetups.

The meetings went well.
The post meeting coffee was good.
The walk from coffee shop to next meeting/up went quite well too.
Missing all the torrential showers we had today, and still getting all that walking in – excellent.
Hitting the step target just as I walked into the meetup room – perfect.

The meetup went well, though I couldn’t close the loop on a few conversations since I had to leave early, and couldn’t stay for the networking session after the Q&A.

First seat on top floor of the bus while going through some beautiful bits of dusk time central London – heartwarmingly good.

Got a good seat in the train, and it left within minutes of me getting in – ‘British efficiency’ good.

R & Chewie waiting in the car outside the station before I got there – ‘German efficiency’ good.

Happy dinner, catch-up of Gotham and, finally, getting crushed by R & Chewie as they lovingly plonked over my legs – good, good, and good.

Just making it under 2000kcal (1,973) – good!

When the worst thing about a day is that I went over my step target by 15%, it has to be called a good day, right? :)

A happy, summery spring day

It’s still spring time, but the weather today belonged in mid summer – temperatures in high 20s, bright sunshine with no clouds in sight, and a gentle breeze just to help stay cool

I went for my first bike ride (non commute/transport) in almost 11 months – the first since the mammoth 150+mile day in Wales last June.

It. Was. Beautiful.

Loved the feel of rolling along on a road bike on our Surrey roads and lanes. Beautiful sunshine, and fresh green leaves everywhere. The gentle SSE breeze helping stay cool on the way out, and helping out the tiring legs on the way back. The beautiful stream side in Shere, and a happy ride partner. It was so good that even the 3-4 dickheads in cars who attempted injury/murder couldn’t piss me off for too long.

Loved it! :)

(Returning to news of City & Arsenal drawing helped too – that 4th place is now in our own hands, 2 wins away.)

Add in an evening spent playing with Chewie, listening to soft jazz and enjoying the (now) pleasant chill in the air. The day could scarcely have been better.

On to the work week tomorrow – lots of SMR follow-ups, and IDT feature devs for me, and likely the last week in office for R.

Happy end to a happy week :)

View on Chewie’s morning walk – towards town center
View on Chewie’s morning walk – towards Cathedra
The oh-so-inviting stream in Shere
View on Chewie’s morning walk – towards Newlands corner
Moi at halfway point break in Shere

Marvel’s Defenders

I quite enjoy Marvel’s movies & TV series – all the ones based around Avengers and related characters, as well as Daredevil and Jessica Jones.

But I refuse to get my head around why are they called Avengers? If they have the power, and the freedom, to act and intervene as they please, why do the superheroes wait for bad things to happen before they can avenge them?

Why not act proactively to prevent and defend? I’m starting a petition to name them Marvel’s Defenders. We want prevention, not just cure!