Monthly Archives: September 2014

Fitness

Mutating The Recipe

http://gty.im/144671596

Over the preceding year I’ve tried numerous protein powders. Some were good and some not so. My post workout shake has changed a bit over that same time, though the differing formulas were mostly due to the lack of ingredients.

This past week I started taking the Mutant Whey protein powder. As I like to mix to get my 2 scoops in the shake, I ordered Triple Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Cream from Vitacost. One scoop of each goes into the shake. While I’ve heard all manner of claims to the taste of this protein powder or that, I was surprised with the Mutant brand in that although it contains BCAAs and glutamine, it does have a good taste. It also mixes well and combines with other ingredients to form a smooth, frothy shake.

The New Recipe

It is a bit early to fully tell, but Mutant may become my new protein brand. After two days, I can already tell a difference. I’ve also purchased some unflavored creatine powder so that 5 grams may be added to the mix. Time to add everything together into something grand.

The ingredients list:

  • 2 cups of 2% milk
  • some ice cubes (usually 5-7)
  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
  • 1 scoop of Triple Chocolate Mutant Whey
  • 1 scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream Mutant Whey
  • 1 round teaspoon of Six Star Nutrition unflavored Creatine
  • 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter
  • 2 tablespoons of plain Greek yogurt with active cultures
  • 1 tablespoon of Chia/Flax mix
  • 1/8 cup almonds
  • 1/8 cup walnuts

Place everything in a blender and mix until desired consistency. Tends to mix to a bit over 1 liter in volume. Depending on how much fruit and nuts you add, the calories will be around 1,000.

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Fitness

Product Review: SuperPump 3.0 And Assault

The September Jacked-In-A-Box from Muscle and Fitness magazine contained several pre-workout products and SuperPump 3.0 by Gaspari Nutrution and Assault by MusclePharm are two of them. By due contain some amount of caffeine, so those sensitive to it need to take some note.

SuperPump 3.0

The strawberry kiwi blast flavored pre-workout packet contains 2 servings. The instructions state to first take a single serving in order to test sensitivity. As I’ve been taking pre-workouts for awhile, I figured I should be ok. Well, I wasn’t. This stuff kicked in really soon and kept me up for hours (I workout in the evenings after a day of work). The taste wasn’t too bad and it is not sweet. It almost seems to have an artificial sweetener, but I’m not sure. None seems to be listed.

Overall, SuperPump 3.0 by Gaspari Nutrition dissolves well in a shaker bottle. The taste is good and smooth. I found that it only took about 5 minutes before I good feel tingling and activation. For workouts under an hour, a single dose is more than enough. If you want to workout longer, my suggestion is to take a single dose about 30 minutes before the workout and then a second halfway. Don’t overdo it or you may be up for hours.

Assault

The sample of Assault by MusclePharm comes in a single serving soft tube. The Raspberry Lemonade flavor is a wonderful departure from the typical fruit punch flavorings. It dissolved easily enough and the flavor was quite good; an eight of ten.

Within minutes of finishing the mix, the effects could be felt. Yeah, it doesn’t take 20 or 30 minutes to show up. The tingling in my lips and face started nearly immediately. Off to the gym for a 5/3/1 leg workout. It lasted for an hour or so, then I could feel it start to slip away. For me, this was perfect. No sugar drop and no caffeine keeping me up half the night. Very good. Is definitely one I would buy.

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Cosplay and Cons

Sunday At Cincinnati Comic Expo

Keleigh and Sam
Keleigh and Sam (Photo credit: BrainMuffin)

For this year’s visit to the Cincinnati Comic Expo, it was necessary to go on Sunday. Sure, this would mean there was a good chance that not all the celebrities would be there, but those are the breaks some times.

Arriving just before 2pm, my daughter was target focused in finding the Jason David Frank booth to get his autograph and perhaps talk to him a bit. The irony is had we gone counterclockwise from the entrance, we would have found it straight away, but we went the other way instead.

The Legoland area this year was quite larger and included a very large model of the John A. Roebling bridge. Many comic artists and some professional cosplayers. Still we kept walking.

Finally in line for Jason to return at 2:30, my daughter became more nervous with each moment. Jason finally came out and wound up the crowd with a mobile phone video run by. His energy is contagious. He seems to really like meeting his fans and talking about his life, family and faith.

I was finally Keleigh’s turn to get her autograph. Jason wanted to interview her, so he pulled out his cell phone and recorded a video. He also asked her friend Sam questions, as well as me. I was too concerned about getting a photo and neglected to record him recording us. Oh well. Keleigh also posed with David in showing a punch.

Afterward, Sam wanted to find her favorite professional cosplayer LeeAnna Vamp. So, it was off to find her. Sam bought a picture, got an autograph and then posed with LeeAnna.

We then walked around for a few more hours. The girls bought several things and I took some more pictures. I even was able to capture an image of Henry Winkler signing autographs for fans, many of them quite young. I did get to flash him a Fonzi “Ayyy…” as he walked by later. He smiled.

John Rhys-Davies talked to one couple who was in line for autographs for a good 20 minutes. I’m not sure what they discussed, but he seemed completed interested in what they had to say. He quite genuinely engaged them and listened intently.

I am getting better at taking pictures at the cons. I am still a bit bashful about asking. There are some many great customs and cosplay outfits. I really appreciate everyone who wears them and the time they took to create them. If you see me, don’t be afraid to ask me to take your picture.

I was sad to have missed Jewel Staite.

Till the next con.

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Photography

Working With The Glidecam XR-2000

Going over the video footage from Matsuricon 2014 shows the Glidecam XR-2000 is a very picky and difficult piece of equipment to use and keep balanced. After some practice, it is easy to get the balance to be very close, but fine tuning get more and more difficult and the balance will change without any changes being made to the camera or the Glidecam. Perhaps this is why all the professional how-to videos I find are of the HD-2000 version.

Today offered more time to practice, so I took the Nikon D7000 and the Glidecam XR-2000 to Harbin Park in Fairfield. It was sunny, but not too warm with a good breeze to keep cool. I walked up and down small hills, in and out of trees, down narrow paths and wide, in and out of the wind. Sometimes the Glidecam was being used truly freehand, sometimes using the three finger method around the gimbal, and others holding onto the area where the weights are attached.

The results??

The Glidecam XR-2000 likes to move all the time. The slightest breeze will cause it to spin. Put the lens cap on after balancing and it will tip as though a huge weight was placed in the front. No matter how well balanced the unit is, when walking the camera will wonder left or right and up or down. Stop and the camera will continue to move. Very frustrating.

What about holding the pole??

Some guides say to use a thumb on the gimbal and two fingers in front of it. The touch is to be light. This doesn’t help. Any shake introduces by the arms or hands will be seen in the video. Hold too lightly and the camera will still move about as though you are not holding at all.

What about holding the weight plate??

Again, this will introduce shake and variance to the video. There is just no getting away from it. No matter how well balanced, the Glidecam XR-2000 will not stay steady.

Several times I held the pole as I walked from one area to another of the park without filming. Once in a new area, the entire rig had to be rebalanced. Sometimes the mounting plate had to be moved. Sometimes the weights at the bottom had to be moved. The settings on the camera for focal length and focus stayed the same. Why is there any need to balance it again?

When compared to other stabilizers for DSLR cameras, the Glidecam XR-2000 is inexpensive, but it is far more difficult to use. Ugh. More practice I guess.

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Fitness

Product Review: Optimum Nutrition and MHP

The September Jacked-In-A-Box has arrived from Muscle and Fitness (see the unboxing video here). Each month, samples of products arrive and trying them is quite the experiment. While it is doubtful that any real results can be gleaned from only a few samples, but knowing how well products taste is a big part of using them. After all, if a product tastes quite terrible to you and yet is affective, how long will you endure? Over the last two days, I’ve tried two of the products in this month’s box.

Optimum Nutrition: Pro Complex

The sample for Pro Complex Creamy Vanilla contains 30 grams of protein, less than 1 gram of sugar, and 140 calories. Don’t let the 60g claim on the front fool you, there is only one serving in the packet. The protein source is a blend of whey and egg. In 6 ounces of cold (straight from the fridge) filtered water to get the full taste, it mixes easily in a shaker. It has a good mouth feel and is not too thin. The taste is ok and is very much vanilla. I was surprised that the taste was not better, after all, the Gold Standard proteins are very good. On a 1 to 10 scale, I give the taste about a 5.

MHP: Power Pak Pudding

The Fight & Lean version of MHP’s Power Pak Pudding was contained in the box. This is the lower calorie version at only 100. According to the website, the higher calorie version contains 190. The amount of protein in this one is half of the regular at 15 grams. The flavor is Delicious Dutch Chocolate. It has a good thickness and is very rich and chocolaty. There is a medium strong artificial sweetener aftertaste. I’m not really into diet products, so this one is not a win for me. I would like to try the regular version as a comparison. I’ll pass on this one though.

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Craft Beer Talk

The End Of Beer Tastings

It was nearly five years ago that I first attended a beer tasting at Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield, Ohio. That night, Samuel Adams was the brewery visiting and letting everyone enjoy the fruits of their labors. It was October 10, 2009 and I had wanted to bring my brother as it was his birthday, but he had other plans, so I brought a friend.

We had the scheduled 10 beers, plus 2 others from a Sam Adams taste test. There were 2 more from the master brewery who had made a hop extract to mix with some of their sweeter beers. They were fantastic.

Back then, Jungle Jim’s was nearly the only place in town having regular beer tastings. Every month, they were well attended and people listened with great interest to the speakers. A few months later, I started to write about the Cincinnati Craft Beer scene for examiner.com. It was just the beginning of it all.

Since then, the various beer festivals have grown greatly. Jungle’s own beer fest on Father’s Day Weekend has grown to two days. Many bars and restaurants have small beer tastings and Friday night flights are not uncommon. With the opening of the Eastgate store, Jungle Jim’s now has pint nights on Friday evenings where patrons can buy a beer and walk around the store. The enjoyment of good beer is becoming common enough that having a special event feels no longer necessary. Alas, the tastings have become a victim of success.

The truth be known, over the last year or so it has been harder to truly enjoy the beer tastings. Many of the attendees are there to socialize and it is hard to hear the speaker, even with the use of the microphone. Bit by bit, the true beer nerds stopped attending as the crowds got larger. Then the crowds started to go other places and attendance this year become worse with each passing month. Before summer started, several tastings were cancelled due to lack of sign-ups. The trend was set and now it is done.

For those of us who looked forward to each month’s chat with a brewer or someone from the brewery who was truly passionate about craft beer. It was a bit of release from the mundane and became an Untappd check-in game. Over the years, I was able to meet Larry Bell and Greg Koch. What great times those were. What great times they will remain. So long monthly beer tastings. We knew you well.

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