Assortment

First, tomorrow night (May 14, Saturday) at 6:30pm the Young People's Symphony Orchestra, including two of my daughters on violin, will be joined by the renowned mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in Berkeley, California. You can purchase tickets here. Among others, you will hear this.

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Second, P90x. Day 60 was yesterday. The first three weeks are the same. Then a rest week (it isn't, because two of the days are what I consider the hardest workout, Core Synergistics). The second three weeks are different than the first three weeks. All of it is brutal, very intense. Then another rest week, which is the same as the first one of those. Now we are in a four week session that interchanges every week the workout from the first three weeks and then the second section of three weeks. P90x calls this muscle confusion. There are 12 overall workouts, none any shorter than an hour. Every strength workout is joined by 16 minutes of ab ripper X.

P90x works muscles and body parts that you wouldn't get from a normal workout, especially your core. It concentrates on the core, which is an important, but often ignored part of the body. Certain workouts get easier, but others are always difficult.

What are the results? Your body will change. I started at about 238 pounds and am now at about 224. I'll likely end somewhere around 215-218 at this pace. I'm working out with two other guys and it is doing good stuff for them. It isn't a big weight loss plan. I'm not doing the diet, but I am cutting down a little on the intake. Everything will firm up and shape up. I'll let you know when it gets to the end.

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Paul Ryan refutes President Obama's criticism of his budget plan, exposing the demagoguery. And on the subject of demagoguery, Charles Krauthammer points out some more in the President's recent endeavor with Hispanics in Texas. We'll see if it works.