I’m a .com

Trip to Bulgaria 2009

Today is a gloomy day and it feels like autumn. Although technically there are 2 more weeks of summer till the autumnal equinox, September 22, 2009, I look at summer 2009 in retrospect. I enjoyed an incredible summer this year with my trip to Bulgaria, at the end of August, being the highlight.

Madonna was in concert on August 29, 2009 in Sofia and my best friend, DJ Paul De Pascale, got invited to spin the Madonna after party at club ID in Sofia. This was a great opportunity that we took advantage of and turned it in to a remarkable vacation. Thanks to Zakki we enjoyed a fantastic accommodation and travel.

This was my first time traveling with friends to Bulgaria. Paul, Raul and I flew Czech Air; NY-Prague-Sofia. The service was fine but we had a long layover in Prague, we had 6 hours at the airport. Neither of us was able to sleep on the Cross-Atlantic flight but we chatted and the time passed by. Despite the excitement though on the 4th hour at the Prague airport we had run out of stories and energy, for the time being, and felt the long wait. Paul came up with a game (My initial is …) which helped us pass a boring hour.

We arrived in Sofia on Friday, August 21, 2009 and had an awesome dinner at my family’s house. My mom and aunt had cooked and cooked for what seemed like an army.

Saturday we went to the gym and lunched at “Pod Lipite” restaurant. After lunch we had a tour in downtown Sofia, which we finished with coffee and cocktails at a nice garden bar. That night we went to check out the club, ID, in which Paul was going to spin next Saturday.

Sunday morning we took off for the Black Sea coast, headed to Ravda. The Balkan mountain majestically lies in the middle of Bulgaria perfectly oriented east to west thus splitting the country south and north. There are 2 main seaports on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria – Varna in the north and Burgas in the south. Ravda is between the 2 but closer to Burgas.

Zakki’s original idea was to be in a hotel that is close to the beach so that we didn’t have to drive to the beach. This is why he had booked rooms at a splendid, little hotel which’s deck was above the beach. The view was stunning. There was the hotel, a pool in front of it, then the deck for the restaurant, and the beach.

Upon our arrival on Sunday afternoon we took a stroll down the beach and despite Zakki’s original idea, somehow, decided to drive to Sozopol for the beach next day. I think this is how the traveling obsession took over us. That night we had dinner in the ancient town of Nesebar, where we laughed so hard that our faces hurt. For dessert we had ice cream and I decided that we have to find the right kind next day – Raffy.

Monday, we went to the astounding beach “Smokinia” (Fig) in Sozopol where Paul and I had our first ‘official’ photo shoot. After the beach we hit the gym and then dinner. Another fantastic restaurant and another night full of laughter. Here we found Raffy and everybody had ice cream like there is no tomorrow. In this trip we also saw the city of Burgas.

Tuesday, we sacrificed the beach and took a drive to Balchick, which is almost at the very northern part of the Bulgarian sea coast. There we had lunch and proceeded to see the Balchik Palace and its botanical gardens. On our way back we visited Varna and had dinner at a great restaurant on the beach. My favorite part was us walking up Main Street in Varna, eating Raffy ice cream, and all of a sudden we hear a street singer performing Zakki’s song.

Wednesday, we checked out from the wonderful hotel and went to Chernomoretz to enjoy a day on a beach of cliffs instead of send. After the beach we left for Zakki’s villa in the middle of the Balkan. On the way we stopped by to pick up groceries which we turned into the most delicious dinner that night.

Thursday, we spent most of the day in Kupen, where Zakki’s villa is and Thursday night we arrived back in Sofia.

Friday, we all met early in the morning for yet another exciting adventure – the Seven Rila lakes and the Rila Monastery. The best part was that my mom was able to join us for this journey. The entire time we’ve been riding in 2 amazing cars generously provided by Zakki – a 2008 Jaguar (Jaguar baby, Da) and a Mitsubishi SUV.

Saturday, was a big day. I had breakfast with my family and met Zakki at the gym. After the gym Paul, Mary and I went to the club so that Paul can do a sound check. Then we pretty much rushed back home to change and went to see Madonna. We had very little time to go back, change and grab Paul’s CD’s before he had to start at the club but made it on time. It was an utterly amazing night of fun!

This appears to be a very brief chronology of our marvelous trip in my homeland. I’ve been back for 2 weeks now but I’m still reliving a lot of the moments spent with my family and friends.

Maximum Strength

While I use a lot of discretion and self input to my diet based on the Muscle Chow book, I follow my workout program from the Maximum Strength book to the T. Probably the most important thing I learned from Eric Cressey was how to use the foam roller and how to stretch before every work out. I haven’t trained, not even once, without stretching since I started following the Maximum Strength program.

I have to say that I’ve been training very hard and the outcome has been incredible. My bench press, deadlift and squat have gone up in only 2 months. I haven’t done any abbs in the past 2 months but have a six pack. I shed almost 10lbs of fat with minimal muscle loss; my body developed uniformly and proportionately. Point in fact, my size 34 waist work pants are hanging on me and I fit in size 30.

My favorite part is that the workouts change every 4 weeks and become more and more challenging, which keeps me motivated. Also, even if I feel tired on the way to the gym, once I’m done with the foam roller and the stretch I’m awake for a serious workout. I’m not an expert but I’m confident that Eric Cressey has done an excellent job putting together the program taking into consideration 2 very important concepts - periodization and deload cycles. The program gradually prepares you for the next challenge while putting optimal stress on your frame. The repetitions and the number of sets vary from week to week as well as deloads at the end of each phase.

One of the things that were completely new to me was the so called “cluster.” For example, we take front squats and do (4X2) X 5. This translates in 5 clusters, where you do 2 reps, break for 10 seconds and do another 2 reps and like this 4 times to complete a cluster. In other words you do 2 squats, 10 sec break, 2 squats, 10 sec break, 2 squats, 10 sec break, 2 squats, 10 sec break, then break for 1-3 minutes before the second cluster. This is also varied in (5X1) X 6 or other ways.

Another concept which Eric Cressey incorporates is alternating sets between antagonist muscles (muscle groups) which promotes longer and better rest between sets in the same amount of time. For example, if you do a set of inclined bench press, break for a minute and next do a set of pull-ups, break for a minute and do a set of inclined bench press you would have achieved about a 3 minute break between sets per muscle without losing any time in the cumulative.

4 Books, 10 Episodes, a Musical, a Movie and 1 Trip.

I ought to have mentioned that besides eating some delicious stuff this past weekend it was a culturally infused weekend as well. I finished reading a short story, listened to 2 recorded books, I went to the theater, to the movies and watched an entire season of a TV show.

I finished reading “Diary of a Mad Man” by Nikolai Gogol; it’s a part of a collection of short stories but I don’t think I’ll finish the rest. Gogol was a genius and it’s said that the rest of the colossuses of Russian literature came from under his “Overcoat.” However, it takes a special frame of mind to enjoy his works. One needs to entirely disconnect from the present and step into the world of the sarcastic and surreal.

On my way to the Cape I finished listening to “Death on the Nile” by Agatha Christie and started “Death in Venice” by Thomas Mann which I finished on my way back to NY and started “The Renaissance: a short history” by Paul Johnson. I found it an interesting coincident that both books’ titles start with death and how different they are.

Death on the Nile, allegedly the author’s favorite, was very engaging and unfortunately intuition made me guess who the murderer was in almost the very beginning. Death in Venice, by contrast, was a bit over my head. With a special and exclusive introduction written and read by Michael Cunningham, this book automatically appeared as a highly regarded work of art. Although translated from German, the narrative flows very passionately and creates vivid images. It’s is a very dramatic story. I would say that as much as I enjoyed listening to it, it’s a book to be read as well.

* * * * * * *

I got to Joan’s house on Friday, around 8:00pm, and we started watching the first season of “True Blood.” We were immediately hooked. I got up at 8:00am on Saturday and went for an oil change at the dealership and after that to the Cape Cod Nutrition Corner. Regretfully, the service at the dealership and the prices at the nutrition store weren’t as good as I remembered them. I made a solid breakfast upon my return and we continued watching True blood.

Saturday evening we hit Dunkin Donuts for Iced coffee and drove to Boston to see Rent, the musical. I had seen the movie a couple of years ago but wasn’t prepared for the awesomeness of the play. When Tom Collins sang after Angel’s death I was bawling my eyes out. We drove straight home after the play and watch the remaining 2 episodes of True Blood.

Sunday was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince day; the official reason for my visit to Hyannis this time. I, of course, enjoyed the movie; I’m a fan after all. We got up had coffee and met up with Kate for breakfast. After the movies we hung out for a short while but nowhere near enough, Kate!

4th of July Madness 2009

I was able to complete a 2 week ripped phase under the Muscle Chow plan. Combined with strength training and the previous lean diet I achieved the desired fat loss and muscle retention. I felt good about accomplishing this year’s 4th-of-July-madness objective.

Interestingly, I was stuck at 184lbs for over a month, despite the visible loss of fat. However, when I came back from my vacation on Cape Cod I was 175lbs, meaning that to appear lean I have to be around 175lbs. The good news is that once you get into healthy, lean eating and you see the results it’s not that easy to give it up. While on vacation I consciously broke my diet, I ate pizza, ice cream, fried fish and French fries, cookies and fudge but continued the good stuff too – I snacked on yogurt, whey protein, fruit, and egg whites as well as veggies. Again, the key is not to let yourself get too hungry and never to revert to just the delicious comfort foods, something I did this weekend and feel terribly guilty about.

I let myself go this weekend; I ate chips and dips, crackers and cheeses, desserts etc. The more I snacked on these things the more insatiable I became. Since I was visiting a friend and our general tradition is to indulge in snacks I went overboard. I didn’t eat as much as I used to but was horrified to find out how easy it is to go back to the worst of eating habits.

I don’t regret enjoying some junk food and have a solution for next time. If I stack Joan’s fridge with some yogurt, hardboiled eggs, fruit, nuts and veggies ready to be eaten I’ll be safe. Also, we tend to delude ourselves that we just snaked a little and it wasn’t all that much food – not a good practice!
Ideally, I should eat the pillar meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – on time and healthy, snack on something healthy if I need and enjoy a little of the delicious but fattening stuff. My point being, it is better for me to have a meal and then eat something bad than to stay hungry and dine on the bad stuff. This also spells better planning and communication.

The Way I Chow

I have a huge appetite and I have to be very strict when it comes to food choices and portion control. I’ve been eating 4 - 5 meals a day for a few years now to cope with being constantly hungry.

Tom Venuto (the fat-loss guru) focuses on metabolism and it’s rate to tackle the problem. I haven’t read the actual e-book “Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle” but I’ve read tons of his articles and find them very motivational. While it’s arguable that the metabolic rate is the key, there is no doubt that he possesses a wealth of knowledge on nutrition and exercise as well as how to motivate people to exercise and keep a calorie deficit.

Similarly, reading Muscle Chow confirmed some of my practices and motivated me to stay away from fattening processed foods. I’ve been doing the ripped phase for a week now and can see a visible result. Although I’m not ripped yet the fat tissue on my body softened considerably and decreased.

Below are some of the highlights for me, things that I’m putting into practice:

• I like the 2-month-cycle idea with it’s 3 phases – relaxed, lean and ripped.

• The daily meal breakdown really helped me. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner stay as the pillar meals but are reduced to 2/3 in size and healthy protein snacks are added 3 hours after each pillar meal. I tailored it to fit my day by starting at 9:00 a.m. breakfast vs. 7 a.m. and skipping the midmorning snack.

• All meals are built around a protein source while including as much veggies as possible. If enjoying a complex carbs meal (pasta, bread, potatoes) do it immediately after a workout. Here is an example:

o 9:00 a.m.: Breakfast – oats and whey protein powder
o 12:00 p.m.: Lunch – meat or poultry and veggies
o 3:00 p.m.: Midafternoon Snack – small salad and tuna
o 5:00 p.m.: Preworkout Snack – eggs & a piece of fruit
o 7:30 p.m.: Postworkout Snack – whole grain flowerless sandwich
o 8:30 p.m.: Dinner – salad w fish or chicken
o 10:30 P.m.: Evening Snack – cottage cheese w fruit

• You can eat up to 6 eggs at a sitting but have to throw away at least 4 of the yolks.

o Yolks are not bad for you but have a lot of calories so if you are trying to stay lean keep a ratio 6/1 whites to yolks.
o Always keep hardboiled eggs as an available snack in your fridge.

• No beef or pork while trying to get ripped.

• A serving of meat, poultry, or fish is around 6 ounces (1 pond = 16 ounces); add a cup of veggies and you have a meal. I gage it by a cup of cubed meat too.

• I stopped using salt – cold turkey – I put the salt away in the unreachable cupboard above the stove vent. I’m also trying to buy low sodium or no sodium condiments. This is not believed to make you lose weight but helps you get read of some of the retained water.

Muscle Chow by Gregg Avedon

I shared that I got a book about nutrition, how to eat in order to get rid off body fat but keep the muscle. I found out about Gregg Avedon’s Muscle Chow book while reading Marc David’s blog -Bodybuilding Secrets Live. He had a nice, intense entry about it and grabbed my attention.

I cook a lot, I enjoy it, I know a great deal about cooking, but needed a fresh perspective. What sold it for me in Marc’s blog entry was the variety of quick recipes he mentions.

What I love about the book is that it contains no fluff and it’s very much to the point. I really dislike books full of factless pages of pep talk and endless paraphrases. Greg writes non of that.

Muscle Chow is a well rounded tool, which provides explanations of how things work, a program and “150 easy to follow recipes.” As Marc David explains the book is for guys who workout, don’t have a lot of time to cook but want to stay healthy, burn fat and feed their muscles.

I was familiar with most of the information in the book but it’s very motivational. I read it in one seating, it’s very engaging and informative. One of the best 20 bucks I ever spent, I strongly recommend it! I’ll share some of the changes I mad in my eating habits as a result.

A Few Pointers for the CPA Exam

• Find your pace in grasping the concepts and make your main goal to solve all the questions in the software.

• When you schedule your exam, taka a calendar and graph the chapters. Keep track of your progress and make sure you have at least 2 weeks to review. You can also use the Becker “Set up study plan” tool.

• You should get familiar with the Becker software. You should know the following:

o Review Class Notes
o Progress Test
o Simulated Exam
o Work Simulations
o Final Exams

• Skim thought the material for a subchapter in the textbook, and do the question for this subchapter before moving to the next one.

• Don’t spend a lot of time reading the book or making notes, focus on answering 100% of the questions to the best of your abilities.

• Do a s many questions per day as possible (this is your main goal). Also know why an answer is the correct and why the incorrect are so; read the explanations and study them. This is more efficient way of using your time than studying the book. Of course, if unfamiliar with a concept refer to the book.

• Since you are not likely to answer the subchapter questions @ 100%, do not redo the incorrectly answered ones immediately. Instead, continue with the next subchapter. I tend to remember the position of the correct answer and this is why I don’t recommend redoing the questions the same day. Give yourself a day or two to forget the sequential position of the correct answer and test yourself again. Let’s say you were able to plug through the questions of 4 subchapters with a 60% success rate in a day. Do not get discouraged because you are learning not testing! The next day, use the “Review Class Notes” as a glossary and redo the incorrectly answered question and move to the next subchapters. At the end of the day redo the still incorrectly answered questions from the day before. This way you would redo the difficult for you questions but would work on memorizing the concepts not the sequential position of the multiple choice answers.

• While speed is imperative for the exam itself, I wouldn’t worry with timing myself. Speed becomes a natural side effect of having to do thousands of questions. You’ll get so burned out on doing questions that you would automatically specialize in reading and solving them as quickly as possible.

• A very good trick for speed is to read the question part of the problem first and search for the answer based on that.

• Keep an eye on the Becker website for updates on the material.

• I only find it helpful to make notes of formulas and mnemonics that help me answer the questions, rather than while going over the textbook.

• I always did the supplementary questions before moving onto the next chapter because thy are include in the progress tests and the simulated tests.

• Do a progress test to-date before moving to the next chapter. For example, run a chapter 1- 3 progress test before moving onto chapter 4.

• Break up your question doing with looking at the simulations. Don’t be afraid of them because they are simply multiple choice questions but in a different format. Learn how to work the different tabs and get familiar with them.

• If you have followed your schedule and have 2 weeks to review start by doing a few Simulated Exams. The software generates 100 question tests covering all the chapters. I would refrain from doing anymore progress tests because I feel they are limited on the range of questions drawn. Then use 2 days to do the 2 Final Exams that look and feel exactly as the actual exam. Do not get discouraged if you score lower than you expect because these exams are extra difficult.

• Here is where the note-taking is crucial. Make notes on all incorrect answers, and study them.

• Continue with the Simulated Exams and make notes for each incorrect answer.

• Do the AICPA released questions that can be found on the Becker website as a make-me-feel-good tool in contrast of the Final Exam.

• At this point you should be at minimum of a 86% success rate on your Simulated Exams.

For the actual exam I can only give the following general but very important pointers:

• Get enough sleep the night before.

• Do not go on empty stomach, but don’t drink coffee, if possible, since is a diuretic and ideally you shouldn’t break because every second is literary precious.

• Get to the examination facility at least 30 min prior your scheduled appointment, there is paperwork and procedures, which could easily upset you if running late.

• Make sure you wear your most comfortable cloths.

• You cannot bring anything with you, including watch, calculator, earplugs, your lucky pen, etc. You will be provided with them by the facility.

• Under no circumstances dwell on a question, always move forward and keep in mind that you have a better chance of guessing than not answering, because unanswered questions is counted as incorrect.

• Do your best to get enough time to work on both simulations.

I’m a 4/4 CPA

Originally I was aiming to sit for all 4 parts of the CPA exam within a year (2008). I wanted to space them 3 months apart – end of February, May, August and November. However, I went home to Bulgaria for a month and a half in September and started a new job upon my return in mid October, so I pushed the last part of the exam in January of 2009.

I had passed BEC, FAR (the hardest and most voluminous part), and Audit exams from the first try. I had a system of studying and I had a lot of time to study for the Regulation or REG part (Federal taxation and Business Law, both strong subjects for me), I felt prepared and I was confident I’ll pass. So, why did I fail, falling short by 1 point?

Since I had a lot of time to prepare and I used it very wisely it’s is very difficult to answer the above question. In short, it had to do with feeling relaxed at the exam and bad luck. I really hate to say that there is a luck factor to the exam but I can’t help it. I was really disturbed, not by the sheer failing but by the fact that I had studied very hard, I didn’t omit anything from the material, not event the minutest detail. I was trying to figure what I should do differently because I started studying the material over the day I found out my score.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you take longer than a year: the Becker software expires in a year and you only have 18 months to pass all 4 parts of the exam before you start loosing parts. If you stretch over a year you are running the risk of not being able to use your one most important tool – the Becker software – you cannot do the questions. Also if for whatever reason you fail a part, that gives you only 2 other attempts to pass it.

Fortunately, the luck of the draw has nothing to do with solid knowledge acquired with a lot of effort and perseverance. I sat for REG in the beginning of January ’09 and didn’t get my results until the end of March ’09. That makes for whole 3 months to forget. My biggest problem was the worry that I had studied so hard the firs time around and that I must have done something wrong but didn’t know what. I struggled with this for the first few days but then submerged in studying and got encouraged by the fact that I remembered most everything and didn’t need to refer to the book but just did the problems. I sat for REG again on May 1, 2009 and passed it with strong 85 points! The score is not really important but in this case it felt like a retribution because I knew the material.

Fitness Research

I officially opened the 4th-of-July-Madness season in the beginning of March with my first outdoors run on 03/07/09 but my real work started 2 months later on the internet.

During busy season at work I felt demotivated at the gym and I felt like nothing can bring the excitement back. I tried the usual, changing the gym, pulling out programs that worked for me in the past, talking to my friends, working out with a buddy.

I was treating the symptoms and not the cause. I had hit an utter mental and physical plateau. The only way to get out is to shock yourself out and not merely to try variations on what have worked in the past and stay comfortable.

I’ve been actively exercising for a few years now but haven’t read consistently on the topic. I’d read bits and pieces, here and there, just enough to make me feel that there is a whole slue of new ideas and approaches to training that I’m missing on.

I needed a drastic change in my workout routine, I wanted to do it the right way by reading and educating myself but didn’t know where to start. I’m gonna save you the portrayal of the whole research process, the endless hours browsing the internet and the trips to the library. Yes, I said the library, the internet is a wonderful place to do a preliminary research and get a direction but if you want the real story you have to get it in a book. In other words there is no free lunch.

During my preliminary research I determined that I needed a current book that includes a program of exercises (this is the part you pay for) but an intermediate/advanced level book, not for beginners. Simultaneously, I realized that I can use a book that sums up the experience of a well built nutritionist. As a result of my long research, here’s what I got:

“Maximum Strength: Get Your Strongest Body in 16 Weeks with the Ultimate Weight Training Program” by Eric Cressey,

And

Men’s Health “Muscle Chow: More Than 150 Meals to Feed Your Muscles and Fuel Your Workouts” by Gregg Avedon.

In addition, I discovered some of the most credible and interesting blogs on the subject. While I’m sure there’re more, these are the 6 that I started reading and make up a somewhat diversified portfolio of knowledge base:

Performance and Health on a Whole New Level – Eric Cressey

Burn the Fat Blog – Tom Venuto

The Brinkzone Blog – Will Brink

Natural Bodybuilding with Marc David

StrongLifts.com - Mehdi

World Fitness Network

A Cyclical Pattern

I’ve noticed a cyclical pattern in my body and how I responds to the seasons. I’m less motivated, have less energy in the winter, and wake up in the spring. I don’t really deviate more than 5 – 10 lbs but it’s usually not just muscle.

Foodwise, I prepare 95% of the meals I eat year round on weekly basis. That provides me with a steady flow of healthy diet rich in raw fruits, veggies, and nuts, as well as poultry, meat and fish. This fact leads me to conclude that I gain weight /fat when I deviate from my regimen and add extra processed foods.

It’s not like I don’t have an appetite! I do and I can eat quantities. The longer I don’t eat for, the more food it takes to settle the hunger. Hence, being structured and bringing my meals is crucial. It’s easy for me to get overwhelmed when presented with many food choices, at a cafeteria, and make a bad one.

Unfortunately, I’m a all in or all out guy. If there is junk food around, I either don’t touch it at all or I EAT. Busy-season at work = stress + ton of junk food around. When I get mentally overwhelmed my guard falls and I give in to temptation. Once I start eating the pizza and the sandwiches, not far behind are rolling the bagels, the donuts with their kids the munchkins, the granola bars, and the candy.

The above is why I don’t keep junk food in my house, which is at times inconvenient because that includes everything you usually entertain guests with. I never have sweets, juice, soda, cheese or crackers in my house. For one thing it wouldn’t last long, lol.

Of course I’m also lucky in some ways. I never crave pasta, alcohol and soda. More importantly I derive an immense amount of pleasure out of eating healthy. I can eat the same exact thing for breakfast or lunch 5 time a week, no problem. I almost never get tired of eating salad. I’ve been eating salad twice a day for probably 5 years now.

Having said all of that, I had to change something. More about that in a following entry.