Yeah, I'm happily married. No big deal.

Woke up early and got the little guy to school this morning, and I was feeling refreshed and well-rested for once. Ashley and I hit the Barton Creek Greenbelt for a morning hike/run and it was awesome. My wife can always tell when I'm spending too much time inside my own head, and she knows just how to snap me out of it. While enjoying the decent weather, we solved pretty much all the world's problems in between runs. Well, okay...It was more like me spewing out all my goals and future plans and "what-ifs" while she listened.

There are a lot of things I want to do that involve both strength and beer (heyo) that I feel like I'm having problems getting momentum on. Add to that some career uncertainty/indecision and it was a recipe for a brooding dude. Ashley is great about putting things in perspective and reminding me of everything I've accomplished. Plus, she makes me go trail running occasionally so I don't use strength sports as an excuse to become a disgusting lardass, so there's that.

After the hike, we dropped by Austin Homebrew Supply to price out some all-grain brewing equipment. These guys rock, and I love going to a place where I can just look, learn and get prices without being pressured. Honestly, that approach is the best way to make me spend my money with them. They will even tell you which of their items are overpriced and can be made cheaper at home.

I'm going to make the switch to all-grain soon and I think I can build some of this myself. I'm a big believer in the idea that you learn more by crafting things yourself than buying them ready-made. Plus, it makes troubleshooting later a ton easier. I'm trying to decide if I want to go the cheap route and make my liquor tank and mash tun out of plastic coolers like these or just pony up the cash and use steel pots that I have to drill for spigots. Either way, I am going to buy the stuff I can't build, like the burners, valves and false bottom.

Also scoped out a Blonde Ale recipe. I'm thinking that's next.

Because of all the excitement I trained a little later in the day. I hit up the closest Gold's Gym because these kind of days aren't very equipment intensive. I have started digging out of my little pity party about my lifts due in part to the aforementioned wife awesomeness as well as my friend Jay sending a long e-mail about some amazing strength breakthroughs he is having. He keeps shit pretty simple, and that's always refreshing.

Dynamic Effort Upper

Bench Press

45x10

95x10

135x5

155x10x2

Pretty low percentage speed work today (60%). I really feel loose and out of sync on bench, so I wanted to worry less about the weight and more about set-up and bar speed. Found some weak points to work on for sure.

Skull Crushers

80x10, 10, 8, 6

Chins

10, 10, 8, 5

Tate Press

30x20, 13, 10, 7

Weight 205

Had better intensity and more energy for my accessory work today.

Also, this finally came in the mail:

Guess I'm legit now. I have mastered business.