Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese



Yesterday I had my second interview for a position with the Apple Retail Store. I met with the Store Leader Jill and a Marketing guy whose name I can’t remember. I arrived about five minutes early, checked in with one of the Specialists, and looked around the store while I waited for Jill.

As I was waiting, I noticed that Apple no longer displays software in the store – it’s all hardware now. The big graphics on the wall had been updated to include a couple beautiful shots of the iWatch, which is coming in April. As I took in the vibe of the store, I was greeted by Chris, one of the managers. He said that Jill would be along shortly and we chatted briefly before he went about his business.

After about ten minutes, Jill apporached with the Marketing guy. We said our introductions and she suggested we walk over to the neighboring Starbucks to have our interview. Having spent a hell of a lot of time at various Starbucks the past year, I felt reassured and confident that I’d be on home turf for our discussion.

The interview went well – it was a lot of “getting to know you” type questions, “Describe a time when you…” scenarios, and a general discussion to see if I’d be a good fit for Apple and, just as importantly, if Apple would be a good fit for me. I strode to put my best self forward, there was lots of smiling and eye contact, and I the process flew by. After about 30 minutes, we closed our conversations and Jill said that Nick, the HR guy, would be in contact in the next week or so to discuss next steps, if any. I am hopeful that things will continue to go well and that I make it to the next round. We shall see.

In the mean time, I finally decided to update my 2008 MacBook Pro’s operating system. I ordered Snow Leopard from the Apple Store and it was delivered last night. My internal DVD drive on my MacBook has been acting up, and unfortunately it wouldn’t load the OSX DVD I ordered. So I made an appointment for Monday at the Genius Bar at the Aspen Grove store to take it in and have the DVD issue diagnosed. Then I had a flash of inspiration – maybe Dick had an external drive I could use! Sure enough, he did. I plugged it in, inserted the DVD and began the update process.

I’m updating to Snow Leopard so I can update to the latest and greatest, Yosemite, which is free, but my old OS was so old I had to spend the (gasp) twenty bucks to have Snow Leopard sent to me. I’m really looking forward to checking out the new features of Yosemite and getting to know my Mac again. Now if only I had the desk space to hook up a keyboard and my 21-inch Cinema Display…

Back day. I wasn’t really feeling up for today’s workout. Maybe some stress about a day spent waiting for word on service to my car, half-expecting trouble or at least shady service. No such thing, I received excellent service from the AutoNation Toyota dealer on Arapahoe – they didn’t try to sell me parts I didn’t need, they serviced my car, and even threw in a wash when I picked it up. I ended up spending about half of what I was expecting, so that was a good thing.

Still, I didn’t have a lot of energy for the gym. I just wanted to get in, get my lifts done, and get out again. I hit back hard and fast, doing two exercises, five sets on each, to failure. Then, since I was done early, I stopped by the trainers’ desk and had my body composition tested again. It has been about 11 days since I last did it and I wasn’t expecting much of a difference, but got some great numbers. My weight had dropped a pound and my bodyfat two percent. That means that I’ve lost fat and put on a good amount of muscle in the past week. Now obviously, hydration levels play a big factor and I don’t think I’ve put on four pounds of muscle in a week, but it is good reinforcement to see concrete progress from my efforts the past two weeks. If I can keep going at this rate, hehe, it’ll only be eight weeks until I’m down to nine percent bodyfat. 😀

Weight: 220.9

Back

Lat pulldown – 80 x 10, 100 x 8/8/6/6
CG cable row – 100 x 8/8/8/8/8
3600 + 4000 = 7600 pounds moved

Body Composition, 5pm

Weight: 225.3

Bodyfat: 24.1%

After a couple days completely off from the gym, most of the soreness has disappeared from my bod. I was active, helping family move on Sunday, but didn’t spend any time even soaking at the gym. My quads are still a tad sore up by the hips, but the rest of me was feeling fit and strong today.

I was stoked to lift chest today. Eager to see if I was indeed getting stronger, or if last week just happened to be a good chest day. Turns out I AM getting stronger! I was able to do two sets of decline presses with 180 pounds for reps this week, as opposed to just one set last week. It felt great to be able to press some serious poundage. I blasted chest with six sets of decline presses and then five sets of cable flyes. I was able to go a bit heavier on the flyes too, adding another set of reps to my initial 60 pound starting weight, before needing to drop down to 50 for the rest of the five sets. I finished off with some twists and a soak and called it a day.

Weight: 223.6

Chest

Decline press: 90 x 12, 180 x 6/5, 140 x 6/4, 90 x 7
Cable flyes: 60 x 6/4, 50 x 6/5/4
Medball twist, 16#: 25/25
Soak: 10m
4910 + 1350 + 800 = 7060 pounds moved