Thursday, August 27, 2009



P90X | Week 11
Mon: P90X Shoulders & Arms
Tue: P90X Plyometrics
Wed: One on One w/Tony Horton Road Warrior
Thu: P90X Yoga X
Fri: Rest = 10ish hour drive North!
Nutrition/Eating Log


Phew -- what a week. Off to the Boca Raton ProQuest offices, excellent meetings and some much-needed face to face contact with both sales and product managers for our amazing school research products.

Just about done with all of our back to school email newsletters (archive here, lots going on/worth a peek) and even made a custom SIRS Discoverer-only version of our full Explorations video podcast for a customer. Guessing others wanted a stripped-of-eLibrary-Elementary version as well.

Lots to wrap up today, then off to PA to work from Kinyon Manor. Same output, different location, but a chance to see Mr. and Mrs. K and Mom/my side as well. Excellent. Rock your Friday's and weekends, back at you from PA later tomorrow.

Ever make your own PC? With Vista? Click > Play below and enjoy...
Blank

P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!


Friday, August 21, 2009


P90X | Week 11
P90X Rest ;)
Nutrition/Eating Log


Woah, Week 11 comes to a near-close on a restful note. Been very tired, really feeling the end of this round. Will hit Saturday extra-hard, and feel OK with letting my muscles build one more day between crazy routines.

Off to District 9 tonight, tons of ProQuest video production today for our full new SIRS Issues Researcher solution (Fall podcast overview), written/captured by our own Wendell Butler. Live in early September for sure.

P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!



eLibrary Fall Video Podcast:
New Version & More | From San Francisco




Third of my five back to school podcasts (all here), shot on location near the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Enjoy the new eLibrary updates (email versions w/video embed) and the sights of San Fran. (See my fun video shoot in Tiburon here/hike. Love this.)

One of the most fun things I get to do at ProQuest for our proquestk12.com website, for sure. (More of our online marketing pieces.)

You can view all of the back to school videos at YouTube or larger/Flash on proquestk12.com here.

Thursday, August 20, 2009



Movie Awards: Leftovers



ROFLMAO @ Star Trek...

Doubt | The Videogame



Great movie, even better... video game?

AOTS | Ferrets: The Pursuit of Excellence (#1)


See from 8 minutes onward once it streams/preloads.

It... has... a... husband?

Celebrities Using P90X: It's REAL People!

From Mr. Tony Sawyer Horton himself via FaceBook note today, well-known people who review P90X and give it an A+, X-ME shout-out!

There are plenty of companies paying celebrities and athletes big money to endorse their products and with P90X athletes and celebrities ask us to endorse the program for nothing, because they love it. Dozens more Twitter about it or let the world know through Facebook and other social networks.

If you can add to the list, let me know.

Here's the list that I have:

1. Cheryl Crow
2. Ashton Kutcher
3. Demi Moore
4. Usher
5. Ewan McGregger
6. Jenny Garth
7. Poppy Montgomery
8. Emmett Smith
9. Ray Lewis
10. David Akers
11. Donovan McNabb
12. Brian Westbrook
13. Matt Diaz
14. Kelly Slater
15. Barry Zito
16. Bryce Dallas Howard
17. Kenny Smith
18. Jo Jo Reyes
19. Brian Wilson
20. Pink
21. Joey Fatone
22.John Hartung ~ Local news and sports
23. Paul Ryan ~ Congressman - R
24. Heath Schuler ~ Congressman - D
25. Ray Allen





P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!



Bush Loses, Conservatives Thinking Nukes = Answer

Just when you thought those over-the-top healtcare town halls were a fluke, check out what it seems some Republicans and conservatives are thinking these days.

The basics: Obama wins, Sotomayor gets a Supreme Court seat = might as well destroy America, it's game over (for White Republicans?)

Some FaceBook folks talking from their NeoCon hearts/minds. Based on what I'm seeing and hearing on Fox News these days (trying to keep my outlook balanced, thank you) this would seem to be a trend.

*shudder*





P90X | Week 11
Thu: Back & Biceps
Nutrition/Eating Log


Got a new way to know when I'm pushing myself w/P90X -- I start to feel, well, a little ill. Max reps/failure using 30 pound free weights + 45 minutes of working hard = stomach gets pretty tight and a little uneasy. By the size of my arms, I'd say it's all good -- took in a nice breakfast, added Shakeology and one scoop of full-on protein shake to the input right off the bat, feeling a little shaky, but solid.

Rock your Thursday, people!


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Top 10 Tips Reagan Gave Clinton (1992)

ProQuest Video Podcast:
Explorations: Fall Updates | From San Francisco




Second of my back to school podcasts (all here), shot on location near the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Enjoy the SIRS Discoverer and eLibrary Elementary updates (email version w/video embed), including graphic novels (think educational comic books), biographies, and more. (See my fun video shoot in Tiburon here/hike. Love this.)

One of the most fun things I get to do at ProQuest for our proquestk12.com website, for sure. The video is linked inside our August email newsletter (Explorations) which I co-wrote with Christina Chappell in our SIRS group in Florida. (More of our online marketing pieces.)

You can view all of the back to school videos at YouTube or larger/Flash on proquestk12.com here.

P90X | Week 11
Tue: P90X Plyometrics
Wed: P90X William Issues = Skip/Sleep :(
Nutrition/Eating Log


Recovering from a nice, long weekend with Mom. Lots of great food, fun, and visiting. Rocked Plyo all the way through, massive sweat-city, all good. Lots to do @ ProQuest today, back to school marketing and communication outreach. Love... it...

Well, here we are, Week 11 of 12, Round 7... and I'm pretty downright tired. Somewhere deep down. A little stressed out during one of the busiest times of the year at ProQuest, sure. But this is physical. Still bringing it, high intensity, no trouble really maxing the reps -- and the weight is steady at 185. Nice. Solid number.

Anxious to hit the recovery week next week, then... heck. A One on One round for 30 days? Tack on some crazy biking in place of Plyo? My one big personal request -- keep up the cardio. When I take a breather for more than 7 days, the cardio endurance takes a hit. Do, not like.

On another note, check out some photos from the weekend. Enjoy!


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

ProQuest Video Podcast:
SIRS Fall Updates | From San Francisco




First of my back to school podcasts, shot on location near the Golden Gate in San Francisco. Enjoy the SIRS updates, new SIRS Issues Researcher, tomorrow I'll post the graphic novels in eLibrary Elementary, then eLibrary and onward. (See my fun video shoot in Tiburon here/hike. Love this.)

One of the most fun things I get to do at ProQuest for our proquestk12.com website, for sure. The video is linked inside our August email newsletter (Explorations) which I co-wrote with Christina Chappell in our SIRS group in Florida. (More of our online marketing pieces.)

More to come over the next few days. Enjoy.

Monday, August 17, 2009


P90X | Week 11
Mon: P90X Chest, Shoulders & Arms
Nutrition/Eating Log


Excellent long weekend with Mom in town, Happy 61st BDay @ Maggiano's, wow -- back on the horse this week at ProQuest. Many new video podcasts (will embed links to YouTube versions later) and email newsletters to come, all my handiwork on display, as always, at proquestk12.com.


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Concerned about Obamacare?

Read this important post today from Seth Godin:

Willfully ignorant vs. aggressively skeptical

Challenging the status quo is what I do for a living. Either that or encourage other people to do it.

But there are two ways to do it, and one of them is ineffective, short-sighted and threatens the fabric of the tribe. The other seems to work.

I heard someone screaming about death panels and how the government was not only going to kill his grandmother, but would take out Stephen Hawking himself if it had the chance.

The screaming is a key part, because screaming is often a tool used to balance out the lazy ignorance of someone parroting opposition to an idea that they don't understand. (If you want to write to me about this post, please write to me about the screaming part, not about whether or not you agree with the facts or the science. That's what the post is about, the screaming.)

If you want to challenge the conventional wisdom of health care reform, please do! It'll make the final outcome better. But if you choose to do that, it's essential that you know more about it than everyone else, not less. Certainly not zero. Be skeptical, but be informed (about everything important, not just this issue, of course). Screaming ignorance gets attention, but it distracts us from the work at hand.

It's easy to fit in by yelling out, and far more difficult to actually read and consider the facts. Anytime you hear, "I don't have the time to understand this issue, I'm too busy being upset," you know that something is wrong.

Brands face this as much or more than politicians do. I witnessed a knock-down fight between two teenagers over which operating system was best. There are generations of arguments between Ford and Chevy owners. Motorcycle gangs are often parochial in their choice of bike. And in each case, the less people know, the more they yell.

If you want to change what your boss believes, or the strategy your company is following, the first step is to figure out how to be the best informed person in the room.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Han & Chewie: The Odd Couple


Click above to see the video. Thanks AOTS!

Another blast from the past, Battlestar FTW...


P90X | Week 10
Thu: P90X Yoga X
Fri: Legs & Back
Nutrition/Eating Log


A good morning, cooler, rainy, for some Yoga. Got through about an hour and change, as usual -- all the moving... asha's? Minus the hip-ripping leg straight back moves (yeouch!), then into the poses. Solid, vibrating muscles for an internal nervous system massage. Love this routine.

Mom's on her way soon, Southwest for the visit win through Monday. Very much looking forward to some time together!


Wednesday, August 12, 2009



P90X | Week 10
P90X Back and Biceps
Nutrition/Eating Log


Rocked the biceps -- 30lbers for the burny-burn win @ 10-15 reps -- and the back/chest with pull-ups. A monster in the second round, petered out neat the end, shaky goodness.

Still plowing through my ProQuest K-12 podcasts, SIRS and eLibrary done, ProQuest platform, SIRS Discoverer/eLibrary Elementary, and CultureGrams to go. Coming together nicely, online soon at proquestk12.com.


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!




Tuesday, August 11, 2009

P90X | Week 10
Mountain Biking
Nutrition/Eating Log


Wow, my hip is out. Wayy out. Tried to get out of bed for a Plyometrics workout, and my right pelvis area was having none of it. Sore. Out of place. No good jumping up and down on that area. So, will suit up and brave the heat for a nice long bike ride over lunch, still get the ol' 750-900 calories shredded. Nice.

Lunch poetical update...

Trail: For I have crossed the Rubicon, bridge last feet 'plete
Half mile ahead, clear and 'creted
Till workers I did meet, then retreat
Twenty-ish miles on my feet, bike 'twirl'd
Hot and sweaty Tuesday thrill'd


NOOB Boyfriend Gets PWND: If WOW was somehow cool and a prereq to successful dating!


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!



Monday, August 10, 2009




P90X | Week 10
P90X Chest, Shoulders, Arms
Nutrition/Eating Log


Nice Sunday rest day, some extra food thrown in, brought it to the reps in the early a.m. -- here comes the 100 degree August days, large glass of H20 nearby. Time to hydrate and keep my head down till the San Antonio front clears out on Wednesday. Looking forward to Mom's visit Thursday into early next week, Will tracking out next Monday. All good!

Been noticing a big change in my spare tire. It's getting more spare by the day, and I give credit to my food journal (see link above), bringing it with P90X, and adding Shakeology to my daily intake as a snack. This is a rich, nutrition-filled meal replacement or snack (for crazy people working out like crazy with BeachBody DVDs) that not only equates to 5 X trips to the salad bar, it adds protein and essential building blocks for your muscles. It's a fitness addition we all need to add to maximize results, and it costs no more than a single Venti trip to Starbucks daily. Cheap and amazingly good for you!


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!



Friday, August 07, 2009





P90X | Week 9
Mon: P90X Chest & Back
Tue: P90X Plyometrics
Wed: P90X Shoulders & Arms
Thu: Break
Fri: P90X Legs & Back
Nutrition/Eating Log


Mon: Relaxing weekend, took in The Hangover (ROFLMAO!), watched Caprica (they pulled it off, should have been a series post-BSG, haunting to see first Cylon born and make a call to an old friend, yikes), and now back to work, awaiting news on a critical backend system related to my work.

Fingers, legs, arms, knees, ankles, crossed...

Tue: Some excellent advice from Tony Horton, the trainer in P90X, answering some FaceBook email/queries:

Hi Tony!

One of the men that I Coach is very frustrated over his P90X plateau. I have tried to help him but have not been effective. Here is what he said:

"Very frustrated. I have almost completed my second round of p90x. I have two more weeks left. I have not seen any more results via abs, arms and chest. I eat just like the book says."

Would appreciate any advice you have that I can provide to him. I am also a P90X grad, love my results, and never hit a plateau so I cannot relate to his issue.

I know you are a busy person and greatly appreciate your time and advice.

Best always
Lisa

Lisa,

Tell him I said that when he focuses on his looks, his looks won't change in a predetermined time frame. If he focuses on getting better, stronger, more flexible, etc., his body will change at the speed it's supposed to change. Everyone is different. For some the physical appearance we long for happens in 90 days. For others (me included) it takes much longer. Getting frustrated because we don't like the "look" we want when we think we should have it, is stupid. Instead of frustration about looks, his attitude should be... Do My Best And Forget The Rest ~ For The Rest Of My Life.

Tony Horton, Beachbody.com & P90X Inventor/Trainer


crush play: Shakeology is a value that you can't afford to pass up: "Meal replacement shakes, energy drinks, weight loss supplements, blah blah blah. There are tons of them. But everybody..."



I'm 100% loving my Shakeology, and it's paying dividends in my workout. Click the link above to learn more from another Beachbody trainer who's reviewing P90X and Shakeology -- and order your super-dense, important meal replacement here.

Wed: Rocked the arms and shoulders today, super-silly arm circles to stretch, then lots of heavy lifting. Trying to favor my 30 lb free weights for all overhead moves, 20 lb for the tricep moves, then falling back to 20/10 for round-crazy-two. Glamour muscles for the tank top win.

Thu: Tstorms all night long, kept us all up. Resting today, should be doing Yoga.

Posted a comment about my former colleage and friend Jay Bryant (LiveWorld / KOZ.com) -- we both hit the ground on Day 1 at bigchalk.com back on 1.1.00, which eventually was rolled back into ProQuest and my current proquestk12.com gig as Marketing Manager.

Fri: Wow, rocked P90X Legs and Back -- pull-ups from heaven, did one set of 25 in there when my brain went into ProQuest work mode/wasn't paying attention to rep count. Makes me wonder how many I could do if I really could turn off my brain!


P90X: Take Action!
Jimmy Hays Nelson is a Beachbody Coach. He's done P90X and worked with Tony Horton, the inventor and host of the workouts. Let Jimmy inspire you like he's inspired me! (2006 vs. 2009 photo P90X review proof.) Buy your copy of the P90X DVDs, then sign up (free!) to get Jimmy as your personal BB Coach. Bolster your food plan by tracking your calories with fitday.com (guys, 2,000 cals a day), and consider adding Shakeology to your daily food intake -- it's like going to the salad bar with five plates. If you're already a P90X user, take the next step and be a coach with Jimmy's help. Keep pushing play, bring it, A+ P90X review!



Tuesday, August 04, 2009


New eLibrary | Full Training, Get Learned!



It's back to school time, the perfect window to jump into our full new eLibrary training video from ProQuest. (The full Flash version is better/here. CLICK.) Learn about the all-new version, take our short assessments to be sure you're following along, and take full advantage of our new note taking tool, slideshows, timelines maker, curriculum and assessment builders, and more.

This is one of the things I truly enjoy about my job at ProQuest -- making these training videos from all angles, with the help of Jeff Cutler and our small, nimble K-12 team. Questions? Email me anytime at tim.proquest at proquest.com or timothymclain at yahoo.com.
What are you doing at 5:30 a.m.?



Me, I'm doing P90X. A+ review. Join me! Order today, see below for my experiences. Don't miss the links down the right side of the page to my first rounds on this program...

Bring it!

Saturday, August 01, 2009


You vs. Free Competition

Is your online product or service ten times better in some way than its free or lower-cost competitors? Better be.

Lessons below for anyone trying to break eyeballs away from free online information sources to for-pay versions -- like our insanely great research tools from ProQuest.

I do wholeheartedly disagree with his point about Luddite teachers -- Wikipedia is not a quality source of vetted information, and should not be allowed as a primary source in research.

Now, is it a great place to START research? To get a better understanding of a given topic before using quality, deep, vetted research sources like those from ProQuest (esp. in our schools) and other online library resources that can and should be cited?

Sure. The for-pay online sources are more than 10 X better than Wikipedia and other free sources. Just need to slow down and be more thorough in your research.

Fidelity vs. Convenience

Kevin Maney has a book out in September about the trade off between delivering extraordinary experiences (which he calls fidelity) and doing it in a way that's cheap and easy (convenience). The book takes this simple idea and supports it with dozens of examples.

The simplest example is movies. You pay to go to a theatre when you want the fidelity of the big screen and the crowd and the speakers. You stay home when you want the convenience of Netflix and the pause button. Vinyl records and live concerts offer fidelity, MP3 on your iPod is convenient.

In the word's of Bill Gross, in order to win with a new product, you need to be on one axis or another, and ten times better than what you're aiming to replace. Which means ten times more high impact or ten times cheaper and easier.

A refrigerator is ten times more convenient than an icebox. A cell phone is ten times more convenient than a pay phone. A private jet is ten times more joyful/fidelity than first class for the executive that can afford it. A backstage pass at a Cat Power concert is ten times higher fidelity than a ripped MP3.

There are interesting ways to define 'fidelity'. Wikipedia is certainly more convenient, and the presence of a million articles that aren't even in the Brittanica makes it higher fidelity as well. At the start, though, they were neither. It took a tiny group of passionate people to create enough content and enough quality that they could be high enough fidelity to be considered an alternative to the printed encyclopedia. It's interesting to watch Luddite teachers refuse to accept it as a source, claiming that convenience shouldn't trump their definition of fidelity...

The mistake that's so easy to make is to be a little bit higher fidelity and a little bit more convenient. Incumbents fall into this trap all the time, assuming that you'll stick with what you've got because they're sorta both. And insurgents almost always fail because as geeky insiders they think that twice the convenience is enough to persuade anyone who cares. Not going to work.