Gym Update - Adjustable Dumbbells - Spin Bike - Treadmill

I did a bit of a gym revamp and changed some equipment that I had for what I feel are better options for what I like to do and how I like to train. I spend a fair amount of time in my home gym these days, more so than in the past and so I don't mind investing a bit of cash in my home gym.

I had a set of Dumbbells that ranged from around 5 up to 80 pounds with 5 pound increments up to 40 pounds and then 10 pound increments up to 80 pounds which work well enough but did take up a lot of space and was a bit of a financial investment at the end of the day. I decided to change out my dedicated dumbbells for adjustable dumbbells as they a real real space saver and are less expensive than investing in an entire set of metal dumbbells. I was actually able to come out several hundred dollars ahead after I sold my standard dumbbells and replaced them with some BowFlex 1090 Adjustable Dumbbells I bought used which now take me from 10 pounds right up to 90 pounds.

I also swapped out my Elliptical with a treadmill and magnetic spin bike as I was just not a big fan of using my elliptical for cardio. I much prefer a spin bike or even a treadmill for my cardio needs. I ended up again buying used an Echelon Connect Sport Spin Bike for $300 and a NordicTrack T5.7 Treadmill for $200. Unfortunately ellipticals sell used for next to nothing these days so I may just have to give that one away...

I'm looking forward to these Gym upgrades and getting some good use out of them and may just have to do a review or two on some of the newer more current items like the Echelon Connect Sport Spin Bike and the BowFlex 1090 Adjustable Dumbbells.

Ray Ban Meta Glasses Riding an EUC

I got my Ray Ban Meta AI Camera Glasses not just because they look cool and shade me from the sun. One of the main reasons was to create video content that perhaps I can not make as easily or form a similar point of view as wearing the glasses right on your face so you get to see pretty much exactly what I see.

This is all fine and dandy as long as the video looks and sounds good, and I can actually use the video taken while out and about in a variety of situations. So I figured what better way then to test my Ray Ban Meta AI Smart Glasses while riding my Kingsong KS22 EUC and record a bunch of video with me rambling on in the background.

I have to say I am impressed with not only the video quality including the stabilization and the field of view that was recorded but even when riding fast at speeds up to 60kmh, there was virtually zero wind noise and I can tell you what I was hearing a lot of noise while actually riding so I expected to hear this in the recording which I did not. Very impressive!

The Ray Ban Meta Glasses do only record in portrait mode (at least at this time? which is not ideal for landscape YouTube videos so I took the liberty to show various zoom and pan setting for those that may want to show a wider aspect ratio more suitable for YouTube. Another kind of silly limitation with the Ray Ban Meta Glasses is that you can only record 1 minute videos so I did have to splice together the video which worked just fine as Meta let's me know when the camera is recording and when it's not with an indicator light I can see while wearing them and an audible sound when recording stops.

I can honestly say I was surprised at how well the Ray Ban Meta Glasses worked in this situation and plan to make similar riding videos with them in the future.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Unboxing Review

I have been rocking my Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra now for almost 2 years and before that I had several Samsung Galaxy Phones along with several version of Samsung Galaxy Watches. I even have a pair of their Pro Earbuds so I guess you could say I might just be a Samsung fanboy. I use ot own Apple iPhones and I still have several Apple products in my home including my MacBook Air which is my main computer. The rest of my family also has Apple iPhone and to be honest Android and Apple really do integrate better than you might think, you just need to use Google cloud services on all your devices which makes sharing information super easy. The only real thing I am missing is FaceTime but again there are other services that work similar and are cross platform.

I generally update my phone every 2 years or so as in most cases I have found that a single update to a phone model, at least for me does not offer enough of an upgrade to entice me into buying the new version. The new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra does offer a lot of new features so it was time for an upgrade.

This is really just an unboxing video, so if you want all the details and goods on the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, then there are a ton of videos on YouTube you can checkout comparing it to older versions and also to the iPhone Pro.

For me this upgrade was important since I use my phone a ton and my older S22 Ultra battery was starting to go a bit flat, the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has some significant photo and video upgrades, not so much with the lenses and sensors, but with how it processes images and video utilizing AI for editing and to make the images even better looking. There are also a bunch of other AI features incorporated into the S22 Ultra for language translation and to assist in finding information about something simply by circling it with your finger and completing a search.

SHOT Show 2024 Replica Airguns Teaser

I’m back from SHOT Show 2024 and I always like to start off my series of SHOT Show Interview Videos with a Teaser Video that not only shows off a few new guns but also gives everyone a vibe of what it feels like to visit Las Vegas and SHOT Show. I can only show you so much because as you know what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…

I thought I would share this Replica Airgusn Video with my Get Fit Over 40 channel as it is a fairly huge part of my life. I also want to thank my buddy Steve for much of the behind the camera work which alows me to have available some really great to content to work with while I put together the SHOT Show 2024 Interview Videos.

If you want to see more content like this then head over to the Replica Airguns Vimeo Channel where I will be uploading my SHOT Show Interview Video as I make them...

One Year Later - Open Heart Surgery

One year ago today I was lying on an operating table with my chest open on bypass surgery with a surgeon stitching a new mechanical Aortic Valve and root onto my heart. I did not know at the time if the operation would be successful or not. The team of doctors had informed me that there was a possibility that I may need a heart transplant if my heart did not start working again on it's own after the bypass surgery. I was also told there was no way to know for sure as to what extent my heart would recover after the new valve and root where replaced.

Before the operation my heart was double the normal size and my Bicuspid Aortic valve was barely working, resulting in an injection fraction of 18% combined with an aneurism above the valve that made it double the normal diameter to 6cm. All very bad and if untreated, I may have only had weeks to live.

Jump ahead now one year and I would have to say I can only explain my recovery as a miracle. My Cardiologist has reassured me that my heart is in perfect working condition now, and I can expect a long healthy life. My heart has now returned to normal size and my injection fraction tested a few months ago was 58%.

I am officially back to regular life and doing everything and then some that I was doing before, but now feeling so much better doing it all. God is good, life is good, and friends and family mean so much. Thank you to everyone that have been supporting me along the way with words of encouragement and positive thoughts. It has meant so much to me and I will never forget it.