Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. – 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

It could not be any more straight forward, right? If you are sexually devious, you won’t go to Heaven. If you are covetous, you won’t go to Heaven. If you cheat people out of money, you won’t go to Heaven. That is clearly what Paul is teaching here. Or is it?

What if, when you take this verse in context, it means something completely different…

Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that your brethren. Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. – 1 Corinthians 6:7-12

At the start of this quote, Paul tells the Corinthians that they themselves wrong and defraud people, even their fellow Christ followers. Then he goes into this list of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God. After this list of the unrighteous, he tells them that they WERE like that, and that they WERE washed, sanctified, and justified because of Jesus. But they ARE like this… that is why he is writing to them!

What if Paul is not telling these Christ followers that they are going to Hell for being fornicators, thieves, or drunkards. What if Paul is telling these Christ followers that they are no longer defined by those terms, that they have a new definition, found in Christ. That they should stop behaving as if they were defined by their old terms and start behaving by their new definition, found in Christ. What if Paul is telling them that they can do whatever they want in Christ because Christ doesn’t see their sin anymore, but that they shouldn’t do whatever they want, because Jesus has empowered them to live righteous lives.

1. Disciples eat with IRS employees and other sinners – Matthew 9:10, Mark 2:16, Luke 5:30
2. Disciples do not like to skip meals – Matthew 9:14, Mark 2:18
3. Disciples have authority over unclean spirits and can heal every kind of disease and sickness – Matthew 10:1; Just kidding – Mark 9:18, Luke 9:40
4. Disciples do not observe the Sabbath – Matthew 12:2-3
5. Disciples do not understand parables – Matthew 13:36, Mark 7:17, Luke 8:9
6. Disciples do not wash their hands before they eat – Matthew 15:2, Mark 7:5
7. Disciples do not like to waste expensive perfume – Mathew 26:7-8
8. Disciples like to sleep – Matthew 26:40-45, Luke 22:45-46
9. Disciples betray Jesus – Matthew 26:8, Luke 22:47-48, John 12:4
10. Disciples will be like Jesus – Luke 6:40
11. Disciples sometimes can get a little postal – Luke 9:54
12. Disciples don’t know how to pray – Luke 11:1
13. Disciples hate their father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and themselves – Luke 14:26
14. Disciples carry their own cross – Luke 14:27
15. Disciples give up all their own possessions – Luke 14:33
16. Disciples don’t like kids, but should – Luke 18:15
17. Disciples abide in Jesus’ words – John 8:31
18. Disciples like pedicures – John 13:5
19. Disciples love one another – John 13:35
20. Disciples lie about knowing Jesus – John 18:17-27
21. Disciples comfort their mothers, sometimes – John 19:27
22. Some disciples take a lot of convincing – John 20:25
23. Some disciples do not like to serve tables – Acts 6:2
24. Disciples are continually filled with joy and the Holy Spirit – Acts 13:52
25. Um… and one to grow on…

Obviously this isn’t a complete list of what a disciple of Jesus looks like, but it should get you started on your journey.

Anyway, since this is a premium plugin we need a way to notify people of plugin updates. Frankly, I have never needed to do this, so I needed to figure it out. Luckily, I have a copy of Professional WordPress Plugin Development and in Chapter 9 there is very simple example of exactly what I wanted to do. Unluckily, the example doesn’t work… well, not entirely. It was always reporting an update, even if it was on the latest version. But I had enough information to trace down what was happening and figure out what I needed to change. By the way, the example code for the book is available from the publisher’s website.

So, without further adieu, this is a modified version of what I did:

This is the code I added to my plugin:

function my_plugin_plugins_api( $false, $action, $args ) {

	$plugin_slug = plugin_basename( __FILE__ );

	// Check if this plugins API is about this plugin
	if( $args->slug != $plugin_slug )
		return false;

	// POST data to send to your API
	$args = array(
		'action' 	=> 'get-plugin-information'
	);

	// Send request for detailed information
	$response = $this->my_plugin_api_request( $args );

	return $response;

}
add_filter( 'plugins_api', 'my_plugin_plugins_api', 10, 3 );

function my_plugin_update_plugins( $transient ) {

	// Check if the transient contains the 'checked' information
	// If no, just return its value without hacking it
	if ( empty( $transient->checked ) )
		return $transient;

	// The transient contains the 'checked' information
	// Now append to it information form your own API
	$plugin_path = plugin_basename( __FILE__ );

	// POST data to send to your API
	$args = array(
		'action' 	=> 'check-latest-version'
	);

	// Send request checking for an update
	$response = $this->my_plugin_api_request( $args );

	// If there is a new version, modify the transient
	if( version_compare( $response->new_version, $transient->checked[$plugin_path], '>' ) )
		 $transient->response[$plugin_path] = $response;

	return $transient;

}
add_filter( 'pre_set_site_transient_update_plugins', 'my_plugin_update_plugins' );

function my_plugin_api_request( $args ) {

	// Send request
	$request = wp_remote_post( http://api.url/location, array( 'body' => $args ) );

	if ( is_wp_error( $request ) || 200 != wp_remote_retrieve_response_code( $request ) )
		return false;

	$response = unserialize( wp_remote_retrieve_body( $request ) );

	if ( is_object( $response ) )
		return $response;
	else
		return false;

}

Then I setup a WordPress install for my API and created a custom template for the API page

/**
 * Template Name: API
**/

$action = $_REQUEST['action'];

// Create new object
$response = new stdClass;

switch( $action ) {

    // API is asked for the existence of a new version of the plugin
    case 'check-latest-version':
        $response->slug = 'my_plugin_slug';
        $response->new_version = '1.0.2';
        $response->url = 'http://plugin.url/';
        $response->package = 'http://plugin.url/download/location';
		break;

    // Request for detailed information
    case 'get-plugin-information':
        $response->name = 'my_plugin_name';
        $response->slug = 'my_plugin_slug';
        $response->requires = '3.3';
        $response->tested = '3.3.1';
	$response->rating = 100.0; //just for fun, gives us a 5-star rating :)
        $response->num_ratings = 1000000000; //just for fun, a lot of people rated it :)
        $response->downloaded = 1000000000; //just for fun, a lot of people downloaded it :)
        $response->last_updated = "2012-04-15";
        $response->added = "2012-02-01";
		$response->homepage = "http://plugin.url/";
        $response->sections = array(
            'description' =>  'Add a description of your plugin',
            'changelog' =>  'Add a list of changes to your plugin'
        );
        $response->download_link = 'http://plugin.url/download/location';
        break;

}

echo serialize( $response );

This isn’t exactly what I did, but it’s much more basic. Here are some things you can think about. First, the IssueM plugin uses an API key, so I send the API Key to api to verify the user has the right to update the plugin (say they don’t pay next year or something). The download_link setting is dynamic, for IssueM, it’s something like http://api.url/download/location?api=API_KEY. Then I have a separate script at the download location that will also verify the API Key and will send the latest IssueM plugin (which is located in a hidden directory). I also didn’t hard-code the downloaded argument, I actually track the downloads by using the dynamic download script. So my $response->downloaded actually equals get_option( ‘my_plugin_downloads’ ).

The download script I setup looks something like this:

/**
 * Template Name: Download Latest Version
 *
**/

$downloads = get_option( 'my_plugin_downloads', 100 );
update_option( 'my_plugin_downloads', ++$downloads );

$file = '/physical/location/of/your/file.zip';
$file_content = file_get_contents( $file );

header( 'Content-type: application/force-download' );
header( 'Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="my_plugin.zip"' );

echo $file_content;

exit;

You can completely customize and expand this code to do whatever you want. By adding extra arguments being sent to your API, you could have several plugins in this same repository. You can send API key information, host information, and anything else you’d need/want.

Today, my friend sent me a screenshot of an “ad” I was in on Facebook. I have heard of Facebook using your “likes” and even your picture in ads, and I generally do not have a problem with this. I don’t even have a problem with them using my post for this ad, I said the words and I’ll stand by them. I am just shocked that they would use the entire content of my post to create an ad for one of my friends.

Here was the original posting:

This was the ad my friend saw today:

What I find most interesting is that this ad is completely out of context. Brushwood set the price of his book to half price (3.99$) on the day of launch, now the book costs 7.99$. I wonder if this should be considered “false advertising.”

If it concerns you that Facebook is using your content in their ads, you can easily disable this aspect of Facebook. Go to Account Settings -> Facebook Ads and select Edit Social Ad settings. There are two options “No one” or “Only my friends”. I have mine set to “Only my friends” — as I said, I already said this stuff on Facebook, them reusing it does not bother me. After all, Facebook (and similar services) remain free because of the ads. We are the product, the advertisers are the customers. I would not pay for Facebook, so I will allow them to use my image/content in their ads.

I repeat: Christian ladies should not wear bikinis in public.

I asked him why he felt this way, and he told me that it was an issue of modesty. Of course, being the snarky man that I am, I told him not to tell Eve. But the conversation continued and my interest in this subject piqued. I decided to do a little research in what the scriptures actually say about modesty. I was not really surprised by what I found, but you may be!

First, lets talk about the most common verse I’ve found used when it comes to scriptural modesty, 1 Timothy 2:9 – “Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel.” In my research on the internet, I found several sources citing this verse. If we take this verse as is, in a modern day scenario, it sounds like Paul is telling women to put on some clothes and quit showing their cleavage. Right? However, the verse actually describes for us what is modest and what is immodest. Let’s read the whole things! 1 Timothy 2:9-10 – “Women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works.” So, Paul clearly defined “respectable apparel” as “good works”. Also, he clearly defines immodesty as “braided hair, gold or pearls, and costly attire”. I’m not sure Paul is talking about bikini’s here. Of course, during his time, everyone swam naked.

1 Peter 3:3-4 also discusses modesty in a similar way to 1 Timothy – “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear — but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”

Second, we look to the Old Testament in Deuteronomy and find “A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.” (verse 22:5). Like the 1 Peter verse above, there is no mention of “modesty” per se, but at least we are getting to a point of what women should wear (or should not wear in this case).

Third… wait, there is no third. Yes, that’s right, these are the only two verses that directly speak to modesty in some way. Now, how did we get from braided hair, jewelry, and expensive clothes being immodest to bikinis. Well, it is quite simple, men like to blame women for their own problems. In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said this, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” You see, if you have a nice figure and you are on the beach, wearing a bikini, it is your fault that I am going to lust after you… right?

In the conversation with my friend, I eventually brought up Burqas. Now, I do not live in a society where women regularly wear Burqas. However, I am a man and I do know how my own mind works. I suspect that Burqas do not prevent a man from lusting after a woman. When we stop blaming women for our own problem, we just might start to see what God sees. It is not the physical dress that determines immodesty, it is our heart and actions.

With all that said, my interpretation of 1 Timothy and 1 Peter is not that braided hair, costly jewelry and clothes are immodest. Paul and Peter were talking to women who thought braided hair, jewelry, and expensive clothes showed how good they were, their worth, and their respectability. Today, Peter and Paul might write the same thing about bikinis, if there are women wearing them to show how good they are, their worth, or their respectability.

Name: Carson White

Email: carsonwhite@sti-creative.com

Comments: Hi,

We carried out a preliminary analysis on your website and discovered the following areas of concern.
1.    Your website attracts limited traffic, which affects potential sales.
2.    Your keywords don’t feature in Google first page, which affects visibility.
3.    Your back links are not good enough, which affects link popularity.
4.    Your website is not properly promoted, which affects the overall score.
We are a Search Engine Optimization service provider and can assist you in overcoming the above mentioned problems. We can perform a more detailed analysis on your website and provide you the plan of action of how we can promote the same.

Please let us know if you require the SEO REPORT on your website at no cost.

Best Regards,
Carson
Systems Technology International Inc.
Michigan: 39555 Orchard Hill Place, Suite 461, Novi, Michigan-48375
New York: 9921 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209
www (dot) sti-cs (dot) com

Notice: Under The Bill 1618 Title iii passed by the 105th US Congress this mail may not be considered SPAM as long as the contact information is included and a method to be removed from our mailing list stated. If you are not interested in receiving our e-mails then please reply with REMOVE in the subject line and your ID will be removed from our mailing list. We apologize for the inconvenience caused to you.

And my reply…

Hi Carson,

I’ve carried out a preliminary analysis of your email and discovered the following areas of concern.
1.    You think we are suckers.
2.    You most likely implement black-hat “SEO” services that end up hurting companies, rather than helping them.
3     You probably over charge your clients for a service that none of them need. Google actually does a pretty good job of figuring out what is important and what isn’t… without people trying to game the system.
4.    You emailed us about our site not ranking well, but how do you explain finding our site?
5.    The bill S.1618 Title III was passed by the Senate, but was not passed by the House. It takes both the House and the Senate to pass a law. Furthermore, a similar bill, H.R. 3888 was passed by the House, but was not passed by the Senate, thus and again, not making it law. Therefore, your email is SPAM.

We are intelligent human beings and can assist you in overcoming the above mentioned problems. We can help develop a training in ethics, philosophy, and logic and provide you with a plan of action of how to stop SPAMMING and SCAMMING innocent businesses.

Please let us know if you require these lessons at much cost.

Best Regards,

Lew Ayotte
Full Throttle Development, LLC
http://fullthrottledevelopment.com
http://twitter.com/full_throttle
http://twitter.com/lewayotte

For some reason he never replied.

ZAGG smartbuds (3.5/5)

Let’s start with the ZAGG smartbuds. I originally bought these because the Apple earbuds that came with my iPhone began to breakdown from over use. At the time these things were 75$, but I was able to get a pretty good coupon… back when ZAGG use to give their stuff away to gain momentum. The second pair I bought second hand from a co-worker who didn’t really like them (he’s stockier than I am and said that the cordage didn’t really work for him). There are many things I loved about these earbuds and many things I didn’t…

Pro’s

1. They can be worn in a way that keeps the buds around your neck, even when not in use. This was probably the most convenient thing about these earbuds and I wore mine everyday like this. It makes it convenient for taking calls, as well as just popping in your earbuds to listen to the No Agenda Podcast (the best podcast in the universe).
2. They are very comfortable, the earbuds actually come with 4 different sets of earbud adapters, 2 sizes of the thin silicone earbuds and 2 sets of the thicker foam earbuds. I used the smallest size foam and thought that they fit the best and gave the best noise cancellation affect, great for when I was listening to Beyond the Box Podcast with Steve Sensenig and Raborn Johnson.
3. They generally sound great, bare in mind, I’m listening to mostly podcasts and the audio quality doesn’t need to be amazing for me to get what I need, but I’ve never had any major problems with the sound.

Con’s

1. The regular iPhone headphones have push button volume up/down controls and the hang-up/answer button. The ZAGG smartbuds has the hang-up/answer button, but the volume control is actually separate from the the iPhone controls, it’s a slide. It kind of gives you a little more control over the volume, since you can control the headphone volume from your iPhone and then also from your headphones. However, I found this to be a nuisance more than anything. I always kept my iPhone volume up to 100% and controlled the actual headphone volume using the slider. However, it seemed like at some points in the “slide” the volume went from just too low to just too high. I think it would have been much more sensible to just use the volume up/down controls like the Apple earbuds.
2. My first pair started to get some static, it seemed like the 3.5mm connector  started to wear down so whenever it moved in my pocket I’d hear some crackling noises.
3. I really liked that I could keep the earbud around my neck… but occasionally I’d be reminded that at any time some ninja could sneak up behind me while I’m listening to This Week in Tech and strangle me to death with my own earbuds.
4. They claim that they have a noise cancelling mic. I’m not sure how this works or if it even worked. I didn’t really detect any real noise cancelling effect apart from the foam earbuds. I could be wrong, but I did occasionally have to set the volume to the highest setting. I would think with “noise cancellation” it would have cancelled the noise around me better. This is true for both pairs I owned.
5. It’s actually kind of hard to store these earbuds. The cordage is much longer than a typical set, and there are many “hard” places that seem to get into the way of how I normally wrap a set of earphones.

Skullcandy 50/50 Earbuds (4/5)

After I accidentally broke my second pair of ZAGG smart buds (my first pair broke on their own somehow). I needed to get a new set of earbuds. It’s hard to come by a good ZAGG coupon these days, so I had to look elsewhere for my podcast listening needs. After a few search and reading some reviews on Amazon I decided to try out the Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds.

Pro’s

1. These actually have the Apple standard volume up/down control buttons. This is so much better than a slider to control the volume, I no longer have to fight for the “perfect” volume when I listen to the Freakonomics Podcast.
2. I broke my last set of smartbud because of the “around the neck” feature, I don’t have to worry about that with these, if I snag the cord on something they’ll just pop out of my ears. But if I’m not wearing them, they’ll be put in my pocket anyway. So hopefully these will last me longer than the smartbuds did.
3. Like the smartbuds, the sounds quality is great. I haven’t noticed any problems, no snapping, or crackling. Though I haven’t had these as long as my first part of the smartbuds.
4. It is much easier to wrap up these headphones in and store them, though this is only against the ZAGG smartbuds, I’m sure any traditional headphones would be just as easy as these are. It’s still a PRO because I no longer have to deal with that hassle.

Con’s

1. I don’t know why they are made this way, but their silicone earbud adapters are horrible (at least for me). They sound fine, but the problem is they have little embossed “skulls” on them, which basically makes the inside of my ear itch like crazy. It’s like having a small grain of sand in your ear. Luckily, I had all my earbud adapters from my ZAGG collection. The foam ones didn’t really work (they didn’t fit right on the earphones), but the ZAGG silicone adapters worked great, and they’re actually very comfortable. I know this is turning into a pro, but it’s a con… because I think you’ll have to buy a third-party set of silicone earbud adapaters to get a comfortable feel. Skullcandy really needs to change this (seriously, who the heck is going to see the “skull” in your ears anyway). Though I never saw this complaint in the reviews I’ve read, it might just be me.
2. These don’t have the same feature that lets you keep the earbuds around your neck. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I really did like that about the smartbuds. Though I don’t really need to worry about ninjas as much.
3. These earbuds have a chrome piece on the earbuds that actually get pretty cold and is kind of shocking when you put it in your ear. It doesn’t last long, but I don’t enjoy it very much.

So there you have it, I was able to get the Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds a bit cheaper on Amazon than the ZAGG smartbuds. Neither are perfect, but I guess if you don’t want to buy those 200$ earbuds, you’ll have to compromise in one way or another. I think I’m really going to like the Skullcandy 50/50 earbuds though, the biggest complaint I have against them is their embossed silicone earbud adapters. If it wasn’t for that, I’d probably give them 5 (out of five).

What I used…
2 1/2 cups of rigatoni (or any sort of pasta)
2 cups of sliced carrots (I don’t peel my carrots)
2 cups of celery (I hate the smell of raw celery)
1 can of green beans (drained)
1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 large potato (diced)
About 4 cups of tomato sauce
About 7 cups of water
Salt and pepper to taste.

All these ingredients made a pretty hearty soup, you could probably cut some of them down a bit if you didn’t want it so hearty.

First, I made the rigatoni according to the instructions on the box and drained it.
Second, in a large pot, put everything in, cover and bring to a boil, once it starts boiling lower the temperature to a simmer. Let simmer for 30-60 minutes (keep it covered). Cook until the veggies are tender.
Third, enjoy a hot and hearty soup!

The story is about a journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (played by Daniel Craig), who is hired by Henrik Vanger to investigate the death of his daughter from 35 years ago. As he is figuring out what happens, he gets an assistant, Lizbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara), the girl with the dragon tattoo. Lizbeth, is basically an hacker/investigator for a company. She is 23 years old but is a ward of the state because she was ruled incompetent/insane as a child. She is extremely intelligent but has had a very rough life. This movie reveals the dark side of Sweden as Lizbeth and Mikael’s fates intersect and they journey together in solving Vanger’s daughter’s death.

I wholeheartedly give this movie 5 out of 5 Circus Peanuts, with two caveats.

1) The “hacking” is not very realistic, this is typical of all movies though.
2) This movie is VERY R-rated. Rooney Mara has a few nude/sex scenes in the movie. There are also extremely graphic (and disturbing) rape/revenge scenes.

Regardless, this movie has definitely peaked my interested to the next two books in the series. I believe I’ll start reading them soon.

Week 6 – Week 4 (level 2):
Monday – Day 1 Goal: 18, 22, 16, 16, max (25+) – Actual: 12, 22, 10, 10, 6
Tuesday – Day 2 Goal: 20, 25, 20, 20, max (28+) – Actual: 20, 25, 10 ,10, 10
Friday – Day 3 Goal: 23, 28, 23, 23, max (33+) – Actual: 23, 22, 12, 14, 14
Total This Week: 220 Pushups (26 more than last week)

I am still seeing improvements overall, just not the sort of improvements the program is trying to get.

So here are the results for the end of last week.
Week 4 – Week 2 (level 2):
Monday – Day 1 Goal: 10, 12, 9, 9, max (13+) – Actual: 10, 12, 9, 9, 14
Tuesday – Day 2 Goal: 12, 13, 10, 10, max (15+) – Actual: 12, 13, 10, 10, 15
Evaluation Test: 25 Total
Total That Week: 120 Pushups.

And the results for the end of this week.
Week 5 – Week 3 (level 2):
Monday – Day 1 Goal: 12, 17, 13, 13, max (17+) – Actual: 12, 17, 13, 8, 7
Tuesday – Day 2 Goal: 14, 19, 14, 14, max (19+) – Actual: 14, 19, 14, 7, 8
Friday – Day 3 Goal: 16, 21, 15, 15, max ( 21+) – Actual: 16, 21, 15, 11, 13
Total This Week: 194 Pushups.

So, as you can see I have definitely started to improve. It didn’t ask me if I wanted to restart this week this last time, so I am going to press forward onto the Week 4 plan.

As I said last week the iPhone App wanted me to take the exhaustion test again. I was able to do 23 good form pushups, which put me at level 2 for Week 3.

Week 3 (level 2):
Monday – Day 1 Goal: 12, 17, 13, 13, max (17+) – Actual: 12, 17, 10, 5, 5
Tuesday – Day 2 Goal: 14, 19, 14, 14, max (19+) – Actual: 14, 19, 9, 9, 7
Friday – Day 3 Goal: 16, 21, 15, 15, max ( 21+) – Actual: 16, 17, 9, 9, 8
Total This Week: 166 Pushups (27 more than last week).

The iPhone App keeps asking me if I want to do the same set next time, or go back a week. I decided to “press on” because at the end of this week (I’ll do it Sunday) there is a re-test to see where you start off on the third week.

So here we go… week 2 (level 3):
Monday – Day 1 Goal: 14, 14, 10, 10, max (15+) – Actual: 14, 14, 5, 1, 2
Tuesday – Day 2 Goal: 14, 16, 12, 12, max (17+) – Actual: 14, 16, 9, 6, 4
Friday – Day 3 Goal: 16, 17, 14, 14, max (20+) – Actual: 16, 17, 9, 6, 6
Total This Week: 139 Pushups (16 more than last week).

As I said, Sunday I will retake the evaluation test to see where I’m suppose to start. By the way, a friend asked me what the rest was between each set. Day 1 – 60 seconds, Day 2 – 90 seconds, Day 3 – 120 seconds.

First, I purchased the iPhone App here (they also have a “multiuser” version available here). I bought the single user version. I like the app because it doesn’t require me to look anything up, just tells me what I’m suppose to do and has a built-in rest timer for resting between sets. I didn’t want to have to deal with tracking that information on my own.

These are the results from week 1:
Sunday – Initial Test – 19 Consecutive Pushups (Which starts me out in Level 3).
Monday – Day 1 Goal: 10, 12, 7, 7, max (9+) – Actual: 10, 12, 6, 4, 8
Tuesday – Day 2 Goal: 10, 12, 8, 8, max (12+) – Actual: 10, 12, 7, 5, 5
Friday – Day 3 Goal: 11, 15, 9, 9, max( 13+) – Actual: 11, 15, 8, 5, 5
Total This Week: 123 Pushups ( +19 Initial Test )

I was very happy with my initial test results, 19 consecutive pushups is actually much more than I’ve ever been able to do. As you can see, I have had some trouble with the program, being too fatigued to finish the last few sets. In cases where I cannot make the goal, I do knee pushups to finish off the set. But I only count the full pushups. I also did Day 2 in the evenings, Days 1 and 3 were both completed in the afternoon. In the future, I will do them all at the same time.