Still at it...

So I am still going strong. Three weeks into the workplace, Healthy Overhaul, competition, and I am still counting calories, and excersising. So far it seems to be paying off. When I weighed in at work yesterday I had dropped 15 pounds in the three weeks.

I am finally putting our treadmill to some use. We bought it a few months back, with the thought process that if we bought something really expensive, it would force us to excercise, beacuse we didn't want it to be a waste of money. For a while, outside of a few uses, mainly by the misses, it looked like it would collect dust with our stationary bike and eliptical. Now I hop on it at least 4 times a week, if not more.

I also have started using this excersise band in place of weights to help build muscle. With Sophia around, and our house already full of crap I don't want to have weights lying around, so this band is a great alternative. I have pretty much figured out a way to do almost any weight lifting move I would want. I am not trying to get ripped, so it does it's job.

I also got a bike. Trevor finally learned how to ride, so I got one to ride with him. It was fun taking it out on the Green Circle and just going fast. During this whole get back into shape process I realized that is the thing I missed the most. Being able to go out and be fast. Not sprinter fast, but Cross Country, High School Miler fast. I look forward to finding my speed again.

I think I could take a Mountain Lion in a fight.

So, I am back at it. I started this back in March of '08 to among other things, get healthier. Well it begins again. This time I am starting out a bit worse than last time. 240 over 234 to be exact. On the bright side, after a few days I am down to 237. The great thing about being crazy out of shape, is that with a little healthy eating and exercise you can really drop some weight quick.

I also have an Ipod Touch app, that helps me keep track of calories eaten and burned. Obviously there are a lot of opinions on the best way to lose weight, but I find keeping track of calories a good start. It really makes me take a better look at what I am eating, and think twice about eating a lot of things. The dance throughout the day often is, if I eat this now, how much am I going to need to exercise later to even things out.

With the exercising comes blogging again. I realized that while walking I spend 30 minutes rambling to myself in my head. Today I thought about what would happen if I saw a mountain lion. I decided that based on my location at the time, I would climb one of the pine trees in the area, and then try and get a video of it with my phone. I figured that I would be able to keep the Mountain Lion at bay with kicks, and it would grow tired of it and eventually leave. The trees were big enough for me to climb, but small enough to make it difficult to get to me.

If I didn't have time to climb a tree, I would try and scare it away, if it started coming at me. If push came to shove, I would dodge it as ait lunged at me, and put it in a sleeper hold. I am pretty sure that sleeper holds work on Mountain Lions.

NYC

So, I am in NYC for the first time. Originally it was supposed to be a quick trip, but the oncoming snow might strand me here for a while. I flew in on Monday, and was supposed to fly to DC Tuesday night. On Monday I find out that the office I am visitng on Tuesday is closed until Thursday. Which means, I don't need to go to DC anylonger. So, I cancel flights and hotels (to be honest, work did it, not me) and get a flight out for early Wed. Hoping to beat the snow. Shortly after that flight is booked, it gets canceled, and now I am on a 10 AM flight out. I tried getting out today, but all flights were full.

Though, that meant I got to bum around NY a bit.

Which means, I got to go to the Daily Show. Which.Was.Awesome. My wonderful wife, went online and signed me up for a ticket, almost right away I got the email that I was on the list. It was 3 PM and I needed to be in line by 4, so I had to truck it about 15 blocks. I made it on time, and waited in line. Security comes through and let's you know as long as your name is on the list, you should get tickets. They always overbook, so the audience is full. Though tonight, everyone got in, even the people who didn't put in for tickets. While in line they have different people come out, and give you the rules. No pictures, turn your cell phones off, laugh and clap but don't yell out, or they remove you. They let us know that Jon will do a Q and A before the show, but don't ask him for anything. I waited in line for about an hour and a half, and finally got in. Everyone files through a metal detector.

The studio is not that big. I think I heard them say that it seats 200. The set is no more than what you see. The desk and background. Right next to the desk is the green screen where the "reporters" do their standups. Before the show starts a guy comes out to warm up the croud. Tonight is was Paul Mercurio. He talks about how the audience needs to laugh, as they don't have a laugh track. He hits on some girl, and mocks someone else. Then they bring Jon out. He did about 10 minutes of Q and A. He was really comfortable and open. You can tell he has been doing this awhile, and comes off as just a guy, not Jon Stewart. One interesting question was about his interview on O'Riely, and whose idea it was to put the entire interview up uncut on the internet. He said that it was a condition he had in order to do the interview. He had a feeling that the cut that aired might not be an honest portrail. They then kick off the show. Once they get into the show, it pretty much runs as you see it. They do a section and go to commercial. The commercial portion is a longer break, while they transition. They pump music into the room, and after a song, they get back into the show.

Tonights guest was Newt Gingrich. Which was cool, as he always has spirited discussion with political figures. After running through is alloted interview time, and throwing it to commercial, he continued to interview Newt for another ten minutes, which they will put online.

Overall a very cool experience.

Firsts, A second time...

So, I took a trip to Chicago yesterday. I had a meeting. On my way home, I was listening to a podcast, and they covered an interesting question.

What movie would you want to see again for the first time.

It came from a listener who stated they wanted to see Pulp Fiction again, for the first time. Not know what it was going into it, and experiencing it again. I thought it was a fairly interesting topic, so I figured I would ramble on about it here for a while.

In terms of movies I would want to see again for the first time, I have a couple. For me, one would be Jurassic Park. It came out in 1993 when I was twelve. I still remember the first scene where Sam Neils character first gets to the island and sees the dinosaurs. The awe of seeing these creatures on the big screen was pure enjoyment for twelve year old me. It was true escape from reality.

There are other movies such as The Matrix, Fight Club, and The Usual Suspects, which leave you in a sense of confusion and misdirection through out the movie, with a big payoff at the end. I love movies that tell the story while clouded in mystery, that leave you talking about them, and what they meant for days afterwards.

Otherwise I would want to see films of my favorite directors again. Clerks, from Kevin Smith, Rushmore from Wes Anderson, and Reservoir Dogs from QT. To have the feeling again of wanting to see more of what they have done. I am not tied to any actors, but chomp at the bit to see new works from these three.

Now that the last season of LOST is upon us, I would love to go back and watch the first five seasons again for the first time. I can't ever remember having a TV show that had me this excited. It's funny, as most of the time I am sad that one of my favorite shows is ending, but this time around I welcome and look forward to the end. I want answers, and look forward to getting some.

Sochi here I come!

So today started my quest to be an olympic athelete. As a curler for the US Olympic team. That's right, I want to be an olympic curler.

Well, most likely not, but I did get to curl toay.

I am in a leadership class, which contains people from all sorts of organizations and businesses in my area. One of the people in the class does PR and Marketing for the US Curling Association. Which is awesome.

I have always enjoied watching curling at the Olympics, so it was cool to meet someone who does PR for the team. I drilled her with questions, on everything curling. Being an Olympic year she is crazy busy, the coolest thing so far is she went with the team to be on The Colbert Report. They had a day at a curling center wiht him taping for the show. If you haven't seen it, I recommend you check it out at Comedy Central. She also got to hang out with the Monday Night Football crew in Green Bay. The curling team was their and taught them to curl.

Anyway, today I curled for the first time. In town we have a curling center, and she had an open house/training session for us. It was super fun. I haven't been as excited about something in a long time. It reminded me of being a kid, before going on a field trip. You were excited, and not always sure what you were going to get to do.

My first slide garnered a "nice slide" from the teacher of the opposite group, and my third slide earned a "that's perfect", I also received great praise while practicing my turns. You see, you never throw a straight rock, you always want to curve it.

Once we got around to playing a game, I was picked to, Skip, my team. Which means I stand at the opposite end of the throwers and pick where I want the rocks to go. It's like being the on field manager, who then gets to come in and throw the final stones.

My team lost the first end, but came back strong winning the next two.

I actually might look at joining a league next year. It was ton's of fun.

Psych!

Jay's 2004 Announcement - watch more funny videos

I guess this means I could write for the NY Times

So I watched the Golden Globes on Sunday night. I am a sucker for awards shows and this one gives the people getting awards booze, so there is always a chance of some great water cooler talk.

This time though, it was me and some guy from the NY Times who were looking like fools. Why you ask? Because we both made fun of a guy with cancer.

For those of you that don't know. Michael C. Hall has Hodgkin's lymphoma. Which is not funny. Because of this he was wearing what would best be described as a black stocking cap at the awards show. Most likely because he is going through treatment for his Cancer.

My being the insensitive moron that I am, briefly had up on my Facebook page, What is Michael C Hall wearing on his head? Yeah, I asked why a guy going through cancer treatment was wearing a hat.

How does this qualify me for writing for the NY times?

Because one of the bloggers for the NY times tweeted this: Is Michael C. Hall playing Bob Marley in an upcoming movie? Don't get the hat or what he is hiding under it

That's right, not only did he question the hat, he asked if the very white Michael C. Hall was going to be playing Bob Marley.

Stay classy NY Times!

For those of you who don't know who Michael C. Hall is, he is on Showtimes, Dexter. Watch it.

Holy Crap

So did you guys see Pat Robertson? If not, check this out... If you want to learn more about the "pact with the devil" check this out... They crazy part to me is that be believes it. I have watched some more of Pat's coverage of the Haitian tragedy, and he has seemed genuinely concerned about what happened. He has had on organizations doing relief efforts, and asked people to donate money. All while being Holy Crap crazy.

On another note, check out this story. Anyone else feel sorry for these people? I saw Avatar, I liked it, and thought that it was visually stunning. I didn't want to blow the back of my head off afterwards though. I mean I it's a movie. It's.Not.Real.