Disney World '09

I went to Disney World again, December 2nd through the 6th. It was a fun trip, though I'm starting to realize that I need some freshness in future trips, if they're going to happen. My mom and my youngest brother are fun, but I think I'd like to have the opportunity to mix things up from time to time, and that's not easy with a three-person group.

I had a sore foot for the entire trip (and still do today), so all the walking around wasn't great. I'm sure that also contributed to the trip being not as much fun as last year. No pictures this time, sorry, you'll just have to trust me when I say I was there. :)

We stayed at the Contemporary Resort, which is a monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center. The value of this convenience is substantial. Since the Magic Kingdom is my favorite park, it gave us the opportunity to mix in a Magic Kingdom trip whenever we wanted (just twice, but still). The resort also has lots of the standard Disney amenities: swimming pool with a slide, convenience mart, several restaurants, and an arcade.

The coolest thing about our room, though, was the view. Our room faced the Magic Kingdom, which had two big positives. First, we could see Cinderella's castle lit up at night, glowing in the distance. Second, we were able to appreciate the Magic Kingdom's nightly fireworks show from our pair of balconies. I'm a man who likes his fireworks.

Longtime readers may remember that our group really enjoyed the Yak and Yeti restaurant in Animal Kingdom on last year's trip. We went back again this year, and it was good, but not as good as last year. I think part of the reason is that this year, we elected to go with Disney's dining plan, which lets you choose a drink, an entree, and a dessert. It's nice, and it's a good deal, but appetizers can be just as good as main courses. It was a shame to feel like we ought not order appetizers, so that we didn't waste our dining plan. So, that part I regret.

• Read a full-length book in less than 24 hours.

I read all of one book and part of another during the trip. I bought Slam by Nick Hornby in Dulles Airport on Wednesday morning, and finished it Wednesday night in Orlando. It was very good, though the first half was better than the second half. I bought Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk in the Orlando airport, and finished it a few days ago. It was also good, though if you know anything about Palahniuk, you know it had its share of depravity. Not necessarily in a bad way, and it definitely adds to the story, but it does prevent me from recommending the book to people who I don't perceive as having at least some level of depravity (so yes, Greg, you can borrow it). I decided somewhere in the middle of Slam that I wanted to read more books, and Chip let me borrow High Fidelity, so I started reading that (though at a normal, non-vacation pace).

Now, as I promised to Plundo, the review of Disney attractions that I saw for the first time this trip.

• Went on a new ride (or rides) at a theme park.

Snow White's Scary Adventures (2/5)
There are a lot of rides at Disney World that are pretty similar. Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Little Nemo, etc. They're all slowish rides along a track that follow a particular Disney story, and Snow White is no different. Part of the problem for me is that I never found Snow White particularly entertaining. The ride was fine, but I'd put it behind most similar rides.

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor (4/5)
Okay, truth be told, it's more of a three star attraction, but it was a four star experience. It's essentially a brief comedy show where they use real-time cartoons on a movie screen stage. What makes it pretty funny is that the monster comedians actually interact with people in the audience, reacting to what they say, and calling people by their names. They have a separate screen at the front that shows who they're talking to, and how they react. What made our experience particularly good is that my mom was one of the audience members featured in the show. Embarrassment is always funny. :)

Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress (1/5)
I considered giving this ride zero stars out of five, but that goes against the grading standard. Plus, it's got some marginal value. You get to sit, which is nice, and I hear that it's especially good when the weather is hot, because it's indoor and air conditioned. The attraction sits you in a rotating theater that goes through a few different years, and the scenes play out with an animatronic guy telling you about all of the new technology of that particular era. If possible, it's more boring than it sounds. Also, the guy has a dog who lives to be like 80, which would be cool, but come on.

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular (4/5)
There are two parts to this attraction. There are a few action scenes with lots of stunts, including an airplane, machine guns, explosions, spears, and of course, a giant rolling boulder. The rest of the show is in between, where they involve the audience, make some jokes, and talk about what it's like to make a movie, and do stunts. The in between time is okay, and the stunts are pretty bad ass. Boom. Four stars.

Soarin' (5/5)
My sister had reported that Epcot's Soarin' was kind of a disappointment when she had gone on it, and that the line was astronomically long. The line was very long, but I thought the ride was fantastic. You sit in a row of chairs that gets lifted, putting you in front of a giant screen. The screen then goes through several hang-gliding scenes, with ups and downs, mixing in smells to go along (orange orchards and pine trees were what I remember). I think you have to let yourself just watch the screen, rather than look around at the other riders, but as long as you do that, it's an awesome ride.

Bayou Billy

As some of you may remember (or just assume), I'm crazy about video game music. There's a whole site dedicated to video game music (OC Remix), and today's selection comes from that site. The song is called El Lagarto, by Evil Horde. The original song is from the game The Adventures of Bayou Billy.

I might normally give you a description of the song's style, tenor, etc., but not today. Today I'm just asking you to listen. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.

Twenty for Thirty

Yes, 20 for 30 would be a pretty solid completion percentage for a quarterback, or an unbelievable tear for a hitter, but I'm talking about neither of those.

Here's the idea. Next year is 2010, and I was born in 1980. So next year is the 30th year of my existence, and the year of my 30th birthday. With all of my recent talk about achievements, I got to thinking that maybe I should put together a list of things I'd like to do before I turn 30. I scaled it back a few months, and decided I'll put together a list of things I want to accomplish by the end of my 30th year, the year 2010.

I've got a preliminary list of not quite twenty goals, but I'd be happy to hear any ideas, discuss any topics, or dismiss any suggestions you might have. Drop me a line or post a comment if you've got something worth saying...or even if not, really. I'm the only one who reads this blog anyways.

:)

Games, and Real Life Achievements

A few weeks ago, as a result of several discussions with Chip, I decided since I spend a decent amount of time worried about accumulating Xbox Achievements, maybe I should incorporate that concept into my everyday life. It'll give me something to blog about, and, perhaps more importantly, it'll give me a reason to do things that are achievement-worthy. My trip to Atlantic City this past weekend gave me a couple opportunities...

• "Lost" more than thirty minutes due to heavy partying.

Yes, the trip was interesting and eventful. What's unfortunate, though, is that from hearing about all of my comments and antics, it sounds like I was near the top of my game with regards to humor. It would've been nice to have firsthand memories of that debauchery. Also I seem to have burnt my tongue at some point during the night, and I've been dealing with that for a few days, so I must have burnt it pretty damn good.

In pretty much unrelated news, I love games. Mostly video, but board games can be fun as well. I've got one of each variety that I'd like to talk about today, and both of which I recommend fully.

Agricola

Allegedly, it's pronounced ah-GRI-ko-lah, but I will continue to pronounce it as if it were a farm soda. No matter how you say it, the game is seriously fun.

The basic premise of Agricola is that you're a farmer trying to make a living through the acquisition and development of farmland and livestock. The goal is to, at the end of the game, have the most complete, successful, and diverse farm in the game. The availability of resources and your opponents' actions play a heavy role in determining what your strategy ought to be. It's got a fairly low amount of luck involved, which is right up my alley (those of you familiar with my opinion on using kickers in fantasy football know that I don't like luck).

Most importantly, perhaps, is that I'm not terrible at the game. In fact, just last weekend...

• Won a game of Agricola
  

League of Legends

League of Legends is based on the very popular Warcraft III custom map called Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. The basic premise is similar to Warcraft III, where two armies clash, each with the intent of destroying the opposing army's base. In this game, though, the two armies are controlled by artificial intelligence. Each player controls a "champion" unit on one of the two sides, with special abilities that he or she can use to turn the tide of the battle.

This new game is good, but it seems that the balance could be improved, and that the heroes could have a little more variety. Virtually every hero has a stunning attack and a nuke, and none of the heroes have any sort of unit summons. The game shouldn't be focused so dramatically on hero-killing, and I'm hopeful that through various future updates, the designers will provide a more unique experience with each champion.

I have no achievement associated with this game, as I haven't really done very well thus far. Whatever, suck on it.

Queen Songs for Rock Band

I like playing Rock Band. I love the band Queen. Ten Queen songs are coming to Rock Band at the end of October. I am happy.

• Another One Bites The Dust
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love
• Fat Bottomed Girls
• I Want It All
• I Want to Break Free
• Killer Queen
• One Vision
• Somebody to Love
• Tie Your Mother Down
• Under Pressure

Conspicuous in its absence is Bohemian Rhapsody, but it's still a nice little set of songs. And I can't imagine a scenario where I don't buy them all.

Let's Stop Driving: Mother Nature

Mother Nature is a bitch.

We're like a bunch of petulant children who have been getting our way for years while Mom wasn't looking. But eventually, Mom realizes what we've been up to and starts throwing shoes at us. Humans have been advancing technologically at a frantic rate, figuring out all sorts of things, not the least of which is transportation. We drive, we ride, we fly, and we go where we want to go. But what we don't realize is that every time we go somewhere, we're tempting Mother Nature to give us a pump to the forehead.

(By the way, for the purposes of this post, I'm referring to the natural world when I say "Mother Nature. That is to say, "Mother Nature" is the Earth and how it works. Okay go.)

Lights Out

People weren't made for night time. We naturally get tired when lights go out. The basic schedules of our society work around the existence of sunlight. Why? Because people can't see in the dark. We need light for reading, for assembling, for cooking, and yes, for driving. You know how I know we need light for driving? Because we put these giant brightening devices on the fronts of cars.

"So we've got the lights, what's the problem?" you ask, knowing full well that I've already got an answer. The problems are twofold. First, the targeted beams of headlights are a poor substitute for the piercing, all-encompassing glow of sunlight. A night driver's peripheral and rear-view vision is almost nil. The second issue is the human eye. Our pupils grow and shrink based on the amount of light in our environment, to help improve vision in particularly bright or dark situations. But at night, when everything is dark, the beam of another car's headlights feels like staring at the sun, and your vision suffers. Impaired vision + night driving = not good. And that's science.

Through Rain, and Sleet, and Snow...

A 2005 survey reported that the average American commuter spends 26 minutes driving to work each day, and that most of us do that commute five days a week, 50 weeks a year. That's 250 days of traveling 50 minutes to and from work, through all sorts of weather conditions. For those of you not so good with math, that's over 200 hours of driving per year, just on your daily work commute.

We're all familiar with the effect of snow on driving conditions, and sometimes we respect it enough to say that it's not worth taking your life in your hands to drive to work today. But a lot of the time, you go to work anyways. You go despite sleet and snow and icy road conditions. The roads weren't designed for icy conditions, and really, neither were our cars (or we'd have spikes in the tires). But you go anyways, for the $75 or $200 or $500 you make in a day, because it's easier than telling your boss that you're uncomfortable driving in the day's weather conditions. Hey, I know all about it. It's the same reason I prefer ordering pizza online; that way, I don't have to talk to anyone.

What about a foggy morning or a stormy day? You'd never consider taking a day off for those kind of weather conditions, but in a lot of ways, those conditions are just as dangerous as ice, and people don't respect them. You'd never wait an hour to leave for work just because it's foggy outside. But you might be wise to do just that; again, impaired visibility is something that is simply unacceptable when you're dealing with a deadly machine like an automobile.

It's Coming Right For Us!

(Hopefully that reference isn't lost on all of you.)

Outside of weather, Mother Nature provides one more big problem for driving: animals. There are an estimated 20 million+ deer in the United States today, and if you spend any time in a rural or suburban area, you know that they're around. The extermination of many natural predators of deer has contributed to an ever-increasing deer population, and it's no surprise that they're showing up everywhere.

Deer are involved in an estimated 1.5 million vehicle collisions every year, and cause $1.1 billion in damages, along with 150 motorist deaths. Fences, guardrails, and deer whistles have not stifled the impact of deer collisions on humans' daily lives, and it's difficult to foresee a change that will. The reality is that, as long as we have any desire to preserve animals in a somewhat natural environment, and as long as we insist on driving cars on roads, we're going to encounter deer and other animals while driving.

"So we're screwed then, right?" Well, no. As long as we insist on driving cars on roads, yes, we're screwed. That's the whole point of this series of posts, remember? "Let's stop driving," that's the whole idea. I'm just trying to point out all the problems with driving, so we can start to realize that this simply can't be the apex of human transportation. There simply must be something better.

Funnies

That's the plural of funny, and not a particularly entertaining type of rabbit.

Two funny things for you. First, if you've never come across Jake and Amir in your Internet-ly travels, you've been missing out on some funny stuff. They're a couple of guys from College Humor who've been pumping out two videos a week for a couple years now. The videos are 1-3 minutes long, but they're long on humor. I recommend you go to the site and just click "Random Video" a few times. My guess is something will come up that you'll like.

The second funny thing for you is my cousin's blog, Opinionated Truths. He's pretty funny. Laugh at him. Not with him, at him.

How To Rate A Movie

I opened a Netflix account a few months ago, and have been enjoying the movie-watching opportunities it's offered. I generally don't see many movies, so this has been my opportunity to catch up on all those "have to see" films.

Facebook offers a feature whereby your Netflix ratings (which Netflix uses to determine what kind of movies you might like and suggests them) are posted on Facebook for all to see. So when I gave the second Fantastic Four movie two stars, my friends saw that I didn't think much of the movie. Likewise, when I ranked High Fidelity as a five-star movie, Facebook automatically relayed that information.

As my ratings have become public, I've started to give them a little more thought, and the most recent movie I've watched has given me some trouble: Taken. It's by no means an intellectual movie, and it doesn't have that big twist that's been seemingly mandatory ever since The Usual Suspects came out. But I found it very entertaining, and also thought it had a satisfying ending.

So the dilemma is this: Do I rate the movie with regards to how impressive it is, how thoughtful the script is, and how powerful it is? Or do I rate it simply with how happy I was to have watched it afterward?

I choose the latter. For me, the ultimate test of a work is not (and never has been) whether the piece showed expertise or inspiration, but whether or not I enjoyed it. I gave The Rock five stars a couple months ago, and unknowingly used this exact logic.

I've spent most my life enjoying "lame" music, watching "nerdy" movies, and just generally being a "geek" or "dork." I like what I like, and after 29 years of life, maybe it's time to fully embrace that. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to some Michael McDonald, watch a couple Harry Potter movies, and see if that Magic: The Gathering game has come out for the Xbox Live Arcade yet (it apparently has).

Just Like Music

First things first, I have decided nothing for my birthday. I'll probably have pie of some sort, though fried ice cream is still on the table. Dessert is about all I look forward to these days. PS: There's pie at the house.

Moneyball is the second most important book I've ever read, behind only Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.

Remember ages ago when I said I was going to start posting audio files of myself playing and singing songs on a regular basis? And remember how not only did I not start posting them on a regular basis, but didn't in fact post a single one? Well, I've got a faint hope of finally coming around on that. Faint.

I'm compiling a list of potential songs right now, and putting them into two categories: A) songs I can play/have played, and B) songs I think I could play and might sound good, were it someone else singing and playing. If you've got any suggestions for either list, I'm happy to hear them. I make no promises about how long it'll take to post anything, or even that anything will progress on this front at all.

Wish me luck.

Cumpleanos

As some of you know (those of you who are real friends), I've got a birthday coming up here in a couple weeks. I've brainstormed a little about what I want to do, but I'm not having a lot of success. So far, the only certainties I've got are that I want to do something, and I'd like to drink some Leinenkugel's beer while I'm doing whatever that something is.

So let's fill in the blank. What will I do for my birthday? It's a Saturday, which adds some possibilities. The default, and I'm sure the first idea that most of you will have (as it was the first idea I had) is to go out. Get a good dinner, go to some bars, have drinks, get someone else to pay. And that doesn't sound terrible, but A) I can go out to bars whenever, B) it'll almost certainly be a group of fifteen guys and two girls, and C) I don't normally seek out bar trips, so it feels strange to do so as a special occasion.

I'm not discounting the possibility of going out to a bar or bars for my birthday, but I feel like I can do better than that. So what do I like doing? Well, playing video games, for starters. I've had fun pretty much every time we've gotten a group together to play (usually Halo or Halo 2), but it's always a challenge getting enough people to build two solid teams. Plus, my basement is still being worked on, so my house isn't a great option for hosting such an event. Add to that the fact that Chip's house now has a baby and is thus much less favorable for hosting, and we're hurting. We'll table that idea for now.

What else do I like? Well, if you've seen a recent picture of me (or really any picture from the past fifteen years), you know I like to eat. No, not babies. Just, you know, food. I was passing through our family room last night and my mom was watching Top Chef. Cooking is pretty cool, and competitions are pretty cool, so what about some kind of cooking competition? Split up into teams or twosomes, have some cooking challenge, judge it, give the winner something. This kind of idea would take some commitments ahead of time, though, so I'd like to hear from you folks if you'd be up for this.

Any other ideas? You guys probably know what I'd like more than I do, so any input is welcome. If you have a thought on how to twist one of the other ideas, that'd be welcome, too.

Top 5 Dave Matthews Band Songs (for today; it always changes)

1. Bartender
2. Lie In Our Graves
3. Warehouse
   
4. Crush
5. Proudest Monkey

I'm thinking I might have to cave in, shell out whatever outrageous markup the scalpers are charging, and go see DMB this summer. Though it won't be the same (it can't be the same) without Leroi Moore, the music was too important to me for too long for me to have gone this long without going to a show (8 years?). If anybody's willing to come with me and brave the parking disaster that is Nissan Pavilion, let me know. And let's do this.

What Is Up?

When I think about why I'm making this blog post, I'm reminded of a memorable quote from my all-time favorite show, The West Wing:

SAM
I think this press conference is about our future.

BARTLET
I think this press conference is about we haven’t had a press conference in a while.

The truth is, there's really nothing too exciting going on, nothing I feel the need to comment on. I just know I haven't written in a while, so here we go.

My pants don't fit anymore. It's in a good way; that is, I've lost enough weight that my pants are too loose, but the actual problem is the same. My pants don't fit anymore. I can get by with them for a little while longer, but the reality is that I'm going to look a little bit silly until I get some new ones.

What does this mean for my recently begun job search? I'm not sure. You're supposed to wear a suit to interviews, and I haven't tried on my suit in a few months. That's second on my to-do list for when I leave work today. Number one on that list is to buy some chewy chocolate chip cookies for my sister. I unknowingly ate the last of her stash (it was in the kitchen, how could I know?), and because I feel her pain on people devouring any food you leave in the kitchen, I'm gonna grab her a box or bag or whatever. Shhh, don't tell her. Everybody likes surprises.

Top 5 Games I've Been Playing Recently

1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360) - I played Morrowind (the prequel to this game), and was almost immediately frustrated with its lack of direction. Oblivion has only slightly more direction, but it was enough for me, and now I'm hooked. Perhaps the best evidence of its quality is that I'm playing it with almost no interest in stacking achievements. I'm playing the game just to play the game. It's wild.
2. Army of Two (Xbox 360) - I've been playing online with Patrick, both of us looking to pick up some achievements, and it's been a blast. We're both willing to acknowledge when we mess up, and we both mess up a fair amount. But when the cooperation pays off, it's very gratifying.
3. Diablo II (PC) - Kicking it old school, I've always liked the game, and I've talked Chip into giving it a shot. I'm finding out, though, that my desk at home isn't set up very well, ergonomically speaking. Gotta work that out before it hurts my shoulder even more. Anyways, looking forward to giving the game another go-around. Treasure-hunting is my kind of fun.
4. Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360) - I don't play it as much as some people (Patrick and Nick), but it's fun enough. My only qualm, and one that will likely be resolved in the upcoming sequel, is that I suck, and I keep getting matched up against people who are pretty good, so it's embarrassing when I play online. Hopefully Left 4 Dead 2 will have an actual matchmaking system, rather than just throwing people together.
5. Destiny of an Emperor (NES) - Remember when I said I was kicking it old school by playing Diablo II? This is a little bit older school. It's an RPG based in ancient China, and while I prefer the more conventional Nintendo RPGs like Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior, it's still a fairly fun game. Plus I'm far enough into it now that I want to take it all the way.

EDIT: In the original version of this post, I had an incorrect statement about Epic. This post has been updated to remove that inaccuracy.

New Radio / New Music?

I had my radio conk out a couple weeks ago, and just recently got a new one installed. It's got an auxiliary input (for an iPod or mp3 player) as well as a USB connector (for flash drives). A lot of people have already got those features in their cars, but for me this is a whole new world. I don't have to make CDs anymore (though I'm sure I will).

All of that is an extremely boring lead-up to me saying I'm going to finally get a chance to listen to more music. The sheer amount of music I have at my disposal is staggering; it's time for me to delve into the archives to find some gems.

I'm currently working with my brother's Creative Zen Touch, but I've run into a compatibility issue. The mp3 player is older, and doesn't have a Vista-compatible driver. And of course, I was too cheap to pay the extra $100 to have XP installed on my new computer, and just accepted Vista (which every day seems like a bigger mistake). So in order to update the content on the Zen, I have to use an older computer, which means I'm transferring music files from my main computer to an external hard drive, then to the older computer, and finally to the mp3 player. What kind of joke-ass operating system can't use drivers from its predecessors?

The other option is to just use flash drives, but the storage capacity on the ones I already own isn't exactly overwhelming. I've got a 2 GB one that I use for my personal work, and a 512 MB one that I've had forever and I'm unsure as to how much longer it'll work. Oh, and I have a 256 MB one that went through a washing machine, still works, but I don't trust.

So my options are

• Use mp3 CD's, storage capacity of 700 MB apiece.
• Use my old flash drives, storage capacity of 512 MB.
• Use the Zen Touch, and commit to spending 15-20 minutes in file transfers every time I want to change the music.
• Buy a new flash drive or two with greater storage capacity.
• Buy a new mp3 player.

For the time being, I think I'll use the old flash drives, but I'm going to start prowling the Internet for cheap flash drives and mp3 players, and wait for something to pop out at me.

Top 5 Artists Whose Music I'm Going to Explore Now:

1. Kiss - Plundo has been a fan of Kiss for as long as I can remember, and I've added a song once every year or two to my regular rotation (I Was Made For Lovin' You, then Detroit Rock City, most recently Love Gun). It's time to get knee deep and see if these boys can play.
2. Rush - I've heard songs by Rush I've liked, and songs I haven't. I enjoy progressive rock as a genre, though, and Rush is allegedly one of the best. It's only fair that I give them a legitimate chance.
3. Pharoahe Monch - While I've cooled off on rap as a whole, I still enjoy the occasional foray, and Pharoahe Monch seems to be my most frequent target. He just rhymes everything. It's pretty impressive.
4. O.A.R. - Know thy enemy.
5. Yes - Another "prog rock" band, but I've only heard maybe two songs from Yes. They seem to skew a little bit more towards standard music than Rush, so I actually expect to like more Yes songs, but I feel like I need to listen to more Rush.
   

The King of Pop

As I'm sure all of you have heard, Michael Jackson died yesterday afternoon at the age of 50. I spent some time online, watching music videos on Youtube, perusing Facebook, and reading news, and people seemed to fall into two camps with regards to their response to the news of Jackson's death.

The first group lamented the passing of a music icon. There were a lot of fond memories, people talking about how they look forward to a bump in his radio play over the next few days, and more than a few people saying "rest in peace" (or "rest in piece").

The second group took the opportunity to get one last jab in and try to make some snide comment about Jackson's past. The most common "joke" (I put it in quotes because it doesn't really show any creativity, and isn't particularly funny) was that, now that Michael Jackson is dead, children can sleep easily at night. Because, you know, pedophilia is a riot.

Some people do fall into both categories, and it's not surprising that they produce some of the better jokes. They're able to be in touch with the fact that Jackson was a cultural giant, while still wanting to make some jokes.

You guys know me. You know I don't really get offended ever, and this isn't really an exception. I'm not offended that people are taking this person's death and making fun of a possible trauma that a child or children may have gone through. But when I see people my age making these comments, it strikes me as a very sincere form of pandering.

People want to be perceived in very specific ways. These people, the people making these jokes, are unwilling to acknowledge the value that Michael Jackson offered. They won't admit that, for a time, they really liked Michael Jackson (which is a fair guess, because fucking everybody liked Michael Jackson). They'd like to be perceived as above nostalgia, above the sentimentality of those times. Over time, it became "cool" to make fun of Michael Jackson. But in my mind, today, and going forward, it's particularly "uncool."

People know Ray Charles was an addict. People are pretty sure that Tupac was a killer. And yet, both of those artists are mostly remembered today for their accomplishments and their talents, and their shortcomings are only remembered as part of the whole picture. My guess is that five years down the road, Michael Jackson will be remembered most for creating some of the finest music in the past quarter century, and his missteps will be looked upon as just a part of the tragic figure who touched our lives for so many years.

In honor of the King of Pop, my All-Time Top 5 Favorite Michael Jackson Songs:

1. The Way You Make Me Feel (1988)
   
2. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (1979)
   
3. Human Nature (1983)
   
4. You Rock My World (2001)
5. Black or White (1991)

Top 5 Video Games I've Played in the Past Week

With the forum not pulling in a lot of traffic, I figured I'd post my Top 5 lists on here from now on. We'll kick it off with something completely transient and random.

Top 5 Games I've Played in the Past Week

1. Rock Band 2 - What can I say? I love the bastard.
2. Army of Two - I played it online for the first time last week, and it's kind of intriguing. Plus I've still got hundreds of achievement points to earn.
   
3. Pizza Tycoon - It's losing steam, though, as the sheer number of stores is getting tough to manage.
4. Guitar Hero III - It's not perfect, but the basic tenets are up my alley...figuratively.
5. Grand Theft Auto IV - I may be done with the story part of the game, but there's still plenty to do (and destroy) in Liberty City.

Week 10 Fitness Wrap-Up

Not much new to discuss, but it's time to face the music and allow myself to be accountable. It's better than the secret weigh-in I had last time, but not by much. I'm just so easily seduced by tasty food; it's my Achilles' heel.

Pizza Tycoon

I did rediscover a game I've enjoyed on several occasions, Pizza Tycoon. It's a simulation game that puts you in the role of (surprise surprise) a pizza restaurant entrepreneur. You start out with a little money and a dream, and you open a pizza restaurant to start living that dream. The game isn't terribly intuitive, and I'm still having trouble figuring out how exactly people like their pizza, but I do well enough to bring in customers.

The "Tycoon" might elicit thoughts of Rollercoaster Tycoon, but this game is a much less refined program. Still, it's pretty complex, and while some things are a little mysterious (like how much money I actually have), there's enough that can be figured out to make for a fun time. I've got seven restaurants now, and I just made my first 100 rated pizza last weekend at Mike's place. So, yeah, I'm pretty good.

Week 10 weight: 314.0 lbs

Week 8 Fitness Wrap-Up

So, I didn't really diet this week. I mean, I tried to focus on eating the kinds of foods I'm supposed to eat, but I didn't do a particularly good job. I managed to dodge excessive amounts of alcohol on the weekend, which when you spend two nights hanging out at Eddie P.'s house is not an insubstantial feat. But it's time for me to get back on the horse, start eating right again, and start walking/lifting/Rock Band drumming again, basement situation be damned.

Please note that there will not be a weigh-in for this wrap-up. It's not that I didn't weigh in; it's that I'm utterly embarrassed at the resulting weight, and I'm giving myself a week to clean up my act before we go public with the story.

Plants vs. Zombies

You may recall that I talked about playing the demo for this PC game in my last fitness post. Well, since that time, I did in fact purchase the full game, as did my brother and my cousin Mike. I'd venture to say that we are each happy with our purchase. I've played the game for no less than twenty hours, which puts it in favorable company when compared to several games I've bought recently, such as Crackdown and NFL Head Coach '09 (neither of which I've played at all yet).

The game isn't ground-breaking by any stretch, but it's fun and clean. Everything is pretty intuitive, and it mixes in humor very well. I think I'm almost done with the game, as far as defeating every challenge it offers, but I can definitely see playing around with it for a while longer, just for kicks. There are several defensive plants I have yet to employ, and I'm interested to see what the "Cob Cannon" does.

Illness Strikes

Yes, unfortunately, I've gotten sick. It feels pretty much like a cold, so I've been treating it like a cold: a DayQuil/NyQuil two-pronged attack, with cough drops mixed in. I've missed two days of work so far, and I'm really hoping not to add in a third. It's not that I find my job particularly rewarding or interesting. I just generally like to be in the black with regards to leave hours, and these are two days I hadn't planned on using up.

It's interesting how when people find out that I'm sick, their automatic (joke?) response is, "Is it swine flu?" If you're among the people who said so, don't worry, you're one of many. It's just weird that this illness that's struck 5,500 Americans (roughly .002% of the United States population) has received enough media coverage that many persons' first response, joke or otherwise, is to make some reference to the swine flu.

Anyways, from my understanding, no, it's not swine flu. It's a cold, most likely brought along by lack of sufficient sleep and not eating enough fruits and vegetables. I think I've caught up on sleep (but I need to get into the habit of regularly getting enough sleep), and I'm working on the fruits and vegetables thing. That shit is expensive, though. Grapes are like $3/pound. So I'll be talking to my mom about buying fruits and such when she goes out. I think we've got some bananas and some oranges right now, so that'll do.

And congratulations to Joe Mandi on fixing the Hubble space telescope! (I will congratulate no one else at NASA; my assumption is that they're all worthless...except for Monkey Dude).

Super Monitor (TV?) Deal

Hey folks, here's a big time deal on a monitor that looks like it can be used as a television as long as you're not using coaxial cable as its input. It's a 42" screen for $580, and it's made by Westinghouse, not some joke brand. If I had any kind of job, I'd buy this thing. I recommend those of you with jobs check it out.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4633249&Sku=W330-4210

Week 6.5 Fitness Wrap-Up (and other stuff)

Alright, truth time. I haven't posted a blog in a while because I've been a little scared to step on the scale. I've been a lot more lax with the diet, and with the basement getting worked on, I haven't had the easy access to lift weights or do any Rock Band drumming. For the most part, I've been completely inactive recently, and I was terrified to see how unforgiving the scale was going to be. You'll catch the exact numerical results at the end of this blog post, but I was completely floored by how much that wasn't the case.

Plants vs. Zombies

My cousin Mike posted this link in his AIM profile, and made the extra effort to tell me to check it out. It's a music video for a video game that came out a few days ago called (as you might have guessed) Plants vs. Zombies. If you've ever played any of the "maul" games online on Warcraft III, it's the same concept. You have an area that you're trying to defend from waves of enemies; in this case, your defenders are plants, and zombies are the attackers. You start out with simple plants, and get more sophisticated and powerful plants as time goes on. Of course, the zombies also get more powerful.

I fully expected the game to be a nice little game that I wasn't going to be willing to pay for, but the demo has got me very seriously considering shelling out the $20 to get the full game. Partly because I'd like to play the rest, but also partly just because I'd like to reward the programmers for creating a fun (and funny) game. I'm trying to figure out if I'd actually play it more than once, and that's really the question that's tempering my action. I've played Warcraft III mauls hundreds of times, but there are several dozen different versions of those. I'll let you know if I do end up buying it, and whether or not I'm happy about the purchase.

The Price of a Gamerscore Bump

I've been playing NBA Street Homecourt and Grand Theft Auto IV (the 360 version is only $36 right now, pretty good price) with the specific intention of acquiring some gamerscore points. I bought Homecourt recently, and found that I was probably going to be able to get at least 800 of the points without having to be particularly skillful (which is good, because I'm finding out that I'm not all that good at video games). I've already beaten GTA IV, but there are a few decisions you have throughout the game that you can do differently to see different consequences, and there's an achievement you receive for completing the story in 30 hours, so I figured it was worth another go-through.

I've completed the "campaign" on Homecourt, and have 800+ points from that game. I also beat GTA IV last night, getting the "Liberty City Minute" achievement for beating it quickly. However, towards the end of the evening, I started to notice my left hand was getting very sore (I know what you're thinking, but I said left hand...so it's not from writing). I realized it was actually from playing so much 360 over the past few days, which is shocking and a little embarrassing. So, going to take a break from the gaming for a little bit, give my hand a chance to recover. Movies, I guess? Speaking of...

Netflix

Netflix has a free two-week trial that I'm in the midst of, and so far, I'm liking it. The service offers movies both via mail on DVD and instant viewing online and (more importantly) the Xbox 360. The subscription plan I have gives unlimited access to the instant viewing movies/TV series, as well as one DVD at a time for $8.99. It's like $5 more a month to bump it up to two DVDs at a time, and there looks to be more than enough content on the instant access list to keep me occupied without running out of movies to watch while I'm in between DVDs. For now, my intent is to keep the service for a few months and see how much I use it.

PS: It would get used a lot more if I had a girlfriend who came over to watch movies all the time. So, heads up ladies, I've got a ton of movies we can watch. Does that make me a little more appealing? I bet it does.

I've heard Chip's opinion on this, but I figure I'll toss it out there to the masses. Do you prefer one big blog post like this, or several split up blog posts over the course of a day or two? I'm probably going to only be writing up posts once or twice a week regardless, but do you prefer that it be collected like this, sort of in a newsletter form, or would you prefer a variety of posts, each about a specific topic? Let me know.

Week 6.5 weight: 311.8

Week 5 Fitness Wrap-Up

So after last weekend's debauchery, I committed to staying strictly on the diet during the week. Additionally, while I planned on doing some drinking and eating some funnel cake, the plan was also to stay pretty good in Atlantic City. Here are the results.

Oh, before I forget, I've integrated a new thing into my diet over the past two weeks or so that has made me feel 100% better. I had been feeling uncomfortable on a gastrointestinal level for a little while. I tried increasing my beans and nuts, but I still felt a little..."irregular." It got to the point that I just wanted to eliminate that feeling, and if I didn't, I was going to abandon the diet. So I had a bowl of Raisin Bran for breakfast one day, and the whole day I felt like a million bucks. I've been having a bowl of high fiber cereal (Raisin Bran or Special K) every day since then, and I've been feeling good and still losing weight. I might not be losing weight as quickly as I had been, but there's no doubt in my mind that what I'm doing now is better for me than dealing with that bizarre, half-constipated/half-nauseous feeling.

Okay, back to the week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I behaved very well. I didn't eat anything that was unacceptable on the diet, and I continued to notice that my pants weren't fitting as snugly as they have been. (By the way, if successful, this diet is probably going to end up costing me like $1,000 in new clothes). I didn't get a ton of exercise, but I had to move some stuff out of the basement (more on this later), so that got me a little active.

The weekend arrived a day early for me, as I found out that my good friend Adam was going to be in Atlantic City Thursday and Friday for a conference, and he had a room at Bally's Thursday night. I left work a little early and hit the road just early enough to avoid most of rush hour...from DC. I hit plenty of the Baltimore rush hour, but it wasn't even remotely as bad. I arrived in AC about 7:30, met up with Adam, and immediately started drinking. We gambled and drank until the wee hours, then woke up and gambled and drank some more.

Adam left town Friday afternoon, and I wandered Atlantic City for a few hours, gambling and drinking (along with a delicious pretzel dog from Auntie Anne's), and finally met up with my cousin and his buddy. As a change of pace, we decided to gamble and drink, then do the same thing the next day. All told, I don't think it'd be outrageous to say I had 80+ drinks between 7:00 PM Thursday and 4:00 AM Sunday. Not a ton of food, though, which must have helped some, because I managed to keep going down in the weight department. The continued positive progress makes me feel great about the benefits that my diet and exercise routines are giving me, and is helping me stay committed to it.

Now, the basement. My mom is having the basement finished. In order to do that, the vast collection of things in the basement has to be moved out. Initially, the belief was that the process would take place over time, and we'd be looking to have a yard sale or two to get rid of some of the unwanted stuff from the basement (toys, books, furniture, etc). Now, however, it's looking like the entire basement is going to need to be cleared out pronto, and so my brother and I have spent a few hours over the past two days (including Sunday, when I was exhausted after getting back from AC) moving boxes and furniture into the garage. While it's a pretty solid workout, the downside is that, at least for the time being, the basement will be off-limits for playing Rock Band or lifting weights. I'm hopeful that the job will be done sooner rather than later, so I can get back into my groove.

FYI, I'm also applying for a new job at my current company. I'm working on a cover letter right now, but I've also been told that I need to put an objective on my resume. Try as I might, though, I've found that everything I start to write out just sounds completely useless for proving that I'm a good fit for the position. Any suggestions would be appreciated. The job position is managing a resume system for a large company.

Week 5 weight: 318.4

Week 4b Fitness Wrap-Up

So the weekend didn't go very well. It wasn't a full-fledged disaster, but it was right there. The fact that I was able to stay under 320 was pretty encouraging, to be honest.

Friday was normal, stayed on the diet, but didn't get any exercise. The main reason I didn't get any exercise is that our basement is being worked on, so the weight bench and the exercise bike have stuff on/hanging off of them, the weights are tucked away to make room for the work to be done, and the television/Rock Band stuff has been moved to avoid the massive amounts of sawdust and regular dust that have been kicked up.

Saturday I did manage to get a little bit of exercise in my first swimming session of the summer. I had forgotten how nice it is to have the pool available, and with the diet/exercise combo going pretty well for me, I'm looking forward to integrating it into my regular activities.

Food on Saturday, however, was another story. I had a couple hamburgers, a couple of bratwursts, a couple slices of pizza, some potato chips, and some Doritos at two different cookouts. There were a lot of cookies and brownies of which I didn't indulge, so that's something.

Sunday I behaved better, but still ate a lot of food, definitely more than I needed to, and again, exercise was an issue. Eddie and I started to go through some of the stuff in the basement, preparing for a yard sale (to be held May 2nd, in case anyone needs, you know, stuff). It probably won't help the basement work get done any faster, but moving boxes and hauling stuff up the stairs is at least a little bit of a workout. I'm also hoping to rearrange my bedroom so as to make room for a Rock Band drum set, again, to at least get a little bit of a work out.

I'm heading to Atlantic City this weekend, which means two things. First, I may not get a blog done this Friday, so you may once again have to wait until Monday for an update. And second, I'd better be pretty damn strict on the diet this week, because I'm going to be drinking my ass off in AC.

Week 4b weight: 319.8

Week 4a Fitness Wrap-Up

A little belated, but I'm going to go ahead and do both posts for week 4. Post 4a is going to have a story that I found humorous (and I believe found me humorous), and post 4b will give a wrap-up of my current situation, as well as how the weekend went.

Week 4a (Fat People)

The story will be completely true, but to protect the innocent and not-so-innocent, I'm going to replace real names with the names of various classic professional wrestling personalities. And for the purposes of this story, the part of Joe Mattingly will be played by Hacksaw Jim Duggan.

Our story starts with a fairly standard happenstance: someone posted something on Facebook. I have no problem with the original post, but the topic of the post was inevitably going to invite some questionable comments. The actual original post, by a friend of mine from school, "Miss Elizabeth":

• "...United is making larger people buy two seats. So their employees are being paid to tell people they're fat, embarass [sic] the shit out of them, and make them pay extra for being ginormous...I'm torn between never flying United, or applying for a job."

As I said, I don't have a problem with this comment. There were a few follow-up comments by people I don't know, some talking about other airlines, others decrying United's policy (which actually I also don't have a problem with; I'm over 300 pounds and I've never been asked to buy another seat, so I imagine the policy is for people who simply can't fit into a single seat). Then, another former classmate of mine, "Marty Jannety," made this comment:

• "its more f'd up for the person that pays the same price for their seat and has to deal with collateral bullshit (i.e. fat person next to them). F that. Good for United."

Somehow, Jannety decided to ignore the timbre of the original post (that it's an awkward situation to tell someone they're "too" fat) and talk about how sitting next to an overweight person affects himself. As I said, I've never been asked to buy another seat, so it's very possible that United's policy wouldn't protect him from my belly. In response to this, knowing that he'd at least get a message about it as we're "Facebook friends" (a distinction somewhere between complete stranger and co-worker), I changed my status to:

Hacksaw Jim Duggan loves being called "collateral bullshit."

I received a message from Jannety shortly after posting that status walking back his comments a little bit, and I generally accepted his half-apology. It didn't do me any good to hammer it down, and I do believe that he regretted his choice of words, just as the real Marty Jannety regretted trusting Shawn Michaels, a mistake we can all learn from.

Jannety's comment, however, was the second most bothersome comment on the original post. The number one comment was as follows, by the guy I will ironically call "Mr. Perfect":

• "Haha is been like that for a long time, and not just United. I thought pretty much every airline charged for two seats if your fat. Haha unless they have somne thyroid or medical condition I have no sympathy for fat people. Fucking work out. Simple as that."

I've never met Mr. Perfect, and I've had no previous experience or any knowledge at all of what he's about. Anyways, I'll let you guys comment on that however you want; I feel like I don't need to ennumerate my sentiments. So, we'll fast forward to my response:

• "Lizzie, your friend Mr. Perfect is an ass. I doubt he asks overweight people whether or not they have glandular or medical conditions before he judges them to be less-than. But to hopefully justify his obvious fear of fat people, you can let him know that, given the opportunity, I'll eat him."

Please note that my proper grammer, spelling, and punctuation help people to understand my comment the first time they read it. So yeah, screw that guy.

Week 4a weight: 317.8

Week 3b Fitness Wrap-Up

The funny thing about goals is, what the hell do you do if you don't reach them? I did complete one of my three goals for the weekend - I exercised at least 30 minutes each day.

• Friday - Back and biceps weightlifting for a half hour, walked the family dog for about 15 minutes, and played catch with my uncle for an hour.
• Saturday - Chest and triceps weightlifting for a half hour.
• Sunday - Played softball with some family for an hour and a half, and played catch with my uncle and cousin for an hour.
  

I had hoped to get some Rock Band drumming in, but the combination of Eddie relaxing in the basement and having some household business to do this holiday weekend put a damper on my instrumentation. I may have to move a drum set into my bedroom and see if I can make it work. Prediction: I don't.

Eating was good on Friday and mostly good on Saturday, but Easter was a step backwards. I had a healthy portion of potato chips and onion dip, as well as a slice of Easter pie. It was good, but I felt a little off afterwards, which I guess is a good thing. It makes me think that my body really doesn't want much in the way of sugars and simple carbohydrates. I'm confident that this week I can do enough good to get back on track, and this coming weekend shouldn't have any circumstances that tempt me into going off the diet. Shouldn't.

Still working on the new catch phrase.

Week 3b weight: 321.2

Week 3a Fitness Wrap-Up

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I did almost no exercising, and that's bad. The idea behind this project isn't just to lose weight, which a diet can do on its own for a while. The idea is to become more healthy, to be more fit, to be able to wrestle an alligator. Well, that last part is probably a pipe dream, but the rest is true. I'm not just looking to slim down, even though that's the criteria I've been using to evaluate my progress. And even if that were all I wanted to do, adding in exercise is obviously going to help me in that regard.

As such, my goal this weekend is to exercise each day (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) for at least 30 minutes. If it ends up being Rock Band drumming, though, I'm mandating a full hour; the drumming is good, but it's certainly not the same as "real" exercise. I'm also going to set a goal for next week: at least twice, I want to wake up early and lift. I want to see how it affects my weigh-ins, my appetite, and my energy.

Well, one of my goals is to do that exercise. Another is to get below 320 pounds. And the last is to come up with a catch phrase. All three are vital.

Week 3a weight: 321.8

Week 2b Fitness Wrap-Up

Friday was a low-key day, I played some Rock Band and rode the bicycle a little, staying on the diet. Saturday morning I lifted, but Saturday evening I went out to eat and then did some drinking. The downside is that I probably stifled what could've been a big positive over the weekend. But the upside is that even with multiple mistakes, I still lost weight. That tells me that one of these weekends, when I stay on target, I'll have a big weight loss.

I also did some reading and found a few interesting nuggets that I'm going to try to (or continue to) incorporate. The general focus is on increasing my metabolism, and maintaining that increase. While I found at least a dozen ways, these were the two I would like to embrace the most actively:

• Lift weights - I knew weightlifting was a good idea, but the information I've read shows that the benefits go well beyond muscle definition and burning calories. First, lifting earlier in the day gives you a metabolic boost that persists throughout the day, and which you can complement with other strategies to really pump up your calorie-burning power. Additionally, having greater muscle mass increases your basal metabolic rate.
  
• Sleep - I've always felt like sleep was important and that not getting 8 hours a night was causing some sort of problem for me, but now I've got the reasons why. The piece of information that struck me the most goes back to weightlifting: if you don't get 7-8 hours of sleep, you aren't allowing your body to build muscle, and so your weightlifting can be less productive.
  

After getting this information and comparing it with my own habits, I've decided that perhaps the most beneficial thing I can do is change my sleep cycle. Instead of going to bed around 1:00 every night and waking up at 7:30, I should go to bed around 10:30 and wake up around 6:30. That will give me plenty of time to lift in the morning, and ensure I get enough sleep to reap the benefits each night. It'll take some internal negotiation to make the change, but I've had to change my attitude on eating already; this change would offer similar benefits, in addition to the fact that getting more sleep will just be better for me regardless.

Week 2b weight: 322.8

Diet & Exercise Log - April 2nd, 2009

Breakfast
1 slice wheat toast

Lunch
Chipotle salad with barbacoa
Diet Coke

Dinner
4 slices thin crust homemade pizza
Side salad with ranch dressing
1 slice apple pie

Snacks
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts
1 oz. cashews

Exercise
20 minutes weightlifting (back, biceps)
20 minutes stationary bike/singing

Thoughts
Today was Eddie's birthday, so I splurged a little on dinner. Okay, a lot on dinner. I also had a slice of bread for breakfast, which I'm not supposed to have until phase 2. My stomach was a little upset, and I knew pudding wasn't going to help that, so I made an executive decision. I didn't suffer any substantial damage on the scale, so I'm going to just focus on straightening out again, and probably staying on phase 1 for a few more days.

You might also notice that part of my exercises for the day were "stationary bike/singing." As you probably know if you read this blog regularly, I've got a thing for Xbox achievements. One achievement I haven't earned yet is for the completion of the solo singing tour on the original Rock Band. To combine two things I want to do, I rode the stationary bike and sang at the same time, a more difficult feat than I had hoped, but I was able to do it. I also think it might help me build up stamina by demanding more out of my lungs, so I'm going to add it to the list of exercises I do. I'm debating whether to try playing guitar (Rock Band or real life) while biking as well.

Finally, this will be the last daily log of my diet. I'm going to post my weigh-ins from Monday morning and Friday morning, and I'll continue to chime in with any interesting thoughts from in between, but I figure you're not crazy about reading a food list every day. As interesting as it is to see how many peanuts I eat on a given day, I'm thinking you can live without it. I'll try to get back to posting about my interests, like Rock Band, other video games, TV shows, music, and what-not.

Day 12 weight: 325.8

Diet & Exercise Log - April 1st, 2009

Breakfast
Sugar-free jello

Lunch
Chipotle salad with chicken
Diet Coke

Dinner
Chicken Caesar salad
1 stick string cheese
Diet Mountain Dew

Snacks
1 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts
2 oz. salted peanuts
1 oz. beef jerky
Coke Zero

Exercise
20 minutes stationary bike

Thoughts
[none]

Day 11 weight: 325.4

Diet & Exercise Log - March 31st, 2009

Breakfast
2 cups sugar-free jello
1 oz. salted peanuts

Lunch
Chicken Caesar salad

Dinner
1/2 T-bone steak
1 stick of string cheese

Snacks
2 oz. salted peanuts
1 oz. salted cashews
1 oz. beef jerky
1 tbsp. sugar free peach preserves

Exercise
15 minutes weightlifting (chest, triceps)
15 minutes stationary bike

Thoughts
All these nuts are taking a toll. Better buy some more cottage cheese as well as some vegetables to keep things in balance. Technically, you're only supposed to have like 1 serving of nuts per day on the South Beach diet. Obviously I'm not holding to the prescribed diet strictly, but I understand why nuts shouldn't constitute that large a part of your daily food. They're fairly high in fat and also contain some carbohydrates, not to mention all the sodium. Another trip to the grocery store is in order for tomorrow.

Day 10 weight: 325.8

Diet & Exercise Log - March 30th, 2009

Breakfast
3 eggs, hard-boiled

Lunch
Chipotle salad with barbacoa
Diet Coke

Dinner
Chipotle salad with steak
1 chicken breast
1 cup mixed vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
Coke Zero

Snacks
1 oz. salted peanuts
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Exercise
20 minutes walking
20 minutes Rock Band drumming

Thoughts
If I'm going to have two salads in one day, I probably shouldn't have them both be with red meat. The barbacoa was very spicy, but pretty good. Also, I think I'm ready to start integrating a regular walk or stationary bike ride into my daily routine. The lifting is okay, and playing the drums is fun, but I want to work on my stamina, and the only way to do that is to focus on some cardio work. Today was a start.

Day 9 weight: 325.8

Diet & Exercise Log - March 28th/29th, 2009

Saturday
Breakfast
4 slices of bacon
3 eggs, fried

Lunch/Dinner
Chinese buffet: beef & broccoli, chicken & broccoli, scallops, egg drop soup

Snacks
1 hard-boiled egg
3 Pop-Tarts
4 shots Everclear

Exercise
20 minutes Rock Band drumming


Sunday
Breakfast
3 eggs, scrambled
Diet Mountain Dew

Lunch
Diet Sierra Mist
1 oz. beef jerky
1 oz. cashews

Dinner
2 grilled chicken breasts
2 cups steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots
1 cup sugar-free pudding

Snacks
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
2 oz. cashews

Exercise
20 minutes weightlifting (back, biceps)

Thoughts
I decided to group Saturday and Sunday together, and I think I'll group Friday, Saturday, and Sunday together from now on. It keeps it so I don't have to do one of these on a weekend night, which is preferable. I bought some new shoes Sunday, mostly because I got tired of the tattered insoles of my current shoes, courtesy of the puppy Franklin. I still have two other outdated pairs of shoes to replace, but I can assure you that these will be put to use immediately.

As you can see, I strayed on Saturday. We went over to BizJoe's place, had a few drinks, a few laughs, and that was that. I'm actually feeling good about getting back on track, though, which is different from before.

I do owe Joe a box of Pop-Tarts, though.

Day 8 weight: 328.6

Diet & Exercise Log - March 27th, 2009

Breakfast
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
Coke Zero

Lunch
Chipotle salad with carnitas (eh)
Diet Coke

Dinner
Shrimp and vegetables in garlic sauce
Coke Zero

Snacks
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts
1 oz. almonds
1 oz. cashews
1 oz. beef jerky

Exercise
(none)

Thoughts
The end of the first work week, and it went alright. Three trips to Chipotle and I'm managing to lose weight, who'd have thought? Though, I don't think I'll have carnitas again. They're very bland, and generally I like the taste of chicken and beef better than pork anyways, so I'll stick with the others.

This weekend will be an interesting experiment on how I do without having the framework of a workday. I cooked up a bunch of eggs (both scrambled and hard-boiled), hopefully that'll give me enough to work with for snacks and meals over the weekend. And give me lots of gas.

Day 6 weight: 329.0

Diet & Exercise Log - March 26th, 2009

Breakfast
4 slices of bacon

Lunch
Chipotle salad with chicken
Diet Coke

Dinner
Chicken fajitas (without tortillas)

Snacks
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts

Exercise
20 minutes weightlifting (chest, triceps)

Thoughts
For whatever reason, I felt pretty good about my diet execution today. Sure, the bacon is a high-fat item, but just physically I feel like I had a good day, and the slightly higher drop in weight seems to coincide with that. Fewer snacks today, which is certainly part of it, but also I didn't really feel like I needed as many snacks. I was just not hungry. Good stuff.

Day 5 weight: 329.2

Diet & Exercise Log - March 25th, 2009

Breakfast
5 eggs, scrambled
Fuze Slenderize - strawberry melon (it's 20 calories and I needed the Vitamin C)

Lunch
1 large turkey breast
1 cup green beans
1 oz. salted almonds

Dinner
2 oz. salted cashews
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1 oz. beef jerky
Minute Maid Light Lemonade

Snacks
1/2 cup ranch sunflower seeds
2 oz. sugar-free chocolate-covered peanuts

Exercise
(none)

Thoughts
Gotta work a little harder on getting vegetables into my meals, and I should probably have a contingency plan for evenings (like this one) when my mom's dinner plan doesn't work with the diet. I ended up defaulting on assorted snacks as a meal, but I worry about this tactic giving me too much fat. I'm thinking I'll go pick up a couple salad bags and some pre-cooked chicken cutlets, and hope that my family won't eat them out from under me. Dare to dream.

Day 4 weight: 332.0

Achievements Mentality

As these past few weeks have passed, I've kept an eye on Patrick's gamerscore, and frankly, it's been discouraging. He just keeps racking up achievements, while I pick up 10 or 20 here and there, but keep getting outdistanced. I'm not mad at him; we're both doing the same thing, trying to pick up points. But to maintain my mental health, it might be better for me to change my mentality with regards to the leaderboard.

First, I probably need to accept that I won't be catching Patrick. Patrick, you are a worthy adversary, and an achiever. That doesn't mean I'll stop chasing you, or stop trying to expand my fresh new lead on Marcus. But it'll be more of a point of interest than a goal.

Second, and both more interesting and more fun, I want to watch our leaderboard on www.mygamercard.net. You can see our leaderboard on the right side of this page; we've got 11 users and over 50,000 gamer points. I'd like to find other small groups like ourselves who have players of varying skills and playtime, and compete against them for leaderboard dominance. Our entire leaderboard can work together to accumulate points, both competing against the other leaderboards and against various milestones. We're currently just under 51,000 points; our next milestone can be 60,000. That would require less than 1,000 more points per user on average, and I know Patrick, Nick, and I will all be rolling forward at breakneck speeds.

I do have a personal goal as well: 10,000 points. It's still 2,645 points away, but it's within striking distance. The objective is to get to 10,000 by my birthday, August 1st.

Game on.

Diet & Exercise Log - March 24rd, 2009

Breakfast
4 slices of bacon

Lunch
Chipotle salad with chicken, no dressing
Chipotle salad with steak, no dressing (yes, a second salad)
Diet Coke

Dinner
2 large turkey breasts
2 cups green beans
1/2 cup lowfat cottage cheese
Coke Zero

Snacks
2 oz. salted peanuts
1 stick string cheese
1 tbsp. sugar-free peach preserves
Minute Maid Light Lemonade

Exercise
25 minutes weight-lifting (back, biceps)

Thoughts
No big thoughts on day two, except that the Chipotle salads kick the shit out of the salad I made at the Westat cafeteria. It's also worth noting that bacon isn't exactly a South Beach friendly food. It's essentially sugar-free, but has very high fat content, which the diet tries to steer you away from. Still, it's consistent with the ideals of Phase 1 (no carbs), so it's an exception I make for myself.

Day 3 weight: 332.6

Diet & Exercise Log - Monday, March 23rd, 2009

Breakfast
3 eggs, scrambled
1 cup hot tea with Splenda

Lunch
1 salad (lettuce, broccoli, cucumber, lite ranch dressing)
20 oz. Diet Mountain Dew

Dinner
2 medium hamburger patties
20 oz. Diet Coke
1 tbsp. sugar-free peach preserves

Snacks
2 oz. salted peanuts
2 oz. salted almonds

Exercise
30 minute walk
45 minutes Rock Band drumming

Thoughts
Well, the first day is usually the hardest, and if this is as hard as it gets, I should be alright. I cooked up the eggs last night so that this morning all I had to do was pop them in the microwave and go. That's something I think I'll want to do fairly regularly, as one of my biggest problems was grabbing something fast on my way to work, usually a donut, a danish, or some other sweet snack. I went to the grocery store today and bought eggs and microwavable bacon, so between those two I should be able to keep my breakfasts diet-friendly.

Depending on the quality of the entrees at Westat's cafeteria, I may end up going out for lunch more frequently. The salad I had today was fine, but I doubt I could keep getting salads there without getting bored of them...fast. Even if you keep the dressing off, Chipotle can make a pretty mean salad, and the crucial part would be the well-seasoned meats they offer.

The first post-diet weight is in the books, though obviously it's not going to be a tremendous gainer. I just want to have a day-by-day tracking of this, for kicks.

Day 2 Weight: 333.2 lbs.

Fitness

Alright, after various other failed attempts, I'm going to once again attempt to lose weight and get strong. The general basis for the fitness will be a rough interpretation of the South Beach Diet and increasing my overall daily activity.

I say a "rough interpretation" because I haven't read the book, and am only going off of the information I've gleaned from various websites. Luckily, the first phase of the diet is fairly straightforward: no grains, no sugar. It's essentially an Atkins diet for the first two weeks. I'll be eating far more than my share of eggs, as well as plenty of chicken, seafood, and salads. While it's the most strict and most difficult part of the diet, it's also the most rewarding. Many dieters have lost ten or more pounds in the first two weeks of the South Beach diet, and that instant gratification is a useful psychological boost to help you stick with it.

I know this because I've done this diet before. I lost thirty pounds the first time, but gained it all back (after completely disintegrating my diet plans). I went on it a second time and lost eight pounds in one week, but lost my way quickly, and once again am back at an unreasonably high weight. Third time's a charm.

With regards to "increasing my overall daily activity," this will come in three forms; two standard, and one that you'll find ridiculous but I swear to you actually does have some impact.

1. Cardiovascular exercise - This will mostly be walking and swimming, with whatever else I can mix in. Taking a walk is as good a reason as any to get away from my desk at work, and with spring coming, the weather should be perfect for regular walks. Come summertime, my mom's pool will be convenient and fun (more so if some of you female readers want to stop by, wink wink).
2. Weight training - While I don't have a whole Bowflex gym in my basement, I have a bench, a barbell, and some dumbbells. I should be able to work my chest, arms, back, and legs with the equipment I have available, and I've actually already started this a little bit. Someday, I hope to be able to lift an entire Dodge Neon over my head, but baby steps.
3. Rock Band (drumming) - This, obviously, is the ridiculous one. But while it's mostly a form of recreation, I find that I work up a decent sweat playing Rock Band, especially if it's right after weight training. So my tentative plan is to couple lifting and drumming in order to maximize the effect of the drumming. The fun part of this plan is trying to figure out which songs are the most difficult while not being songs I can't beat (I'm a fat man; I don't need to be beaten down any more, especially by some impossible metal song).

One of the keys to this whole system is so simple, it covers over 70% of the Earth's surface. I've got to drink much, much more water. It will help my muscles heal after weightlifting. It will fill my stomach and reduce cravings. Water is free at work and free to me at home. And water is just good for you. I've improved on this a little, but I've got a long way to go.

I'll be posting daily (yes, daily) reports every evening, listing everything I ate and the exercise I did that day. You're all welcome to provide input that you think I might find helpful, food ideas to mix it up, encouragement, insults (try to keep them PG-13, Nick). And even though it's recommended that you don't weigh yourself daily, I'll be posting my weight every day as well in the same posts. No forgetting, no lies, no qualifications. This thing is only going to work if I'm completely honest.

Wish me luck.

EDIT

Initial weigh-in: 334 pounds.

Way to Go, February! (and a deal on Xbox 360s and PS3s)

What was so great about February, you ask? Well, February was the most prolific month in The Housington Blog's history, a daunting eleven posts spanning twenty-eight days. That's less than three days per post, a far better rate than I've ever attained.

The most important part of this accomplishment is that it was achieved with only a minimal contribution of "bogus" posts. Between the Disney World trip, the Rock Band RPG, and my article about driving, I actually posted my own ideas and experiences. Sure, only two people actually read the blog, but I'm headed in the right direction.

I'm hoping to continue to write about my own thoughts at a decent rate, but I'm still going to post any particularly good deals or coupons that I find. For example, if you use coupon code Z0WPL1J0CC3W47 on www.dell.com, you can take 20% off of many pieces of gaming hardware. The coupon is valid through Thursday, March 26th. You can get a 60GB Xbox 360 Pro for $239.20, or an 80 GB PS3 for $320. Plus, you'll get free shipping. Enjoy.

Housington Blog Xbox Gamerscore Leaderboard

I've created a custom leaderboard for Xbox gamerscores, open to anyone interested in joining. For the moment, I'm the only gamertag on the list, but just let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Please note: I might just add you without waiting for your request.

Rock Band RPG

I've been spending some time thinking about what I would really like to get out of Rock Band. I mean, of course it's a great party game, good fun for the whole family, and it's got all the personal challenges you could get in the Guitar Hero series. But now that Guitar Hero came out with World Tour, and there's at least one other game in the genre (Rock Revolution, which sounds like it's the ugly step-brother of Rock Band and GH:WT), it's time to explore what else this type of game can be.

And for me, the logical progression makes the next Rock Band game (or more likely, Rock Band 4) a role-playing game. Now, before you run off and talk about how Joe wanted to add swords and dragons to Rock Band, take a minute to realize what a role-playing game is. Fallout 3 is absolutely a role-playing game. To an extent, so is Grand Theft Auto IV. The basic concept is that you control the existence of your character(s) and march them through some sequence of challenges. If that doesn't sound like the path to stardom for a band, you're out of your mind.

(This is gonna be a long-ass post, by the way, so grab a cup of coffee, some Girl Scout cookies, and pull up a chair).

I've come up with some basic ideas about what a Rock Band RPG would entail. Below, I'll go into some of the features I think could be really exciting. And hopefully, I'll flesh out the concept enough for you to tell your friends about it...especially if your friends work for Harmonix. At the very least, if you think this idea has some legitimate merit, talk it up wherever you talk things up. A decent place to start would be the Rock Band 2 forums. I've looked on there, and the only thing it seems like people say about Rock Band 3 is the songs they want in it. I think bigger. The way I'm going to write this is as if the game already exists, and I'm describing its features to you as someone who's played the game.

Preview

The most noticeable and pervasive addition to the Rock Band RPG is the concept of "style." This concept draws from the function of the same name in the Saints Row series, where you earn bonus respect by completing tasks with stylish outfits. Winning a race while wearing a sport coat and slacks gets you more respect than winning a race with a tank top and ripped jeans. The same concept applies to Rock Band RPG.

It starts right from the get-go. When you create your band, you create a band member for each instrument, and declare your band as focusing on a particular genre. You can play all songs, of course, but you'll receive a style bonus for playing songs of your particular genre (to provide a similar variety of songs for each genre, multiple genres are encompassed by one umbrella category: hard rock/metal/industrial, punk/emo, etc). What do I mean when I say "bonus?" When you play a show in Rock Band and Rock Band 2, you earn two performance-based rewards: fans and money. In the Rock Band RPG, your band receives a slightly larger bump in fans by playing a song in your band's genre. As a result, the songs that your fans will appreciate the most won't necessarily be the overall most difficult songs in the game; they'll be the most difficult songs in your genre. Think Everlong for the alternative genre, Next To You for the punk/emo genre, Green Grass And High Tides for the southern rock/country genre.

But that's just one part of the equation to determine how successful a performance was. Obviously how well the song was performed (# of stars) would be the main determining factor. In addition to the song genre bonus, you get bonuses for matching up apparel genres, instrument genres, and venue genres. There's also be a built-in standard benefit, even if an item doesn't match your genre (playing a gold-plated guitar would be beneficial regardless of whether you're playing Pink Floyd or Pink).

Now on to the actual gameplay. You're still playing songs, building your song library, and accumulating money and fans, but the mechanism is more complex. For example, before you can play a song in a show, you have to practice it to a certain level of expertise (something fairly low, say 3 stars, basically just completing the song). And in order to acquire new songs, you have to actually "buy" the music using the cash earned from your shows.

You start in the city of your choice, which has several small venues that don't require any sort of special credentials, just a willingness to play for peanuts. The calendar function is a good addition, where you can schedule individual shows as well as "tours," for which you can produce T-shirts, hats, stickers, etc, to try to bring in some more cash. You still need a van/bus/airplane to expand the area in which you could play shows, but instead of just playing a gig and getting them, you pay for each as your band needs them. And logically, you aren't able to do a tour until you at least own a van to transport your band and equipment around. Additionally, you need to hire a sound guy and lighting company to play a gig in large stadiums, and different lighting companies provide higher or lower bonuses to your performance ratings.

One of the most exciting concepts of Rock Band RPG is your agent. You start out and they just let you know about potential gigs, give you some tutorials on how to book shows, and tips on how to increase your style. But as you grow, they become your one-stop shop for making money and booking shows. Your agent looks for opportunities, such as a chance to tap into large audiences by opening for bands who have songs the game (but of course, preventing you from playing any songs by that band in your set). They also arrange for the creation of CDs, DVDs, and merchandise. The agent also handles advertisements for said CDs and merchandise, and when you get big enough to do your own tours, handles finding bands from the game to open for you.

(end preview)

There would have to be a suspension of critical thought, since your band would just be a cover band, which would never make it very big. But we're video game players; we've learned over the years to take most games at face value. The potential for this Rock Band RPG to be fun is, I think, immense. Among my Rock Band-playing friends, I've received only very positive feedback about the idea. And of course, this doesn't have to be the limit at all. You can integrate costs for everything that your band has to work with, such as rent, fuel, hotel accomodations, and the costs associated with making T-shirts, CDs, etc. It's really up to the game maker to decide how complex the system will be.

I simply can't get this idea out of my head now. I get disappointed every time I play Rock Band 2, because I find myself hoping what future versions of the game might offer. So I'm going to try to spread the word about this idea and see if I can't get some steam rolling on the idea. Any comments, ideas, questions are more than welcome. I love talking about this idea. Comment away.