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