My Daily Walk

As part of my new diet program, I have to burn about 2000 calories a week. I'm not there yet, but in an effort to comply, I have started to do a ten minute walk around my office buildings. I checked on Google's Distance Calculator and if I stay on the asphalt, one lap is equivalent to a quarter mile. I've been trying to do it on a regular basis. Normally, I wouldn't remark on something so mundane as walking, but yesterday something rather interesting happened.

Usually, there's someone walking with me so my walk goes by in conversation. Yesterday, I went by myself and about a minute into my walk, I decided to sing. There's usually no one around, so I just started up with "Swinging On A Star". As I was singing, a blonde on the other side of street (walking past the Crowne Plaza hotel next to my job) started smiling at me and told me I have a beautiful voice! Then on my second lap, I was joined by a co-worker who after I told her what the blonde said, virtually begged me to sing and she concurred!!

Like I said, the song I was singing was "Swinging On A Star". It's the version I heard on this amazing hidden gem of a movie called Hudson Hawk. Rather than torture you with MY version of the song. Here's the one I learned from:





Isn't it a great song???

Diet Update

My weekly weigh-in this week did not go as well as I'd hoped. This past weekend, I broke my diet twice. It was partially emotional eating (I was stressed out due to car issues.) and part of it was strategic due to a mis-calculation in the needed amount of diet food. I'm back on the diet now, but the consequences of my break were felt this week. The worse part is I did an unofficial weigh-in in the morning at my house and the scale reported 476.8lbs!!! I was ecstatic!! But the official weigh-in told a different story. Here are the results:


Previous Weight: 487.2lbs
Current Weight: 486lbs
Weight Delta: -1.2lbs


That's what I get for breaking the diet. I should be back on track with my "aggressive" weight loss next week. Here's hoping!!!

Return To The Dead.... Soon

There's been a lot of buzz recently about one of the creepiest shows on television: AMC's The Walking Dead. The creator, Frank Darabont, leaving the show, but not before firing the entire writing staff. Questions about who the next showrunner is going to be, etc. But as the saying goes, the show must go on.. And it looks like nothing can stop the return of The Dead... Check out the newly released full trailer for Season 2 of The Walking Dead.






I think this is going to be a creepier, more suspenseful season than the first one!! Can't WAIT for October!!

Diet Update

I went to my diet class last night for my weekly weigh-in. After my first week, I'm doing well. No side effects, no energy drop. Things are pretty much normal for me now. It feels like my life is settling down in this respect. I'm still dealing with the "temptation phase", but I have my ways to handle that. I'm still looking into a gym that I can afford to join so I can fully maximize the benefits of my diet. Now it's just a matter of keeping on, keeping on.  The stats for last night's weigh in are below:


Previous Weight: 495.2lbs
Current Weight: 487.2lbs
Weight Delta: -8.0lbs

Interesting note: From my record high weight of 506lbs (before my hospital stay) to my current weight of 487, I have lost a total of 19lbs!! Cool, right??

Just In Time...

A friend of mine recommended that I see a trailer for a movie. At first I was hesitant, because this friend is kind of hit or miss with his movie choices, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. And the trailer was AMAZING! Simply amazing. I loved the concept, I loved the look... but the main lead is questionable... Check it out and let me know what you think...

First Week Down

As of today, I have made it through my first week on the new diet. Honestly, it wasn't all that difficult. The trick was getting all of the different components set in my mind and then actually doing them. I don't have it all down yet, but I have the bulk of it set in mind. I had a little bit of difficulty on the weekend, because I didn't have the set schedule of my job to smooth out the eating regimen. In the end, I muddled through Saturday & Sunday, and managed to stay on diet.

And now that the mechanics of the new diet system are set in my head, I have entered what I call the "Temptation" phase of my diet. Since I don't have to focus so much on making sure that I meet the requirements of my diet (because it's becoming more routine), more of my mind is free to focus on the things the people around me are eating, that I used to be free to eat. Everyday foodstuffs like chicken or rice, now have a greater level of appeal to me. Earlier today, I went into my office's kitchen to make my afternoon shake and the smell of bread toasting was simply divine. I mean for crying out loud, it was TOAST!! Not even buttered... just TOAST!!

Don't get me wrong, I didn't have any desire to suddenly devour all the bread in sight. Not in the slightest. But the fact that it smelled so good was remarkable to me. Just like I noticed all the food commercials in the hospital when I couldn't eat, I'm noticing all the different foods around me now that I can't have them. I guess it's true that you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone.

Of course, the whole point of my diet is to eventually work normal, non meal replacement foods back into my normal eating, so eventually I'll get back to eating those foods, but it's truly amazing how much I notice the foods that are around me now.

The other thing that is amazing to me is the entire lack of an energy drop. I figure I was pulling down at least a 3K+ calories a day diet. Currently, I'm at about 1K a day. I would have thought given the drop, my energy would drop, but I still feel the same. People tell me that my energy level will increase over time, but I think given the amount of weight I have to lose, I don't forsee any energy level changes just yet. I am interested in seeing if I've lost any more weight when I go to my diet class tonight. Either way, I'll post the results here. I'm also going to take some "before" pictures for comparison sake to when I reach my goal weight. That should be fun.

Thoughts on... Geek Vs. Nerd

According to a couple of my friends, I have lost my "geek" status. Mostly because I don't go all out and research every single thing about the subjects I'm interested in, or because I don't fully immerse myself in the realms I enjoy. Initially, that idea rankled. It was like they were denying an essential part of who I am. But, in really thinking about it, my friends are right. Despite all the times, I've called myself one, I'm not really a geek.

Firstly, being a geek has become WAY TOO FASHIONABLE. When a woman who has just won the Miss America BEAUTY PAGEANT can call herself a geek and not have the tiara ripped from her head and given to someone else, being a geek is too fashionable.

Second, when I was growing up, I found that I would rather spend time reading books, watching TV, and playing video games than deal with my problems in the real world. That accomplished 4 things:

A) Assured that I would never learn the social skills necessary to make interactions with the opposite sex anything other than problematic at best.

B) Increased my knowledge retention & application skills to the point where I vastly eclipsed my peers. Example: by my freshman year in high school, I had a BEYOND COLLEGE LEVEL language comprehension.

C) Shaped my mind in such a way as to only appreciate subject matter that had in some way, shape or form an intriguing cerebral facet. So, no MXC for me, thanks.

D) Set me up to be burned, many times over, when the real world I chose to ignore bitch slapped me out of my "safe" little bubble.

The first three had me ridiculed most of my childhood life for my intelligence, yet called upon often for that same intelligence, which led to an intriguing and complex form of isolation. No one wanted to spend time in presence or speaking to me, but if they had problems with schoolwork of any kind, I was their main resource. And after I was old enough to fully understand the nature of the lesson of the 4th, I gained a healthy respect for reality, which added a reluctance to leave it for any reason. My reluctance increased exponentially when I realize how infinitely complex the real world actually is.

This is not the story of a geek. Geeks are a newly formed class of people whose above average intelligence is now celebrated and in which people rejoice. That has NEVER been my experience. My intelligence has always been treated as a unpleasant necessity. In the end, people are right. I'm not a geek. If Miss USA is geek (of any stripe, shape or color), I am most definitely NOT a geek. Do you know what I am?

I'm the guy who grew up hating himself because while he could understand the science behind parallel universes & the philosophical problems of time travel,  he couldn't manage to talk to girls (and still can't). I'm the guy who spent all his time alone because everyone around him thought he was too smart to hang with (most still do). I'm the guy who doesn't think spending most nights getting drunk to the point of throwing up or passing out is fun. In the end, there's only one thing I can be called accurately.

I'm a NERD.