Getting back on the diet that threw ya

One of my resolutions for this year was to lose some weight and get down to 275 pounds. Being me, unfortunately, I had been slacking off hardcore and have actually started gaining weight again. So, I have started working on the weightloss again. Let me tell ya, it sucks ass trying to get back into a workout routine. I had been comfortable with it until I broke my leg last year and now just walking a few miles kills my legs and feet. Also there is no bike seat in the world that can really support 340 lbs. so my ass is killing me too. I'm just trying to lose enough weight so I can get on the Wii Fit so I can see if it's worth the money :)

In other news my daughter Genna is 'graduating' from Pre-Kindergarten this month. I think it's pretty cool, especially because I think she's really looking forward to both the graduation and to going to the "big school". On the other hand, I kind of freak out about it because I don't know where all the fucking time is going. Seems like yesterday that I myself was graduating from high school. Now, there's a wife, a house, 1 kid going to kindergarten, 1 going to pre-k, and another on the way. It's like Ferris Bueller says, "Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. " Truer words were never spoken.

I've been getting busy in Singstar. It is fucking hard trying to get all the trophies. First of all, it's impossible to get 9000 points on hard on 95% of the songs, which require you to buy more to get the right ones. Also if you don't have a camera, it's impossible to get people to view your stuff unless you beg them or do something really stupid, like dance around in a dress. I don't know if I'm really going to be able to get them all. I'll probably give it a few more weeks and then give up if it doesn't happen and move to some other games.

I've also been playing around with the iPhone more and venturing into the paid Apps section. I've found several to be useful in my Fitness work. The Daily Plate is a website where you can get healthy advice through Livestrong (Lance Armstrong's foundation) and also track stuff like what are you eating, how much you can eat in a day calorie-wise, how many calories you are burning by exercising, etc. The website itself is free, but the iPhone app is $2.99. I really don't know why they just didn't make a free ad-supported one. It seems to be the case for a lot of apps (I suppose because selling ads doesn't really pay for shit.) The other app is Trails. Trails is kind of sweet because you can take GPS readings of your runs, cycling, hiking, etc. then you can upload it to a website or e-mail it to someone else where they can download it and follow your trail. It's mostly for hiking and geocaching, but I'm using it to get accurate times and distances for my walking and cycling runs.

One last thing. How bout dem Brewers, eh? I thought it was going to be a shitty year after losing Sabathia and Sheets, but they've won 8 of their last 10 games and sit in a 3 way tie atop the NL Central. As I write this they are up 3-1 over the Marlins which, if it holds, will put them in 1st....at least until the Reds and Cardinals play their games. I know we're barely through a fifth of the season, but there is cause for some hope that not all is lost. I'd like to see another big aquisition by the trading deadline to help put us over the hump and back into the playoffs again. If the cards fall right maybe I'll find a way to see them play in the postseason. If not, I'm sure I'll make it to a game this year. Nothing beats the experience of actually being at the ballpark.

*ring* *ring* Hello, Josh...this is reality calling. You need to go to a meeting now so stop blogging *click*

Well, I can't deny reality, so I will take my leave now. :)

Do I eat this or put it on my face? My back hurts?

So it was an interesting weekend. We got a load of freezing rain on Saturdy so everything was covered in a nice coat of slippery ice Sunday. I perfomed a triple back sommersault with a twist down the stairs but I completely messed up the landing. The Chinese judge wasn't impressed and scored a 7.5. It's OK, though. My back broke my fall and is feeling awesome right now. Which is to say it hurts. A lot.

Unfortunately it's not helping with exercising. I'm trying to get down to 250 by the end of the year and I seem to be gaining weight despite eating better and exercising. I know it fluctuates and I could check right now and be 3 pounds under where I was this morning but it's still depressing.

Speaking of dieting, The Daily Plate and Traineo are helping me track my calorie intake. It's working out pretty well except I have to create every meal for the first time because we made it from raw ingredients. Hopefully the weight starts going down soon. I'm also using Joe's Goals for some of the more basic tasks I want to improve upon, like brushing teeth, reading to the girls before bed, etc.

I managed to catch parts of all 4 NFL playoff games but not any whole one. I'm pissed that I fell asleep during the Indy - S.D. game, sounds like it was exciting. I did manage to watch most of the Fiesta Bowl last night. Surprisingly Texas did not wipe Ohio State off the map. This was actually one of the more compelling bowl games this year. It was back and forth all the way with Texas shredding the Buckeyes defense in the last 2 minutes to win the game.

If I do have one gripe about college football, it's the bands. I understand it's tradition and all that, but first of all, the Texas band's uniforms are just silly looking. I get that Texas was primarily known for ranching and stuff, but they look like cheap ass Howdy Doody knockoffs. Secondly, is it really necessary for the bands to play their drums everytime a first down is made, or it's late in the game, or it's 3rd down, 4th down, the coach is yelling, end of the quarter, etc. It's irritating. The sound board guy needs to turn that crap down because it's distracting me from the game. And you, Ohio State, look like a bunch of re-re's dressed like white Black Panthers. Black isn't even on of the football team's uniform colors. Also, why is Texas, dressed like idiot cowboys, playing Led Zeppelin? THAT. DOES NOT. MAKE. SENSE!

We also went out and got Singstar for PS3. It's not too bad. Essentially instead of rendering your character rocking out like Guitar Hero or Rockband, they play the music video with the notes overlaid on top. I prefer Rock Band because the words match up more closely with the notes like so (it's hard to see but it's at the top):

vs. Singstar

Also in each games there are sections where it judges you on speaking the words (mostly rap songs). Rock Band isn't as strict on this. "Epic" by Faith No More is in both games and in Rock Band I can get 100% on Easy, in Singstar the rapping part of the verses grades me as awful on Easy. Rock Band 2 is supposed to have even better recognition. I can't wait to get my hands on that. They have "Master Exploder" by Tenacious D on there. I would rule that song ! :)

The good things about Singstar are that:

-You can load songs from any of the other Singstar games, many of which are sitting at Gamestop used for $15-20. (You can do this with Rock Band as well, but the discs cost more)

-People can upload videos of themselves performing. This is mostly for your amusement, not for your use, because people will laugh at you if you do it :)

-The downloadable content is slightly cheaper, however it's limited to a lot of Sony's artists and personally there's nothing I'm too crazy about, but there's about 450 songs for download right now vs. 100 something for Rock Band

Anyways, that's been keeping Pam and I busy, so yes I still haven't tried out Home yet. It's on my to-do list for the weekend. I'm hoping by then I may have all the trophies in Fallout 3 and then can concentrate on something else.

Well, duty calls, so I'm off to say the day!