Fat Free Friday #8

BOOOOOOOO!!!!! Well, I didn't lose any this week, but then again, I didn't gain any this week either. I guess I have to be happy for that as well. So, 5 pounds still lost in 8 weeks. At this rate, it will be 10 pounds in 16 weeks, which is below my goal, but 10 pounds is a lot. We'll see.

I'll have the answer to the trivia later tonight. Good job everyone. My review of the movie 300 also tomorrow!!!

Thursday Trivia #2

Some random trivia questions for you today. Take a guess:

1.What bird's eye is bigger than its brain?

2.Who is the first character to speak in Star Wars: A New Hope(the first one released)?

3.Who portrayed the first openly gay main character on tv? What tv show?(hint 1977-1981)

4.The first interracial kiss ever on tv took place on what show?

5.What, now despised person, was Time Magazine's man of he year in 1938?

6.Who bought the first ever Hummer made for the general public?

7.What are bills made of in the United Staes?

8.Most car horns honk in what music key?

9.Fish scales are in ingrediant most of the time in what common beauty product?

10.What was the first product to ever have a UPC code?

Good luck...

ASSHOLE!!!

Not even 4 days ago did I post about how proud I was to have beaten Manuel's top score on Misirlou in Guitar Hero. He can't even let me have that for a week... Jerk...

Wordless Wednesday #2

Top Five Tuesday #2

I am not a huge candy person. I never really crave it. I am not going to deny that I like the occassional candy now and then though. Sometimes I am in the mood for something chocolate. Sometimes I am in the mood for something fruit flavored. If I had to choose my top 5 favorite candies, here is what they would be:

#5 - Kit Kat - Some people like to eat a Kit Kat piece by piece - i.e. - licking off the chocolate first and eating the wafer last. I eat it all at once to get the whole flavor.

#4 - Twix - When I buy a Twix, it truely is, "Two for me, none for you!"

#3 - Reeces Peanut Butter Cups - I usually don't like peanut butter in anything but a sandwich, but the combination in this candy is perfect.

#2 - Green Apple Jolly Ranchers - Not all Jolly Ranchers. Just this flavor. I can eat these like they are M'n'Ms. By the handful!!

#1 - Starburst - It doesn't really matter what flavor they are, I LOVE Starburst. So juicy. So flavorful! So perfect!

The Five Things That Pissed Me Off Last Week #2

#5 - I have job news, but I can't tell you yet for fear of jinxing it. Don't worry though, the news breaking is close. It pisses me off that I can't tell you yet.

#4 - More Kings crappy play this week. I tell ya, it is good the season is almost over. Pray for a good draft pick.

#3 - The Kings had a big win yesterday. Wait a second, why is this on the list if they won? Simple - it shows what they are capable of from time to time. Where is this play on a game by game basis? It was exciting, but painful to watch at the same time!

#2 - I played some great poker at my house on Saturday night and then just got unlucky at the end. Yeah, I got 2nd place and got $70, but the $150 first place was mine!!!

#1 - I went to the doctor's last week because I discovered a lump in my breast a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't too worried as the lump hurt and cancer generally doesn't hurt, but I went anyways. The doctor decided it wasn't anything to worry about, but he still ordered a mammogram. No, not an ultrasound. A MAMMOMGRAM. Damnit. Anyways, I take that test today. Wish me luck.

Guitar Hero

I know we've mentioned this game before. We're still playing - it doesn't get old, especially when we compete against each other. We have 2 guitars, see, so we can play the same song at the same time. Without fail, Manuel is better than me. The score is usually 7 him, 3 me or 10 him, 5 me, something like that. And there are certain songs that he ALWAYS beats me at - I tell him he owns those songs. No matter how much I practice, no matter how many times I play them, I can NEVER beat his high score.

One such song is Misirlou by Dick Dale. Some of you may better know this song from the opening credits of Pulp Fiction. It's one of the harder songs in the game - the further down the list of songs you go, the harder they get. This song is third from the bottom. He was a Misirlou master.

What was that? Did I say was?

You're damn right I did! Not only did I beat his high score, I didn't miss a single note!

Looks like there might be a new sheriff in town...

Fat Free Friday #7

The downward spiral if weight loss continues. I lost another pound this week. That makes it 5 pounds lost in seven weeks. I actually had some pretty big dinners this week, but I balanced that out with absolutely no in between snacking all week long. I have been so busy with some work stuff(more on this in a week or so), I haven't been able to get to the gym in nearly 3 weeks. That's killing me because I know that will make my weight loss even more significant! GRRRRR.

Anyways, have a good weekend. I owe some of you responses on comments so I will get to that sometime today. Oh yeah, and I will include the answer to yesterday's trivia in the comments to yesterday's post as well later today...

Trivia Thursday #1

So everyone knows the nursery rhyme of Little Miss Muffett and how she got herself in a little predicament with a spider while eating her curds. But did you know that the nursery rhyme is actually based on truth and Little Miss Muffett was actually a real person? Without researching, how do you think this came about, i.e. , how did Little Miss Muffett wind up in this situation???

Wordless Wednesday #1

Thanks For Your Input

A while back I asked your for opinions on which tattoo I should get. I listened and took your ideas to heart. While I didn't go with the one that got the most votes, I went with the one that I REALLY wanted.

I am IN LOVE with it and am SO pleased I went with my gut. Besides, I can always get the Pisces sign in 10 years when I'm ready for another tattoo...

So thank you guys again and make sure you check out the Top 5 below.

Top Five Tuesday #1

For my first Top Five Tuesday, I have decided to go with an easy category - the top 5 game shows of all time. Everyone has seen at least one game show in their life. Many of us have seen many different game shows in our lives. I myself have seen a bunch because of my love for games. I especially love the ones where I can participate. I am exclduing reality game shows such as Survivor and Amazing Race and competiton shows such as Idol and the Dancing Stars. So without further ado, here is my opinion on the top five game shows of all time

#5 - The Weakest Link - I love this show for one reason. It is just a constant barrage of trivia questions in a rapid fashion. The great thing about the trivia? The questions for the most part aren't really that hard. You just have to be quick to get the answer before time runs out. Very addicting.

#4 - American Gladiators - Physical game show, but a game show nonetheless. This was an awesome show. Watching ordinary people go head to heard with muscle bound freaks in all kinds of athletic competitions! Awesome stuff. I could never get enough of this show.

#3 - Family Feud : So simple to play yet so fun. My favorite part of the show might actually be listening to the tremendously dumb answers that people give sometimes. It is fun to just roll your eyes and wonder how they thought that was a good answer. Don't forget the Fast Money round which is the best part of the game!

#2 - Jeopardy : I LOVE Jeopardy! Why? I just love trivia. Anytime I just get to answer a bunch of random questions about a variety of subjects, I am happy. And you know what, I actually do pretty well with the questions on the show. I don't think I am good enough to go on the show, but I answer my share of questions. One day Jess will be able to beat me when we watch.

#1 - The Price is Right: This is not really my favorite game show now, but over all, this is what I believe is the best game show of all time. Why? Anyone can play. For the most part, it is a realy simple game. Even as a young child, you can sit down and understand what is going on. Plus, you have to give it credit for its long life.

Don't Piss Off THAT Guy...

I was driving around today and I saw a red Mustang with "Slut," "Bitch," and "I (heart) cock" spraypainted on the sides of the car in giant white letters.

I guess the title of the post says it all...

EDIT: There seems to be some confusion. While I never saw the driver of the red Mustang, I too would assume it was a woman. By the title of the post, I meant not to piss off the guy SHE pissed off, lest we all drive around with spray painted cars.

The Five Things That Pissed Me Off Last Week #1

I am going to call this #1 even though a while back I did a bunch of these. This is a new beginning. Plus, I don't have time to go back right now and count how many I have done. Maybe I will do that later today and edit this. Here we go...

#5 - After giving me some hope the previous week, the Kings went back to their old ways of suckery last week. They were close to getting in a playoff spot, but they unfortunately blew it. Thing is though, the other teams are so bad that after losing 5 in a row last week, they still are within 2 games of a spot. In years past, poor play of this nature would be much higher on the list, but losing comes to be expected nowadays. Oh well...

#4 - We bought new sofas, but since they didn't have our color in stock, we have to wait 10-14 weeks. I mean, it really isn't THAT big of a deal because we are in no rush, but it sure would be exciting to have them. Still, it is cool to know that our sofas will be specially made for us. When they come in, I'll take pictures.

#3 - The lady last week who called my wife a whore. At first, I was just so shocked that I didn't say anything. Now that I think back, I wish I had said something back. Like Sonja said in the comments, I should just feel sorry for the lady because she probably is just a really miserable person.

#2 - I was really excited to get a new racing game for the PS3 called Motorstorm. I downloaded the demo and it was AMAZING. Then, the day I was going to buy it, I found out that it is only a one player game. Yes, you can play it online with buddies, but you don't have the option to play at home against your wife or friends. How do you not have a 2 player option on a racing game?!? Poor decision. Especially because the graphics and dynamics on this game are outstanding. Oh well... Saved myself some money.

#1 - What happened to all the Fat Free Friday participants? When I first talked about it, everyone was excited. Now there is barely any participation. Did most people give up? It's cool, I guess people aren't as comfortable with showing the highs and lows of weight loss as I am. Sometimes I have a hard time owning up to you all that I have not been quite as good as I wanted. But I am still reporting every week. Why? By owning up, maybe that will be the only thing that keeps me on track. At least keep reading it that way I know I am owning up to someone.

The Gameplan

I'm the kind of guy who likes to have order and some sort of gameplan at all times. The blog has been the exception as posts and the topics I write about have always come on random days. Then I started doing Fat Free Friday and it felt good. It felt good to turn on the computer on Friday and KNOW that I have something to write about. I would like most days to be like this. I want to continue this tradition with other days. So, I am going to try and create some kind of schedule for my weekly postings. Here is what I have so far:

Mondays - Long time readers will recognize this. I am bringing back, "The 5 things that pissed me off last week." I did this for a little bit a while back and then suddenly stopped. I had fun with these so I am bring this back.

Tuesdays - I am going to start a column called Top 5 Tuesdays. On these days, I will think of a random topic and try to come up with a top 5 list. Some local DJs do this and it is always fun. I'll be looking for any agreements or disagreements on each topic.

Wednesdays - I am stealing this from Sonja. Wednesdays will be Wordless Wednesdays. I'll have some kind of picture that will be funny/pretty/random/etc. Just a picture.

Thursdays - Thursday triva. Some trivia questions for all of you. Won't necessarily ALWAYS be movie trivia so don't worry.

Fridays - Fat Free Fridays

Saturday and Sundays - No idea yet. I could take the weekend off or I could be open to suggestions. Let me know if you have any.

Now, if I also have other things to talk about or Rich or Jess want to post on one of these days, that is fine too. So, if something interesting happens to me on Tuesday, you get 2 posts for the day. But I like having a schedule. It keeps me on track. Let's see how I do....

Fat Free Friday #6

6 weeks down and it was actually a pretty good week. I lost 2 pounds this week bringing my grand total to 4 pounds lost in 6 weeks. Not the 6 pounds I wanted, but I think that is pretty good progress. Jess is gone most of the weekend so I know that means unhealthy food, but what can you do?!?!

Be sure to read Jessica's posr below if you haven't already.

Whore

Manuel and I were out and about the other day. For one of our errands, we parked the car in a parking structure. After we were done doing whatever it was we had come to do, we took the elevator down to the level where we parked the car. In this particular parking structure, the elevator is separated from the cars - it's in it's own room. So we exit the elevator and I open the door to go to the car. As I open the door, I hear the tell tale whack of someone on the other side of the door. OOPS! I didn't open the door all crazy like either, just a normal opening of a door. But I'm a good person, so the following conversation took place:

Me: Oh my goodness! Did I hurt you?
The lady (with her son): No no no. It was my fault.
Me: I'm so sorry though. Are you sure you're ok?
The lady: Yes. It's ok.

And I went toward the car while Manuel held the door open for the lady and her son.

After they went inside, Manuel catches up to me and says, "Oh my God, babe! That lady called you a whore!"

Apparently, after I went out of my way to make sure she wasn't hurt and apologize, after she assured me it was her fault and that she was fine, once I was out of ear shot, she felt the need to insult me. What the hell?!

1) What kind of person does that? I could understand her calling me that if I hit her with the door and kept going, but no, like I mentioned above, I was really nice to her.
2) What kind of mother speaks like that in front of her son? Why is she teaching him that that is acceptable behavior - a) to call nice people bad names and b) to call women in general whores?
3) Why didn't my husband defend my honor? I'm not asking him to get into fisticuffs with the woman, but he could have said something like, "Excuse me, that's my wife." That would have put her on the spot and made her embarrassed at least...

What's that saying - no good deed goes unpunished? Seems appropriate for this story...

My cousins

The other day I was visiting my Grandma and Grandpa when my Grandma brought out an old newspaper she had found buried under a bunch of stuff. The newspaper was dated December 14, 1978. She opened it up to show me this picture of me and my cousins. There are six total cousins in the family, but my younger sister was obviously not born yet as I am not even 6 months old here. The article was on meeting Santa, but as the article made no reference to any of us, I did not scan the article as well. I thought it was pretty cool though because I had never seen this picture before. I showed it to my mom and dad and they didn't remember the picture being in the paper either. The things you come across sometimes. If any of you family wants me to email this picture to you, let me know! Enjoy!

EDIT: Val's comment made me remember to write something. They have my name and Mike's name switched on the picture. Mike is the one in the middle. Oops!

Why my sister shouldn't have moved out.....

So my sister movied out of my parent's house yesterday. Her fiancee and her got a duplex together. This is the conversation my wife had with her yesterday as we were all moving her in and setting things up.

Wife: Do you have a phillips screwdriver I can use?

My sister looks through her new toolbox and says: All we have are Stanley screwdrivers. Is that ok?


Oh boy. Good luck......

Fat Free Friday #5

Where the hell is everybidy?!?! The comments have been scarce as all get out!!! Anyways, I lost a pound this week. Yeah me. So after 5 weeks, I am down 2 pounds. Yeah, I intended to be down 5 pounds at this point, but I AM going in the downward direction. Big picture Manuel, big picture. Have a good weekend everybody...

Civil War finale

It's been about 2 weeks now since the Civil War storyline has come to an end. Search back in my archives for the previous parts of the story. When I last discussed the story, the heroes oppossed to registration were invading the base of the heroes on the side of registration for both one last battle and to free their captured friends.

The majority of the final issue basically focused on the final battle. Heroes battling heroes in an epic battle. In the end though, it came down to the battle between Iron Man and Captain America, the leaders of the respective sides. I have scanned quite a few pages so make sure to click on them to see them bigger so you can actually read the text.
First, the final battle between Cap and Iron Man. Cap was able to get the upper hand after getting fellow hero, Vision, to disable Iron Man's powers.










Out of nowhere, citizens hold back Captain America, the symbol of freedom and show their displeasure with him for what he is doing...










Captain America takes a look around and sees that all he has accomplished is destruction....











In a shocking move, Cap surrenders.......












With Cap defeated, the Registration side claims victory and most heroes end up giving in to the demands of the Registration law. All heroes except a small group who continue to fight for what Captain American originally believed in. Cap meanwhile is sent to prison.






Part of the first part of the initiative is to place one superhero team in every state. It would be foolish to think that there isn't some kind of homage to the current situation in our country being made here.




Today, a comic came out where the unthinkable happened. You may have already heard this because it has been on various news sites. Today, in an issue of Captain America, Captain America was to stand trial for his resistance in Civil War. But on the steps of the courthouse, while handcuffed, Captain America was shot by a sniper and another assailant on the ground. He died on the way to the hospital. Today, Marvel Comics decided to kill off Captain America. It is truely a sad day. I'm speechless.....

A Real Hero

Have you all been watching Heroes? Great show right? Too often in the real world, the word "Hero" gets tossed around. Someone hits a game winning shot? Hero. But how many true heroes are out there. How about a hero that actually seems to have a super human power of some sort? Then again, maybe this guy just has nine lives.

I first became aware of Rulond Gardner in the 2000 Olympics. I love the Olympics and try to watch as much as I can. I didn't see the match live unfortunately, but the news spread all over Olympics. In the gold medal match of Greco-Roman wrestling, Gardner was able to defeat the big Russian, Alexander Karelin. Why was this such a big deal? Karelin had not been defeated in 13 years!!! In fact, nobody had even scored a SINGLE POINT on Karelin in 6 years!!! Talk about domination. Gardner was not given a chance in hell to defeat Karelin, and with a record like that, why would anyone think otherwise? It was truely a remarkable event.

After the Olympics, Rulon got the usual winner's welcome back in the country. It was then that we learned that Gardner had survived an arrow accident as a child. An arrow from his bag had gone into his abdomen while bent down to pick up another loose arrow. But that alone would not be his last brush with death. 2 years later, in 2002, we learned that Gardner became lost in the snow while on a snowmobile trip. He was stranded overnight in the freezing cold, and once he was rescued, he had to have a toe amputated. After being in the cold all night without a coat, he is lucky that is all he lost.

Despite the loss of a toe, Gardner was still able to qualify for the 2004 Olympics. He couldn't repeat his performance, but he did earn the bronze medal. The tears after his final match , his retirement match, became one of the most emotional moments in sports I had ever seen. He did not leave the spotlight though. Soon after the Olympics, Gardner was involved in a motorcycle accident after a car hit the motorcycle he was riding. Despite being thrown from his motorcycle, he lived.

I figured that would be the last brush with death that Gardner would ever have to endure. I'd forgotten all about Gardner when I saw his name in the paper again last week. Unfortunately, he was involved in aother life threatening incident. Gardner was riding in a small plane with 2 friends when the plane they were riding in crashed into an icy lake. They all survived the crash, but had to swim over an hour in 44 degree water. Over an hour in almost freezing water. But did they get rescued right away? Of course not. Probably because of his experience with being stranded in the past, Gardner had his friends help him with building a shelter after first helping them calm down. Luckily, after surviving sub freezing temperatures in the night, they were spotted by a fisherman in the morning and were saved.

I listened to an interview with Gardner on the radio the other day and it was truely inspiring. I fully believe he helped these men live. Is this guy just lucky? Is fate keeping him alive? I am not sure of these answers, but I do believe that by calling this man a hero, I would not be too far off.

It's just like, it's just like....

I usually don't like to steal posts from other bloggers, but Jerry posted this video a month ago and it is STILL in my head. This commercial is a riot! Try to sit through the whole thing and I promise you, this song will get stuck in your head too....

Fat Free Friday #4

Well, it still is Friday for a few more hours. No weight loss this week. I stayed the same. In fact, I really didn't try to hard. I was only able to make it to the gym one day last week so that is also a factor. I need my exercise in order to lose weight with the lack of salad in my diet. So, 4 weeks down, one pound total lost. I guess it could be one pound gained right?

So did you enjoy that video I posted this week with the really deep lyrics? Then check this out for sure!!! Be sure to give the music time to load.
http://ualuealuealeuale.ytmnd.com/

My ever changing legacy

Say hi to Ryan Athony DiBona, My cousin Casey's new son. Guess that makes Ryan my second cousin or something?

Pressure writing. Time to try something new. Lots of noise and no calm.

I was thinking the other day about the people I meet on a daily basis. I started to wonder about these encounters and how they would be remembered. I have plenty of people in my life that see me fairly regularly, so they have a solid idea of what I am as a person. My legacy in their eyes is pretty much set in stone. I started to wonder about how people see me. From the one-time meetings to the daily encounters there would be something different to all of them. What a lovely kinda freedom in that knowledge. Here is what I mean.

The random female who is driving her escalade down the freeway late on a Friday afternoon. It's raining outside and visibility is less than perfect. I get a call on my cell phone as I attempt to maneuver around a big rig truck. I do all the instinctual things that come with being a professional driver to make this move go smoothly. Somewhere between my turn signals and my merging and my getting the news that it would cost more to fix my lovely mazda protege I may have cut this escalade driver off. I still can't picture doing it, but the phone conversation was distracting enough that I have no clear image of seeing her vehicle as I merged right into the freeway exit lane. I got to then be on the receiving end of a furious exchange of bird flippings and yellings through her window. She did have a cell phone in her ear as well, so perhaps she wasn't as focused on the road either. I could only smile as the 10-second rant came and went. She pulled off the freeway and I will never see her again in my life. I am forever implanted in her head as an asshole driver who almost killed her. I am sure the rest of that day I was the brunt of her anger as she explained the details of our almost meeting to all within earshot. My legacy was set and I could do nothing to change that. With that incident came this.

SO WHAT!

I will never see her again. I won't be able to fix any of my mistakes or alter her perception of me. And I am comfortable with that. I will hundreds of people like this in my life. Maybe not in this manner, but there are countless people I will never see again. This allows me the freedom to say that for some instances in my life I have no consequences to my actions. I can behave as I wish and it will not come back to bite me. How peaceful.

Now as far as the longer legacies I will leave it always seems to come back around to something that is slightly morbid. What will they say at my funeral? And who will actually be there?

To me, I have a slightly negative view of this scene. I find myself being described through the life of someone else. My title might be so-and-so's brother, or a fellow co-worker as opposed to simply being defined by my own name. My legacy will be the same to everyone and that kinda bugs me. Nice, descent, caring...........There are tons of people like me out there. There may be scenes in my life that stand out to others that help define me to them, but it's no more of less different from any other young male walking round the world at the moment.

This makes me wonder how I can change that legacy with all of these people. And if I go about making this change just for this sole purpose of giving them something more interesting to remember me by am I somehow completely ignoring my present-day life. I know this can get into the more philosophical way of thinking about life, but just a thought I had. It's probably cause I had some moments happen recently that altered how I see people around me on a daily basis. Some things changed for the worse. Others improved my POV on them. And at those funerals I will now say something a lil different about them. So think about that sometimes and go in peace my friends. Legacies will always be changing. It's very fluid. Rabble Rock!