It's All Mental...or At Least Mostly

Endurance.

Persistence.

In my journey to health, for each thing that I learn about fitness, I learn two things about myself.  Recently I learned just how much running is mental.  I know, for all you runners out there, you've known this for years, but for me it was something of a revelation.

I was running the other night and I started feeling a little tired.  I really wanted to stop, but I thought to myself, "I can run down to that corner," so I did.  Then I thought, "I can make it to the end of this street."  Guess what?  I made it there, too.

The funny thing was, I really wasn't any more exhausted at the at the end of the street than when I had that first inclination to stop.  It was entirely "in my head".  I wasn't actually close to any kind of physical failure at all, it was purely mental.

When you're exercising by yourself, and there's no one there to pace yourself against or to cheer you on, the only one that chooses when to stop, is you.  Or in this case, me.

What I learned that night about myself was that while I had been fairly disciplined with my exercise routine, I hadn't really been pushing myself.  Normally when I get tired, I stop.  I wonder how many times in my life I've done that?  Just stopping because I wasn't mentally tough enough to push just a little bit more?

"So, Aaron, what's the point?"

Mostly I'm writing this to just help me digest my own thoughts.  But, if this helps someone that reads this get past a little mental "tiredness", too?   Bonus.

Post Gobble Jog Update

Well, my friends...Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with it, the Gobble Jog.  My first 5k was a blast and I really enjoyed.  What a great group of supportive people I have around me.  There were lots of my friends waiting to cheer me on at the end.

One friend really went the extra mile.  About 200 yards from the end, Becky was standing on the side cheering me on, but it didn't stop there.  As I passed her, she jumped back in the race with me and encouraged me all the way to the finish.  It was awesome.  Thanks to her, I made my goal time of < 40 minutes.

Tonight, as a reminder to myself, I framed my number, d-chip, and a picture of me and Cheryl just before the race.

My 42nd birthday is February 10th (please, no gifts).  As a present to myself, I am signing up for the Marietta 5k Mardi Gras Run, benefiting the Junior League, on February 12th.  I've changed my countdown clock from the Gobble Jog to this race, and today it is sitting at 78 days and counting!

Thanks to everyone that has encouraged me, exercised with me, and listened to me babble on about getting in shape and the Gobble Jog.   One race down, a lifetime to go!

10 Days to the Gobble Jog!

Wow!  Hard to believe A) how long it's been since I blogged, and B) how quick the Gobble Jog is approaching!    We just got back from a 9 day vacation (with a little work in the middle), and we had a fantastic time.  We stopped at 3 different state parks (two in Georgia, one in Florida), got to see some great friends, family, and went to the Magic Kingdom.  If you want to see pictures, you can go here:

Our pictures from the trip.

I did 3 miles tonight, but BOY, am I slow.  I can't run all 3 miles yet, and my walking speed is slow.  Of course, I didn't really expect to be able to run it by the Gobble Jog.  I've still got a lot of weight to lose.

That being said, I told my wife that when I broke the 75 lbs mark, I was going to shave my head!  Sorry, Mom!  (Mom prefers my hair.)

I hope to run my next 5k on or around my birthday (February 10th, if you were wondering).  By then, my goal is to run the entire thing.

It's a Matter of Perspective

Last week I had my two best workouts ever.  Tonight was initially disappointing.

As I was finishing up, (and calling myself a wimp), I realized it had actually rained today for the first time in a while, which raised the humidity a bit.  I also realized I hadn't had anything to drink since Bob bought me a Coke Zero at 3:00 o'clock. Those two factors are a recipe for a very wimpy workout.

Then I realized something else.  Before last week, the workout I had done tonight, my wimpy workout, was my "normal" workout.  And three months ago, my wimpy workout was not even within the realm of possibility.  Interesting.

In the matter of one week, my perspective had changed.  I'm demanding more from myself, and I think that's a good thing.

On the flip side, we have to be careful, because our perspective can quickly slide the other way, too.  There was a time, when, from my perspective, eating double-meat cheeseburgers, giant orders of fries, and a couple of glasses of Dr. pepper a two or three times a week was normal.

Any perspectives in your life that might need adjusting?

Set Yourself Up for Success

So...snacks.

I like snacks.

Tonight, I really wanted a snack.  I looked in the pantry for something crunchy and taste-filled.  We had a few bags of chips, some crackers, cheese.  I considered eating a few of these delicacies, but while I was trying to make my decision, I spotted something else.

Crystal Light!  A-ha!  No calories...and tasty! I looked in the fridge and found another treasure:  some kind of fresh, sweet bell pepper. With an almost zero-calorie snack combo, I was set!

So what was the secret of my successful snackage?  Preparation.

Having decent snacks/drinks in the house makes it SO much easier to make a good decision.  If I hadn't had the Crystal Light and/or the peppers, I probably would have had something not-quite-so-good for me.  In fact, I guarantee it.

Do you keep healthy snacks in your kitchen?  How about at the office?  I recommend it.  I know this isn't rocket science, but give yourself good options.  Set yourself up for success.

Family Hiking

The last two Saturdays, Cheryl, Nathanael and I have gone hiking.  It has been a blast!

Last week, we went up to Clarksville, GA and climbed to the top of Pine Mountain to the David G. Archer overlook.  It was incredibly beautiful. (See my previous post for details.)

This weekend we went to Sweetwater Creek State Park.  It was also very cool.  There's some Civil War era mill ruins right on the creek.  The "red" trail, a nice walk to the ruins, is rated "easy".  After the ruins, the trail ramps up to "difficult" as it runs parallel to the creek.  There's quite a bit of rough terrain on this part of the trail as it leads to a small waterfall.  From there we took the "blue" trail back.  Of course, Nathanael thought it would be good to run again.

We're finding it's a great way to get outside, have family time, AND exercise.  We're loving it.

I Call It the E.L.E.M. Method

Now that I've lost a fairly significant amount of weight (63.8 lbs as of my last Saturday morning weigh-in  wahoo!), people are asking me frequently, "What are you doing?"

When I tell them Eating Less and Exercising More (i.e., the E.L.E.M Method), about half of the people say, "Oh," and look a little disappointed.  I really think that should be encouraging instead of disappointing.  It means that they could do it, too!

No pills or supplements to buy.  No gym or program to join.

I'm actually saving money because I'm eating less!

Try out the E.L.E.M. Method...it works!

Hey! Want to Climb a Mountain?

One of the "philosophies" I've developed during this whole process is the one meal/one workout philosophy.  Anybody can eat healthy for one meal.  Anybody can go exercise one time.  So I just worry about the next meal and the next workout.  Put a string of these "one-at-a-times" together, and you get results.  I know that this isn't some big revelation, but it is the way I'm approaching it.

If you're waiting to get started on getting healthy "until Monday", or "after the holidays", or "next week"...don't wait.  Start right now!  Eat healthier at your next meal.  Plan a time to get more active.

Just think, if you had started making changes at the same time that I did back on July 1st, you'd be 3 months closer to your goals.  For some of you, you might have already reached your goals!

Because I'm healthier, today the family and I were able to go to Pine Mountain outside of Clarksville and hike about 1.5 miles up the side of the mountain to an incredible overlook point.  We then ran back down the mountain.  In June, I literally could NOT have done this, even if I had wanted to.  Today, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I can't wait for our next adventure!

It's Been a Bit

It's been almost two weeks since I last posted something, so I thought I'd drop a quick note.  Tonight I had a couple of personal firsts.

First, I ran entire lap.  An entire lap!  If you don't know about the "track", then this doesn't mean much to you.  The "track" is a little over 2,000 feet...a little shy of a half mile.  For you runners out there, that may not seem like much, but to me, it was a milestone!  When I first started, I could only run about 100 yards before I was exhausted.

Second, I shaved a minute per mile off of my average time.  I only went 1.8 miles instead of 3.1, but that was due to it getting dark, not giving out.

As I continue to trim down and increase my stamina, I'm looking forward to seeing those numbers get better and better.  I don't expect to be able to run the entire 5k for the Gobble Jog, but I want to run as much of it as I can.

See you on the pavement!

What's an HbA1c?

What's an HbA1c?  If you're a diabetic, or know one, you probably already know.  If you don't, I'll tell you.

Glycated hemoglobin (glycosylated hemoglobin, hemoglobin A1c, HbA1c, A1C, or Hb1c; sometimes also HbA1c) is a form of hemoglobin used primarily to identify the average plasma glucose concentration over prolonged periods of time. It is formed in a non-enzymatic pathway by hemoglobin's normal exposure to high plasma levels of glucose.

That's a mouthful.  The upshot of the above paragraph is that a person's HbA1c is a pretty good indicator of their average blood glucose levels for the past three months or so.  A1c levels between 4.0 and 5.9 are typically considered healthy.  An A1c level of 7.0 or higher (and now some are saying 6.5) is one of the key diagnostics for diabetes.

On December 10th, 2009, I had my HbA1c done for the first time.  It came back as a 6.7.   I went online and did some research and found out that 7.0 was kind of the cut-off mark for diabetes.

I thought to myself, "Wow! That's not too good.  I really need to start getting in shape."

Six months went by.  As part of my employee physical I had my A1c done again.  This time:  6.9.  That's right, it went up!

That surprised me...and yet it didn't.  I hadn't changed my lifestyle in any way.  My blood sugar levels had probably been steadily creeping up over the years.  Both my parents had at times bordered on diabetic.  They mostly controlled it by controlling their weight and watching what they ate, so I had always know that I was at risk.

This time, I really made a decision.  I declared WAR!! on sugar.  No more sweet tea, no more Dr. Pepper, no more white bread, rice, or potatoes.  I cut back on my portions.

So...here I am three months later.  Fifty pounds lighter.  Friday, I had blood drawn and some lab work done. Today I got my results.

5.3!!    Five.point.three!!

I really made a change.  All the exercise and eating healthier made a difference.  A measurable, quantifiable difference...in only 3 months.

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What healthy changes do you want to make?  You can effect those changes the same way I did.  One day at a time...one meal at a time.  String a bunch of those days together and what happens?  Your HbA1c goes from 6.9 to a 5.3.

You can do it, too!

1/3 of the Way

In case you haven't heard, I've passed the 50 lb mark on my journey to health.  That's a third of the way to my mark.  I'm 10 weeks into the process.  I'm committed to my plan - both the exercise and the eating - but like all lifestyle changes, some days are easier than others.

It's strange.  I don't really miss any particular food or drink.  I don't really miss Dr. Pepper or sweet tea.  I don't even miss eating lots of double-meat cheese burgers.  But, sometimes I just want to eat.  A lot.

I had one of those moments yesterday evening.  I had dinner, but an hour later I wanted to eat again.  Rule #1 of my three rules saved me.

#1)  Am I really hungry?

As I was digging through the refrigerator and the pantry trying to find something to eat, I asked myself the question.  "Am I really hungry?"

The answer was, "No."

I walked away.  Victory!

Later that evening, when I really was hungry, I had a little light popcorn.  Fantastic.

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Next time you're staring into the yawning abyss of the frig (or the pantry), ask yourself the question.  See what happens.

Labor Day Update

Hello everyone!

We are at approximately the 10 week mark of my journey to health and fitness, and I thought I would give everyone an update.  But first, let me start by saying thank you to everyone that has supported me, encouraged me, and/or just put up with me blabbing on about getting in shape.

There are also a couple of special "shout-outs" that I would like to do.

1)  Terran Messer.  My longest and most faithful workout partner!  I've rualked many an extra mile because of his encouragement.  (And a mini-shout-out to my other private track peeps:  Justin Clarke, Lee Westberry, and Joshua Perkins.)

2)  Brian Edholm.  My coach/accountability partner/encourager/mentor/friend.  We really ought to come up with a better title for you.  Brian has met with me faithfully every other week from the beginning.

3)  Cheryl Butler.  That's right...my wife!  She's a constant source of encouragement, and always manages to sincerely say, "That's great!" whenever I go on and on about getting new running shoes for the third time in a single day.

4)  Molly, Molly, and Becky.  You've consistently encouraged me. I appreciate your encouragement, as well as your example.

Now for the update.

My goal was 50 lbs by Labor Day.  Saturday morning I did my regularly scheduled weigh-in, and I am happy to report that I had lost 50.6 lbs!!  Wahoo!  I made it early.  Here are the "stats" in a more stat-like format:

Weight lost:  50.6 lbs (I know, I just said that.)
Inches lost:  6" in my waist, a good 3"+ in my neck
Blood Pressure:  from an average of 140/90 to an average of 120/75

The "before" picture attached to this post was taken last summer.  The "during" picture was taken tonight.  I'll let you figure out which one is which.



Thanks again to everyone!

It's Like Direct Deposit

I learned something today which you may have already known.

I went for a rualk in Alexandra Farms, the neighborhood behind our house.  I mapped out my course before I left and found that it was 1.6 miles long with only one tiny little shortcut available.  When I started out, I just set a goal in my mind of reaching the end of the 1.6 miles...which I did.

Here's where the fun starts.  I had no choice but to come back.  I had "direct deposited" 1.6 miles into my workout plan.  I guess I could have called Cheryl to come pick me up, but there were a few problems with that scenario.

1)  Macho men don't ask for directions, much less call for rides.
2)  I wouldn't be polite to ask my wife to drop what she was doing and come rescue me.
3)  I didn't bring my phone.  (See how I planned that?)

If you are a fledgling runner like myself, it's great having a track that you can do laps on.  But what's even better is if you have a course that is the complete distance that you want to go, with no shortcuts available.

Does anyone else have any suggestions along those lines?  Are you thinking about giving my technique a try?

Record Turnout!!

We had a record turnout today for the Monday night rualk.  Tonight, we had 4 people!!  It's becoming the place to be.

Everyone likes steps, right?  Five steps to be debt free.  Nine steps to a happy marriage.  Eleven steps to the perfect cheeseburger.

I admit, I'm no expert, and I don't have everything figured out, but here's four EASY steps to starting a workout program.

1. Figure out (or at least take a guess at) what you enjoy doing.  Walking?  Tennis?  Weights?  Aerobic dance?
2. Make sure you physically capable of participating in said activity.  (I'm not trying rock climbing any time soon.)   Consult your physician if necessary.
3. Choose when you are going to get active (not what year, but what day(s) of the week and what time).
4. FIND A PARTNER.  Get someone to join you.  Keep each other accountable.

That's it.  Simple, huh?

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If you decide to give my steps a try, let me know!

(88 days to Gobble Jog!!)

A Minor Revelation

As you may have read in my previous blog, Monday night I rualked the 5k course that I will be running on Thanksgiving Day - a.k.a. the Gobble Jog.  It was quite an adventure.

As I also said previously, concrete is a lot tougher on the old joints than asphalt.  So, when I got out of the car after driving back to the house, I had stiffened up a bit.  As I stretched and slowly worked out the kinks, I realized something.

That was the hardest 5k I would ever run.

Barring an injury, it's only going to get easier from here.  The NEXT time I run a 5k, I'll be lighter, faster, and stronger!

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Are you still trying to "get off the couch", literally or metaphorically?  Give it a try.  The first time is the toughest.  It's all downhill from there!

My First 5k

Tonight I rualked my first office 5k course.  It wasn't an actual race, but it was the honest-to-goodness course that will be used for the Gobble Jog on Thanksgiving Day.  I learned a few things (some of which you probably already knew) while I was tackling this.

1. Concrete really is harder than asphalt.  Really.  Since this wasn't the actual race, I was confined to the sidewalks, all of which are concrete.  By the end I could really feel it in my ankles and knees.
2. Both uphill AND downhill are difficult.
3. Though a small difference, 2.9 miles and 3.1 miles are not the same.  My normal route at home is 2.9 miles.  Today I went 3.1 miles.   Just .2 miles...no biggie, huh?
4. I'm a stroller by natural.  I saunter.  I have to constantly remind myself to keep my speed up when I'm not running.
5. Don't wear shorts that are too big when running a 5k.  They fall off at inopportune times.

It's approximately 90 days until the Gobble Jog.  I think I'll run it again in 30 days, and then a final time in 60 days.  Hopefully my time will improve with each attempt as I am lugging around less and less of me.

Let's get active!

Major Victory?

Major Victory is the alter-ego of a Marvel Superhero named Vance Astrovik.  Vance Astrovik was born in Saugerties, New York, the only son of a small-town butcher Arnold Astrovik and his wife Norma. Going into the U.S. Air Force at the age of 18, Astrovik (who changed his name to Astro when he was 21) became the youngest man to be accepted into the astronaut training program several years later. In 1988, Astro volunteered for the first manned interstellar mission ever conducted by the United States, Project: Starjump.

His ship, Odysseus I, was not equipped for faster-than-light speed; hence the journey to Earth's nearest interstellar neighbor, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, would take about 10 centuries. To protect him from aging, Astro was covered with a skin-preserving copper alloy (which was upgraded with adamantium in the Guardians of the Galaxy series) body-suit, and his blood was transfused with a kind of preservative fluid. Astro was launched into space from the Houston Airport in the fall of 1988.

While on his way to Alpha Centauri, the ship automatically awoke him from his suspended animation in order for him to perform routine course adjustments. During the periods he was awake, sometimes for a year in duration, Astro eventually went insane from loneliness on several occasions, returning to a semblance of normality only after the ship automatically put him back in suspended animation again. During his long periods of sustained dream-state activities, Astro's latent psionic powers emerged. By the time he arrived on Centauri IV almost a thousand years later, he had full control over his psychokinetic abilities.


Major Victory is also what I experienced today when I had my blood pressure taken at work!!  Over the last few years, my blood pressure hovered just below "high".  At my last employee physical, it was 143/93.  That's actually pretty high, especially the second number.

Then there's today!  Today, my blood pressure was 111/71!!  Your eyes did not deceive you!  My blood pressure is totally normal!!!  Normal!

Switching Things Up a Bit

Those of you that have been keeping up with my journey know that I have my "own personal walking track" next to my house.  It's kind of a modified figure eight, with a 110+ yard straight-away in the middle.  We've been running the straight-away both directions, which constitutes about 1/3 of a lap.

Tonight, we took it up a notch!  We're now doing what I call "running 6ths."  I've mentally divided our track into 6 (fairly) even pieces and we're alternating running and walking each segment.  Simply put, we're now running 1/2 of each lap!

From 1/3 to 1/2 doesn't seem like much of a difference, but it sure felt like a big difference!

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Have you been exercising regularly but doing the same old thing?  Tony Horton (from P90X) is always talking about muscle confusion.  I think that applies not only to your muscles, but to your mind.  Switch something up.  Make a little change.  Take a different route on your run.  Maybe go for a bike ride instead of the treadmill.  Keep it fresh however you can!

Places I've Vanquished

Below is a list of all the places I have vanquished in the past month and a half.

Stevi B's Pizza
McDonald's
La Parilla
Marietta Diner
Burger King
Firehouse Subs
Subway
Pizza Hut
Willy's
Starbucks
All Star Pizza

So what does that mean, "vanquished"?  It means that I not only ate there, but I controlled my portions, made good choices, and in most cases took some food home with me.  In the past, if Cheryl and I ate out and we brought something hope with us, it was because it was poultry, and I couldn't eat it.  (In case you didn't know, I'm allergic to poultry...that's why they call it fowl.)

Not so anymore!  Every time I walk out of a restaurant know that I've eaten right, I know I've taken another step in the right direction.  All this different eating has changed my taste buds.

For the last few days, I've been craving...salad.  Salad!  Can you believe it?  I've also started to really have a taste for peppers.  Bell peppers (red, orange, yellow, green...any color), banana peppers, pepperoncinis, jalapenos, you name it!

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Have you had any small victories lately, like going to a restaurant and not over doing it?  Walking instead of sitting?  Water instead of Pepsi?

Where Are You Reading This?

Many of you are reading this as a note in Facebook.  Some of you are reading this in an email right now.  You've subscribed to my blog and have it handily delivered to your inbox each time I post.  Others of you might be reading this via an RSS feed.  Or maybe you have just pulled it up in a web browser.  None of this is really the point...I don't know why I'm going on so.

If you are reading this in Facebook, then you might have already read my latest status, giving an update on my weight loss:  40.8 lbs so far!  If you aren't my Facebook friend, then let me give you an update on my weight loss:  40.8 lbs so far!

This past week I didn't get much exercise in because I had strained my Achilles tendon a couple of weeks ago.  However, I got my Cho-Fan Achilles Brace in the mail yesterday, so I can't wait to try it out tomorrow night with a good run-walk!  I think it's going to help.

And hey!! If you aren't my Facebook friend, you can be:  www.facebook.com/aaroneousfindings

Quick Weight Loss Secrets

Would you like to lose 5 lbs a week, each and every week, until you reach your goal?  With no expensive meals, supplements or videos to buy?  No gym membership required?  Do you want a workout plan that's all plan and no work?  A plan that let's you eat what you want and not change your activity level and STILL lose all the weight you want?

Unfortunately, it doesn't exist.  But on the flip-side, there is a super simple 2-step plan that works every time.

1)  Eat less
2)  Be more active

That's the plan I've been on for the past month and a half, and it's working great.  But, like many simple things in life, simple doesn't necessarily mean easy.

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If you're struggling to do one of these two simple steps, allow me to make a suggestion.  Pick one step.  Pick the one that is the most difficult for you.  Now, decide right now one thing you are going to do to take a step in the right direction for that step.  Here are some examples.

Eat a healthy breakfast.
Park further from your office.
Don't drink your afternoon Dr. Pepper.
Go for a walk after dinner.
Don't have seconds at dinner.
Shoot some hoops.
Turn off the TV.

Take a step in the right direction, and let me know how it goes!

110 Days Until Gobble Jog

I just thought I would give you a quick status update.

Last week I pulled my Achilles tendon.  Just slightly, but I did pull it.   I've taken it easy this week, but still tried to do what I could.  It's feeling better.  I'm going to try for a real workout on Monday.

As of this morning's weigh-in (which occurs every Saturday in my bathroom), I have lost a total of 36.4 lbs. from my "official starting weight", which is pretty exciting.

My countdown clock on my computer desktop tells me that I have 110 days left until the Gobble Jog.  That's more than 15 weeks.  If I can average losing 2 lbs a week, I should be down 30 lbs more by the Gobble Jog, which would be about 65 lbs total.  However, my goal for the Gobble Jog is to be down 75 lbs.

Hope to see you there!

I Need Your Help

Hello all my friends out there.  I need your help.  We have two sweet little dogs named Bonnie and Smallville. They need a new home.

Bonnie is a 5 year-old female (spayed) brown and white Jack Russell Terrier.  Smallville is 4 year-old male (neutered) black and white (and a little brown) Jack Russell Terrier.  Both of them are full-blooded, healthy, housebroken, crate trained, and can do quite a few tricks.

They like to be outdoors, but are comfortable in the house as well.  Jack Russell Terriers are notorious for two things:  being one of the smartest, if not THE smartest dog breed, and being hyperactive.  I prefer the term high energy.  They love to run and play, but every evening the come inside, play fetch and tug-o-war a little bit, then turn into lap dogs.  They love people, and are very friendly.

We recently moved into a new house, and that's where our problems started.  They've gotten out of the fence many times.  In Texas, they never got out of the fence.  In our past three and half years, they only escaped a handful of times, and they usually just came around and scratched on the front door.

Monday, they escaped AGAIN, and this time they ended up instigating a tussle with a Maltese that was being walked by her owner.  The Maltese wasn't hurt,  but the lady was pretty shook up.  She managed to catch both dogs (which isn't difficult) and called Animal Control, who came and picked them up.  We received two citations for each dog:  2 "Failure to Control Animal", and 2 "Vicious Animal".  These are not "vicious" animals.

Our fence just can't seem to hold them.  We need someone that would be willing to give them a new home.  They come with a crate!  The person that would be perfect to adopt these dogs would either have A)  a QUALITY fenced yard, or B)  a couple of hundred acres.  They really don't need to be all-day-inside dogs.

Please pass the word on this.  I'll drive 100 miles to bring them to a good home.

Smallville

Bonnie

I'm Something of an Expert

There's few things in life that I claim to be an expert about.  One of those few things is hamburgers.   I know hamburgers.  Home grilled, fast food, and everything in between.  It's absolutely my favorite food.

I have definite ideas on what constitutes a good home grilled burger, and there are a couple of restaurants that make great burgers (Hello, Jucy's!) that should not be classified as "fast food".

I've never tried to do this, but I guarantee you that I could demolish a blind taste test of the most popular fast food burgers.  If you blindfolded me and gave me a bite of a McDonald's burger, a Wendy's burger, a Burger King burger, a Krystal Burger burger (too easy), a Whataburger burger, a Jack-in-the-Box burger, a Sonic hamburger, a Braum's burger, and a Steak n' Shake burger, a couple of things would happen.  First of all, I would be full. Second, I think I could identify each one.

In my opinion, with few exceptions, the best way to eat a hamburger is with double-meat, cheese (which, of course, technically makes it a cheeseburger), mustard, and pickles.  That's all.   If you start adding lettuce, tomato, onions, and other things, it begins to mask the real taste of the MEAT, which, after all  is what a burger is really all about. Do NOT be tempted to put bacon on your burger.  Bacon is perfect by itself, and should not be mixed with any other flavor unnecessarily. 

Then take that burger, and dip it into ketchup.  One bite at a time. Do not put the ketchup ON the burger.  Dip the burger IN the ketchup.  Don't knock it till you try it.  I'm an expert.

Of all the fast food burgers I listed above, my favorite is Sonic's Super Sonic Cheeseburger, which is their double-meat quarter-pounder.  Before I said that double-meat, cheese, pickles and mustard, dipped in ketchup is the perfect way to eat a burger.  This is the one exception:  jalapeños.  Sonic's Super Sonic JALAPEÑO Cheeseburger is a work of art.  Sonic's jalapeños have the best flavor, and just the right amount of heat.

For the past day and a half, I've had a nagging craving for something.  I tried a bunch of different things: strawberries, Cheetos, cheese.  Nothing did it.  It has been six weeks or so since I had a "real burger", so this evening I decided to "jump off the wagon" and get a Super Sonic Jalapeño Cheeseburger.

Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what I'm craving!  Right?

I will admit.  The burger tasted great.  Really, REALLY, great.  The problem?  After about 4 bites, I was over it.  I finished it.  I couldn't waste a Super Sonic Jalapeño Cheeseburger.  I just couldn't do it.

Afterwards, I wished I hadn't eaten it. I didn't feel guilty.  I felt cheated.

The burger was good.  But the problem was that it wasn't good enough for me to justify the calories and fat.  The promise of how good the burger would taste didn't justify the calories.  And the fat.  And the sugar.

I enjoyed the burger, but now I actually enjoy eating healthy even more.  It's not even about taste.  It's that it makes me feel better.  Physically as well as how I feel ABOUT myself.

So when your favorite (not-so-good-for-you) food whispers "eat me" in your ear, ask yourself the following question.  "How will I really feel after I've eaten this?"

I wish I would have asked myself that question.

---

One last note...  I know there many other burgers out there I didn't mention:  White Castle, In-and-Out, etc.  I was just focusing on the ones that have been local to where I've lived.  Sorry.

Just FYI..

(My last post was my 200th.  Forgot to mention it.  Go me!)

I had hit it hard Thursday and Friday, so I laid off the exercise today.  Maybe because of that, or because I had a smallish dinner (it tasted wonderful, by the way - it was a home made burrito using wheat tortillas), but for whatever reason, I was hungry this evening.

I thought about stopping at Krystal Burger and getting a half-dozen burgers and a large order of fries.  Instead, I opted for a pickle, a handful of jalapeno cheddar cheese Cheetos, and a big glass of water.  Yum!

It's Poison!!!!!!!

Today one of my coworkers brought a beautiful cake to work to share with everyone.  It was some kind of three layer white cake with extra fancy icing and shaved white chocolate on top.  It was gorgeous.  Everyone said it tasted great.  I ate a little sliver of white chocolate.


Later in the day, one of my other coworkers (who also has been very encouraging to me in my weight loss, by the way) was getting a piece of cake and asked me how my "willpower was doing" with that cake sitting about twenty feet away from me.


I told her, "No problem.  I'm not really tempted at all.  It's got too much sugar.  That's like asking me if I'm tempted to drink poison,  Sugar is my enemy."


"Really?" she asked.


"It's dead to me," I replied.


I know that may sound a little drastic, and I was joking (mostly), but I really wasn't tempted.  It didn't pass my three rule test.  It has been very interesting to find my entire relationship with food has changed.

On My Desktop

My laptop has Windows 7.  One of the cool things that Windows 7 can do, and it can do a lot, is gadgets on the desktop.  These are tiny little applications that can add the weather, a clock, RSS feeds, all kinds of things right on the desktop.


Today I added a countdown clock.  Right now it reads 121 days.  Can you guess what is in 121 days?  No peaking at a calendar!!  Did you guess Thanksgiving?


Wrong!!  Okay...you're actually right, it is Thanksgiving.  But that's not all.  It's also the Gobble Jog!  Wahoo!!


The Gobble Jog is a Tot Trot/1k/5k/10k fundraiser for MUST Ministries.  Must Ministries is a :faith-based organization that, for 38 years, has been dedicated to providing services to feed, clothe, and assist people living in poverty. MUST offers a range of services including emergency shelter, transitional housing, meals, groceries, clothing, job readiness and placement, financial assistance, children's programs, community support groups and access to free healthcare."


I'm doing the 5k.  I'm laying the gauntlet down.  I don't care if I have to crawl the last 100 yards, I will do this race!  Of course, I am hoping to actually run the entire 5 kilometers.  That's 3.1 miles give or take.


Who wants to join me?  If we get 10 or more as a team we get $2 off of registration.  We don't even have to do the same race!


(And my new shoes were great today!  Terran and I ran more than we ever have.  We're getting there!)

Healthier Is Possible

Due to some unforeseen circumstances this weekend, we ended up eating out a couple of times that we hadn't planned on.  Usually when we eat out, it's fast food.  Burgers and fries, Taco Bell, or maybe a sub sandwich.  Before, my plan was always to get the most food for my money.  The bigger the better.  But now, I eat differently.  Here's a couple of examples.

SUBWAY BEFORE:
12" Meatball sub on wheat with salt & pepper, oregano, cheese, mustard, pickles, and black olives
1460 calories (300 for a soft drink)

SUBWAY NOW:
6" roast beef on 9 grain whole wheat with s[icy mustard, pepper jack cheese, cucumber, banana peppers, black olives, pickles (lots and lots of pickles), bell pepper, salt (just a little) and pepper (a little more), and LOTS of oregano
420 calories


McDONALDS BEFORE:
Double quarter-pounder with cheese and large fries
1240 calories (230 for sweet tea)

McDONALDS AFTER:
McDouble and small fries
620 calories

Today I had Arby's.  We love Arby's.  In the past I would get the LARGE roast beef sandwich with a  LARGE order of curly fries.  Add in a LARGE Dr. Pepper, and you have around 1,500 calories and a LARGE Aaron.  (And I would usually finish Nathanael's, too.)

I got a medium roast beef sandwich today, and only ate half the bun (which is where half the calories and all the sugar resides).  My fries were also a medium, and I only ate half of them as well.  I learned my lesson.  I would have been satisfied with a small.

I'm beginning to understand that while it may be impossible to eat "healthy" everywhere, it is possible to make healthIER choices.

-----

So, I'm encouraging you (and myself), if you have to eat out tomorrow, make healthier choices, no matter where you go!

It's Not At All Like Riding a Bicycle

Today I got some new running shoes. Actually, they're the first running shoes I've ever owned.  They seem comfortable.  Hopefully they will help me with my gait.

"What's wrong with your gate?" you ask.

"No, not my gate, my GAIT.  G-A-I-T, as in the way I run," I reply.

"Oh!" you exclaim.  "How could I have been so silly.  Of course that's what you meant.  So, what's wrong with your gait?"

Glad you asked.

The problem is that the last time I really ran the year ended with '00'.  It's been over ten years.  My body, in a lot of ways, has forgotten how to run.  During a 100 yard run, I''ll go from tight shoulder to loose shoulders, running on my toes to running on my heels, swinging my arms wildly (okay, not that wildly) to holding my arms close to my sides, clenched fist to a relaxed hand...and every combination of these.

I'm really have to re-learn how to run.  It is definitely NOT like riding a bicycle.  When I started running, I could feel muscles I hadn't used in years working, stretching, doing what they are designed to do.  Which is why I think I know how to solve this problem, though...

Keep doing it until I get it right!

-----

To all you runners out there:  any tips?

A Chuck Woolery Moment

In case you don't know who Chuck Woolery is, he was the original host of Wheel of Fortune, but is probably best known for hosting Love Connection.  During his Love Connection stint, when he was segueing to commercial, he used to say, "We'll be back in two and two."  His explanation was that each commercial break was about one second to fade to commercial, two minutes of commercials, then one second to roll back to the show.

Today I had a "Chuck Woolery Moment".

Last month, I had my yearly employee physical, but I wasn't able to get my TB test.  I'd been on steroids because of a upper respiratory infection, and if you're on steroids, you can't have the test.  So today and I had my test.  While I was there I asked the nice nurse-lady to check my body fat and BMI again.

The results?

In one month I've lost 2% of my body fat and 2 points on my BMI.  My own personal "two and two".  Thanks Chuck!

Top 10 Things I'm Looking Forward To

For those of you that have never been extremely overweight, you may have a hard time relating to this list.  For those of you that either are (or have been) overweight, then I imagine you'll know from whence I am coming.

When I near my weight-loss goal, the top 10 things I am looking forward to are:

1. Going to a concert/sporting event, and being able to buy a t-shirt.
2. People not assuming I want their extra food.
3. Not having to evaluate all the chairs in a room to determine which chair is most likely NOT to fail when I sit on it.
4. Not feeling sorry for people that sit next to me on an airplane.
5. Clothes shopping at a store with neither Big nor Tall in the name.
6. Not even noticing if my current route involves stairs.
7. Eating ice cream in public without feeling like people are judging me.  (Please, no crunchies in my smoothies.)
8. Never searching for the "maximum load" sticker on a ladder before climbing up it.
9. Making the statement "one size fits all" true for me personally.
10. Riding any ride I want at Six Flags.  (Sometimes I think they need to add a "You must be this narrow to ride" sign in addition to the "You must be this tall to ride" sign.  Ask me about the Batman ride at Astroworld sometime.)

What did or would make your list?

You're Not the Boss of Me!

(The title is not a quote of my son, though it could be.  He has said that in the past.)

One of my in-shape, thoughtful friends and her husband are coming over for dinner Saturday.  She was nice enough to make sure that bringing cookies for dessert wasn't going to throw a monkey wrench in my weight loss plans.

I told her to bring the cookies.  If I want one, I'll eat it.  If I don't, I won't.  No problem.

I've told a few people that I could eat the way I am eating right now for the rest of my life, and I truly believe that.  It's simple:  cutting back on sugar in general, no sugary drinks, stay away from white foods (white rice, white bread, white potatoes), and eat reasonable portions.  That's it.

It's NOT a diet.  I've dieted plenty of times.  I know a diet when I'm on one.  I'm not on a diet, but I am eating differently.  The big mental shift I've made is that when I'm on a diet, the DIET is the boss.  The DIET says, "Aaron, you can't eat that.  Aaron, you can't have that."

Now, I'm the boss.  No diet is my boss, and food is not my boss.  When I'm presented with a choice of what to eat, or how much, I just ask myself a couple of questions.

1)  Am I truly hungry?  (If the answer is "no", I don't even go to the other questions.)
2)  Is there something just as good and convenient that would be better for me?
3)  Does this move me closer to, or further from, my goal?

I know it sounds a little complicated.  But now that I've been doing it for a month, it takes a half second.  Here's an example.

Someone brought Dunkin' donuts to work for my office last week.  They sat on the table about 15 feet from my cubicle all day.  I'll be honest.  In the past, I would have eaten 2 or 3 when they arrived, and then ANOTHER 2 or 3 throughout the day.  Hey, why not?  Free donuts, right?

But now, I'm the boss.  Not the food...and not a diet.

I walked by the donuts at least a half dozen times that day.  The first time I walked by I opened the box and took a look.  I thought to myself, "Huh!  Look at that.  Donuts...lots of sugar.  Not worth it."...and walked on by.  The second time I walked by, I didn't even slow down.

It's not a situation of "I can't eat that", but simply "I don't want to eat that".

I recommend that if you are considering going on a "diet"...don't.  Make some positive changes in your eating habits, be healthy, but YOU be the boss, not a diet.  If you want to lose a few pounds (or a lot, like me), before you pop that pop-tart in your mouth ask yourself question #1.

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What ONE thing can you do to help yourself (in regards to eating) TOMORROW?  Drink an extra glass of water?  Eat breakfast?  Single meat burger instead of double meat?  Let me know if you do something and I will most definitely cheer you on!

New Addiction

It may be too early to declare it to the heavens, but I think I have a new addiction.  To be honest, I always thought that people that talked about "runner's high" were just trying to talk other people into suffering with them.  But now that I've actually experienced...had a little taste of it...I think there might be something to it.

If you read my last post, you know that I had something of a "moment" on Saturday morning when I actually ran for the first time in years.

Last night, my work out partner and I did six "laps" on my personal walking track, which equates to about 3 miles.  We ran about a half mile of the 3 miles.

Today, I was a little sore, but I couldn't hardly wait until tonight to see if I could run again tonight...and I did.  I did 2 laps, ran about a 1/4 mile.

We'll see how I feel in a  couple of weeks.

I Think I Teared Up

In case you haven't been keeping up, I've commandeered the empty sub-division next door as my personal walking track.  The other night I took it our for a one lap test spin.  Today I hit it a little harder.

I did three full laps (in addition to walking to and from), which equated to about 40 minutes of hard walking.  If you were to look at the map, you would see that the track is a modified figure 8.  The "straightaway" in the middle is about 100 yards long.  Here comes the exciting part.

As I was starting the second half of my second lap, and I came up to the straightaway...I started running.  Almost without making the decision.  I don't know whether I just wasn't working hard enough walking or what, but I took off in a brisk trot.  That's right...a BRISK trot.

(Please realize, the only "running" I've done in the past eight years has been to McDonald's.  I wasn't even really sure if I could run without hurting myself.  We'll find out in the morning about that.)

Now, the strangest part.  I ran the straightaway, and when I slowed back to a walk, I felt great!  I had a rush of adrenaline, my heart rate was up, and I felt great!  I actually got chill bumps and I think I might have teared up a little.  Why did I tear up?  Do you know how long it has been since I have equated working out with feeling GOOD?

So, my challenge to you today is get out, get active, and make your body feel good!

Make a Choice

This evening, I went to dinner at the Marietta Diner.  It's a pretty popular place, and they are well known for their ginormous desserts.  In general their portion sizes are HUGE!


You may have noticed that the title of this blog is "Make a Choice".  Tonight, that's what I did.


In the past, I've been a constant victim of the "I'll start fresh on Monday" or "I'll start after the holidays" syndrome.  No more.  I wanted so bad at dinner to just eat the way I always have and "start over" tomorrow.  But there's a cost every time you do that.  It pushes your goals back.


So tonight, I made a choice to eat a half of piece of bread with a little butter, instead of 4 pieces of bread with a layer of butter.  I ate two small pieces of their spinach pie instead of a half dozen.  I had water to drink instead of sweet tea.  Cheryl and I split a dish of Broiled Stuffed Filet of Flounder...and we still brought home enough for my lunch tomorrow.


I can't really tell you what the difference is in calories between this meal and the meal I would have eaten in the past.  I'm guessing that this meal was 1/4 of the calories.  It felt good to box up half of my plate and leave not feeling more stuffed than the flounder.


Tonight my choice was moderation.  Each choice is a separate choice, and each GOOD choice, is one step closer to my goal.


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If you're reading this and you could stand to shed a few pounds, I want to encourage you to not wait.  Right now, pick one thing that you are going to do differently tomorrow.  One positive choice you are going to make.


Let me know about it.

One Secret to Quick Weight Loss

I've discovered one of the must un-talked-about secrets of quick weight loss.  Are you ready for this?

Here it is:

Gain a whole lot of weight.  When you need to lose about 150 lbs., the weight just melts off!

A Novel Concept

A while back, I read an article about some hackers that had been busted.  Apparently, they had created a website that when visited would install some malicious software on the person's computer.  Not only would this malicious software capture the username and password to that person's online bank account, it would send it to a server in Russia.  This server in Russia would then compute how much money would be safe to remove from the account without causing too many red flags, and withdraw that amount.

But that's not all.  Then, every time that person thought they were going to their online bank account, the malicious software hidden on their PC would redirect them through the Russian server.  The Russian server would then, on the fly, change the way the bank website displayed on the person's computer, so that the illegal transactions did not show up.

To the person with the infected computer, it appeared as if everything was fine.  The way that it was discovered is that someone actually brought up their bank's website on two computers at their house:  one infected with the malicious software, and one that wasn't, and could see the two different bank balances side-by-side.

Wow! Trojans...keystroke loggers...server redirects...rewriting HTML on the fly...these guys were geniuses.

My only question?

...

If they're this smart, why didn't they figure out a way to make money legally?

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

A little early for Christmas shows, huh?  The title fits today, because at lunch I made a step in the right direction. That's the way I thought of it.  It reminded me of the song "One Foot in Front of the Other" from Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

What was the step, you ask?

Last night for dinner we had black beans and brown rice, so today I had leftovers for lunch.  When I opened up the container and saw that it was FULL, I thought to myself, "That's a lot of food!"  I ate half of it, put the lid back on it, and stuck the rest back in the refrigerator.

I've never done that before, except maybe with a whole pie, or entire meatloaf.  Scratch that...I would eat the entire meatloaf.  So for me, that was a step in the right direction.

Also, just as a side note, I weighed this morning.  I am 16.2 lbs down from my baseline weight.  Only 133.8 lbs to go!!  Umm....maybe I shouldn't think of it that way...

Are You Just Fat?

So...that's the question.  Are you just fat?  That pretty much sums it up for me.

As far as I know, I don't have a thyroid problem.  I don't have any chronic illnesses of which I'm aware.  In fact, for someone as out of shape as I am, I'm actually pretty healthy.  I'm just fat.  I eat too much.  I don't exercise enough.  I have some aches and pains, my blood sugar is trending a little high, I'm not as limber as I shoot be...but basically I'm fat.

I'm working to change that.

This next part was pretty hard to write.  It took me a while to pound it out, and it still doesn't say everything like I would like.  It's something I've been thinking about since December.

Back in August of '08, my older sister was diagnosed with lung cancer.  It was advanced, and the prognosis wasn't good.  She kept her spirits up and fought it hard through two rounds of chemo.  But she lost the fight on December 20, 2009.

The entire time she was battling the cancer, she ate right, exercised, and did everything she could to be healthy.  Everything.  And still it wasn't enough.  Her health failed her.  Her spirit was stronger than her body.

"Aaron, are you just trying to depress us with this sad story?"

Absolutely not.  I just want you to know something I've been thinking about:

I have no excuse.  I have absolutely no excuse.  Here I am blessed with a perfectly healthy body (other than just being fat), and I haven't been taking care of it.  I need to quit taking my health for granted.  There are people everywhere - fighting disease, missing limbs, unable to get out of bed - that would love to be as healthy as me.

Anyway...that's what I've been thinking.  That's one of the things that has been motivating me.  I'm not doing it out of a sense of guilt.  I'm doing it for myself, and for my family.  I plan on living a long time in this healthy body.  Shedding the fat is part of that plan.

Really? No, Really?

I just saw an insurance commercial.  It had a guy playing the part of "wind".  He was dressed in a suit, sitting up in a tree on a limb.  The limb overhung a new car.  He bounced up and down on the limb and made it break off and fall on the car.  Simulating wind and all.

Here's the "really" part.

As he did this (bounced on the limb and broke it off so that it fell on the car below), some small text popped on the bottom of the screen:

"Professional stuntman.  Do not attempt."

How far down the path of the ludicrous have we traveled that some legal department somewhere felt the need to let us know not to do that.

Thanks for the advice...I was really considering it.

Long Week

This was a long week, especially at work.  We had lots of technical problems, and it was just mentally and emotionally draining.

On the flip side, this was a good week for "the program".  I really only squeezed in one official "workout", instead of the three I planned, but I was more active.  I took the stairs at work, and this afternoon we washed the van and put up some blinds in the boy's room.  Not to mention our little walk we took earlier in the week.  I know that blinds, a car wash, and a walk don't equal a triathlon, but it IS better than sitting on my laziness all day.

Truth be told, I think I hurt my foot a bit...I kind of overdid it ion Tuesday.  I'm hoping by Monday it will be rested up and I can do some more aerobic type stuff.  Either way, I'm hitting the weights...I don't need my foot to do that.

If you are one of my inactive friends, I challenge you to find something new to add to your routine this week to get your blood pumping.

Another positive note is my eating habits.  I've kept my self completely off of sweet drinks, kept my portions under control, and I would just guess that I have cut my calorie intake to 1/3 of what it used to be, and my sugar intake to 1/5 or less of what it was.

One week doesn't make it a habit, but I'm one step closer than before!

Clever Marketing

The Scorpions and Ratt are coming to Atlanta.  I'm sure it will be an awesome concert.

The concert sponsor?  A local pest control company.  Hilarious.

McEvil Goodness

An oxymoron, you say?  To what am I referring, you ask?  Speak in questions much, you deride?

I am referring to McDonald's new McFrappe things.

My wife had a tooth filled today, and on the way home from the dentist, I, being the loving husband that I am, asked if she wanted to try one of McDonald's new cold-coffee-smoothee-thingies.  She agreed that it would be nice.

I took a sip to try it myself.

E.V.I.L.

But oh so good.  I will admit that I had a more than one drink.  It was McAwesome.  I don't recommend it.

I Went to Burger King!

Right about now, you're saying, "What?!??  Burger King!  I thought you were on a die-it."

A-ha!  Wrong...it's not a die-it, it's a lifestyle, remember?  Sheesh?  That was just one post ago that I established that.

So NOW you're saying, "What kind of 'lifestyle change' is going to Burger King?"

I'll tell you.

Right after this sentence.

Here we go.

Normally when I go to a burger joint of any type, I get a double-meat burger.  I like the meat in a burger.  The bread is just something to keep my hands from getting greasy.  I've strayed from that formula slightly in recent months because of the advent of the Value Menu.  Value Menu!!

Burger King is good because they have all their food "stats" posted right by entrance.  I did some quick math.  My typical double-meat (full-sized) burger, large fries, and large drink tallied up a total of about 1770 calories.  Of course, that's with no refills.  Right.  Like that's going to happen.  Let's say I get two refills.  One in the store and another to take with me.  That brings the total to approximately 2640 calories.  Scary, huh?

Today, I had a Buck Double, value fries, and water.  This tallies up to 630 calories.  Oops!  Hold on.  I have four refills of my drink.  So now, the total is...630 calories.

To top it off, we walked to Target to get a battery for my scale (yikes!), then walked to BK, then walked home. Not quite a mile, but part of it is uphill!

Some may consider this a small victory.  I consider it a step in the right direction.

Let Us Pray

This afternoon, I called my almost-four-year-old over and said, "Grab my hand...now grab momma's.  We're gonna pray..."

I closed my eyes and started to pray, and he said, "Wait, Daddy!  I want to pray!"  Then he closed his eyes, and said, "Lord Jesus..."

"Nathanael, if you want to pray first, you should just ask, not interrupt."

He opened his eyes and looked at me for a second, then closed them again, "Lord Jesus..."

"Nathanael..."

He just plowed ahead, "Lord Jesus..."

"Nathanael.  Listen to me.  We've talked about interrupting before.  Just ask if you want to pray."

"Okay.  Lord Jesus"  Pause.  "What are we praying about?"

They Call It a "Lifestyle" Change

Not a diet...a "lifestyle" change. I've got to change the way I've eaten my entire life - my entire relationship with food. That's a tall order.

I just recently got my labs results back from my latest employee physical. Good news!! My lipids have improved! Bad news!! My blood HgA1C has not. My A1C is a little high, and I want to get it under control now.

So I am now at war with sugar. Sugar! Thou are mine enemy!

Sugar doesn't have a chance. I'm a pretty smart guy, and it's an inert substance. They odds are in my favor I believe.

"What steps have you taken?" you might ask...I'm glad you did.

1. I have retained, at a not insignificant cost, a mentor/accountability partner/health coach. Okay, truth be told, he's a friend of mine...I didn't really hire him. We are going to meet twice a month to help me keep on track.
2. No more sweet drinks, cutting back on the white foods (white bread, potatoes, etc...you know the drill), limiting my portions. Nothing drastic.
3. Working out. I'm hitting the dumbbells and getting active on the carport 3 days a week. That's the target for now.
4. Last of all...this blog. A place for me to record my frustrations, my successes, my insights, and more. Of course, I may be the only person that ever reads it. And that's just fine.

It's a Quiz

One of my favorite bloggers, Misfit in Paradise, tagged me with this task. The task is to answer 10 questions presented to me, then tag 5 other people to answer 10 new questions. Sadly, I don't really have 5 other blogger friends, but I may (or may not) tag a few people in Facebook (since this will end up there as well).

1. (My old standby) You can invite 3 people to dinner. They can be from the past, present, or future. Who are they? C.S. Lewis, Axel Rose, Jesus

2. Why did you start a blog? (Blatantly stolen from Strawberry Jam Anne) I like to write, but I am usually too lazy. I thought a blog might require writing in small enough chunks that I would actually do it. And I crack myself up sometimes, and wanted to share it.

3. Monkeys, llamas, or horses? Yes.

4. Comedies or poignant dramas? Definitely comedies. I'm too much of a crier.

5. Do you have siblings? What kind (brothers, sisters, evil aliens)? If yes, where do you fit in the lineup? I am the youngest of three siblings (by 7 years). If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably already know that my oldest sister passed away last December after a year and a half fight with lung cancer. She was a incredible person. My "middle" sister is one of the most compassionate, kind, and sweetest (and goofiest) people I've ever met.

6. Besides me, who is your favorite author? What book? C.S. Lewis - Perelandra

7. Are you a Gleek? Unfortunately.

8. Do you have any You Tube subscriptions? If yes, what? RhettandLink (great internetainers), Pomplamoose (very inventive musicians)

9. Inside? Outside? Country? City? Summer - inside, winter - outside, country - living, city - vacationing.

10. Paper, plastic, or bring your own? Bring our own.

Irrevocable

Last week a friend of mine was in a minor fender bender. He's fine - just sore and embarrassed. You see, he rear-ended someone today because he was trying to look at an email on his cell phone. I'm just glad no one was hurt more.

It got me thinking about the irreversible decisions we make in life. Most decisions don't fall into this category. "Should I wear this shirt or that?" probably won't affect your future. But other decisions do.

Some are obvious big decisions:

"Should I go to this college or that?", "Should I marry this person?" or even: "Should I go out with this person?"

But some don't seem too big on the surface:

"Should I go to so-and-so's house tonight?", "Should I try to pull out now, or wait a little longer?"

For my friend, "I can glance at this email" turned into "My car is totaled and I got a ticket" in a split second.

I remember when I totaled my parent's car. I just looked at it and thought, "There's no going back. No sweeping it under the rug. No apology will repair it. It's just gone."

Other times the only action involved in an irrevocable decision is saying something. There are no take-backs in real life. And even though we can usually get forgiveness for something we shouldn't have said, we can't always expect the person to FORGET what we said. Some times a decision to say something can "total" our lives or the lives of those around us.

I guess this is just a reminder to us all (including myself) to be intentional in what we say and what we do. Let's happen to life, instead of life happening to us.

Top 10 Favorite Movies

Okay...now I'm copying Nick copying Matt... A while back I did my top 10 Superhero Movies of all time. This is just my 10 favorite movies of all time, in general. My basic criteria is this: how many times have I seen? Do I still want to see it again? If it comes on TV, will I sit and watch, even though I might only get to see the last few minutes? Is there a particular character or scene that really impacted me? I thought this might be a good way to get back into writing...so here goes!

Some movies you won't find on my list: Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indiana Jones. All great movies, but not in my top 10 for lots of different reasons.

10) Sneakers - check out this cast: Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, Dan Ackroyd, River Phoenix, David Straitharn, Mary McDonell, James Earl Jones, Ben Kingsley. Need I say more? I do? Okay. It's a very clever movie that I love watching even though I know all the twists already. Fast banter-y dialogue. It's a fun movie.

9) To Kill A Mockingbird - Gregory Peck plays a single father standing up for what's right when it's not popular at all. It has one of my all time favorite movie lines. "Miss Jean Louise. Miss Jean Louise. Stand up. Your father's passing." Oh yeah...it's also Robert Duvall first movie role I believe.

8) The Outsiders - another cast that makes you take a double take: Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane and Leif Garrett. This is a book about teenagers written by a teenager. It's taken almost verbatim from the book of the same name by S. E. Hinton. I recommend everyone read it. It's about family and belonging. And the theme song to the movie is written and sung by Stevie Wonder. Directed by some guy named Francis Ford Coppola or something like that.

7) Matrix - see Nick Waltz's list.

6) Rope - Alfred Hitchcock at his best. It's got Jimmy Stewart and a guy that reminds of the Brain from Pinky and the Brain. Really, he does. This movie is somewhat famous for not only being a Stewart/Hitchcock movie, but because the entire movie it shot with long takes. The Hitchcock tried to disguise the transitions so that it gives the feeling of one continuous shot. It's an interesting effect.

5) That Thing You Do - My favorite Tom Hanks movie. I love movies about bands, and I think this is one of the best. Watch it once, if you haven't already. Then watch it again and pay special attention to all of Lenny's lines. Every line but 1 or 2 in the entire movie is a joke. Great music, too.

4) Mystery Men - please see my aforementioned Top 10 Superhero Movies to see why this one is so great!

3) This Is Spinal Tap - The language is a little rough, but the humor is spot on. The original Mockumentary. The most quoted movie in my life behind #1 on this list.

2) Dead Poet's Society - This is one of the few movies that I've watched that has really made me think again and again.

1) Princess Bride - The. Best. Movie. Ever.

I'm in love with a robot...I mean...an Android.

Android phone, that is. I have an Android phone, and I love it. It's not the Motorola Droid that you've probably seen all the commercials for. It's the HTC Eris...Verizon's OTHER Android phone.

Is it the perfect phone? No. Is it better than the iPhone? Probably not. (However, Verizon's network service is better than AT&T's.) But it is a really cool phone. I won't bore you with all the geeky details of the techy stuff you can do with it (like analyze wireless networks) but I will share just one evening of life with my phone.

A couple of weeks ago I was at the youth service for my church. In the course of just a couple of hours one evening, I did the following (listed in order of occurrence, in case you were curious):

1) looked up something on the internet

2) used my phone as a guitar tuner

3) created an mp3 playlist for before the service

4) took some nice 5 megapixel pictures

5) emailed those pictures to someone

6) created a playlist for music after the service

Oh yeah...and I called someone, too. Pretty cool, huh?

Tonight my phone was laying on the table next to my recliner, and I saw that I had a notification that I had a new Facebook message. I could have logged onto my laptop, which was on a table on the other side of my recliner, but instead I just checked it on my phone.

It was from some friends who are babysitting for us tomorrow night. The message contained their address. My phone also has a trackball on it. Just to see what happened, I rolled the trackball and watched the cursor move down the screen. When it got the body of the message, what do you know? It highlighted the address. Just the address. It put a nice little selection border around the address. I clicked the trackball, and presto! It launched Google Maps and went straight to that address.

I have to admit I was impressed. I've had the phone for a few months, and I am still finding cool things it can do.

What will smart phones be like in 5 years?!?

Top 10 Superhero Movies

Okay, below are my picks for my Top 10 Superhero Movies. There's only one restriction: to make the list, the superheroes in the movies had to have been in a comic book first. Which means, unfortunately, that The Incredibles cannot be on the list. Sorry.

Also, a reminder: these are just my favorites. Not the "best", or "highest earning". Just the ones I like the most. Without much more ado, here we go:

10) Watchmen (2009/R)

If you're not a comic fan, I don't recommend this movie. In fact, if you've never read the comic, I don't recommend this movie. It's a great adaptation of the comic, and it's got some incredible visuals. It really does. That being said, it's the only (R) movie on my list. It has some pretty gratuitous violence and sex, as well as some pretty adult themes.

To be honest with you, I actually enjoyed one of the early trailers as much as the actual movie. You can watch it here if you want. I think it's the haunting Smashing Pumpkins song that makes the trailer cool.

9) The Dark Knight (2008/PG-13)

I know this movie probably tops a lot of people's lists. It's a really good movie. I also appreciate Heath Ledger's incredible performance. But my list is a list of favorite superHERO movies. To me, The Dark Knight almost felt like a superVILLAIN movie. The focus was so much on the Joker that I didn't enjoy it as much as some other people did.

Another complaint of mine was that it really felt like a couple of movie stuck together. (SPOILER) To me, once Gordon is revealed to not really be dead and they capture the Joker, it feels like the end of the movie. But wait! We still have another 40 minutes with a lot more dark and demented stuff for you to see.

I don't know. I wouldn't want to give the impression that I didn't like it, because I did, but it's definitely not in my top 5. Actually, I guess technically it's my #9.

8) X-Men - (2000/PG-13)

I've been an X-Men fan for years. I thought this movie did a great job of really bringing the characters to life. And how about that cast? Patrick Stewart? Ian McKellen? Really? How did they manage that? It just really made the movie, having some heavy-weight talent. And the rest of the cast weren't slouches either. (Except for Sabretooth.)

Also, this movie was (in my mind), the first of the latest generation of superhero movies. Before this movie, you had the original runs of Superman and Batman movies, and that was pretty much it. When this movie exploded, Hollywood woke up and realized that superheroes were still bankable, and were the new action stars. Geek was the new sheik.

7) Spider-man (2002/PG-13)

Great superhero movie. Nice origin story. Good villain. A little romance. What's not to like?

6) X2 (2003/PG-13)

Like the original X-Men, but better. Had some absolutely cool scenes. Magneto escaping from the plastic prison. Wolverine defending the kids at the school. And for the geeks, our first glimpse of Colossus and a hint at Phoenix.

5) Superman (1978/PG)

The original iconic superhero movie. The special effects are 1978 special effects. It's a little corny at spots. But...it's Christopher Reeves. IT'S SUPERMAN! C'mon! Thirty-two years later, it's still an awesome movie.

4) Batman Begins (2005/PG-13)

The first Batman (1989) didn't make my list, even though it was very close. I almost included it in place of The Dark Knight, but decided against it. The Batman franchise really floundered, in my opinion, after the first one. Thanks to Batman Begins (in spite of Katie Holmes) Batman was revived with Batman Begins.

I loved how this movie really fleshed out the Batman origin story past "his parents got shot". You learn where all his skills come from, his psychological and moral motivations. Great movie, start to finish (except for Katie Holmes). With a cast like Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Michael Caine, and Morgan Freeman, I could have directed this movie and got it right!

3) Spider-man 2 (2004/PG-13)

Unless you just can't stand Spider-man, then you have to like this movie. Alfred Molina does an incredible job as Dr. Otto Octavius (Dr. Octopus). I'm not a big fan of the "I don't want to be a hero anymore" part of the movie, but there are several other scenes that easily make up for it.

The entire scene from the clock tower battle all the way through the fight on the train and Spider-man stopping the train is golden. I love the part where the evil doctor throws the car through the diner window and Spider-man grabs M.J. and dives out of the way to save her just in time.

The scene at the end where Dr. Octopus redeems himself is especially well done.

2) Iron Man (2008/PG-13)

Robert Downey, Jr. is Tony Stark. I'm a Jon Favreau fan, and I think he did a great job on this movie. I love the look of it, the story, the effects, everything. To me this is the quintessential superhero movie. Serious, but not too dark. Humorous at times, but not campy. The final fight scene was a little weak in my opinion, and that's the only thing that kept it out of the #1 slot. I think people that haven't ever even heard of Iron Man would really like this movie.

1) Mystery Men (1999/PG-13)

Right now, unless I've loaned (forced you to watch) this movie, then you are probably saying to yourself, "Mystery Men? What's that?"

How do I describe it? Let's see...how's about we start with the cast.

This movie is about a bunch of "wannabe" superheroes.

Ben Stiller as "Furious" - he gets mad...that's his power

William H. Macy as "The Shovelor" - he fights with a shovel

Janeane Garofolo as "The Bowler" - she uses a bowling ball containing the skull of her father

Kel Mitchell as "Invisible Boy" - he can turn invisible...as long as no one looks at him

Hank Azaria as "The Blue Raja" - he throws silverware...but not knives

Paul Reubens as "The Spleen"...you don't want to know his power

Round out this cast with Greg Kinnear as "Captain Amazing", the city's one true superhero, and Geoffrey Rush as "Casanova Frankenstein", the villain of the movie.

I will admit, this movie is an acquired taste for some. My wife loves it now that she's seen it a few times. Not so much on her first viewing. But there are so many hilarious scenes in the movie, I can't even begin to do them justice. Just watch it for yourself. If you can get past the first fifteen minutes of the movie, and buy into the world that they've created, I think you'll enjoy it.

This movie stands alone. It's in a class all by itself, and that's why it tops my list.

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I would have loved to put Unbreakable on the list, but again...didn't start in comics, even though it does have comics in it. The Matrix is another (pseudo-)superhero movie that is great, but unfortunately didn't qualify for this list.

What do you think? What movie did I miss? Agree with me? Disagree? Still with me at the end of the list long posting? Thanks!