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Friday, January 21, 2011

So The HCG Diet Was Not For Me

I gave up after 4 3/4 days, I was sitting at home after all my meals and snacks, and I just still felt hungry, in fact I had the feeling I was starving, you know how you feel at 12 when you don't eat breakfast and you usually go to lunch at 11, well it was worse. I broke down and ate a half bag of baked lays (chips, my original vice). Then I went to bed, Friday was better, I ate pseudo on the program for lunch, then we got invited to Chili's with a friend and thats where the wheels fell totally off the bus, and it went careening down the cliff and crashed into a million fiery pieces. Ok, it started as chips and salsa, progressed to cheese dip and then round house punch with Honey Chipotle Chicken Crispers. So diet was done, I'm sitting at 260 currently, down from where i was at almost 270, but still not happy, but willing to give it a go when Marty's doing it again, I think with support and both doing the same things it will be much easier.

Oh, and my iPad is dead, I was an idiot and left it on the car earlier in the week, take away a few geek points for that smooth move. Looking around I can probably get about 300 off ebay for it for parts for someone. Unless apple has a one time "i'm a stupid idiot" replacement, I'm pretty well screwed. You don't realize how much you liked it/used it, etc till its gone.

Signing off, slightly emotional about the lost device.


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Diet Day 4

Don't fret geekiness will follow. Day four today, only lost 1 pound, but I know why, I was starving or I felt like I was, so I at two extra grissini and a handful of baked ruffles. I deviated at lunch and had a half bowl of chicken tortilla soup at lunch and it was really good (thanks Casey). For dinner I had four ounces of Shrimp sauteed in an amino soy sauce substitute with garlic, and baby spinach sauteed in chicken broth with pepper and garlic. Dinner was really yummy! Got together the crock pot with another HCG recipe, Cabbage soup with chicken, onion, celery, and it called for carrots, but they are a phase 3 food, so i subbed in asparagus.

If you were living under the proverbial rock, or at least stuck on Tatooine and can't get into Mos Eisley or out to Toshi Station on your power converter run, there was a Star Wars announcement at CES today. Thats right, all 6 movies are coming to Blu-Ray in September, 6 movies, 9 discs, 30 hours of bonus features. I just had a nerdgasm... More info and a great trailer can be found here and if you so choose, you can pre-order here.

May the Force be with you!


Every Batmobile...ever

Even the crappy ones from the non-Tim Burton movies. Your daily dose of comic book nerdiness.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Diets, Drive-bys, & Dives

So part of my New Years Resolutions was well to become more resolute and well be a better person, lose weight, and get healthy so my daughter will have a father around for a long, long time. So before Christmas my wife decided to do the HCG diet, while I was skeptical at first and of course worried about how she would react to only eating 500 calories a day. I was surprised, she started out losing about 1-2 pounds a day and by week two between .5 and 1 pounds a day. She got a little disheartened by the slow down, but by the end on day 21, she had lost somwhere between 15 and 20 pounds, and a true gentleman doesn't ask specifics.

So, flash forward to 2011, I decide that I am going to give it a try, I admit I've been overweight since about 8th or 9th grade, and severely overweight the last 7 years or so. I can't lie, I love food, its always there for you, and its always good, you know the joke about pizza and sex, well lets just say I've never had bad pizza (or the other to be honest!) :) My biggest problem is portions and snacking, I love a good potato chip and of course I'm from Arkansas so don't even get me started talking about cheese dip!

The first two days of this plan they want you to carb up and overload eating whatever you want, especially if its high in fat and calories. My last two suppers on Saturday and Sunday were Chilaquiles (which have become my new mexican standby) and then sadly enough Sunday was Captain D's for 4 pieces of fried fish.

Day 1 of phase two cuts you back to two meals, and 500 calorie target. I am using the documents give as a guide, plus the Lose It! iPhone app to track my weight loss and caloric intake. Lunch on day one was a chicken breast and asparagus, dinner was a low fat hamburger patty and spinach, Day two, more of the same, 4 ounces (100 grams) of chicken and I sauteed some asparagus in chicken broth with salt and pepper till the sauce was all absorbed (this is incredible btw). Which brings us up to today, day three, lunch was chicken and a cup of green beans. Afternoon has me excited about my Braeburn apple snack. Think I'll be making some Tilapia for dinner tonight, with asparagus (of course).

So, to discuss the weight loss, unless you're not paying attention to FB or twitter Today is the third day and I've already lost 5.8 pounds (a small dog), which has me feeling good about the pain of missing snacks.

That's all for now!

Be sure to follow me on twitter @speckjc

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Too Many Games, Too Little Time

So with Christmas, Black Friday, and some incredible sales, I feel I have too many games to little time. Thanks to some friends I'm sucked into Borderlands, albeit a year late, but still this is a very fun game. Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY, playing this again on the 360 due to a great find at Best Buy. Star Wars: Force Unleashed II, Tron: Evolution, Fallout New Vegas, and Dead Rising 2. I'm all set now, but I keep seeing the ads for Epic Mickey on TV and it looks really fun.

So what are you playing?


Monday, January 3, 2011

TEN YEARS, MAN

Sorry for the Grosse Point Blank reference, but I realized 2011 is the 10 year anniversary of Leopard and also Apple retail stores. I agree with Jon Stewart, those stores feel like a futuristic Swedish hospital, you know where you clones are in the back ready to replace any broken parts.

Looking back at 2010, it was a geeks wet dream, lots of new cool gadgets, LED TV, 3D TV, iPad, the not really a secret iPhone 3 (thanks Gizmodo), and last but not least, Minecraft. All in all a lot of really cool stuff, and I know I'm just glossing over the highpoints, but hey its my blog, I'll talk about whatever I want.

Movies
2010 was a great year for me for movies, just to mention a few that really hit me with the ole one-two punch, were big smashes like True Grit, I mean putting an unknown actress in a lead role, who's in almost every single scene in the movie, I tip my hat to the Coen brothers, huzzah! Tron: Legacy, wow, 28 years later a sequel that well, all i can say is it wasn't perfect, but damn I loved it and the visual experience was not topped by any other movie. Toy Story 3, this was one I was not excited about, I mean how many times can you go to the well, I was very apprehensive that they were going to jump the shark here, but they pulled it off with class and the ending could bring a tear to a glass eye. Lastly I want to talk about Drew Barrymores directorial debut, Whip It, was smart, funny, and had an incredible cast, she came out of the gate swinging and it was the perfect mix of smart and funny. I have to bow to Netflix for throwing it into my you may like this movie pile, and yes I liked it.

TV

There's only a short list for 2010 that made me stand up and say more please. Have to go with The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman's epic journey of survival during a zombie apocalypse, the transition from the drawn pages of the comic to the small screen was nothing but amazing. The cast really took their roles and owned them, while there were deviations from the source, I see why they do it, the book is all about the characters, and now they have the chance to make them so much more, make you feel the loss, the fear, the depression, the anger. If you have not seen the show, it hits on DVD in March, and is most definitely a day one buy for me! Chuck, this show continues to show the evolution of the character and the social awkwardness he still has. Love all the shout outs to geek culture, especially the Tron poster that's been up since season one!

So that's it for today kiddos, 2010 in a geeky little nutshell, I hope you enjoyed my ramblings and 2011 should prove another geek paradise! I mean, really, iPad 2, Green Lantern, Thor, Captain America, All Star Superman (animated here), Scream 4, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, and lets not forget Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens.

Ok, now frack off!