Fathers Day

Well, its right around the corner, and I never truly understood the day, since my father was not around much when I was a child. I did however have a Grandfather who was the closest thing to a father I knew. He would teach me things, how to bait a hook, how to tie a slip knot, how to install plumbing, anything and everything, he could do it. He was a self made man, he owned his own plumbing business for years, and when he retired he gave it to his son, my uncle. Now when I think back to his abilities, what was always a good time, was that he would come home everyday for lunch, and then a short nap and then they'd go back out to work. What a great life, in the summers I'd sit around waiting playing with my Lego's having fantastical space adventures and watching my Grandmother watch her stories or occasionally play Gin with one of the neighbors. They'd come in dusty and dirty and then they'd wash up with Lava soap, to this day thats still the sign that you've done some real work when you need Lava soap. We'd all sit at the bar and have a sandwich and fritos or leftovers from the night before, and one day, well one day my Me-Me made from scratch chicken and dumplings for lunch! Oh I still remember that day.

Now that I'm a father, I try to do all those things I missed, I tell my daughter every day that I love her, that she is beautiful, and that I am so blessed to have her and her mommy in my life. I've always said my goal is to be the father I never had, and I hope that I'm succeeding and I hope that someday, when I get wherever it is I'm going, I can walk up to my Father and say Thank You, you don't realize it but you made me a better man than you ever were or could be. I'm not angry, or bitter, but ok maybe I am a little, I just wish I knew more about why, but there are some questions that life cannot answer.

So give your father that shirt, belt, or new wallet, but most of all, just stop look at him and tell him that you love him, and give him a hug. And if you can't do it in person, just remember a phone call is just as effective, don't wait until its too late and you can't say it.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad...I still love you!

An iPhone for the rest of the world...and why I don't really care

So, with all the hoopla that presented with the announcement that Apple was finally bringing the iPhone to Verizon (knowing full well they turned the original device down 4 years ago), its a huge step forward for Apple and the domination of the two major carriers in the US. While this is a great idea, for those of us who follow Apple semi-religiously know full well that in less than 6 months the iPhone 5 (or whatever they are going to call it). So all the early adopters who stood in line and camped out to get one, well you're going to feel silly when the new one comes out in June, or you won't, most people won't care, but for me I'd feel bad buying old tech.

Now back to the whole dual carrier global domination, well we know that Apple has slowly been eeking away at market share and now that you have two carriers who have the largest customer base, also have the iPhone this will just allow them to continue to grow and get everyone on the multi-touch bandwagon.

I love my iPhone, I love my iMac, I love my Macbook Pro, I loved my iPad, but I will not be buying a Verizon iPhone, despite everyones claims that AT&T is the devil and the service sucks, I have never really had major issues, I've been to a few major cities, including L.A. and didn't really have the trouble that people talk about. I can also be very happy that they finally got 3G in our area, and its a considerable improvement. It's also nice to be able to use data while on a call, to get emails while on calls, to AT&T I say thank you!

Well that's all for now, oh, and if you have time and want to get something really different for your iPad or your iPhone check out my friends company that uses old world book binding techniques to make a very unique and cool case for the iPad (voted iPad case of the year!). Just announced this week was the Bookback for the iPhone

"Wintry Threat"

Ok, so for the past week, the home page of the Weather Channel has shown a map of the central region, with big letters right across the state of Arkansas saying "WINTRY THREAT". This is basically the cry for you to run out of your homes, stock up on bread milk and eggs (I assume when your stranded by the snowpocalypse you eat french toast?). Personally I'd be stocking up on junk, frozen pizza, and some variety of cheese in dip form. Oh and toilet paper, god knows you can't face cabin fever without soft 2 ply, weaved, quilted, aloe, goodness.

We've seen more snow in the last three weeks than the last 2 winters, do not get me wrong, I love the snow and think its beautiful in its serene calmness (until you have to drive somewhere), then it becomes the most anger inducing, foul language generator you can find, ok, so thats not the snows fault, its the other drivers. As I lay down last night thinking its 39 degrees, I think they missed the boat on this one, only to wake to a quiet white blanket of wet snow. Not enough to mess up the roads, but enough to slow everyone down and make my 15 ride in, more like 25. Oh and to the cop i saw this morning, scrap your windshield, the mound of snow on the edge that causes your wipers to stick, is not cool, nor good. There is now another threat headed this way. Rumor has it, that it will start tomorrow night and then carry into most of Wednesday as well. I say bring it snowmageddon, we want to see what you're made of, do you have the moxie!?

To that I'll be in Little Rock tomorrow with the Leadership Class from the Chamber, discussing State government, I'll be sure to say "Hi" to the guvnah for you all!

And if you missed it here are my top three commercials from Super Sunday.

1. I just love the volkswagon commercial, funny and I remember the product!

2. Cowboys and Aliens, come on, this is gonna be awesome!

3. Captain America, I had to pause and rewind the dvr several times to get a good look at Red Skull...Gonna be Legendary!

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.

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.

Via: CarInsurance.org

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