New Music Monday - Modest Mouse

Float On

This is the story of my life right now, I am just Floating On...

I really like Modest Mouse, their music is fresh and different and songs like Float On and The World at Large are just awesome!

I stuck with my diet all weekend too! The South Beach Diet isn't easy to stick to when your parents take you to Huck's Catfish in Sanger - I really wanted some of that good fried Catfish AND some of their hush puppies.... yum. Instead I had blackened catfish and blackened chicken - and suddenly the South Beach Diet was easy once again.

It was great spending the weekedn with my parents, they are awesome... I hope all of you are doing well.

Valla Con Dios...

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Winner at the Oscar's for Best Picture, Hilary Swank - Best Actress, Clint Eastwood - Best Director.

Someone told me Million Dollar Baby was about boxing- they were wrong. I went in with low expectations, despite all the Oscar buzz., I rarely agree with the critics, I really didn't agree with them on the movie Sideways (horrible!), but after seeing Million Dollar Baby then I must admit, on this one, they hit it on the nose(no pun intended - really!).

Hilary Swank is no longer the hermaphroditic troubled boy/girl from Boys Don't Cry, no, this time she plays a girl who comes from nothing and fights for everything. My insides welled up with joy as I watched her on screen, her performance was electrifying, brilliant, scintillating. I couldn't help but almost jump out of my seat during the fight scenes, every part of me was both shocked and delighted to see Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) pulverize her opponents again, and again, and again. With each punch, with each smack, I could feel the reckoning.

Clint Eastwood plays Frankie Dunn, a washed up trainer whose has a basket of his own demons to sort out. Morgan Freeman narrates the story and in the end you realize that the whole story is a letter that he is writing to Frankie Dunn's estranged daughter. You never really know what happened between Frankie and his daughter, but it isn't important. It leaves it up to the viewer fill in the blank with their own assumptions. (I assume that he neglected his daughter in pursuit of his dreams and his career like so many fathers do - oblivious to the harm that they inflict with neglect.)

I couldn't believe someone told me this movie was just "okay". I actually heard someone as I left the theater say, "I can't believe it was so depressing"- but it is only depressing if you don't look beyond what is happening on screen. The funny thing is that the movie doesn't try to hide it's message, rather, it puts it out there, right in your face like a thong bikini, there is no mystery here!

I don't normally like sad movies, and this movie does take a stroll down depression lane, but at it's heart, in it's very core, there is still so much joy, love, and it is just so dang REAL- you can't help but leave with a feeling that you just witnessed something great.

Like Schindler's List, or Saving Private Ryan, Million Dollar Baby leaves you with a bittersweet taste in your mouth, but when you walk away from a movie like this, you walk away knowing a little more about yourself .

Hilary Swank plays a boxer in Million Dollar Baby, but the movie is definitely not about boxing...

Enter the Dragon

I titled this new design after a Bruce Lee movie - one of his better ones I might add. Growing up I remember my first Bruce Lee movie, I don't recall the name, but I do remember this guy chasing Bruce, and a group of Bruce's Posse, up a hill and one by one he was killing off the posse with this thing that looked like Saturn cut in half. It was literally a shiny steel bowl with a ring around it and a chain attached to the top. When he threw it, it would soar through the air and then if it landed on your head it would saw off your head with these internal blades, and then the guy would pull the chain and pop! the head would come off. It sounds gruesome, but they showed very little blood back then and it seemed more cool than gross at the time. Sometimes when I am driving I wish I had one of those devices- I would hurl it right through the back windshield of the person that cut me off and then pop! there goes their head! I would feel disturbed and upset about my actions later, but at the time spurred by righteous indignation I will have felt triumphant, if not down-right giddy.

The Chinese Writing on the left says "Posted Note" in Chinese

Some people have been curious about the Chinese writing and what it actually says, well, I went to babelfish.altavista.com and typed in Posted Note and had it translate it into Traditional Chinese, it actually had the option for simplified Chinese and Traditional- very cool.

Ask and You (Jes) Shall Receive!

My good friend Jes asked me to tell more about the South Beach Diet and how it works, so here goes...

Many people are against low-carb diets because the only low carb diets in the past were Atkins. Atkins allows you to have as much meat, cheese and butter that you can eat. Atkins allows fatty fat, bad fats, and any other type of fat that you want to eat. Over the years we have been told INCORRECTLY that fat makes you fat. In reality it is the Glycemic Index and the way your body reacts to carbs (sugar) that make you fat. Also, Atkins allowed you to gorge - literally, he almost encouraged you to eat AS MUCH AS YOU WANTED as long as it was the low carb stuff. I remember doing the Atkins diet for a whole month and after the first few days all I felt was tired and greasy. On this diet I have been having to make myself eat. I have been eating mostly Broccoli and Chicken and Chipotle Salads, but it hasn't been all that bad and with such speedy results as 8 pounds in 3 days, it's not so bad at all!

The crazy thing about South Beach is that Dr. Agatston, creator of the diet, doesn't try to win you over and make you come over to the dark side. When you read his book he just lays out the facts - AND the diet will keep you from having heart problems and diabetes, which my real dad has diabetes which means I am a possible candidate and so I want to eat right so that I never get them.

On South Beach for two weeks you can eat Green Vegetables, Lean Meats, Low-Fat cheeses, black beans etc. Just Google "South Beach Phase I Foods" and I am sure you will find a plethora of sites that will help you find the right foods for phase one.

This is day 4 of the diet and I haven't cheated once - it is not like other diets where you can eat an Oreo cookie and get away with it - nope, you have to be strict, strict, strict for two whole weeks. This is supposed to train your body to burn fat for energy instead of Carbs. That is why it works really well. Your body burns carbs the best for energy, and then fat, and then protein. If you make it burn the fat on your body for fuel, then you lose weight much faster. The great thing about this diet is how it teaches you to eat properly, I can never go back to drinking Dr. Pepper's every day, but after Phase One, I can start having some complex carbohydrates.

Some foods that you can't ever go back to eating regularly on South Beach are Carrots (yes, Carrots have a high glycemic index too) , No Corn, and No Potatoes. Other than that you can slowly add fruits and vegetables, but even then you will have to watch how many you consume.

I am still worried about this weekend.

Friends, if you don't see me around much it is because I am trying to stay focused these first two critical weeks. Please don't hold it against me.

Also, a huge thanks to all my VERY SUPPORTIVE readers, you are a blessing!

Much Love!

Chipotle

I cannot stop eating at Chipotle - I have eaten lunch there 3 times this week. You can get a Salad with black beans and chicken and guacamole and salsa and it is all on the South Beach diet and it is DELICIOUS.

Chipotle, how I love thee... let me count the ways.

On the outside looking in...


I was looking at myself in the mirror and I started to realize that the diet is paying off. My arms are looking better, more cut, more defined. My traps are starting to stand up and say, “Hey, look at me.” My calves, well, they have always been amazing, and my waste line, it’s getting smaller too…

But then while I was looking at progress in the mirror there was a small feeling in my stomach that said, “What are you gonna do when you do get thin?” “What if you still can’t find Mrs. Right?” “What if you are still an emotional bowl of jello?” The voice was really nasal and pathetic sounding and I really didn’t appreciate it, but of course I listened to it…

Is my procrastination with dieting and getting in shape really a protective barrier? A way of sealing off the inevitable? A way of blocking out reality? Am I hiding behind a wall of fat – literally? As long as I have something to blame my singleness on, then maybe I don’t have to deal with the fact that I am not married, and that I can’t find someone that really interests me. (Editors Note: I have found many girls that have interested me, one actually stated, “I appreciate your interest in me but I can’t reciprocate those feelings”. Some of them I must admit- were already married.)

So please pardon my introspection, but my whole life I have always been waiting to achieve one goal so I can move on to the next. I remember when I was thin, I remember having better luck with the ladies, but I didn’t know who I was back then, I was still growing into the man that I have become. Now I know who I am, and I don’t need validation from society to feel good about myself, the validation I need is from me. I have expressed this before, and so forgive me for writing on this subject again. But I can’t help but look at my life and see a pattern- a pattern of self-loathing hidden by a shroud of self-delusion.

Sometimes I wonder why I worry about my looks so much, it’s like I have this Michael Jackson complex – (the complex of discontent, not the need to be around boys).

I can still remember being at the pool at Liberty Christian School when I was in the 4th grade and Jeff Rice pointed at my chest and said, “Oh my word” and covered his mouth and pointed. It was then that I realized that I was getting fat and that already I was getting man-boobs – a harsh reality to face for a 9 year old.

When I dieted in 1998 I lost 113 pounds in 9 months – I weighed 218 pounds and I ran all the time. I had liposuction on my chest after losing all that weight – they removed very little fat and mostly excess skin. My chest is still scarred and eventually I will have to go back one more time if I ever want it to look normal, but I don’t regret doing it, even when I have put weight back on my chest looks flatter and more normal as opposed to looking like Madonna in her “Like a Virgin” video where she had those huge cone shaped breasts on.

I weighed 345 this morning, fifteen pounds from my highest weight of 360. I have lost 8 pounds in 3 days on South Beach. Yeah, it could me "water-weight" but I think it is real fat that I have lost because I have been eating nothing but broccoli and chicken breast grilled over an open flame - and a few salads here and there. I have also been doing cardio like a mad man. My goal is to get down to 340 by the end of this month- 5 pounds in 4 days- should be quite a challenge, but I think I can do it!

I love you all.

I Heart Huckabees

I watched "I Heart Huckabees" last night and was delighted and bored at the same time. I hate to quote American Idol's Simon Cowell but when I finished watching the movie I was like, "So What".

Now saying that I realize- this is one of those "smart movies" that can be funny on many different levels, but the comedy tends to be much darker like- The Royal Tennenbaums, Lost in Translation, or Sideways. The movie explores topics that are relevant to many but explored by few - nihilism, existentialism and perhaps a touch of hedonism. I had to look up the definition of Existentialism because I find that on many occasions I think I fully understand the meaning of a word, but in reality I do not.

Existentialism- A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. (thank you www.dictionary.com)

I have to admit the movie was entertaining if for no other reason than the interesting actors chosen for the movie. Jude Law, Mark Wahlberg, Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman, are obviously big name actors, but then you have Jason Schwartzman and Naomi Watts who I don't recall being in anything rememberable, however, I will remember them now. Each of the characters were very distinct.

Would I watch this film again? Maybe. Perhaps it is one of those movies that gets better with each watching, but I found, and I admit this without shame, that this movie was quite possibly smarter than me and that I am not an intellectual that can see into the deeper meanings of what's not being said or blatantly being said in a movie. However, in the case of "I Heart Huckabees" I don't think that I really care to know the deeper meaning. If I want philosophy I will read Nietzsche, Francis Bacon, or Karl Marx (or talk to Travis Miller). When I watch a movie I just want to be entertained, I am not trying to explore the meaning of life- I already have the answer to that.

So rent the movie if you want to see something quirky and different and if you have an extra 4.50 to throw out the window.

Much Love.

One more site!

I put a new spin Cody Miller's blogspot today- http://cmiller_jc.blogspot.com/ of course there are some font colors that need addressing, but you will get the general idea.

I was going to go for something rustic and rugged and musical- but I decided to go for something minimalist and refreshing instead - if you want me to do one for you - Katie, or Nicolle, then I can throw something together sometime for free - well, who am I kidding, nothing in life is free - but it doesn't mean money has to be involved. You could just tell all of your friends how amazing I am- and all of your single lady friends that love Jesus how available I am if they are really hot.

Hawaii

I have always been blessed by a wonderful God. I count my many blessings and I name them one by one, and one of those blessings is a good friend like Joe Bruner- and Amber- (I better say Amber or she'll get me) Really, Joe and Amber are awesome friends and I appreciate their friendship and the example they set for so many students at Baylor and for myself- I admire them both. However, the real benefit comes in when Amber's brother Steven got stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii thus allowing us- and by us I mean Joe, Amber, and myself- a free place to stay in Hawaii.

I am also friends with Steven even though I have only had the opportunity to hang with him a couple of times. So, it will be good getting to see him, and it will be good to be in Hawaii.

I am not sure what all there is to do in Hawaii, but I plan to learn how to surf, and possibly to some snorkeling, or scuba diving, and some hiking.

We are leaving in May, and that is why I started the South Beach Diet. I have already been on a major workout kick, but I got a new mountain bike and I have been doing more cardio and so the next logical step was to start an eating program that would help me achieve my final goals.

I also went to the dentist and had my teeth cleaned and then I got these Crest White Strips SUPREME- not to be confused with Crest White Stips Premium or just plain jane white strips- these are the SUPREME babies andI get 3 WEEKS of white strips and an electric toothbrush.

So, I might not have a six pack in 2 1/2 months, but my teeth will be whiter and I should be a few pounds lighter- I got on the scale this morning and it said I already lost 2 pounds- but I fluctuate a lot so until I get into the 330's I won't be happy. That sounds so strange doesn't it- being happy to get down to 330...

Well, there you go Jes and Katie- a vacation update- and yes, I will get lots of pictures so you can live vicariously through me if need be... Lord knows most of my living is done vicariously!!

Love you!

Weekend Update by Eddie Renz

Sing

Friday night, February the 18th, I found myself once again smiling, applauding, laughing, and cheering to what I think is one of the best live shows that I have ever seen- SING!

SING is performed by the various Fraternities and Sororities at Baylor University in Waco, TX. I had the privilege to go to Sing 2004 and I couldn't believe my eyes or my ears. I don't have a large catalogue of live performances to compare SING to, however, I have been to see Rent by Jonathan Larson here in Dallas, and I have also been to Cirque Du Soleil - twice, and a host of much smaller venues at the Butterfield Theater in Gainesville and Denton Community Theater. But my nomination for best live performance in the 50 contiguous states goes to SING!!!

The entire show is made up of a bunch of mini-musicals if you will. Each Fraternity of Sorority chooses a theme and then performs it live with choreographed dancing, music, and singing. One of my favorite themes was a throw back to The Revenge of the Nerds complete with Nerds and the cool kids having a dance off. Then of course there was the "One Hit Wonders" who played tribute to such songs as Dexy's Midnight Runners' Come on Eileen, and the Sugar Hill Gang- Rappers Delight. At the end of the performance there was a brief dance performed by a much loved Napoleon Dynamite.

Another one of my favorites was "Wall Street" which was obviously influenced by "The Apprentice". The intro was "For the Love of Money" by the O'Jays (who also sang that catchy song in the Gap Commercial - People all over the world- Join Hands, Start a Love- a love train.)
The entire fraternity had to have at least 50 guys all wearing matching pants, vests, and ties, and a couple of their dance routines were borrowed from N'Sync.

All in all it was a wonderful experience. I enjoy the fact that these are just college students who have spent many hours of time and buckets of sweat to put on a great show. I love the camaraderie that comes from being in a play or any type of live act. I think it is a great bonding experience and there is so much joy and pride that comes from performing in front of a live audience. I wish that other schools in the country would follow Baylor with something similar to Sing.

One a different Note-

As a last hoorah before going on The South Beach Diet today, I bought a Central Market freshly prepared roasted vegetable pizza- it was awful. I was so disappointed. I think it is best to stay away from their Chef's Prepared entrees as I find them somewhat lacking in taste.

Also, since I am going to Hawaii in May, I need to lose some pounds and so please do not tell me anything negative about The South Beach Diet. I only want to hear encouragement and I could also use a lot of prayer. Fortunately, I pretty much stopped drinking Dr. Pepper at the end of last year and so I don't have to worry about giving that up, and I have also decreased my carb intake over the last couple months so that this won't be such a shock for my body.

Okay, I have to run... I love you!!!

Don't Stop Believing

Download this and play while reading.

http://www.postednote.com/music/believing.mp3

I am starting something new- MP3 Friday.

This week's selection is an old favorite by Journey - Don't Stop Believin'

I heard it last season in an episode of Scrubs and it has really just stuck with me. I can listen to it over and over and never get tired of it. It is a great driving down the rode all by yourself song with the windows down on a breezy day when the sun is starting to set. It's been a long hard day, or perhaps even a long hard year and you just need a little something to help you make it until sundown... this is what you play- and you don't stop believin' you just hold on to that feelin...

A little something funny...

http://teamhouse.tni.net/humor/stressed/stressed.htm

This smacks of "Office Space".

Arty Facts - Robert Hoffman - Eugene McDermott

If you pick up a copy of today's Dallas Morning News you will see a cover story on the front page about the DMA and a few people who have donated their art collections to the Dallas Museum of Art. I love all things creative and so I picked up the paper and as I looked closer at the picture of one of the couples I realised, "I know them!". Much to my surprise it was Robert Hoffman, the same man that owns Custom Food Group, who used to own Coca-Coloa Distributing Southwest. And, if you have known me for very long then you know that I use to be the IT Manager for Custom Food Group. The crazy thing about being the IT Manager for Custom Food Group also meant that you were the computer gopher for the Hoffman's. The Hoffman's office is located on the 33rd floor of the Harwood Building in downtown Dallas. I used to have to go down and fix Mr. Hoffman's computer on occasion, he was rarely there, but I do remember some of his artwork. I remember quite vividly one painting of a guy that had been shot laying face down in a pool of blood. Then there was a large black and white photo that was enlarged to be about 5 foot by 5 foot of a clown giving some guy the finger, and if those two weren't bizarre enough, there was a 7 foot by 7 foot piece of art work that was nothing more than a bizarre paragraph about a man that got held up at a gas station, I remember that when I read it the first time I didn't get it, and I was shocked to see the word "shit" in a piece of "art".

I now work for Texas Instruments and Eugene McDermott was one of the founders of TI. He also has a library named after him at the University of Texas at Dallas - McDermott Library, and a street in Allen, Texas, McDermott Road. In our building there are some really cool pieces of art lining the hallways, I don't know that I would personally buy any of them, but it is nice that there is something hanging on the walls.

Hope you don't mind a little name dropping...

Love you.

Finally... The Crested Butte Pics are HERE!

However, the camera ate most of them and so I only have these for now, hopefully my cousin will send me some of the ones that he took...

Crested Butte Colorado Ski Trip 2004


Ambra, Tony, Jennifer, Greggo, Eddo, Chanc, Melissa, and the little girl is Melina

Here we are in the middle of the street in Crested Butte waiting for the shuttle to come and pick us up. We were nestled in the heart of Crested Butte so we didn't have to walk far to get to Shuttle Stop.



Hey, here we are again, this time sitting on the bench.


Snow

This is the house acros from the one we were staying in. Ours was very similar and the snow was beautiful.


The Firehouse

I took this picture off of the front porch of our house. Everything in this quaint little town looked as picturesque as this old building.


Tony, Chanc, Greggo

Tony and Chanc are my two closest cousins. They are my mom's sister's kids. Greggo is a friend of theirs and he was really cool. He is what we in Texas call "Good People". I think I'll make him an honorary cousin.

You will notice in the background of this picture that our little lodge had some really nice picture windows.


Jen - Tony's Girlfriend and Becky

Jen is going to kill me when she sees this picture, but I couldn't resist. This table was really nice and every morning Becky got up early and made us these amazing breakfasts. And then for dinner she made delicious food as well. It was awesome. Thanks Becky!!!


Eddo and Ambra

I have no idea why I am making this stupid face in all of these pictures, it must have been the altitude sickness... Ambra at least looks really cute, just look at Ambra.


Some Bar in Grill in Crested Butte

We decided to go out one night on the town and watch some football. This bar and grill was super busy about 30 minutes after we got there... they must have seen me walk in....


Chanc and Melissa

Melissa is married to my cousin Chanc. I just love her, she is a lot of fun and she skiied blacks with me the first day we were there. She was also very patient while teaching Jen how to ski. I still can't believe she is married to Chanc though, she totally should have married me... but I understand, I am a little out of her league...


Chanc playing Pool

After the football game we wanted to do some dancing, but Crested Butte doesn't really have much by the way of bars where people actually dance. We did cut a rug at this place, but I have no pictures of it, none of them came out :(


Melissa and Jennifer sharing a jacket

I wish this picture had come out a little better, but here we are walking down the street and the wind picked up all of the sudden and it got really cold, so Melissa was nice enough to share her coat with Jennifer.


Kidd is in the Black O (top, middle, right.)

Kidd, Tony and Chanc's little brother and my other cousin is going to be an Olympic Medalist some day- really. Here he is in Colorado Springs at the Olympic training center. Kidd was there for the weekend working out and making sure he had proper form and technique when he lifts weights. All of the kids shown in this picture are weight lifters and for their size they are the top in the nation. I wish this picture had turned out better, but I was using a disposable with no zoom. Kidd is awesome at wrestling too, so keep an eye out for Kidd Gomez if you are ever on some professional wrestling circuit.

Kidd Gomez (on the right)

Okay, it was driving me crazy that you couldn't actually see Kidd in the other picture so I cropped it with a close-up.

Hitch - A Review

Over the weekend I went to Waco to see Joe and Amber Bruner. We always have a great time and it is always fun being on the Baylor campus and meeting Joe and Amber's multitude of friends. We picked up a couple of those friends and took them to see "Hitch" with us.

Let me just tell you that I really wanted to see Hitch, but I had my reservations because Will Smith normally plays action roles like Independence Day and I, Robot. However, he did not disappoint and neither did Kevin James (King of Queens) or Eva Mendes (2 Fast 2 Furious). The entire movie kept us laughing, and Stacie, one of Joe and Amber's friends said that she had not laughed that hard in a movie in a long time and Joe concurred. I could not concur because I had laughed that hard, I laughed that hard in Meet the Fockers and Anchorman, but this movie was definitely more PG than those aforementioned.

There are a few curse words in Hitch, but I think it is still a movie you could watch and enjoy with your girlfriend - especially if you are of the Christian Faith and you don't want to take your girlfriend to see a movie and then out of nowhere they throw in a Janet Jackson moment and you are left red faced and sweaty palmed- that is what happened in Love Actually on 4 separate occasions and I hear that the same thing happens in "The Wedding Date" with Debra Messing and Dermott Mulroney but instead of boobs it's lots of buns that you see on the big screen.

Hitch also runs for 1 hour and 55 minutes and so it is indeed a long movie and a couple of times I was thinking, "When are they going to wrap this thing up?" Fortunately, the movie has enough humor to keep it afloat and carry it through to the end.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

So Maybe I'm not Hallmark Material...

I wrote this one when I applied to work for Hallmark greeting cards about 3 years ago. They make you send in an application with lots of poems and such and if you are good enough the first time, then they send you another packet with even more challenging things to write- I didn't even make it to the second round. I know I am not Shakespeare, but as of late I haven't seen to many greeting cards that just wowed the crap out of me, most of the time I like 1 out of every 30 cards I read. Besides, I wanted to write funny stuff, but when you apply with Hallmark you have to send in all kinds of greeting cards- they give you the topic and you write the card. It's not as easy as I thought it would be. Here is a sample of something I wrote... it wasn't supposed to be a greeting card, they just told you how many lines to write and to make it serious.

Marry Me

Listen to me, I must make a confession
My love for you is more than obsession.
It has grown wild, I can bear it no more
It seeks you, it calls you, It knocks on your door
No boundaries, no fences, no locks, no chains
Could keep me from you, you’ve set me free from the reigns.
No more holding me back, I long to be near
The one that I love, the one that is dear.


I ponder, I brood, I wonder about
This love that I found, I can’t live without
Have mercy on me, God up above
You’ve given me this beauty, this treasure, this dove
This wonder so sweet, the joy so amazing
I’m addicted, I’m hooked, you’re intoxicating.
Please never depart, don’t leave my side
Be my lady, be my friend, be my wife, be my bride.

Something Early for Valentines Day

I wrote this for someone that I loved... she is married now, and we are still wonderful friends, but it was her I was thinking of when I wrote this...

A Valentine

Oh, The Joys of Love...

I danced upon the stars last night
I bit into the moon
I ran the rings of Saturn
Then bounced over to Neptune

I soared into tomorrow
And drank of the milky way
I played a harp with an Angel
From night time until day

I knocked on the doors of heaven
I rang the Bells of Hell
I asked them both the meaning of life
But neither one would tell

I tried to tell the future
I almost forgot my past
I laughed in the face of adversity
Because I was with you at last

You make my life a dream
You wipe away reality
You take away my pain
When you are here with me.

I'd swim the sea of space
I'd travel a light year mile
I'd wrestle with God himself
Just to see you smile.

I'll always be there for you
You make my heart soar
You are the reason men fight battles
You are worth fighting for.

You are my reason
You are my hope
You are my everything
I love you, I want you
In this life, and for eternity...

Hope you have someone to love this Valentines Day....
If not, remember, I love you.

The Apprentice comes to Texas Instruments

Tomorrow "The Apprentice" will come to my Job, the interviews are tomorrow and they are only interviewing TI employees. I did not apply, I would NEVER be on The Apprentice, it is the most vindictive cut throat reality show on television. I also don't have the wardrobe to be on a show like that, suits and ties for the boardroom alone would cost a fortune- not to mention all the other outings to formal places if your team wins- and trust me, my team would ALWAYS win.

If I was on the show I would also help them come up with a much cooler name than Mosaic or Magna Corp, or Apex- I mean really, how lame can you get?

I also could not tolerate all the BF's on the show. So much drama, I often wonder if they pull people aside and tell them, "you will get a bonus of 5,000 dollars if you will create some drama by being a super Beotch... Omarosa". Ladies, why must you be so mean to each other? And Guys, don't let Donald Trump make you act like a woman in the boardroom- guys don't cat fight - leave that to the crazy ladies.

To read more about The Apprentice coming to Texas Instruments, read the D Magazine article here: http://frontburner2.dmagazine.com/archives/007824.html

Man playing the piano while juggling

http://www.postednote.com/cool.wmv

This is pretty cool - you need windows media player to view it.

Baby Got Book!

This is so funny - my friend Alan Meadows sent it - Many Thanks Al for the laughs...


http://www.ayouthpastor.com/baby_got_book.wmv

Some Must Buys for 2005

An I-Pod Shuffle

A new pair of Oakley's Monster Dog's

A Laptop

A new truck - preferably a white extended cab GMC pickup truck

A pair of Nike Shox

The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection

When does reality finally settle in? When do you finally realize, "Hey, I may never make the 100,000 a year salary that I thought I would make", "I may not be married by the time I am 30", "I might not be driving that white Range Rover next year".

You have to have your goals, you have to have your dreams, but sometimes you have to wake-up and realize that there is a fine line between realistic goals, and pure fantasy.

I think guys are more given to fantasy than women are- they are just more realistic. I see girls that want nice houses and nice clothes and nice cars, but they don't want to own their own island, or to marry a hot celebrity- and if they do, they don't actually think that there is a chance of either or both. Guys I think actually believe that there is a possibility that they could marry Cindy Crawford or Cameron Diaz or Demi Moore, and by guys I mean me.

I want to marry someone amazing, I want to drive a white Range Rover, and I want to be physically impressive. I want to be perfect. I am shallow like that. I am not joking. I should have posted this on my "I hate to admit it..." page, but it was really too long to post there.

I think that this is really the reason why I am still single - I know that I have so, so, so many imperfections and I want to fix a few of them before I latch on to someone. I want my wife to be proud of me, and I can't expect her to be proud of me until I am proud of myself. I want a wife that works out and enjoys being physically active, so I have to be in good shape and physically active. I want a good Christian wife that knows her Bible and knows what she wants, I need to be a better Christian. I want to marry someone that is stable financially, so I need to be stable financially.

So I think maybe you can see a clearer picture now of where I am at in my life - I have a lot of fixin' up to do. Everyone has their own personal goals, mine might be too grandiose or unrealistic, but I am not ready to give up on them yet, I am only 29.

On a lighter note- Chad and Lisa Miller are expecting... expecting me to hang out with them! No, really, they are expecting a baby - Congrats!

Happy Birthday Mom!

You gave me a spankin to make me shut up
You tightened the lid on my sippy cup
You saved me that day when I almost floated down river
You have never been an Indian Giver.

You laugh at my jokes when they're not funny
You wiped my nose when it was snotty and runny
You held me close when I was scared at night
When I didn't make the basketball team you said I'd be alright

You bounced me on your knee until I was too big
Even though I snort when I laugh, you never called me a pig
You listened, and noticed, and gave good advice
You taught me the ingredients to the spice of life.

You are the best mom, the best indeed
You never tried to give me drugs, you never smoked weed
You didn't use bad words around me, not even "bra"
It was "Bunny Rabbit Association" - I didn't understand at all.

Thanks mom, for being there, for being my best friend
Even though it wasn't always pleasant raising me,
I know you'd do it again.
So Happy Birthday To you, Happy Birthday from me
Being your kid has been such a blessing.

I love you mom!!

Blogger Templates

Well, I am out of town and I don't know what my sister did to her template, but it is on my computer...

In the meantime, you can at least see the masthead I created located at http://www.postednote.com/images/lavalocust.jpg

I'll have her site back up on Monday...

I just created a new template for my sister's blog, I hope she likes it, she hasn't even seen it yet- I just threw it together this afternoon. I am still concerned about the white font, I might change that later, for now, I am really please with the logo.

Her site is http://lavalocust.blogspot.com

Hope you like...

BlackBerry 7100t - Siemens SX66 - Treo 600

Many of you don't know what I do for a living, and when I tell people, they still don't really seem to understand. I do web design and phone support for Texas Instruments. The only real design that I do for them is internal web pages that are used for our Mobile Solutions Website. That might sound like something simple, but our website consists of three different service providers, coverage maps, international calling plans, Installation manuals, Frequently Asked Questions, and over 40 different phones and handheld devices to choose from.

I didn't design the website from scratch, my job, and only a small amount of my job, is to keep the site updated with new information. And, as you can imagine, new phones come out almost on a daily basis, so the site has to be updated frequently. We constantly test new phones, car kits, BlueTooth Headsets, and Symbian phones that have email capability.

I have had the opportunity to own and test the BlackBerry 7100t, the Siemens SX66 and the Treo 600. Of all of them, the BlackBerry 7100t is my favorite. It allows me to check my email quickly, it is lightweight, it has BlueTooth so I can connect a wireless hands-free earbud, it has GPRS web browsing capability, and it can browse internal web pages that are only accessible from within TI. Price: ~$200

BlackBerry 7100t

My second choice out of the three devices is definitely the Siemens SX66. It has a Windows Pocket PC operating system, an internal WiFi wireless card, GPRS, a large color touch-screen with high-resolution, and a keyboard that slides out from the bottom. You can read Microsoft Office files, download Quake, and even a utility that will allow you to use it as a remote control for your television! If you want a mini-computer that has all the bells and whistles, then this is your handheld device. Price: ~$600

Siemens SX 66

My least favorite of the three handhelds is the Treo 600. It has the Palm OS installed on it and so it works the myriad of Palm applications that are out there on the market and downloadable for free from the web. It has a full QWERTY keyboard at the base of the device below the screen, but I found that my fingers were just too big to type on it comfortably. It also comes with a camera, but the quality of the pictures are so bad that they shouldn't have bothered (The new Treo 650 is supposed to have a better camera). It is also bulky, and the screen resolution pales in comparison to the SX66 or the BlackBerry 7100t Price:~$399

Treo 600

So, that is a brief overview of these devices and what I do at work. I order these devices, I design internal websites for these devices, and I support any problems that happen with these devices such as email setup, operating system installation, etc.

Hope this didn't bore you to tears.

The Cycle... Has Begun

Fizogen - On Cycle

I just started a very expensive supplementation cycle called "On-Cycle" by Fizogen. Fizogen has done a really good job of packaging and marketing their product. It is everywhere in muscle magazines, and the bottle looks really cool and tough and when you pay a lot for something then you just feel like it is going to work better than if you spent less money- but that isn't always the case.

Fizogen "On-Cycle" promises to grow me some really large muscles. I have been on it for 2 days now and the only thing that I have noticed is that I am not near as sore as I normally am after my Monday chest workout, and, I feel really muscular. I know that sounds dumb, but I am already big and I have worked out a lot in the past, but this is the first time where I really feel like the workouts are paying off. Part of the pay-off has been from the last 4 months of working out. I can't believe that that it has already been 4 months and I have worked out consistently 3-5 times a week, rarely missing a workout unless it just couldn't be helped. I have lost 10 pounds and I can fit in many pairs of pants that were too tight before. I don't expect to see large amounts of weight loss as old fat is replaced by new muscle, however, inches around the waise do matter and so I need to get me one of those tape measures so I can better measure my progess.

Fizogen also marketed it's product like a sterroid. Most body building sterroids are taken in cycles, a 6 week period of taking the roids, and then a 6 week "off-cycle" where you take something else, or nothing at all. Fizogen created a pill called "Off-Cycle" that you take for 30 days after you take the "On-Cycle" for 30 days. For 3 bottles of the pills it cost me 160 dollars. Then there is the purchase price of the creatine and the protein - enough for two months as well and that is another 75 dollars. So I am in to netrition for 235 samolies, judys, duckets, greenbacks, washington's, bones, dollars....

So why am I going through all of this trouble? Because for the first time in my life I don't want to just be big, I want to be really big, I want to be huge. Not freakish huge, but like "The Rock" huge. If you watch the special behind the scenes features of "The Rundown" you will see how awesome "The Rock" physique is. He's big and proportionate, but not freakish, just cool. He and I also have similar builds, we are the same height, and we have similar skin tones. Okay, I admit it, I want to BE THE ROCK. Just Kidding, he is just someone that I use as a goal, a model, a frame of reference. I will probably never be as lean, or as cut as "The Rock", but I am going to try to be.

Mucho Amor

Central Market - Knife Skills 101

The cooking class was fun! It was $55.00 but they had 2 chefs teaching in two groups, it was a "hands on" class where some of the classes are just lectures and they show you how to cook and then you get to eat. However, I think the classes are reasonable and I plan to take one with my sister and her husband at least once a week.

My sister Precious doesn't realize this but I am actually paying to spend time with her. I rarely get to see her and so the class is worth it to me to get to spend time with her even if it is just for a few hours. Now I need my other sister Dena to slow down (she is going to school full time at the University of Texas at Arlington and working full time) so we can spend more time together too. My sisters are like my best friends, but better, they "get" on so many levels, and they know EVERYTHING you have been through to get where you are. And my sister are super supportive of me, that is the best thing about being the younger brother.

Now, back to the cooking class...

It started with a very brief intro of the various types of knives and the most important knives to every chef. Then we circled around a really large island and we all had our own Wusthof knives (about 100 bucks each) and we started chopping, slicing, dicing, julienning, and so on and so forth. We chopped up celery, green peppers, red peppers, onions, avacado, carrots, and ginger.

The entire time we were cooking a chef was coming around picking up our freshly chopped items and cooking them. After about 2 hours of cooking class we ended at 8:30 and the food was already cooked for our first course. Which was Asian Stir-Fry with a nice Teriyaki sauce, and a salad made with peanut oil and freshly chopped ginger, celery, green and red bell peppers, and avacado- it was all delicious.

For dessert we had orange slices in the almond float which wasn't too tasty. I am not a big fan of oranges, but there were these chunks of white jello like substance floating in some type of juice. It didn't have much flavor and I wasn't impressed with dessert, so I went back for more dinner.

Dinner was served with tea, wine, or beer, and the class was well paced and I learned a lot. It was also fun to get out of the house on a Tuesday night and do something different. However, I did have to miss American Idol and I am NOT happy about that.

So Jimmy, the Almond float may contain monkey brains in Shanghai, China- but in the US of A it is just some plain oranges and some juicy almond gelatin. The carrots, rootbeer and bluebell with the lemon cilantro paprika glaze probably would have kicked it up a notch!

I love you all...

Central Market Cooking Class

I forgot to mention that I am going to a cooking class tonight! I am going with my sister and her husband and a few of their friends, I think there is only going to be 10 people in the class.

Here are the details:

Tue., Feb. 1, 6:30 - 9 pm

Hands-On Basic Knife SkillsCM Cooking School Staff

In this fun, hands-on class, practice slicing and dicing and learn to julienne and chiffonade like a pro. Our instructors will reveal the characteristics of a well-made knife, how to sharpen and realign the knife blade and how to position your hands to avoid those nasty nicks. Participants qualify for a 10 percent discount off the purchase price of Wüsthof knives. Menu includes Stir-Fried Chicken with Vegetables; Asian-Inspired Salad with Rice Wine Vinaigrette; and Citrus Sections with Almond Float. $55

What is an Almond Float? I will tell you tomorrow...

So watch out Emeril- This is Eddo's Kitchen!

The Village

I watched "The Village" with my parents while my mom was recuperating from back surgey. It was enjoyable. I like movies that aren't mainstream, boy meets girl, super action hero, or fantasy.

The best part of the movie, and maybe it is the best part to me because I am a big romantic, and maybe just a bit of a girl when it comes to lines like this but, this one was so poignant, so real, that I just had to stop for a minute to absorb what Edward Walker said when he was talking about his blind daughter going through the forest to get some medicine for the dying man that she loved(Joacquin Phoenix).

"She is more capable than most in this village. And she is led by love. The world moves for love. It kneels before it in awe."

Love Conquers All.

The Village was interesting. Different. If you saw it, let me know what you thought.