Rapidfire
Dec 27, 2008 30 Days Blogging
As always, the Holidays were hectic. Predictable in their unpredictability. I am almost ready to turn on “recovery” mode, but we still have New Year’s and I have my parents coming to visit in a week. They’re bringing a couple surprise gifts that I can’t wait for my family to receive! So, I’m turning off “recovery” mode until they leave on the 11th (or was it the 13th?) and instead will just go with the flow.
Before I forget, to those of my friends and coworkers celebrating Hanukkah: Happy Hanukkah! Enjoy these last few nights!
To those who celebrated Christmas in all its commercial glory, I hope you had a nice Holiday!
When I started this month in a 30-day-challenge, I knew it was going to be hectic and I’d really have to push myself to blog each night. I also knew that I probably wouldn’t make it, but jumped in with the reality that my site needed some content badly. Looking back, I missed several nights, had some nights that were blah-di-dah, and a few gems out of it. Which is really all I could ask for. I haven’t even twittered every day this month, which is really saying something.
So tonight, because I love each and everyone twelve of you who actually ready my feed, I’m going to go rapidfire and publish 30 posts tonight!! Ok, more like four or five. But this should help make up for some of the nights that I missed.
Maybe next challenge will be a 24 hours of blogging challenge? One post per hour for 24 hours. Sounds deadly. 
Tags: 30 day challenge, 30 Days Blogging, blogging, christmas, hanukkah
Fatcamp Update
Dec 16, 2008 30 Days Blogging, Help Yourself
It’s been a week or so since I last talked about my weight loss goals. Let me just say that it is extremely tough to attempt any type of dieting during the holiday season. Random plates of goodies end up at the office and I’ll be damned if I had to try at least one of everything (Note to vendors: I think we need to start new customs of sending baskets of jumpropes to clients!).
Even though I gave in to temptation at the office, I’m still doing well on my moderate weight loss goals. I’m yo-yo’ing like crazy though. I was down 13 lbs from where I started, almost 1/3 my goal, when I weighed in a few days ago. Today I weighed in and I’ve since gained 8 lbs of that back. To be fair, I didn’t weigh my self at the same time I normally do, which is the morning. And it was after I ate a big meal and drank a lot of water. So tomorrow when I weigh in I have a feeling I still have gained a little bit of weight but it won’t be the 8 lbs.
To help track my progress and develop a trend line, I installed The Hacker’s Diet plugin as suggested by John. Now if I could just get him to tell me his secret about getting the charts displayed on a publicly viewable page within WordPress.
In addition, I have been running 2-3 times per week on a regular basis. I also started a very light weight training program, so that when I decide to move to a full weight-training schedule I won’t be too green.
Final Thought: Anyone else see the irony in having a 2-hour long prime-time TV show about losing weight?
Tags: fat camp, the hackers diet, weight loss
Emotionless Thriller?
Dec 13, 2008 30 Days Blogging, Geeks and Gadgets
Tonight, my wife and I ended up watching The Invasion, the remake of a remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
What a waste of my time.
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers story is about an alien virus that is easily communicable and turns the infected into an emotionless, almost mindless, collective. The goal of the infected is to seek out and hunt down those that aren’t infected and, well, infect them. Or give them death. Whichever is easier. They can tell you aren’t part of the collective if you show emotion, if your heartbeats faster, or if you sweat. Show anything more than a stoic look on your face and you are theirs.
I remember seeing the original when I was much younger. Even in this remake, I still love the story line, but man did they miss the mark on this one. Normally I don’t think you can go wrong casting Nicole Kidman for a part, but this may have been one time when she wasn’t the right fit. Or perhaps we could blame the direction. It’s gotta be damn near impossible to film something where you can’t express emotion.
But Joss Whedon came damn close. And he did it for TV.
I haven’t seen many Buffy episodes, but there is one that is so thrilling, so defiantly creepy, that it sticks out in my mind. The episode was “Hush” and I think it is Joss Whedon’s masterpiece. It revolves around a fairytale. And I think it is the best adaptation of a Nightmare being brought to life through the magic of film making.
The Gentlemen come to a town and steal the voices of all who live there. You can’t talk, you can’t cry, you can’t scream. They then hover, yes hover, around town and look for victims and cut out their hearts. No one hears them coming. No one can hear the screams of the victims.
I searched and searched for a good clip of the episode, but unfortunately Hulu doesn’t have this season of Buffy on their service yet (give it time though). In mean time, I found the original trailer for your entertainment. If you have the DVD’s, load up Hush and enjoy!
So where am I going with this? There are several parallels: Classic story vs. fairytale; missing elements that make us human (voice vs. emotion); innocent beings being hunted down like prey; and nightmares.
I think Joss Whedon wins!
BTW, don’t get me started on the whole “I am Legend” vs. Bodysnatchers meme. Which I also think did a MUCH better job than “The Invasion”, and it was pretty much the same movie except staring a dude.
Ok, you got me started… Let’s compare those two movies: Infection rips through society turning humans into more than humans vs. Infection ripping through society turning humans into aliens; a doctor plays the lead in both movies; both try to get to an outpost of immune survivors; both find ways of surviving among the infected; both find cures and start to rebuild society (oops, sorry, that was a spoiler).
In the case of The Invasion vs. I Am Legend, I have to give this win to Will Smith.
For the title match: Sarah Michelle Gellar vs. fresh prince dance-off to “Gettin Jiggy Wit It”.
Tags: bodysnatchers, buffy the vampire slayer, hush, i am legend, invasion of the bodysnatchers, sarah michelle gellar, the gentlemen, the invasion, will smith