Stellar Path

Archive for the ‘Miscellaneous’ Category

I meant to do this early on, and then I thought, nah, I’ll wait a while.

For those of you who are knew to this blog, you may not know that I am “walking across the US.” I’m doing it a little differently than you might think, though. I wear a pedometer daily to measure my steps. I enjoy doing this, because it gives me a visual record of how active I’ve been. I’m a big fan of simply being active for activity’s sake. Yes, an hour on the elliptical is great, but so is getting 12,000 steps over the course of a regular day. It isn’t the same, but it’s something extra.

Anyway, I have calculated the maximum width or length across each US state, and one by one, I am “walking” across them. I don’t know what I’ll do when I’ve completed all fifty states. I know it will take me a LONG time, because of frickin’ Alaska and Texas. Alaska is 2,261 miles wide! If I figure an average of six miles a day (some days are better, some are worse), then it will take me 376 days. I fully realize that this could take me years. It might take me the better part of a decade to do this.

However, it isn’t like I’m going to someday get to goal weight, and the sky will open up with sunshine and puppies and everything is great. I will struggle with healthy living my entire life. I’m okay with that; frankly, I’m looking forward to experiencing the challenge of maintenance, which I have heard MANY people say is even tougher than losing weight.

So whether I get done in five years or twenty, it doesn’t matter. I’m walking the US, and in 2030, if that’s when I finish, then I’ll decide then what I’m going to do.

But for now, I’m just taking it one state at a time. And per Erin’s suggestion, my current state is her home state of Nebraska! Nebraska is 430 miles wide, and with my typical stride of 1900 steps per mile, it will take me 817,000 steps.

At present, I am 218,907 steps into Nebraska. I have 598,093 steps to go. That’s a long way. Which state should I do next?

I’m still walking across Nebraska. Join me?

In other news, don’t forget about my giveaway!

Also, check out the $50 shopping spree giveaway on Mary’s Weight Loss Blog! I can win an $50 Shopping Spree Giveaway from iHerb.com and so can you! Click here for contest details!

I think I’m a Weekend Warrior. I didn’t have quite the amazing success I wanted, but I did pretty well, overall.

This is what I pledged to do.

1. Complete two full one-hour workouts, one of which must be in the weight room.
2. Track every single morsel of food eaten and not eat over my caloric daily limit.
3. In addition to two workouts, go for a nice, long walk.

I did get two one hour workouts in. However, neither was in the weight room. I did an hour of taekwondo on Saturday and an hour on the elliptical on Sunday. I’m very pleased with both, but I didn’t do weights either day.

I did track everything I ate, and I didn’t do horrible on my food. However, I will admit… This jumped up and grabbed me on Saturday.

I ate it. Don’t know why, but I did. God, it was so good. I know some people are grossed out by the fake egg filling, but I find it the most delicious treat ever, second only to chocolate covered cherries at Christmas.

And I did make it on the nice, long walk. My pedometer read about 13,000 steps on Sunday, which is over my usual 10,000.

As far as my weight… I weighed in at 339, which is less than Friday. I’ll be honest; I really expected to have lost more after two days of eating pretty clean. Oh well. I still have ’til Friday for it to be official.

In other news, don’t forget about my giveaway for Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred!

I ended up getting sick Saturday night. Sunday was okay. Monday was a little worse. Today is awful. God willing, I will feel better tomorrow.

This weigh-in is going to suck. I have not been in the gym since Sunday, and my diet has not really been that great, either. But I’ll just own it and accept whatever the scale gives me Friday morning.

I have no great diet insights to share, so I have decided that I want to do a different post. I’m going to talk a little about the wedding!

As those of you who have been here for a while know, I am getting married to my better half, Tina, this October. Our wedding is going to be a bit nontraditional in some ways and very traditional in others.

We’re getting married by one of my best friends. However, he is not one of those Internet Church of Mammals preachers. He just happens to be a pastor, and since we haven’t found a church here to join yet, we’re going to have him marry us. It’s going to be a pretty standard Protestant service.

In a cave. We’re getting married in Lost River Cave. It’s a local cave with a pretty interesting history. The spot where we are getting married is an old nightclub from the Prohibition Era. It’s beautiful; of course, I’ll post pictures of the wedding as soon as we’re back from the honeymoon.

My best man is a woman. This one isn’t weird to me but apparently it’s different to a lot of people. Fortunately, Tina has no issues with it. My best friend (other than Tina, of course) just happens to be a woman, so who else would I pick to be my best man?

Tina and I are both dorks. I’m a bigger dork than she is, but we’re both pretty dorky. Tina is also a baker. She had planned to do our wedding cake, but pretty much every married woman we know advised her against this, solely for stress reasons. That’s why she decided that instead, she would make the groom’s cake.

I’m a little different, in that I am a fat kid who DOES NOT LIKE CAKE. Frankly, it bores me. Oh, spongy bread… can I just have the icing? Which is why my groom’s cake is going to ROCK, because it’s going to not be a cake!

Tina is making a three-tiered “cake.” The bottom layer is going to be a brownie, the middle layer will be cookies, and the top layer will be Golden Grahams S’mores treats (picture Rice Krispie Treats, but with Golden Grahams and chocolate chips instead of Rice Krispies.) And the entire thing will be covered with icing.

But best yet… she’s doing it Super Mario themed!

It’s a bit of an inside joke. At our engagement party last Halloween, which was also a costume party, we dressed up as Super Mario and Princess Peach.

And we decided that a Super Mario themed wedding cake would be a bit much, but it would be perfect for a groom’s cake! And we found some Super Mario and Princess Peach toys that are going to serve as cake toppers.

Yes, I will be cheating on my diet the day of my wedding.

I am trying twitter. Again. In the past, I ripped off Tyler from 344pounds.com and tried to use twitter to post my meals. That didn’t work.

Now, I’m just trying to use Twitter for… whatever… twitter is used for… I guess…

I kinda feel like someone’s grandfather who is trying to use the internet for the first time.

“Kids today… with their iPods and YouTubes and Borats… Back in my day, we played with rocks and were happy to have them!”

Anyhow, my user name is stellarpath, and you can follow me. Add me, and I’ll add you. Or let me know you have a twitter account, and I’ll add you first. I’m not really sure what Twitter etiquette is. Is it like a “show me yours and I’ll show you mine” kind of thing?

And then were seven… and I am still in the contest by the skin of my teeth.

I weighed in at 335.8, for a total weight loss of an astounding 1.4 pounds.

That was my sarcastic voice. Seriously, I have busted my ass this week, working out a MINIMUM of three hours a day, and I lost 1.4 pounds. I have not eaten a single carb after lunch. I have only eaten healthy, clean foods, and I am not in starvation mode.

So I’ve decided that for the next week, I am not doing as much. I’m going to do one hour a day.

Here’s my logic. I know that I cannot maintain three hours of exercise a day for the rest of my life. It simply is not possible. However, an hour of exercise is something that I can do. This is my new philosophy – if I cannot do it for the rest of my life, then I will not do it now to lose weight.

My weight loss may go even slower. If it does, then I’ll go to a doctor and have myself thoroughly checked out. I suspect, though, that a lot of this is truly mental. I am definitely a believer in the mind being a powerful influence on the body, both good and bad. With the mindset I have had in this contest of “win at all costs,” I don’t think it’s good for my body.

Because I have not been having fun with my weight loss for a few weeks now. So if I am eliminated next week, then so be it. I am honestly, truly fine with that. I can already name some benefits to being out of this competition. One, I can go back to taekwondo. Taekwondo meets four nights a week at 7 p.m., which is the same time as my workout. I’m itching to get back in class, start sparring again, and get ready for my 2nd degree black belt test. I want to perfect my form. I want to see my taekwondo buddies again, who I haven’t seen in a LONG time.

Two, I can go back to not being in a mental anguish state all day long over a looming weigh-in. I want to just get up, whatever my weight is in the morning, buck naked on the scale fresh out of the shower, is what it is. I don’t want to think, “Well, I know this would be good for me, but it’s food that would be sitting on my stomach, and that’s not good for me at this weigh-in.” That’s ridiculous, and starting now, I’m not going to think that way again.

Hell, I’m almost campaigning to be eliminated next week. I like the guys on my team and I like both trainers and I like the girls on the blue team, but I want to go back to just working out and losing weight, not agonizing over every ounce lost.

Because you know what? I should be happy with a low loss, even 1.4 pounds, and not begrudge it because it isn’t enough. 1.4 pounds a week is still 72.8 pounds in a year, and I’d look a lot better (and be a lot healthier) at 260 than 330.

Okay, bitch fest is over. The red team won, which is the only reason I am still there. I am the lowest person on the red team with a total weight loss of 16.2 pounds, and I am sixth overall. The blue team lost, and that means Deanna is going home. This one isn’t a sad elimination, though, because Deanna is not distraught, and she and her husband are joining the gym next week, so she’ll still be working out. Yay Deanna!

On to other news… first up… my first giveaway!

There were eight entries, thank you so much to those of you who entered, and the winner of my first ever giveaway was… Josie from Yum Yucky! Yay Josie! Josie, if you would, please email me at blueservo@gmail.com the address of where you would like the CarbQuik sent, and I will have it on its way to you Monday morning. While I’m talking about Josie, I’d also recommend you go check out her blog which is one of my new favorites. She has a wonderful writing style and sense of humor, and she is a true pleasure to follow, in a way that doesn’t sound stalker-y.

Second, and somewhat related to giveaways, is my Weekly $5 Goals Update.

1. Reach 333

Fail! Not even close. I’m still almost three pounds away. Granted, a loss is a loss, so I’m not too torn about not meeting this one.

2. Write 3,000 words on my novel

Fail! I did write 1,800 words of fiction (more on that in just a moment), but it wasn’t 3,000.

3. Drink at least one gallon of water a day

Fail! I came awfully close. On at least four days, I drank more than that much. I got close on the others, but I’m following this to the letter, and I didn’t make it.

4. Do at least 2 extra at-home workouts

Success! I, in fact, did three!

5. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room

Fail! Only three.

I have now earned $3 toward my purchase of a Super Mario Brothers Wii, and you currently have $7 toward the next giveaway. I’m not sure – I’m thinking the next giveaway will either be a water bottle or an exercise DVD. What do you think?

But I still like doing my goals, so here are my goals for this week!

1. Reach 332.
2. Workout ONLY for one hour per day. (That’s right – my goal this week is to do LESS.)
3. Write 3,000 words of fiction, including some on my novel.
4. Finish 3 complete workouts in the weight room.
5. Take another spin class.

That’s right, I said take ANOTHER spin class. I did one with Train 2 Lose, and there were parts of it I really liked. I liked the toughness of it; I liked the challenge it gave my leg muscles. I DID not like one aspect of it, and I can only assume that Spinning is Latin for “The Process of Being Anally Raped by a Bicycle Seat.” However, I am buying a padded gel seat this weekend, so I’ll be ready for next week.

Okay, my last thing – I mentioned I wrote 1,800 words of fiction this week. I’ve written more about it on the tab at the top of this page that says Ice Blog, but basically, I’ve created a fictional blog about a morbidly obese man who is spending the next two years alone in Antarctica. There are twists and turns planned, and I hope you’ll read it and see what happens. I’d always appreciate constructive feedback. You can find Ice Blog by either clicking the tab at the top of the page or going directly to http://www.stellarpath.net/IceBlog/.

This idea is completely stolen from Steve. Maybe it was his, maybe he stole it from somewhere else, I dunno. But I take no credit for it, but I plan to start using it. Basically, he posts his goals that he wants to accomplish that week, and every weigh-in day, he tells us if he succeeded or failed.

I’m going to include goals that are really easy to accomplish, and I’m going to include goals that will require a decent amount of work.

I’m going to play mine a little bit differently. I’m going to give myself five goals, every week. Each goal is worth $1. If I meet that goal, that $1 will go into a pot to “buy myself something pretty.” [At the moment, I have my eye on Super Mario Brothers Wii. I want my own copy!] If I do not meet that goal, that $1 will go into a pot to buy something to give away to the readers of my blog. When I’ve collected enough money to buy something decent, around $10 or so to buy a water bottle or something fitness related (or just cool), I’ll hold a giveaway here.

Incidentally, I was going to give the money to charity, but then it occurred to me, that’s kind of like saying, “I’m trading my health and mental well-being for starving kids! Yay for my success! Sorry kids.” So while I’ll continue giving to charity on my own, this $5 will only be going to me or you all. (And some of you are poor, right? I know I am.)

My Goals for This Week (to be accomplished by February 12th)

1. Reach 333
2. Finish walking Rhode Island
3. Write 2,500 words on my novel
4. Finish 4 complete workouts in the weight room
5. Begin the 100 Push Ups Challenge

I know for sure I can do two of these, maybe three. Number one may prove elusive, but I’m going to give it my best. I’m doing variable calories every day, so hopefully, that will help me lose this weight! Today is a lower calorie day for me, but I’ve planned out my food for the day, and so far, it seems very do-able.

On other news, I’m going to have to give up one of my favorite snacks. Quaker Oats Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars.

They only have 90 calories, so they can’t be bad for you, right? They’re sweet and gooey and if you haven’t had a candy bar in months, they’re like a candy bar! And it’s not just oatmeal raisin! I also enjoy the chocolate chunk, or the peanut butter and chocolate… God help me, I even like the S’more. (Fake S’mores usually taste like crap, and not fake crap, but real crap. [Not that I know what that tastes like… just sayin…] But these S’mores actually taste pretty good.)

Alas, they are full of crap I shouldn’t be eating. The box said it was made with whole grains.

What the box DID NOT say (well, it did, but you had to investigate it and study like you were reading a murder mystery) was that in addition to a tiny serving of whole grains, it also has partially hydrogenated oils. Those are a big no-no.

So while I love them, they are not the great find I once thought they were. I thought they were a 90 calorie serving of goodness and whole grains, not 90 calories of pure, unadulterated evil.

This is a quick post that is unrelated to weight loss, fitness, or nutrition.  It’s about one of my hobbies.  Painting.

I’ve dabbled in both watercolors and oils.  I like oils for the way the finished product results, unless I’m the one doing the painting, in which case it just looks muddy and fairly unimpressive.  I like doing watercolors for the ease of clean up and forgiving quality of the medium, but my pictures never quite have the depth that I want.  I can picture what I want, and with some gauche watercolors, I’ve been able to almost achieve the look that I want, but not quite.

This isn’t a post saying I’ve given up these two mediums.  In fact, I plan to continue painting in them for some time.

This is a post saying I have found a new medium, and I am extremely excited about it.

It isn’t acrylics.

It isn’t pastels.

It’s spray paint.

Seriously.  Recently, I saw an artist take cans of spray paint and in a matter of literally minutes make a beautiful, awe inspiring work of art.  Best yet, the painting was of a space nature, which if the name of my website hasn’t already given you the hint, I love.  I’m fascinated by astronomy, and that is one “landscape” of painting that I haven’t approached yet.

Spray painting will allow me to do that.  I’ve been putting off actually getting started, because any time you start a new hobby like this, there is a financial start up fee.  Spray paint isn’t always cheap.  However, this weekend, I decided to go for it.

I’m pretty sure I still suck, but like with any new talent, practice will make me better.  I’ve only sold a few watercolors, but I must admit, I really look forward to getting good enough at spray painting that I can actually sell my art.

We have a new video!  (For reason I still do not understand, the video will only show when you look at this post on its own page and not on the main page.  So to see it, please click the title of this post, and the video should be embedded on that page.)

In other diet news, I’ve decided to up my calories. I was eating around 1500 to 2200. Now, I’m eating around 3000 to 3500, and so far, it seems to be making a difference.

I have heard from various sources that eating a different amount of calories per day can help keep your metabolism a little higher than it might otherwise. So, in my variable calorie diet, I may have 3700 one day, 3000 the next, 3500, 2400, etc… I just want to keep my metabolism humming along. My trainer told me that I wasn’t eating nearly enough for as active as I’ve been, so I’ve definitely upped how much I’m eating. I must admit that I feel a LOT better, and because I’m eating healthier foods, I feel like, for the first time in months, that I’m actually satisfied.

Yesterday, I ate around 3800 calories. Today, I plan to eat around 2500. I want to keep it low for a day and see if I can get a weight loss spike. Tomorrow, I’ll up it to 3500ish again.

I also found an amazing resource in Fitday.com. I had been using SparkPeople, but it’s become more of a social networking site, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, I want something that is simpler and easier to use. I stumbled across FitDay, and so far, I love it. I just enter every bite of food that goes in my mouth, and it gives me a running total of my calories, percentage from carbs, fat, and protein, and some other cool facts.

As you can see, I am off low carb. I felt too run down, and while I’m sticking to the spirit of low carb by avoiding everything white, I had to incorporate fruits and vegetables back into my diet. I also added some whole grains. I feel 100% better, and I’m going to stick with this. This is a diet I can live with, because low carb isn’t. I realized I was in a very bad place mentally about it because I kept saying to myself, “As soon as the contest is over, I can have a banana again.” That’s not a good mindset, and frankly, that won’t help me.

Back on track – FitDay will even keep track of your calories burned, and you can actually enter every activity you do for a solid 24 hours and know (relatively speaking) exactly how many calories you’ve burned. I don’t take it to that extreme; I tend to enter how much I slept, along with my cardio or weight lifting exercise, and I use that to roughly estimate how many calories I burned for the day.

So far, I am keeping under how many calories I’ve burned. I’m pretty pleased. Funny thing is, according to FitDay, I burned about 700 calories more than I took in yesterday. That’s 1/5th of a pound. My scale this morning showed that I have lost 1/5th of a pound. I realize it won’t work out that perfectly every time, but it’s kind of neat that it did today.

I’m about two pounds lower than I was last Friday. I’d love to lose two more. I don’t even know if that is possible in the next two days, but I’m going to try. I was hoping to drop double digits this Friday.

Damn the Biggest Loser for skewing my perception of possible weight loss!

And also, did anyone else find themselves actually liking Miggy last night for the first time ever? I thought she was the problem; maybe it was Migdalia?

We were also hoping the Blue Team would come back instead of the Yellow team, but I really respected what O’Neal said about wishing the Victoria, the blue team daughter, could take his place. Frankly, I wish they had made that work out. It would have been a nice twist, if the parents of each team had gotten together somehow before and said, “Let’s approach the producers about our kids teaming up and us going home.” But I digress. But not too much, because I’m still talking about the Biggest Loser.

I’m rooting for Stephanie, who I think is adorable, and Tina and I both love her, and the Grey Team, who just have such a great attitude. I also like the Black Team. So far, this season has quite a few people that I like on it. Much better than last season’s, where I really wasn’t that fond of that many people. (Still not as good as season seven. Tara was awesome. I wish she had won.)

In other news, I am still walking across Rhode Island. Nebraska is my next state. Anyone with me? What’s your progress?

We had our 2nd week weigh-in last night.  Last night’s weigh-in was the last freebie.  Starting next Friday night, we’ll lose one person per week.

Craig, I have sobering news.  Last night, if it had been “for real,” we would have lost Vaughn.

The men’s team lost.  Poor red team.  Stupid blue team kicked our butts last night.

Okay, not really.  They beat us by 0.15%.  As I pointed out immediately, earning a sad head shake from a few and laughs from others who knew I was right, that’s just one good trip to the bathroom.  We’ll beat them next week.

To be honest, I kind of wish we were on teams of mixed gender.  I am not one of these guys who are insisting, “Women can’t win this!  Men must!”

No, I am only saying that because they divided us by gender, and MY team must win.  That’s the only reason.  I could be the only guy among four females, and I’d still be saying the same thing.

Anyway, for my results… I weighed in at 339.0, which is a loss of 1.6 pounds!  I am honestly thrilled with this.

I don’t remember everyone’s results, but I do know that we had only one gain, and that was Daniel, who gained 0.4 pounds.  Last week, he lost 17 plus pounds, so a gain of 0.4 isn’t too bad.

I am, unfortunately, currently ranked fifth.  I’m not worried about it.  I still have time to pull ahead.  I’m just reminded of the winner of the first Train to Lose, who was NEVER in the lead until the last week.

1. Jeanette
2. Chris
3. Daniel
4. Christi
5. Me
6. Angie
7. Kayvan
8. Patrina
9. Deanna
10. Vaughn

This Friday, the team with the lowest percentage will lose a member with the lowest percentage.  One thing that I do like is that the percentage is from the beginning and not the week before.

My trainer is urging me to go a little easier on the cardio, and he really stressed one rest day a week.  I’ve decided to follow his advice, and I’m going to take today as my rest day.  For a few days, I’m going to limit my cardio to 2 hours a day.  I’ll just see if it really does make a difference.

Today is an easy day to take a day of rest for one big, snowy reason.

We finally have snow!  And for south central Kentucky, this is a decent snow!  We currently have about six inches of the stuff on the ground, which for us, is HUGE.  This is a city that sometimes shuts down at the mere mention of snow.  This is a lot.  I’m not housebound by any means, I do have a four-wheel drive, but it’s just nice to stay in.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

A big thanks to Erin from Erin Takes Control (see my blogroll for the link!) for inviting me to participate. 

10 Things That Make Me Happy (in no particular order, and not including people or other loved ones)

1. Snow Days!

We recently had a few snow days here.  We are southern Kentucky, which is in the northern part of the south, but we’re still not that far north that we get decent snow.  We got about four inches last week, which is, I realize, not much for some places.  But for us, it was a nice snow, and I can’t help it, the little kid that still lives inside me LOVES Snow Days!  I work for a program that works with kids, so if school is out, it completely changes what we do at work, and it was actually fun and a nice flashback, sitting in front of the television and hoping desperately that the Polar Report was going to announce that the schools that would change my day’s work would call off.

Best yet, Tina and I went outside and had a snowball fight.  The snow was way too powdery to make snowballs with, so we more or less flung handfuls of snow at each other, but it was still fun.  I also made my first ever snow angel.  When I dropped down to do it, my shirt rode up and the exposed small of my back didn’t enjoy it as much as the rest of me did, but it was still fun.

2. Streaming Netflix

This one is a new obsession.  We got a BluRay player that allows us to stream Netflix’s Watch Instantly movies.  There are some really good movies in their queue, but my favorite part… the t.v. show Lost.  I didn’t get into the show when it started, for whatever reason, and I heard from everywhere that it was a show you had to watch from the beginning.  I figured I would wait until the show ended and get the shows on DVD.

Well, Lost is part of Netflix’s Watch Instantly, and I am finally, several years late, getting to watch the show from the beginning.  I’m already hooked.

3. TV Shows on DVD

I thought about doing each show separately, but I have too many things I want to do for my top ten, so I’m going to lump it together.  I love full series television shows that are on DVDs, nice and neatly packaged with cool extra features that I’ve never seen before.

My current top two favorites: Buffy & Alias.

There are some others that I wish would come out with legitimate DVD seasons, namely Power Rangers (don’t laugh – I want to point out that I have NEVER denied being a huge nerd/dork/geek) and Clarissa Explains it All.  (They released season one of Clarissa and then decided not to release the rest of the seasons.)

4. Truly Scary Horror Movies

I like the lame ones, too, but if it can really, truly scare me, then I’m very excited about it.  I don’t know what it is; maybe it’s just the release of adrenaline that gets me hopped up, but I like being scared.  One caveat – I do not care for torture porn.  Films like Hostel and Saw don’t do it for me.  I don’t just want to see people tortured.  I want to see people fighting back and trying to survive.  I’m okay with brutal violence, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want torture and pain just for torture and pain’s sake.

Current favorite horror movie of all time is A Nightmare on Elm Street.  And I have to admit, I really am looking forward to the remake.  I just hope the new Nancy is as good as the old Nancy.

5. Folklore

I stumbled across a class called Urban Folklore that fulfilled a fairly random General Education requirement during my first degree at Western Kentucky University.  I signed up for it, thinking it would be a cakewalk of a course, and I proceeded to not think too much more about it.  The class was taught by Dr. Cam Collins, and this was one of those classes that truly changed my life.  I was amazed at how many stories and beliefs there were, even in the standard American mainstream, and I completely fell in love with it.  I ended up selecting Folk Studies as my minor, and I would have majored (and gotten a Master’s in it) if I felt there were more job opportunities in it.  (Let’s be honest – as awesome as it is, and as truly useful as the experiences and knowledge I’ve gotten from it have been with EVERY job I’ve ever had, the degree itself does not exactly open doors.)  However, I loved it.

My favorite class in my minor was Supernatural Folklore, taught by Dr. Erica Brady.  To be honest, this is probably my most favorite class I have ever taken out of my entire collegiate career.  I’ve always said that if I become independently wealthy and don’t need to work for a living, I would definitely go back to school just to study folklore for my own pleasure.

6. Oranges and Pineapples

These are probably my two most favorite of all time foods.  I don’t have a lot I can really wax poetic about them, but there is nothing that tastes better to me than fresh cut pineapple or a really good orange.

7. I Can Has CheezBurger

This really makes me look like a dork, and it puts me in dangerous territory of looking like a weird cat man, but I think this is one of the funniest webpages ever.  Located at http://www.icanhascheezburger.com, this is a site where people post photos of cats doing weird things with funny captions.

One HUGE caveat – I HATE with an all-consuming passion the ones that are so horribly misspelled and awkwardly worded that it takes someone with a Ph.D. in exolinguistics to read it.  A misspelled word here or there can be tolerated, but I’ve found that the ones I find the funniest are the ones that are spelled and worded properly.  It’s the whole leet-speak thing.  I want to stab people who use leet-speak in the forehead with a pitchfork.  But that has a placement in a separate list.

I think the second picture is far funnier than the first, just because the notion that a cat is trying to do CPR by leaping full-bodied onto his patient is hysterically funny.

Maybe it’s just me.

8. Sleeping In & Naps

Sleeping in is awesome, plain and simple.  There is no greater pleasure in life than knowing that nothing pressing, like work or any deadlines, need to be done, and you can just stay curled up under the covers for as long as you want.

One of the only things that might be better than sleeping in is taking the nap.  I love to have a day where I can afford to take a nap (which will not be happening at all for the next ten weeks that I am in Train to Lose).  I get in my wonderful, soft bed, put something mindless on the t.v., such as The Simpsons on DVD, and just idly drift off to sleep.  Pure bliss.

9. Old School Video Games

After the Super NES, I kind of lost interest in gaming.  I have a Wii, (well, Tina has a Wii), but I’ve noticed that the only games I EVER play on it are Virtual Console games.  I’m currently hooked on StarTropics.  One of the best games for the Nintendo Entertainment System EVER.

I’m also slightly obsessive with Super Mario.  I’m not a big fan of all of the games.  I could care less about any Mario game after SNES (although I do enjoy Super Mario Brothers Wii, but that’s because it uses old school controls), but when I think of my childhood, Super Mario Brothers is one that comes to mind.

10. Traveling

I don’t get to do it nearly as often as I would like, but I like nothing more than going someplace I’ve never been before.  To be honest, I think I would probably even like a job where I had to travel every week.  It might get old, but it would be so fun going to new places all the time.  Better than that, of course, are luxury vacations.  If I had more money, I’d be gone all the time.  And the best job, in the world, would have to be one of those people who work for the Travel Channel who get paid to go to different resorts.

Okay, that’s my list of ten things about me.  I’m supposed to pick ten people to pass this on to, but the majority of the people on my blogroll have already done it.  If you haven’t, do it!