Office Work

On Saturday I skipped the gym. I had to take care of other things, put tires on the car, etc. One of my tires had the tread peeling off, and on Thursday I put the spare on just to avoid literally driving off the road if the front tire blew up. I have had some amazing luck with cars dying on me. I am not one of those auto-mechanic type of guys. I rear-ended a truck when I was learning to drive. I was about sixteen, and my 1970 Chevrolet Nova was crushed in that accident, however the truck that I hit barely had any damage to its fender. I spent about $300 to have the Nova repaired, and that included a paint job. Not surprisingly, every time it rained, some of the paint would come off the car. It was supposed to be dark blue and eventually it ended up a sky blue color.

This is a photo of my Mom next to the Nova, along with our dog Kiwi. The Nova had been her vehicle first, but Mom moved up to a Chevrolet Caprice. I got the Nova in 1980, and I owned it until around 1983. You can also see the skateboard ramp that I was using that day. My friends and I spent a lot of time skateboarding and trying to do tricks. If you look at the photo of my Nova, you can see my stepfather's meat delivery truck (He worked for El Vasco--The Basque) in the background. I used to go with him to work about once a week when ever I did not have classes or my own job to go to.

I got an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme when my Nova's transmission blew out. My Cutlass Supreme was a 1978 model. It was a bronze color, six cylinder, and it was a very smooth ride. Someone crashed into my car during the first week that I owned it. The guy had his license suspended for drunk driving, and he begged me not to call the police. Not surprisingly, the guy had no valid insurance; and I had to pay all the deductibles and miscellaneous costs for my own insurance to cover the damage. I was going to college at the time and also working full-time at Eckerd Drugs.

On Sunday I went to the gym twice, and combined for 65 minutes of cardio on the treadmill and the elliptical. I also did 12 sets of straight arm pulldowns on the cable station. I also went to the park, fed the ducks, walked around, and played ball for a little while with the munchkin.
Update 5/1/07: I went to the gym in the morning and did 15 minutes on the elliptical and six sets of shrugs. Later tonight I went to the gym after my 12 Step meeting. I did twenty minutes of cardio and another six sets of shrugs. There is a cool guy at the gym who is always asking me when I am going to start working out. He must be at the gym at least three times a day, as I see him whenever I go. I guess he is using the traditional Arnold Schwarzeneggar philosophy of massive amounts of weight training.

It contrasts with the Mike Mentzer philosophy of Heavy Duty, High Intensity Training (HIT). I have been reading some posts at a Mike Mentzer yahoo list, and many folks there claim that working out more than once a week is counter-productive. Some of the members claim they only work out once every three weeks, and do a couple of days of cardio per week. It is called High Intensity Training. Mike Mentzer was a pretty cool bodybuilder who lost the Mr. Olympia contest to Arnold Schwarzeneggar back in 1980. After that, he retired from the sport and wrote books about weightlifting and bodybuilding. So what do you think? Go with massive workouts or high intensity training?

McDonalds Happy Meal Condoms

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A grandmother was alarmed to find a condom in a happy meal gift pack bought for her 7-year-old granddaughter at a McDonald's restaurant in New Zealand, local media reported Thursday.

The condom was discovered Tuesday night in a bag that came with Maya Whitaker's meal, which her grandparents bought at a McDonald's outlet in the city of Wellington. Grandpa Rowan Hutch told The Dominion Post newspaper it was lucky his wife was first to look inside the small sports bag that came with the meal. She was aghast when she found the loose green condom and its packet inside the bag, he said. "I was pretty horrified really. The fact my granddaughter was going to look in the bag and find this thing. It would be difficult to explain, she's only seven," said Hutch.

The outlet quickly swapped the happy meal for a hamburger and pencil case. Spokeswoman Joanna Redfern said that one of the Happy Meal toys was left unsealed for display purposes and "somehow" had ended up with a condom in the bag. Redfern explained that "We have many young
kids working here, and we maintain a condom dispenser inside the employee lounge. We always encourage our employees to be prepared. Naturally, young people are sometimes indiscreet." It is nice to know that those kids really put everything they can into the special sauce for the Big Mac! Now you know it's not just grease on those sloppy burgers. Does anyone remember that old Charlton Heston movie, Soylent Green? Charlton Heston's great quote as he is being killed off is "It's people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. Next thing they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them!"

Live and Let Die Wednesday!

After much introspection and soul-searching, I have come to realize that I have to ramp up my attitude to the next level. For the past three months, I have been trying to be the jolly fat man hosting a friendly blog of weight loss advice. Right now I am angry at myself, but taking it out on others is better than eating comfort foods and gaining weight. So in order to relieve some of my repressed stress, I came up with "Live and Let Die Wednesday!"

The new Live and Let Die Wednesday theme is very simple. I am finding hapless weight-loss quitters from the internet and featuring them here so we can all observe the train-wreck of their lives, and read their blogs of failure. Observe Denial in all its glory. Learn from those who crashed and burned! Read about the quitters, and figure out what makes them fail. The featured guests all gave up on themselves, their kids, and their families. All over America, the UK, Australia, and the rest of the world; there are young children wondering why their obese mommies and daddies never play with them.

Those of you who read my blog read my rant about a fat loss failure who quit on his blog after making some very sad admissions. The fatboy read it too and he was very upset and posted many derogatory messages. Then he did a podcast about me which was probably broadcast to all two of his listeners and his cat. Then he updated his blog and posted more negative tirades about me. I have not been keeping up with the guy, but I did notice that when he updated his blog he never posted a photo of himself. He claims he has lost lots of weight at another public venue, but he did not disclose where this venue is. Fatboy seems like a very angry guy considering he is such a success.

Anyhow, that is the end of the Live and Let Die experiment. I did turn all the conflict into a couple of pounds of weight loss. Just looking at the photos of anonymous quitters and reading their blogs was motivating. However, I removed the list of dead blogs. You can find them yourself by googling weight loss and/or obesity. It is kind of sad, but there are a lot of people that just seem to disappear without ever chronicling any success. Hopefully they have succeeded on their own "at another venue." If you can get movivated by reading the hurdles that others have faced, it is all good.

Sadly, statistics show that 85% of the obese people who go on a diet will fail and regain all their weight loss. Why? What is it about obesity that makes failures out of so many? What are the common factors? Is it low self-esteem? Laziness? Denial? Emotional weakness? What is the difference between a quitter and a winner? No matter how bad your diet is going, always remember that it will be much worse if you become a quitter.

Update 4/24/07: This morning I felt tired and skipped the gym. I was tempted to take the day off from exercising, but after reading the blog of someone who became a quitter, I realized that I don't want to be like that guy. After work I went to my "12 Step" meeting and then after that I went to the gym and did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine and then six sets of Pec Flyes.

Update 4/25/07: I went to the gym this morning and did 30 minutes of elliptical and 15 minutes on the treadmill.

Back in the 1980s, J. Krishnamurti used to be on PBS regularly, and I used to watch those videos of his talks and conferences whenever I could. He was a pretty cool dude. In addition to meditation, J. Krishnamurti advocated spiritual tranquility. One of the things that I remember of his philosophy was that he said something along the lines of: 'When you know something is wrong, you cannot go back to doing it. Intellectually it is wrong, and you know it. Then you have to get your emotional side to see that it is wrong.' I have known since I was a teenager that being overweight is wrong. I joined the football team, wrestling, and other sports, and I tried to get my act together. Emotional turmoil has interfered with my life. The intellectual and the emotional sides need to work together.

Update 4/27/07: Yesterday I went to the gym and did 20 minutes on the elliptical and then six sets of Lat Pulldowns. Today I went to the gym and did 45 minutes on the elliptical and six sets of bicep curls. I need to see the orthopedic surgeon about my biceps and shoulder, as they are not getting better.

Only a couple of days ago I was complaining about too many friendly posts, and now I have gotten lots of hate-posts not just on this blog but on others too! This Fatboy dude seems to be going around to various blogs. Benjamin Franklin used to say, "If you can't say anything good about something, then don't say anything."

Another Week of Adjustment

At least somebody out there (or up there) likes me! Celtic Girl nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award, and I really appreciate that she thinks so highly of me. Even though we bloggers are kept apart by thousands of miles and the realities of life; I would like to imagine that our respective souls can still touch each other as we struggle together in this fight against obesity, addications, and death! We are fighting for our lives, and to some degree we are in the trenches together.

So if I read the rules right, I am supposed to award the Thinking Blogger Award to five other bloggers that inspire me? I am not sure if I got nominated, or if in fact I won, so don't feel bad if I designate you for distinction but later on you get an official letter from the Thinking Blogger Award Committee that tells you to give back your award. This may in fact be a bootleg version of the Thinking Blogger Award. While I was checking out the blogs that inspire me, I found some blogs that feature fat girls in skimpy outfits (or nude). Wow, it really was inspirational. I guess guys that like overweight girls are called chubby chasers? I never considered myself one until I saw all the sexy photos.

Of course, we men don't just think with our little heads. We also have thoughts about other things, like sports. The NFL Draft is next week. The Miami Dolphins have ten picks this year, hopefully they will get at least one great player. Which brings me back to the Thinking Blogger Awards. From the hundreds of blogs that I have read in the past week or two, I have found five really amazing blogs that motivate me and which have not been nominated by anyone else. So the winners are:

1. Cactus Freek! She changes the name of her blog almost as often as I do, and that has to be a good sign. Cactii is a really nice girl, with lots of fun stories, great family photos, beautiful plants and flowers in her garden, and a heart of gold. She always shines light on most issues, and I enjoy reading her blogs immensely!!
2. Cassie B.Buzzstuff-Lots of almost daily observations that I find entertaining, excellent recipes are often posted, and she had a root canal too. Anyone that has taken the walk of death at the dentist's office when a tooth must go knows the sound of the big drill.
3. Onwards Arlene!- Arlene was one of the first folks to ever notice that I existed, and she gave me much encouragement when it was just the two of us here. Arlene invented angst, or at least owns part of it. She has managed to cultivate indecision to a level that no teenager could survive. Arlene's blog is full of hope, good intentions, and some frustration. We have all been there. I know Arlene has the keys to her personal success in hand, and when she puts the key in the door and walk through, she will be very happy. You can do it, Arlene!!!
4. One Crazy Chick-Miss Chris is not overweight, but she works out, does martial arts, and deals with her own issues in a very positive and inspiring manner. Miss Chris is another shining light that I enjoy reading!
5. Practicing Patience-Angel is a really warm and nice person who writes some great stories and is always a beacon of light when the world seems dark (after a candy bar for example). She just posted some of her scuba diving photos and she is beginning her scuba diving stories, so now is the time to get your subscription to her blog!
6. Honorable Mentions: Bunnygirl and Mick already got the their awards, congratulations!

Thanks to everyone that has given so much thought, time, effort, and heart to me and to others who blog in search of self-improvement. I have some great friends here, and I hope someday we will have a chance to meet (before we get to the Big Blog In The Sky). I was surfing the net, and I found yet another fan of the bluetooth, not to mention a couple of interesting pages of tatoos gone wrong!

Finally, I want to say that I am joining The Ten Week Diet Challenge. Celtic Girl is in the lead right now, but I will catch up. Week one already passed, so I am behind by one week, but that is the story of my life. I am going to work on putting up the fancy chart on the side of the blog, but don't count on it. This week I weigh 279 lbs. As you can guess if you are a regular reader, I am a long way from my January low of 266. If you want to be challenged, and you think you have any chance of kicking my ass, then join up. Visit Celtic Girl's blog, as she seems to know all the rules and she has the registration forms too. The Ten Week Diet Challenge is FREE. All it costs is your effort. Now get out there and diet. Put that cookie down. Throw away the soda. Stop thinking about food. Stop it right now.

Update 4/23/07: I went to the gym this morning and did 30 minutes on the elliptical, and then 15 on the treadmill. I also did six sets of Military Presses on a machine. At 9:30 p.m., I went to the gym and did six more sets of MP, and then five minutes on the elliptical. I am working my way up to more, and trying to get back to going to the gym twice a day. My goal is to go in the morning and then directly to the gym after work. This will help me skip Home Cooking, which is usually fattening.

Banned From Polite Society!

Burger King Safety Dance

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(Note: Youtube.com banned this Burger King parody from their website, so now I am posting the myspace.com feed. Censorship lives in corporate America!)

My slow climb back continues. Last night I collected my first paycheck at my new job. Simple math says two weeks at my new job is like four weeks at my old job. I really wanted to run back to the old ShiFu Pharmacy, and give my old boss the Burger King Salute (see the video).

I went to see Disturbia last night with my little munchkin. She is a fan of Shia LeBoeuf, the star of the movie. He was on a Nickelodeon or Disney Channel TV series. A strange-looking kid, has a couple of make-out scenes with a cute girl (Sarah Roemer). That was the most horrifying part of the movie. The rest of the movie was a lot of fun, even though it was about a serial killer who is played by David Morse. Morse usually plays nice guys in most of his roles. Though Disturbia had suspense, most of the movie was about teenagers having fun trying to catch a killer. We both enjoyed the film!

I have been going to the gym every day. I have been doing at least ten minutes of cardio. That is pretty lame, considering that I used to do a lot more than an hour every day (see the old entries for cardio-treadmill-elliptical).

One of the negatives of going to the same gym for a while is that I know many people there, and I say hello to everyone, and I just don't get into the zone as much. I need to focus in order to get into working out. Maybe if I wear dark sunglasses and headphones? I need to get off the shnide, and kick some *ss. Even though my weight is holding steady, I am not in the weight loss zone. Time to kick *ss, or else I will end up like some of the bloggers that have quit and disappeared. I feel sorry for anyone who quits. I have probably made some unkind remarks about quitters, but I am not sure that there is an upside to quitting. In fact, I know there isn't.

I saw a big fat guy at the gym a couple of nights ago. I went to the gym at three in the morning because I occasionally am hyped up to work the overnight shift. The guy on the elliptical was about 350 pounds at least.

I said hello, and he looked at me with that combination of apprehension, fear, exhaustion, etc. I know how that feels. He is ashamed and afraid. That is why he is at the gym when there is nobody there. It helped me. No shame. Nobody (especially cute girls) at the gym, looking at the fat guy and feeling sorry for him. You can also concentrate on exercising without worrying about *ssholes walking over to tell you what to do "if you really want to lose weight."

I felt a lot of sympathy for the guy, and I wanted to walk over to him and tell him what to do...! I guess good feelings is what motivates most people to give advice at the gym. But for the out-of-shape people getting the advice, it is usually annoying. I gave the fat guy a second hello, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was thinking "Here comes another *sshole to give me some good advice." So I took some of my own advice and did a light workout that got me into the mood to go home and sleep. I hope the fat guy keeps coming back. As they say at the AA meetings, "it works if you work it, so keep coming back!"

Update 4/17/07: Well I finally got to the gym this morning. I had missed Saturday and Monday, mostly because I have been having too much fun doing family things; so I had no time for exercise. This morning I put in 45 minutes on the elliptical with a short P-P break in the middle. It felt good to go long. I brought my new CD player/headphones. Listened to Funeral For A Friend (Elton John), The Trees/Red Barchetta (Rush), One (Metallica) and In A Gadda Da Vida (Iron Butterfly). Wow. What a difference good music makes! The pounding beat and electric guitars really got me going. What kind of music do you like when you work out? Do you have any favorite work-out, running, cardio songs??

Update 4/18/07: I went to sleep early and then got up around 2 a.m. and went to the gym and did 45 minutes straight on the elliptical. At 6 a.m I drive my wife to work, and then I will go to the gym again. We are very blessed that her job and the gym and the house are within a five mile radius. Then I go to work, and my Mom takes my daughter to school. I guess we need three cars?

Losing weight is about maintaining your focus and desire to lose weight, exercise, eat less. It is simple when you focus on the basic concept. It is hard when you let yourself get distracted. I have noticed that I have been filling my blog up with a lot of extraneous b*llshit mostly because I want the blog to be more interesting. Back when all I ever posted was my exercise routines, I never got any comments from anyone. I guess I am addicted to getting comments.

Update 4/19/07: Another morning where I put in the 45 minutes on the elliptical cardio thingy. Then I did six sets of Triceps pulldowns. I was not able to go to the gym twice yesterday like I wanted too. I seem to get home pretty tired after a day at the office. My brain is tired.

Update 4/20/07: I got to do my split-training routine by going to the gym at about 3 a.m. and doing 14 sets of triceps pulldowns, etc. I have noticed that by doing a muscle group twice it burns it a lot harder. I had done triceps yesterday, but they were barely sore. When I put too much weight on the machines, I end up using my shoulders and chest to help out, so it is better for me to just do the same muscle group twice, so that the second time around it is already pre-exhausted and I can get a burn with lighter weights and focus on the specific muscles without having to deal with the natural tendency to cheat when I use heavier weights.

At 6 a.m. after dropping the wife off at her job, I put in the 45 minutes on the elliptical. Today it was harder, as I was really bored. I was listening to Led Zeppelin, and I guess I am not into Zep right now. Sometimes I like Led Zep a lot, other times I find them really boring. Today it was boring.

There are about four really hot middle-aged ladies that work out in the morning. One of them is incredible. They all have one thing in common, and that is CARDIO. They spend at least an hour on the treadmill and/or elliptical. The difference between those who exercise hard and those who just walk around the gym is like night and day.

I think in the natural order of life, most people are social creatures who want to be nice to each other. Unfortunately, the values which are promoted by the leaders of the world we live are sometimes not very humane or positive.

How can billionaire politicians like GW Bush look the average citizen in the eyes and promote a corporate culture where the CEO of any corporation earns many millions of dollars while the average worker for the same company earns minimum wage? There is no justification for permitting companies that show profits of many billions of dollars to pay their employees what amounts to below-poverty wages. The same companies make health insurance un-affordable to their employees; and their pension plans usually provide only whatever the legal minimum is. Is this the American Dream? When I was growing up, America was "By the people, of the people, and for the people."

Anyhow, I am not sure why I am ranting (I can't change anything), but it was in my head, and now it is out. So I am off to work, hoping I keep my mouth shut and lose weight. While on the topic of rants, how about film actor Alec Baldwin's cursing out his 11 year old daughter and calling her a thoughtless pig? Kind of sad that any parent should do that. What do you think? Is it OK to flip out on your pre-teen children and call them names?

Terminated!

Well, my old job at ShiFu Pharmacy is finally over! I went to pick up my check last night and noticed that my name had been scratched off the schedule. I had given them my two weeks notice almost two weeks ago, so I am glad that I don't have to churn out another week. On the other hand, I do miss the old place. I miss straightening the store, vacuuming the rug, putting all the products lined up on the shelves so it looked picture perfect. Bringing order to chaos. There were also a lot of nice customers. Some of them were very friendly, and some of them were very cute.

I also miss my supervisor. She is a nice, funny person, and she is really cute. She is a hard worker too, hopefully she will find a better job soon. Working with her was a lot of fun, and whenever she called in sick or had a night off, things really dragged. There were several people that I enjoyed working with, and I have missed hanging out with them over the past couple of weeks.

The one thing that I don't miss about my old job is the homeless people. It is sad and heartbreaking to witness how wretched they are. They all stink to levels that you cannot imagine, and yet they honestly look at their malodorousness as a blanket of protection. I guess it keeps most people from molesting them? Try standing downwind from a homeless guy as he counts out a hundred pennies when he is buying a beer, tobacco (they roll their own with newspaper), or a bag of crackers. Talk about wanting to hurl. Some of those guys were really annoying. They know they stink, and some of them will hold up the line and count out their change very slowly as they glare at everyone. Some of the shoplifter bums were aggressive too, and would start yelling when they were asked to leave the store.

Most of the homeless folks need some kind of psychological counseling (and probably medications); but they need food and a place to live more than anything else. I imagine many of these guys must have some serious parasitic infections. I know someof them have lice, as the lice (or maybe fleas?) fly off them and onto the counter when they are bent over counting out their change. Their sticky coins were good for crushing the little bugs.

Many of those guys (and a few women) have suffered horrible luck and terrible misfortunes. When I did not have to deal with the malodorous bums I felt sorry for them. On the other hand, when they were standing in front of me and I wanted to throw up, I felt much less sympathy for the bums. I always managed to talk to them whenever it was slow. That is how I got to know about them. They had a lot of interesting and sad stories to tell.

Most of them hate the homeless shelters. They claim that only thugs go there to rob and beat the weaker homeless guys. I have no idea if that is true. I do know that there were lots of homeless folks living in the public parking of the train station near the store where I was working. God help them all.
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Looking Out For the Number One Animal

The first self-help book that I ever read was Looking Out for #1, by Robert J. Ringer. A short time later I read Winning Through Intimidation, by the same author. Robert J. Ringer taught me how to defend myself against other kids. I have not read Ringer's books in thirty years, so I don't know if I learned the right lessons or just adapted them to fit my own personality.

I love the happy, positive thinking vibe as much as anyone, but lets face facts. Dr. Phil, Oprah, Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama and most of the other celebrity philosophers are multi-millionaires who have a staff of people catering to their every need. They can give out all the positive platitudes without ever having to walk the walk and bust a nut scrubbing a floor or working at a real job.

We of the working class have to carefully craft a comfort zone that provides the illusion of happiness in spite of the grim reality of endless obstacles, problems, bills, rents, mortgages, health insurance costs, gasoline prices, conflicts, taxes, health care, aging, etc. Life can be hard sometimes. Stress can make life hard to enjoy. We all need a little bit of stress relief. I try to approach stress somewhat philosophically. Find out what the stress is. Identify the friction points in my life, what is annoying me? If I don't discuss the stress, then I repress the anger. Sooner or later I will turn to FOOD (and overeating).

Update: I quit my job last week. I did not have another job lined up, but I really had a strong faith that I was going to get a good job. I needed to jump without a net, and hope for the best. I sent out resumes to dozens of employers in many different fields. I went to a few interviews. Then something clicked, it is like a natural first impression, feeling a connection to my new employer. I don't think I have felt so much positive energy at any job interview that I have been to in years. My new boss is very nice. I thank God that I really got a much better job this Friday!

I want to thank God, my family, my friends at the gym, my blogger friends, my 12-Step meeting friends, and my two friends at my old job for helping me. I have lost a lot of weight and kept working out, and that has made an unbelievable difference in my mental attitude. Losing weight, making friends, and getting a better job have all been a gradual progression. Things are getting better, because I am trying harder to live healthy and do the right things for my body, mind, and soul.

I almost forgot to mention that I am back down to 272 lbs., so I lost about ten pounds this month. In February I had gained about 16 pounds, so I am still six pounds off my January low of 266. In March I went to the gym on 30 days. I only missed one day. I have started doing cardio again, and I need to do a lot more of it. I also need to get back to riding my bicycle around.

Update #2: OK, I saw this video of Wayne Dyer (see above) and I remembered that he puts all his programs out for free on PBS. Usually whenever PBS is trying to raise funds, you will see the Wayne Dyer videos. I have to admit that he is probably the only self-help guru whose videos I have ever seen, and he seems like a very sincere person. He has some illuminating thoughts, and I hope you will check him out. If you like someone else, like Dr. Phil, then tell me why??!! Who is your guru?