Sunday, November 23, 2008

10 Annoying Things

There are probably a thousand things in the world that I find annoying. Well, maybe more than annoying. For that matter more than a thousand, but here are 10 in no particular order.

(1)Political ideology. Political ideology qua political ideology doesn't annoy me. What's annoying are people who believe a particular political ideology contains all the cures to society's maladies. Nonsense.

(2) Religious discussions. Both the religious and atheists are equally annoying. The religious presume the moral high ground, with atheists presuming the intellectual high ground. By presume I mean assuming to be true without any supporting evidence. Not only that, but I find the question of whether or not God exists wanting for practical meaning. You may as well ask how much yesterday weighs. More importantly, a personal belief system is just that, personal. Shhhh.

(3)Celebrity magazines. It's jarring that a market exists for this type of magazine. It demonstrates two things. First, regardless of age, some never mature. Second, a significant number of people wallow in quiet desperation.

(4) The current level of discourse. I'm not asking for much. I'm just asking that, should you send me an email or some other missive, it be apparent you know the difference between "your" and "you're."

(5) Homogeneity. Sameness is boring. Boring is annoying.

(6) Media as social narrative. From a psychological standpoint, I understand the need to give our environment order, and the necessarily attending framework with which to create that order. That framework just shouldn't consist of talking points, sound bytes, Newspeak, and Ted Baxter. Instead, how about reading a book written by some social commentators. Cornel West, Howard Zinn,Robert Nozick, and Noam Chomsky come to mind. Whether or not you agree with their ideas, you can be sure "vapid" won't apply.

(7) Using the word "existentialism." It's overused and rarely understood.

(8) Starbucks. Their business plan is unconscionable.

(9) Wal-Mart. See above.

(10)Using the word "postmodernism." See number seven.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Made It Home

Twelve hours later we pull into Denver. It feels good being back, but I'm glad we took the trip. It not only relaxed me, but also altered my perspective. Now we're going to grab something to eat, have a beer, kick back, and go to sleep. I'm more than a little tired.

Looking For The Game

Six hours and five minutes later we hit Albuquerque. Looking for the game on AM radio. It's probably a lost cause until we hit Colorado.

Miles Davis & Flagstaff

Almost to Flagstaff. I'm bored already, but a little Miles Davis always helps. You know I ain't making that up.

One Last Stop

One last stop for gas and ice. Not sure what song is playing. We're listening to the radio because my iPod car adapter is getting too much interference from the local radio stations. I ain't making it up.

Heading Home

Checking out and heading back to Colorado. This has been a great, relaxing time. Now it's back to the grind, but with a different perspective. Next stop: Albuquerque. I'm not making it up.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Maggiano's

For whatever reason we got a craving for Italian food. So we went to Maggiano's. There's one in Denver, but we rarely feel like the hike. But since we made the 937 mile hike to Scottsdale.....I'm not making it up.

Pool Lounging


Went to the pool, had a few drinks and relaxed a bit. As I mentioned before, we were a little tired of fast food. So for lunch we went to Whole Foods for soup and salad. True story. Didn't make it up.

Last Day

The last morning in Scottsdale. Gotta head back to Colorado tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to that, but life calls. You know I'm not making it up.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Yup

After dinner at El Torito's we were rolling around. Found some Eminem on the iPod. Fo' sho'.

Scottsdale AZ Wanderings

So anyway, we were wandering around after eating Whataburger. By the way, I love this song. No, I'm not...you finish it.

Whataburger

Ok, enough with the red meat. Since our arrival I have eaten nothing except red meat, with the exception of Eggs Benedict for breakfast. We just had Whataburger for lunch. Pretty good & you can't get it in Colorado, which was why we even went. That & Esteban gave us his recommendation. But I'm getting nervous about the possibility of developing colon cancer. So I'm definitely ordering chicken or seafood for dinner. This sort of gastrointestinal abuse you can't make up.

Kobe Beef

Last night we ate at BLT Steakhouse. I'm not sure what the BLT stands for and I don't care. What I do know and care about is Kobe beef. It was $26 an ounce and worth each and every penny. Each bite practically melts in your mouth. No, I didn't just make that up.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Cousins Subs


We picked up some Cousins Subs. Pretty good. Now rolling back to the room to have a cold brew and take a nap. You could make this up, but I'm not.

Doing Nada In Scottsdale

Just went out rolling, looking for something to eat. Listening to some Biggie. R.I.P.

The Morning Walk

So anyway, this morning, in lieu of the gym, we decided to go for a walk. The decision proved outstanding. It's a beautiful day out and we took in some of the sights. Also, we got to interact with some of the locals. Each and every one of them were friendly. Now about that beer.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger

It's a good thing I worked out this morning. We decided to grab Crack In The Box for dinner, Bacon Ultimate Cheeseburger, to be exact.

Assembled Room Service

That's what it looks like fully assembled.

Room Service

We just ordered some room service, Eggs Benedict for me, Crunchy French Toast for her,to be exact.

In-N-Out Burger

Living Colorado you don't get In-N-Out Burgers or, until recently, Jack In The Box. So when we pulled into Scottsdale I hunted down In-n-Out Burger. So good. You gotta do the Double Double.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Albuquerque

Just north of Albuquerque. So far we've traveled 440 miles in 5 hours.

Trinidad,CO.

Just North of Trinidad, and I don't mean the island, but that George Clinton is making it all better.

4:25 AM

So anyway, it's 4:25 AM. The tank is full and we're heading out. I can't believe there are people on the road.

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Rolling Out In The AM.

All laundered & packed. Now I'm just knocking back a night cap, Johnnie Walker to be exact, and watching the Eagles and Giants.
Speaking of which, there was a ridiculous call by the refs. Manning, in a practical sense, was beyond the line scrimmage when he passed the ball. The initial call was illegal forward pass. The right call. The Giants, however, challenged the call and won.
The rule states the passer's entire body must be past the line of scrimmage when the ball is released. The officials ruled that Manning's right heel was even with the line of scrimmage, despite the rest of his body clearly beyond the line of scrimmage. Practical meaning anyone, Anyone? No? Then, how about a split hair? You can't make this up

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Trying again.

Trying this again. Blogger is being tooltastic, again. Think I'm making it up? Try clicking on one of the other videos.

Football On Chill Day


Watching Ohio State put it to Northwestern. This just in: Pryor is a beast. Nope, I ain't making it up.

Saturday Relax Day


Coming home from the gym. Listening to some old school hip-hop, MC Breed.If you haven't guessed by now, I ain't making it up.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Conformity Is The New Cool

Two women in front of me, one with a particularly nice ass, were discussing a recent purchase. One of them bought a pair of jeans at The Flatirons Mall. It was while eavesdropping on this conversation that it occurred to me. Doublespeak--distorts reality,creates incongruity between what is said and reality--thrives in our society as shown through a common word these two were using: cool.

Cool doesn't mean cool anymore.Cool used to mean something or someone is unaffected and unconcerned with accepted social conventions and institutions. James Dean, Marlon Brando, and the more contemporary Johnny Depp, Tyson Beckford and Megan Fox embody cool as traditionally defined. The traditional definition, however, has come to a different meaning.

Cool now means, or perhaps has become synonymous with, conformity. Something or someone becomes cool once accepted by the masses. Khakis,a particular style of haircut, black pants with blue shirts, polo shirts, or any sports apparel with its logo emblazoned on your body. These things are cool because the masses approve of them. You're cool because you wear masses approved garments, and behave in a masses approved manner.

That's not cool. That's conformity. We've morphed cool into conformity. Splicing the word cool with the definition of conformity; creating incongruity between what is said and reality, distorting reality. The reality is having mass acceptance isn't cool. It means a bowl of instant oatmeal is more interesting than you. I ain't making it up.

Monday, November 03, 2008

End of First Day

Anyways, this ends the first day with my new Mio. It's entertaining, and helpful, I think. I think because it's efficacy is still undetermined.

It will be a helpful gadget if it guides me towards meeting my stated goal of losing 2 lbs. this week. That means a weigh-in of 208 lbs. on Sat. morning.

If I have an issue thus far, it's the Net Calories feature. This is a helpful feature, I suppose, but I'm unsure what number to shoot for. To explain, they have a Target Calories to shoot for each day. Then, the instructions indicate that I should aim to consume that number of calories on that particular day. This is where my issue comes in.

In the next sentence, you're instructed to keep an eye on the calorie bar across the top of the watch. It gives you a visual graph of the number of calories consumed that counts towards your Net Calories for the day.

If your calorie bar gets full, or close to the end, you're instructed to eat less or exercise more to reduce your Net. So is the idea to simply keep the calorie bar from reaching full, and ignore your Target Number of calories? I ain't making it up.

By the way, I made this post from my phone. It only allows 1,000 characters. So if my explanation was a bit Delphic, I'm blaming it on Verizon.

First Day With My Mio

So, at 5 AM I drug my ass to the gym, which was made easier by the time change. I ran on the treadmill for 35 minutes with a 5 minute cool down. My trusty new Mio said I burned 719 calories. So my Net Calories reading is -719 to begin the day.

Today I'm supposed to consume 2,350 calories (the goal is to lose 2lbs/week--right now). If I hit that number, my Net Calorie reading will be 1631. I guess we will see how it goes. I do have to admit, however, 1,631 calories seems like an absurdly low number for someone my size (6'2", 210). So I'm going to monitor my energy levels and adjust my caloric intake as needed.

No, this isn't turning into a fitness blog. It's just that I bought this thing and want to use it. And since this is my blog,not yours, I'll write about whatever I want. I ain't making it up.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Mio Watch

So anyway, I went to the mall yesterday. I needed to buy a new sport watch. The wristband to my Nike watch, after less than a year, snapped off in a manner that makes it irreparable. So I went to Sports Authority to buy a new sports watch. And because this is the second time this has happened, I wasn't going to buy another Nike sports watch, and neither should you.

I settled on a Mio Watch. It's like a personal trainer on your wrist, or so they say. I'm not certain how I feel about that. Whenever I think of personal trainers, I think of some meat head screaming at me, and me slapping the shit out of him with a dumbbell. Then, a trial that ends up with a face-to-face meeting with Bubba. If it's all the same to you, I'll pass on incarceration. So I generally stay away from personal trainers.

But back to the watch. You enter your age, weight, fitness goal and all that. Then, it gives you a target for number of calories to be consumed in a day. It also tracks your heart rate and counts calories burned during your workout. So it seems like a pretty spiffy gadget. An unexpected spiffy gadget in my case. I was just looking for a sport watch that tracked my heart rate with reasonable accuracy. This thing is dead on accurate, which isn't creepy, or even creepish, but it is a creepism. I ain't making it up.