Going boldy where man has gone for 40 years

07.17.2006

Friday I lost horribly at Battleball Game,and I don't want to talk about it. Instead I'll bring up another of my time wasting past-times!

After months of putting it off, last week I finally started watching the last of the Star Trek series that I haven't seen: Star Trek Voyager. Between the original series, TNG, DS9, and Enterprise I've seen 21 years worth of Star Trek. Now I'm working on the final 7. I can only really remember watching the first and last episodes of Voyager, so this series is as much of an unknown to me as Enterprise was. Looking at it that way, this is like a whole new show set the Trek universe. I just have to keep an open mind and not get mired by what I may have heard or will hear about the show. It's been off the air for 5 years now, so my mind should be pretty safe.

I've watched the first 8 episodes of the first season so far. It's got the usual "getting to know the crew" feel, along with too many time travel plot twists. But this is what the first season or two of any Star Trek series is about. Setting up the relationships between the characters and then watching them grow. I've jsut got to be sure not to vegetate on the couch trying to watch too many episodes at once. Nothing is worse than waking up Monday morning realizing you've spent the weekend watching 16 episodes of Star Trek. I've had more than one of those Mondays in the past.

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Oh

07.12.2006

I have a (somewhat) odd fascination with Kevin Smith, writer/director/actor/comic book author/self-confessed media-whore. I think it's because a part of me sees things we have in common. Hairy, overweight, fascinated with comics. He has a hot wife. I know lots of strippers. He enjoys telling stories. I enjoy listening to his stories.

Clerks 2 is coming out next week, and the media blitz has started. Luckily for me, I've been enjoying the media blitz. As the gang at Matt's can atest while watching Raw, I laugh uncontrollably when the commercial comes on and Mewes/Jay says "Oh" and starts tweaking his nipples Every time. I know it's coming, which makes me start laughing even earlier. But I laugh. And laugh. And then I cry a little.

I was also looking at the Kevin Smith media whore website and saw that the DVD I've been waiting on for at least a year is now on the horizon. An Evening With Kevin Smith 2 is due out in November. I've watched the original at least a dozen times. Considering that it's just Kevin on stage telling stories, totally void of breasts or spaceships blowing up, I would say that's a good mark of story telling.

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Tree Fiddee

07.03.2006

After 15 weeks, I've made it to my biggest diet goal. This morning, I pounced on the scales - and by pounced I mean walked real slow and gently got on to. As the dial settled it came to the weight I've been awaiting for a while.

 

350 lbs.

I've had lots of little goals since I started my diet 54 lbs ago, but this one has been the one I've longed for the most. I've told most people this, but my reason for wanting 350 so much is that the scales at the doctors office has a limit of 350 lbs. Whenever I go for a checkup and they weigh me, there's always a scribble for 350 + on my chart. It's been that way for years - at least 4 that I can remember.

So today I can go to the doctor and at least theoretically get weighed. As long as I'm nekkid and don't retain any water today. Maybe I should have made my magic goal 349? I've still got a long way to 238, and a lot more intermediate goals to get me there.

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Building Prep

06.28.2006

Following my Lego building fun from the weekend, I took it upon myself to build some more Legos last night. This time I was building a Batboat, a little departure from my Star Wars oriented Lego-ness.

I think I have as much fun getting out the Lego blocks and pieces and grouping them to where I can find things almost as much as putting them together. I know, I'm odd. I have this anal thing about organization. I go to places like Staples and Office Depot and window shop for binders, folders, and sheet protectors. But I enjoy things having a place and knowing where they are.

I think part of that is from living alone. If I lose or misplace something, I have nobody to blame but myself, and I hate blaming myself for things. I would much rather tell myself I've doen something well and then reward myself.

Lego Batboats make good rewards!

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What've I Been Doing?

06.26.2006

I've actually had little things to blog about over the past few days, but nothing really worthy of a post dedicated to itself. So with that in mind, I give you my half-week in a nutshell!

Thursday: While running errands in Madison at Home Depot and Lowes at 4:00PM. I found that it was hot. Damn hot. 100° according to the car. This got me to wondering what the heat index was, and how it was calculated. If you want to calculate the heat index yourself, you can use the following:

Heat index (HI), or apparent temperature (AI) = -42.379 + 2.04901523(Tf) + 10.14333127(RH) - 0.22475541(Tf)(RH) - ((6.83783 x 10-3)(Tf2) - ((5.481717 x 10-2)(RH2) + ((1.22874 x 10-3)(Tf2)(RH)) + ((8.5282 x 10-4)(Tf)(RH2)) - ((1.99 x 10-6)(Tf2)(RH2))
Tf= air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, RH= relative humidity expressed as a whole number
It's a lot easier to just plug the numbers into an online calculator, but it's nice to see some of the freaky math involved.

Friday: I watched the Steve Martin Pink Panther movie. Although the critics dislike it, I found it to be a fun, if not silly, movie. In other words, it was like the other Pink Panther movies. So, I liked it, even though it was a lowly PG movie. I'll be doing a bad French accent for a while now.

Saturday: I relived being 12. I got up around 10:00. I finished up the last 2 levels on Half Life 2. I made a Lego Star Wars V-Wing, which was a lot more fun than I would have thought. Now I can continue on to make the armload of other unmade Legos I have in the closet!

Sunday: Nothing special. Laundry, grocery shopping, and grilling.

Monday: Weigh-in, where I've now lost of total of 51-freakin' pounds! Yay me!

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