Thursday, June 29, 2006

Superman Returns

Well, I went to see the movie Superman Returns last night.  It was absolutely spectacular.  I haven't been that enthralled in a movie since I was just a kid.  I sat in my seat glued to the screen at every moment of the movie.  Not once during the entire 2.5 hour movie did I look at my watch or think "is this over yet". 

 I had a lot of worry about how this whole thing would turn out given its very long and sordid history.  If you don't know anything about it you can read it here.  I will warn you though, you will finish reading it and want to cry or hurt something when you realize how incompetent and idiotic movie producers can be.  You will also breathe a HUGE sigh of relief that the movie ended up the way it did.

 There were a few plot points that were a bit questionable and it will be interesting to see what happens in the sequels and where they go from here.

 Overall it was fantastic.  There were several homages to the past Superman incarnations including almost an exact word-for-word set of lines at the very beginning of the movie.  If you know your lines from Superman I you will grin when you hear it.

 Brandon Routh is incredible as the new man of steel.  I am so glad they went with a total unknown.  It makes it easier to get into the movie.  Brandon nails all of the classic Christopher Reeve mannerisms for Clark/Superman while simultaneously making the characters his own original works.  I've been told that in an interview Brandon stated the only thing he religiously copied from Christopher Reeve's Clark was the way he always pushed up his glasses.

 Kevin Spacey is fantastic as Lex Luthor.  At times he was a carbon copy of Gene Hackman's Lex.  He got all the great Lex'isms that really made Gene Hackman's Lex shine.  Additionally Kevin really made the character his own.

 Parker Posey is a gem as Lex's ditzy gal, but all I could think of while watching her is "Damn, she'd make a great Mrs. Hannigan in an Annie remake."

 To sum it up, I highly recommend going to see the film.  At the end right before the credits there is a dedication to Christopher and Dana Reeve.  There is nothing after the credits so no worries about leaving after you see the dedication.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

The Morning Run

Well, it seems that running at 8 PM for 3 miles makes your legs a little too sore to do it again 9 hours later at 5 AM. I only hit 1.5 miles today. I could have pushed it a bit but didn't want to hurt myself. I'd rather do 1.5 miles for a few days and then get back to 3 miles on a regular basis than hit 3 miles two days in a row and be unable to walk or run for a week.

I'm probably going to hit the eliptical machine tomorrow instead of the treadmill, that way I can still get the miles in but I won't have any impact on my legs.

I'm also happy since I've bumped up the weights on my workout on the machines. My bench press is up as are my pulldowns. One step at a time, right?

Power overwheming

So I saw this over on Patrick's blog (which I'll have to start checking out to see if he makes any more entries other than quizzes) and decided to take it myself.

Your Power Level is: 90%

You have all the tools you need to be a success - both professionally and personally.
You'll probably go beyond reaching your goals. You'll change the world (at least a little).


Sorry my dear, but I still reign supreme. ;) Luv ya, hun!!

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

A new MILEstone

Well, without even realizing it or thinking about it (I was watching TV in the gym) I hit the 3 mile mark. I was barely tired and looked down to see I was at 2.78 miles so I figured, "why not", and ran out the full 3 miles. I feel great. Hitting the 3 mile mark is a huge goal of mine so that I can burn those extra calories every day and lose the weight a bit faster.

Since I've only recently started hitting 2.5 I will be trying for 3 every day but will be ready to punch the cool down button anytime that I don't feel ok when running. I don't want to do something to hurt myself in trying to get to 3 miles every day that will prevent me from running at all. Meeting my goal at any cost will not help anything. Its the long term that matters more than the short term.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Monday Report

So this weekend was exhausting. I was up at 6 AM on Saturday to get to work for 6:45 AM in order to do work on the servers. The schedule was to be done by noon, but as it often happens with scheduled downtime various things went wrong and we finally wrapped up at about 2:30 PM. After that we had lunch at the 99. After that I had a few fraternity brothers over for dinner which was fun, but it completely threw my day off to do any running. I finally went to sleep at 2:20 AM Sunday morning.

Sunday was mostly recovery from being up for 20 hours straight on Saturday. I got woken up at noon with a call from the DBA at work saying that the database was down and he couldn't get a hold of the two more senior SysAdmins, so I got up and trucked into work. I at least got about 10 hours of sleep which didn't entirely make up for the complete lack of sleep for the previous few days. I decided to give myself at least one full day of rest so that I wasn't moving servers or running or working out.

This morning I got up and I ran 2.5 miles. I'm very happy with that new milestone. The goal is to hit 2.5 miles all week and then bring it up to 3 miles next week. That's where I'd like to be for the long term; 3 miles every morning.

I weighed myself this morning and the scale showed 188.5. I was very dissapointed since I was hoping to have continued to lose weight after running for 5 full days last week. I took a shower and dried off and once I did that I got on the scale just for the hell of it and was 187.0 WOOOHOOO!! I have lost another pound. :-D

I'm still the same on my measurements for stomach/waist; 36.5/36.5 so no change there. The next time I weigh in will be next Monday. I'm making sure I do not weigh in more than once a week so as to not stress myself out with the daily fluctuations in weight. I've seen weight go up or down by 1-3 pounds easily which is very frustrating when you are trying to be good and lose weight.

Well that's todays update. Also I'm happy to report that Dani met her goal of losing 2 pounds today. Congratulations Dani!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The Battle of the Bulge

** Disclaimer - the following post is not trying to be depressing, self-indulgent or self-pitying. I'm simply putting all of this out there in the hopes that writing it all out will help me understand it all and to continually give me the motivation to do what I need to do to get healthy. Plus it puts everything in perspective since I'm going to catalogue the process on my blog so you should get all the information on the table to start with. **

So the process of getting healthy has begun. I figure if I don't really fight this now, it'll get out of my control and at that point it'll be too hard to motivate myself to do what I need to do. I've seen what the likely path is in my father.

I've tried to get into the habit of working out over the last two years or so and every time it just seems to fall apart after a while. The best I did was before Merrily We Roll Along in February of '05. I think I got down to about 185 lbs and slimmed the stomach down. Since then its been slowly creeping back up.

This time I think I'll stick with it. I got to 194 lbs on the scale and seeing that strengthened my resolve. That is the most I've ever weighed in my life. BTW, I know I'm talking about weight and some of you who read this may look at me and say I look good, that I don't seem to lose weight or that you'd love to be my weight. I can understand and even empathize with that. We all need our goals and my goal is to get back to 170, which is about where my healthy target is. The primary goal of all of this is to get healthy. Part of that process is to create goals based on weight, hence I'll be talking about weight a bunch. If this upsets anyone, I'm sorry about that.

According the CDC's page on BMI (Body Mass Index), the rating for a man with a height of 5' 11" and and a weight of 194 lbs is a 27.1 BMI, which is within the 25-29.9 BMI range of "Overweight". 30+ BMI is considered "Obese" which is 214 lbs so I'm in no immediate danger of that. The "Normal" weight classification is a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 which translates to a weight of 132.36 to 178.158 lbs. My current goal is to get to a 24 BMI which is 172 lbs.

I also understand that there are plateaus during weight loss and that can be upsetting so on advice of serveral friends I also have a handy-dandy tailor's measuring tape. This way I can measure the tummy which is what upsets me more than anything else. When I weighed 194 I also had 40 inch gut and a 39 inch waist. The semi-amusing thing is that I was still fitting into my "32-inch" waistband pants. Gotta love the American marketplace. Rather than make people realize they are getting bigger overall, they simply increase the size of a "32-inch" waist so people won't feel bad about having to go a size up. My nice 32" pants actually measure in at 36".

The other thing that has pushed me towards all this is looking at myself in pictures. I can especially see the weight in my face. I used to have a dimple in my left cheek when I smiled; not there any more. I also see it in the fit of my clothes.

So here's the deal. I'm now getting up every weekday at 5am (even on days that I have off from work, too!) to go running and do some weight training with Dani. We are both there for each other to push each other and keep each other going. She's currently documenting her path to healthy living on her blog too (link to her blog "Yellow Chevy" in the upper right hand corner).

I am running 2 miles a day at this point. I figure another week or so and I'll bump it to 2.5 miles, then to 3 miles and probably plateau there. I'm doing weights a bit to build some muscle to help increase metabolism and the definition certainly won't be something I complain about.

I've been doing this and ramping up for about two weeks now. I'm currently at 188 lbs, BMI of 26.2, a 36.5 inch waist and a 36.5 inch stomach. That's a loss of 6 lbs, 0.9 on BMI, 3.5 inches of waist and 3 inches of stomach. The goal is healthy BMI of 24 with a weight of 172 and a nice flat stomach. With a healthy slow loss of 2 lbs per week that means that I should be able to make it to my target weight in 8 weeks by the time school starts August 19th. In addition to working out I will also be trying to watch what I eat, how often I do fast food, and how big my portion sizes are when I make food and eat out. I will indulge from time to time simply because if you have a craving, its better to just let yourself have a bit of a reward and then get back on track than to deny yourself until you break down and binge and lose all motivation to go back to healthy eating. I'm making sure to have a light breakfast every morning and a sensible lunch and dinner.

So that's the plan folks. Operation Stress Out and Buy The Condo is finished. Time to start Operation Be Healthy and Look Good. I'll post updates about the battle every monday which is weigh in/measuring day.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Red skies

So the thunderstorm this evening just came through. As it rolled in the sky was still blue and clear to the east and it was coming in from the west. The setting sun reflected off of the thunderclouds as they rolled in. As the storm got closer and closer overhead the entire area was covered in hues of blood red. It was especially eerie looking out into the cemetary as this happened. I swear it looked like the end of days. It was both beautiful and frightening.

Just my luck

So I brought home the halogen desk lamp that's been sitting in my office for almost 2 years now, ever since the bulb burnt out. I finally go to the store and get a new bulb. I put in the bulb, plugged it in and the thing just blew out the new bulb. I go to switch it back to off and the switch doesn't want stay switched back. I finally get it to click "off" and now it won't switch back on.

Great. I finally get around to having it work and now its totally broken. *sigh*

Monday, June 19, 2006

General Update

Well, not a whole lot of new things happening to report. Jon, my current roommate, leaves at the end of this month to start his new lease in the Boston area. Thanks for being a great roommate.

So I don't have much in the way of leads for new roommates which is worrying me a bit. Next month is going to be very tight. It's a combination of expenses that I don't normally have to budget for, setting my W4 exemption level from 1 back to zero, and my raise not kicking in until the end of July.

So what I did was after two years of having to pay taxes I resolved to never have to worry about that again. What I did is bump my claimed deduction down to zero which is where I've always had it with the exception of the last year and a half. I put it at 1 since I needed to have more cash in the bank earning interest for me for the condo. It did work but at the price of having to pay out this past April. I should be good next year with being at a zero for half the year plus the benefits of having a mortgage deduction. That refund will probably go towards a down payment on a new car. As I've mentioned in a previous post, the Audi is nearing the end of its life with me.

The raise is just an issue of it not kicking in until the first paycheck of the new fiscal year, which means my July paycheck which I will get July 31. Things will be a bit more comfortable once that kicks in, and hopefully I'll have a roommate by then so it will just end up being icing on the cake.

I've also realize the truth of the never-ending spending that comes with adult life. You no sooner reach a goal that you've been striving for over the course of 2-3 years and you are suddenly faced with new things you need to work towards.

I will need to get a new car soon. I really want to get a new dining room table and chairs. (I've decided after all to get the espresso stain. The light wood would just get washed out in the condo). I need to get a new computer. I know what some of you are thinking, "He doesn't really need to get a new PC, he only wants one." No, the sad fact is that my current PC is getting very sluggish for just web browsing and running office and all the other various applications that I run on a day to day basis. Combine this with the increased specifciations for Vista and I'm going to need to upgrade probably in the January time frame. I'll probably use part of my refund to buy it. I also need to get ceiling fans before the winter. At least if I have issues getting those I have a way to probably get them as a gift. Dad, ever so causually, mentioned that I should ask for ceiling fans for Christmas.

Of course all that above doesn't even get into all the things that I want to get, such as new towels for the bathroom(s), new TV and entertainment center, new surround speaker system, framing some of my photography for decoration, a fire safe for documents and valuables, a new bed (frame and mattress), a new bedroom furnature set, and the list goes on.

I'm also beginning the battle once again to lose some weight, or as my friend Dani mentioned I should phrase it, getting in shape. The thing is that I'm very dissatisfied with my personal appearance. I have a bit of a gut going on. Its something that various family members have mentioned for a few years now and its gotten the worst its ever been. Now I'm not looking for sympathy from anyone because I'm certainly not doing all that bad in the grand scheme of things. I just want to be able to take my shirt off at the beach and be happy with it. At any rate, I'm off to a good start and will hopefully be able to stick with it this time. Here's hoping!

Well, for someone who didn't have a lot to say I certainly took a long time to say it. I'll post more later, time for bed.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Party Time

Well I had a fantastic birthday/housewarming party on Friday night. To anyone I may have neglected to add to my invite list I do apologize. I'm forever being forgetful there. Try as I might I always seem to forget someone I should have on the list.

It was great to see Travis again. I haven't seen him in about a year and a half. His boyfriend was up to and he's a great guy. I can see exactly what Travis sees in him and I wish them both the best.

I made the faux pas of having the party be on the eve of Pride weekend so my dearest Patrick and a few others of the Boston area gays couldn't make it out due to conflicting prior arrangements, but I will do what I can to have them out some other time.

Since my request was that if anyone wanted to really get me anything to please get me stuff to stock the bar here's the list of what I got:
- Stoli Vodka
- Captain Morgan Private Stock (sooo very good - like vanilla)
- Three Olives Chocolate Vodka
- Jack Daniel Single Barrel
- Rosemont Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
- Italian Chianti Clasico Riserva

For the gifts, thank you very, very much. To everyone who came, thank you so much. It was such a great time to entertain you all.

For those who want to know when the next round is, I'll be having my annual BYOBBQ on July 3rd at 6pm. If you haven't yet gotten an evite, let me know and I'll add you to the list.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Give my regards to Broadway

Well, we didn't win but we had an incredible run for this show. 4 seperate performances of the life of the show is pretty a pretty good run for a WPI show. Each one was a limited one-night engagement; one in December, one in February, one in May and the final night in June in NYC.

I am very happy with my peformance and truly feel it was one of my better efforts.

As Susan is fond of saying, the best thing about theatre is the worst thing about theatre, you are always off to another project. As such, I now begin the process of studying for the role of Judge Turpin in the A term (September) production of Sweeney Todd as well as understudying for Sweeney.

I cannot wait to sink my teeth into a musical.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Curtain Call

Well, another performance has ended, and what a performance. I truly felt it was one of my best performances as well as the very best performance of this play ever. The energy was just there tonight. It was electric. Win or lose, I can be very proud of this performance.

After the performance I had a very lovely dinner with my Dad and Lisa. Fantastic filet mignon, wine, dessert and port. I’m going to need to do extra time on the treadmill for the next week now.

Tomorrow I come back home to Worcester.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Lots of Shiny

So as you can tell, I didn’t go to bed immediately after the last post. I ended up going to the Apple store on 5th Avenue with Sarah and Mike. I have to say it certainly was interesting. It’s still just a store, especially once you get down below then it’s just like any other boxy store. I’ll give Apple one thing though, it certainly knows how to do presentation and the above ground portion is definitely that; presentation.

Off to sleep in the city that doesn’t

Well, we made it down without too much traffic. We did it in just about four hours overall.

Once we got here we settled into our hotel rooms and waited for a bit before going to the Comedy Cellar to see some comics. There were a few good ones, such as Sherrod Small and several that were a waste of my time, notably Dave Attell. He just seemed like he was drunk or something and was a complete waste of time and energy.

At this point it’s time to go to bed so I can be ready to do tech tomorrow. We have tech at 1 pm. We then perform at about 7:30 or so and then we wait for the phone call that night to see if we got into the finals. Then we go home Saturday. It’s barely begun and it’s almost over.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

The Road Ahead

Well, I’m off to New York City in just a few hours. I’m going to pack my bags and head down to the Great White Way for the second year in a row.

The preview performance was last night and it was incredible. Every time we perform this show it gets better. Who knew that a show written, rehearsed and performed under the effects of sleep deprivation and caffeine highs in a 22 hour period would end up 2 blocks off of Broadway at the annual Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival?

Well I have to finish packing and running errands, so I’m signing off and I’ll post again when I can.