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Last Change: 02 Aug 2006

Photography
I've recently gotten a Flickr account. I'm going to try my hand at having some of my photography viewed by the public. Guess I'm flexing my exhibitionist muscle, so feed me Seymore!
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Books The Song of Ice and Fire A series from George R. R. Martin Publishers probably already know this, and I'm sure I admit being one of the targeted masses by admitting this, but I usually pick up books only after I have been referred to them by a friend. What closer friend do you have than your spouse? Laura found out about this series of books from a friend at work who is into fantasy and sci-fi like we are. I was reading alot of non-fiction at the time, so I thought it was about time that I take a break and check out some fiction. While this series would make an R rated movie, and I wouldn't recommend it for reading by anyone who couldn't go to one, I do recommend it heartily for any adult that thinks they might enjoy a book of this genre. I'm not a terribly fast reader, but these books keep you engrossed enough to take them in large pieces, which for someone like me makes for some late-night, eye-burning reading sessions. There is your basic fantasy realm with knights, maidens, castles, and melee combat as a backdrop, but its the foreground of these novels that make them so intriguing. Written by George R. R. Martin, the dialog and the characters are so rich that you almost miss the descriptions of the environments. Unlike other fantasy authors I have read, Martin avoids getting into tedious detail about the geology and architectural history of the realm and deals more directly with the psychology and inter-personal relationships between the characters. The characters are distinctly written and at times are incredibly clever and funny in believable and endearing ways. Generally everyone in the novels has an agenda, and as the privilaged observer of all this activity, we get to see all of them at work from the perspectives of the characters themselves and those they interact with. Single characters become several as we see them from the perspectives of others. Without giving away too much of the action, the story begins right after a coup has taken the throne away from a family who has had it for generations. The last "mad" king was disliked by generally everyone and his demise was met with celebration and quite a bit of ambition. The throne being so recently taken, its also considered to be "lightly held" and a game starts up that tosses crowns around like a bad game of "hot potato." The titles should give you some indication where the story is going: A Game of Thrones A Clash of Kings A Storm of Swords A Feast for Crows He (Martin) even has the rest of the books named in the 7-book series. But you'll have to ask him if you want to know what they are. Book 5 is due to be finished before the end of the year, and I will be one of the first ones in line to pick it up when it does come out. I finished book 4 right after I got back from Ireland and I'm eager to get more of the story before I forget all the back story. It would take me weeks to reread these to get back up to speed. I do know that, like software, literature only tends to get better the longer you let the author work on it, so on the minuscule chance that anyone who know G. R. R. Martin reads this, let him know that he can take his time. I'm for quality. Do it the way you want to do it man, it only gets published once. Pick up A Game of Thrones and take a visit to the realm of Westeros. You'll be glad you did.

Games

Puzzle Pirates

There are real upsides to getting out of college. I keep repeating that to myself hoping one day to believe it. It certainly isn't reflected in my gaming time. I used to play lots of games and be able to talk about them with friends. There was even a time when I would come straight home from work to get online and game. Those days seem to be getting fewer and fewer. I hazard to think of what might happen when children come along. Ah well...such is life I suppose.

But take heart! I haven't given up on gaming entirely. Although for quite a while there I had. Laura reminded me that there is still time in life to play, and she introduced me to a great little game called Puzzle Pirates. Its a java-based massively multiplayer game, but unlike most MMOs it has an option to play subscription free. Which is primo for time restricted people like me. It also seems to be completely free of the "uber player" attitude that has been so pervasive in every other MMO I've tried. Most of these people are adults with jobs (and half female!) who can't spend all their time online, so they hop on every once in a while to pillage, sword fight, and play drinking games. Most of the game is spent solving puzzles, so its a workout for the brain , not just a workout for the carpal tunnels.

My trade of choice is distilling. After all, pirates need rum. I'm also very interested in what seems to be a completely market-based economy that requires goods to be moved (or pirated) between islands to keep it rolling. Laura is working on getting us a ship to take our goods around, and I'm getting pretty good at sailing too! On Fridays and Sundays in-game poker is free and you gamble for in-game currency against other players! The one catch on the servers that don't require a monthly subscription, is that you make micropayments to aquire game objects. For instance, when I bought my new sword, it cost 1,600 pieces of eight and 3 doubloons. A piece of eight (poe) is the regular currency of the game, but on the non- subscription servers you have doubloons to pay as well. Doubloons cost $0.25 each, with a slight discount if you buy them in bulk.

I'm having quite a bit of fun and its a game that you can pick back up after a while off and still be doing well. So I think it has some staying power in this hectic life of mine. Its also something Laura and I can have fun at together, which is a major plus for any form of entertainment. If you would like to join us, we're on the Sage ocean. My pirate's name is "Wiley." How original eh? Download the client at Puzzle Pirates.com.

Oh look, A rant!

I'm half the man I used to be.

This is an accomplishment that I have literally had "under my belt" for a little while, but I was cautious about talking about it until I was sure it was going to be relatively permanent. I can only hope I'm right, but I think its high time I talk about it.

For those of you who knew me back in high school, "big" is probably one of the several words that might come to mind if you were asked to describe me. Well, I've been working on that. Since it looks like results are leveling off, I think its time I mark a milestone. A few months ago, I ticked off the hundred pound mark on my overall weightloss plan. Never before willing to reveal my weight due to embarassment, I am comfortable now telling the world that when I graduated high school I tipped the scales at 280 lbs. Which isn't so big if you're 6' 11" tall, I know, but when you're 5' 7" that's alot of weight. Trust me, I carried it around. That's alot of weight.

After I got to college and started making my own food and walking everywhere quite a bit of it came off. I joke with my friends that I left home and mom's great cooking and went to college and started eating fast food all the time and dropped 45 lbs. That's not entirely true, I had some health-conscious roommates and food is expensive when you're on a college budget, so being broke and physically active helped a great deal.

It wasn't until after I was married and working for a couple of years before I finally got the rest of it off. A coworker of mine, Dave started on Weight Watchers while we worked in the same office (we've both since moved on from there). He was the only guy there and feeling quite weird in meetings full of women, so he asked me if I would go on it with him so he wouldn't be the only guy. While I never went to the meetings, he's a competitive guy like I am, so we started up a contest losing weight. He had gained quite a bit while his wife was pregnant and I was still carrying around too much, even through college. So over the course of several months I got down to a personal goal of mine. As I write this, I'm now at 180 lbs.

So you may be thinking "why do I care?" Or "Hey, good for you." But if you're thinking either of those, then I didn't put this up for you. I want to encourage anyone else who may read this that it is possible. 100 lbs isn't an unreachable goal. I'm about to give you the best piece of advice that took me all of that time to learn--it can never be instant. I lost all of the weight over the course of five years. Its true that I wasn't losing the whole time, I did spend over a year actively losing weight though. Its a long game of small victories. You will never lose twenty pounds in a week, or in a month for that matter. If you have, it will come back. You can dehydrate yourself and make it look really good on the scale, but it comes back on as soon as you resume normal eating habits.

Bear in mind that this doesn't make me some super hero, or weight loss guru, but I want to put my story up so if someone else is looking for some ideas, or at least some inspiration that it is indeed possible, it is. You can do it. I needed someone to tell me that, and in the case of my brother (who has lost 80 lbs) and Dave, I actually had to have it shown to me. But thanks to them, and a good program Weight Watchers has put together, I've done it. Dave and I are actually now training up for my first 5K run, and I'm really excited about it.

So, no more excuses, you can do it. Oh, and like any good weight loss post, I'm sure you want the old before and after shots. But bear in mind, I'm not trying to sell you anything, there's no gimmick or pitch to this. If you want to lose weight, eat less and exercise more. That's the magic formula. Find a routine you're comfortable with, and stick with it. Always have a friend to do it with you, you can help one another.

If you would like a more "official" approach to it, check out this thread over at the Men's Health forums. This stuff works if you're a woman too, so don't be intimidated or put off by the name of the magazine.

So here are the pictures: