Internet, sweet internet!

Just got my internet hooked up at my house so instead of heading back to work I am writing a blog post. One thing I didn't think about when buying a country house was the internet situation. We aren't all that far from town so I was thinking that I would just call up Time Warner or someone else and have them hook us up. Well even if they served the people right across the street they probably wouldn't serve us since we are over 300 yards off the road. We wouldn't generate them enough income to run that wire for one house. I checked out mobile hotspots from verizon and sprint and they got good reviews but they capped the amount of data and charged lots of money once you went over. Then a friendly coworker pointed out Amplex, they are for rural northwest Ohio.  As long as you have a good line of site to one of their towers you are golden.  I guess I have a great line of site and the network admin uses the same tower.  I doubt that tower will have to many problems, and any that they do arise on that end they will be fixed promptly.  My coworker who has the same service has told me their customer service is excellent so all problems will probably be fixed quickly anyway.  It is still nice to know that the folks use the same service so they will want the best for themselves.
I will probably be surfing late tonight to catch up on everything.  Maybe I will blog extra too.

I finally know someone

I know someone that tried out for one of those talent shows. The guy plays with a college roommate of mine and I have seen them play a few time and partied with them a few more times.  Here is a promo trailer where he is flashed up there for about a second at 15 seconds in shortly after they say "We are here to find a superstar." That is his gravelly voice singing at that point.

This is the guy:

His name is Josh Krajcik, pronounced like magic but with a Kr instead of m.  He is a great singer and guitarist.  They did well in a battle of the bands contest in Cleveland a couple years ago and one of the judges compared him to a new Stevie Ray Vaughan, article here.  Of the bands my roommate played with (that I heard) this is the one that I thought would have the best chance of making it.  They made a couple CDs I enjoy them both, they are on Amazon and iTunes. 

The internet rumors say that he made the top 32 on the show.  I wasn't planning on watching but I will be now, and voting.  I do hope he does well.

I survived

I also enjoyed it.  Sure there were a few periods where I asked myself why I decided this would be fun.  It didn't take long after the finish line for me to be happy that I did do it.  Here is me jumping over the flames. It is amazing the vertical you get when flames are involved.

Next is me crossing the finish line.  These pictures are only about a hundred yards apart and that is the same t-shirt.  There was a big mud pit that I had to get down and dirty in.  My feet felt like lead bricks due to fatigue and lots of mud and water.

The best part about finishing was the free beer that I was about to drink!

They have already said they are coming back next year, I guess I better keep the training up.

Ready to become a Warrior

At least as ready as I will be for the Warrior Dash this Sunday.  For some odd reason I have decided to subject myself to some torture and run the Warrior Dash.  I am going to be good and the beer drinking after the Dash, I have been training for that one for years and never quit.  The running part on the other hand I don't know about.  I spent many years not running, unless I had to beat someone to the fridge for the last beer.
The last time I ran in a organized event was in college, the first group of years in school, when I ran in the Beta500.  It was a relay race that you had to push a cart that a person rode on and steered.  It was a big deal to a lot of fraternities and sororities, besides mine, so we decided to try and make some waves.  We put together a team and trained, sprints, distance running, handing off the cart.  We had to borrow a cart when most of the other groups had their own. We took third and surprised a bunch of people.  Before that event I ran the "Fat Mans Relay" in Track and Field in High School.  The relay was all the discus and shot putters running the 4X100.  It didn't really count for anything but pride for the big guys.  One team was promised free pizza for a victory, they didn't get it our "fat men" weren't so fat.
So when my friend Bob (friend status may change mid-race) said, "Are you interested?"  Why wouldn't I say yes?  I have been exercising and getting fit anyway. Umm... yeah, getting fit, and running 3.1 miles in the July heat over and under obstacles aren't the same thing.  I must have been delusional thinking it would be fun.
I will probably get tricked into doing the September 10th one also, as long as they wait for the memory and pain to fade.

Remember that one post?

You know that one post from way back in the day.  Yeah the last one that I made as a matter of fact.

Well in that one I talked about our rain barrel and it was full and we didn't have anything to water.  Well it is still full and it probably has spent more time overflowing than it has been used to water stuff.  It overflows even faster now that I cleaned the gutters too.   I even had to just drain it into the street one day.  We have had soooooooo much rain it is crazy!  I have used it on the inside plants and the one outside that is under the porch roof but they don't need enough water to keep up with the rain.  Little b has had fun filling a bowl and dumping it causing a "big mess" in on the back patio but even he gets bored with that well before it is empty.  Maybe I should filter it and bottle it and sell it at the Quik E Mart, I am sure it will sell faster than the rain can keep up with.

I have a rain barrel

We just diverted our rain spout to drain into one of these fancy rain barrels.  Our doesn't have the foliage in it yet, it isn't quite the growing season yet.  Our drain was linked into the sewer system and the city sewer project made us unhook it, and a rain barrel is the option we decided to go with.  We figured we would try to be environmentally friendly little hippy types and use the rain to water our plants.  Well we have a full barrel and no plants to water yet.  Once we plant some grass we should be set.

New Snack!

We went out grocery shopping while we were a little hungry, and that may have been a mistake.  We ended up with a bunch of snack foods.  The good part of this is I found this delicious snack that I had never heard of.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Bugles.  I love them.  I am not eating anything else ever again.

I am so famous!

A picture of mine has been used on a local businesses Facebook page, that makes me famous right?  They have a whole 623 friends that can see it.

Yep that is me with a gigantic burrito, it was delicious and I ate the WHOLE thing.  After I posted the picture and tagged the burrito as the restaurant they informed me that they have one that is bigger with over three pounds of food in it.  I may have to try it, it will be very Man vs. Food like.  I wonder if I can get my picture on some sort of Wall of Fame after I chow it all.  I would love to win a t-shirt since I am obsessed with them.

The Restaurant is Ok Patron Fajita Bar, it is on Helen Dr off of Rt. 20 in Perrysburg behind Bob Evans across from Frickers.  During the week they have a lunch buffet that is super delicious.  They also have a menu which the only thing I have tried off of that is the Burrito Sancho which was huge and delicious.  Next will be the Burrazo!

I need a new TV

I am embarrassed of my TV.  Everyone in the world has upgraded to a new LCD/LED/Plasma TV but me.  

My TV is way bigger than in needs to be while only having a 27 inch screen.
I got made fun of recently for having a remote that is more expensive than my TV.  We got the remote for free but the suggested price is higher than our TV cost for sure.
Now I don't need one quite as big as the one pictured above, but I would like to step it up to 40 or 42 inch. Maybe before March Madness.  The last two years I have been telling myself that I would get one before the football season, but that didn't happen maybe picking a new sport will help it along.

YAHTZEE!

I have been on a big yahtzee playing kick.

One of these guys has resided in my restroom for a while now, gotta have something to do in there.  I have been playing it while brushing my teeth recently.  The good is that I have to brush longer than normal. The bad is I am probably still missing spots since I am only partially paying attention to the brushing.  

I recently got to play the real dice game version when my bro and sis-in-law were visiting.  That is always fun.  There is a little different strategy when you are playing against people than when you are playing electronic.  On electronic you are always trying to get the new high score, at least I am.  Against peeps you are just trying to beat them so you might not push the envelope as much.

I think I need to get a version on my phone so I can play it everywhere.

Use it or lose it!

I enjoy occasionally flexing my brain muscles and doing puzzles.  One of my favorite puzzles is the sudoku.  I don't know why this puzzle was the one I enjoyed over all the others.  I am not the only one I guess as they are everywhere nowadays.  We went to the mall to pick up a calendar for the house and I was going to get a cool wall one for work, but then I saw the page a day Sudoku.  I had to get one.  I am glad I did.  I have at least one to do a day.  The weekends are so easy I do them both in a few minutes then they get more difficult as the week goes on.  I still have Friday January 7th at home un-finished, I need to look at it again it will probably be easy to see after a break.

Ahh peanut butter cup heaven!

This is every size of Resse's Peanut butter cup I know of.  You may have seen me eat the jumbo (here).  Well shortly after A. bought me the biggest one I have ever seen she bought the mini the smallest I have ever seen.  So I went and collected the rest, miniature, regular, big cup.  I lined them all up took a couple pics, then me and the little guy split them except for the super big one we saved that for a bit.  Miniature and original I like frozen.  Big cup I like refrigerated. The other two I don't know I have only had those at room temp, and I don't see myself getting the super duper one anytime soon to try out different temps.
MMMMMMMmmmmm!!!!!

This Thing Is Awesome!

I got this super sweet Christmas present, well I didn't, we did, as in my family.  I think I am going to claim it as mine.  It was once a Harley Davidson tire now it is an awesome yard decorating Buffalo Bills dragon.  Then to top it off I called it awesome and my little man said awesome, for the first time, it was funny.

Hello 2011!

The holidays have passed and it is now back to the daily grind.  I definitely enjoyed the couple weeks I had off of work.  Lots of time with the family.  Mom came for Christmas, youngest Brother and his family came for the new year kickoff. I am not really excited about getting the little man back into the work/child care routine again.  This morning wasn't bad but I am not anticipating a good night, lots of grumpiness.  Well it was fun while it lasted.

This year I have decided to make a resolution.  I don't need to make a weight loss one since 2010 was so good for that.  I am going to continue working out and eating well to stay healthy. No reason to put all the weight back on, that would just be silly.  My resolution is for the mind, I am going to read more books.  Not anything deep and intellectual just fantasy and fiction novels.  It may sound silly but I haven't been reading that much since little b was born and I want to get back into it.

Back in grade school I didn't like reading that much until my dad gave me the fantasy series The Belgariad by David Eddings after that I was hooked to the fantasy world.  I would stay up late at night reading by the light of my night stand, thinking one more chapter before I go to sleep.  If I read actual school books as much as I read fantasy I would have probably been a honor student, but who wants to read that crap?  I have since read many different genres and liked many of the books I have read, but I always comeback to the fantasy and science fiction.

I have been reading one particular series for two decades now, The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, the 13th book just came out last November.  The series did hit a huge bump in the road when Jordan got seriously ill and passed away, but while he was ill he took notes and talked to his wife about how he wanted to end the series. His family picked someone to finish the series in his vision.  Brandon Sanderson was chosen, after he was picked I read his novels and thought the pick was good.  The first of the three Sanderson is writing to finish the series was great, and I am looking forward to the next two.

A couple summers ago I bought a box of books at a garage sale.  About forty-six books for under twenty bucks.  I have only read a few of them so far.  For some reason I have read more that I bought since then than books from that box.  This year my resolution is to make a dent in that box of books, and a few other books on my shelf that I own but have not read yet.  Little b's love for his Elmo books and Llama books is awesome and I want to read some of mine too.  Reading clears the mind and is relaxing, I love it.

Joining the Fad

I am joining  up with the kids.  I got my own stash of silly bandz.  I couldn't resist grabbing these fun bandz back in September at the Wing Fest in Buffalo.  They were specially made for the festival, obviously.  That is, counter-clockwise, a buffalo (really it is a bison), BFLO, a celery stick, and a chicken wing (the flat 2 bone kind), I forgot to pose the drumstick wing for the pic and didn't realize until I uploaded it.  These aren't the real official Silly Bandz owned right here in T-Town Ohio, but they are fun and a piece of my home.  I don't know what I am going to do with them, I'm not going to be wearing them around on my wrist.   I just have them for fun.  I also got some Buffalo Bills logo bands while I was there.  I am a sucker for some things, and I am kind of lame, but I like to be fun.

I am a bad Boy Scout today

I did all the Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting growing up.  When you get to a certain age in they introduce pocket knifes to you. They teach you a whole bunch of rules to follow that help keep you safe from injury.  In Boy Scouts they give  you the Totin' Chip Card after you learn it all.  Well I broke one of the rules today.  I cut toward myself.  You aren't supposed to do that in case the knife slips and you cut yourself.  Well I cut toward myself and slipped and cut myself.  I guess I will get my Totin' Chip taken from me now.  It wasn't a bad cut, but that doesn't matter, it was still a cut that was caused by not following the rules.  I guess I won't be able to carry my trusty Swiss Army knife now.  I will be lost with out it.  It is my fault though.

We are addicts!

That is the coffee at my office.  There are five of us that drink the coffee.  We might have a problem.
Let me tell you our stock at the moment, from left to right.  1.) Starbucks Espresso Roast 2.) Starbucks Cinnamon 3.) Jack Daniels Tennessee Mountain Blend 4.)  Bulk coffee from the Anderson's - Northwest Dark Roast 5.)  Community Coffee Dark Roast 6.) Meijer Gold Dark Roast (in the canister) 7.) Hazelnut Flavored (in ziploc), that one was brought in to cover a flavor of one we didn't like that much before we had the stock we have now.

Needless to say we like to drink the coffee in my office.

Milestone!

Well I have lost a total of fifty pounds.  Over a year ago I was at 286 lbs and decided I should lose some of it.  I start working out and being more active.  Then in July of this year my friends and wife decided that we should have a "Biggest Loser" competition starting in August, not anything officially tied to the TV show just amongst ourselves.  I decided  it was time to buckle down and go for it.  I wanted to be serious so I cut out a ton of sugar, cut portions down to  probably what should be normal, stopped late night eating.  I also kicked up my working out.  It has been working I have steadily been losing the weight.  That is the way they want you to do it, slow and steady.  I know it has been working.  This weekend I went to Gram's to visit the family and they all noticed it. My Gram even said I shouldn't loose anymore.  That is ridiculous, I am continuing on my course.  I recently started doing the P90X workouts, although I am sticking with my diet.  The workouts have me working and hour plus a day and they are tough, I think the Yoga X had me sweating the most and the Plyometrics X had me the sorest so far.  I didn't do all of them yet because of the holiday weekend but I will.  Something that helped me stay on course was keeping track of my weight weekly on a spread sheet for the last 4 months.



One week I gained and I didn't like it, so back on track I was.  The official competition is over after Christmas, we will see where I end up then.

I am the yeti

My wife was doing some shopping and she came across this cute little fellow.

It is a Nepalese Yeti Christmas Ornament.  I have been called "Yeti" for a while now by a few of my friends.  I believe it all started when I dressed up as a yeti danced around the bar while my roommates band played a song called yeti.  It was quite fun.  Since then it has been a nickname that i have answered too.  For those of you that don't know, a yeti is like big foot or sasquatch but from the Himalayan Mountains, his white fur is to help him blend in with the snow.  The only resemblance I have to a yeti, or what a yeti is believed to look like since they are folkloric, would be my height.  I don't have super white hair, don't even have much hair.  I guess that is was my fault for excepting the task of dancing in costume at the bar.  I don't mind I have been called worse.

Well anyway I would like to thank my wife for buying him for me.

Thanks.

My Favorite!

I know I am dieting but my wife knows my favoritest candy is the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.  We also both love goofy novelty items, so when she was at the store she had to buy me a pack of these:

You might say, "what makes this a novelty?" Well if you look at the side closely you may notice that it says 2 half pound cups.  That is right one WHOLE pound of Reese's Peanut Cup.  Here is a picture next to my Blackberry:

It is one giant.  Next a picture in the hand.

And me devouring it.

It was delicious!