Once again it is that wonderful time. The Sunday Sludge. Late one today, but it is Mother's Day and I was off with Lara spending some time with her family. Without further ado, I present this weeks links:
Badass Things You Can Learn in a Week Not all winners, but overall a somewhat decent list, if you define badass as action movie star.
Timmy O'Riley Some may say it's an advertisement for Thinkgeek, and while that may be true it is also awesome.
Speaks for Itself.
Only in America Foods that could only have been invented in America.
Top of the Food Chain A short informative story about a man at the top of the food chain.
See you all again next week for another installment of the Sludge.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Weekly Weigh-in
It's Sunday, and that means it's time for my weekly weigh-in. This week was tough, I had a number of times when I knew I ate more than I probably should have. But somehow it seems I've still managed to stay pretty well on track. The Wii Fit has been acting strange lately, so I'm starting to feel like I may need to spring for a separate scale that feels a little more trustworthy, so that's probably gonna happen this week.
Also coming up is the end of the semester which means a huge change of my schedule and hopefully more time for getting some actual dedicated exercise into my daily life. I've been tossing around the idea of paying for the Rec Center on campus so that I can use their pool, but I'm not sure I feel like it's worth the hundred dollars they want for it. So, I'm totally open to suggestions of places I can find a pool for cheaper than that.
Anyway, now it's time for the actual numbers. According to the scale I'm down 2 pounds from last week, leaving me at 262.1. Only 7.5 pounds to go before I hit my first checkpoint. Making steady progress at least. Gonna try this next week to force myself to eat better, something I've said a lot and not been very good about.
Also coming up is the end of the semester which means a huge change of my schedule and hopefully more time for getting some actual dedicated exercise into my daily life. I've been tossing around the idea of paying for the Rec Center on campus so that I can use their pool, but I'm not sure I feel like it's worth the hundred dollars they want for it. So, I'm totally open to suggestions of places I can find a pool for cheaper than that.
Anyway, now it's time for the actual numbers. According to the scale I'm down 2 pounds from last week, leaving me at 262.1. Only 7.5 pounds to go before I hit my first checkpoint. Making steady progress at least. Gonna try this next week to force myself to eat better, something I've said a lot and not been very good about.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Wine Reviews
Today I'm going to post two wine reviews that I've had waiting to go up for a while. I've still got two more waiting to go up, and I'm hoping those will make it up sometime next week or so. I've been sitting on these quite a while waiting to have the time to get them posted, and now it's that time. Hope you enjoy.
Review: The first wine is a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Steven Bannus of Sonoma California, the bottle identifies the appellation as the Russian River Valley. The first thing that struck me when I went into the first glass was the smell, hints of apple, honey, and apricot. The taste also came off with hints of the apple flavor, and an almost flowery flavor. It became a little sharper in taste as it warmed up, but was very well balanced and remained drinkable even as it warmed.
Price: Normally it's priced at $14 a bottle, but I picked it up during a 'buy one get one for a nickel' sale so it worked out to about half that.
Rating: 9/10 The wine was excellent, well worth the $7 I paid for it and worth the normal $14 as well. It was good enough I'm going to strongly consider keeping some Sauvignon Blanc around in addition to the Riesling that I normally keep around.
Review: The second wine on the list is the Firehose Gewürztraminer. The first time we opened it, it was bitter and practically undrinkable. We closed it up and put it back in the cellar for a month, nearly two, and when we tried it again it was much more palatable. While I will say I was disappointed by the first impression, I plan to give it a second chance to make sure it wasn't just too young the first time around, or otherwise just a bad bottle.
Price: Average retail is around $10-12, and that is about what I recall paying for it, though I no longer have the receipt or the records to verify that.
Rating: 6/10 As I said, I don't really feel this bottle can be considered representative, it's the only Gewürz I've yet had, so take this rating with a grain of salt. When I have had a chance to make a second assessment to determine if this was just an off bottle I'll make sure to post the results.
Review: The first wine is a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Steven Bannus of Sonoma California, the bottle identifies the appellation as the Russian River Valley. The first thing that struck me when I went into the first glass was the smell, hints of apple, honey, and apricot. The taste also came off with hints of the apple flavor, and an almost flowery flavor. It became a little sharper in taste as it warmed up, but was very well balanced and remained drinkable even as it warmed.Price: Normally it's priced at $14 a bottle, but I picked it up during a 'buy one get one for a nickel' sale so it worked out to about half that.
Rating: 9/10 The wine was excellent, well worth the $7 I paid for it and worth the normal $14 as well. It was good enough I'm going to strongly consider keeping some Sauvignon Blanc around in addition to the Riesling that I normally keep around.
Review: The second wine on the list is the Firehose Gewürztraminer. The first time we opened it, it was bitter and practically undrinkable. We closed it up and put it back in the cellar for a month, nearly two, and when we tried it again it was much more palatable. While I will say I was disappointed by the first impression, I plan to give it a second chance to make sure it wasn't just too young the first time around, or otherwise just a bad bottle.Price: Average retail is around $10-12, and that is about what I recall paying for it, though I no longer have the receipt or the records to verify that.
Rating: 6/10 As I said, I don't really feel this bottle can be considered representative, it's the only Gewürz I've yet had, so take this rating with a grain of salt. When I have had a chance to make a second assessment to determine if this was just an off bottle I'll make sure to post the results.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Sunday Sludge the 6th
Alright, after today's more serious post it's now time for a more humorous post. It's once again time for a link dump. It's been a while since I've done one of these so some of the links in my dump folder are probably a little old, and you may have seen them already. If so, feel free to send me better links to share with everyone next time.
On the Origin of Circuits - A story about how a circuit that could learn taught itself to do amazing things.
Gaping Plotholes - An article from Cracked about movies.
Culinary Kurios - A strange story of stranger food.
Fusion Reactor - A story of a homemade fusion reactor.
Built a Time Machine - Watch out for the plutonium.
And there you have another Sunday of Links. See you next time.
On the Origin of Circuits - A story about how a circuit that could learn taught itself to do amazing things.
Gaping Plotholes - An article from Cracked about movies.
Culinary Kurios - A strange story of stranger food.
Fusion Reactor - A story of a homemade fusion reactor.
Built a Time Machine - Watch out for the plutonium.
And there you have another Sunday of Links. See you next time.
Hopefully the Start of a New Series
Hello to my few readers. Today I am going to start a new series. I can't promise I'll actually stick to this, but I'm gonna do my best to try. Every week or so I'm just gonna show up here, and post my current weight. I'm not really sure why I've decided to post that here, but hey let's run with it. For those of you who don't know me all that well, I'm a pretty large guy. I've been trying to lose weight this year, and I've done pretty well as I'm down 19 pounds from the start of the year. But recently my progress has gotten rather disappointing, with losses dropping to nearly none and sometimes even gaining weight back.
I'm hoping that by posting here I help keep myself a little bit more accountable, as now more people will have the ability to directly see how much weight I'm losing/gaining. Posts won't happen more than once per week, and may not happen that often, but I'll probably drop in every now and then at least to mention the numbers. Currently, I'm at 264.1 down from 283. My next major milestone is ~9 pounds away at 254.7 which will mean I've lost 10% of my starting weight. Until next time, eat what's good.
I'm hoping that by posting here I help keep myself a little bit more accountable, as now more people will have the ability to directly see how much weight I'm losing/gaining. Posts won't happen more than once per week, and may not happen that often, but I'll probably drop in every now and then at least to mention the numbers. Currently, I'm at 264.1 down from 283. My next major milestone is ~9 pounds away at 254.7 which will mean I've lost 10% of my starting weight. Until next time, eat what's good.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Ruminations at the start of a year.
I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing aren't I? Haven't even been keeping up with the one scheduled thing I try to do here. I'll do my best to try and post at least one Link Dump a month, and other stuff as I have the time. I've got the majority of 2-3 posts already worked out, just have to actually make them.
Anyway, a little meat for the post shall we?
Just got back to school from Winter break. Break was great, always nice to spend time with the family and not having school or work to get back to. I would have loved to have more time off, but I'm also somewhat glad to be back because now I get to spend time with my "other family" here. Over break I was the best man in a friends wedding, congratulations on that by the way if you read this. Lara and I also started getting serious about planning ours, which involved some work on a guest list, a day trip to Sedona to scout out some possibilities of getting married up there, and a trip to a big wedding expo in Phoenix just yesterday. It's a very interesting experience trying to plan something like this, like nothing of done before and probably not very much like anything I'll ever plan in the future. That's what's been up with my life recently, oh and actually graduating from school in May.
As I said, hoping to post at least once or twice a month, but I really can't make promises about this cause I'm forgetful, and have little idea what my schedule for the semester will hold. So, until the next time I'm here, enjoy yourself.
Anyway, a little meat for the post shall we?
Just got back to school from Winter break. Break was great, always nice to spend time with the family and not having school or work to get back to. I would have loved to have more time off, but I'm also somewhat glad to be back because now I get to spend time with my "other family" here. Over break I was the best man in a friends wedding, congratulations on that by the way if you read this. Lara and I also started getting serious about planning ours, which involved some work on a guest list, a day trip to Sedona to scout out some possibilities of getting married up there, and a trip to a big wedding expo in Phoenix just yesterday. It's a very interesting experience trying to plan something like this, like nothing of done before and probably not very much like anything I'll ever plan in the future. That's what's been up with my life recently, oh and actually graduating from school in May.
As I said, hoping to post at least once or twice a month, but I really can't make promises about this cause I'm forgetful, and have little idea what my schedule for the semester will hold. So, until the next time I'm here, enjoy yourself.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Sunday Link Dump the 5th
Sorry for the disappearance, life gets crazy sometimes and finals are usually one of those times. But, I return now with a new set of links, and promise of some wine reviews by the end of the month, and maybe a recipe too.
Berlin Picture Gallery - A gallery of images of the Berlin wall, before, during, and after the fall
College Band - Here at the end of football season I'll post this video of the band from Penn State doing their stuff
Documentary - A Video Documentary about the Beatles, or so they think
Electricity - Story via Cracked about things that you could, but really shouldn't, do with electricity
Twitter Fun - And finally some things which are probably not a good idea to tweet
This has been another dump from the internet, hope you all enjoy.
Berlin Picture Gallery - A gallery of images of the Berlin wall, before, during, and after the fall
College Band - Here at the end of football season I'll post this video of the band from Penn State doing their stuff
Documentary - A Video Documentary about the Beatles, or so they think
Electricity - Story via Cracked about things that you could, but really shouldn't, do with electricity
Twitter Fun - And finally some things which are probably not a good idea to tweet
This has been another dump from the internet, hope you all enjoy.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday Link Dump the 4th
Sunday morning means another link dump. Got 5 links for you today, so without much fluff here you are.
Cool Math Teacher A video of a teacher's Halloween activities in his class.
Tangerine An amusing mash-up video of some lines from Dark Knight.
15 of the Worst Products in the World The title there really says all I feel it needs to, thanks to Raf for this one.
Poker Face A dramatic reading of the song by Lady Gaga
A Costume A wonderful costume straight from Imperial R&D.
Here's hoping I can get a few more posts going on than I have been. Either way, I'll be back next Sunday with more links.
Cool Math Teacher A video of a teacher's Halloween activities in his class.
Tangerine An amusing mash-up video of some lines from Dark Knight.
15 of the Worst Products in the World The title there really says all I feel it needs to, thanks to Raf for this one.
Poker Face A dramatic reading of the song by Lady Gaga
A Costume A wonderful costume straight from Imperial R&D.
Here's hoping I can get a few more posts going on than I have been. Either way, I'll be back next Sunday with more links.
A Random Crazy Idea
As most likely all the people who will read this via my facebook, and almost certainly the few who read this via my blog, know, I'm getting married. In case you didn't already know, the likely date is to be next August. Lara doesn't particularly like to fly, and we were both interested in going to the family reunion being held the end of next August in Nova Scotia, so we hit upon the idea of driving. It would be a long trip, but we could use it as an excuse to see a lot of cool things and visit people neither of us sees often.
Why am I telling you this? I've never been to many of the places we'd be driving through, and you might have. As a result you may have useful insight into things that are fun to do. If you do, feel free to post a comment. A Google map of the currently planned route can be found here. And at the bottom of this post I'll drop a list, in order, of the current states/provinces that the route would take us through. In addition to fun things to see, suggestions of places to stay and eat are more than welcome. Those of you who are friends with Lara on her facebook have possibly seen her note about this, so don't feel compelled to post here too.
Italicized states are those that are close to the planned path and as a result we'd probably pass through if we can just to say we did (I'm a completionist like that, have to hit all the states someday :P) Stuff in parenthesis are places we'd likely visit, usually because one of us has family there. We've been tossing around a few alterations to the map, like going through Missouri and Kansas instead of Iowa and Nebraska, but this is what we're looking at right now at least.
So feel free to comment with ideas, telling me I'm crazy, or just whatever.
U.S.
New Mexico
Texas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia (Atlanta)
South Carolina (Greenville)
North Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Maryland
Washington, D.C.
Pennsylvania
Delaware
New Jersey
New York
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
Canada
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia (probably visiting Prince Edward Island, and Fort Halifax)
New Brunswick
Quebec
Ontario
U.S.
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois (Chicago)
Iowa
Nebraska
Colorado (Denver)
Wyoming
Utah
Nevada
California
Arizona
Why am I telling you this? I've never been to many of the places we'd be driving through, and you might have. As a result you may have useful insight into things that are fun to do. If you do, feel free to post a comment. A Google map of the currently planned route can be found here. And at the bottom of this post I'll drop a list, in order, of the current states/provinces that the route would take us through. In addition to fun things to see, suggestions of places to stay and eat are more than welcome. Those of you who are friends with Lara on her facebook have possibly seen her note about this, so don't feel compelled to post here too.
Italicized states are those that are close to the planned path and as a result we'd probably pass through if we can just to say we did (I'm a completionist like that, have to hit all the states someday :P) Stuff in parenthesis are places we'd likely visit, usually because one of us has family there. We've been tossing around a few alterations to the map, like going through Missouri and Kansas instead of Iowa and Nebraska, but this is what we're looking at right now at least.
So feel free to comment with ideas, telling me I'm crazy, or just whatever.
U.S.
New Mexico
Texas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Georgia (Atlanta)
South Carolina (Greenville)
North Carolina
Virginia
West Virginia
Maryland
Washington, D.C.
Pennsylvania
Delaware
New Jersey
New York
Connecticut
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
Vermont
New Hampshire
Maine
Canada
New Brunswick
Nova Scotia (probably visiting Prince Edward Island, and Fort Halifax)
New Brunswick
Quebec
Ontario
U.S.
Michigan
Indiana
Illinois (Chicago)
Iowa
Nebraska
Colorado (Denver)
Wyoming
Utah
Nevada
California
Arizona
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Sunday Link Dump the 3rd
Sunday morning, time for another batch of links from around the net.
Giant Treehouse Like many, I will admit having desired as a child to make a giant treehouse similar to this type of thing. It's awesome to see that someone actually did.
Alt-F4ever! A video from the SMBC Theater site, this one a Halloween special.
Anvil Launching You read that right. Anvil Launching. Thanks go to Daniel R. for the link.
I'm hoping that this week at least 1 non-linky post will pop up.
Giant Treehouse Like many, I will admit having desired as a child to make a giant treehouse similar to this type of thing. It's awesome to see that someone actually did.
Alt-F4ever! A video from the SMBC Theater site, this one a Halloween special.
Anvil Launching You read that right. Anvil Launching. Thanks go to Daniel R. for the link.
I'm hoping that this week at least 1 non-linky post will pop up.
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