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Getting Fit

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Since February 2013 I have been working on losing weight. Before today the only time I would really talk about it was when people asked me about my new appearance. I decided it would be good to share since even though I have lost a significant amount of weight I still feel fat since I have not gotten to my ideal weight just yet and these weekly blog posts will help me to record the positive changes in both my body and mind and maybe get me to start realizing the great changes I have made to myself.

I have spent the majority of my adult life overweight and about 10 years ago I entered the morbidly obese stage. I had always talked about losing weight and from time to time I would lose 20 lbs. and then gain them all back plus a few extra. Partially due to some family tragedies and partially due to my laziness, I just gave up and decided I would be fat and, as I used to like to say, “We all die someday whether we are fat or skinny’. Not the most positive way to look at things, but that was where my mind was a couple of years ago. Despite diabetes being on both sides of my family, I still had the attitude of “there is nothing I can do about it”.

The turning point happened in December 2012. At my previous employer I would spend my lunch break on paydays shopping at a nearby Walmart for non-perishable groceries. It was a way to get out of the office and help my wife with some of the grocery shopping. While there I saw a display of baking supplies since it was the holiday season. There were 1 lb. Hershey’s chocolate bars and being the chocoholic I am, I decided to buy it. I figured I would eat a small piece once a day and that should not be too bad for my health. Well, I got back to work, ate a piece, and then 10 minutes later the whole pound of chocolate was gone. I questioned what I was thinking, where I was in my life, and just felt gross.

Around this time I learned about the Weight Watchers Points Plus Program. Basically, points are assigned to every type of food imaginable and you can only eat a certain amount of points per day in order to lose weight. You start off with quite a bit of points allocated to each day and then the points get slightly lower as you lose weight until you get to your goal and then your points remain the same in order to maintain that weight.

In the middle of February 2013 I decided to give it a shot despite my reluctance to diet. My weight was at 267 lbs. for a 6’0, 38 year old male. I figured if I lost 20 lbs. I would be healthier and then I could stop. Well, a couple of months later I lost those 20 and felt so much better that I continued the diet and do not have any plans to stop.

Fast forward to last Friday and I am currently at 207 lbs. A 60 pound weight loss was something I could not even dream of when I started this diet and now I am looking forward to losing about 20 more lbs. and getting to the ideal weight for my age and height.

Dieting is an interesting process. Initially, it seems like a major pain in the ass until you actually start doing it and seeing results. Now I look at it as a positive change in my life and I am glad I started it when I did since I turn 40 later this month and will be in the best shape of my adult life up to this point. Going from morbidly obese to just plain obese and then down to overweight is a strange thing to be excited about, but I am. Now I am closing in on my goal weight of 185-190 lbs. and feeling great about it. The only thing that I find a little frustrating from time to time is that I am still not in shape to the point where I am comfortable being shirtless at the beach or by poolside. That is why my wife and I decided to start increasing our physical activity. Hiking on the weekends is first and then in a couple of weeks we are purchasing DDP Yoga which will help us to increase our stamina, flexibility, and assist us in toning up so the next time I visit the beach or go to a pool party I will not be embarrassed to stand in front of others without a shirt.

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Last Saturday we started our hiking regimen at Bear Canyon Lake in Arizona. There was a light rain part of the day, the weather was around 68 degrees, and it was a perfect day. We hiked for 2 hours with a slightly difficult decline and a more difficult incline on the return back. It felt great and we are already planning our next hike for the following Saturday. It felt great to be out in nature and away from the city and it felt even better to start some decent physical activity. It is also providing me with opportunities to see parts of our state I have not seen. It is easy to look at Arizona as a big, hot desert which it is in the city, but once you head just a couple of hours north it is nothing but beautiful weather with terrific scenery.

I am sure wherever we decide to go next weekend it will be just as beautiful and I cannot wait!

Costume Corner – Costume ideas for kids

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For the most part kids have a good idea, if not many ideas of what they want to wear for Halloween, or even Comicon.  Every now and then though, for whatever reason, a kid will want to dress up/cosplay and have no clear idea for a costume.

Tips for finding ideas –

Some of these tips will seem simple and fairly obvious but when you are stumped and possibly stressed (think teenagers) the obvious can be elusive.

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Check out this great tutorial at Melly Sews.

  • Popular movies (Avengers, Star Wars, Ghostbusters…)
  • TV shows  (new and old, Firefly, Star Trek, Walking Dead…)
  • Disney characters (primarily for little ones)
  • Video games  (Assassin’s Creed, Mario Brothers, Halo…)
  • Historical (Egyptian, Roaring ’20s, Ancient Greece, Wild West, 1950s…)
  • Comic books  (Superheroes, Sci Fi, Fantasy, Horror…)
  • Sports (Football, Baseball, WWE, etc.)

 

Specifically for little ones –

Most little kids are happy to be in something fun and cute.

  • Animals  (Cat, Dog, Lion, Elephant, Tiger, Bumble Bee, Ladybug)
  • Food  (Pumpkin, Cupcake, Banana, Popcorn)
  • Box  (Truck, Lego, iPhone, Crayons)
  • Characters  (Pirate, Fairy, Cowboy,  Princess)
  • Classic Halloween  (Witch, Dracula, Skeleton, Devil)
  • Elaborate (Dragon, Snowglobe, Dinosaur, Jellyfish)

 

Group costumes –

Sometimes the struggle to find a costume idea stems from two or more kids wanting to dress up/cosplay together.  Here are some group ideas.

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  • Avengers
  • Wizard of Oz
  • Justice League
  • Where’s Waldo
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
  • Lord of the Rings
  • Harry Potter

 

You can also do a quick internet search for group costumes, as well as, other ideas like ‘classic Halloween’ or ‘Video game’ costumes.   Pinterest is another great source for costume tips and ideas.

I hope some of these ideas will be helpful, or at least help lead you to other ideas that might work.

Next week, I will be talking about planning for group costumes.

This post has been cross-posted from More-Like-Guidelines.

Brock Lesnar

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Brock Lesnar is an interesting individual. It is hard to deny his place in pro wrestling and the impact he had in the UFC. Going back to his college wrestling days, he is a fighting legend.

I really enjoyed his early career in the WWE and thought he deserved his quick rise to the top. He could put on solid matches, attempted high flying moves like a top rope moonsault, and really seemed to have the desire to put on a great show for the audience. He was even occasionally nice to fans! Now he lives off of his name recognition, works only when he feels like it, and is generally rude to fans.

I always have an issue with performers in every walk of life who do not treat the audience with respect and treat their job, which they are extremely lucky to have, with respect and enthusiasm. I have no issue with Lesnar working a limited schedule. I fact, he is wise to do so since it can extend his career and better his life by not putting himself through the typical athletic grind. What I have an issue with is that his matches are not the best on the card anymore even though he is usually the main event. Without Paul Heyman as his mouthpiece I would probably change the channel whenever he came on.

At this past Summerslam he won the WWE title with a one sided beat down of John Cena. Even though his 16 suplexes in the match are treated as if they were impressive, watching them live was boring. The booking of this match was bizarre to say the least. I did not necessarily mind him winning since I am sure his title run won’t last a full year, but just destroying Cena was a boring and non-creative way of giving him the belt. I am assuming the re-match at Night of Champions will be much better, but I am not holding my breath.

With such a limited schedule I just wish Lesnar would put forth the effort to give us his best performances possible, but he does not seem motivated to do so. Once you no longer have the passion for your job in entertainment you need to retire and move on to something else. The world will be fine without seeing you every once in a while.

Doesn’t it mean Saint Diego?

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We just got back from a nice Labor Day weekend in lovely San Diego. San Diego seems to be the top summer vacation spot for most Americans who live on the West Coast and we are no exception. We have family that lives there so we had free room and board and were able to have a nice, relaxing trip.

We spent most of last Friday relaxing on Carlsbad Beach and the rest of the weekend shopping and visiting with family. The drive to and from was also nice and just what I needed to clear my head of work, stress, and the ‘real world’. If you are that rare person who has never been to San Diego I recommend it for the perfect weather and the relaxing beaches.

We decided as a family during this trip it was time to get more active. We have gotten more healthy with our eating and weight loss in the past year and a half, but we now want to take up hiking and get more physically fit. We are going to start with some light hikes this month and hopefully build up to some more heavy duty hiking by the end of the year. We are also purchasing the DDP Yoga set in a couple of weeks and trying his form of yoga to gain better flexibility and get more toned. It has a lot of good reviews and I think this will be a fun way to learn yoga especially since I am a Diamond Dallas Page and wrestling fan.

I may either add another day to my blog posting to give updates on my fitness progress or may just temporarily make Mondays Fitness Day. It really depends on my mood 🙂

Either way I have been enjoying getting healthier and extending my lifespan!

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Jakks Pacific WWF/E

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The action figures I have a very large collection of is the Jakks Pacific’s line of WWF/E toys which lasted from 1996-2009. This was the ‘Attitude Era’ line and had some great figures. No matter the wrestler it seemed they all had at least one figure with the top stars receiving many variations. They also featured past stars as well.

They also came out with the Titantron series with microchips in the figures that when attached to a special playset would play their theme songs. Pretty nifty technology for the time.

There were all kinds of wrestling rings, cages to attach to those rings, and various accessories for your own hardcore matches.

Plain and simple, this is a great line and lasted as long as it did because of that.

Currently, Mattel produces WWE figures and has some great looking collector’s lines of current and former stars that I would love to add to my collection. I stopped collecting wrestling toys a few years back and I think now is a great time to get started again.

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Positive Attitudes

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Grumpy-Cat

My goal this week is to change my attitude. Sometimes I can be the funniest and goofiest bastard on the planet, but when my mood is ruined I can be miserable to be around. Lately, I have been pretty miserable.

I have allowed some professional missteps to sour the past two weeks which is not fair to those around me and myself. Without going in to great detail, my missteps have actually worked out for me in regards to lowering my stress levels. I have been at a new job for the past 4 months and they treat me better than I deserve.

My main issue is the pay is not that great and I am not excelling like I am used to. Patience is a virtue and I am lousy at it. I believe in working hard AND making great strides quickly. I need to learn patience ASAP or I will not succeed now or in the future.

The past couple of weeks I have been on and off grumpy and that does not help my stress levels nor will it allow me to succeed as I hope to. Whether it is at my current employer or a future one, I must learn quickly to keep smiling no matter what is thrown at me.

With all of the roadblocks we face throughout our lives and the constant negativity in the real world and on the news, we all need to learn that we can only control our reactions to things and how we allow it to affect our attitudes. An occasional bad day is okay and sometimes unavoidable, but it is up to us to not let negativity permanently affect our lives.

From here on out I plan to do everything in my power to stay positive and keep a smile on my face.

Even if I do not excel at everything, I can at least be happy about it 🙂

Costume corner – All about kids

kcblue 1 Comment

I am sorry that I missed everyone last week.  My computer crashed late in the week and it took me a while to get everything back to normal.  There’s still a bit to do but I am ok to post again.  This week it will be a quick post about children’s costumes, I will follow up in later weeks.

Costumes for kids

In the past, I did make some costumes for my niece and nephew but for the most part, my experience comes from making Halloween costumes for Scarlet.  It needs to be said that Scarlet has been very free with her opinions since she was very small.  Many times Scarlet would see something on a movie or TV show that she would  then want for her costume.   I used a lot of my adaptation and modification skills to do my best to make her the costume that she wanted.

Every year we choose a theme and I make costumes for all three of us.  When she was younger, more often than not our theme was a direct product of Scarlet’s idea.  And for full disclosure, there was an idea or two that I steered Scarlet away from and onto something more appropriate.  Over the years, our themes have included witches, ghosts, mummies, vampires, zombies, fairies, angels and demons, and pirates.

 

About two years ago, I started hanging up Scarlet’s costumes as  part of our Halloween decorations.

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From left to right…

1.  This is actually my mother’s high school prom dress, Scarlet wore it when we were zombies.

2.  That year we were ghosts because she wanted to be a pink ghost.

3.  Her Tinkerbell costume was one of the first that I designed almost completely without a pattern.

4.  This year Scarlet had seen a Disney sing a long, the main little girl wore an orange and black witch dress.  It was easy to make, of course, ours needed to be pink.

5.  The year we were angels and demons. I was an angel, Cap was a demon and Scarlet was a fallen angel.  Behind the dress you can see a bit of the feathers from the black wings that I made.

 

Next week, I’ll try to give some tips on how to find good ideas for kids costumes.

Costume Corner will be cross-posted at More-Like-Guidelines.

 

Hasbro WWF Figures

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In 1990 wrestling fans and kid’s of the time were treated to the next evolution of WWF toys in the guise of Hasbro’s WWF Figures. These were an awesome upgrade from the LJN figures because even though they shrunk in size they were a bit more detailed and had action features like swinging arms, spinning bodies, kicking legs, etc… These are a bit easier to find mint in package than the LJN’s, but I prefer collecting them loose since the action features are silly, but fun as hell.

I own a few more of these than the LJN ones with the Hulk Hogan with the “Hulkster Hug” version being my favorite. These true “action” figures were very popular and it is hard to find a big wrestling collector without at least one in their collection.   mSL6m9TyWmMt60ZaRhW4m-w

Cardboard Connection has a great list of the figures included in the collection and links to EBay auctions if you want to add any of them to your toy chest, http://www.cardboardconnection.com/sports-other/hasbro-wwf-figures.

Some of the more common ones only cost around $20 in package, but there are some rare ones like Andre the Giant which go for a couple hundred.

Next week I will conclude my look at wrestling toys with Jakks Pacific and the current Mattell line.

Avengers Assemble

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marvelavengers

I am currently watching Marvel’s Avengers Assemble through Netflix’s streaming service and I am enjoying it immensely. It is a great mix of action and humor. A lot of today’s television cartoons take themselves way too seriously and it is nice to come upon one that likes to mix in humor with it’s quasi seriousness. I am an adult who happens to enjoy the occasional cartoon and even I like to take a break from all the seriousness of the real world and just smile during a 22 minute cartoon.

It features all of the characters from the live action Avengers with the addition of Falcon. It is also great to see villains and heroes from the Sony and Fox owned Marvel properties like Doctor Doom, Spider-Man, and Thing.

About 14 shows in to a 26 episode run and it has not disappointed. The voice over work is top notch and the animation is well stylized, but not annoyingly so. The writing is pretty solid as well. Even though there is an overarching storyline throughout, the episodes are fairly self contained which I enjoy.

If you are a big Marvel ‘everything’ fan or just want to watch a solid cartoon, then Avengers Assemble should be playing right now on your television or computer.

Robin Williams

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Robin Williams passed away last Monday. It has deeply affected me, and millions of people around the world. His death was surprising news to us all, and we will miss him forever.

This – http://the-bucky-barnes.tumblr.com/post/94574313940/stickfigurefairytales-suicides-go-up-when-a – is a list of suicide hotlines. Please remember, as he said himself, suicide is a permanent solution to temporary problems. There will always be someone there to help you, and you are never, and will never, be alone.

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