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2015

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The New Year is finally here and with it comes promise, hope, and a ton of untold surprises for all of us.

I do not believe in making New Year’s resolutions since they seem to never be held to so I just promise to continue on my path to being a better, happier, and more successful person.

One of the most popular resolutions involves weight loss. Since I have been on that journey for 2 years now my goal has not changed.

In February of 2013 I weighed 267 lbs. and I am now down to 196.  I got back to slightly over 200 during the holidays, but made sure to get back on track and continue to get myself to my goal weight of 185. Only 11 lbs. to go and I have no doubt I will get there by next month.

My main health related goal this year is to get myself in the best shape possible. Even though I am very close to the appropriate weight for my age and height I still would not look good on the beach sans shirt. I did not work out the last 2 weeks of the year, but have gotten myself right back on track with DDP Yoga 3 days a week and weight lifting 2 days a week. My family and I always spend a few days in San Diego on the beach around July and I want to be comfortable doing the one thing I have never done at the beach and that is go swimming without a shirt. I am aiming for a Shawn Michaels type of physique, fit but not overly muscled:

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I used to be in fine shape when I was in high school, but never Shawn Michaels-fit so it will be interesting to see if I can get myself to that point at age 40. It has been hard work, but fun and worthwhile at the same time. My weight loss has improved my stamina, my athleticism, made it so I can fit comfortably on amusement park rides, and improved my overall self-confidence.

There is part of me that wishes I did this sooner, but I am glad I finally convinced myself to do so now since this has improved my life in so many ways.

My only bit of advice for anyone who wants to do the same…if even I can do it, then anyone can!

 

Merry Christmas!!!

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I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!!

I am going to be on vacation for the rest of the year and returning to active blogging on January 05 with plenty to say on a wide variety of topics.

This has been a crazy, yet somehow great year and I am looking forward to 2015!!!

Michael Jordan: The Life

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When I want to read about someone’s life and experiences I like to find one definitive book. Over the years plenty of books have come out about Michael Jordan, possibly the greatest basketball player of all time. It took a while, but this year we finally got the only book you need to read about Jordan, Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby.

This is a long, detailed book that covers nearly every aspect of his life from his Great Grandfather’s struggles, to Michael’s childhood, and through his entire college and professional career. Almost nothing is left uncovered.

Learning about his mother and father, who he was very close to, was very interesting since the author pulled no punches and displayed the negatives with the positives. These are people we saw a lot during Michael’s playing days and it is good to get a true aspect of what was going on behind the scenes.

Also, learning about what his teammates in high school, college, and the NBA really felt about him was refreshing. This is not a tabloid style book, it just tells the truth from all perspectives, good and bad, which is something I have been looking for when reading about a man who I watched in hundreds of basketball games when I was younger.

Michael Jordan is still one of the most well known athletes in history and it is nice to finally have a book that gives an accurate portrayal of a very gifted and complicated athlete.

This is by no means a quick read, but if you are a basketball fan or just interested to learn more about Jordan, this is the only book you will need.

I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax

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Scott Ian’s I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy from Anthrax is a book I cannot recommend enough.

Growing up a fan of heavy metal music, Anthrax was one of my favorite bands and still is. I can vividly remember seeing them in high school opening up for Iron Maiden. A metal fan’s dream show and one of the best I have ever been to.

They were unique in the sense that they were thrash metal with an amazing singer (Joey Belladonna) who did not growl the whole time and has a terrific singing voice.

Scott Ian was always the standout though with his look, his comic book fandom, and his energetic stage presence, even though he always seemed very mellow off stage.

As soon as I heard he was coming out with this book it was a must buy and was worth more than the cover price.

It is a very quick read so if you do not want to read anything too intensive this is the perfect choice.

He talks about living the rock and roll lifestyle, his limited time with drugs and alcohol, and his 3 marriages including his current wife, who is clearly the woman he was meant to be with, and the recent birth of his son.

Learning about his difficulties growing up, the struggles he experienced starting (and continuing) Anthrax, and his multiple life stories like getting drunk with Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead fame and somehow surviving, fill this book with a ton of tales to tell your friends after reading it.

If you are already an Anthrax fan you probably have already read the book and if you were on the fence then you need to read this book immediately. There are some touching stories regarding his life and a lot of humor throughout.

You will not be disappointed.

The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea

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I am a big reader and have been consuming novel after novel lately and decided I would start giving my opinions of what I have read from time to time. Just a few paragraphs to give you my opinion of what I have just read and to hopefully convince you to pick up a copy for yourself.

I have been reading about a book a week and mostly biography/autobiographies. Today’s book is wrestling themed so I figured it would be appropriate for Wrestling Wednesdays.

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The Best in the World: At What I Have No Idea by Chris Jericho came out recently and it is his third book about his life, wrestling, and music career. It may seem strange to have written three books about oneself, but Jericho has done so much in the entertainment world that he has endless stories that I am thrilled he is willing to share with all of his fans.

This book covers his recent WWE run (not the one he just completed) and gives insights as to his experiences with the WWE, Vince McMahon, and his fellow wrestlers.

He talks about not only the positive goings on in his life, but the negative ones as well. I appreciated his in depth look into the incident where he supposedly hit a female fan and the Brazilian flag incident which got him nearly arrested. He does not sugar coat things and tells what really happened. He does not act like he has no flaws, but explains what truly happened and what his mindset was during these incidents.

He also talks in depth about his experience competing on Dancing With The Stars which gave a very interesting look as to what it is like to compete on that show and the hard work that goes in to it.

Along with various wrestling stories and Fozzy events there is not one aspect of the past handful of years that he does not cover.

If you are a fan of Jericho’s or are just looking for an interesting read, this is a great way to go.

 

December is here!!!

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It is December 01 and I could not be more excited!

I love this time of the year! The cold weather, the Christmas decorations, getting to wear my geek-related hoodies and jackets, and the overall feel of the month. No matter what holiday you celebrate it is a great time to be with family and friends and celebrate another year gone by.

For my family this was one of the craziest years. It started poorly, got slightly better, and is finishing off in a very positive way. The biggest lesson I have learned this year is that only I control my happiness. No matter what comes my way I must learn to dust myself off and stay positive. Negative things may come my way, but it is up to me to cast them aside and remain positive and steer the ship back on track.

I cannot wait for Christmas/New Year’s Day and 2015 because I know things will continue to go well because I said so! 🙂

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Survivor Series 2014

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Survivor Series 2014 was awesome! Mostly for one big reason which I will get to shortly.

With the exception of a few matches it was a relatively un-exciting show, but those matches, along with the big ending, made it one of the most memorable Survivor Series of all time.

On to the matches:

The pre-show featured 2…Fandango vs. Justin Gabriel and Cesaro vs. Jack Swagger. Fandango actually looked good in his match and shows some serious promise. Cesaro vs. Swagger was a throw-away match and really did nothing to further either performer’s career. Whereas Fandango’s match did a good job of re-introducing him to the WWE Universe, Cesaro/Swagger was solely to give them something to do.

The tag title match with The Usos/Star-Goldust/Los Matadores/The Miz-Mizdow was a great match that the crowd was into from the get-go. All four teams did a great job and Mizdow is so over with the fans right now it was great to see him and The Miz win the titles. It ended perfectly and the tag division in the WWE keeps getting better.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt was a great start to their feud. The two of them work very well together and they nicely set up their next PPV match in a couple of weeks which will be a TLC match.  I cannot wait!

In between all this was three pointless matches. An elimination style Divas tag match between 8 women with only a few actually able to carry a match, the Divas title match between Nikki Bella and AJ Lee was pointless since it ended in less than a minute, and Adam Rose/Bunny vs. Slator Gator should not have been on the card.

What really made the night was the 5-on-5 match between Team Cena (John Cena, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, Erik Rowan, Ryback) vs. Team Authority (Seth Rollins, Mark Henry, Kane, Rusev, Luke Harper). What a great match filled with surprises. All 10 men, plus Triple H and his security, did an excellent job. There were plenty of surprises with Big Show turning on Team Cena, and Ziggler getting his much deserved big night in the spotlight. At the end of the match he was alone against Kane, Harper, and Rollins and eliminated them all to be the last man standing. The final pin on Rollins came with a a little help from none other than Sting! Triple H interfered at the end but was thwarted by the surprise appearance from the final WCW star to show up in the WWE. The pop from the crowd was huge, the moment was electric, and when he took out Triple H it was an awesome moment that made the whole show very memorable. I cannot wait to see what’s next from him and the WWE!

Overall, this was a solid show and more than worth the $9.99 I pay a month for the WWE Network.

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Happy Holidays!!!

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HappyHolidays

I just wanted to say Happy Holidays to everyone!

My blog posts have been a bit infrequent, but I will get back on schedule after the holidays are over.

This is my favorite time of the year and it can get a little crazy so please remember to sit back, relax, enjoy whatever holiday you celebrate, and be grateful!

Sedona

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Sedona

This past Saturday we spent the day in Sedona, Arizona. Sedona is a perfect example of just how great the scenery can be in AZ. The weather is usually 10 degrees cooler than in Phoenix and the sights are incredible. The picture above is just one example.

It had been 15 years since I was last there and I was surprised by how much fun stuff there is to do including hiking and shopping. My family and I decided to focus on the shopping part 🙂

Sedona is known as being sort of a hippie/new age town. There is plenty of that to go around, but it was not overpowering. There are some nice Christmas stores, religious shops with most religions represented, typical souvenir stores, and plenty of solid eating options.

We got there around noon and left at 5 p.m. and caught the final moments of the big ASU Sun Devils win over Notre Dame…the perfect finish to the day.

If you plan to visit AZ or already live here, Sedona is a must see and I plan to make it a regular visit.

http://visitsedona.com/

The Holidays are here!!

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The Holiday season has arrived and I love it! This is by far my favorite time of the year. It starts with Halloween, ramps up to Thanksgiving, hits a high point with Christmas, and then ends perfectly with the New Year.

As soon as October 01 hits my family and I start the Halloween celebration. Every night during the month we watch either a Halloween/horror themed movie or television show. This year we watched some Supernatural, finished The Walking Dead Season 3 (we are a bit behind), re-watched the Evil Dead trilogy, got the original Psycho and The Birds on blu-ray (great movies that everyone needs to see), and much more.

My wife, daughter and I dress up every Halloween with some sort of theme. My wife spends the whole month making our costumes and always does a tremendous job. This year we did a western theme and it was a blast.

My daughter is now 13 and does not want to trick or treat so we just walked around the neighborhood and enjoyed all the great Halloween decorations. There were many homes done up for the holidays which was nice to see.

Overall, a great Halloween weekend and one of the best we have had yet!

In a few weeks it is Thanksgiving time and I look forward to being with my family, eating and drinking heartily, and having a great 4 day weekend.

This is truly a great time of the year and no matter your beliefs just enjoy yourself, be appreciative of your family and friends, and take it easy before another crazy year starts!