Hitting the Weights

Last night I still needed some distance to go to reach my daily goal and I decided to hit up the gym for some cardio.
I sent out a message to see if anyone was at the gym already or going to be there shortly and a couple friends from another store were on their way shortly.

I got their first so I did 10 minutes of the Elliptical on level 15 (which starts to really kick my ass  after about 4 minutes) and then a 2.5 minute cool down.

By the time I was done the other guys had arrived and I went to see what they were doing for the evening - just my luck....

Oh yeah.  Squats and leg presses and leg curls Oh My.
At the end of leg day you also do a little of ab day - meh.

Today I'm not feeling too bad though I expect tomorrow to be when the real pain kicks in.  My legs are a little rubbery but I decided to help that out by doing a 2/3rds mile walk around my complex with my puppy.
I work late tonight so I'll be on my feet the whole evening and moving around which will also help to make sure that I keep myself loose and don't tighten up too much.

They are taking the weekend off and then we head back on Monday.
I'm going to try to get to the gym as many times as possible with them and when I can't I'll try to follow along with the routine myself.
Lets see how long I can keep this up before I give up!

Fitbit Update 2

Weekly Progress:
89,564 steps
40.49 miles
22,933 calories burned
average sleep, 6 hours 21 minutes.


Tomorrow I've got some news to report.

Smaller and Smaller and Smaller

So after the last round of new shirts that was bought and countless people telling me that what I bought was still too big for me (I'm bad at this) I ended up making a trip to the store today for a few more shirts.

Er.  Well, first I woke up and walked 1.25 miles this morning.  Then after a nice shower I met my lady and child so that we could take him to his first day of school.
He was pretty excited to be heading back to school...well... until he saw the actual school come into view and then he admitted he was a bit nervous.
I have no fears this year is going to be much better for him and he is going to do great.
Can't wait to hear him report back what happened today (and tomorrow since I won't be seeing him until tomorrow).

After that I went and bought some shirts.

Even though they have shrunk I still have some man boobs that annoy me and I've got a gut and this is why I've always worse clothes that are too big for me.
But, this is a new me and new attitude and I'm giving this "wearing clothes that fit" thing a try.

Red Rock Excursion

Today after work we took a family outing to the Red Rock Canyon for fun and games among the rocks.
My boy and I climbed all over the place (he did much more than I) while the wifey decided that her fear of heights would keep her back in a more observatory role.

Did over 18k steps today and over 8 miles (both personal bests) and started the day at my lowest weight yet - a flat 219 pounds.

Some pics so y'all can live vicariously through me.

He is a really tiny spec at the top of this rock!

Can you spot my 8 year old?

Bubble Gum Rock - There was a lot more than this sample shows

VICTORY

I was thinking about Lucki Duck Today

When I saw the newly revealed Dallas Cowboys Logo for the 2013/14 season.

I Eat Because I Love Food

Over a year and 80 pounds later I still have a lot of work to do.
A lot has changed over the past year but some things still remain the same.
I love to eat.
A-Lot.
I mean, just sit down and dig in to some tasty shit and keep going until I'm about to puke and I have to remove all my clothing to feel better.
I just like food.
And, no matter how much I've cut back over the past year+ I can still just pig out to a large degree whenever the mood strikes me.

The biggest difference between now and then is that after I do this I'm in a better mental state to recover and get back on track quicker than before.  Back in the day (trade mark pending) It would take me a long time to get back to eating better to lose weight.  I'm not talking a couple of days or weeks... I'm talking fucking years man.  I fall off that wagon and I fall like an alcoholic accidentally tricking himself into taking a sip of his favorite drink after catching his woman banging the milkman. On the Front porch. With the neighbors filming it and streaming it live on the internet.

Now, it only takes me a week or two (sometimes less) to flush it out of my system and get back to where I should be.  I don't fall for as long and I don't fall nearly as hard as now when I give in and go on a week long bender I only maintain my weight instead of adding back the pounds and having to start over.
Baby-Steps (also trademark pending).

With this in mind I'm going to try to train myself to eat less (again).

It hit me recently and I've watched myself do this for the past few weeks.
I eat on every single break I take at work.  Most of the time it's not because I'm hungry.  Most of the time it's just because I brought the food and I've got this magical caloric intake number I'm aiming for.

Today I took my first break and found myself reaching for my food.  I stopped myself and pulled out a water and started drinking it instead.  I thought about it and realized that I wasn't hungry.  I just wanted to eat.
I'm a nervous eater.
I'm an anxious eater.
I eat when I'm depressed and when I'm happy.
I started life malnourished for about 8 years and I never want to feel that way again, so I eat.

I still got my calories in. I also got my exercise in.
I'm going to keep trying to cut back on my "eating just to eat" and see if I can get out of the habit.

Fitbit Status Update

I received an email so I thought I'd share these emails.
It's just more documentation on what kind of improvements I'm making if any over time.

8/12 - 8/18
Most active day was Weds 8/14
Least Active day was Sun 8/18 (I was off from work this day)
Total Steps: 83,503
Average 11,929
Best Day 16,659

Total Distance 38.40 miles
Average 5.49 miles/day
Best 8.04 Miles

Total Calories burned 22,715
Daily Average 3245

Calories in Vs Calories Out (4,796) - Shooting for (7,000)
Weight change -4.6 pounds
Average Sleep 5 hours 15 minutes

50 miles

So near the end of my working day I received a notice that since I have started wearing my Fitbit (August 10th) I have officially walked for 50 miles (August 19th).
50 miles in 9 days, not too shabby.
Looking forward to hitting 100 before the end of the month.

Kind of amazing the amount of walking one does when one works retail.  I knew it was a lot but I really had no idea that it averages out to over 5 per day.

The good news is that come payday I've got at least $50 going into my pocket for spending money.

The next thing I want to buy is a 3 TB hard-drive for my computer and a 64 gig memory chip for my Galaxy Tablet (birthday present).  The hard drive is going to run about $110 and the memory chip probably somewhere around $50.

I believe I typed it before (I've thought it, just might not have made it across my fingers).  I'm going to give myself spending money based on how many miles my Fitbit tracks me as having walked.  One dollar for One mile.   So, the two items above are going to run about $160 which means I have to walk 160 miles to be able to buy them.
After this week my next check is September 6th and I'm going to see if I can manage to get those 160 miles in before that paycheck hits.

Data Skewed

So since I'm an idiot and didn't save my database on my last phone I am forced to start a new one.
The only thing that annoys me is that I really wanted to see how long all my rungood keeps up and what my rate during this time period ends up being.
I ran horribly bad for so long that I almost quit playing altogether and only went out when there were blogging poker buddies visiting.  I really forgot what it feels like to have continued success and I don't ever want to lose this feeling.

Since I saved up the $200 to start playing again last month my hourly rate was running well over $40/hour.  I played numerous sessions and I believe only had two of them as losing sessions.
But, that is all in the past.  I no longer have access to that information and going forward I can only deal with and talk about the information that I do have (and also make better choices so that I never lose it again).

The good news is that 12 hours into my new database I'm running at over $90/hour.
I know.
Sample Size.
Whatever.  I gave myself $200 to start playing with and here I sit a month later with over $2,000 again and am on my way to actually having a real bankroll.
My ultimate goal is to Hit the Bad Beat Jackpot.....er.... no.... that's a fantasy.
My ultimate goal is to have a real bankroll by the time  my wedding rolls around in April.
I know that going into this relationship with my love and desire for poker, while accepted is not understood.
So, my plan is to show my database, my history and point out what I can expect as my hourly rate over the course of the long term so that she can see how seriously I take this.

I know that with starting a family comes extra responsibilities and it's going to severely cut into my playing time but I am going to see what I can do to budget even if it's only a session per week.

I've got a lot of free time until April so I will have my entire plan drawn up (and most likely posted on this here blog ya see).
It will include money that stays in the bankroll, money that goes towards other things.  What kind of percentages to go what and what my goals are towards growing the bankroll and all that other happy horse shit.

So, in the near future you all see a rough draft of my "poker plan" and hopefully can give advice.
Especially all y'all married folks with kids.  How do you get your time in around the wife and children and how does the wife cope with your green felted mistress?

Anyways - the last two sessions that I played I ran like a Minor Deity made me their tool and most of the money flowed my way.
I have, however, severely cut into my sleep time.  last night was less than 3.5 hours and somehow I'm still awake and kicking.

Good Night World

P.S. - with no work today (and ending my evening with booze) I only ended up getting in under 6,000 steps which is about 10,000 steps less than I did yesterday.
Yesterday I did the elliptical for 45 minutes and today my calves are KILLING me.
Tomorrow I wake up early to hit the gym and then meet the family for a breakfast filled with pancakes before heading to work.

My new Fitbit

I've used the Fitbit for one full week and my results were as such.
I get a helluva lot more exercise on days when I'm at work than on days that I have off.  I need to get some gym time in or some jogging to bridge that gap.

I went for a morning walk/Jog 4 days last week and would have made it 5 in a row but I stayed out late playing poker and then only got a 4.5 hour nap and just never had the energy to do it.

Week of August 10th - August 16th
72,102 Steps
32.73 Miles walked
21,695 calories burned

For my first week I'll take it.  There were several instances where I went out of my way to get some extra walking in.
At first I set my goal to be 10,000 steps per day but after seeing how many I got in the 1st day that I worked with it I upped my goal to 12,000.
I will be continuing to increase it as I hit my goal more consistently and start getting more exercise.

I had some other info written up but I think I left it on my work email.  So, once I transfer that to my personal email I'll have a more in depth post on the Fitbit and how it fits into my life currently.

Also, I stole this from an online forum so don't think of me as original or anything.
In order to motivate myself to walk more and get in more exercise I am giving myself one dollar for every mile I put in via my Fitbit.

So, this past week I did 32 miles and now I owe myself $32.  This is purely fun money that I can do whatever I want with.  This will be the money where I earn my video games or movies or whatever.
If I notice that I am doing too much and therefor giving myself too much spending money I'll cut it down to a dollar every 1.5 miles or ever 2 miles, but for August it will be for every mile traveled.

Tomorrow I expect to not only get in my normal half mile walk/jog but I also plan on hitting up the elliptical at Golds Gym for about 30-45 minutes.

My weight loss progress has been good the past week and can be summed up by the following picture:

1st time under 220 in over a decade!

Poker after Dark

So I did something unbelievably stupid, I upgraded my phone.
That's not the dumb part yet.

I upgraded and then spent an entire evening re-downloading apps that I commonly use and trying to adjust my settings so that I can get the phone to work how I want it to work.  Trying to regain some of my old comfort level that I had with my last phone and the one before that.
I always feel a bit weird using a new phone at first because of the changes but this one is compounded because I have only ever had a Motorola Droid series since I joined the Smart Phone Revolution.  This new phone is a Samsung so while they use the same operating system they both have different GUI's on top of them and their own nuances.

I did not come to talk about that.

My old phone, Droid Bionic, was then given to my fiance because her phone has terrible battery life and dies within 4 hours of little to no use.  My Bionic with extended battery easily lasts 10 hours with good usage and I have two back-up extended batteries just in case the phone ever decides to run out of juice.  So I reset the phone to factory defaults and put in her SIM card and memory card and now she has a working phone that actually lasts her all day long.
Life is good.


Last night I went to Bally's after work for a poker session.  On the walk to the room I realized I had to re-download and install my poker tracking app.  This is when it hit me that I lost all my data.  No backup, no save to the cloud. It was all sitting on my phone, waiting to be looked at an analyzed.
Gone.

So, it is now that I begin anew, again.  I hate starting a new database with fresh results because it doesn't show me long term averages or anything.
Remind me to find a good online database program for Poker so that I can take my results and put them there as well.
I'm a bad poker player.

Either way, I sat down and started my session which started out typical for me - horrible.
The guy on my right was magnetic and all of my chips were made of some weird metal alloy that was attracted to the magnet.
We got involved in a hand where he limped and then called an additional $15 from me.  We get a couple bets in as the streets go on and in the end I table my hand of QQ thinking I won.
He flips over his KT to show me the draws that he missed but gets a shocked expression when the dealer tells him he won with a straight on a board of 789Jx.
"Oh wow, I didn't even realize I had that, just wanted to show you my hand."

A little bit later we get involved in a big pot where I call his raise pre-flop and we get all in on an Ace high board.
The turn is a Jack and the River is a Ten (river pairs the board).
I flip over AK and he looks at my hand and says "Oh wow, the river gave you two higher pair" as he tables his Ace Jack (for top 2) and looks shocked again when the dealer points out that a pair of jacks are bigger than a pair of tens.
Bastard left after I was there for about 2 hours with approx $700 and most of it won in hands similar to the above.

I re-bought, of course, and started trying to grind my way back to even.
I fluctuated all evening long and didn't get paid off on any monsters that I had.  At one point I flopped a set against a pre-flop raise and couldn't get action.
I flopped Quads with a PFR and got no action.
I hit another set and got noting.

I did manage to hit a few straights and flushes when I raised with hands like 85s that got me some payoff.
I'm about to wrap things up with a stack of $286 and I'm pretty happy to be down only $114.
I'm UTG+1 and get dealt 33.
UTG makes it $15 to go and I think to myself that I'm willing to leave if I don't hit and still be happy with the evening overall and thus I call (he has me covered).
Another guy calls and I hear the dealer say "3 to the flop."
I think in my head.  33, 3 to the flop, 3 red chips, this is destiny.

Flop comes out 389 and I shout bingo.
More like whispered it.
More like yawned it, I'm F'n tired at 5 am when I've been up all day.

PFR bets $20 and because it's a rainbow board I call and so does the other guy.
Turn is a 6 and the PFR checks it to me.
I think for a minute or two and bet out $75.
Next to act thinks and finally folds.
PFR sits debating his action.  After a couple of minutes he asks me how much I have left and I count down $176 for him.  He eventually calls.

River is a 7 - There is no flush and the board now reads 36789.
PFR thinks for about 2 minutes and then announces all in after looking at the board the chips and my chips, trying to analyze me for any tells as I'm bs'ing with the dealer.

I think about the hand, the betting.  I think about other times he has raise pre and the amounts.  He's done $15 2 or 3 times now and he's done a few $7 and a few $12's as well.
Every $15 was either KK or AA.
This has to be a big pair.  I haven't seen him make this raise with a low pair.  I can't put him on 55 or TT though I suppose it's possibly.
I hated his line.  Bet less than half pot then check call 2/3rds pot.
Too much thinking and diliberation.
I felt like he had a big pair and I made the call.
"You called me?"
"yes"
He tables KK and my 33 takes down a monster pot.
I go from being down to leaving up $190.
This was $10 less than I lost my last trip to the casino and as such my bankroll hasn't virtually changed.
I'm sitting with about $1000 profit and $1200 in my roll counting the $200 I initially took out of the bank to start playing again.

Also - this happened.
Guy got carted out by like 12 people and a Gurney

America's Cardroom

While the age of Internet poker has come and gone there are still some options out there for us players in the United States, especially those not living in Nevada.
America's Cardroom is one such place and lets face it, with a name like that it is also the most patriotic place to play.
I recommend this site for more information, but I'm also going to give some of my own personal opinions about it as well.

Here are several things that ACR has gone for it:
They are on the Winning Poker Network.  Winning Poker, it's in the name.
America's Cardroom. Once again, it's in the name.
Rakeback.  No respectable room can run in today's environment without offering rakeback and America's Cardroom offers you 27% back just for playing.  Every single player that signs up gets this deal so you don't have to look for some secret affiliate and hope that they hold up their end of the bargain.  Every Wednesday you will receive a deposit, for 27% of the rake you paid, right into your account.

America's Cardroom on the Winning Poker Network is currently the 19th largest poker network in the world.  While it is not going to compete with the big boys of Pokerstars or Party Poker anytime soon, it is still one of the larger networks allowing players from the United States to play and that is the key feature right there.  Just recently the Winning Poker Network had an influx of new players in the form of adding Blackchip Poker to their stable of sights and every addition like that strengthens the player base and adds to the networks overall market position.

The main games you are going to find on America's Cardroom are No Limit Texas Hold'em and Pot Limit Omaha.  These, of course, are the two most popular forms of poker in the world and is there really any reason to play anything but one of these two games?  You can use these as virtual training for when you make your big week trek to Las Vegas or Atlantic City so that when you sit down at the felt you are not the fish at the table.
Personally, since my trips to the casino's are so rare and far between, I almost never go without sharpening my poker skills with an online poker site like ACR on the WPN.  You cannot expect to stay mentally sharp without continuing to play and the great news is that you can get this experience in for pennies on the dollar as America's Cardroom offers games as low as one cent/two cent blinds.

Even better news?  If you are a micro stakes player you have the opportunity to strike gold and get an instant bankroll boost through their $5k Micro Stakes Race.  For each hand you play and pay into the rake you will receive points for an online leader board.  Put in a lot of hands and your bankroll could see a significant boost.  What could be better than playing for pennies and getting a large bonus.  Withdraw that bonus and take your stake to Vegas and see what you can do playing at the Venetian or Bellagio!  Phil Ivy is waiting for you.

If you are looking for a more indepth analysis or review of America's Cardroom (and the network) I recommend checking out the site I linked to above.  This is where I begin my journey's to discovering new places to play!

3 in a Row

The last 3 mornings I have gotten up a half hour early to go outside and Jog/Walk half a mile.
I'd really like to get that up to a mile but the natural route by where I live has a lap that brings me back to my house at almost exactly half a mile and as soon as I see my house I give up and decide that 1 lap, half a mile, is good enough.
However, the good news is that I have gone 3 days in a row.

I think I'll be able to keep this up on the mornings where I work early but I don't know what is going to happen on the days when I work late.  For instance, tomorrow I don't go in until 2:30.  Obviously I'm not going to continue with routine for the sake of routine.  I am not getting up at 4 am to take a morning stroll before the sun comes out if I don't have to be to work until well after noon.  That's just mildly retarded.

What I am hoping is that I find the motivation to get to the gym and put some time on the elliptical and maybe hit some weights so that I can continue to get exercise before work.   The gym will give me more of a workout than a once-a-round-the-block so that is the ultimate goal.

Ever since that dreaded trip to the doctor's office I've been more determined to continue my path of weight loss and better fitness, so even though it sucked I'm glad it happened.

I'm using Runtastic to track my daily exercise.  I've got Fitbit to track how active I am during the day and my sleep cycles and I'm using MyFitnessPal to track how many calories I'm taking in per day to make sure I eat enough to sustain life and to lose weight at the same time.

Also, my new phone should be delivered today.  Hopefully while I'm working so I can pick it up after I get out and before heading over to my Fiance's place.  I can charge and activate the new phone and then she can "upgrade" her phone to mine and we can allow our son to have her phone as a video game playing device.

Now, time to get to work!

New and Improved with Some Minor Side Effects

I was set.
I was going to be stubborn.
I was going to stick to my guns and just save up the money and buy a new cell phone outright.
Screw Verizon and their Nazi ways.

I've bitched about it before and so that I don't do it again I'll just sum it all up.
Verizon used to give you a credit of $100 every two years to upgrade your phone.
In fact they would let you upgrade early, at 18 months, with that same credit.
Then they dropped it to a $50 upgrade credit instead.
Then they made it a strict 24 months, no early upgrades.
Now they charge you $30 to upgrade your phone.
That's a $130 swing in the last few years.

Not only that, but in the good old days when they changed their shit they let you be grandfathered in.  It was a sign of good faith to those who have been with them for a long time.
Now they are bigger than Jesus and know that it doesn't matter if they piss a few people off and lose a few customers (after all, a lot of them will come crawling back when they see the shitty service they get with AT&T and Sprint and whoever else amiright?).
So, the newest thing is that when you "upgrade" your phone (buy it at a discounted rate) and you sign a new contract you are forced into changing your plan to something they currently offer.  You can no longer be grandfathered into whatever you had previously.

This is the part that kinda irks me and mainly just because I don't like it.  It won't really affect me terribly much over time, it just annoys me because it doesn't need to be done.

I have unlimited data that I pay $29.99 per month for.  The current 2TB data plan is $29.99 per month. There is quite a disparity there.

So, that was my "short" version and with a whole lot less profanity than I planned even!

I was recently browsing on Amazon and looking at phones and I went through the motions just to see what their system would say.
The funny thing about Amazon is that they have not changed since Verizon changed their terms.  So, when Amazon asked me to pick a data plan they gave me the option of "Keep your unlimited data at $29.99/month (upgrade only)."
And when all was said and done, right before hitting checkout, they give a summary of your new phone with your new plan and my plan stayed exactly the same, same pricing and same data plan.

I do realize that this is going to be automatically switched over in Verizon's system and I'm going to have to call and bitch up a shit storm and asked to speak to managers and their managers and their managers in an attempt to keep my unlimited using the excuse that the only reason I upgraded was because everything clearly stated that I would get to keep my same data plan at the same rate.

Blah blah blah.
Long story short I got a new phone almost based solely on the fact that it interacts with my new Fitbit Flex via Bluetooth for updates so that I can have up to the minute information.

More on the Fitbit Flex later - it (along with the new phone) is my next step towards taking fitness and my health more seriously.

grrouchie thoughts with science facts and a little poker

Over the course of the last few days I spent it almost entirely with my fiance and child and really enjoyed every minute of it.  I look forward to next year when I no longer have to leave them to go "home" but instead just stay there because I am already home.  It's amazing how much two people can change your life forever.

Over the last few days I have seen a few movies, some old and some new.  I made the family watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit which of course was a hit because lets face it, who doesn't love an amazing half animated movie?  This movie of course holds itself well over time and I wish that it was a genre that would have taken off.  We did have Cool World which was no where near as good and who can forget that POS Monkey Bone? Well, I guess we all should probably forget it.  I guess I now see why that genre fizzled out.

Then I threw in some Breakfast Club because it's simply amazing.  Today we watched Jack the Giant Slayer which I have been wanting to watch since I saw a preview and I'm happy to report that I was NOT disappointed. Quite an enjoyable flick though I think it wrapped itself up just a little too quickly at the end.
I do enjoy getting free rentals from Redbox so that I can check out some movies.

While not 100% having to do with the picture and quote above, to this day I still swear that my farts (to me) smell like French Fries.  I have not found a single person who agree's with me.

Went to the Farmers Market yesterday and picked up some really good Salsa and Hummus.  I loved the salsa and could stand the hummus.  I also picked up some exceptional Beef Jerky made by Jo Jo's Jerky.
It was nice and tender and had amazing flavor.  The only thing I hate about Beef Jerky is the price and that's why I almost never buy it.
However, I love using however.
In the near future I do plan on making a trip out to the worlds largest Beef Jerky shop that is on the way to California and, in fact, might just be across the border.  I've been wanting to go for years but never have and when we drove to Disney other factors stopped me from making that pit-stop.  So, I'm going to just pick a day that I have off and make a morning out of it and hopefully find one other person to go with me who also shares my love of overpriced dehydrated meat products!

I played poker recently and had one of those sessions where you think everything is going great and you know you are getting close to leaving but just don't know how close yet.
Then you experience a ten hand stretch that leaves you sticky broke and confused and you scratch your head and try to figure out how everything went so wrong so quick.

Hand #1 - I get involved with a short stack who is sitting on about $100.  We both get all in on the flop and I ship about $100 worth of chips over to his stack

Hand #2 - I get involved with a 2nd short stack who is sitting on about $100 as well.  I raise pre-flop and on a Queen high flop we get all in with my Queen Jack vs his Queen Ten.  I'm happy that I'm about to get the $100 back that I just lost to some other guy 3-4 hands ago until the Ten of Diamonds hits the river and I watch yet another $100 go the wrong way.

Hand #3 - I call a small raise with pocket 8's and watch an 8Tx flop that also has a rainbow and the clouds part and angelic voices start singing to me that I'm about to recover my $200 from the previous two hands above.
I bet out into the pre-flop raiser and I bet about pot.  He raises me $100 on top and I push which he instantly calls.
I'm in the process of turning over my pocket 8's when I notice that he tables pocket Tens ahead of me.
I die a little inside and watch all of my fucking chips get pushed to his seat and I realize that one dealer and one orbit just completely killed an otherwise profitable 6 hours of poker.

Sometimes the game just bloody sucks.

Blood Work Follow Up

So yesterday I spent two and a half hours in a doctors office for a follow up to some blood work I got done earlier in the year.
They originally called me to schedule the follow up when I was on vacation in Disney, but I didn't get that call and only heard the voice-mail about a month later, not sure how I missed it. Since then I think they have called me once a month to have my follow up and so when I finally answered the phone the last time they called I scheduled it, and yesterday was the date.

So, 2.5 hours to be told that I'm severely Vitamin D3 deficient and they want me to take pills to raise my levels and I should probably just take them for the rest of my life because, you know, it's good for you and shit.

Then she asked me a series of questions which led to the "bad news."
I'm genetically pre-disposed to heart attacks and there isn't a whole lot I can do about it except "eat healthy and live healthy."
Diet and exercise.

It appears as though there are chemicals that your body makes and if they make more of those chemicals than what the doctors consider acceptable then you are pre-disposed to the possibility of having a heart attack.  My body makes a lot of those chemicals.
The one, she said, they find acceptable production to be anything below a 3 and they prefer a 1.  I asked where I sat on their scale and she told me an 11.
Wooo, yay genetics!

I asked if there was anything I could do, anything I could take and she said that there wasn't.  It is in my genetic make-up so she recommends eating healthy and living healthy in order to minimize the risks.

I guess it's a good thing that I choose the path to eat healthier and live healthier last year and have dropped 75+ pounds already.  I'm on the quest to shed the next 20+ and we'll see next year if my healthier lifestyle has made a difference.

Blah
Fuck Doctors and their good news

Video Game Cataloging Part 1 - Games I want to Beat Again

I'm going to start off with a list of Video Games that I want to run through again for various reasons.

Dead Space - PS3

I really just loved playing this game and think I have beaten it twice.  I've still got to finish off a couple of trophies before making a run through the game on the hardest mode. There are a few tricky trophies (for me at least) that I know I was working on last time I was playing the game but I got stuck and decided to let it sit for a while so I could move on to something else before returning.

Heavy Rain - PS3

This game I thought was very well done and held my attention the entire 8-12 hours I put into it.  I played through this game knowing nothing about the story line and ended up getting a pretty shitty ending.  I've been meaning to go back to the game so that I can work on getting a better ending and finishing off the trophies as well.  I know it really wouldn't take a whole lot of time to run through the game again and then finish off a trophy or two to Platinum the game. Maybe 20 hours now that I've gone through it once and know what to expect.

Alan Wake - Xbox 360

This is a game that I heard great things about and never played.  Then one day I found the Collectors Edition on Amazon for $19.99 and decided to just finally pick it up.  It managed to sit on my shelf for a long time after that still.  Then one day Carmel decided to ask if she could open it and play through it and I didn't object.  I mainly did other things while she was playing, until she got to a hard part and then she begged me to pass it for her.  Me telling her that I haven't seen any of the game nor do I actually know what the controls are did not deter her so eventually I had to give in and pass the hard parts.  This, being one of my most important jobs, I did.  After the 2nd or 3rd hard part I kinda started to dig the game play and next thing you know I'm watching her play through the game.  A day or two later I'm starting my own save and playing when she isn't around and just really loved the game and the atmosphere.  This is an amazingly well done game for the Horror Genre.  I've been meaning to go back and play this game on it's hardest difficulty and finish off the collectibles so that I can have my 1000 gamer score on it but just haven't gotten around to it.  However, Alan Wake: American Nightmare is out as a downloadable game on Xbox Live and before I pick that up I really want to run through the Original One More Time first!

Too Human - Xbox 360

Listen, I've heard it all before.  The controls suck. The game blows.  This is one of the worst 360 games to come out.  Don't buy this game.  This game was designed to be a trilogy and the ending shows that as instead of at least wrapping up the 1st game in a nice little package with a teaser it just flat out gave a cut scene that said "To Be Continued." And yes, this game did so poorly in sales and the company has had so many issues that there will NEVER be a 2nd or 3rd game to complete the story (same with Clive Barkers Jericho which was also panned as universally shit and I still think it's a great game).

You can give me all the negatives about this game but I just love the shit out of it.  This was my 1st 1000/1000 Gamer Score and I put in over 80 hours to get there.  The only reason I even owned this game in the first place was because Microsoft gave it to me for free at a Store Manager Meeting when I worked for Game Crazy.  And despite all of the negatives surrounding this game I still make it a point to beat it once a year no matter what.  I've even thought about making a new profile so that I could get all of the achievements again.  Yes, that is stupid and NO, I don't care.

Fable II - Xbox 360

For your typical Hack and Slash Action RPG I dug this game enough to go through and beat the entire thing.  For the 20+ hours I spent with it almost all of it was enjoyable because the game play was simple but enjoyable and the narrative really drove it all with it's fun and humor.  I am probably 2 or 3 achievements away from hitting the 1000 GS on this thing but I really got bored and disappointed with the game after the final boss battle and I put the game away to never be seen again.  Enough time has passed that I'm no longer angry at the way the ending played out so I could probably go back and put some more hours into it trying to get that elusive 1000 GS.  However, it is probably more likely that I will just finally get around to playing Fable III instead.

God Of War - PS3

This really includes the whole series instead of just God of War.  Currently this is my favorite action series ever released and that is topping a lot of amazing franchises out there.  I got into the series a bit late as I was told how good they were but never bothered.  Then I finally started playing them right before moving to Vegas and have been hooked ever since.  There are now six God of War games released and all are available for the PS3.  Of those six I have two Platinum Trophy's and need to work through getting them on the remaining 4.  I'll probably start with Ghost of Sparta as that is probably the easiest of the remaining and then work on GoW 1,2 and Ascension.  All Hail Kratos, God Slayer!

Bioshock - Xbox 360

Finally, Bioshock.  This is the game that actually got me to start digging First Person Shooters.

I used to hate them and mostly I attribute that to playing Golden Eye in college.

However, Bioshock got me to enjoy the genre and this is a game I am destined to get 1000 GS on. I will probably, at some point, also get the Platinum Trophy on the PS3 as I do own the game for both systems.  I went out and bought the Collector's Edition well after the game came out.  It was, sadly, the PC version and when it arrived my Big Daddy's arm had broken off but whatever.  I also have two little sister figurines to go with Big Daddy should I ever open that package and glue his arm back on. 

That about covers the ones I think think of off the top of my head.

Looking at this list (and thinking about a few other games) makes me realize how much I actually like the Horror/Action Genre of video games.  Bioshock, Jericho, Alan Wake and Dead Space.  Oh creepy games you make me smile.

Next entry will be about games that I have started but never got around to beating for whatever reason.  I, of course, will only be covering the games that I actually want to beat and not games that I have no intention of beating.

Deadpool Defeated

Deadpool and Cable

After Multiple hours and a multitude of deaths I have finally beat Deadpool, the video game.  I really enjoyed the shit out of this game and I think it nailed the character perfectly.  Of course having Daniel Way (who wrote a lot of Deadpool comics) as the lead writer helped a ton.  If you want to read a review you can go find that elsewhere.  I just wanted to point out that I beat my first run-through of it and that I thought the game was awesome. 

 I've got to go back and finish some levels and earn a bunch of the extra trophies.  For the most part I didn't bother trying to get any of the trophies during my first run because I just wanted to focus on enjoying the game for all that it was worth.  But, since I liked it enough I'll go back and replay some of it (or all of it if I decide I want to get the trophy for beating the game on the hardest level).

After DP shot himself in the head, Cable left him a note.

 So now, much like I said in a previous post, I beat a game and I will allow myself to buy a new game.  Since I already have Diablo 3 pre-ordered (but not paid for) I'll consider Diablo 3 to be the new game for me.  There are still a few newer games out there that I really want to pick up and play so I'm going to have to get to work on beating something.  For instance, I really want to play The Last of Us but have not purchased it yet.  I'm going to have to go through my back-log to find something to beat so I can grab that next time I see it on sale somewhere.

There are quite a few dick jokes in this game

 If I get bored today I'll go through my shelf of games and set aside the ones that I still have interest in while putting the rest away.  I do know that I need to finish the new God of War, continue playing Skyrim, Trophy clean up on Dead Space and Dante's Inferno.  I also need to play and beat Dead Space 2, Dragon Age 2 (though probably not till after I am done with Skyrim as I should limit myself to 1 RPG at a time) and a few others.  We will see where this takes me.

Deadpool and Lady Death

Oh, and of course I'll blog about it because I have nothing better to do :)
Coming soon a possible work related post - I've got a feeling....