Week of Loss - Mar. 1

This week I lost 4.4 lbs., and am now within 34.8 lbs. of my goal weight.

Continue to monitor my progress and other health and wellness information over at A Year of Loss and Health, Pirate.

A Few Lost Shows

I had to do it. I had to kill a few shows to make space on my woefully overcrowded DVR. So gone are season 4 of Prison Break and season 2 of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. It's not that I don't enjoy these shows; I just know I can watch them later on DVD, and at about 13 or 14 recorded episodes each, they were sitting there on the DVR - unwatched for months and months - taking up some much needed space.

I feel bad doing this - like I'll suddenly start aching to watch those specific shows, but I know it's for the best. Now, I've just got to make sure the rest of the shows sitting out there don't build up like those two did.

Lack of Posts

I know it's been a few days since I was up here posting. It's not that I haven't had stuff to say, but its been mostly short story reviews and exercise woes. I suppose that'll be the case when running three blogs, each with its own specific purpose, all a part of my one life.

I just haven't spent much time the past few weeks living the entertainment life. It's been a life of exercise and work. I'll get back to fun.

(And there's always the sporadic Tweets that appear to the right, on this very page, to keep you informed of my more daily, singular thoughts.)

New Music

Picked up some new CD's today at Best Buy. I felt like treating myself, and I was getting tired of the mix I've been listening to for hours (literally) at the gym.

Picked up Erin McCarley's Love, Save the Empty, the soundtrack/score to Slumdog Millionaire, and Travelogue: Blues Traveler Classics by Blues Traveler. Listened to tracks from all three while working out tonight and am very happy with my purchases. All three are worth a spin and can keep you entertained and rockin' for hours.

Week of Stories - Feb. 22

Stories read this week from over at A Year of Stories, Pirate.

Monday: “Springtime À La Carte” by O. Henry * *
Tuesday: “Dog” by Deb Olin Unferth * * *
Wednesday: “Water Names” by Lan Samantha Chang * * *
Thursday: “Deb Olin Unferth” by Deb Olin Unferth * * * * *
Friday: “Real Life” by Donald Ray Pollock * * * * *
Saturday: “Ava Wrestles the Alligator” by Karen Russell * * * *
Sunday: “All That You Love Will Be Carried...” by Stephen King * * *

My favorite story of the week was: “Real Life”

From the review: “The dialogue, the pain and suffering (struggle is a trait I imagine I’ll see throughout this collection), and the truth of small town life, are what give these characters their personality and depth. There’s one scene with an Oscar Mayer wiener that seems so absurd, so sad and embarrassing, that you can’t help but flinch and feel sympathy in the same moment. ”

Week of Loss - Feb. 22

This week I lost 3.8 lbs., and am now within 39.2 lbs. of my goal weight.

Continue to monitor my progress and other health and wellness information over at A Year of Loss and Health, Pirate.

Bowling

I did well bowling tonight (for me). I was a little concerned before I began because of how sore my arms have been, but in the end, that didn't seem to have any impact on how I bowled. I do wish I could have found a lighter ball (I rolled with a 15 lb. ball - it was the lightest that could accommodate my fat thumb). I prefer to roll a 12 lb. ball so that I can lob it halfway down the lane. There is less of a chance that the ball goes awry if it only has to travel half the distance.

Game one saw a score of 114, and game two was a 124. My arm was starting to get sore then, so it was a perfect time to end. It was more fun that I imagined it being.

Late Nights

This has been a week of late nights. The time at which I'm normally in bed has now become my time at the gym. And of course, after working out and getting cleaned up, who's ready for bed? I have recently still had story reviews or work to finish, or even 10 - 15 minutes of Leno to help me cool down, calm down for sleep.

I'm sure these late nights aren't healthy, but they're the only way I can make the time in the day that I need to do what I feel I need to do. Balance is my goal - but at this point I'm at a loss at where to begin, what to cut, and how to make it all work.

The Girl Strikes!

The Girl turned my day around. As stressed and frustrated as I was, it turned out juice (Strawberry Banana V8 Fusion) was the cure.

I went and worked out - a very fun 2 miles of running, with a little over 3 miles of warm up and cool down walking - and some of the stress of the day melted away. I called The Girl on the way home to talk before bed, and as I was talking to her, pulling into my driveway, I noticed a suspicious shadow next to the garage door. Thinking I was going to have to get medieval on some feral animal, I swore under my breath before my headlights killed the shadow and showed me the juice. I knew immediately who placed the present there. And I thanked her for making my day.

I really like V8 Fusion juice.

I can't believe how lucky I am to have a girl who knows just what it will take to turn my day around.

Not A Good Start to the Week

This day has gone from great (this morning) to hell (tonight). As I was leaving work I was reminded about a deadline I missed. At first there was a bit of hope - I was told the deadline was tomorrow - but then I checked and found it that it was actually Friday. Last week.

The lady giving me a haircut - normally an experience that makes my day - ended up grinding the clippers into my ear. My cell phone finally decided it had had enough "Fatal Errors" and simply died. When I was taking my trash out from under the sink I noticed some water. Turns out the sink has been leaking. Brilliant, eh?

And now it's 8 and I want (not really) to go workout - it's a night to run - but nothing of my work - of which there is more than plenty - is done. I got the short story read, but not the review typed. All my posts on the Health blog were supposed to be caught up tonight (nope), and my promise to read my friend's article on his blog will also not occur. The Nutrition Log is current through only Tuesday of last week. Helium promises $5 on the first published article, but only if it's in the next seven days from the initial registration (so, due tomorrow). I kind of thought I might enjoy a comic tonight - my first in a month - but with all that's happening, I'm sure it'd just spontaneously combust if I took it out of the bag.

What a night!

Week of Escaping Tweets - Feb. 15

A collection of some of the escaping thoughts (tweets) from the past week - complete with COMMENTARY!
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No Guitar Hero with my friends, mom. [This week’s episode of The Big Bang Theory was hilarious.]

Lazy lady at work who refuses to turn on all of the lights on in our common area is going to drive me absolutely nuts! [As far as pet peeves go, this one is my largest and most frustrating right now. It seriously makes me wall-punching mad to show up at work, day after day, and find this happening.]

It's total crap - all my mail (except a $5 Rewards Zone cert.) was bills today. Big bills; the killers. [I did finally receive my tax refund which has helped with my money stress and difficulties.]

Got around for work with 5 minutes to spare. What fun can be had in 5 minutes? [Seems like par for the course – the only time I do find to have for fun is too short to use.]

It must be noticeable - the weight loss. 3 separate compliments on my appearance in the past 2 days. [The compliments are a huge added bonus I never expected.]

My walk turned into the first run of the year. And it was good. Not as tough as I would have thought. Go me. [Now I’m training for my second marathon.]

The gym is a dangerous place - so many things to workout on. I was there for 2 hours straight working out. [Still am going to struggle getting there – and then leaving after only 30 minutes – in the morning. I just bet I will struggle.]

Gas pump clicked off at exactly $25. I love round numbers. [Cool stuff like this is very rare.]

The DMRegister is now following me on Twitter. Cool beans. [I actually wouldn’t mind doing my writing professionally – have I mentioned that?]

Off to do Valentine's Day with The Girl. [Wonderful meal at Bravo! (veal – which was a little bland, but the marsala sauce was great) and a movie Confessions of a Shopoholic which was pretty funny.]

The weekend went by too quick. Way too quick. [I’m exhausted, and I’m off to bed.]
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As always, follow the Escape Pirate over on Twitter.

Week of Stories - Feb. 15

Stories read this week from over at A Year of Stories, Pirate.

Monday: “Witch War” by Richard Matheson * * *
Tuesday: “The Last Leaf” by O. Henry * * * *
Wednesday: “Powder” by Tobias Wolff * * * *
Thursday: “Frank Lloyd Wright” by Deb Olin Unferth * * *
Friday: “Dance of the Dead” by Richard Matheson *
Saturday: “I Kiss a Door” by Miranda July * *
Sunday: “Rest Stop” by Stephen King * * * *
Sunday: “One She Once Was” by Deb Olin Unferth * * * *

My favorite story of the week was: “Rest Stop”

From the review: “I’ve had some thoughts about situations just like this – some much worse – and there’s just something about rest stops that brings such thoughts to mind.”

Week of Loss - Feb. 15

This week I lost 2.8 lbs., and am now within 43 lbs. of my goal weight.

Continue to monitor my progress and other health and wellness information over at A Year of Loss and Health, Pirate.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, world!

My Valentine's Day started off a little later than I wanted, but I think it was probably all for the best. I had intentions to wake and get to the gym by a little after 5. I wanted to get in an hour's workout and be home by 6, so that I could get some work done before my plans with The Girl began in earnest.

Instead, I awoke at 6:30 and made it up to the gym by 7. An hour later would be 8 and that wasn't going to be so bad.

Only...

The gym is full of fun equipment. And I was easily distracted by doing "just one more thing." I ended up staying at the gym until after 9 - moving from biking to walking to running. Burned 1,200+ calories and worked hard. It was just what I needed to start the day off.

I'm feeling sore (legs), but amazed with my workout accomplishments today.

And the day will only get better. How cool is that?

(The work? Yeah, I'll do as much as I can today and finish the rest tomorrow - I'm not going to stress out about it all; things tend to work out just fine.)

I'm a Heel

I feel terrible that I gave my buddy Neal a hard time for not posting to his blog, Midnight Sprint. I told him I checked it every day and that I was disappointed in the lack of new content.

So, of course, he goes and puts up what I'm sure is a great article reprinted from the Daily Iowa. And I say "what I'm sure is a great article" because once he does put up new content, I'm suddenly too busy to read it and respond - like I promised.

What a heel.

If you are still talking to me (i.e. reading my blog), I promise I'll get to it this weekend, Neal.

And if you haven't popped over to check out Midnight, you should. While it's full of different content, it's well done and entertaining in its own right.