Buffy & eBay

I’m taking a night off from the gym because after two really hard workouts Saturday and yesterday, I’m sore all over and I wouldn’t be able to get much of anything meaningful accomplished other than going through a lot of unnecessary pain. The workouts on this program require a couple of rest days during the week and today is one of them. Back at it tomorrow.

I tried to record Land of the Dead last night but I came home to find it not on the DVR. Even though I’m guaranteed to not like the movie I still need to see it for zombie reasons, but I’ll have to get my undead fix by watching Season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Molly brought home the DVDs she borrowed from a friend at work and we started watching them this weekend. I never watched this when it was on, but it’s a really good show. This season is pretty cartoonish, complete with amateurish monster costumes, ridiculous plots, and predictable characters, but it’s pretty compelling to watch (partially due to the undeniable presence of Sarah Michelle Gellar in her prime).  I throughly enjoy this show.

The villains on Season 1 Buffy are hilarious. Between the She-Mantis, Robot Gremlin, demon hyenas, and the collection of ever-present clay-faced vampires, it’s pretty hysterical. I also find it funny and kind of disturbing that before Buffy arrived at Sunnydale High, all these supernatural happenings and dead students were going on unchecked. Every episode a student or teacher is murdered by a ghoul of some sort. After watching enough of these episodes, I cannot help but be grateful that Plymouth North evaded all this mayhem.

I spent the day on eBay yesterday gauging the XBox 360 market. After trying to buy Madden 09 for my poor little GameCube yesterday only to discover that they don’t even make it for the Cube anymore, I’ve come to the realization that my system is obsolete and it’s time to upgrade. That meddlesome girl I’m marrying told me to wait until the wedding before making any major purchases, but she’s not the boss of me. I looked on eBay to find a used or wholesale 360 and determined that $150 is what I’ll have to spend to acquire this beautiful piece of machinery. I decided to place a couple of bids at $100, not thinking I would either one. I went to the gym and came home to find that I had in fact won the first XBox, only to read the fine print and see “for parts or repair.” I wrote the guy asking to get out of the sale and he angrily obliged. The second system came down to the wire as I was less than 1 minute from winning it for $108. Since I never intended to actually buy anything, I’m glad those close calls went the other way. I’ll get one in a couple months, unless I become an eBay loose cannon again.

from The Onion…

Liberty City Police Face Allegations Of Incompetence, Brutality

LIBERTY CITY—With the city in the midst of a record crime wave, concerned citizens claim the Liberty City Police Department has done little to prevent the constant car chases, ongoing gun battles, and overall atmosphere of violence that pervade the area.

“I used to feel safe in Liberty City, but lately, it’s been total mayhem,” said night-shift worker Lola Del Rio, who spoke to reporters while sucking nervously on a red lollipop. “In the past week alone, I’ve been carjacked twice, run over 10 times, and witness to a half-dozen gunfights that ended with automobiles exploding. What are the police doing to stop all this?”

Officers respond to one of the 43,274 murders reported in the city last month.

Since the surge in crime, which began on April 28 at midnight, more than 830,000 civilians have been murdered—nearly one-tenth of Liberty City’s total population. In addition, 35,000 vehicles have been reported stolen, many of which were then driven illegally over sidewalks and pedestrian walkways before plunging into the nearby Humboldt River. And according to startling figures released by local community action group Citizens for a Safer City, drug trafficking has become rampant and prostitution has increased by 800 percent.

“I was shot 14 times on my way to work today, including twice by police,” said one Algonquin-area resident. “That is unacceptable.”

Many blame the LCPD directly for the increase in criminal activity, citing the department’s lax procedure for arresting criminals, which involves taking 10 percent of the suspect’s money, confiscating his weapons, and simply releasing him from custody later that day. Outraged citizens say this is not enough, especially in a city where assault rifles can be found on factory roofs and grenade caches are located under the globe at the old World’s Fair site.

“The police just let them go, and 20 minutes later they’re shooting at the very same criminals from helicopters,” veteran crime reporter Mike Whiteley said. “That is not proper law enforcement. We may be seeing a return to the bad old days of 2002, when the police, the FIB, and even Army tank battalions would leave countless bodies on the streets while attempting to capture just one man on some sort of joyful mass-destruction spree.”

Perhaps even more alarming, city records indicate that more than 75 percent of perpetrators in mass-murder or vehicular-manslaughter cases escape, usually by simple methods such as driving into a car-repainting facility. Criminals have even eluded pursuit by walking into their apartment and going to bed for six hours, after which the search has been called off.

However, one LCPD official, who wished to remain anonymous, blamed the recent crime wave on the police department’s lack of proper equipment.

“We are only equipped to pursue a suspect within a small radius on a very basic half-centimeter radar screen,” the officer said. “If we were allowed to seek criminals who escaped this radius for more than 15 seconds, our results would improve dramatically.”

“And to those who say the LCPD is too quick to resort to deadly force, remember that almost 850,000 police officers, FIB agents, and N.O.O.S.E. [National Office of Security Enforcement] team members have died in the line of duty in the past month,” he added.

Nonetheless, residents say that their confidence in the Liberty City police force—low in the best of times—has eroded almost completely.

“I was buying a hot dog from a street vendor in Hove Beach yesterday when I saw someone run a red light, barrel down the sidewalk, careen into a garbage truck, exit his vehicle, steal a nearby convertible, and drive away,” one Broker resident reported. “A nearby police car didn’t even react. But when the car behind him nicked his fender, the officer shot the driver through the windshield and walked away.”

“That is not the kind of law enforcement we want for our community,” he added.

Most admit that the problem is not a lack of police presence, as the LCPD currently operates 15 different police stations throughout the city’s four boroughs, and there is a seemingly infinite number of officers on duty at all times to respond to reported crimes. However, citizens say the officers’ “shoot-first” mentality and willingness to accept bribes only contributes to the city’s widespread violence and corruption.

“It’s almost as if the cops in this town are as much an adversarial faction as the criminals,” said public defender Kiki Jenkins, who is rumored to be instrumental in recent incidents of police being inexplicably pulled from chases and criminal pursuit. “Sure, we have excellent radio stations and an incredible range of things to see and do here. But if I were younger, I’d move to Mario World in a second.”

Pottery Jinx & Gisele

In our new quest for active, different dates, Jaylynn and I painted pottery at a place in Worcester called “Clay Time”. Needless to say, I was the only 25-year-old male in the building, but it wasn’t too bad. She painted a football-shaped chip/dip tray with “Patriots 2008″ in blue and red letters, while I painted a coffee mug silver with a Pats logo, so I salvaged some football-related manliness out of it. Artistically, I think I did pretty well. It required a level of focus and skill that I believe only Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, and now I possess (we were there for about three hours). Even with the stencil, the Pats logo was a pain in the ass to paint. I used white puffy paint along the edges and…..um, I better stop explaining this now before I start to arouse suspicion. Between this and posting Tom Brady pictures yesterday, I should post a Gisele picture just to save face….

There, that’s better. Anyway…

So, in deciding what to add to the other side of this coffee mug, I decided on “19-0.” It’s a bold decision and potentially jinxing (well, not really, they are going to win), but still nerve-racking if they don’t. Our stuff won’t be ready until next week anyway because they have to put it in the kiln.

Here’s my feeling on the Tom/Gisele thing, because a lot of people don’t like her and don’t like the fact that Tom Brady is dating her. I think the Greatest Quarterback of All-Time deserves to be with someone who can be in the argument for sexiest woman in the world.  While I don’t think Gisele is the sexiest woman in the world (in fact, I had a hard time finding photos where she looked that good, plus I’ve already pissed Jaylynn off enough with this topic, I won’t fan the flames by writing about who I think is), her fame, her financial worth ($33 million last year), her status as the flagship Victoria’s Secret model until recently, and the fact that she goes by one name raises her a few levels above how hot she actually is. The concept of Gisele is more important than who she really is or what she looks like (I will direct you to the chapter “10 Seconds to Love” in Chuck Klosterman’s book Sex, Drugs, & Cocoa Puffs where he compares the Marilyn Monroe/Joe Dimaggio pairing to Pam Anderson/Tommy Lee and gets into the whole athlete/celebrity thing). Tom and Gisele are probably the closest we are going to get to another Dimaggio/Monroe. It would make more sense if she was American, but in terms of celebrity she’s American enough.

Here’s another Gisele photo for the road.

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Now playing: Taking Back Sunday – Set Phasers To Stun
via FoxyTunes

New Title

I need a good title for this blog, preferably a Simpsons quote. “The Training Log” is too boring and I’m writing about more than working out nowadays. Since random, nonsensical blog titles are all the rage these days, I figure I might as well jump on the bandwagon. I’m gonna think of some and see how they look.

Big Vince

Wilfork’s regimen a real belly buster

I found this article on Boston.com about how Vince Wilfork lost weight using the Men’s Health book, The Abs Diet. I used this back in the day with good results, and lately I’ve been tempted to go back. Right now I’m using something called Adam’s Diet which is pretty popular on the JP Fitness Forums. It’s since been updated as The TNT Diet, another Men’s Health book (notice how both The Abs Diet and The TNT Diet involve running on the beach shirtless with models). I’m either going to go back to the Abs Diet or buying the TNT book in the next couple weeks. I feel mentally drained right now on Adam’s Diet but the TNT book has a lot more recipes, so we’ll see.

In any case, good for Vince.

Retirement

Just as Bill Parcells has retired from coaching and will accept a position with the Atlanta Falcons as a personnel guy, I’m going to do the same in Madden. After three more championships capped by a 19-0 Super Bowl season with my beloved Patriots, there is nothing else I can accomplish in New England. I am going to find a crappy team and use my drafting and free agency talents to turn them into a winner. No more playing, for now.

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Wednesday Morning

Dan told me that my blog is basically an “extended away message,” which is more or less true. Nowadays I’m writing about the minutia of life and whatever comes to mind during the day, whether I think it’s important or not. It’s keeping me focused on my goals, so whatever works.

I just woke up, it’s 7:26 AM, and I am overcome with the desire to eat unhealthy. I want donuts, bagels, and coffee with a ton of sugar. In the past this would be one of those days that would send me off the nutrition wagon, but I’m not going to let that happen. I am NOT going to let that happen.

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liftSTRONG

I bought a $25 CD-Rom the other day put together by about 50 personal trainers, exercise scientists, and nutritionists called liftSTRONG. Obviously this is a play on the whole LIVE STRONG thing that Lance Armstrong has (they even have wristbands), and all proceeds from this product go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was put together by Alwyn Cosgrove, a trainer and creator of the workouts in my New Rules of Lifting program as well as a two-time cancer survivor.

I am glad that I purchased liftSTRONG, primarily because I donated $25 plus shipping to a great cause, and there is some good information on it. Honestly, I thought it would be little flashier (it’s a bunch of PDF files in article format) and not many of the articles are that applicable, but it’s a good deed nonetheless and I’ll read through a few more of the articles as time goes on.

If you have a few bucks, are interested in fitness (again, about zero people who read this blog) and want to donate to something worthy, check out liftSTRONG.com.

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Now playing: Bruce Springsteen – Devil’s Arcade
via FoxyTunes

Off-Day

I never made it to the gym today. It’s technically an off-day so this isn’t too much of deal (in fact I might play with my Ab Wheel later on just to get something in). I was planning on doing some cardio but working at Plymouth Country Club today was relatively physical–raking leaves for 8 hours–and I was freezing and exhausted by the end of the day, so I was hardly sedentary. I have my intense Part B workout tomorrow and I plan on completing it.

Something to read at some point, for anyone seriously interested in training (which is zero people that I know) is T-Nation’s Physique Clinic. This is sort of what I’m doing, in terms of blogging about my workouts and diet, except a couple of T-Nation’s trainers provide the workouts, free supplements (!) and plenty of motivation/ridicule.  I think it’s a pretty excellent idea and I would consider participating  in something like that (especially for the free supplements, Biotest literally sends a truckload of protein and other good stuff), but man, these trainers can be brutal on these guys. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, and most of the time I am pretty faint of heart compared to the T-Nation crowd.

I’m still not sure of my overall opinion of that site. I think there is a lot of good information and motivation in their articles, but it often seems too meathead-ish. It’s not the most welcoming place and maybe it’s the red-on-black color scheme and the fact that their forums are full of guys who probably have tribal armband tattoos. In any case, there is a lot of good info.

I’m back in the gym tomorrow.  I have my final graduate records check tomorrow morning at 9 AM in Worcester and I’ll be back to train after that.

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Now playing: Ace, Man on a Mission
via FoxyTunes

A Couple of Quotes…

I pulled a couple of quotes from Craig Ballantyne’s blog:

“It’s not supposed to be easy. Disciplined people succeed; undisciplined people don’t…Nothing changes by doing what’s fun and EASY.”

“The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.”

Eating spinach and broccoli.