The Gym...20 pounds later

I've had a gym membership for several years. My attendence record has been a bit spotty (to say the least.) For a while, I'd go in the morning before work to use the cardio equipment, but that was doing little to improve my physique (at the time, I weighed about 150 pounds.) This past October, I decided to hire a personal trainer. It cost a small fortune, but I was determined to bulk up. Here it is, five months later, and I've managed to put on over 20 pounds (most of which I hope is muscle.) Granted, with the money I've spent on the trainer, the supplements, the shakes, the soy milk, and the gym fees, I could have bought a new car, but I'm pleased with the results.

My goal is 190 pounds. Currently, I'm at 174, up 21 pounds from where I started. I'm eating 4,000 calories a day and going to the gym five times a week. My trainer tells me that we'll cut that back to 1,800 calories a day for a while here pretty soon, which will cause me to lose some of the mass I've gained, but will help me to develop more definition. Then, the cycle starts over. I figure in a few years, I'll be over 200 if I keep it up.

For anyone considering a trainer, I have to say that having one motivates you to go to the gym. I know I have an appointment at certain times, so I'm compelled to go since my trainer's income is dependant on my attendence. That might sound silly, but it works for me. Also, the trainer knows far more about this than I do, so he shows me which exercises are most effective, and smacks me in the head when I do them incorrectly.

So, if you wanna bulk up and get smacked in the head, GO FOR IT!

64 days and counting...

Only 64 days until Celebration IV...do you have your tickets?

I can't tell you how excited I am about about going to Celebration IV. We spent the entire day last Saturday planning out the trip. I'm really not sure what to expect from Celebration IV, other that a bunch of cool stuff and actors. All I know is that I'm going, and I'm going to have a BLAST!

The week after Celebration, we're going to MGM Orlando for Star Wars Weekends and Gay Day Orlando. I'm going to be so sick of Star Wars by the time I get back....YEAH RIGHT!!!!

Sci-fi Expo 2007

Well, another Sci-fi Expo has come and gone. It was great. We saw many of our favorite stars, including Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, and Walter Koenig. Johnny's huge into Star Trek, so meeting Walter Koenig and getting his autograph was a real treat for him. I bought some cool stuff while I was there. I went a little nuts and spent too much money (no surprise there.) Check out what I bought over on my Star Wars blog.

While we were there, we found out about a concert that the Dallas Symphony is putting on featuring Star Trek music and John de Lancie (AKA "Q"). I bought tickets from the DSO booth and can't wait for the show. I saw on Robert Picardo's website that he may be there too. I'm all excited!

Samsung A707

I've had my new Cingular SYNC (Samsung A707) for a few days now, and I LOVE it. I didn't think I would. It's not as small as my previous phone, but it's packed with features. The last time I bought a phone was three years ago. At the time, your only choice was size and color. The A707 is a Napster compatible MP3 player/cell phone combo with more bells and whistles than I've figured out how to use. My favorite useless feature is the MusicID application that names the artist and song of any music, regardless of where the music is coming from. If the phone can "hear" it, it can "Name That Tune."

Why computers are better than people

It's been 3 years since I last bought a cell phone. I'm one of those strange people who don't want to carry around a phone the size of an encylopeia around, so three years ago I bought the Samsung-s307, the smallest color screen phone I could find. I LOVE this phone, except for one small detail...the speaker in the earpiece isn't very loud and I'm deaf. Not a particularly good combination.

So, this past weekend I decided I wanted a new phone.

I'll preface the story with a disclaimer. I HAVE HORRIBLE LUCK WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE. I am very conscious of the fact that customer service folks aren't the problem. However, when they are rude, unknowledgable, or simply dumb-as-a-stump, I become frustrated. I get even more frustrated when the customer service process is as severely broken as Cingular's is.

I began my quest for a new cell phone online. I am a Napster subscriber, and Cingular has three phones compatible with the service. The first is the Blackjack (way too big), the second is the 3125 (way too expensive), and the third is the SYNC (AKA the Samsung a707). I wanted to see the 3125 and SYNC side by side in action to figure out which one I wanted. I called around, and apparently, the 3125 is discontinued. So, I found a store that had both, called ahead to make sure someone was willing to actually take them out of the box and show them to me. (At Hawk Electronics, the display phones are hunks of plastic that do not funciton). Jonathan, an employee of Hawk, was cordial on the phone and encouraged me to come on down and try them out.

When I arrived (20 minutes later) Jonathan had left for the day, and I was left with a hispanic woman with an attitude. I don't recall her name, but she was obviously a kept woman forced into the workplace by an overachieving husband. She rolled her eyes and clicked her tounge when I asked to see the phones. She'd only bring out one phone at a time, and then wouldn't turn them on for me. After putting up with the attitude for 10 minutes or so, I left angry and without a phone.

Later, I found out that in order to get the $100 rebate on the 3125 (which is the only way it became affordable) you had to sign up for a $40 a month data plan. That made absolutely no sense to me since I wouldn't be using the phone for a data device. So, I was left with the SYNC.

The next day, I went to a Cingular Wireless store that had the SYNC. I walked in and was asked to sign in on the list. I was the only person in the store, and there were five Cingular employees mulling about aimlessly and there were no other names on the list. Against all logic, I signed in on the list. The person behind the counter walked around, crossed my name off, and asked, "How can I help you?" I knew I was in for a treat.

I said, "I want to buy the Samsung A707." She responded with a puzzled look. I repeated my request following it with, "you do sell phones here, correct?" She smiled and asked for my account information and typed it into a computer. She looked at my account information for a short time and the quoted me the price for the phone, $119. I asked her why it was more expensive in the store than the $99 price advertised online. She didn't know but said that if I upgraded my plan and paid $20 more a month, she could bring the phone down to $99. At that point, I had enough. I left the store, again angry with no phone.

On my way back home, I called 611 from my Cingular handset to speak with an online customer service representative to buy the phone, well, over the phone. They were closed. I wanted to throw my phone out the window into oncoming traffic.

I saw a T-Mobile store on my way home and considered switching service, but decided against it. Instead, I went home, got online, and within 5 minutes ordered the phone and printed a receipt. I hopped on EBay, bought some accessories, and 15 minutes later was relaxing on the couch.

If you know me, you know I hate people. In general, people are stupid and lazy. My experience with Chiquita Bonita Barbi and the Cingular Marketing Geniuses only reinforce my views.

Moral of the story: computers are better the people

Concert in the Gardens

I'm looking forward to Concert in the Gardens again this year. Last year was my first experience, and it was FANTASTIC! The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra performed theme music from several science fiction movies, Star Wars being one of them, including a fireworks finale. The FWSO and FWBG sites only promise that more information is coming in May 2007. Dates have been announced, but that's about it.

Weekend fun

For a long time, I was kinda mopey about the whole Dustin thing. That wasn't very fair to me or to the new guy I've been seeing (his name's Johnny.) So, I decided to force myself out of my funk and start enjoying life again. Over the past few weekends, I've made an effort to go do something that didn't involve a computer or a television. While that doesn't sounds very difficult for a normal human being, I find it extrordinarily difficult for some reason. After a week of working and going to the gym, I just want to sit on my butt all weekend.

I recently read an article on Body Worlds and really wanted to go see it. So, I did. Johnny and I made it a day long affair. It's been a LONG time since I went to Fair Park, so we got there early and toured the Museum's that hosted Body Worlds. For lunch, we ate at Zaguan over in the gayborhood in Dallas. We still had some time to kill before Body Worlds, so we also toured the Dallas Aquarium at Fair Park. I must say, I wasn't impressed by anything in Fair Park. The museum wasn't at all impressive, and the aquarium was in pretty bad shape. However, Body Worlds was AWESOME. The exhibits were incredible. There was no glass between you and most of the cadavers. If you've ever wanted to see what the body looks like without skin and fat, this is the place to go. I will warn you, there's lots of...visible reproductive organs.

A few weeks later, I flew to Chicago and spent the weekend with a good friend, Nadine. We did a LOT of eating (I highly recommend Adobo Grill) and also joined her family at the Shedd Aquarium. That was awesome. My favorite part about the aquarium was the Beluga Caviar stand. All you can eat, $19.95. Seriously though, the Shedd Aquarium was incredible. If you're in Chicago and enjoy aquariums, I highly recommend you go to this one.

I wanted to do more in Chicago, but my trip was cut short due to high winds in Texas and ice in Chicago. My flight was cancelled, and the airports were packed. I stood in line for hours to get a boarding pass, and ended up having to fly back though LaGuardia. It took me over 14 hours from the time I got the O'Hare until I got home in Dallas. They lost my luggage, and I had to sit beside a woman with an unhappy baby. Miserable doesn't begin to describe my experience. The only thing that saved me was that I met Peter Mayhew, the 7'3" Englishman who played Chewbacca in Star Wars. I sat in the same row as him on the flight from LaGuardia to DFW. Come to find out, Wookies prefer Bacardi.

Last weekend, we went to see Corteo, a Cirque du Soliel show. It was awesome. I've been to a few Cirque shows, but none where they spoke English. To top it off, it was funny! The main character is a clown who dreams about his funeral. He was quite witty. One of my favorite parts was the very small woman (~3 feet tall) who was suspended by balloons and bounced around the audience.

The stage for Corteo was very small. When I first saw it, I thought I was going to be disappointed. I really didn't think they'd be able to put on an impressive show in such a small area. Boy was I wrong! GO SEE THIS SHOW!

Well, this weekend is the SciFiExpo in Plano. It's an annual event that draws quite a crowd. There's quite a few opportunities for autographs and Q&A panels, if you're into that sort of stuff. Generally, I just stick to the shopping experiences. I've found some GREAT deals on Star Wars merchandise there. It's like EBay, but you can haggle and there's no shipping.

Whew...that's a lot of Weekend fun. Now, I just have to finish my deck.

Long time, no see...

It's been a while since I last posted in my blog. Many things have changed in the six months or so since I posted something. The biggest change is that Dustin moved out. That was tough. He took the dogs, so it was just me for a while. Living alone has its perks, but it gets lonely. Fortunately, I had my XBox, my PVR, and BitTorrent. Surprisingly, even that left me wanting. So, I decided to start dating again. I'll admit, I started dating way too soon, but I thought I was ready for it. Fortunately, I met a guy who's very patient. As luck would have it, he's also a huge scifi fan (just like me.) Things are looking up. :-)

Porch Swings

Ok, I can't resist the temptation of decorating before the deck's even finished.  Dustin wants a porch swing, but given that this is cedar, I'm not certain it would hold up to the stresses of a swing.  That and I really don't want to start reinforcing this thing after it's already put together.  Here's a really nice glider I'm hoping to talk him into (gee, I hope he's not reading this.)  For the price, we'd be hard pressed to build it for the price they're selling it.  Of course, I'd over engineer it and it would last longer and hold up better if I built it...but hey, we'll be sick of it in a year and want something else anyway.

The Deck, Part Trois

It's been a while since I posted an update to the deck. This is mostly because it took over two weeks just to prep the boards and posts that it will take to complete the pergola. One of the "This Old House" guys once said that it 90% of the job is prep work. After that, it's easy. He wasn't exaggerating, at least about the prep work. Well, without further ado, here's our current progress.

The first thing we had to do was cut, sand, and stain the boards and posts that would be used for the pergola. This took the longest of all the tasks.

Next, we assembled the "ladders" that will serve as the roof of the pergola. Each of these runs long-ways. This is half of the "ladders" that will be used.

Once the ladders were assembled we put the posts into place. This took three people. I first tried to do it the "easy" way by nailing 2x4's to the post and then pushing them up a little at a time. This approach failed quickly and miserably. Dustin (being the people person) went next door and got our neighbor to help. I'm sure glad he did. Otherwise, I'd still be out there trying to raise this thing by myself.

After some grunt work, we raised all six posts and put the cross-members in place. I'm sure they have another name, but "cross-member" works for me.

We're over half way there! It's certainly been a challenge and it's taken far more effort and time than I had anticipated, but it's given me something to do while Dustin's at work and I've lost some weight and bulked up in the process. I even have a tan for the first time in about ten years. With any luck, we'll have the "ladders" up and support pieces in place by this time next week. After that comes the stairs, railings, skirting and finally DECORATING!

Mamma Mia!

Dustin and I went to see the smash hit musical Mamma Mia! at Fort Worth's Bass Hall this past weekend. It was a BLAST! I didn't think I'd like it and even lamented shelling out as much as I did for our tickets. I was pleasantly surprised both by our seats and the performance.

If you're not familiar with the musical, Mamma Mia is a story told using the music of ABBA. Needless to say the audience was composed primarily of Kids, Moes, and former Hippies. All the music is live, even the band. I certainly recommend it to anyone who's an ABBA fan, or just enjoys a good laugh.

The Deck, Part Deux

After another week, we finally have something that resembles a deck. We've actually accomplished more that I expected. Keep in mind that neither of us should have been trusted with power tools in the first place, so any progress is noteworthy. After setting the pressure treated 4x4 beams, we put 48 Cedar 2x6's on the beams. Then we back primed them using Ready Seal, and started screwing them into place. We were only able to secure 11 of the boards before we lost daylight, but the remainder should go relatively quickly (so long as we don't kill one another in the process.)

Here's the deck once the beams were secured. This took a LONG time since the 4x4's were somewhat warped. Keeping things level has certainly been a challenge.

Finally, we have planks. The stain isn't uniform, but it doesn't matter at this point. The deck will be sanded before it is stained "for real." The reason it's stained at all is because I used too much Ready Seal on the back side and it ran around to the front. Oh well, it's only $80 for a five gallon bucket. (DOH!)

The Deck

A few months ago, Dustin and I were sitting in our living room watching TV as we normally do in the evenings and one of us (which one of us is still in debate) suggested building a deck and pergola in our very drab back yard. After weeks of planning, we finally started the project. It took me a week to dig the holes for the footers. Texas clay is very hard when dry and sticks to everything when it gets wet. This weekend, Dustin had an unprecidented two days off in a row, so we spent both days pouring the concrete for the footers. Here's the results.

This is the side of the house where the deck will be built. Here you can see the footers as well as the concrete slab that will serve as the foundation.

A close-up of the 12 footers that make up the left side of the deck's foundation.

A close-up of the 6 footers that make up the right side of the deck's foundation.

Buddy & Penny

This is Buddy. He's the ultimate All-American "Dog." Dustin and I found him at the Humane Society of North Texas. Initially, Dustin didn't like him, but quickly warmed up to Buddy. Buddy's about 60 pounds and very energetic. Squeeky toys and laser pointers tend to keep him busy when he's not sleeping.

His playmate, Penny, is equally a handful. Even though she weighs only 50 pounds, she's built like a runner. They once escaped from our backyard when the wind blew the back gate open. A day later, they were both standing at the front door waiting for breakfast.

Concert in the Gardens

On June 24th, Dustin surprised me by taking me to "Concert in the Gardens." Essentially, you pack a picnic, bring your little red wagon to haul it around in, sit in the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and sip on wine as the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra plays music from Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, and E.T. Not only that, but there was a Laser Light show and fireworks to boot. I absolutely LOVED IT and recommend everyone go next time around.

Heather and Dustin toasting to the evening.

Joe-Joe enjoying a sammich

The view from where we sat.

Rob & Dustin

Awww....... It's Rob & Dustin. This is a pic of us at a Christmas Party.

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