The Plan

So, in case it wasn’t obvious to everyone, I need to lose a bunch of weight. I was up to about 320 when I moved to Columbus, and had gotten all the way down to 240. I have since gotten back up to about 265ish. I was doing great, then I just crapped out. Why does food have to be so great? It’s always there for me. I never disappoint it, and it rarely disappoints me. It never asks questions I don’t want to answer. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Truly, I don’t think a relationship with a human being could possibly be as satisfying.
Unfortunately, food has the side effect of making you fat. And being fat is no fun. I’m not really looking to make friends. I’m not sure I really even enjoy human contact that much, so that’s not the point. I would like to be skinny once before I die though. Just to see what it’s like. I feel like people make assumptions about you when you’re tubby, and they’re not good assumptions. Also, I just feel better when I am lighter. I notice as I put the weight back on, I’m just uncomfortable. all the time.
The sad thing is, I know what I need to do. I spent the past couple years learning about nutrition, working out, all that stuff. It’s not that I don’t know what I need to do, it’s that I spend most of my time not giving a shit, then pissed off I don’t give a shit, then hating myself for not being able to do anything about it. It’s a problem of motivation. Mostly. So I decided to see if I could do a biggest loser type thing.
I am hopeful this will provide some motivation for me to finally get back on track. My hope is to lose 30 pounds over 12 weeks. That’s 2.5 per week. I’m not as much focused on how much weight I lose, but that I get back on track working out and eating right. The plan is to work out with weights 3 times a week, and do cardio 5 times a week. I have a really good app on my phone that counts calories (lose it). that I will use to keep track of what I eat. my maintenance intake is about 3,100 calories. I plan to start at 2,600 calories and cut 100 calories every week for the 12 week contest. I don’t know that the last couple weeks are possible I’ll have to see how it goes, I may stop cutting if I’m making good progress. 1500 calories just doesn’t seem like very much when you write a 1500 calorie day out. between the calorie counting and the working out, I should be at a 1000 calorie deficit minimum. I need to lose about 60 pounds total I think, so if I can lose at least 20 by April, that is a solid start to losing that this year. and nothing motivates like success, or so I’ve heard

It’s Just A Game!

So two things have happened in the football world that are getting blown WAY out of proportion. First, Chad Ochocinco got fined 20,000 for waving a dollar bill at a referee during a game. I, for one, thought that was pretty entertaining. Everyone and their mother knew a fine was coming, but it was hilarious.
I was watching Shannon Sharpe on tv and he seems to think he should be suspended. The reasoning? He thinks the casual fan might think that the officials can be bought. What a moron. It’s a good thing he was a great athlete, because his insightful analysis isn’t the reason he’s on tv. Anybody who thinks a ref would change their mind on a call for a dollar is beyond help. I understand the NFL can’t just let that go, but the punishment fit the crime. 20,000 is not a large sum for him, but it’s not like he lied/cheated/intentionally hurt someone.
The other thing is the uniforms to be worn by OSU in the Michigan game. Apparently, Nike talked them into wearing their new pro combat jerseys for one game this year. Nike chose the michigan game, for obvious reasons.
Some people seem very upset that OSU is “letting Nike push them around.”. I guess one of the drawbacks of having a long storied tradition is that people get really attached to it. You can see pictures of the uniform on the OSU athletic site. It is a tribute to the 50′s uniforms. I think it looks very nice. More importantly, I bet that OSU is getting a nice fat check for it. All the people up in arms need to ask themselves if they like having the nicest facilities in the country. So what if Nike makes some money. Good for them. The $100 million bucks they spend on athletics has to come from somewhere. It’s just a freaking uniform. If they win, i don’t care what they wear. I wouldn’t mind buying one myself, but I heard they’re pretty limited. Btw, Nike, if you would make a throwback of a 20′s jersey in wool, cream with scarlet embroidered lettering outlined in grey, you could count me in for an xl.

The Gates of Hell

The Gates of Hell are rumored to be on the campus of Kenyon College in Ohio. Or rather, one of the seven Gates. I’m not sure who gets to decide this, but apparently there are seven, and one of them is about an hour outside of Columbus.

Seems like alot of people I know are going to haunted houses this time of year. ’tis the season, I guess. I, for one, hate haunted houses. They’re usually really stupid. I’ve gone to a few, and it generally seems to consist of strobe lights and people in hockey masks. People pay for this? Anyhow, I remembered reading some books when I was younger about ghost stories in the state of Ohio. The book was called Haunted Ohio, and was really good. There’s a whole series. Go buy them. I figured I would look on the Internet to see if there were any genuine haunted houses/places to go that are close.

I found some interesting places. Did you know that there is a confederate cemetery in Columbus? That place has to be haunted. Absolutely. Then there is The Ohio Penitentiary. Also, I can’t understand how that place could possibly not be haunted. Read the link, it’s great. Built in 1834, housed the gallows then the electric chair. A fire that killed over 300 people. Unfortunately they tore it down to put Nationwide Arena and a parking garage there. Supposedly the arena is haunted now.

Athens is supposedly one of the most haunted cities in the country, even the world. Ohio University is possibly the most haunted college in existence. The most interesting one I saw says that the university has actually sealed off a dorm room in Wilson Hall because they deem it uninhabitable. Apparently, someone killed themselves in there, and they never left. I would love to verify this. That would be interesting. Maybe another time.

The place that really caught my attention was Kenyon College. Just the gothic revival architecture screams haunted, doesn’t it? Read the link, it’s great. There really is supposed to be a gateway to the underworld in Mather Hall. I decided to go today. Had the day off work, seemed fun. I wasn’t really planning on seeing any ghosts, but it sounded fun. Spoiler: I did not see any ghosts. Sorry. It was an interesting place though. The campus is absolutely beautiful. They built most of it so long ago there was no need to be “modern” in the buildings. The oldest building on campus burned down in 1949, killing 9 people of course, and they rebuilt it just the way it was. Awesome. There are definitely newer buildings, but they are very nicely done. Luckily, they seemed to have stayed away from whoever designed the OSU architecture school. I parked right next to the gate to campus, which is really referred to as the gates of hell. Look at the picture in the link. They are, in fact, super creepy.

I walked all the way down the middle path, which is just a wonderful walk. What a peaceful place, honestly. I walked past Mather hall, and poked my head inside. All I saw were people studying. No demons, no burning ring or anything of the sort. How disappointing. I walked past Old Kenyon, and heard no screaming. Just kids playing X-box. It is a very cool building though. If you block out the bikes and kids with iPods, it could be 1850. I visited their little cemetery. Very awkward to get to. It’s tucked behind a building with no path to it, as best I could tell.

I stepped into the chapel, which was the most creepy part of my trip. It is definitely gothic in nature. Old building, skinny doors. The stained glass windows are the best I have seen since I was in Prague. Wonder if they’re original? I walked into someone practicing the organ, so I didn’t walk around inside too much. It certainly set the mood appropriately though! Interesting note I read about the chapel somewhere. In my video, I am facing West. Most churches have the altar facing East. You’ll notice if you look to your left, the altar is facing north. This is highly unusual. There are churches all over the world that are built at odd angles to the surrounding streets so that they can have the church in the shape of a cross on an East-West line. It’s a very odd choice. Also, if you look at this layout on a map, it is an upside down cross. Spooky.
Overall, it was a good way to spend an afternoon. A late October drive through the Eastern or Souther Ohio countryside is always nice, though I think I missed the leaves being in full color by about a week or so. Do I think this place is haunted? Probably. I think if you stuck around a couple nights on campus looking for trouble you might find it. It seems pretty well documented this is a creepy place. I have never stepped foot in the Dayton Masonic Temple without being slightly spooked, especially after the initiation we had there for my fraternity. We all heard a ladies high-heeled footsteps, but everyone in the room which was about 200 feet across felt like they were right next to them. Really made the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Nothing like that happened at Kenyon, but I kinda feel like maybe you really need to go at night. It’s certainly possible it’s just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo though. A place as old as that always will have ghost stories I think. When you mix in those creepy gates it really seems inevitable. So anybody wanna go to OU with me? Maybe for a Phi Mu Alpha thing? I can quiz them on where they keep all their ghosts.

Whew!

Well, I had to work through this game, which wasn’t too big of a deal. It’s the first OSU game I’ve had to work through. I brought in a radio to listen to it, since we’re usually very slow during games. I was a little tense after they missed that field goal, and even more tense when we turned the ball over with about a minute left in the half. Luckily they didn’t score. It kind of seemed like Purdue all over again. Then in the second half it sounded like they did whatever they wanted. The defense would get the ball and they would score a touchdown. The fourth string tailback scored, for god’s sake! Speaking of Jermil Martin, I remember he committed to Iowa as a tailback, then got an offer from OSU to play fullback, and ended up a buckeye. Looks like he might be a little more than a fullback! Hopefully the rest of the season goes more like this week than last week.

Nothing new.

Nothing new to add, but in the interest of too much information, I’m writing something anyway. Somebody switched me at work, so I didn’t have to close three days in a row. There are definitely some cookies in their future, whenever I have the motivation to do anything at all. What did I do with my newfound night off? Nothing. I got some dinner, came home and went to sleep, and it was everything I had hoped for. Apparently, the stupid Yankees lost one tonight. Excellent. The Yankees losing is good for the universe. Also two people I know from completely different places, but are very similar people, had birthdays the 22nd. Weird.

Modern technology

I have really started to make it a point to take advantage of all the cool stuff my iPhone can do lately. I’ve had one for years now, but just upgraded to the 3g s a little bit ago. I’m continually amazed by what the phone can do, but also by the interesting uses for Twitter and all the other stuff. There is an app that aggregates all the twitter feeds from a certain NFL team for your convenience. The gps stuff is getting crazy too. The maps function is handy enough, but now all the apps use the gps. I can have an app track my mileage and mph as well as track the route I take on my bicycle. And if I get lost, it can direct me home. Awesome. Also, i set up my facebook account, my twitter account, and write this blog from my phone. No internet in my apartment. Here’s an article about how it would be great in cars here

Pulling for my bengals now

Well with that OSU debacle behind me now, I can just hope the bengals can continue their winning ways. I won’t be able to watch unfortunately. I get my Saturdays off work, but I get to be the work when nobody else wants to loser as the trade off. Everyone has to be off at 5? Sure, Jason can close with no help. And of course I open Sundays. Thank god for sports apps for the iPhone. I would be lost without them.

So embarassed!

Wow, I am so embarassed we lost to Purdue. I’m even more embarassed we got thoroughly outplayed. Pryor showed something at the end, but mostly he was terrible. Shades of Steve Bellisari. Defense mostly did their job, but the offense was terrible. Again. Hopefully my bengals can win tomorrow.
Chad ochocinco and motorola bought all the tickets that were left so that Cincy wouldn’t get blacked out. Say what you want about him running his mouth, but the guy’s heart is clearly in the right place.

Must be Saturday!

Hope the Terrelle Pryor show can get off the ground today. Everyone compares him to Vince Young, but at this point in his career VY was a redshirt freshman holding a clipboard. Cut him some slack.

Good read about defense under Woody

I’m done

I think I’m done trying to be friends with new people. I am just terrible at it. It’s far too stressful, and for what? It always ends pretty poorly for me. Every time I think I might be making friends with someone, it ends up not being the case. I can’t really blame anyone but myself. If I had anything to offer anyone, I’d be a little more upset about it.