I'm Skinny!!!

...at heart (photo to the right is not me... sadly).

Some of you know that I'm planning a trip to Yosemite next June. I plan on hiking 26.2 miles in one week. Ironically, this is the exact millage of a marathon! This is no joke. Here are the hikes on my list for my Yosemite week:

Half Dome: 14.2 miles round trip
Upper Yosemite Falls: 7.6 miles round trip
Taft Point: 2.2 miles round trip
Sentinel Dome: 2.2 miles round trip
______________
Total: 26.2 miles.

Crazy. But anyway, I digress. The point is, this is a LOT of millage to hike in a week. While a marathon is run all in one day, half of my hiking will be UPHILL!

My dad, who is going with me to Yosemite, purchased a gym membership and some new work-out clothes and shoes in order to get in shape for this event. I too knew that I needed to take some measures to get in shape--I've known too many people that have climbed Half Dome (let alone all the other hikes I'm going to be doing) out of shape and just about died.

Two days ago I went on a walk--a good start for my seriously allergic-to-exercise lifestyle. I walked maybe a mile and felt great.

Today I got on a bike (borrowed from a friend) and rode 7.2 miles. It was wonderful! Needless to say I was exhausted after only about 300 yards, but I kept going. Anyone that says riding a bike isn't exercise should try getting on one again. My legs are spent, but it was an awesome ride. The wind was in my face, it wasn't too hot (94 degrees, hey that's not hot in Vegas), and I had my head phones on playing James Blunt.

I rode to Round Table Pizza where I had a lunch buffet and read my book, relaxing for about an hour (okay stop laughing at me and telling me that eating a pizza buffet negated my bike ride!)

I can't remember the last time I felt that good and relaxed. It was an overall enjoyable enough experience to do it again. I'm going to start riding my bike to work as well. Hopefully it'll be enough to get me ready for my marathon hike in 9 months.

Wish me luck!

Note: The guy in the picture above isn't me. Unless, of course, you really thought it was, in which case it is... of course.

And Then God Created Man

I got this as a forward. I thought it was hilarious:

On the first day, God created the dog and said:

'Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.'

The dog said: 'That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?'

So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said:

'Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span.'

The monkey said: 'Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?'

And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said:

'You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's fa mily. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.'

The cow said: 'That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?'

And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said:

'Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give y ou twenty years.'

But man said: 'Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?'

'Okay,' said God, 'You asked for it.'

So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves. For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.

Life has now been explained to you.

There is no need to thank me for this valuable information. I'm doing it as a public service.

Pocari Sweat and Back to the Future

When I went to Japan this past June, I fell in love with a drink they have there: Pocari Sweat (see proof above). The title isn't that appetizing but the drink itself was to die for. I loved it and drank a few a day--it could be found in any corner vending machine.

The flavor is something like a flavor of Gatorade. It has sugar in it but it's light and extreamly refreshing. It was so humid in Japan (at least in comparison to dry Las Vegas) and water just didn't seem to replenish my system, but Pocari Sweat did.

I was doing some research today to see if there was anywhere in Las Vegas that I could buy Pocari Sweat. In the meantime I stumbled accross a wikipedia entry that mentioned that: "A sixpack of Pocari Sweat can be seen in the family kitchen in the movie Back to the Future Part II (set in the year 2015), humorously implying the drink has become a mainstream product in the United States."

WHAT??? You've got to be kidding me! That's AWESOME! I LOVED that movie as a kid... and... as an adult. So I popped in the DVD, and sure enough, there it was. I took a screen shot for you to see (it's the little blue box on the right side of the frame). AWESOME! (click photo to see bigger)If you ever get to go to Japan, get some. It's great! Otherwise, Wikipedia also mentions: "The 'Arctic Shatter' variety of Powerade-brand sports drink very closely resembles it, in both color and flavor." So I guess I'm going to have to try it out to see for myself.

P.s. For those interested in my movie/ficiton review blog, I've recently posted my reviews of: Next, The Andromeda Strain, TMNT, Accross the Universe, Fool's Gold, and others. Click here.

Speed Stacking

So apparantly there is a sport called Speed Stacking. The object is to see who can stack cups and unstack them the fastest. It is seriously incredible. Just watch these videos here, and if you want to see more, go to YouTube and watch TONS more videos on Speed Stacking. WOW!

I. Can't. Move.

The title of this blog should be spoken through gritted teeth and no moving lips.

I can't remember the last time I was this sore. I'm not saying I've never been this sore before, but I certainly can't ever remember being this sore. If you read the previous blog you'll see that I went water skiing yesterday. I was only in the water for about 15 minutes but that was all it took.

I hurt. Bad.

My back, my legs, my shoulders, my arms. Let me illustrate. While getting dressed this morning I was barely able to lift my pants on. First you have to bend down to grab the pants. Ouch. Then you have to pull up using minimal arm strength. Ouch.

On another (and slightly related) note, Megan and I have decided that for my 30th birthday next year, I'm going to go climb Half Dome in Yosemite National Park--my favorite place on Earth (yes, I took that photo). This is no easy climb. It is difficult and strenuous. And to top it off, I'm also going to climb Sentinel Dome, Taft Point, and Upper Yosemite Falls. In total, over the course of almost a week, I will be hiking about 27 miles.

So I figure if I'm sore to the point of not being able to move after 15 minutes of water skiing, I have a lot of work to do in order to get in shape for Yosemite. Luckily I'm not going until June. I've got about 10 months to make it happen.

Wish me luck!

Day at Lake Elsinore

This morning we got up at 5:30am and drove to Lake Elsinore in Southern California (we're down here staying with Megan's mom). We did some early-morning water skiing in the warmest lake water I've ever felt (I'm not exaggerating).

Being out early on the lake was wonderful because we were the only people there on glassy water. By the time we left (around 9am) people were just arriving--it was great. I only have 4 pictures up (the 4 listed here) on my Flickr site but when I get home I'll put the rest up. Until then, enjoy these (my favorites):

July 4, 2008

Here is a video I compiled of our 4th of July this year. I love making videos like this because it's a great way to preserve our home video memories. In my opinion, a home video is much more fun to watch when it is edited, has music and graphic, etc. Much better than watching hour after hour of, well you've seen people's home videos, NOTHING.

Enjoy our 4th of July

Feeding the Ducks

Last week Megan and I took the kids to feed the ducks. Maddy loved it. I took some video and then did my thing (with editing and adding music, etc). I hope you like it:

200 New Photos!

Hey everyone, I've posted over 200 new photos (mostly of my kids of course) on my Flickr site. To browse through them all, click here. I've included some of my favorites here, but you simply MUST go see the whole collection--there are SO MANY good ones:

Also, I've updated my Fiction Fixation blog with quite a few new reviews including Hancock, The Day the Earth Stood Still, etc. Check it out. Click here.