Reading, interrupted

Ever started a really good book, feverishly read the first half of the book in a day or two, and then, lose interest in the book entirely?

No?

Apparently I'm the only one.

For whatever reason, every book I've read in the last couple of years (outside of The Hunger Games series), I've started, read a good chunk of the book, and then just stopped. Sometimes it's because I'm too tired to read, sometimes because something with flashing lights catches my attention... whatever the case may be, if I start a book, I'm likely to never finish it.

If this all sounds like an exaggeration, it's not. Currently on my Nook, I have read halfway through the following books (and yet to finish)...

- The Whore of Akron 

 - Dogs of Babel

- Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

- Wheat Belly

- Those Guys Have All The Fun

- World War Z

At first I pretended my lack of desire to finish the books was due to the material; after six straight books that have resulted in me stalling at the halfway point, my tune has changed. No longer is it a book problem, it's a ME problem.

Maybe I should start AND finish reading a self help book to self diagnose. Then again, maybe I'll just read half.

Weigh-in Wednesday

I struggle with my weight. Always have, likely always will.  At my worst, I've ballooned to 250 lbs. at my best I've slimmed down to 185. Currently, as the photo above shows, I'm at 199 lbs.

All my life I've been "overweight". People have described me as fat, a few extra pounds, and yes, big boned. Whatever the case may be, I've always managed to carry a few extra pounds around my midsection. Try as I might, I've never found the key to successfully losing weight, and keeping it off.

You see, I'm what dietitians like to call a yo-yo dieter. Have a hot new diet out on the market? I've likely tried it. In the past six months alone, I've been a vegan, I've ate a diet high in protein while low in fat, and for the past two weeks I've been living a gluten free lifestyle. All three diets brought great results, but, and there's always a but...

BUT, the problem, of course, is that once my body adapts to the new way of eating, I stop losing the weight. Usually this occurs when I reach the 200 lbs. mark. At 5'10", 200 lbs. doesn't look terrible on me, especially when I'm clothed, but I can, and should, do better.

Ideally I'd like to weight 175 lbs. At 175, BMI (Body Mass Index) will list me as "normal" in terms of body weight. Of course, BMI does not account for the difference in muscle (which I have very little of) and fat (copious amounts), but it does make for a nice guideline to follow when trying to hit your goals.

Another way to stay on track and hit your goals is to be open and accountable for your weight. This is where my blog comes in to play. Every Wednesday, I'll post my weight. I don't care if I've gained five pounds or lost five pounds I will make it a priority to put a photo of my weight on this blog each and every week. At times, I'm sure it won't be easy, but as you may have figured out already, weight loss has never been something that came easily to me.

Every tradition needs a beginning, today is that moment.

What year is it?

Well, it's been a while, but, after nearly four years of inactivity I've decided to give personal blogging another go.

As for what to expect? You've probably got just as good of an idea as to what's going to be filling up this digital space as I do... so if there's anything particular you want me to blog about, drop me a line and let me know.

- David

Rain, rain, go away?

It's raining outside.

Forecasters are forecasting that their forecast will say it will rain all day tomorrow.

I for one am enjoying the possibilities of a throw away weekend in front of the TV watching football and letting my worries and cares dissolve into nothingness just as the trillions upon trillions of rain drops Tropical Storm Hannah will no doubt produce.

So its raining, its pouring, but no old man is snoring... yet.

What this storm HAS made me realize though; is how low key a city Richmond is. Here I am stuck on the inside looking for something, ANYTHING to do... and quite frankly I am stumped as to what the city could possibly offer me that would resemble anything even close to what I would call "fun".

So here's to you Hannah. You might not be able to rain on my parade... but you damn sure can make Richmond a drag.

The Moment All Boys Dream of...

I beat my dad in golf the other day.

On a short par three at the local golf course, I hit a beautiful nine iron pin high that landed about six feet past the hole. My dad, an above average scratch golfer countered with a bit more errant tee shot that landed to the left of the green in the rough. Chipping out of the rough, my father missed the green again and had to settle for a three putt that put him at five strokes for the hole, or plus two strokes overall.

This was my chance, the chance all boys dream of; the day they finally beat their dad in something meaningful. With nerves of Jell-O, I moved over my putt with shaking arms and sweat dripping down my face. I lined up the putt, brought my putter back and let forth the smoothest stroke I could muster.

Before I continue with my story, I think a little backstory is needed to explain why this was such a big event to me.

My dad and I have been playing golf together for years. I've never once beat him on a hole. He's always been more athletic than me, playing point guard in college, QB in high school, throwing multiple no hitters in little league; while I on the other hand rode the bench in basketball and football in high school and had a decent, yet unspectacular career in high school baseball.

We've both loved golf from an early age, and as all fathers do, my dad passed on his love of the game to me. So finally after 10 years of playing rounds of golf together, this one putt would potentially change everything in our father/son relationship.

Slowly the dimpled ball rolled towards the cup. What seemed like a lifetime to me, I’m sure happened in an instant; the ball calmly dropped down in the center of the cup and I had done the impossible; I had beaten my father.

I had crossed the final frontier. I mean, that is the holy grail of a young man’s life right? The day you final defeat you father in a sport you both enjoy? If that’s the case, why did the feeling of joy, like the moment of the putt dropping in the hole, only last a second? Shouldn’t I have felt a wave of joy and accomplishment like no other before it?

I have my theories of course as to why I wasn’t overwhelmed by the moment… Maybe it was because I am 23 years old, and beating my father, now 52, does not hold as much weight as it would have when I was in my early teens. Or maybe it’s because as time has passed, I, like all others have unfortunately begun to see my father as not a god like I once thought, but just another man trying to do the best he can with what he has been given.

Whatever the case, I have finally beaten my dad in something we both enjoy. The moment may have lasted an instant; but the look of pride on his face will be a memory I hold on to for a life time.

Weekend trip to NYC!

Not having posted in months, I thought I'd kick off my first blog post back with 15 or so photos I took with my camera phone while visiting New York City this past weekend. (August 1 through August 3).

Here's a photo of Times Square Meag Board all lit up!

To see the rest just click on the link below and check out my Facebook photo album! If you're not my friend on Facebook, a.) why aren't you? and b.) leave me a friends request and I'll Facebook friend you!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024359&id=31300282
(The link to the Photo album!)

Enjoy!

The evolution of me... through the magic of photos!

I'm back!!!

After a long spring/summer layoff I'm ready to dust off the keyboard to give you guys another glimpse into what makes me... me!

Before we start, I have a confession to make.

I write in journals.

And I write a lot.

But only in sporadic spurts.

It's weird...

I have to have about 10 or 11 of them lying around, each with pages half full of rambles, scribbles and horrible penmenship... the other half of each journal is almost always categorized as "white space".

I have a really bad habit of starting up a journal, getting bored, and then moving on to the new one. In all actuality, I've probably got about five "full" journals worth of material with the rest being blank loose leaf paper.

So I confess, I'm causing Global Warming by not fully using my notebooks.

Wow! That feels so good to get off my chest.

As for what I really want to talk about today...

Originially I had wanted to make my return blog a look into the past with a journal entry from one of my many journals lying around the house. I had planned to post an entry that I had wrote while sitting in class during the fourth grade. This particular entry is special to me because its the first time I ever remember touching on multiple subjects all in one entry. On that page held the following topics:

• Complaints about having to go shoe shopping on a Friday.


• The virtues of red power ranger vs. green ranger.


• Why this girl named Casey was taking such an interest in me... and how much at the time that scared me (girls...cooties...yuck!).


• Did the soundtrack to the Lion King really win over all girls hearts?


• And last but not least, I wrote a brief, albeit, very descriptive summary of a recess football game we had just played. I remember writing that I caught the winning touchdown and was mobbed by all my friends. You could tell I was excited by how my writing style changed... all of the previous topics are a jumbled mess until you reach the football recap which is written with extreme caution and attention to detail. I must of wanted to make sure that memory would be one that I could look back on 14 years later and still remember it as clearly as the day it actually occured.

Unfortunately, as cool as all of that sounds, I can't seem to find that journal at the moment... but as luck would have it, I found something else that I thought would make a cool little blog post.

I found photos...

Lots of them.

And the neat this is, there were tons of them, all spread out across the timeline of my life. Baby photos, elementary school photos, awkward teenage year photos, high school/college photos, and yes, even more recent modern photos.

With all that being said, I decided to pull four photo from the stack I found and want to put them online as a sort of visual representation of how "I" became "me".

Enjoy!

The Birthday

This first photo is a good 17 to 18 years old. It was taken at a birthday party for (at the time) my best friend Johnathan Hall. He's the one in the middle with the toy gun. I love this photo, and I actually think it makes a pretty good artsy photo as well.

You've got me looking all model-ish by not looking directly at the camera (and sporting some nice threads as well! Sea green polo... badass!)

You've got the sun positioned just right to catch that golden hue in my hair and you've got awesome props! The theme of Johnathan's birthday that year was Ghostbusters! As you can see there are two seperate guns in the shot... and one awesome fire fighter plastic hat! If you look real close, you can see a very young Michael trying to make his way into the photo... but really... no one tops my uber-sexiness in this photo. Admit it. Baby Gap would kill for a model with my playful looks at the time.

*Sigh* What could have been.

Mall Santa



This photo was taken a few years after the birthday photo, and I happen to think this one is also by far the funniest photo out of the bunch... Take a glimpse and I think you'll agree... Here's why:

First, look at Mall Santa, could the guy be any less excited to be there? I'm sure he was hungover, or something, but man, do some method acting! You're Mall Santa! Wear that badge proudly!

Second, look at me! I am pumped to be sitting with Santa! Notice the goofy facial expression and the tiny index finger pointing at Mall Santa. Obviously I was in awe of Mall Santa and his coolness. Ironically, I still am in awe of Mall Santa's... but for a totally different reason. Heh.

Friends for life?



This third photo comes about 10 to 11 years ago as I was just starting to enter my awkward tween years. To the left of me in this photo was my good friend Ben Moore. I'm kind of creeped out by how skinny I am in this photo, but I'm also extrememly envious of my former self. I was so naive, so happy, so skinny! I hadn't yet met the heartless she-devil known as metabolism... What a sad day that must of been when we first came in contact.

I'm not really sure what Ben is doing anymore... even with Facebook and Myspace its pretty much impossible to track him down as his name is so common, I could search for days and never find the right Ben.

The Party



The last photo that I'm going to share today comes all the way back from sophomore year in college. This photo was taken on Halloween night at a JMU frat party. Looking my best in my nerd costume (which I pulled off amazingly btw!) my friend David O'Brien and I were set to conquer the party and find us some girls! Sadly, David ended up making out with three girls at the party, I kissed none...

BUT, BUT, I did come up with "The Nerd Dance". I don't claim to be a genius very often, but "The Nerd Dance" is just that. Genius!

Pointing my fingers to the sky, I would slowly rock my torso back and forth with my arms pumping like a madman. The desired effect of course was to look like a total geek on the dance floor, and from all accounts I totally succeeded.

But once again... aren't I just the coolest/sexiest/hipest nerd you've ever seen?!?

Well that's it for this blog... I'll be sure to post one of my journal pages in the coming days... especially if I can find the one from that fourth grade class.

Have a good one.