Author: Varza

Olympics Beijing 2008

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I am not sure if any of you got a chance to watch the opening ceremonies of hte 2008 Olympics in Beijing or if you are boycotting it like many others. But it was absolutly magnificent to watch. I have seen every opening ceremonies since I can remember for both the summer and winter games and I have to say, this is probably the best yet. From the dancers to the drummers to the creation of a large piece of artwork created by the artists in the artistic portion as well as every athelete that attended last night.

It was beautiful to watch China embrace its history as well as its future in the performance. And while I know many people have problems with China – I do to – I couldn’t help but be moved by it. This is one the oldest cultures in the world that is still a major player. They existed as China for over 5,000 years. And to see where it has come from and that they want to change from being closed off from the world… remember up into the 70s the modern era of China did not have any contact with the outside world really. But I am not one to say anything. I grew up with our country having relations with China.

But I am looking forward to watching the Olympics this year. There is something magical about it this time around. I do not know what it is. Maybe it was the magic that was envoked last night during the show. The realization that the one flag almost every country on the planet honors is the Olympic flag. Its a symbol of unity, change, diversity and peace. One can only hope that during these times of war, when there is no longer the call for peace of arms during the Olympics that idea can permentate the psyche of the citizens of the world. And realize, as so well said in the opening ceremonies – that it takes many to make a single person great.


From the Big Picture

But for me it was finished with one of the most moving stories of young, Lin Hao who at 9 years old survived the earthquakes a few months ago and dug himself out the rubble of his school. Then went in after he came out and saved two of his friends. Why? Because he said, it was his job. He was a class leader. I don’t know why but that story just moves me to tears.

But the games begin today and I am sitting at work with the TV on watching beach volleyball and just watched the medal ceremony for the Fencing which was won by the US… our first medal. Hopefully, one of many this summer.

Gone Baby Gone…

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I was sure if I should post this or even talk about it but I am slightly frustrated. I had this event happen to me once in the past with Jenny Craig. You get your counselor, you build a relationship with them and then she disappeared. I mean got a promotion and left without even letting her clients know. It was frustrating to the extreme because I spent over 2 months getting this women to understand my limitations with finances and food allergies. But once she was gone it wasn’t so much that she just left but from there one oout for the next month, each week I was bounced from counselor to conselor. Never seeing the same person more then once and spending half my time there going over again and again what my limitations were.

So, to my utter frustration I have had a problem with my personal trainer these past few weeks. He didn’t show up for our session two Mondays ago and then didn’t show up again this past week. Luckily they had another trainer I could work with the first time but this past Monday I had to reschedule. Frustrating since I had spent 30 minutes in traffic on my day off to get there to and from the gym. But whatever, the guy was booked solid and no one else was avaible. On Tuesday when I met with the new guy, R, he told me that my last trainer was gone. Without a bye your leave.

Is it wrong of me to be frustrated? I mean these are people who are suppose to help be a support system in our weight loss/training journey and it doesn’t seem that they even see their clients as real people. How could you spend so much time with someone and then just leave them hanging? It pisses me off and I have been trying to gt past my self-doubt and my desire to see this as a sign, once again, that I shouldn’t be loosing weight. That I am meant to be a fat ass for the rest of my life? Or I should just learn, that like with some friends, they just leave you.

Slytherin Student Update 5

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Yep, its yet ANOTHER update on the Slytherin Costume. I have decided to stick with the Converse Double Uppers for now. I am attempting to find silver shoe laces but they are being a bit elusive at the moment. I have ideas if I can’t find what I am looking for but it is a tad frustrating. You would think silver laces would be easy to find… they aren’t.

So, Saturday after work I will be taking back the other two pair of shoes. I thought about keeping them but in truth, I don’t need all of those shoes. I have ones in my closet I still haven’t worn. But I do have my eye on a possible pair for the future if I continue with the Slytherin Student costume after a year. Converse has this great “design-your-own” shoe program. When you can pick different canvas’ for the outside of the shoe, inside of the shoe, the back, the rubber, laces and you can even personalize it on the back or the side of the shoe.  I think a pair of shoes personalized the Hogwarts Houses since they have enough different colours you can mess around with.

Anyways enough of that. I am hoping that by the end of August I will have the plain white oxford shirt and the laces purchased. I will let you know how it goes but its likely that it will be a few weeks until you hear from me again.

The Flame Wars Begin

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I was just taking a few moments to look at the Fandango page for the Clone Wars, the new animated Star Wars movie/tv pilot coming to the big screen on August 15th and surprise surprise the haters are already blasting away. Seriously!? The movie doesn’t come out for almost two weeks and it has a so-so rating because people can’t help but blast away at anything that Lucas does. And unfortunatly, most of them are written with a severe lack of knowledge.

Several of the complaints are why would Lucas even think about making an animated movie! How dare he, he should just make the next trilogy of the Star Wars series. Well, to answer this: the movie is a pilot for the new tv series that is coming out starting on September 1, 2008 for the Cartoon Network. And its not like this is the first animation version of the series. Hello! Anyone remember the awesome shorts they did for the Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network between AOTC and ROTS? Maybe the reviewers never saw them? But this movie goes from where those take off and expand upon that part of the story and the war. We will finally get Assaj Ventress on the big screen! And more about the history between Obi-Wan, Anakin and Grevious and so on.

The other part of the flaming is just for the general hatred people seem to have with Star Wars and anything associated with it. Personally, which I don’t understand. Its not like the movies are a real war or anything to affect our daily lives. Real people aren’t dying but I swear you would think by the way people react that Lucas had mass murdered thousands of men, women and children. And I don’t understand, I just don’t. Its fiction, its not real people! Why waste so much hatred on something you could just ignore. In truth, this is nothing new. Ever since i got online and found a wider range of Star Wars fans I have been surprised about the venemance that people hate Lucas, even those who consider themselves fans. But this isn’t the first instance I have seen it online for this movie. I saw the same thing over at the The Leaky Cauldron when they annouced that the Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince trailer would be shown in front of the Clone Wars. Pages upon pages about how stupid and horrible Star Wars is and how could anyone ever like it. The movies suck, blah blah blah. And not just the PT but the OT. I mean, really? How much energy are you wasting? I can dislike people for their actions and what not but to hate a series? Whatevah…

And then the other complaint is the animation style. The stylized animation… nothing new and somewhat of a new technique in 3D animation. The style isn’t knew. If you watch the original Clone Wars animation you can see the stylized style which is simiular to other cartoons out there. It just takes that format and puts it into 3D and more rendered and relalistic looking then a flat animated image. God forbid they try something new.

But in truth, if people want to bitch and whine because they hate Lucas let them. Its annoying as hell, yes but why let it ruin our fun, right? Ignore the reviews you see online unless the person has seen the movie and not just the trailer. And pay attention to people who know what they are talking about and not just petty frustrated I’m bored so I will write this review. See it for yourself, judge for yourself and check back here on the evening of the 15th for my review. 😀

Here is the trailer everyone is either raving or bitching about:

And some of the original Clone Wars Cartoon:

Slytherin Student Update 4

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Bought some shoes today and of course like anything else. I couldn’t buy just one! Thats crazy talk! Especially when there are sales going on. I ended up not buying any Mary Janes or any other school girl like shoes. I got three pairs and they were all on sale.

1st pair: Converse Chuck Taylors Double Uppers in Tan and Black but they came with green and white shoe strings. They were on sale from 46.99 to 24.99. The inside layer is tan and I think I may be able to colour it with a marker or something and then find some silver laces.

2nd pair: A pair of Bjornal Black Slip ons from Rack Room Shoes on sale for like 14.98 from 29.99

and finally the

3rd Pair: A pair of black La Vida from Skechers. They were on sale at the Skechers store for $9.95 from $25.00. The ones I am linking to are in the same style but not the actual shoe.

I have no idea if I am going to keep any of these but they are to try out and see if they will work at all.

The Other Boylen Girl DVD

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Well, I finally got a chance to see the big screen adaptation of The Other Boylen Girl by Phillipa Gregory. I can’t help but wonder, why did they even try. Obviously this is not an adaptation but a movie influenced by. Kinda like, I read this book and I will write this movie that inspired me to do it but leave out everything but maybe just a slight essence of the story. I mean heck, they didn’t have to be influenced by the book or say it was an adaptation since the rumors of Mary and King Henry VIII are rumors that have been flying around since they were alive and both at court.

Now, the first thing that got me was, while I enjoy Eric Bana, how can you not even try to make the actor protraying one of the most infamous kings in the history of the world look like him! I mean come on!! Its not like its possible he may of had dark brown hair and brown eyes! There are portraits of him.

But the movie was just a jumbled mess and I can’t even put into my words how bad it was. So, I will just say don’t bother watching it. Watch the BBC version instead.

Slytherin Student Costume Update 3

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Well, I bought my socks tonight. It was funny though, I was talking to my best friend about the socks I was looking for (he doesn’t read my blog btw) and he told me about this great site he found when looking for tabi socks. When we got back on dinner, I asked him to look it up for me and low ‘n’ behold he directed me to Sock Dreams. The store I talked about in my last post.

So, with his help and thoughts we went thru the site and found several pairs of socks. I ended up buying a few different pair just for the fact I couldn’t choose just one pair. But the best part was I found these great pair of socks, loved them! Now, I didn’t look at the name until Lor started laughing…. the name of the socks: Sorcerer Socks. They come in four different versions: dark green & silver, dark blue & silver, dark red & gold and black & gold. Hum! I wonder what they are for?! lol! And yes, I bought them. I mean heck, they were only $6.00, great price for good socks. I also picked up a couple other pairs: Green Knees in the green & black that are over-the-knee socks and also only $6.00 and I picked up the Dreamy Striped Tubes in the Charcoal, Black & Olive which are also over-the-knee socks at $12.00 a pair.

But here are some great facts about the socks: dreamy striped tubes are made from 90% recycled cotton, green knees from 80% recycled cotton. The sorcerer socks aren’t recycled anything. But still – the idea of the socks being made from recycled cotton makes me feel kinda good. Stupid, huh?

Anyways, socks ordered and hopefully I will receive them soon. BTW, if you do see anything you like there – you can get first class USPS shipping free. A nice plus on the top. While it does go slightly against the whole shopping locally, I have only one thing to say – find me a sock store in Albuquerque with this selection and I will go there. Targets’ socks are boring.

Garage Renovation

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Slowly this summer I have been trying to get my garage finished. Meaning insulation, drywall, painting, organizing et al. As of this morning we (my friend Lor and I) had put up 2 rolls of insulation, the icky pink stuff, which is about 8 panels. I started around 10:30am this morning while I waited for my father to come and help me. I got about 2 or 3 panels after moving around a butt load of boxes I still have yet to finish unpacking. But I got them done and then my dad showed up.

Now, last night after talking it over with my father we decided to go with wallboard instead of dry wall. For one main reason – among many – is that is it a frak ton more durable then dry wall. From what was explained to me was that usually you spend a lot of time in the garage fixing holes and cracks in the dry wall from when something hits it and puts a hole in it. Your car door etc. The other plus is that with it being wood – you can nail things in, in more location. Made sense and it is the garage walls. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It needs to be functional more then anything else. It has to stand up to projects, doors, etc.

So, dad showed up and we unloaded his truck and finished two more panels. They were smaller then the regular 15″ wide panels so we ended up cutting up one section of drywall and finishing off two of the smaller ones. Then off to home depot after unpacking three pieces of wallboard out of the truck.

All and all it was a good day. We picked up four more rolls of insulation, paint for the walls, some small hand saws to get around some gas lines and the grounder in the wall. But, we have all but 6 panels done and the small portions above the garage door. We didn’t do those because it was getting hot and it would mean more a ton of furniture around. But we got one wall board up.

Tonight my plan is to drag my best friend to my house and move the furniture into the center of the garage against the other boxes so that there is an opening along the wall. Here are some photos:

Last of the open panels, you can see some of the furniture blocking it. The cabinets were something my best friend got from a job he worked on. They will be a portion of the work bench that will be in the garage after we are done.

Here is the rest of the same wall. All insulated. Curtesy of myself, Lor and my dad. Yes, I know how to put insulation in!

Blurry pic of the wallboard before putting it on the wall. We (meaning my dad) had to cut a small hole into the side to make it fit around the copper piping for the, I think the water or gas. Not 100% sure.

Wallboard is up! You can see how it fits around the pipe now. Its only held up with a few screws since we need something to make the heads of the screws lay flush to the board and not stick out. Next tot he wall board you can see the dry wall that the house builders did before I moved it. So pretty…

Pic of my dad taking off some items that were screwed into the 2″ x 4″‘s (quality home building here!) that don’t seem to have a purpose. This is one panel we can’t really insulated since its all the wiring and the grounder is in the concert at the bottom – its in a great location and no the outside of the edge. Pic of that later.

So, thats about it. This was my Saturday. We hope to finish this off on the 17th.

Slytherin Student Update 2

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So, its time to buy some more items for the my Slytherin Student Costume. But at the moment, due to loosing weight and inches I am concerned about purchasing the skirt, shirt or sweater. So, maybe next month or the next. Instead I think I am going to start looking for the shoes and socks. They won’t change in size. At least I hope not.

For the shoes, I can’t help but want to go the school girl route and get some blocky Mary Janes or Penny Loafers. I am being very tempted by some sweet looking saddle shoes from Payless though. I love saddle shoes, always have but I’m not sure how well it would look with the school uniform. Maybe, I will get them anyways and just wear them in general or they will just sit in my closet with all my other shoes I never wear. But what I am going for is just a plain black mary jane looking shoe. Simiular to this one at Payless: Bottom Mary Jane. But I may shop around, especially since its back to school time and these are generally around more often now then after October.

But I am finding a ton of socks I want to buy. Of course, being Slytherin, I can’t imagine me wearing normal boring socks. So, instead I think I will have some fun with it. I found some awesome socks at this online store called: Sock Dreams. Now the main problem I am having is picking just one, maybe two pair to choose from depending on my mood. But Sock Dreams has some really cute over the knee socks as well as knee high socks. I also found some really cute ones at a place called Clever that only has a few pairs of socks that would work but I can’t help but love the Argyll ones they have in black-grey-white.

So, now I just have to make a decision or just go ahead and order everything and just be more broke then I already am. But then again… I do have an awesome pair of knee high boots from Doc Martens with a piratey look to them with a sweet 1 1/2″ – 2″ heel that would look pretty sweet with one of those over the knee socks. Hum…. decisions decisions 😀 Made even harder by the fact that I love socks… they can be so much damned fun!

Drink a little Chocolate Milk?

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This post is about my thoughts on the subject. I am not a doctor, nutrionist or any authority on the matter of food or fitness. So, please if you are reading this for expert advice I am not the person to get it from. I will have links to places to get better information on the subject I am posting on. Please make sure to do your research before trying anything new or check with your doctor before hand.

I was reading another fitness magazine last night: Oxygen when I came across this little tidbit about how to keep up your energy and one of the things in there mentioned drinking chocolate milk after a workout. Thats right chocolate milk. I did a double, triple, quadrulpe take on that. Now, it may not be new for many but as a milk fanactic I am always worried about whether or not I should keep drinking milk and ways of getting it into my diet without my midnight cereal cravings. And low and behold – here is a new way. So, this morning I did a little digging since I don’t always take things at face value and wanted to know why – out of all the drinks why chocolate milk is recommended over other sports drinks and over regular milk.

Here are some reasons: calcium, carbs and protein. All things you would get in say a smoothie from Robeks or Keva Juice or any other smoothie place but chocolate milk is about 10 times cheaper since you can make it at home or pick up a personal size drink at the grocery store for like $1.29. But back to the health benefits of chocolate milk. From fitnessmagazine.com article:

For a high-endurance athlete, Stager’s team sees it as a catch-all workout recovery drink. Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, it has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar — additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy. 

Sounds good to me. But I was curious on the calories and sugar content. So, I did a comparison of a single serving of three different drinks: Robeks Cardio Cooler, Dairyland 1% Chocolate Partially Skimmed Milk and Propel Sports Water.

Robek’s Cardio Cooler – 2 Servings/24 Ounces, single serving is 12 ounces but you can only buy this in a 24 ounce drink but I will post the 24 ounce then 12 ounce. This drink also includes several additonal items to increase protein and nutrients.
Calories: 430/215
Fat: 4g/2g
Cholestral: 6g/3g
Sodium: 48g/24g
Carbs: 88g/44g (Fiber: 6g/3g, Sugars: 76g/38g)
Protein: 18g/9g
Vitamn A: 104%/52% of DSV
Vitman C: 438%/219% DSV
Calcium: 12%/6% DSV
Iron: 6%/3% DSV

Dairyland 1% Chocolate Partially Skimmed Milk – 1 Serving/250g:
Calories: 168
Fat: 2.8grams
Cholestral: 10grams
Sodium: 183mg
Carbs: 29.0g (mostly sugar but there is dietary fiber in milk)
Protein: 8.4g
Calcium: 30% of DSV

Propel Sports Water – 2 Servings/16 oz once again because this is sold normally as a 16 ounce bottle and not a 8 ounce bottle, I will but the bottle amount then the true serving amount since that is normally what people drink.
Calories: 20/10
Sodium: 70mg/35mg
Carbs: 6g/3g (Sugars 4g/2g)

So what does this tell us? Well, each drink has its plus and minuses.

You get an after workout smoothie from a store and you get a ton of sugar and calories. This is more of a meal then a cool down drink. I am aware that most of the sugars are coming from fresh fruits and juice. So the sugar carbs aren’t completely empty. The calcuim is lower then the milk drink but that is to be expected. While the smoothie does have frozen yogurt in it – its benefits seem to be lowered due to the fruit sugar content. But this is definatly not something you drink after a long run or swim to just cool down and get a quick replensihment of proteins and carbs. And be aware of what you are getting. Check out their nutrional info on their drinks before ordering. There are lower carbs/calorie smoothies then this. Just watch yourself.

The Propel Fitness Water tells you basically what it is: sugar water. While the carbs/sugars are low as well as the sodium and there is no fat. There is nothing else to it. It would be better to just drink water. I am no doctor but there aren’t enough carbs I think to make a difference. And the carbs aren’t coming from fruits but a refined sugar. It would be good if you are just wanting to drink water but have flavor.

The chocolate milk – its got fat of course but it seems the portion of protein seems like a good amount. It may be worth a try but not something for everyone to do every day. It may be a better treat. And I know there may be better ways of making it healthier. I know that GNC sells a protein mix called Dessert that may make a good alternative and give you a higher precentage of proteins. But its up to you.

It seems from what I have been reading that its better for high endurance athletes such as runners, swimmers and bikers then someone who is just doing Sweatin’ to the Oldies. But maybe for those days when you push beyond your limits and go the extra distance where you feel like your body is going to drop this would be a nice treat for yourself. Especially since there is the added bonus of the chocolate being good for you in controlled portions.

Why? Antioxidents and its good for women to keep the seritonin balance going during your diet, stress and hard workouts. Which have a habit of dropping dangerously low in women due to the mass reduction of healthy carbs. Men can normally go without carbs better then women. If you are craving lots of chocolate at night or during your diet there is a reason and not just because you want chocolate. Chocolate is a good quick boost to your serotonin levels which are vital to what make us women, women. It helps balance our emotions. A little bit of chocolate isn’t bad for you. In fact it can be beneficial to loosing weight and staying healthy. As well as the other benefits including help stave off binge eating while dieting. But eat the dark chocolate since it actual is healthier for you then milk chocolate (and white chocolate isn’t really chocolate at all).

But, in conclusion – I can definatly see the benefits of drink chocolate milk after a workout even if it has fat in it. Now, if only they made a dark chocolate drink instead of always the milk chocolate milk.