Disposable Income

10.11.2006

Google bought YouTube for $1.65 BILLION dollars. Where does Google get $1.65 BILLION dollars? Even more important, where do they manage to buy something for $1.65 BILLION dollars and still (theoretically) have operating money left over, somewhere? Granted, that's only a weeks worth of Bill Gates allowance, but how do you rationalize spending $1.65 BILLION dollars? And I thought the $100 Legos were outrageous...

Last weekend, Christies auctioned off $7 MILLION dollars worth of Star Trek memorabilia. My favorite tidbit was that the high item, an Enterprise prop that was expected to be the high item estimated at around $25,000, sold for just over half a million.

A male nurse just won ~$47 MILLION (USD) in the German lottery.

The time is ripe to come up with that million dollar idea. Now, how to combine the needs of German male nurse YouTube Star Trek fans?

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Punch it Chewie!

10.08.2006

I've been spending a lot of time in front of the computer lately, so I tried to spend a weekend away from the computer. At least away from doing any web work. This is a little harder than most people would think, since I tend to get sucked into working on some web-gadget while I'm surfing if I'm not paying attention. Lately, as I've mentioned before, I've been learning the world of Flash. I've come upon a little roadblock and my brain just needs to take a little break.

Jerry and I have often discussed our need for a non-computer oriented hobby, and this weekend was the perfect time to dabble. After some mindless time on the X-Box (the old one, not a 360) playing some old fashioned NCAA Football, Need for Speed Underground 2 (that's what I get for watching Fast & Furious 3 last week), and Lego Star Wars (once again, that's what I get for watching Episode 3 last week), I managed a little house cleaning. Since that's no fun, I quickly went on to the next hobby in which to dabble.

Over the past couple of years, I've slacked off on my buying of actual toys. Not an easy thing to do, since I am drawn to the toy department of most stores. I'm quickly disappointed, then it hits me that I'm just getting old. Then I remember that the toy department for grown ups is Home Depot and Best Buy. I also sneak Staples into that grouping, but that's just me. There are some toys I still get, and there are toys that are meant for grown ups to buy - mainly because they're priced too high for kids. Some of the Lego sets I place in this category, especially the Star Wars sets. What kid is going to spend $100 on a Lego set? Or $300? Last Christmas (or maybe up to 2 Christmas' ago) I got a couple of the bigger Star Wars sets. They's migrated from room to room, closet to closet. My non-computer weekend had made me decide it was finally time to put a few together!

Saturday I dug out the largest Lego set I had to assemble: the Millennium Falcon. Almost 1000 pieces of goodness just waiting to be stepped on by bare feet. Being the [slightly] anal guy I am, I thoroughly enjoyed emptying the box and sorting out all the pieces. Flat one, thick blocks, the canopy, thingamabobs that the instructions would tell me about later. I'm not sure when the last time anyone out there put together a Lego monstrosity, but I'm most amazed by the instructions.

The instructions are generally a thing of beauty. There's no words, just the pictures of the model you're making evolving. If you pay attention, this is one of the most educational toys out there. On the base level, you have to match up shapes, sizes, and colors - all the things you learn before you know you're learning. Up a level form there, you have a 3D picture (or at least in perspective) to match up what you're making. I remember taking an aptitude test back in the 20th century and scoring high on 3 dimensional thinking, being told that I did well on seeing a picture and then being able to turn it appropriately to the matching end picture. Maybe I had a closet full of Legos to thank?

About 5 hours after opening the box I found myself facing a finished Millenium Falcon, and with a minimum of left over parts. If I was 10, it would stay a Millenium Falcon for a couple of days before joining a cache of other Legos to form a bigger, more powerful spaceship! Or more than likely it would take part in forming 3 smaller ships that would wage war against one another. Or maybe a 'mech robot that could transform from spaceship to big giant bringer of doom! But instead I'm 36. It's probably going to stay a Millenium Falcon.

So go get your kids some Legos. It might make all of 'em smarter. It might make their imagination grow even more. At the very least it'll hurt if you step on them.

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I'm Alive

10.04.2006

IT's been a week since I posted anything, and even though there's nto anything noteworthy going on, I feel the need to make a post (just in case Mom's checking up on me via the website).

Everything is goign along as it usually does right now. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing of note, at least noteworthy enough to mention here.

I've started back in karate class, but there's no stories to tell there, yet. That in itself may be worthy of mentioning. After 2 classes I can still walk upright like a normal person, so shedding that 50 lbs has definitely been good for my knees.

Maybe I can whip up something worthy of reading about later?

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Karate: The Return

09.28.2006

Back at the end of March I took a break from karate class as my knees were telling me that supporting 400 lbs of twisting, kicking, punching mass was too much to ask of them. Today, with a hint of trepidation, I took my knees back to test the shallow shoals of karate.

So far I've survived to tell about it.

I had originally intended to start back in karate class next week. October starts a new quarter of classes, so I wouldn't be jumping into the middle of learning a batch of new moves. Then I remembered that I haven't excercised any in the past 6 months. It's possible that my knees aren't ready for twisting, kicking, punching mayhem yet. I'm 50 lbs lighter, but I'm still a big boy at 350!

With that thought I aspired to go to class today to go through the warm-up and then see how much of the class I could get through. Luckily Sensei Leonard also thought that was a good idea. Even better, today is the day before the next belt test, so it was a "what do you guys want to practice" class instead of a "let's do punch and kick drills until you can't breathe any more" class.

I managed my way through the workout without dying. I even did tip drills instead of replacement-running in place for the first time. Afterwards I was amazed at first of how much I've forgotten of various katas, then counter amazed at how quickly it started to come back after running through them once.

So now I've got a couple of days to see (1) how sore I'm going to be after jump starting my body into action, and (2) make sure that the soreness is going to be worth it. I was afraid when I started my little break that I wouldn't come back to class. It's always easier to give soemthing up when you've been away form it for a while. But lately I've gotten to where I miss the physicality of it. Plus, it is good excercise for me.

And now I've got new people to introduce to my mad wrestling skillz!

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Tree Fiddyish & Holding

09.25.2006

Today marks the 6 month mark of my South Beach Diet inspired diet. Since starting my diet in March, I've managed to peak my weight loss at 56 lbs. I say peak, because since July I've managed to stay between 348 and 352 (or varying between losing 56 lbs and 52 lbs).

My body has reached an equilibium over the past couple of months. My body is ready for something new. The same old diet isn't going to get it any more. It's at this point that the person inside me tired of dieting says "screw it, I'm going to Pizza Hut for the buffet. Every day!" Luckily, I can't hear that person inside me. I have decided that I'm due for a small break from dieting, at least my "hard core" dieting, for a little while.

I'm not giving up. To be honest, this diet is actually pretty easy to stay on. That may be from sticking to it (98% of the time) for 6 months, but I've gotten used to not only eating certain things, but not eating certain things. I never thought I would actually fix myself a plateful of steamed brocolli for dinner when there was actually other food in the kitchen.

I'm also due to start back in karate next week, which should be a whole different shock to my system. I've been trying to stretch at home in preparation, but I know I haven't been stretching enough. I'm curious to see how my body acts not only after 6 months of not punching, kicking, or falling, but doing all of that with 50 lbs fewer to move around. At the very least, I hope I can walk normal the following day. Or at least as normal as I can walk.

So, for now I'm on a diet, but I'm not trying to see how much weight I can lost. I'm not going overboard eating pizza and hot fudge sundaes - I even had my semi-regular salad for lunch today. My little blurb in the corner updating my weight loss is going to go away for a little while, if for nothing else due to seeing a pound up or down each week isn't very interesting when the total stays in the same range.

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