Sunday, March 25, 2012

Hunger Hype

For the last several months my wife and Junior High son have been bugging me to read the Hunger Games. So three days before the movie was about to come out I "almost" completed it. Fortunately my son and wife were gracious enough to allow me to tag along on my sons mental health day, or fever, what ever sounds better. Hey the kids GPA is 4.125, he deserves a day off!

We arrived at the theatre around 12:45 so that we could get good seats for the 1:30 showing and almost cried when we saw about 200 junior high students milling around in the hallways of the theatre. For a moment we thought that we may not be able to sit by each other. But... "The odds were in our favor," as the group had seen the earlier showing as an incentive for reading the book. We got to our seats and I saved two seats as Wendy and Hunter got the popcorn. Then we settled in as the movie started and then ended 2.5 hours later in what seemed to be a cliff notes style movie.

Now for the critique... from the words of my son, "It was to fast, the story line was to quick, they left out to many important details." I asked, "Well what could they have done better?" He said, "They should have made it into two books!" You know... he's right! After several days of pondering it and talking to several of my high school students we came up with a marketing windfall. What they should have done is filmed the entire movie in more detail. Then split it into two movies, the first movie would take you right up to when they step off the pedestals in the games. Yes... The people that did not read the book would be highly upset! But would that not peak their interest and boost book sales? After two or three months they could release part two to much fanfare! 

Honestly I agree with my sons critique, not sure why they could not make this film like the Lord of The Rings, it was spot on with the book, yet they screw this up? In all I was very disappointed in the film, hopefully with the 700 million they can make the second movie better!

What do you think... give me your thoughts? Make sure you tell em if you have read the books. 

Monday, March 12, 2012

DO SOMETHING!


I know I usually use this blog for stories about teens. But I thought I'd take just a minute or two to tell you why the photo to the right means so much to me.

On January 1, 2011 I weighed in at 227 and I knew it was time to do something about it. So... for the last year my friend Todd Porter and I have been hitting the gym on a religious basis. We make sure that we give each a hard time when we don’t get to the gym, whether we have an excuse or not. I would also be remiss not to mention my older brother who is an inspiration to me; he went through a journey several years ago and is in great shape. He daily goes to Crossfit in Bowie MD.  In that time I was thinking, this is great for me, I feel good. Yet I was bummed that I was not losing the weight.

You see the garbage I was filling my body was far outweighing, literally, what I was putting out. Finally in January of this year I finally went to my yearly physical that took me three years to schedule, but with a little push from my wife I went. Well needless to say that was the kick in the pants I needed! After talking to that doc my LDL Cholesterol was 453... yes you read that right, I also had some issues with fat around my liver and blood pressure was a little high. You see my father and grandfather died from heart disease, so it was time for a life change, NOT A DIET! The doctor wanted to put me on cholesterol medication right away but I convinced him to allow me to change my eating habits, take natural supplements for cholesterol (more on that in a later post) and intensify my exercise regime, he agreed and I will go back to see him on April 15th, I will keep you posted

So… the picture... I can't remember the last time I weighed below 200. It has not been easy, the first few weeks the weight just fell off and then the last four to six weeks it has come off about a pound to two pound per week. 

Many people have asked how did you do that? Basically, I took the doctors advice and cut out anything white, like processed sugars and bad carbohydrates. I have a weekly weight lifting schedule and do some sort of cardio for 30 minutes every day, except for Sunday when I rest. I also track all my calories in an app called Lose It. It has not been an easy task, but it has built character and discipline in me.

Please know... I don't write this or show the picture to brag, I have a long way to go. What I do want to do is encourage you. My dad (The Sarge) had a famous quote that my brother's and I use often, "WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO... DO SOMETHING!" So, today do SOMETHING!