Trip-a-holic

I'm back from Vegas. This had me thinking... I have traveled for a vacation the last 4 months! If you count my last business trip, I've travled the last 5 months.

Vegas was nice. Saw some shows, won some money. Someone lost some of my money, but I came out ahead overall. There were kids EVERYwhere. That's what I get for travelling on spring break. My throat is scratchy though. Which leads me to the following proprosal: A SMOKE FREE CASINO. All it takes is one, and when they start getting an increase in business, the others will quickly follow. There's too much money to be made in Vegas for any of the casinos to even consider allowing another venue to take its patrons.

I spent my time at the blakjack tables. I need to work on my addition skills. Eight of Hearts, 5 of clubs... "Hit Me!" Eight of Spades... I'm over here counting on my fingers... and the dealer has already moved on the the next gambler. I collect my winnigs and try to count faster the next hand.

It's a shame they let the lady who's drunk as hell continue to play. I can't really blame the casino, but her friends (family) let her continue to play and drink beers. I missed it, but I heard she hit on 18. Busted, of course. Dealer tried to warn her. Her gambling buddy's just giggling.

Worked out in the gym using nothing but dumbells. Had me thinking about purchasing a pair of adjustable dumbelss from Bowflex. I hear it's pretty effective.

Speaking of fitness... I found a site that gives me a more accurate body mass index / body fat % measurement using caliper measurements from three sites! This excites me. I will now create a new excel spreadsheet charting my progress. Rainmayun's suggestion that I measure your volume via water displacement in your tub (or hot tub), then using your weight go look up on a chart to compare to known densities for adipose and non-adipose tissue to calculate your bodyfat % is great, but I still think the level of my hydration will alter the results.

Near Death Experience

An idiot changed lanes almost hitting me, forcing me into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, there was no traffic coming the other way due to a red light. Very scary... since this is a stretch of road where traffic normally travels 55-60 mph with only 12 inches separating you from the oncoming lane. Dude looked like a high school latino. I wanted to turn him into a fajita.

Who you think you is?

Why is it that work potlucks are popular? I was never given the chance to vote against it. There are two types of engineers in my group: Those that are good cooks, and those that have very nice wives that will give them food. Well, make that three types, cause I'm not in either one of those.

So I come home today from the gym. Happy, feeling good! Probably because me and geckogirl had a good work out. The singing in the car continued into my house, then I walked onto my back deck, just a singing! That's when I realized that some of my neighbors have their windows cracked. *Yikes* I live in one of those treeless neighborhoods where you can here Mexicans talking from two doors down if the kids next door are asleep. Anyways, after a brief moment of embarassment, thinking someone was going to try to vote me off of American Idol, I cranked up the hot tub for later use, and relaxed.

That's when I remembered I have a @#&%$# potluck tomorrow! Off to the neighborhood Kroger I go. I grab my beverages & rolls, and head to the check out line. There's only one line open, not surprising, since it's late. I'm second in line, my goods are on the belt, and the cashier walks away with her money till. I'm thinking... shift change, right?! minutes go by, line gets longer, no cashier. Then a second cashier opens up another line. I still have no cashier. I ask the lady, "Is our cashier coming back?" "Yes, she'll be righ back". Minutes go by. I leave the line to walk to the stairs leading up the business area, I don't see anyone. I go back to the 1st cashier, and asked again. She left her station to find my cashier, and told her to get back to her register. More minutes go by. Felt like I've been waiting for 10 minutes now.

She doesn't say anything when she returns, but I'm annoyed! I told her, that she can't just leave her customers waiting in line. "Well, if you think I'm going to not count my till first, you're crazy!". Um, who is she talking to. I know she isn't talking to me. I don't give a shit about how much money is in her tray. So again, "Regardless, you cannot leave a line of customers unattended when we're trying to checkout." Her smart ass: "I just did, didn't I?" Oh hell no. I'm thinking to myself, "Who the hell do you think you is?" Mind you, this is an old white lady with the mouth of a young black girl. I just played it cool, said "We'll see." Got my Kroger card discount, paid for my goods, and headed home. I promptly called up to the store, spoke with the manager, and gave her the play-by-play. Since Publix is right across the street, I doubt the new cashier will be there when I return. The last place one expects to get some attitude is at the neighborhood supermarket. Or maybe I'm expectations are too high for this neighborhood.

Sometimes in April

Hotel Rwanda was a great movie. It leaves you numb, but gives you great insight to a troubesome situation. Now HBO is out with 'Sometimes In April'. Same subject, but this movie shows several perspectives aside from the hotel manager's view point. The amount of information this gives you is more thought provoking and informative than the blockbuster version. I have some serious questions now. Like, why did the Italian government help the crooked Rwandan military commander escape? I encourage everyone that does not have HBO to find someone who does, and watch this flick. If you liked Hotel Rwanda, you'll appreciate this one even more. Mad props to Stringer Bell!!! I mean, Idris Elba.

Vegas

Time for another trip. I didn't realize it was Easter weekend, when I booked it. But I find it very ironic that near everything is sold out in Sin City on Easter. Probably has something to do with Spring Break. I'm definitely looking forward to going.

Fat Check

Am I obsessed with staying fit? Maybe. Just purchased some callipers so that I can measure my body fat. Of course, getting on a scale doesn't tell me anything about how much muscle I'm gaining or fat I'm losing. So now with these inaccurate calipers, I can see if I'm losing my love handles to a 1% accuracy. Since I only have 8% body fat (maybe it's 7%, maybe it's 9%) according to this chart, I'm starting to think that this is just a gimmick to throw away my $20.

Love Stain Resistant Pants

It's been a while since I blogged. :-(

Today was a big day. Had to give a presentation to our customer at work. Everything was going great! I sat down after one of my charts and took a swig of some ice cold apple juice. "Ahhh.... I needed that". Problem wtih the juice is... it absorbed all the water from the ice bin, so now the seat of my pants was covered wtih water spots. *AARRGGHH* I have to get up in few seconds to contine my presentation. I swear, it was just like the commercials, I took a napkin, and wiped all water away before any of it absorbed in my pants. Now its my turn to face the audience. No embarassing wet marks here! I love these Dockers Stain Resistant pants! Where are my royalties

Extra in "The Gospel"

I was an extra in a church scene of the Gospel. It was a fun experience. A star studded cast, I won't even bother listing all the names. I just did it for some fun, change of pace. Not taking it seriously, since it's unpaid. Figured most folks would have the same opinion, since this is Atlanta. Not L.A. or NYC.

Dude next to me was talking about how he intends on becoming an actor, but he has no experience, no agent, no plan... just to meet someone at extra castings. Another lady was using her 'cute' daughter as her money-ticket. First of all, she & her daughter looked tore up! She put purple thingies in her hair to make her look cute. In fact, there was a number of tore up looking folks up in there. Atlantans got it all twisted if they think that's the way to make it big. I just look, listen, and laugh.

Anyways, look for me when the movie comes out. I'll be the dude in the middle pews when Boris Kodje's character gets saved in church. (did I just ruin the climax of the movie?) I'm also in the audience when Little Boris (a young version of himself) is singing in front of the choir. Maybe this is my chance to become famous and get rich!!!!!

Vermont - Videos & Pics

I'm back from my Vermont ski trip! It was a site to behold... hundreds of negroes on skis & boards invading the mountain resort. Read about it here. The locals & visitors from New Hampshire & NY State were all friendly and very curious about this rare sighting.
I raced while I was up there. Yep. Not only do I ski, but I race. Check me out! I did pretty good... considering I now live in the South.
Check out a video of me racing. I don't show up until halfway through the movie. The guy I was racing fell down, so I'm the only one who crossed the finishline. Like I said, racing is supposed to be fun. But these idiots who make up the racing committee certainly know how to take the enjoyment out of it. I should have received a gold place medal since I had the fastest time in my category, 30-39 y/o. In fact, I was the only person in my category. So it didn't matter what time I received. When we get the computerized results, we learn that the computer made several errors that day. For me, the resort timekeepers failed to record my second race time. Although everyone acknowledges that I ran two clean runs, they decided to strip me of my medal due to the computer error. Taking something away that I earned, enjoyed, and was looking forward to receiving is very discouraging. I no longer desire to race with the organization. But I'm the race director for my ski club for next year (and this year), so I don't know how that will work out.

Ice, Ice Baby

Everyone has told me that skiing in the east is icy compared to the West. To me, icy means hitting an icy patch when the soft powder is absent. Wrong, that's West Coast Icy. East Coast Icy means you are literally skiing down a mountainside of ice. WTH? That's not fun. We all know, there was a major storm last week, dumped 16 inches of snow up on the mountain. But when the wind is blowing at 50 mph, there's not too much snow left, so we were still skiing on ice. CRAZY!!
Click Here to see an ice monument I came across.

Watch out for that TREE!!!!

You're only crazy when you do something that you do not have the ability to safely accomplish. So with that caveat, I enjoyed skiing through the glades. The glades are basicaly areas filled trees and other earthly obstacles.
Check out a video of my adventure. I know, video is rotated 90 degrees... *oops*

I'm sad to report... this trip marks the end of my ski season. *sniff-sniff*

Be About It

Don't talk about it. Be about it.
Everywhere we go, we hear complaints. Hear about about what YOU need to do. Meanwhile.... when it's time to act, time to participate, time to enact that change... there's no one around. If you have a problem that needs fixing, ask yourself what you are doing to fix it, instead of waiting to let others do it. Cause you know you will be the first to speak out when you see a problem. This message isn't going out to anyone in particular, really... it isn't. Just a gripe.

As for me, I'll continue to be a leader & make a positive impact on everything I touch.

Vermont bound...

Yes... I'm off on another trip. I believe this is 3 vacations in 3 months. I lost track. I like this pace. This time, I will be skiing up at Smuggler's Notch. First time skiing up in Northeast. The current storm should dump excellent snow. But the frigid cold may make for short days and long snuggling nights.