Geekery – Star Wars Anime Film

The above film, in case you haven’t seen it yet is in a word AWESOME!  Absolutely brilliant artistic style and incredibly (beautifully detailed).  I am a huge Star Wars fan, so when I find stuff like this I go pretty crazy for it.  First and foremost it proves one thing, there is no way the Empire would fall to the Rebel Alliance.  They are better trained, have the stronger military and their resources greatly exceeds anything the Alliance can scrounge up. Jedi’s or not…there is no way the Empire would have or could have lost.  I don’t care what Return of the Jedi proved.

It also brings up a huge point, does any one realize the amount of money it takes to wage a war?  Does anyone stop to think of how many resources are needed to build a Star Destroyer, or a Death Star?  What feats of engineering are needed to build AT-AT’s and get them to walk the way they do.  It simply amazes me how Sci-fi movies make it seem that with all that steel and power that a few blasts from a laser would blow these things up.  It is simply implausible.  I am not an engineer, but I have played my fair share of mecha type games.  It takes a great deal of damage to take out these technology behemoths.

But, this is just my opinion…

Fitness Blog – Regular Exercise

I don’t think it ever crossed my mind in 2012, when I decided I was going to take control of my health I would ever reach a point where I feel bad for not getting in some form of exercise during the day.  Yet, here I sit in my office…watching so many projects take shape, feeling frustrated because I am not going to get a chance to take a break for lunch and get in my exercise.  The thing is, this is not the first time that I felt this frustration.  I feel this way every time I miss my lunch.  Then there is the guilt that follows when the end of the day has been reached and I didn’t find the time or energy to do it.

My time to exercise is my chance to strip down, empty my mind and focus on the simple things in life.  I pop on some kind of television show, anime, movie…something in the background and begin my routine.  I don’t have to think about life, school, or work, I can just focus on the weights I am lifting or the number of reps I’ve completed/yet to do, or the number of minutes left on the timer.

The whole process is very rewarding.  I love the quick drive home, the disrobing, putting on my heart rate monitor, grabbing my towel and water bottle.  Doing the exercise program, feeling myself gain in endurance and strength.  The feeling of sweat pouring off my body (everywhere).  The euphoric feeling after the fact when you can say “I did (blank).  It was hard work, and I did it without fail.”

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The other side of this coin, is I really wish I could devote the time in the morning.  Too many deadlines prevent that from happening though.  I would love to devote the time after work (and in some cases I do), but by the end of my work day I just want to focus on decompressing and getting ready for dinner/bed.

Hodge Podge – Everything in its place…

I receive a great deal of satisfaction when everything comes together just right…  Personally, I hate chaos, I hate clutter and hate it when things are disorganized.  This is not to say that I am a total neat freak or will ever give Danny Tanner (from Full House) a run for his money.  With that said, there is an extreme since in satisfaction when there are so many things that need to be done, at just the right time, when they come together just right.

At the end of February, my boss comes to me and says that he wants to move an entire department from one end of the building to another.  While we are at it, let’s repaint the office and better organize everything in general.  Oh and I want it done by April 1.  Needless to say, this has been no small task, but things are…at least right now…just where they need to be for things to fall into place.  I have a team of guys running new network lines all over the building.  I have a team of guys dissembling cubicles from one end of the building and installing them in another, I have electricians moving power lines, painters painting walls…There is chaos all over the office, but it’s controlled chaos.  What’s better is that it is all coming to an end, before my April 1 deadline.

Geekery – Mr. Spock

I think one of my fondest memories of my father and I was when he took me to see Star Trek IV The Voyage Home.  According to my father, I was only a few months old when I went with him in my car seat to the first Star Trek movie.  I personally do not remember going to see the first movie in a theater, or the second one for that matter, but my dad swears he took me.  I very much remember going to every Star Trek film since three with my dad, all the way through Next Generation.  By the time the reboot came around I had moved away from home and had a family of my own.  Unfortunately, my son took no interest in Star Trek (he prefers Star Wars, which is cool I guess).

Of the original cast, I would have to say II, III, and IV are my favorite Star Trek films.  Of the cast, Spock has always been my favorite character…let’s face it, who doesn’t love Spock?  I say this for two reasons.  First reason being, the passing of Leonard Nimoy saddened me.  It’s always hard when a child hood hero passes on.  Second…yesterday I went shopping with the family.  Just needed to get out of the house…took my son to get a video game that he had been asking for (Legend of Zelda Major’s Mask 3D), and while I was at Game Stop I found that they were selling Science Fiction Vinyl Figures.  These are Random little figurines devoted to some of the greatest Science Fiction characters of the genre.  I usually pick up one or two when I can, so today was no different.

I made my purchased, rushed out of the store and opened my purchase…what came tumbling out of the packaging, caused me to pause and tear up, if just a bit.  There is a randomness to these vinyl characters…you never know which one you will get.  So when something that has a 1/12 chance of showing up and it happens to be a vinyl figure of someone I admired as a kid who recently passed away, I have to stop and pause.  In my hands was Mr. Spock.  If there is some divine energy out in the universe that guides us…certainly some thing was happening to make me purchase this box…and someone or something knew I needed a little keepsake of my child hood hero.  Certainly, this was Leonard Nimoy’s way of telling me to Live Long and Prosper.  I know it sounds silly…no, illogical to think this way, but as Spock would say (paraphrasing Sherlock Holmes of course) “ if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains – however improbable – must be the truth.“

Fitness Blog – Nude Exercise

Image Credit: Nicolai Grosell http://www.nicolaigrosell.com/

Do you exercise nude?  Have you ever tried it?  Personally, I am rather fond of it.  The reason I ask, is this morning my wife asked me that same question “Why do you exercise naked?”  She has a hard time doing so…mainly because, well, she has rather large breasts and all the bouncing involved in exercise (jumping jacks, jogging, etc) hurt.  I don’t really have that issue and so I generally prefer to do my exercise routines (when I’m home) in the nude.

Now, there are (what I deem) legitimate rationale for my preference to do this nude. The first reason is that I don’t feel that exercise clothing does not seem to be designed efficiently for men.  Maybe it is the brands I am buying or the style, and it is really hard to describe.  Pants and shorts seem to have two layers, and as my body moves, it doesn’t seem the two layers want to move at the same time.  It very well could be the sweat making the under layer stick to my thighs.  Never mind the fact that if I move in just the right way I end up causing testicular injury…Then there are the shirts, either too long in the torso or too short.  I do not understand why work out where needs to be so complicated.

I understand and I can appreciate the fact that most of the clothing is designed to absorb the sweat and keep the body cool, which then and there goes into my second dislike; wet clothing.  Personally, I sweat a lot.  Probably more so than other people, which means that my clothes get ultra sweaty…which is very dis-gus-ting to peel off my body when I am done working out.  Never mind the fact that I have to have my laundry air out before it goes into the hamper otherwise I have to BURN the clothing at the end of the week when it’s laundry time.  I am aware that I could simply throw my clothes in the wash after use, but this also adds to the wear and tear on the clothing.

It’s just easier for me to work out nude, I bring extra towels to help with the sweat, and I always wipe down and disinfect anything I work out on.  The added bonus for me, is being able to see my form sans clothing.  To watch the muscles working, to see the muscles (which is a real turn on for me) and watching my anatomy take shape.

Hodge Podge – (Insert Title Here)

So this is going to be a hodge podge article, because well, I’ve had a lot of random thoughts in my head over the last few days.

I will start this post with sadness…and then maybe work up to sillyness:
Most recently Kevin Smith posted on his Facebook page a very intimate picture of him morning the loss of his faithful fury friend Mulder.  The death of a beloved pet is an emotional experience.  Honestly, when I flip through Imgur, Reddit, Facebook and someone is conveying their emotional loss of their pet you really do feel for their loss.  In most cases for me, I feel sad…and usually after a few swipes I forget why I was sad.  There was something different with the loss of Kevin’s dog, that makes me still feel the grief.

I can only rationalize the following, when this loss is through an anonymous person online…you have the feelings and then you move on.  When it is someone that you have followed for a while, someone that you have a connection to…it seems that loss is somehow magnified.  When Robin Williams passed on, I cried for days (I still get choked up thinking about it), this is because Robin Williams was a childhood hero that morphed into a roll model as I got older.  He was someone I respected and admired.  To some what of a lesser extent, I have the same regards for Kevin Smith.  My first experience with Kevin Smith was in the movie Chasing Amy, and then later Clerks, Mall Rats, Clerks 2, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, etc., there was just always this connection with both his characters on film and his character as a person that I could relate to and I could admire.  So, when he shares his photo with the public (because we were all concerned with the health of his dog as he had been posting updates regularly…) and you just sit and look at the photo, at least I couldn’t help but put myself in his place and feel the experience.

Now that I have sufficiently depressed everyone…let’s transition to something a little more geeky.

Okay, so…if you are reading up to this point, be forewarned that from here forward I will be discussing things that are nothing but geeky.  I am a huge fan of Anime and Manga.  You have to look beyond the fact that they are cartoons.  They are so much more than cartoons and illustrations on a printed piece of paper.  There are a lot of Anime shows out there that have exceptionally great story lines, and are jammed packed with characters you can relate to.  Of course, something I have issues with is most of the Anime that I’ve watched as of lately (Sekirei, Rosario + Vampire, Heaven’s Lost Property, Freezing and many others) all seem to take place in High School which makes me question the morality of these cartoons as many of them really emphasize the nude female form.  It’s weird, I know…but there is another reason why I bring these up.

The Anime that I have made mention to are short 20-25 minute episodes and usually have dramatic conflict involving super human powers.  Episodes that cause my pulse to race and adrenaline to pump, which in my opinion are the best types of things to watch when working out.  You need that extra drive to make you push harder.  At least in my mind, when I watch these shows I see visually normal people who then become super powered and I think to myself “Who-ah! I feel a rush, time to power up!”  Personally, I think if you haven’t sat down and watched any good Anime, Netflix is constantly adding new titles to their line up.  They are incredibly addicting and yes they will have lots of well endowed naked females, but at least they aren’t afraid to kick ass!

And the sickness cometh…

I would have to say sometime Thursday night a sickness invaded and took refuge within my body.  This repulsive siege has made the last four days a rather horrible experience.  There is nothing romantic (to say the least), about being sick.  The snot, the coughing, the crap that gets hacked up…the dehydration.  It is the dehydration that I do not understand.  I was constantly thirsty, lips were chapped beyond belief.  With all the mucus and phlegm (that’s a strange word), how could my body be so deprived of water?

But I push on, even went so far as to go to work, grab my laptop and work from home.  I still took sick time but I will be damned if I fall behind.  I will say that working while in your pj’s (regardless of how much echinacea tea, Mucinex and Robitussin you have to chug down) beats working from an actual desk at your place of employment.  And why shouldn’t it?  Instead of having to deal face to face with co-workers/management and their issues I can be working while catching up on Supernatural.  It still seems rather silly that in this day and age (1) we are still required to physically work in an office building, and (2) that even if we are sick, it is still expected for us to work (of course management encourages you to rest).

Of course, I am not completely out of the woods…but (1) I am out of sick leave, and (2) any more time off and I am afraid I may need a doctor’s note before returning to work.  Of course, when the body is sick the last thing you want to focus on is eating right and exercising.  Actually, let me rephrase that, the LAST thing you want to focus on is strumming up the energy and motivation to exercise.  The way I see it, you can get better or you can get better.  The body is already having a hard enough time battling off the infectious germs, why put on the strain of having the energy to do a hundred push ups and sit ups?

Fitness Blog – Oooouch!

It has been a month, a good solid month of tirelessly working out, day in and day out.  Six out of seven days, of doing some form of routine.  It has been hard, it has been rough, and it has been painful.  I will say, without a doubt, it was more fun getting fat and sassy than getting my ass in shape.  I can also so say, that without a doubt the routines sold by Beach Body are by far some of my favorite.  Even if it is just the basic 30 or 50 minute entry work outs, they are hard enough to work up a sweat and get the heart going.

So, how does it all add up?  Well, at the beginning of this year, at my heaviest I was back up over 280 pounds.  I wouldn’t say I am “eating right” but I am eating better (i.e. more fruits and vegetables, smaller portions, more water) and my body has finally realized that I am working out and my weight is starting to go down.  I won’t put anything in print as to where I am at, I don’t want to jinx anything.

The Human Body

The human body fascinates me.  I think what fascinates me most about it, is how we as humans cannot seem to make up our minds if it is a work of art or it is sinful and must be covered.  Personally, I find the most comfort and freedom when I am nude.  Being nude allows me to see (and others around me) who I am, and what I am.

The photo that I am attaching to this article showed up on my Reddit feed this morning.  I believe it to be titled Hot Gap, by the photographer Dean Lavery.  I found it to be absolutely breath taking.  I am not really certain if this photo was taken with any kind of a heat sensitive camera setting, but the brilliant contrast of the cool blue skin of the buttocks and the warm oranges of the vulva is so beautiful.  As if to say, this is where all life begins.  It is warmth, it is life.  It is both erotic, and sensual.  Beauty and Art.

Football themed Haiku

It was requested that I write some Haiku for the Super Bowl last week…and I am neither a Pats fan or a Seahawks fan.  I root for the 49ers personally.  I don’t really follow the games, let alone watch them any more.  I am a big fan of the sport, just don’t really have the time to sit and watch a football game on TV.

So, if you don’t know a Haiku is a poem written in 5 – 7 – 5 syllables:

One:
The Crimson and Gold
Versus Seahawks Blue and Green
Rivals Forever

Two:
Forty-Niners are Out
Seahawks Now Champs Super Bowl Bound
Maybe Next Year

These were written on the spot, but I think they came out okay.