Fitness lack of progress report

Well... I'm not gaining weight...

But I'm not really going in the other direction either. Incredibly frustrating s can be imagined

Album double whammy : # 9 & 10

#9 - Darcy James Argue's Secret Society : Infernal Machines

Yup. This album is great. Extremely clever big band writing. Nothing to say negative here. Go give it a listen.

#10 - Snarky Puppy : Family Dinner

Total jam album. Snarky Puppy brings the business. Not always the biggest fan of vocal jazz but you know... Sometimes I can be swayed

Book review 3 : The Language of God : Francis S. Collins

Not the book I was expecting and hoping for. And the bummer is that I really don't know what I was hoping for. I think the main problem was that since I already understand most of the content of this book nothing was really eye opening for me.

The book is written by the head of the human genome project who just so happens to also be a Christian. The book should have been on how to keep these two ideas without going crazy but it just seems so dumbed down. I don't want dumbed down, Mister Scientist.

Album review 8/104 : The Beatles : Beatles for Sale

Same old same old. Nothing new here. Move along move along

Fitness report week 3 : back to formula

Weekly Net Weight Loss : +3.6 pounds
Total Weight Loss : -0.1 pounds

Well.... Not a good week. Travel and a crazy schedule and overeating have brought me right back to square one. Really frustrating as you can imagine. Hopefully we can get back down to where I was soon.

Book 2 : the Paradox of Choice

While this book has a decent theory and even some helpful advice I'm just not sure I can actually reccomend it. It's much too long and is filled with scores if unnecessary information. The content is as depressing at times as Russian literature and rarely (until the very end) gives you something to do about it. 

The concept is sound: in a world where choices are more and more abundant, people are actually less likely to be happy. Perhaps some people needed those five chapters in the middle to be convinced of the concept but I wasn't. He needed to just get to the point. 

I have read other books in this sort of "learn how to relax and look at the world differently" genre and thought they were much better. Check out "The Art of Possibility" by Ben and Rose Zander for my favorite of these self-help books. Changed my life. 

Album Reviews 6 and 7 : The Beatles : A Hard Day's Night : Help!

I listened to these albums more or less back to back. I'm attempting to get out ahead of this resolution because I know there's going to be some REALLY busy weeks coming up for me. Plus I really want to get through the Beatles' core catalogue.

We're still in the early 60s. The Beatles (McCartney and Lennon in particular) are starting to write better songs. They're getting a little more adventurous and ambitious on a few tracks but the albums as a whole still average out to be the same old poppy doo-wop sounds I dislike so strongly.

Andy Hamilton thinks I'm crazy listening to so many albums I don't particularly love but the idea is simple. I am not a person who will readily say I like the Beatles when asked. The only issue is that I also can't say I've listened to enough of them, nor a wide enough variety of their music to really know. I want to be able to say I've listened to everything they wrote. They're arguably the most important important performing group of the 20th century.

We're rapidly approaching album 7 which I have heard from many people is the really turning point. We shall see!

Album Review 5/104 : The Beatles : With The Beatles

The Beatles listening continues with their second album, recorded in the latter half of 1963. This album was recorded and released after their extremely successful first album. It's about 50/50 between original songs and covers of other songs which seems like it was a bigger thing back in the early 60s.

As far as their sound goes it still has that late 50s early 60s sound I don't love. We're still early on in their existence and I know that a lot of their later music gets crazy (and pretty good). So I'm looking forward to it.

Really I'm just hoping that I can hear the transition from this style into their later music. Interesting to hear how artists evolve over their careers.

Fitness Report #2

Weekly Net Weight Loss : -1.5 pounds
Total Weight Loss : -3.7 pounds

I've been a little all over the map this last week or so. I've been so busy with work and getting things done around the house that it's been a challenge to get exercise in or even keep track of calories each day. Down a little by the end of the week.

I'm attempting to shift fitness reports to Sundays. I don't know why. Just seems easier.

Album review 4/104 : The Beatles : Please Please Me

I'm officially announcing a sub project of the 104 album project (resist the urge to make a projectception joke): Listen to the core catalogue of albums released by the Beatles. Why? It's one of those things that I can't keep continuing to feign basic knowledge of this group. They're widely considered to be the greatest performing group of the 20th century and I'm not sure I've ever listened to a single album of theirs all the way through. I know some of the bigger songs if only vaguely. I didn't really grow up in a household where the Beatles were played and have had relatively little experience with their sound (I have no regrets about this by the way). Seeing as how we've already passed the 50th anniversary of their first album it seems like the perfect time to start.

Fitness report: Week 1

Weekly Net Weight Loss : -2.2 pounds
Total Weight Loss : -2.2 pounds

The first week started off with the end of break (which, naturally, resulted in a slight weight gain). I fortunately managed to work it back off. The Mrs. and I have been on the mediterranean diet the last several days. Lots of vegetarian meals and lean meat. It's extremely nice to have a meal plan through emeals that tells us what to make each day. Saves a lot of time and energy.

Started doing some exercising at home as well. We'll see if I get ripped! Probably not. Not really the goal. A successful first week. 22.7 pounds left n my first goal.

Book Review 1/26 : Freakonomics : Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

First book of the new year, Freakonomics is a book about framing the world slightly differently. It is essentially a collection of essays covering questions as different as crack dealers wages and good parenting. It's an interesting read for sure, though really feels eclectic. It certainly makes you think about things in a different light. They received a lot of controversy over most of the subjects in the book. Did abortion legalization after Roe v Wade impact the drop in crime rate in the 90s? Do realtors scam their clients out thousands of dollars on every home sale? How does racism influence players on "The Weakest Link?"

Check it out. It's a pretty quick read. The added sections after the main book is complete don't really add much in my opinion.

Album Review 3/104: Zomboy : Entire Creative Output

I like a pretty wide variety of music. The things that I find extremely satisfying often have students and friends scratching their heads. You mean you like Rimsky-Korsokov AND Jay-Z? Is that even possible?

Yes. Yes it is.

And I really love electronic music in almost all of its forms. Dubstep, House, Ambient, Chip Tunes, etc all makes its way through my skull and fills me with joy.

So my brother Caleb threw a recommendation that I listen to Zomboy stating "It's so much better than Skrillex" and my initial reaction was "WHO SENT YOU, THE DEVIL?! I BANISH THEE!"

My brother was right, though.

Album Review 2/104: Five Iron Frenzy : Engine of a Million Plots

Second album review of the year. Really eager to listen to a few of these albums. I'm also incredibly excited to break in my new headphones which were my Christmas and birthday present from my wife. (Audio Technica ATH-M50's. Seriously good sounding headphones)

This album has been a long time coming. It's Five Iron's first new album in a decade. I still remember going to see these guys live on their farewell tour when I was 14. Seriously cool concert. Then they left and I was super bummed out. I had all of their albums and loved them to death (Even Cheeses of Nazareth...County Wisconsin).

Enter kickstarter. Five Iron crowd sources the full cost of their new album and then some. Pretty awesome. This album has had me really excited for a long time. Well... not excited enough to actually listen to it until over a month after it came out but you know I WAS BUSY, OKAY?!

Album Review 1/104 : Red Baraat : Shruggy Ji

Starting the year off with my first album listening. Andy Hamilton, who kills me on music knowledge, pointed me in the direction of party band Red Baraat. This group exists in a vein of music I didn't even know existed before. It's 1 part brass band, 1 part dance band, 1 part asian wedding group, 1 part funk machine. The album, Shruggy Ji, is almost non-stop from beginning to end. It starts off loud and energetic and maintains that sound throughout. I tended to enjoy the funkier works (like the albums title track, Sailkot, and Private Dancers).

Come at Me, New Year

Here's where it starts. All the counters are at goose eggs. Aside from being in bed later than I should be this year has no problems.

As the year goes on I'm going to try to separate the resolutions I've made into different days. Later today I'll listen to the first album of the year.

May this year be wonderful. 

2014: The Undisputed Best Year Starting in the Next 24 hours

As I write this 2014 begins, technically, in 24 hours which is CRAZY. I honestly have a hard time comprehending that 2013 has already very nearly left us. With each new year, inevitably, come resolutions which always seem to be frustrating and futile attempts to change things in your life just because and the new year seems like a good enough division in your life to start as any.

Of course, though, we all know that rarely do these resolutions come to fruition and most of them stop as soon as we remember that cheeseburgers are still a thing and that every episode of Doctor Who is still on Netflix and people still seem to find interesting content to put on YouTube. BUT NOT THIS YEAR. (Well okay that stuff will still happen)

This year I'm taking charge. My friend Andy and I are ready to kill it and really go for it this year. We have many similar goals and some goals that are unique but we are going to accomplish them. Every one of them.

So here are my SPECIFIC goals for 2014, divided into a number of categories.

Fitness (duh)

I've been overweight for as long as I remember. This year that changes. My year-long goal is to be down 75 pounds by Christmas. I'm trying to split it up evenly but I assume the weight will be easier to lose at the start of the year. So I'm going for 25 pounds by April 2, 25 pounds by July 1, and the final 25 by December. Might be crazy but THAT'S JUST HOW I ROLL.

I'm going to be extremely diligent about tracking all of my food and sleep and fitness things using a host of tracking devices. I got a fitbit for Christmas and have already been using it pretty regularly. I think it will be good.

I'm going to be much more into cooking this year. I enjoy cooking and the food usually ends up tasting better, costing less, and being better for me. I'm going to work through mediterranean diet this year. Lots of very good food.

I also very much want to work on focusing on one thing at a time. I have a real tendency to divert my attention and that needs to change. Working on focus will be good for me.

Finances

This year my wife and I are getting our finances in order. We're working on getting some things set up to make things awesome and hopefully curb some of our reckless spending even though snickers bars and sprite from Casey's are incredibly delicious. I've been attempting to get things set up with Mint, though my bank is being a little bit the worst bank ever.

Work

I'm going to be super diligent about finishing things I need to for work. My teacher portfolio is due in only 3 short months! I need to be getting things prepped for all of my classes. On top of that I'm working on some things that will hopefully make my job easier and more efficient.

Entertainment

These are some of the bigger ones. I set a goal for reading this past year which was less realistic than most math goals schools make. This year I'm backing off and saying 26 books minimum this year. One book every two weeks is reasonable for my life at this point. I ended up reading close to 40 this year. Hopefully 26 is a low estimate but anything above 26 will be a success in my book.

Music. I was eating myself up about exactly how ambitious to make this goal. Really what it boils down to is that I need to listen (actually listen not passively listen) to more music. I would love to have some sort of daily listening goal but I'm not sure that is reasonable considering my schedule with work and other crazy things. So my goal is this. Listen to two FULL albums per week. An album only counts if I have not heard it yet this year (2014). If an album becomes something I really enjoy and choose to listen to it again it has to be IN ADDITION TO the albums for the week. I'm not going to specify anything crazy like genres or whatever. I need to expand my horizons.

I really want to spend less time in front of my computer, especially at home. I spend much of my day in front of my computer and then typically come home and sit in front of my computer again. That needs to stop. I want to try to limit computer usage across the board but especially at home. I think that reading and music will help.

Wrap-up

So there they are. to recap:

• Lose 75 pounds
• Track diet, exercise, sleep patterns
• Cook more often
• Focus on one thing at a time as often as possible
• Track finances diligently
• Finish teaching portfolio
• Continue to work on organization at work
• Read 26 books
• Listen to 104 albums
• Limit time using computer, television, and other screens

A hefty list but I think it will all work out. Andy is working on his own resolutions and we're attempting to stick to them diligently. On the the best year of our lives until next year.

Logan