January 11th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
by george (LA Life)
About 5 years ago we adopted an African Grey Timneh parrot. Up until about a year ago, he was a very friendly bird. Unfortunately though, he bit Brad on the lip and from then on, the relationship between Brad and Bailey got worse. After numerous attempts of trying to get Bailey to cooperate and be a less aggressive bird, we decided that he would be better off going back to Judy – the lady we adopted him from.
I took tons of video and photos leading up to him going back to Judy so I thought I’d include this collage of really awesome pictures. Bailey left us with quite a large vocabulary and he had learned quite a few tricks too. We made a list of all these tricks and passed them on to Judy.
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January 10th, 2008 at 9:04 am
by brad (Work)
I’m training again, and coincidentally we’ve started another fatass competition at work. The competition works like this: we all pitch in 100 bucks, and the person who loses the most weight (as a percentage of their starting weight) wins half the money, and the person who loses the most fat (as a percentage of their starting fat) wins the other half. I have won this contest twice before, taking both categories each time.
- 2003: 243 lbs -> 190 lbs
- 2004: 210 lbs -> 180 lbs
- 2007: 217 lbs -> ?
You might think I’m proud of my previous wins, but they only serve as a reminder that I’ve done all this before, only to waste a good deal of my effort by putting the weight back on. Of course, weight isn’t the whole story, and I am still in far better shape than I was in 2003. In any case, I’m determined that this will be the last time I lose weight. Since my last win, I think I’ve figured out how to maintain my weight and fitness without spending an inordinate amount of time at the gym. For now however, that’s just what I need. I plan to:
- Go to the gym at least 10 times per week – twice a day on weekdays and one longer workout on Saturday or Sunday.
- Eat 2000 calories per day – about 900 calories from carbs, 900 from protein, and 200 from fat. This will come from 4-5 smaller meals spread evenly throughout the day.
- Not drink during the week and not get drunk on the weekends.
I’ve done this before, and I know I have the willpower to do it for at least 5 months. After that I’ll work out a more reasonable 3-5 times per week. Once in shape, my goals include the following (all of which used to be true):
- The ability to run 3 miles in under 21 minutes, 5 miles in under 40 minutes, and 10 or more miles always at a pace faster than 9 minutes/mile.
- Maintain a weight in the 175-180 range, with no more than a 3 pound variation.
- Bike at least 30 miles.
- Have a resting heart rate near 50.
- Complete an Olympic distance triathlon in well under 3 hours (whether I will actively do triathlons is another story).
Losing weight is just the first step; some of those goals will take a while longer to achieve. I’ve done it before though.
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January 7th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
by brad (LA Life)
I have a problem with the new American Gladiators, specifically the Eliminator event. What’s the point of trying on the barrel roll or the hand bike? It’s a lot quicker to just give up on those and run across the pit. Even climbing back up the other side after the hand bike doesn’t take as long as trying to use the damn thing.
And where the fuck are the giant hamster balls?
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January 7th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
by brad (Drink)
We now have a bar in our living room, hidden inside a large Chinese wedding chest. We had to buy several bottles of liquor this weekend to make it look complete (we mainly drink vodka and gin), but there isn’t much room with all the glasses. It’s stocked with vodka, two types of gin, light and dark rum, bourbon, tequila, orange and banana liqueur, brandy, sherry, and Kahlua. Of course the wine still lives in our wine fridge. We’ve also got all the accoutrements necessary for civilized drinking.
While stocking the bar, I realized how many alcohol related gifts we’ve received – four different sets of champagne flutes from various people (Mimi, Cheryl, Alix and Lisa, and Neversoft), three types of wine glasses, a margarita set, a decanter, sake set, desert wine glasses, martini glasses, shot glasses, beer mugs, corkscrews, shaker, and countless bottles of wine and liquor. Our friends and family know us well.
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January 3rd, 2008 at 2:50 pm
by george (Food)
Here is a photo of what our lunches actually looked like today. It’s quite surprising how much Mr. Bento holds. Definitely enough for lunch and an afternoon snack. I’m still so full from the rice and beef. I’m looking forward to my noodles and gyoza though!
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January 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
by brad (Food)
One of the gifts George and I received for Christmas was a Mr. Bento lunch box. It looks like a fat thermos, and inside are four separate containers, two of which are insulated. The two insulated containers are separate from the other two, so you can have hot and cold foods in the same meal. The whole thing comes in a nylon carrying bag complete with a spork in a little case.
We immediately started fighting over Mr. Bento, so we ran out and bought another. After using it, we’re a little obsessed. A quick search on Google, and it’s obvious we aren’t the only ones. There is even a Flickr group just for pictures of the meals people put in their Mr. Bento.
I was so excited to use mine today that I had lunch early. The rest of the day I was thinking about the meals I might make tomorrow.
Update: Tomorrow’s menu is as follows (one dish per bento container):
- Vegetable gyoza
- Noodle salad with crab, Japanese cucumber, and a soy-based dressing
- Chirashi – a mixed rice with seaweed and vegetables
- Bite sized steak with Japanese vegetables
But Friday! Oh on Friday Mr. Bento will be very happy. The highlight will be salmon that’s been fermenting in a miso and mirin paste since last night. On Friday morning we’ll throw it under the broiler and get salty, sweet, charred perfection.
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