It's all too much OR Why I don't want to go to Comic-Con

This may be a shock to most people who know me and how much of a nerd I am, but I do not want to go the Comic Con International in San Diego, CA (also referred to as San Diego Comic Con or simply Comic Con). I mean, I co-host a podcast called Too Nerdy For TV, I have built my own lightsabre, and I have a Superman and Transformers tattoo. Comic Con should be right up my alley. Honestly I am not really interested in going. If you are past the shock of my opening statement, I will continue on and explain my position.

Reason 1: Too Many People... That might make me sound like an old man, but 130,000 is just too many people for me. My recent trip to the Dallas Comic Con and the overcrowding there was enough. Swimming through a sea of people is just not on my agenda.

Reason 2: The Average Person Doesn't See Anything... Think about it: you are on person amongst thousands of others, all trying to do the same thing. If you want to get in to Hall H (that is the big room with the major announcements and panels) you have to devote you day to just that and you get to see/do nothing else. 5% of the total attendance gets in to Hall H, that includes press and celebs who get priority  I don't like those odds.

Reason 3: I Can't Afford It... This is a practical reason. Honestly, if I could somehow afford to go, I would not be able to do much else. I can't afford any of the "con-exclusive" collectables. I can't afford autographs (I don't even get autographs at local shows anymore). If I want anything that is "con-exclusive" I can find it on ebay and most likely save a little money. Yes it will be an inflated price from the what the sticker was at the show, but add in having to get to San Diego, stay in a hotel, and go to the show ti is cheaper.

Reason 4: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube Bring The Event To Me... Anything major that happens will be all over Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Many of the major panels get posted on YouTube and all the comic and media press report on the announcements anyway. The only thing I feel like I am missing out on is the video presentations but refer to Reason 2 as to why I would most likely not see them anyway.

Reason 5: I Do Not Want To Spend That Much Money Standing In Line... When you go to a convention, really any convention, you must make to choice to either enjoy the show or stand in line. Dallas Comic Con was like this. I enjoy cons because I enjoy the floor. I like to displays and the collectables and and the cosplay (that is people in costume if you did't know). I would LOVE to be at Comic Con and see the booths and the merchandise and the awesome costumes. To me it is not worth the money just to do that. If you want to go to panels, get autographs, etc. you are going to stand in line. Sometimes you will stand in line for a chance to stand in another line. If I am going to a show like this.

Reason 6: Comic Con Has Lost Its Way... This is the part that makes me somewhat of a nerd bigot. The convention is called Comic Con International. It has become less about comics and more about pop culture. I get that and I'm ok with that. What the hell is Twilight doing at Comic Con? What the hell is Glee doing at Comic Con? Supernatural, Game of Thrones, Merlin, etc. are all genre shows. Breaking Bad? Mad Men? Seriously? Fifty Shades of Grey will most likely be there next year and that makes me sad. Make the show about pop culture but make it about OUR pop culture and keep the posers out. Comic Con is for the ones that live it, not the hipsters that put on a store-bought costume and play dress up for a few days and then go back to "normal" on Monday. Or the ones who wear pop culture t-shirts ironically. It feels like comic con has sold out to the big money studios and I'd rather attend small, local cons that are still about the people.


In closing, I would like to say that if someone offered me an all expense trip to Comic Con next year, I would consider it. However, I would have to think long and hard about it because I just don't think that is for me anymore. Maybe Comic Con is on my Murtagh list. Whatever the case, I LOVE my local Dallas shows and can't wait for the Fan Days in October.


This is a good article that really hits on some of the points I made - Why I Hated Comic Con

\m/ \m/

How I'm spending my summer vacation...

This is a quick post to show off some homemade equipment I am using this summer. Below are some pics of my DIY-ish workout gear.

Can't take DIY cred for the punching bag and stand. However, if you look on the floor you will see my DIY medicine ball. It is made from an old basketball, filled with 10 lb. of sugar, and duck taped to hell. It currently resides in a soccer ball training thing (seriously I have had this net thing since I was like 10 and have no idea what it's purpose is anymore, what it is called, or where you might find one) to serve as a hammer.

This is my ground and pound dummy. It is several rolls of carpet covered in a ton of duck tape. It is really fun to toss around and beat on. Total cost was about $5 for the duck tape.

This is my uppercut bag. It is an old duffle bag from high school. My old marching band duffle bag to be specific. it contains a 50 lb. sand bag and it filled out with old T-shirts to round out the bag. Cost was about $1.99 for the sand and $3 for the hardware to hang it. 

This is my double end bag. It consists of a bounce ball I stole borrowed acquired from my children. I covered it in...wait for it... duck tape and secured a rope to hang it. The rope was the tricky part. It took several times for the rope to work. It is attached to the ceiling and a bucket full of concrete pieces via bungees. I had the ball, I had the bungees, and the bucket and concrete "came with the house." Seriously, the bucket is an old paint bucket left over from the renovation on this house before we moved in and the concrete pieces were just lying around my yard.

This is my most recent piece of equipment. I picked these up at a local tire shop around the corner from my house. They are awesome! I flip them, drag them, pull them, feed them, change them, etc. Through a VERY generous friend I also have a sledgehammer that I hit these awesome tires with.

So that is my workout equipment at home. Had I bought all of this brand new and "professional" it would have run me over $500. I am having a lot of fun with my new toys and will post the progress as usual. I am currently working on the final post on my "Is That A Fat Joke" series. Stay tooned...

\m/ IS NO TRY \m/

Is that a fat joke? (Part Deux)

Last time I gave a little back story, herein referred to as THEN. Now we will discuss the present and the future (most likely in part 3), herein referred to as NOW and LATER respectively...

As of this writing (May/June 2012) I have lost ~45 lbs since I really started pushing myself in January and ~60 lbs from my highest in 2007. We did a biggest loser contest at work. My official weight loss for the contest was 30 lbs or ~10.50%. I lost. The winner lost ~10.75%. POINT TWO FIVE PERCENT?!?! That is how much I lost by. Not even a full pound. Had I lost 3/4 of a pound more, I would have won. I was very upset. Not that I lost, that I lost by so little. A blowout I can handle. This was just frustrating. After a bit of a pity party, I decided to shake it off and move on. I am not doing this for a contest. I was doing this way before the contest started, I was just looking to make a buck from what I was already doing.

I began to get a bit bored with what I had been doing. I completed RUSHFIT level 1 and felt great but I wanted a new challenge. I cut WAY back on my workouts, just kept up with my eating and have not lost much more, but I am maintaining. If I am not going to lose at least I am not gaining. I started reading articles and doing some research on some ways to change things up. There is a blog that a friend on Facebook had directed me called Nerd Fitness. This is a wonderful blog from a nerd that decided to get his life together through simple means. Kind of like the poor man's Chris Hardwick (no offense, Steve. That is a compliment. I just finished Hardwick's book The Nerdist Way and there are very similar concepts). Here is some background on the creator Steve Kamb. Anyway, Steve has some amazing articles about how to "level up your life". He breaks down concepts that can be confusing due to the crazy cash-cow that is the fitness and diet industries. He uses RPGs, video games, and other such nerd/pop culture references to make the concepts relatable.

I like blogs more than newspapers or magazines* because it is easier to find an old blog post if you know what blog it was than to find an old article in print media. Its like the web holds the information for you until you need it. What is really cool is when the timing of the article hits right when you need it. The articles on Nerd Fitness were interesting and enjoyable, but they did not really do anything for me. I was looking for motivation and inspiration and all of a sudden it was like Steve knew what I needed to hear. In the span of a week or so Steve posted the following articles and it was EXACTLY what I needed to hear.

The first was Go Right. This is a wonderful piece about pushing forward and related your goals and progress to old school 8-bit video games. He posted a video that inspired the post that was amazing inspirational for me. The end is my favorite part:

"Stop worrying about the next level.  Don’t worry about that final jump.  Who cares if you’ve “died” a million times?  Try again.  Try differently.  Try smarter.
Hit continue.  
Go right."

That is such a simple way to look at things.

The second was This Time Its Different. This article is about actually proving that "this time will be different" and how to make it be different.

These are just two of the wonderful articles that Steve has posted lately. I highly recommend reading this blog and even joining the forums. I don't post in the forums as much as I should, but that will hopefully change. In the next part of this ever-growing series I am going to address the LATER part of where I am and some of the specific points I got from the aforementioned articles and how I plan to apply them.

\m/ IS NO TRY \m/

*I do not really read newspapers or magazines anymore though I do read a lot of articles posted on magazine sites, specifically Men's Health and Men's Fitness. Some are published in the print versions, some are not.

Is that a fat joke? (Part The 1st)

I have posted many times about my weight loss. I have shared things about RUSHFIT, my gains, my losses, my successes, and my failures. When I started this quest, journey, endeavor...whatever you want to call it I just wanted to be a better me. I hit the ground running and pushed myself harder than I have ever be pushed and I was proud of myself. I will admit that lately I have not been as motivated as I was previously. I have not quit altogether, but I have not been as driven as I was. I have allowed too many things to get in the way and I have let myself off the hook WAY too much. I have found a renewed sense of purpose as of late and I want to share that with you now...

DISCLAIMER: The following is written in generalities and is in no way meant to suggest that I do not have the most amazing parents and family. The lack of positive to counter the negative has nothing to do them and please do not take it that way. My parents and family were not the source of the negativity that plagued my adolescence and young adulthood. I am speaking mainly about my so-called peers and the people that, at the time, I felt like I needed to impress.

I grew up a fat kid. Plain and simple. I was never any good at sports (except for soccer because defender was MADE for me). I was a proud band nerd (yes I was the fat tuba player). I had a group of friends that I did not always feel like were really my friends. I was not popular. I never really got the girl. I was about as text book high school social leper as it gets. I grew up hearing horrible things. I was called names like Crisco (cause my name is Chris and I was fat. It was not very clever), and that was about the nicest thing people had to say about me. I was living (at least in my mind) in the shadow of my smarter, prettier, more well-adjusted sister. I had extremely low self esteem so I did what any other fat kid who really hates their life: I developed a sense of humor. A lot of this sense of humor was, and still is, self-deprecating. It takes away the power if you are making fun of yourself. That is why big people are funny. It is a defense mechanism. If we can make you laugh then maybe you will not mind being seen with us and for a brief moment you will not make us feel worthless. The problem was my self esteem was so low and I spent so much time hearing these horrible things about myself, with very few positive things to counter the argument, I began to believe those things about myself. It didn't help that my (now)ex-wife contributed to my negative self image. Years and years of this have made me a very cynical adult. Things rarely went my way. I have more or less adopted a life view of expecting everything to go wrong. That way nothing surprises me anymore and when good things happen, it is a pleasant surprise. That may be a pessimistic way of looking at the world, but it really keeps me from losing my cool as often. When bad things happen or the universe craps on me for umpteenth time, my reaction is closer to "Well sure.." that anger. 

I have said all of this to say this... Recently I have experienced something I have not experienced very often in my 31 years on this planet. I am getting positive comments about my weight. I am getting daily compliments and encouragements from co-workers, friends, and social network acquaintances. It is very odd feeling to have people say positive things about you when most of your life has been spent hearing almost nothing but negative. People are actually telling me that I look good. They say things like "you are going to wither away soon" and they call me positive names like Slim and Skinny... and not ironically. The last time I had comments like this was right after my divorce. I lost a LOT of weight REALLY fast. The initial comments were more of concern, then one particular co-worker kept calling me Ally McBeal. Yeah, that's how long ago that was. I progressively put the weight lost on "the divorce diet" back on as I got my life back together. I decided a few years ago that I would never break 300 lbs. again after topping out right before the divorce at 320 lbs. I did things off and on just trying to stay under that 300 lbs. mark. I would flux up and down the same 5-10 lbs. You can read why I decided to get things going hard core back in January on an earlier post.

I have been working on this post for over a week now and it just keeps getting longer. I am going to post this section now and keep working on the next one to be posted soon. As usual I will shameless self-promote myself on every social network I am on so if you are not subscribed to this blog you will know there is a new post. Thanks and I will see you soon.

\m/ IS NOT TRY \m/

That is why you fail...

And by YOU I mean ME! I have failed...miserably. I was making such great progress and completed the Beginner program of RUSHFIT. I was all geared up for the Intermediate program and things have not gone in my favor in the least bit. It has been one thing after another.

I have fallen, but I WILL get up!!!

I am not really sure what has caused my apathy but it stops now. I am going to let he last few weeks go and start fresh. I lost my motivation, but I am determined to win my belt. I have come too far to quit now. What is important is where I go from here. Step one is recognizing that I have a problem. Step two is addressing the problem. So let us do that, shall we...

Excuse 1: I lost my momentum I took too long a break and got lazy.
Excuse 2: I am really sore from mowing the yard. Pity party, table for one.
Excuse 3: My yearbook is due I put this off and now I have to rush to meet my deadline.
Excuse 4: It's so late and I'm so tired I farted around all night and now it's time for bed and I have not worked out yet.
Excuse 5: I'd rather spend some quality time with my wife/kids. (I'm allowing this one and I don't think anyone will judge me for it)

These are only a few of the excuses I have had over the last several weeks for being lazy. So I am moving forward with renewed spirit and drive. Allons-y!!!

\m/ IS NOT TRY \m/

**none of the videos are very long and they really go with my points so take a few minutes out of your day and watch them. Thanks.

Childhood Abuse

I had this idea last night and threw this together on my lunch break... enjoy. My entry in the Micheal Bay/Ninja Turtle/He is a nut bag war going on right now.

\m IS NOT TRY \m/

I am Rushfit(ish)...

So I "finished" the beginner program of Rushfit. I use quotes because I actually did not complete all of weeks 7 and 8. Life got in the way. I decided that in lieu of spinning my wheels to do every single workout and continually having to adjust my schedule I decided to cut my losses and call the Beginner program done. Plus, I am really anxious to get in to the Intermediate program. It's the same exercises, just a slightly more intense schedule.

I am taking this week off, as recommended, to prepare for the next step. I am doing some light cardio work and finishing my Fortress of Solitude*. When I start the next program I am going to follow it much more closely and really step up my cardio. I am going to do the Couch to 5K program along with Rushfit. I figure I am on the treadmill anyway, why not? Below you will find before and after pics and stats. I am using the same after pics and stats for the before of the Intermediate program. Later this week I will have a video post with my review of the whole program and the tools I am using to assist me in my mission.

Stats

At the beginning of the program, you are asked to do a fitness assessment and measurements. Below are my results.

FITNESS ASSESSMENT

Each exercise for 60 secs, 20 sec rest in between

Air Squats: Before = 15 After = 51

Push Ups: Before = 15 After = 26

Sit Ups: Before = 10 After = 23

Burpees: Before = 7 After = 12

MEASUREMENTS

Weight: Before = 295 After = 275

Chest: Before = 52" After = 50.5"

Waist: Before = 52.25" After = 48.5"

Hips: Before = 52.5" After = 51"

Thigh (R): Before = 29.5" After = 28.25"

Thigh (L): Before = 29" After = 28.5"

Bicep (R): Before = 15" After = 16"

Bicep (L): Before = 14.75" After = 16"

PICTURES

Here are the before and after pics

 

 \m/ IS NO TRY \m/