Cabin Fever...Weekly Weight Update

I hate running on a treadmill (now that you've seen my video on the proper pronunciation of the word last week you can really hear me say it, can't you). Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that I have one in the house so I can still get in a workout as the snow is melting but I just don't feel like I'm working out as hard or running as long as I should be. It's SOOOOO boring. Not only that, the moment I step off the treadmill I feel like I'm going to fall down. My equilibrium is all messed up after 45 minutes of what is essentially running in place. I need to get to running outside again.

Nothing is certain except...

Nothing is certain except death and taxes.

Benjamin Franklin new this statement to be true. Most of us in the accounting profession are wishing for one of these things more than the other, especially this time of year (I give you one guess as to which one). That's right, ladies and germs, it's tax time once again in the United States of America. It's time to gather all your documents, prepare your annual tax returns, and hope to file everything on time to avoid getting in trouble with the big, bad IRS. With that in mind I would like to share some of my personal pet peeves about filing your taxes. Try not to fall asleep while trying to get through this blog. If we all work really hard we can get through this time of year together.

Mission: Movies - The Doom Generation

Warning: This blog is filled with vulgarity that shouldn't be read by most people. Mom, you may want to skip this one but if you don't, I'm sorry.

For a long time I had a fascination with writing a book. The problem I learned with that fascination is that I didn't have anything particular to say but I liked the idea of being an author of something. It wasn't a story that I wanted to share but a thick, hard back volume with my name on the cover. Let me tell you if your goal is simply to write a book because you want to sit it on your coffee table then you will never get it done because it should be the story that dictates a book not the desire to write a book to create a story.

Anyway, since I couldn't think up a good idea for a story I thought I would take on a challenge and write about it. The challenge I gave myself was to watch a movie everyday for a year and then write about my experience. So in 2009 I started my challenge and got reasonably close. I watched 312 movies over that 365 day span. It was about the same time that a movie called Julie and Julia came out about a woman who writes a blog documenting her experience in cooking every recipe in Julia Child's first book.

Snow...Weekly Weight Update

There is one story the dominated this entire week. Snow.

No doubt that it snowed and it snowed and it snowed. But there was a whole week of living before the snow came. The week was cold which made it challenging to get outside to work out. Luckily for me I was gifted a used treadmill from my parents so the basement was geared up to keep up with the workouts during this cold week. Both Tuesday and Thursday saw me down in the basement, headphones in, The Da Vinci Code on Netflix, and sweat pouring down my face.

I don't think so, Tim.

My Dad, the honorable David Earl Clark, is from a generation when men were men and when things broke around the house you picked up your tool box (or tool belt) and fixed it. If the sink was leaking you pulled your pants down to allow your butt crack to show, grabbed a wrench, and fixed the leak. If you needed a new roof, you grabbed some shingles, a hammer, and some nails then replaced the roof (after hitting your thumb three or four hundred times). If your TV stopped working you grabbed a screwdriver and opened the back of the massive box as if you somehow understood how a TV work then proceeded to shock yourself 7 or 8 times before reattaching that loose wire. When things would break you would fix it.

Times have certainly changed for those of my generation.

MAKE ME A SANDWICH!

Rizzo got me an interesting book for Christmas this year titled The Mad Feast by Matthew Gavin Frank. It wasn't anything on my list but it is a great book and I'm glad to have received it. The book explores various foods from each of the US states told through essays, short stories, or autobiographical excerpts that revolve around that particular states food. Sometimes recipes are included, sometimes not, but so far they have all been interesting tales.

Getting this book inspired me to revive a project that I had started once before but never too seriously. I decided that once a month I'm going to cook something that I have never cooked before and see how it turns out. I enjoy cooking from time to time but I'm not a gourmet chef by any definition. The purpose is just to enjoy some time in the kitchen and maybe find a recipe or two that can be a keeper.

Routine was the theme...Weekly Weight Update

I've found that the hardest time of year to get into a weekly routine is the month of January. All year long you spend the time trying to get into that rhythm of life. You work to get to the point that you almost have it down to a science and you are going strong. You get your workouts in on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and occasionally Sunday. You go grocery shopping Saturday morning after breakfast out with the family. You spend the evenings hanging out with family at home then going out to do something fun one of the weekend days. Then you spend Sunday trying to sneak in as much relaxation as possible before heading back to the grind on Monday. Usually you figure out the perfect routine on or about November 25. Then Thanksgiving rolls around, then Christmas, then New Year's Eve, and then without even realizing it you have spent the last month rushing and running and partying and your weekly routine has gone right out the door.

Seat Guru

From my blog email thread: You get to plan a dinner party for 4-8 of your favorite writers/artists/musicians/other notable figures, whether dead or alive. Who do you seat next to whom in order to inspire the most fun evening?

Of course this is a common question when trying to provoke a thoughtful discussion. Usually it comes in the form of “If you could grab coffee with one person, dead or alive, who would it be?” or something along those lines. This particular idea just expands upon that notion to create a wider net. Here is my list of dinner party guests.

5 Against 1 – The Inevitable Pearl Jam Blog - The Fans

By late October 2009, Rizzo and I had been dating for over a month (or just about a month depending on which date Rizzo decides we started dating at the time of this posting). Pearl Jam was touring for their album Backspacer with the shows closest to the Washington DC area being in Philadelphia, PA. The band had four shows scheduled on October 27-31 to celebrate(?) the closing of the Spectrum Center. As with every Pearl Jam tour I wanted to make sure to get to at least one concert but was hesitant to go because (1) I didn’t want to go by myself and (2) even through Rizzo and I were really close really fast I wasn’t sure it would be appropriate to invite her out of town for the weekend after only a month of dating.

Luckily for me I found myself a good woman and Rizzo insisted she wanted to go to the show so I better hurry up and find some tickets. Finding tickets in the age of the internet for just about any show, event, or concert is a fairly routine endeavor. Finding tickets that won’t require you to sell a kidney and sacrifice your first born isn’t as easy. I found some nosebleed seats on a third party ticket selling site the only cost my right big toe and 6 pints of blood so I scooped them up. Rizzo and I were heading to Philadelphia to see Pearl Jam on Saturday, October 31, 2009; Halloween.

Cars...Weekly Weight Update

This week started off great. After the Sunday morning weigh-in the family came home for some pancakes and eggs for breakfast (as is our Sunday morning tradition that you can read about at Sunday Funday). I had plans to get over to the movie theater with my good friend Steve for a second viewing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens so I hopped in my car to be on my way. That is when my car didn't start.