Welcome to my blog.
I document my stupid
adventures. Have Fun!
As you may recall at the end of last week's update I had gained a very slight amount of weight which was essentially maintaining. As you can imagine, the best thing to do when you gain weight is to make some delicious food and go out to dinner for the largest, most fattening meal you can possibly imagine. That is exactly what I did.
The designated hitter. The difference between playing in the American League and the National League of Major League Baseball. A position created out of the fans desire to watch massive home runs. A position created out of fear of pitchers being injured while batting. A position that isn't a position at all. A rouse. A cheat. A scam.
I usually check in on my weight once or twice at home before the official weigh-in each Sunday. I didn't do that this week. I wasn't purposefully trying a different approach it just slipped my mind. I didn't even think about it until Saturday morning (when I started to write this) when I realized that I have no idea how I was doing so this week.
I'm not overly informed when it comes to the current political climate so don't take anything in this blog as support or opposition to any political ideology. I'm not a republican. I'm not a democrat. I don't even vote for the President of the United States (it is an issue I have with the Electoral College; I do vote in local and state-wide elections; and it is probably something I'll address in a later blog). The purpose of this blog is to share one of the lesser publicized sections of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), specifically Section 4205 - Nutrition Labeling of Standard Menu Items at Chain Restaurants.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
