This blog is, for now, suspended. Visit my new one.

Sorry it's been a while folks. I almost forgot this blog til I saw it's the top hit for my name on Google searches.

Anyway, to know what I'm up to these days visit the following sites:

My other blog: One from the Pews

My employer: The Catholic Telegraph

My website: John Stegeman Freelance

Also be advised: The views expressed on this website are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

In fact, this blog ceased operations long before I worked for my current employer.

Anyways, for now this blog is a thing of the past. On to the future.

Where the heck have I been? Busy.

I got a 100 story-a-month SEO freelance job on the side of my full time employment and that just about owns my free time, and as such, John Stegeman's Blog has been dormant for a while.

So it occurs to me that if anyone has been by my blog who wasn't part of this summer's weight loss challenge, they'd have no idea I ever wrote about anything else. And for some time now I haven't.

Well, now I have. And I don't mean just this post you're reading right now, I mean this one 1fromthepews.blogspot.com. That's my more faith-based blog. This one, I'll keep around for politics, sports, fun randomness, more weight loss challenges etc.

Anyway, someone recently put to me the question, "Who gets to call themselves Catholic?" which I have answered over at 1 from the Pews.

Take care folks and check back every once in a while.

Weight Loss Update: It's all over

BREAKING NEWS!! Dungy has weighed in a 227.6, which is under his 10 percent threshold of 227.7. He is the WINNER of the Weight Loss Challenge.

 Everyone please post their weights anyway to update final standings. Dungy demands as tribute $5 from each participant, which he will use for a celebratory bottle of wine. Details of the party and bowing to come.

Dungy, Lyndsey battling for the win. Weight Loss Challenge Standings

Here are the standings in the WLC....Dungy's victory is close at hand....can anyone stop him?

Lyndsey has the best chance, and after that its a battle for meaningless bronze. Second place is the first loser....Evan is the last loser....or so it seems. A MASSIVE illness, or perhaps amputation, could still propel anyone into the win.

Since it seems most of us cannot win at this point, I use my emperor-like power to create a meaningless tweak to the plan. When we bow to the winner, the person in dead last bows first, and so on. So think about how long you want to kneel, and step it up.

I'm also going to start thinking about the victory party soon so stay tuned for details.

Dungy 3.3 to win
Lyndsey 5.7 to win
John 13.5 to win
Heather 14.5 to win
Matt 14.7 to win
Kelli 16.2 to win
Evan 19.5 to win

Weight Update and all the info you weren't asking for about my table tennis tournament experience.

Post'em here folks.

This weekend I won bronze in the Bluegrass State Games in table tennis for ages 20-29. In essence, that means I'm the third best non-USATT rated player in the state....probably a stretch to say that, but what the hell.

Oh and the other thing is only three people in my age group registered.....and I went 0-2 to win that bronze, but it still counts.

Then in the open championship I made the second round, when my opponent no-showed, before losing to the overall No. 3 seed, though I did lead him 8-6 in one game before losing it.

In actual tournament play, I went 1-3 in matches (ok 0-3, but I want to count the forfeit) and didn't even win a game. I did however get to play an exhibition match against another person in the tournament and I won that 3 games to 1.

Great day, long day. Think I'll take this a little more seriously and start playing at the table tennis club on Saturdays or Sundays.

Anyways, this likely contributed to an AWESOME week of weight loss.

John
Starting: 295
Current: 279
 Pounds: -16
13.5 to win


Someone check my math, but I think that's right.


Anyways Heather also checked in at:

Heather Van Dulman

Starting:275.0
Current: 262.0
Pounds: -13

Monday, July 16 weight loss update and standings

Sorry for the delays lately with these, I'm a busy man. I am going to post the standings as of last week and you all can post your current weights below. If I've figured these right, I'm sadly in dead last.

Alas....here were the standings as of last week.

Dungy 5.2 to win
Lyndsey 8.9 to win
Matt 14.9 to win
Kelli 18.2 to win
Heather 18.5 to win
Evan 19.2 to win
John 19.5 to win

--------------------------



As for me this week, fun story. I went to the Lexington Table Tennis Club on Saturday and got a hardcore 1,000+ calorie burn in. Stepped on the scale at home after a shower, and weighed 280. Then Kelli and I went to a Chinese buffet...and long story short, I was right back to where I started. 24 hours later, I'd lost a half pound...the end.

John
Starting: 295
Current: 284.5
Pounds: -10.5
19 to win




Also, Dungy posted this on the last one (since I'm slow and never put these up before someone comments)


Dungy
Starting: 253
Current: 232.2 (no change)
Pounds: -20.8
5.2 to win


Everyone else, get to it.

Weight updates, is this the final one????

Sorry for the delays kiddies. Will this be the final update? Two people I know of are already within six pounds of the goal, six pounds is a lot for one week but it's not impossible.

I'm back from a great vacation that kept Kelli even and took me further from winning. Here we go.

John
Starting: 295
Current: 285
Pounds: -10
19.5 to win.

Kelli is 227, same as last week.
Starting: 232
Current: 227
Pounds: -5
18.2 to win

Other results posted early/on time were as follows. Everyone else comment.

Lyndsey
Starting: 205
Current: 193.4
Pounds: -11.6
8.9 to win

Matt
Starting: 253
Current: 242.6
Pounds: 10.4
14.9 to win

Dungy
Starting: 253
Current: 232.2
Pounds: -20.8
5.2 to win

Weight updates

I type this from Funland Arcade in beautiful Panama City Beach, Fla. So Kelli and I lack scale access so we weighed ourselves before we left Friday. I weighed 283.5 Kelli weighed 227. Everyone commence posting.

Weight update time, get wit it

Alright folks, it's that time of week again when we see how much closer Lyndsey is to making us bow, or perchance Dungy has continued his meteoric rise to the top.

Could it be that someone else has risen to the top by dropping the most?

Only time will tell.

And now I say to you in the word of the chairman,

"Allez cuisine!"

Sorry for the delay, Weight Updates again

Ok, sorry for the delay. I was a little under the weather yesterday.

It seems Dungy is our new king. Viva Dungy Rex....for now.


Pounds Lost Total
Dungy (253) weighs 240, a loss of 13 pounds
John (295) weighs 284, a loss of 11 pounds
Lyndsey (205) weighs 196.2, a loss of 8.8 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 267.2, a loss of 7.8 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 228, a loss of 4.0 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 249.6, a loss of 3.4 pounds

Evan (241) is late in reporting. (Because I'm a day late posting, I'm giving him the rest of the day to post)


Jeff (261) has died to the cause. He has lost, and is exiled. He has offered reparations, no decision has yet been made on his repatriation.

On to the more all important POUNDS FROM VICTORY

Pounds From Victory
Lyndsey 11.7
Dungy 12.3
John 18.5
Kelli 19.2
Heather 19.7
Matt 21.9
Evan TBD

Weight loss upate time

Since Dungy started the party with a post on the last blog...here's the new one. POST THE WEIGHTS!

Weight Loss Standings 4 I think

Ok, here's the update again, earlier than I did it last week of course....

With a one-week loss of eight pounds, I dropped my total pounds lost to 10 to surge into the meaningless lead of most pounds lost, and a 2.2 pound dive brought Dungy into second. Heather also had a big week, dropping 3.6 pounds and Evan lost 4 to get back in the black.

Total Loss
John (295) weighs 285, a loss of 10 pounds
Dungy (253) weighs 245, a loss of 8 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 267.7, a loss of 7.3 pounds
Lyndsey (205) weighs 198, a loss of 7.0 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 229, a loss of 3.0 pounds
Evan (241) weighs 238.9, a loss of 2.1 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 252, a loss of 1 pound
Jeff (261) is, as usual, late in reporting

The more important but time consuming to do standings are as follows:

Pounds From Victory
Lyndsey 13.5
Dungy 17.3
John 19.9
Jeff (pending but 20.1 at last update)
Kelli 20.2
Heather 20.2
Evan 22.0
Matt 24.3

Standings for the Weight Loss Challenge

Sorry this was so late, but it's up to date now. The honorary division is dead. Long live the main division.

Lyndsey remains in the lead for now. Evan, despite not attending Meat Fest... is in last after a gain.

Main Division
Lyndsey (205) weighs 198.4, a loss of 6.6 total
Dungy (253) weighs 247.2, a loss of 5.8 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 270.6, a loss of 4.4 pounds
Jeff (261) weighs 258, a loss of 3.0 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 230, a loss of 2.0 pounds
John (295) weighs 293, a loss of 2.0 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 252.6, a loss of 0.4 pounds
Evan (241) weighs 242.9, a gain of 1.9 pounds

WLC no. 3....

I'm on my phone so this will be short. Post your weights!

Blog Event: Star Wars Style

So given that the blog may have a few different readers these days due to the weight loss challenge, and also considering our collective inactivity and the fact that we're generally busy people, I've got a blog idea.

That greatest of nerd philosophical debates.

Assert the morality or immorality of the Rebel Alliance attack on the Death Star and defend the position. I'm ignoring the possibility of moral neutrality because that's boring.

For funsies, consider this information provided by a web site that may or may not be reliable.
-----------

"The first Death Star was destroyed in the Battle of Yavin and everyone aboard was lost. Though the Rebel Alliance official reports put the death toll at around a million Imperials, that estimate is based on intelligence about the minimum crew requirements to operate the Death Star. The Imperials tell a different story.

Imperial analysts claim that between 800 million to a billion people were lost in the "Yavin Massacre" This number is based on the flood of missing personnel reports filed in a period of 18 months after the Battle the Yavin. Imperial loyalists claim that the Alliance is intentionally down-playing the loss of life to distract from the fact that the destruction of the Death Star was an equally catastrophic loss of life as the destruction of Alderaan (Population 1.97 billion [60,000 off planet at destruction]. The crew manifest of the Death Star was classified and destroyed with the station, so the truth may never be known.
-------------

Anyways. What say we put this up next Friday?

The plight of the offline gamer (Me)

So, as you all know, I'm an old fogey.

These days old fogeys don't shake their fists at teenagers and play backgammon in the park, rather they just hit ignore when Windows wants to update something and play their video games offline.

I'd like to say I don't have a PS3 or XBox 360 because of money, but really, I don't have one because I don't want what they'll provide me. The perfect platform for online gaming.

See I have an allegedly internet capable PS2, but I've never used that function. Playing online means getting utterly destroyed by 14 year olds and their friends or embarrassed by that unmarried 40 year old who has Call of Duty listed as a hobby on facebook. The online gamers are good, tech savvy and looking for better interaction than the computer can provide.

Good for them, I mean that. But that's not what I want, and I don't think I'm alone.

For me, video games are an escape. They aren't where I get my real challenges (work), or where I find happiness (Kelli) or fulfillment (God). They are how I turn my brain off for several hours.

I like a challenge, but I like a hobbyist challenge, not a doctoral candidate in gaming kind of challenge. The online crew is good, almost too good. And let's be honest, that's where the people want to be for the most part.

What is sad is that on a game like NCAA Football 2011, I can't say, create a team unless I use their online stuff. In other games coming out now more and more is dependent upon and internet connection

While I think it's great that many have found something they really like in online gaming, I hope that game designers will realize that for some of us, they're just games that we want to be able to fiddle with from time to time without the distraction of a 15-year old girl who's trying to impress her brother's friends by playing Modern Warfare and shouting trash talk into a headset.

------------

Guess that's all I had on the offline part. But here's a bit more on me and gaming.

I play NCAA Football 2011 on PS2 for 3-4 hour stretches. It is GLORIOUS. While playing, my only objective is to build a good football team, and defeat my opponents. I know the game, I know the controls and I know what I can do.

Sports games are great because each game really is different, there's so many possibilities. Maybe I'm doing so well I'll see if I can score 100 on Bowling Green. Maybe I'm locked in a tight battle with Alabama. Maybe I'm inexplicably losing to WKU in the fourth quarter and need to see if I can mount a comeback.

There is variety, but there is a single focus.

 And, it is a world that has rules.

Those rules can change wildly game to game, but in each game, there are rules. In Ace Combat 5, if I fly outside the mission range, I lose....if I kill all the enemies, I win. Simple.

In sports games (99.99 percent of my gaming), there's the rules of sports. It's not like life.

My jet pilot isn't going to get seriously ill, my quarterback isn't going to start making personal decisions that baffle his family and my starting pitcher isn't going to tell me how I could have thrown that pitch better....it's a world where I might not be the God, but in a sense, I am a God.

I decide when the players exist. I can make them go away. I can always control at least one of them. And, because the AI no matter how difficult isn't that great, I can find a way to win.

I dunno where I'm going with this.....I like playing my old PS2 and my sports games on them....the end.

Standings for weight loss challenge, week 2

Standings for the Weight Loss Challenge

For the record, Lyndsey is 13.9 pounds from victory….Kudos.

Main Division
Lyndsey (205) weighs 198.4, a loss of 6.6 total
Dungy (253) weighs 248.3, a loss of 4.7 pounds
Evan (241) weighs 239, a loss of 2.0 pounds
Heather (275) weighs 273, a loss of 2.0 pounds
Kelli (232) weighs 230.6, a loss of 1.4 pounds
Matt (253) weighs 252, a loss of one pound
John (295) weighs 295, a wash
Jeff (261*) DID NOT REPORT

Honorary Division
Daniel (265) DID NOT REPORT
Jason (289) has withdrawn

Weight loss challenge, May 21 update

Ok kiddies. It's wedding and party season for the Stegemans. After the glorious Kilmer affair, we had another wedding this past week and with another trip to Cincinnati means more restaurant portions and too much food and booze, so I must once again be content to have not gained anything.

Alas, here goes. Post your weight kiddies. And remember, many of us will be at Dungy's for another gluttony-fest this coming weekend...no rest for the fatties.

BEGIN

Weight loss challenge update

So as more people hear of this, more people will want in. Yesterday I created a way for people to join, but I'm capping it at the end of this week.

Everyone's official starting weights are as follows.
--------------------------------------------------------
Original Competitors (Standings)
1. Kelli (232) Needed to lose 23.2 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 230.6 (-1.4)

2. Matt  (253) Needed to lose 25.3 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 251.8 (-1.2)

3. Dungy (253) Needed to lose 25.3 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 253 (-/+ 0)

4. Jeff  (261) Needed to lose 26.1 pounds
Week 1 Weight: N/A Original weight was wrong, adjusted to correct (-/+ N/A)

T4. Evan (241) Needed to lose 24.1 pounds
Week 1 Weight: N/A (Just joined) (-/+ 0)

T4. Heather (275) Needed to lose 27.5 pounds Week 1 Weight: N/A (Just joined) (-/+ 0) 


5. Lyndsey (205) Needed to lose 20.5 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 206 (+ 1)

6. John (295) Needed to lose 29.5 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 296 (+1)

Honorary Division
T4. Daniel (265) Needed to lose 26.5 pound
Week 1 Weight: N/A (Just joined) (-/+ 0)


Pending. Jason (289) Needed to lose 28.9 pounds
Week 1 Weight: Pending (-/+ X) 


--------------------------------------------------------
To clarify, hopefully one last time, the situation.

This is a race to lose 10 percent of your body weight. You can accomplish this however you want. To be included in this race, you must provide me with a weekly weight in a reasonable and timely fashion each week by commenting on my blog update about my own weight. Failure to post this information twice results in disqualification. I am a dictator and make the rules.

I'll then post new standings.

The main division are people willing to pay tribute to the winner in the form of whatever he/she demands up to a $5 value, and also to bow/kneel before the winner at a celebratory gathering to be held after someone wins.

The honorary division is for those who don't want to abide by the terms (tribute, homage), but want to play the game for pride.

If an honorary division member wins, they win pride, but the contest will continue until the first main division member claims victory.

Both divisions must post weights weekly.


If you haven't given me you official (means stepping on a damn scale, not guessing) weight yet, you must do so soon or this week will be one strike against you.

Anyways, is everyone finally clear on this?

Weight loss battle is on, post weights

So the game is afoot...

I was supposed to post this yesterday but I was a little busy.

My official weigh in yesterday was 296...one pound up from where I was when we started courtesy of Matt and Lyndsey's glorious wedding rehearsal, wedding, and brunch. Great times, high calories.

But yesterday I did really well, and today's a brand new day.

Anyways, so Evan Musin has expressed interest in joining the competition. I put it to a vote whether he should be allowed to join at this stage, given that we won't know what his weight was last week.

I vote yay for his inclusion, but I'm not opposed to imposing some kind of late entry penalty.

Thoughts?

Anyways, remember, post your current weight, and how many pounds you've gained or lost as of yesterday. If you didn't weigh yesterday, do it today.