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.

Weight loss challenge is officially on, and John is an idiot

Ok, so there's been some confusion about this, and the reason for that is I did a piss poor job of explaining things. Forget that, let's move on.

So the weight loss event has officially started as of...whenever that happened.

Everyone's official starting weights are as follows.

John (295) Needs to lose 29.5 pounds
Kelli (232) Needs to lose 23.2 pounds
Dungy (253) Needs to lose 25.3 pounds
Jeff  (275) Needs to lose 27.5 pounds
Matt  (253) Needs to lose 25.3 pounds
Lyndsey (205) Needs to lose 20.5 pounds
Jason (289) Needs to lose 28.9 pounds
Evan (TBD) Needs to lose XXX pounds

(Edit: Jason is my friend and boss at work. If anyone else wants in on this, they need to decide by Monday.)

First one to achieve that weight wins.


So let it be written, so let it be done.

Obama, the gay thing, and believe it or not, some kudos

Yesterday, news "broke" that President Barrack Obama supports the legalization of homosexual marriages.

Not surprisingly, the Conservative rhetoric is that he's declared way on marriage and all that nonsense. Whatever.

Anyways, this is significant because to my knowledge, he is the first sitting president to publicly espouse this view. For those supporting gay marriage legalization, this is a big deal. To those who oppose it, this is a big deal. It may be a watershed moment, for good or ill.

I don't think that President Obama can lose this next election short of a dead hooker in the Lincoln bed room. I just don't see it. Mitt Romney is not a threat.

In short, he COULD blow the election, but Romney can't just win it. No one likes him enough. And the dislike for Obama isn't big enough yet.

So what the president could have done, and indeed what I thought he would have done, would be to sit tight. I think anyone who follows politics knows Obama has probably felt this way for years, but he could have continued to pretend otherwise, not announce much of anything between now and November, coast into his lame duck session and then get to town on all his real agenda with little consequence.

Instead, he spoke yesterday.

I don't believe that elevating homosexual unions to the same level as a marriage will be good for this nation, yet I have almost zero evidence to back that up. Since all I'm going on is my morality (and moreover because this matter involves consenting adults entering into legal contracts) I have no official opposition.

In short, I'm not a fan of this growing movement.

But I am a fan of people being intellectually honest, even if it's belated. And President Obama coming out (no pun intended) with this now, is intellectually honest.

This is an issue he believes in. North Carolina just did their thing, and to him, it was important to speak now. He could have waited in the wings until his inevitable re-election, then come out with this. Instead he did it now.

He's telling the voters who he is now, before they decide whether or not to vote for him. It's a sad world wherein that sort of thing merits a kudos, but it does.

I don't think we're going down a good road, but I give the president props for honestly telling us where he intends to lead should we vote for him again.

The race to end the obesity...or Dungy is a fatty bubatty

So I posted some goals on MyFitnessPal.com and I also posted them on facebook.

They are to do the following before I turn 30 on Nov. 2 of 2013, do the following:
Finish two 5k races, running at least one of them all the way through.
Run a mile in 10 minutes or less.
and the big one......
Before I turn 30, I will weigh 200 pounds or less. That means I need to drop 95 over two years.


That posting on Facebook prompted Jeff Bruce (current weight 275) to challenge me on facebook to a "Race to 200" pounds. I thought Matt and Dungy might want in on this too, and they do. As does Lyndsey and Kelli

Everyone seemed pretty on board except Dungy (Weight 253), who needs a good public shaming to get it going.

Did you guys know that the size of the silver dollar was based on a 1/3 scale model of the nipple on Dungy's man-boob? It's science.

I dunno if he'll bite on just that one. His constitution is weak. He lacks mettle. Let's try again.

Furthermore, did you know Dungy weighs just 42 pounds less than me? I mean, c'mon son. 

Did that do it? One more for good measure.

Dungy's so fat, that he was once sucked into an alternate dimension of his own fat....or something....this all feels terribly disingenuous coming from me...moving on.

Anyways, while he's busy being all business man, this fatty here (Weight 295) has dropped 45 pounds so far. I am confident he can not defeat me in matters of fitness and weight loss as his biting wit and insatiable appetite for truth will do him no good.

I challenge you Dungy, and every one else, to the following challenge.

Beginning May 14, a race to lose 10 percent of their weight. For me, that would be 29.5 pounds.

Rules
First one to achieve the goal wins.
All starting weights must be stated publicly in the comments section of this blog as an official starting weight no later than May 14.

 I will blog an update to the competition every week. At such time, everyone MUST report their current weight, whether it's gone up or down. You can comment, or just otherwise text and tell me by noon each Monday.

Don't give an update for two weeks in a row? You're out of the running.

Winner gets to demand a tribute from the losers. The total value of the tribute is not to exceed $5 per loser. Anyone who enters, even if they quit, is on the hook to pay the winner.

A celebration event will be held wherein the losers bow to the winner, and give their tribute. Winner determines the place.

The Seal of Confession

I posted on my other blog a ditty on the seal of confession the Catholic Church and a little bit of how I feel about secular authorities trying to force priests to go against it.

Feel free to read the article and my general thoughts at 1fromthepews.blogspot.com

But as I'm still hoping to attract other readers there, I think we should keep our battle here. Over there I use a little different language than I do here, so bear that in mind.

Summary:
Ireland wants priests to have to divulge information about child sexual abuse if they learn it in confession.

The Church says hell nahs.

I agree.

Confession absolves sins. All repentant sinners deserve mercy. Absolution is needed to be in a state of grace. One must be in a state of grace to go to heaven when they die. Any law that might dissuade a sinner from confessing their sins is bad because of that.

I'm tired....just go read there, but comment here.