Oh The Torture! Weight and Jobs Not Calling!

Haven't heard from the travel agency yet. Getting scared. =(

I just spent 45 minutes doing a little dance routine I haven't done in years, for exercise. Let's discuss exercise shall we? Everyone knows (or should) that you lose weight when you eat less calories then you expend. Now, there's limits! People should eat a minimum of a certain number of calories (depending on activity level, gender and other stuffs) to maintain muscle, and adaquetly nurish your body. But over that, there's pretty much levels. I've been eating about 1500, actually 1470, but since I've lost 10 pounds, that will decrease to 1400 even. Pat can eat almost a whole extra meal more then I can. Sometimes, I hate him for it...silently of course.

He's been good about not eating so much in front of me, cause I get a little upset and then I eat more anyway. But anyway....I hate most exercise machines! I loved our eliptical, but that kinda had an accident, and so now we have our stationary upright reclining bike. I mostly hate it. By mostly, I mean really a lot.

So I bought another mp3 player (did I tell you guys I lost my last one after like a week? They're SO tiny!!!) and have been doing what I used to do! Dancing around!

It's fun, I get to listen to techno, and the dog doesn't come up and lick me like he does when I'm on the bike. I'd like to get a rowing machine. Maybe in 6 months or so, when I prove to myself I'm truly committed enough to spend the money and use it.

But for now, I'm 10.5 pounds down, exercising almost daily, and eating healthy. We've tried the sinless sweet cream at Cold Stone and we mixed in some almonds. We shared a medium. It was yummy enough to feel like I was treating myself, but not so horrible that I gained weight the next day!

We eat a lot of veggies! Last night's dinner was 2 eggs scrambled (we normally use egg white mix) with lots of zucchini, mushrooms and a tiny bit of cheese (we don't have fat free cheese out here in the middle of no where....), in a whole wheat tortilla with some fat free sour creme. I mixed on some Frank's Red Hot Sauce and it was REALLY good!!

Sometimes we hit subway or blimpies. We had pancakes with sugar free syrup the other day. Our main diet thing was to be able to eat normally when we go out with people. If it means we have to exercise a bit more to work off the extra, so be it!!

We're learning. It's slow. Pat has cut out snacking completely. I snack on pumpkin seeds that I measure out beforehand. The only problem is that I'm kinda addicted to salt, so I tend to suck on the hulls....Pat yells at me...I just do it when he's not looking! GO ME!

Anyway...I just want to encourage people who are frustrated with their weight: Set a calorie goal, write down what you eat and total up the calories (FitDay is awesome!!), and MOVE! Doesn't matter if you're walking from your car to work, around the mall one extra time, or in your bedroom with the radio, door locked and scared as hell you'll look stupid...just do it!! It's worth it.

OH! Pat and I were talking about it the other day, and I forgot to tell his sister (well, my sister now too!) at the wedding that she's lost weight and looks AWESOME! Congrats Jo! I know it was hard work, and you look incredible! =)

Stupid travel agency better call or I'm gonna give myself a nervous breakdown.

Wish Me Luck!

Well, today is the day! I have my second interview with
Jack Fry Travel and I am so incredibly nervous I can't begin to tell you. I want this job so very badly. It's doing something that I love, with an office of people that I had a chance to talk to, and I love everyone (so far!). They're all incredibly nice and it's sometihng that I could throw myself into and really love.

So wish me luck!!

Also, today I am down a total of 10.5 pounds! And yesterday, I ate like a pig, so I gotta go work out here in a second. I'm excited!!!! Pat is going to start doing weight training with me, and I'm really nervous. I wanted to tell everyone something though, that will hopefully change how you treat yourself.

One of my friends has high blood preassure, high cholesterol, and is pre-diabetic. He's 45 and has lost a lot of weight. But he's still dealing with this at 45. I'm sure his wife is beside herself with worry. I don't want to worry about either Pat or I. Once you have those conditions it very rarely, if ever, goes away.

So we're both learning how to be healthy now, for the rest of our lives. So that we better our chances. That's not to say that people who eat right, exercise and take care of themselves don't die of a heart attack while young, or deal with the other issues that I mentioned above. It just betters your chances. =)

In other news: Tawnia is leaving me on Friday! She's heading to
Laughlin!! She's gonna have a great time playing on the river and playing in the casino's! Be safe girl! Have fun, drive safely, and we'll go party when you get back!

It's my birthday in 2 weeks! YAY!!!! Birthdays and holidays are weird since I met Pat. He doesn't really celebrate anything. We did easter eggs once. He wasn't to enthused. So I've stopped doing mostly everything for holidays, and we do very little for birthdays. No cake, no parties, no presents. It's boring. I miss holidays. =( Especially when there's SO little to do out here, you'd think we make up reasons to have a little party, decorate the house if only for the two of us, and have a special meal!! No. That would make sense! I DEMAND A CHANGE! I want a birthday present Pat! And a CAKE! mmmmmmmmm cake!

Anyway....off to do other stuff. Everyone have a great week, hope your holiday was safe, and that you remembered the real reason it's a holiday! Love you all!

-B

The Revo..whatever

Warning: This memory is 20 years old!

It was Christmas morning in Greeley, Colorado. There was snow outside. We had a HUGE something in our frontroom that was covered with a white sheet. The kids had "overheard" mom and dad talking to someone they called "the pet store guy" about "feeding the fish". This was, of course, when we got locked in the basement (not like that people, we had a tv and a playroom and lots of air, and a bathroom down there!!) and had to put our ears to the door to find out what was going on.

We were never really allowed in mom and dad's room anyway, but especially around Christmas. Apparently, they played with our toys before we got to. Cheaters.

We take off the sheet, and instead of a super duper huge fish tank, there's a computer. An Apple IIGS. The kids were kinda bummed. We wanted fish. But we were happy with the computer once dad showed us what it could do. Along with the computer came the coolest thing I've ever seen. A Nintendo Entertainmant System.

We got a 3 pack game with Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt (complete with corded gun and laughing dog), as well as track meet game with a powerpad that you ran on to compete. IT WAS COOL.

Fast forward 20 years. The newest Nintendo offering is called a Wii (I will ONLY call it a Revolution). And so, here is my story.

I will only by a revolution[Edit: and someday I will learn to spell "buy"]

Remember the good old days of E.T., Q-Bert and Frogger on the Atarri? Remember watching your mom and dad pull at the controllers and yank the cord out of your Nintendo when they tried to make Mario jump over turtles and holes? Remember the days of Link and Zelda, of Square? Final Fantasy, Earthbound, Secret of Mana, Bubble Bobble, Contra, Darkwing Duck, and the loads of fun you had? Remember games filled with puzzles and fun, and not "realistic graphics" but no gameplay? Remember when sports games were less like Madden-realistic and more like Tekken Bowl or Mike Tyson?

I miss those days. I miss Dr. Mario and Crystalis and that other game that Pat will kill me for forgetting the name of. I miss Star Tropics and weird banana weapons and dolphins carrying you around. I am making a stand against stupid Sony and stupid Microsoft changing the games and the systems that I love, and I am sticking with the NUMBER ONE profit gaming console system in the world, NINTENDO!

And so I say...bring on the Revolution. If I ever regularly call it the Wii, may I be struck down by Gannon himself.

Hey Look! She Does Update This Stupid Thing!

Today marks the day I've lost 10 pounds lost since we started eating healthy and exercising, May 9th. Of course, to celebrate the birthday of one of Pat's co-workers we go out to a chinese buffet. Healthy!

But I'm about to head off to exercise it off, and we'll both continue to eat veggies, fruit and appropriate portions of food while exercising and helping each other through the hard times. So far, I'm the only one that's slipped. That half a bag of cheetos was really yummy! :o

One of the guys from my Eve Online corporation (the equivalent of guilds in other games) ZiTek, posted this excellent link! Now normally, I avoid youtube like it wasa the plague itself, but this was an excellent find!

In other news, I had an interview for a job yesterday that I would LOVE to have. It's the dream job of my entire adult life, and I go in for a second interview on Tuesday. Please, please, please keep me in your prayers and thoughts! I'd miss Tawnia terribly, and a few others that I enjoy working with....but at least Tawnia and I would be working similar hours/days and we'd be able to plan out of town trips WAY easier!!! *crosses her fingers*

May 20th came and went....and with it my memories of spending time with Jerusha and celebrating birthdays oh so many years ago. The sleepover when we watched The Little Mermaid like a thousand times before we fell asleep at 6am to be woken up by Susie making us yummy waffles! I miss her, and wish her nothing but the best. I know she's close to Beth, so I hope that Beth passes this along to her. Just so she knows she's still loved, even if we're not close anymore.

I'm looking for the Terry Goodkind book Pillars of Creation. I finished books 1-6 since the cruise (May 1st), but I somehow lost this one....and it's KILLING me that I can't finish the series. Granted, last time I read it I stopped after being smashed to the ground with the communist society and the evils of whatever he was preaching. I got sick of it just being mushed into every page and swore I'd never read the series again. But I want to finish it out, just to have an idea of what the rest of it is like, so I'll continue to look for it, and maybe beg Pat to go buy one for me, if I can't find it.

Today's music:

• Black Eyed Peas - Pump It
• Stevie Wonder - Superstition
• 50 Cent - In Da Club
• Limp Bizkit - Jump Around
• Korn - Twisted Transistor
• Tony! Toni! Tone! - If I Had No Loot
• Down to the Bone - Brooklyn Heights (BEST new fusion I've heard in a LONNNNG time!
• Daft Punk - One More Time
• Fatboy Slim - A good mix of all his stuff
• Fiona Apple - Lots of stuff

I know it's been a while since I'm updated regularly, and I've wedding pictures ready to go up on Monday! WOOOOOOO!

I've been volunteering with Girl Scouts! I'm co-leader of troop #33 here in Ridgecrest, along with my ex-coworker, Christina! The Joshua Tree Council is our area, and their website is here. It's nothing too major, but it's really great to be volunteering with something I love, and to be a part of the community where I know I'm appreciated. (Hear that Ridgecrest library? Screw you...have a nice day!)

Anyway...gotta go get some stuff done!!!

Interesting Links of the Day - Returns!

Interesting links of the day:

Sydney Morning Herald - Article about those who sleep less, gain more weight! Obviously you can't eat 3 double quarter pounders with cheese and then sleep for 12 hours and not expect to gain any weight. Well, ya could. But then you'd be stupid.

Idiot people die while trying to climb Mt. Everest.

Dixie Chicks are still dumb! On a note here: I am all for free speech. You can say whatever you want, whenever you want.....HOWEVER. It is still my right to disagree with you, boo you in public, and hate you forever. =) Thank you.

Curt Schilling Becomes a bad guy named: Curt Schilling.

Woah, didn't see that one coming, didja?!

*sighs* I have to do it!

Sony Online is teaming with their famous EverQuest II player, Curt Schilling, who plays MLB for the Boston Red Sox. More specifically, he's a pitcher! This press release found its way to my Stratics inbox.

SAN DIEGO, CA – May 24, 2006 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in the online video games industry, today announced that Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is about to debut in his favorite online video game, EverQuest II, as an epically awesome, loot-dropping virtual bad guy who battles unwary players. And it’s all for a good cause.

Schilling’s video game character will reside within the online world of EverQuest II (EQII) for three days during the Yankees vs. Red Sox baseball series June 5, 6 and 7, 2006 at Yankee Stadium. During this time, anyone can register for and log into EverQuest II at www.battleals.com to challenge the evil Schilling character, appropriately named "Curt Schilling."

Every time a player defeats the virtual Schilling character, Sony Online Entertainment, creators of EverQuest II, will make a donation of $5 dollars (up to a maximum of $10,000) to the ALS Association, which assists patients with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. After the three-day baseball series, Curt’s character will remain within the game as a high-powered enemy that characters will have to face later in the game. At the launch of the campaign on June 5th, Schilling’s 10-year-old son, Gehrig (named after the legendary Yankee first baseman), will be one of the first to battle his virtual dad in-game.

In addition, SOE will encourage its hundreds of thousands of EQII players to type /ALS within the game in order to donate money to Curt’s charity of choice, the ALS Association. This program will run for the entire three-day series and will give the SOE player community a chance to help with this worthy cause.

"ALS is about as devastating a disease as you can imagine," says Schilling. "It's relentless, ruthless, and devastates entire families as one member slowly perishes. With video games exploding in popularity, I can’t think of a better place to reach the masses to raise awareness."

Ok, let me just say first of all, the person that wrote this press release is an idiot. "appropriately named "Curt Schilling.""??? You've got to be kidding me. How moronic does that sound? Of course it's named that...that's his name!

That last paragraph, about ALS being a devastating disease....can ya tell me a disease that isn't devastating. Cancer, Alzheimers, kidney, sexual...there's NOT one that isn't pretty crippling. Oki, the sex ones you can leave off, most of them aren't life threatening (most...not all), but still!

Never, EVER, quote a professional athlete in any press release. 99% of them can't speak properly, and the ones that can, don't talk to the media.

Now...not trying to say this isn't a worthy cause, and that everyone should be aware of it, and all that jazz. Just trying to say: If you feel this much force in dealing with a disease, it's probably not best to let SOE turn you into a bad guy to raise money for it. That is all!

What Andy Rooney Didn't Say!

I got something in my email today, and while it can NOT be attributed to Andy Rooney, I still agree with 99% of it.

I find it hilarious and yet thought provoking at the same time.

Enjoy! And everyone have a great week!

-B

---

I don't think being a minority makes you a v! victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Magazine, Black Entertainment Television, and Miss Black America. Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertainment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happens...Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door.

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

I believe they are called the Boy Scouts for a reason, that is why there are no girls allowed. Girls belong in the Girl Scouts! ARE YOU LISTENING MARTHA BURKE?

I think that if you feel homosexuality is wrong, it is not a phobia, it is an opinion.

I have the right "NOT" to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird, or tick me off.

When 70% of the people who get arrested are black, in cities where 70% of the population is black, that is not racial profiling, it is the Law of Probability.

I believe that if you are selling me a milkshake, a pack of cigarettes, a newspaper or a hotel room, you must do it in English! As a matter of fact, if you want to be an American citizen, you should have to speak English!

My father and grandfather didn't die in vain so you can leave the countries you were born in to come over and disrespect ours.

I think the police should have every right to shoot your sorry a-- if you threaten them after they tell you to stop. If you can't understand the word "freeze" or "stop" in English, see the above lines.

I don't think just because you were not born in this country, you are qualified for any special loan programs, government sponsored bank loans or tax breaks, etc., so you can open a hotel, coffee shop, trinket store, or any other business.

We did not go to the aid of certain foreign countries and risk our lives in wars to defend their freedoms, so that decades later they could come over here and tell us our constitution is a living document; and open to their interpretations.

I don't hate the rich. I don't pity the poor.

I know pro wrestling is fake, but so are movies and television. That doesn't stop you from watching them.

I think Bill Gates has every right to keep every penny he made and continue to make more. If it ticks you off, go and invent the next operating system that's better, and put your name on the building.

It doesn't take a whole village to raise a child right, but it does take a parent to stand up to the kid; and smack their little behinds when necessary, and say "NO!"

I think tattoos and piercing are fine if you want them, but please don't pretend they are a political statement. And, please, stay home until that new lip ring heals. I don't want to look at your ugly infected mouth as you serve me French fries!

I am sick of "Political Correctness." I know a lot of black people, and not a single one of them was born in Africa; So how can they be "African-Americans"? Besides, Africa is a continent. I don't go around saying I am a European-American because my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was from Europe. I am proud to be from America and nowhere else.

Recap - April 26th

Okay guys! Here we go, daily goings-on of the wedding trip!

Wednesday, April 26th - Pat and I left Ridgecrest and headed down the 395 South to the 15, and wandered into Primm Valley, where we stayed at Whiskey Pete's! It was a really fun night of nickel video poker, nickel Monopoly slots (I lost as always) and the $2 blackjack table!! We had the buffet dinner (comped of course).

The dinner was not so hot, I thought. Their $6.95 prime rib dinner special in their coffee house was $5.95 not even a year ago, but it's still worth the price. In the buffet they had some sort of Chicken Santa Fe garbage. It was cold, wasn't seasoned, and was just all around yucky! But I was slightly (HA HA) buzzed and I ate really quickly and then after we had a bit of food in our stomaches, we headed back to the blackjack table!

On Thursday morning as we were getting ready to leave I tweaked my back when I bent over to get clothes out of my backpack. I thought nothing of it at the time, but it came back to bite me. =( The buffet breakfast was as yummy as always. They have made to order omlettes which are AMAZING!

We took off for Vegas early (well, 10-11ish) after a quick stop at the Fashion Outlet Mall for some pants and shirts for Pat at Old Navy and some foot scrub and lotion at Bath and Body Works for me!

Hopefully tomorrow, I'll get to Thursday and Friday! :) Everyone have a great week!

-B

Ladies and Gentleman I Would Like To Introduce:

Mr and Mrs Patrick Simpson!

WOO!

We're back from everything, the car is back from the shop (details coming soon) and I am sending out announcements and stuff this week!

The wedding trip was awesome, the wedding was awesome, the honeymoon was awesome, and being back home together is more awesomer!

Hope everyone has a great week! I return to work on the 16th! So I'll be here if anyone needs me! My yahoo inbox has 448 emails, I haven't even looked at gmail though I'm sure it's 200something, and I haven't read any forums or anything (except Zitek) since I've been home!

Love ya'll!

B