Burning down the house

Posted: August 21, 2012 in Cooking, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
0

You read that right. I seemingly tried to burn down the house today while making roasted cedar plank salmon. I usually rub the plank with olive oil so the fish doesn’t spot weld to the plank and it most it will smolder. This time when I put the plank under the broiler to get a crust on it, well, it was a rather impressive conflagration.

Seriously decent stuff.

I have good news to report, though… Stubby survived his gym session without any difficulties. I found some padded moleskin amongst the foot care supplies and put a piece of that over the bandage to relieve any pressure. I think I might add that to the pre gym workout even after Stubby is better.

I had contacted Ryan (exercise physiologist extraordinaire) with the tale of Stubby. He was in the loop and had come up with ways for me to get my work in without putting too much stress on Stubby. Of course, that just meant extra effort from the rest of me. I spent some time on a seated elliptical and a few go arounds on a rowing machine. Let me just say that I preferred the rowing machine because it didn’t involve basically kneeing myself in the gut on every stroke. I also got a better appreciation of what Olympic rowers do and, well, ouch.

This thing was interesting, but not necessarily fun

The seated elliptical gave a workout, and maybe I will get used to it, but I prefer the good old-fashioned elliptical. Of course, I hated the arc trainer and while I’m still not enamored of that beastie, I can respect the workout. Ryan also introduced me to the dip. In the dip, I have to sit on a bench, then lower my butt below the level of the bench, then l had to lever my bulk back up. If I didn’t know I was fat before, this clinched it. This is going to be the new squat, at least until something worse comes along.

Speaking of fitness, how about a hand for Supportive Partner Woman, who dragged her butt out of bed to be at a Bodyflow class at 8 AM. She claims it’s painful. Or at least her knees claim that, but I’m so proud of her for getting up and going. Read about it here.

At any rate, I need to get myself showered and ready for work. I don’t really want to put the Boot of Shame back on, but what can you do? It seems to be helping, so I can’t complain about that. It’s just uncomfortable to wear.

I leave you with this final thought. It really annoys me when people look at the boot, then look at me and say, “Did you do something to your foot?” I usually explain my blister history and that the boot helps it heal by keeping weight off the toes. Inside, I’m screaming, “No, I just LIKE to wear something this fugly and uncomfortable!” That’s another thing I need to work on… patience. I’ll get there, too.

Oh, and just for the record… a 500 degree broiler will ignite an olive oil coated cedar plank. Trust me… I’m experienced.

Crisis averted

Posted: August 20, 2012 in Disney, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Weight loss
0

It was a half-decent day at the doctor’s office. My weight was up a couple of pounds, but I’m not too concerned about it, since my right foot was ensconced in the Boot of Shame, which feels like it weighs around 40 pounds. The BP was also a little elevated, probably from me being in full blown freakout mode.

The good news came as a result of my labs. One of the key markers for a diabetic is the hemoglobin A1C measurement. This measures the average blood glucose levels over the previous months prior to the measurement.

The ADA (American Diabetes Association) considers an A1C of greater than or equal to 6.5% as a marker for a diagnosis of diabetes. The first time I had this test run, during that fun hospitalization, my A1C was 14.3%. Three months ago, it was 10.9%. Last week, 6.6%. Guess there’s something to that exercise crap.

Cholesterol was another concern. Last August, my cholesterol was 211. Last week? 158. In 2008, my triglycerides were a nifty 257 (which is rather high). Last week? 102. Only weak point was my HDLs are still a little low. That’s something to work on for the next batch of tests.

On the Stubby the Wonder Toe front, Rachel was very pleased with the healing that has been done so far. She cleared me to go back to the gym, just no weight bearing cardio until the blister is healed. Guess that means the stationary bike. Woohoo. I’m not a huge bike fan… would prefer to be on a real bike, except for seat wedge. I’m also cleared to go back to weight training. I’m happy about that… I haven’t been since last Wednesday and I really miss it. Rachel indicated that she felt I should be good to go back to full steam next week, depending on what the podiatrist says on Monday.

One other really need thing is that since most of my doctors are all in the same health group, I’m able to view all my records online. It was pretty cool to see all my labs. The bad part was the pathology notes on the part of Stubby that is no longer. It’s one thing to hear it described to you, but when you read the descriptions, oh boy. There’s something so clinical and detached about it that makes it worse than when you hear it from a doctor. When you see words like osteomyelitis, well, that’s creepy. Just saying.

After the doctor, SPW and I went grill shopping. Sadly, the altar of meat is not in the best shape. I tried to use the side burner to saute some asparagus for SPW and I couldn’t get the valve to open. Found one that we kind of liked, but it’s not on sale yet. Soon. Just hope I can get one that isn’t assembled. I’m not sure I’d trust those brain surgeons with propane. I feel like I’ve accomplished something when I get to assemble it myself.

We headed out to Elizabethtown afterward to pay a visit to the library. I had a book on hold and I picked up a book about Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak. Post library, SPW and I swung by Sonic, where she really made me proud. She actually passed on a vanilla malted. I opted for a grilled chicken sandwich and tots, because, well, tots are awesome. Was it the best choice? No, but it was handy and I think we made the healthiest choice that we could.

So, I start back at the gym with Ryan tomorrow. I’ll have five weeks from that point to get my pudgy ass into shape for Disney touring. I feel a lot better about it than my last visit. I realize it will be hot, but probably no World Showcase Death March, so I have hopes that it will work out for the best. It will be a challenge, eating with a healthier slant, but it’s a life change that I need to make, so I’m going to stay on the straight and narrow. My sole exception will have to be our visit(s) to Ohana. Even then, I’ll stick to the healthier proteins.

I’ll keep you posted as to how tomorrow’s session goes. Even if I do take a bike ride to nowhere.

Full blown freakout mode

Posted: August 20, 2012 in diabetes, Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Stubby the Wonder Toe
0

Good very early morning.

I’m kind of freaking out at the moment. See, I have a doc’s appointment in the AM and I’m sure the scale’s not going to like me. It hasn’t been the greatest food week or two. I’d get back from what I was doing and realize I had to eat some lunch but we didn’t have anything in the house so I’d stop and get something to eat and my blood sugar would be low and OMG look there’s Twizzlers and Twizzlers rock and no fat and should raise the sugar nicely and while I’m here at Sheetz I’d get some chicken fingers because I need to have protein and yadda yadda yadda. Whew.

zAt any rate, the good news is that Stubby the Wonder Toe seems to be healing quite nicely. I’m hoping I can get cleared to go back to the gym… if not for cardio then maybe for some strength training. I really find myself missing it.

I’m going to head to bed and try to actually sleep instead of my usual freakout mode habit of sleeping wide awake.

I’ll keep you posted.

Once the beer has been consumed, the Rock Band starts…

Posted: August 19, 2012 in Cooking, friends, Wegman's
0

Supportive  Partner Woman (crafter of fine mershed perderders!) and I had some company last night. It’s been awhile since we had the chance to entertain together, so it was a lot of fun. Prep work started Friday night. I whipped together a beef marinade, consisting of olive oil, lemon juice, soy sauce (reduced sodium), mustard and Worcestershire sauce. SPW and I found some lovely sirloin cubes at Wegman’s during our last visit, so I threw those in the bag with the marinade and let them soak. I like marinades… not always the healthiest thing to add to the diet, but it’s a way to add a LOT of flavor and still have that stuff cook away.

We paid a visit to the Corn Wagon, which, sadly, sold out. That happens if you don’t get there early enough. What else can you do? We also stopped for beer. See, SPW is a beer snob and this can be a long drawn-out process. We came back with a variety pack from Fort Collins Brewery. We tend to like the variety packs… adds a range of selections to your beer fridge and allows you to try a bunch of stuff without dropping $40 on a full case of something you hate. Plus, Pennsylvania makes it difficult to buy just a six-pack, unless you want to go to a place that’s licensed for six packs, then you pay through the nose.

Post beer distributor, it was off to the grocery store.  We had to pick up some produce and a few other sundry items. Then it was back home to cook. SPW has been living the Julia Child dream the past week or so, so she decided to use one of Julia’s recipes to create a beef brisket dish. It looked pretty, had wonderful texture, but I found the flavor to be a little muted. That was rectified, however, when you added some au jus to it. I grilled chicken and steak skewers that turned out tasting pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

The skewers of yumminess!

Other than the aforementioned steak marinade, I made a chicken one with oil, vinegar, and a load of spices. Couldn’t find any “poultry seasoning” so I just threw a few extra pinches of this and that in the bowl. My secret ingredient was bacon salt. It gave the chicken the slightest hint of bacon-y goodness. Granted, it was easy to miss if you didn’t know it was there. Threw the skewers on the grill and let them broil away happily. Also to the skewers I added some green pepper, some Mayan sweet onion, mushrooms and finished them with grape tomato. Adding the tomato to the end of the skewer had a two-fold purpose. First of all, grilling them really makes the sweetness come out, and secondly, the tomato sticks nicely to the skewer, keeping everything where it needs to be.

Cooked them around 15 minutes. Started the temperatures pretty high to get a nice sear on the meat, then backed the heat off to finish. No complaints… and only two of them left. I did have a whoopsie, though… when putting the skewers on the serving dish, one of them went *plop* on the deck. Since my deck surface is not the cleanest place on the planet (read: pollen and whatever dust is drifting over from the new school construction site) I disregarded the five second rule and opted to pitch it.

Most of the bounty on the table… still waiting on the broccoli. Thanks, Jed, for the picture!

Dinner was a decent success. It’s always nice to cook for more than one or two, and we had enough food that no one went away hungry. It’s funny that both SPW and I like to cook, are good cooks, and don’t cook enough. This is why we’ve taken to a Sunday meal at home when she has to work and I have off (like today). Thinking I might make some of the marinated steak and pair it with a lovely piece of sockeye that we scored yesterday. Such beautiful color to that fish.

So, post dinner and business, we adjourned to the Nerd Lair. I call it the Man Cave when SPW (The Management!) isn’t around, but when it’s coed, it’s the Nerd Lair. This is where I set up our home theater, as well as our bar. It’s basically the refuge from the everyday world. We’ve put a comfy couch down there, a couple of other chairs… bar stools (there are some things that you can’t do without) and a selection of adult beverages. I can’t really drink anymore, but that doesn’t mean drinking does not occur in the Nerd Lair. I’ve created a few twists on old classic drinks… one of SPW’s favorites is what I call my left-handed Philips head screwdriver. Take your basic vodka/orange juice combo, add triple sec for even more citrus flavor and for color, add a splash of pomegranate grenadine. It helps to use a decent vodka, and the official vodka of the Nerd Lair bar is Tito’s. I know… it sounds funny, a vodka called Tito’s, but this is one of the best vodkas I ever tasted and it’s half the price of Gray Goose.

Main part of the bar

Straight on view of bar and back part.

The Nerd Lair bar is actually something of my creation. The main part started life as a cabinet I found at the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. It was in some bad shape, but I stripped the old paint and refinished it. I also hand-built the tile tops for both pieces. That wasn’t fun… I’m not a great tiler, but I think they turned out looking pretty good. The back part was a custom build that I threw together last summer. We didn’t have enough space and I thought this would be a fun project. Wound up taking longer than I had hoped, but I was pretty pleased with the outcome.

The nerd Lair also has a theme… Penn State. I know it’s unfashionable to be pro-PSU in this day and age, but both SPW and I are proud alumni and regardless of the Sandusky scandal, we still got a good education and made life-long friends.

As we are wont to do with these particular friends, the Xbox got fired up, the controllers connected and we played some Lego Rock Band. It reminds me of karaoke in college. No one is a particularly good singer, but we have fun just the same. The highlight of Lego Rock Band is how it crafts some of the artists as Lego mini figures. To see a Lego Freddie Mercury is amazing, but when you add a Lego Brian May, well, that’s just awesome. There’s a Lego Bowie as well as a Lego Iggy Pop.To me, the Lego Iggy looks a lot like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, but what do I know? We switched to Beatles Rock Band before we adjorned for the evening (morning?)

I think that’s going to do it for today. Have a bunch of stuff to accomplish and limited time to do it. Today also would’ve been my dad’s 77th birthday. Not a day goes by I don’t miss him, but some days are harder than others.

Have a great day, everyone!

Another piece I wrote for Enjoying the Magic

Posted: August 17, 2012 in Administration, Disney, Enjoying the Magic, Uncategorized
0

I mentioned that I write for Enjoying the Magic in addition to my scribblings here. The latest piece I did for them is available for reading. It’s a bit on the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society.

Check it out here!

Time to refocus

Posted: August 17, 2012 in Cooking, recipes, Weight loss
1

Been kind of cruising along here at MOASTBFFG and it almost seems like I’m going through the motions. I haven’t really been hitting what I need to hit and I’ve been doing you, the readers, a great disservice.

The big ass blister has given me a chance to sort of pause and take stock of where I am, physically, mentally and blogally? Didn’t think that was a word.

See!?!?!? Pigs CAN fly!

I think I need to set some goals and try to establish a time frame. Operating without a set time frame is nice, but it’s easy to just mosey along until it’s too late. It sort of reminds me of being in college and having a paper due at the end of the semester and writing it all the night before it was due, fueled by caffeine and desperation. You can do that with a paper… not so much with weight loss. If that was the case, I’d be snapping my fingers, shotgunning Mountain Dew and I’d weigh 180 in the morning. Aye… and if pigs could fly.

I haven’t talked about recipes in a while. It’s not that I haven’t cooked, just that what I’ve been making has been not a lot of prep work. I’ve been trying to go a simpler route… making tasty food that is simple and depending on the actual food to be the flavor star, rather than the prep. When I made the giant scallops last weekend, all I did was brush them with olive oil and a little salt and pepper before grilling. That’s easy to do this time of year in Cow Country. With the produce being so fresh and available, well, why cover up all that wonderful taste?

One thing I did make was a batch of my meatballs. See, I’m kind of elitist when it comes to meatballs. I simply won’t eat those frozen ones… too salty and the salty taste overwhelms any real flavor the meatballs might have. Not only that, you can be pretty sure that she’s NOT using the highest quality beef. I will usually see the bags of Mam Lucia at the grocery store and mutter, “Mama Lucia… that bitch…”

I think the real secret to meatballs is how long you keep them simmering in the sauce. Not only does that give the balls a chance to absorb the richness of the sauce, it also makes them tender. My recipe is one that I’ve been tweaking over the years, and I am willing to share it.

Here goes:

Brian’s Meatballs

2 lb. ground beef (I use 90%)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. basil
1tsp. oregano
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. red pepper (optional)
1/4 clove garlic (at a minimum)
2 large eggs
2 cups seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan

Mix ingredients well. Seriously well. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, transfer immediately to sauce and simmer. Four hours, minimum.

For sauce, I usually make a combination of whatever jarred stuff I have in the inventory. I would prefer to make my own, but I don’t really have the time or the tomatoes. Maybe one of these days I’ll get ambitious. One other thing you can do is lightly cook some Italian sausage and put it in the sauce with the meatballs. Adds some extra flavor. My usual sauce ratio is one jar of DelGrosso three cheese and two jars of DelGrosso Tomato Basil.

As far as pasta goes, one of the nutrition people I spoke to had recommended Ronzoni’s Smart Taste pasta. It’s enriched with fiber and while it’s still pasta (40g of carbs) there’s 5g of fiber to help balance it out. While the whole grain pastas might have a smidge more fiber, this wins in taste, in my opinion.

At any rate, I’m going to try to refocus things here. I want to add a monthly measurements feature, more pictures of yummy noms, and just try to not be so scattered and completely stream of consciousness. I’ll still have those moments… this is my blog… but maybe not as many. Besides, the Olympic opening ceremonies won’t be coming around for a year and a half. Plus, they will be in Russia. Maybe President Putin will wrestle a bear or something.

Anyway, I wish you all a happy and healthy weekend!

That feeling’s back

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Doctors and Dentists and Nurses... oh my!, Exercise, Foot issues, Futility, Physical activity, Stubby the Wonder Toe, Walking
2

Morning.

I’d say “Good morning”, but I’d be lying.

I got home from work last night and removed my shoes and socks, only to discover that I had a blister. A big blister. Right on the bottom of Stubby the Wonder Toe. A large piece of skin had sloughed off and, well, it wasn’t particularly pretty. I was tempted to post a picture, but Supportive Partner Woman (photo critic!) put the kibosh on that. You can thank her later.

GAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!

This has my feelings of frustration and futility measuring off the charts. I’ve been doing this for months and no sign of a blister. I was even at the foot doctor yesterday and he didn’t see anything. The toe was fine when I took a shower yesterday, but somehow, while I was at work, I get a blister the approximate size of Los Angeles County and I didn’t even go for a walk. It’s enough to drive you to drink.

My first thought was, “What’s the point?” Why the hell am I doing all this work? I’ll just get another blister, and another, and another. I’ll never reach my goals. This was followed by a general thought of just bailing on our vacation and letting SPW go by herself. I’m sure if I tried that, she’d hurt me.

These feelings are followed immediately by that sense of loathing. Like Stubby is an actual person instead of a toe. I know I joke that my toe has adopted a gangsta personality, but in reality, it’s just a toe. But I hate this toe so much right now. I hate it more than I hate peanut butter. I DESPISE peanut butter. I even confess to wanting to go to the garage get a saw, and take the whole foot off. Then I can’t get any blisters on the toe, right? Yeah… I didn’t think that was an option.

So, what do I do? I emailed my trainer who is sadly off for a long weekend, and I guess the gym is right out for now. I’ll have to rock the Boot of Shame for a while and just have to keep my calories down if I want to make any progress. I see Rachel, the CRNP extraordinaire on Monday… maybe she’ll have some suggestions. I can’t let the blister stop me, though… I’ve come too far for that. Maybe this is nature’s way of telling me I was working too hard. When this heals up, and it will heal up, perhaps I just start using moleskin every day and padding the hell out of my toe. I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.

Hope you have a better day than mine has started out to be.

Russian spam?

Posted: August 15, 2012 in Exercise, Weight loss
1

No, I’m not referring to the “tasty” meat-like stuff manufactured by Hormel… I’m talking about the spam comments I get on this blog. Thankfully, Akismet filters most of them out, but these comments are written in Cyrillic. I also like when you get a seemingly legitimate comment that when you hover over the web address it’s some kind of currency exchange. I’d really like to meet the people who fall for this stuff. It’s like the one time I got a spam email allegedly from my bank. Except they spelled “bank” wrong. I mean if you want to spam somebody, take the time to learn English.

Enough about spam… we are back on the normal trail, finally. Successful sessions at the gym with Ryan the past couple of days. Even started doing some hamstring curls that didn’t feel too bad. Until I got up this morning. Ouch. I still hurt, but as soon as Supportive Partner Woman (making like Julia Child!) gets ready, we’re headed to Hempfield Rec.

It was an early morning for me. I had to get blood work done and I had to fast. When fasting, the sooner the blood is drawn, the better. I was actually pretty hungry by the time I got home, so I had cereal and milk, with a sliced banana. It really went down well. I took a bit of a nap while watching Storage Wars On Demand. No biggie. I probably missed Barry bidding too much for something of dubious value and Dave being a general jackass.

SO, not much to report other than that. Hope everyone’s having a great day!

Olympic closing ceremonies… or, who ELSE can we dig up for this thing?

Posted: August 13, 2012 in acid trip, Olympics
0

So, as most people are aware, the Games of the XXX Olympiad closed up shop in London yesterday. It was two weeks that showcased a lot of athletic skill and a lot of broadcasting ineptitude from NBC. Of course, anyone who thought the quality of the broadcasting would improve with the acquisition of NBC by Comcast, well, I have some oceanfront property in Yuma, AZ I’m looking to sell.

I did not watch the closing ceremonies live… I settled for DVR, figuring I could zip through any annoying parts with Ryan Seacrest, Bob Costas, or any combination thereof. As it turns out, NBC cut out a lot of the good stuff (BIG surprise there) in favor of promoting their latest crappy sitcom, Animal Practice. You know this show is going to suck most heinously when the second IMDB picture is of a nobody credited as, “Hot girl”. Don’t believe me? Look here.

So, as I was watching this acid trip, I decided to scribble down some notes… and to all you Apple haters, I used an iPad to do it.

My first note came when Madness took the stage. Or should I say truck? Fresh off their triumphant return to the Buckingham Palace roof during the Queen’s Jubilee, Madness played a medley of their hit, and featured a kilt-wearing, befezzed saxophone player who flew. Now, Supportive Partner Woman (dyed-in-the-wool Whovian!) says that fezzes are cool. Not sure I’m going to buy that in this case. It looked like something Sir Elton wore back in the bad old days.

Now, the entire shindig was wrapped in newspaper, covered with quotes from famous English writers like William Shakespeare and Geoffrey Chaucer. Costas (or was it Seacrest?) was quick to add Keats to that list, but to be honest, I didn’t see any Grecian urns… just some Grecian formula on Al Michaels’ head. All this newsprint makes you wonder if they were going to recycle it or is this is the reason there’s a newsprint shortage… the Brits have been hoarding it for years. And not only for fish n’ chips.

Now we have children dancing… not sure if it’s supposed to be the mashed potato or the tomahawk chop. No signs of any Atlanta Braves fans, so probably the former.

My First Keyboard… by Casio! Now with built-in speakers!

Next part is the Pet Shop Boys. In what appears to be Oz. They are being driven around on very pointy rickshaws while wearing what appear to be giant dunce hats and the one guy looks like he’s playing My First Keyboard… by Casio. Remember when these guys were cutting edge? They are being escorted by a battalion of people dressed in Max Headroom suits with beaks. WTF?

David Silver

Next up is British boy band One Direction. They kind of look like the Backstreet Boys in skinny jeans. And the lead singer looks like he came straight out of 90210. Hey, dude… David Silver called. He wants his hair back.

Now we have Stomp. I understand this is a worldwide phenomenon and they are obviously very skilled percussionists, but basically it boils down to a bunch of people beating in trash cans. Or, as I like to call it, Wednesday.

Surprise cameo by Mexican wrestlers!

Now the athletes come in… once again, no shots of the hot Paraguayan javelin thrower. NBC… buzz killing the teenage boys again. They are being escorted and guided by volunteers wearing light up bowler hats. Seriously. These hats have a light bulb on top. If they put bulbs on the entire suit, it would look like the cover of Pink Floyd’s The Delicate Sound of Thunder. Now here come the Brazilians… any time I see that many Brazilians in one place, I’m reminded of the infamous tour groups that invade Walt Disney World on a semi-regular basis.

Here comes the US… for the opening ceremony they were dressed like French people… for the closing ceremony, they were only a pair of plaid pants away from golf clothes.

The next musical act was a children’s choir singing (and signing) Imagine, joined by video of John Lennon. The performers then assembled a giant 3D jigsaw puzzle of Lennon’s face at the middle of the stadium. It really struck me as kind of creepy, because it looked like a death mask.

For the next act, the organizers managed to drag George Michael out of the men’s room long enough to perform Freedom ’90. He was rocking a giant skull belt buckle that’s really just a modern-day codpiece. It made me wonder if Andrew Ridgely wasn’t watching on the telly from his flat in London shaking his fist impotently and screaming, “I was in Wham!, too, dammit!”

Next up, it looks like Hell’s Angels riding in, oh, wait, just plain, normal motorcyclists carryinging members of the Kaiser Chiefs, who did a rather good rendition of Pinball Wizard. Turns out to be the only Who song I heard all night (NBC bastards!) This was followed by Annie Lennox cruising up on The Black Pearl and singing some song that neither SPW (Annie Lennox fan!) or I were familiar with.

Prince Harry rocking Wish You Were Here

Shaking hands with danger, or in this case, a fiery robotic Wallenda

We then transition to Pink Floyd. Yes!!!! Damn. Just Nick Mason. Guess they blew the budget on the Spice Girls. So, we had to settle for Mike Rutherford instead of David Gilmour. The whole bit was topped off by Prince Harry donning a sweater and singing lead vocals. But didn’t I just see Harry in the royal box? What is this sorcery?!?!?!? This was accompanied by a dude crossing a high wire then shaking hands with a robotic Wallenda which then blew up. I know they were trying to recreate that legendary Floyd cover, but I would’ve been more impressed with a flying pig. Because flying pigs are cool.

Russel Brand and what looks to be two members of Bond.

Russel Brand doing Willy Wonka was up next and what a trip that was. Old Russ shows up on top of what reminded me of the Partridge Family’s bus, segues into I Am the Walrus, accompanied by what appeared to be the classical group Bond wearing  some sort of caped castoffs from the Austin Powers wardrobe department. Then the bus transforms into a giant octopus and spits out Fatboy Slim. I had a dream like that once… it was after a lot of absinthe.

Now we move into the modern era. We have British songstress Jessie J (was Joss Stone busy?) accompanied by American “rapper” Ray J. What? That’s not Ray J? He didn’t move to London, change his name to Tinie Tempah and still manage to have no discernible skill on the mike? They were then joined by Taio Cruz, who’s OK, but would somebody PLEASE get Ray J a muzzle? This guy makes Pitbull sound good.

And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. A Spice Girls reunion. I know I was counting the days just hoping this would happen… to get Posh, Ginger, Baby, Scary and Sporty (who looks a lot like Freddie Mercury  these days) all in the same place.  Some things you wonder about… for example, why does Victoria Beckham always look like she’s chewing on a wasp? (wish I could take credit for that – first heard it from the Gin o’Clock Twitter feed) The Spice Girls then proceeded to take a taxi ride around Spice World. Sadly, no five Spice pileups to report.

(As an aside… I’m thinking that had the Rolling Stones been on the bill for this show, NBC would’ve cut them, too… why on Earth would you want to show one of the most influential bands in music history?)

Program rolled right along after a commercial break (gotta squeeze that advertising tit until it’s purple) into a band called Beady Eye that sounded an awful lot like Oasis. They were even covering an Oasis song. Oh, OK.. It’s an interchangeable Gallagher brother FROM Oasis, along with a lot of other Oasis alumni. So, in reality it kind of IS Oasis, but it isn’t at the same time. It’s like a musical version of Schrodinger’s cat. Or maybe not. Oh no… I’ve gone cross-eyed.

Right on the heels of OasisBeady Eye, came the comedy portion, which consisted of Eric Idle tumbling out of a cannon and singing Always Look on the Bright Side of Life. I was a little confused at the interlude… I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition, but there were nuns and Lord knows what else. I did see that Prince Harry apparated back to the Royal Box to sing along with Idle and the rest of the audience.

Noted astrophysicist Dr. Brian May

Now here’s where NBC should’ve taken note. A video clip of the legendary Freddie Mercury brought possibly the biggest audience response. This video is from 1986! Then, from the end of the stadium, some recognizable guitar work by a recognizable hair style. Highly regarded astrophysicist Dr. Brian May strapped on an axe to prove he can still jam. Wait… he was a rock star before being an astrophysicist? Who knew? So, he played some blazing guitar licks and headed to center stage while from the other end, Kat von D marched toward the center sporting a coat/dress/train about 40 yards long. Out of the center stage rose a drum kit with Roger Taylor aboard. The reconstituted Queen started playing We Will Rock You with Kat von D on the vocals. Funny… she sounds like Jessie J. Jessie von J had a tick too much reverb going on and after she was done caterwauling her way through the song it dawned on me that the fans who had to witness the sonic assault would’ve been better served by a holographic Mercury or even had they dragged Paul Rodgers out from under whatever rock he hides under. Still no sign of John Deacon, though. We were treated to Jessie von J whipping her hair, though. Probably looked better than Paul Rodgers would have.

After the musical interludes, the symbolic passing of the Olympic flag to Rio de Janeiro took place, then the Brazilians had a short presentation. To sum it up, it was like a featherless Mummers parade with samba music. Some of the highlights included a samba singer who looked like Ice Cube (Straight Outta Rio?), then another guy who looks like Billy Dee Williams, dresses like Lou Bega and sounds like the poor man’s Barry White starts singing. At this point, I’m wondering what’s going to happen next. Maybe Mike Tyson will show up and belt out The Girl from Ipanema? They brought out some other dude in a Lou Bega suit (Mambo Number 6?) that turned out to be Pele. All in all, if this is any indication of the Rio opening ceremonies, it’ll be even more of a drug trip than London.

After the formalities were concluded, the Olympic flame was extinguished and IOC prez Jacques Rogge told everyone see you in four years for more crazy commercialization, kthxbai, NBC immediately cut to the scintillating Animal Patient and all the other viewers went to some other channel, never mind that the Who was still to perform, as was Ray Davies from The Kinks. Oh, and the canny programming wizards that NBC employs opted to cut Muse. I’m not a huge Muse fan, but they’re OK AND they were performing the official song for the Olympics.  Now I realize that I’m just some schleppie, but it seems to me that you might want to include that performance, as it is the OFFICIAL SONG of the London Olympics.

All in all, it was a pretty good Games. London did a helluva job, strange pageantry included. For whatever reason, it will be hard to top London in terms of the sheer exuberance of the volunteers and performers. Too bad NBC couldn’t do it justice.

Been a while

Posted: August 12, 2012 in Cooking, Supportive Partner Woman, Wegman's, Weight loss
1

Greetings!

First of all, apologies for not posting anything these last couple of days. I wound up being busy trying to write a piece for another blog I write for and, well, time just got away.

Had a very nice weekend… I didn’t have to work, which is always a nice thing. I spent yesterday with Supportive Partner Woman. We did a Wegman’s run (surprise!) and went out for dinner (and lunch, sorry to say). I was really jonesing for a burger, so we grabbed lunch at Red Robin. I haven’t had fries in I have no idea how long, and they were VERY good. I ordered a bacon cheeseburger on ciabatta =bread, hold the mayo. Burger arrived and was done perfectly. I didn’t even feel too much guilt. It didn’t totally bork my sugars, either.

After that, we detoured through Best Buy, gaped at a lot of stuff we didn’t buy, and headed to Wegman’s (insert choir of angels!).

Got a cart full of groceries, found some lovely sirloin cubes for making kebabs next weekend, and took advantage of some coupons. For anyone who cares, the truffles were down to $499.00/lb. Must be a down market in fungus.

We headed home with a stop at our favorite local store, Stauffer’s of Kissel Hill. It’s a nice market, decent selection of produce and a bangin’ deli. It’s almost like a mini-Wegman’s, minus the choir of angels. The real secret to the deli, however, is the people. If you go, be sure and ask for Shirley. She’s spot on with her measurements, very friendly and always makes sure you get the best service.

Headed home, put the stuff away, and chilled out. I priced a new surround sound amp (didn’t buy) and we eventually decided to go grab some dinner. Keeping with both the red theme and the coupon theme, we went to Red Lobster. Now, the “Eat This, Not That” book series says this is one of the healthiest sit down chains in America, and I can believe it if you order right. SPW (eater of seafood!) ordered snow crab legs with a baked potato. I went with the wood-grilled scallops, shrimp and chicken with a side of broccoli. Nutrition-wise, not too bad. 590 calories, 14g fat, but the killer is the sodium… 3060 grams. Yikes! Now I’ll remember that and order the crab legs next time… half the salt and less than half the calories.

We added some new (to us) tech to the arsenal this week, too. Our friend Trevor purchased a new retina-display MacBook Pro and sold us his used one. This makes SPW (Apple fangirl!) very happy and, well, I’m always in favor of tech. Looking forward to seeing what it can do. So far, like it a lot. Going to have to provide bunches of home cooking to make sure our tech support is well-fed.

So, the moral is that it’s possible to have a burger and fries (at least until surgery) and not totally nuke the calorie limits. Now today’s dinner will be surf & turf… have some lovely steaks and some scallops that we scored at Wegman’s (on sale) that are big as SPW’s fist (or so it seems). Not quite sure what I’ll be making with them, but that’s OK. I figure I’ll grill the steak and maybe grill the scallops? I don’t know. I’ll think of something.

Hope it won’t be three days until the next post… but I hope you had a great weekend and I’ll see you real soon!

Older Entries
Newer Entries