Ed's Thoughts, Ideas & Ramblings

Weight Loss Update

2010-05-27T13:40:00.000-04:00

So, I finally met with my nutritionist/trainer on Wednesday (5.26). We took all of my measurements and she input them into a body weight management thingamajig program. From what I remember (I didn't write down the numbers), here is where I'm at:

Weight: 245.2
Stomach: 40.5"
Chest: 43.5" (I know, I'm a beefcake)
Bicep: 17.5" (Do work son) <-- Rob & Big reference for those of you who don't get it
Forearm: 13"
Thigh: 30" (whoa)
Calf: 17"

My body fat is between 24-25%, not terrible, but not great. She gave me a nutrition plan, which involves lots of protein, complex carbs (in the first part of the day), fresh fruit and veggies, and salads. Pretty straight forward, but it is something that I can easily follow. I'm meeting with her again in two weeks to chart my progress.

On the exercise side, I am weight training 5-6 days a week, and doing cardio 5-6 days (preferably 6) at about 30-60 minutes per session.

I'm hoping for a 3-6 pound drop in 2 weeks and at least 1/2 inch off my waist. I'll keep you all posted.

Tigers & Yankees

2010-05-13T22:15:00.000-04:00

Tuesday night Amanda and I attempted to go to a Tiger's game...it got rained out. It was rescheduled for the following day - good for me, bad for Amanda. I ended up going with my boss/friend from work, and I had a great time.

So, yeah the Yankees lost but redeemed themselves in the second game of the night.

In case you didn't know, I'm a Yankees fan.

The seat were great (sorry you couldn't be there Amanda). For those of you who know Comerica Park, we were in section 138, row 19. For those who don't know, section 138 is along the 3rd base line. Row 19 was really close...it was awesome.

I'm working on getting the pics off my camera. Check back for updates. Ed out.

Weight Loss

2010-05-11T11:36:00.000-04:00

I've been a weight training enthusiast for a while, but I have lacked in the cardio/nutrition department. I'm not saying that I don't know how to eat properly or how to do cardio, I'm just saying that these two areas have been kind of weak.

Now that the stresses of school are over, I've decided to take this more serious.

I stepped on the scale Monday morning and was horrified. As of Monday, May 10th 2010, my current weight is 243.8 lbs. My stomach measures 41 inches (around the belly button). Holy fat, batman.

So, yesterday I started to hit it hard. Weight training followed by 30-minutes of cardio. I felt good. To continue the good feeling, I'm meeting with a personal trainer tomorrow (Wednesday) to go over a diet and cardio game plan.

I'm hoping that I can lose about 35 pounds and 6 inches off my waist by the wedding in November. I'll need to lose about 6 lbs a month, but I think it should be possible. I'm going to keep weekly updates of my progress (if anybody cares).

It's time to head off to the gym and lift thousands of pounds (not really, maybe hundreds). Over and out.

Catching Up

2010-05-11T11:17:00.000-04:00

Wow. So, I haven't blogged since September of 2008, and a few things have happened since then. It might be easier to just show all of the events/presentations/awards that have occurred in the last two years in list form.
Presentations:

October 2008 - Guest Lecturer for BCA 525E on the Monomyth
October 2008 - Presented at the Mid-West Pop Culture Conference in Cincinnati
April 2009 - Presented at the National Pop Culture Conference in New Orleans
April 2009 - Presented at the Broadcast Education Association Conference in Las Vegas
October 2009 - Presented at the Mid-West Pop Culture Conference in Detroit
October 2010 - Will be presenting at the Mid-West Pop Culture Conference in Minneapolis

Awards:

2008 - Honorable Mention - Michigan Association of Broadcasters (Video)
2008 - 1st Place - Michigan Association of Broadcasters (Video)
2008 - 3rd Place - Broadcast Education Association (National Competition) (Video)
2008 - 3rd Place - Broadcast Education Association (National Competition) (Video)
2008 - Finalist - College Broadcasters Inc. (National Competition) (Video)
2009 - 2nd Place - Broadcast Education Association (National Competition) (Video)
2009 - Bronze Award - Telly Award (National Competition) (Video)

Other Things of Importance:

I graduate from CMU with my MA in Film Theory & Criticism
I proposed to Amanda on New Year's Eve 2008 - the wedding is November of this year
I applied to six doctoral programs, I was accepted by Wayne State
Amanda and I moved down to the Detroit area in June of 2009
I just finished my first year at Wayne State
I'm currently working at the Men's Wearhouse in Novi. I started in September of '09.

That's about it. My next blog entries will be about my current weight loss mission. Thanks for reading.

Great Lakes Cider & Perry Tasting

2008-09-09T22:07:00.002-04:00

That's right, cider and perry tasting. But you might be asking, "Ed, what's a perry?" Let me explain, it's like hard cider (made from apples) except it's made from pears. So solves that mystery.

Saturday, Jason and myself volunteered at the tasting which was located at Uncle John's Cider Mill just north of St. Johns Michigan. It was a fun day, we helped pour ciders and perrys at different tables and we were encouraged to taste what we were serving. Well, we did not want to go against what we were instructed to do...so we sampled...a lot.

We didn't get belligerent or anything like that, but we did get a nice little shine going. The night ended with a feast provided by Uncle Johns and we were able to bring some bottles home with us. All-in-all, a great way to spend a Saturday.

Sunday night I held and little dinner get together and we ate some pasta and had some ciders and perrys. A nice way to end the weekend. Until next post...

King of California

2008-09-09T21:36:00.003-04:00

So this is my first attempt at writing my own little movie review. The movie being discussed is King of California starring Michael Douglas and Evan Rachel Wood. The reason this movie was chosen was because, (a) I like Michael Douglas and (b) it is listed as a comedy.

Viewing this movie as a comedy was difficult at times, although there is comic relief, this movie is more or less a sad representation of the american dream. Douglas returns home after being released from a psychiatric hospital where he was a patient for the last 2 years. He returns home to his daughter (Wood) and tells her a fantastic story of a treasure he wants to discover.

Throughout the film, Douglas is searching for this treasure that is somewhere in California. After much criticism from Wood, she finally decides to partake in his adventure and begins to help him in his search. Wood's character constantly reminds Douglas' characters of the absurd nature of his life and how he needs to come back into the "real world."

The climax of the movie is the Cosco scene. Douglas' characters discovers that the treasure is located below the Cosco in a old river that runs under one of the aisles. After breaking in, Douglas and Wood begin to dig and again, Wood's character criticizes the entire ordeal and the scene ends with Michael Douglas plunging one last time into the hole where he was so adament about there being gold.

The final scene of the film concludes with Wood's character going back to the Cosco to purchase an item that Douglas gave her the barcode for; she purchases a dishwasher and drives off towards a beach. Once on the beach, she opens the dishwasher to discover that her father was not crazy and that he did find the lost gold, which came at the cost of his life.

Throughout the film the viewer feels for Douglas' character because of his want to provide for his daughter and for his goal of wanting to be somebody. At times the film is quite sad in nature; Douglas sells the one thing he held most dear, his bass, to help provide for his daughter. And when he actually comes through and does what he started out to do, it costs him his life. Once again his daughter is left alone in the world, without a father or mother. The struggle of trying to obtain the american dream killed Douglas' character, but in his mind, he became someone.

Sorry to have a spoiler in there but this movie did come out over a year ago, so you should of seen it by now. Until next blog...

Labor Day Weekend

2008-09-02T10:07:00.002-04:00

What a weekend. It was awesome. To start off the weekend, I went down to the International Detroit Jazz Festival on Saturday. It was so much fun. Saw some great groups,
- Bonerama (one of my favorites)
- The Latin Jazz Allstars
- Sonny Fortune Quartet
- Robin Eubanks & EB3 (crazy awesome)
- Christian McBride Band
- Godfathers of Groove
Good times were had by all. I also tried catfish for the first time... not bad. Also, on our way back from Detroit, we stopped by a gas station in Holly (exit 101 off of I-75) which was amazing. The nicest gas station mart I have ever been to. It has one of the best beer, wine and liquor sections that could rival any party store. They also had gourmet food. It was crazy.

In movie news, I went to see Step Brothers Sunday night. I feel that this could be in my top 3 favorite Will Ferrel movies of all time. Pretty much laughed the entire movie.

In other news, did the ol' bar-be-que thing yesterday, along with millions of other americans. It was good, had a brat, some potato salad, a sunset wheat w/fresh orange slice...you know, all pretty standard issue labor day essentials.

I should be getting my GRE book from amazon today. I've got about 3 weeks to study for that little gem. Not really looking forward to it, but maybe i'll learn some new words. That's about it for now. Hope everyone reading this had a good weekend also. Cheers.

Big Weekend

2008-08-22T11:24:00.002-04:00

So here we are again. The weekend before another year of school. I'm pretty excited. Sunday is mainstage and for those of you who don't know what that is, it is free food and a free concert that CMU puts on. This year, Eve 6 will be performing...awesome. You'll probably see me there with video camera in hand.

In other news, I have began my search for a PhD school. I have a list of about 5-6 schools that I think I will apply to. The ones I am looking at are:

New York University
University of Chicago
University of Michigan
Yale
Wayne State University (maybe)
Northwestern University

But before I can think of that I need to take the GRE (not too excited about that).

In other other news, I picked up my text books for class and I have 8 books for 3 classes. Luckily they were fairly inexpensive. Yesterday I met with the new grad students coming in and they seem like a cool bunch of kids. There are a good handful that are from around the U.S. including UCLA and one kid who went to school in Texas. Other than that, not much else is going on. I'm going to hit that dusty trail, check back for new posts.

Numero Uno

2008-08-20T23:50:00.000-04:00

I hope I spelled the title right. That's right. This is my first blog. I don't have much to say other than hello to all my fellow bloggers and non-bloggers (i think that covers everybody).

Today kicked off meetings week. We had a riveting, three hour long department meeting this morning. The payoff was a lunch paid for by Dr. O. (thanks Dr.O).

I am in the process of finishing my prospectus and it should hopefully be accepted within the next couple of weeks. I think the title I am going to run with is "The Journey of Michael Corleone: An Analysis of The Godfather. Pretty awesome title, I know. What I am doing is analyzing The Godfather Trilogy using the structure of the monomyth developed by Joseph Campbell.

In other news, Batman in IMAX is pretty much the coolest thing I have ever seen. If you've never been I would highly recommend it.

Well, I think its time to hit the dusty trail. Keep checking back for new posts.