Author: Dan Dickinson

Can we rig up an LCD and a bar fridge in the bathroom?

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Playing basketball for 2 hours in crazy-ass heat takes a lot out of you. We had a lot more people out tonight, including some people we didn’t know, so we ended up playing full court for a while. Now I am teh tired. I want to eat, watch The Shield and shower all at the same time.

.:.

I think the lightning fried my network card. Nellie can connect but I can’t, and we’re using the same router. It just…stopped. However, I can’t be arsed to fix it when I get home this late.

.:.

In unrelated news, I would beat up a nun for some chocolate right now.

[tags]basketball in the heat, fried network card, chocolate[/tags]

And warmer than his armpits

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When I get home from work at 8:00, the last thing I want to do is work on a paper for school.

.:.

The air today was thicker than Jim Belushi’s head. I hope it thins out and cools down before I play basketball tomorrow night. Nothing worse than breathing hard and feeling like I’m sucking broth into my lungs.

[tags]mba, pollution[/tags]

2 down, 17 to go

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Nellie took this last weekend. It was such a perfect view of the full moon on the inner harbour that we sat on the balcony, had a drink and just stared at it. You can click on the picture for more sizes.

.:.

Fatblogging check in #1:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight this week: 231

Mild success. About what I expected, considering I had two veggie burgers and half a pizza in the span of 24 hours this weekend. As my friend Joe pointed out, if I can lose 2 pounds a week for 9 weeks I’ll be doing pretty well. To that end, I just got back from another 2.5 mile run. I’ll keep going at this easy clip for maybe another week or so, then I need to push it. As it is I’m running those 2.5 miles in ~27 minutes and not even breathing hard, so I either need to speed it up or add a second exercise (we have a 30-minute limit on our treadmills). I think I have a jump rope around here somewhere…

[tags]toronto, full moon, harbour, fatblogging[/tags]

If you're depressed and have ADD and you know it, download these (and clap your hands)

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If you’re in need of a song that’s less than two minutes in length and guaranteed to put you in a good mood, here it is: “Quito” by The Mountain Goats.

Ah shit, I’m feeling generous. Here’s another: “Half-Empty Halls” by The Evaporators.

You’re welcome.

.:.

Nellie’s away for the night, and part of tomorrow. I lazed around for a bit, did some errands, went to the Nike store (as I was paying I realized Jason Spezza was standing next to me, buying a stack of stuff as tall as my wife), went for a run, ordered some pizza, watched JFK (just ’cause), cleaned up and am now listening to music at a volume that seems to frighten the cats.

.:.

I needed a drink last night after work, so we met up with CBGB and a friend at The Auld Spot. The veggie burger was extra tasty, the beer was cold, the waitress was hot and the conversation was lively. It was just what I needed to ease into the weekend.

.:.

As of today I am 5/7 of the way through my MBA.

Aweso.

.:.

Two cool bits of news courtesy of the two best Toronto-centric blogs: Torontoist points to the new and improved driving directions on Google Maps (which is very helpful if you’ve ever tried plotting a scenic route) as well as a neat little mashup called Taxiwiz that predicts your Toronto cab fare. BlogTO, on the other hand, discusses the recent decision that permits street vendors to sell more than hot dogs.

.:.

Finally, I leave you with this hilarious little comic my friend Dino sent me.

Vegetarian Zombies

[tags]mountain goats, evaporators, nike store, jason spezza, auld spot, fun with fractions, torontoist, blogto, taxiwiz, google maps, vegetarian zombies[/tags]

From treadmills to tzatziki

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S’been a long day. Up at 6, run, work until 8, dinner at C’est What and home around 9. Ran about 2.5 miles this morning, so that’s getting better already. May go again tomorrow, or I may take a break until Saturday…not sure yet. That falafel ain’t gonna burn itself though.

.:.

I think I took on more work today, and I have to accelerate my MBA “side-project” work plan (interim paper’s due Aug 1), but on the plus side I have a few vacation days coming up in a few weeks and Nellie’s away this weekend. Not that I don’t want her around, of course, but I can get a lot of stuff done when I’m on my own schedule. Besides, we introverts need alone time to recharge every now and then.

.:.

Nellie picked up a new adaptor and wide-angle lens for our camera today. That’ll be terribly exciting for us when we’re actually on vacation some day.

[tags]c’est what, fatblogging[/tags]

Spiderpig

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More progress from a daily-life standpoint: I actually got to the gym this morning. The plan was to go yesterday morning, but the Monday Night Downstairs Dance Party ™ made that impossible. I didn’t know how much energy I’d have at 6AM, especially since I played ball for two hours last night, and even more especially since I haven’t run in months, but I kept it light (just 1.5 miles). I was worried about the pain in my knee at first, but it turned out to only be bruised from last night (must’ve gone knee-on-knee with someone and not noticed at the time) and not a strain. I’ll go again tomorrow morning; gotta work myself back up to at least 3mi/5km if I’m to lose any weight at all.

The tricky part is cooling down before I have to strap myself into a suit and walk out into the Toronto summer. Yech.

Movies, exercise…I’m almost starting to feel normal again.

.:.

The ending of this trailer for The Simpsons Movie made me howl. H-O-W-L.

[tags]exercise, fatblogging, simpsons movie[/tags]

Some of us work, Bluto

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Last night the people downstairs decided to have an incredibly loud party. Until 1:30 AM. We managed to remain nice while still getting them to keep it doown. The worst part of all: the godawful shitty house music they were playing.

Needless to say we had difficulty getting up this morning. There’d better not be any noise tonight; I’m getting up at 6 to go for a run.

.:.

The weather for this week’s round of basketball was much nicer than the last time we played. We only had a few people out, but it was good fun.

[tags]animal house, basketball[/tags]

In which I join the club. The pudgy, pudgy club.

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Let the banners fly and the champagne flow: we actually went to see a movie today! Gasp wheeze snort! Yup, a real live honest-to-Hollywood movie, our first in a theatre since seeing 300 in way back in March. We saw Knocked Up (imdb | rotten tomatoes), which was pretty good.

It just feels good to be back in the game.

.:.

The least surprising thing I’ve heard this week: George Bush has commuted Scooter Libby’s jail term.

US President George W Bush has intervened to prevent Lewis Libby, a convicted former vice-presidential aide, from serving a prison term. President Bush described as “excessive” the 30-month sentence Libby was facing for obstructing an inquiry into the leaking of a CIA agent’s name.

Do you ever wonder if Bush does this stuff just to fuck with Tony Snow?

.:.

I have decided to join the fatblogging club. I’m no good at self-motivation so I figure telling the world that I’m about 40 pounds overweight and then living in fear of the mockery will help things along.

See, the last time I was a normal weight — about 190 pounds — was back in 2001. Back then I was single and didn’t eat regular meals (as I do now that I’m married), didn’t eat as a social occasion (as I do now that I have a foodie friend or two), exercised a lot more, didn’t work nearly as much and didn’t have an MBA on my plate. I figure I have to reverse/correct at least a few of those trends, and soon — I’d like to buy a new suit in a couple of months. So, to recap:

  • I’m currently about 233 (which puts me just below “obese” on the BMI scale)
  • I should be about 194 (to get my BMI back into the “normal” range)

Clearly I won’t cover 39 pounds in two months short of some creative surgery, so I’ll aim for 214 (the halfway mark) by Sep 1. I’ll give weekly updates. I await your praise/scorn.

[tags]knocked up, scooter libby, fatblogging[/tags]