Category: Fatblogging

All back full. Cap'n, say again? I said all back full!! All back full, aye.

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Well, that week at school didn’t do me any favors in the weight loss category.

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 223
  • Weight this week: 227

Yup, gained 4 pounds. That is a suck. I guess that’s what comes from a) not having access to the gym anymore, and b) being vegetarian. The veggie options there are so bland that I end up getting dessert or grabbing an ice cream bar in the afternoon.

I don’t like my odds of keeping weight off while on vacation, either. This could be a bad few weeks.

.:.

On a note unrelated to weight, we had brunch at Toba with CBGB today. Well…brunch for them, early dinner for us. We’ve been up since 4:00, so tucking in for pancakes at 11:30 just seemed weird.

[tags]fatblogging, toba[/tags]

8.216%

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Day one of what looks to be a looooooong week is behind me. But first things first.

My cab ride up here this morning was…interesting. The cab arrived very quickly…like, two minutes after I called. I got in and we got to the end of the driveway, and I thought the cabbie was driving a little fast. Then I saw why: another Beck cab pulled up. The guy who picked me up was poaching. So he played innocent and loaded my suitcase into the other cab. I was mildly annoyed ’cause it was raining and this was slowing me down, but whatever.

The second cabbie seemed a little confused about how to get to the DVP but eventually made it. Immediately after getting on the parkway he pulled a little book off the dash and started reading it. I figure he was looking at a map or checking a phone number…but he kept reading it. He was looking at the road for one second, then reading his book for three, then repeating. He was also driving 90 in the fast lane. Cars were passing him on the right. He’d occasionally wobble into another lane…never signaled. I finally asked him what he was looking at and he showed me. It looked like a prayer book, or perhaps some kind of mini Qur’an. I asked him if he’d mind waiting until after he dropped me off before reading it. He just smiled, said “Yes, yes, yes!” and kept reading. OK, language barrier.

A few minutes later we were there, and then there was drama ’cause he didn’t like how I tore the taxi chit. I could not have cared less. I left him in the driveway babbling angrily.
So, that behind me I checked in for a long day of class. Yay, financial risk management. We went from 10:00 to 6:00, and it’s some pretty dry stuff. Tomorrow, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday…it seems like a lifetime, but it always does on the first day.

The food isn’t helping. This is no place for vegetarians, even fake vegetarians like me. I had to eat dessert at both meals, just to have enough in my stomach not to starve later. That trend, combined with the gym being block off yet again, does not bode well for my waistline.

.:.

Speaking of my waistline:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 223.5
  • Weight this week: 223

Only down half a pound this week. I’ve eaten pretty badly the last few days, so the 10 miles I ran this week is probably the only reason I didn’t go up. This week will be a challenge.

[tags]mba, beck taxi, fatblogging[/tags]

I am constant as the northern star

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Fatblogging, ho:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 224.5
  • Weight this week: 223.5

Another week, another pound. At this rate I should be 67.5 pounds in just three years.

.:.

Tristram Shandy: A Cock And Bull Story (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was messy, intricate and very funny. It’s a film about a film about an essentially unfilmable novel, and I think I may have missed one or more “a film about…”s. Michael Winterbottom is quickly becoming one of my favourite directors.

.:.

There’s an excellent piece in Esquire this month entitled “God’s Not Watching Baghdad” that you should read if you have 15 minutes.

I was back in Iraq to see the president’s surge, to see if pushing more troops into Baghdad had made a difference. I had last been in Iraq two years before as a sergeant in an infantry company, patrolling its farm fields and city streets. On a good day, the country looks the same as it did during my deployments. Usually it looks much worse. Being back in Iraq, I hoped, would be a brief sojourn to reality, a break from America’s version of the war, where the battle lines had been drawn by fearless sloganeers: “Cut ‘n’ Run” or “Bring ‘Em Home,” depending. Where the debate no longer has much to do with Iraq and its people — other than the shitty smorgasbord of daily violence touted as evidence of either the mission’s futility or the dangers of quitting. Mostly, I wanted to make sense of why this had gone on so long with so little progress and see how the war looked to those tasked with the salvage operation.

Read the full article.

.:.

An article popped up in my feeds this week that resonated on a couple of levels. The Coast, the Halifax alternative weekly paper I used to read all the time in university, recently ripped off Passive-Aggressive Notes, a blog I quite enjoy. P.A.N. reposted the article, including this picture, which made me laugh my ass off. Ha ha ha ha. Soyfucker.

It also reminded me of an east-coast delicacy: donair pizza. I never liked donairs themselves (that sauce always made me sick) and I couldn’t eat the pizzas, but I used to loooooove eating the donair meat. I don’t even know what kind of meat it was (ostensibly I think it was meant to be lamb) but I still crave it every time I’m in Halifax.

.:.

Finally, after my brain being rendered mush by work and school for many months, it has sunk in: I’m going on vacation in two weeks. My thought priorities now seem to be as follows:

  1. Vacation
  2. The film festival, even though I’m missing it this year
  3. Work
  4. Scarlett Johansson
  5. Rehabbing my wrist
  6. Losing weight
  7. Keeping my fingernails tidy and well-clipped
  8. School

[tags]fatblogging, tristram shandy, the coast, passive aggressive notes, donair, france, scarlett johansson[/tags]

"Thank you, bank robber!"

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Some entertainers taking part in Buskerfest, just down the street from me. I didn’t have my camera when I walked by them earlier so I shot this when I got home.

.:.

Fatblogging check-in :

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 225.5
  • Weight this week: 224.5

I seem to be holding steady at one pound lost per week. At this point I can’t possibly get to 214 by Sep 1 (unless I go on some kind of crazy-ass weight shedding regimen to make a fight weight) but in the two weeks before I go away on course I should be around 220. The tricky part is maintaining weight while on course; we never get to use the gym anymore, and as a (near) vegetarian my meal options aren’t great so I usually end up snacking a lot more.

I really haven’t changed my eating habits too much, but I’ve noticed lately that my brain has retreated from the insanity that got me to 238 last Christmas. For example, I no longer feel the need to eat every piece of chocolate in a 10-metre radius…just some of it. Now, when I’m about to overindulge I usually hear Yoda saying “Control, control, you must learn control!” in the back of my mind. I realize that sounds geeky (and kinda dirty too) but whatever works.

.:.

Watched Inside Man (imdb | rotten tomatoes) last night. That was some gooooood movie-watchin’. Just Spike Lee enough to be a Spike Lee joint, but not too over-the-Spike-Lee-top. Good plot, good pacing, and the cast was like an all-star game. Highly recommended, if you haven’t already seen it.

[tags]buskerfest, fatblogging, inside man[/tags]

"The rest is just cattle-prod and pray."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Fatblogging news:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 226.5
  • Weight this week: 225.5

Another week, another pound. Not as fast as I should be going, but once again I barely got to the gym. The plan is to run later today, though that will likely just undo the damage I’m about to do to myself at brunch with CBGB.

.:.

Last night, after I finished doing work and Nellie finished making veggie burgers, we watched Notes On A Scandal (imdb | rotten tomatoes). Very good film, extremely well acted, and pretty much hooks you in right away. Judi Dench marries civility with ferocity, just as she marries wit with derangement.

[tags]fatblogging, notes on a scandal[/tags]

"It looks like a chicken wing or a cheese fry."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Fatblogging update:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 227
  • Weight this week: 226.5

Little better. Again, not as much exercise as I would have liked. 8-8 days and a looming assignment were the roadblocks this time. I ran yesterday, and hope to run again this afternoon…hopefully I can string a few more together this week.

.:.

We watched two movies this weekend (one last night, one this morning).

The Road To Guantanamo (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was about the Tipton Three, British friends who were in Pakistan & Afghanistan shortly after 9/11 and were taken prisoner on suspicion of being Taliban and/or Al Qaeda. They were held at Guantanamo Bay for over two years before being released…never charged, never apologized to.

Had this been a Hollywood film…well, it would’ve never been made. But had it, the drama would have been so overwrought and embellished that the story would have lost all impact. Director Michael Winterbottom instead just told the story from the point of view of the three men, even interspersing the recreation of events with interviews. The story itself is shocking enough; it needed no help in being horrifying.

There are still hundreds of men held at Guantanamo Bay, few of whom have been charged, and only one of whom — an Australian — has been convicted. For more info visit Human Rights Watch.

The second movie was much lighter: Kicking And Screaming (imdb | rotten tomatoes), much like Slacker, was something that would’ve been more interesting if I had watched it in when it was released (1995, in this case) and majored in philosophy. As it was, apart from a few funny bits, I found it pretty boring.

[tags]fatblogging, the road to guantanamo, tipton three, kicking and screaming, slacker[/tags]

Eat eat gain gain

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Fatblogging check-in:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 226
  • Weight this week: 227

Not great, but not unexpected. Vacation for three days, dinner out a few times, no exercise…yeah. That’ll do it. Now that I have my hard cast I think my wrist can handle the jolt of running, so I’m going to the gym tomorrow morning. Time to get back on the horse treadmill.

.:.

We just finished watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (imdb | rotten tomatoes). It was better than I expected. It got dragged up off the bottom of my Zip list, so I wasn’t that keen to see it, but we felt like watching a movie tonight and got a pleasant surprise. The story was pretty formulaic (and was explained as such…very meta) but parts of the script were quite funny, especially Val Kilmer’s. Not a must see, but worth a watch if it’s lying around.

[tags]fatblogging, kiss kiss bang bang[/tags]

A few more broken limbs and hellish weeks at work should do it

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Status du fatblogging:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 229.5
  • Weight this week: 226

Uhhh…ok. Not being able to exercise all week clearly didn’t hurt me as much as not having time to eat normal meals helped me. Still, that’s not sustainable. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to run again once the swelling goes down and I’m in the hard cast.

.:.

We’ve eaten two straight meals on the balcony. The weather’s been perfect for it, and now that we can grill things without fear of explosions I think we’ll be out there even more. Nellie popped down to St. Lawrence Market yesterday for some fruit (which we had this morning with breakfast) and some tofu. We heard there was a booth there that makes tofu palatable, so we tried a place called Ying Ying Soy Food. It was actually really good; one type Nellie grilled in bbq sauce, the other was left plain, and both were tasty. Throw in some grilled veggies and bread and a bottle of white…’twas a good night.

.:.

One more thing: happy birthday, T-Bone!!

[tags]fatblogging, bbq[/tags]

Half a step back

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Another fatblogging check-in:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 229
  • Weight this week: 229.5

Not a great week, clearly. I’m not surprised; work eliminated pretty much all opportunity for exercise, and also made it all too easy to eat like crap. I’m hopeful, though not terribly optimistic, that this week will be better.

.:.

I finally fixed the connection problem with my desktop. And by “fixed” I mean reinstalled Windows. There were obviously other problems going on anyway, and I’d always been annoyed that it shipped with XP Home, so I installed Pro. I didn’t do a completely clean install though, so I can foresee problems popping up before too long. Still, I needed a working computer by today so I could get to work on my paper. The only problem now: the sound card doesn’t work.

[UPDATE] It also seems to recognize my USB2.0 controller as only 1.1.

[tags]fatblogging, xp home, xo pro[/tags]

Gas leak: reprised

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

About a month ago we had a gas leak in the den. That’s where the cutoff for our unit is, and we first noticed the smell the very day the building’s maintenance people came by to open it up. We were up ’til 2:00 that night waiting for the guy from Enbridge, who shut off the valve, located the leak and left a problem report for the building’s maintenance guys.

The next day Nellie called our condo’s customer service office and explained what happened. They said they’d look into it and get back to us. Later that day nothing had happened so Nellie called back. They told us that because Enbridge had turned off the valve and we could no longer smell the gas they didn’t consider it an emergency and they’d get to it later.

So we waited. An entire summer month, not able to barbecue, and no word from customer service. Nellie followed up several times, most recently with an email and a letter last week, to which we got no response. Their customer service center is only open during business hours during the week, and we’ve both been so busy at work that we haven’t been able to go in person, so they’ve been free to ignore our requests.

Last night, around 11:00, Nellie smelled gas in the den. We waited for a while and double-checked, but it was definitely gas. So we call Enbridge again; the same guy comes over around 2:00 and is incredulous that the building hasn’t fixed the problem yet. He gets up by the panel, his little detector thing goes off…yup, the leak’s still there. He checks the cutoff…the valve has been opened.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Nellie didn’t open the valve, and I sure as shit didn’t either. We had no warning that anyone from the building would be coming by to do it either, but it seems like a strange coincidence considering we just last week sent them a letter (which is, reportedly, the only communication they respond well to). The only other possibility is that the valve is loose and fell closed…which is no less troubling.

I don’t know exactly when I’m going to get downstairs to the customer service office, because this week will be even worse than most work-wise, but when I do it’s not going to be a polite conversation. I’ll be cursing like Mel Gibson in Signs. Get your tickets now.

.:.

On a happier note, we have fatblogging check in #2:

  • Original weight: 233
  • Weight last week: 231
  • Weight this week: 229

So another 2 pounds lost. Not a great week for exercise, but I seem to be better with cutting out the junk food.

[tags]gas leak, fatblogging[/tags]