Things

I saw a woman the other day at Fred Meyer. She was comparing 2 melons...

We took our IRI last Friday. Only one of my kids moved up.

12 days of school left.

I'm going to teach summer school.

I made an awesome dessert tonight. It was like a turtle sundae

Steve is getting married the day after my birthday

My cousin Heather is getting married the day after Becky's birthday.

I played poker at my pastor's house last weekend...

My car got washed for the first time in nearly a year.

I took the day off today.

Here's what I did:

Do You Believe in Love- Huey Lewis and the News
The Hustle- Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony
Who’s Crying Now- Journey
Dream Weaver- Gary Wright
Manic Monday- The Bangles
Don’t Look Back-Boston
You Can’t Hurry Love- Phil Collins
One Thing- Finger Eleven
Best of My Love- The Emotions
One Headlight- The Wallflowers
Bloody Sunday- U2
Imagine- John Lennon
I’ll Stop the World and Melt with You- Modern English
Bad Company- Bad Company
Human- The Human League
Light On- David Cook
I Can’t Go For That- Hall and Oates
Weird Science- Oingo Boingo
Two Princes- Spin Doctors
Purple Rain- Prince
Just What I Needed- The Cars
Photograph- Def Leopard
Magic Carpet Ride- Steppenwolf
Love Song- The Cure
Soak Up the Sun- Sheryl Crow
Boogie Wonderland- Earth, Wind and Fire
Fly- Sugar Ray
I Love Rock and Roll- Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Candle in the Wind- Elton John
Stand- REM
Crazy Little Thing Called Love- Queen
When I Come Around- Green Day
Heaven- Bryan Adams
Love Remains the Same- Gavin Rossdale
Footloose- Kenny Loggins
I Want Your Sex- George Michael
Daughter- Pearl Jam
Fascination (Keep Feeling)-Human League
Goodbye Stranger- SuperTramp
Where the Streets Have No Name- U2
Say You Love Me- Fleetwood Mac
Don’t Stand So Close to Me- The Police
Dance Hall Days- Wang Chung
Jive Talkin’- The Bee Gees
Last Dance with Mary Jane- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Bizzare Love Triangle- New Order
Cold As Ice- Foreigner
Centerfold- J. Geils Band
It’s a Heartache- Bonnie Tyler
Jaded- Aerosmith
Sussudio- Phil Collins
Viva la Vida- Coldplay
You May Be Right- Billy Joel
School’s Out- Alice Cooper
Under the Bridge- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Roam- The B-52’s
Lights- Journey
Authority Song- John Mellencamp
Philadelphia Freedom- Elton John
Raspberry Beret- Prince
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree- KT Tungstall
Shining Star- Earth, Wind and Fire
6th Avenue Heartache- The Wallflowers
No One Like You- The Scorpions
My Best Friend’s Girl- The Cars
Take Me Home Tonight- Eddie Money
You Ain’t Seen Nothin Yet- Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO)
Ordinary World- Duran Duran
Jane- Jefferson Starship
Shattered- O.A.R.
Why Can’t This Be Love- Van Halen
(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay- Otis Redding
All Star- Smash Mouth
Saved By Zero- The Fixx
Won’t Get Fooled Again- The Who
Under Pressure- Queen and David Bowie
Baby Come Back- Player
Keep On Loving You- REO Speedwagon
Game of Love- Santana Featuring Michelle Branch
Pump Up the Jam- Technotronic
Shiny Happy People- REM featuring Kate Pierson
Refugee- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Landslide- Fleetwood Mac
Hold On Loosely- 38 Special
Brown Eyed Girl- Van Morrison
Shine-Collective Soul
Angel of Harlem- U2
I’m Yours- Jason Mraz
Kiss On My List- Hall and Oates
I Wanna Be Sedated- Ramones
Crazy- Aerosmith
Suddenly Last Summer- The Motels
Hot legs- Rod Stewart
West End Girls- The Petshop Boys
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap- AC/DC
Devil Inside-INXS
I’m Going Home- Chris Daughtry
Brick House- The Commodores
Kiss From a Rose- Seal
All She Wants to Do Is Dance- Don Henley
Live and Let Die- The Beatles
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da- The Police
Bang a gong (Get It On)- T-Rex
Follow You Down- Gin Blossoms
ROCK in the USA- John Mellencamp
Hot N Cold- Katy Perry

Those are all the songs that were on a radio station today. If you mail in the longest list from between 9:00-5:00 you can win $96. I don't know if I won yet. That is all the songs for 8 hours though.

I will never watch American idol again if Adam wins.

webistes, for no reason:

woot.com
espn.com
homestarrunner.com
961bobfm.com
mariners.org
toothpastefordinner.com
wamu.com
craigslist.com
chooseveg.com
certifiedangusbeef.com

Goodnight

Reviews

Just a quick warning; this is going to be a long post. I am going to review a lot of different things. So if you are interested, keep reading. If not...keep reading anyway. I'm also stealing one of my brother's ideas when it comes to ratings...you'll see

Movies- movies I have seen recently, even if they are not new.

About a Boy:
Our pastor was doing a series on God in the Movies, and this was one he chose. He discussed how, without God in your life, life is pointless, like Hugh Grant's character's life. The movie itself is pretty good and whimsical. I really like the annoying boy, Marcus, who just starts showing up at Will (Hugh Grant's character) house without warning. The relationship they build sets Will on a path of needing other people in his life and accepting others.
Rating- 4 stars and a dead duck

The Dark Knight:
I had some problems with this movie, but I did like parts. This was another movie our pastor talked about. The biggest positive for this movie was Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. He played the role perfectly and really brought out the attitude of not caring about others. The problem I had is that Batman was a very distant character. Yes, it was a darker movie than other Batman movies, but I'm not sure if it was necessary. Plus, Batman sounded like he had emphysema, which is odd, since Bruce Wayne did not.
Rating- A full deck of Jokers

I Love You Man-
The cast of this movie was appealing enough reason to see it. It was worth every penny. I loved this movie, especially because of Jason Seagal's character. He was hilarious. I wish I could be more like him. There were lots of times I was laughing out loud. At one point, Becky was the only person in the theater that was laughing, which of course made me laugh too. See it.
Rating- 5/5, Totes ma goats

Slumdog Millionaire-
I was cautious going into this movie, as I am with all award winners, but it actually lived up to the billing. The story was amazing and the acting was great. The fact that this one nobody from the slums had all the convenient occurrences that led to him winning the million was great. All the characters were flawless and I don't think it ever contradicted itself, as it easily could have.
Rating- 2,000,000 Rupees

Iron Man-
Becky really likes Robert Downey Jr., so she didn't have a problem letting me get this with my new Netflix subscription. I really like Downey Jr. in this role. He played a good Playboy/genius/millionaire. The action was good and it never got too serious. It was a fun movie with a massive entertainment value. Plus the Dude ws in it (Jeff Daniels)
Rating- 4.5 out of 5

Doubt-
I doubt I'll see another movie like this one.
Rating- 4 nuns and a pedophile

Yes Man-
When i saw previews for this movie I thought 'Hey, is this Liar Liar 2?' But after watching it, it only vaguely reminded me of Jim Carrey's previous role. It was quite fun and comical. I especially liked his boss's parties. I would definitely suggest seeing this one if you want to laugh.
Rating- worth a Redbox

The Station Agent-
I found this one on Netflix. It is rather an obscure independent film, but it was suggested to me based on movies I had rated. It sounded somewhat entertaining, since it sounded just like something that might happen in real life, and it was exactly that. It is a story about a dwarf (Finbar, played by Tom Dinklage) who moves to Newfoundland, New Jersey after inheriting some land from a friend. It is really just the story of Finbar and his new friends Joe and Olivia. Nothing really happens in the movie, but it is fun. I wouldn't suggest it to anyone looking for action, but it is a fun relaxing movie.
Rating- A bright red caboose

Performances- Shows and other performances

Boise Philharmonic-
I came across some tickets 4th hand to see a performance of Iberia! at the Boise Philharmonic. This was music from the Iberian peninsula in Spain, with an influence of Basque. Now if you are into classical music, and I am somewhat, than this would have been a great show for you. But overall I didn't understand enough about what goes into making the music to really appreciate it. Yes, it was amazing to hear all the instruments working together, but it just did not have a moving effect for me. Another downside was that the average age of the people there was probably 59.5, maybe 60. Were felt and looked very young. By the last hour we were ready to just go home. By the time we did get home it was 11:00. So I can imagine that most of the people there were up way past their bed times and many of them probably fell asleep during the show.
Rating- 3/26 songs I really liked

Sports-

The Mariners-
So the Mariners started off really well, and they are still 8-5, but I am a little worried. It is still too early to really tell much about the season, but it looks like they might be struggling with offense again. They really need to get those bats going and get a few more runs on the board. The pitching is going to be alright, but they can't win without scoring
Rating- 1st place in the AL West

Fantasy Baseball-
Looking at my team before the season started you would not have been real impressed. But now that we are rolling, I'm doing awesome. We score on a 22-point a week system heads up. What that means is that each week there are 22 categories in which you compete against one other person. So at the end of the week the score could be 12-10. So there are lots of points to be had. After 2 weeks I should be in first place with a record of 30-12-2. My team is hitting well and pitching well. If they keep it up, I could be looking at a successful season.
Rating-1st baby!

NBA/NHL playoffs-
What, are they on? I didn't notice.
Rating- Someones gotta win.

Other-

Yard work-
It is that time of year again that I bust out the mower and start cleaning up. I hate it. But it has been nicely lately, so I can't complain too much. Our yard will look a lot nicer in a few weeks when we are done getting all the weeds off our side parcel. Until then, it looks like it just has a bald spot from where we filled up a garbage can worth of weeds.
Rating- Probably a sunburn

Lola and her toys/food-
We love Lola so much, and we have found a few new things she really loves as well. We took her to the park and let her run around leash-free for a little while, which she loved. While we were there she found a lacrosse ball and started playing with it. Now that is her favorite toy, even though it is not a good inside toy.
Lola has also discovered that she really loves Milk Bones and Ziggys. Ziggys are just little treats that fit inside of her kong toy. She devours them as soon as she gets them She gets milk bones any time we leave the house. I think she is a little conflicted since she probably hates to see us go, but loves the milk bones.
Rating- Adorable

School-
wearing pretty thin by now. I lost a student on Thursday so I am down to 22, but I think I'll be getting a new one real soon, maybe even tomorrow. Getting a new kid is tough. Hopefully he/she will fit in with the class and not cause any problems.
Rating- 33 days left

Wii games-
Super Swing Golf-tedious and very repetitive, but I can't quit until I beat it all
Okami- I stopped playing this to play golf, so I will get back to it. I love it so far
Wii fit- 92 days and going strong
Rating- Hours and hours wasted

There might be more things added later, but it is near bed time and I am tired. Check back to see some new reviews later.

I am gone-a-rhea....that came out wrong.....bye

How about...

...Them Mariners! 6-2 and the best record in the AL! They are looking pretty impressive, and that is without Ichiro. I am excited about the season, and hopefully I can get to a least one game this summer. I know it is early, but I can always get my hopes up.

...Losing weight! So our biggest loser contest ended today and I was declared the winner. So I am $240 richer. I lost 54 pounds over the 12 weeks for a total of 20.3% of my total weight. I feel great and I think I am looking a lot better. Losing weight feels good anyway, but to get paid for it is even better. The 2nd place person lost 21 pounds, but she is a lot smaller than me, so she did really well also. As a group we lost 142 pounds between 12 people, which means I lost more than 1/3 of the total weight. I still want to lose 10 more pounds by the end of the year.

...Not being Obese. According to the BMI (which I don't like by the way) I am now officially just overweight rather than obese. I have been obese for quite some time. I know I will never reach the "ideal" weight of 154, but I don't even want to. I think I could lose another 25 pounds and be about at my "ideal" weight. I will still be overweight, but I'm just fine with that.

...It being spring. Spring? Are you sure? It tried to snow today and the wind was blowing 50 mph. I really can't wait until it is consistently 75 degrees and nice. But until then, I'll suffer with the blowing wind and chilly.

...There being 35 days of school left. This year can not end soon enough. It has been pretty tough trying to work with kids that have no idea what respect is and are constantly disruptive. I love the kids, but they make it pretty tough to teach. Once April is done though the rest of the year should go pretty fast.

...This being the end of the post.

I'm lazy

Oops...I haven't written in almost a month. I guess a few things have happened since the last time I posted, so lets talk about them.
On March 24th at 3:38 PM my new niece Adah Pascale St. Lawrence was born in Shelby Township Michigan. She weighed 6 lbs 13 ounces and is perfectly healthy. Her older brother Levi is very glad to have a new sister. The whole family is doing well, but I'm sure they are tired.
Here are both Levi's and Adah's blogs:
http://levijames.blogspot.com/
http://adahpascale.blogspot.com/

When I got back from Eugene during Spring break I got a text (not a call) from my friend Steve. He just moved from Boise to Pocatello unfortunately, but he let me know that he got engaged, so that is pretty cool, but it means I will be in another wedding before too long I imagine. I shouldn't have to travel too far for this one though.

I only have two weeks left of my biggest loser contest, but that is plenty of time to reach my goal. I know over the last 3 months my goals have changed (you can even see them change through my blogs!), but my most recent goal over the last month or so is to lose 20% of my body weight. I am now 5 pounds from that goal and very excited about it. I have already lost 48 pounds in 10 weeks and won 4 of the 9 weigh-ins. It has already been decided that unless I gain a whole bunch of weight in the next two weeks, I am going to win the $240. Yeah! Although if I win one more weigh in I will have won $300 total.

That is about all for now. I'll try to update more often. Just stay tuned.

Half way there!

Today marked the halfway point of My biggest loser contest. Today also marked the point when everyone else realized I am kicking their asses and they stand no chance. I won again this week, so that makes 3 times in 6 weeks and 2 in a row. I've already made all my money back plus $4, so I can't be a real loser. I lost another 6 pounds this week which brings my total to 38 pounds. That is 14.3% of my starting weight. Booya and whammy!

Other than that, not a whole lot has been happening. Three months of school left. This has been another tough year, but it isn't quite like last year. Each class has its own unique personality. Last years class was an angry class, whereas this year is a loud class. Statistically speaking, my class is the loudest and most disruptive class in the whole school. In library my class has only earned three stars all year. They earn a star if they behave and listen. Other classes have earned as many as 23 stars. Oops.

One more thing that is coming up for me is that I am going to finally host another poker game. March 13th I'm hoping to have 14 people for a game. That should be great.

Be Cool My Babies!

Late Update

So it has been almost two weeks since I last posted. You can assume that since I didn't post last week, it wasn't a very good week for me. I only lost 1.8 pounds last week. I guess I still lost weight, so I can't be too disappointed. But now another week has come and gone and I am $12 richer. Yep, I won this week with a whooping 6 pound loss! That is 2.5% I feel really good about what I am doing and that the weight is just disappearing. In the first 5 weeks I have dropped 32 pounds. That to me is amazing. Even if I take out the first week that I lost a lot of water weight, I have still lost 19 pounds in 4 weeks. That is nearly 5 pounds a week! Ok, well it is actually 4.75 pounds a week, but close enough. I can see myself getting stronger as well. My muscles are getting more defined, I feel stronger (most of the time; I've been sick a little lately), and my belly doesn't stick a mile out any more.

There are other things in my life right now outside of weight loss. We just finished conferences yesterday for the last time this year. I will have to have a few after school this next week to make up for the ones that couldn't make it, but I am glad they are essentially done. But that did mean I was at school until 8:00 both Wednesday and Thursday. On the other hand, that is why I am at home right now at 2:00 Friday afternoon.

So my life is going pretty good right now. My birthday is in 20 days, but birthdays aren't quite as cool as they were when I was 8 now. Although I did get a new Wii game I am going to open up today. Okami is a RPG based on Japanese legend. It has been rated as one of the best games for the Wii, so I'm excited to try it out.

Until next time, stay healthy and let the good times roll.

The Biggest Loser/Gainer

This week when we weighed in on Wednesday, I knew I had had a good week. So when I saw that I had lost 6.2 pounds, I was plenty happy. That was 2.5% for the week, so I thought I had a great chance of winning. Well, as it turns out, the week before one of the other contestants had gained weight. So when it came to losing weight the following week, it came a little easier. So she weighed it at 2.8% lost. Crap. Overall though I am in the lead for the $260, so that the important thing.

This week has been pretty good for me. The first couple days there was not much loss, but over the last 2 days I have lost at least 3 pounds. My goal for the week is 4.82 pounds, or 2%. More would be great, but I'd be happy there.

Today is Valentine's Day and Becky and I are going to a cool little restaurant called brick 29 Bistro in Nampa. Everyone I have talked to about it says it is amazing, so I am really excited. I'm going to behave myself though and not get carried away.

Have a great week!

What's up with you?

Yesterday was the first day in over two weeks that I took a day off from working out. I still did my 30 minutes in the morning, but nothing in the afternoon. I was exhausted. I almost feel that I have hit a plateau. I haven't really lost any weight in the last 3 days, and that is a little bit discouraging. I know I will continue to lose weight, but it can be frustrating.

When we weighed in on Wednesday I had last 4.6 pounds, which was 1.8%. I wanted to lose 6, but I was still happy. That was good enough for 2nd place, but no money. My total for two weeks is now 17.8 pounds, which is pretty good. 10 more weeks and I need to lose 22.2 pounds to reach my goal.

On another note, my kids took the IRI (Idaho Reading Indicator)yesterday. This is the state reading test. Unfortunately the test only checks their fluency, so it doesn't really show if they understand anything. On the plus side, my kids did great! They can either score a 1,2, or 3, 3 being on level. I had 13 3's, 5 2's and 3 1's. This is pretty good. I had 2 kids move from a 1 on the fall test to a 2 on the winter test. I also had one of my 2's move to a three. So growth is awesome. I have faith that I can move 4 of my 2's up to a 3 by spring. They were all real close and have the potential and will to do it.

Stay Tuned

Souper Sunday

So on Sundays now I usually have soup for lunch. Maybe with a nice chicken salad and some pretzels. This is the kind of stuff that fits into my diet. It's not that I am starving myself or eating things I don't like, I'm just trying to eat less of everything.

Knowing that I won't be able to make it to the gym today, I worked out on the Fit for 1 hour this morning. I also plan to do at least another 30-45 minutes tonight. I really like the variety of activities on the Fit. This morning I did 6 yoga poses and 5 strength activities. After that I did some expert rhythm boxing, advanced step aerobics and a 10 minute run. I usually finish off my work outs with a zen meditation pose for a couple minutes.

Yesterday was my hardest workout since I started. I did some yoga and strength on the Fit and then in the afternoon I went to the gym. Now this wasn't just some sill 30 minutes at the gym, this was all out. I started with 45 minutes on the eliptical followed by 30 minutes of the weight machines. That gave me enough time to do 3 sets of 10 on 12 different machines, ranging from biceps to calves to abs. After the machines I did 45 minutes on the bike and called it quits. So in all I was working out for 2 hours.

My goal for this week is 6-7 pounds. I think that is attainable, as I have already lost at least 4. By Wednesday I think I can easily be there.

Oh yeah, Cardinals win 30-28

Week 1

So today we had our first weigh in for our Biggest Loser group. My goal for the week was to lose 5%, which would be 13.217 pounds. I know that is a lot of weight, and it won't be my goal every week, but for the first week I thought it was acceptable. Well, when I weighed in I had lost 13.2 pounds. Considering the scale only weighs to the nearest 0.2 pound, I'm sure I actually lost what I wanted to.
Next week my goal will be to lose 8-9 pounds. From there it will go down as the weight is harder to lose. But so far, so good.

Concerns

I've been doing a little more research about weight loss. I've found some pretty interesting things about what is healthy. For extreme weight loss, at my weight, I've found that I should eat 2700 calories or so. As I said in my last post, I am eating about 1700 calories a day, and I am having trouble eating that much. I'm not hungry, I don't feel weak and I have plenty of energy. I guess the best thing for me to do is just see how my body is reacting to the change. Hopefully I'll stay healthy and lose weight.

Update

Now that I am 4 days into my Biggest Loser contest, I am busting my butt. I am working out at least 2 hours a day between my WiiFit and the gym. I am also eating about 1700 calories a day, so I am dropping some weight pretty fast. I know from the first weigh in I am already down at least 7 pounds. That is pretty good, but I want to be at least 12 down come this next Wednesday. It would be nice to start out the first week by having the biggest percentage loss. That would be a real boost to moral. I love seeing results.
I know I can win this contest, I just have to stay as motivated as I am now. That may be hard later on, but I hope I can keep it up. I know I won't lose as much every week as I will this first week, but as long as I am losing some weight, I am happy. I have also noticed that I am feeling my body tone a little and that I am carrying myself with more confidence. Working the balance activities on the Fit has really help. I am also increasing my flexibility with the Yoga and Strength Exercises.
So overall I'm happy with my progress, but want to see more. Check back to see how I progress.

Next Steps

Although at church today we talked about what our next steps as Christians could possible be, this is not about that idea. I'm just stealing the phrase. Oh by the way, here is our church's website: www.reallifecommunity.com/

What next steps means for me is what I am doing for my weight loss. This morning I took the first step to dropping the pounds. I went to Target at 8:00 this morning to wait in line to buy a WiiFit. Of course, the line was only about 5 people, and I was second, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity. On a side note, it is very obvious how badly Nintendo is crushing Sony and Microsoft in the video game industry. I can walk into any electronics department on any day at any time and purchase a Playstation or XBOX360. But if I want a Wii, I have to get to the store when it opens on the exact day they restock and be lucky enough that there aren't too many people before me.

Anyway, with the Wiifit I won't need to get to the gym as often as I was planning. I know it won't replace working out, but it does a pretty good job. It is fun, entertaining and actually quite exhausting. So hopefully I can get to my goal. Plus I only had to pay $40 for my Wiifit, so, good news!

Weight Loss Goals

I still have yet to get the word out about my blog, but I thought I'd make my first post. At my school myself and some of the other teachers/EAs/administrators/janitors are starting a Biggest Loser group. What this means is that we are each putting in $20 and seeing how much weight we can lose in a 12 week period. Each week everyone is putting in an extra dollar for the winner of the week. So essentially you can win your money back in two weeks. But here's the kicker: No runners-up. Winner takes all. So that mean who ever loses the largest percentage of body weight will win at least $300. Not a bad incentive.
So with all that being said, I have gotten my exercise and diet plan in place. I know the first week will show a pretty big lose, but I want to keep with it for all 12 weeks. I'm hoping to drop at least 30-40 pounds. If I lose 40 pounds and don't win the money...I'm ok with that. I will feel a whole lot better anyway.
Well I'll keep this updated with weight loss and other info. Stay tuned!

The Monday Saint