The Most Uncomfortable Feeling...

Doesn't one of the most uncomfortable feelings occur when you get too hot and sweaty and your jeans become too loose and baggy...I don't know about you but I hate it.

PLUS I am at the point in my weightloss where I am 'between' sizes of pants--so my pants are a tad too loose anyway. I am very frustrated because it seems that I have been in this between space for 5 weeks!---My inability to do enough cardio (except for the boxing, of course) is really driving me insane.

I have decided to spend some money and add a rowing machine to the gym, as soon as I can find a decent one. I will have to order it online because I can't find one here in Petticoat Junction---so if you hear of any really good ones, let me know.

By the way, did anyone else see the story about Crystal Light causing cancer---what the HELL am I gonna drink NOW?

Water makes you pee, Beer makes you fat, soda makes you crave sweets, and Crystal Light causes cancer---I guess I'll start drinking broth---

Mmmmm---broth-------

Back from Beck--

We just got back from Beck's show. HE was AWESOME---

I was worried though because it was so cold at the show---43 degrees and windy by the time he hit the stage at 9pm (three opening acts)...He started with DEVIL'S HAIRCUT, one of my favorite songs and then went right into JACKASS, which is really slow---and it seemed like he was just going through the motions but then he looked at the crowd and said "You guys need to warm up..." and he did HOT WAX.

(Beck side note: He doesn't have a set list...ever. He just plays what he feels like....and goes with the flow)

THE CROWD really got into the song---there were probably 11,000 people freezing their asses off for this one and they wanted to BOUNCE.

The he said "WOW. We didn't expect this...who knew Bend, Oregon had it in ya!....Let's tear it up!"

And then he did!---By the time he had worked the set through to WHERE IT'S AT, GIRL and LOSER back to back to back---the crowd was frenzied---and you could tell that he was totally into it....he ended up doing two encores, which he never does....and sounded GREAT...

Another cool thing about the show:

He has an puppet show going on the whole time. They have marionettes that look like every person on stage and they mimic everything the band does---it's really amazing---especially when you consider that there is no set list---the project the puppets onto the big screen--it's very cool.

Brenden loved the show...he was hollering and dancing and having a grea time!----But MY GOD it was cold. We were there from 4pm, when the gates opened until 10:30---

If Beck comes to your town, you should see the show. It's very good. And you are talking to a guy that has seen over 200 concerts---this was right up there---very very strong!

At the end of the show he said "Thanks guys. You really shocked us. We thought this would be a boring little stop over show. This was awesome---What a treat!"

We didn't get to go backstage. They closed it because of the weather. Beck didn't want people milling around waiting for him--freezing their asses off----and he probably didn't want to freeze his off either. But they gave each person with back stage passes (there were only 12 of us) T-shirts

Sopranos Fans will love this:

My cousin and I are having a little contest. We are see who can produce the best parody of a TV show opening, using their own family...I am doing 3 of them--

I just finished "The Sopranos"

Here is the link (right click and SAVE AS to your computer. It's kinda big so give it a few minutes)

www.voxhumanastudios.com/Mosspranosfinal.mpg

If you haven't seen the Sopranos--you probably won't get it.

Well this should be interesting...

A client was so thrilled with me that he sent me three tickets and backstage passes to see BECK this weekend. So we are taking our son to his first concert ever (unless you count Barney Live when he was 3). He is so excited he can barely contain himself.

Then he asked if he could get his ear pierced....we'll see about that part.

But the really interesting part is that the last time I saw Beck, I was also backstage--back in 1999---and I got into a screaming match with Beck's stage manager because he shoved an 18 year old girl---So we'll see if it's the same guy and if he remembers me---

But this whole thing got me thinking about what my first concert was---and it was KISS in 1976. I was 11 years old and I went there with my uncle who was about 22---I remember it being the coolest thing I had ever done. I felt like such an adult---ACTUALLY, my first concert is something that not many people under 55 years old can boast about---but I actually saw THE BEATLES in 1966. I was 1 year old and my mom and aunt went Dallas to see the show and had no choice but to take me---I obviously don't remember it, but I have seen pictures----still---its kinda cool huh?

I will post pics of the show and of us having fun---it's an outdorr concert and its supposed to rain the whole day (what else is new)...so it should be a gas.

I am sure we'll "Get crazy with the cheezwiz" (please let me know that you are cool enough to get that...)


I have to go workout now---

OK ALREADY!...100 things about me---

This seems to be the thing to do in BLOG world--and I have 5 emails from people asking me to do one---so here you go:

1. I was born in the back of an ambulance during a blizzard in Kansas City, KS
2. My middle name is Charles
3. I have a degree in Eastern Philosophy (I know huh?)
4. I have never been out of America, unless you count Niagra Falls on the Canadian Side for about 20 minutes
5. I am a registered republican but almost always vote Democrat. I just like to screw with the religious right rednecks.
6. I am the only man I personally know with both ears pierced
7. I think that Sting is a person from another plane of existence who was sent here to teach the rest of us that song writing doesn't have to be papish
8. That being said, I think that Bono is the coolest person on the planet--I wish I was that cool. He's even older than me! Which always makes me happy.
9. My body image is Vin Diesel as a anniversary gift for my wife---she likes bald guys with deep voices---I have both of those things--I thought the least I could do is get his torso---
10. I own over 50 pairs of sunglasses and I wear ALL of them, sometimes three different pairs in a day, depending on the occasion--and NONE of them are cheap
11. I don't believe in cheap clothes. Even my T-shirts are expensive.
12. I don't believe in cheap watches, the cheapest one I own is a $250 pulsar
13. I don't believe in cheap shoes
14. All of my "man" stuff (wallet, belts, shoes) has to be made of leather
15. I hate cars. They are a stupid thing and I wish they didn't exist. Not because of the environment or anything like that, just because they always break down at the most inappropriate times.
16. I am a world class wiffle ball player. I bet you didn't know that there was such a thing huh?
17. I have all the good technology stuff; Big HD-ila TV, Ipod, Razr, (now) Xbox 360, Alienware Laptop and two desktop computers
18. I used to be a big time morning show radio guy---
19. Now, I own my own business....doing national TV voiceovers
20. I am working on narrating a movie that will be out in 2007
21. I just got a publishing deal for my book (but you already knew that didn't you?)
22. I have met nearly every rock star in the world---I can't list them all--
23. I still haven't met Bono
24. I think Dido is shockingly sexy
25. I absolutely LOVE women. I can find something sexy about nearly every woman I meet--some more than others--and NOT in a sick way--in a good way
26. I only have a few male friends. I can't stand all the pissing contests. It's beneath me---plus I always win!...LOL
27. I won "Coolest Dad" at my son's school assembly today! I got a trophy!
28. As long as my son gets good grades, he gets to pick one day per month to stay home from school and hang out with me---
29. My son's middle name is also Charles
30. I think these lists are very ego-maniacal...but what the hell
31. I curse way too much
32. Other than that, I have great manners.
33. I have lived in Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Washington and Oregon.
34. I have been to every state except Wisconsin, Maine and Alaska
35. I HATE the cold weather. HATE IT!
36. I hate where I live now. HATE IT!
37. I can answer any trivia question about 80s music or Seinfeld that you can throw at me--
38. I once kissed Gwen Stefani's abs
39. I play golf alot better than 'golfers' think I can--it's fun when the bald guy with the earrings beats the stiffs at their own game
40. I try to touch a strangers life at least once a week---in some way
41. I owe Macy's THOUSANDS of dollars----I have three different Macy's credit accounts
42. I would rather stay home and play video games with my son, than go out and party with friends---
43. However, since I started working from my home studio, I don't get NEARLY enough adult contact
44. I happen to think Alanis Morrisette is sexy too...
45. I have broken too many hearts because of callous behavior in the past. I wish I could tell them all how sorry I am now.
46. I once loaned my mom $10,000. She never paid me back and that's ok. I wish I still had the car I had to sell to do it though---it was cool.
47. The worst day of my life was when I broke my leg last year---I tend to let it really get to me
48. My favorite color is blue, but I look best in Yellow---
49. I don't wear yellow enough
50. I wish HATS for men would come back like in the 1940s
51. I am supposed to get dental implants, but I have put off the surgery for a year so far
52. I love horror movies, books and tv shows
53. Of all the cool creative things I can do; I can't draw to save my life. Except Snoopy. I can draw Snoopy.
54. If you told me, my wife and my 8 year old son to write down their Top 5 favorite musical artists and then took an average score--I am pretty sure it would look like this: Madonna, Green Day, Sting, U2 and Prince (my son freakin LOVES Prince)
55. When world hunger documentaries come on TV, I will sit there and cry through the whole thing. And I ALWAYS end up calling and donating money...which I know some bureaucrat just wastes--which pisses me off to no end.
56. The only food I miss on BFL is Fried Chicken. I frickin' love fried Chicken
57. I feel guilty now talking about fried chicken when there are so many people starving in this world--I need to go donate some money
58. I was really really poor when I was growing up, which is why I am so frivilous with money now---
59. As an adult, I have made as little as $5,000 in a calendar year and as much as $165,000---and I wasn't any happier or sadder at either time. It's just dirty paper---no sense in getting worked up over it.
60. I hate dumb people. And I especially can't stand dumb people that THINK that they are smart---If you are an idiot, just be an idiot---but please stop acting smart to over-compensate
61. Speaking of over compensating; I hate BIG pickup trucks. They are stupid.
62. I wish I could go to China
63. I have over 200 DVDs---I have seen nearly every movie made in the last 20 years---well--the good ones anyway.
64. This is #64 on the list---
65. I think my son is gonna be an entertainer when he grows up---just a hunch.
66. I once went to a yoga class just to flirt with the women
67. I am so frustrated right now---I don't know why. Just a feeling.
68. I check my email over 50 times a day---
69. Yesterday I got 23 phone calls on my cell--from 9 different people
70. I have never ever told my wife "no" to anything she has ever wanted or wanted me to do. I don't believe that adults should be able to boss each other around. It's not a partnership if one person can tell the other what to buy, how to act, what to do or what to like---If you can't trust them to make the right decisions, what the HELL are you doing with them.
71. My favorite song RIGHT NOW is "Control Myself" by LL Cool Jay and J-lo
72. I don't care what you say, Mission Impossible 3 was pretty cool
73. People that hate Tom Cruise and Madonna are just jealous.
74. My little brother has gotten shockingly ulgy as he's gotten older---it's weird.
75. My favorite holiday is Halloween---but 4th of July is pretty close.
76. If I had a time machine, I would go back to 1983 and tell myself to ignore the girl with the pink mohawk---she was up to no good.
77. Then I would tell myself to not let the red-headed girl walk away---no matter what.
78. I have 3 tattoos. A dragon on my right arm, a snake on my left and the OM symbol on the back of my neck. By this time next year I will have 5 more small ones straight down my spine. To go with the OM, I will have a Yin Yang, a St. Brendan's Cross, a Kabbalist HAMSA, an Egyptian Ankh and a Hindu Crescent---afterall---one can't have too many saviors huh?....I figure this way--someone will let me in to whatever heaven happens to be the right one...
79. I have no idea who my celebrity double is--
80. The world has too many cameras and not enough food
81. My favorite classic book is Lost Horizon
82. I would rather write than read---
83. My favorite word is: Transcendental
84. My favorit curse word is: fuckball
85. I have 9 magazine subscriptions: Esquire, Maxim, Blender, Rolling Stone, Muscle and Fitness, Men's Health, GQ, Sporting News and Lego (for my son)
86. My favorite magazine is Esquire.
87. I am pretty good with Photoshop
88. I know HTML and FLASH and I can build cool websites
89. I wear a Blazer nearly every day, usually with T-shirts
90. I rarely wear white sneakers---but I am wearing some right now
91. My favorite place in the world is a ZOO
92. My house is too small---I feel like I am in jail everyday. I need space.
93. I like the ocean, but only the WARM southern parts
94. I was in a small boat that got bumped by a Killer Whale once. That was freakin cool.
95. I would like to have another kid, but we probably never will
96. I wish I owned a Chamealeon--those things are cool
97. So far this list has taken just over an hour to complete--and I ate dinner while I was typing.
98. I wish I was a pilot
99. I know three really hot female lawyers--and zero male lawyers
100. My hair is light brown, in case you were wondering.

Wow---
Flashback city---

I bought the whole DVD box set of Live Aid, the original from July 1985---and I watched the entire 16 hours this weekend....So many memories of where I was in 1985--what I was doing--WHO I was doing...LOL....It was sad and fun and cool and depressing and uplifting all at once---especially seeing people like Madonna and U2 and Elvis Costello---and how young they (we all ) looked---

I had fun explaining to my son who people like Spandau Ballet and Nik Kershaw and Paul Young were and how important they were to music 20 years ago---It makes me want to grow my hair back, spike it up and put the eye liner back on!---HA HA!--I forgot how in love I was with Sade back then!...

Of course he has already been educated in the grace and light of our lord and savior, Sting--so I didn't need to explain the Police to him--in fact when he saw Sting, he said "Hey dad, you used to look like that too..."
It's true. Back in the day, I used to look just like that. Shocking I know. I should post some pics from back then--you wouldn't even recognize me!

Then my son said "Let's watch something else from the old days..." and I said OK--check this out--
And we watched BACK TO THE FUTURE---again from 1985---WHAT A KICK!

Anyway, back to reality today! Starting week 3 of Challenge 2---Body fat is starting to really drop--down to 17% today---that's the lowest it's been in 2 years---Who knows, maybe I will get back to 1985's 8% some day!...

Long Week--

Well another week has come and gone, but MY GOD it lasted forever. I pulled a muscle in my neck on Wednesday and it's taken two days to lossen up.

What else has happened?

Well, I am finished watching Idol. Not because Chris was voted off, though he didn't deserve it--but because the fact that Taylor remains despite his lack of talent. If you can win American Idol with a speech impediment, a facial tic, terrible dancing and singing EVERY SINGLE song exactly the same way, then it's not a show worth my valuable time. I thought it was a talent contest. Clearly I was wrong.

That said, I think Chris' votes will ALL go to Katherine and that will prove to be too much for Elliot and The Spaz to overcome. She'll win it all...unless she picks another stupid song.

_____________

The book has taken another interesting turn. The lead story 'Scarcity' has now reached over 10,000 words so it's starting to become a novella, rather than a short story--so I am considering a revision; expanding the descriptions and character depth and making it a full novel---so if I do that---then I need a new title for the anthology. I might end up publishing the novel first--then the anthology---who knows?

I finally got the film developed with the pics of the wolf. I will scan it later this weekend and post it here. It's pretty cool.

______________

I better go. My workouts have been crappy the last three days--I took today off to rest a bit and then jump back at it tomorrow morning.

The Book!

Well the wheels are in motion!--I have finished editing the 4 short stories that I have completed and they are off to the publisher. I have to complete 4 more by Dec. 1st, which shouldn't be a problem since I have about 11 in progress as of today.

AND the really exciting news! The cover illustration is back to me for approval today---This is the first draft and will probably change quite a bit before the book is out---but who knows---it may look exactly like it is now.

Here it is:





The title of the book is Scarcity; also the title of the lead story in the collection.

I have also been told that it will first appear on Amazon before it's in the stores. We are doing this to get reviews. If you know anyone in the media, please let me know if they would be interested in a review copy.

By the way--I just finished week 1 of challenge 2 and it was a great week! Lots of water lost and even went down .5% in bodyfat! Thanks Hydroxycut Hardcore!

How Cool is this?

Did you ever get a receipt from Target or Best Buy or some other place and it has a code that you enter to win some shopping spree or other prize?

Well, we ALWAYS go online and enter the code...and today my son and I won an
Xbox 360 from Best Buy!...

How Sweet is that?

$400 dollars worth of sweet---that's how!

A few rules for PMing me on Tracker:

1. If you have been doing BFL for more than 5 weeks, and your bodyfat is still over 30%--leave me alone. I promise I already know more than you.
2. If you smoke, you don't have a basis for talking to me about health
3. If you pedal fast food or fried bar food for a living, you have no right to act superior about diet
4. If you intake Colonix, Ear Candles, Alcohol, Sugar, salt, cold medicine, anti-depressents, cocaine, marijuana, preservatives, enriched flour, or any other un natural food, you have no right to hammer me for taking a fat burner. None of us are perfect, and me taking a fat burner is no worse than anything you do.
5. If your free days consist of more than 6000 calories, I don't think I will listen to you yammer on about nutrition, only a psychotic thinks that is ok.
6. If you can't go 4 rounds with me in a boxing ring, I don't need to hear your advice about my cardio habits
7. If you have never dislocated your ankle, broken your tibia and fibula in two places and have 9 screws and two plates in your leg---don't lecture me about 'manning up' during my cardio.
8. If you have never met Bill Phillips, don't tell me what Bill's personal habits are. You simply don't know.
9. I will take all the support I can get, but if you are PMing me to give me unsolicited advice, don't say anything to me that you wouldn't have the guts to say face to face
10. Unless you are a BFL CHAMPION, stop pretending that you are.

Ok....That's my bitch session for today.

Funny you should ask--

Since SUZ asked about boxing and since my son (the budding photographer) insisted on takiing pics of me boxing yesterday after the baseball pics---I will tell you what's been going on with it.




On cardio days, I hit the bag with boxing gloves (not shown) for 8 (3 min) rounds. I count the punches--I throw 30 jabs, 30 crosses, 60 low "body" shots. I alternate hands--or sometimes I'll do combos like: LLR or RLR---that works up a helluva sweat. All of those superior fat asses om tracker that tell everyone what speed to run on the treadmill and how far to go on a stair climber couldn't last 5 rounds at the level that I do it. It's incredibly hard.




Then on UBWO days, I hit the bag without boxing gloves (like the pics) for 3 mins before I lift and then for 3 mins after---just to get the heart rate up.

I am considering joing a boxing club and actually fight humans in the fall when we move. I absolutely LOVE it---

Any 0ther requests? I am playing golf tomorrow---as long as we get a cart--I still can't walk around too much.

The surgeon postponed my appt today, so I won't see him until Friday--thanks for all the emails!

Well...it's over.

Well, as of today, I have hung up the baseball cleats for the season. It's VERY depressing. I got all kinds of attention for being able to play with the 25 year olds, being the only guy in the league over 40...and then got hurt.
Then I rehabbed, played 4 games in the fall league, hit 6 homers and drove in 11 runs...and everyone thought I would be able to play again this year--
But it's not fair for me to take a roster space from a younger guy---so I removed myself from the roster.
Man, I hate thinking of a summer without baseball---Thank god I have a 61 inch HDILA TV.

I started taking the Hydroxycut Hardcore this week. I feel pretty good on it---so I am gonna track the bodyfat on the blog here so you guys can see how things are running with it.

I had managed to get below 16% on C1---but I am back up to 18.5%---so that's where we will start.