Well I just got some news that shot a hole in my new goals. I had the personal trainer test my body fat using calipers which are more accurate than my scale and she said that I'm at 10%.
I guess that means that I either just have genes that won't allow my abs to show up no matter what or that they are just still so underdeveloped that they can't be seen. The trainer also suggested that since I had lost so much weight so fast that maybe I had a lot of loose skin around my stomach that hasn't had time to tighten up yet. Hopefully that is the case.
I guess one thing is for sure though, I don't really have that much fat to lost to be at 8%, and at that point I guess I just have to work hard to build more muscle. Based on this new information, I only need to get down to 180 or 181 to be at 8%. 172 did seem pretty low, but hey I'm a numbers guy so I believed it.
Back to the drawing board. I keep learning more and more about this stuff as time goes on.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Merrappy Hanuquansmus!!
I'm getting a little annoyed with all the people who are trying to make Christmas politically correct. "Happy Holidays" doesn't really bother me all that much, but just the idea of trying to trivialize Christmas. I guess ultimately I'm just afraid that at some point they will decide that Thanksgiving and Christmas somehow violate the arbitrary "seperation of church and state" rule and they will be done away with. I don't see that happening even in the next ten years but I do see it as a possibility and that worries me.
As a Christian, I'm not going to punch someone in the face if they accidentally wish me a Happy Hannukah, so why should I have to worry about offending someone by saying Merry Christmas to them? I like the idea of not oppressing people, but we are going about it the wrong way. Instead of attacking the thing that is most prevelant (ie Christmas) and making it taboo, we should all just realize that we are different and be ok with it. (Can't we all just get along?)
I'm sure you laughed out loud at that last observation. Obviously it's easier said than done, but I don't understand the current line of thinking. We can either tick off some people a little, by maybe saying the wrong thing to the wrong person from time to time, or we can totally tick off the largest segment of the population by making it taboo to say Merry Christmas. Doesn't make a lot of logical sense to me.
It's the same thing with the race issue. No one thinks twice about making a racial slur about white males on tv or anywhere else, for the same reasons. Society seems to think that the best way to make everyone equal is to oppress the largest group of people and try to bring them back down to earth, so to speak. Once again, they are ticking off the largest segment which seems nuts to me.
I don't plan to stop saying "Merry Christmas" this year, but at the same time, I'm not going to launch a crusade against the "Happy Holidays" folks either. They may not be the largest group right now, but ticking them off still seems wrong.
As a Christian, I'm not going to punch someone in the face if they accidentally wish me a Happy Hannukah, so why should I have to worry about offending someone by saying Merry Christmas to them? I like the idea of not oppressing people, but we are going about it the wrong way. Instead of attacking the thing that is most prevelant (ie Christmas) and making it taboo, we should all just realize that we are different and be ok with it. (Can't we all just get along?)
I'm sure you laughed out loud at that last observation. Obviously it's easier said than done, but I don't understand the current line of thinking. We can either tick off some people a little, by maybe saying the wrong thing to the wrong person from time to time, or we can totally tick off the largest segment of the population by making it taboo to say Merry Christmas. Doesn't make a lot of logical sense to me.
It's the same thing with the race issue. No one thinks twice about making a racial slur about white males on tv or anywhere else, for the same reasons. Society seems to think that the best way to make everyone equal is to oppress the largest group of people and try to bring them back down to earth, so to speak. Once again, they are ticking off the largest segment which seems nuts to me.
I don't plan to stop saying "Merry Christmas" this year, but at the same time, I'm not going to launch a crusade against the "Happy Holidays" folks either. They may not be the largest group right now, but ticking them off still seems wrong.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
6 Pack Quest
Sorry for the double dose of fitness info this week but I found something interesting today (to me at least). I read somewhere that even if you have great ab muscles, they aren't going to show up if you have too much fat over them. I knew that part already but I figured that at this point, surely I had lost enough weight that I should be getting close to seeing them.
According to what I read, for a male to be able to see his ab muscles, he has to have a body fat percentage under 8%. I have no idea how accurate that number is or how credible the article was but based on that number I did some calculations.
Currently, my new scale says that I have a body fat percentage of 14.5%. Obviously that is not totally accurate either but for the purposes of this excercise I will pretend that it is because I have no other data to go on. Based on that number, right now my body is 117 pounds of water, 27 pounds of fat, and 42 pounds of muscle/bone/skin etc.
27 pounds of fat!!!!! How could I possibly still have that much fat in my body after having lost 17 pounds and not being all that overweight when I started? Even if you give or take 5 pounds for my number fudging, it's a lot more than I would have expected.
Now for the fun part. I figured based on my current breakdown, what amount of fat I could have in my body and be under 8% body fat. This assumes (wrongly, I know) that my water, and other weights will stay the same. Based on that I would need to lose 14 more pounds of strictly fat to be under 8% body fat. That would mean that I would be 117 pounds of water, 13 pounds of fat, and 42 other. Supposedly at that point I would be able to see my ab muscles through my skin.
So in light of that, and that I was nearly to my original goal anyway, I'm setting a new goal for myself. 172 pounds or under 8%, whichever comes first. I will continue to base my body fat percentage on what my scale tells me knowing that it isn't perfect but it's the best I can do.
Actually I think that this is a good thing because I was getting to the point where I needed some new motivation anyway. Plus it's nice to break it up like this. If you had told me when I was 203 pounds 7 weeks ago that I needed to lose over 30 pounds, I probably would have just given up. As it is, I have already lost 17 so I am more than half way there already, and I know I can do it, because my plan has been working very successfully so far.
So in future diet updates, you can expect to hear my body fat percentage as well as my weight, and hopefully before too long I will reach that elusive goal of six pack abs.
According to what I read, for a male to be able to see his ab muscles, he has to have a body fat percentage under 8%. I have no idea how accurate that number is or how credible the article was but based on that number I did some calculations.
Currently, my new scale says that I have a body fat percentage of 14.5%. Obviously that is not totally accurate either but for the purposes of this excercise I will pretend that it is because I have no other data to go on. Based on that number, right now my body is 117 pounds of water, 27 pounds of fat, and 42 pounds of muscle/bone/skin etc.
27 pounds of fat!!!!! How could I possibly still have that much fat in my body after having lost 17 pounds and not being all that overweight when I started? Even if you give or take 5 pounds for my number fudging, it's a lot more than I would have expected.
Now for the fun part. I figured based on my current breakdown, what amount of fat I could have in my body and be under 8% body fat. This assumes (wrongly, I know) that my water, and other weights will stay the same. Based on that I would need to lose 14 more pounds of strictly fat to be under 8% body fat. That would mean that I would be 117 pounds of water, 13 pounds of fat, and 42 other. Supposedly at that point I would be able to see my ab muscles through my skin.
So in light of that, and that I was nearly to my original goal anyway, I'm setting a new goal for myself. 172 pounds or under 8%, whichever comes first. I will continue to base my body fat percentage on what my scale tells me knowing that it isn't perfect but it's the best I can do.
Actually I think that this is a good thing because I was getting to the point where I needed some new motivation anyway. Plus it's nice to break it up like this. If you had told me when I was 203 pounds 7 weeks ago that I needed to lose over 30 pounds, I probably would have just given up. As it is, I have already lost 17 so I am more than half way there already, and I know I can do it, because my plan has been working very successfully so far.
So in future diet updates, you can expect to hear my body fat percentage as well as my weight, and hopefully before too long I will reach that elusive goal of six pack abs.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Diet Update
Another week another weigh in. This time I weighed in at 186.5 which puts me very close to my original goal of 185, although as I stated last week, I will probably need to shoot for 180 to be completely fat free.
I'm starting to get excited and frustrated at the same time. I really enjoy the calistenics class that I am in that has helped me get into so much better shape, but it really isn't doing all that much to build muscle. I have more endurance and overall strength than I have had in a long time but my goals are a little more vain than that.
I really want to get that chiseled look that a lot of guys have and I feel like I can only get that in the weight room. Now that I have a lot less fat I figure that any muscle I build would actually show up. The problem is that now with two kids I can barely make time for my current class let alone something else, so the lifting may have to wait, which is the frustrating part.
Hopefully I can work from home in the evenings to make some extra time for lifting but if not I will have to wait until this summer when things will be a lot less hectic. I really hope that I can eventually get to the look that I have pictured in my head. Half the work is almost done at this point, and most people would say that losing the fat is probably the harder part of the two tasks.
I'm starting to get excited and frustrated at the same time. I really enjoy the calistenics class that I am in that has helped me get into so much better shape, but it really isn't doing all that much to build muscle. I have more endurance and overall strength than I have had in a long time but my goals are a little more vain than that.
I really want to get that chiseled look that a lot of guys have and I feel like I can only get that in the weight room. Now that I have a lot less fat I figure that any muscle I build would actually show up. The problem is that now with two kids I can barely make time for my current class let alone something else, so the lifting may have to wait, which is the frustrating part.
Hopefully I can work from home in the evenings to make some extra time for lifting but if not I will have to wait until this summer when things will be a lot less hectic. I really hope that I can eventually get to the look that I have pictured in my head. Half the work is almost done at this point, and most people would say that losing the fat is probably the harder part of the two tasks.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Enlightened Animals
We took Kylie to the zoo on saturday again. They have Christmas lights up all over the place so it was really cool to walk around and look at them all. My mom and Dad went with us and everyone seemed to have a great time.
It was really cold so we spent a lot of time at the indoor exhibits trying to stay warm. Kylie took turns riding on mine and my Dad's shoulders and yanking on our ears. I'm so glad that God thought to put those handles there for her to hold on to.
Kids are so funny. We took her on a carousel which was great. I was so glad that we got to do that for her because she loved it, but she really didn't understand the concept of standing in line. She wanted on right away, and it was all I could do to keep her from trying to jump over the railing.
It also cracks me up at how as she is learning to talk, some letters don't come out the way they are supposed to. She still thinks that her name is pronounced "Tywie". The other day, I asked her if she was the best Bug ever (Bug is her nickname), and she told me:
That she was "the best butt ever"...
It was really cold so we spent a lot of time at the indoor exhibits trying to stay warm. Kylie took turns riding on mine and my Dad's shoulders and yanking on our ears. I'm so glad that God thought to put those handles there for her to hold on to.
Kids are so funny. We took her on a carousel which was great. I was so glad that we got to do that for her because she loved it, but she really didn't understand the concept of standing in line. She wanted on right away, and it was all I could do to keep her from trying to jump over the railing.
It also cracks me up at how as she is learning to talk, some letters don't come out the way they are supposed to. She still thinks that her name is pronounced "Tywie". The other day, I asked her if she was the best Bug ever (Bug is her nickname), and she told me:
That she was "the best butt ever"...
Friday, December 16, 2005
3 for 3
Last night was a lot of fun. Some friends of ours that have a lot of land invited us over to do some snowmobiling. I was really excited to go, because it was the last of the ATV type vehicles that I had never ridden. I have managed in the last few years to ride a four-wheeler and a jet-ski but never a snowmobile.
It was extremely fun but very different from anything else I have ever done before. We had 80 acres on which to run around and we saw most of it. I was pretty proud of my wife, because I was able to talk her into driving one and she did really well.
Just for the record, I know I haven't tried all that hard in the last week to look for funny stories to tell, but I promise I will get back to that soon.
It was extremely fun but very different from anything else I have ever done before. We had 80 acres on which to run around and we saw most of it. I was pretty proud of my wife, because I was able to talk her into driving one and she did really well.
Just for the record, I know I haven't tried all that hard in the last week to look for funny stories to tell, but I promise I will get back to that soon.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Weather or not
Whether it's global warming or not, you have to admit that this has been a strange year for weather. We were still having 80 degree days in October and now we are having our second major snowstorm of the year and it is only December 15th.
It really makes me wonder about down the road. Are we going to be telling our grandchildren about how when we were little, the temperature used to be under 100 almost every day in the summer? Or that we used to measure snow in inches instead of feet?
Personally, it's hard for me to believe that mankind can continue to grow and to destroy at the careless rate that it does without there being some sort of major breakdown of nature at some point. Whether we mess things up so bad that most of the earth is uninhabitable due to the climate or we cause some disease to be mutated in such a way that it can't be stopped, I think that at some point mankind will have to pay the piper for the way we have treated our home.
The way I see it, it's a race between technology and fate. Can we figure out a way to leave this planet and start over on a fresh one before our mistakes catch up with us? At this point it's not looking good for the technology side of things. We are still a long way off from visiting some of the closest planets to us in our own solar system let alone other star systems.
Sorry be all doom and gloom today, but I just don't see how we can continue to treat our planet the way we do and not expect it to bite us back someday. It frustrates me a lot, so I normally just try not to think about it, but if something isn't done soon, it will eventually be pretty bad around here.
It really makes me wonder about down the road. Are we going to be telling our grandchildren about how when we were little, the temperature used to be under 100 almost every day in the summer? Or that we used to measure snow in inches instead of feet?
Personally, it's hard for me to believe that mankind can continue to grow and to destroy at the careless rate that it does without there being some sort of major breakdown of nature at some point. Whether we mess things up so bad that most of the earth is uninhabitable due to the climate or we cause some disease to be mutated in such a way that it can't be stopped, I think that at some point mankind will have to pay the piper for the way we have treated our home.
The way I see it, it's a race between technology and fate. Can we figure out a way to leave this planet and start over on a fresh one before our mistakes catch up with us? At this point it's not looking good for the technology side of things. We are still a long way off from visiting some of the closest planets to us in our own solar system let alone other star systems.
Sorry be all doom and gloom today, but I just don't see how we can continue to treat our planet the way we do and not expect it to bite us back someday. It frustrates me a lot, so I normally just try not to think about it, but if something isn't done soon, it will eventually be pretty bad around here.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Diet Update
We splurged this week and bought a new scale, so I'm hoping that my measurements are a little more accurate or at least a little more consistant. Actually my wife bought me a new scale that I had pointed out to her Mom. It was a very nice suprise. It has the ability to measure your body fat percentage by sending a small current and timing how long it takes to go from one foot to the other.
Sunday morning I weighed in at 189. Woo Hoo!!, I've finally broken in to the 180's. I have been waiting for this for a long time. I now have only 4 more pounds to lose to attain my original goal.
I haven't weighed this low since before I got married. The scale also told me that I have 15.5% body fat and 62.5% water. Clearly these aren't incredibly accurate but they at least give me some idea of where I'm at.
Looking at myself now, I don't really think that 185 is going to be the end all as far as goals for myself. I still have a bit of fat to lose although I look much better than I did. I will probably have to make it into the low 180's before I will be totally satisfied.
Here's hoping for another good week! I'm still on pace to be at 185 by Christmas, so hopefully I can continue to do well.
Sunday morning I weighed in at 189. Woo Hoo!!, I've finally broken in to the 180's. I have been waiting for this for a long time. I now have only 4 more pounds to lose to attain my original goal.
I haven't weighed this low since before I got married. The scale also told me that I have 15.5% body fat and 62.5% water. Clearly these aren't incredibly accurate but they at least give me some idea of where I'm at.
Looking at myself now, I don't really think that 185 is going to be the end all as far as goals for myself. I still have a bit of fat to lose although I look much better than I did. I will probably have to make it into the low 180's before I will be totally satisfied.
Here's hoping for another good week! I'm still on pace to be at 185 by Christmas, so hopefully I can continue to do well.
Friday, December 09, 2005
CSI
I used to really like CSI, but now I can't watch it at all. I really liked the show when the focus was on the science and the crtitical thinking involved in solving a tough case. This season I have stopped watching it entirely. Every week has become a contest to see if they can think up something that is more disturbing than the week before. They've gone away from focusing on the science and instead focusing on the gruesomeness and weirdness of the crimes, and in doing so, they have lost me as a viewer.
I have, instead, started watching NCIS. This show doesn't focus as much on the science as I would like, but the characters are so interesting that it doesn't matter. They also avoid the pitfall of turning every episode into a B level horror film quite well.
I guess I just don't understand why, if a show is working well, that the suits feel like they need to tweak the format. I guess they are just trying to keep CSI new and fresh but they blew it. They ended up turning it into a weekly freak show, that I am not at all interested in seeing.
I have, instead, started watching NCIS. This show doesn't focus as much on the science as I would like, but the characters are so interesting that it doesn't matter. They also avoid the pitfall of turning every episode into a B level horror film quite well.
I guess I just don't understand why, if a show is working well, that the suits feel like they need to tweak the format. I guess they are just trying to keep CSI new and fresh but they blew it. They ended up turning it into a weekly freak show, that I am not at all interested in seeing.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Rock The Lights
Check out the following link. This guy wired his Christmas light to be in time with the music of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's "Wizard in Winter"
Rockin' Lights
Rockin' Lights
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
The Top Ten
Excuses of Last Minute Christmas Shoppers
10. The malls are too crowded. (Well, hmm, I suppose if you wait long enough, that problem will go away.)
9. My family is too hard to buy for. (Yes, I'm sure your wife will blame herself when she opens her screw driver set from Odd Lots.)
8. The season has become too commercialized. (So has your TV, but you haven't missed any episodes of "Regis and Kelly".)
7. I hate going out in this weather. (So you work from home in the winter? How do I apply for your job?)
6. I'm just too busy. (Me too, so I'll just grab a stapler for you from the supply cabinet and we'll call it even.)
5. Christmas just snuck up on me. (It does that to me too. It hides under all the other pages in my calendar until the last second and then *POP* there it is.)
4. I'm waiting to find it on sale. (The next sale is after Christmas, so what are you trying to say?)
3. I'm planning to go tomorrow. (Isn't "tomorrow" the same day that you planned to start working out?)
2. There just aren't enough hours in the day. (So I guess we'll blame this one on God. Clearly he messed up by only giving us 24 hours. How can we possibly get things done on time?)
And the number one excuse for last minute Christmas shoppers:
1. I'm Jewish (Well I guess I'll have to write a list for Hannuka shoppers too. You da man Dave!)
10. The malls are too crowded. (Well, hmm, I suppose if you wait long enough, that problem will go away.)
9. My family is too hard to buy for. (Yes, I'm sure your wife will blame herself when she opens her screw driver set from Odd Lots.)
8. The season has become too commercialized. (So has your TV, but you haven't missed any episodes of "Regis and Kelly".)
7. I hate going out in this weather. (So you work from home in the winter? How do I apply for your job?)
6. I'm just too busy. (Me too, so I'll just grab a stapler for you from the supply cabinet and we'll call it even.)
5. Christmas just snuck up on me. (It does that to me too. It hides under all the other pages in my calendar until the last second and then *POP* there it is.)
4. I'm waiting to find it on sale. (The next sale is after Christmas, so what are you trying to say?)
3. I'm planning to go tomorrow. (Isn't "tomorrow" the same day that you planned to start working out?)
2. There just aren't enough hours in the day. (So I guess we'll blame this one on God. Clearly he messed up by only giving us 24 hours. How can we possibly get things done on time?)
And the number one excuse for last minute Christmas shoppers:
1. I'm Jewish (Well I guess I'll have to write a list for Hannuka shoppers too. You da man Dave!)
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Design Issues
If you have been reading my blog a while you will remember that I was planning to select a portable DVD player as my 5 year service award here at work. As it turns out, the lady that told me that that was an option was wrong. Apparently it was a 15 year service award gift, so I had to select something else. I ended up going with a digital thermometer that has a remote sensor so that you can know the outside as well as the inside temperature. I have seen these before and thought that they were pretty cool, so I ordered it.
It arrived last night, so I went about setting it up. In typical guy fashion I started putting it together and didn't bother reading the instructions until after the fact. Turns out you have to do things in a very specific order for the reciever and transmitter to calibrate correctly and by pure chance I managed to do it more or less right. That is to say, I didn't mess it up badly enought that I had to start over.
Now for the fun part. I had to find a place to mount the outside reciever. The first problem was that I wanted to put it on our bedroom but the transmitter had to be less that 80 feet away and any walls that it had to pass through would decrease that distance. The other and more difficult problem was that the outside transmitter, could not in any circumstance, get wet. I'm no genius or anything but how do you design an OUTDOOR transmitter in such a way that it will not work if it gets wet? Seems like that should have been on the top of the design requirements list to me, but what do I know?
I finally decided on a spot above the basement window that was about 4 feet off the ground and under a 3 foot overhang and set about installing it. I realized rather quickly that I was going to need a flashlight to do this since it gets dark at 5:30 these days. Of course I couldn't find one so I did what any Dad would do in my shoes. I found the nearest toy that emitted light of any kind. It was a flashlight shaped like a cow that moo's everytime you turn it on. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought if they had happened to be outside.
In the end I got it set up and working, and I know that without a doubt that the outside of our basement window was 16.9 degreees this morning.
It arrived last night, so I went about setting it up. In typical guy fashion I started putting it together and didn't bother reading the instructions until after the fact. Turns out you have to do things in a very specific order for the reciever and transmitter to calibrate correctly and by pure chance I managed to do it more or less right. That is to say, I didn't mess it up badly enought that I had to start over.
Now for the fun part. I had to find a place to mount the outside reciever. The first problem was that I wanted to put it on our bedroom but the transmitter had to be less that 80 feet away and any walls that it had to pass through would decrease that distance. The other and more difficult problem was that the outside transmitter, could not in any circumstance, get wet. I'm no genius or anything but how do you design an OUTDOOR transmitter in such a way that it will not work if it gets wet? Seems like that should have been on the top of the design requirements list to me, but what do I know?
I finally decided on a spot above the basement window that was about 4 feet off the ground and under a 3 foot overhang and set about installing it. I realized rather quickly that I was going to need a flashlight to do this since it gets dark at 5:30 these days. Of course I couldn't find one so I did what any Dad would do in my shoes. I found the nearest toy that emitted light of any kind. It was a flashlight shaped like a cow that moo's everytime you turn it on. I can only imagine what the neighbors must have thought if they had happened to be outside.
In the end I got it set up and working, and I know that without a doubt that the outside of our basement window was 16.9 degreees this morning.
Monday, December 05, 2005
Diet Update
We did a weigh in again yesterday, although this week we made the decision to start doing our weigh ins in the mornings instead of at night. This was the end of the first month of our calorie counting diet.
I consumed 58,560 calories in 28 days or an average of 2091 a day. My need over that period of time I estimated to be 77,954 calories, or 2784 a day. So on average I ate 693 less calories a day than I needed. So based on those estimates I should have lost 5 pounds. I actually lost 12. I started at 203 and I am now 191. So my real usage over that period of time was 102,454, or 3659 a day. The only thing that I can figure is that my metabolism has been greatly increased by the workout class that I have been attending twice a week.
In any case, I'm now only 6 pounds from my original goal. Hopefully I can continue to stick with it. As it is I already may need new jeans. My current ones are getting awfully loose, and I'm on the last notch of my belt.
I consumed 58,560 calories in 28 days or an average of 2091 a day. My need over that period of time I estimated to be 77,954 calories, or 2784 a day. So on average I ate 693 less calories a day than I needed. So based on those estimates I should have lost 5 pounds. I actually lost 12. I started at 203 and I am now 191. So my real usage over that period of time was 102,454, or 3659 a day. The only thing that I can figure is that my metabolism has been greatly increased by the workout class that I have been attending twice a week.
In any case, I'm now only 6 pounds from my original goal. Hopefully I can continue to stick with it. As it is I already may need new jeans. My current ones are getting awfully loose, and I'm on the last notch of my belt.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Door Courtesy
I can't stand "door courtesy". At least that's what I call it. Clearly it's polite and the right thing to do but for whatever reason it has evolved into a huge pet peave of mine to the point that I will try to time when I get to a door so that I won't have to hold it for anyone else or have it held for me.
I really hate it when I am clearly oustide the "I need the door held for me out of politeness" span of distance, and still the person holds the door and stares at you with some stupid grin on their face. Thus forcing me to choose whether to indure a humiliating jog to the door or to just continue at my current pace and leave him standing there for what seems like too long.
One way I look like an idiot jogging to a door, and the other I look rude for forcing him to hold the door for a fraction beyond the arbitrary amount of time that seems polite. It's a no win situation and the other side of it isn't much better...
If I get to a door and there is someone behind me. I never know for sure if they are far enough behind me that I can just go through without seeming rude or if I should try to hold it for them and risk being the guy with the stupid grin on my face (mentioned above) forcing them to make the tough choice.
I've actually stayed in my car and waited for people to be well ahead of me walking in to work so as not to have to deal with this, and ran up stairs if I knew that their was a door at the top that might force me to make a decision.
The clear exception here is my wife, as any life loving guy knows, there is no situation in which the door should NOT be held for her, so the choice is moot.
So anyway, if you are closing in on a door, and you see me surreptitiously examining a hedge behind you, you'll know why.
I really hate it when I am clearly oustide the "I need the door held for me out of politeness" span of distance, and still the person holds the door and stares at you with some stupid grin on their face. Thus forcing me to choose whether to indure a humiliating jog to the door or to just continue at my current pace and leave him standing there for what seems like too long.
One way I look like an idiot jogging to a door, and the other I look rude for forcing him to hold the door for a fraction beyond the arbitrary amount of time that seems polite. It's a no win situation and the other side of it isn't much better...
If I get to a door and there is someone behind me. I never know for sure if they are far enough behind me that I can just go through without seeming rude or if I should try to hold it for them and risk being the guy with the stupid grin on my face (mentioned above) forcing them to make the tough choice.
I've actually stayed in my car and waited for people to be well ahead of me walking in to work so as not to have to deal with this, and ran up stairs if I knew that their was a door at the top that might force me to make a decision.
The clear exception here is my wife, as any life loving guy knows, there is no situation in which the door should NOT be held for her, so the choice is moot.
So anyway, if you are closing in on a door, and you see me surreptitiously examining a hedge behind you, you'll know why.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
A Swine Wheel
A friend of mine at work and I were talking about game shows yesterday for some reason when he told me this story about one time when he was watching Wheel of Fortune.
This was what the board looked like:
TAKE YOUR
DAUGHTER TO
_ORK DAY
The lady that was playing decided to spin. This almost always results in a bankrupt when the contestants get greedy with only one obvious letter left, but somehow she landed on an actual dollar amount, and then called out with all the confidence in the world: "P"!!!!!!!
I don't know where this lady comes from but "Take your daughter to pork day" doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me.
Thanks to JB for that one.
This was what the board looked like:
TAKE YOUR
DAUGHTER TO
_ORK DAY
The lady that was playing decided to spin. This almost always results in a bankrupt when the contestants get greedy with only one obvious letter left, but somehow she landed on an actual dollar amount, and then called out with all the confidence in the world: "P"!!!!!!!
I don't know where this lady comes from but "Take your daughter to pork day" doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me.
Thanks to JB for that one.
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