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A few weeks back, I posted that I’d finally hit my upper limit. 287 lbs. I’d decided to start working my way back toward my birth weight. Sure, getting there would be unhealthy but somewhere along the journey I’d be pretty fit/happy.

As of today.. I’m down 16 lbs from my max. It’s enough for clothes to fit differently. Belts to work less effectively. Polo shirts to feel less snug. It’s a good thing.

How am I doing this? I’m starving myself. Yep. In order to make it back to 9ish pounds, I’m no longer eating.  Ok, maybe this last bit isn’t true. It just feels like it.

My doc and I made a deal two years about that if I lost a significant amount of weight, he’d leave me alone. (The wife seems to remember this deal) Over the course of two years, through hard work and determination, I put on 15 pounds. My reward for eating everything I could/wanted? Phentermine to help control my appetite.

It’s working. Damn that stupid drug. So far, the only side effect is that I’m flipping hungry. I eat half a chicken breast, I get full. Half a sandwich? Full. I bought pizza last week for the family, couldn’t eat beyond my second slice. Stupid drug.

It’s working, that’s what matters. Since starting on the drug and reducing my caloric intake, I’m down 8 pounds. When I start to feel less fatigued from the shock of the drug, I’m going to start exercising more regularly. (Consider my current work out involves turning the key in my ignition.)

Two weeks ago, I decided to care about what I was putting down my throat. I decided I wanted to stem the tide of my ever expanding waistline. At 287 pounds, I’d decided enough was enough.  Exercise and me haven’t exactly been the best of friends in the past two weeks, but I’ve been to the pool twice and used my Wii-Fit more in two days than I have in 8 months.

When I woke up this morning to weigh myself for the first time in a few weeks, I’m happy to report that 278 feels much better.  This is the part of my blog post in which I’d say something stupid like “It isn’t much..” or “I wish the number was lower..” but I have realistic expectations. I’ve been far more conscious of what I’m eating and how much I’m eating. I’ve exercised just enough to remember doing something and the scale reflects that level of effort.

3.5 pounds a week from a slight change in eating habits? I can live with that. It’s a start.

One of my biggest pet peeves on the internet is the shameless self-promotion that comes along with being the proud parent of someone or the proud owner of something.  I don’t have a problem with the occasional post about how great your new toy is or how wonderfully your child performed in the recent spelling bee.  I cringe when every single post is about them or it. Someone probably thinks I’m going to be a bad parent because in three weeks, I’m going to allow myself to still be me and I won’t post pictures of my newborn every 45 minutes. I will post the occasional picture or story.  I’m a private person and I tend to think my private life should stay that way.

That being said, apparently folks want to see the occasional picture of a new toy or a new kid.

I won’t post a picture of the iPad, but I will say the device is far cooler than I expected it to be. I ordered it because it was cool and because I saw potential. I am enamored by it because of the myriad things it can do extremely well. Reading books on the device is a great experience. Having all of my useful PDFs with me on a device that is comfortable to interact with and not as cumbersome as my MacBook Pro is a joy.  Being able to watch TRS, iFanboy or Diggnation on a plane with the iPad is a worth the price of admission. I don’t have to compromise my media consumption for portability.

I also bought a bunch of comics today and got myself a cool Flash ring with the purchase of Flash #1 by Geoff Johns and Francis Manapaul.  Gorgeous book. Great art. Can’t wait to read it.. and I got a cool ring to boot.

Finally, some of you may have figured out from my tweets or facebook status messages recently that I bought a Camaro. When I was 17, I wanted to buy a muscle car but decided to spend a year at DePaul University instead. Fast Forward 18 years and I’ve continued to want a muscle car.  I have the coolest wife in the world and one that fully supported me getting the car I really wanted. It may be that she wanted to use it to pick up chicks, I have no idea.  In any case, my 35 year old self is currently gloating to my 17 year old self. I bought the Camaro I wanted and am happy as hell to have it.  For those of you asking for pics, a few are included below. It’s got a black exterior and interior. A sun roof. and everything inside I’d want… with the exception of a v8 and all of the tickets that engine would bring with it.

After a recent twitter poll, I found out that I may not be built for getting sketches from artists at Cons. I can think of a few reasons off the top of my head, which is a good thing considering that I’m about to write a blog post about it.

First, getting a sketch would require standing in line. I’m particularly resistant to standing in line. I’ll do it at amusement parks because there is a definite payoff that I can understand. Waiting in line for It’s a Small World for Caitlin is worth the wait. She loves that ride and I see real value in the end result. Waiting in line for a pretzel? If the line is three people deep, maybe I’ll wait.

If I were to wait in line for a sketch, how much value would I really get out of the end result? I wouldn’t sell the sketch, so that value is negated. I’d probably set it on my bookshelf and never think about it again. There might be value in showing it off to my comic book reading friends. Let’s be honest though. Taking a picture of the sketch and posting it to twitter doesn’t really count as “showing it off” or validate twitter followers as “friends”. This potential value is negligible.

Second, I’d need something to request of various artists. Can I request Marvel characters from DC artists or vice versa? What do I ask indie artists? Can I ask everyone to draw Superman fighting a bear (it is Chicago after all and C2E2 will be a few hundred yards from Soldier Field). Do I ask everyone to draw Spider-Man fighting Hulk? I have no idea. Worrying about this makes me batty and is a good reason for me to avoid asking for sketches.

Finally, getting sketches requires patience. Beyond the frustration of waiting in line or the anxiety over what to request, I have to wait and return later to pick up the sketch book. That’s more of a commitment than I want to devote. What if I’m done with the con and want to go home, but can’t because my sketch book is sitting on an artists table waiting for the pickup time? I’d rather just leave.

So, rational or not, sketch booking isn’t for me. Not my cup of tea. I’ll live without personalized sketches. I’m completely ok with that. If I want something to frame or showoff, I’ll buy original art or original comic pages. I’ll survive.

I am going to attempt to write a blog post on my iPad. So far the onscreen keyboard has not gotten in my way, which is a big plus and pretty surprising. If I stop abruptly it will be because typing on the iPad was obnoxious.

(now onto my post)

I’m tired of the Internet. I’m tired of everyone being completely too cool for everything. Message boards, Twitter, Facebook, blogs and everywhere else you look, someone is telling someone else what they should think. If not what, then they’re telling everyone how to think. I don’t think it is possible anymore to simply disagree. Being right is now a Right.

The most recent large scale event that caused waves in the “better than you” crowd was the release of the iPad. For full disclosure, I own an iPad. Two actually. I love the device. Is it everything i wanted it to be? No. Is it exactly what I expected? Yes. I haven’t fallen in love with the idea of convergence. I’m ok with things in my life having purpose. I put no pressure on my printer to also be a handy card reader or a fax machine. My digital camera does a great job but I don’t ask it to do the job of my video camera.

Back to the outcry. Since the day it was announced, people have spent countless hours and words telling other people why the device would be/is crap. It doesn’t multi-task. It doesn’t have a camera. It can’t make coffee. (I’m sure there’s an app for that) My personal favorite is the contention that it’s a massive iPod Touch.

It doesn’t end there. On message boards i frequent, you can’t go more than a few posts without someone telling others how/why to think certain things. “No human could like this comic because it is crap, the writer is crap and the artist draws with crayon,” they’ll say. Great. What if it makes me laugh in the same way that the movie Airplane does? Is it ok to like it then? Hearing people call into a podcast to ask if they are weird for liking mainstream comics truly brightens my day. We all need to stop apologizing for liking things. Especially, “mainstream” things. They’re mainstream for a reason.

Everyone has examples. Meatball fan-ism for your favorite sports team. Technology holy wars. Michael Bay movies. Coke or Pepsi. Democrat or Republican.

When did life change so that it was no longer sufficient to say, “We don’t agree”?

I understand how computer glitches can cause major issues for online retailers and I am completely OK with said retailers taking actions to make sure they don’t get fleeced by a mistakenly posted price. That being said, when you cancel my order because of your mistake, please don’t send me an email that is written to seem like it’s coming from a compassionate human.

—-

Hello,

Our records indicate you recently ordered ‘Daredevil Omnibus, Vol. 1
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Omnibus, Vol. 2
The X-Men Omnibus, Vol. 1
Wolverine Omnibus, Vol. 1′. Unfortunately, due to a pricing error, we sold many more than expected. In fact, we completely sold out — we don’t have any in stock right now, and we’re not even sure if we’ll be able to get more.

As a result, we’ve had to cancel your order. I realize this is disappointing news, and I’m so sorry for any inconvenience this causes.

You may want to check our website from time to time to see if this item is available. If anyone is selling it, you’ll see a “More Buying Choices” box on the product detail page; if it’s not available from any sellers, you might see an “Order it used” or “Alert me” link. “Order it used” allows you to place a pre-order for the item in case another seller lists the item for sale later. “Alert me” allows you to sign up so we can e-mail you when Amazon has stock available for purchase.

I’m sorry I don’t have better news. We hope to see you again soon.

————-

“I’m sorry”? You’re a computer. You’re not sorry. You’re a computer. You simply canceled my order because of your issue with your pricing glitch. In the future, I’ll deal with InStockTrades (despite their search being beyond broken). BTW, it sucks that some people got the cheaper price. They should have cancelled all of the orders.. not just some of them.

Close your eyes and picture the following episode of Star Trek: The Original Series. I suppose you’ll have to leave your eyes open to read this, oh well. Uhura intercepts a distress call from a local group of colonists claiming that they’re under attack from a party of Gorn soldiers. The situation is desperate. Kirk and Spock discuss their options while Bones complains that this isn’t going to turn out well. Kirk decides to help the colonists and Chekov plots a course for the colony.

Upon arriving at the planet, the colonists reach out again and reiterate their dire situation. Kirk personally leads an away team mission with his senior officers to help the colonists. They head to the transporter room and Scotty beams them down to the planet. Once they are on the surface, they see a group of Gorn and Kirk approaches to open dialo.. oh. Kirk just shot the Gorn Officer in the back. Now the whole away team has opened fire on the Gorn and wiped out the Gorn squad.

They now proceed through the colony and wipe out every single Gorn they find. Looting gear from the fallen Gorn soldiers. Once the entire Gorn raiding party has been dispatched, Kirk finds the colonist leader and fills them in on the death and destruction the crew of the Enterprise just brought to their colony. A thankful colonial leader gives Kirk a few credits for their trouble and sends them on their way.

This is how every ground combat mission in Star Trek Online plays out. Land on the planet. Kill everyone you find. Get credit for the mission. Head out to space and move on to the next death arena. There’s plenty of depth in the ground missions and lots of varied and interesting locales. Allowing these away missions to be solo or group PvE encounters or PvP encounters is a very cool addition to the game. Still, I can’t help but think something is amiss in a Star Trek game that requires you to solve all problems militarily instead of peacefully and diplomatically.

Space combat is sublime in Star Trek Online. Multiple weapon types. Tons of skills to help shape the battle. Massive wide open areas of space to travel participate in epic ship to ship battles. The space combat is by far my most enjoyable component of the game. I will continue to play the game because of the space combat and the space exploration components of the game.

Over time, I expect that the more and varied mission types and mission resolutions will become available in Star Trek Online. Hopefully, we’ll start to move away from murder everyone in sight, but if not I’m ok with that too. It’s a staple of MMO questing that I can’t really argue with. The game has skills and options galore that I can’t wait to be explored and fleshed out. Hopefully Cryptic continues to grow and build the game without trying to neuter a game that has so far been enjoyable and I’d rather never live through another game change like I did with Star Wars Galaxies.

If you happen to join Star Trek Online and want a crowd to tool around the galaxy with, look me up at wilsyn@siraim or look up the Totally Rad Fleet.

I recently decided to jump on the bandwagon and catch up on Lost. 103 episodes over the course of 5 seasons are available on DVD. I’ve made it through about 37 episodes and I’ve come to the conclusion that Lost isn’t about a group of folks stranded on an island on which mysterious things keep happening. It’s a social experiment to see if viewers are willing to continue to watch even though very little happens.

And then.. the wheels came off in my brain.

I should have seen it coming. I know better than this. I am in love with a storytelling medium that specializes in telling stories in which nothing of substance happens to a number of extremely important characters. The connection between my love for comic books and Lost should have been more obvious. The cast/crew attend comic conventions (San Diego particularly), which I sloughed off as being pop culturish and just a way to boost publicity. The connection was made when I noticed the credits in the middle of the second season. Jeph Loeb is a producer. If I comb over the first 35 episodes or so, I’m sure I’ll find more comic book creator links.

My interest in Lost was waning after the first few episodes of Season 2. I didn’t care much. As soon as I made the mental link between comic books and Lost, I was back in. If I can suffer through Dark Reign and Norman Osborne, I can suffer through Lost never providing answers.

The story seems to be moved forward by filling in back story and making links between characters. 37 episodes in, I have no idea what Dharma is. I have no idea who is providing supplies to the bunker. I have no idea where this bunker gets power. Comic books move their stories along in the exact same way. Instead of changing a character in a real way, they shuffle the pieces around within the world around the character. Batman subtly changes over time, but he’s essentially the same brooding and determined kid that watched someone gun down his parents.

Through this lens, I’m completely OK with where Lost is going and I’m along for the ride. Hopefully I’ll catch up before the new season and can enjoy the ride in the final season in real time. Incidentally, catching up on Lost feels exactly like catching up on a comic. When I wanted to start reading Powers by Brian Michael Bendis, I went back to the start and picked up all the trade paperbacks. I read them as quickly as possible and had to fight the urge to ask wikipedia who certain characters were. I feel the same way watching Lost. The CIA officer that let Sayid go? He looks familiar and I think I saw him in the jungle. Wikipedia would tell me if I’m right, but I have to avoid the temptation.

So.. tonight I’ll probably finish most of season 2. Tomorrow night I’ll probably pick up season three on DVD. It’s an interesting ride and I can’t wait to catch up and start watching in issues.

Friday morning brought a quick breakfast at the Courtyard and then a day at NAS Pensacola for the Blue Angels Homecoming air show. It was a beautiful day for an air show. 75 degrees and only a few clouds in the sky. It was an amazing day of air show antics topped off by an always amazing Blue Angels performance.

I grew up on Corry Station (which is adjacent to NAS Pensacola) and saw practice sessions, both air shows each year and even had a pilot show up at one of my birthday parties as a kid. (I’d be ok with that happening now as an adult too.. just sayin’) The Blue Angels and this area is part of who i am and I’m having a blast on this trip.

I’ve uploaded some of the better pictures I took today while at the air show. They’re all uploaded to Flickr. Feel free to browse. Airshow Nov 09

We arrived onsite for the air show:

Had our picture taken next to an F/A-18 Hornet flown by the Blue Angels:

The GEICO Skywriters drew 3 American flags in the sky during the National anthem.. it was pretty cool:

But not as cool as the sky diver that flew the Flag as he descended to the flight line. The Skywriters circled him as he descended. This was amazing:

Fat Albert lifted off using JATO. Marie hadn’t seen this before… it’s far more cool in person..

Fat Albert then executed a parade pass:

The Angels passed the flight line in a diamond:

And.. The Angels flew past the flight line mostly upright:

All 6 Angels climb in formation:

Again in formation as they fly toward the flight line:

And then roll out.. this was pretty awesome to see.

Beyond the pictures, the experience was amazing. Seeing the jets again was great. Over NAS Pensacola, they could fly faster than at some air shows at which I’ve seen them. The F-16 fly over at 600 mph was breathtaking.. literally. Seeing the power and grace of the jets can’t really be described by a picture… if you have the chance, find an air show. Spend some time wandering the display areas and check out the planes they have on display. Talk to the pilots and the crew that make themselves available. You won’t be disappointed.

I didn’t make a post on Facebook or Twitter on Veterans’ Day for a reason. I knew I’d be here two days later. My love and respect for veterans’ runs deep and can’t be summed up in 140 character posting. I prefer to show my support in person. I prefer to celebrate as I do everything else, quietly and in my own way.