No one's watching...

I just watched Seven Pounds again.  What a terrific, although horribly sad, movie!  Will Smith does a marvelous job at being tormented and though it wasn't hard to figure out where the movie was going to go, I was impressed that they actually went there.

There's one scene that struck me.  He's talking to the hockey coach, to whom he's donating a kidney, and the coach says "Why are you doing this?  Why me?"  Smith responds "Because you're a good man."  The coach starts to protest and Smith continues with "even  when no one is looking."  After Smith completes that thought the coach's eyes water up and he can't respond.  Frankly, I felt the emotion of that moment too.

But it got me thinking - if I were in that coach's chair, would Smith's character say the same thing?  Could he say the same thing if he were vetting me for organ donation.  I don't know.  With the exception of the speed limit, I obey traffic laws, even using my turn signals when no one is around to see them.  I hold doors open for people I don't know.  I give up my seat to the elderly or women when ever I'm in the position to do so.  But would that be enough? 

I'm also pretty judgmental.  I have little patience for other drivers...while I will use my turn signal to change lanes while I blow their doors off, I do blow their doors off.  I honk when they turn in front of me after obviously running the red on the turn arrow because my light is green.  I use a lot of colorful language when people are in my way because I don't obey the speed limits.  And I have a pretty dim opinion of people who don't share my view of the world.  So I don't know if Smith's character would qualify me for that kidney.  Let's hope I never need one.

What do you think he would say about you?

Signs You've Gotten Old

When we were in high school we'd often go to my friend Greg's house for lunch.  His house was the central gathering point for most of our misadventures as he had what we thought were the most permissive parents.  They knew, however, that we were going to get in all kinds of mischief, so they figured it was best if they had at least some level of visibility to us, and that would be maximized if we were at their house all the time.

As such, they stocked the freezer with El Charito frozen dinners (I think they got them in bulk for like $.50 a piece).  They were supposedly Mexican frozen dinners, but they were not good.  Being teenagers, however, we didn't care.  You could have covered a dead opossum in re-fried beans and we would have eaten it.

Anyway, when we were out of frozen dinners we would get creative and one of the staples we turned to was the cheese crisp.  You take a tortilla, cover it with shredded cheddar cheese, nuke it, put some hot sauce on it, slice it like a pizza, and take the slices and roll them from the outside edge toward the middle.  Fast, easy, and delicious.

Once Greg put his cheese crisp in the microwave and then ran across the kitchen and did his patented "I'm slalom skiing down the stairs" moves which turned into a "I'm just caught an edge and wiped out" move.  He tumbled down the short flight of stairs into the sunken family room and began rolling around , pulling his leg up to his chest and screaming "Oh, my ankle, ow, ow my ankle."  This went on for a few seconds, but then he remembered what was really important.  "Oh, my ankle, OW OW, my ankle!" then, pointing toward the kitchen, "Dude, turn off the microwave, my cheese crisp is burning." and then back to "Ow, my ankle!"

Of course he was fine because young boys tend to bounce, and we finished lunch and went back to school.

So, all of this flashed through my head tonight as I was making a cheese crisp for lack of anything better to make for dinner.  So I got out the basic materials; tortilla, and cheese.  A whole.  Grain.  Tortilla.  And fat.  Free.  Cheese.  A whole grain tortilla kinda tastes like the cardboard that supports a frozen pizza, only not as flavorful and much less chewable.  And fat free cheese doesn't melt quite like normal cheese does, which makes sense because it doesn't taste like normal cheese does.  So why do we have this crap in our fridge?  Because it's GOOD FOR YOU.  Soon I'll be drinking Metamucil and saying "Hey, the orange almost tastes good!"

It sucks getting old.

A Long Overdue Update...

I started a program I called "Minisize Me" which was geared toward losing weight by not dining out as much, eating better and exercising more.  I can't believe it, but I started this over TWO YEARS ago, and a knee injury, a hip injury and nine months spent finishing our basement threw me off track.  I'm back at it though, and here's the update - I am down 18 pounds from the start of the year (from 195 to 177) and have been sticking with it very well.  My hip is a non-issue now, and my knees are doing well, though they require a lot of looking after.  My goal is to get down to 155 lbs this year, preferably by the time we do the 24 Hours Of Boulder in October.

I used to say the secret to weight loss was 'eat a salad and run a mile.'  I've modified that to 'eat a salad, run a mile and drink a glass of water.'  Staying appropriately hydrated is the key to a lot of things - digestion, endurance, and weight loss.  Replace soda and alcohol with water and it's amazing how quickly the weight slides off.

I also realized that I haven't updated this blog for over a year, so I will make more of an effort to keep up on the personal side as well as the political side of events.

That's it for now...