http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/ en Copyright 2010 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:53:31 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Momma turns 48 today. For her birthday she decided to check herself into rehab. I've very happy for her. Happy birthday mom. http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/02/happy_birthday_momma.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/02/happy_birthday_momma.html Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:53:31 -0800 I really feel like I've been busting my ass at the gym by doing interval training (HIIT) every day and lifting weights every other day. Today I decided to weigh myself again and I've gained 2 lbs since my last weigh. I don't think it's muscle as my body fat percentage has gone up too! Crap. I'm hoping that the means by which the scale calculates my body fat is inaccurate. I don't feel like I've been going crazy with the food or anything. I did eat out twice last weekend but other than that I've behaved myself. I guess this is a sign that I need to strictly stick to 1650 calories a day. I'd really like to get below the 20% body fat mark. http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/01/annoyed.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/01/annoyed.html Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:57:22 -0800 The Dunning–Kruger Effect ]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/01/dunningkruger_effect.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/01/dunningkruger_effect.html Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:56:25 -0800 LA site so I've decided to turn this old blog into a public record keeping device for my personal fitness. If anyone decides to read it, great! If not, it will enable me to look back years from now on that time I decided to stop being a fat guy. Ok, now for the embarrassing stats and pictures: This picture was taken way back on January 19th, 2008. I think it was the fattest I've ever been. I didn't bother to take my weight or body fat percentage at the time but I did when I first arrived in LA the following June (6 months later). I sure as hell didn't lose any weight in that six months so in this picture I probably weigh 182 lbs and have around 27% body fat. Notice how my torso looks just like an elderly Walter Matthau's face. Flash forward to October 18th, 2009. I did some working out but I think most of the results came from a diet change that started some time that previous summer (meaning most weight loss occurred in around 4 months). In this photo I am 166.8 lbs and 22.5% body fat. Flash forward again to November 13th, 2009. 163.6 lbs and 21.1% body fat. And today. After way too much food and beer and beer and tequila and beer over the holidays I am 165.4 lbs and 21.6% body fat. Time to get back to it. ]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/01/and_another_weight_loss_story.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2010/01/and_another_weight_loss_story.html Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:08:30 -0800 IRS 2009 Withholding Calculator they tell me that if I do not change my current withholding arrangement I will have $2,325 due when I file my return. WTF? Why not just keep taking the 9.6%? Now they advise that I sock away an additional $232 per paycheck for each of us in order to save the $2,325. How did this happen? Why did this happen? What about all the people that haven't caught on to this? Can we write the government IOUs in April? I'm so depressed.]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/07/federal_tax_fuckers.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/07/federal_tax_fuckers.html Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:29:41 -0800 HERE. 100 years ago this could have killed me! Thanks Neosporin!]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/07/not_for_the_squimish.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/07/not_for_the_squimish.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:00:51 -0800 We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. Where's that pack of cigarettes? ]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/07/we_have_no_idea.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/07/we_have_no_idea.html Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:55:15 -0800 Isn't it about time for another ska revival? Damn do I miss it. http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/06/bring_ska_back.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/06/bring_ska_back.html Wed, 24 Jun 2009 09:13:51 -0800 Protein Power and forget all the "low-fat" shit you've ever learned. I've never stuck to a thing in my life and this payed off in 2 months!]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/06/inspiration.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/06/inspiration.html Fri, 19 Jun 2009 22:29:22 -0800 Since rearranging our apartment our TV hasn't had access to a cable outlet making it essentially useless. Who wants to watch regular TV? I can get my weather from google. Nicole at the same time decided to stop watching the news and, not really having the energy to hook up the TV and watch news on my own, joined her. The improvements in my life have been fantastic! I'm not worried about losing my job, the economy collapsing, catching swine flu or the American automakers going under. When I really think about it none of the stuff being reported really has anything to do with me. Sure, I COULD catch swine flu but I think I've got a better chance at winning the lotto. I like living in a world where I'm not constantly being scared into submission by the media and at the same time having it be quiet enough to hear my own thoughts. It's about time. http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/05/turning_off_the_television_mak.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/05/turning_off_the_television_mak.html Tue, 26 May 2009 09:23:10 -0800 When I moved to Los Angeles in June of '08 I weighed 188 lbs. In May of '09 in now weigh 166 lbs. That's a loss of 22lbs and the only major thing I changed was my diet (and that was only in the last three months). While I will admit I do try and go to the gym three days a week to lift weights, it usually only ends up being two. The major change in my diet was carbs. I now only eat 30 grams of carbs per day while getting 27 grams of protein per meal. Yeah, sometimes eating only tuna for dinner on Wednesday night sucks but it's worth it when I can see the results in the mirror. Eating more protein than carbs and seeing the results in weight loss makes me think that as a living organism, I'm definitely meant to eat meat rather than most other foods. Maybe there's a good reason our appendixes stopped working. If you don't believe me, give it a try. The average man should lose the same while a woman on the same diet can eat a few more carbs and still see results (don't make me explain why they're different. We all know they just are). I swear if you just commit to it you'll see results in as little as a week. My recommendations? Get a scale the measures body fat and find some low carb tortillas that you really like. You'll learn that you can subtract grams of fiber from grams of carbs to get net grams of carbs. It's as simple as 30 grams of carbs per day. I wish I would have learned this much sooner. http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/05/simple_weightloss.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/05/simple_weightloss.html Fri, 22 May 2009 22:28:06 -0800 I especially love the dog jumping back towards the building. Like the dog knew what was going to happen yet this guy had no idea his convertible was on the roof of a 9 storey building. Damn I wish I could read the article and see just how it might happen to ME. ]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/05/we_lived_in_fear_even_back_the.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/05/we_lived_in_fear_even_back_the.html Tue, 05 May 2009 20:03:35 -0800 June Sarpong. She's a lovely person. ]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/04/june_kiss.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/04/june_kiss.html Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:23:56 -0800 I wanted to quickly say that it's 78 degrees here right now and everyone back in CO had a snow day today. While I could have really used a day off I'd much rather be at work hung over than have to scrape my car off in the morning. http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/03/not_snowed_in.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/03/not_snowed_in.html Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:32:45 -0800 14 Rare Color Photos From the FSA-OWI. My initial response to the first few photos was that they were fake. Obviously the result of a high budget, excellent casting, and a great costume designer. I felt like there was no way that these high resolution color images could have been taken more than 60 years ago. After all, every picture I've seen from the World War II era has been in black and white. I felt like the rich colors, excellent lighting and great foreground focus is certainly the work of modern photographers but then I did a little research. Color film was in mass production in 1935 and fine camera equipment had been around long before that! After reading up a bit on the history of the photos I did realize that they were indeed real. I'm not sure why I felt so disconnected from the people of the past and for some reason seeing people from 60 years ago that look just like we do, (only wearing different clothes and accepting segregation) only now in color, has had some weird effect on my perception of times gone by. I guess some small part of me felt like color was only something recent generations were able to witness when it's really just been that the past has been portrayed in black and white in all modern media. Growing up only seeing black and white images of our grandparent's generation has really made me cherish these few photos and long for more. It really makes me wonder why they weren't all in color and how my kids are going to feel about our parent's generation when portrayed in the media. Will all men be wearing orange polyester and have mustaches? Will all women have feathered hair and bell bottoms? Or will it all just be filmed with modern cameras using an expensive lens that gives it the cheap grainy/smokey porn effect? It remains to be seen.]]> http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/03/wwii_ear_color.html http://www.melonandorange.com/dom/2009/03/wwii_ear_color.html Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:21:31 -0800