Thursday, October 18, 2012

Dave's Thoughts of the Day: October 18th

Hidee ho!

Last night I had a sickness scare as I was doing the podcast.  I didn't feel that well last night, but this morning I feel pretty good.  I'm glad to know it was just a false alarm.

You know you're losing weight when even your speedo starts to sag on you.   HAHA!   I went nuts training in that last week for the swim meet, then during the meet I swam a ton... couple that with the diet I was on at the time... wow.   Everything feels looser now.

I don't think this will last very long:  I'm bound to increase my own appetite.  To think of me planning out big meals after bashing Pablo Sandoval last night for his weight.   Still, I keep it very simple with my own meals.  Breakfast is usually an apple, coffee, and some form of bread, usually just the apple.  Lunch is a sandwich with 2-3 slices of meat.   Dinner is either pasta, chicken, or something else.  I don't often eat snacks between meals, with dinner as my only exception.   I have ice cream or frozen yogurt once a week.  I haven't eaten a candy bar in at least a month.  I never buy candy regularly.   My snacks are either Triscuits, fruit, V8 splash juice, Gatorade, and sometimes soda.  Then on weekends, I "go crazy."

About a decade ago, I was pushing 190 on the scale, and I was as fat as I'd ever been.  I had to completely change my lifestyle to lose weight to become respectable.  It was really hard... emotional, very tough.  I went on a very strict 1500 calorie a day diet using the Weight Watchers points system: 50 calories = 1 point.  See, don't waste your money enrolling in WW for real because all they did was provide mathematics.   I don't recall exercising more during that phase, but even that alone, which again was extremely hard, got me back on track.  Later, I got a part time job as a warehouse clerk at the local Good Guys electronics store.  Since that involved moving big boxes around, that got me some more exercise.  Eventually I went down to 156!   Again, that didn't last too long, but for most of college I wound up in the 160s.  Weight loss is possible, but it's a commitment.

I haven't thought to weigh myself today, but I could imagine some muscle weight was added since I started swimming.  I love it!   Swimming is the best choice I've made.   The dues are expensive for my swim program but the residual benefits are golden.

Wow!  So I hear the ALCS game last night was postponed due to rain.    My goodness... just when you thought the ban on Yankee comments was over!

Actually, can I go back to the weight topic for a moment?   I haven't stayed in the 160s all those years... it's gone up, usually to the 170s from time to time.  However, when I went on my trip to New York City, I wanted to eat so many things up there I got SO fat... I was eating 5 meals a day, no lie.  Big meals like pastrami sandwiches, pizza, kebabs, donuts, you name it.  The only thing I didn't eat out there was the steak dinner, but geez, I think I covered everything else.   My narrow jeans were stretching to the limit.   I thought of that as I put on the same narrow jeans this week... there was some give down the pantline and I laughed thinking how much I bulged those things in May.

I have a non-work related office project underway, and all I need right now is an adapter and some WD-40.   Upstairs at the Philosophy Department, an old Harman Kardon 230e stereo receiver was being left for dead in the discard pile.   Those old school audio components are of pretty good quality so I took it down to my office.   I *love* the tuning band that glows green when you turn it on.  Check it out:

  

So!  I began a project to revive its use at my UCLA office.   Instead of getting full speakers, I went and got a pair of unopened Multimedia Dell speakers and positioned them on either side of the receiver on my shelf.   All I need now is a 1/4" to 1/8" headphone jack adapter to plug in the speakers.

The WD40 is needed in order to loosen up the rotating tuner dial.   The way these 70's receivers work is that you spin the dial and let it roll to get from, say, 107.3 FM down to 91.5 FM.  If it works properly you can just give it a good nudge to span most of the dial, but it's sticky right now.

Obviously the whole concept evokes images of YES Network's Chris Shearn, but it would be a tremendous sounding quality system if I got it going.  Plus, the HK 230e has a phono input which allows for me to add a turntable.  An audiophile level system in the office for barely a few pennies.  I look forward to adding to this project.

Eventually I could move to full speakers if I can assure good sound out of the receiver.  I might even bring my smaller Monitor Audio Bronze 1 studio quality monitor speakers.   We'll see what develops.

Tonight in sports:  Two huge west coast games, actually three!


  • Giants/Cardinals -- I don't know.   It'd be interesting to see the Giants make a comeback here but the more I see from this series, the more I feel the party's over for the Giants.   Zito vs Wainright?  Thanks for playing, SF.
  • Seahawks/49ers -- No idea how this plays out.  It would be foolish to offer an official prediction. Convention would be to take the Niners due to their great home record and amazing work against the run.  However, not only is this a divisional game, but the 49ers got blown away by the Giants on their home field last Sunday.  So, who knows?
  • Oregon/Arizona St. -- We brought this up on the podcast last night.   This is the first game for Oregon played outside of their home region of the Pacific Northwest.   The Ducks really need to, for their own sake, dominate this game and win by at least 20.  If they win by less, their credibility will be severely taken into question.  The term "soft team" will attach to the Ducksies, and I don't know if they will wrest of it all year.  Tempe, AZ will be rockin!   
That's all from here... hopefully viewers across the nation will get their full episode of X-Factor on Fox.  Based on what know, I think it's getting better ratings than the NLCS.  Ah well.  'Til tomorrow!

Correction:  This one isn't really my fault, but Bruce Bochy, Giants Manager, switched Zito out for Tim Lincecum tonight for NLCS Game 4.   The matchup is now Lincecum vs Wainright.  I still like STL's chances.

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