The Cold Getting To Me

Hard to believe it's only the end of January and I'm already saying enough with this weather. Me, the one who grew up in a hockey rink 10 months out of the year. Me, the one that was rollerblading in 30 degree weather before Thanksgiving and ice skating outside with temps in the teens.  Me, of all people.

I don't know whether it has anything to do with the record low temps, the fact that it was way cold, way early, or what. I've never felt this way about the cold. I don't remember ever having a problem with it, after all these years.  I just remember toughing it out. I mean, in when I played hockey in high school, I was tough. It was my job to knock peoples' teeth out. Okay, that only happened once, but like I told the suspension board, it was a clean hit. :)

Kidding aside, I've been having an unusually harder time this year. I think my fingernails are permanently blue, and I wake up each morning completely frozen from the back of my spine to the front of my chest. My entire core, bitter cold. Day in and day out for the past 4 weeks or so. It's so odd, and no fun at all.  

But why this year? Why now? Cindy thinks it because I've lost so much weight and not as insulated as previous years.  I guess, but this was might weight in high school, when I had to walk home from school in this weather.  You know, barefoot and uphill, both ways. :)

Not that complaining about it is going to help, just needed to get it off my chest. In two weeks time, we be back on Maui and this cold will be a forgotten memory. And when we get back in March, I want all this snow gone, you hear me?

Week Three, The Off Week

As mentioned last week, I've been sort of ahead of schedule with my goal of getting down to 180 lb by our Maui trip, so this week was sort of an off week.  While I didn't spend nearly any time on the bike, I wasn't able to fit in any of my toning exercises either (unfortunately). I just can't seem to get back into my early morning schedule that I was keeping over the summer, but trying again this week.

Despite no time on the bike this week, I managed to stay around the 184lb mark, so that's good news. It's all work and no play from here until our trip in 3 weeks, so I hope to have good news again next Sunday. In somewhat unrelated news, we booked a portrait photography session while we're on Maui for our trip, so that's an added incentive (and bonus) to finish what I've started back in March of last year.  It will be fun to see the difference a year makes, and I'll have new photos to share before too long.

iTunes wants $120 from me

This popped on the iTunes Store under my account this week, and I got a chuckle out of it.

It has to do with upgrading my old iTunes purchases from the standard format to the iTunes Plus format, which doesn't include DRM features.  It wasn't so much that they made this offer (which I of course shot down), it was my chuckle at how much music, and money, I've actually purchased from iTunes in the passed year or so. Honestly, it was almost sort of depressing at the same time.

The Before

First, a little history before I go into the fact that I've purchased over 1,500 songs from iTunes (yikes!).  Like many people, my music interests have changed over the years, but as far back as junior high, I always remember being plugged into some form of walkman, CD player, etc.  Sparing all the long details, my most recent interests over the past few years have been various forms of electronic dance music, and mostly from overseas.

The Problem

The problem with liking this type of music is that there is so many categories out there, but so little selection around here in your mainstream stores.  I won't even begin to try and describe some of the flavors of electronic music that are out there and the ones that I enjoy the most because it's ultimately very subjective.  But back to the fact that I have had all sorts of trouble getting my hands on new music, which I've grown to accept.

Past Solutions

My solutions to this problem has been ever changing.  Gone were the days where Tower Records was still open in Schaumburg, where much to Cindy's dismay, I could spend 30-60 minutes browsing through their selection of electronic music. It was by far the most expansive selection I was able to find in a store without leaving the country.

Next up, Amazon. This was back in the day before Amazon launched their own MP3 store, and where the majority of my now dusty CD collection originated from.  For awhile there, I was pretty addicted to Amazon, for everything from Music to techie stuff, to books, well, you get the idea.  Mostly, those days are behind me.

The CD game from Amazon started to dry up and having to fuss with CDs all the time was starting to get really old.  At this point, I still hadn't bought an iPod yet.

So, in lieu of CDs, I went looking for music of the digital variety via the Internet.  I stumbled across Digitally Imported (di.fm), which was really an electronic music lover's dream. I subscribed to them and for awhile, I was even (somewhat illegally, a gray area) recording some of their streams for my own private use. I ended up in the scenario which is the same reason we don't have a DVR, I had too much music downloaded and no time to listen to it.

The iPod Cometh

I finally jumped on the iPod bandwagon a few years ago and picked up one.  They had already been very popular, and I went with the 30GB Video iPod. Thus began my history with iTunes and shopping for music online there.  Overall, I'd say it's been the most successful solution I've come across for finding my types of music. For awhile there (back to the 1,500 song number), I was just as addicted, if not more, to buying music on iTunes than I was with ordering CDs from Amazon. Luckily, that has died down significantly in the past year.

Now, don't rush to judgment yet (I'm sure it's too late for that).  Many of my early purchases from iTunes was via the almight iTunes Gift Card, which became my most received gift for about 2 years.  That was the hook, though, that got me into the habit that started to take over.  I can't say for certain how many of the 1,500 songs I've purchased from iTunes since March '07 have been with gift cards or my own disposable income, but I'm not in any real hurry to find out. :)

One Minor Drawback

I did have one minor drawback with my iPod listening habit last year, and it was with the purchase of my new car.  You see, I had grown quite accustomed to the AUX input jack right on the front of my after market car stereo that went into my old Dodge.  But when it came time to take that car out and shoot it, I was amiss to realize that the stereo in my Pontiac G6 did not have such an option.  Bummer.  And trust me, I do NOT like those FM transmitters.

I have been eyeing the new iPods lately, with all their iPhone-like features and WiFi capabilities.  While the majority of my music resides on my PC and only the smaller selection make it to my iPod, I think being able to buy music right from my iPod would just as well do me in. :)

But it's all about priorities, and since I've already seemed to have invested quite a bit of coin in new toys for our upcoming Maui trip, this one is going to have to wait.  My birthday is in April, however, so in case anyone is reading this (wink, wink) and is not sure what to buy me (wink, wink), this would probably be right up there on the list.

Oh, who am I kidding. Everyone stopped reading this after the iTunes graphic. :)  

Difference a Week Makes

Boy what a difference a week can make here in Chicago, at least as the weather's concerned.

Today, it was a very pleasant 30° F for a good portion of the afternoon, something that I don't think it has done much since Xmas. As we're getting ready to back out to the United Center for the Hawks game tonight, I can't help but think of how darn cold it was just 7 days ago when were at the UC last.

Contrast today's 30° weather with last Wednesday's -30° wind chills and 2 straight days below 0 air temps, and you get a good understanding of what I'm talking about. Tomorrow, in fact, we're forecast to be above freezing as well, making it a great chance to get back out to the outdoor rink for a Thursday night skate (plans still pending).

But alas, these temps won't last. Come Saturday, we're back into the frigid cold and single digits for a high on Sunday. Sigh. There's talk of snow on Monday, so that should be fun. Hopefully, there's only a few more of these winter weather posts left before we leave for Maui next month. And then, after that, it will be March. Sweet.

Hawks Tomorrow

Just a short note that we'll be heading out to the last Hawks home game before the All-Star break. After this home game, the Blackhawks won't be returning to the UC until Valentines Day, which is night before we leave for Maui.

To help hold us over, we're planning another visit to Buffalo Wild Wings for the Bud Light Hockey Night on February 3rd. We had a blast last time, and while this one is sort of a drive out to Vernon Hills, we hope we'll have the same turnout.

After our trip, we have tickets for yet another game against the Sharks (who the Hawks haven't beat in forever).  And the Sharks game (not until March 25th) will be the good 100 level seats, which mean I can finally bring my camera gear and get shots like I did last year.  Sweet.

On a somewhat related note, the Hawks announced they are currently taking deposits for season tickets next season.  I thought about it for few minutes, but we're not sure if we're ready to lay out that kind of cash just yet.  We'll see, though.

Go Hawks!!!

Week Two, Even Closer

Another week in the books on my weight challenge and I'm now down to 184 lbs. I was actually flirting with 183 both yesterday and today, but I'll go with 184 for the official tally today. After all, I don't want to come off seeming anerixous or anything, that is if a 6' tall male in his late 20's can be considered anerixous at 180 lbs. 

Anyway, thinking about cutting out the bike time this week and focusing on my core exercises to help with toning my mid-section, which is pretty much the only thing left that needs attention. I know I mentioned some before and after photos a few weeks ago, and we spent some time this evening looking for vacation portrait photographers on Maui to help capture our upcoming trip. The way I see it, it is still unknown how much longer after this trip I'll be able to stay in this shape, so I might as well have it captured professionally while I still can. :)

Those that know me, and probably the only ones that might be reading this, know that I'm not typically that self-centered or vain. I don't want to say that this past 10 months have been somewhat of a coming out for me, but I do know that working toward this goal and losing 80 lbs has really changed almost all aspects of my life for the better. While it has come with some sacrifices, it really is something I wish I would have started years ago.

That's all for now. See you again for next week's update.

weekend highlights 1/11/09

It was a good weekend...... why you ask? Well let me tell you.........

Friday.... LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!!!!!!!


Like I mentioned in previous post it snowed in the morning to make my morning commute little difficult.. I worked until 3:00 pm, Came home. did every ones favorite chore the laundry. No offence to those of you who like to do the laundry.. Kris and I laced up our skates and went public skating, ( almost call it a date night).

Saturday......... Woke up Saturday morning to gray skies and snow. It snowed and snowed and snowed. We ran a few errands in the afternoon, before we got ready to go what was called a "Rockband Party'" at a friends house....... Imagine a party with lots of food, drinking, alot of people your basic house party and you throw in 7 hours of playing rockband. Those of you who are not familiar with rockband. Hooked up to your playstation two or three you play drums, guitar, or sing. and rock to the music. it is fun says the person who watched, but i did sing couple of songs.

Kris never played rockband before, by the we early morning hours Kris was classified as the Rockband monster. It has been along time since I got home that late. We got home before the sun came up, but not before the 5:00 alarm to go off. Oh I forgot to mention we also got a flat tire on the way home.....

Sunday...... Sunday was a day of recovering... even though it was a day of recovering we did go out and by rockband... We didn't do anything relaxed during the day and watched the Blackhawks.. in the evening.

It was a good weekend, like I mentioned it has been along time since I partied like that.

First Week Update

Last week, I mentioned that I had six weeks to get down to my goal weight of 180 lbs before we left for Maui. It wasn't that unreasonable, but I decided to post it here on the blog and now it's time for the first week's update.

It was a really good week, too. I made it down to 186 lbs as of this morning, so I'm well on my way as you can see. I was actually down to 185 by Friday, which was extra impressive considering we took my mom to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory Wednesday night for her birthday. It was hard to pass up the cheesecake, so I had a little extra time on the bike to make up for it.

The other disruption to the plan was our first Rockband party Saturday night. It was certainly a great time, but eating all that party food, a few drinks and two brownies weren't going to get me to 180 lbs any faster. To make it even more interesting, we didn't get home and in by until 5am! Throw in a flat tire on the way home that I had to get up at 8am to get fixed, and my metabolism was way out of whack.

I'm just now getting back into my normal routine, although I missed my morning bike time this morning. Depending on how I do this week, that goal of 180 might seem laughable, so I may need to throw in some toning just to make it worth talking about.

Snow, Snow, Snow

Yup, Snow, Snow, Snow. As sung to the tune of "Girls, Girls, Girls."  Luckily, I don't know any other parts of the song. :)

Anyway, I wasn't being purposely underdramatic yesterday when I mentioned that the snow and frigid cold air was returning. I was just uninformed.  Turns out what I initially thought was just "a few snow showers" actually as the potential to leave us with 8" of fresh snow in the matter of only 36 hours!  Our first dose was early this morning, leaving about 2 inches by the time it stopped, and the heavy stuff is going to be starting in a few hours, just in time to spoil my commute home.

This might also be retaliation for a note I left on my photography blog about not having enough snow left to take photos at Bunker Hill again. So if you believe in karma and looking for someone to blame all this recent snowfall on, I'll take the heat (pardon the pun).

Skating Tonight?

Barring that I actually get home before midnight tonight with the evening rush hour, we're still contemplating visiting the Niles ice rink for some public skating indoors tonight. The other part of yesterday's post was still true, having evening temps only in the single digits next week, so if we want to keep up with our skating time, we'll have to do it indoors.

That is until we go public skating on Maui next month.  You read that right, public skating on Maui!  It's actually rollerblading out there, not ice skating, but it still looks to be fun.

Here we go again, more cold and snow

After enjoying some more seasonal weather as of late, and making it out to the ice rink 4 nights in a row (Sat-Tue), it looks like we're headed for another snow and cold tug-of-war.

It's in the teens right now, with a bright, cloudless sky stealing all the warm. We're supposed to be getting snow showers on and off tonight and tomorrow, but then the bottom falls out of the temps and we go back to single digit highs next week.  That makes it pretty unbearable to be doing anything outside, let alone trying to ice skate.

That just means if we want to skate anytime soon (which we do), we'll have to take it inside.  I'm starting to scope out some of the local ice rinks for public skating hours, and we'll probably hit up one or two this weekend.

If anyone is interested in joining us, shoot me a note and let me know.

New Music This Weekend

Last month I mentioned the tunes we were listening to on our road trip up to Door County, and as sad as it sounds, I've had those same CDs in my disc changer for the last four weeks. Boy do I really miss having a car with an AUX input for my iPod.

While I haven't bought CDs in what seems like forever, or at least since Tower Records closed, I did pick up a few at FYE at Woodfield this past Saturday. I recently have been just buying off the iTunes Store and burning to CD-Rs for the car, but we were there, so I decided to look.

Both of these are 2-Disc collections of Beach House music. Of course, we don't have a beach house. And yes, we don't even have a house (it's a condo). But that's just the name of this brand of music. If you're interested in hearing what sounds like, buy me lunch and I'll drive or just click on the links below.

Habitat Collection: Beach
Various Artists, 2006

2 CD Set
Details at Amazon
Previews at CD Universe

Hed Kandi Beach House
Various Artists, 2008

2 CD Set
Details and Previews at Amazon

By now you must be thinking I have a rather different taste in music that you'd imagine. At some point, I'll get around to posting more details around who, what, etc.

weekend highlights 01/04/09

It was nice to have a three day weekend. My weekend started with me having a hair appointment on Saturday morning, followed by taking care of Tango while my grandfather, Aunt and Uncle are in Door County. After taking care of tango we walked around Woodfield. After Woodfield we went and bought me a pair of ice skates. We ran some errands, before going home and relaxing, before going to his moms for dinner.



After dinner I hung out with his mom, while Kris and his brother went skating... It is nice to see Kris skating again.

Sunday was a day of running errands, birthday dinner for my mother-in-law, and to go skating in the evening. It was nice to be on the ice again.

Monday was a day of doing the laundry, taking down the Christmas tree, and going ice skating in the evening.

all in all it was a nice weekend.

thanks Cindy

ice skating

Those of you who know me knows I haven't been on the ice, or tried on a pair of skates in a long time, until this weekend.. That's right I went out and bought a pair of ice skates and went ice skating for the first time in a long time. It was nice to be back on the ice, and we will see how this goes.

Cindy

8 lbs, 6 Weeks

Well, it's already 6 weeks before leave for Maui, and I have that much time to get down to my goal weight of 180 lbs.  I was well on my way before the holidays, coming in at 184 lbs just before Thanksgiving. But as of the New Year, I was back up to 188 lbs, mainly from all those holiday goodies and not spending enough time on the bike.

Excuses aside, I'm still a far cry from the 260 lbs I was this time last year, so just a few more pounds shouldn't be that hard to come by. I'm really looking forward to posting some of those before-and-after type photos from last year's Maui trip to our next one in February, and I figured a little added motivation by tracking my progress here online couldn't hurt.

To help the cause, I was able to spend about 3 hours on the ice last week, and hoping to get out there again tonight. It's been a blast, to be honest, and I'm even more excited after yesterday because we bought a pair of skates for Cindy, too. While it won't be as intensive and frequent as our summertime evenings on the bike trails, just being outdoors and staying active will sure be better than sitting at my keyboard all day.

Winter Classic History part 2

Even though the Blackhawks lost to the Redwings it definitely an experience, and definitely will not be forgotten. The Blackhawks had a great first period. Out scoring Detroit 3-1 and Bent Seabrook had an awesome hit on Cleary, sending him for the hawks players bench, but then the game went down hill from there. That's all I could say.

Even though the Hawks 9 game winning streak with a loss to Detroit on Tuesday... UGH!!! The Hawks had a great winning Streak for the month of December, only losing one game in the month of December to who else Detroit. They find themselves 4Th in the conference and 2ND in their division with 47 points. The Blackhawks just need to put these to games behind them and focus on a big win against Calgery at home on Sunday.

from Cindy

Chicago Hockey History

It doesn't seem that long ago, yet this time last year we were home watching the first NHL Winter Classic being played in Buffalo, NY on our new 42" HD TV (which we bought for Xmas). The experience was awe inspiring to say the least.

Here we are, a year later and us hometown Chicago fans are at the center of the Winter Classic excitement, and of all places to host such a monumental event than the historic Wrigley Field. Today's game against the Detroit Red Wings will no doubt go in history as the greatest moment in Blackhawks history.

While Cindy and I decided to enjoy the game from the comfort, and warmth, of our living room, my brother was dying to go to the game. After some initial disappointment trying to get tickets, we struck gold last week and scored tickets on the last public on-sale. We really made his Christmas.

So, the network pre-game is about to start, and whether the Hawks win or lose (even though they'll win), today is going to be absolutely amazing. My brother is going to be talking about this game for years to come, and since I lent him my camera, I hope to have photos from the game posted here as soon as humanly possible.

Go Hawks!!!