It's here...!

The Nike+ Sportwatch GPS is officially for sale and it's awesome. I currently have the version of the sportwatch that connects to a chip in my shoe and tells me how far I've run, my pace, calories burned, and the time. But this one uses TomTom GPS technology to track your run - pretty awesome if I say so myself.

At a price of $199, it might be a little out of my range at the moment, but definitely seems like it'd be an awesome investment.

buy it yourself.

what? no mad men until 2012?

Due to contract negotiations, there will be NO NEW MAD MEN this year. I'm so depressed.

I hope this isn't a sign for what's to come for the NFL...

wod

as many rounds as possible in 15 minutes of:

9 deadlifts (70#)
12 push ups (from my knees)
15 box jumps (18" box)

8 rounds, 9 deadlifts, 12 push ups, 3 box jumps.

morning smiles

As I was walking down the street this morning, I saw a small boy and his father walking in front of me, hand in hand. The boy’s arm angled upwards in order to grasp the hand of his tall father, and he carried a big red backpack that was almost half the size of his small body, proudly inscribed with his initials — MH.

As my quick pace drew me closer to them, the sight of the small child walking along with his father drew my attention, so it was quite a happy surprise for me when I passed the duo and got to overhear the boy yell up to his father in his tiny little voice and say, “If we could apparate, we would always be early!”

Some of you may not understand this Harry Potter reference, but to me it warranted a huge grin. And as I continued walking, their conversation about apparating lingering in my wake, I decided that today was going to be a good day.

wod

4 rounds of:

500M rows
12 push ups

didn't get total time. total row time was 9:05.

then did thrusters 3-3-3-3-3

30, 40, 40, 45, 45

had to stop there because there were so many people at the gym. frustrating trip

ochocinco MLS tryout...

shrimp leek and spinach pasta

yummyyyy. tried a recipe from Real Simple today and it was really good. Easy to make, too.






Try it for yourself.

wod

took it easy today.

warm up: 1/2 mile run

21-15-9 of:

60# deadlifts
30# OH squats

didnt time it...

the tigers wife

I'm reading a great book right now called The Tiger's Wife, by Tea Obreht. It's about a woman and her relationship with her grandfather, in an unnamed country that may or may not be based on Croatia (Obreht's home country). There's a lot of myth and memories involved, and it's just really well written overall. I recommend it if you're looking for a good read.

Just saw these amazing photos online and they reminded me of the book.

funny looking animal of the week!

via ffffound.

woody allen's latest...

looks good - i kind of love owen wilson a little bit i think.

let the games begin!

just finished up a fantasy baseball draft. my team is...interesting. felt like i took a lot of chances. here's what we ended up with:

C - Buster Posey
1B - Joey Votto
2B - Dan Uggla
3B - Aramis Ramirez
SS - Derek Jeter
CI - Adam Lind
MI - Rafael Furcal
OF - Justin Upton
OF - Andrew McCutchen
OF - Matt Holliday
BENCH - Edwin Encarnacion
BENCH - Carlos Lee

SP - Ubaldo Jimenez
SP - Max Scherzer
SP - Shaun Marcum
RP - Brian Wilson
RP - Huston Street
P - Brandon Morrow
P - Daniel Hudson
P - Aroldis Chapman
BENCH - Francisco Rodriguez
BENCH - CJ Wilson
BENCH - Mike Minor (whoops)
BENCH - Jake McGee

great sunday night...

does it get any better than lobster tail, pasta and wine?




yes... fantasy baseball draft at the same time.


great sunday night.

little sebastian!

what an amazing show. i LOVE when ron swanson gets excited

sunday runday

10k!
54:50.

good one

I've seen this commercial a few times lately, and I just love it. So simple but it gets the point across so clearly and adds an emotional punch.

Slow Carb Diet: Results

Challenge #3 of 2011 is officially over! The Slow Carb Diet went pretty well, it was tough at times but I definitely found it easier than being a vegan. And interestingly enough, I was rarely hungry on this diet. It was more about craving certain things that I wasn't allowed to have. The cheat day really helped out, too.

Now onto the results.. I wasn't expecting drastic weight change, and that did not happen. But it was actually more effective in weight loss than I thought it would be for me. On the morning of my cheat day, my last weigh in put me at a weight that was 3.4 lbs lighter than I started the week. I thought these results were pretty dramatic for one week's worth of eating Slow Carb...

But that also has to be taken with a grain of salt. My weight fluctuated quite a bit over the course of the week, always weighing less in the mornings than at night. And this morning AFTER my cheat day of eating and drinking whatever I pleased all day, I've gained about a pound back.

So I guess the moral of the story is this: this diet works and is effective if you stick to it. It's not the most fun thing to do, but if you're looking for a way to lose weight and you've got some will power, give it a try.

More on the 4 hour body here.

wod

ran 1 mile. 8:03

5 rounds for time of:

15 medicine ball cleans
15 wall ball shots
(10# ball)

9:50

nike ads are just SO GOOD

heard it babysitting

while at mcdonalds we see a few of his friends. he calls out and goes to show them his new happy meal toy. i come over and overhear him saying: "that's my babysitter. she's really nice. she's just my friend. she's not my mom or anything."

the story. brandi carlile.

wod

70 burpees
60 sit ups
50 kb swings (15#)
40 pull ups
30 push ups

15:10

halfway through slow carb diet

So it is currently day 4 of the Slow Carb Diet, challenge #3 of 2011. So far things are going pretty well, and although I do crave certain things (a mocha for some odd reason, even though I don't usually drink them), I do get my fair share to eat. As far as results, they have been much more than I expected. Since Sunday, I have lost almost 3 lbs*.

So far this diet is much easier for me than being a vegan, and I do feel like I am eating a lot. Here's a normal day for me on this plan:

Breakfast (within an hour of waking up): 2 scrambled eggs, 2 pieces of turkey bacon
Lunch: Spinach salad with tomato, mushrooms and black beans, balsamic vinegar for dressing
Second, smaller lunch: Small chicken breast with guacamole
Dinner: has varied, Monday I had salmon with asparagus, last night I had spinach and meatballs (cheated a bit and put a little parmesan cheese in the meatballs!)

I've also been taking advantage of the 2 glasses of red wine I'm allowed per night, and having small snacks including almonds or baby carrots.

All in all, it's a pretty boring diet, and I wouldn't say I really enjoy eating a lot of the stuff I'm eating all that much, but I do feel full. But I guess it does work, based on my results so far.

The best part is the fact that I get a "cheat day," and since I'm only doing this for a week, I will be done with this diet after Friday. This basically means that Friday at midnight I will be eating something delicious and then proceeding to also drink this weekend and negate any results made this week.

But in the meantime...Tonight I think I'm gonna try to make refried beans!!! Get excited...

*Disclaimer to my mom and brother: don't worry, I am not trying to lose weight, and I'm sure as soon as I get off this diet I will gain these pounds back.

wod

biked 10 miles (stationary bike) 26:54

rowed 1000M 4:44

wanted to run a bit but there was a line for treadmills - CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?! for shame 24 hour fitness...

omelettes made easy

Thought of Hoover when I saw this one — William Sonoma is selling this special pan that is specifically designed to make the task of omelette making a little bit easier. The pan itself has a wall in the middle that makes flipping the two sides of the omelette over simple. No more mess! Just pure omelette goodness.



More here.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

As an advertising nerd, this one looks especially great to me.

wod

made one up today... 25 reps of each of the following:

box jumps
kettlebell swings (20#)
burpees
sit ups
push ups
double unders
handstand hold (30 sec)
overhead squat (20#)
dead lift (20#)
thruster (20#)

12:41

then i worked a bit on my handstand holds... getting better but nowhere near a handstand push up!

funny looking animal of the week!

i am epic win

DIRECTV's latest commercial featuring our rich Russian man also has a cameo by his tiny giraffe on a treadmill. anything with a tiny giraffe on a treadmill gets two thumbs up from me...

sunday runday

took it easy today...

1.15 mile run - 9:21

then some ab work

Challenge #3 - Slow Carb diet for a week

It's about that time again... today starts challenge #3 for 2011. This one was inspired by a book I just started reading, the 4 Hour Body by Timothy Ferriss (more on this book later, after I finish reading it). The book itself is about different ways to drastically change your body by putting in the smallest amount of effort, which in a lot of cases is still a lot of effort.

One of the first chapters in the book introduces the Slow Carb Diet, which is touted as "how to lose 20 pounds in 30 days without exercise." Now I won't be taking this diet on for a full 30 days, nor do I want to lose pounds (or stop exercising for that matter), but I was interested to see if I would yield the same first week results as a lot of the people referenced in the book.

It seems people can lose 5-6 pounds in week one if they stick to this diet. I think this may be because a lot of the people taking on this diet were overweight to start with, and it's easier to take off pounds if you have more to begin with, BUT...let's see how it works for me if I stick with it for a week.

The diet itself reminds me a bit of the Paleo diet, but there are some differences. Here are the main rules of the Slow Carb Diet:

1. Avoid "White" Carbs
This means no bread, pasta, rice, cereal potatoes, fried food with breading.

2. Eat the same few meals over and over again.
Here are some of the foods Ferriss says should be used to fill out your diet:

• Proteins: Eggs, chicken breast, beef, fish, pork
• Legumes: Lentils, black beans, pinto beans, soy beans
• Vegetables: Spinach, Mixed veggies, Asparagus, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Peas, Green Beans

3. Don't drink calories
No milk, soft drinks, or fruit juice. No sweetened tea (goodbye for a week AriZona Green Tea...). Basically I think I'll just be drinking water here. Ferriss does say you may have up to 2 glasses of red wine a night. NO BEER.

4. Don't eat fruit
Apparently fruit makes you fat. Except tomatoes and avocados - hooray, guac!

5. Take one day off per week
Ferriss actually encourages you to BINGE EAT one day per week. Apparently it won't effect your results that much, though since I'm only doing this for a week I'm not sure how effective having a cheat day will do. Nonetheless, I must follow the rules, so one day of eating whatever I want will have to happen! We'll make this day Saturday, since my friend KIM WILL BE IN TOWN and I'll want to enjoy eating and drinking copious amounts of things with her that day.

There are some more finer points to the diet, in terms of if I can use spices (I can, but not cream based sauces), salad dressing (balsamic and olive oil), or have snacks (carrots or 5-10 almonds). Ferriss gets more into the finer points in the next chapter, but I won't get too detailed here.

The other thing - I'm supposed to eat 4 meals per day, spaced out roughly 4 hours apart. Within an hour of waking, I need breakfast, lunch 4 hours later, a second, smaller lunch 4 hours after that, and dinner 4 hours after that.

So it sounds like I'll be eating the same things over and over and over a lot of times this week! We'll see how it goes. Good news is I'm already am on my way, I had 2 eggs and some black beans for breakfast when I woke up this morning.

Gonna go shop for supplies for this diet right now. Should be an interesting week. I'll also be weighing myself every day and will give you the results at the end of the week.

Think of this as an online episode of "The Biggest Loser." Except I'm not necessarily trying to lose weight. So I guess it's not like the Biggest Loser at all.

Anyways, that's all I got for you for now. I'll give you updates as the week goes on...

One last thing -- the one part of this diet that I think will be hardest for me?
No milk.

guilty dog!

This is both funny and kind of sad... the dog is so upset that he did something wrong I almost started to cry...

thanks bec!

5 miles!

Just ran 5 miles for the first time in a looooong time. Pretty windy out there, was running against the wind for the last half of the run pretty much...but I did it!

43:36

Time to reward myself with a spring shopping spree (by that I mean going to one store then getting tired of shopping and finding something else to do).

morning run

beautiful day out, gotta take advantage!

1.5 miles, 12:04.

woulda just passed the ol' bomber cooper test, ha.

wod

as many rounds as possible of:

30 double unders
10 power snatches (30#)

4 rounds + 11 double unders

the double unders killed me on this... couldnt get into a rhythm for some reason.

cooled down with 5 min on the bike and 20 more double unders so I could be at 150 for the day.

wod

ran 1.26 miles - 9:31

3 rounds with a 20# kettlebell of:

10 deadlifts
10 one handed rows left side
10 one handed rows right side

bloomberg can suck it.

"Our city's problems are problems of success. We don't have enough classrooms. We don't have enough roads. We don't have enough housing. If you go to other cities, they don't have those problems. There's an awful lot of free space up in Buffalo, New York, if you want to go there. I don't think you do. Buffalo would love to have our problems."

what a d.

at least buffalo has nicer people than this guy. oh, and the bills!!!

Mayor Byron W. Brown said Bloomberg owes local residents an apology:

"When I heard those comments, I was pissed. It was a cheap shot. Thinking about those comments, listening to them two hours later, I'm still pissed off. Buffalo is a great city with great people."

great mayor. great city.

baby terrified of nose blowing

thanks, hoov!

wod

7 rounds for time of:

10 wall ball shots (12#)
10 pull ups

7:10

then biked 5 miles

10:35

then ran 1 mile

8:23

felt good.

Jonesin' for 98 degrees.

Hoover has been bothering me for the past 2 hours to listen to the 98 degrees station on Pandora. She is going bananas over it, saying it will change my life. After putting it off for a while, I told her I'd give it a five song listen.

Here's what I got:

1. I swear - All for One
2. Bye bye bye - N SYNC
3. Back here baby - BBMak
4. I want it that way - BSB
5. My everything - 98 degrees

Pretty much as I suspected. Boy bands. Have a listen if that's your jam.

On another note, during these 5 songs I also placed bets on the following teams to win the tourney:
Duke
San Diego St.
UConn

If you don't have a team in the tournament, root for one of them. That way, we'll both win.

real life "Up"

The National Geographic Channel recently tried to see if they could make a house take flight with the help of helium balloons, much like in the movie "Up." As you can see, they were SUCCESSFUL!



via coolhunter

can ya dig it??

Tonight was the night that zogsports volleyball juggernaut Can Ya Dig It??! took home their third consecutive winter volleyball title. And there to watch the action was Pedro, a 4 month old puggle. How could we lose with Pedro on our side? It was unfair, really.

funny looking animal of the week!

baby beluga in the deep blue sea, swims so wild and swims so free...
watch it on a live web cam.

via f yea baby animals.

The day the movies died.

"If films like The Bounty Hunter and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time define the new "okay," then the system is, not to put too fine a point on it, in very deep shit."

From an interesting article from GQ about the quality of movies these days... why is every "big movie" a sequel, or based on a comic book? And why is some of the best quality entertainment found on cable today, instead of the big screen?

Learn more here.

coming soon...

Jersey City Barcade. Should be a good time.

end of weekend wod

What a crazy weekend! Finished it up with an 8 and a half hour sunday work day (after getting home at 5am), but managed to get in a work out! Tough one.

run 1 mile
100 sit ups
100 back extensions
run 1 mile

exactly 24 minutes!

irrationally excited..

about THIS WEEKEND!!!!! First of all, we happened to score some amazing $6 tickets to the Nets game tonight (everyone in America is jealous because the Nets are such a well respected, well liked team). But actually, they are playing BLAKE GRIFFIN, the reigning NBA Slam Dunk Champion. So that's really why we're going. Look at Blake SLAM these dunks down and tell me it's not worth at least $6:



Then after the game someone special will be awaiting us at home... and her name is GALLORY MILMAN!!! Let the 174 Kendall reunion begin. All bets are off. Hold onto your hats. Buckle up, friendo. Things just might get interesting...

bedroom work out!

had to work late, just got home. had to get a blow off a little steam:

5 rounds for time of:
10 squats
10 kb swings
10 push ups
10 sit ups

10 reps each to signify the time i got home. 5 rounds, because that's the number of rounds I decided to do.

5:53

GAP deal

Give the Gap your mobile # and get $50 worth of in-store shopping for just $25.

I'm in. Are you?

old school nick shows are COMING BACK!

Slashfilm.com let me in on this pretty awesome piece of news:

Entertainment Weekly reports that TeenNick (formerly known as The N), has scheduled a two-hour block from midnight to 2 AM called The ’90s Are All That — sort of a retro TGIF for people who grew up with the original TGIF, I guess. The block will include old programs like Rugrats, Kenan & Kel, Pete & Pete, The Amanda Bynes Show, All That and Clarissa Explains it All. TeenNick plans to eventually use the block to show other ’90s shows and films as well.

Most nights I'm asleep by 11 pm because I get tired and lose focus of reasons to be awake...but this would definitely be an incentive to stay awake later! Good call TeenNick.

Read more here.

let's just take a few moments to reminisce about one of the greatest movies of all time... feel free to add your favorite quote to comments.



If she were a president, she'd be Babe-raham Lincoln.

SCHWING!

Extreme close up... WHOAAAAAAAAAA.

If Benjamin were an ice cream flavor, he'd be praline... and dick!

Hi Wayne..... Hiiiiiii (rides bike into car).

Excuse me, I'd like to get by now.

A gun rack? What am I gonna do with a gun rack? I don't even own A GUN, let alone enough to necessitate an entire rack.

this baby is such a lush!

keeping with the theme of beards...

grab this print here.

my life in baseball, by the beard

Dave Eggers wrote this short story for ESPN The Magazine from the perspective of a World Series winning beard. I thought it was really imaginative and well done. Check it out if you have a few minutes.

It's having an interesting effect on me, though. I keep imagining inanimate objects having a running monologue in my head now... like as I was shaving my legs this morning I had the voice of my razor in my head, complaining about how long they were and how much work he or she (didn't get the gender) had to do. Then my towel was pretty upset with me for getting it damp so early on a cold morning...and so on, and so on. Funny thing to think about. If everything had a voice. Might be a good writing exercise.

morning wod

Ten rounds, each for time of:
100 meter Sprint
Rest 90 seconds

29
29
30
29
28
27
28
27
29
28

I used my sportband to get the right distance for these, I ran until I got to .7 miles each time. I thought my times were kinda slow, but then again, I'm slow. I just did the google conversion from .7 miles into meters, and I guess it's around 112 meters. I'd be interested to see what my times would be like if I did this on a track with a stopwatch... next time.

wod

1 mile run warm up - 8 min

4 rounds for time of:

7 pull ups
7 dips
15 deadlifts (40#)
Walking Lunge, 30 steps

11:38. had to do some sets out of order because the gym was HOPPING tonight.

first clip of true blood...season 4

I CANNOT WAIT. and i love eric.

nicole kidman at 16

It's fun to go back and watch your own home videos many years later, and it's just as fun to go back and watch old videos of THE STARS. Here's Nicole Kidman at age 16, with hair like we haven't seen on her lately, talking about her newest movie. Wait til they show the clips, it makes me want to get a copy of it and watch immediately.

Nicole Kidman on Young Talent Time from Severin Films on Vimeo.

falling or flying. grace potter and the nocturnals.

wod

5 rounds of:

20 back squats (30#)

30 second handstand holds

around 7:30.

then did some ab work on the balance ball.

warmed up / cooled down with jump rope.

gonna do a 30 DAY SHRED WORKOUT when hoover gets home!

just a lazy bike ride down a hill in spain...

A Hill in Spain from chris akrigg on Vimeo.

via devour.

funny looking animal of the week!

rainy run

1 mile.

7:47

might be doing hoovers new JILLIAN MICHAELS 30 DAY SHRED DVD WORKOUT in a bit. but that's up to her.

i miss this man.

when does mad men start again?

morning run!

4 miles. 34:15.
First time running over 5k in a long time....slowed down a lot at the end. Hit 5k at 26:26.

wish i did work like this...

wod

3 rounds for time of:

400M run

20 dumb bell squat snatch(15#)

20 push ups

14:54.

the squat snatches killed me!

ITS SWEATSHIRT TIME!

An evening at Del Posto is an evening well spent

I fell into a little bit of cash from a Super Bowl Square deal in the last minutes of the Super Bowl and it was burning a hole in my pocket, so last night Hoover, Becca and I decided to live like ballers for an evening — we got dinner at Del Posto, owned by Mario Baltali, Lidia Bastianich and Joe Bastianich.

From beginning to end, it really was a magical dining experience. Our table was in the mezzanine section, so the first thing we did was ascend the beautiful staircase, illuminated by small romantic candles on each step. After we sat down at our table, since we chose not to check our bags, the servers brought us each a small pedestal to put our purses on (insert Joe Young joke here). This was quite a classy touch, making us feel a bit like royalty. The live music coming from the grand piano also added quite a bit to the overall ambience of our meal.

After we were settled, the wine expert came over and spoke to us about what kind of wine we would like for the evening, and we chose a “spicy red” that fell within our price range (aka not expensive). Then they brought us out a “first taste” from the chef, which consisted of small portions of three dishes: a very delicious and flavorful soup, small pastry balls filled with a sort of prosciutto crème, and small risotto balls filled with cheese and covered with GOLD SHAVINGS. We literally ate gold. As a garnish.

After that first taste, we decided to go big or go home, so we all ordered the 5 course-tasting menu. Definitely an amazing choice. We each received an antipasti (appetizer), secondo (meat course) and dolce (dessert), as well as two primi (pasta) dishes for the table to share.

They brought us a basket of various breads, including an airy baguatta, rosemary focaccia, and a rustic Italian roll. The breads were served warm, which I love, and were accompanied by two spreads — a traditional sweet butter, and another spread that featured pork fat. Though I tried both, I have to say I preferred the sweet butter. What was also interesting about the bread was the fact that they would come every so often and take away whatever few pieces of bread we had left, giving us a whole new basket of breads. Though this seemed like a bit of a waste, it ensured that we always had warm bread by our sides, and also made us feel very elite (“Get this cold bread out of my sight immediately, I demand a fresh selection that meets my temperature requirements.”) This was another touch of service that added to the whole experience.

With a little help from one of our many waiters (the service was impeccable), we decided on what we wanted to order. I started with Carne Cruda with Truffled Salsa, Parmigiano-Reggiano & Shaved King Oyster Mushroom. In basic terms, it was a really fancy beef tartare. I thought it was quite delicious, with strong flavors but not too overwhelming.

Next were our two Primi courses, which were my personal favorites. We each received a small plate of each dish, which looked a bit small when they arrived, but were actually the perfect portion for such rich flavors. The Caramelle di Gorgonzola Dolce with Black Truffle Butter was the first to arrive, and it did so with a bang. The pasta was so fresh, and the cheese filling gave it an amazing flavor, especially paired with the sauce it was served in. It was incredible to eat this dish, it’s probably one of the best things I’ve ever eaten — it was that good! For our second pasta dish we all had the Risotto with Vacca Rossa Parmigiano-Reggiano & Aceto Traditionale. This was basically a cheese-based risotto that was really delightful. It was a bit heavy, but the creamy texture was balanced well by a balsamic-like topping that was drizzled atop the dish. Very enjoyable.

For our meat course, I chose the Wood-Grilled Lobster with Artichokes, Almonds & Basils. This was served as a Lobster tail two ways — both grilled and smoked. It was very delicious, although I think I actually preferred our pasta courses to my main dish. Becca and Hoover both enjoyed the Cacciucco with Diver Scallop Carpaccio & Garlic Bread Soup, which was essential a seafood bisque filled with pieces of calamari, shrimp, prawns, crab and lobster. I had a taste of their meal (more on this later), and I thought it was very tasty. Hoover seemed to enjoy it as well, I believe her exact words were, “This is my jam.”

After our meat course, the wait staff gave us a warm towel to clean our fingers with, then they cleared our table and then made sure that the presentation was up to par. One of our servers went around to each of us and took our napkin off our lap using tongs (we thought this was particularly funny), but then the funniest part of the meal happened. While I was tasting Hoover’s main course and maneuvering the spoonful of food towards my mouth, I managed to spill a drop of the red sauce onto the impeccably white tablecloth. Apparently at Del Posto they do not want you to dine on anything but the whitest linen, because after the waiters had cleared our table and scraped off the crumbs, they brought over a white napkin and placed it in front of me to cover up my mess. Though this kind of shamed me for being a rude, messy eater, and Becca referred to it as the “table diaper” for the remainder of the evening, I thought this was hilarious and I’m kind of glad I spilled a little in order for it to happen.

After the table diaper was securely in place, they poured us each a complementary glass of dessert wine, and we ordered our desserts. Bec & Hoov both got chocolate dishes, so I opted for the Butterscotch Semifreddo, which was essentially a Butterscotch flavored gelato-type dessert. It was very good, but again, the best part of the dessert course was a nice touch by Del Posto — in addition to the desserts we ordered, the waiter brought out a small box with individual small servings of three additional desserts for each of us to try. These included: chocolate covered olive oil gelato, a bite size pastry filled with a cream, apple and raisin, and doughnuts filled with a orange crème. Then he SLID A TRAP DOOR OPEN on the small box, and three more individual dessert servings were revealed: a small serving of dark cocoa, a sweet candy that was wrapped in an edible wrapper, and a small piece of grapefruit.

All in all, this was a great dining experience — we got more than our fill and everything was delicious. The service was impeccable, there were probably between eight and ten people who helped us throughout the evening, and all were courteous and knowledgeable. The service didn’t even stop until we were out of sight of the restaurant — on our way out, we were given a small box with a chocolate truffle to take home with us, and when we stepped outside a man was waiting to help us find a cab or car service to wherever we needed to go (we opted for a car service since a cab was nowhere in sight.) Thus ended the night of us being ballers. It may have only lasted one night, but that night will live on forever!

As for Del Posto, it is really a great restaurant and if you are looking for a classy way to spend an evening with truly amazing food, I highly recommend it.

place your bets!

This is an actual prop available at an online betting site right now:

"How many followers will Charlie Sheen have on Twitter by 9pm ET Monday March 7th"

Over 2.4 Million

Under 2.4 Million

I feel like I kind of HAVE to bet on it...

cats that look like ron swanson

Yes, that is an actual website! Check it out here.

If you want to see which cats are Nick Offerman's (the actor who portrays Swanson) favorites, check that out here.

what a great start to a Wednesday morning!

wod

bike 5 miles
16:26

run 1 mile
8:32

then it was the best game of the season for CAN YA DIG IT?? undefeated in the regular season...couple weeks off then it's time for another championship run!

via charlie sheen quotes presented by baby sloths.

thanks wcw!

funny looking animals of the week!

bye bye veganism

Today I woke up and realized my week of being a vegan was over! Then I rejoiced. Vegan week was really hard... Plus towards the end of it my stomach was feeling pretty upset, probably because it was really angry that I wasn't feeding it delicious meats, milk and cheeses.

As for how being a vegan affected me overall, I guess it didn't really make too much of a difference. Besides a couple times when I felt really tired this past week (and I'm not even sure if that was because I was a being a vegan or something else), I felt pretty normal physically. I actually used a scale in Buffalo at the beginning of the week, and a scale in NYC at the end of the week, so I can't say for sure on the weight effect, but the weights were consistent, I don't think I lost any weight from being a vegan. In fact, I think I ate a lot, grazing on different things all throughout the day to keep me satisfied.

I'd say the biggest way it affected me was mentally and socially. It was just hard to have to think about everything I ate, and also it was tough with my lifestyle. If I am doing anything after work, I generally don't have the luxury of stopping home first. So if I went to a bar to watch a basketball game after work, went right over to my brother's apt for a party, or just had a volleyball game later on in the evening, there weren't many options for me to stop and grab something to eat. I think when you're a vegan the best way to do it is make most of your own meals.

Anyways, it was an interesting challenge, but I'm glad it is OVER! Don't think I'll be converting to this lifestyle anytime soon, though it does seem to encourage healthy eating.

Two challenges down, ten to go... feel free to leave comments and recommend what I should take on in the month of March.