Hi, My Name is Leslie and I am on a Diet!

So generally when I go on a diet I don’t tell anyone because I feel it is a waste of time since I don’t want to be embarrassed when I gain the weight back. Well here I am to break my trend.

Hi, I am Leslie and I am on a Diet. I have lost 20 pounds as of last night and plan to lose another 60 before I go into my maintenance phase.

To say I am not a fan of Diets is most likely the understatement of the century. Back in April I was over a friend’s house that I frequent and hopped onto his bathroom scale. I then quickly jumped off the scale appalled to see it register in at 252 pounds. Years ago I was up to290 pounds and knew I had to do something. I started going to the gym and in the process dropped 70 pounds down to 220. Over the past few years I have gradually gained back 32 of those pounds. Now I know how unhappy I can be when I gain weight and I knew I had been eating badly. You see up to January 2006 I had been gradually losing since I moved to Seattle. It was VERY gradual as I had only lost 12 pounds over the course of 18 months but hey I wasn’t gaining weight, right? Well in December of 2005 my older brother moved in with me. This has been a wonderful thing as we are best friends and had not seen each other in several years. Well in the process of him moving in I started to eat foods that he was eating. So here I was regaining all the weight I had worked to keep off.

That day back in April I made a decision, I had to stop eating the bad foods and do something. I started using my crock pot more frequently and eating more the way I like to. Veggies and meat with some rice and pasta on occasion, it was working ok. My jeans were beginning to feel less tight. As I started losing weight I started to think that maybe I should really do something. Over the years I have made many excuses about not dieting and exercising. One of my main excuses was my knees. I scheduled an appointment with an Orthopedist and finally went in to have my knees examined. In spite of being told years ago that I would need surgery this new doctor sent me to a physical therapist. 6 weeks later and I am now done with my therapy and I feel great. With that excuse out of the way and not really any other legitimate excuse I started investigating dieting websites. While doing this I asked around to people that have lost weight. After examining plans and websites I logged onto diet.com. Their theory is a little different from most. You don’t crash diet only eating grapefruit and bacon. You aren’t required to give up any particular foods. This is my #1 issue with diets. I am a rebellious spirit at heart and if you tell me I am not allowed to do or eat something I will fight you regardless if I didn’t really care about the thing, simply because I was told not to. Now this is something I know about myself and work to change but it is a part of who I am.

Diet.com is a few years old from what I can tell. Once you join the site you have access to a Doctor, Registered Dietitian and a forum full of supportive members that are where you are or have been there. Once on the site you take a little test that helps determine your personality. There are 3 parts: your eating personality, your exercise personality and your coping personality. Depending on your answers it determines what your personality type is.

I am a:

Eating Personality: Swing Eater
Exercise Personality: All or Nothing
Coping Personality: Doubtful Dieter

Let’s look at what this means.

Swing Eater

I am either doing REALLY good or REALLY bad. I eat well most of the time but on occasion I binge. Think of it as a pendulum.

All or Nothing:

When it comes to my exercise program I do all of it or nothing. If I can’t hire the personal trainer and torment my body several hours a week I give up and sit at my computer for days on end only moving to get something to eat or go to the bathroom.

Doubtful Dieter:

This is the most accurate description I have ever heard. Boy Howdy am I a doubtful dieter. I step on the scale and even if I have lost 3 pounds I can not believe it. Not to mention I am at a 20 pound loss now (about ¼ of what I hope to lose) and I am beginning to go through the “Well now I am actually losing it but I could never actually maintain this the rest of my life.” Why do I doubt? Well let’s see. When I was 11 yrs old I went on my first diet. Since then I have been on dozens of different diets. Not to mention my Aunt and Mother and Cousins and their dieting lack of success. I have watched several members of my family struggle with weight loss for decades. 20 years later and I am still struggling with mine. How on EARTH could anyone actually lose the weight they need to lose and keep it off? Well that’s a doubtful dieter. I am working every moment of every day to change this thought process.

Once I get home I will post some before pictures. I plan to take a new picture about every other week. Hopefully we will see some progress. 20 pounds down 60 to go.

Coupling

I can not believe I haven't posted about this on my blog. Coupling is the funniest TV show I have ever had the pleasure to view.

Here is a review posted on TV.com that I find extrememly accurate:

Two's company, three's a crowd... so what do you do with six? On average, men and women think about sex every six seconds. Shorten that to every second, and you've got Coupling. It's more than just a one night stand!When a couple gets together, it's never just the two of them - they also bring baggage - and Susan (Sarah Alexander) and Steve (Jack Davenport) are no exception. Their baggage is a crowd of best friends and exes who talk about all aspects of sex and relationships on their never-ending quest to find true love. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

If you have BBC America I suggest you catch it. If you don't find it on DVD. It is worth every second. :-)

What is Perplex City?

After my last post you may be saying "what is Perplex City?" or you may not care if you do not care feel free to surf on to your next stop. :-)

A World of Puzzles, Mystery and Intrigue
www.perplexcity.com

Wired.com says "It sounds like the back story for a cheesy Keanu Reeves vehicle: The Receda Cube has been stolen from the Perplex City Academy and secreted away from the unnamed planet to Earth."

This is a new form of game called a alternate-reality game basically you buy booster packs of cards (6 cards to a booster) and each card is a game, some are math some are logic some are just weird. For a sample card click below:



Once you have the cards you can go online and enter the results and see how you rank compared to thousands of other players but rank is not the important part... the important part is finding the Cube. Somewhere on earth there they have hidden the Cube. If you find it you win $200,000. Do I really think I will win? Nah but the puzzles are quite cool and I need something new to waste brain cells on. :-)

Damn you Eric! Welcome to Perplex City!

haiku's Personal Assessment

You'll be fine. Don't close your eyes. Staring into infinity can only lead to a sense of inadequacy and ultimately insanity. Get yourself a decent pair of shoes. Smart footwear is a key component in developing self-esteem. Your responses to the inkblot test suggest that you have antisocial tendencies if not a criminal record. If the authorities are not currently informed of your whereabouts call your local station immediately and give them your address.

TimesDispatch.com | AP Entertainment

TimesDispatch.com AP Entertainment

When I am having a bad day in the office nothing cheers me up quite like people being stupid. I sit all day and deal with questions from people who don't even give me thier name. They will send things like "Hi I can't log in to your site... fix it" with nothing more... so when I become frustrated by all this I like to know that I am not the only person who has to deal with these people at my job.

You would think if you were going to steal a big screen TV... you would have figured out your get away a little more thoughtfully.

The Kingdom of Loathing

The Kingdom of Loathing

Damn Joe... and Dan... and Eric for infecting me with this site. This is a great way to waste a few mins each day. It is a stick person game full of punny things reminesent of Monty Python. If you are bored it's worth a few minutes of your time. :-)

Movie Review

I got to see a Sneak Preview showing of the newest British Comedy "Kinky Boots"http://www.thefilmfactory.co.uk/kinkyboots/index_flash.html

The characters were well developed and quite loveable. The story was well put together and well I can't wait to find out how to get my hands on a few pairs of the boots I saw.

Favorite Quote: Folks we aren't making shoes... we are making Two and One-Half Feet of Irresistible, Tubular, Sex

If you liked the Full Monty and/or Calendar Girls you will love this one! I sure did!!

Age of Empires III

I went to the store a few weeks ago to find a game to help pass the time. A friend suggested AOE 3 in hopes that I would be his game guinea pig. The game is quite an improvement on past versions. The gathering of resources is a little less annoying on most stages. Also it is easier to gather as your peons do not have to run back and forth to your town hall when they are full. I haven't finished it quite yet but would rank it 4 out of 5 stars. A good game with a nice story line.

Dr. Phil says "To relieve stress finish things..."

You, too can find inner peace...

I am posting this because it definitely worked for me and we could all use more calm in our lives.

By following the simple advice I heard on a recent Dr. Phil show, I have finally found inner peace. Dr. Phil proclaimed the way to achieve inner peace is to simply finish all the things you have started in life.

So I looked around my house to see things I started and hadn't finished; and, before leaving the house this morning I finished off a bottle of Captain Morgan Rum, a bottle of Baileys, a bottle of Midori, a package of Oreos, the remainder of my Percocet prescription, the rest of a Cheesecake, some Saltines and a box of Chocolates.

You have no idea how freaking good I feel.

Ok Did it again- Song "The Bride"

You know how you hear just the perfect song for your mood. Something you NEEDED to hear? It may be a song you have heard over and over again or a new song you have never heard before. Well this is a brand new song that popped up on my Pandora Country station. Here are the lyrics:

Artist/Band: Trick Pony

Lyrics for Song: The Bride

Lyrics for Album: R.I.D.E.

The day's finally here,

There's flowers everywhere.

The guests are waitin' with sweet anticipation.

As I look down the aisle,

The preacher stops an' smiles.

Church bells are ringin' an' the organ is playin'.

I'm so overcome that I could cry.

I'm so happy I'm not the bride.

She's such a pretty thing,

She don't know anythin':

Ain't gonna tell her that she's outta her mind.

The preacher asks the question:

No, I got no objection.I do, I do;

I want him out of my life.

Throw the rice an' let those white doves fly:

Oh, happy day: I'm not the bride.

Eat some more cake,

Throw the bouquet,

Pass the champagne,

it's time to celebrate.

I'm gonna dance this night away,

Whoa, whoa, yeah.

The groom is gettin' loud,

His new wife starts to shout.

Oh, this is perfect, it can only get better.

They're fightin' in the car, off to a real good start.

His momma's cryin'.

Aren't they lovely together?

They're drivin' away, we're wavin' goodbye.

Close call, relax, Amen, Hallelujah,

By the grace of God go I: I'm not the bride.

Well, I'm not the bride.

I'm free, I'm free, I'm free.

I'm not the bride.

Thank God!

Goodbye now.

Good luck girl.

You're gonna need it.

Ha, ha, ha.

Ta-ta.

Song I Love

This is one of my favorite songs and each time I have a break up (husband... boyfriend...) It becomes more and more true to me:

Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
From the pain that you drive into the heart of me
The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
And I've lost my light
For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night

(chorus)
Once I ran to you (I ran)
Now I'll run from you
This tainted love you've given
I give you all a boy could give you
Take my tears and that's not nearly all
Oh...tainted love
Tainted love

Now I know I've got to
Run away I've got to
Get away
You don't really want IT any more from me
To make things right
You need someone to hold you tight
And you'LL think love is to pray
But I'm sorry I don't pray that way

(chorus...)
Don't touch me please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you though you hurt me so
Now I'm going to pack my things and go
Tainted love, tainted love .
Tainted love, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Touch me baby, tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love

New Discovery: Flickr.com

So this morning I was reading an article on the "re-birth" of the web. In the article it talks about a picture sharing website.

http://www.flickr.com

It's like a high class webshots without the screensaver. If you like photography you should really check this out. The pictures are quite amazing. :-) Maybe add some of your own. I plan to.

Running Crazy

So this week has been kinda nice at work. I am very busy and so the time is actually movig fairly quickly. I took a break this morning (boss says in my review that I need to take more breaks... not something I am willing to disagree with). So on this break I started searching for "Squishy Cat" just wanted to see what I might find.

So I run across this:

http://www.boomspeed.com/hai_ku/cat-carrier.jpg

Enjoy!

What is your Superhero name?

Your Superhero Profile

Your Superhero Name is The Caped Zombie Your Superpower is Divine intervention Your Weakness is Cowboys Your Weapon is Your Foam Catapult Your Mode of Transportation is Vortex

What's your Superhero Name?

All Flesh Must Be Eaten

So last year a coworker of mine opened up an RPG night using a Zombie RPG called "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" it was a riot we had a blast. Well I recently picked up a copy and since I am in Zombie Movie mode it seemed like a good idea to get the group together and run a campaign. I have forgotten how much goes into being a DM or in this case a ZM (Zombie Master) hehe. We will see how it works out.

Pandora Music

So thanks to a friend I found this new website:

www.pandora.com

This is an interactive site where you can choose what kind of music you listen to. Simply set up a station and type in a Singer or song you like. The program will do the rest. If you type in "Madonna" for example it will play pop/rock, lots of 80s, etc.

The more info you give it the smarter it gets. If you don't like a cong it plays simply tell it and it will minimize how often the type of song is played. I have been using Yahoo Launchcast which is similar, but this is a different system. This will play songs that may not have been a top 40 song. I have really enjoyed this program.

When you are listening to a song you can ask it "Why did you play this song?" This is what it told me about Toby Keith's "As Good As I Once Was"

Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features country roots, acoustic rhythm piano, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, major key tonality and many other similatiries identified in the music genome project.

So based on this it will play songs that have country roots, acoustic rythym piano... etc.

Very cool.

Pandora Music

Your Kissing Purity

Your Kissing Purity Score: 17% Pure

For you, it's all kiss and no talk. You're in a permanent lip lock.

Kissing Purity Test

Zombies...

So when I was a kid my older brother loved scaring me with Horror Movies. I grew up with all the oldies. On Saturday after the morning cartoons there was a show called "Creature Feature". They had an old man in a Vampire costume who was the host while they played bad B movies.

Well I grew up and got married and my ex-husband didn't like horror so years go by and I miss out.

Now I am divorced and free to watch what I will (I won't go into why I gave up something as silly as Horror movies to stay married) and my older brother and I move in to the same apartment and once again he continues my Zombie education.

Enter "Dawn of the Dead" this masterpiece written by George Romero. The scariest Zombie movie EVER! Why you may ask?

The Zombies RUN! They don't shamble... they don't wander... they RUN... they chase people and are vicious in a way no zombies ever were. This is a whole new world of zombies.

In past zombie movies people were (generally) able to easily out run any zombie... but not in the "Dawn of the Dead" oh no... the zombies are like packs of rabid dogs.

If you have not yet discovered the gory gift that is "Dawn of the Dead" I think you should add it to your NetFlix ASAP.

My First Blog

So recently my friend mentioned that I have a lot to say and too little time to say it in, so I should start blogging. So here I am. :-)