The 2008 Running of the Fatboys

2008 has just shown up out of nowhere. And, as in years past, I find myself on the heavy end of the scale. This year, I tip the scales at my largest amount ever - 235 lbs according to the official Fatboy scale at the office.
So, once again, I am participating and organizing the Running of the Fatboys at my company. For the next ten weeks, 90 people in my office have signed up at $30 each challenged with dropping 7% of our weight in that time. The contest has grown from humble beginnings in 2001 when there were about 10 of us.
For several of us, such as myself, the challenge has helped act as something of a reset for slipping back the previous nine months. Every year, we say we won't need to come back and do the challenge again, but we keep ending up back in the challenge the following year.
This year, I have to do better. For, while the 10 week challenge has helped me cut down the previous years gains, I find myself starting the following year heavier than before - I keep bouncing higher than last time. So, this year, I'll be making this post every other Sunday. A picture of my current condition and my weight for that morning. As of today, this is what I look like and this morning's scale reading is 229.0 lbs. There's probably a three pound difference between home and work due to clothing, so I'm down probably three pounds so far.
I'm also not alone. One of my friends in Podcasting, Tony Mast, has a podcast dedicated to his own efforts to get his weight under control. He's a good bit bigger than I am, but as I've listened to his show, I find we are a lot alike, particularly when it comes to how we have packed on as much as we have. He's working to turn it around and so am I. Otherwise, I'm going to find myself one day shopping for a specialty scale.

A Request for Prayer

Greg and Jennifer Willits are two people whom I've never met. But, every week for the last year and a half, I've listened to their voices and taken strength and inspiration from their words. They produce the Rosary Army Catholic podcast, which is largely their family story of being living witnesses to the Catholic faith. Thanks to them and several other Catholic podcasts, my own spirituality has grown stronger.
Several weeks ago on one of their shows, they shared that they were expecting a new baby, who would be their fifth. But, on their latest show last week, they shared that they've now learned that the pregnancy is almost certainly a miscarriage. They went through this same loss two years ago with their last pregnancy and it broke my heart to hear they have suffered so again.
So, I ask that you remember them as they struggle through this painful time. Thank you.

Back from DragonCon

2007 09 01 006_edited-1, originally uploaded by ultimate_ed.

Well, I survived DragonCon! The weekend was a blast, though totally draining. I got to meet up with many of the friends I've made online, especially the gang from Farpoint Media like Jack Mangan, Leann Mabry, and the Wingin It crew.
I got to meet and hang out with authors whose work I've enjoyed like Tee Morris, Scott Sigler, JC Hutchins, Michael A. Stackpole, and Matthew Wayne Selznick.
Plenty of Celebrities were on hand as well. Of course, getting this picture with the Mythbusters build team was massively cool. Their panel was a lot of fun and we got a first showing of an all new blooper reel from the those. I got to see panels featuring cast members from the new Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Farscape.
And, oh the costumes. I've shot about 250 pictures from the weekend and I need to sort through them and get more uploaded to Flickr. It's amazing some of the work that gets put into them.
I doubt I'll be back next year and it is a pretty good size expense all in all, but I do expect I'll make the trip again sometime in the years to come. If you're any kind of geek at all, you've got to make this trip at least once. But, for the love of God, make sure you pre-register! The lines to get through the daily ticket purchase were insane!

A Podcaster Lost

I'm not quite sure why this one has struck me as much as it has. But, it has so I must deal with it. As I've blogged before, I am a podcast junkie. I've learned from various sources that one of my favorite podcasters, Bill Douthett, passed away suddenly yesterday. Better known as "Digital Bill", he was a pioneer in podcasting. He hosted one of the first podcasts I ever subscribed to and continued to enjoy, "The Wizards of Technology."
I didn't know him personally, but his style, wit, and all around class in producing his shows made his work especially enjoyable. He was a fellow geek who enjoyed sharing a love of technology in an accessible way with his listeners, but who also expressed a healthy skepticism of the major tech companies in play today.
I am still just stunned and in shock by this news. And I can see from other posts around the web that I'm not alone. It is just a reminder to me that our time in this life is short and we get to share it with other people for far too short a time. It is important to appreciate the time we have and make that time we have with other people count.
Bill, rest in peace and know that you touched many lives in your time. You will be missed.

Technorati Tag: Bill Douthett

Beer and Bazaars

Well, this has thankfully been a relatively quiet weekend. Only one kids birthday party. I did finally get a chance to try some Shiner Bock to see if I have any hope of liking beer. Sadly, it looks like the answer is no. While I could certainly see a difference in the deep rich color of the beer and the thick head of foam (compared to your typicaly American can beer), at the end of the day, I really couldn't tell that much of a difference in taste. I know, that's going to be a blasphemous statement to all the beer aficionados out there. I just can't get past the bitter aftertaste that seems to be a hallmark of beer by design. Even the beers that beer drinkers consider watery taste pretty bitter. I've always had pretty strong senses and I think I'm just too sensitive to the bitterness to be able to enjoy any other aspect of the beer. Unlike Evo Terra who seems to need to have raw flaming hopps on his tongue to sense any bitterness. More power to him. Thanks again to Charlie the Beer Guy for making a great effort on his show to find me a beer to try.
We also went to the appreciation dinner for the St. Helen Bazaar Workers last night. We didn't stay long, but did get to listen to the highlights from the Bazaar chairman. It was by far the most successful one in the forty year history and has set a high bar for the future. The chairman thanked several groups for the efforts and mentioned the parking crew first of all, which was nice. It's good to know all that sweat proved worthwhile for the church.

beer church bazaar

Speaking of Beer and Podcasts

First, I must confess that I've become a PODCAST junkie. Even before I had my iPOD, I started listening to several different shows. My tastes run from the pious to the profane. I lisetn to tech shows, photography shows, education shows, a number of the shows here, as well as several Catholic related podcasts. Oh and I can't forget the podcast novels such as Sperical Tomi and 7th Son.

Now, I do leave some audio feedback from time to time on these shows and have had them played. But, my latest comment has resulted in a show pretty much dedicated to me, so I thought I'd brag a bit. Speaking of Beer is a podcast about, you guessed it, beer. Now, I'm not a beer drinker myself, so I posed a challenge to the host to see if he could make some recommendations for me to try. Not only did my comment get played, but the focus of Episode 6 was directed at answering this question. Interestingly enough, he came up with local favorite Shiner Bock as a possibility of something that doesn't taste like the typical mass market beer. I'll give one a try and see how it goes. In the meantime, it's an entertaining show and I expect I'll continue to listen, even if I don't end up finding a beer I can enjoy.