July 31, 2011
4:23 pm
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 17: A song that you often hear on the radio.

Wow, I was doing so well at doing this challenge every day, then I totally dropped the ball.

Picking up where I left off….

I very seldom listen to the radio. The last song I remember hearing somewhat frequently on the FM dial was this little number.

Posted in Music

July 28, 2011
8:39 am
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 16: A song that you used to love but now hate.

For this one, I’m going to go waaaay back to early high school years.

When I first started playing saxophone, I somehow thought Kenny G was amazing. I used to love this song in particular:

I grew out of this phase fairly quickly, especially after I discoverd John Coltrane and Charlie Parker.

Posted in Music

July 26, 2011
11:17 am
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 15: A song that describes you.

Wow, this is a very difficult one.

Someone once told me that this song was a good one to describe me, but I don’t think a lot of it fits (except for maybe the chorus….)

So that was the first one to come to mind. I’ve racked my brain for the last several minutes trying to come up with my “real” answer…..

It may be indicative of a low self-esteem or intense self-doubt, but this song has always spoke to me in a “wow, that’s totally me” kind of way. And even though the lyrics do show a level of not believing in one’s self,  I feel that in some odd way it’s hopeful as well. It’s basically “I may not be the best looking or successful guy, but I still have a lot to give.” And I like to hope that describes me.

Posted in Music

July 25, 2011
10:40 am
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 14 – A song that no one would expect you to love.

Since I’m a fairly left-leaning, liberal kind of guy, it would possibly come as a surprise to some people that I actually enjoy this little Toby Keith/Willie Nelson number.

Posted in Music

July 24, 2011
10:35 pm
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 13: A song that is a guilty pleasure.

If I had thought a lot harder, I could probably have come up with a better choice.

It’s late, and I want to go to bed, so I’m going with the first thing I could come up with to fit the bill.

This song is way more sugary-pop than I usually enjoy, but there’s something terribly catchy about it.

Posted in Music, Uncategorized

July 23, 2011
10:14 am
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 12: A song from a band you hate.

Wow. Hmm. What band do I hate? I’m having a rather difficult time thinking of one.

I guess I was never very fond of Mariah Carey….but I don’t know her library well enough to pick a song. So I’ll grab one at random from Grooveshark.

This one works.

Posted in Music

July 22, 2011
9:25 pm
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 11: A song from your favorite band.

This one is easy.

At least, the band part. It may be the one “favorite” in music I don’t even have to stop to think about. Bela Fleck & The Flecktones has been my favorite band, by far, for nearly two decades.

Picking which song to share, on the other hand, has proved to be a smidgen tougher. They have so very many songs that I absolutely love.

I decided to go with a selection from the absolutely amazing “Live at the Quick” concert DVD/Recording. This is one of my most loved songs from that set.

Posted in Music

July 22, 2011
11:57 am
by: Porthos

FatAss Friday #8

  • Starting weight: 365
  • Last week’s weight: 343.4
  • Current weight: 339.8
  • 3.6 pound lost this week
  • 25.2 pounds lost total

My body did some very, very strange things this week.

Last weekend (weekends with my kids are always hard on my diet) I really fell off the wagon, and when I woke up and weighed in on Monday morning the scale said I had gained something like 5 or 6 pounds, putting me nearly back to 350.

So the rest of the week I drank plenty of water, ate pretty healthy food, and kept my calories right around 2000 a day while also trying to get some walking in. It didn’t seem to make much of a difference and when I weighed in yesterday (I step on the scales almost every morning but the only number I really worry about is the one each Friday) I was still showing a slight gain from last week.

Then I woke up and did my official weigh-in this morning. I was shocked. 339.8, nearly 4 pounds lost since last week, about 5 or 6 pounds down from yesterdays weigh-in, and finally over the 25 pound mark.

I had such a hard time believing it I re-weighed myself probably around 10 times. 6 or 7 of those 10 came up with the same number, 339.8, while a couple showed 339.0 and one or two were 340-ish. So figure 339.8 still pretty well split the difference.

I am baffled. I don’t know if I was retaining huge amounts of water (hopefully) or if my scale is malfunctioning and lying to me (hopefully not) but either way with the repeated weigh-ins it seems like it must be fairly accurate. So I think I just hit a milestone – 25 pounds lost!

Check out Fat Ass Friday at You Don’t Know to see how others are doing!

Posted in FatAss Friday, Health & Fitness

July 21, 2011
11:06 pm
by: Porthos

30 Day Song Challenge – Day 10: A song that makes you fall asleep.

This was another difficult choice to make. I can’t sleep with music playing, it keeps me awake. So I’ve never had a song that I could drift off too.

If there was one, it might be Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera. Both lyrically and musically, it reminds me of that time of night just as one begins to finally drift into slumber.

Posted in Music

July 21, 2011
1:29 pm
by: Porthos

Excuse me, Dragon, would you care to Dance?

So…..

Last night I finished a book that I’ve anticipated for roughly 6 years: A Dance With Dragons, the 5th installment of George R. R. Martin’s fantastically epic A Song of Ice and Fire series.

In a word, wow! While I am disappointed with how few current subplots were wrapped up, it’s still an amazing read. It’s slightly frustrating, in that most of the last few chapters end with major cliffhangers, and for some of my favorite characters to boot. If I have to wait 6 more years for the next book, my heart might give out.

So much happens though. The fictional world is troubled by so much conflict and imminent danger, and it seems like in this book all the different factions and powers and people are getting moved around like pieces on a RISK board – while there are a few skirmishes here and there much of the plot for this book seems like a setup for the real game to get started.

Martin does such an amazing job of writing, and I have nothing more than a few theories about what will happen next. If the last few books are any indication, 98% of my theories will be not only wrong, but amazingly wrong.

It would seem that, like Jon Snow, I know nothing.

Posted in Books