Well I don’t think i’ve lost a pound, but I hear my friend Xerxes has lost 16. I’ve also broken my wrist from snowboarding which limits me from riding my bike on the road so I have to make the best out of my stationary trainer. The MS150 is three months away so i’ve gotta train. Losing 40 pounds would cause me to push 40 less pounds on the bike lol.
I have to admit that over the last few months, I’ve been pretty terrible at keeping myself active. Typical work day would result in me coming home STARVING, going straight to the kitchen and starting up dinner, watching tv, getting online… and it was just an overall feeling of laziness because I was exhausted from work. Now, I “try” to get to work by 8 so I can get out at 5 to fit a ride in because the sun’s going down earlier and earlier. I’ve somehow gotten it into my head not to overeat as well. I’m also going on a fried food hiatus. Recently, I’ve recognized how often I was eating french fries. A good two and a half years ago, I seriously couldn’t remember the last time I had a burger and fries. I wanna go back to that. My problem is that if you put all this food in front of me, I can eat it. If you tell me that you’re going to throw away food, I’m going to eat it.
Ever since getting this bike, I’ve been pretty motivated to ride this thing every chance I get. I hope it doesn’t wear off. I hope I keep this going for years and years to come. Granted, I spent more than some would plan on spending on a bike if they’re not a serious rider, but I WANT to get serious about it. Now that I’ve stated it on this blog, I’m held accountable, haha. I have to get serious.
I think one trigger for me getting serious about this whole thing was the health checkup they do for free at work. I think for someone my height, I’m supposed to be down to 165lbs in order not to be called overweight… I’m currently lingering around 200lbs. I think according to their chart, if I kept the trend up, I was on my way to being obese. It was also the first time that they told me I was about to have high blood pressure and I was about to have high cholesterol. No bueno. I used to be able to breeze through these stupid checkups. Now I actually have to pay attention to this stuff. Maybe I should use my damn health insurance for seeing the doctor on a yearly basis, lol.
Another trigger was Mr. Allan Jamir. Success story. We flew up to New York City the other weekend and he confirmed that he weighs less than me. Allan used to be really fat and unattractive. When we saw him coming downstairs from his work to meet us when we first arrived, I had to really say, “Damn he looks good now.” Haha. I know they walk alot in NYC, but my face is looking fat in pictures. Good thing I’m behind the camera most of the time.
Also, it was pretty depressing when we were at the UNIQLO grand opening of their worldwide flagship store that all I could fit into was their SIZE 38. Give me the benefit of the fact that I’ve usually had big thighs because of all the running I used to do. Their $10 jeans were sort of straight fit for guys with skinnier legs than me.
The last time I was close to 200lbs was like 3 and a half years ago and I was able to get back down to 165. So I think it’s doable if I can keep this up through the winter. Speaking of Winter, I bought a bike trainer for 50 bucks on Craigslist to mount my bike on so I can ride when it’s cold outside. I seriously have no excuse to not workout every day because I can watch TV episodes while I’m on there.
Anyway, here’s to losing a few pounds and feeling healthier.
Well, I finally moved on up to a road bike. After owning a Trek FX 7.2 hybrid bike that I bought on Craigslist a while back, I realized that I was getting passed up all the time by people who looked like they were putting less effort on their road bikes, lol. I had gone on a few bike rides at work sponsored by Mellow Johnny’s and couldn’t really hang for too long. Granted I am probably out of shape, I knew the hybrid bike was limiting me. So a few weeks after those rides I decided to seriously look around.
I knew I was going to have to put a pretty decent investment into a good bike, but as I’ve been stepping onto the scale and buttoning my pants lately, I really needed to get a good bike that would help me get pretty serious about getting back in shape.
My first stop was at Jack and Adam’s on Barton Springs Rd. The guy there was pretty helpful right off the bat. I’ve been to a bike store before where the people just plain-old sucked. They’re snobs, not very helpful. Anyway, the guy at Jack and Adam’s convinced me that the Felt Z85 was pretty much the best bang for my buck. I did some research to see what other bikes came with Shimano 105 components and I think that this bike was the cheapest. It also had a nice matte paint job which almost makes it look like it’s carbon fiber but it’s not. As much research and comparing that I did, I was still pretty much sold on the Z85. Unfortunately, Jack and Adam’s didn’t have any in my size in stock so I had to wait almost 2 weeks for it to come in. What’s awesome is that they let you take it home with you for a few days to try it out. Most other bike stores just let you take it for a 15 minute spin around the area.
I was amazed by how much quicker I could zoom by on this bike compared to what I used to have. The difference in shifting was easy to get used to and the ride felt A LOT more comfortable.
So I’m still starting out, but I think I should be able to consistently do rides more than 20 miles at this point. I definitely wanna be able to go out on much longer rides. I have to get used to being on a bike for pretty extended lengths of time. I notice myself having pretty crappy form so I get a bit sore, so I’ll need to fix that. I’m really looking forward to getting serious about road biking and getting myself un-fat.
I don’t really have a lotta time to update since we booked a tour and it’s leaving in about 25 minutes, but China’s been pretty good so far. We’ve been able to get around without knowing the language… the hardest part is probably at restaurants ESPECIALLY when they don’t have pictures on their menu, haha. Currently we’re in Beijing, but we should be headed back to Suzhou (2 hour drive from the Shanghai airport) tomorrow. Of course we’ve been taking lots of pics, but that will probably get uploaded when we get back 
We’re here for one more week and then it’s back to the US where I can have a good burger.
Us at the Forbidden City
It’s been a few weeks since we last attended my cousin’s wedding up in Vancouver, but I knew I had to vent on this particular topic. Disclaimer: I’m not a professional wedding photographer. I just have a DSLR with some non-kit lenses, lol. Anyway, I have a list of guidelines that people need to follow.
1.) SIT YOUR ASS DOWN. (1 previous offense witnessed)
Here’s the thing – when I’m at a wedding, I stay in my seat. If you’re not the official photographer, SIT YOUR ASS DOWN. If you want good pictures, find a good seat and STAY THERE. It’s effing ridiculous when you have people that own DSLRs getting in the middle of the damn aisle and blocking people’s view of the ceremony. I’m surprised the official photographer wasn’t getting upset.
2.) TURN OFF THE DAMN BEEPING ON YOUR CAMERA (2 previous offenses witnessed)
We were at a wedding in Houston where this one old lady was reviewing her pictures and going through the menu and a BEEP was going off every time she hit a button on her camera. WTF Mate?! It’s so distracting. The offense was also witnessed at a wedding here in Austin. The lady was sitting right behind me. I turned around, gave her a nasty face, and told her to turn off the Auto Focus beep. Turns out she was a relative of the bride from Hawaii 
Oops. That doesn’t absolve you though from proper wedding photography etiquette.
Follow these rules and you’ll be on your way to avoiding a nasty look from me.
One of my more favorite shots… Shot w/ a 70-200 f/4L
A kind email I wrote to the TSA right now…
I want to thank the TSA in Seattle for breaking my TSA lock. What of the point of me buying these if you guys are going to break them anyway. You are wasting my money.
Attached is a picture of the other lock that came with the one you broke.
Thanks,
Frank
We got to the airport super late today. Checked in our bags like 20 minutes before the flight. Kristine is optimistic that our bags made it. Luckily we have time to kill in seattle so if our bags come in late, we can get them pretty easily. If anyone has had a drink on southwest, they are pretty strong. We have a ton of drink tickets and no food. I might hurl at 30000 feet.
Currently in phoenix. Still gotta stop on vegas.
Whenever the Houston friends come into town, you can expect the “excessive”. This term was coined during camping last year. Pre-drinking at Marc’s, Pluckers for wings and beers, then we end up somewhere in the warehouse district. That was Friday. Saturday involved pho to soothe the hangover, a brewery tour at the Jester King Brewery for more beer, then Albert and his band had a show which was the first time for a lot of us, then dirty sixth to Mike Canlas’s delight. Luckily I don’t play golf (yet) so I didn’t have to wake up early like some people. But we did meet them at Buffet Palace for lunch. For dinner I was telling myself I had enough of eating out, but we still went to have burgers at Mighty Fine BECAUSE THEY CLOSED RED ROBIN ON BRODIE. BOOOOOO! Overall, it was a fun weekend. Luckily we don’t do this very often, but it’s a hell of a lot of fun when we do.
I brought out the camera to our brewery visit which was pretty fun and relaxing. I picked up a cheap Velbon monopod several weeks back to help stabilize the camera without having to awkwardly set up a tripod everywhere, but there’s obviously tradeoffs. It’s very portable, but the footage is still too shaky for my liking. There’s a good Manfrotto monopod that runs for almost $300 bucks but I don’t think that’s within my budget at the moment. There’s a ton of camera equipment I feel like I need before we do a lot of travelling soon but I’m just postponing the splurge for as long as possible. With all this equipment, I still don’t think I have any aspirations of going into video or photography professionally. I might try a trial gig for fun, if I ever get good enough… It’d be nice to be able to have some extra cash I suppose. But I just wanna take nice pictures and video without any pressure from a client who’s expecting quality work. I don’t really need that added stress right now.
Anyway, here’s the video…
I can’t seem to find myself any good music lately so I’m gonna just share some old music… which is still good. In my opinion. Just a sampler.
Incubus – Are you In
A Perfect Circle – The Outsider
Reik – Inolvidable
WOW, I HAVE to see this place when we go to Victoria next month. It’s absolutely my dream as the owner of a macro lens!
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