Bees!!

They have only been with us for a few short weeks, but they are fascinating! We love our bees, and for the most part (besides 2 minor disagreements), they love us too!  I have had bees for the past 3 years.  It's been an adventure.  Other than one, rather unfortunate incident, we haven't gotten stung!  It's been a blast, and the honey can't be beat!!  I'll be sure to include a few pictures as we progress through out the season!  At one point I would stream a live webcam of the bees, is that something you would like?

The Countdown begins

I won't lie, I'm excited for Spring and Summer of 2014! This year for Christmas, we got season passes to Lagoon. It's an ammusement park just north of Salt Lake City.  I'm so excited in fact, that I've made this countdown clock for the opening of the park.

HTTP://COUNTINGDOWNTO.COM

Let the Dadventures begin!

It has to be true...It's science

Just wanted to share this video...it has to be true because he has a British accent...

7 Unbelievable Facts About Other Planets

Simple things in life

Isn't life about enjoying the simple things?  I don't know that I have much profound to say right now, except for the fact that I just went to Quiznos...and I got a peppercorn steak sandwich...and it was so, very yummy.

Simplify and Take Control

It seems like I let this die...I shouldn't have. So let it live once again.

I've looked at what I've posted in the past and I've started WAY too many blogs, for way to many things. I've started a food review blog, and a writing blog, and a blog for random thoughts. I'm stoping now and consolidating them all. Simplify and take control!! That's my motto!!

I'm not sure why

I'm not sure why it is that I'll write for a while and then die off...maybe it's my short attention span, my ADD, or just that I'm...wait is that something shinny?

It's been a year...my last post was about Bees...well to bring you up to speed, I got about 60 pounds of honey from my hive.  I STILL haven't used it all.  We had wax, and the most incredible garden.  All in all, it was a success, so much so that my Dad now has 2 hives, and I've doubled mine too.  If last year was any guide, we could have well over 200 pounds of honey.

I have a few other projects that I'm working on that I'll bring everyone up to speed on soon...

Bees!

Well I've started a new hobby that's right bee keeping! I have a hive of nearly 10,000 bees living right outside my bedroom window. Not only did I do that but I've started a 24 hour BEE CAM!!! It'll be on this blog on the right. It has night vision and you should be able to see me work on the bee hive when it's time! Let me know what you think!

Day 43...Still no sign of water...

Several years ago my father some friends and I were jeeping and hiking around Canyonland's national park. In Canyonland's there isn't water anywhere...it's sandstone canyons as far as you can see. It's a far cry from the lush forests mountain scene that is Yellowstone.
After a morning of driving through the trails of the park, we got out and decided to go on a hike down into a slot canyon. We made sure and took plenty of water. It was then that my friend Bill started with the narrations.
The best way to describe Bill's one man narration of our hike was like, he was reading out of the journal of Tom Hank's character in Castaway.

Bill: Day 4, there are 4 of us still alive.  The sounds through out the night make it nearly impossible for us to sleep.  Our hope is that tomorrow we can find some food.

Bill: Day 12, We've searched every where, no sign of civilization.  Steve's gotten sick, sure hope he pulls through.  Need to find food and water soon.

Bill: Day 47 Still no water, can't take much more of this.

I tell this story, not simply because it's now a running joke in my family (seriously just say in an exasperated voice, "Day 47..." he'll bust up laughing), but because I think an overlooked part of any nutrition plan is water.  Lots and lots of water.
We're bombarded with advertisements and in the grocery store with ads for sports drinks, and diet sodas and who can forget this guy...



There is a feeling out there that it's just water, and somehow adding stuff to it...is always better.  Now don't get me wrong, there is a place for the Juiceman's wonder juices, and there is even a place for Gatorade, however neither of these surpass water in terms of what it'll do for your body.

Let's look at some of the facts about water.  Your body is made up of about 60% water.  Think about that if you way 200 pounds, more than 120 pounds of you is water! 
According to Susan Kleiner, PhD, RD, and author of Power Eating, "Most people are walking around in a moderately dehydrated state."  Remember hearing that we all need 8 glasses a day?  Well according to Dr. Kleiner...that's the bare MINIMUM!!  If you exercise at all...you need more. 

So before I've mentioned this game we're playing.  Part of the game is drinking the right amount of water.  We each have to drink 3 liters a day.  It sounds like a ton, and at first it feels like it, but then it's really not that bad.  In drinking enough water you actually turn of the internal switch that forces your body to store water for fear of dehydration, so by drinking more water, you actually LOSE water weight!  Weird...

The bare minimum is a 8 glasses a day, that's about 2 liters.  The moment you exercise, (and we're all exercising) you need more.  You've increased your metabolism and when you were working out...you expelled 4 cups just by breathing harder, and 1-2 quarts by sweating...all of that needs to be replaced.

The other big plus is that water takes up space.  Yup that's right, it takes up space in my stomach that might other wise be filled with chips or cheese puffs.  It suppresses my appetite.  
I've been drinking 3 L of water every day.  I feel great.  It does take some planning.  I have a large metal water bottle at my desk that I fill up 4 times a day.  Once at home before work, twice at work and then once when I'm home relaxing.

Try it, try drinking 3 liters of water a day.  Give your body some time to get used to it, and see how you feel.  Let me know!

Bear Trap

So my sister sent me this video. It stars a good friend of her's Luke. This is where I live. I'm a lucky man. I want to be able to ski like this...yet another reason I'm getting in shape!

Bear Trap 1-3-11 from Jed Whittaker on Vimeo.

The Game is On! GO A-Team

So I tried the go-it-alone approach, and to be honest...it wasn't that great. Even with supportive comments and calls from my friends and readers of the blog...so I've taken a new tact...a CAGE MATCH OF FITNESS...

That's right we're in an all out brawl of healthly living. I read a book...The Game On Diet by Krista Vernoff. Before I get into the book, let me be clear about one thing, the author is a TV writer, the head writer as a matter of fact for Grey's Anatomy. I'll put it this way...if I was a kid, and used language like she does, I'd have eaten plenty of soap.

Now back to the meat of the book...

I think most of us have taken part of some sort of weight loss competition. Let's see who can lose the most weight, or who can lose the biggest percentage of weight. The question is...is that always the best thing? Should weight loss be the biggest concern in fitness? Or should your fitness goal be based on Fitness. Especially with Isabelle Caro in the news lately, the model who died of anorexia, we're all aware that simple weight loss is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal should be a healthy fit body and a healthy lifestyle.

The book, proposes a competition, fitness competition based on a healthy life rather than simple weight loss. It takes place over 6 weeks and is designed to change living habits. The problem you'll find with Jenny Craig, or Nutrisystem is that while they may be effective, they don't teach you anything about healthy living so in order to maintain the progress that you make while on the plans, you must stay on those plans, indefinitely. Clever business model, but not a Fit life.

You start with two teams roughly equal in size and designate a score keeper for each team. You get points each day for meals eaten, taking time to sleep at night, drinking water, even starting a good NEW habit and stopping an old BAD habit, and no those habits don't have to be health related. My bad habit I'm trying to break is being sarcastic.

What really intrigued me was the communication point. Yup communication with the players on the team. You get points for communicating with the opposite team. What a cool concept. Now I have built in support from everyone on my team...and a bit of built in trash talk with the other team.

In addition to getting points you get penalized for certain bad behavior. For example you get a penalty for snacking. You're allowed to step on the scale once a day, every time after that, penalty. (remember weight isn't the goal here...but it will just happen.

Each week you submit your scores to your scorekeeper, your teams scores are averaged and the team with the most points over 6 weeks wins.

Pretty simple really but so much fun. I'm excited to kick the other teams trash...

We started the game with my family. I set up the teams and took the liberty of naming the teams. We're playing boys vs girls. I named the guys team "The A-Team. The girls...I named, "Team Edward." All of the women on the team HATE

Twilight. I'll make sure I keep everyone updated...I sent the following text message to a member of Team Edward...

"Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
Team Edward Will lose
And the A team is so Awesome that this line doesn't even have to come close to rhyming...

Light and Darkness

The Status of the Battle

Melissa's Snowmen Pops...there's cake in there..

Alright time for a review.  As I've stated before, I'm trying to lose weight during Christmas time.  I realize that this is quite possibly the WORST time to start a fitness plan, however, I couldn't bring myself to wait until January 1st again!  I've been pretty diligent in some things, and need to work in some other areas. Most importantly I've learned and I've been able to apply what I've learned to making me stronger!

I think I need to clarify one thing first.  I believe that this is an especially difficult undertaking for me.  You see my wife, enjoys cooking, and she's good at it...I mean REALLY good.  Perhaps cook wouldn't be the right word.  I'm thinking a more appropriate word would be a "culinary artiste."  So far she's made dipped chocolates, snowman looking cake pops (these are both a feat of flavor and engineering), caramels,  and meringues.  That does not even take into account the regular food that she makes.  The thought of turning down anything that she makes should be considered an act of treason.

So when this INCREDIBLE food is in the house, what do you do?  Well I've learned to be picky.  I've learned sometimes it's best just to taste the food, enjoy the food, rather than gorge on it.  Because I eat these special foods in small quantities, I want to make sure that everything that goes in my mouth is quality.  What I've found is that although the quality of the food I eat has gone WAY up, because the quantities of food I'm eating have dropped, I'm actually saving money by eating a higher quality food.  And my wallet thanks me.

I've always dreaded working out.  It's always been a hassel.  Maybe it comes from a jack-wad of a High School swimming coach, who felt it was better to mock a guy trying his hardest rather then encourage him to do better.  My coach, John, made work outs painful, and not in the I'm building muscle sort of way, rather the you are a waste of space kind of way.  Ever since then, there has been deep seeded hatred in my mind associated with going out, and lifting weights.  I know that if I'm going to be successful, I'll need to put on my big boy pants and get over it.

So I've tried to change things up with the way I work out.  One thing I'm trying are more intense but shorter work outs, basically a 20 minute interval work out.  That one practice has eliminated the major excuse that seems to find in the morning, that is I look at my clock and notice that it's 6:30 and way to late to go work out.  Nope that's plenty of time to get out of bed, throw on my biking clothes and hop on my bike.

The second thing I've tried is to try different activities for a work out.  Last night for example, I went with my brother in law and played Dodgeball.  I forgot what a workout dodgeball was.  If you've read my posts you've also found that I'm trying Rugby.  I'm fascinated with that sport.  If you get a chance, watch the video I posted on how the sport works.

I've increased my sleep time.  I'm making an effort to get 7 hours of sleep per night.  I can't believe what a difference that's made.  I have more energy in my workouts, I'm thinking more clearly throughout the day.  Some may call me lazy, but I'm calling it smart.

Finally, I'm drinking a lot more.  Yup that's right I might as well say it, Yes My Name is Steve, and I'm a drinker."  Of course I'm drinking water...a LOT of water.  I'm drinking about 3 liters a day.  It sounds like a ton, and it is, but it's been so good for me.  I've found that I feel better.  If you doubt me try reading this 11 benefits for drinking water...  DRINK WATER

The Rules or Rugby...explained with a video game

Note From a Doctor

A friend of mine is a doctor and heard about what I'm trying to do...he wrote me a note and I thought it was worth passing on...

I personally have lost 50 lbs since medical school, which was a most unhealthy time for me (ironic). These are few things I've learned along the way personally, and that I learned in medical school (while I was gaining weight) and working with patients as I started my own journey.
Looks like you are cutting out all carbonation, which is good. The research is mixed, but I personally think that even diet soda stimulates the appetite. If the water isn't doing it for you, you can always try the gatoraid/poweraid powder add-in stuff to flavor the water, just a few calories (check the label) and makes it not so boring.
One thing I tell all my patients is to think of your daily calories like a bank account. You start the day with 2500, and you can spend it any way you like. But when the money/calories are gone you are done. Stop by Krispy Kreme on your way to work, and 2 doughnuts later and you have 500 calories less in your account (or worse-- McDonalds-- check out their breakfast nutrition facts-- you'll easily use up over a 1000 calories with a hotcakes meal). Go to the gym and put in some good cardio, and you'll add 500-1000 calories (or more) back into your bank.
If you cut out 500 calories a day, you will loose a pound a week without increasing your activity level. Of course, increase your activity and you'll loose more. You shouldn't loose more than a few pounds a week. I remind all of my patients to have some patience, since the weight didn't accumulate overnight and it won't come off overnight. It's normal to loose, then plateau; you may need to change up your routine if that happens.
In order to keep track of your calories, you'll need to look at labels and maybe spend time on the internet. Most restaurants (chains) will list their nutritional information, but often it's buried. You may like the websitehttp://www.fitday.com/, which lets you track your calories and your activity for a more accurate calculation of where you are at. There are a million helps out there-- if you have an android phone, you might try CardioTrainer. I use the Nike+ application for my iPod touch because it keeps me honest with my runs and tracks my progress.
You'll be amazed at food that sounds so healthy, but is really full of carbs and calories. (Marketing)
Changing your mindset: Portion sizes are often a big problem. There is a great book that I would highly recommend called "Mindless Eating" (http://www.mindlesseating.org/). It will change the way you look at food and make you think about the unconscious things that we do that will add hundreds of calories more into our daily diet.
That's the short and condensed version, much more if you want it. Looking forward to following your successful journey.

Day 1 The Battle Begins or Why hasn't anyone told me about Rugby Before

Today had it's ups and downs... fortunately more ups than downs.  I woke up later than I wanted to which meant I wasn't able to work out in the morning.  Easy fix...work on the alarm and getting to bed early...a feat which I seem to be failing at again tonight....argghh CURSE YOU VIN DIESEL MOVIES!
Had a nice breakfast of FRESH EGGS, that's right Fresh as in right from my chickens (but I'll leave that for another post)...
Work wasn't bad.  My office provides fresh fruit every day.  So when I got a little hungry banana it was!  I got busy during lunch and actually forgot to eat!  Not a good plan.  I wasn't really hungry then, but a few  hours later I was dying.   So I asked the facebook world what I should do.  Some of the suggestions I got were:
Gum
Celery
Apple
Carrots
Water
Raw Spinach
Fiber
Even some eating dirt...by playing Rugby
I'm going to try the suggestions that were given and see how they go.  Just because of accessibility,  I took  a co-worker's suggestion today and tried a small amount of a mix of Cashews, Dry Roasted Peanuts, and Crasins.  I must admit, it worked.  Hit the spot and I was good to go.

I think that water is an issue too.  I need to make sure that I drink enough.  As much as it pains me to do it...I'm taking my friend Ryan's suggestion to avoid drinks with flavor.  Yup that's right I'm sticking with water.  No more Fresca, No more Diet Dr. Pepper, and no more Diet Rockstars.
To finish off the night I went to the park and played some Rugby.  What an incredible game.  Where has that been all my life!?!  Honestly as much as I love football, and I DO love football...I can see myself falling in love with Rugby.  Now I just need to practice passing the ball... I'll make sure I post more about that later!
More than anything I've been blown away by the number of friends and people that have made suggestions and offered their support for me in this.  Thanks everyone!

Something's GOT to change

This won't win ANYMORE!

Ok so for the past few years, I've been in a war. This war has been waged every single day. I've had my victories. I've had my defeats, but mostly it's been a stalemate. I'm tired of fighting this battle. It'll take work, it'll take discipline, but I will prevail.
In 1999 I was 6 foot 190 lbs. A few years later I was up to 250 pounds. I stopped the gain...but as far as I'm concerned...I'm done.
I've read all sorts of articles about wonder pills, injections, revolutionary fitness equipment, insane diets, hypnosis, even acupuncture. I've read it all and I'm rejecting it, all of it. My strategy is going to have 3 aspects. 1)I'm going to watch and document every single thing I eat 2)I'm going work out with a purpose. 3)I'm going to share every bit of the battle with you. If you want...join me. If you don't need to lose weight but have your own fitness goal...

Every day I'm going to post what I ate. Feel free to criticize, comment or suggest my menu choices.

Every day I'm going to journal my workouts. I'm going to get into better shape for biking next year than I've ever been before. Before biking season starts I'm going to weigh 210 lbs. Down 36 lbs from my current weight. Again feel free to criticize, comment or suggest. I'll share what's working, and what isn't.

I make this promise. This may, or may not work. I may succeed, I may fail, either way I'm going to share this and hopefully, we'll learn something.

Joy To The World

Here's a video I made a few years ago.  It's a compilation of several Christmas videos.

Megamind Review "Where did you park the invisible car...? "

Two Thumbs Up!

This afternoon we went to go see Megamind.  I wasn't overly excited to go see this movie.  I have come to believe that the studios feel that if they take any movie, no matter how bad...computer generate it, and distribute it in 3D...it automatically will be a hit.  So what I've found is that movie makers have taken crap ideas, computer generated them and most recently, added poor quality 3D.  In the end all you have is computer generated, kinda 3D crap.  This is what I was expecting when I saw Megamind, I must say I was pleasantly surprised.
The quality of the Animation was good.  I don't think it was anything revolutionary...but it was well done.  For me most importantly it didn't distract from the story.
Will Ferrel, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill do a great job as the voices of the main characters.  You can hear the classic Will Ferrel voice through the character.  
I think the part I liked the most was the subtle use of Superhero cliches through out the movie.  The hidden sanctuary/secret lair.  In fact it was fun to see how many I could find.  Again there were worked into the plot, quite well.
I didn't have to worry about my kids watching the movie.  There was no humor that made me cringe at the thought of my kids repeating it.  This was a big relief to me as I'm sure that I'll end up with this DVD, and I'm sure my kids will watch it over and over and over.  
Overall it was a fun movie.  It made for a great afternoon flick!
4 stars out of 5

Wild Idea?

So I'm always looking for projects to do with Carsen... He has this incredible desire to build stuff...We've built rockets that broke the sound barrier, a chicken coop, and wood boats.  I've worked with some wood in the garage, mainly work on the lathe, but I think I've found a project for us to work on.  Over the winter....I think we'll build...a Trebuchet.  I'm thinking one that can hurl pool balls...we'll see...

Bailey The Nutcracking Dog

This Thanksgiving, we discovered that my dog Bailey, loves to eat nuts... What's more impressive is that she's discovered how to locate, shell and THEN enjoy the nuts...