Thanks for Keeping it Real ...

May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008

Now you know what happens when we die.

RIP George Carlin

Size Ate

I love this! I'd be happy with a 10-12 :)

Success

The most important ingredient for success is failure. Every time you fail, you eliminate one way that won’t work therefore being that much closer to the one way that will.
- Thomas Edison

The truth of the matter is you only get closer to success if you actually learn from your mistakes. You can't keep doing the same things and expect to get different results.

I must be getting close now!

Sweet 17 Garden Party

This garden party was nothing like Manuela's garden party last week (her party was beautiful and you should check it out if you didn't get to stop by already). I'm talking about the party held for the World Champions ... THE BOSTON CELTICS!!! It has been so long since we've been able to celebrate in "The Garden." We've actually never celebrated a championship game win in the new Garden until last night.

Back in the day, I had obstructed view season tickets and had to bend down to see the tip of the opposing side basket. We didn't care though because it was just fun to be at the game. Most nights we were able to sneak down into the lodges and sit in the good seats until someone came to kick us out of them and then we just kept bouncing around. I remember sitting on the parquet floor with the photographers at a championship game against the Lakers in 1986. I was only pretending to take pictures because I had run out of film (digital hadn't been invented yet). Those were the days. Unfortunately, I couldn't give my tickets away during the lean years so I had to give up my season tickets but was just as happy watching the games on my big screen tv.

It makes me feel old to think that some of you aren't old enough to remember when a bunch of clumsy looking white guys ruled the court. What an amazing season - Sweet 17! I've been up late every other night watching the comeback kids finally beat our west coast rivals.

Everyone in the city was wearing green today and I get to go to a parade tomorrow during lunch. I love parades!

If you like sports, there really is no better place to live than Boston.

Congratulations to the BOSTON CELTICS!!

No Longer Incognito

So many bloggers out there are an open book for all the world to see, they don't hold anything back. We make blog friends and feel we know them intimately but I wonder if we would be friends in real life just because we enjoy reading their life story. I feel like I know some of my blog friends even better than my real world friends because they share all these details that you don't normally talk about face to face even with your closest friends and family.

We know where they live, what they eat, how often they work out, what their cycle is, how often they get it or don't get it, who their friends are, who they're mad at, and all the little details of their lives. We get to see photos of them and all the people in their lives because they choose to share that information with all of us out in the world wide web. They spill their guts, talk openly about their relationships, kids, work, up and downs and everything in between and I admire them for it and love reading the story of their lives. They strip down for us and show their true selves or the selves they want us to see. Maybe it is a form of voyeurism in some way and we get a thrill looking into their world.

I started this blog with the intention of keeping it anonymous. I mistakenly thought with all the blogs out there it would be nearly impossible for someone I know in real life to find it but I've been outed and forced out of the blog closet. I'm not really sure where to go from here. I liked the idea of being able to talk about my feelings and work through my issues with my weight without being embarrassed or censored because of who might be reading.

If you blog anonymously, would you change what you write because you know certain people are reading? If you are an open book, do you censer what you say in any way because you don't want to offend anyone or be embarrassed about your thoughts?

It is very bright out here in the open but I don't think it is possible to get back in that closet and lock the door.

192 Pound Loss in 7 Seconds*

WOW! Check out the video of Jennette Fulda's amazing 192 pound loss in record time. It took me a while to figure out how to embed a video but I really wanted to enter the contest on her site so it was worth the effort.

If you are not already fan or have been living under a rock without internet access that last few years, please go and check out her site and help the economy by buying her book, Half-Assed - A Weight Loss Memoir. What else are you planning to do with that stimulus check anyway?

Jennette Fulda a/k/a Pasta Queen is my hero.

* actual weight loss took much longer than 7 seconds.

Red Dye No. 952 and Other Chemicals

Why is it that everything that tastes good is so bad for us. I wonder why they even allow these chemicals into our food supply if they are known to cause health problems. There was a recent article on MSN about 12 food additives that we should avoid. The big problem is that these additives are in almost everything we eat. Another good reason to stick to the cave man diet. If it has been grown or has walked, it is ok to eat but only if it hasn't been messed around by the food industry and filled with cancer causing crap that make it "taste better" and "last longer." The food will still be good but we'll be dying before its shelf life expires.

If you don't feel like reading the whole article, here is the short list of the things we should avoid:
1. Sodium Nitrate, Sodium Nitrite (shown to promote cancer);
2. BHA and BHT (a/k/a butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydrozyttoluene);
3. Propyl Gallate (often used in conjunction with BHA and BHT);
4. Monosodium Glutamate (a/k/a MSG);
5. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil;
6. Aspartame;
7. Acesulfame-K;
8. Food Colorings: Blue 1, 2; Red 3; Green 3; Yellow 6;
9. Olestra;
10. Potassium Bromate;
11. White Sugar; and
12. Sodium Chloride.

Check your labels and try to avoid these chemicals as much as possible by shopping the parameter of the supermarket. Once you go down the aisles you are in very dangerous territory.

Time to hit the farmers market (no additives there) and enjoy the fresh food of the season. Yum.

EC Rocks

I love outdoor concerts except when the weather doesn't cooperate and it pours all day long. Luckily the rain was reduced to a light drizzle by the time Eric Clapton took the stage. Of course, we haven't had a drop of rain in the past week but the day of the concert is a washout. I was prepared to sit in the rain wearing the new rain gear I got on sale for $20 (purple light-weight Columbia jacket and pants).

I've been lucky enough to see Slowhand at least a half dozen times in the past 25 years and he never disappoints. The first time I saw EC was back in the 80s when I won tickets from 93.7/WCOZ (a radio station that isn't even around anymore). I still remember what a dazzling light show they had when he sang Let it Rain. The lights came down in sheets like rain throughout the stadium (Worcester Centrum) - it was so cool. I even saw his "Blues Tour" a few years ago where he didn't sing a single hit and instead played nothin' but the blues. It was still amazing.

He only played 5-6 of his big hits tonight ... Layla (the opening riff to that song still gives me goose bumps every time I hear it), Wonderful Tonight, Cocaine, Motherless Children, Running on Faith, Before You Accuse Me, and a few other familiar tunes. Sometimes I actually like when an artist doesn't play all of their hits because when everyone in the crowd knows the words you always have that one drunk guy beside you screaming out the wrong lyrics at the top of his lungs.

We met up with our friends, Maria and Chris, and sat in the open seating on the lawn at Great Woods (they've sold out and changed the name over the years to the "Tweeter Center" and just today to the "Comcast Center" but it will always be Great Woods to me). It is one of my favorite outdoor venues to see a concert but the parking situation is horrific. We paid $30 to park on the main drag outside of the main free lots but it was worth the price. We were home and in bed before my friends who parked in the free lot even got out of the parking lot.

Clapton is such an phenomenal artist who has gotten even better with age. I wish he played longer and sang a few more of his hits but it was a great show. I always get mesmerized watching his fingers fly over the strings of his guitar like a true God of Blues and Rock.

Rock On EC.