Daily Prompt: Progress

Daily Prompt: Progress.

The question for today was “What would I like to see when I look back on my blog on 01JAN15?”.

I have a small list of things that I would like to see. Will I get them? Who knows. We’ll see what I can come up with. BUT, regardless of me getting what I want or not… here is my list.

 

1. 1,500 Subscribers / Followers

Seems like the biggest drug of the bloggers choice would be the number of views one can get on their blog. I’ve had a few spikes over the last few months thanks to Reddit, but nothing with any enduring value. I want to get my blog to the point where I can have a legitimate daily readership. Hell, I’d settle for weekly.

 

2. An actual focal point for what my blog is supposed to be about.

I’ve covered all sorts of topics here. Politics, weight loss, video games, family, religion, and even the occasional rant. The big problem is that there is no real central focus for what I write about. I want to find that I have come up with an actual thing to write about consistently.

 

3. At least 200 real posts.

I like the idea of writing regularly, but I want to make sure that the posts that I write have actual substance. I had the idea of providing commentary on whatever was near the top of the reddit feed for that day, but I’m not sure if that would work very well. I mean, I know that I have an ability to include sarcasm and occasionally humor in my posts, but I don’t think that copying what is already written about would be the best bet.

 

So, there you go.  THREE things that I would like to see in the next year when I look back on my blog.

Drop me a comment if you have any feedback on my diatribe today. If your comment rocks enough, I’ll maybe even write a post on it.

 

Cheers

-RH

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Crap, I didn’t update MyFitnessPal

The biggest problem I have found with Myfitnesspal is that I forget to input my food.
Exercise is automatically updated by way of my Fitbit Force, but Ican never seem to emember to do my ood entries.
I’m positive that others have already figured thsi out, but I’m going to state the obvious anyways.

Silent Alarms.
That’s right, silent alarms. I simply set the fitbit to buzz my wrist twice a day and that is my cue to go enter my foods.
It’s a small thing, but I figure that by taking the small step, I’ll be able to keep better control of my food tracking and thus my food intake.
Take that bathroom scale… You’re going down.

If Mario was Cheating on Peach, He’d do it here!

Mario seems like an upstanding guy.

I mean, he has like 87 games that he stars in and has more marketing power than Steve Jobs ever could hope for. Mario is a ROCK STAR!

But, what do all rock stars have in common?

INFIDELITY!

Seriously though, Mario is a bad ass.

Anywho, the reason for today’s post is this…

 

This picture is awesome on like 3 different levels.

I made the comment that if Mario was gonna cheat, this is where he would do it. I mean, it’s his own castle, it’s got a bed, and as awesome as Peach is, Daisy would NOT hesitate to capitalize on real estate like this.

I guess the long of the short here is that this childrens bunk bed is pretty awesome.

Makes me wish I had one as a kid… or a teenager… Hell, I want one now and I’m 33.

Verbose, Morose, and Comatose

Hell of a post title, right?

The lovely wife decided to spin in to high gear again. I love when she does that.

There is something about her writing style that I can’t help but enjoy.

Regardless, I figured a shameless plug would be good here. So go and take a peak.

Bonus kitten as a bribe.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, I know the kitten wasn’t worth much, but here is the banner and link to the wifes blog.

 

 

GO THERE NOW!

Oh, and just a small note… I made the banner myself. Nothing fancy, but it was my first trip in to photo editing.

2014 New Years Resolutions

Twenty fourteen is upon us.

A new year. A new start. A new list of possibilities. A whole new box of stuff that can make life increasingly difficult… etc… etc… etc.

Because of this arbitrary point in time that we as humans choose to observe, I too have come up with a list of things that I resolve to change this year. I’ve had decent success in the past with resolutions, but I feel that this years list will be bigger than most years in the past. I’m looking at some fairly hefty stuff to put on the plate for the upcoming 525,949 minutes of my life.

I won’t sit and rant about it yet. Instead, I’ll provide you with the list and we will work from there. After you read the paltry (HA!) list, keep reading for the rants you have come to love so much.

I present you with my 2014 New Years Resolutions…

STUFF GAREN RESOLVES TO DO

1. Lose Weight (Down to 160lbs)

2. Quit Smoking

3. Keep my Kitchen Clean

4. Promote at Work

Well, the list is short enough. That’s only four (4) things really. Anyone can do 4 things… right?!

However, if we really look at these four things, they are pretty big. So, as promised, here is the associated rant.

1. Lose Weight

I currently weigh in at 182lbs. (82.3kg) I’m not fat by any means, but I’m surely not where I want to be. When I joined the US Coast Guard 11 years ago, I weighed in at 145lbs and I was pretty happy with my size. Over the years of driving a desk and enjoying the edibles that my paycheck (and Taco Bell) has provided me, I ballooned up to 199.5lbs. Over the course of the last year however, I have lost a little bit of weight and was able to pull myself down to my fluffy 182. Having learned what is involved, and what is required to continue losing weight, I feel that it’s a reasonable goal to get down to 160lbs by the end of the year. Hell, if I really work at it, I could be there in as little as 3 months. But hey, no point in almost dying just to look like I stud. (Hint: I always look like a stud!)

2. Quit Smoking

At the beginning of 2013, I was smoking upwards of a pack a day (Menthols! WOO!) and had no real intention of putting out the effort to quit. I wanted to quit, don’t misunderstand, but the work required was a little too brutal for my tastes. A lot of things have happened in the last 12 months that have made things interesting on the smoking front. But over the last few months, things have finally lined up that I think I have a real chance of fixing this little problem of mine. From Vaporizers that cut out the smoke, to a lovely wife who is supporting the efforts of her own accord, I believe that I have a real chance at this. Knock it all you want, but I’m going to at least try. After all, I get a rise out of proving other people wrong. So let’s see what happens… shall we?

3. Keep my Kitchen Clean

Yeah, I have NO idea how I’m going to pull this one off. Honestly, with the other three people in the house contributing to the mess like it’s a life goal to keep me from having a clean kitchen for more than 18 minutes, I’m going to have to come up with something that works better than what I’ve been doing. I’m thinking a Taser and a Baseball bat might be effective in this endeavor.

4. Promote at work

There is only so much that I can do to increase my odds of promoting at work. I can keep being a rock star and getting awesome employee reviews, and I can study. That’s really about it. Honestly, I know I can do the first part, and as much as I hate the second part, I’m pretty sure that I can do that too. It’s just going to take time.

Time… yeah…. that’s a precious resource I don’t have enough of.

This might be trickier than I thought.

Either way, that’s my plan. What’s yours?

So, tell me what you think in the comments section below, I’ll consider writing a post if the comments carry enough weight.

Cheers

-R.H.

Screw it, I quit

I’ve written like 4 blog post drafts and I have yet to come up with anything good. So, because of my temperment regarding this issue, this is what you get. Deal with it.
I wrote 4 different posts about weightloss, fatlogic, the thin privilege and HAES movements (HAES = Healthy at Every Size… aka: BS!) And none of them were striking a chord with me. So, here it is, the final result before I go back and regroup.

I’m sick of weighing what Iweigh. I’m goig to post about it while I lose weight. I’ll even talk about how I did it and give resources while it happens.
You should all be as excited as me. It’s going to be great.

More to come. Probably.

“Mann Co. acquires Blood Eagle assets in landmark sexual harassment case”.

HEADLINE: Mann Co. acquires Blood Eagle assets in a landmark sexual harassment case. Diamond Sword purchase excess BLU mercenary surplus as part of settlement negotiations.

VS.

Saxton Hale
Mann Co. CEO
Australian Extraordinaire

In a press conference held today with Saxton Hale, CEO of Mann Co., the landmark harassment case was discussed involving the acquisition of resources held by the Blood Eagle Clan.

Reports indicate that Blood Eagle tribesman references Saxton Hale as a “girly wuss”. Mann Co. replied by allowing Mr. Hale to airdrop in to an unknown battlefield while wrestling with poisonous cobras that caught fire during the freefall. After using the now charred snake skins as replacement hat bands, Saxton proceed to “Beat the crap” out of a tirbesman who referred to himself only as “a pathfinder” upon finding out that the tribesman’s only job was to “run away”.

Tribal warriors still seeking to remain actively employed have been offered temporary mercenary positions within Mann Co. pending a probationary period.

Negotiations were vicious, but a court appointed mediator assisted with the dealings before running away for “undisclosed reasons”.

More reports will follow upon Mr. Hale’s return from a gorilla punching expedition currently scheduled for Friday.

Okay, that was fun and all, but I don’t think it’ll ever get approved by the TF2 or Tribes communities as a whole. But hey, it’s fun to play with photoshop.

Regardless, this isn’t what I’m posting about today.

Instead, it’s about cross training.

Cross training you ask?

Yes… Cross training. And not the dumb kind that involves shoes, or exercise, or any legitimate effort. Screw that noise.

Instead, I speak of cross training of the video game type.

I have been heavily involved with two FPS games over the last couple of years. Team fortress 2 and Tribes.

We already know that I’m a filthy sand raker (Though Blood Eagle is quickly gaining steam in my book for some reason), but when it comes to TF2 I’m never quite sure if I’m more of a BLU or a RED fan. Both are awesome, BUT, unfortunately, (because I’m usually a blue team kinda guy), RED is taking the lead because BLU uses dumbass apple style products.

If there is one thing I stand by, it’s that fact that I CANNOT stand anything the supports the Apple mindset, culture, or mentality. iScrew iThat!

iDumbasses!

ahem… back to the topic at hand.

I’ve been playing these two games.

I’m usually a medic or an engineer type when I play Team fortress. Not a lot of aiming required and I can let the machines do most of the work for me. I like that. Not a lot of skill, and plenty of time to look good while I help others on my team. Yay for being a team player, right? Right!  TEAMWORK! (Queue up some Tenacious D right there).

Now, in tribes, I started as a soldier because I didn’t wanna be a heavy, and pathfinding wasn’t my thing. So, I spent my time and I learned to shoot at people. I then unlocked technician (I’ve been playing since early beta) and found that I really liked this class. Turrets are awesome but I’m still HEAVILY involved in actually shooting at people.

I worked on my aiming skills.

Spinfusors? Hell yeah!

Machine guns? Bring it.

Thumpers? *giggles*. Yes, I do love this weapon.

I’ve learned to shoot. I’ve learned to aim. And I’ve learned to lead my shots and actually hit stuff.

This is something that I had never really learned how to do in Team Fortress. I just could never quite figure it out. My shots were “too slow” in my opinion.

I’ve gotten good with the spinfusor again and my thumper is warm from use. I’ve gone fast, I’ve dropped turrets, I’d repaired generators, and I’ve shoved grenades down the throats of more brutes than I can care to count. It’s been glorious good fun. 

Anywho, I fired TF2 backup again today after being in tribes for a little bit during the last week or so. I sat down and picked soldier since there were too many engineers on my team. I saw the scout screaming across the screen in the distance (They really aren’t THAT fast ya know.”, and I let a rocket loose.

KER-BLAM!

That scout just took a rocket to the friggin FACE!

Suddenly, after spending WAY too much time with a spinfusor in my hands, I could aim and shoot rockets. This is new. This is exciting. This is reason to giggle as I proceeded to run around the server and shoot people in the friggin face. I’m not any good with a sniper rifle or even with the knife of a spy, but when it comes to rockets and pipe bombs of a demo man… I’m freaking dangerous!

I enjoy many games. These two are my current favorites. And while I didn’t expect to get any better at one because I played the other, I found that the unexpected side effect resulted in way more than I could have hoped for.

-R.H

*edit: Because Words

Manipulating the masses at it’s finest

This blog post is nothing more than an attempt to see how I can use Google Trending to generate blog hits. If you’re reading it after typing in something in to google, then it worked.
If you’re reading it because you follow me, then you’re exempt.
But either way… You’re reading what I’m writing.

For your effort, I applaud you.

-Garen

Obey the Fist!

How to press pause

I’m underway for the time being. This means reduced connectivity. This also means reduced blog posts. It’s going to be sketchy for the next few days. Just a heads up.