Brainsprain.net

We’ve had a Wii for some time, and I’m learning that many of you also have Wiis. Wanna be Wii friends? I’m going to start a Wii Number registration clearing house page here at Brainsprain if I get enough folks interested. That way you can have lots and lots of Wii friends. Well, 12 if the Google Analytics are right about how many regular readers we have. Wiiiiii!

Here’s my Wii number, post yours as a comment if you want it to be included, or e-mail it to me if you’d rather keep it private.

Our Wii Number

7936 8342 6174 5512

Time for another snapshot. I’ve now been on the Hacker’s Diet for 180 days. I’ve lost 65 pounds by my scale and 62 by my trend line. I’ve lost 75 pounds since I was at my heaviest last October. I’m to the point where I don’t look extraordinarily large nor skinny nor muscular. In essence I’ve lost about a pound about every three days, choosing to take 1100 – 1200 calories of what I burn every day from what I once referred to as my “mighty hump.” If you don’t know how much 1100 calories is, check the nutrition information the next thing you eat. You’ll be surprised at how much that is. I’m so close to my goal, and I know I can do it. All of you have been so supportive and wonderful, especially my wife. Thanks to everybody for giving me the loving and supportive environment to make this possible.

My favorite sausage, Casual Gourmet Chicken Sausage with Tomatoes, Basil, and Mozzarella Cheese, is no more. I ate this sausage for dinner for months, and it allowed me to lose a lot of weight. I’m very upset that it’s gone forever just because it didn’t “resonate with consumers.” Makers of my sausage, I appreciate your efforts, wherever you are.

Colleen’s out tonight, playing with a friend, and left me alone to fend for myself. Lately, I’ve been craving spicy dishes. Since she wasn’t here to eat my cooking, I decided I’d make some kind of spicy chicken dish. I got out the Yoshida’s Sauce and thawed a chicken breast, and dug around the spice rack looking for something to kick it up a bit. I found a bottle of “Ass Kicking” sauce that I’d been given for Christmas and have been too afraid to try. I tasted a bit… Yup, it was plenty hot enough. Eyes watered, mouth burned… Just a touch. I mixed about 2 teaspoons of the wickedly hot sauce into the Yoshida’s Sauce along with some crushed red pepper and soy sauce to thin it out a bit and let my chicken marinade. After about 30 minutes, I popped it on George Foreman’s grill and served it up to myself with some steamed rice. Heaven. Who’d have thought that Mexican style hot sauce (Captain Morgan is to Sailor Jerry as Tabasco is to Ass Kicking) would go SO WELL with an Asian Teriyaki Garlic sauce? WOW. Very hot, very tasty. Sorry for the random cooking blog. More on the new job and stuff this weekend…

If you carefully study the picture below, you might be able to find me! You might have to closely examine it, but I promise, I’m there!

I’d like to formally apologize for this crime against humanity. I feel that by admitting it publicly and apologizing, I am helping my chances for my eventual campaign for President of the United States of America.

I love living in Austin. I wouldn’t live anywhere else, except maybe Sydney or maybe Santa Barbara. Recently I found something out about my town that I really wasn’t aware of before… The Green Belt including Zilker Park. Holy crap. You walk a mile down this path and come to an oasis in the urban desert. Rapids, a big pool you can swim in… Gorgeous, peaceful, even when full of people. Why did I have to live in Austin 10 years for someone to tell me about this?

Nope, I ain’t moving.

Always one of my favorite topics, but nothing brings it to the forefront of my mind like a sudden change in appearance. With all the weight I’ve lost (50 lbs so far!) and the new hairdo, I’ve noticed a distinct difference in the way I’m treated by strangers.

Prejudice simply means judgments on someone based on the way they look, and we all do it — it’s a survival technique. Six months ago, people immediately dismissed me as jolly and harmless. Now that I’m way down in weight and have extremely short hair, I fall into another category. The wife describes it as “tougher,” but I assure you it’s only skin deep. Oddly, though, it’s resulted in better service when I go to someplace like Fry’s. I think it’s cause I ordinarily don’t go around with a big grin on my face, and without the hair, that equates to a scowl, I guess. I’m going to experiment with wearing a big grin and see how that changes the reaction I get. Stay tuned for details.

While we’re discussing interesting stuff, you should read this. My buddy Bill sent it to me, and it’s a pretty powerful idea. At the very least, it’ll provoke conversation. At most, it could change the world.

I predict that all barriers and objections to stem cell research are about to crumble. We’re about to enter an era of aggressive research, all because scientists have extremely promising results in a cure for one of the most seriously debilitating diseases of human beings since time began: Baldness. That’s right. Stem cells will be used to cure baldness. Now, if we could just figure out a way to cure erectile dysfunction with stem cells, we’d really run up the national debt.

Today is a red-letter day for me. Today marks the halfway point on my journey to my target weight. 40 down, 40 to go. In this case, I see the glass as both half-empty and half-full. I think either way, it’s optimistic.