Tío Miguel Update

Good news… My nephew was born healthy on Friday, August 14, 2009. I will be flying to Tulsa, OK this upcoming Friday.

My Youngest Brother is Making Me an Uncle

It is Friday, August 14, 2009 at about 10:30 AM Central Standard Time and I just got the news that in about an hour my sister in law will be going into surgery and shortly after, my first nephew will be born. My brother seems very happy and radiating with confidence. A confidence that I have never seen on him and that I don’t understand. I don’t understand it because I’m not a father and I’ve never been through that experience. When people ask me about having kids my first reaction is NO! Not that I don’t like kids, I actually want kids (actually I want a kid), but I don’t feel nearly as ready to have one. It’s not that I’m being selfish and I want to enjoy my time…. it is more that I have this mental picture in which I give my kid a good life and at times I feel that I’m not in a position to do so. There is always a reason, economy, job, school, etc., to delay it, but I guess the truth is that you are never ready.

My parents are super excited about their first grandson; they have being buying clothes, sheets, bed and even Spider Man toothbrushes for Jr. I have a feeling he is going to be a very spoiled kid :-)

Anyway, I am very proud of my brothers, they have turned out to be a great men. J has been so responsible with his family and now his new baby. I am sure he will be a great father and I hope I can be just as confident when my time comes. Congratulations J/G!! I’m excited to see Jr’s pictures in about an hour or two :-)

Aikido

I have been practicing Aikido for about 4 to 6 weeks and it has been very interesting. Since I started I have gotten asked the same questions over and over… What is Aikido? Why you joined Aikido and not something else? Why not Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? Can you fight in UFC with Aikido?

Some of them I had myself and to some extent I still do, but I’m going to try my best to answer these…. remember that I just started, so I have very little experience and most of my references are other students who have been practicing for a much longer time.

What is Aikido?

I will not give you the history or the text book definition of Aikido, if you want that information you are welcome to search in Google, check out Aikido in Wikipedia or visit your local Aikido Dojo. After practicing four times a week for around 6 weeks, I have develop my own opinion about Aikido which continues to evolve as I learn more and more about the art.

Aikido is not about fighting, is not about throwing and grappling, is not about breaking your opponents bones, is not about an opponent. In my opinion Aikido is about observing, which I’m not very good at. Yes, Aikido could be useful in a fight. Yes, Aikido could be very dangerous if done maliciously. Yes, there is an “uke” or attacker and you practice by completing techniques on each other. But, those are just tools and terminology to get you to that next step. Aikido, teaches you observe the situation. If in a situation that fight is imminent, wait, observe your opponent, wait for an opening, do not force an attack, let the attacker do that for you.

• Relax – Relaxing is key… I don’t seem to be able to do that very well either. In tense situations it is hard to stand back and relax, but when relax observing becomes easier limiting irrational moves.
• Aikido is reactive and for defense myth– I don’t think Aikido is as defensive as it looks, but it is about being smart. A point of Aikido is to be able to use your energy to guide your opponent's energy towards something positive (positive for you at least). In other words, don’t try matching your opponent blow by blow or try to out wrestle him with pure muscle, instead wait. Wait and observe your opponent, does he has any particular patterns, does he steps before punching, does he tenses up when attacking. Similar to poker. Use those observations to your advantage when he gives you room for an attack.

These are teachings that we can use every day… Relax, Observe The Situation, Make your Move Smart, Smooth and Efficient.

Why you joined Aikido and not something else?

There was no scientific reason for picking Aikido. Basketball was killing my knees, I was looking for a sport to practice which involved dealing with others, but also that would be easier on my knees and help me improve my flexibility. Most sports recommended for knee problems there is no interaction, for example cycling and swimming, which I find a bit repetitive.

A co-worker recommended me to go take a look at a class in his dojo and I did. I liked what I saw and figured I would give it a try.

Why not Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

I know Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA is the craze right now, but honestly I am not looking to learn how to fight, competitive or not, and I have never been into wrestling. I know that Jiu Jitsu may be about more than just fighting and I admit that I didn’t visited any other martial arts dojos (I did get to practice Judo for two semester in my freshman year in college…not mentioning the year :-) ). Maybe one day I’ll get to practice another martial art.

I’ve always been interested in practicing Capoeira.

Can you fight in UFC with Aikido?

You can fight in UFC if all you know is Capoeira, I’m not sure how much that will help you in the ring :-) The ‘Only the Strong’ move and the chanting can only take you so far. I’m not sure how much help if any Aikido would be in a UFC scenario. In the other hand I went to engineering school… I doubt I would find any octagon shape cages around the IBM campus.

July ‘09 Round Up

I know, I know…. I have not been writing, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you. I figured I can give you more quality than quantity. So here are 8 blog entries at once, I hope you go through all of them. These are the events that occurred during the very exciting and very HOT month of July here in Austin, TX and an August entry that didn’t want to be alone.

• July 1st – Canada Day

OK, I don’t have much to say about Canada Day since I’m not Canadian, but I bet that many of us don’t know what it celebrates. Oppose to the general consensus, Canada Day doesn’t celebrate Canada’s independence since they have always remain part of the commonwealth of Great Britain. Canada Day does celebrates the union of the different provinces into one country in July 1st, 1867.

The following video is pretty funny, although according to some of my Canadian friends a bit inaccurate:

• July 2nd – I turned 29

My 29th birthday was a very nice surprise. I was born on July 2nd, 1980 exactly seventy years later than my grandfather. To save you from simple arithmetic, this year I turn 29 and my grandfather 99. Unlike previous years, I did not planned any birthday party and figured I would just go out to dinner with V.

It turned out much better than just a dinner. V surprised me, as a birthday present she took me to a Dinner Class at the local Whole Foods headquarters. It was cool, V and I accompanied by five other couples prepared a three course meal. We made a buttermilk dressing to go with a Wedge Salad, roasted herb potatoes, red snapper with a lemon garlic crab sauce and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Everything was delicious!

The class was located downtown Austin. Once the class was done I mentioned to V that we should go for a drink to one of the many bars around the area… she decline the offer alleging that she wasn’t feeling too well. So, we went home and once we opened the door I was super surprised when lights turned on and many of my local friends were in my kitchen whishing me a happy birthday. It was a great time!!!

• July 4th – My Last Anniversary in July 4th

  July 4th, 2009 was V’s and my 3’rd anniversary and, if everything goes according to plans, it will be our last anniversary on July since we are getting married next April. We went to dinner at Olivia’s, a great restaurant located in South Austin. They have a different daily menu which depends on the fresh locally grown ingredients available.

Due to > 100 degree weather, we did not do our planned picnic downtown. We did get to watch the fireworks from the hill top by the 360 bridge.

• July 12th – G turns 25

My brother’s 25th birthday, all the way from Germany.

• July 20th – 1 Month into My Six Pack Quest

Just wanted to share, about 4 wks ago I started training with winning this bet as my end result. Let me tell you what I have done, what my results have been and what I am planning of doing next.
Physical Training

• Workout - 3x/wk - I have been doing the "12 Week Beginner Weight Loss Program" and have noticed improvements in endurance and core.
• Basketball - 0x/wk - I was playing basketball in a weekly basis for about 4 wks, before the training for my goal started and although I did notice cardio improvements, my knees were not able to handle the burden for a day or two after. I had to stop and started looking for a softer team sport to play.
• Cycling - 2x/wk - I have been in and out of cycling for a while, since it is one of the recommended sports for people with bad knees. I have been doing it about 2 times a week for 45 minutes at a time (covering around 10 miles). I have notice solid improvement on my speed; initially around 14 mph to a respectable 18 to 20 mph, but more importantly I notice less aches on my legs in the hills and more endurance on the flats.
• Aikido - 2-3x/wk - A couple of weeks ago I joined a local Aikido club in search of a sport that would help me with my flexibility, and leg strength and that it would have some sort of people interactions. I like team sports, that's why I've always had a problem sticking to cycling alone. Although, I have not done Aikido long enough to see clear improvements yet, I have notice that it definitely works your legs in a softer way and it demands a limber body.

Diet
I have not gotten into any specific diet, but I have been putting effort into eating a little better and leaner. One big change was to stop going out for breakfast everyday (eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash brown, etc) and eating at home (cereal, oatmeal, Canadian bacon and eggs, wheat toast, yogurt, granola and fruits) more often. I have been eating more fruits, almost no fast food, cooking dinner (pasta with evoo, chicken, fish, rice and lean meats). Also, I am limiting my drinking, less beer/more wine :-) Lunch has been my sore spot, because I find it hard to cook lunch to take to work and most of the time lunch is when my team gets to socialize...
Results

• Category - 0 Weeks - 2 Weeks - 4 Weeks
• Weight - 230 - 228 - 225
• BMI - 30.3 - 30.1 - 29.7
• Estimated Fat% - 29.2 - 26.8 - 26.4
• Waist - 43.5 - 42 - 41.5

Future Plan

• Month 2 of workout program:
  http://www.trainwithmeonline.com/training-plan.asp?prn=97&pgtitle=12%20Week%20Beginner%20Weight%20Loss%20Program
• Continue cycling 2 to 3 times a week, but I would like to change it up some, because I am noticing that I am not working as much anymore on the same route.
• Attend Aikido classes 3x per week.
  
• July 25th – The Ugly Truth, wasn’t that ugly

This movie I was a bit excited to watch with V. It looked funny in the commercials and it seem like it would be the next Hitch. Not so much. It was OK, but most of the funny parts were shown in the trailer.  Semi-funny chick flick earned this movie 1 Miguelaso.

• July 4th – 26th – Tour de France

This was the first time I followed the Tour through all 21 stages and I have found a new sport to follow. I couldn’t believe the amount of strategy and team work involved in winning a major cycling event. The tour is composed of 21 stages which take place in 23 days and 5 countries. There are mountain stages, flat/sprint stages and time trial stages; most of the stages are over 100 miles long and incorporate multiple category 1 and unranked (so bad that there is no ranking for them) mountains in some of them. There are several races within the actual race, including the Sprinter’s Race (green jersey), the King of the Mountain (polka dot jersey), Young rider (white jersey),but the most prestigious price, the yellow jersey, goes to the overall race winner.

This year included the Astana Team which completely dominated the race. The team included Alberto Contador, the Spanish racer who won the Yellow Jersey for the second time and our beloved Lance Armstrong who came back after a 4 year hiatus and finished in a very respectable third place overall. 

I was so excited to watch this multiday race unfold that I couldn’t wait to watch each stage and some times would watch them multiple times. I will definitely continue to follow Cycling more closely. The next big event is la Vuelta a España and I’ll make sure to follow and post here.

• August 1st – Funny People, were kind of funny

Funny People was funny, that’s about it. Directed by the same as ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ and ‘Knocked Up’ but in my opinion did not translate to the same quality of funny as the other two. A lot of mediocre stand up scenes and super long length did not help. This movie earned itself 1.5 Miguelasos.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (IMAX)

Yesterday (Sunday, June 28th, 2009), a group of friends and I watched Transformers 2 (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) at Austin’s ‘Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum: IMAX Theatre.’ First, lets talk about the movie; I wasn’t expecting much going into it, since sequels to these type of movies traditionally  leave a lot to be desired. I was pleasantly surprise with Transformers, the movie is mostly CGI, mostly about big robots fighting and shooting, and the acting quality was not the greatest, but it was very funny, entertaining, and it had Megan Fox google images and for a few scenes Isabel Lucas google images (arguably hotter than Megan). Just the necessary elements for a good summer film.

The movie borrowed a number of ideas and scenes from famous SciFi/Action movies like Alice’s revelation to Sam is pretty similar Species, the idea of the extraterrestrials leaving in earth since pre historic times (like in Stargate), and others similar to Matrix and Aeon Flux, but it was cohesive and it flowed nicely. I do have a couple of complaints:

1. Was it me, or did it take forever for the robots to transform? Having the spotlight in the transformation was a bit pointless, because you can’t even tell where the different parts are going. Maybe if each transformation would have been made shorter, it would have cut 30 minutes of the movie making it a more manageable length to most people (yes, the movie is long).
2. When the robots were fighting, you couldn’t tell what was going on? All you see is CGI metal moving. It could have been the fact that the IMAX screen is so big I couldn’t absorbed the whole image at once, but still…

The pluses? The graphics were good, the sound was awesome! Oh, and did I mentioned Megan and Isabel? I think I did. The movie is funny and entertaining together with good special effects and great sound, make this film a good Blu-Ray candidate earning it 3 Miguelasos.

Domino, Domino, Domino

A simple game using rectangular tile pieces, split in half and each half has dot carvings adding up to a number from blank (0) to 6. Why is it that so many people around the world are so serious about this game? It is so simple, right? NOT!

We are not talking about the kids game where tiles are lined up in shapes and then set to tumble. I am talking about the game old people wearing straw hats and guayaberas play in silence as if it was chess in Domino Park, Miami. I am talking about about the game played in the Bronx’ sidewalks. I am talking about the game that generates such emotions that would drive anyone to slam that last domino so hard, like if breaking the table in half is the goal of the game. I am talking about the game that makes you feel like the Dos Equis’ Most Interesting Man in the World when you have that last domino, a slight smirk and just let that domino drop.  So, stay thirsty my friends and read on.

Heineken Domino Tournament
Uploaded by degreedaily. -

“OK, it sounds exciting I want to play,” you may say. The rules are simple: first get a set of double six dominos, unless playing Cuban style in which case it is played with a set of double nines. The game is played in teams of two and each teammate sits across the table from each other, unless playing cut throat. The highest number tile starts the game (the double 6 or double 9), but only on the first game of the match after the winner of the previous match goes out, unless playing in Miami in which case any member of the winning team can start the game. There are only two directions of playing, unless you play American style/El Paso style or my favorite name Yahoo! style in which case you use a spinner and have four options available. Points are awarded by adding the points left in your opponents hand at the end of each game, or maybe your opponents and any point left on the winning team’s hand, or maybe you add points along the way in multiple of fives. The match is over at 150 points or 200 points or 500 points which adds bonus plays like “Chuchazo” or “Capicú,” or you can play until a team reaches a certain number of winning games. Oh, I forgot, the game is played on a counter clockwise order, unless played clockwise.

Confused yet? :-) Welcome to the world of dominos. The truth is that every country has a set of very fuzzy guidelines. For example, in Puerto Rico the game is played with a double six set, the direction of play is not exactly clear, there is a way to play with awards or without, some play with a doubles rule, some don’t. Imagine if multiple countries are represented. The rule of thumb is to schedule about 30 minutes before the game in order to set the rules. It will save a lot of headaches during the game. If a Cuban is involved, then you may have to schedule about an hour and a half, in order for him to brag about how double nine is the way real man do it. Hmmmm!!! Once the rules are figured out, the rest is a piece of cake. Or is it?

Playing domino gives my friends and I a chance to talk smack about each other, have some drinks, be competitive and have fun. I urge everyone to try it out, just remember: smack talking about someone’s person, mom, country or city is part of the game, don’t get offended, but get even.

“OK, sale la gorda…”

Lakers Win It Again!

The Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Championship yesterday after completing the series versus the Orlando Magic (4 to 1). I do not follow the Lakers and have nothing smart to say about their performance this season or their championship run, at least nothing that is not found on ESPN or any other sports site. My extent of following the Lakers is hating on Kobe and annoying my friend Jaco, who is a die hard Laker fan from El Paso and who has never stepped in the LA metropolitan area; I just find it weird.

Never the less it is an amazing feat what this franchise has accomplished, this championship is:

• The Lakers 15’th Championship (including when the franchise was in Minneapolis), second only to the Boston Celtics.
• Phil Jackson’s 10’th Championship – Is he really that good? or just in the right place at the right time? Either way he has been lucky enough to coach three or four of the best players ever and have organizations that are willing to spend the money on architecting complete teams.
• Kobe’s ‘N Fisher’s 4’th Ring – Is 4 (3 as a secondary star player) = 6 as the best player ever? No, don’t think so, but something tells me that he may still have a few more opportunities.

I hope this finally wakes teams up and make them understand that it can’t be done with just one player and one strategy (Cleveland, Miami and about everyone else in the NBA). The team has to be agile enough to change as the challenges change. Hopefully, today’s LA Lakers is the franchise which forces other teams to rise and maybe then we will watch great basketball again…

Rudo y Cursi

Bueno mi gente.. me disculparán otra vez pero el trabajo me ha mantenido ocupado en las últimas semanas. Sé que esa no es razón suficiente para no haber escrito por unas tres semanas pero también soy vago.

OK, that said I watched ‘Rudo y Cursi’ a couple of weeks back. It wasn’t a movie I would originally go to the movies for, but V wanted to watch it and I owed her for promising to watch the next few summer blockbusters coming up, Transformers & GI Joe. She is not into the GI Joe trailer, but does it really matters? It’s GI Joe! Any way, ‘Rudo y Cursi’ is a Mexican drama/comedy (dramedy?) and I got more than I was expecting from it. It is a simple funny movie, none of the ‘stupid funny’ comedy that’s so popular right now, of which I am not a fan (for example ‘Land of the Lost’).  It depicts sibling rivalry, so common in a house with multiple male brothers to an extreme, through the story of two brothers trying to make it as professional soccer players in Mexico. As their popularity in the league grows so does their problems, the story touches on many stereotypical human faults including gambling addiction, drugs, lust, content and the ever desire to be something else. At the end discovering that all they needed was each others approval.

I liked the movie, but it would definitely be a rental that’s why I gave it 1 Miguelaso. V had high expectations and she came out somewhat disappointed, but I usually do not have any expectations from foreign movies, like Forest’s mom used to say, they are like a box of chocolate…

Angels and Demons / Sunshine Cleaning

I am noticing that in the three/four weeks I have been writing this blog, I already watched four movies and will be completing their review in this blog entry. I have been told that I am a though and picky critic; for this reason I am setting up a “Miguelaso” ranking system. This system will help compared how I rank one movie against another in a more subjective way. Also, it will assist when comparing different movie genres, Star Trek and Sunshine Cleaning for example. Here is the legend:

• 3 Miguelasos
  • So good I just watched the movie and want to buy the Blu-ray
• 2.5 Miguelasos
  • Good, but only buying the DVD… The line between 2.5 and three can be a bit fuzzy at times, they may be equally good, but one may have better attributes to be in Hi-Def…
• 2 Miguelasos
  • Worth watching in the movies, but not buying.
• 1.5 Miguelasos
  • I have no idea… hove not seen a 1.5 yet, but will define when I experience it.
• 1 Miguelaso
  • Rent it
• 0.5 Miguelasos
  • Forgettable experience… if you happen to be sitting in front of the TV when it is playing, fine, 0therwise it is not worth it. Or, you can rent it from the middle section in the local Block Buster, usually free.
• 0 Miguelasos
  • Did not like it.

That said, the last two reviews:

Angels and Demons – This movie was entertaining, definitely better than the DaVinci Code. Did not excite me as much as other movies I have seen lately, but it is not bad enough to complaint about it… mostly blah, or how Joy would say; it is “Moo".” I’ll give it 2 Miguelasos, because it is entertaining and it doesn’t disappoint.

Sunshine Cleaning – This movie surprised me, I watched it because it was V’s birthday and she has been wanting to watch it for a while. But, it turned out to be funny, entertaining and touching, definitely not The Notebook thou. I sincerely can say that I liked it, but there is no need to go to the movies to watch it, rental yes. I’ll give it 1 Miguelaso.

In order to retrofit my previous two reviews to the new ranking standard here they are again:

Star Trek – 3 Miguelasos, see the review here.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine – 1.5 Miguelasos, I think it is worth watching in the movies, because of the especial effects and sound, but I was very disappointed…. I am guessing, X-Man fans like myself will probably buy it, but as a movie it is not really worth buying. You can see the original review here.

Catching Up

It has been about a week and a half since I written any blog post and I have so much material to write about. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up with you guys during next couple of days. These are are some of the highlights coming at you soon:

• My top 5 pictures from the visit to the Austin Zoo.
• Monday (5/18/2009) was V’s birthday, but we had guests in town since Wednesday night. Have some funny stories to tell and the top quotes of the weekend. Put these three characters together and you never know what’s going to be said.
• Movie reviews and a new ranking format:
  • Angels and Demons, Watched it Saturday (5/16/2009)
  • Sunshine Cleaning, Watched it Monday (5/18/2009)

Keep posted!!!

Austin Aztecs Soccer

Friday night V, Dima and I went to watch the Austin Aztecs game against the Puerto Rico Islanders. We were so disappointed.

1. They Play in a High School Field. This team calls themselves a professional team and they play in a high school field with predominant American Football lines, I couldn’t  tell where the soccer lines were.
2. $20 Per Seat. Can you believe it? $20 for the cheapest seats in the house. Not that you can really tell the difference from the >$22 seats. Dima had a theory on the Aztecs business model, ‘they know that the people will not comeback, so lets charge as much as we can the first time.’
3. Level of Play. The level of play of both teams was not up to what was advertised.

There was another thing that I was not happy about, but this is not the Aztecs’ fault:

The game ended tied 1 –1. I am not a ‘soccer (or futbol)  person,’ so I do not understand how as a fan someone can watch a 90 minutes game and be happy with a 1 – 1 outcome. No winner, no looser, and then have the audacity of saying that the other team sucks.

There was a couple of points that I did like about the experience. The side of the stadium open to the public was crowded and they had lively followers, most wearing soccer jerseys from their respective countries (Mexico and Brazil) or from professional teams somewhere else. But they had their drums and trumpets and noise makers. It really seemed like a neighborhood activity. If the price wasn’t so steep I would be willing to attend a few more games, but with a $20 per game price tag, I expect more than just a couple of amateur teams having trouble scoring with barely any goalie skills.

Star Trek

Awesome!!!!

End Of Post

 

OK, I guess a few more words would be nice. This has been the best Star Trek movie I have seen, I find it to be a complete movie, with a purpose. Not just, ‘we are lost in space and we stumble upon a new mission.’ As you can tell I am not a Treky, but I think this movie would satisfied both. You would get the most out of it if you are familiar with the original Star Trek series , but if you are not; the action, complete story line and comedic relief will keep you entertain. Well worth watching.

Weekend Preview (05/08/2009 – 05/10/2009)

Coming up this weekend:

1. Star Trek – The movie premiers on May 7, 2009, but my department will have a day outing to go watch it on Friday. This is the first time I am excited to watch a Star Trek movie, I have never been into Star Trek and I don’t know the characters’ names (but I don’t know anyone’s name, fiction or not) or history, but this seems more exciting, modern and young. Wait for my review tomorrow.
2. Austin Aztecs vs. Puerto Rico Islanders – These two teams play in the First Division – United Soccer League and will be playing Friday (05/07/2009) night. Austin is an expansion team in this league which includes teams from Vancouver, Miami, Montreal, Rochester and many others. The league will also be adding a couple of more teams next year from NY and Tampa. Puerto Rico and Austin played already once this season and Austin won in penalty kicks 3 – 0. Will Puerto Rico be looking for payback? I will be there to watch, but if you can’t make it, the game will be televised through Fox Soccer.
3. Austin Zoo – V and I will be taking a little stroll through the Austin Zoo. Originally founded as a goat ranch and later an animal sanctuary; today, the Austin Zoo is home to over 300 animals across more than 100 species. We will be taking some pictures and practicing for our future visit to the San Antonio Zoo.
4. Ikea and Home Work – We have a couple of home projects we want to get done, before our visitors arrive next week. That means extended stays at Ikea and some ‘screwing around’ the house.

Cheap Meals Around Austin

Due to the poor economic situation people are eating in more often, causing a lot of restaurants to be heavily affected and making them compete for our hard earned dollars. Some restaurants have realized that people are looking for a good deal without sacrificing quality.  These are some of the restaurants that have stepped up to the plate:

• Subway – Subway’s $5 foot long has become a classic as well as a catchy jingle.
• Mangia – Has lunch and dinner for $5, options include spaghetti and meatballs or raviolis and soup or salad.
• Applebee’s – Offers a 2 for $20 menu, where a couple can share an appetizer and order two different entrees.
• Cafe Mangu – Offers 2 entrees for $19.95, you would get 2 entrees with sides each and an order of ‘mariquitas’ for appetizer.
• Carino’s – Has $8.99 all you can eat pasta and salad and of course Wednesday’s Wine and Dine (1/2 Price Wine Bottles)

Do you know of any other restaurants offering good deals in the Austin area? What about in your area? Please comment you recommendations.

Hawks turn off the Heat

Everyone who knows me is aware of my loyalty to the Miami area sports teams, including the Miami Heat. Sadly the heat were eliminated yesterday (05/03/2009) in the first round of the playoffs by the Atlanta Hawks. But, who could decipher that series? A seven game series in which no game was closer than a 10 points differential (26, 15, 29, 10, 15, 26, 13).

Atlanta was the best team, but in my opinion not the strongest. Miami was seen as a one man team, D. Wade, and it is partly true. When Wade is in the game the attitude of the team changes completely, but I believe that this series gave them some definition and a foundation to work on for next year. In the first three games we saw the resurgence of J. O’Neal, sadly he got injured. The support of James Jones, Michael Beasley and at times Cook and Chalmers were also helpful.  They need work in consistency and leadership when Wade is not in the court.

Overall this is a fairly young team in which most contributors are rookies (Chalmers and Beasley), 1 year (Anthony and Cook) or 5 years (Jones, Haslem and Wade) with the exception of 12 years veteran O’Neal, is in a good position for growth and improvement. Let’s not forget their record improvement of 15-67 a year ago to 43-39 this year. Also, realistically speaking what would they have been able to do against Cleveland in the second round?

Thirty Out Of a 100 is Not Bad

Saturday (5/2/2009) Olive-R, V and I participated in the Shiner GASP (Greater Austin Shiner Pedal), a 100 mile cycling event from Austin to the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, TX, benefiting the American Cancer Foundation. Man, it was a though day. The day was a warm, cloudy and very humid. Keep in mind that I had not touch a bicycle since the 24 miles in the Spoke N Spurs event last March.

The day started with my knee being really tight and turning into a slight pain after a few miles into the event. And what was suppose to be a fairly flat road turn out to be quite hilly. The first rest stop, came 17 miles into the ride and when I got there the stop was already packing up to close. At that point I was ready to get on the van and go to the finish line. Sadly, the van available was the turtle van, which follows the last rider. A bit too slow considering the 83 miles left to go, so I figured continuing to the next rest stop at mile 33 and catching a faster van on the way would be best. Somewhere around mile 29 I saw a van passing by and I waved it down. Turning out to be one my best ideas ever.

About a mile down the road I waved down V and she decided to get in as well, and then convinced the driver, Matt, to go back for Olive-R. At that point we were three out of 4 in the van, but the following 70 miles would proof how valuable our seats were. On the way to Shiner, we stopped to aid a rider that had fallen off his bike, we picked up a number of people and squished in a few more bikes in.

During the van ride we stop countless of times to find people that wanted a ride and there were no vans available to help. That was a common complaint, they only had 3 regular side vans covering the hundred mile stretch; while doing double duty, mechanical help as well as picking up people. The vans didn’t have any bike racks, so the bikes would take valuable space within the van. A fully loaded van could only carry 7 people at a time. Not good!

The stops offered cookies, PowerAde Bars and oranges not much compared to the Spoke N Spurs ride which had PB&J sandwiches, cookies, an assortment of fruits, candies and cakes. The Spoetzl Brewery was cool and we each got an option of Bratwurst or Shiner Sausage, I as most people chose one of each. I found it to be not enough food, specially for someone who just finished a 100 mile ride. We also got to try a number of their beers, but my favorite was their 100 years commemorative beer, a doppelbock called the ‘Shiner 100 Commemorator.’

Overall it was an eventful ride, but one I would not do again. I would also like to thank Olive-R dad’s for waiting for us at the finish line, even if we were too blind to find him when we got there.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Spoiler Alert!!!)

Last night, at midnight, a few friends and I watched ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ and I have mixed opinions. The good news is: Action, Action, Action!!! From beginning to end the movie is  full of it. The bad news is: Action Scene after Action Scene after Action Scene!!! No real character development, no real character associations (even in the romance scenes), nothing different from the other X-Men movies, except it is worst. All you get is Wolverine hacking and slashing away, how is that different from all the other movies? Well, in this one you get to see him slashing as a kid and with bone blades.

There are three main characters in this movie (some may argue 4). Logan – Wolverine, Coronel Stryker (played by Danny Huston), the one responsible for Logan’s adamantium infusion and the creation of Bloodpool. Victor Creed (or is it Viktor? Sabretooth, played by Liev Schreiber). In this case Victor is Logan’s brother, which keeps consistent to the inconsistency in Sabretooth and Wolverine’s relationship. Through time they have been father and son, cousins, etc. Their relationships develops through from their child hood to ‘current times’ through a series of periodical style videos of the different wars they participated together. For no apparent reason Sabretooth grows up to be (believe it or not) more blood thirsty than Wolverine (not by much) that being  the reason of their big split.

The fourth character could be Bloodpool, considering that the majority of the destruction in the movie was caused for  Bloodpool’s creation as an end result, he himself played a very little part in the movie. So the government continues its ridiculous money spending; first the little trip of Air Force One over NYC and then the multi-billion dollar investment in the creation of Bloodpool, who turns around and gets destroyed (decapitated) in his first fight by two Canadians (it could only be worst if they were French).

The other gripes I have against the movie:

• The development of the other mutants was non-existence. I understand that it is supposed to be Wolverine’s story, but why is it important that he was hanging out with these guys?
• I never understood the the other guys’ mutant abilities. Agent Zero (played by Daniel Henney) and Wade Wilson (later to become Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds) seemed to have pretty much the same power, but one uses guns the other swords. And they all seem to have jumping and leaping abilities. WTF?
• Also, all the regular humans seemed to have a power as well… they are all bad shots… not even with a helicopter!
• Gambit… well, he was there.
• If Wolverine and Sabretooth were brothers, how come they didn’t really show this relationship in the first part of the X-Men trilogy. I understand Wolverine looses his mind, but what about Sabretooth?
• I agree with New York Times review by  Joe Neumair, when he complaints about the simplicity of Wolverine’s lab scene. I mean, this is the scene that hunts him throughout the rest of his life (a big deal considering he can’t die), but it wasn’t scary at all. He barely moved, oh yeah he also squinted. Ok, well his heart stopped for a second, but his heart stops in every movie.
• Oh, lets not forget about that stupid after credit scene.

I did liked:

• The cameo by Xavier.
• Is that girl Lady Deathstrike from X-Men 2?

Is it worth seeing? Of course; Wolverine is in it :-) Is it worth getting excited over it? Not really… I would be more excited about the future ‘Origins’ movies featuring Magneto and the young X-Man (‘First Class').

What did you think?

Weekend Preview (05/01/2009 – 05/03/2009)

Coming up this weekend:

1. Shiner GASP – Saturday May 2nd, is the Shiner GASP (Great Austin to Shiner Pedal). A 100 mile bicycle ride starting in Austin, TX and culminating in Shiner; home to the Spoetzl Brewery. The Spoetzls are the brewers of the Shiner family of  beers, pretty popular in these parts of town. This should be a friendly ride which rewards you as you get to Shiner with an all you can eat and drink party. Yup you heard right, all you can drink beer right out of the keg and all you can eat Texas BBQ. If it wasn’t for those pesky 100 miles in between Austin and Shiner this would be the best $50 investment you can make in this economy. Needless to say, I let my friend and girlfriend convince me that participating was a good idea; according to them, there will be busses picking stragglers along the road and giving them and their bikes a ride to the finish line. I’m counting in the later quite a bit…. because I don’t think I’m good for more than 20 to 30 miles. Either way, it will make for a good story so keep an eye out for blog post on this even and some photos.
2. SHPE Volleyball Game – The annual SHPE Volleyball game between the Austin Professional chapter and the UT Student chapter will take place on Sunday, if weather permits. Although I should not play, it should be a fun activity to go watch and take some pictures.
3. Multimedia Computer Setup – So I received my copy of Lightroom 2 on Tuesday and inherited a fairly powerful computer from V. So I will be installing Lightroom and migrating my whole photo library from a currently chaotic  (almost non existence) system to a nice, organize and friendly environment… Let’s see how that works out. Don’t get me started with my music library, which will also be migrated.

Phase 1.5 of the Road to Fitness

Yesterday, I wrote about the 1 year weight training plan that I started a couple of weeks ago. Today, I want to talk about my goals with this plan and some of the changes I’ve notice I need to make in order to continue improvement.

Long Term Goals

I want to be in shape for my wedding, but what does ‘in shape’ means? As I search on-line there are a lot of people and formulas trying to define the very same term. But, my conclusion is, that opposite to the majority of things in life, the term ‘in shape’ gets to be defined by us, our priorities and motivations. It is very easy to say ‘my goal is to be fit’, but never have a real definition of it. Thus, going to the gym endlessly without the results we would like to have. Sooner or later becoming frustrated and quitting as an end-result.

The first and second step is to define ‘in shape’ and to set a time frame. The sequence in which this is done doesn’t really matter. In my case the time frame was set, 1 Year from now. Now, I have to decide what is my reasonable ‘in shape.’  ‘In shape’ goals could be something like running a marathon or a little bit less challenging like going up the stairs without needing a tank of oxygen. Just don’t cheat yourself. Pick reasonable goals, but make sure that they are challenging as well. In other words, if you are a couch potato don’t expect to be able to run a marathon in a month or two, it is very unlikely that you will be able to do this, but you should also challenge yourself and maybe you will be able to complete a 5Km in a decent time.

I have three goals:

1. Strengthen my legs. I have bad knees and my legs have suffered because of it. There are days in which I can barely go downstairs without hanging to the hand rails for dear life. At the end of the year I would like to be able to play a basketball game and not limp for a week, go back to playing volleyball and carry my wife through the door of our honeymoon suite. ;-)
2. Loose fat. At this point I am at somewhere between 28 to 34% of body fat. I would like to lower my body fat percentage to below 20% and ideally 16% or lower. Notice that I said lower body fat, not weight. I weight around 233 lbs. (around 105.7 Kg), I am guessing that I would end up some where around 210-215 lbs., but the weight is not important to me, the fat percentage is.
3. Gain Flexibility. Limber has never been a word used to described me. This is the challenging aspect to me. In the past I was able to loose and maintain low fat percentage and have strong legs, but I have never been flexible.

Of course these goals are not set in stone, it may be that I reach my goals ahead of time and I need to find new goals or that I find it too hard to reach in the allotted time or maybe my focus has changed from pure weight training to cycling. In all these cases it will be OK to modify my goals.

Short Term Goals

As mentioned on yesterday’s post my year training plan is divided in 9 phases. I figured (no scientific method here) that it would make sense to make short term goals as I go through the phases with slight modifications as I see fit. the following is my Phase 1 short term goal:

• Stick to it. No diet, no calorie counting, no cardio, no set schedule, no weight limits…. my only rule is to go to the gym three times a week, try to rest a day between workouts and take it easy with the amount of weights. Some may find it ridiculous that a proper training plan doesn’t include any food plans or cardio and I completely agree, but that’s not what I’m looking for in the first month. I am looking to get used to finding time to go to the gym. After 2 wks into it I have been very inconsistent when it comes to workout times, I have been to the gym at 7:45 AM, 10 AM, 10 PM and 6 PM… but I have been there 3 times a week.

Two weeks into it I realize that I need to set a second short term goal. I have been able to increase my lifting weight dramatically, but that takes more energy and in the last couple of workouts I’ve had problems finishing strong. I need to start thinking about nutrition pre, during and post workout. I’ll keep you guys posted with my nutrition changes. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

1 Year Road to Wedding Shape

Hello Everyone,

I created this blog on 2005 and never got into it. I had actually forgotten about it. I never got into it because I didn’t think I had anything to share, that someone else would find helpful. Today, as I write this blog entry, I realize that just sharing my experiences is enough and if only one person finds them helpful or I get to motivate one soul to take a step forward then it is more than worth it.

I am the lucky man engaged to a beautiful, intelligent woman (which I’ll call V from now on), but that topic if for a future entry. Our wedding is scheduled for April 2010 and of course I’m starting to feel the heat when it comes to getting into wedding shape. I think every one wants to look his or her best in one of the most important days of their life. I’m no different, that and the fact that she is a running, tri-athlete, gym freak who easily gets up at 5:30 AM to go running or swimming… need less to say, I’m kind of the opposite.

Two weeks ago I decided to start a 1 year plan to get in shape. After doing some googling, I came across Todd Opheim’s BodyBuilding.com article; ‘One Year Workout Guide!’ The article explains and recommends a series of workout through the time span of one year. The workouts are divided in 9 different levels:

1 – Getting Started (1 Month Long) – Full body workout with basic exercises.
2 – Continuation (1 Month Long) – Full body workout with more advance and challenging exercises.
3 – 2 Day Split (1 Month Long)
4 – 3 Day Split (1 Month Long)
5 – Super Sets (1 Month Long)
6 – Back to Basics Mass Gain (2 Months Long)
7 – Hypertrophy (1 Month Long)
8 – 4 Day Split (1 Month Long)
9 – Decrease Fat (3 Months Long)

I have only been in this program for two weeks and I have seen some progress, especially in my legs. I’ve had knee problems for a few years, which have made slack on leg exercise, but I started easy and have been able to see exciting and motivating gains. I’ll keep you guys updated.

Please take some time to take a look at the workout site and post your opinions and workout recommendations.