Kull's World

Friday Morning Weigh In #2:

217.5 LBS
(Previous  weigh ins: 224 - 219)
A bit disappointing, after losing 5 pounds in the first week of the contest.  But I had no basketball games this week, and those are big calorie burners for me.  And I am finding it is much harder to lose weight after having been pretty within the same weight range over the past 2-3 years after my big loss from 03-04.  When I made my big life change and lost a big amount of weight, I had so many poor eating habits and by dropping those, the weight just flew off.  However this time around, I ate relatively healthy with only a couple bad habits.  Grabbing a bagel or donut provided at the office, snacking on Cow Tails in my travels, or the occasional cal zone were the only bad habits I really have had.  Oh, and finishing off any of Ben's leftovers while out to eat, chicken fingers, mac & cheese...so damn good.  But anyway, so this time around I am really only eliminating a handful of calories from my daily diet, therefore I need to burn that much more at the gym or on the court to lose the weight.

Although bottom line, if I can continue to lose a pound or two a week for the next 3 months, my body will be ready to be on display at York Beach, Maine baby...and we all know that place is the Venice Beach of the East!

Props...

...to Digital Soul, a You Tuber for throwing an old lyric on his profile page that I have always loved, but had forgotten about.  And now it is my new catch phrase at the top of my page, actually replacing a lyric by the same artist.  I remember years ago, hearing that lyric and thinking it was really cool.  Now many years later, it hits home for me a little bit more as I am constantly amazed at watching my boys explore their minds by learning new things every day.

Dillon Panthers Booster Club

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, CAN'T CANCEL FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!!!

By the way, is Tim Riggins the coolest high school television character since Dylan McKay?

Friday Morning Weigh In #1:

219 LBS

Ben says...

*Ben's vocabulary and conversational skills are improving every day and he says a lot of funny shit.  So I thought I would start posting them regularly to share the comedy.  Or to have people comment by saying, "I guess you had to be there"  Anyway...

The other night, Ben was having a particularly difficult night sleeping.  From 2AM on, he would call from his room.  The first few times I went in there to calm him down, but after a while we decided Kristin would go in to give it a shot.  So after that, we heard:

Ben:        "MOMMY.....MOMMY.....MOMMY"

Kristin:    "What Ben?" (said from our room across the hall)

Ben:        "I want Daddy"

Why he felt he needed a go between is beyond me.  But we thought it was pretty funny and few folks I have shared the story with agreed.

Oh, then later in the wee hours of the morning, as this nonsense continued I went in again to try and figure out what was wrong.

Me:        "Ben, are you scared?"

Ben:        "Yeah."

Me:        "What is scaring you?"

Ben:        "Buzz!" (Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story)

Me:        "Well, where is Buzz?"

Ben:        "Brady's House!" (friend Brady & Keller have a toy Buzz that Ben absolutely LOVED playing with                   last time we were there, yet now it was keeping him up?

As Bill Cosby once said...kids say the darnest things, or something like that.

Ben's Bedroom Mural

 
   

Ben's bedroom received a nice upgrade over the last week compliments of his Grandma Karen.

Although a Fenway theme no doubt would have raised the value of the home by 10-20K, the Original Pooh decor is nice for a 3 year old.

Thanks Karen...and Caleb's room is a blank canvas!

(click on the picture, then the ALL SIZES tab to truly appreciate the detail)

The Biggest Loser - Weigh In

A co-worker of mine is running a Weight Loss Pool at work this year.  Yes, I know he did the same thing last year, I entered, and said I was in it to win it.  But then Kristin went and had a baby which led to lots of bad food, late nights, etc.  The on top of that multiple birthday parties...after the 2 month contest, I lost a whopping 3 lbs.

But this year, considering one of my 2008 goals is to "Lose a Ben", I am really motivated and feel I can win it.  And there is $750 on the line too and we can use that kind of cash around the Kull's World household, so I feel I am going to work to earn this cash.

To further motivate myself, I decided I will post my weekly weigh in figures here.
Yesterday morning, at my official weigh in, after a week of not working out and eating whatever I wanted, I tipped the scales at......................224 LBS. (which by the way was exactly what I was the week before my last week binge on food, but whatever)

So there it is, stay tuned for weekly updates and hopefully this is a good tool to keep my motivation up.

Ouch!

The most popular subject line in my inbox this morning gets the title post of the day!  What an amazing Super Bowl, 3 lead changes in the 4th quarter?  Are you kidding me?  At least this is one game where as a sports fan, you cannot feel that your team "beat itself", because clearly the Giants were the better team and controlled the game from the coin toss.  Just a few observations:

• If the Patriots can fall on a fumble in the 1st half, they might have been up by 2-3 scores.  How Pierre Woods did not come up with that Bradshaw fumble from their own 30 is beyond my comprehension, he fell on it, it was in his belly and then somehow a Giant comes out of the pile with it?  I wonder how many kidney punches and nut squeezes he got under there to cough up the ball?
• The Giants stopping the Patriots on that drive where BB got the huge challenge for the 12 men on the field was such a big stand for them.  The Patriots come away with even 3 points there, that is a huge stomach punch for the G-Men, instead it was the other way around.
• The Giants' defensive intensity practically busted the popcorn out of that Jiffy Pop looking stadium in Glendale.  It was out of this world.  That being said, I think on the Patriots final drive, the Giants defense was finally losing steam and guys were going down like flies.  I think if the Pats had 2+ minutes after Eli's impressive drive, they would have marched right back down and scored again.
• Speaking of Eli's drive, holy smokes!  How many bullets did he dodge on that drive?  How for the love of god, did he get out of the grasps on that one play?  It seemed like he was stopped long enough for a whistle but obviously not, and then he throws it up for grabs and Tyree catches it with his freaking helmet?  That was kind of a signal that the Giants had some magic working for them.  Dwight Clark, you are on notice...your reign with "Best Super Bowl Catch" , Best NFL post season catch might be over. (Thanks to Joe Montana himself for pointing out my error)
• Going backwards, Asante "Get Paid" Samuel, catch the ball first, then look down the sidelines to see if you can return the ball for a pick six game ender.
• I watched a lot of the post game interviews, etc as I could not go to sleep.  And the Giants showed they have a lot of classy players and coaches.  However, Osi Youmenwhateverthefuckhisnameis is not one of them.  I believe he needs to take a class "Winning with Class 101", some of the shit he said on the NFL Network Gameday set was really sad for a World Champion.  Talking about Tom Brady should be crying, 18-1 trademark that, go plan your parade, etc.  All that stuff is all fine and good to be said in the locker room amongst the boys, but keep it classy on national television eh?  The NFL Network guys were even scrambling to try and change his tone by prompting him with other questions, kind of funny.
• I've heard a little scuttlebutt about Belichick being a "sore loser" for running off the field with 1 second left.  Give me a break.  The game was over, the clock actually struck ZERO, then they put time back on the clock.  Players were already on the field, etc.  But the NFL has to follow its rules and play the final play?  Stupid.  A new rule needs to be put in where the losing coach can concede the final play or something.
• The thing that sucks most about losing the final game after going 18-0, is next year the Patriots can win every game by 60 points and go undefeated again, but there will be no satisfaction as a player/coach/fan until the clock strikes ZERO on a Super Bowl victory.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on this game.  As frustrating as it was, as I get older I have found as a fan of professional/college teams I enjoy the afterglow of winning the game far more then the disappointment of losing the big game.  When my team wins, it is a great time to celebrate and enjoy, but when they lose, it's more "it's just a game" and move on.  I'm at work this morning, I would have been at work if they won too.  Know what I mean?  I guess I can turn the page better then when I was younger.

Hats off to the New Jersey Giants, they played an amazing game and "shocked the world" (BTW when does that phrase officially jump the shark in the world of sports?), I am happy for the people of New Jersey!

9 days until pitchers and catchers report to Fort Myers, Florida!

Football Game on Sunday

Patriots: 38
Giants:   14

Dr. Feelgood

In the past couple days, I have experienced two things that have made me feel very good about myself.

1)  Yesterday, as usual I picked the boys up from daycare, I strolled out of the building as I normally do, carrying Caleb and holding Ben's hand.  I got out to my truck and was strapping Caleb into his seat as Ben was standing by my side holding my leg (that is the rule so I know he is safe).  A young guy wheeled out of his parking spot and shouted "you're the best, you set a good example for Dads like me, an inspiration!" I was taken back a bit, I did not know this guy, not sure if this was the only time he has observed me or if he sees me regularly.  But anyway, it made me feel really good.

2)  Earlier in the week, I FREECYCLE'D three baby related items to a nice woman who was collecting stuff for a friend of hers that was due with her first baby this week.   Family and friends of the Mom to be couldn't afford to buy her a lot of all the required stuff for child rearing, so her friend was on the look out for free stuff.  I was glad to pass it along, as all the items were things that we received from friends or family as well.  But the lady sent me a thank you email as if I had just given her a thousand bucks or something, but it was really nice.

Am I sharing these experiences to toot my own horn?  No, just sharing because it's things like this that keep you going.  I continuously thought of these feel good stories last night when Caleb decided he wanted to cry for no apparent reason from 2-4:30AM!!!