"This isn't news!"

Haha, I found this pretty amusing. The guy who plays the "this isn't news" guy does a great job at portraying "internet nerd"... the voice, the hair, the over excitability.

Sunbathing

This is just too damn cute. Coco likes to sunbathe.

Edge Driving Part VI

Ehh, the video is a bit boring. You really can't get a feel for the speed and violence when watching from afar. Even in-car cameras can't capture that well. It's something you have to experience for yourself. It's like skydiving. You just really can't describe it to someone who hasn't been. I can tell you though that in many parts of that video, I was going well over 100 mph.

At 1:47, you can see me slide around Horseshoe (the downhill right hander). I was driving really sloppy because in the previous session, my amazing instructor was showing me how he can drift around every corner and still be faster than everyone on the track, so I was trying to (somewhat) emulate him. I think the message was "if you can safely control your car over the edge, then you won't be afraid to skate the edge." Easier said then done.

Despite slip-sliding all over the track, I think I was making ok times. The grey Subaru said he shaved a whole second off his lap time by following me. He said we did 1:27 one time. I think if I really concentrate on driving well, and not roast my tires by trying to slide/drift, I can probably squeeze out a 1:26 or maybe less?

I got one of the two most advanced instructors this time around. He is professional, as in he makes his living by instructing people who are serious about going fast ($700 per day!), and he's also trying to get into professional racing. Crazy what that mofo can do with a car, just ask my friend Troy who got a few rides with him (in my car, hehe).

Anyway, I'm "very" solo approved in yellow now. :) Next event, I'll get the solo discount, get the solo wristband, and not have an instructor at all... scary! I'm definitely going to ask for one to come along for a few laps... I usually need to be cleaned up since I forget in the time between events.

The damage:

• new (more or less) Z51 brake pads completely obliterated in 2 days, not just worn away, but burnt to a crisp also
• boiled brake fluid in 1 day, requiring a complete flush
• front r-compound tires debatably finished

Sunshine

Hope that guy is wearing sunscreen!

Wow. Netflix recommended this movie to me and though I had never heard of it before, I thought sure what the heck, I like science fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It sucked me in right from the beginning and kept me going until the end. Well, the last third of the movie could have been better, but the first two thirds were top rate.

The movie takes place in the future where the sun is about to burn out. Humanity launched a mission (Icarus I) to detonate a bomb on the sun in order to restart it. That mission failed and they launched a second mission (Icarus II) to do the same thing.

Straight up, space scares me. There is something about the darkness, the silence, the sterility and coldness of a spaceship that creeps me out. This movie, interestingly, makes light creepy. There are a lot of images of the blazing inferno that is the sun. It's the totalness, the completely engulfing feeling these images invoke which I find to be creepy.

The movie is not without its clichés. You have the "crew is expendable at the cost of the mission" choices, the "struggling to maintain sanity in an alien environment" dilemmas, and finally (and unfortunately) the "movie needs a physical antagonist" plot point. They are all done well though, with good pacing and good acting.

Last, but not least, I didn't feel like I had to suspend my disbelief much. I'm pretty demanding when it comes to that.

I highly recommend this movie to any sci-fi fans.

Scivation Xtend

Bodybuilding.com's glutamine product of the year!

This is a solid amino acid product that has the standard 2-1-1 ratio of l-leucine (3.5 g), l-isoleucine (1.75 g) and l-valine (1.75 g). It also contains a healthy dose of l-glutamine (2.5 g) and citrulline malate (1 g).

Does this stuff work? I dunno. It's hard to say with nutritional supplements, ya know? It's the same as taking whey protein... there's no real night and day difference, but you take it anyway just to be sure. I do feel like the duration of my post workout soreness has decreased (as l-glutamine is advertised to do), but maybe that's also just a side effect of regularly going to the gym 4 days a week for the past 4 months.

Ok, just to make this "review" easy, let's assume that you believe in amino acid supplements and you are trying to decide which one to get. It'll boil down to price, taste and quality.

I think the quality is good. Scivation has a very good reputation on bodybuilding.com and Xtend has a huge following there.

Price is alright, I guess. Dang amino acids are expensive. It's $50 for a 90 serving container. People take between 1 and 3 servings a day. I take 1.5 servings.

Taste is where it gets interesting. It's advertised as tasting like Koolaid... and yes it does, after you get used to it! The first two or three times I tried "refreshing apple," it tasted like bitter chemicals. So much so that I would sometimes cringe after taking a swig. Then I learned to add more water. 2 scoops per 1 liter seems to do the trick. After that, it started to taste kind of good.

The watermelon flavor was the opposite. It tasted watered down and diluted. After upping the amount to 3 scoops per 1 liter, it actually tastes pretty good.

By now, I'm very used to Xtend's flavor and actually find it very pleasurable. I sometimes drink it just cuz I'm thirsty and am craving something sweet. Tastes like how Jolly Ranchers smell. The watermelon is definitely sweeter than the apple, and I like it better overall.

BSN Syntha-6

Funky red bottle.

Syntha-6's gimmick is that it has 6 different proteins: whey concentrate, whey isolate, egg albumen, milk protein concentrate, calcium caseinate, micellar alpha and beta-casein caseinates. Each type of protein has a different absorption rate, so one shake theoretically gives you a steady protein supply for up to 8 hours.

Here's the macro breakdown for a 44 g serving:

22 g protein
15 g carbs (2 g sugar)
6 g fat (2 g saturated)
200 calories

Compare that to a 70 g serving of Muscle Milk (which also has a blend of different types of protein):

32 g protein
16 g carbs (2 g sugar)
12 g fat (6 g saturated)
300 calories

Ahh, but the serving size is different. Let's put them on equal ground. Here are the macros for a 70 g serving of Syntha-6:

35 g protein
24 g carbs (3 g sugar)
10 g fat (3 g saturated)
325 calories

It boils down to significantly more carbs, and significantly less saturated fat. Note though, that Muscle Milk claims its saturated fat is good for you (medium chain triglycerides, that are more readily metabolized for energy).

So how does it taste? I got Chocolate Peanut Butter and when blended with a banana, ice and water... it tastes damn good. So good that I immediately want to make another one. I think it definitely lives up to it's claim of "ridiculously" delicious. I haven't tried it in plain water yet.

Update: I just tried it in plain water... it has nothing on Muscle Milk. Not bad, definitely good as far as protein goes, but nothing close to retardedly delicious like Muscle Milk.

All in all, I think it's a perfect alternative to Muscle Milk for people who don't like the high amount of (saturated) fat.

Fun factoid... on BodyBuilding.com's best seller list, Syntha-6 is ranked number 4 and Muscle Milk is ranked number 5. BSN has two products on the top 10 list (top 5 actually).

Poopoo's hurt bottom!

Callie got an impacted anal gland. Apparently it's somewhat typical for dachshunds. I had never heard of it before and freaked out. It looked like a tumor, but all swollen and veiny.

I wanted to go to the emergency room, but Aimee talked me out of it after looking it up on the internet (unlike me, she stayed calm and rational). It's not actually that serious, so we decided to go first thing in the morning. We did a few warm compresses on it and went to bed.

I wake up to all the lights on and Aimee rushing about and Callie whining. I'm so tired and out of it, I have no idea what is going on and it's hard for me to think or concentrate. Her anal gland ruptured in the middle of the night and it was bleeding all over the sheets. :(

Panic sets in and I kept saying, "Well lets go to the vet now, now now!" Aimee replies, "Uhh, it's 4:00am." I was like... wtf, I though it was morning time (that's how out of it I was).

Again, Aimee didn't panic and looked it up on the internet. It's not fatal and it wasn't bleeding that badly, so we put a compress on it and went to bed again.

Next morning we go to the vet and get her all stitched up. Ten days later she's as good as new!

I hate stuff like this. It scares me so much. I can't imagine life without them.

Annette and Jan's Sopapillas

This isn't a picture of the actual recipe below.

I don't know who Annette and Jan are. They are friends of my coworker who gave me this recipe... :)

Ingredients

• 2 cans crescent rolls (not jumbo)
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 stick of butter

Procedure

1. Put first can of rolls on baking dish. Make sure perforations are closed.
2. Mix 1 cup of sugar with vanilla and cream cheese. Spread over rolls.
3. Open second can of rolls and put on top the ones that have cream cheese on them, sealing the perforations.
4. Melt butter and pour on top.
5. Mix remaining 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle over the sopapillas.
6. Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Nutritional Info

Oye vé... I'm not even going to bother! Ok, ok... I'm neurotic. 4 g protein, 50 g carbs (almost all sugar), 28 g fat, 457 calories... for a single serving (recipe makes eight).

Notes

I haven't actually tried these yet, but my coworker assures me that they are awesome.

Muscle Milk - Cake Batter

Wow, this stuff actually smells and tastes like cake batter. I'm very impressed.

Now the million dollar question... is it better than Muscle Milk's mind blowingly good vanilla? Ehh, not quite. It's just not as rich. Maybe I mixed it with too much water though. We'll see when I make it again tomorrow.

I have to say though, it's my second favorite flavor right now.

End communication.

Sludging it up

Head SciVation dude demonstrating how to make sludge.

I made (SciVation) sludge for breakfast this morning. It's really thick. Every spoonful took a decent amount of time to eat. It's pretty delicious though. I thoroughly enjoyed every single bite. I highly suggest trying this.

Although I didn't use blueberries this morning, I'm including them in the recipe. I made some other modifications to the recipe as well.

Ingredients

• 1.5 scoop (SciVation) vanilla whey
• 2 tbsp (32 g) all natural almond butter
• 1 tbsp sugar free, fat free chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 tbsp (Ghirardelli) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp (2 packets) Splenda
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (thawed)
• skim milk

Procedure

1. Mix all the powders in a small bowl.
2. Mix in the almond butter with little splashes of milk until you have very very thick sludge.
3. Mix in the blueberries.
4. Put in freezer for a few mins.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	40.0	27.18	22.15	391
almond butter	4.5	6.4	17.7	190
whey	33.0	1.5	3.0	108
pudding	0.0	6.18	0.0	27
cocoa powder	0.0	1.5	0.75	8
milk	2.2	3.1	0.2	23
blueberries	0.3	8.5	0.5	35

Notes

Next time, I'm going to try to cut the calories by only using 1 tbsp (16 g) of almond butter.

The original recipe calls for 1 scoop of protein, but I always like adding a bit more.

SciVation Whey (vanilla)

A while ago, I asked the SciVation owner/president for a sample their whey protein via email. He promptly answered and asked for a shipping address. I never received the samples. I'm a little miffed about that, but I bought some SciVation products anyway. I'm pretty sure it was just an honest mistake. SciVation is extremely active on the bodybuilding.com forums and has a fantastic reputation for customer service.

I used Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey before and was very happy with it. There are 2 reasons why I decided to try out SciVation's whey.

• Price. It's cheap as hell.
• The company seems very promising with a focus on customer service, lab tested products, and being owned and run by bodybuilders (who obviously use the products).

It's good stuff. It has the thickness and consistency of EAS Myoplex (it's much thicker than ON 100% Whey), but without the chalky taste. Now granted, I put my whey in fruit smoothies but still, I can tell it tastes good. I mean, I put all my whey in my smoothies and it's like this: nothing can mask the nasty chalky flavor of Myoplex Lite, ON 100% Whey more or less doesn't affect the smoothie at all, SciVation Whey makes the smoothie thick and has a bit more vanilla flavor.

The macro ratios are good. 22 g of protein, 1 g of carbs (sugar), 1 g of fat. I just wish whey protein isolate was listed first in the ingredients (whey protein concentrate is instead)... just for mental peace of mind.

I would definitely buy this product again.

Healthy Cheesecake / Mousse

This is another oldie, but goodie. I perfected this recipe in college, but then lost it and forgot how to make it. The recipe posted below is my best guess...

Ingredients

• 1 cup cottage cheese (low fat or non fat)
• 1 tbsp sugar free, fat free pudding mix
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• vanilla extract (couple drops)
• coconut extract (couple drops)
• Splenda (optional, to taste)
• 1/2 cup thawed frozen strawberries

Procedure

1. Put everything in a mixing bowl.
2. Go sparingly with the extracts.
3. Blend until silky smooth using a hand blender.
4. Put fruit on top and put in refrigerator.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	52.5	26.28	3.9	359
cottage cheese	28.0	6.1	2.3	163
whey	24.0	4.0	1.5	130
pudding	0.0	6.18	0.0	27.0
strawberries	0.5	10.0	0.1	39.0

Notes

For pudding mix flavor, I use cheesecake or white chocolate.

You can add unsweetened cocoa powder to make it chocolate, but then you need to add extra sweetener or it will be bitter.

Instead of using the extracts and Spenda, you can use a couple squirts of Davinci or Torani sugar free syrups.

Using a hand blender is a chore. It's too thick to do in a blender. Maybe a food processor would work better?

How to get fit... a super brief primer

So apparently I lost something like %5 body fat in less than 3 months (heh, I still don't really believe it, I'm going to have it measured again). I went from those pictures above to this...

...in just two and a half months. Here are my thoughts on the process.

On nutrition...

Nutrition is everything. It is by far the most important part when it comes to losing body fat and gaining muscle. Everything is secondary to a proper nutrition plan.

If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. If you consume more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. Period.

The quality of food and types of calories consumed dictate what type of weight is gained or lost.

Eat natural foods. Protein bars are bad. Protein powder is a poor substitute for real food. Anything processed is bad (refined sugar and refined flour are especially bad).

Carbs are not bad. I eat lots of carbs everyday. Eat large amounts of fibrous vegetables with every meal (I go through 4 lbs of asparagus and 3 lbs of broccoli a week). Eat small amounts of starchy vegetables and fruit early on in the day, but no so much at night.

Eat large amounts of protein. This helps reduce the amount of muscle you lose when trimming down.

Get your essential fats from natural foods like nuts and salmon.

On physical aesthetic...

Do not concern yourself with weight, only body fat percent. I weighed about 140 in those "before" pictures... and I looked like shit. I weigh 138 now and look much better.

You can lose weight and still be just as flabby as before. You need to replace fat with muscle (i.e. reduce your body fat percent).

On metabolism...

Muscle burns calories just by existing. Fat does nothing. Replacing fat with muscle will increase your metabolism.

You must eat 5 or 6 small meals a day. This will level out your blood sugar and increase your metabolism. This is very important, probably the second most important thing besides nutrition.

On goals and motivation...

Write down a 3 month goal and read it every day. It should be something a little intimidating. It must be measurable.

Reprogram your brain to be motivated. When you catch a negative thought in your head, say (out loud) "stop", then replace it with a positive thought. This will (re)condition your subconscious.

On suppliments...

Don't bother with anything except whey protein powder and a multivitamin.

On cardio...

You need to do cardio. I do it 4-5 times a week.

"Low intensity cardio burning more fat calories" is smoke and mirrors. Let's do a little math game. Let's say that low intensity cardio burns a ratio of 70:30 fat to carbs calories and that high intensity burns a ratio of 50:50. Now lets say you do low intensity for 1 hour and burn 500 calories, that's 350 fat calories. Now I do high intensity for 1 hour and burn 1000 calories. Guess what, I burned 150 more fat calories than you and 500 more total.

This is a bit harsh, but who do you want to look like? Housewife McFatty walking on the tread mill? Or the triathlete that just ran 5 miles at an 8 minute per mile pace?

My favorite cardio is spinning (stationary bike). Cranking up the resistance on the bike always makes my legs sore... so I feel like I'm actually building some muscle rather than just doing cardio.

On weight training...

You need to do this to replace fat with muscle and/or to make sure that you don't lose too much muscle while trimming down.

Always make improvement every time you go to the gym, even if it's a tiny improvement. Get a notebook for this.

Parting thoughts...

If you want a harder look than my "after" pictures, try cutting down on sodium (salt), fructose (sugar from fruit) and dairy products. Unfortunately my diet is high in all of these.

This post is an extremely brief introduction to fitness. If you want a thorough and detailed guide, read Tom Venuto's e-book (the site looks like spam/scam, but it's not).

Can't wait to show results in another 3 months!

ALLMAX Nutrition Product Samples

I'm looking for a Syntax Nectar substitute because apparently Syntrax is an evil company. I asked an ALLMAX representative for a sample of IsoKool, which he obliged and then some (check out the picture of all that he sent)!

Here are my thoughts on the products.

IsoFlex Bar - Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge

Yum... this thing tastes great! Kind of reminds of a Charleston Chew, but not as chewy. I give it a 4/5 on flavor, I most definitely enjoyed eating it.

When it comes to bars though, I'm very skeptical that any are good for you. Weighing in at 330 calories, this is definitely a meal replacement (very close in macros to my daily Muscle Milk shake). It has a nice amount of protein at 31 g, the first ingredient being whey isolate, which is good. It has 12 g of fat (6 saturated) just like Muscle Milk. Then it has 26 g of carbs, 21 of which are sugar alcohols. I don't know how I feel about sugar alcohols.

IsoFlex - Peanut Butter Chocolate

They sent me two packets of this stuff. I made a smoothie with the first one out of a whole banana, 2 spoons of vanilla yogurt, ice and water. The second time around, I used only half a banana and more ice.

Wow! This stuff is delicious! You can really taste the peanut butter and it tastes great. I usually put a tablespoon of almond butter in my smoothies, but with this stuff there is absolutely no need (unless it's for the calories). I generally like ON 100% Whey, but this definitely tastes better than any of the ON chocolate flavors.

Now for the downside... it's 1.5 times more expensive than ON 100% Whey... $35 for 2 lbs... ouch. Guess that's the price to pay for 97% whey isolate.

IsoKool - Green Apple

Great taste, but it's hard to mix. It clumps up and gets all gooey on the spoon. Oh well, that's more or less expected with this type of protein powder. The taste is right up my alley though, and I was just about to buy some when I saw the price... $35 for 2 lbs. Ugh!

Hmm, I just checked and Nectar is $29. I don't remember it being that expensive, but granted I was buying that stuff a few years ago. So I guess $6 more for the IsoKool isn't that bad.

I'm going to buy this. I remember not liking Nectar's apple flavor, but this stuff is pretty good. For the record, Nector's Fuzzel Navel flavor is good... tastes like orange juice.

IsoKool - Lemon Ice Tea

I'm not going to review this tonight because I'm pretty set on the Green Apple flavor. If this flavor turns out to be the bomb, I'll edit this post later.

IsoKool - Tropical Fruit

This flavor doesn't interest me at all, but same goes for it (as the Lemon Ice Tea).

Conclusion

I'm pretty impressed with the sample products they gave me. I will definitely buy the IsoKool Green Apple, but I was in the market for that type of protein anyway.

What's really impressive is that I'm a hair away from buying the IsoFlex Peanut Butter Chocolate, even though I think it's quite a bit out of my price range and I had no prior intention of switching brands for this type of protein. I just really liked the taste, which surprised me given its nutritional profile.

I also think it's really cool that ALLMAX sent me all this stuff just for asking. Seems like the company is on the right track when it comes to customer service.

P.S. The tee shirt is too big but I'm definitely going to use that condom tonight!

Gooey Protein Cake (aka Protein Brownie)

JACKPOT!! Congratulations, you have found the greatest health food recipe of all time.

Full credit goes to this blog post for the original recipe. I have modified it slightly, thus getting different macro nutrient counts.

I can't believe how good this is. I just ate 50g of protein and I'm craving more. It is absolutely delicious.

Oh and get this... it only dirties one bowl and spoon, and takes less than 5 minutes to make. Yeah, greatest health recipe ever.

Ingredients

• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (whey)
• 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp sugar free, fat free chocolate pudding mix
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp Splenda (2 packets)
• 1/4 cup water

Procedure

1. Mix all the ingredients (except the water) in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Mix the water in slowly so the mixture doesn't clump. Add just enough water to have a thick brownie-like batter.
3. Zap in the microwave on high for 1 to 1.5 mins.
4. Turn the container over and give it a good knock and the cake/brownie should plop right out.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	22.0	9.2	2.75	142
protein powder	22.0	1.0	2	108
cocoa powder	0.0	1.5	0.75	7
pudding mix	0.0	6.7	0.0	27

If an ingredient isn't listed in the table, it's because it has no calories.

Notes

Notice the gooey center in the picture? That is the best part. Do not overcook it or your won't get that gooey center!

I used Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey French Vanilla Creme. SciVation Chocolate Whey is supposed to be very good for this recipe also.

Update: I use Scivation vanilla whey now and the nutritional information has been changed to reflect that.

If you use chocolate whey, you don't have to use the cocoa powder.

The original recipe calls for 1 tsp on olive oil. I made it with and without and couldn't tell a difference. 1 tsp of olive oil has 4g of (good) fat and 40 calories.

Add a squirt or two of sugar free flavored syrups (Davinci or Torani) for extra awesomeness. I have hazelnut and caramel coming in the mail, I'll let you know how it goes. If you use these syrups, you should probably cut back on the Splenda (unless you want it really sweet).

I can't stress enough not to overcook it. You don't want it dry, you want it moist and delicious.

Taste it... then look at the nutritional info... your mind will boggle.

The Super Vette

A recent Car and Driver article refers to the new Corvette ZR1 simply as "Superman". That's quite a statement considering the other (super) cars in the same review where were referred to by their normal names.

They strapped some test equipment to it and recorded some numbers. Apparently it has the shortest stopping distance of any production car they have ever tested. The 1/4 mile time is little disappointing though, in my opinion (11.5 seconds @ 128 mph). The skidpad number is really good (1.07 g).

Read the test results here and about its likeness to Superman here.

Reached my goal 2 weeks early...

Two and a half months ago, I read Tom Venuto's book and gave myself a goal of 10% body fat in 90 days. I estimate that when I started, I was at 15% or higher. One month in, I was measured at 13.5%. Two and half months in, I was measured at 9.3%! The best I have ever done previously is 14.5%, and that was in college while taking some questionable "supplements".

This comes as kind of a shock to me. I don't feel that lean. I definitely don't think I look that lean. In fact, I've been doubling up my exercise on the weekends out of fear of missing my goal. I'm so skeptical, that I'm going to have another test done in a week.

The strange thing is... I hope it's wrong. Why? I don't like my mid section, and I'm hoping that I'm not genetically predisposed to not having abs, despite low bf%. Ryon (my favorite trainer at Pure Austin) says I just need to build some abs using heavy weights. I hope that's the case, because my stomach still seems flabby to me... especially when I'm sitting down.

Well, assuming that it's right and I'm really sub 10%, I look forward to writing my next post about how I did it and the key points that I learned from Tom Venuto and his book.

Btw, Tom is a natrual bodybuilder and is more or less my fitness idol. You really should subscribe to his blog. He's very well spoken (and written), extremely thorough, rational, logical, consistent, but at the same time, very down to earth and relatable. He's great.

Chicken Stir Fry

So simple to make and so damn good. It totally satisfies my "Chinese takeout" craving, but doesn't completely destroy my body.

Ingredients

• half chicken breast (roughly 4.5 oz)
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/4 onion
• 2 tbsp House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir Fry Sauce

Procedure

1. Bake or grill the chicken, very light marinade optional.
2. Cut onion into slices. Cut broccoli into bite sized pieces.
3. Spray Pam in frying pan, throw in the veggies, cover with a pot lid, stir occasionally.
4. Cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces.
5. When the veggies are done cooking, toss in the chicken and the sauce, stir until fully coated.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	33.9	24.2	4.2	266
chicken	29.5	0.0	1.6	141
broccoli	3.8	9.1	0.5	46
onion	0.6	7.1	0.1	29
Tsang sauce	0.0	8.0	2.0	50

Notes

I usually marinate the chicken with Central Market Teriyaki Marinade. It's organic and very low calorie (15 per tbsp) and most of it runs off the chicken anyway.

I like broccoli. I usually use more than a cup. The listed nutritional info is for 1.5 cups.

Obviously, the bad stuff are the sauces which are mostly sugar, but it's only 6g total if you don't marinate the chicken (just use salt, garlic powder, pepper, onion powder).

Hole in the Head

That's what Aimee calls it anyway.

Ingredients

• 1 slice 100% whole wheat bread
• 1 large whole egg

Procedure

1. Make hole in the head, err, bread.
2. Toast one side of bread in frying pan with a little Pam.
3. Flip bread over, put egg in hole.
4. Let egg cook for a while, then flip the entire thing over.
5. Let cook until yoke is desired consistency.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	10.0	20.0	6.0	170
bread	4.0	20.0	2.0	100
egg	6.0	0.0	4.0	70

Notes

I use my fingers to pinch a hole in the bread, but I imagine a cookie cutter works better.

I like my yoke a little runny.

I top mine off with hot sauce (Cholula).

Perfect Weather

The past couple days have had perfect top down weather (high of 80 degrees). These days are rare in Texas, so you gotta jump to take advantage. I love convertibles... and removable hardtops.

End communication.

Muscle Milk - Dulce de Leche

It's good, but it's not crazy good like Vanilla Cremé or like how Chocolate Milk used to be.

End communication.

Caesar Chicken Wraps

Salad dressing is usually extremely bad for you (creamy blue cheese, ranch, Caesar), but I found some yogurt based salad dressing that is really good. Thus this recipe resides in my "healthy" stash.

Ingredients

• 1/2 chicken breast
• 1 tbsp Caesar dressing
• 1 whole wheat tortilla (burrito sized)
• shredded lettuce

Procedure

1. Bake the chicken breast with some light seasoning. I use cracked salt, cracked pepper and garlic powder.
2. Chop the chicken and let cool. I shove it in the freezer for 5 minutes because I'm impatient.
3. Toss chicken, a handful of lettuce and the Caesar dressing in a mixing bowl.
4. Heat the tortilla on both sides in a frying pan. Don't use oil or anything.
5. Dump the chicken/lettuce/dressing mix onto the tortilla and wrap it up!

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	35.5	29.5	7.9	299
chicken	29.5	0.0	1.6	141
dressing	0.5	1.5	3.2	40
tortilla	5.0	25.0	3.0	110
lettuce	0.5	1.6	0.1	8

Notes

The dressing I use is yogurt based and made by Bolthouse Farms. It's good stuff; no preservatives or added sugar.

Use 100% whole wheat tortillas. Note that "wheat" nor "whole wheat" is the same as "100% whole wheat". If you're unsure, just use these.

Breaded Chicken

Ugh, processed flour! It's not as much as you think though. See the nutritional info and notes section.

Ingredients

• chicken breasts
• flour
• 1 whole egg
• splash of milk
• breadcrumbs
• tomato sauce (optional)

Procedure

1. Beat the egg and milk in a mixing bowl like you're going to make scrambled eggs.
2. Dry the chicken breasts with some paper towels.
3. Cut the chicken breasts in half (like you're flaying) so you have thin chicken breasts.
4. One half-breast at a time, roll in the flour, dunk in the egg, and toss in the breadcrumbs
5. Bake for 15 mins at 350 degrees.
6. Optionally serve with 1/2 cup tomato sauce poured on top.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	37.0	33.9	4.9	341
chicken	29.5	0.0	1.6	141
flour	0.5	3.8	0.0	18
egg	1.0	0.1	0.8	12
breadcrumbs	4.0	20.0	1.5	110
tomato sauce	2.0	10.0	1.0	60

Notes

See? It's not a carb overload. In fact, the protein to carb ratio is over 1

When I make this recipe, I use 3 whole chicken breasts, which makes 6 servings total. I estimate 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs for each serving. 1 egg easily covers all 6 servings (I even have to throw away left over egg). I estimate that 1/4 cup of flour covers all 6 servings.

Use organic tomato sauce. I know, I know... it's literally twice the price... but it has a third of the sugar! HEB tomato sauce has 6g sugar vs only 2g sugar for Central Market organic.

Oatmeal "Bodybuilder" Pancakes

Here's my take on the ole bodybuilder pancake recipe. This recipe has been around for years, and I actually used to make it back in college (5 years ago), but I just recently rediscovered it when reading Tom Venuto's book.

Ingredients

• 1/2 banana
• 1/4 cup oatmeal
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg whites
• 2 oz applesauce
• 1 tbsp almond butter (optional)
• cinnamon (optional)

Procedure

1. Mix all ingredients in mixing bowl until you have a pancake batter like consistency.
2. Pan fry it like pancakes. Best makes 3 smallish pancakes.

Nutritional Info

With the almond butter...

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	44.5	47.8	16.4	508
banana	0.9	19.5	0.3	76
oatmeal	2.5	14	1.5	75
whole egg	6.3	0.4	5.0	74
egg whites	7.2	0.5	0.1	34
applesauce	0.1	6.4	0.0	24
protein powder	24.0	4.0	1.5	130
almond butter	3.5	3.0	8.0	95

Without the almond butter...

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	41.0	44.8	8.4	413

Notes

I like to use frozen bananas that I then thaw in the microwave. That way they are very mushy and mix easily.

The oatmeal shouldn't be "instant" oatmeal. In fact, you should never eat that stuff. Regular or "quick" is ok.

The applesauce should of course be all natural without any sugar added. The reason for the applesauce in this recipe is to make the pancakes more moist.

Protein Smoothie

This is what I'm drinking these days. It's a refinement of my all natural smoothie with more protein. It's delicious. It tastes more indulgent than healthy.

Ingredients

• 1 frozen banana
• 4 oz lite vanilla yogurt
• 1 tbsp all natural almond butter
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 3-4 ice cubes
• 4-6 oz water

Procedure

1. Blend until smooth.

Nutritional Info

	protein	carbs	fat	calories
totals	34.0	46.0	9.5	385
banana	1.5	31.0	0.5	120
yogurt	5.0	10.0	0.0	60
almond butter	3.5	3.0	8.0	95
protein powder	24.0	2.0	1.0	110

Notes

I use Dannon Lite & Fit for the yogurt. It doesn't have high fructose corn syrup and has little sugar in general. Also, they come in nice 4 oz containers.

I mostly use ON (Optimum Nutrition) 100% Whey French Vanilla Creme for the protein powder, but other flavors work well also.

Sometimes instead of using a full frozen banana, I use half and mix in some other kind of fruit. Half a frozen peach works well.

I drink this first thing in the morning and after workouts because of the high amount of simple carbohydrates.

Potato, Potatoe

Baked Red Potatoes

I used to think potatoes were bad for you (i.e. a high GI food) but my new idol Tom Venuto eats them, so now I eat them again. Here's my recipe.

• 2 or 3 medium red potatoes
• Pam
• fresh cracked pepper
• fresh ground sea salt
• garlic powder
• onion powder

Leaving the skin on, cut the potatoes into bit sized chunks. Put a thin coating of Pam on them and toss in a mixing bowl with the spices. Cook in (toaster) over at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

The outside should be a little tough or chewy, but the inside should be like mashed potatoes.

Baked Sweet Potatoes (Yams)

Ok, I know sweet potatoes are a great carb source (i.e. a low GI food). Here's my recipe for them

• 1 large sweet potato or yam
• Pam
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• cinnamon

Cut the sweet potatoes into bit sized chunks (leaving the skin on). Put a thin coating of Pam on them and toss in a mixing bowl with the sugar and cinnamon. Cook in (toaster) oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, then finish them off on the grill (or toast) setting for 10 minutes.

These should come out with the skin a little chewy, but the potato part very very soft (like melt in your mouth).

The Dark Knight

I'm a Christian Bale fan. I like Batman. Take that for what it's worth while I bash this movie...

The movie basically treats the audience like idiots... and for good reason, the majority of the population is uneducated and just plain dumb (with respect to IQ). They need the underlying themes and messages repeatedly bashed into their skull before they "get it" and when they do, they feel like they've discovered something so deep and meaningful that they rave about what a spectacular, breakthrough and though provoking movie this is.

I'll admit, the characters were good and the acting was wonderful, but it was (in my opinion) completely undermined by being force fed the obvious themes and terrible action sequences.

Yes, that's right. I think the action is god awful... even worse than the movie holding our hands to get the super deep and complex themes (sarcasm). Again, treating the audience like idiots, we are inundated with feats of magic and stupidity as Batman defies physics by appearing behind enemies (unbeknownst to them) in fully lit rooms with dozens of people present, or as groups of bad guys armed with guns watch Batman beat up their friend while they wait their turn.

Ironically maybe, I found the "cellphone sonar" to be the most plausible piece of fictional technology that I've seen in a while.

All in all, I think it's a good movie, I would definitely recommend it. I just don't think it deserves the ridiculous amounts of praise it's getting, nor the number one spot on IMDB.

Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey (variety pack)

I got the 16 flavor variety pack, here's the run down of what I thought of the flavors. This is how I make my protein smoothie...so take my taste analysis with a grain of salt (read: the yogurt and banana pretty much overpower the protein flavors).

Extreme Milk Chocolate

It tastes like watered down hot chocolate. Reminds me of the holidays. Might even have a hint of horchata. Chalkiness is minimal non existent. Overall, I don't really like it, but it is definitely non offensive.

Double Rich Chocolate

Very light flavor. I could barely taste it. It's a little chemically tasting too. This one isn't chalky at all either.

Caramel Toffee Fudge

I put in less water this time because I'm noticing a trend of very light flavors. Even with less water, I couldn't taste this one much. It still has the same chemically taste as the pervious ones and still no chalkiness. I think I like this one the best so far.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Another very light flavor. I could barely taste it. It did have that sort of chemically taste that all these flavors seem to have. It's not bad though; I think it's just a part of getting used to a new brand.

Delicious Strawberry

The strongest flavor so far; I can definitely taste it through the banana and yogurt... and it's good! Tastes like some kind of strawberry candy.

French Vanilla Creme

This is the best vanilla so far. It didn't seem to to have that chemically taste that Vanilla Ice Cream had.

Rocky Road

Tastes like all the other chocolates. I think I tasted a little marshmallow, but it might have been suggestive, rather than actual.

Orange Cream

Tastes like a melted creamsicle! I was impressed, but it seems like more of a "once in a while" type flavor.

Banana Cream

It wasn't as strong as Delicious Strawberry or Orange Cream. I could barely taste it. It just seemed like vanilla.

Strawberry Banana

Tasted like a lighter version of Delicious Strawberry

Chocolate Malt

Another chemically tasting chocolate.

Tropical Punch

Tastes like Hawaiian Punch. Pretty strong too. Kinda good, kinda weird.

Cookies and Cream

I just don't like ON's cookies and cream.

Mocha Cappuccino

This one is good, I would buy this.

Chocolate Mint

I like this one also. I think the mint masks the chemically taste that the chocolates tend to have.

Root Beer Float

I didn't try this one; sounds gross mixed with fruit.

Top 5 (in no particular order)

• French Vanilla Creme
• Delicious Strawberry
• Mocha Cappuccino
• Chocolate Mint
• Caramel Toffee Fudge

I'm surprised by the fruit flavors. Most of them are good enough to purchase. Compare that with Muscle Milk's Strawberry Banana which makes me want to throw up.

Optimum Nutrition 100% Casein (cookies and cream)

This protein is a blend of micellar casein and calcium caseinate. In theory it's suppose to digest much more slowly than whey protein, thus it is supposed to be used before bed to keep you anti-catabolic while sleeping.

Regardless of the theory, I don't feel bad taking right before bed because it's only 110 calories of nearly pure protein (0.5 g fat, 3 g carb, 1 of which is fiber).

The taste is kind of nasty. Casein protein is much thicker than whey, and unfortunately, isn't nearly flavorless like pure whey isolate. This cookies and cream flavor tastes strongly of licorice to me. I don't really like it, but it's not unbearable.

Take my opinion on its taste with a grain of salt, because it seems like this flavor is a hit on the interwebnetstubes.

Seared Scallops

Photo from Google Images

These are healthy, delicious and super easy to make. For best results, use "dry" scallops. I actually use the frozen sea scallops in a bag from Costco. They turn out pretty good.

Procedure

1. Dry the scallops with a paper towel. The drier, the better.
2. Spray some Pam into a pan and turn on high heat.
3. Season the scallops. I spray them with a little Pam and sprinkle garlic powder, sea salt and (a little) cracked pepper on them.
4. Place them in the pan one by one, not touching. Do not move them at all.
5. Let cook for 2 minutes, flip them over, and cook for two more minutes.
6. I eat them straight out of the pan. :D

Notes

There are a couple of tricks to searing scallops...

1. You have to dry them as much as possible and cook on high heat; you don't want your sear to turn into a soup.
2. Do not move them once they are placed in the pan; this will ruin the burnt crustiness.
3. Do not overcook them; they are supposed to be rare in the middle.

Driving on the Edge, Part V

Yes, that is me in the black Vette

Highlights

• Past an ACR Viper and Ford GT.
• Past a few people on my "nemesis" list (red Solstice GXP, that mofo is really good).
• My friend Mike sold his C6 Coupe and showed up to the track in a new C6 Z06!!
• Past Mike a few times... :D
• R compound tires do not work miracles.
• I burned through my track pads on the first day and had to put my stock ones back on. :(
• My rotors are cracking. :(
• My friend Jason now has racing slicks on his Z06 and completely dominated the blue group (why is he in blue anyway?!?).
• The yellow group isn't as fast as I thought it would be.
• Mike on being an older guy in a Z06 being revved at by kids, "I used to have a loud car when I was young, now I have a fast car."
• Me on riding in my instructor's full tilt race car, "It's like falling, but I know he's in complete control."
• I did a textbook example of what to do when going off track.
• I did a textbook example of what not to do when going off track (see video). :(

So I had a really bad "off" in the last session of the weekend. I came out of ricochet too fast and put two wheels off and yanked on the steering wheel, then shot back across the track, all while someone was behind me. That is really really bad. Cutting across the track is very dangerous.

I know better than to shoot across the track like that. The day before, I went off track in a very controlled and safe manner, exactly like how it's suppose to be done. So what went wrong this time? Here are my best guesses...

• I was trying to impress my instructor (I had an extremely good session previously driving solo).
• I was not committed to going off track. I thought I could save it.
• We were driving the track backwards so corner worker stations were at corner exits instead of entrances.
• I freaked out because I thought I was going to hit the corner worker station. I lost my head and yanked the steering wheel to get back on track.

You've heard a million times not to do that (pull the steering wheels to get back on track). You've seen other people do it and told yourself, "I won't be that guy." But it all happens so fast. There is no time to think, just react. Unfortunately, I reacted to the panic of hitting something on the left, so I swerved out of control to the right.

Coco's Birthday Collage!

Coco's video collage of her first birthday. She's just too damn cute!

She's really come a long way since we got her from her foster parents (she's a rescue dog). She definitely seems happy now, and though she's still a bit skiddish and timid, she's nothing like when we first got her (we couldn't even touch her then, much less hold her or pick her up).

Myoplex Lite

I usually have a protein shake around 10pm as my last meal/snack of the day. It usually consist of a packet of Myoplex (chocolate lover's variety pack), a frozen banana, a few ice cubes and a cup of water. It's pretty tasty, but I don't like eating so many carbs that late. So I decided to get some vanilla creme Myoplex Lite instead and mix it with water, ice and a less carby fruit.

That crap is disgusting. Don't buy it unless you like the taste of chalk. The first time, I made it with water, ice and fresh raspberries. I could barely finish it. Second time, I made it with Yoplait french vanilla yogurt, water, ice and fresh strawberries. The Yoplait helped, but that defeats the purpose of low carb and it still wasn't even good. Ugh.

Video game music is beautiful

I'm sometimes known as the guy who doesn't like music. I usually tell people that when they inquire about my musical tastes. But it's not actually true. It's just that it's very hard for me to find music that I like. I tend to like very melodic music, which is hard to find on the radio or in modern popular music.

I do like classical music, but the really melodic pieces seem to be the famous ones that we've all heard a million times. I've tried listening to some not-so-famous classical music but still have a hard time finding those catchy melodies that I like so much.

You know what is really melodic and catchy? Classic 8 and 16 bit video game music! So I end up listening to Kohiha Radio most of the time which is more or less awesome!

It's been a secret fantasy of mine to be able to play an instrument really well... so I can play all my favorite video game music. Silly, I know... but if you're a gamer, how cool would that be??

I recently found on YouTube tons of videos of people performing live versions of video game music. I'm massively jealous. Here are a few choice picks. The first one is especially incredible. Bonus if you can name the game and song.

Ninja Gaiden II

I just beat it on Path of the Warrior. My save game time was 15 hours and total playing time 24 hours over a span of 3 days. Just for comparison sake, it took me 24 hours over two days to beat Ninja Gaiden Black.

First, let's address the difficulty. You know how Tomonobu Itagaki was saying that Ninja Gaiden II will be more accessible (read "easier") than its predecessors? It's a joke. It must be an inside joke for Team Ninja. I don't remember being beat down this badly in Ninja Gaiden Black and I didn't even know how to play properly back then (instant charge ultimate technique, what's that??), I'm supposed to be a seasoned veteran now!

So, what do I think of the game? It's the most frustrating and most satisfying game I have ever played.

Well, "frustrating" might be the wrong word. There are a lot of mechanisms in place to make it less frustrating than it's predecessors. Here's a nifty list.

• You regen health after you kill all the enemies in your immediate vicinity.
• There are many more save points.
• Save points fully regen your health.
• If you die on a boss, you start right on that boss instead of the last save point.
• If you die at the beginning of a new level, you start on the new level instead of the last save point.

So maybe I just mean "brutally difficult" instead of "frustrating", although the game does take quite a few cheap shots at you so there is some level of frustration baked in still. I suspect they use all the health regening as an excuse to make the fights more difficult.

The game is massively satisfying on multiple levels. First off, because it's so difficult, it's satisfying just to move forward and make progress. You really feel like you've accomplished something.

Second, the combat is truly amazing. The depth and the precision of the fighting system is unrivaled in this genre. There is no room for button mashing in this game. All the aspects of a dedicated fighting game are present:

• light and heavy attacks
• combos (including air combos)
• throws
• blocking
• dodging
• counters (like in Dead or Alive)
• super moves (called ultimate techniques)

They even added a little something extra that they call "obliteration techniques" which are stylish (cool camera zooming and angles) finishing moves on wounded enemies.

Third, the animation is spectacular. The moves are so crazy over the top (without being cheesy) that you never get bored with them. It also helps that there are so many of them. Each weapon has tons of moves, combos, ultimate techniques and obliteration techniques. What's even cooler is that the obliteration techniques differ according to what limb the enemy is missing, your orientation to them, and even the environment sometimes.

Lastly, it's disgustingly violent. Remember playing games back in the day and wondering, "I'm hitting this guy with a massive sword, why aren't his limbs coming off?" Problem solved. Any combination of the following can happen:

• left arm sliced off
• right arm sliced off
• left leg chopped off
• right leg chopped off
• head decapitated
• head smashed into goo
• body cleaved in half
• upper torso smashed into guts

Sometimes after a good combo, your enemy will just be arms, legs, half a body, and a rolling head on the ground. It's awesome.

So what's bad about the game?

• Really bad framerate issues sometimes.
• Camera can be frustrating at times.
• Story feels like an unnecessary vehicle to get to the action.
• Prerendered CG cutscenes feel dated.
• Graphics are not ahead of their time (like its predecessors' were)

But who really cares about that? It's all about the fighting and stylish violence!

Final thoughts... the rational side of me wants to give it 3 out of 4 stars because of the technical issues and absurd difficulty, but it's just too damn fun and entertaining. 4 out of 4 stars!

These pictures really don't do it justice. You need to see it on a high def tv at full 60 frames per second. It actually looks nothing like these pictures (where are the weapon tracers??)

Equifax fraudulently altered my credit report.

I subscribe to a credit score monitoring service (MyFico) that sends me email alerts whenever my score changes. It also allows me view full credit reports with analysis.

I check my email today and notice that my credit score has dropped 56 points! So naturally I log into MyFico to see what's up and it tells me that my score may have decreased for a few new reasons, one of which is a new collection.

New collection? Wtf, I've paid my bills on time for the past 7 or 8 years. So I tell MyFico run the full report. And I bring up the info on the collection. Hmm, something doesn't seem right. I pull up an old archived report that I ran May 2007 and compare the collection reported then to the collection reported now. See the title picture of this post.

Notice anything? It's the same collection from 7 years ago, but all of a sudden the "date active" and "date reported" have changed!

Is this country's economy in so much trouble that creditors are changing historical records in order to fuck us on interest rates? What's next, completely fabricated marks on people's credit scores?

I'm just so flabbergasted that records of a collection that was closed 7 years ago, water under the bridge, can come back and magically be altered with fraudulent information to drastically effect my credit score. I am so enraged about this that all I can think of is the ending to Fight Club.

So what do I do about this? Who do I call? I feel like a tiny ant being crushed by the gears of corporate America. I mean, what if I wasn't monitoring my credit score like so many other Americans don't? This little blip would probably slip under the radar and cost me tens of thousands of dollars in the long run (say, if I got a mortgage under the lower score). I want to hire a lawyer and sue Equifax.

For those wondering, my score now is 710 which does cause me to get worse interest rates compared to when it was 766.

Driving on the Edge, Episode 4

It was Corvette country out there this time.

I did my 4th HPDE this past weekend. It was awesome as usual. We did the 3.1 mile, 16 turn course at Motorsport Ranch.

No yellow for you!

I wasn't put in the yellow group this time, despite my last report card recommending so. It's ok though, I don't really want to be in yellow group until I have more capable tires.

No tires for you!

Ouch. I spent so much time and money getting r-compound tires and I didn't even get to use them! I bought track wheels literally months before the event, and I bought the tires about two weeks before the event, but what I didn't do was see if they fit on my car.

I spent all day Thursday and Friday before the event trying to get them to fit, but to no avail. They wouldn't clear the front calipers, so I ground the calipers down till they fit (long, painful and ugly). Once they cleared the calipers, I found they hit the A-arm at full wheel lock. Ugh! Luckily, Discount Tire took the tires back. I'm going to have to sell the wheels on the internet.

First day frustration.

I didn't really have an instructor the first day, which at first I thought would be cool, but something didn't feel right. Instead of blowing by everyone like last time, I felt like I was struggling to keep up. Nothing felt smooth, I was sliding all over the place, and I was just using my cars capabilities, instead of driving skill, to keep afloat.

For the last session of the day, they put an instructor in with me. He was admittedly not an advanced instructor and said I was doing fine.

Second day epiphany.

The next day I got paired up with an incredible instructor (Tony, I think his name is?). Within a few laps, he cleared up most of my mistakes, which were related to over aggression, going into corners too hot and thusly understeering the whole way through them, which reduces how quickly I could get back on the throttle for corner exit. I was also late and early apexing on a handful of corners.

Once Tony cleared up those issues and we were flying again, he then showed me some bad ass racing lines, and that's when the beat down ensued... ;) I had to start braking mid-corner to avoid t-boning and rearing ending the cars in front of me. My exit speed on one corner increased so much (15+ mph) that I went off the track at the next corner because I wasn't used to having to brake so much earlier and harder.

Feeling the fade.

For this event, I had some Hawk HP+ brake pad that I bought used off the internet. They are Hawk's most aggressive street pad. They weren't enough. I've gotten to the point to where I am aware of brake fade... and these faded noticeably. Tony suggested getting some Hawk HT 10 pads, which are considered racing pads, and just change them out right there at the track. Changing brake pads on a C6 is really easy, so I think I'm going to do that for next time.

Competitive?

Pre Tony in the car with me, there were some fast people/cars out on the track! I really have to be on top of my game to keep up with Jason and his modded Z06. A lady in a Porsche Cayman put the smack down on both of us though (she had r-compound tires and got bumped to the yellow group on the second day). There was a kid in a modded S2K that I caught up to, but couldn't claim an outright pass on. Then there was a spec Miata that passed both me and Jason!

The second day, I did much better. I passed both the S2k and Miata, but still had problems with Jason (duh). Didn't have a chance to try the lady in the Porsche again cuz she got moved to yellow.

Everyone else was a cakewalk. Here are some notable passes: two NSX's (these cars are massively overrated, imo), Cadillac CTS-V, Lingenfelter C6 (ooohh that felt good), normal C6, C6Z06 (ooohh, felt good too), lots of Lotus Elises, and a couple of Porsches.

I know it's not a competition, but it's fun to see how many people I can pass, and see if I can catch the people that pass me.

Pictures

Trailing Jason.

Now me in front!

He spends more time in front though... :P

Choo choo! Stuck in a train.

Train conductor? Na, that was a warmup or cooldown lap... ;)

That kid in the S2K was fast!

Catching up to a Z06 is a great feeling.

Passing a Porsche feels even better!

Call of Duty 4

Get it?

I finally broke down and got COD4 (through GameFly, whoot). I had been resisting it for a long time because I'm very contrarian and was tired of hearing people go on and on about how perfect it is. It's just a first person shooter, people, how deep can it get? It's basically a glorified mouse accuracy program!

This is going to be a short review (cuz I want to go play it now). Here are my thoughts...

It has the highest production value of any game I have seen to date. Spectacular graphics, great voice acting, good level design, interesting missions, the list goes on... there is just so much polish.

The single player campaign is short, but maybe that's a good thing -- it ends right before getting boring and repetitive. Unlike most mediocre FPS games, COD4's missions are interesting and fun: there is a sniping mission, protect a tank mission, survive a sinking ship mission, air support mission (this one's pretty fun), then the normal "kill everyone" missions.

The "Death from Above" (air support) mission

My one complaint about COD4 is the same as all the other COD games. They all do a great job of giving the sense of chaotic battle - bullets whizzing by, people dying left and right, explosions, enemies here, there, everywhere! - but they implement this by having an infinite number of enemies (and allies) respawn until you push up to a certain point on the map. My complaint is that this mechanic doesn't occur all the time and I get confused when I'm suppose to "push up" or hang back and eliminate all enemies.

3 out of 4 if you're not into FPS games. You should definitely try this game -- it might be the one that does get you into FPS games.

4 out of 4 if you are into FPS games.

Oh, P.S... The multiplayer is pretty good... :P

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Count it!

Dodge Challenger SRT8

"It's just an all around POS. I'd almost call it an egregious mistake by Dodge, except for the fact that nostalgic baby boomers will actually shell out the cash to relive their youth. I just hope they are prepared for disappointed and massive buyer's remorse when it sinks in that for $5k more, they could have bought a car with more hp, 1000 lbs less weight, and handling that will put a 911 to shame."

Is this a joke? No really, is it?

So, let's see what $40,000 (yes, that's forty thousand dollars) buys you from Dodge...

The Good

Hey, it's American, I like American (V8) cars. It's got some guts in the form of a 425 hp Hemi (that means absolutely nothing, btw) engine. It's got some nice big Brembo brakes, and also IRS.

The Bad

I personally think it looks ugly as hell. I describe it as looking like it's been carved out of a bar of soap. It's so soft and Tonka toy looking.

This thing weighs more than Kirstie Alley after she threw in the towel. Actually, that's not accurate. She isn't nearly as morbidly obese as this gussied up Dodge Charger.

It only comes with 20" wheels, which further degrades performance, but what really hurts is the absolutely pathetic tire size that comes on them: 245s all the way around.

Ok, so it's got IRS, but seriously... is anyone going to take this f-ing obese pig (4200 lbs) to a road course? I thought not, so why not go with a solid rear axle to save some money and actually help out at the drag strip (what this car was theoretically designed for)?

It only comes with a 5 speed automatic... cue hysterical laughter now.

The Ugly

How embarrassing is it going to be when you can't shrug off a bone stock Mustang GT which costs nearly half as much and has 125 less horsepower?