So New Years Eve we did something we never do, went to a party. It was held by one of our running club buddies. The party actually had a theme, Survivor. I told Ali I was going to drink, which is almost a necessity for me in such an environment if I am going to function. Ali is more socially adjusted than me so she was able to have a fun time drinking bottles of water.
They actually put a lot of work into the planning of the party, they had 7 different events that the three teams participated in. There was a lot of alcohol being consumed so you mix that in with a bunch of silly games and you have a recipe for some fun. I drank a mix of beer and did a few jello shots but never found myself on the edge of oblivion (feeling like vomit was on it’s way) Ali and I had a great time and didn’t get out of there until after 12:30.
I saw about the last 90 seconds of 2009 tick off as well as Dick Clark mutilating the count down once again. I have said this for the past 5 years. Dick, give it up, all you are doing is tarnishing your legacy by insisting on being on camera still. I mean really, you proved your point, now move on.
New Years Day I woke up feeling a bit fuzzy and sluggish but not horrible. In fact I quickly jumped into getting my typical Saturday chores done on Friday. It wasn’t until later in the day during my trip to the grocery store where it caught up to me. My energy needle dropped to zero, I felt pretty wiped out by the time I got home.
Ali was said her knee was bothering her on Friday so she wanted to stay off of it since she was supposed to run another 9 miles on Saturday. That was the reason I went to the grocery store as well as did the bathroom cleaning. I am all about Ali’s new found fitness regimen and am not above scrubbing toilets to support it.
On Friday night we watched The Hangover. I heard how funny this movie was but I never got around to taking it in. Ali was actually hesitant about seeing it since she read something about stuff in the credits that she might be uncomfortable with. (some harmless T&A shots) Well I wish I wouldn’t have waited so long to see it. The film was hilarious. I was laughing out loud through out the entire flick. It was just filled with crazy scenes one after the other. If you are feeling down and out, go see The Hangover. It gets a shiny A in my book. Ali was glad she didn’t shun the film over some gratuitous nudity, she laughed a lot as well.
Our Saturday was pretty laid back since I was so busy on Friday. Ali did her run and did a lot of hanging out, it was nice. A cold front arrived on Saturday which swept away the warm humid air on New Years Day in a big way. It’s been cold ever since. Yesterday felt downright raw.
Our big thing Saturday was going to see Avatar. I heard ton of positive word of mouth about the flick that had greatly increased my desire to see it. When I saw previews in the theaters for the film months ago I remember not thinking much about it at all. I pre purchased the tickets online for an Imax 3D showing of the film, the absolute best way to take in a 3D presentation.
Prior to going to the movie I had some errands to run. They took a bit longer to run than I expected and we wound up having to jam down a meal up by the theater in 30 minutes, start to finish. The movie theater was PACKED. I was very glad I bought my tickets online, even if it did cost me an extra $4 to do so. I dropped Ali off while I found a place to park so she could snag us a decent seat. I’m glad we did, she was able to grab one of the few decent seats available up high. An IMAX screen is HUGE so you really need to be back to take it all in. The steep stadium seating also was nice so that your view was not obstructed by the person in front of you. My only complaint were the seats were not all that comfortable, not matching the luxurious, wide seating at Coconut Point.
So after only a handful of previews the film started. It didn’t take long at all until the 3d images were popping off the screen. It also didn’t take me very long to understand why people gave such rave reviews of the visuals in the movie. Every thing in the movie was incredibly detailed, incredibly rich and vibrant. Now I have seen a lot of films with incredible special effects that make you go “Wow!” Somehow in an era where outstanding special effects are common place, Avatar managed to impress the hell out of me.
The thing that makes this movie so fantastic is the special effects are wrapped around a compelling, interesting plot. I remember thinking about half way through the film, “Wow, this has really been good so far, I wonder when it is going to fall of the rails?”, it never did except for some silly moments in the climactic final fight scene with the roided out military guy. The movie was stellar.
As we walked out of the movie I told Ali that it may have been one of the best movies I had EVER seen. She felt the same way which was made more impressive by the fact Ali was at best lukewarm about even seeing the film in the first place. There are strong political/social statements embedded into the story. They just happen to be ideas that Ali and I are all about so I’m sure that reenforced why the movie hit a homerun with us. I loved it, you should go see it and when you do, spend the extra money and see it in IMAX 3D. You won’t be sorry. A++
Sunday was a laid back type of day. Like I mentioned it was raw, cloudy and cool. I had to repair a sprinkler pipe. When I was mowing last week I noticed what looked to be a mini-sinkhole in the front yard. It turned out that a pipe had cracked right near a fitting. Who knows how long it was like that. Anyway I attempted the repair but have not re-pressurized the line to see if it held. I am a bit worried about it. Since the two ends I was connecting to were already locked in place I wasn’t able to get the repaired section in as tight as I would prefer since there was no twisting or pushing possible. I just bent the pipes to the side until the repair section would fit and let it snap back together.
I also decided to try a W-4 yesterday. A W is a workout routine, the idea is the amount of reps follow the pattern of a W. I did a W-3 last week which went like like this rep wise, 3-2-1-2-1-2-3, you rest 10 seconds between each set. I completed the W-3 without much trouble so I was ready to step up to a W-4. There is a big jump in reps between the two. A W-3 is only 14 reps total. A W-4 is 4-3-2-1-2-3-2-1-2-3-4, a total of 27 reps, nearly double.
Of course this was significantly harder. Doing it in 55 degrees wasn’t much fun either. I did ok until the last couple sets where my form started to suffer. I am trying to make sure that each rep goes from dead hang to chin over the bar. When you look at doing sets with such small numbers you would think it’s pretty easy, it’s not. The brief rest period is a way to really work on building muscle endurance and power.
I am a bit disappointed that with as many pull ups as I have been doing the last few weeks that they don’t feel significantly easier yet. I think part of the problem is holiday eating that has moved my weight closer to 185 instead of the 175 I was hitting when I was full bore into my 300 routine. I am hoping to clean up the diet and step up my cardio to drop a few pounds. 10 pounds is a big deal when it comes to pull ups.
Ali and I sat down with great anticipation for the Eagles / Cowboys game. The Birds had everything set up for them. The team had been on quite a run after the low point of losing to Oakland, running off 6 consecutive victories. If they beat the Cowboys the Eagles would win the NFC East, secure the number 2 playoff seed, a first round bye, and a much greater chance of doing well in the post season. The team had everything to play their ass off for. They responded by playing horribly on both sides of the ball, not scoring a single point while allowing the Cowboys to march up and down the field mostly without opposition.
Let me get to a few specifics. The Eagles defensive coordinator is a dip shit for the plan he put in place. He thought he would be creative and get away from the typical Eagles blitzing schemes against the Cowboys. You know, those schemes that for the most parts has been responsible for the D making big plays all year long? BRILLIANT. Consistently the team rushed 4 guys, had 7 in coverage and STILL got burned down the field. It was infuriating to watch. Finally in the second half howdy doody thought better of his master plan and started applying some pressure which generated some slightly better results.
The Eagles offense was dreadful. Fat Andy decided to try to push Westbrook out there much more than McCoy. Westbrook looked extremely ordinary. I don’t know if he is tentative or hurt but he isn’t the same, he looked slow. McNabb put his legendary inaccuracy on center stage which Troy Aikman was happy to point out again and again. Time and again he under threw, overthrew and threw behind open receivers. He looked lost and nervous all game long. Yea the receivers dropped a couple balls but for the most part it was all Donovan misfiring.
We kept waiting all game for the Eagles to wake up, get pissed off and start to play. Instead they rolled over and asked for more, they played like pussies, plain and simple. They embarrassed their fans, their coaches and themselves. They were crushed in every aspect of the game.
There is only one small silver lining. They have a chance to turn that embarrassment into a wrecking ball of anger next week when they face the Cowboys again. If they again get their asses handed to them I think it will have a big lingering effect on the team. I can only hope for a dramatic turn around. I can’t remember the Eagles being humiliated so thoroughly in a long, long time. I hope Andy yelled till he was hoarse. F’ing pussies.
