Check out Fitness Watch here.

In the meantime, anyone have any recommendations for some good sports watches?

Matt Jones is no Terrell Owens…and I mean that in a variety of ways.  He isn’t a Pro-Bowler.  But, he also isn’t a diva or locker room cancer.  Last year Jones caught 65 passes for 761 yards and two touchdowns, after a three games suspension, for a team that by all accounts didn’t want him on the field.  It’s not as though the Jags had a prolific offense where a third stringer could rack up a thousands yards.  This was a woeful offensive team!  Additionally, Jones was drafted in 2005 after being a star quarterback in college.  2008 was only his third season playing WR….not in the NFL…third season ever.

Here is a very talented player that by all accounts is a hard working guy just sitting on top top of the scrap heap.  Talk about another mans treasure.  There are a lot of teams that need a WR.  How long do you think Jones will be out of a job?

I’ve been keeping a food journal now for about 4 months. I do it religiously. When I started the first thing that I realized was that I wasn’t eating nearly enough protein. I was probably eating about 60-80 grams of protein. For someone my size and activity level that isn’t nearly enough. I’m now eating double that amount on most days.

I’ve also learned alot about some particular foods. I learned very early that baked foods like cookies are one of the worst things that you can eat! Want to add about 1,000 extra calories worth of sugar and saturated fat? Eat a handful of homemade chocolate chip cookies! Second, I’ve learned that cottage cheese is awesome! And by awesome I mean that it is awesome for you…..it tastes like crap. But, thankfully cottage cheese doesn’t have a very strong flavor. Pumpkin is also a great food. Pure pumpkin is low in calories, and high in fiber. It tastes good and is very filling. I have a breakfast of equal parts cottage cheese and pumpkin with some cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and splenda. I mix it all up and put strawberries or blueberries on top. Awesome! Tons of protein and fiber and very low calorie! I’ve also found out which foods are deceptively high in calories and sugar…such as bannanas.

By knowing exactly how many calories I’ve eaten and watching my weight carefully I can see certain problems and figure them out before they sabotage my weight loss plans. For instance, I went for a number of weeks eating too few calories. At first I was loosing two pounds a week. Then one week it was a single pound…then nothing. I didn’t lose any weight for three weeks. Eventually I was able to realize that I wasn’t losing because my metabolism was slowing down to match my consumption. I’ve had to up my calories by about 200-300 calories, and now I’m back on track and losing one or two pounds per week.

I could probably drop the journal now and not see any ill effects.  But knowing that I’ll have to write something down and see it there in my journal is a powerful motivator when tempted by a particular craving.  So, I keep doing it because it gives me some accountability and doesn’t take much time.

Speaking of time, I use gyminee.com for my food journal.  It’s one of the more simple programs out there.  Fitday is the most popular, and I’ve tried it before, but I found that it took too much time.  Searching for “eggs” brings up thousands of results.  I was never able to make that work.  So, gyminee gets the nod from me.

One year ago I posted my most recent diet update. At that point I had lost about 20 lbs.  One year later I am even less of a man; over 50 pounds less to be exact!  I’m down well below 200lbs for the first time in four or five years.  I’ve still got a ways to go to hit my goal but I’m excited to have accomplished this feat.

I hit a pretty serious plateau at around the 30 to 35 pound area.  I just couldn’t seem to get past that hurdle.  So, I finally had to break down and start to consistently exercise.  In the process of starting to exercise I found my newest hobby; fitness.  When I find hobbies its not quite the same as with other people.  But, I’ll get to that at another time.

I’ve been spending huge chunks of time reading about fitness, diet and exercise. I’ve also been listening to The Fitcast podcast.  It’s amazing how much there is to learn about fitness.  It’s amazing how many myths, and how much misinformation is being propagated.

That’s all for now.  I’m going to work on composing a few more posts so that I might actually have something worth reading in 2009.

If you want to vote more than once (yes, its legal) then block your cookies. Go to: Tools > Internet Options > Privacy > Sites and input http://www.sportsline.com into the field.

Be an early adopter. Be a pioneer. Check it out!

These bullet points are from OnTheIssues.org

Why I won’t vote for Barack Obama

• GovWatch: Obama’s “present” votes were a requested strategy. (Feb 2008)
• Rated 100% by NARAL on pro-choice votes in 2005, 2006 & 2007. (Jan 2008)
• Voted against banning partial birth abortion.
• Voted NO on prohibiting minors crossing state lines for abortion.
• Rejects free market vision of government. (Oct 2007)
• Government regulation needed for when markets fail. (Aug 2007)
• Voted NO on paying down federal debt by rating programs’ effectiveness. (Mar 2007)
• Voted NO on $40B in reduced federal overall spending. (Dec 2005)
• Some heinous crimes justify the ultimate punishment. (Oct 2006)
• We left the money behind for No Child Left Behind. (Aug 2007)
• FactCheck: Self-contradictory on Bush’s clean-energy plan. (Jan 2008)
• Voted YES on removing oil & gas exploration subsidies. (Jun 2007)
• Voted YES on banning drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (Mar 2005)
• All kids should learn about sexual abuse. (Jul 2007)
• FactCheck: ‘Sex Ed for Kindergarten’ means ‘age-appropriate’. (Jul 2007)
• Willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Il & Hugo Chavez. (Nov 2007)
• Reduced cost TV ads for candidates; $85M presidential limit. (Oct 2007)
• FactCheck: Yes, Obama cast 130 “present” votes in IL Senate. (Jan 2008)
• Voted YES on preserving habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees. (Sep 2006)
• Voted YES on reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. (Mar 2006)  (huh?)
• Voted NO on extending the PATRIOT Act’s wiretap provision. (Dec 2005)
• Restore habeas corpus for detainees in the War on Terror. (Jun 2007)
• Paying more at Wal-Mart is worth it for having US jobs. (Dec 2007)
• Make the minimum wage a living wage. (Jun 2007)
• Burdens of globalization are placed on the backs of workers. (Mar 2007)
• Owes unions who endorsed him; that’s why he’s in politics. (Oct 2006)
• Working full-time should mean enough to support a family. (Oct 2006)
• Overrode federal overtime rules and raised the minimum wage. (Sep 2004)
• Voted YES on increasing minimum wage to $7.25. (Feb 2007)
• Voted YES on raising the minimum wage to $7.25 rather than $6.25. (Mar 2005)
• I revere the American flag; I don’t refuse to wear flag pins. (Apr 2008)
• FactCheck: Yes, refused to wear a flag pin, last year. (Apr 2008)
• Voted with Democratic Party 96.0% of 251 votes. (Sep 2007)
• FactCheck: William Ayres never killed anoyone with bombs. (Apr 2008)
• In hard times, people take refuge in traditions, God & guns. (Apr 2008)
• Stop any efforts to privatize Social Security. (Feb 2008)
• I’m not bashful about it: wealthy will pay more taxes. (Jan 2008)
• Voted NO on supporting permanence of estate tax cuts. (Aug 2006)
• Voted NO on permanently repealing the `death tax`. (Jun 2006)
• Voted NO on retaining reduced taxes on capital gains & dividends. (Feb 2006)
• Voted NO on extending the tax cuts on capital gains and dividends. (Nov 2005)
• Iraq has distracted us from Taliban in Afghanistan. (Apr 2007)
• Iran with nuclear weapons is a profound security threat. (Apr 2007) (What about, “They aren’t a serious threat to us,” quote?)
• Al Qaida is stronger than before thanks to the Bush doctrine. (Jan 2006)
•  FactCheck: Promised to repeal Patriot Act, then voted for it. (Jan 2008)
• Support granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. (Nov 2007)
• Voted YES on allowing illegal aliens to participate in Social Security. (May 2006)

Why I won’t cry and leave the country if he wins.

• Passed 150 laws to toughen penalties for violent crime. (Oct 2004)
• Restrict police entry rules, to protect our civil liberties. (Oct 2004) 
• Opposes gay marriage; supports civil union & gay equality. (Oct 2006)
• Apply affirmative action to poor white college applicants. (Apr 2008)
• Decisions about marriage should be left to the states. (Oct 2007)
• Evolution & science aren’t incompatible with Christian faith. (Apr 2008)
• Supports charter schools; it’s important to experiment. (Feb 2008)
• Get parents re-engaged in educating the children. (Dec 2007)
• Stop sending $800M a day to Mideast dictators for oil. (Mar 2007)
• Reduce mercury and lead to protect community health. (Aug 2007)
• Protect the Great Lakes & our National Parks and Forests. (Aug 2007)
• 1985: Organized asbestos removal in Chicago housing project. (Aug 2007)
• Passed lead abatement & 24 other laws in IL Senate. (Aug 2007)
• Consistently in favor of more disclosure around earmarks. (Feb 2008)
• Unacceptable to have veterans drive 250 miles to a hospital. (Feb 2008)
• No presidential power for secret surveillance. (Dec 2007)
• We are currently inspecting 3% of all incoming cargo. (Oct 2004)
• Increase funding to decommission Russian nukes. (Jul 2004)
• Give our soldiers the best equipment and training available. (Jul 2004)
• Balance domestic intelligence reform with civil liberty risk. (Jul 2004)
• Immigrants are scapegoats for high unemployment rates. (Jan 2008)
• I am a proud Christian who believes deeply in Jesus Christ. (Jan 2008)

The Democrats have branded McCain as the third term of G.W. Bush.  But, I tell you that Obama is the second term of Carter.  With a democratic majority in congress and the senate his administration can completely undo the advances of the last 28 years.  Nonetheless, I don’t think that he is a bad person.  And I agree that his presidency would do wonders for race relations in this country. 

But, I’m still voting for Ron Paul.

Consider his facile observations about President Kennedy’s first meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, in Vienna in 1961. Obama saw it as a meeting that helped win the Cold War, when in fact it was an embarrassment for the American side. The inexperienced Kennedy performed so poorly that Khrushchev may well have been encouraged to position Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962, thus precipitating one of the Cold War’s most dangerous crises.

Such realities should cause Obama to become more circumspect, minimizing his off-the-cuff observations about history, grand strategy and diplomacy. In fact, he has done exactly the opposite, exhibiting so many gaps in his knowledge and understanding of world affairs that they have not yet received the attention they deserve. He consistently reveals failings in foreign policy that are far more serious than even his critics had previously imagined.

It’s a shame that the political arena has become more and more like the rock’n'roll arena where style and flash far outweigh substance. We may very well be on the way to electing the most liberal and inexperienced president in our countries history. On most substantive issues John McCain is superior to Obama in his theory and his execution. But due to his stiff nature and his age these things may not matter come November.