End Of Semester Break...

This past week went by in a flash! Too bad work weeks don't pass that quickly. I didn't do much this past week. I did a bit of online class work, but otherwise I just read, relaxed, and got some sun.

Monday night, Jamie didn't make it to Trivia Night because his sister, brother-in-law, and nephew flew in to visit for the week. It was just Adam, Jennifer, and I at Logan's. Surprisingly, we won Third Place.

Jamie gave me a copy of the new Coldplay CD. I cannot believe how great it is. I absolutely love it. Chris Martin has a lovely voice. On Thursday, I picked up the new Kathy Griffin CD and made a copy for Jamie. She is so friggin' hilarious.

During this week, I read the two books I picked up before the break. The first one I finished was When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris. Next, I read A Wolf At The Table by Augusten Burroughs. Both books were fast reads that made me long for more once I was done. The Augusten book was especially touching, while the Sedaris book was a laugh-out-loud riot. I recommend them both.

Yesterday, I went to see WALL-E. I thought it was one of the best Pixar films to date. The pre-feature cartoon was very cute. I really hope that it wins the box-office this weekend.

OKCupid: The IQ Adventure Test

I took this last week. Here are my results:

Donnie's Test Results

It was a fun test.

Catching Up....

I'm a terrible, terrible blogger. Sin of all sins...I've actually been doing stuff outside the internet.

It seems that I've become Personal Trainer/Nutritionist to a student named Jamie (not to be confused with the Jamie from Movie Night & Trivia Night). Since he joined Gold's, he's been my workout partner. He's doing really well. He wants me to help him add as much muscle (while limiting fat) as possible before next May when he graduates. Also since then, another student has joined. Her name is Jen and she goes when she's not working at Chili's. So now I feel like a mother duck with her ducklings in tow when I'm in the gym with them.

Speaking of gym incidents, I have to tell you about an odd one I had last week. Anyway, Jen, Jamie, and I were working Cable Front Delt Raises on the large cable pulley station (see photo).
I was facing the other inside cable station where this really muscular/stocky bearded black guy a bit older than me was working out facing me. Well, out of the blue, he says to me, "Hey it looks like I'm looking in the mirror." I laugh and rub my chin saying, "Jeeze, then I really do need a shave". He laughed and replied, "No, I meant those guns of yours". I chuckled and made nothing of it since his arms were way bigger than mine. A day or two later, I was telling someone else the story when they asked me how big my arms were. I measured and was surprised to see that they were just under 17.5". So, moral of the story...regardless of whether or not you think you're improving in the gym...you probably are, you just might not be able to see it yourself.

This past weekend was a movie marathon. Friday afternoon, I took Mom to see The Happening. Jamie went with us to see it. I thought it was okay, just about 30 minutes too short. M Night had a great premise, just didn't develop it thoroughly enough. The acting was also very stilted. And the worst part was, Mark Wahlberg wasn't shirtless in any of the movie! The nerve of some people!

On Saturday, Dad, Jamie, and I went to see The Incredible Hulk. I thought it was a fantastic movie. Ed Norton did a great job. It was nice seeing Lou Ferrigno and Stan Lee make cameos. Funny thing was, there was also a nod to Bill Bixby in the film (with a TV clip of his old TV show "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father"). This film was much better than the Ang Lee abortion from 2003. While I would've wished for more transformation scenes, I thought they did a phenomenal job with the CGI effects.

Lastly on Sunday, Dad and I went to see Kung Fu Panda. I thought it was a really good family movie. Jack Black did a great job as Po.

Sunday night for Movie Night, Jamie chose Jumper. I only gave it a 4 out of 5. While I thought it was okay, I didn't like the ending. It was too open-ended.

Drowsy Sunday Afternoon

Today is one of those hot, muggy days that make you want to stay in the air-conditioned house and take a nap in a dark, cool room.

This morning I got up, read through the paper, then went to the gym to do my cardio workout. I did 60 minutes on the elliptical followed by 50 minutes on the treadmill. Today I listened to an 80's playlist on my mp3 player. I was soaked, but exhilarated, when I was done.

When I got home and weighed-in, I was happy to see that I had lost 1.1 pounds as well as 0.3% bodyfat. This makes two weeks in a row for losing both weight and bodyfat. Now I've got to keep up what I've been doing so I can lose more weight and bodyfat.

I did a bit of tanning on the back patio before cleaning up. Now I'm relaxing before dinner. Tonight we're having ham, cabbage, and baby red potatoes in the pressure cooker. I'm also making cheesy mixed vegetables. Of course, I won't partake in any of the potatoes.

Yesterday was a full day. After the routine weekly grocery shopping, I helped Dad with mowing the lawn. Then, I took Mom to Fantastic Sam's and we got haircuts. Since I was almost out of both of my colognes, we stopped in Belk and I picked up a bottle of Armani Code and Lancome Hypnose Homme. Mom got them for me as an early birthday present. Isn't she the best?! Lastly, we drove up to New Bern to (believe it or not) full up my Mountaineer at a Chevron gas station. You see, they closed all the Chevron stations here in Jacksonville...and the nearest one is in New Bern now. So, since Mom wanted to keep using the gas card, we made the 40 minute drive north to get gas. I know, it's insane!

Not much else went on last night. After dinner, I went over to Jamie's and we caught up as he finished watching the episodes of The Tudors (that he had DVRed). I had seen them when they first aired, but it was fun to see his reaction. Of course, we stopped by Starbucks for coffee before calling it a night.