Sam At Large

I’m packing for a trip to San Francisco.  It’s for a few days and really looking forward to it.  I’m going to CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2008.  Basically, I get to see new technology, meet new people and see some friends.  I’m thinking there will be a few beers to be had by Bill, Will and myself with the folks we’re meeting with.

I haven’t been to San Fran in more than 16 years.  I loved it so I’m really stoked to be going back.  That particular stop in the city was brief on my way to camping up the northern California coast.  Now that is probably the most scenic and amazing drive I’ve ever gone on.  I won’t get to do that this time.  This time I get to stay at a swank hotel in the midst of the city.

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I’ve had the experience of trying to sublet my apartment.  I think I have a deal closed but I don’t want to count my chickens until they hatch.  But if I was a betting man, I would lay odds that it’s going to happen.  I don’t really want to leave my place.  I really like it.  But there are other circumstances that don’t have to do with me that require I sublet the place.  I think the new tenant will be great and it means there are more changes in store for me as I move to a new place and do something I’ve never done… LIVE WITH ROOMATES!  I’m not sure if I’m nuts or not.  I guess I’ll soon find out.

1 Comment | In: General, Travel | tags: hotel, moving, San Francisco, sublet. | #

So it’s been a whole week doing the Biggest Loser Langley contest and I think I’m doing quite well, all things considered.  I’m planning my meals, I don’t have junk food in the house and I’ve been out walking regularly.

I went walking at the track tonight with Jenn Bateman and we absolutely got soaked!  It wasn’t raining that hard when I got in my car to drive to the park.  But once we started walking the heavens opened up and we were drenched.  I’m about to go make a hot mug of tea.

But it feels so good to be active again.  It’s not exactly running marathons or being able to do the Grouse Grind.  But that’s OK!  I’m off to a great start and I feel really good after I do it.

Jenn made a great point.  She said she’s spent so many years beating herself up over not being active and weighing more than she wants.  And the amount of energy it took to beat up on herself could just as easily been directed at going for a walk.  I don’t think I could have described my own feelings about my body state any better.

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I’m getting to the stage when I need to take a bit of a holiday.  I’ve gone away for a few long weekends here and there this summer.  But it’s not the same as ‘going away’ for at least a week and not being a slave to your computer, cell phone or schedule.  I need that break soon.  I’ve been an independent business owner for a few years now and you don’t get to take breaks.  But I have a good group of partners that can backstop me if I go away.  Time to find some holiday deals!

2 Comments | In: Biggest Loser, General | tags: Biggest Loser, exercise, holiday. | #

Ok, I have 3 months to win the pot and it means changing my whole life!  No more chips (Sam Kirk Kryptonite), no more spending hours on the couch, no more unhealthy meals out, no more smokes.  It was a rude shock to see 227.5 and I’m determined to begin being healthy again.  It won’t be easy and not without its hiccups, but I’m determined.

I remember being healthier and going to the gym regularly and being able to jog from my apartment at Queens & 7th to the Canada Games Pool without the feeling of imminent death.  I want to get back to feeling that good again.

3 Comments | In: Biggest Loser | tags: Biggest Loser, health. | #

3 Comments | In: General | tags: family. | #

I’m stranded at the office today because my alternator decided to go on the blink less that 10 hours after my stolen car was returned.  The car is now at the shop and I’m sitting in my office, looking at the sun and wishing I was outside.

Of course, my stomach began to rumble in the early afternoon and Bill mentioned he was walking down to the nearby Wendy’s.  I got him to bring me back a couple of their cheap jr. burgers, but I failed to request ‘no pickles.’

I’ve always hated pickles.  Dill, sweet, peanut butter, gherkins… whatever the name, I despised them.  That includes relish.  Especially relish!  I think pickles are for me like cilantro is for others — if you don’t like them, you really, really don’t like them.  I really don’t like pickles.

On Bill’s return, I opened up the burgers and removed the pickles that I saw and turned to eating my lunch.  However, I must have missed one because I tasted it as I crunched through it.  I almost threw the burger across the room.  It would have wrecked the paint on my walls so I held off and somehow swallowed what was in my mouth.

You know those foods that you couldn’t stand as a kid?  It’s funny how you end up loving them later in life.  You try it once after years of not tasting it and you have this weird feeling that you were really missing out on something - a good something - for all those years that you claimed you despised what you are now happily chewing.  Well, I’ve been wondering lately if I’d been giving pickles a bad time for no reason.

I can confirm that this afternoon I was able to put that question to rest and unequivicably state that I still hate pickels.

4 Comments | In: General | tags: pickles. | #