This year Halloween fell on a Friday, I love when holidays fall on the weekend - who doesn’t?  After a days worth of deciding Rachel went with the cop costume choice so I figured I’d be a convict from Pelican Bay (Prisoner #2485344 - anyone know what those numbers stand for?).  I had to work at the golf place on Halloween but was off around 8, luckily, my costume consisted of scrubs so preparing myself for the costume took little to no effort.  I did get some fake tattoos to cover my body with, too bad I messed up the other big one I had, but I got a great skull on my neck.  I was finished getting ready and drinking by 9 PM as my neighbor was having a party and of course they went all the way to Nevada to get a keg of higher proof beer so you can’t say no to this.  Rachel arrived around 10 and then Andrea made it sometime around 10:30ish I think.  Andrea was dressed up as the sexy firefighter and Rachel the sexy cop, I was not-so-much a sexy convict.

Halloween was taking us to Green Street bar in downtown SLC in Trolly Square.  I like this spot because it offers the best of both worlds.  Downstairs is a more chill/social bar scene and if you are feeling frisky you can head upstairs to where the club scene/music/dancing is.  Andrea wanted to dance and I also in the mood to hear some music decided on upstairs.  There really isn’t a lot to say about the rest of the night, I contains what you would assume, beer and music and dancing and too many Joker costumes, although some very good.  The best costume of the night was this guy that dressed up as one of Dave Chappelle’s characters (the crack rock guy - his name escapes me at the moment).  Anyway, Halloween was a good time as usual and as always there are many pictures in the 2008 photo album from this evening.

Can you believe it’s November already?  Is it the older I get the quicker time seems to pass?  Why is this?  The next few months are going to be pretty fun so I am happy about this.  Let’s see, Friday Rachel and I are going ice skating for free in downtown, then on Thanksgiving we (Rachel, Andrea, myself, and maybe some others) are having dinner at Andrea’s apt, I am making the famous AK-47 Green Bean Bundles.  On December 19th we have my work Christmas party at the American Grand 5 star hotel which is always a great time with the most amazing food ever and then the next day I am headed back to the mitten for a week!  Oh yeah, I also purchased some Pistons vs. Jazz tickets for January 10th, 2009 when Detroit comes to SLC, hopefully AI will be meshing well with the rest of the team by then and we can dominate the stupid Jazz.

Lastly and speaking of sports, how about Michigan State football?  Uhm, where did that come from?  We are now 1 win away against a very good Penn State team from going to the freaking Rose Bowl and we are ranked #15 in the BCS.  I need this.  MSU needs this.  We have a bye week this weekend which is good and bad.  Good that Ringer and the rest of the banged up team gets a chance to rest and bad that we may get some rust, but I think Dantonio will keep the boys focused as he’s done all season long.  At any rate, a great season for them and hopefully only getting better.  I will be back soon, hopefully in less than a month!  GO STATE! 

 I’m not sure where to begin, I think the last time I posted was just after my Bear Lake camping trip.  Let’s see, since then not too much has gone on, well, other than the fact that I finally met a girl worthwhile in Utah.  I’m not going to get into crazy details because most of you already have heard but her name is Rachel and we have been pretty much seeing each other since the day we met about 2 weeks ago.  If you wanna know more you can ask me personally.

As I’m sure you know I’m following the presidental election on a daily basis.  My man John McCain is down a few points heading into the last 2-3 weeks of the election and tomorrow is the last presidential debate so I hope he comes harder than Ron Jeremy in a porno flick and takes it to NObama.  I still can’t understand why people love this man so much, he is seriously the most shady individual I have ever seen.  Our economy is already close to being in shambles and I fear if he becomes president he will do nothing but lead us into a depression but only time will tell right? 

About 2 weeks ago I started my second job.  Yes, I got to a point where I was so bored I decided to work even more than I already do.  There is a golf driving range about 1/4 of a mile down the road from my apartment called Golf in the Round that I decided to apply to.  My boss, Doug, told me he didn’t need too much help when I first applied about 2 months ago or so but then he ended up calling me as summer was ending and told me he had some extra work.  It’s a pretty low-key job, on Thursday’s I work outside which consists of driving the tractor and picking up balls and then washing them.  Yes, I wash balls.  Then on Saturday’s I work inside and sell buckets -O- balls to customers.  It isn’t too bad, benefits include free golf and putt-putt, so I can work on my “game” which isn’t that great at the moment but the goal is to get good enough to take on Ryan and perhaps my pops.

This past weekend it was 30 degrees in the valley, somewhat ridiculous if you ask me for Oct 11 AND it snowed!  The mountains got somewhere around a foot while the valley was dusted but still I couldn’t believe it.  This weekend it’s supposed to be 72 degrees though so hopefully I can get out and do something.  I assume this will be the last warm weekend for a while and I guess I’m okay with that, I’m more than ready to go snowboarding again.  Speaking of which, November 4-5 is the Park City Ski Trade at the Basin Rec Center.  If you recall, this is where I purchased my snowboard, boots, and bindings last year for a pretty good price.  I plan on using the bonus I received at work last week to upgrade my current boots/bindings so I can really shred up the mountains this year.

If you’re in Detroit and you’re reading this, the newest word is December 20-28th I am returning to Michigan for Christmas Vacation, keep your time slots open as I can’t wait to see you all!

I am approaching the 3 year mark of being active and losing weight.  In roughly October 6th, 2006 I decided to start trying to lose weight and at this time I weighed 265.5 lbs and had 34% body fat.  By the beginning of October ‘07 I was down to 212 lbs with 24% body fat.  As of today I am 205 lbs (my lowest was 194 this past winter, probably from all the snowboarding) and 21% body fat and currently I’m working at trimming out more body fat and gaining more muscle.  My goal is to be roughly 18% body fat, I know it may take a while but “I ain’t got nothin but time” as Jay-Z once said. 

Losing weight has done more besides make me feel good about myself.  A few weeks ago I donated blood and as you may know before you can do this they have to take your vitals, ya know, blood-pressure, heart rate, etc.  For the first time ever I had a stellar blood-pressure, I believe it was 96/67 and my resting heart rate was something like 55 BPM (apparently cardio is a fantastic thing).  I’m not telling you all this to brag, I’m just very happy with what I’ve accomplished thus far and thought I’d share it with you!

But back to my 26th birthday… like I said, I wanted to do something for it, not only to celebrate my life on earth for one more year but also to sort of reflect on the fact that in just about 2 weeks I will be celebrating my 1 year anniversary of living in Utah.  I decided that camping would be best, nothing like being in the woods with a campfire and a lake and beach nearby to let you relax and have a good time.  My destination of choice: Bear Lake (Laketown, UT).  Bear Lake is known as “The Caribbean of the Rockies” as it’s in the Rocky Mountains and the water is incredibly blue like that of the Caribbean.  I researched state campgrounds around the lake for a few days and decided on Rendezvous Beach State Park. 

A few weeks before all of this came together my neighbor, Gary and I, were talking about camping in Utah and I mentioned that I wanted to go.  Gary told me I could borrow his tent and a few other choice camping items I did not have (nor wanted to buy, like a big cooler) so that made it a little easier for me money-wise.  Speaking of money, thanks to all the (very) generous family I have I received some money for my birthday and obviously I was about to use it on my camping venture.  I headed out to Big 5 Sporting Goods (sort of like Sports Authority) and purchased a 30 degree F sleeping bag by Coleman, a folding chair, and a sweet set of bowie knives (you never know when you have to fight a bear).

Friday the 12th was my day to head out, I took the day off work (which is always awesome) and was on the road by 9 AM.  I arrived at my destination sometime around 11:30 or noon I can’t recall exactly to find that I was pretty much the only person in the whole campground (seriously, there were maybe 4 other groups of people spread throughout).  I was ok with that though, it just meant I could be loud and obnoxious and not piss people off.  I pulled up to my spot and immediately was in awe of the lake which was about 50 yards north of my site.  I had reached heaven.  By the way, you can click here to view the Bear Lake Gallery.

After setting up shop (or camp) I figured it was time to go on a little hike so I figured around the lake would be best so I could check it out.  I walked east about a 1/4 mile where I was met with Bear River, where it enters Bear Lake.  It was fairly deep and I wasn’t exactly prepared to ford the river so I turned around and walked around the other edge of the lake.  Eventually I headed back home to get prepared for the rest of the afternoon, mainly getting the fire ready, food, and of course consuming copious amounts of beer and bumping music.

Saturday around mid-day I figured a few hours at the beach were obviously needed.  I grabbed my towel, magazine, and headed out.  The sun was out, the sky was blue, the water was about 66 degrees, it was great.  I walked about 50 yards out into the lake (as a sandbar extends quite far), the further I got out the colder it got.  As soon as my crotch was within the danger zone I retreated back (I’m reminded of George Costanza: “I got outta the water and I was a woman!”). 

Anyway, not much else to say about the rest of the trip, it really consisted of relaxing, drinking, music, guitar, fires, food, and thinking about my last year in Utah and the year that I have to come.  I realized that A) Utah is great for snowboarding B) Utah is great for outdoor activities and C) Utah SUCKS for potential girlfriend material.  Luckily, I’m poor and can’t afford a woman so I’ll live with it for now (or without it)… haha that was a sexual inuendo if you didn’t catch it.  I also realized I may be here longer than I initially wanted.  At first I figured 2 years but the way the economy is shaping up, not just in the US as a whole, but in Michigan especially, it could be longer (Mark if you’re reading this, help a brother out). 

So ya, that’s about it I guess.  Nothing too much to look forward to in terms of future events.  I got a second job working at a driving range right by my apt. so I guess I’m gonna be a little extra busy now.  More money = more snowboarding.  Can’t complain.      

Until next time, be easy.  Oh ya, and here is my tribute to history below.  Enjoy it now because he’ll never be on this website again unless I’m seriously hating on him.

The past few weeks I have been studying Best Buy and Circuit City’s ad’s for HDTV’s as well as hitting up friends for advice who already own one.  After much research I decided the brand of Sony.  Sony is tier 1 when it comes to TV brands and honestly, no one can beat them in quality.  The TV of choice for me was the Sony Bravia V Series 40″ LCD HDTV.  This TV has about everything I was looking for minus one thing, the refresh rate.  The default refresh rate (how often the image on the screen is “repainted”) is 60 Hz, however, recently 120 Hz TV’s have been introduced to the market.  The 120 Hz TV’s decrease blur in the TV when very fast action is taking place (e.g. sports).  Unfortunately, new technology yields higher prices.  A TV roughly the same size as my 40″ that is 120 Hz is going to be at least 3-4 hundred dollars more expensive.  Since this was my first TV over a size of like 14″ I figured I could deal with the 40″ 60 Hz TV.  Anyway, this TV is 1080p (the “p” stands for progressive).  The 1080 in 1080p equates to 1,080 horizontal lines used to create the image on the screen.  The “p” stands for “progressive”.  Progressive scanning means that the image is painted on the screen in sequence, making it clearer.  In contrast to 1080i, where the “i” stands for interlaced, this format paints a refreshed image on the screen where only the odd lines, then the even lines of each frame are drawn alternatively which is not as clear as progressive.

Anyway, I went to Best Buy and ended up getting my Sony HDTV, a TV stand, and HDTV calibration for about $1700 (I got the sales guy to drop it by $200).  I was unaware calibration was even needed for HDTV’s.  However, the sales associate showed me 2 LCD HDTV’s, one with calibration, one without.  The one without calibration runs MUCH hotter (you can feel the heat on the screen) and the blacks look more green and the shadows are less defined.  The catch is you have to wait 100 hours before the calibration can take place, so basically Best Buy will be at my apartment 1 month from the date of my purchase to do this.  I was told they stick some sort of plunger type apparatice in the middle of my TV screen which is connected to a laptop and it slowly expands outward until the whole screen is filled, this process takes about 2 hours. 

I finally got my apartment back in order tonight around 9:30 PM, after all my building and moving of furniture.  I got to watch the opening ceremony of the Olympics on NBC in 1080p and then David Letterman in the same format.  I must say it is quite amazing.  I tried to take some pictures of my new setup but unfortunately my camera does not do the TV justice, but by all means check out the new Sony Bravia gallery in my photo album and check out my new TV!  I LOVE it!  

I’ve been back from Troy for 4 days now and I think I’m still recovering a little.  That was by far the fastest 10 day vacation I have ever experienced and I wish I was still at home.  I was pretty much non-stop busy with seeing people, doing stuff, and partying that I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation!  It all started on Thursday July 17th…

Megan C. picked me up from Smith Terminal at Metro Detroit Airport at about 3:30 PM (EST) and we immediately decided it was appropriate to go to the bar.  We stopped off at my house to drop off my stuff and then headed out to Joe Kools with Kelly on the way also.  We consumed a few adult beverages and I enjoyed some south western egg rolls for about an hour or so when I decided I needed to get home and prepare for the party. 

People started showing up as early as 8, considering it was a Thursday I didn’t expect a ton of people to come over and get wild.  I finally got to see all my favorite people, too many to name but you know who you are.  The night was great, I had the laptop pumping music through the living room Vegas speakers and the booze was flowing.  Brent AKA Ricky brought over a fifth of Crown Royal which was a killer that night (see pictures).  The party extended until about 3 maybe and everyone pretty much left. 

The next day was spent relaxing and packing for going up north to Caseville, MI where Megan has another house, er, I mean cottage.   I actually got to see Aaron this day for a few minutes for the last time in a while as he just got a job at Nike Soccer in Chicago, very nice.  Megan, Kelly, and Erin (Meg’s friend, and/or cousin?) came by to pick me up at around 7 and we hit the road.  The drive up to Caseville always seems to take forever, but we are good at amusing ourselves and at least we didn’t get pulled over this time.  We got up to the cottage around, oh I don’t know 9:30 or so?  At this point we pretty much threw our stuff up in the bedrooms and went outside to campfire it up and drink some beer.  This turned into a very sloppy night, I am not even going there.

The next morning we were going out on the boat.  Unfortunately, as Mr. C was cleaning it out he realized the battery was dead.   He had to take the battery out to to get recharged so what did we do while we waited?  Uhm, drink beer and BBQ hot dogs, obvi.  Finally, the boat battery returned and we packed up the coolers and headed out to Lake Huron.  Boating is always a blast with Mr. C, he is the man for sure!  We all went swimming in the lake, it was surprisingly warm, something like 67 degrees, good for peeing in.  The lake was a little rough this day and it was overcast so we ended up not staying out too long as we wanted to get home and start the mexican dinner cooking.  Not too much happened Saturday night, everyone pussied out on me so I stayed up by myself (well, Kelly stayed up for a little while but she promptly passed out). 

We returned from Caseville sometime around 3 PM on Sunday and what do you know?  Just in time to unpack, relax, and shower before Club Driveway.  We had to do it, it was the first night Dave and I could party and it was probably going to be the only night Adrianne would get crazy as she was leaving on Tuesday and Monday we were going to A.K.’s for dinner.  It was a stellar showing of VIP guests all night long at C.D. 

Monday evening the whole family gathered at Aunt Katie’s for dinner (mmm Chicken Shack).  It was great to see all my aunts/uncle, cousins, and grandma, 8 months is a long time!  All the ”younger” kids are looking older everytime I go home, crap that must mean I’m looking older too! 

Tuesday through Thursday are mainly a blur, I know there were a lot of bars in those days but nothing too crazy to report.  On Friday, however, Mark and I went to the Tigers vs. Chi Sox baseball game at Comerica.  It was so awesome to be at a Tigers game with my boy.  Also at the game were Megan, Abby, Laura, and Solei who all came to me and Mark (as girls tend to do).  Mark ended up going to hang out with his girlfriends uncle and dad who were also at the game which left me alone with the ladies per usual.  The game was very entertaining however Todd Jones blew it in the last inning and allowed Chicago to tie the game and ultimately win it. 

Saturday was the BBQ at Justin’s house.  His parents were going up north, er, nevermind to a hotel, to allow us to have the house to ourselves and get crazy.  Justin BBQ’d crazy amounts of hot dogs, burgers, and chicken to a near perfect cook time.  Kelly made 2 deserts: 1 chocolate cake for Renee’s birthday (Justin’s girlfriend) and 1 tiramisu cheese cake for me, which was AMAZING.  We partied well into the night at Big J’s, I was there till 3 AM and I know some people were still going at 5.  Just about everyone I wanted to see was at the BBQ at some point in the night to say bye to me, it was a fabulous time. 

All in all, a great vacation.  I thought 10 days would be enough time to see everyone, God was I wrong.  I need to be home for like a month to get to see all the people I want to see.  Hopefully the next time I’m home won’t be 8 months from now…

Yesterday I went to Target and purchased a blender and a few other random household items thanks to my parents for sending me a housewarming gift.  I <3 blending.  I will be trying it out today with my protein shake, assuming my back puts up with me working out.  Last Saturday I pulled a muscle while doing side bends and it’s been sore since.  I know I probably shouldn’t work out today but…. only 7 more DTV gotta keep it up… 

I uploaded new pictures in the gallery, the first album is of Billy and I’s last night in Park City (at HO’s, where else)?  The second is pictures of my new place.  Feel free to peep.

 Only 13 more days kids, then back in the T Dot. 

So, with all that in mind, I’m sure the next 2 weekends will be quite hectic as we both prepare to move and I’m sure there will be much partying to send off BT right.  This weekend is his psuedo last weekend as the following weekend his work is throwing a bash for him at the bowling alley.  Once I get settled in I will get some pics posted no doubt, keep your eyes peeled.

That’s right, the Detroit Red Wings are once again the champions of the National Hockey League!  After a heartbreaking triple overtime game five loss the Red Wings returned to Pittsburghs’ Igloo to take on the Penguins in a thrilling game six.  The Wings came out fast and furious in the first period where Brian Rafalski scored a powerplay goal and then Valterri Filppula doubled it up in the second period.  In the third, Henrik Zetterberg ripped a shot that trickled under Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads, as he attempted to fall back on the puck he ended up pushing it over the goal line to give the Wings a 3-1 lead.  Of course, this game wouldn’t be interesting without a powerplay goal being scored by Marian Hossa with 1:27  left to cut Detroit’s lead to 3-2.  In the final seconds, Detroit failed to clear and “Cindy” Crosby put a backhanded shot onto goal where Hossa nearly knocked it in but Chris Osgood, who had 20 saves and improved his playoff record to 14-4, got just enough stick on it to not allow the goal as time expired. 

The Wings celebrated behind their net and then went forward with the traditional handshake at center ice.  Afterwards, the Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP) was awarded to Henrik Zetterberg who had a goal and assist in the final game.  Personally, it was a toss up for me between Zetterberg and Johan Franzen, who had 13 goals in the playoffs but suffered from concussion-like symtoms and missed a couple games, if not for this I believe he should have been the MVP.

Finally, the Stanley Cup was brought to near center ice and awarded to Red Wing captain, Nicholas Lindstrom who raised the cup high above his head for the fourth time in his career as a Red Wing.  One of the best parts of the night was Lindstrom handing the cup off, second, to Dallas Drake who, before this, was playing his 14th season without ever winning a Stanley Cup. 

This team is seriously unbelievable, I have great respect for coach Mike Babcock, whom also is relishing his first Stanley Cup victory and is proving to everyone that he will further carve Detroit’s name into the history books (and the Stanley Cup).  This team has a great core of players both veterans and rookies and I believe they could repeat next year (not to get TOO ahead of myself or anything).  Another reason I am so happy for this is because Detroit desperately needs something to cheer about.  The city is struggling as most people know and this 2008 Stanley Cup Championship will give the people of Detroit a reason to be happy, well, at least until they watch another dissapointing Tigers loss anyway. 

Congratulations Wings!  You made this Detroit boy in Utah incredibly happy (and proud) to be a hockey, Wings, and Detroit fan!  Hockeytown is shining once again!!

The most significant headline to start out with would be my family coming to Utah last week to visit me.  That’s right the entire fam: mom, dad, Amy, and Laura all made it out to the wild west  last Sunday to get some insight on where I live and what I see on a daily basis.  They ended up getting here on a Sunday so after they went to their condo (200 yards from mine) we immediately started the Utah tour since I would have to work the next 2 days (but took Wed-Fri off).  They rented a Jeep Commander and of course I was going to drive so I could show them around.  We started by going down through Park City and then through Heber to Provo Canyon.  Going through Provo Canyon is really pretty and the fam loved it.  Towards the end of Provo is Bridal Veil Falls, a very large waterfall that attracts quite a few people.  What’s cool about it is that you can basically hike up to where the first fall hits and go in the pool it creates.  We weren’t really prepared for rock climbing (shoe-wise) so that didn’t happen but we did hike up a little and took some good pictures.  Which by the way are right here.

After Bridal Veil we continued on through Provo Canyon and into the city of, you guessed it, Provo.  Provo is the biggest Mormon spot in all of Utah and it is also the home of Brigham Young University (the Cougars).  We didn’t do any stopping in Provo as there really isn’t a lot to see other than the university so we continued on course to hit I-15 to go back north.  We took I-15 up to Draper and stopped at PGP so I could show the fam where I worked, since I had my ID badge and I have hand print access we were able to go into the office even on a Sunday.

After a few minutes at PGP we continued north to I-215 and then started to head east toward Big Cottonwood Canyon (BCC).  BCC is one my most favorite canyons in Utah as it goes up very high and goes through a national forest, its quite amazing.  We went all the way to the top to Brighton Ski Resort where we took a few pictures, the family was amazed as there was still quite a few feet of snow at the top (in mid-May)!  After BCC we continued north east on I-215 where we picked up I-80 which takes you back to Park City.  I-80 goes through Parley’s Canyon which is a fair to medium sized canyon that I drive through everyday to get to work.  About mid-way up there was a random traffic backup, we soon learned that this was going to cause a major kink in our dinner plans that night.  Apparently, some guy went off his rocker in Park City and led the police on  a chase down Parley’s, then back up, then down again, and then on his way back up he purposely slammed into a back of a semi tanker carrying ethanol killing himself on impact.  As you can imagine, this was a big deal.  They closed I-80 COMPLETELY in both directions for about an hour and then reopened the west bound side but kept the east side closed, so we ended up having to get off at the exit that takes you to the Mountain Dell Recreational Area (see pictures as I have been there a few times).  Essentially, we ended up going on a 80 mile detour to get back to Park City when we were only 10 miles away to begin with when we got off the freeway.  In hindsight, it was a good idea for us to not wait for them to reopen the freeway because that didn’t happen until midnight that night! 

Monday and Tuesday I had to work so the family was trying to take advatage of the great weather those days.  On Monday they went back to BCC and went hiking and on Tuesday they went to Antelope Island in the middle of the great Salt Lake where the girls went horse back riding.  Finally, on Wednesday I was once again able to join them on their adventures but unfortunately, the weather wasn’t so great.  We did a lot of shopping Wed. and Thurs. and on Friday we had decent weather so we went back to Provo Canyon to try and go to the Timpongos Caves, some of the biggest caves in the region.  The caves were closed due to the unbelievable amount of snow fall we received this winter but we were still able to go hiking up Mt. Timponogos where at the top there were 4 waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountain, quite stunning.   See pictures in the album.

 Anyway, it was great to see the fam as it had been since Christmas and luckily I will get to see them and the rest of my family and friends in just a few more weeks when I head back to Michigan for vacation in mid-July! Check out the pics, here’s that link one more time: Nalette’s Invade Mormon Town.

Switching gears to Detroit sports, how about them Red Wings?  Those guys are unbelievable, even machine-like.  If they can pull the away victory today there is no way in hell they are going to lose game 5 in Detroit, which would mean that I’m subtly implying they could potentially win the Stanley Cup again and in Detroit. *knocks on wood*  Too bad other Detroit teams can’t take notice of the heart and determination of the Wings, *cough*Pistons*cough*Tigers.  By the way, where the hell was Tayshaun Prince the entire series against the Celtics?  That guy was a complete no show.  I am, however, going to give HUGE props to Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, and Antonio McDyss who all played great in the conference finals for the most part.  It makes me happy to know that those two young players (Stuckey and Maxiell) will be around for quite a while and hopefully will be able to take off where our starters leave off once they retire or move on.  Too bad our starters couldn’t follow suit (Rip doesn’t count in that comment because he was money the whole series).

I can’t forget to mention one more thing.  How about the season finale of LOST?  How awesome is this show?  I think the single greatest thing Billy and I accomplished this winter was watching every episode of LOST on DVD so we could be ready when new episodes started again after the writers strike.  This show is both awesome and frustrating as everytime one question is answered ten more arise.  I’m not going to get into the show and the finale since not everyone watches it but I will say if you have the time, go rent seasons 1-3 on DVD and get down on that you will not be dissapointed!

Finally, I wanted to touch on one more thing.  I don’t usually write about my dieting and exercise habits, but as many of you know I have lost some weight over the past year and a half.  To be exact, 72 lbs. (265 to 193) and 14% body fat (34% to 20%).  I decided recently that since I have thinned down a bit that it would be a good idea to start trying to pack on some lean muscle.  With that in mind, I have jumped into the world of supplements head first.  I have been doing a lot of reading online in bulletin boards and muscle and mens health magazine websites to find out the best stuff to do.  I ended up getting GNC Pro Performance Amplified Creatine 189, Muscle Milk, and a mens daily multi-vitamin.  I am new to all this so I am continuously reading more reviews about different creatine and protein mixes so I’ll keep you updated on how this new adventure goes for me.

Whew, if anyone is still reading, congratulations, this is the biggest blog post I’ve ever written I think.  I’m going to make an effort to update more often, this should be easier since its now summer and the weather is good and I can go out and do more stuff, so keep checking back!