Tuesday, March 27, 2012

THE BIG 4-0

Today was my weekly weigh-in for WW.   I've lost 40 pounds (41.4, to be exact)! This called for a celebration.  So I took a vacation day, called BA and asked if she would be up to meeting for lunch.  I hopped on the train, met up with her and Chris, and we headed to The Spotted Pig so I could gain back a quick 5 through deviled egg and cheeseburger eating.  And it was DELICIOUS.

Today was a good day.

Monday, March 26, 2012

WRONG

So I was wrong about the results of my bets.  Turns out I won 5 of 8, so bossman had to pay me this morning!  And he and his son decided that at this point, it wouldn't be a big deal to just let me finish out the rest of the tournament.  So it looks like I have some more picks to make!  Any and all advice will be helpful.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

50-50

The results are in.

Of the eight games I wagered on with the boss, I won four and lost four.  So I owe him $2 in vig fees.  I can live with that.  He did, however, tell me that this was a one-time thing because it was a bad habit to get into.  I found out from one of the other bosses that it was because his son made him feel bad about roping me into gambling.  Little does he know....

Friday, March 23, 2012

OWLETS

This is the luckiest guy in the world.  How come nobody ever asks me to be a baby owl foster parent?!










Thursday, March 22, 2012

SO FAR...

It's only a quarter of the way through the weekend's games, but so far I'm 2-for-2.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I really want to win.  The bragging rights alone make it worth it.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

GAMBLING MAN

As I've mentioned before, my boss is a gambler.  Today, we were discussing our brackets and how we were doing, when he started asking me if I was picking with points or just straight win/loss.  When I told him win/loss, he started in on how that was no fun.  Then he got serious-face and told me that for this weekend's games, if I wanted, he would be my bookie.  Because he's hardcore, he told me that while it was all friendly, he would still be taking a vig*.   Of course I said hell yes.

So he sent me out to get the NY Post to get the point spreads on the games.  I made my picks ($5 per game, I'm no dummy) and we're all set.

Shortly after this, I was talking to a coworker and saying that I would feel weird taking his money if I win.  He is 82 and my boss, after all.  But then coworker pointed out that if I lose, he would have no problem taking my money.  And this is absolutely true.  So wish me luck!


* For those unfamiliar, a vig is how bookies make money.  It's 10% of the total bet, and win or lose, you pay it.  So if I bet $100, I'm really betting $110.  And if I win, I only get $100, the bookie keeps the $10.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

SPRING!

It wasn't exactly a harsh winter, but I'm still thrilled that spring is here.  If the weather stays this nice, I might have to just move to Zuckerland North for a month or so.

In honor of spring, here are some spring-y lambs (and two adorable resting ones) stolen from Cute Overload.  Enjoy, BA!

Monday, March 19, 2012

RANDOM

While I was driving home from work today, I was listening to CBS FM (yes, I love rocking to the oldies.)  An '80s Madonna song came on, and two thoughts immediately occurred to me.  First, all the songs that I grew up listening to are now considered oldies.  The second thought was, I HATE MADONNA.  I always have.  What's the appeal?  Why is she a superstar?  Her songs flat out suck.  This only reaffirmed that she is a business genius.   To keep fleecing people for 30 years into thinking she was a good singer is a pretty amazing feat. 

Saturday, March 17, 2012

GREEN DAY

Happy St. Patrick's Day, internet!

Sadie and I celebrated by getting price gauged at the vet this morning.  She's ok, just needed some shots and a pugicure.  The exciting part came after that when we went to my parents' place and the pugs got to do field runs again.  It never stops being adorable.  There was also delicious corned beef, cabbage and potatoes.  It makes no sense that boiled meat should be so tasty, yet it is. 

This is not Sadie.  She does not abide hats.

This is Sadie, exhausted after a day of field running and pug battles.

Friday, March 16, 2012

SUPERNATURAL, BITCHES


Tonight is a very exciting night.  There's a new ep (short for episode, all the cool kids are using it) of Supernatural on for the first time in weeks.  

For the uninitiated, Supernatural is THE GREATEST SHOW IN THE WORLD.  You can keep your Downton Abby and Game of Thrones.  I myself was once a doubter, but after one ep, I was hooked.  I then roped my brother in, soon to be followed by BA.  It's full of ridiculous storylines and brilliant pop culture references and - my personal favorite - Dean Winchester.  

Let me bottom line it for you...you need to watch this show.  IMMEDIATELY.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

FOR WHY

Ever since I downloaded the update for my iPhone, things have been bad.  The camera icon on the home screen doesn't work.  The battery is draining at a breakneck pace.  Emails load very slowly.  A certain Forced Marcher ('sup, Seaver!) suggested that I restore and start over.

Now this should have been an easy thing to do.  But I originally paired my iPhone with my work computer and now it's backed up to the iCloud but also seems to work with my Mac at home.  So basically, I have no idea if I'm gonna lose everything and have to start over.  How can I be related to BA* and know SO little about this stuff????  Basically, I feel like my mom trying to figure out the internet right now, and it's very upsetting.

*Speaking of BA, I know she's the leader of our little pack of marchers, but I think she needs a FORCENING.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

UGH

I love daylight savings time, I really do.  But this first week always sucks.  It's only an hour, but for some reason it knocks the crap out of me.  I'm tired all the time.  Leave it to me to bitch about an extra hour of daylight.

The human around here isn't the only one having problems, though.  Wonderpug has the craziest allergies ever.  The weather is beautiful and I want to get her out as much as possible, but when we get back, she's a mess.  The poor thing is scratching her eyes all the time and licking her paws so bad that she's giving herself a hot spot on one of her tiny, adorable paws!  I used to give her Benadryl, but she had a bad reaction to it not that long ago (a seizure!), so that's out of the question.  We have an appointment at the vet on Saturday to get her a steroid shot and maybe some cream for her itchy spots. In the meantime, I gave her a bath tonight to wash all the pollen off of her.  She's like a little, sneezy human.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

TGIT

I love Tuesdays.

As I've mentioned before, I'm currently doing the whole WW thing.  For those who are unfamiliar, you are allotted a certain amount of points per day as well as a stash of weeklies.  For example, I get 27 points per day and 49 weekly points.  I can spread them out over the week, or eat like a king on one day.  Because I'm me, I always choose the latter.  

Every Tuesday I get a brand spanking new batch of weekly points, and therefore every Tuesday I eat whatever the hell I want.  Today it was Smashburger and a brownie.  I feel disgusting, but awesome at the same time.

This is what's become of me.

Monday, March 12, 2012

MADNESS!!

Tomorrow, the madness begins.

As anyone who knows me can tell you, I love gambling on sports.  Tomorrow is basically the start of Holy Week (month, actually) in sports gambling land.  The bracket is being filled out later tonight, and I can't wait to completely bury myself in college basketball until April. 

I'm not the only one about to get the Madness, either.  My 82 year old boss is right there with me.  As a matter of fact, he's kind of like my gambling Yoda.  The man is unstoppable.  He gambles on everything, all year round, and because he's already rich, this means he constantly wins.  From here on out, if he's not intercomming me, he'll just be yelling my name across the office.  He then proceeds to give me a list of matchups and tells me to get him the point spreads.  Then throughout the day I get summoned for scores.  My job essentially becomes reading ESPN updates and live-streaming the tournament.  The other bosses know that if I'm watching basketball, it's because IT'S MY JOB.

My job does not suck.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

FIELD OF PUGS

I went to the parents' house yesterday and brought Sadie with me.  As previously mentioned, their new place is surrounded by farmland and corn fields, much of which is fenced in.  What this means is that pugs can run free there.  I knew there was a lot of land, but I had no idea just how much until yesterday.  Here's Sadie and Mollie being adorable, best friend, field-running pugs.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

PICASSO

Thanks to BA, I have become completely obsessed with Draw Something, the app for the iPhone.  I've always been terrible at drawing, so it's pretty ridiculous.  I think I have something like 14 games going on right now, despite my complete lack of artistic ability.

One of the people I'm currently playing is Lugo.  His pictures are by far the most entertaining.  Here's an example for you:

 Can you guess what it is?

If you wanna battle, my username is khaviland.  Have a good weekend, all!

Friday, March 9, 2012

SADIE!!!

I warned you there would be at least one day of the Wonderpug.  Well that day is here.  Enjoy.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

HOPPING SWEATER GOATS?!!!

These are for you, big sister.



SICK DAY

I stayed home from work today.  I wish I could say it was because I wanted to play hooky on such a gorgeous day; go hit some golf balls or visit BA in Brooklyn.  Unfortunately, it was because of a stomach bug.

When I'm sick, I usually take one of two roads to wellness.  There's the Couch Nest© method, which is usually reserved for colds and sinus infection kinds of sick.  Then there's the Pretend method, where I try to do normal things and force myself to get better.  I opted for that today.  So I took the dog for a nice long walk, went to the gym, and went grocery shopping.  

Now grocery shopping is kind of a menial task, but I LOVE IT.  This is because I love coupons.  I feel like I'm getting one over on the supermarket when they have to take all that money off at the end.  I'm not one of those crazy extreme couponers, but I build my list around what coupons I have and what's on sale.  I get such a crazy rush from it.  Which is really sad.  But today I got $100 worth of groceries down to $85.  That alone made me feel better.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

WEENIE SAYS

So last night was the Jane's Addiction concert.  The last time I saw them was at the first Lollapalooza, so I really didn't know what to expect.  I was disappointed.  

The setlist was good, being mostly songs from Ritual de Lo Habitual and Nothing's Shocking, with maybe 3 or 4 new songs peppered in.  As much as I hate saying this, the problem was Perry Farrell.  He wasn't really singing.  It was more mumbling, screwing around with some sound controls producing screeching, and him occasionally singing the lyrics.  It was a real shame, too, because when he did actually sing, he sounded great.  But it was more of an instrumental performance with the crowd doing most of the heavy lifting, vocally.  





 Dave Navarro, however, was amazing.  I always forget that he's such a good guitarist.  I couldn't help but wonder if he was as annoyed as I was with Farrell's performance.  They barely even interacted with each other.  Now if only he would lose the Joker makeup and the flat iron...

One of the highlights of the night was their performance of Chip Away.  With the exception of three drums, the performance was acoustic.  It also happened to be the only one that Farrell sang all the way through.  The drums were what made it, though.  I wish I had a picture or some video of it*, but I was way too into it to whip out the iPhone and focus on recording it.  I just wanted to enjoy the song.  

All that being said, I'm still glad I went.  Better to know myself that it wasn't that great than to regret missing it.

 


*I found a video on YouTube.  It's not from the Wellmont, but it's exactly the same.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1991

This one's gonna be short and sweet.  

Tonight I continue my concerts of the '90s series with Jane's Addiction.  I started last summer with Weezer and The Flaming Lips and continued with Bush in the fall.  After this, I may actually have to start acknowledging that music did, in fact, continue to be made after 1996.

But if De La Soul or Tribe come around, I'm there.

Monday, March 5, 2012

BRUUUUUUUUUUUUCE

I (unlike Paul Scanniello) was unsure how I felt about the new Springsteen album.  Well, at least about the two songs I'd heard so far.  I can definitely say that I dislike that We Take Care of Our Own song, and Wrecking Ball was just meh.

Then came Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Friday.

The interview with Bruce was great, as most usually are, despite Fallon's usual out of control fanboy yammering.  Then came the first song they would perform that night.  It's called Death to My Hometown, and I cannot tell you just how much I love this song.  It could be the presence of fifes (yes, fifes) that make me love it, due to the Irish factor.  Or it could be that it just kicks ass.  My only concern is that the studio version on the album may not be as awesome.  As with many of Springsteen's songs, sometimes the live version just blows the album one out of the water.  I guess I'll have to wait and see.  The second song they did wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.  The closer was brilliant, however.  They did The E Street Shuffle, which is not something you'll hear performed live often, and they did it with The Roots.  And you know that when you add The Roots to just about anything, it's better.

The only downside to the amazingness of the track was that it made me want to see him and the E Street Band on their upcoming tour even more than I had before.  Unfortunately, I am not a bajillionaire, so that's not going to happen.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

MARCH FO(U)RTH

It's only the 4th day of this blogathon, and already I'm tapped.  I could tell you about my day, but that would be a sad, short sentence.  I read a book, went to the gym, ate a chicken burger (yes, again, but I love them!), and did mounds of laundry.  See?  

The one thing I've come to realize (as I do every year at this time), is that I really, really miss football.  I know BA and most other marchers range from not caring to hating it, but it's Sunday Funday, people!  And thanks to the kindness and generosity of my boss, half of those Sundays I got to actually attend games.  Now it's just a waiting game until baseball officially starts.  March Madness is a nice filler, because let's face it, I love brackets and gambling, but already I'm sick of hearing variations of the phrase "random college team is going to the dance".  This may or may not have something to do with the fact that Villanova basketball* was a huge disappointment this year. 

On a more exciting note, Tuesday night is the Jane's Addiction concert at the Wellmont.  I really hope it's not all stuff from the new album.  I'm only there for the '90s nostalgia.  At least on Wednesday I will have something of interest to blog about, and maybe even some pictures!

*Turns out my boss's son is friends with Jay Wright.  He was the best man at his wedding.  These people are unbelievable.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The Coop

Today was the day that my parents finally got to get out of the extended-stay hotel they had been at for the past 5 weeks, and move into their new house.  Thank god.  I had been avoiding visiting my parents because I couldn't stand the thought of going to Candlewood Suites instead of the house.  It was so depressing.  

But this new place is fantastic.  It's all old timey and farmhouse-y.  The vaulted ceiling in the kitchen/sitting room is oak.  As BA mentioned yesterday, the maple trees are tapped, there's a chicken coop (that will be housing Rhode Island Reds in the spring!), and it's surrounded by farmland.  And the parents are finally settled, which makes me (and them too, I suppose) feel so much better about them selling the old homestead.

All in all, it was a good day.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Cult-y

There's something I feel I need to get out in the open right away, so you can decide whether or not you can handle the crazy that I will most likely be dishing out here.  

I joined Weight Watchers in September. 

I'm going to try not to make this a food and fitness blog, but it's gonna come up.  My life has changed dramatically since the last Forced March and a lot of it has to do with the cult of WW.  Instead of eating delicious cheeseburgers and fries, this was my dinner last night:

                                         
Jalapeno-Cheddar Chicken Burger (on an English Muffin)
Broccoli with Garlic, Olive Oil, and Chili Flakes

The weirdest thing?  I was so excited about this.  I ate all the broccoli before I even touched the burger.

My crazy, compulsive behavior was made for a program like this, though.  I've lost 38 lbs. so far, and it's almost become a game to me at this point.  I'm competing against myself to see how far I can go, and I HATE LOSING (see last year's Forced March).

Thursday, March 1, 2012

FORCED MARCH

It's that time again.  Time for me to blog obsessively for 31 straight days (hopefully) and then never be heard from again.  

A lot has happened since the last time I did this, so I'm hoping I can spread that out to make it a little easier.  The same rules apply this time around, mainly that there will be at least one day that is just a picture of the Wonderpug, and that totally counts.
On the off chance that anyone besides the other Forced Marchers are reading this, here's a list of this year's participants: