NKOTB Comeback

I'm unsure as to how I feel about a New Kids on the Block reunion.

They already have a snippet of a new ballad on their official website: www.nkotb.com

I liked them as a kid, but when I listen to the music again, I feel it was a bit crap, with the exception of maybe 5 songs.

With that said, I probably would go to a concert if they came to the Bay Area. Only because I think it would be fun. Although, I think the target audience would have to be in their 30's now, no?

On a related note, I am in fact taking 2 days off near the end of February to see the Spice Girls in Washington, DC. Oh yea! Spice up my life, bitches!

Thoughts on the Economy

I'm not a fan of the two recent Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. Twice... in eight days... 1.25% total (.75 and then .5 today). My Online Savings account (HSBC) rate dropped to 3.8% yesterday. I imagine it will drop another half percent shortly. Damnit!

I get the idea. Lowering interest rates discourage savings and increases spending at the macro level.

But why fuck over the people who aren't spenders? Do you really think the $300 or so dollars Bush will give me in the form of a check later this year will make me spend? No. I'll probably save it. Why? Because I want to be prepared. Life, emergencies, etc. Ya, sure, I'll take a vacation or go out to a nice dinner every so often. I would have done that anyways, with or without your $300 dollars and cut in interest rates.

If you want me to spend, make me feel better by making gas $1, like it was when I left High School in 2001. I feel like inflation of gas prices has a greater effect on the economy. I'm paying more to travel; I'm paying more for food because of the transportation to get food to the grocery store; I'm paying more for everything else that gas touches. Get it? Fix that. Invest and pour money into clean energy. Invest more into incentives for Hybrids and they people that drive them.

Don't make my bank account suffer. Your $300 will be pretty much useless to me. I'm pissed.

NYT Article for Reference: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/business/30cnd-fed.html

Authors@Google: Armistead Maupin

Google's really good about bringing in fabulous and interesting people for their Authors@Google series. I feel like I never take advantage of it though. I get so consumed by work sometimes. I'm going to make it a point to carve out some time to go to more of them, or at least watch the YouTube videos of the talks.

Today, I did take advantage of it. Armistead Maupin, a writer famous for his 'Tales of the City' series, stopped by Google today. And the 'City' he writes about is San Francisco, in case you were curious. I actually didn't know who Armistead Maupin was, until maybe 6 weeks ago.

A Quick Anecdote:

In Mid December I made it to Washington DC to visit my friends Brent and James. A bit of the time I had to keep myself occupied. One thing I did is go to Kramerbooks and Afterwords, a famous bookstore in Dupont Circle, the historically gay district in the beltway. I was wondering around the bookstore aimlessly. I read a bit in the 'dating books' section. Then I roamed around and picked up this book called 'Micheal Tolliver Lives.' The cover was so attractive to me. I found an instant connection somehow, even though you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. So I read a bit and find it pretty witty. I also read the flap, to get to know the author a bit better.

I didn't by the book, but it's been in my mind ever since. The artwork is so distinctive and I could tell that I would actually love reading the book. I will pick up the book and the rest of the books in the 'Tales of the City' series. I am sad though, that I didn't show up in time to get a free copy. It would have been nice to get his autograph.

It's just funny that it was that one book that I was drawn to, in a massive bookshop, you know? And who knew the author would be visiting Google shortly?

First Credit Card: BankAmericard

My first Credit Card finally arrived in the mail over the weekend. I'm kind of excited. I don't plan on using it often, but I like the fact that it's my own.

It's a BankAmericard (released from Bank of America). Actually, I think they upgraded me to the Platinum Plus version, which I never knew existed. It has some extra perks on top of the normal rewards of a BankAmericard. I'm quite impressed with Bank of America's service thus far. They also started me off with a pretty low interest rate (beyond the initial 6 cycle 0% APR). I think it's something like 11.24%, which is really good for a rewards card for someone who has little to no credit history. I really should check my FICO score and credit history. I'll put it on the to-do list...

Thinking 24/7: These topics are on my mind

My mind is a bit off today. I didn't get any sleep and tried to recover this afternoon, but with that said, I have a lot of thoughts running through my head:

• I'm happy to be back in California. It's home and always will be. But I still have the desire to live many other places.
• I'm excited to have a social life again. Not that I didn't have a social life in MIchigan, but it wasn't MY social life to some extent. Again, it's the being taken out of your comfort zone thing. Dating, movies, working out, dining out in SF... all things I'm looking forward to!
• The Staph Infection hitting the Castro is scary. Although the drug resistant bug has hit LA, Boston, and New York, it seems to be making the biggest impact in the gay community in San Francisco's Castro District. As reported in the SF Chronicle, one out of every 588 is infected with the drug resistant form of MRSA. This is super scary.
• Strangers have been super nice to me. I try to help out where I can. But I've been in a lot of random binds lately and complete strangers usually step up and help me out. I'm not sure if it's Karma, but I truly believe what comes around goes around. I had an unbelievable amount of luggage to carry around via mass transit, and many people helped me out today. It was cool.
  
• I like mass transit... a lot. Even thought it's not the most time efficient necessarily, I love living in an area where I can get around via Mass Transit. I got from SFO to my car in Mountain View for around $12 -- mixing BART, CalTrain and a Cab. How great is that?
• I'm sad I left Michigan a bit earlier than I wanted. This week is very big in Michigan. You have the Republican Presidential Primary and the Detroit Auto Show in one week. I found it pretty cool to see the Republicans duke it out in Michigan... via Advertising on Radio and TV. The Detroit Auto show is a huge deal. It's all that's covered on the news and it's all people are talking about. It's very cool. And the best part? I feel optimism in the American Car Industry.
• I've added the Volvo C30 to my Test Drive list. I saw an ad in a magazine for the Volvo C30. I thought, what a cool little car! It's pricey, but I love the modern Scandinavian interior. So far it's hit most of my future car requirements... hi tech advanced features, awesome audio, available sunroof, power but still decent gas mileage, smaller design for city living, ipod connectivity and something visually unique (stand out from the crowd).
• I'm excited for MacWorld! So when flying from Detroit to SFO, I sat next to Troy, who was heading to MacWorld. We bonded and he reminded me how excited I am for whatever Apple has up it's sleeves tomorrow. I'm most excited for the new ultra thin laptop. Wired has mock photos of what it thinks Apple will release.
• I'm excited to put my Digital SLR to good use. I got a Nikon D40, an entry level Digital SLR camera. That might require me to travel around the bay more.
• Sunnyvale gets an Art Institute of California! The newest Art Institute of California is in none other than my current home of Sunnyvale! I saw an ad on TV and I got a little excited. If I ever wanted to take classes on the side, I'm excited to have a legit institution nearby. :) It joins the other California Art Institutes in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, the Inland Empire, San Francisco, and Sacramento.
• American Gladiators on NBC. Even thought it's one big testosterone fest --- an overload to some extent --- American Gladiators is entertaining and reminds me of my childhood. I'm not sure how I feel about Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali as hosts. I do like some of the over the top effects... like when the bullseye is hit during Assault. Explosions and Water Drops, oh my!

Last Day in Ann Arbor

I'm returning to Northern California after my 3 and a half month stint in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Today is my last full day living in Michigan. I'm flying out tomorrow morning to return to the daily California grind.

I'll be the first to admit that this city probably isn't representative of the Midwest as a whole, but I had a great time here. The town can be described as 'college,' 'liberal,' 'artsy,' and even 'pretentious.' I'm going to even miss living in the snow a bit. I'm going to miss the people the most, though. I don't think I'll miss the food all that much --- I could do without the college town grub.

Often times I felt like I was out of my comfort zone, but I think I needed to be. You don't create memories if you're always comfortable.

I've conquered The West Coast, East Coast and the Midwest. All I have left is the South. :P

ABC's 'The Mole' Returning to TV after 4 Year Hiatus

ABC is resurrecting 'The Mole,' one of the first competitive reality television shows from early in the decade. It hasn't been on TV in over 4 years. The host is still TBD. If only Anderson Cooper weren't being all professional on CNN during a presidential election year. He is to this day, my favorite Reality TV show host. He's also my favorite news anchor. ;)

The best part: they're casting soon. I'm totally gonna apply! It's my DREAM to be on The Mole.

Casting Information Soon on www.molecasting.com.

News Source: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20169920,00.html

Weight Loss Picture Timeline

This post is meant as a preface to an entry with content. I still haven't come up with a snazzy title, but it will contain my tips, tricks, and FAQ to my 100+ lb weightloss.

I get questions all the time, mainly from girls. They always seem to be the ones focused on losing weight. Blame the media. They're usually hot.

Over the past few weeks, I've heard the following comments in LA, the Bay and everywhere else I've been:

• You're hot!
• You're beautiful!
• You look so conservative.
• How did you lose the weight?
• What's your secret?
• Do you even eat?
• You have definition in your face!
• You're a medium? I'm a medium! Whoa.

Picture 1: January 2006 @ ~300 Lbs.

Picture 2: July 2006 @ ~275 Lbs.



Picture 3: July 2007 @ ~190 Lbs.



Picture 4: November 2007 @ ~183 Lbs.

About being stupid...

I arrived back in the Midwest yesterday after a 4.5 hour flight from San Francisco.

Nai was gracious enough to wake up at 5:45am and take me to the Cal Train station in Downtown Mountain View. I then took the 6:23 Caltrain to the BART to SFO. They changed the way you get to SFO via BART. You used to be able to do a direct shot from Millbrae (the Caltrain/BART connection station). Now you have to go from the Millbrae BART to San Bruno and then shoot down to SFO. It wasn't a big deal, and probably only added 3 or so minutes to the ride.

I get to SFO for my 8:15 flight with plenty of time, well... just enough time. I get to Security at around 7:15am and to the Terminal by 7:30. So I was fine. The flight was easy breezy... and didn't nearly feel like almost 5 hours (which it pretty much was because we were delayed 20 minutes).

My next challenge. How to get from DTW Airport in Detroit to Ann Arbor? I took a Taxi with my roomie Kev when I left Ann Arbor. I read about the Michigan Flyer, a bus from a hotel near my apartment to DTW (and the reverse) for $15, vs. $60 for a taxi or sedan. I knew there was a 4:45 shuttle to Ann Arbor that i could catch. It showed up 15 minutes late. No Biggie. I get to Ann Arbor around 5:50pm. I was dropped to a hotel about 3/4 of a mile from my apartment. Now, how to get from this hotel to my apartment... when there aren't taxis around. It was 13 degrees outside and all I had was a thin sweatshirt and no gloves. I thought, why not walk? I always hear about how people had to trek miles in the snow... surely I can go this short distance with my two suitcases to my apartment. WRONG. I pretty much had frostbite on my hands after 5 minutes outside.

I made it to Briarwood Mall and in the parking lot a woman parked up next to me and said, 'You want a ride? I have kids your age and It's wayyy too cold outside.' She said, 'It's not a problem. Where are you going? You better not hope I'm a mass murderer! You know you're stupid for not wearing a jacket in this weather.' I thought, 'Um, I'll take my chances about you not being a mass murderer.' So it turns out she's a doctor at St. Joseph's in Ann Arbor. We bonded quickly because her daughter lives in Menlo Park (near me in the Bay Area) because her husband is getting a Ph.D at Stanford in Engineering. We talked quite a bit in our short 3 minute ride to my apartment.

We got to my apartment and I defrosted myself.

Someone was totally watching over me... and I thank you Deb Oberdoerster, MD.