Oh yeah, you want it...

I really am rather confused by this. I realize my Google ads are set up all over my site for context-sensitivity, but really... why is there an advertisement that says:

Find Greg on eBay Motors. Test drive and buy it locally.

Now I'm not saying that I have a problem with this on a theoretical level, but for practical intents and purposes, I don't want any guy to try test driving me... sexy, unattached women between the ages of 25 and 29 yes... any guys, no.

Ok, so putting that aside, it's time for me to get to the meat (ha ha) of this post. Obviously by now you should have seen the new ad listed on the side that says "The Apple / Wacom Fund Drive", and a few people have asked me what's involved. Well, first, if you click the link, you'll find that the only requirement is to click the ads on the site if you find one that's interesting, and tell other people to visit as well. I'm working on these funds in the hopes of resurrecting my old comic project, and the Mac and Cintiq tablet would go VERY far to making it easier to do these regularly.

I also have had a few people say "what about donation?" Yes, people have asked me about it. I'm not looking for you having to donate money to my project. I'm not saying I wouldn't take the donations, but I don't want you to have to feel like I was begging for money. Traffic, maybe, but not money. Still, I guess I see the reason people have asked me about it. Sometimes people just don't bother clicking such ad links, and I can respect that decision.

So I will be adding a link in the very near future to allow people to make direct donations, and if the project goes well enough, hopefully my comic will eventually be available in a book form for sale. I'd like to say I'm doing the project without ANY goal of making money, but when you get into it, my goal is to use the comic as a partial entry point into more media related work. If the comic is good, it might get some attention. If it gets attention and develops a reasonable following, it might get serious traffic. If it gets traffic, word might get to some media exec somewhere who likes my work, and maybe I might get a job in the media industry, or at least have something more to show for it... and of course, some text ads can't hurt for generating the additional profit.

So watch for a link in the near future (whatever the heck that means) and of course, if you are a hot, single woman, age 26 - 29 in the Buffalo, NY area, you can find Greg in East Amherst. You can give it a test drive, and maybe you'd consider getting it for yourself. Ok, I can dream, right?

Boy, here's a record...

Well, this is post 50 on the new blog. I have some more plans about expanding this site in the near future, but right now I just figured I'd write the post to get me to #50 and then go to bed. I have only one brief thing to mention, but it was a night of accomplishments for me, so what better way to celebrate than to brag?

Some of you know I started working out again in October of 2007 in an effort to try to undo some of the damage I've done to myself with a bad diet and as a result of the car accident I had back in 2003 that later lead to me having a bone lesion resulting in my broken arm in Spring of 2005.

After seeing my friend Jeff (from SUNY Fredonia's CS department), I decided I needed to try to give working out a serious go again. Jeff offered to join a gym with me and we did a bit of research. We ended up setting on a place called Terry's Workout Center on Hertel Rd. in Buffalo. At a price of $225 a year, it seemed like a great deal (it is). Of course, my teaching schedule at the time made it difficult to get more than two workouts in most weeks, but as it turns out, this was more of a benefit than anything else, since I started working my way in gradually and I didn't have the typical one month spurt most people do, followed by severe discouragement and just giving up. Instead, the first 3 months were 1 - 3 workouts each week, and starting to rebuild the energy and strength I'd had back towards the middle of college, and to a certain extent in high school.

In February, my new teaching schedule took effect and I found myself able to work out more or less 3 times a week EVERY week, with some chances for a 4th workout. Up to that point I did some ok stuff. I was able to do maybe 2.8 Miles Per Hour on a treadmill, and I was working on my heart (which had gotten to be in not-so-great shape), and doing some weight lifting (my max bench press was a mere 75 lbs, which some people see as decent and other people might laugh about). But I was starting to work my way up, and Jeff's encouragement and constantly calling me on workout days kept me going. Some people can't workout with others because of discouragement. I've found working out with Jeff to be the precise opposite.

In February I managed to put up 105 lbs on the bench for the first time in half a decade. Considering the broken right arm a few years before, that was a good sign. We started doing longer stretches on the treadmill; 20 minutes, hill climbing, and something called fartlek, which is a form of endurance / cardio training.

By the end of March, I was able to do a consistant 3.8 on the treadmill, was lifting 105 lbs as my regular weight on the bench, working in another form of press (the Military Press), was able to do 115 lb forearm squeeze exercises, and was getting up to 90+ lbs presses on my hamstrings. And from there, we've added in more exercises, we've added in different routines, and we've started putting in some cardio using elliptical machines.

Two weeks ago, I completed what I'd describe as a fairly advanced version of the fartlek training. Followed a week later by a repeat of that routine on my own, when Jeff and I weren't able to meet up due to scheduling conflicts... I've becoming more and more motivated about this.

And after tonight? I am blown away! When I started this, I was 330 lbs, would see my heart rate go shooting through the roof after less than 5 minutes on the treadmill. As of today, I am able to do an average of 4.1 MPH on the treadmill, not needing to use the console hand bars for balance, and can go for 15 minutes at that pace. I've done several hill climb exercises that wouldn't have even been worth thinking about a year ago. I've managed to do a full hour and 40 minutes on the treadmill, most of it at a 4.0 MPH + pace. I've done 45 minute + elliptical training sessions on a few occasions. My weight has gotten down as low as 313 lbs on a few days. It's around 316 on average right now. I can hold the plank position for 2 minutes if I'm fresh, and even for at least a minute after a longer workout. I can do assisted pull ups on a gravitron machine (I need an assist boost of 245 lbs to do it, but that means I'm lifting the rest of that weight with shoulders, or my biceps or triceps... something that wouldn't have been possible at the start - I know, I tried). I can do a mid-back row at over 100 lbs and do it 30 or more times in 3 sets. I have found myself avoiding most colds and flus, and haven't had a real serious problem with my typically difficult, somewhat acute bronchitis problem.

And finally... that bench press? Yes, as I said, I started at a pretty low amount - a max press of 75 lbs... maybe 85 if I was VERY well rested and it was the first thing after a warm up. Tonight, after warm-up, I managed to get off two individual lifts of 195 lbs. That's right, in 9 months of working out, only 6 of which have been really regular (where I can manage to do them regularly), I've more than doubled my original max press. I can do 30 lifts in 3 sets of 135 lbs, and I can even manage intermediate sets of weight like 155 lbs 6 times or more.

I've got a ways to go, but for the first time in years, maybe for the first time in my life, I'm starting to really feel great, physically... I feel in shape, energetic, alive... and I feel a sense of dignity about my body that I never really experienced before. I've had pride in accomplishments, yes. And probably, I've been a bit arrogant on some of them. My body was never one of them for me, until now.

So, thank you, Jeff. Thank you, also, to everyone else who has known and supported me in it. I'm not going to give this up or let it go again. After realizing how great it feels, I couldn't imagine letting it slide again. In a few more months, when a bit more of the fat comes off in the mid-section (it'll be the last place to go, I'm sure), I'll post up a picture. And I'll find a picture that shows, as much as possible, how I looked at the start. I think it'll be surprising. I think it'll be something I can really be proud of... and I hope it'll be something that encourages other people to make healthy choices. I'm grateful so many people encouraged me to do it. Maybe I'll really be able to live my life the way I've wanted for so long. Finally!

And happy 50th post to me!

The Incredible Hulk Review

Marvel is now two for two this summer season with the release of the Incredible Hulk staring Ed Norton. Standing entirely apart from the version of the Hulk done in 2003, staring Eric Bana, Marvel has demonstrated that their first success with Iron Man is no fluke. Ed Norton plays Bruce Banner, a former research scientist and bio-chemist who worked at a Virginia university performing research into the United State Military's Super Soldier program.

An experiment gone wrong testing a syrum meant to increase the strength, healing factor and agility of soldiers results in Banner running from the law. A fugitive from the military, he fleeas to Brazil after killing several other people on university grounds, and badly injuring his project partner and girlfriend, Betty Ross, played by Liv Tyler. Working remotely with another biologist who he has never met, Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) who goes by the alias Mr. Blue, he tries to undo the damage to his body, which he describes as an unusual case of Gamma radiation poisoning. Unusual indeed, for if his pulse reaches 200 beats per minute, he changes from the quiet and reserved Banner into a huge mound of muscle and energy, the Incredible Hulk.

After running out of options to try to effect a cure, he decides to return home to the site of the incident. Betty, now recovered and seeing psychologist Dr. Lennord Samson (Ty Burrell), recognizes Bruce from a distance and reunites to help him. Bruce must still stay hidden from the director of the Super Soldier program, Gen. Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross (William Hurt), who is the father of Betty. The General, though, already knows that Bruce is back, having tried to apprehend him with a special forces team lead by Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), a special forces trained officer from Britain.

Blonsky uses a sample of the same syrum that converted Banner, and after a military operation devolves into a brawl betweeen Blonsky and Banner (in the form of the Hulk), Blonsky is nearly killed, his bone broken into what a doctor describes as "gravel". However, the syrum causes his bones to regenerate, his body to repair itself, and he soon recovers. Once again he joins in the mission to recapture Banner, now running with Betty Ross. Blonsky has taken an additional dose of the syrum, and after another sample, derived directly from Banner's blood, transforms into the terrifying Abomination. The stage is set for an all-out brawl. Can Banner control the beast in him to stop Abomination after he loses control and starts wreaking havoc?

You'll need to see the movie. Solid acting from a terrific cast. Ed Norton plays the mild mannered Bruce Banner, trying to surpress a raging inferno of energy and strength. The story is not a cartoon or joke, and reaches far greater levels than it's predecessor from 2003. Once again, Marvel has outdown itself and proves that if anyone knows how to adapt a comic book for the big screen, they can.

And at the end of the movie, a surprise appearance is made by Tony Stark, played by non-other than Robert Downey Jr. Now apparently a part of an attempt to assemble a team of superheroes, the alter-ego of Iron Man indicates there might a solution to dealing with the Banner situation. So now we can confirm it - an Avengers movie IS forthcoming. Will it be the Avengers vs Hulk? Or Avengers with the Hulk vs something even greater? Nobody on the outside of Marvel knows for sure, but one this is for certain: if Marvel keeps putting together solid films like this, the genre of the comic book action-adaptation will continue to grow into something that is exciting and enjoyable to people of all ages, comic fan or not.

Excellent performance, and worth seeing (though careful if you have young ones are there is a bit of violence, and some sexual references are made in the movie). 5 starts out of 5 for the second Marvel film of the year!

Is this brilliant? DAMN STRAIGHT...

Ok. I have odd ideas from time-to-time. I'll admit it. But I KNOW that I've also had some really amazing insights and concepts come up, and I think this could be one of them. A magazine dedicated to IT / DBA workers. How could this possibly miss?



This is pure genius! Why hasn't anyone else hit on doing this idea before? Ok... probably a lawsuit... but this, notice the appropriate differences to help people see that this is NOT the outdoor magazine (see? Fields and Streams). Pure brilliance! I am ahead of my time! Or my watch is set too slow again.

Passing of a legend...

This will be brief. If you hadn't heard the news as of yet, I'm sure you will have by now. Comedy great George Carlin passed away on Sunday, June 22, 2008 from heart failure. Carlin was 71.

Obviously, I never got to meet the man in person, though I was fortunate enough that in 2004 I got to see him at Turning Stone Casino, courtesy of my girlfriend at the time, Hilary. I won't say a lot about him... not because there isn't a lot to say, but more because it would be trite, and given everything in life, that's the last thing I would want to do to the memory of such a man. Still, I felt the need to say at least one thing here:

Thank you, George, for everything you've said and done to open our eyes, make us stop to think, and most importantly, to stop and laugh, even if it's at ourselves and our own inconsistencies. It was worth every bit of it. And if there is such a thing as heaven, regardless of how you felt about it, my hopes is you'll end up there - your legacy of humor and how much you showed us we need to think about things carefully earns you a place there in my mind.

R.I.P.
George Carlin
May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008