The Zombieslayer

Thanksgiving went pretty well.  I made the stuffing.  I used one organic Asian Pear, one organic Fuji Apple, one onion, lots of garlic, four slices of well-toasted bread, and about a glass of red wine.  It actually tasted pretty good.  Oh yeah, threw some salt and pepper in there too.

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Glad the election’s over.  No, nobody or nothing I voted for won.  Ron Paul’s too intelligent to be President of the USA.  Get this, the criticisms I’ve heard of Ron Paul is that “he scares me.”  Sure, throw logic right out the window and use an argument ad hominem.  But then again, I don’t expect intelligence from the American voters.

Dad used to get me Time magazine for Christmas.  I told him not to this year.  I hate that magazine.  Both Time and Newspeak couldn’t do an article on Obama without mentioning his race.  Couldn’t talk about Hillary Clinton and later Sarah Palin without mentioning their gender.  It got pretty fucking annoying.  Pardon my French.

For those of you who make fun of sports, that’s one thing I like about sports.  It was the one thing I did when nobody asked me my race.  I got sick of hearing it.  Had to always fill in my race for whenever I applied for anything except sports.  With sports, I just played.  If I performed well, they liked me.  If I sucked, they didn’t.  That’s how it should be.

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I saw a bunch of movies and am too lazy to review them so I’ll write a skinny on each of them.

Star Wars Clone Wars - For a cartoon aimed for kids, I found it quite watchable. No, don’t expect good dialog or plot, because after all it is Star Wars which is well-known for bad dialog and plot holes. But still, I enjoyed. 6 dead zombies.

The Eye (2008) - Always a pleasure to see Jessica Alba. Heck, she could be brushing her teeth and she’d be fun to watch. But this is a horror movie so she’s not so hot in this one.

The Pang Brothers give you a flick about a blind girl picking up the eyes from a dead donor. Catch is, the eyes come from a witch. A few predictable plot twists and some scary scenes. Not a bad effort, but not something you’d write home about. 4 dead zombies

The Orphanage - OK horror film buffs, this is how it’s done. I usually see plot twists coming from a mile away but there were a few that even I didn’t get. Excellent first effort from Juan Bayona and of course anything Guillermo Del Toro even sneezes on is going to be watchable.

A couple move into an old home with their adopted child and the home comes with a few surprises. Set in Spain and in Spanish. 8 dead zombies

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That’s it, folks. Hope you’re all enjoying your Thanksgiving weekend. For those of you not in the USA, hope you’re all enjoying your weekend that started last night. Don’t feel bad. No matter what country you’re from, you probably get more holidays than we do. All Americans do is work.

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Oh yeah, one more thing…

Watched Conan the Barbarian last night.  I finally bought the DVD because it was $10 for both Conan movies.  That was hands down the most romantic movie ever made.  No, don’t tell me The Titanic or any of that other garbage.  Conan’s girlfriend fought off demons to bring Conan back from the dead.  Now, that’s love folks.

Hello World. My cold is already gone. Slammed it with Vitamin C and plenty of rest. Didn’t even have to hit the bottle of NyQuil (generic, of course).

I got yet another person to try Firefox. She was having problems with Internet Exploder. Surprise, surprise. That’s my good deed for the day. I keep this up and just wondering, how many miracles in one’s name to be a Saint? Two? Three? Any Catholics out there?

The Packers bitch slapped da Bears this weekend 37-3. Here I was getting frustrated with my beloved Packers and they completely demolish da Bears. Good job, Pack. It does seem like Favre and the Jets though are going to go farther than the Packers. It’s simply because the Jets seem to have a lot more heart.

I believe in morale in sports. I think it plays a bigger part than people realize. Proof of that was last years New York Giants, winning the Super Bowl while upsetting three straight teams that are on paper superior.

Now, what I’m about to say is with a HUGE asterisk. I am NOT a financial planner so anything I say, consult a professional first before buying anything. But right now, I’m gambling on two things - the price of oil going back up and Ford. Yes, Ford Motors.

Oil’s kind of a given. It’s cheap right now. People need it. I’m still seeing soccer moms drive around the suburbs in SUVs (with big frowns on their faces of course), so it’s not like our consumption is going down that much. India and China are both poised to be big time oil consumers as they start flaunting their wealth. Keep in mind that for every American, there are almost four Indians and almost four Chinese.

The other thing is Ford Motors. Two things:
1) Obama will be President in January 20, 2009. Obama has already announced a bailout of the auto industries and whether you like it or not, it will pass Congress.
2) I just bought the latest issue of Consumer Reports and Ford leads the domestics.

And lastly, for those anti-gunners out there, here’s something to ruin your day. You all know I own a lot of guns. Lots of them. Well, while your stocks have lost a lot of value, my guns have gone up, up, and up. Now if only I invested in even more guns instead of the Dow…

Yes, even yours truly gets sick sometimes.  I think right now everyone and their Grandma’s catching the same cold.

So, what does The Zombieslayer do? Make soup, of course.

You remember how I was mentioning I go to the Farmer’s Market religiously now? Here’s the soup.  I use the veggies that are left, throw them all in to some Organic chicken broth, add garlic, freshly ground black pepper, Vietnamese hot garlic sauce, leftover pasta, and stew it all together.

Hopefully it will turn out good.  I’ll cook it another ten minutes then grab a bowl.

Years ago, I used to do Blue Collar work.  I used to eat 2500 to 3000 calories a day because I had to.  We laughed at White Collar breakfasts, and knew that if we ate a breakfast like that, we’d collapse on the job.

Well, ironically, I became a White Collar worker and now have no reason to eat that much food.  No, I wasn’t overweight, but I had no reason to have that extra twenty pounds.  So this year, I decided to lose it.

It was easy.  I already exercise.  I walk everywhere when it’s not raining.  I have a pretty good foundation of healthy habits.  I really think that’s the secret to weighing what you want - having a foundation of healthy habits.

That doesn’t mean you have to be a Health Nazi.  I prefer real butter to margarine and I’ll eat real sugar cane sugar instead of that test tube crap sweetener.  That stuff causes cancer.  Unless you’re diabetic or never brush your teeth, you’re probably better off eating real sugar.

Losing the weight

Losing the weight was easy.  I simply dropped from 2500 calories a day to 1800-1900.  That’s it.  I still love a 16-ounce medium rare steak as much as the next guy, but I just don’t do that any more.  Instead, I’ll have four ounces of it and save the rest for other meals.

Meat is no longer what the meal revolves around.  Now, it’s a flavoring.  I eat a lot more veggies here, and found that this diet is not only healthier but it’s very cheap.  I just got back from the Farmer’s Market, something I go to religiously on Sunday now, and bought these fruits and veggies, and all of them are Certified Organic or at least pesticide free.

All this for under $20.  I’ll combine them with rice or pasta, olive oil, red sauce or curry, and a smaller serving of meat and not eat much more.  My breakfasts now consist of just cereal, coffee, and milk, because I no longer need those extra calories.  Lunch is my biggest meal of the day.  I still eat a huge lunch.  Then for dinner, it’s pretty small.  I’ll snack on an apple or carrots if I’m hungry during the day, and maybe even a candy bar, but that’s it.

Benefits to losing weight

There are more benefits than just looking better.  I have more energy now.  It’s cheaper too.  I can still do my twenty chin ups, so I didn’t lose any strength.  You don’t have to be skinny, but besides being good for your health, weighing less is really cheaper.  We used to spend $800 a month on food and now it’s probably $400 just because we eat less.  Well, Junior still eats a ton but he’s a growing boy (14 years old and already 6′ tall).  I still encourage him to eat as much as he wants until he stops growing.

The blanket was made by Tweety, by the way.  If you want some quality hand made blankets or throws, contact her.  Her stuff is excellent.

Folks,

Please welcome Neal, who got sick of Blogger and asked me about other hosting options.  I told him that I own zombie-slayer.com, and offered to host his blog and he accepted.

I’ve always liked Neal’s writing.  Even in the few cases we disagree, I appreciate that he thinks out everything he believes and doesn’t just get his ideas spoonfed by the media or some ass clown on the radio or television with a lot of charisma.

Anyways, his blog is at http://www.zombie-slayer.com/neal and so far it’s looking pretty good. Drop by and say hello.

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I still haven’t decided who I’ll vote for for President, but I guarantee you it won’t be Obama or McCain.  I strongly believe in our Constitution, and neither will do a fair job at defending it, so neither will get my vote.

Someone I really admire once said that you’re supposed to stand up for what’s right, not for what’s popular.  I’ve lived by that my whole life, and often got a lot of flack for it.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember who said it so I can’t give that person credit.

When I figure out who I’ll be endorsing, I’ll let you all know.

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One more thing, if you’re wondering why I keep disappearing from the blog world, this is why.  When you have this right outside your house, how can you expect me to stay inside on the computer? This is a picture I took before going on my uphill sprints.