The band I am in, Fire On McGinnis, will be playing a show this Saturday at Eaglecrest day Lodge from 3:45 to 5:45pm. The event being put on by the City of Juneau and Eaglecrest is called the ‘Winter Fireworks Spectacular‘.
There will be a Bonfire, along with a touch light parade and fireworks!
God I love FIREWORKS!
So if you got some time this Saturday please stop on my to hear some great music and watch a killer light show from Eaglecrest!
On January 10, 2011 I put myself on a diet. I have always struggled with my weight. Eating right and portion control have never been easy for me. Sometimes I blame it on having a lousy metabolism. Other times I blame it on healthy food is not convenient. The reality is I just didn’t want to do what it takes to make a huge life change that is required when you diet.
In the past all my diets have been half though out ideas that were doomed for failure right from the start. For example, at one time in my life I told myself that I would go to the GYM three times a week. Another time I told myself I would only eat dinner and if I ate less I would lose weight. Most recently I tried the Atkins diet which I did not research very well. I just knew that all I could eat was meat. The truth is all of these ideas worked. I did lose weight. On my version of the Atkins diet I went from 225 lbs (the most I have ever weighed) to 165 lbs and I held that for a year until -like all my past attempts- I fell off the wagon and put a lot of that weight right back on.
For the last six months I have desperately wanted to break this depressing cycle going from having cloths that fit to being embarrassed to walk into the office because my cloths where so tight on my body. I made a promise to myself at 2011 would be different. I would attack my weight loss with a solid game plan. One that could not fail. One that would stick with me well after I lost my excess baggage.
Toward the end of 2010 I started reading on the Internet about a book coming out. It was supposed to help you lose weight and keep it off. It would do this by teaching you want you can eat to lose weight and keep you from gaining it all back again. I figured would give it a shot.
So, in December of 2010 when the book was published I bought a copy to read on my Kindle. The book by the author Timothy Ferriss is entitled “The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid-Fat Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman”. I bought the book to learn how to lose weight the right way. The fact that it came with ideas to have incredible Sex and how to become superhuman was all just an extra bonus.
I finished reading the book just days before the new year. At the time I was in Washington State staying with family. I felt it would be rude to invoke a diet half way through a vacation that no one was expecting me to be doing. So, I decided it was best to start the diet upon my return to Juneau on January 9th.
When I got back on the 9th I went to the store and bought all the foods that the book suggested. Things like Chicken, Eggs, Grass fed Beef which I found at Jerry’s Meats. I also picked up several kinds of frozen vegetables, canned beans and salsa.
As you can tell the diet I chose in the 4 Hour Body is a high protein slow carb diet. It’s not the only diet option offered in the book, but it was the one I felt would work best for me. It also allows for one cheat day where you can eat whatever you want and as much as you want! The idea behind that is you need to spike your insulin level once a week to encourage fat loss.
At each of my normal meals I try to include something from each of the three kinds of foods suggested in the book. One protein, one vegetable and one kind of bean. On my cheat day ( I have chosen Saturdays) I can go out and eat whatever I want. For example last week I ate 3 eggs for breakfast, 2 buttermilk Pancakes (from The Sandpiper café), 2 20.oz Pepsi Throwbacks (The Throwbacks are made with real sugar), A Stake Wrap (From The Island Pub), and three slices of artichoke, garlic Pizza (also from The Island Pub).
I started this diet on January 10th. At the time I weighed 195 lbs. Since that date I have steadily lost weight and inches around my body. I have felt really confident about this diet and how it works. So confident in fact that On January 31st I decided to partake in the Juneau Empire’s Lose 2 Win contest.
With the Lose 2 Win contest I had to check in at a local GYM (Pavitt’s Health and Fitness) to get weighed and have my Photo taken. Once a week I will be going in for a weigh in so they can track my weight lost. I have tracked my weight loss since the January 10th, but doing something like this contest is just more motivation for me.
When the contest ends after 13 weeks. Prizes will be handed out to people who have lost so much weight. The biggest weight losers (a man and a women) will each win $1,000.00. I have no dreams of being the biggest weight loser. Just losing enough weight that I can look at myself in the mirror each morning and be happy with what I see.
Today is February 3rd and I weigh 180 lbs. That is a weight loss of 15 lb! I have also been tracking my measurements and have lost nearly 4 inches!
Below is a copy of my weight log.
S0, as you can see things are progressing nicely. I highly recommend reading ‘The 4-Hour Body’. Just remember, before partaking in any diet you should always consult your doctor.
Photo dump from either my iPhone or Cannon G12.
I have plans to set up a HOME THEATER PC for my place and my head has been spinning about the right way to tackle this project. I have been searching blogs and consulting with friends on the best options and setups I could have.
My drive to take on such a project was a result of my mothers last visit to my place. In the evenings she liked to watch movies. That is it’s self is not something hard to do. However, when you have a collection of over 400+ DVDs it can be not only daunting, but intimidating to find a movie and watch it. So I wanted to get all my movies digitized in a way that someone could turn on my TV, scroll through my collection of movies, pick one and play it.
For this I have chosen to go the Apple Mac Mini route. I plan to pick up a Mac Mini and hook it up to my tv and start encoding all my movies.
For someone with 200 movies or so this would be a perfect solution. However I have 400 movies. So I started to look into additional storage options. I believe I am going to go with a NAS storage server setup with enough extra space so I can continue to grow my movie collection, but also allow all the computers in the house to be backed up to the NAS.
I am still working out the details of everything, but when I am done I am planing on having quite the blog post about my setup.
In a previous post I wrote about how I tried out for and joined a local Juneau Celtic rock band calling themselves “Fire on McGinnis”. Since that first post we have been practicing weekly if not more to get current with the groups existing song list. This is something I am having an easier time with then with other bands I have been involved with. Fire on McGinnis has a CD that I am able to listen to. They also go as far as to record almost all of our practices and send out the results as MP3s so you can listen and continue to work on songs on your own time.
I feel lucky that not only have I had a CD to listen to and get up to speed, but the whole group is very professional when it comes to practice time. Very little time is wasted in between songs or working on issues with songs. Everyone gets a chance to give their thoughts on a piece and we work on them till one we all like is agreed upon.
When I moved to Juneau I brought my drum set with me. All my drumming hardware had a few miles on it to begin with and I was hopeful when I moved up here I would find a band right away. Well we all know that did not happen. For the better part of 5 years my drum kit remained untouched and my skills atrophied. I was very close to selling off my drum kit when I did one last search of Craigslist and discovered that Fire on McGinnis was looking for a drummer.
Like I said, time had done a number on my kit. In the first month of practice with the band two cymbal stands and one hi-hat stand broke along with a cymbal. Last week I placed a an order with Guitar Center to replace the stands with new Ludwig stands and one Zildjian Cymbal. The order took one week to get here, but my kit is pretty much back to normal again.
I am really looking forward to play shows and learning the rest of the songs on the bands set list. The few people I have told in town that I was in a band all seemed to have heard of Fire on McGinnis and are really looking forward to the next show we play. I would be lying if I said I was not excited myself.
Not that long ago I was trolling around Craigslist looking for any local bands that might be in need of a drummer. This is something I have done every 4 or 5 months for the last 4 years. My heart has always been crushed by the lack of anything music related in Alaska’s southeast search results of Craigslist.
Recently I struck pay dirt and found a local Celtic rock band that goes by the name of Fire on McGinnis that was in search of a drummer. With the information I found on their Craigslist posting I sent them an e-mail not expecting a reply. Like I said, I have lived in Juneau for 4 years and most attempts at being in a band have not worked.
The next day I did get an e-mail back from Fire on McGinnis saying they where interested and would like to meet with me and talk. They let me know right up front that they did have two other drummers who where trying out for the part and that they wanted me to be aware of that.
The following week I met with one of the members of the band and we had a 15 minute conversation where I was brought up to speed on the band’s history and what they where looking for and hoping to find in a drummer. Again I was told they had two drummers ahead of me waiting to try out, but I was asked if I could sit in on a jam sessions with two of their members next week. I said yes! I was handed a demo CD of the bands work to listen to.
That week could not come fast enough, but when it did come I was ready. Myself and two members of the band setup our equipment and played a song off the CD and I Played the drumming part all most identical to the CD. When we finished the song they all said it sounded great, but that they wanted to play it again the way I wanted to drum it. Not the way that was on the CD. So, I did and it turned out they liked my changes to the drumming part.
For the most part now I have changed all the drumming parts on all of the bands songs and they have liked all of them. I take notes on all the songs we have played and keep them logged in a Moleskine Notebook which works out pretty well for me.
Fire on McGinnis is what happens when a pipe and drum band gets bored playing “Scotland the Brave” over and over for 10 years.
As it stands the band has a show planned for med January. I think if things go really well there might be a new years show too. It all just depends on how quickly I can learn all the songs and when the band feels we are all ready.
Hannah has been asking me for a few weeks now to join her Yoga class at the local overpriced GYM in town. I finally conceded and joined her recently.
Now personally don’t have anything against Yoga. It seems like a very healthy and smart activity for anyone to partake in. I however like to just stick with a couple of the same pieces of work out equipment when I go to the GYM. It’s not that I am scared of change, it’s just that it’s a class.
After work one day recently we drove out to the gym to attend this basic Yoga class. Hannah is perfectly capable of attending a more advanced class, but I did not want to push it my first time. I wanted to make sure I could handle the basic class before attempting something more advanced.
When we walked into the class at the GYM and it was clear that the room we walked into clearly is used for other aerobic classes. Hannah walked across the room and grab us both a mat while I stood sheepishly by the door not sure what I should be doing with myself. Their where other people in the class talking and stretching. Hannah motioned for me to come over and said into my ear “You need to take your shoes off hunny”. I looked around and saw that everyone else in the room had their shoes on, but I was desperate for something to do rather than just standing out-of-place by the door. So I walked back by the door and took off my shoes. Hannah saw this, grabbed her water bottle and walked up to me.
“You need to take your socks off too” she said.
“Are you fucking kidding me! You still have your shoes and socks on!”
“That’s because I am going to go fill up my water bottle now. Just take off your socks and go sit Indian style on the mat I laid out for you and you will look like you fit in”. Which is what I did all while trying not to laugh.
It seemed like as soon as I sat down on the matt everyone else in the room pretty much followed suit with me. Which I am glad for because It made me feel a little less out-of-place in the class.
Hannah came back and sat next to me on her mat and the class began.
The class lasted an hour and I started to sweat halfway through. I was able to perform 97% of all the odd poses that were requested of me and in general I really did enjoy the class. Chances are I will be attending this class a few more times.
My Fiancé Hannah, and I were woken up at 5AM on Thursday, September 2nd to the theme of Top Gun blaring from my iPhone that rested on the night stand. The night before I set my iPhone to wake us up to the Top Gun theme because this day needed to start off with an awesome song. This was the first day of our vacation and the day we would be traveling from Juneau, Alaska to Seattle, Washington for the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX). It was the start of what I knew would be a legendary adventure for the both of us!
We where both checked in at the airport by 6:45AM and seated on the plane by 7:40AM. We where no sooner seated when we heard the announcement made that we would have to de-bored the plane because it was discovered that the brakes on the plane needed to be replaced. With a collective sign from everyone on board we all grabbed our language and made our way back to the gate seating area. Every 30 minutes for the next 2 hours we were updated by the overhead speaker system saying that maintenance was still working on the plane and they hope to bored everyone in the next 30 minutes. Even though it was frustrating to hear this statement every 30 minutes I am glad that the airline took the time to notice this braking issue with the plane and fixed it before trying to send us on our way.
On The Plane
The non-stop flight from Juneau to Seattle was just under 2 hours long. The weather in Juneau when we took off was overcast and rainy. Hannah kept herself entertained on the flight by playing games on her Nintendo DS and I switched from reading a book to trying to nap. We landed with Seattle welcoming us with 72 degree sunny weather.
We made our way from the airport to our hotel in downtown Seattle via the new Link Light Rail system. The $2.50 ride from the airport to downtown was worth every penny. Through the windows of the rail car we watched as we were carried through traffic, weaving under and above ground at times till we made it to our University Street stop. From there it was a short 3 block walk with our bags to our hotel.
We spent the rest of the day exploring Seattle on foot. We walked around and made sure we could find the PAX convention center. We checked out a few shops while trying to get the lay of the land. We had dinner at the HardRock Café and dessert at the Cheese Cake Factory. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at little convenient store and picked up a few bottles of water and hand sanitizer to take with us the next day. With everything ready for PAX the next day we went to sleep.
Juneau Alaska is a beautiful place with it’s mountains, forest, lakes, and oceans. I love seeing people walk outside our airport for the very first time. Everyone of them have this look of awe in their eye. It takes them a few moments to catch their breath and take in what they are seeing. People have fallen in love with this place and declared they where moving here after just stepping foot on the ground for the first time. I just wish I could have that feeling about every aspect of Juneau.
Customer service in Juneau is all but nonexistent. The frustration I have felt on a simple grocery store run to pick up a bag of ice for a barbecue is enough to cause someone to go on a homicidal killing spree! The inability for the local stores to keep an adequate number of employees working through out the day is the most apparent when you’re trying to check out. Don’t bother asking any employee for help either. You will just get a look of dumfounded confusion or a sigh of contempt as just the though that one of these fucking brain dead morons might have to earn a paycheck by doing their god damn job by helping a customer out.
I am not ashamed to admit that I love to shop. Even in a place like Juneau Alaska where the name brand stores in this city can be counted on one hand, I do enjoy going to the stores and seeing what new merchandise has arrived and what is on sale. When I fly down south to go on vacation or visit family I spend a fair amount of time checking out malls and stores to see what the real world has to offer me. It’s almost like traveling to the future and being told “While your here you can buy whatever you want”. I kind of feel for Marty McFly, in Back to the Future II where he wanted to bring back the sports almanac with him.
You have options and choices when you live in the lower 48 untied states. If you go to a store and an employee is rude or not helping you out, you can always speak with a manager and get him fired. Better yet, you can vote with your dollar and say “If your going to treat me like this I am going to take my business elsewhere”. One does not have options like that up in the great white north. Limited stores with limited products have a shocking effect on how much shit one will put up with.
Theft always seems to be the number one concern of these establishments to consumerism. I can’t tell you the number of times I have purchased a DVD, only to have the store alarm go off when I am try to exit the building. This would not have been an issue if the mouth breather that sold me the movie was not so lazy to just deactivate the anti-theft device.
Another gripe I have, always, without fail, is that you spend more time waiting in line to checkout than you did shopping. I don’t know how stores up here pull off this magical feet of annoyance for their customers, but it happens every time! I recall one particular time at Fred Meyer, I had a full shopping cart and I was waiting in line to checkout. The checkout lines on all 5 maned checkouts had at least 8 people in them waiting to pay. All 5 cashiers where showing as much enthusiasm for their job as a janitor would show after being told to clean up poocano explosion in a porta-potty. The red vest wearing, mouth breather manager supervising the checkout lines would walk from checkout stand number 1 all the way to check out stand number 28 and back again. Not doing anything else but walking back and forth. After literally 15 minutes waiting inline, watching the cashier go as slow as humanly possible and talking with the customer about each and every single purchase they where making I asked the mouth breathing manager “You think you could tell the cashier to speed it up a little bit?”
“Oh no, I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“If I do that they will quit. Would you rather have one cashier or no cashier?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Blinking the manager said “No”.
With that, my frustration grew to such a point that I just walked away from my cart and left the building.
And don’t fucking talk to me about the awesomeness of the self check out system. Fuck that shit. Trying to use that medieval torture device is akin to trying to pull yourself out of quicksand. If you have more then 5 items is seems like something always goes horribly wrong. You try and buy an age restricted DVD and the self check out computer in its robot voice tells you “Please wait for assistance”.
So you wait…
…and wait,
…and wait.
Trying to use a self check out to buy fruit is another god damn nightmare. Don’t even fucking try it. Just walk away. Save yourself the mind splitting annoyance and just walk-the-fuck-away!
Another time at Fred Meyer I was looking for a CD storage box. I buy these boxes to store my DVDs in. I remove them from their plastic DVD cases and put them in thinner jewel cases and then place them in the CD storage box. On this particular trip it appeared that the shelf which housed the CD storage boxes had not been restocked. I saw a Fred Meyer employee walking by, my luck!
“Excuse me.” I said “I am trying to find something.”
“What can I help you with?”
“You used to carry these CD Stor…”
“We don’t always carry the same things.”
“Thats fine and good, but do you have any mo…”
“If you don’t see it, we don’t have it”
“I want to speak with your manager.”
“I am the manager of this department”
“You have got to be fucking shitting me”.
“If you continue to use that language I am going to have to ask you to leave”
“Fuck you.”
I don’t get it. How can they think it’s acceptable (not to mention polite) to interrupt a customer? Then cop an attitude about it? This shit would not fly in the lower 48.
I am not sure where customer service fits in at the Juneau Fred Meyer. I think it’s somewhere between not gathering carts from the parking lot and not cleaning the toilets in the restrooms.
One more bitch I have about Juneau’s Fred Meyer. They charge you for bagging your groceries in their plastic bags. Are you fucking kidding me? Not only do I have to put up with the worst customer service ever, but now I have to pay for plastic bags? I often go to Fred Meyer and by one item. The receipt for that one item is always longer then my fucking arm. Here is an idea geniuses, just show what I bought on my recite. With all the money you will save by not wasting fucking paper on receipts maybe we could go back to giving your customers grocery bags and not pissing them off with the hidden charge. I say hidden because no one at these stores fucking volunteers the fact that you are getting charged for plastic bags now.
I was cashing out at Safeway one evening and was having trouble with my visa card. The cashier asked to see it.
“Oh!” she says “Your name is Joseph.”
“No, no it’s Youseph”
“No, it’s Joseph”
Thinking she just is misunderstanding me i said again and slower “No, It’s not Joseph, it is You – seph.”
“No, It’s Joseph.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“Your name is Joseph, I know these things”.
“You know what? Fuck it. It’s not worth it. I know my own fucking name you no talent ass clown.” I grabbed my visa card out of the cashiers hand and walked out empty-handed.
My mom and I have an ongoing conversation about customer service and minimum wage. Will be on the phone and I will hear about a recent trip she took to McDonald’s.
“I went to McDonald’s today and the kid behind the counter messed up my order three times! He also could not count out my change properly. I spent more time teaching him how to count out change then I did ordering my food. When finally I got to my table i realized he forgot my fries! Going back to the counter to get my order corrected was another long snafu.” She said.
“You can’t expect anyone to take their job seriously when they are getting paid minimum wage.”
“That’s not right. He is getting paid to do a job. He needs to do it correctly.”
“I am not arguing that point mom. I am saying, you can’t expect anyone who gets paid minimum wage to care about their job.”
“Then he needs to get another job”
“Maybe, but if it also pays minimum wage he is not going to care about it either.”
You may or may not agree with me, but I think that pay has a lot to do with how people do their jobs. No one in Juneau that works at Wal-Mart, Fred Meyer or Safeway is getting paid minimum wage. They are all getting paid more than that. They are getting paid Juneau’s minimum wage. Living in Juneau costs more. Rent, utilities and food all cost more in Juneau. You have to pay your employees enough so they can live, but these stores are paying them just enough and not a penny more. As a result we have a bunch of people working in customer service who just don’t give a shit. Stores are under manned and over priced.
I find myself buying more and more of what I need online these days. I do take a lot of flack about that from locals because I am not supporting local businesses. To them I say, “Amazon.com does not talk back to me or treat me like a thief”. All of them pretty much just hang their head low and say “yeah, you’re right”. You’re god damn right, I’m right.