Know Your Body

Since my mid-20’s, I have followed the same yearly weight gain/loss routine. The day after the Superbowl, I begin a diet/exercise regimen. I continue this routine until I hit a target weight (or I just quit at some point - usually determined by the timing of my vacation). After I slow or stop my dieting/exercise routine, I slowly gain weight until the holiday season, where I ramp up my eating (thanks to my wife’s awesome baking skills and my mother-in-law’s penchant for gifting candy and other sweets). By the end of the holidays, I slow my weight gain in anticipation for the routine beginning again (as noted, on the day after the Superbowl). Rinse and Repeat.

I am not sure if this is the best way to go about things, but it’s a routine that works for me. I am comfortable with the process because it allows me to eat what I want during the holidays and then feel (and presumably look) good when I have to take my shirt off at the beach. At this point in my life, it simply works. It is likely that this will not always be the case because losing weight gets harder and harder every year. I can’t imagine losing weight will be a piece of cake (no pun intended) when I am in my 50’s. I suppose at that point, my routine will change.

Now, as a slight side note, I’d like to address all the New Year’s Resolution saps out there.  You know the people I am talking about (in fact, you may BE one of the people I am talking about). The people who decide to begin a weight loss program to coincide with not only 10 million other people, but also during a fictitious time of renewal (the New Year). Have you ever been to the gym in early January? It is a mad house of epic proportions. The normal gym rats even stay away during the month of January because of all of the noobs who invade their weight benches (and don’t wipe them off). For these people, I suggest putting off your precious New Years weight loss resolutions and begin going to the gym in February when all of the Johnny-come-lately’s have already fallen off the weight loss wagons.   

Look, I am totally in favor of people getting off their butts and burning a few calories. In fact, I advocate exercising (even minimally) every single day. Even if your day consists of eating cheetos in front of the television all day, I suggest taking a half hour out of your busy weight gaining schedule and walk around. Get up and get the blood pumping. Walk around your office, and take the stairs every once in a while. Get yourself a game system (wii, xbox360 kinect, ps3 move, etc) or something fun that promotes a certain level of activity. Whatever gets you motivated is a good thing (even if is the dreaded New Year’s Res).

The lesson here is to know your body (and know it well). See, your body is your temple. Only one person in the world lives inside your body every day of your life – that person is you. By the time you are into your teens, you should know everything there is to know about your own body. The more you know, the more you can do about keeping yourself active and (at least partially) fit. Sure, things will change over time, but there is nobody more equipped to deal with these changes than you.

Sports Hate

There are plenty of things I hate. I hate wine snobs and bad driving. I hate ignorant people and reality television. I hate waking up at 6AM every morning as well as the guy on “Jeopardy!” who skips around the categories looking for the Daily Doubles.

But I don’t hate the New York Yankees, I don’t hate Lebron James, and I don’t hate the Pittsburgh Steelers. I don’t hate these teams, I don’t hate these athletes, nor do I hate their fans. I may be excommunicated from my family or lose a couple Facebook friends by even admitting these facts. Given the fact that the NFL team that I follow (my hometown Baltimore Ravens) were just recently beat in the playoffs by their heated rival (the aforementioned Pittsburgh Steelers), I figured this to be the perfect time to talk about Sports Hate. 

See, this is The United States of America; the land of opportunity and the greatest country on this planet.  We are allowed to root for whatever sports team we wish. But, do we really need to hate? Is it really necessary for hockey fans in Washington to hate the hockey fans in Pittsburgh? Does someone who has lived in Columbus, Ohio their whole life automatically get born into a heated rivalry with anyone from Ann Arbor, Michigan? Do the rich kids from Duke really have to hate their cross-town brethren from North Carolina Chapel Hill?

The answer is no. There is no good reason to hate your neighbor. Ok, that is not true. I once had a neighbor whose dog constantly crapped on my lawn (never to be picked up). I kinda hated that guy. But sports (or more importantly, the differences in the teams we root for) is NOT a good reason to hate anyone. Not even your super bitter heated rival. Sure, not every sports fan is a hater, but there is a Sports Hate problem in this country that is spiraling out of control. Take this from a sports fan who has been to a good share of live sporting events. There is a lot of hate out there and it’s a bigger problem than people realize. I went to a Ravens/Steelers game a few years ago and there were fights everywhere. A short time ago, my mother-in-law went to a football game and there was so much bad blood in the stands (and extremely harsh language) that she said she would never attend another game. It’s out there, and it’s a force.

It did not take me long to come to grips with my own Sports Hate. See, when I was 11, the NFL team in my city relocated to another city under very unsavory circumstances (the Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night). I was a very impressionable 11 year old with a very immature view of sports. When the one football team I knew was taken away, I remember being upset, even hateful. There are people I know who STILL hold a grudge against the team and the ownership of that team (mostly older people who were around during the heyday of the Baltimore Colts). But I really was a football fan and because I really loved it, I decided to pick another team to follow. I settled on the Miami Dolphins because I liked their coach (former Colt coach Don Shula). I suppose I was young enough that I was able to brush it off. Had I been older, I may have held really hated the Colts, their owners, and their fans.

I equate sports hate to smoking. It’s easy to start, hard to quit, and a pretty gross habit. It might seem fun to blow smoke into a rivals face, but that could really get you into trouble. You might feel peer pressure, but only you can make the decision to do it or not.

In conclusion, I am asking everyone reading this (all 4 of you) to stop the hate. These are games; it’s supposed to be entertainment. Don’t hate the fans of your rivals. They are allowed to choose who they root for (as is everyone in this great nation. And don’t hate your neighbor (unless his dog craps on your lawn).

Sequels, Remakes, and Reboots. Oh My!

I figured that my first real post to this blog (the initial post was merely an introduction) would be about something near and dear to my heart: Movies. I consider myself to be somewhat of a movie buff. I say “somewhat” for several reasons. First, it’s hard to be a “buff” when you don’t really reserve that much time to devote to that subject. Simply put, I have a full-time job during the day and a second full-time job with my kids when I come home from work. Movies simply take a back seat to my family life. There are very few movies that I need to see in the theater. Also, a real movie buff would know a ton about old movies and the history of cinema. While I do know my fair share about older movies, I haven’t really seen a ton of pre-1960  films. So, instead of calling myself a movie buff, I’ll settle for the moniker movie lover. 

What I do not love is an unoriginal idea. Unfortunately, Hollywood is full of unoriginality these days. There are way too many reboots and remakes and sequels and sequels of remakes (re-sequel anyone?). It kills me that Hollywood seems to be out of ideas (at least BIG Hollywood is). Just think of the highest grossing movies each of the last 8 years. Actually, don’t think about it, I’ll list them:

2003 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
2004 Shrek 2
2005 Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
2007 Spiderman 3
2008 The Dark Knight
2009 Avatar
2010 Toy Story 3

So, if you are keeping score, 6 of the last 8 highest grossing movies of the year were sequels (2nds or 3rds in a series), and the other 2 (Pirates of the Caribbean and Avatar) spawned sequels. In the 20 years previous (1983 through 2002), only 3 of the highest grossing films were actual sequels (Return of the Jedi, Terminator 2, and The Phantom Menace) while 10 of the other movies on that list spawned sequels. Does that seem right? It doesn’t to me. It’s too easy to blame the big movie studios for putting out unoriginal movies because, obviously, sequels have been proven to be lucrative ventures. And I am not going to blame the movie-going public (even though it is their money that is going into these box office numbers).

Actually, I’m not going to throw around any blame. In fact, I didn't hate any of the movies listed above. They were all enjoyable movies and I understand movie studios are in it to make money (they are obviously very lucrative). I only wanted to bring these facts to light and to spread the word that there are tons of movies out there – not just the big blockbusters and especially not just the movie franchises. There are tons of films that stand on their own and don’t need a follow up or franchise to be great.  

So, if you get a chance, see a movie that is off the chart. That is, give a documentary a chance. Try out a movie that stands on its own and doesn’t have (or need a sequel). Give an independent movie a chance. You never know what you are going to like – or even love.

In a related note, I am looking forward to the the start of the awards season, which kicks off on Sunday with the Golden Globes Award show.
 

Jack of all, Master of none

I am Jake. Jake I am.

Ok, my name is actually Ian, but I'll be going by the name Jake on this blog. That's right, Jake. Why Jake? Well, see, I wanted a blog called "Jack of All, Master of None", but that name on blogspot (along with some other blog sites) was taken. So, I have changed my name to Jake (for the purposes of this Blog) and settled with "Jake of All, Master of None". Catchy? Yes. Does it make sense? Well, that is questionable, but I'm going with it none-the-less.

This is my first post of my first blog that lasted more than 24 hours. Simply put, I consider myself a jake (jack) of all things and I'd like to document my knowledge (or lack thereof). I do know a little about everything (more about some things, and less about others). I have an opinion about most things in this life (which everybody should). Sure, I'm not a master at anything (get it now? "Jake of All, Master of None"), but I can speak intelligently about most topics. The topics I cannot speak intelligently about, I don't discuss. Pretty simple, huh.

There are a few inspirations for this blog. The most direct inspiration to my blog is my old neighbor Jim Chaney. He recently created a blog (sure, I'll pimp it, http://sportsjim81.wordpress.com/about/) chronicling his adventures nearing his 30th birthday. He made a list of 30 things he wanted to do before his 30th birthday (which is less than a year away, but by judging from his picture, has to be at least 10 years away).  In any case, I've been putting off creating a blog for sometime using the "I have 2 kids and a full time job" excuse every time. Well, Jim also has 2 young children and has time to blog (as well as time to go to Cameron Indoor Stadium, golf at Bethpage, and train for a marathon). So, with Jim's blog as a motivator, I figured I'd give my blog a hearty try. Thanks, Jim, for making it look so easy.

Another inspiration to the blog is Mr. Adam Carolla. You probably know him from one of the following endeavors: 1) old school radio show Loveline, 2) The Man Show television program, or 3) his highly successful podcast (http://www.adamcarolla.com/ACPBlog/); or you don't know him at all (something that my hairdresser confessed to me last week). I recently read his NYTimes best selling book "In Fifty Years, we'll all be chicks" and loved every second of it. So, with Adam as inspiration, I wanted to get my thoughts out there and get some discussion going on a variety of topics. Thanks, Adam, for being so funny and thoughtful.

A third inspiration (more of a motivator) to this blog is a friend Jake Major. No, Jake Major is not his real name, but it is certainly an alias of his (he is the shy type who doesn't even have a Facebook account). Jake Major and I contemplated a blog a few years ago that fell apart in the planning stages. Even though that blog never got off the ground, Jake Major inspired me to do some writing (including a few screenplays as well as some cool movie reviews; which I may share on this blog at some point in the future). Thanks, Jake Major, for giving me the writing bug.

My last (but certainly not least) inspiration for this blog is my family; namely my wife Jake - uh, I mean Emily - and my kids Jake and Jake - uh, I mean Justin and Landon. Every day, my family inspires me to be a better person, husband, and father. I'll most likely reference them often in this blog, since I see them and interact with them every single day of my life.

So, with all that inspiration behind me (and with my eldest son napping right next to me as I type this), I begin my trek into the blogosphere. I hope to spur discussion about lots of topics. I hope to not make a fool of myself. And I hope to be the inspiration, as the above people have been inspiration to me.

Stay tuned for my next post coming by Friday. I'll try to have out one post per week to start.