Return of The Ranga

Folks! Fret not, I am back! After a bit of a hiatus from the blogosphere due to a vacation with TheWife and a conference for work, I am back, at home on the couch, watching Lord of the Rings, and blogging away.

Many thoughts that I need to get out of the way: first of all, the Super Bowl is this weekend, and we are gearing up for a big party in the Hamdens. As I give less than one shit about the Pats and Giants combined, I will be more host than football fan Sunday. Gotta get the house clean before then, which I'm sure will thrill TheWife. Also, need to make a run to Stop & Shop, as I believe I have commissioned at least 3 Mexican-themed dips for the occasion. Sweet! As for the game, I really have no clue who will win. The Giants were 7-7 and not supposed to make the playoffs, and they have waltzed through the tourney unscathed. The Pats are bit banged up, too, so the Giants could have it in them for one more. But, I think Brady rallies the troops and gets Welker the ball a LOT and gets the Pats another Super Bowl. Of course, I've been wrong about EVERY damn playoff game, so do with my picks what you will.

Elsewhere--took a week-long vacation to St. John (US Virgin Islands) last week, which was excellent. Got tons of relaxation time, plenty of sun, got in the water every day, drank some cheap rum and ate good food (although not too much!). Also got to break out the Nikon D3100 that TheWife so kindly gave me for Christmas. Took some awesome landscape shots and also portraits. As I get more and more versed in the ways of photography, I will hopefully churn out some really nice, wall-hangable stuff. Still very early on the learning curve for me. Gotta keep learning about composition and other techniques to make the pictures really stand out.

Anyway, I headed straight to Scottsdale, AZ from St. John for a work conference. Scottsdale was a balmy 75 and sunny every day, and the hotel was situated right on the TPC Scottsdale, home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Incidentally, the Phoenix Open was kicking off the day I left, so I got to see some pros warming up on the course, which was phenomenal. Couldn't identify them from afar, but boy could they hit the ball. Managed to make a stealth stop at Chipotle on the way out of town, which was a great cherry on top of a 10-day respite from the Assault.

And speaking of the Assault, somehow I came back from the 10-day vacation and booze-friendly conference half a pound lighter than when I left. Not sure what happened, as I only got in two workouts over that 10-day span, but I'll take it! This week, I've gotten in a lift+run (Sunday), nice long squash session (Wednesday), and lift+run (today). Tomorrow, will try to get in a good 4+ mile run before heading to the airport to pick up Bashon.

Current weight: 185.4
Taraget weight: 180.0
Time frame: 2 weeks

2 weeks is a bit ambitious for 5.5 lbs, but the trend is at least encouraging, as I've lost about 18lbs overall since early summer. The speed of the progress could be a bit better, which means my diet has been letting me down more often than I think. The one good thing, though, is that I think I am gaining muscle--the arms and chest and shoulders are feeling a lot stronger, and I'm pushing up more and more weight at the gym as the weeks roll by. I don't have a body fat monitor, so I don't know exactly to what extent this is happening, but I am feeling better, fitting into the old jeans, old shrits aren't as tight, etc. So that's encouraging. And that's something to continue building on.

The rest of the month will be busy busy for me. NYC, Atlanta, Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, DC, Boston all by the 13th. Home for a few days, then India on the 18th, and back on March 4. Whew. By March 4th, I'll already be at 50k miles on Delta this year. Whoa.

Random Thoughts

No particular theme here, just a late-night blog post.

For this weekend's football games, I like the Saints over the Lions (please God let me be right), the Giants over the Falcons, Bengals over Texans, and Steelers over Broncos. No idea what will actually play out, since each of those last 6 teams has had some major Jekyll and Hyde tendencies this year. In addition, the Saints-Lions game will likely become a shootout which anyone can win. In any event, it will be a fun weekend of football.

Got my belated Christmas gift from TheWife last night in the mail. Lo and behold, it was a Nikon D3100 digital SLR camera with an extra telephoto lens (55mm-200mm). She really nailed it on the head there--I've always wanted one, but never could bring myself to drop the dough to buy one. Now that she's gotten it for me, I'll immerse myself in photography again--something I used to do, but somehow stopped in recent years. Already downloaded 4 iPad apps so I can read about composition, depth of field, and all that great stuff and finally start taking some quality shots. Thanks, TheWife!

On another note, it's good to be back home after the 10-day vacation to Louisiana/Ohio for the holidays. Got the warm fire at my feet right now, watching X-Men 2 with Bocephus, and continuing to rehydrate after a long weekend of boozing and two good workout days.

Finally, the assault is in the books for today. Cereal and a banana in the morning, a small turkey and cheddar sandwich and a handful of baked cheetos for lunch, and a 3 egg yolk (whoops!), 5 egg white omelet with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, and cilantro for dinner. All in all about 1550 calories without ever feeling too hungry during the day. On the exercise front, put in about 30 minutes of one on one basketball with Ach, and then 45 minutes of squash for what daily burn calls an 800 calorie workout. So the net for today would be 1550 eaten - 1990 basal rate - 800 extra calories burned with exercise = -1240. I can live with that. Tomorrow, back on the weightlifting train--back, biceps, shoulders, and a brisk run.

Current weight: 189.2
Target weight: 180
Time frame: 6 weeks

Bizarre

I think I'm a pretty stand-up guy. Not to toot my own horn, but I do some good stuff. Like open the door for people, give up my seat on a crowded bus or train, and generally serve others before serving myself. Hell, on more than one occasion, I have given up an aisle seat on an international flight and been put in a MIDDLE seat. Now, I'm not saying I'm some angel, but I do try to help people out here and there.

So, naturally, you can understand my chagrin at what happened in the customs line at Newark last week. After two 9-hour flights back from India, I was excited to be back in the States and only a short train ride from home. That's when a roaming TSA agent approaches me in line--singles me out, mind you--and, gesturing to see my passport and boarding pass, asks, "Have you ever been with the service?"

Not understanding why he was asking me in particular, I hand him my passport and then offer a simple reply, "No."

The TSA agent then stares at me blankly and does nothing. Confused, I think I maybe misheard the guy. So I back up. "I'm sorry--what did you ask?"

"Have you ever been in the service?" he repeats.

Clearly, I heard him right the first time and answered correctly. But just to clarify, I make sure. "Like the military?" I ask, at this point totally confused.

"Yes," he barks at me.

"No," I repeat.

"Why not?" he asks.

"Uhh, because I..."

"Just keep walking."

And he hands me back my documents and walks away. Not to ask other people why they are pieces of shit and don't serve our country. He just walks back to some behind-the-scenes TSA office. Now, here I am, looking like the asshole who never signed up for the military, for all intents and purposes "outed" by this guy as being some sort of unpatriotic jerk. And he did it in front of about 30 other people all standing in line around me. I can't even begin to fathom what had just happened, or what was happening.

The lady behind me in line summed it up perfectly. "That was bizarre," she said. Yeah, that's about right.