Getting in shape for Geeks

Most geeks usually don't care much about "getting into shape". We've got our toys, and our fingers are usually pretty "buff" from playing our games, typing or using our smartphones. Well this blogger has gotten a little angry at how his body has been responding lately (sluggishly to not at all) so I took advantage of the new year to start with some new goals.

Diet and Fitness

I've started out pretty strong this year on my diet and fitness goals. For those of you that don't know, my wife and I have been on the Carb Lovers Diet for the past 6 months or so. We slipped a little during the holidays but we are back in action this year and I've lost 3 pounds since Christmas. Carb Lovers lets you eat good carbs (whole grains, fiber rich foods etc.) and its secret is resistant starches that come from things like green bananas, beans and potatoes. Its also portion control and some calorie counting. Basically its the way you should be eating for the rest of your life.

My wife's cousin and good friend of mine for years, Jen West (@thejenwestquest) was recently featured on the Rachael Ray show talking about and showing off (in her bikini!) the benefits of Carb Lovers. She has a great blog called The Jen West Quest that follows her daily fitness writing and health goals.
Another great benefit of the Carb Lovers book is that my wife Andrea (of the blog Annie's Angle) has become somewhat of a great cook with all the gourmet and yummy recipes in the book.

I've also been bustin' out a daily arm workout almost every day for the past two weeks and I can already see some results. (ie. my Droid X is easier to pick up above my head). Next... (ugh...) RUNNING.


Best Diet and Fitness Apps

There are some great apps that you can get for your phone to help you keep track of your diet, calories, run and workout.

1. Livestrong - both Jen West and my wife love this one. Mostly a calorie counter (helpful for Weight Watchers and Carb Lovers), the Livestrong app makes it very easy to track your calories and its extensive database of more than 525,000 foods is huge! Its hard to NOT find something. (only for iPhone right now)
2. Cardio Trainer + Racing - A great app for Android that motivates you to keep doing better with voice prompts. Also tracks your run / bike route with GPS and shows you the stats and your best times so you can keep pushing yourself. Features music integration so you can play your music while using the app and Facebook updates.
3. Calorie Counter by FatSecret - Android calorie counter with a large database and features a bar code scanner to scan your groceries.

Geeky Fitness Gadgets

My friend at work (Best Buy) showed me her new Fitbit - Wireless Personal Trainer which I thought was kind of neat. This personal trainer collects data about your daily activities, such as exercise intensity levels, calories burned, sleep quality, steps and distance. The collected data is automatically uploaded to your personal Fitbit website where you can track your progress towards personal goals.

Its basically a super geeky pedometer! It even keeps track of your sleeping habits and automatically uploads to your own personal Fitbit website (which is similar to Livestrong.com) to keep track of your eating and workout habits as well.
  
The Garmin - Forerunner 405CX GPS Watch is another geeky fitness gadget that we sell at Best Buy (as well as Amazon ;-). Its an all in one type, GPS, heart rate monitor and distance and calorie computer. A little pricey but if you want a separate all in one solution that you just snap on and take off when you're done, then this gadget will work for you.


Do you guys have any awesome apps or geeky fitness gear that you use? Leave me a comment below!

Its The Final Countdown! (to our wedding)

Some of you may have been wondering why its been so quiet this month. Well, I don't want to give you some lame excuses, but there have been some other things on my plate this month, the biggest one being my soon to be up and coming wedding on June 27th 2009 to my best friend Andrea. I'll refer you to my earlier post about us if you want to read up a little.

So, I've been working on wedding stuff with her. I designed my own wedding invitations, RSVP's (see above) and programs, planned and booked our honeymoon roadtrip and helped her in any way I could (without getting in the way). So, we're in the last stages of doing that stuff and trying to finish up the little things that are left.
Things we still need to do:

• new springy looking engagement pics (this Sunday)
• final catering order
• get fitted for tux
• get a haircut
• get marriage license

I'm sure there's more stuff that she has to do but she seems to have it handled. I'm just gonna sit back now and... (yea right!)
I've gotta say, Andrea has done a great job organizing and putting together this wedding. We sent out over 150 invites and have gotten almost 90 RSVPs back. Right now we are looking at a little over 100 peeps coming to our little shindig and we are still waiting on about 50 RSVPs.

Its just been exhausting emotionally, worrying about all these little things we need to do. We both can't wait until June 28th and we head out on our roadtrip to have some fun. Oh, yea, and I know your curious about our honeymoon plans so here's where we are going:

1. Tutwieler Hotel (Birmingham, AL): historic hotel in Birmingham, on wedding night (I don't know whats going to be happening then... probably watch some TV and order room service ;-)
2. Outer Banks / Nags Head (North Carolina): Checking out the Wright Brothers memorial and the best beaches on the East Coast.
3. Washington DC: staying in Arlington, VA actually, which is right across the river, I want to see the National Archives and Library of Congress, she wants to see the boring monuments (JK!)
4. Philadelphia, PA: staying in another historic hotel in Center City (about 5 blocks from Independence Hall), checking out the Franklin Institute, Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, eating some Geno's cheese steaks, fancy dinners and doing our own M. Night Shyamalan film location tour (a film geek idea I came up with that she reluctantly agreed to). Then we're gonna go see a Phillies game. The grand finale will be our last day (July 4th), so we'll be downtown for the festivals, parades and fireworks over the museum and then head out at about 8 or 9pm and drive till we're tired back to Bama.

So, you can see, I've been working like a maniac trying to save up some money for this trip. So, please forgive if you don't hear from The Horse for a few more weeks. Thanks for reading guys and I'll be back real soon with more fun geek info for ya!

My friend Natalie provided me with the title to my blog today (and got that dang song stuck in my head! Thanks Natalie!)

Resolutions and Promises for the New Year

If you could make one resolution this year that would be guaranteed to come true, what would it be?
Lose weight? Earn more money? Travel? Learn a new skill?

We all have our New Years resolutions. Its a good time to "start over" and think about your goals for the following year. What if I told you that you could guarantee yourself success in any of these areas? Listen to what these guys said:

"Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life."
- Wayne Dyer

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
Thomas Edison

"Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get."
Ray Kroc

The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader to self activity.
~ Thomas Carlyle ~

Follow their advice and you are GUARANTEED to achieve your goals.

• Love what you do: You will never get traction in your goals if you don't like doing that thing. Do you enjoy working out or exercising? If not, is there a way to make it fun for yourself and make it a habit that you will enjoy?
• Put some muscle into it!: Nothing worth having is free, or even easy for that matter. Want to make more money with your photography business? Put some time and energy into making a great portfolio, create and run an ad for your business in: a local newspaper, Facebook, Google AdWords, make business cards, network...
• READ!: all you can about the subject you want to learn about. Learn from other people's success and mistakes. Then take that model and add to it using your own style or flair.

With that in mind, I still usually make a few modest goals at the beginning of the year to just keep pushing myself a little bit more. So here are mine for 2009:

1. eat better and lose 20 lbs.
2. design and set up JSP (Joshua Self Photography)'s website and gallery for my wedding photography business.
3. start up "WaiterGossip", a new blog and website for all restaurant industry employees. (more info coming soon).
4. start up a new photography blog on Blogger (DONE! Check it out...)
   
5. Start writing more short stories and screenplays on Storycrafter.
6. Revamp my photography portfolio
7. Revamp my wedding photography portfolio
8. Start a new ad and marketing campaign for JSP and get at least 5 weddings this season.
9. Pay off 2 credit cards
10. Plan our honeymoon road trip.
11. Get married!
12. Save $20 / week

So, yea... looks like I got a little ambitious. I'll use this as a list to mark off as the year goes by. I know, now that I've written them down, that I can't just sit around watching Entourage and X-Files all day, I need to do something productive.

I also want to quickly thank all of my new readers for checking out The Horse. I will strive to provide some entertaining, or at least readable information that you guys can use this year. I know its gonna be a good year! Woot!
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