Message to Mine

I'm about to conduct an experiment. It's completely coincidental that it starts right as Lent begins, because I'm not Catholic and don't usually give stuff up for Lent. But starting today, I'm giving up beer and soda for a month. It has nothing to do with overconsumption of those fine products, either.

It's just that I've noticed in the last few months since I ran the Chicago Marathon that while my weight hasn't gone up, my midsection has gotten flabbier. I'm not training for a spring marathon, but I have been running and lifting regularly, as well as skating a fair amount. I can't really do much more exercise than I'm doing now without injuring myself, so I started looking at making changes in my diet. I eat fairly healthy food, but I do have a fondness/weakness for candy and desserts, so I recently cut way back on those. Then I decided I may as well go whole hog and see if abstaining from beer and soda makes a difference.

I certainly don't drink as much as I did back in the day; it's somewhere in the range of 3-10 beers between Thursday and Sunday each week. As for soda, I had actually stopped drinking it for a few years before we had kids, and then I noticed that I was really dragging at 3 p.m. and have gotten into the habit of drinking a Coke or Dr. Pepper every day at that time. Guess I'll have to go splash water on my face or something.

I'm also going to cut back on bread, which I really only have in the sandwiches I eat every day for lunch. I'm going to try eating salads with chicken or something like that for lunch every day, plus more fruits and vegetables. Should be interesting to see if I can keep it up. It was tough to resist the candy, but I've managed to do it, so I figure the rest is easy. It's not like I go out much, so I'm all set with the beer as long as I don't buy any. And I'm planning to go out with the Webnoize dudes on March 23, so I have no doubts I'll have a few beers then.

I went for an 11-mile run today and weighed myself afterwards. I'm at 165; I had been at 168 for quite a while. I'd like to get down into the 150-155 range, which I haven't been at in a few years, and I'd like to lower my bodyfat percentage, too. I'll keep you posted on my progress, or the opposite. Like if I get frustrated, hit the store on the way home, and come home to pound down a pizza, a sixpack and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Hey, that doesn't sound so...wait, wait. Focus, dammit!

Are you having a laugh? Is he having a laugh?

• In our attempt to see at least one Oscar-nominated film before the Oscars (which are tonight), we watched The Departed last night and damn, what a great friggin' movie! Deb managed to stay awake for the entire two and a half hours, which says something because she's usually out after the first 10 minutes of a movie we watch after we put the kids to bed. Great performances, gripping plot, and just a lot of fun. Deb pointed out, and I agreed, that Mark Wahlberg's Oscar-nominated performance wasn't that awe-inspiring, partly because he's not in that much of the movie. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio were both excellent and deserved nominations (although DiCaprio was nominated for Blood Diamond), as was Jack Nicholson, who was hammy and Jack-like, but still terrific. The only thing I found a little jarring was the Boston accent perpetrated by everyone except Damon and Wahlberg, who are from Boston. It wasn't as bad as in some movies, where everyone's trying to sound like JFK, but it was definitely exaggerated at points (e.g., "I told you to dump the body in the mahsh." You know, the whole "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd" thing). It's just a hard accent to do; I'm of the belief that actors shouldn't even try. DiCaprio's wasn't bad, though. The movie was adapted from the Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs, which I'd like to check out; the Filmspotting guys say it's even better than The Departed. Here's hoping Scorsese gets Best Director tonight, because he's certainly been robbed several times in the past.
• The NHL trade deadline is Tuesday and there have already been some interesting deals, unlike the NBA, where practically nothing happened. Last week, Peter Forsberg went to the Nashville Predators, who already sat near the top of the league. Today, St. Louis traded power forward Keith Tkachuk to the Atlanta Thrashers, which will make the Thrash even more of an offensive powerhouse going into the playoffs. Blues forward Bill Guerin is also likely to be dealt to a contender before the deadline. I love this time of year.
• Can you believe I've been writing this thing for nearly four years and I just now figured out how to properly create titles for my posts? Sheesh. What a Canucklehead.