Tuesday, March 11, 2008

New Academia, the MiniCity

An interesting website I stumbled across, called MyMiniCity. You can add to my city's population by visiting New Academia. Apparently, there will be more functionality as the population grows.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Exercise, The Beginning

So my wife has decided on the course these things usually seem to take: she wants to lose weight, so we are going on a diet. What's interesting about it this time is that, while I'm not too keen on the food portion, I'm all for getting in shape via exercise (which she doesn't want to do at all). We're following the Body for Life program, which I am coming to enjoy and highly recommend. I've actually been doing it for about two weeks now, and its going well. I'm even following along with the meal guidelines pretty well. I'm breaking one rule that most people find important, as I haven't set a specific goal. My goal is to look good, not drop to a certain weight or lift a certain amount or run for a certain period of time. I just want to be able to wear a Superboy t-shirt and do it justice. :) I'm willing to take it day by day and just keep going.
What this has led me to is some musing on why I want to do this. I've long since decided that I don't really care what other people think of me personally, except my wife. I suppose in a way I'm doing this for her. I want to be healthy and strong so I can be there for her for a long time, and I want to look good so she'll enjoy looking at me. Of course, she says that's not a problem now, but that's because she loves me.
I think that in part I've been caught up in one of the trends of the nation. Despite all the talk about obesity being an "epidemic" and all the related things, there is a nearly opposite obsession with fitness and being thin (or muscular, depending). If we look at our celebrities, no matter what type they might be, they are almost all relatively fit. We can even look at how much publicity there is around the exercise programs of our Presidents. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as being healthy is indeed something we should strive for. I just want to make sure I don't go as far as some would have me go. Like most things, I will attempt moderation. No bulging muscles, no ridiculously thin body, just looking good. I've tried before, with limited success. We'll see how this turns out; I think I've got more motivation and determination this time than ever before.

As a side note, I'm really hyped about D&D 4th Edition, and can't wait for June!