Still making good progress, weighing in at 197, which, according to BMI, moves me from being "Obese" to merely "Overweight." Sure, it's only a label applied by a formula, but I'll take the kudos where I can get 'em. I'm still a big fan of SparkPeople.com, and now the wife is getting sucked in, so we've formed a team and will work on this together. Perhaps the best thing is that I can feel the difference already while playing hockey - quickness is improving, and I've got more gas in the 3rd than just a few weeks ago.

Progress So Far
9/8/06: 209
9/15/06: 204.5
9/22/06: 206
9/29/06: 201
10/6/06: 197

Last night, without our super sub who scored 7 goals last week, we dropped a 3-0 decision to a fairly mediocre team called the Misfits. Actually, we were lucky it was that close, because we spent the majority of the game scrambling in our own end, and our goaltender put in a yeoman's effort in keeping us in the game.

The quote of the night was my defense partner, who at one point on the bench pleaded with our wingers: "forwards, we need you to play more... forward." In our own zone, they kept coming too far down close to the net, leaving opposing defensemen wide open for shots from the point, and giving our D nobody to pass to once we did get control of the puck. Even when we did get the play down into the offensive zone, they were often timid and failed to put any pressure on our opponents carrying the puck out of their own end. Basically, the Misfits had a free skate from blue line to blue line, with plenty of time to survey the situation and pick their preferred option.

As a forward, you need to keep moving your feet and put pressure on the puck carrier - make them pass the puck or make a move before they really want to, and chances are they'll give it away and cough up a golden opportunity for you. Our guys really don't get that (with one exception, a 60-year old who shows more hustle than our 20-somethings).

I think I'm going to ask to play RW next week. On other sites, I often use the nick "Forechecker" because that's my favorite part of the game. Hustle, put pressure on your opponent, and good things happen. It doesn't even take much skill - hard work is the ultimate equalizer...

After a looooooooong wait, Wire in the Blood has returned. Sure, it only boasts 4 episodes a season, but it's probably the show my wife and I most look forward to (as in, sedate the kids right after dinner*). I highly recommend checking it out.

Besides solid stories, interesting characters, etc. I love the fact that each episode is two hours. It gives them more time to develop both the plot and the interpersonal relationships, rather than having to rush through everything. Watching the CSI's and Law & Orders of the world these days, it's like the writers try to cram too much into a tiny time slot. The characters then either speaksofastyoucanhardlymakeoutwhatthey'resaying, or make conversational leaps that just don't make sense, in order to move the plot along.

*just kidding, of course. We at least let them have dessert...

Well, progress is being made; I weighed in at 201 this morning, down from 206 last week. My caloric intake has been within my goals (which has been far easier than I would have thought*), and my exercise has been well above - thanks in large part to hockey season being underway. Again, I heartily recommend SparkPeople for those looking to drop some pounds. It has an excellent approach to logging your diet and exercise, provides recommendations (including video demos of various exercises), and best of all, it's free. What I like most about the diet tracker is that if you need to record something that's not in their current list, you can enter it manually, whereupon it becomes part of the available choices going forward, kind of like a Wiki approach to building a food guide.

Progress So Far
9/8/06: 209
9/15/06: 204.5
9/22/06: 206
9/29/06: 201

*main reduction there has been in snacking. By trying to drink 8 glasses of water a day, that crowds out the Pepsi & Fritos habit I'd slipped into at work. Now, if I manage my day well, I can treat myself to some popcorn & peanuts in the evening while hanging out with my wife, when it's more enjoyable anyway.

On the way home from hockey last night, I heard the initial reports that Terrell Owens had been admitted to the ER, for what was "most likely" a reaction to pain medicine he's been taking after he had surgery for a broken finger.

It turns out that this was actually a suicide attempt on TO's part. Very strange, indeed. I can't stand the guy and how he behaves, but you hate to see anyone in that kind of situation.

Last night's game was a strange one, with us winning 10-1, on the strength of a substitute player scoring about 7 of our goals. The wierd part? This was only his second ice hockey game.

He's played roller hockey for 10 years or so, but still, it's amazing to see how well he's transitioned to ice. In particular, he dominated faceoffs, doing basically whatever he wanted in each particular case - drawing it back to the defense, picking the puck up himself and heading in, or taking a quick snapshot when deep in the opposing zone.

The bronchitis and pneumonia left me sucking wind in the 2nd and 3rd, but overall, the rust is starting to shake off. I ended up with a couple assists, and some solid D work against what is really a decent team. Once our super-sub moves away (in about a month) and we face this team again, I'm guessing it'll be a much closer game.

I've been bothered by a hacking cough and some wheezing for over a week now, and finally I went to the doctor. Each day it kept feeling like I was just about to turn the corner, but with hockey coming up tonight, I wanted to find out the deal for certain.

The wait was ridiculous - I had an 11:00 appointment, and I was told at 12:05 that I was "the next patient to be called." I went back to sit down, whereupon two other patients were called in, and by that point (12:15) I went up and demanded a refund of my copay, as I didn't have time to wait any longer. Sure enough, just after she runs my credit card to process the refund, the nurse comes out to take me back...

The actual visit with the doc went nice and quick, no problems there. But what I do have is acute bronchitis and pneumonia on both sides. I'm sure growing up with a dad who is a constant smoker and spending the majority of my youth in bowling alleys has left my lungs vulnerable to such things. So, armed with prescriptions for antibiotics, steroids, cough syrup, and an inhaler, off I go to the pharmacy.

Who knows, perhaps I'll get some 'roid rage going on the ice tonight. Couldn't hurt...

Caught the pilot of Heroes last night on NBC - this looks like it could be fun. The only other new show I caught was Jericho, which also looks good. Other than that, the only series I follow regularly is House, which continues to be a treat.

There's just something wonderful about watching Notre Dame getting their a$$ kicked. Michigan State just went up 24-7 on an INT return for a TD by a Spartan lineman. This, just after Notre Dame totally lucked out of getting two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the same play (the refs blew the 2nd call, putting it against MSU, resulting in offsetting penalties), and momentum was supposedly swinging in favor of the Irish.

EDIT: Wow, what an epic collapse by Michigan State. They must have thought the game ended after the 3rd quarter, because they played like scared rodents during the 4th. Running back a kickoff, then taking a knee before any contact can be made was bad enough, but Stanton's INT for the go-ahead TD was terrible. When you've got the lead, you take the sack, let the clock run, and punt, you don't lob a desperation pass into the middle of the opposing D like that. You can give credit to Notre Dame for keeping their level of effort up, but Michigan State lost that game.

206 this morning, up from 204.5 last week. Odd, to be sure, since I've done a good job food-wise, but I've been sick for the last week so exercise has been off. I know I'm on the right track, though, and would highly recommend checking out SparkPeople.com. It's got a good tracking mechanism for eating & exercise. In particular, the food listings are built up by the users on the site. For instance, if you just ate something and it's not on their dietary list, you can enter the values and now it becomes available for anyone else on the site.

I've got the kids at home today, so we'll head off to the Y this morning and I can hustle, hustle, hustle while they play...

My wife turned me on to an interesting website yesterday (for those looking to shed some weight), SparkPeople.com. It appears to be a good, comprehensive tool for setting up and following a plan that entails diet, exercise, etc. You can even set up teams to track progress as a group. I'd recommend checking it out for those of us out here hustling those pounds off...

Went and played hockey last night, despite this lingering cold in my chest that leaves me short of breath and threatens to send me into coughing fits at any moment. We won 5-4, in a hard-fought game. I played like $hit at various times, and made a few difference-making plays on the positive side, so I'll take that for now, while working the rust off.

It's impressive how well we work together, considering it was only our 2nd game. When a D stepped up into the offensive end, the winger on that side covered his spot, etc. We had the majority of the chances and won most of the battles for loose pucks, so that was pretty satisfying.

Damn, I feel like I need a day in the hospital, though. My entire body is sore, I'm coughing & hacking, and my head feels like it was placed in a vice.

Why is it that when you get sick and take a day off work, you then feel 10x worse a few days later, and feel the pressure not to take another day off? Grrrr....

Recently I registered my hockey blog on Technorati, which purports to dynamically index the world of blogging. Their motto: "Technorati. Who's saying what. Right now." But in my case, and many others which I have found, "Right Now" seems more like "At Some Point, If You're Lucky." It's been well over a week after the initial claim was filed, yet my blog fails to show up in their indexes, and besides an initial autoreply email, tech support has been unresponsive. In addressing one other blogger's indexing issue, Technorati refers to "a backlog in support," and that they're working through it as best they can.

The question is, in such a dynamic field of content, how can Technorati possibly hope to catch up by manually addressing one trouble ticket at a time? That would appear to be like patching a dike that's bursting bit by bit. There's likely to be too much content being generated each day for them to make serious headway and catch up. So is there a fundamental problem with Technorati's approach to blog indexing? What is the /. community seeing?

Nolensville Knights 84, Zerglings 68

We're back to 1-1 after a good, balanced week. Drew Brees finished strong, as did Tiki Barber, while Marvin Harrison and Warrick Dunn racked up lots of yardage but no TD's...

Michigan 47, Notre Dame 21. I don't think anybody expected that big a whoopin'...