Joe's Rambles

Last Wednesday my wife and I took our kids to an Alabama volleyball game. The Lady Crimson Tide played the Lady Bulldogs from Mississippi State University. We started attending volleyball games last year and became hooked. It really is an exciting sport.

Bama has a multi-game win streak against MSU and put it on the line this game. It was a really good game. Bama won the first two games with ease. But, in the third game MSU came out hard and strong. MSU took an early lead and never looked back. They won game 3. The fourth game was great. It was back and forth. Both teams took the lead, but could not keep it. At one point it was MSU 29, Bama 28. Game point MSU. But, the Lady Tide were not to be denied. They fought back and won the game 31-29. Thus, Bama won the match 3 games to 1. Yea Alabama! Bama is in first place in the SEC West and is looking to host round 1&2 of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. Good luck girls and Roll Tide! Below are some pics form the game, including my boys getting the autographs of the players and of the head coach (Judy Green).

Shit...I had beer and pizza rolls tonight. If I keep eating pizza rolls I'll soon have belly rolls...again.

I don't know what it is, but my will power is NOT what it was 3 weeks ago. I went out to the supermarket tonight and ended up at one of the local nightclubs here. I wanted to relax and chill out. Bars are great for that. Before I knew it, I was kicking back 3 beers and watching ESPN HD (on a HUGE TV) at a bar. UGH! GOT TO STOP THAT. DIET. GOING. TO. SHIT.

Then I bought a six pack for me and my little (read: sexy) wife. And then I got a little hungry and ate some pizza rolls (Read: 200 calories for 6...I had 12).

Damn...I have got to get back on track. This is the most I've cheated on this diet in 9 weeks. I have just gotten down 50 pounds and do not want to go back up. I have got 4 weeks left on this diet and my goal weight is 230-235. Only 8-10 more pounds to go. BUT NOT IF I KEEP DOING THIS!

UGH! Give me words of encouragement for I am needy!

My diet is going good. I am around the 244 mark...so I have dropped 50 pounds. Yea me! But, last night I was low on my diet food. So, I did what anyone on a diet who is low on food would do. I went to a Chinese buffet! And man it was so good!

It was the first time in almost 10 weeks that I have gone out to eat. I have literally had dreams, vivid dream, about eating Chinese food. And this was worth the wait!

I wasn't able to eat as much as I wanted to eat, but what I did eat was great. It was like a wet dream on my plate; only nothing like a wet dream. I think you get my allusion.

My stomach wasn't used to this food and gave me a few little pains. But, it was worth it. Just to be able to eat food that did not come in little bitty packages and made from soy was well worth it. I have about four more weeks on this diet. I am hoping to get down to 235-230 by the time I finish it. That would rock!

My wife said that I look and feel like a new person. She even said she felt like she was cheating on me...wait...maybe I should ask her some more questions about that!

I've also started lifting weights again. The results are pretty pleasing. And my wife loves to watch me work out. So yeah...double bonus. I can not believe that 11 weeks ago I was pushing the 300 pound mark, and now I am closer to 200 pounds than to 300 pounds. Man it is great!

Now, for my next vice to shuck...smoking. UGH! Out of the frying pan and into the fire!

Well, went to the doctor today for my weekly weigh-in. I dropped 4 pounds last week. I now weigh 250. That's a 44 pound drop in 8 weeks! Yea! It's great. My blood pressure is 122/68. When I started it was 150/90. So there has been a huge drop there too.

I am really starting to notice the difference in the way I look. My dad and I went to Target and the mall over the weekend and he asked "Why are all these woman checking you out?". I looked around and sure enough...women were checking me out! (That hasn't happened in a long time). They were college gals and older woman. It was great...always good to get a boost to the ole ego!

Also, today I took a new job. I will be selling insurance and such. The company I work for is Liberty National. I'm looking forward to it. It's a good company and they have great benefits. I was talking to MetLife. But it didn't work out.(Click here to see my You Tube video about this). So, Liberty National it is!

We had my oldest son's birthday party this past Saturday. Man...it was fun. He wanted a Ninja Turtles theme and boy did he get it! My wife made a "Ninja Turtle" cake and it looked oh so yummy! (Alas and alack...I could not have any). I can not believe my oldest boy will be 10 next year! UGH!

All in all it was a pretty good week. I'm excited about the job and the weight loss (I hope to be 245 next week!). I have to get my state license to sell insurance. So it will be a couple of weeks or so before I can actually start working. But it should be fun!

Have a good one. Thanks for stopping by.

Well, my oldest boy turned 9 today. I can't believe he is going to be 10 next year. Wow...time flies by! Seems like only yesterday we were bringing home from the hospital. That was fun. I remember driving him home so slowly...and getting mad at the people tailgating me. I mean I was only doing 25 in a 50 MPH zone! It's not like I had experience driving home my new born son!

We will be having his birthday party this weekend. That means family and friends and a house full of people. Just a few weeks ago our middle child had a birthday and a party. Then I had a birthday and last Sunday my wife had a birthday (Hey Tanda...you're 30 too!) So as you can see...I've had to spend a lot of money lately! But it's great. I love watching them grow up.

On the weight lose front I had a great week. I lost seven pounds last week week. That puts my total weight loss at 40 pounds in 7 weeks. Not to bad! I bought a pair of size 36 pants the other day. The last time I was able to wear a 36 was in high school. It was only 4 weeks ago I started wearing a size 38. And now they are too big! I love it. When I started this diet I was 294. Now I am 254. I am hoping to be in the 240s next week. That will be cool. I think I will stay on this diet about 4 more weeks. After that I should be the weight I want. Just hope Thanksgiving doesn't screw me up! But of course I am so looking forward to that turkey and all the fixings!

Damn...now I made myself hungry.

This was a tale of two games. We owned the 1st quarter and played good the second. In the second half Houston out played us. They have a good offense. Our defense played very well and we were able to win 30-24. So, a win is a win and now we are 4-2 and play Ole Miss at Oxford next week. That is going to be a tough game.

Hats off to Houston. They made our homecoming game interesting to say the least.

We were awesome the first quarter. We were 23-0 after the 1st. After that we stunk it up. We don't have a QB to speak if. Our QB (Wilson) stinks. He makes terrible decisions. Our defense played well. They seem to be the strength of our team. Which is surprising. Our running game looked good with Glen Coffee gaining 121 yards and one touchdown. Our running game is going to be very good in the next couple of years. He have some real horses there.

Play calling sucks. Offensive coordinator Marshall Applewhite needs to make some changes. It will be a tough game against Ole Miss next week. I've pretty much written off the UT,LSU, and AU games. Those will probably be loses for us. I am just hoping we can beat Ole Miss, MSU, and ULM. This season is tough. But, brighter days are ahead for the Tide. Roll Tide!

And stupid me did not put on any sunscreen before going to the game and now my face, arms, and the back of my neck are burned to a crisp. Thank goodness for aloe vera!

Hope you enjoy the pics I took at the game.

My oldest son (he's 8) has started a blog devoted to his favorite website; Club Penguin. His blog is CP Talk. Please pay him a visit and leave him a comment. He's pretty excited about his blog and would love to hear from you! Thanks.

The folks over at X-Entertainment.com gave me a great idea. Soooooo....introducing...

My 2007 Halloween Countdown! (Cue wild applause.) I will be reviewing various Halloween themed items that I find here and there (translation: whatever crap I can find in the bargain basket at the local Dollar Tree).

The first installment is something I found in the beer section of my local Wal-Mart. It's pumpkin flavored beer. Freakin'...Pumpkin...Flavored...Beer. Say it three or four times. It still doesn't sound right does it? But, how could I pass up buying freakin' pumpkin flavored beer?! I couldn't. The power of the hops compelled me.



This Halloween six-pack of fun is brought to you by the fine folks at Blue Moon Brewing. Now, I've had a couple of different brands by Blue Moon (their Summer Honey and Belgian White brands). I liked them. They were good. They were 5.6% alcohol. So I had a very good time with Blue Moon!

As I was looking at the different brands of beer, the Blue Moon Pumpkin jumped out at me. I mean how could it not? It's a freakin' bright orange color that smacks you across the face and yells "Drink me bitch!". I've learned to never argue with beer that can kick my ass. Or looks at me with a bright orange hue. So I bought it. And on the way home I wondered "What hath God wrought?". What would pumpkin beer taste like? Now, I love pumpkin pie...I love pumpkin spices...but would I love pumpkin beer? We would find out.



And there it is. Looking at me. Menacingly. Daring me to crack'er open and discover her pumpkin flavored secrets buried deep inside. Dare I? Oh yeah...I dare.

Actually, I loved the packaging. I admit it. I am a total geek for Halloween. I love it. And it's not just for the free candy (my waist and hips have never forgiven me for my love of Halloween). I just loved the whole Halloween/Fall theme. I remember having dress-up day at school, seeing all of the Halloween decorations out...and also believing, be it ever so slightly, that an evil witch would swoop down and take me back to her liar and cook me. And then serve me a'la carte to the wolfman, Frankenstein, and whatever other goblins happen to show up.

So this packaging really caught me eye. It spoke to me. It touched my soul (but not in that weird Michael Jackson kinda touching). It had such a Halloween/Fall feel to it that I had to buy it. But now, here comes the real test. How does it taste?



It had a nice color. It's a little lighter here that it looked in real life. It did sorta look like a pumpkin...I guess. OK, it really didn't. But it did look Halloweenish/Fallish. And it looked stout. So that is good. And it had a nice smell. Pretty pleasent.

It had a pretty good taste. It tasted a bit like Guinness Draught...with a touch of pumpkin spice. Overall I liked it. I'll give it a 8.5 out of 10. So, if you see this around your area...and wanna try pumpkin flavored beer...pick it up. It's worth the money you'll spend on it. Plus, you'll feel like a Halloween Fool. And after 4 or 5 of these, you might be a dancing Halloween Fool. And who doesn't want that?