Gender Confusion

Yes, evidently, there are people that believe it's not only possible to be confused about one's own gender but also believe that one IS actually the gender one believes themselves to be regardless of one's physical characteristics. In Queensland, a nine-year-old boy who was named Ronan Hayes at birth has since had his name changed by his parents to Emma Hayes.  According to the family, the boy at the age of four said that he wanted to cut off his penis and be a girl.  I would have thought this to be the point where the parent(s) explain to the little boy that removing a boy's penis doesn't make that boy a girl, but rather just...

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4 Weeks Down, 8 To Go

This week, I had a HUGE spike in calorie consumption in a single day.  Sunday to be exact.  Several of us went out to lunch to Dickey's Barbecue Pit after church.  I knew that I had been doing fairly well and that I had been meeting my goals, so I figured "why not?".  I had the all-you-can-eat buffet.  And, boy, did I eat well!  I managed to bring in a total of 2264 calories for that meal alone!  Wow! But don't judge me too soon.  I found out the other night that this is much easier to do than most people realize.  Take a pretty standard American-Style meal at a prominent national chain like Steak...

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59 Ford Love

I've promoted Google Sketchup several times on this blog yet I haven't used the program for some time.  Though, that may change in the near future as my interest in the program has just been rekindled. In an Internet search yesterday, I found not one but three separate Sketchup projects where people have tediously reconstructed the 1959 Ford F100 Styleside Truck.  My Sketchup skills are a bit lacking to the extent of reconstructing an object such as an automobile.  I'm finding that I'm pretty decent at building homes.  But, they are built with considerable more straight lines and right angles than a curvy 50's model vehicle. ...

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Unnecessary Quotes

Years ago, I used to have a link on my blog to another blog called Unnecessary Quotes.  It's still out there and still being updated regularly with more and more content.  People send in photos to the blog author who posts all the good ones.  The photos are real word examples of the unnecessary use of quotation marks.  In most cases, these are photos of company signs or advertisements. Since, in popular culture, quotation marks around a particular word or phrase have been deemed a denotation of anything but the literal sense of the word(s), it completely changes the meaning of the phrase.  The unnecessary use of...

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Past Planned Parenthood Paradox

Last month, Chelsea Clinton spoke at the Women Deliver Conference in Malaysia.  From the stage, she revealed that her much-admired maternal grandmother was the child of unwed teenage parents who “did not have access to services that are so crucial that Planned Parenthood helps provide.” Does anyone else see the oddity of this statement?  I mean, we've all been exposed to enough time travel science fiction through books, movies, and television shows to have a pretty good grasp on what becomes of the "present you" if your great-grandparents were to have aborted (or at the very least, family planned) your grandmother out of existence. I...

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3 Weeks Down, 9 To Go

This week, I did much better watching my calories.  I had a couple of treats through the week, but those were on days I had done extra well, so I got away with them.  What I didn't get away with was the weekend.  I blame a poor choice at Wendy's on Saturday and not realizing that my Qdoba meal on Sunday was 900 calories.  900?!  I sort of felt that Qdoba was a healthy option.  I guess it still is, just in a freakishly large portion. I do feel a little better.  The weekly soccer pick-up games are doing their thing.  Last Friday, I wasn't even sore after Thursday's game like I had been experiencing the...

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FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 - Free Download

After church, last Sunday, we went out for lunch to the new downtown Qdoba.  It was great food as usual and being summer with all the college kids away from the area, it's considerably less busy than the other ones in town. They had ESPN going on a couple televisions and I spotted what appeared to be the opening of a World Cup soccer game between Italy and Mexico.  But, the World Cup isn't for another year.  I should know.  I've been looking forward to it since the last one ended in 2010.  So, what was this?! It turns out that it's the FIFA Confederations Cup 2013.  What is that?!  How is it that I've...

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Andy & Andy's

Just in case you haven't heard me say it in a while, my wife is the coolest!  Last Friday, she took me out on a surprise date.  She said it was kind of an early Father's Day gift. I didn't know anything about what we were doing until we were outside in the parking lot and she handed me two tickets to see Andy McKee at the Gillioz!  What a cool surprise!  I didn't even know he was in town. The show was awesome.  He is every bit as good as his videos would suggest.  He's definitely a guitar master with an incredible talent to make his hands do what his mind hears.  That's what's so cool about watching him. ...

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One Man Piano Ambulance

I got all the necessary tools from Harbor Freight last Thursday to be able to load pianos into the back of my truck by myself.  Yes, this sounds like an injury waiting to happen, but I assure you that I will be doing a whole lot less lifting doing it alone but with the right tools than what I would be doing if I were just muscle-ing it around with 3 other guys.  I've moved lots of pianos in my day, so I am well aware of the personal effort required. I'm pretty excited about this on a number of levels: I like having new tools that are good for lots of things. Two furniture dollies.  Why haven't I ever bought any of these?! Set...

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Soccer Thursdays

I've started playing soccer once a week with some guys I work with.  It's been a lot of fun and certainly good for me.  A lot of people my age are starting to give the "I'm too old" excuse when I ask them if they want to play.  But, I can't help but think of all the 50-year-old men that I have played with or against over the years.  And a lot of them are still really good.  They're not the fastest on the field, but speed isn't everything.  Smart team ball control makes the game. It's a pick-up game that's open to whomever, but it's $5 to play.  All the money goes to charity.  This way, not only are...

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2 Weeks Down, 10 To Go

Week 2 of the 12-week challenge has come to a close.  And the results are in. They aren't quite as good as they should have been.  I didn't quite hit my goal weight for the week.  I lost 1.2 lbs but was supposed to have lost 1.6 lbs.  However, in my defense, I did have some considerable belated and extended birthday celebrations this last week, which can be seen clearly from the spikes in the top graph I turned 34 eight days ago but due to our hectic schedule on Tuesday we didn't celebrate it until Friday with a trip to HuHot.  As I always do at HuHot, I ate too much.  It was delicious but I felt like I might...

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I Wish They All Could Be California "Girls"

I'm not one to smear a political party in normal circumstances, but what am I supposed to do with this?  California Democrats must be brain dead. In case you haven't heard, California recently voted on and passed Assembly Bill No. 1266.  It passed 46 to 25 with all 46 affirmative votes coming from democrats.  Why is this important, you ask?  Well, the bill was said to bring gender equality to public schools allowing girls to play on all boy sports teams and vice versa.  Previously, like most states, if there was a single gender sport at a school the same had to be available to the opposite gender (i.e. if a school...

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1 Week Down, 11 To Go

The first week of my 12-week weight loss challenge came and went.  And, I think that it went really well.  I'm using MyFitnessPal.com to track my foods, caloric intake, fat intake, etc.  It's pretty helpful.  I especially like that it has a handy app for your smart phone so that you can add to your log on the go. As you can see from the top chart, I didn't completely stay under my allowed calories for the week, but I did hover around my goal which is good.  My daily calorie goal is set to create a running deficit, so that my body is forced to burn a little of its stored up fat to make up the difference. This second...

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Master Closets

Not at all uncommonly, I spent another national holiday working on my house.  Such is the trek of the home renovator.  While many are out enjoying time away from work, we're putting our tool belts on once again.  Not that I'm complaining or worse, bragging.  No, we actually like doing this sort of thing.  No pity party here. As you can see from the panoramic photos combined into one (you should be able to click on them to make them larger), this master bedroom is in desperate need.  One of the major problems with 100+ year-old houses is lack of closets.  People had a lot less clothes back then.  It...

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