Day 160: "Good Evening, Grande Ronde!"

Update: 206.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 8 lbs to 60 lb goal.

I may lose half my readership by posting this - so goodbye to 6 of you - but I gotta be me...I went to the casino, with my sis and friend to see Rick Springfield last night. There I said it, and I say it loud and proud.

I gotta say, the dude is definitely showing his 58 years, but still looks pretty dang good - and I mean that in the most plutonic of ways. And as is evident in the photo above (click for larger version), the girls (or should I say ladies) still go a little wackadoodle for him too.

Now when you're a former teen idol / pop star, who actually had more charting hits than most people remember off the top of their heads, over many decades - it must get frustrating to be in Grande Ronde, Oregon playing to a half sold show, with many of them being the season pass holders who had their fingers in their ears for a good portion of the time. In fact, I think it took him about half of the show to really get into it, and then just decide to have fun with the rest of the group that was there to just hear the songs that drove our high school days.

At one point he was just noodling around on his guitar, and although decent, he's not really a guy you show up to just listen to play guitar. I leaned over to my sister and said "I think he's bored," and she made me laugh when she replied, "and I'm getting there." Ha! Shortly thereafter though he busted into a mashup of several of his hits, and then seemed to really kick it into gear and finished strong. I'm thinking the Metamucil must have kicked in (I'm not really sure what that means...sorry, had to make at least one old rocker joke.)

I also think that the guy is able to look back at his teen idol days and laugh it up at himself a bit. He referred to his attempt at a movie, Hard To Hold as "Hard to Watch," and just shook his head everytime he held up one of his early day posters that someone wanted him to sign - often times holding the same pose as was in the picture. And I picked up a new move for Sunday and Wednesday nights where he smashed bouquets of flowers against his strings on his guitar so they'd explode as he strummed big chords....I'm so gonna bring that into my toolbelt of tricks.

Well, You Better Love Somebody, and I still love old Rick Springfield. Thanks for the memories man...

Hasta!

Day 159: What Were We Thinking?

Update: 206.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 8 lbs to 60 lb goal.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...taxi's waiting he's blowing his horn....cause I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..." (actual plane taken with iPhone.)

Well, I'm not sure how it happened, but yesterday, we put our eldest offspring onto a little twin propper, and let her shuttle up to Seattle before heading down to the land where everything is bigger -- good ol' Texas. Before we knew it, she was on the plane, and landing in Seattle before we even got back to our humble abode.

It's kind of tough putting your young teen on a plane for the first time and trusting the Big Guy upstairs to just take care of her, and trusting all the people along the way that are providing her care to also do their very best for the next two weeks. I mean, we've obviously set the standard here...so hopefully everyone else with rise to the occasion too. It's not like the grandmother she's staying with didn't do a decent job with her own mother, or The Mrs' life long friend doesn't have two of her own that she seems to keep alive day after day...but hey, this is our baby they have in their hands now...lets take that responsibility seriously!

And if any kid has earned the right to take a trip like this, it certainly has been her. Anyone who knows her knows she has our complete trust, and is a fine young lady who will do a great job traveling across the country. Plus she's got a sweet T-mobile Dash for her trip to be able to email, text, call and IM....her dad....well, or her mom or whoever, I suppose, but for sure her dad.

To keep in the flavor of the blog, let me just say that getting up at 4:30 to catch a morning flight does not set you up for a great eating day, especially when the Beaverton Bakery Cafe has amazing croissant breakfast sandwiches and Napoleon desserts, which also double as breakfast in a pinch. After the meals there, I was thrown off for the rest of the day, and not only probably had more meatloaf than I should have at church, but finished off the LONG day after midnight with a slice of cold frozen pizza.....what has happened to me?!?!

Oh, one other thing. I was *randomly* selected for an extra-level security check when we got our security badges to go through to the gates as non-flyers. You know me, I'm not a racial alertist when it comes to being brown, but I have been getting a fine farmers tan, which makes me extra brown lately, and of course have been sporting the goatee for years, and if any of the TSA folks have been reading my blog and saw my post about the myheritage.com celebrities I look like, they may have seen my first go around which showed me looking like one of the former Korean dictators and assumed I was no one to be trifled with! At any rate, I skated right through after having air blown up my shorts (actually, kind of a perk I didn't expect) and my wife who didn't get selected, had to be scanned and patted down by a fairly robust momma after trying to smuggle sunscreen into the secured area. That was a good bottle of NoAd we lost right there, I'll tell you that. Also, I'm pretty sure the gal who scanned my pocket items for explosives was darn impressed that I was carrying a real live iPhone with me...I mean, who wouldn't be, right?

Well, that's it for now...remember, the TSA ain't messin' around baby. Leave those liquids and gels at home! Be safe Young Lopi!

Hasta!

Day 157: Seriously, I'm Brown Enough

Update: 206.2 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 8 lbs to 60 lb goal.

Got back from a quick Loop ride, and it was already 70 degrees outside before 7:30 this morning. My good friend, Andy Carson just got done with the weather forecast, and well, lets just say, he ain't my friend no more.

I really function best in the 65-75 degree range. I don't care if it's a dry heat, a wet heat, or any kind of heat in between, once we cross 80 degrees, I stop loving the day so much. We crossed 90 yesterday, and we're scheduled for at least two days of 100+ and a few more in the 90's range. It's Oregon for Pete's sake...we're not supposed to get that hot.

Too make matters worse, it's supposed to get kind of cloudy along the way and actually be humid as well this week. When I lived in Nashville, it'd get up over 100 and then there would be a thunderstorm with serious downpours for about 30 minutes, and then you'd just sit and watch the steam rise up off the street. You basically felt like you needed a shower 3-4 times a day. Apparently, we want to be more like Nashville this week.

The good news is that although I'm still officially one of the sweatiest people in Oregon, having dropped the 50+ lbs keeps me from sweating while doing simple things like sitting....or eating. But I will be keeping my self in the AC as much as possible, at least until the evening, when the Mrs is making me get out to the driving range with her to continue her quest for the perfect swing. (The price I pay for matrimonial harmony....)

Hasta!

Day 156: Vanilla Ice and Lizard Bacon

Update: 206.6 lbs, 50 lb Goal Reached Day 124. 8.5 lbs to 60 lb goal.

Gotta get out the door for a couple of early morning appointments, but just wanted to give a brief recap on the weekend with small highlight snippets that may or may not even make sense. So in nor particular order, some of my favorite moments since my previous post: (ps - all photos taken with the iPhone.)

Buddies getting tips from Vanilla Ice and buying new shoes with said tip.

Dudes sleeping in beds of trucks and on tops of cars at Triangle Lake...and denting cars.



Meeting a dude on Lancaster to strip parts off his truck for my lady's '78 Ford Lariat SuperCab. (If momma aint happy, ain't nobody happy.) $20 for a huge mirror, a couple reflectors, dome light cover, and official Lariat emblem ain't too shabby. I did feel a little WT though wreching parts off a truck as cars went driving by.



Discussing Lizard Bacon. "No, I don't mean bacon FOR lizards, I mean bacon FROM lizards." Ah yeah, it's not often we have Mensa gatherings at our place, but look out when we do!

Playing and extra-sweaty session with the Nugs in the Sweat-O-Dome, and having music blow off my stand....three times! Trainwreck in a box.

Hanging with friends at the pool and roasting my baggettes because it was somewhere around 125 degrees out.

Closing down the driving range with that beautiful blonde lady that lives with me while she perfects her swing.

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Hasta.