communication breakdown

Downsizing

It's that time of year again: due to a time-honored but controversial schedule for the professional tennis season, two of the premier tournaments are played nearly back to back: The French Open and Wimbledon. It's really the only time of year that I get as much (or more) tennis as I can stand. The French is almost over, with the field already narrowed to the semifinalists, but the best is yet to come with the highly-anticipated #1 vs. #2 men's championship (Federer vs. Nadal). And if that wasn't enough... Wimbledon starts in 3 weeks. I get anywhere between 5-10 hours of coverage a day, for an entire month - I'm like a heroin addict waiting for his next fix. It keeps me glued to the TV.

And now for a counter-example: as I'm sitting here writing this, my roommate has "That '70s Show" blaring in the background. Naturally, I now have a world-class case of writer's block. I can barely hear myself think, what with this pathetic excuse for a comedy infiltrating my ears. As a result, I apologize in advance for what will likely be a substandard blog entry from me. I'm sure I've ranted about this before, but I simply cannot understand what people see in shows like that. "That '70s Show", "Everybody Loves Raymond", "Two And A Half Men"... the list goes on and on. The problem is that the writers completely miss the golden rule of humor: the funniest thing is real life. Sitcoms usually setup completely unrealistic situations and contrived scenarios and count on the audience being brainless enough to enjoy the forced jokes. Oh, and did I mention the laugh tracks, possibly the worst idea ever devised by man? Don't even get me started...

Dog Update

About a week from now, I should know if I've got a dog on the way or not. The breeder I've been working with is currently in the Bahamas (jealousy ensues), and when he gets back next week he should know if the breeding was successful. If so, I start the fun process of buying stuff and getting the house (and myself) ready for pet ownership.

Interestingly enough, when I tell people I'm getting a dog, the most common question I get (other than "what type?") is "have you picked a name yet?" Honestly, I hadn't even thought of picking one that far in advance, but with the number of people that have asked me about it, I'm getting the feeling that I'm running behind. So I started thinking about it - I haven't gotten very far, but I have thought of a couple of decent possibilities. Working with the assumption that I'm getting a male puppy, here are some possibilities I'm mulling over right now:

• Oscar: This is the current front-runner. There are several reasons for this; first, I just like the name and I think it works well as a dog-name. In addition, it's kind of a tribute to my dog I had growing up, who was my first and will always be my favorite. His name was Barkley, and was named after the dog in Sesame Street. Oscar is also a Sesame Street character. Maybe it's a little corny, but it's a throwback to a dog that was a very important part of my young life.
  UPDATE: I did a bit of research on this name and determined that in the Scandinavian tongue it means "accurate spearsman". This is highly relevant to a Brittany, which is a pointing breed. That's extra bonus points...
• Ninja: This obviously stems from my martial arts background, but I think it's kinda original and would be pretty neat.
• Ronin: same rationale as Ninja.
• FruFru: This one is just here to see if you're paying attention. This was actually my friend Natalie's suggestion. I think she has a mental imbalance.
• Marco
• Jack: This one makes the list because, when I look at a typical Brittany, it is the human name that seems to "fit" the breed the best.
• Dante
• Shaun: Just kidding.

At this stage, comments and/or suggestions (except yours, Natalie) would be greatly appreciated.

Training Commences

In other news, I've really stepped up my exercise routine in the last few months. Not that it's really anything impressive, but considering that 3-4 months ago I wasn't really doing anything stimulating except for the occasional tennis match, I'm very happy with where I'm at. I'm basically exercising 6 days a week, alternating two different activities: running and heavybag training. The way I see it, it's a good mixture of cardiovascular exercise and strength/endurance/balance techniques - all of which will help me as I gear up to take on active TaeKwon-Do training again.

I basically do 30 minute running sessions (3.5 miles) and 45 minute heavybag workouts - and I expect the times for each of those will increase over time. My goal, beyond the obvious desire to be in good shape, is to simply lose weight and maintain a slim figure while not having to worry about dieting or serious meal-watching. I basically don't want to worry about eating a greasy hamburger for lunch or hitting a Brazilian steakhouse on occasion. If consistent strenuous exercise gets me to that point, then I'm a happy man.

So far, the results have been better than I expected. I noticed a weight change almost immediately, albeit a small one. But consistently that number has been going down, and as of now I'm about 3 months in and 10 pounds lighter. But here's the funny thing: I don't notice any change in how I look - I'm not quite sure where these mythical pounds have gone. Perhaps the scale is just telling me what I want to hear. But more important than the weight loss is the fact that I just feel so much better when I'm getting regular exercise - I had forgotten how good and healthy it makes you feel to get a good, consistent workout. The biggest missing component right now is weight training, but I hope to ease into that soon. The hardest part is building the motivation and consistency to make it part of the routine: once it's in there though, the rest is easy.