Burger Time

For as far back as I can remember, I've always been very fond of cheeseburgers - that American classic.

It was a standard staple on the weekly dinner menu at our house when I was a kid. Every Wednesday we would have burgers. My mother was very routine oriented for most of the week (since she worked outside the home, she had to plan out meals that could either be put together ahead of time or could be put together quickly). I guess that's where I got a lot of my own routine approach to things. Now, my mom's burgers were okay but not something I really loved. I think it was how she put them together (being Italian she mixed the meat with egg and other stuff that gave it a different taste).

No, I think my love for burgers came on those rare occasions we ate out. As a kid in the 70's, we maybe got McDonald's a couple times a year - usually during the summer for dinner on a night my parents were going out. We also would go out to the country club as a family once a month during the winter, usually on a Friday night. While everyone was having fish fry, I would savor the cheeseburger and steak fries they served. Of course, this always was a point of contention during Lent. I was a little Catholic rebel then. My take was this: show me exactly in the Bible where it said I had to not eat meat on Fridays and I wouldn't do it. Guess who won? Yeah, I got to savor those wonderful burgers.

Burgers became more of a diet staple for me during college. On nights that I didn't like the main entree selection, I could always go to the grill line and get a burger. That usually happened a couple nights a week. And for the few years after college when I was single, grabbing a burger here are there was a quick and easy option as opposed to cooking for one. Time of day didn't matter. Some of the best burgers were at 2am, gotten from the late night drive-thru window at Hardee's after a night out at the clubs.

When my wife was pregnant with our son, she couldn't stand the smell of food cooking in the house. So, I had to run out and get take-out a lot during that period. For some reason, milkshakes from Hardee's and cheeseburgers from McDonald's seemed to keep her stomach from revolting too much. That was the summer of the third Batman movie (the one with Jim Carey as the Riddler and Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face). Since I was running to the arches every night, I was eating quite a few of these triple patty sandwiches they were selling for the film tie-in. Yeah, I think that's where I gained all my sympathy-pregnancy-weight.

On the whole McDonald's vs. Burger King debate, I'm going with Ronald and company. I just love a Quarter Pounder with cheese, and Micky D's fries are simply the best. I never really got into BK's flame-broiled taste; if it is my only choice then I'll settle - but I'd chose a non-burger place to eat first.

I try to watch how often I have burgers now that I'm over 40. When they went in for my heart surgery a few years back, they let me know I didn't have any build up to be cleaned up. So, I figure why make more trouble, right? Still, a really good burger every now and again is always a welcome treat.

Like Jimmy Buffett sings: I like mine with lettuce and tomato. I'll throw on onion, pickles and some mayo. Definitely paradise.

Other burger favorite places I haven't mentioned yet: Wendy's (love that square patty), In-And-Out Burger (when I'm in southern California), build your own burger places like Fat Daddy's and Fuddrucker's, Raleigh's famous Char-Grill (a must-eat stop every time we're in our old stomping grounds), Five Guys Famous Burgers (we had some in Kill Devil Hills, NC, on our vacation earlier this summer - they have franchises all up and down the East Coast), Backyard Burger (another chain) and BT's Burger Joint (a local Hickory place that just opened up).

Hmm, I think I'll get a burger tonight for dinner. Mmmmmm.

Rant: Would It Kill Them To Flush?

Okay, time for me to vent again. I'm so happy I now have a blog with which I can do so.

Sometimes, when you're out and about (at work, at the grocery store, at a restaurant, at the mall), nature calls unexpectedly and you need to use a public restroom. There is nothing worse than stepping into a vacant stall and finding out the person who last used it prior to you hasn't flushed. Notice, I left gas stations off the list because it is a rare thing that one will ever find a gas station restroom that they'll willingly use unless it is a dire emergency; hoping to find a clean stall in one of those is just asking way too much.

Now, I get that a lot of places have gone to those auto-sensor flushing toilets. You know the kind: those direct out of the Jetsons things with the little red sensors that if you move the wrong way can act like a bidet. They're really cool and great for the user to avoid having to touch one more place for germs. I like them (as long as they work and you don't have to push that little manual button when the sensor doesn't trigger - I seem to have an innate talent of finding the ones where the sensors aren't the most reliable).

But, a lot of places don't have these newer toilets. Believe me, I understand the older toilets. My grandfather was a plumber and ran his own plumbing company. The store and the warehouse had a lot of toilets - and this was back in the 70's when they were built to last. Because most places still have older toilets this is why I'm complaining.

Joe Slob needs to pay attention to his surroundings, take a look when he stands up (if he didn't look before he sat down) and realize he needs to push the button/handle/whatever and make his waste do a disappearing act. Don't leave it there for the masses to admire, moron. You aren't five years old any longer; nobody is gonna reward you for making a poopy. Flush the dang toilet!

Oh, and while I'm on this subject (like you don't want me returning to it again in the future), maybe some of these guys are listening too much to the females in their lives about putting the seat down. If you're using the stall and standing to take a leak either a) lift the seat first, b) put some concentrated effort into aiming (you've got a whole big bowl to hit there, cowboy - unlike basketball, rim shots don't count!) or c) wipe the seat when you're done.

Remember the golden rule: do unto others as you'd wish they do unto you. That and what your kindergarten teacher probably tried to school you on too: leave things in the same condition, or better, than when you found them. This simple act can go a long way, my friend, to the betterment of mankind.

I know I'd be much happier if I didn't have to run across this situation at least once a week.

I Wanna Rock!

Last week, the latest release in a Playstation 2 game franchise that we enjoy in our household came out. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's is the third installment in the Guitar Hero line. It takes the same game engine from Guitar Hero II, alters some of the character designs and settings, and drops in a new soundtrack featuring all tunes from the 1980's.

My son and I got into this game last Fall. We had constantly been seeing folks playing the demo version at the local Best Buy, usually with a crowd of folks around them. The player uses an actual-size guitar shaped controller (with a strap to hang it properly over your shoulder) with five color coded buttons, a strum bar and a whammy bar. The concept is that you play the various notes (combos of buttons with a strum) as they cross the line on the scrolling fret bar. The game has various levels of play from easy (only three colors for notes that move rather slowly) to expert (all five colors for notes in various combos and a rather rapid scrolling pace). Hit the notes right, your score and crowd meter goes up. Miss notes and crowd gets upset. Miss too many and you're booed off the stage.

At first, I was hesitant about getting the game because it really requires two hand coordination to play. My son has a birth injury (brachial plexus) which included nerve damage in his right arm and hand. He's had corrective surgery over the years to help improve things some, but his usage of that hand is still limited. What amazes me is that he is actually better at this game than I am! I don't know how he does it, but he is able to play full songs on Hard while I'm lucky if I can get through 15% of the first song on the first difficulty tier on Hard. I actually think, in some way, that playing this type of game with such complex controls can actually be a kind of therapy for him. I am really thankful he excells at it. It is always encouraging for him to have something he can do better than someone with two good hands.

One of the coolest parts of the game is the rock n' roll soundtrack. The first game had cuts from Joan Jett, the Ramones, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Boston, Judas Priest, ZZ Top, Queen, David Bowie, and more. 30 classic tracks in all. Then there were another 17 songs you could unlock by some indie bands. The second game added in another 40 licensed tracks from Motley Crue, Cheap Trick, Spinal Tap, Kiss, Nirvana, the Police, Van Halen, Kansas, the Pretenders, the Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Heart, Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (the ultimate rock song!) and many more. And it also included another unlockable 26 independent tracks. The most recent release is a bit skimpy on tracks - only 30 licensed tracks and no bonus tunes. The classics include songs by Quiet Riot, the Go-Go's, A Flock of Seagulls, Skid Row, Scorpions, Asia, the Vapors, .38 Special, Scandal, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Oingo Boingo, Poison and more. I can tell you that my son has gotten a better appreciation for the "older" music from the game. He'll ask me to put tracks on his MP3 player for some of the songs. I guess I don't have to worry about him complaining about "old fogey music".

I can't begin to tell you how quickly the time flies when we're playing this. My son and I take turns doing a set of songs, or sometimes we'll play in cooperative mode or head-to-head. Even my wife has succumbed to the game's siren song and tried a few tracks on easy. It is a lot of fun, especially when you have a lot of people around. I actually stand when I play, totally getting into the moment and moving to the music.

I look forward to having a few months to master these tunes. Then, just when we're getting a little tired of it, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is slated for an October 2007 release. Rock on!

Weighing In

According to what I've found on the Internet, the ideal weight for a man of my height (5'10") is 166lbs (falling in the range of 132lbs to 173lbs). Now, I'm currently sitting at 192 which, according to another chart I've found, puts me approximately in the 60th percentile or so for other men around my age (meaning, populationwise, a lot of us have a lot of work to do!).
One of my friends quoted something that was mentioned on Oprah recently: that if you take your height in inches and divide by two that is the waist size you should be shooting for. So, for me 5'10" is 70 inches - divide by two and I get 35. Okay, I feel a bit better. I wear 36 inch waist pants. Not so bad, really. I know I'm not too far off the market either. My recent BMI (body mass index) number was 28.1 - and the goal for someone my age/height is 25 or under. So, I guess this all puts me as slightly overweight.

I'm pretty good about my caloric intake. Sure, I'll spluge once in awhile - a super-sized meal here or a desert there - but I'm usually pretty good. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so I'm safe there. I do like chips though, so I really need to focus more on ones with less fat (and, of course, have them occasionally - all in moderation). No, my big problem is my sedentary lifestyle.

It wasn't always this way for me. All through high school and college I weighed 130lbs with a 32 inch waist. I walked a lot back then. From the age of seven through eighteen, I walked a mile home from school every day. During the summer, I biked and swam, and as I got into my teens walked an eighteen-hole round of golf most weekdays. I ran cross-country in the fall and tracks in the spring (the two-mile) during the early part of my high school career. In college, I know I walked the quarter-mile between the dorms and the class buildings at least four times a day (if not more). And I'd usually go out dancing a few nights a week to boot.

It all really switched gears when I started to work full-time. As a programmer, I sit eight to ten hours a day in front of a computer screen. The first few years I was still going out dancing, but that bit stopped once I met my wife and got married in 1990. By the time I hit 30, two things happened: my metabolism finally started to slow down and my wife got pregnant. Now, during those nine months, I ate a lot of fast food - in part because the smell of food cooking didn't agree with her (she had morning sickness all day for six months). That probably didn't help. When my son started on solid foods and such, I probably did what a lot of father's did - cleaned up the scraps left on his plate that he didn't eat. So, really, poor eating habits since 1995 are part of the problem.

In any case, I know I need to make some changes. Going from regular soda down to a zero calorie will help (for my one can a day that I have). Switching to whole grain bread will too. Eating more fruit and veggies and drinking water can't hurt. And I need to exercise more too. Weekends aren't too much a problem fitting it in; my key is going to be fitting in twenty to thirty minutes Monday through Friday. If I can do that, I can try to reverse a bit the upward trend from the last twelve or so years. I'd definitely be much happier being closer to 175 than being spitting distance from 200.

Oh, and just to note something amusing: there was a story Thursday about a study from Harvard Medical School and the University of California-San Diego regarding obesity being a sort of socially-contagious 'disease'. related news story

Does that mean I can blame my friends and family for the shape I'm in? Nah. Gotta take the responsibility myself. Can't blame a guy for trying though.

SDCC - Wish I Was There

Yesterday marked the opening day of the annual Comic-Con International in San Diego. This four-day event brings together people from all over the country and world that share common interests in comics, animation, science fiction, fantasy, film and television. Last year's attendance was over 125,000 people, a long way from the 300 who attended the first one back in 1970. I've been lucky enough to go to the Con a few times over the years.

My first time was in 1999 when a number of friends I knew for years from the Clobberin' Times APA managed to convince me that I needed to join them for the show (they were celebrating ten years of hitting the Con which is where the APA idea came together in 1989). I had been to San Diego once before (with my wife in 1991) but this was a totally different vacation. Even though I was spending four days in the downtown area by the convention center, the time seemed to fly. Between panel discussions, scouring the many aisles of the exhibit hall, meeting comic creators to get autographs or sketches, and just people-watching (so many folks come in costumes), it seemed like a challenge to take everything in that I wanted to. But I gave it my best effort.

I bonded so well with my friends that first trip that they left me an open invitation to stay with them at their apartment for future Cons. I first took them up on that offer in 2001 when I came back for the show. That year I even volunteered to run one of the group's annual Champions gaming sessions which was loads of fun. I came back again for the show in 2002 and 2003 as well. These trips were very much a recharge time for me as well. It was a chance to step away from the daily routine and just go with the flow. This was time to just hang with the guys, fellow hobby enthusiasts with whom I had a lot in common. We've read the same books, knew the same character histories, could quote the same lines from movies. It was our geek-time. And sure, we had our traditions: a lunch at Hooters, a meal at Kansas City Barbeque, a film the day before the show ramped up at Horton Plaza, a meal at Dick's Last Resort, one or two evenings of Champions gaming, etc. Great times.

Last year, we did things up a bit differently. With a new job and less vacation than before, my wife and I decided to make a family trip out of Con week. So, while my wife was able to leisurely site-see in the town she was born in, I was able to take my ten year old son to the show (he had been asking for years so I finally got to have him come along). This really was a different way to enjoy the show: experiencing it all through his eyes. He was blown away by the various video-game presenters (we spent a good bit of time at the demo booth trying upcoming games). I enjoyed watching him try his hand at the various collectible-card-game challenges. We both enjoyed a number of panels dealing with animation and voice talents of shows we watched together. And we scoured the ever-growing number of aisles on the exhibit floor to find just the right stuff we wanted to spend money on. Sure, I did get to hang with the guys some and I managed to fit in a few of the traditions (all our favorite eating places) between family time activities like a tour of the San Diego Harbor and the US Naval ship.

This year's show seems to have already sold out, especially for Saturday, in advance. That means huge crowds again. Maybe a bit too crowded, at least for my taste. You really couldn't move around the floor well during the weekend last year, and many of the popular panels had huge lines that required arriving in advance and waiting in order to get a seat. I know that only some of the gang is making the show this year, due to other committments and such. Still, I'll get the low-down from Mike in his wonderful narrative style, and I have some friends scouting out freebie items from the exhibit floor I'm interested in (man, sorting through the freebie bag at the end of the show is always fun - I still have a lot of stuff left from last year on top my filing cabinet). I can hit sites like Newsarama to get the high-lights of some of the key panels as well. So, I'll get a taste of the Con even though I'm thousands of miles away. Still, I wish I was there. Maybe in 2009; I can't go next summer as that's tagged for going back North to where I grew up for my 25th high school reunion.

CBS Should Walk The Plank

Aaaaargh! First FOX did it with Drive, and now CBS has gone and pulled Pirate Master before its run finished. Yes, they are going to offer the last five episodes on their website, but come on! This was a summer reality show - it isn't supposed to to great in ratings. And, sure, it was Mark Burnett taking his Survivor formula and trying to map it to a buccanneer theme in hopes of cashing in on the Pirates of the Caribbean bandwagon but still. The contestants were okay - a few you'd love, a few you'd hate and a few you'd go "who is that again?". The challenges were a bit repetitive (row the boat, run into the jungle, find this item, run into the jungle again, find that item, run some more and dig) and the rules regarding eviction in Pirates' Court were sometimes confusing (just how does the mutiny work again?) but still. It was a mindless reality show. Do the few fans it had a favor and let it run it's course.

Well, I refuse to waste my time trying to watch it off the website. That should be used only if one missed a show - like if the power was out and the DVR didn't record it. That shouldn't be the only way to catch it. If that's the way CBS wants to play, fine. No more taking risks on new shows on their network for me. I'll stick to my Monday comedies and that's it.

Caught 'Em All

I'm a collector - books, comics, CDs, DVDs, trading cards. I always have been, for as far back as I remember. Perhaps it's the thrill of the 'hunt' or the feeling of satisfaction of having a complete set of something, all neat and everyone in their proper place.

After over 220 hours over the past three months, I can finally say I caught 'em all. What I am I talking about? Just the 490 different Pokemon in the most recent games in the Pokemon series - Diamond and Pearl. From Abomasnow to Zubat, my National Pokedex is complete.
My son and I have been active Pokemon fanatics since I first introduced him to the tv series in early 2000. This was before we had any games or before the phenomenom really hit full-tilt where we lived. At the start, it was just about this kid Ash who was travelling about, making friends, helping others and getting into battles with his funny little creatures. And the stories even had some moral lessons hidden into the mix so it wasn't so bad viewing. While my son connected to Ash, I really enjoyed the comic antics of the ever-present troublemakers - Jesse and James of Team Rocket.

It really didn't extend beyond the show until I gave my son my old Gameboy Color when I got a Gameboy Advance in the Fall of 2000. My son started us off with Pokemon Blue, the Americanized version of the popular Japanese game. We quickly found many of the elements from the cartoon show came directly from the game (big surprise - not; most of these cartoon shows these days are product tie-ins to other things). When a version called Pokemon Yellow came out, I decided to get that one for myself to play That introduced us to the first 150.

Every few years after that, new versions popped up for the game to expand the world. Pokemon versions Gold and Silver came next, adding another 100 to the mix. This worked out well: I got one version while my son got the other. And since you needed to cooperatively trade with others, it worked out well to have it all in one house hold. Next came versions Ruby and Sapphire. Again, more characters were introduced into the game and again the whole cooperative factor. Because these newer games only came for the Gameboy Advance, my son got to upgrade his system a bit. A few years back, they rereleased the original games with improved graphics and color for the Advance system in the forms of Leaf Green and Fire Red versions. Again, two way split. Tie-in games like Pokemon Collesseum and Pokemon XD for the Gamecube allowed by son to get his game fix in a more three-dimensional form, while the Pokebox software allowed for transferal of characters from the Gameboy games into the Gamecube games, and vice versa.

All of it came to a head this Spring. First came Diamond and Pearl for the Nintendo DS system. This most recent version took the same classic concepts but allowed for players to get all the monsters from all the games - all 490. First one had to complete the first 150 listed in the regional Pokedex, and then the list expanded out to all from all the various games together in the National Pokedex. The catch: you really needed the former games to get some of them. This required breeding of eggs, transferring from other games through the DS cartridge port, etc. It was a lot of work. Some of the hard to get ones required even using the Global Trading Station, a way in the game to use an Internet connection to trade with folks around the world. My son got one Pokemon from someone in Japan, then bred it to make an egg so I could have this hard to get one in my game too. I even did a trade on the GTS for one, with someone from Colorado.
And that's one thing I really liked about these games: the cooperative aspects. It wasn't just about beating down some monsters or leveling up or solving puzzles. It promoted teamwork. Being an only child, my son often looks to my wife and I to share some of his interests. This is one I could share with him readily; my wife's eyes glaze over every time he and I get so deep into discussions about Raichu, Feebas, Chimchar and the like (she says it's like we're speaking our own language at the time - when in some ways it is).

The other thing I liked is that when my son was first starting out it was a good way to encourage him to read more things. The game has text aspects to it - so you often have to pay attention to what the people you encounter are saying. It was a nice way to get him to do something he typically didn't like to do often. Also, through these games, my son realizes the importance of studying up and memorization. I can ask him what level a Krabby evolves into a Kingler or what fossil a Cranidos comes from, and he knows. I figure if he can memorize all this stuff, he shouldn't have any problems in school down the road.

So, having caught 'em all, I feel that little weight lifted off my shoulders. I can put this game aside for awhile, focus on other things, and still have that satisfied feeling of a job completed. Until the next game comes out, at least.