I thought about posting some grand thing about what I've learned in the last year....

but ultimately, I stick to the same basic thought that Craig Tiley once gave me. Paraphrased, for personal use, as opposed to business use, you surround yourself with the best people possible, and let them be who they are and do what they do. I think I've been lucky enough to do that, especially in the last couple of years, this past 12 months being no exception.

With that being said, please enjoy these LOLcats.

LOLBirf

A listener asked for these exercise tips, so here they are!

HERE ARE FIVE WAYS TO BURN AN EXTRA 500 CALORIES A DAY:
In your mid-20s, your metabolism slows down, and your body starts burning fewer calories . . . up to 200 less a day. Then at 40, your body REALLY starts packing it away. But it doesn't have to. Here are five easy ways to burn 500 extra calories a day . . .
#1.) WORKOUT OUTSIDE. You burn 10 percent more calories running outside than you do on a treadmill. Treadmills drag your feet, and you don't have to propel yourself forward. And running into the wind, even if it's a slight breeze, burns more calories.
#2.) ALWAYS WARM UP. Most of us don't take the five minutes to do it, but we should. For every degree your body temperature goes up, your metabolic rate increases by 13 percent.
#3.) RUN AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS. Bursts of intense activity make you burn more fat than running or riding a bike at one constant speed. And even after you're finished, it makes your body burn about 15 percent more fat than it would otherwise.
#4.) DEVOTE ONE HOUR, ONCE A WEEK. Researchers found that people who worked out for an hour burned nearly five times as many post-workout calories as people who only exercised for 30 minutes.
#5.) USE HEAVIER DUMBBELLS. You burn 25 percent more calories lifting 20 pounds five times, than you do lifting 10 pounds ten times . . . even though it's the same total weight.
--And researchers say that even if you can only do sets of 3 to 6 reps with heavier weights, it makes your body burn up to eight percent more calories every night while you SLEEP. (Prevention.com)

Good News, Bad News:

Good News: The cupcakes are gone from my kitchen! :)


















Bad News: They're in my belly. :(

The WORST part of having a bunch of great friends:

is that when we have get togethers and parties, or just on certain days when people decide to be really kind....they make me gluten free treats. This past weekend, I was made both cupcakes and brownies. Now, the leftovers are sitting in my kitchen. What am I supposed to do, other than eat them and get fat????

BLURG.

(seriously, though, thank you to Julia and the Cappas)

Sorry for the delay....here's an update, including notes on my assface neighbor.

I apologize for the vulgarity in the subject line, but hey, it is what it is.

I've been lucky enough over the last 9 years to have good, adult, relatively quiet neighbors. Even when I lived below a guy who was in a band, he was respectful enough to keep his musical interludes to a minimum, and turn his amp way down so it wasn't shaking my walls.

Now, however, I have a neighbor next door who is either still an undergrad, or freshly out, and he has zero concept of neighborly civility. In the past 3 weeks, I have had to bang on the wall, or say something, 4 times. He stands outside of our back porch areas and smokes, close enough that it all sneaks in to my house if I have the window open. He bangs around and slams on the stairs loud enough that I can hear it. Constantly. At 10PM every night, I can hear either his music, or his television, which is blaring. One time last week, Stinky ran outside for a minute, which he does every day, and sat on the step. I go inside for one minute or less, and then here "kitty, kitty, kitty," open the door, and find that he's thrown my cat a piece of bread. MY CAT IS NOT A DUCK. He said, "I thought it was a stray." No, you idiot.

Now, he lives with his girlfriend. When his girlfriend is there, he doesn't seem to play his music that loudly. But the rest of the time? Yeah, he's a jerk.

I have no idea how to handle this situation, because he appears to be immature enough that were I to say something, I'd imagine that I'll get ding dong ditched or something the next day at 2AM.

So, I'll take your suggestions at this point. I will keep slamming my fist against the wall for now, hoping he gets the hint. If you know this person, please tell him he is an ass.

Now, on to other points from my life:
-I remain extremely disappointed in the Illinois football loss to Missouri. On two points: 1)I'm a fan. I wanted them to be successful, and with my Camp Rantoul involvement, I wanted them to be successful because they were all very nice to me. And 2)It cost me money. If the team is successful, I get to do what is called "stringing" work, where I report the score of the game live on the air on ESPN Radio, and Sporting News Radio. When the team is NOT successful, I do not get hired. I figure that last week's loss probably cost me $200 throughout the season. Not a lot, but when you're broke? Yeah, it's a big deal.
-Speaking of which, money has been extremely tight of late. We're still dealing with our salary cut at work, and I haven't had any announcing gigs until a couple weeks ago. Things will start to level out here as basketball starts, but still. Ugh. It's just not pleasant. As a result, I'm not going to a friend's wedding in October in New York. I'd have to give up money in announcing gigs, and the cost of travel would be too much for a weekend. Ugh.
-Why do I like Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA." It's fricking embarrassing.
-Finally started running again last week. It's been difficult getting back in to it. I've got a weird feeling that my knees are a little bit more damaged than I want to believe.
-There is the possibility right now that I'll be going with Julia to visit her fam over Thanksgiving. That would be weird to not see my family. But with "adulthood" comes change. Gotta get used to that.
-Any other questions? I ain't been on here much, so if you have questions or things you'd like for me to comment on, I'd be happy to.

I CAN NOT WAIT FOR FOOTBALL YES YES YES YES YES YES

*BEAT MISSOURI DAMMIT*

I haven't been this excited about a football season in a long, long time. I don't know what else to say. Maybe it's because I've had an opportunity to get to know the players a little more...maybe it's just the fact that the team is so talented....
I don't know. But I am planning on getting some rum, having a couple of drinks, planting myself in front of the tele at 2:30 on Saturday, and having a screaming good time.

To put me in the mood:

For today

Yeah, so.....