This Is Titled Food I Like...

...because I am entering a contest that my sister-in-law is having! Hahaha so this might be a little bit of a cop-out, but when it comes to free food and gift certificates, I am always game. A friend once told me "Brian, if someone ever asks you if you are hungry, the answer is always 'I could eat.'" Wise words right?

So in honor of this occasion consider this my list of the best fast food type stuff you can eat. In no particular order here are my favorites:

1. Whataburger's The Honey BBQ Chicken Strip Sandwich - if you like chicken and BBQ sauce, this is simply magical

2. Bacon Cheeseburger - at first I was tempted to only include foods with bacon because bacon rocks. However, I stopped at this because this is my favorite way to eat bacon. No restaurant in particular here, just any bacon cheeseburger...

3. Supreme Pizza - this coming from a notoriously picky eater growing up. My friend Cliff once offered me some flour for a snack because I always had my food "plain" and flour is as plain as it gets.

4. PF Changs & Pei Wei Dan Dan Noodles - If you like spicy Asian food, do yourself a favor and try these out the next time you visit this fine dining establishment, you won't be sorry!

5. DQ Blizzard - After you finish the four meals listed above, finish it off with the Blizzard of your choice. Current favorites for myself include Butterfinger, Banana Cream Pie, and Heath bar.

So there you have it folks, my favorites. What say you?!

Don't Call Me a Health Nut...

...Because I definitely am not.

Let me preface this post by saying that I know that I am in reasonable shape, not overweight, and feel good. That aside, I have decided to eat a little bit healthier, and to workout a couple times a week. How is that for being vague about a new year's resolution?

I don't know why I decided to do this other than I am at an all time high weight of 173ish lbs. GASP! I know that isn't too much to weigh when you are 6'1, but when Amanda and I were married I weighed in around 158. I would actually argue that 15 lbs. in 3 years isn't so bad, but if I were being honest, I would admit that those 15 lbs. actually arrived mostly in the last few months. I have also noticed that they have arrived in primarily one area - my belly.

Now before anyone says "that's not a big deal, you should continue eating whatever you want, in whatever quantity you want.", I would like to say, thank you, I would do that if I didn't think it would hurt me further down the road. Don't get me wrong, I love going to bar-b-que places and eating roughly a pound and half of meat. It is, in fact, one of my FAVORITE things. I really love food to an extent that most people would not be aware of. Don't let my lunch of Chicken nuggets in the shapes of dinosaurs, mac 'n cheese, and a banana convince you that I have an unsophisticated palate (the banana is part of me eating better - normally I would just eat more of the chicken and mac 'n cheese). I truly like most vegetables (that aren't in a salad - really all veggies but lettuce), fruit, cheeses, meats, dairy, breads, the list goes on.

Basically all this to say I know I need to eat a little bit better and to work out more often. I feel like my run of eating whatever I want is coming to a close, and I plan on living a long time, and I hear that eating well helps with that. So yes, I resolve to eat more fruit, more veggies, to not eat after I am full, and to other such healthy things like drink more water. I also resolve to work out a couple of times a week.

I don't really know how to wrap this post up, so I am going to post a picture of my favorite thing to eat because... well I don't know why, so just look at it and maybe we can have one together some time soon if you are doing well with your resolution. THAT'S IT! I won't eat one of these until I have done well with my resolution for a while. Now I have incentive. Let's do it!

A bar-b-que bacon cheeseburger and fries.

No need to point out how bad it is for you - just eat one and your taste buds will dance with joy.

Girls Are Sneaky

Have you ever watched Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? If you have, then maybe you are familiar with one of my favorite Star Wars characters - Admiral Ackbar. He is famous for two things: 1. His big line in the movie "IT'S A TRAP!" and 2. Ole Miss almost made him their mascot. Picture and video below:

Admiral Ackbar

notice the "It's a trap!" signs around the :43 - :45 second mark

Why do I tell you this? Well let me tell you a little story.

My wife likes to run about two to three times a week in the morning for her daily workout. The other days she does an exercise video. Occasionally she asks me run with her to (a) keep her company, and (b) make sure she doesn't get kidnapped or mugged while she is by herself. Call me overprotective, but I don't want either of those things to happen.

The other morning I went on one of these runs, and everything started out normally. We walked for the first 2 minutes and then we started running. After a couple of minutes of running, Amanda said the following:

"I don't feel so good. I don't think I want to run anymore, can we just walk?"

Immediately I pictured Admiral Ackbar saying "IT'S A TRAP!" in my head because girls are sneaky. What do I mean by sneaky? Well what if I told you that Amanda has said she wanted to quit early on a run before and my reply was "ok". Immediately after my reply though, I was told "Hey, you are here to make sure I don't die, and to make sure I keep running! Don't let me slack off."

Now you know why I thought it was a trap. After a couple seconds of thinking about it, and wondering what to do, I decided that I was going to do my duty and make her keep running. To which her reply was "But I don't feel gooooooood :( :( :( :(" or something to that effect. I let her know that I thought I was supposed to make her keep running and she told me that I didn't have to this time.

This reiterates my point: Girls are sneaky.

Needless to say, we walked for the remainder of the allotted workout time and finished up at our house. I don't know if I will ever understand women...

Do you have any good sneaky girl stories?

What I'm Watching

Since Fall TV is coming back around, I saw someone else do a post similar to this, and my wife and I have finished watching every single episode of "Dawson's Creek" (I know everything about the creek and its happenings now...) I decided it was a good idea to give it a shot. Here are the shows I would most like to watch (along with some commentary) for each day of the week.

Monday

What can I say, I'm a guy who likes football, and they have really good commercials promoting it too, like the one below...

Tuesday

I don't actually get to watch it on Tuesday nights, but I do watch it. Before you judge me, I only watch it because my wife likes it.... yeah thats it...

Wednesday

I started watching this last year and I really liked it. I totally relate to the dynamic of the husband and wife (the ones in the middle). 

Thursday

Ok, I couldn't choose because I like them both. "Fringe" is good if you like the sci-fi type of stuff or Joshua Jackson, and "The Office" is good if you like to laugh until you cry. You win either way.

Friday

I don't really watch much on Fridays, but for some reason Amanda and I like to watch dateline and hear one of the following storylines: (1) Mystery about something (2) Wife/husband kills wife/husband in crazy way (3) Unbelievable story about a struggle someone has and the strength they have to overcome said struggle.

Saturday

Can't stop, won't stop, all day...

Sunday

Ok for real on this one, I mostly watch it because my wife watches it. And before you really judge me on this, the story isn't half bad. Yes, there are some scandalous things, but a lot of the time each episode has a lesson at the heart of it. Give it a shot some time if you feel brave.

So that's what I will be watching! Let me know if you like any of these or will be watching along with me. Or if not, what will you be watching?

Economically Efficient

Yesterday after my wife and I finished eating our chimichanga dinner, and we had sat down on the couch, I did what I normally do at that time - turned on the TV to ESPN. While I do this Amanda is usually busy checking facebook and her email so I can get a few seconds of sports in while she does this. The show that was on was "Homecoming" where famous sports stars go back to their hometown and get interviewed in the high school gym by a reporter from ESPN. This episode featured Donovan McNabb and it was relatively entertaining, but one part caught my attention. A former teammate of his was there and he revealed that Donovan never paid for much as a rookie in the NFL even though he was one of the highest paid rookies that year. He said Donovan never took him out to lunch, brought in breakfast for everyone, and on and on about how Donovan was "cheap". After he was done, Donovan responded by saying, "I don't believe in the word 'cheap', I believe in being economically efficient."

I totally agree with Donovan. Since getting married, I have noticed my spending habits have changed. Besides not buying as many video games as I used to, I have been more economically efficient. I don't eat as much fast food or out in general, I find myself comparing prices at the grocery store and getting what ever is cheaper per ounce, and I even have started using coupons.

Don't be fooled though, this wasn't totally my idea. I have a great wife that helped me see the importance of being economically efficient. She gives me coupons and points out unnecessary spending to me, to which I usually have to recognize that she is right and I should take her advice. Case in point: I no longer stop at a gas station on the way out of town on short road trips to Austin, College Station, La Grange, etc. to buy a coke. Instead I have a few cans at home I take with me.

The ultimate symbol of this new found efficiency is a dog-leash we own. When we adopted Noah, they gave us a free leash so we could take him home. I think we bought a nicer one on the way home because it seemed a little small for big guy like him, but we held on to the leash anyway. Enter Buster a few months later and we now had a leash for him. But the story doesn't stop there. Buster likes to eat through leashes. He has chewed through his leash 3 times and after each time, we don't go buy a new one; instead we tie the two ends together of the old leash and it works good as new... pretty much.

Anyway all this to say being economically efficient is kind of fun and worth your time.

1 Corinthians 16:2On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

Ok So Maybe It's Been a While...

First of all, my apologies for taking a long hiatus from blogging! If you want to catch up on the event that have been going on in my life, a good place to check is my wife's blog . She is also a better writer than I am, so props to her for that too.

Anyway, here are some things that are currently going on that are taking my time and interest:

1. Living Stones Church. Yep, that's the name of the church that we are starting. Our first service is on October 3rd, and it will be in Sugar Land. Where in Sugar Land you ask? Well that is TBD because we are still trying to negotiate some space to use. So, if you or anyone you know knows anything about real estate or helping start-up churches find space, LET ME KNOW!

2. Lost. This past Sunday, my wife and I spent about 8 hours watching the show. We woke up, ate breakfast, watched Lost until lunch, after lunch we watched some more, then it was time to go to church. So far, I think she has enjoyed it, and I am enjoying watching the early episodes again as well. If you haven't watched it before, get a Netflix account and treat yourself!

3. Fantasy Football. We have already established my love of sports, and fantasy sports in previous posts. My baseball team is in the doghouse if you must know... And now it is time for football. I have spent a little bit of time each day, the last couple of weeks, expanding my fantasy knowledge. I am so ready. Maybe too ready. I am pretty sure none of my opponents will read this before I draft tonight, so I will go ahead and tell you that I have the perfect strategy and it is centered around bye weeks. Ask me later if you want to know more. Victory will be mine!

4. I keep ending the last sentence of each of these topics with an exclamation point - I don't know why!

5. I am obsessed with the double rainbow song as seen below:



6. I am also obsessed with the bed intruder song as seen below:



7. My dogs love laser pointers. It is always hilarious to play with them using one. Noah in particular will keep looking for it for hours after I have put the pointer away. The latest mean trick I do is putting it on the wall just out of reach or leading them into the wall and watching them run headfirst into it trying to bite the little red dot. I really can't get enough.

8. Those are the big ones. I will write more often I promise. Thanks for reading!

World Cup Hero

So the World Cup has come and gone, and I find myself missing it. I really enjoyed watching those games early in the morning and then again in the middle of the day. I think my interest in watching soccer has probably never been higher than it is right now actually. There were a few heroes from this past world cup, and I thought I would share them with you. So here goes...

1. Vuvuzelas! I have seen a couple of MLS games on TV and without the buzz, it just doesn't feel the same. I also keep imagining what it would be like if fans brought 10,000 of them to a college (let's just imagine for the sake of imagining that this college is Texas A&M) football game and blew the crud out of them. Sounds like fun to me.

2. Paul the Octopus! If you haven't heard by now, there was this octopus that correctly picked the winner of something like 6-7 matches in a row. Pretty dang cool.

3. Spain! Hey, they won, so I think that qualifies. And I was rooting for them because my wife spent a summer there in college. Which leads me to my last hero.

4. Amanda, and her World Cup bracket! Before the World Cup started some friends and I filled out brackets to see who could accurately predict the most winners. Well I filled out two. One with Amanda's help, and one without her help - she didn't know that I filled out the second one without her until later. I say until later because she found out when I informed her that after the second round, the bracket she helped me fill out was in last place. She was a little upset and maybe a little mad that I filled another one out because she felt like it made her look dumb, and me smarter because my bracket was better. However, when it was all said and done, it was just the opposite. Her bracket came in second place and mine near the bottom. That should teach me!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the world cup as well. Anything you miss about it?