Just as it sounds. This is my little space on the web to share thoughts on being a father, working in the mental health field, being an avid video gamer, sports enthusiast and much more.
Tell Me What You Think
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I have been a bit preoccupied lately and have not posted anything on my blog is a few weeks. Most of the reason is due to no longer having a television provider anymore. Most people would think that this should free up time for me to do even more posts, and that would be the case if I would not have started a Netflix subscription. I have spent the time I usually blog by watching 30 Rock since I am a devoted Office fan and have missed out on this show.
I started a basketball league at a local fitness center. My team is consists of three family members and two of their friends. We are certainly not the most athletic team (I'm the second tallest at 6'1" on a good day) or the most experienced (two of us have organized basketball experience at the high school level) but it is a lot of fun. Our current record is 1-2 and the two games we lost were very close. I'm averaging 12 points and probably could be more aggressive on offense...and if you know anything about my history with basketball you'd say "that sounds about right". For whatever reason I have never had much of a score first mentality but I'm trying to change.
I am still going to the YMCA every weekday morning before work. I shoot hoops for about 15 minutes to get limbered up before going to workout on the elliptical for an hour. I have also changed my diet significantly by simply reducing the amount of food I eat each meal, no longer eating until I feel full, and have incorporated one or more large salads into my daily food consumption. I have also gotten rid of drinking coffee. The reason for that was only due to me not being able to drink it black and would instead have to use a large amount of creme brule creamer which was a lot of extra calories I did not need. For breakfast most mornings I have a medium sized bowl of oatmeal with frozen berries and vanilla Greek yogurt mixed in. As for the results...I have been doing this since the end of July and have lost 24 pounds. If I lose another 15 pounds or so I will be back to the weight I was in high school...that would be crazy! I feel great and seem to have a lot more energy through the day, although I am usually exhausted by about 7pm.
Lastly, I have been playing "Borderlands 2" as much as I can, which is not as much as I would like. And if it wasn't bad enough for me to have a sweet first person shooter to occupy my free time with, that I just got a couple weeks ago, now I have "Dishonored" which is a first person supernatural assassin game. I am struggling to play both at the same time and have found myself caught up with Dishonored mostly because I just started it. Both games are great and will give me plenty of gaming action to last me through the rest of the year.
And now for a cute pic of my son Landon trying to feed his cousin.
One of my close friends recently started up a website, Preorder Gamer, for die hard video gamers that details the preorder bonuses you can get for upcoming games. The great thing about this site is that there are not many like it out there, if any at all. There are tons of video game review sites that also speak to some of the preorder bonuses available, but this site really details the variety amongst the bonuses depending on what type of upgrade you get and where you purchase from.
Since this site is new within the past couple weeks there is some push to get it recognized. So what better way than to have a giveaway contest of one of the most anticipated games of the year...Borderlands 2. I admittedly have not played the first Borderlands so am not clear on all the hype but from what my friend tells me, it will be epic. He described the game as a first person shooter with an incredible variety of enemies to face off against and an even wider variety of guns and other lootable items in the world of Pandora.
Another great feature of this game is the seamless multiplayer mode in which you can join friends already in game via Xbox Live. This allows you to pick up the action with your buddies and avoids sitting around in a game lobby where you have to wait for enough players to start a match. When you want to play you can, and you will.
Another great thing about this site is that it gets right down to the facts about what you need to know in a brief, couple of paragraphs, article about the upgrades. The segments do not carry on for pages and pages like some games that devote their time reviewing the game play. This site will tell you what you want and need to know in a matter of 30 seconds of reading. It also has some video clips of game play and images of the upgrade bonuses available. Another great feature of this site is the ease at which you can preorder the games you want. Each preorder bonus package has a link for where you can purchase the game, whether you have an Xbox or Playstation.
Finally, my favorite part about this site is that I won the Borderlands 2 contest and will receive my free copy of the game this weekend to start enjoying. To enter the contest all you had to do was post a comment on the article describing who you were going to play as in Borderlands 2. As I mentioned above, I know the creator of this site really well and spent some time with him this weekend trying to convince him that I should just be awarded the game, basically for being an awesome friend. But he decided to be all fair about it and posted a video of him putting the names of those who commented on the article in a bowl and then mixed them up and "making it rain" before pulling out the winning name. Here is the video of me winning the first giveaway from this great site. Notice how he comments on me trying to "stack the deck" and then his expression when he reveals that I won fair and square. Priceless.
Make sure you check out this site for great reviews and more giveaways. Preorder Gamer.
Jerry Seinfeld is a master of all things comedy as we all know. He has not done too many projects since the "Seinfeld" show other than "A Bee Movie", which was mostly geared toward young children. Now he has a web series titled "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee".
Ricky Gervais was mostly terrified to ride with Jerry as he put the car to the test.
The premise is that he drives around in a different classic car every episode to pick up other comedian friends, they go get coffee, the whole thing is filmed and that's about it. What I enjoy about this series is that none of it seems scripted. Hearing these genius comics ad lib and banter back and forth feels much more personal than to watch them act out a skit on a sitcom or perform stand up routines that can sometimes feel too prepared.
Jerry and Brian Regan commenting on Brian's siblings professions.
So far there are 7 episodes available to watch that include comedians such as Larry David, Brian Regan, Ricky Gervais and Alec Baldwin to name a few. As for the cars, there is actually very little added to the show that relates to the specific car in the episode. In the beginning of each show Jerry Seinfeld narrates some interesting facts about the car he is driving in for the day and he and his guest usually have some comments about it, paired with some video of them parking and checking it out in some random urban area or outside of a diner.
Jerry and Larry David in a diner having coffee and tea.
Most of the show takes place in a coffee house, diner or restaurant. Often the comedians speak about random topics and will occasionally comment on the restaurant itself or the customers. The episodes are usually a brief 12-15 minutes. For those of you who need a bit more humor from these episodes, there is a "spare parts" link that will provide you with about 10 more minutes of unused footage broken up into 90 second chunks which are amusing too.
I highly recommend checking out this comedy web series if you are in need of a few good laughs during your day and don't have time to spend watching a full 30 minutes of sitcoms or standups. Although if you are anything like myself, you'll find yourself glued to the computer watching episode after episode until there is no more to see.
To quote the great Christopher Walken, "I've got a fever, and the only cure is" more Dub Step! I first learned of this new dance craze from watching So You Think You Can Dance. One of the surprising final few male dancers is a guy named Cyrus, aka "Glitch". Here is a clip of him and two other dancers doing what they do best...Dub Step. He is the third to go.
Dub Step is an eclectic mix of some ticking and gliding moves that are choreographically synced to its own genre of music which takes hard hitting base and mixes in different tempos of electronic/robotic sounds. Essentially it is what you would imagine Transformers listening to back on their home planet Cybertron. When the moves are seen in combination with the various tempos of music and unique sounds, it is an amazing experience like no other. Here is one great example.
I have certainly taken a strong interest in this genre of music and dance over the past week or so. I find myself watching countless videos and listening to the Dub Step station on Pandora at times. What I find so amazing is the unconventional ways of moving that each dancer demonstrates and their ability to match their movements to the music in such a way that seems as though they are linked together. Here is one last clip that you must watch. These are some of the best examples I have found and would love to hear some comments from anyone who is also as captivated as I am.
For as far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated with all things paranormal. From ghosts to aliens, from Atlantis to Roswell, from Ouija boards to the Nazca lines. There is something about these mysteries that ignites my fantastical thinking while also hoping for some evidence that these things do in fact exist. I can get caught up in watching hours of "Ancient Aliens" on the History channel or watching movies like "The Fourth Kind" that further spark my interest.
What makes these paranormal activities so interesting? Is it something to do with my way of thinking and beliefs in the world that allows me to want some paranormal thing to truly exist? I think it is a variety of factors and I may never truly know a full answer. What I do know is that the human brain likes to have complete answers to problems and sometimes will fill in the blanks to form a solution, such as in this image below.
See grey dots? Are you sure they are really there?
TV shows that claim to provide some type of evidence of proof get me hooked because I hope they start to fill that gap that is missing with many of these mysteries. Here are some of the things that have nabbed my interest over the years and some links for more information about them.
Nazca Lines
In Peru amongst the foot hills and mountains you will find a mystery that has many possible explanations and yet none that have definitively been proven, as far as I am aware. The Peruvian people called the Nazcas who inhabited the area around 200 BC formed these geoglyphs which would have required numerous hours and people by the masses contributing their efforts. The soil in this part of the desert is quite dense and yet one can easily shuffle their feet along the surface to reveal a different colored soil beneath. This method is what was likely done by the Nazcas to create the images they decided were important enough to collaborate together on and devote time to.
Minus the obvious bird, doesn't it look somewhat like a modern day airstrip?
What is most concerning and interesting is why go to all of this trouble? Most cultures that had some need to create art did so on a smaller scale that would be easy for others to see. The Nazca however chose to create their art in such a place that only someone in the sky would truly be able to take in the full form of what they had created. Another interesting thing to consider is how they would have such precision in their art on such a large scale without ever being able to see it from above for themselves?
Ancient Aliens
The History Channel has blessed its viewers with some 20 plus hours of a fascinating show called Ancient Aliens. The point of this entertaining piece of television is to provide "evidence", or at least opinions, about how aliens have been visiting earth long before the Roswell incident and in fact all throughout time. One theory of the Ancient Aliens is that people have actually been an experiment of sorts that were planted on earth for study. The suggestion with this theory is also that we are therefore descendants of aliens which is why "the greys" look so much like us.
One of the great parts of this show is how emphatic the experts are in their opinions, as if there are no other solutions. Having said that, I do think that many of their theories seem rather plausible and yet many are clearly not.
In Nova Scotia there is a place called Oak Island. In 1795 a few kids were playing on the island when one of them noticed a spot on the ground that looked as if it were lower than the rest, as if there may be something beneath it. So naturally, the kids decided to start digging. What they found would lead to numerous men, millions of dollars spent and some lives lost to figure out the reason for something being there that clearly should not have been.
What the boys uncovered was a pit that seemed to have no end and was man made. Every ten feet they dug down they encountered a platform of logs that acted as a barrier from going any further and were wedged securely in the sides of the earth. Nevertheless the boys managed to dig through some of these platforms before giving up. Some 7 years later a wealthy man and his crew had heard of the myths of Oak Island and decided to find whatever was at the bottom. They continued to dig and every ten feet the same oak logs blocked the path and eventually there were other things mixed in as well such as clay, charcoal and a fibrous material which turned out to be coconut fibers which are not indigenous to the area.
Approximately 90 feet down a stone slab was found with strange engravings on them and was later determined to be a type of stone found almost solely in Egypt. Around the 110 foot marker is when things really got odd. The pit became entirely filled with water overnight. Unbeknown to the diggers the pit had multiple shafts dug horizontally underground at various depths so that sea water from the nearby shore of the island would be yet another barrier to the bottom. So far at least 6 people have perished from attempting to uncover this mystery and divers have gone as far as 235 feet into the shaft and still no one has figured out how to go any further or how to surpass the water trap system.
I work for a county mental health program and am a member of the Crisis Services. This essentially means that my entire job is to help members of the community, whether a client at my agency or not, manage their "crisis". For some people a crisis may be simply not having the medications that they have been prescribed, to being homeless for the first time, to the more severe cases of wanting to kill themselves or others.
Prior to taking this position I was a drug and alcohol counselor, which surprisingly enough, was a lot more stressful. There seemed to be more of a constant pressure from the day-to-day job duties that was certainly taking a toll on me, plus working late into the evenings to do group therapy was not helpful. My job now consists of working from 8:10am to 5pm and every other week I get Mondays off.
My crisis team consists of a colleague and my supervisor plus the support of some doctoral interns most days of the week. Due to each of us having specific skills and comfort levels, I tend to go to the hospitals to see clients whereas my colleagues manage the walk in crisis situations. I love going to the hospitals because I get to be out of the office and working with the physicians and nurses. It is also pretty amazing that in mental health situations where a person who is at the E.R. with thoughts of suicide that I am called in for the "expert" opinion on how to handle the situation.
Where I see the majority of the people.
Most of the time I come up with some sort of plan with the client to help them look forward to receiving some help and to practice coping skills to allow them to feel safe. It is quite seldom that I put someone into a psychiatric hospital, which may seem contrary to my line of work. In fact, most people that are suicidal do not benefit much from going to a psych unit because those issues are not easily resolved and tend to take long term counseling. The people I put into the psych unit are generally the ones that are psychotic and may inadvertently be a threat to themselves or others and just need to get on appropriate medications.
One facet of my job which I find very interesting is being able to put someone on a "hold" which allows me to have them sent to a psych unit for further evaluation and this may occur against their will. This is something that can be a difficult decision to make because going involuntarily to a psych unit can be pretty traumatic at times and yet if it is essential in a person improving their functioning then it may be for the best. Once on a hold they can only be held for five judicial days and at that point I need to have made a decision on whether or not the person will be able to be released or if I need to seek a civil commitment. Civil commitment is a legal process that can mandate people to treatment and sometimes to residential facilities where they may live and receive treatment.
Psych units have changed a lot from the days of "One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest".
My job has many different roles at times and yet it all boils down to one thing...being able to manage intense situations in the moment while maintaining my clinical judgment. I really enjoy being in pressure situations at times and believe I thrive off of it. It is almost like an adrenaline rush at times when there is a difficult person creating chaos in the E.R. and it is my job to diagnose them and plan on how to best help them. I really love what I do and encourage other counselors, who are thrill seekers of sorts, to seek out some crisis experience.
It seems that these days there are a lot of movies being either remade with more up to date graphics or as a prequel/sequel to a film that was released several years ago. You would think that with the advancements in technology that these new movies would be much improved from their originals, however many of them sadly fall short. Here are my thoughts on some of these new movies that clearly don't live up to the classic originals.
Remake: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
I feel the need to go on record to say that I love Johnny Depp and have enjoyed nearly all of his films. He is one of the great actors of our era and has left behind many infamous portrayals of beloved characters for their quirky and often odd idiosyncrasies and the one I am about to mention certainly fits these criteria. In "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" Johhny Depp plays Willy Wonka who is entrepreneur in the sweets industry selling a large variety of intriguing and unique candies. I won't go into more detail about the plot because, honestly, if you have not seen this movie or at least the original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", then you may as well stop reading this and go to your Netflix queue because you have some new movies to add. Gene Wilder played the original Willy Wonka and was fabulous. He is also the actor to give us such great performances in hits such as Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. Johnny Depp, while providing an odd take on the well known character, does a great job at what he does best and yet it falls incredibly short with me because it is just too odd.
Maybe I am being too harsh on Johnny but I like my Willy Wonka to be warm, able to sing a good song and lovable with a tendency to snap at any instance just to make sure he has your attention. In the newest version of this movie I found myself just thinking of how much I would rather be watching the original. And don't get me started on the Oompa Loompas. I know the director was trying something fresh with one actor playing all the miniature workers in the factory but again, too over the top and not as good as those orange faced, green haired, white overall wearing, rhyming in unison geniuses from the classic.
Prequel: The Thing
My family has satellite TV but due to being a one income family we have a pretty basic package. So when I saw that we had a free weekend preview of one of the major movie channels I decided to record as many movies as I could that looked interesting. One of these titles was "The Thing" which is essentially a prequel to the original which came out in 1982 starring Kurt Russell. This film is about a team of scientists that find an alien life form in the middle of nowhere buried deep down in the ice. They dig it out, they find out it's not dead, they instinctively try and kill it before being killed, the bad ass American saves the day...you know the story.
I have several issues with the new version compared to the original. First of all, why would anyone try and remake a classic movie starring Kurt Russell? It would certainly not live up to his on screen brilliance! I say this with some sarcasm because he is typically the sort of hero that is a bit goofy at times, provides some humor, then demolishes anything in his path. For more references on this look up "Big Trouble In Little China" and you'll understand. There is the stereotypical American however the actor does not do the film as much justice as Kurt once did and is much less believable. The next issue is the graphics. Back in the 80's they didn't have all the fancy computer graphic capabilities as they do now and in many cases is worked out for the better. This is definitely one of them. In the original movie the alien would take on these grotesque forms that were models used in the actual footage of each scene. This made for a much more realistic viewing of the movie and likely an easier way for the actors to display their fear. In the new movie it seems as though the graphics department has gone in and added these creepy flares after the fact and it makes the whole experience a drag if you have already seen the original.
Sequel: Teen Wolf Too
Is there anything greater than watching a young Michael J. Fox surf on top of a moving van while doing a hand stand through the suburbs...and he's a werewolf? Of course there is, a young Michael J. Fox dominating high school basketball due to his new found talents from being a werewolf, since all of them are obviously ballers, and everyone being cool with it. Well the original "Teen Wolf" had both of these great cinematic moments including a scene in which an overweight character named "Chubby" is at a party and gets to, as part of a game, root around for jello with his face in an attractive young woman's top...and again, everyone is cool with it.
Whoever pitched "Teen Wolf Too" must have been out of their mind to submit a movie idea that would be released just two years from the original, without its original star, keeping only some minor characters for humor such as Chubby and Stiles (who was played by a different actor that was much less believable) and to focus this whole plot around the cousin of the original teen wolf. Possibly the only smart decision in this sequel was to cast Jason Bateman as the new teen wolf. Jason Bateman has since gone on to star in many comedy sitcoms and movies. As for Chubby and Stiles, well they will simply live on in the glory days of 80's cinema.
