May Movie Grades:

Titles in red are available on Netflix Instant, blue were scene in theater, italics are re-watches.

A+
Wild (Biopic/Drama) – 2014
The Big Lebowski (Comedy) - 1998
Annie Hall (Comedy/Romance) – 1977
Hoop Dreams (Sports Documentary) – 1994

A
The Matrix (Sci Fi/Action) – 1999
Mad Max: Fury Road - 2015

A-
Exit through the Gift Shop (Documentary) - 2010
Another Earth (Drama/Romance/Sci Fi) - 2013
Hot Fuzz (Comedy/Action) – 2007
The Caine Mutiny (Drama) – 1954
Westworld (Action/Sci Fi) – 1973

B+
The Matrix Reloaded (Action/Sci Fi) - 2003
The Avengers: Age of Ultron (Action/Sci Fi) – 2015
Despicable Me 2 (Action/Sci Fi – Animated) – 2013
Godzilla (Action/Sci Fi) – 2014

B
The Animatrix (Action/Sci Fi – Animated) – 2003
Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (Action/Sci Fi) – 1985
Buffalo Soldiers (Drama/Action) - 2001

B-
Universal Soldier (Action/Sci Fi) – 1992
Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop (Documentary) – 2015

C-
Every Secret Thing (Drama/Thriller) - 2015
The Wedding Ringer (Comedy/Drama) – 2014

D
The Matrix Revolutions (Action/Sci Fi) - 2003

208 (-3,+1) 77k steps

Had some stomach issues this week, don't think it's a big deal though.

206 (-2,-1) 114k steps

I had a work trip to Boston last weekend so I took my wife and we turned it into a mini-vacation. First time either of us had been there. Such an amazing amount of history packed into a relatively small downtown area, and the city was very "walkable" which made it even more enjoyable.

We got in Friday night, took the train downtown Saturday morning and walked about 1/2 the Freedom Trail, checked out the Farmer's Market, Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, walked along the Harbor, did a Duck Tour, and did a Ghost Tour (more about the history of the famous cemeteries than ghosts). We had an awesome dinner at Legal Sea Foods (I had some delicious clam chowder and fried clams). Sunday I worked until mid-afternoon then we went back downtown and checked out the Aquarium and walked around Boston Common. After that we walked around Harvard's campus and then had dinner nearby.

We both really enjoyed the trip, everywhere we went was beautiful, you could easily spend several days just walking around the downtown area and taking everything in. We didn't have time to checkout any of the other 5-10 colleges in the area, but walking around Harvard's campus was an awesome experience. I'd definitely recommend a Boston trip to anyone that's never been.

As for the 5 lbs lost over the past 2 weeks, I can't take too much credit as my stomach flared up some which accounts for most of the loss, but (knock on wood) it seems to be back to normal now. So I'm going to try and turn it into a positive by not gaining any of the 5 lbs back.

206 (same, -1) 116K steps

Pretty pumped to weigh-in at 206 again this week, I'm pretty sure my last 2 weigh-ins have been "falsely deflated" due to the stomach issues I was having. Had an ideal eating week and got plenty of exercise, so I'm striving to keep it up.

Taking a 1/2 day today to do a big hike this afternoon, looking forward to it.

I've rewatched a few of my top 100 movies this week - Double Indemnity, Inception, and Primer. If you haven't seen Primer or Shane Caruth's other film Upstream Color, they're both on Netflix Instant right now, I highly recommend both. One caveat though, I enjoyed both the 1st time, but definitely had to do some googling to better understand what was actually going on, and then really loved them on the 2nd and 3rd viewings.

We're planning to go see Jurassic World this weekend, Jurassic Park is one of my top 20 movies of all time, but I'm not expecting anything in that realm, just hoping its a good summer blockbuster of the "turn off your brain and enjoy" variety.

209 (+3,+2) 98k steps

F

If you plot your weight, you keep it basically constant. I wouldn't really go crazy about 3 pounds more in a week. I mean you didn't really gain 3 pounds of fat in a week. I don't know if you have a stable food intake, or like me some nearly fasting days and some overeating? In the first case it is easier just to tweak it a tiny bit down. Not much. Like 200 ckal less a day.

And I don't know if you tried that, but plot your weight and plot a running average. It reduced for me emotional attachment to a pound more or less.

Thanks for the feedback lapka, it's always appreciated.

I do plot my weight, I actually have a graph since 2000. I'm not terribly upset about the weigh-in and I did have a huge meal and dessert Wednesday night so I'm sure that's a big part of it.

It's been an annoying last 7 days. I hydroplaned and crashed into the center cement barrier going 65 mph on the highway last Friday. Fortunately I escaped with basically just bumps and bruises, although my car wasn't so lucky. I really was fortunate to not get hurt worse or collide with anyone else, but I'm having trouble embracing that and have just been frustrated dealing with insurance and all that BS while also going through a hectic time at work.

Right after the accident I remember wondering if this would turn into some kind of defining moment for me since I escaped relatively unscathed from a situation others have died from or have suffered life changing injuries, But it really hasn't affected me at all, which has left me wondering why, and disappointed in myself since so many others weren't as fortunate.

June Movie Grades:

Titles in red are available on Netflix Instant, blue were scene in theater, italics are re-watches.

A+
Double Indemnity (Drama) – 1944
Inception (Sci Fi/Action/Drama) – 2010
Primer (Sci Fi/Drama) - 2004

A
The Great Escape (Action/Drama) - 1963

A-
Time Lapse (Sci Fi/Drama) – 2015
Interstellar (Sci Fi/Action/Drama) – 2014
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Documentary) – 2010
The Most Dangerous Game (Action/Drama) – 1932
Contact (Sci Fi/Drama) – 1997
Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (Documentary) - 2015

B
In Fear (Horror) – 2013
No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson (Documentary) – 2010
U-571 (Action/Drama) - 2000

B-
The Dead Zone (Sci Fi/Drama) – 1983
The Firm (Drama) - 1993

C+
Life Partners (Drama/Comedy/Romance) – 2014
Cypher (Sci Fi/Action) - 2002

C-
Life of Crime (Drama/Comedy/Action) - 2013

208 (-1,+1) 100K steps

204 (-4,-3) 103k steps

Heading to Hagerstown MD for a long work weekend so weighed in a day early, surprised by the result, we'll see how next week shakes out, had a great mon-wed at least.

Fun long work weekend in Hagerstown, squeezed in a good bit of poker, won a small tourney (22 entries) and came out maybe $100 ahead playing cash, always nice to have a casino nearby when I travel for work.

Saw Jurassic World, some really cool stuff and Pratt was great, but overall it was disappointing, and the "dinosaur-on-dinosaur" violence didn't work for me, for some reason I found it kind of disturbing, odd that it bothered me while I didn't blink at any of the humans getting eaten.

Ate horribly all weekend, but hopefully I can makeup for that this week.

205 (+1,-2) 117k steps

Pretty happy with that # considering last week's 204 didn't make sense and I ate like crap all weekend. Made up for it with a solid week of mostly chicken, fish, and veggies.

I saw an orthopedic dr a couple weeks ago about my knee, I have a small tear in the meniscus, he recommended going in and removing the tear, probably going to do it. I've been running some to make sure it still bothers me when I do so and it does, so I'll probably have the procedure. I'm loving running again though so I definitely have a major itch to jump back into it after the minor procedure and rehab.

204 (-1,-3) 104k steps

So I've been running every other day for about 2.5 weeks now, I'm a slow runner, never going to be fast, and I don't care, I'm doing about an 11 minute mile right now and probably won't be improving on that, I just enjoy running long distances and would like to train and complete more 1/2 marathons in the future. I've increased my distance a little bit each time, did 4 miles Saturday, and surprisingly I haven't felt anything in my knee whatsoever.

It's good news, but confusing, as I fully expected it to be bothering me right now, and was planning on having the procedure in August as Sep-Nov would be really tough with my work travel schedule.

Feels odds that I'm basically complaining about not having pain, so I'm going to try and quit thinking about it, if the pain comes back I'll deal with it, but for now I'm going to continue enjoying the chance to run again and plan to continue doing 3 miles-ish M/W/Th, and slowly increasing my Saturday runs by 1/2 a mile or so each week.

My knees are killing me if I run more than twice a week. Cool that you
don't have for now this problem.

205 (+1,-2) 134k steps

New step record! Fueled by 34k steps on Saturday (4 mile run, 4 mile walk, washed cars, mowed yard, 1 mile dog walk, and some errands).

All the exercise saved me from gaining more as I ate big meals Friday - Sunday and had a huge milkshake about 10:00 last night.

Going to start posting me weekly running while I can:

Sat - 4.1 miles
Mon - 3.1 miles
Tue - 3.1 miles
Thur - 3.2 miles

I usually walk 3-4 miles on the days I don't run, and a few days each week I also do a 3 mile walk with the wife, and we try to take the dogs on walk a few times per week as well.

July Movie Grades:

Titles in red are available on Netflix Instant, blue were scene in theater, italics are re-watches.

A+
Jurassic Park (Sci Fi/Action) - 1993

A
The Raid 2 (Action) – 2014
Spirited Away (Action/Drama – Japanese) – 2001
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Drama) – 1966

A-
Trainwreck (Comedy/Romance) - 2015

B+
Race with the Devil (Thriller) – 1975
It Follows (Horror) – 2014
The Cincinnati Kid (Drama) - 1965

B
Terminator Genisys (Action/Sci Fi) – 2015
Jurassic World (Action/Sci Fi) – 2015
The Expendables 3 (Action) – 2014
Supremacy (Action/Drama) - 2014

C
Cake (Drama) - 2014

C-
Unfinished Business (Drama/Comedy) – 2015
Looker (Drama/Action) – 1981
Lizzie Borden took an Axe (Drama) - 2014

F
Monsters: Dark Continent (Action/Sci Fi) - 2014

Caught up on BBC shows on Netflix this weekend. Finished season 3 of Sherlock, absolutely love it, I believe I read season 4 has already aired so hopefully it'll be on Netflix in the not too distant future. Wife and I also finished season 3 of Luther, really good stuff, although my wife pointed out it kind of feels like a public service announcement that cops in London should carry guns.

I'm completely ignorant about gun laws and police over there, and in fact I don't even know the different between Great Britain, England, and the UK, but at least from the fictional show's perspective I cringe every time an unarmed cop is chasing a criminal who has a gun.

Regardless, Luther is a great character (although not quite to the level of Stringer in The Wire) and we really enjoy the show. I also read it's coming back for a 4th (and final?) season later this year after a 2 year hiatus so we'll be looking forward to that.

205 (same,-2) 101k steps

Running:

Sat - 3 miles
Mon - 3.1 miles
Thur - 3.3 miles

204 (-1,-3) 133k steps

Running:

Sat - 5 miles
Mon - 3.5
Wed - 3.1
Thur - 3.1

Weighed in Thursday morning because I spent thur afternoon/evening/early Friday morning playing poker, but steps are usual fri-thur.

204 (same,-3) 125k steps

Sat - 6 miles
Mon - 4
Wed - 3.1

Played in one of the Denny Crum prelim events Thursday, $260 buy-in, 70-80 entrants (re-entry), I was very short-stacked 5 handed and somehow the other 4 who all had similar stacks agreed to chop 2k each and leave 1k and the $675 seat for the winner, and I didn't even have to bring it up, pretty awesome for me as I busted a couple minutes later and would've only gotten $1k, highlight was busting the celebrity of the event Denny Crum.

Poker seems to have overtaken movies as my current "drug" of choice, however, so far I at least haven't let it overtake my life or even my thinking, just been playing when I travel and then a couple times locally, we'll see if I can keep it that way as I'm traveling next weekend and will play at Foxwoods next Saturday, but then won't have another chance to play until october.

To be clear, I'm definitely thinking about it more than id like to, just not constantly.

203 (-1,-4) 138k steps

Sat - 7 miles
Mon - 3
Thur - 3.5

Played in the $25K gtd Saturday at Foxwoods, fired 2 bullets and ended up finishing 12th for $685, 1st was $7k, so that was disappointing, but it was a fun tourney with a decent amount of play which I don't normally get in the small sample of tourneys I get to partake in. The poker room was impressive in both size and quality. Anyway, not sure when I'll be in the area again, but would definitely go back.

Congrats. It is a nice chunk of money.