Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My Friend Patrick Williams is a Scientist

While most of the world is trying to figure out which brand of teletubbies they love the most my friend was hard at work completing his degree in Chemistry to fulfill his lifelong dream of dissecting plants to see if we could find any real sources of fuel in them.  Even though he is failing miserably and nuclear is still by far the best; he persists at his work and I've decided to take some time and tell you how awesome he is because every once and a while humility is a good thing to experience.

Have you ever tried to write down why you think someone is amazing. It usually goes something like...they are smart and funny and have patience with me and are so good looking. They always know what to say yada yada yada. I'd like to focus my energy instead today describing one simple aspect of my friend Patrick that makes him more amazing and that one simple thing is responsibility. Now whether you're wearing depends on not, we can all appreciate people who are responsible. Patrick graduate with honors in a difficult major, married the girl he loved for a long time, has a steady job, and goes to it everyday without fail.

There's a lot about Patrick that I love. He's a fanatic for sports and his team, the St. Louis Cardinals, the best baseball team to ever play baseball, just won the World Series of Poker last month. (Not the world series of Poker sorry...but the one that came after the World Series of Poker) He also enjoys discussing politics, which is important if you're going to tolerate me for any of five minutes. Patrick also is on time when he goes places and is a man of his word.

This blog isn't to tell you something that you didn't already know because you probably don't know or care about Patrick. This blog is to tell you that being extraordinary sometimes is really just about being responsible. Because these days being responsible is very extra ordinary.  love. war.

Things to think about:
-Is it greedy to want more money.
-Is there any unbiased information.
-Can you talk about issues without having a doctorate.
-Do people silence you because they don't like your opinions.
-Tim Tebow/John Jones
-You could be amazing too

Things to watch:
Take a ride x-country
Idiots exist

Thinks to look at:
Your team sucks
Free to die

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Gluten Gluttons Parish in Time for Challenge

The gluten challenge is over and as you expected I lost nine pounds four ounces. This comes to no surprise to most people who know that Jesus is the bread of life and since Jesus compared himself to bread it must be a pretty important part of our digestive system; as shown by my one month nine pound four ounce weight loss. (not to be confused with Will Smith's Seven Pounds, a documentary where Smith loses seven pounds by not eating anything supersized at McDonalds)

There was a minor slip up with some gluten-full soy sauce and while I am to blame I'd like to put the real blame, as all good friends like to do, on my best friend Ryan, whom at no fault of his own, suggested we partake in eating at this sushi place close to where he goes to school. I indulged my appetite and stabbed my wallet for a split-second and find myself in Amber's apartment cleaning everything from shoe board to popcorn ceiling. This was because I lost a bet with her on who would eat gluten first. I did, accidentally, but I fessed up and got to cleaning. And because I wish not to make this blog not apply to just the handful of important people that I call my friends I'll highlight the pros and cons of this thing Celiacs have learned to call home....

THE GLUTEN FREE DIET.

Yes yes it was rather difficult deciding what I could eat and what I couldn't. I spent the first 6 or 7 days learning what contained gluten and what didn't. I was very hungry these first 6 or 7 days. But I didn't let hunger get the best of me. The hardest part about not eating gluten is that things have gluten in them that you wouldn't expect...like french fries...hello potato...welcome to the Celiac diarrhea list. Other things on the celiac hit list are lots of chips, tortillas (said in spanish accent), and almost everything...save meat and fruits and vegetables...but who eats those. GIVE ME WHOLE WHEAT BABY.

So here are the pros and cons.

Pros:
-lose weight
-can justify eating a bad of Doritos in one sitting

Cons:
-can't eat wheat
-can't eat anything good

While there are lots of more serious pros and cons I can add to this list I'd like to simply say that if you don't have Celiacs disease there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't eat wheat products. All month I wanted a sandwhich. All that being said the gluten free diet isn't that hard. There's imitations of almost everything out there now. There was gluten free pancakes, chips, and really nasty macaroni and cheese brought to you by



"Annie's Homegrown Totally Natural Nasty Crap." Despite the name I gave it a try and to my delight they weren't wrong.

The point of the challenge was to see if I could do it. I did it...piece of cake (no you can't eat cake)...now on to the next challenge: get your heart rate up for at least 30 minutes a day. Goodbye fried rice, hello weight gain. Love. War.




Things to think about:
-being a part of the challenge
-heaven and hell
-Herman Cain being at the top
-Being truly honest with people
-Thinking "and I'm a Mormon is very stupid."

Things to watch:
-Crazy crap about hell