This is Dre

1. She is way cool.
2. She is my friend
3. She is single.
4. She likes to touch bums.

Watch out for her.

Who doesn't love a parade…of wolves?

Last week, Mel and I had the pleasure of seeing Wolf Parade, one of our mostest favoritest bands in this life, live in concert at Cane's, a little club located right on Mission Beach. It's actually a cool place to see a show. It is the second Wolf Parade concert we've seen at Cane's, and I like it. It's small, but not crammed, and you can find plenty of good places to watch the band. The crowd was really good for this particular show, which made me happy because I hate lame crowds. Here is a picture that accurately depicts the emotion and energy of a Wolf Parade show:



As for the show, it was beautiful. If you are not familiar with Wolf Parade, I feel sorry for you. They are from Montreal, Canada, and first got their break opening up for another astounding Montreal band, The Arcade Fire. I can only imagine how special that concert would have been, with two of my favs playing together. As for their music, it's extremely hard to describe, so I won't. Here are a couple songs and videos to quickly acquaint yourself, so you can get a sense of the raw power they possess. The videos don't really do their concerts justice, but they give a small taste of what they are like live.

Ill Believe In Anything.mp3

Kissing The Beehive.mp3

Dear Sons And Daughters Of Hungry Ghosts.mp3





These are some of my favorite songs, and are epic when performed live. As you can tell, Kissing the Beehive is about 11 minutes long. They ended the main set with it, before coming back out for an encore that included my favorite song, I'll Believe In Anything. It's definitely a crowd favorite, and this particular crowd went nuts for it. It was emotional, it was sweaty, it was damn good. They have a great energy about them that draws you in. The group includes five members, with two of them sharing songwriting and lead singing duties. Spencer Krug plays the keyboard with reckless abandon, sweating profusely all over the ivory. He lobs grenades back and forth with guitarist and other lead singer, Dan Boeckner. Most of the time, one will sing lead, with the other sings backup. On Kissing the Beehive, they do an especially great job of complementing one another as they go back and forth.

The entire band as a unit is astounding. Bassist Dante DeCaro is also fun to watch with the ferocity in which he rips the bass, while providing backing vocals as well.

Wolf Parade has two full length albums, Apologies to the Queen Mary, and their recently release, At Mount Zoomer. I command you to buy both of them right now.

By the way, if given the chance, I'm pretty sure that Melissa would leave me for Spencer Krug the keyboardist and founder of the band. We actually saw Spencer and a couple of the other band members getting on their tour bus a couple hours before the show. I think they had been walking around the beach and were returning to prepare for the show. In Mel's awe, she got flustered and blew her chance to meet her crush. Once Spencer got on the bus, she knew she blew it, and at least once a day she kicks herself for not approaching him and saying hi. Oh well, she'll have to settle for continuing her marriage to boring old, non-rockstar Rob. Hopefully she will manage—it'll be tough.

So your homework assignment is to immediately start listening to Wolf Parade, and, next time they come to town I expect to be rocking out along with you right beside me.

I love arcades

A big part of my childhood was spent hanging out in arcades playing video games. And not only playing video games, but watching friends and brothers play games. We used to have my mom drop us off at the University Mall, to spend hours on end at Fun-Uv-It, playing Street Fighter 2, Spy Hunter, Arch Rivals, and many other classic arcade games. If it wasn't the Fun-Uv-It, it was playing games at the movie theater, or at our gas station hang outs such as 7-11 or Will's Pit Stop. If I had all the quarters back that I pumped into those machines, I'd have about $20,000 dollars to go buy a new car. I miss those days where you could take three bucks to an arcade and play forever. Now, three bucks will last you about 10 minutes. It's ridiculous. Video games should cost a quarter. Period. Oh well, memories.

The reason that I bring this up, is that on our recent trip to Hearst Castle, in San Simeon, California, we stayed at the San Simeon Beach Lodge, with an adjoining restaurant and lounge. Now, the lil wifey and I love to play pool, so we decided to head on over to the lounge for some 8-ball, when I encountered the following:



I got a kick out of this beautifully crafted, fancy neon sign, right above ONE video game. I suppose that you could say that the pool table is part of the arcade, but I'd like to think that they spent the money to create this nice, cursive "Arcade" sign for just this one game. Personally, if I were to include the pool table in with the video game, I would have titled it Game Room, not Arcade. I wouldn't really consider a pool table as an arcade game, but that's cool.

Pop quiz

What does the following look like to you?

a. A head of hair.
b. A bird's nest.
c. None of the above.



See, I would have said that it looks like my hair, but today, at approximately 1:15 pm, as I was walking to get a burrito at Roberto's, a bird mistook it for a nest and dove at me. I felt like a worm or a field mouse as it swooped down and tried to grab my hair.

Was he trying to land in it, or was he trying to use part of it for his nest? I am not entirely sure, to be honest, and I don't know that I'll ever have the full truth. What I do know is that it must have provided quite a sight for all the people sitting outside at Sam's Pizza and Roberto's. They got a free show with their lunch. Lucky them.

Airplane signage

One of my favorite things in life is airplane safety signage. I especially love the illustrated variety, whether it's the safety pamphlet, or exit row signs, they rarely disappoint.

I flew to North Carolina recently, and was fortunate enough to sit in the Exit Row on the way home (yeah, leg room!). The following was posted above the exit door.



I am fairly certain of the sign's intended meaning, but I chose to come up with my own interpretation. It goes something like this:

If you stare out the window for too long, you will shoot a laser from your eyes. The glass will magnify said laser, and immediately start anything on fire which comes in its path. This even includes clouds. Caution, whatever you do, don't look at the door!

If any of you see your own awesome illustrated signage, please feel free to send it my way.

Weighty issues. Part Five: The Future.

So, how am I doing now?

Am I keeping the weight off? What's next for Robot? All good questions. It's now been almost two years since I hit 164, and I am currently weighing in around 175 or 176, depending on the week. I am not quite as strict as I was during those weight loss months. No sweets and hardly any carbs? That was rough, to say the least. But what I liked about my plan was that it wasn't a complete life-altering plan, and it hasn't been too hard to continue it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to stop eating carbs or sweets forever, so I didn't plan on doing that. I am still eating a lot less than I was before the weight loss. The reality was that I was going to slip a little, and that was okay, but it was important not to go completely hog wild, and end up where I was before.

The most important aspect for me was to stay active. I still run at least three times a week. For a long time I ran between 2 1/2 to 3 miles each time, but just recently I have pushed that to 4 miles, three days a week. Plus, I've started lifting weights once or twice a week as well.

In all honesty, I'd love to go back down to 165, but being 175 isn't that bad. While I'm not as skinny as I was at the end of my program, I am way skinnier than I was at my peak. After I got to 164, I had a rough patch as far as exercise goes. First, we went on a vacation. So for two weeks I didn't work out. When I got back, I started running again, but then got sick. So I had a few stops and starts and bumps in the road. Shortly thereafter, I moved from Salt Lake to San Diego, and I got a little lazy. For the first two months, I was down here alone, since Melissa was still in Salt Lake selling the house. Being on my own, I didn't exactly eat properly most of the time. I was staying with an uncle, so I did eat a few good meals. But I ate out a lot too. Plus, I didn't run for the first 3 months or so of living down here, hence, the extra 10 pounds, pushing me up to 175.

I keep saying I'd like to drop those 10 lbs, but I am not as strict as I used to be, so while I am running and eating healthy for the most part, I am basically treading water. I'll lose a couple, then gain a couple, all the while fluctuating between 171 and 177. I am still extremely wary of becoming big again. I know I don't need to, but I still weigh myself every Friday morning, just to know where I stand. Call it paranoia if you want, but I just don't ever want to be big again. It's my way of keeping tabs on how I'm doing.

As for the future, I hope to never gain that much, if any weight again. I know that may be just a dream. But it is my goal. Sure, I'd like to lose a few more pounds, like I said, but if I stayed where I am at right now for a long time, I would have no more complaints. I think to lose those extra pounds, I'd have to give up sweets again, as well as limit my soda intake. If I have to, I know that I can do it, because I have before, but right now, I just plain don't want to. I'll keep running, eating pretty healthy and trying my best to stay away from too much junk food. And if that fails, well, then, I'll just have to make some more sacrifices. As I said, at least I know I've done it once and can do it again.

So there you have it. Rob's "weighty issues". I hope it wasn't too boring. It's nothing special, just the pains, frustrations, growing, shrinking, highs and lows of the past few years of my life. I am just glad I had a supportive wifey along with me through the whole thing. She made it a lot easier to deal with. She made me feel okay about myself when I was big, but she also was very encouraging and helped a lot once I started losing weight as well.

Now you've seen me skinny, fat, and somewhere in between. Here I am now (well, a couple months ago at least): IMG_1447.JPG

So, help me keep an eye on myself, will you?

Weighty issues. Part four: The Theory.

To wrap up, I went from 125 to 145 to 175 in about 12 years. Then, in a matter of 12 months, I went from 175 to 215+. What gives? How does that even happen? I know my wedding ring doesn't weigh 40 pounds. At least I'm pretty sure it doesn't, so why did I gain all that weight only after I got married?

People say that you start eating bigger, more steady meals when your spouse cooks for you. Okay, I guess I did get more consistent meals every night, but in all honesty, I would think that would be better for you. When I was single, I ate fast food for lunch and fast food for dinner. Every day. You can't possibly get any more unhealthy than that, unless you go to 7-11 in the morning for a 32 ounce Coke and delicious double chocolate donut (oh, wait, I did that once or twice a week). So why didn't I get fat as a single guy, yet the second I get married I start putting on the pounds like I was in some sort of a pie eating contest?

A good question that I may have figured out. Are you ready for my theory? At long last, here it is:

God wanted me to get married. Think about it. I really don't have that much going for me. Every day I assume that my wifey, the lovely Miss Melissa will wake up and realize that she is with a total loser. She already does this, but I think out of sheer laziness, she decides to give it one more day. So, many moons ago, the Big Man upstairs looked at me and said to himself, "If I don't keep this idiot skinny, he'll never get married. He needs at least that much."

That's right, it was divine intervention. He was fighting off those Spicy Chicken Sandwiches from Wendy's, the Whoppers from BK, the Sourdough Bacon Classics from Carl's Jr; not to mention the gallons of Coca-Cola I poured down my throat every week. It turns out I had a lot of help.

Then, only after I suckered Melissa into marrying me did all that help disappear. It's almost like He said, "All right, I got you this far, you're on your own." And the floodgates opened up, causing my waistline to advance faster than the Nazis as they tore through Europe. I couldn't help it, especially sleeping in, going to work, then coming home and sitting on the couch. All of a sudden that sedentary life caught up, since I had no more help from above.

Let me interject something here, before I offend some readers out there. (are there any readers out there?) I am in no way judging people who are overweight. I used to be overweight, so I know it is not a fun thing to go through. So I don't want to come across as someone who just thinks that skinny is the only way to be, or that only skinny people will get married. Not the case at all. It's just a humorous theory that my brain concocted one day, when trying to explain my Oprah-like weight fluctuations.

Now, back to the story. Some of you may have a few questions, such as why do other people gain weight before marriage? Or, why are there lucky bastards out there who never gain weight their entire life (I'm thinking of you McHenry family)? Maybe those people just have more going for them than me, or maybe they paid someone off at the right time, I don't know.Solid questions, all of them. But I don't have the answers to those, I just have the answer to the question of why I all of sudden gained a lot of weight all at once. Although those questions might be answered in the same place—up above. Maybe somehow it's all part of a big plan. I don't get it. Don't get mad at me, I didn't make these rules.

If you disagree, I'd love to hear about it. Tell me your theories. If you agree, I'd love to hear that too. All I know is that I went from looking like this: RobandCourt007.jpg, to looking like this, RobandCourt008.jpg in a matter of months, and this seems to be the only answer out there.

Tune in next week for the exciting conclusion of Weighty Issues…