Planning to go have fun again on a track

This September, I hope to take advantage of a track day that AWE Tuning is holding at NJ Motorsports Park.  I haven't been on the track since Germany, and I miss it badly.  It is much more expensive over here, but since this is a sponsored event, it is less so.  This will basically be my Birthday present.  The biggest thing will be what group I end up running in.  Hopefully not novice because that is just basically pace laps, albeit fast, but with no passing.  I am hoping to end up in the intermediate class.  NJMP only allows non-members to attend one event per year and the annual dues are $2,000 + the membership start-up fee, so I unfortunately don't see that happening right now.

Before September I need to change the oil, flush the brake fluid, change the plugs, change the rear rotors, and change the pads at all four corners.  Oh, and roll the fenders (or get them rolled) so the tires stop rubbing under suspension compression.  Then I will be ready to rock out on the course.

Chick-fil-A - My one and only post on the subject

So, immediately after I wrote my last blog post, I saw a tweet that reminded me of the other blog post I wanted to write.  This one is about the whole Chick-fil-A thing.  "Oh, no!" you say, "not another one."  Well, yeah...but this one might not goes as you expect.

Chick-fil-A is a private company, and as long as they aren't doing anything illegal, they can do whatever the fuck they want with their money.  They could pay to have live gorillas do a song and dance for the CEO if they wanted.  In that case, it would be PETA shitting a brick, but I am all for "People Eating Tasty Animals" ;)  But in reality, if the CEO wants to throw all his money towards lobbying against gay marriage, go the fuck ahead.  If they want to be even more hateful, they can hypothetically give money to the Westboro Baptist Church too....lets  group all the hate under one corporate umbrella (...ella..ella....hey, hey, hey.....DAMMIT!)

Back on topic....freedom of speech gives them that right as a company.  Chick-fil-A's CEO is very open about his beliefs and it is his freaking money.  Then all of this "Support Chick-fil-A" and "Boycott Chick-fil-A" shit started.  Well, if you feel strongly enough about the position of a company that you don't agree with them, yes, you have the right to talk with your money.  Even some politicians have taken a stand for/against Chick-fil-A in this "fight."

So, I am asking for the sake of my twitter and Facebook feeds to please, PLEASE stop posting things about Chick-fil-A over and over again unless you actually want to say something meaningful about the conversation.  Even if that something meaningful is "I agree with them because" or "I disagree with them because"  Just posting the same damn articles over and over again with no commentary is getting really fucking annoying.

So, in that train of thought, I will add my two cents.  I don't give a shit who gets married so long as no force, bribery, or minors are involved (I mean, if two 16 yr olds want to screw up their life and get married, go ahead, but 50 yr olds shouldn't be marrying 15 yr olds).  Animals probably shouldn't be involved either...unless it is a nice rack of lamb served at the reception.  Does knowing the views of a company affect if I will possibly due business with them? yes (not that I can eat Chick-fil-A anymore anyway).  I am not going to tell you to stop eating their food though, because 1) it was sooooo damn good and 2) you can make up your own mind.

Now, please excuse me...a friend may need help setting up NAMORLA - North American Man Odebenus Rosmarus Love Association. (That's a walrus btw).

PS - if this blog post stops making sense somewhere in the middle, it's because I wrote this tired, and said "Fuck it, I will post anyway"

"It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate"

This was relayed to me from one of my former co-workers who used to work for Purdue.  This was allegedly what the "It takes a tough man to make a Tender Chicken" slogan was roughly translated to in Spanish.  About.com lists it as a potential urban legend.  Of course, not as good as the McDonald's "I'd hit it" ad campaign, bit still pretty good.

Why do I bring this up?  Stupidity!  When I am teaching a class, I have to tolerate and expect a certain level of stupidity from the students.  Usually it is really just ignorance, but sometimes stupidity.  When I am in a class on the other hand, I have a hard time tolerating other students' stupidity.  This is especially the case when I am taking a course that assumes a certain level of knowledge in a technical field.  This is a class about BUILDING secure applications, largely on the web and there is a MANAGER taking the class who doesn't really use the web. *sigh*  They have a lot of domain-knowledge, but this course is more suited to someone actually doing the work and they are missing the point some times.  They seem like the only fish totally out of water in the class, but often side-track the discussion to the point that our "lunch" break was about an hour late and we didn't finish the day's material.  This is because they don't understand a lot of the comparisons to real-life events because they don't use the types of services that we are talking about for comparison. (eg - they didn't understand the PayPal model for example)  And that is why I made such frustrated tweets today about my classmates....well, mostly classmate.

Atheist is not a dirty word

This post may cause me a bit of a personal shit-storm, but I have been wanting to write it for a while. Having gone to Catholic school for K-4, I held many Catholic beliefs for many years but as I grew older and started to think for myself, I realized that church wasn't the place for me. Then I realized that religion, in general, is not something I believe in. If I am in church for a special event, I will pay due respect, and I will participate in the acts I remember out of respect, but not for God. Respect for the person who I am there in support of.

That is a key point there that I want to clarify. My appearance in a church has to be out of respect for a person, not an event. Not Christmas, nor Easter fit this description. A wedding, a funeral, or a baptism are such events because I am respecting that the church is an important part of your life and it is a life event that you wish to share with friends and family.

I am sure I will get some "Only through God can you..." type comments, but that is YOUR belief , not mine. I am not going to run around killing people because I am a godless heathen. I am still the same person I have always been, just now outwardly an atheist.

Why I came to this decision years ago is multifaceted, but includes things such as the church's persecution of certain groups, my knowledge and understanding of  Science and the world I observe, and the hippocrates I see in religion.

Those that upset me most are the "crisis Christians" and those that use their power for evil rather than good. Those two groups are the ones that find religion any time something  bad happens and the members of the church who have committed or hidden acts of abuse.

Do I expect some people to be angry with me over this post? Yep. But the beauty of it is, I am not going to go around and tell people to give up religion, but some will probably do the reverse to me. So, believe what you want. If it is important to you, I respect that. Just leave me out of it.

HARP

When mortgage assistance first started, I had serious problems with it. It only rewarded people who bought more house than they could afford and thus ended up behind on payments. Yea, there were people who had planned more properly and got screwed later on, but it seemed to only help people who screwed up.  Then it was extended to people who were only in the unfortunate situation of losing a bunch of equity, like me. I am still not a huge fan of HARP as a whole, but I am taking advantage of it because I would be stupid not to.

I refinanced my home about a year after I bought it at a lower rate, dropping 1.375%. That was still on a 30 yr, but due to market losses, I ended up with more than 80% financed and thus PMI. My payment was still less and I am out of PMI now because I made it to less than 80% of appraised value being financed. Unfortunately market forces have made it so that is now about 98% of my house's current value.  That does mean I am able to do HARP though.

Why HARP? Because I can make my 30 year loan (that is 3 yr old) a 20 year loan at 1% lower rate and only have my payment go up $100/month. That chops 7 years off my payoff date assuming I pay the min and significantly reduced my total interest paid. And thanks to HARP, no PMI! So, I am getting rewarded in a way for being responsible and just getting screwed by the market.

"And I'm half the man I used to be"

I mean that title in a good way.  I am just a few pounds more than 1/2 my highest recorded weight.  Currently, 305lbs, highest recorded, 595lbs in August 2010.  On July 5th, 2011, I had gastric bypass surgery.  My weight at that time, 540lbs.  I have come a long way and it has been an interesting journey.  One filled with learning how my body works now, finding my limits, and uncovering new problems.

This photo is from very near to my peak weight in Oct 2010

The initial weight loss was extremely quick and my energy levels increased greatly.  I was continuing with water aerobics, walking more outside, and the pounds were shedding off.  My energy was much better on our anniversary trip in 2011 to the the rest of New England.

This photo is from Oct 2011

In December 2011, my parents saw me for the first time since the surgery, and were shocked at the transformation.  Shortly after I got back to Maryland, I suffered a setback though, in the name of a perforated ulcer.  I woke up in immense pain, and ended up in the hospital in town and then having emergency surgery in Baltimore later that day.  After about 2 weeks on he mend.  At the time of the ulcer, I was 380 lbs.  Due to post surgery swelling, I wen back up to 420, but quickly dropped that back off.

April 2012

This brings you up to about now.  I need to take a new "weight loss" photo but my weight hasn't moved a whole lot lately, so the last one I will post is my "Jared-esq" photo from May.  I am "Severely Obese" by BMI and would still qualify for gastric bypass even now, but the improvement has been incredible.  The Nurse at the Dr. office this week said she doesn't think she has seen so much weight loss in the first year after surgery, and the exercise specialist at the office thinks I have set the new record in their office for total inches lost.  With my increased activity has aggravated some other issues though, such as a heal spur which now has me wearing custom orthotics, and my knee has started acting up so I just saw an orthopedists today and they gave me a big ol' shot of cortisone. Fun times.  Stay tuned for updated pictures.

May 2012

Share the Road...that goes both ways

You always see signs that say "Share the Road" and "Watch for Motorcycles" and yes, cars need to be mindful of motorcycles, but the reverse is true as well. Only once have I seen a sign say "Cars and Motorcycles Share the Road."

This post may piss off some people I know who own motorcycles, but this isn't directed at your everyday motorcycle rider. This is directed to the people who swerve between cars and shoot the gap on the highway. This is also directed at the assholes who cut you off then turn backwards on their bike to flip you off (yes that happened to me).

I will also bitch about bicycles for a second. If you want the right to be treated with respect on the road, you also have to follow the laws. You can't run stop signs and lights and get pisses off if someone honks. If you want to run that stop sign, you can hop off you bike and actually run past it and hop back on. /rant