Frosty the abominable snowman

Check out this snowman I made with Sydney today. He is taller than me! I think he is about 6'5" tall, and I think I got a hernia lifting the middle section into place! Sydney gave up before the first ball was rolled, so it is really my creation. The stove pipe hat, button eyes, carrot nose, corn cob pipe, and red scarf are all from a snowman kit Melissa gave us a couple of years ago when we lived in Rochester. I used rocks for the buttons and pennies for his mouth. I really wanted to take a picture of Sydney next to him, but she kept yelling "Daddy can we go in now I'm frozen!?!"

From Wired Magazine

Star Wars-Obsessed Rocket Geeks Build and Launch an X-Wing Fighter

Mary Jane Irwin 11.27.07 | 12:00 AM

The Force must be strong with these geeks. (It would have to be.) This is an actual, working Star Wars X-Wing, built by the San Diego Tripoli Rocket Association. Of course, in this context "actual" means it exists and "working" means it's able to get off the ground. At 23 feet long, it's impressive but not the kind of craft you'd want to take into battle against a Death Star. Sure, the R2-D2 beeps, but the laser cannons don't work.

Amateur rocketeer Andy Woerner led the 2,500-hour, $7,000 effort to get the thing airborne. His 40-person crew of doctors, mail carriers, construction workers, and other Star Wars obsessives labored without a blueprint, guided mainly by memories of George Lucas' magnum opus, scaled-up measurements taken from a 15-inch model, and their own high midichlorian counts. The biggest challenges: figuring out how to make the hinged wings lock into attack position and ensuring that all four class-M rocket engines would fire at the same time.

They did, but seconds after liftoff the fighter pitched wildly and blew up - just like Red 10. And Red Leader. And Biggs (poor Biggs). The wings, built to the proportions of the model, just couldn't take the force. "We were afraid the wing panels would fold up," Woerner admits. On the bright side, prior to its flight to oblivion, young Rebels got to clamber around the cockpit. "We do this for the kids," Woerner says. Because, you know, it's not like these guys are geeks or anything. By the way, the club's next project: a Klingon D7 Battle cruiser. And if this one blows up, well, that's how the Klingons like to go out, anyway. K'plah!

Strange side effects

Lately I've been noticing some side effects to losing weight, some of them are a little odd and I would have never have expected. Like here is a weird one, the necklace that I have worn for 8 years now, well it hangs lower now. I guess I have lost some neck girth, who would have thought of that? Another odd one, when I shower I now use less soap. That one I guess is sort of a no-brainer, there is less of me to wash....but who ever thinks about that happening. I kept using the same amount of body soap and I was noticing that I had a lot of bubbles left, one day it dawned on me that I could probably use less soap now! Of course there are all of the added health benefits to losing weight, but there are a lot of little things too, and when you figure them out they really make your day! There are a ton of expected things like wearing smaller clothes and feeling more confident, but who would have thought a smaller neck and less soap. Kind of odd, yet fun at the same time!

The Biggest Loser

One of my favorite shows on TV is nearing an end. There is only 2 weeks until the live season finale. The transformations that these contestants have made are really tremendous, if you have not seen the show I would really encourage you to watch the finale in a few weeks. That finale will show tons of before and afters, which are the best part of the show. I believe that the show lasted 16 weeks and some of the contestants are in the 120 pounds lost range. The most I have ever seen in a finale is 214 pounds lost over the course of a season! That is so amazing, but I wonder how they do at keeping the weight off after the show when they need to resume real lives again.

All I know is that when I work out on Wednesday's this show has provided me with a ton of inspiration. I learn cool little diet and exercise tips, and in a way I find myself working harder so that I can look better than the contestants!

Something to look forward to, on New Years Day a new Biggest loser will start....Couples Biggest Loser!

Gearing up

So our holiday season is in full swing. We've got the house decorated with lights, we've got the gingerbread house built and all decorated up, and we even have presents ordered. Well not all of our Christmas shopping is done, but we do have a dent in our lists. Here are some pictures of the gingerbread house and of the Christmas lights. The first picture is of the full light display, the second is of the big light bulb driveway lights.....those are new this season! You can also see a Santa, a Snowman, and Candy Canes in the first picture (they are the blobby things).