Ragamuffin Top Challenge - Week 5

This week will be brief. We are on vacation for the week at Carolina Beach with my mom and sisters. Currently, Kim, Palmer and I are on the patio of a fancy little wine shop/coffee house called the Grind. It is the closest connection to the internets that I have found.

Last week I was up a half a pound to 220. My goal for this week was to lose three pounds. Check out my video to see how I did.



This week since we are on vacation, my goal is not to gain any weight. Thus far, I'd say I'm doing okay. There's a lot more working out going on than I had anticipated. We are on the third floor so just going to the beach is a session on the stairclimber.

I hope everyone did great on the challenge this week. You can go here to see how they did.

Vacation

We are about to leave for the beach. We will be down in Carolina Beach from Sunday to Sunday. Our condo doesn't have wireless internet. I'm not sure how I'll survive.

I plan to read and ride my bike some, but probably not at the same time. I am also going to work on my Ragamuffin Top Challenge video for this past week and get it up somehow.

Anyways, my internet access will be very limited this week. I'll miss you all.

Where the Hell is Matt?

This video makes me smile.


Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

You can read more about Matt and his movie here.

Some of my favorite parts are: the dog attacking him (Kuwait City, Kuwait), the chick on the right in the white capris and striped shirt (London, England), and of course, all the kids.

What is your favorite part?

h.t. Joshua Longbrake

Does God Really Make a Difference?

A friend of mine asked me to read Who Needs God. I started it a few months ago, but failed to make it past the first few chapters. I decided that I am going to try to read it this week. Since I started so long ago, I decided to start over from the beginning.

Chapter one is titled "Does God Really Make a Difference?". In the last few paragraphs, Kushner, a Rabbi, writes about a conversation he had with a young congregate, Paul. Paul tells Kushner that while he does not believe in religion, he does believe in God. Here Kushner recounts his response:

I asked him what he meant by that, and he told me that when he contemplates the beauty and intricacy of the world, he has to believe that God exists. That's very nice I told him, and I'm sure God appreciates your vote of confidence. But for the religious mind and soul, the issue has never been the existence of God but the importance of God, the difference that God makes in the way we live. ... A God who exists but does not matter, who does not make a difference in the way you live, might as well not exist.

I guess this is profound to me because it's something I had never thought of. What's the point of believing in God if God is just a "benevolent figurehead trotted out for ceremonial occasions and beloved by everyone because he never does anything"?

Have you ever had a conversation like this?

Ragamuffin Top Challenge - Week 4

To start off with, I'll say that I just ate some ice cream and now my stomach hurts. Sunday is my "cheat day". So, I thought I would take advantage and have some ice cream for the first time in weeks. I'm so disappointed. It was such a waste. I feel like I should go run around the neighborhood or something.

So, this is the end of my third week. After last week, I was down 5 pounds total. This week was not as good as the first two. Check out my video to see how I did.

NOTE: I added a little sci-fi flavor to my video this week, which definitely upped the cheese factor.



Be sure to go check out how everyone else is doing here.

Lock up your daughters...

This kid is going to be breaking hearts and taking names (and probably numbers), as soon as he learns to write.



Palmer's Aunt Leslie is learning use her fancy pants camera, i.e. she took a photography class. I guess we'll let her use Palmer as a guinea pig, as long as she gets in a few good ones, like this one.

Good job sis.

Ragamuffin Top Challenge - Week 3 (Update)

I finally uploaded my Ragamuffin Top Challenge video for this past week. I updated my original post and added the video to it.

I realize that all of you that subscribe in a reader would have missed the update, and thus missed the video. So, I thought I would post again and direct you back to the original week 3 post.

Enjoy.

How To of the Day

In my iGoogle, I have the WikiHow "How To of the Day" gadget. Every day they provide a link to a different WikiHow page. Today's link was How to Lose Weight. Due to my participation in the Ragamuffin Top Challenge, I found it to be an interesting article.

Check it out. Let me know what you think.

Ragamuffin Top Challenge - Week 3

This week I decided to weigh-in on Friday morning. I went camping on Friday night and and came back Sunday afternoon. I didn't want to wait until Sunday night to weigh-in. So, I did it a day early instead of a day late.

My goal this week was to continue the "no sodas, no sweet tea, no kool-aid, and no snacking" diet and to exercise three times. Here's a run down of what I did for exercise.

Saturday: Basketball (2 hours)
Monday: Walk with Kim (~1 mile)
Tuesday: Full Body Workout, Basketball (1 hour), Bike Ride (~14 miles), Walk with Kim (~1 mile)
Thursday: Stationary Bike (20 minutes), Full Body Workout

My bike ride on Tuesday was the Triangle Triathlon course. So, now I have a start time for my second goal. Check out the video for what the official time is. Then, you can check back next week to see if I beat it.



You can go here to see how everyone else is doing. Be sure to check Jeramie Mullis. That's my homey. Also, you should check-in on Annie D, she's a trip.

Thanks for checking in. Come back next week to see how I'm doing.

Feel free to leave some encouraging words.

Rob Bell on Rob Bell

h.t. the longbrake