Murder By Moonlight

Received an advanced copy of Murder By Moonlight and made it to about page 100. It isn’t bad, the writer is skilled but the characters and premise are just so familiar I didn’t see the point of finishing. Part of the reason I don’t finish much fiction is because I am a slow reader so for me to invest a couple weeks into a product it has to be excellent – not just good.

You Want To Accomplish Stuff?

Stop looking into a screen (TV, PC, Phone) and get to work.

 

 

Worst Rock Tattoos

What were these people thinking?

http://loudwire.com/worst-rock-tattoos-ever/

Van Halen Concert

I added a new, and important to me, ticket stub to my collection. Last week I saw Van Halen with my daughter. People know I’m a big KISS fan and I have some KISS memorabilia around so the automatic assumption is that KISS is my favorite band…and most days they are but Van Halen and KISS change leads and have for 30 years.

The timing of me becoming a fan of Van Halen and their breakup had me miss the classic lineup. That and my stupidity – since every once in a while I would get in a mood of well if everyone loves them now I’m not going which I think may have partially been the case when the classic Van Halen lineup made their last tour.

Anyway, I have seen David Lee Roth three time solo and out of my weird protest of the new Van Halen I never went to any of their shows with Sammy Hagar, which I now also regret.

Back to the present: the show was excellent and the band musically was amazing. I am a big David Lee Roth fan but sometimes his off-time delivery live gets on my nerve. Regardless the band sounded amazing. I thought the arena would be packed and possible sellout but there were quite a few unsold tickets but still a huge crowd – especially at those prices.

I’m glad I got to see Eddie Van Halen play live at least once because I do believe that after Jimi Hendrix there is no more influential guitar player ever in the history of rock.

Eddie’s kid Wolfgang held his own and proved to me that he’s not just there because his dad is Eddie Van Halen. The kid can play and more importantly to the ‘Van Halen sound’ he can provide some excellent background vocals which is an often overlooked aspect of what made Van Halen such a great band.

I love the new album and thought the concert was great. Hey how could it not be it was Van F’n Halen!

Getting to a Good Weight

Health – Diet

Mr. Writing III’s series of guides and tips for helping men live a full life.

Get to a good weight. I’m going to leave what your good weight to you and your doctor. Some body mass indicators are B.S. and if some experts had their way we would all look like Ally McBeale or those skinny little marathon runners. If you look like that, and it is natural and comfortable for you, then that is great but if you aren’t then don’t stress about getting that thin.

 Don’t interpret the above paragraph as an out for being thirty pounds overweight because you’re comfortable with it. If you don’t think an extra thirty pounds doesn’t matter put on a backpack with thirty pounds in it and carry it around for a full day. Heck just an hour and you’ll be ready to get rid of it. That extra work is what you are doing to your body everyday when you are walking around heavier than you should be.

Take your weight seriously and get serious about changing your ways to get it under control. Not carrying around extra weight is a cornerstone of good health. From your knees, your back, to your heart; keeping off those extra pounds is one of the best things you can do for you longevity and quality of life.

Boiled Chicken

Quick easy (and cheap) versatile recipie

At first people recoil at the thought of boiled chicken. Thoughts of baby food mush might come to mind but boiled chicken is one cheap and easy way of getting a few meals out of little work. The meat can be used for a wide variety of recipies – I personally like to use the boiled chicken for chicken-salad and for chicken enchiladas. Canned chicken doesn’t even come close.

1. Buy a decent sized chicken but make sure you have a pot that can handle a whole chiken with a few inches at the top for the boiling.
2. Thaw chicken thoroughly. I’m sure the act of boiling can speed this along but I still like to have the chicken fully thawed.
3. Wash chicken.
4. Cover with water.
5. 1/4 tsp of salt and pepper.
6. Boil for 1.5-2 hours. I’ve heard of people that go 3-4 hours even but 1.5 is enough.
7. Eat!

Celebrity Apprentice

Not much of a TV watcher but Celebrity Apprentice is my guilty pleasure. I think the photography is amazing and in between all the bitching and moaning there are some life lessons. You watch the show and you see that the nicest people are most often the ones that are shown the door. I think this is true in life – maybe not fired – but when it comes to advancement, relationships, new opportunities nice guys may not finish last but they’re usually mid-pack.

  This season Lisa Lampanelli and Aubrey O’day (who…no idea) were always bragging about how they’re the brains of the team and they do all the work but they kept losing and losing. But come time to defend themselves they’re willing to be loud, nasty, and uncomfortable. Nice people don’t like loud, nasty and avoid uncomfortable so they come across as weak and lack passion and in the world of making money the bosses would prefer aggressive over passive even if it isn’t all that great with the actual results.

Take the athlete does a good but he “looks like he lacks passion”. Fans don’t like that guy. If a guy strikes out and leaves the bases loaded but makes a big scene and throws the batting helmet that tells the fans he cares. The other player who strikes out but quietly walks back to gets his glove could be analyzing what he did or trying to clear his head so it doesn’t affect his play in the field looks like he lacks passion and will therefore be scorned.

So come Monday morning at work – when you screw something up throw a huge fit!