My 90 days of P90X are officially up.  I followed the diet and workout plans as closely as I could (well, maybe I had a few illegal meals), and I must say that it lived up to the hype.  Extremely demanding if you push yourself, but very rewarding in the end. So what do I look like now?  See for yourself... Well, not quite.  I did gain about 15 pounds though.  And I can see definition that was certainly not there before.  I'm very happy with the results overall, but I see this as a beginning point. The focus of P90X is not huge size gains as much as getting you ripped.  I think ripped is great, but I'm going to modify the workouts a little bit so as to be able to make bigger gains.  I'd be perfectly happy at 190.  That would be an ideal weight to maintain indefinitely. I know lots of people are jumping on the P90X wagon now, and I don't blame them.  If you do what they tell you and be as strict as you can with the diet, it will work wonders.  I hear they even have four more workouts now that they call P90X plus.  ...

Up until a few weeks ago, I was a raving fan of PC Laptops.  Not laptops in general - the store called PC Laptops that sells computers.  Then I became disenchanted. I bought a laptop from them in 2004 before I started school at the University of Utah.  I told them I needed something basic.  Decent storage space for all those history papers, pictures, music, and whatever else I might add in the future.  Reasonably fast, but not gamer fast.  You know, a laptop for a student.  Their base model came in at about two grand, but who was I to doubt the credibility of a company that had entertained me so many times at the movie theaters with clever commercials? I told myself it was a worthy investment, for the computer would probably last me AT LEAST ten years.  Who cares if it would be obsolete by that time - at least it would still function. I was wrong. What they didn't tell me was that my two grand would buy, among other parts, a motherboard with a four year lifespan.  Four miserable years.  Maybe I wasn't listening four years ago when the tech told me that motherboards can go out like light ...

Amidst all the talk of clean energy solutions and renewable energy, I hear very little of geothermal energy. Some people seem to think solar, wind, and hydrogen are the only options we have. Maybe it's that they don't know much about geothermal energy, but it looks to be a very good energy resource if we'll just tap into it. Geothermal energy comes from heated underground water that comes to the surface as steam, which is then purified and used as power.  Sometimes there is water already there underground and other times you would have to re-inject water into the ground. My father-in-law is big into geothermal.  He could write an extremely lenghy book about it with minimal effort.  Through discussions that I've had with him, I've learned that the western U.S. is full of geothermal hot spots just waiting to be explored.  His primary interest has been along the border of western Nevada and Eastern California, specifically in the Honeylake area.  He believes, and many others will back him up, that a geothermal plant could have huge success in that area, supplying a lot of energy every year. I don't how much energy, but I do know that there was a plant on his land that used to produce.  ...

Marvel and DC fans have got to love the current superhero movie craze. We've been dumped on lately by so many of them that we don't know what to do with ourselves. Most have been good - some have been outstanding. Yet is it enough?  Of course not.  The more the better, for with every movie made, so increases the chances that one of the overlooked favorites will get a movie made about them.  Who do I have in mind specifically?  The one and only cajun, Gambit.  And why not, I ask?  He had his own comic book series.  He was and is well loved by any serious X-fan.  He's got looks, attitude, a romantic story-line, etc.  I don't think a mere five second appearance in an X-Men movie would do him any justice - he needs his own production. I'd like to see some others in movies, though they may not appeal to enough fans to have thier own.  I'd like to see Omega Red, Apocalypse, Carnage, and Archangel, among others.  The Angel was good in X3, but Archangel would be so much cooler.  And they've got to follow the Phoenix story line so we can have an appearance there. All I ...

Summertime always seems to bring out the patriot in people. I'm no different, so I usually try to do something to remind me of the importance of the Independence Day season. I just finished reading 1776, by David McCullough, a narrative of the events that happened in the American colonies/states during that year. Everyone needs to read this book.  I understand that war histories aren't everyone's thing, as my wife reminds me, but this book is so much more than a history of some war that happened a long time ago.  It is about the birth of a nation in the midst of terrible and trying conditions.  It is about the faith and perseverance that the first Americans had to keep going in the face of seeming impossible odds.  And it is an eye-opener to how events really went down that decided the future of this country. I've always thought any book that examines Washington's life and decisions, if only in part, would be worth a read.  1776 does that, but it also shows us how without so many others and their decisions - officers and soldiers alike, the outcome of the war could have been very different.  You will view Nathanael Green, Henry Knox, and others in new light ...

I came accross this gem and thought I would share it with all of you. Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, life isn't always fair, and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable parenting strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job they themselves failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Panadol, ...