10000 Steps

A Little Experiment

By Shmoe

Hey hey everybody. I hope you all had a good weekend. Mine was filled with both sadness and some greatness. The sadness started on Saturday. Like I have been talking about the past couple of blogs, one of my absolute favorite restaurants "E&E" is closing. Saturday was the last day. My friends and I decided to get there early so that we would for sure get a chance to eat there. We ended up arriving at 3:30 and E&E opens at 4. There were already 6 parties in front of us. But we got on the list, and we were able to eat in the first round of people. Boy did that turn out to be a good thing. The restaurant is really small and they were only going to serve about 100 people that day. We talked to the owners and they said 80 people had already made reservations. It was only 4:30 at that point. It was a two hour wait for everyone, but luckily we made it in early. So I did splurge on my meal, as to be expected. But oh well. The rest of the weekend I behaved pretty well. On Sunday I had some egg whites for breakfast. Then for lunch I had a turkey sandwich. Then for dinner I had some baked rigatoni my Mom made.

As far as steps go I did about twelve thousand. I do not know why, but I just did not want to stop walking. Ten Thousand steps has become routine for me. I think I am going to try an experiment this week and see how it goes. I am going to try and do fifteen thousand a day, and see how that goes. I will definitely keep you guys posted. But I really think I can do it, and I want to kick things into gear you know? Today has gone pretty well. I had some oatmeal for breakfast, and did some steps. I did about four thousand. I had some lunch which was a bit more of my mom's baked rigatoni. For dinner it will probably be a chicken salad or something of that nature. Anyway I will let you guys know how the fifteen thousand steps go. Take care

Steps Done Today: 12,088
Steps Done Total: 2,375,983

Again, and Again

By Shmoe

Hello everybody. It is once again time for another blog. I have been eating pretty well the past couple of days. For example, My breakfasts have been consisting of some egg whites, with a bit of low fat cheese mixed in. Then for lunch it is usually a turkey sandwich, with low fat Mayo. Then for dinner, It has changed. The day before yesterday, I had a salad, with low fat dressing, veggies, and some turkey meat loaf. Then yesterday my friends and I went to E&E. I know I have mentioned it before, but I am going to mention it again because unfortunately it is closing on Saturday. So my friends and I are trying to eat there as much as we can. We went yesterday and we will probably go again on Friday, and on Saturday. It had become one of our favorite places to go. We have been going there for about six years, and we knew everyone there. But oh well, times change I guess. But anyway What I usually eat there is not the greatest for me, and probably not the worst either. I usually get the vegetable curry, which comes with rice, and then a hamburger patty as well. So it is definitely not the best thing, but definitely not as bad as eating fast food or something like that. But yea I will not be able to get it ever again, so when I go there I want to enjoy it while it lasts.

Anyway as far as the ten thousand steps go. I have been doing extremely well. Making sure I finish them everyday. As of right now I have about 5000 steps done. I walked a bit around the neighborhood with my mp3 player. I listened to the new Queens Of The Stone Age track. If you are interested, you can check it out here. Their new album comes out June 12th, and I cannot wait. Anyway after that I came back inside and worked on a bit of music. That is exactly what I am going to do after this blog too. Go back work on some music, and then eat some dinner. I am not quite sure what I will have, but It will probably be something light, probably a chicken salad or something like that. Anyway, take care and I'll talk to you awesome people later.

Steps Done Today: 10,000

Steps Done Total: 2,353,795

Nachos, Not the Healthiest Thing For Dinner

By Shmoe

Hello everyone, I hope you are all doing well this Tuesday afternoon. Things have been going pretty well with my ten thousand steps plan. Unfortunately last night I did not have the best dinner. A couple of friends and I went to a bar to watch the Dodger game. So my dinner consisted of a couple of beers and some nachos. Probably not the greatest thing I could have eaten health wise. Although they were delicious. Luckily earlier in the day I ate pretty well, so one bad meal can't be that bad. For breakfast, I had some Vanilla low fat yogurt, with some fruits and nuts mixed in. Then for lunch I had a Chicken and Basil sandwich I made myself. A little bit of low fat Mayo, and just chicken fresh basil and some bread. It was really tasty. Then like I said my dinner was not to good. I did not eat a ton of nachos so maybe that is a bit better news. I did get all my steps done for the day though. So I was happy about that.

That brings us to today. I woke up and had some egg whites, and a bit of low fat cheese mixed in. After I had that, I grabbed my mp3 player and headed out the door. Today I listened to one of my favorite artists not many people know about. Which is a shame, the guy is really a genius, and deserves more credit. His name is Mauro Pawlowski, and he is a guitarist, and songwriter from Belgium. He writes an eclectic style of music. Some is really listen able, and then some is just noise. All of it is cool to listen to every once in a while, but for a while he wrote a lot of great music in between those lines. It is still weird, but very listen able. Anyway I was listening to some of his music, as I walked and did a good chunk of my ten thousand steps. I got back to my house with about six thousand steps completed. I went online to do some promoting for my music. I did that for a good amount of time, and then I started to work on my music. I have been working on a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Terrible Lie" It should be pretty cool when I finally get it done. But anyway, I had some lunch which included a Turkey sandwich and an apple. Well, that is where I stand right about now. I will definitely try and eat something healthier then nachos tonight for dinner. Probably a chicken salad or something like that. Anyway, take care and I'll talk to you guys later

Steps Done Today: 10,156

Steps Done Total: 2,333,795

A Windy Day

By Shmoe

Hey everybody, It is Thursday and you know what that means. Oh you do not? It is time for another blog! With that out of the way, let us get things started. Today I woke up a bit early to the sound of my blinds crashing back and forth into my window. I learned very quickly that it was windy, and I am so glad I learned that at four in the morning. So after sleeping for another couple of hours, I woke up and had some breakfast. Which included, some yogurt with some nuts and fruit mixed in. I grabbed my mp3 player and headed outside to be greeted by some wind in my face. I ventured on forward, and walked until I got to about 5000 steps. I came back inside, and tried working on a bit more music. I wrote one song, that I actually might think be something. It still is in pieces but I definitely like a lot of it. It still has to go through some changes, but the song was a lot better then the stuff I have been previously writing. Like I said earlier, I have been in this funk when it comes to writing music, but hopefully this means I am coming out of it.

After that I decided to have some lunch. Which included half a turkey sandwich, and an apple. That pretty much brings us to the present time. I am writing this blog a bit early, because later on my dad and I are going to see Grindhouse. I am a big fan of those types of movies, so I am hoping it will be pretty good. I enjoy almost all of Robert Rodriguez, and Quentin Tarantino's works, so I cannot imagine I will hate this one. Anyway I am not quite sure what I will have for dinner, but I will make sure its something healthy. Probably a salad or something of that nature. Anyway that is about it for right now. Take care everyone, I will definitely talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,089

Steps Done Total: 2,293,439

Improvement Is Always A Good Thing

By Shmoe

Hello everyone, I hope you all are doing well on this Tuesday. I have been doing pretty well. The past week, and so far this week have been going extremely well. I have been doing a great job at watching what I eat, and making sure to finish my 10,000 steps each day. I got on the scale, and it seems to be working like a charm. I am at or a little under 240. My scale is retarded, so I have to get on it a couple of times, and average out the weight. So its pretty much 240 to 238. Which I am really happy about. The food I have been eating has been a major upgrade. My dinners usually consist of a salad, and a piece of chicken, or something like that. The lunches, are usually a turkey sandwich, and a piece of fruit, like an apple or a banana or something like that. Then for breakfast its usually some yogurt with some fruits and nuts. I admit though, earlier last week, I did have some Hot Dogs and such because my family was grilling them, but I did not go crazy go nuts when eating them. I made sure not to eat a ton. But either way I have been trying to make major strides in my eating habit. I still will enjoy the occasional unhealthy food, like everyone. But I am really happy with the way things are going.

That brings us to today. I woke up and had a bowl of oatmeal. I then went outside, and proceeded to do my steps. I walked about 6000 and then came back in. I checked the mail, and saw that my tickets came to a concert I have been waiting for. The band I am going to see is Mastodon. I am pretty sure I mentioned them on here, but they a really cool original metal band. I am not the biggest fan of metal generally, but for some reason Mastodon works. Anyway I made myself lunch which once again included a turkey sandwich, and an apple. I then worked on some music. I have been trying to write some new material, but I have not really come up with anything I love. At least this current writing session I am going through. It usually works out eventually, but the past 2 or 3 songs I have been trying to write, I like, but I do not like enough to keep working on. They will just probably stay stashed away for a while. But anyway I did that and then went back and did a couple thousand more steps. That leaves me with about 2000 left, and I will definitely finish them before the day is over. As for dinner, it is probably going to be another salad. That is about it. Talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today:10,100
Steps Done Total: 2,273,250

Walking, and Micing, and Micing, and Walking

By Shmoe

Hey everybody. I hope all of you are doing well. Yesterday went pretty well. I woke up and had a bowl of cripsix. After that I went outside and went for a walk. I got about 4000 steps done before coming back to my house to set up to record. A friend of mine wanted to record some drum parts, for a couple songs he has been working on. So I set up all my mics, stands, cables, and the actual recording program. After that I had some lunch which included a turkey sandwich, and a glass of chocolate soy milk. After that my friend came over and we started recording. He has a huge drum kit, so it took a little while to setup, and then mic everything. But once we got it set up, we recorded about 5 songs. We still have one song left, but we are going to finish it on Thursday. After he left, I walked a bit more. I pretty much finished off the rest of my steps then. I came back in to catch the Dodger game, and eat dinner. I had a chicken salad for dinner. I have had that the past couple of days. Pretty tasty, and nice and healthy.

Today I woke up and had a bowl of oatmeal. I started to work on some of my music for a bit. After that, I went outside to do some steps. I grabbed my mp3 player and headed out the door. I came back inside after getting about 8000 steps done. I had some lunch which once again included the usual Turkey sandwich. After that I worked on some more music, and then finished the rest of my steps. Not sure what I am going to do for dinner, but it will probably be another salad. Well, that is about it for today. Talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,105
Steps Done Total: 2,232,285

Opening Day

By Shmoe

Hey everyone I hope you all are doing well.  The weekend went pretty well for me.  I was able to eat pretty well, and I got to work on some music with friends.  We have a new project going.  We do not have a name yet, but we were able to write one song.  I do not know how to describe it, but its mellow and rocking at the same time.  It is pretty dynamic.  Either way it was fun.  Aside from that, I was able to complete my 10,000 steps both yesterday and Friday.  I do not do steps on Saturday, to give myself a break.  But I did eat pretty well, the meals included lots of salad, and other light meats like chicken and turkey.

That about bring us to today.  I woke up and had some pineapple for breakfast.  After that I headed outside to get some steps in before opening day.  In case you did not know today is opening day for baseball so a lot of cool games were on and I did not want to miss them.  So I got about 3000 steps completed and came back inside to watch the Dodgers take on the Brewers.  Things did not go so well, and the Dodgers lost 7 to 1.  But it was still OK, I got to hang out with my dad and brother.  We BBQed some Hot Dogs for lunch and watched the rest of the game.  So I did not do to well at lunch, but I will make up for it at dinner.  After that I walked a bit more.  I walked a bit around the house checking in on a couple of the other games on TV.  As I write this I have about 4000 steps left.  I will definitely make sure to get them completed before I get my "fix" of 24.  Well, that is about it from my end.  Hope you all are succeed at your 10,000 steps program.  Talk to you later.

Steps Done Today: 10,000

Steps Done Total: 2,212,080

Walking Around The Stadium

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, I would have posted a blog yesterday, but I got a call out of no where from my friend to goto the Dodgers Vs Angels game last night at Dodger stadium. You guys know me and I just could not turn it down. So taking that into consideration, I did not have the healthiest dinner. But the rest of my meals were great. For breakfast, I had some yogurt with fruits and nuts. Then for lunch I had a turkey sandwich on pitta bread. No, Mayo, just with a bit of Mustard. Then for dinner I had 2 Dodger dogs, and a coke. I know not the healthiest thing, but how can you goto a Dodger game and not get Dodger dogs. It is just not right. Anyway I wish the game was better but the Dodgers lost. The seats were pretty cool though, we were right next to the Angel bullpen, so a couple of my friends who are angel fans got autographs and what not. But enough about that. The good thing about Dodger Stadium is that you get a decent amount of steps in as well. I remember a couple of years ago, I would get out of breath walking around Dodger Stadium. Pretty pathetic I know. But nowadays. Not out of breath at all, and we actually entered on the wrong side so we had to walk up and down stairs, and all around the stadium. Just a pretty cool thing to consider, and it just makes me feel pretty good. It just makes me know that all of this was worth it, that it really has helped and changed me for the better.

I woke up today and got on the scale. I was happy with the results. I am below 245, close to 240. Which is awesome. Hopefully I can lose some more pounds and get down to about 220 or 225. That is about where I want to get. So I am happy where I am at. It seems to have taken more time, to lose the rest of this weight, considering how much I lost earlier. But its fine, I will continue to until I reach my goal. After getting off the scale, I had a bowl of Crispix, and then walked a bit. I got about 3000 steps done, then I came back inside. Later today, a couple of friends are going to come over, and we are going to start writing music for a new music project. It should be a lot of fun. We have not written any music, so I do not know how to describe it yet. After that I had some lunch, which was once again a Turkey Sandwich on Pita bread, with some mustard. As far as dinner goes, we are going to be going to one of our favorite restaurant's, E&E. Which we just found out will be closing soon. So we are trying to get as much of it as possible. We talked to the owners of the place, and they are just kind of tired of doing it. So they are just going to stop. It sucks, but it is whatever they want to do. Anyway I will definitely make sure to finish the rest of my steps, and I hope you guys have a great weekend. Later

Steps Done Today:10,100
Steps Done Total: 2,191,980

A Friendly Visit

By Shmoe

Hello everybody.  I hope things are going extremely well for you guys.  Things have been going pretty well for me.  I have been continuing to do my 10,000 steps program without many problems.  Always getting at least 10,000 steps done, and continuing to eat healthier then I have been in the past.  The weekend went pretty well.  I got my steps done, and ate pretty well over the weekend.  Although my dad grill some hot dogs for the Dodger game we watched.  Aside from that it was pretty good.  Monday I got a call from my friend Dan who I have not seen in a while.  He is here visiting from the Santa Clara area.  So we had to goto our normal places to eat.  First up was the Italian deli I always talk about Caverreta's.  We each had a sandwich and hung out for a bit just catching up.  He left a little later and I went and did some steps.  I got about 8000 steps done, before I came back to my house.  A couple of hours later I had chicken and broccoli for dinner, then I went out to finish the rest of my steps.  I got back in time to get my fix for 24.  I call it my "fix" because I might as well be addicted to heroin.  I think it would probably be less addictive then 24.  Either way I got everything done for that day. 

I woke up today, and had myself a bowl of Oatmeal and then headed out the door for some 10,000 step goodness.  I walked while listening to a favorite artist of mine Mauro Pawlowski.  He is from Belgium and does a lot of weird yet really interesting and rocking music.  He has been involved with a ton of bands and is a really amazing musician.  Anyway I got about 5000 steps complete, before getting back to my house and working on some music.  I started writing a couple new songs.  I do not know how they will turn out, but I like how they sound already.  After that I had some lunch, which included a Ham sandwich, and a 100 cal pack of chips.  I am not quite sure what I am going to have for dinner, because it is my sister's birthday.  So I cannot promise it will be healthy, but I will try and not eat a ton of it.  As of right now I am also sitting at about 7000 steps.  I will make sure to finish the rest of them later though.  Take care everyone and I will talk to you guys later.  Bye

Steps Done Today:10,000
Steps Done Total: 2,151,580

Still Going Strong

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, I hope your doing well on this Wednesday, I know I am.  Yesterday went pretty well, did the normal routine.  I finished all my steps and then some, I did an extra 1000 or so steps.  Not a ton more, but still happy that I did more then the required amount.  As for the food intake, I did pretty well.  I had blueberry banana smoothie for breakfast, my usual turkey sandwich for lunch, then for a snack I had some hummus and pita bread, and then for dinner I had an Italian Combo sandwich from cavareta's.  Not too shabby.  That brings us to today.  I woke up and had a bowl of Cherrios, and then once again headed out the door to do some steps.  While walking I was listening to a favorite band of mine Mastodon.  They are an amazing band, and ridiculously talented.  I think I will be going to see them when they come here to LA.  They have a show May first and I think my friends and I are going to go.  Should be awesome.  Speaking of shows, I think at least for right now I am going to try and play some shows by myself.  I have been toying with the idea, and I think I am going to try it.  I will play all the keyboard and vocal parts live, But use previously recorded tracks to play along to.  Basically play to the guitar, drums, and bass, as if they are there.  But they will be coming from something.  Not sure what I am going to use yet, but probably either a CD player, MP3 player, or Laptop.  But seeing as how I do not have a laptop it is probably going to be a MP3 player, or CD player.  I will let you guys know how that works out.

Back to my 10,000 steps program.  I completed about 7000 steps, then came back inside to work on some music, and eat some lunch.  For lunch I had the usually turkey sandwich.  After that I worked a bit more on music, then walked a bit more, until I finished my steps.  I am not quite sure what I am going to do for Dinner, but I will definitely try and make sure its healthy.  That is about it from my end.  Until next time, I will talk to you guys later. 

Steps Done Today:10,089

Steps Done Total: 2,111,180 

Over The Weekend

By Shmoe

Hello everybody. I hope you all had a fantastic weekend. My weekend was fun, but that does not mean good things for my 10,000 steps program. I did extremely well over the week, but once Friday hit, I had some problems. A couple of friends of mine wanted to watch the NCAA Basketball Tournament, and of course what kind of NCAA Tournament would it be without....as you probably guessed already, Beer and unhealthy food!!! Needless to say I indulged and it was fun. A little to much fun perhaps. I did try to limit my portions of the unhealthy food. So at least I can say that. Saturday went a bit better, although it was St. Patrick's Day. So can you guess what happened? That is correct more Beer. But this time I did not eat a bunch of terrible food with it. But then on Sunday I got things back in order, had a lot of veggies and chicken, and stuff of that nature. Also on Sunday my good friend Gop was on the radio. It was a college station in San Diego, but still pretty cool. He was interviewed, and played a couple of songs. He also played 2 of my songs from my CD. I was pretty happy with that. He talked about how we record, and how he plays on my stuff. So that was very cool. I also got my 10,000 steps done on Sunday too.

Today I woke up and did my normal routine, Have a quick breakfast then grab my mp3 player and head out the door. For breakfast I had, some egg whites, and a piece of toast. I then walked for a while. I got about 4000 steps done, and then came back to my house. I worked on a bit of music. I am actually in the process of writing a new song. I have about 6 or so new ones written already. I also have some tracks I did not use on my album, that I might bring back and work on. We will see how the process goes though. After that I grabbed some lunch. I had a turkey sandwich. After that I walked a bit more and now I am sitting here with 6000 steps. I am not quite sure what I am going to do for dinner, but I will make sure to include veggies and something healthy. Talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,100
Steps Done Total: 2,080,691

Titles Are My Favorite Part

By Shmoe

Hey everyone. I hope you all are doing pretty well. Since my last blog, I have really stepped it up as far as my diet, and 10,000 steps program go. Since Sunday, I have been eating much better, and making sure to complete all of my 10,000 steps per day. All my meals have been a lot healthier. Today for example I woke up and had some oatmeal. Then for lunch I had a chicken salad. I am not quite sure what I will have for dinner, but it will definitely be healthier then what I ate the past week. As far as the steps have been going, I have about 6000 steps done already. I took a walk earlier, and walked around the neighborhood for a good amount of time. While I was walking, I was listening to a couple of Nine Inch Nails albums. I do not know why, but I get in these moods where I listen to one artist a ton. A while ago all I could do was listen to Jimi Hendrix, right now its Nine Inch Nails. After I got done with my walk, I came back inside and listened to some of the recordings I did yesterday for a friend. The tracks were all just drums, but they were for a video he was doing. He wanted to record the audio, that way it sounded a lot better then just using the camera for the audio.

Later on today, another friend of mine is going to be coming over to record a track or two. These are going to feature him performing a couple of different instruments, not just drums like the other. These are originals, that he is recording for his myspace, and for others to hear. I will definitely let you know when they are done so you can check them out. As far as my music is going, its going at a crawling pace. I am not to happy about that, and I hope I can have it go faster, but we will see how it goes. I am still writing material, and keeping all of that up to date. It is just getting it out there live that I am having the problem with. I am just having trouble getting schedules together. It is tough just getting people together. Hopefully this will be settled eventually and I can get out there and play my music for people. Well, that is about it from my end. I wish you guys continued success with the 10,000 steps. Take care

Steps Done Today: 10,056

Steps Done Total: 2,050,291

Two Million Steps and Counting

By Shmoe

Hello everybody.  I hope you all had a pretty good weekend.  My week and weekend was pretty fun.  Which does not mean good things for my 10,000 steps program.  Wednesday was my birthday. I decided that I was going to take the day off for my 10,000 steps program, I still wore my pedometer for the day, but I only got a couple thousand complete.  Aside from that it was a great birthday, my friends and I went to all you can eat sushi, and I got the new Nine Inch Nails DVD, as well as a new Microphone.  Thursday went pretty well, I completed my 10,000 steps and ate pretty well.  For lunch I had a turkey sandwich, and a banana.  Then for dinner I made a small Pizza, with pepperoni.  Not to bad.  Then Friday rolled along and things did not go so well.  My friends came over for lunch, and we ordered caverretas.  It is an Italian deli, that has amazing sandwiches.  Instead of going with the Italian Combo, I played it safe and got a turkey sandwich.  My friends stayed for a while and we worked on a lot of music.  That took up the majority of the day, and I only had 2000 steps.  We made plans to goto dinner and then go see the movie 300.  So we went to dinner, and again I did pretty well, we went to a Thai food place, and I had garlic chicken and rice.  Although I did get fried wantons as well.  We then went to see the movie, and it was really good.  The film looked amazing, every scene was just epic and really cool.  It was not just about the special effects to, it was an all around good film.  After the film my friends and I decided to goto a bar.  I looked down at my pedometer and I only had about 5000 steps for the day.  So I was already not feeling optimistic, about completing my steps for the day.  I thought maybe if we got home early, I could try and finish them, but by the time it was all said and done it was very late, and there was no time to do it.  To try and make up for it on Saturday, I did 5000+ steps to try and equal out the 10,000.  I did not eat so well on Saturday either, I had a meatball sub for lunch, and Chinese food for dinner.

 
Finally On Sunday I got things back together.  I had a turkey sandwich for lunch, followed by chicken with asparagus, and zucchini for dinner.  I was able to complete my steps for the day.  I felt pretty good, that I got things on track and I continued them today.  I had a bowl of grapenuts for breakfast, and then went and knocked out some steps.  After that I came back and had a sandwich, and a 100 cal pack of chips.  I finished my steps early today, so that way I made sure I got them done.  I'm not quite sure what I'm going to have for dinner, but I will make sure its something healthy.  I also just realized that I have over 2 million steps.  I definitely have to love that.  Anyway talk to you guys later.  Bye
Steps Done Today:10,000
Steps Done Total: 2,030,135

Just Missed It

By Shmoe

Hey everyone I hope you all are doing extremely well. I know I have been doing pretty well lately. I have been keeping up with my steps and my diet. I have been pretty proud of myself, just following through on every part of it. It continues to pay off as well, I lost another pound or two and I am now below 250. Which is amazing. I cannot believe that I weigh that much. I know it is still a lot. But from 300 down to that, I am definitely proud of myself. As far as today goes, I woke up and had some yogurt with some fruits and nuts mixed in. I then went outside for a morning walk, and walked for a little while. I came back to my house a little earlier then normal to eat some lunch and to catch the Barcelona game on TV. For lunch I had a turkey sandwich and a 100 calorie pack of chips. As far as the Barcelona game went, It was a huge game for them. They ended up winning, but not advancing to the next round of the tournament. It is a big long confusing thing, but basically they did not score enough goals to move on. I know it sounds weird, but that is the way it goes. After the game I walked a bit longer and then came back inside with the majority of my steps complete.

As I write this I still have about 3000 steps left. I will definitely be able to finish the rest of them before the day is over though. I do not know how my diet is going to go tomorrow. The main reason is because its my birthday. My friends and I already are going to all you can eat sushi, so I think it is already thrown out the window. But hey I cannot always be good, and what better time then my birthday. Right? As far as the rest of the day is concerned I am not sure what I will be doing. But I hope I can get my 10,000 steps done. If not it will not be that big of a think. I will have just missed one day, and I have not done that in a long long time. Anyway take care everyone and I will talk to you later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,000

Steps Done Total:1,990,646

Music and Walking

By Shmoe

Hello Everybody, Time for another bloggity blog blog of goodness. Today started with a wake up call from my good friend Jimmie. He is the other friend of mine who is in the Navy. He currently is stationed in Guam, and has been on a sub the past couple of months. Well, he decided to give me a call at five thirty, or so this morning. I heard the phone ringing and could not demand the will power to get up and answer it. I figured it was a wrong number because who in their right mind would call me at five forty-five AM. At least people that I know. Anyway a couple of hours later, I kind of regretted that decision, I saw it was from him and I have not heard from him in a while. Hopefully it was not to important, and I am pretty sure he will call again. Well, after all that I ate some breakfast which consisted of some Egg Whites (hey imagine that, there was just a post about egg whites) and a piece of toast. The toast was not slathered in butter or anything either, it was just with jelly. After that I grabbed my MP3 player and headed out the door. On my walk today, I decided to listen to this weird band from Norway, called Cloroform. The main songwriter of the band is actually an academy award winning film scorer. Which is pretty crazy. Aside from doing scores, he plays a lot of weird out their rock, with his band Cloroform as well as playing with Mike Patton, who is famous for being the singer from Faith No More but has many other amazing projects. Enough of getting sidetracked, I walked about 6000 steps and then came back to my house. For lunch I had a turkey sandwich and a 100 calorie pack of chips. I finished off the rest of my steps and then got to work on some music.

The first thing I did was listen back to a recording I just did with my friend yesterday. It was a theme song for a local political talk show. So it should be on TV pretty soon, which is awesome. My friend knows the host of the show and he was looking for a theme so my friend did it for him. The other thing was that the host, wanted to do some voice over stuff, so he might actually come here and do it. Which is pretty cool. Well, that is about it from my end. Talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today:10,058
Steps Done Total:1,959,946

Still So Close

By Shmoe

Hey everyone I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was pretty great. I got to hang out with one of my navy friends. He is in the Navy band so he is not really involved in any fighting, but he is gone a lot. He was stationed in Virginia the past couple of months and now he is going to be in New Orleans. Which should be a good place for him. He is a bass player, and he loves loves loves jazz. So I do not think there is a better place for him. Anyway aside from hanging out with him, the weekend was filled with hanging out and going places with my friends. It was kind of a test we went to a Wendy's for dinner. Instead of getting a big burger like I used to, I got a chicken sandwich. So at least I am trying to keep following through.

Today I woke up and followed the same routine I have been following. Eating some yogurt with mixed nuts, and then going for a walk. I grabbed my mp3 player and headed out the door. Lately I have been pretty obsessed with 2 artists. One is Jimi Hendrix, I just get into these modes where thats all I listen to. It happens every once in a while and thats all I do. So I cranked up some Jimi, and walked for a while. After a little while I came back to the house and checked how many steps I had. I had about 5000 or so. Soon after that a friend called and we got lunch. We got sub sandwiches, and then I went and did some more steps. Once I came back inside. I decided to work on some of my music. I'm still working on getting the live band together. It kind of sucks that everyone cannot commit to it. But I understand, everyone has different schedules and its hard to get 5 people together every week to practice. I guess I will just keep working, and looking and eventually I will find some people. Anyway I still have some steps to do, but do not worry I will get them done for sure. Anyway. Take care everyone and I will talk to you later Bye

Steps Done Today:10,100

Steps Done Total: 1,929,688

So So Close

By Shmoe

Hello everybody. I hope you all are doing well. This week went pretty well for me. I did a pretty good job of watching what I ate, and how much I ate. I did have some fast food, during the week but I did not have to much of it. I ate a lot less of it then I used to. Aside from the 2 meals of fast food I had, I ate pretty well besides that. A lot of chicken and vegetables as well as other things like that. As for snacks I usually stick to nuts, and fruits. Things along those lines. Just basically trying my best to keep up the good eating habits. Aside from that I have been doing my steps everyday. Like I said I have become a lot better at managing the time it takes me to do my steps. So I am generally not waiting until the last minute to complete them. Like I have been saying the past couple of blogs, the steps have really truly become routine for me. It is completely awesome. I started out struggling and now its just part of my daily ritual. It is great.

As far as other things are going in my life things could be going a bit better. The whole live band situation has not quite worked out the way I wanted it to. Some people can't dedicate enough time, and that is fine with me, I just wish we could have started it rolling. Anyway so it looks like I need to possibly find a couple other musicians to play with. So it turns out it might take a bit longer. Either way I still want to follow through with this, and see what happens. Well that is about it on my end, I hope you all are having a great Saturday. bye

Steps Done Today:10,190
Steps Done Total:1,909,488 (so so close)

Almost at 2 Million

By Shmoe

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend, Mine was all right. It was filled with hanging out with friends, and trying to watch what I eat. I have been pretty much doing the same thing the past couple of weeks. Just eating well, watching the portions I eat, and just doing my 10,000 steps. I have had a couple of close calls where I thought I would not have enough time to finish all of the 10,000 steps, but I was able to complete them. I have become a lot better at time managing my steps too. Knowing that if I may be doing something later on with my friends or family, I try and do more steps before then. I know it sounds kind of dumb, but I just have become better at it. Anyway, I think I have lost a couple more pounds. I am at about 250 give or take a pound. So I have lost about 50 pounds doing the 10,000 steps program. To be honest I was not sure how well this whole thing would work. But it has turned out to be exactly what I needed. I am completely shocked with my results, and I will continue to keep it up. I just hope I can continue to keep up the pace and continue to lose more weight. Anyway That is about it from my end. I hope you all are doing well. Take care

Steps Done Today: 10,000
Steps Done Total:1,868,998 (getting close to that 2 million mark)

Walking, Walking and more Walking

By Shmoe

Hello everybody, I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine went pretty well. It was filled with good times with my friends, and finally being able to practice with a full band again. The original bass player I was going to have for my band, turned out not to be able to do it, so I just asked a friend of mine to do it, and he said he would. So most of the practice consisted of getting him up to speed with the rest of us. The practice went pretty well altogether, and we are coming along nicely. The only real problem that we have, is getting everyone together to do it. We sometimes miss a week, and that may set us back for playing sometime in March. It kind of makes me feel helpless, because I cannot really do anything about it. It is just the way it is. Either way we will be playing at some point.

Well, enough about the music, onto the main part of this blog, the 10,000 steps. I have been continuing to do them, and do them more quickly it seems. Every time I look down at my pedometer, I am surprised to see how many steps I have at different periods of the day. I have found myself not doing the steps all at one time as I used to. Not that there is a problem with that, its just what I have been doing. As far as my eating habits go, I have been keeping them under control. Watching what I eat and just keeping up what I have been doing the past couple of weeks.

That brings us to today. I woke up and had some yogurt with some fruit and nuts mixed in. I then grabbed my mp3 player and headed out the door for some 10,000 steps action. After about 3000 steps I came back to my house, and relaxed for a bit. I worked on some music and then ate some lunch. For lunch I had a turkey sandwich, and a 100 cal pack of chips. I am not to sure what I am going to have for dinner, but I think my Mom bought some tuna and salmon. So we will probably be having one of those 2 for dinner. I will definitely be able to finish the rest of my steps before I sit down for my weekly Heroin addiction, AKA 24. Anyway that is about it. I will talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,100
Steps Done Total: 1,798,798

Microphones and Walking

By Shmoe

Hey everyone I hope you are all doing well. So yea it is time for another blog. This week has been going by really slowly for some reason. I do not know what it is, but it seems like its been dragging. Either way though I have been keeping up the good work on my diet and my steps. So far today, I have about 4000 steps complete and I will make sure to get the rest of them done soon as well. As far as the meals go, I had a bowl of yogurt with some fruit and nuts in it for breakfast, then for lunch I had a chicken Caesar salad, with light dressing. Not quite sure what I am going to do for dinner, but I will make sure it is pretty healthy. Today when I woke up I wanted to start off and do my steps. So I did just that I grabbed my mp3 player headed out the front door and began walking. After a little while I came back in and had some lunch. After lunch I decided to work on my music, practicing my existing music, as well as writing and working on some new material. I actually got to try out a new mic that I just bought yesterday. It is really a unique mic that looks like nothing else. It really has its own unique sound as well. It is called the blue ball. I will include a picture so you can see what it looks like. It can be used for a whole bunch of different instruments, and amps. For example you can use it on a guitar amp, snare drum, toms, vocals, and pretty much anything else you might want. It is really handy. I currently also have a red one just like it called a kickball, but that is for more lower end instruments like bass, and a kick drum.

Anyway both sound great and I am glad I have them. After I was done working on music, I walked a bit more and then came back to write this blog. So that pretty much brings us up to date. This Saturday, I have another practice scheduled with my friends, to continue to work on my music and some other tracks. All of us getting ready for our show in March. It should be fun. Anyway I will talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,000
Steps Done Total: 1,768,475

Picture of the blue ball microphone

Walking and the Weekend

By Shmoe

Hey everybody, I hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was not that bad. A friend of mine came to visit. He goes to school in Santa Clara, and came to hang out for the weekend. We stopped by a couple of our favorite places and just basically had a good time. Also yesterday was the superbowl, and I did not actually watch it at all. I am not the biggest football fan, so I instead opted for some steps, as well as watching a "When everything attacks" marathon on Spike TV. It was pretty hilarious. Anyway, as I have stated in my previous blogs, I have been watching what I eat way better then I have been. The past week, I did extremely well. I hope to keep it up this week, and hopefully the week after that, and so forth. For example today for breakfast I had some fat free yogurt, mixed with fruit and nuts. Then for lunch I had a turkey sandwich. I am not sure what I am going to have for dinner yet. But I will make sure its nothing to bad. As far as the 10,000 steps go, I have been doing them just like I always try and do. Yesterday I split them up through out the day. Doing a couple thousand here, a couple thousand there until I had them complete. Today I got about half of them done already, and I will do the rest through out the rest of the day. Aside from doing all the steps I haven been continuing to work on my music. I still practice working on my material for live shows, and I continue to write new tracks as well. I finally found a bass player for my band, for at least a little while. He is the singer/guitarist for a favorite band of mine, called City Of Monstrocity. They are a pretty amazing band, mellow and rocking all at the same time. Anyway They are on hiatus right now, and he is looking to play live so I said he was more then welcome to join my band for a bit. He said he would love to, and did. So now with my live line up complete, things should come along more quickly. I just hope now we can all get together and practice more. We are going to be playing sometime in march and I definitely want to be ready for that. Anyway that is about it for now, I will talk to you guys later bye.

Steps Done Today: 10,456
Steps Done Total: 1,738,330

Basketball is Fun

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, time for another blog. Well, like I said in my previous blog, things have been going well recently with my 10,000 steps program. I have been making a much better effort to watch what I eat, and how much I eat. Today I did the majority of my steps at one time. I got about 6000 of them done, before taking a break. I went and had some lunch which consisted of a turkey sandwich, 100 calorie pack of chips, and a glass of chocolate soy milk. After that my brother and I decided to play some basketball. We have a hoop set up outside our house, so we went and played. I being the older brother of course beat him haha. But it was a close game. I won by one point. After that we came back in and I had some yogurt with some fruit and nuts mixed in. I worked on some music and then called it a day. A friend came over and we hung out for a bit, kind of delaying me writing this blog. But whatever at least its done. I have about 3000 steps or so more to do. Not including my basketball game with my brother that probably got me a couple more thousand steps. For dinner tonight I will probably have something with chicken. Not quite sure yet, but I will definitely make sure its healthier. Anyway that is about it from my end. I hope you guys are doing well. Later

Steps Done Today: 10,100

Steps Done Total:1,707,674

Walking and Live Music

By Shmoe

Hello everybody. I hope you all are doing well. Anyway I have been doing a lot better watching my diet then I have been in the past. I really have tightened the ship so to speak. I am making sure I am eating much healthier. My basic meals a day go like this. Breakfast, Fat Free Vanilla yogurt, with some fruit and nuts mixed in. Then for lunch it is a turkey sandwich, and either a 100 calorie pack of chips, or a cottage cheese and fruit. For Dinner I usually have something with chicken or turkey, and some kind of veggie. I have been sticking to that pretty much everyday the past week or so. Besides the meals I have been keeping up with at least 10,000 steps a day. So I figure with all that going for me I will soon be losing more weight. Once again I do not really have a set goal of weight, but I guess if you forced me to say it, I would figure 30 or so more pounds. I have lost 50 already, so I should definitely be able to do another 30 pounds. It may not happen immediately but I will definitely get it done.

Besides the steps recently, I have also finally been able to practice with a pretty much full band. We did not get to play with the bass player, because he had prior commitments, but at the next one we should be in full force. So my band consists of my good friends Rob (Drums), Gop (Guitar/Vocals/Bass), a friend from another amazing band named Chris (Bass/Guitar/Vocals) and myself (Keys/Vocals). Things were sounding pretty good when we practiced. We ran through about 3 songs and by the end of the practice we had them pretty much down. We only have 3 or 4 more to learn, and then we just need to run through them a ton of times until we know them like the back of our hand. We are planning to start to play shows around March. It should be a lot of fun and I cannot wait to start playing my music live. Anyway that is about it from my end. I will talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today:10,100
Steps Done Total: 1,687,474

Some Things are Tough

By Shmoe

Hey Hey everyone, I hope your all feeling better (that means you Ashley) It has been both easy and hard to watch what I am eating this week. Like I said in my previous blog, I am making a more conscious effort to watch what I eat then I have been recently. Yesterday my family ordered pizza, and instead of eating a ton of it. I had a salad, and one slice. I still want to enjoy food, but I am not going to let it get to me. It worked out perfectly, I got to eat the pizza I wanted but I only needed one slice to get the taste. I did not go overboard eating a ton of it. Besides that it has been salads, turkey, and chicken I have been feasting upon. For snacks, I have been settling on fruits like apples and bananas or I have been eating assorted nuts as well. Just trying to stay away from chips, and other assorted snack food like that. As far as the walking goes, I have been doing what I always do. Finishing the 10,000 steps per day.

Today I felt like finishing all my steps in one fell swoop. So I grabbed my mp3 player and walked out the door to go on my walking journey around the neighborhood. I walked for a little over an hour, and I had my steps complete. I was pretty happy that I finished them all, after relaxing for a bit. I rehearsed some of my music, and I even was able to write a new song last night. I was very excited about that. I had not been able to focus on just writing in a long time. It reflected as much as well. It had been a while since I had written a song I loved. Well, I did and it sounds pretty cool. It is entitled "You're The Infidel" Anyway that is about it from this end. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye.

Steps Done Today:10,030
Steps Done Total:1,636,774

1,616,629 Steps To Freedom

By Shmoe

Hello everyone, I hope you had a good weekend. Mine was not bad at all. Nothing crazy, just hanging out with my friends and relaxing. I kind of slipped as far as food goes. I had fast food, which I had not had in a while, and ate some things that probably are not the best for me. But starting today, I am going to kick it in gear. Eat healthier and not as much. I already started off better then before. I had a turkey sandwich with some mustard instead of mayo, a 100 calorie pack of chips, and a glass of chocolate soy milk. Not sure about dinner tonight, my friends and I are going to one of our favorite places E&E. Their food is usually on the healthier side. I probably will end up getting curry like I always do. Anyway I also got some cool news from a friend of mine. He and his band are thinking about playing a show some time in late February. He asked if I would be interested in playing with them. The only problem is that I have yet to have a full practice with all the band members there. I think we can still do it, my friends and I have been playing music together for at least 5 year, although it may not have been the songs we would play live, we should be able to feed off each other, and learn the songs quickly. I will keep you guys informed either way though. Also today, I got on the scale today and saw that I lost a couple more pounds, I am at about 255 or so. Not bad at all considering I have not been bringing my "A" game recently. Anyway as far as the steps go, I am at about 4000. I will definitely finish the rest of them for today do not worry. Not that you guys would anyway. All right well that is about it from my end. Talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,100

Steps Done Total: 1,616,629

Walking Around The Clock

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I saw Ashley was not feeling well, so I hope your feeling better today. Since my last blog I have been continuing to do my 10,000 steps. There have been a couple close calls, where I was not sure if they were going to get done, but I finished them. One was yesterday, I had done the majority of my steps but I still had some left to do. I like saving a couple for the night time, I do not know why, but it just helps me relax. Anyway, I got a call from a couple of friends who wanted to go to a bar. They somehow got me to go, so with about 2000 steps left, we left. I wore my pedometer, which actually turned out to be a great idea. We walked around a decent amount, and before the night was over I had completed my 10,000 steps and a bit more. When I got back home I had about 10,150 steps done. So with that I hit the sack. I woke up today and the first thing I decided to do was knock out a couple thousand steps. So I got dressed, grabbed my mp3 player, and this time I remembered to grab a sweatshirt as well. With that I was on my merry way. I walked around the neighborhood a bit, listening to some music including Mastodon, who I still cannot get enough of. I do not know if you guys are fans of metal, but they are one of the best at what they do. Lots of interesting melodies, and crazy technical skills. Anyway, after a while I went back inside and I had about 5000 steps done. My dad had just come back from picking up some food for us. It is a delicious place called Awa-Ya. It is a Japanese place that has some amazing food. Anyway I got the chicken meal, which comes with rice, chicken, and some sprouts in this amazing teriyaki sauce. It was delicious.

After that I decided to go work on my music. I did some promoting on the Internet, including that good old myspace website. After a bit of whoring myself out AKA promotion, I rehearsed a bit of my music. It is coming along pretty nicely, so I am happy about that. Right now I am trying to figure out which tracks would sound good live, and what order they would fit in. Better known as a set list. Anyway later today my dad and I are going to see Children of Men. I have heard a lot of amazing things about the film from my friends. I will let you know what I thought about the film in my next blog. Take care everyone, and try to stay healthy!!

Steps Done Today:10,000

Steps Done Total:1,596,429

Back Like A Vengence

By Shmoe

Hello everybody, I started today off by doing some steps. I walked around the neighborhood and got about half my steps done. Lately here in LA, it has been pretty cold. I am sure for some of you its not even close to being cold, but for here in LA its been way cold. Partly because of the winds, but it was not the best day to walk outside. It was better then the past couple of days, but still only all right. Anyway when I got back to my house, it was around lunch time, so I figured I would place an order to my favorite sandwich shop around here, then walk to it. So I ordered a turkey sub, and began my walk down to the shop. I paid for my sandwich then walked back to my house. When I finished I looked down at my pedometer, and Bam all my steps were done. I was at 10,098. So that pretty much took care of all my steps for the day. So the rest of my day has been spent continuing to promote my music, as well as rehearse my music.

The past couple of days I have been doing everything I should have been doing. A couple of the days I may have not had the best things for dinner, but I did not eat a lot of it when I did. As far as the steps go, I have made sure to do at least 10,000 everyday since I have started up again after the holidays. I am pretty happy I have been able to continue to do that, without much of a problem. Well, anyway that is what I have been up to. I will talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,098
Steps Done Total: 1,576,279

Steps and Promotion

By Shmoe

Hello everyone. I hope all of you are doing pretty well. It seems we all are pretty much following through on the new year. I slacked off a bit during the holidays and I saw some others did as well. But thats to be expected. 10,000 steps a day is not the most important thing in our life. So it is good we were able to spend time with friends and family and enjoy the time off. But now its back to business so to speak. Today as I am writing this I am at about six thousand steps. I will definitely be able to finish the rest of them later today. But today was mostly spent doing my steps as well as rehearsing my material so I can begin to play my music live. It went pretty well, and things sound like they are going to go well. Aside from rehearsing recently, I have been really trying to promote my CD that I finished. I have been trying to play it for everyone I know, as well as get people fans and new fans to listen to it on myspace. I am sure you guys know all about myspace and blah blah blah. But basically I have been trying to add people who are fans of bands I admire, hoping that they will find my music interesting and cool like my favorite bands. So far it has been working decently well. People seem to be enjoying my music, and the important thing, telling their friends about it. I guess the only draw back is that a lot of the people are not from the US. It's not like that is a bad thing but it will be kind of hard to get people from Australia, or Belgium to come to my shows. Oh well though. I am sure it will help me in the long run.

As far as my diet goes, I have been doing extremely well, staying away from all of the bad stuff, and eating mostly good stuff, such as veggies, and chicken. I gave in yesterday though, my Mom was cooking burgers, so I had one. But it is still better then getting one from any fast food joint. Well, that's about it, actually before I go I thought I would share this with you guys. On the local news here they always have a health watch part of the program, and yesterday they brought up the 10,000 steps program as well as wearing a pedometer and such. The guy they interviewed had lost 15 pounds, which is good for him, but I think we all could have shown them a thing or two about losing the weight haha. Anyway I hope you all have a good day. Later

Steps Done Today: 10,100

Steps Done Total: 1,535,881

Recording and Walking

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, hope you all are all ready for the weekend.  I know I am.  Anyway, not much has happened since the last post.  Just the normal routine of 10,000 steps.  Which is kind of a good thing.  It is actually a really good thing that the 10,000 steps have become routine.  I remember when I first started, they were such a pain in the neck.  Now I finish them, like they are nothing.  When I have not been walking this week, I have been recording music for a friend of mine, and for SHMANTOP.  I am pretty sure I posted a link earlier but its a couple friends and I doing metal covers of classic one hit wonder type songs.  We are currently working on I'm Gonna, which is better known as the I would walk 500 miles song.  That track is almost done, and the next one up after that is "Jesse's Girl" by Rick Springfield.  They should be hilarious, and I will let you know when they are done.  Besides SHMANTOP I have been recording a track for a good friend of mine.  We have been working on it for a bit, and its really going to be an awesome song.  It is kind of like his other songs but goes off in another direction, while still keeping his sound.  I know a vague description and I am sorry for that, but that is all I have.  I have been eating roughly the same since I got back on the wagon after the holidays.  My friends yesterday ordered a pizza, but I resisted the temptation and had salad and chicken.  Well, that is about it.  Have a good weekend everyone.  Bye

Steps Done Today:10,100

Steps Done Total:1,505,581

Beginning the New Year

By Shmoe

Well, I hope everyone's New Years was fantastic. Mine was a lot of fun. Anyway After having my pedometer broken the past couple of week. I finally had it replaced. But it is not like my pedometer was missing a lot of action. I had not been walking a lot during the past week basically between Christmas, and new years I only had a couple of days where I went over 10,000. I still walked a bit but not nearly as much as I should have been. But I expect that to change. Today I already have the majority of my steps completed, and I will finish the rest later today. As far as food goes, I have been doing all right. Since it has been the holidays, I have been enjoying some good food that was not always good for me. But whatever thats the holiday season. But now that its over its back to the normal routine of at least 10,000 steps a day, and eating much healthier.

As far as my music has been going. It has been going extremely well. I finished my CD and released it over the Internet, and on real CDs. I have gotten back a couple of reviews and people seem to like it. Which is always nice to here. So the next step is to play the music live. Which I am working on currently. I have talked to a couple friends of mine, who played on the album, and some who have not, and they all seem like they would be willing to play live with me. So practicing and such should start happening pretty soon. I have not figured out which songs I'm going to play live yet, but I will work that out later. Anyway I hope all is well with you guys, take care, and I'll talk to you later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,000
Steps Done Total: 1,485,347

RIP My Pedometer

By Shmoe

Hello everyone, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas.  Mine was pretty cool, I got some new CDs as well as some music equipment, I have been wanting to get.  The only bad thing was that except for yesterday and today, I have not been doing my steps.  But I was not expecting to do them anyway.  We all need breaks, and I cannot think of a better one then spending the holidays with family and friends.  I ate pretty well considering the circumstances.  I usually just toned down my portions, and ate more of the veggies supplied by my family.  Either way it is the holidays so your allowed to do that kind of stuff.  Unfortunately yesterday while I was doing my steps, my pedometer fell off and broke.  Luckily I have been timing myself while doing my steps.  That will have to hold me over until I get a new one.  It usually takes me about an hour and a half to get all of them done.  Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more.  I averaged them out to about that long.  So for the next couple of days, I will spend at least an hour and a half of walking.  Anyway I am still working on my album, and it should be done by tomorrow or the next day.  I ended up cutting a song, because it did not turn out the way I really wanted.  Anyway I hope you all are doing well with your 10,000 steps.  Take care, and I'll talk to you guys later.  Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,000

Steps Done Total:1,475,347

Doing What I Do Best

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing pretty well with your 10,000 steps program, as well as everything else in your lives. For me I have been pretty busy this week. I have been finishing up my album, it should be released sometime after Christmas, and I have been catching up with friends who have come back for the holidays. I almost did not have enough time to finish my steps a couple of times. But I got them completed. I have not been eating as well as I have been the past couple of weeks. Mainly because my friends always want to go out, but that is not their fault at all. It is my own for giving in. But It is not like a cheeseburger here and there is the end of the world. Actually last night we went out for dinner and I had a salad. So it shows I have not abandoned all hope. While my friends and I were there we ran into a couple of people we knew from high school, they told me that I looked great. It is always nice to hear that. It kind of helps me remember that what I am doing is really working. It is just always nice to get the recognition, as I am sure you guys know as well. That same night my friend brought the artwork he was doing for my album. It was completely finished and it looked amazing. I could not believe how awesome it looked. I will include a picture of it so you can see what it looks like. Well, today I finished my steps early. It is always nice to do that, I can just relax for the rest of the day. Although I probably will not be doing so much relaxing, I will probably be continuing my on going mixing and recording. I am just about done, and I want to make sure the album sounds perfect. Anyway Take everyone and I hope you have a great Christmas, or any other holiday you celebrate.

Steps Done Today:10,280

Steps Done Total: 1,455,347

Round and Round We Go

By Shmoe

Hello everybody, I hope all of you are doing well during this holiday season. I know living in Los Angeles I have no right to complain about the weather. But it has been pretty cold here recently. I am sure that you guys want to punch me in the face for complaining, because I am sure its way colder where some of you are. But either way. ITS COLD. OK on to the reason we are all here. Walking. I have been following the pretty same routine for the past couple of weeks. Spreading the steps through out the day. While I was doing my steps today, I made a copy of my soon to be completed CD. I listened to some of the rough, and final mixes. I listened to 8 of the 11 tracks. The 3 left to finish are one original song of mine called "Pitch Black" and the other 2 are cover songs. One By my favorite band in the world, and one by another cool group of musicians. Anyway after listening to the tracks I have I had about 4000 steps completed. I took a break to record and remix the tracks I had just listened to. I did not need to do much. I had to turn down some things, and raise the levels in some others. The Typical mixing routine. I would say 6 of the 11 tracks are completed. I have to go back and re-listen to the tracks I remixed. But I think those will be done too. But as you can probably tell recording, and mixing music is one continuos cycle of doing the same thing over and over. But I love it.

After that I walked some more and as of this blog I am at about 7000 steps. I will definitely finish the rest of them later today. As for the other part of the 10,000 steps program. I have been watching what I eat. For example last night I had some broccoli zucchini and turkey cutlets. Pretty darn tasty if I do say so myself. That is basically what my meals have been the past couple of weeks. Which is awesome. Because one they taste pretty good, and two they are not that bad for me. I just make sure to load up on vegetables and such. Anyway I hope you guys are all doing well. Take care

Steps Done Today:10,100
Steps Done Total:1,434,967

10,000 Steps of Fun

By Shmoe

Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well. The past couple of days have been spent pretty much doing what has become my normal routine. Doing my steps and working on music. I have been spreading out my steps throughout the day the past couple of weeks. As you guys know I used to do them generally all at one time. But lately I have not had a full amount of time to dedicated to that. So I have been getting them done throughout the day. I have not finished them for the day, but I plan on finishing them later tonight. Like I was saying the past couple of blogs I have been making more of a conscious effort to eat better then normally. I still slip and give in every once in a while. But its ok. I don't want to completely cut out food I love, I just eat it way less often. As far as the music is going. I am pretty much done. I have 2 songs left and thats about it. One is missing guitar and vocals, and the other is just missing vocals. I should have everything done by next week. Then all I have to do, is wait for my friend to finish the artwork for my CD. Then once all that is done, I can begin to focus on playing my music live. Which I am really looking forward to. Anyway that is about it from my end. Talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,110

Steps Doen Total: 1,404,587

MY AWESOME WEEKEND

By Shmoe

Wow did I have an action packed weekend. It was easily one of the best weekends I have ever had. It started on Friday. I finished the majority of my steps earlier in the day because a good friend of mine was having his birthday party at Lucky Strike. For those of you who have never heard of it. It is basically a higher end bowling alley and bar all in one. A pretty good idea if you ask me. Anyway I went with a couple of friends and of course whenever you goto Hollywood there is always some walking involved, unless you are lucky to get a good parking spot. Anyway we did some walking. When we got in I had to show my ID and the doorman commented on how much weight I lost. I then looked at my ID and realized how much I really have lost, just in the face alone. Anyway, we had a good time I got to hang out with my friends, drink and have a great time. By the time I got home, I saw that I had completed all of my steps. I was definitely glad to see that.

On Saturday my good friend Gop came over. He and another friend of his wanted to record a song they had just performed the day before. So we spent the day recording, and we were able to complete the song in one day. We did a couple of different instruments. We recorded Keyboard, Bass, Drums, Guitar, and Vocals. If you want to hear how it turned out go here and click on sweetheart song.

That brings us to Sunday. I was ready to spend the day not doing much besides my steps for the day. I got about 6000 completed when I checked my myspace account. I know what your saying, Shmoe why do I care about you checking your myspace account? Well, it is because I saw a post from a great band saying they were playing a Holiday show that night and the first 50 fans there would get in for free and get free drinks. I called a friend of mine and we were on our way to see the Eagles Of Death Metal. If you are not familiar with their style of music, it is a throwback to a kind of Glam Rock sound. Think T-Rex meets Little Richard with some Canned Heat thrown in. If you do not know any of those bands just click the link to hear them. Anyway what made it even cooler is one of my favorite musicians in the world plays drums for them, but he is also the singer/guitarist from Queens of The Stone Age (AKA my favorite band ever) Well while we were waiting outside both Josh Homme (the singer from QOTSA) and Jesse Hughes (singer from Eagles Of Death Metal) came walking by so I actually got to talk to them for a bit and that was pretty damn cool. Anyway about an hour later we go in the Roxy, had a couple of drinks and then proceeded to rock out to the band. They always put on such an energetic fun live show. I have seen them 3 times, and everytime one of my friends do not believe me about how much fun they are. Then after every show their minds are blown by how good they were. Anyway It turned out to be a private holiday party but they let 50 fans in. So all together I would say that there were a 150 people there when normally they play to much bigger crowds. Anyway you get the point it was an amazing show and I've included a pic that I took of the band. I finished my steps for the day, so until next time. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,000
Steps Done Total: 1,384,307

A Quick One While He's Away

By Shmoe

Hey everyone going to be a quick blog. I have been really busy lately with my music. I have pretty much just been doing my steps and music. I finished one of my songs so that leaves about 3 songs left. One song that is just waiting for vocals, then the other 2 I have a couple of different things to do on them. But oh well, thats enough of my music talk. As far as the steps go, like I said previously I have been finding them a lot easier then before. I have noticed I am doing them a lot more quickly too. Which is always nice. It takes me a little bit over an hour now to do them when I do them all at once. Although now a days I do not do that very often. I mainly spread them through out the day. Aside from the steps I have continued to try and eat well. I did have some pizza earlier in the week though. But its all right I did not eat a ton of it. I ate some but did not fill myself with it. Besides that I have been eating better like I have been the past couple of weeks. Which is good. Well, that is about it from my end. I will talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,100

Steps Done Total 1,354,107

Don't Stop Believing (that journey sucks no matter what anyone tells you)

By Shmoe

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. I think I am pretty much over being sick. I am still a little stuffed up but that is about it. Anyway on to the walking. The past couple of days have gone very well. I have been continuing to spread my 10,000 steps throughout the day. A couple thousand here, and then a couple of thousand there and before I know it, I am done for the day. It is just amazing to me that the 10,000 steps used to be a big task to me. But now it literally is nothing. It is just part of my routine. I used to have to force myself to do them. Sometimes I still do but not nearly like before. It is also good to know that the steps are continuing to work. For a while I was just not noticing the results, but yesterday I got on the scale and I was shocked at what it said. 260. I know that still is a ton, but from starting at 300. I have lost about 50 pounds. I am really happy with my results, and I will continue to work at it, and continue to lose more weight. It was just nice, finally again seeing results. I do not know if it happens for you guys, but for me it seems I have some success, but then after that bit of success, it just seems like nothing is working. I do not see a chance, I feel like I am doing work but nothing really shows up. But then after a couple of weeks, I get on the scale and BAM! I see that I have lost weight. It just seems that it happens so suddenly, even though I know it does not.

But either way I am very proud of the weight I have lost. I know I have also been making a more conscious effort to watch what I eat as well. For a decent amount of time I was not paying as much of attention to that. But the past couple of weeks, I really have been doing that. I have been trying to focus on eating more salads, and that type of stuff. Although the main thing I have worked on is portions. I do not eat nearly as much as I used to. Anyway that is about it from my end. I hope you guys are continuing to have success as well. Talk to you later Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,200
Steps Done Total:1,323,707

Feeling Better

By Shmoe

How is everyone doing?  I am finally feeling way better.  If you did not see my previous blog, I have been pretty sick since Thanksgiving.  I think one of my family members got me sick.  Well, I started to feel better on Tuesday.  So I put on my pedometer, and started walking.  I thought it would be a lot harder to walk being stuffed up and still not feeling 100%, but I was able to do it, without much of a problem.  I separated the steps throughout the day and finished them relatively easily.  I was pretty happy, with my results.  So I woke up yesterday, even more stuffed up then Tuesday.  It has been windy the past couple of days and it always means allergies.  So not only was I still not 100% from my sickness, but now I was also stuffed up from my Allergies.  I still walked even though it was a bit harder then Tuesday.  I once again did the steps throughout the day.  I finished them a bit before dinner, so for dinner I had a chicken and bean burrito that I made myself, instead of going to a fast food restaurant.  The thing I kind of liked about being sick, is that it motivated me to do better with my 10,000 steps program.  I felt like even though I was sick, I still should be doing my steps.  I felt bad for not getting them done those couple of days.  So when I did get back to my steps, I was kind of rejuvenated.  I felt good that I could get back to my steps.  Maybe it was also the thanksgiving thing, but I have really been watching what I eat and how much I eat.  Aside from doing the steps I have not had as much of a chance to work on my music.  That should change today and hopefully for a long time.  I still have about 3 or 4 tracks I need to finish before my CD/Demo is complete.  2 need vocals then they are complete.  Then the other 2 or 3 need a lot more.  I still believe I will get them done just in time for the Holidays, which is exactly what I was planning for.  Anyway hope you all are doing well.  Hopefully better then me.  Take care and I'll talk to you guys later

Steps Done Today:10,102

Steps Done Total: 1,303,407

Being Sick Sucks

By Shmoe

Today is going to be a short blog.  I have been pretty sick the past couple of days.  I think one of my family members gave me this cold at thanksgiving.  Those bastards.  I am only kidding.  My thanksgiving was pretty good.  But as I am sure you all did, I did eat a lot.  Not as much as I used to but I still was stuffed.  But as soon as I got home I noticed my throat starting to hurt.  I thought nothing of it but the next day when I woke up I definitely felt bad.  So the past couple of days have been spent trying to get over this damn sickness.  Today I still am not feeling well, but I hope by tomorrow or the next day I will be over it and I can get back to my normal routine.  It sucks not being able to walk but there is no way I would be able to do it right now.  But hopefully tomorrow or the next day.  Although I am sure that the stupid cough and Runny nose will stick with me for the next couple weeks like always.  Anyway I hope you all had a great thanksgiving and I hope you all are doing well with your walking.  Talk to you later.  Bye

Happy Turkey Day

By Shmoe

Hey everybody, It is going to be a quick blog. Today is of course Thanksgiving. Today is friend Richard's birthday. Yea its on thanksgiving, but we celebrated it last night because it was also my friend Jimmie's birthday. It was a long day of awesomeness, but I almost did not get my steps completed. But I was finally able to. It started when they both came over to watch the Barcelona game. We got sandwiches from an Italian deli and watched the game. After that they left, and I tried to get as many steps done before we went out later. It also has been kind of hectic around the house. It being thanksgiving and all. Although we are not hosting thanksgiving, we still have to make and bring food, and since my Mom and sister are bakers, they both have been kind of busy. So I have tried my best to stay out of their way.

So after about 7000 steps I got a call from Jimmie and he wanted to go see the new Tenacious D movie. So we met another friend and went and saw it. It was really hilarious. Everyone should go see it. Hilarity from beginning to end. After that we went to Los Toros, its a really good Mexican restaurant. We met the other birthday boy Richard there and we ate some great food, and they drank a couple of Margaritas. After words we went a couple of other places, and well it was a ton of fun. Luckily though I had gotten enough steps done through the night so I got 10,000. Well, that is about it, I hope you all have a great thanksgiving. And I will talk to you guys later. Bye

Steps Done Yesterday: 10,333

Steps Done Total: 1,263,105

All I Can Come Up With is Steps and I

By Shmoe

Hey it is Shmoe and it is time for another blog. Once again the past couple of days have been spent walking, working on music, and hanging out with my friends. As far as the steps go. It is always just about the same thing. Its become really routine. Which is a good thing. Before it would be more of a struggle to get myself to do them. Now its just what I do. Just like how I brush my teeth, or shower or whatever your normal routine is. Besides the walking I have been making a much better effort to watch what I eat. I had not been watching as carefully the past 2 weeks or so. But now I am watching it more and more. Hopefully I will be able to keep it up. The steps like I have been saying have been going well. I usually split them, some during the day, and then some later in the evening. Either way they have been getting done.

Yesterday Jimmie (my navy friend I have been talking about) and a couple other friends came over. We hung out for a bit and then went to dinner. I got the chicken and it was pretty good. After that my friends went to see the new James Bond movie Casino Royal. I did not go because my dad and I are gonna go later on. He was the one that got me into all the bond flicks. He showed me Goldfinger, and all the rest when I was young and I have loved them ever since. Anyway I went back home and finished up the rest of my steps and watched The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad. Today I woke up and began doing my steps. I got about 6000 done before I ate some lunch which consisted of a 100 cal pack of chips, and a turkey sandwich. After that I worked on some more music. I began writing some more songs on guitar, as well as playing through all my other music making sure I know it pretty well. Later on in the week I should be recording vocals for one of my songs that are ready. I still have some steps left, but I will make sure to finish them. Take care everyone. Talk to you later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,100

Steps Done Total: 1,232,805

Walking and the D

By Shmoe

Well, hello everyone.  I hope you are all doing well.  The past couple of days have been spent hanging out with my friends, and doing steps.  I unfortunately have not had a ton of time to work on my music, but that changed a bit today.  Thursday and Friday my friends and I have been doing a lot of different things, including staying out a bit to late on Thursday, but luckily I was able to finish my steps before we went out.  The next day I woke up a bit late, but I got a decent amount of steps done.  Soon after a couple of my friends came over.  Including Jimmie who I have talked about in the past is in the Navy and will be going to Guam for 4 years soon after Thanksgiving.  So I try and spend as much time as I can with him before he leaves.  I also got a chance to call another good friend of mine who is in the Navy band.  He said he was doing well, and that he would be going to New Orleans sometime in January.  Not a bad place for a talented musician like him.  He gets to still play shows and have somewhat of a career as well as play in the Navy.  Anyway Jimmie and a couple other friends later that night went to see Tenacious D live at the Gibson Amphitheater here in LA.  I did not go because they tickets were 60 bucks a piece.  I love KG and JB as much as the next guy, but that was a bit to rich for my blood.  I got a text message from them during the show and they said they played a couple of The Who covers from Tommy.  I would have loved to see that, but oh well.  While they were gone I was able to finish the rest of my steps and hang out with a couple of other friends afterwards.  Today I woke up and was able to get some of my music done.  I once again worked on vocals for 2 tracks as well as worked on a couple of new tracks.  I have also been continuing to try and watch what I eat and how much I eat.  I did however have some fast food earlier in the week, but it was only one meal and I will refrain for the next couple of weeks.  Anyway I hope you all continue to do well.  I will talk to you guys later.  Take Care.  Bye

   
Steps Done Yesterday:10,174

Steps Done Total: 1,212,368

Today Felt LIke I Was Walking Backwards

By Shmoe

Hey everybody I am back with another exciting blog about as you probably guessed my walking. I hope you all are doing all right. Yesterday I woke up and quickly got some of my steps out of the way. After that I had a cup of low fat yogurt with some fruit and nuts mixed in. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself. After that I worked some on my music. I figured out the final track listing for my CD and it should be roughly 10 tracks. While I was working I got a call from a friend and so we decided to have lunch. We ate at a Gyro place that was amazing. I had never had a Gyro before, but I will be getting many more after this one. After that I walked a bit more and finished up the rest of my steps. Today I woke up and got on the scale. I am still hovering around the 260 range which is good but I want to do better. I had myself some more low fat yogurt with fruits and nuts and began walking. Today was just one of those days where I felt like I did not want to do the steps at all. Whenever I looked down at my Pedometer it might as well have been running backwards. But I just kept walking and eventually I was able to complete them. After that I rested a bit and then began working on more music. I recorded a solo for a song I have been trying to finish. It came out pretty well, and I was definitely happy with the way it sounded. Well, anyway That is about it for now. I hope you all are doing pretty well. Take care and I'll talk to you again later. Bye

Steps Done Today: 10,089

Steps Done Total: 1,192,094

A Tale Of Two Mikes

By Shmoe

Hello everyone I hope you are doing pretty well. I had a pretty busy weekend. It started on Friday. I almost did not get my steps completed but I did. A good friend of mine named Mike has been working on a movie for the past 2 years. He wrote the script and helped do a lot of other things for the film. They filmed the majority of it in Paris, and it turned out pretty well. Anyway he and the others are USC film students and they actually got to premiere the film in one of the theaters at USC. So my friends and I went to show our support and watch the film. There were about 300 people there and it was very cool seeing a friend of mines art on a big screen. The film was only about 20 minutes and was pretty damn good. It was about a summer romance in as you probably guessed Paris. A woman meets a pick pocket and they fall in love. But the pick pocket has to decide between love or his criminal ways. I will not spoil it for you guys but lets just saying something happens along the way that changes life for both of them. Anyway after that they had a reception so we went to that and talked and mingled for a good amount of time. I wore my pedometer to the event and I had about 6000 steps done during the day, but it was getting later and I was not sure if I would get the rest completed. But then Mike told my friends and I that there would be an after party in walking distance of where we were. How perfect is that? So to make a long story short the walk to and from the place finished up my steps for the day. It was a lot of fun but needless to say I was pretty tired.

I took Saturday off like I always do, but I recorded vocals for a new song my friends and I have been working on. I will make sure to let you guys know when its up. Then on Sunday It was back to normal I got about 4000 steps done before a couple friends of mine came over to watch the Barcelona game. Afterwards we just hung around and played a video game called Gears Of War. I don't know if you guys are big video game players but that game is ridiculously cool. After that I finished the rest of my steps and called it a day. That brings us to today. Today I worked more on vocals for a couple of songs. I am getting close to finishing them off and recording them. Once those 2 tracks are done it only le