PROJECT: Briles 200 - iHeart iPhone and FourSquare for Five Squares

Welcome back, Kids!

First off, I want to say thanks to the wave of great feedback and well wishes on this endeavor!! I hope I can keep you all interested, entertained, and involved!! On to today's post...

So I have a group of friends currently training for the Boston Marathon this year and every Saturday is their group training day. For the past few weeks to celebrate getting through their training for the day, they, with me in tow, have been heading out to a favorite Faneuil Hall watering hole that has $2 drafts of Bud Light on tap. For them, it's a good way to relax, get some carbs back, and take their mind off their training. For me, it's a good way to celebrate gaining 5 lbs in a day because while they were out running 200 miles and burning a thousand calories, I was probably stuffing a Jimmy Dean sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich (or two...and it wasn't 'probably'...) in my face after sleeping in and getting my ass kicked by 10 year old kids in Finland playing Modern Warfare 2 for a couple hours. Later in the day, I would join the marathoners in drinking 30 Bud Lights (and probably a shot or two thrown in) in an 8 to 10 hour period.

In a last hurrah of intentional bad decision making before I started PROJECT: Briles 200, I decided to join the same friends again last Saturday (I use the term 'last hurrah' loosely, because I'm going to join them again later today. HOWEVER, before I do join them, I'm joining another friend for a few hours of hiking this time!). In the course of that drunken 8 hour period last Saturday, I believe I dropped my phone twice (which is pretty standard even in a sober day) and spilled half a beer on it. I woke up ON TOP OF IT in my bed the next morning, so that when I lifted my back off the bed, it kind of stuck to me, only to fall off when it hit a a certain point of gravitational pull. I picked it up to find that half of the screen had died, the other half was extremely faint, and the sound wasn't good... Being that it's the only way for my ma to try to call me 5 times a day, I figured I better go replace it. And replace it I did... With an iPhone!!!

Don't get me wrong, I really liked my Blackberry Curve, but I only had it for 4 or 5 months before the robot nipple (others like to call it a "Track Ball"... ha!... weirdos...) stopped letting me select icons. In month 7 the ringer and speakerphone decided to quit on me, which made things a little difficult. At 9 months, half the screen died. Now, I'm not saying it was a bad phone. I did drop it every day... twice... but I used to drop my old Nokia every day for 4 years. I spilled stuff on it. I even hurled it against the wall, smashing it to pieces in reaction to my ex-mother-in-law screaming "INTERCEPTION!" from the other living room that had a tv 5 seconds ahead of the one my ex-father-in-law and I were watching at the end of the 2007 AFC Championship Game when Brady threw that pick to lose it. I put that puppy right back together and it worked fine. I figured this was a good chance to see what else I could get as a long time AT&T customer. The iPhone (with Otter Box protection http://tinyurl.com/ya8flc4... taking no chances....) won me over as soon as the extremely cute sales girl told me I was in line for an upgrade anyway.

I knew I was going to fall in love with the phone right away. What I didn't expect to do, was fall in love with App shopping for it right away. For the uninitiated to the smartphone world, Apps = Software Applications you can download from the internet to your phone for... well... any use you want, I suppose! There's THOUSANDS of them. I refused to get a data plan for the Blackberry, as I thought I really didn't want to be that connected all the time. BOY was I WRONG! I spent a good couple hours of that Sunday, just discovering and downloading Apps. I'll fully admit that I'm turning into an application whore now... but not without good reason!

As I was searching (free) apps (still not ready to dive into paid ones yet), I was thinking about Apps that could not only help make my life easier, but also help in PROJECT: Briles 200. I found this one application called FourSquare. It's really just another social networking site, but it allows you to "Check In" whenever you show up at a place of business. This allows for a few things to happen. It allows your friends also on FourSquare (and Facebook, if you desire) to know where you're at and see businesses you might be recommending or not recommending for a certain reason. It also allows you to earn points at the businesses (especially eateries and restaurants) you check in to. Some of the businesses will recognize those customers that are checking in regularly with coupons, discounts, or free stuff, which is pretty cool... and if they don't, then the points you get for checking in add up to give frequent customers certain fun titles in the application. For instance, if you're the one that checks in the most at your local Starbucks, you become the "Mayor" of that Starbucks. I don't know about you, but I'd LOVE to be Mayor! Yeeaaah.... Mayor Mark Brierley.... I like the sound of that!!...

I think I've mentioned that I have some A.D.D. tendencies... One of my big problems over the years in weight control is that I'll go out to a restaurant, and I'll seriously just FORGET that I'm trying to eat healthy/make better decisions. I just won't even think about it... I actually think I have a split personality. There's the one that really wants to be healthy and has control most of the time. The one writing this. Then then there's the "Awwww...F@#$ It!" personality that takes over when deciding when, where, what and how much to eat. I'll go to a restaurant with the intentions of getting a salad. The next thing I know I've got something covered in a whole lot of cheese and probably has a good amount of bacon on it (again... not "probably"...).

I'm hoping to use FourSquare as a another means to get people who might be interested in helping me with the Project. What I'm looking to do is train myself to become good at checking in to whatever business I'm going to on FourSquare whenever I'm going for a meal, even if it's at my home (I believe I found a way to make my apartment a "place". I want to build a network of friends who might really like the app, but also tend to be always connected (like I know I will be from now on), will see my postings, and might send me a little reminder like, "Don't pig out, you fat bum!" Seriously, I'm basically looking for people to BERATE me over the internet. I know this isn't going to stop me from getting a bacon cheeseburger when I really want a bacon cheeseburger, but I figure if I can get it into my head that someone's going to be kind of "watching me", then I'll eventually be trained to give myself a reminder to THINK about the decisions I'm making before ordering/making food, which in turn will lead to better decision making! A. What do you think of my plan? 2. If you're interested in helping me out or you want help like this yourself, sign up at foursquare.com, download the phone App from there, then find me and friend me!

FYI - Don't be afraid to jump into PROJECT: Briles 200 with me. I'm here to help as much as I am to do. So PLEASE feel free to post any comments, questions, jokes, recipes, whatev! down below. If you've decided that you want to get healthier and you'd like to take the route I'm going to go or even if you have a different route and want to discuss it or just get some moral support, the more the merrier!

COMING THIS WEEK: The potential rewards I'm lining up for myself once I complete PROJECT: Briles 200 (...and if I can keep a blog going well for a year or so). Since I'm having trouble making up my mind, I'm thinking of recruiting you for a vote! Reward suggestions are welcome!!

COMING LATER THIS WEEK: An interesting twist to PROJECT: Briles 200 that I didn't see coming, but sure is going to help a lot!

Until next time! May the protein keep you full and the fiber keep you regular!