CHARITY: Children of the Night and Knuckle Supper

Hey everybody, one of my L.A. buddies, Drew Stepek, has his second novel called KNUCKLE SUPPER coming out in October. He is a big supporter of the organization CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT and is teaming with them so that a portion of all the books earnings will go to help fight against child prostitution.

To promote his new book and Children of the Night, Drew is offering up a new XBOX 360 to the person who gets the most people to friend him in the next few weeks. Drew's a talented writer and COTN is a great organization, so I'm hoping that you'll sign on to be his friend and help me win the XBOX 360. If I do win, I will in turn donate it to the Make a Wish Foundation. If you do sign up to be his friend, please put my name in the personal message so he knows who referred him. I hope you guys will all introduce yourselves to Drew and help out both causes!

Feel free to repost to your friends who don't know me and compete for the XBOX 360 for yourself or have them put my name in as a referral and help me win it for Make A Wish!

You can friend Drew on Facebook here.

HEALTH - There Goes My Spam Diet!!

Salty, Processed Meats Found NOT Good For You In Recent Study

http://health.yahoo.com/news/reuters/us_heart_meat.html

Just read this article on yahoo.com. MINDBLOWING!! I mean, this study is a major game changer in the health world. This nation will definitely be leaving the 1960's MUCH healthier than the 1950's! Wait, what? Hold on a sec, Marty McFly... You're telling me it's 2010!?!?...

I make no secret of my love for processed meats, but I've always known how bad they were for me. So, am I an ass for assuming that we all already knew this? I had no idea there was still a debate going on that my beloved Spam and hot dogs probably aren't going to be adding years onto my life no matter how many birthday wishes I use to try to make it true... I know we still need to be putting the information out there for people to use... That's one thing... but I'm kinda, really surprised researchers still have to blow money on studies like this because health officials have to do battle with the ever-present, extremely well known American Meat Institute. Yeah, that's right. The American Meat Institute exists. Who knew? I'm assuming it's kind of like the NRA. I guess it makes sense that there's an institution out there protecting all of us carnivores' right to eat and carry meat, and to also do battle with these ludicrous health researchers who come out redundantly deprecating the value of processed, cured, and smoked meats.

PROJECT: Briles 200 - Meta Me Then You

So I've been thinking, kids... METAthinking...

...That is to say that I've been thinking about the way I think, which, in doing so, I came to the realization that I think I've always thought about the way I think. Confused? That's what happens when you climb into my head, baby!!!

I'm by NO means an expert on the topic, nor have I become a master of the process yet, but I have read some really fascinating articles out there over the last year or so about metathinking and how our brains not only think about things, but how they think about the way it thinks about things. I won't get into too deep of an explanation of these articles, vocab definitions, or the studies reported in them. Hopefully, my brief explanation will be clear enough, but I'll leave some of my favorite links on the subject for you to head to if you're interested... (consider it homework... FUN!!). I mostly want to just offer what I've learned on a really basic level and how I plan to apply it to PROJECT: Briles 200.

According to Wikipedia, "the prefix, "Meta", has Greek origins and means "after", "beyond", "with", "adjacent", "self" and is used to indicate a concept which is an abstraction from another concept used to complete or add to the latter." Got that?... Yeah, it took me a couple days too. Hopefully, this example will explain it better...

One of the common terms out there using the prefix "Meta" is METADATA. Among other items, metadata is associated with digital picture files. Say you want to take a color picture with your digital camera. When you press that button on the camera to take a picture, the camera takes in all the data (data=information) it needs of that image (such as light, colors, shape), to form an image file that gets saved onto your camera's memory card. Along with all the info the camera uses to create the image file, it also (usually) records metadata along with it. The metadata is all the data about the data in that image file, such as the time and date you took the image, the shutter speed, ISO and aperture you used to take the picture, and some cameras even record a GPS location of where the picture was taken. All that metadata is information about the data that is the image file.

What does this all this META nonsense have to do with me, you, and PROJECT: Briles 200, you ask??

I believe metathinking has been a really important process in my decision making for a lot of my life. This may sound strange to those of you who know me as a pretty spontaneous, whimsical person, but while I am horrible at calculating math, I have always been able to recognize that my thoughts are emotionally charged. For certain parts of my life (work, relationships, social aspects), I have been good about being able to quickly question, analyze, and calculate those initial emotions/thoughts, and gather my metathoughts about that initial thought process, leading to a higher percentage of good decisions/considerations/relationships and a better understanding of myself.

Where I have been lacking in this process is when I eat and spend money on food. I think I've mentioned before that I'm kind of ADD. I tend to FORGET (whether accidentally or intentionally) that I'm not supposed to be eating a Big Mac and an M&M McFlurry. I just WANT some crab rangoons, egg rolls, and pork fried rice, so instead of cooking up the chicken breast I have defrosting in the fridge, I head to Foodler.com and order some Chinese. My impulses and cravings almost always get the best of me in these situations. I HAVE a lot of the facts and know how, which is an important part of making healthy choices, but I have to figure out how to jog my brain to use that knowledge in tandem with the metathinking process.

Now, I'm going to be thinking a lot more about my food decisions as they're happening, hopefully instilling another string of discipline into my life. That doesn't mean that I'm not going to enjoy the bad stuff too, I just need to do it with increased moderation.

For example, as I start busting into a half gallon of ice cream during 'LOST', I need to think about WHY I am eating the ice cream when I know there are healthier options around. The easy and first answer to come to my mind is and will ALWAYS be, "I want to eat ice cream at any given point of every day of my life cuz it's AWESOME". Why do you want to eat ice cream when you know it's bad for you? "Because it tastes good?" Why does it taste good? "Because it's sweet and creamy and it comforts me.." Why does it comfort you and what is it comforting you from? Why do you REALLY need to eat a whole half gallon? Why not a bowl there, stud?! Why?! Why?! Why?!

I also need to focus this discipline towards my activity levesl. Part of the whole PROJECT: Briles 200 thing is to be more active. Activity is going to be key to the success of this mission... and frankly, it's been a slow start. Aside from heading over to my weekly workouts at Cutting Edge Fitness, I've been soft on that front. Part of it is my crazy work (or in a lot of cases non-work) schedule and some of the responsibilities I've taken on recently, but mostly it's due to my laziness, lack of discipline, and desire to watch the classic 1990 volleyball movie, SIDE OUT , for the 52nd time in my life on a GORGEOUS afternoon where I could have been out AT LEAST walking around, taking pictures or, even more actively, out for a jog. At that moment when I saw that SIDE OUT was available to watch, I just sat down and watched it... no questions asked (aside from "Who was hotter than Courtney Thorne-Smith in the those days?"). The metathinking process has to start right before I sit my ass on that couch. I need to start firing questions away about why I'm choosing to be sedentary rather than going out to enjoy a beautiful day.

I don't know what it is about my health that keeps me from the metathinking process I use in other aspects of my life, but I want to train my brain to start this ultra-examination at the moment of decision-making in my eating/exercise/overall health habits. I figure that if I can develop the ability to sit back and think about what I'm actually about to put into or not do with my body, I can swing some of that good decision-making from other aspects of my life over to my health.

How do I make that happen? By asking strings of continuous 'WHY's about how I come to the decisions I do and examining all the facets/motivations of my thought process when considering a subject beyond just the initial emotions/thoughts that I have when that subject is placed in front of me.

I actually think all of us would benefit from this line of thinking when it comes to our health... To inspire you to start metathinking the same way and to inspire you to call me out when I make the poor choice, I'm introducing a segment to "Briles Is Losing It!" called "Decisions, Decisions!" Now that I've been blessed with an iPhone, I'm going to start taking pictures of the foods I am choosing between at the point of decision making, posting them, honestly telling you which one I chose, and the thought process behind why I chose to eat what I did. Will you be interested in this? Probably not. It's more going to be a picture food journal for my own use and a way for me to somehow coin the phrase/make money off of the term "Metadiet" (which I think is only being used by some company as a name to hock some weight loss pills), but I'm hoping some of you will get involved in the discussion, call me out and ask questions as you see fit!!

That was a bit heady for me... My brain hurts now... Where's the ice cream?!?!?! (just kidding, Ann Marie...)

Enjoy your homework!!

Thinking Meta

Metathinking - A Key to Creativity

Are You a Master of Metathinking?

metacognition.org

DATING, PROJECT: Briles 200 - The Swedish Fish That Got Away

I'm gonna need some better bait, Kids...

Forest Gump's Momma always taught him , "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." Although I personally like to remind myself, "Life is like a box of chocolates. Try not to eat them all at once, husky mcfatboy!", I'm totally on board with Momma Gump and feel her adage also applies to riding the Boston T. I want to be ready for all situations I encounter on the T, which is why I'm hoping PROJECT: Briles 200 helps me not only feel healthier, but look healthier too.

For those out of the know, the T is Boston's version of the subway. It goes below ground. It goes above ground. It's my main mode of transportation around the city. Most folks who ride it sit miserable and aloof, especially on those extra wintery mornings when a foot of snow is getting dropped on the city above. Having suffered the nightmare that is a Los Angeles driver's commute for almost 7 years, I can't sing the T's praises enough. Is it perfect?? Not even CLOSE. I'll take being hauled around the city while being able to read, chill with an iPod, or, perhaps... even write a blog post... on a less than perfect public transpo system over having to worry about insane traffic jams that form in every direction I try to turn, creating stress and road rage aplenty for me and my fellow road warriors, any day.

A good portion of T rides are pretty calm. Most people sit grumpily trying to avoid eye/verbal contact with anyone else and tactile contact with the hand rails that are there to help the standing passengers stay standing (Public transpo DOES tend to get a little germy). It's AMAZING people watching. Even on normal rides, it's fun to check out other passengers and try to figure out where they're coming from or going. If it's a good day, you'll get to watch the homeless guy using the hand rails as a pull up bar. Sometimes you get the crazy lady asking for donations to help get her cats back from the aliens that took them. It gets reallyinteresting when you get the street performers who hop aboard and put on a thoroughly entertaining show in a matter of minutes, dancing, running up the train walls, and doing back flips down the aisle... And while the performers are fun to watch, it's even more fun watching which passengers offer up a buck or two for tips and which shy away, frightened when approached by a performer and their tip-collecting hat and/or skull cap.

During a lull of these exciting times on the T, it can be fun to play a little innocent game I like to call, "OhHi Eyes" with young women (actually, now that I think of it, quite often it can be old women too). "OhHi Eyes" is when you get caught checking out a member of the opposite sex (or if you happen to swing the other way, same sex) or you catch someone checking you out, after which, a game of cat and mouse with each other's lines of sight ensues. The look that starts the game can be made with purpose or can be quite accidental. It only matters that two people catch each other's eyes at some point. For example, I take a break from my Metro newspaper, bringing my eyes right into the line of site of a young woman. I quickly look away, but then look back trying to see if maybe she was looking at me first. Meanwhile, she looks up and catches me again. Again, I look away, now wondering if she was looking to check out my studly self or if she was looking to make sure that I wasn't staring at her creepily like a possible sex offender. Generally, the game goes on until someone gets to their stop or one of you gets too creeped out/embarrassed to look again and then starts to pretend to read the local ads posted along the sides of the car walls... "Oh, yes... I WOULD love to learn Swahili. Or one of 40 other languages....".

I don't really know what the whole goal of "OhHi Eyes" is. I think it's just fun because so many people are TRYING to be so aloof, its kinda fun trying to give a little attention to and get a little from them. Also, I'm a bit of a spontaneous, impetuous guy with a decent romantic sense, so I kinda have this notion that maybe I'll meet someone on the T at some point. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, there is a little bit of a connection there, and the "OhHi Eyes" go back and forth in mutual agreement. As a single guy living in the big city, I'm still relearning the world of dating, approaching women, etc and am still confused about the rules of engagement while on public transportation. Is it creepy? All three of the female friends I have asked say, "Yes." I mean, why is it any different than approaching someone in a store or a Starbucks? If you're interested in someone, you should just go talk to them because you don't know if you'll ever see them again, right? Not that I even come close to having the balls to approach someone on the T yet... Approach someone in writing on Plenty Of Fish... No problem!! (Yes, Plenty Of Fish, the dating website with all fish themed references... Yeah, I've used it... I've dated a couple fish... I'm not ashamed... much...) But I digress...

In line with the unpredictability of what you're going to see on the T, just two hours ago, my coworker, Butters and I (yes, his last name is really Butters. No, he is not like the South Park character, however they DO share the same 9/11 birthday), hopped on the Red Line train after work. We sat down right across from two very, very, very attractive... VERY attractive... blond young women who were speaking a language I could only guess and/or truly wanted to believe was Swedish... I mean VERY... I was EXCITED!!... Hot Swedish girls riding public transportation in the afternoon?! Butters has a long time gf, so I had them both to myself. I mean this is the kind of scenario that only happens in zany 80's movies... right up my alley! I'll throw them my best "OhHi Eyes", they'll throw theirs back, we'll all hit it off, and then there will be a montage of the Swedes and me galavanting around Boston for the rest of the day doing things like taking a Duck Tour, catching the view from the top of the Pru, them picking me up from an adorable ice skating spill in Boston Common, pretending we're CHEERS characters at CHEERS, and catching a home run ball in the Monster seats...

Now, despite the extra love on my body that some might consider "handles", I've been told I'm good looking enough on a handful of occasions (By my mother AND my Memere AND an aunt who married into the family). Whether received warmly or creeped out, I can usually engage a women in a game of "OhHi Eyes" when I really try.

(Haaaa.... It's happening RIGHT now! Swear on my my mom's soul! I did't start it, but I TOTALLY just caught a girl... No time for "OhHi Eyes" right now, miss... I'm blogging!!!)

With this golden, Swedish opportunity in front of me, I flashed my best "OhHi Eyes" look at them (It's been described as a cross between Blue Steel and Bambi). I threw the bait out there about four times, but I just couldn't get these Swedish fish to bite! I couldn't get one of them to even glance in my direction. I was kind of shocked... They got off at the next stop and even deboarding, I got nuthin'! Maybe they were just too engrossed in their beautifully weird sounding Swedish conversation (it kinda sounded like, "Smorgen Burgen Borgin!..."). Maybe cute, but husky American guys just aren't good bait... Maybe my stained Patriots hooded sweatshirt, beat up jeans, and reusable Whole Foods bag full of gym clothes made me look like a hobo... Whatever it was, my "OhHi Eyes" confidence shaken, I couldn't help but think to myself that it was the middle "Maybe". Which made me glad that the very reason I was riding the T at that moment was because I was heading to my new lean muscle temple for PROJECT: Briles 200, Cutting Edge Fitness, where just a couple weeks ago my FitFit Sensei, Ann Marie, told me that when she was done with me, I was going to end up a "lady killer" (By which, I hope she's not referring to, like, Jack the Ripper, or anything... maybe I shouldn't be admitting to this whole "OhHi Eyes" thing... does this make me creepy? It does, doesn't it?...) A.M. absolutely killed me tonight in our second session, which is great because the sooner some of this weight comes off, the sooner I'm going to be able to put out better bait for my next game of "OhHi Eyes". Those Swedish fish don't know what they missed...

I apologize to all of you who thought this was going to be about candy...

PROJECT: Briles 200 - Cutting Edge Workout #1

Went for my first workout with Ann Marie yesterday. Alls I'm gonna say is OOOOOUUUUUCCCCHHHHH. Sensei made me hurt! It's a good hurt, but it HURTS. The wall sit I did okay at, but the lunges... ow, my bum!!...the lunges...I can't really bend down without my bum being in so much pain... and the quad machine... Well, in Sensei's quad machine, you're sitting in a leaned back position and actually have to fasten a seat belt across your waist for better form. I kinda felt like I was an astronaut strapped in for take off.... I always thought my legs were pretty strong, but with the way I was sitting strapped in to the leaned back chair, as I got to my fifth lift, my legs started shaking so bad it spread to the rest of my body, making it look like I actually WAS an astronaut taking off!

More to come once I've healed...

PROJECT: Briles 200 - Orange You Glad It's Inspection Time?

So a few weeks ago, during that magical time of year that I personally like to call "March Madness", I headed out of Boston to Providence, RI. I wanted to watch the first Thursday of NCAA Basketball Tourney action in one of the tournament host cities, which Provie was. I was planning on spending Friday there as well. However, Syracuse was playing that night, so the Orange loyalist in me said I should go join all the other Boston area alumni at our adopted alumni bar, The Pour House. Providence was good times, but I threw on my orange, custom made Rick "Action Jackson" tee, hopped in my car, then made like Charlie Sheen's lawyer and bailed out.

I knew it was going to be a great day, as my luck that afternoon was amazing. Driving back to the larger of the two state capitals, I had an easy, traffic free hour on a beautiful spring day that led me straight to a metered parking spot just three blocks up from my destination on Boylston St... AND thanks to the change from the McFlurry I pummeled on the way, I had enough quarters to pop in the meter so that it would take me past 8PM (when the free meter parking starts). Some old college buddies, a bar full of "Cusies", and I all cheered the the team on to a fine victory, adding to an already fiiine day.

Then, the city of Boston decided to play a little trick on me....

They put, what must have been, a Georgetown or UConn alum on parking meter duty that night, and that meter maid must have seen me walk away from my Honda Accord in a Syracuse orange shirt, because when I came back to my car, there was a bright Syracuse orange envelope with a parking violation in it under my windshield... and it wasn't even for a meter violation, it was for having an expired inspection sticker...

Now, I knew my inspection had expired at the end of January, so I guess I couldn't get too upset that some dumb ass, hard up to make quota, no fun, douchy Huskies fan meter maid had to drop a buzz kill on my day...

So why didn't I get it taken care of you ask?...

Well, I had just gotten some work done back in early January at which point, I TRIED to take care of it at a dealership service center outside of Boston that shall rename mainless (let's just say it rhymes with Spock Blonda...). When they checked out my car, they said I'd fail the inspection if I didn't get over $1000 worth of repairs done. They told me a bunch of stuff about a bunch of stuff about which I had never even heard before. I really know nothing about cars, but I felt like I knew about the basic health of my car and that they were trying to fleece me. I told them to forget it and made like Charlie Sheen's lawyer again.

Once I left Spock Blonda, I kinda handled the car situation like I sometimes handle my own health and checkups... I got kinda lazy... Then I didn't really drive it much, so I kinda forgot about it... And frankly, I got a little spooked that if I took it in somewhere else, that there was enough wrong with it to fail an inspection...

...Which is exactly how I felt when I headed in for my 'body inspection' by my new Fitness Sensei, Ann Marie Sheridan, for the first time (...as a trainer... I knew A.M. previously from rocking our friends', Ted and Alicia's, wedding party earlier this year. We were walk-in partners for the reception and performed a pretty legendary entrance... in our minds, at least...). A little frightened of what I was going to find out about my body, fitness levels, and BMI, I headed into her office at Cutting Edge Fitness fully expecting to hear that I needed $1000 worth of work done before I passed inspection for PROJECT: Briles 200!!!

While the results weren't GOOD (otherwise why would PROJECT: Briles 200 be happening?...), they weren't HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE... Ann Marie was a little surprised at my strength and was encouraged for my prospects. Overall, the meeting went well. Sensei took my measurements (as promised, see them embarrassingly posted below), discussed how and why her particular type of weight training is really good for creating lean muscle (which is GREAT, because my muscles have said they also wanted to lose a lot of weight), and even discussed how she is also going to, "Start discussing mental preparation for what's in store, because you (Briles) are going to be a lady killer and I (she) want to make sure that you have a solid state of mind before unleashing you (Briles) to the public and the innocent women who won't know what hit them." Well, aaaaaallllllrighty then!! How am I NOT supposed to get fired up by THAT??? (Although... I WAS confused by her use of the future tense in conjunction with the term "lady killer".... )

I start my real weekly workouts with Ann Marie this coming Tuesday. It's only thirty minutes long, but it promises to be like a clown fight!! (intense...)

As for my car, I took it to a trustworthy, legit local guy who I used last year to do the inspection. Just like my own inspection with A.M., my car, while still a little banged up, was good enough to pass.

Orange is what you want to wear for a Cuse game, Kids... not what you want to find under your windshield wiper... violations, financially for cars and health-wise for bodies, are costly!!! Take your car and body in for their necessary inspections, no matter how afraid you are that they're going to fail. The good news is, that even if they do, you can still fix them.

MY STARTING MEASUREMENTS

Weight: 239 lbs

BMI (Body Mass Index): 33.5

Recommended BMI for a male for Male 32 yrs:
Low BMI <>

Recommended BMI 18.5-24.9

High BMI 25-29.5

Very High BMI > 30

Body Fat %: 31%

Recommended Body Fat Percentage for Male 32yrs:

Low: 5-7

Recommended: 8-20

High: 21-25

Very High: > 24

This isn't really the stuff I'm worried about, but will be fun to see what happens....

Bicep Relaxed: 13" Flexed 14.7"

Chest: 43"

Waist: 44" (my pants say 40 or 38", so I'm not sure what Sensei is doing to me here...)

Hips: 44.5" (it's all in the hips... it's all in the hips... )

Quad Relaxed: 24 Flexed 24.5"

Calf Relaxed: 18" Flexed: 17.5 (Is that supposed happen?!?!)

PROJECT: Briles 200 - This Blog Brought To You By...

Exciting news, Kids!!

I've gotten a great response with a lot of well wishes from all sorts of people about BRILES IS LOSING IT! and PROJECT: Briles 200. One of these responses has come in the form of SPONSORSHIP!! (Kinda...)

After reading about PROJECT: Briles 200, my friend, Ann Marie Sheridan, owner and trainer of Cutting Edge Fitness in Newton, MA contacted me, asking about the 'fitness/nutritional regimen" that I'll be undertaking to make PROJECT: BRILES 200 a reality. I asked her that if by "Fitness/nutritional regimen" she meant, "Walking to Subway to pick up my Italian BMT instead of ordering a sub to be delivered through Foodler.Com?..." She said, "No..." Hard ass...

After discussing Cutting Edge Fitness and their strategies for getting people into better shape (just two thirty-minute workouts per week!!!), Ann Marie offered for Cutting Edge to be one of the tools I use to get myself healthier, which was a fantastic offer!! However, if I completely played by Ann Marie and Cutting Edge's rules, using the training sessions would be against the spirit of PROJECT: Briles 200. 'Regimen' and 'my brain' aren't really two compatible items in my reality. I'd have a hard enough time committing to going out drinking on the same days twice a week, never mind working out in a gym where I'm expected to be on time and answer to a trainer! It's just not my style. I might be able to keep it up for a few months or so (and that's a BIG might), but even if I did keep it up for a few months, or even a year, it probably just isn't something that I would/could keep going once I've achieved my goals for PROJECT: Briles 200.

However, after THINKING about it, I realized that I'm going to have to make some decisions to stick with SOMETHING on a regular basis. Having that be some weight training with an incredibly positive friend/supporter/FORCE, like Ann Marie, is something that I could commit to for once a week for a while, then take that training with me for the rest of my life.

Now, Ann Marie is pretty hard core. She's doing her own crazy training/dieting for a Fitness Bikini Body contest in June. (I WILL NOT be participating in that contest... THIS year...). And while I will not be going nearly as hard core as Ann Marie does on diet/training, I do plan on working hard at each of the horribly painful things I expect her to put me through each week and taking her nutritional advice, molding it to something that works for me and the project. She seems to think it's going to take NO time to for me to achieve the 200 lb level, but it will take a while for me to learn how to stay living at that level. Just to make sure I do though, she is going to be featuring my progress in her weekly newsletter... yikes!!

Tomorrow, I head in to Cutting Edge for my first day with Ann Marie. Apparently, all my measurements (bicep size, chest size, weight, body fat, bmi, etc) will be taken so we can measure results. I will embarrassingly post them all here so you can monitor my progress with us. Again, I'm not in it for certain muscle sizes or BMI, just to get healthier overall over a long run... I'm proud of myself for making the decision to commit to this once a week work out and excited to have Ann Marie support me while kicking my ass! Both of which should greatly increase PROJECT: Briles 200's chance for success!!!

Not gonna lie, it's my first time with a trainer... I'm a little afraid... and sore already...

P.S. Instead of a picture of me at Bloc 11 Cafe in Somerville when I post this, I'm posting the picture that is my motivation for PROJECT: Briles 200. I think the photo captures me at my largest.